Temple Christmas Lights

One thing I learned about Sheridan this year....he has NEVER been to Temple Square in Salt Lake at Christmas time to see all the Christmas lights!! I couldn't believe it. I was trying to show him some pictures online of how pretty it is and realized that the temple here in DC puts lights up too! The grounds aren't nearly as big, but they had over 100,000 lights, many beautiful Christmas trees and some really neat nativity sets. So, we decided to head over there last night (about 30 minutes away) and see the lights. It was almost exactly halfway between our house and Eli's house and so they met us there too! It was a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from Lincoln earlier in the day. I know I always say he loves his swing, but he is so cute when he gets so smiley in it! Sheridan took these ones. This is a little blurry but you can see the "quivery lip" he gets sometimes. Too cute!
Happy boy!!

He really loves those bears

As we were headed out the door. Anyone who knows me knows that I am really terrible with hair. So, I was asking my sister for some tips and tried to get my hair curly!! I ended up using curlers and it worked out ok.

The DC Temple.

Nativity scene

We had Lincoln all bundled up! At first he was a little fussy but after a minute or two he calmed down and was trying to figure out what was going on.

Some really nice Japanese tourists took this picture for us.

Pretty!

This was so cute! They had a camel in front of the nativity scene so we put Lincoln on one of the humps. The bystanders were getting a kick out of watching us position him on the camel so he didn't slide off :)

Sheridan and Lincoln inside the visitor's center

They had one room that was full of nativity sets from around the world. It was so neat! There were probably around 50 different sets or so. I took a few shots of some of them.

Another shot of the temple as we were leaving.

It was a really fun night. Hopefully we can get a chance to see the SLC lights when we are there this year.

On a seperate note, Lincoln has slept through the night the past three nights!! It has been great! He has stopped fussing at night too. I'm not sure what made him so fussy last week, but I am glad it is over. Lately, he will fall asleep between 11 and 12pm and sleep until 7! Then he usually wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep until 10 or so. It is awesome! I have been able to get a lot done in the mornings and also get sleep at night! The first night, I woke up at 5am panicked that he wasn't breathing or something terrible had happened. Of course, he was fine...just sleeping!

We have snow!!

Yesterday Sheridan had his work holiday party. I was excited for it, but also SO nervous because it was the first time we had ever left Lincoln with a babysitter. Eli and Katie were kind enough to come over and babysit for us. Because Lincoln has been so fussy in the evenings, I was really nervous to leave him with someone else. I decided to write out a few "tips" for if he got fussy and suggestions on how to calm him down. I know this is something I will probably laugh at later in life, but oh well! I took a picture of what I wrote for them. :)

It was really fun to get all dressed up for the party, but unfortunately none of my old dresses fit me anymore! :( Sheridan and I found this dress when we were black friday shopping and got a good deal on it. Because I am still trying to lose weight, I don't like to spend money on clothes that will be too big eventually (hopefully sooner then later). But, I was so sad because I forgot to bring my camera! We only got one picture while we were at the house...

This photo was taken at the party, and neither of us look good here, but it is the only one we have, unfortunately. I'm not really sure why I look so much taller than Sheridan, it wasn't like that in real life...I think he is just standing further back then I am. But, it was pretty cool. They had a green screen they had us stand in front of and then we chose a background that they would impose for the picture. This one reminded us of home :)

But, Lincoln did really well while we were gone! I kept texting and calling because I was so nervous. During the last 20 minutes he had one of his fits and started screaming and his face and body turned bright red. But, Katie and Eli stripped him down to his diaper and that seemed to help. haha, I think they got a nice taste of parenthood! It was incredibly kind of them to babysit for us.

Another great thing...Lincoln slept through the entire night last night! He fell asleep around midnight and slept until 8am!! He was absolutely starving when he woke up, but this is the first time he has slept this long. It would be so great if this continued!

This morning we woke up and there was snow outside!! It snowed all morning and afternoon too, and about 3 inches stuck. A few weeks ago, our friends Allison and Drew Villastrego sent us this really cute snow outfit. Today was a perfect day to use it! Sheridan was joking that Lincoln looked like Alfie off of a Christmas Story. This is so cool though, because you can just put it on right over his clothes and tuck the hands/feet over so they act as little mittens/booties.

All bundled up!!

My cute little winter bear!!

Lincoln's face right here is priceless! He is trying to figure out what this snow stuff is.

haha, we let him taste the snow.

And this was his reaction!

His face is funny here too....still trying to figure out what the wet stuff on his face was.

We brought him inside and he started crying...too cute! Whoa...I just realized Sheridan's eyes look gold here...maybe he is secretly a vampire. :)

Chubby Cheekers! (Sheridan's new nickname for Lincoln)

Here is the cute outfit we had him in today that my dad and Teresa sent us.

Love those dimples!

Big Belly! :)

Few Pictures & a Video

Here are just a few fun photos from the last few days.

Lincoln has been so squirmy lately and when I check on him in the morning he has completely turned himself sideways so he is laying width-wise in the crib (I lay him down long-wise)! Too funny.

This is Lincoln's favorite way to relax lately. In fact, it has actually been the only way he will calm down. He just rests his head on my shoulder and chills. He loves looking around the room and trying to figure out what is going on.

Started getting happy about something...

Starting to smile!

Look at that cute smile! If you notice, also, he is controlling his own head here. The last week or two he has been keeping his head lifted when I hold him.

Here is a really cute video. Lincoln and I were playing and he was so cute and smiley. I grabbed my phone and was trying to get it on video when all of the sudden he got mad! This is so cute, it is happy to sad in about 10 seconds flat. I love that little frowny face he makes! So cute!

Lincoln is 2 Months & Black Friday

Ok, I have been trying to get this post up for a while now! It seems as though it has been difficult for me to get a few minutes that I can type. The last few days have been fairly busy.

Lincoln turned two months old on Monday! I just cannot believe that two months ago at this time I was holding my sweet little newborn son in my arms. It really feels just like yesterday. We had his two-month check up with our pediatrician, Dr. Lurie. Lincoln is just shy of 15 lbs and 25 inches! Dr. Lurie was shocked at how big he is! He is in the 96th percentile for both height and weight, and in the 76th percentile for head circumference (I can't remember the actual size). Everything else went really well. Lincoln is very healthy and Dr. Lurie was happy with the development he is making. While we were there, Lincoln was on his stomach and almost rolled over onto his back! Dr. Lurie was surprised that he is doing this already. We work on tummy time every day, but I honestly think he is just doing this because he hates tummy time so much and is trying to find a way out of it! :)

Here are some things Lincoln really enjoys right now:

-He is just learning how to smile and "talk" to you and it is so cute. He loves "talking" to his bears in his swing (whom Sheridan fondly named Pistachio, Peanut, and Walnut). If you make "goo" noises at him, he will almost always talk back to you.
-He LOVES being naked and getting his diaper changed...more on this in a minute.
-He loves taking baths and being in the water. He really likes getting his hair washed and will make great eye contact with you when you are washing his hair.
-His skin is pretty pale (unfortunately, I think he got my skin tone and not Sheridan's), but when he gets mad, or if he is pooping, his cute little face turns TOMATO red! It is so funny.
-He makes grunting noises all the time. In fact, I sometimes tease that he is my little dinosaur baby because of the funny noises he makes.
-He eats literally nonstop. I kept track one weekend, and he is eating on average about 22-25 minutes every two hours!
-He just realized he has a tongue, and is constantly sticking it out. He loves feeling different textures, so will try to lick my shoulder when I am holding him, the blankets that are by his face, and his shirt sleeves.
-He is getting really good head control and can sit in his Bumbo pretty well. I am still not quite 100% comfortable with him in it yet, but I can put him in it for a little while at least.
-As Sheridan likes to say, he is a "mama's boy" right now. He loves for me to hold him....all the time. Sometimes it is hard because I feel like I can't get much done. But, then I try to remind myself that he isn't going to be little like this for much longer, and I try to really cherish these moments I have with him. He loves falling asleep on my shoulder.
-He really likes to observe people. We haven't gone out too much, but when we do he is very wide-eyed and (usually) quiet and really enjoys trying to figure out what is going on.


The last few days have been sort of difficult. For the most part, Lincoln is a very happy baby. But, the last three days, from about 8 or 9:00 in the evening until 12 or 1:00 in the morning, he has been super fussy and has been screaming a lot. It has been a bit frusterating, because neither Sheridan or I can really figure out why he is upset. I think he just wants a lot of attention right now, because he will get upset, but then the second I hold him (or if I am already holding him, I will change positions) and he instantly calms down. The problem is that he only wants me to hold him so his head is on my shoulder, and I have to be standing up. He won't even let us use the baby carrier. As a result, my back is getting sore! Sheridan can hold him for a minute or two, but then he screams until I hold him. We have moved him into his crib to sleep (he is outgrowing the bassinet) and so I wonder if this has something to do with it....him not wanting to go to bed at night. Tonight I went to go workout and Sheridan actually had to call me at the gym and have me come home, because he was screaming non-stop for about 40 minutes. So, it has been challenging, but we are trying a few different things to fix it. Hopefully this won't last long! Anyways...the reason for this long story....

So, last night Lincoln was very fussy. As we were brainstorming trying to figure out how to calm him down, Sheridan had a good idea. Lincoln always gets super happy when you put him on his changing table and change his diaper. Sheridan grabbed the changing pad from the nursery and brought it into the living room. We set Lincoln down and took off his pajamas and diaper. INSTANTLY he stopped crying and was happy! It was so funny. Sheridan was calling him a little "wild man" because he loves being naked so much. This should get interesting once Lincoln starts walking...hopefully I don't have a naked child running down the street!

This was the first picture I took. I think Lincoln was trying to figure out whether he should keep being mad or be happy. Also, look at the adorable rolls on his little legs!!! He just started getting these chubby little legs about two weeks ago. I love it!

"Mom, I know you think I am so cute!"

Saying "gooooo" to us....starting to get happy!

There's a little smile...

And a cheesy grin while he was talking!

Now for the second part of the post. Sheridan and I decided to go shopping on Black Friday. We woke up super early, around 4:30. It was HARD for me to get Sheridan out of bed, but finally I was able to. Here are some funny pictures we snapped very early in the morning.

LOL, I did not know Sheridan was making this face. Trying to tell me he wanted to go back to bed! Guess we know where Lincoln gets all his funny faces from :)

"Puhleaaasse let me go back to bed"

"Ok, Ok, you want me to go, I guess I will be excited about it"...... what a cheeseball, but I love him!!

So, we decided to head to Walmart first. They opened at 5:30 am, and you can't really tell by this picture, but there were THOUSANDS of people and cars in the parking lot! It was absolutely insane. I have never, ever seen anything like this before.

When we got to Walmart, we could not get in the front doors. There was a line you had to wait in outside just to get into the store. Now, keep in mind, this was 5:30 in the morning and it was cold. Luckily, Lincoln was sleeping in the moby wrap, and I had his head covered with a blanket. We waited in line about 10 minutes to get in. Here was a shot of the beginning of the line (behind the gates).

We got into the store, and it was insane! The lines went all the way from the cash registers to the back of the store! Every single line! We decided that the few items we were going to get weren't worth waiting in line that long. So, we left and headed to the mall. We got a few items for some good prices. We got home around 12:00 and crashed!