Well, yesterday I took the kids to the doctor together. I usually drop one of them off at my mom's house for her to watch and take the other with me to the office. However, they've both been sick at the same time lately so I thought I would be brave and take them both in by myself. NEVER AGAIN! I don't care if I have to go in twice on the same day, but I'm NEVER taking them both in together!!!

This is how it went: We got there, checked in, looked at the fish tank and made "fishy faces" at Lincoln. They were both so good, playing with each other and the other little kids waiting for their names to be called. All of a sudden we hear "Riley and Lincoln", Riley takes off running to the nurse and gives her leg a big hug...weird. She's never that friendly. The kids get back to the weigh station and get weighed and temps taken. Riley now weighs 25.4 oz (that was with a coat, sweatshirt, shirt, jeans and shoes on...not sure why they didn't want some of that taken off) and Lincoln weighs 17.2 oz! (Holy cow)

Then the MD came in. He checked out Lincoln first and Ri looked on. Lincoln looked great, but he couldn't tell if he had an ear infection because he had a lot of wax buildup (gross, I know) so he wanted his ear flushed so he could check again. Then he checked out Riley. Anyways, they came to the conclusion that they both have (and probably I have it too) enterovirus--similar to a cold, but it can cause very high fevers so we have to watch out for that.

Anyways here comes the disastrous part. The nurses came in to flush out Lincoln's ear. He was NOT happy. I wouldn't have been either though. The "pumped" his ear full of water to get the wax out. So he was screaming and because he was screaming, Riley was hugging my leg, screaming!! Not crying, but screaming at the top of their lungs! Then when they were done, Lincoln was still crying as was Riley. Then for some reason she bit my leg (I think because she wanted me to pick her up the whole time but I couldn't because I had to hold Lincoln's arms down) so I smacked her mouth (lightly, just so she'd know not to bite--she never bites, weird) so then she screamed more and Lincoln started screaming again. You get the picture...this went on for AT LEAST 10 minutes. OMG, never again :)!

The second worst part to them both screaming was that I couldn't even hear what the doctor was telling me. I finally said, "I'm so sorry, but I can't hear anything you're saying"...needless to say, he came back in after they calmed down and explained it to me.

Thankfully, though, they are feeling a little better today!

This past weekend, when Lincoln and I were home sick, Ty took Riley to his family's house for a short while. While they were there, she found Ty's electric guitar (and motorcycle helmet) which has been in retirement since we've had kids. She was having so much fun playing it and didn't want to stop (as you can see in the video--I loved when she said "NO DADDY" because she wanted to keep playing).

Maybe not quite a child prodigy, but she had fun playing it nonetheless.

This past week, Ty had a couple of days off so we took advantage of it! On Wednesday afternoon we took the kids to Gull Meadow Farms to pick out pumpkins, drink apple cider, and pick apples. We had such a great time. They've got a huge farm and when we first got there we went straight for the homemade donuts (SO GOOD) and apple cider.

They've got a great area for the kids to run around in and "pumpkin" scenes, (For instance, they had a manger scene and all the people had pumpkin heads) a huge slide for the kids, which Riley would have nothing to do with, and so much more. We skipped out on the hay ride because I am deathly allergic to hay (well, not deathly, but my eyes will swell shut :)!!). Riley picked out her very own pumpkin and since Lincoln slept the whole time, except for 5 minutes we were there, so she picked out one for him too! Here are some great pictures of our "pumpkin picking":

Her first sip of apple cider and she LOVED it!

Daddy teaching Riley the way of a true Superman fanatic!

Family photo (poor Lincoln missed out because he was sleeping and I wasn't about to wake him up!)

He's awake!! AND warm in his stroller, it was a chilly, chilly day!

My little bear!

I need the help and advise of fellow mommas!! So, many of you know that we've been semi-working on potty training with Riley. I say "semi" because it's not going well, in fact it's not working at all. I'm not pushing her to do it, but still trying to encourage without pressuring her.

However, I think it's going to be even more difficult that I originally thought. See, Riley has a thing about pooping in public (or anywhere that's not home). For instance, we went over to my friend's house the other day for a play date and when we got there and pulled into their driveway Riley kept saying "doot doot" (which means poo poo--she has to poopy). She kept crying and saying "doot doot momma". So I said, you can go Riley and mommy will change you when we get inside. She kept crying, she finally calmed down but the whole time we were there she would randomly tell me she had to go potty. Then when we left, we had to do a couple of errands and she kept whining the whole time--I knew it was because she had to go--but she wouldn't. So needless to say, when we got home (6 hours after we got to our friend's house) the second we walked in the house she ran into her room, into her closet and FINALLY went. I felt so bad because I knew she had to go, but wouldn't. She held it for 6 HOURS!!!

Any suggestions how how to change this habit she has? She's been doing this since she was probably 10 months old--refusing to go poopy in pubic. I feel that potty training is going to be so difficult because she holds it for hours when she has to go--both #1 and #2 :). Ughhh...so frustrating. Sorry to be so descriptive...

Here are Riley's and Lincoln's pictures when they were both 5 months old. You be the judge on whether they look alike:




I know people say "never compare your children"...well, I'm going to anyways. Some ways on how they were alike and different as babies:

1. Ri was cholicy from the minute she was born until about 7 weeks old. Lincoln almost never cries.

2. Riley was very high-maintenance, I even had to strap her into the Baby Bjorn to do the dishes some days. Lincoln is happy and content just watching and playing with himself.

3. We rocked Riley to sleep until she was 8 months old (for ALL of her naps and bedtime). Lincoln just lays in his crib and falls asleep on his own; we've never even had to let him "cry it out".

4. Riley slept in her car seat until she was 4 months old because she wouldn't sleep on her back (and I was too paranoid to let her sleep on her belly). Lincoln has slept in his crib from day 1 on his back.

5. They are similar in the fact that they both took 4-45 minute naps a day and had a bed time of 9:00.

6. They were both chunky babies to begin with, then Riley "stopped growing" at 4 months and Lincoln has kept it up :). Riley weighed 13 lbs. at 3 months and 15 1/2 lbs. at 1 year. Lincoln is 5 months and is around 17 lbs. already.

7. Lincoln rolls over A LOT more than Riley ever did, but Riley did it at an earlier age (3 months).

8. Both have Ty's squinty eyes and big smile--although, Lincoln's eyes are brown and Riley's are blue .

9. Lincoln seems much more social and outgoing yet laidback than Riley did when she was a baby. She was clingy and much more shy and still is to this day (although she's getting better).

I'll update this more when things come to me and as Lincoln gets older. It's hard to compare them during their first 6 months of life. :)

So...who's who?? (I know, it's probably pretty obvious for a few reasons :).)

Obviously Riley has picked up on Ty and I chatting politics. All of a sudden one morning Riley kept saying "Bama-mama"...I couldn't quite understand what she was saying until we were watching the news later that afternoon and Barak Obama's face popped on the screen and Riley said "Bama-mamma". I GOT IT. She was saying OBAMA :). Now every time you ask who she's voting for she says Obama, instead of McCain. So funny that she says Bama-momma, close enough for a two year old, right??!

PS. Good thing her vote doesn't count ;)!!

Lincoln has been rolling over for about 2 months now, but within the past week or so he's been rolling all over the place. I caught this video a few days ago when he started to roll from his back to his belly and then to his back again. Now, he's a pro. This morning I put him on the floor and went to get a book to read Riley in her room and heard him crying 30 seconds later. He had rolled from the middle of the floor to the sliding glass door and was stuck against it :).

(Notice the diaper shoved between the bumper pads)

Cute and frustrating at the same time because I'm constantly changing and washing her sheets...especially when I don't catch her before she goes potty!

Lincoln in his 12 month onesie--it may not fit next month :).

So, I'm a little behind in his monthly onesie picture, and you wanna know why? I actually did take the picture on his "5 month birthday" but when I went to post it today, I realized I forgot the "H" in Months...lol! Oops, so I had to re-do the picture tonight.

So what's new with my little (okay, BIG) Lincoln this month? Not a whole lot. Except that he is now officially a stomach sleeper. He rolls over so often in his crib and whenever he's tired, he arches his back, rolls over and falls asleep-rarely making a peep. What a good baby. I am also happy to report that he's only waking up once a night to eat now--I'm hoping that he goes back to sleeping through the night again...soon! He also has "developed" Eczema on his cheek/upper lip and chin. It's not too bad, but it's noticeable, some days more than others. I just pray that he doesn't get it like I had it when I was a baby--how miserable he'd be.

He and Riley are starting to interact more and more each day--I LOVE to watch them "play" together, it makes me smile. Although, she can be really rough with him, but he really holds his own--he even pulls her hair from time to time--only a preview of times to come, I'm sure. I can't wait to see what the next month has is store and I can't wait to see what he'll learn and accomplish next!

I found another deal today!! I got all this stuff for $31.99 (including tax): It all would have cost me $155.58+tax.

So, this weekend I took the plunge into making Lincoln's baby cereal...crazy? Maybe. But it actually is pretty easy, although it is a little time consuming and a lot of dishes to clean. I'm hoping that once I get the system down I can be more efficient! I've got a baby food-making book (Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron) that I used when I made all of Riley's baby food and it had instructions on how to make baby cereal. I was never brave enough to do it with Riley, but I figured I'd at least try doing it with Lincoln. What's the advantage, you ask?? One, it's super healthy and I know what is going into his precious, chubby belly. I bought all organic food and the rest is either water or breastmilk. Two, it's cheaper--not by much, but it still is. I'm not so concerned about the $$ aspect as I am about the health aspect.

Individual "servings" of rice cereal...

They made a big mess painting, so we threw them in the tub...good thing they like baths.

It's so funny because when we put them to bed, Riley goes in her crib in her room and Hailey was in our room in the pack-n-play (poor Lincoln got downgraded to his car seat so we could move him around and so he wouldn't't wake Hailey up). But instead of going right to sleep like they normally would, Ri and Hailey stay up talking through the vents!! But after about 45 minutes of this chatting we wanted them to go to bed and they finally did. We must not have given them enough time to catch up since last time they got together :).


Then Sunday my dad, Jamie, McKenna and Reagan (sisters) came to visit because they couldn't make it to Riley's birthday party. Jamie had been in the hospital a couple days prior and wasn't feeling up to it. So they came, brought dinner and desert, along with Riley's birthday present. She got a Snow White dress, "high heals" and a wand. She LOVES it. Always wants to wear it around the house. I remember when McKenna and Reagan were growing up, they did the same thing :). We had a wonderful afternoon, and now all Riley wants to do is "call PaPa". It's the first things she has asked to do when she wakes up, so we've been chatting with PaPa a lot this past week.

Group shot

So, our computer totally "broke" on Friday and is being sent off for 3-4 weeks to be fixed. That means we were going to be without a computer for about a month! OMG, I thought I could handle it, but after only 4 days with no computer I was having withdrawals (seriously!!)...So, tonight, we went to Best Buy and "bought" a new one to use just until ours gets fixed and sent back, then we'll take this new one back. Is that pathetic or what?? I think so, but what can ya do :)? Now to my updates...