Nice and safe...under my pillow

Savana has been working on this bugger for a few weeks now. She's been pretty apprehensive about pulling it out for fear of the pain. The other day she finally showed us just how loose it was. She was gently nudging it trying to get it out. I kept telling her do it quickly and hard. It was hanging there for at least two days when we finally got it out. She was SUPER excited!

C.A.R.N.I.V.A.L

The night before her birthday, I surprised Savana by taking her to the mall and getting her a pedicure....she was in Heaven!

Her special day started with ice-skating lessons.

Then we celebrated her sixth birthday with lots of popcorn, face-painting, candy and fun!

We had such a blast! We also had a lot of help that was greatly appreciated! My dear mom dressed as a clown and painted faces for the ENTIRE party. I don't think she moved out of her seat the whole time!!

Thanks for all the fun and presents!

Savana really enjoyed her party. I'm not sure that we will be able to compete with future parties.

Big Number Six!

Say it ain't so!!

My little dolly is turning six.

She was super patient while I clicked to my hearts content. She's having a carnival theme party this year and so we wanted her style to be full of color and fun!

You're such a special girl, sissy. You're a very deep thinker. The top of your list questions ALWAYS include inquiries about the ship Titanic and also Sharks. You LOVE hershey's chocolate bars or any candy for that matter. While the rest of the family usually prefers ranch dressing on their salad yours must be Italian. You're at the top of your class and are reading SO very incredibly well! While you have lots of fun with your big brother Scottie, Luke is your true buddy. We asked if you would like to be signed up for ballet and you simply requested figure skating. You truly adore your cousins Sidney and Shalese. And I often receive the question if you'll ever have a sister. You are the light in our lives and such a joy to have.

Love you sweet girl!

We'll be sure to post more pictures after the big party!

He Craves the Attention!

Scottie was rooting for the Phoenix Suns at the Jazz/Suns playoff game last night. How could he help but be a big fan? He grew up with it for almost four years! Scottie caught the eye of the Jazz Bear, wearing a Phoenix jersey in a Utah crowd. He got plastered with silly string and loved EVERY second of it!

Five months old!!

I.N.S.A.N.E. to think that we have had Lincoln with us here on earth for almost half a year now!

This was my view as we were leaving the hospital that day. The hospital was behind us and that's where we were ready for it to be and stay!

....and this was my new perspective....

the road that was ahead

and this was my new outlook on life...

Bright, shiny, beautiful, & happy

And it's real, no more pinching, no more looking over my shoulder to see if someone's here to take him back!

He had his two month well-child check up. So, for his actual age, five months, he is way below off the charts. Are ya sure? ;) With his adjusted age, he is in the one to fifth percentile. No surprises. He's a preemie!

Our doctor shakes his head in disbelief everytime we visit him. He frequently reminds us of the miracle Lincoln is!

For his adjusted age, two months, mainly what he's expected to being doing at this point is making eye contact with us and smiling. He's doing just that!

Scottie was at school when we were doing our photoshoot, so unfortunately he didn't make it in this photograph!

Birth Announcement

Introducing our little bundle of joy....

I just couldn't decide on one for the back :)

ARGH!! Just BARELY, yes...after already sending them out, noticed I got the homecoming date wrong! Should be March 8, 2010!

All Smiles Today

A Picture is worth a thousand words....

Not so sure about Tummy Time!!

Found some old memories

I was looking through one of Lincoln's albums with saved photos and came across these:

This was one of the first pictures we took of Lincoln. I posted a similar photo back a ways in his blog. I love this one because you can truly see how small he was.

These two pictures (above and below) were taken not long after he was transferred up to Primary Children's the first time. Teeny hand.

We have this water baby at home that the kids had out and were playing with a lot. I decided to measure it and found that it was the same length as Lincoln. This baby was MUCH chunkier than our Lincoln though. I took it to the NICU and took a picture so the kids could have something a little more tangible to compare to him.

These last two pictures were taken on the day we brought Lincoln home. I gave him just one more bottle to fill up his little tummy!

Easter 2010

We had a GrEaT Easter weekend. We were being super crazy for awhile thinking we were going camping. THEN the weather took a turn for the worst....Was it possible for it to get colder? Um, YES! We're in Utah afterall. A few days of lovely seventy degree weather as an appetizer. Then for the main course....SNOW!

Instead we had an easter egg hunt followed by a dinner at my Mom and Dad's. It was so much fun! It was the first Easter in a long time that we had been with some of the family!

Easter Sunday was spent watching General Conference then we were off to have a nice dinner at Scott's parents. His father LOVES to put on an egg hunt for the kids. And they really enjoy getting MORE candy!

Lincoln's Life

So, how is it exactly having Lincoln home? A lot of people have asked and each time my response is something like..."We're happy, Life's wonderful, Everything is just perfect!"...which is ALL very true.
For a little more in depth detail:
Lincoln sleeps with mommy and daddy. Yes, I know, I said not another child of mine would sleep in my bed. He just sleeps SO much better with us. He will wake up two to three times. Luckily he does really well with breast-feeding and so we take advantage of that at night time. The doc's really want to make sure he still gets the extra nutrition that he needs. That is why we can't fully eliminate bottle feeding. I'm okay with that. We'll do what we need to do and in due time we'll work with what is at hand!

He takes multiple naps through out the day still. He really enjoys his swing and bouncy chair! When he wakes up he wants to eat RIGHT away! He has a few times through out the day that he stays awake for at least an hour or so. He loves to look around and take in all the new things to see and hear. Morning time is his favorite! Pretty much every morning, he'll lay on the bed and just grin and grin. He can get super wiggly in response to his happiness.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown

The first bath I gave to Lincoln, he was NOT so happy about. Now, he thoroughly enjoys bath time! Though, he's not so sure about afterwards when he's cold. I routinely put baby lotion on him and he loves his palms rubbed.

He is a very popular boy!! We have an occupational therapist come to our house twice a month and a nurse once a month. Lincoln has been to multiple routine doctor's appointments, with Dr. Berry, since being home. Everyone in the office loves to see him. This next week is going to be C.R.A.Z.Y. I have a different appointment for him Monday through Thursday.
I still can't believe he's home. Everyday I hold him and just shake my head in disbelief. I'm wondering when they will come in and whisk him right back to the hospital. This boy is SO SUPER kissable! I've had a bit of a sore throat the last couple of days, so I've had to try to contain myself. Let me tell ya... it's not easy!!
We love having Lincoln home and are so glad to be on with our new journey in life!