I went to parent teacher conference last Thursday. All I can say is, I am SO proud of Scottie & Savana. Both of their teachers had nothing but good things to say about them. For Scottie, I usually get a little bit of constructive criticism, but she had nothing but good things to say! In fact, she actually said 'if I could have a whole classroom of Scottie's, I would be very happy!' He also has been scoring at least 90% or higher in all of his subjects and testing. Savana's teacher goes gaga over her. She's so fascinated with the way her brain works & she happens to think Savana is gifted. She told me that as she's teaching, she'll notice that Savana is doodling in a notebook or reading a book. She said this might be a concern with other children but not Savana. The reason for no concern is that as all of this is going on, Savana is very quick to raise her hand and answer any questions and she answers them correctly. So, her teacher has just come to the conclusion that she is very good at multitasking. I'm very happy with what amazing little children I have!

Keep on Keepin' on

I may be jumping ahead of myself here, but I think we're on the brink of a major break through. Lincoln has been able to get up on all fours for about six months now. Initially, that gave me a false sense of hope thinking he would crawl not long after he figured that out. I've seen some great progress from him and my expectations have been high. I felt a little discouraged after one of his PT sessions. We discussed what could be holding him back. He has some tone in his hamstring & hip muscles. It's something we're working on & keeping tabs on. BUT the last couple days, he has been making small moves in the crawling direction! I feel like if I can concentrate on giving him that extra attention a little bit everyday ..... It will happen!!
In other news, his eighth tooth just broke through, he is self-feeding really well, he's signing AND saying more, he's completely on a bottle, and the sweetest of all... He's started to give kisses when I ask for them!! He's sitting in a highchair and loving it!
Update from the follow up clinic: The only doctor we had to see was the opthamologist. It was a record-breaking follow up clinic visit. We were in and out of there in less than an hour. I let Dr. Larson know I honestly wasn't having Lincoln wear his glasses very often. I let him know it was very difficult with the stage he is in. He's not really sitting, he's not standing, so he's either always on his belly or occasionally on his back. Dr. Larson actually informed me if he wasn't really ever crossing his eyes there would be no need for him to wear his glasses. I let him know that I rarely, if ever, see him cross his eyes. He then examined Lincoln and then lifted a ton of bricks off of my shoulders by telling me he doesn't have to wear them anymore!!! YAY!! It's really hard to understand until you have experienced it yourself, but when they say having a preemie means your baby stays in that baby stage forever, it is SO true. It's been hard in some ways to see other babies surpass him or to not notice when he doesn't reach those milestones in the 'normal' range of time. But I'll tell you what, Lincoln is the most sweetest, most gentle, most loving, precious little soul. He is so patient, easy to humor, and so easy to love. The progress will come, the time will pass, he will grow and life will be good!

7 Years Young

Okay, so she's not quite 7 yet, but these photos are from her 7 year photoshoot! I'm very happy with the way they turned out too! She's a photographer's dream. She knew exactly how to work the camera. I only had to ask her to relax on the last few photos. She's getting so big I can hardly believe it! This sweet daughter of mine is so very dear to me and holds a special place in my heart!! And let me just tell you....it's ALWAYS awesome to have lots of pictures that turn out, BUT it can make it that much harder to pick your favorites!! I put her birthday invite together, which includes two more photos that are not posted here. I made my hubby do the choosing though ;)

Funny story....These were the last couple of photos I took and asked her to get her wiggles out. She pulled the funniest face and I'm glad I was still snapping away! Guess it worked!

One Year of Pure Bliss!

One year ago today we brought Lincoln home from the Hospital. I still can't believe everything that we went through. When I read through all of our experiences it truly sounds like it's straight out of a novel. I don't know if some people could even make these things up if they tried! With that said, I'm glad it's over. I'm glad it's a year behind us and all we have is the future. Lincoln is such a wonderful baby. He still sleeps all through the night, is trying SUPER hard to crawl, drags himself around the entire downstairs by means of the army crawl, finally has more hair sprouting all over his head, has seven teeth, and enchants me with his blue blue eyes! The kids call him baby blue eyes and it just melts my heart. He has them wrapped around his little finger about as much as he does me. He simply adores his daddy. I love to see his eyes light up, accompanied with a sweet sincere smile, as his eyes meet with his daddy's. And above all, I'm SOOO extremely grateful for a year of good health and no scary visits to the hospital.
We Love You Lincoln!!!

2 Years Without

Believe it or not, in some ways more than others, two years have flown by! It was refreshing to go see Colten's little grave on his two year birthday. Because he's buried in Oasis, one and a half hours away, we don't get down to see him as often as we'd like. We left him a bird in a cage along with a gift from my mom and dad. Afterward, we had a family dinner at my parents. The whole turn of events with him is such a distant memory. I'm so glad I was able to record my feelings and everything that took place.

The Sweetest....

Savana truly is the sweetest girl! She had been conjuring up this story for awhile. Last night she asked me a few questions here and there then presented me with this story.....

Busy Bees

Life just keeps getting busier and busier and it's not even the peak of our sports season :(

Some things that keep me smiling and my heart thumping:

• Lincoln is exploring ALL over the house. It used to be that he would just roll all over the living room, but he's definitely broadened his horizons. First it started with him making his way into the kitchen. While most parents dread the stage where their babies become mobile and find the dog food, we were elated! His other favorite place to play is the bathroom in our master bedroom. I don't see where the fascination is LOL. Note to self (and everyone else for that matter): keep bathroom door closed! He is not quite crawling, but has mastered the army crawl. He loves to get up on his hands and knees, then rock back and forth. We're gently encouraging the crawling...it will come! He now has five teeth and the sixth and seventh have broken through the gum! We made a visit to Dr. Berry for Lincoln's 15 month well-child check up. Things are looking good. We talked about how he is definitely behind in a lot of areas, but he is making progress and that is all we can ask for. Funny story, when Dr. Berry was doing the "diaper-area" check, Lincoln peed on him! I died laughing because it's one of those embarrassing things that is totally uncontrollable. Lincoln RARELY pees when his diaper is off! Tomorrow we're off to another neonatal follow up clinic. We'll get a better idea of where he is in general.


• Scottie is busy with basketball, scouts, and after-school art. His last basketball game of the season is this coming Saturday. His team is undefeated and he often tries to emulate Jimmer of BYU..... I kid you not! He is doing well in school and was just signed up with another super-league baseball team.


• Savana is also involved in an after-school art class. This is her cup of tea! She is constantly drawing pictures and writing stories. I just recently bought her a huge three ring binder along with a three hole punch so she can store and save all of her favorite stories and pieces of art. Her seventh birthday is coming and I'm feeling the pressure of preparing for photos, invitations, party and presents. She has mentioned a few ideas, but I'm the culprit for having the big ideas!


• Luke is my little buddy! If he's mad at me, he'll threaten to withhold his kisses. He's become a little Wii addict and I occasionally have to take some time to sit down and play it with him. He loves to talk my ear off about it as well. He's pretty good and puts me to shame! We're trying to prepare him for kindergarten this fall. I'm really nervous and hoping it's the right decision! He will be five in July, so that will make him one of the youngest in the class. I had previously decided I would hold him back a year, but with me going to school, this seems to be the best fit! He gets to spend a couple of afternoons with grandpa through out the week, while I'm at school, and they are becoming pretty good friends!


• Scott loves the Utah winters....not! No matter what, he gets a lingering cough & cold and it seems he can't ever nip it in the bud! That is definitely one thing he loved about AZ, he never had to deal with these nasty colds! He's actually not too busy with sports right now, surprise surprise. He has his weekly bowling league going on and then once in a blue moon plays a basketball game at the church.


• I don't know if there's enough room on this blog to fill in all of the things that are keeping me busy! A few of which would be, school, kids, photography....life. I decided to go back to school because with Lincoln's situation, we desperately need good health insurance. Because Scott is self-employed, private health insurance is horrendous. I have thought strongly, for quite a few years now, about being and Ultrasonographer. There aren't very many places at all that offer the program. I have two choices: a) outreach program for Weber State University (Which you have to be a radiology tech before even applying to the program....not an option for me right now), or b) Salt Lake Community College who also offers the program. I was working on my last class for my associates degree when my water broke with Lincoln. Luckily it happened early enough in the semester that I was able to withdraw from the class. The pre-req's for the program are: 1)High School Diploma or Equivalent...check, 2)COMM 1010 or 1020 Communications(public speaking)....check, 3)MATH 1010 Intermediate Algebra...not checked...not so sure what I'm going to do with this yet, possibly test out:( (so sad because I completed Math 1050 in high school, but because it was over 5 years ago they won't take it!), 4)PHYS 1010 Elementary Physics....not checked I will be registering for this in the fall, 5)BIOL 2320/2325 Human Anatomy....not checked, but registered for summer semester at BYU, 6)BIOL 2420/2425 Human Physiology....not checked, but registered for spring semester at BYU. Other preferences, but not requirements patient care experience and a degree. The insane thing about the whole program is that it is only offered every other year with 16 spots available, 16!!!!
  Along with having my degree by this fall, I am now enrolled in a CNA program and will hopefully have patient care experience to put on my resume. I have a lot to do in very little time. If I don't complete all of these things by this next coming winter, I won't be able to apply for the program for another two years. Wish me luck!!! In the meantime, besides my daily responsibilities that come along with being a wife and mother, I am still doing a few photo sessions here and there. I sure hope I don't get burnt out anytime soon!

We've been trying to keep it light around here with taking silly photos and, if needs be, recover with laughter therapy.

Thanks Hayley for the inspiration and the app! As you can tell, we'v been having a lot of fun :)