....The Man

When it comes to baseball......
Scottie is THE man! He is so talented. I just can not believe how passionate this kid is about sports. My in-laws and I watch him and wonder if his mannerisms are inherently natural or a learned thing by watching his father and ESPN. When Scott gets up to bat, he does this little wiggle thing....Scottie does the same thing!

I think he may have learned an important lesson this last game. He was upset because as he slid into homebase, he got called out. He was devastated. He sat in the dug out and cried. He tried to be tough and fight back the tears, but he lost control. He was a little embarassed and didn't want the other boys to see him. He just couldn't believe he wasn't called safe.

That same game, a boy around his age, got up to bat. Everyone watched in amazement as this little guy with one arm gave all he had just to swing at the ball. He didn't hit the ball, he didn't even come close, but he sure tried. After the game Scottie's sadness turned into anger. "I should've been safe, that stupid UMP didn't make the right call. He's dumb, he should be fired." We tried to remind him that at least he made it on base, not just once but twice. We tried to remind him that at least he had two opportunities two score and did one of the times. We tried to remind him that sometimes you lose and it's okay. We also reminded him this was a team sport. He just wanted to be angry.

The next day he softened a little. He said to me "Mom, do you remember that boy with one arm who played yesterday?" I replied "I do. Wasn't that amazing?" His response gave great indication that he thought about his whole experience and attitude the day before. He said "He tried his hardest Mom. Every time he swung, it could've been called a ball, but instead he just wanted to hit it and he tried his hardest." My heart felt happy and I gently reminded him "Now you see, not everyone can even make it on the base everytime."

Great lessons can be learned through the smallest experiences.

Oh Me Oh My

Yep, another month...come and gone. And we're still keeping him. And no, you can't buy him...he's not for sale! Lincoln's 7 months old .... His adjusted age is 4 months!

We still have our occupational therapist, vision specialist, and nurse coming every month for check ups. The OT say he's doing really well and everything that is expected of him. The nurse feels the same way. In fact, the last time she came he had gained 10 ounces in less than two weeks and she was SUPER excited about that. The vision specialist feels Lincoln is on track as well. But when we went to the neonatal follow up clinic, the opthamolgist observed that Lincoln definetely had an injury from either the brain bleed, hydrocephalus, infection from the shunt, or the actual pressure. He diagnosed him with Cortical Visual Impairment. Now, how severe is it? We don't know yet. We do know he can see though. The opthamolgist said just the fact that he makes eye contact and tracks things is HUGE. He diagnosed him with having 20/200 vision or worse, which is considered being legally blind. I think we'll know and see the bigger picture when Lincoln can communicate with us what he is seeing. So for now, we'll just keep hoping for the best and trying to teach him the best ways possible to learn to see!

Can't wait to see him running around in these one day!

Overachiever

Scott and I were getting ready to go with his parents to put some flowers on a few family members graves for Memorial Day. I went outside to get the kids in so they could get ready. Here comes Luke up the street on a bike with no training wheels. On a princess bike, nonetheless.

I was SO taken back! I had to blink my eyes and squint multiple times to double check what I thought I was seeing. I giggled to myself in excitement and ran in to tell Scott and get my camcorder. He was pretty proud of himself, as you can tell. I asked Scottie and Savana how he learned and they said "well, he just needed some help up on it, then we told him to pedal and he did!" How amazing!

Last Day of School

The kids had their annual last day of school dance festival. It was kind of fun having two this year to watch. Both of their dances were super cute and they both did SO good!

Another year behind us another year of them getting closer to leaving home :( They both really enjoyed this last year of school, even with mommy and daddy MIA for half of it.

Both of them had wonderful teachers. It was Scottie's teachers last year at his school, she'll be missed! This next year, we just wish good health for Savana's teacher.

Both of the teachers did an excellent job of performing with the kids. Scottie practiced often in front of us. Savana, on the other hand, would not! She knew it really well though.

For next year, they both got the teachers they were hoping for. I can't believe I'm going to have a first grader and a third grader....scary!!!

Pinewood Derby

This year Scottie was able to participate in his very first Pinewood Derby! The sad thing was that we didn't remember until the night before. Scott rushed home from work and Scottie rushed home from school to hurry and put paint and a number on it.

He didn't place, but he sure had fun participating. Scott and I had a good chuckle to ourselves when we read his ribbon that said "I did my best." Not that there's anything wrong with that. We just though it'd be hilarious if you were the kid that said, "ya, I never got a 1st or 2nd place ribbon. My ribbon always said I did my best."

We had a great experience anyway! He was quite confident that he'd win the whole thing. He's so good at so many things, it's ok if he doesn't win ALL the time. That's a good dose of reality for him.

Mother Goose Olympics

I joined Savana at her school for an afternoon of Mother Goose Olympics. I was able to help out. The nursery rhyme I helped with was Simple Simon. The kids loved it. The object of our game was to do a relay race with a pie pan on your head, under your chin, or between your knees or elbows.

Since I was put on a bed rest then had the baby in the NICU, I wasn't able to attend a whole lot of things or be very involved with the kids at their school this year. It was nice to be able to go in and help a little bit. Seeing Savana smile made me happy too.

Each of them received a Gold Medal. Luke grinned from ear to ear when they called his name.


The next activity that week, following the Mother Goose Olympics, was the kindergarten picnic. We didn't take any pictures of that, but it was a bunch of fun as well!

Bless This Child

We were SO super happy to finally be able to bless Lincoln....
He is such an amazing little boy!
He was PERFECT through out the whole thing. My lovely husband does such an amazing job at speaking. He is so eloquent in his choice of words and never shows any signs of stage fright. He definitely lets the Spirit speak through him.

After Sacrament, we had a little get together with all of our family and friends. Everyone visited and filled their tummies to their hearts content. To all those who came: I know it gets a bit squishy when we're all together at my house, but I woudn't have it any other way. We're so glad to see all of your support for our family, it makes my heart happy!