Life with Link

I was asked today if being a mom was what I had imagined it to be.  I said that it is so much more!  I feel happiness, sadness, frustration, joy, love and about a million other emotions deeper than I ever thought possible.  I love God more than I ever have, and I praise Him as often as I can for giving Link to us.  Except for the I’m-so-tired-but-I-refuse-to-nap moments and the 3am hunger cries, Link is a very happy baby.  He loves , loves, loves his daddy.  Justin makes him laugh all of the time, receives countless smiles, and provides challenges to him daily.

Lincoln’s aunties are the best!  He loves when his Aunty Ashley watches him!  She is an expert at getting him to nap and loves him in a beautiful way.  His Aunty Amy doesn’t get to see him as often, but that doesn’t matter to Link – he loves her immensely!  Link loves his grandparents!  He looks forward to each day his grandmas get to watch him!  And his grandpas always show him new things – Grandpa Mike will teach him to fish this summer and Grandpa Ron will show him all about cool cars (and is continuing to teach him the importance of the Nebraska Huskers!).

Link loves to take baths and splash around!  He thinks the water is just fantastic!  I purchased his swim diapers and a cute little swim suit so that he is all ready to experience swimming!  I am sure we will be visiting the Benson’s pool often this summer, so he is going to be quite the little fish!

Lincoln is also turning into an expert crawler!  He loves to chase mommy, daddy and the kitty.  We all enjoy it, except for our kitty, Alabaster, who has taken to attacking Link.  This means a little smack to the face, which we usually stop before Alabaster hits him, and Link really doesn’t notice. (Alabaster is declawed.)  Link loves to pull kitty’s tail, but is learning how to “touch nicely”.  We will see how soon he catches on completely!  And who can blame him – kitty tails are fun!

I am sure Link will be walking in no time.  He crawls like a pro, and is walking along everything.  He walks down the hall holding our hands, and sometimes does it one handed.  He will be a pro walker in time for Amy’s wedding in August!

Here is a short little video of Lincoln crawling!

Link is now 8 months old!  It has been so exciting watching him grow.  He is crawling around like crazy and so happy that he can move!  He has been doing the ‘army crawl’ like a pro, and is starting to lift his tummy so that he is truly crawling.  Also, he loves to walk!  He can pull himself to stand on just about anything (and always looks to make sure someone is proud of him) and then walks along that location.

He is babbling a lot, and making “G” sounds a lot.  He stopped saying mama, but he actually said “raccoon” yesterday.  I’m sure none of you will believe that, but ask my mom – he really was saying it!

We “graduated” from baby yoga last weekend.  Since Link is crawling all over, he doesn’t like to sit still, so it had become more stressful than not. We will miss spending this time with Elizabeth and Liam, but now we can do yoga at home! Link and I did yoga last night together, and it was nice because he can crawl away if he wants and I can still relax, knowing he is safe and not bothering anyone else.  He did enjoy me being his “bridge” while I was in downward dog – he kept crawling under me.

We had a wonderful time with Aunty Amy and {soon-to-be} Uncle Collin home last week!  I picked out my dress for her wedding and we played games!  We miss our Amy, so it was so nice for her to be home!

The weather has been beautiful out, which is so nice since we can go on family walks.

Justin and I are doing well.  Having a baby sure changes a marriage.  We have been building a solid relationship with God in the middle, and a great communication pattern so we are conquering the hurdles Link welcomes into our lives!  We should probably spend more time just the two of us, but it’s hard when all I want to do is be with Link!

I’m looking forward to the weekend, and some shorter weeks thanks to Easter coming up!  I cherish every minute I get to be with Lincoln, even though sometimes he is exhausting!

Looking forward to the next month – although I hope to post before then!  Link has his first dental appointment in a couple of weeks, then his 9 month checkup on the 20th.  We also have an eye appointment scheduled for him in May – just a routine appointment.  It is such a privilege and a challenge being responsible for another human being.  I realized last night that I had no idea when I gave him his last bath!  (It was Sunday – so yes, bad mommy!)  Oh well, he is a happy, healthy, growing little boy!  I think it’s okay if I miss a bath here and there – I still wash him every day!  :-)

Lincoln is now six months old!  We are so very proud of him.  He grows more and more both physically and mentally each day!  We had his six month check up yesterday, and his doctor is very happy about him developmentally.  Everything we told him, the Dr. was very happy to hear!  We will be introducing rice cereal in the next days.  I am excited about that – hopefully he likes it!  I was able to find a dairy and soy free rice cereal at the grocery store, but I might just make my own – we will see!

Here is a picture we took for his “6 month photos”!

In a couple of weeks, Lincoln will be 6 months old already!  I just love watching him grow and change!  We will be starting to feed him solids after his doctor appointment, and I plan to make his food myself.  That way I can watch the ingredients, save money, and hopefully give him a healthier start!  So far I have received some great advice about doing this, and I look forward to talking with other moms about best practices!

I welcome advice!

Here is a photo of Link from this weekend.  We were at the mall with Grandma Jill, and he was sitting right in his stroller (instead of in the carseat hooked to the stroller).  He looks like such a big boy!  He enjoyed sitting and looking around, but mostly enjoyed eating the strap of his stroller!

I am worrying today about someone/something that I do not know well, and can do nothing about.  I think this is a character flaw that I have – wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders.  This happens all too often.  When bad things happen, I decide that there was something I could have/should have done to stop it.  I forget that the only thing that I can do, is pray.  God has this all under His control.  I try not to question why He “let” it happen, because that is not true nor does it help.  And because I can not do anything about this situation in particular, I blogged about it instead.

What an amazing year this past one has been!  I received the greatest gift that I could have ever asked for in July: a beautiful son.  Lincoln has made me the person I have always longed to be.  There is not one moment if 2011 that I would wish to change.  I am so proud of the almost 6 month old that he has become!  I love myself more than ever.  I have realized what an amazing mate my husband is.  I am completely refreshed!  More joyful, compassionate, patient than I ever have been.  I have a much greater love for our God!

My first time holding Lincoln:
He was able to leave the special care nursery about 5 hours after he was born.

Justin holding our sweet boy:

I am looking forward to this next year with such excitement!  We will pay off one of our cars this year.  We will watch our sister Amy graduate and get married.  *fingers crossed* I will be graduating from grad school this year!  Lincoln will be growing and changing every moment!

What a wonderful new year we have entered.  I am so excited!

Someday I will die.  That is inevitable.  I have never been afraid per say of dying, I just didn’t want it to happen yet.  Now that I have Lincoln, I think I’m going to die all of the time.  Around every corner I see a new danger.  One of my biggest fears right now is that I will leave Lincoln alone in this world.  Of course he would not be alone – he would have a wonderful father and amazing grandparents to care for him.  That doesn’t make it better.  The key thing for me to do now is trust in God.

Trust in God? That has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced throughout my entire life.  People whom I love have died, gotten sick, had horrible things happen to them.  Despite this, I am told to follow Him.  Proverbs says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  Isaiah says “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.”  We read in Psalms “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God… I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?”  There are countless more examples of how the Bible tells us to trust in God.

So instead of looking at all of the ways that I feel God has “let me down” I instead will look at the proof God has given to trust in Him.  That proof for me is Lincoln.  I waited (im)patiently for our amazing Lord to gift me with one of His children.  I (im)patiently trusted that someday it would be my turn.  I had a beautiful and successful first pregnancy.  We had a beautiful and scary birth.  I watched my sweet boy taken away from me not breathing, but all along trusted (without any sort of understanding) that God would carry Lincoln through.  I now have a strong, healthy, amazing child that shows the miracles God performs.  He did this for me.  Now it’s time that I trust Him with all that I am.