6 months old!

It's hard to believe that Linc is 6 months old now. He's sitting up really well, and trying to crawl (but hasn't yet figured out how to go anywhere). He's a blast.

Yee-Haw!

Last week was Rodeo Day at Lincoln's school (he goes to Cathedral House at Christ Church Cathedral downtown) It was in honor of the kick-off of the Houston Rodeo. (For those of you that read this blog and aren't from Houston, or even Texas, I realize that must seem bizarre - but the rodeo here goes for 3 weeks and is a HUGE event, so around here, it seems normal.) Anyway - all the kids were encouraged to dress up. Here is Linc in his cowboy outfit (the boots are courtesy of Will and Shawna). He even took a stuffed horse to school with him (which given to him by Alex Crawford and Malinda Allison, appropriately!) It was pretty funny.

Lincoln meets Macy

A few weekends ago we met up with Andy and Mandy Luster at a youth retreat (Soul Link) in North Houston. It was the first time we got to meet Macy, and they got to meet Lincoln. It was fun...and very surreal...to hang out with the babies together. (And not suprisingly, that's mostly what our conversation was about, making Mandy and I laugh about how much things have changed since college!) Lincoln enjoyed grinning at Macy, and enjoyed trying to pull her hairbow off her headband. After that they chewed on each other's toys and pretty much ignored each other. We also got to see Maddie (big sister to Macy) who just gets cuter by the day. It was a fun morning, but left me wondering - when did we get so old? It seems like we just graduated college!

Linc at 5 months

It is hard to believe Linc is already 5 months old! He continues to be incredibly laid-back with a ready smile. He's enjoying eating cereal now (although at first, he wasn't so sure) but I'm still trying to get the hang of feeding it to him without creating a HUGE mess!

An unexpected twist...

I returned from maternity leave on Jan. 7th to learn that I was set for trial on Feb. 4th in Texarkana, for 2 weeks. It was NOT what we had planned (esp. as it is during Andrew's busy season!) But, as trial experience is rather hard to come by, I knew I needed to take it. Thankfully our moms came to the rescue! My mom came down to stay with Linc for 2 weeks (pretrial and 1st week) and Andrew's mom came down to stay with him for the last week of trial. Thankfully, I got to fly home for about 24 hours on the weekend in between and see everyone. All in all, I'm thankful for the experience (and the jury saw things our way and we won, which was satisfying) but it was very tough to be away from Linc for that long. (although I've jokingly told Andrew that I've never worked that much, or that hard, in my life - so that was a helpful distraction.)

Here are some pictures of Linc's "adventures with his grandmothers" - I think they all had a great time getting some one on one time with him. It also worked out well that Barrett and Tiffany moved into their house over the time that my mom and dad came down. Everyone got to help with the move and getting the house ready - and we love the fact that they are only 5 minutes away now!

Lincoln at 3 1/2 months....

Christmas

Christmas was busy this year! We spent the holidays in Michigan, and Lincoln surely got his share of attention. He was a great, laid-back traveler for his first flight (despite a 5 hour delay in the airport...which Lincoln tolerated much better than Andrew and I) And, in addition to celebrating his first Christmas morning (which he slept through) Lincoln also attended his first wedding (cousin Arianne), a birthday party (cousin Maddux), and a baby shower (for soon-to-be-born cousin Braylyn - Amanda was excited that Braylyn was given lots of U of M gear...Drew was less than thrilled, being an OU fan). Linc also finally got to meet his great-aunts and uncles, and great-grandpa Leeser, and his newest cousins, Owen Zichske (7 months) and Morgan Baker (4 months)...although I think the parents had more fun taking photos of the babies together than the kids did.

Some of the most fun memories occurred watching Gaines, our nephew, interact with Lincoln. (Note their coordinating Christmas PJs...very cute, thanks to their Nana.) Several times throughout the week Gaines said "Baby Lincoln is my friend" and would then bring him toys to play with, or help give him a bottle. It's a good thing that Gaines loves babies - because he is about to get a new baby sister any day...and Lincoln will have yet another cousin! In fact, there are three new cousins being born this spring, and, God willing, a baby on the way from Vietnam for Josh and Marcie. The next family get-together will be crazy, since most of the babies will be "mobile" by then. Heaven help us! Also, Linc experienced his first snowstorm, and Amber loaned us some "baby winter gear" which we were very thankful for. Gaines took advantage of the snow to go sledding a few times, which was fun to watch. (And many of us - myself included-made a trip down the hill with him. It made Andrew and I excited about the future, when Linc will be old enough to do things like that!

And as you see in the picture above (and the video link below) we gave Gaines a drumset for Christmas which (unfortunately for Will and Shawna) went home with him to North Carolina. What are aunts and uncles for, after all? (Although we have a feeling that we'll be...repaid...a few years down the line. :) All in all, it was a cold, snowy, busy, fun, and wonderful Christmas. We were thankful most of all for the gift that God gave us all so long ago. Having a baby boy made me a bit reflective this year, and even more amazed that God would give up his one and only son for us.