Wordless Wednesday (a.k.a A Reason to Show Cute Pictures of My Children)

Project Sleep through the Night

Remember this post?

Sleep deprivation is the worst, isn't it? Thankfully, after writing that post, I had a change in perspective that helped me get through quite a few more sleepless nights. But my frustration about my son's sleep habits always lay right beneath the surface of my emotions, ready to pop up its ugly head at any given time (usually around 3 am).

Then a couple of weeks ago, I read an article about a couple with sextuplets. The wife talked about the point of desperation that they hit with their lack of sleep. (I can't even imagine!) She shared that when their babies were 4 months old, they simply turned off the baby monitor for two weeks and all six of them had learned to sleep through the night since.

Two things crossed my mind:
1) They can get six kids to sleep through the night and I am struggling with just one?!

2) Why haven't I tried that?

And then I remembered why I hadn't tried that. Our two boys share a room. And while, our three year old has amazed me by sleeping through hours of Lincoln crying, I could only imagine the drama that would unfold if mommy and daddy didn't come running if Griffin ever he needed us. There would be therapy bills to pay for sure.

Then it hit me. Wes had to go out of town last weekend. I would let Griffin sleep in my room for those two nights and kill the monitor.

So Project Sleep through the Night began once more--only I slept worse with the monitor off than I did with it on. Partly due to the fact that Griffin wanted to sleep on my head...and also that I couldn't hold myself back from turning on the monitor every hour or two. Oh, and going into check on Lincoln every other hour or two.

But I stuck with the plan of letting Lincoln cry when he did wake up. This meant no running at the first peep to give him his binkie. He had to learn to put himself back to sleep. No mommy intervention allowed.

It's been almost a week since the Project began. This past week, there have been several times that Lincoln has woken up in the night, fussed for a few minutes and then put himself back to sleep. What a good feeling.

The night before last, he slept 10 hours straight. And at this present moment, Lincoln is going on 11 1/2 hours of sleep. Straight.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!! GLORRRRRRY?! HALLELUJAH?!

Someday I hope I meet that family with sextuplets. I plan on giving all 8 of them big fat smooches.

The Next American Idol?

Take a look and then cast your vote!

p.s The girl in the background is our friend, Chelsea, who also
happens to be a super fun babysitter.

three and a half months

Lincoln at three and a half months

Griffin at three and a half months


Do you think they might be brothers?

**Come back soon to find out who the grand prize winner is in my "Help me with my list" contest. I'm pretty excited about it!

One month old! (plus a couple weeks)

Six weeks ago tonight, I was feverishly keeping track of contractions and hoping that this was the real deal. And yep, it sure was...check out the proof:

I'm planning on trying really, really hard to keep track of milestones with the same passion that I did with my firstborn child. So, in an effort to keep myself accountable, I've decided to blog about Lincoln's monthly growth. That way, you can yell at me if I haven't blogged about him in a while. (As you can see, I'm already running late...) Here goes:

Month 1:
Wow, Lincoln, it is hard to believe that you are already a month old! So far, you have been such an easy baby--let's keep that up, ok? Here are a few memories from your first month of life:

*It's been so fun to watch Griffin with you, Lincoln. He loves you soo much! He runs to you every time you cry and tries to make it better with your binky. He tries to reassure you by saying, "It's Ok, Lincoln." (It took him a while to realize that your name wasn't Baby Bob--but he's caught on now!) Every time he catches you spitting up, he says, "Oh, Buddy!" (I think he got that from Mommy...) And when you are crying in the car, he sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to try to calm you down. Sometimes we have to help him slow down and help him be more gentle with you--but it's just because he gets so excited when you are around!

*You went to your first concert this month. (Mommy and Daddy like to get our kids 'cultured' young.) It was our youth group's kick-off event with the Proxy, Nevertheless, and Flyleaf. We didn't take your gentle eardrums into the actual concert, however--just right outside the doors. You seemed to enjoy it.

*Right before you turned one month old, you started giving us the biggest smiles. I couldn't believe it! We loooove to watch you smile. You are a very happy kid.

*You are one loud sleeper! After one sleepless night, Mommy and Daddy got smart and moved you right outside the door, where we couldn't hear you as well. We also discovered that you sleep better in your carseat. You've had a stuffy nose for a while, so it seemed to help with your congestion too. Now, you usually only wake us up around 3 am and 6:30 am--and that's good with me!

*Everyone says you look like someone different. For a while, it was your Uncle Ryan. Then they thought you looked more like an Ehret. Then, several people at church said you look like Papa Hill. Recently, more people have been saying you look like Griffin. I've decided that when your eyes are closed you look more like a Hill and when they are open, you look more like an Ehret. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

It is hard for me to believe how fast the time is flying already. I'm doing my best to enjoy every minute--even the 3 am ones. But, I also can't wait to watch you grow. We have so much to look forward to. I love that we get to watch another little life grow before our very eyes.

We love you, little Lincoln! (or Winkin, as Griffin says it)