Oh doctor, my doctor.

Seriously...we just can't catch a break. If you read my last post you saw that we are already under an extraordinary amount of stress. WAY too much going on. Well over the past few days it hasn't gotten any better.

I feel like everyone at The Child Health Center should know us by name. I have literally spoken to the nurses or gone in for an appointment with one of the kids 4 times in the past 6 days. And yes, that's a $30 copay for each visit... Lincoln took his Tamiflu and managed his fever and by Sunday night he was back to his old self again. Hooray. He's playing and laughing, and having a good time again. Aspen on the other hand is under the weather again. She is over her UTI, hopefully, after 10 days of antibiotics...that she hates to take. But on the 11th day she spiked a fever of 102 again. So of course, you have to wonder if it's still the UTI or if it's something else. So I called the nurses and they didn't have an appointment for me yesterday but said to call back today if she wasn't doing any better. Well....she wasn't. She was sad and pittiful. She wouldn't play, just wanted to be held, cried if her feet touched the floor. Still had a fever of 101. So back to the phone I went..then back to the doctor again. Our appointment was for 4:40 and we didn't leave until 6:45!! Ugh. They pricked her finger to check her white blood cell count...so see if it showed infection or if it might just be viral. They put on another urine bag to get a sample to check the UTI again, but she wouldn't go. So they had to catheterize her again. SOOOOO sad! She now screams when you just put her on the scale. She hates the doctor, hates to be laid down now, and it will take like 3 days before she'll let me change her diaper at home without screaming at me. :(

Turns out it's probably not the UTI, it's probably viral. So just keep her on ibuprofen and keep her comfortable...if she gets worse I should come back. You know what stinks? We'll be there again on Monday anyway..for our well check! HA!!! Like we're well!! Also on Monday we'll be going back to Charlotte for an adjustment to her helmet. But BEFORE that...tomorrow she has an ultrasound of her kidneys to check their formation. Since she had the UTI she has to be looked at. It's standard procedure. We're still waiting on the call back from a pediatric urologist so we can get the VCUG done to check for reflux in her kidneys. None of this is fun.

I have to say that the Lord sure knows what He's doing. How in the WORLD would I manage all these appointments and things if I was working? No way she'd make it to these doctor visits, or every two weeks to Charlotte. I mean really.

Besides all the medical drama this weekend it really only got worse. Freezing rain/sleet/ice on Friday and into Saturday and guess what?! Our heat pump stops working!! Oh jeez....just one more thing. The breaker from the Duke Power line into the house had busted and wasn't sending power to the unit. SO after 14 emergency calls to specialty lighting stores that aren't open on Saturdays Anthony finally finds someone who will meet him at the store to see if they have what he needs. $128 later he has the part in hand and hooray.....but it's still not working. Only the auxillary heat will come on. Problem not solved. So it's cold....and no heat. Thankfully we have gas logs in the basement that heat the house to a nice toasty temperature quite easily. Goodness gracious. We made it through the weekend and the guys came to check it out Monday  morning. Turns out the thermostat was broken and not sending the right signals to the unit. Easy fix. No big purchase...labor cost and cost of thermostat: $130.

PLUS!! I know right....it couldn't get any worse. Our 55" projection television stopped working Sunday. Really? So no tv in the living room, and a fight with Lincoln every time he wants to watch Mickey. We went downstairs to play for a while, but that feels like I come up and down the steps like 15 times an hour looking for something, changing a diaper, finding a toy. So Anthony had to order a new bulb online: $200.

And really, just to add icing to the cake, my back started killing me. I had to go see Anthony at work to get it straightened out. What a disaster our lives have been this last few weeks. Something good has got to be coming our way...cause I can't take one.more.thing!!!

On a happier note Aspen turned 10 months old yesterday!! My how the time does fly. She's now walking all over the house...almost ready to run, she's getting so fast! She waves bye bye and makes lots of jibberish sounds. No idea what she's saying, but it's awfully cute! She loves food now, finally. She'll suck down a food pouch in under a minute and eat anything on your plate. She's nursing 3 times a day now, but not for very long each time. I don't think our breastfeeding will linger on like it did with Lincoln. She just doesn't seem terribly interested. I'll post her official stats after our well check on Monday, providing that she's actually well!

Overwhelmed

I don't even know where to start. There are so many emotions running around right now. My brain is just swimming...

*Aspen has a UTI so she's on an antibiotic. She HATES medicine so it's very hard to get her to keep it in her mouth. The doctor just changed her meds so now she takes twice as much...blah.

*Because of Anthony's kidney issues Aspen now has to have an ultrasound of her kidneys to check out their formation...and one step past that...she also has to have what is called a VCUG where they use a catheter to push dye into her bladder then watch as it's voided through her kidneys and such. It's going to be terribly traumatic for all of us. She can't eat before she goes...and they're going to strap her down.

*Aspen has been wearing her band for a little over 11 weeks now. Originally they said 10-12 weeks, now it looks like more of 16 or so. But it changes every time we go....every two weeks we're driving to Charlotte. 

*Lincoln has been coughing since before Christmas. Nothing they can do about it, probably just a virus. But he's on a second z-pak for any possible infection since the cough has been around so long. Snot is running out his nose like water.

*Both kids have a fever of 101.3. Guessing they're sharing whatever virus one of them picked up. So on top of antibiotics it's also motrin for everyone. 

*Anthony has been sickly this week, just not feeling well...coughing and snotting. 

*Shawn is not a potential kidney donor anymore. He was tested Tuesday and they found he had a kidney stone so now he's not a candidate. 

*I can't go to breastfeeding support group because both kids have a fever, and I'm nice enough to keep my kids home when they're sick instead of sharing germs with everyone else.

I'm just so tired. I'm tired of my beautiful baby girl having her head covered up all the time by this stupid helmet. I want to have my  normal baby back. I want to put her headbands back on, I want people not to stare at me every time we walk out of the house. I don't want to hear people say "awww" when they look at her...I know it's out of pity because they don't know what to say. Just be quiet! I'm tired of this terrible thing called dialysis and the time it steals from us. Two hours a day are wasted by having to exchange fluids that Anthony's bum kidneys can't filter. So he can't pick up the kids, he can't help me in the kitchen, he can't even stand up for half that time. I'm SOOO tired of driving to Charlotte. My poor Saturn Vue just turned over 100K!! Now my poor baby has even more doctor's appointments and will be invaded even more. This new thing is going to be awful. All because there's a family history of kidney disease...so now she's going to be strapped down while dye is shoved inside her so the doctors can see if there's any reflux in the kidney. Plus we have to have a renal ultrasound done. Plus she has a "normal" baby well check coming up. Now both kids are on antibiotics, Lincoln's taking cough medicine, and both are taking something for fever. Who knows how much sleep we'll get tonight with both of them feeling sickly. I'm tired of being in doctor's offices, I'm tired of wiping snotty noses, I'm tired of forcing medicine into Aspen's mouth that she just wants to spit back at me. I'm tired of listening to Lincoln cough so much he wakes himself up. Now Anthony doesn't have a possible donor anymore. Poor Shawn was heartbroken, too. I mean, maybe the hospital will call someone else, but that hasn't been the case yet. Hopefully one of his other potential donors will also be tested and will match. I have to admit our families were already making plans...if Shawn was a match we were going to wait until the summer when Misty was off from school. We already thought it through. Sigh...

I know there are a lot of people out there who have it much worse off than I do. I am fully aware that there are terrible things happening around the world. But right now, this night...I have a right to be overwhelmed. I have a right to my emotions. I have the right to share my mind with the world, whether they want to listen or not. It just feels like so much all at one time. The saying goes that when it rains, it pours. And I have to say I'm drowning over here.

The Merriest of them All

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. And this year with both beautiful, healthy babies it was the merriest of them all. They were so precious. Lincoln loved everything and really got into it this year. He loved ripping off the paper and had the sweetest expressions when he discovered what was inside. And he's so gracious, always saying thank you and giving hugs. Love that boy! Aspen was cute, and tried to eat everything. Thankfully we understood this need and her toys were selected accordingly! 

As is our new tradition, we spent Christmas Eve morning at Mom and Dad's with Kaleb, Leslie, Zane, and Zoey. The kids all together were fun. Zoey is just ALL about the boys and what they were doing. She had to be right there with them. 

She thinks she's just as tough, too. I have to say she holds her own and doesn't put up with being pushed around! Zane wanted everything that everyone had, and so did Lincoln. They loved the opening but got sad when there were no more to open. Once they started playing with things they did well together. Aspen kept to herself and us, but she enjoyed eating the paper and dumping things out. Lincoln and Aspen both received their first pair of "real" cowboy boots. 

I can't say we are real boot people, but they are soooo stinking cute! And Lincoln wants to wear his all the time. "I want to wear my cowboy boots, Mommy!" He loves to stomp around the house with them on. Aspen really just wants to eat hers...but man are they sweet!

We always take a family picture in front of the tree at Mom's house...and no exclusion this year. It's so sweet to have this little family of four.

Christmas morning we enjoyed time at our house with several goodies for the babies. 

Lincoln loves his Thomas table..a big thanks to Benjamin Wortman for passing it down and letting it go!! Aspen seems to enjoy her new tricycle..we got her one just like Lincoln's because he still rides his. It's been one of his most favorite toys. We couldn't take it away from him now that he can "pedal pedal pedal" all around the yard. So now Aspen will have her very own and they can pedal together. 

On Sunday, December 23, Aspen was dedicated to the Lord. It was a very sweet ceremony. Pastor Keith is truly a wordsmith and always knows just what to say. I am so thankful that we are part of a church family where we feel spiritually filled. Aspen went right to Pastor Keith when he asked for her. She didn't fuss, or cry. In fact, she kept trying to grab his microphone. He wears one over his ear and she really seemed to like the way it looked. He began to mention Anthony's kidney troubles and I almost didn't make it through. He said that she was such a blessing in the midst of such a hard time, and how thankful we should be that she is here to bring us such joy. I have to say that if I wouldn't have been pregnant when Anthony found out about this kidney we would probably still not have another child. I am thankful every day that she is in our life. I know that some days are very difficult and they both test my patience, but I can't imagine life without Aspen here. Everything happens for a reason and I am so thankful that God placed her with us before Anthony was diagnosed. She brings us so much joy.

Our friend, Stephanie Pellecionne took these pictures of the ceremony.

We haven't had a family picture like this since the wedding...but now there are two extra faces! :)

On another note, Aspen is starting to walk!! She has been standing by herself for a few weeks now, but she has just recently started taking steps. Just yesterday she walked to me from the coffee table to the couch, about 5 or 6 steps!! She even had to turn a little to get to me. I must say I shed a tear! It was her 9 month birthday and she walked to me! This is crazy. She is getting so big, so fast. She is doing everything ahead of schedule, and so much faster than Lincoln. Leaving for Disney on Tuesday will be interesting...she may try to just walk away! She is making lots of noise these days: mamamam, dadadada, yayaya, bababa, nanana. She now loves cheerios and most foods we give her. It's about time! She is now becoming an eater. She likes most everything now...except baby cereal. But have you tasted that?! Who would like it anyway? She's OK eating most of our table foods, not just baby foods. She will eat baby food and she prefers the pouches. That's OK by me, they're so much easier. 

We may not know what 2013 holds but I do know this: Our family is precious. Our time will be sweet, protected, and cherished. We will love each other no matter what. And we will have tons of fun making memories together. We will start by ringing in the New Year at Disney World...just like it should be. (Again!!)

Eight Whole Months

I'm not sure how November slipped away without a single post. I guess we've just been busy! Thanksgiving has come and gone...it's so great to see family and spend such good times with them. And it's funny, because of Facebook I really do feel like we're closer. I don't have to wait an entire year to see pictures of Lexy & Lulu. I can follow Laura and Jonathan's next Disney trip in pictures. It really does come in handy.

Here are some of our pictures from October and Thanksgiving:

 Nemo and a Little Mermaid!
I made Aspen's tutu and headband.

Such cuties!!

Aspen's first pumpkin patch and hay ride.

Our sweet family

My little turkeys on Thanksgiving!!

On November 28 our Aspen turned eight months old. I'm not sure how it happened! She's amazing. We went to the doctor yesterday for her 6 months shots, yes...even though she's 8 months old. 

She weighs 18 pounds, 2 ounces which is still less than Lincoln weighed at the same age. (50%) She was 27 1/4 inches long. (60%)

Her head is 17 1/2 inches. (80%)

She's wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 2 or 3 shoes depending on the brand. She's still not a fabulous sleeper. Many nights we're up 2 or more times. Sometimes we're up as many as 6 or 7. It's just not anything like how well Lincoln always slept unless he was sick, and he still sleeps well thank goodness. For the last 3 or 4 nights she's slept through the night. She's loud, and she makes noises. Most night she even fusses or cried but she manages to put herself back to sleep without us. We had to break down and actually try sleep training with her. It took a good two nights, well a bad two nights really. By the 3rd night she almost had it figured out by herself. She still needs us occasionally, but thank goodness I finally feel like it might be getting better.

She babbles all the time, yayayayaya or dadadada or mamamamama. She's not actually saying our names or calling for us, but she's making lots of noise! She's crawling all over the house, and has been for a long time. She started with the scoot, then the army crawl, but now she's really fast. You walk down the hall and turn around...and there she is! Lincoln loves to crawl with her or tries to get her to follow him. I fervently hope they will be friends and love each other as they grow up. She's pulling up on all the furniture and can even cruise around it already. She's a pro at going from the chair to the couch to the ottoman or table. 

 And just in the last two days she has started standing up all by herself!!! She pulls herself to standing then just lets go and stands there. Looking pleased as punch!! She's getting sooo big, sooo fast! 

She is wearing her DOC band from Cranial Technologies. She's only been in it for 4 weeks but I can already see a difference! Her forehead is becoming more round. And already her hat doesn't fit the same on her ears which makes me feel like progress is being made. We've been for two adjustments now. We go every 2 weeks. They use a router to give her "room to grow" in the spots where she's flat to encourage the head to grow there. It's amazing that doctors come up with this stuff. I mean really. Who said, "Hey, let's tie something around this baby's head to see if we can make it more round!" It's crazy. I'm very thankful that it's working. I am also thankful that Anthony has wonderful insurance (MedCost) that is paying for most of the treatment. That would've been $2,300 out of our own pocket otherwise. 

She doesn't seem to mind the helmet at all, as we call it. She doesn't pay it any attention, really. The only time she fusses about it is when we're taking it off or putting it back on. She has to wear it 23 hours a day and for the one hour a day she has it off she seems to enjoy it. As soon as it comes off she puts her hands up and just rubs her head. It's cute. We've just gotten used to it now and when we take it off she looks totally different. Of course I had to fancy it up a little bit and she's got her very own bows made with velcro on the back. If your mommy is going to have a small bow business, you better have a bow on at all times! :)

I can't let a post go by without talking about Lincoln! He's a hoot. So full of life, so smart, and so funny! He's a ham. He's still got beautiful curls but I'm afraid they're getting darker. Not that I didn't expect them to, I just loved the blond curls. He's 2 years and 8 months. He weighs 30 pounds on the dot. (50%) He's 37 1/2 inches tall (70%). Looks like he's going to be tall and skinny. Fine by me. He talks non-stop. Serioiusly. There really are no times in the day that he's not talking, babbling, singing a song, or making some kind of noise. His vocabulary and verbal skills are amazing. He speaks better than many school age children I have known. He always speaks in complete sentences and most of the time the correct verb tense is used. He always gets pronouns correct and can carry on complete conversations. He knows his alphabet and most of the numbers when he sees them. He can count to 20, most of the time! Sometimes there's an eleventeen thrown in there. Who knows where that came from. He knows the basic shapes and all of the colors. He can "read" his two favorite books to us: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. They have a beautiful rhythm and pattern to them and he picked up on it right away. He loves sitting in our laps reading to us. He knows them word for word, even before you turn the pages to show him the pictures. Beautiful. I love that he loves to read as much as we do.

 He's a busy body...always moving, playing, running, jumping, bouncing, crawling with Aspen. He LOVES to play cars/trucks/trains/planes right now. All modes of transportation are very popular. His favorite cars by far are Mater and Lightning McQueen. Thanks Grammy. 

He's still sleeping in his crib. Keep him locked down as long as I can! He can get in and out if he wants to, but he doesn't seem to be tempted to do it at nap or bedtime, so that's ok with me. Still afraid to move him to a toddler bed because he can get up and down by himself whenever. Scary! He loves playing with his kitchen set, always cooking me something. It's usually chicken and dip dip or pancakes. He's up every day around 7, takes about a 2-3 hour nap around 2:00, then goes to lay down for bed around 8:30. Some nights he lays there talking and singing to himself until well after 9. But he doesn't fuss or cry, he just lays there. 

He's wearing size 8 shoes, but we're beginning to by size 9. It's almost time to say goodbye to his "big boy shoes" as he calls them. They're the green and grey Nike's he's had since last Christmas. He's worn them like crazy and loves them, but they're a size 8. So it's time to get new ones in 9s. I worry he will cry! His 2T pants are too short, but I have NO idea how to keep the 3T up on him. He has to have adjustable waist and wear a belt just to keep 2T up. But we're going to have to get the 3Ts because I can't stand the high waters!! 2T shirts fit just fine. 

My Thirty-One business is doing fabulous! I've had a great October and November. I'm hoping January also starts off with a bang and the rest of the year follows suit. Aspen Bows, my hairbows and headbands, are doing quite well also. I started an Aspen Bows Facebook page and I have over 50 likes already. I've sold more than I can count and almost weekly I'm getting requests for custom orders to match outfits or Christmas dresses. I LOVE it! Finding things that match, looking for interesting textures, combining patterns. Anthony has helped me convert the office that we don't use as an office into a craft room! I've used many old school supplies to organize my fabric supply and bow making materials. It's still in the early stages, and I have lots of ideas!!

Daddy and his babies...fresh out of the tub.

Plagiocephaly

Something new...

So since Aspen was born she has held her head to the right.

Look at her coming home from the hospital: head deeply tilted to the right.

Again....to the right.

Yet again...

Even snuggling in bed with brother and she's slightly tilted to the right.

 It got to the point where I began to mention it to Anthony quite often because I was worried it might be torticollis, where the muscles are tight on one side. He had noticed it too and we started blocking her in the car seat, swing, and bouncy seat so she couldn't turn so far that direction. He even did a few stretches on her to see what he thought might be going on. He concluded that he didn't think it was torticollis because she wasn't "stuck" and would turn her head both ways when asleep or while playing. So we didn't think much more about it. I just happened to mention it at her 6 month check up with Dr. Todd. I had been noticing lately that one side of her face was flatter than the other. Not flat, but maybe less chipmunk cheeks on one side. Dr. Todd looked at her head from above and put his fingers behind her ears and said yes, she was out of alignment and that it was time to see a specialist.

So off to Charlotte we went, Tuesday, October 23, 2012. Cranial Technologies is the name of the center where we were referred. Anthony took off work early to make it to her 4:15 appointment with me. I figured we both needed to be there. Your baby's head shape and her future appearance are pretty big decisions to make by yourself. We met a sweet consultant named Ashley who welcomed us and explained the procedure to us. She also loved Aspen's headband! She happens to be preggo with a baby girl, so future customer! :) Anyway, she told us what would be happening today and took us to the imaging room.

This was a very large room with a huge piece of equipment right in the center. We had Aspen stripped down to just a diaper and Ashley put this "baby bank robber" hat on her so the full shape of her head could be seen without any hair getting in the way. It looked sooo funny!

She didn't seem to mind at all. Anthony was instructed to hold her arms straight down by her side and then Ashley stood by on of the many cameras that were surrounding Aspen and tried to get her attention. 

Basically it's a big circuit of cameras. There were at least 4 surrounding her body, from all sides and angles. Then there was one directly above her head to look straight down on her skull. It was pretty quick and painless and Aspen didn't fuss at all. We were ushered back to our exam room to wait for the images to process and Aspen played with her first "big girl" toy!

So cute!

Our official consultant came to speak with us once the photos were processed and in the computer. She came in to talk to us and evaluate. She watched Aspen play in the floor with her toys and asked us to explain what was going on. According to our eval paper work she assumes this occurred in utero so it's not something we did, or didn't do. She took us to yet another room to view the photos with her. Those cameras took pictures that were then assembled into the baddest, awesomest 3-D image of Aspen we've ever seen. (Forget that it's the only 3-D pic of her we've ever seen!) It was a giant rotating, totally manipulative photo of Aspen's whole body. She could twist, turn, tilt, zoom in any way she needed to see the exact shape of Aspen's head to explain to us what we were looking at and how the skull was affected. We were officially diagnosed with plagiocephaly. 

She called her case "moderate" and said it was unlikely to get any worse. However, her ears are misaligned and as her head continues to grow it could lead to misalignment of her jaw. Other problems could also occur if not treated. I don't want us to do nothing about it, then when she's 12 she's mad at us because she can't put her hair in a ponytail because the kids laugh that her ears aren't matched up. And of course you have that sudden feeling of, what did I do wrong? But I know she wasn't just left lying around in her crib, swing, stroller, car seat, etc long enough to cause flat places on her head. It just happened. Stuff happens. No telling what really goes on in the womb. And really, you know they're all squished up in there. Poor baby.

So what does this all mean? Plagiocephaly...now what? Well, now we get a 'helmet.' Or more correctly, a band. This band will be made from super light weight material specifically for Aspen using the images they will take next week. It fits on her head and looks like a helmet. You've probably seen other babies out and about with theirs on. Maybe you just didn't know what it was for. So this band must be worn 23 hours a day for 10-12 weeks. Next week we go back for more imaging for the creation of the band. Then two weeks after that we go back for our first fitting and actually receive the band. And yes, you did the math right. That means we'll be wearing this helmet through all the holidays this year. If we get it mid-November, we'll probably have it until February some time. 

How do we, I, feel about this? I think it's the right thing to do. It's the right decision. I want her to be perfect in every way. I want her to have everything she wants in life. I want to eliminate any reason other kids could be mean to her later. I want her to be as beautiful on the outside as she already is on the inside. Does that mean I don't have reservations? Absolutely not. Does that mean I'm not worried? No way. I'm most concerned about the people who I know will  ask about it. I know they are just uninformed. But I know some will be rude and assume she has a disability, or that there's something wrong with her. And I just don't want her to be seen as anything less than perfect. Because she is...with or without the helmet. I just know how people are. They're curious. It's human nature. But it's also human nature to hurt people's feelings without expressly meaning to. I know there will be tears shed the first time I see her in the band. I know I'll cry as we get adjusted to this new "thing" in our life. I know there will be people who aggravate and anger me. I just hope I have the fortitude to withstand the gawking, staring, and rude comments people make. 

I'm very thankful for my friend, Nicole, who also went through this with sweet Mady. Without having a close friend to consult with, cry with, and lean on I'm not sure how this would've gone. I had no idea what the bands were for before I met Nicole and Mady when Lincoln and Mady were only about 4 months old. Thanks to her I now have a personal reference for all things related to plagiocephaly. 

I will definitely be posting pictures of our beautiful baby girl in her super cute helmet. Because they truly are super cute. The office showed us pictures of babies with their bands decorated for every season, with their names on them, some even come in funky patterns like sports teams and Hello Kitty. Interesting. Just keep us in your prayers as we undergo what I feel like is just 'one more thing' on our plate...that seems to be heaped pretty full these days. 

SIX whole months!!

I can't believe that Aspen is SIX months old!! It really feels like it was a few weeks since we got home from the hospital. She can sit up, been doing that for about a month now. She's trying VERY hard to go from laying down to sitting...she's so close! She still rolls all over the floor to get where she wants to go, but now she's up on all four's and rocks back and forth. She even lunges forward but forgets to move her arms and she face plants on the carpet! But she doesn't seem to mind too much. She can scoot all over the place. Just not an official "crawl" with hands and knees moving together. One of her very favorite things right now is the "Johnny Jumper" that hangs in the doorway. She can spend up to 45 minutes there while we're cooking and eating just jumping away. She just jumps and looks around and talks and spins. It's so cute! There is constant motion...I don't know how she can wiggle and jump that much without getting sick! Her favorite toys are the alphabet links we got when I was pregnant with Lincoln. She eats them and shakes them, and talks to them. She also really enjoys a vibrating star rattle that was handed down from my sweet friend Jessica, when Macy was too big for it.

She is wearing mostly her 3-6 month clothes. When we're in cloth diapers they're a little snug, but for the most part they still fit well. We have tons of 6-9 just waiting to be worn, but why not wear the 3-6 as long as possible? I never feel like she wears all the dresses she owns. Then I hate to see them go after only wearing them once. She's going to have to start dressing up more often than just to go to church! She's in size 1 shoes but they're almost too small. The size 2 is still too big and falls off or just seems to get in her way. 

We haven't had her 6 month check up yet, but last week we went to breastfeeding support group and she weighed 16 pounds, 6 ounces. This is so much less than Lincoln! At his 6 month check up he weighed 19 pounds, 3 ounces. She's mostly sleeping well. She sometimes wakes up but if we give her a paci she goes back to sleep. I'm trying not to feed her at night, I don't want to start a habit! We've recently begun giving her a bottle before bed, it seems to help her sleep better. She spits up a LOT. Lincoln didn't spit like this. And she can spit up like 2 hours after she ate. She'll be playing in the floor and suddenly, there it is. Yuck! Tons of laundry!

Anthony and I left her overnight for the first time last weekend. We always try to run away for our anniversary, so we left Lincoln with Grammy and Aspen with Nana. Mom said Aspen missed me a lot and had a rough time on Saturday after we left, but was sweet and snuggly and smiley on Sunday. She slept all night for Mom which was great, but I think it had been 4 or 5 nights that I'd been up with her in a row. It was definitely time to get a good night's sleep. Lincoln was his wonderful self and slept great and played well. We went to Fontana Village, NC. It's right by Fontana Dam. I was pretty excited to go. It's the largest concrete dam east of the Rockies and has great history of WWII. I taught 4th grade and there are pictures of Fontana Dam in our social studies book for NC history. I enjoyed seeing it. The Appalachian Trail actually crosses right over the top of the dam, so we actually walked a little over half a mile of the AT! Yay us!

Lincoln is fabulous, of course. He's wearing size 8 tennis shoes, but we're buying 9s for the fall and winter. He is wearing 2T shirts and pants. They're both a little big. The pants have to be adjustable waist or they don't stay up. He really needs the 2T for length, but they're always too big around the middle. He can still wear his 18 month pants from last fall...they're just about 3 inches too short! He still loves to ride his Radio Flyer Scoot 'n Zoom Scooter that we got him for his 1st birthday. He's crazy about cars, trucks, and trains. Oh, and tractors, and cranes, and diggers. Typical boy. Lately he's been carrying Aspen's Cabbage Patch Doll around and taking care of it. It's really sweet. He gives it a paci, wraps her up for nap and even puts her in the Johnny Jumper for exercise. I'm thinking about making him his own CPK for Christmas. Aspen's is actually her, named for her, and on her birthday. Thanks Anna!!

I'd just like to note that these were completely non-posted! That's just how he decided he wanted his picture taken!!!! :)

Lincoln still loves all things Mickey. He also really enjoys Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Chuggington. Let's just say we watch the Disney Channel. He loves, loves, loves to ride his big truck outside. And almost every day he listens to hear the ice cream truck! Ha. We're going to Disney on Ice this Saturday and I'm really excited! We're going with some friends, Nicole, Michael, and Maddy Turnmeyer. Lincoln and Maddy are 3 months apart and they play very well together. Maddy is just as verbal as he is, so they share pretty well and talk a LOT! It's very cute! Nicole is my crafting friend. We often go to her house to spend the day creating fun things from Pinterest!

We're working on potty training. Mostly he tells me after he's peed in his diaper, then it's too late. But on days like today he's only peed in his diaper twice, and on the potty the rest of the day! Hooray! We've also just moved him to napping in his own bed. For the longest time he napped on the couch. When Aspen came along it got too loud and too hard to let him nap on the couch so I moved him to our bed. He's been napping in our bed probably since Aspen was a few weeks old. I need to be able to do laundry and things from my bedroom during nap so we just recently got him to sleep in his bed for a nap. Progress! He's still in a crib, that he doesn't even try to climb out of. My thoughts are to keep him locked up as long as possible! No reason to tempt him to get out of bed when he doesn't need to.

I just celebrated my 31st birthday. Wow. I don't feel old!! But I definitely wouldn't want to go back  to being 25. After a weekend in Boone listening to all the kids over at the bar beside Erin's house until alllllll hours of the morning, I'm so over that. I hate the wooing around outside late at night, the inconsiderate loudness, and their general attitudes. I'd also like to go to bed by 10. Does that mean I'm old?!

Ooooh mobility!!

Lock the baby gates and take away the breakables!! Aspen Ensley Vance is mobile!!!

She's not exactly "crawling" by being up on hands and knees...but she scoots and wiggles both forward and backward. My original prediction of September is definitely correct! She will probably be up on all 4s by the end of next week....she can roll all over the floor and use her feet to push herself around wherever she wants to go!