He's a quarter of a year old!

Hello everyone! So we're overdue to update everyone on how little Lincoln (and our family) is doing. Can you believe that he is over 3 months old already? He had his checkup and is over 12 lbs now. That means he's already doubled his weight! The doctor did confirm that he has a VERY slight innocent heart murmur but said that it was really nothing to worry about. He did say that they would continue to monitor it until he is a year old and if its still audible, then we would see a cardiologist. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Again, absolutely nothing to worry about. We aren't worrying, so neither should you!

Ok so over Labor Day Weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Squires came to Charleston to visit. Notice that we didn't call them Oma and Opa. They decided the names didn't "fit" them. Woe is them. Haha....It was a wonderful visit and they blessed us with more formula and diapers; always welcomed gifts! They also babysat which allowed us to go out on a date; another welcomed treat. Finally they took Lincoln for his first trip to the beach. It was a very windy day which seemed to scare the bejeezus out of him. Here a few pictures:




The next weekend we completed our first road trip down to South Florida to visit the Munson clan for Nona's 69th Birthday. We can now see why the minivan market is so popular. Who would've thought that you need to travel with so much!?! Anyways, the trip went pretty well. Lincoln and Holly-Bear handled the 9 hour trip admirably. Too bad the air conditioning in the car wasn't as resilient! We survived though and it was absolutely wonderful to see all the family. This was the first chance for Uncle Todd, Aunt Jeanette, Aunties Kim, Melody, and Allison and cousins Robert, Jennifer, Amber, Gabriella, Shane, Taylor and Isebella to meet little Lincoln. As usual, everyone thought he was the cutest boy in the world. But as proud parents, we already knew that! Nona was very surprised even though her intuition told her we were visiting! She also blessed us with a night off by babysitting her Grandson for the night! It was a VERY quick trip so we apologize that we couldn't see all of our loved ones. We'll be down for Christmas so we promise to introduce Lincoln to everyone then. Here are a few pictures from the trip:





So a consensus has been made that we are completely crazy. Yes we have a couple of additions to our family. As if things aren't complicated enough, we added two kittens to our pack of animals. I guess we have a soft spot in our hearts for animals that need homes. They are very adorable and definitely add joy to our lives. Their names are Simon Snicklefitz and Olive Oil. Holly-Bear and Jilly Bean were quite skeptical by our newest family members but we're pleased to report that everyone seems very happy. Here are their photos:



The best part is that we have a new hair stylist for Lincoln. Check out this video:

So that's about all of the news that's fit to report. Oh one more thing....Lincoln told us he wanted to be like his Grandpa so we took him to get his first ink. Here's the picture to prove it:


We love and miss everyone. We can't wait for the holidays to see the Great Grandmothers, Great Aunts and Uncles, more cousins and of course our closest friends. We hope everyone is well and we send our love!

~Nick, Holly, Lincoln, Holly-Bear, Jilly Bean, Simon Snicklefitz and Olive Oil! (wow, that's a mouthful!)

Oh to be Rip Van Winkle....

So another month has past and Lincoln is 10 weeks old today! While the nights can be long, we are starting to see a little progress. He is slowly moving from 2 feedings a night to just one. He's on a much better schedule now and we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was especially tough a couple of weeks ago when he got his first vaccinations. He handled the shots pretty well but the fever afterwards kept him fussy for a good couple of days. All is better now and he definitely seems happier. At his 2 month appointment, they weighed and measured him and for some reason he's tall and lanky. I don't think his daddy was ever tall and lanky! He weighed 10 lbs and 4 oz and measured just over 22 in. That put him in the 20th percentile for weight and over the 50th percentile in height. Amazing but true!

We haven't exactly been great at taking pictures but here are a few for all of you fans out there. We're looking forward to Oma and Opa Squires coming to visit next weekend in our new house for Labor Day Weekend. We promise to take some more pictures then! We love you all and give us a ring or come visit when you get a chance!









Oh and one more picture of Holly-Bear and Lincoln's Pirate impersination:

Changes, Changes everywhere....

So let's talk about socialized medicine...What does everyone think about Obama's health care plan? I don't know. Increasing the deficit by over $65 billion A YEAR into a program that arguably mimics the welfare program (which is widely successful, right?) doesn't seem like the answer to me....

Ok, ok...I know you aren't reading this to get my views on the big "changes" Obama is making. You want to know what's going on with our little angel who shares his name with the very first Republican President! Am I right?

Well to say we've been busy is a gross understatement. We've had so many wonderful visitors and moved houses in between our guests. First, Auntie Kelley and her boyfriend Tim (who by the way was very nice and got our stamp of approval) stopped by on their way to Virginia. Lincoln was ecstatic to meet his first-time Aunt and she naturally doted on him as was expected. Here are a couple of photos.

Aunt Kelley and Lincoln

Tim, Kelley and Lincoln

Next we had Chris, Joe, Debbie, Megan and Riley McCarthy stop by on their way to a wedding. As always, it was wonderful seeing them again and of course, Lincoln loved meeting more family! And Riley is getting soooo big. It was a great preview of what having a toddler will be like!

Chris and Lincoln

Debbie and Megan

Riley

Finally, Nonna Munson and Auntie Wendy came and stayed with us in our new house. Their stay was timed very nicely as Nick had to go out of town for business. Unfortunately, we weren't as good at getting photos during their stay, so we will have to post these once we get copies from Nonna. Actually, we will post photos of Nonna and Lincoln since Wendy doesn't love her nephew enough to have a couple of snapshots taken!

So unlike our President's big changes, our big news is that we had a successful one this month! We are finally settled in our new house. It's so nice having a back yard for Holly Bear and not having 30 stairs to climb to go to bed! Can you believe that Lincoln is already 5 weeks old!?! He is becoming a real chubsters and seems to be hungry all of the time. This week we started a night time routine of bottle, bath, book and bed in his new nursery. Putting him down in his nursery was a big step for Mommy. We're still having him sleep in the bassinet when he wakes up for his first night feeding, but we thought it best to get him started on a routine and sleeping in his beautiful crib (thanks to the McCarthy's!). Last night he slept in the crib for about 4 hours before waking up! That's a pretty big step for us and Mommy is feeling better about not having him right next to us all of the time.

That's about all the news right now. We hope everyone is doing well and we can't wait for more visitors. We have plenty of room so if you are in SC, stop by. We would love to see you!

Love~Nick, Holly, Lincoln, Holly Bear and Jilly-Bean

9 Days Down, only 6565 left!

Our Beautiful Work of Art

Well Lincoln has officially been with us for 9 days and we honestly can't imagine our lives without him. He is such a blessing and really a calm baby. He fusses some when he is hungry but other than that, he just chills out. We've taken him to restaurants, shopping and out on errands and he just sleeps or relaxes. He doesn't seem to be phased by anything. He wakes up a couple of times during the night to eat but it's back to sleeping right afterwards. So I guess we're very lucky. And Lincoln had his first appointment and the Pediatrician says all is well. His umbilical chord also fell off this weekend. He's growing up so fast....sob, sob. We only have 6565 days until he turns 18! Can you believe it?

Oh and Holly is doing very well too. She is moving around much better and is even talking about going back to the gym. In fact she got approval from her Doctor to start walking. If you know Holly, you know she can't just sit and relax. That must be why Lincoln wanted to come join us 2 weeks early!

A Happy Family

The beginnings of a Cowboys Fan

During Lincoln's first week of life, Oma and Opa Squires came and visited. It was great having them around and we can't wait for them to come visit again. In fact, we had to make sure they didn't try to steal him away from us by putting a stuffed animal in his bassinet! :-) They are definitely the proud first-time grandparents. And of course, we can't wait for Meemaw Munson to come visit, along with his Aunts. We're going to have a steady flow of visitors in the coming weeks, which we absolutely can not wait for! First time Aunt Kelley will be by this weekend with her boyfriend Tim. And then right afterwards Chris, Joe, Debbie, Megan and Riley McCarthy are stopping by on their way up the East Coast. It will be so nice to see them again! And then Meemaw Munson, Auntie Wendy and cousin Jennifer will be staying with us for a few days. They'll be the first visitors in our new house. Right around the 14th of July, we will be moving from our beautiful townhouse on the lake to a single family home with a backyard. We figured it would be better for us since there won't be as many stairs and of course the backyard will be so much better for Holly-Bear, who by the way has adjusted pretty well to our new addition.

Momma and Angel Child

This picture needs no caption...

So that's pretty much the news after week 1. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. I hope everyone enjoys these updates. If not, oh well. We'll keep on typing them and you can decide if you want to read them or not. We miss everyone and enjoy the pictures! P.S.~ Go Cowboys!

Lincoln and a $65 Stuffed Animal...ridiculous :-)

Lincoln and Opa Squires

Lincoln and Oma Squires

Lincoln and Holly-Bear

Nick's attempt at interesting photography

To Heaven and Back!

As many of you have heard, Holly did not have the smooth birthing that we had originally planned. I guess we should get used to our plans being changed on accounts of Lincoln! LOL. For those who did not hear, Holly's water broke about 4 a.m. on the morning of 19 June. Her contractions began getting much stronger by 2 p.m. that afternoon so we packed up and drove to the birthing center. We were welcomed with quite a surprise when she was not dilated at all! After a couple more hours, the midwife was able to get her dilated to 3 cm. This was where the fun began. She was contracting about every 5 minutes until 3 or so the next morning. After only getting to 4 cm we decided it was time to head to the hospital to utilize drugs to help the labor progress. About 26.5 hours after her water broke and fighting through hundreds of contractions, she finally decided to take the epidural. Without say, that relieved much of the pain, however the other drugs meant to progress the labor just weren't working. It was then that we decided on doing a cesarean section and to everyone's elation, Lincoln Steven Squires was born at 7:45 a.m. on 20 June 2009. His cries were the most beautiful thing we have ever heard. He was born healthy, weighing in at 5 lbs 14 oz and measuring 18 3/4 inches. Although part of that was his cone shaped head! So now I present to you, our newest addition...Lincoln Steven Squires!







So people may be wondering who won the lottery. Actually it would be Mom and Dad! Mommy was closest to the date and the length and Daddy was closest to weight. So thank you to everyone who played but tough luck. I guess our prize is our new son! LOL We will update more in the next couple of days but we wanted to get the pictures out. Thank you for everyone's support! We can't wait for everyone to meet him.

It's Time!!!

This is a quick post to let everyone know that our lovely Holly has gone into labor. Once the contractions are about 5 minutes apart, we'll head to the birthing center. We are so excited to finally meet Lincoln (and obviously he is ready to meet everyone else!) We love everyone and will update you once he's here (with pictures!)!

36 Week Update

Hello everyone! We just wanted to send everyone a quick update. As some of you may or may not have heard, during our last appointment with our midwife, they thought that Lincoln was in a breach position. For those that don't know what that is, it means that his head was up with his feet down. For birth, this is a less-than-optimal position. It was a little distressing because we had planned to give birth at a birthing center and if Lincoln was breach, it would've meant Holly would've had to have a cesarean section. So yesterday, Holly visited her chiropractor who was trained in techniques to help turn babies. After about an hour of work, she came home a little sore but feeling good. Then this morning, we went in for an ultrasound to confirm Lincoln's position. Much to our surprise, Lincoln had flipped over and was in the normal head-down position. I guess he isn't as stubborn as his momma! Okay, maybe he gets it from his daddy! LOL!! Needless to say, we were VERY happy. So here's his updated picture:


If you look closely, this is a picture of his face and that's actually his tiny foot just beneath his little mouth. Very cute if you ask us! I think he looks like his daddy! What do you all think?? The technician did her measurements and he currently weighs 5lbs 12 oz! He is moving along just perfectly. He is actually measuring a week behind our estimated due date (4 July) so he may make his appearance a little later than we had expected. We'll have to see though. Feel free to make changes to your guesses if you feel like it. Alright we love you all and hope to hear from everyone soon! We'll keep everyone updated as we get closer!

Getting Closer!

Well, here we are! We have just about a month from the estimated birth day of Lincoln. We're finally feeling like we are making progress towards everything together to bring him home. We've got the nursery set up, the car seat in the car and inspected and most of the clothes washed and put away. We have just a few more things to pick up but we're starting to get very excited. We want to thank everyone again for helping us get the seemingly endless stream of items needed for a new baby. Who would've thought it takes so much stuff to keep the kid alive! I guess we'll learn more once he gets here.

We especially want to thank both of our families for helping us out. As you can see, the nursery looks amazing. Thank you to the McCarthy family for the crib; the Squires family for the changing table (and jogging stroller), the Munson family (and Wendy!) for the car seats, stroller and the beautiful name on the wall! Thank you as well to Great-Grandma Eleanore and Great Aunt Ginger (and Steve) for the matress and bedding. And finally to the Fine family who passed down so many great gifts. Our drawers are overflowing from the clothes passed down from cousin Nicholas and Nate. Everyone is so very special and we can never say thank you enough! Here are a couple of pictures to see what you've all contributed:





One thing you'll notice is that our other little baby (Holly-Bear) has gotten quite large. Since we don't have pictures of Lincoln yet, here's a couple of pictures showing her growth (December to May):



So for those that don't know, Nick has started a new job with ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) Consulting. He loves his new job and they are being very supportive, allowing him to work remotely while waiting for Lincoln to come. Although in the past 3 weeks, he's been to Arlington, VA, Norfolk VA and San Francisco, CA. We know he's had fun visiting family and the Fine's, but we're glad to have him home now!

Holly is now at 35 weeks and we're starting our weekly visits to see when she'll start dilating. It's very exciting. If anyone didn't know, Holly is doing a natural birth at the Charleston Birthing Center. It's going to be a very positive and loving event. We're taking the hypnobabies course where positive thinking and self-hypnonsis is central. It may sound wishy-washy but if you do some research it supposedly works very well. We appreciate everyone's support as we do this! So that's about it for now. Our next post will probably be after Lincoln's Birth Day. If you are inclined and haven't done so yet, feel free to put your final guesses on when Lincoln will come and what he will weigh and measure. Just go to the last post and click the link. Again, in the left corner you must enter LincolnsLottery in the search engine.

We love you all and can't wait for you to meet our new family member.