Lincoln's 9 Month Pictures

In Coralee's 9 month pictures, she was wearing overalls and posed with this horse from Aunt Laura. So, I thought we needed to do essentially the same thing for Link. I love the picture of him looking down. SO cute! What I ordered, though, was the one with him, the horse, the little barn & cowboy hat.

HOA Swim Party

Unfortunately our HOA doesn't have a pool but they do rent out the Milburn pool once during the summer for a party. We went last year and it was a lot of fun. This year was, too. Coralee is begging to go to swim lessons again now. It's pretty cute. I will have to say that about an hour before the party, I decided I couldn't stand to wear my old bathing suits any longer. They were more revealing than I'd like especially with monkey boy trying to scale Mt. Mommy all the time. It made for a much more pleasant swimming experience for me. Granted, it isn't all that cute but for $25 at Ross, it does the job! Coralee loved going down the slide and having Daddy catch her. Lincoln was using the float that Jody & Rachel gave us when Coralee was born. I blew it up when she was his age and Ken thinks we may have re-inflated it a couple of years ago. That is one tough float since it's been stored in the garage the entire time. By the end of the evening, Lincoln was practically shivering so I got him out and dressed him in dry clothes. He was a little out of it from sheer exhaustion but when he saw the camera, he perked up. I guess that's what happens when your parents are crazy picture takers like we are. Ken noticed that the picture count for this camera is getting high. I just checked and the last picture I took was number 9723. We've had the camera almost 2 years now. Who says you slow down taking pictures with your 2nd child? The first picture of Lincoln is number 5563 in case you're wondering.

The picture of Coralee in her night gown (the Loooooong night gown no less) is obviously from when we got home. She has been talking about watching Chicken Little with Grandma & Grandpa and how the Daddy says, "Are you ready to rock & roll?" She was back home with them a month ago so I think it's funny she's just now mentioning it. All afternoon she's been asking us if we're ready to rock & roll. She decided these were rock & roll sunglasses. What a mess!

Then & Now

Mid April:




Today:




Back in April, he weighed 13 lbs 11 oz. I am fairly confident that when we go to the pediatrician this week for his 9 month well check that he'll be at least 16 1/2 lbs. I'm hoping for closer to 17 but I'm not holding my breath. Still, it's nice to see more meat on his sweet little bones. He's definitely eating enough. He doesn't like us feeding him anything which is okay for everything but breakfast. It's also why he's feeding himself pizza crust in this picture. He will NOT be left out!

Making Ice Cream

One of the things I wanted to buy with my birthday money was an ice cream maker. We had the old fashioned (well it wasn't hand crank but still) machines where you use the rock salt and ice. It does a great job but it's really loud and the rock salt & ice are just more work than I'm willing to do. So, on Saturday AM, I went and did a little birthday shopping for myself and bought the machine (as well as 2 pairs of sandals & the dress I'm wearing - Thanks Mom & Bubba & Gene & Mary). You have to let the bowl freeze 6-22 hours and then it only takes 20-30 minutes to actually make the ice cream. The only thing I like about Ben & Jerry's ice cream is the combo of ingredients. Their social positions get on my nerves and I don't think the ice cream itself tastes very good. But, they have the best crunchies in their ice cream for sure. So, I made vanilla ice cream and added what I feel like Blue Bell should have in theirs..... butterfinger, crunch, snickers, and tiny peanut butter cups (they do have Moo Tracks and it's one of my favorites b/c of those). What I realized is that making your own ice cream is more expensive than buying Blue Bell even if it is close to $6 a gallon at HEB (I usually buy it if it's $4.50 or less at Randall's or Walgreens). Still it's a fun thing to do and Coralee had a blast. Isn't that smile worth it all? Plus, the ice cream is pretty yummy. Here's the recipe we used along with some other variations.

Sunday Best

I bought Lincoln a shirt that matched Coralee's new outfit. I am happy to say she wore it although the first thing she wanted to do when we got home was change into a dress. I can't really say much about the dress thing. Really, for the most part, it's what I'd prefer to wear anyway. I like getting by looking like I'm dressed nicely even if I feel like I'm wearing a night gown. :-) Aunt Laura, I know you understand that! Anyway, since Ken had to wake Lincoln up to leave, he was far from happy about having a picture made. Pouty faces are still pretty cute!

Sleepy Boy

When Ken went to get him up to go to church from his early AM nap (what happens when you make a poopy at 6:30 after eating at 4:30), Lincoln was out. He came in, turned off the music, went back out and got the camera and little guy was still asleep. That is tired! Well, when we got back from the neighborhood swim party at Milburn, tonight, I took some pictures of him sleeping. I've really been enjoying the fact that he will nurse and drift off to sleep. I may regret that in a few months when he's weaned but for now I'm enjoying it. Ken's pictures are better than mine but my goal was really to highlight his blankie and lovey that friends made. He had taken a bath with Coralee and I just put him in shorts and a onesie so I thought he might be a little cool. Probably not but I didn't want him to be cold. I'm sure the blanket won't be on top of him when he wakes up to nurse tomorrow AM.

She wears pants? Gasp!?!

We went to the outlet mall on Tuesday to see if we could find any fabulous deals. This time of year was when a friend got some great deals at the Gymboree outlet. We found two really adorable outfits with matching panties no less.

I figure any time you can pay Walmart prices for Gymboree quality it's a great deal. I made her promise she'd wear the shorts and she's worn one outfit already. SO cute! The green outfit is from Children's Place as are the sandals. She's totally in love with them.... how could she not be? Lincoln did get a few things, too. Unfortunately they aren't as stinking cute as Coralee's stuff. Ah, shopping for boys. We did get some camo pants.

Sibling Rivalry has Begun

Coralee wasn't too happy Lincoln was

pulling her magnets off of the fridge. They're now up higher. I thought it was funny that he picked up the "L".... what a genius!

Crawling up the stairs

Ken encouraged Lincoln last weekend and he's been all about the stairs this week. I'd rather him learn how to manage the stairs than put up a baby gate. He's only tried two more times and both have been when I was paying attention. He'd have a hard time getting up there without Coralee watching even if I wasn't.