January Update

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted so I thought I would just do a quick update and post some of my favorite pictures from the last several weeks. 

• The weather has actually been nicer than I've expected it to be.  The temperature has been in the high 30's and even 40's over the last couple of weeks.  It has been sunny, beautiful and warm for an Idaho winter day. We just got snow last night. 
  
• My brother Asa and Theresa came to visit from Spokane, WA for a weekend and it happened to coincide with Micah and Kolissa's visit to Pocatello from CA.  It was really nice to see them and to hang out and visit.  
  
• Lincoln has started walking!!!!  Well, he has been taking steps for a long time but now his first instinct is to walk instead of crawl.  I think he's learned that he gets a lot of attention when he walks because we make a big deal of it and he thinks that's funny. 
• Lincoln now has 10 teeth!  Four up front on top middle, four on the bottom in the middle and now two top molars.  He has been a trooper!
• This week Lincoln started daycare or as we call it "school."  We decided that it would be good for him to be out of the house and around other kids.  It also allows Rick to focus more on school. Luckily he is just about 5 minutes up the street from us.  We tell him he gets to go to school and he gets excited and raises his hands.  So far he seems to really like it!  I think it has been harder on me!
• We went to Idaho Falls for a day to do some shopping!!  They have some bigger stores like Best Buy, Toys R Us and a nicer Mall.  We had a great time.  As always, Lincoln made out like a bandit. It's always fun to shop!!
• My birthday was January 12th so Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Natalee took Lincoln for the night and Ricky and I went to dinner and to see a movie (Seven Pounds - which I really liked!)  Not much else is open in January in Pocatello but it was an enjoyable evening.

In front of Lincoln's new school.

On our way to school!!

Micah and Kolissa

Asa and Theresa

Lincoln loves to eat!!

What a little ham!

Lincoln is learning about temper tantrums.  Luckily they don't last long.  Once he realizes that we don't put up with that he can get over it pretty quickly.

Unfortunately we don't get to swim much here so the bath tub will have to do for now.

Nice teeth shot.  This is the face that he makes now when you say "cheese!"

Nothing like having 250 balls in your living room!

Modeling his new snow suit and super cute little boots.

You have to admit....he is dang cute!!

Chuck E Cheese

Grandma Tutu took the boy cousins (Lincoln, J, Sam and Knox) to Chuck E Cheese's one day to let them out of the house without having to play outside in the cold. Here are a few cute pictures of the boys.

Cousins Knox and Sam. 

Lincoln learned that tickets came out of the machine.  I don't think that he comprehended points but right after he was done playing he would look for his tickets.

Cousins J, Sam and Lincoln.

He loves going around and around and going up high.

Christmas with the Phillips

Christmas was spent in Salt Lake City, Utah with the entire Phillips family.  All eight siblings were there.  We all stayed in a beautiful house just outside of the city.  It was my first white Christmas!  It was really pretty but it made driving around town a little scary.  There was quite a bit of snow on the roads.  We saw several car accidents throughout the week because of icy roads. We did manage to get out for a couple of days and go shopping, site seeing and to play in the snow.  Lincoln had a great time playing with all of his cousins!  He doesn't quite get the concept of Christmas but he sure knows how to open presents!!

Lincoln's first time walking in the snow.

Cousins Erica and Mary with Lincoln.

Santa brought blocks!

My first snowman!!  Not bad considering I made him without gloves!

This is the house we stayed in for the week.  Lincoln's favorite part was the downstairs toy room right outside our bedroom.

Out to lunch for Ricky's birthday. 

Visiting the tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake.

Salt Lake Temple.

Lincoln's First Sled Ride

We took Lincoln up to Grandma and Grandpa's property and Ricky took him sledding. He loved it!!!  I thought he would be mad because it was cold but he wanted to go again and again.  He even climbed off the sled a couple times to play in the snow.  

Oh Ya, Did I Mention We Moved to Idaho??

On December 17th we loaded a moving truck with everything we owned and moved to Idaho! Yes, I know, it's potato country out here.  Ricky's parents and sister live here and since I can work from home and Rick's schooling can be done online, we could go anywhere and we decided it would be nice to be close to them.  Also, the cost of living being much cheaper here, was also a factor.  I've never lived in the snow before but we seem to be managing.  Of course everyone is saying this has been the worst winter in a long time because it is so cold and the snow just keeps falling.  Luckily, this week it has been a little nicer....high 30's and no snow.  I never thought the day would come when I would say that high 30's is a nice temperature.   We have just learned to bundle up!  Lincoln is adapting well.  He still hates having socks, hats and mittens on but once we get outside and he feels how cold it is, he is less inclined now to pull them off.  So far we like the town. We already know that we like the spring, summer and fall so hopefully we will make it through the next couple of months of winter and we should be good!

We wanted to leave on Wednesday but we got snowed in.  The El Cajon pass had a ton of snow dumped on it and it was closed most of the day.  We had to stay in a hotel locally until the pass was clear the following morning.  

We ended up hitting snow about 45 minutes from our house which was very unusual - but as far as things going right with the move, it was about par for the course. 

Lincoln would rather drive the moving truck than sit in his car seat for the 20 hour drive. 

We pulled over for dinner and let Lincoln touch the snow.  He just laughed. He thought it was funny because it was so cold.

What a Night!

I knew having a little boy that eventually we would end up in the Emergency Room.  I was thinking stitches, broken bones but it ended up being a virus that took us there last night. Lincoln has been sick for about a week.  It started the day after he had his 1 year shots so we thought it was simply a reaction to the shots and that it would go away.  It didn't. We went in to the ER about 1:00 am because Lincoln wouldn't eat, was throwing up and had a lot more gross symptoms that I won't get into.  They ended up having to draw blood, put in a catheter, and give him I.V. fluids.....what a nightmare!!  We were exhausted and having to watch our little guy go through that was torture.  We just got through his shots last week so to have to go through all of this again was not fun.   Lincoln was a trooper though.  Most of the time that they were giving him fluids (from about 3:30 - 4:45 am) he was able to sleep.  We were finally discharged at about 5:00 this morning.  We had a follow up appointment with the Pediatrician this afternoon because he was still having many of the same symptoms.  He now has some medicine but they are still running some additional tests to make sure it was a virus as they've suspected.  Hopefully that will be it and we will be done with all of this in the next 7 days.  Keep your fingers crossed!!

This was at the start of the night. 

Notice the time, he has had enough but unfortunately we had several hours to go.

He got to have a "special band-aid" on his had.  He only tried for the first few minutes to pull out the IV, then he went to sleep.  

Santa Pictures

I have to admit that last week I became that mom that you always see in the malls at Christmas time that forces their screaming child to sit on Santa's lap for a picture.  In my head I pictured the experience going a lot different than it did.  Lincoln hated it.  Not just, I don't understand who you are? or I don't want to smile.  It was, I hate this!!  He screamed about like he screams when he gets his shots.  It was not good.  We tried the pacifier, the toys, suckers...none of it worked.  At least I got a cute picture of Rick and Lincoln before he started screaming. 

Ring Pops

Lincoln discovered suckers on Halloween but they freak me out because he insists on holding it and I am afraid that he is going to shove the stick down his throat.  I saw a good old ring pop at the store and figured it solves my problem.  Lincoln can now make a sticky mess with a ring pop and I don't have to stress out about him choking.  We let him have it for like 30 minutes and then it was right to the bath.  He was a mess.  Every part of him was sticky but he loved it!!