The Lark Ascending

Yesterday evening, I was headed somewhere in the car. My radio was tuned to NPR, however NPR had ended so the classical music program that follows was on. I heard the most amazing piece of music. I was worried that they had already announced what it was or that I would arrive at my destination before it ended and the composer was announced. Lucky for me, it ended just in time and I was able to find out the title and composer. It was "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughan Williams. I have never really appreciated classical music, but THIS SONG brings tears to my eyes. It is amazing to me how music can bring the spirit into your life in such a powerful way.

The Stats

The results are in. Lincoln had his two month appointment yesterday. At two weeks, his head was in the 10th percentile. It is now in the 25th (39 cm). At two weeks his height was in the 25th percentile (20 in). He is now 22.5 inches long, and still in the 25th percentile. At two weeks, he was 7 lb 5 oz (25th percentile). Mom's milk is just way too yummy...he's jumped up to 12 lb 10 oz (75th percentile). If he's not careful, he'll look like the baby in the picture, but maybe a little less Asian.

It's your two month birthday....say cheese!!!

It's hard to believe Lincoln is already two months old! Time flies when you're not pregnant. I looked at a preggo picture of myself the other day, and thought, "Man! I was HUGE!". Lincoln has been so much fun lately. He just started smiling consistently this last week. He also followed Matt around the room with his eyes last night. He's much more interactive. Now I know that he, on some level, knows I exist. It makes being a mom much more rewarding. I know that one picture of his smile would suffice, but why not post 4?

He's also been holding his head up quite well. He kinda looks like alien baby in this pic, but here's the proof:

Here's a comparison of his leg when he was a newborn vs. two months old. Crazy!! I even forgot how skinny he was! He feels much more substantial these days and I'm not as afraid that I'm going to break him.

My Cup Runneth Over

Many times as of lately, my heart has been filled with joy and love.

A few days ago when I was at our local Wal-Mart, I was grabbing some half and half while the mother of a little black girl was grabbing some milk. The little girl was probably 3 or 4, and was sitting in the cart. She had little braids, some of which were coming undone so her hair was going every which way. She spotted Lincoln in my cart and said, "Look, mom, a baby!". As I pushed my cart past hers, she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said in the most sincere and matter of fact tone, "I love him. I wanna kiss him.". I tried to explain that I couldn't take Lincoln out of his car seat cause he was all buckled in and sleeping. She proceeded to try to get out of her cart to make the kiss possible. I felt badly but kissing Lincoln was just gonna be a little too difficult. I apologized as I walked away. She kept saying over and over, "But I wanna kiss him. I wanna kiss him". It melted my heart that this little girl's heart was so filled with love for my sweet little baby. Her mom told me to be careful otherwise her daughter just might take Lincoln home with her if given the chance.

A couple in my ward that Matt home teaches told us, when I asked how their dog adjusted to having a baby around, that their white lab was very protective of their children and would lay next to their crib while they napped. I was hoping that Lucy would adjust well. It has been a little difficult to handle a dog and a baby. I catch her with his binky in her mouth probably daily, but I just sanitize it and give it back to him. Having a dog around does come in handy sometimes. A while back, Lincoln had a big blowout in his swing. There was a big puddle in the seat of the swing, but I was more worried about his cute outfit, so I rushed him away to give him a bath and clean his clothes. I am always in awe of the force with which things explode out of my son's body. It just doesn't seem right that something so small should be subjected or capable of such awful things. Anyway, when I came back to clean the swing, the poop had magically disappeared. Not one speck or any slight discoloration of the material was visible. Hmmm....pretty sure Lucy was on clean-up duty. Kinda gross, but kinda handy. What I really wanted to say about the dog-baby relationship is that the other night when Lincoln started wailing for his 5:00 AM feeding, I flipped the light on in my walk-in closet (where Lincoln's Pack and Play is to conserve space in our apartment) and went to pick him up. As I bent over, Lucy's head popped up right next to my face and scared me to death. She had been sleeping in the 2' space between his crib and the shelves in my closet. I don't know if it's because she likes the "den" feel of the enclosed space or if it's because she's watching out for Lincoln, but I think it's so cute. She's a handful, but she makes me smile.

Last but not least, my favorite thing about being a mom is holding my baby to my chest and rocking him to sleep. His head is so soft and so warm. I continually sniff his baby shampoo scented hair (whatever hair he has) as he drifts off. Even after his breathing pattern changes and his body goes limp I still hold him for another little while, and my heart just fills with love and gratitude for the chance I have been given to be this little boy's mommy. What a gift!

My cup runneth over.

The Wiggle Monster

Lincoln is such a little wiggle monster. He moves CONSTANTLY! After watching this video, I was a little worried about his right leg, but he does, in fact, move his right leg. I think he was just using it to brace himself. I love the finale. I ran out of memory right as he was making a classic face.

Lucky Me

My mom used to always tell me, and still does on occasion that I'm her luckiest child. I would win every contest or drawing that I entered when I was younger. There was one time in 3rd grade that my teacher announced the winners for the best design for something and I wasn't on the list. I was so distraught. My mom was helping in class that day. I was almost in tears cause I had come to expect to win every contest. After complaining to my mom about it, my teacher said, "Oh, I almost forgot! There's one more winner...Charlotte Mecham!". My spirits were lifted and everything was right again in the world.

Sometimes, I'd be offended that my mom would say I was her luckiest child, cause in my own opinion, I thought it was all skill. Since I graduated from high school, I've started to recognize that my luck was just that, luck. Not skill. Well, maybe a little of both, but definitely more luck than skill.

Well, the point of all that is that I lucked out again. I went to visit my friend, Stephanie, this afternoon. As I was making my way out of her neighborhood, I came to a T where I had a stop sign. I did my usual rolling stop. I quickly glanced to my right...no cars. I glanced to my left as I was rolling into the intersection and there was a car there. I did a little apologetic wave when I realized it was not an "ALL-WAY" stop. Then to my horror, I noticed that there was a set of red and blue lights on top of the car. Ahhh! A cop!!! My heart fell into my stomach. It wasn't my best stop, I'll admit. The cop angrily waved at me to pull over...so I did. As he approached my car, I rolled down the window and apologized, and admitted it wasn't a very good stop. I think my confession and apology disarmed him a little. "You didn't stop at all!!!", he said. "Yes, I did...well, good enough anyway" I unrepentingly said to myself. Then it dawned on me as he asked for my driver's license, that I've lived in TX for a year and STILL don't have a TX driver's license. The situation just went from bad to worse. Matt was gonna be ticked if we got a big fine. I calmly and unhesitantly forked over my UT driver's license, ready to face the consequences of my actions. He looked at it, asked where I lived. I told him. He asked what I was doing in the neighborhood. I told him. Then he said, "You gotta watch those stops. Have a good day". "I sure will", I thought. Whew!!! Off the hook. Lucky me!

How was your day?

I've decided that when Matt gets home from work each day and asks me, "How was your day?", I am going to start replying with a number rating. The number rating will refer to the number of outfits that were gone through during the day, including the baby's and my own. The rating will exclude the normal once-a-day change of clothes. Yesterday was a 5. Pretty average, I'd say.

Memorial Week....a week to remember

Matt's sister, Jenny, and her family (husband Chris, and kids Hunter (11) and Madisen (7)) came to visit us the week of Memorial Day. We had blast! Madisen LOVED baby Lincoln! Here's a pic of bath time:

We spent two days of the week in Galveston...one day at Schlitterbahn (a water park) and the other at the beach. Here are some pics from Schlitterbahn:

Many of the highlights of the week (for me at least) revolved around Madisen. She was cracking me up the whole time! Hunter was quite the little dare devil, going on all the scary slides, but Madisen, after much thought, and a bribe of $5 went on one of the tallest, most straight down slides. I was very impressed. Her arms and legs flailed every direction even though the previous night Chris taught Hunter an Madisen the proper technique (arms crossed, ankles crossed and butt cheeks pinched so only your heels and scapula touch the slide). We didn't get a great pic of the event but here she is. Way to go Madisen!:

The second highlight was as I was going down the lazy river with Madisen, a bird pooped on her head. I was laughing so hard, I could hardly tell her what happened. It took several head dunks and a lot of scrubbing to get that stuff off.

Another Madisen highlight was when we were at the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. Matt drenched a lemon slice in ranch dressing and dared Madisen to eat it for $2. She did...no sweat.

A non-Madisen highlight was Chris' sweet tan. He (or maybe it was Jenny) kinda forgot to rub the spray sunscreen in. Ooops!:

Here are some pictures of the beach. We had our fun right before it rained. Turned out to be good timing.

Here's Madisen and Hunter making a little lake, and a creepy dude looking for a pirate treasure or something.

Here's the Bengtson family. (Sweet shades, Jenny!)


Here's us on Lincoln's first beach trip.

It was a week to remember. Thanks for coming to visit, Bengtson's!

Blast from the Past

I was going through a bunch of unlabeled CDs trying to figure out what was on them and stumbled upon some pictures and movies from my mission. They are classic. I don't think I've seen them since I took them. Enjoy.

Here's a pic of when I got a million mosquito bites in my first area. They love me! (I love the dents in my shins from my knee highs that were too tight)

This is the strange rash that I got when I first got there. I had to go to a creepy doctor left the door open when you saw her. The patients waited in line right outside her door. Awkward!!! She gave me some smelly cream and it fixed me right up!

These are battle wounds from the bike crash I had the very day I bought my bike in Taiwan.


Missions are tough in more than one way. I forgot all that stuff happened within in the first month I was there. Too funny!