Pencil sharpener... check.

So, Matt has been talking about going to law school ever since we moved to Houston in May of 2008. He studied some for the LSAT before Lincoln was born, but for whatever reason didn't end up signing up for the test. He kept talking about future plans for when he went to law school and I'd catch him again and again looking at houses for sale in Boston, New Haven, and Durham in hopes that he'd get into one of the neighboring law schools. I told him, "Quit with the talk, already!", so he finally buckled down and signed up for the test. After years of talk and months of preparation, the time has come... the test is this Sunday. The test is administered in Seoul, so he's gonna catch a flight Saturday night and make sure he knows exactly where to go. We're hoping the baby doesn't decide to come this weekend.

In preparation for the test, he gave me a list of things he needed me to get for him at the store. The list included:

• #2 or HB non-mechanical pencils
• a non-digital watch
• erasers
• a pencil sharpener

I looked at several stores and the only non-electrical pencil sharpener I could find is the one pictured above. He is gonna be a major intimidation factor to his fellow test-takers with that kind of sharpener. Watch out, guys!!! He's gonna ace this thing!

Lincoln the Menace

It's not quite as catchy as "Dennis the Menace" but it is fitting nonetheless. Lincoln is driving me nuts... climbing the windowsills, climbing on the couch, turning on the microwave, dishwasher, and food waste dryer (yes, in Korea, you have to dry your food waste), opening the front door, fishing in the toilet etc. etc. I'm sure it'll get worse before it gets better.

36 weeks and counting...

This pic is microscopic (which is probably a good thing), but my belly is still getting bigger (as is the rest of me). Matt and I realized the other day, that if the baby comes as early as Lincoln did, then we only have a few days till go time!!! Yikes! I spent some time the other day and wrote down Lincoln's and Lucy's schedules for those who may end up taking care of them while I'm in the hospital. I think today, I'll pack a backpack of food and clothes for Lincoln and myself. It's still hard to believe that this is really going to happen. There's another newborn in our branch. They blessed him a couple of weeks ago. He is SO small. It's hard to believe that Lincoln was such a little guy. My belly really is uncomfortably large. I avoided stretch marks last time, but this time I haven't been so lucky... so I'm pretty ready for this baby to come out! Let the countdown begin!

Mr. Goldilocks

Lincoln's hair has a mind of its own. After his morning bath, I comb it out and it lays nice and flat (at least on top, the back is ALWAYS curly). After walking Lucy out in the humidity and after a few sweaty naps his hair goes NUTS! None of these pictures really do it justice. You'll just have to come and visit us to see for yourself. I caught him watching the World Cup with Matt. (Matt hates soccer, but felt that he HAD to watch it so he'd be able to chat about it play-by-play with the Brits and Koreans at work who are huge fans).

This next pic isn't the cutest of him but definitely captures the goldiness of his goldilocks. Just as shimmery and blonde as ever. When I'm out and about by myself with Lincoln, many Koreans ask me if my husband has yellow hair. Nope! And Lincoln probably won't either post-puberty.

Worst Trip EVER

With our new found freedom due to the purchase of our Swagger Wagon, last weekend we decided to drive to Seoul for one last temple trip before the baby comes. We had high hopes for this trip, but we got a late start because of the unexpected trip to the plastic surgeon with Lincoln. So, we hit rush hour on the way out. It took us an hour to get on the freeway. Then while on the freeway, Lincoln had several melt downs so we stopped a couple of times to give him a rest from his car seat. Once we got to Seoul, our GPS wouldn't turn on. Luckily Matt had printed out a map so we were able to make it to the temple. 6 hours later (we were expecting a 4.5 hour trip) we rolled into the temple driveway at nearly 1:30 am.

(This is non-related, but while we were in Seoul, we went to an Italian restaurant and got some pasta and pizza. Every American-style restaurant here will serve pickles and peppers along with everything else. Mmmmmm! We didn't touch them!)

We had reserved a spot in the temple patron housing... only $15 per night. Way better than getting a $200 hotel room... or so we thought. We buzzed the doorbell at the gate and a cute little Korean gaurd let us in. He took us to our rooms. The sisters and brothers sleep separately in rooms full of bunk beds. He turned on the light and woke up the other couple of sisters that were already there. I was embarrassed. We told him that with Lincoln, that just wasn't going to work and that we were going to go get a hotel room. His English was VERY limited, but with some charades he understood and then insisted that we follow him. We went outside into the rain and then next door to a house which I guess is also patron housing. The house was sweltering and smelled like Taiwan... a.k.a mildew. At the top of a narrow stair case there was a small loveseat with a pile of blankets and pillows on them. He led us down the hallway to the right to a room that was completely empty except for a TV that didn't work. He gave us some blankets and pillows. Matt and I looked at each other with grins. We were really going to stay there? I was against it until the guard showed us that there was an AC unit in the room. There was no way that I would have considered it otherwise. So, I got several blankets and laid them out to make a mini mattress. Matt ran out in the pouring rain to get Lincoln's Pack n' Play and bottle. And so we did it. I slept on the floor 8 months pregnant. Worst night's sleep ever. Luckily Lincoln was so exhausted, he fell right asleep after a cold bottle. Here is a little video of our lovely accommodations:

At 5:15 am, there was a knock at our door. What in the world? We had just gotten to sleep about 3.5 hours ago. I tried to just ignore it, but the knock came again and woke Lincoln up. It was an American guy, wondering if we were planning on going to the 5:30 session. No. We weren't. Goodnight!!! Lincoln wailed for a bit but I brought him into our "bed" and he fell back asleep. At 6:15 am we awoke to the sound of kids screaming, running around and jumping up and down the stairs. I gave up and got up to play with Lincoln. What a nightmare.

The good news is, Matt was able to go at 9 am to do initiatories for some of our family names and then when he got back to the room, I was able to do some baptisms. The lady issuing the baptismal clothes gave me an XL. I thought, "Well do I really look that big?". But then as I changed my clothes, I could BARELY get the zipper to go around my big belly. Pretty funny. I guess I am that big.


We had planned to go out and do a little shopping after the temple, but it poured rain all day. We didn't bring Lincoln's stroller cover cause when we left Ulsan it was as sunny as could be. So instead of using the stroller, Matt had to carry Lincoln everywhere (as seen above). We took the subway to one place. After the one shopping trip where I got Lincoln some new pajamas, we called it quits, got in the car and went home. An early end to the worst trip EVER.

(This is a little subway performance we caught while out and about)

Thumb Update

So, Lincoln's burn has really been a total nightmare. It seems that all evil forces combined to make the experience as bad as possible. After taking him to the pediatrician intially, she told us not to pop the blister and just let it run it's course. Does she have children? cause there is no way that that blister wasn't going to pop. It was SO huge and on his hand of all places. Those hands go everywhere. Needless to say, a day later it popped. I tried to leave the skin on it to protect it and then put a bandage over it, but then the next day when I took the bandage off, half the skin came with it. ARG!!! So then I had to clip the skin off. It was just a bloody mess. Poor little guy. We had to give him a bottle while I operated. Now I had to worry about it getting infected. I tried bandaging it a million different ways and he'd always seem to get it off (I think his middle name should have been Houdini) and/or totally soaked. Finally I figured out the best way to bandage it, but really it needed to be exposed to the air to heal and if the moisture contained in the bandage wasn't enough, add on top of that an endless supply of baby slobber. So 2 plus weeks later, it was still a bloody mess and didn't even look close to healing so I took him back to the peditrician and she said that it really wasn't looking good. She said that wounds that don't heal within two weeks can cause scarring that is bad enough that it could inhibit the range of motion of his thumb. That's not what I wanted to hear. She ended up referring me to a plastic surgeon which sounded a little extreme, but I was willing to do anything to get that little thumb to heal.

It was really kind of strange to go to a plastic surgeon's office with my baby. We were surrounded by before and after pictures of various body parts that should have clothes on them but didn't. There were women with bandages all over their faces coming out of the office that looked just downright scary. I really would have rather not gone there, but I didn't have too many other options. Anyway, the doctor's English was really not good (although much better than my Korean), but good enough to get the job done. He told me that Lincoln was going to have to have laser therapy. LASER THERAPY??? That sounded really serious and expensive. We went into another room and they had me set Lincoln on the end of a bed. They brought this orange glowing light over and put his thumb under it for 5 minutes. Try holding a 1 year old still for 5 minutes. Yeah right. I wanted to set him on my lap, but was worried that the radiation might not be great for baby #2, so it was a struggle. After laser therapy, he put some ointment on it, wrapped it up, told me to come back in 2 days, and charged me $10. TEN DOLLARS??? What a steal!! I was prepared to fork over a small fortune.

Two days later, we came back and the wound had dried up and closed like magic. It really was amazing. I read more about laser therapy for burn wounds on the internet and it said that it's still considered experimental but supposedly helps with circulation, pain, cell regeneration, etc. etc. I am a believer! So now, he doesn't need a bandage anymore. His thumb (as seen in the above picture) still looks pretty awful. Even though only one side was burned, the skin on his entire thumb all died and fell off due to being bandaged for so long. But it is definitely on the mend.

This was the short story long, but this situation has really caused a lot of drama and tears (both mine and Lincoln's). I've been really worried about his thumb not healing and am so relieved that it has healed as much as it has. Yay for plastic surgeons! Never thought I'd say that.

Watch out!!! He's gonna blow!!!

At first we thought he was trying to poop, but then realized it was all just for the fun of it.

Our Swagger Wagon

We did it. Despite our swearing to never buy a minivan, we bought a black 2006 Hyundai Trajet... a.k.a. our Swagger Wagon. I am SO excited. I have not driven a car for 5 months cause I'm not allowed to drive the company car. I am a free woman and loving it! No more walking to the doctor's office or the grocery store!!! I'm gonna "roll hard through the streets" but not so much on the cul-de-sacs cause they don't have those here in Korea.

ps. Thanks for the video Candace!