Lincoln's Birth

This is a survery I did on Facebook that I wanted saved so I put it in my blog!

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!
Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes, we had been trying for over a year!

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yuppers

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? thrilled beyond anything, and nervous - we missed carried our first baby 2 years prior.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 23

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? God told me in a dream. I had a dream one night and God said - as clear as day - "Cher, you are pregnant" That morning when I woke up I was quite sick, and I remembered the dream. After being sick for a few days, I took the test.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Stephen, we decided to go to the Dr. next and confirm. After that we told my family (funny story), his family, and my bffnae Ashley. Then we wanted to wait until the 12 week point to make it public. I was 9.5 weeks along when we found out I was prego's.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes of course but the anticipation and guessing was far better, so we didn't, and actually you can't find out at most Winnipeg Hospitals.

9. DUE DATE? April 15, 2008

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Um yes, just a tad! For the first 17 weeks. But I figured out the cure for morning sickness, take a trip to cuba! :)u

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Mexican! And grapefruit! Nothing weird or weird combinations though. I just wanted to eat, pretty much anything!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Probably Stephen! He was at the brunt of all my irrational emotional outburst

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?During my whole pregnancy we both really wanted a boy, about a month before i gave birth, i started really loving the idea of having a girl. In the moment Lincoln was born, and his sex was announced, I have to admit my heart was the tiniest bit disappointed, I thought "oh a girl would have been nice", but it passed so quickly! Everyone who has kids will tell you, once that baby comes it really doesn't matter what it is , as long as they are healthy, and it is so trued. I definitely have a huge desire to have a girl, in fact we aren't stopping until we do, but i actually would like another boy next!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? This is embarrassing - 52lbs! It was ridiculous!

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, my mom threw one after Lincoln was born, so everyone could buy gender appropriate gifts, and more importantly so everyone could meet the man of the hour! They also threw one for me at work, the day before my due date, which was a surprise!

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew, designed the invitations while I was pregnant.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? No, thankfully.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Almost in my house, but we made it the hospital (barely) St. Boniface! (I was that girl you see in movies screaming in a wheel chair being pushed speedily to the delivery room. I remember saying, rather loudly, "I feel like i have to poop!" And my midwife was saying just don't! Hang on!) Amazing hospital and staff!

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 3 unexplainable hours

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? My midwife drove the vehicle, I gave encouragement - such as when the light was yellow turning red I yelled from the back seat "GO! GO! GO!"

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Well no one watched - everyone was doing something! But the people present were: my amazing midwife Becky, some nurse, my amazing husband, and also my amazing mom!

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? All natural baby!

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? One breathe of the gas was all I got

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7lbs 5oz
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? April 15th 7:58am - on his due date, and he got here in time for work!

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Lincoln Michael John Dombowsky

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST? 9 months

Beanie's Face

We finally got to see our dear Beanie's face yesterday at our ultra sound. It was miraculous and incredible. The technology now a days really does amaze me! To be able to watch my baby bat at my womb like a cat, then suck its thumb, and then give a few good punches does nothing less than amaze and bond you with your baby! The ultrasound tech we had was awesome - best experience I've had so far! It took an hour, which usually it only takes 30 mins, but Beanie was so active she was having troubles getting all the proper measurements and pictures she needed! I'm not complaining too much though, besides the massive discomfort of my bladder being overly full and then having someone push and prod on my full bladder for an hour, I got to see lots of different angles and movements and parts of my dear little baby!
I was shocked at how much the baby moved! Amazing, I still barely feel anything, but I am a little scared for how much I will feel once the baby gets bigger. At one point Beanie pulled its legs right up to its chest and then WHAM right into the uterus wall! It was so cool to watch! The baby even waved at us - I remember Lincoln did that as well, its so cool! They are like "hey mom and dad, nice to finally see you!"
We didn't find out what we were having. Stephen, of course, wanted to during the middle of it, but the Hospital couldn't tell us even if we did change our minds. I was glad, I love the surprise at birth!
And according to one of the pictures - this baby has my nose! We will see when they are born if it still looks the same.
Over all our baby is 'lovely' (according to our ultra sound tech anyways) and all the right parts and pieces are there and running smoothly! Horray!!!

Lincoln's Vocabulary - 18 months

Lincolns current vocabulary:
No
Go
Woof-Woof
Please (Sounds like peas)
bed (only once though)
Mom

Lincoln currently knows where his nose, tongue, eyes and belly are.

Artistic like his Father

Stephen went to help his family on the farm for 5.5 days a few weeks ago. So I decided to help make the time go a little faster to introduce something new to Lincoln. We went off to Wal-Mart and I bought a large floor pad of paper, cool pen style crayons, finger paints and sidewalk chalk! Deciding that it was too cool for the chalk and still too young for the paints I set up the paper and the crayons on the floor and watched my little Michael Angelo go to work on his first master piece! He loved it! He loved it so much he colored for over an hour! I had to tear him away when it was nap time, and oh how he cried. But as soon as he was awake he motored downstairs, laid back down on his paper and continued his creation. For over 3 hours!!! It was incredible. And once again when it was bed time he cried and cried as I literally dragged him away from his crafts.
He still loves to color, but does not do it for the same amount of time. The one amazing thing is that he holds his crayons properly, like a pencil! Its very cute! My boy is a genius! :)

Compassionate at 18 months?

My darling little sweety pie (aka the big boy Lincoln) truly shocked me yesterday. During this pregnancy I have suffered severe horrendance, don't even wish them on my worst enemy, head aches. They come about every 2 weeks. Well last night was the night to get one. As I lay on the couch trying to shut out all sound and light, my little boy wanders over too me and gives me a hug. A hug!! I ask this little boy for hugs daily and rarely do I get one! He wanders off and returns a few minutes later and give me another hug! I was so touched. But then he blew my socks off - he wandered off again, went and found his 'choo-choo' (soother) and came and offered it too me! Like he was saying "Here Mommy, I know this makes me feel better! Would you like it?" I couldn't help but smile through the pain! I couldn't believe how perceptive he was and how sensitive he was too me. He made me feel loved beyond words!
As a mother I would not even think to ask to be loved back my the person that I love beyond comprehension, my son. Loving him fills me with more joy and fullfilment that I could ever ask for. But when he shows me that he loves me equally as much of his own free will - it is the greatest thing in the whole entire world. I could never imagine what motherhood actually felt like before children - i knew it would be good. I had no idea it would be this good.

My darling little froggingman!

Yesterday we were very blessed my one of Stephen's volunteers at Building Futures to be invited out to their 'little piece of Heaven' as they so lovingly and accurately call it. They have 40acres of woodlands and grasslands about an hour north east of the city. They have developed some of it into a beautiful garden, a quaint little cabin, and a great dug out for their kids, who are now adults, used to spend their summers swimming it. The rest is all natural forest and meadows - it really is a piece of Heaven. Lincoln, of course, had one of the best days of his life as he got to run around exploring, discovering, and just being a little boy! His favorite part of being out there were all the little frogs hopping around, waiting to be caught! Stephen and I caught and few and showed him - and then after that Stephen, Rodger and Linc went hunting frogs for a long time. The funny thing is is that Lincoln doesn't have the words "gentle' or "don't squish" in his vocabulary, so needless to say some of the frogs got a little bit of hard loving from our little 16 month old! Lincoln was able to even catch some by himself - and if they were getting away he wouldn't hesitate to try and step on them!

This one frog Stephen caught for Linc by the water, and placed it on the ground in front of Lincoln - and Lincoln proudly caught it all by himself. As we tried to tell him not to poke, squish, and manhandle this little frog - it got away into the water. But couldn't get very far as it was so exhausted and shocked at being handled so brutually it simply floated on the water. Well Linc was thrilled as he caught it AGAIN! And again this poor frog was 'loved' and discovered by Linc. We finally took it away from him and set it in the water away from Lincoln. And to my horror I watched this little frog sink to the bottom! After a few short minutes it struggled to the surface and slowly made its away as far away from my son as his little body would take him.

It was really cool to start to see the little boy in Lincoln really emerge! One of our 3-5 year goals is to buy some land in the country and settle out there. I won't be surprised if once we are out there my house is filled with creepy crawly things that my little adventure brings home. In fact, I can't wait!

Lincolns little antics

Lincoln has definately been my joy these last few weeks as he seems to have had a development explosion and doing lots of cute fun new things.

Linc now sticks his tongue out - it is so cute, because he hasn't figured out how to push it out very far yet so it sits between his lips. If you look at him and stick your tongue out at him, and gets the most glorious smile on his face and in his eyes and out pops his little tongue.

Linc now says "No" regularly and clearly. Last week we were at Stephen's parents farm and there were a lot of dogs at the farm, and so a lot of "Roxy, No." Herc, No!". As I strapped Linc into his car seat for the long ride home he points at Herc, who was sitting in the Jeep and says "No,no,no,no,no." It was priceless! Now, he says No, when he means no. He says NO, when he means yes. Its very cute.

Stephen has taught Linc to play hide and go seek. Stephen will say to Lincoln, "Lincoln, should I go hide?" or "Lincoln, want to come find me?" Which is usually followed by a, "No." which means Yes in this case. So then Stephen runs into another room, at which point Linc runs after him as fast as his little legs will carry. Stephen usually only has enough time to step into a closet or hide behind the door - but Linc always manages to find him, and is so proud of himself when he does!

One of the best things I am enjoying in this stage is Linc is finally starting to show affection of his own free will. When he climbs into my lap with a book in tow I am amazed everytime how perfectly we fit together. We were truly made for each other. When i squat down and throw my arms wide and the rare times he runs into them and gives me a big hug - I never want to let him go, or want that moment to end. Motherhood has rewards and moments that are priceless and inexplainable - and I am blessed, grateful, and humbled to have the privelege of being a mother.
My heart is over flowing with love and joy for my child. And it is over flowing knowing that I am priveleged enough to be carrying our second one.

The Lord is good.

Linc's First Hair cut

Well after being asked if Linc was a boy or a girl one too many times, we decided to get his hair cut. I loved his long blonde hair, but it was getting to be too much. Linc did great - sat so well and didn't cry or make strange. The lady we went to was brilliant and really understood toddlers and just going with the flow! He looks even more like Stephen now, and definitely less like a baby :(. He is growing up so fast!

These boots were made for walkin....

Lincoln took his first steps on July 2nd and started walking on July 3rd! I wasn't there for the first steps - Stephen told me proudly that Lincoln had accomplished this small feet after I returned home from shopping while in Florida. The next day we were in the living room of the beach house and I hear Stephen say, "Lincoln took a step!" "Two steps, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" I ran over and caught the last bunch of them - and they were AMAZING! He spent the rest of the afternoon taking a few steps, falling on his bum, standing up, falling down, standing up, taking a few more steps, falling down! It was brilliant! We were able to get the second time he walked on video - I am so glad we have that memory forever on tape, it is incredible.
Now its about 3 weeks later and he is motorin - walking every where he goes. He either toddlers, or toddlers quickly! It is darling! He is so proud of himself!

A little side of me showing through

In the last few days Lincoln has started showing a will of his own! I am getting a little frightened, as I was child that had a VERY strong will. Lincoln just screams and cries his I give him something to eat that he does not want. Or if I try to change his diaper. Or if I put him down and he doesn't want to be. I hope we quickly learn a way to communicate that doesn't involve screaming and crying!

Lincoln's Quirks

Lincolns first word was "no"! He doesn't understand what he is saying, he just likes to mimic us! It was amazing the first day he said it! I had just taken him away from the dog food for the umpteenth time saying "no,no,no lincoln!" and put him into the living room. He crawled all the way through the living room, through the dining room, and through the kitchen into the foyer. Once he got within site of the dog food he crawled towards it saying "no,no,no,no,no". It was priceless! He hasn't really said it since though. He mostly like to say "doubledo!" and "doh" and sometimes he tries to say "keys".

He still isn't walking - but loves to walk behind his walker. It will be any day now.

There is this one thing he loves to do, that I find weird, but maybe its a common baby thing. He loves to put things around his neck! Anything he finds that is long, like a necklace, a piece of rope, a belt, sunglasses, he has to put it around the back of his neck and then crawl around with it there!

As well he still loves to put things in his mouth! everything goes in the mouth! Yesterday i was making supper and had the potatos out, he got into the bag and bit little pieces off the potatos. Then he went to his diaper bag, found a pear I had in there from his daycare, and ate almost the whole thing, skin and all! Daily, i would even say hourly, I say to him "Lincoln, what is in your mouth?" "Can mommy have it?" Sometimes he gladly shows me, and pulls it out, whether it be paper, dog food, anything really that fits in there. Other times he gives me a grin and crawls away as fast as possible, leaving me chasing behind and trying to pry his jaws open to do the 'sweep'! The other week Stephen was 'watching' him, and had noticed Linc was no longer in the living room with him and that, more importantly, it was quiet. Stephen found him in the kitchen with a package of gum and his cheeks stuffed. Stephen proceeded to pull the pieces out 1,2,3,4,5,6. He goes back to the living room and realizes it is still quiet, he goes back to Linc, checks for more gum hidden in his mouth. Pieces 7 & 8 are removed. He checks one last time to be sure and piece 9 is found. Lincoln at this point bursts into tears!

The other week I was grocery shopping and putting all the veggies right behind Linc. At some point Linc decided to grab the green onions and play with them. Of course he put them in his mouth, even though they were in a little bag. apparently they tasted good because he sucked on those onions for the whole entire grocery trip! People thought it was so odd that he liked them! He breath smelt like onions after that!

Lincoln - the national travellor!

In the last 3 months we have been to Ottawa for a week. Drove to Kansas City for a week. Flew to Camrose for a day (we got the call that my Grandfather was in his last days and Linc and I went to say our good byes) And then drove to Camrose for the funeral and were gone a week. We went to Brandon for my brother's wedding. And now are getting ready to fly to Florida for 12 days! We recently bought a new vehicle and it had 18,000km on it - now it has 27,000km and its been about 3 months!

Somewhere between all that we sold our house, bought a new one. Moved in the new one and out of the old one. As well Stephen's family has visited twice. And my best friend Ashley, and her husband have been living with us for the last month, along with my cousins Travis and Kristin!

We also had Stephen's grand opening for his program Building Futures. My big brother's fabulous wedding, and the Coldplay concert! It has been some busy, busy months1

Linc's First Birthday

Lincoln's first birthday was quite a while ago! That tells you how busy our lives have been in the last 2 months! His actual birthday was spent driving from Kansas City to Winnipeg - and little did I know but the poor kid had the flu! He ended his birthday supper, which we had in Fargo, ND by throwing up. We celebrated with Stephen's family in Kansas City at Braden and Nina's the night before. They gave him gifts, and we had ice cream cake! Linc loved the attention and loved the cake even more! Once we got home we celebrated his birthday with a big party (around 30 people came) at my parents house on the following weekend. It was a superhero themee, of course! I made shirts for Stephen and I and a cape for Linc! He was still sick, so ended up sleeping most of his party. I woke him up to do presents and cake - which, I was so dissapointed that he didn't even touch! Stephen decorated the cake - and it turned out fantastic! I was sad that he wasn't feeling well - but knew he wouldn't remember it any way. We had a great time celebrating he first year of our babies birth!

You are such a funny kid

Lately, one of the most common phrases heard through out the day around our home is "Lincoln, you are such a funny kid." He always goes through these weird little phases. Lately he mostly growls, in this deep guttural voice. We were in the passport office today, and he was making noise in his usual growl and I was getting the weirdest looks! I have nicknamed him my little bear because a) when he gets crabby he becomes like a bear and b) he makes these growling noises; like a bear.

He isn't walking but getting much sturdier on his feet. Probably in the next few months he will take those first steps. I try to bribe him with chips to take a step towards me, but as soon as he sees the chips he falls to his knees and scrabbles over. Stephen got him started on eating chips. Come to think of it, Stephen and my mom get him started on most of his bad eating habits! Lincoln knows who the weak one is and give him treats - not his mom!

We have been trying to teach him to say "puppy" and he is very interested. He always stops and stares intently as we say the word. And sometimes he even starts to mouth it, but no noise ever comes out.

I am starting to realize how impressionable he is, especially at this age. I am making a conscious decision to speak more politely and not treat him so much like a mindless baby, but how I would like him to act as a little boy. He still refuses to eat from a spoon, and feeding himself with a utensil feels like it is never going to happen.

For some bizarre reason he thinks you get down from the couch, or the bed, or the stairs by going head first. He has yet to have an accident, we have been very lucky by grabbing those skinny ankles at the last second!

He is going to be 1 in two weeks, where has the time gone? All I know is he is growing into such a funny kid.

YES!

Ottawa

We recently went to Ottawa for 6 days. Stephen was attending a Conference for work, my dad was hosting the conference, so we thought we would tag along! It was quite the experience, over all we had a great time! The plane rides were interesting. I never realized how small the seats are until I was holding a very squirmy, over tired, 11 month boy! But we survived, and thankfully didn't get kicked off the plane! Another challenge was having Lincoln's crib in our room - something we both aren't used too. But again, we survived, barely! By the end of the week he was waking up every hour...I was glad to be going home!

Ottawa is a beautiful city, full of history. We were able to explore By Ward Market one afternoon, which was a lot of fun! Biggest highlight of that day would probably be going to the bakery that Obama visited when he was there. Biggest disappointment of that day would be eating the cookie that Obama bought. He has horrible taste in sweets.

My dear friend Becki drove 3 hours to see us on Saturday. That girl is amazing. Every time we get together, which is usually ever 2 or 3 years, we pick right up where we left off! She took us to Ikea and then we walked around the Parliament building, and then back down to By Ward Market for supper at an old '50s diner called Zac's. It was a great day with a great friend!

Linc & I hit up the pool a couple of times...of course how could we miss the giant bath tub! Lincoln's highlight would have to be the escalators that Grandpa would take him on. Up and down, up and down.

Great family trip, first real vacation for Lincoln!

Lincoln is his name-o!

What have we been up to lately? It has been a whirl wind, time is literally flying by! In less than 2 weeks I will celebrate my babies 1st birthday, go back to work, and celebrate my 25th birthday!

Lincoln and I went and met with the lady who will be watching him 2 days a week as I head back to work. She has two young boys, age 5 & 3. They are so sweet. The oldest, after learning Lincoln's name, responded "That is a good name!". I think so as well! They also have a little Pomeranian/Pug, and Lincoln played tug a way with the her for quite a while, he loved it! We feel really good about the arrangement. I just hope I get pregnant soon, so I can be at home for good! More babies!

Not a very good blogger

I have realized I am not a very good blogger. And this fantasy idea of blogging all these great moments in our lives, was well, a nice fantasy idea. I don't know how I expected myself to do it, and I only have 1 kid! Oh well, doesn't the intention matter more?

Updates:
Lincoln - is amazing.


Just kidding, i will write more. Lincoln lately has learned how to high five and clap. He is still a huge fan of his baths. In fact, whenever I run the water in the tub, he crawls as fast as he can to the bathroom, pulls himself up on the edge of the tub, and proceeds to bounce and squeal and attempt to give me a hug (or he is trying to launch himself in by using my body!) It is priceless! He also loves to call dad at work, and babbles to Stephen. Very cute. He also likes to pull himself up on the coffee table and proceed to bang his hands, for a very long time! Oh and there are certain commercials he just has to watch when the tv is on. There is no consistancy in which ones, but if you are in the way when he decides he needs to see that particular commercial he will get around you one way or another. He also recently remembered he that he likes to blow bubbles with his lips - you know like when you blow and lips vibrate. Last night he started in kitchen, I picked him up, carried him to our room. Set him on the bed, filled up his bottle. Still blowing. Picked him up again, carried him to his room. Still blowing, lots of drool running down his face. Sat down in our chair and made him stop by putting the bottle in his mouth. Lincoln finished drinking his bottle, I pulled it out, and he resumed blowing bubbles, right where he left off!

Stephen: Was recently made "Director of Building Futures" - i know, impressive! He is working very hard, but still manages to be home every night for supper and tries not to work too much from home on the weekends. He is learning so much, and being stretched and challenged in ways never before, but he is rising to the challenges and kicking butt! We are so proud of him. He has been enjoying Lincoln more than ever, if that is even possible. And he is very glad that Lincoln is finally out of the "I only want mommy stage".

Cher: Well I am still at home, my recent challenge has been figuring out what to do when I go back to work in a few short months. I also have been exhausted as my dear boy likes to wake up every 2-3 hours. I also have been warming up to the idea of having another baby. We will see what happens! Speaking of the little boy, he just woke up from a nap. Gotta run!

Linc's first babbles

After a solid 2 months of us saying, "Lincoln, say da-da." Or, "Lincoln, say ma-ma" he has finally started babbling a little bit. He has a vocabulary of 3 words. Ma-ma - which he only says when he is crying. Da - da which he likes to say in the early mornings or when I use the phone during the day. But his favorite word is "blah-blah-blah". Is that all he hears when i speak? He is just like his da-da!

It was a nice thought

When I was pregnant I had this nice thought of capturing all the wonderful moments in small families life in a blog, keep them all fresh and alive for my children to read when they are older. It was a nice thought. Now I see that even though I am busy, doing mostly nothing, all day, blogging has taken a back seat. Sometimes I lay in bed as I am drifting off to sleep at an hour much too late, and record a memory in my head And the writing is fantastic. But then once morning comes, I have forgotten all about the event i was going to write about. Could it possibly be because i was up every 2 or 3 hours with Lincoln? Probably. I hope to keep writing, at least about the big stuff. And the small stuff too. Because sometimes the greatest memories are the forgotten ones. Then one someone says, "Do you remebmer when...." and you searching your brain for that memory, and then it comes back like rushing wave and you exclaim, "yes!" that's the best. (Except if you are like me, and have a horrible memory and you so yes but really mean no.)