More pics of Lincoln & Griff...

Here are some more pics! Griff got to spend the day hanging out with me and Kowe while Shell and Lincoln were waiting to be released and Daddy was at work.

After lots of playing and getting bullied by Kowe, Griff and his buddy tuckered out.Here's what Griff thought of meeting his little brother. It's going to be an adjustment for him, but he was warming up.
Auntie and Linc.
Daddy and Linc.
Home safe and sound. What a little bundle.
Doesn't Shell look great?!
Look at that hair!
Finally with his eyes opened! He loves to sleep!! He really looks like big brother Caleb here!
And there is no better cure for a little sibling jealousy than some Chicken Little! I think movies will be Shell & Dan's saving grace for a while!

Meet Baby Lincoln!!

The wait is over!! Lincoln was born at 6:47 this morning, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 20 inches long. He is absolutely gorgeous and actually doesn't look as much like Griff as we thought he would...he looks a lot like big brother Caleb and Daddy! He's so cute.

The labor was amazingly smooth and Shell is my hero!!! She did such a great job and he came out and is the most laid back little guy. He didn't even cry when they pricked him with the needle. However, he was kicking when Dan was playing with his belly....so he already knows that Dad is going to be a pesterer!

We're so proud!!

Here is a pic of Shell and Lincoln right after he was born.Here he is in the incubator. Look at those skinny little legs.
Here are some pics of his first bath. He has the thickest dark curly hair. I love it. And look at that Mr. Magoo face!This is mid-way through the styling of his hair.
Sweet boy.
And here is proud Uncle Josh...who had never held a baby this small before! I think he's a natural! Lincoln likes him!

More pictures (of course!) will come soon!!! Shell is resting tonight since she hadn't slept for like 30 hours or something crazy like that! Anyway, there he is for now!

Martini Bar Fun

All we can say is that we had the BEST time on Monday night!!!!! There were more laughs in one night than we've had in forever! We just had to leave this one little hint of a picture. It says it all for us! Thank you for celebrating the new job with us Debbie and Patty!!!!

Daddy gives Kowe a bath...

Is that not the cutest thing?! She was pretty much a huge ragamuffin, so Josh gave her a bath, complete with robe and cute pictures.

Happy Birthday Danny!

Happy Birthday old man!!!

Hmm...I think your guess was wrong..the baby isn't being born on your birthday!! Maybe my guess will be right...next Wednesday.

What a ham.

Kowe's Bath...

Kowe got a bath on Sunday because Maxwell got a bath and she's a jealous little girl who couldn't be left out!

We hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!!

Griffin's Night with Auntie Sissy and Uncle Josh

Griff came over on Saturday to give Shell and Dan some alone time (actually, some Menards time...very romantic!) and we had a blast! Griff and I made cookies and we all played with Kowe.

Griff is such a good boy! Kowe is a good girl, though she was a little rough with Griff. I think it's a combination of jealousy and wanting to play with someone her own size! Either way, we had a great time!

Our garden is done!

Our little wet rat. She was playing in the water at the garden.

Josh and Kowe playing in the yard
Our Garden Planted! 10 Pepper Plants, a fairytale eggplant, 8 Tomato Plants, radishes and scallions. We can't wait for it all to grow!!!

A Night at the Ballpark

Caleb had a tourney this weekend, and we haven't been able to go to any of his other games so far, but we were thankfully able to go today! They played three games today and won all three!!! I'm convinced that Caleb is going to play for the Cubs (or the Cards if papaw has is way about it!)and get me good seats whenever I want!!!

Here is a pic of Caleb at bat. He did awesome today!

Griff *loves* the games! He was so good. He's a huge ham and had the entire set of bleachers for an audience....he was quite entertaining. But he loves to clap for his big brother and do high-5s when things go our way!

Here is Griff and I playing a fun game of ours.....where I bounce him and sing a song, and then he falls in the gutter. He gets so excited when he knows the gutter part is coming. I love how excited he looks....I DON'T love my double chin!! :)

One more of Griff and I. We took Kowe and she was so good...but now she's beat!

I love baseball in the summer!! Especially when we get to watch Caleb and see how talented he is.

Our Drama Queen is doing great!

Okay, so everyone knows that Kowe is spoiled. We admit it. It's no secret. Well, she came home from the vet a changed woman...she was more clingy and sometimes whiney....very normal after a major surgery. Very normal. But it lasted for several days (actually, up until yesterday). She has had a very needy connection with her buddies. And to top it off, she has been hanging out in her cage with her buddies (she normally HATES her cage). We were told that sometimes when girl dogs are fixed, they sort of go through a hormonal thing where they think they just had a baby. I think that Kowe did this to an extent. She carries one of two buddies around at all times. She tucks them in to the blanket, she lays with them, she hides them when she's not going to be with them. What a good mommy, right?! It's started to subside, but it really is most adorable to think about it. And sad, too, that she'll never be able to be a mommy. :( At least not to real puppies...but her buddies seem to be doing the job.
She loves to be under the covers and, as you see here, the pillows. We see you Kowe girl.

So yes, she has been pampered. Here, you can see her wanting her belly rubbed. And Josh probably gave in without any hesitation. We're both guilty. But how do you say no to that face?

And the kicker is that we had to HAND feed the girl! Yep, that's right. I think at first she was just not feeling well and didn't want to eat. So we hand fed her for the first two days. Then it became like our duty to feed her whenever she needed. Today, we took her to the vet and she told us we were getting played!! She said that we're going to have to be firm about not feeding her. She said it won't kill her not to eat for a day..and if she gets hungry enough, she'll eat. By george, she did. She's eaten LOTS of times today!! What a little pill. I guess when you're that sweet, you can be a pill. She's worth it.

Coming up on 4 months!!!

Holy panick Batman!!!

FOUR months. FOUR!!! Thankfully, we have EVERYthing booked. Now we just need to pay the people!! :) We had our first wedding fight this past week. The stress is kicking in! But we got it resolved. We bicker, we don't really fight. But this, this was a fight. The budget is strict and we have to stick to it. That's all there is to it. But that doesn't mean it's easy by any stretch of the imagination!! Thankfully, we have made every vendor decision together, so I'm not to blame entirely for being a small bit of a smudge over budget. However, we will be cutting a couple of things that I was REALLY excited about...but that's okay...it's the right thing to do. There are still plenty of things that we can do to remain under budget, so I'm not worried. I just thought it wouldn't be a true "us" blog if I didn't share some of the trials of planning this extravaganza! Our relationship isn't perfect...but gosh is it great!

On a more exciting note, we were able to register last week. WOW talk about tiring!! We had done our Pampered Chef one a while ago, mostly just for the fun of it. But last week, we decided to take on the adventure. It was a lot of fun. I had to be in charge of the gun because Josh couldn't get it to scan just once. There's probably no need for 4 trashcans or crock pots, right? And I also learned that Kohl's has a TON of fun stuff!! Josh was in charge in his store, but it was a little funny to see his employee giggling that he didn't exactly know how to get the gun prepared. I think she got a kick out of that. Then we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond, but weren't able to finish before they were ready to close. SO we went back a few nights later and then we did our Target one too. We all know how much I love Target, and how I could literally just wander the place for hours on end...however, this night (to Josh's benefit), I was way too tired to browse. It was a get-in-and-get-out night!! Then we crashed! But it's a check off the good 'ole list!!

And flowers are all figured out. That's a great thing. We're going to order invites in the next week or two, and continue to watch the time fly by!!

F.O.U.R. Months. Do you believe it???