Christmas In Georgia

12/22
Tomorrow is the day before Christmas Eve and I am so excited! Our church has been doing an incredible series on Revolutionary Love (more about it below) and tomorrow they announce that we're getting together on Christmas Eve around 4pm (so I won't be there because I'll either be: A. Sitting in traffic:( or B. Picking up Lincoln from my mom's house) to pass out Krispy Kreme donuts to people in the community who have to work that evening. A guy at our church either manages/owns a Krispy Kreme and is donating 250 boxes of donuts! It's been pretty sweet the last few weeks seeing everyone step up...Lincoln has started going into the nursery at church which is okay, especially since I've started volunteering again. At 3 months we don't allow children in the service (to keep distractions down, allow us to deal with mature subjects...and the kids area is phenomenal) so the week before he turned 3 months in he went. He does fine...He gets held a lot and receives lots of attention no matter where we are so I don't worry about him being upset (and that's good b/c he never is).

Christmas Day should be fun. Tim and I are getting Lincoln a few gifts, but not a lot b/c in reality he doesn't understand any of it and won't remember anything. We are spending Christmas Day morning with Tim's parents and then the rest of the day with my family. Kevin is flying so we will celebrate Christmas on Friday. We plan on baking cookies that afternoon/evening and take them out to police/fire departments for fun. I'm very excited about that.

Below are pictures of our new crib. Our friend painted LJ's name on it as well as painted it white along with our other furniture...
















From earlier this month....(I was having issues getting the video to load so it took some time)

So it's Christmastime in Georgia which means a week of 40-50 degree weather and then today...70! We have the tree up and the mantel decorated. We're going for a low-maintenance Christmas this year. We are trying to focus more on our family and less on the craziness of Christmas:) Our church is doing a series called "Revolutionary Love" and I have to say that so far it is my favorite. Last Sunday the church gave back the offering to everyone and asked them to use it to bless someone. Follow this link to hear the stories:http://revolutionarylove.tv/2007/12/02/revolutionarylovetv-share-your-story/#comments

The stories are amazing and show why this truly is my favorite time of the year!

The below video is from the birth of Lincoln. I've had a few people ask about it. You don't see the actual surgery, but you can see Lincoln coming out and Tim does a little dance at one point! :)

Off to Work I Go!

Started working Monday and so far so good. Tim and I have developed a pretty good schedule. He takes Lincoln to daycare in the morning which helped me to not freak out. Lincoln loves daycare...or so we believe. Each afternoon when we arrive to pick him up he cries...He does not, however, cry when we drop him off! The ladies love him b/c he doesn't cry a lot and apparently lots of the teachers stop by to hold him. He's already a ladies man and only 8 weeks old!

Returning to work has been different. I am enjoying being back in the office, but there are lots of changes. They are all good changes b/c people are moving on to better things, but sad as well because I will no longer be seeing them on a day to day basis. I am just glad that I returned to work this month and not January - otherwise I would not recognize anyone in the building! This is normal for this time of year, but change is never easy. I truly believe that part of the reason I went through so many moves and issues with friends was to get used to change. It has been the hardest part of being in a church plant, but also one of the reasons I've been able to look back over my life and say, "Oh, that's why that happened!" Okay, that was a little random to be on LJ's blog, but it's true. I hope that throughout Linc's life he'll be able to hold onto friends from elementary school and on.

Linc's next doctor's appointment is on the 30th where he will get his first set of shots...Kind of sounds like a puppy dog! We have found that we've owned dogs one too many years...all of the ways we talk to Linc sound like we're talking to Pug or Mel. This morning Tim said, "I have to put him in his house." He meant carseat, but it came out house. For the dogs there "houses" are their crates/doghouse.

As for the dogs they are still getting used to Linc. Mel's been going into the garage on nights with cold weather (freezing or close to freezing).One evening Linc was sitting in his house b/c I was about to go somewhere and Mel trotted over to him and was rooting his nose through the carseat. It was humorous! Linc just takes it all in. Pug still sniffs around and then ignores, but anytime we are not holding the baby Pug parks himself in our laps! I've got a couple cute pictures of Tim holding both Pug and Mel and I'll try to post them...along with whatever other pictures I've promised. This is getting extremely long so I'll cut it off for now. Next week is Linc's first Thanksgiving and the first time he will be meeting Tim's brother, Jere, and his girlfriend. They live in DC and it's the first time Jere's been able to come home. I'm so excited about the holidays! It's my favorite time of the year!!

WAR EAGLE!

Tim, Lincoln and I are watching our Auburn Tigers play the UGA Dawgs. I'm going to fit Linc for an Auburn jersey sometime soon. In the mean time he'll be in mine:) I'll post a pic later. For now, I've got a picture of Tim's mom, Judy, changing Lincoln when they babysat a few weeks ago. I hope everyone is doing well!

Two Weeks Fly By Fast!

So my two weeks are almost up and work is getting closer by the day. As I said before, I'm not upset about going back, but it will be sad not to be with Lincoln 24/7 and see all the new things he will learn until evenings. I've got some more pictures. Grandma Boutet paid us a visit and spent the day with us. Lincoln had a blast smiling at her and being held. She was very good at putting him to sleep! I also took some pictures of him after bath time as well as some of him playing with Tim. He's growing everyday and seems to be showing more personality as well.


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Not Heading Back to Work Yet...

So, Tuesday was going to be my first day back at work, but thanks to a pediatrician who does not want Lincoln in a daycare until he's 8 weeks old (even if it was just going to be 2 days a week) and thanks to a very nice gift we recieved I am going to have 2 more weeks with my little one! I did go into the office on Friday just in time for the Halloween Bash. I didn't actually attend but I heard it went really well which is great.

I was in the office to go over budget stuff with my boss and although I was nervous because it was my first budget meeting and I was going to have to tell Gary that I needed 2 more weeks at home, overall it was a great meeting. Funny enough people were supposedly taking bets as to whether I would actually return to work or not. I understand the thought process as my former boss as well as at least 4 other co-workers have left after returning for only a few weeks (or not at all) to stay at home with their kids.

As much as I would love to stay at home with Lincoln, I am actually just as excited to get back to work. Don't get me wrong, staying home would be awesome, but while he's little and can't remember anything I feel like it will be just as great to continue to work. We have a fantastic year ahead and I'm really excited about several of the projects I'm going to oversee. I'm taking it slow though...Thanks to saved up vacation I am going 3 days a week for the first 2 weeks, 4 days a week for the second and then full time from that point forward. I think it will be interesting to see how Tim and I will juggle working, having Lincoln and the pups, and keeping up with our house... It's going to be an adjustment going back, but I'm glad I have 2 more weeks to figure it out...

Introducing Lincoln Jagger!

This is the video of Tim introducing LJ to Revolution Church. The first guy who comes on is Preston Porter, the Connections Pastor. He was the Children's Pastor at the time which is why he referenced hanging with everyone's kids. His son was 8lbs and 21in. at birth. He is now over 11lbs. and it's only been a month...

1 Month Report

Went to the doctor's yesterday morning. Lincoln Jagger has grown a ton! He weighs 9.67 pounds and is 20.75 inches long. The doc was pretty impressed with his growth (although he was pretty excited about everything...I think its his way of making parents feel calm and good). LJ's been eating like a madman so I'm interested to see how much he grows/weighs at his 2 month appointment. Next week should be my last week before semi-returning to work, however the doc was not excited (the only time during the appointment) with that news. He wants me to try and wait 2 more weeks and so...we are weighing the options.