Sunday, February 22, 2009

A few pictures

Today we've all been stuck at home. Brent is on call this weekend, and has to stay within a 1/2 hour drive of the base. Our church is more like 45 minutes away, so every 6 weeks he misses church. Cooper's been sick this week and I can't leave him home with Brent (in case he gets called in), so we all stayed home. We're terrible about taking pictures, so we made the effort today. Not many turned out, but here are a few fun ones:






Friday, February 20, 2009

The first month

A few pics from our first month with Lincoln:



Sitting on the couch last night:



A month ago, Cooper seemed like my little baby. He doesn't seem so little any more!



Mercedes at the zoo with her friends:



We didn't get any pictures of Cooper at the zoo, but he was pretty funny that day. He does NOT like the snakes or the alligators. Every time he was near either he would animatedly point away and say, "That way! That way!" He couldn't get away fast enough!



Cooper loves to hold his baby. Unfortunately he's had a cold this week. I'm sure he's tired of me saying, "don't touch the baby!"





This is where Lincoln spends most of his sleeping hours:



In a week or two we'll get him used to the crib. I just haven't been brave enough yet! Both Cooper and Mercedes spent their first two months sleeping in the swing. Lincoln is becoming a great night-sleeper, thank goodness. If I weren't nursing, he'd probably be sleeping through the night! I still have a week or two of waking him up to eat after 5 hours so I don't lose my milk supply. Last night he went for two stretches of 5 hours! Hopefully I'll soon get used to the schedule and stop waking up every hour or so. It's amazing how great our kids are, we sure are blessed.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Super-Mom to the Rescue


Those of you who know my mom are aware of how incredible she is. I am constantly amazed by her selflessness. She is ALWAYS patient, hardly sleeps, works like a machine, is constantly serving (without being asked)... I don't know why I was blessed to be sent to my parents, but I am always aware of the great blessing it is to be their daughter.

She flew out here from Utah to take care of us when Lincoln was born. I don't know what I would have done without her! Not once did I worry about the kids while I was in the hospital - I knew that they would be happy with Grandma. In fact, Grandma is probably their very favorite person. I know that Mercedes would rather be with Grandma than anyone else. And why not? She is always patient and kind with the kids, even when they yell and talk back to her. She makes cookies with them, takes them on walks and to the park, plays pretend with them, reads to them, makes chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, buys them clothes and toys and movies and books, doesn't mind when they wake her up at 5 am (or earlier), lets them play with her hair (water and mousse included)... pretty much does or gives them whatever they want.

But that's not all - when she wasn't spoiling Mercedes and Cooper she was cleaning my house from top to bottom and cooking for us. She scrubbed my floors, vacuumed constantly, did laundry daily, washed dishes multiple times a day, waited on me hand and foot, ran errands, went grocery shopping, and slept on an air mattress for two weeks (that could NOT have been comfortable).

A week before she was scheduled to go home I was already dreading her departure, but not because I would no longer have a maid (although I DO miss being taken care of). I was sad because of how much I miss her when she leaves. She's not only a perfect example for me, she's my best friend, and my favorite person to talk to (other than Brent, of course). I always feel silly saying "thank you" to her, because it is so inadequate.

I think that my mom is as close to perfect as a mother can get. She's perfect to me. I love you Mom.

Friday, February 6, 2009

A Summary of our Christmas... if I can remember it.

I've waited too long to share our Christmas pictures, and so much has happened since that I'm having trouble remembering it at all! I'll do my best...

First of all, I must express my gratitude to Suzanne, Kim and Doug for flying across the country to be with us. That was all the Christmas present I needed, and helped me to get through November and December - I had something to look forward to. Kim and Doug arrived Christmas Eve afternoon, and Suzanne's flight arrived later that night. Following Allphin family tradition, we ate Mexican food on Christmas Eve - yummy!

Unfortunately, my kids NEVER sleep in, and Christmas was no exception. I think that they were up at 5. Poor Suzanne was still on MST and she and Brent had stayed up until 2 the night before. We didn't get any good present-opening pictures, but here's what we started with:


When we drove out here to South Carolina in June, my mom sent Christmas with us. Thanks mom! Otherwise, the pile would have been MUCH smaller! It was fun to have something to open on Christmas morning.

Our favorite gift was the WII. I was tempted many times to open it, since it's been sitting in my closet since July and we've been stuck here at home so much. I'm glad I resisted, it was a great surprise. We decided to get Mercedes a FIT to go with it, since she doesn't play with toys anymore. We spent Christmas day hanging around in our PJs playing the WII. Here's a picture of Suzanne:



And here's Coop in his Christmas PJs... the monkeys were a hit:

It rained most of the weekend, but on friday we did go to the zoo for a few hours. We saw a:



And a:



And then:





But my favorite animal was:



On Saturday we were lucky that Charleston's forecast was sunny, so we headed out there. I've wanted to go there since July, but every time we've planned to go it's rained. We rode a trolley around town, saw the boats in the bay, and ate at a great seafood place.








You might be able to guess what happened right after this picture was taken. Yup - Cooper took a dive into the water and came out scared and totally soaked, from his shoes to his hat. Luckily he wasn't wearing his jacket, so we walked around town with a naked boy in just his jacket for the rest of the day. Next time I hope I remember to pack a change of clothes... just in case. Since he couldn't walk, Grandpa carried Coop for most of the day.



The seafood place we ate at is called Hyman's, and it's been run by the same family since it opened long ago. The hospitality was amazing. The owner came by our table to make sure we were being well taken care of, Cooper was served THE BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I have EVER tasted, and they even gave the kids coupons for free ice cream. The food was wonderful, and no one seemed to mind that our kids made a huge mess.



After eating we drove out to an island and "tried" to walk on the beach. I got to the sand and turned back to the car - it was so cold! It was really beautiful, though. East coast beaches look much different to me than the west coast ones I'm used to. The sand is so fine and soft.

As it grew dark we decided to head home, expecting a relaxing and peaceful 60-75 minute drive. Unfortunately, South Carolina isn't as used to highway accidents as California is. About half an hour into our drive home the traffic stopped. Completely. No inching. No moving. Everyone turned their cars off. I was a little freaked out, as we were almost out of gas and both Mercedes and I needed to go to the bathroom. After sitting there for more than half an hour, the traffic finally started moving. I was so relieved to get to a gas station!!!

After church on Sunday we just relaxed. I think Cooper's favorite part of Christmas was reading books with Grandpa.