yum

Tonight for dinner we had burritos. For the meat we used my friend Becky's (you can check her out at savvycook.blogspot.com) recipe. 1 chicken breast, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of green chilies, and 1 package of taco seasoning. Throw it into the crock pot for a few hours then shred your chicken. Done. Super easy and really good. We also made this rice recipe, a clone of Bajio's sweet rice. Again really easy and really good.

Speaking of food. My little guy isn't so little anymore. This past Tuesday he weighed in at 9lbs 12oz. He's almost gained 4lbs in not quite 6 weeks. Lincoln is changing so fast. He's starting to be awake more. He LOVES staring at faces. He's starting to interact more. He's almost smiling. He's also more demanding. He likes attention when he's awake and he likes to be in his crib when he's tired. Last night he slept 5 hours straight! So exciting. Way better then the 2 1/2 he was averaging when we brought him home from the hospital. I'm in love.

(I think it's a little funny that in most of the pictures I have of Lincoln he has a pacifier in his mouth. He really doesn't like pacifiers at all, but he hates the camera flash even more. It's like I'm torturing him. First with the flash and then with the pacifier. You can imagine how thrilled he is every time Molly and Gabe try to help him by shoving I mean gently placing a pacifier in his mouth while he's crying. :) hmmm)

Our tree bloomed this week. Beautiful. There was a bunny in the yard the other day. Molly and Gabe went out to investigate and splash in a lot of puddles along the way. This is what happens when it's 90 degrees. :)

When my mom was here we had her take some family pictures.

Gabe likes to "shoot" us with his finger. Not really sure where he got it or how I feel about it, but it is what it is. Look at how happy he is in this picture. Priceless.

HaPpY bIrThDaY!

Can you believe this little man is 3?! Gabe is funny, caring, curious, silly, creative, inquisitive, gentle, helpful, short tempered, forgiving, imaginative and all around a great kid. We're lucky to have this little guy as a part of our family.

Spring is here!

Our tulips This is our neighbor Sarah's tree. It's beautiful. Its had flowers for about a week now.

This is our tree... I guess it's a late bloomer?

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now on to the kitchen

The kitchen before. (I'd like to draw your attention to the lovely apple wallpaper and the very pink window sill. I wish I would have gotten a better before picture :()

I've been telling Drew that we should paint the kitchen for a while. Drew kept telling me it wasn't that bad. But trust me it really was. Then one day Drew told me that if I really wanted it painted I should just start taking down the wall paper. A few weeks after that conversation that's just what I did. Thankfully the kitchen wallpaper came down so much easier than the wallpaper in Lincoln's room.

Drew hard at work

ta da. My mother in law here last week. While she was here we made a trip to Hobby Lobby. I said something about wanting a plate rack and about how Drew thought they were silly. Suzie bought me this plate rack. Then I found these blue plates. I love it.

I was out this morning at an appointment with all 3 kids alone. I thought since we were already out and really close to Target we should stop. While I was browsing the clearance end caps I found this yellow table cloth. I love how bright it is. I'm not sure if I'll use it as a table cloth or if I'll cut it up and use the fabric for something else. Either way it was cheaper than buying a yard of fabric from the fabric store. Score. I also found two of these pillows. L0Ve TaRgEt.

Now that most of the rooms in our house are painted I'm excited to start decorating them.

the story of Lincoln

I found out on Thursday that I was going to be induced the next day. I was so nervous. I was told to call the hospital at 5 am to find out what time I was supposed to check in. I was so paranoid about not waking up that I hardly got any sleep. The hospital told me to check in at 7. At 6:40 we dropped a very groggy Molly and Gabe off at a friends house and then headed for the hospital. By 9:30 I was checked in, hooked up to everything and my nurse was starting the pitocin. After a couple hours of that I was ready for an epidural. However the nurse didn't agree so she said she could give my some pain medication through my iv. That was a nightmare. I felt like I was going to die. After the medication wore off my water broke and the nurse said that I was dilated to a 4 so I could have an epidural. The anesthesiologist came and worked his magic at 12:30. By 1:15 I was fully dilated. I pushed through 2 contractions and our little 5lb 15oz boy was welcomed into the world at 1:24. About an hour later we gave him a name. Lincoln Edward. (I had wanted to name Gabe, Lincoln. Lincoln had always been a front runner, but there was one other name that I couldn't get out of my head...)

Looking back I'm still not sure how I feel about being induced. Thankfully Lincoln came fast. I was worried that I'd be in labor all day. I still think that my best experience all around was having Gabe. Although it was nice being able to plan ahead a little.

Right after I was brought to my recovery room a nurse came in to take our vitals. Lincoln was cold. She said that she was going to put him under a heat lamp in the nursery. She said she'd bring him back in a little while. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. A few hours later the pediatrician came in and said that Lincoln had stopped breathing a few times. He told me not to worry he wanted to take a few x-rays and monitor Lincoln in the NICU. ok. The x-rays came back perfect and his breathing wasn't labored. The doctor wanted to keep Lincoln in the NICU to make sure that Lincoln's little body could keep his temperature where it needed to be. After day of holding a normal body temp I thought he would be released. But Lincoln was a VERY sleepy baby in the hospital and wasn't interested in eating. The doctor wanted to keep him in the NICU to monitor how much he was eating and how long it was taking him. To make a long story not too much longer :) I was so happy when we got to leave the hospital together Sunday afternoon.

Lincoln in the NICU.

(He was hooked up to a bunch of machines it was so frustrating. Every time I picked him up some kind of alarm would sound. While the whole experience was frustrating I'm so happy that there were no serious problems.)

Welcome home! Molly and Gabe are in love. They want to "pet" and hold him all the time. If Lincoln sequels both of them come running with pacifiers. hanging out with dad The hat fit! But only for a couple of days. If you're thinking about making one and you don't have little babies you should make it a bit bigger.

so BIG

As of today this little man is 1 week.

And Molly turned 4!
Molly wanted a "Darbie" (not really sure why she calls Barbie Darbie, but it works) cake. Last summer her friend Penny had a barbie birthday cake. It must have made an impression.

make a wish

and open the presents.

Molly is such a delightful girl. She's very even tempered and mild mannered. I've always thought of her as an old soul. She has always been very understanding and curious about everything around her. She is shy. When she gets nervous she plays with her hair. She's a great big sister and helper. She loves puzzles, her bike, dolls, princesses and all things fancy and pink.

Happy Birthday Molly!

we love you ;)

Lincoln Edward Wilkerson

Welcome to our newest edition. We got to have him two weeks early. 5lbs 15oz and 19 in. Mom is doing great. Lincoln is breathing heavy, so is being watched over night. Doctors say we shouldn't be concerned, they just want to monitor is breathing and take xrays to see if there is fliud in there.

A very tired, but happy mom

A very happy Dad

Big Sister Molly

Big Brother Gabe

ready or not

Today when I was weighed at the doctors office the scale said I had lost a pound from last week. Amazing. When I'm pregnant I only gain mass amounts of weight I've never lost any. But my blood pressure is high. (Usually my bp is low, but the past two weeks it has been getting higher. I think I'm still in the "normal" range, but higher than I should be.) I wasn't nervous until the doctor said she'd like to induce me tomorrow. Ready or not here we go.

Don't you love the funky shadow behind me? Oh well.

38 weeks

Finding out that the baby will be making his grand appearance tomorrow helped give me the motivation to put away all the laundry I washed Monday. Yay for not having multiple baskets of laundry in every bedroom. It also gave me the motivation to finish this little hat. I'm hoping it fits him. It's tiny. If not I guess it will go to one of Molly's dolls. I think it looks cute on bathtub.

I found the pattern for the hat here, it was really easy to follow. I did add some 1/2 dc in there for more texture.