Lincoln's First Swim

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Very warm outside, not hot though. But warm enough that Aaron and I decided it would be fun to get Lincoln dressed up in his swimming suit and take him for a little dip in the pool. The pool at our apartment is pretty cool because it has a very small, shallow pool at the top that has a mini-waterfall going into a second shallow pool, another mini-waterfall, and then the big pool. The shallow pools are perfect for little kids. Even Lincoln sized kids. They are both only slightly deeper than the bathwater we run for him at night. A lot colder though. But it's great because we don't have to hold him the whole time, and he can crawl around in there and wiggle all he wants without us worrying about him slipping out of our reach.

When we first set him in he seemed pretty ok with it. Then he started splashing and thought that was great fun! The next thing he tried was crawling around. Like I said, the water is a little deeper than he's used to and lots colder. I think it startled him a little when he tried to crawl around. For the longest time he just sat there on his hand and feet, with his cute little bum up in the air, looking around like, "what in the world?" But pretty soon he got used to it. We let him play until he got goose bumps, then we took him out. We dried him off in his yellow ducky towel. We all had a good time. Aaron and I need to invest in some swim diapers though, holy cow, I had no idea how fast a regular diaper could fill with water, or how much it could hold!

Weekend Update

I'd better explain these scary pictures...Instead of having our usual date night, Aaron decided to abandon Lincoln and I Friday night to go on an Elder's Quoram camp out. Once Lincoln was asleep I was alone in the apartment and bored -- a bad combination. I remembered Nette telling us at Playgroup how she ties her girls' hair up in rags, and it comes out so cute and curly the next morning. I decided to give it a try with my own hair. Haha. I was going to do a 'before' and 'after' picture, but the 'after' was a lot scarier than the 'before' so I think we'll just stick to the 'before' and call it good. I probably didn't do it right, or maybe my hair is just not cut out for rag curls. The back actually curled really well, but the front was a disaster. I ended up putting it all up in a pony tail. Needless to say, the hairdo looks lots cuter on Nette's girls.

Saturday morning Aaron came home from his camp out. Lincoln climbed onto Aaron's backpack and Aaron pulled him around the living room on it. We thought it was so funny. Lincoln and I were desperate to get out of the house, so we all loaded up in the car and attempted to go to a park. We had dressed for warmer weather though and when we got there we were a bit chilly, so we ate our lunch and came home. After Lincoln's nap we went to the library. I checked out three books, one called "Love and Logic" that Sydni recommended to me. It's about teaching your kids how to be obedient without getting angry or frustrated in the process. So far I really like it. It'll probably end up on KRR (Krystal's Recommended Reads, see side panel). I also got a book about homeschooling, and a book about canning. Both are things that I want to learn how to do. After the library, Aaron washed our car! Yay! It's needed it for so long. We haven't washed it since we moved to Texas and who knows how long before that. Later, after Lincoln was asleep for the night, Aaron and I watched No Reservations. I was pretty disappointed in the movie. First of all, the rating on the back was PG, so I was thinking great, no sex in this movie. And even though there wasn't really actual sex in the movie, some of the conversations...holy cow! And besides that, I didn't think there was really a plot, or character development, or even much of a love story. So, if you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your money.



On Sunday morning Aaron wasn't feeling well. That meant I had to take Lincoln to church all by myself. I was a little apprehensive about that. I thought for sure we'd be leaving church early because I just couldn't handle it anymore. Much to my great surprise and delight, Lincoln was an angel for all three meetings. The only time I had to take him out was to change a poopy diaper. Way to go Lincoln! Sunday night we had spaghetti for dinner. And we thought, there is no reason why Lincoln couldn't eat spaghetti. So we cut it up into tiny little bits and fed it to him. He wasn't too sure about it, but he ate it. And it stayed down. We thought it was a very great accomplishment to introduce Lincoln into the wonderful world of big people food. So that was our weekend.

In Ta Stuff

This photo was not staged. Last night we were putting the food storage away in Lincoln's closet, and he was just playing around in his room. When we looked over he had climbed onto his shelf and was trying to reach the cord that you can see plugged in to the outlet. Once Lincoln saw us looking at him, I think he knew he shouldn't be there because he started to get down. But luckily it was slowly enough that Aaron was able to snap a picture.

Barricade Buster

I mentioned before that we have been really creative with barricades at our house since Lincoln learned how to crawl. Above is a picture of one of them. I thought this one was brilliant because it kept him away from the filing cabinet, the computer desk, the fireplace, the bookcase, and the lamp. Well, below is a video of why this barricade is no longer brilliant, or even functional. I guess we'll have to come up with something else.

Life Is Good

Today I am just content with life. It was a really great day. For starters, the weather was beautiful, slightly overcast but warm, a little humid, but not uncomfortably so. My friend and walking buddy, April and I had a great walk this morning. I only had to carry Lincoln part of the way. Lincoln surprised me by scheduling his nap perfectly, so that we were able to go to play group. For play group we went to a beautiful park, and lots of ladies from the ward were there with their kids, so it was a good turn out. And as I was sitting in the nice weather, surrounded by friends and laughing kids, having a pleasant conversation, I realized how wonderful life is at moments like this. I feel good with where I'm at. It seems like we fit in here in Texas. We are making friends. Aaron's job is going well. Life is good.

Sleepless in Texas

Lincoln has been having trouble sleeping now for about a month or so. Naps, bedtime, it doesn’t matter, the kid just doesn’t want to sleep. Last night was particularly bad. Our bedtime routine goes something like this: Dinner at 6:30, then a bath, then jammies, then a bedtime story, a bottle, and bed at 7:30ish. So last night he went to sleep really easily at about 7:15pm, then he woke up at about 8:00pm (this is typical as of late) and would not go back to sleep. We are trying really hard to teach him to go to sleep on his own without being rocked to sleep by one of us. That means when he wakes up screaming bloody murder (and it’s always bloody murder) we have the extra special fun task of trying to calm him down without picking him up. Lincoln doesn’t take a pacifier. So last night (as we do every night) we tried talking to him, we tried rubbing his head, Aaron sang to him until he was hoarse, I sang to him until I ran out of Primary songs, we turned on the light, he finally stopped screaming. He played in his crib. We turned on the desk lamp and turned off the overhead light. Lincoln kept playing. I took everything out of his crib. I turned off the lamp and turned on the night light instead. He kept playing with the crib bumpers. I took off the crib bumpers. I turned off the night light. Lincoln started crying. I started singing again. Finally, finally, around 9:00ish he stopped moving and fell asleep. That was not the end of it.

At 1:29am Lincoln started screaming. We talked to him, sang to him, gave him a little baby massage. We turned on the light and tried working our way down to the lamp, the night light, and then dark. We tried letting him cry it out. We’d set a timer for 5 minutes, and when he was still crying when it went off we went it and started all over trying to calm him down. We did that for an hour. We changed his diaper. We thought he might be hot, so we took off his jammies and turned on the fan. We thought he might be cold, we put his jammies back on and put a blanket over him. We thought his teeth might hurt so we gave him ice chips and baby ora-gel. We tried sucking boogers out of his nose and giving him nose drops. We thought he might be hungry. He wouldn’t eat. We thought he might have gas, so we gave him gas drops and tried to burp him. We put his favorite blanket back in the crib with him. We tried rocking him. We gave him a small amount of Tylenol in case he was in some kind of pain we couldn’t figure out. Finally, at 4:00am I was out of ideas. I got dressed, got Lincoln dressed (and Aaron got dressed), put Lincoln in his stroller, and went for a nice (except for the fact that it was 4:00am, and I’d been up since 1:29am) stroll through the neighborhood. Yup, at 4:00am. It was actually pretty nice outside, warm with a cool breeze. I didn’t stop walking until Lincoln fell asleep, then Aaron and I turned around and came home. Luckily Lincoln went right back to sleep after Aaron picked him up and laid him back down in his crib. What a night…or should I say morning.

New Trick

Now that Lincoln is crawling we've gotten very resourceful at building barricades to keep him out of places that he shouldn't be; such as the fireplace, the blinds, and the outlet where all the computer cables are plugged in under the computer desk, etc. One of Lincoln's favorite pastimes is to come up with ways to get through the barricades we put up, so that we are constantly inventing/building new ones. Our kitchen chairs are no longer around the kitchen table, but set up all over to keep Lincoln out.

The other day I looked over and Lincoln had used a kitchen chair to pull himself up onto his knees. My first thought was that he was going to fall and crack his head open (am I a mom or what?) but I took a picture of him before "rushing" over and seeing if he was ok (ok so maybe I wasn't that worried). Then a few days later while Aaron was watching him, Lincoln used the kitchen chair again to pull himself all the way up to standing. I had no idea he was that strong. He still doesn't have very good balance yet, so it still scares me a little when he pulls himself up to standing by the chairs. But he'll get better at it. It's so fun to watch him grow up and learn new things.

Nerd Rope

Where Aaron works he has to have a name badge to get in the doors. So they made little belt clips that the name badge attaches to and it has a retractable rope that connects them. It's all very high-tech. I lovingly call it Aaron's nerd rope. Well, Lincoln has just discovered it, and thinks it's the greatest toy in the whole world. It keeps him entertained for hours.

3 Month's Supply

We've been hearing a lot about food storage, and being prepared in case of emergency lately, so Aaron and I sat down and talked it over and decided that it's time we get working on our food storage, our finances, our emergency preparedness plan, and all that kind of stuff. We've been keeping really close track of our budget, and trying to put away what we can for our savings. We've been buying a case of water every time we go grocery shopping, along with a few extra cans of food here and there. We had a family home evening on what we would do in case of emergency, where we picked a few meeting spots and wrote down all the emergency telephone numbers for our area. We have our 72 hours kits, thanks to my mom and Kerry (they gave all their kids 72 hour kits for Christmas). So the next step is to get a 3 month supply.

That's why I went to the cannery today. I've never been to a cannery before, this was my first time. It was an interesting experience. I went in having absolutely no idea of what to expect. When we got there they took us into a back room that looked kind of like a warehouse that was stacked with large bags of food. Beans, rice, wheat, oats, sugar, potato flakes, spaghetti noodles, powdered milk, and other things. They told us to pick out what we wanted. I had no idea where to even start. Luckily I was with other ladies from the ward and they were able to give me a few pointers. The Church has prepackaged starter kits that come with 2 cans of red winter wheat, 2 cans of white rice, a can of pinto beans, a can of quick oats, and recipes for how to make it all. So I got two starter kits.

The rest of what I got wasn't prepackaged. We had to haul the big bags from the warehouse into the cannery. The cannery had lots of long counters (all on wheels) so you put the big bags at one end of the counter. Then you take smaller pouches and you have to fill them to the right weight (the weight depends on what it is your are putting in the pouch) and then you take them over to the sealer and seal the bags shut. Then you load the pouches into boxes, 4 pouches to a box. It sounds simple, and it is, it's just a lot of scooping and lifting and weighing. Everyone there helps everyone else until everyone has what they want. I ended up with 4 pouches of regular oats, 4 pouches of white wheat, 2 pouches of black beans, 1 pouch of apple slices, and 1 pouch of dried milk. All this stuff will keep for 30 years! So we don't quite have our 3 month supply, but we got a good start on it today, and now I am exhausted!

Sarah's Quilt

There is a new addition to "Krystal's Recommended Reads". Sarah's Quilt by Nancy E. Turner most definitely belongs on that list. This book is the sequel to These Is My Words, which is probably one of my very favorite books of all time. Sarah's Quilt picks up a few years after These Is My Words left off. It's about a summer full of trials and how they are endured and what is learned.

Sarah Agnes Prine Elliot is still living in the Arizona Territory. Her children are grown and she is discovering that she is having a hard time letting them go. There is a drought that's threatening to destroy her ranch. Her brother Harland and his family are living in San Francisco during a terrible earth quake, and she has to go and find them. A teenager claiming to be the son of her other brother Ernest find his way to the ranch and is determined to have his share of it. And during all this commotion Sarah finds herself missing Jack and the love she shared with him. It's made all the more confusing when her good friend and neighbor asks for her hand, but something seems a little fishy. And of course we can't forget the water witch...

I like this book because it still has Sarah's voice in it. You can very much picture this woman as someone who really lived and did the things talked about in this book. I think the author does a good job of capturing the feelings that all women have and expressing those feelings through a character who is lovable and very down to earth.

Before I read Sarah's Quilt, a lot of people told me that they liked it better than These Is My Words, but that just wasn't the case for me. I think the reason why though is because of the stage of life I am in right now, I find it easier to relate to the falling in love, getting married, and starting a family stage, than I do to the my kids are almost grown and I have a few grandkids stage of my life. So maybe in twenty years or so I will like Sarah's Quilt more than I like These Is My Words. They are both great books though and I would recommend them to anyone.

My Minion Plays Peek-a-Boo

So, I'm an English major (ya, I know synonym for nerd) and I heard a word the other day that I thought was an interesting word. The word is "minion". Go ahead, say it out loud, it's fun! I found an old definition for the word back from 1501 that I really like.

Minion: a favorite; a darling; a low dependant; one who pleases rather than benefits. Also, dainty, pleasing, favorite. Used without disparaging overtones.

And so, I have decided that Lincoln is my minion. I've been calling him his new nickname for a day now, and I like it. It fits.

Last night while I was giving my minion a bath, I was playing Peek-a-Boo with him over the edge of the tub. I would duck down, and then pop up and say "Peek-a-Boo" and Lincoln would laugh and laugh. Then all the sudden, Lincoln ducked down. At first I thought he'd lost interest but then he popped his head up and said "Aboo" and laughed. I couldn't get him to do it for me again though. But this morning Aaron had him on our bed and they were playing behind the covers. Lincoln did it again for Aaron. Only once. But we figured two different times counts as Lincoln knowing how to play Peek-a-Boo. It's fun to know that we taught him that.

Six Loaf Bread: A Family Tradition

I love to cook. One of my favorite things to make is bread. There is nothing in this world like a piece of warm bread right out of the oven with butter and jam on it. YUM! Anyways, since we've been married I've been making bread from a recipe called Classic White Bread out of the Betty Crocker cook book. It's a really good recipe and it makes 2 loaves. But it's not quite what I remember my mom making while we were growing up. So, when my mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago, I asked her to show me how to make her bread.

While we were making it she told me that her mom (my grandma) had taught her to make this bread, and that my grandma had learned it from her mom (my great grandma) who learned to make it when she worked in the bakery. I thought that was kind of a neat bit of family history, so I plan on passing this recipe down to my children so that this bread can stay in the family.

I made the bread today. It doesn't look as pretty as when my mom made it. I'm still learning how to shape it just right. But the other cool thing about this recipe is that it makes 6 loaves (Hence the name) and so when I make it we freeze 5 of the loaves and then just pull them out when we need them. I only end up having to make bread like once a month or so. It's nice. Anyways, I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone wants to give it a try.

Six Loaf Bread

13-15 cups flour
5 cups milk
1/2 cup wesson oil
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbsp sugar

1. Put milk in pan and heat so it's warm to the touch. While milk is warming mix yeast, water, and 1 Tbsp sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside and let rise.

2. To warm milk add 1/2 cup sugar, wesson oil, and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Pour into a large bowl. Add 7 cups of flour to milk mixture and mix until smooth. Add yeast and mix well. Add remaining flour (6-8 cups) to make thick dough that can be handled. Knead well.

3. Put into large bowl and let rise approximately 1 hour or until double in bulk.

4. Spray counter with Pam and turn dough out onto counter. Knead to get air bubble out. Divide into 6 equal parts and form into loaves.

5. Put into greased bread pans and let raise another hour to an hour and a half untl double in bulk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Cook for 45-50 minutes until desired browness. Turn out of pans onto cooling racks.

Perfect Day for a Picnic

Saturday was a day for picnics. It was beautiful weather outside, and we were all pretty anxious to get out of the house anyways. We have a park really close to our house that we go to all the time, but we decided to be adventerous and try out somewhere new.

A little bit up the road we found a nice looking park that had what Aaron likes to call "real person swings" meaning swings that they are big enough for adults. We actually think the park was a private neighborhood park, but the signs weren't very clear about it, so we decided it was ok for us to be there. We spread out our blanket and started eating. Aaron and I enjoyed peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches and some gratefruit, while Lincoln had squash and pears. It was pretty interesting trying to feed him on the blanket.

The best part about our picnic really was the playground. Not only did they have "real person swings" but they also had a baby swing that Lincoln could fit it. It was shaped like a car, so he had a little backrest and he couldn't fall out. Lincoln LOVED the swing. We can't decide what he thought was funnier, swinging or watching us swing next to him. Aaron also took Lincoln down the slide. He wasn't really sure what to think about that. He'll figure it out though, one of these days.

Lincoln does The Worm

We've been trying for days to capture this on video. Usually he'll do great until the camera turns on then...nothing. But today with Aaron's help we found something he was more interested in than the camera and we got him to crawl all the way across the room! Looks like it's time to baby-proof the apartment, eh?

The Poisonwood Bible

It's been a few days since I've been able to get on our blog. We had a tornado go through the area (not really close to us) and therefore lots of wind and rain which knocked out our power (only for about a minute) and sent a power surge through our Internet router. Leaving us without any Internet for two days. It's actually pretty hilarious how much we rely on the Internet these days for things like directions, phone numbers, getting a hold of people, a social life (that one's more in my case, not Aaron's, since he gets to go to work where there are real people). But we are up and running now.

I've mentioned before that I joined our Relief Society Book Club when we moved here. The book we are reading for May is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm almost finished reading it, and I'm going to have to say, that unless something pretty awful happens in the last few chapters, that I recommend that people read this book.

The story, set in the late 1950s early 60s, is about a Baptist preacher who takes his wife and four daughters on a mission to the Congo. The point of view rotates between the mother and each of the daughters, never the father. The family is basically unprepared for the way of life they find in the Congo. The preacher thinks only he knows what's best for everyone, even though he doesn't practice what he preaches. One disaster after another hits the village where they are staying, and eventually one of the daughters dies. The family dissolves. And the story follows each one for years down the road to see how their time in Africa affected them each in individual ways.

I wouldn't recommend the book because of it's action packed plot, because frankly, it doesn't have one. It's not a slow mover either, but a slower mover, I'd say. But the reason I'm recommending it is because even while I'm not reading it, like while I'm doing dishes, or rocking Lincoln to sleep, I find myself thinking about it. How would I have reacted if I were in those situations? Would I ignore what's going on in the world around me, or would I try to do something about it, even if I spent my whole life not making a difference? It's fascinating to me how a group of people, especially one as close as a family should be, can experience the same thing and all come out of it so differently from all the others.

So, if you are looking for a thought provoking book...The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is one I would definitely recommend.

Staying Put

A little over a week ago, Aaron's manager told him that if he wanted to stay on and work until the end of December as an intern she would be okay with it.

We gave this possibility a lot of thought. If we stayed, we could maybe save up enough money to pay for the rest of Aaron's school. If we stayed, Aaron can put on his resume that he has worked for a year already in the electrical engineering field. If we stayed, Aaron would be able to take the right classed during the semesters they were offered when we got back to Provo in January. If we stayed, we wouldn't have to pack up everything that we own in to a box for an extra three months. If we stayed, Aaron could take an internship class and fax things back and forth and therefore wouldn't have to drop out of school.

Other things to consider: We like it here. We've made friends here. We are just starting to get settled in, and the idea of unsettling isn't very appealing right now. Aaron likes the company he works for and enjoys what he's doing. Aaron gets nights, weekends, and holidays off. We have good insurance through Aaron's company. We would only have to file taxes in one state next year (ok, so this wasn't really a deciding factor, but still a bonus).

And so, we've made our choice. We are going to stay in Texas until the end of December 2008. I think that means that Texas will be tied for first place in the category "Places Lived-in Longest". (We also lived in Provo for a year straight when we were first married.) So, please make your reservations to come and visit, we'd love to see you!

Newest Niece

Yesterday I got a new niece! Penelope Jane Sparks was born at 3:11am on April 7th 2008. She weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. As you can see from the picture, she has tons of black hair. Cute!

My step-brother Bryan and his wife Emily are the proud parents. All three are tired, but doing great. Unfortunately I haven't been able to see little Penny in person yet because they are in Utah and I am in Texas. These pictures came from my mom. But we are way excited that Lincoln will have a little cousin on my side of the family.

Total niece and nephew count for Aaron and I
Nephews: Jordan, Carter, Spencer, Bennett, and Zac.
Nieces: Audrey, Aneya, and Penelope.

It grows!

Just a quick update on our little garden. We officially have living carrots and a living bean plant. I went out to water the two planter boxes today and a little green thing caught my eye. It was one of our bean plants, which also appears to be confused about which way is up.

So I ran back inside and told Krystal to come out. When we'd searched more carefully, we also found four of our carrots growing and a clover plant. Our tomato plants have also survived their first day.

Project Complete

Today is the day you've been anxiously awaiting: our garden update! Haha, ok maybe not, but we are very excited about our first "Swan Family Garden" and the prospect of raising a few (at least we hope we get some) of our own vegetables. Besides, we figure this is good practice for when we really have a garden.

So...what have we done this week? I'll have to be honest, not a whole lot. We made sure we watered it every day. We also looked out the window a lot and smiled at our little garden. Oh, and we've been checking for the sun at different times during the day, because all our veggie packets said to give the seeds lots of sun. This was our first challenge because it was overcast most of the week. But finally today the sun came out! We decided we should probably scoot the planter box out away from the railing because the railing was shading our box all day.

We also decided to build the second box today. Before General Conference started, Aaron ran to Home Depot and got a few more boards, more dirt, and our tomato plants. The pictures are mostly for Lisa's benefit (or Jared's?) but we decided to include them on here so that any would-be planter box gardeners out there could see our idea and use it if they choose to.

First Aaron built the frame. We decided that this box would be three planks wide. The first one was only two planks wide. Second Aaron flattened the frame and screwed the side planks on. (He did it a different way with the first box, but said this was lots easier.) Then he put up the sides and looped the wire. (He probably would have done the ends first, but he needed to use the saw, and Lincoln was sleeping.) He screwed a hole in the top of each brace, and fed the wire through and looped it, and then ran it across to the other side, put it through the hole, and tied it off. Last Aaron screwed in the ends.

After that was the fun part. We filled it with dirt and planted seeds! This box has onions and cucumbers in it. We also planted our tomato plant in the first box, and another tomato plant in a flower pot. We aren't sure how much room the tomatoes need, but we do know that pretty soon we will have to build a wire cage for them to climb up.

So far the tomatoes are the only green showing in our garden; but, like I said, it's been overcast and rainy this week. We are really hoping that the upcoming week will bring lots of sunshine. Then, hopefully, little green sprouts will start appearing in our planter boxes. Stay tuned for more garden updates.

Linc on All Fours

This one is for the Grandparents!

The Case of the Missing Nap

Hello. My name is Lincoln Swan. I need your help. I am missing my third nap. It’s the one I take in the afternoon that holds my crankiness over until bedtime. You can see why it’s important that I get it back.

I don’t know where my nap went. He disappeared almost two weeks ago without a trace. It all started when I wanted to stay up a little bit longer before I took my first nap in the morning. My third nap told me he was starting to feel like he was being crowded into bedtime. Maybe he didn’t think I appreciated him, so he packed up and left. Boy do I ever miss that nap. Now in the afternoon I get cranky. I cry over nothing. I’ve tried to bring him back. I rub and rub and rub my eyes, this is how I used to get my third nap. But now it’s gone.

Mommy has tried to help too. She wakes me up earlier in the morning. She feeds me a bottle and rocks me in the afternoons. We've even gone for car rides trying to trick my nap into coming back. We must not be very tricky because that old nap is still not coming back.

So, if any of you out there reading this happen to run into my nap, would you tell him that I miss him, and all of us would be really happy if he would come back, especially Mommy.

Little Big-Boy Jammies

I always knew this day would come, I just didn't think it would be so soon. Over this last couple of weeks we've been noticing that Lincoln's pajamas have been getting a little tight on him. I've been looking around everywhere to figure out where to find the best deal on baby pjs, and so have been putting off buying Lincoln new ones. Well the other night we noticed that every time he straightened his leg the sleeves would slide up to his elbow because he's just getting too tall. It was time to do something. So yesterday when Aaron was finished with work we loaded up in the car and headed out, determined to find Lincoln some jammies that fit for a reasonable price.

Lincoln had always been in the high ninety percentile for weight, and because of his chubby tummy has always worn clothing one or two sizes bigger than his actual age. His 9 month jammies were the ones getting tight, so we were searching out 12 month size jammies. Up until now Lincoln has always worn one-piece footy pajamas; but, try as we might (and we did try) would could not find footy pajamas in a 12 month size. Wait! I thought, my baby is still only 8 months old, and even if he's chubby, shouldn't he still be able to wear the footy pajamas? But reality never molds to a growing child's mother's opinions.

We bought Lincoln three pairs of two-piece, non-footy pajamas. It was a big milestone for me. I can still remember when he was first born and we could not, for the life of us, find a pair of jammies small enough to not drown the child. When we got home we bathed him and dressed him in his new little "big-boy" jammies. I couldn't believe how old he looked. Aaron asked me why I call them "little, big-boy jammies" and I'm going to have to say that the only reason is because it makes me feel better if Lincoln is still wearing little pajamas, even if they are for big boys.

SEEING THE WHOLE IN MY STRAW by Krystal Swan

Looking through a straw I can only see
A diminutive glance that shows nothing.
Noticing the world but not eternity
With eyes misled, dependent on this scene
Blinders block the path to pasture free
Instead grey gravel roads ahead leaving
No variation of what this life might be.
Icebergs beneath water need our heeding
Darkened steps precede the flame of knowledge
Work was done to see what Columbus saw
And worlds unlocked without a comfort space.
Penguins don’t fly, but swim; not how it seems
The oak’s strength comes from roots it must conceal
Some books must be read twice to find their themes
To once homely young blossomed beauty’s real.
Human souls run deeper than cavern streams
Often more hides inside than facades may reveal
From miner’s coal comes tempered glass that gleams
What took so long to find holds more appeal
When I looked through my straw—

I saw the whole.