43 Weeks

How old? 9 Months 28 days
Weight: 21 lbs

Sleep: Well, the great sleeping held out through the weekend where Lincoln gave Mommy an early birthday present by not waking up during the night at all and slept in past 8am Saturday & Sunday!  AMAZING!  That awesomeness did not exactly carry over into my actual birthday since the little man was up at 3am bright and early and then again at 5am.  The week didn't go too much better after that sleep-wise, but much of that can be contributed to the fact that his ear infection is still hanging in there...more on that later.

Food: Lincoln is such a good eater, he will try just about everything and up until now hasn't full out refused a single thing...except eggs.  Hates em'!  Will not eat them, had it in his mouth for all of .5 seconds and immediately spit it out.  If I had to guess I would say it is the texture that he doesn't dig, but who knows.  On a good note Linc tried and loved provolone cheese, pasta noodles, and pork chop this week.

Linc is also doing very well in the good manners department, that is to say he behaves himself when we eat out at a restaurant.  We pretty much have it down to a science now, at least when it comes to gear we have to take with us, including but not limited to the following: silicone suction cuppy placemate, silicone bib, highchair cover, spoon, sippy cup, sippy cup attachment strap, puffs, baby food, & lots of wipes for cleanup!  He is so good though as long as we make sure we don't cut it too close to bedtime - so we are early dinner people now.

Best Moment This Week: Another action packed weekend at the Isaacs'!

Saturday we got up bright and early - well, 8ish, got ready, picked up some Einstein's Bagels, and were on the road into the city by 9ish for the Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear with Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert at the National Mall.  We got to the West Falls Church Metro at about 9:30/45 and walked up to see lines spilling out of the station into the parking lot (I wished we had thought to take a picture, but trust me it was crazy), we stood in line for a little bit and then Todd offered to scout up ahead to see if this indeed was the line to get into the station or just for tickets.  Hooray, it was just for tickets, and since we are officially DCites (er, Washingtonians?) we have SmartTrip cards and were able to "pass go & collect $200" and head down to the tracks and jump on the PACKED Metro (and we hadn't seen nothin' yet)!  A very nice couple gave up their seats to us so Todd held Linc and I held the folded up stroller, and by the time we made it two more stops there was not a single person that was going to fit into our train car.  We stopped at station after station filled with unhappy people who were not able to make it on a train.  Finally made it to our stop and again it was pure craziness, but we got off and made our way toward the Capital building along with 250,000 of our closest friends.

We made it as "close" as the last set of jumbo tron screens and shortly after The Roots began their set followed by John Legend, and then the Mythbuster Guys for a stint.  Then Mr. Stewart came out and spoke, Colbert made his entrance, and then there was some hilarity and hijinx that followed.  At some point Lincoln had a bottle and then took a nap, and around 2pm he had all the sanity he could take and need a diaper change...so we did the best we could do and took him to the Hirshhorn and ended up changing him on a chair in the 3rd floor hallway amongst some sculptures - you could say it was performance art...  Thanks for making your one set of bathrooms so accessible & well marked Hirshhorn.  Then we made our journey back to the Metro & back to the Tyson's area where we were ready for some early dinner so we went to Maggianos where we feasted on bread, salad, & pasta!  BIG DAY!

Sunday we slept in until 9.  Got dressed, had breakfast, and carved our pumpkin on the balcony.  The weather was beautiful!  We ran some errands and then got Lincoln all dressed up and took him to the Fair Oaks Mall for his first Trick-or-Treat experience.  He was oooo'd and aaahhh'd over by the mall workers handing out candy - I am pretty sure we had the cutest dragon there! ;-)  We checked out the bubbling cauldron (they dumped a bunch of dry ice in the center fountains, & it was pretty cool) and enjoyed seeing all the other kids in costumes (maybe got some ideas for next year).  Then it was time to head home and get ready for our own Trick-or-Treaters to come, and do a little more Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. 

Monday - Birthday Day - I got breakfast - freshly baked scones & coffee - in bed.  I took the day off of work so that I could, oh my god, go grocery shopping all by myself at Wegmans.  Well that's not really the only reason why I took the day off, but it was nice to be able to do that...it's the little things!  We actually had family pictures planned for that afternoon at a near by park.  The weather was great again, just a little brisk, but sunny - perfect fall weather!  The colors & leaves were just perfect, it looked like a soft blanket of orange, red, yellow, & brown over the ground.  I think we got some really cute shots and I am excited to see the finished gallery in 4-6 weeks.  After that fun we headed to Sterling to Benihana for (yet another early) dinner.  It was Linc's first hibachi dinner, and he was enamored to say the least.  He even got to try some hibachi veggies, rice, and chicken.  I think his favorite part was when the chef took some onion rings, stacked them, poured some oil inside and then lit it on fire, then steam came out from the top of the stack, and he scooted it around the grill top with his spatula and made clanging noises like a choo choo train.  LOVED IT!  At the end of our meal they took our picture since it was my birthday, sang the birthday song to me accompanied by a tambourine & bongos, and I got a small cup of green tea ice cream that we shared and even Linc got a taste. 

I got great birthday presents from family & friends...including some yummy wine, adorable pictures, & a new netbook.  I am a very lucky, 30 year old, girl!

Worst Moment: Lincoln just seemed out of sorts, was not sleeping well, and his eczema/spot on his face was acting up.  I made an appointment for him to get his flu shot booster and have a follow-up exam of his ears/face.  Unfortunately his ear infection has decided to stick around a little longer in his left ear and they think that he might have a bacterial infection of his eczema - so we are back on antibiotics and have a new prescription cream for his face.  We are also trying another new everyday lotion (new lotion #4 by my count, it is a baby lotion grave yard in his changing table cubby) and a new type of bath wash for sensitive skin...so we'll see, hopefully it helps. 

What We're Looking Forward To: After all of our crazy weekends in October a little bit of rest is in order.  Other than Tot Shabbat tomorrow morning and some cleaning, we have very few plans for this weekend.

Movement: Linc is getting more and more brave with letting go of furniture and you can kind of tell he is thinking about taking steps.  Sort of in the movement category, he is loving banging things together right now, and hearing the loud sounds.

Milestones: Your baby is just beginning to understand many simple words and phrases, so it's more important than ever to keep talking to him. Give your chatterbox a head start on good speech patterns by repeating his words back to him using adult language. If he asks for a "bah-bah," for example, gently reinforce the correct pronunciation by asking, "Do you want a bottle?" At this stage of the game, it's best to try to avoid the tendency to use baby talk — it can be fun, but hearing the right words is better for your baby's development.

Though it may sometimes feel silly, having a conversation with your baby is a great way to encourage his language skills. When he rattles off a sentence of gibberish, respond with, "Oh, really? How interesting." He'll probably smile and keep chattering away.