Poor third baby got almost no new stuff. I literally got his crib yesterday, one day after his 8 week birthday. It’s not even out of the box yet.

So far Linc doesn’t seem to mind. He just hangs out and smiles and eats and sleeps. Ok, and sometimes he screams his head off, but that can usually be quickly fixed with a clean diaper and a snack. Then he’s back to smiling.

And what goes better with an adorable chubby baby than an adorable baby outfit?

My favorite people over at Baby Boden sent Linc and me one of their new Baby Boden gift sets to celebrate becoming the newest ginger bebeh. They come in sizes from newborn up to 6-9 months, include a gift box, jammies, hat, bib and blanket, and would be perfect for a baby shower…or as a special surprise for a new mom who wasn’t really expecting much for her third child :)

This is why Boden is one of my favorites: how cute is all this stuff they sent?

The fabric is SUPER soft and the blanket is very generously sized. But the best part might be the hat.

From now until October 12th you can take 15% off your Boden order using the code BABY.

Would you like a chance to win a Baby Boden gift set for you or to give to your favorite new or expecting mama? Just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite Baby Boden item. 

Giveaway is open to those with a US shipping address and winner may select the Baby Boden gift set of their choice. Winner will be chosen from eligible comments using Random.org in 2 weeks. 

200 WEEKS of mostly terrible, blurry, boring photos of the normal stuff we do every day. I have no idea why I’ve kept this up for so long but I’m glad I have. The first week I did it, I was pregnant with Caroline. This week, she went to her first day of real school. Never has 200 weeks seemed so short.

Sunday:

Grocery shopping with 3 kids is a pain, but a baby who sleeps the whole time makes it better

This haircut cost me $37 – $17 for cut + tip, $20 for the Legos I promised him if he just SAT STILL

“This chair is like my THRONE!”

 Monday:

Making zucchini bread in our pajamas

That Lego set was totally worth the $20

He sleeps with his eyes open. NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

Tuesday:

“Mommy, I love love LOVE Baby Lincoln!”

Showing off his kindergarten cubby at orientation

No one wants to hold my hand when Daddy makes an appearance.

Wednesday:

All summer long the kids have been up at 6 am. I took this at 7:10 on Evan’s first day of school.

It’s such a shame she’s so shy and quiet.

Linc agrees that school starting is very exciting.

Thursday:

Obviously they’ve got the moves

I think her first day was fun?

Entertaining ourselves with shadows while we wait (FOREVERRRRRR) for Evan’s bus

Friday:

I really hope she comes out of her shell at school.

Showing off his brother to his best friend

Farmer’s Market night gets an A+++++ for food and friends

Saturday:

I spent most of the morning like this. It was lovely.

They’ve never met a big, flat field they didn’t want to run across

My photography assistant fell asleep on the job. Again.

And there you go, 21 more unremarkable pictures of our life. The only thing that’s going to change in the near future is I’m going to upgrade my iPhone, so maybe my pictures will get slightly better. Although not more interesting. We’re pretty boring, and I’m OK with that.

Previously:

Evan 1 month
Caroline 1 month

Happy One Month Baby Lincoln!

Stats (from his 4 week checkup on Tuesday):
Height: 21 3/4 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz
Head: 39.6 cm

Linc wins all the baby awards for being a good baby. He has put himself on a fairly reliable schedule and it happens to be a schedule I can totally get on board with: He wakes up around 6:30 am and has some awake/cat nap/awake time in the morning, until around 11 am. Then he takes one big huge very deep nap. Yesterday we went to lunch and the seaport and he slept through the ENTIRE thing. In the late afternoon he wakes up again and wants to eat and play. Then he cat naps again until Evening Fussy Time, which is my least favorite part of the day, although he still isn’t THAT fussy. He goes to bed for the night around 9 or 9:30 and only wakes up once a night to eat. Sometimes that wake-up is only 20 minutes, sometimes it’s 2 hours. Sometimes it’s at 1 am, sometimes it’s at 4 am. Last night we both went to bed at 9:30 and he didn’t wake up until 4 am, so I got SIX HOURS of sleep. It was amazing.

He doesn’t throw up allllll the time like his brother did, thank God, so we only go through a normal number of burp cloths a day. We’re doing great with the nursing. My supply has regulated itself, we never needed a nipple shield, and he’s gaining weight like a champ. I could be a posterchild for why breastfeeding is awesome. Sometimes he needs to burp in the middle of a feeding and we both end up soaked with milk but that’s the price I pay for a strong letdown. (In other nursing news, I am STARVING ALL THE TIME and although in theory that means I’m burning a zillion calories I am unable to stop shoving food into my face so I don’t think this baby weight is coming off on its own.)

Towards the end of my pregnancy I was SUPER overwhelmed with the thought of having a newborn again and started to panic about the whole third baby thing. But so far, so good. SO good. If you only have 1 or 2 kids and are on the fence about another one, come over and hold my baby for a while. He’s very convincing when it comes to adding more children (works on husbands too).

Likes: Nursing, sleeping, music, being swaddled with one arm out, bath time, being worn, making hilarious faces

Dislikes: dirty diapers, gas, waking him up when he wants to be sleeping, tummy time

Living up to his Old Man Name with his Old Man Face

Do you SEE how gingery he looks? Definitely ginger!

OMG WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS AT THE END OF MY LEGS?!

He throws his hands up in the air sometimes (singing eh-oh, come on let’s go)

1 Month Milestones (copied from previous children, originally from BabyCenter)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Lifts head when lying on tummy – Enough that I don’t think he’ll suffocate during his daily torture sessions tummy time
Responds to sound – Yes, which makes naps while the gingers are around more difficult
Stares at faces – He likes MY face, I’m not sure he cares about anyone else’s yet

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Follows objects briefly with eyes – Keyword being briefly, although I think I caught him watching HGTV with me the other day
Vocalizes: oohs and aahs – He makes the most adorable baby sounds of any of my babies
Can see black-and-white patterns – Go home milestones, you are drunk. How am I supposed to know if that’s true?

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Smiles, laughs – I get the occasional social smile, especially during bath time
Holds head at 45-degree angle – He likes to do that thing where you put him on your shoulder to burp him and then he lifts is head up and whacks you right in the face with it. My jaw has a permanent bruise.

It is 11:25 am and I am watching The Price is Right, which means life is really good right now. That’s how I judge my level of happiness: am I able to be home, eating a sandwich, between the hours of 11 and 12 so I can watch Drew Carey give away cars? Yes? Success!!

Tomorrow Linc will be 1 month old, and I’ll start doing monthday updates again. I have big plans to do a same-spot monthly photo like I did with Caroline’s tutu, but I am TERRIBLE at following through with stuff like that so we’ll see.

It turns out the hardest part of having three kids isn’t the third kid – it’s the first two. I thought I had done a really good job teaching Evan and Caroline to play on their own without needing me to intervene or referee much. But in reality I just didn’t realize how often I had to step in until I was stuck on the couch under a sleeping or nursing baby and couldn’t break up their squabbles. There has been a LOT more yelling than I like (and I’m not even strictly anti-yelling) just because I CAN’T walk into the other room and deal with them calmly. Caroline has started shouting “Moooooom Evan is TORTURING ME again!” and Evan shouts “DON’T COME UP HERE!” and then I have to stomp up the stairs while they both shout “NOOOOOO! We’ll be good! We promise!!!!” It’s fairly exhausting just to listen to them all day, plus the stomping is really rough on my knees.

Luckily, I only have everyone home for one more week before school starts. School itself is going to be a challenge – Evan’s bus comes REALLY early and I’m kind of nervous about how he’ll behave during a long ride to school – but the quiet I’m going to get while both big kids are gone is going to be life-changing. I can start blogging again. I can edit photos. I can finish knitting one of the 5 baby hats I’ve started but not finished. I can start taking pictures for other people so I can start saving up for the new lens I want.

And I can do ALL that stuff because Linc is a super easy baby. I have absolutely NO delusions this has anything to do with me or my parenting whatsoever. It’s luck. Just luck. Maybe there’s a little truth to the idea that because I’m not tense and nervous and stressed the baby isn’t tense and nervous and stressed, but that’s anecdotal at best. I know plenty of people whose second or third baby was WAY more high-needs than the first one. I just got an easy one this time, for which I am unbelievably thankful. With E gone almost all the time I would be seriously, SERIOUSLY losing my mind if I had an inconsolable, colicky baby.

The day my mom left me alone with all 3 kids I looked around and realized my house was clean and organized, and if I could just MAINTAIN that current level I could avoid a disaster. I’ve been doing really well – right now there’s only one load of laundry not put away and all the dishes are in the dishwasher – but I’ve given up on the kids’ room. Until they go to school and I can spend a good 3+ hours in there purging it’s hopeless. Luckily the rest of the house is still in good shape, so I can just shut their door and ignore it. I’m also ALMOST done with Linc’s nursery – I still haven’t ordered the crib and I need my husband to build me a shelf – and I’m really excited to share it.

Now I have a very important episode of House Hunters: Where Are They Now? to watch while I make a grocery list and a meal plan and enjoy this slightly annoying update while I can. I feel like the next one (after the 6 am wake ups and lunch packing and school drama) will be…much less smug.

Even if you have a pretty good baby, they still keep your hands busy a LOT. Which makes blogging and photo editing hard. I have literally a thousand photos to share but will be lucky if I get 10% of them edited and posted in the next 6 months.

I am really, really looking forward to school starting.

Sunday:

That is Linc’s “WTF are we doing in New Jersey?” face. Just a rest stop baby, chill.

She hearts books

There was a BAT IN MY HOUSE. I WAS NOT PLEASED.

Monday:

Deep end of the big pool!

This is not an effective way to grocery shop.

More books!

Tuesday:

I bought that outfit 5 years ago, when it was already too small for Evan, thinking my next baby would wear it. I took the tags off right before I put it on Linc.

New London! Surprisingly scenic!

He’s too cool in his TooQool

Wednesday:

Aunt Carolyn brought him an elephant from Rwanda. The kids thought he needed to sleep with it NOW.

I love when baby stuff shows up in my mailbox. Especially when it’s useful baby stuff.

Up feeding the baby, all I can think is how much my closet needs to be reorganized.

Thursday:

They are singing sea shanties.

GORGEOUS day at the seaport

Aunt Carolyn read A LOT of books

Friday:

Pensive? She’s going for thoughtful.

Farmer’s market = 3 year old heaven

That was my dream car when I was a kid too.

Saturday:

He’s going through a Lego phase again

Milk drunk

I showed her Grease for the first time. It was a hit.

The weather this weekend has been GORGEOUS and I have enjoyed it…from my couch. After more than 5 weeks of house guests/traveling it is really nice to just sit down. Of course, it was really nice to have other people do all the cooking/cleaning/child minding too, but I have to get used to running the house and managing 3 kids at some point. So far they are all still alive. High fives!