Then and Now

Linc, you were born 27 days ago and it occurred to me that we don’t have much written down about when JD and Adam were born. Mom and I remember things differently, so this is my brief take on then and now:

JD:

You needed to be held a lot as a baby. Sometimes it was hard to soothe you when you were upset. Many nights during the first few months I would bring you up to your room around 7 ish and we would dance until you got very drowsy and then I placed you in your crib, still awake. You and I danced for hours sometimes, not just before bed, but at different times for different reasons. These times were and still are very special to me. You still ask for me to dance with you even though you’re seven years old. It makes me happy every time.

We were on-the-go a lot back then too. More so then we are now and we’re pretty busy now! We brought you everywhere with us. We spent a lot of time at Cauf’s or Jim’s or whoever’s and we would put you to bed everywhere we went if we were to be out late. You used to konk right out on a bed in the other room while we did our thing right next store! You were at Moosehead at two months old and slept through rock and roll and laughing and stuff too. You always adapted everywhere we went and now, at seven, you love to travel. You make the best of wherever we go, whatever we’re doing. You rarely complain about stuff like that.

You ate tons and tons as a little guy. You were never picky and you still aren’t. You will try anything. You’ve had salmon; steak, sushi, ect. If you can name it you’ve probably tried it. SO different from me when I was young. I never used to like to try anything.

You started crawling early, I don’t remember when but I remember people being surprised, and you started walking right around your first Bday. There were MANY times that you barfed on me and once you barfed all over my face…thanks.

You loved to read and still do. You and I would read before bed, your favorite book was, The Little Engine that Could. When we got to the lollipop pages, you always pretended to eat the pops. You also liked Good Night Moon. After we were done reading this book, you would ask me to go find the moon outside so that we could say, “Goodnight.”

You never needed much sleep but you slept through the night at 3 months. You still don’t sleep past 7/7:30 unless we let you stay up late the night prior. When we lived in Mass we had a playroom downstairs. You and I got up early together on the weekends and you got your milk and I got my coffee and we would spend the first few hours of the day down there. Sometimes I would watch movies and you would play with a toy, but mostly we played together. Once we set up a tent down there and left it up for months!

Now, you are as confident as I’ve ever seen a child. You think you can do anything and most of the time you can. I think about the skim board that Nan gave you when you were five. We used to bring that to the beach EVERY time we went. You would try and ride that thing 100 times a trip, no joke. You took some major falls of that board and every time you got right back on. I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to pick it up, but I knew you would. This year you’re riding 10/15 feet a clip, turning into and over waves. It’s awesome. You did it all by yourself. The ONE time I tried it with you I landed hard on my ass. I never had much coordination with my feet and I took that fall as an early sign that my best work at the beach should be done from my chair.

You’re a leader too. You’re confident in the way you speak and in the info you speak about. You have been selective with the friends you’ve chosen. They are all good kids that have similar interests.

You’re a bit of a perfectionist in some things, most things probably. You remember things for mom and I all the time. I hope you know that it’s okay NOT to be perfect all the time and that if you do you’re best it’s ALWAYS good enough. And, you don’t always have to do your best. Sometimes its okay to, “Mail it in” as long as you don’t slip off track.

Nicknames so far: Jade, J, Little Bear, Jimmy Joe, Bigsie,

Adam:

You were a good baby too! You were VERY easy to soothe. In fact sometimes you would just hang out on my lap without saying a word or making a fuss. You were independent from day one. You didn’t like to sleep through the night though. Sometimes you were up two or three time a night for the first 4 or 5 months. It took you until almost a year to sleep through the night. This has always been strange to me because you DO require a lot of sleep. When you were still napping sometimes Mom or I would put you down for a nap around 3:00 or 4:00 and you would wake up the next day. This happened a lot actually.

You still need your alone time at 3 years old. Sometimes you’ll disappear upstairs and play in your room by yourself. Both you and JD are very funny and have great senses of humor, but there I something very unique about yours. You say THE funniest things at appropriate times. It’s actually kind of fascinating. Like, the other night I was telling you something and I said, “Do you understand?” And you replied, “Eye, eye Captain!” So funny.

I used to dance with you when you were very little but as you got older you wiggled out of my arms and wanted to dance yourself. You dance every last chance you get. If you hear music in a show or a movie on TV, boom you’re up to dance. You love music just like your big brother does but in a different way. Luckily you guys both like the same type of music. I often wonder when this will change. You both have your own radios and cds in your room, so when that happens, you’re prepared.

You are very emotional but you hide it often. If JD is sad or happy or pissed off, he just comes right out and says what he’s feeling…all the time! You take a different approach. You surpress your feelings for a period of time, think about them and then come out and say something like, “Dad, you hurt my feelings when you did….” Other times you’ll feel sad and act happy for a while or preoccupy yourself until your feelings surface. My favorite picture (of all time) was taken a few weeks ago when Linc was born. You missed Mom and hadn’t seen her in a few days. We went to see her at the hospital and you were avoiding her, you were talking to her, but avoiding her. Then out of nowhere you jumped up on the bed and hugged her so tight. You didn’t cry, you just hugged her…because you genuinely missed the person that you spend most of your time with. I get teary every time I look at that picture.

You enjoy reading the books, “The Dancing Giraffe” and “A Trip to the Aquarium” and, “Going on a Bear Hunt”. These are all great books. You know all of the animals (or mammals or whatever) in the Aquarium book and you finish the end of the sentences in the Bear Hunt book as I read along.

You have the sweetest heart. There is nothing worse than hurting your feelings or if I accuse you of something that you didn’t do. I can tell right away if I am wrong in my assumption. You look at me and tell me that I’m wrong and you’re just about to burst into tears. I believe you because when I’m right, you run away or sometimes even put yourself in a time out.

You are a non-conformist. This is one of my favorite things about you. If you want to where a hat sideways or backwards, you do it, if you want to take weird pictures doing strange poses, you do. You march to your own drummer and it doesn’t take people long to figure this out. Like when you danced at your Uncle’s wedding with a shirt over your head in the middle of the circle for a good 10 minutes

Nicknames: Addie, Ad, Six, Addie Kins, My Kins

Lincoln:

Well bud, it’s only been about a month but so far, you’re pretty similar to JD as a baby. You need to be rocked and cuddled with at all times. Mom is nursing you, and sometimes your nurse for hour’s…hours! You were 6 lbs 14 ounces and were back home after three days in the hospital.

During the night you sleep so well. We feed you around 10:00 and you’re up around 3 and then back down for the night.

You’ve been to beach about 10 times already and you enjoy being out on our deck too. I noticed that when I hold you on the couch you tend to look out the windows at the trees, sun, ect. Mom brings you everywhere and your brothers adore you.

Both JD and Adam were away this past weekend (ahhhhh) with Grandma and Grandpa and you and I really got to start to get to know each other on Sat morning. We watched some Soprano’s reruns, Sportscenter, and I took you for a walk outback. When the boys got home they both asked how you were doing. They both enjoy holding you and soon will start to feed you a bottle. Last night Ad tried to feed you some popcorn. He won’t do that again.

I guess the rest is yet to be determined. It’s been fun to integrate you into our family and I can’t wait to see what the next years bring.

I don’t know exactly what has blessed me, but I’m blessed.