Happy Belated Christmas!

Happy Christmas and I guess Happy New Year to everyone now. With all the crazy stuff happening with the holidays, I haven't had much time to update here.

Link is 10 weeks old now. It is kind of hard to believe that over 2 months has passed since we were trapped in the hospital with no end in sight. He has grown so much since we brought him home and not only physically, but mentally as well. He is smiling like crazy now and he interacts a little more everyday. We went up to see my parents last night and he had a great time with Aunt Kara and Grandpa and Grandma.

I took a lot of pictures from Christmas since we had to visit all four families like usual, but I will wait to post them until after tonight since we are going to Detroit for New Year's Eve.

I'm going to start logging certain things here as well since I don't feel like writing them down. Just the little milestones we pass along the way as Lincoln grows like when he first eats solid food and his first moments crawling. I'm also going to start finding random trivial facts and putting one on each month, or, if I am able to, one per post. I just want something slightly more interactive for you readers than just reading my mindless blather about my son. Although they will mostly be facts about the English language, so I can't guarantee they will be all that interesting...

This is an example of how the new posts should look at the end:

Milestone: Lincoln can almost hold his own head up without assistance - 2.5 months

Fact: "Bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping" are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters.

Many happy returns to you all in the coming new year!

Finally caught a smile!!!

Yes folks, that's right! The elusive "Lincoln Smile" finally caught in digital print!

You thought you'd never see it but now we are bringing it to one and all for your personal viewing pleasure!

We have been trying to capture these funny little smiles to no avail. The thing about Lincoln is that he is only this happy for about 10 minutes a day. On top of this, he only smiles for a few seconds at a time since his face is still learning how to do it right. Yesterday, Gena was playing with him and caught a couple and then today I predicted his reaction and had the camera ready. The fact that I even framed it up properly is a miracle in itself, not to mention that I captured the exact second he opened up.

Enjoy them, these may be the last you see for a while!

In case we don't update on the day, Happy Christmas to everyone! And thank you to all my clients who come to see me regularly...now you see what you are supporting by taking care of yourselves and seeing me regularly! Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Newest pictures updated

I just got the new pictures up. Bath pics and sleepy pics and pictures mommy took with the new computer!

Fun times!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

First big snow of the year today. Looks like we are going to get a few inches if we are unlucky. Isn't it surprising how long it took for the snow to come this year; for it to get cold for that matter.

We recently got into this show, Dexter. Everyone has been talking about it but we always tend to avoid anything people are hyping until the very last minute. We ran out of new television material to watch on Netflix so we broke down and started Dexter. So far, we're impressed. Although, to be fair, we have always been interested in serial killer stories.

Gave the baby a bath tonight and he pooped in the tub. the first of many times in his life I'm sure (even if I'm not looking forward to it.)

Took a lot of new pictures of him. Recent developments: Link coos and gahs now. He also interacts in a way he never has before. We can almost play with him a little now. He also responds to us talking to him by talking back a little bit. He smiles a lot more and he follows both mom's and dad's voices around the room. He sleeps better than he used to; most of the night now except when he wakes up to eat and get changed and then he falls right back to sleep.

We are loving our new computer. It is totally awesome!

No news on the house front except that we have to wait some more. We are switching mortgage companies now and we are looking at something like January 20th hopefully. Wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for us!

New pictures are up on the slideshow and don't forget that the old ones are ARCHIVED

Lazy

I have gotten very lazy with this blog!! Lincoln turns 8 weeks tomorrow, the house deal is at a standstill for the moment and with Christmas around the corner, we need to get this stuff figured out.

We bought our new mac Sunday and it rocks!! We also took a bunch of new pictures of the little man that I will try to put up tonight.

The semester is nearly over and that is also very awesome!

All in all we are well even though Link occasionally still keeps us up all night.

Watch for new pictures in the slideshow!!

Hard to Believe

I can't believe it is already December! Time certainly does fly. Link is over 6 weeks old now and we have recently been going through the pictures from the day we brought him home and realize how big he has gotten!!

If anyone gets the chance, look through the archive section on Picasa. It's crazy! Here is the link again if you can't find it...

Archive

We took some new ones recently so check out the slideshow! He got to meet grandpa on Satruday after Thanksgiving.

Moving forward

We should be closing on the house this week if all goes well. I have been on the phone and the computer emailing and talking for the past three days trying to get this whole thing moving. I have been to the house a couple more times recently and the kitchen is pretty much done. The appliances are in and the place looks great on the inside. There are still some minor aesthetic items that need to be addressed, but otherwise I think they are close to finishing. I am getting really excited to actually own a house for once instead of worrying about messing up a rental and losing a bunch of money. I think Gena is primarily excited to be able to paint finally. She has been very interested to get Link set up with a nursery since he was born and now we will finally be able to do that.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

One Month Old!!

We made it through the first month, finally! Link is getting kind of predictable now that he is one month old. He has one good day and one bad day, on and off, almost like clockwork now.

Yesterday was a screamy day so we can predict that today would be a calm day. Sure enough, we were right!! He was nice and calm most of the day. I came home from work around 4:30 and startled him because he didn't know I was in the room and I touched his little head. Boy did he jump!

I put up new pictures of him and I'll give a bit of an explanation about them here,

You can see in the first few that he and Gena were interacting the other night, which was kinda funny. That was also a night he spit up on himself so I was changing his clothes and I took some pictures of his skinny little arms since he was throwing them all over the place. There are some of him in his rocker and then there are two that I took one morning after Gena put a hat on him in the night and I woke up to a silly looking baby with a hat on giving me the stink eye.

Hope you all like the pictures and the blog. We have been very busy this week working and still packing. The house now has appliances as well as cabinets and a sink in the kitchen. We broke in with Kenny and April Sunday and found out they gutted the basement and refinished it all like new so that is kinda cool. I can't imagine they have much left to do but paint and fix the fence and clean up their mess. Hopefully we will close next week, but at the worst, they want us to definitely close before November 30th. Here we go moving again, but this time it is the last time for a long while!

Quick Update

Gena and Link are waiting for dad to come to bed, so I'll make this one quick.

I went crazy with the camera again, so there are all new pictures in the slideshow. Again, the previous pictures are moved to the album called "archive".

Link is great and so are we. We finally got a little sleep last night and the way he is going, we might get more tonight! So excited!

No new pictures

I feel as though I shouldn't post here without putting up new picture albums every time.

Baby Lincoln is doing just fine. We finally got some sleep last night after an all day scream-a-thon. I hate leaving my family at home alone while I go to work. Maybe one day I'll become independently wealthy!

-Posted from my mobile

Halloween Plus

Halloween has come and gone and there are plenty of other pictures and events that have occured since. I carved a sweet pumpkin and Gena did too. Gena's took a lot more work than we thought it would so it never got finished, but I can put the stencil up for you all to see what it would have looked like.

It was in the 40 degree range so we opted to keep Link inside this year instead of trick-or-treating with the family. Brandon dressed like a Tiger and Bri went as a ghost at first, until she realized how cold it would be and changed into the kitty outfit. Julian was a 70s disco king with the big curly wig and everything. and of course Lincoln was the little boy from Where the Wild Things Are. Gena did an excellent job making his costume and we got the first taste of what the rest of our lives are going to be like around Halloween.

Baby took another bath with us and his belly button is finally fully healed. His little blue eyes are finally starting to show their true colors as well, though I don't know how well the camera captured that. We have actually gotten more sleep the past couple nights, although last night Link was very fussy in the middle of the night for no reason. Not sure what was up with that.

I'm posting more pictures here and on the slideshow now so take a look!

From Archive

Forgot!

Tomorrow is Halloween and for those of you who don't know, Gena and I are huge fans of this holiday. Check back after tomorrow to see what Lincoln will go as for his first Halloween.

Also, yesterday we gave him his second bath since we have had him home...pictures below...

So Fresh and So Clean

Time is Flying

Today is Friday, which means that Link is now one week and almost 2 days old. How crazy is that?! We are glad to be done with the hospital, but it feels like it was just yesterday that we were packing him into the car and driving him home at 25mph the whole way to avoid any potential risks!

A few new things have happened since we last posted. Angie, Shelby and Ben all came over to visit and bring delicious food. Others have stopped by with food and gifts, to which we say "Awesome!! and thank you all!" Grandma Gayle has been here a couple times to help out and to visit. She got us a neat new baby monitor yesterday to keep track of our little guy. We had a visit from our good friend baby North and aunt Polly. I got a haircut and danced in the livingroom with Link. Pictures form all of these events are in the album linked below. Enjoy!

Visitors

Take a Look

I have a feeling that I am going to be one of those crazy dads who is constantly taking pictures and video of the most inane parts of my child's life. But isn't that what dads are for?

I posted some new Lincoln pics today and moved the old ones to a new album called archive, which I will link in this post. The archive album will be where all older pictures now reside to make way for the newest of the new. I should be getting some video clips up soon as well so keep an eye out for those to be posted. The videos may be difficult for those of you with slower internet connections to view, but hopefully the picture albums are loading quickly. Please let me know if there are any problems looking at aspects of this blog and I will do my best to correct any issues that may arise.

Last night we got more sleep than normal, but we also slept on the couches downstairs because Lincoln was up and down all night. We found out today at the doctor's visit that he lost a little more weight and that he isn't getting enough milk when he feeds so we are taking steps to correct these issues. Keep your fingers crossed for us on Thursday because we go back in to get him weighted again and see if he will have to end up on formula instead.

He seems to be happier all around today and he isn't nearly as fussy as he has been, so we figure something must be going better. The pictures that are running on the slideshow to the right are from just before the walk we took him on yesterday. There are more with me and Link in the moby, but I will post those tomorrow.

Until next time!!

Archive

Another early morning...

Oh Lincoln, you great emancipator of sleep! Once again you have liberated me from the tyranny of my slumber!

He would not stop fussing! Finally, after two hours I decided to take him downstairs and give Gena a break to go to sleep. It took me another hour of singing, humming, shushing and, finally, finger sucking to get him back to sleep. Now he is laying on my chest, listening to my heart beat while the black cat sleeps next to us on the couch and the grey cat rubs against my legs. Oh what a family we have here! In the end they all say "It's worth it" but we are far from the end.

Hope all is well with you dear reader...

New Pictures

When we got home, I got my hands on the good camera and then I lost all self control and took something like 74 pictures of Gena and Lincoln. The slideshow at the top right of the main page has changed. I intend on keeping that slideshow running new picture albums instead of letting the same old stuff keep running. This way you all will know when new pictures of him are up.

We got home today and just crashed. I had to go out and get Gena's prescriptions and cash my paycheck, but otherwise we have been here taking time with baby.

Time for bed...

Leaving Time

Leaving Day!!

We just found out a bit ago that they are putting our discharge paperwork together right now. Gena got her staples out about an hour ago and Gayle is coming up to help us get home. We put him into the outfit we bought before we even knew he was a man child. It is toasty warm so he won't get cold on the ride home.

We are all ready to go, just waiting on the paperwork to clear us out of this place!

We're coming home kitties!

Freedom!!

It is finally Saturday. We should be able to leave tonight or maybe, if we're lucky, this afternoon. Soooo happy!!

Lincoln is doing awesome. His sucking instincts kicked in fully around 1:45 yesterday and now he is a master. If this is indicative of the rest of his life, he will be the smartest man alive!! hahaha

I'm not sure what we will do when we get home, but I think the first thing we should get settled is the sleep schedule since neither of us has gotten any in the hospital. As you can see, I wrote this at 5:30ish and that translates to me getting 2 hours of sleep, waking up to help Gena feed Lincoln and then allowing Gena to sleep while I let Link suck on my finger to pacify him.

i took him for a walk up and down the hall this morning and one of the nurses said "Good morning." I can't even tell what day it is anymore, let alone whether or not it's morning. Sooo looking forward to sleeping in a real bed again.

As time goes by...

Gena and I are slowing getting used to this baby stuff. Obviously Gena is still recovering from the C section, but Lincoln is getting along just fine. He is very healthy and, although he has been very tired the last 24 hours, he is very active and attentive. When his eyes are open, he is looking around, studying his environment and the people around him. He moves a lot and even though we have to hold his head up for him, his neck muscles are very developed and allow him to move his head back and forth. He is also developing an excellent sucking instinct.

He loves being swaddled tightly, but for whatever reason he doesn't like his left hand to be pulling in tight.

Our nurses are very nice to us these days and we expect to be out of here Saturday night or Sunday morning as long as all goes well. I think the feeling of being a parent will sink in a lot more when we actually bring him home and acclimate him to our normal lives. This hospital keeps us in a kind of false reality since we aren't doing laundry or making our own food. Things will definitely be different when we get back. It's kind of like a "babycation"!

Half Birthday day!

We looked at the clock and realized our little man is just over 12 hours old. I'm sure as the time goes by hours won't be as significant as days and then days won't be as significant as years. But when he is so new and we are still in such awe of him every minute we can't help but count them.

We are just hanging out here in the hospital room watching tv and Lincoln is sleeping for now, so we are taking advantage of the quiet time to rest. I also put some more pictures into the album linked in the last post. The slideshow should update automatically, but if it doesn't you can click on the lower right corner and link to the Picasa album. There is also a link to our Picasa account at the top of this page on the right. Thank you all for your congratulations! I am trying to respond to everyone who texted me back last night and today, but obviously, this blog is the best way to get any new information about us right now.

Happy Birthday!!

Lincoln Blake Harrison-Zdenek, born Oct. 21st, 2009 at 10:56pm. Weighing in at 7lb .5oz and measured 21 inches. Welcome to the world young man! It took a mere 18 hours of active labor, a bunch of Pitocin, 2 injections of Stadol, one epidural and several gross violations of our birthplan to bring you into this world...and we wouldn't trade any of it in cause you are so freakin' magnificent.

Below you can all see some pictures of our new member and of course there will be plenty more to come since we brought the laptop, our cameras and the card reader. Since we went C section, we will have to stay here until at least Saturday night. Plenty of time to take pictures!

Birthday

Pitocin Ho!

Uggghhhh...time flies when you aren't having fun!

We have been here all night, the midwife is here right now doing an exam and she says the baby has dropped down perfectly. It seems the Cytotech in combination with Gena's natural birthing abilities have worked together overnight. We started the Pitocin a little bit ago and Mary, our midwife, is bringing a birthing ball into the room for Gena to roll around on.

We didn't get much sleep last night, but luckily Gena had her own personal massage therapist in the room...

From Life with Lincoln

There is still a chance for us to end up in the ABC (Alternative Birthing Center). As long as Gena's blood pressure stays low and her blood tests come back clean, we still have the possibility of finishing the delivery in the ABC.

So in the end we didn't quite get everything we wanted, but everything is working out. We can be flexible and these are things we don't have control over, so we go with the flow and control the things we have control over, like how much intervention we receive or what Gena does in the room. This baby will get here one way or another!

Still waiting

Now they put Gena on oxygen to get the baby going and she is having some contractions, but we are still waiting for the main attraction. Here are some more pictures for you all!

From Life with Lincoln

Welcome to Triage...

From Life with Lincoln

So, today we went to the doctor for another non-stress test and while we were attached to the monitor it was decided that due to potential preeclampsia from high blood pressure, we would go in to the labor and delivery wing and be induced. Not exactly our birth plan, but what option do we have?

So now we are here in triage having blood work done and attached to an iv and pretty much hating life. The only thing that can console either of us at this point is the fact that Lincoln's heart rate and position are perfect and Gena is having some contractions.

I will update again in a little while after we get into the delivery room and I can either get to the computer or charge my phone.

Wish us luck!!

-Posted from my mobile in Triage.

Followers!

I see we have some new followers! I'm very happy to see this and I hope we get even more soon. From all I can gather you do have to have at least a gmail account or a blogger account of your own to follow and comment, but I also created a new family email account so you can email us if you can't comment. The email address is harrisonzdenek@gmail.com.

Not a lot of news to report today. We had the day off so we took Mike McDunn to Blake's Cider Mill in Armada and got some cider and donuts! It was a little cold, but we still had fun. The $9 "farm funland" was not worth it so we chose not to go in, but we saw the goats from the fence. There are some signs that we might get to go into labor soon, but nothing major yet. Like I said before, the laptop and cameras are coming with us, so the day we go into labor, I will text everyone in my phonebook and you can all get online and see what is happening...IN REAL TIME!

Until next time,
Lucas, Gena and Fetal Lincoln

More Doctors, Less Progress

Gena has another stress test today so we will see what they say about how she is doing but so far this week she has had a few contractions and not a lot of progress otherwise. We have a feeling this will be the appointment where they say "Start taking Caster Oil..." Tomorrow will start week 41, effectively putting us one week overdue exactly. If Lincoln doesn't come by the 24th, we will have to go in and get induced which is not exactly what we wanted, but at the same time if it has to happen, then we will go with it since the most important thing is that he comes out healthy. We will keep posting until the day and we plan on taking the cameras and the laptop into the hospital with us so that on the day while she is recovering we can upload some pictures and create a birthday post. More to come...

Doctor Today

Gena went to the office today in Novi and the midwife says that the baby is healthy and in the correct position. She had the first stress test today where she had to sit for an hour while they hook her up to a monitor to check the baby's movements. Otherwise, everything else has been normal. We are still waiting on the house to get finished and in the meantime we have been really cleaning this one up and trying to get every non-essential thing packed in preparation. More to come hopefully!!

One more new picture

Baby Stuff

Just took this one the other night...

Baby's First Post

Hello and welcome to the new blog for our new little baby, Lincoln Blake Harrison-Zdenek. What a long name, right?

So I started this blog for all of you who are inevitably asking the question "What is happening with Luke and Gena's baby?" I intend to keep this blog updated regularly (hopefully weekly, but I make no promises) to answer such a question. As you continually check this blog, you will find regularly updated picasa web albums of the newest pictures of our little guy as well as links to videos and obviously updated posts about how he is and what we are all doing.

Since we will be living in the Ferndale area from now on, I want to make sure that those of you who are far away from us are able to share in our baby adventure and offer any commentary you may feel is relevant as we go along on this journey as a family. Every post will be open for comments and I believe that even if you don't have a gmail or blogspot account, you should be able to leave a comment anonymously. I will check into that for you. Also, if you have any issues communicating here, I intend on linking my facebook to this blog as well so you will have several ways of contacting us if the mood strikes you.

As you will see on this first post, since Lincoln is not yet born, I am linking an album of his ultrasound pictures for anyone who has not yet seen them. They will be in chronological order and you are all welcome to comment as you see fit.

Thanks in advance for your support and remember to bookmark this blog so you can keep checking up on our progress!