A California Beach Day

While in California, we went to Capitola with my dad and stepmom and the boys. It was a beautiful day. The kind that makes me want to leave Denver and live near the ocean, no matter the cost. (I've never been one to love financial practicality). In any case, we had an amazing time that day. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.


Ritchie took this picture. He refers to it as his "epic seagull picture".


Probably my new fav of Max. It's going to go above his bed, LARGE. Prancing on the beach? Glorious!


Also a new fav of the boys!




Ben loving him some ice cream.


With Papa and Mimi!

"Have You Always Known You Wanted to Adopt?"

Whenever I tell people that we're adopting they always ask me, "Did you always want to adopt?" or, "What makes you want to adopt?" Those are definitely the two most commonly asked questions and so, I am answering them today.

I think I was in High School when I heard somewhere that girls in China are given up for adoption so that the family could try for a boy. China had restrictions on how many children they could have and boys were coveted. This broke my heart and right then and there I resolved that someday, somehow I would adopt one of those unwanted baby girls from China.

Ritchie and I discussed adoption early in our relationship and it was always left up to, "We'll see what happens, but we'd love to do that someday". Adoption is expensive, plain and simple and the many times we really began to look into it we didn't meet the requirements for a China adoption. Our conversations never went much further than that.

Fast forward. Two beautiful boys later and the discussion of more babies begins. I had been following another blogger,  Ashley Ann's, story about bringing home her daughter with a cleft lip and palate from China through the Waiting Child program. The Waiting Child program specializes in placing children with special needs from China into families. It lit a little fire inside of me. That seed that had been planted all those years ago in High School began to sprout. I began to slowly research a China adoption again and, this time, we fit the requirements. Coincidentally, I began to look into agencies that catered to the Waiting Child program in China, found a reputable one locally and immediately spoke with several local families that had used and loved that agency.


Our boys that cannot wait to bring home their baby sister.

A deeper discussion began. Ritchie quickly fell in love with the idea of bringing home a baby from the Waiting Child program, which was something we hadn't considered before in our previous adoption discussions. The more we talked and researched and sought out other families that had adopted, the more we longed to begin the process. The more we began to feel like our daughter was out there and we NEEDED to get her home.

And so we began. Beginning the adoption process without all the funds you need readily available for you takes a huge leap of faith. We know we have a daughter in China waiting for us. We're trusting we'll somehow get her to us. Faith.


Our family. Soon to be five. Five sounds awesome to me.

One way we're working to get her home is by trying to ease some of the many expenses with fundraising.  My amazingly generous friend Gemma has helped me organize a Stella & Dot fundraiser. For the entire month of April, for any purchase made through Gemma's Stella & Dot website, 100% of the proceeds go to our adoption. 100% of the money made goes to BRINGING OUR BABY GIRL HOME. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for friends like Gemma who are so generously helping us raise funds.

There are 3 ways you can help us bring our girl home.

1. Click on the link below and make a purchase through Gemma's Stella & Dot website.

Gemma's Site!

Make sure to go to the top where it says, "Find Your Hostess" and type in Jamie Lincoln. 

2.  Don't need jewelry, but still want to help? We're accepting Paypal donations through a link on my blog. Any donation, big or small is valuable and appreciated.

3. Spread the word! Tweet, Instagram, Facebook, your own blog. Any way you're willing to help spread the word is SO helpful.

Furthermore, there's a giveaway!! Gemma is offering a $50 gift card to her website if you make a purchase in April OR if you donate on my blog.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is make your purchase in April through Gemma's site or donate on my blog:

www.thelincolnslife.blogspot.com

Even better? For every $5 you donate or spend at Stella & Dot you get 1 entry. Spend $20? 4 entries! Donate $50, 10 entries! Up your chances of winning with every $5 that you spend/donate.

Visit my blog and leave a comment saying which way you contributed to our adoption and you'll be entered! A winner will be chosen at random on May 1.

Updated to add:

My friend Dana has contacted me and wants to help, too! She's offering me 20% of her proceed for Mary Kay products through the entire month of April! Click on her link to order some awesome skin care and beauty products and help support our adoption!

Dana's Mary Kay Site! 

She's also putting anyone who spends $40 or over into a drawing for something special at the end of the month!

Thanks so much to Dana, Gemma and EVERYONE who supports our adoption. Let's get our girl home!

Updated AGAIN:

Another fabulous friend has offered to donate 100% of her proceeds for the month of April for Pampered Chef!

Mindy's Pampered Chef Site! 

I'm entering ANYONE who buys from any of these sites into the Stella & Dot giveaway as well as those who donate directly on the blog. Remember, every $5 towards a purchase or donation gives you one entry!


Thank you all for taking the time to read my story and support our adoption!

Ben's First Haircut

It was time. I had put it off as long as possible, but the little shaggy guy needed a trim. Here is the memory in pictures with a few words.


The "before" picture.


At first, he didn't love it.


This happens now every time Ben cries. Max "closes" his ears.


Things turned around pretty quickly once we gave him a lollipop.




"Hey, Mom! This haircut thing isn't so bad!"





Afterwards, the boys had fun accessorizing in the shop.


Max found some bracelets.


Ben was diggin' the sunglasses. This is also the "after" shot.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

We're getting peeks of Spring here in Denver and on one of the recent warmer days, we took the kids to fly a kite. The park we live near has a huge field and there are often people flying kites there. For weeks Max had begged us to buy a kite and we finally caved. I'm so glad we did!






Ben wasn't crazy about the kite, but he did love walking around and pointing out all the trees.

Max at 3 1/2

The fact that my Maxton is three and a half blows my mind. He's changing so much everyday.  I'm going to attempt to take a snapshot of my boy right now.

Max is, as always, sweet and sensitive. He's always been a lover and will still snuggle, let me hold him, and give hugs, kisses and "I love yous" freely. This may be my favorite quality of his.



He loves to count and can count past twenty easily with no assistance. His one-to-one correspondence with counting has gotten fantastic in the past 6 months and he can count up to 7 or 8 items this way. He also LOVES to point out letters he sees. He can recognize every letter of the alphabet. He can trace almost anything now, but is only consistently writing the letter "M" independently. He can spell his name. He knows he's 3 and he knows he's Max Lincoln. So far, so good, I'd say!



He continues to LOVE music and is mostly interested in string instruments. The ukelele, violin and guitar seem to interest him the most. He can sing almost any song within a few times of hearing it (this has actually put us in some less than ideal situations). He's starting to dance and move a bit to music also, but I think both of the boys may sadly have their father's rhythm.



He still has a sweet tooth. We're finally breaking ground on some veggies, but, if given the choice, he'd choose chocolate every time.

He LOVES babies right now. He'll admire them in public and proclaim how cute they are. He also constantly tells me how pretty I am and how handsome his daddy is. He's very complimentary of everyone.



He doesn't sleep with any covers. He likes to be on top of the covers, or preferably just on the sheet with the covers on the floor, curled up at the foot of the bed. He sleeps really well and I'm so thankful for my great sleeper. He had given up naps for awhile, but is back to napping a good 2 hours a day. He's one of those kids who NEEDS his sleep or he's a bit of a mess.





He still prefers to be naked on the bottom a large majority of the time, but lately he's actually been interested in wearing Ben's pants. Something about how funny it is to him that the pants are way too small for him.

Speaking of, Max is freaking hilarious. He's got an AMAZING sense of humor and loves to laugh! When you first meet him, you totally won't get this from him. He reserves his humor for those he trusts and loves. He does better with small groups of people that he knows really well. He loves his friends, but doesn't have any interest in meeting new ones. Once he lets you in, then you get to experience the pure magic that is Max.





His self help skills are drastically improving! He can get his underwear, pants, socks and certain shoes with little to no assistance.





He uses logic so well and can argue with people now. It's fun for now, but I can see how that will be tiring with time.

His relationship with his brother is blossoming. He's starting to interact with him more regularly and they make up little games. He aids in Ben's mischief and Ben loves that. He talks a lot about "our baby" being so cute. I think he's talking about Ben, but, to be honest, I'm not 100% sure.





He's becoming a bit bossy. He likes to be in control. I think he may have a bit of my anxious personality. He likes things a certain way, he wants to control the situation, but he also adapts really easily. I want so badly for him to not be scared or worried about things, but I may just have to accept that it's in his nature and teach him how to move past fear or through anxiety rather than just "not be" that way. It's one of my biggest parental hurdles with him and something I worry about constantly (gee, I wonder where he gets it from?)



He really is one of the kindest, sweetest souls I know. He's 3. He's working his way through this big world the best way he can. He makes me SO insanely proud. What an amazing honor it is to be his mommy. I hope I make him proud, too. I'm learning as I go with him, my first. Every single thing he does will be my trial run with parenthood and I'm trying so darn hard not to screw it up. Sometimes I'm certain I'm ruining him forever. But, then, there are these moments. Like when he calls someone sweetie. Or tells me he loves me for the 30th time that day. Or when I take a picture of us on my phone and he says, "look at that little family in love". Those are the times when I think maybe, just maybe, I'm not ruining everything. I remember to stop worrying, "take a deep breath" (as he likes to tell me) and just enjoy this love of a child of mine.

Getting Crafty

I've been making a (huge) effort to be more creative and crafty with the kids. It's usually quick and includes many pleas with Ben not to eat crafting supplies, but I'm always thrilled to have their work to save forever. 

And, they DO like it. 

Happy Monday! Hope you're all getting your craft on!