#2 on your scorecards

For Park's hospital photo shoot we bucked the traditional "babe swaddled in cotton blankets" look for something a little more "rock star." For Reef's shoot we opted for something else that was near and dear to our hearts. Shocker basketball.

During the shoot, we were lucky enough to have a big brother that was so overjoyed about the new arrival that he was uncharacteristically cooperative for a couple of shots including him. I'm sure the hormones had something to do with it, but when Carrie saw this shot for the first time on the video monitor she broke into tears. At that point the mobile photo studio lady could have told us it was going to cost us $10,000 and it wouldn't have mattered, we were taking it home.

Pencils down.

OK, so there have been a lot of good guesses on our little "Which Baby is Which" photo contest and it's now time to finally reveal who's right and who's wrong.

Ready?










Are you sure?










Are you sure, you're sure?










Want to put some money on it?










When I asked if you want to put some money on it, I was talking about the quiz, not whether you're ready or not.










OK.











Here … we … go.

So who got it right?

And if you based your guess on what the kid was wearing or weather it looked like it was spring or winter, you cheated and are required to change one dirty diaper.

"Pop" Quiz

I've been experiencing some major deja vu over the past week and a half. Every time I look at Reef I feel like I'm being magically transported back in time to when Park was a baby.

For proof of what I'm talking about, one of the pictures below is of Park, and one if of Reef. Can you tell which one is which?

Introducing Reef Presley Lindeman

A week has come and gone since we welcomed little Reef into the world. I'm not sure where the time went but I think it was consumed with lots of smiles, little sleep and a whole lot of diaper changes. This kid, who we affectionately called "No name" for his first 22 hours of life, looks just like Park as a baby (proof to come soon) but is definitely the better sleeper of the two (so far at least).

As far as big brothers go, Park could not take his job more seriously. He sings when Reef needs soothing, he stands guard when anyone even looks his brother's way and he insists on Reef being the first thing he sees in the morning and the last thing he kisses goodnight. We realize this brotherly love might not last forever (or even into next week), but we're enjoying watching these two together every waking moment (and there are a lot of those right now).

We've appreciated all the comments, support and love shown on Facebook, Twitter, through text messages, emails and visits. For those who haven't met Reef yet, we look forward to introducing you.

Birth date: January 29, 2013
Weight: 7 lbs. 9 oz.
Length: 21 in.

No, really, I got you a birthday present.

Today is January 17,  or 19 days since Carrie's birthday, if you're counting. Way back on December 30 I gave Carrie a very practical gift, one that was probably more for me than her—a Blue Ant S4 hands-free car speaker phone. I got it for her because I was sick of yelling at her for calling me on her cell phone while she was driving. While I did eventually get her to use the speaker phone function on her iPhone, I later discovered that she was still holding the phone up to her face (I'll just attribute the absurdity of that solution to "pregnancy brain").

Anyway, knowing that a hands-free speaker phone probably wasn't the most personal of gifts, I decided to get her something else to go along with it, so I placed an order with an extremely large retailer and later got an email confirming that my purchase had shipped on December 27. Given such a late shipping date, I knew there was a chance it wouldn't arrive by her actual birthday, but I figured an extra day or two would just mean she would just get to celebrate a little longer. Well a few more days passed and frankly, with everything going on around our house, I kind of forgot about it. Adding more confusion to the matter was the fact that I was having the package shipped to my parents house so that Carrie wouldn't get it and open it before I could wrap it up. So I checked with my parents last week and sure enough it hadn't been delivered and started checking around. That's when my problems started. After some research I discovered I didn't have my order confirmation email and my delivery confirmation was completely in html gibberish. So I went online to try to get some help. The process would have been extremely easy—if I would have had my order confirmation number—which I didn't. So I searched and searched and searched for a phone number to no avail. Eventually I did find a way to ask them to contact me, which I did, but they didn't.

So now what? The point of this whole blog post, that's what.

I did a little Google search and came across gethuman.com, a website that gives you a phone number and the codes necessary to get you to an actual, living, breathing human being to answer your questions. You don't have to screw around, you go directly to the correct line and the wait time is virtually nothing. In my case it was under three minutes. The result was that my problem was solved five minutes later by an extremely friendly Pakistani who wanted nothing more than to make me happy. Supposedly the package is now supposed to show up at my door in under three days. In fact, just as I was typing this I got a new shipping confirmation, so we'll see. But by this date, maybe I'll just save it and avoid needing to get a Valentine's Day gift … or a birthday gift next year.

The most public of all meltdowns

To the 10,000+ Shocker fans at Wednesday's men's basketball game at Koch Arena, we apologize for the three-year-old's meltdown with just five exciting minutes to go in the game. Normally, Park can handle sitting in (or standing on) his seat during the action-packed games for two hours, but due to bad parental judgement, we took the kid out too late before he had fully recovered from all the sleep he lost while sick with the stomach bug earlier this week. It was a bad call - even worse than some the refs were making. The poor guy was overtired and we should've known better. Instead, everyone sitting in section 119 witnessed the event and our dramatic exit down all 27 rows from our seats. It wasn't pretty. Or quiet. (especially during those free throws)

As our apology, we're offering this video of Park and his little friend Noah, who sits next to him, during a past (and more pleasant) game. The two boys like to stand up and dance in their seats. Their efforts even landed them on the jumbotron recently, before they knew what the jumbotron was. Now they bust  a move every chance they get in hopes of getting on the big screen.



Enjoy, and sorry.
Carrie

We're still here. Are you?

You know it's been too long since you've blogged when you can't remember your log-in name and password. Another sign you've neglected the blog: Your husband threatens to shut it down. But with baby #2 on the way (due to arrive in 30 days), I would feel like a horrible mother if I didn't use the blog as an outlet to share the second kid's milestones, challenges and mundane activities like I did with the first kid (which reminds me, is anyone out there reading this?). So here I am, blogging while everyone else is passed out in the house and I'd much rather be sleeping while I can. Those days are numbered.

In order to keep the peace, I'm going to make it my mission (dare I say "resolution") to blog regularly. Starting today: January 1. We have some blog-worthy stories, videos and pictures that need to be shared from 2012. Those will come soon. (Another "resolution" is to save those from the camera/phone.) The year wasn't a complete bust, but the first half definitely could've used a do-over. The good news is that we survived and are anxious to see how much better 2013 can be. It won't take much.

So while I try and remember what it's like to blog again, I'll leave you with this: a bad photo of really bad handwriting and spelling on my birthday cake from two days ago. Craig made a special outing to the bakery with Park to pick out the cake. Apparently everything was going well until the "decorator" handed the cake back to Craig. The guy didn't mention he wasn't a decorator (or decent speller) until this point. Still, it tasted great and I love that Park picked out all the colors and the message. I also find it hilarious that Craig didn't have the heart to tell the guy about his mistakes ... and he went through the self check-out lane to avoid anyone else seeing it.

Happy New Year and we hope you'll continue reading. We'll be here!

Carrie (aka Momy)