Happy 1st Birthday, Lincoln.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, LINCOLN!

It is so very hard to believe that it has been a whole year since we laid eyes on our sweet little guy for the first time....

and now he is a walking, talking, and laughing "big boy."

This first year has brought an abundance of fun memories in our home. I remember the first time he rolled over, sat up, crawled and took his first step. You are told so often when you have a baby that "time goes by fast, enjoy it." I truly feel like I have made it an effort to soak up everything possible in Lincoln's first year. I was fortunte to stay home with him for the first 6 months (working a month in there) and then to only work part-time which has been a good fit and a huge blessing. I have spent countless hours laying on the floor reading book after book, watching him kick and coo, letting him crawl over me and giggle, stacking leggos so he can throw them all on the ground, holding him for hours at night when he had all his ear infections, feeding him 100's of bottles, kissing him a million times, having conversations with him, and carrying him all over the house with me while I have done house work just to keep him happy.

I have been caught off gaurd with the emotions that have accompanied with me thinking about Lincoln being a year old. When you enjoy something you simply want it to continue forever. And motherhood is definitely something I have very much enjoyed. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to have a heathly child who I am able to love, teach and enjoy.

One year stats:

• I am estimating he weighs about 22-23 lbs and is about 30 inches long. We will find out in a week at his one year appointment.
• He wears size 4 diapers and mainly 12 month clothing.
• He is officially on all table foods which includes all fruits (peaches, pears, bananas, pineapples, grapes), all veggies (all greens, oranges and corn), grilled chicken, puffs, melts, goldfish, animal crackers, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, spaghetti. He likes to eat but he is not too picky. He eats whatever you give him maybe for the exception of bananas. We often feed him 2-3 things at a meal and he will point to other items you are not feeding to indicate what he wants to eat the other for a while.
• He can pick food up and feed it to himself very well. However, about every other thing you put on his tray he throws it on the floor. So we can only put one bite on his tray at a time to ensure it does not end up on the floor.
• He drinks 3 bottles of formula a day: breakfast (8 oz.), lunch (6 oz.) and bedtime (8 oz.) Let the weaning begin! I think it will be a tough process for the little guy because he does back flips when he sees the bottle.

• He has not tried whole milk yet but after the weekend we plan to start trying it
• He loves to drink water from a sippy cup
• He still takes two naps a day. The morning one has started to move back more around 10:00 so the afternoon nap has in turn started happening more around 2:00 or so.
• He is officially a walker. He walks about 80% of the time and crawls the rest. He mainly crawls over to something that he can pull up on to continue walking.

• He just go his TENTH tooth. He is half-way to having all his baby teeth! He has the main 4 on the top, main 4 on the bottom, and two one-year molars on the bottom.
• He has had a tough time dealing with getting his one-year molars. He has definitely been in a lot of pain and waking up some at night.
• He loves to stand at his lego table and throw all the pieces off of it
• He loves to be "in charge" of peek-a-boo. He will try to put the blanket up over his face and laugh when it falls off
• One of the little things and my favorite thing about him right now is that he likes to sit by me and hold my hand. And while holding my hand he will use his pointer finger to scratch across my hand.
• He likes to chew on his lovey

• His words include: dada, mama (he says this very rarely lately), hi with a wave
• His consistent signs include: all done, drink (puts his hand by mouth like a duck quacking) , more (which he has started to do correctly instead of just clapping)
• His inconsistent signs that he has started to learn include: Sleep/night-night (with one hand on the side of his face leans his head over as if he is laying down), and bath (the sign is as if you were drying off with a towel but he just twist his torso back and forth). Overall, he is inconsistent with his signs -- some days he just enjoys doing more than others.
• When you ask him "Where is mommy?" or "Where is daddy?" he will look around and point up at a picture with no idea if we are even in the picture.
• He loves the piggy bank we got him for Christmas. It sits on a shelf in his room and its the first think he points at in the mornings.
• He shakes his head no at things he knows he is not suppose to play with
• He can open cabinet doors now (locks will be going on soon)
• He is starting to have more of an "opinion" when things are taken away from him that he is not suppose to play with or told "no" about doing something
• He experienced many snow days this month including the historic snowfall on February 9th, 2011.

He has started to play on his own more. He will walk off to his room and play in there for a while without having to be right beside us

He cracks himself up a lot now by making silly faces or noises and then giggles at himself.

Overall, he seems even happier now that he is more independent and can walk more on his own. He will go off and play by himself or in his room for several minutes without constantly wondering what we are doing. He is also not as scared of men anymore and other things that move or sing.

Lincoln, there are just no words to truly explain how much we have enjoyed spending this first year with you. In the beginnning, we definitely felt lost and clueless as to what we were doing. But with each passing day, we have learned and know that this learning will never stop. We strive to create a home where you feel safe, extremely loved, and see Christ as the center of our home. We pray you become a young man that has a heart for others to know Christ as we pray you one day do. We love you more so very much! We look forward to celebrating your birthday "pirate-style" tomorrow.

Happy 1st Birthday Buddy!