19 months!

As soon as he spots the camera : "Cheeeese"!! I can't believe what a "little boy" baby#1 is turning into! As he crosses the 19 month mark, here are some Lincoln milestones:

We're finally getting some good (or GREAT rather!) weather, and there is nowhere Lincoln would rather be than OUTSIDE (or "a-side" according to him). As soon as we make our way downstairs, he goes straight for the backdoor. My morning mantra: "We have to eat first" "We have to get dressed first" "We have to feed the baby first" and "We have to put on our shoes." Yep, I say all of those every morning... Usually he has already brought me a pair of shoes (yesterday it was my houseshoes) trying to get me to hurry up before I make it to the last request!

Still loves tractors ("Tra-ters") more than life itself. This morning I told Ashley that I would love to take a day and just count how many times he says tra-ters. I would guarantee that by 9 am this morning, he had already said it at least 50 times. Over. and Over... and Over... Dram and Pap got him this cute sand and water table for Easter, and he has worn the thing out!! She accidentally bought a 50 POUND bag of sand for it, and we laughed our butts off at how much 50 lbs of sand really is - but man, am I glad she did! We've already had to refill the thing three times! Watching him play with it really is a hoot.

This picture was taken per Lincoln's request. Camera Hog...

So he now wears 24 months or 2T in everything. We've officially outgrown the 6 extra wide shoe and we're still in size 4 diapers.

He has started telling us when he goes "pee" or "poop." It's actually really funny - he'll be in the middle of doing something and just stop and look at one of us - if it's pee, he'll just grab his diaper and freeze, but if it's poop, he'll grab his butt, grunt, and say "poop." So we've started putting him on the potty a lot (and trying to convince him, when he grabs his butt, he should go sit on the potty!), and although I know it's probably a little early to expect any results, at least he'll get used to sitting on it, right? He did have one little rabbit pebble (HA! - He'll love me for that later) the other night and we made just the biggest deal out of it. He looked at us like we were nuts. Those of you that also facebook - don't worry, I won't be posting everytime he poops/pees on the potty. That drives me CRAZY! I mean, facebook is a little too public to just be discussing poop, right? Ok - rant complete.

This kid is officially part monkey. He will climb on ANYTHING... And honestly, as long as it's nothing TOO dangerous or high, I'll let him. I've learned the hard way that when you try to discourage him from doing something, it just makes him that much more curious... I don't know where he would get that (yep, I hear you laughing mom...)

His vocabulary has absolutely exploded lately, and I officially quit trying to remember words he's said. He will repeat ANYTHING (including explicatives if you aren't too careful....). And although he still has his own language, he is starting to favor that of the English variety on occassion.

He LOVES to be with me in the kitchen when I'm cooking. Really I think he just likes to sit on the counter and eat MandM's, but whatever. I've started bringing our stepstool in the kitchen when I'm cooking and letting him stand on the top step to watch.

And in case you're wondering, he is doing BETTER with baby brother. Now when the baby cries, he'll bring him his paci (as long as he's not trying to suck on it himself!) and he wants to help us feed him sometimes. He's starting kissing him on his own (crazy!) and if he handles Liam rough and we stop him, he's started leaning in and kissing whatever body part he manhandled. It's pretty cute. Still scary, but cute...

We're awfully lucky to have such a couple of cute (although rotten) kiddos...

A Month in Review

Hard to believe it's already been a month since this little bundle of joy arrived! He has been such a wonderful baby so far!

He's only a week old here -- doesn't he look huge??

Liam had his first bath and ALMOST enjoyed it!! Surprisingly, he has liked his baths everytime since (with the exception of today, wasn't too much of a fan today...).

And so far, he's been very happy with the baby MAM paci - which is a big improvement over that big ole "Maggie Simpson" paci!

Sweet smiles at a week old!! (yes, I know, it's only gas... )

He looks so tiny beside daddy's big ole paw! He lost about 6 oz on our one week visit, but on our reweigh at two weeks, he had gained and was 8 lbs even. He is very slightly smaller than Lincoln - and has WAY less hair, but other than that, they could be clones!

One week old

Liam has started being awake a lot more lately. He will be awake for an hour or so at a time now.

Two weeks old here!

Not to mention he's a pretty good sleeper! In the beginning, he was sleeping 4 hours at a time - but recently (knock on wood) he's started sleeping 6-7 hours in between feedings!

Three weeks old

Liam is taking 5 ounces of Infamil Infant formula at a time every 4 hours during the day. And luckily, so far no problems with spit-up or gassiness!!

Right now, Liam can wear newborn sizes and some 0-3 month things. And we are using size one diapers - but we can still squeeze into a newborn size diaper when necessary!

Four weeks old here... I know he looks very unhappy here, but how cute is his "mad" face?? ;)

I'm ONE MONTH OLD today!!!

We (read: mainly MOMMA) is still taking some adjusting, and I have yet to master getting all three of us ready and out of the house before 10:00! But so far I still have all of my hair, so I call that an accomplishment!

What a little blessing this baby boy is.... I am one lucky momma!

Out-takes (AKA: the REAL story)

It's funny how, in posting a blog entry, you always look through your pictures for the sweetest shots. In looking through my pictures today (and, ok, I admit, I take TOO MANY!) I realized that some of the funniest shots are the ones I would LEAST likely post! So, I figured - these are the moments that are the most "real life" - and I would be doing myself a disservice by not posting these to remember when the boys are teenagers!

I mean, isn't this sweet??And this one I just can't look at without laughing. And how about this one? Liam was yawning - obviously Lincoln wanted him to close his mouth...

"I'm not being mean mom, I'm just kissing brother with his giraffe"

"Yes, this is my brother - right here"

Just so you know, I do not let Lincoln manhandle Liam all the time... It's pretty much a fulltime job keeping "hands off." And it's even funnier now that he is more "gentle" with Liam - watching him give Liam his paci when he's crying is the best! These two are a mess!

Clones

Who woulda guessed these two would look so much alike?? Maybe its hard to see now, but looking back.....

Which is which?

A:Lincoln is the 2nd pic in both comparisons!

Gone Fishin'

Got a big one!!!

Thanks Pap for the fishing lesson!

He's definitely a Boy!!

From the moment he gets up in the morning, till the second he goes to sleep - his mind is on but one thing.....

Do you think you can guess what it is?? If you've been around him anytime lately, I'm sure he's told you about it - or maybe even shown you one!

That's right. Tractors... Or in Lincoln's world "Tra-tes." Which is usually accompanied with "bap" (or Pap, who takes him on tractor rides at every chance!). If you'll notice, in this picture he is sitting, yes - sitting! long enough to watch the WHOLE "All about John Deere" movie. Might I add that I recently purchased three more of these videos (after I completely memorized the first one). In the case that you haven't been lucky enough to see these movies, they are actually MOVIES. Not cartoons - oh, no - not for this child - he'll be having none of that cartoon business!

Pretty much every toy that he'll play with is in the form of a tractor or a heavy duty piece of equipment. And you sure won't see him playing with them without also hearing, "Beep - Beep - Ttch" (which would be the back up alarm and air brakes, by the way).

I left him with Dram and Pap for ten minutes, headed down the road to meet them, and ran upon this! Well, they HAD to go feed the cows!

And this picture is too far away to tell it very clearly, but he's just grinning and waving like crazy! He LOVES it!

In this picture, you can see how he made Dramaw hook his little plow to his tractor. With a breadtie. That's correct...

You've gotta know, we watch a lot of Food Network during the day, and Lincoln has always watched me get ready in the mornings (occasionally playing with my eyelash curler or a blush brush) - and that made Daddy very nervous... :)

But, I think we've got the "country boy" in our genes...

Wordless Wednesday!