The first "real" haircut...

So, I have to admit that I've cheated. My great Grandma would be so disappointed... Lincoln has had a very full head of hair since birth (besides the thinning of the sides at one point, leading to a donald trump comb-over). I just couldn't make the one year mark before cutting his hair! So, like I said, I cheated a little. But I DID wait until the one year mark for a REAL haircut (the others were just trims). Thank you Mrs. Vincent for the cute haircut!! Lincoln didn't seem to mind tooo much. But we were sneaking him sweetarts in between to keep him satisfied. Don't judge me...

Look what a little man he is!

Gettin a blow dry. Hey it was a cold day!

11-10-10

Big Brother in Training!

I keep meaning to update and announce that Lincoln is being promoted to "big brother" status - but with all that's been going on around here, I just haven't found the right time! So here it is! Lincoln wants everyone to know that his training has begun, and he hopes to be fully ready for his new position by May the 6th. Congratulations Lincoln!

The Hulk...

Our first "real" Halloween experience!! I found this Hulk costume online, and I couldn't look at it without laughing, so it just had to be. Unbelievably, he left the "hat" on! It's so nice being in this neighborhood (yeah, I know, I can't believe I just said that either) because we just threw him in the wagon and headed out. We only went to a few houses, mainly just the neighbors we know well, and then headed back to do some handing out. Mr. Hulk was so well behaved! I wasn't sure what he would think about all the other spooks, but he didn't seem to mind a bit!
He was SO excited about this sucker! Everytime I look at this picture I bust out laughing... It doesn't even look like my kid! Had to give daddy a bite!

One of our neighbors gave Lincoln a Donut Bank cookie (yum) and a Halloween book. The cookie kept him occupied for most of our trip.

Dad made a good chauffeur!

After our trick or treating, we came back to the house and sat on the front steps to hand out candy. I'll tell you what, it's not like when I lived in Edmonson County! If we had any less than 200 trick or treaters, i'd kiss a pig. It's crazy! You can't walk away from the door! I can't even begin to tell you how much candy I went through! But Lincoln loved every minute of it. He sat on the steps with us and dug through the candy basket, yelled at passersby, and ate his weight in smarties and laffy taffy. What fun!




Before Halloween rolled around, we - of course- had to carve a few pumpkins. Lincoln was more than ready to help! He carried around a spoon all night!

And though he didn't do any of the carving, he was more than happy to play in the guts. And sit in the guts. And spin around on his butt in the guts. It was too funny! I guess I shoulda been freaked out that he was getting all goopy and nasty, but he's a boy, right??

Here you can see our wonderful little helper scooping guts out of daddy's pumpkin.

My sweet baby and our finished product!

I hope we've started a pumpkin carving tradition that will carry through every year! I always LOVED carving pumpkins with my parents when I was a kid - I hope my kids love it just as much.

By the way, Ashley, if you're reading this: I WON the pumpkin carving contest... That's right...

Fiiiiinally... Birthday highlights!!

So, between the two birthday parties, three cases of stomach virus, and Halloween - needless to say the blog has been neglected... Sorry...

But seriously, it's catch-up time! This blog is my little "scrap-book" (that just reminded me of the days when I had time to make an ACTUAL scrapbook... I think I have three of them from college... Ah, free time, where have you gone??). In case you aren't aware, you can actually go to websites that will design your blog into a little book - then when it's printed - VOILA! A scrapbook! Which I'm sure if you DO blog, you already know that. But the other day my great friend who reads my blog (Hi Rachelle!!) - was surprised when I mentioned it. Said she wished she'd known, so she could've started one for her little dude, too! It's not too late Rachelle!! Do it!

Sorry, my mind is a little tangential today...

Anywhos, back to the birthdays...

Lincoln had his first party at Dramaw and Pap Vincent's house. Of course, they just couldn't bear to wait for the actual party to give him his big gift - so he got in a little pre-birthday action with it!

And obviously, LOVED it... Learned how to work the bell right off the bat...

So, on Sunday we had a fall themed (can you even theme a oneyear old birthday party??) party with Lincoln's close family and friends of the family. It was a success!! He totally demolished the cake, and got lots of FUN FUN FUN (read: noisy noisy noisy) toys! Here's a glimpse:

What a mess!!

Giving momma a bite

My new slide!

Great Grandpas

Great Grandmas

On to the party at OUR house: We had a Halloween themed party at our house the day after Lincoln's REAL birthday. All the kids (a total of 16 under the age of 5!!) were invited to wear their Halloween costumes, and all of them did! Thanks parents! It was TOO cute. I tried to get a pic of everyone's kids all together, but man, what a task!! We had such a good turnout! What a blessing to have such wonderful friends - I just wished I had more time to spend with everyone! But again, Lincoln got lots of wonderful things - however, the best part was watching him and all the other kids run around like little monkeys. It's so nice that a lot of our friends have kids around the same ages (which you should really take as "It's so nice that all of our friends feel our pain and understand when our kids are screaming and misbehaving!!").

Before the madness began:Who cares about opening presents when you can climb on mom's head??My little hulk with his new 4-wheelerTelling Aunt Becca "I'm one today!"This is the attempted group shot... As you can tell, not such a success... But we tried...Lincoln, Ellison, and Keira takin a wagon ride!Lincoln's new tricycle. Man, has he ever worn this thing out already!!

Needless to say, the birthday parties were a big success this year!! And, of note - someone was nice enough to bring the stomach bug with them to the party at our house. As of this post, 17 guests have been blessed to share it (that we're aware of) since then... Nice...

Hope you enjoy the Birthday pics! Another post soon to follow with Halloween pics!!

One Eventful Year...

Dear Sweet Baby Lincoln,

One year ago, at this very moment, I was giving you your first bottle. Just me, you, and daddy making our first "family" memories. You were born at 2:55pm weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces. You had the most bruised little face (they told me from a very fast descent) and the combination of skin color and dark curly hair nearly confused our sweet nurse. You didn't look like you came from us!! Regardless, you were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen (and I dont think ANY babies are cute!!). It wasn't until probably six months into your life that I looked back at pictures and said, "Oh, my! His little face WAS purple!" I was that starstruck by you! You were delivered by Dr. Cave being as Dr. Foster was out of town that day. You had to come a couple weeks early due to the fact that my blood pressure was not agreeing with me! (About 30 seconds old!)
One Proud mom and dad! Just a few hours old here. First bath.

It wasn't but a few days and you were all pink (with a touch of yellow, thank you jaundice!!) and just as adorable as you could possibly be. I remember thinking while I was pregnant, "what in the world am I going to do with a baby?" I've never really been around kids, and wasn't sure I'd knew what to do with one - especially such a tiny one!! But I have to say that once you got here, it felt like you had always been here! You've been better than I could have ever asked for a baby to be. You've slept through the night since you were 3-4 weeks old, you're rarely sick (knock on wood), and even when you are a little puny, you still have that hilarious laugh that is so highly contagious! You've always eaten well (a little too well according to the Dr) and your measurements have always been perfect! You have hung in there around 75% weight and 95% height since you were two weeks old. Now that you're a little bigger, you'll eat ANYTHING we give you! Thank goodness you aren't a picky baby, cause we'd really be in trouble! And we got rid of the bottles so easily. You still have one in the morning, but I guess we'll get rid of it this week (I just couldn't bear to do it on your birthday!).

One week old here...
Three weeks old

As you grew, so did your mommy's heart. Everyone always told me that you'll never know true love till you have a child, and honestly, I thought it was just one of those things parents were "supposed" to say. You know what? It's so not... There is no way to describe the love that I have for you! Even when you are into everything, fussy, teething, whatever - I still just want to hold you and kiss you all over! You give me that little, "you can't be mad at me" grin and it works!
So I guess since your first word was "daddy" - I love you enought that I'll let it slide! Besides, we all know you are mommy's baby...

Three months old.

3 months

You are now cruising around everything and pushing anything that will move (including chairs, laundry baskets, etc). You babble your own little language, and have started to really imitate the things you hear. You can say a few words pretty clearly though!! "Mama" "Dada" "Moose" "baba" and "bawoo" (balloon) are some common ones. But you imitate any noise we make! And you LOVE to give big ole open-mouth kisses. You're pretty free with those kisses! And you wave bye-bye to everyone. Especially after they've already left. Or when they are pulling away in a car. And you always wave bye-bye to daddy when you're on your way up to bed. You are just so sweet - and I wonder what in the world I ever did without you!

6 Months old

6 months

Exactly 9 months old!

9 months

9 months

Little Mr. Lincoln, we are SSOOOOOO blessed to have you... I wonder everyday what in the world I could have done to deserve such a precious, perfect baby. I love you so much (and so does your daddy!). Happy First Birthday baby boy! 1 year old today!!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!


BTW - guess who started walking tonight?? Happy Birthday surprise!!

A Bread Trail Tale...

Where, oh where, has my Little Lincoln gone?? It's never hard to find him when he wanders off! Today I HAD (please, extra emphasis on HAD) to get some sewing finished. Everything is pretty child-proofed around our house, and the gates are up to the stairs, so I thought "I'll let him play, he'll be fine." And oh, was he ever fine... Took me a good hour to put everything away that he had pulled out in a thirty minute time span! Here's a little look at the "breadtrail" he left, so I'd know where he'd been....Pulled several toys out before getting bored and moving on.... Moving on to the kitchen, that is... Where he pulled out several pots before getting bored, and...Moved to the office! Here we can find lots of moms craft things to pull out!I mean, really, who could resist the miles and miles of ribbon that are just WAITING to be unraveled?? Oh, here he is at last!! Found birthday present #1 from mom and dad!! Who needs to fill it with toys when you can just jump in?!?

New post tomorrow as it is:

LINCOLN'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!