He's Got A Sweet Tooth

One of Lincoln's most developed areas seems to be food. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn't like (luckily he likes most things). He also knows what the real goods are: cookies, cake, ice cream and CHOCOLATE! He LOVES chocolate. I made some cookies tonight and gave him a chocolate chip to keep him happy while I mixed the rest in the dough. As I was putting the dough on the sheet a chocolate chip dropped on the floor and he promptly went to pick it up and eat it. These pictures of him enjoying a little bit of batter on the beaters are classic. He licked some of it off and got it all over his hands, but the best part was just seeing his joy in me letting him have this treat. I don't think he got much, but he loved that he was allowed to. 

Funny little story about chocolate: the other day Lincoln found a piece of chocolate on the floor out of the package Melissa had sent us from Poland. It was chocolate on the outside with a creamy filling layered with strawberry gelatin type filling. It was about the size of one of those Hersey's Treasures. Anyways, he opened the foil and took a big bite out of it. He came into the living room where Sean and I were sitting with the rest of the chocolate in hand and the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face. He was giddy! Like jumping and laughing. He climbed up on the couch and we just watched him eat the rest. The joy on his face was priceless. We could tell he was so proud of himself for opening the candy on his own and getting to eat it all by himself. I made sure it was his only treat for the day, but it sure was worth it! :)

A Holly, Jolly Christmas

Lincoln Lately

I've been a bit behind in blogging about Lincoln and everything he is learning lately, so I wanted to take a few minutes to write down some new things about how he's growing.

He has been giving kisses for a few months as well. Just lately he's getting better at not opening his mouth to give us a big slobbery kiss. Now he'll pucker his lips! It's too cute.
He has discovered a lot of new things about how object work and how they put together. He likes lids, toys with balls, and buckets or bowls that he can put other things inside of. He always wants to play with the lotion bottle and try to get it open.

He also learned how to wave. I'd been trying to teach him that forever and he finally caught on just in the last 2 weeks. It's too cute. For a few months now he has also been shaking his head 'no' to us. He first just starting to do it just because he thought it was funny. But now he's figuring out that it means that he doesn't want something. So far he hasn't said any actual words other than calling "mama" when I leave him home with Sean for a bit. Compared to a little girl his age I'm sure he's a little behind in the speaking department, but he can climb up on a kitchen table in a few seconds flat so I guess he's just not really focused on figuring out how to talk.

After about 2 months of having a really hard time with textured food all of a sudden Lincoln decided he was hungry for dinner and now he loves to eat whatever we have at the table. He likes rice, beef, chicken, pasta, and beans with all types of flavors and sauces. I have to sneak in little pieces of vegetables on his spoon because he will spit them out if he tastes them alone. He loves sweets though. He can spot a cookie, ice cream or pudding from across the room and will instantly be your friend when he sees you eating something good.

He loves toothbrushes. We have about 4 that are just to play with.

Sean taught him how to throw things down the stairs. Thanks, honey. :)

He likes watching Blue's Clues and the Backyardigans on Netflix. We usually watch it in the mornings while he eats breakfast.

He is basically a breast milk addict! He loves to nurse! He hasn't really been interested in drinking any cow's milk since he turned 1 and so up until a week or so ago I had been nursing him as often as he wanted. Lately I've been trying to wean a bit. I'm not trying to wean completely, but I'm more just hoping to get to the point that he only nurses for naptime and bedtime. It's going to be gradual, but hopefully we can make a little progress.

Well, that about sums it up. Lincoln is an extremely active little boy. He is also such a sweetie and is constantly smiling laughing and giving loves.

Halloween

Lincoln's First Birthday

First Steps

I have been on a long hiatus from updating my blog primarily because my computer has been down for the last month or so and I keep all my pictures on it. Since I haven't been able to upload photos the way I want, I also have not written anything. But that dry-spell is over! Now let's back track . . .

Lincoln took his first steps on September 6th. We finally stood him up and coaxed him into trying it out after he had been taunting us for weeks by almost walking and then going down to crawl. It took him a few more weeks of only talking a few steps when we asked him to before he started to get adventurous on his own. Then, just a few days before his first birthday, he really started to take off and has been walking ever since. He's a whole new man! :)

11 Months Have Come And Gone

Superman Jammies

 Lincoln went from crawling and making small messes to crawling and terrorizing overnight. I swear he just woke up one morning and figured out drawers and cabinets and realized it was fun to taking everything out. Any basket is also included. He makes messes faster than I can clean them up, and usually I'm cleaning up one mess while he's making another somewhere else. He even figured out how to open up the toilet and play in the water, so now the whole bathroom is off limits!

He never sucks on binkies, but he found this one and kept it in his mouth for a while. Random.

 He isn't trying to walk by himself but he holds onto anything to keep his balance while he crawls and cruises through the house. Lately he also gets upset when we have to take things away he can't play with. Like that stick in the photo above, or headphones, remotes, etc. He used to not really care, but now he will throw a little fit over it for a few seconds until he gets distracted by something else.



Batman Jammies

He loves to wrestle and be tickled. It's so much fun to play with him on the bed because he loves to be rough. I guess he's just a normal boy. Normally he likes bathtime, he fights to brush his teeth, but he likes it when I clean out his ears. He has 8 teeth. He knows how to clap his hands when we clap with him. :)

 

He still wears cloth diapers during the day. Funny story: he crawled upstairs while I was downstairs and I could hear him up there with Sean. But, I few minutes later I heard him start to cry. I was confused because I didn't hear any other noises that would indicate why he was upset. So I start to go upstairs and I find him at the top of the stairs with no diaper. Looking more closely I realized he was stepping in his own poop. I freaked out, obviously, and then found the diaper in our bedroom, completely dry. Somehow he took it off. haha. Luckily the poop came out of the carpet. Lately, that's been the downside of that velcro on his cloth diaper covers. It will get caught on carpet or the fabric on our couch and then come loose pretty easily. That day was definitely crazier than usual!

 

"Hold me!"

 Lincoln eats like a champ, but if he doesn't want anymore you better watch our for his unpredictable hand slaps for the spoon. He's quick, too! I'll be offering another bit and he'll whip his arms up and wave them really fast. Sometimes he makes big messes, and so it's frusterating, but I guess it's good he knows when he's done. He has started getting into foods that have more texture. He likes peaches, nectarines, strawberries, and cantelope. Texture is a big thing for him. Non baby food meat is still not in his favor as well as vegetables that haven't been pureed. But he likes crackers, fruit and cheese a lot! He nurses several times a day as well.

His first birthday is right around the corner--September 23rd! We are so excited to celebrate for him and I'm also excited for him to take his first steps as well. He's growing up so fast!

Going Red

So, I dyed my hair red! Sean's idea. He has a 'thing' for redheads and so forever he always says I should dye my hair red whenever I bring up needed to re-do my roots. I finally took the plunge and I really like it! Now that it's faded a bit it's blended really well with my natural color! Who knew? I think I'll keep it for quite a while!

Mr. Lincoln at 10 months

Lincoln is a little over 10 months now, and so now I'm late in documenting his many talents. But here's a little rundown about what he's been doing lately:

• One of his biggest accomplishments is that he can now crawl up the stairs and back down. He figured out how to go backwards off of everything higher up, which is not only a relief for us so we don't have to panic that he's going to fall off, but he also seems to think he's pretty cool.
• He has 4 teeth on top and now he has a pretty goofy grin. It's quite adorable.
• He figured out how to open cupboards. I was hoping that would never happen, but I guess it's time to put those baby proofed things on the doors.
• He is getting really good at standing while holding on to anything or just by balancing on the wall, but he still hasn't made any attempts to walk. He doesn't seem to really care about that yet, which is fine with me. No rush.
• At least a few times a day he wants nothing but to be carried or held. At first I thought it was because he was just needy, but now I'm thinking it's because he likes the view from a few feet higher. He definitely doesn't want to miss anything! :)
• As of July 12th he was 21 lbs and 30 inches long. I was slightly surprised to learn he was in the 96th percentile for height! He's a tall one! Hopefully he keeps that up!

North Carolina Vacation

Here's a bunch of pics from our vacation last week! It was a blast!

This was our first view of Ocean Isle beach. We drove 10 minutes from Aunt Lois's house to get to the pier and check everything out. Nate, McKayla and Sean couldn't hold back and they all ended up getting in the water fully dressed! Lincoln got a little wet too when Sean tried to put his feet in. He was a little bit scared, so I just held him on the shore and watched them have a blast in the water. It was hot, but beautiful!

Aunt Lois and Uncle Ray still own the local put-put golf course in Ocean Isle. Terea took us to play a round on our first night. Not surprisingly she totally kicked our butts! haha! Lincoln had fun getting to ride around on Sean's shoulders several times during the week. He also loved the Mango sherbert stuff Sean got for dessert that night at the local ice cream shop.

Monday, after spending the day on Ocean Isle,  we went to Calabash, NC for dinner at a restaurant that is owned by Grandma Joyce and Aunt Lois's sister. It's called Nancee's. It is right on the water and they are known for serving fresh seafood. I really like shrimp, and let me tell you, this shrimp is really fresh! But, I have to admit, since I'm not a huge fan of cocktail sauce I felt like eating this super fresh shrimp was just kinda bland. I prefer it cooked with more sauces and seasonings. After we went to the restaurant we went over to the Nautical Gift Shop. It's this huge gift shop that even has tons of Christmas decorations year round! We got Lincoln a night light with a turtle on it. He picked it out himself!

Tuesday we spent most of the day at Myrtle Waves, a water park in Myrtle beach. I didn't really take any pics, but it was really fun! That night on our drive back to Ocean Isle we stopped off at Broadway on the Beach. It's like a boardwalk around a little lake that has shops, restaurants, and also the Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not Aquarium. We had dinner at this Mexican place that was super fun and loud and crazy. A balloon lady made us balloon hats just before we were leaving. It was cool!

The view from a pier at Myrtle Beach.

I love this picture of Lincoln! He just looks so cute! We ate lunch at this little restaurant that was on the pier where I took the picture above. Then we went for a swim on the beach.

Lincoln loved playing in the sand. We found an area on the beach that had a lot of puddles. Lincoln crawled around for about 15 minutes. He loved exploring and playing in the muddy sand. It was so cute to watch him. As you can see in this pic he has a scratch on his face from falling and hitting the side of a coffee table at the house. It wasn't a super sharp edge, thank heaven, but it was made of glass so it left a mark. It's healed now, but I felt bad he got hurt.

Now Lincoln is pooped after playing all day!

This was at the airport on the way home. We flew really early in the morning, but luckily Lincoln pulled through and did fine on the planes. He slept most of the time

We had such a great time! It was so fun to stay with family and relax and play together!