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!

9 months

Playing in the crib.

 Lincoln is already 9 months old! Let me tell you a little bit about him: He has become quite a fantastic crawler. 2 months ago I thought he would never crawl. He hated being on his tummy and wouldn't even roll over to get onto his back. At 8 months he started to get up on all fours and by the end of May he was going slow, but getting around. Now he's a pro. He's turned into a little explorer as he goes from room to room in the house and checks things out. He pulls himself up on everything he can, and he is also confidant enough to sit back down and move to the next thing. That skill took a week or so to figure out as well. He gets into anything interesting he can find. But luckily he hasn't figured out how to open cabinet doors yet, so he mostly just plays with whatever I leave out for him on the floor to discover.

Loved the swing. Wasn't scared for even a second.

Lincoln loves to pull down all those DVD's and books on our shelf. He also loves to pull himself up on the TV stand a push all the buttons on the sound system. He doesn't know he's pushing them but he will turn the sound on and of several times while we are trying to watch something. It's funny...and also annoying. But mostly funny. :)

Lincoln totally hated the baby pool I got for him and Sean. Sean put his feet in the water while it was cold and he freaked out and would scream every time we brought him near it afterwards. Sean even got warm water in there and he still freaked when we put him in there. haha.

Lately Lincoln hates everything I do to keep him clean. He hates having his face wiped. He won't let me brush his teeth. He spits out fluoride vitamins. He screams when i get him dressed. But the worst of it is that he now hates having his diaper changed. As soon as I lay him down on the bed he starts crying and tries to make a run for it. Usually before I can even get the diaper off he is already trying to roll over and crawl away from me across the bed. Getting a fresh diaper back on is also a nightmare. I have to pin him down just to get it on especially because cloth diapers take just a little extra coordination, but I am determined not to waste my precious disposables just because he is going thorugh this little stubborn phase. Now that I expect him to run away it's not a big deal unless he has pooped. Just know it gets messy. And I wanna go crazy. :)

Here's a pic of him on the run across our bed. No diaper.

Fresh from the bath.

Lincoln still loves his baby food, and he loves his milky. As far as nursing goes I don't really see him quitting anytime relatively soon.  This past week I even made some baby food for him and it was the easiest thing ever. All I did was throw the fruits of veggies in the blender, puree them, and then you stick them in ice cube trays for a few hours. After they are frozen you take them out of the trays and put them in freezer bags and then just warm them up when you're ready to eat them. He's started to learn how to eat food he can chew. So far he loves cheese and small chunks of fruit. His top two teeth just barely cut through his gums, so I think he'll be getting better at feeding himself soon.

Kitchen utensils make wonderful toys. :)

Fathers Day

             

Sean's first fathers day was wonderful! We started off with a yummy breakfast before church and ended with making cookies at 10:30 at night. In between we went up to Highland to celerate with my dad and Nate and McKayla. Sean requested to have a BBQ with all the fixin's and so we did! He made the burgers and they were super good!! It was a delicious meal.

As a gift I got Sean new swim trunks and a baby pool for him and Lincoln to play in this summer. Random fact about Sean: when it comes to giving and receiving gifts he has the patience level of about -5. I always get my gifts early, and now his anxiousness has rubbed off on me and I can't seem to wait to give him gifts until the day of the event either. But, for the last 4 days I had self control and he opened his gift at dinner! I did, however, make the mistake of telling him yesterday morning that I got him a gift and he begged me to tell him what it was for like 10 minutes. Then he wanted to play 20 questions to try to figure out what it was going to be. haha. I answered 2 questions and then decided he couldn't ask anymore cuz he would probably figure it out.  More often than we realize our conversations sound like two little kids bargaining with one another. Weird...I know.

Anyways, Happy Fathers Day, Seany! We love you! :)