L.I.F.E.

Wow. So much has happened in the past couple months since I last posted. L.I.F.E. happened.
One of the biggest things that happened was that Lincoln turned ONE in September. Yes, he is now 13 months. Like I said, LIFE has happened. But anyways - Lincolns birthday was a hit! We had such a great day on the 14th. We went to the zoo with my brother and his cute family. I do have pictures, but they are on my phone, and I'm in class so I can't upload them right now. (yes, I am in class :) ) Anyways - the following Friday after his birthday we had a great birthday party for family and some close friends. It was so fun having our love ones there to help us celebrate Lincolns birthday. I will do another post on all his birthday festivities once I get the pictures :)

Other things that have happened in our LIFE are Fall festivities. Oh how I love fall. It has been such a good fall season! The weather has been unbelievable. Lincoln is at a fun stage and has enjoyed being outside. I have tried really hard to get us out of the house and enjoy the nice weather. We went to the amazing Pumpkin patch in Riverton. Jana drove up with her kids for a few weeks and it was so fun to have her there with us! Lincoln is such a stud. Check out these pictures...

 

We also went to Corn Belly's with my family. We spent all night there. It was soo fun! We have never been before, even though it's in my back yard. I loved how there were so many things even for Lincoln to do. I loved being there with my family. We always have a great, fun and goofy time together. And can I add - my parents are the greatest grandparents ever!

Maggs helping Linc down the slide :)

Maggs helping Linc walk :) Oh how I love that girl

 I also took Lincoln to Gardner Village a handful of times. If you haven't been to Gardner Village yet - GO! it is so much fun and so festive! It's one of my favorite things about fall!

I need to get some more recent photos of this little guy. He has already changed so much in the last 4 weeks.

The end of September Kelli had her beautiful baby boy! Oh how I love him!! Mackay (pronounced Mack ie) Ushio was born 7 pounds and 21 inches. He is such a sweet baby! it is so fun to see Kelli as a mom - and she is SUCH a great mom!! Did I already mention he is beautiful!? I love my nephew.

On the 7th of October one of my besties Shae Shae got married to an amazing guy! It is so fun that she is married now! We were invited to attend her wedding dinner the night before the big day. It was so fun to be with my closest friends. The following day we attended her beautiful sealing at the Salt Lake Temple. Shae and Jake make such a great couple. Jake is such a sweetheart and treats shae shae so well. The weather unfortunatly was raining, but that didn't stop the day from being perfect and beautiful. And can I add - shae looks absoluetly GORGEOUS! 

Our attempt in getting a photo with all of us. HA

Also, in my LIFE i had another birthday. Yes, I'm 24. woo hooo. My actual birthday was kinda a bust. If you know me, I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY. Call me conceded, but I do. James had a mandatory camp out for scouting he had to be at, So I stayed at my parents house that weekend. Well, my sister and her husband got sick so she asked if my parents would watch their 3 week old little guy. I'm not gonna complain about that one - it was so nice and fun to have a baby around. And let's be honest he is beautiful. Anyways - so when James got back at 8pm, we went out for quick bite to eat. This part was nice because we haven't been out just the 2 of us for such a long time. Even though we were only gone for an hour, it was a great hour not having to entertain Lincoln and we were able to have an adult conversation. Baby talk can get old ya know. 

The following Sunday my family helped celebrate my birthday. Jana pulled in just in time to have some yummy cake and icecream.

And the most recent event was my baby brother in law, David left for his Mission. On Tuesday night he was set apart as a full time missionary by his Stake President. It was such a great experience to be there with family. David received such a great blessing. He is truly going to be an amazing Missionary. On Wednesday morning Lincoln and I met up with David, Layne, Marian, Dan and Joseph in Provo to say goodbye one more time. We will miss David so much! But serving a mission is such a blessing, not only for him but for the rest of the family. I am so proud of him and his decisions. Love you David!

Oh how I love these pictures. Lincoln was not having it!

And in other news-

I am still in school. Blah. I am meeting with my academic counselor today in hopes to figure out the rest of my education. I hope to be done with school in the middle of the summer! Oh boy that can't come soon enough! I am so burnt out with school. It will be so nice to be finish!! This semester is really killing me because i'm so bored in all my classes. I have so many electives to take, so my classes seem pointless because they don't pertain to my degree. Oh well, 2 semesters left!

James is still working hard at Ameriprise. He is enjoying is work there. We also sold his car a couple months ago and bought a new one. It's been fun having a 'fun' car to drive around...that is when he lets me :)

Lincoln is as sweet as ever. He is finally on a good schedule and sleeping better at night. Those dang molars I tell ya! It's so fun being a stay at home mom. I love spending my days with Lincolnator.

In need of mommy advice

okay all you mommies out there. I'm in need of advice -

Lincoln is now one (crazy I know). So now I need to get him off his formula and switch to whole milk. Today is day one of not giving him any formula so far. Luckily, Lincoln will drink whole milk, but not like he would with formula. He'll drink a couple ounces is all and then you I can tell he wants formula :(

Here is my problem. Lincoln's pediatrician suggested only giving Lincoln about 18 oz of milk a day. Lincoln isn't the greatest eater. He'll have a few bites then be done and then he'll want a bottle. How do I get him to eat more and what do I feed him? He'll eat mac and cheese and yogurt. He still can't seem to eat bread for some reason so sandwiches are out.

how did you transition your kiddos to just straight solid foods? How did you know if they got enough to eat? what do you feed them? and how often?

On top of that - Lincoln is transitioning his nap time. He use to take 3 naps a day.  Now his schedule is all over the place. Sometimes he'll go down for his morning nap at the time he usually went down a month or so ago, but then other days he'll go like 6 hours til he naps and sometimes he doesn't nap at all. How do you get a good nap schedule? Lincoln set his own {perfect} nap schedule before so I 'm not sure how to impliment a new schedule. I've tried just putting him in his crib at the same given time, but most of the time he'll just end up playing in his crib instead.

obviously i'm in the dark here. So ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!!

Ramblings

My Lincoln is growing like a weed.

I say this every month, but he is growing so fast!

He is 11 months and 12 days old.

He is officially walking all over the place

And running into everything

And getting into everything!

My house is constantly a mess because of this - oh well :)

He can climb up the stairs and can successfully climb down the stairs.

He knows how to get 'down' from everything now too - although his depth prescription is a little off still :)

He signs more and lets you know when he's done.

He is such a little flirt. He'll tilt his head to the side and smile at all the pretty ladies

I love my little stinker!


In other news - and lots of ramblings (yes this isn't all about Lincoln)


I'm starting school on Monday. I have bitter sweet feelings about it. I want to be graduated and done with school SO BAD! I had to take 15 credits this semester and next semester to graduate in April, but since it's too hard to take that many between mine and James' schedule I am only taking 13, which means I will have to take another semester. So graduation looks like it'll be after the first summer block. I have 14 elective credits to take! 14! I wish colleges would do away with electives. I really don't to be taking oceanography. seriously. Although, I am grateful that I do get to get an education. It will be so nice to have a Bachelors degree behind my belt. I don't plan on working once I graduate but just in case I need to, hopefully it'll help me get a job in something I like. But mostly likely it wont because you pretty much need a Masters to do anything these days. But lets be honest, a masters is not in my education future.

My sister Kelli is having a baby in one month! It is her first and I am so excited!! I am so excited to hold a new born again. I got to hold my little nephew Hudson, but they moved to Chicago when he was 8 weeks old. Totally not fair. I hope being able to hold Kelli's little guy will help me get over this 'baby hungry' issue i've been having...

which leads me to my next ramblings ...

I would love to have another baby. I have always imagined having a semi large family - 5 kids. I say semi large because I have to compare to James' LARGE family of 13 kids. But I can see why families just stick to one child. I love having it be just me and Lincoln. Especially now since he is walking and 'talking'.  He is my little bud, my side-kick. We have so much fun together.  It's easy with him. Some of my biggest fears about having another child are these: first I worry that I will be sick like I was with Lincoln. I worry that I won't be able to care and give Lincoln all the love and attention he needs. I worry that my energy level will be zero. How am I suppose to play cars with Linc? I also don't like the fact that it will never be just me and Lincoln. It will be a lot harder with another child on my hip. Will I be able to love another child as much as linc? And don't get me started about how freaked out I am for labor!

I told James about all my fears and he just laughed and said, 'you better get over that quick.' He's right,
I do need to get over it. But seriously, those are my fears. Silly I know. Very very silly. And very very selfish. As I sit here thinking about my fears I started thinking about the families that want more kids but cant. I am truly grateful for Lincoln and the joy he brings into my life. I would be extremely grateful if we were able to have another child. I shouldn't be taking motherhood for granted.

9 & 10 Months old

I wrote this post last month when Lincoln turned 9 months-

and now he's ten months.

Holy Moly

 oh you know this is the greatest picture in the whole.entire.world.

This is what happens when you give your guy a lime:)

So this post will be Lincoln at 9 and 10 months.

Here are Lincoln stats from his 9 month appointment

Age: 9 months

Date: 6.16.11

Length: 29 inches  75%

Weight: 19 pounds 11 ounces  48%

Head Circ: 46 cm  73%

He is growing great!

He only needed one shot at this appointment which was so nice because he had received a shot earlier that week due to him being sick.

Here is Lincoln at 9 months

he is growing and learning so much and is such a sweet little guy

He stands all by himself

walks along furniture

says mama and dada

(love love love)

he opens every drawer and cupboard

he loves music and dancing to it

he got his 2 top teeth in recently which makes his teeth a grand total of 4 

and 2 more are coming in

He loves playing chase with Daddy

He loves the master bathroom for some reason.  When ever he sees the bathroom door open he honestly gets so excited when he gets in there to play (weird)

And today he learned how to flush the toilet

He loves my shoes

he loves loves loves being outside.

When he hears or sees the door open, he moves as fast as he can to get outside

Now at Lincoln at 10 months

Lincoln still is a big talker!

He says mama all day long.

Says dada, ba ba (bottle) and all the other baby giberish

He loves to shake his head NO

Has a total of 6 teeth now - 4 on top and 2 on bottom

He is still in size 3 diapers

Wears size 12 month clothes

Loves his binki and blankets

Loves to eat table foods. 

He loves drink water

and loves drinking from a straw(as in me trapping the water in the straw and then pouring it in his mouth)

He has now learned that there is yummier food/drink out there therefore formula isn't his favorite

 He still loves bath time!

 He loves playing with his toys and cars

 and always puts everything in his mouth

Lincoln is now finally sleeping through the night! woohoo!

He has 3 naps a day. 2, 2 hour naps and 1, 45 minute nap.

He is ALL smiles

he laughs so easily

He isn't afraid of strangers, but is now starting to get attached to his mommy.

Lincoln's nicknames:

Linc

Lincolnator

Mister

Sir

Baby

Stinkin Lincoln (thanks mom)

Bugaboo

Son

Lincoln is seriously the greatest baby ever.

I love him so much.

I cannot believe that he'll be 1 in just a couple months.

It seriously blows my mind.

Love you little man!

Muwah!