Lincoln's First Steps!

Our baby took his first steps yesterday!!! We were down in his room playing. He was getting a little fussy... not completely sure why. I he's getting some more teeth in... so maybe that was what was making him cranky! Anyways, I stood him in front of me and let go. He took 3 steps towards me before he fell forward. It was so, so sweet. He got a big smile on his face! I told Brad, who was in the study working, that Lincoln took his first steps. He came in the room and I stood Lincoln up facing Brad and let go. I was hoping he'd do it again and that it wasn't just a fluke. Lincoln took 4 steps towards his daddy!!!! He's still very cautious about the whole thing. He hasn't taken steps on his own free will... it's been us standing him up and seeing what happens. He stands up and lets go of what he's holding on to all the time... just never has taken those tiny steps on his own. You could always tell that he was thinking about it though!!! So, we'll see what happens! Cute, cute, cute!!!!

I was going to wait and post this once I had it on video... but, who knows when that will happen! We will try to get it on video some time this week. I'll post it as soon as we get it!!

Later!

Save Our Organic Farms!!!

Please help me stop HR 875. In its current form, the bill would prevent small local organic farms and community gardeners from growing and selling you nutritious, truly fresh, organic produce. The bill would effectively ban small farming and outlaw organic gardening. It would crush our small local food producers by imposing heavy government regulation that only large corporations could adhere to. Imagine:

• No more farmers markets.
• No more garden fresh, seasonal ingredients from the local farmer at your favorite restaurant.
• No more roadside stands with fresh picked sweet corn, juicy ripe tomatoes, or refreshing
  watermelons in the summer.

Americans would essentially be forced to only eat corporately manufactured, chemically treated, hermetically sealed, irradiated fruits and vegetables. Stop this abomination now.

To prevent this bill, act now by signing the petition!

Future champion

I remember watching a TV program some years ago about how Andre Agassi’s dad started him out in tennis with a ping pong paddle. Ever since then I’ve had my own designs on what to do for my own son. Well here it is…

The Wilson K Factor KSix-One Tour Racquet for the 8 month old…

In case you are wondering, Roger Federer plays with this racquet and as Shannan would say I might be a bit obsessed with the great one.

The project took over 3 weekends since I travel most week days and was so much fun to focus really intensely on something creative. With this project I knew templates were the way to go so I first photocopied the ping-pong paddle and then drew in the designs to mimic the Wilson. Cut out each individual piece and placed them into position then traced ‘em onto the paddle. I actually scored the lines for the string pattern with a razor blade and even created a template of the ‘W’ to paint onto the strings. If you know me, you know that I plan everything out and test where I can to make sure things turn out perfect down to the last detail. I even used a real overgrip just like I use on my racquet when I play.

Here is the lil’ guy taking to tennis…and momma making him cry just before the unveiling.

He really just wanted to eat the tennis ball...

And of course the racquet has to go into his mouth…

No pressure at all on Lincoln to play tennis…If he wants to play soccer that will be fine too. Everything is all for fun! And apparently eating as well.

For more on the Agassi story follow this link.

We have a crawler....

I meant to post this back on March 19... I think that's the day it happened... but,well... stuff happens! Soooo....

It's official... Lincoln is now a crawler!

For awhile he could get up on his hands and knees, rock back and forth, lift his little hiney way up in the air. But, he never moved his arms. He'd just bring his legs up underneath him and then flop down! Then there was one day or so where he'd move his hands twice and then flop. But, on Thursday (3/19) we had a play date with two friends from our birthing class. I think Lila must have inspired him... because, when we got home he started crawling!!! Here are two pictures that Emily (hosted the play date) took that day.

Here's Lincoln with Lila. She's the crawler that inspired my baby!! She was such a doll!!!!

This is Lila and Lillian. Lillian and Lincoln had the same due date... but, of course did not end up being born on the same day. I guess they decided that they didn't want to share a birthday!!!

I think Lincoln had fun. He kept smiling at Lila when we first got there... even though she kept stealing his toys!!! Which, I have to say, was pretty cute! But, we left early... Lincoln was ready for a nap and he was letting us all know it. It was so good to see the girls. And, it's fun to see what Lincoln does around other babies!!!

So, not only is he now crawling, but he also learned how to sit up from the crawling position. He's also starting to pull himself up at the couch. He gets so happy with himself... I love it!!! Here's an early video of him crawling and sitting up.



Not too efficient yet with his crawling. But, seriously, I think he'd rather stand up and start walking. He's pulling up on things constantly and then letting go!!!! He stands there, no hands, a good little bit. Can't really tell you how long because I've never actually timed it... but, you know... probably less than a minute... although it seems like forever!!!

Oh, it's crazy how fast things happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What we've been up to...

It's been awhile since my last post. So, here's what we've been up to....

Lincoln and I went to our first official play date. My friend Michelle hosted a LLL playgroup at her house. I took my camera... but, never managed to take any pictures. So, no pictures. But, it was nice to get out and meet some other moms! It was also a reminder of what it's like to be around kids... it got a little loud! I kinda had forgotten about that... not being at work and all!!

Michelle's oldest son also had a birthday party. He turned 3 and we were there to celebrate. It was Lincoln's first birthday party to attend. Here's Lincoln decorating the wrapping paper for Jadon's gift. This is his first experience with coloring. At first he just wanted to eat the paper... then he wanted to eat the crayon. Okay, so he's not quite ready for coloring!!
Here's the birthday boy.
Lincoln with his party hat... and borrowed toy!

And, taking a nap with dad.
After the party we eat at the Macaroni Grill... where Lincoln tried his hand at coloring again! We got more color on the paper... but, still trying to eat the crayon!! I tore it out of the tablecloth and put it up on the fridge at home... LOVE IT!!And, these are just miscellaneous pictures.

Lincoln with his first soccer ball!!

Playing in a box.

Helping sort beans.
And, one of his favorite things to do right now... watch the laundry go round!!
That's all for now folks!

Another Baby Post??

Brace yourself... this is... NOT another post about Lincoln!! Get a grip! I know it's hard to believe... but it's true....

So, we had some drama yesterday. Lincoln and I are spending some time at my parent's lake house while Brad is out of town. Yesterday, I was sitting in the living room nursing Lincoln. That room faces the lake. My dad was sitting outside on the back porch... which faces the lake also. To the left of the house is a creek... with no water in it because the lake is really low right now. Apparently, some guy comes running up the creek... right by the house and past my dad. My dad comes in and goes around the house locking all the doors. He said the guy never saw him.

Then, the door bell rings. The dogs go crazy. I can't answer the door because I have Lincoln. My mom was just getting out of the shower. And, my dad had gone back outside. So, the guy that rang the door bell goes around to the back of the house where my dad is and asks if we've seen a man. My dad says yes and tells him which way he went. He says to get in the house and lock all the doors. By the way, the guy that was telling us to get in the house and lock up never said who he was... he wasn't dressed like a cop... but, had a gun.

A couple of minuets later several cars and a trailer pull up to the house down the road (there's only three houses, including my parents, that are actually built right now on their street). There's a handful of men. They have horses and a pack of dogs!!!! They go off into the woods looking for this guy.

We later find out that they did find this guy... about 5 miles away. We still don't know what this guy did or where he came from. I'd like to know. I'd also like to know who the guys were that were hunting the bad guy. Why didn't they introduce themselves as police? Why weren't they dressed like police? Who were they really??

One thing I do know... you should ALWAYS keep your doors locked... no matter where you are!!!!!!!!

Solid Foods

My husband has been complaining that I don't blog often enough for him. So, this is for him. Plus, I had said that I'd blog once we started solid foods. :)

We bought this cool little contraption to fix Lincoln's baby food. It's kinda expensive... okay, real expensive. But, we had a gift card so that helped! I'm glad we have it. It's called the Beaba Babycook. It steams the food, purees/chops it and reheats the food... all in one small machine. I like that you can reheat the food without using a microwave (which depletes the food's nutritional value). It's super easy to use and travels well.We started Lincoln off with sweet potatoes. Which, at first he didn't really care for that much. He kept making faces with each bite. We never could get any of the faces on film. But, we did take video of it. Of course, I don't have that on my computer. I'll have to ask Brad about it. After sweet potatoes we had butternut squash and then pears. He seemed to like the squash and loves the pears. We tried the sweet potatoes again and he seems to like it better now. I guess, in the beginning it was just weird have some strange taste and texture in his mouth. We're going to try some peas next. Mmmmm....He really, really likes to drink water out of a cup. Check this video out... it's pretty funny!

Okay, that's all for today. Maybe if you're real lucky I'll post again tomorrow!!