Potty training....number 3

As both of the girls approached age 2, I started (and successfully) potty trained them. (side note: Ryan will admit he had nothing very little to do with this milestone). I'm not saying it was easy peasy, in fact, I probably shed a lot of tears. But the way I remember it, it was not terribly trying either. Fast forward many years, and along came Lincoln. He approached age 2, and I tried, without much luck one fall day, to potty train him. I didn't remember it being so hard with the girls! Plus it was 1 against 4 in this house and I wasn't getting much support from Ryan and the girls. 

So I quit. I would say that I was lazy, which I probably was, but in my defense, I was up to my eyeballs learning about Lincoln's food allergies which was a total game changer for all of us. 

Several months later (this past weekend), on a little bit of a whim, I decided to take the plunge again. This time, I warned Ryan and the girls to either get on board, or get out of the house :) I was fully prepared for them to leave for the weekend! But they didn't, and in fact, with only a little mumbling and one screaming episode (Sidney got peed on), they were even helpful! I have THIS pretty hilarious video (be warned....offensive language!), that I took one day as he was sitting patiently on the pot.

My plan is always to "pull off the diaper and never look back", and that's what we did. Stay home, drink loads of liquids, and pee. By day 3, Lincoln was a complete champ! I, on the other hand, felt pretty frazzled and was beyond excited to get out of the house this morning. If there's one major difference between boys and girls----aim! Ryan said it best today "it's like a missile"! Needless to say, the bathroom floor has been scrubbed many times/day because the boy has zero aim and makes a complete mess. One thing at a time, right!? 

Way to go buddy! We are so proud of you :) 

Lincoln's first hair cut

At just over 22 months, we finally made the decision that it was time for Lincoln to get his hair cut. I couldn't bear to cut off those curls and I successfully convinced Ryan to delay it over the summer. Then last week, the humidity broke and his curls turned into a stringy mess. So it was time. 

Before

We took him to Kids' Hair and we all voiced our hesitation as we walked in. I had scheduled the first appointment so the place wasn't even open when we got there. As we waited outside, the girls asked for a piece of gum and Lincoln begged for one. I gave him the tiniest piece and he chomped away as we walked in. I was pretty certain that he wasn't going to sit still, and was even concerned he was going to scream once we got inside! 

I was in love with the stylist because the first thing out of her mouth was "you're not going to cut off all of those curls!".
Perfect! 

And instead of crying and screaming, Lincoln patiently sat, chomping away on his gum as she clipped away. It also helped that there was a small TV playing Mickey Mouse (which he's rarely seen) and was a complete distraction. 

Just look at this sweet boy, with his fresh haircut! He's the sweetest thing ever.

Click HERE to watch a video (the gum chewing is worth your time).

After 

Growing and learning

With each child, I have always received (and actually read) the weekly emails about their new developments and abilities. This third time around, those emails serve as a reminder of things to help Lincoln master that are developmentally appropriate (ie: he's mastered use of a spoon and it's beyond exciting!). Ryan never read the emails and stopped getting them altogether at some point along this journey of parenthood. So he gets super shocked to discover Lincoln can do something. 

Weeks ago, there was a sentence in one of those emails that he will likely be able to stack blocks up to 7 or 8. And so, we started working on this task and he would get so excited! I watched as his tiny chubby fingers would set each block ever so delicately onto his tower. And with each one, his arms would go into the air as if to declare "SCORE!". 

It wasn't long before he got real good! 

Ryan called me one day after he dropped the kiddos at their summer programming, with an excitement in his voice "Lincoln can stack blocks like 9 or 10 tall!!".

He was mighty impressed :) 

And the look on Lincoln's face when they all topple over is sure something! He just loves hearing the crash of the blocks and is eager to start all over again :)

Moving on up

When we had the girls, we followed the rules and recommendations and all of the advice that we heard. It didn't change when we had Lincoln, but what did change was the recommendations we were told. Like the whole: keep kids rear facing til age 2. What?!, TWO?

We weren't sure how long it would last. He turned 1 and we kept him backwards. 

Then 15 months, 18 months and finally 21 months. It was becoming a battle to lure him into the car, and rides were more unpleasant each and every day. And so, I decided that it was time he join the ranks of big-boy status. I figured he'd be pleased as punch to face forward. Boy was I wrong. The kid was scared out of his mind with his new view! I even tried calming him with a pacifier, all without success. 

Thankfully it only lasted a short while and he started to smile and warm up to his orientation. I stopped the car and he signed for more. Lol. So we drove around the lot waiting for Regan to arrive from her camp. And now he's a pro!, loving to see all of the trucks, cars and buses from his new view! 

Disney on Ice

We took all 3 kids to Disney on Ice-Frozen edition this past week. This was a long time in the making, seeing as though tickets went on sale roughly 10 months ago and we snatched them up right away. Holy was that a long wait! Ryan got concerned that the girls wouldn't be interested in Frozen any longer (the whole "I'm too old for princesses") and then there's Lincoln's recent antics at Easter (here), making us all wonder how the night was going to unfold. 

Thankfully the girls were giddy with excitement when we told them (we are smart enough to know they didn't need to be told 10 months ago!), and once these folks came out, Lincoln was all eyes!

Oh my was he sweet. The lady sitting next to me was just giddy listening to all of his "ooohs" and "ahhhs" but more importantly, his squealing giggles were delightful! I was crying listening to his belly laughs when any animal character was on the ice. Gosh almighty did he love those things! 

Despite a spilled $16 icee and lots of squirming out of Lincoln, we both think it was a major successful family outing and we are so happy to have taken the entire family! 

Easter fun

Easter is still one of my most favorite holidays. I love the meaning, I love the colors and I love spring weather. We have celebrated each and every Easter as a family in our own home too...bonus! It means absolutely no travel. And for that, we are all happy! 

The Easter Bunny did not disappoint, and showed up with treats and gifts for the kiddos. Sidney claimed she didn't sleep much overnight, as she was simply too excited! I don't believe the girl actually sleeps anymore. 

Regan is super excited to get her eyes on this book. She read a few pages, paused and said "wait!, this actually happened to real people!?", amazed that anyone could actually live through such disasters. Note: this book is in the elementary school age group...so I'm hopeful it's not scary for her!

As is typical, he was more interested in his "treat" than any of the gifts. 

Both girls got one of these talking birds....and talk they will do! Honestly, the thing repeats what we say and then sings when you pet her back. Wonder how long it takes for the batteries to wear out :) 

After a disastrous attempt at church we had our private egg hunt! A little bit about church before I push it to the back of my mind and hope to forget the experience forever. Ryan said "Lincoln in church is like oil and water" and then we all later agreed that if you look up the definition of the 'devil' you will see a picture of Lincoln in church...yes, it was that bad. Just ask those people around us, but give them a day to get their hearing back after listening to his high pitched screaming when we wouldn't let him lick the floors, climb the nearby stairs only to fall off of them, and on and on. Move him to the lobby you say?, that wasn't any better, just more screaming and a lot of stair climbing/falling. How about move him downstairs?...well there he stood next to a lovely new mom and stood watch as she breastfed her newborn with Ryan providing his supervision, which just made it all awkward. As if we needed a reminder why we don't regularly attend church with a 1 year old! 

Ok, I'm going to forget about our morning now. 

Our egg hunt was gg--rrr--ee--aaa-ttt!! Again, it takes a village, and I'm so in love with our village. 

The kids all scurried through the back yard in search of plastic eggs filled with money and candy. 

That bunny was clever, hiding those eggs both high and low. The girls were sweet to let Lincoln take the low-lying obvious eggs and they searched for the hidden ones. 

It took him a long while to catch on, but eventually he joined in the fun and realized those plastic eggs did not belong in the bark of a tree, beside the rocks, or setting in the empty window basket. 

Happy Easter from our family to yours! 

...later dudes! 

A visit with Santa

So our visit with Santa went about as planned: 

the girls handed him their lists, reviewing what they each want (Barbie dream house for Sidney, along with La La Loopsie poopsie, more Barbies and a Wubble; Regan wants stilts, gift cards and a Wubble), and then it was time to snap a quick picture.

I plopped Lincoln onto Santa's lap but just as I did, I could feel his arm clenching around mine as if to tell me "do NOT set me on that bearded man!". I did anyway, and he screamed his head off. 

We thought moving him over to Regan's lap would do the trick to calm him.....

nope.  

Ah, but it's a classic Christmas picture, isn't it!? 

Birthday fun day-Lincoln turns ONE!

October 28th is a big deal around here. It's our little man's birthday. And this year, his FIRST!

What a year it has been. From the moment we met him, we each fell in love all over again.

He's just the sweetest thing around. Really.

One must meet him to truly understand.

 

I laughed as I said to him in the morning "today is all about you!" because let's face it, everyday is all about him! He has 2 awesome big sisters that simply adore him, but more and more, we see him light up when they come around. His face lights up, his legs start to kick and if you're lucky, he'll give a holler to "is" (sis). And so, we know that he adores them just as much.

 

His first birthday celebration started out with a little "Happy Birthday" rendition as we all piled into the king bed and loved him up. He just looked at us like we were crazy, nestled his head into my shoulder and gave a little babble of "ah ah ah" as he bounced his mouth off my shoulder. But I think he liked the singing :)

Once downstairs, he was greeted to a roomful of balloons and several presents, we'd open the rest later after school.

Regan was eager to open his presents for him, but instead, she taught him how to rip off the paper from the box and he followed suit. Carefully he pulled sections of paper and tossed them to her before going back for more paper. He really enjoyed this process!

 

Ryan had to leave for work (sniff sniff) so the girls and I got ready for a little more singing with a candle-decorated-piece of rhubarb bread and a side of pear.

Boy did he want to touch that candle! It took all his power to listen to the warning of "hot!".

Not to fret, I somehow managed to keep it a safe distance from him while taking a picture at the same time.

 

After the girls hurried off to school, it was just me and him. In true Lincoln fashion, he took a 2 hour morning nap and then was ready for a lot of playtime! I discovered a bunch of toys in the attic that he had received throughout the last year (that really were more for this year) and so assembled them during his nap and he was in love with all the exciting toys.

Ninety percent of our main level has hardwood floors, and so cruising around on this thing is awesome! He can't really touch the ground while sitting on the car, so it's back breaking for the one pushing him around, but his giggles and smiles are enough to keep a person going. I plopped him on for the first time, he put his feet up, and was ready to roll!

 

We played with balloons too (yes I realize they are choking hazards, but come on, it's his BIRTHDAY!).

He was so silly, grabbing them and trying to hold on, belly laughing when one would bounce off his head and land on his toes.

 

 

Ryan joined us for lunch and we couldn't resist, it was time to let him dig into a mini cupcake. We knew we'd have to do another one at dinner to let the girls see, but we were going to be rushed (more on that later) and I really wanted to see what he would do.

He's never been much of a sweets fan, disliking ice cream, cookies, etc.

But this?, this must have been just the right flavor. Because I'm telling you, once I showed him that he could pick it up and eat it (he was just staring at it waiting for me to do something for him....spoiled boy), he was all over that thing!

At first, just tiny little licks of the frosting. And then a bite of the frosting and a smile quickly followed with bigger bites, until the whole thing was gone!

He loved it!

The real deal will be this weekend when he gets an entire cake to himself at his party :)

He spent the afternoon napping away like a champ: 2 1/2 hours.

Must have been all that racing around on his Lightening McQueen car!

 

Then it was off to take Regan to Angelica practice and home for one of his favorite meals: pizza.

Let's face it, I needed to be quick (we were already skipping basketball pictures and ice skating lessons, just to be able to make it to what we needed to do). He ate yet another mini cupcake and we sang to him again. There were a few more presents to open too.

Regan had her music program (one during school) and another at night. He sat patiently on my lap and listened to the songs, never making a peep. I think he thought they were singing to him....because remember, I told him today was all about him :)

 

We were joined by all of the grandparents throughout the afternoon/evening and took the opportunity to take a quick family picture.

I didn't care that he had the lens cover in his mouth, or that Ryan was holding his burp rag, or that my bra is showing and Sidney's hair could use a quick brushing. We were standing together, all looking at the camera. Perfection in my book!

 Ryan, with the help of my friend Brenda, captured his attention long enough to get a mother/son picture on his birthday too. THANK YOU!

We ended the evening with a trip to DQ where he took a few nibbles of my sundae. This sweet stuff is growing on him.....although he still seems to prefer the healthy stuff (so far!).



 Last week, he and I did a little picture taking in the back yard for his upcoming day. I made up a cute little sign all about him. It was a labor of love. And then he just kept wanting to knock it over mid-picture. The out-takes are hilarious and much more plentiful.



Let's take a closer look at that labor of love: 

Happy Birthday sweet Lincoln! We love you so very much. Hope you had an AMAZING first birthday!

Birthday eve....the big ONE!

Tomorrow he turns one.

One year old.

How in the world did that year go past so quickly?

I did everything I could to soak in every moment. Snuggled him endlessly, let him nap in my arms, watched as he laid looking at his swing mobile and listened as he cooed and babbled. Tried to ingrain his sounds into my memory, all of those sighs during his exhale and his infant baby squeaks. 

We celebrate every milestone: from words to teeth and sitting to crawling.

And tomorrow, he goes from our baby to our one year old.

 From this:

  

To this:

 He is downright the sweetest baby I have ever met. He hugs and snuggles and gives slobbery kisses. He's much more quiet than the girls ever were (isn't that just men in general?), but has really started babbling and we all love listening to him talk. He says mom and dad and just recently we've heard an "is" out of him, which we all strongly believe means "sis" (the girls say sissy a lot in reference to themselves).

 The last year has taught us patience and love and just really what it means to live in the moment. I'm not hurrying him along in growing up, nor trying to slow him down. We're just reveling in the moment. Smelling the roses so to speak.

When we were preparing for our induction for his birth one year ago, we took in a hearty meal and soaked up one last night with only Regan and Sidney. We took pictures and giggled at just how round my belly had become. Despite not wanting to come on his own, he was ready in every sense of the word....our 9+ lb baby!

Oh sweet baby boy, we love you so much and are ready to celebrate your first birthday!

and he CRAWLS!

It's taken him many months of trying but Lincoln has finally succeeded in crawling. For the past week or two, he would move one "crawl" (for lack of better description), but then sit back down before trying again. He never really figured out the crawling deal....until tonight. Just like that, he went from sitting to crawling, with his goal to reach Ryan's water cup. Once he did, we cheered and clapped and then forced him to do it again so I could quickly grab a video. We tried a few more times but he went back to his one crawl---sit---one crawl. It's late, after 9:30pm when he mastered this, so we'll give him a break :)
Click HERE to watch for yourself! And he is pretty darn proud of himself :)
I'm so excited to show the girls in the morning, they're going to be so happy for him!

Watching Lincoln grow and learn

Watching your child learn and grow is the most amazing experience. And Lincoln evidently likes to do things in groups, because this weekend, when he was finally feeling better, he learned to clap his hands, wave bye-bye, give high 5's and shake his head no. He also can sign "more" but it looks a bit like his waving so I want to be sure he's got it down before I say he's doing it. (Note: Sidney did it like this too).

 

There's just something about each developmental phase that strikes me. Makes me smile. I love each phase of childhood and am doing my best not to dwell on the fact that he, or the older two, are getting older. Instead, I'm going to relish in all of the exciting times.

It's just as much fun to watching Lincoln shake his head "no" as it is to see Regan or Sidney realize what he just did and gasp "MOM!, did you see that!!" with amazement and wonder.

 

This parenting stuff has it's rewards. And they're pretty darn great.