11 months old

the time has come once again to have an update on mr. Lincoln. It's hard to believe he is 11 months old. In fact I've been quite emotional about the whole thing. I think I cry once or twice a week about it and pretty much anytime anyone says how big he is and how much he is growing. I just can't help it, i can't believe he is nearly 1!

I've always wanted to be a mom and I was just waiting for the day that it would happen. I hated being in school because it made me put off being a mom for 3 years. When we finally got pregnant I was thrilled and while pregnancy and the first few weeks/months of Lincoln's life didn't go quite as planned, having him in my life has enriched it is so many ways.

He truly is one amazing little boy and I sometimes find myself just watching him having feelings of being so blessed almost overcome me. He has just brought so much light into my life and made everyone in his life so happy. He truly has such a beautiful soul and is an amazing little boy.

Milestones this month:

• He still isn't walking, but he walks across furniture and he walks when we hold his hands...I need to get him a toy to walk behind maybe that will help, though i'm not in any hurry for it!
• He is such a happy baby. Rarely in a bad mood, always smiling at everyone
• He has started to get a little shy about things, and clinging to me when people try to hold him
• We are working on the word no. I truly think he understands when I'm saying it, but he continues to try me and challenge me. Sometimes he does listen though
• I think he is starting to know his name
• He says mamamamama, and dadadadadad but not necessarily to either one of us. 
• He loves to "sing" and "talk" he is extremely loud! 
• He does a great job of playing on his own and keeping himself entertained. 
• We are still working on the weaning from breast  feeding. He now typically only had 3-4 feedings a day
• He loves to eat table food
• He is a bottomless pit most of the time
• He has 4 teeth with the 5th one working its way through
• He typically sleeps 10-13 hrs a night, and will take anywhere from 2 1-2 hour naps or just 1 3 hour nap
• He is the easiest baby when it comes to naps, he can either take one, or not, so long as he can cat nap (10-20 min) a couple times a day he never really gets too cranky.
• He is in 18-24 month clothing, I feel like he really has grown in the last month

We love our little man so much, and I can't believe in less than a month he will be 1. Our lives have been so enriched by him and we feel so blessed...

In honor of football season here are his 11 month pictures :)

Trying to get better...

I hate forgetting things. I always want to remember everything. Every little detail. One of the reasons I started this blog so many years ago as a way to remember. I wanted a way to remember everything I was going through when I started nursing school. I didn't want to forget what I went through, all the different experiences I had or people I met etc.

I was even more compelled to write everything down when i became pregnant. I wanted to remember every detail of my pregnancy and every experience. This is why I wrote a post for every week because every week something changed and I wanted to remember each and every thing. 

When Lincoln was born I wanted to keep that up and write every little detail he went through, every experience he had I wanted to write about it so I could remember. I obviously fell really short of this and I think this has to do with the fact that I am unfortunately a working mama. 

I started my job that I worked so hard for back in December. I finally was a Registered Nurse. I was extremely happy about this, I had put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, sleepless nights, and exhaustion into accomplishing this. I chose to become a nurse because my ultimate goal was to be a mom, and be a mom who was present and didn't work all the time who was able to spend a majority of my time at home with my children. 

I work nights, which at first I thought was perfect, because I would work when my baby would sleep. I even planned my schedule so I wouldn't work more than 2 nights in a row so I only slept 1 full day so I really didn't feel like I was missing out on a whole lot. The only real down fall to this schedule is that when  you work nights, you really loose a day because we have to sleep sometime. And it doesn't matter if I get 8 hours of sleep during the day, I still don't feel as rested as I would if I got 3 hours at night. So consequently I'm constantly tired. Pretty big downfall. 

Lincoln is just now getting to the age where he actually naps a couple of times a day. He is a pretty good sleeper at night, usually around 11-14 hours, depending on how he napped during the day, which is great for everyone who watches him at night, but until recently he wasn't real good at napping. he may nap for 30 minutes a couple times a day and then there were days he wouldn't nap at all. Which made for one tired mama. 

Now that he is napping a little better (roughly 2-3 hours at time a couple times a day), I can nap when he naps or actually get my house cleaned during that time. Which makes for one less tired mama. 

I am hoping that with all of this I will get better at writing down the things that we are going through. As we approach Lincoln's first birthday I sit back and realize how much he has truly changed over the last year, how much he has accomplished and how much he has enriched our lives. I want to remember these feelings and the things that he is going through so that one day I can share these with him when he blesses me with grandchildren. :)

In trying to keep with this, I've already started writing his 11 month post, so maybe this time it won't be a month late ;)

10 months

Ok I realize I've really been bad at keeping up a monthly post about our little man's accomplishments and things he does each month. In my defense Summer has just been entirely too busy. I know that I only work 3 days a week but the way that I have to work my 3 days makes it hard not to be incredibly sleepy and exhausted all the time and what little time I do have I want to spend it with my boy.

But that being said I figured I should try to get a 10 month post in before he turns 11 months this upcoming weekend.

I know I say this every month but he is just a little gem. He is perfect in every way, he is so much fun and I just can't imagine my life without him. Considering how difficult he was in the beginning with his colic and all that, he is an absolute breeze now. I actually enjoy his little cries and meltdowns.

I hope one day he realizes how much I truly do love and how some days just looking at him and realizing he is my beautiful baby boy that I've wanted since I was so young brings tears to my eyes.

Nothing prepared me for what motherhood would be like and nothing prepared me for the amount of love that you would have for your child. I know that in previous posts I wrote about how that love wasn't exactly love at first sight and it didn't come entirely easy to me, but now I really can't imagine what my life would be like without this little man.

His 10 month accomplishments:

• He crawls EVERYWHERE!
• He pulls up on EVERYTHING!
• My mother has taught him to climb the stairs...although we are still working on coming down them
• His smile and giggle are heartwarming and beautiful
• He has 3 teeth, 2 on bottom and 1 on top, he looks like a goober with only 3 teeth, but hes working on his second top tooth, hopefully it will come in soon!
• He loves music, he bounces and almost dances to music
• My mom has always sung him the song "bushel and a peck" since he was an infant and surprisingly it always calmed him down. Well I finally downloaded it and there is a veggietales version and he LOVES it. It's my go to when he is fussy and inconsolable. he immediately smiles and his attitude changes and is a happy kid once again...thanks mom. 
• he loves food, all food, any food, all the time, he is like a bottomless pit and every time you're eating, he thinks he should be eating, even if you just fed him. 
• I am still breast feeding him. He still gets fed by me about every 3-4 hours, but I'm trying to wean him down a little bit, so he only had 3-4 feedings a day
• He now eats table food twice a day...we need to work up to 3 meals a day
• He really loves all veggies, and since he has never eaten out of a jar, I'm not really sure what I should be giving him, so instead some of his favorites are sweet potato fries, peas and carrots. 
• He is eating more and more on his own. I tend to let him feed himself but Adam doesn't like to because it takes longer and he makes a mess...this is true but how will he learn? I'm working on it...
• He is eating more and more meats, although those are harder for him to "chew" so he tends to hoard those on the roof of his mouth unless you sort of puree it. Beef is actually really easy for him to eat especially in the form of a hamburger because it can so easily be ground up and easy for him to swallow. 
• He actually really likes fish. I usually make tilapia for him once a week and he loves it. 
• He is becoming quite the talker, and while he still says mama, he now says dada too, but of course he doesn't know what he is saying and its not necessarily directed to either of us. 
• he loves to play peak-a-boo
• He is becoming more and more interactive with his toys. 
• He loves bath time and being in the water. He gets mad when we take him out.
• He HATES to have his diaper changed...i don't understand this. I just keep telling him I would be a bad mom if I let him sit in his own poop or pee...he doesn't quite understand that... 
• He HATEs to put clothes on or take them off. he literally will almost buck himself off the changing table. 
• We are working on NO, and discipline. Obviously he is still a bit little to understand all of it, but I try to tell him and no and redirect him when he is doing something he shouldn't, like trying to pull at and take out my night lights that are in the hallways. it doesn't always work but sometimes I think he sort of understands it. 

He really is such a joy and such a happy, giggly, smiley baby that its hard not to love or want to be around him. He is more and more fun each and everyday.

Here are his 10 month pictures. These were really hard to do since he doesn't want to sit still anymore and tries to get up all the time...

We love you little boy!