Pictures from the Big Day

'Tis the birthday boy, bright and early on his birthday morn. A plastic sippy cup full of whole milk, and he's ready for the day.


The day begins with presents, as every good birthday should. After some brief instruction - a quick refresher course on our Christmas day activities - Lincoln jumps in and takes care of business.


We had some friends over to celebrate the occasion with cake and ice cream (although we forgot to actually serve them ice cream . . . we hope they're not upset), and Hillary fancied-up our apartment with celebratory streamers and signs. For those of you that have been paying attention to the national weather, you may have heard of the blizzard that swept (and is still sweeping) across the Northeast. So we were very grateful to all of friends who braved the weather, dug out their cars, and came to our little party.

Mama also made Lincoln a cute, little crown, but even though she worked awfully hard on the crown and even though he looked just adorable, he didn't really want to wear it.


Lincoln's top hat cake! We thought it appropriate to fashion a cake shaped like a top hat, and I think Hillary did an pretty good job (although we did receive some complaints that Abraham Lincoln's hat was black and not brown). To the side is the small cake just for Lincoln.


Here's the happy family together for a photo as Lincoln prepares to eat his cake.


Here are Lincoln's first few bites of chocolate cake. We were hoping that he would really dig in and tear the cake apart. Unfortunately, he wasn't really into it.


He did, however, make a bit of a mess.


All in all, it was a wonderful today, despite the inclement weather. Best wishes to our favorite little one year old.

One Year Ago Today...

Jonathan and I were just getting to know Lincoln. He was a tiny, purple bundle of joy. I've decided over the course of this year that a lot of the stereotypical things people say about babies and children are really true. He really is a bundle of joy and time really does fly by.


As a matter of fact, he's changed so much over the last year I think a little recap of his life is in order.

When he was one month old, I remember celebrating when he slept in his crib for twelve minutes. Twelve! If he took a twelve minute nap today there is no way I would be celebrating.


And he used to fit right in the crook of my lap. There are tons of pictures like this. Lincoln making cute faces sitting on my lap, Lincoln blowing bubbles on Jonathan's lap, Lincoln just sitting on someone's lap. Those days are long gone.


When Lincoln was three months old he rolled over three times in one day. I thought to myself, "He's rolled over three times today, there's no way this is a fluke!" Then he totally abandoned the endeavor for over a month and, as a result, spent a lot of time on his belly. Now it's a special treat if he stays still for just a few minutes.


His favorite pose during his rolling boycott was the airplane.


When it was warm out, we'd sometimes head outside for "photo shoots." How can I resist taking pictures of this handsome baby? He's all mine, so I don't have to is the answer.


I think I really feel in love with nursing when we started feeding Lincoln solid foods. Nursing is so convenient! I didn't have to remember to bring food, or a bib, or anything when we went out. It seems like another world now.


Around Lincoln's 6th month he really began to drool. I mean really drool. Look at this shirt!


At Halloween, Lincoln good-naturedly agreed to dress up as "Lincoln-stein" even though I didn't let him have any candy. Although he thought it was hilarious at the time, I'm not totally convinced I could get him to wear that hood again, recently he has not liked having things on his head....

We've been house bound today because of a ridiculous snow storm here. Now this little flurry looks like small potatoes. (There was no snow when he was born last year.)


In the past several weeks, Lincoln has become quite the menace. So much so, that "Lincoln the Menace" gets two pictures.


And today he is one year old. I've been waiting for this day with mixed emotions. He really is growing up fast. He has changed so much. But those changes have been wonderful. He is so much fun, now. He laughs at everything (I never knew I was so funny!), he plays with abandon, and he is just always so happy. I feel sort of sad that he's not really a baby anymore, but I know that the coming years with him will be even more fun. So today I'm celebrating that one year ago today I was holding him in my arms and that the three of us have just begun our wonderful adventure.

A Couple of Pictures for Your Consideration

What a difference just a few months can make....

March 2009:
January 2010:

I'm feeling a little nostalgic with Lincoln's birthday coming up in case you can't tell.

Growing Up So Fast

In preparation for his first birthday Lincoln has been going through some major changes. He finally stopped scooting and is now crawling like a champion.



As soon as Lincoln learned to crawl he started learning other things too. Like how to get up on his knees to get a toy... or picture off his wall near his crib while he's supposed to be napping for example. And to eat it.


Then he figured out how to pull himself up to stand so that he could rev up his dump truck.

These changes all took place over a matter of days. It is so much fun to watch him change and grow, but it was so fun to have a little baby, too...

This was just funny. He loves to eat rolls, but he missed the target this time. Yes, that's a piece of roll stuck to his forehead. When we took it off his head (after several pictures, of course,) he looked at us like we pulled a quarter from behind his ear. Then he ate it.


I love these pictures of Jonathan and Lincoln playing together. Lincoln loves to steal Jonathan's hats, chew on his collars, and take off his glasses. They have so much fun together.


And, my baby is eleven months old today. Only one more month until his birthday. One more month of being a baby.

Figuring It Out

No babies were hurt in the making of this video.

Post-Christmas Post

We successfully returned from our trip home for Christmas last week and I am finally posting about it. We had a great time, but it seems I relied pretty heavily on Jeremiah and Kariah to take pictures, so I didn't have too many on my little camera. Oh well, I'll post more when I get the other pictures.

One of the highlights of the family fun was the gingerbread (graham cracker) house contest. Jonathan and I decided to build Notre Dame de Paris (bien sur), and we felt like it came out pretty well. We didn't win, but we were up against some serious competition.


Lincoln made out like a bandit on Christmas morning, but that's no big surprise. He sort of liked to play with the presents, but didn't really get that he was supposed to tear the paper.


...what he really enjoyed was putting the tags in his mouth...


...and rolling around in the discarded wrapping paper.


When all the wrapping paper was put away, though, he decided he really likes all this new toys.

Lincoln turned 10 months old the day after Christmas. He's getting so big and he changed a ton while we were in Spokane, probably because there were so many people to learn from.


We drove to Ellensburg to have lunch with Jonathan's friend Christopher and his darling wife, Amelia. We enjoyed eating at Perkins and trying to find something fun to do in Ellensburg (not an easy task.) Thanks guys!


Here's Lincoln getting chauffered around on his new dump truck.



Jonathan's Mamie sent Lincoln this teething giraffe from France, and I was so excited when we opened the box. I had seen this toy on Martha Stewart (who can do no wrong) months ago and thought it was so cute. Lincoln likes it too.

The Few. The Proud.

"A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without sugar."
-- English Proverb


I know what you're asking. You're asking: "Why?"

Because the world needs to see it.


"It's magic. You just have to pet it, take care of it. You trim the mustache so it doesn't' hang on your lip. Then you just make sure you stroke it and keep it nice."
-- Brett Keisel


Unfortunately, our wives, afflicted with poor taste in these matters, would stand for little more than a photograph.

But what a photograph.

Happy New Year, Friends.