Our Little Bug Turned One!

Last Thursday (the 13th) Lincoln turned one year old! I can hardly believe that it's been an entire year since this sweet little guy joined our family. He is such a fun, happy baby and we are so grateful to have him in our lives. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating his birthday - but before we give a re-cap on his birthday celebrations, let me document a few of his current milestones...

Lincoln took his first few steps on November 3rd, and every day since then he's gotten a little better. He went from doing the Frankenstein walk (arms out in front, waiting to catch himself from falling)...to doing the hands-up walk (huge grin on his face, arms straight up, as if cheering for himself & his new accomplishment - right before he biffs it after a few steps)...to now walking clear across the room while taking short little steps. I'll have to include a video clip soon. I love this stage. (P.S. thanks to Tiffany for Lincoln's adorable 1 year pictures!)

As for other new stuff:

• He said his first word last week - "Bye". He says it softly & sweetly, and it's accompanied by a cute little wave. Melts my heart.
• He likes to pretend to talk on the phone.
• He adores growling and chasing around anyone that will play with him.
• He's got a sweet tooth like his papa (unlike Noah who caps out on sweets like I do).
• After a long dry spell from teething (he got his front four teeth at 5 months), he now has two molars!
• He still loves his binky.
• He likes to gag himself, especially if he's trying to get my attention. He just sticks his fingers right down his throat and makes that horrible sound. It drives me nuts!
• He loves looking at books.
• He really likes to bite things, including Noah on several occasions (sorry, Noah). This is one reason that I was glad to be done nursing a couple of months ago!
• He eats a sliced up banana every morning with his breakfast - and loves it!
• Bath time is still his favorite time of the day.

As you can see from the picture below, we went in for Lincoln's one year check up (and he got several shots). Here are his current stats, and although he's still big...he has hit that plateau that we've been waiting for! He's only gained one ounce since last month:

• Weight: 26 pounds, 9 ounces (91st percentile)
• Height: 31.5 inches (92nd percentile)
• Head circumference: 20.08 inches (still off the charts big)

So, on to the birthday celebrations! The morning of his birthday I made pancakes with syrup...and bananas of course. We adopted the tradition of using a red "you are special plate" on birthdays from Mark's family. Since we were having his party on Saturday, we didn't do much else right on his birthday-day, but I did think a lot about what the day/night of his birth was like and how happy I was to have our not-so-tiny baby arrive safely into the world.

Now...on to the party. Here's a picture of the invitations that I made. A big thanks to the two helpful ladies at Paper Creations who helped me find all of the supplies that I needed to make these. I'm not one of those crafty people who has a lot of this stuff on hand (or even knew exactly what to look for), but I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted. They were a great help!

And, since I'm on the topic of thanking/spreading the word about helpful local businesses...I was in a bind the day before the party since I hadn't been able to find mylar bug balloons that weren't pastel or girlie. I found some darling balloons through a company online that ships nationwide, but that is based in Salt Lake City. The owner was really helpful and let me come pick up my order at her house that night! So, if you're looking for cute mylar balloons - check out this website. Oh, and she says that she's fine with local people doing pick-ups to avoid shipping costs, but that it helps if she has a day's notice or more :)

So! Party time arrived and I had the cupcakes all made, assembled, and with little their little gumdrop heads & licorice antenna on...but I hadn't frosted their little bug wings yet! So, my mom & friend Allison were so kind as to jump in and take that over for me - thanks, guys!


By the way, since I'm talking about these bug cupcakes, I have to mention that I spent hours trying to find black shoe string licorice (and I had enlisted several other people to help me with my search also). I swear that the stuff is not sold in regular stores anywhere! I found plenty of red, but no black. Anyhow, if I had known this a couple of weeks earlier then I could have ordered some online. So! I don't know who I could possibly help with this bit of knowledge, but the next time that I know I'm going to need the stuff I plan on ordering it online way ahead of time! For the cupcakes for this party I ended up having to hand cut strips of regular black licorice twists. It took a couple of hours just to cut these silly little antenna, but at least the poor bugs didn't have to have red antenna!

Here's a photo of our bee pinata and our "bug juice"...
...complete with flies in the ice.

As kids arrived they were given a bag to color and decorate with bug stickers. Then we gave out these cute bug catcher jars, complete with forceps, to do a bug hunt in the house (with fake bugs of course). These little containers should be cool for later too though. They have a little grid on the bottom so that you can look at your little bug and measure it without having to handle it much, the lid is a magnifying glass, and there are air holes in the jar so the bug can breathe until you are ready to release it. I found these very reasonably priced on a home science tools website.

Me with the birthday boy (who is munching on a Keebler Bug Bite Graham cracker, one of his new favorite snacks).

Here's a picture of Mark with Lincoln...and as you can tell from these pictures, everyone was given a pair of bug antenna, in place of the traditional party hat, when they arrived. I made several different colors, and it was fun to look around the room and see everybody sitting there with their bug headbands on.

My brother Josh asked me to take a picture of him with both sets of his grandparents. I thought that was sweet. It's pretty cool that we were able to have a birthday party for Lincoln with several of his cousins, aunt & uncles, and both sets of grandparents there...but also with two sets of his great-grandparents too! Lots of people love you, little guy!


Uncle Matt (my brother).

Lincoln with Mark's parents.


A couple of our friends were even so thoughtful as to bring a little gift for the big brother too! thanks Morgans & Donnellys! Here's a shot of Noah in the bug glasses that the Donnellys gave to him, he loves them.

Here's Lincoln just cruisin' around at the party. I love this little expression on his face. Oooh, I just wanna smooch him! Notice the cute little stinger on the back of this jacket too (another sweet, cheap ksl.com classifieds find - wahoo)!

Cousin Ava, Aunt Janelle & Uncle Matt (yes, there are 2 uncle Matts - this one is Mark's brother)

Lincon's first birthday cake - the lady bug, and its accompanying bug cupcakes.


Like most babies, Lincoln was pretty interested in that open flame...

Dig in kiddos!


Each guest got their own bug cupcake & some ice cream, while the birthday boy dug into his own cake without hesitation!
Lovin' it!
Mmmm. I think he liked it!

And, after a quick bath, we did the pull-string pinata! Here's Lincoln grabbing one of the strings.

And here is the candy emptying out of the pinata. I wish I had gotten a good shot of what happened next. The candy was falling out right onto Noah's head...so he bent over to the ground and put his hands over his head to take cover until the candy stopped falling. It was pretty cute.

Present opening time. Lincoln got several very thoughtful gifts - from cute clothes, to cute toys, to adorable books. Thanks, everybody - he's been enjoying all of them these last few days!



And, of course, kids are amused by the most simple things. Lincoln was particularly pleased with the cards!

And, he was less than pleased to humor us and model some of his new clothes.

My mom with Lincoln.

Lincoln with his great-grandpa (my dad's father) and great-grandma Dorothy.

Lincoln with more great-grandparents (my mom's parents).

Lincoln being silly with one of the bug headbands. The picture is a bit blurry, but I had to include it.

We hope that you had a special day, Lincoln. We love you so much.

Thanks to everybody that celebrated with us, both those at the party and those who sent their wishes from various places across the country! We're so blessed to have so many friends and family that love and support us and our boys.