Welcome to South Ogden!

I realize some mothers will have their kid professionally photographed monthly. My kid is just as cute, and actually a lot cuter than those once a month kids. I also realized that his first birthday had come and gone, and it was probably time to take some shots that we could frame and give to grandma and grandpa to put up on the fireplace. So thanks to John and Katie for allowing us to use their professional style camera and touch to get some good pics of my picture perfect kid. 

Here's Lincoln at 1 year, 1 month and 16 days.

July has been such a fun and busy month. Between the fun, the vacations, the swimming and the moving, Lincoln has managed to make his debut visit to the "sick" doctors office. Not once, but twice. The three of us caught an ugly cold, sore throat, cough, itchy/runny nose at the beginning of July. For the first time in months and months Lincoln cuddled with me before bedtime, only this time he wouldn't let me put him down. The only way through those hot, fevered nights was cuddling with mommy. They were precious, yet heart string tugging moments where Lincoln was not well, and just wanted to be cuddled. Just when I was sure he was pulling through, he started to get fussy again and play with his ears, sure enough, the doctor verified his first ear infection. But he was better for Bear Lake! Three days later we were in a U-haul and moved our lives to South Ogden. The first 24 hours Lincoln loved exploring his new house. On Sunday night we went to Weber State's firework show. And he just laid in his dad's lap without any reponse to the big booms and bright lights from the fireworks. I knew something was wrong. Sure enough he had a fever of 103.8 that night. The doctor said everything looked great...except he had a high fever and some funny spots on in his mouth, and on his feet and face, so diagnosis...this year's epidemic Hand, Foot, mouth disease.  No treatment, just TLC and Tylenol to curb the fever. He almost peaked at 105 throughout the week, and slept even more than normal. Sometimes he would just lay in his crib with his eyes barely open and no energy to pull himself up. I decided this week, there is nothing worse than a sick child.  A couple more long nights, a lot of cuddles, lullaby's and five or six naps a day, Lincoln finally started coming around on Friday afternoon. Saturday he had more energy, but was still very needy, by Sunday/today-he seems back to his good 'ol self again. Ready to explore his new house, climb on everything there is to climb and absolutely no looking back.  I had some special and almost sacred moments this week when Lincoln was sick, but it is so much better having a happy healthy baby. I love that kid more than this blog will ever show.
Now that Lincoln is 13 and one half months old...it may be time to record some Lincolnisms.

• The newest could be his fascination with light. Lincoln loves to see lights, and more than just see the light he is more interested in how the light got turned on. He is always looking for the lightswitch the turns on the light, and will flip the switch then look a the light, then flip it again, and check the light again. If you walk into a room with a light he'll point at the light, then look for its switch. Pointing is another of Lincoln's new tricks. 
• Lincoln points at anything and everything and nothing. Sometimes he points when he's talking just to make a point-his mom thinks it's pretty cute. 
• Lincoln likes to clap his hands, and likes it when others clap his hands at them. Sometimes he claps his hands at appropriate times, other times just to take a break from drinking out of his bottle. 
• Lincoln drinks his bottle in spurts. Last month he would down his bottle in a few minutes. Now he likes to take a few swigs, then sit up and take a break, then take a few more swigs. A bottle now lasts him a couple hours.
• Lincoln doesn't sit in his bathtub  very often. He likes to stand and point, and clap, but it takes a lot of toys to get him to sit and play. Once he's down he usually stays until the water is poured over his head. Then he stands up so quickly you would never know he was ever seated.
• Lincoln loves to climb. He finds any object including and especially his mother to get to something a little higher. If I am holding him in a chair, he quickly uses me as a ladder and is somehow high above my head on his way to anything that is higher.
• Lincoln just started putting his toys away. He's always been good at unloading the blocks from the box, but now he knows to put them back in. He's pretty good at it.
• Since we've moved to our new house, Lincoln has learned to play the piano. He can climb up high enough to touch the keys and likes to listen to the sound.
• Although he's a lightweight, Lincoln is a pretty good eater. He likes pasta, bread, veggies, sauces, breakfast foods, but loves fruit. The fruit it his dessert, if he even sees it before his main course is over, he won't touch his other food because his only mind is on the "dessert". This week's fruit is cherries.
• When Lincoln is healthy, he's a pretty happy kid, he does throw his occasional tantrums. He'll bend over on the ground almost in the splits with one leg forward and one back and pout/cry until he is picked up.
• Lincoln will walk anywhere...as long as he has an adult finger in each fist. Even though he climbs on top of anything showing absolutely no fear, he won't let go of our fingers and take that first step on his own. I'm sure walking will hold a whole new set of adventures. After all you have a lifetime to walk, so for now, we'll enjoy the crawling stage.
• When you get Lincoln laughing, everyone is laughing. He has a contagious laugh, and he knows it. Once he realizes everyone is laughing at him, he'll do his very forced laugh just to get a reaction and he usually does.

Well that's more writing on this blog than I ever intended to do. Hopefully by next post I'll have my camera back and we'll be back to posting pictures. Love you Lincoln, so glad you're feeling better!