Dear Lincoln

Dear Lincoln,

I remember one year ago the fear I had in the hospital. I scheduled your induction out of fear that you would be too big for me to birth. I remember fearing the challenge of having someone so little in our home again and feeling like we were starting all over again. I remember fearing the chaos that would inevitable come with having two kids. Two boys. I remember fearing that you wouldn't be as easy as a baby as Logan was. But then I distinctly remember the calm that came into the room the minute you were born, and the fear and panic disappearing.

The past year has been so neat having you in our family. It seems like we turned from a young couple with a toddler into a real family when you came along. Chaos did (and still does) ensue from time to time, and you weren't as easy of a baby as Logan was, but you have proven that you are very much your own little self, a sensitive little spirit who is completely different than Logan.

It has been so special watching you grow up around Logan. First of all, the fact that any younger sibling survives the wrath of older siblings is nothing short of a miracle. Secondly, I just smile when I see you trying so hard to keep up with brother. You try so hard to be like him, to go where he goes and to do what he does. You were movin' and groovin' way early in your little life in order to follow Logan around. Logan is the one who makes you laugh the most and you are always much happier when Lo is in the room. It has been so special to see the brother bond between you two developing this past year.

I love the way that you have changed our family dynamic. You're our sunshine, our peanut and we love you.

2 weeks old

4 months old

6 months old
9 months old

1 year oldSome fun facts about Linc:

He's still skinny:
weighs 19.5 lb (8%)
length 30.25 in (67%)
head 17.5 in (9%)

He's a great eater (oinker) and is pretty much feeding himself.
Not a great milk drinker.

Has 12 teeth and another one coming in soon.

Has been sick more times than I can remember.

He is McSpeedy at crawling. Super fast crawling + big curiosity = big messes.

Cruises around furniture and walks with walker toys, but has no real interest in walking yet.

Says "Mama," "Dada" and "Moo."

Signs "more" and "all-done"

Waves bye bye. Plays peek-a-boo hiding behind his hands or blanket. Raises his hands when we ask, "How big are you?" Plays pat-a-cake.

Hates getting dressed.

Loves bath time, especially with Logan. Loves his binky. Loves his lion, puppy and really loves snuggling with his blanky.

Tummy sleeper.

Loves balls and balloons. Still loves Hoodoo.

Gets into the bottom drawer where we keep the boys' plates, cups etc. All the time.

Super content in his car seat and in the car. (thanks goodness).

AND because this post isn't long enough... here are some pics of fun things we did on his birthday.

Picnic at the park for lunch (me and the boys)

(Logan's trying to do under-dog with him here)

After Ben got home, we went to Trafalga and you got to ride the carousel for the first time.

Waiting in line for the go carts

And Lo went climbing for the first time... not so easy in cowboy boots.

Easter Activities

Easter was so fun this year! Because the holiday was later in the month than usual, we had more time to celebrate and Logan really got into Easter this year and was so excited about everything.

I put together a last-minute Easter egg hunt on Friday for the moms in our ward with younger toddlers and preschoolers. It seems like the little ones get trampled in the big public egg hunts so I wanted to give the kiddos their own egg hunt, just their size.

All the moms brought 10 eggs per child to the park and while the kids played, a few of us "hid" (in plain sight) the eggs. Then we unleashed them to go hunt, and everyone walked away with 10. It was super fun and luckily weather cooperated.

The only bummer? Logan was sick, or something, yet again. This is how he looked the whole time...

He had a sudden headache and a bloody nose the night before, then he woke up and just wasn't himself that day. He was still begging to go, and I knew he wouldn't be playing on the toys or be touching any of the kids, so I decided he would be ok to go. He wanted me to push him in the stroller everywhere and when it came time to make a mad dash for the eggs, he just stood there and cried. :-( I felt so bad for him when all the kids were running past him with their Easter baskets, so I put him in the stroller and tried my best to run as fast as I could with a double stroller through thick grass toward the corner of the park where the eggs were, just so he could feel somewhat included. Then when we got to the eggs, he got out of the stroller and would walk slowly to find an egg, and then stand there for another minute before moving on. Poor thing. Nothing ever came of his sick day, so weird.

Lincoln, on the other hand, loved it! I love this picture because you can see Lincoln in the middle of nowhere, where he sat totally content with his one egg the whole time.

The boys and their loot. Logan squeaked out a smile for me.

Afterward, all the kids and moms hung out talking while the kids looked through their eggs.

Saturday we did the ritual egg-dying. This is my favorite part about Easter fun, I don't know why. Maybe it's because we always did this growing up? Maybe it's the smell of the vinegar (... or not). Maybe it's seeing what fun colors you can mix? All of the above? Either way, egg dying is so nostalgic for me and I love it.

Proof that Linc was there for about 5 minutes before going to bed. Cranky face.

Weirdo. We didn't do nearly as many eggs as I wanted to. Oh well.

What nerds we are. These were the little egg holders that came with our egg-dying kit. We couldn't resist.

Logan also made some paper mache eggs (filled with candy of course) for some of his Sunbeamer friends. I did this years ago with my sisters and it was so fun to recreate these again.


Filling the boys' Easter baskets was another favorite part for me. I love being sneaky and leading my child to believe that a large, white, over-sized bunny came to our house, broke in, and left all sorts of magical things in his Eater basket.
It was pretty cute because before Lo went to bed I told him to set his and Linc's baskets out for the Easter Bunny to fill. I walked into the kitchen to find him closing the outside door. I asked what he was doing and he said he had to leave the baskets on the porch so the Easter Bunny could get to them.

Easter morning. Luckily the Bishop canceled meetings that morning so Ben could be home and spend time with us.

Linc cared more about the grass and the basket than anything else.

Lo's favorite part? His Monkey George band-aids of course.


Since Ben was home that morning we were also able to do our Easter egg hunt and family pictures before church.

Quoting Abba-Dabba: "I not eatin' da dirt!"
There was an egg hidden in my chives... did Linc care about the egg? Why, of course not. He went right for the dirt in my flower pot.

We had Easter dinner on our own this year and Logan has been begging me to make "bunny bread" that he saw in the Friend magazine a couples weeks earlier.
So as promised, here we are with our bunny breads.

Dinner time. I made ham, funeral potatoes, deviled eggs, strawberries, green beans and bunny bread rolls and chocolate pie for dessert.

Paper towel flowers that I made with the egg dye the night before.

And I couldn't resist making bunnies our of our napkins. And this gave us an excuse to get our china out. This china used to belong to Ben's parents, but they got new china (or maybe it's because they just eat on all their pottery now?), so Jera offered this set to us when we got married. I love the delicate pink pattern on them.

What a face. I love Easter and I love my Logan bunny even more. I love that because of the reason for Easter (Christ's atonement, death and resurrection) I have the chance to be with my family forever. I love them so much and couldn't imagine having to give them up after our short lives end on this Earth. Happy Easter.

My Easter Boys

On the way to church Easter morning we stopped in front of some "popcorn trees" (as Logan calls them) to take some Easter pics.

Love my boys... even Logan's white, pasty leg in the middle of the picture. Can't complain, the kid has my skin. :-)

Me and the boys

Choking.... er, um, I mean loving on brother.
Logan insisted on wearing his "watch" that he got at the hospital a couple nights before. Long story, but Ben took him to the ER at 3 am Friday morning because he had gone to bed with a sudden, severe headache and then woke up at 3 am with a bad bloody nose that was all in his mouth, etc. He turned out to be fine, but he sure loves his ID wrist band that he got with his name on it. He wears it everywhere. And he better like it... that's one expensive "watch".

Every time we walk past a "popcorn tree" (any tree with blossoms on it) he has to pick a popcorn flower. And Easter morning was no different.

After church I got some more shots of the boys goofing off in their Easter shirts.

Digging for something... either bugs or eggs... or probably candy.

Playing around.
I love that Linc is finally getting big enough to hold his own and wrestle around with Logan a bit. He adores his brother.