Birthday 'n' batches

My birthday/Christmas gift has finally arrived in our home! A beautiful new green kitchenaid mixer. I am so thrilled about it. I just made my first batch of chocolate chip cookies all on my own, ever! I yelled I'm a real mom! Lincoln is going to be so pleased with me. since he can eat as many cookies as he wants right now!
- His blood test were all normal, so we just have to feed him as often and as much as he wants, til end of April, and then we will check him again and get his shots.
Speaking of batches, all of our birthdays are all clumped together. Mine feb 16, lincs is march 1, and kalobs march 5th so we have a lot of celebrating to do!
For mine, we did some shopping,(i bought anti-wrinkle cream, notice any improvements in the picture?) and ate dinner at my most delicious favorite Cheesecake Factory! I put off dieting so I could indulge! you only turn 27 once right!?
Im trying to decide a theme for Lincoln's first birthday! I want to try my hand at cake decorating, maybe even make a three layer cake, with my new mixer of course. or cupcakes ,,, I can't make up my mind! He needs a smash cake too, all his own. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know. We have no baby friends near us, so it'll be very low key.
Lincoln is so sweet; kalob got him out of bed just now, because he missed him! as much as that irritates me(cuz ill be the one putting him back down with a fight) it's also kinda cute. they are quite a pair. Linc is laying on his chest and kalob is saying " one day I'll take you fishing, I think we will do a lot of that. And I can't wait to take you to the park and..." I love my boys.
I thought we had decided to go simple and I'd make some home made gifts for lincs birthday since he doesn't expect much. I got some craft poms and put them in an egg carton; he loves it! I also made a water bottle full of glitter for watching. I bought him some coloring books and crayons, and a set of color wonder markers. He also got a couple summer outfits. we keep resigning and giving him the stuff early! here I was thinking what I got/made was good enough, but then I got a box of toys from amazon that kalob ordered while I was sleeping . Sneaky dad! Spoiling Lincoln rotten! He already opened one even! A farm animal see n say. to encourage recognition and animal noises. He is becoming more vocal. He finally says mom and dad to the right person, and he says dex to the dog and can say cat, hi, and cheese, and is pretty good at saying chicken and fish. He can follow simple direction like "pick up that paper" or "give me a kiss". He also can point to his or your nose and eyes. Smarty pants!
I don't know what kalob wants for his birthday. Nor will I try to surprise him, he never cares that much about birthdays. We are talking about going to Oregon to visit family during spring break....another long trip seems to be on the horizon.

Walka walka walka

Lincoln started walking this week, he needs a lot of coaxing but he can go quite a few steps between people. only trouble he has, has been with balance. He pretty much walks falling forward. He can stand still for long periods though. we figured he was doing pretty good, so kalob pushed all the furniture away( since he will walk the least amount of steps to the nearest furniture) and stood lincoln in the middle of the floor. We were cheering him on and he got too much momentum. He face planted soo hard! poor kid. He received some serious rug burn on the tip of his nose. he's been a lil less excited about walking ever since.
during our bedtime routine, either one of us reads linc a story. Lincoln will actually turn the page and wait for you to read it and then turn the next and so forth. His past favorite is a truck book with feely textures on each page. Recently, it's been Dear Zoo which has flaps he loves to open, he can listen to that book over and over! It's the book that convinced him to walk actually. Kalob and I sat a distance apart and passed the book back and forth and he'd go for it! Tonight we read a book called Sniff which has pull tabs that move some of the pictures. He got pretty excited about this new book, he's ripped 2 parts off of it already, and on his Where is baby's belly button book too! lucky for me, I'm a scrapbooker with lots if glue.

Lincoln went for his one year wellness visit and we got some unhappy news. He still hasn't gained any weight; Since about 7 months he's been 20 lbs. That was a lil concerning to our pediatrician so they had to draw his blood, just like an adult. kalob had me wait outside the room. It was so sad to hear him cry like that. At the beginning of the appointment, they had a standard blood test for anemia and lead which they took from his finger. He did not cry at all for that test. It was like nothing. I was super sad for him though that he ended up having to get poked more than once. The dr. felt bad as well and put off his shots for another month. Didn't want to traumatize the poor kid. He will have to come back anyways to monitor his weight. Unfortunately for me, I can't wean him like I had planned at the end if this month. Lincoln needs as many calories as possible since he's dropped to just 21st percentile now, and breastfeeding is where he currently gets the bulk of his calories. We are starting him on whole milk, trying desperately for him to use a sippy cup.
We are drawing a funny parallel between Lincoln and his uncle Clint. they look very similar(Clint as a baby, and who has always been skinny but from hearing his diet, you wouldn't believe it) and they now eat a like too. Linc has been enjoying corn dogs, chicken nuggets, cheese tortillas, ramen, and Mac and cheese- In very small portions, but whatever he will eat, he can have! Our lil stubborn eater!
I feel like kalob and I are doing our best to raise a happy healthy baby. I have no idea why he's not growing and he doesn't seem skinny or sickly or anything like that. So we will work on fattening him up, trying new foods, and hope for good test results.

I cannot help but brag

My Lincoln went to sleep tonight in his crib with zero fuss! just laid him in there, he took his bink, waited to get covered up and then he rolled to his side and closed those eyes. Didn't even whimper when I opened the door to leave!! It feels so amazing. The hard work, and routine has finally paid off! I think he was extra tired because we bought him a push car, to get him walking, and we practiced walking between us right before bed. It's just a great parenting accomplishment and reward! my baby is growing up! he's 11 months today.