She Said What???????

Doug and I went to Las Vegas last weekend for Presidents Day with his parents. We had such a fun time. I don't think we slept a wink, but who sleeps in Vegas?! We were there over Valentine's Day and I thought it was the best thing ever to count and see how many brides I could see on the strip. Doug and I made a list of things that we had to find while in Vegas. The list including things like someone being escorted out by security, a drunk bride, a gold digger, and a bunch more. Our list was so outrageous, but the sad thing was we found everything on the list but one! We did something similar to this at Disneyland on our honeymoon. When you don't drink, smoke, or gamble in Vegas, you gotta find something fun to do, right? :)

So...Doug and I went shopping at the Forum at Caesar's Palace. I went in to the Coach store to waste some time while we were waiting for his parents. I asked the sales girl where the diaper bags were. She showed me what they had, and than she asked me HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU???????????? Whaaaaaaaaat the heeeeeeeeeck!!!!! I looked at her and was like, I'm not pregnant. My baby is 1! She tried to make up some crap about people buying the bag for all sorts of reasons, but that chick just failed sales 101! Don't they teach that in orientation? They should! I guess I gotta start exercising and watch what I eat a little more!

Anyway...on to happier events! Doug and I had the most amazing Valentine's Day in Vegas. Doug's parents were so amazing for taking Linkin for us! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! Doug had a whole evening planned that he didn't even tell me about. It was a surprise. (This is huge for Doug, because he is terrible with surprises and secrets when it comes to presents.) He kept it a secret for an entire week. I'm so proud of you baby! Anyways, we went out to eat at an amazing steak house. (What can I say I'm a steak and potatoes kind of girl!) After that he took me shopping and I got a new pair of sunglasses. (I did need black ones. :) I lost my other ones in Mexico when a huge wave took me out.) After shopping, we went on a gondola ride through the Venetian hotel. We had the coolest boat driver. He was absolutely hilarious! It totally made an end to the perfect evening. It was so much fun! Thanks babe for an awesome night!

Here are some pics from the trip....

This is Alfredo our Gondola boat driver. He was awesome. We didn't get a pic with him and I'm so bummed!

When you go under this bridge your suppose to kiss (your husband not the boat driver!) and it is suppose to be a life of luck and prosperity or something like that. Or that's just something they make up and tell you so they can charge more! :)

Grandpa, Linkin, and Grandma

Holy Cow I loved these guys!!!!!!!! They had these people painted like statues and they would be perfectly still and when you would walk by they would move and it would totally freak you out! I walked by and I was staring at the guy and he winked and me and I seriously jumped! I wanted to get a picture of the statue holding Linkin so it looked like we put him up in a statue, but Linkin was done by this point and ready to go back to the hotel for a nap. Wouldn't that have been hilarious though?

Sorry no pics of Doug and I. We were lame and total slackers on the picture taking this trip. It was way fun though!

Linkin's Birthday Extravaganza

(Aunt Britany showed me the goods when my parents weren't around!)

This weekend was all about the fun for our little man. Not only did he have his first birthday party, he also had a fun Super Bowl party. On Saturday we had all of our family over to the park in Peoria. We played a little and ate some yummy cake. Here are some fun pics from the event.

He thought playing with those balloons was the coolest thing ever!

Linkin with his two favorite ladies (other than his mommy of course)

He could care less about the candle in his cake. He thought it was cool that I was getting him closer to the frosting so he could dig in! This cake was so cute. It was shaped in the #1. It was all a bunch of cup cakes that were frosted like a big cake. It was so much easier than cake and just as yummy!

What is a first birthday with out getting to play in cake, right?! He was like the cleanest baby ever! It was barely on his hands and a little on his face. The one time I wanted him to get dirty he held back. His life mission is to mess with me, I swear! :)

I'm a big boy now!!!!! I think it is hilarious to look back at him in his car seat now. It is so big and he looks so dang cute!

And I had to throw in our family picture at the Super Bowl party on Sunday. Yes, we are all wearing Cardinal jerseys. Monster.com is a partner with the NFL so Doug got us all jerseys at work. I was sporting my boy Larry Fitz, Doug was in Kurt Warner, and Linkin was just a Cards logo.

The First Year...

WARNING: CHEESY POST AHEAD! PROCEED WITH CAUTION! :)

Today my baby is officially 1 year old! I decided to take you through the roller coaster ride that is called, "Babies First Year." I'm doing this from memory, so I hope it's somewhat correct.

Month 1: I was so emotional right after he was born every time I looked at his perfect little baby face I would immediately start sobbing. This happened for like two weeks! I swear Doug that I was a crazy person. :) I could not believe that this perfect little baby was entrusted to me. I was completely over whelmed by the idea of me being a mother. I could not wrap my head around the idea that I was responsible for this perfect being.

Month 2: This kid never stops crying!!!! Linkin was a colic baby. He was one of the worst cases our pediatrician had ever seen. Linkin was either sleeping or crying! I would sit in our rocking chair rocking him to sleep and than not moving a muscle for fear he would wake up and start screaming again. One remedy that worked was sitting on a big bouncy work out ball and bouncing as high as I could. He loved the sensation in his tummy and would stop crying. (That's one way to work off my baby weight I put on.)

Month 3: Is that quiet I hear!!!!! Like your typical colic baby, Linkin settled down at around three months. He stopped the screaming all of the time. He also stopped the feeding every hour and a half through the night. Now it was an eight hour stretch than a four hour stretch. Life was starting to get good. I was also confident and knew I could handle this whole being a mom thing.

Month 4: It's Ferber time. At four months we did the Ferber Method and Linkin started sleeping through the night! Could life get any better than this???? Linkin also started rolling over and sitting up on his own.

Month 5: He was like a real little person! He started eating rice cereal and other baby foods. Teaching him to eat was one of the funniest things ever!

Month 6: He was on the go! He started pushing up on his arms and legs and rocking back and forth. We said he was revving his engine to go fast.

Month 7: And he's off!!!! He started crawling at six months, but by seven he was all over the place. I have never seen a baby crawl so fast. We call him turbo racer. When he wants something, he doesn't waste time in going to get it.

Month 8: I'm way to big for bottles. Linkin took himself off of bottles. He decided he was way to big and cool for bottles. He would only drink his milk if we put it in a sippie cup. Who am I to argue, right?! :)

Month 9: He is jabbering and talking just like the rest of us. The only difference is, his words don't make sense. :) It is so cute and funny to watch him in the car when he watches the Little Mermaid. When the music comes on he will try to "sing" with it. He was also pulling himself up and walking along couches, but doesn't want to take the plunge and walk alone.

Month 10: If it comes in a baby jar he refuses to eat it! He has realized the joys of real food. Baby food is gross and what mom and dad are eating is so much better. Get me some of what they got. He also got his first two teeth.

Month 11: In my big boy car seat now! We started this a little bit early because he was good and ready, and so was I! He hates the car, so anything that will make him happy works for me! The front facing car seat seems to help. (He still has to have on his movie though!)

Month 12: Where is my baby???? He's a big boy! :( Time for another??????

Happy Birthday Linkin! You are loved by so many! You are the luckiest little boy in the whole wide world. Could a mother ask for anything more? I don't think so! Love you!