Calling All Moms.....

Okay so here's the deal, Linkin has decided that any food that comes in a jar is a bad idea and refuses to eat it. He has sworn off all baby food. This wouldn't really be an issue, but homeboy has two teeth. That's right! Two tiny, little, baby teeth on the bottom row. I am totally struggling trying to figure out what to feed this kid. He wont even eat apple sauce. He thinks I'm feeding him baby food. I've even tried mixing baby food with stuff to try and trick him, but he figures me out. This little man is smart! I need help! What ideas do you guys have for feeding a baby that has hardly any teeth and refuses baby food or anything that resembles it? I need your input!!!!

What a great day...

Do you ever have one of those days at church where you just sit there and think, "This day was seriously made for me?" Today was definitely one of those days for me. One of my young women's older brother came home from his mission and today was his homecoming. It was such a great homecoming. I didn't even know the kid, but I could tell he was an amazing missionary and has such a strong testimony. He started talking about how when he was younger he was diagnosed with dyslexia and the doctors told him he would never be able to read well or speak another language. He said that his mom decided other wise. She worked with him for hours and hours and he was able to read really well. He said he still struggled with a 2nd language in high school. When he went on his mission he was completely blessed by the Lord and given the ability to learn Spanish easily and speak to the people. I couldn't help but think about how much work his mother put in to teaching him not only his school work, but how she taught him the things of the gospel. You could tell that this boy was taught right by his mother. It made me start to think about the Stripling Warriors and how their mothers taught them well. They were raised to know what was right because of their mothers. This young man attributed a lot of where he is now because of his mother. I starting thinking how lucky I am that one day Linkin will be able to go on a mission and teach people somewhere in the world the gospel truths. I just hope one day Linkin will look back and say as this young man did about his mother. I want Linkin to say I knew it was right because my mother taught me the truth. It is my hope that I can be like the mothers of the stripling warriors and teach my son as they did. Later that day, I found a half eaten Apple Jacks in my hair that Linkin had so graciously put there. :)

It Sunday School we talked about D&C 25 (Emma's Smith's revelation on being a wife to Joseph Smith). I had a rough week this week and this is definitely the lesson I needed. It is so easy some days to get caught up in my "issues" and forget that Doug too has a hard day at work. It is tempting to meet him at the door and throw the baby at him so I can get some things done myself. I learned today how important it is for me to be there to strengthen and support Doug as he so willingly does for me. I am not just a mom, but I am a wife and a mom.

Yes, It's poop again...

(This picture totally cracks me up because he looks like the guy Mike Kwazowski from the movie Monsters Inc. Totally awesome!)

Okay, I'll run through this one quickly just to redeem myself from the previous poop story! :) Today Linkin and I went to the mall with our friend Vanessa and her adorable little boy Isaiah. When we got home, I went to get Link out of his car seat, and you guessed it, POO EVERYWHERE! This kid is like a machine or something! Getting him out of his car seat was tricky to not spread the poo, but I totally did it like a pro. I got him upstairs holding him all weird like so I would get all covered. I knew the drill this time, stripped him down, wiped him off, than threw him in the tub. I'm a poo pro! I didn't even let him rub it around on our carpets or anything! I must say I'm pretty proud of myself. ha ha

(This picture is proof that there was a baby behind that big green ball)

Anyways, onto cleaner topics! Yesterday I totally rewarded Linkin for being naughty at Target. (I figure he's to young to catch on. Keep your fingers crossed!) I was trying to grab a couple of things I needed, and I ran out of his favorite snack. Once he had his cheese puffs (made from veggies I must add :) he was not going back to the Cheerios. I had to switch his attention to something else, and than it happened. We turned down an aisle and Linkin saw the thing he has been missing most in his life. A gigantic bouncy ball. What could a mother do but buy it for him! It is his new favorite toy. It is hilarious to watch him play with it because he isn't exactly sure what to do with it because it is so big. He wouldn't even let the guy at the store hold it to ring it up. He looked like the statue of the man holding up the world. This kid is crazy in love with playing with balls.

Don't stomp it out with your boots Ted!

Today was one of those days that makes you want to call up your parents and apologise for all of those things that you did when you were a child that you didn't even know that you did. If you were that parent on the other end you would probably laugh and say something like, "I prayed this child into your life." (My mother would never say that though :) Here the story goes.....



I have been down with a migraine for about a week and a half now. I had been staying with my parents and I had tons of help with Linkin with both my family and Doug's. I was on a bunch of meds and couldn't really do much. Today was the first day I was back home and Doug was going back to work and I was going to be on my own. My mom would be coming over for a little bit because she had an appointment out here so she was going to stop by for a sec and see how we were. Well, I woke up this morning at six o'clock (before Linkin woke up) and started giving myself a little pep talk about how I was going to do a great job and how I could totally manage taking care of him and the meds and the whole bit. Well, he wakes up and I feed him. Pretty usual day so far, right? Wrong! I knock over a huge glass and send shards of glass everywhere at the exact moment he poops his pants. I take him in his room to change his poop. I get him all clean and realise I don't have his medicine in there with me to put on his bum so I can't put on his diaper yet. I lock him in his room safe to go get the meds and realize it would be a good time to clean up the glass. He was safe and happy in his bedroom! Seemed like a good idea at the time!



I get the glass cleaned up just in time to hear him banging on the door to let him out. I have his meds this time and his clean diaper and I walk in his room to see him in a HUGE pile of poop that he had smeared all over himself, the carpet, his clothes, the walls, and the door!!!!!!!!!! It was stuck between his toes and he was mashing it between his fingers. I ran to the bathroom to start the tub. He raced after me dragging the poop with him. Why I didn't pick him up I don't know. I am trying to take his clothes off and wipe the poop off with out making it worse and he is getting mad because he wants in the bathtub. He goes all limp fish on me and refuses to help me. (You know what I mean where they get all slippery all of a sudden and jelly like they have no bones in their body) I am like, "Linkin stand up so I can clean off the poop." Doug comes up and says, "Honey you need to be calm." (Men! I swear I wanted to smack him cuz just than he got to say got to go to work! :) Love you babe!) (Oh, and when he walked in and saw the original mess he all of a sudden had to go and "hurry" and get ready really fast!!! wink wink) :-)



I got him all cleaned up and called my mom and asked her, "How do you get poop off of your floor, walls, doors, ceiling, and clothes?" She said, "just shut the door I'll do it when I get there!" Gotta love that mom of mine!!!!!!!!! The poop is clean and so is the baby, but I am scared for life! :) Thank you Linkin for another memory. May I one day get a call from you that your child has pooped everywhere at six in the morning! jk :)

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!