One Year Old

It's hard to believe but yesterday, December 5th, Lincoln turned 1!!!! To say the least it has been an amazing year. Lincoln has come so far and grown so much. We couldn't be more thankful for our little boy and all the joy he brings.

We are thankful for all the ways God has been faithful to our family. Friday we drove past the hospital at the exact time we were checking in a year ago. We reminisced about the whole experience and in some ways it still seems surreal.

To celebrate his birthday we spent time with family and a few friends in Modesto. One of Lincoln's favorite activities has been to read books. He loves it when we read to him and can even sit on the floor and amuse himself for half an hour studying the pages of a book. When he reads to himself he even points out the pictures like we do! Too cute! Since he has a love for books and we thoroughly enjoyed reading to him we chose to do a Dr Seuss themed first birthday party.

Grandma (April's mom) did an amazing job on the cake, and was able to incorporate lots of Dr Seuss characters and elements... see if you can remember what books the characters are from. She even incorporated on of April's favorite Dr Suess phrases, "A person's a person no matter how small." It seemed fitting since he came so tiny!

To our surprise Lincoln decided to take a nap for the first part of the party. We ended up having to wake him up after a while. Since he didn't get a full nap he was a little reluctant to join in the celebration. Lukily he warmed up to it after a bit.

A funny moment happened when we gave him his very own cupcake. Against better judgement I (April) went ahead and lit the #1 candle and placed it right in front of him. Just as his little fingers reached the flame I was able to blow it out. Lincoln was safe... but a bit startled. At least it was a good laugh! Lincoln was slow to get started, but definitely enjoyed his sweet treat!

Lincoln was thrilled to receive some fun toys, and has been playing almost non-stop this morning. He was laughing and screaming with excitement.

Thanks to all who have celebrated his birthday with us! Thank you all for your prayers and support over the past year. It is so important to us that Lincoln grow up knowing how many people love him and how they prayed for him from the very start.

As we look back on the journey we've been on since December 5, 2008, we know we are blessed. And we look forward with anticipation of watching our little miralce grow even more.

Thanksgiving

We drove up to Oregon for Thanksgiving to visit Jeremy's family. Jeremy's parents and grandpa live there, along with Julie (sister) and her family. Jodi (sister) and her family joined us from LA, but we all missed Jen (sister) and her family this year.

Lincoln did a great job driving up to Oregon (an 11 hour trip). He slept most of the way since we drove through the night. We reached Eugene, OR, and found a Target parking lot since Jeremy needed a quick power nap. We took Lincoln out of his carseat and he was so excited to camp out in the van. It took him a while to calm down and let us get some sleep. His excitement and silliness that night was one of the first highlights of our trip... Even in the most unlikely situations he brings us so much joy.

We had a great time celebrating Lincoln's first Thanksgiving. He adores his cousins and so do we. The kids (8 of the 11 cousins) all had a great time playing. We love watching them grow up, and it should be fun to see how they all interact as they get older.

(Pictured above in order by age are Alison, Megan, Hannah, Gracie, Molly, Luke, Jacob, and Lincoln.... from 13 to 1!!!!)

We made sure we got a great picture of the four generations of Brown family men. Great Grandpa was happy to finally meet Lincoln.

We were very Thankful for a great week with family and can't wait to see them again soon.

11 Months

As of last Wednesday Lincoln is 11 months old! I still can't believe how time flies. The other day I was going through a bunch of files on our computer when I found some videos we had taken while Lincoln was in the hospital. Our idea was to make a "day in the life" type of video to document what it was like to go back and forth to spend time with Lincoln while he was in the hospital. Needless to say, we never really found the time. Maybe some day we'll have the chance to put something together but for now it's just a reminder of where we've come from, and how much Lincoln has changed in the last 11 months. Crazy to think we're already planning about his 1st birthday party!

This past Friday our nurse came out from the county (the program that tracks a preemie's development). As always she was very pleased with his development (9 months old corrected). He even surprised her by being able to do a few things ahead of the development chart. To name a few of the things he really enjoys to do right now: he tries to laugh like us, he loves to listen to music and clap to it, he loves to read, he loves to try and play tug-o-war with our dog and her toys, he recently discovered Elmo and is often mesmerized by him, he loves to try and help us feed him, he loves to watch other kids play, and last but not least...he loves cheerios! Thanks to whoever created that miraculous little cereal!

As I mentioned before, time continues to fly by and he is growing up way too fast. It seems like just yesterday we were learning how to give him a sponge bath in the NICU. Now we are starting to give Lincoln baths in a big bathtub (with mom and dad really close of course).

One highlight from this past month was going to buy Lincoln his first drum. He loves to clap and bang on things so figured that it's never too early to let him play some real drums. And we've got to admit, he seems to have some natural rhythm! Another highlight from October was dressing Lincoln up for a Halloween party with some friends. Yes, it was probably more fun for us as parents...but he definitely made one cute giraffe!














With Thanksgiving just a few short weeks away, we've got to stop and realize how thankful we are to have such a blessing of a healthy and joy filled little boy. This time last year we were preparing to spend the holidays with family...having no clue what was going to happen right after Thanksgiving. This year we prepare for the holidays with a totally new perspective on life. I know this sounds so stinkin cliche, but God's plans are always so much better than ours. The adventure we set out on 11 months ago is proof. We are reminded of God's blessing every day when we look at our little 19lb giggle factory.

10 Months!

This past Monday Lincoln turned 10 months old. To be honest, I could probably fill up pages and pages of what we've been up to since our last post (almost an entire month ago)...but I won't. Instead I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

One thing I would like to make sure I get out there for you guys to read though is that we are so thankful for the blessing God has given us by entrusting us with Lincoln! Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know you've probably heard this from me before...but God reminded me of this in a very vivid way recently...a way that just made me stop and think, "Wow, life is more precious than I could ever attempt to explain!" It's true - for some really weird reason, we just take life for granted way too much. But the reality is that life is a gift, a blessing, and especially in our case - a lot of joy! I'm still in awe - when I watch him sleep - that God created this little boy and chose to bless us with him. I hope you can look around at the people you love the most and thank God for them. He is an awesome loving God who creates some really special things.

A guy from our church made these really cool benches
for a couple of the babies at church. Lincoln is very proud of his.

Lincoln "tried out the piano" at a friend's house Lincoln got to meet his cousins in Southern California for the first time

Lincoln's first time in a swing...he loved playing next to the bigger boys!He discovered that the cousins have something very important...toys!

Helping Dad celebrate his birthday Checking out the lyrics on a new CD with Dad This is what happens when Lincoln hangs out at Daddy's work:-)

Giants Game!!!

This past Friday we were able to go to a Giants game. As a Dad, I've got to say I was pretty excited to take Lincoln to his first baseball game. I realize that he probably had no idea what was going on and he won't remember it. Nevertheless, it was still a lot of fun to go to a game as a family. Lincoln always seems to love being around people, and with the Giants vs. the Dodgers on a Friday night in S.F. ...there was no shortage of people. Lincoln did great and it was definetly something we'll have to do again!

Leaving for the game...decked out in our favorite team's colors

Thanks to some connections we were able to sit behind home plate for a while"There are people everywhere" - Lincoln The "ummm....our Giants aren't doing so great tonight" look

Lincoln sleeping through some innings that the Giants wished were a dream It's over...time to go home!

9 months

Last Saturday marked 9 months that we've been "experiencing" parenthood, and as you can probably tell from recent pictures our tiny "preemie" is no more. We now have a little boy who is full of smiles, big wet kisses, and lots of energy. It seems like everyday we wake up and Lincoln is learning new things and blowing us away. People have told us, "Just wait, he will be all grown up before you know it!" While we believed everyone, I don't think we ever fully accepted the fact that our little 2lb 14ouncer would actually grow up so fast.

Lincoln (9 months) & his buddy Malachi (4 months)

On our way to a Labor Day pool party

Lincoln & Malachi - Already planning their shenanigans

Playing "roll the ball"

Ummm...Lincoln...

So...tonight when I came home from working with the Jr. High group at church April told me a funny story I thought you might get a laugh out of. Apparently Lincoln is getting a little more mobile, as well as more comfortable at attempting to play with our dog Belle. While Lincoln was playing on his own on a blanket in the living room, April went into the kitchen for something. When she came back into the living room, she saw that Lincoln had managed to move himself off the blanket and April said something she never thought she'd say, "Lincoln don't eat the rug!" Yes, you read that correctly, our soon-to-be 9 month old was laying on the ground trying to eat the corner of our living room rug. Are we not feeding him enough or something?

As I mentioned earlier, Lincoln is also starting to try and play with our 2 year old Boston Terrier. The amazing thing to us is that our dog, Belle, has been completely gentle (well except for the time yesterday when she attempted to jump over him but landed a few inches short :-). If Belle is playing with a dog toy near Lincoln, you can pretty much guarantee that Lincoln will be doing everything possible to grab onto the other end of the toy. In fact, after the whole rug eating "incident" Lincoln also attempted to chew on one of Belle's toys. Trust me, I realize it's totally gross but I don't think we're going to be able to stop the two of them from playing with eachother, especially as Lincoln gets older.

Getting older is also something that we're realizing we're not going to be able to stop him from doing. A few weeks ago we attended a reunion for all of the preemies from the NICU at John Muir Walnut Creek. It was a lot of fun to catch up with our nurses and doctors and to see other babies that were born around the same time as Lincoln...but it just reminded us of how fast he is growing. We're so thankful that God has grown our little boy from the tiny baby he was during his time in the NICU.

Since our last update we also had the chance to spend time with one of my sisters, some nieces, and a nephew who were visiting some relatives in the area. Lincoln had a great time playing with cousins Megan, Molly, and Luke, and Aunt Jodi.

We also had time to hang out in Modesto and play with Grandma and Grandpa (aka April's parents).

It's been quite a busy summer, and Lincoln is growing and changing before our eyes. We are trying to savor every moment. Before we know it we'll be running after Lincoln. "No Lincoln you can't eat that. Leave the dog alone. Wait...where's Lincoln?"

Rock Star

A few days ago we were getting ready to go somewhere and decided to try and give Lincoln his first rockstar hairdo. He doesn't exactly have a ton of hair, but he rocked the faux-hawk for the day and it was worth a few pictures.

Busy times

As I'm sure many of you would agree, this summer is blazing by! April, Lincoln, and I have been extremely busy over the past couple of weeks...but as always we've been having a lot of fun too! To give you a glimpse of what we've been up to recently, here are a few pictures and videos. We hope you are having a great summer and finding ways to spend time with the people who matter most to you.

A quick trip to Sausalito to have dinner with some relatives who were stopping

through California on their way from Colorado to Oregon
April and Lincoln joined me and some high school students for a day trip to Santa Cruz last week. Lincoln experienced the beach and ocean for the first time!

Lincoln sitting in his shade tent...enjoying the ocean view

Lincoln turned eight months old this past week. Thanks to Mommy for the cool cake:-)
Lincoln learned to sit up on his own. He also got another visit from a nurse who keeps an eye on his developmental progress. Lincoln is doing great and is in the 50th percentile (on the preemie height/weight chart) in all categories. He's even ahead in some developmental and social areas! He is catching up quick!

We've learned that Lincoln is a very social little boy. He refuses to miss out on the action and loves it when we have people over to our house. This past Friday night he wanted to help me play cards. Here he is trying to help me make my next move.