Birthday Celebration!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINKIN!

I thought you all would enjoy "seeing" Linkin enjoy his first birthday cake.

This is the first "innocent" taste of frosting. Notice how he is looking at us for some indication on how to proceed. :)

Now he is getting a bit more into it!

Linkin didn't eat much of the cake, except when we would feed it to him.

He was pretty proud of his work and kept clapping. It was cute, but aggghhh...Cake was everywhere!

He eventually worked the cake into his ears and hair too.

We made the unfortunate mistake of not stripping him down to a diaper before we started, so we had a fun time removing his clothes before the bath. I love his little blue-frosting beard.

What a cute little man!!

We also caught the "eating" of the birthday cake on video, so I will try and get it posted soon.

Socks, the dishwasher, and corn on the cob

Okay, so I am slacking! It has been over two weeks since my last post. It is truly amazing how fast time flies and I can't believe Linkin's birthday is in two days... it seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. Anyway, he is growing fast and is such a funny kid—He LOVES socks. He will carry a pair of socks everywhere—sometimes one in each hand, sometimes two in one hand, and often he'll carry one in his mouth. He puts his socks in his shoes, in his dad's shoes, in his toy bucket, in the drawer, everywhere... Linkin also LOVES to "help" me with the dishes and no matter where he is in the house or what he is doing, if he hears me opening the dishwasher he hurries right over to give me a hand! (What a sweet helpful boy!) A couple of weeks ago I found Linkin with his socks at the dishwasher.

Maybe he thought they needed washed?

And of course he can't resist with the cheesy grin!

And, I have to share these pictures too. We had corn on the cob the other night for dinner. Linkin thought he was in heaven. He ate the corn good, but I think he spent more time gnawing on the end of the cob. :)

We Are In Trouble Now!!!

He's been "practicing" for weeks, but suddenly today Linkin took off and was walking all over the house... the busy guy is now going to be even busier (and life will be crazier)!!! Now, if only he would wear those shoes we bought him... :)

Linkin's Picture Day

We had pictures taken of Linkin this past weekend. They aren't the best, but there are a few that we liked. To view the pictures, go to http://www.thesmilestation.com and enter the following:

Customer Name: April Simpson
Access Code: LTTT0910104144TAR

Note: the Customer Name and Access Code should be entered exactly as it appears above. Access to the images will expire on 11/27/2008.

Unfortunately, his pictures were scheduled the same day as the soup accident happened, so we didn't get nearly as many good smiles out of him as we would have otherwise. Oh well—there will be more picture days to come, right? We hope you enjoy!

Crazy for Scentsy

Check out the hottest new thing in candles!

Some of you already know that I recently decided to start selling Scentsy candles. These candles are awesome and I am so super excited to be involved with such a fun product! If you are not already familiar with the product, please visit my Web site www.scentsy.com/asimpson or email me aprildsimpson@hotmail.com to learn more or to place an order (you can order online at my Web site). Scentsy is the safest way to scent your home with many delightful scents to choose from. I would love to be your Scentsy consultant and I hope to hear from you!

You must be a mom!

As Ben, Linkin, and I were driving home from dinner last night I looked down at my shirt. It was covered in sugar (the rim of my strawberry lemonade glass had been dipped in sugar) and had food smeared on each of my shoulders. I shook my head as I tried to wipe some of the food off. I sighed and looked at Ben. He got a big smile on his face and said, "You must be a mom!" I couldn't help but return the smile and giggle a bit to myself as I thought, "Yes I am!" My "mom" clothes are not much of a fashion statement, but one that I will accept and proudly own as I experience the joy and happiness I feel when I see Linkin smile. He lights up the world! He truly is a bit of heaven on earth.

Not only did I "look" like a mom yesterday, but I also experienced true emotions of a mom—panic, worry, and guilt, just to name a few. You see, yesterday Linkin had his first "major" accident. Here's how it happened. I was making soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and had just finished putting the soup and Ben's sandwich on the table. I called Ben over to let him know lunch was ready. Linkin was "helping me" in the kitchen like usual—crawling around under my feet, getting into the cupboards, and pulling out all of my kitchen towels and utensils. As I was putting my sandwich together on the stove to cook, I noticed Linkin scooting along over to the kitchen table where I assumed he would go over to Ben to beg for food (something he does almost every time we eat). Then suddenly I hear Linkin screaming in pain and look over just in time to see that he had stood up next to the table and reached far enough to grab my bowl of hot soup which had spilled all down him! I instantly felt like I wanted to throw up. Ben immediately grabbed Linkin trying to wipe off the soup, ran to the sink where we soaked Linkin with cold water. He of course was screaming and crying like crazy. We got his clothes off a quickly as possible (his shirt was still super hot while we were hosing him down) and you could see his whole arm, the left side of his face and neck, and his chest were bright red. It was HORRIBLE! We kept rinsing him with cool water for several minutes then wrapped him in a blanket to give him loves and comfort him. Although I know he was in some pain, he recovered surprisingly quickly! We kept our eye on him and about 30 minutes later noticed two small blisters had developed on his forearm. He seemed a bit fussy, but was obviously exhausted from the event and fell asleep in my arms some 45 minutes later. As I sat there holding him looking at him, I was really beating myself up for not preventing the accident from happening. That soup had been so hot! I can only imagine the pain that he felt and wished so badly it had happened to me rather than the beautiful, innocent, sweet boy who was now sleeping in my arms. Needless to say, the day was rather emotional for me but I was reminded how truly blessed I am to be a mom!

The good news is that Linkin wasn't seriously hurt and his blisters are healing quickly. Kids sure are resilient (thank goodness!)!

Pictures taken today

Let the fun begin!

I did it... I finally gave in to the peer pressure as I am now officially a blogger! I guess I'll give it a try and see how it goes. We don't have extraordinarily exciting lives, but I am happy to share some of our "moments" with our friends and family we love so dearly.

So, Linkin's 1st birthday is in one month. I can't believe it! Where has the time gone? Anyway, I decided that it was time to buy Linkin his first pair of shoes. I told Ben I was going to buy Linkin Pedipeds and he couldn't believe I was going to spend $30 on a pair of shoes for Linkin. I went to the store and bought a pair of Robeez instead (still paid $30) but when Ben got home from work and saw them, he wasn't impressed! We all went back to the store to exchange them for a pair that "didn't look like moccasins". We ended up buying a pair of See Kai Run shoes — super cute — that cost us an additional $10. It is pretty amazing we are willing to pay that much for a pair of shoes I am sure Linkin will outgrow within a month or two. Oh well, he is so worth it. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful, happy, and sweet little boy!