This is their first baby and I told her that I would be willing to help out with her baby shower.  I told her that I would do the invitations for her because it is something that I love to do.  I try to always do my own invitations to events because I just love it.  I did most of my own shower invitations when I was pregnant with Lincoln.  I don’t know how many people will be on the guest list though so I may be biting off more than I can chew but I have been sketching a few ideas.  I will have to see if she still wants me to do them and run some ideas over with her. 

I don’t think she has picked a theme just yet for the shower so I may have to wait until she does that to see if I can come up with something to go along with that.  She is due mid March so there is still plenty of time but if I am making the invitations from scratch, I will need as much time as possible to play around with the ideas. 

I love party planning and this stuff excites me so much!  I don’t know how much involvement I will have with this one though because I think her mom and aunt are going to do most of the planning.  I told her I was willing to help with whatever they want me to help with.  If they don’t want me involved, I won’t be but hopefully I can still do the invitations. 

Another thing I love to do?  Roam the aisles at Michaels and get the ideas and crafty juices flowing.  I could go through their aisles for hours on end just looking at all the stickers, papers, pens, paints, embellishments.  Sad?  I know.

Along with all these milestones and adventures, we will be transitioning to a forward facing carseat.  I have been doing research and searching the online world for reviews and feedback.  There are several models that I like but I have made a decision and I am probably going out this week to buy it.  We are going to go with the Graco Nautilus.  It is good from 20lbs. up to 100lbs.  It is very nice looking and I have played with it at the stores. It has gotten very good reviews, both by experts and customers.  It is the last carseat we will be buying as it goes from a 5 point harness to a backless booster. 

I could have turned Lincoln around on his first birthday if I wanted to and there wasn’t anything really holding me back but I figured that there really wasn’t any rush.  However, he now cries every time I put him in the seat and I am hoping that turning him around will make the difference.  His feet are smooshed up against the back of the seat right now and he hates that.  With Jada and Chuckie, I turned them around right around their first birthdays as well. 

I belong to a July 2007 babies group on Cafemom and there are some posters in that group that preach and preach about waiting to turn your baby around.  I cannot stand it.  I cringe every time I see someone post anything about forward-facing because I know it will end in the carseat crazy ladies preaching.  If I really wanted to hear the information, don’t you think I would research and look up internal decapitation!  Maybe they have changed a few minds with the constant information that they spew at them and I don’t think that’s a bad thing but come on! 

There is a lady that seriously has decided that she is going to keep her child rear-facing until he is 4 years old or maybe even longer.  That poor child is going to be so squished in the seat and will have to sit “criss-cross applesauce” when he is in the car.  I understand the fear of these ladies, I do.  However, my personal choice is to turn my kids around when they are able to be turned around and when I feel like doing it.  Does that make me a bad mother, no, I don’t think so. 

Anyway, I will be sad when I pack away the infant carrier/carseat as this is the last time I will use it.  I just can’t believe that my baby boy is old enough and big enough for the big boy carseat.  I hope he enjoys his new views of the world around him and he can finally see where the heck we are going!

I was still unsure of what my son’s name was going to me.  I was thinking about what the future would hold and how the kids were going to react.  Jada hates hospitals so she was nervous and started to cry when she saw me, even though she knew I was fine.  Heck, I was still smiling and laughing! 

I am known to have very easy and quick labor and deliveries.  I guess I just handle the pain well (with the aid of an epidural) and the delivery part is just easy for me.  It’s just a few pushes and the baby is born!  I have been blessed in that way. 

I didn’t get an epidural until I was about 7cm. and I wasn’t in too much pain but I wanted it so that when it came time to push, I wouldn’t be in too much pain to keep going.  We knew that Lincoln was going to be bigger than the first two kids so I wasn’t going to try to be a natural birth hero or anything.  Looking back, I think I could have though and sometimes I regret not going natural. 

When it came time to push, the doctor joked that if he wasn’t in the delivery room and didn’t examine me, he never would have known that I was about to push out a baby because I was still smiling, talking and laughing.  So, I started to push and push. 

With my first two kids, I pushed for about 15 minutes with Jada and about four pushes with Chuckie (I told you that they were easy!)  With Lincoln, I pushed for about 20 minutes and it was definitely harder than the first two but not painful or unbearable.  I just had to focus a little more and I did something that I never thought I would do.   I used the mirror!  I always wondered how women could do that and always said that I wouldn’t want to see it.  It helped me so much!  It helped me to see how much more I needed to push and to focus on what I was doing.  I can say that I saw my son being born.  I don’t regret not watching with the first two because I just wasn’t in that mindset back then.

At 4:07pm, my second son was born.  He came out looking exactly like Chuckie when he was born.  We were shocked at the exactness of the looks.  He was bigger, almost a full pound more than Chuckie was.  He was 8lbs.4oz. and 21.5inches.

After they cleaned him and I was holding him, the doctor sang Happy Birthday to him.  It was amazing.  This particular doctor is famous for his singing to babies when they are born.  I mean, everyone knows that he does this and it moves every single woman that hears him sing to their newborn baby.  It made me cry.  This happened about a half hour after Lincoln was born and he asked us what the baby’s name was and my response?  “oh my gosh, I forgot about the name, I don’t know!!”  We were stuck between two names and it was up to me to decide.  It was between Andre and Lincoln.  The doctor, instead of saying his name sang, “happy birthday beautiful baby boy-oy”  I wish we would have gotten that on video.  I went with Lincoln, obviously. 

Lincoln stayed with me in the post partum room the entire time.  So did Chuck.  Neither one of them ever left me.  We had our families visit us everyday. 

Fast forward a year.  Today, my baby boy turns one.  I just can’t believe it and I know that everyone says that.  I am sad and happy all at once. 

I now have a walking, talking (though not too many words) tough little guy.  He loves Elmo, playing in water, goldfish crackers and his siblings.  He loves to wrestle and he growls at people.  He loves to snuggle and then push you away.  He’s starting to run and loves to be chased.  He makes funny faces and loves to make people laugh. 

He is our little bubby.  At times, I question whether it was the right decision to have another baby.  Then I realize that I question how we ever lived without him so much more.  He completes our family, he makes us whole.  We had an abundance of love to give and there isn’t anyone better that we could give that love to than our little Lincoln.  He has given us so much joy and so many precious memories that we’ll carry with us forever.  I feel so blessed to have this child and I cannot wait to watch him grow up.  Happy Birthday bubby, Mama loves you.

This is it for me.  There are no plans for a fourth child.  This is my last baby turning one and the final chapter on babyhood.  The infant chapter is wrapping up with a nice climax but I know that a new chapter is starting.  The walking and talking will be fun and exciting too but I have to look back and say “I remember when…” 

He will be one three weeks from today.  I will look back that day and remember all the wonderful feelings I had when he was born, the first time I held him, the doctor singing happy birthday to him, the feeling of being a new mom again.  I’m happy those memories stick with me because that was such a great day.

I will probably cry on the 28th.  As we sing to him and look forward to all the great times ahead, I will look back and celebrate the year we’ve had.