Happy Birthday Lincoln

Our sweet Lincoln is 1 year old today. And oh what a year it has been! I think it has been the hardest year of my life but at the same time I can hardly list the countless blessings which we have been given as well. Lincoln is the light of our life. He has brought our family closer together, has allowed us to serve and has helped me realize what an incredible family and friends we are surrounded by, who have been nothing but supportive through every single trial. In just one year of life he has already taught me so many more lessons than I will probably ever teach him in his life. We love him to pieces and he truly makes my heart melt every single day.

I was worried that this birthday would be kind of bitter/sweet for me, reflecting back on what a difficult year it has been and the realization that Lincoln is definitely NOT functioning at a 1-year-old level developmentally. But honestly, the day was great! I have the greatest friends and family in the whole world! Both Sarah and Brandi brought over cupcakes so that Lincoln's special day didn't get missed (since I was still a bit under the weather from the appendectomy I had the previous day!) Good thing his buddy Quinn came over to help us celebrate!

yes, Lincoln has major drool coming out of his mouth in the above picture but I had to put this cute picture up!

Ha! I love the above picture. Lincoln has an entire cupcake in front of him and all Quinn got were some crumbs. Poor guy!

"I came to this party and all I got were some crumbs."

We love you Lincoln. We love that you have come into our family and have reminded us of what life is truly all about!

The laugh

Lincoln has the cutest laugh in the whole world . . . says his mother. It's actually really funny and he snorts a lot. It's contagious. When you hear it you can't help but laugh. Jezelle lives to make her brother laugh. If she finds something that makes him laugh she will do it over and over again until he has the hiccups from laughing so hard. Below is just one example. For some reason on this particular night Lincoln thought it was so funny to watch Jezelle brush her teeth.

One Big KISS!!!!!!

There is a local radio station here called 106.1 KISS FM. Since I graduated from college and moved home I have been listening to their morning talk show hosts- Jackie and Bender. Every spring they do a radiothon to raise money for Seattle Children's hospital. They call it "One big KISS for the kids". It's usually a 2 or 3 day event and they play really sad (and some happy) stories about children who are sick and have basically grown up living at Children's. They talk about what an incredible hospital it is and all the amazing things they do there! Basically the radio station does a really good job at tugging at your heart strings so that you'll want to donate money. .

. . you know the drill.

Well, this year their radiothon has a whole new meaning to me. I've always looked forward to listening to the stories, as I volunteered there in high school and did an internship in college. I have always known how blessed we were to have such an incredible hospital so close by and have witnessed first hand how amazing their facility is. But now, I REALLY know, because they have taken care of my son. My gratitude to the hospital has grown ten fold in this past year and I feel so incredibly blessed for the wonderful staff there, who have helped us get through these past 11 1/2 trying months and have quite frankly helped Lincoln survive.

Children's philosophy is that they will never turn anyone away. Hence why they rely so heavily on fundraisers. I feel so blessed to have insurance which has covered much of Lincoln's incredibly expensive hospital and doctor visits. However, in January we suddenly found out that the formula and some of his medical supplies which he has received for the past 11 months will not be covered by insurance. And quite honestly it's a bill that made me cry. And so with the advice from the financial aid office, we applied for financial help through the hospital and they have taken care of a significant portion of our bill. Although we still owe a substantial portion, some of it has been taken from us. And so again, the meaning of this fundraiser becomes even more significant to our family. It hits close to home because we are able to benefit from those incredible fundraisers and generous donations that people give.

So, now after my own sad story, if you feel like donating go here:http://kissfmseattle.com/pages/events.html?feed=332448&article=8031312