Missing

I have not posted much lately on the blog, and I really miss it! I love having the record of all the fun stuff and changes going on with Lincoln, plus it is a change to write and use my brain cells, which seem to be slowly atrophying these days...

Lincoln has reached a stage of tantrums--some days worse than others--but, it is tiring, to say the least. I try to remember that he is going through a lot of changes--new teeth, a HUGE growth spurt (seriously, he looks enormous to me...), learning new words and signs, and as he is figuring more things out, he is experiencing some frustration as his language abilities are not quite up to speed with his cognitive ability. He's getting there, though! Lucas and I have counted at least 20 spoken words, plus 30-40 signs. One of my favorite new words is "woof woof." So stinkin' adorable.

Along with the tantrums keeping me away from the blog, I have been glued to computer every evening after Lincoln went to sleep--more specifically, glued to Quickbooks. When I opened up my store in August, I figured I would start off using a spreadsheet in Excel and upgrade to Quickbooks when I started turning a profit. Sigh. Luckily, my dad is an accountant and happened to come down to visit recently, so he was able to help me correct the error of my ways. I now have balanced books, paid taxes, and free evenings. THANKS, DAD!!! I must say, bookkeeping makes me want to poke my eyes out, so hats off to all you accountants and business peeps out there who do that on a daily basis. I am trying to learn, but it is really not my cup of tea.

While all this has been going on, my business has all but stalled out. I am so ready to get back into the swing of things--start the store blog back up, start sending out the newsletter again, and add new items to the stock. Now that I know what sells and what doesn't, I will have an easier time deciding what to order. I have also recently become a certified baby sign language instructor, and am looking forward to delving into that this summer!

I have a bunch of blog updates in the works; just figured an explanation of my absence would be appropriate first! I also have some changes planned around here--things that will make it easier for me to stay consistent with blogging and hopefully keep better records!

To end, here is an awesome picture of Lincoln. He turned 16 months on Monday--ridiculous, I know! The other day he brought me the sling and the doll and said "uh uh uh" and signed please until I put them on him...so cute.