Happy 1st Birthday, Lincoln!

One year ago on Christmas morning, we received one of the sweetest gifts. Lincoln Thomas Paudler was born at 4:09 am at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

Birth story and fun memories . . . my due date was December 24th and my water broke at about 11:40 pm on Christmas Eve. I called the hospital and the nurse told me to take my time coming in. I, on the other hand, was not going to take my time. I wanted to make sure I got to the hospital in time for an epideral! As we were driving to the hospital, my contractions QUICKLY got WORSE. In between contractions, I used the cell phone to call the hospital. I said, "I know it's Christmas Eve so I just wanted to call and make sure someone is there to give me an epidural." They barely had time to say "yes" and I had to hang up for another contraction.

Once the epidural kicked in, I tried to reason with the nurses that I'd really like to take a nap before the baby came because that's what I did with my last baby. They told me no, this baby was on his way. I remember being very disappointed with this answer. Funny looking back on it. Then a few hours later we held a precious Christmas gift in our arms. He was the only baby born at that hospital on Christmas that year!

This was the last picture taken on Christmas Eve . . .

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Lincoln celebrated his 1st birthday in Austria.

Lincoln is taking a few steps on his own!

Happy Birthday Lincoln! We love you!!!!

A few more vacation pictures

I know I already posted lots of vacation pictures, but here are just a few more. . .

The boys loved the pool!

Yes, Lincoln really is this big!

This is the kid's bedroom which was right off our our master bedroom/living room area. Pretty Cool!

We were on the ground floor, so we walked out of our room and this was our backyard.

Sitting in our backyard with the Alps in the background.

Picture from our backyard. We could zoom in on our camera and see the slopes where DJ learned to ski.

Back view of the hotel.

Town of Hermagor.

My highlight was walking with Tom through the different shops while the kids were at Kid's Club and Ski School.

Another picture of the town. Isn't it beautiful?

Merry Christmas from Austria

Merry Christmas! We're still in Austria, so this is going to be quick. All of these were taken at the hotel. It's a kinderhotel and we've had the best experience. They have an indoor playground and Kid's Club. It's all inclusive, so we haven't had to worry about planning any meals. They even took us on a hike to cut down our own little Christmas tree for our room. Here are some pictures so grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, and cousins can share in some of our Christmas. We miss you!

Learning to ski in the Alps

DJ said that going to ski school was the highlight of his week. Learning to downhill ski in the Alps at age 8, pretty cool. Here are video clips and pictures to capture his fun memories.

picture of DJ and his instructor

video clip