Friday Fun!

Tristan and I had a fun-filled Friday; we enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather and went swimming with a couple of friends of ours, Grace and her mommy, Laurie and Jaxson and his mommy, Erin. Laurie was so sweet and had us all over to her amazing back yard get away, we ordered pizza and swam from 12:30pm until nearly 5:00pm. Tristan had a BLAST! He floated around in the floaty, played in the fountain and tried to escape my arms a few times thinking that he could swim on his own...I think I am going to sign him up for mommy and me swimming lessons. After we were done Tristan came home and slept very good after a day of soaking up the sun! He is definitely my little water baby, he can't get enough of the pool. :)


Such a lovely pool, Tristan enjoyed it!


Trying to taste the water!


Me and my boy!




At the entrance of the pool is a little fountain and Tristan sat there for about 45 minutes and played it in.


Grace and Tristan floating with Laurie.


A-dorable!


Both sporting their hats! :)


Exhausted from having so much fun!


Baby Jaxson, too little to swim but still having a good time!

Learning to crawl!

Make sure to mute the music at the bottom before watching!

Picture Perfect

Tristan's weekly photoshoot! :)


Little boy blue!


Such a little ham for the camera!


For those of you who don't know, Carters is having a HUGE 50-70 percent off sale (thats where I got this outfit from)


After church on Sunday.


Notice that his feet already touch the foot-rest, my son is tall!


He loves his organic teething cookies.


We made a stepping stone for Mimi's garden to give her when she comes home from the hospital.


TK's new baseball hat!


My little angel.

"The No Cry Sleep Solution"

As many of you know I have been having trouble getting my Mr. to sleep through the night, thankfully that has all changed! He is not sleeping all through the night yet but he is well on his way. After searching, praying and finding an amazing book I feel like I have finally found the answer to what works best for Tristan and I. I am not against the "cry it out" method, but it did not work for us. After several week long attempts of letting him cry...scream in his crib, I was determined to find a better solution. I did not want either of us to dread bedtime but to look forward to that special time to bond before we said goodnight.

The name of the book is "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. I went into the book store looking for the popular book "Baby Wise" which uses the cry it out method and it was out of stock. I don't think that was by chance but by God's plan, he directed me to this book that I have found absolutely helpful. The basic concept of the book is understanding your child's needs and sleep paterns. The first day and night it has you journal your baby's sleep habits. A child Tristan's age should be getting 12 to 14 hours of sleep at night (he was getting about 8) and an additional 3 to 4 during the day in naps (he was getting 2 hours tops). Other than our sleep issues, I have had zero problems with my little man, he is easy going, well tempered and a complete joy; the problem was really me, not him.

After journaling and finding out how he sleeps I kept on reading the book and learned some effective ways to enhance his sleeping patterns. Among those ways are establishing a consistent nightly routine which we had but there was definitely room for improvement. Before I would give Tristan a bath, feed him, and put him to bed...ha, rock him to sleep in the living room or just let him fall asleep on me. But as soon as I put him in his crib he would start to cry. Now, we start our routine at 5pm with his baby food dinner and go immediately to the bath, read 2 bed time stories, say our prayer and bible verse, nurse then I rock him to sleep and put him in his bed. This author is NOT against rocking your child however she does believe that after a few weeks of consistency that you can build up to just laying the baby in his crib and he will fall asleep. Already Tristan is responding so well and sleeping 4 to 5 hour stretches which has NEVER been the case before. Other suggestions were introducing a security blanket we have had for quite sometime, and keeping the hour before bedtime very low key; dim lights, quiet voices low stimulation...something that our household is not typically but we are adjusting to. I highly recommend the book for any of you having sleep debrivation or just curious. We have only been doing this for 4 days and I have seem tremendous growth. 8 months of no sleep is way too long for me, and any other human being! :)


Asleep in HIS crib!!

Shopping Cart Stud!

I went to Babies R Us and found this percious giraffe print shopping cart cover. They are pricey but so worth it because Tristan loves sitting up and observing with those big brown eyes of his. I knew if I didn't get one he would be chewing on the cart handle, buckels...anything he could which is not very sanitary! He is getting so big, so fast and I am loving every single minute of it!

Bubba's Bathseat!

The bathseat I got Tristan FINALLY came in and he LOVES it!! I know they are nearly impossible to find in stores because of the fear from manufacters of children drowning due to parental neglegence but I will never ever leave me little man in his seat alone so that is not a concern for us. I certainly was not going to let him sit freely in the tub with out support. I googled and found this seat, its called aquababy bathseat and is available in blue, pink and white for those of you who are interested. Here are some pictures of my little man enjoying his seat!


He has learned to splash mommy!


Having so much fun!


Squeaky clean!

Mom Update

Today was the BIG day, mom's bone marrow transplant. Everything went GREAT and she is doing very well, PRAISE GOD! I am sitting in her hospital room now as she rest in her bed, this is an all too familiar place for us BUT this hospital stay is like none we have every had. Our hopes are HIGH because we BELIEVE that she will be HEALED through the blood of the Lamb. Even though I have my own baby, I know that I am still my mom's baby and she is still my mommy! First thing I did when I got here was crawl in her hospital bed with her and lay my head on her chest, despite all the tubes coming out of it. She is so STRONG and even after undergoing everything that she has, looks BEAUTIFUL. My sisters said that she was curling her hair and putting makeup on this morning, who says you can't look pretty in the hospital? :)

Thank you to my wonderful aunt Pam who came and stayed for an entire week, leaving her own family in Corpus to be here with us and my mother. She was running all over the place from Fort Worth to Dallas and I know that my mom LOVED having her here and was sad to see her leave.

My mother could be leaving the hospital next week if everything continues to look well so please keep her in your prayers. She has been feeling a bit nauseated but that is due to the medications she is on. Believe it or not, the woman still has hair!! Even after all those rounds of kemo and the transplant! God is so faithful and so good to His people. He knows how precious a woman's hair is to her and has let my mother hold on to every last bit of hers that she can.

Her hospital room is VERY sterile. No children under the age of 11 are even allowed on this floor of the hospital and anyone who enters the room must wash their hands before. I had to sneeze earlier and had to run across to the other side of the room before anything came out...then scrub, scrub, scrub my hands! No flowers are allowed in her room and of course no one who is sick, thinks they may be sick or has been around anyone who is sick. I know many of you have sent sweet messages asking what you can do and I think the most needed thing will be meals in the next upcoming weeks for us that are home and then when mom gets home. I have been doing my best to keep the house clean, prepare dinner at least twice a week for my sisters, stepdad and myself and take care of baby T.

Speaking of Tristan, that is the hardest part for my mom. He isn't allowed up here so she misses him SO much! I recorded a message from him on the video recorder and brought it up here for her to watch and she was thrilled. My best friend Jill came in town from Denton to watch him while I sit up here with my mom. This is the first time I have gotten to come up here because I have either been working or with the baby. So, THANK YOU Jill, you are the best friend a girl could ever ask for! :) Well that is a not so brief update and she will be updating her blog tomorrow if she can stay awake long enough to! :)

...You all know I can't post an entry with out putting up some pictures, my step-dad says I am addicted to my camera. haha



The Dallas skyline is the view from her room, it's beautiful at night!


Momma knocked out in her bed, poor thing!


There are 3 tubes here in her chest that have been in for about a month now. They took blood from one, her bone marrow out of one and then put her bone marrow back in through the 3rd which was the transplant.


Lovin on my mom!


She is still a little out of it...she may not remember taking this one!


So happy to see her smile.


She is going to KILL me for this but we got bored and tried on my mom's wig since she obviously won't be needing it!


My turn!

...I have a picture of Tristan wearing it and it is the FUNNIEST thing you will ever see, I'll post that picture later; it's on my blackberry.

Thank you again for all the sweet words of encouragement, prayers and love.

Summertime Baby Boy!

Tristan is enjoying this beautiful weather as am I! We have gone to the Park where he got to swing for the first time in the swings and LOVED it. Everytime he went back and then forwards towards me he would squeal, it was precious! Then on Tuesday we went swimming at one of my bestfriend/college roomate, Krystle's house and Tristan cried when I took him out of the pool so I guess we're going to be spending a lot of time in the water this summer! I love taking him outside, letting him get fresh air...I am determined to keep my boy active, I don't plan on our summers ever consisting of play video games or watching tv ( Sorry TK but mommy may not ever be buying you a game system...!) I want to take him to the zoo, botanical garden, on picnics and sit in the floor and play with all his favorite toys. Life is too short to spend it consumed with technology! Anyway here are some pictures of my little hunk starting his summer off with a bang!


About to walk to the park!



Swinging together!


Such a cool dude.


Getting some sun! :)


Hydrating himself!


Krystle and T


Our first swim together!

Tristan's friends

Tristan is so blessed already to have several "friends" in his life. Even though they are babies, it is so sweet to see Tristan and his buddies play together, jabber and have all the baby fun they can have. Here are some recent pictures of the babes in Tristan's life! :)

Meet Faith, Grace and Kinsley...he has a play date with a friend that is a BOY, tomorrow (Bryce)...good thing because he needs some male companionship!



Faith Alexa Presley (She is special and has 2 middle names!)



Ella Grace (She goes by Grace...and has the best, chunkiest thighs I have ever seen!)



Kinsley Faith (her mom and I met in the 8th grade and remained friends since!)

I watch Faith every Monday and Wednesday so I have a ton of pictures of her and Tristan playing together; here are a few...




Playing in Faith's crib!


Gracie and her mommy were so sweet and stepped in to watch Tristan the last 4 Tuesdays of my semester since my mother was unable to watch TK and I could not miss any more school.



Kinsley does not live in Texas so we unfortunately don't get to see them as much but she and her mother were in town last week so the babies got to reunite! (last time they saw each other Tristan was 5 days old!

May Madness

It has been a busy past week as my family has tried to prepare for my mom going to the hospital for 3 weeks. Lets face it, households run because of moms and ours is no different. :) But my step-dad will do a great job playing Mr. Mom and my sisters and I are plenty old enough to help out and share in the duties of everyday life. I am trying to enjoy my ONE week off before I start summer school and with a certain little boy who is refusing to sleep more than 2 hour stretches, that isn't too easy. Tristan was doing really well at night, only waking up about once or twice and sleeping in his crib the majority of the night but something happened...I think teething and all of our hard work went down the drain. I really am exhausted and in desparate need of one night 6 or 7 consecutive hours of SLEEP. I'm praying for that night and all the moms who are going through the same thing are saying the same prayer I am sure.

On a lighter note, Tristan is EIGHT months old today! So Happy 8 month birthday baby T...I can't believe we're only 4 months away from celebrating his 1st birthday. :( My little boy is growing up fast! Today I took TK and Faith to the park and they both got to swing for the first time in the park swing and LOVED it. It was so sweet to see their little expressions as they glided through the air together.

Overrall things are going good, mom is at the hospital now getting treatment and preparing for her bone marrow transplant Friday. She will be there from today until up to 3 weeks from now. I know what it is like to be home for days at a time and not to have her there and I don't like it, it's not the same; so I hope the next few weeks go by fast. We had a really good day together yesterday as a family celebrating what is to come for her and enjoying one last day out in public before she is isolated for the next few months. After church we went to lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant in Southlake called Buca di Beppo and of course you can't be in Southlake and not go to the Rocky Mountain chocolate factory, so we did and got many yummy treats and we ended the night at our once a month Sunday night church service. It was the PERFECT way to conclude this spiritual journey we have all been on the past 6 years with my mom. Church is so much more than "church" at Gateway it really is a time to see God move and listen to Him speak and that is exactly what happened last night. Please keep my mother in your prayers and check her blog for more medical updates, she does a much better job explaining things than I do! Her site is cindymafima.blogspot.com


Even though he is keeping me up all night he still has the sweetest face I've ever seen!


It's clearly time to lower the crib mattress.


He loves to chew on his bed, he is a mess!


He is starting to scoot in preparation to crawl!


Aunt Pam, Mom and Natalie at lunch in Southlake


Mommy and baby


Ashley, Stacy, Tristan and I at lunch


Outside Buca, it was a beautiful day!


You can never have too many pictures of a momma and her baby!