What A Week!

I have had a busy week! I am one week away from finishing my Spanish I class!! Next week is the final and then July 6th I start Spanish II...I feel like I live at school. One of my BEST friends got married last night and my sister graciously watched little man so I could go in peace! :)

Now for the not so fun part (if breastfeeding bothers you then stop reading now haha) I decided for the THIRD time to wean Tristan on Wednesday and this time I actually stuck with it. I am going on day 3 now and am finally not in excruciating pain anymore. My mom told me it was going to hurt but I had NO idea how much! After a couple of Hydrocodenes I was okay. My 2nd oldest sister, Natalie has been my saving grace the past 3 days. She has slept in my room and I have slept in hers; she has gotten up with Tristan and done everything from bathing him to feeding him so I could rest and not move because I was in that much pain! I stopped breastfeeding for two reasons 1.) Health concerns for me; I have lost over 25lbs of what I weighed before I had Tristan...I weigh 108 lbs and am 5'9 which has been very hard on my body. The past few days with the heat, and all the nutrition breastfeeding was taking away from me I felt like I could faint at any moment so it was recommended that I wean the baby. 2.) Tristan is 9 months old and STILL not sleeping thru the night. I know every baby is different but he was waking up purely to be held not because of hunger. Since Natalie has been getting up with him and he has realized he will not be nursed he has only been waking up twice every 4 hours which is a HUGE deal for him. With her help I think we can have Tristan sleeping through the night by next week. I have finally realized I can't do it alone...weaning and getting him to sleep thru the night, I need a third party who Tristan knows can't nurse him to step in a help me out. I am so thankful that Nat is doing that for me! I love that my family is so willing and ready to help me!

Today we went and played with Kaden and Presleigh, family friend of ours. Tristan always loves being around other kids since he lives with only grown ups. They swam in the kiddy pool, ate lunch and played in the playroom. We had a fun afternoon! We came home and Tristan took a THREE hour nap in his CRIB. He is making such good progress!! As I write this now his Mimi is rocking him to sleep and giving him his bottle. We have decided until my milk completely dries up it would be easier on Tristan and myself if I didn't do the bedtime routine. After our playdate one of my best friends from high school came over with her little boy, Jackson and we got to visit. We have stayed busy but as always, very blessed. :) This weekend will consist of homework, housework and relaxing! (yes I am wearing the same thing in all the pics...it's the only thing that is comfortable during this time of horrible pain! Ha)


The beautiful bride!


Gina and I at the wedding!


Kaden, Tristan and Presleigh!


She is such a pretty baby girl!


Holding precious little Jackson, I can't believe Tristan was ever this small...but 4lbs lighter!


Brittney, myself and our boys. :)


Jackson knocked out while Brittney and I chased little man around!

Tristan is officially a BIG boy! No more infant seat, I just ordered his new Eddie Bauer convertible carseat and it should be here soon! He was in his Chico carseat much longer than I thought he would be so we got our money's worth! :) I can't believe in 3 months he will get to be forward facing in the car (maybe, I might delay that for saftey reasons). The website I ordered his seat from is a WONDERFUL sight. It has brand name items; everything from high chairs, strollers, cribs to carseats and more but at much lower prices. I got Tristan's seat $80.00 cheaper than Babies R Us was selling it so I highly recommend it. And they ship items that are over $100.00 for free which is always nice! Here is the site for all you mommies looking for good deals and quality products: http://www.albeebaby.com/

Happy Father's Day!

What a wonderful first Father's Day Tristan had. It is so amazing to be at peace with the decisions I have made as a mother and to know that even though my son may not have an earthly father at the moment that he will ALWAYS have a Heavenly one. I am taking comfort in the plans God has for not only myself but my baby boy. The man that gets to assist me in raising, loving and watching Tristan grow will be the luckiest guy alive. :) Being a single mother has made me mature, grow and be vunerable in ways that I would not have had to be otherwise. It's hard to play both roles; it's hard to see "perfect" families out there and it's hard to not ask God "why me..why us"? But, this past year has taught me to stop asking "why" and start trusting that God is soverign and His way is best. I am choosing to show my son by example that whatever comes your way you have two options. ONE, dwell on how things are not the way you want them and let strongholds develop, separating you from God's plan for your life or TWO,take affirmative action to make things the way you want them by seeking the heart of the Lord and walking by FAITH not sight.

Tristan has a grandpa and a great-grandpa who love him very, very much and until and after he gets a daddy will both be very important male figures in his life. I pray everyday for God to mold my son into a man of God, someone who chases after the Lord, respects and loves others but most importantly sees his immeasurable value and not buy into any lie of the enemy.

We had a fabulous Father's Day; went to church, came home cooked out, made homemade ice cream and spent the day with my family. Tristan and I got his Poppy (my step-dad) a gift and he loved it! Another memory to cherish and of course take lots of photos of! Enjoy. :)



Well I wanted a picture of Tristan in his button up and tie on but Aunt Ashley did this to him before I could get one!


I think he could be a little baby model!:)


Some of the lunch table...others were getting food or taking the picture!


Tristan eating his first hot dog, organic-all natural of course!


TK would not stay off of Poppy, he wanted to help open gifts too!


My mom made her dad the sweetest gift, she put together a shadow box of all his National Guard memorabilia.


Tristan got to play with Miller on Friday and loved every minute of it.


Trying to escape by his mad crawling skills!

Baby Steps

We are making progress in the Mafima household, finally! As I have expressed before, my little man is a PERFECT baby except when it comes to sleep. I feel like I do not even know what sleep is anymore! Tristan was an AMAZING sleeper from birth to about 3months, I would brag about how I had to wake HIM up to nurse because I was in pain and couldn't wait for him to wake up...well let me just tell ya, those days came and went, very fast! Then Tristan leveled out around 6 months and started taking two-2 hour naps a day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon but no matter what I did he wanted to go to bed as early as 6:30pm; I would try my very hardest to keep him up and usually make it until about 7:00pm. BUT the problem was that he would wake up around 9:30pm, 11:30pm, 1am, 3am, 5am and then for good around 7am. Now all the new moms are thinking that's what my baby does but a 1 month old baby is VERY different from a 6 month old baby. Needless to say after very many sleepless nights, begging to God for ONE night of rest, and reading any and every piece of baby literature I could get my hands on, strict schedules...you name it, I did it; I still couldn't find a "cure". Until recently, I did nothing, but as of yesterday Tristan has gotten TWO teeth in! It was like after that we turned a HUGE corner. I don't know if he was in pain, growing or just not ready to do what I was asking of him but he is now napping THREE times a day, wakes up at 8am, naps around 9:30am, again at 12:30pm, once more around 3 and then goes to bed at 9pm!! I am very excited and eager to see his improvements. Unfortunately he is still waking up every 3 hours or so at night but I assume that is due to the fact that he is a breastfed baby and he is accustomed to being close and getting that comfort from me. I am attempting for the 3rd time to wean him this weekend so after that I have HIGH hopes for a restful night! :)

Other than that he is advancing daily. He now crawls on his knees faster than I can walk (time to buy baby gates!), pulls up ...and lets go (he thinks he can walk!) says "ma ma" does his "tricks" on que and gives lots of kisses. Tristan is a precious, precious baby and despite our sleeping delimas I wouldn't trade him or motherhood for the world. I know that as I continue to mother him, God will continue to mold me into the woman He created me to be.

Happy 9 Months Tristan Kye!

The 9 months I have had my little man went by SO much faster than the 9 ...well 8 months I was pregnant with him! I can't believe that in 3 months we will be throwing a 1st birthday bash. Today was very special; turning 9 months old is a BIG deal, you know? :) My mom and I sang "Happy Birthday" to Tristan and he stared at us like we were complete fools, can't blame him. Then, being the wonderful Mimi that she is, my mother decided we needed to go and let TK pick out some toys for his "birthday". We have always gotten him one or two presents for each month he has turned but we got a little carried away this time. Partly because Tristan really needed some big boy toys, he is way too good for a rattle or blocks...so he thinks! I had already planned to take Tristan with me and get him one big toy so we went with my mom first to Target and loaded up the cart with fun toys. We tried to let him pick but of course he loved EVERYTHING! After Target he and I went to Babies R Us, the place I should never go unattended haha, and picked out a toy from mommy and a couple other things he needed. Tristan is my little active man and gets into everything I don't want him to and although he had a jungle jumperoo his legs got too long for it and no longer permitted jumping; so we also got him a car walker which he LOVES.

All in all we had a super fun day, after our shopping spree we went to Denton and had lunch with 2 of my best friends, Jill and Ashley. I am so thankful Tristan has so many amazing people in his life that love and cherish him.

HAPPY 9 MONTH BIRTHDAY TRISTAN KYE!!!


All his presents!


Riding around in his walker!


Shaking his maracas, my mom got them so he could worship with them, she cracks me up.


Tristan in his own little world. :)


At lunch with Jill and Ashley


Cute clean tush after his bath


Knocked out after a fun-filled day!

Kisses for Baby!

Tristan and I went to a wedding on Saturday...his first and LAST to go to! haha I was not going to bring him because I think it is so rude when people bring small children to weddings but the bride (my college roomate) begged me to bring him. It was a beautiful ceremony and we had a great time observing it from the LOBBY! I don't think I have said the word "no!" more times in my life than I have the past few months with my little man. Oh goodness, he is getting so big and into EVERYTHING but I know it's normal and he is just curious...I am having to get very creative with this little boy. He is so TALL and his arms are so LONG that NOTHING his safe from him. My mom and I bought him a walker to let him roll around the house in and hopefully stay out of things. We also "baby proofed" the house. I am never going to be able to gain weight chasing him around! :) After the wedding we went to my best friend Jill's apartment in Denton and spent the rest of the afternoon with her. We spent some time chatting and playing with TK of course then went out to eat. Jill took T in her room and let him see himself in the mirror and he was so PRECIOUS. He didn't realize it was himself he thought it was another baby so he tried giving "it" kisses. I got out my camera and got a couple of seconds of it on tape. Here it is, make sure to mute the music at the bottom before watching it! :)

The Fort Worth Zoo

Friday, Tristan, myself,a friend of mine and her son went to the zoo. We had SO much fun and loved every minute of it. We started our day early, meeting at 9:15am so we could be out there by 10am and be done by 1 or so (the HEAT of the day). The boys were more interested in the crowds of people than the animals but none the less had a BLAST. I didn't realize it until I saw the sign but the Fort Worth Zoo is one of the top 5 zoos in the United States; after Friday I can certainly see why. They have added SO many new exhbitis, animals, food places and fun things for kids to do. It was very HOT towards the end and Tristan ended up falling asleep in his stroller the last 35 minutes or so. Our next visit will definitley be in the fall or early spring...we'll keep our summer activies based around the WATER! :)


Our day at the zoo!


My little chocolate chunk!


Snacking...as usual! :)


Trying to stay cool on some apple juice.


Knocked out after a long, hot day...notice the outfit change, accidents happen!


I had to take a picture of the giraffes since I call Tristan "my little giraffe"!


Elephants!


Monkeys!


The cute fun shoppes in the Texas town.


The Texas exhibit.

What A Night!!!

Well my life just wouldn't be as fun with out my random, crazy stories! haha I must say, the one I am about to tell TOPS all of the ones before. I was watching Faith today, as I do every Monday and Wednesday; Lesley got home and unlike most nights I left almost immediately because I needed to be at school by 7pm to take my Spanish test. NORMALLY I would stay for about 30 minutes and chat with her (which would have prevented what was about to happen). I loaded little man up and the sky looked really bad like buckets of rain and hail were about to drop but being a native Texan that really didn't scare me, I am no stranger to storms. I started driving and as soon as I got out of their subdivision it started raining, I went through ONE stop light and the tornado sirens started blaring! I was stuck on a 2 lane road that is in the middle of a field and NO WHERE to go...oh ya and with my 9 month old BABY in my backseat. By the grace of God I remained calm. I was going to try and make it a couple more blocks to where the grocery stores is but there was no way. The trees were blowing SO hard that they all looked like they could snap in half and the cars that were on the road were scattering like ants so I peeled...and I mean PEELED into another subdivision (my car even made the awful peeling out sound) went up one block and randomly picked a house. I was so FRANTIC that I almost left the lights on and my car running. I ran around to the other side of the car yanked Tristan's carseat out ( Normally it takes ALL my might to lift that thing, I actually hardly take it out of my car but I couldn't waste anytime and it honeslty felt like a FEATHER!) I ran to the door and rang their doorbell probably 7 times. Naturally they were hesitant to answer their door but as soon as they saw the carseat they threw there door open and pulled me in. HERE is where the story gets good, GOD good!

Despite their lights going in and out, the mattress in their living room for us to take cover under and the loudest thunder...there was a PEACE about that house. They had 4 BEAUTIFUL children whom I later found out were all adopted. The kids were 8, 5, 4 and 1 years old. The mom and dad were the SWEETEST people ever. Long after the storm ended I stayed and talked with them; about their kids, how they adopted them and we got on the topic of church. Turns out they had been looking at going to Gateway, our wonderful church and after speaking to them they are going to try it out. It NEVER ceases to amaze me how SOVERIGN God is. He takes care of us ALL the time. It was not luck that I ended up at a young couple's house with kids of their own trying to find a church. God knew exactly what He was doing and I am so thankful I got to meet such a SPECIAL family and be protected from a very bad storm.

My Laughing Little Man!

Make sure to pause the music at the bottom first! :)

Tristan's Tricks!

It is so much fun to see Tristan explore his world and learn new things. He is like a NEW toy every single day! I'll NEVER get tired of that ear-to-ear grin he gets on his little chubby face, or the hilarious facial expressions he makes when he hears a NEW sound, taste a bite of a NEW food or is just trying to get a laugh from his audience of adorers!

Today my little man got his FIRST tooth. I was helping him eat a bite of a banana when I felt a sharp poke from his mouth, I pulled down his bottom lip and there it was!! I can't believe he FINALLY got one; he has been teething since he was 4 months old, about time. :) TK's latest trick is pulling himself up! He goes from a complete sitting position to standing (holding on to something). I am still amazed that I have a nearly 9 month old son. It feels like just yesterday I held him in my arms for the first time...time goes by so fast!

Tristan's latest tricks:

-Pulling up
-Taking steps when someone holds his hands
-Turning to the sound of his name and ALL the nicknames he has!
-Recognizing his reflection in the mirror
-Blowing razberries...not fun when feeding him baby food!...ok it's still pretty funny and he knows it.
-Going from "scooting" to up on his knees and hands to assume the proper crawling position
-Jumping up and down in whose ever arms he is in when he sees his MOMMY come in the room (my favorite)
-SPLASHING in the tub or swimming pool
-Eating finger foods like a big boy!
-Scratching my arm or back while I rock him, such a sweet baby!

Those are just a few but each are a milestone! I am already starting to brainstorm 1st birthday party ideas...and preparing for an emotional break down; he will ALWAYS be my BABY! :)


My little Tiger Woods!


Preparing to pounce!


Going after Poppy's very expensive speakers...uh oh!


Such a stud muffin!

Aunt Ashley

As most of you know Tristan has so many people in his life that truly love, support and want the absolute best for him. Among those is his FABULOUS aunt Ashley. Everyone who knows Ashley knows that she is a selfless, loving, encouraging, sweet, beautiful on the outside and inside person. Long before Tristan, she was there mothering me :) making sure I had what I needed. I was fortunate that she worked on DBU campus so I got many free lunches, groceries, advice and support my freshman and sophomore year of college.

I LOVE watching my sisters interact with little man. They all adore him! But he and his aunty Ashley have a very special bond. She has come over every weekend since he has been born to spend at least one day with him. When she comes over I get to do things that I never do like...take a nap! Shower with out being joined by Tristan in his walker in the bathroom, run errands or whatever I need to do. She feeds him, gives him a bath, plays with him and lets just say he knows she is wrapped around his little finger!

I joke that Ashley and I share "joint custody" over Tristan because with out her (and my parents of course) most things I do and Tristan has would not be possible. Most people in my position would be forced to either put school on hold and work in order to make ends meet or take a couple of classes and work at the same time. My family however, jumped in and made neither of those options reality for me. Because of their selflessness I get to graduate on time. My mom, dad and Ashley have provided 100% for myself and Tristan until I graduate next year and can do so.

I wanted to take this time to THANK Ashley especially because she is my sister and has no obligation to do anything that she does for me or Tristan, but she does it out of love. I don't just say this because she is my family; every person who knows her knows her heart and thinks just as highly of her. I can't wait to be the kind of aunt to her cihldren one day that she is to my son.

From the day I told her I was pregnant (something she said she already knew because God had told her) to the day I had my son, Ashley has been right by my side. She came with me to the appointment I found out he was a boy. She was with me and my mom in the delivery room coaching me and every day since. I can't even recall EVERYTHING she has done for me and Tristan but its been A LOT. She has purchased many, many items such as his crib, carseat, stroller, bathseat, buys him diapers, formula, baby food, bath wash and other "must haves" weekly. She has paid for his dr. visits, some of my schooling, bought my books for the semester...I could go on and on but that would take much too long!

I know that Ashley doesn't want any of this praise and will probably be embarassed by this but I am so lucky to have a sister like her and Tristan is so lucky to have an aunt like her. God is so faithful to those who are faithful to Him. Ashley's kindness and stewardness is out of her obedience to Christ and what He has called her to do; I can not wait to see the blessings He is going to shower on her as a result of her precious heart. I love you sis, one of these days I'll attempt to pay you back. :)

Busy boy!

Tristan has the social life of a 16 year old! haha Well really God has just blessed us with some amazing family friends who have sweet children that Tristan can grow, play and learn with. I am so thankful for that! I am trying to make it a point to do at least one fun thing a week with him that involves being outside and getting some fresh air. This week we went to the park on Thursday with Kennedy, a little girl I watched and had a picnic, walked around the pond and played on the playground for about 2 hours. Thursday was a BEAUTIFUL day outside, it was not hot at all and both the kids had a great time! Friday we went with 2 other mothers from our church and their children to NRH20. I was a bit hesitant to take little man but they have really updated it and added some special parts for very small children. They even had a "mommy and me" slide that Tristan and I went down together a couple of times. Needless to say we had a very busy week but enjoyed every second of it.

One of my best friends from high school had her baby boy on Thursday and named him Jackson Lee. Tristan and I went up to see them at the hospital today. It is crazy to me that Tristan was ever that small, actually smaller...Jackson weighed 9 lbs 13 oz but was still so tiny to me. Tristan was 6lbs 8oz at birth! Time goes by fast but we are enjoying every second of it. Here are some pics from our week! Next Friday we are going to the Fort Worth zoo. :)


The Bedford Boys Ranch Park!


Yes, I climbed up there and slid too! :)


Kennedy and Tristan about to slide!


He LOVES to swing!


He has graduated from his Ficher Price infant swaddle swing to the big boy outside swing but loves them both equally!


At the park, taking a walk around the pond!


Too busy splashing in the water to smile!


Still in his own little world. :)


He had a blast!


Aloha!




Meeting Jackson for the first time!



Wearing his new "man capris" :)