O Christmas Tree!

Tristan and I had so much fun decorating our apartment for Christmas!! My mother always bought each of us kids a new ornament every Christmas so I carried the tradition on with Tristan when he was born. I found his "baby's first Christmas" ornament with his newborn picture in it as we were decorating the tree and just about had a meltdown. I feel like it was just yesterday that he was 2 months old!! This year I found ornaments of the letter "T" and of course had to get 2, one for each of us! :) Doesn't Tristan look thrilled?! Ha!

My mom and Ashley came over to help us put up the tree!

Getting some love from Mimi and picking his nose, a dirty habit he has picked up that I am trying hard to kick. Oh the joys of a 3 year old!!

Tristan has been calling Ashley "my Ashy" when referring to her and you have to know she LOVES it. Of course little man got his auntie to read him a few books while she was over!

My mother bought Tristan some sports ornaments a while back so we got those out as well. Tristan is obsessed with basketball, given his height, I'd say it's a good thing! :)

We even put up a tiny tree and lights in the bedroom!

The kitchen area...

After my mom and sister left I turned off all the lights and just had the Christmas lights plugged in and Tristan was SO happy. He jumped on my bed and started dancing and singing. This boy looooves "kissmas"!

I can't forget our stockings. Looks like Santa will have to climb a flight of stairs and get through an alarm system to deliver Tristan's presents, but I know he can do it!! :)

Have I mentioned how much I love this boy?!? It's so easy to get caught up in the worldly aspects of the holiday season but it is so much more than a holiday. It is totally fine and super fun to hang lights, decorate a tree, bake cookies and buy gifts...but that is not what its all about. If none of those things happened, it wouldn't take away from the wonderfulness that is Christmas. The birth of Jesus Christ! I absolutely love seeing this time through Tristan's eyes, this is the first year he has really gotten what we are doing.

 I love it and it brings such joy to my heart.

 Sometimes Tristan doesn't listen AND he throws fits (can you imagine that sweet little boy above doing that?!?! I know, hard to believe!!) Well lately I've had to call Santa Clause AND baby Jesus to let them know that Tristan isn't listening to mommy. Ha!! I asked Tristan who's birthday is on Christmas and he said "SANTA!!!" Needless to say, we re-read the story of the birth of Jesus and talked about what Christmas is REALLY all about! :) I have to stop and remind myself of the same thing sometimes...

Tomorrow is surgery day, I have 2 hours to eat/drink anything else my heart desires before fasting for surgery. I went in today for my pre-operation appointment where they drew blood and did a chest x ray and asked me 300 questions about my health history. I truly have had the greatest peace about the surgery and I am looking forward to the down time I will have following it. God is doing amazing things in mine and Tristan's lives right now and I know that this is just another part of our testimony. I want to thank everyone who has said a prayer for me, I feel it...sent a sweet text or called.

I'll hopefully be back in a week! :)

I LOVE him!!!!!

I know I say it all the time, but I LOVE Tristan. I have always loved him but I feel like each day as he grows, my love for him does as well. I don't think you can understand this kind of love until you become a parent, it is different than every other kind. It's deep, it's unconditional, and its priceless. I was thinking the other day that I love Tristan so much, it makes my heart hurt...in a good way! :) I am having so much fun with my 3 year old. I miss the days I use to swaddle him and hold him all the time but this stage is pure gold. We have our own little conversations, inside jokes and friendship. He will tell me often

"mommy, you're my best friend!" Even though I know my role/goal in life is not to be his "friend", he'll have plenty of those...I am suppose to be his leader, teacher, accountability, guidance, and role model. But I still love hearing those words. I can't wait to see him grow into a young man; watch his high school basketball games, have his friends over, see him give his life to the Lord and experience the joys I did growing up. Last night we put up our Christmas tree which I'll do another post about, but I have to share some sweet pictures we've took while doing so. All of the poses are on his own, I didn't tell him to do any of them. He thinks it is hilarious to kiss me while I take a picture. Ha!

 

Well little man is napping so its time for me to be productive and get some laundry/cleaning done. One more day until surgery, I have a lot to get organized and ready for my week out of commission!!

Fab 4 Breakfast & Fort Worth Parade of Lights!

I LOVE Christmas!! I love the lights, decorated trees, presents, cheer and of course the celebration of my precious savior. It's just simply the best time of the year. Tristan and I started our morning off with breakfast at Panera with Allie, Ashley and Jill. We had so much fun and Tristan got SO much attention. Of course he loved it! :) My favorite quote of the breakfast was Allie asking Tristan if he was going to the mouth doctor. He looked at her so confused so I said "are you going to a speech therapist?" and he said "yes!!"

We laughed so hard because he is such a little man.

Tristan and "Alwie" :)

Mimi and Poppy live right by Panera so of course we stopped by, can you tell who runs their house?! Ha!

We spent the afternoon/evening in downtown Fort Worth for the parade of lights with Faith and her family. It was so much fun, Tristan absolutely loved it!!

Faith cracks me up, she is very loving with Tristan and insisted on holding his hand. He was hesitant at first but he soon gave in. :)

Lauren is Faith's oldest sister and my oldest friend. It was so fun catching up with her and laughing, a lot.  Love that girl!

It was so sweet to see Tristan's face. He loved the lights, but he really loved all the firetrucks, ambulances and police cars/motorcycles he saw!

Faith and her mom, Lesley!

I love, love Downtown Fort Worth. It is beautiful at Christmas time!

Look how sweet these babies were this time last year, time goes by way too fast. Faith turned 3 on Thanksgiving, I can't believe 3 years have gone by so quickly. Love these two!!

Let the Christmas celebrations continue!!

A wonderful Thanksgiving day!!

Today was perfect!! This was the first holiday to wake up somewhere other than my parents house, so I wanted to make it special and start our own traditions. I got up before Tristan and started my morning devotional. I got through praying and a few worship songs when I heard a certain little someone squirming in the room. :) I decided to include Tristan in the last part of my quiet time and brought him to the living room to read a passage out the Bible with me. I explained to him that my Bible doesn't have pictures but the words were really important so he sat and listened. I read out of Psalm 100 which is all about thankfulness. Once I finished he said "read it again!" So I did. Afterwards we sang the song "I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice for he has made me glad." It was such a special, pure time. I will definitely be making this a tradition.

I love that you can see his little thumb next to mine.

I pray that he continues to thirst for the word of God as he grows.

After we read and sang I made us a simple breakfast and then got out supplies to do a few fun Thanksgiving crafts and watch the Macy's parade!

Then, we got ready to go to Mimi and Poppy's house for lunch with family and friends!

He was saying "Happy Thanksgiving, Jesus!" In this picture.

Love this little face!!

I am more than thankful for my sweet family!!

He started giving me kisses (on his own) and it was making me laugh so hard. I told him to smile but he wanted to love on his momma. Seriously, I have THE sweetest son!

I never really think Tristan looks like me, until I took this picture!! I know he is my child and I might be a bit biased but could he be any cuter?!?!?! Oh he is so presh.

Don't worry, it is on my to do list to buy this boy a new hat. Ha!! I don't know how he'll feel about it because this one is his favorite, clearly.

After our mini photo shoot we went and enjoyed a delicious lunch with my family and some of our close friends. Tristan was definitely the star of the show! Can you tell?!

After lunch I rocked him and then handed him over to Ashley and he slept in her arms like this for 30 minutes before being put in the bed. She LOVED it!

We ate, watched a little tv, played Apples to Apples and some other fun games then took a walk, all of us!

Tristan stuck close by Poppy the entire time.

I took more pictures of everyone but they were blurred. Seriously I am getting a new camera ASAP!! I truly had the best Thanksgiving, God has blessed us abundantly and I am so grateful for it. Having a child makes the holidays even more fun and it has been even better with Tristan at the age he is. He is so into "kissmas" and thanksgiving. We are going to have SO much fun this holiday season, I am already making a list of fun things to do! Tomorrow we will be going to breakfast with 3 of my best friends Allie, Ashley and Jill, putting up our Christmas tree, and possibly doing some shopping (if I am brave enough)! I am determined for us to have 5 of the funnest days before my surgery next week.

I leave you with ONE more picture of the cutest little boy I know!

Happy Thanksgiving!!