Christmas in Kansas!

This Christmas, Tristan and I were able to go to Kansas with parents to visit my mom's side of the family. Sadly, Nate couldn't come with us due to his job, but he was happy we were able to go. After almost 8 hours in the car with a 9 month old, we made it there! We had eighteen adults, a 7 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and three under the age of one in one house! It was chaotic, but lots of fun at the same time. Here are some pictures of our stay there:


The three babies with their mommies! On left is my sister with Cooper (9 months old). Middle is me with Tristan (9 1/2 months old). On right, is my cousin-in-law with Laine (8 months old).


Trying to get a good picture of Grandma with her great-grandchildren (hard with three babies!)


Take twenty. A little better even though there aren't many smiles...they were all tired by this point...


Two of the grandmothers (my mom with Tristan on the left) trying to get their grandbabies to sleep -- it didn't quite work :)


Grandmas with their grandbabies -- don't they look proud?!


My Aunt Kaye with Tristan and Laine -- her great-nephew and great-niece.


Random picture of Tristan doing his thing...he was called "Wild Man" by the end of the weekend. Ignore the wet shirt -- he's drooling a lot right now :)


My cousin Rachel with Tristan -- he looks a little tired, but he's just fooling you!

Had a great time with the family -- can't wait for next year!

Tristan's Best Friend

At one of my baby showers, a friend gave me a huge teddy bear, which we have used to monitor Tristan's monthly growth. Now, Tristan absolutely LOVES this bear :) He loves for the bear to lay on top of him. He'll just peek out his head and kick his feet. It is so funny watching him with this bear. He is just a funny child!


Here I am!


I love this bear so much!


Oh, I'm so exhausted!


Do I look like a redneck baby?

Peaceful Being Outside

The past week has been somewhat of a challenge for our little guy, Tristan. Nathan moved to Austin this past Monday to start training for his new job, and Trist and I are staying with my parents until the school semester is over, in which I can resign from my teaching job. I don't think Tristan understands where his dad is, and he may be having some separation anxiety. Twice I've had to rock him to sleep for a nap, which I haven't had to do that in several months...two mornings so far, he's woken up at 5:00ish, crying pitifully, so he ended up sleeping on me for about another hour...and he's woken up twice about 10:30 pm for no reason and won't go back to sleep without me rocking him. On top of all that, he wants me, me, me all the time. A little needy, I would say. But, anyways, one place he is always happy is outside. So, today, we decided to play some outside and he just had the best time. He REALLY wanted to touch the barbed-wire fence, but I would stop him. That didn't stop him, however -- he would just try try again :) I have a very strong-willed child...but I wouldn't trade him for the world!