Question and Answer

This blog is providing me some good food for thought when I am up and about with Tristan. So I posted the last post at 2:30am, and while up again at 5am, I started to think about this past year and how many changes there are and how most people think the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well I dont think I would disagree with them, but I started to think of a variety of questions I wanted to ask Jonathan when I was hanging out with the boy. So Jonathan this post is for you...Im writing the question, and you can answer k?

Our first lunch date was at the Aves Bakery. What was your first impression of me when we met?
Since that first meeting, what has changed if anything?
What has surprised you about marriage?( good or bad)
Tell me the most difficult thing about being a parent so far?
Where is the first place you want to go on a "No kid vacation"?
Favorite memory or experience of our first year together?

Thats all for now....

Day Out and about

Elijiah sitting in the helicopter
Loo0king cute!

Double trouble!

There were several things that I wanted to do while on maternity leave, and one of them was taking Elijiah to the childrens museum and body exhibit at the gateway. However when we got there the body exhibt wasnt included in the 8.50$ admission price and to spend another 3$ for each of us seemed quite a rip off. So my cheap butt decided we could make due without it. It had been years since Ive been to the childrens museum- infact I hadnt yet been to it since it moved to the gateway, and I was very disappointed! It seems to be geared to much younger kids than Elijiah, and the activities that would've been more age appropriate were trashed. Most of everything thing there was that way and so I didnt think it was much fun. I think the highlight was sitting in the helicopter(see pic above) for Elijiah.

Well after we that we decided to get some lunch and lo and behold ran into my friend Monica's hubby who mentioned that Monica was on her way to meet him for lunch. I was super excited to see her and so we got our lunch and waited. While we didnt hang out for long it was great to see her and the kids. She looks fantastic, and it made me realize just how long its been since Ive seen her and how I should get myself up to Layton more often!

(sorry all for the disjointed post-im typing with one hand - without my glasses, feeding Tristan in the other, and its now 2:30 in the AM....)

My first run post pregnancy

Today I decided to go for my first run. While I have decided to try and train for a marathon, I havent felt well enough to get out there and actually start running, but neither has the weather cooperated either. Since going to the gym at this point is out( too much time away from the kids and I cant take Tristan there) Ive been waiting for the warmer weather. Anyway this morning was the perfect temperature and I was excited to get out and get moving. You know those new comercials from New Balance? The ones that talk about running and how its a Love/Hate relationship? Well that is me with running. I hate doing it, but I love how I feel afterwards. I have to admit that today my feet felt like lead, every step was agonizing, and the 3 miles felt like eternity. (Even though I only ran for a half hour) Dang Im out of shape! But here I am typing away and I feel great! Tomorrow we will see if I am still able to walk, as I think I might have over done it for the first time out.

While the veil is still thin...

Tristan less than 10 minutes old

and some of dad's very basic photo editing skills...

MY last night...

Honestly folks, I don't know how Amber does it. Over the last couple days, I noticed that Amber's health and sanity was declining due to lack of consecutive hours of sleep. As such, I decided to play the hero and see if I could do something that would allow her to sleep for 5 or 6 hours.

Yesterday started at 7 with me chillin' with Tristan on the couch for an hour, feeding him for an hour, then passing him off to Amber at around 9:00AM. I then worked until 5 then ran to class until 10:00. When I got home Amber had little man in his basinet in our room so I sat in the living room studying until I heard him start to stir on the baby monitor. I got him up, forced some baby-zantac into his belly then tried to feed him. He dorked around with the bottle for about 30 minutes before I realized that all he was going to do at that point was fill his mouth with white gold (Nutramigen is EXPENSIVE) then let it dribble all over his PJs so I went and changed a poopy diaper then stood rocking back and forth with him for about an hour until he APPEARED to start falling asleep.

He was NOT asleep however so at about 12:30AM I tried feeding him again and gratefully most of it went into his belly. By the time he was finished with the bottle it was about a quarter after 1:00 and at this point I would typically wait until he seemed to be dozing off then put him in his basinet and go to bed. HOWEVER, I wanted to make sure that he really was asleep so I kept him out in the living room with me. The next two-and-a-half hours were REALLY interesting!! They consisted of me rocking him standing until my upper back felt like it was being injected with molten steel, rocking him sitting until he started flailing his arms and legs so voraciously I thought he might be having a seizure, rocking him in the rocking chair, wrapping him tight in his blanket, completely removing the blanket, bouncing him in his bouncy seat, changing a REALLY wet diaper (and PJs because he somehow fired his hose through the diaper all over himself), holding him this way, holding him that way, laying him on the couch on his back, on his side, on his belly, and finally authoritatively telling him that as the boss of the house, he needed to sleep... At about 3:00AM, on the verge of losing my marbles and passing him off to my sleeping wife, he suddenly zonked out. I put him in his basinet, crawled into bed and died.

Thankfully he slept until 5:00AM so Amber was able to get about 8 hours consecutive sleep but the experience really showed me how strong my amazing wife is. Honey, I don't know if I can do what I did last night EVERY night but I am going to try my hardest to give you that kind of break as much as humanly possible.

Babygirl, you're tough as nails!!!!

Last night...

WOW last night was a winner...I went to bed at 8pm as I was starting to get a migraine from the lack of sleep, and needed to have at least 3-4 consecutive hours of sleep or I was going to be in a lot trouble the next day. Jonathan did the shift until 12-1am and when he came to bed Tristan still wasnt settled or sleeping. I did my best to cuddle him but to no avail - he wasnt going to sleep. I was up and between the hysterical fits of crying for the next hour I did finally get him to sleep by 2am. I laid him in the bassinet next to us and enjoyed a blissful cat nap till 2:30am when he woke up and started to cry again. I feed him, changed him and attempted again to comfort him near tears myself. I thought on more than one occassion that I would truely fall over on my feet from exhuastion, or wondered if it were possible to fall asleep standing up...for you cant sit and rock Tristan - you have to be up moving...
Anyway 4:30-came 4:45am and he was calming down. 5am and he was asleep. I decided the bedroom was off limits (I want Jonathan to sleep) so I put him on the couch and tried to get comfortable with him and sleep myself. Yea! We slept till 7am. While I am tired, I count my blessings I got that consecutive few hours earlier as now both kids are awake and a new day is just starting- yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Warriors

Isnt he cute!

I posted this as its rare that my hair is straight...I got pampered( a new cut and color) and wanted to remember what it looks like.

His first bath!

Okay so while its Tuesday I couldnt let the week go by without some documentation of our weekend. We didnt have Elijiah and had planned to celebrate our anniversary this past weekend...so we decided we could brave an early dinner out saturday. Now understand that with Tristans lovely sleeping ( not much) we were a bit concerned how long we would be able to enjoy our dinner but we had to try. So we did a 5 pm dinner and Tristan lasted just long enough to finish our main dish...no desert for us! He started to cry and become agitated, so we quickly paid the bill and came home. However I must mention that Jonathan and I decided long ago not to buy eachother presents. Well what does Jonathan do? Buys me a gift. Not just any gift but a beautiful new watch that I had my eye on for a long time. He totally surprised me and it was great. Just another example of how he often does the unexpected and is always thinking of me. I really dont know what I did to land this incredible guy. Its not the gift, but its the attention to detail. See about a year ago we were shopping at Costco and I showed him a watch that I liked... and we realized that the cost for the watches we both liked were way out of our league. However a few months ago Jonathan got a bonus from work and I told him he needed to buy something for himself. So he purchased a watch- which was great as he had wanted one for a long time. Anyway this past weekend he gave me not the exact watch we had seen before, but one just like it... I guess he had been saving over the past year to purchase this item for me. I was so touched and speechless- really- and that doesnt happen too often! I absolutely love it!

It was a great weekend....lots of time to hang out together with our little guy. While we are exhausted and totally spent, Ive never been happier and I know how blessed my life is.

( I just re-read this and I cant believe my grammer--however I am too tired to do any editing or changes --sorry !)