Tristan is 14 months!!!

Tristan is finally eating well!!! He loves chicken, ham, and turkey hot dogs, and of course, any kind of fruit. For the most part, he will only eat baby food veggies, but I'm just happy he at least eats that. Sometimes he even eats what we cook (if it involves macaroni and cheese). He is getting pretty good with a fork and spoon too. You can definitely tell by the size of his belly that he eats more now!

Tristan also has quite a few new words in his vocabulary. He says "Uh oh" to just about everything. I've tried telling him that throwing his sippy cup off of the high chair isn't really an "uh oh," but oh well. When he wants something, he knows to say "please." He sounds so cute saying it, he nearly always gets what he wants. We are still working on "thank you," but every now and then he will throw that in there too. He also says "up" and "hi-ya" (or however you spell it). As well as climbing down from things, he is now starting to try and climb back up them. Today he discovered he could use his chair to climb up on the coffee table. Not good. He knows that the buttons to turn his movie on are on the side of the tv and he will stand here pointing and begging until we turn Baby Einstein on. He only actually stops and watches it for a few minutes at a time, but if he hears a song he likes, he will drop whatever he is doing to go and dance. It is too cute! He has started giving closed mouth kisses, but I don't care, I'll take them any way I can get them! He likes to help clean up. If you give him a paper towel, he goes to town wiping everything down. Unfortunately he cannot reach the counter tops! Hmm...maybe one day, though. He is also very good at washing his hands-just trying to do his part to prevent the spread of the flu :-).

Lately he will come to us and tell us "Poo poo" when he has a dirty diaper or when he is about to. I've tried to rush him in the bathroom a few times to put him on the potty, but he either goes on the way or decides he doesn't have to go after all. Sometimes he will start pulling on his diaper and knocking on the bathroom door, but he has yet to actually go. I guess he thinks its just fun to sit on the potty. I'm not pushing potty training just yet, but if he seems interested, I'm not going to discourage it either. Today, I was changing his diaper (we were on the floor) and before I could get the new one on him, he got up and ran away. He thought he was just so funny running around the living room with a bare booty. Then he stopped and peed. He immediately started screaming in terror. Justin and I both just couldn't help but laugh at him. I don't think he was expecting that to happen!

Tristan got his first haircut this month too! I was a little sad, but I knew it was time. He did really good until we tried to take his sucker away from him to rinse the hair off of it. It looks really good, and actually, its almost grown out so much that it could be trimmed again. It was hard to see his precious little curls falling to the floor, but not to worry, on rainy, humid days like today, it it still quite curly in the back. I wonder where he gets that from.

Luckily, he hasn't been nearly as sick this past month as he was last month. He still had a cough that just wouldn't go away though and was occasionally wheezing. I took him to the dr last week, and she said that he either has asthma or bronchiolitis. I'm hoping for the later. Both require albuterol treatments for the wheezing and she gave him steroids just in case it is asthma. He absolutely hates his breathing treatments! He only gets them if he needs them, which isn't even every day, but it is a battle. The first time I gave him one, he was crying so hard and never breathed in that he turned blue. That was definitely a little traumatic for me. He hasn't done that again, but its still no walk in the park. It helps his wheezing though, so he obviously needs it. I just hope it doesn't last long!

We are definitely looking forward to Christmas this year. We didn't get a regular tree because I didn't want to fight with Tristan all month to keep him out of it. So we got a 4 ft prelit tree and put it up on the end table. Definitely glad we did! We are looking forward to spending the Holidays with family and hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

first haircut

deep in thought

cleaning his own room


picking up more pecans

riding the tractor with Uncle Lee




all clean!!!

climbing into bed

such a cutie!

finally, a pretty day to go outside and play

watching Jeopardy with Daddy

my favorite stocking stuffer

Tristan is 13 months!

This past month has been the month of sickness for Tristan. It all started when I took him to the doctor for his 1 year checkup on a Monday. Two days after his visit, he spiked a temp. I took him back to the doctor the next day and they swabbed him and said that he was positive for the flu (he got the flu shot and other vaccines at his checkup). The doctor said that it was most likely the H1N1 (piggie) flu because that is what all of the cases in the area have been, but we don't know for sure since they did not send it off to the CDC since you would treat it the same either way. The doctor said that he probably picked up the flu bug when he was there on Monday for his regular check up (Ugh!!). She gave me a prescription for Tamiflu, which no pharmacy in Daphne or Fairhope carried in liquid form. Luckily a pharmacy in Grand Bay carried it so my mom picked it up and brought it to us. His fever was gone a day later and he never had any respiratory symptoms. He did, however, turn into a little heathen. I guess we got a little preview of what the terrible twos are going to be like. But when he woke up from his nap Monday afternoon, my little angel baby had returned to me! He was well for about a week and a half, and then he came down with a cold. He didn't turn back in to hellian child, but you could tell that he just didn't feel good, not to mention couldn't breathe. His head cleared up, but he still had a nagging cough. Then, this past Thursday, he had a low grade fever, which I assumed was from teething. Friday morning, he still had a low temp, but when he woke up from his nap, his temp was 102.3. So I called the doctor and off we went. They checked his ears and throat and did an xray of his lungs to rule out pneumonia. All of his tests came back normal, so we still don't really know why he had a fever. She gave me a prescription for some antibiotics in case it was bronchitis. By the time we got home from the doctor's office, he had chills so bad that his poor little bottom lip was quivering and all he wanted to do was be held. He wouldn't eat dinner and when I put him in the tub, he screamed bloody murder (so needless to say, he didn't get washed off that night). He seemed to be feeling better the next day, but still had a temp. Finally, Monday he seemed to actually be well. Lets hope it lasts!!!!!

Between, doctor visits, we have otherwise had a good month. Tristan was an Alabama football player for Halloween (its about being something you're not, right?). We took him to the fall festival in Fairhope. He loved seeing all of the other kids dressed up and playing the little games. He was actually pretty good at throwing the ball/bean bag into the hole. He wasn't too thrilled about waiting in line though, he kept trying to skip everybody. We had a great time, and he seemed to as well.

Tristan has gotten much more talkative lately. He is saying "Mama" lots now, which is great to hear! He loves reading books, and he actually sits and looks at them now instead of just ripping them out of your hands and throwing them. You can say "go get your book" and he will go get one and come back saying "boo, boo" and crawl up in your lap. It is too sweet! Tristan has finally mastered getting off of the couch feet first. Luckily, he hasn't figured out how to climb up there yet, so there haven't been any accidental head dives while Mommy and Daddy aren't looking. We have been going outside a lot to enjoy the beautiful weather. Tristan will swing for a little while, but now he likes to get down and explore. He especially likes to try and climb up the slide. Tristan's hair was getting a bit long in the front, so Justin and I attempted to cut it ourselves. We had to wait until he was asleep because I was afriad of poking his eye out. We didn't touch the back though, there is no way I could get rid of those curls! Its a tad uneven and choppy, and I almost lost a chunk of my knuckle in the process. I think I will take him somewhere next time! We had pictures made the other day for Tristan's one year pics and some family pics. Tristan cooperated really well, and the pictures turned out great! It is just so hard to choose which ones to get printed.

Getting Tristan to eat any type of table food has been quite the endeavor these past few months. He used to eat anything you put down in front of him, including tofu. Now he seems to turn his nose up to everything but fruit and milk. He will eat jarred baby food all day long, but does occasionally refuse to eat the stage 3 foods that have actual chunks in them. One day, he will love something, but then the next time we try it, its like we are feeding him gasoline. On a good day, he will eat chicken nuggets if you help him stab them with his fork and then let him feed himself, and he will eat peas if they stick to his finger when he squishes them, otherwise they get shoved away. Some days we will try almost anything. Today for lunch, I had to scrape the chicken out of the pasta, mix it with the sauce, and then put a few bbq chip crumbs on it for him to eat it. Whatever works. At least it wasn't just a bag of chips I guess (that's what I keep telling myself anyway). Fruit is a whole other story. His eyes light up like Christmas when he sees a banana. Unfortunately, you can't live off bananas alone. I don't think that the problem is that he doesn't want to eat at all because today when it was close to lunch time, he brought me a bib and went and stood by his chair. It was later, during the bbq chip bribing, that I realized his bib said "I Love Mommy." So maybe he wasn't hungry, he just wanted to tell me that he loved me, ha! Hopefully this picky eater thing won't last too terribly long. If anyone has any suggestions on what he might eat, I gladly welcome them!!!

Happy Halloween!

Roll Tide!

having fun at the Fall Festival

wrong way silly!



discovering a pinecone



having fun outside



"Look Mommy, I found the pool!"

picking up pecans at Pop's

bedtime snack


little ham

reading a book before bed

"Yay, I found it!"

how can you resist that cute little face?

enjoying some juice in his chair

spying on the neighbors with Daddy


putting Mommy's clean clothes back into the washing machine

Tristan is One Year Old!!!

It is so hard to believe that a whole year can pass that quickly, but it sure has been a great year! Tristan is such a great little boy, and I love spending every minute I can with him. He is walking really well now and starting to try and climb. Time to lower his mattress again! He loves throwing and chasing balls, reading books, and of course, pulling all of his clean clothes out of his dresser and putting them in the dirty clothes basket. If you ask him what a cow says, he says "Oooo" (close enough). He seems to like doing silly things that make other people laugh, and he will beat on his chest like Tarzan. He also carries his dirty diapers (sealed in a plastic bag) to the front door and says "bye bye poo poo." It is hilarious!!! At his one year checkup, he weighed 21 lbs and 10 oz, and was 29 3/4 inches tall. He had to get a few more shots, which he didn't enjoy. I think this time was the hardest for me because I had to help hold him down. After a few minutes of screaming, he whimpered for a few minutes and then fell asleep on my shoulder. He was still a little fussy that afternoon, but I think that also had something to do with his new teeth hurting him. He has had to two teeth on bottom, but now he has one on top and one beside it trying to break through. Poor little guy.

"Hmm, what can I find in here?"

"Let me out!"

Tristan with Mommy and Daddy on their third wedding anniversary

For his birthday, Justin and I took him to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, and he loved it! He liked looking and pointing at all the fish. At one point he decided that he did not want to ride in the stroller or be carried, he wanted to get down and walk around. Luckily they weren't all that busy that day and he didn't get trampled. He seemed to find it quite exciting that he could run back and forth between two of the small aquariums. There was one little area made for kids to run around and play, but his favorite thing there was the gold colored electrical outlets on the floor. He also liked watching the other kids play on the whale. All in all, it was a great trip. We timed it so that we would be driving during his naps and we were only a little bit late getting home for dinner.

silly boys

Mommy and Tristan

Tristan and Daddy

checking out the fish

Tristan got eaten by a shark!!!

"Look at the fishies!"

Tristan's birthday party was this past Saturday, and we had blast! At first I wasn't sure how he would react to so many people being in his house, but it didn't seem to take him long to start showing off his walking and ball throwing skills. We practiced blowing out a candle a few times prior to the party and he would always try to grab the candle. This time he blew on the candle perfectly! (But it wasn't quite hard enough to put it out, so I had to help him a little) I'm just glad that he didn't end up with a burnt hand! He definitely loved his cake! He probably would have eaten the whole thing if I would have let him. He didn't make too much of a mess either. There was hardly any cake on the floor, just on the tray and on him. He could have cared less about anything else going on in the room, he was focused on eating that cake. Then, after a mid-party bath, it was present time. He was more interested in the actual gifts than opening them, but what one year old isn't? Overall, we had a great time and I hope everyone else did too. Thank you all so much for Tristan's wonderful presents!!! I hope everyone has enjoyed reading Tristan's blog and I'm excited to keep you updated on another wonderful year to come!!! We love you!!!

party hat-check, birthday suit-check

Mommy, Daddy and Birthday Boy

Tristan's cake

Time to blow out the candle

"This is going to be fun!!!"

"I think I like it!"

"Yummy!"

the aftermath

mid-party bath

present time

helping Daddy

Mommy's favorite present-Tristan!

cutie pie!