Holiday Spirit?

I find myself waffling between happy holiday spirit and the bah humbugs. And why?

I remember truly liking the holidays. When I was a kid, Thanksgiving and Christmas were so much fun. And then my parents divorced. Though I don't think it was just then that the holidays became so 'meh' for me. I think it was some years later. When I started feeling like I couldn't be everywhere I wanted to be, or was wanted to be. When I suddenly had 3 or 4 different places I could be for each holiday. And I couldn't be at them all. I started feeling guilty. And it slowly has worked its way into me wanting to skip the whole Christmas thing all together.

I want to make the holidays special again. I want to enjoy them. And I want Tristan to like them just as much as I used to. I just read this great post that my old college roommate wrote. Finally, it seems like I might have found the answer. Heck with guilt. Heck with angst. I'm going to make the holidays about being happy. I'm going to make a calendar of things to do. Everything will be something happy.

And if it doesn't work this year, I'll try again next. And it will work. For Tristan, it will work.

Tristan Through 12 Months

I was going to do through 18 months, but figured 2 parts might be better. So without further ado...

May, just before his birthday, doing one of his favorite activities with Daddy.

11 Months11 Months, Tristan's first shadow puppet. Looks like a lama to this mama.
10 Months - With the new cart Daddy made for him.
9 Months - There's a kitty down there!

Tristan at 8 Months - The last time he was in his bouncer.
8 Months - The start of Tristan's favorite game (still to this day)... Where's Tristan?



A very happy Tristan, 7 months old
7 Months - Tristan opening his first Christmas gift. Yes, he opened it all by himself.
Tristan at 7 Months

Video - Mommie's Sanity Saver

When I was pregnant, I was trying to figure out what to add to my registry for my baby shower. One of the decisions involved what baby monitor to get. I saw that there were video monitors available, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you'd need a video monitor. Did you really need to watch your baby sleeping?

Fast forward to the past 2 weeks. When Tristan wasn't napping. Through my audio monitor, I could hear him babbling away in his crib. But I had no idea what he was doing, and why he suddenly wasn't napping. Any time I'd open the door, he'd be up and talking to me in a second.

Yesterday, I installed our new video monitor. And today Tristan finally napped. The only difference between today and the past 2 weeks? I'd been watching the monitor. Tristan was walking around in his crib, waving his bear around, playing with his pacifier, banging on the walls. And he was also laying down, kicking the slats of his crib. He was a bit like a kangaroo, up and down, up and down. When I was thinking maybe I should go in, I looked at the monitor. Tristan was laying in the crib, talking to himself. I figured if he stood up again, I'd go in and get him. Instead, within 5 minutes, he was asleep.

Thats My Evan

We're headed upstairs for bed. I hear crash! bang! above me. When I get to our room, I ask Evan if he's ok. He says he ran into the baby gate. He forgot it was there. The baby gate he made himself. The baby gate he installed himself. Six months ago. I'm glad the body snatchers haven't gotten him!