Have Fun Stormin' The Castle

It occurred to me tonight how The Princess Bride must have been the marketing/publicity persons worst nightmare. I mean, the first time I ever saw it was because my family's friend had 2 sons about my age and they had rented it but weren't sure the boys would like it. So I thought I'd come up with some alternate titles that would have been more publicist friendly:

The Man in Black

Never Fight a Land War in Asia

Inconceivable!

Mostly Dead

The Zoo of Death (of course, then they would have HAD to put it in the movie)

The Dread Pirate Roberts

And my personal favorite:

Have Fun Stormin' the Castle

Symptoms of... Pregnancy?

Over the summer, Evan and I decided that we were ready to make our family bigger. We figured that we'd start trying for baby #2 in November, that way I'd be pregnant over the summer when I could stay in the pool all day with Tristan. And then baby #2 would have an end of summer, beginning of autumn birthday. Perfect!

Skip ahead to November. We started trying. And by the beginning of December, I started having symptoms. The question, were they pregnancy symptoms or something else?

Symptom #1: Fatigue
I was tired. So tired I actually took a nap. For those that know me well, I'll give you a second to pick yourselves up off the floor. OK. Ready? Yeah, I needed a nap multiple days in a row. But at the same time I was fighting a off a cold that Evan had brought home. And Tristan was getting up for the day between 5 and 6:30. So maybe that's why I was so tired? Keep in mind, when I was pregnant with Tristan, I didn't nap, or feel the need to.

Symptom #2: Tighter Shirts
OK, so, yeah, this might be too much info for some, and if so, you should just skip ahead now. Anyway, suddenly my chest seemed larger. Was was I finally getting back my pre-Tristan boobs? I'd heard that 3-6 months after you stop breastfeeding your boobs come back, was it actually happening? Or was the pregnancy-boob fairy here?

Symptom #3: Nausea
While out shopping one day, I stepped into a room where they were serving ham for lunch.  And I immediately ran back out the door, trying not to gag. Was the vegetarian in me revolting? I mean, when I was pregnant with Tristan, I didn't get all-day-sickness until I was 8 weeks along.  At this point, it was only 3 weeks!

Symptom #4: Oh Man, I Gotta Pee!
I wasn't sure, but it seemed that I was needing to go to the bathroom more frequently. But maybe I was just drinking more water lately? Hmmm...

So, with these thoughts in my head, I waited until mid-December. And do you know what the best sign of pregnancy is?

Baby #2 is due August 16!

Crumbs

We took the Xmas tree down Sunday. Before Tristan's nap, he helped undecorate the tree. Though he spent a good deal of time taking the ornaments we'd just gotten off back to the tree to try and put them on again.

After his nap, Tristan came downstairs and said "Where tree go?" We explained it was all gone for the year, that the tree was back outside. Then Evan went and got the vacuum. Tristan looked at the floor.

"Crumbs! Daddy, crumbs here!"

And for the next few minutes, I watched Tristan help his Daddy find and vacuum up all of the 'crumbs' left by the tree.

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!