Birthday Boy!

One year ago today.

This morning

Such a smily little guy!

It is so hard for me to believe that Tristan is a year old today. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by!

Tristan is such a fun little guy. He is H-A-P-P-Y most of the time. But when he is not, he IS NOT.

While having Tristan was indeed planned, the timing of the arrival of all three of our kids nearly at once was not. I questioned God on that for quite some time. It was HARD. Really hard. We operated in survival mode for months. Looking back on it, I don't know how I held it together. In the last few months, Chuck and I have acquired some hindsight. We have realized that having Tristan at the same time as the arrival of Noah and Samuel actually brought us some peace.

Noah and Samuel had a pretty good transition, but it was still hard. They were so afraid of everything when they came home. They freaked out a lot. Their diapers were horrible and we were terrified that Tristan would catch giardia from them. Not to mention, we were first time parents. We had no idea what we were doing. We were scared.

At the end of a long day, after the twins were in bed, we would hold Tristan and experience peace. There is just something so calming about holding an infant. And still today, there is something very calming about holding this 21 1/2 lb baby boy.

Tristan definitely says Mama and Dada and mimics other words. He is not quite walking... he seems to like holding on to furniture as he walks and runs along. He gets right in the mix and plays with the big boys. Just recently Noah and Samuel have become a little less gentle with him and I think it's because they don't view him as a baby anymore. Tristan is transitioning well to table food and is down to nursing just before bed now. I have slowly been weaning him from breastfeeding for about a month and a half and he would not drink formula, so he is drinking whole milk. (I know, I know, he shouldn't have had milk before a year old, but he just wouldn't drink the formula.) He has five teeth and #6 is so close to breaking through that I had to check before I typed five. He still fits in some of his 12 month clothing, but is more comfortably fitting in 18 month clothing now (though pants are a little long).

Tristan has never been a good napper. His morning nap is usually only 30 minutes long and his afternoon nap is considered long if he makes it 60 minutes. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 and is up at 5:30, much to our dismay. We give him milk at about 6 and he will go back to sleep for a little while some days after drinking his milk.

A recent nickname we've given Tristan is "T-Bird." When Tristan screams, he sounds like a pterodactyl. In learning about pterodactyls I found that they belong to the bird family; they are not considered dinosaurs.

Tristan's little personality just keeps emerging. He's pretty strong willed. He wants what he wants... when he wants it. Yes, he is my son. He's also pretty funny. He has taken his stinker face to a whole new level. He now will do the stinker face and then laugh... like he's just kidding. While typing this post he added an eye roll to the stinker face when my sister told him to take a car out of his mouth. Oh my.

Tomorrow we will have a family birthday party for Tristan. We are grateful to be able to celebrate this day with family here in MI. Even my Dad is here, visiting from Florida.

I just love this little guy to pieces. He keeps me on my toes and deprives me of sleep and rattles my brain with his screeching, but it's all worth it. When he's snuggled up in my arms or flashing me a baby grin or sleeping peacefully in his crib I know without a doubt that I have been blessed beyond measure.

Happy Birthday, baby boy!