He's a cheeky little bugger...

...with big blue eyes.

Baby it's cold outside

Absolutely nothing to do with the weather, but isn't Silas cute in the Bumbo?

Getting ready to brave the weather for some groceries.

I wanna go ow-side.

Cute little snow tracks.

Someone left their lawnmower out in the snow.

I wanna go back ow-side!

Playing with Daddy will work too.

And thus concludes Tristan's first frolic in the snow of this winter season. I'd say first frolic of the year, which is true, but the year only has 28 days left in it and so in 29 days I'd have to say it's another first frolic of the year. I'm a sucker for literality.

Pictureless stories

Yesterday, Silas and I had the privilege of hanging out at the clinic lab for 3 hours. Whee! I went to my 6 week postpartum checkup on Monday and was informed that they wanted me to do the two hour glucose tolerance test to make sure that I haven't developed type II diabetes. Did you know that 40% of women that have gestational diabetes get type II diabetes? Neither did I. I mean, I knew I was at a higher risk, but 40% was news to me. That might be the most informative thing Dr. OB has ever said to me. He also wanted to test to see if I was anemic, which, surprise!, I am. Jackass... I could have told him two weeks ago that I was anemic, but God forbid he or his nurse share information with each other or make notes in my chart or read the freaking chart for that matter. I am so happy to be done with this man, and I promise I will never see him again. I will have a home birth before that happens.

Anyway, I loathed enjoyed hanging out at the lab for 3 hours with Silas while all the other pregnant woman speculated as to why I was drinking the orange stuff while I was holding a tiny baby. I was even asked by one of the lab techs if I was pregnant again. Oh.my.God. Could you imagine!? (I know you could imagine, Tami, but you're unique.) I haven't gotten the results of the glucose test yet, but I feel pretty confident that it will be negative. Before I went to the test my sugar was 80 and when I came about 2 1/2 hours after the orange drink it was 53. I'd be shocked to hear otherwise at this time, so now it's just up to me to do everything in my power to become one of the 60% of women that don't end up with type II. It's like a ticking time bomb that I'm going to be running away from for the rest of my life. I like a challenge.

Tristan is being just as ornery as ever. I could go on and on with stories about that boy. Our old daycare provider had a couple of times that she told us "Tristan is the first child in my 25 years of doing daycare that has ever done *such and such*." Well, yesterday, our new daycare worker uttered similar words. "Tristan is the first child in my 15 years of doing daycare that has ever opened up that freezer, taken out the hamburger, opened it, and dumped it on the floor." Obviously these ladies have never had very smart, creative, resourceful, or curious children. I have a feeling that Josh and I may be sitting in the principal's office years from now hearing, "Tristan is the first child in my 20 years of being a principal/teacher/etc. that has ever..." He's one of a kind.

This past weekend Tristan took it upon himself to change his diaper...again. Besides having to shampoo parts of the carpet, which is always fun, the best part was the "where did he put the dirty diaper?" search. Being as smart as he is, we found the dirty diaper in the diaper pail. What a good boy. Later in the day the smarty pants came to Josh and me with his cup of milk in one hand and the bottle of (sugar free) chocolate syrup in the other saying, "chockit miwk?" At least he didn't try to mix it himself! He's going to give us a run for our money, and he's not even 2 years old yet.

He can be a good boy too though. He's slept in his big boy bed now for two weeks, and the past week he hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night. The past two days he has gone to bed without getting up or fighting us at all. He's just gotten in bed, played for a bit, laid down, and went to sleep. He's even been sleeping in until about 7:30 in the morning which is so nice for us.

Silas is starting to seem a bit colicky to us. We're reluctant to say that he's got colic because we've heard horror stories of colicky kids, and he's not horrible but he is extra fussy, in obvious pain, and hard to console. We'll get it under control though. Other than that, his eyes have finally turned blue, but they are a darker blue whereas Tristan's are light. Josh is convinced that Silas isn't going to have mine and Tristan's transparent white complexion, so I'm just going to let him believe that for now. His red hair is seeming more obvious to me so I'm sure his skin will lighten with time. For now though, he's not as albino as me and T. Sleep has been getting better and better. He gives me 3-5 straight hours of sleep each night. Tristan slept through the night by 8 weeks so hopefully Si can get it done early too.

That's about all that's going on with our family these days. I don't have any new pictures yet from December, but I'll try to remedy that. Maybe we'll try to take Tristan out in the snow tonight to let him play around and give me a photo op.

Santa Claus is coming to town

In case you couldn't tell by the look on his face, Tristan absolutely loves strangers. He's not scared of them actually, just terribly shy. I'm pretty sure he thinks we're all a bit crazy too. Silas, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less. All he knew is that someone warm was holding him, so he was happy. I'm just glad Santa is a real man and not some weird person in a bunny helmet that I was handing my baby to. Man, that rabbit creeped me out.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Presents make a tree look 100 times better.

Do you know how hard it is to get a newborn baby to open their hands up for a decent hand print?

The stockings are still a work in progress. I still have decorative ideas in store for them.

Oh, the things I am allowed to do to my children simply because I gave birth to them. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get them both to cooperate and look good in the same picture.

I am thankful for

1. My three main men. The eldest one that is always supportive and strong for me. The toddling one that can always make me laugh. The tiny one that snuggles the best.
2. Tristan's healed heart. Hopefully it's the most stressful thing that we will ever endure, and it is over now and we made it through. Tristan is such a strong boy.
3. Friends that understand me and the place I am at in my life; where family and babies come first, and home is the best place to hang.
4. The unspoken rewards of parenting. The "wuv yous" and "sowwys", the "nigh-nighs", the "mommas", the newborn smiles, the giggles and laughs, the sound of feet on the hardwood floor, the sly smiles, the tight hugs, the kisses, the hide 'n seek, the knucks and high fives, the cuddles and squeezes...
5. Bedtime stories with the boy that typically wants Daddy to do everything, but wants Momma to read each night. It's our time that I look forward to and love.
   
6. Maternity leave.

I could go on, but it's early and I'm sleepy. Have a happy happy Thanksgiving, and don't forget what you're thankful for.