Here's a video of Tristan trying to imitate my lips and noises... SOOOOOOO cute!!!!! I'll get one up of him talking soon! Yes, it's a little shaky, but you can hear him. Good thing I'm not a videographer!
Tristan imitating part 1 from Holly Riley on Vimeo.
Well, it's official. Travis and I are in love... with our little baby Tristan. As each day passes, we grow to love him more and more and more and it just blows me away. I was talking to a couple of my friends who lovingly told me that I was a little hormone-crazed for a few weeks following the birth of Tristan. It's harder for me to leave Tristan now than it was when he was 5 days old or even 4 weeks old! I felt relieved to get away from the house and away from Tristan for a little while and it was a welcome break in my day, but now... well, I actually missed Tristan and Travis during our normal family time last night when I was in class. And it was crazy. And I've found myself talking about him more when people ask. And I've found myself thinking about him sometimes during the day. And I've found myself staring at him thinking that he won't be this small forever. And I've found myself thanking God for giving us Tristan (instead of just praying for patience and peace 24/7 to get through the newborn weeks). So for those people that swear that the bond is instantaneous when the baby is born, I think it is only for some people. I mean, of course we both loved Tristan, but I didn't feel super connected to him and I definitely didn't think I was the only one who could take care of him. But now that I'm around him all day every day and the fact that we know him and his little habits and his patterns, who better than to take care of him than Travis or myself? Lol.
My parents were down here for 10 days and they were a lot of help and they were great with Tristan. They watched him so I could go the gym and Travis and I even got to go out and see a movie. The Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson one, "How do you know" or whatever - the one with the weird ending... boo for that. It's always tough when you first start having kids I've decided with all my years of experience... but what you hear/say/read is true: EVERYone offers you advice and it does get a little old, even from your family members. It's one of those things where you appreciate the help, but then again you try not to get upset when you do things a certain way and your family "does them better". Or they try to tell you how to do something and you want to politely remind them that they got to make mistakes with their babies/kids and you'd like to make some mistakes as well. Well, or how about all those times when you know what's wrong with your baby, but you watch everyone else try to calm him down just because you want to prove to them that they really don't know what's going to calm him and then you silently giggle to yourself and smile, go and pick up your baby and help him to calm down. LOL - well, I said it, but I know for a fact that all new moms feel that way. Yes, the woman versus woman competitive nature carries on forever, friend vs. friend, mother vs. daughter, sister vs. sister, aunt vs. daughter, aunt vs. niece, cousin vs. cousin... but such is life. You just have to take lots of deep breaths and say a LOT of prayers to help you get through certain situations... or call someone and have them talk you into a better mood. Well, that's partially my defensive tendencies around my family members and feeling like I always have to be perfect 24/7, but hey, old habits are hard to break. We had a really great time and it was great to see my parents and they really enjoyed Tristan.
The transition of going back to school for classes and teaching online classes (which incidentally, although very convenient, are very time consuming) is pretty overwhelming. I know I seem to be more hormonal than ever after having a baby, but I literally almost burst into tears the other day thinking of how I was going to make all of this workout okay. But I am trying to take one day at a time. And we have an awesome baby-sitter, Amy Foster, that comes over on Mon/Tues from 4 - 6 pm to watch Tristan. She's great with him and he seems to really like her too, so it's just great to have someone great that we can rely on.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tristan "swimming"
Tristan just LOVES his bath time. We decided to take a video of him "swimming" in his bath tub! We can't wait to take him to the pool when he's a little bit older and eventually help him learn to swim!! I'm hoping to get a video up here of him "talking". His new thing is to say "ah-goo" or just "goo" all gurgly and cute. He'll even say it back to you if you say it to him first and he'll reward you with a big gummy smile :)
Tristan "swimming" from Holly Riley on Vimeo.
Tristan "swimming" from Holly Riley on Vimeo.
Tristan is growing, growing, growing...
Here is a picture of Tristan at 4 1/2 weeks:
And here are 2 pictures of Tristan at 8 1/2 weeks:
And here are 2 pictures of Tristan at 8 1/2 weeks:
Thursday, January 6, 2011
8 week appointment, house in MN, etc.
Tristan survived his 3 shots and his oral vaccine as well! It was a VERY sad time since he started bleeding when the nurse poked his leg with a needle and he screamed louder than he's ever screamed and even had 2 little tear drops fall down his face.
We got all of our questions answered as well, which is always a relief. And we really liked the doctor we met with this time as well, so now we have 2 doctors that we really like at Healing Hearts Pediatrics in Chandler, McKenna and Wilcock. Sadly, Wilcock will be going on maternity leave soon, and I didn't think to ask if she was planning on going back to work.
On a more negative note, we are really struggling with our property management company, Lifeguard Realty back in Minneapolis. We've tried calling several times, I've put together spread sheets, talked to Wells Fargo about the rental deposits and our property manager, Jay, is horrible and refuses to evict our tenant, even though he is 2 months behind on rent, hasn't paid the water bill for all 12 months and hasn't paid the utility bill for 12 months. Jay keeps saying the renter is current and well, things are probably going to get messy and nasty here soon. Travis talked to our realtor today though, Matt Ashworth (who is 100% absolutely amazing and dedicated, we can't say enough good things about him) and he gave us some great advice about going to the State Dept of Commerce, esp since MN is such a consumer friendly state. Oh well, like everyone says, God never gives you more than you can handle, but I think God thinks a little too highly of us then. Lol, not that you have any other option than to handle it, other than offing yourself, I guess. (Not making light of the subject, I was just thinking about how you wouldn't be able to handle it and if you're dead, you can't do anything).
But we'll end on a positive note -
Tristan is growing more and more each day and he is so smiley lately. He loves to smile in the morning around 4:30 or 5:30, so sometimes it's hard to try to get him to go back to sleep because you just want to hold him and stare at him when he smiles!!
And we had a REALLY great time with Rick and Karen, Grams and Gramps :) last week! They were here for a whole week and Tristan loved playing and spending time with his grandparents, especially since he is so much more alert. They also stocked Tristan up on formula, diapers and wipes for Christmas, which was really helpful since Tristan has tons of clothes and toys already. They also brought him a cute little fisher price rolling snail and he loves to hit it and make the music go off, I don't know if he knows he's making the music go off at this point (I doubt it), but he still loves to lay on his play gym and hit his snail! And Rick and Karen even babysit on New Year's Eve, so Trav and I could go out on a date. We went to Portland's for dinner (SUPER good) and then we drove all over looking for a theater to see that Reese Witherspoon movie, How do you know, but it wasn't playing for another hour so we ended up watching Tangled with 4 other people in the theater. It was a pretty good movie, but it's one of those that you can wait until redbox.
Trav starts his new job next Monday and he'll only be about 7 minutes from home, which is super exciting! He took Tues through Friday off this week and we've been spending time with Tristan and trying to get other stuff done around here and with the house in MN.
Hope everyone has a great week!!
On a more negative note, we are really struggling with our property management company, Lifeguard Realty back in Minneapolis. We've tried calling several times, I've put together spread sheets, talked to Wells Fargo about the rental deposits and our property manager, Jay, is horrible and refuses to evict our tenant, even though he is 2 months behind on rent, hasn't paid the water bill for all 12 months and hasn't paid the utility bill for 12 months. Jay keeps saying the renter is current and well, things are probably going to get messy and nasty here soon. Travis talked to our realtor today though, Matt Ashworth (who is 100% absolutely amazing and dedicated, we can't say enough good things about him) and he gave us some great advice about going to the State Dept of Commerce, esp since MN is such a consumer friendly state. Oh well, like everyone says, God never gives you more than you can handle, but I think God thinks a little too highly of us then. Lol, not that you have any other option than to handle it, other than offing yourself, I guess. (Not making light of the subject, I was just thinking about how you wouldn't be able to handle it and if you're dead, you can't do anything).
But we'll end on a positive note -
Tristan is growing more and more each day and he is so smiley lately. He loves to smile in the morning around 4:30 or 5:30, so sometimes it's hard to try to get him to go back to sleep because you just want to hold him and stare at him when he smiles!!
Trav starts his new job next Monday and he'll only be about 7 minutes from home, which is super exciting! He took Tues through Friday off this week and we've been spending time with Tristan and trying to get other stuff done around here and with the house in MN.
Hope everyone has a great week!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Plants and Pets before Babies
The question usually happens right after you get engaged or married. Are you going to have kids/when, etc.? And some of the popular responses are “we’re going to try getting a dog/cat/fish first” and the other even more “cute” couples will say, “we’re going to get a plant first and see how that goes.” Oh, brother. HUGE eye roll. I’m not even going to compare having a plant to a baby. And for those couples that really think that getting a plant/dog/cat/fish, etc, will help “test” “improve” “strengthen” their relationship and be a sign of how great a parent your partner will be, well, let me know after you have kids. Oh, and I killed several plants. Why? Because watering them is boring and because it's a PLANT.
Anyway, so because I’ve heard several times throughout my life and very recently that having a puppy/kitty (mostly a puppy) is HARDER than having a baby, I am going to list out several differences (this is based on people I know that have puppies, most recently, my parents that now have 2...). I am not going to classify this into advantages versus disadvantages, you can decide that for yourself. Also, this is for 1st time pet owners and 1st time parents, not the veteran parents that can change a diaper with one hand and the mom that can whip out her bf cover and feed the baby in 20 minutes. Lastly, this is not meant as an attack to anyone by any means.
1. You don’t get puppies until about 6 or more weeks after they’re born. During this time they develop their eyesight, eat from mom and lots of other things. I’m debating on whether or not it’d be nice to have the baby go somewhere for 6 months and you could just visit him/her. Chill, just kidding.
3. With a puppy, you have to keep your house cleaned and picked up right away. It’s true, babies don’t bite/chew/scratch or ruin your favorite things right away, so puppy owners have to do a lot of organizing right away and puppy proofing. However, as soon as that baby starts crawling sometime after 6 months, watch out, time to baby proof the house.
5. With a baby, you have to wait 6 weeks or more to get busy in the bedroom and as many men can attest to, you don’t have to deal with your wife/partner feeling unsexy/fat/undesirable and in immense pain at first.
6. With a baby, you also get to wait 6 weeks or more to get back into the gym. The whole process of creating a baby took almost a year and well, your figure doesn’t come back overnight (or even after 6 weeks) and neither does your athletic ability. And with a puppy, he/she can’t WAIT to play and run around with you the instant you take him/her home, so some people lose weight (my mom did). The baby takes over 4 weeks just to start to focus and even more time to learn to roll over, play and even smile in response to your smile. Although lifting Tristan up and carrying his car seat around helps with the arm and back muscles.
7. Last time I checked you can’t pay someone and put your baby in a kennel and take a family vacation. Obviously, you can get a baby-sitter and a dog-sitter, but not the point here. The freedom of being able to put your dog in a good kennel and not burden someone else is priceless. Even though grandmas and grandpas love to baby-sit, babies require a lot more attention and care than animals.
9. Diapers versus picking up dog poop. I’d have to go with changing diapers on this one, at least it’s in a contained area (like litter boxes) and you don’t have to carry a bag around if you go on a walk. But no worries, babies pee and poop all over the place too, just like cats/dogs do.
10. You can leave a puppy at home alone for a couple of hours and go to work, go to the gym, go to the store. You can’t leave a baby/kid at home alone till 8, 9, 10 years and on. I don’t know the appropriate age for kids, but I know it’s several years.
12. Giving a baby a bath is a lot more “scary” and nerve racking at first. The puppy may just jump out of the tub or run away, but you can’t turn your back for one second and putting a baby in the tub and taking him out when he’s super little can be a challenge.
13. When you bring home a puppy, the puppy actually understands your tone of voice, so if you raise your voice and say “no”, “stop”, “stop barking” etc, the puppy will knock it off or put his/her tail down after a bit. Babies don’t recognize tone until at least after 6 months (this is per my linguistics classes in grad school and articles), pretty sure if I tell Tristan “no” or say “stop crying” in a loud voice, he’ll just cry harder or be confused.
14. Which brings me to say that animals are very intuitive (like kids, not like babies). Animals can tell if you are angry/sad/upset, etc, and they will act in response to your emotions. Again, babies can’t do that for a long time.
16. Traveling with a puppy versus a baby is very different. You can just open the car door and in goes the dog (you have to bring a leash, some food, maybe water, poop bags and a toy or two). You do have to control the dog once you’re in the car, but they get that down pretty quickly if you train them well. Going somewhere with baby means getting the car seat in, getting the stroller, getting the pack ‘n’ play, the bouncer or the infant seat if you’re going out for a while, grabbing a couple of toys, making sure you have planned the trip around baby’s nap time or fussy time and making a bottle or two. And bringing that diaper bag packed with all the necessities, an extra outfit, blanket, burp cloth, pacifier, wipes, aspirators, medicine, health information, diapers and any other necessary items.
17. Training. You can go to puppy training classes right away and get your dog trained. I don’t think a baby training class would work, it takes time with babies, lots of times, months and years for them to learn things and for the brain to develop and make/recognize connections.
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