Christmas Time!

I could get used to this Christmas thing, but I need to learn how to pace myself a little better.  If you are going to be a party machine you can't break down when there is still partying to be done.  Anyway, this is the first Christmas I actually remember.  Last year I was too young and couldn't even see straight.  Here's a picture of me last year:

I couldn't hold my head up, blabber, or even smile yet.  Just a total mess.

This year was much better.  It started off with a Friday night party with Mommy's friends from when she was my age.  I hit the sack early but stayed long enough for food.  Here's a picture of all of her friends and the husbands they make come too:

Next day and BOOM we were back at it again.  This time it was Gung Gung's brothers and family.  This one had even more people:

Next morning was Christmas and an even bigger BOOM! There were all these presents for me! Basically you rip stuff apart and then you get toys!

Oh the glorious toys! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my first car too.  It's a good compact for city driving:

We weren't done yet.  Off to Fairfield we went to visit Daddy's family.  There I ate gumbo, prime rib, mac and cheese. and candied yams.  I feel very southern when I visit there.  Here's a picture of all of us:

Yeah that's my half white, half black, french hat wearin' gangsta cousin to my right.  He's so much fun to hang with.  Wow what a long day, right? Well there was still some more partying to do.  Off to Po Po and Gung Gung's house for some more dinner.  Mommy, Daddy and I posed for a pic just with us:

And Christmas was done- but the day after Christmas was still to come.

The next day my friend Bianca came over.  She's very mature at 18 months but I did my best to keep up.  She would only eat one noodle at a time and would clean up after herself.  Oh what a silly girl.  I showed her how you can slam a bunch of noodles in your mouth at one time.  Don't worry about missing and making a mess- Mommies clean that stuff up!

That afternoon guess what?  We went to another party.  This time it was all of the family friends that Mommy has known since she was a baby.  This is where I learned I have to pace myself.  It started with Uncle Aron telling my how great his drink was:

That just meant I had to hook myself up with one.  It was in there somewhere....

I'm not sure exactly what I had but it hit me hard.  I had a bit of a breakdown:

First I couldn't see straight:

And then the room started spinning and I started having visions:

Then apparently I started kissing dudes:

When I started to come down from my trip I could only regret the night:

Next year I'll have this better figured out and be able to party like a pro over the fours days of Christmas.

Thanks to everyone you got me a gift or had me in your thoughts.  I hope your Christmas was as much fun and filled with as much love as mine!

It's My Birthday!

December 1st is a day to remember.  It's been one year since I was born and today we are about to PAR-TAY!!!!!!

If you don't have this look on your face right now you then you're doing it wrong

My birthday this year is going to last about 10 days with all the stuff that's going on.  We had a big ol' party already with some aunties, uncles and friends more my age.  Let's see, who was there?  First the ladies...

Courtney was there:

Bianca came to kick it:

and Katelyn made an appearance:

Maddie's been through two birthdays and watched to make sure I was doing it right:

Some fellas showed up too.  Isaac is on the left.  He was a bit camera shy I guess:

Nate helped make sure the presents were working properly:

And Ry was the life of the party as always:

Landon was also there but must have had a crazy night because he slept the whole time.  We didn't disturb him with pictures.  The cake was supposed to be the highlight because it was going to be my first sugary sweet.  Nobody told me you set a small bonfire on top of it.  I thought they we going to blow up my cake before I had the chance to eat it:

Here's a video of the whole thing:

At the end of this first party I wound up with a whole bunch of new toys.  Daddy won't even open them all for me yet because he wants me to get bored of some of them before moving on to another.  He better just open them all now because I'll never get bored of all this!

I want to thank everyone for the gifts and for everyone that's been there for me through the year.  If the rest of my years are as good as the first one, I'm going to have the best time ever (although I could do without the diaper rash)!

Give Me a Minute

It wasn't a good sleep.  Give me a minute here.

Seriously Dad, I need a minute to compose myself for pictures.

MOMMY!!! WHY DOES DADDY HAVE TO TAKE PICTURES RIGHT NOW!?!?

Adventures In Babysitting

Po Po and Gung Gung took a three week cruise.  That's nice for them but they didn't purchase a baby ticket and mommy couldn't drop me off on the ship everyday so I was out a babysitter.  Who would feed me and change my poops?

Luckily Auntie Liz stepped up to watch me and it worked out great.  Here we are hanging on the porch.

During the day we'd eat, play, and sleep.  The eating was pretty good.  As you can see I'm getting to be a big boy and don't need to be fed by you.  Put the food in front of me and let me be.  Auntie Liz would hook me up with the good stuff too- she even peeled my grapes!


Then we'd go play at the park and play a little at home too.  I love basketball and will pass the ball to anyone that wants to play.

I'm pretty buffed out too because I work on my muscles.  Tug of war is a great game:

On Fridays daddy took off from work to watch me. One day we went to the Academy of Sciences.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  There's so much to look at and way too many strange looking animals.  One time in front of a display daddy was like "Do you see that chameleon?" and I'm thinking "No I can't see that chameleon.  I don't know what a chameleon looks like and its a CHAMELEON".  He just kept pointing at the display like it meant something.  I liked the fish and penguins best because they are so fast and colorful.

The past three weeks have been good times but I've missed my Po Po and Gung Gung.  It's good to get back with them and hopefully they're ready for the more mature Tristan.

We Moved!

We moved out of the Richmond district and where did we go?  The westside? Eastside? No, we're now in the Parkside!

Mommy and Daddy have been packing and moving and unpacking boxes day after day.  I pretty much only help with the unpack.  In fact, I will unpack anything- whether it needs it or not.

Goodbye 11th Ave.  I'll miss the Chinese food that was right there on the corner.  I'll miss Chuck and Nan.  I'll miss hearing my echo in the hallway.  It was a good 10 months but I need more room and new adventures.

Let me show you around the new place.  If you want a real tour you need to come over but here is how I see it.  


Here's me in my room.  No shoes on the carpet please. 

There's a lot more room to get around and more stuff to play with but watch out.  This new oven has an issue.  Don't touch it!  Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's not.  I've burned my hands three times now and still haven't figured out when I can touch it.

All these new doors and drawers keep me busy.  Some are tougher to open than others.  That doesn't stop me though because I can just go through the door if need be.  See!

Gotta go eat now.  Update soon!

Halloween

Sorry for the lack of updates.  We've been way busy but posts are coming.  Let's start with my first Halloween.

Bottle, baby - video

Above is the video corresponding to my last blog entry. Since then, he has taken the bottle from us, no problem, and it is such a relief. I won't lie though. Each time I'm about to feed him, my nerves get the best of me as I get mentally prepared to play Bottle vs. Tristan like we have hundreds of times before. But each time I find that there's no battle to fight, and he just drinks like a normal happy baby.

It's been months in the making, but we are finally officially moving on Saturday out of our tiny 2 bedroom apartment onto the greener pastures of the Parkside District. We are extremely lucky to have a house to live in, and it's full circle to raise my child in the home that I was raised in. But I can't help but mourn the loss of the first place I began to create my own little family. It started with a relationship, which evolved into a marriage, which grew into a baby. For the past four years, Joe and I have hosted all our friends, stayed up long nights, watch lots of reality tv, and began raising a baby. It was Tristan's first home, as it was ours together. And I got a little choked up tonight, cooking a batch of spaghetti, knowing this was the last time I was going to cook in this kitchen. Change can be great, especially in this case, because it will give Tristan a place to run around and grow with. But I'll never forget bringing him home from CPMC to this apartment. The beginning of my life as a mother began here, and I hope I never forget that feeling. But you know what I'll miss the most...May Wah! I kid you not. Being 3 blocks away from practically any ingredient you need is a cook's dream. It spoiled me. Now I have to drive to the nearest store. Soon my leg muscles will all go through atrophy and turn to mush because I'll never walk anywhere ever again. Then I'll be no better than those LA girls I make fun of all the time.

Goodbye, Clement Street. You've been good to us.

Bottle, Baby!

Babycenter.com says that babies don't self-wean until they're over 2 years old. Babycenter.com has obviously not met Tristan Dea Marshman.

Three days ago, Tristan decided to deny nursing at night. I don't know why, I mean, it's not like the kid talks. So I had no idea what to do about it because I didn't know the reason. And then the swirling emotions of mother-guilt began to plague me. What was I doing wrong? What about our special bonding together? So then we tried the bottle, which of course he refused as well. Then panic set in. No nursing, and no bottle. He'd shrivel up like a little shrinky dink in no time! But he'd throw that bottle away like it was filled to the brim with poison.

Until today.

This morning, I sat him on the kitchen counter facing me, and stuck a bottle of formula in his mouth. He took it. And I fed him, my eyes wide and heart elated at 6:30am. Who can ever remember feeling overjoyed at 6:30am? I sure can't remember a time. But today, I was. Overjoyed doesn't even do it justice. This was the FIRST time he had ever taken a bottle from me. First time ever in his teeny little lifetime. But Tristan can be a big ol' tease. So I decided not to get my hopes up.

Tonight, he took another bottle, this time from Joe. I'd show you the video, but of course youtube uploading is down right now. I'll be sure to upload it tomorrow.

I will miss nursing him. It was our time to be still, to be one. But between the biting (ouch!) and the inconvenient pumping at work, I think I'll easily transition to not nursing. I lasted 10 months. Not a bad go in my opinion.

Now I'll have to find other ways to trick him into cuddling with me.

Lack of Manners

Hey all, Tristan here again.  Mommy is too tired with work and me to update this thing so I'm in charge for the time being.

The weather has been nice and our place has gotten warm.  Daddy went on this rant about it was time to get in touch with my white side and Mommy makes me wear too much clothing.  Not sure what being half white had to do with it but I got to play around just wearing my diaper.

This was lots of fun but he told me not to tell Po-po.  The secret is safe as long as you readers don't go telling her.

In other big news, the doctor said I should be feeding myself more often.  This is CRAZY YO!  I get to make a mess and it is ENCOURAGED!  Here is me the other night.  Man I was so proud of my effort on this mess.

My palate is maturing and I only want the finer things.  Basically this means I don't want anymore vegetables.  They're nasty.  This is causing issues with my bowels and sometimes my "movements" are a little hard to get moving.  See the effort in my face here:

If Mommy figures this out, she might force me to eat my greens.  When I have to give that extra push, I just give the thumbs up and pretend like everything is working great.

Come by and visit anytime.  Party at my place.

Play Date

Pretty girl gives a kiss............

and playful boy is happy!

Playful boy gives a kiss back...

and pretty girl feels violated.

Pretty girl is a little bit afraid of crazy mascot.................................................and playful boy just wants to poke it.

But both like to play with toys......

though some need a lot of help.......

and others are getting the hang of it. 

And both get their hot mamas to stroll them around the city!

There will be better days

Hey again, it's Tristan.  Today didn't go so well.  Mommy dressed me this morning.  I tried to pull it off but to no avail.  Check out the picture:

I look like the love child of Raggedy Ann and a gay English professor.

Anyways, we went out and about not doing anything too fun but then Mommy and Daddy took me to the park.  Have you been to the park?  It's horrible.  HORRIBLE! You're supposed to play but there are no cell phones, remote controls, or electric sockets anywhere to be found.  Maybe kids born back in 2008 would enjoy this but not today's kids.

First off it was cold and a bunch of strangers were already there.  We tried the slides first.  They're cold, squeeky, and no fun.

Then we tried the swing.  Pass.

Because I didn't like that, I got put in the sand.  This stuff gets everywhere and smells like dog pee sometimes.

I just wanted Mommy to get me out...

...but she just put me in even more sand with nothing else around!

All alone....

while she laughed at me.  Not cool at all Mommy.

By the time we got home I was losing it.  I starting incoherently blabbering to myself .

I'm waking up four times tonight.  Revenge will be sweet.