Our little bug turned 1!

Well I am a bit late with this, but I thought I should update the blog since Tristan has made it through a huge milestone!  Our little boy is now 13 months old!  We celebrated his 1st birthday in Utah over spring break with cousins and a combined party with Karina! It was fun watching the two of them eat birthday cake and get it all over themselves.  The next morning Tristan woke up with a nasty stomach flu which lasted 6 days. So, we got stuck in Utah for longer than we had anticipated. Since I got the stomach flu too, Nick was exhausted from taking care of both of us.  This coming week is finals week for Nick and me, so after that we will be able to spend all of our time playing with Tristan. I can't wait! I feel like I have been ignoring him a lot since I have so many school projects to finish up. But that will all change next week. After that, BRING ON SUMMER! We'll go to the Zoo, the park, to several weddings, and all fun time with Tristan! 

I also just wanted to officially say that Tristan will be getting a baby brother or sister this year!  I haven't been to the doctor yet, since I couldn't get an appointment until May 23, but we're excited!  Tristan has been practicing his big brother skills by carrying around a little baby doll that Grandma Robischon gave to him.  He gives the baby kisses (well, half kisses, half bites) and smiles at the baby. It's too cute for words.  Tristan has learned a lot in the past few months.  He says "that?" and points to things so that we can tell him what they are.  He's started playing with toy cars and making "vrooom vroom" noises (we have no idea where he learned that, but he sure picks up on things quickly).  He is also our little destroyer. Anything he gets his hands on, he tries to break apart.  He seems be trying to figure out how things work and I guess that breaking them is a pretty good way to do that.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to surprise my cousin Jennie at her wedding.  We flew out to Missouri and got to hang out with cousins (a bunch of whom I hadn't seen in 9 years or so!). It was so much fun and Jennie's wedding was perfect.  We were so happy to have been able to go.  While we were out there Nick talked to my cousin John about the possibility of getting a job with his engineering firm.  Nick will apply after finals and if he gets the job we will be moving to Missouri.  I told Nick very early on in our marriage that I will be happy anywhere we live as long as I'm with him.  Missouri isn't my ideal, but I am excited to be closer to so much family.  I love my cousins and it would be awesome to live close to them.  Tristan had lots of fun playing with Jady's little boy Logan.  They are so so so cute playing together and I'm very glad they finally met.

Fell asleep while playing.

Tristan and Karina playing with fridge magnets.

Carlos, Tyana, Iliana, Tia Judith, Tristan and Nick in Logan, Utah. Spring break.

Tristan got to meet Grandpa Taylor. Their birthdays are only a few days apart!

Mmmm birthday cake!

Here's our little Batman!

We don't know what this year will bring, but we're pretty excited to find out!

Tristan's first real day at the Denver Zoo!

10 months

Tristan turned 10 months old on January 23rd!  He's such a great little boy. He's starting to walk a bit now and he crawls so fast it's crazy! I can't seem to keep him from turning off our computer though. He loves the power button, so we end up losing a lot of unsaved documents and internet tabs.  He also enjoys turning on the Xbox and turning the receiver on and off.  His favorite game is when we're watching a movie and he turns the knob on the receiver until it plays the radio...then he rocks out.  Seriously though, he bounces up and down and even head bangs (well, if you count shaking your head a lot head banging)!  He's so much fun and I'm so glad we're lucky enough to have him in our lives.

Tristan's First Christmas...

...and New Year!

Look at that cute messy face!

Playing the drums...with a paintbrush and palette.

So sweet when he's asleep :)

He loves his puppies and his daddy!

This is Blackie

This is white stripe

White stripe and white nose

White nose

They're so stinkin' cute! Who wouldn't want these puppies?

Tristan also got to experience his first time out in the snow!

It snowed Dippin Dots!

He's hamming it up for the camera...

Milk drunk baby!

Me and my favorite little boy!

Just stopped in to post some pictures...

Because I never posted a picture of my favorite haircut...here it is :)

The last walk of the season before it got too cold and snowy!

This is our beautiful house that we love soooo much

What a proud uncle!  Showing off his niece and nephew on his birthday!

This boy loooooves to find the guitar! Plus he looks really cute in daddy's hat.

My always smiling boy!

And because I don't think I ever posted this...I LOVE this picture. SO funny! 

I guess I need to upload the pictures from our camera because some of these are out of date...next time. 

Where to begin?

Tristan had his first Halloween this year!  He dressed up as a lion, I went as a white witch and Nick was a wardrobe. So we were "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"!  We thought it was pretty clever.  Tristan was sooooo cute in his lion costume!

 

 Here are just a few pictures of our funny little boy: 

"Hi Mom!"     

mmmmmm fingers

 For my birthday Nick took Tristan and me and our friends Derek and Julie and their daughter Rhian (who is just a few weeks younger than Tristan) to Benihana's for dinner.  It was SO good!  Afterwards we went home and Tristan and Rhian played for a while. It was fun to watch them play...

On the 23rd Tristan turned 8 months old!  I know I say this every time, but I really can't believe I have an 8 month-old! He's so active and always happy!  The morning of the 23rd we got a huge surprise when we woke up and 4 cute and tiny furry puppies were in the whelping box we made for Lady.  Oh my goodness they are so cute! I'm pretty content about keeping them around for the cute puppy stage and then handing them off to some other people to raise them. However, Nick thinks we should keep one.  I don't think we could handle 3 dogs but we are very tempted to keep one of them all the same (There is one dark brown one that I am in loooove with...but also the runt of the litter is SUPER cute). I think they are the first Shiba Inu, Cocker Spaniel, Border Collie, Australian Shepherd Mix ever.   I think they will be pretty cute when they are grown up a bit :)

 

I think that about catches our life up!  I love our little family :)

6 months old, can you believe it!?

I sure can't believe it.  My little baby is beginning to be not so much of a baby anymore! He's more like half baby half toddler.  I can't keep him out of anything!  He weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 (something) inches long.  He's getting so smart and already says "hi" and "dada" and "yeah!".  He's not quite crawling, although he does scoot along quite well, and his little knees are getting red from trying so hard.  He's the best part of my day and I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with him.  He constantly amazes me and keeps me on my toes. 

As for me, I think I'm finally seeing a break in the clouds.  PPD isn't fun, and I am slowly but surely getting out of my funk.  Zumba and running have been helping a LOT and I really really really love our gym!   A couple of weeks ago Tristan and I were in a car accident (he wasn't hurt THANK GOODNESS!) and I've been seeing a Chiropractor for my neck which was injured when we were rear-ended.   Long story short, the woman didn't have insurance and everything has been a nightmare, BUT we're all fine and moving on with our lives.  The car even got fixed (thanks to our uninsured motorist coverage)!

Now, Tristan and I are in Vail with my mom this week taking a much-needed vacation from Denver.  We miss Nick, but he's at home doing much more important things like working and going to grad school.  He's awesome, I wish I was more like him. 

Now...more news.  Nick's sister (and my best friend) Azalea who got married at the end of July is pregnant! She called us yesterday to let us know and I am so happy for them!!!  THEN as soon as we found out Az. was pregnant, Ar. called and SHE IS PREGNANT TOO!  ......I'm happy for her!  BUT also shocked for the simple reason that she had a baby 2 weeks after I did...as in less than 6 months ago.  And I am NOT ready to be pregnant again.  I need to lose 25 lbs, get my body back to some form of normalcy and start getting more sleep before we even go there again.  I'm not judging by any means...maybe I feel a little left out. It's always been my dream for Az. and me to have babies at the same time so they could grow up being close as cousins.   I guess T.  is also trying to get pregnant...and they all had bets going on who could get pregnant the fastest.  So all of Nick's siblings who are married are getting pregnant right now and WE are not.  I'm a little sad that I wasn't clued in to this arrangement. Now they will all have kids exactly the same age and our kids will be the odd ones out.  I know how that feels. My 2 girl cousins were only a year and 18 months older than me and they never let me play with them. I guess I'm just worried that Tristan won't have any kids to play with or that he'll be like an only child and not get socialized to be nice to the other kiddies.   I guess we don't live in Utah so it's not a big deal, he'll only see them on holidays anyways.  But really though... I am not ready to get pregnant, so why do I feel so left out?  I'm being ridiculous, right?  I hope no one reads this and gets the wrong idea. I can't stress enough how excited I am for them.  I am just a little sad about not being a part of the whole fun of getting pregnant together thing.  Oh well...complaining session over.

Aperture and Shutter Speed!

So, I've been trying to take semi-alright pictures for a long time.  Nick got a new camera for his birthday this February and I have been trying to figure out how it works ever since.  SO...today I learned something that I probably should have learned before: How to use aperture! 

I've been looking at photography blogs, tutorials, etc...and finally learned this:

If you want a very shallow depth of field (background blurry), you’d choose a very large aperture opening, which would be a very low number. (f2.8)

If you want a very large depth of field (everything in focus), you’d choose a very small aperture opening, which would be a higher number. (like f22)

 Everything makes sense now!!! WOO!
I'll probably be posting more photography wisdom as I learn it... Anyways, I hope I've helped at least one person to realize what aperture is and how to use it.

Oh~ and I figured this out from this website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2008/05/what-the-heck-is-an-aperture-part-one/

Pioneer Woman has many tutorials on how to do things with your camera!

 OK- now that we have aperture figured out, on to shutter speed! 
this website has a handy dandy chart!  http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos/advanced-techniques/shutter-speed-chart/
If you're too lazy to click on the link, this is essentially what the page says: 

If a slow shutter speed is selected, movement is captured. Using a fast shutter speed will freeze the action.
Here are suggested shutter speeds for photographing a variety of subjects.

SUGGESTED SHUTTER SPEEDS
TO FREEZE ACTION*	TO CAPTURE MOTION**
Children – 1/250 – 1/1000 seconds	Amusement park rides: +/- one second
Moving water/waterfalls: 1/1000 seconds or more	Moving water/waterfalls: 4 or more seconds
Sporting event: 1/500 – 1/2000 seconds	Fireworks: 1/2 – 4 seconds
Birds in flight: 1/1000th a second and above	Moving cars at night: 8-10 seconds
	Night photography – one or more seconds

P.S. I LOVE THIS BLOG!!! http://thatwifeblog.com/photography/

Love this quote!

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called “being in love” usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably never was nor ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships?
But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense–love as distinct from “being in love”–is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else.
“Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise.
It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.
—C.S. Lewis