Christmas Preview

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Here's a sneak peek of ours...stay tuned for more Christmas pictures and for some exciting posts.

Brothers

Just a few pictures, and one video, of my two boys enjoying their swingset at Grandma Mildred's house. Now we just need to get a swingset/playscape!!!!

Come on Parker, let's really get this swing going

Look at me go

Just content as he could be

Wee, this is fun

The baby smirk

Hold on tight

Here we go

Here Parker, let me swing you really fast

Yay, this really is fun!!!

Santa Pics

Check out who we saw a few days before Christmas...he was down here for a few last minute visits before getting ready for his big night of deliveries!!!!

Santa and Parker

Deep in conversation

Yep, that's Victor's knee Tristan is sitting on...that was as close as he was going to get!

The Three Dorks, I Mean Amigos!

Victor took off a few days before Christmas to spend with the kids and me...one day he got them all dressed exactly the same to go out and run some errands. I was the only one not wearing an orange shirt and jeans that day, boy I was I glad about that!!!

Although they were dressed identical, there were definitely three different things running through their heads during my mini-photo shoot:

Tristan: I want to go back to sleep
Victor: I wish Sam would hurry up and take the picture(s)
Parker: Huh?

Tristan: I still want to go back to sleep
Victor: I really wish Sam would hurry up and take the picture(s)
Parker: I love my Mommy so I am going to give her the cutest smile ever!

Tristan: Why do you people insist on waking me up when I'm not ready and then want to take my picture?
Victor: This better be the last picture because I can't hold my fake smile any longer
Parker: Huh, what? I thought we already took the picture, didn't I just smile for you?

Since it is two days until Christmas

I thought I should at least tell you guys how our Thanksgiving went and get the few pictures I took up before Christmas passes us by!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with my parents and Victor's Mom. Everyone brought stuff (including the turkey and ham) so that we wouldn't have to do too much since it is kind of hard to get a regular meal ready, much less a big fancy one, with two crazy kids running around (actually only one is running, but still you know what I mean).

I was only in charge of the mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. Even with this small amount of food responsibility, my rolls still came out like this...

I really don't know what happened to them since they were already cooked and just needed to be warmed in the oven for about 10 minutes. I put them in (just like the directions said) and just happened to check on them about 3 minutes in and that's what they looked like. I can't imagine what they would have looked like had I left them the whole 10 minutes! At least they were still edible.

Anyways, we all sat down and ate a great meal...even Parker had sweet potatoes and turkey (baby food), but I think he would have rather eaten his socks!

After lunch and dessert of course, the next big challenge was to get Tristan down for a nsp. To make a long story short, Victor ended up taking him for a drive to get him to sleep. Unfortunately he only slept about 45 minutes after they got back, so he woke up a bit cranky and was less than thrilled to see everyone leaving, but he finally snapped out of it, just in time for a few pictures.

Sorry it took me so long to post...I promise it won't take this long for me to post the Christmas pictures!

Catch Up Post 12: Exercise King

Take a look at our little copycat...we seriously can't do anything any more without him doing the same thing right behind us. Most of the time it is pretty cute!

Catch Up Post 11: More Randomness

There's no story or anything like that behind these pictures, just some snapshots I took. I will say I can't believe how much Tristan has grown recently...not so much in size but developmentally. He is talking so much more than just a few months ago and loves to copy everything. When I look at him now I see a little boy, definitely not a baby and I am beginning to think not even a toddler!

"Mommy why?"

Look at me, I am about to sprint towards you!

Hmmnn, what shall I do with these cups?

Ahh, yes, stack them up real tall

Where did the little yellow one go?

This one probably goes better here

Sitting at the table like a "big boy"

Parker zonked out (he kind of looks like a monk!)

Daddy and Parker

I just couldn't help myself...

I still have a few more "catch up" posts to write, but I just couldn't help but post these two pictures of Parker. Maybe I am biased but I think my two kids are pretty darn cute!!!!

Christmas Card 2008

I got adventurous this year and decided to design my own Christmas card in Photoshop. Keep in mind I have had Photoshop Elements for about 2 or 3 years but have only used it to do minor editing to my photos (i.e. mostly cropping) and really had no idea how to use the "layers"...those of you with Photoshop experience know what I am talking about and those of you without experience really don't want to know. Let's just say it isn't the most user-friendly software out there, but I was able to come up with something I am proud of.

I ended up making (from scratch) a double-sided 5x7 card which I had printed on a linen texture card at a lab in San Antonio. They were ready yesterday afternoon so I am going to try to pick them up today so I can get them out the door. Hopefully they look as good printed as I think they look on the computer.

Enjoy!

Christmas Card 2008 front

Christmas Card 2008 back

"You're allergic to what?"

The answer to this question might startle you, just a bit, if you were to ask Tristan (assuming he understood what you asked and he answered correctly!). Two Fridays ago Victor and I took him to the doctor to be allergy tested since he always seems to get a runny nose and sore throat (from drainage) whenever the weather changes or something blows in. Victor seems to be allergic to just about everything so I was sure he would be too, but I was quite surprised by the results.

Before I give you the shocking test results I'll fill you in about the test first. The pediatric allergy screen only tests for 24 "common" allergies, 16 environmental and 8 food. We had to remove Tristan's shirt and the doctor poked his back three times with three different sets of 8 variables. For ten minutes he couldn't touch his back because the liquid stuff from the test was still on his skin so Victor let him watch The Wiggles on YouTube...he has a fancy phone that you can do this on, I do not have such a phone, but I digress.

After ten minutes the nurse came in to wipe the liquid stuff off and we had to wait another ten minutes until the doctor came in to read the test. He only had two small bumps that looked like little mosquito bites, which surprised me because I figured he would have responded to more. But what surprised me even more was what the doctor said he was allergic to: bermuda grass and COCKROACHES! Yes, you read that correctly, Tristan is allergic to cockroaches.

After hearing the news, Victor and I proceeded to tell the doctor that we don't have cockroaches at our house and have never even seen one outside our house. He then told us that even though we don't see them, they are around and they are everywhere. They outlived the dinosaurs and only eat dead skin cells so they are around! We had/still have a hard time buying this but he assured us it is actually very common...I guess it is common enough to be one of only 24 things they test kids for. Weird, I know!

He is actually allergic to the cockroach poop (yuck) and since kids are lower to the ground they are more susceptible to it...but we still haven't seen any cockroaches and religiously have the exterminator come every three months, so I am confident there must be some other environmental things he must be allergic to that they didn't test for. The doctor did say he would probably benefit by being on Singulair (an allergy medicine), so we started that last week. Unfortunately since he has had RSV I can't really tell if it is making a difference yet.

I am sure time will tell about the medicine...I am still freaked out about the cockroach thing and can't help but wonder who figured out the whole allergy to cockroach poop in the first place!!

Stay tuned to find out how Parker's allergy test went...we took him last Monday and I would elaborate now but I think this post is already long enough and it might take me awhile to go through.