Update

Okay....I neglected my blog. I know it. I figured I would set a record for inactivity. Not buying it? Neither am I. Here's a few pictures and I'll see if I'm feeling froggy to get some major updates on this site. :)

Tristan's pouty face

Kisses for little sister

Look ma! I have two ring pops!

My babies!

Christmas and New Years Rewind

Alright, so now that I have a few minutes to myself I can post about our holiday. (we'll see about that - the baby is going to wake up and I'm going to have to save this post for a later time)

So, I'm back to work. I went back the day before Christmas and I've been doing the 9 to 5 since (well actually my hours shift a little depending on when I go in, how long of a lunch I decide to take, and if I decide to stay late). I've been so busy that I haven't really had the opportunity to reflect back. Christmas eve the credit union closed early, which means I went home early, too. After heading home, feeding the baby, and giving Tristan something to sustain him for a bit, we headed to church for Christmas Eve service. We met up with my dad. Normally, at church, Tristan goes to the Sunday school classroom and Melayna stays home with Scott. However, since Scott was working and Sunday school was closed, we had to bring both kids to service. Fortunately, they have a separate area for parents of young children to go to. As nice as it was, Tristan still wouldn't sit still. I missed almost the entire service because I was chasing him around the foyer. I wasn't the only parent doing this, which didn't make me feel bad. I just wished I could have known what was being said at service.

Alright, so back at home, Kate comes over to drop off some gifts and hang out with the kids. Meanwhile, I get to baking and boiling eggs. I boiled about a dozen eggs

*Tristan wanted to play with the baby - so she woke her up - now back to our regularly scheduled program*

I boiled the eggs and made pumpkin pie. While everything was cooking/baking I got out everything I would need to make a huge breakfast for the family and cleaned up the kitchen and living room. The whole time I was preparing for Christmas morning, Scott was preparing also by putting together Tristan's new train table (it took him over two hours to put together).

Christmas morning we decided to sleep in. We covered the train table and put the gate up so Tristan would only have our room to go to. After waking us up, Scott heads out to the living room to get the camera ready to record his reaction. He didn't know what to think when he saw it. I'll post the video in a later post, so you can see his reaction.

So, after watching Tristan's initial reaction, I set off to baking. I started with the blueberry muffins. After that, I had everything else to make as family began to arrive. I made blueberry muffins, oven skillet fritatta, Scottish eggs, holiday french toast, and sausage. It was very, very yummy!

After breakfast, we opened our gifts. The kids got spoiled..a lot. Tristan got several puzzles, a cool viewfinder that makes animal sounds and tells you interesting facts, his train table, and tons of clothes (thanks Grandma!). Melayna got clothes, a few rattle/teething toys, a tummy-time mat, and a Winnie-the-Pooh plush. Now, I got spoiled, too. My dad got me a new camera (10.1 MP Fujifilm - not a DSLR - but this one's really nice), my mother-in-law got me a new desk chair (I've had mine since 2001!), Scott got me a Nintendo DS and two games, and I got two more games for it from friends. I didn't ask for all these things, but I'm grateful for them.

After Christmas, I've been mostly trying to get adjusted to my new schedule of working, picking up the kiddo, and so on. For New Year's, I went to sleep early and slept through the midnight celebration. Scott went to a friend's house to play board games and stayed out until 3am. Me...I slept. :)

2008 came and went by so quickly. There were some tough times, but of course we had some great times. Melayna was, of course, the highlight of my year.

By the way, if you'd like to see pictures from Christmas, I have them posted here.

Christmas Pics

Tristan and Grandpa enjoying the train table set

Tristan shortly after waking up to see his new train table

Grandma testing out her new Blue Tooth headset

Melayna on her tummy time mat

Happy Thanksgiving

We'll be heading off to my dad's soon, where I'll be cooking up a storm! (Our place is too small to accommodate the whole family).

Before we go, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Below are pictures from Tristan's first Thanksgiving two years ago. He was just a few weeks short of his first birthday. Although Melayna won't be able to partake in the wonderful food this year, I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures during her first Thanksgiving.

It's a bird, it's a plane,

...no, it's Super Why!

I wrote a bit about Super Why! back in this post - if you would like to know a little more about the show.

First off, Happy Halloween to everyone!

So, for Halloween, coming up with a costume idea for the baby was easy. Buy a bumblebee bunting costume from Target for less than $15. Have the baby wear it long enough for others to go "ooh" and "aww" because baby can't wear it in her car seat. Then have the baby wear a cute "My 1st Halloween" sleeper for the remainder of the day.

For a very picky toddler, we have a completely different story. As you may already know, Tristan loves elephants. So, I was going to make him an elephant costume. First, I bought a full body mouse costume (couldn't find an elephant one). I was going to augment the ears, modify the tail, make an elephant trunk, and add tusks. When we tried having Tristan wear the costume (no modifications yet), he wouldn't have it. He threw a fit. So, I had three choices: a) go with the plan, he loves it, he wears it, success! b) go with the plan, he still doesn't want to wear it, disaster, or c) go with something else - something that looks more like, well, real clothes.

I went for option c. This is where Super Why! comes into action. Looking at the picture above, Super Why, the character of the show, is the kid in the green and blue. Honestly, it looked really simple. Blue cape, blue undershirt, green shirt with logo, green pants, blue underwear over pants, and mask. Tristan loves the show and he knows who Super Why is. So, after finding out that my sewing machine wasn't going to work for me, my mother-in-law and I put this outfit together by hand. It would have looked even nicer had the sewing machine been cooperative, but I think it turned out okay. I used Paint Shop Pro to edit the logo image for the front of his shirt. We then printed it on an iron-on transfer sheet.

Kate (my MIL) and I actually had fun with the costume. I couldn't find green pants anywhere. I basically gave up and said he was just going to wear jeans. But then Scott had a brilliant idea. The green shirt I bought to go over the blue one was long sleeve. When I mentioned to Scott my plan to cut the sleeves so that it is a short sleeve shirt, he said that the leftover arms might be usable as pant legs. Though the fit was a bit snug on his legs, it was actually almost the perfect length. So, Kate sewed the "legs" to the insides of blue shorts, while I worked on finishing up the edges of the arms. We then worked on the cape. Because I had to feed the baby, Kate sewed the cape to the inside of the shirt. The belt, I made out of yellow fabric, iron-on velcro, hot glue, and a play-doh lid (for the circle emblem on the front of the belt). I made Tristan a green mask, but he didn't want to wear it.

This morning, Tristan really didn't like the costume - at all. He didn't like the mask. He didn't like the cape. We kept telling him that we're going to get candy, but he had to wear his costume. We got out the house with some protest, but when we got to the senior home to meet up with the mommy groups (there were three mommy groups there, all with little one's all dressed up), Tristan forgot about his cape and costume. I think he likes to fit in - so, when he saw other kids dressed up, he felt right at home. He had a bunch of fun trick-or-treating at the senior home. Afterwords, we went to my work to visit. My boss had fun taking Tristan around the office to get some treats. Tristan loved every minute of it. Meanwhile, the baby got passed around the office giving the women their "baby-fix".

After lunchtime, we headed to the mall with our friends to do some trick-or-treating. We split up - mainly because Tristan wanted to do his own thing (he didn't want the candy, he wanted to play on the indoor playground). Even though, we really didn't get to hang out with our friends, it was still fun. Tristan got some candy, he played on the playground, and then we got him a turtle (see pictures below).

Overall, we had a busy Halloween. By the time, we got home, it was dinnertime already. After dinner, and feeding the baby, I fell asleep holding her. My little nap is giving me enough energy to get through this post, finish up a few things, before I completely crash for the night.

I hope your Halloween was a fun and safe one! Ours was definitely fun and safe. I can't wait until next year's Halloween. Melayna might be walking (Tristan was a late walker, so it is hard to tell how she'll be). Tristan might be more cooperative with getting dressed up. And we might make it to my work's children's Halloween party (this year's was really early - the weekend after Melayna was born).

Well, here's some pictures of the kids. I'll get some better ones of Melayna in her bumblebee costume later.

"My First Halloween..don't scare me" I think it is too late for that. :)

He looks guilty. I wonder what he's up to. By the way, when I said that the leftover arms were almost the perfect length, you can see why in this photo. If they were just a tad longer, you wouldn't be able to see his socks. But alas, we had to make do with what we had.

Here's a good front view of the emblem on the shirt. And here is his newest furry friend, Patch. We've been reading the same bedtime story for almost a month. It is called "Patch's Lucky Star". It is a short and simple tail, but Tristan loves it. So, instead of adding to his pachyderm collection, we convinced him to make a turtle (we were at Build-A-Bear). The store attendant asked Tristan what he wanted to name it, but he couldn't think of anything. That is when I suggested Patch.