11 months

Our little one is no longer a baby, he's turning into a little boy! So much has changed this last month. I've realized that having an 11 month old is a lot easier in many ways, and a lot harder in many ways, if that makes sense. It's easier going to the beach with him because we can just let him loose, I don't have to hide out under the umbrella the whole time holding him. It's easier going to the grocery store with him because he can sit in the shopping cart and I don't have to worry about lugging him around in the car seat or carrying him on my hip while I shop. He can now entertain himself for longer periods of time. He can be put down to bed and comforted by his dad, I'm not the only one. He really is turning into a sweetheart, more cuddles and kisses.

Tristan enjoying some popcorn packaging.

More Dad and T time. Taken at the beach this last Saturday.

On the other hand, this boy is wild!!! He wears us out. For some reason he now thinks that the word 'NO!' is hilarious. Very disobedient. He gets into everything! On most days, it looks like our house has been broken into. All drawers and cabinets are emptied and thrown all over the floor. I have learned to just wait until the end of the day to pick it all up. He is still freakishly strong which has become more of a headache for us. His teething guard on his crib gets ripped off daily, we now have to figure out another method of blocking him from chewing up his crib and eating the paint. The child proof outlet plugs are now pulled out of the walls and have become toys, along with the outlets themselves. He knows how to get out of his car seat now! This is an advantage he has for being small. He can wiggle his way out and then unbuckle his straps. What in the world?? Our stroller is useless now. He does the same thing. 5 minutes into the ride he is standing up, tight straps and all. Tristan hasn't started walking yet (he is close), and I'm in no rush for him to start. I'm scared.

He's secretly really smart and knows what he's doing. "What can I do to make mommy really mad today?".

"I want to destroy things".

Tristan quietly contemplates his next move "What can my next plan of action be? It's perfect, Daddy's in the water, but I don't have much time."

"I got it! Attack mom and destroy her sunglasses while her eyes are closed."

This picture is deceiving. It was actually one of our bad days and I think I may have had tears running down my face while this picture was taken. It was on a Sunday and he was cr-aaaazy. He didn't nap all day, he would cry in his crib for hours. Being sleep deprived, he was fussy and mean. By 5:00pm, Christian and I had had it and took him to the park down the street, just to get him out. I was in a bad mood and was trying to enjoy myself. All of a sudden, I got hit in the back of my neck with a hard baseball. Seriously, it was perfect timing. What better way to end my day. Those tears I was holding back came flooding out. My neck and back were sore from the ball for a few days.

Aside from all of the craziness, Tristan has brought more joy to our lives than we have ever imagined. He is such a happy baby and so high on life. We have more good days than bad but I want to make sure that I document all of the rough times too, so one day he can look back at this and see what he put his mom and dad through.

I have been more motivated to keep our blog constantly updated as our personal journal, to be published in a book for us every year. (After seeing Alisa do just that with her blog, it turned out really cute.). So I am going to try my best to document our lives more, without revealing too much, here on our blog. (When I can find free time!)

Happy 11 Months (tomorrow)!

silly faces of a 10 month old

baggers

Before we had Tristan, we used to come to this beach near the North Shore, a surf spot known as Baggers. We always talked about how perfect this beach was for kids, very family friendly. You kind of get the beach to yourself, it's rare when anyone else is out. There is a fun tide pool area for kids to swim in, blocked by a reef wall. The reef rock is super soft for kids to walk around on too! Plus, dad gets to surf right out in front of us. So everyone is happy. :)

Tristan gets lubed up with sunscreen.

He makes his way to the water.

His clothes get drenched.

Tristan's gone commando.

Free at last.

Digging with dad.

We are starting to realize how much this boy loves the beach. He could play in the water all day, even when his lips turn blue (which they were!).

drummer boy

One of his favorite pastimes right now.

christmas 2009

This year, we headed over to California to spend Christmas with my family. From the airport we drove straight to the cabin. There was snow! Now it felt like Christmas. Tristan has never worn so many layers in his life, so he was a little confused at first, but he adjusted and was a great sport hanging out in the cold with us. It was so great to be able to be with my family on Christmas this year. I'm realizing now that we didn't take the camera out that much this trip, so we don't have that many pictures.

Swing time!

Bubba.

His first time touching the snow/ice.

Back in Orange County, we were busy! Whenever I come to California, I try to be as productive as I possibly can. It's difficult with the time difference, because CA is 2 hours ahead of us, so my mornings are usually wasted. Also, baby T doesn't sleep well on vacations, which means I'm not getting much sleep. I was fighting a cold this whole trip and thankfully I beat it!

Visiting with Steph and Baby Benjamin, a little dreamboat.

While having lunch with our friends, Kelly and Jason, Tristan enjoyed his first slide experience.

We headed down to Oceanside to meet up with Christian's family. Most of them were in town for the holidays, staying at Whitney and Jim's (cute) house. Court and Todd drove out from Utah and C's parents flew in from HI. It was great to see all of them! The picture above is at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. I love Balboa Park and wish that we took more advantage of that place while we lived there.

New Years was spent in Newport Beach at our friends (Laura and Joshua's) house, with my siblings and several other good friends. It was a pajama party! That saved us the trouble of having to find cute New Years outfits.

Sister love.

Clawson clan with our spouses.

Brookie's wedding! Go to Jenn's photo blog to see more pictures of the handsome couple. She did a great job!

Does anyone else want to kiss those lips as badly as I do?

Addison toasting the couple yet again. Her toasts were very sweet and sincere. Just a highlight, "we're glad we're a family, and glad about Mando and Brookie, and we're glad about the candles and we don't get burned, and Christmas is over and we cleaned up the decorations and we take the Christmas tree down, and the reindeers are gone."

Tristan became musically inspired and performed "Can you feel the love tonight?" on the piano.

Note to self, don't ONLY take pictures of your little one. You'll miss out on a lot of other cute faces. I'm sad about the lack of photos. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy your new year!

10 months

Tristan touched snow for the first time while in California. While we're on 'firsts', he also wore shoes out for the first time too! Our little monkey boy has become civilized. He was also very confused about all of the extra layers of clothing.

The beach has become more fun for both of us. He loves loves loves the beach. He can keep himself busy in the sand and water for hours. At both surf contests last month, he was content for 9 hours while we watched. That's our boy!

He loves to explore and examine every little thing.

He attended his first birthday party.

We started his library collection well before he was born, which now includes many classics and many Gyo Fujikawa books. Part of his 'night night' routine is reading a book before bed. He loves his books.

Those eyes of his know how to work his mom. One cute glance like that and he gets anything he wants. He knows what he's doing.

A few other developments: He points his finger at everything and everyone. He wakes up about 3 times a night now and is up for the day and ready to play at about 6 am. Lovely. He loves to hear himself scream really loud, especially at the store or even in museums! He has become more attached to his dad. I'm not the only one that can put him to sleep at night now, woo hoo! He is still difficult to be babysat and he doesn't nap.

I guess most of these were set-backs and not developments. :) Happy 10 months T!

Congratulations to Brooke and Armando!

What a beautiful couple. Brooke was a stunning bride, as expected. The ceremony was so sweet and intimate. There were many happy tears. Congratulations Brooke and Armando! We love you guys! More pictures to come.

tis the season for surf contests

The Eddie happens only every few years, the last time it was held was in 2004. The time before that, and when we had seen it last, was in 2002. The waves have to be consistently over 25 ft for the whole day with good conditions because it is run in a single day, so it is special when it happens. In 2002 it was crowded, but not too crazy. This year was insane. I knew our beloved north shore has been under siege as of late, but I didn't know it would be like it was. People slept in their cars on the side of the road around Waimea Bay the night before because there was a chance it would be on...but we didn't know the degree of insanity until we had gotten there.
I thought it'd be on Tuesday, so we planned for it Monday night. Lunch packed, bags packed and alarm set. We got up at 5:30 and arrived at the bay before light. Sadly, we had to still park about 2 miles away- cars were already parking along side the road and people were walking.
Crazy, yes. But there's an anxious feeling in the air and everyone's in a good mood. Turtle was right: when the surf is good, nobody works.


Driving past Haleiwa. We realize we're not the only ones going to watch.


The trek. Tristan knew it was a special day.

We finally got to the bay and were greeted with this:

A bit later the commentators on the beach announced that the Eddie is on and we could hear everyone cheer.


Found a nice spot at the end of the beach with shade the whole day.


Tristan was so excited he started tearing off his pjs.

Views from the beach.



The madness. Bathroom wait: men's- 15 min, women's-30+ min.

Kelly pulling into the shorebreak.

Tristan trying to sneak away at the end of the day


I don't know if we'll go again for a while, especially since they have it live on the internet now.
But it is such an experience.


The Pipe Masters:
I wait for this contest all year, it is so sweet to watch. Huge gaping barrels close to the beach. So much fun. And all my heroes are in it.



Kelly pulling in. (gift idea: I need a sweet zoom lens)

Tristan kickin it in the Volcom house bushes.

Dane is great.

Great Dane.

Mama and T enjoying the show.

Tristan was pretty fired up by the end of the day. This what happened when we pulled him away from the beach.

One of my favorite things about winter/ Christmas time is the surf. both enjoying it and watching stuff like this. So glad my little family enjoys it too.