about time for some pictures

the day my mom arrived was a beautiful sunny sunday. we came home from the airport ravenous and shared a plate of yummy nachos :) every day tristan's sleep habits improved even more. he still has a bit of a cough, but other than that he is back to his normal, happy self. thanks again, mom for all you did for us while you were here. i don't know what i would have done without you!

my mom watched tristan one evening while josh and i got to go out and do some errands alone. we finished the flower garden at the side of the house, so i'll be taking some pictures of it to post. the day my mom flew out, our friends thad and lauren flew in from tennessee. thad is a southern boy who went to school in england with josh and me and became great friends with josh. then he went to spring school in austria. while there, he met a girl from the EXACT same hometown as me! they ended up falling in love and got married just days before our "second wedding" in july of 04. lauren and i went to the same highschoool, though she's a few years younger than me, so we don't remember each other. we sure have lots in common, though being mennonite and all, especially since they just found out that they will be having a baby this december! i told them that american/menno babies are the cutest :)

father's day is a big deal in the stewart household, what with the 3 stewart boys having their birthdays only a few days apart. from left to right we have: gramps, rob, johnny, josh, brad and thad. tons of presents, lots of yummy food and fun times had by all. tristan was especially good that day, even though lots of people around usually throws him. he gave some great big giggles to his grandpa and didn't mind being passed around.

the last evening that thad and lauren were here, we all decided to introduce thad to the great game of dutch blitz. tristan had a bit of a hard time settling that night, and because we all knew how loud the game could get, we played it on our bed as far away from tristan's room as possible! of course josh smoked us all :)

this past week, tristan has had a few firsts. he has officially now started solids, though we unoffically started him on monday by giving him a big chunk of watermelon to see what he'd do with it. he slurped and sucked on that thing and fussed every time he dropped it! the next day i put a piece of banana into a little mesh baggie for babies so that he could suck on it without me having to worry about him choking on it. he made a great big mess, but obviously enjoyed it thoroughly. so the day after that i went to the green grocer and picked up a few jars of organic baby food. i know, i know i could easily make it myself, but we don't have a food processor yet. i started him on pears yesterday morning. some odd faces came out, but he ate them anyhow. then, in the evening, i had josh feed him some more pears and he got so into it! he'd open his mouth so wide and try to pull the spoon toward him with his hands. he was getting so hyped up that he would actually shake in between bites! it was hilarious to watch.

he's been sitting on his own a bit here and there, though i definitely have to place pillows behind him for the inevitable collapse. and he discovered his toes just yesterday while i was changing his diaper. since then he becomes fascinated with them everytime they're within reach. he still adores being "walked" around the house and is getting really good at moving one foot ahead, then the other. (pictures of this on his picture blog). he still hates tummy time, though and won't even try to keep his head up. he lays it down on the floor as soon as he's on his tummy and either cries or just rests like that. oh well, josh skipped the crawling stage and went right to walking at 8 months, so we'll see if tristan will follow in his footsteps. :)

thank you for all of your encouraging comments on my last post. it felt really good to just be so honest about how i'm doing and what's been going on. i sure don't want my blog to be dull and depressing all of the time, but i also want to be able to be open about my struggles. for the most part, life is wonderful. i have an amazing, loving husband and a beautiful, healthy baby boy. i have friends and family near and far who care about me and are willing to help me in any way they can. i am truly blessed.