That Tressler Boy

He sure knows how to melt my heart. There is nothing more fun and rewarding to me than being a mommy. As this semester is coming to an end, I should be doing final projects and studying for finals, but I can't seem to take my attention away from this one year old package of heaven. I have learned that the only thing I need to do to get Ezra to show me affection and appreciate me is to give him my time and attention.

Every time I play with him he hugs me and kisses me in between each airplane ride or each horse crash or each song we sing.

I wish everyone could laugh the way Ezra laughs and love the way he loves. Of course I am bias and I want it to be known that I do not think I have the most perfect baby. I just feel so blessed to be trusted with one of Heavenly Father's children.

Being Ezra's mommy means so much more than the default diaper changer or bath giver or vomit cleaner-upper. Being Ezra's mommy means being an arms reach away from the most joyous piece of heaven I could ever imagine.

Everything inside of me comes together to love this little boy. I am so amazed at how much love James and I both feel for him and how much it just keeps growing. So often James and I just look at each other and make that puppy dog look that doesn't make much sense to anyone else, but to each other it means (as cliche as it is), "Words could never be enough to express how much love we feel for Tressler Boy. What would we ever do without him?" Having a family makes the love between a husband and wife grow in the most unique of ways. I love James more because we both share the sweetest love for Ezra and I really don't think words could ever come close to describing such a love.

If you are a parent, you know and if you aren't, you will know and then you will think back to this post and you won't think I'm so obsessed with my baby because it will all make sense eventually.

Halloween

I know Halloween was a month ago, but I promised a few lovelies that I would post some pictures of Ezra in his costume. He was a lion. It happened to be the only costume on sale that kind of fit him. So, a lion by default, but a trick-or-treater by necessity.

I can't believe he kept his head on the whole night! He was quite the Halloween trooper.

Ezra loved trick-or-treating. He and his friend Katherine (the beautiful lady bug in the background) got really good at knocking on the doors and then holding out their baskets. Ezra would pick his treat and then carefully put it in his pumpkin. Though I did notice him clutching his hands around a few pieces. Honestly Ezra, I wasn't going to eat ALL of your candy...

Unfortunately there were several doors that didn't open. This was disappointing for all of us. One apartment opened their door, but had no idea it was halloween and another one opened their door and gave us whatever snacks they had in their cupboards. There's nothing like a 100 calorie pack to keep two 1 year olds satisfied.

He was always very content when he did get candy and ready to move to a new door.

This is our friend Nikki. Ezra really likes her. He especially likes her when she's holding a huge bowl of candy. He kept putting his hand out for more candy, so she just kept giving him more! It was really cute.

AND... The end of trick-or-treating. Ezra was not pleased to hear that we were done and there would be no more candy :(

Later Halloween evening we went to a family party on campus. It was sort of fun, but I think James would have preferred to stay at home and scare the kids instead of leaving our bowl out only to have all our candy stolen. Maybe next year we'll be smarter and not quite so trusting.

Ezra and I decorated a sugar cookie at the party, but as you can tell it didn't take long for him to dive in and start picking off all the treats.

And that's the end of this years Halloween adventures. Thanksgiving post to come. Stay tuned.

The Joy of Ezra

Well, life has certainly been busy lately. Ezra is usually being shuffled around from babysitter to babysitter. He also runs around all day with mommy going on errand after errand. It's been a little rough on all of us, but we're still finding time to sleep and play. Here's what Ezra has been up to lately:

Unfortunately James and I have discovered the joy of temper tantrums within the last month or so. Ezra doesn't throw them often or for long, but he is good at it when he does have one. The hardest part is when he throws himself on the ground and bangs his head on the wall or the floor. It's a dirty trick, because he knows I'll hold him when he's hurt. How do I ignore him when he's hurt? It's so sad.


He's so cool. He just loves sunglasses. He doesn't keep them on for long, but he really enjoys pulling them off, putting them on and poking me in the eyes with them while trying to put them on me.

We got a new couch this month, so we put our other couch in Ezra's room. To fit it through the door we had to take off the legs. Ezra was very eager to help daddy and to have a couch in his room. Finally there is a place for his stuffed animals! It's just too bad that now there isn't much room for anything else.

I came home from school one day and found this in my living room. Apparently Ezra and daddy had a lot of fun while I was away. Ezra loved it. James cracked a bunch of glow sticks for him and they sat in there and read together. It was really cute. Oh, and James made sure to clean up all the blankets!!

While I was in the kitchen doing dishes one day, Ezra was in the living room paying bills or something. He really enjoys my wallet. He does this too often. I never do learn my lesson to keep it out of reach, so I suppose this mess is my fault. The funny thing is, James was sitting right in front of him on the couch and didn't even notice he made a mess. Oh James. My silly boys.

I am Ezra's Mom

There are some days when I think all women lose their identity. We are what we do. We cook, we clean, we feed, we carry, we soothe, we clean, we teach, etc... Then I remember why I do those things in the first place. I remember the most beautiful thing that I am a part of and that is motherhood. I am Ezra's mom.

There are multiple people who approach me at church, or approach Ezra and they know him. They know his name, they can recognize how much he has been growing, but they don't know my name or anything about me. They know me as Ezra's mom. I never get sad about that. I love being known as Ezra's mom.


I have never felt more warmth inside than the day I gave birth to my son. Having my husband by my side supporting me through it all made the idea of an eternal family become so real.

This week I have had several people ask me if I feel judged as a mother. I told them that while I am sure I am, I don't mind. There is one thing that I have always known about myself and that is that I would be a good mom. I'm not boasting. I just know that my heart was meant for motherhood and I have always longed for that calling.

Today is one of those days that I have been caught up in the moments of what I do that I've lost sight of who I am. I took a step back and felt the warm embrace of my husband and looked into those beautiful sparkling blue eyes of my son and thought, "oh, there I am." I am surrounded by God's love. Today I am no longer what I do; I am someone's eternal love and I am Ezra's mom.

Our Summer Vacation

Well, we're back from our vacation. We spent just short of two weeks out east in Maryland and New Jersey visiting family and it was wonderful. There is so much to say about it, but instead I think I'll just do a list of some of our highlights from the trip along with some pictures of beautiful baby Ezra.

Highlights:
Being out there with Duane and Ilene
Touring DC
Capitol Building
Botanic Gardens
Meeting up with our good friends, The Brady's
The Metro
Smithsonians (a bunch of them)
Blue Crabs (for James)
Visiting Erica and Dusty's family (James' sister)
Wakeboarding
Rafting (We learned that Ezra really enjoys paddling!)
Hiking
Wakeboarding
Tubing
Shopping
Government job fair
Shopping
Touring downtown Annapolis
Washington DC Temple and the 7th floor! How cool.
Wakeboarding
Traveling on a plane with a toddler...

Here's the good stuff:
This is Ezra on the first plane out to Maryland waiting for "blast off"! He really did well on the planes in the sense that he wasn't crying, but he is so active and was so wiggly. I got many scratches and hairs pulled out from this little boy. Though I did make sure to bring a duffle bag FULL of some of his toys and books to keep him entertained. That only kind of worked.

Seriously, what is this? It was in the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden. I could make that with play dough.

Of course the Washington Monument, though we never did make it that far down the National Mall.

Here's Ezra in Hawaii. Well, in the Hawaii section of the Botanic Gardens, which Ezra loved!

So proud of both of my botanists.

He was such a good boy through all of our touring!!

We taught Ezra how to throw coins into a wishing well. He kept begging for more coins. It was really cute.

This is on our hike in New Jersey at a beautiful spot called "Child's Park." This is also where my brave ten year old niece jumped off a cliff!

Here's Ezra getting ready to go out on the boat!

It was very windy, but he was very well behaved and well entertained by the water.

At the mall.

He had just enjoyed some cotton candy for the first time!

Ezra falls asleep with his two stuffed animals at his side all the time and he just looks so precious! This is on the roadtrip back from visiting The Townsend family in New Jersey.

Here Ezra is helping Grandma make beautiful music. Actually, he was mostly messing up her beautiful music, but he had fun nonetheless.

There is so much to say, but we'll just leave it at that. James is now back to work, Ezra is back to his normal sleeping schedule and I am back in school. This semester will definitely be harder than last, but I'm getting closer!

Happy Anniversary

Today James and I celebrated our two year anniversary. The second year was harder for us than the first, but James says that's because we had Ezra. I think it's because the honeymoon stage lasted all through the first year and by the second we had to make an effort to love each other. Maybe it was both. However, I will say that having Ezra brought us more joy and happiness and we are much closer because we have him. Also, making an effort to love makes you appreciate each other a lot more. So all in all, the second year for us only made us stronger and we are both so grateful for our trials.

Here was how we celebrated: In the morning he took me and Ezra out to breakfast where he had a bouquet of flowers and the sweetest note waiting for me on the table. Then he and I went to get a couples massage at Sage Day Spa (we each got a gift card there for mother's day and father's day.) Neither of us had ever had a professional massage before, so we were a little nervous about it. Aside from getting oils all over our face, head and body, we loved it. Then we tried to go play laser tag with our friends the Brassells, but the dumb place was closed until 4. Sorry guys :( Why do they decide to change their hours only for the week (starting on the day) of our anniversary? I was sad, but we got over it quickly. The remainder of today Ezra spent sleeping and I spent packing and cleaning. Luckily James got home from work early tonight to help me pack and clean.

We're going to Maryland tomorrow and we can't wait! I have a huge soccer bag full of toys, books and treats for Ezra, so hopefully he does okay on the plane. We have been looking forward to this trip and it's so exciting that it's just a day away!!

A Moment to Vent

Let's talk pet peeves for a moment... I really don't like when people pretend they either don't know you or didn't see you just to avoid simply saying hello. I can see you talking to the boy next to you while he is turning around staring at me saying, "what?" That's a little obvious. And a simple hello might have made my day.

Another thing...bugs! I was just kneeling on the ground and felt something crawl across my toes. When I looked down I noticed a rather large black creepy crawling thing on my carpet! YUCK! The other day I was cooking and dropped some food on the ground. When I bent down to pick it up and throw it away I put my fingers about an inch and a half from the biggest, ugliest spider I have ever seen and it was IN MY HOUSE! BLECH! James gives me a hard time for kneeling on my bed to say my prayers, but hello? Now you might understand why. Why can't bugs just live in the woods and never leave?

Okay. The end. I promise to be more complacent tomorrow. Good night.

Rigby Lake

Today Ezra and I went to Rigby Lake. This is Ezra's first time wearing a life jacket. He had a hard time walking in it. It was too funny. Oh and my piece of advice, get swimmer diapers. If you use the regular kind, it might explode and you might be finding gel goop all over your baby and their outfit which also ends up getting all over you, your towels and your car.

It took a little while for him to get used to the cold water, but once he did we had a blast.

He enjoyed the water and the sand, but his favorite thing was ...

The park! Of course he spotted it forever away and bolted over to go play.

He enjoyed the slide, but mostly he enjoyed playing with the bird poop on the slide. I soon realized why he wasn't coming down the slide and I cleaned him up, no worries.

It's always an adventure with this boy. Sorry we usually have to leave daddy out of it :( Poor James has to work all day while we just play (and make breakfast and lunch and dinner and clean and do laundry and change diapers and grocery shop and pay bills and give baths and hold a crying, needy baby while trying to do all of the above and etc etc etc... :) Yeah, poor daddy. But we really do miss him on our adventures.

FuN with ET (cell phone pics, sorry)

Ezra is getting so big now he can sort of dress and undress himself. Clearly the "sort of" is completely relevant. He did start crying after I took this picture. I'm sure he didn't appreciate the shirt stuck on his head or mean mommy laughing at his struggles. Poor Ezra.

One of Ezra's favorite things is to climb. People warned me about this, but I personally think it's really funny to watch him try. I realize that with climbing comes more bumps, bruises, tears, and broken things, but every new trick he learns is just so fun for me to witness and for right now I am always able to be right there to catch him.

For his birthday Grandma Ilene got him a rocking horse. He loves to ride it, but he especially loves when daddy pushes him on it all over the house. This is also where Ezra and I both sit together at night to rock. We don't have a rocking chair, so it's the next best thing and it is quite comfortable to cuddle on (for Ezra and me. James and me? Not so much)!

His latest pose is what we call his "butt pose". Why? Well, because he poses with his butt of course. He puts his head on the ground and looks between his legs smiling. The upside down world must be intriguing to a child because he does it often.

Today we went on a LONG walk to the river. It was so beautiful outside and we love our walks! Ezra had never been to the river before, so he was in heaven. I took him to a bridge and he would run from one side to the other pointing at the water saying, "ahhh". He learned the word for "water" and "tree" today. Tomorrow, perhaps he'll learn "ducky".

He is becoming more helpful and he is learning to communicate a lot more. He'll bring us almost anything we ask to him bring and he is learning to tell us what he wants. He begs for "daddy" when he's happy and cries for "mama" when he's sad. He really likes "very vanilla soy milk", long walks around the park, dancing in the kitchen with mommy, bouncing on furniture with daddy, and extra long afternoon naps. Everyone always says they grow up too fast, but so far I am loving every stage. We feel like we have really cherished every stage of his first year of life and we have no regrets. We love our baby boy more than any parenting book or "experienced advice" could have ever prepared us for. (We say that all the time, but it is so true.)

One Year Check Up

So I took Ezra to his 1 year check-up and guess what? He's normal! Of course I don't need a doctor to tell me that.

He was 30 inches tall which means he is now in the 56th percentile. He's no longer in the 8th which is so exciting! However, he only weighs 19.1 lbs and is in the 5th percentile for weight still.

And unfortunately that means he is still too little to face the front even though he's finally one. Poop. Oh well, I was planning on keeping him rear facing for a few more months, it would just be nice to know that it was an option.