Category — Griffin

The kids are growing up so fast and changing by the day.  Griff is hardly a baby anymore – he’s doing all he can to keep up with the big kids.  He’s running, talking, battling his siblings with light sabers, and showing early interest in potty training.  Here are some pictures I’ll tuck away for his wedding rehearsal dinner!  Picture #3 marks the historic “first potty fart.”  We’re so proud…

Yes, he worked for that little “toot.”

In the hysterical picture below, he positioned his favorite rag, affectionately known around here as “Ugly Guy", on his new little potty.  He thought that was hilarious, as did the rest of us. 

Even funnier though was the sound effects he provided – the next picture shows Griff making farting noises for Ugly Guy.  For a 14 month old, he has a funny little sense of potty humor.

These are a few weeks old.  Griffie just turned 11 months old – I can’t believe how fast his babyhood has gone.  Makes me sad.

One of his many nicknames (Guy-Guy is what Jack calls him 80% of the time).  He also answers to My Little Synophrys (the medical term for unibrow:), Griffie-doh, Griffindor (Gryffindor from Harry Potter), Doh-Doh (adapted from Griffie-Doh), Griffers, etc. 

I can’t believe how fast his babyhood is going (and has gone!).  The past 10 months have been a blur; in many ways it feels like MUCH more time than that has passed, and in other ways, it feels like I’ve barely blinked.  Well, here’s Griff, doing his new thing:

Here he is waving.  Or signing milk.  I can’t remember now; it’s all context-dependent!

Doing his happy piggy snort:

We still have no clue who this kid looks like. So much for that olive-skinned baby we saw come out.  Remember that kid?

Turns out we made a baby who could almost pass for having oculocutaneous albinism!  Travis refuses to admit Griff has some cinnamon-colored highlights, but when the sun hits just right (or I adjust the Lightroom settings just so), there is a very subtly hint of it.  It’s funny because we used to jokingly ask each other when we were pregnant, “are you sure there’s no MC1R mutation in your gene pool?”  Turns out (apparently), we were both lying since red hair is a recessive trait!  Hahaha!  I do love this precious little face, it’s just the temper I could do without.  Turns out he’s a LOT like his big sister, just less affectionate!  But he sure has the sweetest little face and I LOVE those big blues.

Anyway, he’s a demanding but very fun baby.  He’s very playful and laughs along with the kids no matter how over his head the joke is!  He’s SO snuggly with his daddy, not so much with his mommy, but he does still like to nurse – I’ll take what I can get.  He eats EVERYTHING, and has since he was ~6 months old.  Of all meals though, his favorite is ribs!  He also likes spicy foods, even buffalo wings.  He’ll eat veggies like they’re going out of style too though, including kale and the other deep greens.  I can’t believe he’s only 10 months old sometimes.

I can’t believe my “little” boy turned 10 months old today.  He took his first steps earlier this week, on Monday, when my grandparents were visiting.  Here he is pushing Finley around in a cart. 

The kid is a TANK.  He’s pretty much polar opposite in build to his sister, who is the most petite human being on the planet, but he happens to be very similar to her in personality, determination, and, unfortunately, now also has her dislike for sleep as well as her demanding personality.  So much for “easy going.”  I misjudged Finley the same way until she was about this age.  Strike two.  Jack and Shane are SO good with him, and he follows his siblings everywhere.  I have a feeling he’ll be able to keep up sooner than we’d hoped.

I don’t have much time to write this week, but wanted to share that my grandparents (my dad’s parents) were just out here visiting us for a week.  It was so wonderful to get that time with them – for me and Trav, and for our kids.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful families who make these enormous efforts to be with us and our kids, and who are so tremendously helpful too!  One of these days I’ll catch up on posting some pictures, although I haven’t taken many lately due to camera problems.

For the record, Griffie’s hair is not red (at all).  That’s just the harsh light from my flash in the indoor pictures.  The kids are getting so big, so fast.  Take a look:

These pictures are from a random “free zoo” behind a BP gas station on the way to Madison.  It was one of the highlights of that day, especially when Griff and the pig made snorting noises back and forth at each other.

Jack, Shane, and Finley may be best of friends, but Griffie and Hendrick are 2 peas in a pod!  Henny literally sits by Griffin’s side all day, and then every so often they wrestle over a toy.  Just like toddlers.  This is a CLASSIC video capturing their relationship, and I should seriously submit it to America’s Funniest Home Videos.  Henny is truly the best kid dog ever.

Speaking of Griffin, he’s 7 months old but will be 8 months in a few days.  He’s army crawling all over and can go from any position back to a sitting position.  He’s a tank and SUPER strong too.  He’s pulled to a stand a few times, then promptly spun onto his head – very acrobatic:)

As for what he eats, poor #4…I remember how meticulous we were about introducing Jack to new foods.  We’d get out the Baby Book by Dr. Sears each month and excitedly look up what food we could add to his diet.  We blended each meal freshly and NEVER used jar food.  We got a little more lax with each kid, to the point where Griff had just turned 7 months old and we were BBQ’ing outside.  We’d run out of baby food and didn’t have any fruit nearby, so he ate refried beans!  He had leftover lasagna a few nights ago, udon noodles from a sushi place last night, part of a Chipotle quesadilla and all sorts of other random stuff.  He pretty much eats what we do, just in smaller bites!  He has 4 teeth now, the top 2 just popped through (and were MISERABLE).

In 1 word, I’d describe Griffin as content.  He’s a sweetheart, very engaged, easily pleased, and adores his siblings (Jack especially).  He gives kisses when they are requested (open-mouthed, full of drool – much like his peapod mate).

Unfortunately, the 1 thing he sucks at is sleep!  I’m starting to think realize it’s us…

Some hysterical things are said around here on a daily basis, too funny to not write down.  I’ll do a few cute  comments by our little meathead, Finley, first. 

Travis and the kids watched Bambi for the first time on one of my call nights recently.  Shane grasped the sadness of Bambi’s mom’s death but still asked “where’s Bambi’s mom?” Finley responded: “oh, she’s probly at work.” 

Fin: “look mom, there’s coffee beans in the middle of my apple!”

Fin, caught red-handed, drooling with a mouthful of Easter candy she wasn’t supposed to be eating: “it was an accident!!”

Finley to Griffin: “you silly baby! You can’t eat popcorn…you only eat boobs!”

Lately, she’s been talking about her imaginary family that lives far far away.  She’s usually reminded of them when Travis tells her “no” to something like “can I have more juice?”  She’ll launch into her other daddy who lives far far away and I’ll watch her push all of Travis’ buttons.  It’s hysterical.  After she did that the other day, he stood up and said “ok, I’m going to get all my kids a dessert.  Hey Fin, who’s your daddy?”  She held out her fist for a fist pound and said “YOU ARE!”  Then they both giggled.  Here she is rambling about her imaginary grandparents who live “fa fa away” and have a little doggie…sort of based on reality I guess!

Here’s some of Fin’s funky dancing she says she learned from her Gramma!  If I were her Gramma, I don’t know if I’d take credit for these moves.

Then there’s Shanie, who is OBSESSED with the idea of getting a snake for his birthday this summer.  Travis, of course, has been lobbying hard for a ball python, so now we’re on the hook to get Shane a snake.  I cannot tell you how excited Shane is about this.  Here’s the funny part – he has already named the ball python he plans to get for his 4th bday.  It’s name?  It’s a ball python named “BALLS!”  So the kid runs around all day talking about “my balls” this, “my balls that.  It goes right along with his other obsession – his Toy Story doll.  He refers to that frequently too, with “my Woody” this, “my Woody” that.  Niiiiiiiice.

Shane heard a naughty phrase in a kids’ movie and repeated it in an appropriate contexts.  I almost peed my pants when I heard him yell “ahhh! INDIANS!” (what he really meant was, “ahh! IDIOTS!”).

Shane has become an AMAZING biker.  His new thing is biking hilly dirt trails.

And a funny one by Jack…he has this busted up stuffed baby duck that he named “Pizza Pie.”  He brings it everywhere.  The other day, he set Pizza Pie on the floor facing the bathroom and announced “I’m going to do a big caca, and Pizza Pie’s gonna watch!”  Mostly though, Jack just says freakishly intelligent things.  Today he was coming up with original riddles for me to solve.  He had some awesome ones, including “what has 4 legs that don’t move? A table.”  I thought I had a good one for him with “what weighs tons, is old, and has a trunk that doesn’t move?”  He thought it was lame, rolled his eyes, and just pointed next to himself at a large oak tree.  Not much I can do since his IQ is nearly twice mine.  His latest craze is geography – he’s obsessed.  He knows North American geography very well, including the Caribbean and Central America.  He learned most of it from “Stack the States” and “Stack the Countries” on his iPad, but he also studies maps.  I don’t know if I’ve written this anywhere or not yet either, but Jack reads now (not just 3 letter words now).  He’s truly amazing.  I’ll never forget the text I got one day while I was at work, prob 4 months ago.  It was from Travis and said “holy $hit, did you know our kid can read?!”  So yeah, we didn’t teach him; he taught himself and surprised the crap out of us as usual.

Here’s his recent artwork, the 1st picture he drew on a Doodle Pro (essentially an etch-a-sketch with a pen), the 2nd picture he painted on a canvas all by himself:

Here’s a letter he wrote me that kinda broke my heart.  It also inspired an “I’d never leave you” talk:

And as for Griffie – best baby ever.  He’s getting really big, still breastfeeds (yay for pumping!), is starting to eat solids (so far just bananas), rolls all over the house, and loves to do tummy time.  He’s such an easy going little guy.  Here’s a video of him being himself – cute and smiley.  You get a quick glimpse of his “holy shit” face too:

Nothing melts my heart like watching Jack with Griffin.  I’ve never seen anything so sweet and adorable.  Jackson is the best big brother and takes so much pride in having Griffin as his little brother.  He’s gentle, thoughtful, and genuinely interested in Griffie.  He’ll stop whatever he’s doing to come and sit with Griff, show him a toy, or try to make him laugh when he’s fussy (which is rare, admittedly).  He brags about his brother who never cries, etc. For being so indifferent towards Griffie as a newborn, Jack has truly embraced his big brother role these days; it’s so precious.

Just a quick kid update.  Griff is rolling around and becoming slightly demanding between the hours of 8pm – 7am (but still the perfect baby during wakeful hours).  He is still the happiest, most easy going little thing the rest of the time!  It pretty much just means I don’t sleep, since even when I’m home and not on overnight call in the hospital, I’m still up all night rocking and nursing this little tank.  But it’s worth it.  I love this goofy baby.

These pictures will make Yiayia barf a little in her mouth!

The boy makes the funniest faces!

Finley is obsessed with princesses, dresses, the color purple, and all things hideously girly…but still not the least bit hesitant to wrestle, roll in dirt, or collect her roly poly pill bugs.  Shane is fearless, he befriends spiders and names them all Rosey, loves to twirl his “pincess Finnie,” still sucks his binky at nap and bedtime, and is a super sweetheart. Jack is a walking talking brain who memorizes every single fact thrown his way and asks “what does that word mean” whenever he hears one that’s not yet part of his excessively large working vocabulary.  He’s also an athlete and an amazingly loving child.

His babyhood is flying…

Griffie truly is the dream baby.  He’s still on 100% breastmilk.  He doesn’t fight the bottle when I’m gone, but he’s thrilled to take the boob when I’m home.  He is SO low maintenance and just content to be near us.  Travis works from home with him and says that he sits in his little activity seat and cooh’s at the wall and his toys.  Whenever Travis looks over at him, he looks up and a HUGE goofy smile spreads across his face.  Then Travis goes back to work and Griffie goes back to wall-coohing.  I truly could not have dreamed up a sweeter little baby.  He is my snuggle bug.  I look forward to every night when I get to sleep with him tucked in my armpit!