10 months

(I've taken yet another hiatus from this blog, but I have something in the works that I'm excited to share soon!)

-Griffin's now crawling in turbo speed.  He goes wherever he wants, whenever he wants.  My little content-to-sit-and-play-with-something-in-one-spot baby is officially gone and has been replaced by always-on-the-go explorer baby.  However, he's showing no interest in climbing yet.

-As a result he's loosing some of his baby fat.  Especially in his face.  As a result of this, he looks much older. But don't think I'm saying he's got any lighter, cause he definitely has not.

-He's a dancer.  Seriously, he's got moves.  Whenever he hears music, you can be pretty sure that he's grooving to it.  His first dance move was the head/torso front to back bob, but he's recently added the side-to-side sway.  He'll also clap or kick his foot to a beat too.  Music is running through his veins, I tell you.  While we're on the subject, he loves Dave's guitar.  He reaches for the strings.  The kid knows how it works.  He also loves to bang on the piano.  Dave bought it for Griffin while we were still pregnant, so I technically it's his.  It's the most fun toy in the house.  He plays it standing up, without looking at the keys.  He's got talent.

-He is getting a little more picky when it comes to eating.  He still eats everything, but since he's been feeding himself he leans toward certain foods.  We can tell how much he likes something by how much he shares with the dogs.  He does not share peaches.

-He wants to be a part of everything we're doing.  It hit me like a brick as I was brushing my teeth and Griffin was looking at me with his mouth open.

-He's so dang happy it's funny.  It doesn't take much to make him smile, or clap his hands, or make funny noises by blowing air through his teeth.  And cheering him up isn't much of a task at all.  I find it flattering that he finds me so funny.

-He's standing on his own more often.  We happened to have the camera pointed at him when he decided to show off for close to 30 seconds.

-On a not so fun note, he's been testing out the capabilities of his lungs.  Lately he's yelling as loud and as long as he can.  Usually this isn't a mad thing, but it can turn that way.  Its looking like he's using this as his Give ME Something to EEEAAATTTT cry.  I need to figure out how to turn this around ASAP.

-Thankfully since almost 6 weeks old, Griffin has been sleeping through the night.  I realized how lucky I was for this.  But at about 9.5 months he has been waking up during the night pretty regularly.  Mostly it's only once, maybe around 1ish or 5ish.  Before he was able to put himself back to sleep, but now, not so much.  Most of the time he just needs a hug and maybe a little rocking, but sometimes he needs to eat to get back to sleep.  I find this odd because he puts himself to sleep when to goes to bed, but needs our help when he wakes up in the night.  Maybe this is separation anxiety?  

(Any advice on this, Moms?)

-Exciting news:  Griffin said his FIRST WORD the other day!!!  First word, as in first word with possible recognition.  It was duck.  For a while I'd been saying duck over and over while playing with his rubber ducky in the bathtub.  He started clicking his tongue, mimicking the k sound.  And then, he said duuu  click a few times, and eventually that turned into duuuu ck.  I can only get him to say it when he can see the actually duck, so I'm assuming there is recognition.  

 

Stick around till the end of the video, it's worth it.  And please ignore how strange my voice sounds.

Beach Fun

This is a tiny preview of our adventure last week.  More to come later, but for now I'm posting this to enter in my first photography challenge.  I heart faces is a great site and they host weekly themed photo challenges.  This week's theme was beach fun.  How perfect that I just got back from the beach.  This is my favorite shot from the week.  I love that it's hazy and golden, and I lovelovelove Griffin's expression.

You should go over there and check out the other entries.  It's a great way to spend a few minutes.

Oh, and thanks Lindsey for the nudge.

Breakfast

I've been realizing that breakfast has become my favorite meal of the day.  Since Griffin has been eating I try to make sure that we all sit at the table to eat together.  During the week it's just the two of us in the morning.  We sit together, still in our PJs, and enjoy the most important meal of the day together.  Usually we eat the same thing; this morning we both had oatmeal, yesterday was eggs and toast.  Whatever it is, it's always pretty simple.  I try my best to keep it pretty quiet; making sure the TV is turned off and maybe have music playing if I happen to think about it.  Our best conversations happen over breakfast; we talk about our plans for the day or the week, discuss what projects need to be done, complain about how hot it is, brainstorm dinner ideas...He's really good at listening.  

There's something about starting the day off slowly and peacefully that I can't get enough of.  It's one of many things that I count as a blessing of staying at home with Griffin.  It doesn't hurt that nap time is usually right after breakfast either.  

Jump!

Quite possibly the best $8 I've spent.  Griffin agrees.

9 months

-Now he's crawling on his hands and knees, and his speed increases on a daily basis.
-He's able to sit from crawling.  This has been happening for a little while, but it's much more frequent now.
-He's very steady standing up next to things and he's doing a little couch surfing (walking against the couch) too.
-He loves to talk, saying mama, dada, baba, and you're beautiful.  (Okay, maybe not the last...but I'm pretty sure he wants to.
-The majority of the time he feeds himself and still shows signs of an open minded eater.  (Side note: this feeding himself is very handy, literally...I have my hands back during his meals.)
-His favorite meal time game is to smack his tray of cheerios and watch them fly.  He also holds food down beside his chair to beckon the dogs over to him.
-He goes CRAZY over animals.  He enjoys our dogs, but really gets excited about new dogs (and the couple of cats he's seen).  It's clear that his day is made if a dog will play with him.  And by play, I mean allow him to smack and pull their hair.
-He's doing a lot of mimicking and he's got his methods of getting your attention.  Fake coughing is his favorite.
-He smacks his lips and clicks his tongue.
-He loves to hang upside down.

His stats:
-29 3/4" tall putting him in the 90th percentile....this is still shocking me.  He's been continuing up the height/weight curve, so I'm thinking at the next doctor's visit he may be off the charts.
-22.5 lbs in the 80th percentile.
-His big ol' noggin ranks in the 90th too.  It may be close to time to buy him adult hats.

* Conclusion:  He's a really really big baby.

Super Duper

What do you do when you're really hot from crawling around the house nonstop?

Strip your clothes off and have your dad put a leaf of cabbage (aka: super duper cabbage hat) on your head, of course! 

In case you're wondering, Griffin loves hats.  Ones made from vegetables or fabric, he just leaves them on his head just like they belong there.  

Just another reason to love him :)

yummm

Griffin really loves watermelon.  And by really, I mean REALLYREALLYREALLY loves it.  He is his mother's son.  I am addicted.  I know no limits when it comes to the fruit, and I'm fine eating till I'm in shear pain.  We're pretty sure we've watched him to the same thing.  I didn't think that he had any favorites before this, thinking that he just loved eating.  However, it's very clear that this is his favorite.  

I was about to tell him the catch about watermelon, you know, that it's only available and good for just a short amount of time.  But Dave stopped me, telling me not to ruin his fun.  Good thinking, Dave, good thinking.

More proof:

How do you put your baby to sleep?

A bit of rocking out before bedtime.

I'm a lucky lady.

A New Trick and a Good Laugh

Just last week I caught Griffin clapping his hands, instead of his usual slapping them by his side.  It's so funny to watch.  The clap is usually accompanied by a big ol' proud smile.  He claps at the table, when listening to his dad play music, during someone's conversation.  He claps because he wants to and rarely will mimic us doing it.


**He clapped as I was playing this before posting.  I guess he's glad I'm sharing it.

The other part of this post was inspired by another mom's blog that I was reading during nap time.  She stuck torn tissue to her nose and slowly said, "my mommy sells pigeons" then blew the tissue.  Griffin's reaction to this was priceless.  I even thought to set the camera up, so I was able to catch his first reaction.  The first video I had just thrown the camera on his changing pad so you see half of that in the entire video--sorry.  My cheeks are starting to hurt from all the smiling that this caused.

From the Yard to the Table

We love our garden.  Having it is absolutely awesome.  But do you know what would make it even more awesome?  If we could have it year round (and if it could grow grilled cheese sandwiches).  My favorite part of the garden:  having food in the backyard.  I also have a deep love for simplicity, and having food just appear out of the ground is about as simple as you can get.  

The point of this post is not to bore you with my love affair with my silly little garden, it's to tell you about Griffin loving it too.  I have mentioned before that he and Dave go out every single day to hunt for the day's harvest.  Usually G sits in his little chair and supervises.  It may or may not be his most favorite part of the day, but I think it's Dave's.  Sometimes, G even does a little quality control for us.  The other day he bit a chunk of zucchini and determined that it was too delicious not to have for dinner.  

Griffin is much closer to mastering eating "big people" food. (I didn't know if saying "table food" would make it sound like we've been feeding him dog food.)  He's not overfilling his mouth and gagging up most of his bites anymore, as he's figured out that a slow and steady pace makes dinner far less traumatic.  He sure seemed to enjoy the chicken, zucchini, tomato pasta that I whipped up for dinner last night.  Even being happy to have some for lunch the next day.  (First alert: leftovers for lunch!)

On a somewhat unrelated note, I wanted to share this video that we took of Griffin at dinner last night.  I should first remind you that Griffin only sleeps in his crib, in his carseat, and sometimes while being held and , but NEVER has he fallen asleep anywhere else.

Taking a Stand

Isn't standing in chairs for toddlers and not for itty bitty squishy babies?  What?  Don't try to tell me he's not still itty bitty, even if he's the height and weight of some one year olds.  This still isn't baby behavior.

We were out for our daily trip to the garden and I was turned around taking this picture of Jack: 

and I turn around to see Griffin standing in his chair.  Whaaaattt?!  I figured Dave, who was supervising our baby's actions, had stood him up in it.  He had assured me that he had not, and that Griffin went from sitting in his chair to turning himself around and standing up.  

As you can see, he's rather proud of his accomplishment.  He even goes on to say, "Look ma, one hand!"  

Since he has started pulling up, he hasn't lost any interest.  He's keeping me on my toes as I rushing to his side to catch him if he falls, yet he continues to surprise me as he more and more stable on his feet.  I suppose this is just another step closer to walking and independence.

Oh Griffin, please slow down.

I'm Finding the Joy {part 2}

I didn't want the last post to go on forever, so I broke it up.  Now it's time to share my favorites of the last few weeks.

Week one's theme was relationships:

Griffin with my Nana.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth a million.

Griffin and Dave.  This picture shows a pretty common occurrence between these two.

Griffin and Jack are getting much closer these days.  

Griffin's cousin Adrian was in town from Texas the week the workshop started, so I was able to practice on two babies.

This picture isn't that great but it is able to remind me of the afternoon that Griffin's Gram taught him to play his drum.

*I just realized that I was only planning on sharing one or two of each week's pictures, but looks like that's going to be too difficult.  

Week two's theme was places:

In the swing.  This was one of my favorites.  

The places theme was a bit challenging since we rarely go anywhere, but Griffin definitely spends a lot of time in his high chair.  

He also spends a good amount of time playing at his Nana and Pops' house.

Week three's theme was things:

I got kind of stuck this week.  My pictures seemed to be running together.  Remember me mentioning that he just eats, plays, and sleeps.  This picture isn't great either, but it was rough before and I was able to save it.  And books are a thing that he loves.

I don't necessarily feel like a thing, but playing with him is one of my favorite things to do.  (I meant to erase that pimple...opps!)

Griffin loves his blue puppy.

Week four's theme was routines:  

We have few routines but eating dinner is definitely one of them.

We don't have to use this chair for rocking too often, but occasionally it slips into our routine .  

Everyday Griffin goes out to the garden with Dave.  

Week five's theme was experiences:

Griffin swimming at my cousin's birthday party.

Playing with me in the sunshine. 

Standing up playing with toys.

These are some of my favorites, but I have tons more that I need to go through too.  I'll show you my favorites for week six as soon as I take them.  

I'm Finding the Joy {part 1}

There's been a little button on the right side of the page for a couple of weeks now.  It's for the photography workshop that I'm currently participating in.  I found out about the workshop from a friend's blog who had signed up before me.  I had been interested in taking a class or following around someone who could teach me  figure out how to use our camera to its potential.  I couldn't find any classes locally and after doing quite of bit of searching, I couldn't find any other online classes either.  This is the first online workshop that Willette  has put on, so I kind of felt like we were taking a gamble signing me up for it.

It's a six week class that focuses on taking pictures of children.  It's not so much about taking posed pictures, but more so about finding the joy in life.  I really had my doubts before the class started, but now at the end of week 5 I'm very happy that I've had the opportunity to be a part of this.

The best thing so far that I've gotten from the class is not to be afraid to use my camera.  This wasn't necessarily a lesson that was in the curriculum for the class, but one that I had to learn on my own in order to complete assignments.  Before, I was too timid to pull it out in certain situations, like around my grandparents (don't ask me why).  But one of the first things that the class got me thinking about was to capture these memories RIGHT NOW.  I want a million pictures of Griffin with my Nana, but I'm not going to get them if I'm too scared to whip out the camera.  I also am funny to not take pictures when other people are (I know, I'm just plain odd).  There have been countless times that I've put my camera away because of this, then been upset that I've missed out on some great shots.  I'm working on this now instead of succumbing to my fear (of sorts).

Secondly, I now have a much better understanding of my camera.  Beforehand this is what I wanted to get from the class.  I've had a dSLR since December, and since then I've read and read and read how to use it.  I had read the words ISO, aperture, and shutter speed a million times, but I couldn't tell you how they worked together.  I knew before that I didn't want to take pictures in auto mode and I didn't want to use the flash, but I fumbled around trying to get the shots I wanted.  I really thought that getting a picture in bright sunlight or in a dark room was pretty much hopeless.  Oh...the power of knowledge is a wonderful thing!  I'm now shooting in manual mode without having to cross my fingers for a decent shot, I haven't used the flash in nearly six weeks, and I even understand what light metering is.  In other words, I am closer to understanding what my camera is doing.  I still have so much to learn, but I'm few steps closer to feeling confident that I can capture our memories.

This week is last of the six week class.  Each week focuses on different themes, like relationships and routines, etc..  It was challenging photographing only a seven month old, realizing that he really only eats, sleeps, and plays..  Needless to say we have lots of pictures of those activities.  Granted, I now feel like I have more of perspective of what I want to capture.  The class also included lessons in Photoshop.  I've messed around with PS since high school, but always felt like it was more trial and error than anything.  Now PS makes A LOT more sense.

I by no means feel like a professional, but I now feel like I can be happy with my work.  My goal was to be able to have photographs that my family and I can be proud of, and possibly save some money from depending on the professionals.  I really do love taking pictures and the curiosity that I have for it is endless.  I think I may just consider this my new hobby.

8 months

Month by month.

[click to enlarge image]

Everyday Griffin is less and less baby like and baby steps closer to being a toddler.  Everything from the way he looks, the sounds he makes, and the way he interacts with us....what happened to my little baby?!

His biggest accomplishment (in my opinion) is sleeping without a swaddle.  Hallelujah!  I was seriously getting worried we'd need to start using twin size sheets pretty soon as he was too long for the flannel recieving blankets.  I had actually I had made some larger swaddling blankets for him out of thin muslin, and as soon as I finished them he stopped needing to be swaddled...ha!  For a while now he'd break free from the swaddle during the night, but  needed it to get to sleep.  I decided to give him a bit of a nudge toward sleeping normally, so I would just lay him down after brunch, turn on his music, and leave the room.  Thankfully it worked well and pretty soon the swaddle was just a memory.    So now I have a baby that puts himself to sleep with only a little music.  I consider this a huge blessing.

We're trying to move to three meals a day.  It's been a little complicated since he's usually napping during lunch and we eat dinner pretty early.  We'll get it figured out pretty soon.  He still LOVES to eat and we still haven't found anything that he doesn't like.  He's gotten really good at eating finger foods, which in turn keeps him occupied for good periods of time.  He's moved from mushing the food in his mouth to actually chewing it... less like a baby, I tell you.

He's still finding his inch worm crawl efficient and gets around pretty quickly.  In the last couple of weeks he's been much more interested in pulling up on whatever he can.  He had been doing it in his crib for a while, but he just started in front of us recently.  This is causing more of a watchful eye to be on him, since unfortunately we don't have many things that make this an easy task.

And lastly is something that I'd like some advise for.  He's now having a preference for Dave or me to hold him.  Before if he was upset about something anyone could pick him up and console him.  Now, he often continues to cry until either of us take him.  As a mom this feels nice that I can fix his woes, but at the same time I don't to be the only one that can fix problems.  This doesn't happen 100% of the time, but it's more and more often.  

He still continues to make me feel like the luckiest mom in the world and I really have absolutely nothing to complain about.  (Except that we're only four months from having a one year old.  Eek!!)

Dad Logic

hamper, originally uploaded by kdjeffers.

I walked in the laundry room to see Dave ironing and Griffin chillin' in the hamper. Gosh, I love these two!

He's got a goofy side too.

He sure knows how to light up my day.  Here he is at breakfast being a goofball.

P.S.  The ending is my favorite.  Oh and please ignore how dirty his shirt is, we were using it as a bib.

Lesson Learned

Nontoys make the best toys.

Dave brought home his name badge from an IT conference and Griffin saw it as a new toy. He played and played with it. Sometimes I wonder why we have truck loads of shiny bright colored toys when he's reaching for power cords, remotes, and junk mail.

If only we could make a toy that resembles power cords sticking out of a surge protector....

Turbo-charged

Can I just say that my coming back with a vengeance hasn't been very vengeful.  Oh well...

Anyway, I had mentioned in G's monthly post that he is a very content baby.  Usually preferring sitting to moving. He's got me spoiled, I'll tell ya'.

I'm not sure where it came from, but Griffin was one turbo-charged baby for the last two(ish) weeks.  He would. not. sit. still.  He mastered the sitting to crawling maneuver, and used it over and over and over.  He went for every power cord, every shoe, and every spec of fuzz he could find.  He even ventured out of the living room and into the dining room and the kitchen.  He played with the piano pedals in the dining room, looked for snacks in the spinning cabinet, and enjoyed a cool breeze in his hair from the floor vent in the kitchen.

Thankfully G still enjoyed playing in his exersaucer, so that's where he'd go after I'd tire out from moving him back onto the rug umpteen thousand times.  He played like a mad man baby in that thing.  I really thought he was going to bounce the exersaucer off the ground a few times.



I'm thinking he may have hit a growth spurt as he has now settled into a nice balance between gogogo and sitsitsit.  And I swear he looks bigger, but I haven't measured yet.  It was a fun phase but I need a few naps before the next one.

*As usual I only catch the tail end of what I'm going for.  To get a better picture multiply the energy shown in the video a few times.