Happy {half} Birthday!

Today Griffin is 6 months old--180 days.  Wow.

I just experienced the fastest 6 months of my life, but they were the best.

Tonight we'll celebrate with avocados and singing and dancing.

Happy 6 month birthday, Baby Griffin!

Bon Appétit Baby

Griffin turns 6 months old today so I spent last night making a small stash of baby food for him.  I suppose we'll start letting him eat food now...oh how did this come so soon?  My goal is to make as much of G's baby food as possible.  Since I stay at home and try to make most of what we eat, why not make what he's eating too?  I have got advice from friends who are also doing this, which I am abundantly thankful for, because I was clueless.  My blog pal advised that I visit Wholesome Baby Food and it was super helpful.


I started with sweet potatoes, sweet peas, mango, pears.  The whole process was easy peasy, the hardest part was keeping myself from eating it all.  

We went from this:

To this:

I'm not finished, but I feel good about my start.  Now if I can just keep up the momentum.  

*Griffin has had a few bites of food in the last couple of weeks.  He attempted to try avocado but I ended up eating it.  He LOVED bananas and he's had a few bites of mashed potatoes and green beans.  

Griffin on the Move

I feel like we are days from seeing Griffin actually crawl.  He has now pretty much mastered rolling and scooting to wherever he wants to be.  We have a 5' by 7' rug in our living room and I frequently having to put him back on the rug as he can traverse the entire length in no time.  I have been trying to get a good video of him moving around, but I think the camera may intimidate him a little.  This video shows a little of what he's doing now.

His scooting technique is pretty funny to watch.  His bum goes up in the air and his head on the ground, then he pushes with his feet.  He's been up on his knees and one hand and one elbow, but falls in just a few seconds.  Any day now...

On the same note, he is on a back arching kick lately.  If we're putting him in his carseat or changing his diaper, sometimes he just decides to arch his back to make things more interesting.  He'll also arch his back, scrunching himself up when Dave is carrying him.  It doesn't make much sense but it's funny to watch him do.

Griffin goes Hiking

Since Sunday was such a beautiful day we decided to pack up the fam, including Uncle Jacob, and go for Griffin's first hike on Lookout Mountain.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  Griffin napped through most of the day, but woke up for a picnic and a walk though Point Park.  

Someone loveloveloves being outside.

Jacob and me.  I'm the runt, can you tell?

With a full tummy, Griffin snoozed on his dad's back the entire trip down.

It may just be a pretty good idea to do this more often.

Watching a Friendship Bloom

One day soon they'll be best friends.

Good Enough to Share

I remember saying way back when that I was clueless and overwhelmed at the vast variety of baby products available nowadays.  When getting Griffin something, be it bottles, toys, etc. I try to stick with the most simple option or one that I know has stood the test of time.  For the most part, that's worked for the last 5 months.  Then sometimes someone like my blog pal, Kim, comes along and recommends something that's worked well for her little Elle.  This is something that I had walked past many times during my countless trips through the baby isle, but this is something that Griffin loves.  

Lately I've had curious hands swatting at whatever I'm eating.  Just the other day I was eating an apple and Griffin kept grabbing for it so I gave him a chunk to suck on.  He was going to town on it, but it kept slipping out of his hands, frustrating him.  Then as I was eating today's apple I thought to throw some chunks in the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder and give it a whirl.  Thumbs Up!  Griffin was able to suck and gnaw away, and I didn't have to hold anything but my baby.  

I love suggestions like this, so keep 'em coming my way!

When life gives you lemons...

...make funny faces!



The classic formula of lemons and babies just never gets old.

Chores

This morning Griffin was trying to help me with the laundry.  Handing me hangers was quite helpful, however eating my freshly folded clothes was not.  Just like his mama, he tired rather quickly from doing the laundry, so it didn't take much twisting of my arm to take a break.

His Best Easter Yet

Our little family had a perfect Easter this year.  Griffin really made it even more special than it once was.  

He may have slept through the egg hunt with his cousins this year, but I have a feeling that this will be the only year that happens.   Our nieces are quite the egg hunters, so he's going to have some heavy competition next year.  

We ended up waking him up from his nap so we could attempt to plan nap #2 during our evening church service.  

We've played with our nieces in this swing and now Griffin fits nicely without fear that he's going to fly out.   I think he's glad too, he probably would have stayed in there all day if we would have let him.  Luckily he got the same swing from his Gram for Easter to go in our yard.  I have a feeling that it's going to get a lot of use.

Originally I said that we wouldn't give Griffin and solid foods until his six month birthday, but since it was a holiday, I decided to let him try some mashed potatoes (just boiled potatoes thinned with breastmilk).  I thought it would be fun and cute to watch, but no, he hated every second of it.  He gagged and gagged, not swallowing any of it, so finally I fished everything out of his mouth.  He was actually hungry when we tried to feed him, so I am sure that this wasn't what he was expecting.  

It's funny how babies don't need words to communicate.  He knew exactly what he wanted and he was able to tell us pretty clearly.  This was the first time that he had ever held his own bottle up to actually feed himself. I think he may have lost a bit of trust in us, trying to stick mush in his mouth when all he really wanted milk,  so he decided that it was best for him to take control of the bottle.  For someone who only gets a bottle (maybe) once a week, he's got the hang of it pretty quickly.  

Oh yea, we're going back to our original plan of giving him cereal at six months.  

Having a full belly turned him into a happy little bunny and he was glad to play with his cousins before hitting the road.  He loves those girls and it's a joy to watch them all play together.  

We made a quick stop to see Great Nana and lil' Papa to give them Easter hugs and kisses then we hurried home to give G his Easter basket from us.  This was his second Easter basket of the day, the first from his Pops and Nana that was filled with chocolate, Peeps, and a cute stuffed dog that looks a lot like our Lucy.  He was half asleep when we gave him his basket at home.  Actually when I sat him down on the couch for the picture, he closed his eyes and slumped over on the arm rest.  He woke before I could grab the camera.  He really seemed to enjoy his first Easter baskets, especially his Sophie the giraffe.

After a few quick pictures at home, we headed to church.  He didn't fall asleep during the service, but he was an angel.  He played with Sophie in his carseat through half the service then wanted out for the second half.  He smiled the biggest smile that I've ever seen for at least 15 minutes.  That was my Easter gift.