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.

He has something to show you.

teeth , originally uploaded by kdjeffers.

Can you see it? Maybe you should look a little closer.

Griffin has teeth! Six teeth, to be exact. He's actually had them since the end of May, but wasn't a fan of showing them off. Now that they're poking out more, his gummy grin has transformed into a toothy grin.

Teething went much better than expected. If it wasn't for the teeth, we wouldn't even have known that it was happening. Ironically his drooling even cut back to a minimum. I'm guessing he's telling us that he prefers to be unpredictable.

Seven Months

I have taken quite the hiatus from blogging.  I missed it dearly but now I'm back with a vengeance!  Enough about me though, I have a baby to tell you about.

Griffin turned seven months old at the end of May, and he has continued to surprise me daily.  (Some of the fun stuff I'm saving for later, but I'll give you a good idea of what was new from six to seven months.)  He is quite the little chunk, or as I like to say he's a substantial baby.  He's tipping the scales at about 19 lbs.  As seen in the picture, his head is now out growing his body (but in the cutest way possible).  He's stilling fitting into his 3-6 month clothes and wears a size 3 diaper.

He started eating finger foods, as in, he's eating Cheerios.  His doctor, as well as the AAP, suggested trying out some finger foods.  He didn't get the hang of green beans and the like at first, but he sure was a fan of Cheerios.  His new favorite game became Chase the Cheerio.  Grabbing the little pieces didn't come easy, but he knew he wanted to.  He is a fantastic eater and we haven't found a food he dislikes.

He loves to play and really enjoys knocking blocks over, banging around things he can get a good grasp on, and slapping away at his keyboard.  Right at seven months he started sitting like a pro.  It was like one day he was still a little wobbly, then he's just sitting there like there's nothing to it.  Funny how they do that.  Once he learned to sit, he was very happy just doing that.  He no longer really cared much about crawling around.  If a toy was away from him, he would reach as far as he could to get it but if he couldn't he'd make a bit of noise for you to get it for him.  I swear, he'd sit for hours.

Unfortunately he (and me) caught a stomach bug and we experienced the saddest thing of parenting thus far.  He started vomiting and didn't stop for about four hours.  It was terrible.  Thankfully I was at my in-laws' and had help all around, making it much less stressful for me.  One thing I did learn was that Griffin has the saddest sad face EVER.  He's not a super smiley, laugh all the time baby.  He's usually rocking the stoic cool man face, but goodness, I have never seen a face that screamed HELP ME so loudly.  It was a rough evening (especially for Dave, who fortunately miss the boat on this stomach bug), but we made it through and the next morning fared much much better for Griffin.  Me, not so much.  It kept kicking me while I was down for nearly a week, I digress.  Another thing that I learned:  spit up is NOT vomit.  That's as far as I'm going with the details.

All in all, we are reminded daily that we have a very content little baby.  I love to watch him sit and stare and just soak everything in.  Makes me want to slow down and do the very same thing.  I'm beyond lucky to be his mom, he really is the icing on my (cup)cake.

Better than my Birthday

This Sunday was seriously a perfect day.  Dave and Griffin made me feel so special, loved, and appreciated the entire day.  I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a wonderful husband AND a perfect little baby too, but I am forever grateful.  That makes my job title of "Mom" a lot easier and more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined.  We celebrated from the minute I woke up till the minute I went to bed, making my birthday pale in comparison.

Griffin gave me the most heartfelt card, then took it back to chomp on. 

Meanwhile Dave was making cream cheese and strawberry stuffed french toast for brunch, since I got to sleep in a bit.

Griffin did a great job keeping me entertained while Dave cooked.  He even got to eat a little applesauce brunch too.

He was such a nut during breakfast.  He would giggle as the spoon neared his face and when he had a mouthful.  That alone made my day.

After brunch we played in the sunshine.  It felt amazing, a little on the cool side but warm in the sun.  Just how I like it.  Griffin even sat up by himself to play with his toys.

After eating an awesome brunch, then playing outside, we did the next best thing and took a nap.  The windows were open, a breeze coming through, and birds chirping.  It seriously could not have been any better.  

After the nap we packed up and went to visit my Nana to give lots of hugs and kisses.  Afterwards we went to a Chinese restaurant that we used to live near.  Yumm!  It seemed like I was trying to outdo myself in calories that day, but it was worth it!  Griffin managed to sleep through our entire dinner--he's so considerate.  

The weather was too nice not to take advantage of it, so we took a stroll downtown.  We went across the newly opened walking bridge into the art district, probably my most favorite part of this city.  Looked at the sculptures and took lots of pictures.  I just wished I would have left a little room to have a latte from Rembrant's....but there's always next time.  

I will always remember my first Mother's Day.  Every day I appreciate the gift of motherhood, but it sure was fun getting to celebrating it.  There really is nothing better than being Griffin's mom.  

6 months

Griffin is officially six months old.  I have thought every previous month, "oh, this is a fun age." but six months really is a lot of fun.  My baby is now oozing with personality.

He is now babbling like crazy.  You can't predict when he's going to start talking, nor can you command it.  However, as soon as it starts it's hard not to watch.

He's getting around pretty well, rolling and scooting like a mad man, trying to eat everything in sight.  For the last few days he's been getting in the push up position, on his hands and toes.  He's still scooting with his head down to the ground and pushing with his feet.  He loves to stand.  He can hold himself up for a while if you stand his next to something.  He's getting close to sitting up by himself, he can do a few seconds at a time then he topples.

He's eating like he's been doing it for years and there's not too much that he loves more.  He's had avocados, peas, sweet potatoes, green beans, pears, and bananas.  I'm guessing that he's liked everything, as he hasn't spit anything out yet.  His  love of bananas is pretty intense, as he eats them at lightening speeds.  Everything else is eaten at a much slower pace.  The doctor told us today that all [mushed] foods are fair game at this point (which was news to me) and at seven months we can start finger foods.  Eating is proving pretty fun for all of us.

At the doctor today Griffin weighed almost 19 pounds (80th percentile) and was 27 1/2 inches long (85th percentile).  His head must had a growth spurt as it went from average to above average.  He had another round of shots today as well, but this time it took much less effort to calm him down afterwards.  As soon as Dave picked him up, he had forgotten all about it.

As Griffin ages, it's becoming more and more clear that we have ourselves one happy, laid back, healthy little baby, which makes me that happiest mama in the whole wide world.