Happy Birthday Grandma Cathy!

Griffin would like to wish a very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to his Grandma Cathy (Gama, Gigi...whatever he chooses to use in the moment...)!! We love you and wish we could spend the day with you!

Pool Time

Thanks to the good weather, we were able to spend some time at the pool on Memorial Day!

Very Proud

I am very proud to report that Griffin is now going on several accident-free days...enough so that I would go as far as to say he is now trained on the big boy potty. And today, we braved several errands -- including breakfast out -- and no accidents. And this is all without pull-ups (he wears those only when sleeping)! His first "public potty" also happened today (we've tried before but we weren't successful until today); and he went without issue. Without getting into too many details, let's just say I left the bathroom a little soaked...he caught me a bit off guard as I was leaning down to help him...but we laughed so hard after that my tummy hurt a little bit. :) The joys of having little boys!

And after a short nap, we went out to help daddy spread mulch. We even bought Griff his very own pint-sized shovel...he very much enjoys being our little helper.

Just a quick pic of Griff using Tucker as a pillow. These two continue to be the best of buds and oftentimes T is the first "person" Griff wants to see in the morning.

Putting the mulch in the wheelbarrow

Helping push the wheelbarrow

Touch a Truck

We headed out to the Touch-A-Truck event today at the Commons. Griff really enjoyed seeing the firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, and other vehicles there, and even got to "drive" some. It was a beautiful day, and after lunch (and a failed nap) we spent the afternoon in the yard - Griff in his undies, playing in his water table and running all over the yard with Tucker.

We drove the Jeep - with the front top off - so Griff got to enjoy the wind in his hair! When we started driving Griff exclaimed, "cool - cool!" Hopefully soon we will be able to get a bikini top for the Jeep so we can have the top ALL the way off!

Driving a small racecar

Waiting in line...which Griff did [semi] patiently!

Turning the siren on in the FIRETRUCK!

Hey, who let a girl into my firetruck?

Driving the police car (to think - there was a line to get into the police car...you don't see that too often)!


And to get him to leave, we told him there was an even cooler truck that we'd get to ride in...Daddy's Jeep. It worked. Kind of.

The Last Push

We met with our contractor today to discuss the final projects in the basement (built-ins/bar)...AND we discussed a finish date. Looks like we have another week of work, plus another couple of additional days into the next week. So the end is near. And we could not be happier - both about what the finished product is looking like AND that it is going to be done soon. No more drywall dust caking our first floor (dusting every other day is definitely not for me), no more hammering and sawing, and no more having to pick anything else out (whoever said picking paint colors was fun is crazy...we went through so many samples on the wall before finding the right ones). And, hopefully, after it is finished: no more home improvement projects for quite some time. Since we moved in three years ago, it seems like we haven't really stopped doing things...from painting, the patio, wood floors, the list goes on. We're ready to take a break for a while and just enjoy our house and our kiddos in it!

Here are some pics of the current status:

Paint is on the walls...ceiling is up...it looks like a real room now!

Bar is going to be built early next week

The shower (not yet grouted, but tile is in).

The bedroom (still with two toilets in it) :)

POTTY Time!

Today was a very big day for Griffin...he wore underwear AND pottied on the potty for the very first time! We've had the potty seat in the bathroom for some time now, just to have it around so we could talk about it and see if there was interest.

But today is the first time it was actually used...and Griff was SO proud of himself - but not nearly as proud as I was. Thanks to Ashley for all of the daytime help, Griff couldn't have done it without you! The first time he went, he was so excited that he had to run and tell Tucker what he had done (and I learned that he likes having Tucker in the bathroom to talk to while he is trying). He also liked his undies quite a bit...he kept looking down at them and clapping. And though the day was not without a couple of accidents...he is wearing a pull-up to bed and will get undies as soon as he wakes up. Here we GO!

Picking out which undies to wear


And after his first potty he got a Woody car (which he calls his "potty car")



Chillin in his undies with his new car






Still dry!

I think his tushie is so cute in undies!

Claire was over tonight...why not play some football in only undies?

Chocolate Face

We snapped some cute pics of Griff at Mother's Day brunch after he had eaten some dessert...he has quite the messy little face and was very proud of it.

Ultrasound - 29 Weeks

I finally got the pics from last Friday's ultrasound scanned in. According to the u/s, he is over three pounds and on track to be over eight at birth; so, a little above average size-wise. He has a big head...and is very breech...but we have a scheduled c-section for July 15th so we aren't worried about either of those at this point. :) Everything else looks good...I am having contractions daily, but no "real" pre-term labor like we had with Griff - so fingers crossed that this one is a little more patient and waits for the right time.

And I think he looks like Griff!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend - my mom came up Friday and we were able to have lunch; she came with me to my afternoon doctor's appointment - and got to see Griff's little brother on the ultrasound (I will scan those pictures in and hopefully post later this evening). After that we came home and found Daddy already home with Griff; Ben's been in Philly for another trial (gone again for the next couple of weeks) so it was a special treat to have him home a little earlier on Friday than expected. We got some deep-dish pizza and pigged out (one of my cravings and one of Griff's favorite - he ate quite a bit).

Saturday my mom and I headed to the nursery with Griff to pick out some plants - some for pots and also some new annuals - and spent the bulk of the day working in the yard, which is kind of our new annual Mother's Day weekend tradition. Because my belly keeps growing bigger and bigger and I'm really starting to feel my ability to bend over decreasing, my mom did the bulk of the planting work...thanks Mom for your help with that, and with everything else this weekend! I really appreciate it and everything looks GREAT! Today we headed to the Club for Mother's Day Brunch which was yumm-o...and both Daddy and Gma Cathy ("Gigi" right now to Griff) headed out this afternoon. We miss them both already!

Before brunch (Mom & Griff pics came last, and he was dead set on playing with his new water table...didn't want any more "cheese!")

Mommy, Griff and Daddy

Mommy, G and Gigi

And this morning, we decided to break out Griff's birthday present from us that we just didn't put out at his party (he was way too spoiled that day, and quite frankly, this couldn't be put to good use for a while anyway)...a pirate ship water table!

And it comes with a WHALE! (Yes, it's a shark but we are still learning to differentiate)

A canon that really shoots!