Wedding Fun

Ben and I headed into the city for a wedding this weekend, and we had a great time. They had a photo booth at the reception, and below are a couple of the strips we took....the only ones acceptable for posting, that is. :) Auntie Lisa came over on Saturday to watch Griffin, and she, Griff and Uncle Bill even got to go out to eat together on Saturday night...so G had a date of his own! Thanks Auntie Lisa and Uncle Bill, I know he had a great time with you both! He can't wait until the next time he gets to "hang out."

p.s. the strip on the left is supposed to be of me with some of Ben's coworkers, but Ben decided to do pull a "Ben" (try to infiltrate and ruin other people's pics! :)

The Wedge

I think we might have a growth spurt on our hands, as G has been super tired, super early lately and has been CRASHING at night (which we cannot complain, as we endured many sleepless nights with the little man). Since he started rolling over (about 3 months), he has went down on his belly. Lately he has been rolling himself to his back and just zonking out (the past couple of nights with his thumb in his mouth). Last night, however, he decided to wedge himself the wrong way in his crib. I thought he looked so sweet on the monitor so I went to snap a couple of shots. I noticed at about 4am he'd not only rolled over, but moved himself to the complete opposite end of the crib (without a fuss)...so I think not only is he growing on us, but he's going to be crawling soon. So far he gets up on his hands and his toes, but can't coordinate the movement of his knees.....but he's certainly trying, and certainly gets uber-frustrated when he can't MOVE, and move fast.

Five Months Pics

Griffin turned 5 months old 10 days ago, so this post is ALSO belated (I'm trying...at least I get to posting eventually)! We had a little photo shoot with his 5-month onesie but it was largely unsuccesful, as Griff was tired and not in the greatest of moods. Below you will find pics, nonetheless.

Griffin has been sitting up on his own for a while now, which makes it more fun to play with his toys. He is grabbing at EVERYTHING in sight...the camera (in a previous post I mentioned he loves mommy's camera), the remote, all drinks (we've suffered several spills, so we are learning), the dogs (they are tolerating the ear-pulls so far), hair, etc. He also likes to "kiss" us now...he will grab your face with his hands and wipe his wide-open mouth on your face. It's one my favorite things. He is generally in a great mood, and is just so absolutely fun to be around. He smiles at everyone, and loves to flirt...he is starting to realize when I leave him with Ms. Nikki in the morning that I'm actually leaving...and just this week has started to reach out for me and give me a pouty face, which kills me, as I thought I had a bit longer until I had to endure that. But he got to spend a whole day at work with me this week, which was awesome, he was so well-behaved and had fun with the girls while mommy took some clients. I also took him to the Goddard School, where he will go in November, this week to play and meet everyone. There are a couple other babies there who were also born in April, so he will have some buddies his age to learn with...and mommy really likes the teachers in his room (and the owner of the school as well), so I am excited for him to begin that phase in about a month.

Griff told me THIS was the pic he'd like to use for his facebook profile. Mommy said no facebook.

Picture-taking wore him out, I guess. It was worth trying...maybe we'll have better luck next month!

Weekend Update...belated

We had a fun and relaxing weekend. Grandma Cathy came up on Friday, and Griffin was very excited to see her (and vice versa). We relaxed at home on Friday night and grilled out while Griffin sat on a blanket and played with his new "lap top" that Grandma Cathy brought him (he loves it...look for emails from him soon).

On Saturday, since Griffin gets up (and thus gets US up) pretty early, we had ample time in the morning to grab fresh fruits and veggies and cook up some Griffin food! We made two kinds of squash, peaches, bananas, avocados, green beans, and pears. I LOVE the Beaba Babycook that Grandma Kris got us before Griffin was born...it is so easy to chop up the fruit or veggie, and then the Babycook steams it, then purees it. We then freeze it in the silicone freezer trays (each hole is approximately a serving-size)...when it's good and frozen I pop it out, into labeled ziploc freezer bags. So when it is mealtime it's easy to grab a "chunk", defrost it, and it's ready for him to eat. Or, more appropriately, ready for us to try to entice him to eat. G decidedly has his favorites: avocados, bananas, and carrots...in that order. He also definitely has his not-so-favorites...starting with green beans. But we are getting there...mealtime (solids, at least) is still not his favorite time, nor ours. Though don't doubt when it's bottle time and he even SEES a bottle, he gets extremely excited and waves his arms and grabs for the bottle feverishly...makes washing bottles when he is in eyeshot hard! :)

Also on Saturday, since Grandma Cathy wanted more Griffin time (and because she volunteered!) Ben and I were able to get out and go to Crystal Lake Country Club and play a round of golf. More specifically, Ben was able to play 18 holes and I played about 12 (which I think was good for me, considering that the amount of swings I had was quite larger than his, comparatively)! We had a good time, however, and I must say that I did not quit once nor did I get too frustrated. I had some good shots. I had some NOT so good shots, too, but all-in-all I had fun. After golf we came home and headed out to dinner (Cucina Bella, one of our favorite places)...and then after we put G. to bed Grandma Cathy was again gracious enough to stay home while Ben and I went out for drinks. It was nice to get out...thanks Mom!

On Sunday morning we all got up and had a yummy brunch at CLCC and showed Grandma Cathy around before she left. We then had the afternoon to relax and get ready to watch the Bears win!

Glad to see Grandma Cathy!

Trying to grab the camera, one of his new favorite games. He REALLY wants the camera as his own.

I love my new laptop!

Really....a lot

.

Enough with the pictures

Family shot before brunch

Grandma Cathy after peeling, slicing and dicing.

Dad with our favorite machine...pretending he'd helped with all of the prep work...but generally he just steps in for the fun part (revving up for the pureeing)

Road Trip to Indy

Griffin, Ben, our friend Jeff, the dogs, and I headed to Indy this past weekend for the IU game and to see friends. Yes, that's right....all of us. And we took one car...which was packed to the gills with people, dogs, and stuff. THAT was fun. :) Griffin did (fairly) well in the car, though quite frankly he isn't a huge fan of long car rides, unless he is sleeping. He gets pretty bored and becomes pretty vocal about it! We got in late Friday night, and on Saturday morning we got to see Auntie D and Connor, who came over to visit before we headed out. We were so glad we got to see them while we were in town (and we're glad we get to see them both next month and in November for two more games). After that we headed down to Bloomington for some tailgating and football. Griffin was, again, such a good boy for the day...he did some tailgating of his own, and he actually was very engrossed in the football game (couldn't take his eyes off of the field). After that, we did some more tailgating while Griffin napped.

That evening we headed over to the Barron's for a bbq. We, as always, had a great time seeing the Barrons and wish we lived closer. Libby is adorable....and was very gracious in sharing her toys, high chair, exersaucer AND pack-n-play with G. We hope that when G is Libby's age he is as well-mannered and fun as Libby is! (I also love how she kept referring to Ben as "the little guy"..."is the 'little guy' still here?" So cute!). She and G also shared a bath before they both went down, and then Shannon volunteered to stay with the little ones while the rest of us went to a local pub where a band was playing (thank you, Shannon)! We had a great time out as well. Thanks again, guys!

It was a fun, but exhausing weekend...we are glad we have a few weeks until the next game (and road trip) happens! Below are some pics from the weekend (I took my camera and actually used it....I'm getting better).

G ready for the ride to Bloomington

Family Pic at the Game

G LOVED watching all of the people and the action on the field


He was mesmerized. Didn't fuss once at the game.



G had his tailgating snacks, too!

Isn't this the way to play football? With a beer and a (yuck) cancer stick? (FYI we do not condone smoking on this blog). Bad Uncle Jeff!

Hanging out with Daddy

Helping Jeff attract co-eds (G is better than a puppy at that!)


Swingin' at the Barrons


Two Swings, Two Puccis


Libby helped push G...


AND Libby helped push Ben, but needed Mike's help for that!


Zonked out for the ride home on Sunday. Unfortunately his nap ran out before we hit horrible traffic going through Chicago. Y-U-C-K!

Sitting Up

Griffin has started sitting up better recently...below are some pictures of him sitting up with the boppy as help, and one of him sitting up unassisted. He can sit up on his own for a few minutes, but it doesn't last too long because he gets frustrated that he can't use his hands to play or put them in his mouth (they are already in use - helping him to balance himself)! He has also recently discovered his feet, which means that he lays on his back a little more to play when he is not sitting up (until now he was mostly a tummy-time boy...he did not want much to do with playtime on his back). Though, honestly, above all he'd still rather "stand" (with assistance of course). Sometimes it is hard to work with him on sitting because he'd rather just stand up than bend in the middle.

G is still not a huge fan of solids, or quite frankly the highchair in general, and will often start to get cranky the second he realizes he is going to be placed in it. We make sure to give him plenty of toys on his tray (including a toy that is suction-cuppped to the tray that makes noise, lights up, twirls around...an extra spoon, his own little empty bowl, etc) and we try to make it as fun as possible without distracting him too much...but in general, the highchair is NOT a place he wants to be. He still really won't open his mouth readily, but instead will slurp the food from the spoon once it's placed by his lips. Any suggestions to make it more fun/successful would be appreciated! He did, however, eat pureed avocados for the first time today, and he ate the entire serving that I made. He's only done this once before (with bananas) so I am hoping he is getting the hang of eating (slurping) with a spoon.

On the sleeping end, he is doing MUCH better. I hesitate to mention it, for fear of jinxing it, but honestly we do not dread nighttime anymore. He goes down between 8-8:30 after a bath, and usually does not protest too many times throughout the night (usually about twice, and all it generally takes to get him back down is a little reassurance and a pat on the head/back). I believe Saturday night was the first time that he has slept from bedtime until morning (which for G is between 6:45 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. now) without a peep. We'll take that anyday over his prior patterns! Here's to hoping this streak continues!.

Overall, he continues to be a very happy little (adorable) guy who loves to talk (including scream-talk) and play for most of his awake hours. He also LOVES being outside...he will sit on a blanket in the backyard and watch the golfers (or more likely, the golf carts), or watch Tucker fetch his ball for long periods of time without getting bored...so, hopefully we get some good weather this fall and he can continue to take advantage of the outdoors before dreaded winter hits.

Various Summer Pics

Griffin (and we) were very lucky to have Grandma Kris and Grandpa Tom staying with us for the summer. They watched G during the day for us, since June, and went back home to Florida just last week. We miss them terribly, as does Griffin. He definitely loved staying home with his Grandma and Grandpa...they provided a lot of fun and laughs for G while they were here. It was definitely a different experience taking G somewhere else this week (he is going to be with Ms. Nikki for two months and then he will go to his school starting in November). It was pretty hard on mom, but I think G handled the transition quite well. He made a lot of new friends, and Ms. Nikki even reported that he might be in love...with a cute little blonde (who's two!). Big strides for one week.

We want to thank Grandma Kris and Grandpa Tom for all they did for us this summer...we can't express how much it meant to us...and we are sad that they returned home to Florida to no air conditioning and a bit of a flooded laundry room! :( Here's to homeowner's insurance!

Grandma Kris (and Grandpa Tom, too) took quite a few pictures while they were here this summer, and my last couple of posts are full of some of them. Here are some more that they took, from various times over the summer:

Playing with Grandma Kris...this is a great picture (would be better if I hadn't drooled all over her shoulder)!

Grandpa Tom and G (Grandpa Tom sings the funniest songs to G -- I've never seen him laugh so much and so often)!

Daddy & the boys

G in his White Sox gear....wonder who bought him that outfit? Perhaps the ONLY White Sox fan in the family????

Pic in Connor's stroller (Rhode Island)

In my hat on Auntie D's shoulder

Hanging out with mommy...before the patio -- so earlier in the summer

In his Red Sox shirt..his second fav baseball team

Hanging w/ Mom (in the fav position -- standing!)

Maybe this solid food stuff isn't so bad? The food of the week is now bananas -- and he ate them up this morning with little to no protest. We might have a winner!