Weekend Part I

This weekend Ben and I both had weddings, and even though one was on a Friday night and one was on Saturday, unfortunately one was here in the Chicagoland area and one was in Pittsburgh. So Ben headed out on Thursday to celebrate with Shannon and Nathan (congrats!), and I headed to Mt. Prospect to watch Katie and Matt tie the knot Friday night ('bout time, you guys)!

My mom headed up for the weekend to watch Griffin on Friday night, and to hang out for the rest of the weekend. We've had a fun day of shooting pictures of Griffin, as he's been in a GREAT mood (it's not often lately that he isn't, though, he is SO good). But, I wish he could have found some of these smiles and expressions last weekend for the photographer who actually knows what she is doing (in contrast to me, who has no idea). I guess he just likes mommy better. :) Oh well....these shots are cute anyway, and I posted a bunch because his expressions change from second to second and really crack us up.

Tomorrow our plan is to head to the pumpkin patch for some festive fall fun (and word is that is supposed to be WARMER, can't wait).

In my new pj's that Grandma Cathy brought me for Halloween...with Pooh (in his Halloween outfit, too)!

Another one, really, Mom?

Griffin's 1/2 Birthday!

Griffin is six months old! It's hard to believe that our little guy celebrated his 1/2 birthday yesterday. To celebrate...we got a DQ cake! Yes, we know, G can't exactly eat it to celebrate but that didn't stop mommy and daddy from doing so. :) Amy, our photographer, posted a sneak peek of some of the pictures from last weekend's session on her blog, and the above is one of those "sneaks." I can't wait to see the rest! (And I'll post a link when we get all of them).

I took G to the doctor today for his 6-month well visit. He weighs 19 lbs 12 oz (88th percentile) and 28 1/4 inches long (90th percentile). Dr. Fell was pleased with his progress (sitting up on his own, almost crawling [he does go backwards with some speed, but is still working on going forward], babbling, laughing, interacting with others, and all-around joviality). Mommy was, as usual, not pleased with the shots (more so than Griffin) but G rebounded and has been in a pretty good mood for the remainder of the day.

TEETHbrush?

Just an update......we discovered last week (or daddy discovered, actually by SEEING it, which G rarely lets us do) that G does not have just one tooth...but two! The "match" to his lower left tooth started coming in last week. He's been a trooper through this early teeth business; I know it can't feel good, especially since the second one is through, but is still about only half as visible as the first. He was a bit fussy over the weekend, and was pulling on his ear, so we headed to the doctor on Saturday morning. G was about 19 lbs, 12 ounces, but instead of an ear infection just has a cold (whew) and Dr. Fell thinks the ear-pulling might be simply from G having discovered recently that he HAS ears. :) We'll have more updates on size and other progress later this week after I take him in for his 6-month appointment (Thursday).

I don't have any pictures of this weekend...well not yet, anyway; we had a couple of family shots taken and quite a few shots of G taken this weekend (his "six month" professional shoot) by Amy O Photography. We tried outside shots first, but couldn't get a smile out of Griffin...probably because it was pretty cold (what is up with this weather?). We then headed inside and got some smiles! Look for those shots soon (can't wait) and I'll post when if Amy gets a preview to us. A couple preview shots might also be posted on her blog, as well.

Happy Monday!

The King!

Griffin decided this week that he wanted to wear his Elvis shirt that Auntie Honey got him...he was very loud all day long so I think it had an influence. :)

Little Nemo & Tigger

Ben, Griffin and I headed to Indy this weekend for another IU game and to visit Pat, D and Connor -- this time we were sans doggies and had one less person in the car, so we had more room to breathe....but unfortunately we hit about every bad patch of traffic we could between here and there...going AND returning. We used the time to brainstorm alternate routes for when we go back in November for the Wisconsin game!

Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so I don't have any pics of us at the game (D, Pat, Ben and I went to Bloomington on Saturday afternoon to tailgate before the night game while the boys played/napped/made the sitter's life more hectic with TWO boys instead of just one). But it was a great time, albeit a tad bit chilly!

However, Auntie D did snap a couple of pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes and recently posted this on The Murphy Family's Blog, so I stole them. :) Connor is going to be Tigger and Griffin is going to be Nemo. It wasn't easy getting shots of the two of them together in costume, as G hasn't gotten the standing thing down yet (yes that is a bit of sarcasm, but he did stand up from a sitting position the other day on his own) and Connor doesn't like his "Tigger hat." But they both looked adorable. The two boys had a good time together - Connor was so good with Griffin, and would bring him toy after toy when Griffin was fussy or bored. Soon enough G will be big enough for some REAL playtime with Connor, and I imagine that will involve a lot of running around and bumps and bruises. :)

Look Alike?

Everyone who sees G lately (even strangers) comments that he looks "just like his daddy!" Well, last week we got a package in the mail from Grandma Kris and Grandpa Tom that included a bunch of Ben's baby/childhood pics. Below are a few....and yes, I think we do have a little mini-Ben in G. I tried to put some together that looked alike, but that's harder than it seems...and would take more time than I've got right now. All in all, the pics of Ben simply look like Griffin...and there's one of me as a baby, too, and I think I can take some credit as well. :)

Ben

G

Ben

G

G

Ben (I think this looks a lot like G now)

G

G

Ben (I think this one especially looks like G -- this is exactly one of his "faces")

Julia

TOOTH!

This morning after I left G with Ms. Nikki I was telling her that he had not quite been himself lately, and I wasn't sure what was up...growth spurt...feeling a little under the weather...not so sure. He did his little pouty face when I left and reached out again...but before he did that, he leaned in for one of his open-mouthed kisses, mommy's favorite...and proceeded to spit up in/on my mouth. Yu - um! :) But that has nothing to do with this post.

About 5 minutes after I left, I see Ms. Nikki on my caller ID and get that uh-oh feeling, BUT Ms. Nikki simply scolds me on not telling her the "big news" that......G has a tooth! Well, we didn't know, as I hadn't checked this morning (I have been checking regularly because he's drooling like a machine and chewing on everything like a puppy)....but it looks like that has been why G hasn't quite been himself lately; we have a tooth, people! It's on the bottom left, and though I tried for a shot of it, it's not all the way through and G isn't quite ready to show it off yet. A big white smile, here we come. :)