HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN & GRANDMA KRIS!

Well...it's VERY hard to believe that it's been one whole year since the evening Ben and I headed to the hospital - again - thinking we'd probably be sent home eventually - again - and though part of both of us wanted to head back home to eat the pan of lasagna that Grandma Kris had just made...thankfully we stayed and we ended up meeting our baby Griffin fairly soon thereafter.

Thanks, Grandma Kris, for freezing that lasagna and for graciously sharing your birthday with Griffin...I know that it makes the day more special for both of you.

Usually words come fairly easy to me, but as I sit here typing this, getting teary-eyed realizing my baby is already ONE...I just can't seem to think of any words, phrases, or thoughts that I feel can even begin to describe this little boy. I know, I know, as his mom I'm inherently biased...but I'm positive that there is not one single person that I know (and many, many more that I don't know) who wouldn't laugh, smile, or just plain feel delighted in Griffin's presence. And if he can accomplish creating that kind of personality in just one year, well....look OUT world, because here comes Griffin Pucci!

---ELVIS lip and all!

Happy Birthday to my Grandma Kris!!

Snuggly from the beginning, and thankfully he still loves his cuddles

Always, always silly.

So. Ridiculously. Cute.


Tiny Griff

And yes, he DOES love his doggies!

Hawks Game

We had a very busy weekend again, which has seemingly become the norm! Ben got home later Friday night from Philadelphia (which, unfortunately, is also becoming the norm) but Griff got to hang with his daddy on Saturday before Ben headed to a bachelor party and I got to hang with Ben on Sunday when we headed into the City for the Blackhawks' last game of the regular season. We had a blast in the suite with Kevin, Nicole, Ashley, Matt, Pam and Sergio -- as well as some of Ben's coworkers. Thanks to Matt and Ashley for remembering their cameras (I forgot!), to Kevin for driving us all in, and to Uncle Bill and Auntie Lisa for watching Griffin and filling his Sunday afternoon with fun!

I didn't take any pictures of our little man over the weekend, as we had a LOT of pictures taken on Sunday morning with Amy before we left for the game. By the time we were all done, we were a bit pictured-out (which might subconsciously be why I forgot to take my camera to the game). Why did we have so many pics taken, you ask?? Because this Wednesday is a VERY SPECIAL day for Griffin! And while I can't believe this day is almost here, I'm excited to get to celebrate the occasion.

Julia and Nicole

Kev and Nicole

Unfortunately, the Hawks lost in overtime!

Easter Weekend

We had a very full, fun extended Easter weekend. In addition to the shoe-shopping that I posted about previously, we also had a great evening with the Lackes on Thursday - and Griff almost had his first sleep-over, but the boys just couldn't get to sleep together in Griff's room. At first they both stood, Griff in his crib and Ty in the pack-n-play, and looked at each other like "cool!" but that deteriorated and it just ended up being a little bit of a late night for T-man. Mommy got to do a lot of working out this weekend (we ditched Lifetime for Healthbridge and I'm loving it -- thanks, Pam, for the "pushing!") and even took Griff to the pool on Saturday. He had a great time -- at first he was a bit apprehensive and wouldn't take his arms from around my neck...all of the kiddos running and splashing around was a lot to take in for him, but after we went into deeper water he loved kicking his legs and splashing with his arms. He went under water without complaining and then we went back to the walk-in end and he played in the fountains and watched the other kids go crazy down the slides.

Then on Saturday night we went to the Club to watch the games and have some food with the Atkinsons while Hannah and Claire watched Griff (who was sleeping peacefully when we left and was still doing so when we got home -- thankfully, as we've had a bit of sleep disruption lately).

Today we went to the Club for brunch to celebrate Easter..we ate with the Atkinsons and had an awesome time (and some FANTASTIC food).

And to cap off the fun weekend, Ben just got back from Walgreens and we are going to clean out our sinuses with a Neti Pot (I feel like we've both had chronic sinus problems since winter began) and he's going to try to irrigate his ears (he believes that either he has massive ear wax buildup, OR a spider has crawled into his ear and perished). Regardless, it's going to be a FUN evening in the Pucci household!

We plan on making a trip to the pool a weekly tradition!

Eventually G could not get enough of the pool

Spiffed up for Easter



Too cute for words.

Family pic

I have to admit I'm pretty sure G loves his momma :)

AND G loves the Easter Bunny as well -- he was completely in awe of her at Brunch and when she finally left the room he turned around in his high chair and called out for her to come back (the same way he calls the dogs).

She came bearing presents!

And Liz and Dave also spoiled Griff today by bringing him an Easter basket with very fun Easter-themed books in it -- one was a pop-up that he didn't want to put down before bed, one was a finger-puppet book that both G and Daddy loved, and one was of opposites - but it had real babies in it...when I first showed it to him he responded by saying "ba-by." We are lucky to have such great friends.

Speaking of words, Ms. Ashley reported to me last week at school that while blowing bubbles Griff looked up and exclaimed "BU-BBLE". And he does try to say "baby" often, but sometimes gets his "d's" mixed with his "b's" and it comes out "dae-dee". But we can definitely tell what he is trying to say...here and there, at least. :)

Griff made sure everyone at the table knew he was SO BIG!

Lots of food and fun tire a little boy out!

And tonight we discovered G has a new favorite food: lima beans! And no, I'm not kidding. My son eats SO WELL (content-wise, not always quantity-wise). He loves fresh blueberries, blackberries, brocolli, carrots, plums, peaches, cauliflower...the list goes on. But tonight he specifically picked out the lima beans to eat first. And then he chugged his entire sippy of milk. What more could a mommy ask for?

New Kicks

Well, it was time...time to buy Griffin his first pair of "real" (read: hard-soled) shoes! So this afternoon he and I headed out to get a pair. They measured him at the store: 5 wide...yikes! Looks like G is well on his way to having his daddy's size 14s. And I got tears in my eyes as we put on his first pair of big-boy shoes...my baby is a bonafide little boy now (and, I'll admit, the PRICE of these kicks also made me a little teary-eyed -- ouch!).

And in other big-boy news: no more bottles. That's right, we decided to try to lose the morning bottle over the long weekend and it's been an easy transition. Griff just wants his breakfast much earlier - and more of it, please!

Showing off his new big-boy shoes!!!

Tippin' it Back

We have tried. And tried. And tried...to get Griffin to effectively drink from sippy cups. We have all eaten dinner while drinking from them, we have bought about every type that we can think of (with/without straws, soft, with/without valves, short, tall, fat, skinny, with/without handles -- you get the picture), we have tried to get him to drink from one at each meal, we tried repeatedly repositioning his hands because maybe, we thought, he didn't understand that he had to tip it back to get liquid out; all, unfortunately, to no avail. Until yesterday! Ms. Ashley told me that Griff put his sippy in his mouth (it had a hard lid)...and tipped it back -- no hands -- and chugged it. I thought maybe he was just clowning, until dinner, when he did it again, with a different type of sippy (though he used his hands this time). And today? He drained several sippies of milk. Finally! Now that he only gets one bottle per day (in the morning), we needed him to get something to drink without a bottle.

And now that he drinks from his sippies, he doesn't pull any punches -- he tips it back, WAY back, and chugs it. Everyone says that he gets his looks from his daddy..."look, a little Ben!"...well, folks, now that he's a champion chugger it looks like he has some of his mommy in him too!! Nice work, Griff! :)

I snapped the pics on my phone and they didn't come out so well...

Happy Birthday, Ty!

Griff's best bud Ty turned ONE last week! And Ty's fam threw him a first birthday party on Saturday that we were excited to attend...both of us had missed Ty as he was on Spring Break with his mommy last week and thus not at school. Griff had lots of fun celebrating Ty's first year, and Ty had a good time digging into his cake and getting lots of attention. And don't doubt that Ty has great taste in themes: the kiddos enjoyed mickey chicken nuggets, mickey jello, mickey fruit snacks, and had mickey cake!

At first, Ty was a bit unsure about his very own cake that his mommy made him...

But in true Tyler fashion, that didn't last long!

Big Brother Luke helped Ty blow out his candles


All of the kiddos in their Disney Gear

Griff loved the Mickey jello...and apparently dropped some in his lap and marinated in it while finishing the rest of his food...this is a shot of some of the damage (and the entire side of his jeans was also bright red). Shockingly, all it took was a little oxiclean and it came out on the first wash. Thanks to Nicole (aka Griff's surrogate mother) for the extra set of jeans and, later, the loaner pj's!

Silly Griffin Grapehead

Griffin was being quite silly today at school...this week he has been full of energy -- it's very hard to keep up with him. He's also been incredibly silly which has really lessened mommy's stressful week. In case you can't tell his hat has a stem on it.