23 Weeks!

Well here we are again.  Another week older!  23 weeks old and growing like a weed :o)  This week was met with some new firsts!  G went swimming for the first time!  The neighborhood across the street has a pool, so we went with friends who live in that subdivision.  He really enjoyed it!  I thought it might scare him at first, or that the water temp would upset him, but he did well with everything.  He was pretty amazed looking at everything and watching the kids who were playing in the water. 

We also now have a Jumperoo for him to play in.  Playtime with the toys we had wasn't wearing him out enough.  He would be tired and ready for a nap, but wouldn't stay asleep very long.  I started looking for used Jumperoos, because brand new they're CRAZY expensive, and no longer than they are used, it's kind of crazy to spend that much money.  Thankfully when I mentioned looking for one to my friend Angie, she offered to let us borrow the one they have for their daughter.   She's too big for it now, so we went to get it on Wednesday.  He played in it several times today and it definitely did the job!  After playing in it the first time, he napped for 2 1/2 solid hours without making a single peep!  Usually naps consist of anywhere from 1-3 wake ups in a 2 1/2-3 hour period.  He's easily soothed back to sleep, but doesn't usually sleep all the way through without waking up at least once.  Today he was so worn out that he didn't move a muscle the whole nap. 

The weather has been so nice lately that over the weekend I took G's highchair out onto the deck and he dined al fresco.  He was really enjoying looking at everything outside while scarfing down his sweet potatoes! 
Aunt Cindy is coming to visit this weekend, so I'm sure there will be lots of good pictures taken!  I don't have too much more to report this week.  Since I'm actually posting this on time there's less to write about :o)  Here are the pictures of his new adventures from this week!

Such a happy little guy!

Playing in my blankie from Aunt Cindy

Little Gangsta!  HA!

First time swimming!

I love the Jumperoo!

Dining al fresco for the first time!

5 Month and 22 Week Birthdays!

My baby is 5 months old!  He's getting so big and doing something new every day it seems!  His latest trick is rolling over without hesitation.  He will no longer stay on his belly at all.  As soon as I put him down for tummy time, he immediately flips himself over to his back.  It's become a bit of a game, he flips onto his back, I put him back on his tummy and tickle him.  We keep the game up until he starts to get mad.  He has flipped once from his back to his belly, but since he really doesn't like to be on his belly, I don't see it happening again any time soon. 

He's also started to try and blow raspberries.  We blow raspberries on his belly, neck, hands, all over all the time and he loves it.  He lets out the cutest giggles ever, squeals and kicks his feet.  He's now decided he wants to blow raspberries by himself.  He hasn't quite gotten it to work, but he sure is trying hard!  He will purse his lips and says "bububububu" until he manages to spit and drool down his chin.  Then he grins great big because he's so proud of himself.  It is incredibly cute if I do say so myself! 

Today we took him to the zoo for the first time, and I think he really enjoyed himself!  He was mezmorized by the animals.  Even though he missed one of his naps due to our big adventure he sure was a good sport!  Once we got home he totally sacked out for 3 hrs!  That was one of the best naps he's had in a while.  He woke up so happy :o)

His newest solid is sweet potatoes, and he LOVES them!  I made some earlier in the week for him to try, and he has been so excited to have a new food.  He squeals in excitement every time he sees them.  It's the greatest sound! 

Here are a few of the newest pics I've taken of little guy.  Now that I'm home all the time the camera is in his face constantly.  Poor kid.  ha! 

Such a big boy at 5 months old!

Crazy hair after my bath

22 Weeks Old!

First time trying sweet potatoes.  I think it was a success!

With Daddy at the zoo!

Mommy and me at the zoo!

   

Wow...

Well, to say that I'm behind on the blog is a bit of an understatement.  My last post was May 1st!  Sorry G, Mommy has really been slacking! 

Griffin is now 21 weeks old!  I really don't know how that's possible, but I guess it is :o)  He is getting so big I can't even believe it.  His little personality is so much fun, and just gets more and more entertaining by the day.  His giggle is absolutely the most incredible sound I've ever heard.  There is nothing Matthew and I enjoy more than playing with G and making him laugh.  He has a ticklish spot just below his ribs and at some point every day I can't resist tickling him just to hear that amazing little sound. 

School has finally ended, so I am officially a stay at home mommy for the next couple of months!  While I do wish I had been able to stay home with him all the time, now he is doing so many new things, that's it's definitely more exciting to be around him than it was when I went back to work.  Don't get me wrong, there wasn't a single day that went by where I didn't wish I was home with him, but he's much more entertaining now than he was two-three months ago. 

His newest developmental trick is ROLLING OVER!  On Sunday night he rolled from his belly to his back for the very first time.  I was so glad that it was on the weekend and not during the week while at the babysitter.  I would've been so disappointed if I'd missed it.  I told the babysitter that he did it, so she had him do lots of tummy time on Monday and he was continuing to roll over the next day.  I wasn't sure if he'd do it again or if it was more of a fluke thing.  Turns out it wasn't a fluke!  Then on Wednesday, my first day of summer break, he rolled from his back to his belly!  I was so glad I didn't miss that one either.  Poor Matthew though, has yet to see the "live show."  I've been able to catch G rolling over on video, and sent that to him via text.  So he has seen it, just not in person yet. 

I have also decided to start trying my hand at making baby food instead of buying packaged food.  It's gone pretty well so far.  G is finally enjoying eating more than just a bottle.  It didn't go well at first however.  I don't think he was quite ready when we first started trying them.  He would cry when he saw the spoon coming towards him.  Thankfully that part is over.  He has now started to like avocados, rice cereal and bananas.  The one food that he REALLY hated, and I haven't tried with him again yet, was green beans.  To say he was not a fan is quite the understatement.  I'll let the picture below give you a better idea of how he really felt about them.  haha!

Well, that's been our excitement.  No more school for me, and G rolling over!  I scared the pants off of him the first time he did it.  I was so excited and squealing/cheering him on that it made him jump.  ha! 

Since it's been so long since I've managed to write a post, here are several pics from G's 4th month :o)

 

    It's really just wrong how cute this kid is!  (Not that I'm biased or anything...)

Mom, I don't like green beans!

Playing in your food is WAAAAAAAY more fun than actually eating it!

He makes the most hilarious faces!  haha!

Someone is sitting on Mommy's lap all by himself!  What a big boy!

Such a tired boy

Chillin with Daddy

Just a boy and his dog :o)



4 Months!

Griffin is now 4 months old!!!!  How in the world is that possible?  I really do not understand how that can be, but it is.  I guess I should just accept it :o)

Monday was his 4 months well-baby check up.  He is up to 15.2 lbs and 24.5in long!  My baby isn't much of a baby anymore!  He is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight now.  He has really shot up.  At his 2 month appointment he was only in the 15th percentile for height, so I'd say he's caught up quite well.  The doctor was amazed at his neck strength and head control.  He's had really good head control for well over a month, if not more like two.  He was also cracking the doctor up the whole time we were there.  Griffin was lying on the exam table just giggling, cooing and smiling through the whole exam.  His peditrician couldn't believe how happy he was. 

Then came the bad part of the appointment...shots :o(  G had the same round of vaccinations that he received at 2 months.  Three needle sticks and an oral.  This time the oral didn't go so well.  He had almost all of it down and the last bit must've gone down the wrong  pipe because he started coughing pretty hard, and all of a sudden everything he'd eaten recently came right back up.  It was like a volcano erupting!  Thankfully he was still naked so his clothes weren't soaked, and I managed to catch most of it in his burp cloth, but of course I got a good dose of it on me, the floor was also quite covered.  Thankfully the nurses gave us some towels and even rinsed out our burp cloth.  Poor little guy wasn't too fond of that!  Then came the really bad part :o(  He cried and cried like I expected.  Once I was able to pick him up he calmed down a bit, we got him dressed and fed him, which helped a lot. 

Since G has such good head control the doctor gave us the green light to start first foods!  I can't believe my baby is no longer on just formula.  That doesn't seem right at all!  Since we had the go ahead to start solids, I gave Griffin his first taste of true rice cereal.  He's been getting cereal in his bottles for quite a while now to help combat some reflux, so it's not completely new, but he'd never had it in such a thick consistency or eaten with a spoon.  It was quite comical!  He did such a great job for his first time eating out of a spoon.  The faces he made were cracking me up.  He'd act like he didn't like it, but would eat it anyway and then decide it wasn't so bad.  He went through that little process with every single bite.  He was a champ!  The only bit that came back out was what didn't get slipped into his mouth to begin with.  He never spit any of it back out.  Although I'm having a hard time adjusting to the fact that my baby is no longer on just formula, I can't wait to see what all he decides he likes and doesn't like.  My goal for the summer is to make his baby food.  We'll see how ambitious I get before summer is out.  I don't know if I will get any made prior to being done with work or not.  We'll see.  I'm excited to try it out though! 

Well here is G's 4 month picture and his first experience with big boy food!

4 Months Old!

First taste of big boy food!

16 Weeks!

Well G is 16 weeks old now!  Getting bigger by the day and so much fun too!  His little giggle is so infectious.  I've been taking videos of him playing with new toys then playing the videos back for him to watch.  He is enthralled by them!  Watching himself play and hearing himself giggle just send him into more giggling fits.  I find myself laughing right along with him most of the time.  It's amazing just how happy one tiny little person can make me :o)

Even on days like today, when he decided to begin his day at 4:45am (on a Saturday no less) as frustrated as I was to be awake at that time, the grin on his face when I would walk up to his crib and pick him up was the greatest thing I've seen in a long time.  There is nothing quite like seeing the happiness and excitement in your child's face just because they see you. 

Just a few more weeks and school is out for the summer.  I absolutely cannot wait for the year to be over so I can spend all day with my little sweetie.  I don't have a lot of new things to report so this post will be short compared to the others.  Of course though, I cannot post without a picture or two!

My silly boy at 16 weeks old

Captain Chubby Cheeks and his mommy :o)

Playing with my activity table.  It's so much fun!

15 Weeks!

I'm such a slacker!  Little man turned 15 weeks on Thursday.  Being back at work and having a baby just drains me, so I don't even begin to think about the newest blog posts until the weekend.  I guess late is better than never! 

G's first week back at the sitter post spring break went pretty well.  His naps got better each day.  He was very out of his nap routine from the week before.  I don't know if he's afraid of missing mommy/daddy time when we're home or what, but he doesn't nap well at our house any more.  We bought black out curtains for his room, which have helped some.  His room was always very bright during the day before the curtains.  Hopefully it will only take a few days once I'm home for summer, for him to get into his good nap routine at home as well. 

He has started holding and shaking a ball, grasping and swatting at the animals hanging above him on the bouncy seat, he pushes the "piano" keys on his activity table to make the music play, and absolutely LOOOOOOVES to lie on his activity mat and stare at his reflection in the mirror.  The mirror will keep him entertained for half an hour sometimes!  He still hates tummy time, so he's not making many moves to try and roll over yet, but we do practice rolling from our back to tummy and vice versa.  That only happens a couple of times before he gets mad though.  The biggest "new" thing he's doing is responding to his name!  It's not every time, but honestly I have kindergarteners at school (and a husband at home) who don't respond to their name every time!  He has started to look at Matthew and I when we look at him and say his name.  It was so exciting the first time, but I wasn't sure if it was real or a coincidence that he happened to look at me after I said Griffin.  I tried again a few seconds later and he did it again!  We've been practicing all weekend, and he's getting better and better :o)  I'm amazed at how proud I can feel and how full my heart is when he does something as little as respond to his name.  As adult it may seem little, but for him it's a huge step! 

He's starting to make more consonant sounds when he talks, too.  For several weeks now he's been stuck on the /m/ sound and "maaaaa maaaaaammm" noises.  I jokingly tell Matthew that our son is a genius and can say Mom already!  He's started to add the /b/, /n/, and some schwa sounds occassionally.  Even though I don't exactly care for the middle of the night babbling he is doing right now, it is incredibly cute to hear him lying in his room just talking away.  Every once in a while he'll make a very forceful "mam!" noise that I like to think is his way of yelling for mommy :o) 

And now for the best part...your reward for making it through all my rambling and gushing about the cutest kid on the planet (hehe) pictures! 

Rockin my Iowa Hawkeyes gear from Daddy's boss!

Mommy is playing with her phone app again :o)

Thank goodness for the self-portrait option on my phone.  Pics of G and I can be more frequent now!

This kid has the greatest expressions!

Just chillin in the Bumbo!

14 Weeks and Happy Easter!

Another week down.  Seems so crazy!  Last week was my spring break from school and I was SO happy it was finally here!  I absolutely couldn't wait to spend every day with my little guy!  We had so much fun.  Ran errands together, met friends for lunch, and got ready for a holiday weekend away.  G also had his 3 month pics taken last week!  The one sneak peek pic we got looks so great!  I can't wait to see the rest.  I'm sure they will be wonderful!  How could they not be, she had such a good subject to shoot :o) 

We went to visit my family for Easter weekend.  Matthew took Thursday and Monday off of work, so we'd have a nice long weekend together.  G did so great in the car.  It was a very long 6 hr drive to get where we were going, but he was a champ!  Everyone enjoyed seeing him again, and he was eating up every bit of the attention too! 

Thursday he turned 14 weeks old.  It just really doesn't seem possible.  I also can't believe I've been back at work for a whole month now!  Hopefully the rest of the year goes quickly.  Now that I had that little taste of being home with G again, I really can't wait for summer to be here so that we can stay home together all day. 

He's doing so many amazing things.  He keeps trying to sit up on his own.  He does his little baby crunches to try and get himself upright.  It's pretty funny and cute to watch :o)  He also LOOOOOOVES to stand.  He's getting so good at it!  He was just holding onto my hands the other day, I didn't have to hold him around the middle at all, and he was able to stay up for quite a while. 

Well onto the best part of the blog posts.  Pictures!  :o)  Here's my happy little guy at 14 weeks!

Playing with the bouncy seat at Great Aunt Brenda's house!

The sneak peek of G's 3 month pics!

Happy little guy on my first day back at the babysitter :o)

I can hold my ball all by myself!