Happy Half Birthday, Griffin!

Griffin, it is your half birthday today! You are 6 months old!

The stats:

Weight: 14.14lbs - 5th percentile

Height: 25.63in - 15th percentile

Diaper: size 2 in Pampers & size 3 in others

Clothes: all 6 month 

Eating: We have successfully made it 6 months breastfeeding! I'll be honest, I would have never thought this would be the case...but I'm pretty proud of us! You are eating every 4 hours during the day. You nurse 3 times and then get a bottle before bed.  This month you have also been eating real food! I'm making you some purees but we are also doing somewhat of a baby-led approach.  You LOVE eating soft chunks of fruit (bananas, steamed pears, & fresh peaches) but you hate touching it. That pretty much goes again baby-led weaning. OH WELL. We're rule breakers, I guess. Grayson was our extremely messy eater & you seem to be a pretty clean eater.  So far you have had: bananas, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, asparagus, beans, fried rice (ha! you LOVED it), oatmeal, & other various things we have eaten.  You like to try lots of our food--I'm hoping that means you won't be a picky eater!

Sleeping: You have slept through the night one time. It was glorious. Every other night? Phew, we are up at least 2 hours. Lately you have been sleeping from about 7:30-2:30. That seems to be the time you always wake up. We've tried letting you cry it out but one night you went two whole hours! Child, you are stubborn.  We'll rock you & you typically fall back asleep but we have a hard time putting you back in your crib. You pop those eyes open as soon as you lay down! Many nights you end up in our bed around 4am just so we can get some sleep. In a nutshell? Your mama is the most tired she has ever been. It's a good thing you are seriously cute! You are getting better at naps. You take 2 naps a day. The morning nap is almost always your guaranteed long nap. Usually you sleep for 2 hours. The afternoons are hit or miss. Sometimes you will take a 2 hour nap & sometimes you only sleep for 30 minutes.

Firsts this month:

• You started sitting in the shopping cart like a big boy! This has made grocery shopping about 100x easier! You love looking all around the store & checking everything out.
• You are sitting in the tub without a baby seat! You & Grayson are now taking real baths together and you think it is SO MUCH FUN. Now you get to play with all the bath toys!
• You began eating a lot more food. You're a great eater! 
• You had your first trip to the hospital when we had to get an ultrasound done on your head. We're thankful your head is perfect! 
• You are now a rolling machine. You've been a lazy roller for about 2 months but now you roll all the time. However, at night you sometimes get stuck on your belly and FREAK OUT. 

 Right now you are loving:

• Your paci. (duh.)
• Your new big boy carseat! 
• bananas 
• Sitting up and playing with lots of toys
• the music in your crib
• playing with Grayson
• watching the dogs

Right now you are NOT loving:

• sleeping in your crib all night
• waiting for food in between bites...impatient boy!
• having your nose sucked out -- it makes you scream! 

Griffin, I really can't believe that you have already been a part of our family for 6 months. You are growing up so fast! You have such sweet, smiley eyes. People compliment you everywhere we go about those big blue eyes! Despite the fact that you don't sleep well, you are such a happy baby. You are very laid back and just smile & laugh all day long. You & Grayson are interacting a lot more these days and it's so fun to watch. He just loves his "Baby Giffin" and you adore your big brother! He can always make you smile and laugh. 

Griffin, we love you SO much! Happy half birthday!

Grayson-isms

 Grayson is quickly approaching the 2 1/2 year mark. I can hardly believe that. This age is a pretty fun (an exhausting) one and I am just loving his little personality! Sometime I want to just put a camera out so I can kind of freeze time and listen to all the funny things he says over & over again.

Here are a few "Grayson-isms" as of lately:

• G is OBSESSED with tools. He loves to "fix" anything and everything. As soon as we get a package or box, he runs to get his tools. He will use his hammer, screwdriver, plyers, and drill to try and open the box. He works so hard and it is so funny to watch! 
• Grayson is so independent lately and wants to do everything himself. That goes from bathing, buckling himself in his carseat, and taking his shoes and socks off.  If you try to help he immediately yells, "NO! ME DO IT!" Ben and I joke that G's new name needs to be Me Do It. 

 

• This kid has the memory of an elephant. We have to be so careful because he is SO observant and watches & remembers everything.  He still remembers and talks about how my mom spilled chocolate milk in our kitchen the day GRIFFIN WAS BORN. ha! 
• When I am trying to get Griffin to go to sleep & Grayson is around, he is either REALLY loud or he tries to help. When he wants to be a helper he likes to sing, "rock bye baby in treeeeeee top!" He will sing that line over & over again. It's so sweet. 

 

• G's newest word that he says a lot is "nasty." We have no idea where he heard it but when we change Griffin's diaper he'll always say, "baby poo poo? oh. yep!  Poo poo in there! NASTY!" It makes me laugh every time.
• G loves looking at baby pictures but still thinks all of his baby pictures are "Baby Giffin." I can't imagine why?! :) 

 

• G's little imagination has been running wild these days. He loves to pretend that there are random animals in our house. We will be playing with his basketball and all of a sudden he will yell, "TIGER'S COMING!!" and take off running. He is absolutely convinced we have a tiger that lives in our guest bedroom. No worries, he said the tiger is a nice one. Phew!

zombie mom

Oh, this boy...

it's a good thing he is so cute.  That sweet & innocent little boy is responsible for me losing sleep over the last 6 months. I'm honestly not sure how Griffin stays so happy because he has only slept through the night once. 

Yep. ONE TIME IN ALMOST 6 MONTHS.

I never understood those people who talked about how their babies just didn't sleep. 

HA. HA. HA.

Joke is on me. I understand now! Griffin is so inconsistent with his sleep. We started Moms on Call before Christmas and he was doing a pretty good job until he got that awful sickness. I think ear infections + bronchiolitis broke him. 

When we let him cry it out, sometimes he will fall back asleep. Other times? Well, he gets SO worked up that he starts hyperventilating and can't catch his breath. Obviously we go get him if this happens.  In a nutshell, Griffin just isn't a fan of sleeping for more than a few hours at a time and prefers hanging out with his mama & daddy. 

I'm surviving these days on coffee. I would prefer an IV drip but a cup from the trusty ol' Keurig will have to do. I swear the major lack of sleep is causing me to lose my brain. Here are a few examples:

1. I have walked out of our house multiple times without closing the door. Know what happens when I do that? ALL 3 DOGS ESCAPE. Talk about a nightmare.
2. I took Grayson to school AND went to the pediatrician wearing 2 different shoes. I wish I were kidding. One blue converse & one gray. Who does that??!! 
3. Get ready to cook dinner (on a pretty regular basis) only to realize that the chicken is still in the freezer.
4. Walked around for an entire day wearing my shirt inside out. 
5. Peanut butter has ended up in the freezer & deli meat has ended up in the pantry. Oops. 

 I have officially joined the ranks of Zombie Moms. I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead!

happenings

• If you follow me on Twitter or you're my friend on FB then you can skip this little part. Last week we took Griffin to get his ears checked at the pediatrician because he was having sleep issues (shocking) and refusing to nurse. His ears were clear (hooray!) but our doctor measured his head twice. Now, I make babies with big heads. We can blame their daddy for that. However, our pediatrician was concerned with how fast his head is growing. His growth chart had no curve and was basically straight up and down. We went to Vanderbilt Children's on Wednesday to have an ultrasound done on Griffin's head. We had to check to see if there was something causing his head to grow so fast. I kept pushing the bad thoughts out of my head, but I was so anxious! 

Our doctor called yesterday afternoon & confirmed that sweet Griffin has a PERFECT head! The bigger the head, the bigger brains..right? God is so good!

• The boys have really been playing together lately and it is so fun to watch. Sitting up changes everything for a baby! Grayson is still learning how to share his toys but he does always ask Griffin to play with his fire trucks. Griffin is already obsessed with G's new firetruck. What is it with boys & trucks?! I love, love, love the way that Griffin looks at Grayson. It's the sweetest! He adores his big brother and watches his every move.

 

 

•  I've been doing the She Reads Truth bible study off & on since it started over the summer. I started the Fresh Start series a few days late but I am just continually amazed at how every single day it is something that I need to hear. Same with my Jesus Calling devotions. God is in the details & I often forget that! He knows what I need in my life.  Are you part of the She Reads Truth community? Check it out--it's great! 
• We've actually been sticking to our weekly menu lately. It makes me feel a lot more organized even though it is SO STRESSFUL cooking during the baby witching hour. My favorite new food blog is The Picky Palate.  She's got some great recipes & if you follow her on Instagram she will make you hungry. That's a promise. I mean, she makes an Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie. WHAT?! 
• I am over the winter sickies. Over. Them. I have quickly learned that having 2 kids means that they just keep passing things back & forth. I feel like we've been dealing with runny noses since early  December! Grayson brings it home from MDO and of course passes it on to Griffin. And let me tell you, there is nothing more pitiful than a baby who can't breathe trying to eat.  Our newest issue with a cold is that G thinks the best solution to his runny nose is to wipe it on his sleeve. 24/7. 

Can you tell how red his little face is? It looks like he has a red mustache. He has rubbed his face raw with his sleeve! Such a mess!

 

our life via an instagram filter

 I make skinny babies. I took this at the pediatrician's office and immediately started laughing. Griff is SO SKINNY.

 I mentioned that we were kind of going a baby led weaning approach to feeding Griffin. As you can tell, he is thrilled. Griff is not a fan of avocado.

This has recently happened and it has CHANGED MY LIFE. 

We have entered the phase of toddler bad dreams. This has been happening about once a week. I actually slept with Griffin this night in the guest room and walked into our room & saw this. See also: he sleeps sideways and is a horrible bed buddy. (at least he's cute.)

I did my first Costco run with both boys this week. These carts should be a universal thing. We were big fans! 

Grayson is just so proud of his bike & it makes me so happy. I love that genuine toddler boy smile! My boy is getting so big. 

One of the only days we have been able to play outside. G cherished it by riding his four wheeler and finding "coins." .....or rocks:)

We tried this cart at Publix last night. Let's just say that I couldn't finish my shopping because a certain baby kept arching his back and sliding down the seat. But? That hat kills me. SO CUTE.

Brain Dumpity Dump

• I took a bit of a blogging hiatus. I swear it wasn't intentional. I'll blame super needy & sick baby that I held for almost 3 weeks. I know one thing: he's lucky he's cute.

• Speaking of Griff, we have introduced solids. I decided I wanted to do more of a baby led weaning approach with Griffin when it comes to solids. So far, he's doing pretty good. He has been grabbing at our food for weeks & he seems to enjoy eating his "big boy food." This boy will manhandle a banana & he's obsessed with clementines. OBSESSED.While he loves to eat real chunks of food, he refuses to touch them. Prince Griff still expects me to feed him. Guess we'll do our own version of BLW right now!
• We are re-sleep training this week. OH MY WORD. The second time around is much worse than the first. It's been hard & I'm super thankful of all the mamas on Twitter who reassure me that a little crying is worth sleep for the next 18 years. 
• Grayson is talking and saying the FUNNIEST things all of a sudden. I think 2 is so hard, but so much fun. He makes me laugh all the time!
• I bought the new Chris Tomlin album on iTunes and if you never listen to another word I say, listen to this: GO BUY IT NOW. We've been having some may-jah car worship sessions lately. It's awesome!

on being present

The trend I noticed this year with resolutions seemed to be picking just one word as a theme for 2013. Lots of my favorite bloggers did it & it kind of got my mind rolling. 

Then, last week at my fantastic women's bible study, our leader mentioned the same thing.  She said that she had asked God to give her one word to really focus on this year. Something that she needed to really work on & pray over. 

Over & over for the past couple of weeks I have had a phrase keep popping into my head. I actually meant to write it on my resolution post but I forgot.

So, after bible study I came home and really spent some time with the Lord.  The same phrase kept coming to mind & I decided that this is what God wants me to work on this year.

Be present.

This is what I am focusing on this year. To be present.

I stay home with my boys. Sometimes my only adult interaction for the day comes in the form of a phone call or social media.  There are so many times that instead of playing & really spending time with my boys, I'm playing on my phone. I need to be present.  While they are awake, I will be present. 

 I also need to be present during my time with the Lord. I read this verse during my quiet time a few days ago and it hit me like a ton of bricks:

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." - Exodus 14:14

There are so many times that I will be reading my bible in a silent room with zero distractions but my mind will still be going a mile a minute. Again, I'm not present. I feel like God was shaking my shoulders yelling, "BE STILL!" I can't fully focus on what He is trying to teach me if I can't even be present enough to listen.

So, that is my phrase for this year. To be present. What is your one word or phrase for 2013?

Our Christmas in Tennessee

I know, it's now January. Christmas has come and gone. BUT, what's one more Christmas post, right? 

We stayed in Franklin for Christmas this year because Ben only had Christmas Eve and Christmas off. This was actually the first year since we've been married that he hasn't worked on Christmas Eve! My parents came up the morning of Christmas Eve and we had every intention of going to our church's Christmas Eve service that afternoon. However, a sick baby changed those plans. 

This pitiful looking boy had crusty eyes, a runny nose, and a terrible cough. Oh, and he LOST HIS VOICE. As in, we couldn't hear him cry. Who knew that could happen to babies?! I took him to the pediatrician first thing that morning and our doctor confirmed that sweet Griffin would be spending his first Christmas with a nasty ear infection & respiratory virus. Boo!

We made the best of it & ordered our favorite greek food for dinner on Christmas Eve and let the boys open presents from the out of town folk. 

 Grayson had SO much fun this year opening presents. He helped Griffin open his & then had to teach him how to use everything. It was so fun to watch! 

We put both of the boys to bed and then Santa came! Grayson's big gift from Santa was the Everyday Heroes fire station/police station by KidCraft. It is AWESOME. We were so excited for him to see it!

 In true Grayson fashion, we were up at 5:30. Someone was ready to see what Santa brought! 

"WHOA!"

This year was so much fun with Grayson. He was so excited! Griffin wasn't feeling great but was a good sport. He loves his new Zany Zoo toy! 

Bless him. Christmas morning wore him out. 

My parents,Nana & Poppy, with the boys on Christmas. I can't tell you how long it took to get this picture. Ha! Toddlers hate cameras. 

Last Christmas we told our families we were pregnant...this year we had a 5 month old!

We spent the weekend after Christmas with Ben's family. Grayson was so excited for Christmas round 2!

G has an obsession with tools. He "fixes" everything in our house. You can imagine his excitement over his  new tool bench from Ben's parents! 

Griffin was still sick but enjoyed playing with his new toys. He's such a good sport! 

The boys with Mimi, Pops, & Uncle Thomas.

These boys made our Christmas so much fun this year. I can't believe it is already over! 

Poor Griffin went back to the doctor and still has a really bad ear infection along with bronchiolitis. Hopefully we will have a healthy Christmas next year!

I'm not a resolution person.

I'm not a resolution person. There is a lot of pressure that usually comes with New Years reso. lutions. I don't have any resolutions, but I do have some goals for 2013.  

• Start my day by spending time with the Lord. Whether it is just prayer, reading my bible, or doing a devotional...I can always tell a difference in my attitude when I start my day off right.

• Be a more patient mom.

•  Be a better meal planner and actually stick to our menu! I need to start couponing again & planning our weekly meals around the Publix sales. 

• This goes along with menu planning, but I want our whole family to just eat healthier in general.

• Not have a baby and not get pregnant. I want some more time to enjoy my two boys! 

• Drink a lot more water & a lot less diet coke. 

So, those are my goals! Pretty simply, really.  I'm excited to see what 2013 brings! What are your goals?

So What! Wednesday

This week I am saying SO WHAT if...

• I can't remember the last time I went out on New Years Ever? Overrated. Just call me mam maw.
• I sat in my pajamas on my couch last night & was in bed by 10:45? No worries, Griffin made sure I didn't miss out on the late night party. We "partied" all night long.
• I didn't make the tradition New Years Day meal last night? See also: feeling lazy and sleep deprived. 
• I'm already hiding some of the Christmas toys from the boys? This is a house, not Toys R Us. 
• I haven't been to a movie theater since before G was born? That was close to 2 1/2 years ago........
• We have had pajama days since Sunday?