Thankful

I can't believe that it's already Thanksgiving! Time flies.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I am healthy, my family is healthy, and this is the first year to spend the holidays with my precious baby boy. I have a job that pays the bills and a warm place to call home. My husband is so supportive and is a wonderful man of God. I have an amazing home church with spirit filled leaders. I'm so blessed and so grateful.

Eighth Month

I’m almost caught up!!



This month has been FULL of milestones!!
G is still in a size 3 diaper, but in 12 month clothes. Actually, there are some 18 month pjs he can wear. For example:

Name brand clothes always seem to run smaller.
I believe Griffin is around 21 pounds and 30ish inches. His 9 month check up is at the end of this month, so I’m excited to see his stats. I already know that he is a big guy!
Griffin has learned how to play peekaboo, blow air with his mouth, clap his hands, and today he started to cruise! Wow! I’m not ready for all of this!! He has been army crawling for a couple of months now, but he’s not up on all fours just yet. I’m just not ready for him to be cruising yet because that means he will probably be walking in a few months. He is already in to everything! He loves to play with wires. I hide them all, and he knows exactly where they are. I think he’s learning the meaning of “no” but he definitely doesn’t mind it yet!







I just die of the cuteness! My mom is getting to be an AMAZING photographer! I’m so grateful that she is catching all of the fun moments! For Griffin’s first Halloween, he dressed up as a lion! It was adorable. We didn’t go trick-or-treating though because we were at church. We did make a stop at Bran’s parents though. Maybe next year we will be able to go!

Griffin can pretty much go where ever he wants and gets into everything. This is how he uses his bouncer these days. I really need to pack it up with the rest of his baby things, but it’s nice to strap him in when we are trying to get ready in the morning. He will take his bottle while sitting there and watch Baby TV.
Griffin eats a container of baby food in the morning, afternoon, and sometimes two for dinner. He takes four to five 6 ounce bottles a day. We have started to give him more of our food. I can’t wait for the day I can stop buying baby food and formula!!
Personally, October has been much better! I’ve had a better attitude about my job and have learned how to juggle all of my different responsibilities. It’s not easy and there are a lot of things that don’t get done. But as long as Griffin is happy and taken care of and my husband feels loved and appreciated, then everything else will fall into place. My lesson plans are never written early. My house is never clean. There is always laundry to be done. But for now, that’s okay with me!
    
He’s my ray of sunshine!

Pumpkin Patch

I’ve wanted to go to the Pumpkin Patch FOREVER! I was so excited to take Griffin this year! Nana was excited. Drew was excited. Griffin and Audrey didn’t know any better. Kayla was not excited at all. It was definitely not her cup of tea.

I mean seriously…. That is precious!
We went to McKenna’s Family Farm in Branson. It had a corn maze, hay bale maze, face painting, a bump and jump, slides, and a hay ride. However, it was kinda small and dirty. Next year, I want to go to a better one especially since Griffin will be able to play more.
    
He did get to play around in a box of corn kernels. I was afraid he would try and eat them, and he did try. But I was fast and I think I caught him before they made it to his mouth!

Griffin kept pulling poor Audrey’s paci. She did NOT like her bare feet on the grass and dirt. She was ready to go just like her momma!

It was too hot this day. It would’ve been much better in cooler weather. Looking through the pictures makes me so sad…. Nana isn’t in a single one. I need some pictures of her and Griffin together. He and I will want those one day when he is grown!

Seventh Month

I’m really sad about this post. I didn’t write down his stats….
    
As you can see though, he’s still as cute as ever!

I believe her was around 19 pounds and 28 inches.
The big milestone this month…..

Griffin cut his first tooth! Actually, two teeth came in this month. Almost at the same time. Teething wasn’t terribly awful. However, at that time, Griffin also experienced his first double ear infection. That was HORRIBLE! It took us over three weeks to get him better. The doctor tried a round of amoxicillin first. After a few days on that and a temp over 102 during the weekend, we went back. G got a shot and a different antibiotic. After a week on that, we took him back. One ear was still infected. He took a z-pack and in five days, he was good as gold. On the other hand, his sleep schedule and eating schedule and any and every other schedule was completely screwed up. He is just now getting back in the swing of things.
   
This month, he started eating a container of food at lunch time. He wouldn’t take a bottle very often because of his teeth, so he ate more solids. We also started feeding him bites of our food. He LOVES it!

Meanwhile, my attitude was still stinky in September. I had good days, but a lot of bad. Going back to work was a MAJOR adjustment for me. Brandon and I got to take a little getaway though to Oklahoma to hear Dave Ramsey speak. It was awesome! G stayed with Nana. It was my first time to leave him overnight. I cried and cried that night, but it was good for me to get away with the hubs! We had a good time!

OH! This month a tree almost fell on our house too. Luckily, we had only minor damage. Thank you Lord for protecting us!!

Sixth Month

I’m so sad. I haven’t posted in ages.

Life is crazy. Crazy good!

Crazy amazing!

Not perfect. We’ve had our ups and downs.

But how can it not be awesome with this precious little one!
At six months, Griffin weighed 18 pounds and 13 ounces. He was 27 inches long. (75 percentile in height, weight, and head circumference). So blessed to have a healthy baby!!!
G was in 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. This month, we cut an inch of hair off the top of his head.
   
At six months, Griffin was a roly poly. He could get pretty much anywhere he wanted by rolling around. He ate a container of food in the morning and one in the evening. He drank five 6 ounce bottles and slept 10 hours a night (7pm – 5am).
This month was trying for me individually. I started back to work. I had so many new expectations on me with a new grade level, new curriculum, and new baby. It gave me a new attitude, which unfortunately wasn’t a very good one!! So basically, August was tough.

Testing

Just testing this app before my students use it

Ready or not...

School starts in two days! Yikes!

I made my blog private for a few days, switched back to being public, and considering going private again. There are a lot of crazies out there and I post too many pictures of my baby and personal things. Not sure what my final decision will be... BUT if you still want to read and follow along, send me your email and I will add you to the list of "approved" readers. :)

So behind…. Five Months!

Seriously, I need a pause button. How in the world do I only have one more week of summer vacation?? It’s just not possible.
I’m scared.
There I said it. I have no idea how I’m going to cope this school year. I haven’t been to work in almost six months. I have a precious little boy at home that needs me. I have a team at school that needs me. I have students that need me and a job that requires my complete attention for at least 10 hours a day. And on top of that, I’m switching grade levels. I’m starting from scratch. I’ll be making a new SMARTboard lesson every. single. day. OH. And on top of that, I’m part of an iPad pilot program. So please, administrators, come watch me… Did I mention I have a precious baby boy at home….
*sigh*
It’s all good really. Or it will be. Church tonight was good. The band Pictures of Silver played. Pastor Norberg spoke for a little bit about fear. I’ve been struggling with that without really acknowledging it. Fear of the newness of next year, fear of leaving my baby, fear of juggling our finances to accommodate daycare, fear, fear, fear. But I’m praying and working on it. The devil will not defeat me!

ANYWAYS, not sure where all that came from, but it feels good to let it out. I’m so far behind!! My brother got married, my dad turned fifty, I was able to visit with my family from Texas, and Griffin is now five months!!!

I told you he was precious!! (Doesn’t my mom take great pictures!?!)

We smother him with love and affection on a daily basis!
So what has the little man been up to??
Well… He LOVES his food. He has tried carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, apples, pears, prunes, bananas, and some combinations of other fruits. He has a container or fruit in the morning, sometimes two, with some oatmeal, and a vegetable a night with some more oatmeal. He drinks 5-6 six ounce bottles a day.
He weighs 18 lbs and 4 oz and is 26ish inches long according to my measuring tape (at least I think that’s what it was… It’s been awhile).

He’s a little roly poly! He loves to roll all the way across our living room floor. He thinks it’s hysterical. He’s just about too big for his bouncy seat and swing. I call him my sasquatch baby.

He smiles so easily and his giggles are presh. He isn’t wanting to lay down as much anymore. He is finally starting to enjoy his jumparoo. He cannot sit up on his own yet, but he’s getting closer!


He’s still sleeping all night. We begin our nighttime routine of food, bath, lotion, and bottle around 7:30 or 8. He’s always out by 9pm. Bran and I get a little bit of much needed alone time before our bedtime. We’re so thankful he is such a good sleeper!! At the beginning of this month, he started sleeping on his stomach. It made me a nervous wreck seeing his face completely smushed into his mattress, but after checking on him a bajillion times the first week, we decided he was ok. G usually wakes up around 6 for his bottle, then goes back to sleep until 9. I’m going to miss our lazy mornings!!

He is such a good baby. I cannot say it enough. He has the sweetest demeanor and personality. He has not met a stranger yet. I will be curious to see if and when this changes. I hope he stays a good kid!

He is still a drooling machine! Everyone thinks he is teething, but he certainly isn’t cutting any teeth yet. Maybe we will see a pearly white soon.

Shame, Shame…. Nana gave him a lick of his first lolly pop. He loved it of course! But the worst is this:

Good thing I was there, or Daddy would have let him try his Mt. Dew! No joke. He is ridiculous, and I don’t think it’s funny!

Griffin had his first sweet potato facial… oops.
And if there wasn’t enough pictures yet, my oh so talented cousin Ashley snapped some awesome photos of him when she was up for my brother’s wedding. Here are a few:

     

Cuteness overload. Check her out! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ashley-Nicole-Photography/127459760635507

Just seeing all these pictures in one post makes my day so much brighter! I am going to enjoy every second I have this week with my little man. And when I got back to work, it will all be just fine. God doesn’t give us more than we can handle! He has blessed my family so much, so no more pity parties. Promise.