Four Blessed Years

Today, Brandon and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. And I didn’t even snap a picture. Boo!!



I’m so lucky to have found him. He makes me a better person.



It seems just like yesterday…



God has brought us so far. Brandon and I dated for three years before we got married. We were at the point where we could finish each other’s sentences. Our first years of marriage were easy peasy. Yet, it’s amazing how much more I have learned about him and how much he has taught me…. about love and about himself.





Such wonderful memories!! To celebrate our anniversary, we left the babes at my good friend and fellow teacher’s house. He did wonderful as always. Bran and I spent the evening in Conway. We ate at Fujis, a Japanese steakhouse, and did a little shoe shopping before coming back to get G. We had a lovely time!

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in the next four years!

Three Months

Griffin is officially an infant and no longer a newborn! He growing SO fast!

He weighs 15 lbs and 8 oz. He is 26 inches long. We have a big boy on our hands!

Griffin is the sweetest baby. He is grinning all the time these days and I LOVE it! He’s been trying to giggle, but hasn’t mastered that quite yet. He rolled over for the first time at 3 months and 1 day. Since 11 weeks, Griffin has been sleeping through the night. He usually falls asleep around 8pm and wakes up around 5am. I consider myself SO blessed.

Griffin has changed so much this past month. He is becoming more interactive and more fun to play with. His hands are by far his favorite toy. They are in his mouth ALL day long. He spends the majority of the day either in his bouncer or jumparoo or on his playmat. He will entertain himself for awhile, but let’s me know when he’s ready for a change. Griffin is still nursing every 2-3 hours. Nursing is incredibly demanding on me, but I know that it’s the best for him. We tried some rice cereal when he was 12 weeks, but he is not ready to eat from a spoon. He just wanted to push the spoon out of his mouth, which meant he spit all the cereal out as well. It was hysterical. We may try again in a couple of weeks.

He loves watching TV! As you can see, he always turns to the tube no matter where he is in the room. Yikes!
He has eczema, which makes me so sad. Anytime he gets too much lovin’ (i.e. kisses) on his forehead, he has a major breakout. I am using Aveeno baby eczema lotion and recently tried Burts Bees to help. It usually takes at least a week, if not more, to clear up.
This past weekend, Griffin and I made a quick trip up to Omaha. My wonderful mother celebrated her birthday on Sunday! We were glad to be able to share her day with her. I especially enjoyed the trip to Andy’s for some frozen yogurt! (haha Mom!) To show you I have the sweetest mother, she bought ME and Griffin clothes while I was up there. For real?? She is not supposed to do that, especially on her birthday! But I am so grateful to have something that fits…. Oh this baby weight is killing me… The month of June is Shred Month. I am going back to Jillian and her wicked ways because I know it works! It kills me, but it works.
So happy 3 months to Baby G and Happy Birthday to my momma. What a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

So behind!

I have so much to catch up on… my first Mother’s Day, Griffin’s dedication, my week back at work, and a first for baby G!
So first, three weeks ago was a very special day for me… my first Mother’s Day. I was SO excited to be able to celebrate this special holiday with my boys and family. The day before, Brandon gave me the best gift to date (besides Griffin of course)! Just to give some background, Bran does not have a stellar gift-giving track record. In fact, we’ve been together for seven years and I have yet to receive a birthday gift. Gah! But he pulled through and gave me something I’ve been wanting for awhile… an iPad!

As you can see, I’m way too “connected” these days!!
We drove up on Sunday to celebrate with my mom and her side of the family. She made a delicious lunch and strawberry pie for dessert. It was awesome. I hope I can be half the mom and woman that she is. My mom is truly the best!

Let’s see…. That week Griffin got his three month pictures taken by a sweet photographer here in town. He was so serious the entire time and would NOT smile, but she managed to get some cute pictures. My school celebrated their 25th year. Zach Hocker, the Razorback kicker, made an appearance since that was his former elementary school. He is our local celebrity! That Saturday, Griffin went to his first “friend’s” birthday party. Our youth pastor’s son celebrated his first birthday. It was outside and so HOT, so we couldn’t stay too long. Instead, we went to Shoe Carnival and Hibbetts. I got a new pair of sandals and some work out clothes, while Bran bought a new pair of Nike Shocks. Way too expensive if you ask me!!
Sunday, the 20th, was another special day for my family. Griffin was dedicated at church. Pastor Morris said many kind and inspiring words, and Griffin did wonderful on stage. He was tired and fussy right before we went up, so I thought he would have a melt down, but he was a champ.






The best Nana and Papa!
We were supposed to go to Bran’s parent’s house for lunch afterwards, but his grandpa got sick and had to go to the ER that morning. My parents ended up taking us out to eat at McAlisters. I love that place!!!
The next day was super sad… It was Griffin’s first day at the babysitters. I had 12 amazing weeks off with my baby, but I had to go back to work the last week of school. It is going to be so hard and exhausting being a working mom come August. Griffin has a wonderful babysitter. I feel so fortunate to have found her, but I’m still sad that I will miss so much. He went to the sitters Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but I smuggled him in to school with me on Thursday and Friday. And thank goodness I did!!! Because on Friday (May 25), he rolled over for the first time!

He’s been working on this for at least a month! He finally made it all the way over. I’m so proud!
Wednesday, our fourth graders were promoted to fifth grade, so a lot of kids didn’t come back to school on Thursday and Friday. Promotion is always bittersweet. I will miss this group of kids so much. They were an awesome class! Next year, I will be in third and will loop with my class. That promotion will be extra hard after spending two years with those babies!
Last night, we went to the Gotcher’s house to celebrate the end of another successful school year. Griffin got a lot of extra loving. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many people that love him and are willing to help me with him. Being away from my mom and family can be hard, but having such a great support system eases the pain.
I am leaving out so many details over the past three weeks. So much has happened. I can write at least five different posts that I’ve crammed into this one. I must do better!! I’ll leave you with some pictures.

Even Griffin has his moments. Ha!

Funny story about my homemade Moby wrap.
I must remember to tell that later…

New picture wall

Just hanging out with Momma!

My Project Life kit came in! Must post about this too!

Just a few of my favorites.

3 month post coming up….

Thursday’s Top Five

Before I get to this week’s top five (I love my new little series!), I must say I had the most wonderful Mother’s Day weekend! I will blog about that tomorrow.
This week’s Top Five is about my favorite home improvement projects. We have been in our house for just over three years now. It’s not a big house, and definitely not our dream home, but we have done several upgrades to it and I feel as if we have put our “stamp” on it.

The first picture I took of our little abode! I don’t think we even owned it at this point!
This is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in:

WOW! I almost forgot how horrid it was! White appliances in terrible shape, “wood” countertops, icky hardware, wallpaper border, and scratched cabinets.
1. Painted countertops

Everyone thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to paint our countertops, but I had nothing to lose. The fake butcher block was getting on my last nerve. You can read more about this project here, here, and here! It was an easy and cost effective project. I would do it again in a heartbeat. It’s not something I would want in my forever house, but it did the trick for the time being! Other updates in our kitchen: new paint, new appliances, new skirt above the sink, and new hardware.
2. Dining Room (or really dining area) Light

You can barely see our old light in this picture. It was just a standard, builder-grade light. Nothing special. My mom, or maybe it was Brandon, bought a new light for my dining room.
Ta-da!

Love!
3. New Doors
Brandon’s parents bought us new doors for Christmas last year. They made a huge difference!

4. Bathroom

This is really the only picture I have saved from our old master bath. Almost two years ago, on my summer vacation, I started to pull up one of the sticky tiles in our master. The shower was leaking, so I pulled the rest up. After walking on the concrete slab for almost 6 months, we decided to completely gut the shower and remodel both bathrooms.

Hallway bath:

5. Blinds
Before:

And I don’t have a current after shot… but this will give you the feel.

Brandon recently installed blinds on our back patio door. It gave us some much needed privacy! I always felt like I was being watched… Creepy.
As much as I long for a bigger, nicer, newer home, I am going to miss our first starter home SO much. So many wonderful memories!

New Momma

I am linking up to SUYL over at Kelly’s Korner again. I am so excited to “meet” other new moms. I love reading blogs from moms about their kids, especially if they are around the same age as my little one.
Almost a year ago, my husband and I were getting ready for our dream vacation to Hawaii and decided it was time to expand our family. God blessed us with a precious baby boy. Griffin Blaine was born this past February. He is 11 weeks old today! I know it’s cliché, but time has flown by sooooo fast!
Griffin was a whopping 9 lbs at birth!

And this beauty was the very first picture uploaded of him to Facebook… Thanks to my hubby…

Hysterical! He looks like the coach off of the movie Rocky!
Being a mom is everything I thought it would be and more. It is humbling, exciting, terrifying, exhausting, and a home full of that much more love.
 
It’s amazing to see what has changed in a year. I can’t wait to see where God brings us in another year!

And just because I love pictures, here’s a small collection of our journey getting ready for Griffin:

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday’s Top Five

Griffin will be 11 weeks old tomorrow. Here are my top five baby items at this stage:
1. Burp Rags

No… not the cute burp rags. Those are only for public outings. ha! I love the cheap Gerber cloth diapers that I use as burp rags. Griffin spits up at least once after almost every feeding. Sometimes it’s a little, other times it can be a lot, so I always have one handy!

2. Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddle Blankets

These are the BEST blankets. Griffin is a big boy, and most of the receiving blankets just don’t cut it. I swaddle him from his armpits down. The boy does not like having his arms trapped! Griffin also gets super hot, so these are lightweight enough to keep him warm but not too hot.

3. Aveeno Eczema Therapy Cream

This cream is so wonderful. When I left the hospital, they told me I could not put any lotion on Griffin’s face. After two weeks, his poor skin was so dry on his face. It was broken out and looked so pitiful. Finally, I got online and did some research and decided to try this lotion out. Within days, his skin was SO much better. When I started using Aveeno’s oatmeal bath wash, it was even better. Griffin’s delicate skin cannot handle anything from Johnson and Johnson.

4. A+D Diaper Rash Cream with Zinc Oxide

Griffin had diaper rash for weeks. It looked awful. His bottom was so red and angry.  I tried Butt Paste, the orginal A+D, and a number of other creams. Nothing worked. Right before his two month check-up, my mom picked this up at Target for him. It was a life-saver! (or a butt saver…)

5.  Medela’s Breast Pump

When my milk finally came in, I felt like I could feed an army! This pump was an essential, and still is! Now that Griffin is sleeper longer periods at night, I have been pumping and have a good stock pile in the freezer. I love that I can pump him a bottle and can be free for a few hours. It’s wonderful to be able to pump for those rare date nights with the hubs!
So I have a few more than five… haha! Here’s a few more:

6. Changing Table

I almost didn’t get this. My thought was… “Oh I can change him on the floor or bed or where-ever.” Stupid. I use this table ALL the time. Love it!

7. Fisher Price Luv-U-Zoo Bouncer

Griffin loves this bouncer. The past few weeks, he’s really gotten into playing with and batting at the toys. I need to put some batteries in it so it will play music when he pulls the green toy. He can literally spend an hour in this thing. The first month, he even took a lot of his naps in this.

And finally…. Griffin’s favorite paci.

We tried SO many pacifiers, and the MAM brand is his favorite by far. I’m not sure why so many people are against pacis… But if Griffin likes it, keeps him calm, soothes him, and keeps him quiet in church, I’m all for it!!
There are other great baby products, but these are my top eight by far!

And just for good measure, here is a picture of my little boy at the 4th grade track meet two weeks ago.

Presh.