Everyone needs a GG....

My children are incredibly lucky, there are so many people who love them. And the feeling is totally mutual. Not only do they have a whole handful of grandparents (that they adore), they have two pairs of absolutely amazing GREAT grandparents that love them and love to spoil them. Jayda, Dallyn, Skye and I were lucky enough to be able to steal Bryan's grandmother, Jan, and take her on a road trip with us! I must say, she is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I can see why Gary and the rest of the family adores her so much. She has so much energy and such a positive attitude. And it doesn't hurt that she unconditionally loves my children either. It made my heart happy seeing them getting so much love and attention from her. And I know it made Bryan happy too. It's so important to me that my kids have people who just love being around them. Especially since we live so far away from all of our family, the time that my kids with family is special and it makes me really emotional to have others who feel the same way. I grew up in a family that ALWAYS puts kids in the center of attention. They are a mother(grandmother....ect)s center of the world and it's crazy to me that there are others who aren't like that. But Jan is, and that's one of the reasons I'm happy she is my grandmother in law. I've never gotten to spend more than a few hours with her at a time and I'm really glad we got to spend that time together and finally (after Bryan and I being together almost 8 years) get to know each other.

I also need to shout out to Joe and Cindy Pinner.....thank you so much! I really enjoyed getting to be able to spend that time with her and I know the kids did too. Thanks for helping it be possible (and for picking her up in middle of the night....I'm going to triple check AM or PM next time I book a flight, hehe)

Big Things

It's crazy how time won't stop for anyone...especially not a mother of three who REALLY REALLY wants to capture all of our fun moments and big milestones. And it seems like lately there have been some big milestones happening around the griffin house. And I'm not doing so good with keeping up with all of them.

Firstly....my baby girl started her second year of pre-school. She was SO excited. She has the best teacher and is in the same class as one of her many besties so she was pumped. And in true little 4 year old girl style she spent an hour picking out what she wanted to wear. Pretty cute, for the first 5 minutes anyway. She did great, went right in, put her bag and coat in her cubby and ran right off to the circle. This year she will be going M-W-F from 9:15-12:15. Right now Skye sleeps all morning so this will get to be my special time with Dallyn and I'm pretty excited about it. He's got such a fun energetic personality. He really shines when he gets all the attention, lol. I'm also excited that she will get to learn some new things. She's recently hit a phase where all she wants to do is spell things.....and it's fun. But I'm also really excited for her to spell with Ms. Ruby for a little bit during the day :-) My brain can only spell banana so many times before it starts crumble like cheese.

And in other news....Dallyn has started potty training. Finally. Don't get me wrong, that kid is great. He has some amazing characteristics but he is STUBBORN. And if he doesn't want to do something...he just won't. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. But he's finally decided it was ok to give in and start. So far we're only ok if he's naked, home and not playing outside. But we're working on it. And god love his pediatrician. We had a great conversation about mothers who potty train early but really are just training themselves to nag their kids about going potty. Love that woman. She also made me feel a million times better by telling me that her sons weren't completely trained until 3. Phew...big load off of my shoulders!!

And lastly....my daughter has enough hair for a pony tail. Oh happy day :-) I always thought I would have little bald babies (ok, so Dallyn was, but whatever).


So that is not even close to all of the crazy things going on in this house but hopefully I will catch up. Slowly but surely. But I got all 3 kids in bed before 8pm tonight and I'm off to enjoy some crappy tv.

Your kidding...

4 Months Old

It's been so long, it's going to take me a while to catch up. So for now I will just post about my littlest princess, she is just growing so fast. She is 4 months old but I feel like she has always been here and a part of my family. It pulls my heart strings to even think about her not being here today.

She is such an amazing baby, I have never seen a baby just so dang happy. She reminds me (ok, all of my kids do) that life is sweet and we need to enjoy every moment. You barely even have to glance her way and she goes crazy with happiness. I love her emotions, she feels everything to an extreme. When she is happy, it starts in her cheeks and pretty soon her whole body is smiling. She straightens her legs (which makes her little baby rolls on her thighs absolutely adorable) and her toes spray out like peacock feathers. Her hands roll up into little fists and her face....oh her sweet face. She smiles so wide, you'd be able to count all of her teeth if she had any. She smiles so hard that her face wrinkles and I'm pretty sure she can't even see what she started smiling at.
She really is a super easy going kid, she wakes up super happy (and late....SO awesome, now if she could only get her siblings on board) and she goes to bed happy. She also has been an amazing sleeper for the most part. We went on vacation when she turned 2 months and came back around 31/2 months. She was so easy the whole time....my family got to really enjoy her and that makes my heart happy. When we got back she started falling asleep on her own in her crib. AMAZING. And what a break for me. Night time is such a special thing with the older two, I would hate to have to cut some of their bedtime rituals short. Although I will be even happier when she is old enough to join us,

She's started hitting those amazingly cute baby milestones these last few weeks. 4weeks ago she rolled over for the first time and now we can't keep her in one place. She will roll all over the living room if left to her own devices. She's also really started scooting when she is on her stomach. She gets up on her knees and pretty much plows her face over the carpet. I'm really hoping she will start picking up her top half soon. She also has discovered how to use those beautiful little chubby hands. She grabs anything within her reach and boy does she hold on tight. Her favorite toy is a teething giraffe that was Jayda's as a baby. It's amazing to see her playing with it, it instantly flashes me back 4 years to my little Jayda-bug. They look so alike. Although I think that Skye's reddish-blonde hair is going to keep it's color. Her eyebrows are an adorable shade of orange...absolutely adorable.

She is growing like weed. Last week she had her4 month appointment. She is a string bean tipping the scales at14lbs and 26 inches long (50% for weight and 75% for height). She is mainly in 9 month clothes because she has a super long torso. She is absolutely perfect :-)

She has brought so much to our lives, she fits in our family and I think the verdict is in.....she's ours to keep.

Nothin better....

Life is good around the Griffin house. We are all pretty adjusted to being a family of 5...slowly getting our routine down. At first it took me 15 minutes to load everyone in the car, now it is a fine tuned procedure that I have perfect in 5 minutes (barring no little kids are playing outside when we leave). My birthday was a few days ago, Mr. Griffin was gone on my actual birthday so we celebrated the weekend before with him. He made me an AWESOME birthday cake...I'll be dreaming about this cake for months. (see picture below...he really DOES cook/bake, he even made the frosting thanks to my friend!). We spent the weekend playing with the kids and just hanging out.

MY grandparents (Jayda and Dallyn's GREAT grandparents) drove down on Sunday from Wyoming. They were just dying to meet Skye and couldn't wait until July. It was perfect timing, we all got super sick on Monday. LOL. I was so glad they were here....I couldn't barely get off the couch let a lone take care of three kids by myself. Even though we were all pretty out of it we had a great time. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family. They are the only people I know who can have a great time whatever they are doing. I really miss our big family get togethers and the mornings spent out on the porch after breakfast just enjoying everyone's company. I hope that even though we are far away my children will get to experience all of that and realize that is what life is about. When my (little) sister and I were young my grandparents watched us when my parents worked. They lived right up the road and we walked to their house quite a bit. I am so glad that they are still around and that my children get to be around them. They are wonderful people and have influenced me more than they will ever know. I love you GG and Codgy!

Skye is growing faster than I am ok with....the turkey! She got weighed today and she is almost 11lbs at 1 month. She is far surpassing her siblings as the biggest baby in our family. Her 0-3 month clothes were all getting too little so this last weekend I dragged out the 3-6 month clothes and she is already too long for some of them. Thank goodness none of the cute ones :-) It just kills me how fast she is growing...she is only one month old! It is amazing how fast they change, she is becoming so much more aware. She loves to smile at me and her daddy....not so much her siblings yet. I think it has to do with the fact that they never just look at her....they always have to kiss her face off! They are both still doing good considering how much our lives have changed. Dallyn has definitely been more needy, but I was expecting that considering how much of a momma's boy he was and is. And Jayda is loving being a big sister. She has become such a big girl these last few weeks!

On that note, I want to thank my amazing friends for giving little ms. Skye the hook up in clothes. She has so many adorable outfits that I might not have to do laundry for her until she is 1 :-) I love you guys!

August 8th, 2009

I will remember this day forever. It started out really normal, got up and got the kids fed and bathed. I had an appointment to get some vaccinations and a birth control shot at my drs office. Everyone did great waiting to get called back, the kids watched a movie in the waiting room and had some snacks while I took my second pregnancy test (for the birth control shot). After the results came back they took me back to a room and I signed some consent forms for the shots and was explaining to Jayda that even though I was getting a shot, i was a big girl and it didn't hurt THAT bad. The nurse swabbed my arm with alcohol and then the lab tech came back in. She told the nurse to check some corrections made to my file. I giggled and joked to the nurse that I was pregnant....believing 100% that there was NO way I was pregnant. Well, we all know where this is going.

The next thing I know she is turning around from the computer telling me that we were going to have another baby. I immediately started bawling. BAWLING. I apparently was making quite a scene. Next thing I know they are ushering a counselor in the room with me. He (yes, it was a freaking HE) tried really hard to skate around the subject but when I wouldn't stop crying he asked if my husband was deployed and that was why I was upset (pretty much straight out asking me if I was cheating on my husband, lol). It shocked me so much I stopped crying. It definitely helped me look a little further than my own situation and realize it could have been A LOT worse. LOL! And then he started telling me about how I had a great reason now to get a kick ass min-van (his EXACT words, hand to God). It was then I realized I needed to get out of there and call my mommy.

And poor Bryan, and Kelly. And my little sister Hannah....and maybe susanna. I must have sounded like a hysterical crazy lady when I called them. I must have sat with the kids in the car of the parking lot of the dr.s office for two hours trying to get a hold of my husband and calling all of my support people in between attempts.

I will never forget my husband's reaction. It brings me to tears to even think about it. We both were done...DONE...having kids. We were so content with Jayda and Dallyn. We had talked and talked and decided to not have anymore. I thought he would be just as devastated as I was. But the first thing out of his mouth was "It's going to be ok, in a year we will look back and laugh about how we lived with out he/her."

And he was so right, I am so glad he knocked me up. I love my 3 babies more than anything and I can't imagine life without Skye. She really does complete our family and I cannot get over how much we all love her. I feel like I am finally getting to enjoy a newborn too. With Dallyn we drove a 2 day drive when he was 7 days old and the stress from that and leaving my family really took a toll on me. And then when he became really colicky it just made it even worse. I didn't get that time to snuggle him and enjoy our nursing time. And with Jayda we were both first time parents and so uptight like all new parents! We enjoyed her but our priorities were a little different. This time I feel like these last two weeks were spent enjoying my new baby. I've gotten to sit on the couch and just love and hold her. It makes me just glow, corny but it's true. I'm one happy momma. And now that all of my help has gone back to Wyoming and work I'm excited to adjust to our new family. Today was my first day with all three of them and I have to say it was pretty awesome. It's amazing how much three little people can make your day shine.

What's a name?

Life is pretty good around here. Everyone is adjusting really well to having a new little person in the house. Our only problem so far is that no one can get Skye's name right. To Jayda she is mostly "My Baby". When you ask her what her name is 2 out of 3 times she will tell you "My Baby". The other time she will say "Skye My Baby". And Dallyn...oh sweet Dallyn. To him she is just "Kate". I have no idea why he picked that one syllable of her middle name but it's pretty cute to me. It annoys the living heck out of Bryan but that's what he gets for changing her name a million times.

My little sweet pea

It truly is amazing how much love you can feel for a little person you only met a few days ago. In 10 hours Skye will be a week old and even though we are still getting to know her, we are all completely in love. Especially Jayda and Dallyn. It's nice to hear them fighting over who gets to hold her first vs. who gets this car or who has more juice in their cup. Jayda gets so upset that she can't feed her....next week we will be letting her give her a bottle of breast milk. We had a rough first few days of breastfeeding. She was a chomper but now that my milk has come in she has calmed down and things are definitely much better. Although it's hard because she is definitely a little piggy. And it shows in her clothes! My long little chunker no longer fits into newborn sized clothing....seeing the little bag of sleepers she has grown out of makes me a little sad. She really isn't so much chunky as she is long. She makes newborn Jayda and Dallyn seem like little peanuts.

So far (knock on wood) she has been an amazingly easy baby. The only time she cries is when she is hungry. She sleeps most of the time but for about 2 hours a day she will just hang out and watch what is going on around her. And for almost ALL of those two hours her big sister is right in her face "loving" her. Luckily she sleeps really well at night too. As long as she is bundled up nice and snug she will sleep almost all night, waking up once twice but she easily falls back asleep after I feed her.

Hopefully things will continue to go as smoothly as they have been. My parents left today so it's Bryan and I vs. the 3 wild things. He has to go back to work on Friday, so hopefully they will be good to me. So far the transition from 2 to 3 kids has been pretty easy. It was MUCH harder on me when Dallyn was born. But who knows how much of that was due to him being colicky.

I'm in absolute heaven with my little girl, it is really funny to me to think back to the day I found out I was pregnant with her. I was devastated to say the least. We were done having kids, we thought our family was perfect.....we had no idea we were wrong!