My babies

I think one of the most amazing things about having more than one child (other than how much love your heart can hold) is how alike but different your children can be. Jayda and Skye look so similar...today I spent nap time looking through Jayda's old pictures to find some comparison photos. It amazing how all of my children look like they belong to each other. They are like little puzzle pieces....different but they are a like enough to fit together. Here are my newborns, all taken when they were about 5 hours old.

Jayda- April 06

Dallyn-July 08

Skye Katelyn-April 10

Jayda-almost 5 months
Dallyn-5 1/2 months
Skye gets two pictures, because in this one I think she looks like Dallyn.

And in this one she looks just like Jayda. She is my little Jay-Dall :-)

We did it.

We did it, we survived this last year. At the beginning of it (beginning of September 2009) I wasn't so sure all of us were going to make it out alive (or sane.) But we did (thanks to some amazing friends and family), and we are all much happier and closer because of it. I will never forget how I worried, cried a little and kept obsessing over how we were all going to make it. And even though it was one of the hardest years of my life, I've realized what makes me happy, who makes me happy and what is really important. And I've realised that I was made to have a big family. A huge Navy family, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm am incredibly proud of my husband, he sacrifices so much for us and our great nation. But I am really really really really glad he will be home longer than two months this time.

This is not for the conservatives out there.....

Warning: if the word penis scares you, don't read this.

Ok, so those who are still reading...lots of funny little things have been happening lately. Dallyn has been a complete rollercoaster these last 4 weeks since daddy has been coming and going so much. One day he's here and then he doesn't come home for two weeks. Jayda handles it find but Dallyn really really takes it hard. But that is another post in and of its self.

One of his cuter things (at first) that he has figured out is that boys and girls have different plumbing. And he is obsessed with talking about it. All day long I get asked in a VERY serious tone "You have wee-wee?". It was pretty funny at first but I tried really hard to not laugh which apparently didn't make a difference because he still talks about it all the time. It started out as just "Wee-wee?".....he sounded like a french-man. He goes through all the family, dog included, and then the stuffed animals and then brings all the dinosaurs out of our huge bucket of them and asks about each one. It WAS cute. Now it is just plain annoying. Especially after yesterday when he wouldn't stop asking if the people who were walking around in walmart all had wee-wees.

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!