Lets talk about Christmas....

Sharing about our Christmas 2 weeks after it has occured?  Definitely!  It is how things seem to go around here, and I am totally Ok with it :)  because you have to be :)  

Christmas this year was so incredible!  We got to spend great time with family.  Griffin totally understood unwrapping his presents, which was so much fun to watch.  He is at the beautiful stage where when he unwraps his present he just wants to spend the next 30 minutes playing with his new toy, rather than unwrapping one toy after another.  I was the one wanting him to hurry up and open them, and found myself taking the lesson Griffin was giving me, slow down and enjoy.  I also loved giving the gifts we gave this year, and loved the ones I received.  And the food was delicous, what more could we ask for?!  

Here is little Griffin on his new bike/car from Grammi and Oscar!  

Me and Griffin with all his presents from us and Santa on Christmas morning!  

Me and my hunny watching Griffin play with his new toys!  

Still my sweet little Christmas elf!  

Elves together!  

Great Grandma made him some very special animals!  

And she made me and Matt this beautiful Christmas blanket!  

And my dad bought me this awesome Japanese cast iron tea pot, for me to brew tea in!  I have been wanting one for years now!  

And ta da!  My grandmother bought me my first sewing machine!  I have got our sewing/play room almost complete and will put pictures up as soon as it is done!  I cannot wait to get started on projects with this bad baby!  I hope to follow in her footsteps and become as talented as her :)  

And am I just all show and tell or what?!  I can't help it, I just love my gifts!  Terri gave this to me.  It was her parents.  It is called a dry sink, and I have always admired it at her house, and I feel so touched that she would pass it on to me.  

I think it sits very nicely next to our other antique!  

And the gift I was most excited to give this year, was a present to Grammi from Griffin.  We made her a special book that has the story of Griffin and Grammi in it.  Griffin has a copy of the same one too, and it just represents their very special relationship.  Grandparents just really are so special.  I know mine were.  

I hope I never forget this moment.  From the music playing, Patty Griffin Children Running Through and more specifically Oh Heavenly Day.  To Griffin helping her unwrap, he would tear a tiny piece and then turn and scoot over to me and hand me the piece and then repeat.  To Terri's face when she saw what it was.  To Rick behind Terri, reading over her shoulder, rubbing her back.  To Katie and Jaimie being a part of it, sitting on the couch with tears, and Jaimie capturing some awesome photos, because they too are very much a part of Griffin's story.  To Matt crying in the chair where he watched.  I hope that I remember that it didn't get opened when I planned for it to, but that the time at which it was opened was soo much better than what I was planning, and that is just so true in life.  It was just so special to give and I am so thankful that I was able to.  

We love us that Terri, and so many do, the mama, Grammi, friend, and spouse that she is!  

I love me them boys, so much.  I am about to be 24 tomorrow and Griffin will be 2 on the 29th, and I just keep thinking that there will never be a time as this...24 with a 2 year old....just the sound of it sounds incredible to me.  

Well Happy 2010 to everyone!  For me in this new year I hope that I continue to progress, to have personal growth, and discovery.  And for me that would be, to be able to stay more balanced in life,  and would result in me continuing to be a better mama and wife everyday.  

Love to you!  

His first movie in the Theater!

A couple weeks ago me, Matt, Terri, and Megan took Griffin to see The Princess and the Frog. The new Disney movie that came out this month and was showing in theaters. I had been wanting to take him to a movie for a while, because yes at this young age he already loves movies and TV.  I had to wait for just the right movie to come out.  And Griffin absolutely loved it.  His eyes were wide for pretty much the whole time.  He watched the entire movie :)   

Hopefully tomorrow I get to writing about our Christmas!  

Pajama Christmas Party!

About a week before Christmas Griffin had a Pajama School Christmas Party!  I went with him to it, in my pajamas of course.  All the kids brought a wrapped book to exchange, and me and Griffin brought his two wonderful teachers a small present as well!  I was so excited!  Me and Terri made Oreo Chocolate Truffles that are so delicious!  And me and Griffin had a grand ol time!  See for yourself...

Us ready to walk out the door!  

Griffin crawling!  "Get it, get it, get it"

Cutest little boy ever!

Sitting all proud in his classroom!

We had to say goodbye to our favorite teacher of his, because she went back to school in Idaho.  She will be missed, but hopefully we grow to love his new teacher just as much!  

Let the pictures do the talking...

I really am no good at this blogging thing, but it is important for me to do it because of the family living far from us that enjoy seeing pictures and reading about us.  So my blog will just have to be done a little bit differently than all the other blogs I read :)  

For this entry I just went through our recent pictures and will post them and let them help guide me through this one....

Grammi bought Griffin 100 balls for his Heart Birthday ( see below).  You can bet he LOVES them!  He is a ball loving boy lately!  

Griffin's one year anniversary from his open heart surgery was on November 10 and we had a small gathering of family to celebrate this boys Heart Birthday.  Like his Grammie said, " He has been through so much he can just have two birthdays."  

I have found one food that Griffin actually really like to eat that is not pureed and that is Cheetos!  

Here he is playing in one of his favorite spots, his corner in our living room.  It actually contains a lot less toys than this.  I don't know what was going on this day.  

It actually looks like this, once I have cleaned it up at the end of the night:)  

And the above is our Christmas decorations this year that I most definitely am enjoying!  

Quiet a scare!

Last Wednesday Griffin choked on a goldfish cracker and it was about the scariest thing I have ever had to experience.  We were doing everything right.  He was sitting upright, strapped into his highchair, nothing on to distract us,  just me and him working on eating like our therapist taught us.  The goldfish was broken up into small pieces and I was only allowing one small piece into his mouth at a time.  He went to inhale to cough and in the goldfish got sucked, right into his airway, and he instantly could not breath and was communicating that to me with his eyes and frantic arm flailing.  That image of him struggling still haunts me.  I went to to hit him on his back but then I was remebering someone telling me somewhere to not hit a choking baby on the back, so I called 911.  He continued to not be able to breath and was now ghost white and slowly turning blue around his lips.  I was hysterical and yelling at the lady on the 911 phone call.  She had told me not to hit him on his back but I have since learned that if your baby is choking, flip them up side down, and give them several blows ( like upward or downward thrusts, however you look at it, hitting them in the direction towards their mouth, where you want the food to come out) .  The key is to have there head towards the ground and their feet above their head.  That way the hits to the back will not lodge the object further down their airway.  Any ways  after about 45 seconds, right before he was about to pass out, he started to cry, and as his cry's became more and more normal, his color did also.  I remained in tears for the next 2 hours.  Talk about an emotional rush and roller coaster.  Thank goodness he was OK. 

 

On another note, Griffin has Brochitis.  I have to give my little boy praise.  This is the first "sick" season that Griffin as been allowed to be around people other than me and Matt and to go out in public.  And so far he has gotten Roseola, a double ear infection, and now bronchitis, and I have to say that he is handling all of these sickness with such strength.  They don't even seem to phase him, and I can hardly believe that this once fragile child who could not get sick because his body and heart would not be able to handle it, is now getting sick and getting OVER these sickness like all other normal, healthy children.  Each sickness that he has gotten has not been worse or taken him any longer to kick than other kiddos.  Yipee Griffin!  Like I sing to him all the time, " Go Griffin, Go Griffin, Go Griffin" , in which he usually starts waving his arms in the air or clapping :)  

And my boy has pulled up to stand multiple times now, on multiple things.  And is holding his own bottle.  And is going to sleep in his crib with out being rocked.  We had to move on from the rocker because he has gotten to big to find a comfy spot on my chest :(  He is a growing and a doing!  

Go Griffin!  

And of course I have to post numerous photos.  Here are just some random pictures from the last few weeks...

Pumpkin Pie!  

He loves playing in this bucket, crawling in and crawling out! 

 

Pumpkin patch visit with his friend Spohie!  

Helping mommy with the dishes....kind of...he he :)  

The next big thing...

School!  

Griffin started his first day of school almost two Wednesdays ago!  He is attending The Goddard School.  It is located at the entrance of our neighborhood, which I love.  He goes Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 - 1.  So he eats snack with the other kids and lunch, which I hope will benefit him.  I love his teacher Ms. Ally.  She has a younger sister who has Down's syndrome.  So far the things he has loved the most is playing outside, watching the other kids, and playing with the hula hoop at the gym ( he kept putting it over this little girls head and she would get mad).  When I went to pick him up on his second day he actually scooted away from me!  They had all just awoken from their nap time and most of the kids were sitting on their mats still, but Griffin had crawled over to a nearby girls matt and was making eyes with her and talking to her.  It has been kind of emotional but I think this is going to be really good for him.  I have been told by so many professionals how well Down's kids do being around their peers. 

 

And very current news:  Griffin pulled up to stand all by himself for his second time ever today!  Matt was in the bath and I had carried Griffin in so I could talk to Matt before he left for work.  Griffin was trying so hard to dive out of my arms into the bath so I went into our bedroom with him so he could crawl on the floor in there and I could still talk to Matt, but to do this I had to leave the bathroom door into our bedroom open.  Well it didn't work, because Griffin took off crawling in to the bathroom.  I don't usually let him crawl on our bathroom floor because I don't keep it as clean as I would like, but I glanced at it and it seemed to be alright just this once :)  And then, it was too funny, Griffin crawled over to the edge of our bathtub ( we have a pretty tall tub) and pulled straight up to stand from sitting on his bottom.  It was hilarious, because all Matt saw was Griffin's little head pop over the edge and my mouth drop and eyes widen.  Griffin then proceeded to stand for the next ten minutes because if he reached really really hard and stood on his tippy toes he could splash in Matt's bath water!  It looked like he was trying to climb in at times!  

And one more...Griffin is holding his bottle on his own sometimes when I have him do it!  

My heart just swells with every accomplishment of his.  

Halloween 09'

Lets see if I can catch myself up on here.  This blogging thing sure does escape me.  I don't know how all of these women keep up with it so wonderfully :)  I thought about doing one big 

BLOG-O-RAMA, but I thought I would make it easier on you, and not have a post that takes 30 minutes to read.  Rather I will break it up over this next week with smaller blurbs about us.  

First thing first, and almost exactly where I left off.....

Halloween!  

It was my absolute favorite Halloween ever.  We went over to our friends Aaron and Anita's and just had soo much fun roaming the neighborhood.  Their neighborhhod is the best for trick or treating.  They have so many kids and families, and homes go all out with the decorating, there is even a spooky cul-de-sac.  Half of the time Griffin rode in his wagon and the rest of the time I carried him door to door so he could experience trick or treating to its fullest.   I also baked a couple pumpkin pies before hand ( one dairy free)  and Anita made tortilla soup, mmmmm!   Griffin's Grammi and Oscar came also and shared in it all with us.

Well it was wonderful and it only made me even more excited for next years Halloween.  I know celebrating Halloween is disliked by some and I don't even know the origins or the history of it, but what I love about it is first, dressing up and playing make believe, second having your neighbors open their doors to you and welcome you to share a sweet treat, and lastly I just love every holiday because it is a chance to create a wonderful family tradition.  I remember every holiday tradition as a kid and it bringing me so much excitement and comfort.

And this year Griffin didn't eat any candy so we were able to skip on the over sugared child, but this mommy and daddy sure did indulge :)  

And I have to say that he was the cutest mushroom ever!  

Thanks for reading.  Love you all.