Happy Halloween!

Bird was the cutest cowgirl this year...she practiced a lot of giddyup's! and yeehaw's! and had been wearing bits and pieces of her costume for close to a month. We had so much fun last night :o)



No pics to share of Griffy in his stegosaurus costume - it was super cute. There are some pics on my phone but it was getting dark and he is a wiggly 7 month old. So you can imagine how not so great the shots are. I was a woodland fairy (sort of)...holding a whining/screaming baby in one arm while trying to paint leaves on my cheek with the other. Then he nursed and promptly fell asleep. I was going to feel so guilty getting him into a costume while asleep, then thankfully he woke from a 20 minute slumber and was good to go :o) Trooper.

We went with my lovely friend Mrs. Potato Head and her furry friend Hans dressed adorably in a sailor coat.

Happy Halloween everyone, and now on to November and December and other fun things ahead!

Hugs, Devon

 

Griffin is 7 months

Griffin is 7+ months old and zooming ahead on things I'm totally not ready for!

Case in point...finding him climbing the pantry drawers, trying so so hard to grab that bright red box of Indian food.



Before I knew it he was moving along to the next thing - not happy to just be on his knees, of course!



So now he's pulling up to stand. Really? At 7 months, is this normal? And if I hold his little chubbers of hands he'll WALK from room to room. Maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this behavior. Lest I have a 9 month walker.

 

Griffy is just the sweetest and cutest at 7 months...we don't want him to keep growing :o) He has both bottom teeth (got those while Jared was traveling, along with a cold). Then a top tooth poked its way out a few days ago, followed by another cold (this time with a cough). I'm sure the next top tooth is coming soon. But really hoping for no more colds for a while, please?

Hugs, Devon

Cereal box kids

I sent these pictures to family yesterday and the response I got was they'd be perfect on cereal boxes :o) Especially Bird's picture - can we say animated?? What a ham.

I've started Griffin on the baby led feeding thing...basically he eats real solid foods instead of purees. He doesn't mind the occasional puree/smooth baby food, but wow does he get excited for spears of sweet potato! It was really fun. I've ordered these bibs based on another mom's review and can't wait till they arrive (backordered!).

It looks like it's going to dump buckets of rain out there. I feel like Fall is arriving. Just in time for us to get a bunch of exterior work done on the house...oh well, can't always have the best timing. I'm dying to get to Lowe's (w/o kids would be heaven) so I can get paint samples. I'm leaning toward an artichoke heart green for the house body color, a firey orange/red for the inner sash trim, and a creamy white for all the larger main parts of trim. I'll also add an eggplant color in there (probably paint it myself to save cost) on some detail trim parts for extra fanciness. What fun! Can't wait to get this house painted. Now to line up the contractor for exterior rot fixes, and the gutter guy, etc.

Have a lovely afternoon & Happy Columbus Day, or Native American Day - whatever's your choosing!

Hugs, Devon

Sticky milky clumsy monday morning

Phylo doing his best & loving every second

I have no one to blame but me...what a crazy mess. Not a terribly great start to the week. Just before this Griffin bit me while nursing. I suppose his new 2 bottom teeth still feel sensitive. Add those things to a night of 4 hours of sleep and another week ahead with no Jared (till Saturday, this has been LONG 2 weeks), and a nanny who found full time work last Friday so she cancelled with us this week...sigh...I'm just grateful we have plans with friends this morning and preschool 2x this week so there are things to do. I need to get over myself and ask for help more often. My lovely friend Katie offered to walk Phylo for me. I feel bad accepting because he's so badly behaved on walks (think constant squirrel hunter). But I think I need to just say yes!

I'm also grateful Jared made sure there was lots of roasted coffee for me (he roasts our own), that my Bird is so sweet that she comforted me after the bite this morning (her comforting consists of hugs and kisses and pats and saying "sometimes...yeah, sometimes" which is how I often start a message of consolation), and that even though Griffin doesn't sleep so great he's such a happy little guy. When he wasn't napping yesterday, I was starting to get frustrated as Bird was napping and I was hoping to sleep too. I was hanging out on the bed waiting for him to relax in his crib. The little bugger kept cooing and chattering at me and pulling himself up as high as he could to catch my eye. He's so amazing to me - Bird was not like that as a little babe. There would have been lots of crying and whining, not playing and flirting. I'm so happy for the differences.

Gotta run...I'm still half dressed from the milk incident this morning and Bird is starting to get buggy. It was nice to vent for a few minutes. Have a lovely day!

Hugs, Devon

Griffin is 6 months

Dear Griffin,

Happy half year birthday to you!

It was officially on the 17th of September but the time has gotten away from me. There is so much going on in our lives right now. The busiest we've ever been I believe. You contribute to that busy-ness quite a bit but we don't mind so much :o)

At 6 months old you are so active and physical, so into your world. You've been eating solid foods for over a month, practically launching yourself into them. You loved munching on a half of a ripe peach and you've eaten entire figs from our tree. You are quite the eater (like dad!). This morning you munched blueberries from my fingers and last night at dinner you ate sweet potatoes and quinoa. It's quite fun seeing your enthusiasm.

You are sitting up on your own quite nicely and scooting yourself vigorously across the room. When you see something you want you really go for it. Hardly getting upset, just doing whatever you can to get that thing in your fat little hands then into your mouth. You love when Phylo or Sanguine (especially Sanguine, who is at your height) get close so you can grab handfuls of fur. Sanguine will hiss at you but has not bitten (yet). This really makes you laugh.

Laughing...you are such a happy little guy. Very ticklish, so incredibly charming. There is nothing like the sound of you laughing :o)

Sleep is challenging...naps are often short but I think it's because we drag you around everywhere and it's too hard to nap. At night you're up a lot but we're working on that. With dad gone to Germany for 2 weeks I'm so tired but your smiles motivate me to stay cheerful.

We love that you joined our family and have planted yourself quite nicely in your own unique spot. You are just what we needed! We love you Griffybear.

Love, Mama

It's official :: Auf Wiedersehen!

That's right...I just said goodbye, in German ;o)

We are moving!!

Not forever, just a 3 year commitment and we're keeping our house and doing storage and such. So we're definitely coming back (can you hear my relief?). Jared resigned from his job of 11 years and took a new one with a company in Germany. We will be moving in March. Until then (and maybe then too?) things are going to be tough...Jared will travel for 2 or 3 weeks at a time every two weeks :( But the pay off will be living right on the border with the Netherlands, 4+ hour drive from Paris, quick trip to Belgium, 3 hours from my parents (they're by the Air Force base in Ramstein), with 30 days vacation a year, oh, and Ikea (Netherlands) just 25 minutes away which is the same amount of drive time it is for us here ;o) It's the important things right?

Mostly, it will be a new experience. A fresh start, a paradigm shifting maybe. I think we've been needing it. I've been trying to accept my current situation of having so little time to myself and being so busy with two young children. I may as well go focus on that in a different country right?

Speaking of no time to myself...I'd better publish this now before it takes me a week to come back to it.

Hugs, Devon

Griffin is 5 months

And three days shy of 6 months but I am determined to record 5 months on my blog before the opportunity passes. Griffy, at 5 months you are extremely grabby & strong (!), happy and laugh easily, take painfully short naps and don't sleep through the night (but we love you anyway...). In fact, you are up from your nap right now and I have to go get you. I'm sure you'll have a smile for me :o) hugs, Devon

I'm here but not really

Hello there... I don't even know where to begin. It's been a month and a week since I posted lasted. To say I've been busy/overwhelmed/scattered/unmotivated/tired etc. etc. is an understatement. And just now there's a little non-napper calling my name. I'll be back when I hopefully have two nappers later. There's a lot to catch up on. hugs, Devon