photo updates

finally uploading some photos:
easter morning...on the egg hunt


some of the kids he hunted eggs with


sweater vest for easter (not sure how long i'll get away with dressing him in sv's)


chillin' at the breakfast table


at the zoo with cousins. (uncle matt, auntie wendy, alex, andrew and addi came to visit for a couple of days. we had a great time with them and griffin loved being with his cousins). they are expecting a baby girl this fall!)


g and dan in front of the monorail at the zoo


griff holding his ticket for the jackson street roundhouse (train museum) - he didn't want to let go of it...he was super excited!


at the helm


the boy loves his trains

update

i realized it's been quite awhile since i've updated. i hate letting too much time pass, since i use this to reference what we've been up to, and like to keep a journal of what is new.

dan and i had a date night a couple weeks ago. it was good...except we were home and in bed by 8:30 or so! we had an OVERNIGHT babysitter lined up (thanks to a sweet babysitting exchange we do with our friends beth and jason).
anyway, we drop g off and head to dinner. we decide to go to this burger and fries joint that people have been raving about. except dan and i really haven't eaten fried stuff for so long. so, we start the meal out with cheese curds (which were horrible) and then proceeded to get our burger and fries (and dan got tots).
neither of us finished our meal because we were basically doubled over in pain from eating so much grease. the cheese curds totally ruined it. the burgers were good. of course that didn't stop us from going and getting ice cream cones from DQ. of course not. if you already feel like shit, you may as well stick a bit more fat in your body.
so, our wild night sans child turned into us in bed at 8:30...both complaining about how bad our stomaches hurt. we did manage to watch slumdog millionaire, so at least we achieved something good.
i will say though...the morning was fantastic! rather than wake up and watch cartoons, we both got up and ran (dan 12 miles...me a measly 2), then i still managed to go to target and grocery shop...all before picking the man up at 10 a.m.
he had a great time with his friends, but of course it was awesome to see him.

that night we babysat for jake and sam over at their house. griffin liked playing with his cousins, and i love spending time with them, and teaching them funny dances and words to say to their parents..

then easter was on that sunday. griffin was doing a bit of a croup cough for some reason that a.m., so he got up super early and we had to do the steam and go outside trick. bleh. after a few hours he seemed to be doing fine and we had a little easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. he loved it. it was cute to see the little kiddos hunting for their eggs.
we had a nice breakfast and then went to church, where griffin exclaimed loudly during service that his "peeny was a little warm". i think he also asked if he could touch my boobs too somewhere in there. ooops.
it was a great lazy day though just hanging with the fam.
griffin continued this horribly early wake-up on monday and we had to repeat the routine. but again after a few hours he was doing fine and able to go to daycare.

this past weekend griffin and i traveled to wisconsin. dan stayed home and was able to make some headway on griffins room (we are redoing it). he also had a couple concerts to attend. sounds like 1 of them stunk and the other one was awesome. dan also managed to surprise me and had purchased a new piece of furniture for our living room...its a stereo cabinet and it is awesome!!! it was great coming home to a sweet looking living room.
griffin and i had a great time. friday we just hung with my parents. saturday g, grandpa and i went to breakfast then the boys got haircuts. my mom and i hung out while griffin napped and then that night i spent the evening with some good friends. we had a little get-together in honor of my friend julie. it was awesome to see some old friends i haven't seen since high school, and of course catching up with other friends. a good time was had by all and it was lovely to be able to be there.

this week has been busy - i've had training for work a few days and trying to catch up from being gone.

dan has been continuing to do awesome with his running. he's been doing 1 long run per week (about 12 miles) and 4 of the other days he's doing between 3-6 miles. he's amazing and has totally gotten fit.
i'm working at it still...i'm in week 6 of my training program and still hate running...but it is getting a bit easier i guess. i know it's all mental.

griffin continues to amaze us. he knows all of his upper and lower case letters. and when we are driving he'll read the letters on the sign (he doesn't know how to spell it out to see what they say, but still...he knows them!
he still isn't interested in writing or coloring...but mizz yvonne says that is next on her agenda...so that's good. we try and encourage it, but of course since we don't see him that much in a day...we just want to play and love on the boy at night.

grandma's visit

we had a great weekend. dan's mom came to town and spent the weekend with us. dan and i both had to work friday, so she spent the day with griffin. they went to the park, played around and had a great time.
over the weekend we managed to color easter eggs, go to the library, get our new bed delivered (yes!), go out to dinner, buy some frames for all the artwork we have for our living room, dan ran a 10-miler, and just generally have a nice, relaxed weekend.

griffin learned a new trick...hanging a spoon from his nose.

i'm so proud. that trick will come in handy, i'm sure, down the road.

in other GREAT news...our friend lee is cancer-free! we are so relieved. he had a scan a couple of months ago that showed enlarged lymphnodes, so he had to do some further tests to make sure his cancer he had 2 years ago hasn't come back. there was a stressful waiting period for them...but in the end...he's free and clear! excellent.

here is a collage of g photos grandma lawrence put together..

updates

we have had a great few weeks here.
griffin and i have managed to pass the same cold back to one another though. he still has a bit of it and i do as well. i'm sure the changing of the weather isn't helping at all.

this past weekend i met up with some high school friends for dinner on friday. great catching up with them and fun to hear what they are up to. hopefully we'll keep in touch now!
although when i got out to my car after dinner (it was kinda late) someone had sprayed shaving cream all over my drivers side door. LAME.

saturday dan did his long run and g and i spent the morning outside playing. he's getting really good at riding his trike...he loves it. although when i pulled out his little bike to try riding that, he didn't like that so much. he got really mad and kicked it and said, "i can't do it!" awww -learning new things is never easy.
we spent the rest of the day just hanging out, playing, napping and then went to the park and rented movies. we were supposed to go out with some neighbors but it was cancelled, so we cancelled our babysitter. i felt crappy anyway, so it worked out fine.

yesterday we bought a new mattress. i can't WAIT until we get it. it's like sleeping on clouds. it better be for how expensive it was. then ran some errands and i did a workout over griffin's nap.

last monday i went to get my foot looked at. after rollerblading i had horrible pain shooting up my foot/leg. last winter a doctor told me i had a bunion which required surgery (god, i'm like 90 years old). i decided to go into another doctor after i was in such bad pain (all stemmed from wearing tall boots.) anyway - he tells me it's hallux limitus (which is basically arthritis in my toe) - so, i guess i really am 90! i don't know what is worse - a bunion or arthritis! this procedure also requires surgery and he says it won't get better and will only get worse.
i'm just having a really hard time bending my big toe, which leads me to walk on the side of my foot to compensate. It's making exercise a pain.
i know i should get it fixed, but it's starting to feel better this week, so in typical fashion, i will probably avoid for awhile.
basically - i have to accept that i can't wear shoes that are cute.
my extra wide hoof can't hack the trendy boots and heels anymore.
i'm going to have to start buying these:

or these:

or these:


my friend commented last week when we were walking that i sounded like her grandma...because i was telling her about a great deal i got on a whole bunch of clothes and i told her that this pair of pants was only $4! i told her that i didn't know if they fit me, but for $4, they'll fit someone i know. she's like..."ummm...you are totally like a grandma...buying random clothes for people, because it was such a good bargain."

pretty soon i'm going to start wearing sweatshirts with puppies on it, and polyester pants. at least that will look nice with my new shoes i just ordered above....

february and march in pictures..

finally updating with photos! here is what we've been up to in february and march...

getting his valentines for his friends ready


bowling in the dells


waterpark


MOA aquarium (waste o' money)


birthday train cake.


steam engine on the train cake


cousin sammy and griffin posing by the cake!


still staring at the cake...he loved it.


different day...still staring at it.


finally eating it!


fun birthday weekend visit with grandma and grandpa teeter


the 3 year old!


showing off his hat (wishing it would warm up!)


present from grandma lawrence! of course he loves it...it's trains!


finally warm enough to get outside and ride his trike!

to griffin...

today our little boy is 3.
3 years ago today, we were at the hospital, about ready to be wheeled in for our c-section surgery. you were breech, so we had a planned c-section, as we didn't want to go through the process of having you turned. sounded too painful and the outcome didn't have great odds.

It was a thursday. we sort of got to choose the day. it was dan's spring break from grad school, so we wanted to have it earlier in the week so he could spend more time at home, but that is the earliest they would do it.

around 10:25 a.m. you were born. you were the sweetest little thing. you had this really dark hair and a LOT of it. we were both in such awe that we had a little baby!

the funny thing from the delivery room...our doctor is irish and he plays in a band. the next day was st. paddy's day and he was chatting up the nurses telling them he played out the next day at keirans. they were asking what time they should get there so they could have good seats and he was just flirting away telling them the best food on the menu, etc. i'm thinking to myself...."ummmm...you have a sharp tool that your cutting me open with...and there is a human in there. pay f__king attenion!!!" for him...this was just another day at the office. but he did great, and he would later comment how awesome the scar was. he kept saying..."this is the smallest scar...it's just beautiful!" (even at my 6-week post pardum appt. he brought someone in there to show them what a great job he did..)

anyway, back to my baby.

i can't believe that 3 years has gone by. to think of all of the things you have learned, how much you've grown and how much happiness you have brought us. we are in constant amazement over things you do and say. you are the happiest little boy, you listen, you are sensitive and sweet and you make us smile and laugh all the time.

the first few months seems like a blur. dan was finishing grad school, we were trying to figure out life with a little baby, and we had to start jobs or go back to jobs that we didn't like...and leave you with miss yvonne. that was so hard.

but, we got the hang of being parents, you started growing more, smiling, laughing and becoming more mobile. we loved you so much that very first moment we laid eyes on you, but as the months passed and things became more of a routine, we realized how much we had fallen in love with you and how you seemed like you were a perfect fit to create our family of 3. we can't remember what it was like before you were here. nor do we want to.

it's an amazing feeling to be your parents. we learn so much from you. we have learned patience, understanding, sadness, happiness and how to enjoy the small things. the best times we have is when your telling us a story, or pretending to be a lion, or telling daddy to drive fast because the polar bear is chasing us!
the funny things you say makes us happy each and every day.

you are really into pretending right now. it is so awesome to listen to you craft your story and use your imagination. you have great manors (probably a lot of that is thanks to miss yvonne), you are always considerate, you love to snuggle, and you are a very sweet and sensitive little boy.
the other day you told me that you just wanted to be sad for a little bit because mommy had taken away a piece of paper you were playing with and you needed to feel sad. then when i felt sad about it, you hugged me and said, "it's ok mommy, i'm happy now!"

you love reading books, you love trains, you love giving hugs and kisses, you love music, dancing (or shaking your booty as you like to say), you love pretending, you love helping us cook, snuggling and being outside.

we are so proud of the little boy you have become and all of the amazing things that make you happy. you make us so happy to be your parents and we wish you a very happy 3rd birthday. we love you.

cake overload

so yeah...i have to obsess about something.
first it was taking a trip. every night i scoured every travel website looking for the ultimate deal. i would spend hours researching and comparing prices from site to site. then i would cross reference with trip advisor where there are unbiased reviews of the hotels. it got to the point that taking a trip wasn't even exciting anymore. i felt like i had already been to ixtapa, or puerto vallarta or riviera maya...just because i had researched the hell out of it. anyway - my trip dream was put to rest when dan's work has taken on reduced hours (and pay) in hopes of pulling through the economy.

so...what the hell do i do with my time after griffin goes to bed now???? clean? no. exercise? pfft. write letters, read books, start doing some of the hobbies i enjoy that i don't make time for anymore? or update this blog? no. i decide that i have to put all my efforts into making the perfect birthday cake for griffin.

what is our sweet boy into these days? trains - of course. so, i will build a train engine cake for him. but - it doesn't stop there. i have morphed my train engine idea into the full island of sodor. i think i'm biting off more than i can chew. but - my baby NEEDS a tunnel, a circus train car, an oil tanker and a mountain (all made of cake and candy). i have a vision. and tomorrow night - dan and i will be turning it into reality. unless we drink too much wine while decorating and wind up f'ing it all up. then we will go get a dq cake.
so, yeah. that's what i've been researching, thinking about and sketching each night. i hope i don't let myself down..i have such big ideas in my head!

other than my cake obsession - we have been keeping busy. we had our last night of music class this past week. it's been fun, and we will miss it...but i'm good and tired of all the songs. i hope we still get together with the group now and then for fun nights on tuesdays.

this past weekend dan and i celebrated his birthday with a great dinner out on friday night. it was fantastic. saturday dan went to see the watchmen at the imax with his friends. i had wine club (i mean - book club), and did a workout with my friends.

sunday we had a family day and went to the midtown market for lunch and to walk around. there was a woman playing her guitar and singing and g was dancing up a storm. she had a tip jar out so i gave grif a buck to put in her jar. he walked up there so cutely and kept turning around looking at me to direct him where to put the dollar. i was pointing and he walked right past the tip jar and dropped the dollar in the large garbage can. it was pretty humorous.

dan continues to train for his 1/2 marathon and i continue to barely make it off the couch for my training. but - it's going. i have had a bit of a cold off and on for the past couple of weeks, so that tends to be my excuse for my lack of energy. (couple that with the fact that i'm up till 2 in the a.m. thinking about my cake and i'm tired!)

this weekend my parents are coming to visit for griffin's birthday. he turns 3 on monday! my brother and family will come over for dinner and the train cake (or DQ cake...i guess we'll wait and see).

i swear we are going to finally take some photos and post them. we would be the worst parents ever if we didn't take picts for his birthday - so for sure we'll have some picts next week.

ok - gotta go get the mountain cake out of the oven...