We're up and running!

Here ye! Here ye! The Griffin & Co. blog has officially been established. I am very excited to have an outlet to share updates, pictures, humorous happenings, etc. about our family. I am not as excited that the reason I finally found time to do this was because I was blessed with the stomach flu all weekend. So, my dear husband and handsome son spent the weekend at Meme & Pops' and let me suffer with the animals. Thankfully, overall I am finally feeling a little better and am using this blog as a means to think about something else besides how sad I am without my Mommy-and-Griffin weekend time. Seeings as how I did not take the time to start this blog until Griffin was almost 17 months old, my first few postings are going to be back-dated as I feel that it would be an extreme injustice to you if you should miss out on some great photos/stories. So, please bare with me as I try to catch you up to present day.

Christmas at Grandma's!

We had Christmas at Grandma Ivy's the week after Christmas. This was Griff's 1st Christmas there as we had just gotten home from the NICU last year and weren't allowed to go out & about yet, so Mommy was soooo excited! All 16 of us have stockings hung and anxiously await for Santa to come and fill them. As in this case, there are times when we don't have Christmas there until AFTER actual Christmas Day, so special arrangements have to be made so that Santa knows when to come. One of the ways that we do this is with reindeer dust. This is a concoction which each grandkid spreads out on Grandma's yard so that Santa and his reindeer can find their way. The below pics are of Griff with his 1st reindeer dust.

Here's Griff with most of his cousins and their dust...cousins Patrick and Ashley didn't arrive until the next morning.

Griff would closely watch what his cousins were doing.

He looked at his cup.

And jammed his hand right down into it and threw it with one quick motion.



The next morning we awoke to find that Santa indeed had come (he even left a hand-signed note to apologize for the reindeer who puked on Mommy Tara's car...no joke...it was there! Jordyn and Kristina couldn't believe it!). We then opened all of our stocking goodies and our presents.

Griffin got lots of books for Christmas, which he just loves! Ooooh...Mommy! A tractor!
Hey Daddy...whatcha doin'?
Just chillin' with my Mommy.


Griffin had to make his appearance as one of Santa's honorary reindeer (Aunt Mandy and Aunt Cindy BOTH gave him one of these outfits). Too cute!!


Here is Grandma with all of her Grandkids. Aren't we cute?

Uncle George loves to read and play with me.

Cousin Jordyn & Griffin.


Cousin Kristina & Griff.

Christmas Day 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone! Our morning started out at our house with Griffin waking to find that Santa had not forgotten him. His loot included a baby basketball hoop, a baby baseball/tee, a blowup punching penguin, pop beads, and more jammies.

We then went out to Meme & Pops' for the rest of the day. It was such a fun day filled with family time, presents, cousins, love, playing, games, and eating. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to live a life which allows us to enjoy and celebrate as we do. Mitch had Christmas off this year, which was sooo great to have Daddy there. With Griffin being just over a year old, he really didn't grasp the concept of Christmas and gifts. Just as any child his age would do, he was more interested in the wrapping paper and the box that things came in rather than what was actually inside. His cousin Gracie got a big doll house, and Griff probably liked that present most of all. The above video is a really cute demonstration of the misunderstandings between one-year-old and two-year-old cousins. When Griff likes someone he will pat them repetitively with his hand as if to say "Nice Mommy", for example. Well, his cousin Ryker felt that this tapping was anything less than positive and chose to retaliate. Aaahhh..Christmas memories! :)

Christmas Eve 2008

We spent Christmas Eve night at the Sorensen lake cabin with the Harms side of the family (except Mickey and Steve's). Since it was cold/flu season we opted to not take Griffin to Christmas Eve service and simply met the rest of the family later on at the cabin. We had so much fun taking family photos, playing in the new Christmas jammies from great Aunt Mickey, opening presents, and eating. We discovered that Griff absolutely loves Meme's homemade potato soup. It was such a fun way to start our Christmas festivities.

Our family. Nothing but love here.

Meme and Pops with their grandkids (with Elliot watching from above and Marleigh Elliot waiting patiently in Aunt Lexie's tummy)

Opening presents with Pops.

We underestimated the difficulty of taking a picture with 4 kids under 4 years of age. This is Griffin with cousins Gracie and Ryker in their new jammies from Great Aunt Mickey. This pic really doesn't do justice to the drama which actually occurred!

C'mon Pops...let's have some cake!

Since it was such a kick watching Griff eating his adjusted birthday cake, we decided to have Pops over for his birthday a week later. Mommy made Pops enchiladas, at his request, followed by chocolate cake for all...including Griffin. Yum. Yum.

Happy Adjusted 1st Birthday Griff!

Happy 1st Birthday, AGAIN! Since Griffin wasn't actually supposed to have turned 1 year old until December 11th, we went ahead and celebrated it anyway with Meme and Pops. Mommy picked up a bright green Christmas tree cake from Safeway and Griffin...well...LOVED it and simply couldn't cram it in fast enough. For his real age 1st birthday he really wasn't eating finger foods yet, so he didn't exactly grasp the whole dive-into-the-cake thing. Well, this time around he did not disappoint. We captured some great pics and video! Then, he went straight to Meme's sink for a birthday bath. We are so proud of each and every one of your accomplishments, Griff. We love you more than you will ever know.

Pre-cake. Cute and clean.

Hmmm...what should I do with this?

Maybe I will try just a small bite!

Hey...this stuff is goooood!

Post-cake face. Cute and MESSY!

Visiting the NICU!

In early December, Griffin had an appointment with a doctor in Lincoln, so we decided to drop by the NICU for a visit. We have such an indescribably strong connection to a select few of the nurses and doctors there. They did soooo much for us over the 4 months that we were there. They will always hold a special place in our hearts. The pictures above are of Griffin with one of his favorite primary nurses, Missy, and one of his neonatologists, Dr. BJ Wilson. We hadn't been back for a visit since last February, so they could not believe how big he had gotten! He LOVED Missy's name badge.

2nd Cousin Lindsey's wedding!

Griffin went to his first wedding in November. His 2nd cousin, Lindsey Perlinger, got married in Kearney. He was soooo cute dressed in a red plaid shirt, black sweatervest with a train on it, and gray corduroy pants. His new black dress shoes were called Squeakers and would squeak any time his put weight down through them. For some reason he decided not to nap at all on the way there, so he actually fell asleep on Aunt Mandy during most of the ceremony. Apparently, the harmonious sounds of his 2nd cousins Alex and Mattingly singing was enough to send him to dreamland. He is a boy who is used to getting 2-3 good naps in everyday, and this day was no exception. So, at the reception, he fell asleep dancing with Mommy and slept soundly in the corner next to a tree! It was sooo cute and funny to see. The lights, music, and people didn't seem to disturb him at all. Toward the end of the night he had lots of fun with cousins Gracie and Ryker playing in the hallway.

Asleep at the reception.

Griffin and his cousins reading a book. What a cute pic!Griff on Uncle Chad's shoulders.

Having some snacks with the Father-of-the-bride, Great Uncle Bobby.

Griffin and Bride Linds. Soooo pretty!

Playing with Jarett!

Griffin's very 1st friend was Jarett David Guenther who was born 2 1/2 weeks after Griff. Jarett was also a 24 weeker and lived right next to Griffin in the NICU for almost 4 months. Jarett and his Mommy & Daddy live in Lincoln and we try to visit them whenever we get that direction. We made time to see them when we were in Lincoln over State VB. It was so much fun to see Jarett and Griff together! They are both miracle babies and are simply thriving. At first, they really didn't know what to think of each other. They would just sit there and touch each other's faces. Jarett seemed a little more interactive than Griff did, but then again we were in his familiar surroundings. It took a little while for Griffin to do more than just stare at him and look at me with this "who's this guy" face. Eventually they played with each other and had some snacks together. They have a very unique and special bond, and we hope to keep them connected as they continue to grow over the years.

Our Halloween Giraffe!

I realize that I might be a little biased, but our little Griffin was the most adorable baby Giraffe that you have ever seen for Halloween. Grandma Ivy came to stay with us for the week between Mommy Tara and Daddy Mitch's birthdays so it just made sense to have a Halloween photo shoot. Then, on Halloween Mommy, Meme, and Griffin pushed our little giraffe in his stroller for the parade where you go through all of the Paxton businesses to trick-or-treat. Not being from Paxton originally, I had absolutely no idea how big of a deal this parade-thing was. Anyone and everyone comes and packs into the restaurants and businesses to catch a peak at all of the costumes. After the parade, we stopped by Grandma Max/Grandpa Bob's house to see them and Griff's second cousin, Ainsley (mouse). We then went to Great Aunt Kristie's to play with Griff's 2nd cousin, Cooper (Pooh bumblebee). It was a fun-filled night enjoyed by all!

This was part of the photo shoot we did when Grandma was here. Any excuse for Griff to chew on something he jumps on it!

One of my favorite pics.

This costume was so cute no matter what angle you looked at it! And the best part of it...it was an ebay find and such a steal!Meme, Griff, 2nd cousin Chad, and adorable Cooper meeting in the Paxton firebarn getting ready for the parade.Since Griffin was a giraffe, Mommy joined in on the fun and dressed up as his zookeeper (although some people thought she was a poacher! Yikes! For the love of Pete!)

Go Paxton Tigers!

Griffin went with Mommy to several of the Paxton volleyball games this fall to show his support for the Tigers and for Meme (who is the assistant coach). We took Granddad Shorty to several of the games including making the trek to Lincoln for the State tourney. Griff was such a good little boy at the games. The very 1st game he cried every time the buzzer buzzed or the whistle blew, and I thought "Oh no...this is going to be a long day" as our 1st game was actually a 4-team quadrangular. Thankfully, he quickly got over that and as long as juice and snacks (freeze-dried fruit, puffs, yogurt bites) were readily-available he was just fine. And, as you can tell by the pictures, there was never a shortage of people to hold and entertain him. I grew up going to volleyball/basketball games and love that Griffin gets to do that as well. The volleyball girls got used to having him at their games and could even hear his unmistakable growl/grunt during the National Anthem!

This is Griff with a few of the volleyball girls at his very 1st volleyball game ever (@ Brady).

Griffin loves Betsy Elder. She was his very first non-family babysitter and helped us out several times watching Griffin when Meme had to go to volleyball practice until Mommy got home from work.

It is always so much fun to see Griffin and his Great Granddad together. They both enjoy each other immensely. Love knows no age. Just look!
Sometimes we would have breaks between our next game. Great Aunt Mickey came along a few times to help out with the boys (Griff and Granddad). As you can see...they get along just swell.Griff with Aunt Lexie at the State Tournament. If you look close you can see a big bruise on his forehead. He had a little tussle with one of Great Aunt Mickey's bamboo TV trays, and...well...the tray won! Darn it!

Never too young to hunt deer!

Ever the faithful hunting family, Daddy Mitch and Pops simply couldn't resist getting Griff all dressed up in camo garb and taking pics with the deer. I will have to say that their first 3 generation deer picture turned out very cute! I really hope that Griff grows up and enjoys hunting, because if he doesn't...well it could be a bad deal!
Griff and Daddy all camoued up...who would have thought that camo could be sexy? :)Look at the big deer that Pops shot. 3 peas in a pod right there.