Griffin has been so much fun to have in our family! He is laughing, babbling, wiggling, grabbing, eating, and thriving all around!
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| Happy Griffin! |
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| All the men :) |
MOTOR SKILLS
The biggest thing that Griffin learned this past month was how to roll over! So tummy time is pretty much a bust now. :) Griffin first rolled over on Wednesday, May 6. My friend Carrie witnessed it while I was in another room. But he repeated it for me later that afternoon, then twice the next day, and pretty much all the time ever since. He only does tummy to back at this point, but he can do it in both directions, and he's sooo good at it! Griffin can roll from his back to either side to get a better view at whatever he's interested in, too. He's also super into his feet. Griffin loves grabbing his feet and pulling at his socks.
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| "I can grab my feet!" |
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| Bumbo time |
I suspect Griffin is also working out the earliest beginnings of a crawl. When on his tummy (if he stays there), he can wiggle and kick his legs to move himself around. He doesn't do this so much any more now that he can roll over, but he really was getting active with kicking around while he was still a beached whale. :)
Oh, and I can't forget two more things: Griffin recently started trying to sit up from laying on his back. He obviously doesn't get very far, but he strains to lift his head! And, Griffin loves holding onto my fingers while I pull him up into a sitting position. Nice work, buddy!
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| Griffin and his buddy Ruthie! They are exactly three months apart! |
Griffin has our family's talking genes! I don't know how we got three early talkers, but he is practicing, practicing, practicing! One of my favorites, is the "Dayyyyyyyy, dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"sound. :) He makes lots of other noises, and still has his frustrated voice. It's so cute that he vocalizes his frustrations before crying about them. Hehe..
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| Sandrine sent the cutiest outfit for Griffin!!! |
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| Sandrine sent sweatshirts for the boys, too! They LOVE them! |
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| "I can't wait to meet you one day, Sandrine!" |
Griffin has the greatest belly laugh! The best way to get it out of him is to tickle him. He also smiles and laughs every time his big brothers play with him. Eland loves giving him raspberries during a diaper change.
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| Brothers! |
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| Kisses! |
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| More brothers! |
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| Waiting for Auggie to get out of school ;) |
My champion eater continues to be a champion eater! Griffin nurses about once every three to five hours around the clock. Ahem. Around the clock.
He is much more aware of his surroundings, so I can expect him to nurse on one side every time we nurse, but if there are distractions (ie. brothers, garbage trucks, nursing moms in the nursing moms room at church, etc) he will almost definitely not nurse on the second side. In fact, he cocks his head to the opposite direction of my breast as far as he can go in order to catch everything else that's going on in the room.
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| Nursing outside while camping |
SLEEP
Now, officially a dreaded subject for me. Ha. Griffin did improve a bit at night last month after I posted, but has gone back downhill. He averages two nightly wakings: one between 11pm and midnight, and a second between 4-6am. There's something about getting up twice that is extra horrible for me. That first waking is the worst. I have to read something on my phone to stay awake for it, otherwise I fall asleep sitting up while nursing. Another catch is that I have to nurse Griffin long enough to get him to fall asleep again. If I lay him down too early he'll start crying and we have to start the process over again.
Griffin is still sleeping in the co-sleeper in Dan and my room at night. He'll outgrow it eventually, so we're getting closer to moving him to his room--and he's even getting louder at night--but Dan doesn't seem to mind, and it's so much easier having him in our room. One day. No plans to move him yet. However, I will not be disassembling his crib and moving it into our room, so whenever he outgrows the co-sleeper we will be done.
I'm also still nursing Griffin to sleep at night (naughty, naughty!) and am swaddling him in a swaddle-wrap-thingy.
Napping is an entirely different story. Griffin goes down so easily. I sing to him and rock him swaddled with his arms up until he starts sucking his fingers (right hand, first two fingers). Another minute of rocking, then into his crib nice and relaxed, seahorse on, fan on, monitor on and out the door I go. Just today I put him down to nap with his arms out (!!). He played with his seahorse a bit and then promptly fell asleep. This could be the dawn of a new age!!!!
SELF-SOOTHING
Griffin requires a whole category for self-soothing. :) He officially sucks his fingers while falling asleep, just like Eland did, but on the opposite hand. He prefers the first two fingers on his right hand. I try to give him his giraffe blanket so that the finger-sucking and lovey are associated, but I get the feeling that he doesn't really care so much about his giraffe. But I'm trying to force it anyway! :) Griffin sucks his fingers without it--in his carseat, or when he's really tired of playtime on the floor but I haven't come to pick him up yet. I don't want him to be a daytime, non-sleeping finger-sucker, so I may have to work on this some.
Just yesterday I was thinking about all my kids and their self-soothing strategies. Auggie had none as a baby. He nursed to sleep almost all the time. Eland never nursed to sleep, always sucked his fingers, and had his doggie blanket. (Still does. :) That said, Griffin is a new breed for us--he nurses to sleep sometimes AND sucks his fingers as he falls asleep, or as he wakes up.
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| Whoop, there it is--Right hand, first two fingers! |
Hazel? We may have a winner. Griffin's eyes remain dark blue on the outside, brownish on the inside, and have a hazel-green look to them.
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| What color are your eyes, Baby? |
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| Griffin wakes daily with specks all over his face. They fade within minutes. Not sure what the deal is but it sure is interesting. |
IMMUNIZATIONS
Griffin will get the HIB and pneumococcal vaccines later on today. Praying for a happy, healthy baby in spite of it.
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| Griffin loves his daddy! |
Yesterday Griffin had his best climbing trip yet. We drove two hours to the crag and he didn't cry once. He ate before we left, then slept, woke, and slept again in the car. He enjoyed being awake at the crag, slept in the carseat, then was awake and played for awhile. Then the same pattern on our way home: a good long nurse, then slept, played awake, and slept again until we got home. Good job Grif Grif!
Speaking of Grif Grif, the good friends that we hung out with yesterday have three adorable almost-two-year-olds and they're all learning how to talk. I asked Faith if she could say Griffin, but it was challenging. However, she could say "Riff Riff".. SUPER CUTE! :)
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| Camping |
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| A spectacular view |
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| Hiking baby |
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| It was SNOWING in May! |
MONTHLY NOTES
04.11 - My goodness, talk about sleep regression! It's been two weeks since Griffin had a 9h stretch. Last night he woke at 2:15a, 4:24a, and then again at 6:15a. I think the waking is due to Griffin's startle reflex coupled with an inability to soothe himself back to sleep. His arms startle, then he starts rubbing his face, then he can't go back to sleep and begins to throw his arms back and forth. He's definitely not waking due to hunger. Looks like he may need a night swaddle. :/ Even the RNP wasn't working last night.
04.13 - Griffin first woke at 12:20am, then every two hours after. :/ I attempted to tighten his swaddle and rock him in the RNP at 12:20 bit he woke more and I ended up nursing him after all. When he woke around 2:30am a tightened swaddle and a little rocking worked, but it wouldn't suffice at 4:40, so I nursed him again then--but it's not like he eats all that much, he really just wants the comfort. He was fussing a bit when I got up for the day around 6:15am, but I left him there as I dressed and got Auggie and Eland ready. Turns out that even though he was raising his legs and dropping them, and fighting on his swaddle a bit, he was sound asleep when I checked on him 20 min later. I think we need to try letting him fuss and resettle himself at night. He's clearly capable of it, and Dr. recommended the same thing this morning at Griffin's 4m visit. Time to carry on!
Griffin is getting extremely proficient at reaching, grabbing, and holding objects. He has a string grip when holding my finger!
04.14 - Okay, G slept a little bit better last night. He woke around 1am. I let him hang out a bit, but he started crying so I nursed him. I -think- he woke around 3 or 4am, and I let him hang out a bit on his own. He wiggled and squirmed, and then fell asleep! He didn't wake again until 6:30! There is hope! ... He did manage to get his hangs in the folds of his swaddle blanket and pull it up over his mouth and near his nose during his non-feeding waking. I could hear him breathing loudly so it wasn't a problem, but I'll need to be careful in the future.
Now to carry on and establish the self-soothing, then process to transition out of the RNP, and then out of the swaddle, not necessarily in that order. Sheesh! :)
04.16 - Griffin woke at 3am two nights ago, and last night he slept 9.5h till 5am. Technically he woke and fussed twice around 3am, but despite the fact that I was sure if need to feed him, he fell asleep after one or two loud fusses! Is my great sleeper back??? :)
While nursing he typically has a hold of my shirt now with his free hand. It's super cute.
Griffin is getting closer to rolling. He can get himself onto his side, although it's still exploration and not a deliberate move on his part. :)
Keep forgetting to post this: http://groundedparents.com/category/pregnancy-childbirth/
04.18-19 Griffin's second camping trip. We decided to go to Socorro for the night last-minute.
04.20 - Griffin tasted "real" food for the first time. He was watching me intently as I ate green grapes, so I held half a grape to his mouth. He licked it vigorously, then grabbed a hold of my hand, pulled it away so he could look at the grape, and then pulled it to his mouth again. He repeated this process a few times and then gummed the grape a bit. I'm sure he might have even eaten a bit of grape pulp.
04.25 - Griffin has since tasted a fingerful of mushed avocado and mouthed an apple slice. He was so-so on the avo but definitely liked the apple.
Third camping trip 04.24-25.
Has become a very active and wiggly nurser.
I need to have him do more tummy time--maybe incorporate the Boppy more.
Still sleeping in our room, for over a week (?) flat in the co-sleeper. I bought a SwaddleMe wrap since the swaddle is so important these days but he keeps breaking out of swaddle blankets. He doesn't like the process of getting wrapped up in them, but he does sleep better swaddled. He usually gets his arms out at some point but still can't settle himself if they're totally out. If just his hands are out he'll suck on his fingers a bit.
04.28 - Weighed Griffin at Kendra's to find out how much he's eating. He went from 16lbs 12.5oz to 17lbs 1.5oz so he ate 5oz of breastmilk while there. I'd say it wasn't his biggest feeding so he's probably capable of closer to 6+oz. Not bad littler buddy!
So, the last four nights have been pretty tough. For three nights in a row G peed through his diaper. Two nights in a row involved two complete costume changes each! I went to Target and bought every overnight option that seemed reasonable. Size 4 Pampers with 12h protection worked last night, so I'm trying them again tonight. This boy knows how to pee! And then last night Griffin developed a runny nose compliments of his brothers. He won't have it for long--I think I may be getting it. Ah well. At least it doesn't seem too bad so far.
Not sure how this will go, but tonight I plan on putting Griffin down to sleep on his stomach--after he's nursed to a deep sleep. :) He still needs to be swaddled since his arms flail constantly, so I am thinking this could be a way to control the flail without a swaddle. I am confident in his ability to lift his head and the co-sleeper sheet is very tight, so I'm not worried about suffocation. We shall see.... :)
04.29 - G ate oatmeal cereal with breastmilk for the first time with Dan, Auggie, and Eland while I was out.
05.01 - G took a 4h "morning" nap today! Perhaps because he isn't sleeping that well at night? Doing a little better with tummy time. Got out the exersaucer and he really likes it. :) Attempted stomach sleep--slept for an hour and a half on his tummy, and still managed to suck his fingers!
05.02 - Not the greatest sleeping happening right now. G had more cereal last night and seemed to enjoy it a lot. :) Took two long naps today since we weren't driving anywhere.
05.04 - Griffin thoroughly enjoyed reaching up and touching my face and especially my nose. He is delighted with eye contact.
We got out the exersaucer recently, and he loves it! Being able to travel around to each toy seems like a lot of fun. I'm doing my best not to over do it so that Grif continues to enjoy it.
05.05 - Sleep hasn't been particularly great, but last night he slept till 3am! His usual has been midnight, which is an extra brutal time to wake at. I think perhaps that his arms were lower in the swaddle and thus harder to get out. Not sure, but that's my theory. :)
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Griffin loves playing with his feet! And he loves when I sing him silly songs--he giggles the entire time--but as soon as I sing him a "real" song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star he stops smiling.
05.06 - Grif is up just after midnight--broke out of his swaddle! Arrgh!!
11:20am and 4:10pm - Griffin rolled over from tummy to back!
Griffin squirms when on the ground--no tummy time on the Boppy because he simply pushes himself over! I'm sure he'll be wiggling across the floor in no time!
05.08 - G has continued to roll over daily from tummy to back ever since Wednesday and today he did it in both directions. He's also super mobile for an almost-5-mo-old. He pulls his legs up when he's on his back and can lean completely over to the right or left. He reaches for toys, and if he can't get to them he squirms and wiggles until they're within reach. He literally does crawling motions while on his stomach. His legs come up and he pushes them down. It's definitely not an army crawl yet, but he is soooo practicing. Wow!
Griffin's sleep has been fairly rotten. We've had one decent night in the past week when he woke once at 2am. Otherwise it's before midnight and after 4am. Last night he woke again at 5:30. :/ Although writing down all his movement accomplishments has me wondering if his poor sleep is milestone-related. This would make sense.
He's still getting swaddled to sleep, and usually has an arm or two out when he wakes. Naps have been fairly short as well.
His poop has also gotten stinker now that he's eating oatmeal cereal nightly at dinner.
05.10 - Mother's Day
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