Welcome to the World Baby Cason!

Twenty loooong days ago, baby Carson made his way into this world!  I can't believe he's almost 3 weeks old already!  There has been less sleep for Chad and I over the past 20 days, but for the most part, Carson seems to fit right in to this little family of ours!  He's pretty laid back and is really making things easy on his Mama and Dada.  He's even doing a great job of putting up with big brother Griffin (who is teaching Carson how to sleep through all kids of loud noises)!

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks....I'll do a post soon on the "birthday" with all of most of  the nitty gritty details before my brain completely turns to mush and I forget everything!

In the labor and delivery room on the morning of induction...

...so very ready for the little human inside there to stop kicking me and make his appearance!

Carson's first picture!!!   Goo and all!

My AWESOME Midwife Barbara.

Bath time!

Proud grandparents.

A very hyper and sweet big brother!!

Heading home from the hospital...such a great and weird feeling...no more nurses to help!

Our AWESOME pediatrician Dr. B!

Carson has already had his first photo shoot...

...they turned out great.  I'll share more later.

Hello little 2 week old boy!  Carson was on his tummy before this picture was taken but decided to turn over to his back all by himself!!  Strong boy!

And here's our little man today.  If you want to know the truth he was working on a big, stinky diaper when this shot was taken.  The joys of parenthood are endless!

So, as I sit and type this with one hand and hold a squirmy baby in the other (my arm is killing me), I'm filled with happiness about the new addition to our family and excitement over the memories we will make in the years to come. 
WE LOVE YOU CARSON!

Quick Catch Up!

I know it's been a while, but I wanted to do a quick catch up on the past couple of months so we're all up to speed before the big arrival of baby Carson!  That's right, Carson will be here soon.  In 3 days to be exact.  Yes, this pregnancy has flown by in a blur but we are so ready to welcome the little bambino. 

Besides getting excited about being a big brother, here's a quick glimpse of what Griffin has been up to!

Dada took G to his first baseball game at Georgia Tech.  Griffin was proud to cheer on the Yellow Jackets.

The game was even more fun because they were with their best buddies Jack and Mr. Cliff.

We welcomed baby Jackson into the world on March 7th!!  Griffin was excited about his new cousin and Chad and I are thrilled to have a new nephew!

Ramsey and Jenna are doing great and make this whole parenting thing look easy!

With the warmer than usual weather we've been having, Griffin has enjoyed playing at the park and having picnics with friends....

.....and has taken time to just lay back and enjoy life.  So important in this busy world!  :)

He did a lot of egg hunting this Easter...

...convinced Dada to wear this silly hat (that G refused to wear)...

....and single handily ruined a potentially cute school picture!  (Seconds before this picture was taken Griffin had thrown his Easter basket - full of eggs - to the ground.  The general chaos in this picture makes me laugh every time I look at it!)

(How hilarious is this?!  Griffin wanted no part of this group photo session with his friends at school.)

Surprisingly, he did give the Easter Bunny a nice hug at our neighborhood egg hunt.

Another play date with neighborhood friends...and what play date is complete with out cupcakes?!

And just this weekend, Chad and I thought we'd treat Griffin to something really special and take him to the train museum (since the boy LOVES all things trains).  Turns out that G was terrified of pretty much everything!  I think the sheer size of the trains spooked him a little bit and the fact that there was a REAL train weeshing and blowing it's whistle nearby really freaked him out.  Poor kid just might have nightmares about this "adventure" for a while.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to take his eyes off the train for fear that it will start moving.  He made it clear he didn't want to RIDE any of the trains.  Sweet, sweet boy.

Soooo, there we are in a nut shell.  I've been spending the last week or so getting things ready for Carson and being an emotional basket case in general.  While I'm so excited to meet the new little man, I find myself getting sad about our last few days with Griffin as an only child and as a family of three.  We have (finally) gotten so comfortable in our life and our roles as parents only to have things change DRASTICALLY in just a few short days!  Even so, we are ready for Carson to arrive and shake things up a bit.  I know it will take time to find our "new normal" but we are all ready for that challenge and can't WAIT to see what God has in store for our family!

2 Years Old!

Say it ain't so!  Our little Griffin is 2 years old.  To say that time has flown by would be the understatement of the century.  I just can't even describe how fast these 2 years have gone.  It's fun and awesome and I wouldn't change anything, but if the time is already passing this quickly I can only imagine adding another kiddo into the mix and life just getting busier and busier. 

Gulp!  I must remind myself to sit back and take in all the goodness of life...often!

Anyways - Griffin had a great birthday.  We started the day off at home with a bowl of Fruit Loops and some of mom's Pop Tart.  Nothing like a sugar overload on an already exciting day, right?  Ehhh, I didn't care, I was dropping him off at school!  haha....(insert evil laugh)

Towards the end of his school day we {Dada, Boo, Papa Don and myself} went to his class to have a party with his school friends.  He was sooooooooo excited to see us!  We had fun seeing him at school with his little friends.  How his teachers get them to SIT at the table and eat, I'll never understand.  They looked at my like I had 3 eyes when I asked them what their secret was and said, "He doesn't behave like this at home?"  Um, no....in fact, he doesn't.

Saying "cheeeeese" for the camera.

 

After the kiddos enjoyed mini cupcakes, apple juice and jello blocks the teachers suggested that we read them a story before the parents started coming to pick the kids up.  I was happy to do so but Griffin was even happier.  In fact, he was down right wild!  haha...between the sugar consumption and the fact that he knew it was HIS special day, this kid couldn't contain his excitement. 

It was a happy birthday for sure!

The next day (I should probably at least mention that this was Chad's 30th birthday - happy birthday babe) we had the family over for a little party!  Griffin loved having everyone over and loved all the special attention.  We had fun opening gifts (many of which revolved around Thomas - our family is so smart), playing and eating.

Dada made sure G read the cards before he opened the gifts. 

Big boy underwear!  NO - we're not potty training yet but when we do, I know these Thomas underwear will be quite a treat!

 

Reading a Thomas book with uncle Ramsey.

Didn't quite understand how to blow out the candle...maybe next year!

Me with the two sweetest and cutest birthday boys...EVER!

To top off an already great birthday weekend, we decided to try Griffin in a big boy bed!  We weren't necessarily going to do it this soon, but it worked out that we got the bed (thanks to uncle Ramsey) and all of the bed "gear" and it was all ready to go.  I was excited to get it all set up and Griffin was excited to try it out!  He did GREAT.  The first night he cried off and on for about 15 minutes.  I think he was just a little confused as to what was going on.  After those 15 minutes we haven't had trouble since!  He never tries to get out on his own and still waits for us to come get him in the morning.  We couldn't have asked for a smoother transition.

Good morning big boy!

And just so we've got this info on record, G had another great doctor's visit for his 2 year appointment.  He was in the 60% for height - measuring 34 3/4 inches, and 20% for weight - weighing in at 25.6 lbs.  Dr. B said you're just destined to be tall and thin and gave you permission to eat all the ice cream you want!  (Though I don't plan on telling you that.)

So, Mr. Griffin, at 2 years old we can already tell that you're going to be a boy who loves life.  You are a funny little rascal and still don't like to sit still for long.  You could play with your trains ALL DAY LONG but you also love being outside.  Your favorite things to do outside are RUN (away from mama and dada - quite frustrating for your parents I must say), play on the neighborhood playground and play basketball with dada.  You are talking up a storm and can repeat pretty much anything you hear.  Some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth is pretty funny...it really shows how much you are listening and taking things in.  You love to listen to your "silly songs" CD in the car and are quite the singer - your specialties are John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmit (though you just request "john jay" for short), Happy Birthday, Apples and Bananas and Little Green Frog.  Those are your favorites, but we're quickly learning that you know the words to almost every song on that CD.  You're so smart! You talk about your baby brother Carson a lot and always include him in the conversation when we're talking about our family.  When people ask you what your brother's name is going to be you enthusiastically tell them.  We can't wait to see you as a big brother - I just know you'll be the BEST.   You love reading before bed at night and always remember to say your prayers.  You've almost got the Georgia Tech fight song down pat (since dada sings it to you every night) and you've just started saying "See you in the morning!" as we are leaving your room at night.  Warms my heart!

We love you Griffin and take so much joy in watching you grow up on a daily basis.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!



Christmas 2011

Better late than never, right?.........

Christmas was FUN this year!  Griffin really got into opening his gifts and helping everyone else open their gifts as well.  Somehow I don't have still photos of "Christmas morning" at our house (which was really Christmas eve morning), but we had a "just the 3 of us" early Christmas at our house so we could give Griffin new pieces to his train track....the boy LOVES his trains.  We spent Christmas eve eve at Ramsey and Jenna's house with all the Knights, then headed to Gaga and Gingi's house on the real Christmas eve to celebrate with the Lovetts.  (Are you following me?  Try to keep up.)  From there we packed up the car and headed south to Bluffton, SC to wake up Christmas morning with the Herrings.  Luckily Santa was able to find us there. 

Griffin helping Gingi open his gifts.

Gag and Ging with all of their grandkids.

Now we're at Boo and Papa Don's house.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Twas the night before Christmas and not a creature was stirring. 

Santa found us!

Griff and Grandma Jenny (which he got pretty good at saying).

Loved this shirt made by Boo!  Griffin tells anyone and everyone that "I Gik kin."

It was a great Christmas....so nice to spend it with our entire family. It's fun to think that baby Carson will be with us next Christmas...bring on the fun and the chaos!

A Few Loose Ends

Before I post about Christmas and move on to 2012 I wanted to tie up a few loose ends from 2011. 

A few months ago Gigi and I took Griffin to see his first movie in a real movie theater!  It was a Thomas the Train movie and to say he loved it would be an understatement.  Now, normally I would have NO DESIRE to take Griffin to a movie because anyone who knows this kid knows that he does. not. sit. still.  BUT - this was an hour long Thomas movie during the middle of the day AND we had coupons, so I figured we'd give it a try.  Griffin is so in love with anything Thomas that I figured he'd be pretty captivated...turns out I was right.  It was a great experience and Griffin talked about going to see this movie for quite a while afterwards.

  

I think this was before the movie even started.  He was already interested in everything going on.

Poor Percy thinks his best friend Thomas doesn't have time for him anymore.  Oh the drama of Thomas and his friends.

About 45 minutes into the movie Griffin came out of his trance and realized he needed some "fruit ray rays"...this is what he calls his Welch's Fruit Snacks (a favorite around here).

After the movie we treated ourselves to McDonald's. 

Griffin has a new love for dipping things in ketchup!

This is just a picture that I snapped in the car one day of Ray Charles Griffin reading his book with his sunglasses.  He likes wearing them, but doesn't keep them on very well.  Not easy for Mama to help with the glasses while I'm trying to drive, so we don't wear them often.   

These next few photos are from this fun place we've discovered called Catch Air.  Our friend Tate invited us to check it out with him to see if it was worthy of this 2nd birthday party.  It certainly was, so - lucky us - we got to go back a few weeks later to celebrate!



Griffin called this "obstacle" the Shake, Shake Bridge - one of our thousands of Thomas references during the course of a  day.

Tate and Griffin - best buds and double trouble!!