Happy Half Birthday

Happy Half Birthday!

This little man is now 6 months old.  I know everyone says this, but I can hardly believe it.  I am a little sad that his newborn months have passed, but mostly I am just happy that life is getting a little easier in the Brower home.  I actually have a clean house some of the time!

What he is up to these days:

• Griff is one busy baby.  He is always going, going, going til the moment I put him in his bed.  Then sometimes he cries for a few minutes and zonks!
• He takes two 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps and sleeps from about 8 to 8.  I wish I could say he sleeps straight through the night, but that isn't the case.  We are working on it though (yes there has been a bit of crying in our house lately) and for those of you who know me well, you know that letting my babies cry is HARD! 
• He rolls all over the place to get where he wants to go.  He is also starting to stay up on his hands and knees pretty well.  I think crawling is in the near future.
• He sits up like a champ, which I LOVE!  I can sit him next to a small bin of toys, and he will entertain himself for about 30 minutes! So nice!
• He LOVES to eat, eat, and eat, which is apparent by his size! :)
• He still doesn't take a binky, but will suck/chew on everything else he can get his hands on (including his hands)
• He loves to jump in his jumper, especially when we put it right next to Dax's tramp.  Those two jump around and have the best time together.
• Griffin loves his Daddy and his brother when he wants to play.  He follows them everywhere with his eyes and wants to do what they are doing.  When it comes time to eating or sleeping though, mommy is where it's at.
• He is getting very vocal and opinionated!  He will tell you if he is unhappy by screaming, or if he is happy by screaming.
• He is getting to be quite the pro with his sippy cup, and gets very mad if you try to take it away.
• He is very tough!  Dax likes to roll around and wrestle with him, and Griff takes it like a champ.  

We love our little Griff Man and we are so grateful he came to our family.  He brings so much joy and happiness to everyone.  We can't wait to see what is in store for this little guy!  Love you Griffin!

Pumpkins, Cousins...and more!

We've had lots of fall fun here at the Brower home.  We kicked off the fall season with a trip to Wenatchee, WA to see Josh's sister and family.  While we were there we visited a pumpkin patch and petting zoo.  We had a fun time looking at all the animals, swinging on swings and riding the ever-famous cow ride.

Dax and his cousin Presley having some fun on the tire swing.

Dax, Payton, and Presley

Griffin chillin' at Aunt Rachel's house

Presley and Dax on the horsey swings.

We couldn't get enough, so we visited the local pumpkin patch.

Dax and Dad climbing up the haystack.

Dax found his pumpkin!

Riding on a tractor/trailer is serious business.

Dax LOVED sitting on this tractor.

Now once we got these pumpkins we had to carve them, of course.

Not so spooky....

but really, really cute!

                                 

Compare

Dax at 8 weeks and 15 pounds

Griffin at 8 weeks and 15 pounds

They definitely look like brothers, but each have their own special look.

Griffin is smiling and cooing.  We are loving it!  He is learning how to bat at his toys and is getting better at being happy on his own.  He is also sleeping pretty good at night.  I usually get one 4 to 5 hour stretch and then he wakes every 2 or 3 hours after that.  We love him so much and are so glad he came to our family!

Newborn Pics

We found a really great photographer to do our newborn pics!  Seriously she was great!  I want to hire her to come and put Griffin to sleep every night!  These are a few of the ones I bought digital copies of.  I wish I could have them all!  They were all so precious!

I bought a huge black and white version of this and I
plan on having it on my wall forever.  LOVE IT!

Kindly remember I had just had a baby 4 days previous! :)

Our Month in Pictures

This pic pretty much describes their relationship.
I can't count the number of times I've had to say "soft" or "gentle"
or "not so rough"  He just LOVES him!

This is what Dax does while I put Griffin to sleep.
He is getting much better at playing by himself!

Not a very flattering position, but I love the cute
little outfit my mom brought him.  

Love this pic of Dax.  He had a blast playing in the sprinklers. 

One month old and 12 lbs.  Yay for another chunker.
Dax was also 12 lbs at 4 weeks.

Dax got lots and lots of grandpa time.  Josh's parents were here for 10 days
after Griffin was born.  Dax loved helping and playing with grandpa

I love this one!

Enjoying a nice day at the Playground of Dreams.

Trying to feed the baby geese, but the seagulls were everywhere.

Movie Night

Daddy chillin' with his boys!

Enjoying more sun at the park.

These geese pretty much attacked us when we started feeding them.
We had to run away!

The baby boy at one month.  

The Story of Griffin

Here is the shortened tale of Griffin, plus lots of pictures because this is as good as it gets when you are getting used to having 2 kids and all you want to do is go to bed! :)

When I was about 36 weeks along, I started to itch all over my body.  It got so bad that I couldn't sleep at  night, forcing me to go into the doctor that Monday.  THe doctor suspected the culprit to be a condition called cholestasis.  Five days later, at our next appt., a blood test confirmed it.  Before we even had time to process this, they were scheduling ultrasounds and non-stress tests, and my induction date a week later.  It was a whirlwind of a week!  Instead of having 3 weeks to prepare for the little babe, we now only had one.  AHHH! They never let you go past 38 weeks with this condition. Luckily, by this time I was nearly 37 weeks, so I only had to endure one week of the chaos of so many tests and appointments, and the ITCHING!  Otherwise I would have had to go in for ultrasounds and non-stress tests twice a week until I reached 38 weeks.  I have never felt so much discomfort for such a long period of time.  I think itching might be worse than pain because I couldn't do anything about it.  I would have to get up several times a night to take a cool shower or bath, just so I could try to go back to sleep.  MISERY!

Anywho, the next week flew by and we sat waiting and waiting for the call on Sunday, May 8th.  No such call came, and we were put off until Monday, May 9th because they were full.  We got up Monday morning and waited and waited again, finally at 9:00, I called and asked what the chances of us getting in were, and she told us to be there by 10:00.  We got Dax squared away at Josh's brother and sister-in-law's place.  Thanks a million to them, by the way.  They took such good care of Dax for us.  It is stressful having a baby with another one at home!

We got there at 10:00 and by the time they got me an epidural and started on the pitocin, it was 12:30 or so.    I was already at a 4+, so we thought it would be a quick process like it was with Dax (under 4 hours), but we were wrong.  I was ready, the little babe wasn't.  The stubborn guy wouldn't drop, therefore, my body was stalled at a 7 for 3 hours.  The doctor finally came in and broke my water as a last ditch effort to get some progress going, and it worked.  Within the hour, I was complete and ready to get that baby out! A little too much info for some people to follow, fair warning.  As soon as he dropped, I immediately felt so much pain and pressure.  I knew my epidural wasn't working where it needed to.  I remember telling Josh that I knew I was going to feel everything and that I didn't want to do it.  He said something to the tune of, "I don't think you have a choice now!"  He was right, and the next 45 minutes was pure hell!  I guess I should be grateful that it was only 45 minutes, but I wasn't.  I was, however, overjoyed to get this little one here safe and sound.

Griffin Paul Brower
7 lb. 15.7 oz
20 inches long
May 9th @ 11:07 P.M.

He is so perfect and we couldn't be more happy to have him part of our family!  We love him and can't wait to see him grow (just not too fast)!