Trip to Florida

Last weekend, Garrett and I took our first trip away from our sweet baby boy and we had such a great time.  We got to go fishing in the Florida Keys and then we spent a night in Miami.  Garrett stayed for a few more days for work and I came home to see my little man.  Although I was sad to leave Jack for the first time,  it was so fun for us to get away and relax and Jack had a great time with his Honey (my mom!).  Here are some pics from our fishing adventure!

Garrett was feeding a tarpon by hand...I wasn't brave enough.  It was a HUGE fish!

My mom sent me pictures and updates of what she and Jack were doing while we were gone, which made being away from him so much easier!  Here are a few of the little cutie while he was with his grandmother

Christmas and Colorado

Even though we are ten days into 2011, I thought I'd do a quick recap of our Christmas holidays.  We first spent a few nights in Katy, where we celebrated Christmas with Gigi, Pops, and Uncle Dallas.  On Christmas day, Jack took his first trip on an airplane and we went to Beaver Creek, Colorado where we spent six days with the Lisenbys.  Jack was a trooper on his first plane flights, although he did spend about an hour screaming in the car on Christmas night while we drove  with Aunt Jessica, Uncle Gray, Uncle David, and Tommy from Denver to Beaver Creek.  We were all very glad to get out of the car that night...especially Jack!  Here are some pictures from Jack's first Christmas celebrations!

 Jack is opening his first Christmas present from Gigi and Pops...he was more interested in eating the bow than opening the present!

Christmas Lucky!

Hanging out with Uncle Dallas on Christmas Eve

 Our first Christmas Eve with Jack!  Last year on Christmas Eve we had just found out I was pregnant.  I remember praying for our little baby at the Christmas Eve service. 

Opening presents with Gigi...

Opening presents with Pops...

Jack and his cousin Tommy hanging out together in Colorado!

Honey had two of her three grandboys with her in Beaver Creek.  She babysat so I could ski!  One happy grandmother:) 

Tommy really wanted to cuddle with Jack.  He was so sweet to his baby cousin.  I loved watching him play and talk with Jack!

Garrett and Jessica were pretty tired after skiing.  Big John, Gray, Jess, and Garrett skiied super hard every day.  Mama Callie only joined them for three days of skiing and I was definitely a fair weather skier!

 Jack loved his first excersaucer experience!  Thanks Holtons, for letting us borrow it!

Cute boy!

Jack cut his first teeth during his first vacation!  We had no idea he was teething...Aunt Jess was letting Jack suck on her finger one night and she said, "Callie, did you know Jack has teeth?!"  Sure enough, his bottom two teeth were poking out!  He'd been really fussy during feedings and waking up in the middle of the night, but I just blamed it on the fact that we were traveling and out of our routine...Once those teeth poked through we were back to eating great and sleeping through the night. 

Jack and the tooth discoverer, Aunt Jessica....Jack loves his aunt so much!

One of the best parts about our trip was getting to see some of our most favorite people in the world, the Seeligs, the Clantons, and the Holtons.  Jack LOVED playing with his auntie La La and uncle Jammer (even if he is a little weird looking!)

Jack thought Laura was pretty funny!

We love you John Mark, Laura, Tom Tom and Kay Kay!  We can't wait to see you again soon!

Some Christmas Pics!

We have had so much fun during this Christmas season and here are a few pictures of some of our Christmas fun!  We spent Christmas eve and day in Katy with Pops, Gigi, and Uncle Dallas, and now off to Colorado to hang out with the Lisenbys!  More Christmas pictures to come...

 Thanks, Honey, for all your hard work making my amazing Christmas stocking!

 Thanks, Gigi and Pops for my cute Christmas pajamas!  

 We went to the mall with some of Jack's friends and their moms to try to see Santa....we are obviously all first time moms because we didn't know that you have to get a number to see Santa 4 hours before you actually see him!  So we gave up on seeing Santa and strolled around the mall with our friends.  Jack was pretty tired at the end of it all...this is his "about to fall asleep blank stare."

 Five little boys all born within one year of each other! (James Campbell would make six little boys and we can't wait for him to move back to Dallas).   We are excited for our play group to officially start with these guys in January!

Cute boy by the tree!  I love this little Christmas outfit because you can see Jack's chubby little legs:)

I was trying to get him to smile, but he was just too fascinated by the toy I was holding.

 Photo with Santa success!  After learning that Northpark was not the ideal place to see Santa, an experienced mom let me in on the secret of visiting Santa at the Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas.  We only had to wait for a few minutes and we actually got a smiling picture! 

Jack's Favorite Things!

Jack is a really happy and relaxed baby.  We are moving past the reflux issues, so we no longer have feedings that are an all out battle, and he's been sleeping for 11-12 hours at night since he was about 8 weeks old.  He is now 16.5 weeks old, and I just can't believe how time flies.  Here are a few of Jack's favorite things:

1. This kiddo loves to suck his thumb.  When he lays down for a nap or bed time, he turns his head from side to side, fusses a little, then the thumb goes in the mouth and he's instantly soothed.  I never thought I'd be so happy to have a thumb sucking baby!

2. Jack absolutely loves to sleep!  He sleeps for 11-12 hours every night, and we usually have to wake him up in the morning.  Garrett always gets him up, gives him his reflux medicine, and changes his diaper and then I feed him about 30 minutes later to give his medicine some time to settle.  He always wakes up as happy as can be, giggling and smiling.  Garrett and I love to sleep, so we are thankful that God gave us a baby who loves to sleep as much as we do!

3.  One of our new favorite things is the toy, "Sophie the giraffe."  Jack loves this thing because he can hold it in his hands really well and he likes to put Sophie's feet and ears in his mouth.  I know, it looks like a doggie chew toy, but Jack loves it!  And Sophie originated in France, so we're exposing Jack to a variety of cultural experiences:)

 
 4.  Tummy time!  Jack absolutely loves being on his tummy.  He pushes up with his arms and loves looking all around and he loves being on his tummy because he can easily suck his thumb!  Jack has rolled a few times from his tummy to his back and lately he's been pulling his knees up under him to scoot his little body while he's on his tummy.  Sometimes he puts his face down on his play mat and wiggles his arms and legs all at once....it's like he's trying to swim.  It's hilarious.

5.  Jack Griffin loves the sound of his own voice.  Maybe that means he'll be a talker like his mommy or maybe he'll be able to sing like his daddy.  Either way this kiddo could be happy listening to himself make noise all day long.  Garrett and I crack up listening to his constant noise making while he looks out of the window in the car.  It's like he knows there's a conversation going on in the front seat and he wants to be a part of it.  I love it and I can't wait until his sounds make words and he can tell me what is going on inside of that precious little head.  A video or sound clip coming soon...


These are just a few of Jack's favorite things, and I'm sure they will change as he gets bigger....One more of his favorite things to do is eat (as you can tell by the fat rolls all over his body and his weight in the 96th percentile), but I'll spare the blog world of any details about my child's love of breast milk!  And obviously on the top of Jack's favorite list are his parents who love and adore him! 

Life Lately

I haven't been such a dedicated blogger lately, so I thought I'd  update with some pics of our little man!  He's growing and changing every day and we are having so much fun with him.  These days Jack loves hearing the sound of his voice and he squeals, coos, and "talks" to us all the time.  He is still a little thumb sucker, and he is always putting his thumbs, fingers, toys, and anything he can get his hands on into his mouth.  The Baby Einstein play mat is still one of Jack's favorite things, and he is reaching and grabbing his toys, and he loves laying on his tummy and pushing up to look around.  He's rolled over a few times, but isn't really interested in rolling too much.  We love seeing how much he loves taking in the world around him! 

 Jack loves riding in the MacLaren stroller because he can check everything out around him!

 We are losing hair by the day...this picture was a few weeks ago, and he's lost so much more of his baby hair since then.

 My little hunk of love! (I did not prop his arm like that...he did that on his own.  Just a little relaxation time in the chair.)

 "Mom I can't decide which thumb to suck..."

 "So I think I'll just try to get them both in my mouth at once..."

 "Mmmm, that's nice...I love sucking both thumbs at the same time!"

Cutie pie!

Our Talented Dog

My blog postings have been primarily focused on our sweet baby Jack, so I thought I would share the talents of Lucky the dog, who has gotten a little less attention around the Griffin house since Jack has been on the scene.  Lucky has been incredibly sweet around Jack and he's a great walking companion with the stroller.  We really have been pleasantly surprised by how well our very spirited dog has adjusted to having a baby around.  Garrett has been trying to give Lucky a little extra love by playing with him in the back yard and throwing the ball around and he discovered Lucky's athletic talents....see the video below!

Daddy's Office

Jack got to visit his daddy at work for the first time last week and he sure does love his dad!  He had fun meeting all the wonderful people Garrett works with and I think they enjoyed meeting Jack too.  Here are a couple of pictures of Jack and his daddy in the office...Jack even got to help his dad do some work!