Our First Family Christmas

This was the first time Griffin met his cousin (Tracy's nephew) Drew. When Griffin was not sleeping, Drew was always there to make Griffin laugh, but as soon as Griffin started to cry, Drew thought Griffin should go to bed.

There was no shortage of people to entertain Griffin. My cousin Michelle came from Scotland to spend Christmas with our family. She just had to buy this singing balloon, lucky there was a limit to how many times it would sing. Also here is Tracy's niece Rhiannon, who took care of Griffin when I was busy making dinners.

The whole family in the PJs. For the most part my sister (Sharon), her husband Mark, Drew and Rhiannon spent most of the day in their PJs - Rhiannon did not get out of her PJs most days.

Most of us did spend out days in PJs, it was a time to hang out and relax. With all the snow and cold weather we had, it was a good time to play board games and watch movies. This was the first white Christmas in Vancouver in 40 years! Of course I will never live it down, since I told everyone before they came to bring wet weather gear because it hardly ever snows or gets below zero degrees. Boy was I wrong!

After Mark made waffles for breakfast, we all sat down to open presents. As is true for most kids Griffin's age, the paper was the more exciting part of the presents.

We are expanding Griffin's food selections. He now enjoys carrots, squash, peas, avocado, yams, and apple sauce (Auntie Sharon's homemade apple sauce). So far Griffin will eat whatever is put in front of him, just like mum.

It will not be long before Griffin is crawling around the house. He is rocking on his hands and knees. At times he will push himself forward, but has not figured out how to get his hands moving at the same time as his feet.

Yep, Griffin still looks like his father.

6 Months (Corrected Age)

Well Griffin has reached the 6 month mark from his due date. So, I thought I would show some comparison photos to show everyone just how much he has grown. This monster has been with him from the beginning. It overlooked his incubator in Seattle and was in his crib in Vancouver. Now he keeps him company during diaper changes.

Trying to get Griffin to open his hand so I could take a picture proved to be more difficult than I thought. This was the best I could get. But as you can see, his hand has more than doubled it's size. My little man is getting so big.

It is always a battle to capture a smile on camera. After about 20 rapid shots, Jordan was able to capture these. If you squint and tilt your head, you can sort of see a smile.

Daddy's time with the boy! I am always told how much Griffin looks like Jordan, I am waiting for someone to find a part of me in him. One day.

First Taste of Solid Food

The Bumbo has come in handy once again - perfect for keeping Griffin still for feedings. We started off with small amounts, and on the first try he did not eat all of it, but was happy to open his mouth for more.

Sometimes I was slower than Griffin. He still has to figure out how to keep his tongue out of the way, but that will come.

Biting the spoon is another fun trick - I don't imagine that feels good on the gums?

"Oh mum do you have to?"

Looking "cool as a cucumber" - like he's got this all figured out!

Preparing for the Holidays

This will be the first Christmas in our house and the first one on the West Coast in some years. We have a bit more space to fill with decorations than we had in our apartment, so the Christmas decorations are arriving daily (Thanks to my mother-in-law). We thought we would take some pictures to remember it by.

Despite how innocent he looks, sitting here among Santa and his little helper, Griffin jumped the first chance he got to take down these strange beings. He still has a little time to learn about "naughty and nice". Jordan is underneath all of the carnage.

Toby looks on at it all, thinking "This guy is worse than I am!"