A Good Place

November 05, 2015

A Good Place

I don't even want to say it out loud in fear that something crazy will happen and I'll jinx it all, but here it goes...we are finally in a good place! Both boys are thriving at their schools, Griffin is completely healed and almost a completely different child, we are slowly making progress on our house repairs and renovations and life seems just a bit less stressful lately.

We absolutely LOVE Griffin's preschool, he loves it too and usually doesn't want to leave at the end of the day. Its such a huge change from the last place where at the end of the day when I got off work and went to pick him up he was so crazy and anxious that it took a good hour or two at home just to get rid of the stress of that place. Now when I pick him up he's sweaty from playing outside, happy to play with his friends and teachers, excited about what new things he learned that day and just overall at peace. Its amazing how much the teaching approach at that school suites him perfectly. Every day is a peaceful exploration into whatever that weeks focus is, they empower each kiddo to be empathetic and responsible and their overall attitude is to not get the kids all crazy and jacked up. We had parent-teacher conferences last week and both Sean and I were blown away by his teachers and their total dedication to their kids. They put together this binder/portfolio for each child that includes what they learned, the childs thoughts on things, artwork and just overall growth. It will stay with Griffin until he graduates from the school in a couple years. I loved hearing their take on Griff and enjoyed hearing more about how he interacts with the other kids. They said that he was highly imaginative, well rounded as far as his interests and was an excellent participator. Griff has also become fast friends with another little boy in his class and would you guess its the head brewers son at our favorite local brewery? We both get a kick out of it! Griff is also sleeping really well at night! Since he has completely healed he has not be sick, not one day, not one snotty nose, not one sinus infection. It's so amazing! He wakes up so perky, happy and well rested!

Graham is walking, talking, pointing, laughing, hugging, signing, kissing and just being the sweet baby boy we have come to know and love. He took his first steps at around 9.5 months and is walking more then crawling now at 10.5 months. I just bought him his first shoes so we could practice walking a little outside! Yesterday Graham was wearing his new shoes for the first time when we dropped Griffin off at school so naturally Griff had to round up his friends to show them how his baby brother can walk outside. "Look, my Grahamy got new shoes because he can walk now!". That Griff is pretty proud of his little brother, but not so much when Graham knocks down his latest Lego creation. For that he got a swift smack on the head this morning..oh brothers! I'll take the frustrated head smacks to baby and the "get this baby outta here Mom!" from Griff because I know its all part of growing up and learning self control.

Graham has a small collection of words that he says everyday: Momma, Dada, dog, hi, bye bye and baby. He also signs "all done" and "more". It seems he might also be a verbal baby like his big brother. Its fun to see how he is different from how Griff was at this age. He is very much into how things work and go together. He loves to stack the legos, his towers and play with his brothers magnets. He also showed me yesterday that shoes go on feet and that he can climb. Oh my! He makes associations with pictures and objects and has a huge sense of humor. He loves to give goodnight kisses to Dad and big brother and this morning he gave his very first hug to none other then Griffin. Pretty cool!

Its pretty amazing how you have your first baby and your heart literally explodes with love. Then you see your sweet husband turn into a truly amazing dad and that heart doubles in size. Then baby number two comes along and your heart breaks in the best kind of way because you know what having a child does to your heart and you know all the love that lies ahead. But then see your first born fall in love with their sibling and share so much love and joy that now your heart no longer fits inside your chest. Instead it's carried around all day by those boys and husband of yours and you get the unique opportunity to see your heart grow outside your body. Incredible.

I'll leave you with some pictures of those hearts of mine :)