A long overdue yet semi forced post

Drew is FORCING me to write a blog right now because this is the evening he's feeling benevolent enough to share the computer. That's great & all, but now I can't remember anything I wanted to say!

What I can tell you is that Griffin had the BEST WEEKEND EVER last weekend. We went to the Buffalo Bill Days festival for dinner & music on Friday night.

Saturday started with a blueberry pancake breakfast at the Golden firehouse. I was pleasantly surprised- the food was DELICIOUS. Griffin agreed as evidenced by his purple face.

We were served by super nice firefighters and visited by police and politicians. I even met Griffin's future elementary school principal! But the entire time we ate, Griffin was eying the fire trucks. He has a HUGE thing for trucks right now. So when we finally got to go look at them close up, he was in heaven.

After that, we went to the Buffalo Bill Days parade, which he LOVED for the most part. (he only got crabby at the end, and I think that was because his nap was interrupted)

We had every intention of seeing the Wild West show after that, but it was HOT and they took forever to start, so we played in the river instead. Which was TOTALLY fine with Griffin.

Then, Sunday was training camp! There is nothing in the world that Griffin loves more than Broncos football. I cant tell you how many times I heard him scream "BRONCO" at the top of his lungs. We didn't have the absolute best seats, but we were in the shade with room to spread out, and in my book that is PERFECT.

Griffin actually took this one himself!

 So it was action packed, and we were EXHAUSTED by the end of it, but it meant the world to see our little boy so beside himself with happiness.

Monday is my first day of work at my new job!! I am officially an Academic Advising Coordinator for the new Center for Academic Services & Advising. WOO! I am excited and nervous at the same time, as well as a bit sad to be leaving my current position and co-workers behind. But this is SUCH an amazingly important move for our family. We're all THRILLED!! Cant wait for what the future holds...

i'd sure like to update the blog...

But Drew has been a giant computer hog lately. We pretty much never see him anymore. And there is no way I could compose an entire post on the tablet. So if you're missing great Griffin stories, TELL DREW.

Griffin the Large

Griffin had his 18 month check up today and overall, the doctor was VERY impressed with him. He is right on track with all of his social, physical and cognitive growth- even his temper tantrums and picky eating are exactly as they should be for a smart and developing kid.

And he's definitely gotten bigger! Here are his current stats:

Height: 32.75" (58th percentile)
Weight: 24.2 lbs (48th percentile)
Head: 19.13" circumference (80th percentile)

Drew laughs about Griffin having a giant Clark head, but it just means he is housing a GIANT BRAIN!! I knew my kid was brilliant. :)

He had to have a few shots, so afterwards he got his very first sucker for bravery! (dont worry, it was closely monitored) Drew says he's never seen so much drool...

Lesson Learned

Do not allow a toddler with access to crayons anywhere near expensive electronics. Especially unmonitored. We knew he liked art...

Sharing a Laugh

We went to the zoo yesterday morning and had a great time. Griffin is getting SUPER into it now that he can recognize some of the animals! At one point we stopped for lunch and I held out Griffin's jelly bread (he does not care for peanut butter, or the second slice of bread required to call it a "sandwich" hence jelly bread) just as he was bending down to get something. The result was a strawberry headed toddler. This made us both laugh. And laugh. And HOWL with laughter. After awhile, I think we were both laughing about laughing and we could barely breathe. Drew just looked at us, shook his head, and kept on eating his lunch. But, for me, that was one of the best moments EVER.

To my angel boy on his half birthday

Dear Griffin,

Four days ago you turned 18 months old. We celebrated your half birthday by playing lots of catch and having leftover birthday cake that we saved and froze from your first birthday. We all thought it was DELICIOUS. You are developing quite the sweet tooth that wasn't there before, so you were especially thrilled.

I can't believe that you are already a year and a half old. You're a full blown toddler. In fact, your dad and I talk all the time about how you're such a little boy- in your looks, your actions, your desires. It's incredible, but it happened SO fast.

Your favorite thing in the ENTIRE world right now is football. In fact, you say "football", "Broncos", and even "hut, hut" quite clearly. You adore playing catch with anyone who will stand there for a minute, including the dog. You think it's hilarious when the ball bounces off her face, and she's so eager to have a playmate, she doesn't mind. You demand to watch football of any kind throughout the day, but especially first thing in the morning and if we don't turn it on when you first start asking, you'll get the remote and hand it to us with this look in your eye that says we'll do it if we know what's good for us!

All the boys in your daycare class have been fighting lately. You came home several times with welts from being bitten. Your teachers thought it was retaliation from you "steamrolling" the other kids- basically running them over and then laying on them so they couldn't get up. I've realized since then though, that as much as I almost found it funny to be raising the Tiny Toughguy, you were actually playing. You fall on your dad and I all the time and snuggle into us as you laugh and laugh. I'm convinced that's what you're doing with your friends too, only they're not big and sturdy enough to take it as well, so we just keep telling you to be gentle. But we're not mad at you.

You are the sweetest guy and you pet us when we hurt ourselves and you snuggle with us when we read books. You hate seeing us leave for work and you try to monkey cling to us so that we can't walk away. But once you know you don't have a choice, you'll just stand and wave and say "bye bye". It always breaks our hearts.

On the other hand, you have a definite temper and you let everyone know when you are angry. This morning you refused to put on your shoes before school. You yelled and screamed and flailed. I gave up and decided to put them on once we got to school, but since you were in your socks, I couldn't let you walk through the garden and down the front stairs as is your routine. You were SO MAD that I was carrying you, you howled and arched your back until I was finally carrying you sideways like a suitcase. It was NOT funny at the time, nor is it really that funny now, but I figure one day when this is just a vague memory, I will laugh at the image.

You're getting to be an incredibly picky eater. I remember just a few months ago, you'd eat everything we set in front of you. Now, most of your dinner ends up on the floor and Scarlett is getting pretty fat. The only things I know you'll always eat no matter what are pancakes, pizza, bananas, grapes, potatoes, crackers, and macaroni and cheese. It's a pretty limited palate, my friend. I'm begging that you end up easier to feed than your dad!!

You've finally met the vast majority of your family (including everyone in Ohio) and you are adored. Everyone thinks you are the cutest kid they've ever seen and you bask in the attention, even showing off a little bit for those boy cousins of mine by throwing the football and hitting golf balls with your own tiny clubs.

You love art time- it's still your favorite thing at school. And while you bring home what I am assuming are pretty typical toddler art pieces, the pictures they send home of you creating your masterpieces are priceless. You are intense in your concentration and determination to place just the right paint stroke or choose the best color marker. Because of that (and because I love you) your art means the world to me and I have several pieces hanging up both at home and in my office.

There aren't words to describe how special you are, how happy you make us, or how full our lives have become. You make us laugh, you make our hearts swell with pride, and you awe us every single day. I think that makes up for the occasional frustration (though if you wanted to knock off those temper tantrums, we wouldn't miss them. I promise). We love you more than anything in the entire world. You are the best thing that ever happened to us. I cant wait to see what you're like in another 6 months...

love,

mama

Motherland (part 2)

So I meant to post about the second half of our trip DAYS ago, but Drew has been hogging the computer with his dramatic (and not at all nerdy) role playing game. And now that I finally have it to myself, I am TIRED so it may not be the most exciting. But I'll try...

Ok, so Monday. Monday was AWESOME and I lolled through it in girly splendor. Betsy, Cory and I had a ladies only outing starting with mani-pedis at an Aveda salon. It had been TOO LONG since I had a good pedi, and since it is now well into summer, my poor feet needed it (thank you, Betsy!!). After that we went to an Indian buffet for lunch and enjoyed it al fresco over conversation (thank you, Cory!) While we were gone, Drew, Steve and Griffin broke into the OSU Horseshoe & took pictures on the field!!

Then, some other things happened (I just cant for the life of me remember what they were) but that evening, I got to go have sushi with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Galen!! Two of my very favorite things!!

Unfortunately, on Tuesday, Betsy had to leave for a conference. Before she went, we stopped and visit her friend (the wonderful Lois) who had presents for Griffin (which he ADORES!) Sweetest. Woman. Ever. Then we got to go to Betsy's office and show Griffin off to all of her co-workers. He was pleasant and adorable without a single screaming fit, so we were pretty proud of that. It was tough saying goodbye to Grammy, but I had to rush back home to have a phone interview for an amazing job I am dying to get (story for another post). Though I was stressed about it, I think it went well. Afterwards we got to hang out with our friend, Andy, for a bit before we got ready to head to dinner with the whole Keefer Clan- Cory, Steve, William, Papa Rick, Donna, and Great Papa.

We stopped first and saw Rick and Donna's house. Then we went to the park where Griffin had the TIME OF HIS LIFE playing football with the fam.

Unfortunately, Griffin had SO much fun, he vehemently did not want to leave and he told us as such. At an ear bleeding decibel. The anger did not stop when we got to the restaurant and he made it really difficult to eat anything, much less have a conversation. Buuuut, at least we had the park.

The Crew

After dinner, Griffin thankfully fell asleep and we all went out for ice cream. I got a couple of funky flavors- a spicy Bangkok peanut and a homey brambleberry crisp. Mmmm. Unfortunately, the second I finished my ice cream, the dragon was awakened and he was PISSED so we had to run him home and throw him into bed. (whew. I love you, Griffin, but holy geez.)

Wednesday was our last full day in Ohio (*tear*) and we spent it driving up to Cleveland and back. Our first stop was my Aunt Sue's house so we could visit with her for a few minutes before she went to work. She just loved Griffin so that was a lot of fun. Then we drove out to Mentor Headlands and met Cory, Steve, and William there for a Day at the Beach!!! My soul NEEDED a few hours in the sun on the sands of Erie so that made my year. And we were BEYOND thrilled that The Gang joined us. It meant so much to us that they were willing to drive all that way just to have a few extra hours of fun with us. They are the best.

After the beach, the Matyai went home and the rest of us went over to my cousin, Dan & his fiancee Ellen's house. Almost all of my dad's side of the family were there to meet Griffin- uncles, cousins, the whole 9. And they had presents for Griff and made us dinner!! We felt SO loved. Of course my camera died at the beach so I wasn't able to capture any of it, but it meant the world to me!! Of course, an awesome day like that made for a LONG drive home. And that exhaustion was only compounded by the fact that we had to get everything ready and pack so that we could wake up at 4:15 the next morning to catch our flight!!

It was an awesome, excellent, perfect trip. And it reminded us how wonderful all of our people are- friends & family alike. We are so very lucky. Several hours and a hellish plane ride later, we were home, sweet, home again. Hard to believe that was just one week ago!