"Caroline"

Easter was followed by a special visit from your aunt Bev and your cousin Caroline--you quickly learned her name, saying it especially in the morning after you woke up, since she was there to help feed you and play with you.  It was a great visit, and the first time you showed off to Bev and Caroline your mobility skills!

 

 

Grandma Gehred's Travel Machine

On the move

In addition to your laundry basket rides, and walking of course, you are learning all kinds of ways to get around! Like this scooter (which talks to you in Spanish!) from Aunt Chris, and the bike at Grandma and Grandpa Gehreds.  Then there's Hubert, who you like to size up for rides now and then!

 

The Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe, but you have turned 1 year old!  And we had a nice little celebration to mark the big day.  Your mama made a homemade, all-natural healthy birthday carrot cake.  Now, she could not resist putting some good icing on it, which papa let you eat in good measure, which may be why you vomited all over your cute birthday outfit!  But not before you had a great time showing off all your talents, babbling all kinds of sounds, the ability to point, and getting very, very close to walking on your own!  Indeed, you are growing up very fast.  What an amazing first year - thank you! 

the New Blue.. it Fits!

Well, Benny, after much pressure from family and friends, we finally decided to provide a more suitable ride for you... so no more '94 Geo Prizm about to rust out from the underside up.  You have upgraded, to a 2007 Honda Fit.  Everyone is happy, the car rides great and still gets excellent gas mileage... plus gets greaty traction and maneuvers very well in the snow.  As you can see below, our blue boy fits perfectly, though so far the Chocolate Lab has been banned from riding along!  So thanks to all who encouraged us and helped make this happen!

CHRISTMAS 2010, Griffin Style

Well, you were quite a hit in St. Louis!  We traveled on Dec 18, stopping in Indianapolis to see our friend Bomani at Pendleton, while another friend, Elliott, capably kept an eye on you.  Then to St. Louis.  And all of this in our new Honda Fit.  You were a pretty good trooper in the car, only one or two meltdowns!  Once in St. Louie, we stayed for ten days and you saw Grandma Peggy, EVERY AUNT and UNCLE, and EVERY COUSIN on this side of the family!  And each had their special gifts and talents for you.  For example, here is Artist Annie with another great picture she drew for you!

Here is your cousin Jack sharing his gift of FUN with you, on your VERY FIRST sleigh ride.  You were not amused and ended up crying, while Jack went on to about ten more runs down the hill.

And here you are with Aunt Christine... she has quite the touch with you, able to calm you when needed and keep you happy!!

On Christmas Day, thankful for the gift of each other!

A final picture before you cried your way out of another family sleigh ride!

The Holy Family?  Well, a pretty happy family... at least when we get some sleep!

Granma Peggy instructing Farmer Ben on his new Chirstmas gift, a barn,

Here you are with your cousin Caroline.  Whenever she is around, she takes such a good care of you.  Over Christmas, she woke up early to help feed you, play with you, watch you:  she even changed some diapers!  And you thank her with big smiles!

Grandma Peggy loves her favorite Christmas guest of 2010:  you!

The Griffin Boys, human and canine

You have begun to take a great interest in the House of Hubert!  Now, the dog is not exactly as fond of you, but he behaves himself and we hope he warms up a bit!

Fun Around the House, Standing or Sitting

A Flea-ting Autumn

Embarrassing,  Yes, it is Halloween night and your papa is posting for the first time since August.  In my defense, let me give you a rundown of the craziness of the past 2 months:

-Our beloved doggie, Hubert, got fleas, and some of those fleas thought it would be fun to bite you.  Now your Grandpa (Doctor Deacon Lt. Colonel Deputy Vice Prefect of Corby Greg Gehred) assures us that the fleas were harmless.  But we wanted to kick their annoying little flea butts anyway, so we have turned the house upside down, employed the full strength of Borox Power (ask Mama about that) and then even had an exterminator.  We think the situation is good now, but wowsers has it taken up our time.

-Your Continued Allergy to Sleep.  Okay so it is not a REAL allergy, but you sure do not enjoy sleeping kiddo!  Good for you that you are so good natured, fun, lovey, happy and altogether amazing, because the nighttimes have been rough, and Mama and Pap are exhausted.  Way too exhausted to post!!!

Nonetheless, we can at least post some good pictures from September and October.  Here they are...

 

MEET THEM IN ST. LOUIE, LOUIE

Well, you ended your first summer with a trip to St. Louis, where EVERY one of your Griffin cousins was there to greet you.  It was the first time that your Aunt Bev and Uncle Tien's kids got to meet you, and one of them, your cousin Caroline, took a special shine to you, and helped to take care of you by feeding you, watching you and entertaining you.  Look how happy she is in the picture below, just to be sitting right next to you!

Your First Summer

 June had us testing your mettle as a traveller (your dad refers to your mom's family as "road warriors"). Early June was Portland and the middle of June found us in Wisconsin, where you saw the places and people of Fort Atkinson, the place your grandma and pa Gehred lived for 15 years before moving just a few miles from you here in South Bend. Anyway, the end of June brought a marathon of a trip, a challenge of whether you could keep up with your "warrior" grandparents. 10 days. 5 states. And a foreign country. Time of departure: 2:30 a.m. Welcome to travel with your grandparents.  First stop on our journey was Madonna House in Canada to meet your Aunt Teresa who is part of the community there. You were practically glued to Aunt T, as she held you every chance she could. So you got a lot of attention not only from her, but also from the other members of MH (about 100 of them). Thankfully stranger anxiety hasn't started with you, yet - instead you were soaking it all up!

 From Canada we went to Valatie, NY to see your Great-Uncle Peter (who is also your mom's godfather). It was technically your second visit there (though last summer you were in-utero). Uncle Peter is a Holy Cross Brother, and he lives at St. Joseph House in Valatie with about 30 other Brothers, including a few who worked with your dad at Bishop MacNamara high school in Washington, D.C. Their warm hospitality (and good food!) always make it an enjoyable place to be.

Here we are in front of St. Joseph's in Valatie. St. Joseph is the special patron of the brothers, and Br. Andre Bessette, a Holy Cross Brother from Canada who will be canonized in October, was known for having a great love for and devotion to St. Joseph.

Next on the travel circuit was Rochester, NY, where your Grandma Gehred is from. Her sister, your great-Aunt Barbara and her husband Larry were celebrating 50 yrs of marriage, and their 5 children, spouses, and 15 grandchildren, plus other family and friends were on-hand for the occasion. We stayed with cousin Maria and her family, and her youngest son Silas (pictured above) took a shine to you and was your special playmate for our time there. He even woke up early the day we left to say good-bye. 


Since June was such a whirlwind we tried to keep July on the mellow side. The name of the game has been trying to be more consistent with sleep and get you on some semblance of a schedule. We're coming along on that front. There have been some other milestones as well. On the vigil of your feast day (St. Benedict, July 11th), we started you on solids! You were tentative at first about the whole deal, but got into it, and now you're eating like a champ, at least your rice and oatmeal cereal. The peas from a jar also went down easily, but you broke your mom's heart by rejecting the green beans she grew for you in the garden and prepared with love. After two more tries (and a little trickery - mixing the green beans and peas together first) you did indeed eat the beans. We've also added sweet potato to your menu, and the list will keep growing....
You also cut your first tooth (bottom right front). It's sort of like a little dagger, and you are loving to bite down these days - ouch - which I suppose means more may soon follow.
Other fun little developments are that you're rolling with the best of them, you're sitting up better (though you can't sustain it for long without a little support) and you're "talking." Da-da was first said by you, appropriately, on Father's Day and seemed to be your favorite utterance. I think I heard ma-ma once or twice in June/July, but in these first few days of August ma-ma has been repeated often and has surged ahead!! Of course we can't yet claim that you are attributing meaning to these words - maybe that will be the news in the next blog post......

YOUR PAPA'S FIRST FATHER'S DAY

Well, at least the first one where he can hold you, since the last one you were in utero.  here we are, along with the Papita, Granpda Greg!

More Family Time

Another memorable visit of your Grandma Griffin, plus her sidekicks Aunt Pat Young and Ryan Young.  Here are some the pics.  Now, it might seem that there are a few pics unrelated to you... namely from the fishing trip on Lake Michigan that your dad and Ryan took, but they are related, since we ate the delicious fish that night (and hence it helped to feed you!) and since it shows what a stud fishermen your dad is... Ryan can attest to that!  Okay, here are the pics:

A Famous Family!

So you made the newspaper for the first time!  The South Bend Tribune for today (June 11, 2010) had a story on our neighborhood, about how it is revitalizing by people buying old re-habbed houses like ours.  They interviewed us and used this picture.  One person commented to your papa about "the cute baby, noble dog, and beautiful wife."  He agrees!

You can read the story at:  http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100610/NEWS04/100619963

Your first trip... Portland!!!

On May 26, 2010 you elevated thousands of feet for the first time... and were a great traveler:  A+.  We went from South Bend to Portland, with a stop in Minneapolis.  You had a great trip, and enjoyed quality time with our many friends and family in the City of Roses (and co-op businesses, more on that later!)  We stayed with Uncle Danny, Aunt Meg, Teddy (who is still very busy building an imaginary bridge to his new school), and Andrew.  Right nearby are Uncle Neil, Aunt Nikki and Natalee, Jackie and Maggie.  Here you are with all the Gehred cousins in Portland...

They also took us to see many sights.  Here we are at the famous Multnomah Falls:  though it does not appear so in this pic...you were fascinated by the rushing water!

Here you are having some "Bacon 'n Egg" time with your cousin and buddy Andrew... nice outfits, made by Aunt Meg!

We also have some really good friends in Portland, like Mark Holloway.  He and his partner David cooked us amazing Salmon dinner worthy of all the fame northeast coastal cooking gets.  He also is wearing a Cowboy Mouth t-shirt.. your favorite band!

Though this may LOOK like an ordinary moment with Uncle Danny, it is not.  He cut and filed your fingernails... not an easy feat for you since the last time we tried trimming your tiny little nails we broke a little skin (oops!) and you cried for hours!  Aunt Meg had some name for your uncle's service, but I would call it a "Dan-icure"!

Here you are loving life our last evening there... at a party for Uncle Neil's birthday (I think he's 40).