Almost 2 years old!

I am a slacker, or rather I've allowed Facebook to take over my time so that all my kid updates occur there and not here. Apologies for anyone who is still actually following this blog!

So this is Griffin Ranger, the curly haired angel boy. He is so sweet and is my most cuddly little guy. If all toddlers were like him, I'd have 10 more! It is really a joy to be his Mommy and I am really looking forward to each moment with him. 

 He is such the little duckling and follows me around everywhere. He loves to help out with things and to explore, as long as Mommy comes too! He turns around and says "Mommy! C'mon! C'mon!"

 His favorite foods are anything that I'm eating, especially if it's spicy! And he also loves "Bubarb!" which would make 3 out of 4 of the Gerrits kids a fan of their Great Grandpa Johnson's Rhubarb that is growing in our backyard.

 He loves to play with his siblings and is always doing something with them. Hudson and Griffin like to get into mischief together! He calls his siblings "Mahlin! (Madelyn)" "JoJay! (Jonas)" and "Hushin! (Hudson)"

It's hard to believe it's been 2 years already. Can't imagine my life without this sweet amazing little boy. 

Griffie is 7 months!

And I cannot believe it!

He is still just a happy smiley guy and is keeping us on our toes! He is so close to crawling and even though he hasn't quite mastered it yet, he has no problems getting all over the place. Griffin is called Griffie, Griffers, Griffles (like sniffles) and whenever he is not with mommy, one of his siblings always wants to be with him. He is wearing size 18month clothing, babbling up a storm and cutting teeth! He sleep very well (with his Mommy of course!) and has just started taste-testing a few foods like guacamole, pickles, bread and yogurt...courtesy of his older toddler brother.

I still feel like he is always just my 4 month old little baby and am surprised by how strong he is. We are looking forward to the next 6 months in which I'm sure he will begin the mobile stage and we will be go go go even more!

Smiley Guy!

Sweet Boys

My Love

6 week checkup

Here is Griffie sporting the silk/bamboo baby bonnet I knitted for him!


Griffin and I went to our family doctor for his first checkup. Up until this point, we've been seeing our midwives for some awesome postpartum mommy and baby care but I felt it was time for our doctor to be introduced to the newest babe.

Our doctor is a perfect balance of Eastern and Western medicine -- a doctor of osteopathy who is also trained in traditional Chinese medicine. He is fabulous! I love that he already assumed our babe was homebirthed and nursing. He is not currently my doctor, just our kids doc, but he asked how I was feeling after the birth and when I gave the usual "fine", he asked follow up questions about my level of tiredness, mood, aches and pains and gave suggestions on things to do to help. I think it is great that he's paying attention to mommy needs, which is something very lacking in our society!

So Griffin at just shy of 6 weeks, is 15 pounds and 25 1/4 inches with a 15 3/4 inch head. Which means he's grown just under 4 lbs and 4 1/4 inches (and 3/4in for his head circumference). He is equally off the charts for both his weight and height, which of course he was off the charts for weight when he was born, but that means he is proportional and just genetically predisposed to being big. His older brother Hudson, who is 20 months, has gained 4 lbs since my milk returned! I think it's just another testament to the versatility of breastmilk! I can nourish a 15lbs infant and a 26 lb toddler, with enough left over to soak a few shirts everyday. Hudson's finger & toenails are far less brittle now and his hair is more shiny too! I love that my milk can fill the nutritional gaps in his picky toddler diet.

Griffin smiles and coos and is such a doll baby. Just being around him makes our plans of this being our last baby almost fly right out the window!.....almost

The Name

Griffin - a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the
head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the
king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin
was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature, Representing keen wisdom, strength and courage.
Ranger - guardian of the forest

Originally we had a different name picked out for this little guy from before he was conceived. As the pregnancy wore on, I started feeling like there was another name out there that we were missing. I had a new list of 3 and as a joke with a friend who's last name is Griffin, I added it as the 4th on our list. As time went on, Griffin really started to grow on us but all the way until he was born we would not settle on a name. The kids started referring to the baby as the name of the week "or whatever his name is". As soon as he was born Jeremy and I both started calling him Griffin right away. He didn't seem like any of the other names. His middle name was also spur of the moment. Our other kiddos have family middle names and originally Griffin was going to also. But at a little after 3am Jeremy declares that his name is Griffin Ranger with the possibility of a 2nd middle name being after a family member. We decided to just leave it what it was, we've already honored both sides with our other kids middle names and we just fell in love with Griffin Ranger as it was. And so that is how our new little guy was named.