Matthew Update

Greetings!

It is summertime for sure in Lexington. The humidity is intense and we are enjoying staying inside in the air conditioning.



I finally got around to getting our pictures off of the camera (it's a video camera so that's why they aren't terribly clear) and these are some of my favorites of our little weed with legs.

This is from our last house. Matthew doesn't like being on his stomach because he gets frustrated with his arms. He can get his legs to push but his arms aren't quite sure what to do yet and he runs his face into the floor alot, but we're working on it. Here Matthew was just over one month.

This is in our new house. He's not to sure about the camera and got his fists up for this one. (7 weeks)

Fortunately I was able to persuade him but what he's not telling you is that he's laughing because he just peed on mommy!

Later that same day after we got into a clean outfit.

This next one is my favorite. Here's the backstory. Matthew thinks he's 6 years old and gets really frustrated that he can't walk around and talk yet so he stays up trying for a couple hours and then just exhausts himself totally. When he sleeps he sleeps hard. When he wakes up it takes him a couple minutes to realize it which provides great entertaining faces for us (He also has some heartburn from spitting up so we've been giving him Mylanta which doesn't always stay in his mouth so he often has a white binky print stuck to his face when he wakes up). This particular day he was especially determined and woke up after a power nap of 30 minutes. Dad went in to try to get him to fall back asleep, which he often will, and brought him out with this comment, "I just couldn't say no to this little face!"

We both laughed for about ten solid minutes while Matthew, oblivious to being the source of our strange noises, looked around like he had just realized he was alive. It was so funny.

Yesterday we went to another baseball game for the Rockbridge Rapids and we were able to stay longer than 3 innings this time and Matthew was in a good mood (Last time itgot rained out and was when he was supposed to be asleep). When we left we were losing 13 to 3 but it was fun to go and meet Grandma Griffin and see some other friends.

The Fourth of July is coming up and we should have a prime location for fireworks-watching right in our apartment (the complex is conveniently situated on a hill that overlooks the rooftops of Walmart and Lows and the two universitieson the other side and so we should be able

And We're Back!

Well, since last we saw our heroes they were braving the streets of Bolivia. Much has changed since then. To be specific we've gone through the following:

2 houses (now on our third as of last Wednesday)
1 dog named Hobbes has joined the crew

2 graduations

2 degrees from Southern Virginia University (Ben-Business Administration, Marian-English)

2 cars

1 ward change
5 or 6 jobs between the two of us

3 different callings in the church

2 exciting years of marriage

1 pregnancy

1 beautiful baby boy we named Matthew Johnathan Griffin (now 7 weeks old)

Ben is working the night shift and so he is home sleeping during the daytime and I am being a stay at home mom. I just took a summer class on Jane Austen where we read all six of her books. Ben is also going to be an assistant soccer coach for the men's team for Washington and Lee University in Lexington where we live. Soccer is Ben's niche so he's really looking forward to fall when the season starts.

Now we are settling into our cozy new two bedroom apartment and enjoying the summertime(I'll be enjoying it from the inside where there's air conditioning). We've been to see a couple movies and Ben has patiently answered all of my inane questions like: When is the reading rainbow guy going to show up? Where's the Patrick Stewart character? and What about the Klingons? when we went to see Star Trek (little did I know how little I knew about that plot soup).

Since I'm at home now on a more permanent basis I've developed the greatest intentions to chronicle our most exciting activities on more regular intervals. Hopefully you will enjoy reading along our adventures. Here's what's coming up:

June - Ben's Birthday (he's turning 25) and his first Father's Day!

July - Ben's brother Michael is getting married in San Diego, CA so the three of us are flying out a couple days before (we have to hit up Legoland, of course) and then Matthew and I will be going back with my parents to Woodside, CA and then onto a family reunion for the Ream side of the family in Idaho the week after the wedding.

October - Ben is being inducted into his high school's hall of fame for his epic soccer career in Falls Church, Virginia.

November - Of course we have Thanksgiving and that means more family.

December - We're planning on heading back out to California for Christmas with my side of the family which will hopefully involve a beach house and more fresh sushi and crab with assistance from Rachel and Knute Ream, two masters of the kitchen.

There's bound to be more adventures on the way soon. I've been reading the ever popular adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's hero Sherlock Holmes recently, and finding myself with a dog who tries to save rocks from drowning in the river and a baby with unusually large feet and toe-fingers that could shake a grown man's hand, I couldn't agree more with this particular observation from Holmes:

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent."