top of page
WELCOME TO LIFE
IN GRIFFINLAND
Our journey with Williams Syndrome & Congenital Heart Disease
One mom's honest perspective and a family's journey through the waters of CHD and a rare genetic disorder.
A place of support, encouragement, and comfort for all those traveling similar roads with medically complex children.
​
Home: Welcome
Search
A letter to those grieving through Christmas:
Quite a few of you have reached out sharing your hurt and struggle as Christmas draws near. For some of you, it's your first Christmas...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 24, 20246 min read
3 views
0 comments
Unraveling
It's been eight months without Griffin here. It's not new anymore to the rest of the world, but for my heart it might as well be...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Aug 18, 20246 min read
7 views
0 comments
Take the picture…
Take the pictures…lots and lots and lots of them. Memories are strange things, and the human brain - maybe all brains - have this skill...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Mar 5, 20244 min read
6 views
0 comments
There’s Purpose In the Pain (Reflections a year later while navigating grief)
This month is going to be hard. One year ago this month was the start of our whole lives changing forever; the month that marks a year of...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Mar 2, 20244 min read
17 views
0 comments
The Chronicles of Griffin (Part 1)
Griffin was born on March 14th, 2021 (Pi Day for the non-nerds and dislikers of pie). He was 4 days overdue and despite everyone's best...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 19, 20237 min read
45 views
0 comments
Letter To Heaven (1)
Dear Griffin, My heart, my soul, my beloved, my sunshine... We've been home for 3 full days now, and it's still not home. I'm not sure it...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 15, 20232 min read
23 views
0 comments
The Many-Faced Monster
It's not at all what I thought it would be, this monster we wrap up so tidily under the simple guise we named Grief. I can wax poetic...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 6, 20233 min read
26 views
0 comments
Bring Me To The Desert
It's cold and wet here now, the beginnings of winter. I look out Griffin's window at the grays, blues, and small flashes of reds and...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Nov 30, 20232 min read
49 views
0 comments
Things We Find In The Mud
As I watch Griffin battle between wanting to sleep and wanting to be awake and playing; reaching for me in between soft cries that...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Nov 27, 20233 min read
40 views
0 comments
The letter I never wanted to write to you…
My dearest, most perfect, soulful little boy - my one and only Griffin, How do I count the ways I love you? How do I tell you enough how...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Nov 19, 20234 min read
58 views
0 comments
Hurt Hearts
I didn't know before Griffin my heart could ache like this. That it could withstand months and months of near-constant supreme highs and...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Sep 16, 20233 min read
47 views
0 comments
Stand Beside Her
Happy Independence Day to all our fellow Americans! 🇺🇸🎆🎇 Confession: it took a lot for me to post that. I’m not very happy today, in...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Jul 4, 20233 min read
58 views
1 comment
Waiting Rooms
I'm sitting in one of the waiting rooms while they attempt to close Griffin's chest after having it open for 14 days, despite his lungs...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Jun 13, 20232 min read
28 views
1 comment
Defiantly Choosing Joy
We are on day 5 of ECMO and all the usual rollercoaster of emotions, ups and downs, hopes and then subsequent uncertainties. We've been...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Jun 5, 20233 min read
12 views
0 comments
Dear Griffin
It's the night before your surgery to finally repair your heart. When I woke up this morning I didn't expect this, though, in hindsight...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
May 30, 20232 min read
29 views
0 comments
An unfiltered and honest response
People ask me all the time, "How are you doing?" I never know how to truly answer that. Do you really want to know, and how much time...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
May 28, 20236 min read
16 views
0 comments
The Weight of Motherhood
A lot has happened since my last post... I have said many, many things I never thought I would: "Griffin has gone into cardiac arrest."...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Apr 14, 20232 min read
24 views
0 comments
2022: Our Year in Review
Charles Dickens's first paragraph in A Tale of Two Cities is what keeps running through my mind as I try to summarize the past year for...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 31, 20227 min read
53 views
0 comments
A Fond Farewell
I haven't had the words, hence my absence on here. Between our surprise baby coming 3 months too early, Griffin being admitted emergently...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Dec 20, 20224 min read
22 views
0 comments
And yet...
We had a good long stretch of 7 months out of hospitals. From his discharge last August until this month we managed to evade Covid, cold...
Jess @ Life in Griffinland
Apr 25, 20223 min read
14 views
0 comments
Subscribe and stay up to date on Life in Griffinland
bottom of page