The Crow's Nest

(Birthday) Party Animal

2011-12-29T00:26:00.003-06:00

**(The first part of the birthday celebration is just before this post...make sure you see that one too)**
We had to wait to celebrate Brooklynn's birthday with her parties until the weekend after since her actual birthday fell on a Monday this year. Poor Brooklynn....her birthday has fallen on Opening Weekend for deer hunting season for the past several years....so this year was special since Daddy got to be here to help celebrate her on her actual day. She doesn't mind though....and its easy for me to be able to pick which weekend I will do her parties - ha!

So on Saturday, November 12th we got to celebrate with all her friends at a fun bouncy place. It was actually the same place we did it last year, but she asked to have it there again - which honestly it was FINE by me....they take care of everything - you just show up with cake and you are good to go...its a win-win!

Lots of her school friends got to come and play as well as lots of other friends too....she had a blast (and even some of the grown ups enjoyed the slides and bounce houses hahahaha) and the kids were sad when the time was up to move to the party room to eat cake - they wanted to run more! The time really does go by fast when you are there running around and playing. Of course once the kids were in the party room and served their pizza and cake, all was forgotten....cake and ice cream always makes things better - ha! I didn't get too many pics of the kids playing - way to hard to keep up with all of them LOL....

Brookie was brave this year and tried out climbing the rock wall....getting all hooked up....

And off she went.....didn't reach the top but she did look pretty cute trying her hardest.....

Some friends jumping and sliding and being silly

Some more friends making the long climb up the big slide....

This slide is HUGE...and FAST!!!

Always fun to slide down in a group....

A friendly game of air hockey.....all the kids waited patiently for their turn..I can honestly say I have never seen an air hockey game in slow motion....hahahaha - it was cute and they had so much fun playing anyway!

Birthday Cake #2 for the week..it was delicious!!!

Time to sing Happy Birthday.....

Making her wish.....

After her party, several of her friends came over to the house to watch her open her gifts and play.....

So much fun celebrating with your friends....L-R - Chloe, Brookie, Elise, Olivia & Blakelyn

Playing beauty shop with Chloe & Blakelyn....

Taking her friends out for a ride in her new set of wheels....

Sending her balloons up for a trip into the sky....

And finally after a fun-filled day, relaxing at home and playing with some more fun things received for her birthday.

The next day on Sunday, we celebrated her birthday...yet again..with Andy's family. She had a blast spending the afternoon with them and got lots more neat things to play with.....

And yes....here is cake #3 for the week......another delicious treat (not sure why it rotated when I downloaded it.....)

It was definitely a fun-filled week with lots of celebrating and lots of cake eating hahahaha. We had a blast and loved getting to celebrate our little girl turning 4 years old!

My Baby is FOUR!!!

2011-12-29T00:25:00.002-06:00

Well technically she's been 4 years old for close to 2 months now....but who's counting right? I just want to get this on here so I have it for memory to look back on.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Miss Brooklynn turning 4 years old back on November 7th. Still hard to believe she is not a baby anymore. Although it is hard to remember her being a baby since life was so hectic at that point with me still working full time and her being in daycare each day. I am so thankful I get to spend my days at home with her now experiencing new things instead of just hearing about them.

Brooklynn had several birthday celebrations throughout the week. She is such a loved little girl by so many....we had so much fun with her this year! I'll break it down into a couple posts b/c it would get way too long to include all in one and I love to add lots of pics.

We started off by surprising her the morning of her birthday with a room FULL of balloons! I got the idea off of Pinterest and just knew she would LOVE it. So I bought a bag of asst'd colored balloons and figured I would just do a few from the bag. HA - how wrong I was.....I should have known. I ended up doing the entire bag of 72 balloons and had them all over her floor. I always say, if you're going to do something, might as well go all out and do it right. So other than about 20 or so balloons from the bag, I blew up each and every balloon by mouth by myself. Anyone that knows me, knows that I get very light headed from just doing 1 balloon...so Im not really sure how I got that done - it was well after midnight by the time I was done...and I was seriously dizzy and barely able to walk without holding onto the wall for support. That could have been a bad bday surprise for Brooklynn to find her Mommy laying on the floor passed out....but it all turned out just fine! Andy had done the 20 or so balloons before he headed to bed and I told him I was done....but I changed my mind when I realized those few balloons just wouldn't do the job....lol!

This was the pile of balloons that were done before Andy went to bed when I told him I was done.....looks pretty decent right? Well once I moved them to her room, it didn't even make a dent......so thats when I decided to do some more...hahahahaha!

The excited birthday girl the next morning when she woke up and saw her newly decorated room....

She had a blast rolling around and playing and kicking the balloons all over the place....

Of course Cannon loved his big sister's birthday surprise too.....

Since her birthday fell on a school day, we waited to do presents and cake until the evening when we were all back home so we wouldn't be so rushed. Plus there was a big surprise too that we wanted her to be able to enjoy right away....

Her day was even better when she got to open presents with her 2 little best friends, Elise & Olivia from across the street....these 3 are inseperable!

I just LOVE this pic of the 3 of them - they are ALWAYS giggling non stop when they are together....so sweet!

And the BIG surprise for Brookie was her very own car to drive around in - a police car! She had seen it a few months back at Toys R Us and fell in love with it and talked about it non stop. I tried several times to see if I could change her mind and just get a regular car like a camaro or mustang...but nope...my little girl wanted the police car - LOL!

She was so excited.....all the kids loved riding around in it and playing with the sirens and flashing lights.

Then we came back inside to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl and pig out on yummy birthday cake.....

It was definitely a special day for all of us.....I just love this age - she really "gets" things now and was so looking forward to her birthday this year.....its so much fun making the birthdays fun for the kids....their own special day :)

**(Make sure you read the next post above for the second part of the birthday celebrations)**

21 Months

2011-12-21T11:45:00.000-06:00

Well I obviously gave up on doing the monthly posts for Cannon and everything he was up to. It got to the point where I was always so late getting them posted as well he has gotten to an age where there aren't such signifcant changes each month so I decided to just do a post every 3 months at this point until he turns 2. From there, I'm not sure how often I will do it - probably just occasionally to keep up to date on what he's up to. Plus I am just too busy chasing him around and keeping him out of trouble. My mom came into town a few weeks ago and has seen first hand how active this little boy has become - definitely a huge change since she last saw him in August when we were up in Canada visiting where he had literally just learned to walk on that particular trip.

I always joke that its a good thing he wasn't our first born child together - b/c he might have been the only one - ha! I know several people that were pregnant the same time as me and are pregnant again - I shiver with that thought - I just can't even imagine having a newborn to take care of and him too. I look at others and wonder how on earth they do it - and they have 3, 4 or more kids all close in age. Seriously, I feel like I must have missed some memo or course that trained them how to do it b/c dealing with a 21 month old and 4 year old is exhausting....well actually Brooklynn is pretty "easy" these days - more just dealing with attitude some days, but she is such a huge help to me with him so its like I am struggling with just the one kid - lol!

Anyway.....despite being so energetic and challenging, we really do have such a fun time with him too. He is a complete ham and loves to make us laugh - whether it be making a silly face at us, dancing like a crazy boy or just running around being a goof ball, each day is definitely a new adventure with him. Like I have mentioned before he goes non stop all day from the time he gets up to the time he goes to sleep. Lets just say I have no problems falling asleep most nights due to the pure exhaustion of chasing Cannon around - hahahaha!

Well here's what Cannon has been up to these last several months between 18-21 months:

•Weighs 27.8 lbs according to our bathroom scale

•Wears size 5 diapers

•Wears size 24 months and 2T size clothing and occasionally 3T in some things

•He is such a busy busy, BUSY little boy....getting into anything and EVERYTHING he can get his hands on. He goes from one thing to the next before I can catch him - its almost like he is testing me to see how fast I can move and if I can keep up with him (which apparently I can't)

•Completely and totally ALL BOY. He is so rough and tumble and messy and loud...and anything else you think of when you think of little boys. Definitely nothing left of the little baby in him anymore - all toddler....all boy!

•Loves to hear his own voice and can squeal and scream until your ears are ringing. We are obviously trying to encourage this to stop - but he thinks its the funniest thing ever!

•Also continuing with the above point, being that he is so active, we have had our share of boo boo's already. Im sure its just a small taste of things to come. We've had a bloody lip from running and falling face first onto the floor tile downstairs, we have tumbled down the entire flight of stairs from the very top to the very bottom - and thankfully came out of it with just a scratch. Unfortunately didn't do anything to slow him down when it comes to the stairs - didn't even phase him. He has fallen off his sister's little toddler trampoline and landed on his head, on the tile floor....fallen off pretty much all the beds in the house. And yes....in case you are wondering, he is closely supervised but he still manages to get into these predicaments in record time. Life with boys I guess.

•Loves to climb on anything that he can - I have found him climbing on top of our kitchen table, climbing up on a chair that he has pushed to the counter to reach something that was not meant for him, swiping forks and knives off the table - he seriously is such a handful!

•Has adjusted wonderfully to going to school 3 days per week - no more tears after about the 2nd week when he first started. Now he barely acknowledges me when I drop him off - he is already telling me 'bye bye' before I am walking out of the room. But luckily he is always so excited to see me in the afternoons when its time to get picked up. Brooklynn will always run ahead of me to give him a hug, and he just pushes her aside to get to me. Definitely a Mama's Boy!

•He is also definitely testing his limits and boundries with us. He will do something he knows he is not supposed to do and turn around and look at us and continue doing it and laugh. We are working on learning discipline - fun times let me tell you!

•Performed in his first Christmas program at school - and totally surprised me. Of course they really didn't sing esp since most of them are barely talking, but Cannon was up there on stage dancing and goofing off - such a ham!

•Celebrated at school with his first Christmas party. None of the kids really had a clue at that age, but they were all so happy to have their mom's there that day to help celebrate. Of course he was being a little stinker and getting into mischief - although his teachers assured me that he normally isn't like that when I'm not there and does listen most of the time. I sure hope so b/c I can just imagine the phone calls we will be getting from the principal's office in the future *gulp*! He was definitely the most "energetic" one in his class that day...

•His eating is really hit and miss. He was really picky for the longest time since the last update, then finally seemed to be turning the corner and eating most meals most days...then he got sick about a week ago and now we are back to the picky eater. Our only sure bet on days like this is fruit - at least its a healthy choice.

•His newest obsession is Mickey Mouse. I have DVR'd several episodes and that is the first thing he wants to watch every morning. When we are out shopping, if he spots anything with Mickey Mouse on it, he will start shrieking until we move closer to where he can get his hands on it.

•Loves electronics - loves to play with Grandma's iPad or my phone and play games....and will throw an epic temper tantrum when its time to put them up.

•Hates being in the car and being strapped down in his car seat. Also hates to wear shoes and socks and will remove them the minute I shut the door after strapping him in his car seat. I have no resorted to just bringing him out in bare feet and just putting them on whenever we get to where we are going.

•Still a great sleeper and gets 12 hours of straight sleep during the night - although when he is sick he is like a newborn all over again - up all the time....poor guy just doesn't do well with sleep when he isn't feeling great

•Still takes 1 nap a day - usually around 1:30 and goes for about 1.5-2 hours hours on average so that has been cut down a little since last update. He also is napping at school on his napmat like a pro - they said he is normally one of the first ones to fall asleep - definitely depends on his naps after all the mischief he gets into on a daily basis.

•Immitates everything his big sister does - from brushing his teeth, to coloring, to playing with babies - he tries to be just like her.

•Despite the fights that happen between his big sister and him, he really does worship the ground she walks on and wants to be right beside her all the time. He loves his big brother too and is so excited when he gets home each day from school.

Here are the pics from his 21 month old mini shoot. I only got 1 decent 'standard' pic of him on his chair with his sign - and it was the first one I snapped luckily b/c he very quickly jumped down from the chair and proceeded to go looking for trouble - LOL!

I even tried to bribe him to stay and pose for pics with all his Mickey Mouses.....

Of course that lasted all of 2 seconds before he was off....

And into the wipe container he goes....one of his favorite pastimes....pulling out ALL the wipes and then shoving them all back in - makes for interesting diaper changes trying to pull just one wipe out!

Of course, it was hard for me to tell him no - he just wanted to help clean/dust his shelves....which they desperately needed anyway - ha!

I HAD to get a close up of his hair - it is SOOOOO CURLY! I love it! Its time for another haircut again - its right on the border of becoming out of control again hahahaha!

Busy playing on his laptop and his piano....

Then he sat down with his favorite person and just watched her play with stickers.....

I think he was probably thinking "What in the world is this girl doing now????"

Then of course he thought she was the funniest thing ever!

My 2 goofballs...they are always cracking me up - I love this pic - such a sweet pic of the way they love playing each other and the fun they have

Then he thought he was the luckiest boy alive - he got some of the stickers too!

And this was the end result.....

And this......

So although I didn't get as many of the standard monthly pics I usually get, these pics definitely show more accurately my days with Cannon and all that he is up to :)

More Catching Up - Halloween

2011-12-10T23:18:00.000-06:00

Well this is REALLY late, but since I want to have these memories documented on here to look back on, I knew I still wanted to include our Halloween memories - even if it is almost 2 months late - ha! And as I mentioned at the end of my last post, my goal was to be caught up by the end of the year on all our 2011 events.

Anyway...moving on....we had lots of fun doing different things leading up to Halloween. We got to go to several Halloween carnivals with friends and enjoyed each one.

We went to Andy's Grandparents house one weekend and carved lots of pumpkins in all sorts of designs...

Even Cannon got into carving pumpkins...for a little while anyway :)

Then he decided to just start eating the pumpkins instead......

Finally he decided he had sat still long enough and took of running around the yard and explored while we were busy carving...

On the night of Halloween we got together with a bunch of our neighbor friends and headed around the block. By the time we got back to our street - we were WORN OUT... (well at least the adults were....kids were pretty wired - I think they were sneaking candy from their baskets when we weren't looking hahahaha)

We love our street and our neighbors - there are so many kids on our little cul de sac and so many fun friends nice and close.

Lets Play Catch Up...

2011-11-28T23:20:00.004-06:00

Wow....so apparently my blog has been pushed to the back-burner....its been close to 2 months since my last update and even then that was a single entry as well over an extended period of time. What can I say....the last couple of months, I feel like I could compare my life with that of hampster in a hampster wheel...you just keep going and going yet not really getting anywhere. To state that we have been busy the last 2 months would be an understatement - nothing really in particular but living as a family of 5 is definitley not stop. A week after Cannon started back to school, I returned to work part time. I only go into the office 2 days a week while they are at school and do a few more hours at home during naptime or after they are in bed for the night, but wow - its seriously kicking my butt! How silly I feel now for thinking that once I left the work world full time that I would have more time to get things done. I think I am busier now than I have ever been. The last 2 months have been crazy...the actual work part is only a small part of our week - its just all the other stuff that goes with being home with kids. Between doing all the regular household chores, going to Dr's appts, scheduling new Dr's appts, ballet lessons, taking the kids to and from school 3 days/week, volunteering at misc events at their school, participating and volunteering at a kids consignment sale, and just finishing up a huge annual project at work that required a whole lot more hours this last month and finally preparing a fun-filled 4th birthday for my favorite girl....I am ready for a vacation - ha! Wishful thinking for sure!

I had a good friend set me straight a few weeks ago...I mentioned to her that I was so confused b/c I used to do most of that and work full time before and still got it all done - so why am I having such a tough time now?? Well as she so kindly pointed out....we've added 2 more kids full time to the mix - so right there that just about quadruples the laundry loads..lol, but being home pretty much full time, I have taken on a lot more activities that I didn't necessarily do before since I was working all the time. As far as the housework - well there is that much more to do now b/c we are home so much more so there is more opportunity to make messes and more dishes to wash and everything else that goes with a family. And of course, I now have a VERY ACTIVE 20 month old toddler boy that pretty much takes all of our awake time up with trying to keep him out of trouble. He is a full time job just on his own - not even counting the other 2 kids. So needless to say, I had many misconceptions about what being home was going to be like...I wouldn't change it for the world, but I can honestly say I wouldn't know which to choose as the harder job - working full time outside of the house or staying home and being a full time mom...they definitely both have their struggles and both are equally hard just in different ways.

So anyway....just thought I'd throw in a bunch of pics from the last 2 months of what we've been up....I'll do Halloween and Brooklynn's 4th birthday post all on their own....lots of pics from that one. So enough with my excuses...here's what everyone has been waiting for..the pictures :) Here's a glimpse of our lives the last 2 months....

Our little ballerina....she is so excited when Thursday rolls around each week - time for ballet class!!!

Watching football every Sunday....Go Texans!!!

Helping me sort through things to sell at a kids consignment sale - making sure everything still 'works'

Loving on our new (old) babies....

Getting into mischief and driving his big sister crazy by getting into all her stuff....literally!

Getting into more mischief and driving his Mommy crazy....loving our doorknob covers now!!! Score - Mommy 1....Cannon 0!!!

Becoming an expert at puzzles - especially a favorite one that was given to her by Mommy's friend Katrine...

Playing dress up and pretending to go shopping......

LOL - Cannon going 'shopping' with Brookie....

LOL - poor Cannon...he is such a mess.....he wants to do EVERYTHING his big sister does.....

And finally....just to show how much motivation I have....I did this post 7 days ago...but just now got around to finally uploading all the pics a week later.....and I was even home all last week for Thanksgiving with the kids. Oh well....last week was wonderful - we spent most of our days in pj's not going anywhere - exactly what I needed!

Hopefully soon (before this year is over - ha!) I will have my posts up for Halloween and Brookie's 4th birthday....since it is almost December....LOL!

18 Months (Just a little late)

2011-09-28T23:08:00.001-05:00

Ok - I am finally forcing myself to sit down and do an 18 month post about Cannon - its already 2 weeks overdue and before I know it he will be 19 months! We've had a huge month with Cannon - he is definitely ALL TODDLER and defninitely ALL BOY! I am seriously getting a taste of what its going to be raising a boy and everything it includes. I only thought Brooklynn kept me busy - well she definitely does, but just in a completely different way. Cannon goes a million miles a minute and doesn't stop until I put him into his crib to go to sleep - he is into everything and testing his limits constantly. He is always making me laugh - even when I really shouldn't be - I do try to hide it from him when its something I need to redirect him from. Like I tell him countless times a day...he's lucky he is so cute - ha!

Anyway...here are the highlights of Cannon at 18 months:

•Weighs 26.3 lbs at his 18 month dr appointment which is 55th percentile

•Measured 33.5 inches tall at his 18 month dr appointment which is 83rd percentile

•Head measured in the 90th percentile - still got the big noggin!

•Wears size 5 diapers

•Wears size 24 months and 2T size clothing and occasionally 3T in some things

•Drinking 3 bottles of whole milk each day - yes bottle bootcamp didn't happen....we tried sippy cups with milk one day and he wanted no part of it - its just not a battle I am up for yet - and if that makes me a bad mom...oh well I can live with it - we are both happy for now! Plus we have started a new battle lately with Brookie that is taking alot of effort - trying to get her to stop sucking her thumb.....so that is where our focus is right now as far as battles go. I know he won't go to kindergarten with a bottle....he drinks juice and water out of a sippy cup like there is no tomorrow so we know he likes them for that...just eventually have to get him to take the milk in there too...one day.... :)

•Great eater - will pretty much eat anything and everything - loves all sorts of fruits - especially strawberries and blueberries. Loves mac and cheese and would eat it every day if we let him. He also loves to eat whatever we are eating at the moment and will throw a huge tantrum pointing and whining until he gets a piece

•Still my little snuggler....I love it when he will just climb up in my lap and lay his head on my shoulder and just hang out there for the longest time......I know he won't be like this for long so I am trying to soak it all in

•Still getting about 12 hours of straight sleep during the night - although when he is sick he is like a newborn all over again - up all the time....poor guy just doesn't do well with sleep when he isn't feeling great

•Takes 1 nap a day - usually around 1:30 and goes for about 2-2.5 hours on average. AND he also is napping at school on his napmat - surprisingly enough! Never thought that would happen, but he is my napping superstar at school - something his sister never really was too good at

•His walking how now led to him running everywhere. He also is loving trying to walk backwards and sideways...he is a mess!

•Favorite time of day is in the evening after dinner when we can finally get outside to play. He loves to ride around on his little bug ride on toy that Grandma got for him this summer - he zooms around on that thing really fast and he loves it. He also loves to draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk (in between trying to eat the chalk lol)

•Another favorite outdoor activity for Cannon is to get as dirty as possible in the shortest possible amount of time. He LOVES dirt and playing in it whenever he can. He also loves to find any bit of water and sit and play in it despite being fully clothed. This includes the water at the end of the driveway in the gutters after someone waters their lawns - yuck! Bonus for him - he saves time b/c that means he can play in the dirt and water all at the same time....he is filthy by the time we go inside for the night. (And now we don't actually let him play in that stuff...he makes a dash for it when we aren't watching....little stinker!)

•And finally...the big change for this month is.....Cannon started going to school (a.k.a. Mother's Day Out) 3 days a week and is doing really well (better than I ever thought he would do). He has been going for about 3 weeks now - every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00-2:00. The mornings have been a little hard on him when he is dropped off - he clings to my leg and starts crying so its hard for me to leave but I know he will have such a great day and know he is in good hands - they told me he normally only cries maybe 5 mins before settling down and having a great time the rest of the day. And guess what?? Today when I dropped him off - there were NO TEARS!!!! And he even watched me walk out the door - I was so happy! I am hoping he now knows the routine and that I come back every single time to get him when the school day is over..hopefully the tears are behind us now :)

And finally here are the pics of the crazy boy that I managed to get the other day - he was ALL over the place that morning - half the pics were of the back of his head or him trying to jump down from the chair. I tried a few other ways to get some good pics....but he had other ideas - ha! Excuse the fact that he was still in his pj's that morning when we did pics - he had been under the weather for the last week from a bad cold....and it was our ONE day out of the week where we didn't have to leave the house - yay!

Such a happy (mischievious) little boy.....

Trying out his Rocking Moose.....rock rock rock rock rock.....

Back to the chair.....

Too cool to sit down.....

Then he remembered he could rock on the chair....rock rock rock rock rock......

He was just all over the place that morning.....crazy boy! You would never know he had been under the weather for a few days with a bad cold.....still went full speed ahead all day (we just suffered through the nights)

Finally - Cannon's First Day of School!!

2011-09-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

Well it came 3 weeks later then his brother and sister's time, but today finally marked Cannon's 1st day of school.....ever! I have been so excited for this day to finally get here...but honestly as it got closer, I was starting to get a little nervous. I was still so excited for him b/c I know how much he will love it and have so much fun once he adjusts, but just nervous b/c he has never really been away from me in a different place for any extended amount of time. We've been trying to lessen the shock for him by visiting his classroom when we pick up Brooklynn in the afternoons just so he can be somewhat familiar with it. He was a little clingy each time but seemed to be interested in it. Baby steps right???

So anyway...we got all ready this morning and took our pics to mark this very important milestone in his life...sniff...my little boy is growing up! He was loving the excitement that we were building up for him before we left. I kept telling Brookie to tell him how much fun he is going to have and all the new friends he will meet...not really sure how much he really "got" out of that but still...definitely couldn't hurt just in case.

Such a cheeseball....he was all smiles this morning...he just looks so big to me!!!

Then I attempted to get a pic of the 2 of them together....lol - why do I even bother???

Cannon was more interested in trying to open his backpack to see all the stuff that was in there....

Well we got to school and drop off went much smoother than I expected. I decided to drop Brooklynn off first in her room since I wasn't too sure what we'd get out of Cannon. There were a couple other kids crying in there - one just started a week ago so he is still fairly new to this as well...and he's not really adjusting to well from what I have been told - poor boy. So he was pretty upset and that was distracting Cannon long enough that I could get everything unpacked and put away. Well since he was fine for the moment, we decided that it would be best for me to just sneak out...I hated that I didn't say bye to him, but I KNOW that would have definitely set him off. So I left before any tears were shed from him.

The day before the school had sent an email out requesting parent voluteers to help with some stuff in the morning after dropoff...so I figured that would be a perfect solution for me to be able to just hang around a little longer to make sure he was ok. I snuck back about 20 mins later to peek in his window and of course he was crying by then...but they were busy playing with him trying to distract them - definitely had it under control. A few mins later all the classes walked by the workroom where we were at and he was walking with his class to go sing songs with the whole school. Before I ended up leaving, I asked one of the staff to peek in at him in the big room and she said he was fine and sitting there nicely. So I left feeling better that he seemed to be doing ok.

I was so excited to pick him up - couldn't wait to hear about his day - obviously he wasn't too bad that they felt I needed to come get him. When we finally were able to go back, I walked through the door and he was ALL SMILES! Made me so happy...of course he was so excited to see me but they told me he had a pretty decent day. A few tears here and there which were to be expected, but overall did much better than we were all expecting - yay Cannon! They said when they were all in the big room in the morning singing songs, he was upset, so they brought Brookie over to sit with him and he calmed right down....such a good big sister. And the biggest shock of the day was that he actually SLEPT ON HIS MAT!!! I think he was so worn out from all the excitement and was just so excited to finally get his special blankie from home, it was probably such a relief to be able to just slow down a bit. I know over time he will learn to love it there just like his big sister....way more fun then spending all day with his mom - ha!

Now it will be interesting to see what happens on Friday when its time go back for day 2.....now that he knows that I leave him there... :)

First Days of School

2011-09-02T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ok...now that we have 2 weeks in the bag for this school year.... I guess it is about time that I post about their first days of school - ha!

First off was Andrew's first day of 7th grade back on August 22nd. What a difference a year makes - last year he told us he was nervous and had butterflies in his stomach. Sure everyone in his grade last year was heading to a new school - it was Jr High time...plus it was a brand spanking new school, but to add to it - he was going to a school where he knew none of the kids. Prior to last year, he had always attended the school by his Mom's place which was also in a different school district. So last year he also faced going to a new school in a different school district where he knew no one...but he ended up really enjoying it and making some new friends. Fast forward to this year and he was like an old pro....no worries whatsoever. 7th grade is definitely more of what I remember about my time in Jr High - the expectations are much higher and their workload has increased. Oh and they actually have homework! That was our biggest surprise last year - we could probably count on one hand the number of times he was actually assigned homework last year?!?! Craziness! So anyway...they are making up for it this year already - they have already had 1 major assignment due and they are only 2 weeks in. Hopefully this year goes as smoothly as last year!

Poor kid - he's getting to the age now where he gets embarrassed by us...but that't not going to stop us documenting his first days of school - always so neat to look back and see how much difference a year makes!

We had to do the outdoor pic super fast so no one caught us taking pics - ha!

Miss Brooklynn's first day of school was 2 days after Andrew on Wednesday, August 24th. She was sooooo excited to be heading back. She absolutely loves her teachers (as do I - they seem really great, they are affectionate with the kids and know how to keep the classroom running smoothly - yay!) This year is quite different though - she only has 1 other little girl from her class the past 2 years - the kids got split up quite a bit this year from the looks of things. She is still able to see her two best buds (Lauren & Dalton)though on a daily basis b/c their classes participate in some of the group activities together. She is really enjoying her new class and her teachers. She's adjusting well to meeting a bunch of new kids too - I'm sure before long she will forget that before this year, she had never met them all. This year is also her first official year of Preschool...so that means she will have a much more structured day and will learn tons of new things in a school like setting. The past 2 years were considered a Mothers Day Out - they did some of the same things, but it was more centered around playing with learning mixed in....I can't wait to see how much she changes this year and all the new things she will be learning.

And here is Miss Brooklynn on her first day - she was so excited to have her new back pack and lunch box....

And don't worry - I didn't forget to do Cannon's first day...his first day isn't until Sept 14th....only 12 more days (not that I am counting or anything!) I'll do another post for his big day when it comes!

First Haircuts

2011-08-23T16:33:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a BIG day in our house.....not only was it the first day back at school for at least one of the kids (I'll save the first day post and pics for later), but I finally broke down and took Brooklynn and Cannon for their First Haircuts...EVER! Both of them had this milestone on the same day...lol!

Brooklynn is 3.5 years old - will turn 4 in just over 2 months so I think she was long overdue for this to happen and Cannon - well anyone that has ever seen Cannon knew how much hair this kid had...lol!

I think it was the hardest on me - ha! I was ready for Brookie to get her hair cut - she no longer had the cute little curls on the bottom and it was just starting to look stringy amd uneven. But I was having such a hard time with Cannon and his precious curls. But I knew it had to be done - this heat was melting him. He looks really cute with his new big boy look, but I do miss those curls....it will just take time to adjust. :)

Here are a few pics from our big day....

BEFORE PIC....bye curls.. :(

Cannon wasn't too sure at first about this whole thing....

But then he settled down once he realized he could 'drive' his car and watch cartoons...

Almost done....

All done...now he didn't want to get out of the car...go figure!

Next up..Brookie's turn...poor girl barely fit in her car...lol!

She did so well.....sat still the entire time and watched her favorite movie...Cars.

Almost done....

Not a drastic cut, but just trimmed it and straightened it up. We got some longer layers to give it some more volume...her hair is so fine.

All done - such a pretty girl with braids :)

Cannon was busy playing at the train table while his big sister had her turn

And my two new kids..hehehehe

Make sure to check out the new monthly post below for Cannon too :) Running a little behind these days...hahahaha!

17 Months

2011-08-23T16:32:00.001-05:00

I don't know how its possible that Cannon is already 17 months old - he is almost halfway through the year to his 2nd birthday! It just seems like yesterday Brooklynn was this age and now he we are again with this little guy. He is so much fun and full of life - always smiling and full of hugs for us. I love how cuddly he is. We are quickly leaving the baby days behind and entering the toddler phase. I did love him being a baby and enjoyed that time with him (for the most part...lol) but I absolutely love this age - so fun to see him explore and experience new things and learn how things work. Their brains are developing so much right now - so neat to see it all coming together.

Anyway...here is a glimpse of what Cannon is up to these days....

•Weighs 26.2 lbs according to our bathroom scale

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wears size 24 months and 2T size clothing

•Drinking 3 bottles of whole milk each day - about to begin bottle bootcamp this week....wish us luck!

•Appetite came back full force and loves to eat - his newest favorites are sandwich meats, chicken strips, pizza, cheese, diced peaches and pretty much anything that we are eating

•Loves to climb up in my lap and rest his head on my chest....melts my heart. Then he thinks it time to start playing a game where he will look up at me real suddlenly, laugh and then throw his head back down..and then it starts all over again. I have been head-butted a few times - he has a HARD head! Ouch!

•Mouth is FULL of teeth - can't really see any that are still missing although I really don't put my fingers in his mouth - could easily pull my hand out with one less finger - ha!

•Still sleeping 12 hours a night - did awesome being away from home for a month too - both in the hotels and at Grandma's house - I thought for sure we would have some issues with the sleeping arrangements but he surprised me and did just fine in the pack and play.

•Takes 1 nap a day - usually around 1:30 and goes for about 3 hours on average - AND it is the same nap schedule as his big sister - a win-win situation for us all :) We have gone a few days here and there with him missing his nap completely and he has done ok...although I am not ready to make this a habit - but good to know its now possible.

•Is a full time walker now - getting faster by the day. He thinks he is big stuff now and tries his hardest to start running away from us during diaper changes, bath time - any time we need him for something.

•Favorite time of day is in the evening after dinner when we can finally get outside to play. Now that he is walking he has so much fun outside in the cul-de-sac with the other kids....just walks everywhere - so much easier for us too.

•And since we are now walking - we have seen a huge improvement from everything ending up in the mouth - still a few things here and there but defintely not the way it was a few short months ago...yay!!!

•Some of his favorite toys right now are his lawnmower, ride on train thing, cell phones, wooden train set, little cars he can push around and play with...and of course anything Brooklynn is playing with

•Because of his new found independence, he has become more strong willed as well....breaking up fights between him & Brooklynn is a daily occurence - multiple times a day. And oh my - can this boy scream when he doesn't get his way....learns from the expert..hahahaha. His world is about to start changing when he has to learn he doesn't always get his way...fun times ahead for sure!

•Recently discovered his love of cartoons.....thanks to being in the car almost 1700 miles each way when we visited Gs randma.

•Loves waterslides! We have been a few times here in town to a little waterpark and he loves being in the water and sliding down the slides with me. On our drive back home from up north, our first stop was at a hotel that had an indoor waterpark attached so we headed over and spent a few hours there. Cannon loved it (as did the rest of us). He would slide down the little kid slides by himself - I would help him at the top and Daddy would be at the bottom to catch him. He would climb out of the pool all by himself, climb up the stairs and head right back to go down again - such a big boy! People around us were looking at us like we were nuts at first for letting him go down by himself, but when they saw him laughing and heading back for more on his own - they understood just fine that it was all him!

•And finally...the big change for this month is.....Cannon got his first haircut!! We just did it yesterday, so I guess if I would have been on time, his monthly pic for this month would have included his curly long hair....but since I am so late posting this....it includes his new look. I do love his new haircut - esp today since its been washed and just looks normal instead of gelled up. But I miss his long curly hair - a lot! :( When I got him up today, he didn't have 1 single curl left - I may or may not have shed a few tears over that....but like I said...I do love his new haircut....he looks like a big boy now. Plus I KNOW not having that mop of hair is MUCH cooler on him...esp in this crazy heat.

Planes, Trains & Roller Coasters

2011-08-01T17:27:00.001-05:00

We've been enjoying our trip up north - visiting with friends and family and time for lots of play. Last week I decided it was finally time to take Brooklynn to Canada's Wonderland - its a huge amusement park that I used to go to all the time when I lived up here....so much fun! My friend Katrine joined us for the day and we got to go back to one of our favorite places from our teen years. We had such a fun-filled day - just the three of us - Cannon got to stay home and play with Grandma. We enjoyed our girl time and loved getting to be like a kid again. We spent 7 hours there!

Brooklynn went on ALL the rides in the kids area and loved them - she is definitely fearless! A few of the rides were for kids only so Katrine and I had to wait on the sidelines and watch. She jumped right in and had a blast. She even made a few little friends waiting in line and got to ride with them - always more fun riding with someone else :)

We did get to get on some of the rides and have fun too - we loved the carousel....

Brooklynn also rode her first roller coaster - The Ghoster Coaster! Its a wooden roller coaster that was actually a lot faster and higher than I ever remember...but she did just fine....and actually requested later on in the day to go on another roller coaster. Such a big girl!

Taking a peek at the coaster she just got off of.....

Got to fly a plane....

Ride on a train.....

And go round and round on the swings.....

And another little roller coaster....

Here we are in the front seat zooming around the corner...

LOL - and here is the pic of us from on the ride that they take and want you to buy....I just snapped a quick pic of the pic...hahahaha

Helicopter rides....

There is also a waterpark attached so we took a little break from all the rides and headed over there to cool off. Brookie is a pro at waterslides and jumped right in....Brrrr...that water was FREEZING!!!

We even got to go down on a waterslide together on an inner tube....it was pretty fun!

Hitting the pool of water - it was way too cold...lol!

After we cooled off we got dried off and changed and headed back to the rides and hit up our next roller coaster...Thunder Run...I remember this one being pretty calm when I used to go on it - its in the main part of the park so its not really a kid ride....so we decided to try it. I made sure to tell her it was going to be really dark and really fast....and boy - I was NOT lying. I definitely don't remember it being that fast! But surprise surprise - my fearless girl loved it!

We finished off our day with probably the most relaxing ride...The Swans...

I loved spending the day with Katrine and my little girl - made some awesome memories! We all had such a good time but wow - we were all worn out after 7 hours!

16 Months

2011-07-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

Cannon, Cannon, Cannon....where do I start with you this month? You have been such an active little boy getting into EVERYTHING and learning so many new things! This last month has really been huge - we can really see the difference in you now - making the change from being just a baby to becoming such an active little boy. I only thought you kept us busy before.....boy was I wrong! I can only imagine what the coming months will bring! :)

•No idea what his weight is this month - but I would be seriously surprised if he had gained any less than a pound since last month with his huge eating spree he went on for several weeks in the last month - I would guess at least 25 lbs if not more?

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Still wearing some size 18 mos although mostly its now 24 mos clothing and size 2T

•Drinking 3 bottles of whole milk each day

•Was doing well with eating everything but after our cross country road trip, is back to being a light eater again...ugh!

•Still getting some more new teeth in - no idea how many are left, but seriously his little mouth is ALL TEETH! I would think he is close to being almost done?

•Still sleeps about 12 hours a night - his bedtime has been a little later now - between 8:30-9pm most nights only b/c we are usually playing outside since that is the only time of day we care stand to be outside b/c of the heat.

•Takes 1 nap a day - usually around 1:30 and goes for about 3 hours on average - AND it is the same nap schedule as his big sister - a win-win situation for us all :)

•Loves the outdoors and looks forward to playing outside with our friends each night. He has graduated to a new toy now - his sister's motorized little 4 wheeler she used to have - he will zoom all over the cul de sac in it - and loves it! We love it too b/c its something he can do on his own so we can just relax and watch him :)

•Gotten a little better about putting things in his mouth - things still end up in there, but it seems to have slowed down since last month...hopefully this continues!

•Loves to sit on the couch or in chairs like a big boy - climbs up there and turns himself around and has the biggest grin on his face - just so proud of himself.

•Loves to imitate us now - whether it be talking on a cell phone, brushing his hair or teeth, trying to eat with utensils - its so cute seeing how his brain is learning all these new things.

•Went on his first cross country road trip...and we lived to tell about it (barely). It wasn't the smoothest experience but honestly he is just at that age where becoming mobile is his life so being restrained in a car for 3 days and 1800 miles wasn't his idea of fun. Hopefully by the time we head back next month, he will have forgotten how long the trip was and will do a little better.....we can dream right??

•His separation anxiety has reached a new level - not sure if the trip being in a different place has made it worse, but I can't even leave the room without him throwing a fit now. This Fall should prove interesting with him starting the same school as Brooklynn 3 days/week on his own.

•Has become quite the little show off when new people are around - loves to act goofy and get a laugh out of his audience - its pretty funny - whether it be waving his hands around like crazy, babbling some long story and then screeching at the end or just crawling 90mph across the floor and back again and then doing it again and again...whatever he can do to get people to laugh - too cute!

•And the BIGGEST change this month is his WALKING!!!! He was taking a few steps here and there in Houston before we left with lots of prompting by us...but since we left on our trip - he is becoming braver and doing it more and more and farther and farther. The first night in the hotel I was getting things situated and turned around to see him walking across the room towards me out of the blue. He did that several more times that night and the next night in the next hotel. Then the afternoon we got to Toronto, he actually figured out how to get up off the floor into a standing position and take off walking on his own without any help - yippee!!! He is walking more and more and we are hoping soon it will be his main way of getting around. He is still crawling a little more than half the time...but with more confidence each day...we should soon have a full time walker!

15 Months

2011-06-21T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well better late than never right? At least I am still managing to get the post up in the same month that he has his monthly birthdays right? We've had a busy month and now we are just melting in the heat.....but we are still managing to have fun and enjoying watcing Cannon become quite the little character. Every month, he is becoming more and more mischevious and I pretty much have to follow him wherever he goes. I honestly don't remember Brooklynn getting into this much stuff.....he is into anything and everything! I can only imagine how much worse its going to get as he gets older......well I guess he is going to be the one that keeps us young - always having to chase after him - ha!

Anyway...here are all the fun things that Cannon is up to at 15 months.....

•Weighed 24.5 lbs at the Dr's office last week during his 15 month check up

•32.5 inches long

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wearing mainly size 18 mos and 24 mos clothing. Also can wear several pieces of clothing in size 2T

•Drinking 3-4 bottles of whole milk each day

•Finally drinks juice from a sippy cup. I am SOOOO happy about this - at least now I know he is getting enough fluids into him - I was always stressing b/c it is so hot here and I know he needs to stay hydrated. Now we just need to get him switched over completely with the milk too

•Back to eating mostly everything and lots of it

•The walking issue.....well he took 5 steps repeatedly on June 2nd.....so I thought FINALLY we were on our way to having a walker....but nope he had other ideas. After that day he refused to try it again and as a real kicker, decided he no longer wanted to walk even holding my hands. We are slowly getting back to him walking while we hold his hands - he seems to do it much better for everyone else but me...so not sure what that is all about?

•Tons of teeth now - really have no clue how many anymore - and I really have no desire to try to stick my fingers in his mouth to try to find that out. I know he now has one of his molars, and a few more that I have seen that are new. And he definitely knows how to use them!

•Talking about knowing how to use the teeth - he has become a biter. He has bitten my shoulder a few times and has gone after Brooklynn....and it hurts! Hoping this phase passes quickly - I have a feeling its just b/c his mouth has been so sore from teething so much

•Still sleeps about 12 hours a night - his bedtime has been a little later now - between 8:30-9pm most nights only b/c we are usually playing outside since that is the only time of day we care stand to be outside b/c of the heat.

•The last few weeks he has been taking only 1 nap each day - mainly b/c of our schedules and I actually kind of like it better. It gives us a full morning to be able to do things and if he goes down after lunch, I can usually get Brooklynn down at the same time which means free time for me - yay! Its a win-win situation for sure!

•Loves being outside exploring and eating anything he can find on the ground. Also loves to play in his little splash pads and water table or on the water slide - defintely a water baby!

•Back to eating anything/everything off the ground again - it is driving me nuts! I don't know if its b/c we are in a new house and this is his way of exploring, but I noticed last month I had mentioned it had slown down, but not anymore - if anything - it is worse now than ever!

•Another new thing he has picked up is climbing....everything! He constantly wants up on the couch and will try his hardest to get up but can't do it just yet, which results in some major whining until I help him out. Yesterday he climbed up on one of Brooklynn's little chairs in their play area and fell off - straight onto the tile floor. I didn't see him do it, but it scared me to death b/c that floor is hard. Needless to say I went out today and got a BIG foam interlocking piece play mat to add a little padding to the floor.....hopefully that will take off some of the impact b/c I'm sure that won't be the last one :(

•Loves to climb our stairs in our new house. We had to hurry and put gates up at the top & bottom to keep him off b/c that was the first thing he would head to every single time. He thinks its the funniest thing to climb up as fast as he can when we let him do it with us right behind him - he giggles the whole way. Then when he reaches the top, he tries to turn around and head straight back down - head first! Needless to say at that point, he is locked out and done with the stairs!

•Can throw a full blown temper tantrum if things don't go his way - seen it a few times and I had to try so hard not to laugh - the whole throwing himself on the floor, screaming, kicking, trying to rip his clothes off type thing....pretty amusing actually!

•Had a really scary virus a few weeks back where he had a fever that got up to 106.2 degrees....luckily it only did that once and we were able to get it back under control with a trip to a pediatric urgent care office and he was better within a few days. Definitely have no desire to go through that again!

Today was actually a good day for taking pics of the little mister. He actually cooperated with me (for a short time anyway). I would call his name and tell him to look at Mommy and guess what? He actually did - and was all smiles...so it made my job easy today to get some nice smiling pics of him. Of course you will have to excuse his serious 'bed-head' look....his curls are everywhere!

And then he decided we were done - lol!

Welcome To Our Chaos...

2011-06-11T00:30:00.002-05:00

Thats what I feel like our life motto is lately. The last month or so has been completely crazy and hectic - our lives have literally been turned upside down - but all in a good way. For those of you that don't know, we sold our house which is no small feat in the Houston market.

It was on the market for about 3 weeks and we had showings practically everyday and sometimes multiple showings on the same day - we received 3 offers. The first was definitely a no-go. They were investors looking for a steal - and our house wasn't it. We went in with the attitude of, "if it works out great, if not, then it wasn't meant to be". We knew our bottom line price that we couldn't go below - we were not willing to pay money to get out of our house...so that particular offer didn't pan out. We got another offer a few weeks later - better than the first, but we definitely weren't jumping up and down for joy about it. We negotiated back and forth for a few days and finally unofficially agreed on a price....we then waited and waited and waited some more for them to send over their signed offer. Well in that time another family came through and fell in love and made an official offer - above asking! Of course we jumped on it - the other people were dragging their feet and we had a great offer that actually afforded us to get a little money to put towards the renovations that our new house needed. So our closings were 3 weeks away. We closed on our old house on May 24th and closed on our new house May 25th. Those were a few very stressful days - closings NEVER go smoothly and I was so terrified of something last minute coming up. A few things popped up, but luckily they were easy to resolve and both closings went through with no problems.

Then the real work began....the house we bought needed some work - it had been vacant since August and before that had been occupied by renters. We had a week from the time we closed on it until we had to be out of the other house. So we had our work cut out for us. We hired a painting company to paint the entire house inside and out. We also had to re-do all the first floor baseboards as they were pretty rough looking from when the other owner decided to lay tile all on the first floor. Andy did this job all by himself - and it was definitely a job! We would go over first thing in the morning and be working all day until late at night to get it done in time for when the painters would be working down there.

We moved on Memorial Day Weekend and our actual moving day was uneventful - well as much as a moving day could be. I think I totally underestimated how much went into moving - I guess I had forgotten since the last time was over 7 years ago - we have definitely accumulated A LOT of stuff with 3 kids! Plus I figured since it was such a short distance move (only 2 houses down) it would be no big deal. But it was still way more work than I thought. We love our neighbors and our cul de sac street and just the area in general - this was a huge factor for deciding to buy another house right here. We had several neighbors and friends come help us move our stuff. We initially were just loading up the pickup trucks and doing loads that way, but soon realized we needed more. One of our neighbors is in construction and has a flatbed trailer he uses for work, so we were able to use that and things moved a lot faster. In the pic below you can see how close our move was....Andy's loaded down truck is in our old driveway and the driveway with the white painter's van is our new one...lol! One house in between us!

The first week in our new house was very hectic. The painters were there all week so we really couldn't start organizing things and get settled in. Plus having 2 small kids in the house with the paint fumes and wet paint wasn't the ideal thing. So we were able to get out and play with friends during the day. It definitely helped my sanity to get out of our mess for a few hours each day.

We finally began really unpacking about a week after we moved in - when the painters were done. What a task! We moved from an 1800 sq ft house to a 3000+ sq ft house - we still can't figure out how we fit everything into our old house! We definitely don't have as much empty space in the new place as we thought we would have! Of course, when things settle down and we are just back to living our normal everyday lives, we can go through and get rid of what we don't need. I couldn't help but share this pic of Cannon one day while we were unpacking....I walked back into the room and he had decided to 'help' us by unpacking a box with the alcohol in it....he definitely is his Daddy's son...hehehehe - and don't worry - he never got a drop of the rum ;)

This week we are more or less settled in.....there are only a couple more boxes left to unpack and put away, but for the most part...we are done. Just need to do finishing touches - put up pics and stuff like that. We also still have some more light fixtures and ceiling fans to replace. The outside still needs some work too.....

We started off this week on a scary note. Cannon had a fever all day Sunday....it was a little higher than I liked and I was constantly checking on him all day - it was hovering between 102-103 degrees.....but by the afternoon, Tylenol wasn't helping to bring it down. I took his temp late that afternoon and it was up to 104 and I decided to take him on into the urgent care pediatric clinic before they closed. Well we got there about 10 mins before they closed and I told them that I had just taken his temp within the last 30 mins and it was 104. The receptionist was concerned so she went and got the thermometer herself and took his temp and it came back at 106.2!!! I just about flipped when I saw it and she took off running (literally)to find the Dr. They rushed us back to the room and were asking me a zillion questions about how long has the fever been going on, any seizures, what has he been taking, etc. while at the same time stripping him down as fast as they could. They grabbed a bunch of towels and soaked them in cool water and started wrapping him up trying to get his body temp down. I was trying everything not to lose it - I was scared to death - especially since they seemed pretty scared themselves. They gave him a dose of motrin right away and then another dose of Tylenol about 30 mins later. Here is a pic of him wrapped up in towels...poor little guy was NOT happy and felt miserable!

They ran several tests (2 seperate blood tests - finger prick and a regular blood draw from a vein which took 2 atttempts...and a urine test - tried 2 times unsuccessfully with a catheter and 2 times with a bag) and all came back normal - the only thing was his blood count was really low which she said meant it was something viral. I was a mess by this point - anyone that knows me knows how much I hate needles/blood and just hearing his screaming and knowing there was nothing I could do to help was just torture. His temp finally came down and by the time we left 2.5 hours later it was down to around 101-102 degrees. Needless to say it was a long night - had to set my alarm to give him more meds so his fever didn't spike again. The next couple of days were long...but luckily the fever was controlled by the meds so it didn't get out of hand again.

This is the following day.....still feeling pretty lousy :(

And the next day he was definitely on the mend....still had a fever - but definitely lower. He was becoming more playful and loved wearing Brookie's headband....lol! I bet it felt good to have all that crazy curly hair off his face - ha!

And now he is just his normal, looking for all sorts of trouble self - which we couldn't be happier about! :)

14 Months....finally!

2011-05-19T09:51:00.003-05:00

Wow....I am really slacking on this blog lately...my last post was over a month ago...for the 13 month update and now I am several days late posting this month's update. Well I guess its better late than never right? I just seriously cannot sit myself down to write a post. Just.can't.do.it. But I know I will be kicking myself if I don't keep up with these monthly posts...so neat to go back and look back on these. Only wish I would have been doing this for Brookie too. I guess I am a little backwards - usually its the 1st baby that gets all the milestones and important dates documented....but for me its been Cannon. I really need to fill out Brooklynn's baby book while I can still remember most of her major milestones...b/c my memory is pretty unreliable these days hahahaha!

Anyway......Cannon.....well he's still a mess. But a good mess. He is constantly making us laugh and getting goofier each month....wonder where he learns that from?? He's also becoming more high maintenance again.....mainly with me. He wants my constant attention and always wants me to be holding him. Mother's Day Out can't happen soon enough - we both need it. I never had to deal with this sort of attachment from Brooklynn as she was in daycare by 8 weeks. Now with Cannon - he's been with me 24/7 for 14 months already...and it shows! Don't get me wrong...I have loved every second of it (well mostly...b/c lets face it - being a SAHM is way harder than I ever imagined) but I need him to be more independent and able to function without me. This Fall is going to be interesting...he is going to be 'that kid' in class that completely freaks out when I leave.....dreading that! But I know he will grow to love it and love being with other kids during the day getting to play and learn....it will just take time.

Anyway...moving on....lets get to the important stuff....what he's been up to this last month:

•Still weighs 24.1 lbs according to our bathroom scale - somewhat surprised the weight hasn't changed in a month, but then again, he has become a really picky eater and never sits still for a minute....so I guess that it does kind of make sense when you look at the big picture.

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wearing mainly size 18 mos and 24 mos clothing. Also can wear several pieces of clothing in size 2T - definitely following in his sister's footsteps - going to be a big boy!

•Drinking 4 bottles of whole milk each day - haven't attempted the sippy lately....still not a huge fan of it even with juice...

•The last week he has decided to become a picky eater and is giving us a hard time. Even his normal 'go-to' foods aren't happening lately....like 2 nights ago he ended up having a banana and some veggie flavor snacks for dinner. I was just happy he woud eat that - didn't want him to wake up in the middle of the night starving. Pasta and yogurt are some favorites right now though....but there is only so much of those I can feed hm...

•Still waiting on him to become a walker.....he is just on his own schedule. Finally got him to walk while only holding onto one of our hands.....baby steps right?

•Finally got another tooth in on the bottom left. The rest of his mouth looks like it is about to erupt with many more teeth soon....maybe that is why he has been so picky lately?

•Sleeps 8pm-8am

•His napping schedule is all over the place. There are many days where he ends up with just a longer nap in the late morning/early afternoon. I honestly don't mind those days since he is more than ready for bed in the evening - with no crying.

•Seems to be doing a little better about not putting every single thing he finds in his mouth...its maybe more like 90% now....I'll take what I can get....

•Loves his time outdoors - he is happiest just being down on the ground doing his own thing....

•When I put him on the ground outside, he will do a crab walk kind of crawl - up on his hands and feet so his knees don't touch the ground - its hilarious.

•Added the word 'ball' to his vocabulary just 2 days ago...of course its more like "bah" but he is definitely saying ball as he will go find it and then hold it and say "bah bah bah" over and over again...

•FINALLY started waving this last week....seriously...14 months and we got a wave! See what I mean he is on his own schedule????

13 Months

2011-04-14T22:12:00.004-05:00

Our little man is growing like a weed - can't believe yet another month has has flown by. Seems like each month goes by even faster than the last. We have had a good month - been healthy for the most part and just been living our day to day life. Cannon is constantly learning and trying new things - including testing his limits with us. He loves to explore and see what he can find - and is learning the art to driving his sister crazy.....oh the fun times. Its going to get really interesting soon when he really starts getting into her stuff....hahahaha. Payback for Brooklynn for her bugging her big brother...hahahaha - the circle of life...lol!

Anyway....here's what Cannon is up to at 13 months:

•Weighs 24.1 lbs according to his Dr's appt last week

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wearing mainly size 18 mos and 24 mos clothing. Also can wear several pieces of clothing in size 2T - definitely following in his sister's footsteps - going to be a big boy!

•Finally made the switch to whole milk (yay - its like a pay raise not having to buy formula all the time) Still has been drinking 4 bottles per day. Our next goal is to get hime switched over to a sippy cup instead of a bottle....one thing at a time :)

•Still a great eater - definitely doesn't miss any meals - hahahaha! Loves his pasta, fruits, veggies, etc. And he is definitely my boy - he LOVES french fries....lol!

•Still cruises along while holding onto things. Loves to walk around if we are holding both his hands and is getting really good at it...but has no desire to try it on his own yet - or even holding just one of our hands - has to be both or he will just sit himself down.

•He now crawls the normal crawl everywhere - and he has gotten FAST!

•Still has the same 6 teeth - nothing new still.

•Made yet another trip back to the dr last week - he had a yeast infection - seriously? Didn't know a boy could get that....but I guess from being on antibiotics pretty much all winter, his system was just all messed up - poor little guy!

•Sleeps 8pm-8am - although he is starting to wake up a little earlier...trying to guide him back in the right direction - ha!

•His napping schedule seems to have settled back down and went back to his 2 naps every day. Although now it seems like the morning was is becoming the longer one - usually goes down around 11am and sleeps until 12:30-1:00pm...and then a shorter nap in the afternoon around 3:30/4:00 - 5pm.

•Still eats and/ or chews everything he can get his hands on

•Loves to play with his water table he got for his birthday - he loves any and all water - until you pour it over his head and then he is done.

•Still enjoys his walker outside....he is super fast in it. The minute you put him in it - he takes off and runs straight for the road. Also loves to be pushed around in Brooklynn's little pink car outside. He will hold his hands up in the air like he is on a roller coaster - so cute!

•If I put him on the ground outside, he will do a crab walk kind of crawl - up on his hands and feet so his knees don't touch the ground - its hilarious.

•No new words since last update - just Mama & Dada still but we are working on it.

•Loves to sit on the floor with me and roll the ball back and forth - thinks it is the funniest thing ever.

•Loves when we sing to him - favorite song is "If you're happy and you know it...."

And now of course the pics.....he is just such a mess. His hair is out of control and as much as I love his curls...I know the time is coming when I have to take him for a haircut. All those curls make this little boy hot!!! It will be a sad day..hoping he keeps at least some of them - I love his messy look - its just so Cannon :)

And Brookie wanted her picture taken too - and wanted a sign just like Cannon...so I figured out exactly how old my little girl was and took her pic too - she was so excited! When did she get so big???

And since everyone was in a picture taking mood...I thought I would try to get a cute pic of these two.....hahahaha - what a joke! They wouldn't leave each other alone!

Look out Brookie - its the attack of the Cannon!!!!!!

Random Brooklynn

2011-04-07T21:18:00.001-05:00

Miss Brooklynn is another busy little girl in our house. She keeps us on our toes just as much as Cannon - but just in a different way. Where Cannon is just getting into mischief and exploring, Brooklynn is challenging us with her independence and stubborness. I still haven't decided which age is harder - they both definitely have their moments.

The last few months with Brooklynn have been non-stop as well. There always seems to be something going on or somewhere to go. Brooklynn is all about playing outside and being with her friends - my social butterfly :)

Brookie also was hit with the same bugs as Cannon - she generally would have them first and then pass them along to her little brother. Somehow the 2 older boys in the house seem to have escaped all of it. I only got a little bit here and there. The worst was when both Brooklynn & Cannon were both sick at the same time with different things - just knowing that they were spreading more stuff back and forth. I never thought it was going to end.

Here is a glimpse of Brookie's life the last couple of months....

Back in February, she got to go to her first Daddy/Daughter Dance at the church. She was so excited! She even got a corsage from her Daddy....so sweet!

Waiting on her Prince Charming to arrive.....

Beginning of March she got to celebrate Go Texan Day at school. She insisted on wearing her hair in pig tails....she thought she was pretty cool :)

Always finding new games to play with her toys. She was having a blast making this plastic ping pong ball fly around inside this cup....

Brooklynn loves to bake. I am trying to continue to encourage her to enjoy it since I really don't enjoy cooking at all - baking isn't too bad...but honestly if I never did it again...I'd be just fine. Of course our baking at this point consists of the already made/pre-measured cookie dough...where all you have to do is put it on a cookie sheet and throw it in the oven. But for me thats about all I can handle...hahahaha. And Brookie loves it so its a win-win situation :)

More pigtails this day....

Such a sweet sweet girl. I can't believe how grown up she is really starting to look - and how TALL she is!!! She is a big girl!!! Hard to believe she is still only 3 years old!

And trying to get a cute pic of these two rugrats is next to impossible. The faces I catch...priceless!!

Seriously...look how big she looks!?!?!?!

Again...trying to get a good pic of them - guess it wasn't really the best time - Brookie was in the middle of eating her lunch and Cannon was overdue for his nap....oops!

This pic cracks me up b/c it looks like Cannon is just standing there and walking around....oh how I wish he was walking! He is heavy! And yes...I do know what I am wishing for and everything that comes with him walking...but believe me - he is HEAVY and he is already more than capable of getting into more trouble than I can keep up with at any given time! And I felt the exact same way with Brooklynn and I was the happiest person alive when she started walking - freedom!!! But I think we still have some more time before we get to that point....he's in no rush to become Mr Independent....he is a Momma's Boy all the way through and is more than happy to be carried around everywhere...hahahaha! But I am ok with that too....I love how cuddly he is :)

Random Cannon

2011-04-07T14:45:00.001-05:00

So I have totally neglected this blog lately - just can't seem to motivate myself to sit down and do a new post and upload the pics. I know I will regret it b/c I find myself always going back and looking at older posts and I am so thankful to have it all written down b/c you honestly forget so much. So I thought I would do a couple posts to attempt to catch up on the last couple months what we have been up to.

We had a rough few months with various sicknesses in our house. Cannon seemed to catch anything & everything that came through the doors. We went through numerous colds, the stomach flu, strep throat, pink eye, multiple ear infections, etc. I keep hoping that he is getting his immune system in order for when he starts at the same school as Brooklynn in the fall! Now with the weather getting better/warmer we seem to have moved on from all these nasty germs. Now we are just dealing with the wonderful Houston allergies!

We spend A LOT of time outside lately - the weather has been incredible - we are actually getting a Spring this year - so we are taking full advantage of it as we know what is just around the corner.

Cannon has been enjoying getting to play with his birthday presents - he is loving this water table. I have a feeling this will be a very popular toy this summer - anything to stay cooled off :)

This poor boy has so much curly, thick hair. I hate to cut it, but he is going to melt when it gets really hot outside. This particular day it was pretty warm and already he was sweating to death - so I just slicked back his hair and he was good to go.

And following in his big sister's footsteps....he has discovered the dog crate and suprise surprise...he loves it!!! Anytime he heads to the kitchen - about 2 seconds later you can usually find him inside the cage....or playing in the dog's water bowl. This boy is a mess!

Cannon got his first pair of big boy shoes....not totally a fan yet...but figured it was time that he learn to wear them...you know...for the day when he decides he is (finally) ready to walk - ha!

Poor Daisy...another kid in the house to torment her....you can see her through the gate glaring at Cannon and growling like crazy...lol. And of course the more she growls, the more Cannon bangs on the gate - such a vicious cycle!

Look at all those curls!!! When it is humid out (99% of the time in Houston) his hair turns sooooo curly.....such a mess!!!

This little boy is so much fun but he is definitely a handful. He keeps me on my toes from the minute he wakes up until he goes to sleep. He is into everything and loves to explore all over and goes looking for trouble! I only wish I had half his energy! :)

12 Months

2011-03-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Cannon!!! Yesterday he turned one year old...I cannot wrap my mind around that one! It feels like we completely just skipped over about 7 months and now here we are - its just crazy!

It has been a busy month trying to get ready for his 1st birthday party. So many little details to get finished but somehow it all got done and we all had a great time. Cannon really has developed quite the personality....he's getting just as goofy as everyone else in our household..lol! I guess he really had no choice - ha! He is constantly doing things to get our attention and make us laugh - never a dull moment. He still goes 90mph from the time he gets up until its time to go to sleep - definitely keeps us our toes.

Its so hard to believe how much he has changed in just one short year....last year at this time he was just a tiny, helpless newborn that could only just lay there....and now - we have this active, into everything, curious little boy who won't sit still for a second. We have just had so much fun with him watching him grown and learn new things. I made a point to make sure I really enjoyed the short time when he was a newborn and little baby b/c I knew from experience it goes by so fast. Despite the first 4 months being rough with dealing with a colicky baby, I always knew that it would pass, so I still managed to take the good out of all of it. He loved to be held all the time, and I loved being the one to get to hold him since I was home with him all the time. I didn't get to spend all those hours during the day with Brooklynn when she was little b/c I was still working full time...so I wanted to make sure I took it all in. Cannon is such a cuddly little boy - even to this day - still loves to be held but definitely not for as long b/c he is just too active. Even with trying to soak all these moments in...and making a conscious effort to do so...it still flew by. We are now entering toddlerhood with him - a whole new experience for sure - looking forward to watching him learn all the new things this year brings.

Anyway...here are all the details about what Cannon has really been up to this last month:

•Weighs 23.8 lbs according to his Dr's appt last week

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wearing between 12 months - 24 month size clothing - the 12 mos are starting to be a little snug...so 18 mos is the ideal size right now, although I bought him a bunch of summer clothes in 24 mos hoping to make them last through the summer - and he can already fit into them...

•Usually drinks 4 bottles per day - 7 ozs per bottle - but he has been leaving about 1-2 ozs behind...too busy to finish them - ha! There have been several days that his nap schedule has been off and he goes with one fewer bottle and does just fine.

•Great eater - mainly eating table food now although for some meals we add in a jar of fruit or veggies to complete his meal. For Breakfast, he eats yogurt and a banana or toast. For lunch he loves having mac & cheese or grill cheese and some fruit and most of the time will eat what we are having for dinner along with a jar of veggies. He also loves the Gerber Pasta Pick Ups....one of his favorite foods. He is so funny now whenever he sees us eating - he throws a fit until we give him some of our food - he loves to eat!

•Walks around everywhere holding onto things. Probably started doing that the day after his last monthly update post where I said I was waiting for him to start cruising....

•He still HATES the musical lion - Brooklynn's old walking toy after he fell over with it on top of himself. I found a sturdier train ride on toy that he can walk behind and he has warmed up to that. He can walk behind it slowly...although he prefers to just push it while scooting along on his knees.

•Loves to walk around with one of us holding his hands....he thinks he is a big boy doing that! He is starting to get better and better doing this - definitely progressing towards walking on his own - still a ways to go..but moving in the right direction.

•He now mainly crawls up on his hands and knees...sometimes he will get back on his tummy and do the army crawl..mainly when he is pushing a car along and needs his hands free - ha!

•Still has the same 6 teeth - nothing new still.

•Finally got the 'all clear' last week on his last double ear infection that would not go away. It took 3 different antibiotics to finally clear it up - so happy!

•Sleeps 8pm-8am sometimes until 9am - love it!

•Trying to figure out his napping schedule. For a few weeks, it really seemed like he was trying to give up his morning nap..so I prepared myself to just go down to 1 nap/day in the early afternoon. After experimenting a few days with different nap schedules, he went back to wanting 2 naps a day...just the first one is a little later now - usually between 11-11:30am that usually lasts about 1.5-2 hours and a shorter nap in the afternoon - usually between 4-5pm.

•Still eats and/ or chews everything he can get his hands on

•Pretty much done with sitting in the exersaucer - now he is happiest just to walk around the outside of it playing with all the toys...

•Still loves his bathtime. He just loves to play in the water wherever he can find it...bathtub, dog bowl, humidifer in his sister's room...makes a huge mess anytime he can find some water.

•Still loves to be in his walker outside and will actually whine until I put him in there so he can have his freedom. He can go everywhere with that thing...if he gets stuck, he knows to lift it up and keep on walking - its hilarious! Whats even funnier is how he walks around in it...he will bob his head back and forth with each step...hahahahaha! Just hope when he is learning to independently walk..he doesn't try to do that then.

•Constantly says Mama..and dada...and occasionally it sounds like he says other things...but pretty sure they are just a fluke.

So now onto the pics....I ended up trying to take his pics late in the day yesterday on his birthday...definitely not a smart move - he wanted no part of it by that time. So after trying for several minutes to get him to calm down and stop crying...I had to give up.

This is what I got last night when trying to do his pics....poor guy was just worn out.

Luckily he woke up this morning good as new and we got some happy, smiling pics. Also...is it just me or does he suddenly look so much older??? He just looks like such a big boy in these pics this month....

Cannon's 1st Birthday Party - Part 2

2011-03-13T23:10:00.001-05:00

The day of Cannon's 1st Birthday party was almost perfect. I had been watching the weather for many days before. The first time I looked at it about 10 days out it showed the whole weekend as rainy...but of course being that far out...its anyone's guess what it would really be like. Well as the days went on and the day got closer...the rainy weather was getting pushed later and later into the week so it was looking more promising. Finally on the day of the party, the weather was beautiful - sunny and warm...but extremely windy! Houston never seems to be very windy..but there were times when we were setting up that a huge gust of wind would blow threw and it felt like we were trying to decorate during a hurricane...hahahaha! Of course it wasn't THAT strong...but when you are out in the open and trying to set up misc. party things....it sure did feel that way :) But thankfully we had no rain - I was so relieved. Of course, it wouldn't have been a big deal to have it indoors - that was the main reason for choosing to have the party at Andy's grandparents house - they definitely have the room indoors or outdoors to throw a party.

Anyway... Cannon seemed to really enjoy his day - although I'm pretty sure he had no clue what was really going on - just another day for him and of course he loved all the attention. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out b/c we had to be over there setting up and getting things ready pretty early...so I knew the likelihood of him getting a nap in was pretty slim. Sure enough I was right. We brought his pack & play to take a nap in, but he just screamed the whole time he was in there. So we just gave up and let him play. He actually held out really well throughout the rest of the day. I think there was enough to keep him entertained that he never had a chance to realize how tired he was. He did end up catching a quick nap on his Daddy's lap for a little bit...probably just enough to tie him over until bed time.

Cannon got lots of great gifts for his bday - he is definitely one spoiled..oops I mean loved little boy ;) Of course when the presents were being opened, he was more concerned with eating leaves off the ground - go figure! Luckily for him, he had lots of little friends willing to help him open his presents...hahahaha!

Here he is...completely turned AWAY from the gifts...searching for his leaf

And eating one....

This pic cracks me up - still can't get over how curly his hair is?!?!?! Don't ask..b/c I have no clue where it came from!!! I think Andy said he had curly hair when he was a baby...b/c we know its definitely not from me!!!

And here are all his little helpers...a ladies man already! hahahaha!

Just completely oblivious to all the presents behind him...lol!

Finally it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Cannon. He loved being sung to...he was smiling so big and acting silly...he was taking it all in....

And then it was time for THE CAKE!!!! At first he wasn't too sure what to do with it..he finally stuck a finger in it.

He got a little taste of it...so far so good....

Enjoying his cake with his big brother and big sister

He was still being pretty careful with how he was touching it...not too crazy about getting it on his fingers...

Just kind of looking 'over it' by this point....he was done with being dirty...too bad his Mommy & Daddy weren't done yet...

A little extra help from his mean Mommy....poor guy.. :(

He was NOT happy about getting even more on his hands....

Finally....Daddy comes to his rescue.....

Or does he??? Nope...Daddy gets him even messier...poor kid just can't catch a break!

Its just so rough turning one!!!

Someone...anyone??? Please help????

Poor little guy....

Finally we decide he is done making a mess...

My poor messy boy....from head to toe!

And the aftermath!

We enjoyed his birthday party so much with our family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate our special little guy. It was a lot of work but so worth it in the end to celebrate such an amazing year! Can't believe my little Cannon is one year old!!!

Cannon's 1st Birthday Party - Part 1

2011-03-13T22:05:00.000-05:00

This was a big weekend for us - we celebrated Cannon's 1st birthday with a fun party! We had so much fun celebrating our little guy with family and friends - everything went perfectly. I'm not going to lie though - I am wiped out!! So much planning and organzing went into making his party into what I wanted but I really enjoyed putting it all together. And of course it was worth all the work to celebrate his special day. I had a lot of help from Andy's mom and grandparents - which I couldn't have done it all without them. Andy's mom made so many delicious dips and tasty foods which was so appreciated...b/c lets face it...I don't do too well in the kitchen! :) We decided to have the party at Andy's grandparent's house b/c they live on some land and its just so beautiful out there - and much more room to run around. So thankful that they are always willing to open their house up for whatever party we may be throwing. Our house definitley wouldn't be able to accommodate all our guests.

Its still so strange for me to realize his 1st birthday party is now behind us. I started thinking about this day probably when he was only a couple months old at most - ha! I started browsing around online looking for cute ideas that I could use to plan his big day...of course when you start looking at ideas that far out...it leaves lots of time to continually change your mind - which of course for me is no big surprise. I finally landed on the idea of just doing his theme in primary colors - red, blue, orange, yellow & green. I loved how simple it was to find matching things and how easy it was to create different things to go with it. I dove in and started planning and creating right away.

First off was the invitations...I had found some ideas online that I was really liking and wanted to do something like them. Well the weekend we met up with Andy's sister to take pics for Cannon's bday, I emailed her the night before an idea of what I was looking at for an invite and jokingly asked her if she could do something like that...well that next morning she sent me her version of it and I LOVED it....so we had the invite done - yay! Then we got that amazing pic that she captured - I was so thrilled how it all turned out!

Once we got the invite all finalized, I was working on this party full time. I love doing crafty things and I just kept adding ideas to my list of what I wanted to do for his birthday. I actually had to cut out some ideas b/c it was just becoming too much for me to get done by the deadline.

I ended making several things to go with the theme...I made the banner...unfortunately we totally forgot to take a pic of it at the party. But I took one tonight in our house to show what it looked like. It ended up being way longer than I was originally planning...but it worked out perfectly since we did his party outdoors so we had tons of room.

and some close ups of it....

And here are some shots of all the other things at the party - the delicious food, and all the fun party stuff.

We had a fruit tray, veggie trays, chips & salsa, chicken enchilada dip (my absolute favorite thing ever!!!), corn casserole dip, a cheese ball with crackers, meatballs, and some little cocktail weiners that are in a really tasty sauce. So much delicious food!

Then we had another table set up for all the drinks and party favors. We just did a variety of sodas (aka 'pop' for my friends and family up north...hehehe) for the adults and the kids had a variety of juices. For the party favors for all the guests I did little bags of skittles tied up with a cute color coordinating ribbon and made little favor tags that said "Thanks for making my 1st birthday so fun...Love, Cannon". For the kids I also bought little buckets of sidewalk chalk and wrapped them up the same way and attached the same little tag. Of course after several guests had left, I had totally forgotten about the party favors...so needless to say I am sitting here stuffing my face full of skittles...lol!!!

and some closeups of the party favors

We also had lots of fun treats. We had a cake, cupcakes and some fun marshmellow treats that I had found online. The kids loved them...I think I will be making those for some more parties down the road :)

Here are the cakes we ordered just from a local grocery store.

I really liked Cannon's little cake - thought it was too cute!

We also got a bunch of cupcakes as well. I kind of had to b/c one of the first things I made a while back was this cupcake stand and I wanted to be sure to use it! I also made the cupcake toppers too to add some more color to the yummy cupcakes.

And here are the yummy marshmellow treats that were definitely a kid favorite! They were just so easy for them to grab and go! I just spray painted the baskets and added some coordinating ribbon and finished them off by adding some extra cup cake toppers to decorate them.

For the kids we rented a little moonwalk/slide combo. They had a great time on it - definitely worth it to keep them entertained. I didn't get a good shot of the moonwalk...but this is the one we ended up getting - worth every penny!

Just wanted to say thank you again to everyone that helped make this party a success - couldn't have done it without y'all!

And a special thanks to Andy's sister, Missy..for saving the day with her camera - yet again! My camera seems to have an issue with major events in Cannon's life. Almost a year to the day, it just died on me again. Last year it happened at the WORST possible time ever - in the delivery room!!! We managed to get 2 pics right after he was born and that was it - it just died - the batteries were fried. And now a year later...same thing again - right when he was about to dive into his 1st birthday cake ever! This camera seems to just drain the batteries in an insanely fast amount of time - I had just replaced the batteries a few days before so they should have been totally fine! And the strangest thing is that they don't do it all the time - only at the worst possible times. So anyway..luckily she captured all the special moments for Cannon's 1st bday :)

I think I will finish off all the party fun on the next post - this one is getting way too long! Stay tuned for Cannon's Birthday Party - Part 2 :)

The quickest year ever...

2011-03-07T23:09:00.001-06:00

Yes....that pretty much sums up my life! How do I turn the fast forward button off???

The days are just flying right on by and each day goes even faster than the last one. Can you believe in 1 short week, Cannon will be 1 year old?!?! I know I can't! Of course that means that I am in full party planning mode trying to bring it all together and of course I'm nowhere near being done. What can I say...I work well under pressure - always have! And for once I can't blame it on waiting until last minute. This has been a work in progress almost as long as Cannon has been born - ha! I have an obsession with planning kids party themes and have been looking around online at all the different ideas. I have so many ideas swirling around my head that I really need to figure out exactly what I want to do and what I will have to pass up for this year. I am so excited how it is turning out though - I am having tons of fun making lots of cute little things to decorate with. I'll share it all once its all complete :) I'm not doing an official theme - just doing everything in bright colors - red, blue, yellow, green & orange - its amazing all the stuff you can find to go with it.

A few weeks back we got together with Andy's sister, Missy and she took a bunch of pics for us hoping to be able to get at least 1 good one of Cannon to use on his invite. Well she made it a really difficult decision b/c they all turned out sooooo cute! I think I have looked at them so many times b/c I just can't get enough of that sweet sweet boy! She really captured his personality in so many of the pics - you just can't help but smile at the mess he is...he is so much fun!

So for now, I thought I'd just share some of his birthday pics from the shoot until I can share about the party this weekend. For those of you that are on Facebook...you have already seen these b/c I just couldn't resist not sharing them any longer....

I tried my hardest to only include a few of my favorites here...but as you will see....they are all just so cute - so I am warning you now..picture overload ahead :)

These pics on the tricycle I was a nervous wreck...I had 'practiced' with him the day before in our garage to see if he would (or even could) sit on it...well he LOVED it!

Until he completely fell off and scared me to death. Lets just say that he definitely does not fall gracefully! Luckily he was ok as I think the garage door broke most of his fall - I think it just scared him (and me) worse than anything. But I thought for sure I totally just ruined any chance of him ever getting back on it to take pics the next day....but luckily...I was wrong.....

He still loved it!!!

Stopping to play in the dirt for a bit - being a model is hard work - ha!

I L.O.V.E. this pic!!!! This totally shows how goofy he is becoming - he is a big ol' mess!

And if I thought doing the bike pics before scared me...these next ones just about did me in...I had to stand way over to the side so Missy could get a wide angle shot...I could just see it happening again - a repeat of the day before....but this time nothing around him to break his fall....I stood off to the side and held my breath....

But nope - my big boy held on tight and was enjoying every second of it! And we got some of the cutest pics ever!

And finally...saving the best for last....like I said..we had a tough choice in trying to choose a pic for the invites....we just needed 1 good pic and we would have been happy....but how do you choose?

Well as soon as we saw this next one...it was a no-brainer... this just melts my heart!

Love this precious little boy!!! Stay tuned for all the birthday pics after this weekend :)

11 Months

2011-02-14T22:56:00.001-06:00

11 months old.....how is it even possible in one short month, Cannon will be 1 year old?!?! Where did my baby go??? I know I have said this every month, but yes...its flying by faster and faster than ever and honestly this last month has been huge for him. He seems to have finally caught up to his age in my mind....he has always seemed a bit younger than what he actually was...but this last month...he has made up for it! He has developed quite the personality - constantly is cracking us up with his ways. He is always on the go and exploring everywhere! I turn my back for a second and he is long gone and into another room on the other side of the house. He is into everything he can get his hands on - from what I have heard, its a boy thing...and I would have to agree..b/c I honestly don't remember Brooklynn being this mischevious. Don't get me wrong - I know she kept us on our toes, but I don't remember her looking for trouble like Cannon does....he wears me out on a daily basis! No wonder I am sleeping so soundly - I am exhausted by the end of the day! I don't mind though...I love that he is so happy and loves to play now.

Anyway...here are the latest things that Cannon is up to just a month before his big first birthday:

•Weighs 23.6 lbs according to his Dr's appt last week

•Wears size 4 diapers

•Wearing 12 months and 12-18 months size clothing.

•4 bottles per day - 7 ozs per bottle - but he has been leaving about 1-2 ozs behind...too busy to finish them - ha!

•Great eater - eats yogurt and a banana for breakfast, a jar of fruit with cereal and puffs or crackers for lunch and most of the time will eat what we are having for dinner along with a jar of veggies. His favorite real food is mac & cheese. He is so funny now whenever he sees us eating - he throws a fit until we give him some of our food - he loves to eat!

•Now can go from crawling to sitting and back to crawling again

•Pulls himself up to standing all the time now. The first day was a little scary...he would pull himself up and then just let go and would fall flat on his back and head....so then he gave up that new trick for a few days....but figured it out again and now hangs on with no problems. Still waiting for him to start cruising along things (no rush..hehehe)

•Is able to walk a little behind Brooklynn's old riding toy - the musical lion. Of course, the first night he was doing it, he fell backwards and flipped the entire walker over on top of himself, so now he really doesn't want anything to do with it..but we are hoping he will be back at it soon.

•Loves to walk around with one of us holding his hands....he thinks he is a big boy doing that!

•Loves to play on Brooklynn's little trampline she got for Christmas. He has now figured out how to climb up there on his own and will just sit up there forever. He will also pull himself up to the bar and attemp to jump on his own - of course he isn't really jumping - more like just kind of bobbing up and down - and he is so proud of himself! He stands there with the hugest smile and is laughing like crazy.

•90% of the time he still army crawls - although he does know how to crawl on his hands & knees. He normally reserves that technique when he gets close to an object to pull up on or for short distances. It just isn't fast enough for him - therefore, he relies on the army crawling.

•Still has the same 6 teeth - nothing new still.

•Had another double ear infection (3rd one) - poor little guy - just can't seem to stay away from them - but he is handled this one like a champ

•Also had pink eye at the same time as the ear infection - and since he is just such a sweet little boy that loves to share with his big sister, he also shared pink eye with her too... can we say fun???

•To say its been a rough month health wise doesn't begin to cut it - even after all the above things...he is now dealing with a nasty stomach bug. That in itself would be bad enough, but again, he decided to share it with his big sister too....so Mommy has been dealing with 2 kids with stomach bugs - (one top and one bottom) and Brookie having pink eye in both eyes...see what I mean - fun times?!?!?!
•Sleeps 8pm-8am sometimes until 9am - love it!

•Takes 2 naps a day - a morning one around 10:30-11:00am for about an hour and half to two hours and then an afternoon nap around 3:00-3:30 that lasts about an hour to hour and a half

•Still eats everything he can get his hands on

•Still managing to get a little time in the exersaucer to buy me some free time without having to chase him down every 2 seconds. Of course, its for very limited amounts of time now.

•Loves his bathtime and will throw a temper tantrum when its time to get out. We moved him to the big tub this last month. Well, he is still in his little bathtub, but we just put it in the big tub and him & Brooklynn take a bath at the same time - they love it!

•Talking about temper tantrums - wow is all I can say. This little man makes it known to everyone when he is not happy with something - he is intense! He can throw a tantrum like its no one's business! I guess he's learning from the best...his big sister - ha!

•Loves to go play outside in the walker - he is a crazy man in that thing. He takes off running all around the cul de sac. I have to remember I actually need to keep an eye out for him now when we are outside.

•Loves to clap his hands when he is happy or when he has done something he is proud of

•Loves to dance to music - he just rocks back and forth with his head...so cute!

And now for the pics...excuse Cannon's crazy hair - he just woke up from his afternoon nap when I grabbed the chance to take a few pics. Like I said above...we have been in survival mode here at the house lately dealing with all the bugs..so this is how we have been loooking around here lately...but I love the crazy bed head look anyway (at least on this sweet little boy ;)

The Energizer Kids

2011-02-02T16:12:00.000-06:00

I've been in a blogging funk lately - just can't seem to make myself sit down and actually write a post....I am still taking tons of pics of the kids when I see something I can't pass up...but just getting on here and actually blogging about it...its becoming a challenge.

Anyway...not much going on in our lives right now - which I am really not complaining - its nice to be just living day to day going about our lives. The kids go non stop and are always busy getting into something or keeping themselves busy. I always joke and say they are like the Energizer Bunny, they never stop except when its nap time or bed time..hahaha. Its exhausting keeping up with them - especially Cannon - always have to one step ahead of him b/c he is a little mischief maker!

Here is just a glimpse of what we have been up to lately...and although these were taken over many days...this is generally what one of our days looks like at home - its go go go. I'm exhausted just looking back through these pics!

Also...just a fair warning..picture overload ahead!!)

10 Months

2011-01-14T16:36:00.003-06:00

Our little man is 10 months old today...hard to believe in 2 short months he will be a year old. This last month he really seems to have had a major growth spurt - both in size and developmentally - all of a sudden, he seems so much older. He really interacts with us now and you can tell there is starting to be understanding on his part when we talk to him - its so neat when they get to this stage. We've got a busy busy boy on our hands too - he goes from the time he wakes up until the time we put him down for a nap or bedtime - non-stop! He goes looking for trouble - into everything and full of mischief. He knows how to wear this Mommy out! :)

Here is what Cannon is up to these days at 10 months old:

•Weighs 22 lbs - doesn't seem to have gained much weight in the last month but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact he is so active and never stays still for a second.

•Wears size 4 diapers - we have a few more size 3 that we are trying to finish off and then its finally to size 4 - definitely over due!

•Wearing 12 months and 12-18 months size clothing. We can still squeez him into some size 9 months....but they are definitely snug.

•Drinks 7 ozs in each bottle - 4 times a day - I think he is starting to wean himself from formula - he has started leaving a couple ounces in most bottles - or it could be b/c it requires him to sit still for too long to drink it - ha!

•Great eater - eats yogurt and sometimes a banana for breakfast, a jar of fruit and puffs for dinner and a a jar of veggies for dinner - and often will have some of what we are eating - (pasta, mashed potatoes, etc)

•Finally figured out how to go from sitting to crawling so he is off in a totally different room in 2 seconds flat once you put him down

•Loves to stand up - but still needs help to get himself up. I think that is coming soon too b/c he is starting to reach up and want to get himself up..just hasn't figure it out quite yet.

•Loves to play on Brooklynn's little trampline she got for Christmas. He will actually whine until I lift him up there. He just stands there squealing and is so happy. He loves when I make him bounce a bit - giggles non stop with a huge grin.

•Army crawling is still his method of getting around - he has perfected it and can get around to anywhere he wants in record time

•He has 6 teeth now - 4 on top and 2 on bottom. I thought he was getting another 2 teeth on the bottom...but so far they haven't appeared. I am happy that we are having a break from teething - it was really rough b/c he got all those ones more or less at the same time - not a fun time!

•Had another double ear infection just before Christmas...got a new antibiotic for it and ended up breaking out in a full body rash with hives for about a week - finally cleared up!

•Back to sleeping 12 hours/night....from 8pm to 8am. During the teething mess...he woke up several times in the night crying so we are happy to have our awesome sleeper back.

•Takes 2 naps a day - one longer one about 2-2.5 hours and the other around an hour

•Anything he can get his hands on will go straight into his mouth - loves to chew on anything and everything

•Will tolerate the exersaucer for a little bit but gets tired of being restrained and would much rather be crawling around looking for trouble. Definitely not as big of a fan as he used to be - too bad for me! Miss the days I could just put him in it and he'd be content for a long period of time - I could actually get stuff done without having to worry what he was getting into or where he snuck off to.

•He is getting into everything - finds anything and everything he can get his hands on and tries to eat it...paper,fluff, string, etc. Drives me crazy b/c he ends up gagging on it....scares me to death b/c I am so scared he is going to choke. No matter how much we vacuum or pick up pieces off the floor, he will still find something else.

•Loves to clap his hands - he is so proud of himself...its hilarious!

•Loves to dance to music - he just rocks back and forth with his head...so cute!

•Babbles constantly - he just started saying ma ma but I'm pretty sure its not in relation to me - its just his sound of the moment. I think I have heard him say da da but same thing - not in relation to anyone/anything.

•Celebrated his first Christmas. Of course he really didn't get it, but he was more happy to try to eat all the wrapping paper...lol

•Saw his first snow at Grandma's house up in Canada. Was NOT a fan of the cold so we didn't even attempt to let him play in the snow. Maybe next time!

And now...onto the monthly pics. Its definitely getting more challenging with each month. Looking through these pics, I was laughing so hard b/c so many of them are of him trying to escape.

I managed to get a couple of good ones of him sitting peacefully with his sign..

The he decided he had enough and was on his way....

Absolutely no fear...he tried to go off head first off the chair...lol

So I went to put him back on the chair...and of course he refused to sit still and wanted to stand. So after fighting with him to sit down and losing, I held him up for a second and he was so happy again....so this is what we got instead...

Then he realized his sign was up there...and well we all know how that turns out!!!

Of course...straight to the mouth!

Our little photoshoot was done - and I was ready for a nap...too bad he wasn't :(

And The Rest of Our Trip

2011-01-11T16:57:00.000-06:00

Well we are back home now after our trip up north. The flight home went ok - but definitely not as laid back and relaxing as the trip on the way up. We had an early flight back so we had to wake up insanely early. I booked it that way on purpose thinking the kids are usually in happier/easier going moods in the morning since they are fresh. But it is rough waking up that early - when its pitch black outside (and freezing).

Anyway...things went ok - just a lot more work heading home - mainly b/c in Toronto, when you check in, you then have to go to customs & security which means you are on your own the whole way. Not an easy task when you have a luggage cart loaded down & piled up way above my head (4 suitcases, 2 large carseat travel bags, carry on duffel bag and a laptop) and also have to keep track of 2 little ones. Luckily Brooklynn knew she needed to help me out and did her job perfectly once again! We also scored when the lady at the door to customs took pity on me and snuck me up to the front (bypassing the long lines) and got me right up without having to wait so we got right through. That easily saved us a good 45 mins or more with not having to wait in line.

The flight was also a lot more full on the way home so we had to stay in our own seats with Cannon on my lap the whole way home. He didn't too bad considering...but it was a constant job to keep him happy & entertained. We hit some pretty bad storms too when we got closer to Houston so the flight was also anything but fun and ended up circling around the aiport for an extra 30 mins in the storms b/c of the backlog from earlier delays. Of course both kids fell asleep literally 5 mins before we landed - go figure! Needless to say, I was very happy to finally land and let the kids move!

The rest of our trip up there was really nice & relaxing. We really didn't do much - only went shopping here and there and visited a little with friends and family. It was exactly what I needed. The last month before we went there it felt like our lives were moving in high speed - we were so busy all the time, that it was nice to just spend a day (or two) in our pjs all day and just play.

Brooklynn thought it was the funniest thing ever for Cannon to ride around in one of her doll strollers...apparently so did Cannon :) He looked like a giant baby..hahaha

Running around the kitchen..they were both cracking up and squealing - they were having so much fun

Such a happy boy!!

Everything was fine until Cannon decided it was time to pull his big sister's hair....so then she got up to leave

And poor Cannon was not happy anymore :(

We also finally got snow too - yay!!! We really thought we were going to miss out b/c it just wasn't happening...but luckily 3 days before we left and then the day before we left...it snowed and it was perfect! Brooklynn had a blast even though it was really cold. I didn't even bother bringing Cannon outside b/c he HATED the cold anytime we went out - he would scream from the second we got outside until we finally got inside - definitely not a fan. Seeing how excited Brooklynn got when it started snowing made me view the snow in a completely different light - it was so much fun. Living up there for over 11 years, I never stopped to see how beautiful it really was. Of course, its easy for me to say now that I live in Texas - I don't have to worry about shoveling my driveway, brushing & scraping all the ice & snow from my car or doing the daily commute in it to & from work. I got to enjoy it just like a kid would...and it was great!

The view from my Mom's balcony

One of my favorite things about snow has always been the pink sky at night. It is so pretty and is a definite sign of snow on the way. This pic doesn't show the true color although it does show how light the sky is when it normally is pitch black - its so light its almost like daylight...its really neat.

This pic almost shows what the pink sky looks like - still doesn't do it justice!

When it started snowing, it was getting pretty late, so we just let Brooklynn play out on the balcony...there wasn't much by this point anyway..but she still thought it was the neatest thing ever!

Peeking in Uncle Michael's window...

Cannon enjoying the snow from the comforts of the warm indoors - smart kid :)

The next morning we got all bundled up and headed out. Getting dressed to go play outside in the snow is a job within its self...especially when you have to dress a kid too - ha!

Almost ready...

Finally...30 mins later...and ready to go!!!

Trying to make a snow angel - the snow wasn't too deep that day yet so you can see the grass below

Trying to sled down the hill - we definitely needed another helping hand to give her a push down the snow

Wipe out!!!

We finally gave up and walked back to Grandma's place to just play and try to build a snowman

But unfortunately, it wasn't the right 'snow man making snow' - it was too light & fluffy...we needed the wet & heavy snow...oh well..maybe next time!

Miss Rosy Cheeks when we got back inside and started peeling off our layers....

So anyway...that was our trip - lots of fun, lots of relaxation...and just enough snow :) Now we are back to reality with school, work, housework, etc....fun fun!

The Great White North - Part 1

2010-12-29T21:59:00.000-06:00

About a month ago, I had a moment of insanity and booked plane tickets for myself, Brooklynn & Cannon to fly up to Toronto to visit my Mom and other family and friends. Of course the minute I hit submit to pay for the plane tickets, panic set in - what did I just do?!?!?!? I knew in the end it would be worth it, b/c it had already been 6 months since I last saw everyone and was missing everyone like crazy. Plus, how neat would it be for Brookie to experience her first real snow?

Well the big day happened the day after Christmas..... I barely slept the night before as I was going over everything in my head trying to figure out if I was forgetting anything. We got to the airport with lots of time to spare since being that it was the day after Christmas you just never know how busy it would be - and any time we have flown before, the line up is pretty crazy. Plus the whole mess with the threat of extra security measures...didn't want to end up missing the flight b/c of being stuck at security. Well when we got to the airport and parked and got inside the terminal to check in...this is what we saw....

Seriously?????? I thought well maybe we were really early and they just hadn't opened up the counter yet....but nope....it was just completely empty so we got checked right in. I started joking that I guess we were the only crazy people that wanted to fly up to Canada in the middle of winter - ha!

Well since we were done with that in no time....we went and checked the line up at security....and it was not bad at all. Well I decided right away, I wasn't going to go through security yet since at that point, I would be on my own with the 2 kids....so we all (Andy, Andrew, Brookie, Cannon and me) decided to go ride the inter-terminal train around the airport to kill time and keep the kids entertained. So that took up some time. When we were done with that we came back upstairs to see how things were looking and nothing had changed - still completely empty - just craziness!!! So I ended up giving Cannon his lunch since I had Andy's helping hand and then we finally decided to get moving and head out on our way. There were maybe like 5 people ahead of us at security, so we got through really quickly - with no extra screening - just the usual metal detector...phew! By the time we got all our stuff back together and shoes put on, we got to the gate just as they announced boarding time - perfect timing!

Got on the plane and it was pretty empty - maybe 30 people at most if that many?? So it was only 1/3 full.....perfect!!! The flight itself went really well - perfect weather, left on time and Cannon fell asleep as soon as we took off and slept for about the first 45 mins. The flight attendants were wonderful and so friendly - I guess since it was such a light flight, they could totally just relax and take time with the passengers. They told us to feel free to move wherever we wanted to since there were so many empty seats, so once Cannon woke up, we moved to the very back of the plane and pretty much had the whole section to ourselves. That way Brookie could get up to go to the restroom (since that it like her favorite pastime these days - visiting all the different restrooms she can find...lol) and I could just sit right there close by without having to go with her. It was also nice being by ourselves so we didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone. We were able to completely spread out and we all enjoyed our space. The kids watched their cartoons and played with our toys for the majority of the flight :)

The flight attendant spent a good deal of the flight back there with us just playing with the kids and hanging out with us. Cannon was flirting with her the entire time...hahaha!

Once we landed and went through customs and got our bags - and yes we got ALL our bags this trip, Brookie was the biggest help to me. Since you pick up your bags before you are able to meet up with the outside world, she had the very important job of pushing Cannon in his stroller while I pushed the luggage cart. She was perfect - so thankful she is at a great age to actually help in a real life situation - b/c that place was crazy with thousands of people and she stayed right behind me and followed me just like I asked. Such a proud moment of my big little girl :)

We got to Grandma's house a little while later and the kids were happy to be able to relax. Well the next morning we got quite the little surprise from Cannon....this is what we woke up to....

Cannon woke up completely covered in hives! He had a couple little red spots the day before but nothing too bad....but that completely changed Monday morning. I felt so bad for him! This poor kid just can't catch a break lately. The last month to month and a half has been a rough one for him. He got 6 teeth within a month - and actually got 4 of them at the same time! He's had 2 double ear infections, had 2 colds and now these nasty hives - which turns out is an allergic reaction to his latest antibiotic that he just finished for the 2nd double ear infection. I ended up taking him to the Dr on Monday up here and he basically told me what I already knew - not much we can do other than Benadryl to help him keep them under control. Since he hasn't been running a fever and is otherwise completely normal, not much to worry about - just have to let it run its course and once the drugs have completely gotten out of his body, it should clear up. Well yesterday he woke up and they looked worse - I felt so itchy just looking at him. Although today they seemed to be getting (a little) better....still didn't look too great, but compared to the previous day, there is a little improvement...hopefully that means we are on the road to recovery!

And now it seems that he is getting 2 more teeth. He had a rough night last night - waking up every hour and crying.....my poor little man :(

Other than that, we have been enjoying our low key trip up here. We decided not to rent a car this trip - I have no desire to drive in snow ever again...so we are using the bus to get around - Brookie is happy! Its been cold cold cold here....but its not too bad to deal with - mainly b/c I know I only have to do it for 2 weeks and then I get to go back to warmer weather hahahaha! We are really hoping we get some snow though - right now there is NOTHING!!! What a shame to fly all this way in winter and not be able to let Brookie play in snow...so hopefully we will get something! Here's a pic I took the other day on the way up to the Dr's office....this is all the snow that is around :(

So far we have only done one outing on the bus with the kids. Its not too bad - although I don't think I could do this full time! Especially having to bundle these 2 kids in multiple layers and jackets...Texas kids definitely aren't used to this...hahaha!

The bus ride was only about 15-20 mins total, but both ways Cannon crashed pretty quickly after we got on...lol! Of course he woke up the minute we got off and the cold air hit him on the face....hahahaha!

Brookie loves riding the bus.....she kept calling it a school bus!

Anyway...thats our trip so far - we still have another week and half left - so I'll share more a little later!

And if you haven't visited my blog lately, I also did a Christmas post yesterday so be sure to check it out right below this one! :)

Christmas Festivities

2010-12-28T22:40:00.000-06:00

It has been a whirlwind past few weeks with many Christmas events going on. Hard to believe another Christmas is behind us!!! We had a wonderful Christmas with family and lots of fun celebrating. I'm just going to go ahead and show the pics of several of the things we have been up to over the last couple weeks. Its going to be a long post but we have had A LOT of festivities over the last week!

First up was Brooklynn's class Christmas party. I volunteered to help out in her classroom that day with the Christmas party. I love being able to be involved with her school events - definitely one of the many factors when I decided to leave my job last year.

The next event was on the Saturday before Christmas. We headed to the annual Christmas Party/family reunion with Andy's Grandpa's side of the family. Its always neat to see how much the family has grown and changed over the year - especially since we don't get to see most of the extended family over the year. This year there were 50+ people there and still growing!

The following day on Sunday, we celebrated Andy's Grandma's 80th birthday with a big celebration of her closest friends and family. It was a really nice Open House style party filled with tons of people wishing her happy birthday wishes.

Next event on the list was the annual Progressive Dinner. We start out at one person's house for the appetizers then head to the next house for the main course and the final house for the desserts. Such a neat way to spend time together and get to see all the fun Christmas decorations each house has displayed. Here's a pic of Andy and me on this evening.

On Friday, Christmas Eve, we headed over to Andy's Mom's house to celebrate with Andy's sisters and their families. We alternate houses each year, and technically this year was supposed to be at our house, but since I was leaving in 2 days, Andy's Mom offered to host it for us - HUGE help!!! Thank you Cheryll :) We had a really nice time visiting and letting the kids play together. Unfortunately Andy's sister, Mindy's husband, Joey had to work so we missed spending the day with him too - esp Brookie - she loves her Uncle Joey - like she always tells us...."Uncle Joey is a silly guy!" hehehehe! But luckily for her, his stand in was there ;) Mindy brought over one of their early baby gifts they received - a Koala bear stuffed animal with a 'Baby Joey' in its pouch...so Joey was there with us that day!!

The kids got so many fun gifts - they didn't know which way to turn - it defintely looked like a toy store exploded in the living room that day!

Finally we made it to Christmas Day. The kids woke up and got to see what Santa brought them.....funny story was that we actually had to wake up Brooklynn & Cannon to open the presents. Andrew woke up bright and early - but he's an early bird like his Dad...and well Cannon just is too young to get it...but Brookie - she was out! But as soon as we woke her up she was ready to go check it all out!

The Christmas tree after Santa stopped by for a visit...

Close up of the new stockings I had ordered this year - and personalized - love them!

Our annual pose in front of the tree before all the chaos...its fun to look back at these each year and see how much the kids have grown & changed over the year!

Time to dig in and see all their surprises!

Cannon enjoyed all the paper....and even got pretty good at helping to rip his presents open....

Of course as soon as a piece of paper got ripped off....it went straight to his mouth to eat!!! hahahahaha!

That afternoon we headed over to Andy's grandparents house for a yummy lunch and fun times with the family. So much food was made - love this time of year!

Woohoo!!! Actually got a really nice family shot - not an easy task these days!! Thanks Missy :)

Each year the kids open gifts from family and the adults get to play some new fun game in a gift card exchange. This year we definitely had many many laughs! There were many games that were played - and they ranged from things like putting vaseline on your nose and trying to get a pom pom ball to stick by throwing it in the air or trying to get a cookie to move from your forehead into your mouth without using your hands or tying a kleenex box to your back and having several jingle bells in there and having to wiggle/dance/shake the bells out and other crazy things like that! Luckily Andy & I both ended up drawing some things that weren't quite so embarrassing...hehehehe!

I drew a game that required me to unwrap a toilet paper roll in a minute....um yeah - I can so handle that one!!! Lol - Brookie was my inspiration - can't tell you how much toilet paper she wasted when she was younger...lol! Needless to say - I didn't have any problems beating that minute deadline...hahahahaha!

Andy drew a game that required him to arrange 8 bags in order from least to greatest - each bag contained anywhere from 1-8 jingle bells and he had to get them in order just by shaking the bag and listening to how much noise it made - ie. 1 bell, 2 bells, 3 bells, etc all the way to 8 bells....and he did it perfectly!

We had a great (and busy) Christmas holiday this year - got tired just re-reading through this post!

Stay tuned for my next post in the next day or so about my trip up to Toronto on my own with Brooklynn & Cannon....never a dull moment!!!

9 Months

2010-12-14T16:11:00.001-06:00

Today our sweet Cannon is 9 months old.....where did the time go? He has been in our arms for longer than he was in my tummy. Well technically he passed that mark a couple weeks ago since he surprised us with his early arrival 3 weeks early. Its hard to believe that in 3 short months, he will be 1. It just does not seem possible that we are already dealing with an active littly guy who loves to get into everything! He is definitely keeping us on our toes - never a dull moment when he is awake. From the minute he wakes up to the minute he lays down, he is always on the move. This last month has been so much fun - but by the end of the day I am worn out from keeping him out of trouble. Its also been a rough month with teething and ear infections and a couple different cold bugs - no fun at all! But for the most part, he is just his happy, smiley self and we love it.

Here is what Cannon is up to these days at 9 months old:

•Weighs 21.6 lbs according to our bathroom scale - I'll have the official numbers on Thursday when he goes for his 9 month check up and shots

•Wears size 3 diapers

•Wearing mostly 9 months and 12 months size clothing and some 12-18 month also

•Drinks 7 ozs in each bottle - 4 times a day

•Has turned into a great eater - loves his food! Has fruit with cereal for breakfast, fruit for lunch and veggie for dinner. Started feeding him so table food - mashed potatos, carrots, peas, etc - loves them all!

•Loves to sit and play for as long as we let him - he hasn't quite figured out how to get out of a sitting position to laying down, but he can rotate completely around while sitting

•Loves to practice standing and holding onto things - can't pull himself up yet on his own, but once I help him up - he will stand there forever.

•Getting so close to crawling - he has been getting up on his hands & knees the last several days and starts rocking back and forth before laying back down...

•Even though he isn't doing the official crawl - he is definitely getting around by doing the army crawl on his tummy - and he is FAST! Its hilarious b/c when he is after something and sees me coming to stop him, he will go even faster while turning around to see where Im at...he's going to be a handful in a few short months!

•He has been a teething mess this last month - officially I have seen 2 bottom teeth, top left tooth, right fang on top and possibly left fang on top as well - haven't confirmed that one yet. He's definitely letting us know that he isn't a fan of teething - poor guy.

•He has cold #2 right now. He also had his first ear infection - actually a double ear infection this past month as well. All that mixed in with teething was not a good combo - I was definitely missing my happy little guy!

•Still a GREAT sleeper - goes 12 hours straight each night. Of course since he has been feeling a little under the weather with teething and being sick, he has been waking up a few times during the night, but 99% of the time he only fusses for a couple of minutes before going back to sleep before we even have to go in there. He also has gone back to fussing for about 5-10 mins when we put him down for both his naps and bedtime...but he normally falls asleep on his own without us having to go back in there.

•Shortly after the 8 month post, I went ahead and stopped swaddling him at night and switched to the sleep sack - it definitely went better than expected and he is now a pro. The first night was the hardest - he woke up quite a bit that night and I just would go in there and pat his back and he would fall back to sleep. Night 2 was definitely better - didn't wake up nearly as much and I only went in there half as many times. By night 3 - we were home free and he went back to his sleeping habits that we were used to - yay!

•Takes 2 naps a day - one longer one about 2-2.5 hours and the other around an hour

•Anything he can get his hands on will go straight into his mouth - loves to chew on anything and everything

•Loves the exersaucer. I put the jumperoo away and brought out Brookie's old exersaucer (its very pink & purple - ha!). He is loving that thing - so much more to do in it - of course he still tries to jump in it like the jumperoo....but obviously its not quite the same!

•He is getting into everything - he loves any kind of wire or cord, getting into the fireplace, pulling on the Christmas tree, pushing buttons on the DVD player & cable box, pulling down my pointsetta plants, pulling my Christmas train decoration, etc - its never ending and wears me out! Oh and if we are ever looking for some small spec of something on the floor - he will definitely find it - he finds everything and goes straight to his mouth!

•Loves to hear himself squeal and scream - definitely learning from his big sister with the squealing!

•Loves getting kisses and being tickled - will make him squeal and giggle.

•Babbles constantly - always sounds like is trying so hard to say something - saying Ba-Ba, Ma-Ma, etc.

And now to the pics - he is such a ham - always looking for something to get into. I managed a few shots at first without noticing his sign above his head...but of course once he saw it - it was all over..hahahaha!

Love this pic - it shows his two bottom teeth...so cute!!!

And he finally realized his sign was above him...hahahaha!

Next best thing to chew on - the blanket!

Such a big boy!

Thanksgiving & The Farm

2010-12-06T12:45:00.002-06:00

Ok - so I have been a little neglectful of this blog....I just haven't had much to say (in writing anyway...lol). We've been busy busy busy just living life and getting ready for Christmas. How is it even possible that its less than 3 weeks away??? I've got a few more things to buy, but the big part - the kids - are all done and have been for several weeks - yay!!! Much less stressful having a huge chunk out of the way. I have done a lot of shopping online this year - constant deliveries to our house lately...hahahaha!

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Andy's family at his grandparents house - lots of yummy food and lots of family to visit with. I think there were 35+ people there this Thanksgiving!

All the pics below are from my sister in law, Missy. I didn't even have a chance to drag out my camera - Cannon is a handful so I never had a second to even think about trying for pics - thanks Missy! :)

This is just Andy's immediate family - growing by leaps & bounds. Next year there will be 2 more in this pic - both of his sisters are pregnant :) There are going to be so many little kids in the family - so much fun!

On Saturday, we drove up to Andy's grandparents property/farm in East Texas for teh day. It is so peaceful up there! Brooklynn & Andrew love it up there - it was actually Brookie's 1st trip up there ever and she had so much fun playing with her cousin, Ellison all day.

This is what you first see as you drive up to their property at the farm....so pretty!

All the fresh air made for 2 sleeply little ones!

The new toy that just arrived at the farm that day.....we all loved taking turns riding around on it

Our turn going for a ride :)

The big boys had some tree clearing to do for some firewood....they love their 'toys' :)

Andrew catching a ride...

Probably one of the funniest things that day was when Brooklynn & Ellison were playing hide & seek in the woods....toddler style! Their mentality was "If I can't see you, then you can't see me"...hahahaha! Their hiding places were too funny....behind a branch, laying on the ground with their hands covering their eyes - hilarious!

They were such a mess at the end of the day - I thought for sure Brookie's clothes were permanent farm clothes - they were filthy!!! But somehow they came clean - and luckily so did she :)

And just thought I'd add this pic in too....soooo cute! This is Cannon & cousin Braxton - I think its more like they are 2nd or 3rd cousins....it is Andy's cousin's little girl. Anyway...Braxton is only 3 days younger than Cannon - they are so cute together...

8 Months

2010-11-15T12:48:00.000-06:00

Wow - its hard to believe that our little boy is already 8 months old! It is so crazy how fast its flying - even faster this time around. Cannon is such a sweet sweet boy - we love how fun he has become. I know I say it every month, but he really is just so much fun to be around. His little personality is coming out more and more each day...he definitely has a bashful side - nothing like his big sister thats for sure! He just lights up whenever Brookie or Andrew come around - I know he is just itching to be able to run and play and be all crazy with them too - won't be long! His little voice is just so cute - and totally all boy! Its a deep little voice for sure.

Took some pics this morning - although yesterday was his actual 8 month birthday. Poor Cannon has been under the weather the last few days - had a fever and is all congested....not a happy boy right now. I got some cute ones although he definitely wasn't as smiley as usual. But he did make some of his silly faces towards the end!

Here is what Cannon is up to at 8 months:

•Weighs 20lbs 7 ozs at the Dr's office last week

•Wears size 3 diapers

•Wearing some 6-9 month size, mostly 9 months and beginning to wear some 12 month size clothing

•Drinks 7 ozs in each bottle - 4 times a day

•Loving his baby food now - has fruits for breakfast & lunch and then a veggie for dinner. Favorite fruit right now is apples and favorite veggie is sweet potatoes

•Loves to sit up and just play and look around

•Pushing up on his arms & knees - the crawling position. Not at the same time yet...but working on trying to figure it all out.

•Loves to grab his feet and pull off his socks so he can chew on them

•Finally got his first tooth - on the bottom

•He is sick right now for the first time. This is a whole new experience - Brookie never acted sick and when she was, it never affected her sleeping or anything else. Cannon on the other hand is definitely letting us know he is not feeling good...he is fussing a lot, wakes himself up when he coughs and is just irritable. I feel so bad for him - and to top it off he is also dealing with the pains of teething
•Still a GREAT sleeper - has his last bottle around 8:15pm and will sleep on average for 12 straight hours. Still working on de-swaddling him. For naptimes I have just put him in his sleepsack and he is definitely improving. He will fall asleep without fussing most days, but his naps definitely aren't as long without the swaddle blanket. So its still a work in progress - although right now b/c of him not feeling well, we are just swaddling for naps & bedtime - I think its much more important for him to get his rest properly to get better, then to fight with him with this sleep training. So we'll start back to the sleep sack as soon as he is feeling better.

•Takes 2 naps a day - one longer one about 2-2.5 hours and the other around an hour

•Anything he can get his hands on will go straight into his mouth - loves to chew on anything and everything

•Still enjoys the jumperoo - he will jump all around in it and then get himself turned around to where he can just sit and watch tv....I wonder where he gets that from??? (cough....Andy?)

•Still is rolling everywhere - although now he has figured out how to army crawl on his stomach....so now he is much more efficient - can go side to side and forward....although he still fogets to move his one arm out in front of him to pull himself out, so it gets stuck under him and he does a faceplant into the carpet....and of course this makes him mad and he fusses - I just think its so funny to see him trying to figure it all out....

•Loves to work his way back to behind the tv and go after all the wires....not a good thing! He is starting to give us a taste of whats to come as he gets older and gets into everything.

•Starting to become very vocal - when we take something away from him, he will have a crying fit....starting young!

•Loves getting kisses and being tickled - will make him squeal and giggle.

•Babbles constantly. He has such a deep voice - definitely all boy!

•He is such a snuggler..he will just curl up into your neck/chest when you are holding - soooo sweet! I am enjoying every minute of him like this b/c I know he will soon be too busy to be like that.

Loves his Sophie the Giraffe chew toy

And the silly faces finally make their appearance - he loves to blow rasberries at me...

Even when he's sick and such a mess - he is just so cute! :)

Party Party Party

2010-11-14T17:20:00.000-06:00

We have had a busy weekend celebrating Miss Brooklynn's 3rd Birthday. Yesterday (Saturday) was her big party celebrating with her friends. I finally decided to give in and have it at a jump place - and let me just say - I was so thankful that I did. She invited her friends from her class at school along with some of her other friends and they all had a blast! I never once had to worry about the weather and what would 'Plan B' be for bad weather - b/c I would have needed it yesterday - at least in the morning. It was cold and rainy - but in the end it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. But it didn't matter - it was all good since it was indoors!

I think in total we had 15 kids come so it was a good turnout. They were so cute running around and playing together. Brooklynn gets so excited to see her friends outside of school. She was sooooo excited that it was finally HER birthday party - she has been to so many in the last couple months and would always ask me if it was her turn...and yesterday - it finally was!!! It was a lot of fun b/c she finally got it this year - she understands it was her day and was all about her.

This was the party room - we did her birthday party in a Pink Mod Monkey Theme....it was really cute - and it was kind of fitting too since the place we had her party at was Monkey Bizness....hahahaha! All of the stuff I ordered online at various websites...I was really happy how it all came together.

The Party Room - the plates & stuff came from Celebrate Express.com

Cake Table

Birthday Cake - I ordered the Cake Topper image off of Ebay and then just ordered a regular white birthday cake from HEB

Party Favor Bags - I ordered customized stickers for the party favor bags

A close-up of the favor bag stickers

These 2 are Brookie's BFF's from class - Lauren & Dalton - they are who she talks about non-stop...lol! They played hard and were ready for cake & ice cream

These kids were wound up from all the running & jumping - they were so hyper in the party room.....

The Birthday Girl with her cake

Listening to all her friends singing Happy Birthday to her....(she sings that song all the time when she is in bed at home...lol)

Making her wish and blowing out her candles

Time to dig in - notice who she is sitting beside....Dalton of course!!!

Then at the end I got this crazy idea - how fun it would be to get a pic of all her friends together...lol. These are the best we could do - a bunch of 3 year olds sitting still at one time..not an easy task. Some of the kids were busy elsewhere - ha! I took a bunch of these pics and just included a few - its hilarious to look at each kid's expression in each pic...hahahaha!

Afterwards, my friend Sally from work and her daughter Chloe came back to our house to play and hang out. The girls had a blast playing together with all her new toys!

Then today, we celebrated Brookie's bday....again! This time we ate lunch at Grandma & Grandpa's house with the family and opened presents and ate ice cream cake - yummy! We had a nice time and she got lots of fun things.

Just a little excited about her next birthday cake and another round of Happy Birthday!

Making another wish and blowing out her candles

Present time

Enjoying her cold ice cream cake - a little ironic since it was only in the mid 50's today....lol - I planned that one well...hehehehe!

Enjoying her Great Aunt Judy

We tried to get a pic of the (Great) Grandchildren....again - not an easy task. This is the best I got of all of them - I think the others may have been a little luckier...

But I did manage to get a good one of our 3 kiddos....what a fluke! Poor Cannon is still not feeling well - he was melting down pretty quickly by this point...poor boy.

Brookie loves her Great Grandpa.....

And the Grandma with her her grandbabies.....we told them to make funny faces...and of course our oldest 2 were all over that!!!

We had a great weekend celebrating....but we are happy its all done now....until the next one! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Brooklynn

2010-11-07T16:42:00.000-06:00

Today we officially have a 3 year old daughter. How is that even possible? I still have days when I am doing something with Cannon and catch myself realizing that Brooklynn isn't the baby of the house anymore. Of course she will always be my baby, but its so hard to believe that she is 3! I was just looking back through pics from her 2nd birthday last year - she still looked so babyish...still had her little baby chubbiness and cute little baby face. She has changed so much! I have realized within the last couple months - she is no longer a toddler - she has turned into a little girl. I don't worry about messing up her schedule anymore - that if she skips a nap, we are in trouble or how in the world am I going to get her to go to sleep somewhere other than her bed? She just goes with the flow now and can just do whatever we need her to do. Love it! She's my little buddy - I can just say "c'mon Brookie...lets go" and she just comes along for the ride - so much fun!

Brooklynn is such a fun little girl - so full of life and up for anything. She is completely fearless - which for the most part is awesome, but it also means we just have to be careful with her b/c she will try anything! She is the best big sister - so sweet & caring with Cannon - always trying to help me out with him - whether it be getting something for him that I need, or trying to get him to stop crying by making him laugh - she loves to give him kisses & hugs....just so sweet! She is also the most observant little girl ever - if someone has a new haircut - she will notice. Also she is also saying how my shirt is cute or how I look pretty. Makes my heart just melt. I still can't get over how much she has changed in the last year. She can talk your ear off now - 90% of the time we can understand her and its so fun to actually carry a conversation with her. Just so neat seeing her grow up and becoming her own little person.

We just had a low key day today to celebrate her special day. Next weekend is her big party with her friends on Saturday and then her celebration with family on Sunday. She got to open her presents today from us and from her Grandma's. Then this afternoon we took her to a local playground to let her play and run and climb and then feed some ducks at the pond next door - she loved it!

All Brookie's bday presents waiting to be opened

Checking out her new Kaleidoscope

Loving her new baby doll

Lots of fun books

And a spiderman kite (she picked it out) I showed her a princess kite and a Little Mermaid kite...but she wanted...a spiderman kite....she cracks me up!!!

Her new robe

Off to the park - lots of fun swinging

and stepping

and crossing bridges

and sliding

walking with Daddy to the duck pond

All the ducks saw us coming and started wandering over towards us...so funny! They were not scared of us at all - came right up to us.

Brookie thought this was the neatest thing....she was right up close & personal with the ducks

As they were walking through the ducks...Brookie kept saying "Excuse me Ducks" lol!

There so were so many of them!

They kept Cannon pretty amused too...

Brookie thought this duck was the coolest one ever - had a mohawk!!!

Watching the ducks go for a swim

Then the real fun began - Brookie got to chase the ducks! She was cracking up!!!

Phew!!! All that duck chasing is hard work!!! Time for a break!