More Catching Up - Halloween

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...

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)

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!!

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...  :)