taking it day by day...

Things are not much better with Mr. Cannon. The reflux medicine seems to be helping a little bit, but he is still pretty miserable most of the day. There is a lot of crying and grunting going on. Really the only thing that quiets him is to be held...which means it is very hard to do anything else during the day. Poor Charlie - he has been very patient and really has been such a good boy during this transition. We are hoping to take him to an indoor play place this week as a treat for being so great. Just taking it day by day. Trying not to get too overwhelmed when I think of how much longer it might be until he outgrows this.

On the bright side, he started smiling on January 23rd. So, so cute! He loves to smile at the ceiling fans. He is also starting to coo a little bit and just loves to stare at your face and study every detail.

Here is the monthly picture of Cannon with Clancy the Bear:

He got his synagis shot today and he weighed 10 pounds even. I can't believe he has almost doubled his weight since he came home. I just love his soft, fuzzy head, his baby smell and his cute little round cheeks. Perfect for hundreds of kisses all day long.

In order to keep my sanity I have gone to a few crops over the last few weeks. Definitely needed some time away from the kiddos and some time to play with my scrapbooking goodies. I created a few layouts for Freehand Scraps February kit. The kit and gallery will go live on the 1st. Here are a few peeks of the layouts I made.

I have really had a lot of fun creating lately. I think I definitely need it in my life to feel balanced. I am planning to go to one crop a month and luckily Eric is supportive of this. I need to finish up some journaling on some more pages that I hope to share soon.

very crabby, but oh so cute...

Well, it looks like my hopes and dreams for an "easy" baby have been dashed. Mr. Cannon has been a pretty big handful the last few weeks. It just seemed to be gas so we tried a few different formulas. The soy seems to be helping with the gas, but now he has moved on to reflux problems. I finally took him to the doctor this afternoon because I just could not take it anymore. We got a prescription for Zantac and Reglan so hopefully we will see some improvement in the next few days. I figure if after all this, he turns out even half as wonderful as Charlie than I will be truly blessed. In the meantime, I am praying like crazy for patience!
He looks pretty cute and innocent doesn't he??

Charlie was jealous that we weren't taking his picture too so we tried to get both of them, but this is the best we got. Charlie just kept talking about how much Cannon was crushing his legs. (they did weigh Cannon today and he was 9 pounds 5 ounces-he is gaining weight beautifully!)

charlie at four years old...

The party was a huge success for the big man. He was going nonstop from the minute we arrived. Eric and I decided to arrive a bit earlier than everybody else to get a table since it was on a Saturday and we did not have a "reserved" party. I was a bit worried when we pulled into the parking lot and it was already packed at 11am. We didn't have much trouble finding a table, although we were not in the actual party area. This was not a problem for us since it is so noisy over there and Charlie didn't seem to care. Eric and I were deciding how many tokens we should get as Eric slid his card into the token machine. Before we had a chance to decide, Charlie promptly reached up and pushed the $20 worth button. Ugh! We filled our pockets with over 100 tokens and got right to the action. Charlie rotated through the games accompanied by one grandparent or another. Then we ate mozzarella sticks and pizza, opened presents and ate cake. A few more games and then we were out of there. Although Chuck E. Cheeses is not my favorite place and it was crowded and noisy, it was nice to not have a big mess to clean up at my house!

The ridiculously expensive food...$35 for the pizza, cheese sticks and 3 drinks! At least I did not have to cook.
Telling/showing us that he is four years old!
The cake was a big hit. Charlie had been telling me for months that he wanted a white cake with yellow frosting, but he picked out the Thomas theme a few days before the party at Sam's Club. The cake in the center was white and it was really. really good. The chocolate cupcakes were just okay...good way to go to please both white and chocolate cake lovers.
Although he said he wanted white cake, he picked the chocolate cupcake and then only ate the frosting anyway. Eric and my mom were dying that I let him just eat the frosting, but come on, it was his birthday...what is a little extra sugar on your birthday?
Opening presents with Grandma P. He got a few board games, an art set, a Wall-E light for his room, some activity workbooks and crayons, a BSU jacket/pantset and some games for his Leapster 2.
Mom and Grandma Anita on Cannon duty. I know they were totally bummed that they didn't get to run around with all the hyper kids.
The little man taking a bottle break. Many other moms told me I was very brave for having him at Chuck E. Cheese being so little. I didn't see that I had much choice. It is a little crazy that he has not been out in public very much, and then when he does get out I take him to one of the biggest germ factories around! Oh well, we washed our hands frequently and he seems to be fine. :)
A few facts about Charlie at 4 years old:
- He is approximately 31 pounds, 37 inches tall and size 3T.
- His favorite color is yellow. He loves tuna sandwiches and orange juice. His favorite shows are Super Why and Word World. And he says his favorite song is "Womanizer" by Britney Spears after only hearing it once on the radio in the car! Uggghhh.
- He can read about 75-80% of anything he sees. Whether it be a sign, billboard, magazine, kids book or on TV, he can probably read it. He sometimes gets overwhelmed if there is a large paragraph, but has no problem reading short sentences.
- He is left-handed and is working on writing/drawing and using scissors. He does not like to write/draw so he will usually tell you that he does not know how. We are trying to work on it everyday.
- He loves to surf the internet and visit PlayhouseDisney.com and PBSKids.com. He knows how to use the mouse, how to log in to the computer, how to start internet explorer, how to print and how to toggle between two windows. He would play the games for hours if you let him. We recently had to revoke his printing priviledges because it was getting out of hand. He also loves to watch videos on YouTube, but knows that he is only allowed on YouTube with the supervision of an adult.
- He is a charmer. He steals the hearts of every one he meets just by showing off his little personality. He is not nearly as shy as he used to be, especially since Cannon came around. I think he is dying for any attention that he can get nowadays :)
- He will very rarely get out of bed on his own. If he wakes up, he will just lay in bed and sing songs and jabber until we come to get him. This has it's good and bad aspects. Of course we love that he is not up all night or during naptime playing with his toys, but it is proving challenging to get him potty trained during the night.
- He surprises me everyday with the things that he says and has figured out. He told me today when we were watching Martha Stewart making a recipe with eggs, "Hey mom, chickens come from eggs and then they turn into nuggets." Such a smart little guy.
- He is very sensitive. His feelings are genuinely hurt when he gets disciplined. If you use a stern voice with him, he gets sad and says "You can't talk mad to me!" He is also very sensitive to sound. He hates the vacuum, the hair dryer and especially the loud toilets and hand dryers in public restrooms.

Happy birthday to my big boy Charlie. We love you and are so proud of the person you are turning into.

In case you are wondering, this is my 100th post! Yahoo! Here's to at least that many this year and hopefully many more.

cannon at 12 weeks...

Well, today the little man is 12 weeks old (3 weeks old adjusted age). He is getting so big and is developing a little personality.


A few facts about Cannon at twelve weeks:

- He absolutely loves to be held, especially tight and close. I am pretty sure he expects me to hold him all day long, but we are trying to work on a compromise.

- He sleeps pretty good at night. Some nights he will sleep for up to 5 hours and some nights he will awake every 3 hours on the nose. He is pretty good about eating and getting right back to sleep, but it still takes about an hour to do the whole routine.

- His newborn clothes are getting snug on him, so he will probably be in 0-3 months clothes in the next week or so. He is also starting to outgrow the newborn diapers and will be moving to size 1.

- He eats Similac Neo Sure formula since it has extra calories and is made for premature babies. He is eating about 3-3.5 ounces per feeding.
- He has terrible gas and cries often because of the pain. He has regressed on having bowel movements on his own so he gets pretty cranky due to that as well. The doctor said he is not constipated, so we just have to wait it out until he gets the hang of it. I am really hoping that this happens soon because I think he will be much happier.

- He is still not sure about the pacifier. Sometimes you can get him to suck on it, but for the most part he just spits it out now. Charlie never took it either. I may try a different style one just to see if he likes it better. I liked that I never had to wean Charlie from using one, but there are many times that it would be nice if he would use one to keep the sanity around here!

- His eyes are a beautiful blue-gray color. They are lighter close to the pupil and then they get darker on the edges. They are so pretty. I think they are going to stay blue.

- His hair is still dark but is getting more sparce. He is getting the bald spot on the back of his head from rubbing it in his sleep.
- He HATES the carseat. I really have not taken him out too much, but most of the time that I do, he screams bloody murder in the back seat. Charlie gets very upset and keeps telling me "Mom, I am very dissapointed that Cannon will not stop crying!"

- He is getting the Synagis vaccine to help prevent RSV. Premature babies are at higher risk for RSV (a very serious virus for all babies, but even worse for preemies). The shots are every 28 days and are $1500.00 a piece. Thank goodness for insurance!

Overall, Cannon has found his place in our little family. We are pretty much settled into a routine. Although, I really could use a little more time during the day that he didn't need to be held. Charlie has been a trooper and is very understanding when I can't tend to him right away. He loves his baby brother.

Speaking of Charlie, He is FOUR years old today! Four sounds so old. He definitely is not a baby anymore. We are having his party at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday (uggh..his choice of course!) so I will have pictures to share of him then.

happy new year!...

We had such a wonderful Christmas. Like I mentioned before, I did miss doing all the traditional activities, but on the other hand it was nice to just be with family and not get caught up in it all. Jon was in town and he brought a honeybaked ham and 2 delicious bundt cakes. We enjoyed a ham dinner with him on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning we had Eric's parents over to open presents and have brunch. This year was all about Charlie - we tried to keep it simple, but there were still a TON of presents for him under the tree - they add up so fast. Of course he was in total heaven and after each present he would say "oooh, this is just what I always wanted!" Among his favorites was the Leapster 2 game system from Santa and the Cookin' Cookies game from Uncle Tom and Aunt Andrea. We got him a lot of games this year. He seems to be at just the right age for it and we like to play them with him. Speaking of Santa, Charlie was in l-o-v-e. He talked about him nonstop and could not wait to see what he was going to bring. About an hour after he went to bed on Christmas Eve we heard him crying in his bed. When I went up to check on him he said he was upset that he hadn't heard Santa yet and was just sure that he was not coming to our house. I was able to convince him otherwise, but only if he went to sleep right away. We did not hear another peep out of him. Leaving cookies for the big guy....
Digging right in.

Cool Helmet Heroes toy fom Uncle Jon.

This is pretty much all Cannon did on the big day. And sleep. I couldn't help but think about how he is going to be a handful next Christmas.

The delicious Christmas brunch. mmmm.

The new year is off to a good start. We are all healthy and happy and ready to take on the new year. I usually don't make resolutions, but I am hoping to blog and scrapbook more and work on my photography. Can you believe I have only taken a handful of pictures of Cannon since he has been home? I must work on this! He has already changed so much. He is now up to 7 pounds 7 ounces which means he has put on over 2 pounds since he has been home. I will take some photos this weekend to share. Have a good one!