let's party!....

Charlie got to go to his first "friend" birthday party this last Saturday. He was very excited about it and could not stop talking about what kind of decorations and cake they were going to have. The party theme was the Transformers, which I think got a little lost on him since he has not really been exposed to them all that much. It didn't take him long to realize how cool they were since all the other boys were into it. Denys did such a great job on this party. She had stations set up with activities for the kids. The most popular one being the make-your-own robot costume out of household items station. She also had snack stations where they could make robot snacks out of crackers and squeeze cheese. I know Charlie had a great time. Now I am scared for when Charlie has his first friend party! Her creativity and organization was very impressive.

Charlie and Eric working on the robot costume (Eric was even more into this than Charlie was, boys will be boys!)

I am not sure why Charlie is the only one with his costume on for this game.....

Thank-you Chris & Denys for inviting us. Happy Birthday Adam!

the ducks were SO hungry...

The weather has been pretty cruddy so we haven't been up to much. Last week we did have a few days of decent weather so we decided to take the boys to feed the ducks at the park. Last year Charlie was completely terrified at just the sight of a duck or goose, so I was very curious how this was going to go. He surprised me just like he always does and walked right up to the geese with no fear at all. He talked to them and began throwing bread crumbs. One even took the bread out of his hand and nipped him a tiny bit and he hardly noticed. I really can't believe how much he has broken out of his shell these last few months. Cannon just loved being outside. He is not in love with hanging out in the stroller, but as usual, he was happy as a clam when we held him during our walk. I am sure he just wanted a better view of the beautiful scenery.

I just looOoovVe this picture of my three boys. Even Cannon is smiling. :)

As we were leaving, Charlie said proudly "Boy, those ducks were SOOO hungry, it is a good thing we came to feed them today, or I don't know what they would have done!"

happy birthday grandpa rodger...

Grandpa Rodger's birthday was on the 7th of March. To celebrate, Eric had arranged to get a tour of a private jet from the fleet at the Boise Airport. (one of the perks of working at the airport, I guess!) Rodger has always wanted to do this, so it was a fun surprise. They picked up a classy lunch at Jack-in-the-Box on the way and then they ate it in style inside of the plane. They got a quick tour and then they were able to hang out for a while, pretending to live the good life. :)





Happy Birthday Grandpa Rodger. You are truly the best. We love you so much!!

the bumbo....

Boy, how did a week already go by since my last post?

Anyway, have you seen the "bumbo"? They did not have the bumbo chair (at least that I know of) when Charlie was a baby. When I saw it for the first time I thought it was the coolest thing. When we found out we had another little one on the way, I knew that I had to get one. I really wanted the lime green one, but nobody in this area seems to carry it. Arrgg. Cannon is just starting to get some good head control so I plopped him in it to see how he did. Not too bad.

Today, both Cannon's occupational therapist and physical therapist came to see him. The bumbo chair was sitting on the fireplace and they quickly asked me who the chair was for (like it would be Charlie's!). I told them it was for Cannon but that he had not spent more than five minutes in it because I knew he was not ready. They told me that the only time he will really be ready for this chair would be when he can sit up on his own. What would really be the point of the chair then? Exactly their point - he should not be in it. He could develop some neck and back issues if he is(especially since he is already susceptible to these issues). Now, let me be honest about this right now. I secretly knew that they would probably not approve of this when I bought it. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, Pat was Charlie's therapist also, and when he was a baby he was not allowed any types of toys like exersaucers or jumparoos. We saved a lot of money from not buying them, but there were plenty of times when I needed to fold laundry or make dinner where I wished I would have had an excersaucer to keep him busy for a few minutes. The thought is that babies should not be propped up in the sitting position when they are not ready. This can cause them to slouch and change the whole makeup of the muscles/structure in their torsos and back. It makes sense to me and I believe and trust in what Pat and Amy do. So, I felt like a bad mom when they left because I had boughten the chair when I knew I shouldn't have. Looks like it may be going back to the store. This will make Eric especially happy since I dragged him to a dozen stores to find the green one and now I might be returning it! The main reason I got it is for photo opportunities. It is so hard to get good pictures of babies when they are just lying flat on the ground. I cannot tell you how many pictures I have of Charlie with that obnoxious blue "underwater" fabric from his swing and bouncy chair as the background. (Which by the way, are okay since they aren't in a total sit-up position and offer support to the neck and back) Ugh. I was hoping to change things up a little bit this time around. Would it hurt to have him sitting up in the bumbo for just a few minutes at a time for pictures? Maybe I am just trying to justify it, but I think I will ask Pat next week and see what she says....(fingers crossed.)

cannon at 21 weeks....

So, the little man is almost 5 months old. He is 12 weeks old adjusted age. He is growing and changing so much everyday. Here are a few things about Cannon at 21 weeks:

- He is sleeping anywhere from 5-9 hours at night. He goes to bed early and wakes up (way too) early.

- We are having a hard time getting settled into a schedule, but I think it will be easier once he is sleeping more consistently at night.

- He loves looking at familiar faces. It takes him a while to warm up to new faces. He is definitely partial to his momma's face :)

- He is about 12.5 pounds and is wearing 3-6 months clothing and size 2 diapers.

- He still loves to be swaddled when he sleeps.

- He is being monitored weekly by a physical therapist (the same lady that Charlie had, we love her!). The left side of his neck and mouth is very tight. We are doing daily exercises to work on getting him loosened up. If we can get his tongue muscles loosened, we believe that it will help with his gas problems as he hopefully won't swallow as much air when he drinks.

- He is doing great with head control. He loves to hold his head on his own and is always trying to pull his head up when he is lying down - Mr. Independent already.

- He is still not sleeping much during the day. We are continually rotating through being held, being fed, hanging out in the bouncy chair and swing, doing tummy time and chilling in the sling.

I knew I had some pictures of Charlie in this same shirt, so I dug them out to compare. It looks like Cannon is about the same size at 5 months as Charlie was at 8 months. We have noticed that Cannon seems to be growing much faster than Charlie did. I love to see these photos side by side, so many similarities and differences between these two cute boys. (I wish the photo of Cannon was better. I had bad lighting today and it is a little blurry. Oh well!)

bathtime baby....

Cannon has a love-hate relationship with bathtime. He LOVES to be in the warm bath water. He kicks and laughs the whole time. He would probably stay in there for an hour, but he gets cold pretty easily so we have to make it pretty quick. When it is time to come out and his body hits the cold air, he FREAKS out. He screams the entire time I am dressing him and usually for another 5-10 minutes afterwards.

Nothing beats snuggling with a clean and fresh little baby boy (once he is done screaming that is...)

discovery center adventure....

Last week Eric told Charlie that they were going to go on an adventure. The first thing Charlie said was "Oh! An Adventure!? I have to get my backpack. You must take your backpack on an adventure." So, off he ran to get his backpack and we loaded it up with all the things you need including some fruit snacks and some juice. You know, just in case you need some refreshment on your adventure. They ended up going to the Discovery Center downtown and he loved it. His favorite part was the little grocery store area. He is very into grocery shopping right now.



He loved having some time with Daddy all by himself. They are definitely best buds. It has been hard on him with Eric working so much and having to share attention with Cannon. He has been so good and deserved a special trip with Daddy.

cannon & clancy, month 3.....

The monthly bear photo for February was late because somebody wasn't interested in getting his picture taken. I tried several different times and every time I got something like this:

Finally, I was able to get a pretty cute one :)
I can't believe he is now over twice the size as he was in the first picture. I just thought this one was funny:
And another cute one:
Look at all that chub! He is really into faces right now. You are almost guaranteed a smile anytime he makes eye contact with you. Even in the middle of the night, he is smiling away as I change his diaper before he eats. So cute!

a day at the park...

Last week we finally had a nice day so I decided to take Charlie to the park. He has been dying to get out. He has also been talking a lot lately about how he wishes he had some friends to play with. We don't know many people that have kids the same age as Charlie and let's face it, we have not been doing much socializing these past few months. I didn't realize how much it was affecting him. When we first got to the park, he kept asking me to play with him. I encouraged him to explore a little on his own and try to talk to some of the other kids. Due to Charlie's size and motor planning issues, I have been concerned that he will be left in the dust when school starts (socially). He is a social little guy, but tends to gravitate towards older children. Anyway, it wasn't long and I saw him running around with another little boy named Isaac. Isaac was about 6-8 inches taller than him so I figured they were probably about the same age. They ran around for almost 2 hours. I was getting pretty cold, but I did not have the heart to take him away from his new friend. As they began to play on the tire swing I could see that Charlie was having a hard time getting on it. Isaac got right off the swing and helped Charlie get up. It was the cutest thing. A little later, Charlie was not paying attention and he walked right in front of a little girl swinging. She hit him pretty good with her feet and he fell to the ground. He acted fine at first and then I could see he was upset. As I went to check on him, I saw Isaac walk over and give him a hug. I was so touched to see this sweet boy taking care of my little guy. I have thought a lot about Isaac since we left the park. How I hope Charlie will be as caring and compassionate when he sees others struggling. My worry for Charlie has gone away as I know that the Lord will continue to put more "Isaac's" in Charlie's path. To help him along and teach him what is right. Who knew a trip to the park could be so emotional?

more scrapbooking goodness....

I got this page done at the crop the other night:

I also got 4 pages done with the March kit from Freehand Scraps. Be sure to check out the website to see the kit and the rest of the gallery. I loved the brand new papers from American Crafts and all the acrylic embellishments.