scrapbook pages and some sneaks...

I had a great time at the crop on Saturday. I was at a table by myself so it was a little quiet, but I was able to spread my stuff out all over the place and I got a lot done. I got some pages completed for the May gallery over at Freehand Scraps. Here are a few peaks of my pages, the rest will be posted on the 1st! This kit was a challenge for me because it had a lot of vintage touches (which are all so cute, I just have a hard time using-I wish I was better at that!). It was loaded with lots of patterned paper and embellishments.

I also finished up a few pages that have been in progress for a while.
I love that cloud! That is exclusive from Freehand Scraps from the January Kit (I think it was January). Heidi's mom made those for the kits and it was the perfect touch for this page.

The yellow letter on the title are not nearly that bright in real life. I am not sure why they photographed that way.

I am not in love with this Fall page but I am happy to have it done. I think it has been sitting on my scrap desk for over a month now and I am sick of looking at it. I had so many pictures of Charlie and Roger from last fall, there was just no way I was going to complete that many pages for each event. So, I combined them all. Something about the title is bugging me, but I am going to slide this one in the album and move on.

This one also photographed weird - lots of glare from the photos. This one has two of my favorite lines from KI Memories and October Afternoon.

It feels good to get some pages done and it was great to get a night out. Can't wait to do it again :)

currently....

He.....

is still loving everything Broadway and is making plans to go to Vegas to see The Lion King (all his idea). And since he will be there anyway, he might as well go backstage to meet the characters (this is what he told me yesterday).

is going to a new school and is making lots of progress with cutting and fine motor skills.

is so happy the weather is nice and is loving being outside.

is having trouble with potty accidents. (I am at my wits end with this one!)

He......

has really shown a lot of progress this week with grabbing. And even though he still hates tummy time, he is doing much better with it when you put him on the boppy pillow. I can see that his muscles are getting much stronger.

is in love with his big brother.

does not like to go on walks in the stroller, but likes if we put his carseat in the wagon so he can see all the action. (we have to prop it up with a phone book which I am sure it is not the safest, but anything at this point to keep him happy! Eric is going to get a bungee cord so it will be more secure.)

He.......

is working like crazy lately. He has beat all his sales goals this month and if he stays on track, will most likely be the number one sales agent in his region (all of Idaho and Utah) for April.

is struggling with his allergies again this year.

is looking forward to having this weekend off.

She.......

is looking forward to going to a crop this weekend and working on her gallery for Freehand Scraps.

was a dummy and got a sunburn at the park yesterday. Mostly just her neck, but her arms are a little sensitive too. Cannon loves to claw at her neck which is making her not so happy.

has been reflecting a lot on the last year and thinking about a big birthday she has next month.

it has been a looooong week....

Boy, am I glad that this week is over. Cannon had a very rough week and by this morning I had pretty much lost all patience. It really seems like we have been taking one step forward and then two steps back. Last week, things seemed to be getting better. His feedings were getting easier, he was doing some self-soothing and we seemed to be working into somewhat of a schedule. I was feeling encouraged. Then things drastically changed this week. Feedings have been difficult, he has no interest in anything but being carried 24/7, and he is getting up twice a night again. I am tired and frustrated. Amy (his OT) asked if maybe he could be teething? She was not able to feel any bumps. I feel like I can never tell until the teeth actually show up since he seems to experience the symptoms of teething on a daily basis anyway. It would be a little early for teething, but she said that some babies can feel the itch very early, even months prior to the teeth actually popping up. I don't know, seems like it is just a guessing game most of the time.
I thought that I had accepted that this was just who Cannon was and that it was going to be difficult, but this week it became glaringly obvious that I am still having a hard time with it. I am still grieving over the hopes I had of having an "easy/normal" baby. I know that raising a baby is never really easy, but I do know that it could be much easier than this. I feel guilty for being so upset. So many days I am able to focus on how lucky we are that Cannon is even in our lives. How blessed we are that he is so healthy after what he has been through. But in weeks like this I feel like I am not cutting it. That I can't do what it takes to make him happy. Everything seems to be a struggle. He hates tummy time and all the exercises that are supposed to help him get better. He hates running errands or eating out (not even restaurants, just a quick stop at a fast food place is pretty much impossible). He often gets overstimulated around strangers. He gets really upset when he has the hiccups - which he seems to have all the time. He even gets the hiccups after he laughs, so you don't even want to hear his cute little laugh because then you just know he will get the hiccups and then be all ticked off. Add that all up and you can see that he seems to be unhappy just about all the time. Seems like I can't win no matter how hard I try.
This week I plan to focus on the positive. To remind myself as many times as necessary that we are going to get through this. To learn that when you want to give up, sometimes it is not even an option. To remember that going through this is making me a better mother, and just may even be making me a better person.

a visit to the dentist....

So I know that I should have taken Charlie for his first dentist visit a while ago....I have just been putting it off because I didn't want his first experience to be terrible. This came from the struggles we have with getting his hair cut. He still acts like he is being brutally tortured whenever we walk into Monkey Dooz. I mean, who wouldn't be terrified of sitting in a fun little jeep chair while watching disney movies and enjoying a sucker? At this point, I don't think he is even that scared of it anymore, he just has the earlier memories of it and thinks he should be scared, so he wigs out. I did not want to have this battle at the dentist as well. I knew I couldn't put it off much longer so I went ahead and made an appointment - on Eric's day off of course. There was no way I was going to do this on my own. Eric talked to Charlie all about it the morning of his appointment (it was on April 7th). He was very excited. It also helped that he recently watched an Imagination Movers episode where they visited the dentist. They called his name and there were no tears or hesitation. I stayed in the waiting room with Cannon, but Eric said he did great. I was happy that I could hear his whole conversation with the hygienist. He told her all about his KISS toothbrush and his Lion King toothbrush and how he likes to spit in the sink. She started to scrape his teeth and she told him "Now I am going to clean the sugarbugs off your teeth with this tool." To which he replied "Do you mean the plaque?" Very surprised, she said "Oh, you know what plaque is already? Very nice." The only part he did not like was when they did the x-rays and he had to bite down on that plastic thing. The dentist said his teeth looked great and he was cavity free! He was so proud to have his name on the No Cavities board. He got a new toothbrush, some floss and a timer. All day he talked about his timer and couldn't wait to brush his teeth so he could use his new goodies. Anything to get him excited about brushing is good in my book. So happy that his first visit was a happy one. He is already talking about the next time.

(picture from August 2008. Even though I had the camera with me at the dentist, I didn't even think to take any pictures. What was I thinking?)

One thing I forgot, that Eric reminded me of yesterday, was when we were pulling into the parking lot. Charlie started to talk about how he was going to get some gold teeth at the dentist. Eric and I just looked at each other thinking where in the world did he get that idea? We just laughed, thinking of the idea of Charlie with a blinged out grill in his mouth. We mentioned it to my mom and she told us about the gold tooth she has in the back of her mouth that Charlie had spotted some time ago and asked her about. Good to know. :)

six months old...

Eric and I were talking last night about how Cannon is 6 months old today. It already seems like so long ago since that morning we found out we were going to be meeting our little guy. But when you actually say that he is 6 months old, that sounds so old. Already? I can't believe it. I have been looking forward to this though. I don't want to wish away the time because I know it goes by so fast anyway, but I am happy to be six months into this experience. Somedays I never thought we would get here!
We went to his 6 month check-up this afternoon. He weighs 14 pounds 6.5 ounces (5th percentile) and is 24.5 inches long (less than 3rd percentile). I don't remember his head measurement, but it was in the 20th percentile. We know how to make big headed babies! The percentiles are based on his actual age and were not adjusted to his gestational age. The doctor was very pleased with his growth and was happy to see that he is making some progress on the growth curve.
A few things about Cannon at 6 months:
- He goes to bed around 8pm. He usually gets up one time during the night anytime between 2am-6am. He usually goes back to sleep and gets up around 7 or 8am.
- We are still working on trying to get a nap schedule. He almost always takes a 30 minute nap about 2 hours after he wakes up and then the afternoon can be pretty random.
- He does not spend much time in the sling anymore, but he loves the BabyBjorn. he usually spends a few hours a day in the Bjorn. My back and shoulders are very happy about this - the sling was starting to kill!
- He is drooling like crazy and is starting to put everything in his mouth.
- He is not reaching for objects yet, but he will grab at anything that is near his hands.
- He hates tummy time.
- He loves bathtime and infant massage(except for his shoulders).
- It seemed like he had a bunch of hair coming in, but now it is looking pretty sparse again. He has a big swirly cowlick on the back of his head just like his brother. He also still has a little bit of cradle cap, but its hardly noticable.
- He is wearing mostly 6-9 months clothes and size 2 diapers.
- He is being seen weekly by Pat, his physical therapist and Amy, his occupational therapist. Overall, he is doing pretty good. He still has some tightness in his neck and shoulders. He is also having trouble with the flexion of this body. This is because he did not get that time in the womb where he was all curled up in a tight space. His body always wants to be in extension because that is all he knows. He frequently stiffens his body and extends his legs and arms when he is in distress. This leads to him not being able to self-soothe as easily because he is always in a "fight-or-flight" state instead of a relaxed state. His tolerance level is much lower than most infants so he is easily set-off into crying fits. He is also showing many signs of some sensory sensitivity. They cannot officially test for it because he is too young, but the OT is definitely going to keep an eye on it. All of these issues are due to his prematurity and he is likely to outgrow them with a little help from certain exercises and lots and lots of patience and love.
- He is tolerating the car and carseat much better now and for the most part we are able to enjoy scream-free drives.

a beautiful easter sunday....

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was perfect so it was a pleasure to spend the days outside enjoying the festivities. To start the day, we laid a trail of easter eggs from Charlie's room down the stairs leading to his Easter basket. He let out a squeal when he spotted the first egg. Then he noticed the trail down the stairs and his basket full of goodies and screamed out "The Easter Bunny is so cool!" We spent most of the afternoon playing with his new toys and making/decorating cupcakes. Then we headed over to Grandpa Rodger and Grandma Anita's house for an egg hunt and dinner.
Cannon looking all handsome.

Cannon has officially entered the drool 24-7 stage. He is usually in an outfit for 20 seconds before his shirt is soaked with drool. We took the family pictures right away while the boys were still clean and then I realized I didn't get any of just the boys. By then, Cannon was already a mess. Oh well, good to have the real life shots too.

Cannon and his cousin Nancy Jane. They were due just 2 days apart so they are pretty much the same age when you adjust Cannon's age.

Charlie counting his eggs.

The boys loved the egg hunt. Surprisingly, they weren't all that into the candy. A few minutes after the hunt I noticed that they had just tossed their baskets to the side and were onto playing with other toys. The big hit of the day? Bubbles. Lots and lots of bubble blowing. It really is the simple things that make the little ones happy, isn't it?

neighborhood egg hunt....

I was really looking forward to the egg hunt this year because Charlie is at just the right age for the whole thing. We had to stuff about 400 eggs prior to the event and we told Charlie that only the special kids were asked to help the Easter Bunny do special jobs like stuffing the eggs. He ate it up and felt so priveleged to help. Eric was asked to be the Easter Bunny again this year. Charlie had made a few comments about daddy dressing up in the bunny outfit in the days prior so we figured he knew it was going to be daddy. He spotted the Bunny right in the middle of the hunt. He immediately stopped looking for eggs and ran toward the Easter Bunny as fast as he could. I was trying to get him to concentrate on the eggs because they were dissappearing quickly (thanks to the older kids that don't know how to follow the rules!) and I didn't want him to be dissapointed he didn't get many. It was too late, he already had his sights on the bunny.

Yes, I will admit this photo is totally staged. The hunt was over in about 20 seconds, I didn't even have a chance to get my camera out before it was over.

Cute cousins.
Cannon was not happy at all that the wind was blowing like crazy and he was cold. We had him wrapped up good and got a quick shot with the bunny and then gigi took him home to warm up. He obviously didn't know that he was supposed to be terrified of the bunny. I imagine that will happen next year! :)

He never said anything about it being daddy, so I think we may have had him fooled? Despite the cold, he had a great time petting the rabbits, blowing bubbles, eating snacks and candy and constantly reminding me that he was not going to be going into the bounce house.

cannon & clancy, month 4....

My poor, neglected blog. My goal was to post 15 times this month and I am not getting a very good start. I guess I better get busy!
Here is the updated picture of Cannon and Clancy the bear... He had his synagis shot last Tuesday (hopefully the last one for this season!) and he weighed in at 13lbs 8oz. I cannot believe he has almost tripled his weight from the first picture to the most recent. You can definitely see it in the pictures. I just love all his chubbiness!