chunky monkey.....


I could kiss those chubby little cheeks all day long......

little angel...


Do not let this picture fool you....he is not usually this sweet and innocent. :) Actually, he has recently decided that sleep is for suckers. For the last week or so, I have been lucky if I can get him to sleep for a half hour the entire day. Seriously, how does he have the energy?? I know I don't.....

hangin' in the sling....

This is where the little man spends many hours a day....

He almost always falls asleep within 10-15 minutes of getting in the sling. However, he always seems to notice right away if I stay in one spot for too long or if I try to sit down. Little stinker. I guess the good thing about this is I get a lot done because I have to be on my feet for 2-3 hours at a time!
He had his 4-month check-up last week and weighed 11 pounds 3.5 ounces and is 22.5 inches long. He is barely on the growth curve for his real age, but is making some progress for his adjusted age. The nutritionist said that his growth is good but she was concerned that he was on soy formula. She said there has been some research to show that premature infants have a hard time absorbing the nutrients from soy formula. So we have started to slowly transition him back to a lactose sensitive formula. He is having really bad gas again and is not too happy about it. We are going to try another (very expensive) formula for very sensitive stomachs and see how that goes. I am just hoping for some relief for the little guy. It breaks my heart to see him in so much pain. Hopefully this one will help.

finished up pages...

I finally got around to finishing the journaling on those 2 layouts that I had been working on. The pictures stink because the sun was hiding yesterday and I took them indoors...
These are the pictures from Cannon's birth. I kept it simple and had a ton of journaling because I wanted to include Cannon's birth story. I liked that the October Afternoon and Making Memories patterned paper complimented the teal and blue from the doctors & nurses scrubs.
I seem to be using those Making Memories paper stars on everything lately.
One of my least favorite subjects to scrapbook is Christmas. It just always seems so redundant. I kept the journaling simple by just doing list journaling of the highlights of the season this year. I really love that red polka dot paper from American Crafts. I am all about polka dots lately.
For the snowflakes I cut apart a piece of glittered lace cardstock from KI Memories and added a button from Sassafras in the middle. I love that those buttons come already threaded, because I am too lazy to do that myself.


this little guy....

This little guy....

- is captivated by ceiling fans. He can be in the middle of a tantrum and will catch a glimpse of the ceiling fan above him and his cry will immediately turn into a big smile. He also loves to "talk" to them and prefers for them to be spinning very slowly. (Charlie was the same way, must be common among infants??)

- gets really ticked off when he has the hiccups

- likes to take baths. He immediately calms down when he is set in the warm water

- looks a lot like his uncle jon when he was a baby

- still has beautiful blue eyes that are lighter around the pupil and darker on the outside

- loves to spend a few hours a day in the sling being carried around by mommy

- is starting to like his swing and will tolerate it for short periods of time

- still loves to be swaddled when he sleeps but is getting too big for his swaddling blankets and always gets his arms out.

- is actually having short periods of time where he is awake and content and not crying (hallelujiah!)

-hates when I use cold wipes on his bum

-prefers his left side and is starting to get a flat spot on his head. We are propping him with blankets at night to get him to lay to the right.

-has slept almost 8 hours straight at night, but the normal is anywhere from 3-5 hours.

-is loved so very much!




mmmmmm.....

What is better in life than licking the beaters? When Charlie was younger he would not lick them because they were too messy and he didn't want to get his face dirty. He is getting wiser in his older years and realizing it is all worth the mess...
This one just cracks me up..looks like he is ready to attack. Watch out.
Last week while searching on Disney.com Charlie discovered that Mary Poppins was coming to Broadway. He watched all the videos about it, even the one with the director being interviewed on "The View". He talked about it nonstop and insisted that we must see this show on broadway. Since we do not see a trip to New York in our future any time soon, Eric decided to take him to Hastings to get the video. They could not find it on their own so they asked the clerk for some help. Charlie proceeded to tell the clerk all about the broadway show. She said "oh, I didn't know Mary Poppins was coming to broadway." To which Charlie replied "I can't believe you didn't know that, it is a really BIG deal." Luckily, they were able to find the video and for the last week or so all we have heard is his little voice singing "just a spoonful of sugar..." and "supercala-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-docious"


a few page shares....

Here are a few of the pages that I finished at the crops I've been to lately. I have a few more that just need some journaling on them, but that is always my least favorite part to do. (but really the most important, right?) I hope to get to it sometime this weekend.
The patterned paper is from Scenic Route. It is not new, but one of my all time favorite halloween papers so I had to use it. I think the stars look good with the rock theme.
I have loved these large newsprint letters from Cosmo Cricket forever and was happy to finally use them on this birthday page. The other letters are from Doodlebug. I am in love with all their letter stickers. The pictures were so busy I tried to keep the embellishments simple.
I was feeling pretty overwhelmed when I looked at the huge stack of Cannon's NICU pictures and was very uninspired to work with them. Most of them are not very good because the lighting was terrible and they just seem so busy. I decided to do something different that I have never done before. I bought some of the page protectors that have the 4x6 openings in them so I could just slide in all the pictures. I left a blank slot for each of the 6 weeks that he was there and then I went back through my blog and wrote up a summary of all the things that happened in each week. Then I embellished them a little and called it done!


I also used one of the openings for his little footprints. I love how it looks tucked in there with all the photos. I am really happy with how this turned out and even more happy that huge stack of NICU pictures is gone off my desk!
And now, my favorite part...putting them into an album to look at and enjoy!

rafiki fun...

As promised we took Charlie to an indoor playland on Friday called Rafiki's. He had been there once before with Aunt Andrea and cousin Roger, but it was my first time. It was a pretty nice place. It was very clean and organized, but a little on the pricey side. We even had to pay for Cannon - it was a reduced rate, but still, give me a break. The reasoning was because both me and my mom were there and you can only have one adult for every child or else you have to pay. They had a large climbing area with a slide similar to the ones at Carl's Jr, but much larger. They also had little stations all over including art, books/puzzles, play kitchen, ping pong, dress-up, a climbing wall and a train table. Charlie wanted nothing to do with the large climbing area. He usually does not care for them at the fast food restaurants either. He did love everything else though. Especially the play kitchen area and the cash register. He was a little bummed because he kept trying to make some new friends but all the other kids were so wired they just kept running all over the place and would not stop to talk. He is our little talker.



Finally, at the very end he decided that he wanted to climb up and go down the slide. Once he got up there he freaked out and would not go down by himself so my mom was happy to go down with him. He kept saying "that was not so scary afterall!" but then he still would not do it by himself. Oh well, maybe next time.

This is what Cannon did the whole time. Looks like he got his money worth.