He can sit up on his own quite well now. He still prefers to be lying down so he can roll around. He actually is not rolling as much as before, but is now spending a lot of time on his belly. He has been pivoting around and is even getting up on his hands and knees. His OT stopped by yesterday and was so excited by how much progress he has made in just a week. She thinks he will probably be crawling by the end of the month. I have no idea, but I do know that he gets this sparkle in his eye and you can just see how determined he is. Once he figures out what to do with his arms I think he will be moving in no time!
I have to admit that I LOVE this age. I just love watching him develop all these new skills. His personality is really starting to come out and he is so happy with himself when he does something new. He can also entertain himself for longer periods of time which is a big help. He is still quite fussy but I am hoping that has to do with the teething. Hopefully that will subside soon. (or just in time for the next tooth to begin to make an appearance, right?)
I was tagged by Heidi to complete this ABC All About Me. I usually forget to do these, so I thought it would be fun to play along.
A – Age: 30
B – Bed size: Definitely King!
C – Chore you hate: Cleaning windows
D – Dog’s name: no pets
E – Essential start your day item: Don't really have one...bowl of cereal I guess?
F – Favorite color: Red or Green
G – Gold or Silver: Silver
H – Height: 5'6"
I – Instruments you play(ed): Piano
J – Job title: Mom
K – Kid(s): Charlie and Cannon
L – Living arrangements: Temporarily living with my parents in their newer 2-story home.
M – Mom’s name: Dena
N – Nicknames: Mandy (exciting, right?)
O – Overnight hospital stay other than your birth: Hospital bed rest stays and 2 C-sections.
P – Pet Peeve: When someone smacks their mouth when they eat.
Q – Quote from a movie: "This corn is like an angel" from Dan In Real Life.
R – Right or left handed: Right
S – Siblings: Jon
T – Time you wake up: Anytime between 5:00 to 6:30am - way too early if you ask me. Cannon disagrees.
U- Underwear: I will pass on this one...
V-Vegetable you dislike: Onions and Peppers
W – Ways you drink your coffee: I hate coffee!
X-rays you’ve had: Just dental x-rays I think
Y – Yummy food you make: Most of the food I make is just good enough to "get by".
Z – Zoo favorite : Monkeys
in the blink of an eye....
Mister Cannon has been busy getting all independent on me lately. Check out his skillz:
mmmm.....
On Sunday, June 21st, Cannon tried baby food for the first time. Since Charlie's first food was sweet potatoes, I decided to stick with tradition and have it be Cannon's first as well. It was just as expected. A lot of funny faces, spitting out and food everywhere except his mouth. It took a few days of just playing, but he is now doing great and is eating about a 1/2 to 2/3 of a jar per feeding. We are still just doing it once a day but I will probably try to work in a second feeding in the next few days. We tried squash yesterday and he likes it as well.
He really looks thrilled about the whole experience, doesn't he?
On a side note, it seems to be popular right now to make your own baby food. Is it bad that I have no desire at all to make my own baby food? I am already tired of cleaning the high chair of the huge mess and it has only been 2 weeks! I remember being SO happy when we could put Charlie in a booster chair at the table and were able to get rid of the high chair. Although, Charlie is still a very messy eater. Between the two of them, it is a full-time job keeping the dining area clean. Maybe it is just my boys that are so messy? Okay, whining over!
He really looks thrilled about the whole experience, doesn't he?On a side note, it seems to be popular right now to make your own baby food. Is it bad that I have no desire at all to make my own baby food? I am already tired of cleaning the high chair of the huge mess and it has only been 2 weeks! I remember being SO happy when we could put Charlie in a booster chair at the table and were able to get rid of the high chair. Although, Charlie is still a very messy eater. Between the two of them, it is a full-time job keeping the dining area clean. Maybe it is just my boys that are so messy? Okay, whining over!
a lion king dream come true....
As you can imagine, the trip to see the Lion King in Las Vegas was a huge hit. My parents said that Charlie did great on the nine hour drive. He was so excited to see all the advertisements and billboards for the show all over the city. He was very diligent in pointing out every single one of them, just in case my parents may have missed one. On the day of the show, he took a long nap so that he would be rested up since the show did not start until 8pm and was 2.5 hours long. He also wanted to spray his hair orange so my brother took him to Sally's Beauty supply to get some hair color. They did not have orange so he settled for red. He was freaking out all the way to the show. He got a little impatient once they got to their seats and had to wait for it to start. He sang along to all the songs and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. About half way through he looked at my dad and said "Well, I think I am going to go up on the stage now and see Rafiki." As you can imagine, he was very dissapointed when he realized that wasn't going to happen.
He is still just as obsessed as before. He still watches all the clips on YouTube and asks to listen to the CD in the car. Now, he is especially interested in the German and French versions and is learning the words to all the songs in these two languages. It is just about the cutest thing to hear him singing He Lives in You in French with his little voice in the backseat of the car. He is pretty sure that we will be going to Germany soon to see the show there. I would love to go to Germany, but I just don't see it in our future anytime soon....Anybody else on their way to Hamburg and have room for a little guy to tag along?
He is still just as obsessed as before. He still watches all the clips on YouTube and asks to listen to the CD in the car. Now, he is especially interested in the German and French versions and is learning the words to all the songs in these two languages. It is just about the cutest thing to hear him singing He Lives in You in French with his little voice in the backseat of the car. He is pretty sure that we will be going to Germany soon to see the show there. I would love to go to Germany, but I just don't see it in our future anytime soon....Anybody else on their way to Hamburg and have room for a little guy to tag along?
This video is for Charlie. I wasn't even going to put it on the blog, but he requested it. Just a warning, it is not exactly riveting. But it is great to see how excited he was since we couldn't be there to see it first hand. :)
freehand scraps july gallery....
The July kit for Freehand Scraps has to be my favorite kit so far. I loved the colors and the papers and embellishments were just perfect. I hadn't gotten around to making a mini-album for Eric for Father's Day like I have for the past few years, so even though it was going to be late I decided to make one with this kit. It just seemed perfect for it.
What did I tell you? Cute kit, huh?!? This was the first mini-album I have ever made with the bind-it-all. I messed up one page and was pretty ticked I had to fix it, but overall I like the end result. I don't make enough mini-albums to justify buying a bind-it-all, so luckily I have some connections at Archiver's and was able to borrow theirs at the crop the other night. :)
I also made this tag for a little gift I put together for Charlie's teacher. I totally stole the idea for this gift from Heidi Swapp. She had it on her blog a few years ago. I liked that it was full of things that someone would actually use - especially when you are going on a trip to Hawaii like his teacher is. Lucky!
Be sure to check out the kit and the rest of the gallery at Freehand Scraps!
What did I tell you? Cute kit, huh?!? This was the first mini-album I have ever made with the bind-it-all. I messed up one page and was pretty ticked I had to fix it, but overall I like the end result. I don't make enough mini-albums to justify buying a bind-it-all, so luckily I have some connections at Archiver's and was able to borrow theirs at the crop the other night. :)
I also made this tag for a little gift I put together for Charlie's teacher. I totally stole the idea for this gift from Heidi Swapp. She had it on her blog a few years ago. I liked that it was full of things that someone would actually use - especially when you are going on a trip to Hawaii like his teacher is. Lucky!
Be sure to check out the kit and the rest of the gallery at Freehand Scraps!
a perfectly normal baby....
We weren't supposed to see the neurologist until August, but they called on Friday and asked if we wanted to come in on Monday. Of course we did! I really have not been very worried about Cannon and the concerns that the NICU doctors had at the follow-up clinic. After talking to his therapists and being repeatedly reassured by them that they didn't think he had anything to be worried about, I was feeling pretty good about the appointment. On the other hand, there is some reassurance from hearing from the specialist that your baby is perfectly fine. And that is exactly what he said. He asked us a lot of questions and he did an evaluation and then he said "My diagnosis is that you have a perfectly normal baby." Even though that diagnosis was expected, it was still great to hear. He said that he did notice the increased tone in his arms but he was sure it was not anything neurological. He said that Cannon is very strong and that, combined with his prematurity, was causing the tightness. He also noted that his slight tremor appears to only be when he is upset and therefore caused by just stress and that he will likely outgrow that at anytime. Eric and I were so thankful to receive such great news yesterday. We are so blessed that even though we have had several of these "scares" with both of our boys, every time the outcome always ends up okay. We are constantly reminded how lucky we are that our boys and so "perfectly normal" for all that they have endured.
Both of his therapists came to visit him today. I was happy to share the news with them so that they would know they were right all along. Both of them just smiled and were happy that our minds were now at ease. They are so impressed with Cannon's progress over the last few weeks. He is doing great with his rolling and has really started to do a lot of weight shifting while on his belly. They have shown me some exercises to encourage belly crawling since they think he is ready for that. In fact, his PT believes that he is just about ready for discharge from her care since he is doing so well. Go Cannon!
In other big Cannon news, he officially has his first tooth poking through on the bottom. He has been especially fussy (and that is saying A LOT!) the past few days. I had a feeling this might finally be the real deal, but of course was not sure. This morning I started to rub his gums and sure enough, I felt the little sharp tooth coming through. I gave him some tylenol but that did not seem to help at all. I also tried some orajel - the jury is still out on that. I will try again tomorrow to see if I notice a difference. I usually don't get emotional about these things, but I was feeling kinda bummed today that his little toothless grin will soon be gone forever. I guess I better get busy taking some pictures before that tooth is noticeable.
Thank-you for all the prayers for our little man. We are so very appreciative and thankful for your support.
XOXO
Both of his therapists came to visit him today. I was happy to share the news with them so that they would know they were right all along. Both of them just smiled and were happy that our minds were now at ease. They are so impressed with Cannon's progress over the last few weeks. He is doing great with his rolling and has really started to do a lot of weight shifting while on his belly. They have shown me some exercises to encourage belly crawling since they think he is ready for that. In fact, his PT believes that he is just about ready for discharge from her care since he is doing so well. Go Cannon!
In other big Cannon news, he officially has his first tooth poking through on the bottom. He has been especially fussy (and that is saying A LOT!) the past few days. I had a feeling this might finally be the real deal, but of course was not sure. This morning I started to rub his gums and sure enough, I felt the little sharp tooth coming through. I gave him some tylenol but that did not seem to help at all. I also tried some orajel - the jury is still out on that. I will try again tomorrow to see if I notice a difference. I usually don't get emotional about these things, but I was feeling kinda bummed today that his little toothless grin will soon be gone forever. I guess I better get busy taking some pictures before that tooth is noticeable.
Thank-you for all the prayers for our little man. We are so very appreciative and thankful for your support.
XOXO
cookie please?
Charlie knows all about the free cookies from the bakery at the grocery store. He even has this cute way of asking. He will peek around the corner and then say in the sweetest little voice "If you aren't too busy, can I please have a cookie?" The employees of the bakery always think it is cutest thing and we can hear them talk about how cute he is as we walk away. Makes me a proud momma when he is so sweet and polite.
We were on our way to Walmart the other day and Charlie was asking if it was going to be a quick trip or a long trip. Then we had this little conversation:
Charlie: So, we are going to get cheese, milk, soda and batteries. Then we will stop by the bakery and I will get a cookie.
Me: We'll see about the cookie.
Charlie: Okay, we will have to see if the bakery is closed or if they have the swine flu.
Me: Big laugh!
A few weeks ago when we were at Fred Meyer and he asked for a cookie in his usual, cute way, the lady looked at him seriously and said "I am sorry, we are not giving cookies out right now due to the swine flu." Like a 4 year old is going to understand that one. Sounds like a pretty weak excuse to me. Eric and I were talking about how ridiculous it was as we walked by their self-serve olive bar that was completely open for anybody to use and spread their germs all over. Go figure!
just a little advice....
The other day I was at Walmart and a lady walked by and asked how old Cannon was. I told her he was 6 months. Often I will just tell people his adjusted age so I don't get comments about how small he is. Even as I told her his adjusted age, she looked at him and said "oh, he is SOOO tiny!" I just smiled at her and went on my way but I wanted to blurt out "Actually he is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. I don't think he could be any more average, do you???" But, of course I didn't because she was just a complete stranger and who cares what she thinks. Obviously I must care since I let it bother me so much.
The same thing happened all the time when Charlie was an infant, but it was true. He was tiny. Even for his adjusted age, most of his life he has been in the 3rd percentile for height and weight. With Cannon I feel like I have to justify his size. I have no idea why. Maybe I am just sick of the unsolicited comments? Maybe I have just become more sensitive? I don't know. But if you are ever at the grocery store and talking to a mother about her child, maybe just comment on how beautiful her sweet baby is and nothing else. I am sure you will make her day.
The same thing happened all the time when Charlie was an infant, but it was true. He was tiny. Even for his adjusted age, most of his life he has been in the 3rd percentile for height and weight. With Cannon I feel like I have to justify his size. I have no idea why. Maybe I am just sick of the unsolicited comments? Maybe I have just become more sensitive? I don't know. But if you are ever at the grocery store and talking to a mother about her child, maybe just comment on how beautiful her sweet baby is and nothing else. I am sure you will make her day.
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