The Cannon Family

The Cannon Family

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Baby Shower!!

My sweet friends threw me a baby shower!!  One of the many reasons I love my friends so much is because they think EVERY baby should be celebrated (even if you have 7 kids!).  I couldn't agree more.  We are so excited for the arrival of our new baby sister and would celebrate her every day if we could.  Sadie was very excited about coming along to see all the pink!  She's finally getting a baby sister!!  The ONLY downside to the evening was having to look somewhat presentable which meant I had to squeeze into these maternity jeans that were working WAY too hard to stay seamed.  I'm pretty much braless and in sweats pants with a fuzzy robe these days.  That dang belly band was all worth it to be able to be with all my favorite ladies!!

They did such a beautiful job setting everything up.  Even though it was an evening party, they served breakfast foods because I'm slightly obsessed with eggs right now.   
And the maternity jeans had to work even harder after all the delicious food that was consumed.  

Julie moved into a new house and it was so fun to have everyone there to see it and how well it's been decorated.  


Sadie and I had sooooo much fun opening all the adorable gifts.  Can't wait to dress this little lady!! 


We forgot to snag a photo of everyone before some ladies had to leave but we didn't forget to get a pic of all us pregos on the couch.  We were a little worried it would break!! 

Love this girl so much.  She just had twins, moved into a new house and still wanted to host a baby shower for me.  I don't know how she did it but I'm so grateful she did.  What a fun party!! 



Monday, January 19, 2015

Our Last Hoorah!

It seems that we've been having weeks of cold weather and sunny Sundays where we spend three hours inside at church.  It makes me murmur sometimes.  I just want to partake of this sunshine!!  Well one particular sunny Sunday we snuggled in this hammock until the very last moment.  Then it was off to church!!  The only thing making me REALLY not murmur was that the next day was MLK day and because there was no school, work AND it was another sunny day, we were going to spend the entire day outside!!  It would be a "last hoorah" until baby girl arrives in a few weeks.   
Our first stop was the swings at the LBJ Wildflower Center.  Kids loved it and we had the whole place to ourselves!!! 



After that we went canoeing on LBJ lake.  It was an LBJ kind of day!!   
The rental place wouldn't let us all ride together.  I thought that was lame, so I walked down the trail a little ways and hopped on the canoe once we were out of their sight.  No one says no to "feisty pregnant Abby."
It was a glorious day and so fun to be on the lake!!  I was worried I would sink us all with my big prego belly, but we did just fine.  I sat on a life jacket to cushion my poor tailbone, and it was actually quite comfortable!
George LOVED the "boat ride" and all the turtles we saw along the way.  He was constantly letting his hands glide in the water as dad rowed us down the lake.   

The older and more timid ones were worried we would tip over the whole time but Jack was brave enough to stick his hands in the water, occasionally....if the boat seemed steady enough.  

Cannon Boys

Cannon Girls 

Can't believe we are going to have another one of these soon.  They sure are cute!!

This hunk of muscles rowed us the whole way himself.  It was a very relaxing ride...for me. 


I loved being able to spend some time outside of the house with my amazing family.  Baby girl cooperated too and made it possible for me to exert myself a bit with very little pain and minimal exhaustion.
  
And look what we found as the kids were throwing rocks?  A heart one!!  Sums up how I felt that day about my family, my life and beautiful Austin that we get to enjoy!

And it wouldn't be a day in Austin if we didn't stop by the Torchy's trailer on the way home.   



Saturday, January 17, 2015

George the Great!!

For now, and the next few weeks, George is my baby.  He's looking so much older these days and will look even bigger once baby sister arrives.  Oh how I love this little munchkin.  He's three years old now and I seriously long for those squishy days when he was just under 2 feet fall, round and chubby.  How I loved to just snuggle him, nurse him and watch him fall asleep in my arms.  Lucky for me he's still my cuddle bug and loves to be near.  The memory of him, his two little fingers in his mouth while he strokes his "brown bah" under his nose will forever be etched in my mind and heart.  Sometimes I have to chuckle when I put him to bed for a nap in the afternoon and watch his eyes convert into a trans-like state as his "bah" is placed on his face.  He always seems to find that perfect little nub at the bottom that immediately releases all sorts of happy, sleepy feelings.  We gave him two new "brown bahs" for Christmas and they have since been called "impostor" bahs because he won't have a thing to do with them if his original, stinky one is around.  

George's favorite things right now are garbage trucks, any truck, and basketball.  If Chase is watching football on the television, George will tell him he wants to watch basketball instead.  He's got a pretty good shot too.  He wants his Little Tykes hoop raised to the tallest setting at all times and will shoot balls in there like nobody's business.  Occasionally he'll throw his arms up and declare "I did it" or "it's good" which he clearly got from Chase.  He used to say "babal hoop" but has since learned to say "bassball".  Such a little genius!  He used to also say "re-ee" when he was about to shoot, but now just runs around shooting like crazy. 
 

He's still a mama's boy and will give me snuggles and kisses whenever I want them.  He'll also take the nub on his "bah" and stroke any "owies" that I might have. Still, he loves his Daddy and will run across the room when he gets home from work or meets us at the park.  If Chase is watching a game, George and Jack will be right there watching it with him.
  
His favorite thing to do with Chase right now is to go up to him and say "na na na boo boo, u can't get me" except for it comes out a little more slurred "nanabooboo youcangetme."  Chase will then pretend to be a monster and chase the little whippersnapper around the kitchen and living room.  George has the funniest little prance of a run.  His shoulders hunch, his arms go out and his little feet just bounce along.  I absolutely love watching him run away from his dad!! 
His bedtime routine has changed drastically over the last year.  For a while I thought he was dropping his nap about 6 months ago.  He would just play in his crib instead of sleeping.  So every afternoon I would sit up in his room and rock him in the rocking chair until he fell asleep.  Sometimes all he needed was just one song, but most of the time it was 7 or 8.  Little stinker.  He would also blurt out requests behind his finger stuffed lips, like "adavice (Edelweiss)" or "starsong" (twinkle twinkle).  But the norms were always La La Loo, So This Is Love, A Dream, Stay Awake, I love You For Sentimental Reasons, Somewhere over the Rainbow and he usually started closing his eyes around "The Street Where You Live." 
 
It was exhausting, especially on nauseated days, but it was always worth it to me if I could get him to sleep for a few hours because then I could take a much needed nap as well.   Besides, George can get pretty grumpy if he doesn't get a nap.  It was best for all involved to rock him to sleep those 5-6 months.  

But now my belly is so big, I can barely hold him and he must feel bad for me because all I have to do now is lay him down, give him bah, and tell him "night night."  This is about when the "bah" molestation happens and he's well into his euphoric trance.  For a while he would say "nigh nigh" every time we closed the door.  If we didn't open the door and say "nigh nigh" back, he'd start to cry.  This would go on for a while, us opening the door over and over again to say "nigh nigh" or I love you" after we'd hear a little "i ov oo."  Lately he's also loved having Sadie sing him some songs if we can't get him to go to bed.  She'll go in there and sing her Kiker Keynote songs WAY off key, while we sit downstairs and just chuckle.  We love hearing George say "nudda sung" when Sadie tries to leave his room.  It's hilarious!!  He'll also let Sadie snuggle him if he's sad.  She's pretty good at comforting him but also very good at driving him crazy when she steals his bah on purpose, or brushes her teeth with the scary electric toothbrush just to make him scream.  And boy can that boy scream!
He can be quite feisty!!  I think it's funny that he likes cats so much because sometimes he's as moody and feisty as one.  I still love that he comes into our room on Saturday mornings and "meows" us awake.  I have so many videos of George just meowing.  That's another memory etched in my mind and heart.  George the meowing cat!  He can also be quite a stinker when it comes to eating...still!  He usually requests a YouTube video of garbage trucks or Baby Einstein  before he'll open his mouth.  I am however pretty impressed with what he will eat.  The kid will eat avocado plain and loves raw almonds.  He's also the only kid to eat eggs, drink milk and try my green smoothies.  He has stopped eating my green "super porridge" but now likes oatmeal with chia seeds. He calls it "mama oatmeal" and requests it every morning.  Either that or banana slices with peanut butter. 
 
Now George wants his door WIDE open. He will wake up VERY upset if we happen to close it while he's sleeping to keep the other kids from waking him up when they go to school.  This has become quite a challenge because now he wakes up at 6:50 every morning with the other two and is DEAD tired at noon.  It's definitely cut into my "go back to bed after the kids go to school" routine.  Now George and I are up with the sun making oatmeal together and having ample time to get to our appointments or playgroup for that week.  It's kind of nice actually.  I'm rarely late to anything anymore.  Thanks George!
He and Jack are still the best of buddies and have become even more so over the last few months.  Anything Jack says, George will often repeat.  If they're throwing rocks in the river and Jack says "kacheega" while he throws his rock, George will say the exact same thing.  Seeing these two little men play and run around together makes my heart so happy.  Every boy needs a brother and every girl a sister.  So glad we were able to provide that for them (with help from above of course).  George has picked up on the bossy side of the older kids as well.  Often we will hear him say "no no no jah" when he doesn't want Jack to do something.  Or he'll say "don't go yet..K?"  Most of his sentences usually end in "K" unless he's asking for a snack or a treat and says "awwww" when he's denied something he really wants.
He wants to be and do everything his big bro and sis are doing.  If they are swinging in the big kid swings, he wants to "gehout" of the baby swing.  If they're running upstairs or outside to play, that's where he wants to go too.  It breaks his heart when they go down to the Steigers to play with Avery and Evan because he has to stay here with boring old me!!

He's a great playmate and has lots of little buddies who adore him.  He's at the glorious stage where he can have play dates with friends and I won't see him for an hour because they're upstairs having so much fun. 

Can't imagine a world without our little George.  He's always so happy to see me after naps and in the morning.  I love how he whispers and talks inches from our faces when he wants us to do something.  I love how easy he is with babysitters and new friends, but I also love how he'll hide his face in my chest when he's decided to be bashful at Daddy's work.  I love how he'll go outside and play with his trucks for hours and how easily entertained he is.  I love his bright blue eyes and luscious eye lashes.  I love his open mouth kisses and big grins when we ask him to show us his teeth.  I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me this precious little boy.  Happy Birthday my sweet.  Love you forever and ever and ever!!














  



George is 3!!!

This little wonder is such a big boy now!!  We were pleased as punch that his birthday fell on a Saturday and that this particular Saturday in January was 70 degrees.  It was a day to be celebrated for many reasons but mostly for our little Georgie Porge!!  We made some cinnamon rolls and put candles in his.  He loved having us sing to him and blowing them out so much, he excitedly requested that we repeat the whole process "again!!!"  We (including George) sang happy birthday probably 6 or 7 times until the candles couldn't take any more!!  
We had a great morning playing outside and going for a run in the stroller and then while George slept, we set up a mini carnival in the back yard for all his little buddies to enjoy later that afternoon.  George is in a playgroup, so we invited all his little friends and a few others from church to come celebrate three years of having George in the world!!

Now that our patio is FINALLY finished, we can host some pretty fun parties outside! 


Until George is old enough to just have his friends over (without parents and siblings) we will continue to get the HUGE Costco cake that can feed us all!! 

George was pretty baffled and surprised when he woke up to find balloons flying and all over his trampoline!! 
Dexter's mom was a whiz at making everyone balloon swords!! 

George was a pretty good host but occasionally he just wanted to do his own thing.  

He loved jumping with all his buddies and hitting the pinata!! 

He LOVED that we got to light more candles and sing Happy Birthday again!! 

He would rather eat his tootsie rolls and lolly pops from the pinata than eat his cake.  Whatever George!.  Mom will eat it for you!  

We wrapped up the party making s'mores.  Mostly the little kids just ate the marshmallows and chocolate.  No need for roasting. 


Other than the fact that I was 9 months pregnant, it was a pretty easy party to throw.  Everyone was so nice to come celebrate with us and bring little G some gifts.   

Uncle Curtis was in town for all the festivities and was not only kind enough to rake all the leaves in the backyard, but also made his famous Italian noodles for us after everyone went home.  It was delicious!!

Sadie and Jack helped George open all his presents and had their fair share of playing with them too.