The Cannon Family

The Cannon Family

Saturday, November 17, 2012

10 Months


Well George is BY FAR our most independent child.  I mentioned it before and I'll say it again.  This kid has an agenda of his own.  We decided that with his new found independence we would finally remove him from our closet and have him sleep in his own room for a change.  This room situation had been somewhat of a dilemma for me because I didn't want to kick Jack out of his room but I also didn't want them sharing because I knew Jack would wake up G with his wild sleeping habits (such as sleep walking into Sadie's room every night and crashing on her floor:-). 

After tiptoeing around my bathroom one night while I brushed my teeth I finally caved and decided it was time NO MATTER WHAT. The other hard part about having him in our closet was that all of our clothes ended up all over our room instead. So George was moved into the crib in Jack's room and Jack moved into the guest room. We put a J on his door and turned the white comforter red (his favorite color) and Jack and George have both been sleeping swimmingly in their new rooms. It was a very simple and stress-free transition. Hooray for that!

I always thought it was sad that G woke up from his naps in a dark closet with out being able to see anything. Now when he wakes up I can hear him chatting away to himself or to the little puppies in the mobile above his crib. I also love coming in and seeing his little hands clasped around the rails as he practices his mad standing up skills. 

He seems to love having his own space. I moved all of his clothes in the dresser and hung up his dress shirts. He's officially a room owner!

He weighed in at 17.10 pounds.  Still a little guy but gaining weight so that's good.  I have completely stopped pumping.  I just decided one day that it wasn't worth the hassle.  I would pump and only produce about a 1/2 an ounce so it ended up taking me two full days of pumping to fill up a 4 ounce bottle.  Even my hard head couldn't persuade me to keep going.  It was getting ridiculous to hold on to virtually nothing.  I tried nursing him just for kicks and he immediately pushed me away.  Little weasel!  The good news is I have enough milk stored that he should technically be "breast fed" until he's a year old.  If I can make it to a year and what the doctors advise then I'm a happy camper.  He also loves the bottles and guzzles them down like nobody's business.  Still kind of sad to end that chapter in his life.  No more nurse snuggles with little George. 

Despite loving his bottles, he doesn't like pureed food anymore.  Giving him a jar of baby food takes some serious skills and strange tactics.  We use puzzles, books, anything to distract him so he'll open his mouth.  We're three for three as far as picky eaters go.  George has joined the ranks of Sadie and Jack at a very young age.  He loves cheese bits, Kix, Cheerios, edamame, and will still eat his yogurt oatmeal in the morning..thank goodness.  Wish we could plump him up some more but he's just not that interested in eating.  His appetite is hearty in the morning and that's about it. 

He's still busier than ever.  We love the breathing sounds he makes when he's exploring.  Lots of cute little exhales.  He loves taking things out of drawers and putting them back in and would much rather be on the outside of the exersaucer than trapped inside.  He's into EVERYTHING these days so we've had to attach elastics to all the cupboard doors and the bathroom doors are always shut so we can avoid dipping hands in the toilet again. 

I love how mesmerized he is by the same bah blanket Sadie sleeps with.  She has several extras so we gave all the blue ones to him.  He can be as cranky as can be, but when you lie him down to swaddle his legs and put the bah over his face, he immediately calms down as if in a trance, pops his two fingers in his mouth and snuggles the little lamb while you wrap him up.  I then just lay him in his crib on his side so he can continue to snuggle his bah blanket and that's it!  SO easy to put down for a nap or bed.  I have noticed that he only sucks his fingers now when he's sleepy.  It used to be ALL the time but now it's only when he's napping or down for the night.  

George love dogs.  Whenever he sees one when we're out walking or even the stuffed animals in the house he'll kick his little legs and get a HUGE grin on his face.  He can giggle pretty hard when they come up to his toes and lick them.  He is very much aware of the world around him and is constantly moving his head around to check out the latest noise or see the birds, cats, or dogs scurry away.  We love our little George more and more everyday. 

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloweeeeeeeen!!!


Halloween is quickly becoming my favorite holiday.  I get such a kick out of getting everyone dressed up in matching or coordinating outfits and it doesn't hurt that my children look like delectable morsels when they're all dressed up either.  Macy set up her photography equipment again at the trunk or treat and because I knew she would be there, I made sure we were ready for the camera. 

I finished their costumes probably two hours before we headed out the door.  The outfits Chase and I wore were pulled together in about ten minutes!  We decided that if a witch and Dracula got together, they'd probably have human bat offspring.  Thank goodness for my black sheet which I cut in half and turned into capes, the Elvis wig Chase wore two years ago, and the black dress hanging in my closet.  We were overjoyed when we found our lost billy bob teeth too. 

I don't know what it is about billy bobs that gives me the green light to act light a complete fool in front of the entire ward.  Maybe it's because half of them didn't know who we were.  Less pressure:-)
 

We loved getting all our "candle pumpkins" (that's what Jack calls them) ready.  Chase insisted on making a scarecrow this year.  I've never made one.  The picture doesn't show his make-shift head and we'll just let y'all assume it looked fantastic. 

I got the idea to make bat costumes from my friend Dana and her blog: www.danamadeit.com.  It was fun running into her while we chaperoned at the stake dance a few weeks ago so I could thank her for yet another costume idea.  She's pretty much my hero because she makes these costumes look so easy to make.  I thought it would be a piece of cake too.  I was wrong.  I ended up making the capes pretty easily (without mentioning that I had to take a match and finish off all the silver lining so it wouldn't fray).  The bat hats put me over the edge.  I must have made four or five before I finally figured out how big I needed them to be.  And because I can only sew when the kids are either asleep or at school I had to use my own head for measurement.  That being said, I think they turned out pretty cute.  I can't handle how precious my little Austin bats are. 

AHHHHH!!  Those two teeth again.  I can't handle it!!

Chubby little bats are my favorite.
 

These three!!! I just love them to pieces!!!!

There's no way I would have gotten this many smiles out of G if Chase wasn't standing behind me acting like a lunatic. 

Jack insited on being called "batman."  He really wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween but I'm a mean mom and made him wear what I made (it took me three days for Pete's sake!).  His friend Chase was being Superman and he wanted to be a superhero too.  Apparently they are all the rage with the three years olds this year.  Next year I might not have as much room for negotiation.  His opinions are getting stronger and stronger these days.

This picture is so scary!!!  Poor George was probably petrified and wondering where is a "little less crazy" mom went. 

The alternative wasn't much better.  His Dad was replaced by a tooth baring Dracula with blood (reeking of nail polish) running down his mouth. 

He loved fishing through all the candy at the end of the night.  He couldn't believe his good fortune when he somehow landed a Swedish fish in his premature mouth. 

Looking all hyper and perky with those ears. 

This one's just for shits and giggles.  Happy Halloween y'all!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sadie's first piano recital


We were beyond excited to watch Sadie perform in her very first piano recital.  You wouldn't have known it was her first by her outstanding confidence and zero fear of getting up there in front of everyone.  Because it was around Halloween the kids were encouraged to dress in their costumes and there would be a prize for the best costume.  Because I labored excessively over her costume, I was secretly hoping she would win:-)

The only wrinkle in the plan was Jack getting the stomach flu the night before after the Trunk or Treat.  He had eaten his entire bag of candy and puked it all up before going to bed.  He continued throwing up well into Saturday morning and we feared the recital would just have to be missed.  But after finding a babysitter (four phone calls later) we were able to attend while Amanda Severson sat at our house as Jack slept in his bed.  Hooray!!

I was able to accompany Sadie and she played beautifully.  She ended up playing 4 spooky Halloween songs and guess what....she won best costume!!  She whispered to me that it was actually me who won the contest because I was the one who made her costume.  But she won for looking so dang cute in it!!

Daddy brought her some flowers and ran out after her performance to attend to Jack if needed (he ended up sleeping the whole time we were gone...phew!)
After her concert we stopped by a field to see some horses.  Chase and I were dying over this picture because she looks like a bat who ran into a fence. 

I then took my little bat to Costco for some last minute Sunday meal preparation.  She was admired by all but especially by me! 

Sweet Berry Farm


Probably the most expensive way to buy pumpkins is to drive an hour west and pick out pumpkins that are WAY overpriced just for the sake of letting the kids get their pumpkin from a "patch."  We've heard about Sweet Berry Farms for a couple of years now and finally headed out to check it out.  Admission was free but just like the rodeo, we had to buy tickets for all the activities.  These included jumping on the berry bounce, a train ride, corn maze and a hay ride....of course. 

 It ended up being a tad pricey but tons of fun for the kiddos. We could finally put to rest Jack asking every ten minutes if we could go buy some "candle pumpkins." 

Corn maze cuteness.

Berry bounce!!  Sadie was a champ but Jack couldn't seem to get the rhythm of it all.  Pretty hilarious to watch:-)

Hay ride!

Train ride.  We even let Sadie hold George so he could be entertained by it all.  Everyone loved it, especially Jack which isn't hard to tell by his expression above.

Thought we could get away with not bringing the double jogger but of course the kids always prove us wrong. 
 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Growing TOO Fast!!

 

Our little lady is growing like a weed.  Still the smallest one in her class (which I love:-), but quickly growing out of her pants and all her size 4 clothing...finally.  Perhaps we can now start buying size 6 for her at the end of her sixth year. 

One thing Sadie has been very excited about is starting piano lessons.  I asked her if she wanted to take soccer or ballet and she said all she wanted to do was play the piano.  This was great news for me and my wallet too.  We found a fantastic teacher who graduated from UT Austin with a degree in music and after hearing him play I'm convinced he's a musical prodigy.  I'm determined to have her sight reading better than I did with the Suzuki method so we are tackling the Hal Leonard method instead.  I am loving his teaching style and not only is he very respected by Sadie but he's also really fun for her too. 

She has completely taken off!!  It didn't take long for her to get the fingering down, half notes, quarter notes, legatos and staccatos, and tackling the metronome (that was a tough one).  She has already become such an amazing sight reader and even though we've had some VERY frustrating practicing moments she has learned to be patient with herself and me when I give her correction.  It's a hard balance because she wants me to sit in there with her but she doesn't want me to say anything.  She'll often "shush" me at times and I even got the "Spaniard finger" once.  I've noticed that if we practice earlier in the day and if she receives more praise than constructive criticism, we can have a pretty successful 30 minutes of practicing.  I love how sweet she looks playing the piano.  I am so proud of how well she is doing. 

She seems to have a pretty intense crush on her buddy Peterson.  I asked her why she likes him so much the other day and she responded "Because he's so handsome and he's my best friend."  I told her that's why I married her dad so she's off on the right track:-)

Sadie is so good at making friends and has such amazing confidence around others, but not so much that she would ever seem condescending or bossy.  She's just a lot of fun to be around and is always surrounded by lots of buddies.  Her friend Avery down the street knocks on our door just about every day to play and she's meeting so many fun friends at church as well. 

Her latest and most exciting accomplishment so far is taking the training wheels off her bike.  Chase and I took turns running around with her and it took only about 5 minutes to figure it all out.  I eventually just started running beside her in case she toppled over and she never did!  Seeing her pure and joyful excitement as the wind blew through her hair made me turn away so she wouldn't discover that her old mom was crying.  She rode off and left me there to watch her turn her bike around the cul de sac as I strained to keep the tears from pouring down my face.  My baby grew up WAY TOO FAST.  It hurts my heart and even though I am so proud of how wonderfully accomplished she is, I wish I could just swaddle her in a blanket and watch her fall asleep in my arms again.  Sigh.....
 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Tooth Fairy makes her debut


It finally happened a year later than the dentist predicted.  We now enter the early awkward stage of losing teeth and getting bigger ones in return. 

We bought a special box to put her tooth in so the tooth fairy could find it a little easier:-)

There it goes!!

Now if only she could fall asleep.  WAY too excited!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Before and After

 
We thought we'd show George one of our favorite Austin spots and headed down to lady bird lake.  He got pretty tuckered out by the end.
 
After playing in the hammock at the four seasons and rolling down the hills we were all equally as sleepy.
 

 
 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Puddles


When it rains in Texas we make the most of it!!