Working

Working on my new car with my new tools.

Rotten

Cannon is learning to push his boundaries and see just how much he can get away with. Last week, he was playing in the guest room while I was trying to clean it. He kept going over to the bookshelf to remove the books from the shelf, which is a "no no". I told him "no" once and moved him away from the bookshelf.

(Bear with me here as I hope I can describe this so that you can imagine it).

Okay, so he decided that he wanted to try it again. He began walking over to the bookshelf sideways with his little head turned toward me so he could watch me. He had the biggest smile on his face as he walked over. I said, "no" and he began to giggle. He kept grabbing the book and then I started to walk over to stop him and he started laughing hysterically! He did this three times until I finally just removed them from the room.

Tonight, Brett had a similar experience. There was a spot on our bedroom wall that was damaged and the drywall was peeling a little. Well, Cannon decided to rip it off and run out of the room with this piece of drywall. Brett said, "no no" and went chasing after him. Cannon thought it was funny. So he came back in the room and tried to do it again but there was nothing to rip off the wall this time. Brett was still telling him "no touch". Cannon would "inch" over to the wall to barely touch it with his finger just to hear Brett say "no". Brett said he continued this game for 45 minutes. Apparently, "no no" is now a game. We are in for it...

A Very Monkey Birthday Party

We celebrated Cannon's birthday on Saturday.

We had a house full of family and friends and it was a great party.

Here are the invitations that everyone received just a little late.

This was the first attempt to get Cannon to eat his cake. He liked it until he burned his finger on the candle. We attempted this 3 more times and decided he officially HATES his cake.

Our friend, Evan.
Daddy Monkey and Baby Monkey.
My beautiful niece.
Rylee. She was a big helper and helped Cannon open all his presents.
She liked it more than he did.

Monkey cakes. My friend and fellow Premier jewelry lady made it for us.

It was yummy, tasted like banana pudding with chocolate. YUM.

Peyton and Anna Kate.

Our family. I made us all matching monkey shirts. Cannon's monkey has a crown because he is definitely the KING Monkey.

Final Attempt at CAKE. So everyone left and I thought I would try the cake one more time. I gave him a spoon and he was kind of interested. He put his spoon in and then decided, No thanks! So I placed his hand in the cake and he screamed. It is official. He hates it.

Interestingly enough, today he ate spoonfulls of it...off MY spoon.

Brett's stepdad said he remembered that Brett hated getting his hands dirty as a child. I think Cannon inherited that trait.

Happy Birthday Cannon

I got a few presents from Mom and Dad a little early.

Here I am playing with them.

These letters are the best! I love them so much. They are mighty tasty too! Since I got them I have been putting all my toys on walls, etc, because I think that everything is supposed to "stick" now.

TOOLS!

I just love to play with Dad's tools. Now I have my own. I just love this tool belt. I bring it over to Mom for her to put it on me. I like wearing it, I look COOL. It came with a John Deere hat too. Not to sure about that one!

I am ONE YEAR old!

Can you believe that I was born one year ago today? Well, I was.

I am ONE YEAR old!

Let me tell you what it is like to be ONE!

First of all, I weigh in at 26 pounds and I am ___ inches tall! (I am asleep right now, so Mom cannot measure me, measurements to be continued).

Well, of course you know that I have been walking for THREE months now, I am a walking machine. I can walk so fast now, I even try to run. Especially, when the neighbor kids come over. They run everywhere and I try to mimic them. I think it is so fun to watch them run. I cannot wait until I am big and know how to run.

Once, I mastered that walking thing, I started to become a chatterbox. Mom and Dad do not understand anything I say. Well, that is not completely true. Mom comes running when I say, "MumMumMum". I say "ba" for "bye-bye". My newest and bestest word is...COT!

I have two cots and I think they are so exciting. I love pulling their hair and sometimes

Oliver lets me kiss him. I like to call my Grampy's dog a "cat" too!I can also say "out". I use it when I want "out" of the tub or when I throw things "out" of the tub. I occasionally say, "Hi" and wave. Mom has been trying to teach me sign language for months, I do not really care for it. I can sign, "fan", sometimes when Mommy asks where it is. I also can say, "O" when I drop something.

I eat food like a big boy now. I feed myself. I like most things, especially this white fluffy stuff. I think Mom calls it "rice". I call it YUMMO. My absolute, my favorite food in the whole world is STILL YOGURT! I could eat it all day! I can drink out of a cup when I want too. I do not like it when I am teething. Speaking of teething, I have eight teeth now.

I can do so much...

I can hit balls with my bat (on the tee of course). I hit them everytime. I have a great "eye". I can also hit my stupid penguin right upside the head with that bat!

I LOVE, LOVE music. When I hear it I just have to dance. I cannot help it!

My body starts movin' to the beat, I've got rhythm.

I can give you a "Hi FIVE" and I can wave Bye-Bye and say "Ba". I can also say "Hi" when I want too.

I am kind of shy and I am a real Mommy's boy. I just LOVE my Mommy.

Oh, I LOVE to turn off the TV. I think it is GREAT, especially when Dad has something "paused". Mom keeps telling him to record the things he really likes but he refuses. So he pauses his favorite little show and then walks away to get a drink, etc. THEN I strike! Off goes the TV and Dad misses the best part of the show. Pretty funny!

Well, I am sure there is more to tell but for now, enjoy these pictures.

Here I am at 10 days old.

This is me at four weeks old.

This is me at ONE Year! Wow, how I have changed.

Can you believe how small I was?

Feeding Myself

Bath Faces

Here are a few pictures of Cannon taking a bath this week.

He is such a funny little guy.

You know you think I am cute...
I know I AM cute.

Give me that thing, woman.

Look at this face.

I WANT that camera NOW!

Will you give it to me if I smile?

Cute Church Boy

This is me before church. I hope you can tell how cute I am.

We Need a Picture on this Page

Cannon

For the past 60 days or so, Cannon has been sick. Last week, I was sick and asked Brett take him back to the doctor for his cough. He came home with a steroid and breathing treatments. The next day, he was extremely snotty. By Friday, he had a elevated temperature, I treated it with Tylenol over the weekend. On Monday, I decided to take him back to the doctor. I just felt like something was not right, the doctor never asked to recheck Cannon; which I thought was odd considering the new medications. However. this was not odd considering the level of care, I feel like we have been receiving lately.

I made an appointment with a friend from Savannah that we went to church with, she just so happens to be one of the new doctor at our practice. I was very excited to be able to talk to her because I was on the verge of switching doctors and felt like I could REALLY talk to her about my concerns.

I was extremely frustrated that I was the only person that thought it was strange for my "non-daycare" baby to be constantly sick. I went in with a list of complaints and felt like someone was finally taking to time to listen to me.

She listened to Cannon's breathing and found out he had another ear infection (this is #4). She gave him a breathing treatment in the office and then decided that we should go have x-rays done just to rule out pneumonia.

I spoke to her today and they cannot determine 100% whether he has pneumonia or not. It looks like the early stages, POOR BABY! Thank God for mother;s intuition.

He is on a strong antibiotic for his ear infection that should also help his lungs, we are supposed to continue his breathing treatments and he will be rechecked in 10 days and probably x-rays again in a few weeks.

Bless his little heart. Now both Brett and Cannon have the virus I had last week. Cannon vomited earlier today and has had a lot of diarrhea this afternoon. Please pray that the virus will go away quickly. A side effect of the antibiotic is also diarrhea but we really need to keep him on this one because of his lungs. So pray for No Poop!

Also, pray that he will continue to be an "angel baby" during his breathing treatments. He has been so cooperative and such a sweet boy.

Despite all of this, he seems to be doing really well. He is definitely acting like his silly little self! And for now, the party is still on!

Why?

Moms do not get sick days.

Holland

I have a friend in Savannah that recently found out that her precious little baby in her belly will mostly likely be born with a mental disability. She is struggling with that truth but seems be gaining some amazing peace, as well. Today I was reading her blog and she posted this amazing article. I wanted to share it with you all, it has a profound message that everyone can learn from.
Friends, please remember this sweet family in your prayers.
Thanks for sharing this, Jennifer.


WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Birthday Bash at Rollie Pollies

Cannon's friends had a party today. Parker and Riley celebrated their's a little early with Mckenna. Here are a few pictures.

Seriously? Our very own cakes?
A poodle.

Okay, Emma, this is how you do it.

This is the cutest picture. Going for a walk...

Emma

McKenna

Riley

Parker

Baby Evan

Off the Bed I GO...

I meant to post this last week and completely forgot.

Cannon has learned how to get off the bed by himself. He climbs to the edge, turns his little body around, hangs his little feet off, grips the comforter/sheet for dear life with both hands and then slowly starts to lower himself. Yes, it is way cute.

Mean Face (Now called the Silly Face)

Okay, I hope you all are ready for me to overload the blog with posts, Cannon is learning something new everyday. So fun...

Today, I taught him how to make a mean face. It is hilarious! He scrunches his eyes and makes this funny breathing sound. I know, I know you need to see it. I tried filming it without luck. So keep checking back and I am sure that I will get it.

I need to amend this post...Since learning the mean face, Cannon has decided to use it as his silly face.

Bee Bo

Cannon has Sandra Boyton's, Belly Button book. It is a book featuring a beachful of bare-bellied hippos—including one tiny baby who can only say “Bee Bo”. I have been reading it to him and pointing out our Bee Bo's.


Now, when I ask him where is his Bee Bo, he pulls up my shirt and pokes my belly button. Very Cute. Brett did this video last night, please ignore the fat tummy and just pay attention to the smart, little boy.

Read this Book, No this One

cannon now brings us books to read, then sits on our lap, let's us read one line, takes the book, throws it on the floor and gets a new book...and the process starts over again.

Here in My Arms

Lately, Cannon and I have been slow dancing to this beautiful song by Plumb. Everytime we dance we wraps his arms around me and holds me so tight and kisses me over and over. I sing to him while we dance and he "endures" the entire thing with delight! It is very sweet. I think Brett needs to capture it on film. Until then, enjoy the song I just added to our blog (although this is not the version we are used to dancing to, ours is slower).

Parents, enjoy these moments when you can hold them in your arms and protect them from the storms. Then, once we can no longer hold them and protect them KNOW that your Father is holding them just like He holds you.


Your baby blues, so full of wonder
Your curly cues, your contagious smile
And as I watch, you start to grow up

All I can do is hold you tight
Knowing clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down
Waves will crash around
But you will be safe in my arms

Storybooks
Are full of fairy tales
Of kings and queens
And the bluest skies
My heart is torn just in knowing
You'll someday see
The truth from lies
When the clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down
Waves will crash around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come trueY
ou are never all alone
Cause I will alwaysAlways love you

Hey I
Hey I
Will love

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash around
But you will be safe in my arms
In my arms

Video Time

Here are a few really cute videos of Cannon with his new toys.

This is so cute. Cannon will go up to his horse and "love" him. He will even give him kisses. Just about the most precious thing ever.

Here he is loving another horse. He got three horses for Christmas, yes three! They are all so different and so special. Everyone kept asking if we are keeping all three, well of course! Every boy needs three horses!

Cannon was recently videotaped using a George Foreman grill as a pull toy. His Nana and Grampy and Poppy felt sorry for him and he got three pull toys for Christmas. Here is a video of how he "pulls" it.

Have I mentioned how cute this boys is? Yeah, super cute!!!!

Enjoying My New Toys

I have really been enjoying my new toys. Boy, did I need them! I was tired of my OLD stuff.

This is one of my horses. I like to kiss and "love" on this one.

This is my kitchen. I am making food for my other horse.

This is my wagon. Today I flipped it over and discovered that spinning the wheels is really fun.

Thank you Aunt Poof and Uncle Busch

I love my new jammies. I think I look pretty cool. Thank you.

Wii

Grandpa and Gigi got us a Wii for Christmas!

Here are pictures of Brett, Poppy and Mimi playing! Hilarious.