8 months old today!

Time has been going by so fast, especially these last few months! Cannon is such a delight and brings so much joy to everyone he meets. My favorite thing he does right now is give hugs. He's been doing it for about a month now, but it never gets old. He wraps his arms around your neck and squeezes really tight! It just makes you feel so good. Stranger anxiety hasn't hit him yet, but there will be times when he wants to come to me when Ryan is holding him. There were a couple times last week when I handed Cannon to Ryan and I walked out of the room. Cannon started to scream! It's funny because he used to be such a daddy's boy. But I have noticed him preferring me to do certain things, like feed him. Cannon also loves his uncles and his grandpas. He LOVES his Uncle Robert (Ryan's brother). He always reaches out for him! It's fun to see him recognize other family members. He also LOVES my sister Shae. He lights up whenever she comes over. Of course, Blue is the one that makes him laugh the hardest.

Cannon is not even close to crawling! For some reason I knew that he was going to be a late crawler and late walker. I knew this when he was just born. But this fits with his personality. He is a very laid back baby (people at church comment on this all the time). He is content to sit and play with his toys or roll around when he wants to. Sometimes he will just roll around the room without playing with toys. He likes to look around and take notice of things. I put the humidifier in his room the other day, and he immediately knew it was something different. He kept staring at it. He will still lay in his crib and look at his mobile! He is also obsessed with pulling off his socks and eating them.

He has learned to hold his bottle. I don't know how he did this because I don't give him a bottle very often. I guess he learned it from holding his sippy cup. He continues to be a good eater. If you don't feed him fast enough then he will grab the spoon from you. So I now try to give him his own spoon. It will definitely be easy to transition him from baby food to regular food because he loves textures and loves to chew. I will give him pieces of what we are eating if it's something he can have. He especially loves meat! I let him try brisket a couple weeks ago, so now he's a true Texan! He also likes chicken, turkey, and pot roast. Recently I gave him asparagus and egg yolk for the first time (not together). He seemed to like the asparagus and he loves scrambled egg yolk! I also gave him mashed potatoes, but they were made without milk and butter. Of course he loved it! He still seems to be sensitive to milk products, so I am really cautious. I usually mix in a little soy formula with his cereal, but I just can't stand the way it smells. So the other day I bought goats milk for him to try. It's nice because it doesn't stink and you don't have to mix it. He seems to like it too. It also has Vitamin D which he needs. I have the vitamin drops for him, but they are so nasty! So I bought soy yogurt for him (he LOVES it), but it doesn't have Vitamin D. I have a recipe for making yogurt, so if I am feeling extra adventurous one day I think I will try it. It's a lot cheaper than buying it. There are lots of new foods that he can have this month, so I am really excited to try them!

Cannon just got his first cold the other day. It's so mild that I can hardly say he is "sick." He only has a little runny nose and congestion. He sleeps with his humidifier on and I put a pillow under his mattress to keep him elevated. He has been a little cranky, but he is also working on his teeth. Hopefully those things will pop through any time now!

Sorry for the picture overload, but there were so many cute ones. He was not in a smiley mood this morning when I took them. It was right before his nap so he really wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot.

A day with the boys

Yesterday we watched Cole all day so Rick and Kristina could look for a house. Cole was so easy going that day so it was great having him. He even took a three hour nap with Ryan in our bed! I always like to watch Cannon and Cole play together (well it's really Cole trying to get Cannon to do something other than drool!). They recognize each other and they act so cute together. Cole usually tries to give Cannon a toy and he also likes to touch his face or put his finger in his mouth. Cannon just stares at Cole, but will sometimes give him a big smile. Cole is also gentle with Cannon and I've seen him pat his back. They were kind of on opposite schedules that day, so they didn't get a whole lot of play time together.

That night we also had our church Christmas party. I was especially excited because I was looking forward to getting a picture of Cannon on Santa's lap. Of course we got the time mixed up, so we got there at 7:00 instead of at 6:00 when it started. But it worked out for us. Since everyone else was finished eating, other people held the babies so Ryan and I could eat. And we weren't there long enough for the babies to get bored.

Cannon didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap. Stranger anxiety hasn't hit him yet, so he will go to anyone without a fuss. But poor Cole screamed when I handed him to Santa. I knew he would cry, but we had to get a picture!


Ryan said that he's glad we don't have twins. I still think it would be fun.


It's a good thing Cannon doesn't have teeth yet.


This was the only time he cried that day.

Swimming or Flying?

Cannon will NOT get into crawling position. I found a trick to get him into it, but his legs are so strong that he forces them back straight. His torso is really strong too. When he is lying flat on his back he tries to sit up and then he holds himself in that position. You can feel his tight stomach muscles when he does that. We just need to work on his hip strength now. When he is on his belly he does this funny kick (as seen in the video).


I took this cute picture of him yesterday. Anyone who knows my know that Superman is my favorite.



I'm sure if I put him in the water he would just start swimming.

Nothing really new is going on around here, so I haven't had anything to blog about. The other day Cannon had a stuffy nose and a low fever, but it was gone the next day. He's never been sick before so I wasn't sure if he had a cold or if it was teething. I would assume that a cold would last longer, so I guess it was just teething. I know those teeth will pop through soon because I can feel two bumps on his bottom gums. Oh, he finally got that Cheerio in his mouth!

Basket Case

Cannon has discovered that he can roll to get to where he wants. Once I put him on the floor, he takes off! He usually gets himself in a pickle and yells until I come rescue him. I love the age he is at right now. I think it's my favorite so far. Although I LOVE newborns and it was so much fun to have my own, he is really a lot of fun right now. He loves to play with the blue basket. I load it with rattles and small toys and then he pulls them all out and picks the one he wants to play with. Then he usually eats the basket. His other obsessions are phones, X-Box controllers, and cords. I also decided to let him sit up in the bathtub now. I wanted to get one of those bathtub seats that he can sit up in, but I've just been lazy. He does pretty well, but I can't take my eyes off him for one second. It just gets slippery in the tub and he found out the hard way what happens when you lean to far to get a toy.


We had a nice Thanksgiving with my family at my dad's house. Cannon got to meet my brother, his Uncle Dakota, for the first time. He lives in San Diego and is working and going to school, so he doesn't make it to Austin very often. I also gave Cannon a hair cut. This was actually his second one, well it was just a trim. He was starting to sport a mullet again, so I had to take action. But this time I cut a tiny bit off the top too, just to make it more even. It's finally getting long enough so I can fix it again. He has some curl in his hair, but you can only see it when it's wet. Ryan and I both have curly hair, so I'm hoping Cannon will too.

Also, we had snow in Austin! It only lasted for about 10 minutes and it never stuck to anything, but it was still fun. The last time it snowed here was Valentines Day 2004 and there was enough to sled for a couple hours in the morning before it melted. Sometimes we will have freezing rain ("ice day") once a year, but snow is rare. The funny thing is that Houston had sleet and ice and then everywhere northwest of Austin had lots of snow. There was an open pocket in the storm right over Austin. So this was Cannon's second time to experience snow. This was Blue's first time and she just shook and trembled in the cold.










Cannon and Dakota


I can comb his hair to the side now.


Side view.


Mohawk.


Catching snowflakes on his tongue.

Getaway

Ryan and I went on our first overnight trip without Cannon. We had actually planned it before he was born, but for a while I was iffy on whether or not I was going to go. Early last spring Ryan bought tickets to see the Tennessee Titans play against the Houston Texans in Houston. The Titans are Ryan's favorite NFL team right now because he loves Vince Young, as do I. We loved watching him play as UT's QB and we have been following him since he was drafted into the NFL. They are finally starting him and he has won every game since then. Ryan had bought 4 tickets at a really good price and then sold 2 of them for more than double what he had paid.
Anyway, I decided that I would go with Ryan since Cannon has been pretty good lately about taking a bottle. I have never left him more than a few hours, so this was going to be a big step for me! The plan was that Ryan's parents were going to watch him on Monday and that night and then a friend from church would watch him on Tuesday because Ryan's mom had to work. So we dropped him off at 11am on Monday and then we headed to Houston. I didn't want to be a psycho mom and call every hour, although that's what I wanted to do. I waited until we checked into our hotel before I called. Cannon had had a good nap and enjoyed going to the mall with his grandparents and 2 cousins.
The game was awesome! We had amazing seats, the 13th row at the 50 yard line! And best of all, VY sat right in front of us the whole time (except when he was playing)! The game was close the whole night, but we were able to get the win. It was weird cheering for the opposing team, but it was still fun. There were a few other Tennessee fans amongst the Texans fans so it wasn't so bad.
The next day we slept in and then went and did a session at the Houston Temple. On our way back to Austin we stopped in Bryan/College Station to see our brother-in-law at his new job at the Miramont Country Club. This place was spectacular and decorated with the finest materials you have ever seen! Just to give you an idea, the owner really wanted a particular kind of Italian marble. The wait list was a few years, but he wanted it immediately. So he bought this company in Italy and made himself first on the list! After Rick gave us a tour, we ate lunch/dinner together and then headed home. I was so excited to see Cannon that I could hardly stand it!
When I saw Cannon for the first time, he smiled and reached out for me! This was the first time he has ever reached for me, so it was really cute. Then he saw Ryan and lit up like a Christmas tree. Then he looked around at everyone else and smiled at them too. So Cannon was a champ and they said he was happy the whole time. He never took a bottle for Ryan's parents (what a stinker!), but he took the bottle fine for my friend. They have 5 kids, so he was entertained the whole time. I felt bad that he wouldn't take the bottle, but it was nice to hear that he was still happy.


Ryan also really likes Chris Johnson, so I got a picture of him too. I forgot to get a picture of Michael Griffin, who also used to play for UT.












This was taken right after the game. It's kind of a bad picture of us because we were tired and my hair was disgusting because it was humid.

7 months old, almost

Technically he won't be 7 months until tomorrow, but what's one day? I love that he is doing all these new things! He is interested in everything around him and has to have it. This includes my hair and Ryan's glasses! He's been pulling my hair for a while now, but now he does it on purpose.
He is still a great eater and likes to try new foods. Sweets are still his favorite (peaches, mango, bananas, etc), but he eats most anything. Oh, he LOVES soy yogurt! I think he has a sensitivity to milk products. I usually mix in a little soy formula with his cereal and every now and then he has a soy formula bottle. I used to give him regular formula, but I noticed he would spit up ALL the time. It went away when I switched. I tried regular whole milk yogurt with him and he did the same thing. Ryan even gave him a teeny tiny taste of tapioca pudding (made with whole milk) and he spit up all the next day. And it's not the usual spit up, it's the kind that smells like vomit. I might try regular yogurt again when he's 9 months old, but hopefully he will be okay to drink regular whole milk when he turns one. But anyway, he eats 2 small solid food meals per day, sometime three. I have introduced him to new grains other than rice cereal and he seems to enjoy them too. I have enjoyed making his own baby food and cereal and it's not as hard or time consuming as I thought it would be and it definitely saves us a lot of money. We do keep some jar food on hand for when we will be out of the house. I have been following the book Super Baby Food and I love it. She is, at times, a bit overzealous, but I take what I need from the book. This is one of my favorite baby stages and I love introducing new foods to Cannon.
He is still going 12 hours at night, with one wake-up to eat at around 4 or 5am. I have temporarily given up trying to break him of that feeding. There was one week where he went 11-12 hours without eating at all, but then he went back. But what I noticed was that it messed up my milk supply. During the day he wants to eat/nurse every 4 hours instead of 3. Without that early morning feeding he would only be nursing 4 times a day and I don't think that is enough for him. So I will just wait a couple more months until he is eating more solids.
He is still toothless, but they are on their way. He has been "teething" for quite a while now, so we're just waiting for them to pop through any time. Generally he is his usual self, but every so often he will be in pain for a couple of days and then it will go away. The pain is always relieved with baby Orajel or Motrin.
His likes are pretty much still the same, Blue, Ryan's singing, exersaucer, jumperoo, reading, etc. But he has a new fear of the blender and vacuum. He will be okay for a short period of time if I hold him while I vacuum, but the blender freaks him out! I have to put him in another room and close the door if I need to blend something. He is also afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West, as you will see in the video.

He can grab the Cheerios, but he can't quite get them in his mouth yet!

And don't think I'm a mean mom, Ryan! Now that it's on video I promise I will never do it again!

I think he is starting to wave. He did it to Ryan when he left for work this morning and he does it to the "baby" in the mirror. I've been testing this all day to see if it is real or not. It's hard to see on the video, but he copies me when I wave to the mirror. He is also starting to reach for people. This is still an emerging skill, but it's going to happen for sure this month. He did it to Ryan this morning and then when I went to take him, he turned away from me! He did this another time when his Uncle Robert was holding him and he turned away from me when I went to take him.


New trick, pulling the cloth off his face!


That's pretty much it! Oh, he has been making new letter sounds. In addition to vowels, w's, k's, g's and h's he says, "bah, bah, bah, bah," and "buf, buf." He is no where near crawling or doing the army crawl. He is content to hang out where he is or else he will just roll to get to where he wants to go. I will try to put him in the crawling position, but it is nearly impossible! He either stiffens his whole body so that his legs won't bend or if you do get his legs bent, he won't hold his chest up and he does a face plant into the floor. Oh well!

Who does Cannon look like?

I suppose that Cannon is a good mix of us. Half of the people say he looks just like me and the other half say he looks just like Ryan. I can see both of us. And I think that Cannon's looks change as he grows. When he was first born he didn't look like either of us. Actually, he looked like my dad. I don't have very good pictures of either of us and I only have two pictures of Ryan. What do you think?

Ryan:


Me:



1 year old (I know, where's the hair?!)