The Cutest Puppy Ever!

Ryan doesn't really get into holidays, but I was so excited for Cannon's first Halloween! When we found out we were having a boy I immediately planned for him to be a puppy for Halloween (if it was a girl, then she would have been a kitty). I didn't realize that it would be so hard to find a puppy costume, at least one that didn't cost $25. A few weeks ago I found one at the Goodwill. But after we tried it on Cannon, we realized that it was too small. It was the kind that didn't have legs, it was like a sack. It was only too short, so I decided to make legs in it and a place for his feet to come out. Because I do things at the last minute, I waited until this morning to alter it. The end result was very silly looking, a puppy wearing floods. So then I spent the rest of the morning looking for a puppy costume. I finally found one at Target and it was on clearance! The biggest size they had was 6-9 months, and Cannon barely fit in it. I have to say that he makes the cutest little puppy! But he hated it! He didn't cry, but he sulked the whole night and had a disgusted look on his face. First my dad came over to see Cannon in his costume. Then we went to trunk-or-treat at church. And finally, we went to Ryan's parents' house where we met up with the other cousins. I knew Cannon was too warm in his costume. It was 73 degrees today. But as the sun went down it got cool and then he was okay.


Too small!


Cannon with my dad.


He had this look the entire night!




We got one smile, thanks to my dad!


Some more pouting.


Cole was a pea pod. He actually liked his costume!


Not the best picture, but it's the only one I have of Cannon's first trick-or-treating with his cousins and his grandma. Jade is Dorthea and JT is Ironman.

We had a pretty fun night. Cannon was sure glad to get out of that costume and take a bath!

Amazing Grace!

I just had to post this video! Yesterday Cannon woke up early from his last nap. It would be too late for a third nap, but it would be too early to put him to bed when he was tired. I decided to power through and keep him up until at least 7:15, but hoping for later. Ryan got home a little later that night, so it made it worse. Cannon had been very whiny for awhile and we were on our last stretch, dinner, bath, then bed. I was trying to get him to eat, but he was being so fussy and I was reaching my end. Fortunately Ryan came home just in time to save us all. Ryan is like a celebrity in our house. Everyone loves it when daddy comes home! I had Ryan stand nearby so Cannon could see his face. Usually if Ryan just looks or talks to Cannon then he is all smiles, but he was being a little tougher this time. I told Ryan to sing to him (this is how we used to get Cannon to stop crying in the car). The song that came to his mind first, Amazing Grace. Although the words are incorrect, the effect was, well, amazing!

6 months old today!

I can't believe my baby is six months old! Time has gone by so fast, a lot faster than I expected. We went for his well check today. I always love taking him because I'm anxious to see how big he is getting. I also really like our pedi and she always loves seeing Cannon. Of course he was all smiles for everyone, but he was sure to keep me in his sight at all times. Starting last month he gets sad if someone else holds him. He looks at the person, looks at me, and then cries. It doesn't happen every time. In fact, most of the time he will happily go to anyone. But he just does it when he is extra sensitive like if he's hungry or if he just woke up. At church Ryan and I both teach, so he is used to going to random people. All the ladies at church line up to take a turn holding him! I never know who will have him, but I always feel like he is safe and well taken care of. Anyway, here are his stats for today:
Length: 27.5" (90th percentile)
Weight: 19lbs 11oz (90th percentile) *This is more than triple his birth weight!
Head: 43.3 cm (25-50th percentile)

I always make his dr appointments in the morning because he is the happiest and he is generally up around the same time everyday. His naps vary and I never want to disrupt them. He usually gets up around 7:30 each morning. Of course today I had to wake him up because he was sleeping past 8 and our appointment was at 8:40. I don't blame him though, all the rain makes it a perfect day to be sleepy.

I really feel like he is growing up! He is doing all these new things. I call it an intellectual growth spurt.




He likes to eat these rice crackers. Of course, the first time I gave it to him he bit off a huge chunk. Instead of immediately fishing it out of his mouth I watched him and he started to chew it. It dissolved really quickly in his mouth so he never choked. I didn't know that he knew how to chew! So then I decide to try a cheerio.


And he ate it!


He can also drink water from a sippy cup, which he loves! Sometimes I have to take it away because I don't want him to fill up on water. I'm glad he likes it because it will make it that much easier to wean him by the time he turns one.


He also likes to eat fruit with this net thing. He can eat bananas and raw pears. I gave him raw peaches the other day, but then I realized that he shouldn't have raw peaches yet. Luckily he didn't get a stomach ache later.

On Monday, we went to Ryan's parents' house for a triple birthday party. Starting October 1, we have non-stop birthdays until January. But then there will be two more babies coming (both girls) one in February and the other in March. And then Cannon's birthday is in April, so I guess it never ends! Anyway, we celebrated Rick and Kristina's birthdays and their baby, Cole's first birthday too.






I love this silly face he makes!


Cole got this from grandma and grandpa and Cannon was mesmerized by all the lights and sounds.

Always an Adventure

On Sunday I got bit and scratched by a stray cat with open wounds. I won't tell the whole story because it still makes me sad to think about this poor little kitty and I don't want to make you sad too. Basically, Blue found it in Ryan's parents backyard and I tried to save it (No, Blue did not attack it; it was already hurt). Ryan and I really love animals, so it was really upsetting to me to see this kitten the way it was. Animal control had to come and take it to an emergency animal hospital. They wanted to test the cat for rabies, but they said it would take at least 24 hours for the results. Rabies in cats is rare, but we live in Austin and we have a huge bat population. And just the other day they found a rabid bat about 15 minutes from where we live. I called my pedi and she said not to nurse Cannon until they got the results. I had already used up all of my frozen milk, so I had to give him formula. Of course, the regular formula makes him spit up (more than usual), so I had to get soy. For a baby who doesn't like to take a bottle, he was a champ! It was like he knew and he never gave me a problem with it. The pedi also told me to pump to keep up my milk supply. So from Sunday until Wednesday, he took a bottle. The cat was negative for rabies and I did not have to get a tetanus shot because I had one April of last year when I worked at the hospital. Well, even though I pumped regularly, my milk supply got really low. I've been taking Fenugreek and today I fed Cannon every two hours and I reduced his solid food intake to only once a day. Last night he slept 11.5 hours, so that may be part of the problem too. If he doesn't wake up tonight, then I will try and pump once or twice. Despite my interventions, I haven't noticed an increase yet. I started taking the Fenugreek on Tuesday and they said it could take 72 hours to work. Anyone else have advice?

In other news, Cannon finally rolled over on Sunday. Now he can officially roll over both ways! He can still sit up okay, but hasn't made any significant improvements. When he is sitting, he really wants to eat his feet and then he can't sit up again.

Cannon also got a new car seat! He's actually had it for a few weeks now. I was deciding between this one and another one and the one I got fits the best in my car. It's usually a pretty expensive seat but I got a good deal. I bought it from diapers.com. I actually found it cheaper on another website and they did a price match for me. So I got an extra 15% off, plus 10% off because it was my first order, free shipping, and no tax. Also, my grandma gave me $100 to use for Cannon, so it came out to be about $130 which is the price of a normal car seat. He likes it so much more than his infant seat, which is why I decided to make the purchase now. The infant seat only goes up to 22 pounds, which he is nearing, and this new seat can be rear-facing up to 35 pounds. I plan on keeping him rear-facing well past his first birthday because it is so much safer. I am a huge fanatic when it comes to car seat safety and I could go on and on. But I won't! But I love to answer questions if you have any! One day I will take the class to become a certified car seat technician, but I'll have to do that when C is older. I was signed up to take the class last year, but they changed the date at the last minute and it ended up being during my first week of work. Boo. Here's little champ in his new seat.



I just had to post these other pictures too. Cannon always spits up all over me. Ryan like to play "rough" with Cannon sometimes and I always warn him that he is going to spit up on him. Well today was the day I had been waiting for! It went all over Ryan's face and glasses! Thanks son!

Fall was here

One of the reasons why I love living in Austin is the climate during fall/winter. I hate being cold! Even though I grew up in Utah, I just can't tolerate the winter anymore (I do miss the snow sometimes). October is a great month here. Some days are hot, some are cold, but most are warm and sunny. I like it when it's cold for a few days and when you get sick of it, it gets warm again. Yesterday we had one of those cold days; it was about 58 degrees (not that cold for some of you). Cannon likes to feel the cold breeze on his face. Ryan took Cannon and Blue to the park yesterday while I went to the store. I wish I had gone with them because Cannon looked so cute and he went in the swing! We put him in the swing one time, but he was too small and we haven't been to the park since that time. Ryan said he loved it! Next week it will be back in the 80's, so we're enjoying the cold now.


He looked so cute and fat all bundled up! I just wanted to squeeze him!



Ryan did take a video of Cannon swinging. It won't upload right now, so I'll post it later.

Cute baby

Last Saturday we went to a birthday party for my cousin's baby, Hayden, who turned one. They had a petting zoo and pony rides. It was kind of rainy, so I didn't set Cannon on the pony, but I wanted to. He did get to see the goats and the bunny. I don't think he cared, but Ryan and had fun! We love animals, especially ones you can pet.




We could not get Cannon to look at the camera.


Here's a picture of the birthday boy. He was being such a ham for the camera!


I took this video today. It's cute, so I thought I would post it. This little fox is one of his favorite toys.

Screamer!

Cannon has really been into screaming, when he's happy or mad. He did it all day yesterday and this morning. I took this video this morning when he was playing in his crib. He talks to himself all the time! It's really cute.




So I decided it was time for him to learn how to sleep without being swaddled. This was my third attempt, but this time I was ready to deal with short naps and middle-of-the-night wake-ups. My reason for this was because he gets out of his swaddle at night, which wakes him, and the blanket gets around his neck and face (not safe!). He is also going to start rolling over any day now. So I started this on Saturday for naps. His naps were okay, but it went better than I thought. Then Saturday night he went to bed at 8:30. He is a champ when it comes to going to bed. We have our little routine and then I lay him in bed with his music on and he usually is quiet or talks himself to sleep. Saturday night was no different. And he slept until 6:30am, so I was happy about that! Sunday he had horrible naps. He never slept longer than 45 minutes! So last night I put him to bed at 8:15 and he slept until 7:20! And this morning he took a two hour morning nap! So hopefully this good sleeping will continue.

Look what I can do!

Cannon just started sitting up last week! At first it was only for about 10 seconds, but now he can sit for almost a minute. When I tried it the first time I thought maybe he could do the tri-pod pose, but I was surprised how upright he could sit. Of course, when I tried to take pictures he was never in his best sitting position. Sometimes I let him fall over and it doesn't seem to bother him. Yesterday he fell and accidentally hit his head on the wall. I felt bad, but he didn't cry, so I guess it didn't hurt.

Cannon is also starting to grow in new hair! He has all this new fuzz on the top of his head. I can't wait until it's long enough for me to style again! He isn't rolling over both ways yet, but I think he could if he really tried. He rolls to his side to reach for toys, but stops when he gets them. So I tried putting them a little out of his reach, but then he won't try to get them. Oh well, he'll do it soon enough. He has also been playing with his feet more. He grabs them, but he can't get them to his mouth yet.

This week he decided to only take two naps instead of three. I was okay with this because each nap was two hours long. It makes it tricky because when he wakes up from the second nap, it's too late to take a third nap but too long to wait until bed (unless I put him down at 6:45). So I've been doing my errands in the early evening and letting him sleep in the car for 10 or 15 minutes. It's just long enough to get him through until bedtime. He is still waking up in the night, actually it's the early morning, to eat and then go back to sleep. It's my goal to get him to sleep 11-12 hours, without eating, by the time he is six months old. So I've been tweaking his schedule a little and hopefully it will work. I'm just tired of getting up in the night. It wouldn't be so bad, but I can't fall back to sleep for almost an hour. He is also not very hungry when he wakes up for real at 8:00 or 8:30 because he just ate at 5:00 or 6:00am. So he should be eating during the day and not in the middle of the night. He was such a good sleeper as a newborn that I thought it would carry on. Don't get me wrong, he is a good sleeper now, but he hasn't really progressed recently. At age six weeks, he started sleeping eight hours at night. When I started solids, he was going 10 hours. One time he went 11, so I know he can do it. But right now he is back to eight or nine. So yesterday I gave him his "dinner" rice cereal right before his bedtime nursing instead of at our regular dinner time hoping that he could go longer (don't ask me about last night, he woke up at 2am). Then this morning I gave him a little bit of rice cereal after I nursed him. This will give him three solid food meals a day plus five nursings (four, once I cut out the 5am one). I'm not really sure how to cut out that 5am feeding, so I'm open to suggestions. I was thinking of only partially feeding him and gradually decreasing it. I've tried rocking him back to sleep, but that did not go over well at all! I'm hesitant to let him cry it out because he gets out of his swaddle that way and then I have to reswaddle him. I guess I could also teach him to sleep without his swaddle. Any other suggestions?