Taking It All In

Walking on Sunshine

2012-02-04T18:56:00.002-07:00

Today was a beautiful day! The sun was out and the temperature was around 60. It was fabulous! We made our way to a park for fresh air and sunshine. We had a picnic, Max enjoyed playing fetch, and Canaan enjoyed the playground.

I tried to get a picture of Canaan holding Jude...this was the best I got. She wasn't too sure about holding him so he's just laying on her.

8 weeks

2012-02-04T18:32:00.003-07:00

Jude is already 8 weeks old! His two month appointment is next week. I am very curious how much he weighs as it seems he has grown a lot. He is definitely a good eater and doesn't appear to have the food issues Canaan had early on. I hope that continues.

still an easy-going, happy baby - he only gets upset when he has a dirty diaper or is hungry
will take a pacifier and enjoys sucking on it but cannot hold onto it for long - I am hoping he either figures it out or will start sucking his thumb soon (I can't remember when Canaan finally discovered her thumb.)
wearing 0 to 3 month clothing
wearing size 1 Huggies Little Snugglers diapers
goes through several outfits each day - I don't remember this happening with Canaan
has started smiling which melts our hearts
enjoys laying flat to stretch out
enjoys the bouncy seat and swing
has been sleeping anywhere from 4 to 7 hours at night - I generally only get up with him once during the night.
makes a lot of noise, seems to always be grunting or squeaking
doesn't stand a chance staying awake in his car seat so far

Canaan at 8 weeks in 2009

Canaan is very sweet to Jude. She makes sure we know when he's crying. She will try to give him the pacifier and gets in his face to say hello. She is not as curious these days when we change his diaper. And generally she leaves him alone and does her own thing.

Weekend in review

2012-01-22T21:11:00.001-07:00

This guy is still doing a lot of sleeping. I can't remember when this stage ends so I'm trying to enjoy being able to get some things done while he's sleeping. I am also enjoying watching him sleep and holding him a lot. I know the day will come when he's too busy to cuddle with me so I'm especially enjoying holding him.

When we ventured out this weekend, we bought Canaan her first board game...Chutes and Ladders. I have to say it was a bit frustrating trying to play with her. She was excited about the game, but she was not able to sit still to play it. She was running around and wanting to move the board pieces all over the place. She did enjoy spinning when it was her turn and she remembered whose turn it was each time. I think she'll figure it all out as we continue to play with her.

Snow Days

2012-01-22T21:10:00.001-07:00

Last week we had a pretty big snow storm. Around here it was called Snowmageddon since we don't get much snow. Daycare was only open 1/2 of one day so we were "stuck" at home for much of the week. We played in the snow some, but Canaan lost interest pretty quickly each time. Every time we went outside, Canaan wanted to eat the snow. We made sure she knew to only eat the really white snow. When we asked her if she understood, she told us not to eat the red, blue, or yellow snow. At least she remembered the part about the yellow snow. There were parts of our yard/deck that had around 8 inches of snow. Unlike many in the Seattle area, we never lost power. We were thankful for that but did get a little cabin fever before the week was over.

Jude Elias

2012-01-05T23:16:00.002-07:00

Jude Elias was born December 7, 2011. I left work at 4:30 that afternoon thinking that I may be experiencing labor pain. When Matthew got home around 6 pm, I told him we needed to call the Bells to pick up Canaan and get to the hospital. We made it to the hospital a little after 7 pm and Jude was born at 9:05 pm. He definitely came faster than I expected, but it was nice to have such short labor. He was 6 pounds 8 ounces, 19.2 inches, and his head was around 13 centimeters. We had not yet picked a name but decided on one right before we left the hospital the following day.

Canaan has adjusted pretty well to being a big sister. She doesn't pay a lot of attention to Jude unless he's getting his diaper changed. She always wants to see his poopy diapers. She definitely notices the change in the attention shes getting so we're working through that.

my 39 week photo

It felt like a rushed Christmas season with a new baby and moving into our new house. But it has been a sweet time for our family. I look forward to a slower paced holiday season next year!

36 weeks family pictures

2011-11-27T12:23:00.002-07:00

Melinda was gracious to take some pregnancy pictures of us last weekend. It was cold outside so we made it quick. I love the orange leaves that were still around. Fortunately we were able to get some pictures before any meltdown on Canaan's part. We had spent the morning looking at flooring for the house, had a late lunch, and it was way past nap time. These are some of my favorites. Thank you Melinda!

1st haircut

2011-11-27T12:10:00.001-07:00

November 15th I took Canaan to get her first haircut. You can kind of tell from this picture the day before that her hair had gotten a bit stringy. It still was not long but could use a bit of a trim.

We were the only customers in the salon when we went so it was nice to not be rushed and that Canaan could choose the vehicle for her haircut. She chose the red airplane. There was a cartoon on a tv in front of her and she picked some toys to play with. She did a great job!

The hair clip didn't last long, I don't think it even stayed in until we got to the car. Surely by the time she's 3 her hair will have grown more, right?

New House

2011-11-06T21:22:00.002-07:00

We were supposed to close on our house Friday October 28th. Due to issues with our sellers and our lender not having their act together, it did not happen until Tuesday November 1st. We didn't get the key until Thursday the 3rd.

Saturday we met with a general contractor to discuss some things we'd like to have done before moving in. We are waiting to get an estimate from him. We were hoping we'd be able to have everything complete and move in before December 1st...hoping that would give us time to unpack and decorate a bit before Baby Boy arrives (due December 18th).

In the listing, the sellers said they would be painting the exterior of the house. It was a very neutral gray color. The painter contacted us to see if we would like to pick the colors before he painted. It was not easy, but we picked a blue color. Every house in the neighborhood is very neutral and with the dreary weather we wanted something that would pop a bit. I really like how it turned out.

One of my favorite things about the house is the deck in the back and the slide coming off the deck. Canaan has already been enjoying this when we've been over at the house. The slide needs a bit of wax to make sliding down it a little easier.

Tinkerbell

2011-11-06T20:56:00.003-07:00

Canaan had a Halloween party at daycare on Halloween. I left work early so I could go see her party and take some pictures. As soon as I got there, she threw her plate of snacks away and was ready to leave. She got upset at me when I told her we were staying for her party. She finally got over it and we stayed for about an hour. This is Canaan being unhappy with me.

After Matthew got home, we met Melinda and her kiddos at a local mall for trick-or-treating. They even had a band playing live music. We got a short video of Canaan dancing which was really funny. It was great to have the mall to go to for our first trick-or-treating experience. With all the small children and their parents, it was crazy! Canaan enjoyed asking for candy and seeing it in her pumpkin. Thankfully she did not end up with a large amount of candy. She has tried several things and not liked much so far. I think the only thing she has really eaten was some Sweetarts. She did not really understand what to do with a sucker. And she does not like the chocolate at all. Maybe next year, we'll just stay home and hand out candy.

31 weeks

2011-10-18T23:06:00.004-06:00

Last Sunday, I reached 31 weeks in this pregnancy. I cannot believe how quickly it has gone by to this point.

Things have been busy around our house with work and keeping up with Canaan. She is quite the handful these days. When we were expecting her, Matthew was nervous about raising a child. I was only worried about the process of getting that baby out of my body. This time around with a toddler at home, I haven't thought as much about the labor and delivery (although I am not really looking forward to that part) but have been very anxious about actually being responsible for another person. This parenting things is harder than I thought it would be!

I am sure the next 9 weeks are going to fly by. This time of year tends to speed by. We have plans to close on a house a week from Friday. We won't know until Wednesday if that is actually going to happen or not. After we signed a contract on the house, the sellers filed for bankruptcy. So we now have to wait for the bankruptcy court to approve the sale of the house. If everything goes forward, we plan to move by the end of November...just in time for Baby Boy to have his own bedroom.

We still haven't really talked about baby names yet so we need to get to work on that. I haven't purchased a single thing for Baby Boy. I was kind of waiting until we figured out our living situation. Now I am ready to start looking at bedding and how I want to decorate his room. We have a lot of things we'll be able to use that we used with Canaan. Thankfully, we chose neutral colors for almost everything but her bedding and clothing. It will be fun to add some blue to all the pink we already have.

As you can kind of see from the pictures below, I am quite a bit bigger this time around. I feel huge and cannot imagine what I will look like and feel like in 9 weeks. I have been much more uncomfortable in this pregnancy but thankfully have not been sick. It is getting harder to get down in the floor to play with Canaan, give her baths, or even rock her as I don't have much of a lap these days.

Canaan talks about her baby brother, but I don't think she understands what is going on. Some days, she will tell either Matthew or me that she has a baby boy in her tummy. Some days she likes to talk about sisters and brothers. She has also told me how she will help with the baby...by feeding him and changing his diaper. She has been doing a lot more of this type of pretending with her baby doll at home.

31 weeks of pregnancy with Canaan

31 weeks of pregnancy with Baby Boy

A trip to the farm

2011-10-18T22:52:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we used a coupon I recently purchased to go to a local farm. We got a later start than I expected, and this place was BUSY! For a child who loves animals as much as Canaan does, this was a perfect place to visit. This huge pig was just wandering around like you would see a dog wander around. Canaan got to pet this pig, a chicken, a miniature horse, and baby pigs.

This is what I've been getting lately when I ask for a smile (at least when she's cooperating).

She also got to go on another pony ride although this one wasn't as good as the first one. This time a young girl led the pony around the pen one time. Canaan still really enjoyed it. I think the wait for this one was more than an hour. Matthew was nice enough to wait in line while Canaan and I walked around and looked at all the animals.

This place had little tractors that kids could drive around, a huge fire pit for roasting marshmallows, a hay bale maze, a rope to swing on, a train to ride, a garden to play in, and plenty of animals around.

I think it might be fun to go back during the summer when it might be less crowded.

1st Pony Ride

2011-10-18T22:40:00.005-06:00

While Matthew was working a couple of weekends ago, Canaan and I went to a local park's annual fair day. There was a lot going on at the park, but the very best thing was the pony rides. From the moment I told Canaan there would be horses, she was so excited. We waited in line about 40 minutes so she could ride this pony (or horsey, according to Canaan) for about 5 minutes. She got to pick the one she wanted to ride, and she picked Toby. She was really good about sitting still and holding on. She squealed several times as she went around and would occasionally pet Toby. She had a ball!

We walked around the park to see what else was going on. There was a line for everything. We also went on a ride pulled by a tractor that Canaan enjoyed. By the time we got home, this pregnant momma was exhausted. It was a fun day!

Canaan went to sleep before Matthew got home from work that day. The next day when she was telling Matthew about the park, she told him she "needed Toby." She has talked about him several times since then as well.

Pops Visited

2011-10-18T22:36:00.003-06:00

During September, Pops came to visit. While he was here, we took the ferry to Whidbey Island and drove around. He may have been here the best weekend of the whole year. The weather was perfect! We drove out to an old fort and looked around. He and Matthew also went to the Flight Museum and to Alki Beach.

Evergreen State Fair

2011-10-18T22:26:00.004-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend, Matthew, Canaan, and I went to the Evergreen State Fair. Canaan LOVED seeing all the animals. She got to pet this huge horse, a baby goat, and some other horses while we were there. The pigs and some of the cows were being shown while we were there so she didn't get to pet them.

She wanted to go on all the rides we saw, but the only thing she was big enough for was the carousel. She likes the carousel but really wanted to do the other things. I guess when she gets bigger and older, Matthew will have someone to ride roller coasters with.

August 2011

2011-10-18T22:03:00.004-06:00

Toward the end of August, Grandma came to visit. The day after she arrived we got up really early and headed North. We caught a ferry to Victoria, BC and went to Butchart Garden. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we enjoyed looking at all the flowers and fountains. Canaan enjoyed being on the boat, but she did not enjoy spending the afternoon in her stroller. Look at that red hair!

Canaan also enjoyed the carousel...the statue outside as well as the moving carousel inside.

We spent the night in Victoria...we had a nice dinner and enjoyed the scenic walk from our hotel to a restaurant for breakfast the next day. Again, it was a beautiful day.
Matthew and I took Canaan to the pool for the first time this year. We only made it once before the weather turned too cool. Canaan loved it! She doesn't like to have water on her face, but after a short while in the pool, she wanted to do it herself. She is one adventurous girl. Matthew and I learned our lesson about using swim diapers. We didn't have any so we just used a regular diaper. By the time we were finished, that thing must have weighed 10 pounds. Not only did it absorb all the water, all the insides of the diaper came apart. When we took it off her, it was full of all the little beads and got all over the place. Yuck!

While Grandma was here, Canaan enjoyed blowing bubbles, finger painting, painting with sponge sea creatures, playing with playdough, reading new books, playing with stickers, and things I am probably forgetting about.

big Saturday

2011-08-06T22:54:00.005-06:00

Today we converted Canaan's crib to a toddler bed (her room doesn't have room for anything bigger at this point). I am shocked that she never climbed out of her crib. I was waiting until that happened to convert her bed because I thought we would have daily battles for a while to get her to stay in her bed once she could easily get out. She was excited about Matthew working in her room this morning and, of course, had to help. She took a nap this afternoon and went to bed this evening without any fuss. I hope this continues!

After her nap, we went to a local zoo. I was sorely disappointed by this zoo (it may be the worst I've been to). The best thing I can say about the zoo is that it wasn't crowded so Canaan was free to run around. And they had a great collection of statues of all kinds of animals that were not at the zoo. Canaan enjoyed seeing the animals (pronounced "emuls" by Canaan) that were there and desperately wanting to get in the water features she saw. They had a lot of really pretty birds. It was a beautiful day. Next time we'll try the other zoo and go earlier in the day in hopes of catching more activity.

We found out today...

2011-08-04T22:51:00.004-06:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment this morning. We got to see our precious baby and hear that everything looks good and the baby looks healthy. We were able to see the profile, the feet, the heart (all 4 chambers), the bladder, the kidneys, the spine, and the stomach (and maybe some parts that I'm forgetting). It is truly a miracle to see that at less than a pound, this already looks like a baby.

And we found out that Canaan will have a LITTLE BROTHER! We are excited to welcome this boy into our home as well as frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails.

This girl at 2

2011-06-14T18:55:00.002-06:00

> loves bubbles of all kinds – wants to blow bubbles, wants to have bubbles in her bath, wants to wash her hands with bubbles

> likes to sing and sometimes surprises me with the words she knows to different songs

> wants to talk on and play with our cell phones (we don’t have a home phone)

> has been doing well on her gluten-free diet – there have been a few instances of her eating something she shouldn’t, but she’s been a trooper and her tummy and bottom are better for it

> wants to play and be outside all the time

> loves to eat fruit

> likes to feed Max, give him treats, and try to throw his ball – and has covered him up with her blanket when she thinks he’s taking a nap

> likes to go (as in leave the house)

> likes to have pigtails in her hair (her daycare teacher puts them in her hair almost daily), Matthew calls them pig knobs because they’re so short

> points out any airplane or helicopter she sees and hears by yelling “airpane!”

> really enjoyed singing “Happy Birthday” the couple of weeks around her birthday and still sings it to herself and us

> likes to give kisses to both people, animals, and inanimate objects alike

> will now say “cheese” for pictures and sometimes smiles at just the right time

> likes animals and always wants to pet them at the zoo, a squirrel, a bird, etc

> has a lot of personality and good facial expressions

> is happy to begin the day – a good sleeper and a good napper

> enjoys about a dozen nursery rhyme readers I bought several months ago – can recite a few of the stores, says “oh no!” when Humpty Dumpty falls or Little Miss Muffet gets frightened, says “ouchie!” when Jack and Jill fall down the hill

> can count to 10 but often leaves out 6 and 7

> knows most of her letter and words that start with some letters – H to O are often left out

> will watch us to see if we notice she’s doing something wrong – if we’re watching, she’ll sweetly say “hi” or give us a big smile

> “no poop” – has started excitedly saying this when she gets her diaper changed, I think it started during a nasty diaper rash

> “my turn now” – we hear this a lot! She doesn’t understand giving other people a turn quite yet.

> is wearing size 6 Huggies Little Movers (I don’t think there are any bigger sizes)

> remembers old "owies" and still talks about how she got them and wants to put ice on them

> she will be a BIG SISTER in December!

1st Picnic of the Summer

2011-06-12T22:42:00.004-06:00

We had beautiful weather last weekend. It was sunny and in the 70s. So we drove out to Mount Si Park and had a picnic. We got there around 1 pm, and we were the only people in the park. We picked a spot in some shade. The only thing I forgot were the blankets I had put on the couch. We had a couple of towels in the back of the car that were big enough for sitting on. We lounged around, Canaan blew bubbles, and Max played fetch. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Another birthday celebration

2011-06-12T22:23:00.002-06:00

A few days after we got home from our trip to St Louis, my parents came out to celebrate Canaan's 2nd birthday. They stayed with Canaan a couple of days while we worked.

Then on Saturday, we got up early to ride a ferry to one of the San Juan Islands. We intended to go to Friday Harbor, but we missed the ferry. So we went to Orcas Island. We drove to the highest point on the island and had a beautiful view. It was a long day, but a beautiful day.

On Sunday night we celebrated Canaan's birthday with another flourless cake. I don't think Canaan ate even a bite of her cake. She enjoyed blowing out the candles and singing "Happy Birthday". The cake was so rich, I don't think any of us ate much of it. In fact, we just took it to a party this weekend to get rid of the last of it.

Before leaving Texas, Mom ordered an ice cream maker for us. It arrived days before they left so we made some vanilla ice cream. It is an electric ice cream maker and very easy to use. We enjoyed the ice cream and tonight tried our hand at chocolate ice cream. I have a feeling we'll be enjoying this all summer.

Canaan is two!

2011-05-23T22:07:00.004-06:00

I cannot believe Canaan is two today! The past two years have gone by so quickly.

We spent the weekend with family in Saint Louis where Canaan got to see Pops, her aunt and uncle, and two cousins. She loved going on a "trip" and riding on an "airpane". She loved the "doggle" and cats we saw as well. She was excited to say "hi kitty cat" and try to kiss them. We visited the zoo one day where she said "roar" many times.

Canaan was super on the four flights we took. Thanks to advice from some facebook friends, I packed snacks and some new activities. Other than my two experiences with a leaking diaper on my leg, the flights were uneventful. During our layover in Denver yesterday, she enjoyed the moving walkway.

A little over 2 weeks ago, we started Canaan on a gluten-free diet. Her diaper rash has been at bay since that time so it seems to be doing the trick. So for her birthday celebration in Saint Louis we purchased a flourless cake from Whole Foods. It was not gluten-free, but it was the only available cake without flour. She didn't eat much but enjoyed the icing. Today I took gluten-free cupcakes for her daycare class. The teacher said the kids liked the cupcakes, but Canaan only ate 2 bites. We gave her another one tonight after dinner. She blew out the candles but did not take a single bite of the cupcake. Unlike her mother, she is not much for sweets.

This evening as we sang "Happy Birthday" to Canaan, she sang along. This is the first time we have heard her sing an entire song with all the words and even close to the tune.

The past two years have gone by incredibly fast. We are so thankful for Canaan and the joy she has brought to our lives. We love you Canaan and look forward to many more birthday celebrations.

More of these days

2011-03-14T19:35:00.002-06:00

While eating dinner out with the Bells, Canaan entertained us with her monkey and elephant (do you see her trunk?) impersonations. She is even better at her monkey impression now as she has added a shriek to the end of the "oohoohooh". We really need to get this stuff on video.

We visited the dog park for some exercise and to get out of the house on President's Day. Matthew and I were both home for the day. Neither of us actually had the day as a holiday, but daycare was closed. I had planned to stay home with Canaan, but after my weekend trip to the ER with a kidney stone Matthew stayed home too to make sure everything was ok.

Canaan is quite the fashionista with this new outfit from Grandma. When I asked her to give me a smile, this was the best I got. Clearly she is not impressed with getting her picture taken. We'll just call these action shots.

These days

2011-03-13T14:19:00.004-06:00

Here are a few things that have been going on around our house lately.

1. Canaan's daycare class celebrated Valentine's Day with a little party. This is one of my favorite outfits Canaan wears - this looks just like Max as a puppy with some red hearts around it.

2. Canaan still enjoys playing with Max, sharing her food with him, giving him treats, trying to get Max to chase her, cuddling with Max, hugging, and kissing Max.

3. Canaan always enjoys practicing the many faces she likes to make. (I think she gets that from her dad.)

4. We are also seeing signs of Spring. The temperature is getting a little bit warmer, the rain is actually rain and not mist, and we're seeing flowers and trees start to bloom.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-29T21:56:00.006-07:00

This Christmas season has been especially fun for me. I always love this time of year...the colder weather, using the fireplace, listening to Christmas music exclusively, watching Christmas movies, getting decorations out that make me think of Christmases past, seeing the crowds at the mall, the lights all over the place, baking goodies, thinking of the perfect gift for someone I love...I could go on and on. I love the different music we sing at church and attending a Christmas Eve service.

I was excited to see what Canaan would notice this year, if she would get excited about anything, what she would think of the music and opening gifts.

Canaan loves balls so she was especially excited to see us hang ornaments on our tree. While hanging them, Matthew and I told her she could not touch them, they were to look at, and they were called ornaments, not balls. (Good thinking, right? If they're not balls, they aren't that exciting.) She did so great! I think she touched them only a handful of times. Most of the time she would look at them and say "mo, mo" (translation "no-no"). I think she enjoyed looking at the tree and seeing lights on the houses outside.

Grandma and Grandpa sent her a couple of books with recordings of them reading the books. Those are special. She didn't quite have the attention span for the entire books though. My mom also sewed a nativity scene for her to be able to play with. She mostly would carry the baby Jesus around.

We stayed home for Christmas. I did not miss the stress of air travel, but I definitely missed being with family.

Canaan did enjoy opening her gifts, but she hasn't played with them much yet. I think it may have been a little overwhelming. Thankfully I listened to Matthew and just got her some clothes for Christmas. We let everyone else get her something fun to play with. She got some really fun toys. My favorite gift by far was a quiet book my mom made. I cried once I opened it. It is really special. I look forward to Canaan spending some time with it.

All in all we had a nice couple of days at home. We have much to be thankful for. I think next Christmas is going to be something special to experience with our sweet girl.

And now to get to work on our Christmas cards...oops!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T21:46:00.004-07:00

We had a low-key Thanksgiving this year. This is the first year since we've been married that we did were not with family. It's a good thing we didn't plan to go anywhere because we've all been sick for what seems like a couple of weeks with a cough & cold. To say we are irritated with all the coughing is an understatement. We are thankful to not share the cold with those we love.

We hung around the house and enjoyed looking at the snow outside the window. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Everything was homemade except for the ham. I started on a couple of things yesterday. We enjoyed dressing, 7 layer salad, 2 different cranberry sauces, broccoli and hollandaise, dressing, honey roasted sweet potatoes, Stefanie's Sunday rolls, and cherry pie. It sure took a long time to make what doesn't seem like a very long list. Too bad my taste buds weren't working right. The only thing I really tasted was the salad because it had some strong flavors.

After dinner we enjoyed a fire in the fireplace while we played and read. One benefit to the feeling bad is that Canaan is super cuddly. She really likes to be read to and likes to hear the same books over and over.

I am so thankful on this day for my family, friends, Savior Jesus, and so much more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

2010-11-13T23:41:00.004-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit in November and stayed with us for 10 days. Canaan enjoyed staying home with them and making several trips into Seattle during their visit. We were quite the tourists while they were here.

I was able to take off a couple of days the first week they were here. They had already been to see Pike Place Market and the Children's Museum. Then my first day with them we went on a harbor cruise and then to the zoo. It was the perfect day for these outings with sunshine and the temperature in the high 60s. I think they cruise tour guide said it was warmer on this day than it was the 4th of July this year. On the cruise, we saw some beautiful views of downtown Seattle and even got to see some sea lions sunning.

Next we were off to the zoo. By the time we got there, it was an hour until closing. I think this is the best zoo I've been to in that the zoo seems to do a good job of replicating the animals' natural habitat. I was most excited about seeing the elephants as we had just seen a show on the National Geographic Channel where an elephant was born at the Houston zoo. The fall colors have been absolutely beautiful here...more vibrant than I've seen anywhere else. And the beautiful leaves were the perfect backdrop to the wildlife at the zoo.

The next day we went to the Space Needle and the Flight Museum. It was an overcast day and quite a bit cooler so it was good to spend that time indoors. At the flight museum we were able to get on a Concord and the Airforce One from Kennedy's time in office.

We kept busy through the weekend as well. Matthew was able to join us on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went to the Seattle Aquarium. There were several places you could stick your fingers in the water to touch the sealife. Canaan loves water so this was right up her alley. I don't think she touched anything, she just liked the water. She really seemed to enjoy looking at all the fish.

Sunday we made it to the Pacific Science Center. There were a lot of things to keep kids busy but not so much for Canaan to do. There was an area for toddlers where she played with some water, went down a slide, and enjoyed driving this helicopter. My favorite thing was the butterfly house. There were butterflies all over the place.

It was a really fun visit! By the end of the weekend, Canaan was done with being in the stroller. She was such a trooper! There were days when we were out during naptime and she behaved surprisingly well.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for coming to visit!

My little ladybug

2010-11-04T21:57:00.005-06:00

Canaan was dressed as a ladybug for the second Halloween in a row. I couldn't pass up the costume either year.

She got to wear her costume to a Halloween party at daycare on Friday and then again on Sunday at home. The kids at daycare had the cutest costumes and enjoyed eating a special snack during their party. Matthew and I both went to the Halloween party.

Canaan was the last child at the table eating her snack (and off the plate of the boy sitting next to her). She is a good eater and likes to eat often. So I asked her teacher if she was often the last child left at the table. The teacher kind of giggled and said that often that was the case. Miss C said they thought Canaan (like every child) must have a limit, but she wasn't sure if she'd seen Canaan reach that limit yet.

Canaan's snuggly for naps at daycare is a soft and satiny pig. She gets excited to see her pig and will hug and snuggle with it as soon as she gets her hands on it. So after the conversation I started with Canaan's teacher about her eating, Miss C told me that she and the other teacher were hoping I would dress Canaan as a little pig for Halloween. That would have been so cute indeed!

As it was, we had the cutest little ladybug around!

Picture credit to Mel B. She takes incredible pictures!

17 months

2010-10-24T21:05:00.006-06:00

Canaan turned 17 months on Saturday. On one of the very first rainy days we've had here in Washington, we met Melinda at the pumpkin patch near her home. I am not sure if I've been to a pumpkin patch before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was pretty messy with the rain. We didn't stick around for long, but we did get some cute pumpkin pictures. Canaan doesn't like things on her head so the bow did not last long at all. She got a package in the mail just this week from Aunt Shannon and got this new dress. I thought it was a perfect dress for visiting the pumpkin patch. She was pretty messy by the end of our visit after falling in the mud a couple of times.

We tried some corn that had been picked in the field only 10 minutes before we bit into it. I had no idea you could eat corn right off the stalk without cooking it. It was delicious! We bought some and had some for dinner tonight.

And here are a couple of pictures from last year's visit to the pumpkins. We didn't make it to the pumpkin patch so we took these pictures in front of Whole Foods. I LOVE this pictures of Canaan. It is one of my absolute favorite pictures. Isn't it amazing that was already a year ago? These pictures were taken October 24, 2009.

Recently

2010-10-21T21:42:00.006-06:00

Until I can get all caught up (or get started on getting caught up), I thought I would share a little about recent days with Canaan and recent pictures as well.

We cannot believe how quickly our little Canaan is growing. She is getting so big (getting a little bit more hair) and is learning new things daily. Everyone tells us how quickly the time goes, but you really don't understand until you are living it.

Canaan is enjoying daycare. When I drop her off in the morning, she will walk right in to the room. After I put her things away (jacket, snuggly, and lunch), I will kiss her goodbye and tell her I love her. She will wave and say hi to me as I leave. In the past 2 months, I think there have only been tears 2 or 3 days (generally when she has been really tired). It is so much easier to leave her when she is happy. We get good reports from her teachers. The very first day I picked her up, two teachers told me what a good eater she was. And I've heard it at least half a dozen times since then. She apparently finishes her lunch and is then interested in what the other kids are eating.

Canaan is so much fun. She is learning new words all the time. Just today, I heard her say her name for the first time. She won't do it again though. She is pretty good at repeating words that we try to get her to say. The words she says regularly on her own include momma, dadda, acs (for Max), hi (both for hi and bye), eggs, ball, moo (without opening her mouth), yes, rarararara (for a dog barking).

Lately she says "hi" to everyone (unless you ask her to, that is). At the grocery store, she will say "hi" to almost every person she sees. She will say "hi" to Max when we leave the house in the morning. And sometimes she will say "hi" when you put her to bed at night. She often waves as she says "hi". If someone says it back to her, she could talk to that person all day just with that one word. She is very friendly and loves people. Several parents of the kids at daycare have told me she is like the greeting committee...always saying hi to them in the mornings or afternoons.

She is still a great sleeper. I think in taking naps at daycare she may have learned to be really quiet when she wakes up. During the week, I sometimes have to wake her up. But on the weekends, we will sleep in a little bit. When we go in her room to see if she's awake, sometimes she's standing or sitting in her crib just waiting for us. She doesn't let us know when she wakes up any longer which is a little weird. At daycare, she is only allowed one nap during the day. At home on the weekends, there are days she will still take both a morning and an afternoon nap. It certainly helps with the late day fussiness when she will take two naps.

With all the changes that took place in July, Canaan became increasingly attached to her snugglies. Her Aunt Shannon gave her a snuggly frog before she was born. Once we saw that Canaan really liked the frog, I got another frog and a pig. We now always have one in the house, one in the car, and one at daycare. It is amazing how much comfort these things give her. As soon as she gets one, she will stick her right thumb in her mouth and snuggle with it.

That's a little update about our girl!

We've moved!

2010-10-10T14:00:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted here in a very long time and hope to remedy that soon with recent updates on the Merritt happenings. I would like to get caught up with my postings about Canaan, too.

After 19 months of unemployment, Matthew got a job in the Seattle area. I was able to get a job in the area as well with my employer in Colorado. So we moved 1400 miles across the country. Our very good friends the Bs live nearby which has been awesome. We lived with them for quite a while until we found a place to rent.

And the even bigger news...as of October 1st we are no longer home owners. We got a call from our realtor during our drive through Montana that we had two offers on our house. What a blessing! We are so thankful we are no longer financially tied to Colorado.

This picture was taken on one of the most humid days we had experienced here so far back in September. We joined the Bs at a church event at a nearby farm. Canaan was not very cooperative with the photo as she was missing her afternoon nap.

50 weeks (May 8th)

2010-05-17T20:50:00.004-06:00

We actually had nice weather for a day or two and tried to play with some bubbles outside. Apparently, the $1 deal bubbles at Target were not even worth a dollar. We'll have to get some more to try now that we're having warmer days.

We often see Canaan in this position when she's found anything on the floor. She picks it up and inspects it very seriously.

Enjoying some family time in Mom and Dad's room.

And then the weather got cold again. Here we are after a walk.

While Canaan and I were walking, Matthew and Max were playing. Max swam for a bit and played fetch. Once we all got home, Matthew noticed Max was bleeding and had quite the gash in one of his paws. So here we are at the emergency vet clinic. Max ended up getting 3 stitches in his paw.

Max was supposed to wear this cone for at least a week. He got it late Saturday night. The poor guy ran in to EVERYTHING with that thing on. He looked so depressed and wouldn't eat or go to the bathroom. Matthew took it off him Monday because he couldn't stand seeing Max in it anymore. Max did great and never tried to chew on his paw or bandage.

Canaan LOVES to open and close everything - doors, her phone, books, etc. Grandma taught her open and close when they kept her a couple of weekends ago.
She likes to play more (i.e. she teases us by "running" away from us).
She laughs at, climbs on and over, and teases Max.
When eating finger foods, Canaan will hold food out to Max, smile, and then put the food in her mouth.

11 months (April 23rd)

2010-05-17T20:43:00.005-06:00

Out of all the portraits we've had made of Canaan at Target and JC Penney, I think these are my least favorite. It was really hard to get her to stay seated or standing without taking off in any direction. Now that she's really mobile, I have found it really hard to get good photos of Canaan. I still think these are cute because she's a cutie. My Aunt Bettie sent Canaan this outfit, and she can finally wear it. It was snowing the day we had these made, but I figured she should be wearing a springy outfit since it was the end of April.

49 weeks (May 1st)

2010-05-16T22:03:00.004-06:00

Matthew rented a power rake and did this to the entire front and back lawn. He then spent several hours (with help from a friend) bagging all that grass.

This dog knows how to relax!

If you point to something, generally you can get Canaan to look in that direction.
When in a high chair in a restaurant, Canaan is really entertained by all that is going on all around her. It is hard to feed her at times because she is looking around.
She likes to stand up in her bathtub. At almost every bath, she wants to touch the faucet and the drain.
She fell down the two steps between our laundry room and garage and scraped the side of her face.

Most recent big news

2010-05-16T21:59:00.003-06:00

Our biggest news as of late is this.

Our house is officially on the market! Matthew has done an incredible amount of work to get our house ready to sell. And he daily does a lot of work to keep it clean and picked up.

We have no idea what is to come, but we know that the financial obligation is just too much for us right now while Matthew is without a job. We hope it will sell quickly. Then the plan is to rent until we figure out what is next.

Happy Birthiversary!

2010-05-16T21:47:00.004-06:00

In order to help celebrate my birthday and our 7th wedding anniversary, my parents came to town. They kept Canaan overnight at our house while Matthew and I drove into the mountains. We were only away from home 26 hours, but we had a wonderful time in the mountains. We did a lot of driving, ate a couple of nice meals, and spent the night at a bed and breakfast. After dinner Saturday night, we sat in the outdoor hot tub at the b&b which was crazy relaxing.

Ski season ended at most of the resorts the weekend before we drove up there so some of the places we visited were a ghost town. It was eerie to be there with no one else. We stopped in Keystone because we had not been there before. We saw a total of 8 people. Not a single shop was open.

We tried a new place for dinner with some interesting things on the menu. We started with a salad that had seared calamari. I didn't get a picture of it, but I really enjoyed it. For the main dish, Matthew enjoyed a lasagna dish made with buffalo while I had roasted pork in a blackberry sauce. We were surprised by the large portions and couldn't even order dessert. We had enjoyed some chocolate cake earlier in the day when we stopped at a coffee shop.

Thank you Mom and Dad for keeping Canaan (and Max) and giving us a night away!

48 weeks (April 24th)

2010-05-16T21:30:00.007-06:00

Canaan has learned to knock on windows or the glass door. Sometimes when Max is outside, she will knock on the glass door.
She is walking all over the place. She has started carrying a toy when she's walking around.
I think she finds ways to purposefully crawl/climb over Max.
When "helping" with the laundry, she will pull things out of the dryer or laundry basket and start chewing on them. This girl puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.
When she's standing in front of us facing us, she'll grab your pointer finger with one hand and then grab your other pointer finger with her other hand. This means she wants to be picked up.
She is squatting to pick up her toys.
She brings toys and books to us.
She is very mindful of the little step in front of our fireplace.
We put her in the swing at the park. She held on tightly with both hands.
We ate dinner at Mimi's Cafe one night. Canaan tried to pick up a drop of water off the table and put it in her mouth.
While we have had plenty of it this year, Canaan played with snow for the first time this week. It snowed at our place April 23rd and 24th. Grandma put some in a bowl and gave it to Canaan in her highchair. Even though it was cold, she mostly enjoyed eating it.

47 weeks (April 17th)

2010-05-16T21:17:00.002-06:00

4/11 weighed 19.8 pounds with her clothes on
Canaan likes to wave her arms when she's squealing and holds them tight to her body with a last, loud scream.
4/16 walked about 6 feet without falling or sitting down
She has discovered how to unroll a roll of toilet paper. We now have to keep all bathroom doors closed. Anytime she hears a bathroom door open, she is there in a heartbeat.
Canaan has tried some chunkier stage 3 baby foods. It appears she does not like the chunks/texture of some of them.
Because of our busy schedule this week, she stayed up late each night. She ended up waking up during the night each of those nights.
Matthew taught her how to high-five.

46 weeks (April 10th)

2010-05-16T21:11:00.002-06:00

Canaan is continuing to take more steps.
She is interacting with us more. She reaches for our hands while she's eating.
She responds to hearing any door open by heading that direction.
She would love to play with Max's water and food, if allowed.

45 weeks (April 3rd)

2010-05-16T20:51:00.006-06:00

Since I had to travel to Austin and Dallas for 2 work meetings, Matthew and Canaan went with me. We spent Easter weekend with some friends in Dallas. We enjoyed spending time with friends, the awesome warm sunny weather, and great food.

Canaan started leaning back to look at the ceiling.
She traveled by plane for the second time.
She slept well at our friends' house.
Canaan sat and crawled in the grass for the very first time. She was sure what to think of it. She didn't mind putting it in her mouth but wasn't sure she wanted to put her hands in it to crawl.
While in Texas, she went from eating 2 jars of baby food to 3 jars at each meal. She stopped doing that once we got back home. Maybe she had been told that everything is bigger in Texas and wanted to play along. She also ate her first homemade tortilla. Yum!
We went to the Arboretum on Saturday and saw many lovely flowers and enjoyed the excellent weather.
While on the plane, Matthew taught Canaan how to turn around on a seat and slide down to the floor. She did this many times on the plane ride home.

44 weeks (March 27th)

2010-05-16T20:38:00.005-06:00

Matthew purchased a backpack so he could take Canaan on hikes. He has a couple of friends that are off work a day or two during the week so they get together every once in a while and go for hikes. They all bring along their daughters, the oldest of which will be 2 in June.

Canaan was taking a couple of steps without holding on to anything.

She generally talks while she's eating.

She wants to pull everything out of any drawer or cabinet she can get into. She doesn't even look at where she is putting something, she just takes one thing after another and throws it behind her.

I am pretty sure she recognizes the word "bath."

She tried some finger foods this week - Cheerios broken in half and banana.

She started wearing size 3 diapers. We have made the switch between Pampers Swaddlers to Huggies Little Movers.

Grandma made this pillow case for Canaan. I saw this idea on a blog quite a while ago and showed my mom. Rather than making a pillow and stuffing it, I asked her to make a pillow sham. I really like the way it turned out. I have the material to make her a quilt out of these same materials. We'll see if that happens anytime soon.

Watch out!

2010-05-12T21:00:00.003-06:00

I FINALLY got my camera to computer issues fixed this evening! Watch out for many posts updating on this little beauty who will be ONE in just over a week (how is that even possible??)!

10 Months (March 23)

2010-03-23T21:15:00.005-06:00

My parents were here over the weekend so my mom went with me on Saturday to have Canaan's 10 month pictures taken. Even though it was cold here and had snowed on Friday, I had her picture taken in her Easter dress. My mom brought this basket with a liner she had made and embroidered with Canaan's name. It is getting tougher to get Canaan to sit still long enough for the photographers to get good pictures of her. The lady did get some good pictures though.

Is it possible that this girl will be one in just two months? Enjoy!

I am sitting on this stool all by myself.

If you look closely, you can see her name on the basket liner in this photo.

Look at my teeth.

Standing is my favorite.

43 Weeks (March 20)

2010-03-23T20:56:00.004-06:00

We had some beautiful weather this week so one day after I got home from work we went for a stroll around the neighborhood. Canaan enjoys riding in her stroller. She will not relax and sit back. She sits up and holds on the whole ride. She will squeal and rock back and forth when you stop moving.

I gave Canaan these tiny pieces of turkey one night after her baby food. It was hilarious to watch her pick up the turkey, put it in her mouth, and then wink and gag as she swallowed it. I have not been good about giving her finger foods yet. Do you have any suggestions for finger foods?

On Saturday, Matthew's aunt and uncle and cousin and her daughter came down for a visit. We hadn't seen them since before Thanksgiving sometime.

Canaan with Uncle Joe

Canaan with Mekay and Mackenna

Canaan with Aunt Lois

Aunt Lois always brings fun gifts. Aren't these bunny ears so cute?

And we aren't above making our sweet Max wear pink bunny ears. He's cute as well, isn't he?

I am missing many pictures from this week as well. I really hope I can rescue them from the card.

Canaan has also learned to close doors. She has closed herself in a room more than once and been unhappy that she can't get back out.
She walks around our legs in a circle. Especially if she wants you to pick her up while you are busy in the kitchen, she will start whining/crying and keep walking around your legs in a circle until you pick her up or move. She will also walk around the dining room chairs in a circle.
She is getting better at drinking out of a sippy cup, although we don't give one to her often.
Canaan uses her index fingers a lot to touch/explore things. She has stuck it up her nose a few times when touching her face with her finger.
She also likes to stick her finger in Max's mouth. He doesn't really appreciate that so he will generally turn away from her.
As you could see from a picture in my last post, she enjoys sitting in the high chair when we eat out. She likes to watch the people all around us. That can be quite the source of entertainment for her.

42 Weeks (as of March 13)

2010-03-23T20:47:00.003-06:00

Our friends, the Knapps, came through town on their way skiing so we got to meet them for lunch. We saw them last summer when Canaan was still a tiny baby. She slept through most of their visit so it was fun to watch her interact with Katie. I can assure you Canaan is not trying to choke Katie here...she's just touching her.

Matthew had something going on Friday so I dropped Canaan off at a friend's house before I went to work. She is holding her frog that she loves to sleep with. It is soft and fuzzy on one side and satiny on the other. She loves to hold it up to her face and sometimes chew on part of it like she is doing here. We may need to find a backup for this frog.

Unfortunately, I have many pictures from this week that are stuck on my camera. When I try to download them onto the computer, I get an error message even though I can view the pictures on my camera. I have changed the card on my camera so I can continue to use it. I really hope I can save the pictures!

Canaan has started saying the "s" sound.
Her hair is getting thicker.
She is able to stand for longer periods of time.
Almost any time she picks up a stuffed animal, she cuddles with it and starts sucking her thumb.
She enjoys playing with toys in her bedroom (or taking her clothes out of her dirty clothes hamper).
She has not used her swing for quite a while now.

41 Weeks (as of March 6)

2010-03-23T20:31:00.004-06:00

When we're sitting at the table, Canaan likes to crawl under our chairs. A problem then arises as she has not figured out how to get out from under the chairs yet. This results in what you see here, crying.

I recently found some smaller bows that are just perfect (in my opinion) for Canaan. She has been wearing them frequently. I think they are so cute and add that girly touch to her outfits.

Matthew has "lost" Canaan a couple of times in the house. She likes to sit between the toilet and the bathtub so she can play with her rubber duck. When she is sitting here, you cannot see her from the bathroom door. We have since started closing the bathroom door so we don't lose her here.

She likes to crawl around in our bathroom and loves to walk along our bathtub. These doors also stay closed during the day so she doesn't get into Max's food and water bowls.

Our good friends moved this week to Mississippi. We already miss them!

Canaan has figured out how to open cabinets and drawers. She especially enjoys opening everything in the kitchen. We only have a lock for the cabinet under the sink that has all the bad things in it. So she's been playing with Tupperware, her plates, and her bottles. She also enjoys pulling things out of the cabinet so she can climb in there.

She continues to want to pull up on everything and everyone. She has tackled many children doing this which tends to upset almost all of the kids.

So far she doesn't seem to have any stranger anxiety and will go to just about anyone.

Meeting Friends

2010-03-01T21:03:00.009-07:00

Matthew got a call on Friday that our great friends the Bells would be delayed in our local airport for several hours. So after church on Sunday we drove to the airport to hang out with them. They had not yet met Canaan in person.

As we waited at the top of the escalator, we saw Nathan but couldn't find Melinda. It turns out that she was really sick and had stayed at the terminal to rest until their next flight.

Canaan did very well. She was in her car seat about 3 1/2 hours. And while at the airport, she wasn't able to crawl around. I was very impressed that she didn't have a meltdown. We got home in time to feed her dinner, give her a bath, and get her in bed just a bit later than normal.

Here are pictures of Canaan meeting Nathan. Who would have thought we've have pictures of Nathan and Canaan before we had pictures of Melinda and Canaan?

We are looking forward to spending time with Nathan and Melinda sometime soon!

40 Weeks

2010-03-01T20:54:00.006-07:00

You can see that Canaan has been teething on her bed.

Our very good friends are moving this week out of state. We are going to miss our friends terribly. They gave Canaan these shoes for her very first birthday present. She decided they would be some good chewing...at least they are clean!

While in the basement with Daddy earlier this week, Canaan decided to start climbing the stairs. She climbed all the way to the top!

A lady I work with sent Canaan several of these pink rubber duckies. We only opened one, but it has been a BIG hit. Canaan has really enjoyed playing during bath time. We have also discovered her a couple of times during the day between the toilet and the bathtub playing with this duck.

A group of ladies from a retirement home made this blanket and hat for Canaan. They gave it to us weeks after she was born. This was the first time I had put the hat on her. Surprisingly, it still fits.

Canaan can stand for quite a while without holding on to anything.
If we are standing still enough, she will pull up on our legs.
Every time she hears the GE commercial that begins with the little girl saying "ahh" to the doctor, she will stop what she's doing and listen to the entire commercial...even if she cannot see the television.
She has been trying to pull up on other children. They generally have a concerned look on their faces.
She has tried several times to stand up in the middle of the floor. She has not been successful at this.

9 Months

2010-03-01T20:39:00.005-07:00

Canaan turned 9 months on February 23rd. She had two doctor's appointments that day.

First, we saw her pediatrician. He was very pleased with how she is doing. He said he likes to see a one year old around 20 pounds and 30 inches long. With a slightly wet diaper, she weighed 18 pounds. She was 28 inches long. She is doing well developmentally as well. The only question we couldn't really answer affirmatively was whether she understood the word "no". She gave the doctor a good examination of her own. She only had to get one shot today. She cried for just a bit until we picked her up off the exam table.

A couple of hours later we went to the gastroenterologist. We removed her diaper here, and she weighed 17 pounds 10.5 ounces. She hadn't eaten anything in between so this must be a more accurate reading. He basically said that if we can transition her to regular formula without any problems, then we don't need to go back to see him. Yeah! Matthew has suspected for quite a while that she had outgrown whatever issue she used to have with the milk protein allergy. We should find out soon how she'll do on regular formula.

39 Weeks (as of February 20)

2010-03-01T20:26:00.003-07:00

Canaan has discovered the door stops. She likes to make them make noise.

She enjoys trying to get the spoon from us during meal time. Occasionally, she is successful in her attempt.

This has been a cold winter, and we've had snow several times recently.

If you look REALLY closely, you can see one of Canaan's bottom teeth in this picture.

Canaan has discovered that she likes to spit with food in her mouth. We are trying to teach her to stop doing that, but it has been challenging. We don't think she understands "no" yet.
Sometimes she gets her feelings hurt when we say "no". I'm not sure if it's the word or the tone of voice that upsets her.
She likes to cuddle with a blanket and her frog in bed. She will pull the frog close to her face and suck on her thumb generally.
She has thrown a couple of fits (i.e. when I wouldn't let her play with Max's toy).
She laughs at Max.
Canaan will sometimes stiffen up when you try to put her in the highchair or change her diaper.
She has started being clingy when you try to put her down after holding her. She will hold tightly to your clothes.
She doesn't enjoy baths as much right now because I won't let her stand in the tub.
We think she's trying to kiss us. She will open her mouth and put it on our faces.
Canaan has figured out when we are teasing/playing with her.
When she holds her bottle, she holds onto the nipple rather than the bottle.
She will follow us around and, when we stop walking, will pull up on our pants.
She has started standing on her tip-toes to look at things or put something in her mouth.
She stopped nursing this week. I hoped to make it a year, but that didn't work out for us.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T16:56:00.003-07:00

Love, Canaan

38 Weeks (as of Feb 13, 2010)

2010-02-14T10:18:00.005-07:00

Canaan has learned to climb as well as crawl. Daddy took this picture while I was at work one day last week. Canaan has not been allowed up here again. She looks proud of herself, doesn't she?

I can't get enough of this chubbiness. Look at those wrist rolls.

Another fish face. Canaan and Matthew go back-and-forth making fish faces and other noises while Canaan is eating.

As you saw in a previous photo, Canaan has discovered the dvd player and amplifier. She always wants to crawl over to them and try to put knobs in her mouth. She ends up settling for licking the amplifier.

Here she is looking out the back door again.

She doesn't like things on her head, but she wore this bunny hat the other day for quite a while before pulling it off. We were about to take Daddy to the doctor. Whatever nasty sickness he's had, she has managed to avoid so far.

She loves the phone. When one of us is on the phone, she will laugh and squeal. Matthew was using speaker phone this night so we got a photo of her reaction to Nathan talking on the other end.

She still loves Max. She follows him around and pretty much wants to pester the poor guy. He has let her touch his nose the last couple of days. Yesterday she tried to put her mouth on his nose and also on his paw. Here she is playing with his tail.

Last weekend her friend Samuel discovered the front windows. She enjoyed looking out yesterday afternoon.

This is her first baby doll. I bought it before she was born, but we've only gotten it out a couple of times. She wanted to share with Max and enjoyed chewing on her doll.

This week she tried a banana in the mesh bag. That mesh bag is one nasty thing to clean.

Canaan is learning when she gets stuck somewhere to turn around and crawl the other direction. She has not figured out how to back up.

She has learned how to sit from crawling.

She tried to mimick what we are doing with our mouths/sounds.

37 Weeks (as of Feb 6, 2010)

2010-02-14T09:54:00.003-07:00

Canaan enjoys pulling up on our back glass door and looking outside. She isn't always sure how to get back on the floor though. There is nothing nearby to grab on her way down.

She started making this fish face. It is so cute! She is also smacking her lips more and clicking her tongue.

At church this week, she was promoted from the cribbers room (her very first room at church) to the crawlers room.

Daddy dressed Canaan for church today. He put her onesie on backwards. His thinking..."Our shirts button in the front." He's right about that. It wasn't any big deal so we just left it backwards all day.

Canaan loves the vacuum cleaner...even when it is on. If she sees it in the room, she will go for it. I wonder if she'll still like it when we make vacuuming one of her chores. Something tells me that won't be the case, but it never hurts to be optimistic.

Another place where Canaan likes to pull up but has trouble getting down from. This is the place I like her to be the least. I did, however, leave her there long enough to get a picture of her.

Canaan attended the first birthday party of her very first friend over the weekend. She got to play with a few friends and play with some toys we don't have at home. She did not take a good nap that day so she went to bed early Saturday night.

Her cooing/talking is getting more complicated, and she's making more sounds. She likes to have a conversation with us. She also likes to sing when we're singing or listening to music.

She is also really intrigued by our mouths and teeth. She has a very serious look when she's inspecting them.

36 Weeks (as of Jan 30, 2010)

2010-02-14T09:32:00.007-07:00

Matthew has already started working with Canaan on walking while holding his fingers. She does ok, but I think she'd rather be crawling or walking along the couch on her own.

She loves to put tags in her mouth. She will stand at her exercauser for a really long time trying to get that tag in her mouth.

Her knees have been red from crawling so much.

My mom brought this outfit of mine before Canaan was born. I tried it on her this weekend while my parents were in town. I really need to see if I can find a picture of me in that outfit so we can compare Canaan and me. Up close, this outfit is totally 70s. It is blue polyester.

I bought this tutu from Etsy several months ago. This was the first time I put it on Canaan. She enjoyed feeling all the layers but did not enjoy trying to stand up with it on. She couldn't see her feet and couldn't tell what she was doing. We'll have to play with this many more times.

Now Canaan will stand up in her crib when she wakes up from a nap. It is a bit harder to do when she wakes up in the morning because I still have her in a sleep sack. I don't get to see this often since I am generally at work when she wakes up from a nap. She is very excited to see someone open her door and greets you with a huge smile.

She tried avocado for the first time. I put a piece in a mesh bag, and she was able to chew on it. She seemed to like this (it was her first time to use the mesh bag), but she didn't like it as much when I mashed it up and fed it to her from her plate.

She got her first bruise this week after falling down at a friend's house.

She can walk along the couch while holding on.

She is very deliberate in her crawling and pulling up.

I got this canvas from Canvas People. They are running a promotion where you can get $55 off an order. I got this 8x10 and only paid the shipping which was a little under $15. The quality is really good. As far as I know, the special is still going on. Check it out here.

8 Months

2010-01-26T22:31:00.002-07:00

I know I say/write this each month, but I cannot believe Canaan is 8 months. Time is flying by. She is so fun now that she can interact with us and recognize us. We are enjoying our time with her.

Grandma and I took her to JC Penney on Saturday to have her monthly pictures taken. They turned out really cute. It was hard to narrow down my favorites so there will be several pictures to this post.

35 Weeks (as of Jan 23, 2010)

2010-01-26T22:06:00.005-07:00

(playing with the Octotunes she received from the Bells for Christmas)

(getting stuck in the bottom of her exersaucer)

(Doesn't she look precious up on her knees like that?)

I'm finally caught up!

Canaan started crawling on Tuesday, January 19th. She never did the army crawl or scooting around on her bottom. She just started crawling.
She ate prunes this week. I think she had a better reaction to prunes than to bananas.
Not one to settle for one success in a week, she also started pulling up on everything this week. She will even try to pull up on a toy that is sitting on the floor. I'm trying to convince her that she needs to pull up on something taller than she is.
She has started blowing air out of her mouth.
When she is standing and holding onto something or someone, she will take steps toward that object/person.
Canaan is learning to fall well.
Matthew moved her crib mattress to the lowest setting this weekend. It is the first time we have had to move it.
She is crawling/pulling herself up into all kinds of predicaments.
This new found freedom is causing Canaan to do a lot of whining. I have no idea what is going on with that.
The hardwood floor causes some frustration as her legs do not always follow her hands as they should.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and were surprised to see her crawling and pulling up. It is truly amazing how much she's learned in one week's time.

34 Weeks (as of Jan 16, 2010)

2010-01-26T21:50:00.005-07:00

This week Canaan tried bananas. They are super sweet. So far, I would guess this is her least favorite by the look on her face. She will still eat them though.
She took her first bath in her tub without the infant sling.
She started making what resembles a fish face.
We had a follow-up visit with Canaan's gastroenterologist this week. We are supposed to use a less hypo-allergenic formula for supplementing and to continue to add solid foods every 5 to 6 days.
She weighs 16 pounds 3 1/2 ounces. She has gained almost 10 pounds. She was 6 pounds 4 ounces when she was born.
When sitting in your lap, Canaan will push with her legs to a standing position.
When interested in something, she very purposefully touches it with her index finger and has almost a scowl on her face.
Matthew took Max to the park on Tuesday. When Max would run back to Matthew with his ball or toy, Canaan would laugh. Last Saturday was her first stroller ride without her infant carrier. I'm sure she enjoys being able to sit up and see what's going on.
Canaan almost always smiles when she sees Max come into a room.
She is very interested in Max's paws.

33 Weeks (as of Jan 9, 2010)

2010-01-26T21:25:00.004-07:00

A couple of these pictures were taken on a different camera, and I can't figure out how to rotate them. They are too cute not to post so I guess you'll have to turn your head.

Canaan tried winter squash this week. So far all the baby food she has eaten has been Earth's Best organic. I had originally planned to make all her food but realized I just couldn't do it all working full time. So I gave up that dream and decided to buy her food.
She is getting ready to crawl any day. She is up on her hands and knees a lot but isn't sure how to coordinate her hand and foot movement.
She can stand for long periods of time.
Canaan has started leaning back to look at the ceiling and anything above her.
She will pull her bumper pad down so she can see over it out of her crib.
She has eaten as much as 6 small jars of baby food plus cereal in a day.
This Saturday we had our monthly Sunday school dinner at our house. Among a group of ladies, one of our friends mentioned she thought her son had a lot of rolls on his legs/around his bottom until she changed Canaan's diaper. Another lady then chimed in that Canaan had the cutest bottom and rolls she'd ever seen. That reminds me that when my SIL saw me changing Canaan's diaper over Christmas, she called to her husband that he needed to come see Canaan's rolls. We don't know any different, but apparently she has plenty of padding.

32 Weeks (as of Jan 2, 2010)

2010-01-26T21:13:00.004-07:00

Some notes about Canaan at 32 weeks...

It is really cute when Canaan is sleepy and rubs her eyes.
She is not crawling just yet but can scoot around a little bit. She can get up on her knees and her hands but not very often at the same time.
Canaan can now hold her bottle on her own. When she is eating and not holding a bottle, she generally has jazz hands covering her eyes (hands open, facing out).
Sometimes she will reach out for whomever is picking her up.
She tried pears this week.
Canaan tends to move into the same corner of her bed each night no matter where she starts out.
She is still wearing 6 month clothes.
She is still wearing Pampers Swaddlers size 2 diapers.
I just recently started using a second bottle of Burt's Bees shampoo/body wash.
I am almost to the end of the first bottle of Dreft laundry detergent we purchased for Canaan's laundry.
I am also still on the first tube of A&D Ointment we purchased for diaper cream. We also have a tube in the diaper bag.
I think I can see tooth bumps on the front part of Canaan's lower gum. I expected to see the bumps on top of the gum so I'm not sure if it is teeth I see coming in.

Seven Months

2009-12-29T21:30:00.005-07:00

The day we left for St Louis, I took Canaan to JC Penney to get her 7 month pictures done. JC Penney and Target basically have the same studio and coupons, but since I have been less than pleased with the Target studio the last couple of times I decided to try JC Penney this time around. The studio was actually much larger, and while I was there, they were be strict about the appointment times. I am not sure if it is always this way or if it was because they were so busy with Christmas pictures. Whatever the reason, I was very pleased with my experience there. Plus they got some really good pictures of Canaan. Below are my favorites.

Six Months (November 2009)

2009-12-29T21:14:00.002-07:00

I am going back in time a bit because I don't think I shared Canaan's 6 month pictures. We had these taken the day after Matthew had his knee surgery so things were a bit crazy around that time. These are my favorites!

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-29T20:59:00.004-07:00

Our stay in St Louis was really nice. We mostly hung out around the house which was fine by me. I enjoyed being inside where it was warm. We got to the house late Saturday night. I didn't step outside until Tuesday to run an errand.

**Tuesday night we drove into Illinois to drive through a light display. I always enjoy viewing Christmas lights so I enjoyed myself.
**Wednesday we went to the mall to visit Santa. We also got to see Pops on Wednesday as he drove in from Illinois.
**Thursday we stayed up late with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law watching them put together some Christmas gifts.
**And, of course, Friday was gift-opening. I have to say I was glad that everything was low-key with Canaan this year. We opened her stocking gifts before breakfast. And by the time we started opening the gifts under the tree, Canaan was napping. I think that was good timing because I expect that she would have been overwhelmed with all the activity.

We had wonderful hosts in St Louis who fed us amazing food! Next year we may have to ask for the brother-in-law's recipe book for Christmas. He is an excellent cook.

Canaan thoroughly enjoyed the many toys they had to play with, the dog and 4 cats, the cousins, the food...pretty much everything but the sleeping. The first few nights were rough, but then Canaan settled in and slept at night and took a nap during the day.

The reindeer outfit has been worn by all three kiddos on this side of the family. Canaan's aunt said we had to get an embarrassing picture like her kids had, but I think she looks really happy to be wearing something so fun!

I have to say that this year is the first time that I never really felt like it was Christmas. I definitely did not get my fill of Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas goodies (as I still cannot eat anything with eggs or dairy), or Christmas decorations. When we got home Saturday evening, we opened presents that we had not even wrapped. This was the first time in 7 years that I've gotten to take off the week of Christmas. I thoroughly enjoyed not working and did enjoy the holiday. But something was different this year. I was so thankful to share the time with Matthew, my precious Canaan who I was only dreaming of this time last year, and the rest of the family.

When we got home Saturday night, we went to pick up Max. He stayed with some folks from church. They said he was the best behaved dog they have ever kept. They have a son in college who apparently wanted to ask if they could "rent" Max for another week. It appears that Max had a good time there as well.

Merry Christmas!

31 Weeks

2009-12-29T20:36:00.004-07:00

Canaan met her uncle, aunt, and two cousins (a 4 year old boy and a 2 year old girl) on Matthew's side. She was very entertained by her 4 year old cousin. He would run around and make fun noises. He checked on her when she was sleeping or playing. One day I was in the basement with Canaan and her boy cousin. As he went upstairs to do something, he asked me if I would "look after" Canaan. I thought that was so cute!
She has started making a face where she scrunches her nose.
Canaan started eating really well while we were in St Louis. Twice each day she ate some rice cereal, carrots, and apples.
She also started a new formula while we were out of town. I didn't pack enough so we had to buy some while we were there. Other than that, I have to say I did a great job packing. Thankfully, we didn't have to take the car seat, pack 'n play, high chair, baby monitor (which we didn't use anyway), sheets, towels, or wash cloths. As it was, we had 3 large bags for the week. We are thankful that "bags fly free" at Southwest. (Southwest, however, does not let families with small children pre-board. This was news to me. They do let you board between the A and B groups though.)
Canaan is continuing to talk more and more. We don't know what she's saying yet, but it is a beautiful noise.
When she's standing up in your lap, she has started bouncing/jumping. The girl has got some strong legs.
Canaan is almost sitting up by herself.
It seems that Canaan had some kind of reaction because her eyes got puffy while we were there. She woke up several mornings with puffy eyes, but by the end of the day, they would be back to normal. She actually has woken up at home at least one morning since we've been back with puffy eyes as well.
While in St Louis, we joined the cousins to visit Santa. Even though we had already done that at home, we went to see the big guy again. Canaan was in the car seat in the stroller while we waited in line for over an hour. She did GREAT! By the time we were finished, she was finished with that car seat though. AND she didn't cry when she saw Santa this time.

30 Weeks

2009-12-29T20:30:00.004-07:00

Sunday evening, the Burns came over. Stefanie and I baked some Christmas goodies while the men folk watched a movie and the kiddos played on the floor and in the exersaucer.

Canaan went on her first plane ride this week. December 19th we flew to St Louis to visit Matthew's family for Christmas. She did okay on the flight. It was supposed to leave at 7 pm but was delayed almost an hour. I finally got her to sleep the last 20 or 30 minutes of the flight. She was very interested in the lady sitting next to me.

Canaan has been opening and closing her fingers and moving her wrist around. She's been doing this for a while now.

She is mostly sleeping on her tummy now. We still put her down on her back. Many times she will immediately roll over to her tummy.

Occasionally, Canaan will reach out to whoever is about to pick her up.

29 Weeks

2009-12-16T21:40:00.005-07:00

Canaan got to try oatmeal cereal this week. We are still working on eating solid foods. She's got to have interest at some point, right?

This was possibly the coldest week we've had since moving to Colorado.

Canaan has figured out getting dressed and undressed. When you put her hand into a sleeve, she will extend her arm to help. When you pull a sleeve to get it off, she will pull her arm back. It is just amazing to me how her little mind works.

One night when I got her out of the bath tub, she was chattering her gums. I've never seen her show being cold like this before.

Thursday night I finally saw Canaan roll from her tummy to her back. She did it twice that night, but I haven't seen her do it much since then. It still takes her a while to figure out what she's doing. I know she can do it now.

Sometimes Canaan sings. She generally sings very softly. It is one of the cutest things I've ever heard.

Matthew put up all our Christmas decorations by himself. He did a great job! They look terrific, but I have not been able to get a good picture of them yet. I did join him for the tree purchase last week. We found a beautiful tree for a little over $30.

Friday night we went to dinner with the Burns. You can see that Canaan and Samuel were more interested in looking at each other than at the camera.

Saturday night was our Sunday school Christmas party. We had a good time visiting with everyone. We left when Canaan started to have a meltdown. She didn't take much of a nap on Saturday, silly girl!

Dear Santa,

2009-12-16T21:22:00.004-07:00

My mom has been telling me about you and that I was going to meet you soon. She said you would be dressed in red, would have a beard, and were a jolly fellow. I didn't know what a beard was as I don't know anyone else who has one.

I'm sorry that I got upset when you looked at me. I don't know what came over me. I guess it was a lot of pressure to meet you with all those cameras on me.

I hope this won't ruin our friendship...and my chances of getting some good presents this year. I promise that I've been a good girl.

I'll try to be happier next time I see you and maybe even smile for a picture with you.

Canaan

Our rec center had a "Cookies with Santa" party on Saturday. We had no idea what to expect but thought it would be a great time to get Canaan's picture with Santa. I was glad to avoid the lines at the mall if possible.

It was awesome! We walked in where there was a table full of cookies and hot drinks as well. There was absolutely no line to see Santa. Santa and Mrs. Claus were so kind and looked great! And on top of everything else, our visit with Santa was free. Canaan looks a little suspicious of what's going on. She did great (other than not wanting to smile) until Santa turned her toward himself. She started crying at that point. Matthew didn't get a picture of it, but it was pretty funny.

28 Weeks

2009-12-16T21:10:00.005-07:00

Again, I am behind. If you have been waiting for updated pictures, my apologies to you.

So far Canaan is not interested in rice cereal, sweet potatoes, or formula. We've got to get this girl to eat!
She has figured out what we're doing when we try to get her to open her mouth wide. As soon as the spoon is close to her mouth, she closes her lips so tight that nothing is getting in there. She has great timing!
Since putting Canaan in size 2 diapers, she's having a lot more blowouts. Fortunate for me, Matthew gets most of them during the day while I'm at work. Poor guy! I'm sure it's building character, right?
Matthew has been the most successful of anyone trying to feed Canaan the solid foods and formula.
We took Canaan to see Santa this week (see more recent post).
She has quite a grasp and can pinch you like no one's business. It hurts especially when she pinches your face.
We also tried giving Canaan apple baby food...also not a favorite yet.

Grandma left town at the end of this week. It was great to have her here. She was so helpful while Matthew was recovering from his knee surgery. She told Matthew and I to go out the last night she was here. So we had a nice dinner baby-free and did a little bit of Christmas shopping together. It was a nice evening out!

27 Weeks

2009-12-01T21:30:00.003-07:00

This week Grandma and Grandpa bought Canaan an exersaucer for Christmas. Since they won't get to see her for Christmas, they wanted to give it to her and be able to watch her play with it while they were here. It has been a big hit. In with the exersaucer and out with the bouncy seat.

Canaan had her 6 month appointment with the pediatrician. He gave the ok to eat solids and drink juice/water. After trying rice cereal last week, we tried sweet potatoes this week. She had a slightly better reaction to them than the rice cereal, but just barely.

Canaan's first Thanksgiving was this week. I didn't even get any good pictures of her on her first Thanksgiving. We were home all day. How did I miss this?

Canaan started putting her foot in her mouth this week. She just started grabbing her feet recently as well.

26 Weeks

2009-12-01T21:15:00.005-07:00

This was a busy week.

Canaan had an appointment with her gastroenterologist. He gave her the ok to start rice cereal. I, however, cannot add anything to my diet until her next appointment which will be when she is 8 months old.
So we gave her rice cereal this week. She did not know what to think of that.
We put up her high chair this week.
Canaan has started waking up a couple of times each night. I hope eating solids will change this. I got spoiled with her sleeping through the night so early.
When you suction Canaan's nose with the aspirator, she will generally smile at you.
When she is on her tummy, she is getting her knees under her belly.
She has started sticking her tongue out all the way.
Canaan has one hair at the crown of her head that is 2 to 3 times longer than all her other hair.

Matthew had his ACL repaired on Friday of this week so Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with us and take care of Canaan. You can see in one of these pictures that they had Matthew working on his knee the day after his surgery. I couldn't believe how quickly they started that.

25 Weeks

2009-12-01T21:07:00.005-07:00

This week Canaan started rolling onto her tummy in bed. Sometimes this makes her upset because she cannot roll back onto her back from her tummy. And other times she just decides to sleep on her tummy. It seems that most of the time she rolls over onto her tummy after she wakes up in the morning.

While she is not even close to crawling at this point, you can see that Canaan can move around. She started on her play mat in the middle on her back and ended up on her tummy on the carpet.

Matthew attended a job fair this week so Canaan spent 4 days at 4 different houses.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday she stayed with ladies from our Sunday school class. Each of them have other children. I think Canaan enjoys watching older children and came home tired each night. One morning I had to wake her up in order to get her to someone's house before work. It was a bigger task than I expected to get her up and ready in the morning and to someone's house before work. I am thankful that I generally get to leave her at home with Daddy.
Friday she stayed with a couple that Matthew used to work with.

We are thankful for so many people who were willing to help us out and take care of our sweet girl.

24 Weeks

2009-11-10T21:00:00.005-07:00

Canaan is getting more fun all the time.

I have the hardest time trimming her fingernails. No matter how tightly I think I am holding her fingers, she can always wiggle them.

She has been splashing more in the bathtub. One night this week she splashed soap on Max's nose.

She likes looking in the mirror but mostly looks at who is holding her rather than noticing herself.

She gets excited when she sees her bottle.

She is really entertained by other kids.

I forgot to mention that I started eating nuts when Canaan turned 5 months old. I have really enjoyed being able to eat peanut butter. Thankfully, she has not had any reaction to the nuts.

This week I got some pictures of Matthew reading to her, Canaan playing on her play gym/mat, the day we thought she was getting a cold that thankfully only lasted one day(wearing the green polka-dot pjs, doesn't her nose just look stuffy?), what happens when Max wants to be included in floor playtime, and Canaan with her bunny. I just can't get enough of this girl.

23 Weeks

2009-11-03T21:39:00.005-07:00

We had Canaan's 5 month pictures taken on Thursday. I have to say I have been disappointed the last two times we've been to Target to get her pictures taken. Both times we have waited around 30 minutes past our appointment time for pictures. That is rough on a baby girl who doesn't like to just wait around. I decided to get her 5 month pictures taken in her Halloween costume. I guess it's a good thing I did because she didn't even end up wearing it on Saturday. She was not a fan of the hood around her head. She's the cutest little ladybug I've ever seen! I am going to try to get some more pictures of her at home wearing her costume since this is the only time she'll be able to wear it.

Canaan won this cute pillowcase dress from Wendy. It should fit her really well next year, but I couldn't resist putting it on her Halloween. Thank you Wendy for making the dress and Melinda for signing Canaan up to win it!

Canaan has been better about riding in the car, but she still does not enjoy being in the car seat for long.

When you carry her facing your body, she will turn to see where you are going.

She is very entertained by the tv and computer monitor. I'm afraid she gets way too much exposure to both of these.

She still sucks her thumb if she is sleepy.

She likes doing the Hokey-Pokey with Mom.

We sing songs like "Jesus Loves Me", "My God is so Big", "The Hokey-Pokey", "I've Got so Much...to be Thankful for", and "Jesus Loves the Little Children".

As much as I hate to admit it, Matthew is right when he says Canaan likes blankets over her face. I don't like blankets to be over her face because I worry about her breathing (rather not breathing).

When she is on the changing table, she has started putting her hand on the wall to feel it.

Matthew scared/startled Canaan while we were on the couch in the basement one night. After she jumped, she just laughed. I am in trouble if she likes to be scared. It will then be two again little ole me. I hate being scared!

We spent Halloween at some friends' house watching UT and OSU. So rather than wear her costume, Canaan wore her UT dress/cheer leading outfit that Grandma sent her. I'll have to get another picture of her so you can see the whole outfit. She's a cutie!

One of Us

2009-10-27T21:05:00.004-06:00

Two years ago today, Max became part of our family. At the time, I have to admit I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had only had one dog in my lifetime which was a completely different experience.

I think Max is doing well with Canaan. He is definitely curious about her and likes to sniff and lick her. When I give her a bath each night, he stands by the tub and tries to lick water out of it. 99.4% of the time I am feeding Canaan in the nursery, Max follows us in there and lays there while I feed her. He goes into her room at night after she's in bed or in the morning while she's still in bed to check on her. He has been really good about leaving her toys alone. He will not know what to do when she starts crawling and chasing him around. I hope he will learn soon not to be afraid. I keep telling him that one day he and Canaan will be the best of friends.

Since Canaan's arrival, he has not gotten as much exercise as before. It is more difficult to get to the park or pond now days, and frankly, it just hasn't been a priority for us. He still gets a lot of attention and love; however, he knows something is different.

One strange thing he's been doing (other than bringing the wood pile one log at a time into the yard) is spending time laying in our closet. We have no idea why he's doing this.

Max still thinks he's a lap dog. He loves to lay on Matthew and this week alone he has sat on my lap twice when I've been sitting on the floor.

You can see from at least one of these pictures that this dog knows how to relax. He is allowed on our bed and generally has his head on a pillow. While we would both like to be rid of the dog hair on the bed, we both enjoy Max's cuddling...especially when it's cold outside. On a sad note, I just realized tonight I've only taken a handful of pictures of Max since Canaan came along. Poor Max.

5 Months

2009-10-25T16:15:00.007-06:00

Canaan had a good week. She stayed with two new people this week while Matthew had appointments. One of the mentor ladies from Sunday School kept her for a bit one day and a friend who has a 5 week old baby kept her during another appointment. I think she did well with both of them.

She's still wearing Pampers Swaddlers size 1 although she'll be in size 2 very soon.

Matthew says she discovered her feet this week and started playing with them. I haven't seen this yet.

She has started putting her hand out to touch Max. He won't let her touch him though because he wants to lick her hand. I am certain that one of these days she will win.

Yesterday we were at some friends' house. Their 8 1/2 month old started doing his fake cough. Canaan thought this was funny. They went back and forth several times - S doing his cough and Canaan laughing at him. He got her to laugh more than we have in the past 5 months. It was really sweet. I wish we had a video of the interaction.

We went with these same friends to Whole Foods to get pictures of the babies with pumpkins. We wanted to go to a pumpkin patch but got a late start. All we really wanted were the pictures anyway.

Matthew was prescribed 6 weeks of physical therapy for his shoulder. He was supposed to go two times each week. He went for his third appointment this week. The guy told him he didn't need to come back. Yeah! He will have to go back in a couple of weeks for an evaluation but doesn't have to go two times each week between now and then. I told you he's a quick healer!

Birthday Celebration

2009-10-20T16:25:00.002-06:00

I don't have any pictures to prove it, but we did celebrate Matthew's birthday on Friday. He and I went to dinner at Carrabas which is one of our favorite restaurants. (I will have to go back once I am completely off the elimination diet so I can have a few of the goodies I had to stay away from this time.)

A former co-worker of Matthew watched Canaan for us so we could have a dinner for two. It was really nice and special. Marc and Lindsay had their hands full with their own 4 kiddos and Canaan. Canaan was crying when we left her at their house, but they said that didn't last long.

I had the camera in my purse but forgot to ask someone to take our picture. I have got to stop doing that!

I finally got Matthew's red velvet cake made Saturday night. He finished frosting it on Sunday. We tried substituting the shortening with butter as someone suggested this might keep it from being so dry. According to Matthew, it is more moist, but there is also something that tastes weird about it. I can't try it so I guess next year we may need to try something else. I also have got to figure out a better way to get the individual layers out of the pans without making a mess. If you have any suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them. Thank goodness I doubled the icing recipe. Icing covers a multitude of errors!

21 Weeks

2009-10-20T15:26:00.005-06:00

There is a lot going on with Canaan these days. It is really fun to see how much she is changing.

She is grasping onto objects tightly.

She purposefully touched our faces for the first time this week and has been taking Matthew's glasses off his face.

She is trying really hard to sit up when she's laying down. If you hold her hands, she will pull herself up.

When I am nursing her, she does puts her hands all over her face.

She is focusing more and is really alert.

If she is on your lap while you are eating, she will follow your utensil/food from the plate to your mouth.

If someone is behind Canaan, she will turn to see that person.

She generally wakes up happy and talking rather than crying.

She is starting to bang on the table or whatever is in front of her and is starting to splash the water during her bath.

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2009-10-16T08:05:00.005-06:00

Here are some of my favorite recent pictures of Matthew with Canaan.

And here are 35 things I love/appreciate about Matthew today.

1|he can make me laugh even when I don't want to 2|he has a big vocabulary and I often have to ask him what he's saying 3|he loves and cares about people 4|he has secret rules that I can't figure out 5|he wants to have an adventurous life 6|he is passionate about his relationship with God 7|he wants to celebrate special occasions 8|he tries to encourage me to do things that are good for me 9|he is a good dad 10|he lets me go get Canaan out of bed even though he wants to do the same thing 11|he can make Canaan laugh/smile sooner than anyone else 12|he wants to be working but appreciates the time he gets to spend with Canaan 13|he is willing to work anywhere or nowhere so Canaan can be at home 14|he is FINALLY coming around to the idea that playing hard may not be a good idea 15|he believes it is important to be at church each week and to be involved with our Sunday School class 16|he recently told me he's ready for some yummy Mindy cooking (as I've somehow taken a hiatus from cooking) 17|he continues to request a red velvet cake for his birthday despite the fact that they don't often turn out right 18|he continues to challenge me even when I don't respond well 19|he recovers from injury/surgery pretty quickly 20|he can laugh at himself 21|he is ALWAYS the one we wait on while playing board games 22|he supports my goals/dreams 23|he's willing to help those in need 24|kids are generally drawn to him 25|he thinks about/plans for the future 26|his laugh is LOUD and infectious 27|while he doesn't like to be wrong, he can admit when he is 28|he is a good friend 29|he is very generous 30|he makes me want to know the Bible better and to be more obedient 31|he made it a priority to get us out of debt 32|he loves to have people over 33|he is really good and helpful at cleaning the house 34|he will kill any spider I find without me asking 35|he's a hard worker

Happy Birthday!!

If you love chocolate,

2009-10-15T20:41:00.004-06:00

then you need to make this cake. I tried the recipe while my parents were here last week. Mom, Dad, and Matthew all enjoyed it. They all commented on how rich it was. They think they could have split it 3 ways.

I made a different version for me - using a powder egg substitute, rice milk, and no chocolate chips. Mine did not rise the same and was over-cooked. It still had some good flavor though.

Maybe I shouldn't encourage you to try this right away because you will now be able to eat a yummy chocolate cake within minutes.

20 Weeks

2009-10-14T19:46:00.004-06:00

Grandma and Grandpa were here for the week since Matthew had surgery. They were very helpful. My mom practically cleaned the house and prepared breakfast and dinner each day. Matthew sent them home on Monday because he was able to take care of Canaan. He found out today at his first physical therapy appointment that he is not supposed to even be lifting a gallon of milk with his left shoulder. Oops!

We left Canaan with G & G Saturday night while we went to a Sunday School dinner. I told Canaan not to do anything new while we were gone. According to the grandparents, she rolled from her tummy to her back a couple of times. I still haven't seen it.

Early in the week, Canaan had a runny nose and did not sleep well. We put a humidifier in her room and a book under the head of her mattress. One or both of those did the trick. I'm not certain that she didn't feel well. Even though she didn't sleep or eat much, she wasn't terribly fussy. We now think she may be starting to teethe.

She has started squealing when she talks.

We got ready for church on Sunday morning and left the house with the temperature around 17 degrees. We made it maybe a fourth or fifth of the way to church before I decided to turn around and go home. The roads were really slick, and I just felt uncomfortable continuing on, especially after I thought about a few hills we would have to go down. I had to get a picture of Canaan all bundled up though.

My Theory

2009-10-10T21:54:00.004-06:00

You might want to hold on to your seat for this one. I will just give you the disclaimer now. I know that many people have studied and hypothesized about Stonehenge for many years now...many people smarter than I. I do, however, have my own theory about how Stonehenge came into existence.

Are you ready?

Are you sure you're ready?

Ahem...

After much thought and research, I believe either dinosaurs or really large dogs must have been playing with those stones and just left them in that formation once they came across something more entertaining. Please see the research/evidence below.

What do you think?

19 Weeks

2009-10-10T21:38:00.007-06:00

I am behind a week, but I will post this anyway so I'll have the record for my scrapbook (in case I ever get around to starting and working on that). Here are my favorite pictures from the week...cute sleepy Canaan, Canaan and her friend S both wearing giraffes, some of the family, Canaan and Daddy, and Canaan and me because I thought we matched a bit (and I just like pictures of Canaan and me...and this is my blog!).

We spent Saturday with Matthew's aunt, uncle, 2 cousins, and their 3 children a couple of hours from home. We had a great time visiting, eating, seeing the new house, and watching the kiddos play (some of the adults also played on the tandem bicycle). It has been fun to get to know this part of Matthew's family since we moved out to Colorado.

I was able to reintroduce wheat to my diet this week. I could finally eat bread as long as it didn't have egg or dairy in it. Thankfully, Whole Foods has a lot of bread without egg or dairy so I was able to find some easily. While I have really enjoyed eating bread, I have to say it wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. We're pretty sure Canaan is fine with my wheat eating as she hasn't had any kind of reaction to it. I hope the results will be the same as I add other items later on. When she is 5 months old, I will get to try nuts. I hope that goes well. Just think...a yummy peanut butter sandwich. Yum!

Canaan is starting to get distracted while she's nursing. If she hears something in another room, she'll look up at me and smile. Or if someone is in the same room as us and starts talking, she will turn her head to see that person. It's pretty cute but also frustrating when I just want her to eat. When we were visiting the family last Saturday, she heard the other kiddos laughing in another room while I was nursing her. She stopped eating, looked up at me, and had the CUTEST smile on her face. It was really sweet!

She is starting to talk more. Some days she is so quiet and other days she has a lot to say. We enjoy listening to her many noises and all her inflection.

One down and one to go

2009-10-08T21:57:00.002-06:00

After looking at my blog recently, Matthew mentioned that he does not have his own tag/label for my posts. After unsuccessfully telling him that all the posts are really about him, I told him the "ER Visit" tag is really like a Matthew tag. He didn't appreciate that much.

After I found out I was pregnant with Canaan last year, I told Matthew that he could not have any ER visits because it was my turn to be in the hospital in 2009. Well, he hasn't had any ER visits, but he will have two surgeries before the year is up. Next time, I guess I should be more specific. This will be the first time we have reached the maximum out of pocket for our insurance (at least I expect that to be the case). I hope several years can go by before that happens again.

Matthew had surgery on his left shoulder Tuesday afternoon. It has been hurt since the beginning of the year and was continuing to feel worse. Neither of us was looking forward to the surgery, although it's safe to say that Matthew has been looking forward to it less than I have. He is doing remarkably well for someone who had surgery two days ago. He didn't even take any pain medication today. My parents came into town to help out with Canaan so I didn't have to take a lot of time off work. Boy, are they helpful!

Next up, Matthew has to have surgery on his left knee to repair a torn ACL. Surgery will be scheduled once his shoulder is healed so that he can use crutches. Doesn't that sound like fun?

4 Months

2009-09-28T20:46:00.005-06:00

Canaan turned 4 months last Wednesday.

Grandma spent the week with us keeping Canaan during the day while Daddy was out of town visiting a friend. She is working at turning Canaan into a football fan. In the first two days Grandma was here, we watched three football games.

I discovered that eating at PF Changs while on an elimination diet is not good at all. There were 3 items on the menu I could eat as long as the sauce was not added to the dish. I had ginger chicken with broccoli. It was really bland. I don't expect to go back there until I can eat something yummy.

Canaan has started taking her pacifier again. She likes to play with it - taking it out of her mouth and trying to put it back in her mouth. She gets frustrated and does not like anyone to help her put it back in her mouth. We may be in trouble...I thought the independence started much later than 4 months old.

She has been rolling over like crazy. She is still only rolling from her back to her tummy, but she likes to roll over. She gets frustrated after being on her tummy for a while. As soon as you put her on her back, she will roll to the tummy again. When we went to visit the doctor this week, she tried to roll over while on/in the scale and then rolled over while the doctor was checking her ear.

Thursday afternoon Grandma and I finally got some video of Canaan laughing. It was really cute!

4 month stats = weight 12 lb 11 1/2 oz (36%), height 24.8 inches (77%), head 15.8 inches (29%) - The doctor said that Canaan would not win any blue ribbons, but she is doing well. At the very least, she should weigh 10 lb 4 oz so she's doing better than that. I think because of the elimination diet, she is not gaining what she might be gaining. I told Matthew over the phone the doctor's blue ribbon comment. He didn't think that was very funny and told me the doctor better have been joking.

Canaan is doing everything on the list the doctor gave us that she should be doing except one thing. She is not holding up her chest when lying on her tummy. She is getting A LOT of tummy time now that she is rolling over so much so I bet she will be doing this soon.

We took her to Target for 4 month pictures on Sunday (you just have to enter my first and last name). This was not a very good experience. Our appointment was at 3 pm so we got there a bit early to change her clothes. We ended up having to wait until around 3:45. It was tough on Canaan. She did very well and we even got some smiles. Of course, I always think her pictures turn out cute!

10 years

2009-09-26T06:33:00.003-06:00

I cannot believe it's been over 10 years since I graduated from college. I thought several times this summer about the fact that I had now known some friends for 10 years or more, but I did not connect it with being out of school for that long until I received something from Hardin-Simmons in the mail about celebrating the 10 years at the upcoming homecoming. What?? How did 10 years go by so quickly?

HSU sent a form to fill out about myself to be included in a book I think about those who graduated in 1999. There is a space for a paragraph that is titled "WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING SINCE HSU DAYS & OTHER COMMENTS". How do you fit 10 years worth of life into a paragraph? I guess I will do my best.

17 weeks

2009-09-22T17:17:00.005-06:00

Like I mentioned earlier, Pops was in town last weekend so we took some family photos when Matthew's aunt and uncle came down for a visit. We happened to have dressed all matchy-matchy completely unintentionally. Of course, we had to get some pictures of us being so coordinated! Below are my favorites.

Canaan is trying to figure out how to get toys, burp cloths, etc in her mouth. It is a little amusing to watch her, but she sure gets frustrated when she can't figure it out. She mostly is able to touch everything with her tongue, but she doesn't really get items into her mouth.

She does not like kiddos getting in her face. A friend of mine told me about this after watching Canaan. Her son had gotten close to Canaan. I observed this myself when a girl at a Sunday school dinner was trying to give Canaan toys. Canaan did not like having the girl or the toys right in her face. I don't blame her!

Canaan has become my little alarm. Matthew and I thought my alarm was waking her up each morning. It turns out that she has just been waking up between 5:15 and 5:30 most mornings recently. Her little noises are much better than that pesky alarm buzz. I have still been setting my alarm, but I haven't heard it go off since sometime last week.

Brrr...

2009-09-22T08:08:00.003-06:00

From Sunday to Monday, the temperature dropped 30 degrees or more. We had the strangest weather yesterday. I saw dark clouds, sunny skies, rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, wind, sleet, sunshine, dark clouds, snow, sunshine, over and over again. It was cold! And this morning I woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and rooftops.

I just want to clarify that I am NOT ready for winter.

16 weeks

2009-09-14T21:39:00.006-06:00

Here's what has been going on in Canaan's life over the past week.

Friday while laying on her activity mat, she rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her back to her belly twice. I haven't seen her do it since then.
She met Pops (her paternal grandfather) on Friday. I'll have pictures of them together in my next post.
Matthew has been watching all our animated videos to see what will be appropriate to show Canaan at some point. He now is on a kick to find some of the Disney movies that are currently out of circulation. I'm not sure that we need to be in a hurry, but Matthew has already started thinking of the ones he would like to get.
Canaan had several really good days this week where she ate and slept well during the day. She is not always a good napper so this was great for Matthew.
She continues to smile more easily and more often each day.
I still have not heard her laugh again. I've already forgotten what that little laugh sounded like, although I have not forgotten that it was one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.
The weather over the weekend was pretty cool. The only long sleeve clothes Canaan has at the moment are 3 to 6 month size. They were a tad bit big, but not too bad. She has some really cute things to wear as it gets cold. Girl clothes are just so cute!
Canaan is still not a big fan of the car seat. She generally does not like riding in the car. This is baffling to other parents. I always hear how everyone else's children fall asleep in the car.
She is still wearing size 1 in diapers. Our favorite diapers are the Pampers Swaddlers.
You can see from these pictures that Canaan spends a lot of time with one or both of her hands in her mouth.

Matthew is so great with Canaan. He is a great stay-at-home dad. He is continuing to look for a job, but nothing has come around yet. We have decided that until he can find a full-time engineering job, it is worth it to us for him to stay home with Canaan rather than working full-time in retail. He would not be able to earn enough to make it worth putting Canaan in daycare. Some folks don't understand that decision, but we think it is really important for Canaan to be at home with a parent rather than in daycare if we can swing that.

15 Weeks & Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-09T18:41:00.004-06:00

Canaan met some more friends over the weekend. Wade and Michelle are the first couple friends that Matthew and I made after we got married. We have known them about 6 years and love them dearly. We had a fantastic weekend with them! We enjoyed hanging around the house, eating, seeing a local attraction, and fellowshipping with them. We have missed them and really loved spending time with them over the weekend. Canaan was fascinated by Michelle, and anytime we were in the car she was watching Michelle (as evidenced in the photo below).

Canaan is starting to touch her toys and hold them in her hands. She tries to put them in her mouth but is not very successful with that part yet.
When I get home in the evenings, I find myself asking Matthew this question a lot, "Has she been doing this?" He works with her a lot during the day to teach her things. She's a good learner up to this point.
Canaan used to take any pacifier. Now she generally turns them away and will suck on her thumb if she desires to suck on something. She also will put 1 to 4 fingers in her mouth to chew or suck on.
She still has quite the sensitive tummy. I am still on the elimination diet, but there are days that she has some tummy issues.
Canaan plays with her tongue a lot. She could spend hours (a bit of an exaggeration) just sticking her tongue out and then putting it back in her mouth. We have no idea what she's doing.
I mentioned this earlier, but she laughed for the first time last week. We haven't gotten her to do it again yet. She has come close though.
Canaan enjoys the toys hanging over her bouncy seat and play gym. She is more interested in them than she has been.
She now fits comfortably in 3 to 6 month footed pajamas.
She sleeps in the "surrender" position with her hands up by her head.

She laughed!!

2009-09-03T08:37:00.003-06:00

We heard Canaan's first laugh last night.

After bath time, she was on her changing table while I rubbed her down with lotion. She was only wearing a diaper and I gave her a zerbert on her belly. I have done this before and made her cry...I guess she was too young to appreciate it.

After I gave her the zerbert, she made a fun noise. So I called Matthew in and told I thought I was making her laugh. The next time I did it, she really laughed. It was PRECIOUS!

Matthew went to get the video camera, but of course, the battery was dead. That's what happens when you haven't charged it since before Canaan was born.

We have both been looking forward to hearing her laugh. I am sure there will be many firsts that one of us will miss. I am so thankful that we were both there to hear the first one.

2009-09-01T21:14:00.003-06:00

I have been reflecting about being a mother. Here is what I have to say after 3 months.

Things I've already forgotten...

most of what happened at the hospital before, during, and after Canaan's birth - It's so silly to think now about how much energy I wasted being nervous about all that.

how tiny Canaan was and how she felt in my arms at first

what it was like to wake up with her several times during the night and early in the morning

how nervous I was about being on our own with Canaan - bathing her (which I waited a whole week to do), being solely responsible for her, having to figure out what she needed/wanted, taking her out by myself

all the confusion around her name - People kept calling her the wrong name (mostly Canon), and Matthew and I got confused ourselves after hearing what everyone else was saying. I would be feeding her in the middle of the night in the dark and repeat her name over and over in my head and out loud so that I would remember it. It was a strange experience.

And some things I've learned...

Matthew and I are completely capable of taking care of this blessing. And we LOVE doing it!

Babies are not babies for long.

No matter how much pink she has on, some people will always ask if Canaan is a boy (and most people assume she's a boy after hearing her name).

It is a luxury to have family within driving distance. It is great for Canaan to get to see them often and also wonderful to have help close by.

Sleep deprivation makes for a moody and ungracious Mindy. I can, however, get by on less sleep than I once thought. I can't believe now that I used to go to bed around 9 pm.

While I was not looking forward to the elimination diet, it is much easier than I thought when the reason for following the diet is Canaan.

One of my favorite sights is Canaan smiling.

One of my favorite smells is Canaan...especially after a bath.

One of my favorite feelings is Canaan's hand on my skin while I'm nursing her.

One of my favorite sounds is Canaan making noises with her mouth.

Being a mom is the BEST! It is much harder than I anticipated, but it is incredibly worth it.

I can do household chores much quicker than I used to do them. I use the time after Canaan goes to bed to get things done. Sometimes I'm amazed at what I can accomplish before I go to bed.

It is exciting to experience all the changes going on in Canaan, but it is also sad how quickly the changes are happening.

I want to be SUPERMOM. Even though I know that is unattainable, it is a challenge to let that go each day.

It is practically impossible to keep from telling everyone around me how cute and precious and wonderful is my Baby Girl.

14 Weeks

2009-09-01T18:39:00.004-06:00

Last Monday I took Canaan to Boulder to meet my co-workers since I had to be there for two meetings that day. Generally Canaan sleeps until she wakes up, but this day I had to wake her up a little before 6 am. After she had eaten, had a diaper change, and was dressed, we hit the road for a 2 hour and 15 minute drive. She did really well but was fussy probably the last hour or so of the drive. I thought she might have a wet diaper or maybe she was hungry. As soon as I parked the car and opened her door, she just looked at me and smiled. Evidently, she was just tired of being in her car seat. She gave a lot of smiles at the office. I had to leave during the first meeting (which was attended by the whole office - probably 100 people) to feed her. The second meeting was attended only by my team of 12 people. All was pretty quiet during this meeting until Canaan tooted pretty loudly. I met with my supervisor while I was there. I was holding Canaan facing away from me with one of my hands between her legs. All of a sudden urine started rolling down my arm, my pants, and onto the table, chair, and carpet in my supervisor's office. Oops! I cleaned it with all-purpose cleaner - all that I could find in the office. I was only able to stay at the office with her for half the day (an HR policy) which worked out fine for me because with the 4 plus hours of driving it was a long day anyway. Canaan did not take a good nap even with all the time in the car seat. She went to bed at 6:30 pm and didn't wake up until 7 am Tuesday.

I have started putting Canaan to bed in a sleep sack rather than her Swaddle Me. She is continuing to sleep through the night. She generally goes to bed around 8:45 pm and will wake up sometime between 6 and 7 am. She likes to sleep with her hands up by her head. I need to get a picture, but I don't want to wake her up once she's down for the night. (Incidentally, I thought I would inform you that "the experts" define sleeping through the night as sleeping from midnight to 5 am.)
I LOVE how she wrinkles her forehead and her eyes get big when you're talking to her.
Sometimes when Canaan is crying, she snorts.
She has learned to anticipate when Matthew is going to move toward her face making little kissing noises. She will close or squint her eyes and sometimes wrinkle her nose.
Her eyes are still blue.
I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but Canaan was born with an umbilical hernia. We were told it should heal on its own by the time she is 3 years old. I think it is actually already healed or close to being healed. We are so thankful! It looked quite painful.
She still generally enjoys being on her changing table.
She had a good weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and is already looking forward to their next visit.

Kooza

2009-09-01T18:30:00.002-06:00

My parents came into town over the weekend and babysat while Matthew and I went to see our 6th Cirque du Soleil show. We were away from home almost 9 hours. We had a nice date with the show and then dinner at a restaurant we have talked about trying since we moved to Colorado. I worried more than I should have about leaving Canaan for so long…not because I was worried about her care but because I didn’t want the grandparents to have to deal with a fussy baby for 8 or 9 hours. Thankfully, she was only fussy toward the end of the evening.

Neither of us really understood the story of Kooza. The others we’ve seen definitely have been more cohesive with the story being evident. I looked at the website today to find out what the show was about. I definitely didn’t get this from watching. Allegria is the best show we’ve seen. It was also the first show we saw. I’m not sure if that is why it was the best or not. We still really enjoyed the show. The performers can definitely do some incredible (and sometimes gross) things with their bodies. We have a lot of questions about these shows…how much do the performers train, what does the chef prepare for meals, what kind of insurance do they have, what happens when they can no longer perform, how often do they sustain injuries, etc?

This is a better photo of my new hair cut. I think Matthew likes it even though he thought I should keep my hair long. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I have been losing hair like crazy. Matthew thought I should go to the doctor. But I started reading online, and found that around 3 months after giving birth, you lose a lot of hair. Apparently the hormones during pregnancy cause you to lose less hair than normal. After giving birth, you lose all the hair you didn’t lose during pregnancy. I thought about taking a picture, but it was pretty disgusting.

Government Mandate

2009-08-27T08:13:00.003-06:00

I did it. I got the government mandated mother haircut.

My newest haircut really has nothing to do with motherhood. I was just ready for a change. This happens at least every couple of years and sometimes more. And each time I get it cut short, I end up deciding I want to grow it long almost immediately. We'll see what happens this time around.

You can't really see much from these photos (why is our house always so dark in photos?). Today was my first day to fix it which was really fast. I can't complain about that!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

2009-08-27T08:04:00.003-06:00

Not as much as Max. At least, I think Max would give him a run for his money.

Do you remember this wood pile? This has been Max's new pile of adventure. When Max got out of our yard by chewing through the fence, the vet suggested dousing it with a solution of water and cayenne pepper. He said most dogs will stop chewing because they don't like the cayenne. Max is not one of those dogs. It doesn't seem to bother him at all.

Max got a new toy for his birthday. It was 10 minutes before it turned from a fun toy to a pile of stuffing and string. 10 minutes!! Crazy dog.

Max is 2

2009-08-24T19:43:00.002-06:00

Max is 2 today!

Here are a couple of pictures from today and a couple of pictures from the day we brought him home (October 2007).