45 weeks (April 3rd)

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.

42 Weeks (as of March 13)

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.

Meeting Friends

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!

29 Weeks

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!

5 Months

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!

15 Weeks & Labor Day Weekend

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.

12 Weeks

I got to introduce another friend to Canaan this week. One of my college roommates was in town part of this week for her sister's wedding. I hadn't seen Kimberly in ten years. I can't believe it's been that long! She has three girls of her own that I had not met before. They were so cute and the sweetest girls. The oldest is seven and the youngest is four. I cannot imagine having three so close together. I, of course, waited until the end of the evening to bring out my camera so I only got a picture with Kimberly. I wish I had gotten one of her whole family. I went to Kimberly's hotel Thursday after work. Canaan did not get her afternoon nap that day so she was pretty fussy that evening. Once I got to the hotel room, Canaan started crying and didn't stop until we left the hotel room. Kimberly's husband told us later that night that when we left the hotel room, their 7 year old said, "I'm glad they left. I thought that baby was going to be sweet!" She apparently did not appreciate the crying. Isn't that cute?


More about Canaan...

• She is starting to suck her thumb more and is getting better at finding it. She still has issues keeping it in her mouth sometimes.
• A couple of friends have noticed two places on her bottom gum where it looks like she'll have some teeth. She is starting to slobber more. Surely she is not teething yet (I hope).
• Matthew likes to call Canaan stretch. She is a champion stretcher.
• When she coughs, she sticks her tongue out which is pretty cute.
• She is still sleeping well and sleeping through the night. This has been wonderful since I've gone back to work.
• She has had a couple of blow outs recently. We have found the Pampers Swaddlers to be really great diapers. We just started using a package of Luvs recently. They just do not work well with Canaan. I think we'll finish the package this week and be able to go back to the Pampers.
• Andy and Amy brought Canaan this really cute camo pillowcase dress when they stopped by a couple of weeks ago. I finally got a picture of her wearing it. It is really cute! Thank you Amy!
• It is pretty difficult to get a picture of Canaan smiling. I can get her to smile, but once the camera is in front of my face she gets a serious or puzzled look on her face. I'm just not quick enough.

Matthew is doing really well staying home with Canaan while I'm at work. He has gotten Canaan on a good schedule during the day with feedings and naps. Being at work hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, but I discovered something this week I wasn't expecting. I don't like that Matthew knows more about Canaan's schedule than I do. It makes sense that he would since he is at home with her, but it is hard nonetheless. On the other hand, it is nice that he is so involved in her day-to-day care. For that, I am thankful.