My Little Man Is Growing Up.....

Wow, how time has flown by these past few weeks!!! We've had so much going on lately that it's been hard to keep my days, weeks, ect. straight so I'll start with what I can remember tonight, which my not be a whole lot but I'll give it a whirl.

Cannon's Latest Exciting Events:

1. We started CanMan in a new school and we absolutely love it and so does he. The reason why we couldn't start him there in the first place is b/c it's ran on a school calender year. He is still going twice a week, we love his new teacher Ms. Amanda, she is so sweet and loves all the babies to pieces and they love her!!!
2. We recently took a trip to Lubbock so he could meet his great grandparents and he was a great little traveler, however I feel a DVD player in the vehicles will be a soon necessity in the near future. He enjoyed getting loved and hugged on by his great grandparents; grandparents; aunts; uncles; and cousins - and of course we loved seeing everyone as well.
3. He's has started to establish some independence of his own, which makes this Momma a little sad but I know it's just a part of parenthood even though it's a tough thing to accept I am thrilled with his growth and developmental skills. He's started using a sippy cup; he's now eating cereal and baby food; he will shake his head in refusal; he will put resistance on toys, ect. if you try to take it away from it (it's our newest little game and he loves it); he's on a pretty set bed time schedule and does not like when we stray from it even a little bit; almost sitting up but still can't figure out the whole weight proportion thing; when he throws a fit he flings himself back with all the force he can muster up; he's semi army crawling
4. His other set of great grandparents came in town this weekend and he's really enjoyed not being put down for a second but how can you resist to put such a sweet little cuddler down for even a second!

As far as we go we've just been busy with work, life, and being parents. I do have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for the past few weeks I've been working out at least 4-5 times a week - it's taken lots of dedication but I've stopped making excuses for why not to do it and started making excuses to do it and I have to say I feel so much better, even though it makes me more exhausted by the time we get home it's still been so worth it! I am really looking forward to MOPS and Life Group starting up again and I am in the process of planning our anniversary trip which I am soooo excited about, we definately are in need of  a Babymoon!!!

Well that is about all this tired momma can remember for tonight, hope everyone has a great week and hope all my fellow mommy friends that are teachers or have kids that went back to school have a more adjusted and less chaotic week!!!

XOXO,

Kristen

You Are The Best Thing(s) That Have Ever Been Mine........

It's Past My Bed Time!!!

What a busy past few weeks it's been around here, I've hardly had time to catch my brain, yes I mean brain b/c I feel like it's disappeared amongst all the chaos!!!

Last weekend one of my really good friends was in town and we met up with him for dinner in Arlington. It was his first time meeting my sweet baby boy and I think they were equally taken by eachother. Sal and I have been friends for about 5+ years now, we met working as tennis instructors at John Newcombes Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Summer '05 - he has been the best guy friend a girl could ask for and my hubby loves him just as much as I do! I give him a hard time most of the time but truth be told I wouldn't know what I do if he wasn't a part of our lives!

Who Is This Crazy Guy Holding Me!?!?

Newk Alumnae, with A Future Newkie

At the restaurant, Canman started getting fussy so his Daddy saved the night and played the song that always calms him down when he is tired and fussy and that is nothing other than, "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown Band, I may should be worried that this is the one and only song that calms my baby boy down (trust me we've experimented with a variety of others) but this is the only one that does the trick, I guess we can thank his Poppa for introducing him to this song and routine but I have to admit at least it's a good song that we enjoy listening to, some nights (over and over again).

"You Know I Like My Chicken Fried, Cold Beer On A Friday Night"

And We're Out For The Count.....

With the Fall starting back up that means ALL our Fall activities will be starting upand I am super excited about that. The MOPS (Mothers Of Pre Schoolers) group starts in Sept.; Life Group starts in Sept.; Stonewater Book Club; Cross Timbers Professional Women's Org (which I am going to try super hard to attend) and whaetver else comes our way during the Fall, b/c it always seems like something else unexpected does. I've also started a girls Bunco night which started in July, although my hubby suggested we rename it DRUNCO after the August girls night - what a blast we all had drinking wine, socializing, and playing Bunco, if there were a hidden camera you would have thought we were a bunch of desperate housewives, who hadn't seen the outside of our homes for years but the fact of the matter is that we are just a group of fun girls who love their husbands, boyfriends, kids, ect. that like to have an occasional night out with the girls every once in awhile. We also have so many showers, weddings, ect going on during the weekends this Fall that I really don't know when we are going to have a free weekend until like mid November which stresses me out if I let myself think about it too much. In addition to all this I've started training again to run a half marathon, choices of race right now are either: Dallas White Rock or Las Vegas Rock N Roll......I am leaning towards the most obvious choice Vegas baby!!! It's in December, I haven't signed up yet, I am going to see how training goes first but I'll take any excuse to head to Vegas for a weekend and this is a good one so wish me luck!!!

In addition to all this stuff going on the most important is that Cannon turned 5 months this month and I can't believe how fast my baby boy is growing up. He's doing so many new things now: sitting up; eating with a spoon; learning to hold his own bottle; rolling over (both ways); reaching out for things; pulling on anything he can get his hands (girls beware of your jewelry, he loves earrings); trying to army crawl; standing for longer periods of time (with help); trying to give kisses back and so many other fun things! As you can see he is growing into quite a chunky lil monkey, I've been waiting for all these rolls to show up and they have and they are so cute. He gets to start his orange vegetables in a few weeks and then a few weeks after that will be his 6 month appointment and I am excited to see how much his developed since his 4 month appointment. Also on Tuesday he starts going to his new school, Lakeside, he will go twice a week - I am so excited I've heard so many great things about it and after going up there several times myself to tour and visit with the Director I felt so good about it and so blessed that I was able to get him in. In honor of his 5 month birthday we got him a little present, which he is still trying to figure out himself, it's a combo btw an exersaucer and walker and he loves it! These TWO boys are truely the best things that have ever been mine, I love them so much!!!

Daddy Warning: Wait At Least 20 Minutes After Eating Before We Play Airplane....

This is the result of when a daddy decides to play airplane with his 4 1/2 month old son 10 minutes after he finishes eating!

Ready, Set, Zooooom!

My Tummy Is Feeling A Little Quezzy!!!

I Couldn't Hold It In And Yes It Got In His Mouth Too!

Cleaning Up

Got In His Ear Too

And On Mommy's Comforter

Got to love these funny moments of parenthood, we sure do love our baby boy, spit up and all : )

He's Just Too Busy Being Fabulous : )

Lake Stud In All His Duds : )

The Start of A Crazy Week!

4 1/2 Month Old Red Raider!

I have to say that I am pretty glad this week has ended and a new one has begun, last week was very trying to say the least. I was pretty much a single mom for the week, Chandler was out of town due to work Sun-Fri and I was super busy, stressed, snappy, and tired by Friday. Having to be a big girl and juggle taking care of CanMan, work, starting a new business, dealing with personal things, taking care of the household, ECT., ECT., ECT. by myself for a week, I realized several importan things - 1.) I CAN juggle it all by myself; 2.) Eventhough I CAN, I don't want to - I am so blessed to have such a wonderful and helpful hubby and sometimes I take that for granted more often than I realize; 3.) I am so grateful for my parents living here, they help us out so much with CanMan, and eventhough I don't have a choice but to graciously accept their help (b/c if we didn't they would NOT give up until we let them and sometimes it's just easier to surrender especially when it involves the grandparents) - I love them so much and I am so thankful for all they do for us and CanMan loves them madly!!! I definately think God puts these types of crazy weeks in our lives so that in the midst of all of the chaos of life, at some point we slow down after going at 100 mph and FINALLY stop and realize 1.) I did not get through this week all by myself, I had my Father by my side the whole time and He is the only reason I made it through the week or through today; 2.) To surrender it ALL to Him and fall into His arms, just as Cannon falls into mine at the end of every day and share, praise, and surrender my joys, fears, worries, mistakes to Him and know that everything is going to be all right and that there is nothing so difficult that I can not  handle as long as He's there with me.

This Pic Melts My Heart!

By Friday I was like a snapping turtle to anyone that crossed my path and reflecting on it now I do feel bad, I just was at my maximum capacity level by Thursday night and by Friday morning I had exploded - LOL!!! On Friday, some of our Houston family came in and the weekend of fun began! That night we went to eat at Charleston's and I the salmon which was amazing, probably the best I've ever had!!!

I can still eat while wearing my life jacket!

And take a nap on the boat

Mati, Me, and Mollee Jo

My Cute Lake Outfit

Such A BIG Boy, Standing All By Himself

On Saturday we went out on the lake and had a blast. We got on at about 11 am and CanMan was ready to go by about 5:30 pm, he did amazing and absolutely loved it - as long as he was able to eat, nap, look around, get dipped in when he got hot, spritz and fanned - he was good to go! What a good natured and FEARLESS little baby - 4 1/2 months, 6 1/2 hours on a boat is pretty amazing if I say so myself!!! When we weren't gooing over CanMan we were tubing, skiing and swimming it was a blast. After we got off the lake we cooked out and played an uno tournament, it was so fun eventhough I am a sore loser I have to give props to my cousin Madi for winning the tourney!!!

Yay for shopping at the Galleria!!!

On Sunday we all headed out to Dallas to go play Whirlyball and go shopping at the Galleria. Whirlyball was a blast - we played 5 on 4; 6 games; tied 3 to 3 - you basically are in a team of 4 to 5 people and you try to score points by using teamwork, a wiffle ball, lacrosse mits, and motorized go carts to do it - I highly recommend this activity, it's so fun! After Whirlyball we went shopping at the Galleria, I really wasn't in the mood to shop but manage to get CanMan some super cute outfits at Saks Fifth Avenue. After the Galleria, we went to eat at BJ's brewery it was awesome and the beer wasn't bad either : ) We had an fun filled weekend with my family and I am so glad that they came to see us, can't wait until we call all get together and do it again.

I feel so blessed to have such a close and wonderful family and I love them all! I started this week off sick, which is the only reason I am blogging in the middle of the afternoon, I think it's a 24 hour bug but I feel terrible! I am so glad it's a brand new week and I am looking forward to feeling better, this week I started Drivetime daily devotionals - http://www.saddleback.com/MediaCenter/DriveTime/ - it's basically a daily devotional online from Saddleback Church that is 10 minutes, the lessons are broken down by the books of the bible, you can upload them to your Ipod or listen to them online, they are awesome for the busy mom on the go or for anyone who has 10 minutes and online access, I am starting on the book of Romans today - please pray for me that I will stay commited daily to put time aside to study and dig into the word and spend precious time with Him, sometimes I'll start devotionals and within a week stop b/c I let the daily things of life get in the way but I am truly praying this time around for discipline in order to stick with it. Hope you all have a great week!!! God Bless - XOXO, Kristen