Tanner's 3rd Birthday Party!

Yesterday we had a bunch of friends and family over for Tanner's 3rd birthday party. How long can I keep saying I can't believe he's 3??

We had a Thomas themed party. Tanner has LOVED Thomas and anything trains for a really long time so it was an easy choice. I looked up a bunch of cute DIY ideas on Pinterest for decorations and I think it turned out really cute!

The food train was a hit and turned out so cute!

Tanner was really excited about his balloons and the big Thomas poster. The poster is actually pin the funnel on Thomas which was really cute to watch the boys play. 

We (Kollin) made train tracks out of electrical tape from the front door, up the stairs and to the Thomas game. I had originally wanted to do the tracks outside from the driveway to the front door as well. But it was raining almost all day so we nixed that idea.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and did presents. It was so cute to watch Tanner try to blow out his candle. He kept blowing upwards into his hair. He would try to get so close to the candle because it wasn't working, then would stop, put his hand on his forehead and say it was hot. It was so cute I wish I would have gotten a video of it! Eventually he was able to get his candle out after I told him to blow forward and showed him how to blow.

He got so many great presents from everyone! Lots of books, trains and car things. Of course his batter powered Thomas has been a clear favorite. Our little Heart Brother Xander gave that to him.

We now have train tracks to last us for quite a while and will be able to make even more detailed train tracks. We're pretty excited!

Thank you to everyone that came and made this day so fun and special for us and our little miracle!

3 Years Old

I can't believe I have a 3 year old!

Didn't you know you were supposed to stop aging a long time ago?

You are such a sweet and special little boy. I am so sad that I can't really call you a baby anymore. Just in these last 6 months since my last post you have developed so much!

A couple months ago or so you all the sudden decided you wanted to start talking! I remember saying I was worried about your speech, but also knew you would do it when you were good and ready. There is still a lot that can't be understood but there are many many things you say that anyone knows what you are saying and not just Mom and Dad. You are speaking sentences (although broken) and are getting so good at expressing yourself to let us know what you need and want. You still go off in pure baby babble sentences a lot which I think is so stinkin' cute! So happy and proud that you are finally talking more.

You are still so well behaved and you make me so happy that you stay that way in public (usually) and around other adults and kids that we play with. You are not as aggressive as many of your little friends that you play with. This is both good and not so good. You tend to get pushed around and get toys grabbed from you and you don't do anything about it. But it is also good that you are not the one doing the grabbing and pushing, although we would like for you to stand up for yourself a little more than you do. You actually have started to stand up for yourself more lately, but still very gentle and passive when the other kids are better at expressing themselves. Which is ok! It will come and I am happy that you are still my sweet boy.

Your favorite movies are Monsters University, Peter Pan, Dumbo (but only for the train scene), Robin Hood and probably some others I can't remember. As well as the ever constant Cars and Toy Stories.

You are so into trains and Thomas right now it is getting a bit ridiculous, but we are having so much fun with it! You just got a whole bunch of new trains and train tracks for Christmas and your birthday so we will be having some great adventures soon.

We have been potty training you and you have been doing SO well. You are going to start pre-school in September (eep!) so hopefully you will have it down by then, which I'm sure you will. There's plenty of time.

You are also still napping really well for us. I am crossing my fingers that you will still be willing to take naps once your little brother gets here so I can hopefully get a break and not go completely crazy. We shall see.

You are still in a size 5 shoe,  and had a little grown spurt recently so you are not wearing a 3T shirt and 24 month pants. I'm pretty sure you still fit in a 2T shirt, but we tend to like your clothes be a little longer on you. 24 month pants are really big around your little waist (as always), so you always have to have a belt. But anything smaller like 18 month pants are total high waters on you!

Weight: 27 lbs

Height: 24.6 inches

We love you and we are so so proud of you! Thank you again for being such a sweet boy and for being our sweet boy!

xoxo

Mommy and Daddy

Getting Ready for Baby Brother

This weekend we decided to attack Tanner's room and rearrange it to accommodate the baby as well. Tanner loved helping us put together the baby's dress and crib. He even used his own tools that he got for Christmas from Great Grandma and Grandpa Richens. 

I wish I had taken a picture of the new arrangement. It is pretty cute but also makes that bedroom look even smaller. Oh well!

 

We also got out the infant car seat so I could wash the padding. It was pretty gross and looks so nice now! Almost brand new! But of course Tanner couldn't help but climb into it. Such a silly kid! 

28 Weeks

I haven't been doing very good at keeping updates with this pregnancy. I am 28 weeks along now! This pregnancy has been much different than with Tanner. I am much more uncomfortable and in a lot more pain. I am also SO much bigger this time around! At least I'm not still sick, and my morning sickness went away much much earlier than it did with Tanner.

I had my normal Dr. appointment and had the gestational diabetes test done. I failed. So I had to go back and do a 3 hour test. I had to fast for 10 hours and go in to the lab in the morning to have my blood drawn. Then drank that nasty drink to start the test. They then took more blood once and hour for 3 hours to see how my levels were. Good news is, I passed! So no gestational diabetes this time.

Other than that, baby is growing and measuring just fine. Although he is measuring a little big. Oh well! As long as he ends up getting here safely is all I care about.

Everyone is always asking me if Tanner knows there's a baby coming. I really don't see how any child this young would "get it" when I have friends with kids that are older and they still didn't realize that a baby was coming and not going away. So no, I'm sure he doesn't realize what he's in for. He will, however, point at my belly and kiss it when I ask him where the baby is and where his brother is. It's pretty cute!

I had to post this picture since it was so cute of Tanner to get in the pictures with me and was actually holding his belly like me! I didn't even know he was doing it until I looked at the pictures afterwards! (please excuse him not having pants on, we're in the middle of potty training)

Here is my comparison between Tanner and this baby, both at 28 weeks. See how much bigger I am?!? And no, I didn't wear the same shirt on purpose, but it worked out pretty cute.

Potty Training: Take 3. 3rd time's the charm, right?

Here we go for round 3 of potty training! We are actually almost half way through February right now and he has been doing amazing! Pretty much completely trained to wet on the big potty, but still refuses to poop on the potty at all which I know is pretty common. We'll just hope he'll be ready to sometime soon.

I started with using a sticker chart. After 5 stickers of success he would get a treat and it has worked great.

At first we put him in big boy underwear and just a shirt. He didn't seem to care if he wet his underwear though, and was only going potty when we would take him ourselves. Our patience was running pretty thin.

After a week of that I decided to just take the underwear off and let him go commando and just a shirt on. This helped so much! He didn't like to we where he was playing or sitting so started telling us when he needed to go potty. We did this for a week or so then put the underwear back on and he has still kept up the great habit! So glad it has worked and he is almost completely out of diapers accept for the pooping issue.

The only times he still wears diapers is nap time, bed time and if we are leaving the house for a long period of time. So proud of our little guy!

He's showing us Buzz Lightyear on his undies.

Cannon Family Pictures 2013

This year we were finally able to get some new family pictures taken! Everyone was finally in town at the same time and I was the only one being pregnant. So at least this picture will be mostly up to date for hopefully a while.

We went to Busath and Gwen and picked out some really great outfits that fit together well. It was pretty interesting getting 14 adults and 8 children ages 5 and under to cooperate! Almost all of the kids actually did really well. Poor little Miranda was not having it though. She was having a hard time adjusting to the time change from her home that there wasn't much that could make that sweet girl happy. 

After the pictures we all went and had dinner at Hires. It was fun to have all of us together to be able to visit and hang out more while Libby, Russell and the kids were in town. Surprisingly they are the only ones that don't live in Utah right now!

Christmas 2013

Christmas Day was a great day! I took more videos than I did pictures, so sorry there isn't as much documentation as I would like.

When Tanner first came down the hallway to the living room and saw his presents, the first word out of his mouth was "woaw." And then he crawled up on the couch where his presents were and dove into the largest one.

Kollin and I had so much fun watching him open his presents and I am sure he had just as much fun doing the opening. He also had to help everyone else open their presents as well. We've reached that stage!

After everything was opened and played with we had breakfast downstairs with Grandma Stark, Troy and Crystal. Then we went over to Great Grandma Norman's house and visited for a little while.

Afterwards we went to Great Grandma and Grandpa Richens' house for more presents and dinner like we do every year. And every year Tanner's favorite part of the entire day is their choo choo train that goes under their tree.

We hung out there for most of the day visiting and playing then eventually went home and finally relaxed. It was a great day.

 

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve this year we went to my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff's house for the big Cannon party. This was most likely going to be the last one as a big extended family now that Grandma of the Great has passed away and everyone is probably just going to start celebrating with their own families. 

After Mary and Jeff's we went to Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's for some more partying and presents. We also did hand prints on aprons for Grandma and Grandpa.

Sorry the pictures are out of order. 

Grandpa reading a Christmas book to all the grandkids.

Playing some bell songs with Grandpa and cousin Andrew.

The Christmas PJ's! (Miranda was in bed already)

Weekend at the Homestead

Over the weekend of the 20th and 21st my family when to the Homestead to celebrate my mom. It is still so weird to think she has been in Heaven for 10 years.  It was so nice to be able to spend some time with my dad and siblings just to focus on her.

The evening we got there (we arrived a few hours after everyone else since Kollin didn't get off work early enough) everyone was having a great dinner that all of them had participated in making. My dad made the entree, Clark and Megan made a salad, Libby made bread and sweet rolls and Becky made a whole bunch of cookies. All of the things they made were my mom's recipes that she used to always make. It was really nice to have a "home cooked meal" and so many reminders of my mom's food.

After dinner we went through old scrap books, talked about Mom and watched a little bit of a home video. All of the little kids but Tanner went to bed at a "normal" bed time. But I just let Tanner stay up and play until he crashed on his own... which he never did. I think Tanner and I ended up going to bed at 1am! All of our spouses crashed out on us early as well, so it was nice to just have my dad and siblings (and Tanner running around).

The next morning it was mine and Kollin's assignment to make breakfast. We chose to make this sausage, egg, cheese and tater tot casserole that we love and make quite often at home. I found the recipe on Pinterest months ago and it has turned into a favorite. Plus it was pretty quick and easy and didn't make a mess. We also brought cereal and yogurt in case the little kids didn't want the casserole. Everyone seemed to love it and I'm pretty sure almost everyone went back for seconds (I know I did).

After breakfast we took some great family pictures of most of us in our PJ's and hanging out on the couch. The pictures were perfect and exactly what my dad wanted.

After the pictures we packed up so we could be out of the condos by checkout time and headed over to swim in the pool before heading home. I remember these pools and hot tubs from my childhood. My entire dad's side of the family would come up to the Homestead sometimes and we would have so much fun!

I wasn't even planning on getting in and swimming, but was going to just sit on the edge with my legs in the hot tub since I can't get all the way in right now being pregnant. But when I was helping Tanner into the swimming pool I felt that it was so nice and warm I just couldn't stay out. I was still pretty jealous of everyone being able to get in the hot tubs inside and outside. I told Kollin we definitely need to go back when I'm not pregnant!

After swimming everyone headed home. It was such a fun and special weekend for me to be able to spend that time with my wonderful family.

Tanner enjoying some cereal.

We had deer outside our condos that morning!

Breakfast was a hit!

Aunt Bippy with all of the kids. I promise they really do love her!

Kollin sitting in one of the outdoor hot tubs. It was also snowing at the time. Perfect time to hot tub! So jealous!

10 years.

Ten years ago today the nightmare of your illness ended. 

You were healed and became whole again. 

Although you are not of this world anymore I know you are close and watching over my little family. 

People ask where Tanner got his red hair. 

I tell them some is from his daddy and Grandma Stark and the rest is through osmosis from his Grandma in Heaven who personally prepared him in heaven to come to us. 

I hope this new little boy will have some kind of sign that everyone will be able to see that you had a hand in his journey to my family. 

I love you Mommy and miss you forever! 

Love, 

Ali

Fetal Echo

Today Kollin and I went to my fetal echo at the Riverton Primary Children's. I was pretty nervous, but not as bad as I was for my ultrasound for some reason. The appointment was in the morning so I think that helped in not giving me time to let the anxiety sink in and freak out like I did last time.

The entire echo went well. Although it was tense. The echo tech cannot tell you anything that she is seeing good or bad. So for the 30 or so minutes that she was taking images I tried to keep conversation going about random things to not have it just be an uncomfortable silence. She was really nice and very social so that helped ease my nerves.

After the echo the cardiologist Dr. Puchalski came in to talk to us about the results. I have met this man a few times and have absolutely adored him each time. I have sometimes thought about switching Tanner to him but I also love Dr. Minich so we'll see what happens in the future.

Anyway! He came in and told us that everything looks wonderful and all of the images that were taken could not be more beautiful. So this means our baby has a Healthy Heart!

Kollin asked him a really good question of what the accuracy of the echo is. Dr. Puchalski said it is about 96% accurate, so we only have about a 4% chance of something that was missed and the baby still being born with a CHD. There are also CHD's that don't show up until after birth so we wouldn't be able to know about those right now anyway.

But as of right now we are happy and relieved! I think I can stay calm and not so scared for a few more months until the birth comes closer.

George J Cannon Christmas Party 2013

This may be the last year that this family Christmas party is happening. We all took a vote if we wanted to keep it in December, or move it to the summer time. We will see what happens!  

 

Tanner did so good with Santa! When his name was called to get his present I walked him up front and he walked the rest of the way to Santa all by himself!

And of course he got another train.

Festival of Trees 2013

This is the first year that I have gone to the Festival of Trees probably since Jr. High. We went to go and see our Heart Buddies' trees and wreaths and to just have a fun time. I think we need to start doing this every year!

Tanner was pretty excited to see the "twees"

This is our sweet Mia's tree who passed away last year.

Our Heart Friend Matthew's family does a wreath every year. So pretty!

Daddy just had to get a picture in front of this tree with the firetrucks and flashing lights!

Sweet little Joshua's tree. He passed away at the beginning of this year.

  

Another of our Heart Friend's trees. I can't remember her name off the top of my head! Sorry! The theme was awesome though. All steam punk.

IHH's Tree. I am going to have to volunteer to help decorate this one one of these years!