Summer swimming

A few weeks ago I picked up a baby pool for Cannon. He went for a swim last week and loved it!

North Carolina Trip

*long, picture-overloaded post to follow*

Over the Easter holiday, we took a trip to Mark's dad's house in North Carolina. It was Mark and I's first time on a plane together and Cannon's first flight at all. I was really nervous to fly with him and of course I way over-packed, not wanting him to go without anything incase he decided to get fussy or restless. We flew from Phoenix to Florida and then to NC, but didn't have to get off of the plane in Florida.

I was happy when I saw several other babies and little kids get on the plane with us. We all happened to gather in the same section of the plane. I'm sure the other passengers were happy the noise-makers were all in one section in the back.
I'm happy to announce that my baby was the quietest, most well-behaved little one on the plane. He ate his bottle on take-off, as per our peds recommendation and then promptly fell asleep for the majority of the flight. It was 3 1/2 hours to Florida and then an hour and a half to NC from there and he did great. When he was awake he played with his toys or watched Page Master on our computer. Unfortunately we had to have a third person in the seat with us for both flights, but it worked out okay.

It was Mark's dad's first time meeting Cannon.
They have such a beautiful house.
Mark's dad did all the gardening and building up of the backyard himself.

Such a fun backyard. Lots of seating, Tiki bar, hot tub with stereo. We spent a lot of time out here.

Cute bunny!

Darlene (Big Mark's wife) and Cannon

Cannon got his very own Easter basket full of goodies.

Excited!

He got Easter eggs filled with pacifiers, which were his favorite.

Easter nap before the festivitiesOur family got dressed up and took some family pictures in the backyard.

I love this one!

My favorite

Mark's 2 aunts both live in NC too. Them and their families came over to share Easter dinner with us.

Poor tortured baby. He did look cute in his bunny ears and Easter bib though.Clean bean ready for bed

We spent one of our days at the zoo.

"Swamp Ghost" (weird albino alligator)

It was so hot and humid that Cannon went through several wardrobe changes until he ended up in his diaper to cool off. He seems pretty happy about it.

He had one more outfit, but he pooped through that one before we even got to the zoo.Looking at the giraffes. Overall, Cannon wasn't too interested in the animals. Most of them were far away, so I don't think he really saw them. There were 2 parts to the zoo (North America and Africa). We walked around Africa and took the tram through North America because after 4 hours of walking in the heat and humidity, we needed a rest and a breeze.

We had such a fun time in NC. We wish we could've stayed longer than 5 days. Cannon did just as well on the flights home. This time we had, what was supposed to be an hour layover in Nashville, which turned into 2 1/2 because of a tornado warning. The flight from NC to Nashville was crazy and so scary. The turbulence was crazy, the plane was thrashing around and bottoming out, tons of lightning. I was freaking out and Mark and Cannon slept through the whole thing. I couldn't wait to get off of that plane. We got in okay but as soon as we stepped in the terminal we hear over the speaker, "Please stay away from the windows as there is a tornado warning in effect." Awesome. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get out of Tennessee. The flight home from there was smoother, but really long. Cannon was great. We didn't have a third person in our row, so we were able to stretch out and Cannon had his own seat. Flying with baby turned out to be way easier than I anticipated, so next time I won't worry or pack everything he owns...

My Easter Bunny rocks!

or maybe I have an Easter Mouse because I sure got a lot of cheese in my basket...

Cannon and I are pretty much mini-golf pros!

Finally finished and ready to burn

Like the post title says, we finally finished re-finishing this dining room table and chairs that we mixed and matched off of Craigslist and it took so long and was so frustrating that I wanted nothing more than to burn the whole set. Needless to say, this will be my last furniture up-cycle project. Who would've thought a little sanding, staining and painting could be so difficult and time consuming. Okay, enough complaining.

Here she is...(and I'm not even sure I like her yet)

There's another chair, but apparently we never got around to finishing it because I just saw it in the garage this morning.

I decided to do the table a light blue on top and Heirloom white on the bottom. (Our kitchen is currently red, white and aqua, but I thought aqua was a bit bright for a table top.) The bench top and chair seats are a dark ebony stain and the bench legs and chair bodies are black.
Mark did most of the work (sanding, staining, painting table base). I painted and distressed the table top and distressed the legs.
The little yarn drawer pull is my favorite part.

I'm not sure if the light and dark work together. It's sort of a mash-up of many things I was liking at the time, but I think each day it's growing on me. It only took us about 3 months of work, stare at, hate, let sit because we hate, then work again, to finish this beast. Next time though, I'll just spend the extra money and buy something already finished that I like.

One of my proudest moments as a wife

In honor of Mustache March, Mark grew out the beard for the month. Now we need your help in deciding what level of facial hair stays for April. Leave a comment with your favorite number and whichever receives the most votes will be making an appearance in April.

(I'm sure you'll all be on the edges of your seats waiting for the results...)

No fun

(Long story to follow...feel free to skip)

These last few days have been no fun, for us and especially for Cannon. Little Man has been so sick. It started almost 10 days ago with some cold symptoms (cough, fever, watery eyes) and slowly got worse throughout the week. We went to the doctor last week when his fever was 101.5 but they said it's prolly a cold and we should just wait it out. He did okay until Wednesday night. Poor baby was up most of the night screaming and coughing and miserable. He is not a crier and so for him to be crying most of the night meant he was really not feeling well. His fever was back, the cough was much worse, runny nose, gagging, wouldn't eat much, couldn't sleep. It was the saddest thing EVER. I cried with him. We called the nurse first thing in the morning and were able to get in pretty quick. After checking Cannon over, the doctor said he had an ear infection and also wanted to send him to get blood work done (CBC and blood culture) and a chest xray just to be sure everything was okay. We went to the lab to get his blood drawn and of course he finally fell asleep while we were waiting. We could tell the man that called us back was nervous about drawing blood from a 5-month-old and were glad when he called in a more experienced woman to do it. We woke Cannon up and I held him on my lap. He screamed when they tied the band on his arm, but actually did okay when she stuck him with the needle. It was so sad to watch. Next we went to get the chest xray done. This was even harder than the blood draw because I couldn't be with him. Mark and I had to wait outside the room. It was unsettling to have a strange woman take my baby into another room without me. We could hear him crying through the door and I paced the hall while they were gone. Luckily it was quick. All of his tests were ordered STAT so we were able to get the results at the end of the day. The chest xray was normal, but his labs were off. They said he had some kind of infection so the doc called in an antibiotic for Cannon and told us to come back the next day to check on him again. We started his medicine and last night was better. He slept a little more and didn't cry as much, but could only sleep if he was held. Thankfully, when Cannon woke up today he was pretty happy. We went to the doctor and his fever was down a little and the doc said he looked much better than yesterday. He took lots of small naps today and still didn't eat much, but was able to do his normal bedtime routine (bath, pj's, book, prayers) and get to bed on time in his crib, so he must be feeling better. When things like this happen, I'm so thankful for Mark's good job that allows us to have insurance, doctors close by, the priesthood, and motherly instinct that all help in getting Little Man better.

5 months

Cannon is 5 months old today. The time just flew by me. I can't believe how big he is getting. I love this age right now. He's so fun and getting a lot more active and loves to play all the time.

At 5 months, Cannon can:

-Laugh and squeal

-Roll from his tummy to his back

-Sleep through the night

-Put his feet in his mouth

-Occasionally, pick up his pacifier and put it in his mouth himself

-Hold on to his toys and get them to his mouth

-Sit up in the Bumbo

Just recently Cannon has started eating solids (rice cereal and squash) and the other day we had a few firsts, being:

-Rolling from his back to his tummy without any help

-Pooping on Mommy

Thanks baby, Mommy loves you too!

Diapers.com

If you use the code EMBS5922 at Diapers.com you will receive 30% cash back on diapers for 3 months and 15% off everything else on your first purchase. If you are thinking about shopping on there it would help me out to get some free cash. Thanks!

Pampers Village: Connect with real parents like you!

"Love those Pampers!"

On Pampers Village, you can share tips, support, and experiences with real parents like you. You’ll discover more about parenthood through articles, videos, and online tools, and receive offers, samples, and coupons!

View >>

Well tonight I finally sold my "interesting"ly tall dining table and now my craigslist selling spree is finally coming to a close with only one item left (for now). It's a compact elliptical machine. It's barely been used and folds up to store easier. Any takers? We are selling it for $60.

"Interesting"

Here's a texting conversation I had with some stranger regarding my dining table I listed on craigslist the other day. ($50 by the way if you're interested)

Buyer: How tall is your table

Me: 2 1/2 feet

Buyer: From the ground up?

Me: Yes

Buyer: Interesting

Really? Is it?...

My Family

This was the day of Cannon's Blessing

I love this boy!

Walters' Family Christmas Party

Every year we attend the Walters' Family Christmas Gift Exchange. Everyone brings a gift and we do a White Elephant exchange. It can sometimes get pretty competitive and some of the gifts are hilarious. The last 2 years we've made out with some really good stuff. Last year we got an Oneida silverware set and a set of 100 cookie cutters. This year we got a whole bunch of DVDs and an ITunes gift card. We always have lots of fun.

Tai and her boys

Grandpa Walters
Jo (Mark's mom) and Grandma Walters

Mark's cousin Shay and her husband and Justin Bieber