Thanksgiving 2009

What an event! This year, we traveled to Saluda, NC, to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Hamilton family. In attendance were Doc and MyGoo, the Trey Hamiltons, the Gregory family, GGMama, the Williams family + Rene (Mary Canon's boyfriend) and, of course, us. My little brother, Robert and his wife and kids couldn't make it this year. Robert just recently started a new job, and he wasn't able to take time off so soon. It was, to say the least, a very full house. GGMama literally slept in the closet. (She refuses to take up a whole bedroom by herself, so MyGoo and Doc put a twin bed in their enormous closet to appease her!).

There was never a dull moment. We arrived about midnight on Wednesday and were happy to see so much of the family still awake and waiting for us. Thanksgiving day was full of movement as people took turns cooking, cleaning, and entertaining young children. Canon and I were not very involved in this part of the day. Instead we let Barry represent our family in the festivities while we took a two-hour nap. We woke up just in time for the big meal. I unintentionally packed some Turkey & Veggies baby food for Canon, so he was able to enjoy the meal with us. He also had his first taste of real sweet potatoes.

I can't be certain, but I think he enjoyed it.

He was pretty pooped once it was all over, so he took another nap with MyGoo.

The next day was reserved for the Iron Bowl. We did some mild shopping in downtown Saluda and lunch at the Purple Onion before returning home to watch the game. All the kids donned their Alabama attire for the event. Roll Tide! I should mention here that all of the men in the house (excluding my uncle who grew up in Georgia) are rabid Alabama fans, while MyGoo and her sister, Deborah, grew up just outside of Auburn and share GGMama's love for the Tigers. Things remained civil, however, and there was an enormous sigh of relief when Bama scored with less than two minutes left to pull ahead by 5. I think even the Auburn fans would agree that the Tide's win made the rest of the weekend much more pleasant.

After the game, it was family picture time. MyGoo wanted one good picture of all her grandchildren for her Christmas card. Of course, Graham and Avett will be added later, but we made it our mission to take one decent photograph. When a camera is pointing at Canon alone, he's generally pretty happy. He'll smile or at least do something interesting. When Canon is with a small army of people and cameras are flashing, his cheeks get heavy and pull his mouth into the deepest frown you've ever seen. Case in point, the Halloween pictures and now . . . Thanksgiving. At least he didn't cry in any of these.

This is all of us trying to get these poor children to smile.

MyGoo and Doc with the grandkids. GGMama with her grandkids. Several years ago, Trey missed a Thanksgiving gathering because of some commitment he had while in college. My grandmother is notorious for the singing toys she collects from year to year. That particular year, she received a singing turkey. Because Trey wasn't there, we posted a sign on its belly to remind us in the years to come that Trey did not make that particular Thanksgiving event. As fate would have it, this same turkey somehow made it to the mountains this year, and wasn't it fitting that we needed him to represent our baby brother for this year's family photo?

After pictures, the young children opened a few Christmas presents from the family, and we celebrated GGMama's 89th birthday. Aunt Deborah baked the most delicious cookie-dough cupcakes!

About three weeks ago, my dad had emergency surgery to remove his galbladder. As he is still in the recovery phases, he is not able to lift heavy loads or do any strenuous activity. For those of you who do not know my dad, this is a real challenge for this man who never sits still and does everything on his own. I was surprised to see that, for the most part, he obeyed doctor's orders and delegated responsibilities to the younger generations. I think it helped that Canon wanted to spend some quality time with him. If you haven't already noticed, Canon and Doc hung out quite a bit.

It was really a great weekend. The only thing that would have made it better was if Robert, Dauren, and their boys had been able to make the trip. I guess that's what happens when a family gets this big . . .

Just Because

Nothing exciting to write these days, but I wanted to share some cute photos of our Big Guy.

Canon has been falling a lot lately, hence the bruised forehead.

Hanging out in the park with Colt.

Getting ready for football on a Saturday morning with Dad.

Luke let us borrow his walker. This is him teaching Canon how to use it.

And He's Off . . .

It's official!  Canon is mobile. He's been working on it for weeks, and now he's finally crawling.  It has made for some eventful evenings (and lots of extra bruises!). He's always been pretty laid back, and his crawling is no different.  He's not in a hurry - just cool and steady.  He's also pulling up on things - again, causing plenty of extra bruising.  It's interesting to watch him figure all of this out.  It's not just a matter of him grabbing hold of something and pulling himself up.  He has to figure out how to get the perfect distance away from it before pulling up.  He has to maneuver his feet to allow for maximum support (he looks like he could roll his ankle at any minute).  Then, once he's finally up, he has to figure out how to get back down.  I never realized what problem-solvers babies are.  I'll let him show you. 

Bath Time

I have loved each new phase of Canon's life . . . maybe more than the previous ones. I don't think that it's because each new phase is actually better than the ones before. I think that, just like Canon, this is all new for me. When he does something for the first time, it's the first time for me, too. It's just so exciting to watch him do new things, so those new things feel more exciting than the things he's already mastered. Having said that, this stage in his development is the best so far, especially at bath time. While he tolerated bath time in the first couple of months of life, he has started enjoying it more and more as he is able to do more. Now that he is sitting up on his own, he loves to splash and kick and have water poured in his face. It's one of our favorite times together! I think the pictures and video speak better than I can.

Mr. Independent

You know how before you ever had a baby, you imagined what it would be like to rock them to sleep at night or hold them when they were upset? Maybe how sweet it would be to feed them a bottle or let them fall asleep on your chest? Not this baby. Not Mr. Independent. When this baby cries, it means "Put me down!" or "Give me the bottle!" or "Leave me alone!" or "Let me go to bed already!" This baby only cries when he's held.

It started a few weeks ago when I went to pick him up from Mrs. Sharon. She mentioned that he would not take his bottle earlier in the day (not surprising). He would drink a little, then push it away and try to sit up. She decided to lay him down and let him try it on his own. It worked, and we've been doing it ever since. He's still getting pretty bored with the whole bottle thing, but at least this is another way to get some fluids in.

He treats it like a sippy cup. He'll lay on his Boppy and sip for a couple of minutes, then put it down and play. After several seconds, he'll pick it back up again for another swig! He's quite the grown-up. I thought I would be upset by this new independence, but this morning I realized how great it is. I was running late, and Canon woke up on his own at 6:30. I put him in his highchair, leaned the seat back, and gave him the bottle. Then I sat down and ate a bowl of cereal. Our first breakfast together!

Eating isn't the only thing Canon does independently. He also plays alone. This isn't to say that he doesn't LOVE Barry and I to get on the floor with him. He loves to be tossed around, tickled, held by his feet, and hit in the face with a pillow. However, he also loves to sit by himself and play. This, of course, is wonderful for me. I can do laundry, unload the dishwasher, pay bills, whatever needs to be done, and never hear a sound from the little man on the floor. Will life always be this easy?

He's even trying to get out of bed on his own . . .