July 27, 2019

Emerald Catherine | 15 Months

After doing monthly updates for the first year for both Cannon and Emmy (all found here) I didn’t think Monthly was still necessary but quarterly feels right for now.

This age is so much fun! Emmy has the best personality and is bubbling over with joy.

This isn’t the best photo quality but perfectly describes her personality perfectly right now. Always on the move and almost always bubbling over with joy.

EAT

Over the past couple months we have transitioned fully to straw cups for Emmy and she enjoys water and milk from them throughout the day.

We use these Nuby bottles that are approved by both our pediatrician and dentist to not impact their teeth the way bottles do and they don’t spill!

Emmy is also very good at feeding herself now and can use a fork and spoon well. Even though she is good at feeding herself at this point she is SO MESSY when she eats. It’s always all over her clothes, floor and in her hair. She pulls all bibs off so I have just accepted that she wears 2-3 outfits a day.

While Emmy is still pretty good at eating lots of different foods she has started to reject vegetables. She loves fruit, yogurt, meat, cheese, eggs and crackers.

Like most toddlers she loves sweets and goes crazy for afternoon popsicles in the backyard (no clothes because she gets it all over herself).

SLEEP

We are currently transitioning from two naps to one for Emmy. Somedays she really needs two and will take a short one in the morning and then another short one in the afternoon. If we skip the morning nap then she will sometimes nap longer in the afternoon, but never more than two hours. My eyes tear up a little when I hear about other kids taking 3 hour naps daily but at least we get great sleep at night! I am hoping in a month when Cannon starts school we can drop to just one fully so we can enjoy time together while Cannon is at school, then pick him up and eat lunch together before napping.

Sleep continues to be solid overnight for Emmy, her current bedtime is between 6:30 and 7:00 PM and she wakes around 6:00 AM.

GROW

The biggest milestone Emmy has reached is fully walking (running) everywhere. Until 13 months Emmy was happy to “walk” around on her knees (hence why she was wearing pants to the splash pad to protect her knees. Now she runs around like a pro. Her favorite thing is to chase after Cannon.

She is also working on her words she will say mama, dada, I love you, Hi, Bye, Ya, No. I think in the next few months she is going to be talking more and more.

You may have noticed Emmy’s signature top pony in all of her photos. Her hair is so long now that if left alone it hangs over her eyes and sometimes gets stuck in her mouth!

She won’t keep clips or headbands on so daily ponys is where we are.

PLAY

Jumpsuit from Target Cat n Jack bow is from Poppy Co

It’s been more and more fun to play with Emmy lately. She loves the park, museum, splash pad, pools, playing outside, inside, everything is fun for Emerald.

Cheering Cory on at Ironman St. George 70.3. Hat from Grom Squad

Playing at the Children’s Museum, shoes from Boden

Emmy, while you are fully a toddler now, you will always be my baby.

Past Monthly Updates

August 16, 2018

Emerald Catherine | 3 Months

In typical second child fashion this post is really late, but here is a little update on our princess peanut at 3 months old:

At two months Emerald is 24 inches long (73%) and 13lbs 11oz (70%)

EAT

The eat portion of these updates will likely get pretty boring until 6 months when we start introducing solids. We plan to do baby led weaning like we did with Cannon. For now we are still breastfeeding with the occasional supplement as needed 2-4 oz a day.

SLEEP

Sleep is getting better and better. Little girl is still sleeping in a cot in our room but is sleeping 6-10 hours straight. She also goes right back to sleep after eating if she does wake up over night so I can’t be more thankful for that.

Napping is still mostly on the go and not really predictable hoping to try to get her sleeping in her crib on more of a schedule in the next month or so.

Sleeping in the stroller

And asleep in her car seat…

GROW

Emmy is doing a great job in tummy time holding her head up and flipping to her sides from her back. She has flipped from tummy to back a couple times on accident but you can tell she doesn’t really know how she did it yet.

At Emmy’s two month appointment the doctor was concerned about Emmy’s lack of eye contact. It wasn’t anything too concerning but she recommended we take her to pediatric eye specialist just to be sure there wasn’t anything wrong. In the couple weeks between appointments she really started to focus and smile a lot but we took her in to be safe. Everything looked fine and we were so relieved.

Baby girl was an ANGEL at her eye appointment and her eyes look great! She’s a little farsighted and has a slight stigmatism but that is normal for her age. Very happy to get a good report.

Emmy’s favorite thing right now is assisted standing.

PLAY

This last month we had some fun events. First Emmy helped Cannon celebrate his second birthday at his Wild Things party.

And the 4th of July

Kisses from Humphry brother.

Past Monthly Updates

1 Month

2 Months

June 18, 2018

Emerald Catherine | 1 Month

How quickly time goes by when you have a newborn, it’s like living in a tunnel where very little else is happening other than keeping these little ones alive.

At one month Emerald is 22 inches long (89%) and 9lbs 9oz (64%)

She is just the sweetest little thing and like most newborns she spends all her time eating and sleeping

Towards the end of the month we started getting more awake time. I am so excited to get to know this little girl more and more.

EAT

We are trying to do exclusive breast feeding for as long as we can. I was so hopeful that if I didn’t hemorrhage with this birth that I would have a much easier time with my milk supply. I didn’t hemorrhage this time (YAY!!!!) but I still had the same issues of my milk not coming in for many days and not having quite enough to keep emerald full. She lost a little too much weight in her first few days so we needed to supplement again.

At the doctor checking on her weight

Over the last month we have been able to cut out most supplementation with mostly the same strategies I used last time with Cannon.

Guys…..breastfeeding is hard, especially with a toddler to care for as well, I am just going to keep working at it.

SLEEP

Sleep is going pretty well given that we have a newborn. Emerald started out waking up every couple of hours and we were in a bit of sleep deprivation haze.

sleepy newborn days…

Please note the coffee on the windowsill.

By the end of her first month we have made it to 3-4 stretches of sleep (woot-woot), I feel like that’s pretty good. Fingers crosse she is sleeping through the night by 3-4 months.

Just like Cannon she hates being swaddled and is just so so about a pacifier.

GROW

Other than physically growing (did you see that 89th percentile for length? apparently we make tall kids) there isn’t too much new for little Emmy. Right now she is just getting used to life on the outside.

First walk as a family of four

PLAY

Things are much different than when Cannon was this little and he really was my only concern, now little Emerald has to tag along as we try to keep big brother Cannon entertained. Cory took three full weeks off (then is doing two weeks of half days to transition back to work).

This month has included lots of walks with big brother

Snuggles with everyone

and lots of love!

May 31, 2017

Cannon // 11 Month Check In

Cannon turned 11 months old this month, I can’t believe we will have a one year old so soon!

Cannon is now 21 lbs 4 oz (59%) and 30.25 in (84%) such a tall boy!

This month Cannon is constantly on the move, he loves to craw everywhere, walk with his push toys and climb up the stairs. The thing Cannon likes the least is sitting still. Lucky for all of us he is still a champion sleeper.

We have really enjoyed this month since I had most of it off for summer break, we really enjoyed being outside as much as possible, exploring new parks and playing in the grass.

Cannon’s hair was getting so crazy that I talked Cory into letting me get his hair cut. Cannon did a great job and even had fun in the car chair.

Cannon also traveled up to Fort Collins to hang out with his uncle Erik and cheer for me at my 6th marathon.

I think his favorite part was hanging out with his Grandpa and eating Mexican food after the race.

We also got to celebrate Mother’s Day this month, Cannon and Cory made my day amazing. We had such a great time, went hiking and even saw a moose!

Such a great month, I am feeling a little sad that our time with Cannon as a baby is quickly coming to an end, everyday is so fun, I just love his personality.

Past Monthly Updates:

April 3, 2017

Cannon // 9 Month Check In

This update is SOOOOO late but better late than never, right?

Cannon is such a sweet happy little guy, I am thankful everyday that I get to hang out with him.

Cannon is now 19 lbs 12 oz (52%) and 28.75 in (67%)

He still doesn’t have any teeth, but he still eats really well. His favorites are bananas and berries. He absolutely hates oatmeal, even when mixed with banana, the face he makes is hilarious.

Cannon is scooting and rolling and getting where he wants to go, I wouldn’t call it great crawling but I think we will be there soon!

He is also pulling himself up and walking assisted on furniture and toys.

Cannon also loves being outside as much as possible.

He loves going on picnics, hikes and to the park.

Past Monthly Updates:

December 20, 2016

Cannon // 6 Month Check In

Over the weekend we celebrated Cannon’s half birthday. Time is flying and Cannon is learning and growing so fast!

He is now 17 lbs 5 oz (46%) and 27 in (67%)

Over the last month we got to run our first Turkey Trot 5k as a family and celebrate Cannon’s first Thanksgiving. While Cannon didn’t get to try any of the food he really seemed to enjoy the run

He can now sit up completely unassisted and rolls both ways. He still can fit into most of his 3-6 month clothes but all his pants are a little short on him so he will be moving to 9 month clothes soon. It does make me sad to pack up his stuff as he out grows it but it’s just so fun to watch him grow.

It has been pretty cold this last month so we haven’t been able to get out on as many walks and runs as I would like but when we do get a chance Cannon loves the snow so much. I may have to learn to ski or snowboard just so I can take him.

Just a little snow day goofin’ Love this little guy so much ❤️❄️️❤️ #snowday #cannon #cmcn

Cannon also met Santa for the first time, no tears this year, but I bet we aren’t so lucky next year.

Luckily for me, just in the last week naps seem to be getting a little better. Hopefully this trend will keep going and we will have more of a consistent napper. We continue to be spoiled with overnight sleep between 10-12 hours every night!

We are about to start eating solids after being exclusively breast fed for the last 6 months, I think Cannon is more than ready!

Now we are just waiting for Santa to visit. My heart is exploding with joy over celebrating Christmas with my little family.

Waiting for Santa #Cannon #cmcn #6monthsold

Past Monthly Updates:

November 21, 2016

Cannon // 5 Month Check In

Cannon just turned 5 months old!

He is now 16 lbs 12 oz (53%) and 26.5 in (73%)

This was such a fun month for us! Cannon is such a sweet happy little boy. He always greets me with a smile and loves to cuddle and play. It is SO much fun to be his mom, I love it more than I could have imagined.

The biggest change this month for us was that I left my full time job to spend more time with Cannon. We put Cannon in daycare when I went back to work originally and we loved the “school” we sent him to but things weren’t as good as could have been. I felt like I barely had any time with Cannon and my life revolved around, bottles. Cleaning bottles, filling bottles, packing bottles, pumping into bottles and repeat. One of the difficult things was that Cannon does not take a bottle well, he won’t eat much from a bottle and complains the entire time he is eating. While he was eating okay, thinking about how my baby wasn’t as happy as he could be was really difficult for me. After lots of tears and long conversations we decided it would be best for me to leave my job and work part-time from home.

We also celebrated Cannon’s first Halloween. My parents bought him a beautiful polar bear costume but it was SO HOT in October that we had to go with a back-up pumpkin costume.

Cannon rolled over for the first time this month and sat up unassisted just this last week. It’s so fun to watch him grow, develop and learn.

We had a big sleep regression this month. Cannon had been sleeping well at night between 6 and 8 hours straight. Then after 4 months he started having trouble sleeping through the night. We hadn’t planned on moving him into his own room to sleep until around 6 months, but we were waking him up at night so it seemed like the right time to move him. Sleep was still not great so I got the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby The book has helped a lot and we have gotten up 11 hours of sleep overnight. Our naps are still very short so hopefully we can keep improving on that! Any mamas out there have tips on how to consolidate naps? We are only getting about 30-45 minutes at a time.

We finally had our first snow and Cannon seemed to really love it and made a snow angle when he was laid down in the snow.

We are so excited to celebrate Cannon’s first thanksgiving and Christmas with friends and family.

Past Monthly Updates:

October 20, 2016

Cannon // 4 Month Check In

My precious little guy turned 4 months old this week.

He is now 15 lbs 3oz (44%) and 25.75 in (76%)

I can’t believe how much he has changed in such a short time. Already I see tiny little newborns and miss those early days. That said I wouldn’t go back as Cannon is more and more fun and interactive than ever.

The last month had much less big adventures and was more about trying to settle into life. Things feel very hectic most of the time and I feel like most days revolve around, getting bottles ready for Cannon to go to school, filling them with milk or cleaning them out.

We did celebrate fall this month by going to a pumpkin patch for the first time with Grandma and Grandpa. I love having my parents close (they live 2 miles away) and they love being with Cannon as much as possible.

We took Cannon on his first hike, he seemed to love it and even took a nap which is unheard of for this kid. I think we have an outdoor enthusiast on our hands!

Cannon’s favorite things right now are assisted standing and baths.

Look at that bald spot, it kills me 🙂

This month was also hard because Cannon got sick TWICE! Not too surprising when you have a little one in day care but it still breaks my heart when he doesn’t feel good.

At one of our many trips to the doctor.

He is finally feeling better and we are looking forward to the fun of his first Halloween.

Past Monthly Updates:

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

September 24, 2016

Cannon // 3 Month Check In

Cannon is now 3 months old!

He is 13lbs 13 oz and 24.5 inches long.

It’s been a big month for us. Cannon has been smiling all the time and becoming more and more interactive all the time.

Cannon cheered on racers at the Leadville 100 Trail run.

And ventured back to the mountains to cheer me on at my first race back after having him. He did great hanging out with his dad in Breckenridge while I finished the Breck Crest Trail 10k

We then packed the car and drove west to Oregon. Cannon had a great time meeting his extended family while visiting Oregon. We even took him on a running (rainy) tour of the waterfront in Portland.

We then took Cannon to his namesake, Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is one of my favorite places in the world. It was so fun to show him the ocean and introduce him to the place that is one of the reasons he is named Cannon.

After returning from Oregon it was time for me to return to work full time and Cannon to start school. This has been a hard transition for me. While the school we send Cannon to is amazing and he seems to be doing fine, it breaks my heart to leave him there and only have a couple hours with him in the morning and evening. Even though leaving him most days is hard I am loving every minute I do have with him even more. I am so grateful that I get to be his mom and watch him grow and learn.

Past Monthly Updates:

1 Month

2 Months

August 19, 2016

Cannon // 2 Month Check In

Our little man turned two months old this week!

Cannon really “woke up” this month and is not that sleepy newborn anymore. He loves to smile, babble and kick all the time.

Cannon loves hanging with his brothers ❤️❤️ #pug #frenchie #cmcn

This past month Cannon has become very expressive and makes all kinds of faces. I love them all even the exaggerated, angry, chin quiver, it gets me every time.

One of Cannon’s favorite things to do is take baths. He will kick and splash forever and dosen’t seem like he ever wants to come out. He also loves to go for walks and snuggle in his Beco baby carrier.

Cannon is still eating like a champ and is gaining weight and growing right around the 50th percentile. The only issue we have is that he doesn’t love eating from a bottle. That will have to change when he goes to daycare at 12 weeks old. I am pumping so that I can leave him with family members for short amounts of time and I can build a freezer stash so he is strictly on breast milk for now.

Sleep has gone great this month, Cannon usually sleeps between 6 and 8 hours straight. I don’t get all the benefits of his great sleep as I wake up once to pump overnight but still it is nice. Given that he is sleeping so much at night he tends to not be a great napper during the day. We aren’t yet on any kind of schedule so somedays he sleeps long stretches in the morning and others he just wants to play and move around all day.

Best friends ❤️ #8weeksold #frenchbulldogsofinstagram #frenchie #cmcn #puppiesandbabies #humphrythefrenchie

This month was much easier than the first month since I am feeling better. We are getting more confident taking Cannon out with us and he even went to his first restaurant after cheering Cory on at the Beaver Creek Trail Race.

Cannon also got to spectate his Gramdma and Gradpa’s triathlon at Boulder Reservior. He has done pretty well on our outings and we are learning what is needed for successful trips.

Cannon’s first chance to cheer on Grandma and Grandpa at TriBoulder this morning. They did great, so much fun! #fitfam #cmcn

We have been practicing taking Cannon on longer car trips to help prepare him for our big road trip. In a couple weeks we will be packing up and heading out to Oregon to visit family. The shorter trips have really helped us learn some lessons on what to do and more importantly what not to do.

We are so enjoying watching Cannon learn and grow, he really lights up our lives.

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