Seriously

Caroline keeps amazing us!  Why, I'm not sure?  Aaron swears she came out of the womb already being 2 weeks old and sometimes I believe him.

Being a larger baby than Cannon, (by over 2lbs!) she is much stronger and just seems so much more advanced.   Maybe we are amazed because we really don't remember this stage with Cannon....even though it's only been a year.  Or maybe it's just because we are so thrilled Caroline is a strong, healthy, beautiful, chubby cheek, easy going, no drama (atleast for now) baby girl who brightens our days!

And by the way.....she was the baby at 38 weeks measuring between 40 and 42 weeks. So we will really never know if she was right on schedule or a little over due?  But what we do know is that we are SO seriously happy she is our baby girl, little sister and a miracle from God!!

Big Brother of the House

Cannon is still getting use to the fact that his is not the only child in the house anymore.  He usually has no clue Caroline is actually in the house unless she is crying, he sees us feeding her or we have her in one of the many things in the living room.  Up until now, the living room has been Cannon's play room!  Now you can see the "what is this?" look on his face when he has to share this space with his little sister.  I can only hope that his sweet teachers at school continue where us parents leave off about the teachings of sharing and good manners.  I'm sure they are!

I am preparing myself for the sibling fights and TWO children having meltdowns.  I'm also preparing Aaron too!  We are learning to cope with the crying, screaming, lots of dirty diapers, bottle washing, short-order cook requests and so much more that comes with having a toddler and a one month old.  These times will be temporary and short lived but we are finding out that these times are special and there are no other two children we love more than the two God has blessed us with!

Cannon is discovering and defining his role as big brother.  He loves to get down low on the floor and hang out with Caroline.  "Gentle" has become the newest word he has learned.  Sometimes he has his gentle touch and sometimes he just bops her on the head!  Either way, I know Caroline will grow up loving her big brother and we will love seeing him protect her.  And I know he will always be older BUT I'm most certain I know who will be the boss of him......her!

Notice my two sweet children.....

...now notice a sweet baby sister who doesn't have a paci, is crying AND the proud big brother trying to console her!

And there's the "gentle" bop on the head he loves to give his sister!

Sand and Smiles

Our first beach trip of 2010!!  Well, we actually took Cannon for a walk on the beach if that counts for his first birthday back in February.  I don't count that as a TRUE beach trip!  You know a trip when you come home with sunburns, sand in your car and lots of wet towels and bathing suits to wash....that's a REAL beach trip!

Our awesome neighbors, Laura and Alexa who have since moved away were back in town for the Bluffton High School graduation.  Having two young kids now I wasn't sure how to achieve the trip so daddy volunteered to stay home with Caroline and us girls took a very excited 15 month-old boy to the beach! 

Cannon loved it!  He ate sand, chased birds and ran around making friends with people.  I think all were mistaken for mommy and daddy.  Sorry to the (going) bald man who favored daddy in a way and to the two girls who were much skinnier than mommy so not sure where Cannon saw the similarities?  I guess us southerners are just friendly like that.  You can't even go to the beach without a sweet and kind little boy coming over to say hello. 

Thank you so much Laura and Alexa for all your help with Cannon.  We miss having you around the "hood!" 

Just making sure this spot had the best sand!

Look y'all....a bird!

Laura's very sweet sand drawing to us Wheat's

By far the coolest dude on the beach!

Playtime at Bedtime

Something unusual happened with Cannon on this night while getting ready for bed.....he got a huge second wind......of happiness! 

Bedtime is tricky.  Cannon can come home from daycare so tired from the day that all he wants to do is take his bath, eat his dinner and go to bed.  Without a fight!  Then sometimes he comes home over exhausted and he struggles to keep any ounce of sweetness while we go through our nighttime routine.  Those nights are even more exhausting for mommy and daddy!

But on this night, I was getting him ready for bed and his happy and sweet little personality was just so cute.  I let him play in his room for a little bit.  Of course Cannon has always loved seeing himself in the mirror so he went straight to it.....notice all the handprints!

There was just something about this night that was fun.  Maybe it's because the weather is nice and the sun stays out longer.  Or maybe it was just in God's plan to have a fun night!  Whatever it was, I'll take it because there is nothing more that melts my heart than seeing my son's smile and hearing him laugh!

We pray he never calls China!  :)

Life just doesn't get any better than this!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Since we had been busy the couple of weekends leading up to Memorial Day, we decided to relax and be lazy around the house.  Plus we had a new baby girl to love and squeeze on, yard work to get done and lots of house chores to accomplish!  We did the normal get up and eat breakfast then we let the day progress on its own with no set activities or plans......except scheduled naps for a sometimes cranky toddler boy.

When Grandma was here during the birth of Caroline she had bought Cannon a blow up pool for the backyard.  Yeah for blowup pools!!  Cannon loved it for the little time he was in there.  We brought out some bath toys for him to play with but they just didn't seem to keep his attention.  Instead he found it more enjoyable to play with the grass and look around the backyard while in a big (bigger than the bathtub) pool of water.  Then while I was getting him ready to come back inside daddy caught his attention with the water hose and off Cannon went.  There was my little boy in nothing but a swim diaper in the backyard helping daddy water the azalea bushes.  You ask why this might embarrass me?  For a millisecond it did then I soon found myself realizing that you just have to let kids be kids, boys be boys and enjoy the moment.  So I did!

Hope y'all had a fun weekend too!

Not the warm bathtub water he was use to!

Cannon's favorite thing to do while eating....look for birds.

Letting Caroline know that those were his toys first and this is how they work!

Such a proud big brother!

Cannon's New Love.....

BOOKS!

Cannon has just recently found a new love for books!  He has been given lots and lots of books from so many people before he was born and after.  Before we would read to him and he would sit quietly and look at the pages.  Now he wants to flip the pages himself (and not always in the order of "forward") so we let him and we sit patiently until his attention span runs out and we are off to the next book!  He loved the picture book Grandma gave him for Christmas.  We go page by page and look for the hippo or cow and Cannon points it out to us.  My very best friend from high school sent Cannon a book called Huggy Buggy goes to School and he brings it to us to read to him about ten to twenty times a day.  I'm not joking!  The book was actually Andrew's (Kim's son) and she said it was his favorite too.  Thank you Andrew!!

Singing and dancing has always been a favorite with Cannon but now he actually realizes he can clap and that clapping goes along with the "If Your Happy and You Know It" song.  So we sing, clap and stomp our feet about ten to twenty times a day too.

It's just so bittersweet to see Cannon "graduating" from his baby toys to more big boy toys like cars, trucks and blocks.  We are loving our sweet boy growing up into the little person he is becoming..........just without the temper tantrums!

Bath to Bed

Getting all cleaned up in the bathtub!

Then all freshened up with lotion!

To settle in for a good nights rest!

Wheat Cousins

We arrived back from our trip to North Carolina to more family!  Uncle Kevin, Aunt Pamela and cousins Kayden and Mackenzie had arrived from Florida to visit us for a couple of days.  Aunt Pamela brought her newly purchased camera so between us we were not short on pictures of the kids. 

The spring weather kinda put a damper on our plans for outdoor activities but we still managed to get in a couple of hours at the pool.  A couple of hours at the playground.  And a lot of hours hanging out watching cousins be together.  Pamela was nice (and patient) enough to have Miss Caroline pose in several photo shoots too which was fun to watch.   

This trip was the first for all four Wheat cousins to have been together.  I know these times are just the beginning of the wonderful life Kayden, Cannon, Mackenzie and Caroline (in birth order) will have being cousins.  Aaron is the oldest of twelve cousins and I am in the middle of five cousins.  To me, cousins are like having additional brothers and sisters.  Only you don't have to share rooms with them!  And there are more and different toys to play with when you visit.

These trips mean a lot to us even more now that we know what all goes in to traveling with little ones. We only live about three hours from each other but kids definitely add extra time. Or is it the stops we make at the outlet mall?  Or to eat at Whataburger? I guess those are the perks of traveling! But loading up two kids and all the "stuff" that has to come with them isn't always easy so thank you guys for doing this for us.

And I know if your reading this Grandma you would have loved to have been her with us!  And we would have loved to see you down on the floor enjoying your grandkids too BUT we will all be together soon when we head to West Palm Beach for a family vacation in a couple of months.

Don't adjust your screens.  That really is red in Cannon's hair.  He comes from good redhead genes!

Three out of the four cutie pie cousins!

Cannon loves his Uncle Kevin!!

Cannon wanting to go down to the boats........

.....until he noticed the sign!

The Wheat brothers with their kids.  Life is good!

Big blue eyes and a big happy smile = Mackenzie!

Could she be any cuter?