Time for an Update!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I have heard some of you have given up reading because I don't post often enough. Sorry! (Dana) :) Life has been crazy busy this last month. We have finally made our move to Longview. The transition has been quite easy. I have wonderful in-laws that have made it easy to adjust to our new living situation. Bequita and I have a nice deal going where she does all the laundry and I do all the cooking. To me that is a GREAT trade off! I H-A-T-E doing laundry. My husband is enjoying having clean clothes weekly instead of monthly! :) Oh and his mommy fixes him breakfast in the morning too. So I guess she does that cooking. My husband might just want to move back in with his parents for good! Hopefully he will buy me and the kiddos somewhere to stay...

Cannon has started MDO. He loves going. He tells me all the time that he can't play right now because he has homework to do. How cute it that?! Just wait until he actually has homework and we will see which he decides to do then! I am not sure what all he is learning though. Every time I pick him up I ask what he has learned that day. He just tells me about the playground. One thing he has told me is that he needs to climb with his toes or he will fall and bust his head. I guess he learned that one on the playground. :) He also said during nap time his teacher said, "Cannon, are we suppose to be laughing right now? Go back to sleep!" Sounds about right.

Madison had her 4 month check-up at the beginning of September. She weighs 13 lbs 9.5 oz and 24 1/4". She is already fitting into 6-9 month clothes. This is so funny to me because Cannon was such a little baby compared to her. He always wore his clothes a couple of seasons because he was so skinny. Now he is finally changing though. I am having to buy him 5T clothes because he is so long-legged! Mady Jane is a chubby girl! I am having SOOOO much fun buying clothes for her! I need someone to stop me though! She has started eating rice cereal and I have introduced bananas and apples to her. She is still not to sure of the fruit so I have decided to hold off a little long then try again. She is laughing a lot now. She has discovered her toes and loves to hold on to them. She also is becoming pretty vocal. She likes to make all kinds of noises during the day, especially if she isn't getting the attention she wants. She is such a sweet girl and so fun to play with right now. I love how if I just talk to her she gets the biggest grin on her face. Precious!

Both kiddos are enjoying the love and attention they are getting daily. Cannon likes that when one of us ignore him or don't want to do what he wants he just goes to the next person. He eventually finds someone who will play his games with him! :) We are all being spoiled by living here. I don't know what we will do when life gets back to "normal" for us!

Love You Forever Jane-Jane

The day we all knew was coming finally came. Jane-Jane went to Heaven to be completely healed by God. On August 21st at around 9:15 pm I held Jane-Jane's hand as she passed. It was one of the hardest moments in my life. She is the dearest person I have ever lost. I had no intention of being there in her final moments because I knew it would be way too hard. Unfortunately it happened rather quickly and I had no choice but to be there. I am now glad that I was. I held her hand the last three hours she spent on Earth and then as she went to meet our Savior. She was such an amazing Jane-Jane. I am so blessed to have had the time with her I did. Some of you might wonder why we call her Jane-Jane instead of Grandma or Nana or whatever "typical" name is given to a Grandmother. Well she decided when her sons started having children she was way too young to be called Grandma. She actually was pretty young so instead she decided Jane-Jane would be what she was called. It has been the perfect name for her. She once told us when we were older that we could call her Grandma because she felt she was old enough at that point. We just laughed at her and said "No way! You will always be Jane-Jane!" It bothered me so much at her funeral when she was called Grandma or Grandmother because that isn't her. She is Jane-Jane. No other name or reference will do! I told my Papa to make sure her headstone said Jane-Jane on it. He assured me it would because she would roll over in her grave if he put Grandma on there! :)

I have been so loved by such a wonderful women. She always made me and my sister feel as if we were the most important, beautiful, and smartest girls in the world. She cherished us. She will never know just how much we cherished her as well. I have inherited so many wonderful things from her. Some objects to remember her by such as her wedding ring, some clothes, and some really cute shoes. But also some physical characteristics. I have her beautiful green eyes and her beautiful finger nails and apparently her foot size too! :) I will always cherish the gifts she has given me. The best is the happiness she filled my heart with. I will forever miss her until the day I get to meet my Savior and see her standing there too. Beautiful as ever, healed, and happy! Love you Jane-Jane!

Gotta Love it!

Here is a quick post with Madison's newest thing. She has started making cute noises and we love it! Excuse my silly voice but if I wanted her to smile I had to talk to her. :) Enjoy!

PS. I will try to do another update soon!

3 Months Old

Madison is already 3 months! How in the world does it go by so fast! I want to keep her in this cuddley baby stage forever. Once they figure out how to crawl it seems like the baby stage is over with. They don't want to just sit and rock with mommy, they want down so they can explore! I will cherish these next few months with her. Mady has started sleeping through the night! YEA! I am starting to feel so much better getting straight sleep. It usually is about 8 or 9 hours. Amazing, I know! She is getting plumper and plumper each day. I love all her baby rolls. Andrew was making a comment on how chubby her thighs were. I promptly told him to leave her alone, that this was the only time in her life that she is able to get away with it! Men, they are picking on us about our weight from day ONE! We are slowly getting more giggles out of Mady Jane as well. She is going to be ticklish. We have found a couple tickle spots that get a laugh out of her. Cannon is going to have so much fun making her laugh. I can't wait.

Cannon is currently in Oklahoma with Grammy and Granddaddy. He will spend a few days with them and then he heads to Mimi's house. I feel pretty guilty because I use to have the hardest time letting him leave me for a week. Now, not so much. I love that boy beyond the moon but it is so nice to have some "down" time. He is full of so much energy. He wears me out trying to keep him busy all day long. Grammy and G-Daddy have a pool so he uses all his energy in the pool during the day. In a couple of week Cannon is going to start Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays. I am really looking forward to it. I know he will enjoy it because he loves to learn and is such a people person. He is going to be 4 years old in a month! How is that possible! My sweet boy is getting SOOOO big!

Finally, over the weekend my sister-in-law had her baby! IT'S A GIRL!!! They kept it a surprise until the baby was born. It was so exciting finally knowing that a sweet baby girl would be added to our family. It is really cool because Andrew and his brother now have a boy and a girl each. Also it is great because Madison and Aleia are only 3 months apart. That will be so great to watch them grow together and become great friends. Cannon and Caeden are about 2 years apart and they are just now getting to where they play good together. So 3 months difference will be great. So here is a picture of Nana with her two sweet granddaughters.



And the Daddy's with their baby girls. I know they will both have these guys wrapped around their little fingers. Madison already has Andrew!

Smiles and Toy Story 3

The smiles of my children feel my heart with such happiness! I can remember the fun Andrew and I had trying to make Cannon smile for the first time and now we get to do it again with Madison. Of course we make our selves look like fools but hey, the smile we get in return is well worth it! Madison has started to smile at us a lot now. She has the biggest, prettiest grin I have even seen! She likes to stick her tongue out when she smiles too. It is the cutest thing. She is on the brink of giggling. We have gotten her to make a slight laugh sound but she hasn't let it out quite yet. I can't wait! Babies laughs are so contagious! Madison is getting so big. She can do everything she is suppose to be doing at this stage plus a little more. Her neck is very strong. We tried her out in the bumbo already but she didn't like it yet. I am ready for her to have more activities to do because she loves for me to hold her, therefore I am not getting as much done during the day as I would like. I realize though that this time is short and precious, so I just need to enjoy it while it lasts.

As for Cannonball, well he is a wee bit obsessed with all things Toy Story! He wants everything there is to do with Buzz Lightyear. His Aunt Daney bought him some Buzz Lightyear pj's and he would wear them every night if he could. His birthday is in a couple months so I asked him what he wanted the theme to be, of course it was BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!! I was at Target the other day and ran across the perfect birthday present for him and it was on clearance!! It is a Buzz Lightyear costume!
How perfect is that! I can already see trips to the store with my little Buzz Lightyear because I know once I give it to him that is ALL he will ever want to wear! I am just preparing myself. I have this thing about never letting him leave the house in clothes I don't find socially acceptable. I want him to look nice and put together when we are out in public. Well, I know I am just going to have to suck it up and let him leave the house in this outfit a few times. That's okay though, that is what being a kid is all about! I can't wait for September 11th to get here so I can give it to him! :)

Lately...

Things have been pretty hectic lately. I feel as if the last few weeks have been packed full of things I had to do. Doctors appointments, visits with family and friends, etc. I loved having my BFF Candice here with me for a weekend. She and her cute son Cooper came to see Madison Jane. It was great having my best friend to hang out with and go shopping with again. We live way too far apart!

The future Mr. and Mrs. McCuistion??? :)

Candice with Miss Mady Jane

All our cute kiddos together

Andrew had a last minute trip to the Dominican Republic for work last week. I know, tough job huh! While they do spend most of their day at the refineries they get to enjoy lavish dinners at night. The first night he told me they went to a historic downtown restaurant and ate across the street from Christopher Columbus' house and the first cathedral built in the Western Hemisphere was down the street. Of course, he didn't have a camera with him to share the amazing sites with all of us! Oh yeah, to make matters even worse, his hotel room had an ocean view! Man, I think I will trade him jobs. :) Just kidding, I love being able to stay home with my kiddos even if I don't get to take business trips. My sweet mom in law just happened to be coming in town so I bribed her to come stay with me and help out with the kiddos. She took a lot of bribing before she said yes though! ;) I think it was like 2 seconds after I asked she agreed! She loves her some grandbaby time.

This Friday I will be headed to Oklahoma for my cousin's wedding. I will then get to stay the rest of the week in Oklahoma with my family. I am so looking forward to spending time with my family, just not the 4 hour drive it takes to get there! I am extra excited to spend some time with my Jane-Jane, which is my grandmother. She has been in and out of the hospital these last few months and is dying to meet little miss Madison Jane. I can't wait to get a picture of them together. Madison will also get to meet the rest of my family for the first time. It is going to be fun! Keep us in your prayers for safe travel!! And our sanity! :)

Fun With My Girl!

I couldn't wait to have Madison so that I could play dress up with my own real life baby doll!! It has been so much fun buying her cute outfits, bows, etc. Sadly, having a little boy doesn't allow as much fun in this department, so I was THRILLED when they told me she was a she! One thing I knew for sure I wanted for her was a tutu. What little girl can live a full happy life if she doesn't have at least ONE tutu in her life! I planned on having her take some pictures at her newborn photo session but it didn't happen, so I decided to put my photography skills to work. They definitely aren't professional quality but hey, the baby girl makes them look amazing! :) Cannon didn't like that I was giving Madison so much attention so he tried to block her out or cut in as many photos as he could until I finally had to make him leave the room. Poor kid. He doesn't know how to share the spotlight.

Cannon trying to show me he is just as cute to take a picture of!

Sweet Girl

This is her "I can get anything I want from Daddy" face.



One of my biggest mommy freak out moments happened this past week. I had Madison laying on my bed while I was getting dressed. Cannon had come in the room and got up on the bed with her. I told him to just let her lay there and not to mess with her. I had had her propped up on a pillow for tummy time and she rolled over. Cannon thought that was the coolest thing that she could roll over and do "tricks" as he referred to it. I guess while I was in the closet he decided to teach her some more tricks. I came out of the closet, probably about 2 seconds later, to find Madison dangling head first from the bed! OMG! I went crazy. I ran and grabbed her and started yelling at Cannon that he is to never touch his sister again!!! Yeah, I know, pretty harsh, but hey I saw my helpless baby's life flash before my eyes! I would of done the same thing for him. So now I have learned that I have to really watch him around her. I know he is trying to just play with her but he is going to have to learn a little more baby friendly games.