Goodbye 2011....Hello 2012!

Today is the last day of 2011! YAY! Maybe our 2012 won’t be quite as stressful as our 2011 year. A little recap of this year. In January, we lost my grandmother (my dad’s mom) on the same day that my dachshund hurt her back and we had to take her to the vet. In March, our son arrived 2.5 months early, very small, and needing a major surgery. He spent 86 days in the NICU at ACH and then came home for 3 weeks and got a little more sick and had to spend another 12 days in ACH. We have learned a “new normal” in our life. Things got a little easier and a little less stressful. The end of September Cannon’s g tube came out of his tummy. In December because the hole had not quite healed up the way it should have he had surgery to close it and another small surgery at the same time. And some firsts….Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! A death, a hurt dog, a birth, and 4 surgeries later I’d say our family is ready for a New Year and hopefully a GREAT one at that!

I meant to update after Thanksgiving, but then several days went by…Then a few weeks… So I decided to wait until after Christmas……So now here I am on the last day of the year. Nothing like procrastination! Maybe this won’t be too long of a blog.

Trent was off work for Thanksgiving and we decided to spend it in Stuttgart as we do most years. Though this year we actually got together and cooked a big meal. Normally we are just back and forth to aunts and cousins houses while we are there but no big meals together. We had a blast doing this and I kind of hope we do it again next year! (Hint hint Sarah!!!!) It was the first time Cannon and Kennedy had met each other and that was so fun to see those two cousins interact. They loved each other so much! Kennedy calls Cannon “her son”. I guess for now we will let her. She’s so sweet and so good with him. There was only one moment where we saw a very jealous look on her face, but for 5 years she’s been the center of attention. She constantly tells me what a cute baby I have and kisses him on the head and sings to him. It’s adorable!

We spent the weekend before Christmas in Stuttgart again. This was the first time in several years that Trent was off work and able to go with me. My sister had told me that she and Kennedy would not be able to come this year. However, they were there to surprise us when we arrived! I was so excited! The only downfall was that since Sister had told me they wouldn’t be there I had not brought Kennedy’s presents. Imagine me trying to explain to a 5 year old why I didn’t have a present for her to open! Of course I also told her I would put it in the mail the following Monday, and I still haven’t done that! Sorry Kennedy! Cannon had a blast during this Christmas celebration and ate a TON of mashed potatoes and gravy (yep…he got that from me!). He ripped open presents and played so hard!

My sister and my niece Kennedy

Trent and Cannon

My sister and me

Cannon and Trent

Cannon, Trent, and Aunt Dirt!

Cannon!

My hot natured child (yeah we had to take his shirt off!) and his Aunt Dirt!

Me and my little boy!

We had Christmas at Trent’s parent’s with his family on Christmas Eve as we always do. We had a great time and enjoyed being with all of the kids and family there. There was lots of food, noisy kids, paper tearing, picture taking, and finally Cannon crashed before we could leave! We got home and put him to bed and then the next morning when he woke up…….SANTA HAD COME TO SEE CANNON!! Woohoo!!  I failed to get any good pictures at Trent's family's Christmas.  These were the only two decent ones.  Sorry to all the McCone's.  There is a really cute picture of Cannon and his Aunt Melissa when we first arrived and he was wearing his 'coon skin hat she picked out for him last year, but it's on my phone.  Would you believe that of all the space I had on my laptop I have run out of room and cannot put anymore pictures on my laptop until I clean it up.  Haha!  So these will have to do for now!

Cannon and Trent's parent's on Christmas Eve.

Uncle Alan and Aunt Melissa

We did Santa present opening with Cannon when we got up (all of those pictures are on my phone and I can't put them on my laptop right now!  Sorry!). I had to wake him up at 8:45 because I was so excited and couldn’t stand to wait any longer to bring him in the living room to see what Santa had left him! He had a blast opening presents and playing! Then later that afternoon we did snacky foods with my dad’s side of the family. It’s always an interesting time with a whole group of Malloy attitudes in the house and once again it was interesting and fun as always!

Aunt Brooke wanted some snuggle time, so she got it!

Cannon had to help Uncle Carter open his presents!

Aunt Jenny, Uncle Carter, Cannon, Trent, Me, "Big" Grandaddy (my Grandaddy), and Aunt Brooke!

Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Trent is working until 10pm. Cannon and I are here at the house hanging out, fixing bottles, changing diapers, and maybe I will let him have a little apple juice!

Cannon’s Milestones: He can sit up without toppling. We can stand him up by the chair in his room and he can hold on and stand there for a couple of minutes. Dec. 13 he cut his first tooth. Dec. 31 (today!) he cut his second tooth! He CAN roll over in both directions but he could really care less to do it! He can sit up on all 4’s if we put him like that but he will not crawl! He is working on using a sippy cup, although he wants us to hold the cup if he wants a drink. He has zero desire to drink from the sippy cup and hold it himself. Kind of like he has no desire to hold his bottle on his own to drink….he wants us to do it! He still loves to jump in his jumperoo! He loves to hear his daddy call ducks on the duck call. He thinks that is the most hilarious thing ever. He laughs so hard at it!

We wish everyone a Happy New Year!  And may everyone have a very blessed 2012!

Love,
Christian, Trent, and Cannon McCone