1st stiches

A few weeks ago, I am getting ready for Wednesday night church & I hear Kirkland scream, "MOMMY-PHILIP IS BLEEDING!".  I was sure it was going to be just a scratch or something like that, but when I came into the hallway, Philip's whole face was covered in blood & it is dripping all over the place.  He had a hemangioma over his right eyebrow that we were watching. The doctor said they usually go away on their own, so we were just waiting. Well, Philip either scratched it, or bumped it somehow & it came off. I can't even describe the amount of blood. I tried to hold pressure on it, but the blood was just pouring in his eyes & down my hand. I have never seen anything like it.  Our house looked like a war zone!

The FedEx guy rings the doorbell during all this & panics when he sees Philip. He practically threw the package on the front porch.  He wanted out of there.(In his defense, he did come by a few days later to check on him) Our friend Lisa, who is a doctor, came over to help.  She opened the door & said "Oh my-that's frightening". She brought dry-sol, but it wasn't even slowing it down. Every few seconds, his whole face was covered in blood again.  I couldn't rinse out the washcloth fast enough to keep his face clean.  She said he definitely needed stitches.  She said she could do them, or we could go to the ER.  I chose her.  So, on our kitchen table, she stitched up his eyebrow with all she had on hand, which was expired lidocaine & a c-section hook needle & thread. I almost passed out when I saw the needle & knowing she was going towards my babies face with that. 

I held him down for the 1st stitch, but it still wouldn't stop bleeding, so she said we needed to do another one.  I didn't think the poor little guy was going to let us do it again. Praise the Lord, Geoff got home from work then, so he was able to hold him down for the 2nd stitch.

I didn't get any good pictures during the blood bath, but here is a picture of him the day we went to have his stitches removed 2 weeks later.

Never a dull moment with the Cannons! :)

Oh Charlie!

So, we are at Publix yesterday, and we have made it all the way to check out with no major meltdowns, and I am thinking to myself, "hey, I've got this."

As I'm trying to pay, Charlie stands up in the front of the car buggy (so everyone can see!), pulls down his pants & underwear, and says "My privates are hurting".  It was like time stood still as I tried to get his britches back up & explain we would have to look into that later!

I'm pretty sure the employees talk about us when we leave.  :)

My dad

Fathers Day 2012

So, a little over a year ago, my mom & I started noticing my dad forgetting things. Little things, but things you wouldn't think he could forget. We were at a hotel having breakfast, and my dad looks at my mom & asks her how she takes her coffee. Keep in mind, he's been bringing her coffee in bed for 33 years! He would forget that he had been somewhere, or have trouble getting somewhere. It was just out of character for him. So, in November, he went to a geriatric specialist, and after a series of tests, it was determined that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

It was a heartbreaking blow. Deep down, we kind of suspected it, but we were hoping for it to be something else. Anything else. Not him. He's so smart. He's extremely well educated. Surely, this can't happen to my dad. You mean to tell me he will forget me? God, that's almost too cruel. He won't remember how much he loves me? No, God, say it isn't so. What about my boys? Won't this hurt them? God, please, let there be another way.

The doctor said in 6 months his memory would be much worse. But, he started taking medicine, and we found it to be extremely helpful. Of course, there are lapses in memory, and he occasionally said the wrong things, but if you didn't know him, you wouldn't know he had alzheimer's.

In April, he was playing tennis, and almost passed out. He couldn't catch his breath & started wheezing. He was put in the hospital. (1st time ever being admitted to the hospital) The hospital stay was terrible. He was extremely confused. He thought he was being kept there against his will, he was determined to leave, not cooperative-it was just awful. There is no other way to explain it. Eventually it was determined that he has emphysema with acute exacerbations of COPD. (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Again, he was given medicine, and it seemed to be working. Once we got him home, he was back to "normal", and he & my mom agreed that they didn't ever want him going back to the hospital.

On Tuesday, my dad went out to get the newspaper. He only made it to the garage before turning around & telling my mom to call 911. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was sweating profusely & barely able to breathe at all. My mom was convinced she was watching him take his last breaths. So, back to the hospital they went. What are you going to do? You can't let him struggle to breathe.

This hospital stay has been a touch better. He is thinking more clearly. However, this morning, before my mom had arrived, he had pulled out his IV & taken off all monitors. He said he would have left the hospital, but he didn't have his wallet or his shoes. This afternoon, they met with a pulmonologist who gave my mom some less than ideal news: My dads lungs are extremely damaged, and he is at the end of his life. They will give him medicine to make him comfortable, but that is about it. Hospice will come to the house once they release him from the hospital. The doctor didn't offer a life expectancy, and my mom didn't want to ask.

Now, I know that we all die, and I know that my dad is going to heaven, and I even know that, in a crazy way, it is a relief that he won't suffer from the later stages of alzheimer's. But, man, it hurts. I have such beautiful memories of me & my dad. So much laughter, so much dancing, so much love, so much happiness. He is the first man that ever loved me, and the first man I ever loved. He was the first man to ever tell me I was beautiful, and that I was a gift from God. It has always been easy for me to accept the love of my Heavenly Father, because I had an earthly father (& mother) who always made me feel I was worth dying for. It doesn't seem possible that he could die. He's a marine. He's a fighter. This.can.not.be.happening. But, it is.

My heart is so broken tonight. I beg you to pray. Please pray that he doesn't suffer. Please pray that he will live long enough to go on the trip he has planned with my mom at the end of June. Please pray for Kirkland, Charlie & Philip. We see my dad almost every day, it will be so hard for them. Please pray for my mom. Her load is heavy right now.

The verse I am clinging to is Matthew 11:28. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Oh Lord, I am definitely burdened.

Easter 2012

Kirkland's 6th Birthday party!

We had a fun time celebrating Kirkland's 6th birthday! It was a nice distraction from everything that had happened the day before. It's always a joy to celebrate your children! Kirkland wanted a Cars 2 party, so we had black & white balloons everywhere & tons of other fun decorations that I forgot to take pictures of!6 years old already? How did that happen!?

The zip line got a fun upgrade this year! You now have to climb a rock wall to get up to the landing to jump off!


Kirkland's favorite color is green & it was St. Patricks Day, so we all got to wear (clashing shades of) green! I love that Kirkland's present made it in to the photo! He had been asking for a scooter for months & he was quite proud!

I don't really even know how to write about this...

Geoff's mom, sister, brother in law & their 2 kids came in Thursday the 15th for Kirkland's birthday party. They came in around 8:30 or so, but our kids were already in bed.

After they arrived & had unpacked Becky's (that's Geoff's mom) stuff, Geoff took Leah, Steve & their kids over to my parents house, where they would be staying for the weekend. (Our house just doesn't have room for 5 extra people) While Geoff was over there, I got to spend some good time talking with Becky. (This is rare-we don't always have much to talk about) Geoff got back & we stayed up talking for a little bit, but we were all tired, so Geoff gave his mom a hug, told her he loved her, then we all went to bed.

On Friday morning, the 16th, the boys came running into my room to tell me they could hear Nana "growling". She is a heavy sleeper, and was actually just snoring! :) We could actually even hear her when we were eating breakfast too!

Leah & Steve came over around 9 or so to borrow some of our beach stuff to take Cannon & Cassie to the beach for the day. I mentioned that I thought it might be fun for Becky to ride with me to pick up Kirkland from school. She was a preschool teacher for like 30 years so I knew she would like to see where he went.

Leah offered to wake her up so she would have time to get ready. Leah came back down after a few minutes & said her mom didn't want to wake up. So, Steve went up & said he would wake her. I hear Steve shouting "BECKY! WAKE UP!". That's when I knew we had a problem. Seconds later, Leah runs down the hall telling me to call 911. I call 911 but I can't answer any of the questions about medications, etc. so I give the phone to Leah & I call Geoff to tell him he probably wants to come home. I called Aunt Betty to go stand at the end of the driveway so she can wave down the ambulance, and I take the 4 kids down to the playroom. My Aunt Dawn was walking her granddaughter right about then, so she offered to keep the kids downstairs for me. (A huge blessing)

Geoff actually got here right behind the ambulance, but he beat them up the stairs. Relief washed over me when I saw him. I knew I was out of my league with all this & he seemed so calm & he instantly had it all under control. We took down the baby gates so they could get the stretcher out & I could faintly hear them working on her down the hall. Geoff asked them if she was breathing or if she still had a pulse when one of the men came out in the hall. When I am nervous, I need to be actively doing something, but Geoff told me it would be best if I stayed downstairs.

Geoff & Leah followed the ambulance to the hospital. Steve went back to my parents house to get clothes (they all thought they were going to the beach, so everyone was in swimsuits). I stayed behind with the kids. I finally got in touch with my mom (who had been playing tennis & so didn't have any idea what was going on) & she picked up Kirkland from school, and my friend, Erin Loomis (& her boys), came over to help with the kids. They are all outside playing on the playground, and I am inside vacuuming (I needed to be busy), when Geoff let me know that his mom did not make it.

I left my mom & Erin with all 7 kids, and I headed to the hospital to be with Geoff. Pastor Neal was already there, and Pastor Jim pulled up the same time I did. I was now a basket case! This kind of stuff doesn't happen! She was a perfectly normal 60 year old woman yesterday, and now she is dead? -no way!!

Later, when the dust settled a little bit, and we could process what had happened, we could see that God did, in fact, have his hand all over the situation:

-She died here, with her children & grandchildren together so that we could comfort one another

-We had a nice time with her the night before, and the last words she heard were, "I love you"

-She died in her sleep. No pain, no suffering.

-Leah went in to wake her up. (Had she not, I would have let her sleep, then forever wondered if it was my fault)

-Leah & Steve got to see what it was like for the body of Christ to comfort one another in times of grief. (They are unbelievers)

-There was a card for Geoff on her nightstand for his birthday in 2 weeks.

-So many people prayed & comforted us. We felt God's peace in an unmistakable way. There is no explanation for the peace we felt other than the hand of God.

I wish like crazy that it didn't happen, and that Becky was still with us. She was a good Nana & she loved our boys dearly. But, we are still able to praise God for his many blessings.

T-Ball!

Kirkland's 1st t-ball game fell on his 6th Birthday! What a fun way to celebrate!I love his goofy pose! He was pretty excited!


Each kid gets to bat 2 times, and he got a hit both times! Woo hoo!

1st camping trip!

So, I'm not a camper. At all. But, when your son tells you that all he wants for his birthday is to go camping, you make it happen! My parents have some property on the marsh (that is very close to our house), so that's where we decided to go. We grilled hot dogs, did lots of tree climbing, even went looking for alligators after it got dark. The boys were SO excited about all of it! By 8 o'clock, they were asking if they could go to bed yet! The tent was a touch small for all of us, so I volunteered to go home & sleep in our bed! Geoff called me when they all woke up the next morning (Before 6!) so I could come back down & have breakfast with all my happy campers!

We're looking out over the marsh eating our dinner at sunset, and Kirkland says, "Wow, not everyone has this!". So true-we are blessed.

They LOVED it, so I think we will have to add this to our yearly list of things to do!

4 Generations

Us with my parents, my maternal grandparents, and my grandmother's sister. We are blessed to live so close to our family!

A family of runners!

Geoff & I have set this crazy goal of running the Disneyworld Half Marathon next year. So, we're going to run at least 1 race a month in order to get ourselves ready! Our first race this year kinda got a little messed up because it fell on a weekend when my mom was out of town, so we had no one to watch the boys for us. So, Geoff took one for the team & let me run! Kirkland got to do the 1/2 mile fun run before my 5K. He was so excited to be in a real race!
My dad has run countless half marathons & even some full marathons, so he was beyond excited to come & watch Kirkland carry on a family tradition of running. Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom even showed up to cheer him on! (& yes, they almost always have color coordinating clothes on-it's just their thing)
He did AWESOME!! He is naturally fast!
My dad LOVES to give advice! Today was no exception-here he's giving me tips on double stage breathing.

It was a fun race, but I'll be glad to have Geoff with me for the next one! I run WAY faster when I have him there to coach me up!

2012-The Year of the Family!

2011 was a crazy year for the Cannons. Lots of good things happened, but lots of stressful events that left us finishing out the year kind of tired! So, as a family, we decided to call 2012 "The Year of the Family". We're just re-focusing our energy & our attention on things that bring one-ness to our family! More family fun nights & more time together! Less of anything that takes us away from our priorities! Here's to 2012!

Joy in the journey

These pics were taken when we went up to Atlanta for Zach Fishers wedding. Pre kids-Geoff & I would try to make the Brunswick/Atlanta trip in under 5 hours with no stops or 1 at the most. Now...things are slightly different! We stop almost every time we find a playground, and we haven't made it in under 6 hours since Kirkland was born, but we have a lot of fun on the way!

Christmas time is here!!!

Kirkland & Charlie have some serious Christmas spirit! We jokingly call them the Christmas Nazis. They do not rest until every decoration is out, every ornament hung, and all outside lights are finished. They can tell you exactly where each decorative item was last year, and they do not like it if I try to mix things up & put something in a different spot. ("Whoa, the nutcrackers belong over there!")

This is them "helping" us put ornaments on the tree! Notice the drop cloth under Charlie! That's to provide some cushion for all the ornaments that Charlie accidently drops! We've only broken 3 so far this season. And, only 1 during the initial trimming of the tree. (Amazingly, Philip has not been tempted by the tree at all! He just likes to look at it!)

Once fully decorated, Charlie really likes to touch ornaments & he especially likes to move them while Kirkland is at school. Kirkland walks in the door & instantly notices, and he gets SO mad! "Where is my snowman ornament?" I have no idea how he manages to memorize the exact location of every ornament. But, he does. Trust me! Try moving one a branch over & just see what he says!

Another favorite tradition is decorating a gingerbread house. They each get 2 sides to decorate. I guess next year, we'll have to do 2 houses when Philip wants to participate.

Kirkland made a smiley face with glasses on it.

Charlie likes to put as many pieces of candy as he can get on his side!

Family pictures

On Thanksgiving, we tried to get a picture of all of us for my parents Christmas card...but, Kirkland wanted to make pirate faces, and Charlie wanted to cover his face with his hands, so this is the best one we got! Happy Thanksgiving!

Too much growing up around here!

The other day, Kirkland decided he was ready to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels! Geoff ran with him until he thought he had his balance, and Kirkland did pretty good! When he realized Geoff had let go & he was riding by himself, he said "YES!" It was cute! This picture was taken about 3 seconds before he almost ran straight into me! (fortunately, I have quick reflexes!) We haven't quite mastered steering just yet. That will be the next lesson!

October Fun!

Other than getting tubes in Philip's ears, and me having a cyst removed from my wrist & having to wear a splint that couldn't get wet for 2 weeks; there were some fun times in October! Geoff's team made it to the playoffs, we went on a hayride at a pumpkin patch farm, our church got a new pastor (AMEN!), we had 2 spidermen for Halloween, & our baby Philip learned how to walk!! (sniff, sniff...he is growing up too fast!)

At first, Kirkland was going to be Spiderman, & Charlie was going to be Buzz Lightyear. But, when I came home with the costumes, and Charlie saw that the Spiderman costume had built in muscles; he quickly changed his mind & wanted to be spiderman too! When, we got to our friend's house for the Halloween party, there were 3 other little boys who were spiderman as well! I had to look at their shoes to know which children were mine!

Poor thing

Poor Philip has had an ear infection a month since May. It's been crazy, we just can't seem to shake em. Eventually, our pediatrician told us it was time to see an ENT. The ENT told us what we expected: Philip needed tubes put in both ears, and he needed his adenoids removed. (Didn't see the adenoid part coming, but maybe that's because I still couldn't tell you where adenoids are located!)

We had to be at the hospital at 6 o'clock in the morning. Hardest part to me was handing my sweet baby off to a complete stranger & not being able to hold his sweet hand during the surgery. After the surgery, the nurses brought him out, and they were all talking about what a snuggly baby he is & how they all got to cuddle with him. He got sick when we first got home, but the doctor seemed to think it was just his body reacting to the anesthesia. The next morning he was totally back to normal! And, it's been a month & a half since then, and we haven't had a single ear infection since! Praise the Lord!!

Baby Philip is 1!

My parents, who are saints, offered to host Philip's 1st birthday party at their house, and we gladly accepted their offer! Our house still hasn't been cleaned up from Charlie's party last weekend!

It took him a few minutes to get into the whole cake thing, but once he tasted it, he loved it! A boy after my own heart! Kirkland & Charlie thought it was hysterical that he was eating it with his hands! I love the picture of Kirkland pretending he's going to lick Philip's fingers!Philip got a lot of help opening his presents from 2 very eager older brothers! Philip is such a delight. He is very laid back, and is all smiles, all the time! He always gets complimented on his big brown eyes. He has a deep belly laugh that melts my heart every time. He can say "mama", "dada" & every once in a while we swear we hear him say "Kirklan". He isn't walking yet, and that is more than fine with me! I need my baby to stay a baby! What a fun first year it has been!

Charlie turns 3!!

Charlie boy turned 3 on September 2nd! He has known since March that he wanted a Little Einsteins birthday party & that he wanted to have a party at home! (Even after I pleaded to have it at a park, the beach, the playground...basically anywhere that I didn't have to clean up to get ready for!)

We had several friends over for his party & Charlie had a blast! We did it outside & set up a pool at the base of the playground slide, and had a 3 person slip n slide, water balloons & lots of little einstein favors & decorations!

Charlie is such a delight! He has such the sweetest sounding voice! And, he loves to talk. ALL the time! He's big into questions...he wants to know everything! And, he will keep asking questions until his curiosity has been satisfied...usually around 8 o'clock every night. He has one volume & that's loud! And, he has one speed: Fast! Always moving! He is an excellent storyteller with a vivid imagination! But, if Kirkland is anywhere within earshot, he repeats, verbatim, whatever Kirkland has said. Whenever he hears sirens, he asks us to stop & pray for whoever is in the ambulance. He's 100% rough & tough, but with just the right amount of gentleness to melt your heart!

Me, Charlie & Philip all have birthdays in September, and poor Charlie's b'day fell on a Friday this year. At our house, Fridays in the fall mean 1 thing: FOOTBALL! Which means, Geoff leaves before daylight and comes home after dark. So, he didn't get to see Charlie on his birthday until we got to the game & he was able to wave to his birthday boy from the pressbox. On his way to the locker room for halftime, he stopped by our seats to give Charlie a big birthday hug & kiss!

One of the other coaches wives brought cookies to the game for his birthday, and we had a mini party right there in the stands during halftime!

It was a great weekend celebrating our Charlie!

We have a potty training mindset!

Geoff forgot his shorts for last week's football game, so I was telling Charlie that we needed to run by the school & take daddy some shorts.

Charlie responds with, "Oh no, did daddy have an accident in his pants?"

Love it!