My Sweet Boy

There is this song by George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord," that Chris changed the words to "My Sweet Boy" and he sings it about Cannon. It's really sweet and cute and Cannon LOVES it.

My Sweet Boy
I really wanna hold you
I really wanna squeeze you
I really wanna kiss you
On your chubby cheeks
Cuz you're my boy
My sweet boy
Cannon Cannon
My sweet boy


Cannon,
You are doing so much these days now that you are 6 months old! You have really gotten the hang of rolling from your back to you tummy now. Your daddy swears you are going to be crawling soon. You reach for everything especially the dogs and water. Any time you see a cup of water you open your mouth and get really excited. You love when Daddy sings to you too. He's a better singer than Mommy:) You are making all sorts of noises and squeals. It's super cute. We finally have a baby book for you and we started filling it out. My how fast these moments pass by. You still love sleeping, but there is so much to do and see that you don't want to miss anything so you fight it a little bit. You are eating big boy food now. You really seem to like sweet potatoes, sweet corn casserole, corn and sweet potatoes, applesauce, squash, butternut squash, and you will eat sweet peas pretty good when I mix it with corn, apples and blueberries, mashed bananas and you ate mashed potatoes that I made and some mashed potatoes form Mrs. Winner's! You love being naked and you do not like your clothes being pulled over your head or your face being wiped! You love getting your sink showers. You open your mouth like a little bird and try to get the water as I'm rinsing you off. When you are good and super sturdy we'll start having bathtime in the bathtub. I know you will love it b/c you love water in every shape form or fashion. You also love your stuffed animals.You have so many of them! I don't know why I think yvou need so many of them, but I loved stuffed animals when I was little and so did your daddy so we know you will too! I recently bought you a Tigger, Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore from Kohl's. I also bought four matching books to go with it. They have a special every few months. You seem to like Tigger the best. I think it's because he has a tail! And of course you love Teddy II. At night you love sleeping with your Daddy's baby blanket that your great-great grandmother made or my baby blanket. They are super soft and you look so cozy on your belly with your blanket snuggled around you. Then when you roll over on your back in the morning I find you hugging the blanket and chewing it! You still love your mobile! Now I'll stand you up in your crib and you try to grab for them. When you want something or like something you start flapping your arms. Also when you are trying to tell me something you get this look of determination on your face and grunt and flap your arms. I wish I knew what you were thinking. And you let me know when you are sleepy by rubbing your eyes and then starting to grunt. That sleepy man gets you everytime! He's coming to get you right now!

Will Jesus Buy Me a Double Wide? 'Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV!

So, I haven't actually read this book yet, but I like the title. I've been pondering simplicity lately and I like the idea of simplifying my life in this world in ways that I have control of. I'm trying to avoid biggering and biggering (in the words of Dr. Suess's "The Lorax"). America is the land of plenty and many Christians fall right into the ways of keeping up with Joneses. Think about how many TVs the average American family has in their home. I googled it and on average there are more TVs per household than people! why? We have one TV in our house and NO cable! Most people cannot believe this and automatically crinkle their noses and ask WHY? I haven't had cable in about 5 years. I'm not trying to sound self-righteous here. I'm just as guilty as the next person for getting sucked in to the TV. I spent several hours a day on vacation addicted to HGTV! and I like LOST just as much as the next person. But I don't know why anyone needs a TV in the bathroom!

Since the 1950's the average home size has increased from about 1100 square feet to double that! Why do we need bigger homes? Because we have more stuff! In the past five years, I've moved 4 times. You never realize how much stuff/junk you have until you go to move it. And we've downsized every time. But there's always some new junk to replace the old. My parents have lived in the same house for 30 years. I would HATE to help them move!

The house we live in (rent) now is approximately 1100 square feet, built in the fifties. It has two bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen, dining room, and living room. It even has a "bonus" room dedicated to what else, but STUFF! We rarely go in there. We've been throwing our money away renting for the past...well forever, so we've decided to venture into becoming homeowners. Now, most people when they decide to buy a house, they upgrade. Bigger and better. Well, like i said, my goal is to simplify. We've spent so much money in rent, it's been hard to save enough to buy a house. So my goal in buying a house has been to reduce my monthly payments. So, how do you do that? You downsize. And you have to move further away from the city. We found a quaint little house with 3 tiny bedrooms and ONE bathroom. yes, one bathroom! I said I'd never live in a house with one bathroom. Well, never say never, right? So, we'll actually cut our rent in HALF! in HALF! yes, HALF!!! good grief! and the house is even smaller than the one we live in now, so we'll be cutting our stuff in half, too!

I said SIMPLIFY! Less is more! I'm not saying I'll never buy a bigger home. But for now, we are going to cuddle up and get cozy in this 50 year old, 900 sq. ft., one bathroom, dishwasherless, dining roomless home.

It's going to be an adventure, but my hope is that it is a humbling experience. I just want to sit still for a minute, appreciate life, appreciate my family, raise my son with good values, and hope that he'd rather read a book than watch SpongeBob! I'm going to read the book, "Will Jesus Buy Me a Double Wide ('Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV)" by Karen Spears Zacharias (a Christian author), be thankful for what I have and blog about our small space living experience.