Like Mother, Like Daugther

Shelley has been working on a project to make a "flirty apron." If you don't know what a flirty apron is, see the picture above. Anyway, as she was finishing it up, she decided that there was enough fabric and ample motivation to make a matching apron for Ella. As you can see by the smile from ear to ear, Ella was very pleased.

The apron will get its first use this weekend when we belatedly prepare for and celebrate Thanksgiving here in Tokyo. As I write this, it's technically Thanksgiving Thursday. But on certain important American holidays there's more than a 16 hour time difference between LA and Tokyo...it's more like a two days difference. We have to wait until the weekend to celebrate. But alas, we will at least have turkey and stuffing and everything that goes along with that. Thank you Costco and friends that have military base access.

It's going to be a boy

We went to the doctor last week and found out that we're having a boy. You obviously can't tell from this shot, but rest assured, we are. Anthon, of course, is excited. He told us, "I've always wanted a boy!" Ella doesn't know what's coming.

So this confirms what Shelley has thought all along - that there is something about being pregnant with a boy that really makes her quite happy. Unfortunately, her pregnancy with Ella was the exact opposite. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Baby news

Shelley is 14 weeks pregnant with our third child. November 12th is the expected due date. We don't know the gender of the baby yet, but Shelley swears that it's a boy as this pregnancy mirrors closely her first pregnancy with Anthon. Anthon seems confident it's a boy too, though we're not sure if it's anything other than mere desire to have a baby brother. The doctor seemed surprised to see Shelley so soon after the last child. But as of right now, things seemed to be progressing normally, which is good news.

Anthon has wings

Allow me to toot my own horn here for a minute at how great a choice I made to marry Shelley five plus years ago. Here's the latest reason why.

Anthon has been obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear for the past few months. His favorite part of the movie is when Buzz pushes a button and his wings snap out and he "flies" across the room. Anthon wanted his own wings. So Shelley took her belt and fashioned a wooden plank to his back and fastened it with a red bandana to give Anthon wings. Anthon naturally loved it. He had wings. It's totally a little thing, but only Moms would take time to do that. Here's Anthon with his "wings".


As a side note - evidently, the Buzz that Santa brought him doesn't have wings...though the Japanese-language "Buzz" does. Anthon has said many times that he hopes Santa brings him the Japanese Buzz next year. Yes, we've had many talks with Anthon about being grateful for what we have. That discussion hasn't sunk in yet, evidently.

Guess whose having a birthday?

It's birthday time in the Cannon home and the love of my life is celebrating her birthday today, September 24. I am truly lucky to be married to such a wonderful woman. She was born, and lived her first five years of life, in upstate New York before moving to Evansville, Indiana. When I met her in Los Angeles, she was working as a pharmaceutical rep and had chosen LA because she was sick and tired of cold weather. It's funny how in life such decisions one makes, like choosing your home because of the weather, can have a tremendous impact on other people's lives. And my life is so much the better for having met and married Shelley Daetwyler.

There are so many reasons why I love Shelley. Shelley is smart...really smart. She has a great mind. Did you know that Shelley was the math champ of Evansville? Well, she was. She also prides herself on having a mind like a steel trap. She frequently used it against me...since my mind is more like an old leaky bucket.

Shelley is also a great public speaker. When she was giving the commencement address in middle school, she said it was her wish that her class could have a successful high school career. Unfortunately, Shelley wore a retainer and successful came out "sexful", twice. The ground cheered loudly. In all seriousness, one of the things that attracted me to Shelley was her strong presence. I remember a church event that Shelley gave the spiritual thought and I was literally blown away at how powerful she spoke. I kid you not, it was that night that I ultimately decided I would ask her out.

Shelley is a wonderful daughter, sister, wife and mother. She is devoted to her family, where ever they may be. There is no other place she'd rather be than with family. She once told me that she was such a good sister that she would dangle her retainer over her younger sister Pam to make her do whatever Shelley wanted or else Pam would be touched by the retainer. (I see a theme with this retainer). Certainly Shelley has had to sacrifice a lot being here in Japan - away from family. I'm grateful for her spirit of adventure in making this time in our lives so fun.

I love Shelley because she makes me want to be a better person. She makes me feel loved. She is beautiful, funny and a lot of fun to talk to and be around. She is extremely spiritual and leads a true and honest life. She is a wonderful mother to our children. Each and every day I'm so thankful that Shelley is in my life.

So happy birthday, Shelley! I love you tons.

I've collected a number of pictures of Shelley as a baby and young girl. Click on any of the pictures in this post to see a gallery of those pictures.

5 Years

Shelley and I were married five years ago today and it's hard to fathom where the time has gone. It's blown by. In that time we've traveled across 5 continents, moved to Japan, had two kids, laughed a lot (argued only a little!) and grown deeper in love. I can't imagine my life without Shelley and am grateful I married someone so beautiful, loving, compassionate, fun, spiritual and intelligent. Each day I'm reminded of how lucky I am to have found and wooed Shelley Daetwyler. She is my best friend. I love you, Shelley, and look forward to the many years we have ahead of us.

Day Trip to Kamakura

Shelley and I haven't really discussed who's on our top 5 list of famous people that we could kiss if we had the chance. If I had to guess, I'm sure Matthew McConaughey would be right up there at the top - as would Carrot Top. But I never in my wildest dreams thought that my wife would have the hots for the Buddah. I guess I should have read into her getting into yoga with a bit more scrutiny than I did.


The Japanese can be very hospitable hosts. We certainly didn't expect to be welcomed to Kamakura with a sign welcoming the "Great Kannon." I admit I am flattered. Not to be a nitpick, but couldn't they at least spell our names right?

And finally, as Shelley said in her blog about our trip we happened upon a couple who were getting married in this very public place. On the one hand I felt excited to see this, but I also felt bad that I was opportunistically snapping shots of their special day. While I was taking these pictures, Shelley was watching Anthon, who decided that he wanted to just go exploring on his own. Well, that didn't see well with Shelley who went after and resulted in our son, who has a pretty good set of pipes, screaming all the way back to his stroller after Shelley caught up to him. Nothing like being the one with the screaming kid to disrupt a wedding ceremony. Like a good father and husband I pretended I didn't know them.




All of the pictures are linked to a page of photos I shot from the day. Or you can clik on the link to go there.

Family Night

One of my goals for 2008 has been to have family night (or just some family time) - something where we can have fun, even if it's just for a short period of time before Anthon has to go to bed. I think it's having the desired effect, certainly on me. I think I naturally fall into the mode of parenting Anthon, which means limiting what he does because I'm tired or annoyed or whatever. Certainly that doesn't make for a fun Dad. But in the context of family time I find myself being more patient, tolerant of Anthon being a little boy and the result is we all just have a lot of fun.

Our family outings have consisted of trips to the zoo, trips to cultural spots within Tokyo, dinners out and letting Anthon run around. We have a Mac and we decided to have fun with the Photo Booth application.

Introducing Shelley's Blog

At the urging of Shelley's friends, Shelley has finally started a blog about her experiences in Japan. Please do take a look:

http://shelleyintokyo.blogspot.com

We'll try to bring it inhouse to the Cannoncenter.com family, but as of right now you can find it at the link above.

From 1 Mile to a 5K...

On the 4th of July, Shelley did something she's never done before, run a 5K. Shelley never really liked running, but she's warming up to it. She hated running when all she knew of it was the treadmill at our local 24 Hour Fitness. But she ran a mile race in May and she thought that it wasn't so bad. So she decided to work her way up to a 5K. She did it by running with Megan Marriot and other friends a few times a week.

Anthon really liked it when Shelley trained. She would put him in a jog stroller and Anthon would feel the wind in his face and say, "Running! Fast!" After Shelley would run a mile or two, and was really tired and out of breath, Anthon would pat his fingers together and say, "more more running." It actually inspired Anthon so much he's been doing a lot more running around the house. He's running laps around our kitchen, and running back and forth in his crib...he just loves to run fast like his Mom now.

Anyway Shelley and Megan ran a 5K in Redondo Beach and they did it in good time. The weather was overcast and cool. Perfect running weather. I was totally proud to see Shelley accomplish what I think will be the first of many races. My only fear is that she will want to somehow ring me into the running thing. I'll have to start coming up with a reserve of excuses!

Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the pictures from the run. The thumb on the right is of a short video I took. I tried to get some video of Shelley and Megan running, but they ran by me too fast. So most of the video is of Anthon running after the runners and cheering them on, screaming "Go! Go!!!" at the top of his lungs. That's pretty amusing.

5K Photos

5K Video

Girls Trip to New York

A few weekends back, Shelley took a weekend trip with my Mom and one of my sisters, Becky, to visit another sister, Liza who lives in New York. From the looks and sounds of things, they had a great time. They shopped, ate great food, saw a play and bonded. I've uploaded pictures from the weekend onto our website for you to view.

I stayed home with Anthon and had a chance to bond with him, too. I think it was a great weekend for everyone involved.

PS...And before you wonder,yes, it's 3:20 AM and I am still up. No, it's not that I can't sleep. I have to wake up early for a 6:40 AM flight to Evansville, Indiana. And I got home from school late (10:30 PM) and I had to pack and do some school work stuff before I could go to sleep. And I just kept going and now that I'm really tired, it's too late to go to sleep. I'd just be up in an hour. So I'd rather be tired and strung out (like I am right now), than tired, grumpy and disoriented, which I'd be an hour from now if I napped.

Are You as Fast as a First Grader?

Shelley and I were ran the Paradise Canyon Fun Run, which is a 1 mile or 5k race around the neighborhoods near the school. This is something I did when I was young...back in the day when running was fun and I had all that energy to burn.

Fast forward 20+ years and I haven't worked out in, well, years. (It's because of school, really, I promise!) I thought running 1 mile wouldn't be a problem...until out of sheer pride I had to race to catch up to my niece who's in first grade. I was pushing Anthon in the job stroller and as I crossed the finish line (I won't tell you my pathetic time) I heard one of the race coordinators say, "Hey, we have our first stroller finisher." In the end, Shelley felt a certain measure of schadenfreude when I was extremely stiff and in much leg pain the next two days.

But the positives were that I didn't die, Shelley is motivated to run a 5k, my niece Anna in the first grade got third in her division and it was nice to see some old friends.

Shelley, Anthon in Houston & Utah

February and March were busy traveling months for the Cannons. While I was in Japan and India, Shelley and Anthon visited family in Houston, Utah and Evansville. Shelley then left Anthon with her parents to come travel with me in India. Is that clear as mud?

Anyway, the two trips to Utah, I think, was a big hit. Anthon was introduced to snow, his really, really large snow suit, and the joys of sledding. Click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures.