Sorry

Evidentally I accidently turned off the cooment function on my recent posts. I was wondering why no one was commenting any more. It is fixed now; please feel free to go back and comment. Thanks to Jaime for pointing it out.

Also our computer is dead and the power cord won't recharge it, so we are without a computer right now. Thankfully my parents live close by and I can come check my email every now and then. So if my posting is sparce lately, you'll know why. You'll just have to call me if you want to know what's going on with the Cox family. :)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Uncle BP! We had a great time visiting with you this weekend. We hope you had a great birthday!

Snow!!

Snow is a big deal in eastern NC because of its rarity. When it happens, everything shuts down especially the schools. As a teacher I loved it because we got a break from school; now I love it because I get to experience it with my own child. Monday night we got 2-3 in and woke up to a winter wonderland. Because Jeremy works for a school, he was lucky to have the day off. We took advantage of it and spent the time together playing in the snow.


Here is our little snow bunny dressed to go outside.
At first he wasn't sure of the cold...

I decided to put his feet down in the snow and this is what he felt about it. Jeremy just happen to catch it in mid-stream.Then he decided he liked it.

Daddy and Owen love the snow.

We decided it was better for him to look at the snow from the inside. Gazing out the window at the pretty snow.

He liked the snow and the extra time with his daddy.

Playing peek-a-boo with Jeremy.

It was a great day to be at home together. We watched the inauguration and just enjoyed another first in Owen's life. Sadly the snow is melting now and Jeremy is back to work. It was fun while it lasted!

I've been tagged...

Courtney tagged me. The things in bold are things that apply to me. () added for clarification. I tag Cheri W. and Jennifer O. (b/c she needs an updated post! :) )

1. Started your own blog (this one)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Middle school)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (in elementary school, at church)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (sadly as a teacher that is the only way you could have a day off!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (my satisfaction doesn't come from money)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (Mr. Williams' birthday party..haha)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (I loved it!)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (it still needs to be finished but it's really cool because it's made from my old sorority t-shirts)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (in high school from a dry cleaners b/c I couldn't work everyday)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (this year..2nd metatarsal)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (lifeguarding in college)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Hope you have a terrific day! We can't wait to see you tonight!

Owen's got a girlfriend

Friday night the Langstons came over for dinner and games. They have a daughter Natalie who is about 4 months older than Owen. Because of their young age, the two of them usually don't interact much with each other. This Friday was different though. David held Natalie up to Owen and what played out there was hysterical. Baby flirting is what I call it. Natalie would "say" something and then Owen would reply. She then tried to put her feet on him (see above) and then play with his ears. It was so cute as I have never heard Owen respond back to another baby before. My son the ladies' man!

Diaper snob?

We have been blessed to only have to buy one pack of diapers since Owen has been born. Sadly our supply is running low and it's time to buy some. I was looking around at the store yesterday and realize there is quite a bit of difference in prices. Before I've always been a Pampers lover but they are the most expensive. What about you guys? What diapers do you use?

Baby Sign Language

One thing I knew before Owen was even born was that I wanted to do baby sign language with him. I first saw this in practice at our church. Babies were able to tell us when they wanted more cheerios or when they were all done. I thought it was amazing that they could communicate with us though they couldn't even talk yet. My neighbor at Southeastern also used sign language with her son and again I was awe struck.
For Christmas, I received this starter kit from the Baby Signs company. I haven't had time to watch the DVDs yet but I'm super excited to get started. I found out that the company also offers parent classes. Anyone interested in taking one with me? I talked to my local instructor and she would do a class at my house if I could find 4 other women. Anyone game? You can find out more information about the program and its benefits you can check out the website.

PS I've posted quite a bit lately..keep scrolling down.

A Year in Review

One thing I love about keeping up with a blog is that I am able to go back and see how the Lord has worked in our lives. 2008 was an amazing, exciting, but also hard year for the Cox family.

The year started off hard as I was in the midst of a major discipline problems in my classroom. I was constantly upset and frustrated for a handful of males students. Later the situation would escalate and led to many conferences with my principal. She would later give me a poor review and ask a behavior specialists to come in to assist me. This was by far my hardest year of teaching.

January also brought the beginning of Jeremy's job search. We started off by following a lead to Charlotte. Though we were offered the job, we feel very confident that we were not supposed to be there.

February brought the best news of all...we were expecting our first child. The blog the next few months was potporried with updates on my belly and the baby growing inside of it.

May brought a month of graduations. My brother graduated from ASU and Jeremy graduated from seminary. It was a huge milestone for both of them! We celebrated by taking a family trip to Williamsburg, VA.

This year was also the year of weddings. This summer we went to 8 to be exact. We were really excited for all our family and friends but it was exhausting..and expensive!

I spent the summer sewing and preparing for Owen's arrival.

Jeremy searched and interviewed for jobs all year and finally at the end of July accepted a job at Nash Community College. The job was not church related and was back in my home town...totally different than anything we imagined. We were grateful for the Lord's blessings and now can see how His hand worked through the whole process. (Jeremy is now enjoying his new position and have adjusted to life in a small town.)

In July we also celebrated our 4 year anniversary. It was our last one kid-less!

August brought a new teaching position for me. I moved into a specialist role as a technology teacher. It was an awesome position and perfect for the state I was in (big!).

September brought the early arrival of our beautiful baby boy. He is such a joy in our lives and we couldn't imagine our lives without him now. As you know, his birth was easy but the days following were very hard. He is now healthy and strong and growing like a weed!

October 31st we bought our first home! We feel like such grown-ups now! We spent most of November unpacking and organizing.

The holidays were great and we enjoyed all of Owen's firsts!

What an amazing year! We can only praise God for His many blessings and provisions. I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to work in 2009! Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

The Cox family had a great but busy Christmas. Jeremy was blessed to have the whole week off so we had lots of family time. Sunday the 21st we were supposed to go to Greensboro for the Piner family celebration. Sadly my aunt and uncle came down with the flu so the event got canceled. Instead we went to Beulaville to visit my grandma, who was thrilled to have Owen all to herself. Here is Owen dressed and ready to go.

Uncle BP had fun playing Owen.
I think Owen tired him out. Aren't they sweet?
Granny was in Heaven...she got Owen all to herself.
All this family time made the boys sleepy.
Wednesday we spent the day with my family. Mom and I made tons of cookies while the boys played golf. Christmas Eve we had our traditional Italian feast then headed to Christmas Eve service. Owen did an awesome job at church and even giggled and laughed his way through the service. Afterwards we partied with the Adams family.

Christmas morning we woke up early (thanks to Owen) and headed over to my parents' house to open presents. Francesco, my aunt and uncle's exchange student, summed it up best when he said "You couldn't tell America was going through a recession right now by looking at this room." The presents were literally in mountains next to each person. Here is Francesco, BP, and Owen waiting for the opportunity to open their gifts.
Ma-Ma was surrounded by mountains of presents.
Uncle Mark, Aunt Jen, and Francesco watching Ma-Ma open her gift.
They gave her a beautiful ring.
BP was excited about getting dress socks.

Mom opening her personalized stationary we gave her.
Owen got this fun/silly hat from BP. It's still a little big!
Uncle Mark and Owen watching everyone open their presents.
Owen got all kinds of cute and fun stuff, including a glider rocker for his room, clothes, stuffed animals, and games. We gave him a Radio Flyer wagon, because all little boys need a wagon. I can't wait for the spring to come when I can pull him around the neighbor in it. He also got a lion that he can ride on. Poppa has to hold him on it right now.
Christmas was just too much for Owen and Poppa tried to coax him to sleep.
After breakfast, we headed back to our house to unload and shower. We then took off to Wilkesboro for round #2 with the Coxes. We arrived in time for dinner and then began the present opening. Again Owen racked up some cute clothes, toys, and books. Our 20 month olc niece Madison was the cutest thing. She was waiting at the door for Owen and wanted to hold him immediately. Emma gave her this cute little pink suitcase full of dress up clothes and she went to putting them all on at one time. She was so cute!We stayed in the mountains until Sunday morning then came back to RM for the Miller family Christmas party (my mom's side). Over 40 people showed up for the big event and again we enjoyed more Italian food (my uncle is part Italian, which explains our love for Italian food). We also played Dirty Santa/Yankee Swap. It was by far the biggest game of Dirty Santa I had ever played. I ended up with a bottle of champagne while Jeremy won a BUNCO game.




Life is getting back to somewhat normal pace. We celebrated the new year with our friends the Langstons and now we're working on house projects. I won't know what to do with myself next week when everyone goes back to work!

3 months old

Owen turned 3 months on the 28th. It's hard to believe he has been with us for 3 months... sometimes it seems like longer then other times I don't know where the time has gone.

Because he won't visit the doctor again until he is 4 months, we decided we wanted to know is newest measurements so we did themselves. After weighing ourselves first then adding him, we found out he now weighs 14.8 lbs. and 25 inches long. Just trying toting him around for a while and you can tell he is quite the heavy boy!

He is now sleeping 7-8 hours a night and we have finally moved him upstairs to his crib in his own room. No more sleeping in the room with Mommy and Daddy! We are enjoying the extra sleep and I don't feel as sluggish during the day anymore.

Other things he is doing:
He is smiling and laughing at us. He tries to talk to us but we haven’t figured out what language he is using. :)

He is able to hold his head up for extended period of times and is almost able to sit up in his Bumbo. He is not thrilled about playing on his tummy but will tolerate it for a bit. I can tell that the tummy time is really helping his neck muscles.

He is loosing his mohawk!! As his hair gets longer it is starting to lay down now causing him to have a lovely comb-over look.

He is grabbing onto things when they are placed in his hand as well tracking objects.

His reflux has increased in the last week or so. I think his dosage needs to be increased since his weight has increased. He still can't hold a pacifier in his mouth, which is annoying since he likes sucking on it to go to sleep.

We are falling more and more in love with him every day. His smiles and response to our voices make us feel more connected to him than ever before. He is so stinkin' cute, but then again we're a little bias. :)