A dash of this and sprinkle of that

First, thank you to all the moms out there for their support and encouragement. It is comforting to know that I am not alone in my feelings.

There's really nothing significant going on in the Cox household but I'll recap you on recent events.On the Owen front, he is almost sitting up on his own. He has perfected the tripod method (using his hands and arms to hold his torso up) and can sit for a few seconds without them. He is enjoying playing on his stomach more and I'm hoping this will prompt him to roll over more. He's only done it a handful of times. Also his sleeping pattern was messed up by the time change and this week we are finally getting back to some sort of routine.

Can you believe he'll be 6 months old on the 28th! Where did the time go? We are excited that our seminary friend/photographer Courtney is coming for a 6th month photo shoot on the 28th. I'm trying to figure out now what I want him to wear.

As for me, the weather is finally getting warmer so I thought it was time to take out my summer clothes. I haven't seen them in almost 2 years as last summer I was pregnant. Let's just say that NOTHING fits the same. While I may be back to my original weight, the clothes fit very differently. My chest is bigger and I have some excess around my midsection, which make my old shirts look gross. Needless to say, I needed some new clothes. Mom and I tried to remedy the situation by heading to Triangle Towne Center on Saturday. The weather was ugly but we found some great deals! Owen went with us and did a great job for the most part.

This Saturday I'm going to Morrisville to work and shop at one of the many consignment sales I frequent now. Owen's going to need some summer clothes too so I'm hoping to find some great stuff.

As for Jeremy, he is staying busy. He is a man of many projects; he is trying to refinish a tv cabinet that we were given as well as revamping his website. Work is keeping him busy as well.

Together we are trying to decide on how to decorate Owen's room. I want to paint it but still not sure what I want to do. Mom and Kat have volunteered to help me paint; I just have to figure out what I want. We also need a stretch of warm sunny weather so I can open the windows to let the scent out.

See I told you nothing monumental going on with us. Thanks for continuing to check in on us!

I'm struggling...

Over the last week I have really struggled with being a stay at home mom. Before having Owen, I couldn't imagine anything I wanted more. When Jeremy and I were going over our finances, I balled at the thought that I might not be able to stay home with him. I believed (and still do) that I could care for him better than anyone else. I just couldn't imagine having someone else raise my child and see them more than I do. I didn't want to miss all the firsts (rolling over, sitting up, etc) that might take place during the day while I was at work. Combined with the fact that I was discontent with teaching, staying at home seemed like the ideal situation.

After Owen was born, staying at home seemed so different. It wasn't as glamorous as I once imagined.

There are aspects of it that I didn't think about. For one is the loneliness. I am a very social person by nature and love to talk (as most of you know). I thrive on personal interactions. Teaching was great for me in that aspect because I always had 20 some kids to talk to and 50 some staff members. You never had time to yourself and things were never quiet. On the flip side, my house is almost too quiet. Half of the time I leave the TV on just for background noise. Owen and I play but at 5 months, there is only so much interaction he can have with me. I think moving to a new town also had something to do with it. We don't have many friends here yet and we still haven't found a church. We have one couple which we love, but I can't expect her to hang out with me everyday. I desperately crave fellowship and am trying to work hard to find it.

Another aspect that has been eating at me this week is the fact that I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything . There are the mundane tasks that must always be completed..laundry, dishes, cleaning. But these are things that I would normally accomplish as a wife before I had kids. They aren't anything new and sometimes they are all I accomplish in a day. It doesn't feel like I am doing anything productive for my family or for society. I just don't feel like I'm applying myself or my talents/gifts God gave me. I know my purpose is to serve my family and by being home I am able to take care of the things in home that need attending to. By doing this, we are able to have more family time because when Jeremy gets home we are not doing chores. I just miss the sense of accomplishment that came from doing a job outside of the home.

I think also a comment my dad made to me last week as been on my heart. I got the impression from him that he thought my college education is going to waste by me being at home. I know he probably didn't mean it to hurt me but it really stung. I don't feel like I'm wasting my degree at all because if anything my background knowledge in education will only be beneficial as we raise Owen. There are parts of me that really miss teaching. I miss the kids and the excitement in their eyes when they mastered something new. And there are parts of me that wish I could do both...use my skills and be at home with him. (Before you say it, I know I could tutor or something and I am trying to follow a lead on that too.)

So that's what I'm struggling with...

This past week I found a quote by Dorothy Patterson that really encouraged me,

"Homemaking — being a full-time wife and mother — is not a destructive drought of uselessness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary cell to contain your talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work ... it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother's legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care."

Though I may lose sight of the rewards now, I know that I am having a huge impact on my family. I just have to keep telling myself that. Remind me every now when you see me, ok?

You make me laugh...

Tonight while we ate dinner, we placed Owen in the Bumbo on the table. He was in a super giggly mood so we quickly pulled out the camera to see if we could commit it to film. Watch as his tongue slowly makes it way out.





(The last one is my favorite!! It makes me laugh every time I see it.)

I'm a big boy now...

Thank you for all the car seats recommendations. After a lot of research and bargain hunting, we settled on a Britax Marathon. I found a close-out sale where they were discontinuing the color so I got it for a steal.

The UPS man delivered our new car seat this morning and it has now replaced Owen's infant seat in the 4-Runner.

Before placing the seat in the car, we had to adjust the straps to fit. He has some room to grow, don't you think? He wasn't quite sure what to think of it.

Once in the car, he was like "I like this!"It is so sad to think he has outgrown the infant seat and now is in a big boy seat. My baby is growing too fast!

Over the mountain and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go..

OK so we didn't go over the mountain but really to the mountains to visit Jeremy's family this weekend. We haven't seen them since Emma's hip replacement surgery in January so they were eager to see Owen. We had a very relaxing weekend just spending time together and playing with Owen.

Cousin Madison is getting so big!
Playing with Grandma
Look at me!
Owen liked playing on grandma's exercise ball. Of course, the hands had to go in the mouth.

We look forward to seeing them in a couple of weeks when they come to visit us at our house!

5 months old

The kid is growing up too fast. Every day it seems like he is changing and become more of a little boy than an infant. Because you don't visit the pediatrician at 5 months, we decide to take our own measurements. He weighs a whopping 17.2 lbs and is 28 1/2 inches long. Everyone who sees him comments on how long/tall he is and that he looks older than a 5 month old. I am still nursing him about 5-6x a day and he gets a tablespoon of cereal at dinner time. He is doing really well with cereal and we may move to a morning cereal time too.

Here are some other fun facts about him this month:

• He is obsessed with standing. He would rather stand up than lay down I think. His legs are incredibly strong and I fully believe he will walk before he ever crawls.
• He can sit unassisted for a little while if he uses his arms as a tripod. Slowly he starts to slid which makes him look super flexible as his chest ends up on his shins.
  
• He is starting to out grow his baby things. For instance, he can only ride in his carseat for another inch and half though he has about 5 lbs left weight-wise.
• He is obsessed with his hands and putting them in his mouth. Sometimes he tries to put his whole fist in there but most of the time he is finding his thumb.
• I think he is cutting his 1st tooth due to the fact that is chin is constantly dripping with saliva. His poor little chin is red now! Inside of his mouth I think I can feel a little bump but it's hard to tell as he wants to suck my finger when I put it in there making it impossible to look at his gums.
• He has found his feet and loves to hold onto them and try to put them in his mouth. He isn't quite flexible enough to get them in there and I keep telling him there is plenty of time to "put your foot in your mouth" in the years to come.
• He is moving around in his crib. When I go in in the morning the kid is never in the same place that I put him. He has either rotated 90 degress and has his feet up on the side of the crib or has either rotated the whole 180.
  
• He has developed quite an array of sounds and likes to watch your reaction to them. He is laughing all the time which in turn makes me giggle.
• He still doesn't nap consistently but is sleeping 11 hours a night most of the time.
  

Owen is such a blessing! He is so sweet, low-key, and happy! Just like his daddy. :) Seriously, Owen is more Jeremy than me and for that I'm grateful. I can be quite a handful... Lord help us, our next child will probably be just like me...loud, crazy, and moody. :P

Car seat dilemma

Owen has almost outgrown his infant carrier. We love his Chicco but he is about an inch and half away from its maxium height requirement. Friday on the way to the mountains we stopped at Babies R Us to look at carseats but there is so many choices. Moms out there..I need your advice! What do you have? Do you love it? There are lots of recommendations for Britax ones but aren't they really expensive? They didn't look super comfy when I saw them in the store. I need your opinions!