Celebrating a New Cox

Saturday, my mother in law, sister in law, and I threw a shower for Jen. Jen will be marrying Jeremy's brother Adrian, in a few short weeks. Since it was Valentine's weekend, we had a pink, red, and heart theme. My mother and sister in law made an awesome breakfast spread while I did the invitations and the games. Because of the weather, attendance was lower than we had planned but we still had fun.Jen opening her many of her nice gifts.


My niece Madison with her great-grandma Cox
Emma (MIL), Erin (SIL), Jen, her mom Elaine, and I
Jen, we can't wait for you to join our family next month!

A Few Pictures

Ok so I haven't been as good of a blogger lately. It's bad when my dad commented on how infrequent my posts are. This from the man who used to make fun of me for blogging. :P

So while there hasn't been a lot going on, here is a few pics to satisfy some people.

How cute is my little man...he's getting so big.Hanging out with his sock monkey and enjoying an afternoon cup of juice. Grandma Cox made him that monkey and he loves it. Dinner was so good, he decided to lick his plate clean. Can you believe that we had tuna cakes for dinner that night. Owen loves to play in the kitchen at preschool. I hope he takes after both of us and loves to cook. Girls like boys who can cook!My new market basket. I have wanted one for a while and I finally got one this weekend with some Christmas money. It's so handy for carrying all of our stuff to preschool/Mom's house, etc.The footballs I made for the Super Bowl get together at the Langstons. I used this recipe and they were yummy though they aren't attractive.
I made this baby set for a friend of a friend. The friend picked out the fabric which I thought was super cute.
So that's it. I promise to update more soon.

Snow Weekend

This weekend we received our first big snow of the year. I find it ironic that we got significant amounts of snow two winters in a row. That's really uncommon here in eastern NC!

Here is Owen last year in the snow. It crazy to see how much he has grown in a year's time.

Last year since he was only 4 months old, he really couldn't do anything in the snow. We were excited that he would be more aware of what was going on this time. That was wishful thinking! At first he was happy to be outside..
He even gave me kisses, thanking me for bring him out.
Daddy took him for a walk down the street.
But then Daddy tried to make him walk..
He didn't really like that..
So he sat down and pouted.
But who can resist that face..
So while there weren't any exciting snow adventures, we enjoyed the beauty of God's creation. I was commenting to Jeremy today that it amazes me how something as small as precipitation can make people happy. We enjoyed all the time as a family but did get a little stir crazy. Both of our schools were called off tomorrow, so we'll have one more day together.

*There are more pictures on in this Facebook album.

16 Months

Our little man is 16 months today. While I know all my readers may not enjoy reading these updates, I use them for documentation process. Thanks for hanging in there with me. :)
At 16 months, he:

• weighs: 26.2 lbs (my measurement)
• is 32 in tall (my measurement)
• is a fabulous eater. For the most part, he eats whatever we eat. It's fun that I can serve him up his own little plate. While he can't use utensils by himself now, he is able to bring the fork to his mouth and eat off it when we put the food on it. His appetite has increased lately and some meals he is eating an adult sized portion. He loves all kinds of veggies and fruit and I take pride in that he isn't a picky eater.
• has learned and regularly use the sign and the words "all done" at the end of meals. It's nice to see that he is finally doing it himself after months of modeling it.
• continues to cruise the furniture and behind anything that he can move. He can walk holding onto just one of my hands now. He also has taken up to 5 steps in between Jeremy and I. I believe now it's just a confidence thing...we're so close to walking!!
• continues to be obsessed with pulling everything out of any object drawer or cabinet he can get into. Daily I am having to clean up tupperware off the kitchen floor.
• loves positive reinforcement esp. after he has stacked his rings or put the shapes correctly in the shape sorter. However, he does not liked to be disciplined. He is really try to test his boundaries and doesn't want to hear the words, "No, sir".
• says the following words so far: Mama, Dada, all done, and ba (ball). For cows, he moos.
  
• continues to love books. He will go over to the shelf, pull one down, look through it, and pull out more. I hope his love for reading always continues.
• loves to climb into his chair and stand up. Natalie taught him how to crawl from the chair to the ottoman and he tries to do it often.
• has learned to drink out of a straw.
• His favorite activity is climbing the stairs (partly because he doesn't get to do it as much as he would like).
• is sleeping like a champ. He goes to bed at 7:30, wakes around 7 (this week a little earlier) and takes one LONG (3 hours) afternoon nap.

I Love the Night Life

We love the evening hours when all 3 of us can be together. We've gotten into a good routine lately so I thought I would share some of it.

Since Jeremy and I hate washing dishes, we taught Owen how to do it. As you can see, he thinks it's pretty great.
My dad says you have kids to do the things you don't want to do. We're just starting out early.
After dishes, Owen likes to have after dinner drinks.
He's really proud of himself that he learned how to drink out of a straw. (He's so relaxed he had to take off his pants.)

He then remembers what will happen if you drink and drive.So instead, he crawls up to bed.
Daddy undresses him.
Then he takes a long hot bath.
After bath, it's one last glass of milk, a Bible story, a bedtime story, and a few songs. Then it's off to dreamland.

For those who don't buy it, sleep training really does work. Owen goes down still awake and quiet. He falls asleep on his own and sleeps 12 hours. It's a pretty sweet routine. We love the early bedtime too because we get time together as a couple. Now if only we could always go to bed at a decent time. Stupid reality tv!

15 month Appointment

We went to Owen's 15 month appointment. Here are his stats:

Weight: 24 lbs 8 oz (55%)
Height: 31 in (75%)
Head: 19 in (90%)

We discussed how he is not walking yet and only says mama and dada. He gave me suggestions for working on them. I know that every kid develops at their own pace but still I worry about him. I tend to blame myself and worry that I'm not doing enough to help him. Moms out there, what activities have you done that you have really helped?

2010

It's hard to believe it's already 2010. It doesn't feel like 10 years since we celebrated the new millennium. Like last year, I thought I would post a review of all the things we did in 2009, but then soon realized we had a very uneventful 2009. We didn't have any weddings to attend (for the first time in 10 years!) , any vacations, any major sicknesses or events. I guess the Lord knew we need a slower pace after our busy 2008.

So instead I thought I would reflect on what all has happened in this last decade..

• Graduated high school
• Attended UNC-CH
• Worked at CWR for 2 awesome summers where I met a cute boy
• Got engaged to an incredible boyfriend
  
• Graduated college
• Married my best friend
• Moved 3x
• Taught elementary school for 4 1/2 years
• Had knee surgery
• Bought our first car
  
• Helped Jeremy get through 3 1/2 years of seminary
• Had an amazing baby boy
• Bought our first house
• Became a stay at home mom
• Became a preschool teacher

It's been an amazing 10 years! I can't wait to see what the next 10 bring. But only one at a time. :)

2010 already looks like it's going to be a great year. We are taking dance classes, Jeremy's 2 brothers are getting married, and we have an awesome trip to the beach planned with my extended family.

Keeping back to check on us...good things are sure to come!