Frustration

Disclaimer: This post is more of a rant so if you don't feel like hearing me complain, you should just move on.

First, our house was hit pretty hard with the yucky stomach virus. Owen started Thursday night by throwing up for 3 straight hours. After that he struggled with diarrhea for the next two days. Saturday morning Jeremy woke up with a stomach ache and by lunch time, he was full blown into the stomach bug. Because I was at work, my mom took care of Owen. Sadly, this caused her to contract the bug as well. She was out of commission all of Sunday. This virus is no joke. Jeremy has lost close to 8 lbs. While I want to lose weight, I do not want this bug. Luckily I have managed to stay healthy. Thank you preschool for helping to build my immune system up.

We thought we were finally over it, then Owen wakes up at 5 this morning throwing up again. He has had two runny diapers again. I called the doctor, and the nurse said you can get it again. I hope this is just a random incident and he is not getting it again. GRRRRRRR!

Second, Owen has gotten in trouble at preschool now for biting. Yesterday he bit all 3 of his friends in his MMO class. The teacher said he is not doing it out of meaness; he isn't trying to take a toy or no one has done anything to him. The teacher said he is happy the whole time, but now his friends are scared of him. I'm frustrated because I don't know what to do. He doesn't bite us at home and I'm not in there when he bites. Tomorrow I am going to be the room with him to see if I can figure out a solution. If we don't get this under control, he'll be asked to leave, therefore I lose my job. Please pray that we can solve this quickly.

Last the on-going frustration is Owen's development. He still is not walking on his own and he is only saying about 3 words. He will walk while holding onto your hand, but he has to be in the right mood. He is very stubborn and if he doesn't want to do it, he'll sit down and refuse to move. I'm frustrated because I don't know how to make him do it. I have used everyone's suggestions and it doesn't seem to help.

Ok thanks for listening......I just needed to vent.

New Job

Monday I started my new job at Sylvan Learning Center. I am working at nights from 5:30-7:30 after Jeremy gets home and some Saturdays. While my schedule is never the same, this week I am working M-Th and Sat. Nothing like jumping right in! :)

So far it's been going really well. I didn't realize how much I missed teaching. Don't get me wrong, I don't miss the school setting...the discipline, paperwork, meetings, etc. I miss the actual teaching aspect so this is an ideal way to fill that void.

Sadly the hard thing about the job is that we lose our family time together. Because of the time schedule, Owen and I meet Jeremy at work, where we switch cars and he takes him home. They cook dinner, play, and do the bedtime routine. I get home after Owen is already in bed. :( Jeremy and I still get time together but we don't get the time as a family. I'm trying to look at it optimistically.....at least Owen doesn't have to go to daycare. Another weird thing is that we get paid every two months because of a contract we are working on with the state. Kind of hard to plan and budget don't you think?

I am very grateful for the job and the added income it brings in. Hopefully this will help us bring down and keep down some of our debt.

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!