7 Months

My child cannot be seven months!  That is OVER the halfway point to being a year old!  Oh my goodness.  I wouldn't believe it if I couldn't see the calendar for myself!  We are now showing our eighth calendar pic- which means we only have five more to go before we book end our Octobers.  And here, ladies and gentlemen, is our Mr. May, 2011:

Gavin is now a chunky 17 pounds!  He loves his big boy food and is eating lots of fruits and veggies and those puffy little fingers snack thingies.  He's giving his two little pearly whites a workout!  One of our biggest developments since 6 months is that Gavin now has TWO big boy teeth.  And if you haven't seen them up close and personal, here they are:

So sweet!  Mr. Cox is also mobile and on-the-go...all the time. 

He's never not moving!  One of new big challenges is changing his diaper.  He LOVES to be on his tummy, so from he minute he hits his changing pad, Gavin wants to roll over onto his tummy.  Right now, we are trying to keep him occupied by having him hold his big lotion bottle.  It keeps him occupied for about 5 seconds..which mean mom and dad have to be FAST to get that new diaper on!  More times than not, he ends up rolling over and flashing us that cute little hiney.  Mommy doesn't mind nearly as much as Daddy does.  In fact, I think all of my hiney pinching is probably encouraging the tummy flip- so I'm trying to work on that! 

He still loves his voice and spends a lot of time singing, making his sweet "bababa" and "dadada" noises. We're working on "Mama, I love you."  Any day now, I'm sure.  He is starting to really like books and will focus on the pages a lot more...and he has started really enjoying playing the piano!  Tee hee- it's the cutest thing.  He will just bang his little heart out on the piano keys.  I think I can already tell that he's going to be a right hander- he holds his left hand down to sustain the noise and keeps his right hand moving all over those ivories.  He's a Mozart in the making! 

One more month in the books!  I can't wait to see what Month #8 has for us!

Around the house

So I did a post a while back about how our house has transformed since having a baby.  Now that Gavin has mastered the art of the army crawl, our house has tranformed again.  We have just arrived at the baby proofing stage.  In fact- that reminds me, we need to take a trip to Target this weekend!

This is how I get things done around the house: Build Gavin 180 degrees of activities and check in every 30 seconds.  This will keep him occupied for about a minute and a half..until he sees something like a remote or a cell phone or a pair of shoes- then he becomes a man on a mission.

Floor level shelves don't have a chance!  

Matthew and I are used to being able to leave Gavin in the living room for just a minute and coming back and he's usually in the same place that we left him.  Well, those days are over.  We turned our backs for just a second the other day and turned around to find an empty carpet spot- I actually said to Matthew "Where is Gavin?" And this is where he was:

Behind the entertainment unit and under his swing.  That kid.... And you can believe that whatever he find, he puts through quality control- which means it goes straight into his mouth.   

This is Gavin's new big accomplishment- climbing into the bottom of his exercauser.   

He LOVES it...and I think he's really proud of himself when he gets in there.  He hasn't quite figured out how to get out- which I kind of like :).  I imagine that he thinks it's a little fort.  What a boy! 

And he clearly feels just the same about being in the bottom portion of the Exercauser as he does the top part

I love Gavin's newfound curiosity and busy-ness.  It's a big world out there and he's discovering it one day at a time. 

Gavin takes on Tulsa!

Last Saturday night, the three Coxes decided to take on T-town!  On the agenda?  Dinner on cherry street and Mayfest!  Saturday nights have taken on an all new meaning since having a baby.  Not that we were ever party animals or anything like that, but now a night out tends to end around 8:45...Gavin's "last call".  And we tend to take a LOT more than we ever did before.  A three hour trip consists of- at the very least- a car seat, stroller, 3-5 toys, 1-3 burp clothes, diapers, wipes, a set of backup clothes and the camera- and that's just for Gavin!  Despite not being able to travel light and the early curfew we still manage to have a good time.  Although it would be nice to get a Matthew and Jordan date night sometime soon.

Mayfest was kind of a snooze...sorry- I guess I'm not as artsy fartsy as I'm supposed to be.  BUT we did make our own art by taking pics of Gavin throughout the streets and alley ways of downtown Tulsa.  We might not be photographers, but I don't think these are too bad if I do say so myself!

Who thinks that Gavin should be the spokesman for BOk?!  I mean how cute is this?!  

Gavin was chill at dinner and seemed to think he was very trendy sitting outside on Cherry street and eatting his cell phone.   

If they ever do a movie on Superman as a baby, this should be the movie poster!  I can see the tag line now- It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Superbaby!  Yeah, I'm cheesy.  I know. 

I love those cheeks!

All in all it was a good Saturday night...but any night with my two boys is a good one! 



Take me out to the ballgame!

Softball has played in integral part of mine and Matthew's relationship.  We went on our first date the day after Matthew's college team won the softball intramural championship- so he was proudly sporting their championship t-shirt as we ate our first date snowcones...and the rest is history.

When we first visited our church, Matthew was invited to play on the church softball team after our second visit.  We jokingly say that's the reason that we joined First Baptist; however in all honesty, they DID nail their outreach strategy with that one!  Some of our friendships that are the strongest today are friends that we met on the softball bleachers...or on the way to the Emergency room AFTER a softball game :).

Matthew always watched as our friends would run the bases with their little ones after the games and I remember him telling me how much he looked forward to doing that when we had kids one day.  Well "one day" is here!  The week before his team clinched their league's 1st place title (holla!) Matthew finally got to run the bases with his little boy...and mama was there to take pictures! 

Look how cute these little fans are- there to cheer on their daddies! 

 

And how sweet is this...

 

Before you know it, Gavin will be just like Jackson- serving as the team's equipment manager!  

 

A Family of Searsuckers

There was a family of searsuckers sighted on Sunday at the Main street park in Broken Arrow!  While all three seared suckers still remain at large, a picture has been released of the three suspects:

There it is, ladies and gentlemen, the proof that on Mothers Day 2011 all three of the Cox family members wore matching outfits.  Matthew asked me early in the week what I wanted to do on Mother's day and the only thing that I could think of was that I wanted to wear matching clothes.  I'm not sure why...but it definitely seemed like a first Mother's day type thing to do.

As I was thinking about what made this years mothers day so special (besides the obvious of actually having a baby to spend it with!) it made me realize how life changes and the simpler things in life are what matters.  This Mother's Day didn't have a dollar amount assigned to it or a "special event" so to speak, but it was a perfectly wonderful day with two perfectly wonderful gentlemen.  So in keeping with my favorite writing format which appears to be writing in "Top 5" lists, I'm going to name my top 5 favorite things about Mothers Day 2011:

1. Actually getting to stand this year when the pastor asked all of the mother's in the congregation to stand.  Our pastor gave a beautiful tribute this year to mothers and for the first time ever in my life I got to stand with all of the other mama's in the room.  As it usually happens when I am asked to stand in a large group of people, I am suddenly overcome with an overwelming fear that I'm not supposed to be standing and I'm the only person standing in the room, so I just stared at the woman in front of me until she sat down- hoping that she wouldn't lead me astray- but for the 1/2 second that I wasn't gripped with fear, it was actually a beautiful moment.

2) Picking up Gavin from the nursery mid-morning for his morning feeding.  I stood at the door and watched him playing with another little boy.  When he heard my voice, he looked around the room.  Once he finally laid eyes on me- he gave me the world's biggest grin and laughed, like he was so happy to see me.  I LOVE it!

.

3. Being at the park, dressed alike with the two men that I love.  Our "big event" for the afternoon was going to the park with our Starbucks "happy hour" frappucinos.  Oh yeah, baby!  We stopped and talked to another family for a minute and as we walked away I said to Matthew "I bet they think we're dorks". To which he replied- "You're the one who wanted to dress alike."

4. Wishing two other mothers in my life a Happy Mothers Day! I got to see my mom and my sister- two fabulous examples of Godly mothers in my life.  Check out this picture with my mom, her son and her three grandkids!  This was a mother's day miracle!!

5. So I can't think of anything terribly unsappy, but I have two pictures left that I want to show, so I will just take up the #5 space to say that I love my Gavin and I love my Matthew!  Matthew made sure that I had a wonderful first mother's day!  So here are your #5 pictures.  Cute, huh?!

 

(Many thanks to my awesome photographer/contortionist sister Abby for snapping so many great shots!  She's the BEST!)

From one mother to another

I love my mom!  Do I even have to say it?  Of course, every one does!  But this, being my first Mother's Day, saying I love my mom means more now then it ever has.  The words I would use to describe my mom are likely the same words a lot of children would use to describe their mothers; selfless, unconditionally loving, a Godly example, their biggest fan... Truly all of these would describe my mama. 

Before I found out I was pregnant, I knew everything there was to know about being a parent.  I knew everything I WOULDN'T do.  But the second I found out God had entrusted Matthew and I with the gift of raising a life, it suddenly donned on me- I don't know anything that I WOULD do.  And now, six months into it, I'm not all that sure that I know what TO do, but with a fearless partner and the help of the Lord, we're winging it day by day.  So far into this adventure called motherhood I have found that a lot of the things that I am doing okay with are the things that I learned from my mother. 

One of the things that I can honestly say about my mother- no fluff, no exageration- is that I have never heard my mom complain about being a mother.  I have never heard her complain about the long days or the sleepless nights, never heard a flippant comment about not getting a moment to call her own, not a peep about wishing she could take one day of vacation from reality.  When my mom became a mama, she signed up for the whole job- not just the glamorous parts.  She not only raised one child investing her whole heart and life- but did it six times.  And just when she could see the light at the end of the parenting tunnel, she signed up to do it all over again for a seventh time- and is doing it with the same selfless excellence with Child #7. 

So many times when I'm singing to my little boy, the song that I'm singing is a song that I heard my mom sing to one of my sisters- and undoubtedly sang to me too.  When I'm telling my little boy how much I love him, I realize that what I'm saying is something my mama told me- something sweet like "I love you like pigs love mud" :).  When I brought Gavin home from the hospital, my mom was there to keep me sane.  She stayed up with him to let me and Matthew sleep.  She woke up before we did to make us breakfast. She was the one that told me that his little personality is developing in those first few weeks and months, so not to get overwelmed.  She let me call her at 1:00 am the first night I had Gavin by myself and said "Hold on, honey. I can be there in just one minute" even though she lives 16 miles away...and had to be at work the next day (she didn't end up coming- but she walked me through what to do). 

I love my mama on this Mother's day not only because she loved me and raised me- but because she taught me how to love my baby. Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  Many women have done well, but you surpass them.  Your worth is far above rubies!

6 Months

Eeks!  We are well into May and I realized that I had yet to post our April calendar pic!  So here it is- Mr. 6 months himself!  Isn't he a beaut! 

I am happy to announce, ladies and gentlemen, that Gavin is now no longer a toothless member of society!  His first tiny tooth has made its debut.  See!  The pickles worked!!!  Gavin is starting to babble and likes to very enthusiastically say "Babababa" and "Mamamama".  It is very exciting that he has learned to say "mama" just in time for Mother's day!  Who would have thought?! 

Gavin is a little eatting machine.  He LOVES his mama's homemade taters, peas, peaches, green beans and anything else that I can put in the puree-er.  We do a lot of baby food cooking at the Cox house! 

I am hoping that by month 7 we will be reporting that Gavin is crawling.  At this point, he does a cute little army crawl and can certainly get around, but he's not really engaging his arms and legs at the same time.  All in good time, my dear.  All in good time. What he IS doing quite successfully is sitting up!  As you can see from the pic, Gavin is a most excellent sitter!  This adds one more to the list of things that I have already deemed him to be "most excellent" at- spitting, hand sucking and singing falsetto.

Oh- and Gavin has a new favorite snack: paper.  Hide your post it notes, folks!  He's a man with a mission. 

Then & Now: Happy 6 months to my baby!

This post was a week in the making!  Mr. Gavin Levi Cox celebrated his 6 month birthday last Sunday, April 24th.  Growing up in the Jeffers family, a 6 month birthday, or a "half birthday" as we call it, is a BIG deal.  My mom would wake us up singing "Hap Birth to you!" (get it, folks, 1/2 of Happy Birthday) and that night we would celebrate with either cupcakes or half a cake.  Then- and only then- you could officially call yourself your age "and a half".  To this day, I know that I will always get either a phone call, text, or e-mail from- at the very least my mom, but sometimes a sister or two on August 25th- which is..you guessed it..my half birthday.

Well, Easter Sunday was Gavin's first "half birthday" which makes him officially zero and a half!  That morning, Matthew and I snuck in to wake Gavin up with his first "happy half birthday" wishes.  It reminded us of a Sunday morning not that long ago when we laid eyes on the greatest blessing God ever gave to us. 

THEN

This was the first picture ever taken of our little miracle, born on October 24th, 2010 at 9:46 am.  Sunday mornings at 9:46 will never be the same!  

NOW

Here is our little feller- just a tad bit older- waking up on his 6 month birthday.  I love his little squinty eyes first thing in the morning!  

THEN

After 19 1/2 hours of labor, Gavin Levi Cox FINALLY graced the world with his presence.  He was a labor of love for both his mommy AND his daddy.  This is the first sight I ever remember seeing of his little face- from the side though.  As soon as he was born, he had to be suctioned, but the nurse held him up to show me the face of the little person I'd been carrying for 9 1/2 months.  I remember seeing the side of his sweet little face and immediately thinking 1) he's actually cute 2) he actually has hair 3) he's actually here and fine and healthy.  Whew!

 NOW

If you can believe it, he's gotten even cuter since that first day.  Just so you know- I am totally going to be that embarrassing mother that shows off her baby's hiney.  IT IS SO ADORABLE!  He's so playful and has the sweetest little personality too....but oh, that sweet little hiney.... 

THEN

(one of ) Gavin's first picture with his daddy

NOW

Gavin and his daddy are pals for sure!  This picture also shows one of Gavin's new favorite activities: spitting.  I'm such a proud mommy!

THEN

Gavin's first picture with his mama.  (No rude thoughts please.  I must remind you that I had just endured 19 1/2 hours of DRUG FREE labor.  Apparently the last half hour was spent with a wash cloth on my head- not that I remember that part..but just keep that in mind when you see me looking afright.) 

NOW

How sweet is he- all GQ with his shirt unbuttoned and his cute little potbelly sticking out!   

 

THEN

My sweet little boy

NOW

My sweet little boy

THEN

Our first picture as a family

NOW

Our family of three 

I remember when I was pregnant wondering who this little person was that God was creating.  What will he look like?  What kind of personality will he have?  Even if someone had told me every single thing at that time, I could have never prepared for how amazing this gift actually is.  I could have never dreamed how big and blue his eyes would be, how sweet the little dimples in his hands would be, how my heart would melt when he breaks into his all out grin, the love I would feel when he reaches up to touch my face.  Some things you just have to know to believe!  

I hope the next 6 months doesn't fly by nearly as fast as the last 6 months.  It's a pleasure to be the mama of such a sweet little boy. Thank you, God.  How could I ask for more?