Fathers Day: Then & Now

For those of you who believe that there is a holiday in between Mother's Day and the 4th of July that is intended to honor Fathers, you might be correct; however at our house we were a tad tardy this year.  I know, I know.  I hang my head in shame after the lovely Mothers Day that Matthew provided for me.  I do have good reason since we got home from our Cancun vacation on the real Fathers Day gave Matthew a "raincheck" for his Father's day festivities.  Granted, I didn't think that the rain check would have to be redeemed nearly a month and half later, but Matthew was celebrated none-the-less. 
THEN:
On the ACTUAL Fathers day, we did come home from vacation as stated before, but we also gathered with family to dedicate Gavin.  Our church held its Parent/Baby dedication meant to celebrate our commitment to raising Gavin in a Godly home.  Cox and Jeffers family members came to support us and Gavin was the man of the hour. 

The dedication focused around two questions that we as parents were to ask ourselves.  When Gavin leaves the house in 18 years, what kind of person do we want him to be and what are we doing today to help him become that person. 

Matthew and I answered the first question that we want Gavin to 1) know who God is and 2) know who he is in Christ.  We have claimed Psalm 71:17-18 as verses for Gavin's life.  They say:

"Since my youth, O God you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old and gray,  do not forsake me, O God.  Till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."

NOW:

Fast forward a month and a half.  This past Friday we decided to celebrate Fathers Day...I must say it was mostly a disaster and mostly because of me.  I got Matthew a gift that was the wrong size and color...and I attempted to make him a homemade gift that no one on the face of the earth should ever have to see.  In fact it's made it's way to the trash and after trash day on Monday morning, we should feel rather confident that no one will ever have to view the calamity that was Matthew's 2011 Father's Day gift.  Let's just say that after this, I have made a convenant with Matthew to never to attempt DIY-ness ever again.  I offered to paint him a rainbow to symbolize this covenant, but all paint brushes, paint and art supplies have been removed from the Cox household. 

We did manage however to have a fun day despite my poor gift giving skills. We headed to the golf range bright and early before the day had the chance to peak into the triple digits.

There, Gavin and I played while Matthew drove ranges..or whatever the technical term is for what you do at the driving range.  Gavin had a great time and has a new appreciation for all things golf. 

Despite the late and not-so-perfect day (yes, I am returning the badly bought gift and replacing the made gift with a non-made gift) we did what Fathers Day was intended for: celebrating the wonderful father that Matthew is to Gavin.  I must take a moment to brag on my hubby. 

Matthew has been a wonderful dad from the word "go!" He fully embraced his role and has been not only an amazing support to this scatter brained and emotional mommy, but has been a loving and caring daddy to a son that I know he loves with all of his heart. In a world where daddy's don't often embrace their role and choose to be absent, whether literally or figuratively, I am overwelmed by a teammate that is there for his son.  There is nothing too great or too small that he will help in.  I look back since day one on him being there at every dr's appointment when I was pregnant, sitting with me through every contraction when I was in labor and waking up with me at every feeding when Gavin was first born.  Not only is he there for us, which is half the battle, but he's daily doing things in his life to make himself a better husband and father to help Gavin become a Godly man that loves Jesus too.

Which brings this blog full circle, the items in the "then" portion are more likely to be accomplished by a daddy who depicts the traits of a Godly man in the "now" portion.  I am happy that Gavin has a daddy that he can look up to and that loves him as a father should love a son. 

But that does remind me...I think I still have to get my own dad a present...

9 Months

We have reached Quarter 3 for Gavin's first year.  I have noticed myself rounding to the year by telling people that Gavin's almost 1!  I'm going to stop that immediately as Gavin is getting way too big as it is.  We're trying to remedy that by having him take his morning nap with a brick on his head and stomach.  So far it isn't working and he's growing as fast as ever...especially in the tummy area.  (Note: for those of you with DHS on speed dial, please note the facetiousness in my writing tone.  He sleeps according to the American Academy of Pediatrics standards in a brick free sleeping environment) 

I'm not going to lie- the calendar picture taking is becoming increasingly harder.  To get him to A) stay in an actual pose and B) not play with the calendar is a challenge that greater a woman than I might be able to master.  BUT the point of the calendar pic is to show how big he has gotten and what he's doing developmentally, so hopefully we've still captured that this month.  I'd like you to pay special attention to the development of his inner thigh fat roll- it's quite impressive. 

Gavin is pulling up like a crazy man these days and can even stand against a flat surface like a wall or refrigerator.  He has had a few brief milliseconds where he has removed both hands from anything and was a free standing man.  I have a feeling month 10 will be big in that area. 

Gavin also loves walking...but only with an assisting device.  As you can see from the pictures below (and sorry from detering from my usual "calendar only" picture format for this post, but the second picture shows this way better than the first) he loves to walk, but only if he's pushing something along.  If we try to stand him up and walk with him in the traditional "teaching kid to walk" pose, his feet won't even plant on the ground. 

 

In other developmental areas, Gavin is eating well...clearly.  He likes anything and everything we put in front of him.  He's eating meat, fruits, veggies, rice...you name it.  It's starting to be fun that he can have little bites of what we're eating too.  He's a big fan of that. 

Another huge development this month had more to do with mommy than with Gavin, but our family has been blessed beyond measure with another job opportunity for me!  The job I have now is far more conducive to being a mother and having work/life balance, both in time and the nature of the job/people that I work with and for.  I can't even tell you what an unspeakable gift that has been in our lives.  God is so good.   

Today's moment of mommy nostalgia: It seems like only yesterday Gavin was a tiny little fragile thing and Matthew and I were scared to bring him home from the hospital. 

Today he's a hearty little guy with a personality and cuteness and smartness and over-all amazingness.  What a wonderful God we have that He would give us breath and life and being along with a heart and mind and emotions to take it all in with.  Some of us He might have given more emotions than others :), but nonetheless, it's an amazing gift!    

A pig-horse? That's silly!

Confession: one of the reasons that Matthew and I had kids was so that we could get one of these for our house-

Apparently it's a law or part of the "Code for being a parent in North America" handbook.  EVERY parent that we know has this toy on their refrigerator.  And I LOVE it!  For those of you who don't have kids- or are living outside of the parent handbook law- this is how the toy works.  It's made up of 5 animals' heads and tails magnetic pieces: a horse, sheep, cow, chicken and pig.  You (or your child) puts the pieces that you desire into the farm house and press it.  If you get a match, the toy will sing this:

"You made a match, look what you did.."

BUT if you make a non- match...say perhaps that you put a duck head in with a cow tail, as Gavin has so keenly illustrated for us below:

the song will go something like this:

"You put a duck in front

You put a cow behind

Put them together and what do you find?

A duck cow?

That's silly!!"

For some reason, that song has brough me hours of enjoyment and I am gleeful at the idea of putting together a chickpig or a cowduck...really the possibilities are endless!!  Gavin is quite enjoying the toy as well, although the pieces have spent more time in his mouth then putting together duckpigs...but that's probably because the toy was intended for 12 months+, we're just starting him early, like a pre-AP Leap Frog kid!

I know, I know...that's silly!

A day in the life: big boy baths, minced meat and someone's first haircut

It's officially happened!  Our stinky little boy has gotten too stinky for his little baby bathtub!  Gavin, who I affectionately refer to as "Stinky" (it's okay, he doesn't mind) has graduated to the big boy bathtub!  Last Sunday night we tried it out and I do believe he's here to stay

Is this face stinky or what? 

   He started out mellow...but that lasted for about 30 seconds.  As soon as he realized that he had all that water to splash in, our boy was off and running...or I guess "off and crawling" would be more appropo.   

This kid has about 15 bath toys, but the two biggest hits of the evening- which I might add have remained big hits for all subsequent baths to date- are this pink sting ray plastic fish thingy...and the drain stop.  Oh yes- the drain stop.  In fact, Gavin grabbed ahold of the drain stop and could not stop laughing.  Apparently it's a pretty funny drain stop. 

And Sunday night was only the beginning of this week's adventures.  Monday night brought two new milestones: Gavin's first time to eat meat and his first hair cut!  I know, I know...how can you cram all of that action into one night? Well, we just did...

If someone had told me even a few months ago that someday I would be eagerly preparing ground turkey,  pureeing it and then mixing it with applesauce, I would have told you that you were nuts.  To go so far as to say that I would be taking pictures of it and considering it a milestone would just be...well, even nuttier I guess.  But that's exactly what we did on Monday night. 

Check out the luscious goodness of pureed ground turkey.  Mmm mmm good.  (There's a little bit of asparagus and rice on the spoon too- don't worry, our turkey isn't turning green).

I think Gavin's first taste of meat was a hit...it doesn't appear not to be anyways... 

And just when you thought our lives couldn't get any more exciting...Monday night held yet another surprise: Gavin's first haircut (if you didn't know that was coming, then you didn't read the title of my post!)

Gavin was a big fan of the robot cape.  We're going to have to keep to have to keep that in mind for his birthday!

My friend Leslie who also cuts my hair did the honors of giving Gavin his first hair cut.  She did a great job!

There was one slight challenge: Gavin wanted to watch the trimmers in action.  I don't think he quite got the concept of looking ahead while the stylist does her magic. 

 Nonetheless, Leslie was up for the challenge and Gavin got a great hair cut.  His sweet little face looks even chubbier..and it's nice to be able to see the tops of his ears again. 

And those were the adventures that ensued on our Sunday and Monday nights of this week. Don't be jealous of our wild and crazy lives, folks.  Not everyone can be this adventurous.

Outtakes

As you can probably tell, one of our new favorite passtimes from the past 8 months has become taking pictures of Gavin Cox...much to the detriment of our computer's memory space and those of you who read this blog that are nauseated by all of our picture taking (to which I might reply, "Why did you click on the link?")  What you might be surprised to find out is that Matthew and I are NOT professional photographers (gasp!) and Gavin is NOT a professional baby model (double gasp) which means that from time to time we have the occassional outtake photo that doesn't quite make it to the blog...but today it does becuase this blog post is called "outtakes!"  This post also includes helpful tips for when you want to get that perfect shot! Photographers, take heed.

Warning: the following photo is not meant for the weak stomach or the faint of heart.  What was meant to turn out like this:

Somehow turned out like this:  

I guess the moral of that story is not to do photo shoots on a full tummy.

j

Some other rules of thumb might include not doing photo shoots when you're sleepy

or sneezy

Or busy chewing on your jacket

Also- do not be surprised if occassionally a picture is taken with someone's arm down someone else's shirt.

That's completely normal.

j

Last but not least:

If you are in the picture with Gavin, your one mission, your task...your sacred duty...is this:

JUST  

KEEP  

SMILING 

No matter what Gavin does

Where he looks

or what face he makes 

just look ahead with a smile on your face.

You do NOT want to be the one that makes the picture an outtake when Gavin finally does decide to get the perfect shot. 

Because that's just embarrassing.