My Sweet Boy at 11 Months

Nolan is the sweetest little boy I could imagine. Yes, sometimes he's way more interested in playing with sister or his toys than giving mom and dad any attention. But other times he is content to sit on my lap and snuggle. I'm not gonna lie - I love me some baby Nolan attention!! A few nights ago, he started crying 30 minutes or so after we put both kids to bed. As the good, non-bad-habit-forming parents that we are, we let him cry for awhile in hopes he would go back to sleep. When it was clear this wasn't going to happen, Jason went and picked him up. Of course, the minute this happened, Nolan's frown turned upside down and he just started grinning. They learn to manipulate so fast!! But, I didn't care. I almost felt like he knew Bailey was in bed and wanted to take advantage of having both his parents at his disposal. He sat on the couch with us and went back and forth between the two of us, giving his sweet little baby kisses and hugs. He would put his head on my shoulder or in my lap and just smile up at me like he was having the time of his life. Soooo cute!!

We've also developed a new game around our house - it's called, "I love my sister." Bailey sits across the room and Nolan walks toward her and, once he's close, he puts his arms out to her and falls into a big Bailey bear hug. She, of course, loves this. Earlier today they did this over and over again until Nolan got tired of being squeezed. Then it was time for a different game where mom has to keep sister away from Nolan with a multitude of distractions or everyone has a meltdown....that's my favorite. Smile.

They have also returned to a game from Nolan's early days - Bailey pushing him around in her doll stroller. If you've been a long-time reader of this blog, you may remember pictures of this activity. If not, here's the recap: he didn't like it. Not one bit. Now, however, he "asks" her to play by finding the stroller and pushing it into her over and over again while whining. He can't get himself into the seat by himself, so he has to rely on one of us to get him ready for the ride. He is just happy as a clam to be strapped into that thing and pushed all over the house by his reckless 4-year-old sister. Yes, we supervise the activity.....mostly. Smile.

Here are some pics from trick-or-treating and a video of Nolan enjoying his first sucker. Yum!!

Bailey was really scared of this display!

Nolan carried his basket for exactly one minute.

Here's another video of his walking skills!

Finally, here's the soapbox portion of the program. I'm tired of two things: 1) people commenting on how small he is, and, 2) people thinking he's a girl. My frustration is not aimed at blog readers or commenters, mind you, but at random strangers and acquaintances we see as we go about our daily lives. On the size thing, yes he eats and yes, he's almost a year old. There's no need to question either of these facts just because he's smaller than YOUR kid/grandkid/sister's brother-in-law's babysitter's nephew. Thus far he and Bailey have tracked along at almost the same exact size. She's just a girl, so her percentage on the growth chart is quite a bit higher than his is as a boy. They were born at 7.13 and 21 1/2 inches (B) and 7.12 and 21 inches (N). At 9 months they were 16.14 (B) and 16.12 (N). We'll see how things go at 12 months....Bailey was 19.4. I don't think Nolan's gonna get there. It's just my suspicion after looking at pictures from Bailey's first birthday party this past week. But, Bailey's growth didn't get to the upper % levels until after 18 months. So, Nolan may still have a shot at a football career.

As for the other issue, I'm not sure I have an explanation for it. We've always thought Nolan looked very BOY, even from his earliest moments. However, I don't kid myself about the fact that it's often difficult to tell the sex of babies. However, he's almost a year now so the true baby thing is starting to wear off. He wears blue and other "boy" colors at all times....I do not put him in sweet little yellow outfits (not that there's anything wrong with that), so it's not like there's any ambiguity with his clothing. As for the hair, Jason has buzzed it with a "1" guard so, again, he's not a kid that has long flowing hair that would obviously make it hard for people to tell the difference. Heck, I don't know, maybe it's related to the size issue. I just know that 4 or 5 people just in the last month have commented on how "pretty she is." I don't really care much about it, really, I just periodically wonder what it is that makes people think "girl" when they look at him. Anytime someone says that, I just smile and say, "Yes, we think he is."

That's all for now....have a great week everyone!!

K

Baileyisms and Other Family News

Since Bailey was a wee little thing, I've been telling stories of the funny or interesting things she says. She had a vocabulary of about 10 words by her first birthday, so we've had a lot of time to comment on and laugh about her sayings. Now that she's 4, I feel like I have less and less funny stories about what she's said and more and more insightful ones. However, she was cracking me up this past week, so I feel compelled to share.

1. We were out shopping and she was trying to grab something from an upper shelf that she knew she really shouldn't pull down. Right about the time she wrapped her fingers around the item (imagine her on her tippiest tippy-toes), the loud speaker clicked on and a male voice said, "We need a manager at the register, a manager at the register please." Bailey immediately recoiled and burst into tears. I had no idea why, so I crouched down and asked her what was wrong. She said, "I don't want to get arrested, momma!!" After some more questions, it became clear that what she heard was, "We need a manager to arrest her, a manager to arrest her, please." We laughed about Bailey getting "arrested" for a good 2 hours afterward. So funny.

2. After having played with the neighborhood kids for a little while, Bailey ran over and told Jason that our neighbor Calli (who is 13) is pregnant. My husband couldn't hardly stand the news and sent me over to find out if it was really true. So, Bailey and I walked back over to the group of kids and I asked everyone what was going on. Callie, almost immediately said, "I'm running for president." She went on to talk about her junior high elections. At first I didn't make the connection, then quickly realized that Bailey had mistaken "president" for "pregnant." I had to have a talk with her about starting rumors!!! Needless to say, my husband is relieved and Calli is still a sweet little innocent 13 year-old girl.

3. Bailey and I went to Target and had our standard coke and popcorn date at the end of our shopping. I didn't notice, but a baby was crying around the corner. Bailey said, "Babies are so distractive." I said, "Destructive? Yeah, sometimes they tear things up, huh?" She sighed and said, "No, they're distractive and I can't concentrate." I laughed and corrected her that she meant distracting. Then, I told her that she needs to have patience with babies, though, because they don't know how to say words to ask for what they need so crying is how they communicate with people around them. Then I reminded her that Nolan might soon be saying his first words other than mama and dada. I asked, "What do you think his first word will be?" She thought for a minute and said, "I guess he might say refrigerator." After I choked on my drink a bit, I asked why she thought this. Her reply? "Well, he has to learn all the words in the whole world, so he might as well get that hard one out of the way." Makes sense, I suppose! :-)

I'm sure there are more stories I could tell, as she never ceases to amaze me with her thoughtfulness and wit (intentional and unintentional)!

Moving on.....Nolan is buzzing around the house like a man on a mission these days. He's finally decided that walking is a pretty good deal, but we have to face the consequences of daily face plants onto the tile, side of the coffee table, etc. Poor kid just keeps right on going, but definitely gets to a point where he's just ready for me to carry him around rather than face all the obstacles in our house!

He's also started to "say" things very emphatically, but we don't at all know what he means. He really only has a couple of consonant sounds that he uses regularly (he used to say more, but has settled on a few favorites over the past month or so) so, for instance, "ma ma" could mean me....or it could have a little different inflection and mean something like "yes, I know I'm not supposed to have this remote control that I'm about to deviously throw over the backside of the couch so you have to move the 300 pound couch to retrieve it just so I can find it and do the whole routine again." Or maybe that's just me. Smile.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. We had our church Fall Festival so the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes. Bailey is going to be Little Miss Muffett and Nolan is the spider (who sat down beside her!). He, however, refused to keep on his headpiece. He's still a cute little arachnid even without the headpiece.

We also spent some time at the zoo this weekend. Now, Jason and I had a deep discussion about whether or not Nolan had been to the zoo before. I know I took Bailey several days before he was born (hoping that the walking would push him on out), but I can't remember if he's been outside of my belly! In any case, he wouldn't have really been interested in the animals any younger than he is now. Not that he was all that interested this time. Here you can see that he gave the monkeys and the fish a second look, but that was about it!

Finally, I've included a couple of other pics and a short video from this past week. As you can see, my claim of the kids being obsessed with the computer is no exaggeration. Here they are both vying for their place in front of the screen. They don't realize that it's locked and their typing is doing nothing. :-)

What a great daddy!! Fingernail painting and everything...

Bailey doesn't usually sit in a baby swing...but, of course, since Nolan was swinging she had to do the exact same thing!

10 1/2 months: INTO EVERYTHING

Update: My hair is okay. Perhaps Bailey has already perfected the art of the razor cut, as I can't see any visible repercussions of last night's drama. In fact, I've had 3 people compliment my hair today.



So, Nolan is a little pill right now. While he's still a sweet baby, he is definitely showing us his precarious personality right now. He's so darn curious and is bound to get hurt one of these days during an escapade. If he's not crawling into a drawer, he's on top of the dishwasher door. If he's not pulling down my back door window treatment, he's knocking over a floor lamp. He is psycho about my computer and is in a "must punch as many buttons as possible" trance any time it's in use. Oh, and he's INCREDIBLY attracted to the plugs, something Bailey never even cared about for one second. And he complains when I don't do what he wants. But who the heck knows what he wants? He's a baby.



I realize he's discovering the world around him and learning about his place in it. And, of course, he's so stinkin cute that I just have to laugh at him.....right before I save him from busting his head open on the tile after crawling on top of a chair and then trying to jump off of it.



Here are just a couple of pictures from this week and a video where I finally captured him walking a few steps.




How do I use his love of the swiffer to my advantage? Perhaps I shall groom him to be the go-to flooring expert around the Cox household.

The Joys of Motherhood...

Betcha think by the title of this post that I'm going to go on and on about my wonderful children and how I couldn't imagine life without the little images of perfection.

WRONG.

So, I'm willing to bet some big money that I'm one of a handful of moms who've had their own child cut off all their hair with a razor.

Okay, so I'm being a little dramatic (read: a LITTLE), but I reserve the right to back down on the drama until I fix my hair tomorrow and see how much the chunks actually show. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Bailey really likes to take a bath with me and, hey, it's an efficient way to get our business taken care of. We play beauty shop most nights as the role play takes the focus off the fact that she hates to get her hair washed. When she washes mine first, there's not so much crying when I turn the tables on her.

So, earlier this evening we were going through our regular routine. She put a bunch of shampoo in my hair so I had my eyes closed as the soap was running down my face. I kept telling her to hurry up and she said she was going to "scratch it in" with an old toothbrush that she's long been using as a spoon to stir her bathtub concoctions. I squeezed open my eye to see where it was and caught a glimpse of her grabbing it. She started brushing my head with it and it felt really good. So, I just let her keep doing it. Finally I got kind of tired of the semi-burning in my eyes and told her to finish. She didn't want to, but I grabbed a cup and started pouring water over my head. When I reached up to brush my hair with my hands as the soap was washing out of it, I pulled away with a handful of hair. Now, I tend to lose hair pretty easily, but this was a little more than I was used to. I turned around and, as I was thinking, "I wonder why my hair is falling out so much?," I saw that Bailey had little short hairs all over her stomach (she had been standing behind me). Just as I was starting to process this information, I saw the razor in her hand. Then, I saw the terrified look on her face.

After I had finished pulling chunk after chunk of hair from my head, I began the just-as-they-teach-you-in-parenting-school screaming of "What were you THINKING??" She, of course, was very upset, but her big concern was that I didn't tell Jason. This always irritates me....can't she just be scared of ME??

As she was extremely upset and aware that she made a big mistake, we decided that her punishment should be to go to bed immediately after the bath. I've never seen her quite so upset with herself....she knew she shouldn't have been playing with the razor but she didn't ever imagine it would do any permanent damage. Poor girl. I almost feel a bit sorry for her. I'm sure that feeling will go away in the morning when I'm trying to fix my hair.

At least my scalp isn't bleeding. I don't think...

10 Months: Super Siblings!

So, the first thing I have to say is that some of y'all need to comment on these here posts. I hear all the time that Aunt Flora's best friend from 3rd grade Girl Scout camp reads my blog (names and situations have been changed to protect the individuals involved), so I know there are some lurkers. Don't get me wrong, I love lurkers!! But hey, every now and then a girl needs to know that her work isn't for naught. Can I get an amen?! And, mom, I do not accept that old, "I don't know how to post" excuse. No sirree. So, if you want the demise of this blog to be on your conscience....I'm just saying.

In all seriousness, life is pretty darn good for the Cox clan. Nolan is starting to climb...in things, over things, out of things (namely high chairs) onto things. You name it, he's gonna try it. Here are a couple of pictures and a short video to illustrate. The first pic is of the shower. It's not dirty, just wet from Jason having just been in it.





As siblings, Nolan and Bailey usually play very well together. That is, until Bailey gets too rough or Nolan gets one of her toys that she has clearly told him is off limits to him. She doesn't really understand that concept of BABY. She thinks he should be able to do exactly what she does. So, when she wants to play school and he doesn't sit on his spot like the student she has dubbed him, all heck tends to break loose. However, to her credit, she has created several games just for him and I enjoy watching them play together. They sound a little silly when I write them, but one of them is what she calls "slide diaper." This involves her chasing behind Nolan while he slides a new package of diapers across the carpet. She will also play "peek-a-boo" with him long past any normal adult's boredom/repetition alarm has sounded.

This weekend, they played together in the backyard for well over a half hour. Here are some pictures and a short video entitled "Fun With Siblings and Slides."

Note: No matter what I do, I cannot get this picture to rotate. Uggh!



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Both kids got haircuts this week. Nolan's hair was getting so long, especially in the back. But, I was afraid I would just screw it up at this point....unlike when he was smaller and his hair was thinner. But, after discussing our concerns about his ability to sit still for a stylist to cut his hair, we gave in and Jason got out his clippers. Yeah, it was difficult and I'm pretty sure it's far from perfect. But, at least it's done and it isn't embarrassing.

Bailey has been asking us for weeks to take her to get her hair cut "just like Katie's." Katie is her best friend from school. Katie also has chin-length hair (see below).

Bailey's hair is so pretty when it's brushed and fixed, but most days it just looks scraggly. So, Jason and I have thought about cutting it, but I could never bring myself to do it. I finally decided that, yes, she has her whole childhood to have long hair again. So, we took her today. She was so cute and acted so grown up at the salon. She didn't even ask me to go with her to the shampoo room. We didn't go quite chin-length, but we did cut a whole lot. She looks super cute, if I do say so myself.

I think one of the reasons why this made me sad is that each haircut is another step toward brown hair. Eventually her blond (Is that seriously the correct spelling?? Spellcheck says yes.) will be gone and that is a little hard for me. Not that there is anything wrong with brown - I love my brown hair - but I also had blond hair as a kid and the blond signifies young childhood to me. The darker her hair gets, the older that means she is. I think I was pretty dark by the time I was 7 or 8. Sigh. Why do kids have to grow up? Does anyone realize that I will be sending out Nolan's 1st birthday party invitations in exactly 5 weeks?? Say it ain't so......

We spent some time in downtown OKC this weekend. We had a nice time just strolling along the river. Nolan loves to be outside and Bailey loves to do new and interesting things. If you would have asked me 10 years ago if going to Bricktown on a Sunday afternoon to do, well, pretty much nothing was my idea of "interesting," I probably would have laughed. Now, it's just kinda nice. I love the picture of Jason and Bailey holding hands. Anyone with a daughter understands the special and complicated daddy/daughter relationship.




And, finally, here's a super cute video of Nolan playing peek-a-boo with me while I'm filming. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing!


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Nolan, Nolan, Bo-bolan: Pictures and Videos

We'll see if I can figure out this whole video thing. I decided I would try to capture a few things just on my camera (read: poor quality) to get some video on here. Maybe that will buy me some time to figure it out on my regular video camera. I told someone that when I start to read the directions, I just stare at the pages like they are written in some language I've never seen before. Then I get a strong urge to take a nap.


Here are a few random pics. Bailey has decided she's an amateur photographer so some of them happen to be taken by a 4 year-old. Not too bad, huh?

(Yes, he has a thing with toothbrushes!)

Okay, so some of you might think this video is mean. I mentioned his new reaction to the word no. If you can't hear my voice on the video, you'll still realize when I've said it. I promise you, no babies were permanently scarred in the making of this video.




Nolan has actually taken his first big boy steps on his own, but he's still in that stage where they are hard to catch. So, instead of independent walking, I give you some video of him with his walker. Now, what's interesting (to me) about this clip is that he's figured out how to adjust the walker when he runs into something. This is a new development, as he would previously just shove it against the wall (or coffee table, or human leg) over and over again until someone finally decided to go help him. The movements are not as obvious on this video but he usually is very forceful about his repositioning of the walker....he looks like he's vacuuming or mowing the yard. I say "good practice, son!" Okay, when I watched this, it's really dark....sorry! I'll try to turn on all the lights in the house the next time I want to get something on video.

Kendy Cox: An Off The Wall Review

Okay, so I WILL get those pictures up....along with some BIG, BIG news. But, while you're waiting, I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog about something that's been on my mind. Now, I'm gonna go all "serious Kendy" on ya'll, so feel free to discontinue reading this if that's not the Kendy you've come to know and love (smile).

See, the thing is that I am very conflicted about my love for "the teenage shows," as my husband has dubbed the likes of 90210, The Hills, Real World, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (okay, I was just joking about that last one!). I love me some teenage drama. However, I KNOW those shows are just lard for my brain, especially being a Christian and struggling daily with upholding the image of Christ through my actions. But, many times, I just watch because, well, I'm weak and it's fun. It's not heroin, folks.

But, I saw something on CSPAN as I was flipping through the channels on my way to MTV, VH1 or Bravo. You know Stephen Baldwin, the wayward Baldwin brother turned rehabilitated Christian? Now, I normally think of people like him as a bit more harmful than helpful. But, I admit that I haven't really listened to much of what he had to say before I got sucked into his speech on this particular t.v.-watching occasion. I wish I would have tuned in earlier in his speech because I was mesmerized. I'm not kidding - he was good.

His whole presentation was about how being a Christian today, especially in Hollywood, is the hardest battle there is. He began talking about the assault on our children, and the media's blatant disregard for family values. Here's where I get to the teenage show piece. He began talking about "Gossip Girl." Now, I haven't seen this show, but it's probably something I would secretly enjoy if I were to ever catch just one episode. Apparently, the marketers of the show have used the feedback from appalled parent groups to promote the show. Pretty clever from a marketing standpoint, but pretty gross when you're on the side of the fence reflected in this entry.

The first says "Every parent's worst nightmare" and pictures a young couple in a sexual embrace.

The second says "Mindblowingly inappropriate" and uses a visual of an older woman in bed with a teen.

The third shows a picture of a couple naked in a swimming pool with the words, "A nasty piece of work."

The last one has artwork that I don't remember but the letters, in large print, OMFG.

Stephen Baldwin lamented, "You can bet that doesn't stand for 'Oh my faith in God.' We've come to a critical point in our battle when a popular t.v. show is winning over YOUR children...those who've grown up in church and are trying to live the righteous life.....with the F word in front of the name of our Savior."

This speech made me think...and it made me shudder...and it made me pray.