Crimmas!

So here are the first pics from Sadie's first Christmas. This is the Cox family Christmas, because Mandi was a lot quicker at uploading her pictures than I am.

Coincidentally, if you're looking for someone to do some professional photography for you, Mandi is the best. She's got a great portfolio. You can check her out at www.tfbpro.com. Seriously, check it out.

Anyways, Christmas was such a great time with Sadie and with our families. It started on Sunday, with us spending Christmas Adam (apparently that's a real thing. Didn't know it until that day) with my family at my Mom and Dad's. Steph stayed at Mom and Dad's house with my mom, and Kyle, Hillary and myself went with my dad to help with the Christmas services at the Alzheimer's unit and Nursing home where Dad is the Campus Administrator and Chief Ministry Officer. That was a lot of fun. We sang a few Christmas Carols and Dad talked for a few minutes at the Alzheimer's unit, then we repeated that and added a longer sermon at the nursing home. We headed home after that and ate breakfast for lunch. Sausage casserole, eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage gravy, all that healthy good stuff that goes with Christmas.
After lunch, it was present time. Sadie got first dibs (and coincidentally, the most presents) and she loved unwrapping presents. Now, it wasn't because she wanted the present. It was because she wanted to eat the paper. Sadie got a table thing that helps her stand up and plays music and a bunch of other stuff, she got a ton of outfits (cutest thing: Carhart overalls so she can match daddy) and a blanket that Kyle and Hillary made that smelled just awesome. After unwrapping presents, we spent the rest of the day and evening just hanging out and enjoying each others company. It was a lot of fun, and quite relaxing. I'll have a video and some pictures of that soon.

Monday we took it easy in the morning and then headed to my grandmother's house for lunch. We ate barbecue and then opened presents. We didn't stay there very long, but it was great to see my grandparents and aunt and uncle. Again, Sadie loved opening the presents.

Christmas Day was spent at the Cox Family Farm. I'll post more details about that shortly, but here are some pics to tide you over.

Sadie absolutely loves when we read to her. It captivates her.

 She also loves dogs. She hasn't figured out the gentle thing yet, it's more like grabbing until the dogs run away.

 What would Christmas be without a little hunting? This was killed by uncle Bryan

 SANTA!!!!

And a Sadie photobomb. With uncle Marcus and uncle Bryan

Photo Dump!

Alright, this is the first in a series of photo dumps. I'll be posting a ton of pictures over the next few days to mark the past few months.

As an update, Sadie is now standing up with great ease and is getting ever so close to crawling. She can get on all fours and sort of rock, so it's only a matter of time. Maybe she'll learn this week and can be crawling in time to spend Christmas on Sunday with Grammy and Papa John. 

She's getting more and more active, pulling on us to stand up. She's also reaching out for us and other familiar faces.

We had our first sick days over this past weekend. I've been working backstage at the Nutcracker at Carolina Theatre, and so Steph's been on her own for the past couple of weeks. Sadie got sick on Saturday and was pretty fussy and throwing up a lot. Steph had a gig at the Vino shoppe, so I got home from the theatre and let her go straight to the Shoppe. I hate I missed it, but Sadie was not up to going out anywhere.

Anyways, here are some pics!

My birthday weekend: Chateau Morrisette

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Sadie on the weekend we got our Christmas Tree (12/3/12)

Alan's having a new porch build at the farm. The wood in the background is the old porch.

The two most beautiful women in the world.

Uncle Marcus and Me. Hamming it up.

Mandi's birthday party, the second weekend of September 2012

Trying out new camouflage at the tree farm.

Updates

Man, I'm behind. So much has happened over the past few weeks, and I don't have that many pics right now. They're all on our camera instead of our iphones, so it takes forethought and planning to get them on the blog. They will come, they will come.

Just a few quick updates to tease the pictures that will be here soon.

Thanksgiving was a huge success. The Vernon and Cox families all got together at our house for one huge Thanksgiving meal. We had 16 people there, and it was a ton of fun. We'll have to do it again next year.

Sadie was baptized on Sunday the 25th of November. It was a huge deal for us and a very meaningful and deeply significant thing.

We went to Sparta this past Sunday and got our first Christmas tree with Sadie. She loved being outdoors, and she loves looking at the tree.

Sadie turned 6 months old on 11/24. Her 6 month checkup showed that she weighs 17 pounds and is 25 inches tall. She's a growing girl!

She had her first chiropractic visit as well. She does this thing when she's focusing on something where she tilts her head and bends to one side. It's pretty funny looking, but we wanted to make sure her neck wasn't bothering her or anything. Looks like everything's ok for now.

Sadie has started standing up with our help. When she's laying down, we hold her hands and say, "Ready Ready!" and she pulls up. She's been doing this for quite a while, but just to get to the sitting up position. Now she's pushing off when she gets to the fully upright position, and she can push all the way to standing. She's still not crawling, but the doctor said that's because we never put her down. She kicks her legs and moves her arms, but she can't figure out how to get that belly off the ground. I put her on all fours last night, but she kept sticking her butt in the air so she could stand up.

She's growing so fast, it's crazy. We're getting into the initial stages of stranger anxiety, she's excited when she sees familiar faces, and she's saying her first words. So far, we've got Mama and Nana. She's making sounds that will lead to Papa (both her grandfathers are called Papa), but no "D" sounds yet. I guess I'll have to wait for Dada. All I know is that this Christmas is going to be awesome.

As I said, more to come. But that's what's going on in our lives. And, what would a post be without any pictures?

Here's our Christmas Tree. I think we got a little over zealous with the whole "this is Sadie's first Christmas tree" thing. It's by far the largest tree we've ever bought, at about 8 feet tall. We had to buy more ornaments because we didn't have enough!

And here's Sadie practicing her face that she'll use when I tell jokes. Clearly, she is not amused.

And finally, the many faces of Sadie Grey, as taken by Nanny Kate



Not Middle Earth

Don't let the picture fool you. My daughter is not a Hobbit. It's all about perspective. And yes, she thinks the fact that Tom Bombadil wasn't in the LOTR movies was a complete travesty.

Winning Hearts

Steph, Sadie and I went to High Point First Wesleyan for the first time in several years this past Sunday. Our friends Geoff and Beth's daughter was getting dedicated. It was a different experience to be at a church that I grew up in but haven't been to in so long. A lot of time has passed since then, so it was interesting to be there.
After church, we went with my mom and dad and my grandparents to Madd Greek for some lunch. It's awesome food, if you haven't eaten there. The combination platter is amazing.
Anyway, Sadie took the opportunity to melt my dad's heart even more than she already has. The proof is in the pictures. I think Papa John is smitten.

If he wasn't sold before that, he is now.

And just because this made me wonder where we're going as a country, take a look at this shop I saw yesterday on my way back from UNC Charlotte.

Window Tinting and Tattoo? Awesome.



And, since Steph didn't like the layout I chose last week, I'm going to be experimenting with other looks for the blog. So bear with me. Thanks for reading this. I know there are only a few of you, but thanks.

Public Service Announcement

These are your dogs before you have children and you have time to comb out their beards and their fur.

These are your dogs after you have children and you don't comb out their beards and take them to the groomer after 6 months.

Any questions?

Poppy and Peter

Friday night, November 2nd, Steph and I received a call at 9:45 from Mandi. She told Steph that Poppy (their grandfather) had passed away. Poppy had dealt with Pneumonia earlier in the week, but on Friday appeared to be back at 100%. He woke up happy and ate lunch and dinner, but after dinner things seemed to turn around quickly. He passed away peacefully with Alan, Mandi and Melody close by, and he died at the farm.

Poppy was a wonderful grandfather and Godly man, and Stephanie and all her siblings absolutely loved he and Nana. They were incredibly giving, wonderful people. Nana preceded Poppy in death by almost 3 years to the day, and I sincerely regret that Sadie will not remember them. I have these pictures of Poppy and Sadie from a couple of months ago. From the time Poppy found out we were pregnant, he said he prayed every day that he would get the opportunity to see Sadie before he was gone. Well he got that, and I have to say that watching him dote on Sadie and light up every time he saw her was great. He truly loved her, and I believe he would have given her the world if he could.

Steph was extremely close to Nana and Poppy, as she served as their caretaker for a while in the months before Nana passed away. Poppy had a stroke about 25 years ago and lost the use of his left hand and leg, so he's been dependent on others for a while. After Nana died, Alan and Melody decided that they would take care of him for as long as they were able. As I said earlier, I believe he was able to "go home" the way he would have wanted, at the farm and surrounded by those he loves. I wish we could have been there, as a family gathering was planned for the very next day. But he got to spend time holding Sadie the weekend before, so it was good that he saw her.

Steph had a very tight bond with Nana and Poppy, so these losses in just a small three year window are especially poignant. We will have a graveside service tomorrow in Morganton, where Poppy served as pastor to a Baptist church many years ago. It will be tough to see Nana's grave and realize that Poppy's really gone too.

All that to say, we miss you Poppy. You were a wonderful grandfather who was a great example of how to love.

On a more, "Did this really just happen?" mode, our cat Peter ran away 2.5 weeks ago. He was an anniversary gift 4 years ago, and he's been a fat, contented house cat who was scared of the outdoors for most of those 4 years. One night 2.5 weeks ago, Peter ran out the front door as I was letting the dogs out and we hadn't seen or heard from him. We put out flyers, drove and walked the neighborhood trying to find him,, but to no avail. I was ready to chalk it up to him being dead or living in some sort of cat colony that Andrew Lloyd Weber would write a musical about.

Well, tonight (serendipitously the night before we say our last goodbye's to Poppy) I was taking the hose off the spigot on the back of the house when I heard a cat meow. I turned around, and sitting on our back porch was Peter. He's skin and bones and has a lot of ticks on him, but as soon as I picked him up he started purring as loud as I've ever heard him. We've got him in the bathroom now with bowls of food and water, just in case he's got fleas or something else we need to keep away from the dogs.

It's just amazing sometimes how the timing of things happens.

It's a bad pic of Pete, but we were a little excited.

Lucky

I love these two. Very Much.

Halloween

Pics of Sadie from this week. And yes, this is about as festive as it gets for her this year. Sorry, no costume. Just a toboggan from Nina and a onesie that says My First Halloween. The shot of Sadie and Kate confirms that Sadie is definitely a Cox.

 Sleeping this morning before I left for work

Boscoe keeping Sadie warm. Actually, I think he just wanted to lay on the bed and Sadie happened to be there, but it's the thought that counts.

Resemblance?

I wonder whose daughter she is...

 Steph

Sadie

The farm

Sadie went on her first trip to the Waffle House this past weekend, and while we were out, we decided to keep driving and headed up to the farm for a couple of hours. We're trying out new ways of getting to the farm, finding the best back roads to get there. There are some beautiful scenes out in the middle of nowhere, and we want to find as many as we can.

I helped Alan plant a tree for Melody, and Sadie spent some time sitting in the yard looking at the animals that would come close enough. She is just enamored with dogs, chickens, anything that moves. She laughs at them, watches them intently and tries to touch them if they get close.

As you can see below, she's really mastered the art of sitting up. It's her new favorite pastime. She sits in the floor and plays with her toys. Her struggle now is if she throws the toys out of her reach. She'll lean forward to get the toy and just keep going, face planting into the blankets or pillows we have around her. We laid her on her stomach last night and she started kicking really hard. As soon as she figures out what to do with her arms, I think she's going to be crawling all over the place.

The turkeys in the background of the pics are supposed to be our Thanksgiving Dinner, but we'll see what happens. They started out with 6 turkeys, and only two have made it. Raccoons, sickness, and other things (Chupacabra maybe) got the others. The tom (male) is always puffed up and gobbles at the slightest provocation. The hen is very friendly and let us touch her.

Anyways, just some pics of fun at the farm

Maggie, Sadie, Steph, Tom.

5 months (almost)

Alright, it's been a week or so since my last update. I need to put some photos up and some memories before we forget them.

Sadie is growing bigger and bigger and showing us new responses/knowledge/learnings every day it seems. Recently, she started clicking her tongue. The other morning she woke up and just started clicking away like it was her job. We mentioned it to Kate (who watches Sadie Monday through Wednesday). Kate said that's what she does to get Sadie to laugh, so Sadie has learned how to do it from observation. It's great and amazing to see how much she really observes, and how she puts it into practice.

She also has found a new friend. Herself. Kate took this picture last week of Sadie sitting in front of the mirror in our bathroom. Sadie would look at herself, raise her arms, then lower her arms, and repeat. She seemed fascinated by this other person doing exactly what she was doing.

Sadie's also getting stronger and stronger in terms of her ability to balance, sit up, and stand up (with our help, of course).

Parts of her personality and who she is are definitely starting to show through. She often gets in her "serious mode" as we call it, and it's clear that she's just observing the world around her. She watches and takes in everything she can with this stoic look on her face. She was like that at the Dixie Classic fair this past weekend. We went to see her Godparents, Bobby and Nicole in a show that they had put together. It was an ice skating show with the skaters dressed up as dogs. Sadie watched the whole thing very seriously, wouldn't take her eyes off it. She stayed that way as we went through the livestock buildings, walked down the midway with all the games, and didn't break her concentration until we got in the car. She's a smart girl, if I do say so myself. Below is her serious face while we watched the ice skating.



And here's a family shot from the fair as well.



So, on a personal note, I'm doing my darndest to lose some weight. I gained way too much when Steph was pregnant, and now it's a struggle to get it off again. I'm doing a hybrid of P90X and Insanity from Beachbody which is kicking my butt. I also have to watch what I eat more than I ever have before. For the first time, I'm really realizing how much more difficult it is the older I get. When I first did P90X, I didn't give a crap about the diet plan and I still lost a ton of weight and got ripped. Now I have to be so much more careful, and I'm honestly not used to it. It's taking a lot of adjusting and habit changing. All that to say that as a challenge for myself, my brother and my dad, we've all three registered to run in the Rugged Maniac 5k in Asheboro on April 20th. I know it's pretty far in advance, but it gives me time to get back in fighting shape. It should be a lot of fun. As I'll be thirty next year, I plan on doing the Rugged Maniac in April, the Warrior Dash in June and the Tough Mudder in September, right before I turn 30. It's my way of telling 30 to kiss my butt. So there, I've put in out in the interwebs. That means I have to do it now. I'll try to update with progress as I have things to talk about.

Anyways, here's a picture of Sadie in her workout clothes. I was getting ready for a run and wanted to put this on her. No lie, 2 minutes after I took this picture she had a huge blowout and we had to change her clothes. Huggies are the worst diapers in the world.

And finally, here's a picture from this morning. Usually in the mornings I spend some time with Sadie after Steph leaves for work. She goes to sleep and then I get ready for work. This morning, she wasn't quite asleep and I was running late. So I put her on the bed with her pacifier and some toys and jumped in the shower. Halfway through my shower, she starts screaming and crying like crazy. So I wrap up my shower pretty quickly and run to calm her down. As soon as I picked her up and put her against my chest, she let out a loud sigh and went right to sleep. Cutest, heart meltingist thing in the whole world.

I love my daughter. Again, pic from this morning. The beginning of Serious Sadie. The drool is an added extra.