Cohen's first smile and other pics...

" Sloppy Joe, Sloppy Sloppy Joes"....the Lunchroom Lady-land song floods my head as I strive to make creative lunches for my toddler...this is an idea I got from a mail-out I received recently. Banana + peanut butter + whole grain hotdog bun = smiles all around. This was a fun lunch...thought I would pass it on to my fellow mommies.

The men in my life.....They were so cute, lying there tandem on the sofa watching the tube. Love them! They both had on their little striped polos, too.

Is there anything sweeter than SLEEPING children! So peaceful....my babies after a hard day of play. The only thing wrong with this picture...they are in our bed! There were 4 in the bed and the little one said, roll over! Thank you Lord, for our King sized bed:)

My chunky monkey at 2 months. Sweet baby!

This boy absolutely LOVES his mobile. We can lay him in the crib and turn it on and he immediately smiles. When it stops, he will fuss a bit until we wind it up again. It has cute little animals, including a fox of course!

Cohen has started to smile and coo....so cute! He is 2 months old now and weighs 14 lbs! He is a healthy little thing:)

This picture says it all...Rylie would be content squeezing her little brother all day long. I have to limit the "squeeze" time each day. She likes to say, "Mommy, can I pet him?" I suppose he is a bit like a little pet to her. She adores him!

Rylie and Stewart displaying their hands after working on the truck in the garage. We love "Goop" at our house....great for getting grease off hands both large and small! Just last night I saw a commercial for Arm and Hammer detergent with OxiClean and I yelled out "THAT STUFF IS GREAT!" Stewart looked at me in astonishment and commented on how old we were getting when I got really excited over detergent! HAHA! I could be their spokesperson, what with all the grease and baby poop that stuff has cleaned lately!

4 generations of Foxes....love those pics!

Cohen James relaxing on the sofa at 1 month....such a sweetie. Yesterday he pooped on me and this morning he peed on my pillowcase while I was changing him on the bed. Surprise attacks from my wee boy...gotta be on your toes with this one.

Baby Cohen and my first outing with 2 kids:)

He's here! May 16th little Cohen James made his appearance, a day before I was scheduled to be induced, weighing in at 8lb 3oz and 20 inches, about 2 1/2 weeks before his actual due date! Praise be to God the Father for this healthy baby boy! We thank you Lord for our two beautiful gifts from above! A more doting sister you would be hard pressed to find than our little Rylie...she LOVES her brother! He is smothered in hugs and kisses daily and if you come to see us, she will likely ask you to wash your hands! Her current favorite past-time is "petting" Cohen, as she likes to say!

As I write this entry, it is early afternoon, and already I have been pooped on, peed on (twice) and showered in a bit of spit-up. I have just finished bathing Cohen and showering, and he is now eating for the ump-teenth time today as I type left-handed and juggle him. You can seriously set your watches by his feeding schedule...precisely every 2 hours, although we are working on trying to stretch that out a bit (all you Baby-wise followers give me a break!) He had already packed on over 1 pound and 2 inches in length by his due date...so we are doing well. He is good natured, except when pushed past feeding time, so I can't complain!

My first outing was to the pediatrician, with both children scheduled for well-visit check ups, Cohen's being his 2 week. I was flying high, ready to conquer this task alone as a mommy of two now! We sailed through the appointment, even arriving on time, and then the Dr. called in some vitamins for Cohen, to be picked up at our preferred pharmacy, ours being Target. So off we went, new sit-n-stand stroller in tow! I loaded up the kiddos and headed inside, making a quick detour to the gym clothes that were on sale. After selecting a few items that looked promising, it was off to the fitting room where I encountered my first obstacle. You CANNOT get that double stroller into the handicapped fitting room, so I resorted to unstrapping the car seat and carrying Cohen while guiding Rylie along beside me. After being brought back to the reality of seeing that I had not bounced back to my former glory after a mere 2 weeks (imagine that?!?) of giving birth, I returned all the spandex but one item to the fitting room attendant and headed over to the pharmacy. Just as I approached, Cohen started his engine, letting me know there was about to be a full-scale screech if I did not get him to the milk pronto. So, I told the pharmacist I had to make a quick detour and headed back to the fitting room. This time, I extracted Cohen from his seat and grabbed Rylie and my purse in one faille swoop and off we went, with a quick smile to the attendant, asking if I could borrow a fitting room. As we whisked by she nodded with a smile as if to say "better you than me" and we procured the nearest room, which incidentally did not lock . This was to be discovered moments later, when Cohen was securely latched and someone burst in to catch a quick glimpse of me sitting with my baby nursing and my toddler salivating over her bag of jelly beans that I would not let her eat until we had them weighed and paid for. It was about that time that Rylie started what I like to call the pee-pee dance and started shouting " Mommy, I 've got to go potty!" To this, I quickly detached Cohen and sailed out of the fitting room, grabbing the stroller and heading to the nearest bathroom, which was occupied. I began saying (rather loudly) "HOLD ON BABY, SOMEONE IS IN THERE!" and soon they got the hint and came out. We went inside, and I quickly reattached the baby to resume feeding, while grabbing my toddler and gingerly placing her on the strategically placed strips of tissue on the toilet seat. We finished up and washed our hands and headed out, determined to go straight to the pharmacy and grab our vitamins and go home. Upon arriving, our pharmacist said "oh, about that..." and proceeded to tell us that they didn't carry that kind and I would need to go to CVS or the like. Oh, yes, and I forgot to mention, when selecting the said jellybeans, Rylie first choose some seemingly harmless gummy bears coated in sugar. I told her she could eat ONE and she popped it into her mouth. About three isles later I looked down to see her eyes, like big brown saucers, looking up at me and watering profusely. About the same time, I could smell the cinnamon and putting 2 and 2 together deduced that those were in fact red-hot-cinnamon bears instead of gummies. Luckily I had ice water with me and we put out the flame and went back to choose the less offensive-to-your-senses yellow jelly beans. We went to pay for the few groceries we had procured and left the store. After a quick jaunt into Walgreens to get the vitamins, we headed home and it was then that I discovered that one bag of groceries had been left at Target, paid for! So much for super-mommy status! :)

What's been going on....

I had a fabulous Mother's Day with my two favorite people, Rylie and Stewart of course! They had the most beautiful bouquets of roses, one large white bouquet and one from our private collection that grows on a trellis on the side of our house. They bloom every year around Mother's Day, so it is tradition that some of those are harvested in addition to the store-bought roses! Stewart's first attempt at making French toast proved to be successful...yum! They also had a sweet card in which Rylie drew a smiley face and a gift certificate to a local spa!! Wonderful! Thanks, you two, for a special day! The picture above is Rylie showing off the painting I did for my Mom for Mother's Day....

Here is our girl applying some of Mommy's lipstick that she found in the bathroom! Can't leave them alone for a second!

Rylie's first dance recital....she proudly got on stage and performed with her peers, however, by the time the recital started we had been there for 3 hours practicing and prepping, so she was pretty much exhausted and over the whole thing! She did great though...I was so proud of her for getting up there and she was the youngest in her class!

A lovely side-view of my gia-normous belly! I am all set to deliver Monday if he doesn't appear before then:)

My latest craft.....I give credit to Kelly Martin for posting a link to this cute and easy craft on her blog (thanks, kelly!). I promptly went to Lowe's and got supplies and voila.....new coasters! My old ones were a bit worse for the wear anyway:)

Have a great weekend and keep us in your prayers....baby Cohen will be here soon!

Stop by Starbucks May 7th-May 16th to get a Frappuccino blended beverage for half price! Happy hour last from 3-5 pm. Go here for more information. Yum! I would be all over this one if it weren't for the retched gestational diabetes! Maybe they have something decaf/sugarfree??? Anyway, props to SouthernSavers.com for the info. I love that site.....

Speaking of, this has been a good week for grocery shopping at Publix...I spent $54 and some change and saved almost $55 with coupons and sales. Even scored some free lunch meat, deoderant and neosporin:) If you go to this site, this week is BOGO on Sarah Lee bread and there are tearpads in the store that make your bread about .25-.30 cents a loaf if used with the online coupon. Happy Couponing!

Stewart decided to put the environmentally safe sticky traps in the back yard to catch little critters (aka chipmunks, which he hates). Before you say how nice that is to catch and release them, I am pretty sure he has plans for their demise upon capture. The other traps just weren't working! Today Rylie and I went in the backyard and there was a SNAKE caught in the sticky mess! I promptly called my hubby and he came home, got it out and concluded that it was not poisonous and released it down the street in a wooded area....hmmmm. Now THAT I wouldn't have minded if he killed off. The irony!

I had a OB appt. today....all is well with my little (maybe not so little) man. He is scheduled to make his appearance May 21, God-willing, via induction. Please keep us in your prayers. God is great and faithful to complete the good works he has started in us! I speak for all of the Fox family to say we are getting excited to meet Cohen:)

Rylie has her first dance recital Saturday....they are the cutest little things you have ever seen, all dressed up in their flower costumes! The routine may be a little rusty, but their cuteness makes up for their precision! Pictures will follow....

Have a great weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day....Children are a blessing from the Lord! Thank you, God!

The last few weeks...

We are slowly but surely getting the nursery ready for baby Cohen James Fox's arrival.....notice the decor has foxes on it!
Here are the canvases I painted to match the quilt and bumper pads....

It is getting there...a bit more painting and equipping with baby necessities and we will be ready for the little bambino!

Yesterday Rylie and I ventured out to Old MacDonald's petting zoo in Woodville, AL. If you haven't gone before, you should definitely check it out. They are actually going to retire and close it down Aug. 1st, so make your plans! It is a short trip from HSV! Rylie kept calling this Llama Allie.....

Feeding the little goats...Farmer Fox!

The highlight of her trip...holding baby bunnies!

Petting the deer...

There were 2 baby goats there only 1 1/2 days old! So tiny they could fit in your purse like Paris Hilton's chihuahua! The cutest things ever!

A quick lunch break.....

Back to feeding the animals!

Easter weekend was rough for our household. Rylie had been sick for 2 days prior to Easter, and then in the wee hours of Easter eve, Stewart got super sick! Rough day for my "peeps"....(sorry for the pun!) Anyway, here is my little bunny at 6:30 am checking out her Easter basket!

We managed to get outside long enough for a few pics....no Easter dress, just hunting a few eggs.

Posing by daddy's beautiful tulips. He plants tons of them every year for us...they are my favorite!

Found one!

This was the previous week, when we dyed the eggs.....can't you smell the vinegar??

70's disco party at our church marriage retreat...fun times! Stewart won "best suit"!

Me with my fellow Charlie's Angels, Rebecca and Angela. Everyone tells me and Angela we look like twins!

Me and my honey, 70's style! I totally left this dress at the hotel in Florence, so if anyone is up that way......

New pics...

Rylie really likes to pose for pics these days, which is a good thing, since Stewart bought me a cool new camera and I love taking pictures with it!

She came into the office and said "look mommy" and then proceeded to drop the stuffed animal out of her shirt as if giving birth....hmmmm. I know I can only dodge the question "how is that baby gonna come out of your tummy?" so many times.....

One of her favorite haunts.....Biscuit's Backyard! We can't get enough of that place:)

Strutting her stuff on the catwalk at my dear friend Hollie's little girl's 2nd birthday party. They had a blast dressing up and taking turns down the runway. This was the finale....

Stewart had a minor headache, but Rylie felt that he needed her Hello Kitty ice pack on his forehead. Such a good little nurse!

A tea party with some of her little girl friends from dance class. They munched on heart shaped cookies and all got decked out in princess dresses for the occasion. So much fun!

Visiting Grandmom at work....Rylie had to model just about every pair of children's glasses and , you guessed it, wanted me to take her picture in each pair!

Sipping some of BB's famous peach tea.....we all went for a visit and BB always has fun things planned for the girls! She is like another grandmother to them!

BB had boas, purses and earrings for the little ladies. They had a blast dressing up:)

Grandmom, Breanna, Rylie, BB, and Haleigh, posing with a reluctant cat!

I don't have many pictures of my baby bump....I had better get snapping, so I can fill up Cohen James's baby book!

Rylie practicing her dance moves.....she is in the hot pink!

Posing in her "hostess" attire. We had been making cookies and preparing for her friends to arrive. This is one of her favorite poses.

Once again, my little model in action.....

My sweet girl....we love her so much! It is great to be a parent! Thank you, Lord:)

Snow Days!

With all the crazy weather we have been having lately, I thought I would post some pics of our snow day fun! In this pic, Rylie and Stewart are feverishly trying to make a snowman. This is a bit more challenging to us southern folk I guess, not being accustomed to all this accumulation. Rylie bailed about 2 minutes after this picture was taken, saying she was freezing. Alas, she is a lightweight, much like her mommy!

Cheesing in the snow! I loved the snowflakes falling all around us:)

My snowbunny!

So excited....she kept wondering when Santa would be here, what with all the snow we were getting!?

Throwing snowballs at daddy! She kept throwing them to our dogs, too, and they would eat them. She thought that was hilarious:)