Cox Family Adventures

Coming this Christmas!

2011-11-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

Camping Trip

2011-11-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

Caroline's first month

2011-09-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

Caroline Margaret joined the family last month -- very quickly and with only a little drama. On her birthday, I went to work for the morning, came home for lunch, and then took a nap, intending to go back in for the afternoon. My 1pm appointment cancelled, so I decided to stay home till the next appointment came around. (One of the perks of living close to the office -- especially handy for afternoon naps!) Around 2pm my water broke, and I wasn't having contractions yet, so I waited till 3 for Bryan to come home from work so we could go to the hospital together. At the time, I expected to have at least a few more hours to go at least. Well, Caroline made her appearance at 4:28 pm -- only about an hour or so after we arrived at the hospital! Luckily, everything worked out well, although my OB did have to RUN across the hospital to make it in time.

So, she's now almost a month old and has been a great baby. She and Carson have become acquainted a little, although he's not really sure whether or not she's interesting yet. We've been lucky to have visits from both sets of grandparents and Aunt Shannon with Emily and Julia. Caroline also got to meet her middle-name-sake Aunt Margaret on a trip to Texarkana over Labor Day weekend.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the first month:

Her first photo -- check out that weight! Big girl!

First headband (haven't decided what we think of these yet -- I'm sure we'll be convinced!)

Visits from grandparents,

and Aunt Shannon.

Here we are enjoying the fall-ish weather on DeeDee's porch in Texarkana. Thank goodness for cool!

Caroline is here!

2011-08-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

As of Aug 12, Caroline Margaret Cox has joined the family!

39 weeks and counting...

2011-08-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to welcoming our next adventure! I am looking forward to it more than anyone I think! Nothing comfy about being 39 weeks pregnant!

In the meantime, we've been keeping busy. Here's Carson and his friend Dalton enjoying some FunDip at a Botanic Garden concert -- the Star Wars and movie theme laser show! (It was at least 100 degrees out there but still fun!) The boys loved the lasers, and the music was good, too.

Carson's also been doing swimming lessons at the Y on Saturdays. He's a little apprehensive about putting his face in the water but otherwise is having a good time with Daddy! Here are a couple of him -- one at the lessons and one at the outdoor pool later -- looking awesome in his goggles!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T16:37:00.001-07:00

The 4th of July brought some excitement to the Cox Family, particularly Carson. Luckily, the relaxed atmosphere at Southlake allowed Mary Beth to adhere to her bed rest orders by lying on her side on a blanket. We listened to some big band music as we waited for the big show. Carson was excited about waving his flag, the fighter jet fly-over, and most of all, the fireworks. He danced and screamed for the entire 30 minute performance. Enjoy!

Spring and Summer Fun

2011-06-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

We had such a nice spring in Fort Worth this year -- I am so lucky that the mild temperatures came in a year when I'm big and pregnant! If only June and July would be cool, too... Oh, well. We do live in Texas.

Here are a few pictures from Carson's birthday back in April. His birthday fell the same week as Easter this year, so we had some of his friends over for brunch and an Easter Egg hunt -- followed by make-your-own-cupcake time. (i.e. mommy was too lazy to decorate them herself!). We ended up with a really nice day and great company -- all around a good party!

Brunch -- yum!

Easter Egg chaos

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went over to Lake DeGray in Arkansas with the Myrick side. Lake DeGray is a state park, which means there isn't a lot of commercial development on the banks. There are a few cabins for rent -- in fact, we used to stay in these cabins when we were growing up, too! It was a beautiful weekend, and it was fun to introduce Carson to a place that has nostalgic value for me. Also always fun to get to see family!

Here are a few from the boat:

Daddy enjoying the ride.

Captain Uncle John

Mommy and Carson take a turn at the wheel. (and trying to avoid photos in the maternity swim-wear... so flattering!)

Aunt Margaret enjoying the water. It was a little on the cold side, but it still felt nice to get in for a minute.

(Carson just watched from the boat. A little too cold. And maybe a little too scary.)

Why get in when there's so much fun to be had on the boat? Snacks, toys, sunshine...

Here's a turtle we found on a short hike over at the Lake DeGray lodge one afternoon. Where did his head go?

Finishing off the afternoon hike with a lollipop and a sit with Grandpa in the air conditioning.

We're back outside!

2011-03-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have not given up on the blog!

I was taking a temporary hiatus while I slept through the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yes, baby #2 is now 18 weeks along!) Now that I'm solidly into the 2nd tri-, and the weather is becoming summer-ish, we will have a few things to talk about!

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Here are a few pictures from the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens -- a really beautiful place, although a little early for many flowers.

Here's our big boy -- contemplating his new hat and why it's taking mommy and daddy so long to take this picture.

Watching koi with Daddy while a big wading bird stands by. Everytime that bird flapped it's wings, the koi took a dive. I'm pretty sure they could probably take down that bird (at least en masse), but maybe the bird is tougher than I think.

The gardens have a really cute educational kids area that Carson loves. Here he is sticking his head out of a log. (Not sure what he learns from this, but it's fun!)

Kool-aid mustache on a hike/picnic at the Nature Reserve.

One last picture -- Carson and his cousins Emily and Julia on a weekend trip in Austin with the greater Coxes.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T19:22:00.001-08:00

It's been such an embarrassingly long time since my last post, that I'm sure my loyal 6 readers have given up by now. But, just in case you haven't, it's a post! November and December were busy, busy, busy for us! We spent time with the Myrick-side over Thanksgiving and both sides over Christmas. Here are a few photogs.

First, the long-overdue Halloween costume picture.

Carson didn't end up wearing the monkey on the actual big day, but he did wear it to the Halloween day at the zoo. For Halloween, he decided he wanted to be a rocket, so we made one up out of a box. It turned out really cute, but it was so bulky that he took it off between houses so he could walk. Too bad it couldn't fly!

Here's a cutie from Thanksgiving:

I'm going to forgo posting any Christmas pictures, although we have many! This computer is giving me a little bit of a hard time with the photos tonight. We'll just say that between Santa and grandparents, Carson got way too much for Christmas. It was fun spending time with all of our families, and thanks everyone for sharing it with us!

Halloween fun

2010-10-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Although we tried really hard to make Halloween memorable for Carson last year, it turned out that he was afraid of his monkey costume, and we trick-or-treated for about 5 minutes (half dressed up), then gave up and called it a night. I don't think we even posted any pictures. So far, this year is panning out to be better.

The monkey costume still fits and is now hilarious instead of frightening, so we're off to a good start. ("Mom, it's got a banana in it's pocket! hahahahahahahahaha!") Unfortunately, the monkey costume is going to have to wait for the big night, or at least for a little cooler weather. Now that we're in Texas, plush/fleece is not such a practical fabric in October. So, we've kept ourselves busy with a few pre-Halloween activities to take our minds off the awesome costume that's stashed in the closet.

First, we made some Halloween cookies. I knew that Carson would love to eat the cookies, but I was a little surprised that he wanted to help with the preparation. This was a huge hit!

It's hard to see it here, but he's showing you the bat shaped cookie cutter, which he stashed with the other cutters in his trick-or-treat bucket until time to cut.

Here we are hard at work.

And... a few of the end results. Eat your hearts out, Margaret and John. Just kidding... if you want to come visit, we'll save you a few. :)

As if an entire batch of iced sugar cookies wasn't enough to keep us going for the weekend, today, we added to the excitement by carving pumpkins. This was surprisingly scary for Carson -- he wouldn't even ride next to the pumpkins on the way home from buying them. He ran away as we scooped out the seeds and stringy stuff, and he protested when we wanted to give them faces. So, we all finally settled on carving them with inanimate objects, and this was a successful compromise. They are a robot (inanimate? not sure) and a rocket, complete with glow-in-the-dark star stickers, fearlessly applied by Mr Carson himself.

Photos to come of Carson (and possibly Bryan and me) suited up for the big night.

Fort Worth Nature Center - twice!

2010-10-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was the last hurrah of my unemployment, and with Carson starting daycare, Bryan and I decided to try out a hike at the Fort Worth Nature Center. It's called the Canyon Ridge trail, and we laughed at that name because, really... a canyon in central Texas? Ha! But, we were pleasantly surprised! See for yourself:

We also hiked through fields of cactus and yucca, which were surprisingly pretty and felt much more Texas-y.

We also found a couple of these...

... not sure what that is about.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to take Carson back this weekend for the FWNC Monster Bash, which is a festival to honor the Fort Worth monster -- a goat-man that hurls tires. Yes, I agree, the premise is just a little on the hoaky side, but the festival was fun! We also got to see some of the other fun things the park offers, including a herd of bison and the lake itself.

Today, they had a huge pile of hay near the fence at the road so that the bison would hang out where people could see them. They even had a plate of apples and "bison cookies" for the kids to throw over the fence. Carson loved it! (and so did the bison!)

We also took our first family canoe ride. (is this a landmark? not sure...) Carson is still talking about that red boat. What a cutie. :)

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In other news, I am officially a working woman and, although I miss my little guy at home, I am so excited to be back in the grown-up world.

GrapeFest 2010

2010-09-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today, the Coxes learned something the hard way. Those "no parking" signs they put in our yard on TCU football game days... not just for show. Bryan parked his car in front of our house on the street this afternoon -- necessary sometimes because of our dogs and the arrangement of our driveway inside our fenced backyard -- and came outside to find a $100 parking ticket. Ouch! Discussion with the officer was fruitless, which was not unexpected. Hopefully we'll have good luck contesting it!

In any case, we needed a family diversion to prevent escalating fury at the FW police, who I'm sure had good intentions about the flow of traffic in our neighborhood. So, we decided to take a trip up to Grapevine to check out GrapeFest. The event website led us to believe that this was a moderately sophisticated affair, complete with a "culinary tent," wine tasting venues, art sales, and a chance to get a little dirty stomping grapes or popping champagne corks. Bon soiree! Should be worth the half-hour drive.

After arriving to find cramped parking in an open field (with no event supervision!), we were happy to find that the shuttle service was easy and quick. We arrived to GrapeFest, and quickly realized this was going to be more like the county fair -- complete with fried Oreos, funnel cake, and carnival rides. The "culinary tent" was not actually for eating (boo!), although I'm sure some of the demonstrations there were good. Thankfully, the KidZone turned out to be great, and Carson spent at least an hour riding tricycles and playing in a giant sandbox with a throng of other toddlers. (apparently there was an exotic animal petting zoo? we couldn't find it.) Then, we took a quick spin through the rides; here are Carson and Bryan riding the Carousel. Carson chose to ride the monkey. Is that weird?

The wine tasting was not as heavily featured as I thought it would be, and the choices at the general concession stand were "red" and "white." We ended up with beer (Landshark Lager) and tacos from the Burrito Barn. Since we were at a fair, we topped it all off with this giant funnel cake. (mmm... funnel cake...)

An interesting experience... maybe we'll try it again in a few years when Carson is tall enough to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Happy Birthday, Stella!

2010-09-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

September 15, 2005: a fateful day for chair legs, stuffed animals, tennis balls, and a certain pair of leather boots. Things that didn't know they would end up ... chewed to death. (dun dun duh...)

This is a big day for Stella and also for me, because at 35 dog-years-old, she is officially the oldest lady in the house! I like to think that I'm still in charge, but I'm not actually sure that's ever been the case. Anyway, Carson and I decided to celebrate by subjecting Stella to a birthday hat and then giving ourselves cake. (ha ha ha... because I'm the boss, Stella, that's why!) We also gave Stella a little squeaky ball that Carson picked out, and, of course, she promptly chewed it beyond recognition.

Here's Stella, being a sport about the birthday hat as long as there's something tasty to chew on. (The hat is next.)

Carson loves the hats. He's wearing several himself! (You might be able to make out the borders of a gold hat underneath the red one, although the photo is a little blurry.)

And now for the good stuff...

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Lest you think all of our days involve such heavily planned activities, here is a picture of what Carson is usually doing at this time of day. (still in pajamas).

And just for fun, here is a picture of Carson at the Ft Worth Botanic Gardens, enjoying the hibiscus so much that he had to push his sunglasses up on his head.

Catch-up!

2010-09-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

Since we missed a few months of blogging, I haven't shared all of Carson's activities with you. However and furthermore, I am too lazy to recreate all of the events in writing, so here is a gratuitous post full of only pictures of my adorable son.

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Carson's first water slide ride! This was at our neighborhood pool in Durham in July before we left for good. He went down the slide with a little coercion from mom, but afterward told me, "that wasn't scary at all!"

A cute picture in the grass at Dee Dee's house.

Here's one from the 4th of July. We went up to Southlake for the festival and fireworks. Only, we didn't make it till the fireworks. Carson is only 2, after all. We did have a close and frightening encounter with the Chick-Fil-A cow, but, happily, we escaped with only a few coupons and no flesh wounds. (cow not pictured. just the cheese face.)

Here are a few photos from family visits -- one with Nana and Papa when they came to visit in Ft Worth, next with the Myrick clan in Texarkana, and finally, having a treat with cousin Julia at her house in College Station.

One final shot -- this is Carson sitting on the baby elephant statue at the Ft Worth zoo.

Now I think we are all caught up! We'll talk soon!

We're back in Texas!! (and the blog world!)

2010-08-31T11:49:00.001-07:00

Here it is... our last moments with our first house. See you later, Durham!

(you may wonder why Carson isn't wearing pants. we had just come from the pool and forgot to pack a spare pair.)

Three months later, and we're moved into the new house in Ft Worth, although there are definitely a few things still laying around in boxes. Bryan is getting established in his new job, and we're on the road to getting established in the community ... finding things to do, places to eat, and, most importantly, places to shop. (well, important to me, anyway!)

Carson has been doing great with the transition, and we've been lucky to have visits already from his cousins and both sets of grandparents. We have learned that we live less than 2 miles from the Ft Worth Zoo, the Ft Worth Botanic Gardens, and the Museum of Science and History. Wow! So, now we just need you to come visit us so we can take you to see the awesomeness.

Of course, we have done a lot in the past few months, and I'm not going to post it all here. However, I vow to keep up with the blogging now that we're getting into the swing of Texas!

As an aside, this squirrel has taken over our backyard. After repeatedly eating all of our birdseed, he is now approximately as big as our labrador, and probably just as likely to steal food off your plate.

Transitioning

2010-06-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

I have to admit... the blogging has not been my priority this spring. Between selling our house in Durham, buying a new house in Fort Worth, arranging our new jobs (and a Texas medical license ain't no joke!), finding childcare, finishing my program, figuring out our moving dates... CRAZY!! On top of everything, poor Bryan has been flying back and forth to Texas for work, and Carson and I have been on our own here in Durham.

Overall, we've been extremely lucky with everything. For example, our house here sold quick, and we're able to rent it back for a little while. Also, we found a house that we really love in Fort Worth. Here it is from the outside:

We are really excited to be moving closer to our families, although we're a little nervous about the move to a new town and also sad to leave all our Durham friends. Over the next few weeks, we're going to try to run through our Durham favorites: Parker and Otis, 9th street, the Life and Science Museum, Nantucket, Fosters... (ok, apparently we're going to be doing a lot of eating).

Oh, yeah! In the middle of all of our crazy hoopla, Carson turned 2! Happy Birthday, Carson!

Little Carson Wonder

2010-05-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

I think it is clear from where Carson gets his musical genius.

Backyard: Before and After

2010-04-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of work, a few blistered hands, and quite a few very stiff and sore mornings, Bryan and I are proud to introduce our new stone patio! Yay!!

Although we would love to take all the credit, our neighbor Todd did the design and all of the carpentry, including the awesome built-in bench. Bryan and I participated in the non-creative yet physically demanding jobs: digging trenches to put in the timbers, more digging to level out the ground, and moving 3 truckloads of gravel and all the flagstone into place. The flagstone part was highly satisfying for my puzzler inclination, but highly unsatisfying to the 2 pairs of work gloves I went through, not to mention my poor, poor back. Also, I should acknowledge the fair amount of help we had from our neighbors, and Carson of course, with the truckloads of gravel. (Thank you!!)

Casualties from the project include said work gloves, an elderly wheelbarrow, and four bees that wanted to live in our mulch pile. RIP.

Oh, the mulch! Did I mention the 20 cubic yards of mulch that we laid out? This was actually the worst part of the whole thing. We didn't have the mulch delivered until after the patio, with all its steps and levels, was laid out. This meant a lot of difficulty getting the wheelbarrows of mulch into the backyard beyond the patio. We eventually created a two-wheelbarrow system, which required that we dump the contents of the first wheelbarrow off the patio into the 2nd wheelbarrow... you can see why this took us so long! (If there was an easier way, please don't tell me.)

Here are a few pictures. You may notice that the "after" pictures are a little greener and livelier... this is due almost completely to our work and hardly at all due to the transition into spring. Nature, stop trying to take credit for our work.

BEFORE

AFTER

Here it is!!

steps down into the yard

Path down to the back gate.
You may not notice the sweat and tears mixed in with the mulch, but they're there.

Now for the parties!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourself... this post is going to be all pictures! Bryan and I have been working really hard to finish up our patio project, and we are so tired! (too tired to even write captions for the pictures! Photos of the patio project soon...)

Here is Carson, celebrating Easter with an egg hunt with Mommy and Daddy, and a cute little dinosaur toy.

Happy Easter!

New sunglasses and the gravel pile

2010-03-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

Since my *very recent* last post, Bryan and I have been really busy getting our house ready to list for sale. (Which happened today! Check out our website: www.6fallenoak.com). We had a lot of work to do -- looking back, it seems like unimportant stuff. Painting, fixing a leaky faucet, packing up books and stray knick-knacks, and fixing some of the things we broke as we tried to fix them the first time. (doorknobs. I had no idea they were such a hassle! it should be so easy!!)

Anyway, one of our big projects has been to build a new patio in our backyard. (This project has been in the works awhile... too bad we won't have long to use it!) Our neighbor Todd designed the patio and did all the carpentry work for putting it together. As part of this project, we had a pile of fine gravel out in the driveway for a couple of days, and the neighborhood boys had a great time using it as their own sandbox. (a little rough, perhaps, but they didn't care!) Carson particularly enjoyed sliding down the pile on his stomach, face first. We discovered this by seeing his feet in the air from the other side of the pile... terrifying for a moment until we realized he was moving about 1 inch every 30 seconds. Not exactly a neck-breaking pace! Here is a video of this fun activity: (I think Carson is saying "Oh Boy-ee" as he slides down, but I'm open for interpretation!)

Naturally, this patio project has kept us outside at some length, so Carson really needed sunglasses to protect his eyes. Ha! He loves wearing them, so this works out well.

Does this kid look like he's ready to make some trouble?

Muddy boots... and a break from the sunglasses.

This was the morning of our yard sale. Sunglasses again!

We'll post some before/after photos of the backyard soon.

poo poo is funny.

2010-02-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

I went to work yesterday, and, since it was a weekend, Carson and Bryan got to spend the whole day together. Yay for daddy-son time! They had a really great time hanging out... playing outside, working puzzles, and learning this:

Oh, dear. He's laughing so hard, he can't even talk. Ha!

Galoshes and more snow!

2010-02-14T13:52:00.000-08:00

Round 3 of snow in Durham this year. After round 1: the blizzard of 2010 and round 2: freezing roads but no pretty snow, this time, I think Mother Nature finally got it right. The yard and neighborhood were really pretty, but it wasn't enough to freeze the roads. Thank you!

Yesterday morning, Carson and I celebrated the lovely snow with a batch of Outer Space pancakes. (I am a total sucker for purchasing this kind of thing.) Carson chose a star, and I ate a moon. Bryan came down later for the smiling planet. These pancakes were HUGE, but Carson managed to eat the whole thing.

Carson helps out with the stirring.

Carson's plate-sized pancake

Delicious! (He separated the grapes to keep them from getting "sticky." Ha!)

Since the winter has been so crazy and wet, I decided to get Carson some galoshes (again, I'm a total sucker for purchasing things), so that we could go outside without the worry of cold, wet feet. The galoshes made their maiden voyage to the Science Museum's dinosuar walk. Carson LOVES the dinosaurs, and it was an interesting experience to see them covered in snow. Ice Age, maybe?

New galoshes.

One last thing: an addendum to the previous post about the "blizzard" a few weeks ago. While we were playing, Carson decided that he wanted to make a snow "horsey" that he could ride. I have to say that my snow-sculpting skills are probably not up to that, and Carson's attention span is really not up to that, so we made a snow blob instead.

Here's Carson riding it anyway.

"Sledding"

2010-02-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

We've always thought that our sloping yard and driveway would be a liability in the snow and ice. -- That was back when we were thinking about driving... and before we thought about sledding. It turns out that the slope is awesome! We had to get a little creative, since it doesn't snow often enough here for us to own a regular sled. We ended up with the bottom of our dog Stella's crate. This was surprisingly effective! And, even more surprisingly, Carson loved it!

Here are a couple of videos of Carson riding down the hill with Mommy and Daddy. (This felt much faster than it looks on the video!) Accompanying us are Ted, Elizabeth, Josh, and Zach Benson from next door. Ted grew up in upstate New York, and he taught us a lot about sledding yesterday. (i.e. don't walk in the run. Um, ok... just keep the edge lifted up to prevent catching in the footprints that you made when you weren't listening to me tell you not to walk in the run. ha ha. Luckily, he was very patient with us Southerners.)

p.s. This snow storm has not been all fun and games... Bryan and I actually had to use a snow shovel so that we could open our front door. A snow shovel! I'm sore. I would never make it in a place where it actually snows more than a couple times a year.

Nano and Snow!

2010-01-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

The biggest change around our house over the last couple of months has been Carson's rapidly increasing vocabulary and propensity to chatter. My personal favorite is his nickname for himself: "Nano." I have no idea where this came from; I guess it sort of sounds like Carson, if you remove the actual consonants and rearrange the letters a little... alright. maybe it's a stretch. But, anyway, it's what he came up with, so that's that! He also now commands the dogs, mommy, and daddy: "Sit, mama. Sit, dog. Get up, dada."

Carson has also surprised us by learning his colors and counting to ten. He's so smart! The counting is funny... no matter where we stop, he always keeps going all the way to ten. Maybe he doesn't have it completely figured out yet...

Oh, yeah. It's snowing today! I just barely made it in from Texas last night on a plane that arrived around 9pm -- in the snow. They had to de-ice the runway before we could taxi to the gate. A little unsettling, but at least they waited till we landed to tell us about that.

Here are a couple of pictures of Carson in his "celery suit" (unfortunately partially obscured by his coat.) He is very interested in the snow -- he showed it to all of his stuffed animals this morning. ("Look, frog, snow!" except it's "no" because he hasn't really mastered the S yet.)

Bryan and I hope to have news soon about new jobs and a new place to live... it's looking like 2010 will be the year of the big move back to Texas! More about this later.

Time for the Christmas tree!

2009-12-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Although we got our Christmas tree 2 weeks ago, it has taken us this long to get the ornaments on it. It turns out Carson can undecorate it in MUCH less time... at least the bottom few branches. Luckily, he enjoys redecorating it, too. Here he is with one of his favorites.

working hard with mommy... naturally, the ball is another favorite.

I asked Carson to pose in front of the tree, and this is the face he made. Ha!

And, finally, a couple of silly Christmas hat pictures.

(Is this the same face as the Christmas tree picture? I hope his face doesn't stick that way...)

Christmas Dance

2009-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

I have to say that when I received this dancing Santa as a gift, I questioned its utility as part of our Christmas-decorating repertoire... Of course, that was before Carson came along. That little guy can make anything hilarious.

(this video is pieced together from MANY repetitions of Santa dancing.) Enjoy!

Carson's first hike

2009-11-15T16:38:00.001-08:00

Well, we weathered the crazy storms of the week, and we were rewarded with an unusually warm and pretty day today. So, we took Carson for his first hike at the Eno. He has been there before, but he was always riding in the backpack. He loved it today -- being free to explore.

It was a little slow going - I think we only ended up doing 1 trail, and it was just a little over a mile. He ran for the first 1/4 mile and then stopped to examine each rock and piece of bark for the second 1/4 mile. Then, mommy and daddy got a little impatient, so he finished the rest of the hike the old way -- on board the Mommy train.

This worked out well since the 2nd half of the trail runs right by the river, and it was pretty high today with all the rain we've been getting.

For some reason, Bryan and I thought we would attempt a staged picture with all of us - people + dogs. That was not a huge success (as you may have guessed), but here is our proof of Carson's day in the woods...

Our favorite park

2009-10-28T18:25:00.001-07:00

Now that the days are getting shorter, it's getting a little more difficult for us to have good outdoor time with Carson. So, we've been trying to do some park time on the weekends during the day. We love to go to Duke Gardens (as evidenced by previous posts); it's just as beautiful in the fall as in the spring and summer. They have mums everywhere, of course, but they also have blooming azaleas and roses and a whole bunch of other things.

Here's Carson posing. He wanted to sit in the chair "big boy" style - not in mom's lap. (ha!)

This trip, we had good intentions about feeding the ducks, but the ducks weren't really interested. It was pretty cold, and also I'm sure they are so full of bread crumbs that they couldn't be bothered to come over from their little nests across the water. We did, however, see a giant heron (or egret? not a birder) dive after a fish in the lake. It was so crazy! We watched the fish go all the way down the skinny neck. We weren't quick enough to get a picture... too bad! Here it is after the meal:

Here's the one duck who half-heartedly pretended to care about the bread crumbs. This was ok with Carson -- he was more interested in the throwing of bread than in the ducks. Throwing anything, actually.

Bonus picture of Carson sitting in Matilda's bed. I guess she didn't mind sharing...

Musical toddler

2009-10-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

I'm getting ready for my Endocrine board exam this week (yikes!), so Carson and I have been spending a little time working next to each other - me studying and him coloring. We set up this little camp table in the kitchen, and it's just his size. He likes to walk around it and color multiple different papers in series. I was sitting at the big table next to him last week, reading some notes, and I realized that he was making a little song while he worked. It's not very musical, so I'm still not quite sure. Listen and let me know what you think... singing, or just talking?

Coolest Wife Ever...

2009-10-24T14:41:00.001-07:00

Last week was a really tough week for me in Virginia. I knew Mary Beth was having a tough time, too, home alone with Carson and studying for her board exam. I did not know she was secretly working on an amazing surprise for me: my very own media room! She repaired and painted the walls, organized all my work stuff, put together our new tv, had the cable company install high def cable, and bought me a new blue ray dvd player. She stayed up every night working on this! Thanks, Babe!

Pumpkin at the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

(I know... that title is really cheesy -- I couldn't help it!) Here's the little pumpkin himself:

Bryan and Carson and I went to Ganyard Hill Farm this past weekend. It's a functional farm, but during the fall, they set up a bunch of activities for kids (and adults) to experience "farm life." Apparently, "farm life" includes a giant pile of hay bales with a slide, a pit of corn kernels deep enough to jump in, and a maze through a corn field. I love farm life! Carson did, too! He especially loved the Corn Crib (the pit full of corn kernels) -- he thought it was hilarious when the older kids jumped in.

One of the neat things about the corn field was that you could pick ears of corn, put them through a manual grinder, and then feed the kernels to the goats and chickens. Carson also enjoyed this a lot.

Carson running past a field of sorghum.

Here is a bonus picture of Carson reading the directions for his new set of blocks. Ha! Clearly this tub of blocks has many more uses than Bryan and I thought.

The last pictures of summer

2009-10-04T18:19:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to a local nursery to pick up a few plants. Besides a few aucubas to fill in the holes in our front garden, we got a camelia sasanqua (who knew camelias could bloom in the fall?) and a nice pyracanthus with lots of orange berries. Carson enjoyed the lawn ornaments, particularly this lion -- just the size for riding.

The big hit of the afternoon, however, were the pigmy goats that belonged to a neighbor. The goats get a lot of attention from nursery customers - so much so that the nursery sold packets of animal crackers for 25 cents each, for the purpose of feeding the goats. Carson got a huge kick out of this process, although he was never quite brave enough to actually feed the goats himself.

Just the Two of Us

2009-09-12T18:34:00.002-07:00

What an interesting week! Mary Beth went to a review course for her board exam in Bethesda, Maryland. That meant Carson was home alone with me all week! You will be happy to know we made the whole week with no trips to the ER. We really had a great time this week, however, we were very excited for Mary Beth to get home. In fact, this morning, Carson kept pointing to pictures of his mom and yelled, "mama" over and over.

Bath-time was an adventure this week. We definetely have a little performer on our hands.

Speaking of performing...here is Carson practicing his dance moves before Mary Beth left on her trip. The practice session helped prepare him for his first "dance" at a sound exhibit at the Durham Science Museum.

2009-09-12T18:34:00.001-07:00

Why is it so hard to come home from vacation?

2009-08-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

Bryan, Carson, and I were lucky enough to spend the past week in Wrightsville Beach, NC with both sets of grandparents, Uncle John and Aunt Yuri, and Aunt Margaret. What a great trip! All 10 of us stayed in a beach house at the north end of the island; it overlooked the ocean in one direction and the salt marsh in the other. This made for a lot of good bird watching for Carson! It was nice for him to have this little diversion since he was firmly NOT interested in getting into the ocean. The rest of us braved the big waves and strong current courtesy of Hurricane Bill (which thankfully never came ashore!), and we were lucky to have pretty nice weather, although a little hot and humid. (I guess I can't complain about that in August!) Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Here's Carson relaxing in his pajamas, even though it's probably about lunch time. Isn't that what vacations are for?

Margaret, John, Yuri, and Carson on the Cape Fear River-walk. This is a really cool part of Wilmington; we went there a couple of times for eating and shopping. (Margaret is holding the evidence.)

Coxes on the beach. (smeared heavily with sunblock.)

Here's a group shot in our vacation t-shirts, courtesy of Mom.

So all of that is just wonderful, except that at some point, we had to leave! Upon our arrival home, everything has gotten crazy. First, we picked up the dogs from the farm where they boarded, and Matilda had picked up some fleas. Gross! We took both dogs to get fixed up at Petco, and she didn't end up requiring any crazy treatments, thank goodness. (Luckily, we have been keeping up with the Frontline, and the fleas were already dying.)

What happened next was a complete surprise...
(If you're weak in the stomach, don't read on.)

I was sitting in my office at work today, and my cell phone rang, which is kind of unusual. So, I answered it, and it was Kalitha, one of the teachers at Carson's daycare. She said, "I have kind of a weird question for you. Have you given Carson any spaghetti lately?" I said, "Well, we had pasta last night, but it was the little spirals, not spaghetti noodles. Why do you ask?" She said, "Well, I found this thing in Carson's BM that looks kind of like a spaghetti noodle." Gulp.
So, I dropped what I was doing at work and sped over to the daycare center to identify the "noodle" from Carson's diaper. Not a noodle. This. (I didn't think to take a picture of the actual thing... this is just one from google images, but it looked just like this. Gross!)

I took him over to the urgent care center, along with the "specimen" in a ziplock bag, and my suspicion was confirmed. My poor little boy has a parasite. Luckily, it's pretty common (they say) and easy to treat with a 3-day pill series. I had to read up on it, since I haven't thought about this kind of thing since microbiology class in medical school. I think I have never felt so much like a failure as a mother as when I read, "common in areas where sanitation and hygiene are poor." Agh! Thanks, CDC. I later read that it is common in toddlers in the US, especially if they play outside and eat raw fruits and vegetables. (Whew.) Not really transmitted from person-to-person, but I'm thinking of having myself tested anyway. Wouldn't you?

... Nothing like home sweet home.

MaMa!

2009-08-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

Carson has been talking for several months, now. His first word was "ball," as you know if you've been reading the blog. He later picked up "Dah" (which was both dog and Dad), "Dee" (which was tree), and "Boo" (which was bird, then any living thing outside). For the past month or so, he has kind of slipped back into calling everything "Dah," instead of mixing up the vowels. Then, last week he learned "Bubble." This week, he's made recognizable attempts at "Doggie," and "Banana."

Now, finally, he has identified "Ma Ma." Yay! I was so excited (yesterday)! Today, however, I'm not so sure. Each time he is upset or tired of being in the carseat or the crib, we hear, "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma!" (Hard for me to express the volume of these syllables, but, trust me, they're loud!)

Now I'm hoping for "Da Da." (or maybe "Stella.")

Carson, the orator

2009-08-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Carson does use a number of actual words, but here he is not doing that. So funny! (to us! and hopefully you, too!)

Summertime

2009-08-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have to say that it's really fun to be able to do stuff with Carson now that he's getting a little older. He always seemed to enjoy himself, but now he's so expressive! He's working on a little vocabulary, with "Ball" of course as a substitute for any word he's not quite sure about. Just this weekend he learned "Uh oh," which has resulted in quite a few intentional "Uh oh's." Like, "Uh oh... I'm about to chunk this tomato wedge at Stella." For the moment, this is still hilarious. Today, he learned, "Hi." (not as funny but still cute!)

Here we are playing in the cardboard box that came with his big-boy carseat.

Here are a few pictures from last month (an entire month ago, actually... how embarrassing!) The first couple are from the 4th of July parade in downtown Durham near the Farmer's Market. Carson was maybe a little bored with being carried around so much but did enjoy chewing on the flag.

Here he is running toward the "balls," which mysteriously exploded sometimes.

Now THAT is a ball!

Here's Carson at the Eno later that day. He was really interested in picking up the rocks and maybe trying to eat them. So, we spent a little time trying to keep the rocks out of his mouth, but it was still really nice to cool off!

Florida!

2009-07-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Last week we were lucky enough to spend a long weekend in Destin, FL with my parents and brother John. Carson has actually been to the North Carolina beach several times, now, although I'm not sure he was really old enough to understand his surroundings. This time seemed like a whole new experience. Let's just say that the roar of the ocean is NOT relaxing for little Carson. He got used to the sand, which he enjoyed by the end of the trip, and the baby pool (which he loved!) made up for everything. He also got to spend some quality time playing ball with Uncle John, DeeDee, and Grandpa, and he tried pink lemonade and Blue Bell ice cream for the first time. (and could have drunk and eaten his body weight. Who could blame him?)

This photo sums up Carson's feelings about the beach this trip.

The baby pool is much more his speed. Not sure exactly what he's playing with here. Batman, maybe?

Here's Carson taking a break with DeeDee and one of the musical books. These were a huge hit.

Here's a cute one of most of the group at a restaurant called the Back Porch.

Carson showing off his snaggle-teeth on the lawn at the condo. Wow... this is definitely Bryan's little boy.

Happy 4th of July! I'll post some patriotic pictures soon.

Duke Gardens

2009-06-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Bryan and I decided to take advantage of the nice summer afternoon to take Carson to play at Duke Gardens. Many of you know that Carson is obsessed with ball-kicking. However, we have a hard time playing at home because Stella steals, chews, slobbers, and/or breaks them. Oh, yeah... and our backyard is infested with mosquitoes with all the rain we've been getting. So, we took Carson and his favorite little ball to play.

Bryan tells Carson he has to wear the hat.

Carson tells Daddy he likes this better.

Here he is about to show us how it's done.

Bryan teaching Carson the ways of American football.

Carson takes a break to look at some water lilies.

Everyone is hot and sweaty but happy. Well... maybe Carson just wants to get down. But he's happy on the inside.

Here's a sample of our little guy's talent. Do they have soccer for 1-year-olds?

Blackholicus is awesome!

2009-05-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

North Carolina was lucky enough to be included on Blackholicus's Megaforte Tour. The show was last weekend with Colossus (another awesome band from Raleigh) at a club in Carrboro called the Reservoir. Phil, Christine, and Jocelyn went with me to the show, which was really fun and also later than I had been out in a really long time. (I only stayed out till 1:30, and it still took me the entire weekend to recover. Lucky I'm not an intern anymore!) Anyway, Margaret and the band stopped by for brunch on Saturday, and here are a couple of pictures from the visit. (Photos from the club are all on Margaret's camera and will perhaps be posted here soon. If she sends me some.)

Blackholicus (Spencer, Dominic, Margaret, Michael) posing by the tour van.

Sisters.

Check out the chronicles of Megaforte at the band's blog.

Balls and Dancing

2009-05-25T19:20:00.001-07:00

In the past few weeks, Carson has developed a couple of really endearing habits. First, he has spoken his first word: Ball. Now, our conversations go like this:
Me: "Carson! What do you want to do this morning?"
C: "Ball. Ball. Ball. Ball." [pointing at ball]
Me: "I see that ball - do you want to throw it for Stella?"
C: "Ball." [throwing it about 1.5 ft]
Stella: [pounces on the ball that has fallen directly in front of her, as she stood right in front of us. Then, like a good girl, drops the ball in front of Carson.]
C: "Ball."

Hours of entertainment.

Here he is with his favorite toys on a recent trip to Houston. (these editions provided by Grandma - thanks!)

(here, he is probably thinking about throwing the ball.)

Carson's other new hobby is music. This is not surprising, given his highly musical Aunt Margaret and his music-loving daddy. He has several musical toys, and he's learned to push the buttons to make the music play. This is cute enough, but he also likes to dance. (We're pretty sure it's dancing, anyway. Similar to when his father and mother try to dance, his movements don't necessarily correspond to the rhythm of the music!) As the music plays, he sways back and forth and sometimes stomps. When the music stops, he runs over to press the button again so that he can dance some more. Adorable! Recently, we caught him dancing to Bryan's favorite band Wilco. Thank goodness it's not just the musical toys.

Here is Carson, dancing to Wilco... then moving on - back to the ball.

May Day

2009-05-01T18:14:00.001-07:00

Carson now has 4 teeth (only 10 days after the appearance of his first tooth, which was 6 months late). Catching up!

In other news, our fearsome hunters (i.e. Matilda and Stella) have killed another small animal in the backyard. This time it was a vole. Again, the attack was witnessed by an innocent passer-by, who then felt the need to walk around to my front door and let me know. Thanks, lady...
Dogs are dogs, I guess.

Spring Farm Tour

2009-04-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the three of us went on the Spring Farm Tour. This is a really cool thing that the farm stewardship association arranges so that people in the area can visit local farms. We went to three farms: Coon Rock Farm, Maple View Farm, and Chapel Hill Creamery. We have a crop share with Coon Rock Farm, so we wanted to go there, and the other two farms have dairy cows. It turned out to be 90 degrees, so we were all a little sweaty, but it was nice to be able to see the places where our food is coming from. Here's Carson with Bryan in front of the vegetable rows at Coon Rock Farm.

Here are a couple of pictures from Maple View farm. They had a cute little animal area set up, and Carson got to meet some little farm animals.

After a hot day of farm touring, Carson cashed out in the car seat while Bryan and I ate some dinner at Weaver Street Market.

After Carson woke up, we all got some ice cream from the Maple View farm store. (He really enjoyed that!)

A couple of pictures from Grove Park in Asheville

2009-04-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Grove Park Inn in Asheville a couple of weeks ago. Here is the front entrance to the inn.

Here is the view from our room.

This is the view from the deck - so pretty!

Here's Carson enjoying the day.

A rainy day, dogs, and an itchy mess

2009-04-26T08:12:00.001-07:00

I'm backtracking to a couple of weeks ago when we were on vacation in the Blue Ridge mountains of NC. We decided to go hiking on Tuesday, in between checking out in Blowing Rock and checking in at the Grove Park in Asheville. We always love visiting Grandfather Mountain, which seems like it would be kitchy but is somehow actually really natural and beautiful (as advertised!). Part of it (the backside) was just purchased by the state of NC, but I don't think this has changed it much. We decided to drive up the front side, which is still privately owned, to show Carson their wildlife habitats. They have bears, eagles, cougars, and a few other things. Most (if not all) of their animals have been rescued in some form or fashion; none of them were captured just for the sake of the exhibit. Anyway, it turned out to be a really ugly day -- drizzly and cold -- so we opted for a short hike called the Black Rock Nature trail - just a couple of miles out and back. Lots of huge rhododendrons - none of them blooming yet, though. Carson rode in the back-pack, which put him right to sleep. (Bryan and I traded him off halfway - he's getting so heavy!)

Sleeping... not sure how this can be comfortable, but I guess it must be!

We didn't get any great views because of the weather, but the trail was still really pretty. Here we are on top of the pinnacle. We didn't take Carson up there... it was a little slippery and steep, even with the cable!

In other news, we've picked up the dogs from "boot camp," and so far we can tell they've learned a lot. Especially Stella - she's a new dog! The instructor wanted to recruit her to be a police dog because she's so driven; we decided we'd rather have her home with us. We missed them!

In addition to all this excitement, we've discovered (too late) that there is poison ivy in our yard. Bryan tackled a huge vine that was trying to consume our chimney (I mean, really huge - we should have taken a picture), and as a result his upper arms and waist are covered in itchiness. Prior to the extraction, we looked at the vine and considered its "leaves of 3," but since neither of us had ever gotten poison ivy before, we assumed we wouldn't have a reaction. Wrong we were! We were both wearing thick gloves, so I guess it could have been worse. I didn't actually touch the monster vine, so mine must have come from somewhere else. Bryan had to go to one of his dermatologists to get a kennalog injection. Luckily, we also have a truck full of topical steroids, so we've both been taking advantage of this! Carson has been spared, which is also lucky. What would you do with a baby who has poison ivy? Whew... glad we don't have to find out.

All I want for my birthday is my first front tooth...

2009-04-20T18:44:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Carson! I guess I've sort of given away the punchline with the title there. Yes, we have finally seen our child's first tooth! On his first birthday! (For those of you who don't have children, this is quite a late arrival for a tooth). It's the right front bottom tooth, just peeking out from his gums. So, we celebrated by giving him concentrated sugar in the form of zucchini cake with cream cheese icing. (The little cakes were in the shape of vegetables, and they did contain at least as much zucchini as sugar, so we're calling them healthy). Carson, being my son, thoroughly enjoyed the icing. Surprisingly, he enjoyed the subsequent tooth brushing almost as much!

Not sure if you can identify the peas, cabbage, and radish from this picture. Here they are in their tasteless pre-icing state.

mmm... cake... I'll take one in each hand.

He also got a bunch of fun presents from family and friends. He got some really nice things (cute overalls, a little CD player toy, and a contribution to his "college fund") from Nana and Papa last month when they came to visit, and Dee Dee and Grandpa sent a cute rocking horse this week. He got a cute puzzle and some PJ's from his cousins Emily and Julia. Bryan and I gave him a couple of little wooden toys and a CD. Despite all of our good intentions, I really think his favorite thing today was probably the toothbrush. The cake was a close second.

Here are some nerds with a cute little boy.

If you are following our blog closely, you might have noticed that Carson has had a haircut since our last post. We took him yesterday to a little place in town that only cuts children's hair. We thought this might be a bit of a racket (and it might be), but it turned out to be totally worth it to have someone who could cut hair quickly during the breaths Carson took between screams. Whew! A little crooked behind the ears, but we think she did a pretty good job considering what she had to work with!

Here are a couple of "before" pictures. Carson is already feeling a little surly.

Things went alright with sitting in the boat-chair and getting the drape...

Now things have escalated, and our stylist is working quickly...

Here's the after photo. Whew. Two good-looking Coxes.

Two Parks

2009-04-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Cox family went on vacation to the mountains last week -- Blowing Rock, then Asheville. We stayed at a really beautiful bed and breakfast in Blowing Rock called Gideon's Ridge Inn. On the day we arrived, the view was amazing, as was the landscaping at the inn. The flowers were just starting to bloom, and the weather was perfect (the first day). Here are a few pictures of Carson playing on the lawn.

Here are Carson and me - Bryan took this picture from up on the deck.

A close-up of Mom and Carson in the grass. He was really interested in the sticks and also in pulling the heads off the dandelions.

Here's Carson showing off his stick with Dad.

Here he is running away. (this is a very fun game!)

We stayed a couple of days in Blowing Rock and then headed over to Asheville, where we stayed at the Grove Park Inn. More pictures to come from this leg of the trip. On the way home, we stopped by a little neighborhood park in Greensboro to let Carson stretch his legs ... only so much time can be passed in the carseat before whining ensues... Here are some pictures from that park.

Here are Carson and Dad playing in the grass.

Carson posing with Mom.

Check out this dandelion! Can you believe this thing?

On this trip, Carson developed the skill of pointing, which is really cute. He points things out and says "Dis" or "Do." Then we tell him the name for it. He hasn't actually repeated any of the words we've said yet, but I'm sure he's getting there... He has learned several gestures, including "all done," where he puts his hands out to the side with palms up. He does this when he's ready to get down from his high chair (or anywhere!). He also waves at everything, including squirrels, birds, and random people. Cute!

Later this week, I will post pictures of our rainy hike at Grandfather Mountain and from our stay at the Grove Park Inn.

Carson the Bunny

2009-04-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Carson to an Easter egg hunt at the farm of one of Bryan's clients. Carson wasn't really old enough to shove other kids out of the way and steal their eggs (maybe next year), but he did enjoy the scenery and the farm animals. There were chickens, ducks, geese, and goats at Dr. Cheeseborough's farm, and there were horses next door. We had a beautiful day to be outside. We all got a little too much sun (although only Bryan got burned), and we came home and slept for two and a half hours -- all of us. (Awesome!)

Here is Carson in some bunny ears - protesting. They didn't stay on much longer than the time it took to take this picture!

Ha. The ears are back on, and now he has a distraction. Too bad this didn't make for a great picture, either!

Protecting himself from the sun or disguising himself to avoid the papparazzi. (Too bad the papparazzi, a.k.a. Mom, thought this was too funny to pass up!)

Carson checking out the giant turkey through the fence. Later on in the afternoon, a couple of the geese were out on the lawn, and some of the kids found them and chased them all over. Funny! (Don't worry, the geese got away...)

Carson and Daddy walking out in the grass behind the house.

Next year: look out other kids, the easter eggs are ours...

Visit to Fosters and the museum

2009-03-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the Coxes came to visit from Texas, and we all enjoyed the nice weekend outdoors. On Saturday, we made a stop by Foster's Market for brunch, and then we went on to the Museum of Life and Science in downtown Durham. The museum was so cool! We didn't do any of the indoor parts on this trip (although we have done that once before with Bryan's neice), but we walked around a lot of the outdoor park. Carson especially loved the farm animal part -- there were sheep, a rabbit, a cow, and some goats. There was also an exhibit for wild animals, and we saw some black bears, wolves, and lemurs in really nice, big habitats. (On an unrelated note, we recently learned that the national lemur center is here in Durham. Apparently it's also an interesting place to visit; maybe we'll stop there on our next weekend out. I wondered why there were so many "I love lemurs" bumper stickers around here. I always thought it was supposed to be ironic.) We finished off our trip to the museum at the butterfly exhibit, which was a relaxing end to the day. Anyway, it was a great time, and if you live in Durham, I recommend a visit to this museum.
Here are some of our pictures.

Sitting outside at Foster's Market and Carson eating a blueberry muffin. (Yum!)

Here is Carson trying to climb over the fence into the pen with the cow. This was a really friendly cow; it mooo'ed at us and also tried to lick Bryan. You can see it eyeing the camera here. Posing, maybe?

Carson watching the sheep.

Here we are riding on the train. This was the only part that Carson wasn't really thrilled with. I guess he wanted to be out moving around instead of sitting in my lap... Maybe in another year or so we'll try this again!

Here we are walking around in the park -- Carson spent most of the day riding around, either in the sling like this or with his dad (without the sling). At one point, while the baby taxi service took a little rest, Carson did some walking down the sidewalk with Nana and Papa. He got a kick out of walking, and I got a kick out of putting him down for a minute... He's heavy!

Carson vs. Stella

2009-03-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Stella has found the only person in the world who actually wants to play tug-of-war with her because he enjoys the tugging. Or maybe he wants to keep the toy for himself. (As narrated by Bryan and his parents.)

Be advised: this is a little long and may only be entertaining if you are a member of our family.

Does this diaper make my butt look big?

2009-03-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well... does it?

These are a few pictures from a warmer day earlier in the month. We walked the dogs to the park nearby, and we let Carson explore a little. He wasn't walking alone yet, but he was able to walk holding on to stuff. He seemed to enjoy it. The dogs hung out under a tree nearby; I actually can't believe how well-behaved they acted.

(cute tennies from Aunt Margaret)

It's actually a funny story about Carson and walking... maybe this happens to other kids, too, but I haven't heard it. On Feb 22, which was 2 days after Carson became 10 months old, I saw him walk 5 unassisted steps and then fall over. This was also witnessed by Carson's 2 daycare teachers, Brittany and Nour. I determined that Carson was clearly advanced and destined to be athletic (even though all genetic predisposition would direct otherwise). For some reason, Carson did not identify this accomplishment, and he did not even try to walk alone again... until today (almost a month later)! Bryan watched him take 2 steps between chair and table, and Carson was able to recreate this multiple times tonight. He was not nearly as impressed with himself as we were with him. Yay Carson! We may regret this soon when the destruction ensues, but for now it's really cute.

Woah, more snow, and a couple of trips.

2009-03-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to another blanket of the fluffy white stuff, although it wasn't as much as our big snow a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, this time I had to get up and go to work. Apparently the VA clinic is like the US postal service... through rain, snow, sleet, and hail...

This past weekend, Bryan took a little trip to New Orleans with Brandon and Stephen, so Carson and I headed to Texarkana to visit with the Myricks. (Bryan's trip may have been more interesting, but he is not 10 months old, so I will not dedicate this post to him.) It was the first time Carson and I had done an airplane by ourselves, and I'm happy to report that 3 out of 4 legs went by tear-free. The fourth leg was complicated, with more than a little fussing, but it didn't go on for too long. (thank goodness!) We were lucky to make it into town on time given the imminent arrival of the winter precipitation!

We had a great time visiting with everyone in Texarkana. Aunt Margaret, Uncle John, and Aunt Yudi all came in from Austin, bringing cousin(?) Zucchini to play with Mom's dogs Leah and Max. Carson loved all the attention and the dogs, although it took him a little longer to get warmed up this trip.

Now that I think about it, it took us all a little time this trip... Carson was sick with a head cold, Yudi didn't feel well, and Dad was sick with a stomach bug. Max (the new puppy) was a little too wild for Carson's taste, and he was definitely too wild for Zucchi. The dogs wanted the baby's toys, and the baby wanted the dogs' toys. Carson wouldn't sleep in his crib, so he slept in the big bed with me and fell out of bed (again!) on Friday night. The weather was cold and rainy. The entire weekend, there was a little toy computer reiterating "Let's go home!" over and over (and over) every time someone looked its direction. Whew!

LUCKILY, these problems were all minor, and they were countered with a lot of fun things. Mom cooked several really great meals, we made some cute purchases at Gayle's, and we spent some quality time talking and knitting. We got to visit with GG. Carson had a nice time exploring the outdoors with Grandpa, despite the weather. Here are a few pictures from the good times:

Yes, that is a hand-knitted hat by Grandma, and, yes, it was designed for a grown woman. I guess when it's unexpectedly cold, it's ok to wear whatever you've got.

Carson hanging out with Aunt Margaret. His pleading look says, "Please leave me alone with the photographing. Or at least fix my hair so it isn't parted down the middle."

It wouldn't be a family get together without a group photo. Here are 2: one with grandma and one with grandpa. This is a triumphant shot; everyone was feeling better, and there was a great dinner waiting for us on the table.

It was a great trip, but hopefully next time will be a little easier for everyone!

Darth Giggler

2009-02-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Watch as Darth Vader tries to convert Carson to the Dark Side of the Force. Watch as Bryan gives in to his own fan-boy geekdom with the making of this movie.

Accidents

2009-02-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

Carson has been moving around more and more, and he has no idea how dangerous he is to his own health. Just this week, he has had two "major" accidents.

1) On Wednesday morning, Carson was laying in my bed after having fallen asleep eating breakfast. This may sound a little weird, but it's part of our regular morning routine; it's a way that Bryan and I can get a few more minutes of sleep. Kind of like a snooze button. Anyway, we have a queen bed, and with Carson sleeping in the middle of it, I have always felt pretty safe leaving him there while I go in the bathroom to get dressed or take a quick shower. (This practice seems less risky on days when we're both at home, since one of us is usually in the bedroom. On this particular day, Bryan was away in Asheville.) So, on Wednesday, I did this exact thing -- left Carson in bed asleep while I got in the shower. Then, just as I reached my peak of soapiness (including conditioner in my hair), I heard THUNK and then WAHH and then nothing. ... nothing... So, I jumped out of the shower, splattering soap all over the bathroom, certain that my child would be laying on the bedroom floor broken like Humpty Dumpty. I arrived to the bedside, dripping and defeated, and Carson sat there looking up at me, laughing. It was like he was saying, "Hey Mom! Look where I am! Ha!" He was so proud. I was so relieved that I was (almost) able to enjoy the rest of my shower.

2) Today, Carson took another little spill. He was practicing his ambulation, two-legged, like a big boy, when he stumbled and hit his head on the coffee table. Oww! He started crying, I picked him up, and I was surprised to see blood dripping down the side of his face. I grabbed a towel to hold pressure on his little forehead, but he wouldn't have any of that. I desperately texted Bryan, who arranged for us to take Carson to one of his dermatologists for a little repair work. PA Tarsha patched him up with some steri-strips, and now he's as good as new. Here he is a few hours later:

Maybe we'll have a few days free from injury while Carson recovers. I'm starting to wonder why we were in such a hurry for him to crawl and walk!

p.s. I also noticed in this picture how Carson and I have exactly the same color hair. I'm so proud!

Our little boy is getting so big...

2009-02-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

Today, Wednesday, February 3, 2009, marked a pivotal moment in Carson's life. This all started coming on a couple of weeks ago, when we noticed that he was trying new things and exerting his independence in all kinds of ways. First, after weeks of pulling up and fooling us into thinking he wanted to walk, he decided to start crawling. Everywhere and fast! This came as a surprise to us, as we thought we had at least another few weeks of procrastinating the childproofing. Oops! Thus began a new era of mobility and of eating savory little bits of bark, dirt, lint, etc from all corners of the floor. He's still working on the walking, too, but not with quite as much fervor. Then, he became picky about his bedtime books, slapping away the ones he didn't want. (This only happened to me - apparently Bryan is a more interesting storyteller than I am!) On Sunday, he discovered cabinets. He pulled out several items, luckily all soft and void of chemicals! To top it all off, he's throwing all kinds of fits. We change his diaper, wipe his nose, or put him in the stroller, and it's cry, cry, cry.

Then, today... the coup de gras... he picked his nose and ate his booger. Ha! He's so grown up.

(p.s. I know this entry sounds a little negative, but don't be fooled. We're still madly in love with our little cutie. Just thought we'd document some of his less glamorous moments!)

Snow Day!

2009-01-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess the weathermen were right! I woke up this morning at 6:00a.m. to start getting ready for work, and I looked out the window just to see if I might be able to get back in bed. It's been freezing all week, and last night it was raining, so I thought maybe... I was in luck! The yard was covered in white!

We all got back into bed, and Carson managed to sleep until 7:00. (This is actually quite an accomplishment and worthy of its own day of celebration). We got up and made a big breakfast, then watched the inauguration, thankful, despite the historic nature of this day, that we were sitting beside our fireplace instead of in the 16 degree weather in D.C.

The dogs were surprise fans of the snowy weather. Stella never gives up on chasing the ball and even managed to dig one out of the snow. We tossed a few snow balls for her, but she figured this out relatively quickly and brought us a sticky tennis ball to replace the ones that kept vanishing into the air.

We're never quite sure what goes through Matilda's head, but this looks like, "Ahhhhh....".

Later in the afternoon, we dressed Carson up in his warmest little clothes and introduced him to the snow. His first reaction was to stick his face in it; maybe this was because his hands were inconvenienced by mittens. (On a side note, it's odd to me that baby mittens don't have a separate thumb compartment. I guess this makes for easier donning of the mittens and possibly warmth, but it seems a little disrespectful of the babies' right to hand mobility).

Here he is in his first few minutes outside, thoughtfully considering how many layers of clothing are stuffed inside his snowsuit. 2? no, 3? Mom may have overdone it a little...

Here we are just before the first tactile snow experience... a.k.a. face plant into my snow-filled hands. Mmmm... tasty!

Yep, snow days are fun.

(for more pictures of our snow day, check out our web album).

It's cold in North Carolina!

2009-01-18T14:18:00.001-08:00

It's sub-20's here this week, and snow is threatened for tomorrow. (We'll see about that! It "snowed" today, but there wasn't much to show for it.). However, a couple of weeks ago, it was really nice, and we kept busy outside. Here's a picture of Carson and me hanging out in the hammock. Later on, all 3 of us were able to enjoy the hammock. Unfortunately, Stella isn't too good with the camera, so that didn't get captured for posterity.

On another nice day, we had the windows open in Carson's room so that he could appreciate the nice weather during nap time. He was awake when I put him down, which usually results in just a little bit of screaming before he falls asleep. Since he was so quiet, I stuck my head in to check on him. This is what I found:

So cute! This is before we had lowered his crib mattress all the way. (We did that immediately!) Who knew he could pull up in there? I guess he finds nice weather to be inspirational!

Here are a couple of funny pictures of Carson examining Stella's ears and mouth. He has no idea how dangerous this could be... 70 pound beast with large canines vs small, plump baby with only gums... hmmm.... Lucky Stella is such a sweetie. (but I'm staying pretty close, anyway!)

In other news, DeeDee came to stay with Carson and me last week while Bryan went to a meeting (in DisneyWorld!?!). We had a really great time here in our own little magic kingdom. Carson got to stay home from daycare while I went to work, and we all got to go out to dinner and knit and go shopping. What a great week! Here is Carson taking a bubble bath - DeeDee is there supervising outside the shot.

Here's Carson modeling the little hat I knitted for him during the visit. Mom made a really nice fluffy red scarf. ("fluffy" actually doesn't do it justice, but "hairy" sounds too weird. How do you describe red and burgundy mohair-like yarn? Not sure...)

Speaking of knitting, my mom and her friend Jyme are opening a Knit Cafe (yarn store + knitting lessons) in Texarkana. Check out their blog: http://ooohlalaknitcafe.blogspot.com.

I also posted a few more pictures from Christmas in Texarkana to our Picasa web album.

Christmas in Texarkana

2009-01-17T19:17:00.001-08:00

Way back in 2008, we got to visit the Myrick family in Texarkana. Carson had another big Christmas, which he celebrated by consuming his body weight in the tissue paper used to wrap his gifts. (This is a lot of tissue paper - there were a lot of gifts!). He enjoyed the dogs and visiting with everyone. Here are a couple of family pictures. These are completely impromptu... red and green sweaters are just what we wear on Christmas in the Myrick household.

Sadly, only a couple of days after we left, Mom's little dachshund Rocky Top died of pneumonia. We'll miss the little guy!

Here he is, perched in his favorite spot on a chair in the living room.

Celebrating the holidays

2008-12-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

Here it is, almost Christmas. Carson has no idea how excited he is about this. He does know that there is a strange, glowing tree in our house, and he thinks it's pretty fun to look at.

Luckily for us, he's not really mobile yet (he might take offense at that, since he technically can - and does - roll across the floor at times), so we are able to put presents under the tree without worrying about him getting into them. On Christmases past, we've had a lot of trouble with Stella ripping into things (see exhibit below), but she seems to have given up on this for now. All of these things have made for a relatively civilized December in the Cox household. (I will say "so far" and then knock on wood).

(this is Stella at Christmas 2005... still a puppy, but look at the damage!)

A couple of fun things: First, Carson has a new ride - a giant, green Kelty backpack. This is really great for us because 1) Carson screams when he has to ride in the stroller, and 2) the Bjorn is not really meant for a back-breaking 20 pound baby. The backpack has been a great addition to our evening walks.

Second, we dressed Carson up in a reindeer costume, courtesy of Grandma, and took some pictures in the backyard. Not sure how long we'll be able to take advantage of him this way... I think this must run in the family, since my mother is making us (my sibs and I) dress alike for a Christmas picture this year, and I'm into my 4th decade...

What a cutie!

Thanksgiving in College Station

2008-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

We spent a nice long Thanksgiving weekend in College Station, TX with Bryan's family. It was so much fun to be able to spend some time with everyone, and I know Nana and Papa were happy to visit with all 3 grandchildren at once! Emily, Julia, and Carson all seemed to get along really well. Emily even smiled for the pictures this year (ha! - after a bribe by Uncle Bryan!).

Here are a couple of cute pictures of cousin Julia, showing us her belly and sharing her toys with Carson.

We also got to spend a little time with our friends Jenna and Jason, and their 10-month old Jackson. Jackson was kind enough to lend Carson a whole bunch of clothes... thanks! Carson really enjoyed the Kurtens' pointer Otto, and our dog Stella has really enjoyed the ball he sent home with us. Thanks again!

Happy 1st Thanksgiving!

Wait... what happened to November?

2008-12-01T19:24:00.001-08:00

Just as soon as I remember to write 11 as the month, it becomes 12. I can't believe how much time has flown by. Carson is over 7 months old now, and Bryan and I are still a little surprised that he's actually ours! It's so much fun to be parents!

Carson has been teething (we think... although several months now and nothing to show for it). Maybe it's just the baby tendency to put everything in the mouth. Maybe a little of both. In any case, Carson is proud of his new trick. We'll be sitting around with him, and when we look away for a second, he takes the opportunity to remove his sock with his gums (?teeth). When we look back, he will have it hanging out of his mouth. No hands. Not sure if he learned this from Stella behind our backs...

Speaking of footwear, here are a couple of photos of Carson's cool flaming guitar shoes. (Cool? Hot? Not sure...).
I still promise that Thanksgiving weekend pictures are coming. Soon. I think.

More fall pictures and hilarious anecdotes

2008-11-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

A funny thing happened today. Bryan and I were sitting around, playing with Carson, when we simultaneously realized that there was something strange in the air. It was sort of stinky but sort of ... well... it was a little like baby poo... but a little different. We couldn't figure it out. Then suddenly, it came to me: asparagus. Carson ate two helpings today. It turns out that baby pee can also smell like asparagus. Now we know.

It's been unusually cold in Durham this fall; we've had sub-freezing temperatures on several nights and even a few snow flurries. We've continued with our regular outdoor activities, so Carson has been making good use of his little snow suits and bunting blankets.

We have a bunch of other pictures up on our web album, and I'll be updating the blog soon with some cute pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend trip to College Station. (The pictures are MUCH cuter than the A&M/Texas game...)

What happened to October?

2008-11-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

I am ashamed that I didn't post a single word for the entire month of October. Let me assure you that it's not because there wasn't anything exciting going on. We had a trip to Boston, visits from both sets of grandparents, and Carson's first Halloween. Last week it was really cold here, which meant Carson got to try out his various hats, and the dogs were wild. (This always happens with the dogs in the winter; I'm not sure why.) Anyway, here are some pictures from our various activities.

We went to Boston for the last weekend in September so that I could go to a meeting for work. Bryan and Carson were excited to get to come along, and they had good intentions about exploring the Freedom Trail and eating chowder. Unfortunately, it rained the whole weekend, and we mostly just hung out in the hotel room. Luckily, the room was very nice, and the meeting provided plenty of free coffee and pastries. We did make it out one night to a seafood dive, and Bryan got some chowder. Phew...

These are just a couple of cute pictures of Carson in his warm clothes. How adorable! (If I do say so myself...)

My parents came to visit in mid-October, and we had some pretty chilly weather that weekend. We had a great visit, though! Lots of good meals and good grandson play-time. Here's one of Carson with Grandpa at Parker and Otis.

Bryan's parents came to visit the following weekend, and I think we must have only taken pictures with their camera. Somehow we came out with nothing. I'm sure Nana and Papa will send us some when they get developed.

Then, here we are on Halloween. Carson went as a chicken. Bryan and I went as "new parents," which meant that we went with very messy hair in exactly the clothes we were wearing anyway. Lazy? No... I think it's genius... (although I'm not sure people really got it.)

Hopefully I'll do a better job of keeping up this month! We have a trip to Texas for "Christmas in November" and another trip to Texas in December for actual Christmas. More pictures to come soon!

Zucchini, and it's fall.

2008-09-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

All kinds of exciting things have been going on at the Cox household since our last post. Here are our favorites:

First, Carson has branched out from his all dairy diet to include a few fruits and vegetables. He has really enjoyed this! So far, he's tried rice cereal, apples, zucchini, and peaches, and he loves it all. (The apples are his favorite!) He is really into the idea of feeding himself, with or without the spoon, so you can imagine what a mess this has been. Here are a couple of pictures of Carson with the zucchini (not so much in his mouth as all around it).

As if the zucchini wasn't exciting enough, last weekend we had the pleasure of running into a few old friends at the mall. Luckily, we had the camera.
OK, so we went early and waited in line for 20 minutes to get the pictures... At least we were able to resist the power of the merchandise!

And then... it turned into fall. For the past few days, it's been in the 60's and 70's, and Carson has branched out into his winter wardrobe. Time for the baby shoes and long pants... maybe even a few hats. This is probably more fun for me than it is for him, although he thinks the shoes are pretty interesting. Here he is this morning in his cute little pants and baby Converse. It's kind of hard to appreciate the baby Converse in this picture, but believe me, they're cute.

So, with Carson in his autumn sweater, to celebrate his 5-month birthday, we headed out to the Durham Farmers Market for some acorn squash - his next treat. While we were downtown, we ran into Centerfest. This is the first time Bryan and I have made it to Centerfest, so we were excited! There was lots of cool art (we liked Mikel Robinson and Andria Linn the best). We bought a little print from Andria. I learned about a cool looking yarn and fiber store on 9th street - has this always been there? I also really enjoyed the apple beignets... yum. Maybe next year Carson can try these, too.

Carson's New Favorite Game

2008-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last night we were sitting around on the couch (seems like we do that a lot!), and Bryan developed this new game with Carson. He made buzzing noises, and then tickled him. Up to this point, we hadn't discovered where his ticklish spots were, but it seems like they're everywhere! We all had a good laugh with this... Who needs toys when you have Dad, right?
Maybe Carson was just excited because A&M won their game.

Trip to Texas

2008-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, we took a trip to Texas to visit friends in Houston and family in Corpus Christi. Even though the weather reminded us of the reason we moved away from south Texas, our great visit with everyone reminded us of the reason we'll probably move back! Our friends Bree and Stephen threw a great party for us over the weekend in Houston, which was the perfect way for us to see all our buddies from college (and meet their children, too)! Here I am with Lise and Wyatt, Bree and Elliott, and Carson of course.

I also got to meet my college roommate Becky's new baby James, who is just a little older than Carson.

From there, we went down to Corpus, where we were met by Bryan's parents at the airport. Ken likes to pull pranks, and we walked right past him in the airport before we realized that guy with the black hair was him. He had spray-painted his hair black and shaved his facial hair just to see if we'd recognize him. (We didn't!) My parents, my brother, and his girlfriend Yuri also came to visit, and Bryan's sister and family met us a few days later. Shannon and Kyle's daughter Julia celebrated her first birthday with cake (fun for everyone!). Our neice Emily surprised us all with not 1 but 2 hole-in-ones at the mini-golf course.

We're already looking forward to our next trip back!

Check out the rest of our photos from the trip at our web album.

Our other children

2008-08-30T07:03:00.001-07:00

We decided a few months before Carson was born that we would train Stella and Matilda not to go in the nursery. This was a little bit difficult for Stella, who is used to following us so closely that we trip over her on a regular basis. Things went pretty well with the training until Carson was born, when we started actually spending time in the nursery. So, we've continued on with the efforts, but the dogs have made a habit of coming just inside the door and then laying down (instead of laying outside the door like we taught them to do). Despite our efforts to be consistent, sometimes we just don't have the energy to put them outside the door, tell them to stay, get treats, and so on... when they're not really bothering anyone.

Here's a picture of our disobedient pets, in the nursery long enough to have fallen asleep. (How could we kick them out; they're so cute!)

Unfortunately, Stella has decided that we must not be serious about the whole "stay out of the nursery" thing, and has made it her new favorite pass-time to steal burpcloths, bibs, and socks out of Carson's laundry hamper. Oh, well... at least it's not dirty diapers.

Photo shoot

2008-08-24T15:44:00.001-07:00

When Carson was about 2 months old, we had some professional photos taken at Tamara Lackey photography in Durham. (We had a really good experience, if any of you Durham-ites are looking for a photographer). Here are our proofs from the session.

http://www.tamaralackey.com/pickpic/gallery/login.php

Password: Carson

Gallery Expiration: 12/14/08

In other news

2008-08-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

In other news, Carson is sitting up now. Here's a cute picture of him in his Bumbo seat with Dad. He's also rolling over, laughing a lot (so cute), and noticing the dogs a little more. He went with us to see Wilco on Friday, and he looked super-cool in his flaming guitar shoes (thanks, Amie!). We'll post a picture of those, soon. All he needs now is to perfect his guitar skills and his rock-and-roll hand gesture, and he'll be the nephew of whom his Aunt Margaret always dreamed. (Rock!)

The Homestead

2008-08-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our trip to The Homestead in Virginia a couple of weeks ago. Bryan was working at the North Carolina Dermatology meeting (yes, it was in Virginia), and Carson and I went along for the vacation. My mom also came, so that she could babysit while Bryan and I went out "entertaining." (We really had to twist her arm for that one!) It was a really beautiful place (as you can see below), but we had to take some seriously windy mountain roads to get there.

One surprise about the Homestead was that "jeans are discouraged in the great hall and dining room. Attire is 'resort casual.' " Of course, Bryan was wearing suits, but none of the rest of us brought our "tennis whites" or Tommy Bahama-wear. So, we decided it probably didn't matter, and we would wear our jeans anyway. Mom, Carson, and I went, denim-clad, to the main dining room for breakfast our first morning there. About 5 minutes into our experience, we heard a sound come from Carson's pants. Next thing we knew, both Carson and I were covered in stinky, yellow baby poo. What a spectacle. I'm going to guess that baby poo also isn't encouraged in the dining room... It's a wonder they let us out of our rooms after that.

Luckily, the weather was beautiful, and we spent most of the rest of the weekend outside. Bryan played golf, and the rest of us went hiking and laid by the pool. Whew... we were exhausted by the end.

Carson for President

2008-07-31T14:26:00.001-07:00

Carson Tucker and the Dark Theater

2008-07-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Da da da daaaaa da da da da daaaaa (that's the Indiana Jones theme).

Today, Bryan and I came upon a rainy Sunday night with nothing going on, and we decided to brave the theater with the baby to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I had been a little nervous about this adventure, but Bryan had endured 2 months of suspense (trying very hard to avoid spoilers), so tonight became the night. I fed Carson right before we left so that he would make it through the movie and back home before he would need to eat again. The theater wasn't too crowded, thank goodness. So, the movie started, and Carson fell asleep, and everything was going fine until the power went out. It was early in the movie, and we were quickly assured by a movie theater employee that it would come back on in just a few minutes. About ten minutes later, the movie started again. I had finally started to relax a little bit when the power went off again. Everyone assumed that it would come right back on, but about 15 minutes went by, and nothing happened. By this time, Carson was starting to squirm a little. It was getting to be about the time we should have been leaving, and he was hungry! I looked at Bryan, and we decided there wasn't anything we could do but go ahead and feed him. We were sitting on the back row (just in case he'd been a little noisy), so I covered up with the sling, and Carson started eating. About 2 minutes later, the movie theater employee came back in and said that the show was canceled because of the power outage but that she would give out free passes to everyone to make up for it. Bryan and I looked at each other again, and, after everyone else had gone to pick up their passes, he went down to tell her that we needed a few more minutes. She gave him our passes and said that it wouldn't be a problem for us to stay. So, we sat there about 10 more minutes, and just as Carson finished up and was burping with Bryan, the movie came back on. We looked at each other yet again and then sat back down to enjoy the rest of the movie in a completely empty theater. Carson stayed awake for the end, squealing as loud as he wanted (in a happy way), and we were really able to relax. By the time the movie was over, it had almost stopped raining, and we triumphantly returned home with a full, happy baby and 2 free movie passes. The best part is: Bryan doesn't have to avoid the spoilers any more.

(Also, I can't believe it was aliens).

Carson visits the Myricks

2008-06-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Texarkana. Carson had a great time meeting Aunt Margaret, Uncle John, and his Great-grandmother. John went through a couple of different shirts before learning to use a burpcloth, but otherwise the introductions were a success! Carson also met "Uncle Rocky" and "Aunt Leah," (the dogs), who enjoyed meeting him, too.

First trip to Texas

2008-06-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Carson took his first trip to Texarkana to meet his great-grandmother ("GiGi"), his Aunt Margaret, and his Uncle John. Thanks to all the messy airline problems, we spent much more time in the airport than we were supposed to. Surprisingly, Carson enjoyed himself! (Bryan and I were not so enthusiastic about sitting around in DFW!) This is Carson with Bryan on the first airplane ride.

He actually slept for most of the trip (thank goodness!), but he did wake up for this brief, happy playtime. We also attended a fantastic baby shower given by friends of "Deedee" (his grandmother). He got so many gifts and so much admiration. I've never seen a baby with such a wardrobe!

I will post more pictures from the weekend soon.

A trip to the beach

2008-06-16T10:17:00.001-07:00

Carson went with Bryan and me to Wilmington this past weekend. Bryan worked on Thursday and Friday morning, and we went to the beach on Friday afternoon. Carson was very cute in his little swimming outfit, although he didn't actually spend much time in the water. He didn't seem to mind the waves (or even notice them), but I was a little worried about teaching him about sunburns and salt-in-the-eyes at this early stage. He did have a nice nap in his "kidpod," which is a cute little shady tent. (the picture of this didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.)

We took some of Bryan's clients out on Friday night and then went across town to the river. Carson wanted to get dessert, so we stopped at a cute little restaurant called Cafe Pheonix (which was excellent, by the way!). The next morning, we decided to give the pool a try, but Carson wasn't really in the mood. Maybe he'll be more interested in a month or two (or 12).

We're looking forward to another beach trip in August, when we're taking Carson to visit the rest of the Coxes in Corpus Christi. Until then, I'll be looking for an excuse to put him in his cute little swim trunks again. Bathtime, maybe, or playtime with Stella... yeah, that usually leaves him pretty soaked.

A smile!

2008-06-07T08:47:00.001-07:00

Isn't he cute? Bryan somehow took this with one hand while reading a caterpillar book with the other hand. He's not smiling much yet, but every once in awhile we catch him in a good mood.

In other news, he went to his first rock concert the other night: Ben Folds at the Booth Amphitheatre. He slept through the entire thing! Next week he's going to see REM, and his Dad is very excited. Up to this point, he's preferred to listen to female singers on his CD's, like Madonna and the Dixie Chicks - who are on the same lullaby compilation. Who knew? Anyway, Bryan is hoping we can broaden Carson's taste a little bit to include some family favorites like REM and Wilco, who we'll see on August 8.

He's never even seen Texas...

2008-05-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

This may look like any old yawn or scream, but it's actually Carson practicing his freshman wildcat. AAAAAAAA! Must have been inspired by the bib and the overalls. Look out A&M, here comes Carson Cox, class of 2030!

Below are a couple more Texas-inspired photos. Carson is sporting his cute cowboy bib, given to him by his buddy Ellie Kate and her parents Kyla and Stephen.

I guess all the posing has worn him out... time for a nap. (Time for Mom to take a nap, too!)

For the past few days, Carson has been going through a growth spurt and has been eating A LOT! He's also become more interactive and is really looking at us during his awake periods. He's developed an interest in some of his toys and especially likes his little book with a mirror inside (thanks, Maya and Max!). Stella and Matilda haven't gained acknowledgment yet, but they are looking forward to that. Stella is particularly interested in "sharing" some of Carson's toys, especially the squeaky ones. I expect that one day, this will help Carson learn to keep his toys put away!

In other news, Carson slept 5 hours and 10 minutes last night in a single stretch. This is his longest yet. Oh, the things that make my day (and night)!

My first video experiment

2008-05-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

(This isn't even a real video clip, just a bunch of pictures I put together into a series.) It was a nice sunny day, and Bryan was sitting with Carson on the deck. I wish you could have seen the faces he was making in person; it was so funny! Carson is getting so big already! We're still looking forward to that first intentional smile...

2008-05-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of Carson in various states of mind on his Dad's lap. I guess we spend a lot of time in the same spots on the couch, since each picture has his pack & play in the background. (which, by the way, is getting a lot of use!)

We've been trying to catch Carson smiling, but it's kind of hard to predict at this point. Hopefully this month, he'll learn the "social smile," and we'll get some better pictures. We've discovered that he has a dimple on his left cheek - how cute! He's definitely enjoying his "going out" clothes that Grandma gave him (blue overalls). He and the overalls have been on several outings lately, including dinner with friends at Tyler's and dinner with Great-uncle John.

I have no explanation for the glasses picture... Bryan and I thought it was hysterical, but I can see that maybe our fatigue is contributing to our easily amused state. Maybe it's a tribute to Stephen Sandlin, who made that blanket that's wrapped around him. (and who has been known to wear similar glasses.)

First Mother's Day

2008-05-13T19:51:00.001-07:00

My first Mother's Day! Also Carson's 3-week birthday. Carson and Bryan took me to brunch at Parker and Otis (yum!). Carson enjoyed watching the rain from the patio.

Carson is quite perky these days when he's awake. He's started tracking with his eyes and looking at faces, which makes things a little more fun for Bryan and me. We're looking forward to the day when he returns our smiles! He loves to stare at the black and white art cards that our friend Harriett (and baby Sara Ross) gave him. He also loves walls, ceiling fans, lamps, and the mobile over his crib. It's so cute to see him interested in things!

Nana and Papa visit

2008-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Bryan's parents came to visit on Carson's birthday, then took an exciting trip around east Tennessee and western NC, then came back to visit some more. Carson spent some quality nap time in their laps.

Carson takes a bath

2008-05-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Carson took his first bath at home in his cute little bathtub. He didn't mind it too much and was even able to position himself for the picture so as not to reveal anything he doesn't want his high school dates to see. (Don't worry, we have plenty of time left to take embarrassing pictures!)

He cozied up in his little duck bath towel afterwards, which he definitely enjoyed.

Our first outings

2008-04-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

Our first two outings:
1. Carson hangs out in a sling while Mom and Dad have lunch at Foster's.
2. Carson rides around the block with Mom and Dad. He likes the carseat a little more now. He has met some of the neighbors and seems to enjoy the fresh air.

First week home

2008-04-28T14:30:00.001-07:00

Carson made it home from the hospital, although he wasn't too interested in riding in the carseat at first. He doesn't mind it so much now. Since we got here, he's been learning to do all the things that babies need to learn, like eating, sleeping, and pooping (he's pretty good at that already!). He's also already learned to spell his name in sign language; see his "C" in the picture...
He's been enjoying the company of all his grandparents. These are some pictures of my mom and dad, and there will be pictures of Bryan's parents to come. Starting tomorrow, Bryan and I will be on our own, so feel free to come by and visit if you're in the neighborhood!

2008-04-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Carson has been home for a week now, and things are still going well! He's getting used to his eating and sleeping routine, and we've been taking lots of pictures. Hopefully I'll have time to put them on the computer soon!

Carson is born!

2008-04-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here are our first pictures of Carson Tucker Cox, born 4/20/08 at 8:28am. He weighed 8 lb, 8 oz. Bryan was a fantastic labor coach, and I am very thankful for the anesthesiologist who put in my epidural!

Everything is going well so far with Carson's first day and 1/2 of life. We all go home from the hospital tomorrow, so that will be a whole new experience!

39 weeks

2008-04-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

(This picture is actually from 35-ish weeks, so you can imagine how much bigger the baby is now! Stella can't bear to look.)

39 weeks today! The baby is still happily squished in my uterus. Hopefully the exodus will begin soon...

New Blog

2008-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the Cox Family blog... we'll use it to post news and pictures. Hopefully we'll have some exciting news to report soon!