Lunch Break

This melted my heart right into my grilled cheese sandwich.

Getting Rounder

First Owie

Seriously, why are there corners on baby tubs?! Broke my heart when I saw the blood because I knew it shouldn't have happened. Sorry little man.

Going Private

We were advised by the doctor to let Kimball air out a few times a day to prevent the bad diaper rashes he's been getting. Besides, he's got the cutest little bum!

As a side note, we are making our blog private so that I can create posts like this without having to worry. If you want to keep following our blog, email me at coxrebekah@gmail.com.

They Meet At Last

Two months apart, they were finally able to meet. Isom was born on December 28 at 7.4 lbs and 18.5 inches long. Congrats Kempton and Bonnie! If Isom were to stretch out his little folded up frog legs, there wouldn't be much difference in size.

All Smiles

He should hold a sign saying: Content If Fed. Sometimes his cheeks and double chin get the way and I love every inch of them! Although according to the doctor on Thursday, he's quite small for his age, in the 5%.

Meltdowns Galore

This past week wasn't an easy one. For whatever reason I can't sleep. I'm limited on sleep anyway having to get up and feed Kimball through the night. But this week I just can't sleep. Sunday through Wednesday I averaged about 2 hours a night. Wednesday night through Friday I averaged 0 hours a night. That's right, no sleep for 2 days straight going off the 2 hours a night from the previous days. Not fun. In fact its stupid and makes me absolutely livid. The word frustrated and desperate doesn't even come close to how I was feeling.

We found out last minute that Lance had to get a body in Provo on Friday. Conveniently, Steph and Conrad were planning a trip down there for the weekend to see Kemp and Bonnie. So we took Kimball and drove down to Provo and I kept thinking to myself, this is going to be an awesome time to get 4 hours of sleep during the drive. Ha! What was I thinking? No such luck. We had a great time together with Steph and Kempton's family. It was awesome getting to see and meet Isom. We had a lovely dinner together at the Olive Garden and delicious ice cream afterwards.

Long story short, Lance drove back Kemp's truck and I drove back the van. Yes, I drove 4 hours home at 3am on no sleep in 2 days. Stupid. Idiotic. Foolish. It's a miracle I made it home.

Why didn't I stop to snooze for a bit? Well, I knew that once I did finally nap, I'd be in such a deep sleep that waking me might prove dangerous to Lance shaking me, and that I'd never fully wake up making it even more impossible to finish the drive home. Why did I need to drive home that night? Besides all the obvious answers, Lance needed to get Jane Doe to the mortuary. I just had to push through it.

NEVER doing it again.

During the entire drive I had a meltdown and just sobbed and sobbed and talked out loud to myself. I was about ready to admit myself to a hospital because I was so exhausted which was making my brain wig out. When we got home Lance let me get a few hours of sleep that night as he got up to feed Kimball. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. When I got up Saturday around 11am after getting 5 hours of sleep, it just wasn't enough and I had another meltdown. Last night Lance got up to feed Kimball every time so that I could sleep. I'm hoping that by the time I get a nap or get to bed early tonight, I'll be able to function normally again and my brain won't go crazy. Thank you Lance, I know you didn't want to sacrifice your last two nights but it was vital for me.

2011 in Review

This past year was a whirlwind and being that I was pregnant for most of it, I'll try to remember everything I can.

Highlights:

• Went on a memorable trip to Sun Valley for spring break. The trip wasn't anything spectacular or extraordinary and it was a great trip don't get me wrong, but it was when we made the final decision to buy our first house. We weren't even in the market to buy a house. At all. Not in the least bit. It was the fourth one we saw (we only looked to pretend to be grown ups and dream a little) and we instantly fell in love with the character, price, and income potential with the rental house included.
  
• The day after we returned home from the spring break trip to Sun Valley was when I found out I was pregnant. I remember looking at the stick for results and couldn't quit grinning when I saw it was positive. I was home sick from church with a cold and I decided to start working on announcements and trying to think of how I was going to tell Lance.
  
• Lance graduated from school with his second degree and completed all credits necessary to get his funeral director/mortician license.
• Lance finished his apprenticeship and passed the state boards making his licensing official.
• Lance was immediately offered a job as the Advanced Planning Specialist, specializing in pre-needs.
• Kimball John Cox was born at 7:53am on October 26 weighing in at 5.7 lb and 18.5 inches long. He is our entire world.
• I made a remarkably fast recovery from the c-section. I think it was because I was so sick and miserable during the pregnancy, the recovery from surgery was easy peasy.
• I quit my job and became a stay at home mom, the job of my dreams.

Everything else that happened that I'm forgetting was probably due to me being stationed by the toilet while pregnant. Anything else I'm forgetting is because my brain went crazy during those 9 months. All in all, a very good and successful year for our little family.

My Handsome, Sweet Boy

Sunday was a special day for our little family as Lance blessed Kimball at church. I was emotional all morning in anticipation of the blessing but when it came to the actual blessing itself I stayed together. Mom really came to the rescue for this day as she purchased the most adorable outfit and put on the entire meal for us. Funds are definitely tight right now and we're so lucky to have such supportive family. I'm so, so grateful for a wonderful husband who holds the priesthood. He protects us and is the father of our family. He would do anything in the world for us. I'm so thankful that both of our dad's were able to stand in, I could tell they were just beaming and so proud of Lance. We love our little boy so much! I'm amazed at how quick to tears I come in every aspect of his life. I cried when they poked his foot for the PKU test. I cried when he got his first shots. I BAWLED when I first physically saw that he was growing, it made me so, so sad! I cried when he got his first diaper rash. I still cry when he doesn't sleep, mostly because I'm extremely tired and can't find one more ounce of energy. This little boy is our whole world and we can't imagine life without him. He's so adorable and sweet. We're so blessed and happy that he's ours forever.Dad let me borrow this blanket for the blessing. His grandma, Kimball's Great Great Grandma Stockdale, made it years and years ago. All of my siblings were blessing in it and I'm so thankful we could borrow it for this special day.

R.I.P. Nubbins (By Lance)

Nubbins (Cox), 3 years old, of Twin Falls and formerly of Boise, passed away New Year's Eve 2011 from complications resulting from a winter storm. He was our little buddy and super cute. He was spoiled thoroughly throughout his lifetime. Though he never married, he did have a love affair with Becky's slippers. He was admired by little kids and passers-by.

He was preceded in death by Heyward (our hamster) and is survived by his two loving owners, Lance and Becky Cox, and his new little friend, Kimball. We hope he is happy and well fed in Bunny Heaven and we love you, little bunny.

Trio of Trees

I've had this unfinished craft for several years, it was from a craft day a long time ago. I think my mom also featured it at her ward's super saturday last year as well. Anyhow, I finally finished them. I painted the sides, stem, and trunk all black and mod podged the scrapbook paper on. I did one side as christmas trees and the other side as everyday trees.

These are the christmas trees.

And these are the everyday trees.

Summer Bunting

This is my summer bunting which I put together in about 15 minutes. The cards came 6 to a sheet so I just cut along the lines, punched two little holes in the upper corners, and tied them together with jute. The paper is already so detailed I didn't add any embellishments to it. I think if I did then it would take away from the paper. I love the nostalgic and carefree feel of it which goes perfect with this Charleston picture of children playing by the pineapple fountain.

Spring Bunting

Lately I've been back in the crafting mode. I've always wanted to make a bunting/garland/banner, whatever you want to call it, and this one I made from scrapbook paper. I had all the supplies already on hand so it didn't cost me anything and as usual, if I made another one exactly like this I'd do a few things different. But overall I like how it turned out, especially the birds. You can't read the word very well in the picture, it spells out sweet.

Mama Loves This Little Buddy!

Two Months Old

I can't believe my little koala bear is two months old already. At his check up he weighed 10 pounds and is 23 inches long. Length wise he has made up for his premature birth and is in the 50th percentile but weight and especially his head circumference he is still behind, in the 5th percentile. Dr. Jones said he will probably take after the Pettingill's since all the Pettingill's have little heads. We both cried when he got his shots and he cried even harder when I took the bandaids off his legs. Little guy crashed after his appointment. It gets harder and harder to remember how tiny he was, the last picture was him in the car seat going home from the NICU.

Merry Christmas

I thought I had posted a picture of Kimball's hat before but I guess not. I love this hat Bonnie made for him and in the card she wrote that initially she made it tiny since he was going to be so small as a preemie but then she realized that Cox's have unusually large heads so she decided to make it bigger, haha! These pictures show how much he's grown in the last two months. The first picture was taken Christmas Eve and the last two pictures were taken the day after Kimball was discharged from the NICU.