I'm Back!

I CANNOT believe it's been a YEAR since I've blogged. I'm going to try and do my best at this blogging thing again. It helps me keep a record of this precious time with my sweet babies. Speaking of my babies let me catch on what they are up to... Baylor just celebrated his FOURTH birthday. My first born is getting so big. He just had his 4 year check up this week. Here are a look at Bay's stats: Weight: 49 lbs- top 5% percentile Height: 42 3/4- top 10% percentile BP: 110/52 (just for my record) Dr. Morrison said Bay looks like a 5 year old. We get that all the time. Dr. M said he's built just like his Daddy. Not sure if I've ever mentioned, but Dr. M was Jonathan's pediatrician and we LOVE him as do our boys. Funny side note- At Bay's check up the nurse took us back and said she needed a urine sample from Bay. We stopped outside the bathroom door and she asked Bay if he could tee tee in a cup for her. He was standing in front of me and he was facing her. Well I guess with a four year old you need to specify because he was about to give her the sample right then outside the bathroom. All I heard was "you don't have to do it right here, buddy." HA! Baylor has done so many fun things over the last year and one of them is he played his first season of soccer. He was on Team Mexico 2 and did so good. His first game he scored 3 goals. I can't say every game went as smooth and there were a couple of meltdowns when someone else got the ball, but hey I guess that's to be expected with it's 3/4 year olds playing their first sport. Another first thing for Bay is Children's Choir at our church. He really enjoys going and just had his fall program last week. He'll have his Christmas program in less than 2 weeks and I'm looking forward to it. Mama is his biggest fan in all that he does! For Halloween Bay was a fisherman and brother was a crab! Hey- we love the beach and our boys love crabbin'. No big surprise! Alright how about a little update on our sweet "firecracker" Brew! Weight: 21 lbs - bottom 5% Height: 30 1/2" - bottom 20% Head Circumference: 19 1/2 - 92% percentile Yep- he's build completely different than Bay. He may shoot up and beef up in a couple years. Bay was always tiny like this too, but over the last year as beefed up a lot. Dr. M says Brew is built like a golfer or tennis player. Brewer is such a love bug. He walks around blowing kisses all the time. He'll walk up to out of the blue and give you kisses too. At the same time he is a wild one- fearless. He is constantly climbing on the couch, on the coffee table, and train table. He thinks he is so funny. Some of little facts about Brew is he only drinks white milk. He refuses anything else from the sippy cup. Dr. M told me this week that is fine with him. He said he's not a big juice fan anyways- neither am I. I still dilute Baylor's juice if I'm pouring if from a jug. Brewer is saying Hey, bye, Mama (first word), Dada, dog, Bay (just started a week ago), Bubble (Bubble Guppies), Bible, Roll Tide (yuck), bird, no no, and ba ba (sippy cup). I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are his most used words. Brew started walking at 14 weeks and has been running ever since. This post is a little all over the place, but I'm trying to get caught up with some main "events" over the last year. I'll be back soon! I've attached some pictures over the last few months.

Catch Up...

I think this has been the longest time period in between blog posts. I have no excuse other than life has been BUSY. We have done so much since our newest little Angel arrived. I'm going to give a brief summary. I'll be back with more pictures soon- I promise. Since Brewer arrived we have been to the beach twice- once for Labor Day and once for my 30th B-day in October. We were in Seacrest on 30A both times. We had so much fun- perfect weather, water, and family time with just the 4 of us. Oh and of course Brew seems to already have the beach life down pat as he napped on the beach under the umbrella 90% of the time. In October we went to the fair, Fall Festivals, Holiday Market, celebrated Halloween with our fireman and his dalmation (see pic above), attended Birthday parties, and celebrated family birthdays. I absolutely love this time of the year. Since October we celebrated Big Brother's BIG 3rd Birthday with a pumpkin painting party and had a blast. I still can't believe I have a 3 year old. 3 just seems so big to me- sad. We have already celebrated Thanksgiving with the Cox side of Jonathan's family and are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with Jonathan's mom's side of the family and my family. I'm sure I've missed a few things, but life as you can has been busy. Our sweet Brew will turn 4 months on Saturday and he is just a sweet butterball. He smiles, laughes, and constantly watches his brother. He is wearing 3 month clothing and size one diapers. Trying to turn over, but can't quite make it all the way yet. He and his brother are going for the well check ups on Monday so I will have their stats to post. Speaking of doctor's Bay has been 3 times since Halloween... upper respiratory infection, possible strep, but was tested and the med they put him did cover strep. Then back 5 days later with an ear infection- a really bad one, also still has nasty cough. Seemed to do better for about 2 weeks and had to go back yesterday with a double ear infection, and URI. This time he had to get a shot, and 3rd antibiotic to take at home. Hoping this does the trick. 95% of the time you would have no idea he's sick, wild man for sure! Brother has been stuffy, but the Ped says there really isn't anything we can do other than what we're already doing- saline drops, suctioning, and humififer. So that's our life right now. I'm looking forwarding to decorating for Christmas. I can already picture Christmas morning with the 4 of around the tree.I'm looking forward to that brief time in all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season where we enjoy time and make special memories with our little fam of 4! I'll be back soon with lots of pictures and stat updates! Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Brewer's Newbrn Pictures!

We had these newborn pictures done by Allison Hilyer. She was so much fun to work with and was wonderful with Baylor. We love what she captured of our sweet boy and our family. We also had a old friend of mine Emily Dudley who took some beautiful pictures of our family. I'll share those soon too! Enjoy!

Brewer Todd Cox

I'm almost 7 weeks late on this post. Brewer arrived at 3:33 pm on July 24th weighing in at 7lb 1oz and 18in long. I was 37 weeks and 2 days. That Tuesday morning I headed to my 37 week appointment knowing my blood pressure wasn't the best and had not been over the week before. Side note- I'd been on bedrest for the last 4 weeks leading up to my induction due to elevated BP. At my appointment I had my usualy NST and Brewer wasn't as active as normal. They had to "buzz" him to get him to respond a couple times. I already had an ultrasound scheduled for that morning too to check on his growth. The ultrasound showed it was around 7lb 3oz and everything looked good except my amniotic fluid was a little low which can be a result of high bp. After my NST and U/S I saw Dr. D and he checked me. I was 2cm dilated and he didn't say exactly how much effaced. I was 1.5cm and 50% effaced at my 36 week appointment. He just commented that I was more than 50%. After discussing my BP and the "low" amniotic fluid he decided there was no reason to prolong the pregnancy. He sent me over to the hospital. With a little coaxing he did let me make a quick trip home to pick up my bags. We got to the hospital around 10:15am. I was started on pitocin and a little while later my water was broke. I started feeling some ctx and just in time anesthesia came in and started my epidural. Everything went so fast I went from 4 to 9.5cm in less than a hour. I went very fast with Baylor's induction also. I only pushed through 4 sets of contractions and then our sweet, beautiful, healthy baby boy arrived. It's amazing how you can fall in love all over again, but both Jonathan and I did.. After a little time of us spending time as a family of 3 and me nursing Brewer, Jonathan and went and got the Big Brother to be the first person to meet his brother. It was so sweet to see Bay's face which we got on camera thanks to a sweet friend who took pictures. He wanted to hold him right away and has welcomed his brother in a far better way than we could've asked for which was an answer to our prayers. The Lord prepared his heart for this big change and we are blessed! We spent the rest of the day with our family and sweet friends. The birth of a child is something so amazing it's really hard to put into words all the emotions you feel. The best way I guess I can descibe it is that our hearts grew that day and in that moment I felt closer to the Lord than in any other. It's amazing that God has choosen Jonathan and I to be the parents to two of his sweet little miracles. There is no greater gift. I'm going to try and do a beter job at blogging. I have a lot more pictures on FB- it's just easier to post them on there. So all of our family members can see them. I'm getting ready to return to work a week from Tuesday so once we're on a better schedule maybe I'll be back blogging more consistently. Here is our beautiful baby boy: As far as looking like Big Brother we think he is starting to look more like him. At first more people including Jonathan thought he looked more like me. I didn't see it. It was obvious after a few days we really favored his daddy more than Baylor did. He was born with much lighter hair and eyelashes- like his Daddy has. It's funny bc so many people think Bay looks a lot like Jonathan with most of my features (lips, nose, chin, skin color) but we now have people tell us Baylor actually is starting to look more like me and Brewer is Jonathan's mini me. I guess I can see if you take away the curls and his big blue eyes- mine are hazel. Jonathan's eyes are a lot more pronounced than mine. It's fun to see them grow and change. Can't wait to see if Brewer continues to favor Baylor more and more each day. Our of course we think they are both the most beautiful boys (babies) we've ever layed our eyes on- yes we're biased.

36 Week Update

Since I've been on bed rest I haven't been able to join my boys at church on Sundays, but finally got out of the house last Sunday and joined them. My OB has given me permission to get out for dinner every once in a while, but haven't taken him up on it. I figured if he didn't mind me going to dinner then going to church for a hour would be ok. Our Sunday School class held our Baby Blessing on Sunday and our sweet teachers really hoped I would be able to make it. Whoever in the class who wants to bring diapers and wipes does so and at the end of class everyone gathers around the expecting couple and prays over them. We have been so blessed by our Married Life class and their sweet prayers mean so much to us. We can't wait for our sweet baby boy #2 to arrive so he can meet all these special people who have been praying for him since before he was conceived. Our last family of 3 photo in the Gardens at church! Brewer's Baby Blessing Basket Just a little update- I had my 36 week appointment last Tuesday. I had to see another OB since mine is enjoying some much needed time at the beach. I was checked for the 2nd week and this time showed progress. I was 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was shocked mostly by the effacement, but guess I shouldn't have been because I've been having lots of Braxton Hicks for a few weeks now. Can't wait to see how Brewer looks on ultrasound on Tuesday, get an estimated weight, and see if more progress has been made- We're getting so close!

Baby Brewer Update!

Baby Brewer's due date is on 31 days away. I'm currently 35 1/2 weeks and I'm on bed rest. I was put on bed rest a couple weeks ago for high blood pressure. I had high BP with Bay so it wasn't totally unexpected. Once you've had it during a pregnancy you have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it again. Other than that I'm feeling good. Like I first mentioned I have 31 days left, but as of right now we are just trying to get me to 37-38 weeks. Before going on bed rest I tried going on BP meds, but since I don't have high blood pressure all the time the meds were making my BP drop to low at times. This type of BP issue is the hardest to treat. As Dr. D said he would rather me have high BP all the time so I could take the meds and be on my way and they would stop them at 38 weeks. Since I can't take the meds there it isn't healthy for me to go all the way to 40 weeks with high BP so that's why were just hoping to make it to the end of July. Baylor was born at 37 weeks to the day and did great. We are praying Brewer does just as well. Right now Daddy is having to do all the last minute things/errands to prepare for baby. He is such a good daddy. Other than we're trying to soak in as much time as a family of 3 as possible. Baylor loves going in Brewer's room and playing with the swing and hanging out in his bouncey seat. I think he is going to be the best big brother. He loves the baby a Gin Gin's and he loves his cousin Lily. We can't wait to see our boys together. Here are some pictures from my 2nd 4D and some from my work shower. We are so blessed to have so many people share in this exciting time in our lives.