LOOKING BACK on 2009

January 

• Preparing for the Half Marathon-ran in a race every weekend with two of the greatest people in the world-Amy and Chief Trautwein-I miss you guys!

February- 

• Ran my first half marathon with Amy- 1 hour 54 minutes!!!

MY BIGGEST FAN!

• Lane was born-Josh and LauraLee's first son
  

March

• Found out we were pregnant on March 20, 2009

April

• Trying to keep pregnancy a secret for the first trimester

May

• Announced on Mother's Day that we are 12 weeks pregnant

June

• Found out we were having a "BOY"

• I turned 28 this year!!!
• Celebrated 6 year anniversary!!!

July

• WEDDING- Lee and Meredith Kilgore
• Got Braden's furniture for his room

August

• Lane's Baby dedication
• Lawrence beach trip

• Rylan turned ONE!!!

• Brad turned 34 this year!

September

• 4-D pictures of Braden

October

• October 4th Baby shower in Birmingham-Amy Reece and Kim Parsons

• October 9th Race for the Cure Breast Cancer Walk - Team HEALTHY HOOTERS
• October 18th Baby shower at my house-so much fun

• October 24th Hannah Home Run at One Nineteen-I was one of the race coordinators again this year.

November

• Thanksgiving yummy!
• Maternity pictures

• Braden Daniel Cox November 30, 2009 1:49pm 7 pounds 10 ounces 21.5 inches long

December

• Braden's First Christmas

• Stayed at home this month with Braden-loved every minute of it!  Have tons of pictures of our cute little man!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! God is so GOOD! I will post my GOALS for 2010 in the next couple of days. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hello Everyone!

Go see the three week post!  I love that outfit-Janice's sister Anita got it for Braden-LOVE IT!!!

His outfit says BIG GUY!!  

I hope you all had a wonderful CHRISTMAS!  I know we did!  Since my last post I have so many things to update you on so here are a few days of updates-more to come later.

Tummy time while Maw-maw ironed-Mommy was napping too.

December 22-I didn't feel well at all-Brad had to go to work after he was sick the day before. My Maw-Maw came over and stayed with me-I cleaned the bathrooms and showered.  By that time I was exhausted-so I laid on the couch and when it was time to feed Braden Maw Maw would wake me up.  I would feed him and then she would come get him, burp him, and put him down for his nap.  It was the BEST nap day ever!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAW-MAW!

December 23-Happy Birthday to the BEST MAW-MAW in the WORLD!  I have been the luckiest grand daughter in the world-she has been over here every day that Brad works at Hoover-not that I cant do it by myself but because she loves her Braden.  She has helped me cook, clean, iron, and take care of my little boy.  She might be spoiling that little boy-he goes right to sleep with her-she and my mother have that "special" touch.  They can just hold him and he is off in la-la land in no time.  

Brad and Braden-Mommy was getting ready for our first shopping trip as a family.

Brad came home and we were off on our first shopping trip as a family of three.  Sure we had been before but this time we were going to attempt to take him to a few stores-if he acted - maybe I should say SLEEPS!  Our first stop was Chick Fil A bet no one could have guessed that! We went through the drive through.  Next was Target-we got there he was sleeping-but 15 minutes later he was getting fussy-I checked out and Brad headed to the car-by the time I got there Braden was crying-no he was screaming-I had to run to pick up a few gift cards in the stores near-by so I ran and did that-by the time I got back in the car- he was in a full blown temper tantrum!!  I told Brad we had to go park so I could feed him-he was hungry!  I got him out of his car seat and he was sweating SO BAD!  We had it way too hot in the car and was over heating our child-please do not turn this in to DHR!  But we got him cooled down and fed him and headed to a few more stores-WAL-MART!   OH it was TERRIBLE in there!  But we enjoyed getting out.  I held Braden until he went to sleep and then put him in the car seat and walked around some more.  He did fine.  We got in the car and forgot something in Fultondale so we headed back to there- by the time we got what we needed it was time for supper-so we stopped at Arby's!  DISGUSTING! Remind me to never eat there again!   Or if I do then it is only to get a Jamocha shake.  I gave Braden a bottle there but it was not enough so we had to go park again and let me feed him.  We got to Brian and Sarah's house around 7:15pm to give them and the girls their gifts.  I will post pictures of what I got and Braden's birth announcements at a later time.

Braden looking at the Christmas Tree

Braden and Daddy

Grand-Daddy trying to get Braden to sleep

Uncle Harry (Josh) and LauraLee

Lane eating dinner

December 24-Today we went to Brad's mothers for Christmas.  We got an early start but ended up getting there later than what we wanted.  But with a baby you have so much more to pack-even if you are only staying one night!  We had a great time.  We ate so much food, drank lots of apple cider, and watched old Christmas family videos and opened lots of presents.  Braden had a great 1st Christmas at his Nana and GrandDaddy's.  I think they spoiled him rotten too.

Braden and Daddy at Work

Braden on Daddy's Fire Helmet

Mommy and Braden

December 25-MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!  Brad had to work today. So I got ready, packed the car and finally headed to visit daddy at the fire station-oh how we miss him already!  We got a few pictures with Daddy!  We headed to Gran and Paw-Paws house around 1pm.  Once we got to their house around 2:30pm mommy and Braden were both exhausted.  Braden slept until 3:30pm and I was falling asleep on the couch too.  Everyone started coming in around 5pm.  We ate and opened Christmas gifts-but before we opened gifts we had to take lots of pictures.  We stayed at Gran's house-Maw-Maw and Gran fed Braden his bottle and got him to sleep-I somehow managed to fall asleep myself on the couch.  They both woke me at 11:15pm and said got o bed-Braden is in his pack and play sleeping!  Wow that was EASY!  I got in the bed and woke up at 1:30am wondering if I slept through Braden crying -he was still sound asleep-until 2:30am.  He is able to sleep after his last feeding for 4 hours max-I cant wait until that increases-after that it is every 2-3 hours.  

SICK DAY

Hello Everyone!

I will not be able to post anything today-due to sickness.  Brad was sick all day yesterday and had to go back to work today--and now I feel like I have been hit by a train.  

What do I feel like-my joints are hurting-I am tired, nauseated and my incision is killing me from Braden kicking it last night.  We were up until 3am last night-not sure what was wrong with him but he was not happy.  I will post his 3 weeks picture soon. Not to mention find the time to finish my Christmas shopping.  I still have like 4-5 people to buy for!!!  They might be getting money this year!!!

OK so really I have to go-lil man is waking-again.

Much love,

Mandy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!

Today is Janice's 60th Birthday.  

We love you, Nana!  

3 Weeks

Our little man is THREE WEEKS OLD!  Time is flying by so quickly-please slow it down.  I am not looking forward to work in just 9 weeks.  OH NO- I may cry!

Here are a few things about little Braden. 

• You get the hiccups all the time-just like you did in mommy's tummy
  
• You do NOT like the swing right now.
• You get terrible tummy aches at night-the past week has been terrible but we still love you.
• Daddy is so in love with you-he can't get enough of you.  he tells me not to hold you all day but when he gets home you are not put down.  haha
• Gran and Maw-Maw helped mommy and daddy give you your first bath.  You don't really like bath time right now.
• When we are home alone you like sitting in your bouncy seat while I shower-you just look around.
• YOU LOVE THE HAIR DRYER-it puts you right to sleep.
• Every time we get in the car and it is moving you go to sleep too.
• You will have your first Christmas in 4 days!!!

BUSY WEEKEND

BRADEN LOVES LOOKING AT THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

This week has been very busy!  Pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Thursday 

Brad and I went shopping-well I did Brad drove Braden around while I went in each store.  I don't think I have ever done my Christmas shopping so quickly-I had a list of things to get and what store-I would run in and run out.  Record time for shopping.  But I still have lots of gifts to get-oh I am not sure I will ever get done!

Friday

Pretty boring day-I wrapped gifts and Brad worked at Warrior until 3pm.  Huge thanks to Nancy-she made me a Chicken Divan that I froze until we needed it-and tonight we needed it! It was so good!  Thank you Nancy-Brad loved it and we appreciated it so much!  I made some chocolate covered pretzels and tried to get things packed for Saturday-we have so much planned...

Oh and Braden's belly button came off!!!!

Saturday

Started out with a late night-Braden is not feeling well- he has some tummy aches-lots of gas. Not sure what it is-maybe the broccoli in the chicken divan.  But I sure loved it!  I got up at 7am and started getting ready-we had a surprise birthday party to go to for Janice-Brad's mother. She turns 60 on Monday!  We met Anita, Jimmy, Larry, Diane, Amy, Josh, Grandmother Chris, LL, and Lane and then headed to Janice and Sam's.  She was quite surprised when she saw all of us at her door on a Saturday morning.   We hung out at her house until 12pm and headed to Brio for lunch.  It was so much fun.  After lunch we headed back to their house and atw birthday cake and talked.  At about 4pm we started baking Christmas goodies.  That was our plan anyways-was to meet at her house to bake cookies.  We had so many things to bake that we didn't get them all baked cause we were all so exhausted.  But we did bake Snicker doodles, chocolate chip cookies, Monster cookies, and sausage balls.  While we ate supper-we watched some of Janice's old Christmas movies- I laughed until I hurt-Brad was the funniest little kid ever.  I told Janice I wanted a copy of that DVD.  Because if I ever need a good laugh I could just pop that DVD in and laugh until I cried.  It was great!  We didn't get to watch them all because it was getting late-but we plan on watching them again Christmas Eve.  Oh I cant wait to watch them all!

Janice got the best birthday gift ever-JOSH GOT A JOB!!!

Amy was so excited to see Baby Braden.  

Amy-thank you for my first Alabama toboggan-cant wait to wear it.

Sunday

Braden decided that since he was such a GOOD boy all day Saturday that he would be a BAD boy that night.  We were up until 1am.  OH I WAS TIRED!  We slept until 9am and I loved it. Once we got up and got Braden fed again and put him down for his morning nap Brad and I were able to clean the house a little.  Amazing at how dirty my house gets in just a few days.  I needed to go to Wal-Mart for some things so we loaded up and headed to Gardendale.  Of course Brad drove Braden around the parking lot and I dashed in trying to make record time and I did -15 minutes  ha!  We got home and put up everything and fed Braden and actually laid down for a nap.  I felt refreshed once i got up.  Mom, Dad, and Maw-Maw came over to visit Braden and brought us supper.  It was YUMMY!  VEGGIES!! Moms are the best - especially mine!  Thank you so much!  Once we were done with supper it was time for our first lesson on bathing!  Yep Braden go this FIRST BIG BOY bath.  So exciting-not really -he hated it!  But loved the way he felt once he was dried and lathered up with lotion and ready to eat!  

Now it is time to go to bed-it is 9:30pm and Braden will be waking very soon for his next feeding in about 30 minutes!  I pray he eats, burps, and goes right back to sleep. Because this headache that I have is not going away as quickly as I would like...

NIGHT NIGHT!

PAW PAW holding Braden for the first time!  

I LOVE YOU-PAW PAW

BRADEN'S FIRST BIG BOY BATH!  

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE COX FAMILY!!!

NEW BORN PHOTOS