Family Pictures

About a month back one of Mike's friends from high school took our family pictures. I think she did a great job, here's a few of our favorites:








She looks so big to me in that 3rd one down; it's like my brother said, "she looks like a miniature three year old." Anyways, we love the pictures, thanks to Amber!

New job

So, a few months ago Mike asked his company for a raise. He's one of the top guys in his position and we were thinking we could do with some more money, what with a baby being more expensive than we had planned. His manager and boss had already been looking into it, actually, which was neat, but they were running into problems because there's a company wide salary freeze. Well, Mike applied to some other places, and none had really gone anywhere until last week. One of the companies he had interviewed with had Mike back for a second interview before Thanksgiving and offered him the job this last Monday. Super exciting day, because not only did they offer him the job, they offered to pay him about 20% more than he had even asked for. Mike's boss tried really hard (he really wanted Mike to stay with the company) to get the bigwigs to match it, but they weren't willing to. And so, on the 14th, Mike will start with this company in Lindon. I'm so proud of Mike for being such a sought after employee. Mike's boss, after getting word that corporate wouldn't approve the counter offer he wanted, basically said it would be their loss (talking about the company). They understand about Mike leaving; his manager said it would be ridiculous for him to stay when he could be making so much more somewhere else, but Mike will miss it there- he's been there almost 2 years and made some good friends, not to mention he knows all about his job and like I said before, is one of their top guys.
We've never made a decision like this as a couple, one that we've really had to weigh things and figure it out. Moving to this house and deciding to have a baby were both no-brainers, really. Even though those decisions were bigger than this one, this one was much harder and we've learned a lot. So, here's to a new year and a new job!

Shrieky McScreamer

That's what I call Mim. The other day I thought the tea kettle was whistling and had a moment of intense confusion, because I didn't remember turning it on. Turns out it was Mim, being high-pitched and very quiet (we were in her room and it sounded like the noise was coming from the next room). She was just playing. She also screams when she gets mad, like earlier today, after she poked herself in the eye. She also screams at the cat. See below.

Awesome parents

Yes we are.

This is Halloween, this is Halloween

Owl cookies. Mike's grandma used to make them and he loves them.
Here we all are: Mario, Princess Daisy, and our toadstool. I wanted Mim's hat to be oversized, but I think I kind of overdid it. She hated it for sure, but it was super cute.This was the first try-on. She kept cringing away from the hat, like she thought it was going to squish her.So, Halloween was great. A little crazy, but great. The craziness was my fault- I put off making all our costumes until the night before. Ahwell, they got done. We went to the ward's trunk or treat (all the kids recognized Mario and yelled to him) and then did some family visiting. Hope everybody else's Halloween was just as good!

Check out these moves

We did a couple takes; the first time Mim fell on her face right as she got to me (very sad).

My lil' buddy

It's so fun to be home with Mim all day. Her newest thing is following me around the house. She's 100% real crawling now (no more of that army crawling business for her), and I love hearing the little slap slap of her hands on the wood as she trails me from her bedroom to the living room, back to my bedroom, and out to the kitchen. She's started cruising now, too. She doesn't go very fast, but she can go all the way from one end of the couch to the other. Yikes.
As for me and Mike, we got reorganized along with the rest of the ward when we got a new bishopric (I think it was 60-ish new callings they did the first week, then a bunch the next as well) and are now the proud teachers of the valiant 10s. It's a good bunch of kids, and I'm really just excited that I have a calling I can do (I was made a substitute primary teacher after my nursery kids moved up last January, but haven't been able to do much subbing since I've had Mim). I'm also excited that Mike and I get to do it together, even though I know he misses scouts. We actually have yet to teach them together, since Mike was sick the first week and Mim and I were out last Sunday, but lesson planning has been fun so far. Hopefully this week our family will be healthy enough to all be at church. We better. This cough is getting old.

I made some stuff

Reversible headbands. I even made the pattern (not like it was hard or anything). Heads up to the girls I know- you will probably get one of these for Christmas.
The crib skirt! My first semi-quilting project is finished.
The curtains. I love them even more than I thought I would. My original plan included putting some oversize pink buttons where the tabs hit the hangy part, but I don't know anymore. What do you guys think? Would it be too much?

6 months!

Mim is now 6 months old, as of October 1st. At her doctor's appointment she was in the 89%tile for height, 50%tile for weight and 70%tile for head circumference. She's over 16 pounds now.
Besides that, she started pulling up to standing just after she was 5 months old and now thinks she can just let go, which has led to a couple falls and bonks on the head. I wish she was still content to just roll around on the floor. Ahwell, onward and upward.
She crawled under her ExcerSaucer and got stuck. It was hard to get her out, too.

I've been told that most babies can't make real tears until they're older than this, but she's been doing it since she was a newborn. It's very sad and very cute.Here she is, standing up and super satisfied with herself. PS- check out those thigh rolls behind the bars. Also, don't worry- her crib has now been lowered to the lowest level.

She started solids about 2 weeks ago. She likes them more than this face indicates.I cut her bangs over conference weekend, when I was hanging out with my sister and mom during priesthood session. There were enough of us around that we could distract her and get her to hold still while I moved in with the scissors.

The mullet I got rid of this last Saturday. I cried after I did it because it looked so short, but I like it now. It's a sassy baby bob. (Yes, I kept the hair I cut off.)
Nothing too new for Mike and I. He goes to school and works and I go to school to work but spend most of my time with my girl. It's been wonderful walk weather lately and we've done quite a bit of that. The other day we went all the way to Broadbent's and I got some strips of fabric to make headbands out of- I'm excited and will post a picture of them once they're done.

The cute side of the Force

Join it.

The aforementioned pictures

This first pic is of some boxes I covered in scrapbooking paper to put up in Mim's room. I like how they turned out. Wow, it was forever ago that I made these, like back when Mim was just itty bitty.
Daddy-daughter nap.
This is while the men folk were out cutting up the tree and hauling it to the field.
The tree. They cut it on a diagonal so not only did it cover almost our entire front lawn, but it went into the road, too.
Bath time faces.
Smug about bath time.
Koala-baby. She doesn't do this as much anymore. She used to latch on with all four appendages when I changed her diaper or was snapping up a onesie. The only time she does this now is when she's super hungry and crawls over to me to try to suck on my leg.
Yep, that's spit-up. All three of us (Mike, Mim, me) thought it was pretty funny.
This is the bedskirt/curtain project. I made something like 30 6'x10' blocks and 12 4'x10' blocks. I will for sure post when I've finished; I think it's going to be pretty cute. I'm also doing a little doll quilt that will match these that Mim'll get for Christmas.
I wanted to put up a pic of Mim in the dress my mom (Grandma) made for her for Kaid and Jenny's wedding. It has a super full skirt and now it's even cuter because Mim can sit up and the dress spreads all around her. Aww.... (There's also a little red sash and flower that go on it, but those are usually sucked on until they're soaking wet within the first 10 minutes she has them on.)
Cox family reunion, at the Scera pool. After Mim had enough of the water, she hung out with Grandpa.
Lookin' so good at Kaid and Jenny's wedding.
All the pictures where Mike was smiling normally were either blurry or I looked dorky. He's still a handsome dude, though.
I think my dad is a handsome dude also.
Tee-hee. Ki forgot to take Kita's shorts off that she wore up to Salt Lake, so Ki was telling her to show everyone, and it didn't take Arie long at all to catch on.
Brand new married! My brother, another handsome dude, and his lovely bride (and my new sis-in-law!), Jenny.
Taken within the first few days of her sitting up by herself. I also love that dress and knew she would grow out of it soon. :(
Playing with Mim's hair after bath time. I called this one "The Unicorn."
This is why:

I love it

I love it when Mim goes all sleeping baby limp after I rock her to sleep. Ah, bedtime.

I love it that wonderful Mike is grocery shopping. He volunteered. Probably because we're out of chicken and milk, both of which he loves. Add to the equation that we went vegetarian for dinner tonight plus this is the last night Macey's has their chicken on for $1.49/lbs, and you get a husband that's at the grocery store without me bugging him like crazy.

I love it that our house is almost finished being rewired. The electricians are really nice and good people, but it's just weird to have a stranger in your house all day.

I love it that it's been all fall-y these last couple of days.

I love it that I figured out how to save more of the wood from the scrap pile. I hate wasting and prefer to save everything that might somehow be useful someday. I may or may not be a packrat.

I love it all.

For realsies

"There's a raccoon in our engine." Mike's exact words to me yesterday. I hustled out to see, and sure enough...
Not exactly in the engine, but definitely under the hood. We lured it out with a piece of bread I threw under the car and then let it go on its way. It was just a little guy.

Still no power to the desktop, where most of the pictures are, but some of the most recent event photos were still on the camera, so here we have the first time I did Mim's hair in a little ponytail.The first time I did Mim's hair in two little ponytails (Cindy Loo Who style).
And check out this bed head- the aftermath of two little ponytails. The sad face is a result of me standing there and taking a bunch of pictures instead of getting her out of her crib.

I hadn't realized...

how long it's been since I've put something up here. Wow. Things that have happened:

-We cut down the big pine tree that was in the front yard because the roots were too close to the basement

-Mike started gutting the basement

-Mim can get up on her hands and knees

-Mim had her 4 month appointment and is in the 50th percentile for height and head circumference and the 75th %tile for weight

-I have officially withdrawn from my graduate program for the time being but plan on jumping back in in a year (before my course work expires)

-My brother Kaid got married

-Mike's cousin Natalie got married a week later

-We had the Cox family reunion and Mim had her first pool experience. She was super chill about it and almost fell asleep until my cousin Cam hit her and me with one of those pool balls. She didn't love that.

-We had the Johnson family reunion a week later. It was really fun, I enjoyed getting to know all of Mike's cousins better (some of them I've only seen a couple times since we've been married).

-I start teaching at UVU in a week

-Mim laughs all the time now

**Ok, so the above was a draft I started several weeks ago. There have been several more developments.

-Mike has finished gutting the basement. Next step, plumbing.

-Mim crawls around. It's a kind of army crawl/baby crawl hybrid, but it definitely gets her places. She also likes to sit and can push up from crawling to sitting.

-Our house is being rewired (that's why there won't be many pictures with this post- the outlet for the desktop computer is on the same breaker as the kitchen, which has been shut down for the last several days)

-Teaching at UVU is going well. I only teach one morning a week, back to back classes. It's nice. I did a lot of subbing the first week of school (2 of my teacher friends were out of town when classes started), so it was a big relief to finally teach my own classes and know all about the syllabi and how I wanted the class to be run.

-Ki and Nate moved to Philadelphia. Or, as Kita says, Phillydelphia. I look forward to Ki starting a blog soon so we can all keep tabs on what they're up to out there. That one's for you, sis. :)

-My mom got a facebook account. This is related to the above, as she is always relaying the latest news from Ki, and we (her kids) already know what's going on because Ki has posted it on facebook. It's actually how I found out about my Grandpa's heart attack. See below.

-My grandpa Cox had a heart attack, but is doing fine now. I'm pretty sure he's back up to his daily walks around the block, in fact. He is a cool dude.

-Danger's pregnant again. Anyone you know want a kitten? Please refer them to me.

-I started my first quilting project, which I'm super excited about. I decided that I want to become a proficient sewer and make a whole bunch of little girl clothes for Mim. Anyway, this first quilting project just involves piecing a patchwork border for a window valence and crib skirt for Mim's room, so no actual quilting there. I am, however, making a doll quilt with my leftover bits, and that will involve actual quilting, as the name suggests. There will be pictures.

-My family has started a healthy competition. Not a weight loss competition (because some people in my family need to gain weight...*Lexi*), but a contest that's more focused on healthier eating habits and lifestyles. You get points for having 5 servings of fruit or veggies, exercising, going to bed early, etc. My mom designed the points system and I'm really going for it. I've not been a very determined participater of other weight loss competitions, but I'm getting pretty into this one. I think it's because when you give yourself points, it's like you're getting a grade, and I'm really into getting good grades.

-Sometimes I put clips in Mim's hair. She'll need it cut pretty soon. :(

I think that's about it for big events. I've probably forgotten one and someone will have their feelings hurt, but you try to remember everything that's happened to you for the last however many months. Yeah. Not so easy, is it?

I do have a couple pictures on the laptop- the first is of Mim around a month ago- we visited a family Mike knew on his mission that has now moved to Lehi and Jane took some really cute pictures of Mim with her awesome camera.

This is a picture of me when I'm pregnant, obviously. I think I'm 39 or 40 weeks in it. I really didn't start feeling whaley until the last few weeks, and then wow. I was whaley with a vengeance. I posted this pic because I had forgotten about being pregnant. Really. Now, It's like Mim just arrived via stork. I'm also posting it to remind myself to work on putting all the pictures of me pregnant in one evolution-of-man type succession. The last picture is a diagram of what I hope the basement is like when it's all done. I used a free trial of a program called SmartDraw (you might have noticed the discreet watermark), which was really cool. I did several different possible family room layouts and perhaps, once putting furniture downstairs is a reality, I will post them on here and we can have a vote, and then Mike and I will just do this one anyway, because it's what we like best.

Expect more pictures (of the events mentioned at the beginning of this mammoth post) next time!