We moved

Well we are finally all unpacked it only took us a month! So now that Ted has graduated and passed the bar he is working in downtown toronto with the same firm he worked for last summer. We moved from Windsor to Brampton but its bitter sweet because we are sad to leave so many close friends in Windsor but also nice to me close to family and only 2 hr from the cottage!  Anyways people keep asking to see pics of our new place so here are some of the main living area and kitchen. I still need pics of kirra room and the master bedroom but I haven't decorated them yet so pics to come later.

Yosemite

Well we made the trek to Yosemite National Park in California for teds family vacation this year and we were pleasantly surprised how good kirra was through all the traveling. However she ended up catching a nasty bug on the plane ride over and was very sick with a bad fever for 2 miserable days. Ted and I were questioning where our angel baby had disappeared to, but thank goodness she returned a few days later! Despite those couple days we had lots of fun in all the Yosemite "dirt". We hiked (Ted got to climb half dome this year with all the boys)--and my only request as a concerned wife was to please not go close to the edge (its about 5000 feet straight down). And what do I find out after they all returned? That Ted instead of heeding to my simple request, not only goes to the edge but proceeds to stick his head over edge long enough for his bro in law Brent to catch a nice pic of the event! I'm so happy I have such an obedient husband. Nonetheless, he returned home safely thankfully. We also went to the river lots and enjoyed all the family company. Here's a few pics:



Ted hanging his head over the edge if half dome.


Half dome hike.


Family hike to Yosemite falls.


Going into Yosemite village on the one rainy day.





Grandpa cox & kirra


Grandma cox & Kirra

Fathers day, 3 months & Chicago

Well today we celebrated Teds 1st fathers day. It was so fun seeing my baby girl with her daddy. He is such a good dad to kirra. She loves to stand straight up on her daddy's lap. They love to play together although they haven't had much time doing that lately as Ted has been studying for the bar exam. He has taken the 1st half and this week he writes the 2nd half. I will be so happy when he is done so I can finally have my husband back.



Other thing we have been up to. We ran a 5K in may which was my first race back post baby which felt good.( only 10 lbs more to go to be back to my pre baby wt. almost there ) We took a trip to Chicago for my birthday, which was so fun I now love that city. And now the packing has begun. Oh and we finally found a place to live I will post pics when we move in.








Kirra on the run. Ted pushed her in the stroller the hole way.



At navy pier where we went on a ferris wheel ride and took a cool boat tour of the city



My birthday dinner at Maggiano's Italian. It was a fantastic meal and atmosphere


Boat tour


Aquarium in Chicago

Ted took a video of us on the boat


Kirra turned 3 months, I can't believe it time is Going way too fast.


She likes to do tummy time right after her bath. Look at those rolls on her arms.

Baby blessing & Teds graduation

Kirra Elizabeth Cox was blessed in church on May 6th by her daddy with lots of family and friends surrounding her. It was a beautiful day and everything went perfect. She didn't make a peep the entire blessing which Ted was very worried about. She was asleep in his arms until he started the blessing and grandpa cox saw her big beautiful eyes pop open just as her daddy said her name. It was the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard. In the blessing Ted said what a joy it was to hold her in his arms and that long before she was born her voice was heard. He also said she truly is Gods promise fulfilled (which is the meaning of her middle name Elizabeth). Ironically, we only found out the etimology of her name after we had chosen it but it was fitting to be sure.
We had teds parents come for the blessing and his cousin Sonya with all her family. My sister and 2 brothers and their families also came down and stayed for the weekend. We helped fill the chapel that day and the funny thing is if teds entire family came we could have filled it with just our 2 families. Kirra was grand kid #19 on my side and # 30 on teds. We celebrated afterwards at our house outside with beautiful weather and a BBQ.

Three generations. outside our first little home Which I will miss and always remember as kirras first home.

This is my favorite picture. We really are so blessed to have her

Only one side of the family minus one of my brothers; and none of teds siblings and kids! Can you imagine everybody in one place! (only gonna happen when we're all dead, Ted says!)

Proud grandparents.

She was so smiley for the pictures

The following weekend Ted graduated from LAW school, cum laude with a dual degree from University of Windsor in Canada and University of Detroit in the U.S. I can't believe it; those 3 years felt like they just flew by. At graduation, each graduate gets "hooded" by the dean which is part of receiving your doctorate degree. It was a special day for us as he is the first in his family to get a doctorate degree. I'm so proud of him and his hard work. One thing you all may not know, but one of the main reasons ted decided and wanted to go to law school was that he has always had a desire to be in a profession where he can help people and have them come to him for counsel and advice. I know he will be a great lawyer as he always says he his dad taught him from a young age " anything worth doing is worth doing well," Just like he works hard at being a good husband and dad. Congrats Hun we love u.

This is Ted with his best buddy, JP. JP will be working for a labor/employment firm on Bay Street.

This is Ted with his favorite gal pal, Alana (like Banana). Alana will be clerking for the Supreme Court of Canada this fall! We are all proud of her for achieving this huge honor.


Yesterday was my first mothers day and I loved cuddling my little girl. It was a wonderful day and I squeezed in extra kisses and hugs. There were flowers and a card waiting for me when I woke up but I dont have any pictures to show unfortunately. My birthday/ mother day present is a trip to Chicago this week and from there the rest of our Summer gets pretty chaotic. Things like going to the cottage for a long weekend, running my first 5K post baby (arg I'm so not ready), Yosemite camping with cox clan, and oh dont forget moving finding new place to live and Ted writing bar exam! A fun filled summer for us we get 2months off together before Ted starts work and it's jammed packed. So if u don't hear form us for awhile that's why.

Location:E Superior St,Chicago,United States

1 month +

So kirra is a little over 1 month now and growing like a weed. We went to dr. Last week and she is now 9lbs 4oz and 22 inches. She is starting to out grow some of her newborn clothes but I refuse to put them away yet because I might break down that she is no longer in newborn size. Time is going way to fast.


I try to imprint every moment with her in my memory. She is pretty much sleeping through the night now going at least 6-7 hrs and last night she went 8. At one point I woke up when she normally does to feed and checked on her just to make sure she was alive! She is such a happy baby smiling lots now and we have even got a few giggle. She makes us laugh quite frequently at her rather loud flatulence ( that she gets from her dad) I love being her mommy and spending every minute with her. I just wish she would stay little forever.





This pic is kirra meeting her 1st boyfriend Ryan ( my friend from work heather her little boy) who was born on same day at same hospital.


This was my labor nurse deb who I love and was amazing. We went back to work to visit her so she could see how big kirra had grown. They had lots of snuggles





She loves bath time, Ted calls this her strike a pose shot


And last lots of smiles these days

...except for tummy time, we hate that...

Kirra Elizabeth Cox Born March 1st

OK I am going to get this story down while miss Kirra Bear (what we call her) is sleeping. First let me forewarn for all you people that are not Labor and Delivery nurses this may have TMI for you as I know all my nurse friends want the "real" labor story, messy details and all.

Well it all started Sunday night Feb 26th when I woke up with some stronger than normal contractions. They eventually got so bad I woke Ted up from my moaning in pain. So I did as any LD nurse would tell a pt. wait until they got 5 min apart before going into hospital. They were every 15min and getting stronger but then around 6am they stopped completely. This went on for 2 more nights and some contractions throughout the day but not regular enough to go into hospital. They were so bad Monday night I thought forsure as I went to my Dr. appt Tuesday morning my Dr was going to send me right to the hospital because I would at least be 3-4cm since at my last appt I was already 1cm. So I go in still contracting he checks me and I am 2cm!! I could have died I was so mad. So he lets me decide if I want to go into the hospital that day and get induced or still wait it out. So TEd and I go home decide to wait it out. I have more contractions that day and all night (which means another night of no sleep) we call my mom and she decided to drive down since it seems I'm in early labor. Now my contractions not only are strong all day off and on they are all in my back making it feel like someone is tearing my back apart in 2 different directions. Ted and I call his sister Tami who had back labor really bad with her first baby and the baby was posterior making it a long hard labor and very hard to push out. So I confirm with her the pain I'm feeling in my back and yup we are pretty sure this baby is posterior. As you can tell I'm thrilled at the fact that this baby may be very hard to push out if she doesn't turn. So I try all the know tricks to try to get this baby to turn but the back pain is unbearable. We go into the hospital Wednesday night (the night my Dr is on-call) around 8 and check me and I am 4cm~!~ Finally I say its about time with all these contractions I have been having for 3 freaking days!!! So my DR. comes in at 9pm breaks my water (nice and clear- good!) get the oxytocin started and I'm about ready for my epidural now!! So I get my epidural at 9:30 have an awesome anesthetist (DR, Manson you are amazing) I didn't even feel it, the worst part was being curled up in fetal position feeling like a couldn't breath while he placed the epidural. Seriously I don't know why woman complain about the epidural it was a piece of cake compared to contractions. Also why woman want to go natural I will never understand!! Anyways now I'm comfy can't feel one pain but can still move my legs it was perfect. So since I have an amazing nurse Deb she also thinks this baby is posterior and decides to do all her pressure points to get the baby to rotate by putting me in hands and knees position and pushing on my hip while Ted pushing on the other hip squeezing them together during a contraction to get the baby to turn. We do this for an hour and then she checks me Im now 5cm at midnight. Then she checks me again at 12:30 since I had some blood show and I'm 6cm. Around 2am I'm resting and start to feel some pressure so Deb checks and I'm 9.5cm so she gives my half a top up and just lets the baby come down. Now this was a very busy night as my Dr was running from room to roomdelivering babies that they just wait to have me start pushing because he is not available yet. So at 5am Deb checks me again and Kirra's head is nice and low now and we get the ok to go ahead and start pushing. So at 5:20 I push for the first time and I seriously can't feel anything from the top up of medicine and I feel like I'm not even moving the baby. Deb tells me I am moving her well so we keep pushing. At 5:30 after about 4-5 sets of pushes Deb says STOP Kirra is now sitting right there and time to get Dr. Dr. Victory comes in and says "Wow there is a baby right there" I begin to push again like 3 times and Dr. coaches me to push only little bits to try to prevent me from tearing. Unfortunately I tore from her shoulders coming out. And then out she comes Kirra Elizabeth Cox born at 5:44am March 1st crying before she is even all out. They put her up on my tummy right away and I loose it. I have waiting for this little girl for so many years and now she is finally in my arms. I tell her I love her so much and then I turn to Ted. He is crying too at he sight of his little girl. Ted cuts the cord and they take her and weigh her at 6lbs 120z. She is so tiny I can't believe it. They giver her back to me and put her skin to skin. I loved every minute of the experience, it was perfect. Everything went so smooth and beautiful and I didn't watch the monitor like a hawk like I thought I would and her heart rate was perfect the entire time. I couldn't have asked for a better labor team my husband, mom and my Dr and nurses were all great. I'm so grateful for a healthy baby I love being with her even at 3am! She truly is a miracle and blessing in our lives. Thank you to everyone for your many prayers for our baby Kirra.

Many pictures to follow- sorry proud momma here.

My last picture pregnant right before we went to hospital if my face looks mad its because I have been in pain now for 3 days!
In hospital getting ready to go.

Deb trying to turn the baby with Teds help! Me pretending to be in pain even though I have my epidural at this point! Selling the picture. It was funny that the girl next door to me was going natural and when Ted heard hear scream the first couple of times he couldn't control his laughter he thought he was in the movies!!!
Right after she was born
First family picture
Daddy holding her for first time

My amazing labor team!

Leaving hospital family of 3~

We sent this pic to Daddy in class

Daddy playing with Kirra's big lips