Distracted...

Ever have one of those days where everything seems off? Welcome to Tuesday, February 24th, 2009! Distracted is a nice word for me today. I've done a series of things that clearly prove my mind is somewhere else... where you wonder? I'll get there, but first let me give you a few examples to explain my insanity...

DISCLAIMER: No children named Caden were endangered (thankfully) in the making of this film!

1. This morning I put the bagels in the fridge and left the cream cheese on the counter... I didn't discover I had done this until about oh 6 hours later... so much for my new tub of philly light! Ug!

2. After several attempts at trying to find my local Sam's Club's phone number online and exclaiming that their website must be down because it is not working I realized that I had been putting in the ZIP CODE and STATE instead of the CITY and STATE. There's no city named 78664? Shocker!

3. When heading to Bueno to satisfy my lunch craving I pulled out of the garage and onto the street. I put the car in drive and pressed the pedal, only to realize that I was still looking behind me as if I was in reverse... nope I was moving forward... turn around Katie!

4. Then when I got home I was pulling into the garage trying to get the end of my right windshield wiper to touch the tennis ball hanging from the ceiling (thanks to my OCD hubbie, who insisted that we fit both of our cars and all of our crud into our tiny garage!) and I did it...I hit the ball just right. So... I start to get out of the car... YEP... I forgot to put it in park and turn off the car. So as my left foot hit the running board and the car crept forward I hopped back in and stopped the car JUST in time! Phew!!

5. Oh and this is classic... today when Caden and I got back from our walk and I was trying to get his car seat out of the BOB to put into the car to head to Bueno I couldn't get it out... I tried 4 or 5 times and I couldn't do it. I have done this now at least 50 times or so... why I couldn't do it today was baffling me. I was looking under the seat, around the seat... what was I doing wrong? OH yah... that BIG RED handle that says press me on the back... you have to push that in while you lift... DUH! 

And I'm not even going to tell you how many mini Hershey's candy bars I have had today... I'm not sure if that in itself is a distraction or it is something I am using as a distraction... whatever it is it is certainly not helping me shed those pregnancy pounds!

So now... what is keeping my tiny brain all cooped up today? Remember how I told y'all that I was writing letters to the doctor that delivered Caden, the chief of obstetrics and the chief of hospital? (not sure what this is... click here to read "My Birth Story") Well I did it... sorry I haven't updated y'all... 

I wrote a four page letter to the doctor who delivered Caden and then sent a copy of that letter alongside separate letters of concern to both the chief of OB and the big chief. As it would turn out, God had a hand in the letter delivery. I didn't finish the letters until it was time for my 5 week postpartum appointment. So I went to my appt. and when I got there, the lady at the registration desk told me I would have to reschedule  because my doctor was in a delivery. I had the letters with me and was planning on giving them to my doctor and then the other doctor's to the nurse to give to her, but instead I gave them to one of the ladies in the office, asking her to be sure that they got these... and YES I lied... I said they were thank you cards and I even put them in big envelopes that looked appropriate for a birthday card... I know, I know... that was not right, BUT I wanted to be sure they got them and then were encouraged to open and read them.

So a few days later I went back for my rescheduled appt. and much to my surprise my doctor greeted me with a hug and spent at least 30 minutes talking to me about my letter and my experience. He told me the matter was under investigation and told me a few of the things he had been told about the situation so far... many of which were wrong... obvious that a few of the nurses and the doctor herself were trying to cover their butts... understandably! So he told me he would continue to investigate... especially after I negated much of the preliminary information he had come up with. He said he'd like to have me come back in and talk once his "investigation" was complete. He was clearly concerned and assured me that he would take the necessary steps to learn from this situation... 

Pretty cool right? I wasn't expecting this at all, I wasn't actually expecting any reaction to the letter... it was supposed to be my closure... Not quite...

So I left that appointment not thinking too much about it and not all that confident that I would actually get a call back to come in and talk any further. A few weeks pass and then last Friday I got a call from the BIG CHIEF'S admin assistant wanting to schedule an appointment with me. WOW...me and the CHIEF of the hospital... I guess he read my letter.

So I called her back and scheduled the appointment for this Thursday at 8am! Since we've had the appointment on the books I have been completely distracted by what I want to say, how I want to say it, what I don't want to leave out, what my goal for the meeting is... what I want Justin to say during the meeting, what I hope the meeting turns out to be and what it doesn't. I am completely consumed by it... and having to think about it brings back all of the memories which I would rather forget, but I can't...

I'm still angry and continue to get angrier as I have continued to do more research on pitocin and meconium and all of the other layers of my story. I am ready for Thursday to be over with... I want to lay it all out on the table, say all of the things I want to say, give them a list of things I hope they reconsider as they move forward, walk out of that office and find a new day waiting... a day without anger, a day without bad memories, a day without bad dreams... a day where this chapter of our story is finished! But I know God's will be done... and however this story fits into His-story, we'll go with it, knowing that we will find ultimate healing from all of this in the end!

I would appreciate your prayers on Thursday morning at 8am as Justin and I meet with the chief. I'll let you know all of the details when we get back from our big weekend road trip... pray for that as well! 

More to come from Cox's Corner!

THANKS for your prayers, encouragement and support!! We love you blog world!

And the Oscar Goes to...

In honor of tonight's BIG show... Cox's Corner would like to announce some award winners of our own! For those of you who have spent any time reading our blog you'll know that there is only ONE winner in our book and it's Mr. Caden Ford Cox... We had an exciting weekend... join us as we take a look back and honor Caden's cinematic accomplishments!

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

While You Were Sleeping... at Chipoltle with mom and dad! We found a great surprise in our paper this morning: a brown lunch bag with the words FREE BURRITO on it! HECK YES! We're so there!

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden For Cox in...

Blue Crush...splishin' and splashin', makin' some serious bath time waves! 

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

G.I. Jane...UP, two...three...DOWN...two...three

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

Jaws... praciting tummy time on my new play mat and developmental gym. (I found this at Ross for $50 when Babies R Us had it for $80! Gotta love a good bargain!)

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

Dirty Dancing... havin' the time of our lives dancin' around the living room! Burp cloth in tow!

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

Chuckie... this one is a little harder to grasp... it's one of those "I guess you had to be there!" Paps made Caden smile and giggle all day but grabbing his "chubby, chubby cheeks!" Caden, while obviously adorable, still has a little creepy in his smile since he is still figuring out how to grin from ear to ear! 

And the Oscar for Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

Little Rascals... look at that sweet smile!! Think he's up to something? ABSOLUTELY... wrapping his Nana around his little finger!

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

The Mummy... all wrapped up and talking to my friends... the Blue Tucan, the Yellow Monkey and the Red-Spotted Frog.

And the Oscar Goes to...

Caden Ford Cox in...

Bye, Bye Birdie!

Goodnight! Sleep tight! Have a great Monday!

Dr. C & the WOMEN

Hello Blog World! Caden here, bringing you the latest from my weekend o' fun! Over the past few days I've been one lucky man, gettin' to hang out with some wild west Texas women. I know, I know Paps, you've already started warning me about 'chasing those wild women,' but a man of my caliber just can't seem to keep them away. I've tried both sticks and stones, but to no avail! So without further adieu let me introduce you to my ladies...

PROFILE

Name: Great Aunt Terry

Location: Seminole, TX

Occupation: Director of Technology for SISD

Hobbies: Shopping, shopping, shopping and spending time with her friends and family, oh and shopping!

Personality Traits: highly-motivated, organized, and energetic

PROFILE

Name: Cousin Shannon

Location: Lubbock, TX

Occupation: Student

Hobbies: watching John and Kate Plus 8, studying, and hanging out with her "sisters"

Personality Traits: steady, happy-go-lucky, and sweet

PROFILE

Name: Cousin Boozy

Location: Lubbock, TX

Occupation: Dr. of Pharmacy

Hobbies: Tech Athletics, blogging, and traveling with her hubby

Personality Traits: fun-loving, entertaining, and a bit OCD

Sorry about your shirt there girl! Oops! :)

PROFILE

Name: Cousin Shell

Location: Nashville, TN

Occupation: Dr. of Pharmacy

Hobbies: memorizing the kids' names on John and Kate Plus 8, playing with her dog Sullie, and going to the movies

Personality Traits: talkative, cheery, and flexible

Now, let's review... while I love each of my ladies for what each bring to the Caden-table, I think you'll find, based on previous pictures, that I certainly have a thing for blondes! I can't help it... my mom's a blonde, maybe I'm biased! I couldn't contain my grins with Cousin Shannon, she's just too cute for words!

After I spent some time with each of my ladies, (this includes KK and Aunt Emmie...for some reason they both managed to escape with no pictures...way to go mom!) Daddy and I showed the girls my latest workout routine. Women love a guy who takes care of his body!

The Daddy Gym: cue the "Eye of the Tiger" ba da baaaa, ba da baaaa...

Prepping for my first set of push-ups...

Reverse crunches...lift the head, one, two, three, and down... two, three!

Completing my last set of squats... this takes a great deal of concentration.

Mommy and I had a weigh-in the other day and best she can tell I am rounding out to about 12 pounds, give or take an ounce or five! We won't know for sure until our two month doctor's appointment in a few weeks! One thing is clear though... between my protein shakes and my workout regimen I'm bulking up quite nicely! 

I almost forgot... alongside the herd of women-folk who came to visit this weekend, my Albi made the trip from SA to see me as well. We spent a lot of time rockin' and contemplating life's biggest challenges. It was nice to have a little respite from the ladies and spend some time with my Albi... he's all guy! He gives me head butts instead of hugs and kisses... that's right we're tough!

After the long weekend Dr. C (that's me) had to go undercover to escape the relentless schemes of the paparazzi...

FLASH, CLICK, CLICK, FLASH FLASH

"Caden, can you comment about all of the women in your house this weekend?"

"Dr. C, tell us about Cousin Shannon? Is it true you prefer her over the others?"

CLICK, FLASH, CLICK, CLICK, FLASH

TOO many questions... NOT enough time, boys! And no more pictures... I'm all smiled out!

The rest of the weekend was spent laying low with Mommy and Daddy! 

I know I've said it before, and I'll say it one hundred times more... 

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Happy Monday Blog World!

Until next time, this is Dr. C signing out!

The Wall, The Wordle, and The Word

Last weekend, Justin and I finally picked pictures out to put inside the empty frames in Caden's room! Yay! It has been so nice to sit in his glider, rockin' him to sleep and see his pretty little face staring back at me.

In the middle of the photos is Caden's wordle. What's a wordle you ask? Are you prepared to become extremely addicted? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. You thought facebook and blogs were bad... wordle is even worse!

First a little background... Since I became pregnant it was Justin and I's goal to seek and pray through God's word to find the perfect verse for Caden. This would be Caden's verse. The idea was that we would post this verse in Caden's room and the verse would follow him to every new room, every transition he encountered throughout his lifetime. It would be the piece of scripture that would watch over him, a verse or passage that he would be able to claim and that we too, as his parents could claim as we prayed for him each and every day.

So we began our search... and search is a very loose term. We didn't sit down and comb through the Bible until we found a verse that we liked... we just kept that thought in the back of our minds while we did our quiet times, attended church, small group, were driving around town, etc. We trusted that we would eventually "find" his verse. Oddly enough the verse that jumped out at both Justin and I was actually a passage, one of our favorites, about the Armor of God, but we wanted just one verse and this passage was close to 10! Ug! Didn't God know that aesthetically just one verse would look better in a frame to put on his nursery wall? 

So as he typically tends to do, God said who the freak cares... go with it! And as I typically tend to do, I said NO... I'll just find another verse. Well you know who won this battle don't you? Yep... not as cut and dry as it sounds though...

One morning, Justin and I were talking about Caden's verse (we still hadn't found the ONE, and it was November!) and we decided to look up the origin of Caden's name... where did it come from, what did it mean...maybe that would help us. We didn't pick the name because of any particular meaning, we just liked it and it sounded great with Cox! :)

After some research we learned that Caden comes from an Irish word meaning "battle." Hmmmm, battle... interesting. What does every soldier need before going into battle? Armor! Ha! That's odd... 

Okay, okay, I get it! That's it... we'll use that passage to pick Caden's verse. Yep, that's right...still being stubborn I decided that we could just pick one particular verse... that makes sense right?

Then it came time for Thanksgiving and my Aunt Terry made these great gifts for each family using a free computer program called wordle. I was completely intrigued by the idea of creating my own word art so I started to play with the program once we got home. I created all sorts of fun things and then it dawned on me. I could create a great work of art for Caden's room using wordle...

And maybe, just maybe I could create something so great that I could use it as his "verse" frame. But with wordle, the more words the better... so maybe I could include the entire passage of scripture not just one verse... PROBLEM SOLVED! GOD WINS! And so do I!

Check it out!!

Alongside pieces from the passage, I included all of the people who were important to Caden... his Nana, Paps, KK, Albi, Emmie, Josh, Cori, Tag, etc. I also included words that defined the attributes that I wanted to raise Caden to live out like, courageous, bold, compassionate, leader, etc. I finished this up a few weeks before Caden was born. Little did we know that Caden would literally come out of the womb having to be prepared for battle. What a little solider he was during those first few hours of life!

And for Justin and I... the armor was of even greater importance as we trusted and had faith in God's plan for Caden, good or bad we were prepared!

As I read this passage again and again, I see how critical it was to our birth story, to Caden's arrival into the world and to our transition into parenthood. This is more than Caden's verse that hangs on a wall, this is the Cox Family motto... the way we are going to live life, the way we are going to survive any messiness that comes our way and the way we will enjoy every good thing God blesses us with! This is our truth...

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:10-18

The best thing about this passage is that God promises that we will STAND... after EVERYTHING. We will stand!! Awesome!

Make your own wordle by going to wordle.net. Be sure to read the FAQs...they give you a great overview of how wordle works! 

Also, I would encourage each of you to take time to find your truth. What message is God wanting to share with you? 

Tomorrow's Friday! Happy Thursday!

On the Catwalk...

I'm a model, you know what I mean

And I do my little turn on the catwalk

Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah

I shake my little touche on the catwalk

Nothing like a little Right Said Fred to get you in the mood for this Cadenized post! That's right, I'm back in business my friends and ready to share my latest project with my blogger buddies. My apologies for the long absence from the blog world but I've been a little preoccupied with my work aka creative genius!

You see not too long ago my KK was lunchin' it with the girls after golf and like any proud KK would do she pulled out her 'brag book.' I know, I know... humility isn't one of her best attributes, but we forgive, we have to! Anyway... so as she's showing the ladies my pics a man walks by the table, stunned by the stardom that was leaping off of the pages in KK's little navy book.

"Who is that angelic creature," he asks, "and where does he get that audacious smile?"

KK explained that while much of my outer appearance can be attributed to my dad, my mom is the one who gives me all of my style points! Not long after her lunch date KK hit me up on my cell and told me the good news. Mommy and I talked it over and decided it was time... time to use what my daddy gave me and work the catwalk.

Since then mom and I have done a few in-home shoots and sent them off to our favorite designers... We're pretty proud of our portfolio thus far and wanted to share just a few of our best shots with you.

First up, Roca Wear... my man JayZ's company is truly inspirational. He is definitely fashion-forward with his bold use of color!  And who doesn't love a guy that makes overalls cool... This piece is from one of his newest collections..."Snoop D-O-Double G."

Sup homes! Any good model knows how to play to his audience!

Check out my kicks... they're cars... gangsta' cars! My Aunt Emmie actually picked these up for me when she and Uncle Josh were celebrating their 1-year anniversary in Maine. Holla at yo girl!

On the finer side of things...

Because Daddy, Albi and Uncle Josh are Brooks Brothers' best customers I was given a little preferential treatment. The clothes are tailored and refined with lots of buttons which can certainly become problematic when I get fussy, but we work through it!

Squares and dots... Brooks Brothers believes in defined shapes and lines, nothing too crazy!

Even my bear dressed for the shoot, complete with his sailing scarf! 

Mommy just told me that InStyle said orange is the new pink this spring... dreadful! My daddy and I fully believe in sportin' pink during all times of the year, especially Brooks Brothers pink! There will be no orange in our house!

This outfit is such a classic that Uncle Josh wore this when he was just a babe! So I guess you could say I'm rockin' a vintage classic!

Preppy meets granola in this Spring's J Crew collection...

Again, my fashion diva Emmie hooked me up with this Patagonia fleece during a trip to Colorado earlier this year. It is the perfect combo with my dark wash jeans and classic white tee.

Unzipped...
Strike a pose... who's the hipster now?!

Every little boy has an adventurous side...

Can't go wrong with classic khaki's and a white thermal tee... you never know when the weather will turn cold, this is Texas after all!

Ever seen an LLBean catalogue without a dog? I think not! 

If you expect a good catch, taming the worm is the first step when baiting your hook... not only do I look the part, I AM the part... I am a Fi-sher-MAN! A Fisher Price man that is!

Well, that's it! Not bad for my first shoot. I'd like to take a few minutes before I close to say thank you to some very important people. My personal shopper, Aunt Emmie, my agent, KK, my stylist and biggest fan, mommy and my photographer and second biggest fan, daddy! Without y'all this would not have been possible! 

Until next time... remember... attitude is everything, big is beautiful and high-fashion comes with a price tag (unless you are a bargain shopper like mommy)!

Hit it...

I'm a model you you know what I mean

And a do my little turn on the catwalk

Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah

I shake my little touche on the catwalk...