Cooper plays again

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Baba Fox

Cooper is learning to be a dog

It's tug of war time!


This picture shows it all. Cooper decided to play with one of his rope toys and is shown playing tug of war with Mike. You can also see remains of the rope toy around the house, as Cooper also likes to take out his frustrations by shredding the threads out of the toy.
Normally, he isn’t interested in chewing or playing with toys. My daughter’s dog, Roxanne, will come over to play and will try to be the ‘boss’ of this household. After those visits, Cooper is in the mood to play. I’m probably reading too much into this as Cooper is just a dog.

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Leona does Yoga!

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Baba Fox

Some of the poses are natural to babies

Tummy time AKA Cobra


For winter, I have signed up for some Yoga classes to supplement my activities at home on the treadmill. It has either been too cold, wet, snowy or icy to ride a bike outside the past few weeks.
I have been attending a beginning class, where they spend time explaining the correct positions that your body should be in for the various poses. Little Leona is working on perfecting her ‘Cobra’ pose and looking at one of her toys on the jungle mat.

Happy Baby Pose


I learned recently that Leona is working on her ‘Happy Baby Pose’ or she has discovered her feet and legs. Now when I do this pose in class, I can think of her.

I want to do my stand pose!


Leona has been very interested in doing her standing pose. She is much too young for this advanced pose and needs help from others. This is one of her favorite helpers, her Daddy.

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Tower of Colors

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Baba Fox

Everyone has had this toy

Didn't you have this toy, too?


Leona got this toy at Christmas from both Grandparents! So we get to have one of the toys at our house now for Leona to play with. She is not ready to use it as a stacking toy, but has found some other uses.

Do I eat this?


Or is this a bracelet?

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Shades of the Past

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Baba Fox

Sometimes we create photos from the past

Cecelia listens to music

I like music


As I was going through old photos to scan them as digital images, I came upon a photo where Cecelia was put into the corner of a chair and had headphones on. She looked like she was jamming to the music. (No baby was harmed in the making of the photo).
Here is the recreation of that photo. Leona needed some help to keep the headphones on, so that is why you see Mike’s hand in the photo.

My head is too small for these headphones!

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Cecelia’s Birthday Celebration

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Baba Fox

The Birthday Day Celebration started with This

Edgar holds Leona while Roxanne looks on


We celebrated Cecelia’s birthday on the Saturday after the date. Since it was her celebration, we all came to her house, so she could relax in the evening.
Mike and I arrived with the BBQ dinner and found Edgar visiting with Leona. This is also a rare photo with Roxanne in it as she normally runs away when she sees a camera.

Leona helps Mommy with her birthday cake.


We enjoyed dinner and ate in shifts. Then it was time to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cecelia and open presents. Leona is a great helper, but didn’t sing very much today.

I had a great bottle and feel like standing around


Of course, no celebration is complete without feeding Leona a bottle. Perhaps she is trying to stand around because she is looking for more to eat?

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Adventures in Babysitting

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Baba Fox

Oh, that title is taken already

Well, didn’t really have any true adventures today. Cecelia had to go to work early as she had a class to attend. So I came over to babysit until Kevin came home from work.

Time to play


There was not much time for pictures as Leona didn’t feel like sleeping very much. Just when you think it is safe to put her into her crib, her eyes pop open.
Kevin came home and put Leona down to play with her hanging toys. It will be more fun when she can sit up by herself. But I am getting ahead of myself. Need to enjoy these quiet moments before Leona sits, then crawls, toddles, walks and runs.

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Will Leona follow in Cecelia’s Footsteps?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Baba Fox

What will Leona do when she grows up?

Leona is ready for her first shift


Yesterday, Cecelia, Leona and Roxanne came over to visit in the afternoon. Leona is still in the phase of spitting up and will go through many outfits in a day. Sometimes, it is a two outfit day and sometimes it is a three outfit day. This was a three outfit day. This is a particularly special outfit to Cecelia since it has emergency room staff all over it and pictures of various medical instruments. Cecelia quickly took this photo before it became dirty. Will Leona enter the medical profession like Cecelia? Only time will tell.

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Daddy sings to Leona

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Baba Fox

Raffi Songs are a hit in the Doenges Household


Kevin grew up hearing Raffi songs and continues the tradition. This video was taken on Christmas eve when we exchanged our presents.

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Fox Christmas at The Land

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Baba Fox

Happy Boxing Day

Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants. Today, Boxing Day is better known as a bank or public holiday that occurs on December 26, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other Commonwealth nations.

In South Africa, Boxing Day was renamed Day of Goodwill in 1994. In Ireland it is recognized as St. Stephen’s Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Stiofáin) or the Day of the Wren (Irish: Lá an Dreoilín). In the Netherlands, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia and Poland, December 26 is celebrated as the Second Christmas Day.

In Canada, Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is a federal statutory holiday where all full-time workers receive time off with pay.

Above is from the
Wikipedia Boxing Day definition

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Fox

This is also the day that the Fox Family gathered near Stockport Ohio to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Foxes’ house. It is often referred to as ‘The Land’. We had two large tables, one card table and one kitchen island full of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We enjoyed a meal together, washed dishes and then continued to the fun part of opening presents.

Passing out the gifts

Little Jack steals the show

Mike, Patti and Mary helped with the massive task of passing out the presents to everyone. Little Olivia also helped, but thought all the gifts were for her and brought them over to her Dad. Jeremy would then read the tag for her and direct her to the correct person.

Jackson “Jack” Hughes is a 10 month old toddler and stole the limelight as he would walk around with his arms out for balance. He is a typical toddler. All you do is blink and he toddles out of sight! As you can see from the photo, we enjoyed sunshine while we opened up the gifts.

Olivia enjoys her present

Olivia received a neat block kit that had it’s own storage and a base to place the blocks and castle figures on. Once she opened this gift, she was ready to play with it.
Great-uncle Mike (to Olivia) was being silly and tried to wear the blocks.

Mike plays with blocks, too

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Merry Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Baba Fox

The Ever Moving Christmas Celebration

This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day, are on Sunday. Technically, New Year’s Day is next year, but you know what I mean. Both the Fox and Doenges Families usually have their celebrations on the weekend between the two holidays and that can’t be done this year as the holidays fall on a weekend.
So, we are celebrating Christmas on Christmas eve and my birthday on Christmas. Guess who will be the big winner this Christmas?

The winner is behind the boxes


We had my favorite meal of turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, and vegetables. My favorite part is having the leftovers. After dinner, we opened presents. This is my favorite present.

I love this box!


Later, Mike and I got ready to go to Church for the ‘midnight’ mass. Mike and I were both busy with my music and his sacristan duties and didn’t see when Kevin, Cecelia, Leona and Edgar came in. I was listening for her baby cries and did not hear them, but understood if they were not able to attend. Later I saw Edgar and Kevin and knew that Cecelia and Leona were nearby. Edgar shared later that Leona was fighting getting sleep and finally went to sleep when Mass started. She must of liked the service as she slept through it, without even a peep.

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