Colin Blake Cook

On January 23rd I had to go into the Hospital because I had false labor contractions that were all less than 10 minutes apart and were getting more and more intense.  After monitoring me and the baby for a couple hours, they gave me something to make the contractions stop, told me I had a "suggestive uterus" put me on pelvic rest and told me I could go home. Colin was doing great but he needed more time.
On Valentines day we found out my nephew Kaden was born and I was happy he came (two weeks late).

Then on Sunday Morning at around 5:55 AM I was starting to wake up a little when an all too familiar feeling left me wide awake and jumping out of bed. "oh no! my water broke!" with that Dad was out of bed the fastest I have ever seen him wake up. I was nervous to know that Colin would be almost four weeks early and I just prayed that he would be okay.  We called up Great Grandma and Grandpa Bassett and while they were on their way we had our neighbor and friend Anne Curtis come over and sit while the boys continued sleeping.

at the hospital goofing off.

I hadn't even packed a hospital bag (I really was planning on doing it the next day) so we went to the hospital with what we had on.  Because my water broke and Colin was so early, they told me they wanted to start me on pitocin right away so they could get him out quickly. That was fine and at the same time I had them call the anesthesiologist. That was my trade off. Artificial means to induce labor ergo artificial means to handle the pain of the artificially induced labor. :)  before the epidural kicked in I had a few back labor contractions, youch! Every thing progressed smoothly and quickly after that and by 12:30 I told the nurses that they better get the doctor because tiny wasn't waiting any longer.The doctor came, I pushed once and had to hold the next push while they unwrapped the cord from his shoulder and across his body and then he was here! I believe my first words were "he's so tiny"! and "how is he doing?" I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hold him if there were any problems, but he was doing great!.  For being almost four weeks early Colin was a whopping 6lbs and 1oz, and so far my longest baby at 19.5 inches long.  As for everything else, he is doing fantastically! all the nurses keep commenting on how well he is doing for being so little and early.  We noticed that he was tongue tied and couldn't really maneuver his tongue at all but fortunately, the doctor has already taken care of that and he is eating like a champ.    

 sticky Colin and Happy Mama (I call you my little champ because you are doing so well)

 this tiny is seriously so skinny and oh so precious

 Grandma Gleason, your first visitor (Grandpa too)

 Biggest brother Adam

 big brother Kyle, they both love you so much

Daddy and his newest boy

We love you Colin and we are so happy you are part of our family. you already have my heart!

Day of Love

Grandma Cook sent the boys these cool letters in the mail.  thanks Grandma!

Kyle demonstrating the proper way to eat a sucker... sucking on it (Adam likes to bite suckers, so they don't last very long)

Isn't this so cute?! very cool idea

Adam pretty much ate all of his treats in one sitting!

Instead of going out in celebration of Valentines day this year, we decided to stay in and have a fancy dinner. We put the boys down to bed early and enjoyed a wonderful four course meal together.

Strawberry hazelnut salad with feta and a fancy vinaigrette 

 Beef Wellington and Garlic mashed potatps

 Cheese platter

and for desert, chocolate peanut butter fondue

I love you Schatzie and I am happy for any excuse to celebrate our love!

California capital building

After Dad dropped me off at the airport after Grandmas graduation, he got to spend time with his good friend and brother Michael Adamski.  He took Dad to the capital building in Sacramento 

 view from the top

assembly hall

Surprise Graduation for Grandma!

Early this year I made a call to BYU continuing education to see if anything could be done for Mom.  She was so close to graduating but with all her cancer treatments and such she was having a very difficult time completing her last course. well a few weeks later we got a knock on our door and a man I did not know said "you must be Amber Cook" he came in a proceeded to explain to us that his name was Wayne Lott and he was the dean of continuing education at BYU.  he then informed us that Mom was, as of a few weeks prior to our meeting, a college graduate.  I must admit, I cried. We conspired together and came up with a plan to all go out to California and have a surprise graduation ceremony just for her.  Nathaniel drove out with the boys, Grandma and Grandpa Bassett , Aunt Milla, Aunt Brianne, and Uncle Dustin.  I got to fly because I'm so far along in my pregnancy.  The night was perfect and there were so many people there who love and support Mom and the evening was just so special. So many miracles happened to put this all into place. I was asked to give small speech and Dad arranged with the relief society to have refresments after. It was wonderful.  Thanks Mom for all your hard work and your example! Now I need to get on the ball so I can graduate this year too! 

 Grandma Cook with Dean Wayne Lott and Dr. Steven Taggart, the head of continuing education

 hugs for Grandma the Grad!

 so happy all the sisters could make it! we missed you Uncle Jared!

Helping to clean up

I love love

My latest craft.

And now for a quick update.  A couple weeks ago I started having false labor contractions.  I knew they were not the real deal, but they just kept coming more intensely and quickly.  So after about six hours of not being able to stop them we went to the hospital, where they monitored me and the baby for a couple of hours, ran all sorts of tests, made sure I wasn't heading into labor ( I was a little dilated and Colin's head was right where it would be if he were coming) Fortunately all the test came back negative, Colin was doing fine, I didn't progress, they gave me a shot to stop the contractions and said i could go home. I have been doing much better and we haven't had any more scares related to the pregnancy. I have been taking it a bit easier, doctors orders, but things seem to be going just great. 

 Last Saturday my Grandma freeman passed away peacefully at the age of 83. Her husband has been gone for the last 22 years and she has been lonely. It is a blessing to know that they are back together again. I sure love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
I have another story to tell, but it will have to wait until I get a few pictures :) stay tuned!

freckles

Adam likes finding and counting my freckles (and moles) he didn't believe me when I told him that he had freckles too, so I had to take a picture, though it didn't really convince him.

 Two tiny freckles under his right eye,

 and one under his ear

 I sure love these boys, sporting new hair cuts. dancing on tables and all.

Kyle has a thing for hats, he puts them on by himself

pics

Kyle loves going to sleep at nap time and night time. he hardly ever gives us any problems when he goes to sleep, waking up is a different matter though. I don't blame him, I don't like getting out of bed all that much either ;)

Adam is a goof ball, he sure does make me laugh though.

Dad's 27th birthday (he is getting old)!

he got some targets and shooting stuff to go along with the rifle he got for Christmas.

 He had a home made twinky cake too.

Jump on it

Before some more cold weather and snow hit, the boys and I went to Jump On It for mommy and me time. My friend Erica and her kids were there too. The boys had a lot of fun.

 I love how they play and just love each other

 Adam is getting so big and doing so well with using the bathroom, he is moms big helper.

We think Kyle might be left handed, but for right now he is super ambidextrous. While eating he we switch back and forth between right and left, throwing and coloring are usually done with his left hand, as he is demonstrating :)

my boys

I can't tell you how much I love the way Kyle and Adam play together. They often irritate each other but they are also best buds. Kyle wants to be just like Adam and do everything that he does, and Adam gets a kick from showing Kyle how to do all sorts of things (especially things he knows he shouldn't be doing).  Lately Adam and Kyle have both been curious about when their baby brother will get here.  As I get bigger and bigger Adam asks me almost daily why Colin isn't here yet.  Kyle loves to lift up my shirt to expose my belly and give it kisses and snuggles. They are sweet boys.  The nursery has now been dubbed Colin's' room. Did I mention that we are naming the baby Colin?Today,the boys were playing nicely together when it got a little too quiet for my comfort.  I went into the nursery, which is usually locked, to find Adam curled up in the baby swing and Kyle gently rocking him. Aside from slight annoyance that Adam was where he knew he shouldn't be, I dashed off to get my camera, unfortunately Kyle has stopped rocking him by the time I got back.

got to love these silly sweet boys

another cute story. Adam knows how to sign I love you in sign language (the one hand version) and the other day we came into the room to him holding down his two middle toes and he said "look! my toes love you!"

Fridges and Twinkies

Happy New Year! We came home from California on the third to discover that A, my little sister Ashley had cleaned out entire house while we were gone as a Christmas gift (my sister is awesome by the way) and B, our fridge had pooped out on us while we were gone. This was not the first time it happened and since we have been home it has happened three or four more times. So out of necessity, we got a new fridge. 

Dad (Nathaniel) got a twinky maker for Christmas from his sisters (who are also awesome) so we make twinkies! so much better than the boxed kind. Kyle was so excited he did a little twinky dance. the taste was a tiny bit off because we used butter that had been in our dead fridge and had a interesting taste. I have since gotten rid of everything that was in the old fridge. They were delicious nonetheless.

2013 in Review

2013 was one for the Books.  As winter thawed out we found ourselves going on lots of outings and bike rides and spending a lot of time together as a family. We loved every minute of it and were anxious to add to our family. Then in March we found out we were pregnant! we were oh so happy and excited but this little Angel was not meant to be. In early May my pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.  We were crushed as a family but we were still certain we wanted another child as soon as possible.  Later in may we went out to California and spent a whole week having a blast with and without the boys in tow. After meeting in Sacramento and eating a big dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Cook we ended up going to the ER because Grandma was having intense pain in her stomach.  We found out later that it was stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  Our year kept getting more eventful and in July we found ourselves closing on our own home in Orem Utah.  We said goodbye to a wonderful neighborhood and ward in Springville and Hello to our own house (and equally wonderful ward and neighborhood here in Orem).

Right after that Kyle turned one and Adam turned three and Grandma and Grandpa Cook came out to visit, eager to spend as much time with their Grand babies as possible. It was at this time that we were able to announce that I was again Pregnant and expecting another little one in March of 2014. We went to the Bassett reunion in Idaho at the end of July and the Cook Family reunion in the beginning of September. Grandma Cook was Able to make it out for that too. Dad started up his masters degree from the University of Illinois in August, and I started my last two classes of my Bachelors degree in October. We also found out that we are going to have another boy! yay for brothers! Early November Grandma Gleason was diagnosed with leukemia, though we found out that hers is the mildest form of the cancer. Grandma Cook was going through a lot of treatments and it was decided that she couldn't make the trip out to Utah anymore, so in November, right before Thanksgiving we made a trip out to California and then to Arizona for the Gleason family reunion. December was great with family and friends and parties and such but must important was the time spent together as a family making memories. 

Adam and Kyle, we want you to know how much you are loved and cherished by your Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and by your Mom and Dad. we have seen you grow so much this year and are so happy that we get to have you in our family. We also want you to know that we have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that the time we have here on earth is really just a short moment and if we are faithful we can be together with our family forever.  We know we are not perfect but we are so grateful for the chance we have every day to improve and grow in love for you and for each other.  We love you!  Love Mommy and Daddy

Christmas 2013