Things are still going happily with our sweet David. We just love him so much and can't get enough of him. Kayla is recovering very well and is starting to get back to normal everyday life a little more each day. Thank you to you all for your support and love. We love you too!
This is a picture of David going to his very first concert to see his Daddy perform. This concert was supposed to happen on David's due date, but he wanted to go so badly that he came two weeks early! I wonder how many more concerts like this he'll go to? Any guesses?
As is clearly evident in this picture, David gets his good looks from his mother and his muscles from his daddy. :o)
This is a picture of David's first "bunny ears." I know... I'm weird.
I love where David decided to rest his little foot!
Anybody who thinks he doesn't get treated like royalty is way off base. This kid gets lovin' from everyone. Check out this sweet massage he got right after one of is baths!
Here are the freshest pictures of our baby David. Thank you all for your fun comments. We feel so blessed to have this little guy with us. Things were probably a lot better where he came from, but we're trying to treat him like royalty here.
Mom is doing great. She got some good sleep last night when Grandma Salisbury took care of David for a few hours. Feeding David is getting better and better with each time. Dad is trying to stay focused at school, but how can you when you've got such a cute thing waiting for you at home?
I mean, really, look at him!!
Grandma Salisbury got here on Monday morning and hasn't quit helping ever since!! Thank you!!
There's more than one baby in our family that likes to be wrapped up nice and tight when he sleeps!
Grandma Salisbury the librarian gets to read David his first story, "Little Boy."
Grandma Cook loves to snuggle up too!
Two too pooped to poop!
Everybody's got to start some time! Is he singing along?
One of our nurses said to be sure to give him some belly time when we're watching him so that he can start to strengthen his shoulder muscles. That's good because he apparently gets his small muscles from Dad.
A big hearty welcome to our new little baby boy David!! He arrived on Sunday, Nov. 1 at about 8:30pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs. even and was 21 in. long. Mommy was especially glad he didn't wait until his due date on the 13th because he was already getting pretty big!
Speaking of Mommy, she did FABULOUS! Contractions begun at about 5 a.m. Sunday morning. By 10:00 a.m., they became more regular and we began timing them. Sure enough, they were consistent and getting more intense. Because our due date wasn't for another two weeks, we didn't think we could possibly be in labor. But after walking around the neighborhood, not to mention preparing Sunday dinner and getting through last minute hospital laundry, Kayla finally decided she needed to get to the hospital.
Upon arriving at the hospital, we learned Kayla was dialated to about 5 cm. By comparison, she was only at 1 cm on Wednesday's doctor appointment. So she had progressed well. We checked into the hospital about 4 o'clock. Her labor progressed steadily. Kayla opted to have no medication and did very well with each contraction. She was focused and composed throughout it all. She couldn't have done better. By about 8:00 p.m., she was ready to push and soon enough, that baby came out in just about three or four contractions. It was absolutely amazing!
Here are some shots of David right after he was born. We hope you enjoy the pictures. They are in no particular order. Of course, as any good parents would do, there will be more pictures of David to come!!
As you might be able to tell from the "Funemories" post, our family is getting into an extremely dangerous tradition of coming up with creative costumes and activities for Halloween. Even this year, we remarked to each other how commercialized this holiday is and how dumb it really is that we go door to door asking people for candy and get all dressed up like people we really aren't.
Despite all that, though, this year was one to remember!
For Kayla, this is her first Fall season outside of the wintery north. She's really been missing the changing leaves (see post below) and the feeling of Fall. But one Fall-ish thing you can do no matter where you are is carve pumpkins. And since we're both used to being around the snow, what better way to pay homage to our home towns than a pumpkin snowman!!
This idea started when we went to the local store to buy pumkins. Last year, we went to a real pumkin patch to buy them cheap!! This year, they cost almost $4 a piece, and you just can buy one! So instead, we checked out the bin called "Pie Pumkins." They were smaller and cheaper. After some humming and hahing and trying to come up with how it could be fun to carve small pumpkins, we had the brilliant idea to buy three pumkins and make a snowman.
Here's Kayla gutting and carving the face on the pumkins!
Because every good artist-gone-pumkin-carver has to have some sort of inspiration, can you guess who Kayla chose to be the model for her pumkin head? That's right - her Pumpkin Head!
After our project got going, one good idea was followed only by another good idea! Pretty soon, there were toothpick, nails and hammers, and what good pumpkin would be complete without fire?!!
Here's our final product- a thing we call Jack Frost.
While we were still on our creativity high, we couldn't help but keep on keepin' on with our next project -- an idea too good to be true, too complicated to be understood, but too timly to pass up.
This year for Halloween, we went as.... drum roll...... The Cooks!!
It started with you ordinary box, custom fit to Kayla's belly. Wrap it up in some white paper and strap some old suspenders to the back, and pretty soon, you've got an oven!
Since there was no ward party or fun outing on Halloween, we decided to make an event for ourselves. In the end, we baked some cookies and wrapped them up individually. Then, we hopped in the car and drove around to the younger couples in our ward and knocked on their doors. Between stops, we would just laugh and laugh at ourselves and all the stupid things we were doing. It was a blast!!
Check out this fun video starring "Lovin' Oven Kayla." Keep in mind she is going to give birth the next day!
In the end, we decided that it was just too much to capture in a few seconds. I mean, if somebody remembered our last name was Cook, they probably forgot that we have "one in the oven." Or, if they thought it was cute we had a "Fresh Baked Cookie" for them, they probably didn't realize we were talking about our baby.
But all in all, it was a great memory. Maybe next year, we'll go it a little easy on the creativity. We obviously over did ourselves this year!
This is my husband on the "Tree Tour" for the BYU-Idaho 2007 Oratorio. As you can see he is in deep thought while riding on the bus. Little did he know the girl a few seats behind him was going to be his wife...or did he? Maybe he is in such deep thought because he is so enraptured by me. This was the first time I ever met Brian. Wasn't he so cute? I landed in his ward months later and the rest is history! Our little meeting on this bus was just enough to get me to remember his name.
And what about this one? Shots from past Halloweens...
Here we are again in 2007. I dressed as the ugliest hillbilly I could. I had a huge crush on Brian and I knew he would be at this party. He dressed up as an Olive. Oliver the Olive to be exact. You can tell our personalities fit quite well. We weren't about to use a costume party as an excuse to get all dolled up for each other. This was quite a fun time for us though because my roommate was the one throwing the party and she had Brian and I decorate for it. She must have been on to us. Anyway, I made this card for him last Halloween when we were married.
Last Halloween was a hoot. Brian made the best nerd. We attended the Symphony which was a blast and then we had our friends over for a little party. I remember my jaw killing me that night. I remember Brian kept calling Suzi "Sooosan". I remember Brian's geeky voice and the Men's choir cracking up at him after the concert. I remember the way he counted to three very slowly at ever stop sign that night. I remember his paper clip neckalace and his odd fitting retainer. I remember the dozen pens and highlighters that he crammed in to his pocket. I remember laughing hysterically together in our apartment when it was just the two of us before we left. I remember his white socks. I remember getting to the Symphony in our nerd costumes just before the concert started and watching as Brian awkwardly made his way through the crowded concert hall, capturing everyone's attention, hearing laughter from the waiting audience, trying my best not to abandon him. I wish I had footage. It is fun to be married to Brian Cook let me tell you.
Our great friends Pamela and Jared. They made perfect robbers. We miss them.
We can't forget about our award-winning pumpkins...well okay we didn't get an actual award for them but we had a lot of fun! This year's pumpkins will be carved sometime this weekend.
As for this year's costume? You'll have to wait and see!
One final funemory...
My sweetheart friends from the married student ward in Rexburg! This is a picture of our old Relief Society Presidency. Bethany Sines is on the left, Cailin Bruce is on the bench next to Abby Fokken, and...well you know where I am. We had such a fun time together. Abby moved in to a cute little basement apartment and is expecting a little boy (child number two), Bethany is in Iowa living with parents just like me! And Cailin is now a momma. How fun!
