We moved!

This will be a little update for everyone :)

We made the move to Provo Utah and Andy will be starting school at BYU on June 21st!

Xander is adjusting well and has grown up so much. I am about 13 1/2 weeks pregnant with another little one, and I am so terribly sick :( Andy and Xander have been so wonderful taking care of me and I am so grateful! I had so much help from my wonderful Mother, Aunt Belinda and my Ouma unpacking here in Utah. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family.

Craziness at the Cooks!

Xander is everywhere! It seems like before I've even finished cleaning up one mess, he's made another...Andy asks me why I feel like I need 10 hours of sleep, and I think to myself...if he only knew....

Besides being crazy busy all of the time and not being able to see progress anywhere, I am so happy. Xander is really such a joy. He is getting very interactive and shows his different emotions well. He and Andy take turns making faces at one another to make each other laugh and it is so fun to watch! When I am with them and I have the cherished opportunity to watch this sweet interaction I am reminded how blessed my life is.

Our family is living in Shelley, Idaho now. We have been nearing closer to our goal, which is for Andy to become a Navy Chaplain. It will still be awhile but, we are looking forward to the journey. We won't know until January or possibly February if Andy is accepted into BYU's program for Chaplains. When he is accepted, we will be contacting the Navy and enlisting in the Chaplain Candidate Program. Afterwhich, we will be heading off to school where Andy will work for a little over 2 years to complete 72 credit hours, which are required by the military in order to become a Chaplain.

We had the opportunity to attend a LDS Chaplain seminar over the weekend of October conference. It was such a wonderful and inspiring experience. We learned so much and were blessed with the feeling that we were doing the right thing for our family.

Well, I've got lots to do and not nearly enough time to do it in. I'll try to keep this more updated but, you know how it goes :)

A great Discovery!

Yay for Digital Scrapbooking!! I have discovered something that is totally guilt free! First I can say that I am actually accomplishing something when I am using Photoshop ( since most of the time it is spent with me dorkishly editing Bella and Edward pictures from twilight) but I also don't have to feel bad for spending lots and lots of money on scrapbooking supplies because i can legally download them for free :)

I'm excited! Here is a page that I just made:

Life is going pretty well. Our family is experiencing a few changes but so far we are adjusting well. Andy just started working down at the Blackers in Blackfoot as a manager. Xander is 6 months old and is growing well. His personality is really starting to show through and everyday we learn more and more about him. He is a very good communicator and he never hesitates to let us know when something isn't quite right. He loves food and isn't picky about anything that we feed him. As far as he is concerned food and any food is delicious! He makes very sweet little noises when you feed him, like he is starving and the food is the best he has ever tasted!

Well this one will be short because it's bed time. Yes we have given ourselves a bedtime so we can try and be a little healthier. You have to start somewhere, right?

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

The last 5 weeks have been good. Sometimes we were organised but more times were hectic. The apartment was clean for awhile and now it's not. I don't really feel like cleaning either. I would much rather spend the time with Alexander, than with the toilet or the dishes...

Xander is growing up so fast! I was watching some video that i took of him when he was 4 days old and then about 3 months old and he has changed so much! He loves to talk and he is starting to sit up with a little help now. He loves to try and stand while being supported and has recently acquired an emormous curiosity for the food (any food) that anyone is eating around him. He is very good at communicating what it is that he needs or wants (well, about 80% percent of the time I'd say) and he is quite patient with us when we are figuring out what he needs. 

He started saying some more distinct sounds the last couple of days, like mum, and muma, and a whole lot of baby jabbering it is so cute!! I'm not sure he has made a connection with the words he saying and what they are but it's fun to think that he could be saying momma :)

We have a green foam chair called a bumbo that one member of our family loaned us and it helps him to sit up with out falling, he loves it. Some of Xander's favorite toys are basically anything that spins or moves when he hits them. We have something like this that hooks up to his carseat and i think that it is one of his very favorites. He could play with it for hours if we had him in his seat for that long!

You know that expression...you're running around like a chicken with its.....yep, thats how i'm feeling lately

Well, it's been awhile but things are great!! Xander is now 3 months old and is a very happy baby. I mostly call him Xander, Little Man, and Cute Boy. Andy calls him my Boy, and sometimes we both call him AJ. He is growing well and loves to smile!! He is also now realizing that he can change his situation by making certain sounds and sometimes crying. I try to catch his signals before he starts to cry but it doesn't always work. We are learning how to communicate with each other, and it really is so much fun. I love it when I guess right and he smiles with contentment, it makes me so happy!

Whenever we get ready to go somewhere and I have to put him in his car seat he just gives me the biggest smiles! I used to think it was because he liked riding in his car seat but we soon figured out that he does that when he doesn't want us to put him down. He is very smart and is figuring out how things work quickly. When he is tired he says ow, and repeats it over and over again. When he does this i give him his binki and lay him in his bed with a blanket, and he goes right to sleep, it's amazing!! I realize that I am very lucky to have such a well behaved child.


He is such a joy in my life, without him I don't think I could really live life to the fullest. Being able to care for such a beautiful, loving little boy is a treasure and cannot be compared to any material thing in the world.

He just had his first Valentines Day, he got a very cute card and a Valentines shirt from his Ouma.

Life has been crazy for me adjusting to living everyday life with a little one to look after. It certainly seems to turn your life upside down for awhile...I think that I am still in that "awhile" stage. Hopefully I can get the hang of being a mom soon!

Andy finished up his student teaching and decided to put Seminary on hold for a while. We are looking into him possibly joining the Air Force and then going back to school. Needless to say our future holds many adventurous possibilities!

I just recently started to sell Avon. i really like it so far, and I hope that I will be able to do well with it. I think it will force me to be more organized and I need that!

Thats pretty much the update in a sum it up kind of way....



Christmas was wonderful! We spent it at a cabin west of Ashton, Idaho and we actually got snowed in! Our car was completely buried by the snow and if we hadn't known where we parked it we would have had a hard time finding it. When it came time for us to leave we had to literally dig it out. It was quite an adventure!





I just started digitally scrapbooking, this is my first page! It was a lot of fun but it took me forever!!























This is a larger picture of the writing:

New Beginnings

With the birth of our son we decided that it was finally time to start our own blog. Despite being told that blogs could be summed up that never has so little been said about so much by so many, it just seems like a great way to update everyone at once without sending 500 emails which would likely end up in the junk mailbox.

Here's the skinny on our new son, Alexander James Cook
He was born on Thursday Nov. 20th at 10:18 a.m., 6lbs. 8 oz., 20"

Now the full story
Hanna actually started having the stronger labor pains about 5:30 Wednesday morning. From then until about 2:oo p.m. they remained 'bad enough that you can't walk or talk through them' 10 mins apart. From 2 on they began to grow closer together. When she went to the women's health clinic around 5 the doctor told her to go home. She was only dilated to a two or three, with nothing to worry about. That night we had the last of our pre-natal classes at the hospital from 7:00 to 9:30. Since her contractions were still going strong and we were already there, we thought we'd just get a second opinion. When she was checked at about 10:00 she was a 4 and at 11:00 she was a 5. It was on!






She recieved her epidural about 11:30 and for the next few hours she was about as happy as a geek promised a lifetime supply of caffeine!







It was really cute, because her little sister had just announced her pregnancy, so Hanna was trying to show Rachel how easy and nice childbirth could be. Little did she know what was in store for her!



When she was approaching 10 cm and everything was ready to go she started to notice the pain again. They told her if that happened that she should let them know so she could give her more medicine and make her as comfortable as possible. After they had given her a second dose she said something to the effect that she was going to throw up and pass out. While we're not exactly sure what happened it sounds like the anesthesia somehow made it into her bloodstream. Consequently she could not feel or move anything. He heart rate jumped up to about a 106 and she went into a comatose state. I just kind of stood there at the foot of her bed, unsure of what to do. Luckily though, Gary (Hanna's step-dad and retired anesthetist) was there, jumped up took over the situation, and likely saved Hanna's life. Thanks Gary. Although the baby never felt a thing (Hanna's body was breathing and working fine, she just didn't know it for a while) Hanna had to be kicked off the painkiller. In essence she did a natural birth. OUCH!

At first Hanna proclaimed that she couldn't do it, but as soon as she she started pushing, she didn't stop. I've never seen her so focused. 3 good pushes every contraction, and great focus on relaxation and breathing in between them. In the end she delivered after about an hour of pushing. Not too shabby!

Alexander was cleaned and monitored almost immediately because there was a little meconium when the doctor (Robison) ruptured the bag of waters. They had him on oxygen for the for the first little while.


But he didn't need it!

In fact, he was blowing bubbles shortly thereafter!

Finally it was mom's turn to hold the baby, and she looked so happy to be able to see her son!

I added this one just for fun, because all I did during that whole hour while she was pushing was fan her of. When she was in the middle of a contraction and pushing I would fan as fast and as hard as I could. When she relaxed, I fanned her slowly. I know it's nothing compared to what she did, but my arms are still a little sore. This poor magazine was torn nearly to shreds.

We finally made it home today (Saturday the 22nd) at about 2:00. I could tell he was happy to be in his new home. If anyone wants the better versions of any of these pictures let me know and I'll send you copies (these were all cut and optimized for the web ... habit).