Merry Christmas!

From,

The Cook Family

happy thanksgiving

getting ready for church

i always wish that i would remember to take a picture of the kids BEFORE church because they are nice and clean and all dressed up. this sunday i did. i love this picture because they just look so cute.

(allison has been in her "helmet" for three weeks now. she is tolerating it. for those who don't know, simply put, her head isn't growing right so this should help reshape it. she will need to wear it for about 3-6 months.)

halloween

i know that it has been over a month since halloween but i thought it was still worth posting some pictures of our festivities. so here you go.

pumpkin patch rewind

2007

2008

2009

the first picture is one of my favorite pictures of logan (it is also the greenest pumpkin patch). we spent quite a while taking pictures of him and he could barely sit on the pumpkin by himself. we took over 70 pictures but we finally got the perfect one! it is fun to take a picture each year and see how he has grown.

pumpkin patch

riding on the wagon

we went to take logan's picture by the tractor and the driver let him get up and stand on it

the petting zoo-this one's for daddy

this was not working, logan kept yelling, "help, help" as allison was slipping away

classic pumpkin patch picture

last weekend we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. logan was so excited to pick out a pumpkin and was talking about it all day. we found the perfect pumpkin and he carries it around everywhere he goes. sadly, there was a tragic event which involved the pumpkin rolling off of the couch. fortunately, there were no casualties and dan was able to glue the handle back on!

halloween jammie jams

this is our attempt at taking a picture of the kids in their new halloween jammie jams!

allison at 5 months

you may be thinking to yourself, does she always cry like this? the answer is YES...

but we love her anyways!

camping

dan and logan went camping in the backyard. here is a quick rundown of the night's events:

• bbq'd for dinner
• went for a walk
• roasted marshmallows over the bbq
• logan fell in the bbq
• fixed his owie
• dan and logan ate popcorn and cookies
• dan and logan watched countless movies in the tent while logan was winding down from his sugar high
• finally went to sleep around 11
• dan and logan in the tent
• kristy and allison in the house
• good times had by all (except for falling in the bbq)

rocky point

i sadly took very few pictures while we were in rocky point...seriously, i only took seven. sad. nonetheless, here is a cute picture of logan and grandpa flying a kite. overall, we had a good time.

like father...like son...like little boy

before we went to rocky point, dan had to do some work on our trailer. i came outside to find dan, grandpa, and logan all laying under the trailer "fixing it."

allison at 4 months

here is an update for allison at 4 months old...and yes, i realize that she is almost 5 months old...

14 lb. 10 oz. and 24 in.

this is my attempt at taking her picture on the actual 4 month mark, obviously she wasn't liking it

here she is about a week later, much happier and cuter

and just for fun- logan and his mini me

(especially when she is in those boy pajamas)

more reasons for not blogging

has it really been that long since i last updated my blog? i can't believe it has been a month and a half since i have blogged, but i have a good excuse. things have been a little crazy around here. we have been up to the usual stuff and our summer has been winding down, but my main reason for not posting is that i went away for a luxurious 5 day stay at northwest hospital...ok... not so luxurious (although it is pretty nice as far as hospitals go.)

it all started back in august about the 18th or so of august. my whole body started itching. at first i thought maybe i ate something i was allergic to or used a different soap, but i couldn't think of anything different. then i thought maybe it was all in my head and i was just imagining it. finally i couldn't take it anymore and after 2 or 3 days i made an appointment with my doctor. i went in and saw the nurse practitioner and she was thinking the same thing, an allergic reaction. but thankfully she decided to draw some blood and run some tests and sent me home with a prescription for claritin for the itching. then the following week the nurse called with my test results and when i called back, the nurse said, "let me get your file because there is a lot of stuff wrong." WHAT? seriously, what else could go wrong with me? apparently my liver functions came back very high. i went in for more blood work and to get an ultrasound. the ultrasound showed that i had gallstones. i have had mild stomach aches for at least the past year, but they were never bad enough to make me go to the doctor. the scary thing is that my dad died of gallbladder cancer. needless to say, i was pretty sure they were going to end up taking my gallbladder out.

to make a long story even longer...i had a follow-up appointment with my doctor the next week but by the weekend the itching was really getting to me and my stomach started to hurt really bad so we went to the emergency room. they ended up admitting me to the hospital and did a bunch of tests to see what exactly the problem was. some of the gallstones traveled in to my bile duct and pancreas and i had pancreatitis. so before they could remove my gallbladder they had to put me out, go down my throat through my stomach and get out the gallstones. they removed at least 14 gallstones, which is apparently alot, and one was so big it got stuck and they had to cut it out. then the next day they removed my gallbladder. the surgeon said that there were "hundreds" of gallstones. after about two weeks of recovery i am feeling almost back to normal. i am still a little sore but the itching has gone away and so have the stomach aches. again, thank you to everyone who helped with our kids and bringing us dinner. i don't think we could endure our trials without the help of others. hopefully i won't have anymore major health issues anytime soon...that's what i said last time, right?

summer recap

the reasons we haven't been blogging...in no particular order...

allison's blessing

allison was blessed on july 12. dan gave a beautiful blessing and we had a great time spending the day with our family and friends. we are so blessed to have so many people that support and love us!

here's the scoop

many people have been asking me how my heart is...so here is what we have learned.

for those who don't know, let me fill you in. i had to have an emergency c-section with allison because her heart rate kept dropping and wasn't coming back up. it turned out that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. because of my c-section i ended up staying at the hospital for a couple of extra days. well, i was suppose to leave on monday, but throughout sunday night i had been a little short of breath, but i was getting over a cold and just passed it off as that. early monday morning i woke up and felt like i couldn't breathe. i paged the nurse to come to my room and she checked my vitals and just told me to relax. she left and about 15 minutes later, i really couldn't breathe! it was getting scary! i paged the nurse's station again and they asked if the nurse could bring me anything and i told them that i couldn't breathe. well this time they listened and sent a whole slew of people. after being tested for swine flu, three ambulance trips to the hospital from the women's center, a chest x-ray, a cat scan, and an echo cardiogram, they finally figured out what was wrong with me.

i apparently have a pre-existing heart condition. i was diagnosed with mitral valve stenosis. due to the excess fluid in my body from pregnancy and a c-section, my heart couldn't keep up. i went into congestive heart failure and fluid was backing up into my lungs. i was very lucky to have had the c-section which allowed for me to stay a few extra days in the hospital, otherwise i would've been at home when i couldn't breathe, and who knows what would've happened. i was also very fortunate to have good doctors at the hospital who weren't satisfied when test results came back inconclusive. they kept investigating different avenues until they figured out the problem.

since allison's birth, i have had another echo cardiogram and have gone to see a cardiologist for a more specific diagnosis. i have rheumatic mitral stenosis- that's right, it was caused by rheumatic fever. the doctor guesses that i contracted it somewhere between the age of 5-15 and that is what caused the damage to my heart. the weird thing is that my mom has the exact same condition and had open heart surgery about 6 years ago. so will i have to have the surgery? the answer is yes. i cannot have any more pregnancies before i have my mitral valve replaced, otherwise, i will probably be able to wait until my 40's or 50's.

so, there's the scoop. it has been an emotional ride trying to figure everything out. but i am trying to put it out of my mind, as my doctor suggested, and come back to deal with it in about a year. until then, i am so that i have an otherwise healthy body that made it through my two pregnancies. i am more grateful for my heavenly father and the little family that he has blessed me with.

*by the way, does anyone know why the spacing is always so weird after i post? it isn't like that when i am typing it...

since we've been home...

we have been home for a little over 2.5 weeks and so far we have had...

• 7 doctor's appointments


• a flood in the upstairs bathroom


• a flood downstairs as a result of the flood in the upstairs bathroom


• the carpet cleaned as a result of the flood in the upstairs bathroom


• a leak in the rook fixed


• our house painted


• 1 trip to the children's E.R. (don't worry, it wasn't too much of an emergency)


• 1 trip to the urgent care


• the fuel pump fixed in the tahoe (thanks to dan and his dad)


• the water pump fixed in the jeep (thanks to dan's dad)


• a trip to the vet and the groomers for shiloh

thank you to all our family and friends that have helped us with meals and watching logan. we can't do it without you. hopefully our life will settle down soon...

allison may

allison may

may 7, 2009

8:29 p.m.

6lb 7oz 18in

here are some pictures of our sweet baby girl. we ended up having her through an emergency c-section because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. even though we would've preferred to not have the c-section it was still a wonderful experience and we got some amazing pictures (most of which are probably too graphic to post on the blog!) Enjoy!