Our Twin Discovery.

This past July, while my lovely family was living it up on our annual beach vacay, Seth and I found out we were becoming parents! Seth and I weren't able to stay at the beach the entire time due to it being a busy time of year for my new job at the University. What a pleasant surprise we came home to find out though!

We left the beach to head back to Florence having a few day of suspicions that I may be expecting, but after over a year of looking forward to starting our family without success we didn't want to get our hopes too high.  We decided we'd take a test the next morning and much to our shock there happened to be two pink lines.  Still having a little doubt and uncertainty - I wanted it to be a little more obvious than two pink lines.  We went and got a test that actually reads PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT. 

And there we have it. Since Seth was dying to take a picture with the stick that I had just peed on, we did so to appease him.

Soon after finding out we were expecting I contacted my lady doctor friend and they wanted me to come in for blood tests to confirm our pregnancy.  A few days later I received a call asking for us to come in for our first ultrasound at 6 weeks.

I should've known something was a bit off beat. I asked the lady if everything was okay because most folks I know don't come in for their first appointment until 9-12 weeks.  Why was I going in so early? She ensured all was well and my doctor just liked to see her patients a little earlier than others.  We told both of our families the weekend before our first ultrasound. Although we were very early in our pregnancy - it was the last time Seth's entire family would be together until Thanksgiving so we decided we'd just spill it all that weekend. Due to me being overly anxious to announce this surprise - Seth did the honor and we were able to record both announcements (which I'm so grateful for!).  Not everyone reacted as we expected. My brother gave off a few stank faces. Mom thought it was an absolutely hilarious joke. Seth's family just stood there for a few seconds and his mom's first comment was 'Are you serious?'.

Right after Telling Seth's family.

Right after telling my family.

I'm looking at Seth like - how can they think this is a joke? Mom still thinks it's a joke. Eason's giving me a stank face. Brittany gets it - I'm not sure about Pop. Sweet Mackay is probably thinking this family is cray cray.

I'm not sure why they all thought it was a joke - I mean who jokes about something like this?! But eventually they all came around and shared in the excitement of adding another grand baby to the mix of life.

Then the ultrasound day came.....

Seth and I impatiently waited to be called back at the doctor's office. I was anxious to see this little ball of baby that would be ours. The little creation that we were blessed with that would look like my man or myself. I was nervous but excited and still a little doubt was flowing through my veins.  As we get into the ultrasound room and get situated - we see a little blob that we know is the beginnings of our little Cook kiddo. I was super excited and looked over at Seth who was grinning as I was. 

Soon I hear 'Looks like you have two in there.'

'Um...No, I don't. There's just one.' I quickly reply. I mean obviously this ultrasound lady doesn't know what she's doing.

'No, there are two. Y'all are having twins. See here's one and here's the other.'

'This is a joke. You must joke like this to all of your patients.' I respond still in disbelief.

'Actually, this isn't something I would joke about.' the lady replys.

Seeing she isn't letting up, I request to see both of the baby blobs side by side so I can visually confirm two.

And then there were two.

I looked at Seth who still was just a grinning.

Unsure of what the world was going on - I just sat there.

Seth finally asked if both babies looked okay and if all seemed well with them. The lady said it all looked well. I got up and we headed to the doctor's waiting room. 

Seth stared at the ultrasound picture and I stared at nothing. Everytime I looked at the kid he was grinning ear to ear. He jokingly stated that we would have to look at bigger cars now and how he couldn't wait to tell our brother-in-law Trevor that he was ahead of him in the kid competition (seriously?), but I was unsure of how to respond to our most recent news.  All I could think about was:

How the crap am I suppose to carry two babies at one time? 

Didn't babies come one at a time? 

Why did we get two - How did this happen? 

We were planning to begin looking for a bigger house once our second baby came. 

Can our house fit two babies?

We have to get two of EVERYTHING.

After NOT seeing the doctor but receiving a prescription for a prenatal with extra folic acid to provide for both of the babies I was carrying - we walked out to my car. We attempted to call our families with the news. And NOONE would answer their phones - we called everyone of our family members and finally got a hold of Zachary. We shared the news with him and then slowly got a hold of most of Seth's family. When we spoke with Seth's dad - Seth told him the baby looked fine and they actually found two in there.  Mr. Jimmy replied with 'Two what?' - um....two babies :). haha. Seth's mother gave the best reaction - she LAUGHED and LAUGHED and chuckled and LAUGHED more. She seemed thrilled and everyone else seemed just as shocked as us.  When we finally got a hold of my family we got a...

'You're sh__ing me.' from Victra

Eason responded with a 'So glad that is you and not me!'

So here we have it - Seth and I after finding out we would be starting our family with two babies.

For about a week after we found out about the twins I struggled with excitement. I was scared and unsure about how we would handle this. Can my body do this. Can we afford two. How was this going to work. I'd get ready for work and sit on our bed and tears would fall down. Fearful tears. Uncertain tears. That cute man of mine would walk in and a big grin would spread across his face. He was so excited. I still was not. Don't judge me folks - it's totally a weird situation. I wanted our family to grow. I wanted these babies, but I wanted them one at a time. I never expected two at once. I was scared out of my mind and that took over my excitement.

About a week after we found out about the twins we had a little scare. I called our doctor and was told to go straight to the Emergency Room.  After everything was examined and we were finally cleared to leave the ER with all looking okay for us and our babies - my worry about having two was gone. I wanted both of these babies without a doubt. I was so upset thinking something could happen to one or both of them. Both of these little blobs were ours. They were a part of me and a part of their sweet daddy. For over a year we had been praying to grow our family and here we are growing. God answered our prayer by providing us more than we could have dreamed to begin our family. Having multiples never crossed my mind - not once, but I can't imagine how fun these little kiddos be.  I'm so grateful for both of them and I do not want to even think about not having BOTH our little guys now. 

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve! Us Cook's will be popping open some Welch's Sparkling GrapeJuice (Seth may have himself a brewski) and trying to make it til midnight after cheering on our Tigers!

The Cook's :).

Sibling Love.

Eason ~ That Sibling of Mine.

Makes an adorable toddler (along with a little help from Brittany).

Eason and his fam :).

Little man wanted Pops and had a slight fit to get to him.

When all the 'national' sibling day craz was going around. I waited...

I waited...

I waited a tad more...

And I finally texted Eason and asked where my shout out was?!

He said there wasn't going to be one.

That was it. 

He didn't say I love you.

Or you're my favorite sister (even though I'm his only sister).

He just said he wasn't going to give me a FB shoutout.

So I boycotted him for a day or two.

He didn't care.

I got over it.

And then I decided I'd give him a shoutout on my blog.

B/C I'm awesome like that.

And I love my brother.

Like errrr-day.

 I probably loved him as a baby. I may have even dropped him once or twice? Never know for sure.
 He was the first kid that got on my nerves.

The cry-ingist toddler one will ever know.

Man what a tattle teller he was (or - was that me?).
A kid coffee drinker. He'd only drink coffee Nanny Zel made for him that basically consisted of sugar, milk, and a splash of coffee.
This kid LOVED to eat cereal for every meal.
He only ate veggies or meat if it had loads of this sweetened concoction our Nanny made for him. - Brown sugar & Ketchup.

Power rangered & Wrestlemaniaed me all the flippin time.

So much smarter than I. Which totally got on my nerves at times.
He was in the gifted and talented class and I SOOO wanted to be (but wasn't until I got in high school).

Was the best at EVERY baseball position he played. Catcher, Pitcher, Shortstop, etc. Was such a natural athlete.

Turd Turd Turd.

Always there for me.

Only kid I can tell just about EVERYTHING too and he still has to like me :).

His picture should be next to sarcastic in the dictionary.
Hilarious. He can tell you a story and make you pee your pants.

Will be mean as a snake to me but will never let YOU speak a dirty word about me.
Gun Cray Cray.

I've mentioned he's a turd. Like totally. But I love this kid. I wouldn't want another sibling to share Sineath childhood with. To vent about our parentals too. To send daily selfies too. Such a fun kid to share joyful times with. He will lift you up on a bad day and sing your praises when you've had a wonderful day. 

I know that he is someone that I should celebrate more than just one 'holiday' a year. I'm proud of him and his family. I'm proud of his job. I'm proud of his fiance. I'm proud of his toddler that I adore. I'll talk crap about him in a mili-second. But don't YOU dare say a word about him :).

I love you Eason. You Turd You.

B-days & B-rooms

Our sweet first born nephew Mackay is 2!! He is a handsome blue eyed toddler. He immediately looks like his crazy daddy, but has so much of his sweet momma in him when you really watch him. He is shy. Loves sweets. Adores his Pops. Watches you out of the corner of his eyes. Will say E and point at himself :). Loves to be outdoors. 

Eason & Brittany helping Mackay blow out his candle.

Our little sweet cheek Julian celebrated his first birthday in January. He is such a cute fella. He is curious and oh so smart. He loves balls, his momma, Nana, Granddad, and nature :). He began walking before his first birthday. I've seen this little guy fall, hit his face, jump back up and keep going like nothing happened. He is a tough cookie with the most adorable chuckle and smiles.

 Julian enjoying his carrot cupcake.

Ahhh, I can't believe how fast they are both growing - they are so fun to watch!

At the beginning of this year - Seth and I decided to host a shower (or at least I'd host along with Seth's sister and aunt) for our soon to be sister-in-law at our home. For this event we wanted to paint our guest bathroom. I went in desiring a grey/yellow themed bathroom. 

It didn't quite turn out that way, but in the end I LOVE my new bathroom :).

These were 'greys' that I was working with. All look brownish to me.

French Grey - looking brown to me.

I'd gotten a few paint samples and we didn't love any. Seth didn't want to continue 'spending money' on samples so he told me to buy a gallon of something. We did. It was the darker color in the above picture. I didn't like it. Seth basically told me to get over it (in a nice way). He wanted to piece the bathroom back together before repainting. After he lived with this color for a few weeks - he ended up disliking it as well (thankfully)! We decided to repaint before piecing it back together. We chose North Star - a blueish grey. Not what I had in mind, but we both have ended up liking it.

Seth is an extremely detailed guy.
 Meticulous. 
I can certainly agree that is one characteristic he inherited from his father.

We begin the preparations to paint in January.

Then we found this little issue.

There was a medicine cabinet here. There is one in both of our bathrooms and I wanted both of them gone. While we were paint prepping we took the cabinet down. Underneath we found this hole.

Seth wasn't happy in the least. He didn't find any humor in this situation.
After this - he found a lot of little detailed items that he 'wouldn't be able to live with', so we ended up taking everything out of the bathroom other than the tub.

Then we realized we were in school. An exam arose. Life got crazy. We had been looking into getting a dog. A dog became available.  I was told I would have an additional job added to my plate (that is WAY WAY more than I'm qualified for - but I'll handle it like a champ - hopefully).

We got stressed.
We may have argued a tad.
But we still like each other.

Aggie Girl.

She is so fun. Adds a new dimension to our lives. She's crazy. She may have peed in the house. We may have spanked her. We haven't kicked her out yet.

Aggie resting on Seth's jacket and next to his 15 pairs of shoes he likes to leave by the doors and in the hallways at all times :).

Doing some sanding.

Our first paint choice - Morning Fog. Didn't love it.

In the middle of all the bathroom renovating and schoolwork we did find time to enjoy ourselves. We attended a murder mystery dinner with some friends.

We won these nose glasses for having the worst murder mystery idea. Yikes. 

We also enjoyed an oyster roast with Seth's work in Georgetown. It was a great time and delicious oysters.

Seth and I with a few of his co-workers and board members.

Oysters - delicious.

I created some artwork for our bathroom.

Seth destroyed our house during the renovating. 

Most of the finished product. Please excuse the exposed TP.

Seth and I are BEYOND pleased with how our bathroom turned out. I got everything I wanted (other than the grey color) and we have so enjoyed it. Knowing our bums and the bums of our closest friends and family are the only bums that have been on this toilet is wonderfully refreshing :).

So excited to see the faces of my parentals and brother/sis-in-law/nephew and family this weekend. It's been so long! Hope you all enjoy your Easter!

He'll always be my favorite -
The Cook's :).

Cook Christmas

I love being married to this kid.

He's entertaining. Loving. Genuine. Detailed. Kind. Serious. Smart. Supportive. And he protects my Bird Feeder from Squirrels.

Now back to wrapping up Christmas.

We spent the first half of Christmas with my family and the latter half of Christmas with Seth's family.

Seth's parents.

Getting ready to open presents.

The soon to be newly wed Cooks.

I sure do love being a Cook. 

I love being able to make a smiley face out of the two O's.

I like that it is at the beginning of the Alpha.

I enjoy that I usually only have to say it once and never really have to spell it.

And I love how I can connect kitchen like puns at my leisure.

Karla will enjoy all these little things as well :).

Sweet Julian smiling big at his momma.

We enjoyed having a little kid around the Cook house this Christmas. He kept things entertaining and just has the sweetest grins.

 Julian w/ his Madre and Grandparents.

I think this photo is sweet.

The Cutsinger family.

Tacky Christmas Sweater.

I think one of the hardest things about being married is having to split time with family for holidays and just life. It's so tough to keep things fair. It's hard to make everyone happy - and Seth and I can stress ourselves out if anyone is unhappy about something. It's not easy to coordinate with my family, Seth's family, sibling's in-laws families, etc. We've done the best we can thus far and hope to continue that if we are able.

Now off that soap box.  My family has always had a traditional Southern New Year's Dinner. Seth and I have continued that tradition for our family. We usually don't have turkey - but Jay and Steph are awesome and provided us with some turkey for the meal. We made collards, black eyed peas, rice, cornbread, and hog-jowls. For dessert I made one of Seth's moms recipes - Chocolate Pecan Pie.

The fellas preparing the turkey that Jay brought.

Chocolate Pecan Pie.

It has a little breakage going on there, but it is still pretty and was delicious.

Seth is a pie kinda guy. 

He loves sweets.

I'm trying to avoid sweets.

Every so often I try to please my man. 

So, I made one of his favorite desserts (next to a fruit cobbler, of course).

At the first of the year Seth and I promised to STAY HOME. We have a lot we want to get done at our home. School was starting up. We were traveling WAY too much. It's been good - but we still never have enough time :).  For the first three weekends in January - we traveled one day each weekend - but hey at least we weren't gone for the whole weekend!

That sums up the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015.
2015 - be good to us!

And make sure we get back to this place for a visit!

The Cook's :).

Sineath Christmas.

Gosh - I'm sure you all have been just as FULL of life as Seth and I have.

We had a wonderful Christmas.

Enjoyed Family.

Had a HUGE, lovely, WIDE Christmas tree.

At a bonfire it blew up in flames and burned within mili-seconds.

Seth didn't like it.

He told me we would NEVER get a live Christmas tree at Thanksgiving again.

I told him - Yes we are.

He told me - No we aren't.

Then gave me you aren't going to win this one stare down.

And I said okay.

The weekend before Christmas we enjoyed seeing Seth's cousin get married. We went to a square dancing party the night before their wedding. Being as Seth and I have never square danced we were a little unsure of this adventure. We ended up having a WONDERFUL time. Seth even asked if we can try to find a square dancing crowd in Florence to get in with.

Only if there was more time in the day sweet Seth.

Seth's Parents and us at the Barn Dance

The Marsh kiddo's minus Woody.

 I really enjoy this picture of Granddad w/ sweet Julian.

What is it about our nephews? They both just ADORE their Granddad & Pops.

Mom opening her 'gag' gift.

My mom and dad are some of the HARDEST people to buy for.

Like Ever.

It's Ridiculous.

And there has been a time where ol Daddio took the gift idea Eason and I had for Mom.

It was mean. Rude.

We don't let him live it down.

Anywho - Mom and Dad always say 'Let me think about it' and then always come back with 'I don't really need anything. I have everything I need.'

Although, it didn't quite come to that with them this year (they actually told us a few items they could use) - Seth and I thought we'd play a trick on Victra.

We pretended to make a donation for her to an organization (I know that is awful sounding right - but we had to do it - don't judge).

We gave her a card letting her know we contributed to an organization in her name.

So, I gave her a few items and then gave her this goodie.

She opened it up.

Looked at it.

Looked at us.

Busted out laughing.

Showed it to Dad.

And was putting it back into the bag.

No thank you.

Just an awkward laugh/grin to reveal her dislike.

She then told me she would definitely start telling me things she wanted during holidays and birthdays if this is what my plan was to do. 

We laughed and proceeded to tell her it was a joke and we did no such thing.

Opening up a gift from Gam and Pops.

Gift from E and Uncle Seth.

Love my bro.

Even though Eason can be a turd.

He is a great brother.

He is always available for talking or texting.

Will always listen and provide his take on things.

Supportive like no other.

Not a great picture buddy at times.

He's my go to kid and I couldn't ask for a better little brother :).

Sineath kiddos and grandkiddo.

Henley & Mackay

Carsyn opening her gift.

Catherine and her gifts.

Eason and Aunt Macka.

I'm not sure where we got Macka from. I think we weren't able to properly say Martha for some reason, so Macka came about and we have stuck with that for all my days.

A gift from my cousin that my sis-in-law made :). 

Cook - est. 2010.

Goodness - 4.5 years with this stud. I'm still loving it.

Laughing at Seth.

My mom is an AWFUL picture taker. She will cut your head off in a second while taking a picture. I had her take a picture of Seth and I and darn it if she didn't cut my man's head off AGAIN. So, Seth took a picture of her like she takes a picture of us. Then he got one of us laughing at what he was doing. I enjoy the laughing one.

Seth doing a Victra with the camera.

The Sinclair kiddos.

Sweet Addy B and Victra.

That's about all I can do for now. I'll post pictures from our Greenwood Christmas and other happenings in the next blog.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - Boy am I ecstatic that it is FRIDAY :).

Much love from us Cook's :).