Ivy Sue Murray

It seems only fitting that I am up in the middle of the night working on this post! I can't complain though, I have a cute new baby sitting in my lap just looking around at the new world she lives in!

Ivy was born promptly on her due date of August 30th, 2013 at 6:35 am.

She weighed 8lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long. Close to a pound bigger than Isla but same height.

One of my favorite things about her is her dark hair!! I am obsessed with it, I really didn't think genetics would allow us to get a dark haired baby even though I have darker hair now I was super blonde upon birth and so was Steve. She also has a little bit darker skin and I'm hoping she gets both of our blue eyes! I think she is absolutely beautiful and so far she has been the best baby! 

We chose Sue as her middle name after my amazing mother! She has always been such an example to us and is here now helping out so I can keep my sanity while adjusting to two kids. It was the perfect name choice! I am so so grateful for a safe, easy delivery and healthy girl (story to come), and am just enjoying every tired, blissful second of having a new baby to cuddle with while she learns the difference between night and day:)

Isla at 18 months

It is so weird to me that this will be my last post with Isla as an only child! She is such an amazing , energetic little girl that is constantly surprising me. The word that comes to my mind the most is silly when I think about her. She loves to be silly and run around doing silly things. She is always so happy and her smile will melt my heart. She definitely has her "dramatic girl moments", but I can't help sometimes but just laugh when she throws herself down on the floor dramatically and cries her little fake cry over something so mundane.

First day of nursery! She did really well, we just dropped her off and picked her up two hours later. Simple as that!

 One thing that her nursery teacher told me after her first day of nursery was that she was the only kid in the group that could point out Jesus in all the pictures that they were showing during the lesson that day. This surprised me for two reasons, one: She is the youngest obviously because it was her first day and two: I have never really taught her how to do that. I honestly had pointed out the picture of Jesus in the foyer at church one time before and we have a picture of Jesus in our house that I have pointed out a total of twice to her. She just picks up on things so fast I don't even know how to keep up with her.

She loves trying on any shoes left around the house or going into her room and pulling out all of her shoes and trying to get them on.

She loves her "shwimming suite" as she calls it and "sun lasses". Would wear them all day if I let her.

 At her 18 month appointment her doctor said with kids as tall as she is that they may be a lot more comfortable forward facing now rather than waiting until two. This has definitely been the case with Isla. She is so tall her poor little legs looked like frog legs facing back in the car. Also the seat belt would dig into her leg and cause her pain so we took the plunge and she is now happily facing forward in the car. So much more comfortable for her!

We have been doing A LOT of swimming this summer. If you would have asked me a few months ago if having a pool was worth it I would have said no without hesitation. They are ridiculously hard to upkeep and expensive for the amount of time you actually use it! I have changed my mind though... I have never been so grateful to have a pool in my life right now! This has been one of Isla's favorite activities for the last two months. We literally go out swimming every day if not twice a day. It's been great because it's so hot outside there is not much else to do and it sure felt good on my achy pregnant belly and back! It entertains Isla and keeps her occupied and thanks to the miraculous puddle jumpers that have been invented I don't need to hold her and she can do her own thing!

Isla in her puddle jumper.

 She is such a great little swimmer with her puddle jumper on. She knows how to hold her breath under water and kick her legs to get around places. The only thing I worry about is that because she is so comfortable in the water with her puddle jumper on she thinks she can do anything in the water with it off too. She is quit fearless and will jump in without a moments hesitation so I just have to always have her float on her and thank goodness for our fence we have now!

Just being silly

She is getting so big.

Isla at 18 months:

• Starting to put short sentences together. Like " bye bye daddy" or " I got you" or my personal favorite "I love you"!
• Climbs everything she can possibly attempt to climb.
• 100th % for height, 40th % for weight and 10th % head circumference.
• Favorite activity is reading books.
• In the process of learning her colors. She can point out the color yellow, white and purple and also pronounces those three colors very well.
• Loves to play ring around the rosie's and do the actions for "wise man" a song she learned in nursery.
• Loves to dance and give hugs and kisses.
• Still loves to watch videos on youtube like Sesame Street, The Muppet's and Baby Einstein. 
• LOVES shoes, bows and looking at pictures/ video of herself.

It is such a blessing having Isla as our daughter. It it also a great blessing to have Steve as her father, he is an amazing father. He always knows how to make Isla happy and have a good time as evidence from this video.

Baby #2, I'm ready for you!!!

40 weeks!

So I started this post before Ivy was born... Just wanted to get it up here.

I wanted to document this pregnancy before I forget all about it (or at least try to) in the coming months after the baby comes. Not that it has been an incredibly difficult pregnancy by any means, just that I flat out do not enjoy being pregnant in general. I am grateful to be able to get pregnant and have babies, and I am so excited and nervous to meet new little baby Ivy (That is her name btw) very, VERY soon.

First trimester...

One word. Crappy
I do get pretty sick in the first trimester like most women do. I would say that I was able to manage it a little better this time around because I was able to be home and eat a snack anytime I felt ill. I also lost my appetite completely. NO food tasted good. The nausea part lasted a little bit shorter this time while my loss of appetite lasted a little longer. Nothing too crazy though.

Second trimester...

Very bearable.
I have done a few things differently this time around, one of them being work out! (I did not work out at all last pregnancy. oops). I feel like this has been the biggest difference. I have always felt like I have more energy and that I am a lot healthier. I would work out about 4 times a week during the second trimester. This slowed down a little in the third but I never stopped completely until a few weeks ago when I felt I needed to cancel my gym membership because Isla was not getting cared for properly enough in my opinion at their kidscare. I plan on signing up again at another gym once my 6 weeks after birth is up.

Third trimester...

Back to crappy.
In some ways I have felt amazing in my third trimester, because of the gym I'm sure. In other ways out of my control I have been way worse. I just seem to be getting every illness that I can think of. I think I already mentioned this but I got the flu, 2 viruses, food poisoning and currently a really bad cold/sore throat thing. Other than those things I have been verily good and comfortable up until a week ago. I am currently at 39 weeks! I have only gained 32 pounds (I gained about 48-50 last time). I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced... The doctor has stripped my membranes twice. Come on baby, I'm ready for you!

That's about it for the pregnancy. One thing that I am going to try and do this time around is have a natural birth (in the hospital). A home birth does sound appealing to me and if I was guaranteed a safe delivery I would do it in a heartbeat! I'm not high risk patient or anything, I just would never forgive myself if something were to happen at home. I understand things can still happen in the hospital but I feel a little safer there.

I have been listening to Hypno birthing CD's for the last few months learning how to relax during contractions. It has been a very pleasant experience and makes me look forward to giving birth. I feel like my last labor/ delivery was incredibly difficult and the thing that I remember most about it was not the pain, but the sheer exhaustion from being in labor so long and pushing for over three hours! I am hoping what they say is true about the second time going faster. I was also induced last time which I feel added to the length of time I was laboring since my body didn't do it naturally. Not that doing it "all natural" will make it any easier, I'm just looking for a different kind of experience this time around. Wish us luck!

(Future note: I totally caved and got the epidural)! Made me a much more pleasant person to be around.

Isla's first haircut

I think it was time to get rid of this awesome baby mullet:)

Before

After:)

Much better!!!

Murray Family reunion in Zion

 Last weekend we had a Murray family reunion at the "Zion house". It was seriously so fun to see everybody. We had not even met our nephew Preston or our niece Lauren until then and they had never met Isla! Almost everybody was able to make it except for Jeff, Becky and CJ Spaulding because they had just barely moved. And also Steve's brother Scott, wife Rachel and their family because they have been having such a tough time with their little new baby Ellie who just turned two months old and has had a very rough two months of life. We (of coarse) were thinking of them the entire time and praying that they could get answers as to what was causing all of these problems. We are thinking of little Ellie today as she get her tracheotomy surgery and hope all goes well with that. She truly is such a fighter. We have not yet had the chance to meet her but just look at how beautiful and tiny she is below in a picture I stole from their blog:) We can't wait to meet her soon!

Some of the highlights from the reunion weekend was going to this sand dune!  I cannot believe how much the kids loved rolling around in the soft sand, some of the softest sand I have ever felt!

This was my best attempt at a picture of all the kids together. It was just so hard to get them all to be looking and smiling at the camera at the same time! Turned out cute though I think:)

Me and my baby:) Soon to be two babies!!

Baby Lauren who we got to meet for the first time! I can't get enough of that hair! It reminds me so much of how Isla's hair was so I was a little obsessed with it:)

 Wish I had taken a picture of baby Preston, he was also so so cute! He had the cutest dimples I think I have ever seen!

Isla liked the four wheeler the first time she tried it, but, when we tried to get her to go on it again she would not. She called it the "weeeeeeeeeeeee". (Imagine that in a high pitched squeal sound), so cute.

Pool time!

 Isla was so lucky to have her cousin Aubrey and Aunt Tay Tay giving  her lots of attention and love! They both took turns pampering her by doing her hair and nails. She looks pretty cute after!!

She also had a blast going to the Rodeo one evening were she may or may not have eaten some kind of rabbit poop that made her very sick the next day:( Why does she still like to put things in her mouth?!!

I personally feel so very blessed to have married into such a wonderful and amazing family. I am constantly in awe of Steve's mom Linda and dad Mike who raised six strong members of the church (who I truly look up to)! On top of that they have nine adopted children that are also amazing! I don't know how they do it but I am impressed and have enjoyed being around them immensely! I think I have always been a little nervous about being around them because they all seem so perfect to me and I feel so imperfect! I know that's not the case, but, thank you all for excepting me into your family and truly making me feel a part of it!

We miss all of you and can't wait to hopefully see you again soon!

Elder Brad Cook

My adorable brother Bradley Cook has officially left on his mission! He left on July 7th, 2013 and was called to the Farmington, New Mexico Mission. From my understanding this is a new mission that encompasses the four corners area, so a lot of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and of coarse New Mexico. A lot of his mission will be on Indian reservations and working with less active members. This is very much a re-activation mission because this area has A LOT of in-active members.

Bradley was only in the MTC for twelve days before heading to the field! That seems so fast to me! I guess since it an English speaking mission he did't need more time than that. It still seems short to me though!

He is officially in Farmington now with his companion Elder Young who we don't know much about except that they get along! He lives a few minutes away from his mission presidents house right now and rides a bike everywhere. He has said that already after only one (not even) full week of being in the field that he has committed a man to be baptized on August 31st! We are so excited for him and know he is going to be the most amazing missionary. He has always been such a great example to me even being ten years younger! Farmington is lucky to have him...

We miss and love you Elder Cook!

Hood River Oregon

A few weeks ago we went on our first Cook family vacation in years! We often go home to Utah a lot and see them but this was different and special because we wanted to get away as a family for the last time before my little brother (not so little anymore) left on his mission. Obviously by the title we went to Oregon. We stayed in a beautiful vacation home overlooking the Columbia river in the Columbia river gorge. We had so many adventures while we were there I will try to document them without boring you to death:)

The first full day we got there we went on a really fun hike to a falls that I can't remember the name of, I think it was Wachoma falls or something. It was by far my favorite hike from the trip! It was just so green with moss covered trees everywhere! Isla loved the hiking and would say "hike, hike, hike" over and over again as we trekked up the path. Here are some pictures from that hike.

The next day we went to a riverside park and flew kites. Isla did not quiet get the concept but had fun chasing the many dogs we saw around the park yelling "ruff ruff" as she ran.

The following day after that was a rainy day but it was also the day we had planned to do multiple hikes and we did them anyway! We did three hikes that day the first was just an easy one right of the road, the famous Multnomah falls. The girls and the babies did half the hike and the boys continues on to the top.

Multnomah falls

The Cook siblings

The next hike was called bridal vale falls and then the hike after that was called ponytail falls. Did I mention I did all of this eight months pregnant! So much fun though. Isla was always so fascinated by the amazing waterfalls and so dang fun to hike with.

Ponytail falls. This one was unique because you could go behind it.

The next day we went into Portland and enjoyed some nice meals at restaurants and went to the Portland Zoo and Rose gardens. What a tiring yet fun day! The babies did well without their naps surprisingly!

Isla loves to smell flowers!

 One thing that Isla loved at the Zoo was the bear! It's kind of hard to see but I think the reason she liked it so much was because of how close she was able to get to it! She sat at that window with it for a good twenty minutes and it just kept pacing back and forth right in front of her.

The next day we went to Mount Hood, an inactive volcano and ski resort that you can ski at year round because of how high it is! We went to one of the lower resorts that offered a bunch of rides and activities and spent a few hours there.

After Mount Hood we headed down to a trout farm to catch us some dinner! This was definitely a highlight of the trip for the whole family. We are not such a fishing family so for a lot of us this was our first time. I wondered how Isla would do with a live fish but she was fascinated with the one she caught (with dad's help of coarse). As you can see from the picture below she really wanted to touch it and was not afraid at all! Such a brave girl.

After we all caught some fish we headed over to some grills that they have there and cooked 'em' up! They were delicious! This trout farm we went to was so cool. They provide the fishing equipment for you then once you have caught the fish they gut them for you as well. It was such a beautiful place and such a fun experience especially for the kiddo's.

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The next day the boys went river rafting and did a water hike while the girls stayed back and played at the house. Nice relaxing day for us!

The last night we BBQ'd with our amazing view and flew some kites again in the back yard. Such a perfect week!

This was our amazing view of the river from the house and our adorable little family.