Author: Travis

Wow, our last blog update was in September of last year!? How in the world do I summarize what we’ve been up to for the past eight months? Bullet points and photos to the rescue…

• 2 trips to Orlando
• 1 eleventh birthday
• 1 camping adventure
• 1 first place Jack-o’-lantern
• 1 World Series Championship
• 3000 Marvel puzzle pieces
• 1 dog in a box
• 1 second degree karate brown belt
• 2 crazy Christmas games
• 3 dangerous gifts with wheels for Tyson
• 2 broken ankles (ironically NOT due to afore mentioned gifts)
• 1 trip to Blairsville GA to see some snow
• 1 inaugural rock concert (Imagine Dragons)
• 2 days of skiing Sugar Mountain, NC
• 1 school field trip to Tybee Island, GA
• 1 Arrow of Light award (highest Cub Scout rank)

Check out the photos here

My oh my, how the time does fly. I feel like we just moved a few weeks ago, yet here I sit, writing about Thanksgiving (Amanda’s favorite holiday, by the way).

As is typical this time of year, we had a whirlwind of family visits! Don and Linda came down from Philly to enjoy some warmer weather and Tyson-time. While here, we took them to a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Mercedes Benz stadium the Atlanta Falcons now call home. They’re diehard Eagles fans, but managed to complete the tour without vandalizing the place.

Next up was Blairsville for Thanksgiving #1 with my clan. In addition to the fantastic spread Patti whipped up, we enjoyed some slide guitar with Pawpaw. Tyson also enjoyed showing off the new, sizable gap in his smile.

Back home for Thanksgiving #2 with G-mom – the first one in our new home. Tyson and I practiced the art of napkin oragami while Amanda and Carol put together an amazing feast, complete with a butter sculpture turkey which Tyson unceremoniously beheaded!

As always, I snapped a few photos.

Things have been busy around the Cook home since our last update. Tyson is doing great in kindergarten; making new friends, learning new things about the world, and discovering new concepts like homework! He is taking it all in stride, although he does seem a bit more worn out at the end of the day than during his preschool years. During the week he falls asleep almost as soon as his little head hits the pillow, so that brain is getting a good workout.

Amanda and her mom took a trip up to Philly to spend some time with her brother Ben, during which I took Tyson to our final Braves ballgame at Turner Field. They are relocating to a shiny new ballpark out in the suburbs next year after a 20 year run at “The Ted”, and 50 years in downtown Atlanta. Can they really still call themselves the Atlanta Braves if they are a 30 mins drive from the city?

Last week Tyson made us proud when he showed just how tenacious, tough, and smart he is by graduating to yellow belt in Karate after just 3 months of training. He stepped up and passed his test despite having a cold!

And lastly, we had a good time at his school’s homecoming party. Well, perhaps Tyson enjoyed it a bit more than us, given it was primarily about pizza, monkey bars, and face painting, but it was still fun for all.

Here is a batch of photos

The turkey has all been consumed (two of them, actually), the leaves have all fallen, and the Christmas decorations are up! We had a wonderful time visiting with so many family members over the past few weeks. Nana, Erin and JP made the journey south for a visit, then we made the journey north to Blairsville for another round of fun with Pawpaw, Mawmaw, and G-mom!

Enjoy the photos …

What a busy spring this has been! Since our last blog update, Tyson graduated to a new preschool classroom (Hickory) where he is blazing new trails and having lots of fun. He was also upgraded to a “big boy bed” which he proudly shows off to anyone who comes to visit.

We enjoyed planting a Mother’s Day garden, a trip to Knoxville to celebrate our friend Danielle getting married, visited loved ones in Cape Girardeau, and did some Father’s Day fishing (a first for Tyson).

Here’s a pile of photos. I really need to learn how to edit myself before we set sail on our Disney cruise this Saturday!

As we dust off the thick coating of pollen covering all of Atlanta, it seems the time is right for another blog update.

Despite a rainy April, Tyson still managed to squeeze in two egg hunts … one at the park in our neighborhood, and another at Fern Bank where he serenaded the crowd with “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen. Paw-paw and G-mom both joined the fun festivities.

We also saw The Lion King at the Fox Theater; Tyson’s first play, first time wearing a tie, and first time using binoculars. He thought it was all pretty cool. Oh, and another first … he had his first play date with his best buddy Grant. It was a bit chaotic and the house looked like a bomb went off when they were done, but they had a blast and will be doing it again this weekend (at Grant’s house, thank goodness).

Enjoy the photos

As we sit here eating candy corn, trying to think of clever words to type for the blog, we just decided to say… enjoy the photos! 

Tyson has been a very busy boy over the past two months. First, he discovered the efficiency of crawling on all fours versus the army-crawl. Then, with the aid of a walker and Mommy, he has figured out how to walk on two legs. During it all, we made our way to Seabrook, SC and Point Pleasant, NJ for some fun in the sun. Here are the videos and photos …

Video – Crawling

Video – Walking

Video – Talking (sort of)

Photos

Well, anyone who has met Patti knows she is outgoing (to say the least!). So when a milestone birthday comes around, she has a milestone party. Family and friends gathered at Tommy and Nikki’s new lake house for the festivities. Dad and his friend James provided the entertainment, but the grandkids couldn’t resist stepping up to the mic too.

Enjoy the photos…

Recently we had a visit from the Missouri crew – my sister Erin, her husband Chris, and the three boys: Devin, Elizhah, and Jeremiah. It was great to see everyone, but especially fun to watch all the kids playing together. This was the first time Tyson met his cousins from Missouri, and Jake stayed overnight to join the fun. It was a pretty rowdy bunch! We managed to fit in a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, the Stone Mountain Laser Show, a trip to the park, and countless hours of playing RockBand!

As always, it seems like the time goes by too fast and everyone has to say their goodbyes, but here are some photos of the time we enjoyed spending with you all.

Hi everyone, we are still in the hospital and slated to leave on Tuesday. We promise to then post a huge array of pictures, but here is one to hold you over and let you know the family is doing fine.

Born today, 10/8/10 at 5:25 PM, weighing in at a whopping 10.2 lbs and 22″ long, we would like to introduce everyone to Tyson Edward Cook! Thankfully the doctors decided a c-section would be his official exit strategy. And yes, that is a healthy head of red hair folks. The family is doing well, albeit slightly exhausted. Stay tuned for more details, and of course, photos. But for now, good-night!

Amanda’s doctor decided earlier this week to induce labor (because the baby is big, while Amanda is small). So we are now at the hospital, in our room, watching Jeopardy! Overall Amanda is doing fine, although she is a bit uncomfortable. The mid-wife said her first exam “was perfect” – whatever that means. I’m just observing from the sidelines and doing my best to stay out of the way. In two more hours she gets to eat something, and we’ll be watching the Braves in Game-1 of the NLDS. What a great day this is shaping up to be!

Yesterday Amanda and I caught the first glimpses of our son with a 3D ultrasound. I’ll let the pictures and short video do most of the talking, but I have to say it appears he picked up most of my rugged good looks, including the bald head. Just ten short weeks left until he makes his big début!

Apparently our intuitions were correct from the start when we picked Cletus the Fetus for a nickname. As a proud father-to-be, I have no problem telling the world that my son was ready and waiting for inspection at 9:30 sharp this morning. The ultrasound tech squirted that blue-goo on Amanda’s belly, and before she could even get the words “it’s a … ” out of her mouth, we both knew! Let’s just say he had positioned himself perfectly for his … um … close-up (don’t worry, those photos are not included in the slideshow). I am convinced he knew what our purpose was for visiting the doc today and wanted to remove any uncertainty on the matter.

We are both thrilled, as you might have guessed. Naturally we would have been happy either way, but I have to admit I feel an immense amount of pride knowing that the Cook family name will continue on. Amanda was leaning toward a boy anyway (only one princess per household, you know).

Now what? Well, Amanda wasted no time and already started knitting a baby blanket. And of course, finding a proper name is on the agenda now that the field has been narrowed by 50%. True, we have many wonderful options to choose from already, but I suppose we should do our due diligence and see if we can top Cletus/Mortimer/Horace/etc (no offense folks).

Whatever his name ends up being, he certainly is active and seems to enjoy hanging-out upside down. Check out the ultrasound pictures and see for yourself!