March 20, 2010 - Suspicions, Suspense and a Pregnancy Test

As the new year began, we kept "Taking Charge."  January came and went, and then February was here.  Suddenly, all of the tell-tell signs were present - steady, high temperature and all.  Our Suspicions grew and the reality of the accomplishment started to emerge.  With great unfortune, however, we were unable to confirm whether the Suspicions were correct.  I was slated to try a case in San Antonio on March 8, 2010, and the last thing we wanted was to learn such important news only to have my mind focusing on work and me leaving for a full week.  Making things worse, the trial was postponed for a week and wouldn't start until March 15, 2010.  So, we begrudingly accepted the Suspense.  I prepared for trial, traveled to San Antonio, won the case and then returned home late on the night of March 18, 2010.  That same night, we went to Tom Thumb and got the Tests.  The next day, we had to work so we didn't want to take any tests that morning (morning being the optimum time to take such tests), so we decided to wait until Saturday morning, which would also give us a full weekend to deal with the result whatever it may be.  That Saturday morning finally came, and at 7:20am Jennifer took the test.  With God's grace, the result was "PREGNANT" and our lives changed for the better in that very instance. 

One Proud Papa,

Jeremy

After returning from trial, we go get the Tests.

A truly "Positive" Outcome.

A Second Confirmation, for the sake of Certainty.

December 2009 - Taking Charge of Our Fertility

Leaving nothing to chance, Jennifer and I did what enlightened people usually do when they want to know important stuff - we went to Barnes & Noble and bought some books. Among them was a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," which provided all of the vital information we needed. In observance of the book's instructions and, with use of an elaborate chart, we started taking Jennifer's temperature every morning at the same time and paying attention to other things that are less-than-appropriate to discuss in a blog. As with everything else we'd put our minds to, it was only a matter of time.

Jeremy

October 2009 - The Decision

After 3 years of marriage, Jennifer and I recognized the Calling. It was time. We had our education, our careers begun, our new home and, yet, we knew our Purpose was grander. As with everything, we talked about The Decision a lot. Despite the maturity that we knew such a decision involved and that we gave to it, we were also quite giddy about the prospects of Parenthood. In October 2009, we committed to the idea and consulted with OB/Gyn Dr. Wendy Kindrick. Jennifer, true to form, put her sole focus on ensuring that she was at her optimal health to ensure that any Gift that came our way would have as many advantages and as few disadvantages as possible. Her selflessness is unparalleled, and for that I owe her the World. I know, without any doubt, that she will be an amazing mother, and I am thankful to God that I get the closest seat.

Jeremy

July 8, 2006 - Best Day of Our Lives

There is no doubt that the single most awesome day in our relationship was July 8, 2006, the day we each married the love of our life.  After a very intimate wedding at St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth, which included a Catholic Mass, we spent the rest of the evening feasting and partying at an over-the-top reception at the Rennaissance Worthington.  I know I'm partial, but I think that reception was the best I've ever attended.  Here are but a few of the photos of that day:

Just put on veil

The best Bridesmaids ever!

Arrivng at the church with dad

Jeremy and Dad

Jen and her dad waiting to go outside for her entrance

Wiping Jen's tears

Magical...

Our thank you cards picture

On our way to the reception

The Ballroom

Our first dance

Our last dance in an empty ballroom before we left for the night

On our way to the Four Season's and then off to the Cook Islands the next morning

Let me just take a moment and reiterate something.  From the engagement announcement dinner up to and through the reception, our friends and family were so amazingly cooperative and supportive, enduring much on our behalves.  Without their love and devotion to our big day, it would not have been so spectacular.  If you are someone who had anything at all to do with our wedding or reception, please know how very thankful Jennifer and I are to you.  

A Lucky Man,

Jeremy 

Our First Home!!!

One of our greatest accomplishments as a couple has been to buy and build a new home.  Really, I have Jennifer to thank for her dedication to finding the best combination of a neighborhood we could live in, a school district that would properly educate our children, a builder we could trust to get it right and on time, and a home with a floor plan that would allow for the growth of our family over the first decade or so of our marriage.  As usual, she got it done and done well, and without much work on my part.  Just the way I like it, and one of the reasons I married her.  We absolutely love our home and the memories we have already made in it, as we look forward to those to come.

Jeremy

Our picnic

 Almost done

 Done!

 Finally moving in

Good Ol' College Days

After graduating high school in 1998, Jennifer moved to Corpus Christi and both of us began college, at Texas A&M Univ - CC. Jennifer joined the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and pursued her biology degree, while I completed my 4 year commitment to the USCG and worked on my history degree. In 2002, I graduated from TAMU-CC and, with the greatest of fortune, had been admitted at The Univ of Texas School of Law. Jennifer graciously agreed to move to Austin, TX, where I attended law school for the next 3 years and Jennifer completed her biology degree at St. Edwards Univ. In 2005, as I neared the end of law school, I proposed to Jennifer (in Hollywood, CA), she said 'yes,' and we solidified our plans for the next several years, hoping that we could actually see them through.

The Proposal

After Austin, we moved back to the DFW Metroplex for work and to be back close to our friends and family. We are truly blessed to have had the opportunity to depart from our hometown, gain an incredible set of new friendships to add to our longheld ones, and achieve higher education, all the while growing our relationship into a solid, unshakeable formation.

Jeremy

When It All Began - Spring of 1996

Although we went to Granbury High School together, we did not actually meet until the Spring of 1996. At that time, Jennifer was a sophomore, and even though I had graduated in 1995, I was still living in Granbury. By early 1996, we had begun to socialize with many of the same people and we eventually met at a party on the Paluxy River. After a few chance encounters, a mutual friend encouraged us to exchange phone numbers. We started to talk often and for long periods of time, and nearly immediately we began to spend all of our time together, which was easy since we had so many mutual friends. Within only a few weeks, we knew there was something special about our relationship; something told us that we truly fit together in that we complemented each other nicely - Jennifer wanted a nice boy to get close to and I was all too happy to be that boy if only I could call that beauty queen my girlfriend. It was a very natural relationship that came easy. Adversity, however, was on the horizon. Prior to meeting Jennifer, I had already officially joined the US Coast Guard and was slated to leave for boot camp that coming summer. Though we knew it would be difficult, we decided to remain in a committed, long-distance relationship to see if we could pull it off. Given my USCG commitments, we spent the next 2 years living in separate cities, sometimes separate states. Our relationship, however, remained intact and we knew we wanted it to grow stronger and deeper.

Jeremy

About Us

- The Cooks.  Jeremy, Jennifer and Boston.

- We've been married for 6 years.

- We are born and bred Texans.

- Jen has a bachelor's degree in biology.

- Jer is an attorney.

- Boston James, well....he is our pretty friggin' awesome 2 year old that joined our family in October    2010.

- Jen is a self proclaimed horrible writer.

- Jer is our handy man of all things.

- Our blog consists of: all things Boston, our daily life, the bad, and the ugly of DIY projects that we take on, pictures, vacations and fun videos.  We share anything and everything.  No holds barred up in here.  We keep it real.

- Originally we created our blog to document our lives while my uterus was being occupied by our little bambino.  We wanted to document every-single-little-detail of the pregnancy.  Since then we've continued to bore you with our life (mainly for our children and future grandchildren to laugh at when we make this blog into a book).

- We love that we have a little spot on the world wide web to write our memories... memories that we'll cherish forever.  It's us, it's our life and we are in love with it.