Devin William Cochran

We'd like to welcome the newest member of the Cochran family this week!  Devin William Cochran arrived at 1:24A on Friday, June 29th, weighing 5 lbs 15 ozs and 18 inches long.  He was 3 1/2 weeks early, but seems to not be having the lung problems that Kaleb did with his early arrival, which is a blessing.  We went to see him yesterday, and he is cute as a button!  He appears to be taking after his angelic older brother, Kieran, in that he's very mellow and mild-mannered - apparently the nurses keep exclaiming over it!  The parents are doing well - recovering of course from the delivery and sleep deprivation, but proud as punch over their new little cutie!

In other news, this week was a weather bust with Tropical Storm Debby hanging out over Florida for most of the week.  But, on the bright side, this was the week for the annual President's Council at Amy's work that we normally go to (this year in San Diego) - so work was SUPER QUIET with all of the executives gone, so Amy was able to enjoy a less stressful week of catching up on work projects.  We were sad not to be there, but she loved every minute of the shorter work days! :)  As it was quiet, Amy took the opportunity to go and watch the boys' swimming lessons which Jenn takes them to in the mornings.  Zachary is swimming the entire width of the pool very well.  Kaleb's class is actually not as advanced as what his skills are, so we'll see if he can be advanced in the next session to something that will actually challenge him.


Zachary doing the front crawl across the width of the pool

Phrase of the week:  "Mommy, you don't want knives and forks, you want spoons to scoop!"  Talking about food?  Nope, Kaleb talking about how to put your hands when you're swimming! :)  Zachary's comment this week, much to Mommy's chagrin, "Mommy, your belly AND your legs are getting big!  Why are your legs getting big?"  Hmm, because Mommy is gaining weight everywhere.... because she's eating with pregnancy abandon...because we only have 5 1/2 weeks to go and water is starting to be retained.....so many possible answers to give the child.  His father's simple, life important answer? "Zachary, never tell a woman she looks big!"  It's a sad comment, because actually at 35 1/2 weeks, she's only gained 27 lbs, which isn't all that bad! :)

Father's Day & Sky!

This week's post will start off with a belated "Happy Father's Day!"  The Z family is truly blessed to have an amazing father - he is amazing with the kids, Mr. Yard Man, cooks, cleans, Mr. Handyman, and still holds down a job!  How did we get so lucky?  The boys won't realize for many years how very blessed they are to have the special man that they call Daddy, but their Mommy certain realizes it now!
As mentioned in last week's post, last Thursday/Friday ended up being a very rough day for Amy.  In hindsight, we believe that she had the stomach bug because it was going around work (unbeknowst to her).  On Friday after going to the doctor in a panic that she was in labor (apparently the stomach bug kicks off very strong Braxton Hicks contractions!), she stayed home to rest until her work shower.  She ate a light lunch and as she was still feeling lightheaded, asked Karis to drive her to the shower.  On the way there, she had an odd cough/gag, and then calmly opens the van door and projectile vomits on the road as she sit at the stop light.  Karis was silently sitting there, thinking "Thank God she opened the door, I wouldn't want a repeat of when she was pregnant with Zachary and threw up all over the INSIDE of the van and 2) Please let this light stay red God!"  Oddly enough, afterwards Amy felt a little better. 

Upon walking into the shower room however, it was hot as blazes in there and the lightheadedness got even worse.  To the point where she had to put her head between her legs (hard to do with a big belly!) and folks scurried to turn the air conditioning to a comfortable level.  Her boss walked in, saw the commotion and immediately announced that he was not staying!  But, being the empathetic person that he is, he ended up just pacing the halls outside the room until it became clear that Amy was NOT going to pass out at which point he ventured back into the room.  Thankfully the fainting did not occur although it was the fastest shower on record as her assistant Phyllis shuttled presents in front of her as fast as could be to open as she remained stationary with her feet up on another chair (and shoes off to help with the overheating - can you imagine?!? - Amy will always grimace a bit when she remembers this shower!).  It was lovely however with the decorations and the food, and we are blessed to have such amazing coworkers.

Friday evening, we headed off to the grand finale show of this year's vacation bible school - Sky.  Both Zachary and Kaleb were in it, and they LOVED it.  They were singing the songs and repeating the bible verses all week.  It sure was precious to see them up on stage singing and doing the motions to each song.  We're a lucky family to have Jennifer who drives our kids (and hers) all over town!

Saturday evening, Amy and Karis went out for a "last hurrah" dinner with the Cochrans (they only have 4 weeks to go!), Johnsons and Deiningers at Antonios.  It was a bit louder than we expected, so the visiting was not as conducive as we'd have hoped, but it was fun nonetheless.

Once Father's Day dawned, we jumped in the van with Grandma and met Jeff at a local restaurant called Keke's.  It was Jeff's birthday this last week (Niesha was out of town for the weekend, otherwise we'd have invited her as well! :)), so it was fun to celebrate both Father's Day and his birthday.

The stomach bug struck us again Thursday night (how can one family be so unlucky!) so Amy was quite sure she was going into labor AGAIN (it's like Chicken Little!), but when Karis and Zachary both got the similar symptoms on Friday, it would appear that it was not labor but in fact just a very unlucky string of events.

The unlucky string of events has continued to this Sabbath morning when we started off out morning (3A) with the power going off.  Thus Zachary was up by somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 for good - this does not bode well for our day.  THEN, after showering to get ready to go to church, our septic tank has backed up - so now we sit waiting for someone to come and drain it and hope that all will be well.  Let's hope that the rest of the weekend improves! :)

Phrase of the week:  As we drove to the restaurant, Zachary informed us that it was Father's Day, which meant that it was HIS day as well, because he was a boy and would someday be a Dad.  After announcing this, he then says "Sorry Mom and Grandma, you're out of business today!"  Ha ha - not sure what "out of business" meant, but we got a good laugh out of it!  Kaleb's cute conversation occurred as he begged to lay down in our bed this morning - seriously informing Karis "But Daddy, I will be 'berry, berry' quiet!"

Ladies Night Out & Big Boy Bed

Last week, we had a real treat when we had Grodacks and Isidros over for Saturday evening.  However, rather than just the normal fun of visiting and playing with the kids, Allen had planned a surprise Ladies Night Out for Tangie's birthday!  The evening started off with Allen providing "mocktails" (non-alcoholic of course!) in a peach bellini (yum!) and mint flavor.  After that, the ladies headed off to The Melting Pot where we enjoyed yummy food and even better company.  Happy Birthday Tangie!

The men had their hands full with the whole passel of kids, but they came through with flying colors - no problems at all!  After eating some Papa Murphy's pizza, they threw the kids in the pool for some more swimming and energy consumption.  The kids all appeared to have a very fun time, and the dads were still conscious when we returned! :)

Another major event that happened last weekend was that Kaleb moved from the "baby room" to his new "big boy room!"  He was quite excited about this, because as he kept telling Amy "I'm too big for my crib now, I'm a big boy!"  Yes, he was still in a crib - shocking we know, but he had never tried to climb out of the crib until somewhere last Fall - and why mess with your parental sleeping freedom by moving a kid to a big boy bed?  He started to climb out, so we intended to switch him to a toddler bed but were so busy during the Christmas season with all of the events and trip to Canada that we just didn't get around to it.  Then we found out we were pregnant, so why do it then, right??  Anyway, we have now switched him and he has been PERFECT!  No jack in the box, sleeps great in the room - we're almost afraid to say it out loud as it may jinx us.  We've only had one night in which he played with his clock (get-up time is 7:00!) and turned on the alarm for 12:30 AM - ouch - but that was only one night thankfully!  Now we're starting in earnest to get the baby's room ready - lots still to do! :)

His new room, complete with new furniture and bedding (our old guest room).  It is an animal theme (sheets, decorations etc)

This was a bit of a stressful week for Amy when on Thursday night she began to have some fairly strong contractions close together.  With 7 weeks to go, the immediate thought after our experience with Kaleb was "Not again!."  The evening progressed with diarrhea (sorry for the TMI) and absolutely no sleep (can we just say, there is nothing on TV at 2A!) for Amy.  In the morning, she called her OB and he recommended that she take some strong coffee and a Tylenol, and if it didn't subside in 30 minutes, she was to come to the hospital and if they did, to go into the office when it opened.  With no coffee maker in this house (and no affinity for coffee - yuck!) Amy sent Karis off to the 7-11 to get some other kind of drink with caffeine.  After consuming the energy drink, the contractions did subside thankfully but then the lightheadedness began.  Karis took the morning off - in case we were in fact having a baby, so took Amy to the Dr's where they did an ultrasound (cervix still long and tight!), a test for water breaking (nope!), and a test for protein that is excreted within 2 weeks of giving birth (still waiting on those results).  The doctor pronounced her as fine, and probably just having Braxton Hicks contractions.  She took the day off of work, although there was a work shower planned for her (pictures in next week's blog), so she had Karis drive her to the shower - and along the route she ended up then projectile vomiting (thankfully at a light, so she could open the van door!) - so we're thinking now she may have just had the stomach bug because thankfully she is feeling much better today! :)  More details on the shower (including a near fainting spell) next week! :)

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb and Karis conversation this morning.  "Am I going to get a spanking?"  "Why, do you need one?" (Karis has no idea why Kaleb is asking about a spanking!).  "No".  "Okay, well, maybe we should give you a spanking now in case you do something bad later today or tomorrow - that way it's already done."  (Amy is now laughing in the other room as she gets ready for church).  "No, I don't like spankings!"  "Oh, okay, then I guess you won't be getting a spanking right now." Ha ha ha - it was good for a laugh for Mommy at least!

Kaleb and Erik in their matching Sabbath Shirts - thanks to Target! :)  Kaleb was pleased as punch to match beloved Erik

Gymnastics Graduation

Last week was Kaleb's graduation from his gymnastics class.  They end the year with a swim party, food, and of course the coveted trophy.  Zachary had the same thing when he did gymnastics, but this year the weather was very cloudy and rainy, which was definitely not fantastic.  Becuase it wasn't lightning, they still had the party and let the kids swim, but the boys didn't spend very much time in the water as it was kind of cold!

 It was a milestone weekend for Baby A, which she received her first baby shower! :)  Our friends threw Amy a BEAUTIFUL baby shower - they are just so amazingly talented at decorating, baking, and hosting a shower in general.  We received so many precious outfits, and many very useful items that we'll need when she arrives.  There is a work shower coming up this weekend, and then we'll fill in the remainder of any necessary items so that we're prepared for her.

Loretta, Melody, Kelsey, Rosalie, A. Louise, Mom, Tangie, Linda, Kelli, Jenn, Amy, Corey, Heather H, and Heather C

The party hosts - Jenn, Heather C, Loretta, Kelli and Lisa - thanks you ladies!!

Amy and the grandma to be (3rd time! :)

 Speaking of arriving, we officially have 8 weeks left until her due date. With Kaleb coming early, we've been praying daily that she stays in until at least August. We'd appreciate all of your prayers as well! Amy is having a decent pregnancy experience, and is trying to enjoy it as much as possible as it's not intended to be repeated! :) She is having a fair amount of Braxton Hicks depending on the day, and has the standard hip pain and round ligament pain. Karis got a SI belt for her which has been helping with the hip pain tremendously, so all in all - not all bad! She does find herself out on the couch at night at lot of times - the change in venue seems to help with the insomnia as well as back pain as there is at least support for her back.

We have been trying to work down a list of "to-dos" around the house, which has been keeping Karis very busy.  He was pressure washing our stone wall and the side of the house, and Zachary has found that he quite enjoys pressure washing as well (with Amy praying that he doesn't accidentally point the sprayer at anyone's exposed skin!).

Phrase for the blog:  Zachary does love his A. Kelli very much and one day a while back we were all together somewhere, and he took her hand and said "Would you sit down with me and chat?"  How grownup! :)


More pictures from the shower:

The amazing cake, cake pops, and cookies that Jennifer made

The candy bar

The non-alcoholic 'pregnatinis' - yum!

Family Vaca

We decided that for Memorial Day weekend, we should treat the family to one last vacation before our lives change forever (assumably for the better though) with the addition of Baby Girl A to our family.  After listening over the last few years to folks talking about a beach resort that is fantastic for kids, we booked ourselves a 3 bedroom condo at the Hammock beach resort.  We didn't need a 3 bedroom condo ourselves, but that was all that was left other than a one bedroom suite and we just weren't intending on sleeping with our kids - no thank you!  We had invited the Johnsons earlier in the year as well, so they graciously took one of the bedrooms off of our hands, and the Deiningers delighted us by joining us for the weekend - although there were no 4 bedroom suites so they got their own one bedroom as that was all that was left.

The drive was only 90 minutes away, and they were literally right on the beach - so we spent the mornings out at the beach before going to the condo for our lunch (full kitchen) and naps.   The boys slept in the same room, which they were very excited about...translation - did not go to sleep until about 10P each night, even though Amy would stay in there and make them lay quietly.  It wasn't until the 3rd night that she caught on to the right ammunition - Kaleb's lion.....Zachary mentioned offhand the 2nd day that Kaleb was keeping them awake because he kept talking to his lion, so Amy calmly informed Kaleb that if she had to come into the room even ONCE that the lion was a goner and sure enough, just like magic, they were asleep within minutes!

After naps, we would head out to the pool each day where they had a water slide and a lazy river - what kid wouldn't have fun with that!?  We were doubly blessed, because the same weekend Tropical Storm Beryl came through - which threatened to wreck our time but while it was cloudy, breezy (so far so good, right - who can complain about keeping cool while outside for hours on end?) and the waves were crazy (biggest waves we've seen on this side of the country), we never had any sustained rain except for when we were inside for the night and driving home.  It rained a few times for about 2-3 minutes a piece, but nothing that could spoil our fun - in fact, it just cleared out the pool so we had it mostly to ourselves!  The huge waves did preclude any boogie boarding though - thanks to Safety Mommy - for the male Z's which was a disappointment.

The whole family truly had an amazing time - it was so fun to watch the kids play and enjoy themselves - they are just growing up too quickly!  And to have quiet time to visit with our friends is never something to be taken for granted.



Family picture - windy and overcast, but so much fun!

Johnsons, Zbaraschuks, and Deiningers

Zachary flying a kite

The joys of digging in the sand

 Playing in the waves with Mommy

The floating heads

Getting a boogie board ride the first day before the waves got too rough

The boys love Erik, so having him around all day was quite exciting!

There was even a putt-putt course on location, so we took that in as well one day.

Future star golfer, we're sure!