Finn Abel Cochran

Baby Finn joined our family on February 12, 1016 at 2:19am. He was 8lb. 1oz. 21 in. and has large hands and feet. 

He came in his own way. I didn't really know I was in labor really. I woke up Thursday morning and my back was killing me. I was in so much pain I couldn't pick Quentin up to get him on the changing table. After sitting on the couch most of the morning I started having a little bit of an anxiety attach so I called Johnny to try to calm me down. I think he was pretty worried cause he told me to come in to see my doctor. While I was getting the kids ready and making lunch I started having contractions, but nothing really consistent. When we got to the clinic they hooked me up to the NST and I was contracting every six minutes and I was dilated to a 5 so they sent me up to the hospital for triage. I had an ultrasound to make sure baby's head was down and it was. By the time I was done with the ultrasound Johnny had finished his last patient so he could help me with the kids. After some snacks for the kids and Palmer and Brian coming to visit us they checked me again and I had progressed so we were admitted to the hospital!

Johnny took the kids to the Taylor's for a sleepover, Dr. Jenna when home to get ready for the night, and I got to answer about 3000 medical questions. When Johnny got back he and I took a walk to try to get baby to drop some more. We ran into Jenna and we all walked around and talked about stuff. When we got back to the room she tried to break my water, but couldn't. She left and Johnny informed me he already picked names when I tried to get him to talk names with me. Dr Jenna tried to break my water one more time and it didn't work again, so we decided to wait for the attending doctor, Dr. Mirrad. My nurse was getting a bath ready for me so I could soak in the tub and relax when Dr. Mirrad showed up. We decided to let me get in the bath for awhile and then they would come back and break my water. By the time the nurse had everything ready and I was getting out of bed I had started shaking really bad. The nurse wanted to check me because she said that the shaking could be a sign of late stage labor. I was at an 8 and low so she called Dr. Mirrad back to break my water. The doctors left and I had a few contractions. It could have only been 10 minutes when I felt baby go into the birth canal. The nurse called the doctors back in and I tried to breathe through the pain. I felt baby coming though and told them it was coming so they flipped me on my back and I heard the nurse say "the head is out". So they told me not to push then to push and baby was out. It was so fast the doctor forgot to tell me the sex and I forgot to ask. Johnny asked me if I wanted to know and I of course said yes! It's a BOY! I was so excited, but sad for Daphne. I got to hold him for and minute and he was so quiet and small. I was instantly smitten. They took him away and weighed and cleaned him, while I got stitched and cleaned up. After everyone was done with the work and fed him and Johnny and I talked names. He said he had picked Finn and I loved it and said I would love the middle name to be Abel after my grandpa Burns.

We got about an hour of sleep before it was time to get things done. Johnny had to go get his patients for the day covered and get the kids from the Taylor's. He brought them to meet Finn and they loved him they were so sweet and loving. Daphne just wanted to hold him and Quen was so soft with him. I had a good stay in the hospital, but I always just want to go home afterward. 

We have been home over a week and we are pretty settled. I am so happy this sweet boy is in our family. He is so good and we all are loving him. I'm so grateful for all the meals and people who have come to visit. It has made this first week so enjoyable.

So it goes...

 

Well the month and a half went by too quickly. We had such a great time over Christmas! We enjoyed a great ward party where the kids got to "shop" for gifts for the family. I also had a super fun night at a gift exchange with girls in the ward. Once Joey got here things went into high gear. We started his visit by going to see the new Star Wars film. I thought it was great, but I think the boys had warm up to it. After church on Sunday we headed north to the Twin Cities to go to the Mall of America. We did it last year and it was a ton of fun and we thought Joey might enjoy it. It was a short trip but we had good time. 

It snowed Christmas Eve and we had the best time going out to play in the snow and we made a pretty good snowman. Christmas morning came with lots of great gifts and food. We had fun Skyping with the grandparents too. Johnny was back to work after Christmas so we spent the rest of the days trying to keep ourselves entertained. Joey gave me a day off which was greatly appreciated. I went to my doctors appointment sans kids and then had lunch with Johnny at the hospital. then I took myself to see Star Wars again!

New Years Eve Johnny was working so Joey and I took the kids to a party some people in our ward were having. We played volleyball at the church for a bit. While everyone else had dinner we went to the hospital to see Johnny and have some ice cream. We went back to join the party at the Henderson's to eat and play games. We had a great time and good laughs. 

Once Joey left it was back to our normal routine which now includes weekly doctors visits and weekly ultrasound and NSTs. The kids are not loving being at the doctors so much, but I am enjoying getting to see my baby once a week and getting to spend lunch with Johnny at the hospital. Things are going well with the pregnancy. Baby is growing at the right pace and heartbeat is good. It looks like a Cochran and we got to see some hair today in the ultrasound! Daphne is not enjoying school very much this week. We had been having so much fun with it and then we took a break while Joey was here and ever since it has been a little bit of a struggle. Johnny has been looking at job opportunities for the last couple of weeks and has had a few phone interviews that have gone well. We are heading to Wisconsin in a couple weeks for a face to face, which I'm excited for, but we are going to have to wait til after baby comes to go visit other places.

A long time coming

If I waited to post this next week it would have been a whole year since I wrote anything on here. I just couldn't let that happen, so here it goes! 

This year has gone by faster than I can believe. I cannot fathom that it is December today! We are in holiday mode and I couldn't be happier about it. I LOVE the holidays, always have, always will. We had a great Thanksgiving week. No family again this year, but we did spend it with great friends. We are expecting Joey here for Christmas, which the kids a super excited about. They love Uncle Joey! 

Johnny's year has been good. The beginning was a little rough. He was just getting worn out from all the long hard rotations at the hospital. He would come home looking so tired and drained sometimes. I worried for him, but he made it through.  We had to take a little vacation for him. We went to our favorite place Disney World. It also worked out that Joey got to come which made things even better for Johnny! I love how much more time he has now that he is into his second year of residency. He gets a little more freedom, but more responsibility now. I think he likes it that way though. 

 I haven't been up to much. Spending time with my kids, being pregnant, working on my little sewing job, serving in Primary! I did get to take my first trip by myself since I have had children. I wasn't for the best reason, My Grandma passed away, but it was a great visit with my family.

 Daphne and Quentin are growing up way to quickly and soon they will have another sibling to love. They are great little friends and I love catching them being sweet to each other or playing nicely together. Daphne is so silly and comes up with goofy ideas and Quen thinks its hilarious! They fight too, but what siblings don't? I am doing school with Daphne to get ready for kindergarten next year and she is doing amazing! Quentin is such a boy and loves to run and throw and get into any trouble he can. 

We are loving life right now and I hope things keep getting better everyday. I also hope I can get back into the groove of my blog again. I hate that I missed documenting a whole year of our lives. I can remedy that though. I WILL do it!

Back to Life

This week I tried to get life back to normal after our week with our guests. That basically means cleaning up. I also spent a lot of time outside planting grass in our not so grassy patches. It was a good work out doing all the yard work. We spent time playing and reading books. We also worked really hard on potty training and I'm happy to say she is doing really well. she will even stop and go potty when she is playing with friends, which is a really big step.

On Thursday we went out to the mall. Daphne had been asking if we could go for awhile so I decided to take her. We had a great time getting out of the house we did it again on Friday. We went to the library to meet so friends. We also got a library card and Daphne was so excited to get to bring home some books. 

Johnny had a 16 hour shift on Saturday so we were home all day. Sunday was my first time teaching my new primary class. There ended up being 10 kids so it was a little crazy, but it went well. I was pretty nervous about it, but I have a little more confidence now so I hope It will continue to go well.

We are here!

Wow, how did this happen again? Its been another month since I posted. Life has been crazy busy getting ready for the move, actually moving and then setting up house. 

Three generations of Cochran men have slept in this crib!

Quentin turned nine months during all our crazy. He is growing up too fast. He is so smart and I can't believe how well he eats. He got one bottom tooth this week and has the second on the way. He has learned to wave goodbye and to high five. He loves that he can follow us around now and loves to play with his sister. He is still a crazy mamas boy and that makes it hard to get anything done.

We are liking in here in Des Moines. Our house is nice and in a great location. It is quick to get anywhere. It was so helpful to have John come help us on our move. We used the horse trailer to move our stuff from Colorado. Driving up was a long day, but I'm glad it only took a day to get here. So much better than driving across the country. We got here on Thursday last week and we unloaded and then stayed in our relater's condo for a couple of days before we got to move into the house. We weren't supposed to move in until Monday, but the previous owners moved out early so we got to move in on Saturday. We spent the weekend working in the yard and cleaning and moving what we could with the car. On Monday we had movers come and help us(we have the best relater, he paid for the movers and let us use his moving truck). Then is was unpacking and more unpacking. 

I am starting to feel like we are settled now. It has been slow going with the kids being so cranky, but the main floor is basically done now. We need to buy a couple more pieces of furniture, but we will get them over time. 

We have got to relax a little since being here. On Thursday night we went to a fellow residents house to have dinner and get acquainted to a few of the people Johnny will be working with. Yesterday we went to Adventureland (the local amusement park). The kids loved it. We had a blast ridding the rides and swimming in the water park. We had gone as a group with Johnny's co-workers, but got separated pretty early on. 

So life at the Cochran home is going well. I will try to get back on track with keeping up with the blog.

Our house, Hopefully!

We this week we found a house! After some negotiation we settled on a price. So unless the inspection goes badly this is the house we will be making our home! 

Its 3 beds, 2 baths. Is 1800 square feet. Has and awesome kitchen and basement and hardwood floors. I love it! 

Please pray the inspection goes well and that closing will be smooth sailing!

The Big Move

Well I have missed a few weeks, but I was pretty busy the last two Sundays. So now I have tons to catch up on. 

Quentin turned 7 months old on the 24th. He is getting so big and grown up. He wants to move all the time as is evident in his monthly pic. If you set him on the floor he immediately turns on his belly. He is still a mamas boy and prefers to be in my arms at all times. He is eating some solid food and is a little picky. So far he only likes to eat sweet potatoes, corn and any fruit. He also likes real rice not the rice cereal. He can play peak-a-boo and loves to grab anything in arms reach, cords seem to be his favorite right now and I am constantly having to take them away from him. 

Johnny's last week of rotations seem to take forever but Friday came and our lives changed very quickly that day. After going to the doctor to get Quentin some shots we picked Johnny up from his last day as a med student. We headed home, but before we went to our leasing office to see if we could move out whenever we wanted (I was previously told we could not move out until the last day of our contract). They told us we could move anytime we wanted so we went home and decided we wanted to move a whole week earlier than expected. All I can say is the next three days were a blur of packing cleaning and getting things ready for our move. We decided to stop by in Des Moines to drop off our stuff and look for houses before we headed to Colorado. I was also excited to get to see the place we are going to be living for the next three years! 

After packing the truck and driving the two days to Des Moines We were so glad to get unloaded and be off the road. Our kids are always so good traveling, but after the three previous days of not so much mommy time and the car breaking down it was nice to be off the road. We didn't get to rest though because looking for houses is hard work when you a dragging two little ones along with you. I'm not surprised, but a little disappointed we didn't find anything while we were there. So the search continues over the internet. The rest of the drive went very well and we were happy we got here safely.

We have been having lots of fun here at Nana's house. I can't decide who loves who more, Daphne or Tanner. We figured they would love playing with each other.Quentin loves all the attention he gets and he loves his bouncy gym. I have found a little job doing house/yard work for people in the ward. Its good to be making money and having things to do while I'm here. Johnny is hoping to get a job substituting at the schools here. Other than that our life is as normal as it can be. 

Janga

This week was pretty typical. Johnny went to work and I played with the kids. I am really trying to cut down on the "screen time" me and the kids have. It hard to come up with things to do, but it is so fun to play with the kids Daphne is starting to have such a little personality and Quentin is becoming more playful. He still wants me to hold him all the time though. One of our favorite things to do is play games. We got a couple of game for her at Christmas, but she has also discovered she loves Janga and she is getting pretty good. She love everything about it; the actual game, the blocks falling and having to rebuild too. 

She is having a little backtrack in the potty training front, but we are working on it. She did make me so proud last week at church when I checked on her in Nursery they told me she went to the bathroom all by herself! I think the problem is she would rather play than go to the bathroom. Kid problems, right? 

Johnny has started a new rotation. He is doing an O.B. elective and we thought he would be super busy, but it has been the complete opposite. Apparently the doctor in charge is on vacation so they don't really have anything for the students to do. We will see how it is when he gets back. 

To much fun to handle!

So I have so much to talk about because we have been so busy and I haven't posted in forever! We have had my sister to visit, Quen turned two months, we celebrated Halloween, and we went on a big road trip for a couple of Johnny's interviews. So you can see that we were busy. Lets start with my sisters visit. 

This was something I was SO excited for. It had bet to long since it was just the two of us and back then we didn't get along as well as we do now. We had a time from the moment she stepped off the plane. We spent our first two days walking the D.C. Mall. We went to the Capital, the Archives, Library of Congress, Fords Theater, Arlington and all the Monuments. Even though it was a ton of walking we had a great time taking all the history and all the gelato. Saturday morning we did a session at the temple that was perfect. We were starving by the time we were done so we went out for a big lunch and a little shopping. Sunday she helped me sing at our stake conference. We got home and decided to take one more trip down to D.C. to see the Holocaust Museum. It was a great exhibit even if it was a depressing one. We didn't have anything planned for Monday and ended up driving the short distance to Gettysburg. I felt chills looking up towards Little Round Top and thinking of the men charging and the men defending that little hill. Tuesday was the sad day of her departure, but we did take a little trip to the bay to walk the beach before she left. All in all it was a perfect visit! I can't wait for our next encounter!!!

Now on to my sweet baby. I can't believe how big he is getting! He is wearing 3 month clothes already. He is so sweet and happy. I love every minute of him. I feel like I could never get enough of his face. 

Halloween gets better every year. Some things are just better as a parent. Daphne loved it! We carved pumpkins before Rachel's visit. They were very rotten before Halloween arrived. The ward had a party that was great; great chili, great treats, great fun. On Halloween night we did our tradition and dressed up and when to Chipolte for $3 burritos! Then it was off to trick-or-treat. We went to a person's house that is in the ward to meet everyone and all go out together. It was a really good neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Daphne got tons of loot. We will be eating it for awhile.

Our little interview trip was so awesome. I like to be able to go with Johnny on his trips. I get to see our options for the future and I get to get out of the house for a couple of days. This trip we had two interviews. One in Saginaw, MI and the other in Cleveland, OH. Both would be fine options for us even with the cold weather. 

The kids and I had lots of fun while Johnny was at the interviews. In Saginaw we spent our day with the Walpole's, our good friends from Dominica. We went to a story time at the library and then to the children's museum there. After picking Johnny up we met back at the Walpole's because we were going to stay the night there. We got together with a whole bunch of people from the island and it was the highlight of the trip! It was so good to catch up with friends that were our family while we were on the island. Everyone looked so good and sounded like life was going well for everyone. We stayed up way to late that night talking with the Walpole's (we tend to do that with them). Saturday we woke up to a great pancake breakfast and then it was off to Kirtland. We got in a little later than we wanted so we didn't get to see the temple, but we went to the LDS Visitors center and the buildings they have there. Sunday we Went and did the tour of the Temple and it was really nice. I had been before, but they have changed things since then. Monday was the interview in Cleveland so while Johnny did that the kids and I swam and then had lunch at McDonalds while Daphne played. We headed straight home after picking Johnny up. We got home and we were all pretty tired. Its been a week since we got back and we haven't done anything at all. I'm getting excited for the holidays. We are going to have Joey here for Christmas again and its always fun to have him. 

To much fun to handle! (Pictures)

Sorry, these are very out of order!

Cinderella and her Prince

Halloween

Me and Katie!!!

All the Dominica Kids! They belong to us, Jamie, Holly, Crystal, and Ann.

Daphne had a ball playing with Hayden!

Pioneer Children at the Temple VC.

Two Months

Me and the Sister at Arlington

Kirtland

Happy birthday to me, I'm so happy!

So I am now 26 years old, WOW. Time flies, I still feel like I'm 16, but I'm so glad I'm not. 26 is way better. The best birthday gift I got was 4 weeks of my best friend having no rotations! That's right I get him for a whole month! The second best is my big sis is coming to visit! We didn't do much. We went to the library and out shopping then came home and I made dinner and some birthday cookies. I got to talk to family which is always a treat. 

Back to Business

This week has been pretty good. I feel we are finally settled except our lack of a dinning table and chairs. The kids and I have been getting used to our new surroundings. We love having a playground in the complex and spent a couple mornings playing there. I have spent a bit of time at the leasing office making sure everything is finalized and to our liking. I had to ask for a new oven twice. the first one we had didn't work at all and the second was very old and pretty dirty. Friday we finally got a brand new stove and it works great! I've also spent a lot of time grocery shopping. I feel like I have gone to the grocery store every other day to get stocked up on things. Wednesday Johnny had the day off which was nice and we went to the playground with him. Yesterday we participated in a Day of Service. We went to a park with our stake and picked up trash. It was a great way to teach Daphne about how we give service to others. She was a lookout for trash and did great. 

I asked for a smile, this is what I got.

Last Sunday Johnny sent in his applications for residency programs. He already has one scheduled in Tennessee. I am so proud of him. Please pray for lots more. We are trying to decide if we will all drive out or if he will fly out by himself. Its a long drive, but it would save us $100. At this point its a toss up so we may or may not be going on a trip next weekend

The Arrival of Baby Quentin

 Lets just say this has been a long time coming. We have been anxiously waiting for this little boy ever since our little scare last month. We had 4 total hospital visits because I kept going into labor. But Saturday he finally arrived. 

Quentin Drake
7.15 lbs. 19'
Born 8-24-13 at 6:01 am

Friday I was having contractions all day. Around 3pm they started being a little more consistent. I wanted to make sure this time was it was the real thing so even though the contractions were 3-5 min. apart we waited a couple hours before we called the doctor. I made dinner and packed things up for the hospital and tried to prepare myself that I might not get to stay. The doctor did say at my last appointment that I was at 5cm, but I had regressed before so I didn't want to get my hopes up. So after we ate we headed down to the hospital. Johnny dropped me off so he could watch Daphne while I got checked in and then got checked. When the doctor checked me I was 6-7cm. He told me I was staying and would be having a baby! I was so excited. Johnny dropped Daphne of at the babysitters and headed over. I was hoping that I would progress quickly, but I didn't. My contractions even slowed down during the night. I was so disappointed, because they sent me home the last time because my contractions had slowed down. The doctor came in at about 4:30am and I was sure it was to tell me to head home, especially since I hadn't dilated anymore, but to my shock and relief she decided to break my water to see if we could get things moving.....man did they move. The next few contractions were not to bad. (TMI warning) I started feeling like I needed to go #2 so I went to the bathroom. When I got on the toilet the contractions stepped things up a few notches. I kept thinking I was crazy for not getting the epidural and couldn't remember why I had chosen to forgo it (fyi I hated the Epi with Daphne.) I called the nurses for some help because I had made a pretty big mess in the bathroom. When they came in they told me I needed to get back in bed cause they didn't want me delivering in the toilet so I walked very slowly and painfully back to bed. They checked me and they said I was at 8cm. I felt like I needed to push. In fact I had to do everything in my power not to push. They kept saying I was bearing down, but they kept telling me to try not to push because my cervix was still in the way. The hardest part of the delivery was trying not to push. They checked me again while I was contracting and said I was at 9cm and they called the doctor right away. When Doctor Reynolds got there she checked me and said it was okay to push whenever I felt the need. Pushing was hard at first. They really weren't coaching me as much as I thought they would. Once they did start coaching things went really fast. I think it took about three sets of contractions for me to push him out. He was born at 6:01am.  His cord was around his neck so Johnny didn't get to cut the cord or anything. They put him straight in my arms and he was perfect. He was so quiet and calm. I got to have a whole hour with him skin to skin before they took him to get him cleaned. I loved every minute. I could tell Johnny couldn't wait to get to hold him. He helped get him weighed and with his bath. And then it was Daddy's turn. You could tell he was smitten. 

While we were waiting to get transferred to my recovery room we talked about what to name him. That was the one thing we didn't' have ready. We discussed doing John Edgar III, but neither of us felt it was right. Then we discussed the two names we had been fight over. I wanted him to be named "Quentin Abel" and Johnny wanted him to be "Drake". We decided to combine them since both of us were pretty set with our names. 

My recovery was so much better this time. With Daphne it took me a day and a half to get out of bed and this time I was up walking around right after. The hospital stay was nice. I had great nurses. I wanted to come home sooner than I did to be with my whole family, but I'm glad for the rest. The first night was hard because he didn't take to breastfeeding as well as Daphne, but we have got the hang of it now and I am feeling really good and getting a good amount of sleep. I hope it keeps up too cause I have a lot to get done before our move.

 I really was anxious for Daphne to come meet her brother. She was so sweet with him, but not so much with me. She pretty much didn't want to have anything to do with me until the next day.  I know it is a hard time for older siblings, but she has fallen in pretty gracefully. The fist thing she says in the morning is "where baby?" Its so sweet. Its hard to get her to listen to me when I have to feed him and she is always messing with his swing, but other than that she is being pretty normal. I know I'm really lucky. I have been so scared about what I'm going to do with two babies, but it is going really well so far. 

On other news we are moving to Maryland a lot sooner than planned. We were hoping to get to stay here in Atlanta until the end of October, but now we are moving the 7th of September. Well Johnny is going on the 7th in the car with all our stuff and we will follow on the 9th by plane. I'm so glad Mary is coming to help us with the move because I don't know how we would do it if she didn't. I'm getting really sad to leave here, but I know we have to do it. I love it here and I love the friends I've made and I will miss them badly.