A gal in our ward is a member of a gleaning group where she gets free bread and sometimes when there’s too much bread, she lets the ward know that it’s up for grabs. Here is the collection of bread we got one day:
She happened to have the sweet dark bread that I like, so I got several loves of it. Nicole was amused by the matching breads and pretended that they were family members (try to ignore the powdered donut on her face):
Tomorrow my baby will be 6 months old. A friend said to me not long ago that the days are long but the years are short. I can’t believe he’s already halfway to his first birthday!
The big news is that he is finally sleeping through the night. . .mostly. I rearranged things a little and put his bed in Isaac’s room then we let Isaac sleep in our room so that Thomas didn’t wake him in the night. I heard Thomas cry once at around 11:00 for about 15 min. and then I didn’t hear him the rest of the night–it was an amazing first night, although I did check to make sure he was still alive a few times. The first time I made Isaac cry himself back to sleep, Isaac cried for two straight hours and it was pure torture. (my doctor had said his record was 3 hrs. and to let him know if Isaac cried longer than that). 
I also started Thomas on solids which he loves. Currently his favorite food seems to be green beans with rice cereal mixed in. He is eating way more than Ila did which is probably a really good sign. Today he ate 4 full jars with rice cereal mixed into each one an he nursed several times. He also had one incredible diaper this morning before church. 
His sitting skills have improved since my last post. Now he doesn’t fall over as often and he’s happier sitting up playing with toys for longer. I’ve seen him start to fall and then regain his balance and I’ve seen him use his little stomach muscles to slow his fall.
He’s such a happy sweet boy. He loves to smile at everyone, even strangers. He’s also still very cuddly and loving to his mommy. Here is what happened when he found a paper on the counter near him:
He has found his feet and has to take a taste of his toes every time I change him:
He has outgrown the Bumbo, because he keeps doing this:
So I have moved him to a booster seat:
I took Nicole in for a well-check on Wednesday. I haven’t been really vigilant about well-checks for my older children since they’re yearly and they usually don’t gets shots with them anymore. In a way I’m kind of glad I didn’t take her earlier, because our concern for her has been building and we wanted to talk to the doctor about getting a recommendation for a child psychologist who might be able to do some testing. 
Name: Nicole Kate Cochran
Age: 4 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days
Weight: 31.8 lbs 15th percentile
Length: 37 1/4 inches 5th percentile
Since Last year’s well check : +3.9 lbs, + 3 inches
After detailing my concerns, the doctor took some blood to test for hormone levels (like Thyroid) and chromosomal disorders. The main thing she said she was looking for on the chromosomal level is Turner’s syndrome. We decided to wait for the results before determining if we want to try to get in with a child psychologist.
Nicole was very mad during the blood draw. She screamed and fought and had to be held down. After filling 3 vials, she had a few minutes to calm down before getting three shots in her thighs (immunizations). After I buckled her in the car to go home, she said “I had a fun time at the Doctor’s office.†She was sad a few days later when those purple band aids fell off.
On Tuesdays IKEA offers free kid’s meals, so we have lunch at IKEA every Tuesday. I’ve considered abandoning the tradition a few times, but my kids really love it and it’s less than 3 miles away!
Here are some pictures from Petrovitsky Park. It’s the closest park to my house (that I know of). We’ve been there a few times recently.
Ila and Thomas:
So, here’s another catch-up post. We were able to have all of Zach’s siblings and his parents here for Isaac’s baptism. Here are some of the pictures from their visit:
After a long day of traveling, Laresa and Thomas:
Nicole wearing something ridiculous and sitting with Heidi:
Nicole sharing part of her ridiculous outfit with her Grandma:
Bethani and Ila (they became good friends a few days earlier at a BBQ on July 3rd):
Story time with Grandma:
Charlotte enjoyed making cookies with Dan:
She also shared her Kindergarten memory book with him and apparently showed him some tricks at the little neighborhood park:
Thomas drooled on his Grandma:
I love these three pictures of Thomas with his Great-Grandma. She adores him and made a bee-line for him when she came in:
Thomas with his Grandpa:
Those are all the pictures I got, other than the baptism ones and the family portrait that I already shared. It was a short visit and a very busy weekend, but we were so happy that they all came to be with us for Isaac’s special day!
We picked up some lunch and took the kids to a park.
Thomas seemed to like the swings:
The park we went to had a splash pad. It was a little cold, but the kids didn’t seem to mind:
We spent the day with some of our friends from our old Utah ward. We started off the day with a trip to go pick blueberries, only we got there before they opened, so we went on a walk.
On our walk we saw a mother duck and her three little ducklings:
We also met some fishermen who showed us a catfish in a bag. Ila kept going back to the stroller and climbing up the side of it to check on Thomas—I love how much she loves him:
Each of the kids got a bucket to collect blueberries:
Isaac decided that each layer of blueberries equaled a level. I think he ended up at “level 4.â€
Nicole’s hair got caught on a branch:
Nicole had a hard time with the concept of only picking the blue ones, even after she tasted a green one and didn’t like it:
At first Ila didn’t think she liked them, but amazingly she tried them again and decided they were great. She soon gave up collecting them in a bucket and just walked around looking for baby blueberries to eat:
All our little blueberry pickers:
The weather was perfectly cool and overcast. It was so nice, that we spent a few hours there.
Having 5 kids who are 8 and under is rough and I’m not keeping up.
Thomas is sweet and adorable and I love him to pieces. Sometimes I think that he’s such a perfectly wonderful baby that I will be sad if I never get to experience all the wonderful things about having a baby again. He lets me hug and cuddle him just about anytime I want. He loves when I sing or talk to him. There’s something about the way that he looks at me that just makes me melt. He smiles all the time and hardly ever cries, but he has me wrapped around his little finger.
Ok Moms (or really anyone, you don’t have to be a mom), I need some advice. There’s still a little more than a month of summer and the neighbor boys are driving me a little bit crazy. Here’s the whole story including my concerns.
Thomas loves the song “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree†and he starts blinking even before we get to the part where the popcorn pops. (The camera work is by Charlotte, you can hear her giggling all through it):
We were asked to have one family member volunteer during camp for at least one full day (9:00 AM-4:00 PM). At first I told them that there was no way that I could do it since I have a nursing baby and Zach couldn’t take a day off for camp. I felt a little guilty each time an email was sent out that said they were still short volunteers. 
These pictures were just too cute not to share:
Then I made a noise that startled him and he looked at me like this:
But he also did a lot of this:
So he’s not quite a sitter.
My dad spent a week with us for Isaac’s baptism. Much of the time he was here, we were very busy with preparations and family, but we managed to take a few outings. My sister, Sarah drove him up and spent some time with us as well.
Here’s Sarah and I and our Babies:
Here’s all 8 of our kids lined up by age:
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Grandpa Bird with my kids:
(Nicole did not want to be in this picture)
I love the way Nicole is looking at her grandpa in this picture:
I already posted this one, but here it is again because it belongs in this collection as well:
I’m still working on catch up posts. Here are some recent pictures:
Ila is funny, she’s very particular about what she sleeps with and how. She will yell from her bed for someone to come and re-wrap that doll in a blanket and she always sleeps on her orange pillow from aunt Heidi. She loves her giant orange rock (partially visible below). She must have two plush elephants (a mommy and a baby) who have their own blankets (burp clothes that match Ila’s butterfly blanket), an orange water bottle, and a big stack of books. She has an aquarium lamp similar to this one and a plastic lion who likes to try to eat the fish in the aquarium. I checked on her after bedtime one night and observed the following set-up:
Nicole almost always falls asleep with this book on her lap:
Nicole also likes to try on clothes, particularly socks and underwear, after bedtime. Sometimes I find a pile of underwear and socks in Ila’s bed that Nicole has tossed in for her to try on. I took this picture one night when I went in to turn off some lights (notice the 4 different socks on her hands). She came downstairs for breakfast the next morning with all 4 socks still on:
Also, here are some unrelated pictures: I know I shared these on Facebook, but I thought I’d share them here anyway for the friends of mine who don’t use Facebook. I love seeing my kids all lined up, here they are on the Sunday before Independence day:
My cousin Lindsay and her sweet family moved to Seattle at the end of June. Her husband Aaron is here to finish up the next step in medical school. I was able to watch her two little ones while they unpacked. Here are some pictures of our kids together:
I know our grandmother worried that after she died none of her children or their children would make the effort to see each other or spend time together since we’re so spread out. I imagine she was smiling to see her great-grandchildren having such fun together!
Nicole has been attempting to be more independent in the kitchen. She has been trying to get her own food, but she does it her own way:
Her finished product:
Remember how I mentioned that she makes her own toast exactly wrong just about everyday? Lately she tries to eat oranges the way most people eat apples:
And I caught her eating a banana, corn-on-the-cob style:
Isaac and I worked together to pick all the videos that would play while he got dressed in his dry clothes after he was baptized. We spent a few hours watching Mormon Messages on The Mormon Channel. Zach put the videos on a DVD for us. Here are the videos we picked:
1. Child of God:2. Feeling the Holy Ghost:3. What Matters Most:4. Choose This Day:5. Moments That Matter Most:6. Waiting on Our Road to Damascus:The total time for all the videos was about 18 minutes, but Isaac and Zach returned at the end of number 5, so we didn’t end up watching number 6.