Mike, Nicole and Ellie

Holiday Baby Syndrome

2010-12-29T22:26:00.002-05:00

A phrase I learned this week.

BEWARE: Your child may catch this contagious syndrome if they:

- have a high intake of sugar and crackers instead of regular meals

- have a lack of sleep, both at night and during nap time, or no nap at all, for more than one day

- no schedule for more than one day

- attend many parties with lots of people and lots of running around, especially after multiple days in a row

What could happen? You could end up outside with your child in the freezing cold, trying to get them to calm down as they have a MAJOR tantrum, the worst you have ever seen! Or maybe you end up taking your little one out to the car, in the middle of the winter, in just their diaper! (actually the diaper was half off as she didn't want it on anymore) And it takes TWO people to get your child into their car seat.

I think this is why God makes kids so cute, so you know you will still love them, even after they scream, scratch, take off their clothes, and resist EVERYTHING!

Any suggestions on how to avoid Holiday Baby Syndrome would be much appreciated!

Hope your holidays were calm, cool, and collective!

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work I go!

2010-12-09T22:50:00.005-05:00

Next week is a big week. I (nicole) am going back full-time at a new job. I have already been there 2 days training and just know I am going to LOVE it! I am going to miss my lazy summer days hanging with my little girl. But after much prayer (okay, ALOT of prayer) and thought, I know that this is meant to be. Please pray the week goes smoothly, for all of us!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie

2010-10-17T10:34:00.003-04:00

Ellie's favorites at 2 years old:
Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Food: Macaroni & Cheese
Color: "mink"
Song: ABC's which somehow turns into singing Ring around the Rosie
Game: Ring around the Rosie (will do this all day if you let her)
Team: Michigan Wolverines
The latest things she knows: Going on the potty, recognizes shapes (circle, diamond, square, heart, star, triangl), counting to 13, singing most of her abc's, says MICHIGAN! when she's sees the U of M "M", GO BLUE!, jumping, she loves to jump, I'm sure there's a ton I am forgetting
Activities: Playing with her new kitchen, playing outside, slides, dolls, reading books, singing & dancing
Schedule: Wakes up around 8:30am/9am, naps around 2, and goes to bed around 8:30pm/9pm depending on what's going of course, some times later.
Personality: Ellie is very strong willed and knows what she wants, when she wants it. She has lots of energy and talks A LOT! She speaks in sentences sometimes, and repeats everything! She doesn't like people telling her what to do, but if you give her a choice, she is usually okay with that. She seems to exhibit a "leader" personality. She is such a sweetie and loves to give hugs and kisses.

Ellie is going to start "school" tomorrow! Mommy is returning to work so Ellie is off to a great daycare. I'm so excited for her to start and think she will love it.

Potty Time Celebration

2010-08-07T12:23:00.002-04:00

Ellie decided to take off her diaper this morning all by herself and go in her potty! woohoo! She has gone 3 other times since we have moved. So proud of Ellie! I lost my camera, otherwise I'd post a pic of our big girl!

Moved & Settling In

2010-06-11T09:54:00.011-04:00

So I've been slacking with this blog. I need to do some updating since a lot has changed recently, though most of the people that actually do read this already know.

A few weeks ago we moved to Ann Arbor, yes, the maize and blue country! Mike has been working in Ann Arbor since last November and we finally sold our house in April. (we had it for sale for 6 months, which really is not too bad considering the market, but it still felt like forever since Ellie and I were away from Mike during the week). I have a whole new respect for single moms! It is really hard to be the only parent and never get a break. Work was considered my "break" away from mommy-ness. =) (Thankfully Mike's parents, who lived about 3 minutes away, did watch Ellie for me when I needed help on occasion. My friend Jenna and my sis-in-law Brenda watched Ellie a little bit longer on the days I worked. Also, thanks to my other friends and fam that watched Ellie in a pinch!)

Now our family is back together 7 days a week. Mike was coming home just on the weekends for those 6 months. Luckily we have some great friends (Thank you SO much Dan & Jen! You guys are awesome! ) who Mike was able to stay with during this transition. We are now living in an apartment for the time being, while I look for a job and we figure out what area we want to live in. It is a bit of a change for me being home all day during the week since I am used to working, as well as not knowing a ton of people or knowing my way around the area. I know how to get to the major stores, so that's all that matters for now I guess. =) I do know for sure that I am not cut out to stay at home! I love being with Ellie, but it is just not my calling to be home every day, ALL DAY LONG. I am a busy body and just need my own time to challenge my brain once in a while I guess. Hopefully something will happen soon with the job situation. But it is nice to be able to go to the beach with Ellie whenever so I will enjoy it while it lasts. I am glad that it is summer and we can be outside a lot. I am so excited to be in Ann Arbor, back with my wonderful husband, and love the area so far.

Here are a few highlights from the past month or so....

Packing was a lot more fun for Ellie and Maizy than for me. =) Those stuffed animals on the floor had a hard time staying packed for some reason.

We sat on bag chairs in our new living room for a few weeks at the new apartment before getting A NEW COUCH!!! I have been wanting a new couch for so long! It is so comfy! Love it! Probably a little more exciting for me than for you I suppose.

The scary thing is that it almost didn't fit in the door when delivery guys came. I almost had a heart attack and REALLY hated that we were living in an apartment at that moment! Luckily they took the legs off and we were good to go. I took this picture so that I will know how we are going to have to get it out when we move. That day will be fun, I just know it. ha!

Memorial weekend we had a lot of fun. We took a trip to the John Ball Zoo with Grammy & Papa Raska and Ellie's cousin's Keaton & Kyndra.

We went on a 40ft. yacht from Grand Haven to Holland and ate at Boatwerks for dinner that same day. Thanks for the fun Jerry & Kris! As you can see, Ellie was loving her life jacket.

Here is Ellie at Mike's aunt & uncle's house on Memorial Day chasing bubbles and being very patriotic about it.

We are adjusting to living in an apartment versus a house. One downer is that we don't have a garage so our parents' houses are acting as our storage facilities for now. What would you do without your parents?!?! We love them! This means that we have a few extras in our apartment, including Ellie's wagon that is in her room. Thank goodness her room is a little bigger than her last one so we can fit all her toys in it.

This is where you will find Ellie and I this summer...at the beach our apartment has! It's actually a big lake with cottages and homes on it, and our apartment building has a slice of the beach with some grills and a beach house for us to use. Ellie is LOVING the sand and she will soon LOVE the water, I just know it!

Until next time...

First Finger Painting Experience

2010-04-15T23:22:00.003-04:00

Forgot to add to the last post what the easter bunny brought Ellie....a Radio Flyer Scoot About! (I liked the name so we had to get it!) She loves it!

Ellie's first time finger painting. Decided to play it safe, and do it outside in one of daddy's t-shirts with a tarp layed out. =) Ellie decided that washing her hands in the car washing bucket was way more fun...
And then she wanted to taste the car washing sponge...But it didn't taste very good (though she did it again after this).

Easter

2010-04-15T23:13:00.002-04:00

Egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's the weekend before Easter.

Ellie in her Easter dress! (and my feet! =) )

Our little cutie!

Easter pic in front of our house. I insisted we get a photo in front of our house since we may not be living here much longer.

Spring Fever

2010-04-07T18:30:00.000-04:00

Spring is here, and we have been spending lots of time outside. Ellie LOVES being "ow-side".

Wagon Diva!

Biker chick at Grandmas! She likes to just hold on and stand up and walk with while on the bike versus scooting. We're still perfecting our biking skills.

Ellie in piggytails, causing trouble and Grandma's!

Spring sledding with daddy! =)

Getting ready to debut the wagon outside. Maizy was not a fan, she jumped about about 2 sec. after this photo was taken.

So big!

2010-03-11T20:59:00.009-05:00

Ellie is getting "so big"! She has quite the personality these days. She loves to run, run, run. She loves being chased, getting into Maizy's (our dog's) food, wrestling with daddy, playing with her baby stroller, trying to put on clothes, emptying out cupboards, taking baths, dancing to music, and eating "crah-kers"! She does not like to be confined in one area for long. Sitting at basketball games toward the end of the Chix season got to be quite difficult as she wanted to be running on the court with the bball players. She keeps us busy, that is for sure, and is VERY talkative. She is always "discovering" (or getting into) something new. It'll be interesting to see what she really ends up being passionate about. For now we're enjoying all her little adventures!

Maybe she'll be a dentist? She loves brushing her teeth!

She's always up for a new adventure! (even if it is just a box)

Our Little Adventure Seeker

Our Equestrian/Fashionista (she picked her outfit)

Mommy's little dancer!

Go Chix! Future Basketball Star!

Winter Fun!

2010-02-24T19:01:00.003-05:00

Ellie giving herself a whitewash. Her first time walking in boots was a little tricky!

It is hard to walk in these boots!
Woohoo! Much better!

Children's Museum

2010-02-24T18:50:00.003-05:00

We took a trip to The Grand Rapids Children's Museum last Friday. Ellie liked looking thru this little window on a door. Just her size!

Little Drummer Girl!

Her favorite place, the sand box!

Love Birds

2010-02-14T15:31:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentines Day to all you love birds out there...

From our little love bird!

I'm a big girl!

2009-11-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

Ellie's new favorite activitiy is sitting in mini-chairs. Here she is squeezing into her bebe Pod.

She's a little big for it so she gets stuck trying to get out! Santa may have to bring her a bigger chair for Christmas.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-04T08:48:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago Ellie and I went to my sister-in-law's (Becky) parents pumpkin patch (did you follow that?). Ellie went on her first hayride (and so did Maizy) and picked out her pumpkin.

Ellie with her cousins Keaton and Kyndra admiring Ellie's pumpkin.

My cousin Danielle, Ellie, and Me (with some fabulous looking hair!)

Our Lil' Lady's Ladybug Birthday!

2009-10-28T21:19:00.004-04:00

Ellie turned ONE on October 17! I can't believe our little baby girl is already one! It has gone so fast, but has been so fun! We had a ladybug party for our cute little ladybug.

Here, Ellie is only 12 days old, sleeping on Grandpa Raska's lap.
Now she is one and showing some attitude!

Some new stats on the birthday girl:
23lbs. 84%
31 inches 90%
Sleeps about 10-12 hours at night
Takes two naps, but is starting to not like her afternoon nap

Ellie and her cousins: Kyndra, Keaton, Dovie, and Sylas...with their ladybug antennas on!
Ellie ate ALL of her piece of birthday cake. YUM!! YUM!!

Ellie's Favorite Activities:
Eating! She loves EVERYTHING!
Taking everything out of the cupboards
Unrolling the toilet paper roll
Taking baths, she gets VERY excited for bathtime
Standing in the middle of the room and clapping
Crawling, fast, especially after Maizy's dog food
Walking around holding furniture
Saying mama, dada, hi, maymee (Maizy) and lots of jibber jabber
Reading books and flipping the pages
Pushing her push-toy around the house
Chasing Maizy
Playing with her cousins and friends

Peeking

2009-09-18T17:20:00.002-04:00

Ellie, trying to follow Maizy thru the couch and end table...she got stuck and was not happy! But Mike had to take a picture before helping her.

Whoa, second post of the day for me! That is impressive! I had to show a few photos of Ellie doing her favorite thing, peeking out the windows.

Fall Fun!

2009-09-18T17:03:00.002-04:00

Ellie LOVES looking out the windows in our house. Here she is peeking out the window in her room!
Ellie and I (Nicole) took an afternoon trip to Crane Orchards in Fennville with some friends today. It was Ellie's first time apple picking. The weather was definitely warmer than fall weather, but still perfect for picking a few honey crisp apples and some peaches.

We even picked a few baking apples to make Daddy an apple pie or maybe some apple crisp!

And one last cute picture of our busy little Ellie crawling around her room before going to the apple orchard.

Stuck in the Rain!

2009-08-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

Note to self: if it looks like it might rain, don't go for a long walk, especially with a baby, two dogs and your 35 weeks along pregnant friend who can't run fast out of the rain!

Teeth!

2009-08-13T07:09:00.001-04:00

Oh and I forgot to mention that Ellie has 1 1/2 teeth. One in and one trying to come in. Now she is enjoying a wide range of food options! Yum Yum! This girl loves to eat and we haven't found anything she will turn her nose up at yet...cross our fingers.

I'm a crawler!

2009-08-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

Our little girl is getting big so fast! Two weeks ago, just a few days after Ellie's 9 month check up she started crawling and last night she pulled her self up to her feet in her crib! Ellie is 22lbs 2oz. and 28 1/2inches tall, both in the 90/95th percentile for her age. Here's a sneak peak of some of her 9 month photos... (also had to add in a cute picture of Ellie with her cousin Parker, my brother Jason and sister-in-law Kellie's cute little one year old!)

Weekend at the Cottage!

2009-07-30T10:59:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures from the annual Vandeberghe weekend at my parents cottage on Houghton Lake. We had a redneck themed evening, with corn on the cob husk centerpieces, shotgun shell salt and pepper shakers, and costumes! Good times! Also, we had our annual softball game, where the west siders kicked some serious east side butts! (I may be partial...sorry eastsiders!)

Easton and Ellie, official softball cheerleaders pooped out! Softball Attire, Big Muscles a Requirement!

We know we're good looking you don't have to tell us!
Mike and Nick picking up ladies on the canal!

Winners of the Redneck Party, cousins Danielle and Larry.

Father's Day Weekend!

2009-06-24T07:00:00.004-04:00

These pictures are from Saturday at the Tulpa Family's home & pool in Howell! We had lots of fun celebrating Brian (Mike's brother) and Leah's engagement with the Cochran side of the family. (Can't wait for the wedding in August!!) We don't get to see the Cochran side of the family often since we live in Holland and they are in Jackson/Howell/Detroit area so it was fun to see everyone and catch up! Ellie had lots of fun going swimming in the beautiful pool! At first she wasn't too sure about the pool since it's bigger than her bath tub at home, but she got semi-used to it.

Father's Day morning we spent with my parents in Rockford. Ellie ate her first cheerios, I think she had maybe 4 and 20 of them went to the eagerly awaiting Maizy. Then we headed home and out to the beach for dinner with Mike's family and some of the Brouwer family. Ellie did great traveling around all weekend. She is a fabulous car seat sleeper which we are oh so thankful for!

Happy 1st Father's Day to Mike and to all the other Dad's! We love you and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Ellie and Maizy

2009-05-23T22:34:00.002-04:00

An update from Ellie

2009-04-08T20:19:00.008-04:00

My mom and dad are taking way too long to update the family blog so I decided to give you my own update. Here's some updates on me, Miss Ellie Morgan!

*I will be 6 months on April 17!
*I wore a birthday hat for the first time at my friend Noelle's 1st birthday party!

*I had my first ear infection which the doctor found at my 4 month check up (actually double ear infection).
*At 5 months I weighed in at 16 1/2 lbs.
*I love to sit up, but fall over a bit if no one is helping me, no more laying on the floor for me!
*I rolled over when I was 4 months old (twice), both times mommy wasn't watching (I am so sneaky!) but I'd rather just roll from my back to my side and then to my back again for now.
*I told mommy and daddy that I am so over my swing and now they got this new thing out with lots of toys that my puppy can't steal! And I get to look around the room in it too.

*I love to eat cereal before I go to bed! Yum! Yum!
*I just tried water for the first time out of this cool sippy cup mommy got me! I can even hold it by myself!

*I love to say ooooooo and jibber jabber, and I can squeal REALLY LOUD!
*I am very ticklish and love to laugh!
*I love to stick my hand out for Maizy to lick.

*Maizy still likes to steal my pacifiers, especially in the morning if mommy and daddy don't pick it up off the floor before her. (I can spit it out really far when I am sleeping.)

(That's my Maizy, trying to steal my pacifier right out of my mouth while I sleep!)

(Maizy also thinks she is my guard dog as she sleeps in front of my crib, and sometimes underneath)

*All this activity makes me so sleepy at night time that I sleep for 9 hours!

PS Mommy says she is going to update the blog more often now, so please check back next week to see what new tricks I can do!

Best Friends! (sometimes)

2009-01-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

Back to work!

2009-01-14T19:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

The New Year has brought more sleep in our household, which Mike and I are SO grateful for! I went back to work the second week of January and things have been going great. Ellie gets to spend her days with her cousins Dovie and Sylas and her new friend Maylee. I am working 3 days at Action and a day at home. So far so good. We are so thankful for having wonderful people to watch our precious little girl. (Thanks Brenda and Jenna!) And Ellie loves watching the kids play.

Ellie is now 3 months old! Wow did that go by fast. She smiles all the time at her mommy and daddy, or pretty much anyone that will talk to her and she loves to coo and jibber jabber. She is now starting realize she doesn't like when Maizy barks in her ear but she likes when Maizy licks her hand. (gross!)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Stay Warm!

5 week photos

2008-12-05T01:00:00.002-05:00

Anyone else awake?

2008-12-05T00:27:00.002-05:00

Well it's the second night of trying to get Ellie to sleep in her crib. It is 12:30am and I figure I might as well update our blog while I sit and pray Ellie goes to sleep in her crib for longer than 20 minutes at a time.

I spent two hours last night trying to get her to sleep in her crib. I'd lay her down while she was still awake and leave her room praying she'd go to sleep. Within 5 minutes she was crying. I'd wait 15 LONG minutes of her crying and finally go in and calm her down and then the process would start over again. I did this for two hours and finally gave up and let her sleep in the swing. I was desperate for some shut eye. Of course, she fell asleep in her swing right away, so I was stuck sleeping on the couch, again. She always seems to wake up at 5am after sleeping in the swing and want to eat. After her feeding I can manage to put her in her crib and she'll sleep for 2-3 hours until she is hungry again.

Besides the sleepless nights parenting has been amazing so far. We love our little girl and are enjoying every minute (during the day at least) of being mommy and daddy. =) Ellie is now 7 weeks old and is starting to look less like a newborn and more like a pudgy cheeked little baby. She loves to smile at daddy and her pink bunny. She still doesn't seem to know about Maizy and I think Maizy is in denial that there is a new baby in the house. Maizy likes to sit on my lap while Ellie eats and tries to sit on the glider footrest. The barking of the dog and the crying of the baby doesn't seem to bother either one of them-they both sleep thru each other's noises. We pray each day there will be less barking and crying because we definitely notice their noises...ha!

We're trying to break Ellie of only sleeping in her swing, our arms, and her car seat. If anyone has any suggestions of what has worked for them we are WIDE OPEN to suggestions. I must say, I am looking forward to the weekend when it is Mike's turn to sleep on the couch and attempt to get Ellie to sleep in her crib.

My 15 minutes of listening to Ellie cry are up...wish us luck!

Two weeks!

2008-10-30T18:48:00.002-04:00

Today Ellie had her 2 week doctors appointment. She's up to 9lbs and 15 oz, up 10.5 oz since last week Tuesday. The doctor said shes at the 94th percentile for her weight, 93rd for her height, and 75th for her head size. So everything is going pretty well!

From Ellie - 2 weeks

I've started a new album at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcochran/Ellie2Weeks. Any date that says a month before October in any of the Ellie albums (and probably a lot of them before that) are a month off. I finally fixed the date in the camera, so some are right now.

Almost one week

2008-10-23T18:26:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been almost one week, and we've been adding pictures to our web album almost every day. I usually sync these pics to facebook, too, but sometimes I get a little behind on that.

From Ellie Morgan

Ellie of course has had many firsts this week... Her first doctors appointment (all is well!) followed by her first trip to Meijer (which she slept through), her first diaper changed by dad (scary!), and many first visitors (most of whom I forgot to get pictures of). Maizy has been ignoring Ellie for the most part, and likewise as Ellie must've gotten used to Maizy's barking over the past 9 months.

Here is a link to check out Ellie's hospital picture. You'll need to type in Hospital ID B03 and ID# 30690.

Day #2

2008-10-18T09:07:00.002-04:00

Subtitle: It's only been one day?!?!?

Ellie and Nicole are both doing very well, and it sounds like we'll be going home on Sunday. That means we'll be here all day today if you want to stop by and visit! Ellie will be spending most of the day getting ready for her first Michigan football game. She surprisingly said she thinks Michigan will pull out the upset, but definitely recommends taking Michigan to beat the 23.5 point spread.

From Ellie Morgan

If you haven't seen that there is more than one picture if you click the link below that confusingly says "click for more pics", click this link right here for more pictures.

Ellie Morgan

2008-10-17T08:14:00.004-04:00

At 5:34 this morning we got to welcome Ellie Morgan to our family.

Length: 22 in

Weight: 9 lbs 6 oz

Favorite colors: Maize and Blue

From Ellie Morgan (click for more pics!)

40 weeks plus 1 day

2008-10-10T22:20:00.002-04:00

Since the official due date was yesterday and there are no baby pics yet to share, here's a picture of mommy-to-be at 40 weeks and 1 day. Hopefully the little baby girl is getting sick of being in there!

From Almost baby time!

The Baby Room!

2008-10-10T22:13:00.002-04:00

From Almost baby time!

Hard At Work

2008-10-10T21:24:00.003-04:00

Putting the crib together:

and the dresser:

From August Pics

Random photos

2008-08-29T13:29:00.002-04:00

Our niece Kyndra in her cute swimsuit & piggytails!

Our newphew Parker Raska (Jason & Kellie's little cutie)

6 Weeks Left

2008-08-29T09:56:00.004-04:00

Happy Labor Day to Everyone!
We'll be spending our Labor Day laboring...that is, painting the baby's room. With the help of our wonderful friends David & Renee and the baby showers this past week it'll look more like a baby's nursery and less like a dumping zone for random stuff by the end of the weekend. Maizy is having fun sniffing all the baby things we've been accumulating the past few weeks and relaxing in the glider with momma-to-be. Hopefully she adjusts to not getting all the attention when the baby arrives. I had my 34 week doctor's appointment this week. I am still pregnant =) and measuring right at 34 weeks.

We'll get some photos up soon to show off the progress of the baby room. While you wait I'll post some photos of my cute niece and nephew above. Enjoy!

Pictures!

2008-08-18T19:33:00.002-04:00

August 2...

August 4...

And putting together the dresser...

From August Pics

31 weeks

2008-08-08T09:52:00.002-04:00

We're in the home stretch! Only 9 weeks til the due date! (Oct. 9) I had an ultrasound at 30 weeks and everything looked great. We could really see the face this time (it doesn't look like a scary alien anymore). It's was really amazing! And it is FOR SURE a girl! Hooray for another dancer in the family. The baby has been kicking up a storm and we can see little limbs and who knows what moving around from the outside.

The home preparations (aka nesting) have begun. I've been slowly starting to move some of my clothes into storage and clear out more space for Mike in our room since the lil grasshopper will need some space in the closet in her room. We (Mike that is) are going to start painting the nursery soon. Lucky for Mike there's just one wall to paint...and maybe a couple more if I can talk him into painting some other walls around the house too.

We finally picked a name....but we're keeping it a secret! Unfortunately we did not go with the Donna-tello suggestion from an earlier comment on the ninja post.

Photos are coming soon...we finally got a new charger for the camera so we'll post some in the next few days.

-nicole

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

2008-05-30T07:38:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Dan Cooke, we we're now slightly worried that we may be giving birth to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle head. Note the similarities:

Is it a boy or a girl???

2008-05-28T22:32:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning. The ultrasound tech didn't sound super confident, but she said it looks like a girl as far as she can tell. The doctor predicted Oct. 9 and the ultrasound is measuring at Oct. 12 so they're pretty close together. Check out the photos attached...even notice the nice dancer foot...she's going to take after her mom I think! =)

(click on the images to enlarge)