Goodness Gracious!

Hi, My name is Erin and it has been 3 months since my last post. Unfortunately this is not posters anonymous......

My kids are growing up! I never realized how much that would make me sad. Cameron is 2 years and 3 months old. And Zoey is 6 months.... SIX months.

We have her 6 month appointment tomorrow. She is still a peanut. But she is such a sweetheart! Her little smile can light up an entire room and her giggle is like music. She is rolling all over, sitting unassisted and really really trying to crawl.

Cameron is talking is sentances now. It's not as much what words he can say, it's more what can't he say!! He is such a little helper and definitely is testing his boundaries. He is such a really good little boy but definitely pushes my buttons. I am trying to let his hair grow out so it is in a transitionary stage right now... It looks well, awful, but it is a means to an end and hopefully looks much better when it is grown out.

The holidays are upon us. We had a great Halloween and Thanksgiving and will hopefully have a good Christmas as well!! Mom, Pat and Gus are coming here for Christmas next week. Very excited.

And here are some pics for you!

Busy Busy

Zoey is 3 months old today!! Time is just flying by because we are so busy. We have finished moving everything into the new house and are well underway getting things organized. This weekend we are having a garage sale with a couple of friends. We are going to have fun!!

Next week I am taking Cameron to a bounceland here in Kalamazoo with a friend and her kids. I am excited to get him out with other kids and get some excersize at a fun place. Who knows, if it is really fun we might have to go more often!

Next weekend we have an open house at Keith's work. He has been working here for 2 years now and I have never seen where he works! So we are excited for that.

I have decided that we are going to start potty training Cameron when Keith is off of work for the holidays. I can't wait to only have one in diapers again!

Zozo is doing really well. She is sleeping through the night. Most nights from 11pm to 7am. She is sitting up mostly unsupported. She can almost pull herself up into a sitting position from laying down. I can usually get both kids down for a nap around 1pm. It is really nice to have a few hours of "Me" time during the day. I love my kids so much but sometimes I need to do things like... Well like this....

Cameron is such a little person. He wants to help any way that he can. He takes the diapers and throws them away. He puts the laundry in the hamper. He cleans up his own toys at night before bed. He loves to close all the doors behind us. He is absorbing things I never knew he could. Last night Keith was reading him his Blue's Clues book and he was pointing to and saying ALL of the characters!

He can count to 3. He can spell Zoey. He can point to and say just about all of the body parts.

BUT he is just as stubborn as his parents! Yesterday we were getting ready to go to the grocery store and I asked him to pick up his megablocks that were all over the floor. He said "No, Mommy do" I told him I would help him but I wouldn't do it for him. He kept pointing to them and saying "No, Mommy do." Well it took about an hour and a few trips to time-out but he finally picked them up! Goodness he knows how to push my buttons!

Cameron is 2!!!!

Here are the results of our Family/Cam's 2 year/Zoey's newborn photoshoot

New House

Miss Zoey playing in her swing!
The nursery
Very pink!
Love it!
Lots of hard work, But I think it turned out well
View from the living room to the kitchen
View from the kitchen to the dining room
View from the kitchen to the living room
The Kitchen
Hi Everyone!!

Well, it is almost September! One week from yesterday our little boy will be 2!!! Zoey is almost 12 weeks old and is such a doll! We are finishing up the last few things with the old house up in Plainwell and then we are completely moved. Now to work on putting everything away and finding a place for things at the new house. It is going to be such a great place once we have everything organized! Right now we are still kinda living out of boxes but we make do!

The family has been fighting a bit of a cold for a week or so. I think Cameron picked it up somewhere when we were in Midland. Then it has worked its way through the rest of the family. Zoey is the last one to have gotten it and she is so miserable. I can see it in her little eyes that she doesn't feel well at all. :(

The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy! During the weeks I am working on organizing and putting things away. This next weekend (Labor Day weekend) we are getting our family pictures done on Saturday ( I will be sure to post them!) Then on Sunday we are having a small gathering at a friends house for Cameron's birthday! (With a Buzz Lightyear cake of course!!) Hopefully we will spend Labor Day getting things done around the house. Then the following weekend I am going to have a garage sale here at the new house. If all works out, the week of the 20th of September Keith will be out of town for a training seminar and I will be bringing the kids up to Midland for the week.

Hope everyone is doing well and has enjoyed their summer!

Time is flying!

Here it is, mid-August and it feels like this year is just rushing past! Cameron will be 2 in two weeks. Zoey is getting so big and my life just couldn't be sweeter!

Due to complications with our lease, we had to move AGAIN... Man I am so tired of that. We are still in the midst of the move and have some things left at the old house in Plainwell. We are now back in Kalamazoo. Much closer to Keith's work. We will be completely moved in by Sept 1st. I will post pictures of Zoey's nursery soon! Speaking of Keith's work, we have our fingers greatly crossed for a promotion that he interviewed for a week or so ago and are waiting to hear the answer....

We will not be coming to Midland for Cameron's birthday this year. We have so much going on and since it is Labor Day weekend not many people will even be in town to attend so it just doesn't make sense. We are having a small party down here at his godmother's house. Nothing big, just a cake and burgers.

Our goddaughter Kaylee turned 1 last week and she is having her birthday party this weekend! I can't believe she is 1 already. Kaylee and Zoey are exactly 10 months apart. Time sure flys!

Updates!

Zoey had her 2 month appointment today. She is 10.1lbs and 22.25 inches!! She is a growing little girl!

She is full of smiles and coos, and is generally a happy happy baby. She LOVES her big brother! Whenever he comes over to her and talks to her she lights right up! He loves to give her kisses and hugs and is always making sure I don't "forget" his sissy!!

Cameron will be 2 years old in 3 weeks!! THAT I cannot believe. He is growing up sooo well. He is talking non-stop and we are starting to get him used to having a potty for him in the bathroom.

He knows his numbers 1-5, some letters, almost all of the body parts and we are currently working on colors. I can't believe how quickly he picks up on things!

Zoey is developing so fast too! She rolled over from her belly to her back at 4 weeks and has done it a few times since then. She can roll from her back to her side all the time. She practically sits up on her own!! From the way this is going she will be crawling by 6 months and walking by 9 months!! Goodness, my babies are growing sooo fast!

I am hoping to get the kids/family pictures done in the next couple of weeks, so I will post them as soon as I get them.

Zoey Sophia is here!! (and birth story)

Zoey Sophia Sylvester arrived at 2:35am on June 9th 2010. She weighed in at 7lbs 7oz and was 19.25 inches in length.

In this blog post I am going to tell the story of my labor and her birth. If you don't want to know that much about me please turn around now.

A few notes to be a precurser to the story.

1- On June 1st we were admitted to L&D for labor but released the next morning as labor had stalled.

2- On June 1st I was already dilated to 2-3cm and 70% effaced.

3- Many times it was noted how incredibly low the baby was every time I was check (from June 1st on...) and how she just seemed to keep dropping lower.

4-With Cameron's labor I had gone in not knowing I was in labor, labored for 30+ hours, pushed for almost 2 hours and did not have an epidural.

5-For the few days before June 8th I had been noticing a decrease in her movements.


Tuesday June 8th I was scheduled to come to my doctor's office for a routine NST (Non-stress test) followed by an appointment with the doctor. I went to the NST room and was hooked up to the monitors. I was contracting (like I had been for several weeks) but not enough to be called "labor." The concerning part was that she was failing the heartrate portion of the test. She was not having the right accelerations and wasn't really moving. The nurses tried to "buzz" her awake and when that didn't work, they decided to send me to ultrasound.

In the ultrasound they perfomed a Biophysical profile (a scored test checking for the baby to perform certain criteria to pass) She also failed this test because in the almost 45 minutes we were watching/poking/buzzing her she did not move..... The doctor came in while we were in the ultrasound and said... OK you are going upstairs to L&D, we will watch you and decide what to do from there (basically either induce or c-section.) She did start moving enough to ease their minds a bit, so they decided on induction.

At 6pm the Pitocin was started. We called Mom and she got in the car and drove down from Midland (for the 2nd time in a week) The contractions started to pick up. I was checked and was still dilated the same as the week before, 2-3 cm. The upped the pit every half hour and the contractions started to get more consistant and stronger. I was feeling pretty good. It was painful but I was feeling like I could handle it.

Around 10pm, the nurse came in to check me again and I had dilated to almost a 4. She said she was going to call the doctor and see if he would want to break my water. He came down to check me and we were all surprised as he quicky said "yup" grabbed the stick thing and it was done... As soon as my water was broken, the pain was unbearable. Within 15 minutes I was BEGGING for the epidural. We waited the longest half hour of my life for the anesthesiologist. When he came in, he got the epidural all hooked up and left. After about 15 more minutes the epidural started kicking in....On only my right side... So I was still feeling full strength contractions on my left side. I was told "it will kick in eventually" Uh, not!! After another half hour I demanded they bring the anesthesiologist back in. He came in and I was checked for dilation again, I was only at a 5. The anesthesiologist fixed my epi and gave me another dose.... MAN that was like heaven!!

Once that had kicked in they told me to try and get some rest to prepare to push. We all figured it would be a few hours so Keith layed down on the couch, Mom went down to the car to try and sleep and I turned on my side to doze. Unfortunately the alarm on my BP cuff kept going off every 15 minutes because my BP was low. So a nurse had to come in every 15 minutes to turn it off. Around 2am a nurse came in to turn it off and I asked her if it was normal to feel a lot of pressure "down there" and she said it is and to just breathe through it. Not even 10 minutes later I was yelling at Keith to GET THE NURSE! She came running in and I told her that the pressure was too strong. She had me turn to my back to check me and I was dilated 9.5!!! She asked someone to get the doctor ready. She told me to do a "test push" and see how that would work. Remember how I said how low she was??? Before I could push she checked again and I was already completely dilated. Keith had called Mom down at the car and she RAN up to the room! I did the "test push" and she was crowning!! The nurse told me to STOP! because the doctor wasn't even there yet.

It was SOO hard not to push waiting for the doctor while the baby was crowning! He finally got there and sat down and said OK go for it!! I pushed 2-3 more times and she was mostly out. He said "She is coming! Do you have 1 more push" I told him I had to wait for the next contraction. He said "She is not waiting! Push anyways!!" And she was born at 2:35am and was on my chest with less than 5 minutes of pushing and less than 6 pushes! She didn't even have a conehead because it was sooo fast and she was SOO low.

After she came out she wasn't crying.... I started freaking out because she was purple. Keith cut her cord and they wisked her away while I begged to know if she was OK. She still wasn't crying but they gave her oxygen and she started to pink up. I kept freaking out because she wouldn't cry. I know now that it was just her personality. She just isn't a very cryey baby. In her 2 days here, she has only cried once or twice for a minute.

After she was born they tried to take me to the post-partem room, but my right leg wasn't waking up from the epi... It took quite a long time to get it to work. The nurses started calling it my "bum leg"...

Zoey is such a GREAT baby. She eats wonderfully, snuggles great and sleeps 2-3 hours at a time. I couldn't be happier! Cameron is such a great big brother. He just loves his "baby" Hugging and kissing her! My family is complete and it feels great!