{It's been a while...}

I can't believe that I have gone so long without posting! We have had a crazy last week! We have continued to struggle with Zoe's weight gain and her eating schedule...even had to make a trip to the hospital last week (because she was throwing up so much) to get an ultrasound and x-ray done on her belly to rule out something that closes something in her belly...not sure exactly what it's called, but anyway...she doesn't have that! It was the saddest thing to hear her cry for 30 minutes while they poked and prodded at her belly during the ultrasound and then to watch her drink barium so they could see inside her tummy on the x-ray! I feel so bad that she has already had to go through all that! But we left the hospital on Wednesday night being excited that she didn't need surgery! We found out that she just has reflux! So she is on medication now and 4 different types of formula and 3 brands of bottles later, we finally feel like she is on the right track since she is acting more interested in eating and hasn't thrown up in 2 days (knock on wood)! Her cheeks are looking chubbier and chubbier to me each day and I love it!! She is getting cuter and cuter each day! But I must say that is turning into quite the "high maintenance" baby! She wants to be held ALL THE TIME!! I don't know how she does it, but she could be sound asleep when I try to lay her down and she will be awake within 5 minutes! So far she is quite the opposite of how Ayden was in every way! She is not a fan of her swing or bouncer seat at all!! So, the last few days, part of my daily wardrobe involves wearing the Baby Bjorn...it's the only way that I can manage to get anything done around here with some free hands! Luckily, she is still a great sleeper at night (even though we are waking her every 3 hrs to eat)! I hope this doesn't get her on a 3 hour schedule that we won't be able to kick when she finally starts gaining!! I can't believe that she will be 4 weeks old this Friday! Time is already flying by! The next big milestone that I am really looking forward to is reaching the 7 lb mark....at least then she may start fitting into some of her 0-3 month clothes at that point! Hopefully it happens very soon because I am dying to play dress up!!

{Mommy's helper!!}

Ayden is really adapting well to the change in our family and I think he is loving the fact that he has a little sister to take care of! Any time Zoe makes a peep (whether she's crying, sneezing, yawning, grunting, snoring, etc.) he says "crying, crying"! He wants to do whatever he can to make her better when she is sad! He loves to help feed her, throw her dirty diapers away and pop her binky in her mouth (even though we are still working on being more gentle)!! I thought for sure he would try to suck on her pacifiers since they are the same kind, but pink! He hasn't shown any desire...he just wants to give them to her! It's so cute! I love that he is such a good helper and my favorite thing is that he wakes up every morning and runs through the house looking for "his baby"!! I know that they are going to be such good friends someday!!

{Chunky Monkey!!}

We went in for Zoe's weight check yesterday and I'm so happy that she is FINALLY gaining weight!! The doc wanted her to be no less than 6 lb 1 oz (which she was on Wed) and she was a whopping 6 lb 5 oz!!! All the docs and nurses were so excited about it...Zoe is like a celebrity there since we have been there so often these past 2 weeks!! It was like all the docs and nurses knew what was going on with her and they were excited that she was plumping up! She gained 4 oz in 2 days, so I guess what we are doing is really working!! It's nice to see the start of a little bit of pudge on her cheeks! She is still the farthest thing from a chunky monkey, but we are on our way and I am trying to convince myself that we will be in those 0-3 month clothes very soon!! And just for kicks, I put her in the smallest 0-3 month dress I could find in her closet today. She looked so cute and it was nice to finally see her in something other than preemie pj's and onesies! She was still swimming in the outfit, but I had to take a couple pics just for fun! I really hate that she had the binky in some of them, but it's all I could do to stop her from crying! So far, she is proving to be a baby that doesn't like to get her picture taken....she better get used to it because she has me for a mom and I love to go crazy with my camera!! =)

{FINALLY.....}

.....here are pics of Zoe's room!! I have been waiting a while to post these...mostly because I was waiting for the bumper to arrive since it was on back order for 6 weeks!!! I am so glad it has finally arrived because it has completed the look of her princess room!! I just love her room because I just LOVE pink right now!! =) I think it turned out really cute and I'm so glad that my mom was here to help me decorate...I could've never made it this cute all by myself!! =)

And here is my favorite part of the room...THE CLOSET!!! There are a TON of clothes in there, but poor Zoe can't wear any of them yet since she is too tiny! We are still in preemie diapers and preemie outfits! I only have about 8-10 preemie outfits, so we rotate through those every day...it's killing me that she has all these cute clothes and we can't play dress up yet!!

And I had to put a pic of Zoe in her crib because she just looked so tiny! But I think she really likes her new room...she was looking around and checking everything out!

{Zoe's 2 week check-up}

Unfortunately, we have had our fair share of doctor appts already with Zoe these past 2 weeks! Last week, I took her in for her newborn check and she weighed 5 lb 15 oz at the time! On Monday, I took her in again because she hadn't pooped in 3 days and since she was so new and so little, the nurse said we better bring her in! So on Monday, she still only weighed 5 lb 15 oz. The doc seemed a little concerned since she should have been going up by then and reaching close to her birth weight by 2 weeks! I knew she wasn't a big eater...she is just too sleepy and would rather sleep than eat! But I was kinda bummed to hear she hadn't gained any weight! The doc suggested that we try everything we can...switch formulas, switch bottles, use a faster flowing nipple and make sure to wake her EVERY 3 hours no matter what!!! Well, there was my slap on the wrist for letting her sleep the 7 hours at night that she wanted to sleep! The doc wanted us to do everything we could to keep her awake and make her eat 2 oz at every feeding!! Well, we did all of those things they suggested....it has been rought these past 48 hrs because we are definitely lacking in sleep and it's also hard to make the poor little girl eat when she doesn't want to!! Sometimes it takes us 45 minutes to get her to eat an ounce or two!!

Although it has been a rough 2 days, I am happy to say that our hard work has paid off!!! =) Zoe had another appt today because they wanted to check her weight again to make sure she was on the up this time! They wanted her to gain an ounce from Monday....and she gained 2 ounces!!! WOOHOO!!! She is now 6 lb 1 oz!! I never thought I would be so excited about someone gaining weight!! At least now we know that this is the trick and we have to stick with this schedule...hopefully she will get used to eating so much and won't be so sleepy during these feedings!!

We were supposed to go in on Friday for her 2 week appt, but the doc said we could do it today so I didn't have to come in again on Friday!! This was great news to me because as I was sitting in the room bribing Ayden with a sucker, telling him we would go to McDonald's for lunch if he was a good boy, and also trying to keep him from running out of the room....all while I was holding Zoe who was crying because she didn't want her clothes off while we waited for the doc to come again!! Ha...it's funny now, but it sure wasn't very funny while I was sitting there!! When we were walking out, one of the nurses commented that Ayden was a busy boy and wants to explore anything!! I told all the nurses and the doc that next appt, I would be getting a babysitter....told them I thought it would be best for ALL of us!! They got a good laugh out of that!

Anyway, Zoe was 19 1/4 in today (10th %) and 6 lb 1 oz (3rd %)!! Awww....what a tiny little girl!!! She couldn't be any farther from Ayden's measurements...he has been in the upper 90th % his entire life!!! They said she is probably gonna just be a little girl...no surprise to me since her birthmom is a cute, tiny, size 0 girl that was back in her pre pregnancy jeans 3 days after Zoe was born!! It's a good thing that she is not a boy...it would be hard to have such a little boy, but little girls are cute!! =) Everything else looked good on her...the doc said she was a really strong baby and she almost rolled over right there on the doctor's table!! Our only orders were to continue with the feeding schedule we are on and go back in on Friday and next Tuesday for weight checks!! Poor girl...she will have 5 visits to the doctor's office in her first 2 1/2 weeks of life!

{A New Bike!!!}

Jeremiah took the day off work yesterday and he went for a bike ride in the morning. I was trying to not let Ayden know he was leaving because we knew he would freak out when Jeremiah left him behind! Well, Ayden heard him in the garage and as soon as he found out his daddy was going for a bike ride, he went crazy! After Jeremiah left, Ayden cried and asked for "Ayden's bike" for at least a half hour! He doesn't even have a bike, so I kept asking him if he wanted to ride his scooter or his quad and he said no and he wanted his own bike! I had to tell him that we would go to the store and get him a bike just to get him to calm down! I guess he won that battle...I'm not sure if I gave in so easily because it was a really nice day out and I thought it would be fun for him to have a bike to ride or if I just felt sorry for Ayden since he has had to share the spotlight with Zoe this past week and a half!

I would have been fine with getting him a $30 bike at Wal-Mart, but Jeremiah was so not ok with that! He said, "no kid of mine is going to ride a cheapy Wal-Mart bike!!" That is the biker snob in him! So we had to go to the real bike store and we actually bought Ayden a $150 Specialized bike. Don't ask me why a kid that isn't even 2 years old needs such an expensive bike!!! It is so tiny, but Ayden and Jeremiah both love it because they have the same bikes!! It was so cute to see the two of them in the bike store...they definitely had a bonding moment as they looked at the 3 bikes that were just Ayden's size, rode them around the store to "test drive" them and searched for the perfect helmet! I don't know who was having a better time...Ayden or Jeremiah!?!?! I know that Jeremiah has been waiting for this day for a long time and he will love it even more when Ayden is big enough to actually go on bike rides with him!

Those two boys couldn't wait to get home and try out the new bike! In fact, Ayden rode the bike out of the store and to the car! I couldn't believe how BIG he looked...he looked like a 7 year old and was so cute! It was so cute to see Jeremiah helping him out in the front yard. Whatever the reason that we gave in to this idea so easily, it was so worth it to see the joy in Ayden's eyes and the smile on his face as he rode his very own brand new bike around the neighborhood!!

{"Bob Go Potty!!!"}

Ayden has learned a new trick in the last couple days! He has actually been trying to pull all kinds of tricks out of his bag this week, but this one has definitely caught our attention!! It started out that he wanted ALL of his clothes off. I thought it was cute that he wanted to run around the house in just his diaper...that is until I had to deal with him taking his clothes off at church, in the grocery store, at other people's houses, at the park, etc. He is now addicted to having his clothes off and tries to take them off wherever he is! Well yesterday, he took this one step further and learned how to take his diaper off! Now I know we are in trouble! He did this earlier in the week and of course it just so happened that it was after his nap and after a big POOP!!! Yeah, there was poop all over the carpet in his room!! NOT FUN!!!


At least now whenever he takes his diaper off, he insists on sitting on the potty! He says "Bob go potty" because his little potty that goes over the seat has Bob the Builder on it! He sits there, acts like he goes potty and then gets a whole roll of toilet paper and wipes himself! I'm not sure if this means that potty training is in our near future, but I hope so!! I don't know if I can handle this "take your diaper off every day" thing!! And putting a diaper on him is a MAJOR BATTLE!!! He does not want to wear a diaper at all!! I think he thinks he is a big boy now and doesn't need diapers anymore because we keep talking about what a big boy he is and he sees Zoe wearing a diaper, so he doesn't want one!! Oh brother...not sure how we are going to get through this one!!=) (sorry for the bathroom pics!!!)

The other thing he has been doing lately is wanting to wear a swim diaper instead of a real one! Poor kid...I know why he is doing this one! The week before Zoe was born, we started swim lessons at the Legacy Center. Ayden LOVED it and was a total fish in the water!! He had no fear and by the end of the week he was going down the BIG slides and jumping off the side of the pool and going under!! I was so excited that we were finally able to do swimming lessons...we had tried last summer, but our lessons were cancelled because of the nasty pool water problems they were having last summer! Well, poor Ayden only got to do 3 lessons because Zoe was born on Friday morning! He missed the whole 2nd week of lessons! And since then, every morning when he wakes up, he wants to put on his swim diaper, swim suit and his flip flops!! Not sure how we are going to make this one up to him, but I guess a few more trips to the pool this summer are in store!

{A "not so successful" photo shoot}

We had a really good night last night! Zoe slept from 12:30 am to 7:30 am and I even had to wake her up at 7:30 to eat!! She is definitely a good sleeper and likes her sleep! I hope that she is gaining weight and that when we go to her 2 week appointment on Friday the doctor doesn't scold me for letting her go so long without eating! I really think she just already knows what she wants because I can't get her to eat when it's not her idea! So we will just keep doing what we are doing until the doctor tells us to do otherwise!

So far we have a good morning routine going...Zoe wakes up about 7:30 am and I can feed her, change her and get her dressed before Ayden wakes up at 8:00 am! And this morning, the whole family was showered, dressed and had breakfast....and ready to go out the door by 9:00 am for our photo shoot! I was so proud of us for getting ready and out the door...not only on time, but EARLY!!!

We wanted to get newborn pics of Zoe and were so excited since we have the greatest photographer! He said that the best time was when babies are 1-2 weeks old so they will sleep through the whole thing and let you do whatever you want to them!! Zoe thought that was a joke and had a different plan in mind!! She was awake...and UPSET...through the entire thing!!! She wanted nothing to do with having her picture taken! She mostly had issues because she doesn't like to be undressed and really prefers to be wrapped tight in a blankie! Well, that wasn't making it easy to get some cute naked newborn pics! Ayden was being a grump and threw a fit also...I tried bribing him with his favorite "lion" and that only made things worse because we didn't actually have the lion there!!! (Oops....I guess I should've thought of that before I told him that if he was good he would get his lion!!) And we tried to get some of Ayden holding Zoe...that about gave me a heart attack because he almost dropped her every time!! Anyway...we got through the shoot with just a handful of pics, but none of Zoe close up since she was wide awake and not happy! We are hoping to get some more pics done when she is about 6 weeks and hopefully by then we can talk her and Ayden into cooperating! Here are a couple of the shots we did get...

{More pics...}

{Reality sets in!!!}

My mom left this morning...I have been dreading this day all week! Today is the day where reality is finally setting in and on my way home from the airport, I realized that I was outnumbered! I was alone in the front seat and Ayden and Zoe were in the back, luckily being very good (Ayden was watching a DVD and Zoe was sleeping). Otherwise, I might have had a breakdown and turned around to beg my mom to stay longer! =) I can't believe that we really have TWO KIDS!!! I know this is a look that I will quickly become very familiar with...a kid in each arm! Ayden is funny...he wants to be held every time one of us is holding Zoe! And if we are feeding her, then he wants his cup of milk! It's so cute to see how much he loves her and to hear him call her "my baby" all the time!!

With my mom gone, I realize that I will be outnumbered during the day until Jeremiah gets home from work, but I know it will get easier each day! And I am so grateful that I am not recovering from just giving birth! At least I feel great and am able to get around easily! I'm still not sure what I will do when I have to go to the grocery store or leave the house! I will probably be better off if I stay homebound as long as I can!! On the bright side, it is supposed to be warming up here this weekend which I am so excited about!!

Everything is going so great with Zoe!! She is such a good baby! She only woke up once last night...if life continues like this, we will have nothing to complain about! She is geting cuter and cuter every day and I am falling more in love with her! I forgot how many outfits a newborn goes through in one day...and how much laundry needs to be done! I think we are going on about 15 loads so far this week!!! WOW!!! She is so sweet and I love just holding her in my arms!! I know that she will be squirming and trying to run away from me before I know it, so I am going to soak all these moments in while I can!!

{A couple FIRSTS for Zoe!!!}

Today was a big day for Zoe!! She had her first outing since coming home from the hospital! We had a newborn appt with the doctor and he said everything is looking great so far! She is still only 5 lb 15 oz, but she is such a strong girl and is already lifting her head up! I also think she might be an early roller...she doesn't really like to lay flat on her back so she rolls to one side or the other and almost ends up on her tummy!! Our 2nd night at home went just as perfect as the first night! Zoe is the best sleeper so far...we only woke up once in the night to feed her and we had to set our alarm to wake her up! I sure hope that lasts and that she is a great sleeper!

After the doctor we had to go to the hospital to get her foot pricked to check her jaundice. She slept through that also and didn't even make a fuss when they were drawing blood! We are still yet to hear her cry since she was first born. Then we had to run to Target for a few things and get some more preemie outfits from baby Gap! She is so tiny that she just swims in anything that is not preemie!! She was so good all day and slept through all of our errand running!! It was so good to have my mom around to help...I don't know how those of you with 2 or more kids really go out of the house!! I don't know how I will function when my mom is gone and isn't there to chase Ayden around while I carry the baby carrier. I'm sure I will eventually get used to it!!

Tonight she had her first bath and I think she loved it! She didn't cry or fuss one bit! She looked so cute and tiny without any clothes on! I can't believe how much she has changed so far...it reminds me that time goes by so fast and I better stop and really enjoy this stage in her life!

Well, we feel like everything is a success so far...we have survived 3 days at home! =) Each day that passes I feel more and more blessed to have her here! I think it is finally starting to sink in that she is really ours and is here to stay!! We couldn't be more excited and we love her to death!!

Ayden is doing a little better...I'm sure he will get better and better with each passing day (or at least I hope so)! He keeps calling her "my baby" and he gets very concerned when he doesn't know where she is! He's gonna be such a great BIG BROTHER!!!

{Zoe Grace Smith}

{She is here!!!!}

I am SO excited to finally announce that ZOE IS FINALLY HERE!!! Here is the story...we went to bed on Thursday night and got a call shortly after from the birthmom. When I saw her name on my phone, my heart started pounding because I knew something was going on if she was calling me in the middle of the night! Her water broke and she was getting set up on Pitocin at the hospital. We got dressed and rushed to hospital! I laugh at the fact that we rushed to the hospital because we knew we were in for a long night of waiting...but like we could've been anywhere but there WAITING!!! I have thought this MANY times over the past couple days, but it is a good thing my mom was here so we could just leave Ayden in bed and not have to worry about him...we knew we would probably be at the hospital ALL night! We spent the whole night AWAKE hanging out with the birthmom (Lydia), birthdad and birthmom's sister in law (our friend Andrea). It was so great to have this time with them and get to know the birth father a little better. Lydia got an epidural shortly after getting to the hospital and it worked really well...she was comfortable the whole time and did such a great job!

With all of the bonding that we did that night in the hospital, I was THRILLED when Lydia asked me to be in the room when she had the baby! I was so sad that I missed Ayden's birth since he was born by C-section...I had a fear that I would never get the chance to see this, so I was so happy!! It was an amazing experience and I will never forget the moment she finally came out and let out her first cry...I will cherish that moment FOREVER!! She was beautiful and I fell in love right away!

She was born on Friday (April 4th) morning at 6:55 am after Lydia only pushed for 30 minutes! She was 6 lb 6 oz and 17 1/2 in long. She was the tiniest little thing!! We are so used to 8 and 9 lb babies being the norm in our family because of Ayden and my 3 nephews...so she was such a tiny thing! But we were so glad to finally have her here! The next couple days were pretty rough! We spent a lot of time in the hospital...Lydia was so great about letting us be there to see her and be involved! It was great to see them with her and see the love that they had for her...that is something that we will love sharing with her as she grows! What a lucky girl she is to have so many people love her!

It was so hard to see how difficult this decision was for the birth parents. We have been so overwhelmed with love for the two of them...how could we not be...if it wasn't for people like them that were willing to make sacrifices like this, we would never experience the joys of parenthood. After a stressful 48 hrs, we finally were able to do placement on Sunday morning. That was such an emotional experience and I learned so much about being strong and having faith from Lydia! She has been amazing through all of this! After placement, Lydia and Andrea came over to our house for brunch. We were so happy for this...it was great for her to see the baby here at our house...in her room...and being able to see where she was going to be and that she was going to be ok! It was such a bittersweet moment to finally have our little girl here, but to see this poor girl leaving someone she loved so much behind. We are so grateful to her and the birth father...they are amazing people and are so special to our family! I'm so glad that we were able to get so close to them and will be able to see them even more as Zoe grows.

Ayden isn't quite sure what is going on right now, but he knows that it is something that is not normal. He points at Zoe and says "baby" and he will give her a kiss on her head, but that's about all the attention he is giving her right now. He did try to give her a little toy which was really sweet. I'm sure he will get used to having her around and before we know it, they will be playing together outside! I must say that I am so glad to have had my mom here! She was supposed to go home on Friday night after already being here for a week, but after the baby was born on Friday morning, she just couldn't leave yet! It was nice for her to be here so we could go visit at the hospital when we needed to. She has been Ayden's mom, dad and Grammy this whole weekend! He is becoming spoiled rotten since Grammy has been giving him gum and a sucker every day! She has been here to feed him, get him dressed, and even wake up with him in the night! That's what moms are for and I'm so grateful to have had here for this whole experience! And not just for Ayden...her and Jeremiah have been here for me to calm me down during this stressful time! =)

I am just so glad that it is all finally over and we are able to soon start our daily routines with our new family of 4!! We feel so blessed to have another sweet child come to our family! When we had Ayden, we thought life couldn't get any better....and here it has! I'm amazed at the love that we have for another person...I thought I wasn't capable of loving anyone as much as I loved Ayden.

Zoe is doing great and saying that we survived our first night would make it sound like it was pretty rough!! That is not the case at all! She lost a little weight in the hospital and is down to 5 lb 14 oz...I just can't get over how TINY she is!! I haven't heard her cry since the second she came out! Even when she is hungry she doesn't cry! She seems really mellow right now (which is a nice relief for the moment since we are having to deal with Ayden's craziness)! =) Last night, we had to set our alarm every 4 hrs to wake her up to eat! It was a pretty easy night...hopefully they will all go like this! She is the sweetest thing ever and we are for sure in LOVE!! Jeremiah and I are fighting over who gets to hold her, feed her, sleep by her, etc!! This is such a fun time! I don't even think I have changed a diaper yet...Jeremiah has been right on top of that...even the poopy ones!! Well, as of now, life is great and I'm sure we will have more to post soon!