{ 4 weeks } ::

{ Sydney Adele :: 4 weeks old } 

 little miss Sydney is 4 weeks today! 4 weeks! time sure does fly when you're having fun! she is such a little doll. she's sweet and snuggly and just mmmmmm oh so yummy! 

 At 4 weeks little miss... 

 SLEEPS! and SLEEPS...and SLEEPS! we are lucky to have her awake a 4-5 hours a day, somedays we are lucky and get her awake a little longer. 

at her 2 week check up she was already 10 pounds! 

she loves to be held and snuggled. 

she has the sweetest coo's and we love it when she talks to us. 

she has the best smiles! i'm pretty sure she is the most smiley late at night when it's time to eat. 

she loves hearing her very loud brother, there's been a few times that she has been a little fussy and brody will come charging in the room roaring or whatever and she calms right down. 

she loves him and oh my he LOVES her! 

 she does very good with brody petting her, laying on her, putting toys on her, endless kisses and him attempting to catapult her out of her bouncy seat. 

she's a great little eater and eats around 3-4 ounces every time she eats. 

she's already growing out of some of her 0-3 month outfits. 

we've taken her on a few little outings and she sleeps the whole time, and she likes her car seat, which is heaven sent, because brody was the complete opposite and would scream bloody murder when he was put in his seat, so yay for Sydney! 

she has the most amazing, soft, fluffy hair! pictures don't do it justice. 

 we think she is gorgeous, beautiful and perfect! and oh my goodness we love her oh so much! 

 we love you sydney!!

{ let it snow } ::

Let it snow indeed... we've had a few little snow storms in the past week - and we've enjoyed it! we have a perfect little hill in our backyard perfect for sledding. nothing like having a little snow to have fun in, and then it just melts away....that's my kind of storm. but at least if it is going to be cold, it snows and we can play in it, and then come in and drink lots of hot chocolate with marshmallows! just sayin! 

{ back in 2012 } ::

a few last favorites of mine from 2012...

 1. celebrated Thanksgiving day playing in the leaves & having yummy little mayflower treats at each of our plates for Thanksgiving dinner

 2.  Thanksgiving treats i made for tyson's co-workers & tyson and brody went fishing on Thanksgiving Day

 3. we went to a christmas tree lighting at the our outdoor mall & the view of Fall Leaves on our way into the  doctors for one of my check-ups. 

 4. went to the park one saturday afternoon to look for some pine cones and ended up hanging out enjoying the warm sun & dinner at Costco and ice cream for dessert. yum!

5.  a fun trip to the children's museum & tyson and brody always came with me to my doctors appointments to hear "baby sisters" heart beat, this was just one of the times we were waiting for the doctor to come in, so brody was getting his "check-up". 

 6.  my brother jeremy came to visit us for a weekend at the beginning of december, which was so much fun! & we went to Williamsburg, we had a blast. 

 7. another one of us in Williamsburg & we took jeremy to one of our favorite park Maymont

 8. putting up our christmas tree & catching lady bugs

 9. 36 weeks & brody and his imagination riding his roller coaster 

 10. a little evening stop for donuts one night

 11. ready to go to tyson's christmas work party (brody took our picture) & we did an "elf in training" party with friends of ours for our kiddos. our house was used for "cookie decorating". so fun!

12. 38 weeks & i went to a "favorite things" party and came home with lots of fun things!

 13. flying airplanes & brody got a watch at the dollar store that he thought was the coolest thing ever, awe the simply things in life!

14. the three of us going through the car wash, brody loves going through the car wash & tyson and brody taking a break from playing

15. belly shot & brody being spiderman one morning, because why wouldn't you want to be spiderman!

 16. our family tradition of St. Nic read about it here & getting our christmas painting craft on!

 17. Merry Christmas! & Brody with his new train set 

{ welcome to the world : Sydney Adele Crowther } ::

January 3rd 2013 

at 8:33 am 

our world changed forever

  

8 pounds 14 ounces 21 inches of perfection 

Sydney Adele is the most beautiful girl we've ever seen!

 

It was love at first sight. My bond with this girl was undeniable from the beginning. All 40 weeks and 6 days, and all the sickness (all first 24 weeks) I felt while pregnant was completely and totally worth it, I know that I was not complete without her. Sydney was meant for our family, and we are so happy that she made it here safe and sound.

Wednesday january 2nd at 4pm i got checked in to labor and delivery for my induction. we got all checked in and settled in our room. of course i got the kindest, nicest nurses ever! bless there hearts, i loved them. i loved having my mom with me. i laid in my bed and she and i just got to talk and talk, while my nurse did paperwork etc. finally around 6:00 pm the doctor came in and started the induction. that was easy! he said it could take up to 4 hours for anything to start up, so they would just keep an eye out on me.

 my first nurse shift ended and then i had seriously the next best nurse ever from then on. after i had the induction started, tyson brought brody to see me. one last time before we were about to have an amazing change to our family. we all know that i love brody with ever fiber of my body! so saying goodnight was hard for me. my first little love he will always be. but i was so full of love and excitement for him to meet his baby sister he had so eagerly and patiently been waiting for. he and i were both ready for this! that in itself was such a great feeling. 

after hanging out for a while, tyson took brody home and got him ready for bed, my friend sarah came to the house while tyson came and picked up my mom and she went home for the night. tyson came back to the hospital and hung out with me. everything was still looking great and baby sister was looking "amazing and comfy" as the nurses liked to say. they wanted me to get some sleep, so they gave me some medicine to help with putting me to sleep. i had tyson leave around 11 pm to go home and get some sleep. we live really close to the hospital, so i figured he'd at least get some good sleep. i totally fell right to sleep after he left.

i woke up at 3:30 with a really bad contraction. i was able to fall back sleep with the first few, but they were getting pretty strong. i got up and used the bathroom and walked my room for just a minute before laying back down. i decided if the next few contractions were just as bad i would call for my nurse. well she must have known something, because minutes later she came in to check on me. it was around 3:50 am, and she gave me some medicine in my i.v. to help with the pain. my nurse had told me that we didn't want to get the epidural too soon if we could help it because we really had no idea when baby sister would arrive. but after the medicine i was given only lasted like 15 minutes, my nurses called in for the epidural. yay! because it was seriously so painful. i never felt pain like that with brody. so i was totally ready. my nurse asked if me if i wanted her to call tyson to come for when i got the epidural, i told her don't call him as long as she promised to let me hold her hand, and she replied "sweet heart i will snug on you". that's love. and snug on me she did. i got my epidural around 4:30 am, they had me lay on my side for my epidural, the anesthesiologist was super nice and so good! my nurse totally held onto me, they let me cry and my nurse and anesthesiologist talked together while it all happened. it actually was perfect. i had a few more hard contractions and then the epidural kicked in and everything was blissful! 

my nurse checked me and i was dilated to a 4. so at 5:00 am my nurse gave me a small dose of pitocin. she told me to just relax and if for some reason my water were to break to let her know and she would come back and check on me. i fell back to sleep but then at around 6:30 am i was pretty certain my water had broken, my nurse came in and sure enough it had. by 7:15 am she told me to call Tyson and tell him to come to the hospital, because we were going to have a baby within the hour. by 7:30 am Tyson was with me. we were so excited! my nurse kept checking me and baby sister was totally ready. she kept asking me if i felt like i needed to push and i said no. but by around 8:20 am i was feeling ready. we were just waiting for my doctor to come. i love my doctor so i was so happy he was the one doing the delivery. we were all ready and just waiting for a contraction and he told me to push and to just keep pushing, so i just had to stop and catch my breath and with 3 pushes our little Sydney Adele joined us! it was so nice and easy! it was one of the most special experiences. even though it all happened so fast, it was so clam and really relaxing. tyson followed the nurses to watch Sydney get all cleaned and weighed. then tyson brought her to me. 

I am obsessed with this little girl. I knew i needed her, but just never knew how much I needed her until I got her and now I couldn't live without her.

 

 we ened up staying in labor and delivery for hours, due to me having a lovely blood hemorrhage. i ended up being fine, but it was pretty crazy. they hooked me up with lots of shots, and drugs and i was good to go. once the bleeding was under control and the nurses and my doctor were keeping an eye out for me, my mom and brody came to see us and baby Sydney. brody melted my heart, he sat down to hold her and the first thing he said was "let's take her home". he adores her like no other. i love him so much and i knew this whole experience was going to be just as great for him. i kinda didn't know it was possible for me to love him even more, but seeing him with his baby sister makes my heart swell a million times more for him! and it was pretty special for my mom to meet her first granddaughter too.

we all snugged up on our new bundle of love until about 3 pm when we headed over to post partum for the rest of our stay. my hospital stay with Sydney was really good. besides the night before leaving, they kept coming to check on us and take her for different checkups, but i did enjoy most of the quietness and having nothing to do but hold and spend time with my little beauty. all day friday my mom stayed with me and we loved up on are little nugget of yummy goodness. i enjoyed just having that time with my mom and my Sydney! it was also fun to have brody and tyson come join us during different parts of the day as well. and saturday morning we all got to come home.

Having babies has made me a firm believer in Heaven. Where else can these perfect little angels be from?! 

 There is nothing like having your child placed in your arms for the very first time. The rush of unconditional love, amazement and happiness is so overwhelming and so powerful, I can't think of a better feeling in this life. And the fact that I get to experience all of this with my best friend, favorite person, Tyson, makes it all just that much sweeter.

Coming home was so nice. i was so happy to be home and have all of us together. brody greeted his sister with kisses and toys. it's been so wonderful having this sweet little angel in our home. we love her so much. and couldn't feel more blessed and lucky to have this sweet experience!

{ before Sydney } ::

before our little love came and joined us...my due date was December 28th but let's be honest there is never guarantee baby is really going to come on the actual date. i was super worried she was going to come on Christmas. which would have been fine, but i was just going to feel so bad leaving brody with friends of ours on Christmas! so i was praying that she would stay nice and comfy inside of me! who knew she really was super comfy! well, we got lucky and had an amazing Christmas and baby sister stayed inside, woohoo! 

i asked my mom to fly in on the Wednesday December 26th, i almost felt like i was trying to hold her in till my mom got here. we were so happy to have her here and it was such a relief knowing that brody would have her with him when the time came to go to the hospital. i am so grateful to her and all she did for us and me! 

i went to the doctors the next day, Thursday December 27th for one last check up. my doctor had scheduled an induction for me that evening "if" i was dilated. well i went to my check up and i was still not dilated at all. so my doctor and i called off the induction. i was kinda disappointed but was certain she would be here by Saturday if not Sunday by the latest. but just in case another doctors appointment was scheduled for Wednesday January 2nd. 

well the next day the Friday December 28th was the official due date and i made it to the 40 weeks. still feeling great and all, but really ready to have a baby! so we started to take action into our own hands. i ate so much spicy food it was ridiculous, i ate whole raw jalapeno peppers, my mom and tyson did pressure points on me, mom and i walked the mall for hours and took walks around our neighborhood. sometimes i would have super strong contractions but they would never last. by late Sunday night December 30th, i decided i was ready to try Castor oil. so mom and i ran over to Walmart and picked up the very last bottle of Castor oil they had. i thought it was a sign! the last bottle saved just for me! so we came home and i swallowed 3 tbs. of Castor oil. it wasn't terrible. i plugged my nose and just downed it. the after taste, tasted like chap stick. not as bad as I've heard it to be. so the only thing left to do was wait. i had some cramps and some contractions throughout Sunday night which made me hopeful, and by the Monday morning December 31st still nothing! 

so by this point i couldn't take it any longer. i called my doctor and asked if i could come in and get checked. they fit me in and an hour later i was in the doctors office with my mom. they hooked me up to the stress test machine and baby girl was looking great and comfy, and i was having a bunch of contractions but not really feeling anything. my doctor came in and checked me and i was certain i had to be dilated to something and once again, nothing! seriously? so we set up an induction for Wednesday evening, January 2nd. the nurses hoped that I'd be back to the hospital that night to have the 1st new years baby, ha! yeah that didn't' happen. 

so we went along our way and just enjoyed the time we had together, before our lives changes for the better! we celebrated the new year by watching the ball drop and then going to sleep. super exciting, huh? and New Years day we decided to go bowling, eat out and get frozen yogurt. good times were had, but we were all super ready to have a baby! my mom had already been with us for almost a week, and it had been so wonderful to have her all to ourselves, brody got lots of grandma time, and lucky for me we got in some fun girl time before our most precious baby girl was to join us(ah,I tear up just thinking about how happy I am that sydney is ours). but i knew my mom was also ready to hold a baby too! time was ticking and she only had one more week with us. well Wednesday morning came and still no baby, so we knew we'd be going in for the induction. yay! it was actually a really great day! we spent the morning getting things organized and packed, tyson was told to leave work and come home and spend time with us, we all took brody to the children's museum, and then finally around 3:30 pm tyson gave me a wonderful blessing and then we all headed to hospital for my induction. tyson dropped my mom and i off and i said goodbye to tyson and brody. they went on man date for a while before coming back to the hospital to see us later that evening. my mom and i got checked into labor and delivery. i can't express enough how grateful i was to have my mom with us. it was so nice knowing she could be with me and with both brody and tyson. it really helped me enjoy the whole experience. now the only thing left was to wait for baby sydney!

(my mom painted my toes, and brody wanted his painted too...no worries we took the paint off. ha!)

{ 1 Week } ::

(miss sydney adele @ 1 week old) 

 this little love of ours is 1 week old today! It has been one of the best weeks ever! crazy to think that in her first week of life we were in the hospital having her and then coming home with her and now having her here with us all the time. she is such a dream and we all just can't get enough of her. 

 at one week our little miss sydney...

 sleeps 3-4 hours at time, eats and then goes right back to sleep for another 3-4 hours and then repeats it all over again and again. and sometimes goes for 2-3 hours again and again. her longer stretches are at night.

 she loves her sponge baths and her cord fell off her belly button yesterday, so i am sure she is going to love the bath tub. with brody we would blow dry him after his baths and he loved it. well looks like baby sister loves it too. 

she is a great eater! 

 she loves to be cuddled and have her hair and face petted. 

she got lots of loves from her grandma nicholes who came to help take care of her. 

we took her to the doctors for her first check up appointment at 4 days old. she looks perfect and came in weighing 8 lbs 13 ounce. just one ounce off from her birth weight. 

 last night and today she's been super smiley and giggling in her sleep. cutest thing ever! 

 she puts up great with her big brother loving on her every minute he can, with millions of kisses, hugs, petting, holding, touching her. he simply adores her! 

she probably gets at least 5,000 kisses and snuggly hugs a day, we just can't help ourselves! 

she's just so sweet we love her oh so much!

{ hello baby! } ::

 

 Sydney Adele Crowther 

Born at 8:33 am 

 8 pounds 14 ounces 21 inches long 

 we are all doing great and so in love!