Merry Christmas Tree!

Yesterday was the day we got our Christmas tree!! Every year, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, we head to Urquart Christmas Tree Farm to pick our perfect tree, and every year we find it :-) I seriously love this place so much and it is one of our favorite family traditions of the season. And the best part of this year was that we had our sweet baby boy with us for the first time :-) We are now a family of four!!!

Brett loves riding out to the field in the big wagon! Such fun :-)

Running through all the trees, trying to find the perfect one :-)

My view with Camden :-)

My handsome big boy and I standing next to the tree we picked out.

I loved having a stroller to push this year :-) 

After finding our tree, we went inside the country store to get hot chocolate and cookies - yum! 

Then when we got home, it was time to put up the tree!!

And voila! Our Merry Christmas Tree :-)

My boys :-)

Sometimes I feel like I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I've hoped and dreamed of giving Brett a sibling for so long and it's hard to believe that dream has come true! And really, I don't think I could be happier :-) Brett has transitioned into his role of a big brother so smoothly and is so helpful and compassionate towards Camden that it just melts my heart. One of the first days home from the hospital, when Camden was crying, Brett ran to get one of his books and starting reading to him. That was one of my favorite moments yet. He looked at me and said "I don't want him to be sad. I think we should read him a story!" and then off he went to get one of the books he could read himself :-) Those little gestures have continued and I can already imagine what their future bond will look like.....Brett as the protective, exciting, cool big brother, teaching him new things all the time -  and Camden as the sweet, bright eyed, curious little brother who lights up when his big brother is around.

Look at that sweet face! So proud to say he is all mine!

A proud big brother watching over his little brother. Truly priceless.

My new life. Watching over both my boys :-)

Oh how I love you Brett Zachary and Camden James!!! 

Both of my boys are such a gift, a gift that I will hold close to my heart forever. 

Halloween!

A few hours before I went into labor we were out trick or treating for Halloween! This was definitely the coldest Halloween that we can remember since Brett was born, and by cold I really mean FREEZING!! We barely made it around the block, or should I say Kyle and I barely made it around the block. Brett, on the other hand, wasn't fazed at all....until his bucket was full of candy and he was ready to come home to look through it all!

And he's off...

We always love seeing our neighbors along the way!

Carolyn the Peacock was ready to go!

Here Brett is catching snowflakes on his tongue! Yes, you read that right. I told you it was freezing out!

After trick or treating, Jack the Ninja Python and Hazel the Unicorn came inside to warm up for a few minutes. Such cuties!!

Despite the cold, we had a great time celebrating Halloween for the last time as a family of three. I can't believe that next year we will have two boys to find costumes for and take trick or treating!

Camden James is here!!

Our sweet baby boy, Camden James, is here! He was born on November 1st at 11:32am at St. Joe's hospital. I had this gut feeling that he would be early, partly because Brett was born at 38 weeks, and partly because I started having regular braxton hicks contractions very early in my 3rd trimester. At one point, when I was about 34 weeks, I went into big time nesting mode, making sure every thing was in place and ready to go because I thought he was going to be on his way SOON. Fortunately, he didn't come that early....but he came as early as he could to still be considered "full term" - 37 weeks! All along we had told Brett that his baby brother would be born sometime after Halloween, and I kept telling Camden to wait until 37 weeks so he wouldn't be considered premature. Well, day one of 37 weeks, and one day after Halloween, he made his debut into the world! The nurses told us that if he had come just one day earlier we would've had to stay in the hospital longer and he would've needed certain tests to be done before he could go home. So thankful he waited that extra day because we would've gone crazy if we had to stay in the hospital more than 24 hours!

I was very lucky to have another smooth labor, lasting only 9 hours! It all started around 1:45am on November 1st when I was laying in bed half asleep and my water broke! Excitement came over me as I knew that within 24 hours we would finally be meeting our baby boy (since doctors don't let you go longer than that when your water breaks). I woke Kyle up and dialed the on call nurse who told me that if my contractions weren't painful and I was still feeling steady movement from the little one that we could go back to sleep and come to the hospital around 7am. Yeah right! As soon as I got off the phone, I started worrying that I wasn't feeling Camden move enough, plus within an hour my contractions really picked up. They weren't painful yet, but coming steadily, so we called my parents to come over and were off to the hospital around 3am. It was a much smoother ride this time around since I wasn't in crazy pain like I was with Brett! We checked in when we got to St. Joe's and waited around for a few minutes until the nurse was ready for me in Triage. Since I wasn't in too much pain yet, they sure took their time! The nurse checked to make sure my water really had broke (which it had) and how dialated I was (4 cm)....we then waited some more until they finally took us to the birthing room about an hour later, My contractions really started to pick up and because they were coming so regularly, I didn't need any Pitocin. It was such a good feeling to know that my body was doing exactly what it was suppose to and didn't need any help. I was able to breathe through my contractions for quite a while, but finally, probably a couple hours before it was time to push, I was ready for the epidural. Unfortunately, it only seemed to work on the right side so I still felt some pain, but it was much more bearable than before, Then, before I knew it, I was fully dialated and it was time to push! You would think the worst part of pushing would be the pain...but that I could handle. It was the severe nausea that made it extremely difficult. It was awful and took everything in me to continue to push and breathe through it...but I did it! And just like that, our healthy baby boy was in my arms! Such a miracle!! Like Brett, he had trouble breathing at first so the pediatric doctors rushed in to give him oxygen and help him along. I kept hearing everyone say that his heart rate and color were great....it was just his breathing that needed a jump start. It was scary, but I somehow felt peace that he would be okay....and thankfully he was :-) Once his breathing was better, I finally got to really snuggle my perfect, beautiful baby boy. 

Hello World!

Proud daddy holding his son for the first time :-)

My mom and Camden :-)

My dad and Camden :-)

A couple hours after Camden was born, we moved to our room in the Mother/Baby area of the hospital. And soon after that, my parent's brought Brett in to meet his baby brother for the first time. Unfortunately, most of the pictures taken during his visit are on my brother's camera (and he hasn't sent them to me yet) but we did get a couple family shots with our camera before he left. 

Our first pictures as a family of FOUR!

Brett was excited to show off his new Lego Camper Van that he got as a big brother gift :-)

My best friend Rachel meeting Camden for the first time :-) 

Sound asleep...

Camden latched immediately and has been a champion nurser since! This special time with him is priceless.

So happy to have him here!!

Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, Kathi and Jen, we came home on Sunday to balloons, streamers, and this sign decorating our front porch :-) We were exhausted but so happy to be home with both our boys. Finally... our family is complete and we couldn't be more grateful! You were well worth the wait, Camden James!