Cameron turns 1 Month

As usual a month flew by and you are growing like a weed. Your schedule seems pretty regular, it's almost like you Babywised yourself on your own. Wake, Sleep, Eat. That's been our routine for the last month and it's been great. I love when things are predictable. Of course that's not always the case, otherwise it would just be too easy. You have your fussy times or when you just don't want to be put down, but I still consider you a super calm baby. You had a few nights where you went 4 to 5 hours between feedings, but I am still waiting for you to sleep through the night. I think you are heading in that direction and in another month I'll actually get 5-7 hours of solid sleep! You are a very easy going baby, you hardly fuss, unless you're hungry or tired. You like your pacifier, and usually want it when going to sleep and you started off not really wanting to be swaddled, but now if we don't do it, you wake up. You make the funniest grunt noises. For a while your grunts sounded like a laugh or a chuckle, it's like there is a little man inside a body of a baby. I certainly don't remember Sascha ever grunting like that. Every so often in your sleep you smile, usually to one side, I love watching you sleep, you look so peaceful. You are starting to track things with your eyes. You are definitely able to focus better on us or random objects that catch your attention. You love being held and carried in the Ergo carrier and unlike Sascha you love baths!

Your stats at 1 month:

Length: 22 inches - 63%

Weight: 9 lbs 14 oz - 28%

Head circ: 14.5 inches - 19%

We had our friend Vanessa come out to take pictures of you when you were just 10 days old.

I just love these photos of you. So handsome already...

With big sister Sascha

Pure happiness to have this little guy join our family

Sascha's 3rd Birthday

For Sascha's birthday we decided to take her to Legoland. We had a blast! She had a great time too :) and Cameron was such a good baby the whole time we were there. We went on many rides and you loved most of them. There was only one ride that you didn't like and cried on. It was a helicopter ride... which is really funny because you also screamed like crazy when we took you on a helicopter ride at the Del Mar Fair when you were 1 and half years old. You must have something against helicopters. One of your favorites was the big pirate play gym area with nets to climb in, obstacle areas, and slides to go down. I think Daddy might have had even more fun following you up, down, and around the structure. I even got to chase after you a little bit while we switched off watching baby brother.

It was so fun to spend the day together especially when the place was so empty and we didn't have to stand in line for any of the attractions. Just walked right up and got on. We also had your face painted your choice of pattern. You excitedly selected the hearts with wings and stars as you sat quietly in the chair until the girl was finished with it, and then you looked in the mirror to see how it turned out. You didn't really react, but when I asked you if you liked it you said yes. Of course, you looked very pretty.

After we were done with Legoland, we went to Islands for dinner where Baba, Deda, Inna and Aaron met us. You opened their gifts, but had to wait until later to play with them. All you wanted to eat was french fries for dinner, and then we had ice cream cake which you really loved. The whole day was all about you, just the way we planned. Of course baby Cameron came along and you gave him lots of hugs and kisses as always.

Hanging out with Bob the builder!

On a ride with Daddy

You were Fearless... I was actually nervous when you went down this long steep slide

At dinner

Blowing out your candles

Our adorable baby munchkin... really not a baby anymore, but will always be my baby!

First Hair Cut

I finally took you to get your first hair cut. I figured it was time, being a week away from your 3rd birthday. You hair has been pretty difficult to brush, the ends have gotten super thin and get easily tangled, so at times you just refuse to have your hair brushed and I end up putting it up in a pony tail the way it is.

So I took you to Bambinos - a hair cut place for kids. They didn't cut off too much, just made it the same length and put small layers in so that it's a bit easier to brush, although it does seem like your hair is a lot shorter now. They also taught me a cute little hair trick to keep hair out of your eyes without clips which end up sliding off. You were such a trooper the whole time, didn't resist or cry. You sat in the little car and pretended to drive with the wheel or you watched Ice age on the TV that they had in front of you. I must say that I got a little sad watching them cut your hair. You are getting so big, and I really don't know where the time goes, it made me tear up. Once we were all done, you got a loli pop and I got a cool little "my first haircut" certificate with some of the hair that they cut off and we were on our way home.

You watched very carefully as she put ribbons in your hair

Such a little trooper!

Life with 2 kids

So we are settling into our new routines with 2 kiddos. It can definitely be a challenge at times, but it's really not too bad. Of course I am super lucky and get to have time with just me and Cameron throughout the day since Sascha is in preschool, and I actually feel bad when she goes, but on the other hand she loves it there and she's learning a lot. She's gotten much better at recognizing colors, and letters, and she talks like a little person now. The things she says crack us up. She is such a little ham at times.

Here are a few scenarios:

In the morning getting a bagel for breakfast from daddy...

Daddy: do you want cream cheese on your bagel?

Sascha: yes

after he puts cream cheese on...

Sascha: No cream cheese!

Daddy: What do mean? What do you want on it then? Strawberry Jam?

Sascha: Yes, jam

after jam goes on the bagel...

Sascha: No jam!

Daddy: What? You are ridiculous!

Sascha: No, you are ridiculous!

We found you in the morning without a diaper. You apparently have taken it off yourself, which has happened before, but not in a while.

So we ask: Why did you take your diaper off?

Sascha: Because I am tired of it!

Haha, now if I can just limit your water in the evening time, you won't really need it. We've seen you have a completely dry diaper in the morning a few times, but we're not quite there yet as far as letting you go without one all the time.

You have the same answer when we ask why you didn't eat your carrots for lunch or why you don't want to do something. You look up and say "Because I am tired of it". Where do you get this stuff?

Also we forget that you are a little sponge and repeat EVERYTHING! Daddy saw an ant crawling on our countertop and yelled "There is a freaken ant right there!" in frustration because he spent half his morning trying to exterminate them. Apparently they didn't get the memo and decided to come back to our kitchen in the evening, so he yelled it out without thinking. Sascha immediately repeated it, and we were rolling on the ground laughing. Of course because of this reaction, she kept repeating it over and over until we managed to pull ourselves together and distract you.

Randomly you say:

"Yay, I am going to Hawaii, Yay!" which is a funny skit line from Crank yankers... Hilarious! We have no idea where you got this from!

Also a favorite is the word "Later". We'll ask you to do something or pick something up, and you'll look right at us, and say "I will do that later" with a little head bob and intonation on the word "later". As if I asked her to do something really difficult.

The other funny thing she's said is "I am too big!" Once again we'll ask her to help with a puzzle and she'll say "No, mommy do it... I am too big!" hahaha... you mean you're too small?

She requested that daddy stop singing "old McDonald song" the other night. She tapped him and said "Daddy, No more Old McDonald... I am too big" It was said in a very gentle way... like sorry daddy I know you will be sad about this, but I don't want you to sing that to me anymore.

Sascha has been super sweet to her baby brother. She says good night to him every night and loves to give him hugs and kisses. It is just the sweetest thing to watch. She gives him stickers and some of her toys too. It melts my heart every time I see them together.

Cameron has been a great little baby so far. He's already 2 weeks old! He's eating well. We're around 7 feedings a day. Night time has gotten a bit easier since he went from every 2 and half hours between feedings to 3-4 hours. I am hoping, that number will keep growing so that i can get some solid sleep. Daddy goes back to work in less than week, so things are going to get a little more busy. It's been nice having him at home to help out.

I love staring at him, or have him lay on my chest. He is just so precious... and I feel so incredibly lucky to be home with this little guy. All the hard work aside, there is just nothing more precious than a sweet little newborn.

It's thanksgiving week, and I am so thankful for my beautiful family. More thankful than I have ever been.

Cameron Michael Lewis has Arrived!

My doctor called me Tuesday, November 9th, to let me know that a spot had opened up the next day to have me induced. I was excited! We were able to wrap things up at home, go out to dinner one last time as a family of 3, make arrangements for who will be taking care of Sascha (Grandpa and Grandma Lewis saved the day), and we were at the hospital the next day at 7am. Surprisingly I even got sleep that night, and I wasn't that nervous. I guess I felt ready...

We arrived at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, got checked in, and were shown to our room. Our nurse Kelly was super sweet, so we knew we were in good hands.

Once we got settled in, they attempted to put in my IV to draw blood as well as administer an antibiotic, but once again my veins did not cooperate. I got poked 3 times, and on the 4th time they just did it in my hand.

I had some contractions on my own (the ones I've been feeling all last week), but once I was on Pitosin, they started to get more regular and more real. Dr. Nguyen checked in on me in the morning and then again at 11:15 to break my water. That was really not very pleasant. She said the baby was super low which is why it was so uncomfortable. I was only 2-3 cm. 15 minutes later contractions got a lot more intense. I got an epidural an hour after my water broke and felt much better by 1pm. They checked me once again and I was around 3-4cm. It seemed like things were moving a little slow. Well, half an hour later after I was feeling really good (and we even watched an episode of Seinfield on the laptop), and I started to feel my contractions again. They had me push the button 4 times which was the max for the hour, but I was not feeling any better. So the anesthesiologist came back to give me some stronger stuff. I was so numb in my legs and feet, but I still felt the contractions which was weird, they were tolerable, but very close together. They checked me again and I was 10cm at 3:30. Wow, no wonder I was feeling those contractions! He was ready to come out.

My doctor seemed to appear in our room almost instantly and said "Well, lets have a baby!" That's when it hit me. I am about to meet my baby boy. I immediately got very emotional and Jeromey grabbed ahold of my hand to reassure me that everything was going to be perfect. I remember at that time I stopped feeling all the contractions, or may be I was just so overwhelmed that I stopped noticing them. Once everything was ready to go they had to tell me when to push since I no longer had any idea if I had a contraction or not. Lucky for me, Cameron was out in just 2 pushes! Sascha was out in 3, and Cameron in 2. These babies seem to just jump out of me which is so awesome because I know so many people who have to push for hours. I definitely feel extra lucky to have them out so quickly. Hopefully that means quicker recovery.

They immediately placed him on my chest and that's where tears came pouring out... my tears. There he was crying on my chest, a perfectly healthy baby boy. Could we be any happier? We are the lucky parents to another little baby! He stayed on me for a little while longer and the nurse cleaned him off a bit and made him cry some more so that he would get some color and less purple.

He came out at 3:55pm November 1oth (His birthday is 11/10/10 which is kind of a fun date) and weighed in at 7 lbs, 3 oz, and 20 inches long. Sascha actually came 9 days before her due date, and Cameron had his birthday 9 days before my due date of the 19th. Little brother was over a pound heavier!

Now onto the name, which we've been deciding on for the last 9 months. We had such a hard time with it. We finally picked Cameron to have a "C" name after Jeromey's grandfather Carl, but the middle name we kept going back and forth on between Michael and my maiden name Rendler. We waited another day at the hospital until we finally came to a decision. We ended up going with Michael after my grandfather as well as my dad. Rendler would have been really great too as well as unique since my dad was the only child and had 2 girls, we thought it would have been cool to have Cameron have that middle name and it would be more unique, but ultimately we decided to go with Cameron Michael.

Back to the delivery... since I got super numb right before the actual delivery, I was not able to get up right away. I had to wait until the evening when the epidural finally wore off. We got some visitors that evening. Unfortunately Baba came down with bronchitis and could not be there, but we had lots of other visitors including Deda who was there 15 minutes after Cameron was born and later Inna & Aaron came, as well as Grandpa who brought big sister Sascha over to meet her little brother Cameron.

Sascha walked in looking bewildered. She started to look even more worried when she saw me in the hospital bed and then saw the IV in my hand. I wonder if it brought back bad memories of her stay in the hospital a few months ago. I tried to reassure her that the IV doesn't hurt, but then just ended up trying to hide it under the sheets so that she would focus on something else. Grandpa Dave took her to the store to pick out a gift for Cameron - it was a superman rubber ducky, while we had brought a small gift to the hospital to give to her from baby brother. Another big gift was waiting for her at home... yes daddy likes to spoil his little girl. She was thrilled to open it, it was all the Mickey playhouse characters in a box. After a little while Sascha was back to her smiley self and even wanted to hold her baby brother all by herself.

We stayed at the hospital 2 nights. You did really well and hardly ever cried. The diaper changes were a bit hard since we're not used to changing a boy. You would soak your clothes and we didn't notice it each time. We had to be really careful since you got circumcised and you can say we were a bit paranoid trying not to touch the area.

The pediatrician was also able to order an ultrasound of your kidneys while we were at the hospital, (I was very pleased because I really didn't want to take you to Children's hospital for this) since that's what was recommended based on some of the measurements they took during the 28 week ultrasound and the VUR history with Sascha. We finally heard about the results 5 days later and everything looks normal and checked out ok. What a relief to know we won't have to go through the same thing and hopefully never have to think about it again.

We stayed the 2nd night mainly to make sure that your jaundice was under control. Apparently the interaction between our blood types (A-) which is daddy blood type, and mine which is (O+), has a higher risk of jaundice and it peaks on the 3rd day. On Friday, they pricked your little foot again and the level was safe so we were good to go home.

Calm and sleepy baby

A mommy to two kids!

Daddy thrilled to have a little boy!

Time to go home!

Halloween, Pumpkin Patch and other Festivities

We finally made it to a pumpkin patch this year. We did not make it to our usual Bates Nut Farm, but we did go to one closer to our house. There were still lots of great opportunities for pictures, the place just wasn't as big and exciting as Bates Nut Farm, but I am sure we'll return there next year when I am not pregnant and have a lot more energy.

Halloween Festivities lasted the whole week. We carved pumpkins one night. Sascha's preschool had a special pumpkin patch treat for them and I was able to come and volunteer and watch her have a great time doing all the activities that they had set up for them. They also had a dress up day Friday before Halloween and a little parade for parents to take pictures. Since she absolutely loves Mickey's playhouse show, we knew she would love to be Minnie, so that was her costume this year. In dance class she also dressed up and then of course on actual Halloween day. She was very excited to put her costume on, unlike last year. She loved going door to door saying "trick or treat!" and then followed it up with "Thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!". She got scared once before we headed out, and it was this green monster mask that a boy had on. She ran into daddy's arms and cried until we took her away from him. That was the only costume that bothered her. Here are a few photos from Halloween.

On other news, funny stories, and updates...

Preschool has been going well, aside from you catching a cold there and then giving it to me. It's now been lingering in our household for over a week! Your teachers tell us that you have adjusted very well. You're very talkative, and social, you listen well and even take a nap (which is something you rarely end up doing at home). You eat most of your lunch too which is surprising because meal times have gotten pretty difficult for us.

It seems that if you get something on your plate that's unfamiliar, you start to whine and freak out and throw a fit. I have to cook something for you separately. Most of the time when we eat, there will be something you won't like, and you'll start crying about it. So we are working on the crying and the whining because it's really starting to get old quickly. The other "terrible twos" thing you love to do is not listen to us, or do the opposite of what we ask. I would ask you not to push the rocking chair and you look at me and start doing it harder and say "yeah, I push it". It's also amazing how stubborn you can be. We'd try to help you by cutting things into pieces when you eat or take smaller bites, but you refuse. You get really mad if we broke things into pieces, or you get upset if things don't stay on your fork or spoon starting to bang at the table or fling things around in frustration. So we try to help, but you refuse... until 2o minutes later you start to come around. Dinner time lasts forever at that rate!

You've been saying some funny things lately. Daddy always sings songs to you right before we leave your room, and usually he starts off with "old McDonald" per your request, well a few nights ago, he started singing it and you tapped him on his arm and said "No Old McDonald daddy... I am too old", haha. You're too old for that song! So then you said you wanted "Twinkle twinkle" and he started singing that one, but once again you stopped him and said "But where are the stars?" Apparently he had forgotten to turn on your lady bug that projects stars onto the ceiling, so he had to stop and go turn those one for you. Then he sang the ABC song and you were done. All these songs you now know by heart and sing with us. Another song you love to randomly sing is Happy birthday to you. We've heard you sing that in bed so many times now.

You have done amazingly well with going on your potty. I have now taken away the small potty's and you just use the cushy toilet covers. You have not had a single accident at preschool or home or anywhere else for nearly a month and your diaper is completely dry at nap time so I stopped bringing your pull-ups to school. And a few nights ago we noticed that your diaper was dry at night too. That only happened once or twice, but still I am very excited to have you out of diapers, except for night time! Especially since we're about to do the whole diaper changing thing again very soon. We always praise you for using the potty and now you seem very proud of it, especially when you go #2. Such a big girl!

Yesterday you got to go to Disneyland with Grandpa David & Grandma Laurie as well as Zac and your cousins Carolyn and Angelina. You got picked up and spent the night at their house which you've done once before, and then the next morning you were off to Disneyland. You had a blast meeting the princesses, going on the rides and seeing Mickey's playhouse at California Adventure. It must have been such an exciting day for you. Mommy and Daddy stayed home and rested. We got to go out to dinner the night before. I wanted to have our favorite Taste of Thai food - spicy noodles, especially since that's what I had the evening I went into labor with Sascha. I was hoping it would do the trick again. Well it didn't this time around. So the next morning we went to breakfast and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day walking around near the beach. We missed you a ton and would get updates from grandpa on how much fun you're having! Because it was getting so late already, they decided to keep you another night and bring you back the following morning.

It actually seemed like a good idea because to have them take you for the night. I had a ton of contractions fairly close together that night and was convinced that we were going to have the baby, but to my disappointment they sort of disappeared after 4 or 5 hours and around midnight or 1am I fell asleep. It would have worked out perfect since you were already taken care of and we wouldn't have to bother our families in the middle of the night. But it looks like your baby brother is nice and cozy inside and does not yet wish to come out. Lets see how long that will last. I am on the waiting list to get induced Wednesday or Friday of this week. Unless he makes an appearance on his own or I don't get either of those days, then it will be next Monday the 15th for sure. In which case you may be sharing your birthday with Uncle Zac.

This will be my last post until the baby arrives. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I want to spend more time with Sascha because I know she will not get the same kind of attention that she's used to getting and she is still our little munchkin. We really love having a daughter, and we are excited to add a little boy into the mix. That way daddy doesn't feel so outnumbered!