The Zoe and Silas Show

Three of Silas & Zoe's best friends turned one this month! Sydney & Ivy were first on September 15th. They had a very fun birthday party in their backyard! Upon arrival, first thing was first - get the kids fed. Everyone had plenty of time to play before cake. The ball pit was definitely Silas & Zoe's favorite! Then it was cake time! Unfortunately we missed the gift opening because S&Z were all played out, but it looked like the girls got some really fun stuff! Oliver's birthday was on September 19th. He also had a very fun backyard birthday bash! There were so many fun cars, trikes, and sports stuff to explore! Those kids were busy!!! And then it was cake time for Oliver! Happy birthday to Sydney, Ivy, and Oliver - we were so happy to be able to celebrate with everyone. Congratulations to Wendy & Dave and Vanessa & Greg too! The hard part is over, right? ;) Silas and Zoe turn 1 on October 5th and they have so many people who love them that we are sp

Zoe Lee was born 2 minutes after her brother, weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. We joke that it had to be Silas who caused my water to break at 35w, 4d because Zoe just wasn't ready to be here yet. Initial respiratory distress sent her to the NICU, and she ended up staying 21 days in the hospital. It was the hardest 3 weeks of our lives. We were so thrilled when Zoe was discharged and we were all home together as a family. Zoe was a cranky baby who had a rough start of things. She had pretty bad reflux which led to a love-hate relationship with her bottle. It took a little longer for Zoe's personality to start to emerge, and she made us work pretty hard for those initial social interactions. Zoe's personality changed dramatically as soon as we introduced solids around 5-1/2 months. Derek and I wondered aloud one day in April about who had swapped out our cranky, tempermental daughter for a smiley, happy baby who was full of laughs. Thankfully the new Zoe has stuck around ever si

I usually talk about Silas & Zoe as a pair, so I wanted to take this opportunity to make a post about each of them separately. Now that their first birthday is approaching, I should probably start treating them as individuals :) Silas Maxwell's entry is coming first - he was twin A after all! Silas weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces when he was born; we are convinced that he would have been a 10 pound baby if he was a full-term singleton. Silas came home from the hospital when I discharged, 3 weeks prior to his sister's breakout from the NICU. He caught up on the growth chart very quickly, and by the time he was a month old he started chunking out and growing like a weed. Silas has been an easy baby from the beginning and he has a very sweet temperament. He was the first one to smile and the first one to laugh. He laughs very easily and it's quite contagious! He can be quite goofy at times and he thinks Zoe is absolutely hilarious . When we go on playdates and other outings, I