1st birthday planning.

I can't believe we're already here. Well, technically, a little more than 3 months away, but still. My girl is almost 9 months old. *cries* My mind has been buzzing with birthday party ideas recently. What should we do? Her birthday is in July. Perfect for an outside party. Josh's mom has a pool and a nice sized yard, so no worries about crowding everyone inside the house. Let me share the ideas I have now...

For Cameron's 1st birthday, I made this banner.

It is hanging in his room now. It's amazing he hasn't ripped it down yet. And now that I've jinxed myself... But I definitely plan on doing one of these for Hannah too.

Now that I've started writing this post, I realize I don't have a whole lot of ideas.

-I want to make cupcakes and a smash cake for her.
-Pulled pork is always a crowd pleaser - and it's simple and feeds a lot of people. Sounds good to me. Mix in some pasta/potato/fruit salads, a veggie tray and some chips and we've got a menu. Simple summer food. Maybe some hot dogs for the kids?
-We got a cool drink dispenser for Christmas. I'm thinking lemonade. Yum.
-She already has a dress. I got a great deal on it at Meijer.

- The color scheme is obvious. Her room is painted with 3 pink walls and 1 green, so we will use a lot of pink and incorporate green into it as well. Maybe pink plates/cups and green silverware? Fun!


That's it for now. I will have to decide if I want to make invitations or just be lazy and buy some. The party won't be huge, just a lot of family. I look forward to celebrating my girl's (extra busy) first year of life.

We've been busy.

I know, I promised to be a better blogger. I won't make excuses. I suck at this lately. What have we been up to? Let's see..

Cameron is just about half way done with Kid's Gym, and he loves it more every week. He is getting more brave by the class, and after doing a somersalt for a sticker this week, he is obsessed. He gets into the position all the time and wants us to help him flip over. It's adorable. He has gotten a lot more adventurous in 3 weeks and I am really proud of him.

Hannah is one busy girl. She has perfected an army crawl, and is currently trying to figure out how to crawl for real. Everyday, she gets better, and in no time she will be taking off after her brother. Sigh. She is also busy cutting her first tooth. It has been hellish over here for the past few days. She is miserable and isn't afraid to let us know. Tylenol and baby orajel are her best friends and make things a little easier on all of us during sleep times. And last but not least, my girl is clapping. Cameron was clapping up a storm and yelling "MOMMY CLAP TOO!" at me the other day, so I obliged. Minutes later, Hannah had her hands smacking together and absolutely loves to clap. She is so freaking adorable.

She turned 8 months old a little more than a week ago, and her next doctor's appointment isn't until the middle of April, so I don't have any stats for you. I would assume she broke the 20 pound mark and she appears to be getting longer. She is getting more hair, although nowhere near enough for a clip at this point. She is becoming more expressive and makes the cutest funny face I've ever seen. Well, it looks a lot like Cameron's funny face, so I guess they're tied. ;)

Stay tuned for more posts. I am trying to get everything back to normal around here. I can't wait to be able to take these kids outside all the time and get some fun new pictures, if spring ever decides to come and STAY!

Kids Gym.

On Monday morning, I took Cameron to his first Kid's Gym class. To say he loved it is an understatement. I was a little skeptical, only because my kid can be shy when he wants to be, and I was afraid I was going to throw a bunch of money down the drain. But, he proved me wrong - big time.

As soon as we were allowed into the gym area, he went wild. He played on everything and left me in the dust. As the other students arrived, he started chasing after them. He has definitely come out of his shy streak. By the time everyone showed up, I realized that he was the only boy in the class. 5 girls and Cameron. It definitely didn't get him down!

Since it was our first class, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the teacher was great about explaining what we would be doing next. There was a lot of free running around time, as well as time spent as a group singing songs and playing with a parachute. The teacher explained how to do 2 gymnastic-like activities and whoever did them got stickers. Cameron did them both and decided that he likes stickers now. At the end of the class, we sang a goodbye song and the teacher came around and put stamps on each of Cameron's hands. He loved it. As we were getting ready to leave, he watched one of the girls give the teacher a hug, so he gave her one too. Monkey see, monkey do.

While we were putting our shoes on, I asked him if he had fun. "Uh-huh." "Should we come back next week?" "Oh yeah!" So that solves it. I guess we will be going back next week! :)

The circus.

And no, I'm not talking about my everyday life. ;)

Josh's mom and I took Cameron (and his 2nd cousin) to the circus on Wednesday night. I knew it would be hit or miss. He would like to see the animals and some of the show, but he would be staying up past his bedtime, and the boy needs his sleep. Anyways..

We got to the arena a little early since it was general admission and you could sit wherever you wanted to. They had an elephant, a camel and a handful of little horses for people to ride (for a pretty penny, I might add). So we walked around and watched the animals.

We walked around until it got too crowded and made our way to our seats. Cameron was so overwhelmed by the amount of people in the arena that it was hard to get a picture of him. But I, being the momarazzi that I am, tried my best.

Just before the show finally started, Cameron's grandma bought him an awesome light up toy. He waved it around for awhile during the show - and he plays with it at home all the time too. :)

All in all, I would say he had a great time. He did his fair share of relaxing on grandma and almost falling asleep when they turned the lights down, but he stayed awake through all of it, and even found some energy on the way home. I love this boy.

One year ago..

I was just over 20 weeks pregnant. March 3rd, 2010 was the day of my big ultrasound. We arrived at the hospital anticipating the words "it's a boy!" to come out of the ultrasound tech's mouth. After stewing in the waiting room for 20 minutes, we were finally called back. We brought Cameron and Josh's mom with us. MIL entertained Cameron while Josh and I focused on the screen. Now, I've had ultrasounds before. I know that they like to make you wait in anticipation while they measure out the boring stuff and hold out on the goods until the very last second. This lady was different. She got out the wand and went to work. Not even 5 minutes into the ultrasound, she asked if we were wanting to know the sex of the baby. Of course! We waited for a minute while she got the shot on the screen and were shocked to hear "it's a girl!" What? Girls just don't happen in Josh's family. Out of 9 Heystek cousins, 2 are girls. Everyone had told me from the beginning to not get my hopes up. Well, Hannah proved them wrong!

We loaded Cameron into MIL's car and we headed on our way to the Detroit area for a night away. We hit up an outlet mall and bought tons of pink clothes from Carters and Oshkosh before heading to our 1st visit at PF Changs for dinner. From there, we ended our night at a Red Wings hockey game. We had such a great day. We are so glad we have our little girl and wouldn't change anything about her.

I apologize.

Life has gotten just a little busy in our house, and I have neglected my poor blog. I can assure you that nothing too exciting has happened in the time that I've been gone. The kids are growing like weeds - Cameron says more words every day. He is learning his colors and how to count. Hannah has started getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. We are in big trouble. 1 mobile child is okay, but 2? My house will never stay clean.

Stay tuned for more (frequent!) updates. Josh's mom and I are taking Cameron and Matthew to the circus tonight, so I guess I will be gaining something to post about from that. Take care!