Second to Last

Zoe. Her name was given to me by my Father in Heaven one evening when we were at church. Before I was even thinking about having another baby, our pastor (Ricky Stepp of Christ Fellowship) was preaching about ZOE life; "The Life of God". And I thought; If we have another girl, that would be a great name. The LIFE OF GOD. Wow!

Zoe Victoria. Her name in it's entirety means Life Of God Victorious. I would phrase it as this: The Victorious Life of God. And she is full of LIFE. It took us until the day after she was born to settle on her name, though. Joshua just wasn't sure about her name. He thought that something else would come up, but finally he decided Zoe would be a good name, and we chose Victoria together.

She was born Aug 5 via repeat C-Section. I was praying for a natural birth, and told my doctors that those were my intentions. I waiting beyond her due date, just a few days, and was almost bullied into going through with the surgery due to a high blood pressure, and the risk I was taking to the health of my baby..... Which, looking back, was an unfair method for the doctors to use, because they made me feel as though the safest thing to do for my baby was to have the c-section, and they made me feel guilty that I would even concider any risk with having a vaginal birth after a c-section (vbac)

The recovery time was a bit longer with Zoe, but the nursing was actually MUCH easier. Zoe, found my boobie and latched on the moment I tried to nurse her. That was all it took. She ate all of the time.

When Zoe was a little over 2 months, her and I went to OHIO for my brother Nick's wedding. We flew into Pittsburgh, rented a car, and stayed for 6 days. It was so much fun, I'll always be thankful I was able to take that trip. Zoe was great, the flight was easy, the trip all together was easy since it was just me and her. I missed Kyla, and I missed Joshua, and was ready to be home after it was all over.

Because Zoe was constantly hungry, I had to supplement with her as well. She got mainly breast milk, but toward her 5 month mark, she was mainly getting formula with just a little bit of nursing. Again, emotional.

Zoe was much the same as Kyla with sleeping. By about 3 months, she was snoozing 6-8 hours at a time, and I have to say, the SECOND child is so much easier than the first. Because you know what to expect. It's more relaxing, we were not so stressed out and sleep deprived as we were with Kyla. And bringing home a baby sister for Kyla to take care of was great. It Kyla hadn't had her sweet nature, and her care taker personality, it may have been much more of a challenge. But, Kyla was jelous at all, just interested in helping.

Kyla and Zoe are 2 years and 2 months apart. Zoe is strong willed like her sister, but she is also very very silly. When I was pregnant, I remember telling Joshua; "I think she's going to be funny, I don't know why I think that, but I think she's going to be funny...." And Zoe is FUNNY! She is an easy going silly silly girl, and she was like from birth.

When Zoe was around 16 months, we found out that she, too, would be a big sister.