Keenan McCoy

Keenan was born August 28th. 

 

 They are 18 days apart.

 Shea and Joel

 

Joel Isaiah's Arrival

Since having William and becoming a part of the "mom world" there is something that I have noticed.  Moms can sit and talk for hours about the births of their children. I think we just love to relive the amazing moment that these miracles become a part of our lives.  For me the memories are vivid.  While I was pregnant with Joel I assumed that his birthday would be exactly the same as William's. I knew it would be a c-section.  Even though it would be a different doctor I could only imagine it as being the same as before.  Well, it was not.  Here is the story of Joel Isaiah's arrival.....

On August 8th at 10:00pm I had a contraction.  I had been having them a lot but never in a consistent way.  15 minutes later I noticed another one.  My doctor told me to call if they are regular for an hour so we timed them and warned Angela in case we were going to leave for the hospital that night. 
They lasted until 11:00 though and stopped.  The next morning I felt very sick.  I decided to call the doctor just to make sure everything was ok. I was sure to pack my bags and have everything ready just in case I was admitted.  He did notice that my blood pressure was starting to get high and I was sent to Roper. 

When I got to the hospital and was put on the monitors my contractions were frequent but not regular enough to call it labor. I was also not dilating at all.  They kept me all day and through the night.  For 24 hours it was the same story. They would not let me go home because of the contractions but they wouldn't make the call to deliver him because I had just turned 37 weeks and I still wasn't dilating.  Not dilating is one of the reasons I have to have a c-section.  It is something my mom, my sister and I all deal with .  My regular doctor was on vacation. I could go on and on about the on call doctor and how awful I thought she was but this is should be a happy post and I am not going to do that.  I was sent for an ultrasound that afternoon.  They wanted to make sure everything looked OK and that he was developed.  I was curious about how big he was.  The tech measured him and said that her estimate was 9 pounds 4 ounces.  I was shocked!! I could not bear the thought of him not being born that day and continuing to grow.  I was taken back to my room to wait for the doctor. Thankfully it was the sweetest doctor,  Dr. Gleason. I had met her that morning when she was making her rounds.  I was so glad to see that she took over my care.  While waiting for her to come check me a nurse came in and said she had to give me a shot because my contractions were 2 minutes a part. 
Finally Dr. Gleason came in to check me and even though I was not dilating still she said it was best go forward with a c-section. 

Joel was born at 4:20 P.M.  When they call the time they said 16:20.  I looked at Shea horrified and said "he wieghs 16 pounds?" The surgery was really dificult. I had an awful reaction to the spinal tap. But it was all worth it because of this little boy.
He ws 9 pounds 11 ounces and 20 inches long.  The first things I notices was the head full of dark hair and the milk bumps on his nose.

 William seeing Joel for the first time.

 

 

Joel slept in my room the first night.  The next morning his doctor came in to see him.  They took him to the nursery. I expected that he would be back within 30-45 minutes but Dr.

Kornegay came back to my room without Joel.  He told me that Joel's breathing was not normal.  He explained all these things that it could be.  I held back tears the entire time.  He told me that Joel would have to be on monitors and stay in the nursery.  It was a scary moment thinking that his lungs had not developed fully.  I wanted ask so many questions but I knew that I would burst into tears and I wouldnt be able to talk. 

The only way I could be with Joel was to walk to the nursery to see him.  Remember I just had a c-section. Pain medicine is great but its not that good.  That first walk was awful.  But each time ut got easier. I had to be with him! I had to nurse him. I sat in the nursery for hours at a time.  I will never forget sleeping in the rocking chair holding him day after day.

 

 

The news about his lungs was good though. It turned out that it was just some fluid in them that was causing him to breath very fast and pant at times. 

Becase they needed to keep his breath controlled they did have to put a feeding tube in on the 3rd and 4th day.  He was still able nurse though. 

Mymy was there of course everyday to see him.

 

 Shea and William came every night to hang out with us.

This is how was William entertained while we were in the room.

 The last night we were staying in the hospital Joel was able to be in the room with me.  Ricky and Amanda came to see him too before were going to leave.

The new family of four!!

11 days old

Joel at 2 weeks old

 I tried to get at least one of the boys together.  I seem to have better luck with paying clients though. My own child has no interest in taking a picture with his brother.  I snuck in a few though without him realizing. 

New big brother.

Olly

These are some photos and a video from the day we picked up Olly. These are from my cell phone so the quality isnt awesome.   Some of them are cute so I wanted to make sure I had them on here. 

 

 

 This is the little cat that William got for Christmas.  Olly looked so much like it. 

Summer Milestones, Highlights and Memories

I think its pretty obvious that I have been AWFUL at posting the things that are going on in our life.  It would take forever for me to go through all of the photos and post date all of these things. I have been trying to do that for months and I really I just hate being so far behind. Especially with Joel here now.  There are wonderful memories that I am not posting in the moment because I am so back logged.  So just for the purpose of our family memories I am going to make this a VERY long post of photos with captions.

There is no way I can even talk about the adventures of our summer without a picture of this.  At this point I have made a few resolutions about the future of our family.
1. I will NEVER be pregnant during the months of July and August again.
2. I will not attempt a house remodel while pregnant.
3. I will not move into a new house while pregnant. 

This is me 7 months pregnant.

And yes, I do realize that not only by saying that but also by writing it I am pretty much guaranteeing that all 3 will take place in the future.


Here are some photos from a random day of play outside.  We absolutely love our new house and all the outdoor space. 
William loves to pour water.

 But he overfills the container and this is his reaction.  The boy has quite a little temper. 

He is a really good 2 year old. I have heard that there really are some hand fulls out there.  But he is still a 2 year old. So life is not easy around here at times. 
 He has become so verbal. He is talking all the time and in complete sentences.  He can be very opinionated to say the least.  And he will let us know if he disagrees with us. He has adorable personality.  Im sure he was giving me some order here. 

I love this little mischievous grin.  He got a little chunky at the beginning of the summer. We realized that he was drinking way too much milk.  As soon as we cut it down he slimmed up. 

Do you think it may be time for a hair cut? 

He loves to be pushed on the swing. 

 

 I think it is really cute that he does his tongue like this when he is thinking.  He gets it from Shea.

Meet Our Newest Furry Addition

William has had a real love for cats for as long as I can remember.  So, now that we need a cat to keep mice away (and snakes more importantly) and since we can keep him outside we figured it would be a good time. It took a while to name him but finally we came up with Ollie.  We got him at 5 weeks old he was born on Angela's birthday.

 

 

 

 

The biggest challenge we thought we would face would be training the dogs (particularly
Game) to accept the kitten as a member of our pack. 

It didn't take long at all.
William's poor little feet are a constant target for the kitty. He has a toy cat that looks just like Ollie.  I think he would have preferred that that remain his only kitty.   

But William is not just a victim.  It turns out that Game is not the one we should have been the most worried about.  We are still having to protect the cat from William. 

He had to learn the right way to hold the kitty. 

He is a great little guy.  I really love that he spends 99% of the day outside. 

 

Cousins

Nicki, Asher and Sid stayed at our house for part of the summer.  William loved playing with his cousins everyday. 

 

Here are 2 of my favorite William pictures. 
I love the one on the bike because I am not one that likes a posed picture.  I did not pose him at all, even though it looks like the most posed photo ever.  He was just scooting along on his trike and looked over at me with that adorable grin.

 I love this one because this face is all William. 

Bath time

I am throwing this bath picture in because it just makes me smile.  I really do enjoy this little boy of mine. 

Father's Day

Shea has to work every weekend so that means that a special day like Father's Day has to be celebrated on Monday for us.  We try to set Mondays aside as a family day for just us anyway.  With it being Father's Day we made it really fun and we went to Celebration Town in Summerville. It is an indoor jump castle/slide place.  William loved it!! 

 

These two have such an awesome bond.  William has taken up with Shea so much over the last couple of months.  It has been a nice break for me.  He is becoming a little man and he has found the best man to follow. 

 

Look!! I have proof that I was there too!! 

 Not only did I make it into a few photos but I also went down the slides a few times with this enormous belly of mine.  It was fun.  And probably a little entertaining for anyone watching. 

So thankful to have that my boys have such a great dada.  Happy Father's Day!

 

 

Rainy Day of Play

 

This summer it has rained and rained and rained.  So I did what any good mother would do after being stuck inside with a toddler bouncing off the walls.....

I let him play in it. 

 

 

 

Here is a little irony.  I have so many posts of him playing outside in his rain boots on bright sunny days.  But the day I let him play in the rain.....he is shoeless. 

 

 

 

First Beach Trip of the Summer

 

We went to the beach a lot this summer. It was so much fun taking William.  He LOVES the beach.  He asks almost weekly if not daily if we can go to the beach.  Last summer we lived 15 minutes from the beach now we are more like 35 minutes away. 

 

 

He has no fear of the water or the waves...which of course is scary. It's actually odd because he is usually so cautious. 

Can you tell that he is having fun?

 For William everything is more fun with his cousins there, particularly Asher.  He loves to just be in his presence. 

 Sid wasn't feeling too good on this night.

 

 

 What's family beach night without the whole family there?  The dogs make it a lot of extra work now that we have to watch William so closely but they got to go at least once or twice. 

Silly Asher.....

 he was trying to do a flip

My 2 favorite men.

 This is the face of a little boy that just heard it was time to head home.  There were tears to follow and some refusing to leave. 

Goodnight Folly......

 

 

Sullivan's Island with Mymy

 

This day was so much fun. We a great family day spending time with Mom. I cant imagine our life without her.  William and her have a ball together.

 William gets very focused and intense when he does any kind of play like this. 

 

 They were covered in sand!!

 Mom gave herself a facial too. 

 The funny thing is, William HATES for his hands to be dirty.  He also cant stand of any kind of food or anything to get on him.  He is always coming to us saying "wipa da hands" but getting this dirty at the beach, not a problem.  Except for when it was on his hands.  While playing he was asking us to wipe his hands.  Finally he got past that though and just played. 

It looks like has has hit puberty.

 

 

Pretty Beach Pictures 

 

 

Nicki's 27th Birthday

Things have been so crazy this summer.  So for Nicki's birthday we just decided that instead of making a big dinner and creating a ton of work for ourselves that going to the beach and just enjoying the night would be better. 

My little sunshine one minute......

 

and a minute later.....he was mad because his hands were dirty.  Aren't toddlers so much fun!

 

 

William and Sid were really cute together.  The walked up and down the beach side by side.

The Sid monster....

My shadow.  8 months pregnant.

Nicki took these for me. I am so glad she did too.  

Ricky was also there.  I didn't get a lot of pictures of him, Nicki or Asher because they were out in the water most of the time.  I stayed on shore with the little ones. 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July

 

 

The neighborhood right behind us hosted an awesome 4th of July event.  They had water slides, fireworks, arts & craft shows and yummy food.  It was so close to the house too which was perfect since I had been having some blood pressure issues and wasn't sure if the heat would get to me. 

 

 

 After the kids went down the water slides we had a picnic on the grass and waited for the firework show to start.  We had to wait until dark so that was about 2 hours.  We actually enjoyed the wait. 
All the boys got a balloon and it entertained them all the whole time.  It is really amazing how much children love balloons. 

No child loves balloons more than Sid though.  He could spot any balloon as it drifted off from some child's hand.  He pointed and screamed for the balloon miles away in the sky.  

I enjoyed the wait because I had my camera.  I took a billion pictures. Mostly because I had nothing else to do.  The light was beautiful too. And of course these are my favorite people!

 

 

 

 

Chrissy Comes Charleston

 

Shea has 2 really cool cousins that live out of state.  They are the daughters of Angela's oldest sister Patsy, Dianne and Chrissy.  At the end of July Chrissy came for a few days.

We ended up spending quite a bit of time with her. More than we anticipated actually.

I will get more into that at a later post.

Here are some pictures from an afternoon at Sullivan's Island.

 

 

 

 

It always takes William a little while before he comes out of his shell with new people.  He is pretty shy and reminds me a lot of myself as a child.

After seeing Chrissy for several consecutive days he became very fond of Chrissy.  Even now a month or so later he will still ask where she is and if we can go see her.  She really made an impression.  A few days ago I was telling him that he can start wearing big boy underwear and going to the potty like "Mama and Dada and Asher...." He started adding all the people that he knew too and then with a squeal he said "AND CWISSSY!!!" It was too cute!

We cant wait to see you again Cwissy!

 

 

 

Well that should catch me up August at least.  I will end with this photo and pretty obvious caption.

 

 The dog days of summer...

 

.....thank God they are over!