I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it!

Ok, so you all know the song I am referring to...it's been stuck in my head for weeks now ever since we found out we are adding another addition to our family! That's right...we are getting a new puppy!!! Just kidding...you guessed it, we are having another baby! Brian and I are so thrilled! Austin is excited and even Kezzie screamed about it! We found out on April 3rd! Over Easter weekend we told our families and now I am telling you! There is some hesitation though since we aren't very far along (maybe 8 weeks) but it's too hard to keep to ourselves! The baby should join us in this great big world just a couple weeks after Kezzie's second birthday (December eighthish)!! Say a prayer for us and wish us luck! It's gonna get busy around here!

New chair!

New Hampton had their city wide garage sales this last weekend so Kezzie and I got up early on Thursday and went out with a list of things we were looking to get a bargain on. Proudly I was able to find the thing at the top of my list...a little rocking chair for Kezzie. She loves it so much! This morning I was cleaning up in the kitchen and she came running in from the living room saying a word I was unsure of ('chay') so my next move was to say, "show mommy". She quickly went running into the living room signing "more" and saying the word ("chay') over and over. She walked me over to her new rocking chair. The word finally made sense! She can actually say it pretty good except I wouldn't have ever expected her to be saying it with such urgency! And as for signing "more"...I'm not sure what that was all about!!Another funny thing Kezzie did this morning was she found a book she hadn't seen in a while. In it there is some pictures of different first words. On one particular spread there was a cup and train. She was getting really mad and frustrated because she couldn't pick up the objects and use them. She kept pinching the edge of the image to try and pull it out of the picture. I kept telling her it was just a picture in a book. Of course she didn't understand and I had to distract her to move onto something else. It's so weird how kids understand things!

Videos!

There is now a section at the bottom of this page that I will be uploading videos to (as I have new ones being made). This is a great place to see the action I get to live with every day!! You will just have to excuse the annoying commentary that goes along with every video! Enjoy!

Sticker fun!

Kezzie is starting to get into stickers and actually can say the word pretty clearly to ask for one! Today she decided to stick them all over her face and when I moved the one off her eye and put it somewhere else she quickly moved it back with a big smile. I guess she thought it was pretty funny to have a sticker over her eye! She is such a character!

17 months old!

Today Keziah turns 17 months old! She is still as precious as ever! She is starting to test our patience more and more and tries to use the whining tactic to get what she wants, although most of the time it doesn't work! She still almost daily signs that she wants milk from me but it is getting a lot less frequent. Instead, I just try to find something to take her mind off it. I offer her whole milk and then sit to read books or just cuddle. She wouldn't want it anyway so I think she is just asking, in her own way, to be comforted. Kezzie is really gaining an understanding of a lot of words and directions. You can ask her to do something and she almost always can follow a series of directions to accomplish a task. She is also trying to say just about anything you say. Some of the time it's hard to tell she is repeating you but she tries! Her vocabulary is expanding so much every day I am not going to try to make a list of the words she can say! She is also still a babbler and will often rattle off a long sentence looking right at you and then pause as if she is waiting for you to talk back. It is hilarious! I can also say Kezzie is a runner...she has just recently started trying this out and most of the time can stay on her feet. However, I am just waiting for her to fall and get her cute little knees all scratched up on the cement outside! Another fun thing Kezzie does is she waddles when she walks. It almost seems like a hip problem, but she doesn't do it all the time...she only does it when she's happy. She even adds a little swing of the arms with it! It's pretty cute! Another funny thing she does right now is whenever she sees Brian (since he had shoulder surgery) she says "owey" and then will imitate crying like a baby. We have had to teach her to be careful around Brian so that is what she does when she sees daddy! It's kind of sweet! This month (4/6) Kezzie has started the process of getting in her two bottom eye teeth. She ran a fever for three days and developed a rash on her chest. Other then those two symptoms she didn't act like anything was out of the ordinary. She would wake frequently at night but still played well during the day. Today they are about half of the way sticking out and I think they are still somewhat bothering her. The drool just keeps on coming!! Kezzie's schedule hasn't changed much from last month. She is getting up about an hour earlier (6am) but continues to take an hour and half morning nap and the same in the afternoon. Still going to bed around 7:30ish. I suppose if I took out her morning nap she would make up for it and sleep longer in the morning, but I don't know if I am ready for that yet! Although I hate the early mornings, it is still really nice to have that morning break to get some stuff done!
We thank God every day for how much He has blessed us. There are so many people dealing with the loss of a child and I don't take a day for granted that I have mine so close to me! Thank you Jesus!

Happy Birthday!

Saturday after Bennett's birthday party Austin, Kezzie and I all headed to mom and dad's to stay the night since the next morning we were going to church anyway. After church we had plans to celebrate mine and Adam's 28th birthdays. Mine was on the 15th and his is on the 30th. Dad grilled some really yummy steaks (rib eye, t-bone and fillets) and mom cooked up a wild rice dish, some biscuits, corn, broccoli with cheese and for dessert a homemade angel food cake. Thanks mom and dad so much for all you do to make our birthdays so special! For my birthday I got a sun catcher, lots of cash, a scarf, necklace and earrings, an herb garden in a pot, gift card to target, the stable to finish off my willow tree angel nativity set and a half hour massage at a spa in Waverly. I am so grateful for everything I got and appreciate all my family so much! Brian wasn't able to come on Saturday and Sunday so he was greatly missed but he needed to stay home and get some rest for his shoulder! I took a plate of steak home for him to enjoy later!

This was Keziah's response when grandma mentioned she was going to get out the cake. She started spinning in circles. Keith just happened to catch a snapshot of it! How cute! I guess she remembered what cake was from the day before at Bennett's party!

Me and Adam with my pretty pink cake...and oh, we forgot to light the candles to sing happy birthday!

Bennett turned ONE!!!

Emily asked if I would design Bennett's first birthday invites...this is what I came up with. I think they turned out pretty nice!

We had a blast at Bennett's first birthday party. It is so amazing that we are looking at a year gone by with this little guy in our lives! For those of you who know my family and Bennett's miracle story and for those of you who don't, I am going to post a story about his history to give you an idea/reminder of how special this little blessed one is in our lives! First here's a run-by on how the party went...

It got started around 3:30 with lots of playing and talking. There were a lot of kids there. Cousins, and daycare friends along with aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas! And let's not forget Bennett's favorite people-his mom, dad, and big brother Ethan! We all crowded in downstairs to open gifts. Bennett got a wide variety of toys, pj's and clothes. We then headed back upstairs for dinner. Emily and Adam made spaghetti pie and ravioli along with a pear salad and snicker/apple salad. It was all so delicious! To top it off we had cake and ice cream. It was fun to watch Bennett with his first taste of real sugar. He LOVED it! Kezzie even snuck in there to get a taste secretly! One of Bennett's favorite things to do was play catch with the balloons. He is actually really good at catching it and then bopping it and giggled every time! He is such a joy! Here is the cake Emily decorated for Bennett. It turned out so awesome! I couldn't be prouder!

Adam is helping Benne open his gift from us...Bennett so cute in his outfit!

Balloons were a huge hit for all the kids. At one point, Ethan had almost all the long balloons in his arms at once!
Bennett just sat there amazed that everyone was singing to him. It was adorable. He just listened with big eyes!

Time to dig in! He enjoyed it very much!

We thank God so much for Bennett being here today! We pray for many more birthdays to come!

Brady comes to visit!

We had a quick visit on Saturday from Mat, Steph and Brady. They were actually in town all weekend but with so much going on we were only able to see them for a short while in the morning. We take what we can get! It was nice outside so we played on the swingset, blew bubbles, and colored with sidewalk chalk. Mat and Austin played some basketball too. Steph is about 12 weeks pregnant so we of course had lots to talk about when there's toddlers and pregnancy involved! They also brought me a birthday gift which is a pot full of different herbs. They are going to taste great on a homemade pizza or in some homemade soup! Thanks so much guys...I love it!

A No Good Very Bad Day!

Brian went in yesterday for a scope on his left shoulder. We were asked to be there by 1:40 for surgery to begin at 2:40. They were moving right along in the beginning and saying he was going to get in early and then all the sudden the doctor was behind so we had to wait...he went in at 3:30 and came out at 5. The doctor came to speak to me and said they found something that needed repaired so they repaired it. This was good news since we knew something was wrong (his shoulder pops out of socket if he moves it in a certain direction-definitely not normal) even though nothing was previously found on the MRI. They found his labrum completely torn so they put in a couple suchers and pins and sent him on his way. With his arm in an immobilizer, he won't be able to move it for 6 weeks. Then there will be some PT. He has one thing on his mind...getting better so he can golf at some point this season! What a horrible time to be laid up!

The Smith Family Easter!

It was a great day spent with family. Mom made a wonderful dinner with a huge ham and sweet potatoes (my favorite) and many other things. We hid eggs during naptime and then waited patiently for the kids to wake up for the fun to begin. Ethan and Kezzie learned right away the object of the game. By the end Kezzie was throwing the eggs toward the sack and hoping she made them in before turning around to search for another! We hid about half outside and half inside. Austin's were obviously hidden a lot higher and harder. It was a great day for an outdoor Easter egg hunt. A little on the windy side so we still had to wear a jacket though! Bennett was happy just hanging out inside playing with the Easter eggs. And later we braved the egg dying spiel again...this time Kezzie dumped the whole cup of yellow on the table and floor...no amount of newspapers were going to help that situation!

Our Awesome Family!

Easter Sunday picture! Austin hates pictures if you can't tell!

Easter Baskets!

I used to love waking up and finding my Easter basket full of fun knick knacks at the bottom of my bed on Easter morning! And it's even more fun doing it for my own kids! Sunday mornings are always a little hectic for us so we decided to give Keziah her Easter basket when she woke from her nap Saturday afternoon. Hers consisted of a few things she needed (sippy cups, extra paci, fruit snack items) along with a few things that were just fun for her (pip squeaks markers, a stuffed ducky, hair clips, a new Baby Einstein video). She went straight for the sippy cups and ducky...the ducky is now her new best friend (she has been obsessed with ducks for a while now-i.e. she has two different puzzles that have ducks on them and she will take each duck out of the puzzles and carry them around with her!). Austin's basket consisted of a new nerf gun with extra nerf bullets, candy, a new chapter book, some swimming goggles for the summer, more candy, and the new movie Bolt (which is really for the whole family)! Austin wasn't with us Sunday morning so we gave him his after Church at grandma and grandpa Smith's house.

Let's not forget what Easter is really about though! Aside from all the worldly things that we seem to go crazy over, we need to remember the sacrifice that was made for us. God gave his Son to die on the cross so that we as sinners can have life. And after dying a painful death, Jesus came back to life three days later. Easter is Jesus Christ's victory over death. His resurrection symbolized the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. It is a symbol of hope for what is yet to come. Christ will come again someday soon taking the ones who believe in Him with Him to Heaven to live for Eternity!

The School Playground!

We took a little trek to the school playground on Saturday...it was so much fun because we didn't take the stroller and instead let Kezzie walk herself there. She had a blast! I will try to post some video of her happy walk (it's a waddle and she does it everywhere she goes when she is in a good mood)! Austin was gone so he didn't get to partake in our adventure...we always miss him when he is gone! When we got there (4 blocks and several minutes later) Kezzie went straight for the slides. She is a brave one. She turns right around at the top and pushes herself off as if she is going down a set of stairs. She tried the small slide and then went for the big one. It was close to nap time so we headed home and she walked almost all the way home too. The last few minutes she was 'searching' for her paci...she yells "paaaaaci, paaaaaaci" as if it's lost! Daddy picked her up and as soon as we laid her down for nap she went right to sleep! I'm sure her legs got a work out!

Dying Easter Eggs!

I guess I have forgotten how messy dying Easter eggs can be...but we quickly found out! Kezzie had fun coloring her eggs with crayons but as soon as she saw what Austin was doing with his eggs she wanted to do it too. She threw her egg into the nearest cup full of coloring and splattered blue all over the table and her hands (the picture does no justice!). I thought, oh it will wash off so I let her play in it, sure enough, she was blue all over and I had to literally scrub our nice wood dining room table! Austin had fun making different designs with the different dyes. I just think next year I will be laying out some newspapers or doing it in the garage!! Live and learn!

My little stacker!

Kezzie is getting quite good at this stacking business! She has certain cans that she gets out of the cupboard every time she is in the mood for a little stacking!

Same day, I also caught Kezzie doing another habit of hers...sitting on her little walker/stroller thing she got for her birthday! She's been trying to get in it but all that fits is a foot. She finally figured out how to just sit on it and does so for periods of time! I think mostly she is sitting there waiting for somebody to come stroll her around!