Adah is 24 MONTHS! TWO!!!

When did this happen?  When did she get so big?!

Adah is so sweet and incredibly laid back.  Her hair is adorable and she is to the point where she will let me do whatever it takes to keep it out of her face!  I had to keep the lower left picture because Kezzie took that one and it was so cute with her hair in her face. 

Adah got two new teeth this month:  her L top molar 10/29 and her R top molar 11/1.  It did bother her quite a bit too.  She was restless at night and had a hard time falling asleep.  Otherwise she has still been pretty happy during the day.

Adah hit a huge milestone this month.  I guess I don't know if you would consider it a milestone but it is a HUGE deal!  She gave up the paci!  I was planning on cutting her off cold turkey but when I took it away for nap on Halloween day and then we went out trick-or-treating, she was pretty traumatized from that (she did not like anything with a mask).  I decided she could have it that night but that the next day she was done.  And she was okay with that.  She hasn't gone back since!!  I am so proud of my big girl and yet it makes me a little sad because it's the last babyish thing left!  I guess it's a good thing we are having another baby!!  Adah is far from acting like a baby...she is very polite always saying her please and thank-yous!  One of her favorite things to say is think after every sentence!  I don't know what she is trying to say sometimes because it usually doesn't make sense.

Adah continues to have zero interest in watching anything on TV.  I'm ok with this, I just think it's strange!  She would much rather be off playing by herself!

Adah loves to jump downstairs.  This is like a newly discovered thing for the girls.  They figured out that if they take the cushions off the couch downstairs they can pretend they are at the bouncy place.  They go downstairs daily now and have so much fun!  Adah will often ask Kezzie if she wants to go downstairs with her!  They will also do somersaults off the couch onto the cushions on the floor.

Adah's favorite foods I would have to say are spaghetti and mac-n-cheese.  She gets SUPER excited about mac-n-cheese!  The kids loves it!  I have noticed Adah does a lot left handed.  She uses both hands, but I would say she uses her left hand more.

Our Adah is just so funny!  I wish I could be a fly on the wall watching her all the time because she is hilarious with her expressions and pretend play.  She loves life and loves her family (especially Keziah and daddy)!  And I can't get enough of her!  I am excited to see what God has planned for her this year!

On a side note, being that it is her second birthday today, I want to mention that since she is so young we didn't really do anything to celebrate today.  We had her birthday party yesterday and I think that was enough excitement for her and to do something today probably just would have confused her!  I'm sure we will have plenty of other years to make up for it!

UPDATE: We  had Adah's 2year well-child visit today (12/8/11).  She weighed in at 27.2 lbs. and was 34.5" tall!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving was such a busy time for us!  Thursday ended up being a really fun day.  We thought it was just going to be a few relatives over to my parents' house but it ended up being almost everyone on my dad's side (except my sisters!).  It was so great to see family since we don't always get to in the winter it seems (we see them more in the summer at the river).  We just went for the day because we were busy trying to get ready for the girls' birthday party on Saturday.  Kezzie was more than ecstatic to get to spend the day with some of her favorite people.  She and Leora spent a lot of time outside building a fort (see photo below) with a hammer and nails even (I guess grandpa approved that!).  They even made a pretend alarm clock in their fort!  Alicia and Victoria had their usual fighting over Adah.  Who was going to carry her around, who was going to get to play with her!  Adah loves the attention and loves her cousins!  She has also become pretty attached to her great uncle Perry and Aunt Cindy.  I don't know what it is about that that makes me smile...I guess it's because I love them so much too!  Austin, of course, had a blast playing with the boys outside...this consists of Johnathan, Jonathan and Joshua.  It wouldn't be a Smith gathering without someone going to the ER.  Jonathan (Perry and Cindy's boy) ended up slipping outside and cutting his finger on a piece of glass.  Nothing a few stitches didn't fix! 

I love my family and am so Thankful this season for every one of them!  Not to mention my own little family!  Look at those cute kids (and the one growing in my belly!)  Life is such a joy!

Thanksgiving didn't stop with Thursday for us.  Friday we got to spend the evening with Brian's family and celebrate Thanksgiving!  His sister and family were coming into town for the girls' birthday party so it was only logical to have thanksgiving with them too!  We made an attempt at some family pictures and this is what we got!  I just had to dress the girls in their dresses because Grandma Uglum was the one that bought them (and they are so darn cute)!

Just the grandkids!

Thanksgiving didn't stop there either because since my sisters and their families weren't around when we had the big family Thanksgiving on Thursday, my mom decided to do a turkey of her own and celebrate with just our family.  It was a fantastic home cooked thanksgiving meal and another great day to be with family!  We are so blessed and so thankful for everything we have!

The Girls' Birthday Party!!

I can't believe we are celebrating our girls' fourth and second birthdays!  Where does the time go?  We had so much fun at their party with family and a couple friends.  We went with a butterfly theme this year.  I didn't do a whole lot of decorations like last year, but did print off some butterflies and had them hanging around the house.  I also ordered a flower arrangement that had some butterflies in it.  It was beautiful!  And it's never a party without balloons!  The girls never stopped smiling.  We had thirteen kids under the age of five and Austin.  It was pretty crazy and I was really thankful for our newly reorganized toy room in the basement!  We had a wonderful meal of baked ziti, bread sticks, seven layer salad and fruit!  I let each of the girls pick out the kind of cake they wanted and made each of their cakes and cupcakes in their kind.  Kezzie picked strawberry and Adah picked confetti.  Perfect for their personalities!!  This year we actually sang to each of them individually.  I think they both felt special!  They are both so special!  I am so thankful for each of them and how they have changed our family!  Happy Birthday Keziah and Adah!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Oh Christmas Tree!!!

We decided to set up the tree tonight (Austin declared he is too cool for this)!  Just one of those things I like to get out of the way before the girls' birthday party!  Plus, the longer it can be up, the more we can enjoy it!  I am sure I mentioned in an earlier post about getting this tree from Menards.  As you know, last year our tree fell over three times so it was definitely time to get a new one!  I love it!  It really energized me to get it up too!  Bring on the Holidays!!

Keziah is FOUR YEARS OLD!!!

Keziah is already four!  I can't believe how fast time goes by!  Look at how beautiful she is.  The top one was pictures I took 2 days before her birthday.  She got her hair cut and styled so I just had to take pictures!  The next group is of her on her birthday!  That morning we woke up and she got to open one gift-a dress up magnetic doll set.  She got to eat a special egg/toast breakfast, and later in the morning Grandma Uglum came and painted her nails a glittery silver and even used a nail dryer.  She felt pretty special to get her nails done!!  For lunch we went to McDonald's (her choice of course) and ate and played.  That night Grandma and Grandpa Uglum came over for some homemade pizzas (per Kezzie's request), sugar cookies, and of course a couple more presents!  Some clothes from g-ma and pa and her owl towel for her new owl bathroom!  She wore it everywhere the whole night!  She had a great birthday but I think she will be even more excited when she has more family and friends for her big birthday party!

Keziah has such a sweet personality but is really very sneaky in a lot of ways.  She is persuasive and kniving too!  I often have to remind her that Jesus doesn't like it when we lie!  She is such a love bug and still likes to cuddle me.  I hope that never ends!  She thrives on one on one attention and usually will request to read a book or do a craft during our alone time.  She loves her daddy a lot but I would say she still prefers her mom!  Keziah recently counted past 100 (with a little prompting on the next tens digit after 39-40, 50, 60, etc).  She knows how to spell her name and Adah's name and thinks she is spelling a lot of other things too.  Everything usually starts with a 'T' and ends in a 'Y'.  I just pretend like I don't know how to spell everything she knows how to spell and ask her what she is spelling.  I do correct her sometimes too so she can learn how things are really spelled.  She really has no interest in learning how to write things but does point out letters she has written while she is drawing.  She still has a very loud voice and has started talking a lot about cheer leading someday!  I guess she would be perfect for it!  She even spent some of her early birthday money on a megaphone and pom poms!!  I was never a cheerleader but we have had fun coming up with some fake cheers for the Chickasaws and Hawks!  She's really good at saying, "Go Red!"

Here is a picture of me at 4 years old...resemblance?  I don't think she looks like me too much, but I do see this look on her face sometimes!

Happy Birthday to my 'baby' girl!!!

UPDATE:  Keziah had her four year old well child visit today (12/8/11).  She weighed in at 36.7 lbs. and 41.5" tall.   She didn't have to have any shots today...whew!!!

34 weeks Pregnant!

Getting closer by the day!  I am so excited to meet our little one!  The girls are going to be so much fun to have around her.  I just love watching them with their dolls!  Even Kezzie has started to treat Adah like a little baby again...I think she is getting herself all practiced up!!  I had my doctor apt. today and everything is still going fine with the baby.  I have a lot of complaints as my body is getting weaker and the muscles are spreading out though.  I have been taking extra strength tylenol every night to help me sleep but some nights that isn't cutting it anymore.  I really don't have many complaints for during the day so I am thankful for that!  The baby's heart beat was running about the same as usual.  My uterus was measuring right on at 34 weeks so that is good.  And I am happy to say that I have only gained a couple pounds this last two weeks!  Yay for that!!  I see the doctor in another two weeks and then we start going every week.  Only two weeks (Dec. 7) until we see our specialist again!  I am so very excited!

Weekend to Remember!

God's timing is perfect!!  We have had tickets to go to the Weekend to Remember Marriage Conference for two years now and finally got to go this year.  I was devastated when I was desperate for a break, about to give birth to Adah, and Brian started having some pretty severe stomach issues.  We had to cancel our plans to go.  But God knew what was best and because I was still nursing Adah the next year, we opted out then too.  This was the year!  We could only transfer our tickets for up to two years so we knew we either had to go or give our tickets away!  This was the first time we had left our kids overnight and knowing now what we know (our kids can, in fact, survive without us!) we will definitely be doing this again!  We had such a great time together.  Not only was it nice to have two nights without any responsibility for kids, but we also got to hear some really wonderful speakers.  It was even just fun riding in the car with my husband to get there and actually being able to talk without the sound of a DVD playing or the fighting in the backseat!  Saturday we had date night and got to go out to eat and to a movie.  We even did a little shopping before all that!  It was such a wonderful time.  We learned a lot about oneness and that God is our top priority but that next in line is our spouse (even before our kids which is a tough one sometimes).  We got to write love letters to each other too and at the end of the conference on Sunday they had us recite our vows to each other (everyone at the same time in the meeting, so we weren't on the spot or anything!).  I HIGHLY recommend that everyone go to this at least once.  I can guarantee you won't go just once though.  We plan to go every 2 years at least!  God has blessed me with my perfect mate and I am soooo thankful for that!

It was kind of funny...when we got there the lady at the front desk told us she got us a king size bed but that it was in a presidential suite meaning it had a huge table in it!  Every time we opened the door to our room there was a huge room with a giant table and TV and then we had to go to the next room to get to our very large bed in our very tiny room.  It served its purpose but it was just funny!  The table came in handy too because Saturday morning we ordered room service for breakfast and it was nice to have a table to sit at!!

Very pregnant but still smiling!! 

Moments in time...

This morning I want to remember a couple things...Kezzie and Austin woke up with excitement to find there was snow on the ground.  Kezzie was pounding the bathroom door to get daddy's attention so she could tell  him about it.  Austin was at first frustrated to see that every school around here had a two hour delay except his.  Come to find out his did too but it just wasn't being posted online or on tv (we got a text on our phone instead).  So once he realized he had an extra two hours to kill he quickly fed himself and Kezzie (he was motivated) some cereal and they were headed outside.  I was left to eat breakfast with my little Adah and I began to reflect on how blessed I was to have time with Adah (even though she was protesting the fact that she didn't get to go out!) and on how fast time has gone by for the other two.  I found myself really enjoying the time alone with Adah, and realizing how quickly Kezzie and Austin have grown and become buddies.  What an exciting day to wake up to a ground full of wet snow (perfect for snow balls) and then to have the two of them go out and play together and to get to enjoy breakfast with only my youngest before the baby comes...I feel so blessed.  God has blessed me so much!  So, even though it's only 33 degrees outside, I am definitely thankful for this day!
A funny story...
I took Austin to school this morning since it was so slushy and wet out and I didn't want him walking in his shoes.  I had to run to the post office so I decided to do that at the same time.  I didn't bother dressing the girls since they didn't need to get out of the car.  I dropped Austin off and headed to the post office.  I was running in really quick and the girls are in full view the whole time so they just stayed in the car.  As I paid to have my package sent off I noticed Kezzie get out of her car seat.  No big deal, she does this and it's usually to help Adah get a book or something.  BUT, when I got back out to the car and came around the corner, I got quite the sight!  Kezzie was standing with her jammie pants pulled down, she was butt naked with the side door wide open declaring she had to pee (we travel with a little potty in our car so apparently she was going to pee in it but I have no idea why the door had to be open to do it).  Adah was looking at a book, so I was right about that part, but I was completely shocked to see Kezzie just standing there naked with the door open.  I quickly closed the door and told her never to open it when I am not there and explained to her how dangerous this was (I guess I know now that the doors open from the inside if the car is off, even when all the doors are locked) and then we also had to have a talk about how much older she is getting and how she needs to have a little modesty when we are out in public.  I really wonder how many people got to see that!

32 Weeks Pregnant!

We are getting closer!  I feel like I am physically ready already but I know the baby isn't so I am glad there is still time for her.  I had my check up today and her heart rate was where it usually is: between 150 and 160.  She was kicking every time the doctor would move the wand!  Kezzie really wanted to hear the heart beat for longer so while the doctor measured my belly, Kezzie got to hold the heart beat machine all by herself!  She thought that was pretty cool!  Everything looks great.  My uterus is measuring at 33 weeks but that's still normal.  I was shocked when the doctor asked me if I wanted to see the baby on ultrasound.  I said yes of course and she took us into a different room.  I finally got to see a profile view of the baby (they haven't ever been able to get one before).  She is so cute.  She has distinct cheek-bones like Kezzie and sweet little ears.  She looked scrunched in there too as her knees were right up there by her chin!  We didn't get any printouts because she couldn't get it to hold a still image.  I was just glad to see her again.  I did ask the doctor jokingly if she knew anything about ventricles.  She said she didn't confidently know anything and scrolled over the top of the head.  I, of course, had no idea how to tell if the ventricles looked bigger or not, but I was certainly curious.  I guess we will just have to wait another month to find out!  God is in control, right?  I continue to go every two weeks and since my women doctor started back to work yesterday, I get to see her for the rest of my regular appointments!  Yipee!  Here are some pictures for now...