Catch-Up

Sorry for the lag in posts. Between closing out my old job and learning the new, there has been little time for internet fun.

I am pleased to report that I LOVE my new job so far - everything about it. My coworkers, the work I'm doing and of course the Fridays off aren't bad either:)

We are 7.5 weeks and counting to Baby Claire's arrival - I can hardly believe it!! We've had 4 beautiful showers so far - one from our Atlanta friends, one from our Neighborhood Supper Club, one from my MS College girlfriends and one from my Performance Improvement coworkers. We have been absolutly blown away by the generosity of our friends and family - Baby Claire is spoiled already and she's not even here yet!! I will post pictures soon - no time today!!

We started childbirthing classes last week, and last night was our second session. Jeff has been extremely supportive and participative in this whole crazy process. Last night the instructor asked us what items we might want to have in hand in the car in case my water breaks at some inopportune moment. No one really said anything at first, until Jeff piped up with a very serious suggestion to bring "a compact mirror." I guess he thought if the water broke, the baby would be soon to follow, and the mirror would help guide the way!:) Needless to say we all had a good laugh about that. I also could not keep a straight face while we were doing the lamaze "he he he" breathing exercises. Leave it to me to be the one giggling on the front row while everyone else was trying to concentrate. Ha!

I had a little scare a few weeks ago after my last week in PI. I was up at the hospital at 8pm on a Friday night trying to wrap up some last minute details and happened to notice that my left foot was VERY swollen. I almost blew it off until I started reading on the internet that it could be a blood clot. I called the OBR unit (ER for preggo ladies) and they told me I needed to come down and get my leg dopplered to make sure there was nothing wrong. Jeff's parents were coming into town that night, and he was stuck at the house waiting on them, so my sweet friend Lauren insisted on coming to sit with me. I'm sure that's not how she'd planned to spend her Friday night, but she's an awesome friend like that. The OBR was not busy, but the tech was at home when I got there, so 2 hours later he finally showed up to look at my leg. Thankfully all was okay, but still scary nonetheless!

I guess those are the biggies for now. I'll try to update with pictures before too long!

Last Weekend

Last weekend some of the girls hosted a baby shower for Marjo, our friend from Memphis, who is expecting Baby Joseph about 2 weeks before Baby Claire is due. It's always fun to talk to someone who is right there with you in this pregnancy whirlwind. Plus Marjo and I were suite-mates our Junior/Senior years of college - what fun we had back in the day! Good times and good memories!

I've had a few people comment that I look like I'm "glowing" this week, but those compliments were quickly dimished after another person commented that I looked like I was waddling. Seriously people, being pregnant is hard enough without all of these unhelpful "observations," even if they are true. But I honestly don't think I am waddling just yet - I just happened to be wearing one of my new pairs of shoes that day, and was trying not to get any blisters. You know some people look so glamorous when they are pregnant but me - not so much. I have these red veins (that look like pimples) all over my chest and arms and my veins in general are so dark on my chest, arms, stomach, etc that I look like some creature from the X Files in the right light. Not to mention all the craziness going on in my legs - which I don't believe will ever be the same. Let's just say spider veings galore, and I'm just hoping I can make it through all this with no varicose veins. Again, I know it's all worth it in the end, but if I could just go a week without some new patch of veins popping up, I'd be thrilled!!

Okay that's all for now. I should have lots of fun pictures to post next week after our visit to ATL this weekend.

Sincerely - Your freakishly veiny, waddling, glowing, very pregnant friend

Happy Easter and 27 Weeks

Baby Claire is growing, growing, growing these days. I believe my stomach has tripled in size since my last belly shot at 20 weeks. It's a little scary to think I still have 13 weeks to go, but I know this is all part of baby and will be well worth it in the end.

Thankfully, despite my growing girth, I still feel good and haven't been too incapacitated by my size. I try to walk with my neighbor at least every other night, which surprisingly has gotten easier the past several weeks. I guess my body is finally getting used to all of the extra weight.

We had a lovely Easter with my family. Mom cooked a delicious ham, and we all enjoyed being together to celebrate. And to top it all off the weather was amazing - a perfectly beautiful day to celebrate Christ's victory over the grave.

I am loving the longer days and sunny weather. Being from Alaska, I always thought myself partial to cooler weather and snow. But in the south, everyone seems to hibernate from December - March, so I love seeing everyone out and about now that it's warmer. Plus, it's now light long enough to take the boat out in the evenings - which is one of our favorite summer activities. Baby Claire took her inaugural ride last night and I'm quite certain she enjoyed it just as much as her mom!




















Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

In God We (Still) Trust

We just returned from a long weekend in West Virginia visiting dear friends from Atlanta. We met Brian and Gina in 2003 through Sunday School, but grew close 3 years later when we unknowingly moved in right across the road from them in Marietta. We joke about the fact that we used to invite ourselves to dinner at their place on a regular basis but it's really no joke - we actually did:) We'd walk over to their house in the evenings, which was about a mile and a half from our house, and if they had dinner on the table, we were always welcome guests. Those were some fun times!

Anyways, Brian worked for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as a Handwriting Analyst up until last year, when he accepted a position with the FBI at Quantico. We were already in Mississippi when they packed up and moved to Fredericksburg, VA. They are renting an adorable little (literally) house in the heart of downtown Fredericksburg and absolutely loving it. I'll admit I was a little worried about being pregnant and only having one bathroom at the house, but we are all so laid back it was never an issue. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures of their place, but it's probably close to 100 years old and super cute.

We flew in to Richmond late Thursday night, and were up bright and early Friday for a VIP tour of Quantico. Now if you know me at all, you know I'm slightly obsessed with all things forensic/FBI/etc, so touring Quantico was at the top of my list! Brian set us up with tours of the special projects lab, cryptology (crackings spy codes), and of course tour the lab where he works on footprints and tire tread impressions. Brian always trys to downplay the "coolness" of his job, but I'm not ashamed to brag about it myself. Quantico is a beautiful facility, and although it doesn't have all the CSI lighting effects, it does have some really cool stuff going on behind the scenes. I'm already prepping baby Claire for the possibility of a FBI or forensic profession down the road:)

Friday afternoon we bummed around downtown Fredericksburg - wandered in and out of toy and candy shops, and also toured the local historic Apothecary. Unfortunately the weather all weekend was less than desirable (freezing), and in true Smith form we did not bring the most appropriate attire. But we survived, I mean I am from Alaska, of all places.

Saturday was headed to DC to tour museums and catch the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We started out with the Holocaust Museum and LOVED it. Very heavy material, but one of the best museums we've ever been to as far as lay out, displays and content. We spent nearly 3 hours touring the place. We then headed over to the Native American Museum, and did not enjoy that one so much. There was some good information there, but it was not very well laid out, which made it much harder to process. Plus they completely shortchanged the Upiks (Alaskan Eskimos) as far as exhibit size, so that really sealed the deal for me. We finished our museum tour at the Museum of Fine Arts. They had some great French Impressionist paintings, but was largely displaying very contemporary Modern Art, which I'm not crazy about. I don't care how you try to explain it to me, no one is every going to convince me that a piece of toast painted and mounted in a frame should be considered art. Sorry.

Sunday morning we enjoyed visiting Brian and Gina's church and spent the afternoon at the Marine Corps Museum - another must-see if you're in the area. It is a beautiful facility with plenty of great exhibits and materials to take in.

So you probably think we're total nerds for spending most of the weekend walking around museums - and you're right. I am an unashamed sucker for a good museum, and West Virginia has plenty to choose from. Thankfully our friends feel the same way:)

Travel time to and from Richmond was not bad at all either. We actually spent more time at the airports than in the air. And because Jackson and Richmond are both very small airports, we were able to print our boarding passes ahead of time and walk straight to the gates in less than 15 minutes. Crazy, right? We did have a layover in Atlanta both ways, and it's amazing how insanely busy that airport is! It stressed me out just passing through!

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Baby Claire's first glimpse of Quantico

Goofing off in Downtown Fredericksburg

The Apothecary Tour

On the metro

On the metro

Baby Claire in DC

Baby Claire in front of the Capitol

Guess who is NOT winning at Domino's?

At the Marine Corps Museum

Thanks again Brian and Gina for a wonderfully fun and memorable weekend. We hope to see you guys back down here before too long!

Baby Update: We're calling her Baby Claire because her name is going to be "Something" Claire, we just haven't decided what yet. And at my 26 week appointment yesterday I've gained 22lbs. I'll be lucky to keep it under 60lbs by the end of 40 weeks! The crazy thing is I can still wear my old pants, with the rubber band trick of course, so most of the weight has to be in my belly. But I still feeling pretty big for 26 weeks. And last week I had my first experience with feet swelling/expanding. The shoes I wore to work Thursday tore up my feet, and when I got off the airplane Thursday night I had a huge indentation in my calves from my socks, and you could see the fluid build-up in my calves over that indentation. I should have taken a picture!!!

The biggest news of all is that I just accepted a new position here at the hospital - beginning in May I'll be a Sr. Marketing Specialist for the Office of Nursing Excellence. I know you all probably think I'm crazy for switching positions right before baby, but this was one of those opportunities I just couldn't pass up. Not only will I be able to tap into my creative juices once again and work with a great team of ladies, it's only 32 hours a week so I get every Friday off, have my own office AND will be making 7% more than I am in my current position working 40 hours a week. Almost sounds too good to be true, right! That's what I thought until I had the official "offer" in my hand, which is why most of you are just hearing about this for the first time. Bottom line - God is good and faithful as always!! I am thrilled and feel immensely blessed with this new position, and I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about it in coming months.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!

Catch-Up

No belly shots this week - sorry. Will hopefully get to that next week. But she/we are definitely growing. I was up to 16lbs at my 22wk doctor visit, and am certain will be well over 20lbs at my 26 week visit.

Nothing terribly exciting to report this week. We've been staying busy with friends and family on the weekends, and have been enjoying the longer evenings post daylight savings time this week.

Three weeks ago my old neighbor from Atlanta and her sister stayed the night with us on their way to Louisiana. We used to see each other all the time back in the day - her daughter had her own toys at our house and everything. Next month we're headed to Atlanta for a long weekend and look forward to getting some more time in with her then. Apparently I still have kind of a reputation with her daughter, though. Last time we went to Atlanta something happened, and Jenny threatened to "tell Courtney" about it. Her normally spunky daughter immediately started begging "Please don't tell Ms. Courtney!!" I laughed when she told me the story, although I'm not really sure what that says about me and kids:)

Two weeks a good friend stayed the night with us, and I also got to watch my nephew for most of the day Saturday. Isn't he a doll?

Last weekend my niece spent the night with us Saturday night. We've kept her before, but never overnight, and boy was she excited:) She came loaded down with a trunkfull of dolls, pillows and Twilight posters for her "room." It was really cute. My parents ended up coming over for some homeade bbque chicken pizza later that night, and I was SHOCKED when my mom stayed to watch Twilight with Paige and me. We all piled up in the bed, and Paige painted my toenails all sorts of crazy. It was definitely a fun girly night!

Fat Tuesday and 20 Weeks

I am now officially halfway there, and baby girl is beginning to make herself more and more known these days. I really think my stomach has doubled in size since the last picture (thus making Fat Tuesday an appropriate description for way I feel today), and I felt her kick for the first time on Superbowl Sunday. She must be a Saints fan, right:)

Our sonogram appointment was amazing. I know everyone says this, but it's just so unbelievable to see glimpses of this little person growing inside of you. Seeing her for the first time really makes this whole thing seem real. Not that it wasn't real before, but now "it" is a "she," and "she" has a face, and really cute hands. Isn't life amazing??

It will be neat to tell our daughter one day that the great blizzard of Mississippi (and most of the south) blew in on the eve of her sonogram. Although this snow is nothing compared to Alaska, it's was still beautiful to behold. Although I did not get to fully appreciate it because of work. Yes, the city shut down, but alas a hospital never closes. It's one of the things I love (and sometimes hate) about my job.















Our House















The Backyard and Scout (who didn't care much for the cold snow)















Front of our neighborhood

We had a wonderful, relaxing Valentine's this year (at least I did). All I wanted from Jeff was one of his gourmet dinners, which he expertly prepared as always. But he also took the afternoon to finish up some lingering jobs around the house while I dozed and watched cheesy Valentine movies on the Hallmark Channel. I know these lazy afternoons will be few and far between post kids, so I'm soaking them up while I can!!

Several of you have asked for a Scout update, and we've had to make the hard decision to give him up. A coworker of mine is actually coming to get him for a test run today. I've gone back and forth with this decision over the past month or so, but everytime I start to feel really guilty about giving him up, he has a Peefest in his crate, or he and Allie get into it, or he poops in his crate 2 times like he did this past weekend. Bottom line he needs more attention than we can give him right now, and if now is not enough, I can't imagine what will happen once the baby comes. I feel really good about the girl who is adopting him - he will be an only dog and absolutly spoiled rotten it seems. I am just praying his crate issues will resolve once he's getting the attention he needs. And our other dog Allie - well I don't think she'll be crying one bit over his departure. She is such a good dog, and has been sorely neglected since her attention hog brother moved in.

I guess that's all for now! Happy Tuesday!

It's a .....

GIRL!!

We are thrilled!

I've had a strong sense it was a girl since about week 12, but didn't want to publicly favor one over the other, in the off chance my intuition was wrong.

We're still working on a name, so stay tuned.

My stomach really popped out this week...I'll try to post pictures again next week. I'm still carrying her really low because of my long torso - which is why so many thought I was having a boy.

In other news - I drove to work in a blizzard this morning. They shut down the city, including the state offices, but a hospital never closes.

Happy Friday!!

Baby Bump - 18.5 Weeks

Everyone has been asking whether or not I'm "showing" yet, so I figured I'd post a picture..albeit a really terrible one. I do have a little bump, but mainly just feel like I've put a few lbs here and there all over. That is unfortunately how my body distributes weight, and pregnancy doesn't seem to have altered that much. It looks like a cute little bump in this picture, but in my bare belly shot, which I opted not to post this week, it really looks more like a beer gut. Because I have such a long torso, I'm afraid it's going to take quite some time for my stomach to round out nicely under my ribcage.



















I can pretty much guarantee that all of those extra 11lbs have come from all of the soda I've been drinking lately because eating is still uncomfortable for me at this point. I no longer have the nausea to contend with, now it's just an achiness that sets in right after I eat a meal. I was annoyed to find out yesterday that Barq's root beer, which has been my drink of choice the past several weeks, does in fact have caffeine in it. I realize some caffeine is okay during pregnancy, but I've had no cravings or desire for it since week 6, so figured I'd play it safe and avoid it completely. That being said, it bugs me to no end that I've been unknowingly consuming it daily for weeks now.



















This is a gratuitous shot of the amaryllis my dad got me for christmas. Somehow I managed to coax it from a bulb into a beautiful flower.















I had to post this picture of our new bedroom digs. You see last weekend my wonderful husband went shopping with me for a new duvet set. The older I get the less I enjoy shopping, so these trips are few and far between. But I guess I'm going through the nesting phase right now and wanting our house completely put together in order, thus the trip out. Long story made short, after 5 hours visiting 5 different stores and making multiple trips back to the house to try out potentials, we ended up sticking with our current bedding set and just adding the grey quilt, grey pillows and curtains. I'm not one to spend extra $$ when I can make what we have work. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new look to the room, even though it's kind of roughly thrown together in this picture. The curtains add the perfect flair to me, and also darken the room nicely in the mornings. Eventually we plan to sell our armoire, which is currently just serving as a tv holder/dust collector, and will use the extra space for a glider. I've always wanted a sitting area in the master bedroom, and although our room isn't big enough for much, with the armoire gone we can at least squeeze in a chair.

That's all for now, friends! Looking forward to the weekend and sleeping in a bit!

Demonstrated Faith

This is something Jeff and I hope to really focus on in 2010.

Marriage, and now motherhood, have both challenged my faith in ways I never anticipated. Sure it’s easy to say I trust God is going to take care of us. That’s the correct Christian response, right? But I am ashamed to admit that more often than not, I am not really demonstrating that faith. For example, in regards to this whole baby thing, for years we’ve claimed to trust that God was going to take care of us when we had kids. BUT we were not going to have kids until this, this and this happened. Now what kind of faith is that? God I trust you to take care of me, but just in case you forget or something, this is what we’re doing on our end. After three years of this, we finally became convicted that we really weren’t living in faith, handed over the reins and voila, the countdown to baby has begun.

Now does this mean we’re going to sit back and let the dice fall as they may on everything…..of course not. As much as I want to be faithful, I have no desire to be foolish about things. But in this particular area of our lives, control was the one thing we needed to give up.

And guess what? Yes we got pregnant about 6 months sooner than we anticipated (not complaining, just stating the facts). But we’re also slated to get more back on our tax return than we’d figured, and Jeff made a nice commission check in January for the first time in 2 years, so at the end of the day we’re really not that far off from where we’d hoped to be before we even started trying for baby. Just another example of God's faithfulness to us, even though we can't always say the same about ours to Him.

So that’s my goal for 2010 – not just speaking to my faith, but demonstrating it in every area of my life. We have some big changes, and with it big decisions, coming up in 2010, and I don’t want to lose perspective on who’s really in control of it all.

In other news, I had my 3rd doctor’s appointment today – I’ll be 18 weeks on Sunday. For those of you who see me on a regular basis, can you believe I’ve gained 9lbs since my last appointment 6 weeks ago? I’m still trying to figure out where it all went, because my stomach is not THAT big yet. Although I am sure Jeff has some insight into this mystery that is not appropriate for discussion on a public blog:)

This puts me at 11lbs total for pregnancy weight gain so far, and since I didn’t gain much the first trimester, I’m about where I’m supposed to be at this point. It’s also hard to believe that I was about 5lbs heavier than what I am now (123lbs) when Jeff and I first met. Good thing he fell in love with me when there was a little more to love, because there’s no guarantee it will all come back off after baby!! I opted out of the Quad Blood test screening today, which tests for chromosomal abnormalities. If we’re blessed with a special baby we’re not planning on doing anything about it pre-delivery, so I don’t see a need to add that unnecessary stress to mix right now. Worst case scenario I’m 5 months behind reading up on a condition or something.

We find out the sex of the baby on 2/11 (can’t wait!!) and I promise I will post belly shots soon, since I am finally starting to look pregnant and not just chubby. I’ve been blessed with some very generous maternity clothes donations from friends and family, so I haven’t had to buy anything yet. I’m still wearing my old casual pants (unbuttoned of course), but will have to invest in some new work pants soon because I’m down to only 2 pairs that fit. Yes, I am the gross girl right that wears her dry clean only black pants multiple days in a row. But I do take them off as soon as I get home…

Last night, when I was out walking with a neighbor and dad was on doggie duty, Scout decided he was going to pee up the house. Although he has not had an “accident” in quite some time, he frequently pees in his crate, which is almost more annoying to me. Last night I don’t know what the heck happened. There was a river down the hallway, through the kitchen, down the middle of the carpet in the living room, and then later I discovered he’d peed all over his pillow in the bathroom too. And I’m not talking about little drips of pee people, imagine taking a squeeze water bottle and squirting it in a zig zag fashion down the hall - that’s we’re dealing with. The dog hardly drinks anything, as far as I can tell, but somehow generates more pee than a 9 month pregnant woman. Anyway, I was pretty upset last night. For weeks now I’ve been contemplating the thought of trying to find Scout another home before the baby comes (I know I know, I am a horrible mother), but now that I’ve calmed down am not feeling as strongly about that decision as I was last night. I’ve been cleaning his crate with ammonia/windex, and apparently that may be causing him to continue peeing in it because of the smell, so I’m going to stick with straight up bleach and see if that helps. If he continues peeing in the house, I will take him to the vet to see if he has a bladder infection, but he’s been peeing in his crate for months, so I know that’s not causing that. He is a sweet, sweet dog (loves to snuggle when he settles down), but I’m just not sure our home is the optimal environment for him. I can’t leave him outside for long periods of time because he chews (yard furniture, sprinkler heads, to name a few) which means he’s crated most of the day when we’re at work. I adopted him in the hopes that he and our other dog, Allie, would become friends, but so far that hasn’t really been the case. Allie has about 5 years on him, and she’s really not interested in playing much these days. I keep praying he’ll settle down now that he’s almost 2, but so far that really hasn’t happened either. He does much better energy-wise when he’s not crated all day, so I was going to wait until after the baby to make a final decision because I’d be home with him all day. But if he continues this peefest that may not be an option. I just can’t fathom myself 9 months pregnant rooting around in his crate for pee soaked blankets 3 times a week. Jeff helps when he can, but I’m usually home well over an hour before him and you know I can’t leave his pee-soaked stinky crate untouched that long. If anyone wants to weigh in on this situation, I am completely open to suggestions. Again, I feel like a horrible mother, but I just don’t know that I can handle the stress of Scout right now. Plus I feel like all he hears is “No,” “Get on your bed” and “Go potty” these days. At a time when I feel like I need to stay calm and really focus on my patience level, mine is tested every minute I’m with him. I’m praying for a miracle, but trying to be realistic about the situation as well. I want what’s best for both of us. I know some would say if you can’t handle a dog, how do you expect to handle a kid, but from my perspective, I don’t want my dog taking away from my kid when the time comes, if that makes sense.

Okay sorry for the super-long paragraph there…didn’t mean to ramble on so much there. If a little (or a lot) of pee is my biggest worry right now, I figure I’m faring pretty well, and hope the same can be said for you my friends (minus the pee).

Updated Hypothesis: Okay so I was thinking more about the peeing situation, and realized I recently started cleaning my hard floors with windex too. I'm wondering if the whole ammonia scent is causing him confusion. Although that doesn't explain the carpet and the pillow, except that maybe once he starts he can't stop. So I'm going to clean his crate soley with bleach, and go back to straight alcohol for the floors (it really works, and is much cheaper than all the other cleaning stuff) and see if that makes a difference. Cross your fingers!

Christmas 2009

Annual Christmas Party with the Girls















Christmas with the Smiths 2009 - Our (all but one year) annual Christmas Party.















Brant the Waffle King


















The Wrapping Game





























December Supper Club















One Jolly Group















Santa loves Smores















Gingerbread House (failed) attempts















Christmas Day - My grandparents, Herman and Willene's, 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration





























They didn't have a wedding cake the first time around...they got married in a house with only a few witnesses.















The family minus Dad (hunting) and Marshal (sleeping)















Christmas with the Louisiana Smiths- Double Trouble















Not sure all of those presents are for him, but he enjoyed opening them!















7 Kids + 8 adults = Lots of presents















Sister in law Sarah - Due 1 week before me















Freezing our butts off/enjoying the bonfire















Goodbye Party for the Looney's, our friends from Atlanta we reconnected with in MS.















The Girls from our Newlyweds Ridgecrest Baptist SS Class. Technically we are no longer newlyweds, but they let us hang around anyway:)















And finally, a little Marshal cuteness.


































Hope everyone had as much fun this Christmas as we did!!