1 week old!!

Happy one week birthday to you, Bella! I hope to take pictures every week by the giraffes to watch her "grow". I still wish I could go back a week ago and experience it all over again. But, time sure does fly by when you're having fun. Her one week birthday celebration was spent eating and sleeping and playing with Nana and Granddad, eating and sleeping some more, studying with daddy, eating and sleeping some more, cooing at mommy, eating...Her jaundice is getting better, thankfully, so we're not having to go back to the hospital daily. Her color is coming in more too instead of being orangish. Here are some one week old pictures of our day today! Granddad, my dad, made Bella a little garden with pansies and flowers and a sign saying "Welcome to Our Home". Thanks Grandad!

Eating with Nana!
Thanks Grammy for the onesie - "I am Not a Boy!"
And sleeping beauty!

Day 5 - Sweet Pea...and Stinky Baby

The nicknames you give your sweet child! We've called her Sweet Pea (mommy), Beautiful (mommy and daddy), So-Pretty (daddy),.....and Stinky Baby!!! This little girl has had jaundice so we've had a hard time waking her up to eat. And, we took our first trip to the ER to make sure she wasn't dehydrated because she wasn't peeing at all. It took a while for her to get all that meconium out of her system and until that time finally arrived....she was nicknamed Stinky Baby! For something so little and precious and beautiful...she sure could poot some smelly poots! whewey! She could clear the room and has made us all laugh because she's beautiful sleeping...and then you smell it. We've been waiting for her to start having good bowel movements on her own and when she finally did, we almost danced! We were changing that first non-meconium diaper and I was holding her legs while her daddy was suppost to do the other work. Well, her diaper was nice and stinky and right before we went to change her she kept going! So, mommy is holding her legs to not let them get dirty and daddy goes across the room because of the smell and because it was hysterical that she kept pooping! I couldn't do anything but stay there and hold her legs until she finished. Never a dull moment in the Smith household. But, we are happy that she seems to be getting better with the jaundice now. We're going back to the hospital daily to check out her bilirubin levels and thankfully they look like they are going down. The last couple of days have been full of feeding, feeding, feeding! And, I have to say my favorite time is early, early morning after a feeding with just us three when she is quietly awake, holding her daddy's hand, smiling in her sleep and all is well in the world. Perfect little times that we cherish. Here's some more pics...surprise, surprise. We'll keep you updated!

Day 2 - Bella Grace

Ok, so we are a little camera-crazy and Bella-crazy...I know, I know imagine that. Bella's daddy has taken well over 200 hundred pictures. But, for the sake of the blog not being really really long, i'll post some of the best. And, because we've documented every moment here's a playlist of her departure from the hospital until now. The sunrise was gorgeous the morning she came!
Here's mommy and daddy waiting to be discharged from the hospital.

After we got home, she had her first rock in her swing (thanks Smith grandparents), her first fussy night (woohoo!), her hundreth kiss from mommy and daddy...we are completely enamored. So far she likes to be swaddled tightly, be sung to sleep by her daddy, and she loves to eat! She's sitting contently right now in her granddaddy's lap cooing and sleeping. Who would have thought you could love a little one so much! We are doing great too but i'm sure you're checking the blog for Bella...which is completely fine. She's definitely taken over us too.

Our precious, perfect, beautiful little girl!!!!

Today at 9:15am, after about 10 minutes of pushing (all that running paid off!!!), Bella Grace entered the world with a beautiful head of red-blonde hair, blue eyes, big lips, and absolutely perfect everything else. It was one of the best experiences of my life and the pushing stage was full of laughter and joy and excitement. I wish I could stop that moment in time and relive it over and over. She's playing with her daddy right now and I can't stop kissing her and saying "you're beautiful" or "I just love you" or just laughing from joy. And, Mike can't quit saying "You're my little girl, did you know that?" and we both just stare at her. What a wonderful day. And I didn't have to be induced, which was fantastic. So after a long night and a surreal moment of pure joy and laughter, she is here. And after of course many tears of unbelief/joy and very excited grandparents and two ENTHRALLED parents, our Bella has entered the world. Did I mention I think she's just perfect! Here are some pictures from when we went to the hospital through her day one. I'm sure i'll post more later and throughout the week, since Mike and I have already taken hundreds of pictures. Today she had her first diaper change from mommy and daddy, her first sneeze, her first yawn, her first smile, her first dance with daddy, her first kisses with mommy...oh my, we are smitten. We haven't slept all last night and today because we can't quit looking at her.

Need to go running....

Well, I am officially about to jump out of my skin with excitement over this little one. I've been trying to soak in feeling her inside me kicking and rolling and having the basketball belly and the shear joy of being pregnant right now. And, it has worked at times today with me being a little sad that it's about to be over. But, then I remember i'll see this little one face to face and just giggle! I had a great, long, and hard swim this morning. (Maybe that's why I run on the treadmill because it regulates my speed. Swimming just lets me get excited and GO! But, then I flap around in the pool and look silly, i'm sure. The lifeguards are probably wondering what the crazy prego girl in the bikini is doing.) I could seriously go running and running and running right now. I think Bella knows i'm excited too because she is kicking away. She's been doing this cute thing with her daddy lately. He'll put his hand on my stomach like he's palming a basketball and she'll press her foot or hand right up there and just rub it. She doesn't do that with me, she just kicks! But, she rolls her foot or hand across his hand or keeps it up there like she's reaching. Precious! So, of course that's the highlight of his life right now.

I have always thought that God laughs and cries and experiences life with us...that He lets us live in the reality of Him...that He enjoys revealing to us the reality of Him in everyday life. So, i'm convinced He laughs with me lately. And, he's totally ok with me splashing around in the pool until I get my 'stride back'. ha!

"Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man. Our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us"...Sections of Psalm 33.

I have a feeling that soon we will experience the steadfast love of the Lord, the eyes of Him, the gladness and joy of Him, the holiness of Him in a new way.

3 days PAST!!

We are still waiting on Miss Bella who seems quite content where she's at. So, i've had some time to think. Sunday at church we sang a song called "This is Love" and I was reminded that as much as I love this little girl and Mike, it doesn't compare to God's love for me or any of us. It was truly a reminder of what Love is and the "depth, height, width of this Love" (Ephesians 3). What an overwhelming, incomprehensible, and beautifully simple truth. Here are some of the other things I've done these last few days of "waiting": Cleaning underneath the sink three times (how many ways can you organize cleaning supplies and paper towels), reading 2 books (I would highly recommend John Wood's book "Leaving Microsoft to change the world" and "Deep River" by Shusaku Endo). Also, writing 2.5 publications for work, finishing thank you notes, installing the carseat in our car, running and swimming in the mornings, enjoying the fall weather while cleaning out the leaves from the front bed, etc. etc. etc... I am officially ready! Well, as ready as you can be. (Can you really ever be ready?)
Here is an updated picture of me 40 weeks plus 3 days. And, since we have a new camera I played around with taking pictures of our soon-to-be-here sweet baby's room. Take care everyone!!

Due date today!

Today is Bella's due date and we still have about 8 hours left. So, she could still make her entrance today! But, she seems pretty content right where she's at. And, although we are beyond excited to see her, i'm still enjoying the "you're-pregnant" looks when we go out. woohoo! Maybe God knew I needed some more of that since I seemed to not get much at the beginning. I'm feeling great too, which brings me back to being thankful of running on a treadmill. If I were outside, I would probably lose track of time and keep going. This meandering of my thoughts leads me to the newest fun development in the Smith household...we have a new car! Miss Daisy, the car that Allison and I grew up in since 1994, was lovingly given to us by my parents since our former Dodge Ram did not have a backseat for Bella. It was fun riding in it again, but a little nostalgic not being in the backseat reading a book while we drove to California or driving to Hobbs to go to to church. Now, it was me and my family in it. Driving it away from Lovington, listening to KZOR, and chatting with Allison on the phone was a moment that brought back a ton of memories! After a little while with precious Miss Daisy (my dad named her), we started having a little bit of steering fluid leaking problems (notice this in the picture). And, the fix would be worth more than the car so we decided to start looking. We went to Austin yesterday and traded Miss Daisy in for our new fun-lovin' Miss ______. (I'm taking requests for the new name.)

Now, maybe Bella will really know that she has everything she needs out here...her room is done, her bag is packed, she has a brand new car waiting for her, she has a jogging stroller to see the outside with mommy, and two overly-excited, giddy, and a little distracted (because of her) parents. We'll keep you updated!

3 days to go!!

We are due on Saturday! Sometimes we still can't believe that in the matter of a couple of days, she will be here. It's an exciting time right now and Miss Bella seems quite content where she's at. On Sunday, my 6'4 husband and I went on a 5 mile walk at a park here in Temple...which I was having to keep up with him. yay! We had heard that worked for other couples. After our great walk we were laughing because she's used to mommy running 4-5 miles a day so walking 5 miles just probably rocked her to sleep. Oh well, we tried. But, obviously it didn't work since we're still in our waiting period. I've been having more braxton hicks lately but nothing more than that. She's still very active and let's us rub her feet when she stretches. So cute! To display our waiting with patience (or our best attempt at it), we took some pictures which we lovingly entitled "Bella, Come Out!!!". Poor girl. This is her mommy and very excited daddy documenting our conversations with her. We also bought a new camera, a Nikon D40 so we've had fun breaking it in before we take pictures of our center of attention! Hope you enjoy!

38-39!! Final week!!

Hi all,
We are in the final week and are waiting for baby Bella to say hello to the world.... and trying to do it patiently!! Her room is ready, her bag is packed, her daddy is really, really ready! This week has mainly been filled with working and waiting and resting. Here's the updated picture of what we look like now. Stay tuned for future updates and hopefully a picture of her precious face this next week. 6 more days!

On another note, fall is my favorite season! With the colors changing, smells, cool mornings and evenings, pumpkins, spices, warm banana bread, yummy coffee, wind, I could go on and on about the beauty of fall. And, it's been beautiful here lately. Mike and I are going to go walking this afternoon and it makes me want to take out her fun green, earthy jogging stroller. But, it would probably look funny for a prego woman to be pushing a stroller without a baby inside. Maybe I could put a stuffed animal in there to be a "sleeping baby". No, i'll just wait. But, for fun here's a pic of her neato jogging stoller (that works as a travel system too).