Just because these make me smile

The weather has been beautiful here in Central Texas lately. We have found ourselves outside alot these days. Fortunately, we can walk to a park down the street. Well, maybe we run to the park. Bella LOVES to go on the "shlide" and "schwing". Every time we turn the corner to our street in the car she'll point to the park and say "This way, Mommy!". She has always loved the outside, which makes my heart happy.

Here's a cute story of our outside adventures. I took her out the other day to go get the mail. As I turned to walk back to the house, she semi-turned her body, gave me a "look" (you know, the toddler look of "I wonder if I can get away with this plan") and started RUNNING down the street to the park. So, this 8.5 month prego lady dropped all of the mail and all our bags, (we were about to go run errands) took off after her, scooped her up, and had to carry her the rest of the way home - along with the mail and our bags and her teddy bear and her stroller. Phew, i'm glad i'm still running because she is a fast little-thang. She did the same thing to Mike the other day too as he was out in the front yard. Little stinker!

We are also enjoying being in the backyard, swinging in our swing (Thanks to the Smith Grandparents for that present!) for long periods of time, catching up on the day, and letting Bella play. Mike water the first flowers of the season (lilies and tulips) and Bella just had to help.

Here's our documentation of our little gardener / completely-soaked-little-gal!

Right before these pictures were taken, Mike and I were chatting away while Bella was playing with the water. She decided to turn the nozzle on herself and before I could get to her to say "Don't do that!", she started spraying herself about 2 inches away! It startled her so badly that she couldn't let go of the water. And, this loving momma was laughing to hard to try to help say "Release the nozzle!"...I know, I know. Mother of the year. Once she finally got the water off, she just looked at us with this stunned face and her little bottom lip began to quiver. So, Father of the Year (aka. Mike) jumped up, grabbed the nozzle, and started spraying himself. She finally started laughing at that and said "Mommy?". No, I didn't spray myself but Mike sprayed himself again. We're just one big, happy, wet family! Oh the things you do for your children!
"I help you, daddy?" (Read: Will you help me, Daddy?)

"Ready...Set...GO!"

"Push right here."

She's so proud of herself!

I hope everyone is enjoying March/nearly spring time like we are!

32 weeks randomness

We are officially in the single digits. E.I.G.H.T. Weeks to go! What?! This pregnancy is definitely going much quicker than it did with Bella. I'm still feeling good and able to run, thank you Jesus! (I get kindof cranky when I don't get to run...just ask the hubster.)

This little boy is lower than Bella and still VERY active. But other than that, we're rocking along. And last week was the first week of...wait for it...maternity pants! Woohoo! So, we are officially there - my belly button has popped out - i'm getting "looks" and "stares" at wal-mart or the grocery store or at work - ahh, life is fun.

I have to be honest and say that i'm still nervous about this pregnancy. I know that everything has gone fine and he's measuring fine and i'm measuring fine (although a little on the small side)...but, until I hold him I don't think i'll be completely ok.

Can I also say that today, I audibly said "you are so cute!" to my stomach. I would have never said that with Bella because I wasn't fully aware of the end result. But now I know that babies are stinkin' cute. So, i'm telling him that early.

We have narrowed down our list of names and will share the winner within the next eight weeks.

Told you this was random!

Here's the belly shot at 32 weeks! (Does that shadow make my back/bottom side/elbow/back of hair look big,or what!?) ha =)

Trip to West Texas

The Smith crew headed to Lubbock, Texas last weekend to see my family and to go to our undergraduate Alma Mater's homecoming. They were honoring all the past Miss Wayland's and since we knew we probably wouldn't make it to another homecoming for a while and since we hadn't been back in 8 (gulp!) years, we decided to make the quick trip.

It certainly was so fun reminisciing about old times. Wayland is where Mike and I met. (And, yes. I still remember the first time I saw him. Cue the violin music.) It is where I made him wait six months before I said 'yes' to a date. (Long story, I was scared. He waited. Praise the Lord.) Wayland is where Mike and I dated. It is where we fell in love. It is where we danced. It is where we stayed up way too late in really cold temperatures sitting on the bench in front of his dorm talking about anything and everything - just to stay up and be with him! It is where we walked around the campus and where I felt extremely excited that I was holding onto the arm of the Mr. Mike Smith. It is where we dreamed about our future. It is where we dreamed of what God had for us, as a couple, as a family, and as peace-workers in the world. It is where we made lifelong friends who shared in the joy of our wedding day.

Wayland is where so many of my "thanksgivings" come from - mainly because God gave me someone so perfect for me as Mike. So, WBU holds some very, very special memories for us. I definitely got nostalgic (well, maybe it was really giddy and girly!) as we walked around campus. We also had the privilege of seeing some dear friends. (Celeste, why did we not take a picture together!) And some professors who were very formative to us as individuals and as couples. Sometimes, it's good to simply remember what God did 8+ years ago and what He has done since then. Our trip was certainly full of that!

Speaking of great friends...I had coffee with two friends who are also bloggers. Ashley and Georgia are just two of those people who are precious and hilarious. You could be crying with them at one point and then peeing your pants from laughter at the next. The three of us are currently prego so we enjoyed our decaf coffee at a fun shop in Lubbock. Don't worry though. We didn't deprive ourselves! We got the snickers coffee, full of yummy-goodness! Georgia is 22 weeks, Ashley is 28 weeks, and I am 32 weeks. Fun!

Sweet Bella had great grandparent time with my parents and Grandmother. She wanted to play the piano with her Granddad every chance she got. (This next picture makes me tear-up just looking at it.) They would play all sorts of songs. She would either play with him or sing along and dance in his lap. One night right before bedtime, he started playing a lullaby. So she sat in his lap, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and laid her head on his chest while he continued playing. Those moments are holy! It definitely melted all of us and I was scared to move because I didn't want to "pop" the moment.
We also let her drive for the first time in the golf cart. She was actually pretty good at it too - well, she had some help.
They had slides and fun games at the WBU homecoming one morning. My parents met us there in Plainview to play too. I think Bella went down the slide 50+ times!
"Look mommy! Look!" Over and over and over again. Little cutie!
This was my mom's baby bed. Bella enjoyed putting her beddy bear to bed. And then she decided to get in it for a little nap while watching "Elmo".
This was my mom's little table set that her grandmother gave her when my mom was about Bella's age. And the little tea set has been played by ALL of us grandkids and now the great-grandkids. When did I become nostalgic about this stuff? Notice the yellow refrigerator to the right of the picture? That was my mom's too.
Putting her baby to bed.
Thanks for the fun weekend!

28 months!

28 months! And, she just keeps getting cuter! And, hilarious! I know I say that alot. But she keeps suprising us with funny conversations or her personality coming out. Here's a little update of what we've been up to over the past month.

1) She likes to mimic everything! Thus, we have to be careful what we say if we don't want it repeated.
2) She LOVES to sing. Sometimes at 2am. Sometimes at 4am. Most of the time through the day. And the little diva can certainly carry a tune! Her favorite right now is "Grace" (Grace, Grace, God's Grace), "Jesus loves me", and "Twinkle, Twinkle".

3) She can count to 12. But, she forgets 4 nearly every time. We're working on it.

4) She is a little nurturer. I went into her room at 2am the other morning because she was singing and talking away. She had put both of her "beddy bears" down, put blankets on them, and was patting their backs. "Night Night, beddy bear. Shhh, night night. It's otay, beddy bear. Otay? Otay!"...This was definitely adorable but it took her a while to be convinced that it was time for her to go 'night night' too.

5) She likes to change beddy bears diaper. Then she'll wrap him up in a blanket and walk out of her room patting his back to love on him. Simply cute!

6) She is playing 'pretend' more and more, especially with beddy bear. The conversations they have are hysterical.

7) She weighs 30 pounds, is getting TALL, is losing her little baby-bottom (sad!!), and I think every day her legs lengthen a couple of inches.

8) She LOVES bubble baths. She's smart so she knows when it's bath time, it's bed time. Most nights she's not too excited about going to bed so we have to "convince" her to get in the bathtub with bubbles. 9) She's methodical! I guess that must be a first-born trait. Or a genetic tendency that was passed down by her perfectionist parents. ha! We found her in her room with a nativity set her PawPaw bought us from Africa. She has lined them all up in.a.perfect.row. Then, she had to show her daddy baby Jesus and the shepherds.

Look at that serious face!

10) We, as parents, have begun to spell out words we don't want her to hear. Remember? She's smart! So we have to spell out words like "E-L-M-O-" or "P-A-R-K" if we want to avoide a melt-down at the expense of a toddler. When did we become those parents? Didn't I make fun of those parents before I had a child?

11) She still loves Elmo and Sesame Street and Bert and Ernie.

12) And, lastly she LOVES to read. Every night it's a struggle to get her to go to bed because she wants "one more" book. Last night, we read for a good 45 minutes through 5 books. After book 3, I told her "one more". So we finished that book. She jumped out of my lap, lifted her finger and said "one more Mommy!". Indeed, we read one more book. Yes, i'm a pushover. =)

We hope you enjoy the latest giraffe pictures of our growing little gal!