Happy Turkey Day!!!

Just wanted to say I am so grateful for these fine people!!! Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Oh and for this awesome guy!! Check out Jared's tie that Ryan made this morning before church. He is so excited to have a little boy to get ready. Pretty fun stuff!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Jared

Jared Alan Smith

Well here is my handsome little man who finally decided to come with a little help from the medical world. Since I was 12 days past my date I got put onto the induction list. I got called on Saturday afternoon while I was at the RS Service Project. We headed off to the hospital but nothing started to happen with the first step so we got sent back home. I finally started having regular contractions in the night and we headed back. Anyway to make a long story short I ended up on the IV and Jared came after a long day of labour. He arrived on September 25 at 6:45pm weighing 9lbs 1oz and measuring 21 1/4 inches. He has beautiful blue eyes like both his sisters and a nice head of strawberry blonde hair. Everyone keeps asking who he looks like I never know so here he is for you to decide. He does have his Daddy's fingers, toes, and personality. So far he is consistently eating every two hours and is growing and changing.

The second most asked question is how do his sisters like him? As you can see from this pic they both are pretty happy. They are always asking for turns to hold him and wanting to take pictures with him. Natalie is a little agressive and I am patiently repeating the word gentle about 1million times/day and maybe not so patiently by 4pm but we are working on it.

We are all very excited that he finally arrived and I am loving having a newborn to rock and cuddle.

Welcome to the world Jared!!!

HEHEHE!!!

So remember my last post. I was so excited to be done work and eagerly awaiting arrival of number 3 preferrable before the 12th because that was way too far away. Well it is now September 19 and this little one has still decided not to come. HMM maybe a stubborn personality????
My doctor spoke the dreaded word induction today. Not that I don't want the baby to come I just had this dream of doing it all by myself. The kids keep bugging me because I told them it was coming and it still isn't here. Abby asked me today,"Are you sure you are having a baby?"  I am pretty confident that it will come soon enough and if it ends up being induced quite frankly at this point I would be quite okay with it.

Abby has been enjoying her joy school so much. She loves to learn and we bought her a kindergarten readiness book which she pores over everyday. I love her desire to learn and how excited she is to be a part of some type of school. At church a couple of weeks ago she volunteered to sing a solo for the primary presentation. I was nervous for her at first. However she has been practicing her little heart out and tonight for FHE she sang the first half of the song pretty much independantly. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. Where do kids get their confidence. It is pretty awesome.

Natalie is still going strong. She is starting to say lot's of words now which is such a relief. She has not been a big talker for so long I was getting ready to visit a speech language therapist. She has a new friend in nursery and they run to it together each week. She is full of spunk with her curly locks and she repeatedly comes up to my belly and bangs on it while saying baby!!!

I promise my next update will be pictures of our new addition to the family.

Finished

Worked my last 12 hour shift in the ICU today. YEAH!!!! I am so excited to start the journey of mother of 3. I know it's going to be challenging and hard. Everyone at work kept saying 3 Are you crazy?? I am pretty sure that is what makes motherhood so amazing is that it is super hard and it makes you grow as a person and hopefully in the end you have children who love you and go out into the world as capable, independant, and loving adults.
Here's hoping that number 3 decides the 12th is too far away and comes soon. Will keep you posted!!!

Oh Summer!

Well as you can see I haven't been on my blog for awhile. It has been a really busy/tiring past month and the trek down the stairs without kids hasn't been happening too much.

Natalie turned two in July we had a little family party. We gave her a water table which she loves to splash around in. At two she is my energetic explorer. She loves to climb and often gives 8 1/2 month pregnant momma heart attacks since I can't quite run as fast on the playground as before. She is starting to talk a bit more and is very independant. She is waking up at night again of course right before the baby comes just to remind me that she is still the baby. She can sneak around so quietly that I often find her downstairs before I even hear her. Last week we had the Barfuss's here and she found a jar of vaseline which she promptly styled her hair with.  Mostly what I love about my two year old is she has the biggest smiles and gives the best hugs.

Abby has been sick off and on all summer fighting this pneumonia she got. It has been tricky because she has so little energy poor thing. She is getting excited to go back to joyschool and restart her swimming lessons. She has become Mom's little helper and informed me that when the baby brother comes she will be ready. We don't know what we are having but Abby is insistent that it be a brother. We shall see how that works out.

Only a couple more weeks hopefully of pregnancy for me. I am so excited to welcome number 3 to our family. It has been a super hot and dry summer and I can't wait to enjoy it a bit more without this extra baby inside. Hopefully it will be a long extended summer. Now if only I was ready for the baby to come. Oh well soon enough.

My neice is going through the temple today and getting married on Friday. I can't believe it!!! She is such an awesome girl and I am so excited for her. Wish I could be there. I got to throw her bridal shower and help out with the Winnipeg party we had so much fun.  It was fun to have company in our new house and not feel so crowded like our old one however it was a little tiring. Tonight I have a RS activity that I am in charge of , Thursday I work my last shift and then I am clear to have a baby!!!

My camera is up on the second level so forgive that lack of pics. I can assure you my kids are still cute and my prego belly is huge.

Strawberry Picking!!

We headed out to a new strawberry picking farm this year. It was so much fun. They take you out on the wagon and you pick to your heart's content and then there is a petting zoo.

We had a lot of fun picking and if you notice Natalie she had a lot of fun sampling with her red face!!

Last night for Family Home Evening we had a ton of fun playing in the yard with the sprinkler. It has been so crazy hot here. So sad that I am 7months prego and am not totally enjoying the hot mostly mosquito free summer but my kids sure are!!!

Abby was practicing on a two wheeler last night without training wheels. She has been begging her Dad for months to do this. It is very interesting to watch your kids try to learn new things and see how they handle it.

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer!!!

Summer Holidays!!

We were so lucky this year to be able to go out to Alberta to visit the family for about 10 days. We had such an awesome time. Here are some of the highlights::

1. We got to stay at Auntie Leslye's new amazing condo. Abby got introduced to Charlotte's Web and Leslye and her shared quite a few laughs and are still laughing.

2. We got to visit with Joelle and meet her awesome fiance. I can't believe she is getting married. I was so glad we were able to spend some quality time since my baby is due pretty close to her wedding date so I am probably not going to make it. So sad!!!!

3. I loved watching the girls enjoy the farm. We did some rock throwing, fishing, quad riding, and visiting the cows. Daddy enjoyed torturing the gophers just a little bit.

4. We went to Waterton for the day when we first arrived. We had fun hiking and exploring. The girls enjoyed sticking their feet into the water when there was still ice on it. Crazy how much snow there still is up there. Of course we saw some wildlife and enjoyed some yummy ice cream.

5. We were so lucky that my brother Phil and his family came up close to the same time. My kids actually had some time with cousins close to their age. Abby was in heaven. My favorite memory was riding in the back of the truck and looking at the cows and all the kids making moo sounds along with Grandpa-pretty priceless!!

6. Of course we got to go to the temple. I love going to the Cardston temple. It is my favorite because of all my memories of it growing up etc. It was fun to teach the girls more about it and to take some pics and just talk about how important it is. So grateful for everything that goes on in that building!!!

7. On Canada Day we headed to Raymond for the big parade and then lunch at my Aunt and Uncle's house. That brought back so many memories of going there when I was young. It was fun to see all the cousins and to see my girls enjoy a summer parade. They were so excited.

8. To end off our trip we headed to Calgary to visit Ryan's brother and my sister and their families. The pics are on the other camera. We had such a great time and are so blessed to have such awesome families!!!!