Sept./October

SEPTEMBER

At the beginning of Sept. it was still so warm, it got cold way to quick after this!

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Our first trip to the cider mill this year. This is one of my favorite places to go here in Michigan. I have never had such great apple cider, and the donuts are also so, so good! Each cider mill is different, this one had a few fun little areas for the boys to play.

a rare day in the Smith home when my kids are not on the go!

OCTOBER

Our biggest news is that Easton arrived!! He is doing so well. He is now about 3 weeks old and at his 2 week appointment he was already almost a pound bigger at 9lbs 12.7 oz. There is a lot of adjusting to do in our home and we are trying to take one step at a time.

Getting some sewing done before the baby comes. The first one is for my sister-in-laws new baby, the other 2 I wanted to be able to make Easton a few blankets of his own.

We went with some friends to the cider mill, it had a little area where they could see some animas, but it was dang cold this day!

Halloween!!

My kids are so dang cute!! Jordan did a good job. I was at the hospital with Easton for his jaundice and Jordan was on his own getting the kids all dressed and ready. My Dad arrived the night before and my mom got there just in time to help pass out candy with my Dad and Ava while Jordan took the boys out with their cousins

Our sweet little Ava Lynn started crawling. I have a video clip of her in the beginning stages of crawling. She had been crawling or scooting like that for a least a month. When I got back from the hospital after having Easton, she was a different little girl. She had perfected crawling and was much calmer about the boys being all around her, again, Heavenly Father knew I needed that. He has blessed us with such little, but great things to help us along the way as we brought home Easton!

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Some days at the park. Going outside continues to be my boys favorite thing to do. I am getting worried for the snow to come, I can't really push a stroller and I'll have 2 babies who can't walk. I guess it might be back to doubling up on the backpack carrier and sling to hold them both! This double baby stage seams to never end for us!!

Ayden showing his true colors. Jordan took the boys out and took a few pictures to show me how anary they were being.

Ava turned 9 months old, she is so beautiful and is getting so big. We lover her so much, she is our sweet little princess!

Her Stats:
Height: 26 in. - 10%
Weight: 17 lbs. - 25%

This is what the boys are up to when we aren't looking. They are tearing out all the flip ups out of a book. It's sad, it was a really cute book.

A random but cute picture of Ayden with one of his favorite toys...his tool goggles

He's Here!!

Easton Jordan Smith

Born @ 10:10pm on Oct. 26, 2009

8lbs 15oz

21.5 in.

Well, after the most painful experience of my life, he is here!!! Seriously, after my labor and delivery experience I commend all mothers out there who have done this more than once. Here is our experience.


We had planned on being induced a week early mainly because the week before I was due Jordan had a week off of school so it was the best time for us, and based on the size of our baby and his large head, which you will hear more about later, it was a good time for him as well.


We were scheduled to go in on Sunday evening so they could give me a tablet that would help me efface and contract. They needed to monitor the contractions and it could possibly cause me to go in to labor so I would have needed to spend the night. However, we went in and got all ready and after they had checked me, I was dilated to a 2 almost 3 and thinned to between 70 and 80% which meant I was too far along to give me the tablet. So, they sent us home to sleep in our own beds for the night, but we needed to be back by 6 am the next morning to start my induction. We got there and they decided after all the check-ups and paper work to start me on pitocin at about 8:30. They continued to up the dosage until around 11:30 which is when they decided to break my water because the pitocin wasn't doing much.


I started contracting about 12 and by 1:15 my contractions started getting worse and coming every 2 min. I decided to rethink the epidural I did not want because of my huge fear of needles. I got the most wonderful, heavenly epidural at 1:30. I know that the Lord was with me at that moment. The man that was supposed to give me my epidural was on a lunch break. So, a different anesthesiologist came in to do it. He did a combination epidural that I was told some doctors do and some do not (typically the younger doctors are more known to give it). So, instead of taking the 15-20 minutes for it to kick in, it kicked in right away and then when the first dosage wore off, the typical one that kicks in had already begun working. My contractions disappeared right away. I was told later that the doctor who was supposed to give me my epidural kicks husbands out and doesn't do that combination epidural.

So up until 6:30 I felt NOTHING as I waited for delivery time. When it came they had me start pushing at 6:45 - 7:15. It was exhausting and hard, but not incredibly painful because of the epidural. Well he wasn't moving much and my "Nurse from Hell" had the bright idea that I needed to feel the urge to push so they should cut my epidural in half. She swore it wouldn't be more painful, I would just have more of an urge. I could feel the contractions still and I knew when to push and I was pushing as hard as I could, but she felt we needed to do this and what did I know, I had never done this before. Well I tried pushing again at 8:00 until 8:15 and she says "I don't know if I believe that you can feel the urge to push like you say you are" and said we would start again at 8:30. Well don't worry from then on I pushed from 8:30 until 10:10 when I had the baby. It was the most awful pain I had every felt in my life. I seriously believe I could feel everything. My nurse was so discouraging and pushy and kept acting like I was overreacting with the pain. I had meltdowns when I felt like I couldn't do it anymore, and yelled at my nurse to stop being so pushy because she was definitely NOT helping. The most discourage part is when they continued to say he wasn't really moving.

The doctors were very nice and very encouraging when they were there (they had like 3 other deliveries at the same time). They would tell me that they could tell I was pushing hard and it wasn't my fault and I was doing well. It really could not have been true, but made me feel a whole lot better than my nurse did. So the doctor came in around 9:30 and said he wasn't really moving and they would let me try for another 1/2 hour but then might need to do a C-section. The pain was so awful I could not even think of pushing that much longer and said "Do the C-Section, GET HIM OUT!" But another doctor came in and said it looked like he had moved a little and they could try the vacuum and the forceps to help him along and that is how he came. We later learned that it was because of the size of Easton’s head that kept him from coming out. It didn't matter if they had cut the epidural in half or not, he still would not have moved. I got a 3rd degree tear and had a freaking oxygen mask throughout the whole thing.

Jordan was amazing. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband. It was funny because beforehand I told Jordan that he should take a picture right after he came so I could see what he looked like when he first came out. He had already told me how he just could not get himself to even want to watch and would just look at me the whole time. He was told all he would have to do is hold my hand and tell me I was doing well. Little did he know he would be the one holding my legs in the air and doing the counting along with grabbing my oxygen mask to put it back on me after I would throw it off when it was time for me to push while having blood splashed all over him from the vacuum and at one point freaking out because he didn't see them put the vacuum in and just heard a "POP" sound and after glimpsing over, he thought the doctor had pulled off the baby’s head. He really was encouraging and tried hard to count over the sound of our nurse’s voice. I could not have gotten through it without him.

Looking back, I feel I am and was reminded by the Lord that good things don't always come easy. I know we have so much to be grateful for. All I could think afterwards is how I never feel like I could mentally, physically, or emotionally ever go through that again. But looking at our beautiful son I could not imagine our family without this sweet spirit and if the Lord had it in his plan for us to have another one I know I could go through it again.

I got discharged from the hospital on Wed. and had to go right back on Friday night because Easton had jaundice and needed to be readmitted. For me, it was difficult. It seems like it would be a nice break from all the hustle at home, but I really missed my family. My husband had been home all week with the kids and I had only seen my kids 2 days during this week. I finally was able to come home on Sunday afternoon. But again as depressed as I was being away from my Husband and kids, Easton is home and slowly getting over his jaundice and it feels so good to be here with everyone!

Home for the first time (before going back into the hospital)

The boys loving Easton

Easton Today at 9 days old ( a whole lot less swollen from the vacuum and forceps and the jaundice slowly going away!)

Summer Recap (June and July)

I am sure this is partly from all my nesting "to do" jobs, but getting caught up on my blog is on my list and I am almost done since I have been trying to keep up latly with the present months.

June

For June this was a great event for me, I thought it was the beginning of something wonderful, Ava holding her bottle!! But this is the one and only time she has done it. I am sure that is parly because do don't give her many opportunities because we are always holding her while she is taking her bottle, and the other half is the boys trying to take it from her (which is why she is being held).

Some fun outside enjoying the weather, we never know how long good weather will last her in Michigan.

Ava in her jumper, this has been great except for all the times we have to tell our boys it is not a swing to push her in and to LEAVE HER ALONE!! =)

Fathers Day

A visit from some of Jordan's family

And some fun, cute and random pictures from June...

Ayden loving Ava softly (that is a key word, he is learning)

This was a typical day in June and still is a typically day in September. It doesn't matter how soft or loving the boys are being to Ava, she has learned when they are around it is trouble for her.

July
We started off our 4th of July by going to a parade. The boys really did well and enjoyed it. They sat so well in their stroller and were loving the candy!

We then went to a friends house and had a BBQ and watched some fireworks. We weren't sure how long we could stay not knowing how well our boys would do staying up so late and Ava being well past her bed time, but it turned out well, the only problem we had was when we popped out the sparklers. Honestly, I am sure this is not smart thinking, but I didn't think they could burn you that badly. However, Ayden didn't learn the first time he touched the sparkling part of the sparkler, he had to keep touching it and trying to hold it longer on the wrong end. It ruined his night, his little hands got blisters and he was miserable. So during the fireworks we almost left, but he sat nice and comfy on his Dad's lap watching the fireworks, I think he really enjoyed them.

Ava and Josh, who are a month apart, sitting in their Bumbo's. I thought Ava's little serious face was funny in the first picture.

Jordan helping all the kids with the sparklers

Gavin loved the pop its, after they were done handing them out, he kept trying to find all the one's that weren't popped and throughing those, he couldn't get enough.

So cute!!! Ayden with his Daddy

Gavin tacking advantage of having all the potato chips he could have while watching the fireworks.

I couldn't get enough pictures of this, it's so sweet.

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Some more pictures enjoying the summer...

A Carnival we went to that was seriously a 5 min walk from our house. The boys look fine now, but they barely went on anything. They were being little wimps. They went on more rides 6 months ago then they did or even attempted to here. I did feel like all the kids rides went abnormally fast at this carnival though.

For a while the boys thought it was pretty funny to sit under the rug and eat snacks or read books. Gavin totally looks naked in some of his pictures, but I promise he does have a diaper on!

Gavin lounging watching TV.

Gavin found his pockets

Video clips of our kids in July...

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The boys 2 year updates

The boys 2 year stats:


Ayden-

Height 34 3/4
Weight 28 lbs 7.5 oz


Gavin-

Height 35 1/2
weight 27 lbs 6 oz

Ayden and Gavin are growing so fast. They are both starting to get there words out the best they can. They LOVE animals, Gavin can almost go through and name every single one and their sound. Ayden loves Bucks (trucks) and airplanes. He is really good with his truck, vacuum, and airplanes noises (they all sound exactly the same). Every time we see a picture of a plane he always has to go back so he can look at it some more. He loves putting hats on, he has this army one that he LOVES, and loves pushing just about anything.

They both LOVE books, they always have there noses buried in them. When I go into the other room to rock Ava, I can always find them together on the floor with books surrounding them in the hallway, or on the chair, looking at their books. If I tell Ayden to leave Ava alone with her toys and to go get his own, he says "Book" then runs and goes to get one and then says "sit" because he wants to sit on my lap. They love the outside even if it is just running around in the front yard, but lately they say "outside" and they go straight to the car because they want to sit in there seats and watch a movie and read their books. So now whenever we go somewhere we have to make sure we have their blankies, binky's, and their BOOKS! They kill me! They have a lot of personality. Gavin is very kind and loving and loves to play with Ava, he still is working on how to do it softly. He loves routine, it's hard to get him out of it. He sits in his high chair and before he eats he has to have a movie on and his blankie and his binky. When we bring dinner and his drink to him, he wants it set on the table until he is ready. When he is ready, he hands us his blankie, unclips his binkie, and he is ready to go. For the most part he gets to it pretty quickly, but he has to have the first step first. I know, I know, I sound like a horrible mom. A DVD player for the car and one on the table. Let me just tell you, it has been heaven for me. It is so hard to make dinner with them on my legs begging for what ever I am making, even if they don't end up liking it, and wanting to see what I am doing and helping or bugging Ava while I am trying to cook so I have to keep stopping and dinner never gets done. So I get them all ready for dinner put them in their high chairs and put a movie on. So their love for "movies" and books balance out right?!? Anyway, he is like an elephant that never forgets - he always remembers the order of things. And when something needs to be found, he always seems to know where it is and is so proud of himself.

Ayden is our little clown. He is on the go ALL the time and seems to never slow down. He seems to love hopping and does it all over the house. He also loves to help, it is his favorite thing. He loves being our go and get it boy. He loves to try to get things for us, and yes I said try, it is funny to see the things he brings us when we ask him to go get something. He loves to sweep and especially loves to help with the dishes. He watches us mix things when we are making dinner and has now carried that on to his dinner plate. Yes, he is still the messiest little boy I have ever seen!! He is very loving, but has a problem with steeling toys, but does have a sweet side to that. He had a toy first and Gavin tried to trade him and Ayden did not want to trade so Gavin threw a fit. Ayden saw how upset he was and tried to trade him even though he wanted the toy. He also loves to love Ava, but has an even harder time being soft. He is definitely our little wild man with a lot of energy to get out. He is very enthusiastic about everything whether it be happy or mad, it is always extreme. He is very goofy and knows how to make us and his brother laugh.

Ava is a moving machine. She is now starting to crawl or at least try and crawl, and even though she is still trying to get the hang of it, she is really getting around. She is so content and happy on the ground, until, her brothers come. The second we set her down with toys her brothers come and seriously pounce on her and try to play with her toys and take them away. They are always taking the things she holds onto and go "No, No, No" or they try and get my attention and say " Mommy, Mommy" and point to what she has and I am always telling them, she is fine, leave her ALONE!!!! So when they are down for their naps is when she seems to be most content and I can see why. She is so sweet and loving and gives us the best hugs. When she is sleepy, her little head nestles into my shoulder and she holds tight onto her blankets. Her little cries are so sad it's hard to ever hear them. She is definitely our little princess and adds that little sweetness we need in our home. With her brothers she is going to learn to be a tough little girl that's for sure!

We love our children and couldn't imagine any of them any different. They each add so much into our home.

Some cute pictures of all 3 of them. I know I am bias, but man, I have cute kids, this next one has a lot to live up to! =)

37 Weeks

Come on...He has got to be ready to come by now!!

Our Sealing Day to Ava

On August 29th, 2009 we were sealed to our beautiful daughter Ava in the Boise temple. We feel so blessed to be able to travel where we can have family around to celebrate this special day and moments like these. Although it was very hard to get a "perfect picture" of us all smiling and looking straight into the camera (I can dream) we were very lucky to get so many pictures taken to remember this special day. Ava has been such a blessing in our lives and we know she was always meant to be a part of our family. We could not imagine life without her.

We knew this day would be busy and hectic for our children. The greatest peace was brought to us in the sealing room when our children were brought in. They were so happy and calm almost like they were preparing to enter. We were able to look into the mirror and see our Eternal Family.

Family and Friends who were able to come and celebrate this special day with us!

Jordan's family members who were able to make it

My Family

Braxton representing the Colt Family who had to leave right after the sealing due to a constipated child =)
A few of my close friends who were able to make it as well.


The boys admiring the fountain

Grandpa Smith wanting a pound

35 Weeks and counting

I had my 35 week appointment on Friday and she said I was 1 cent. dialated and my wall was very thin and that I was past the point of needing to be induced, so I would for sure have this baby on my own most likely before my due date. From what I hear they can say that and I can still be over due. The baby's head is down and he has dropped. I am ready for him to be out of my body, but not quite ready for him to come!!

I was reading a story in the Ensign and at the end the lady telling a story about her life and family said "I believe that the Lord wants us to "be believing" and that He wants us not to give up on Him or His timing or His ways. I know that this kind of faith-this kind of love-will guide my family and me as we work together to be an eternal family"

What comfort these words brought to me as we prepare for our new child to come into this world. It is overwhelming to think about what this next year and a half will be like with 4 children so young and my husband in school. It has already been a struggle and I wonder how the Lord expects me to handle these long days and still be sane. But what I do know is that he will be there with me through it all, and He knows what he is doing far more than I do, so I trust him, and I am grateful that he has blessed me and trusted me with all of my beautiful children and has given me this opportunity to bring another one of his children into this world. I truly feel blessed.