Oh little baby, you melt my heart

We have watched this video many a time over here at the Smith house....each time we do we laugh through at least 2/3rds of it, and I say "Awwwwwww!!!" at least 5 times. This was taken a couple months back right before we put Blake to bed.

Blake H from kallina smith on Vimeo.

Blake 4 months

 I'm not doing well at posting in order, but....at least I'm posting, ha.  Just wanted to put these up.  He was being such a cutie this day.  It was after we gave him a little trim so his hair was quite short.  It made him look so old!  Love this little babe.

Up the Canyon

 Joel and I were talking a couple weeks back about how we want to have some fun family traditions of our own each year.  This was our first "New" tradition, we decided that on the day before Thanksgiving we'd go up the canyon, find some snow, drink hot chocolate, and listen to Christmas music to kind of kick off the Christmas season. It was really fun and I'm so glad we did it.  It was getting a little late and dark and we were busy getting stuff ready for Thanksgiving but we packed everything in the car and headed up. It was so fun spending time with my favorite boys, hanging out, and making plans for the Christmas season.

 Blake seemed to enjoy it, and stayed nice and toasty in his car seat.

 Had to throw some snowballs of course!

Blake's Blessing Day

 Sure love our baby Blake.  Wish I would have gotten more pictures of his blessing day, it was filled with lots of family and food and happiness :). 

missing a few guys. 

6 weeks!

 Our little Blake turned 6 weeks old on Monday, I can't believe it! I have been kicking myself about not taking more pictures of him when he was first born (I was just a little bit stressed and pictures were the last thing on my mind) so I'm trying to make up for it now.  Here are some fun ones we took the other evening.  No time for retouching these days so these are straight out of the camera.

This might be weird, but I love the back of his little head.  His little neck and baby mullet are just so adorable :).

Blake Hinckley Smith!

 Ahhh!!!!  Our sweet little Blake was born April 23rd, he was 7lbs 14oz!!!  He is such a handsome little guy and we adore him. I can't believe it's been 6 weeks already!!!  Motherhood has been everything I've dreamed of and more.  I love love LOVE being a mom, it is the most exciting-terrifying-challenging-and rewarding thing I've ever done. We just love looking at him and laughing at all the funny faces and noises he makes. I'm so happy Joel and I get to be with this little man for eternity...we are so blessed....

I had my first contraction at the very end of Stake Conference.  We timed contractions for a couple hrs and  kept thinking they would just stop since they weren't very regular or very long- we didn't want to get our hopes up!  Well they never stopped and just kept going.  My water broke at home which was nice because it took away the question of how long to wait till we went to the hospital.
The contractions weren't fun, but in between I was feeling great!  Joel and I were both excited and happy that this was FINALLY happening!  We were totally rushing and nervous but still joking and laughing on the way to the hospital which was totally great and not how I expected.  For some reason I just kept imagining the ride to the hospital would be horribly serious and stressful (well it was probably a little stressful for Joel since he was driving).  

 no contraction-contraction

 I was only at a 3 when we first got there :(

 After a very LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG labor Blake was born the next day at 10:55am!!!  It was so amazing!!!!  The nurses had to work on him for a while to get the fluid out of his lungs (which was so so sad, they pounded on his back for the longest time trying to get everything loosened up). They put him on my chest after they wrapped him up and he just looked up at me and stared right at my eyes for the longest time....it was amazing!!!!  He was so calm and looked so sweet.  It's crazy how you can instantly love someone SO much.

 Joel is such a good dad :)

 Oh that sweet little face!

 Grandma Richelle

 Grandpa Kendall

 Grandpa Jeryl.  We missed getting one with Grandma Jeanne :(

 On our way home!  We were pretty nervous to take him

So tiny!!!  I can't believe how much he's grown already!

The last few weeks...

These were the last few week by week pictures we took before Blake was born.  Had to blog them for posterity :).  I forgot which weeks they were exactly and I think I missed a few weeks here and there. 
Wow, looking back at these makes me soooo thankful to have Blake outside my body instead of inside!  I don't miss much about being pregnant really, I am soo thankful for the experience, but my short body seemed to have a rough time finding room for a baby. 

 The last one here was 3 days before Blake was born.  Oh and the middle one there....yeah.....NOT photoshopped!!!  I know right????  hellloooo hugeness.
 

it's been a while.....

Sooooo.......it's been a while......how bout we just pretend like that whole 3 month plus hiatus never happened and pick up where we left off shall we?  

If you haven't heard, we're having a baby!  The blog is a little late to the party considering I only have about 3 months left (crazy!).  I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that I get to be a Mom....we had been waiting and waiting for this to happen for sooooo long that it's kind of hard for my little brain to change from the mind set of "I want a baby" to "I'm HAVING a baby!"....ahhh those are beautiful words!  

This little boy Smith (we're having a boy by the way!! wooot!) has been having quite the growth spurt since Thanksgiving. I think all that turkey must have been a jump start to his system or something because I feel like we're growing so fast!

I was pretty nauseous for the first trimester but it wasn't anything that a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonalds couldn't fix.  Eating one for breakfast was the only way I could be guaranteed a nausea free day, very strange especially considering how healthy I was eating before getting pregnant...all healthy eating was out the window!  No green smoothies or almonds would touch my lips for the next few months....when you feel sick you do what works I guess.  Most of my second trimester was awesome!  I felt great, was sleeping a full 8-9 hrs a night straight through, and got my appetite back which was great.  Sadly that wonderful streak only lasted a couple months and I've moved on to the "uncomfortable" phase....the baby seems to have a penchant for squeezing off an important blood vessel because sitting down longer than 10 min., and laying down on any side but my left, are no longer relaxing or comfortable.....aaahhhh the days of sleeping on my back, how I miss those.... He also seems to have Joel's appetite because my body now REQUIRES me to get up at least twice a night to eat. I have never experienced anything like it, I wake up with a pounding heart and a horrible feeling in my stomach that will not go away until I've had my protein fix. Caaarazy..... thank goodness there is a cure for all these maladies called childbirth :).   

Despite these not so fun things, I know things could be much much worse and the fact that we get a baby at the end of all this more than makes up for any discomfort. We feel so blessed to be looking forward to our little baby arriving and are so thankful for all the prayers and fasting done by our family and friends, it really is a miracle.

 

Weeks 17-20

Weeks 22-25