Mr & Mrs Smith

Dearest Lexi, I think I'm overdue for another letter to you. Your 5th birthday was full of a new baby sister! As well as Gammi spoils (your first Chuck E Cheese experience; Uncle Troy drove up too!), strawberry icecream & cake, water balloon fight at the park with friends & a surprise visit from Maren! Thanks to Aunt Lisa. You are very loved. Nothing beats becoming a mother for the first time. All the high & lows of caring for tiny humans that grow up so fast you find yourself just staring at them wondering where time went & what their future still holds. I find myself staring at you constantly and you'll just give me a quick smile.  You've grown into a little girl, not my chunky toddler. Every day counts when it comes to teaching and loving you; and I'm grateful for second chances because I'm definitely less than perfect. I find so much joy in letting all my children enjoy new things, but you're right at that age of asking qu...

Rebecca Paige Smith We really struggled with agreeing on a name again. We each had several we liked, but only a few were mutual: Katelyn, Hailey, Jacey (only if middle name was Elizabeth) & then Rebecca. I hadn't considered many classic names, this one being very common in the 90s, but when I heard the name at the temple, it felt right. I went there with two questions in mind, and felt that one had been answered. We are studying the Old Testament in Sunday School. I came home and told Mr Smith and he just said "I'll call her Becca". He then told me Lexi had told him the name Paige that same day, and I said the two sounded perfect together. Details 7lbs 13oz 20 inches long 14 in head lots dark brown hair light eye lashes Birth Story Friday, 4/20 elective induction (4/22 due date) - I had GroupB strep for the first time. I had not planned an induction until this added stress, which meant I needed 4 hours on antibiotics before delivery. I was worri...

Easter Sunday was spent at home watching General Conference. I love the spirit in the air around this time. It's just wonderful. Spring. Conference (sustaining a new prophet!). Easter morning. It's a sort of rebirth we all need. Forgoing traditional baskets or talks of bunnies, we enjoyed a few (ok a lot of) sweet & savory things while enjoying time together. I feel like I got to hear most of conference this year compared to ones in the past. And we managed to capture some cute shots of these precious children. Gammi made Lexi an Easter dress with a matching doll dress. The primary put on a little Easter egg hunt that morning. The kids hunted for eggs and turned them in for candy. The video Mr Smith got of Dallin was priceless. He certainly knows what candy is.   And I reached full-term! So I had to take the 37 week photo in the same outfit from prior pregnancies.  I feel like the size is pretty similar. I've measured right on with the week al...

39 WEEKS PREGGO We have been distracted, but not by a baby yet! I feel the most calm and not as anxious this time around as far as waiting on baby, but sure, I'd LOVE the happy surprise of her coming early this week. I've been having more contractions than I feel like I ever did with the others, but after last Friday with them being 10 min apart for an hour, nothing consistent has happened again, at least not where I've clocked it.  But at least the contractions have kept her moving more.  I am finding myself exhausted by early evening, yet it's only the start of dinner & everything else. It's hard to keep up with the chores wanting everything in its place before she arrives. Including that dumb van, which apparently won't be repaired by then, but I'm counting on Mr Smith to take care of it during paternity leave. We are down to the last week though! It's very exciting. I set the induction date for Friday, April 20th assuming I'll fee...

I wanted to write a little bit about us wrapping up year 4 with Lexi in case it takes me a little bit longer to catch up once the baby comes... Lexi had her 5 year doc apt already so that she could finalize her shots for school. We submitted the registration paperwork and now just wait for orientation mid-April. She will do great; I know she'll thrive and it's really only 3 hours so I think it'll be perfect. She is doing great with sight words and trying to sound things out to read. There are still some struggle sounds like "r" that she says the "w" sound for, but I know she'll get there quick enough. The rules of English are horrible but she is great with repetition. Although when it comes to her online pre-k program, she really just gets through the reading & math so that she can play the games. Learning through play is a good thing.  I'm excited to see her learn & grow even more. I'm mostly excited for her to be around mor...

This came together last minute, but I've debated about what to do for the typical American "Easter basket" - I'm sure I posted about this last year & you know how I feel about gifts, not wanting anything to take away from why we celebrate Easter. We enjoyed a spring carnival last year, and I wanted to keep any gifts or egg hunts at that - spring fun. I found cute, small gifts in the Target $1/$3 bins that I wanted to give them but I didn't want to just gift them you know? So this is what I came up with for this year if you're like me and need an idea: Easter Treasure Hunt. They basically had about 7 gifts to open, from bouncy balls, a small wooden bowling set, some little wooden figurines & a book. So I wrapped them all up. Most were for them to share, sometimes there was one for each. I took 7 envelopes and Mr Smith & I came up with 7 Easter/conference related questions, namely: Why do we celebrate Easter? What does the word Resurrection me...

Insta post: My little TWO year old man! Who is oh so sweet when he isn't frustrated (very assertive). The squishest, ticklish, cuddliest boy. Who is potty trained!! Only after several long weeks. He loves books & cars & the tv. 31lbs doesn't weigh him down too much. He loves his "sissy" and my favorite phrases are "I did it!" & "the end". He still likes to crawl into our bed during the night. He loves to be pampered. He feeds off his sister's mood 🙃. He likes boundaries of "this is mine & this is yours" but is willing to share if you're nice about it. He is always up for a good tease/chase & "piggy" with his toes. Doesn't like to sing along or get too dirty. We took the kids to McDonalds Thursday night to play & eat french fries on his birthday. Saturday we saved to really celebrate & take some cute photos; Dad even gave him another haircut. He also took them both to the church parki...