I cant believe it has been a year since the best gift of Hope came into our lives! Hope has been such a joy and brings so much fun and laughter into our lives. We celebrated her first Christmas and first birthday several times over the past few weeks. Hope seemed to enjoy it all and take it all with stride. We were at Jim and PJs for Christmas in Remer. It was a huge snow storm so we made the best of it and made a 7ft tall snowman. Hope played out in the snow for the first time and really seemed to enjoy it. She had a 1st bday party in Remer as well and loved her cake!

After Remer, we went to Burnsville to celebrate Christmas with my family. We had lots of fun playing games, sledding and enjoying some of the new toys with the cousins!

We returned home for 2 days and celebrated Hope's actual birthday on December 30th with my family and Carrie, Avery and Davis. It was a lot of fun playing with the cousins again and enjoyed another cake to the fullest. We played some games as a family and read the stories about her birth and the meaning of Hope from these blogs.

The next day we were off again, up to Little Falls for Christmas with the Smiths. Santa came to visit, which was fun in theory, but Hope really didnt like Santa at all. She played with her cousins again and we had another cake and bday party for her.

We came home Sat night and Sunday afternoon had the 4th and final bday party with some friends at our house. We made lots of nummy treats, played games and watched her 1st bday slideshow. she has lots of new friends with the high school girls having kids and some of the college girls are having kids now too. she is going to be a good big sister to all her friends.

I have been having so much fun startingmy part time schedule and being home with her on Tuesday and Thursdays. We starting swimming lessons today and it took an hour to get there because of the snow, but it was worth it. Hope had so much fun in the pool. She loved to do all the activities and was such a big girl. The teacher used her as her model for a lot of the activities and Hope seemed to enjoy that. She is such a happy girl - I am having such a good time being her mom!

Hope is WALKING!!! What next, a man on the moon?

On November 11th, Hope ditched the crawl and started to walk. She started with some pretty small baby steps a few weeks ago, but then decided that small steps are for babies and she is a woman now! She took off and I wont call it pretty, but it was walking. She has been getting better, stronger and more balanced each day, not to mention more proud of herself. We are pretty proud of her too.

She has had a bad ear infection for over 3 months now and after several rounds of antibiotics we are going to the ENT tomorrow to talk tubes. I am not a big fan of it, but I also cant handle the meds that she is on. I didn't decide to have a baby with no drugs b/c I enjoy pain, I just dont like meds or drugs of any kind. We will see what they recommend, but the poor sweetheart has had really bad diaper rash from the meds and it doesnt seem to be getting better.

She might have a sore bottom and ears, but she can walk with the best of them....booya!

9 months in 9 months out

Hope is 9 months old! I cant believe she has been alive as long as she was the little bump in my belly (no comments about the not so little bump that really was there). She has taught us so much about unconditional love and she makes me smile just thinking about her. I feel so blessed to be a mom and especially Hope's mom. She has such a great spirit and love for life. She is getting so snuggly and loves to cuddle on your lap and give hugs and kisses. She actually gave her first non family kiss that we werent too happy about. She was over having a play date with her friend Calvin from school and he crawled up to her and she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. We are nervous about her! She is extremely busy and cruises around everything. She can stand for about 10 seconds on her own and gets a little daring at times and tries to take little stutter steps.

Hopes Favorites
Some of her favorite toys are her blow up train ball pit, the tunnell and the rain maker. She loves pretty much all books but gets totally mesmerized by the 'Your Baby Can Read' book. She is learning all those words and seems to understand most of them, so she really seems into the book. She loves to hang out at her barn bookshelf in her room and pull out all the books. She will usually go for the Teddy Bear Bible first. You can tell that she is starting to understand more words. She seems to know what 'no' means, but she doesnt always listen! She understands what 'be nice' means when we say that around the cat. Kissa and Hope are finally getting closer since Hope has learned how to pet her nice and not just pull her tail. Kissa is still not sold on her, but she is warming up. Her favorite songs are itsy bitsy spider and 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. Basically any song that has me doing weird motions she loves, I think she secretly loves making me look crazy. Her favorite foods are yogurt, sweet potatos, banana, cantaloupe, carrots, sliced turkey and cereal. She loves to play peekaboo and actually played by herself with a scarf. She was pretty proud of herself that she could pull it over her face and take it off.

Hope's Food
Hope is eating a lot of things now. I am still making her food and I have yet to buy anything jarred for her. It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun too! She eats the following veggies: sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, avacado, green beans (not a fan), squash, red peppers, and edamame. She LOVES fruit and eats the following fruits: banana, cantaloupe, kiwi, peaches, pineapple, applesauce, watermelon and pears. She loves yogurt and I put a little flax seed in there sometimes. She also really likes shaved deli meat and I just fed her tofu tonight. She likes vanilla wafers, goldfish, rasin toast and waffles for a snack. Basically, you have seen her rolls, they arent kidding! She also loves to drink her juice - she is not the best at drinking things herself, but she is trying and the juice is the drink of choice.

I love her laugh and her little voice, she is just the sweetest little thing ever. Thanks heaven for little girls!

Hope and Bella's First Cabin Weekend

Hope and Bella had their first weekend at the cabin together. Last summer they were just bumps in our bellies, so they were much more active this summer! Hope and Bella were fast friends and really enjoyed each other...sometimes too much! The weather wasnt the best, but the girls made the most of it! We went to a really fun candy store and pie shop. Hope tried her first blueberries and Bella learned how to use a block. Hope was like a greased pig in the bath and Bella took advantage of the situation.

It was a great time to hang out, share stories, play lots of games and play with our little ladies.

Unfortunately, when we got home Hope got her first ear infection, cold, fever combo and also had two teeth break through. It made for a challenging week at home and dad was gone fishing all week, so he missed the real fun. Luckily Bella did not get sick from Hopie, so they are still good friends.

Crawling into her future

Last week was a big week for Hope. On Monday, July 27th, Hope starting istting on her own. The day before, she was having a lot of problems sitting up. I know first hand. I would sit her up and she would fall over right away. I would laugh and Laura would scold me. It's this game that we play that Laura does not thing is very funny.

So Wednesday comes along and we decided to keep working on her sitting. We sat her down in the family room and she just decided to start crawling. She saw a toy in the distance and just took off into a full crawl. Previous to this she was able to do the army crawl but moved around very slow. Now, she is crawling. Wow. We were both very excited for her.

Now, she is all over the place. Not only is she crawling, she is starting to pull her self up and stand. She still is very wobblely but like anything, perfection will take time. Hope gets so excited and poud of herself everytime she is able to do this. So are her parents.

4th of July 2009

For the 2009 4th of July, we visited my folks out in Wheaton Minnesota on Lake Traverse. It was Hope's third visit to the Old Barn and she loves it. Tar, Sandy, Skye, Ali, Jeff, River, Autumn, Dave, Reagen, Jackson, Cheryl, Nathan, and Alissa also stayed the weekend. This time we had excellent weather so we brought a tube that she can sit in on the water. She still can't sit up by herself but loves it none the less. By sitting in this, she is part way in the water and is able to kick her feet back and forth. I am predicting she will be a water rat.

A lot of first time things happened over the 4th. The weekend started off pretty tame. We showed up on Thursday and Laura and I took Hope for a boat ride. We traveled all the way to the south end of the lake for the first time. It was pretty underwhelming. Friday, Tar and I tried our luck at fishing and I ended up catching a walleye and my finger. This was the first time I had a hook go through my finger. It was not a good thing since we just started catching fish and I ended up going to the ER in Wheaton. They took care of me and were able to get the hook out no problem. The rest of the day I took pretty easy. Laura was able to get up on skis for the first time and really enjoyed it. She spent the rest of the weekend perfecting her wipe outs. Lots of fun. During the evening, Tar's cousin Milton Corey, brought over his Belgian horses and a wagon and took us for a horse ride up through the pasture. We all had a lot of fun and this was Hope's first 2 Horse Powered ride. She was amazed with the ground moving underneath the wagon.


On Saturday the 4th, we swam, we fished and ended the night watching fireworks down the lake. We did not take Hope since we was sleeping (and the pontoon could only handle 14 people). The rest of use enjoyed the display. On Sunday, we headed back home. Hope was pretty excited to get back and so was Mom.

Hope's dedication on Mother's Day

It was my first official Mother's day and we had Hope dedicated at Berean Baptist Church. It was my home church and where we were married, so it was really special to have her dedicated there.
In case you are wondering what it is, dedication is different from an infant baptism because of the baptist belief in the age of understanding, which is why she will be baptized when she is fully understands the commitment she is making to her life with the Lord.

We had about 25 people at the dedication, which was so special for us. We were the only family to have her dedicated at the first service so we brought her on stage and I had to read a verse and explain why that was important to us and her dedication. Mac was really happy that I was willing to do the talking! Hope did great on stage and really liked the fact that she wore her dad's baptism dress. Yes, Mac wore the same dress and bonnet that Hope did when he was baptized. So weird to think that 6'7 Mac ever fit in that dress, not to mention the fact that he actually was put in a dress!

After the service we all went to brunch at Roaster Pear in Burnsville. The food was awesome and it was so fun to hang out with family and celebrate Mother's day. It was my first time as a mom and it was a memorable experience. Hope maybe had a little too much fun being the center of attention and didnt nap all day, so he had a pretty rough night. Luckily she is back to her normal self now. We have so much fun with her and feel so blessed to have this little angel in our lives!

Family date night

We had a great date night with Hope. We went to the Science Museum to see the Omni and check out the exhibits. Hope slept through the Omni show and then spent some quality time checking out the water exhibit in the Bjorn with Dad. She was taking it all in and really seems to enjoy the new views from the Bjorn as you can see. She had a very sleepy day, starting with sleeping for 10 hours straight at night and then 6 hours of naps during the day. Might be in for a long night...

Best Days of My Life

My time on leave is drawing near and I wanted to take time to reflect on the last 3 months with Hope, which have been the best 3 months of my life. We have enjoyed so many things together and have grown so close as a little Smith family. My time on leave has been a blessing everyday and I have spent my time with no regrets. I feel that I have done everything that I wanted to do on leave, which wasn't hard since my main goal was just to enjoy my time with Hope.

Some of our explorations included: infant massge class where we had to leave early due to a meltdown and I fed her in a storage closet (good story on its own); infant play dinner and home visit; play date with 5 other kids (remind me not to have 5 kids); lunch dates with friends; multiple friend and family visits; weekly visits with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Burnsville; 3 visits downtown to visit work friends; 2 road trips to visit her grandparents in Remer and Little Falls, and many more...

One of the best things about Hope is seeing how much joy she has brought to our life and the lives of our family and friends. She has brought many people closer together and for that lived up to her name...HOPE!

During this time I have grown so much and learned a little about what it means to be a mom. Best job I will ever have and I am so thankful to God for the ability to be a mom. Hope has been the best teacher because in 3 months I have learned more about love, joy and sacrific...I am forever thankful for that!

Sleep - how I missed you old friend

Well, we did it...ok maybe premature, but Hope has slept through the night all week long! She was sleeping 6-7 hours and a few 8 hour nights a few weeks ago, but then I think she has a growth spurt or something and started getting up every 3 hours. It is really hard to go backwards once you know what it feels like to string more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. It was a little hard to get her back on track, but we are doing a new routine with her for night and her daytime naps and so far she has been a rock star. I have some growing pains going 8 hours without feeding her, but I guess that comes with the territory. Seriously, I cant believe in high school they made us carry around flour sack babies. They thought that was the tough part about being a mom... Give these girls 3 hours of sleep, a potbelly, soreness from feeding and a few other unmentionable symptoms of pushing a baby out and it will do wonders for the teen pregnancy rate.

It's been a great week so far with Hopie. We took her to a community dinner where we learned about ways to play with your infant. We got to take home a book and a puppet (may or may not have been included). It was really fun to meet other parents of infants and compare notes. Hope and I also went to lunch with Shelly and Eliot. It was really fun to see them play together! We are off today for our first out of town trip to Jim and PJs. It only took 30 minutes to load the car - not too shabby!

Hope's first friend sleepover

I met Kristin the first day of 7th grade and we have been best friends ever since. We shared lots of great memories, trips, stories and endured the joys and heartaches together through the years. Even after all we have been through, I never thought that our first born daughters would be 27 days apart! Kristin and Bella live in Milwaukee and they came to visit recently. It was so fun to see them together and I knew that that Hope would have an instant best buddy in Bella.

We had a grandma visit at my parent's place. Bella and Hope's grandmas shared stories about how much they love having their little ladies (both sets). Kristin and Bella also came to visit Hope on her home turf. It worked out great and they were both on the same schedule for feeding and naps for the most part. It is really fun to compare notes and diapers to ensure that they are both on track. We had some Burnsville friends over on Saturday to meet the little ladies.

It has been great to have Kristin and I on leave at the same time. We know that we can call each other during the day to discuss feeding concerns, diaper blowouts, outfit changes and the joy of being a mom and CEO of the household (at least from 8-5). Being a mom is by far the best job ever...so glad we could talk shop.

Hope is excited to share more events and stories with Bella through the years. We plan to make a trip to Bella's cabin this summer. Last year we had a cabin weekend when Bella and Hope were just bumps in our bellies, so this year they can enjoy the cabin much more!

Hope's first Valentine's Day

Hope celebrated her first Valentine's Day with us. Dad dressed her in her cute bunny outfit that she totally doesn't fit into anymore. It was the first time in 13 years that I wasn't Mac's best girl, but I was happy to let Hope steal my thunder. Dad and Hope played Wii games and she helped him cook garlic mashed potatoes. We just enjoyed spending time with our little lady and really love being a family.

Reading Rainbow

Dad and Hope have their little bonding time each night. Dad loves to read to Hope and she tolerates his funny faces and stories. Dad and I play very differently with Hope. He likes to do flying baby and baby boxing and I prefer to change her outfit twice a day and sing to her. She seems to just enjoy being our baby. We love that about her!

The Gift of Hope

Today is the one year anniversary of my dad's skiing accident. The accident caused severe brain damage and he spent several months in the hospital and therapy recovery. The accident was terrible in so many ways, but yet somehow it also served some good. It caused all of us to take time to reflect on what is really important in life. I believe I am like many people that sometimes forget what really matters and get caught up in the hussel and bussel of daily life. It was a good wake up call for me and I remember thinking that it would be so sad if my dad was never able to meet or hold any of our children. At the time we were not sure how or if he would recover, but I knew that I wanted to live with more purpose and glory to God for the ability to do so. I guess you could say it was that day that hope was born. We decided soon after to start trying for a child and I guess God's timing was clear...His patience was wearing thin for our delayed child plan. Many people have asked about Hope's name and the meaning behind it. Hope means so many things, but I guess the most imporant is that hope was renewed in my life. My dad was approached by someone that worked with him during his therapy the other day and they commented on how remarkable his recovery has been and that at his age and with his other medical complications this was not expected. He attributes it to the love and support from his family and that is the real meaning of hope!

Our little Hope is perfect in so many ways, not just because she has beautiful eyes or the cutest toes ever, but because she is HOPE!

I have had so much joy in seeing our family and friends enjoy Hope. The included picture is just one example of that. My dad, cousin Grace and little Hope. Enjoying the important things in life.

Independent Women

Last week was our first week solo since Mac started back to work. I was a little nervous about how it would all go down, but Hope is so amazing and we are having so much fun together. We really miss dad during the day, but we send pictures and then I give him a full recap when he gets home. I am going to see my folks in Bville once a week and then have come up a few times too, so that is really fun. Last Friday we spend the day in Bville and my sister and sister in law came over for lunch. It was really fun and everyone just doted over Hope all day. My dad is so in love with Hope and insists on holding her all the time. She seems to enjoy it and he really has the sleeper hold on her. Hope had a big day on Sunday. We took her to church for the first time and she did so great. Mac held her the whole time and she just looked lovingly at him and enjoyed it all. Hope also went to her first Super bowl party on Sunday. She was sporting her cutiest bunny outfit - look for pics of that next week. It is so fun now that she is fitting into big girl clothes. So many more options and I love dressing her up!

I love Hope more than I thought I could and feel so blessed that she is in our lives. I also didn't think I could love Mac more, but he is such a great dad, so it makes it easy to love him more! Hope and I are both pretty smitten.

Hope is 4 weeks old!

Yesterday, January 27th was Hope's 4 week birthday. We celebrated with her grandma and grandpa Cleveland. The real treat is when she was playing on her favorite mat and we were so impressed with how good she was holding her head up and then it happened...she rolled over! We were laughing so hard and I totally thought it was a fluke until the middle of the night. I went to feed her at 3 am and to my dismay she had rolled to the opposite end of the crib (long way). I cried basically the whole time I was feeding her. Mac blames the hormones, but I was just sad to think that she is growing up so quick. First she rolls over, next she graduates college - it all happens so fast! Today she was back to her usual tricks of funny faces and messy poops, so I was glad she didn't grow too much today. My favorite thing to do with her is trim her nails and comb her hair. It is just so fun to have a little girl!

We watched American Idol tonight. I sing songs to her the whole time and Hope lets me know if she likes the song or not. It is sometimes hard to console her.

Hope is 3 weeks old!

Hope turned the big 3 weeks yesterday, January 20th. It also happened to be the same day someone named Barack became president. Her name Hope really had nothing to do with Barack's discussion of Hope, but we did have her back up name as "change" just in case.

Today we took Hope to the doctor for her 3 week check up and she weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs 11 ozs! We had her weighed at 2 weeks and she was 7 lbs 3 ozs, so she is gaining just over 1 oz per day, which is great! Mom and dad were pleased with her growth, she was not as excited about the visit.

Hope was due today!

Hope was supposed to join our family today, January 11th, but instead she blessed us and came almost 2 weeks early. I am so thankful that she came early, we have had so much fun with her. We have experienced many wonderful things since she joined our family such as: numerous visits from friends and family, new pink clothes and accessories, learning how to wrap her like a burrito, several major diaper blows outs, emergency baths, lots of laughs over her funny faces and most of all, overwhelming love for our little girl!

We had our first date night on Friday night. We went to Broadway pizza, nothing too fancy which was required since I only wear sweat pants. She did really good and slept the whole time, so mom and dad enjoyed our first night out with her.

Laura "meals on heels" Smith

The end of the "cream puff" era

It's mommy here, finally doing a blog. I thought I would tell my story of the labor even though I think Mac and I are the only ones that read these. To begin I earned the nick name 'cream puff' when I was in the 4th grade or so. We were golfing and my family loves to golf, I dont share that same passion. I was sick of it after we hit off the first tee and started to complain about my bag being heavy and yada yada yada I got the nick name 'cream puff'. You would think it would be short lived, but 20 some years later it still haunts me. So much so that I made a bet with my brother that if I could make it through labor with no drugs (epidural) the nick name would be forgiven. Now that you know what is at stake, let’s talk labor...

Monday (12/29) : I had a great day: had the day off from work, ran errands, worked out at the club, did some nesting, made dinner and dessert, etc. Thought I was feeling way to good to be going into labor soon. Went to bed that night around 11pm and just as we were getting settled in my water broke or I wet myself! We called the dr and he told us to go in. I was totally calm and made sure to feed the cat, pick up the house and make sure we had everything packed in case this really was the real thing (at the time I was still concerned that I wet myself and would be really mad if that was the case).

Tuesday (12/30): At the hospital the dr confirmed that my water had broke and admitted us to the labor and delivery room. Since I had already been up for 16 hours I decided to just lay down and try to rest during the night while contractions started. Mac was able to sleep in a really uncomfy cot in the room and I rested but couldn’t sleep since contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes. They weren't that bad during the night so I was feeling pretty good about things. Unfortunately by 8 am they completely stopped. We walked the halls and I tried to hit on the birth ball to get them going again, but with no luck by 10am they decided to start the pitocin to get them going again. I really didn’t want to do this, but since my water broke they needed to deliver within 24 hours. I was really bummed when they told me that I couldn’t do any labor in the tub after starting pitocin. That was my plan when labor got really tough. I knew at this point that I was in for a long process. She also told me that contractions are more painful with pitocin when your water has already broke...not really what I wanted to hear.

They increased the doses every 15 minutes and the contractions started to get closer together and more painful. I would go through phases of feeling good and want to play cards, check emails and call people and then I would go through phases of wishing it would all end soon. Around 3pm they checked and I was only dialed to 6 cm but her head was about as low as it gets before you deliver. This meant I couldn’t push but I wanted to with each contraction. This is when it started to get ugly. Contractions were really not fun and I wanted to push and started to each time. I couldn’t help it. As time approached the dreaded 4pm I kept asking to be checked and told them that I was pushing. They finally realized I wasn't kidding and around 4pm got ready to deliver. My dr that I had seen during my pregnancy was on her way to the hospital so they tried to hold me off so she could deliver...at this point I could care less who was there, I was doing this thing! I was finally in so much pain that I asked for an epidural knowing that my dreams of losing the cream puff name would be over. Once again, the nurse delivered the bad news that it was too late. I now officially despise this nurse.

From the start of the real pushing her head was basically right there. I thought this really stinks, but at least it will be quick...couldn't be more wrong! For two hours I pushed as hard as I could and not to get into too many details she had a pretty good cone head when born. I held myself up with a sheet across a bar and pushed for two hours so my muscles and every ounce of strength was tapped. I found out later that they don't let people without an epidural go more than 2 hours without an episomoty. Needless to say I took care of that myself and I knew exactly when that happened. I would argue that it was the worst pain anyone can feel. Compared to that; all pain seems relative. I had no food and no sleep so my adrenaline was all that got me through it. Finally at 6:22pm Hope was born in every since of the word! They put her on my tummy and Mac cut her cord. I was shaking too bad to hold her, so they took her to do their thing. After stitches, afterbirth and other not so fun things I was feeding her. Such an amazing miracle and I know that they need to make babies so sweet to help you forget how awful everything else is. Luckily, we got the sweetest baby of them all! Hope is the best little sweetie ever and I love every minute with her. Within minutes of birth I managed to tell the staff that I get to lose the nick name 'cream puff'. I told them the basic story behind it and they confirmed that I am the opposite of a cream puff after all I went through. My dr brought it up again at Hope's 1 week check up, so I was pretty proud of myself of making it through it all and ditching the nick name.

Wow, that was a novel. Sorry, but wanted to share my story...the good the bad and the best thing of all - HOPE!

Hope's 1st Week

Hope celebrated her first week of life last night by eating, sleeping, and pooping. What else could you ask for. Hope has been doing a lot of cluster feeding which means Mom and Dad don't have much time to ourselves. Not they we have a lot of plans but when she is eating every hour to two you have no options. Laura is hanging in there. She tries to take some naps during the day while I watch Hope and it seems to be working. Hope is much more awake and alert. Her eyes are big and dark blue. I was pleased to see that she got my ears which means a life of no lopes. Laura is not happy because she is the kind of person that frowns on lobeless people.

We just mailed out our baby announcements today so everyone should be receiving them over the next couple days. We used shutterfly and it was pretty slick. We ordered them on Sunday night and we received them on Tuesday which was two days earlier then expected. We have some friends stopping by tonight and family stopping over this weekend. My folks, PJ and Jim, have not seen the little one so they are pretty juiced. Besides the visits, we have been just enjoying our time together.
Mac