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!