All About the Smiths

I can't believe my baby is 1 today!

Happy Birthday Cynthia!!!

We have BIG plans today that include some shopping and most importantly lunch with Daddy!




PS: Post with pictures coming later in the day.

Many people have asked for an update on our daycare/babysitter search.

We have a few possibilities that we are looking into. We are praying that the Lord would give us wisdom as we make decisions.

Thanks for asking and for your continued prayers!

Well, in case anyone was starting to wonder....
I'm still pregnant! Things are going fine for us. I'm feeling fine, starting to get uncomfortable, but not too horrible yet!

And for all those who might want to ask:
No, I'm not having any "weird pains"
No, I'm not having any contractions
No, I'm not having Braxton Hicks
YES, the baby is still moving - TONS!
YES, I'm ready for her to come!

Have a great weekend!

And as an added bonus: if anyone wanted to know, we're registered at Target and Wal-Mart! :)

Last week, Josh had to work at a place called Badger Basket. While there he asked one of the ladies working if they had any cute baby stuff he could bring home to "make his wife happy." Well, it turned out that not only did they have baby stuff, but that weekend "just happened" to be their factory outlet sale that is only held twice a year. We ended up getting some AWESOME deals on baby stuff and saving boat loads of money!!

Check this out!












Here are some pictures of the cute stuff we got!!





So, Josh was definitely the HERO of the week last week! We are so excited about the way that God keeps providing for our little one.

My Mom decided to make a dress for baby Smith to wear home from the Hospital! :) Here are the pictures:


















Thanks Mom!! I'm sure it will look adorable on Cynthia!!

Note: The dress is red and white checked and has some rick rack and appliqués on it! She also made matching bloomers and hat!

I have a request that I would greatly appreciate if you would all pray with me about.

Josh and I have decided that after our baby comes, I will still continue to work. Our decision is based on several reasons that we feel are best for our family, and also to be the best stewards that we can be of how the Lord has provided for us. We also feel that this is what the Lord would have us to do at this point in our lives.

The prayer request is for a babysitter. I would love to be able to find a Christian person to be able to watch my child in their home and not have to put her into a day care center.

Would you please pray that the Lord would continue to show us His will, and that we would be able to find a great babysitter?

I will be taking about 8 weeks of Maternity leave from work and most likely coming back to work after Thanksgiving.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Lately, I've been having a tendency to worry about things. Where is everything we need for the baby going to come from is the biggest worry on my mind. Well, in the past few weeks, the Lord has been showering us with blessings.

A few weeks ago a lady that Josh does some work for asked him if we could use a dresser. So, he and my brother went to pick it up. It is still in very good condition and is a cute white dresser.

Today, I was emailing a former co-worker and found out that she has a breast pump and a Pottery Barn Kids bedding set for sale. After talking to Josh we decided to purchase both from her. We will be getting more items from her than with the set I had originally picked out from Wal-Mart and the whole deal is about half the price of buying the equivalent from Wal-Mart! Praise the Lord.



This is a picture of the bedding we'll be getting now!










Way back in the beginning of my pregnancy a very good friend told me she would give me all the baby stuff she had left. Well, we finally went to pick it up tonight and she gave us a white sleigh style crib, a pack n' play, 3 different baby type bath things, a swing, a travel swing, 2 baby carriers (like the ones you wear) and a couple toys. Plus she's giving me a glider rocker in a few weeks!

God is SO GOOD! Not only am I getting this nice furniture from people, but as an added blessing it all matches too.

Thank you Lord for the blessings you send and for the way it reminds me that I need not worry!

Well, I've found it! I've been looking all over for the baby bedding that would go along with my idea for decorating Cynthia's nursery. And...I've finally found it!! I'm so excited. My husband thinks I'm weird because I'm so excited about this, well...guess I am! :)

Here are the pictures:




For those who may be curious, I think we're going to paint the walls a light green color. The other decorations in the room are going to be several beanie babies that I collected when I was in High School. So basically, I guess you could say we're doing an animal theme for the nursery!

If you'd like to contribute....we're registered for all this at Wal-mart.com

Here's the latest doctor update from yesterday:
--heartbeat was 130
--Baby is growing at a normal rate
--I had to do the glucose test, so far that is fine
--They reviewed the ultrasound from last month and everything looks great.
--No complications!

Basically, I'm having a "boring" pregnancy! And I'm just fine with that!!!

I'm feeling great these days. I'm over the tired all the time stage from the first trimester. I'm not really having much discomfort. A little bit of back pain. I still haven't really had any food cravings or aversions. It's weird to think that I'm over halfway through the pregnancy! I'm so looking forward to meeting our baby girl!

We do have one funny thing that has been happening. Every time Josh tries to feel the baby moving, she stops! I'll be sitting on the couch and she'll be kicking up a storm, so Josh will put his hand on my belly to try to feel it, and she stops moving! Funny little girl! She's playing tricks with her daddy already! :)

Baby Rolling




Baby Kicking




Baby Foot



My Beautiful Baby Girl

Last week on Wednesday we had our 20 week ultrasound! It was so neat to be able to see our baby again! The ultrasound technician kept telling us what a beautiful baby we have. I definitely agree! Everything is fine on the ultrasound and they told us the baby weighs around 1 pound right now.

And now, the news you're all waiting for.....



They told us we're having a.....




GIRL!!!


Josh and I are very excited. We didn't care either way if we had a boy or girl, but I think our families (minus my brother David!) were all rooting for a girl! I'm most excited about the fact that we have a healthy baby.

We have chosen the name Cynthia Esther.

Here are some pictures. (Hopefully in a few days I will be able to post a few of the video clips they gave us at the ultrasound.)

Wow! The baby is moving like crazy today! I think little Noah is practicing to be a Drummer, or maybe an Acrobat!

Well, we had our second Dr. Appointment yesterday. Everything went well and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat! The doctor even recorded it onto a tape for us. I'm so thankful that everything has been normal thus far and that I haven't been that sick. God is good!

On May 9th we are scheduled for an Ultrasound and we are hoping to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!

Here are some pictures that Josh took of me yesterday. (My hair looks horrible on these pictures!!)

Things are going fine here. I'm 14 weeks now and finally starting to get over some of the sickness I had. Although, I can't complain because I haven't been as sick as some people I know. But I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back and not feel as nauseated. I'm definitely starting to show and having to start wearing Maternity clothes.

We still don't have an exact date for our move, but we are definitely excited to be moving into a house instead of being cramped in our apartment. There are still quite a few details to be worked out, so please pray that everything goes smoothly. We have already given our notice at our apartment so we have to be out of it by April 30th.

I changed the look of my blog. What do you think?
I also added a bunch of links on the right. Check out the one titled "Josh's Photo Blog." Josh has been posting a lot of the recent pictures he's been taking. I'm sure he'd appreciate a comment!

Hope you're enjoying Spring! We sure are!!

Part 1 (this should have been posted on Friday, March 9th):

Noah is a demanding little child. He is already requiring us to look for a larger abode. :) We are currently living in a very nice 2 bedroom apartment, but it was getting small (we acquire stuff quickly) before we knew about Noah, especially when we have college guys staying over every weekend. So we are off to look for a nice 3 bedroom dwelling. We’ve found two different houses that we're going to be looking at.

Part 2 (update as of today, March 12th):

We haven’t signed the papers yet, but we were informed that we are the only names on the list for a house in Brokaw (same area where we are living now). It is a three bedroom, one and half bath house, with a two car garage. It also has a full basement and a family room that could be used as a second dining room. Our nice sized back yard backs into the alley, and on the other side of the alley is a large grassy field. And they only want $500 a month for it!!! Praise the Lord! We are tentatively scheduled to move into the house on May first. As soon as we can, we’ll post some pictures of the house (here’s a picture of the sunset Josh took from the front yard). The Lord is Good!

Noah’s first photo shoot went very well. We found out that he is a squirmy little baby. During the three or so minutes that the doctor was doing the ultrasound, Noah must’ve flipped over four or five times. The doctor made a remark about the amount of movement, and I said, “Well, he is our kid.” :) I think that he was just showing off. And before you ask, it will be another 8 weeks before Shannon has the ultrasound where we can find out if Noah is a boy or girl.

Click here to see the pictures.