Meeting Baby Preston

After waiting for what felt like eternity (but in reality did go pretty fast), we finally got to meet the newest member of our family.  Preston Britton Smithson was born on Wednesday, January 29th, at 1:14 pm.  Preston weight 8lbs, 8oz at birth, and was 22 inches tall.  His was my most eventful, painful, and longest labor yet.  Can I just say, thank heavens for Pitocin (spelling) or I may still be in labor right now.

Thankfully, I am not...  And after a long wait, we finally got to meet Baby Preston.

He is wonderful.  Very mellow, a bit backwards on his clock, but definitely a wonderful little man.  I can't believe he is mine, but at the same time, am completely in love.  Here he is a few hours after his birth, hanging out with daddy.

 Mom and Preston, the next day, after mom had final showered and changed into something a little more comfortable.

 A little male bonding time.

 Coming home from the hospital.

 And meeting his siblings for the first time.

Noelle ran into the house first.

Noelle: "Mom, I want to hold Baby Preston! Can I hold him? Oh, and now you can run super fast because there isn't a baby in your tummy.  Want to try?  And I want to see his belly button.  Where is his belly button?"  (literally no breaths in between)

Melanie was the next into the house.  

Melanie: "Baby Preston is so cute.  Can I hold him?  I'm so excited"

Oliver finally made his way in.

Oliver: "Baby Preston!!!!! I want to hold him!!!"

I had them all wash up and then gave them each a chance.  After that, Oliver ran into his room and collected his favorite stuffed animal and blanket and brought them to his brother.  When I mentioned that I needed to change Preston's diaper, Oliver ran into his room and grabbed 2 size 4 diapers and ran back as fast as possible.  He is really excited about his brother.

I can't blame him.  I am really excited about his brother too.  Baby Preston, we love you!  Thank you for joining our family.

The Birth Story (for the record)

Here is a kind of brief, but still full story of Preston's birth:

I had been having painful contractions every night for the 5 days leading up to Preston's birth.  There were a few nights that they were so bad, Brandon and I thought for sure this is the night.  Sunday was one of those nights.  But being unsure, I had Brandon give me a blessing of comfort.  In the blessing, I was told that I would know when it was time.  Though I still wasn't comfortable, I decided it wasn't right and went to bed.  Sure enough I woke up on Monday without a baby and feeling beat up, but okay.  

Tuesday morning I woke up to the news that my sister in law, Amber, had her baby early that morning.  Skylar Hunter Smithson.  We haven't met him yet, but I saw pictures, and he is cute.  I told myself that it would probably be a week before our baby would be here, but told my belly that if he wants to keep playing with his cousin, who just left heaven, he better come soon.  I know, I'm a goof.  

Tuesday night, after dinner, Brandon suggested to me that I go to the Stake Center for the Stake Temple Recommend Interviews, suggesting that if I go this week, he will go next.  I raced down there.  While sitting in the foyer, I had several people ask me random questions about my family, upcoming baby, etc.  While talking to them, surprise surprise, I start having contractions.  During my interview, I had the thought that this is it.  They weren't even bad at the time, just there.  

I went home, started pacing, grew more miserable, started really packing, wrote instructions for my mother in law (things like allergies and schedules), paced some more, and then attempted to go to bed.   I woke up at midnight on fire.  I was in so much pain, my stomach was hard and just hot.  I started pacing again and eventually we called Brandon's dad and told him that we were bringing the kids and heading to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 2 am.  My biggest fear was being sent home.  They sent my to triage and upon examination determined that I was only dilated to a 3 (which ironically is less than at my last dr. appointment, so that was depressing).  They told me they would watch me for an hour and then decide.  I was dying for that hour.  My contractions were originally a little further spaced, but became 2 minutes apart and extremely intense.  At the end of that hour...  I was still a 3.  This is were I became blessed.  The on call doctor had mercy on me and decided to give me another hour.  It was a long painful hour, and I won't lie, I was crying from pain.  After that hour, still no change.  I was a 3. It was 4 am.  I was having contractions ever 2 minutes that lasted a minute long and made me want to scream, and I was only a 3.  Talk about depressing.  Again, I was blessed.  Instead of sending me home, the doctor had mercy on me and decided to admit me.  By 5 am, I was finally in a delivery room and some time between then and 6, I was comfortable (thanks to modern medicine and the epidural).  

At 7 am, I got the most awesome delivery nurse ever, Ms. Vicki.  She was really sweet and took great care of me. At about 10:30 am she checked me again, and I was at 3.5.  Ugh!  I had already had my water break but I wasn't changing.  It was so annoying.  At 11, they decided to give me Pitocin.  Ironically, this was about the same time my epidural wore off completely.  I could feel everything.  I got permission to push the booster and something crazy happened.  It only numbed half my body.  My right side was rubber, my left side miserable.  I called the nurse and told her I was in intense pain, so she told me to push the booster again.  I did, but the pain continued, and at this point was so completely unbearable.  After examining me, it was determined I was "complete" (which is fancy for "You are in pain because that baby wants out NOW").  It was just after 12:30 pm.  I had gone from 3.5 to 10 that fast.  I had to wait for the doctor to get there (she was off site).  Waiting is not easy to do.  The anesthesiologist made me more comfortable, but I could still feel the pressure enough to want to push.  It was hard holding off.

The doctor showed up at about 1:05, wearing a dress and looking really pretty.  I almost felt guilty.  Almost.  By 1:10, I was allowed to push, and at 1:14, Preston was born.  I am blessed. 

Beautiful Act of Kindness

A very sweet thing happened this morning.  It started with a mom that woke up really sick.  We got ready for school, and dropped Melanie off, but alas, I still wasn't feeling well, and decided to go to the grocery store to get some oranges.  I just had a feeling that oranges would help me feel better.

So we rushed to the grocery store (only having 10 minutes before it would be time to carpool to preschool).  When we entered the store, the oranges were right up front.  Noelle helped me fill a bag with a few oranges, Oliver helped me decide that I would also be getting apples, and then we were ready to check out.  Of course, we really hadn't entered the store yet, as the apples and oranges were on display right in the entry way.  When we did, Noelle noticed the beautiful flowers on display.  She begged "Mom, can we PLEASE get some beautiful flowers.  They would be nice to have with dinner tonight".  I'm on a one track mind and honestly can't think of anything but getting out of the store.  I tell her no.  Well, a lady heard Noelle's pleading and asked Noelle if she really liked flowers.  Noelle was a little goofy, but said yes, and that the were beautiful.

We headed to check out.  Oliver was on foot, so I had to coral them into the isle a little bit.  Then I decided (total last minute) to get a few candies to surprise them later.  What I didn't notice was that lady was in line behind us.  We checked out and went to leave.  She checked out...  and had only bought one thing.  A beautiful bouquet of flowers... just for Noelle.

At this point, Oliver high tails it to the exit, so I have to chase after him.  Once we get Oliver, we went back into the store to thank her.  The lady said to me "I just love flowers and thought, since she loves them as much as I do, that I would share with her".  It was extremely sweet.  And the flowers definitely bring happiness to our entire kitchen. 

To the nice lady at the grocery store, thank you!  You not only made Noelle's day, but mine.

The Mischievous Man of Improvisation

Oliver is by far the most mischievous of my children, which is actually saying a lot, because he has some mischievous, fun, older sister.  Oliver is excited about exploring his surroundings and experimenting with his findings.  Sometimes it gets him into a little bit of trouble.

Yesterday, for example, I was in one restroom... and apparently he was in the other.  When I come out of the kids' bathroom, I knew something was up.  I sneaked around the corner and found Oliver, sitting in the middle of my bathroom floor, covered in pink and red nail polish.  I mean COVERED!  I didn't take a picture of the scene of the crime because it was more important to minimize damage by not leaving him alone.  He wasn't too happy when I took the paints away.  And he was even less excited having to take off his close and change.  The floor was easy to clean with fingernail polish, and so was the cupboards.  Thank heavens it didn't get it onto anything else.  Well, except himself!  He is really pretty with red hands, arms, and legs (apparently the paint made it through the pants).  

 You think that I'd learn my lesson.  But I didn't.  I did throw the paints away, so that wouldn't happen again... but later in the day, I used the kids' bathroom again....  and again, when I got out, I found my little man covered in things from my bathroom.  

That's when I decided that it would be better to have that door locked.  Oliver spent the majority of the rest of the day sneaking into my bedroom with chairs, step stools, and pretty much anything he could think of and trying to unlock the door.  

Needless to say, eventually I had to put all the step stools and kid chairs into time out.  But does that stop this little man from improvising?  Nope!

Apparently the kitchen bench is always an option.  And it's really hard for mom to lock that one up.

 There are also things like bowls:

Yep...  pretty much anything can be turned into a step when you use your imagination.

Someone is a little too clever for his own good!

A little bit of Awesome.

Some things are just too good NOT to take a picture of.  For example... when my little 4 year old comes into the living room dressed in a ballet leotard, tutu, cape, scarf, and wings and informs me that she looks awesome (her exact words "Mom, I look awesome")... well, that warrants a picture.

 or two!

 Then, My little 6 year old came home from school in a super mood!  Turns out that Wednesday was the 100th day of school, and Zero the Hero came and visited with a lot of fun things.  They had super hero masks, head bands, snacks, etc. along with a crown that said "I'm 100 days Smarter!".  She was so into the super vibe, that she opted to take OFF the dress she had worn to the temple and then to school, and opted for pants and a shirt instead.  Melanie is usually trying to get INTO dresses, not the other way around!  She came out in this get up:

 (complete with cape) and informed me that she was Super Woman!  She even put the pigtails in herself.  That's pretty awesome!

My final picture needed some explanation... so I decided to add this picture:

 See, Noelle added a hat to her outfit, and it made Oliver jealous.  He wanted that hat so bad, he chased her around the house, crying.  I asked Melanie to help him find the "chew chew" hat (that's what they call it, because it's an engineer hat).  Well, she found the "chew chew" hat, but he wasn't hearing the word "chew chew", he was hearing "tutu"...  Once he got the hat on, he was convinced he needed a tutu.  He brought it over and begged, rather passionately, that he needed that tutu on.  Melanie walks by and says "well, at least it's the green one".  It made me laugh.  

So, there you go!  It's pretty Awesome at the Smithson house!

Gilbert Temple

Wednesday was a special day.  Our family woke up, dressed in our church clothing, and headed to the new Gilbert, Arizona Temple for a tour.  The temple is currently open until mid February for tours before it is dedicated in March.  You are encouraged to make a reservation, so I picked an 8 am tour.  

We headed to Gilbert, picking up breakfast on the way (nothing like some donuts to start the day, right?)  Then we walked over to the chapel neighboring the temple.  This is where they showed a video about the importance of temples, the history of the Saints in Gilbert, and also a little bit about the building of the Gilbert Temple.

 During the video, reverence didn't seem to be on Oliver's agenda.  He was too busy pestering his sister (Melanie) and playing with Hymn books.  What was a little humorous though, was that he noticed the moment the video was over.  You could tell he knew he was busted, because he quickly folded his arms and said (not too quietly), "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen!"  Nice try, Oliver.  We all know what you were up to!

After the video, the escorts showed us to the Temple.  The tour seemed to take on the approach of a long group playing follow the leader.  It was definitely clear which way we should go.  The temple was (and is) an indescribable beauty.  There is just no other way to put it.  It was a very vertical experience, with large stairways that showcase magnificent stain glass windows.  It was definitely a memorable experience. 

Upon asking the kids which rooms were their favorites, and just from listening to them talk over the last 2 days, I have determined the following:

Noelle is in love with the baptismal font.  She is a little discouraged that she herself won't be baptized there, but is willing to wait until she is 12 to go.  She has informed me that when she is 12, we will be going *a lot*.  

Melanie is excited about getting married in the beautiful "marriage room for sealings".  She really liked that room.

They both have told me how they felt the Holy Ghost in the temple, especially in the room with the bright beautiful lights.  I would have to agree.  The Celestial Room always makes an impression on me, and the one in the Gilbert Temple is definitely amazing.  I'm really glad they have been able to feel the spirit and acknowledge that it was there, in the Temple.

I'm not sure which room was Oliver's favorite, but I have to say, he was extremely reverent inside the temple.  It was like a 360 change from how he was in the church building.  I have to believe it's because even he knew how special the Temple is.

Here are some pictures we took outside of the temple after the tour.

I'm so blessed to live so close to so many temples.  When I thought we were moving to North Dakota, one thing that bothered me was knowing the nearest temple would be a 4 hour drive.  How blessed we are.  I'm so grateful for the temple and for the feelings to peace it brings to my life.

A Little Redecoration

This little redecoration has been a "behind the scenes", "in the works" kind of thing for a long time now.  Today, I finally finished up and put everything on the walls.  Here are some before pictures of the girls' room:

 And here are the after shots:

It's safe to say they have a unique look in their rooms, as I have refinished the mirror, all the frames, and the two pink designs.  I made the images in the rings with scrap fabric, created the crayon wreath, and the melted crayon flowers.  The girls each made a hand print sign that also decorated the room.  The Melanie and Noelle signs were painted by the girls about 2 years ago, and I love them.  And the silhouettes were also from about 2 years ago.  Brandon hung the book shelf for me this weekend.  I'm loving the look of their room.  It's very fun and feminine.  I have other plans for around the window, but it will have to wait.

Some of the Recent Home Improvements

Nesting?  Adding Adventure to our lives RIGHT before adding a baby?  Trying to induce labor by stressing mom out?  I'll let you be the judge of that.  Here are some of the minor and major home improvement projects we have started and completed over the last month.  These are in any particular order, and keep in mind, these are NOT all of them.  There are some projects that just aren't done yet, but are close.  Also keep in mind that I was the one with the camera, so even though I'm not pictured, I did participate.  Okay, all my disclosures are done... lets see what's been going on.

The first project was the result of knowing we will have a new baby coming soon.  See, I have 3 dressers, one for each child.  But, soon I will have another baby and I had NO WHERE to put his clothing.  The ideal location would be to use the dresser that also serves as a changing table.  Unfortunately, that's where Oliver's clothing is.  Also, the room that Oliver and the new baby will share is very small and doesn't have wall space for another dresser.  I decided that I would have to put a dresser in the closet.  The only dresser that is small enough to fit into that closet is the one that Noelle has used over the last two years.  So... what will Noelle use?  Then I remembered, I have a larger dresser in the office.  The kicker is...  every drawer was completely full of office supplies, craft supplies, electronic supplies, and old school supplies.  I even found some of my school papers from 2004 in there.  It wasn't a small assignment, cleaning out this dresser.  It took me the entire day to clean it out and find a home for everything.  When I was done, I had an empty dressers, and two cupboards full and organized with craft supplies (all children's supplies.  I stock up at back to school every year... clearly).

 But the dresser still wasn't ready yet.  Apparently most of the drawers were falling apart.  Perhaps I abused too much with all that stuff in it.  It wasn't right away that my dresser problem was solved... so we will skip to the next project that was started:  Painting our house.

Here is a before.

 The painting of our house has been something we have discussed for quite some time (years even).  I did very minimal work on it, mostly just picking out the colors and helping hold things.  Brandon calked it and fixed things that needed to be done prior to painting.  The real hero and artist was our good friend, Joe Fairchild.  He has done an amazing job and spent so much time away from his family to do this for us.  Oliver looks forward to seeing him every day and screams "Brother Fairchild!!!" repetitively when he shows.  It is really sweet, but I'm sure it gets a little annoying.  Brother Fairchild doesn't seem phased by this though.  He is a great person and just smiles and greats Oliver with love.  He is amazing.  The after pictures are yet to come, as I seem to have uploaded everything by date of picture taken.

The next project was a complete surprise to me.  In fact, if I had known, I probably wouldn't have swept and mopped nor vacuumed that day!  Brandon and his brother put in all new doors and floor boards throughout the entire house.  We are talking 7 new doors and new floor boards in the master bed room, hall, kitchen, and living room.  At one point, I had major renovations going on inside my house and major painting going on outside.  That was a fun day. ;) Here are some pictures:

The hallway 

 The master bedroom.

 Part of the living room

 Some of the finished doors and floor boards in the hall.

 My next surprise happened the following weekend, which just so happened to be last weekend.  Brandon came home Friday night, ready to paint our room.  Painting our room resulted in the master bed laying in the living room for 3 days, doors in the hall and kitchen, furniture in the middle of the bedroom (with no door to keep children out), box springs in the hall, and the bed frame outside.  This is the period of time where I lost the most sleep!  Brandon and I painted Friday night until around 1 am.  Then Oliver was having nightmares, and we ended up not getting good sleep the rest of the night.  Saturday was spent trying to keep the kids out of our room.  We did some fun things out and about.  Saturday night, Brandon painted while I read and talked with him (I was tired and sore from the night before).  It was definitely faster when the two of us worked together.  He was really sweet to do everything by himself that night.  Sunday was a bit crazy, trying to get ready for church without a bedroom and with the bed taking up the entire living room, but we made it work.  After church, the girls got to do this: 

 while Oliver took a nap.  I thought, for sure, that the girls would fall asleep in our bed.  Turns out I was wrong.  I ended up falling asleep on the couch behind them, and then ended up playing outback with Brandon. So much for that dream, right?  Sunday night, Brandon finished the little bit that was left on the trim around the ceiling and I got my room back Monday night (after the kids were in bed).  Here is a picture of him painting a little on Saturday.

 On Saturday, I also got him to fix 4 of the 5 broken drawers for that dresser I was telling you about.

 And I also got him to cut and hang a book shelf I have been "nagging" him to hang for the last several months.  This is in the girls' room.  I also have one for the boys' room.  It won't hold a lot of books, but give them some to choose from where they can actually see the book and not just a stack on a typical book shelf.  I'm excited about this.

 Here is a picture of Oliver taking advantage of the fact that daddy has all the drawers to the dresser out back.

 Yesterday (Monday) while Brandon was at work, I finished my "dresser project".  Though I don't have any pictures, it is done.  I emptied out the littler dresser that had Noelle's clothing in it and temporarily put it into my room.  Then I pulled the drawers from Melanie's dresser and moved it across her room.  Next was the really fun part.  I "carried" the largest dresser from the office/ toy room, across the toy room, kitchen, and hallway to put it in the girls' room.  I ended up having to carry it the entire way because when I started dragging it, the bottom left foot fell off.  That was exciting.  So, then I got to play Ms. Fix-It.  I repaired the dresser (probably a temporary fix until it needs to be moved again) and then moved Melanie's dresser next to it.  It makes Melanie's dresser look really small.  This didn't sit well with little Mrs. Red.  Poor girl.  And it doesn't help that Noelle keeps saying "I love my new big dresser".  We did come to an understanding that the amount of clothing that she has hasn't changed.  And the reality is, Noelle is only using 3 of the 5 drawers as the bottom drawer is still broken and Noelle is too short to use the top drawer.  Eventually, Melanie decided she was okay with this.  

When Oliver woke from his nap, I finished up by moving the little dresser into his closet and moving his close over.  Now the baby has his own dresser, full of clean baby boy clothing!  Hooray for small or, in my opinion, large victories.  

And speaking of victories... here is an after picture of my bedroom: 

 Of course, now I have to figure out how to decorate it.  The curtain I had didn't match anything so I'm not putting it back up, and I don't know what I want to put on my walls.  Time to think!

And another victory...  our house!  Doesn't it looks really nice?

I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have had so many things start and finish.  It really is nice to have these things done, even if my stress level has been out of this world.  Now I have 3 more major projects that I would like to get done before this baby comes... but I'll settle for 2 of them.  I better get cracking, as I have less than 2 weeks until my due date!

A special thanks again to Joe Fairchild, My brother in law, Bart Smithson, his son, Brisbane, and (of course), my amazing husband, Brandon Smithson.

Crafts (Book Club and Valentines Day)

It's getting toasty outside already.  I believe it has been in the mid to upper 70's all week (which is warm for January).  So, we have been doing some crafts, out back.  Wednesday was our monthly book club meeting.  We read The Magic Tree House #5: The Night of Ninjas.  After discussing the book, the kids made some blossoming trees (like the ones in the book) and also some ninja book marks.  It was a lot of fun.

 Yesterday we started some Valentines Crafts.  I let them paint time toilet paper hearts that we will turn into something else, and then a giant heart each.  It was really fun.

My favorite moment was when Melanie declared: "I'm so glad I'm in Camille's family.  She is the nicest mommy and lets me do fun things".  It made me smile that she thinks I'm the nicest mommy, but I have to admit, hearing her call me by my first name made me chuckle out loud.  What a silly girl.

p.s. I'm glad I'm in Melanie's family.  She makes me smile and teaches me so many things.