Introducing Chase Grant Smith

Chase Grant Smith

Born 3/20/12

8lbs 5oz, 20 in

Yea!! Our little Chase is here! And MAN was it a long time coming! After swearing I would never, EVER be induced again because of Kylers long labor experience, I found myself a week overdue and desperate to try anything to get Chase here.

So, we reported to the hospital 8:00am on the 20th for an induction. Really it was all smooth sailing, thankfully. After about an hour of paperwork/history (seriously it was ridiculous, what if I'd been in labor!) they started me on pitocin and Brian and I settled in and enjoyed some time playing Jaipur, and watching TV. At about 11:30am my Dr came in and broke my water, and about an hour after that my contractions were hard and coming close together. Bring on the epidural!! And thankfully one that actually worked right this time. :) After the epidural I took a small "nap" and about 45 min later I could tell it was time to push. It took about 20 min to get the nurses and Dr all in order and by that time I seriously was trying my best to hold him in. He was born after 13 seconds of pushing. Awesome huh! This was by far my easiest labor and delivery. Everything just seemed to go right. Recovery has also been much easier, no tearing!

Chase is an awesome little new born, he's very easy going, a GREAT eater, and an even better cuddler. I find myself actually enjoying the newborn stage for the first time. Part of this is from the emotionally wrenching decision to not breast feed. I wanted to just love my new born this time around, and I find myself wishing I had made the better decision with all my boys.

Kyler and Quinn are adjusting to the change. Kyler LOVES babies. He if very gentle and very concerned. He loves to hold baby Chase and feed him, or put in his binkie, or what ever it is Chase might need (minus diaper changes, but we're working on that....I wish). Quinn on the other hand is having a harder time. There has been a lot of unintentional changes with Quinn on top of a new baby. We ended up moving Quinn into Kylers room just days before Chase came, Grandma has been here, etc, and he's had a harder time. He still is very loving to Chase and very interested, but has been acting out more and needing more attention. So Brian and I have been trying to spend some one on one time with him, and are trying not to be to harsh and more understanding. Hopefully in the next few weeks the adjustment will come.

All and all we are doing great and are so grateful Chase is here and are enjoying loving him as much as possible. I'll have help clear through the middle of April so I feel really blessed. We ALL feel very blessed.

Due March 13th

Kylers 4th Birthday

Kylers Birthday was so fun this year. He was excited for months, and since he had been to a few birthday partys, he was even more excited for his party. Every night when we put Kyler to bed, before we leave his room he says, "Mom I have a question" then he goes on to say " I want a blue house a blue room, and blue dog and a blue mommy and daddy" Every night the items change but every night it's the same blue theme. So we decided to have a blue birthday party. We all wore blue, had our guest where blue, and we even sprayed our hair blue. Unfortunatly our camera is broken so these pics are terrible, and we didnt' get one of the blue family, but here is what we did get.

Blue table

We made party hats which turned out to be really fun.

Kids modeling their hats.

Then we had them fish in the blue pond. The kids threw a fishing pole with a bucket on the end over the blanket and Brian filled it with goodies. We also did a cool blue shark pinata, but didn't get a picture of us before the kids tore it apart. Good times.

Blowing out the candles of his blue cake with blue frosting and blue writing.

Happy Birthday Kyler man. We LOVE YOU!

To sum it all up...

November 2010- Loved this house, so we bought it.

December 2010 - Found some leaks in the roof so we patched them, then celebrated Christmas.

January 2011 - Kitchen was moldy so we remodeled it.

Moldy Kitchen

Kitchen with no mold
New Kitchen


February- The hard drive on our computer died, so I'm using all these pics from facebook :)

March 2011 - Found another leak in the roof so we put a tarp over it, and started praying for hail. Also my parents visited (separately of course)

April 2011- Atlanta Temple Open house. While cleaning temple it hailed.

May 2011 - Air conditioner went out so we replaced it. Not so sure I love this house. Fighting with insurance company to pay for a new roof

June-WE RUN AWAY TO ARIZONA FOR A WEEK IN A VACATION HOME WITH A POOL!!!

Yup, that sums it up!

Happy Birthday Quinners!!

I can't believe my little bundle of joy is one year old today! I'm constantly thinking how darn stink'n cute he is. Quinn is just so....awesome! He's just so happy and sweet. He's quick to smile, loves to give cuddles and kisses, and is just such a good boy! He took his first steps on Christmas day, and then promptly fell and smacked his head :( He's started saying just a few words, "ice" and "that". He loves the "if your happy and you know it" song and knows right when to clap. We love our little Quinners SO much, and are so grateful he's part of our clan. Love you Quinn!!

We started today with the birthday streamers and balloons. He loved it. We also went outside and rode "bikes" together, then finished it off with pizza and birthday cake. It was a great day.

A Night We Won't Forget

It was a "normal" night like any other. The only difference was Brian and his brother Phillip were going to pick up a washer and dryer that I had arranged to buy from someone on craigs list. They left in Phillips truck about 7:30. I put the boys to bed and watched TV waiting for them to return. Well, it turns out the man I spoke with didn't tell his wife that they were coming, so when they got there she was currently doing some wash. So Brian and Phillip went to the nearest cold stone to wait it out. By 10:00 they still weren't home. I'd been up since 5, and decided to head to bed.

One of my most irrational fears is taking a shower when I'm home alone. I'm not sure where this fear comes from. I've never seen the movie psycho, but I'm very familiar with the shower seen. Anyway, I thought twice about jumping in the shower before heading to bed, but decided to deal with the fear and get in. A few minutes later I hear this weird noise that sounds like taping. It happens a few times and I think, hum...maybe Kyler has gotten out of bed, so I continue to shower knowing he'll find his way into the bathroom. I hear more noise and more taping, but no Kyler and I start to freak out. I think to myself, stay calm, I'm sure everything is ok. But nothing is making sense, Kyler would have just come in, Brian would have at least been calling my name, so who is taping!! Then I start hearing loud banging and commotion down stairs, and I know it's not Brian because I would hear his voice and that's when I start realizing someone is breaking into the house. I hear the taping again and turn off the water to try and figure out what it is, but it immediately stops. I'm so terrified I don't know what to do. Someone is in the house. I lock myself in the bathroom and pray harder then I've prayed in a long time that Brian will come home NOW before something terrible happens. I'm paralyzed with fear, hunkered down in the bathroom when I hear Brians voice screaming my name running up the stairs and I knew I was right. He must have come home, realized someone had broken in and was frantic to make sure I was ok. I open the bathroom door, grab a hold of him and we both break down in tears.

Then he grabs me and says, "I've been looking for you for 45 min! I called the police, I couldn't get in, I thought you were hurt or worse!" That's when I realise that everything I'd been hearing was Brian trying to get in the house. Because he had gone with Phillip in his truck, he hadn't taken his keys, and couldn't get in when they got back. Brian must have gotten home shortly after I had gone upstairs. He called, knocked, and rang the door bell, but I didn't answer. So they figured I was in the bathroom and waited. After 5 minutes they called, knocked and rang again...nothing. 10 min....nothing. Then they started to get worried. Phillip opened the mail slot in the door and started calling my name...nothing. He could see the baby monitor through the mail slot and could see by the lights that his voice was reaching upstairs, so why wasn't I answering. Brian jumped the back fence and started taping on the windows...nothing. So they decided if they could wake up Kyler maybe they could figure out what was going on, but no matter what they did, no one inside was responding. Brian feared the worse. He called 911 and the fire department was on its way. The operator told him the fire department would probably have to break down the door, so Brian decided he couldn't wait and was going to break a window if he had too. He grabbed a hold of the storm window and yanked so hard he pulled the screws right out of the frame. Then luckily, the actual window wasn't latched and he was able to open it and dive through. He ran upstairs calling my name and found me scared to death in the bathroom.

That whole night we had a hard time shaking the feeling that we had almost lost each other. I'm so thankful that nothing really happened and that we were both safe. In the mean time we are enjoying feeling a renewed sense of gratitude and love for each other. I'm also grateful that we can laugh about it now, and that what was a terrible night has only brought us closer.