More Christmas!

Pictures from Christmas day at our house. The first one is on Christmas Eve. The boys are waiting for St. Nick to arrive! :)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! We started our celebration with Mike's family. Here are a few pictures from our day!

2 months old!

Justin turned 2 months on the 22nd of December! We headed to the doctor for our check-up and shots! He is doing great! He weighed 14 pounds, 4 ounces and was 23 3/4" long. Needless to say he has outgrown his newborn clothes and is filling out the 3 month clothes already! He has started to smile and coo, which just warms this mommy's heart on these cold winter days. He is so strong already and is ready to run around with his big brother.

First Snow of the Season!

Even though it was a half inch of snow, it was technically our first snow of the season! We enjoyed seeing Zach's face as he looked out the window in the morning. Then the rest of the morning I heard this - "Mommy it snowed! I wanna go outside!". So around lunchtime we bundled him up and let him run around a bit. This was a good trial run. Now we are ready for more!

1 month!

Our litte Justin is 1 month old this week! Time is already flying by. We had a good doctor visit yesterday. He is 22 1/4 inches long and a whopping 12 pounds. He gained 4 pounds since birth! Here he is cheering on his favorite team as they won the Bucket game on Saturday against IU!

A few fun facts about Justin:

1) He was born at 39 weeks. It was 9 hours and 16 minutes before I was scheduled to go into the O.R. for my c-section!

2) He was born with a ton of hair and a baby mullet! I'm thinking of getting a onesie that says " business in the front - party in the back!"

3) Both of his ears are folded down at the top from being stuck in me pretty good. I think it's cute, but also hope they unfold as he gets bigger!

4) He has really long fingers and toes.

5) He has a belly button hernia. It is so big, it looks like a balloon!

6) When he really starts to cry he sounds like the count from Sesame Street. Ah Ah Ah!

7) He has these huge dimples that you can only see once in awhile. Not sure what triggers them, but I love it. I'm worried his chubby cheeks will fill them in! :)

8) Justin has the best big brother that loves to hug and kiss him whenever he can. Not sure Justin appreciates it that much yet, but I do. :)

Coming home pictures!

Zachary waiting patiently in the hospital lobby

Mom, Dad and Justin ready to go home!

Our family of 4 all together


Zachary loves his little brother




and loves to hold him!

Coming home - Birth Story Part III

We were very excited to be heading home the Saturday after Justin was born. Zachary hadn't been able to visit us at the hospital. We decided to have Mike's dad bring him to the hospital lobby so he could meet Justin, we could have a few quiet minutes of family time and we could all ride home together. It all worked out perfect and Zachary was so excited to meet his little brother. Tom told us how excited when we saw him at the hospital. It was too cute. Tom sent out the story in an email with pictures to family. Here it is:

When Megan & Justin were to be released from the hospital I took Zach to the lobby for his first look at his new little brother. Zach wasn't allowed to visit them in their room due to rules by the hospital concerning the swine flu. On the way to the hospital in the car I was asking Zach if he was ready to see his new little baby brother. He said that "baby is in mommy's belly." So I said "no baby is out!". Zach shouted "Baby is out! Drive faster Grandpa!"

I'm sure Mike had told him all about it but he didn't get the concept until he heard that the baby was out. We got to the lobby and he was very anxious for those elevator doors to open. He kept saying "Baby is out!" When the elevator doors opened he ran to Megan, who was still in the wheelchair and gave mommy a big hug. Then he said, I want to see the baby!" Then Zach said "He's cute!" and patted Justin on the head. The 4 of them rode him together, Zach's carseat no longer in the middle, and once at home he was able to hold his new little baby brother.

More hospital pictures

During the rest of our stay at the hospital, we had visits from Aunt Mo, Aunt Kara and Uncle Nick. Justin was thrilled to meet everyone, but he usually slept through the visits! :) We left for home on Saturday evening. I was very happy to head home and introduce Zachary to his little brother. More on that next time...

Birth Story Part II - Life on the outside!

We welcomed Justin into the world a bit earlier than expected. Mike and I were excited to give our family a fun wake up call that morning to let them know our baby boy was out and ready for visitors! With this H1N1 flu going around the hospital had strict visitor policies. So Justin was allowed to see immediate family 18 years of age or older! Yes, that means his brother could not visit him in the hospital. We were looking forward to having Zach with us a bit in the hospital to meet his brother and see his mommy, but that wasn't going to happen. Zachary really didn't know the difference and had a great time with all his family at our house. The other crazy thing that happened that day was that less than 2 miles from the hospital a tanker truck full of propane crashed and exploded on the 465/69 interchange. It has traffic backed up for miles and delayed family members as they came to visit. Justin says thanks to everyone who sat and sat in traffic on their way to the hospital!

Wordless Wednesday

Smith Boys

Our little Justin is 2 weeks old today. Time is already flying by! He is doing very well and had a good doctors appt. last week. He is a good eater and is already past his birth weight. We've had a great week with Grandma Moloney here helping out too. Thanks Grandma!

The weather has improved a bit so Mike and Zach were able to start picking up the leaves in the back yard. Too bad it is still so soon after my c-section that I can't help! :) Enjoy some pictures from today!

Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween. Zach was very excited about it this year! He was Dr. Q.T. Patootie and his little brother joined in the fun with a superman costume!

Zach ready to head out!

Very excited about his candy!!

Justin slept through most of it, but still looked cute!

A pumpkin butt sleeper for his first official holiday!

First of many fun Halloween nights for the Smith boys!

Justin Gregory Smith - Birth Story Part I

We welcomed Justin Gregory Smith into the world October 22nd, 2009. We had a scheduled c-section date and time, but our little boy decided for himself when he was to arrive. We are proud of him for it too! We were scheduled to start the c-section around 12:00pm on Thursday. At 9:00pm on Wednesday night my water broke as Mike and I were sitting on the couch in our living room! Thankfully we were prepared enough that we had our bags packed, were able to drop Zach off with his daycare provider (we love her!) and make it to the hospital around 10:30. As we sat in triage I was having mild contractions about 4 minutes apart. We were told the O.R. was occupied and so was the anesthesiologist. I thought, no problem I can handle some mild contractions for an hour or so until it's our turn. Mild contractions turned into major contractions which turned into pushing contractions all by 12:30. 3 1/2 hours after my water broke! Finally my doctor arrived, the O.R. was free and the anesthesiologist was available. I actually pushed for a bit with an epidural to see if this little guy would come out. Turns out he is stubborn like his brother. We headed into the O.R. around 2:00am and at 2:44am Justin was officially born. The rest is a blur :) He is perfectly healthy and a joyous addition to our family. More on our first visitors and our trip home in the next few posts.

It's time! (the post that never happened!)

In my idle time before Justin was born I created this post a day ahead so I could put it up on our site the night before we went into the hospital. Well little did I know our little boy would decide on his own to come a bit early. After my water broke and we were sitting in triage at the hospital, I said to Mike "Oh no, I forgot to put up my blog post!" So I thought I would put it up now and it hopefully will jump start me into putting up pictures and writing about our experience! Stay tuned...



"A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born into the world."

-John 16:21, NJB



We go in at noon on Thursday the 22nd. Please say prayers for a safe c-section and a quick recovery for both of us. We can't wait to introduce you to our new little one!

Our first goldfish

We hit a very important milestone in the Smith household this fall. We brought home our first goldfish! Zachary accomplished this all by himself at our parish festival. Grandma and Grandpa Smith were happy to give him some money to throw ping pong balls to try to get one in a gold fish bowl. (your typical carnival game) I figure, really what are the odds that my 2 year old will get one in? Seemed like a safe activity! The first round of throwing didn't go so well. But the second round Zach got the hang of it! He got one in! I was very excited for him until I realized that meant we were bringing a goldfish home with us! Zachary was so proud of his prize! He carried it around with him the rest of the time. We brought it home and even had a fish bowl stashed in one of our closets. I did my best to follow all the "how not to kill your goldfish" rules and we even went out to get some food for him. You may be able to guess where this story is going....Anyway, our little fishy lasted until about bedtime. Right before Zach was to go to bed, fishy was resting on the bottom of the bowl. Ironically, I think the fish food may have done him in! We said good night to fishy and I spend the rest of the night wondering how to explain to Zach that his fish was no longer alive! It took a few hours in the morning before he remembered he had a fish the day before. I told him that his fish wasn't feeling well and went back to his mommy and daddy. That seemed to satisfy him and he didn't seem too upset. Disaster averted! whew! In the end, it all makes for a great story and blog post and I don't have to keep a fishbowl clean!

October fun!

We had a great time at Kade's birthday party earlier this month. It was a fun crisp fall day to be outside! Zach had a blast riding his tricycle on the Monon trail with all the big kids and playing on the playground. Oh and of course he loved the birthday cake!

2 1/2 !!

Our little Zach is 2 1/2 years old today. He amazes us with what he can do (and say!) at such a young age. We had our doctor visit yesterday. He did really well and our doctor loves to chat with him! He weighs 32 pounds and is almost 37 inches tall. He did need to get shots yesterday. I tried my best to get him ready, telling him that they were going to hurt and he would probably cry. And cry he did! Oh the look in their eyes when that needle goes in. It breaks my heart every time.

Baby Smith #2 is doing well. 16 more days! I think we are eager and anxious all at the same time! We have everything washed and organized. We have our family all lined up to help after he arrives. Now we just need the baby!

I know I promised pictures, but our computer just crashed! We are working on getting it fixed and hopefully will have it up and running in time to share pictures of our new family member!

Fun with Lincoln Logs

Zach and I were building with Lincoln Logs the other day. He was building a train and he lined all these little pieces up on the rug. He was so hard at work. It was very cute.

We should have more pictures soon I promise. We have a wedding and a birthday party coming up soon! All is well with the baby on the way. Only 22 more days til the big event! I can hardly believe it.