Christmas Festivities

Christmas seemed to go by like a tornado! We spent Christmas eve with my family. It was so much fun watching Brinley open her presents with her cousin, Reese. She was a pro at unwrapping her presents (and Clayton's too!) She took all his presents over to him to show him. It was too cute! Her favorite presents from mamaw and pop's house was a keyboard with microphone, which she has to sing on at least 3 times a day and a wow wow wubzy dancing doll. She loves dancing with him and really shakes her booty with it.....we are in trouble! She also loved her box of dress up clothes!

We woke up Christmas morning with Brinley asking if ho ho came (this is what she calls Santa). She ran into the room and saw her new jump (bouncy house) and doll house. She spent all morning jumping and playing with her new doll house. We then went to Jason's family's house for dinner. Highlights of that present opening was her big wheel (which still hasn't come out of the box) and Elmo toy. It was really special to view Christmas through Brinley's eyes this year. She really enjoyed every part of it. I remembered that excitement and all the magic I felt as a child.

We came home exhausted and have spent the past few days relaxing at home! Jason and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday at home....after we remembered at about 4pm!!! Oh well, it has been a crazy week! I can't believe it has been 5 years already! Time flies when you are loving life!
Clayton is 9 days old and such a good baby! He rarely cries and I have to wake him up in the middle of the night to feed him! I think we are going to have another thumb sucker on our hands. He has already found his thumb and gets it in his mouth all by himself...it took Brinley until she was 3 months old to get it in her mouth herself!!! This is a picture of him sucking his finger...the thumb one was too blurry!

Home from the hospital

We got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon (what a great birthday present to me!) We are all doing well, just adjusting to life with a newborn again! Brinley is being such a great big sister. She wants to hug him all the time and so far there is no jealously. She woke up this morning asking, "where's bubba?" She can't say Clayton so it looks like he will be bubba to her.

leaving the hospital

kisses for her bubba

Before we left, the nursery brought him to us in a stocking, now he has one to match the one I came home in!

me and my beautiful kiddos!

My handsome little man!

Many have asked how my mom is doing. She is doing really well. Her speech gets better everyday. Her left hand is still shaky, so no driving for her right now (which is killing her), but other than that she has been enjoying her new grandson!

Clayton Michael

Clayton Michael Smith is here! He quickly made his appearance into this world after 2 pushes on December 18 at 1:15 pm. He weighs 6 lbs 10 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. We are all doing great! Hope to come home Saturday (my birthday)!!!!

Brinley pointing and naming all of Clayton's body parts

Cheese! Our first family photo of the 4 of us!

He was so alert when he was first born (about 30 minutes old)

1 minute old

I will give more updates and pictures when we get home!

Update on my mom

All the tests determined that my mom had a minor stroke. Since we caught it at the beginning there seems to be no permanent damage done. Her left side of her mouth is still numb but they think with speech therapy she could regain control of it again. She was released from the hospital today and is now at home resting. She is bound and determined to make it to the hospital when Clayton is born on Thursday!

We are very relieved that she is ok and cannot wait to meet our new little man in less than 2 days!

Prayers for my mother

If everyone could please say a prayer for my mother, it would be greatly appreciated. Last night during our family Christmas party, she begin feeling like her throat was closing in and had trouble breathing and talking. We thought it was something she ate and was having an allergic reaction, so we took her to the ER. Once we got there, we noticed her left side of her mouth was drooping. Fearing she was having a stroke, they quickly took her off for a cat scan. The cat scan came back normal, so now they are leaning towards bells palsy. In order to confirm this, they need to do an MRI, which they tried this morning but she had a panic attack (claustrophobic). So tomorrow morning they will drug her up and take her for the MRI. Hopefully it is just bells palsy and they can start treating it. She is very upset and worried she won't be out of the hospital before I go in to give birth to Clayton, so please pray for a speedy recovery!

Snow??? But it was 75 degrees yesterday!!!

Tuesday was 75 degrees here in Houston, which is pretty much the weather we have had the past few weeks. It will be in the mid 70's one day and high 50's the next (which is making everyone sick!) So, yesterday morning we woke up to mid 30's and rain! It was a bone chilling day for us here in Houston! The weathermen weren't making too big of a deal about it and just warned the northern part of Houston to watch for ice overnight. Therefore, we went about our day all bundled up, running errands and going to a Christmas party for Brinley and her friends in the evening. When we were leaving the party, we walked outside and SNOW!!!! Besides living in Arkansas in college, I have only witnessed it snow in Houston once before this, so this was a major deal!

I called Jason on the way home and told him to get the camera ready to take pictures. "For what?", he asked since he had been home the entire evening and didn't even look outside once! Once we got home, we took Brinley outside and introduced her to snow. At first, she wasn't too sure of it and kept saying, "I'm wet" but once she realized the crunchy sound it made as she ran, she was in heaven! After about 15 minutes, I got her to hold a snowball and throw it at daddy, which she loved! She only lasted outside for 30 minutes before wanting to come in, plus it was past her bedtime and she was tired!

Overall, it was a nice surprise and what a way to get into the Christmas spirit???

Brinley and her snowball....no she wouldn't keep her gloves on!
Rylee really enjoyed her first snow too! She ran around the yard and spent the entire evening outside. I would throw snowballs and she would catch them in her mouth...guess she should have been a snow dog!

Gotta love the pure enjoyment of this face! She was loving it!

The front of our house, our own little winter wonderland

A light at the end of the tunnel

I went to the doctor yesterday and she set my induction date for next Thursday, December 18! My amniotic fluid is getting low so she wants to get him out before it gets too low, plus I am 3 cm dilated, so he could be here before that! I am so excited that Clayton will be home in time for Christmas and I won't have to spend it in the hospital. I will more than likely be in the hospital for my birthday on the 20th but I stopped counting those a few years ago :)

So I will keep you updated!

What a difference a year makes....

Yesterday, we took Brinley to visit with Santa Claus. We were worried she wouldn't even go near him since she has a fear of people in costumes, but we figured we would give it a shot! After bribing her with eating lunch and a trip to build a bear afterwards, she sat on the chair next to him with her cousin, Reese sitting on his lap. Thinking that was the only picture I would get this year, they got up to leave and Santa asked her to sit on his lap so she let him pick her up! She wouldn't smile for us but it was a win in my column!



2007 picture with Santa..... "Help me please!!!!"

2008 picture with Santa....."I will sit here but you can't make me smile!"

Birthdays, Christmas lights and Santa!

Wednesday was Jason's birthday. Happy birthday sweetheart! We went over to his parent's house for dinner, cake and ice cream. It was yummy!!!!

On Saturday, my sorority sister Amy was in town so we went to dinner and headed down to Moody Gardens Festival of Lights in Galveston. We took Brinley last year and she loved seeing all the Christmas lights. This was the opening weekend and since the next 2 weekends are booked and we didn't want to chance Clayton coming early, we decided to start the Christmas season a little early! Thanks to Hurricane Ike, the walking tour of Christmas lights was only half of what is was last year due to damage, but none the less spectacular! Brinley "oohed" and "ahhed" over all the lights. It was a little chilly last night so with all the Christmas music playing and millions of lights, it didn't even feel like the week before thanksgiving!

At the end of the tour, Santa Claus was there. Brinley is not too fond of people dressed up and wouldn't even go near Santa last year without screaming! Jason eased her up him and he was great! He didn't talk to her or look or her, just let her get used to being next him before doing anything. Although she wouldn't sit on his lap, she did sit on the arm of his chair! PROGRESS! I am hoping a few more trips to see Santa will eventually yield a good picture with him this year!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Last night we took my dad out for his birthday to eat at Pappas Brothers Steakhouse. My brother's neighbor is one of the head chefs for the restaurant so we were treated like royalty! We feasted on crab cakes, oysters, salmon, onion rings, lobster tail, filet Mignon, macaroni and cheese with crab meat (Brinley loved it!) and finished with desserts of pumpkin cheesecake (which was to die for!), ice cream, peach cobbler and pecan pie! The food never stopped coming from the kitchen...half of which we didn't order! It was a great evening and we were all miserably stuffed by the end of the night!

Pops with his "grandgirls" Reese and Brinley

Reese taught Brinley a new trick...notice her hands are not touching the spoon!

My familia! Blake, Dad, Mom, Reese, Brinley, Robin, Jason, me and Clayton (hidden under the table!)

Brinley's first trip to the movies

We took Brinley to the movies this morning to see Madagascar 2. It was her first time in a movie theatre and she did exceptionally well. She sat on the edge of her seat, (only because she would fold up when she sat towards the back), ate her entire bag of junior sized popcorn and drank a pink lemonade!

Brinley, I am so glad you can sit through a movie with no problems! Now Daddy and I can start enjoying our love of going to the movies again...even if there are only G rated!

The Halloween that never seemed to end.....

Our Halloween celebration started on Wednesday with Brinley and I making cookies for her class at school. She really enjoyed shaking the sprinkles on the cookies. Although I had to keep reminding her to move on to the next cookie. They weren't the prettiest cookies, but all her classmates enjoyed them the next day at school!

When Daddy got home from work, we carved our pumpkin. Brinley wasn't too thrilled with pulling out the pumpkin guts and preferred to use the scoop instead! We don't have a picture of her with the final product because once we put the candle in she got scared and wouldn't go near it. She is very aware of things this Halloween and it has taken several trips to the costume stores to get her used to people in costumes!

Thursday, she got to wear her costume to school and have her Halloween party. She brought home all sorts of goodies. That evening, we met some friends at Trick or Treat at the Park by our house. All the businesses set up booths and then give out candy and treats. It was a great way to do some trick or treating in one contained area without too much walking! Brinley and her friends had so much fun.

Friday morning was a Halloween playdate with Brinley and her BFF's from school. They jumped on the trampoline, dressed up in play clothes, and ate lots of food! It was also a fun for all the mom's to visit! Brinley came home exhausted and took a 3 hour nap which I had to wake her up from! I made a pumpkin cake for the party (which will be my last cake I make until Clayton gets here!)

Finally, Friday evening we headed over to the Smith's for dinner and trick or treating. Hannah led the trick or treating and taught Brinley and Wyatt all about it. They watched for a few houses and then they were running up to each door knocking and holding their pumpkins up for candy! It was so cute to hear them say trick or treat and wait patiently for their candy. Brinley even said "thank you" at each house (unprompted)...my sweet little girl! After an hour of trick or treating the kiddos were pooped so we headed home.

Brinley ended up with 2 bowls full of candy from her Halloween festivities! Needless to say we are having a Halloween hangover today!

Dancing with the Stars and Brinley

Brinley has become obsessed with watching Dancing with the Stars. I have never seen an episode until this year when I accidentally stopped on the station when getting up to answer the phone. Brinley LOVED it from the second she started watching it! Now every Monday night she watches and imitates each move the dancers do. It is quite funny to watch. I guess we will have to sign her up for dance next fall! Sorry for the shaky cell phone video, but I still haven't figured out how to get our camera videos small enough to put on here!

Pumpkins, rain and family from Switzerland

We have been very busy this week with all sorts of fall festivities. We started out the week by going to our church bazaar. Even though it was very humid and did not feel like fall at all, we enjoyed ourselves. Brinley especially loved the big blow up slide. She climbed her way to the top and slid down for about 30 minutes. She kept telling the girl, "no help" as she was trying to help her climb up. She is a little monkey and got her way up to the very top, even as 3 year olds were needing help getting up there!
Wednesday, my sister in law, Vickie, and nephew, Wyatt came into town for a visit. They are currently living in Switzerland but will be moving back to the US next year. Brinley and Wyatt were born only 2 days apart, although you can't tell since he is 2 inches taller than her and outweighs her by 10 pounds (BTW, she is older!!) We started the day by heading out to a pumpkin farm and animal ranch, but torrential downpours stopped us right as we got there. Instead, we headed to the new outlet mall they opened right by the ranch. It wasn't as much for the kids, but we enjoyed it! The kids had a great time playing on their playground and running through the stores chasing each other.

Since Thursday was a rainy day as well, Vickie and Wyatt came over and the cousins played at our house. Friday we went and did the hospital tour where I will be having Clayton. My doctor switched hospitals so we will not be having him at the same hospital I had Brinley. After the tour, I realized how good I had it at the other hospital. But I guess that is the difference between a private and regional hospital!


Saturday morning, we went to Chloe's first birthday party. It was a costume party, but Brinley didn't wear her Halloween costume. I decided it would be too hard to clean after cake, ice cream and juice, so instead she wore a precious outfit I bought her when I was in Canton a few weeks ago.
After a nice afternoon nap, we met up with my mother in law, brother in law and nephew Wyatt. We took them to a pumpkin patch right by my house and let them terrorize the place. They ran around picking up pumpkins and chasing each other for an hour!



Sunday for lunch we met up with Jason's family to say goodbye to Vickie and Wyatt. We really enjoyed spending time with them. Brinley and Wyatt had so much fun this trip and really bonded as cousins. Hopefully they will get to make a trip down here this winter so they can play together again!

Good bye my beautiful trees

The arborist finally came out this week to murder...I mean trim our trees from the damage done during hurricane Ike. It was determined that both trees needed to be topped off in order to save them since the "heart" of the trees were damaged. If we didn't do this they would slowly die....kinda dramatic huh?? He did tell me that they should grow new branches in the spring and eventually get back to normal size. So on Tuesday, they got started. It scared me to watch them as one guy climbed all the way to the top with just a rope tied around his waist and saw in hand while another guy held the rope on the ground. I was wondering how this would save him? If he fell, how is the guy on the ground going to stop him from plummeting to his death with just a rope? So I only watched a few minutes and spent the rest of day listening for blood curdling screams...which there weren't. The backyard tree had 50% taken off due to branches being broken all over the place in order to make it even. So now we have no shade and it makes our living room and bedroom much brighter in the morning without that coverage!

before the trimming

after the trimming


After seeing the backyard tree, I asked about just trimming the front instead of topping it. I was almost in tears thinking about my gorgeous tree being reduced to stubs. He said they could trim it to try and raise the canopy and see if that would work. I am very pleased with how it turned out and hopefully the tree will bounce back so we won't have to top it. I wish I had a picture of the tree before the storm because it covered the entire front yard (we never had to water in the summer)

before the trimming
after the trimming

On another note, I am feeling much better and slowly getting my strength back from my kidney infection. I have just realized I am going to have to really slow down these next 10-12 weeks since my body doesn't seem to be able to catch up with me. Brinley has enjoyed having a mom who can't chase her and can tear up the house as much as possible! Here is how she came out of her playroom yesterday.....