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!