Number 3

I wish this post was about what the title could lead you to believe (announcing baby #3) but unfortunately this post is about miscarriage #3. We found out we were pregnant at the beginning of January and were so excited that this time around it was easy to get pregnant and we didn't have to go through months and months of trying like last time. I was 8 weeks along and Ellie and this baby would have been 18 months apart. I was elated that we were going to have them close in age. This morning I woke up with serious cramps and knew what was coming since I've been through it before. This afternoon I went to my doctor to have an ultrasound done and luckily everything came out clean and I didn't have to have a D&C. The whole process was quick and I physically feel fine as of now. At least everything has turned out good in a bad situation. We are just lucky that this happened today and not 2 days ago while we were in Peru.

So how am I doing?? Honestly, my heart is just breaking but I'm doing ok. I think I'm a pretty strong person and I know that we can definitely get through this but it really just breaks my heart when I think that my dreams of having a big family with lots of little kids running around, all close in age and creating chaos in the house, might not ever happen. I look at those young families with 5 or 6 little kids running all about and the mom pulling out her hair in frustration and I always just smile and think to myself just how lucky those parents are to have so many healthy children to chase around and I desire that more than anything.

One thing about miscarriages though is I am always reminded every time just how blessed I am to have Ethan and Ellie. They are two beautiful children who have brought unspeakable joy to our home and I am so incredibly grateful for them. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for them. They are our most treasured gifts. I am also always reminded when things like this happen that our Savior has felt any and all pain that we go through and completely understands our trials. He has been there. He knows. He is my comfort and I know that I can always find peace with His help.

Having these miscarriages does not make me feel scared to get pregnant again. Any and all miscarriages that I have had or will have in the future are completely worth the one sweet little baby that we get to bring into this world. I am grateful to already be a mother and just hope and pray that we can bring more sweet children into our home someday.

And now tonight, I will follow my post- miscarriage tradition of eating at least a quart of ice cream and watch a movie. I think I deserve it :)

Ellie- 10 Months

Oh what fun 10 months is! I accidently forgot to do her 9 month update so I'll just jot down some fun things that she has been doing as of lately.

-She is pulling herself up onto everything and even has attempted the stairs, both going up and down. Baby gates are now in place :)

- She absolutely LOVES big people food and almost refuses to drink her bottles anymore. Any ideas on how to make her? I know that she still needs liquids!

-Her little personality is starting to shine. If she doesn't like something, she most definitely lets us know and when she is happy, she is all smiles!

- She still doesn't babble but she makes little cooing or sighing noises. She seems to hear just fine so I'm not too worried about it.

-She loves to stand and walk around with help from us

- Her mission if life is to destroy whatever Ethan is playing with :)

- She still love to cuddle when she is tired right before she goes to bed for the night

- She loves animals! She will laugh and squeal with delight when she sees a dog or a cat.

Our photo shoot did not go very well this month....

At first, she wanted no part in stopping what she was doing!

But then I finally got a toy to distract her...

Isn't this the cutest little Christmas onesie? I know Christmas is past but I wanted an excuse to get a few pics with her in it

I know I say this everytime, but we love this little lady so much!She brings so much joy to our home and we are so happy and proud to be her parents! We are pretty proud to be Ethan's parents too. He is a pretty cool kid :)

Who Looks Like Who??

I've been wanting to do this for awhile and am just now finally making time for it. I scanned in some old pictures of Justin and I and here are our baby pictures with pictures of our kids around the same ages. Who do you think they look like?? I think this is so fun!

Justin on the left, me on the right and Ellie below....

We think she looks more like Justin at this age?? She definitely has his shape of eyes.

But there is no mistaking that she is carbon copy of me from the side even though these pictures dont quite show it....

I always thought Ethan looked a lot like his daddy until I saw these two pictures...

But he still resembles him a little I do believe... Wasn't Justin such a little cutie pie?!

Even though these two have opposite features there still somehow looks at least a little bit alike :)

What do you think?

Oh and just because I have humiliated myself enough on this blog with terrible pictures of me, you can find them here if you don't remember them, I thought I would throw this one in of Justin and his boy band dancing posse :)

Love the outfits :)

Sick, Sick, Sick!

For the past week we have been pretty sick around here! Justin and I can't quite seem to get over this cold that we have had for a few weeks, and poor little Ellie had a nasty ear infection.

Doesn't she look pitiful? Breaks my heart!

She started running a fever last Friday with the highest being 103 but it was consistently 102. She was absolutely miserable. I thought she had a viral infection and I didn't want to bring her into the doctor only to have them say, "Sorry, there is nothing we can do. Just keep her on Tylenol for the fever," which is what I was doing anyways. Well, after 5 days of fever ( I know, I know. I already feel like a horrible mother), I took her into the doctors office and the doctor took a quick look in her ear and said, "Oh wow. Umm.. yep. That is a pretty nasty ear infection. Full of puss." and then she preceded to give me instructions of what to do if her ear drum ruptures. Awesome.

When Ethan had an ear infection, he would try to rip his ear off so I always knew what his sickness was caused from but sweet Ellie never touched her ears.

So we started her on some antibiotics and she immediately was back to her old self. She caught up on some much needed sleep since she didn't do much of it those past 5 days....

What a little trooper. Next time I won't wait so long to bring her in... my lesson is learned :)

And then to top off the week, Ethan and I shared a berry smoothie from Costco this last Friday and spent the next 8 hours throwing it and everything else we had eaten up. Poor Ethan threw up all in my car, on the road, the carpet, and then he learned to make it to the toilet or a bucket in time. We were both miserable. Justin was so great for taking care of us and Ellie. Even though it has been 48 hours, Ethan's appetite still isn't quite back and hasn't eaten much.. I don't blame him :) I would never EVER wish food poisoning on anyone! And no, this isn't the first time I've had it.

So anyways, we are heading back home to Texas on Tuesday and then we are off to Peru on Saturday! Here's to hoping we have a much healthier week than last!

Trip to the Farm!

I love living where we do. Why you ask? A) It's beautiful weather most of the year B) Because it is beautiful weather, we can go on fun outings and have lots of outside play dates and C) We live in a more rural area where a trip to the farm is just a few minute drive!

A group of us moms decided to get together and take our kiddos to a nearby farm for "dollar day" and we all had so much fun! The kids were able to feed and pet the animals in the petting zoo although Ethan was very cautious at first...

So cautious in fact, that he used his cup to feed them instead of his hand...such a funny boy.

Luckily one of the farmers didn't give him a choice and dumped feed in his hand and shoved it up to the goat. After a minute of shock, Ethan liked how it tickled.

By the way, all the animals here(except the thousands of dairy cows) are rescued animals. I thought that was pretty neat!

I think he enjoyed brushing them more than feeding them and spent most of his time doing so. He would go from pet to pet brushing them and talking to them. It was really cute!

They also had fun hay-bells set up for the kiddos to jump off of into the cotton in the middle. The kids loved it!

We went on a very cool hayride around the farm and looked at all the dairy cows. The tour guide was great and made it interesting for both kids and adults. After the tour we headed back to the barn and had some yummy milk made right from the farm!

Ethan loved petting this super soft bunny. I just wanted to take it home!

I must admit that I was quite surprised that he held the chicken!

And of course his tractor radar picked up on this beauty hiding in the barn and he just had to ride it!

It was such a fun excursion and we will most definitely be heading back here before it gets to hot!

So Proud!

Bio Huma Netics Inc. Promotes Justin Smith to HUMA GRO Director of International Sales

Chandler, Arizona (January 11, 2010) Bio Huma Netics, Inc. is proud to name Justin Smith as its new HUMA GRO Director of International Sales. Justin Smith joined Bio Huma Netics, Inc. in May of 2008 as Latin American Sales Manager and has helped to more than double annual sales in the region during his tenure. His dedication, commitment to quality and work ethic will continue to be a great asset in his new role. Justin earned a BS degree in International Business and is currently working on a Masters Degree in Agronomy.

I am so proud of Justin! He is such a stud. He has worked SO hard at his job and I couldn't be more proud of him! We are also very grateful to Bio Huma Netics for this awesome opportunity. We really couldn't be with a better company.

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry is in full force. I had no idea that it would start this early. I can't take my eyes off of these kids without hearing Ellie scream at the top of her lungs and the pitter patter of Ethan's feet running away because he knew he made a poor choice, or hearing Ethan yell, "No Ellie, I was playing with that!"

Poor Ethan used to always get in trouble if I heard Ellie scream but I have learned that Ellie is a sly one. She is bit sensitive and aggressive and pretty much screams if Ethan is even close to her and not even bothering her. If he is within her vicinity and she is playing with a toy, she will yell and wave her hand from side to side trying to hit him out of the way. How do you teach a 10 month old not to hit? Who knows! Luckily Ethan is learning that Ellie is a baby and doesn't understand the "sharing rules" and just wants to check out all of his cool toys, but it's still hard for him- who can blame him? He is trying so hard to be a good brother and I really appreciate that. Anyways, I'm sure that it will get better once Ellie is older. Maybe?

Just for kicks here are the first pictures I have ever taken of these two taking a bath together. Sad, I know.

Ellie is pretty attached to this brush. She loves to bite it and hit the bath tub walls with it.

They both LOVE their baths! When it's bath time, we most definitely have 2 happy kiddos in the Smith home :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Contrary to popular belief, it snows in Arizona. It snows a LOT in northern Arizona! For New Years, we packed up and joined the Smith family for an adventure up in the beautiful pines of Pinetop, AZ. The day we drove up, we hit a huge snowstorm that dumped 3 feet of snow and turned this area into a winter wonderland. Luckily we have 4-wheel drive and had no problem traveling but we saw some poor little cars sliding up and down the mountain as we made our way up.

We stayed at a condo and had fun playing in the snow with Ethan

He refused to put on his snow gloves and this is him crying because his hands were so cold. Lesson learned :)

They tired to make a snowman but the snow was too powdery.

So they made snow angels instead

and played swords with the icicles...

Ellie didn't join the fun outside but stayed nice and toasty inside the condo and was spoiled with love by her grandparents.

We played games one night with the game "PitchCar" being a favorite!

We also attempted to go snowboarding one day but it was near white-out conditions so we headed back to the condo. The next day we went again and since the weather was a little bit better, we got a few runs down the mountain. It was SO incredibly cold going down that mountain and I think we were all happy to head back home.

It was a fun family get-away but I was also reminded how grateful I am that we live in the Phoenix valley with beautiful winter weather! Snowy places are nice to visit for a few days but I could not handle living there. It is definitely not for me!

Thanks Smiths for inviting us to join you guys! We had a lot of fun!

The Long Christmas Post

This post is a doozy but I just have to document everything down before I forget!

Christmas was so much fun this year having my parents and my grandparents here all the way

from Texas! In preparation for their arrival, I deep cleaned the whole entire house- it seriously needed to be done. So I thought since my house was clean, I would finally take some pictures of our home since I haven't done so since we bought it.

This is the formal living room looking in from the door..

I can't wait to get some paint up on those walls!

The wall opposite from the couches

I think I mentioned last year how much I loved my nativity set and turns out, I am still in love with it this year :)

The family room...

View from the kitchen

Part of the kitchen

My mom really helped me out with giving me Christmas decor. This Christmas tree is one that my grandmother made for my mom about 40 years ago and now I get it.

And this little guy my mom made for me last year. Isn't he cute?

Oh and this is our half- bath just for kicks. It is still the only room painted in the whole house.

Moving on to the excitement of the holidays!

At our ward Christmas party, Ethan got to meet Santa!

Santa didn't sit down with the kids this year, it probably has something to do with the fact that we have like a million kids in our ward, but Ethan got his chance to tell Santa everything he wanted when Grandma Smith took him to the mall to see that Santa. Mom Smith said that Santa didn't quite know what to think when Ethan said that he wanted a Garbage Truck that says "FEED ME!" (Stinky the Garbage Truck) and a Whirlybird from Special Agent Oso. I just love 3 year olds, so easy to please :)

My family arrived on the Monday before Christmas and Ethan had so much fun playing with them. He and my mom are pretty good buddies and he is counting down the days until we go to TX in mid- January....

And no one could resist playing with this little chubby-cheeked cutie either...

Christmas Eve was spent at the Smith's house for their special Christmas Eve presentation. I love this part about Christmas. We are reminded about the true meaning of the holiday season and we get to hear all the beautiful talents that the Smith family has. I even participated this year with a duet on the piano with Justin . I participated very reluctantly, mind you. :)

On Christmas morning, the kids slept in til' about 9am (we were all up super late the night before). We will enjoy the late Christmas mornings as much as we can now :)

The tree with all the loot underneath it.....

Ethan LOVES this tool bench that the Smith's gave him...

And Ellie loves rocking back and forth on the pony that the Great Grandparents Sims gave her!

We thought that this present from us to Great-Grandma Sims was pretty fitting...

And books are always a good thing to give Great- Grandpa Sims.

I was the happy recipient of my very own steam vac (essential for when you have babies that spit up as bad as mine do), a rice cooker, recipe books, and some other things.

My papasito had fun playing with Ethan's GloDoodle- such a cool toy by the way!

Mom and Ethan had a blast playing with his farm set that they gave him. He has been in heaven for the past few weeks playing with the tractors, plowing the fields, and taking care of the animals. We have also had to refer to him as Farmer Smith for the past two weeks.. thanks mom.

My parents got Justin a compressor that he is super excited about and his parents bought him a garage storage system. It is the kind that hangs from the ceiling- really cool!

The last present that Ethan opened up was from Santa and it was his beloved Whirlybird! He was SUPER excited when he opened it and saw what it was! We have been saving up his chore money for him to buy it so he is now very excited that he can spend his money on other things now! We decided not to get him Stinky the Garbage Truck but convinced him that another (much cheaper) garbage truck was cooler. So he got that and is very happy. Win-win.

During the holidays, Ellie realized that ice cream is way better than anything she has ever eaten before and spent most of her time begging from person to person for some. She screams with anger and climbs up your pant leg until she gets what everyone else is eating. She is so funny. I think she might have inherited her love of ice cream from me... maybe.


The day after Christmas we had everyone, and I mean everyone over for dinner and more present opening. Rhonda & Art joined us from UT, of course my family, all of Justin's siblings (minus Nate who is in Taiwan serving a mission), and Justin's parents and grandparents.

More presents?!

Justin's dad and grandparents

Whew... it was a house full but it was so much fun! We love having people come to visit us!

After everyone left for the holidays, we just chilled and enjoyed playing with the kiddos. We took Ethan across the street to the park and showed him how to hit the ball off of the tee.

He actually could hit really well but seems to have quite the short attention span. Within 5 minutes he was having more fun watching and playing with his shadow. We just know that he will be the kid out in the outfield chasing butterflies in a few years. :)

Super long post but there was a lot of super fun memories to post about. Big thank you to our families for generously spoiling our kids (and us!) and for making this Christmas a special one to remember!