James Hudson Smith

We are ecstatic to announce the birth of our son, James Hudson Smith!  He was born November 13th, at 2:12 pm weighing 9 lbs, 1/2 oz, and measuring 21 in long.  And we are so in love with him!

Hudson's birth was so much easier than Maryn's.  Only 14 hours of labor and I was able to have a water birth, which I was really happy about.  If you're interested in natural birth or water birth, I highly recommend it, and would love to answer any questions you may have!

Hudson is doing really well.  He's a big boy and loves to eat! In typical newborn fashion, he eats, sleeps, poops, pees and spits up - sometimes all at the same time.  ;) And no, we aren't sleeping much at night.  But that's ok.  Now that we've been through this before, we realize how short the newborn stage is in the larger scheme of things.  And his super sweet temperament makes up for it all. We are just enjoying getting to know this boy!

His sister is enamored with him.  When she came to the hospital to see him for the first time, she exclaimed, "Baby Hudson! That's my baby brother! HE CAME OUT!!!"  I have a video of her holding him at the hospital that I'll post soon.  It's adorable.  She loves helping us take care of him and is always saying sweet things like, "It's ok, baby Hudson, don't cry! I take care of you!"  She is definitely dealing with jealously and has had some difficulties with the transition - emotional outbursts, sleep disturbances, and defiant behavior etc - but things are gradually getting better as she adjusts.  Overall, she is a joy and we look forward to seeing their sweet sibling relationship develop.  Makes us realize what a big girl she is becoming!

Hudson's first visitors - so thankful for special people in our life who took care of Maryn for us:

We're so glad our sweet little guy is finally here!  And so very thankful to God for a healthy delivery and baby.  Stay tuned for more updates, and a very sweet photo shoot by Hannah Grace Photography coming soon!

Pregnancy Update

Yep, I'm still pregnant. Yesterday was my official due date, and it was also officially my first day off work for maternity leave.  So we're just waiting...and waiting.  I've had lots of contractions off and on, but they never turn into real labor, which is always disappointing.  I went to nearly 42 weeks with Maryn, and I'm just really praying I don't have to wait so long to meet our sweet Hudson!

30 weeks

38 weeks

Maryn has had lots of fun helping us get ready for baby.  She loves seeing all the little baby clothes and gear, and to hear about how she used them when she was a baby.  Every day she asks, "Baby Hudson come see me today?" It's so sweet to hear her talk about him excitedly, and throughout the day there are always lots of hugs and kisses for my tummy.

My church friends threw a super sweet baby shower for me a couple of weeks ago.  I'll add pics from that when I get them from Erica.  She made the cute little banner that we now have hanging on our mantle, ready to welcome our son home!

Summer Time, Part 1

I love summer.  Everything is more relaxed and there are so many fun things to do.  Billy finished all of his coursework in May, so he has been doing independent study to prepare for exams in the fall.  This means he is working at home a lot, and has a much lighter schedule.  It has been fantastic.  I'm trying hard to take in all the joys of summer - it goes by too quickly! I'm also trying to learn that an experience does not require pictures and internet documentation in order for it to be real, valid, and memorable for our family.  I've given up seeing every activity as a potential blog post, and instead I'm just trying to live  life alongside those I love.  If a blog post happens, that's bonus. :)

"How short the days are long, how fast the days of slow go away!"

Maryn is growing up so quickly.  Swimming lessons have been a big summer activity - it's one of those parent-child classes where you get in the pool with them.  She is still pretty tense in the water, but I think she is enjoying it over all, and she's learning a lot.  We have this really awesome family fitness and activity center nearby called the Kroc Center with a pretty neat pool. We have also gone there outside of lessons just for fun on a day pass with friends.

Ready to swim!

Playing with Elliott

Pregnancy is going well.  I'm starting to experience various discomforts, but nothing serious.  I'm definitely much bigger than I was at this stage with Maryn, but otherwise the two pregnancies have been very similar so far. We have been talking a lot about baby Hudson, trying to get Maryn excited about his arrival.  She calls him "baby Buh-ben" and likes to kiss and pat my belly.

Me at 20 weeks

We recently participated in this year's Pregnancy Care Center Life Walk in Niles, as we did last year as well.  They raised over $30,000 to fund a new ultrasound program, which is so exciting!

Friends at the Life Walk

With Brette at the Life Walk

Hope, Maryn, and Elliott

We also went to Lake Michigan for the first time, and hung out at Silver Beach with our friends the Esteps and the Gaudets.  It's such a cool place - beautiful beach, splash pad, carousel, restaurants, etc.  Maryn was not a big fan of sand, and then it ended up raining so it wasn't the best experience for her.  But we hope to go again soon.  And we did get some super yummy pizza followed by delicious ice cream shakes.

Waiting for pizza

Olivia and Maryn 

Apple on the beach

We also got a zoo pass this year, and have been a couple of times. South Bend has a great little zoo, perfect for the toddler crowd, and Maryn loves it.  Also, it's only about a 5 minute drive for us, so it's an easy way to get out of the house.

Watching the lion! 

On the choo choo train!

Here are some other random summer pics for your enjoyment:

We spend a lot of time outside on the deck.

Water table fun

Playing ball with Graycie 

Mother's Day 2012

Father's Day 2012

In her 4th of July dress

Shopping at Target

Picnic at Notre Dame

Pool time with Elliott 

Mango Italian ice!

Yum!

We have a busy July planned.  Next weekend Billy and I are going to Chicago for a weekend get away.  Maryn will stay with the Esteps - it will be our first night away from her!  Then we have a 2 week trip to Oklahoma planned.  We can't wait!

Our Family is Growing by Two Feet

A pair of sweet little BOY feet!!! These feet to be exact:

Which belong to this sweet little face and body:

We have a son! And we are naming him James Hudson Smith - we'll call him Hudson!

Here is the proud big sister watching the ultrasound:

Afterward, we went and bought some cute little boy things, to make it feel more real:

We are so excited to meet this little boy of ours, Lord willing, around the beginning of November!!!

Spring Break Suprises

We had a wonderful Spring Break that actually in a way lasted two weeks.  Billy had a week off and we got to enjoy some fun family time together doing things like having a picnic in the park, shopping and lots of time spent outside.  Surprise number one was the gorgeous weather we had in March - 70s and 80s - which I believe was record breaking.  Last year it snowed until April!  The following week, we had tentatively planned to have my siblings come up for their Spring Break but we were never sure who and if they were going to be able to come until the last minute.  So surprise number two was that not only did both my brother Scott and my sister Hannah get to come, my mom also got to come with them!  We spent such a wonderful (although too brief) time with them.  Maryn had a blast - she always had someone to play with - and she got to know my siblings much better.  She is still talking about Nona, Scott, and Hannah.

Playing with Scott

Hannah taught Maryn how to play Zelda

Picking up sticks and finding bunnies with Nona

Hannah also got to take a few super sweet pics of Maryn while she was here:

This picture just makes me laugh everytime

Our final and third surprise was one that we actually knew in February, but didn't share with family until that week we had family visiting...(drumroll please)....we're going to have another baby!!!  We are so excited and can't wait to meet our precious little one sometime around November 1st!  Right now, I'm about 11.5 weeks along (and showing! amazing how much quicker that happens the second time around) and looking forward to entering the second trimester.  I'm ready to feel more like myself.  I'm doing well and we got a quick peek at baby on an ultrasound last week and everything looks good so far.  We've decided to go with a midwife again since we had such a good experience with Maryn's birth.  And, yes, we do plan on finding out the gender - that will be in June sometime.  Of course we'll keep you posted!

5 weeks pregnant - I'll do another pic at 15 wks

Maryn's announcement