Fisher's 2 month stats

Weighing in at 14.1 lbs
And measuring 24 inches long.

How do my babies get so big, so fast???

And he shared his cute little laugh with us for the first time tonight:

Side note: the doctor told me yesterday that the recommended age to keep your child in a rear-facing car seat has changed from one year to TWO YEARS OLD.  Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else??

A Poulson Christmas

What a blessing it is to live so close to family during the holidays!

We loved being with the Poulson clan this Christmas for the first time in 2 years.

(and our first Christmas J.W. and Fisher!)

We ate, played games, and watched Christmas movies for ten days straight.

We are sad to be home and back to reality.

Christmas shopping, done right.

This year I did all of my Christmas shopping online.  All of it. Easiest year ever.  Thanks to Amazon, I got everything cheaper than I would have in the store anyway, and they offer free 2-day shipping.  Can't beat that.  Not to mention I get package after package delivered to my house.  Who doesn't like getting mail? I have a feeling I will know the UPS delivery man very well by the end of this week.

Although, hopefully it won't be this slightly creepy UPS delivery man.

Thank you, modern technology.  No crowds, no lines, no bored kiddos, and since Mr. Smith and I are still the owners of only one car, we can relax when he gets home from work instead of hurrying out to find more presents.  Online shopping is the way to go.

Who's with me??

Real Parents Now

Since Fisher joined our family, Harrison and I are always saying, "we're real parents now".  When we only had Jack, we felt like this young couple just playing with this cool kid everyday.
But now we occasionally have early mornings like this:
1am: Me, feeding Fisher/changing diaper
3am: Harrison taking Jack potty
5am: Me feeding Fisher/changing diaper
6am: Harrison trying to convince Jack the sun is still sleeping, and he should be too.

But we love it.
I was a little  nervous about becoming a mother of two.
Because honestly the transition from being a mom of 0 to 1 was a little tough for me.
I went from working full-time to being a stay at home mom 24 hours a day.
It took me awhile a long time to get a routine nailed down to help me feel like a productive member of society again. But this transition could not have gone smoother. Especially considering all the other craziness that was going on simultaneously.

Fisher is such a sweet baby. He is always so content to just hang out on the bed, the couch, or in his swing and let me accomplish things around the house. He is starting to smile all the time, and his nighttime sleep is coming in longer spurts all the time. He made it 6 hours the other night (woo hoo!) Just like his brother though, he won't be little for long.  As of last week, he had already gained over 3 pounds since his birth weight 6 weeks ago!

Jack is loving having a baby in the house.  He's always hugging and kissing him, and saying, "Good morning, Fisher!", "Can I hold Fisher for a second?", or my favorite, "Hi, Smiles!" haha.  And he is a great help to me, getting me Fisher's pacifier, throwing away diapers, etc.  I haven't noticed any sign of jealousy or resentment which I've heard horror stories about when a sibling enters the picture for some kids.  But we do have to monitor how much he loves Fisher.  Like when he threw a ball to him the other day wanting Fisher to catch it...I can't wait until these boys can really play together!

Harrison is loving his position here.  His first official day on the job they made him a platoon leader over 40 men.  Translation?  He's kind of a big deal. He's staying busy learning his new responsibilities, but luckily is home every night by 5:30PM.  Finally a little bit of normalcy.

My bed usual finds me in it by 10pm.  With two active boys and still doing two middle of the night feedings, I am exhausted if I don't go to bed at a decent hour.  This week I think we can say officially say we're completely unpacked and organized.  There are still so many decorating ideas I have (thank you, Pinterest) but those will have to come with time.

I love my little family!

 

I have a good excuse...

...or several excuses for being the worst blogger ever.

In the past month:

-Harrison graduated from Ranger School

-We welcomed sweet baby Fisher into our family

-Harrison flew across the country twice, and drove across once.

-We house hunted near Fort Lewis, WA

-We moved out of my parents house, and into our new place.

-And Harrison started his new job here with his new unit.

And now with the holidays coming, things are only going to get more crazy!  But we're loving our new house and city!  And after living in 4 states during the past 14 months, we're ready to not go anywhere for hopefully three years or so.  Now if the boxes would just unpack themselves...

This is the view from our front porch!  See Mt. Rainier in the back?  Beautiful!  Except it hasn't stopped raining since we moved in, so Jack hasn't gotten much use out of that park yet...I guess it rains a lot here?? :)

My Angry Birds

Remember this post? I'm not the biggest Halloween fan. BUT apparently when you have two cute little boys that you can dress up to match, it makes it so much more fun.  And this is the first year Jack has really gone trick or treating, and he loved it.  At one house, the woman at the door let him pick out his own candy.  He picked out a sucker, and from the front porch yelled to us on the sidewalk, "Sucker!" (in a "Oooo, lookie what I got" sort of tone...so funny!)

Labor Story

I think this is the 4th time I've sat down to finish this post...apparently having a newborn and a toddler keeps you pretty busy, who knew??

My due date was October 10th.  But since Harrison was going to be at Ranger School until about the 19th or so, I had no problem letting Fisher hang out inside me for as long as he wanted.  I was induced a week late with Jack, so I figured this pregnancy would go past the 40 week mark as well.

The morning of the 17th came, and my doctor just wanted to make sure Fisher was doing well enough to let me go a couple more days late, so his heart rate was monitored at labor and delivery for about an hour, and they did an ultrasound as well.  I got the okay to wait longer (little did I know I'd be back 8 hours later..)

It was 9:30 PM, and I was lying on the couch watching TV (I'll never forget you now, Sing-Off) and my water broke!  This was the last way I had expected to go into labor, I'm not sure why I just assumed it wouldn't happen like that.  I jumped up, and told my dad who was sitting in the room, "Uh...my water just broke."  I felt so silly saying it haha, like I was making it up.  So I ran into the bathroom, and he ran upstairs to get my mom.

My entire family was so great.  My little sister helped me finish packing my hospital bag, my brother and Grandma stayed with Jack the whole time I was in labor, and my parents took me to the hospital.  I surprisingly felt so calm and relaxed through everything.  After making sure my water had actually broken (they kept asking me questions like, "So what time do you THINK your water broke?"...) I got settled into a hospital room.  It was after midnight now, and I still hadn't felt any contractions.  A couple here and there, but  nothing stronger than the sporadic contractions I'd been having for weeks.  I saw the doctor on call at 2AM, and she decided to start me on Pitocin to make the contractions stronger.  By 4AM, I was dilated to  4cm, and the contractions had come, fast and strong, and I was ready for an epidural.  I don't think there is any feeling in the world that is better than the realization that your epidural has kicked in.  I was feeling wonderful from that point on.  I was much more numb on my right side then my left, but I didn't let that go unnoticed, and they fixed that problem pretty quick for me. I'm not ashamed to say I was born during the right century to utilize modern day medicine.

Around 5:30 AM they checked to see how I was progressing and I was only at 5cm.  I figured I had awhile to go still and I had not eaten or slept all night.  But, just about 2 hours later I was already dilated to 9.5cm!  And around 8:20 AM I was ready to start pushing. Unlike Jack's delivery of pushing for an hour and a half, I only pushed for about 20 minutes, and little Fisher was here!  They put him right up on my chest as soon as he was born, and I loved it.  Jack was cleaned and wrapped up before I even really saw him, but he had some breathing complications they were really watching.  Fisher wasn't crying quite as loud as they had hoped, a little more grunting, so after awhile of being with me, they took him to the NICU to be watched just for about 3 hours or so.  He never needed any breathing treatments like Jack, and he was completely fine and back with me again by noon.

My whole family was so supportive.  My mom, dad, and little sister were all in the delivery room with me.  Although my dad and Emma were careful to stay up near my head :) We gave Fisher my Dad's middle name, Vaun - I've always loved that name.  My Grandma and brother, James were at home with Jack.  I couldn't have done any of this without the help and support of my family.

I was in touch with Harrison several times throughout the labor.  I called the emergency number I had for Ranger School as soon as my water broke, and he was able to call me back within twenty minutes or so.  He called every couple of hours, but was on a bus driving from Florida, back to Ft. Benning, Georgia when Fisher was actually born.  That night, he got permission to leave Ranger School 3 days early, to get home to me Wednesday night, so we bought a plane ticket for him for a flight that left in 24 hours.  He was supposed to be done by 10 AM the next morning, but we've quickly learned that the Army works on it's own time schedule, and we wasn't actually free to go until after 4PM.  He took a taxi 90 minutes to the Atlanta airport, and barely made it there 40 minutes before his flight left. His bag missed the flight, but thankfully he didn't. 

Fisher held on as long as he could to wait for his dad, and although I would have loved for Harrison to have been there when he was born, we were blessed in so many ways.  I was lucky enough to have my family there with me, my labor and delivery was so smooth (and dare I say, almost easy?), my recovery has been wonderful, Fisher was healthy, and only 3 hours after I was discharged from the hospital, Fisher and I were at the airport to meet Harrison.  I think the thing I am most grateful for is the continuous peace and comfort I had despite the fact that my husband wasn't by my side.  I felt so calm, and at ease the entire time, and was able to focus on the amazing miracle of having a sweet new baby.

Harrison was on paternal leave and we had  planned on him being with us for 10 days before heading back to Georgia to out-process (since we're technically still stationed there, and there were some things he had to take care of before we could move up to Ft. Lewis, WA) and he had to pick up our car and drive it back across the country.  But after being here only 12 hours or so, we found out his sweet Grandpa was passing away from a long time illness. So 10 days turned into 4 so that Harrison could go to St. George and be with his family for the funeral.  I have always admired Harrison's grandparents so much, and I wish I could have been there, but we figured taking a 5 day old on an airplane wasn't the best idea.  We love you so much, Grandma Smith. After the funeral we decided that instead of coming back up to Washington, Harrison should cut his paternal leave short and head back to Georgia sooner than we planned so he could get going on out-processing.   He's almost done and should be on the road tomorrow then we move up to Fort Lewis next week to start the next chapter of our lives as a family of four!

Thank you to all those who supported us through everything!  My family has been so amazing.  I asked to come visit for 2 months while Harrison was gone, and instead it turned into 3 1/2 months and having a baby here, and they didn't even threaten to throw us out once!  And my incredible friends who checked up on me and kept us in their prayers, it meant the world to me.  I feel so overwhelming blessed and I know I have my Hevenly Father to thank for all the miracles that have happened over the last several months.

Fisher Vaun Smith

We are now blessed to be the parents of two sweet little boys!!

Fisher Vaun

October 18, 2011

7 lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches

Life has been crazy lately, to say the least.

Many updates are on the way!

I stacked, I whacked.

Here it is! 

I love it!

And yes, there are a few flowers thrown in there.

No boy of mine is gonna be too macho for a little floral.

And apparently I was in the sewing mood, because the day after I finished the quilt, I took this tutorial from a little webiste called Pinterest, and whipped this baby out:

I have a feeling I'll be much more modest when nursing this guy than with Jack.  The blanket over the shoulder technique just wasn't cuttin it.

Then & Now

Look what I found:

36 weeks

   Baby #1                                    Baby #2

My ankles are swelling.

My heart is burning.

My walk is waddling.

It must mean I'm getting close :)

Simple Pleasures of Motherhood

I took the plunge into potty training Jack.

I am determined to only purchase one size of diapers at a time.

We tried this about 4 months ago for a few days without success.

This time I could tell he was much, much more ready.

Today was day 3, and I'm happy ecstatic to say it was accident free, and even ended with a number two making its appearance, allowing Jack to boast the rest of the night, "I poop!" 

(and for that, he got an entire bag of Famous Amos cookies.)

Oh, happy day.

Now I get to enjoy a diaper-free life...for about 5 weeks. 

Stack and Whack

Ever heard of it?
It's a type of quilt.
And it's what I'm making for little man #2

Wish me luck.

Four Years Ago

When I was attending BYU-Idaho, my roommates and I decided it would be fun to get some friends together to play a game of football.  Even though it was November in Rexburg and freezing we had so much fun, and it sort became tradition to go play every Thursday night.

When I came home for the summer to Las Vegas, I thought it would be fun to continue the tradition.  So my sister and I rounded up some people and headed to a nearby park.  One of these friends was Kalee, who told me her brother "H" just got home from his LDS mission (2 days before, to be exact) and could she bring him..?  Now Kalee had told me about this "H" before.  She had mentioned that she thought he and I would make a good couple, and although I hadn't really dwelt on that conversation much, who was I to let her down by not at least meeting him, right?  I said of course, we'd love to have him come.  And because she always called him by the nickname she had given him, "H", I really had no idea what his real name was.

It turns out "H" stood for Harrison...who knew? And it turns out Harrison was a cute, blonde, 21 year old who I figured out pretty quickly that I wouldn't mind getting to know better.  I asked him later (much, much later in our relationship) what his first impressions of me were.  He said three things:  He thought I was older than Lindsay (my sister), he thought I was athletic (and for those who know me best know that of course that is no surprise), and he also thought I must have been a little rebellious for a 19 year old Mormon girl since Linds and I kept the radio on the whole night, trying to win tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert.  It turns out none of those things were true.  So he may have asked me out under false pretenses, thinking I was this older, athletic, rebellious girl, but it didn't take him long to figure out the truth.  And our first date was the best first date I've ever been on.  Simple, honest, and fun.  We had a pizza picnic and talked for hours.  About everything.

Which was a bummer, really.  You see this new guy I was falling for, and I were both leaving for school in a matter of weeks, and we'd be living 4 hours apart.  And this guy just got home from serving a mission, and was about to go to the land of LDS single girls in Provo, Utah.  But someone was listening to my prayers, because somehow I tricked him into a long distance relationship.  And soon I found myself counting down the days until Friday night rolled around when he came up to Rexburg, or I drove down to meet him in Provo.  Life was so good.  He took such good care of me.  I remember one time grocery shopping together and he paid for my groceries.  You may think thats silly, but to a poor college student girl, that was sweeter than getting flowers and chocolates.
We soon had a problem though.  This long-distance stuff was hard.  We were halfway through the semester and our emotions, grades, and cell phone bills were taking a hit.  We found ourselves needing to make a decision: break-up, or get married.  Luckily we chose the latter, and luckily it was much more romantic than that.  

3 months later I was blessed to get married forever to my best friend. Everyone we loved was there including the matchmaker herself (love you, Kalee!).  And if it's possible, after 3.5 years of marriage, 6 moves, 8+ months of being apart, and nearly 2 kids later I love him even more today than I did then.

And it all started with that awesome game of football August 9, 2007.

Oh yeah, i have a blog...

Much has changed.

And due to a series of recent events, and after much prayer and deliberation we've decided to move out to Washington much sooner than anticipated.

So my lack of blogging can be explained by a huge of amount of planning, preparing, and packing for our 4th move in 10 months.

And let me tell you, packing up a house at six months pregnant is no fun and is partnered  with little motivation and zero energy.

Luckily Harrison is a hard worker and I'm a good decision-maker, pointer, and box-taper.

"That goes there, honey. We can throw that away.  Okay bring that box to me." 

So we have a little over a week before Jack and I will be west-coasters again.

Harrison has more training here, and will be joining us soon. (hopefully before this baby comes!)

Speaking of baby...

Anyone who has ever been pregnant will tell you how fabulous it is to take pregnancy photos, and I think I may win the award for most awkward poser ever.

But here I am at 27ish weeks, and this baby is wearing me out!

I'm pretty sure I'm nearly twice the size I was with Jack at this point in my pregnancy, and I am feeling it.

But I am loving all the kicks he's giving me all day long, and we can't wait for him to come!!

And Jack will be 2 1/2 years old next week

(yes, I pay attention to half birthdays)

He makes us laugh all day, everyday.

He is learning new words all the time, and even if we have to translate most of what he says to other people we still think he is the smartest two year old. Ever.

He loves, loves, loves, sports.  Basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, swimming, and anything involving a ball and a racket/paddle. 

He is so active all day which is fine with me since it makes him sleep so well.  He is still napping like a champ (2+ hours a day) and he spoils me by sleeping until 8:30 am or later.

He is starting to be "too cool" for kisses, but has really become quite the cuddler.  

He does however often kiss my tummy and say, "baby!"  

He's going to be the cutest big brother :)

"Golk"

Last week when we were in Atlanta, we discovered Jack is a boy of many talents.

We went to the Children's Museum (lots of money for little parental entertainment...)  

And Jack took his activities very seriously.

"Mom, I'm workin' the land, can't we do this later??"

 His new favorite thing to do is golf...or, "golk" as he more affectionately calls it...

 And he's not half bad either.

Although this picture doesn't show it...

I can't get enough of Mr. Jack - he cracks us up everyday.

And I'm so excited to have another one.

There's just something so sweet about little boys.

Belated Post

Last week Harrison graduated from IBOLC

Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course

 (by the way, this picture counts as my 20ish week belly shot...I'm feeling very unmotivated to take progressive pictures of my baby bump this time around)

Harrison's branch in the Army is Infantry. 

What the heck does 'Infantry' mean?

When you think of a typical US soldier, you're probably thinking of an infantry soldier, I bet.

They are the soldiers who fight in units on foot, and Harrison as an Officer, will most likely soon be a Platoon Leader over about 40 men. (when we get to Ft. Lewis, WA)

IBOLC consisted of 16 weeks of training on weapons, land navigation, emergency medical care, and other military operations. 10 of those weeks he was out in the field doing overnight training, ruck marches, and night missions.

Many of the 150+ men that went through this same training with Harrison are reporting to their units and are soon deploying overseas to defend our nation.  We're not crossing that bridge yet, thankfully, but you do gain a stronger sense of appreciation for what these men are willing to sacrifice when you are surrounded by them and their families here.

So, he's kind of a big deal.  

And we had lots of fun celebrating his graduation.

We had our friends, the Cornetts, over to help us eat this yummy treat:

And oh-so-yummy, it was... 

Fruit Pizza

Cookie Crust:

 1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

 1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

2 3/4 cups flour

Mix together, then press into pizza pans (or cookie sheet)

Bake crust @ 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown around edges

Icing:

12 oz. cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. lime or lemon juice

Mix together, then spread on cooled crust

Then slice desired fruit and arrange on icing.

I use strawberries, but you can use peaches, mandarin oranges, pineapple, kiwi, etc.

Or a mixture of anything you want!

I love to see the Temple

I have always lived near a Temple.  I grew up in Fresno, CA where a LDS Temple was dedicated less than 1 month after my 12th birthday. Then from Fresno, I moved to Rexburg, ID where we had a temple in Idaho Falls (about 20 minutes away) and even as I attended BYU-Idaho I got to watch the Rexburg temple being built from my apartment window and it was dedicated 2 months after I left.  And since then I've lived in Las Vegas, Portland, and Provo, UT where there were temples easily within a 20 minute drive - and in the case of Utah, about 4 temples in that 20 minute drive.

But here, the Atlanta Temple is about 120 miles away. And I know compared to most members of the LDS church I am still blessed to be that close to a temple, but it definitely takes more effort and planning to attend.  We finally made that happen yesterday for the first time since we moved here.  Luckily we were able to go with some friends of ours to make the babysitting swap while each couple was inside.  And I'm always so grateful I get to go after I do.  It is such a great place to get away from the craziness of the world, feel peace, and worship.  The temple is so sacred to me and my faith.  I've had so many wonderful experiences there, including when I married Mr. Smith in the Las Vegas, NV Temple and because of that blessing I believe I will get to be with him forever, not just "until death do we part".

To find out more about LDS temples, click here.

I've never driven East to get to the ocean before...

Until our trip to Savannah over Memorial Day weekend.

Harrison got to show me his old stompin' ground (he lived there for about 6 years growing up...)

This street is in his old neighborhood...have I mentioned how pretty Georgia is, yet?  

Maybe one or twice.

And we spent the whole weekend in some type of water because it's really the only way you can stand to be outside right now in the south

We walked around downtown Savannah which was beautiful!  Cobblestone streets, fun little shops, water fountains and statues on every corner, and Mr. Jack needed some coaxing to play in this fountain, and his dad may have gotten more wet than he did, but he ended up loving it!

 Saturday we went to Tybee Island to the beach, which was fun for awhile...

but we soon discovered that 2 days of no napping and a night of not sleeping well equals one unhappy little boy.  Then adding sand, sun and a huge body of water to the mix only made things worse.  Poor Jack was exhausted, and we made sure he got plenty of sleep that night

And this picture proves I was actually on this trip.  I was so worried about getting pictures of our vacation (because I'm usually terrible at this...) that I may have failed to actually get in front of the camera very often.

We also went to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and spent some time in the pool at our hotel

Overall it was such a blast and a nice little getaway after 4 crazy months of Harrison's IBOLC training!

We've been busy bees over here...

This week has been full of Harrison re-cooperating from being eaten alive by mosquitoes for ten days, getting poison ivy in several areas of his body, a serious sinus infection, and a pulled muscle in his back...Bear Grylls has got nothing on him. And now our grocery bill will most likely double because he is literally a bottomless pit, and eats constantly.  It's funny how easily I forget that...

Jack was also sick this week with a little cold but nothing slows that kid down.  We made it outside today for the first time this week only for him to play basketball in the rain and do some good puddle jumpin...probably wasn't the best thing for his runny nose, but he loved it.  

How I've avoided all the sickness between my boys throughout the past several weeks, I'll never know, but I'm giving credit to my prenatal vitamins.

And I've had such a blast photographing some cute families lately.  And Georgia is so green and gorgeous it makes it that much more fun to use it as a backdrop.  If you can stand the humidity, that is.

 

A Dr. Pepper kind of day

This single parenting/being pregnant stuff ain't for sissies.
Jack was a little challenging difficult today.
He wouldn't eat anything..that I wanted him to eat, anyway.
His nap time consisted of him throwing his pillow, blanket, sippy cup, and Buzz (his sleeping companion) out of his crib over and over until I knew there was no hope in getting him to nap.
And he seemed to be taking note of everything I put away and he would pull it back out again as soon as I left the room.
Sounds like fun, no?

But then about an hour before bedtime I sat in his room with a container of yogurt while he played. And it didn't take him long to see what I was eating, and he was sitting next to me waiting for a bite. After about a minute he obviously thought I wasn't feeding him fast enough so he took the spoon and yogurt away from me to feed himself.

How could I stay frustrated with him when he looks like this?

 He was kind enough to leave me some...at least two whole bites.

 

Even on days like today, I love being a mom.
I highly recommend it.