And life goes on and on my friend....

Just like the song that goes on and on... AH! Wish life would slow down, but life goes on and on and on...   The Smith household has been busy!  Not as busy as we will be in another month when lacrosse and soccer start up, but busy.  Lots of adjustments to make and Mommy and Daddy are both still healing; Daddy from his big Vday on his Bday and Mommy still from having Bekham.  Are we tired? Heck Yeah!... Are we happy? Heck Yeah!... Does life ever slow down? Heck No!...

Bekham is growing in leaps and bounds and is turning into one chunky monkey.  He is outgrowing the newborn outfits and I almost feel that he is going to just skip on by the 1-3 month outfits!  He is starting to test out his voice with cooing sounds and giving us itty bitty baby smiles. He keeps us so entertained by all of his many expressions.  Excuse his eczema, poor kid is allergic to his baby wash and Mommy now needs to find something else to bathe him in.  We'll figure it out.

Trae fell on Sunday while riding his skateboard,unfortunately he didn't tell us for several hours after.  So after 4 hours in the ER they said it was broken, but too swollen to do anything more than put a splint on it.  Today we went to the orthopedic surgeon's and he is now sporting an awesome green cast.  No lacrosse for 2 wks (practice starts next week)and we've had to put his guitar lessons on hold.

Jamison trying out Trae's fedora. Cute boy!

Strange picture I found on the camera of Mason. Ghostly image complete with red eye.

From birth comes death and from death comes birth

Or I believe that is how the saying goes.  Once again this saying has fallen true with the birth of Bekham and the ushering out of my Grandma.  She was one of those people that are so amazing that it makes it hard to say goodbye, but I know she'll always be with me.  I hope I can continue to make her proud.
She had such a great sense of humor, that really shined the past few years.  I guess you could say that the beginnings of Alzheimer made her thoughts come loose, and boy did she throw out some zingers!  She even told Jamie that he was the devil and in the next breath was telling him how handsome he was!  Maybe she had a secret thing for the bad boys.  Haha!  Love, love, love that woman!

You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.  

She was one of those Grandmas that just knew what you needed to hear and how to say it. She made me feel like I was her favorite, but I'm pretty sure that she had the talent to make each of us feel that way.  She was the best and one of my most favorite people.  I miss her already, but even though my heart is breaking to let her go, I know that finally she has received her heart's desire of being reunited with the love of her life.
Thank you for everything you taught me to be!  I love you Grandma!

I'm Gone now, but I'm still very near.
Death can never separate us.
Each time you feel a gentle breeze,
It's my hand caressing your face.
Each time the wind blows,
It carries my voice whispering your name.
When the wind blows your hair ever so slightly,
Think of it as me pushing a few stray hairs back in place.
When you feel a few raindrops fall on your face,
It's me placing soft kisses.
At night look up in the sky and see the stars shining so brightly.
I'm one of those stars and I'm winking at you and smiling with delight.
For never forget you're the apple of my eye.

More of Bekham, his birth, and cutie patutie pics

So, Jamie and I totally sucked when it came to having the camera up and running for Bekham's birth.  First we were just too excited to remember the camera and secondly, the dang thing had depleted batteries when we did finally pull it out.  Luckily, Kara had her camera handy and took pictures for us.

The day before I was induced (38wks 6days):

Daddy cutting the cord:

Mommy holding Bekham for the very first time. He did one little cry when he first popped his head out and that's the last we heard him cry for a few days. It's weird because we actually got excited when we heard his itty, bitty cry when we got home...

 











 Pouty faced, but being a tough little guy:

Daddy giving his boy some love:

Finally Going Home!:

Can't wait to see the real ones!

Daddy calls this "Beanie Training Day":

Welcome to my little angel boy

Baby Bekham Wess is finally here!  He was "forced" into the world by induction on Sunday, January 16th at 6:57PM.  He weighed 6lbs 13oz and was 19.5in long.  He is beautiful.  I find myself just holding him on my chest and starring down at this tiny little man.  It never gets old.  I know that this cuddle time will be gone way too fast and I'm striving to just enjoy this infant stage.
Daddy is so in love with him too.  He walks in the door and can't sanitize his hands fast enough to hold his new baby boy.  Who knew this little man would be such a blessing in our lives and he could change us so quickly.
The boys are adjusting nicely and I don't see much jealousy happening.  Well, that's it for now because I have a baby to hold.
 

2010 is over and we are ready for new beginnings...

I can't quite believe that 2010 is over and we are heading into 2011.  How does time move so quickly I ask again?  It seems that 2010 literally flew by, but now it is going to go back to snail time because we are waiting for baby to make his appearance.  We thought he would make his show on New Year's Day, but the contractions decided to make a disappearance after making Momma suffer all night long.  UGH!  I guess that is how it goes.  Tomorrow we meet our new OB and we'll hopefully discuss dates for induction because with my track record I doubt this guy will come willingly on his own. 

Christmas morning was perfect and then of course, the phone rang and Daddy had to run off to work... again, and again, and once again.  Needless to say, we cherished our morning with him because he was gone the rest of the day.  The boys got everything they had asked for (luckily they didn't ask for a whole lot) and we got a whole lot of smiles from them. 

The Christmas break was filled with Nerf wars.  I am finding stray nerf darts all over the house on a daily basis.  Crazy boys!  Mason even bought a new one to add to his collection last night. 

I never would have guessed he'd spend his Christmas money on a Pillow Pet, but that's exactly what he chose.

 Trae reading Jamison's new book because he already finished his own.

Jamison being a smart pants, but I think I win because I captured the expression...

My newest sewing project completed (and yes, it was done on my brand spanking new sewing machine!).  I made a car seat swaddler and a car seat cover.  Can't wait until we can actually use them!

Cloth Diapers

I've been seriously thinking of doing part cloth and part disposable diapers with this baby.  I am entering into a contest to win some, which would be great to give them a try.  If you are interested in cloth diapers and their current giveaway, then please check out Cloth Diaper Utah's website. 

Cousin Time!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our cousin time this past week.  I have loved getting to know my little niece and nephew.  They are such characters and I love them even more for it.  I hope the kids can keep building on the bonds that they have started with one another.  I know it will be difficult because they are so young and live so far away, but it has been amazing watching all of them play together.  We are truly blessed with the strength of our family.

Jamison had a choir performance at the Ogden Tree Festival this past week.  It was a last minute invite, but all the family came to support him.  The place was packed, and the pictures are blurry because all I could do was hold the camera over my head, stand on my tip toes, and hope I got a picture of him singing.  I could have been the circus show after their performance.  The kids sounded great though.

After Jamison's performance the whole family went to dinner.  The kids were very well behaved... unless you count the fact that Conner slid down in his chair and got stuck.  I should have taken a picture of it, but I was busy pulling on his arms, while Shannon was pulling on the chair to get him unstuck.  It took quite a bit of maneuvering, but we were finally able to free him from that monstrous Conner eating chair.  I'll also not mention that he did the same thing during Thanksgiving dinner.  I don't know how that monster found him again!  He must taste good.

Miss Cassidy has been dying for all of the kids (especially Trae... are you seeing a pattern here with Trae... Ha Ha!)  to wrestle.  So we finally let them just go at it.  Cassidy would just take flying leaps onto her victim, while Conner would twirl around until he found a victim to plop himself down onto, my boys, well, they fight dirty and made it a free for all.  We just laughed and refereed the entire thing.

An Uncle Brett sandwich, or is that a Cassidy sandwich?

That foot you see being held captive is Trae's.  Can you find him??

Who's arms and legs belong to whom?

I just had to add this one because Mason's expression cracks me up.  Looks like Conner was trying to hold him back, but with no luck. 

Thankful for Thanksgiving

What a busy Thanksgiving.  We finally got to spend Thanksgiving with the whole family.  We haven't all sat around the dinner table in years and I loved every minute of it!  We woke up to lots of snow and Mason couldn't wait to get his little boots into it.  He talked his cousins into going out with him; Conner lasted all of 5 minutes and Cassidy tried her hardest to be a trooper, but when Trae ignored her princess in distress squeals she decided to throw off her coat and go inside. 

Trae, Cassidy, and Mason stacking more branches from the fallen tree to make their fort.

















Shannon and Conner

Brett and Isaac

The kids trying to stay focused and finish their dinner, but I'm afraid that it just isn't possible. As you can see we've already lost one or two.

The adults having some kind of discussion. We are having no issues eating our meal.

Our November so far...

November has brought the sick bugs to our house and in a major way.  Pneumonia has made its pass through our household, which is crazy because pneumonia itself is not even contagious.  Well, whatever it was that we all started with, we ended it with antibiotics.  Poor Jamison got it the worst because of his asthma and ended up "wasting" half of his day away doing breathing treatments, but at least he was able to stay at home and comfortably rest. 

Our neighbor threw us a neighborhood baby party last weekend, and it was more appreciated than she will ever realize.  Baby now has clothes and diapers thanks to our generous neighbors and friends.  I'm not sure why, but it seems we are just taking our sweet time getting everything ready.  I guess we need to get going on preparing for his arrival because we have at the very most 9 weeks left before he'll be here.  I just can't believe that our newest little guy will be here so soon.  See what I mean by life going by too quickly?  

Life is going by so quickly... OCTOBER 2010

I can't believe that it's already November, can you?  I really need to get back into my old blogging habit and keep up with all the Smith's goings on, but it's so hard when your life is going by so quickly.  So, what I think I'm going to do is try to break it down into the month of October and then get started on my November.  Otherwise picture overload is going to be going on, but don't think this is going to stop me because I have a ton of pictures to post.
 
First of all, Happy 13th Birthday to our Trae!  He's now officially a teenager!  I just can't believe that time has gone by so quickly.  He even went to his first haunted house with some friends this year.  It seems that it was just yesterday we were spending hours bouncing him on our laps because he could not sit still.  This is still the case, well not the bouncing him on our laps part anymore, but not being able to sit.  He loves activity.  















Mason's Fall Soccer Season:

Mason shaking his booty out on the field!  Ha Ha!

Jamison's Fall Soccer Seaon:

Trae's Fall Lacrosse Season:
Trae had an amazing lacrosse season.  His team made it all the way to the championships and conquered!  It was such a great challenging game and they really deserved their win.  

October marks our annual family hunting trip.  It was cold, rainy, snowy, and semi-miserable.  It was great spending the time with family and we shared some wonderful memories. 

Here are all my guys on the last day of hunting, and of course, the sun finally decided to make an appearance!














Trae's lean-to for a scout merit badge

What else is there to do when it's cold outside and you are stuck in a trailer?  Play dominoes or build with them.

Jamison on a short hike with Daddy and Trae

Jamison target practicing

Trae and Grandpa shooting the big gun

Mason taking his turn at target practice