Lucy Grace - 4/25/2019

Even though my poor blog doesn't see the light of day very much, I wanted to make a post about Lucy's birth story since I did it for my other kids.  These days turn in to such a blur so it's fun sometimes to look back at them.

Lucy's pregnancy was a fairly easy one.  At first I was not too thrilled with having to find a new doctor.  I absolutely loved the doctor I had in Columbia, but that hospital is now an hour drive away so Caleb talked me out of going there so we wouldn't have that long of a drive during labor.  I tried seeing the doctor here in Eldon, but she and I just kind of clashed.  Ironically one day she suddenly was "no longer with the company".  There was another doctor who took her place at the clinic here in town, but I just didn't have warm fuzzy feelings about staying with this group of doctors.  Once my insurance got approved I switched to a doctor in Jefferson City with JCMG.  It was definitely a decision I never regretted.  My new doctor was just fabulous.  She and I discussed some of the issues I had with my first doctor and she put my mind at ease that I wouldn't have the same issues with her.

Throughout my pregnancy the only physical issue I really had was that my iron levels were lower than ideal, but it wasn't a huge concern.   Every thing was smooth sailing and we decided to induce at 40 weeks.  Since my doctor doesn't work on Fridays, we had to induce a day early instead. I'm pretty particular about having my doctor deliver my baby so I wanted to make sure she would be around that day. 

That morning we showed up at 6:30 at the hospital.  The nurses asked me if I had a birth plan.  I told them I need an epidural and to birth a baby. That's my plan.  They said that was easy enough.  My doctor came in around 8 and broke my water.  Shortly after they got my pitocin going.  After the first uncomfortable contraction I told my nurse that I wanted my epidural.  Since I barely had time to get an epidural with Cade, I wanted to make sure I got it in plenty of time this time around.  She went ahead and paged for the anesthesiologist.  He was there shortly after and gave me the epidural.  By this time my contractions were in full gear.  Once they had me lay down the anesthesiologist was doing test doses to make sure that my epidural was working.  Except it didn't.  He tried and tried but nothing was making it work even the slightest bit.  After a little while he decided that it wasn't worth messing with it anymore and he was just going to replace the epidural.  So all of the tape got ripped off of my back, the numbing shots given again, and the giant needle put in again.  After they laid me back down again my left leg started going numb.  I was super hopeful that this one was finally working.  The nurse turned me to my other side and I knew at that moment that there wasn't going to be time for the epidural to work.  Lucy was there and ready to come out.  I told the nurse that my body was starting to push and she checked me and quickly went and called for my doctor.  My doctor was already on her way to the hospital for another patient but my nurse insisted that she needed to come to my room first.  The next thing I knew my room was full of nurses and my doctor and it was show time.  It fortunately only took two contractions to push her out, but oh my....that pain was absolutely the worst pain I have ever experienced, and I certainly wasn't mentally prepared for it.  I pushed her out so hard and fast because of the pain that I have strained muscles that I didn't even know existed.  I also had a few tears that needed stitches....and that also is not pleasant without pain meds.  There is a numbing medicine they can give for that but it comes in the form of a shot....  Again, not pleasant.  So basically the only part of my "birth plan" that went as planned was that I had a healthy baby in my arms.

They put her on me immediately and left her there for a few hours.  I got to nurse her for quite a while and just enjoy her squishiness.  Eventually they came in to help me get up and help clean her up and weigh her.  Caleb's parents had brought the boys up shortly after that to meet their baby sister.  A few hours after that, the boys came back up but this time also had their cousins and aunts and uncle with them!

The first night went pretty well.  Although being adrenaline-filled post-partum wreck, every time I tried to lay down and get some sleep the events of the day would just replay over and over in my mind and all I could think about was the pain I had gone through.  Eventually exhaustion set in and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Fortunately the nurses at this hospital are just fantastic in that they don't wake you up if you are sleeping.  It was amazing!  And when I was awake the nurse made sure to do what she needed to do so she didn't have to wake me up later, like taking my blood for the doctor to have results for during her morning rounds.  This isn't what I was used to from my other deliveries.

The next morning a different doctor came to check on me since my doctor was off.  She said that my hemoglobin levels were concerning.  Pre-pregnancy my levels were at a 13.  Anything below 11 is considered anemic.  I was down to 7.7 after delivery.  Yikes!  That next day I experienced a lot of light headedness and just felt off.  The doctor wanted make sure I showered at the hospital since there was a seat in there in case I needed to sit down.  I also couldn't take a hot shower.  Anything less than scorching hot water to me isn't worth showering in, so I wasn't super thrilled about that.  I made it through a shower though without problems and they put me on an iron supplement to try to boost those numbers higher a little bit faster.  Later that morning we found out that one of the nurses thought she had heard a heart murmur on Lucy.  They went ahead and ordered an echo to be done on her just to make sure.  I wasn't too concerned about it because two pediatricians and another nurse all didn't hear it.  I assumed they were just trying to make that nurse happy because she was so insistent that she heard it.  It turns out she did have a little hole in her heart but it wasn't one to be concerned about.  The cardiologist didn't even recommend a follow up.  Her pediatrician she saw at 4 days old thinks that it is probably closed up by now because it should be more obvious when he listened to her heart and he didn't hear any signs of it.  So yay for that!  Also while she was in the hospital they said that her bilirubin levels were high.  We had to get those tested again on Sunday at the hospital, then again Monday at her doctor's office, Tuesday at the hospital at the Lake, and then again Wednesday at the doctor's office.  Finally her numbers peaked and we didn't have to worry about that anymore.  Not knowing from day to day if your baby is going to have to be readmitted to the hospital can be taxing.  Of course if she was I wanted Caleb to be with me so we were trying to work out who would be available to take the boys each of those days.

My parents also came to visit on Friday.  It was nice to have them there with us when we came home.  They left a little bit before we did so ,y dad was able to drop my prescriptions off for me and my mom already had a load of laundry folded before we got home.  Caleb's mom dropped the boys off that night too.  She graciously watched them for two nights and Seth and Jillian were amazing to help us out on Friday and watch the boys while Caleb's mom had to work.  It was such a blessing all around to have friends and family who stepped in to watch the boys or were available to watch them.  Hopefully my boys didn't ruin any chances with Uncle Seth and Aunt Jillian of ever having more cousins to play with.  ;-)

There were several things about this hospital that we really liked better.  One being that you dont have to switch rooms from labor and delivery to post-partum.  Also, Lucy never once left our room for anything.  Everything they needed to do they came to our room for it, even the hearing test and the heart echo.  All of the nurses and doctors we saw were amazing.

One thing that I found amusing...when we checked in to the hospital they apologized that it took so long but they had to change my name in the system.  I asked them what they were changing it from since I had filled out my pre-registration form just a couple weeks beforehand and obviously nothing had changed since then.  They told me they had to change it from Haley to Smith.  I was confused as to how they even knew my maiden name was Haley.  They asked if I had ever been to St Mary's before and I told them no, other than being born at the St Mary's in St Louis.  They brought me some forms later to confirm my information on, and they had my old Centralia address and a phone number I didn't recognize.  This address and phone number kept popping up on forms and I kept correcting them.  Even one of the prescriptions they gave me when I was discharged had this incorrect information.  My dad noticed it when he went to drop off my prescriptions, except he actually recognized the phone number.  It was my parents' home phone number from their house they lived in before they moved to Fenton in 1992.  There is really no other explanation as to how they had this except that they had to have had my information in their system from when I was born 29 years ago.  I still dont know how they had my Centralia address, but either way, they've been apparently keeping tabs on me for awhile.

Lucy is now almost 2 weeks old and just as perfect as can be.  She doesn't like to sleep when the boys nap though and sometimes doesn't like to sleep at night.  I think she doesn't like when the house gets too quiet!  We have had a few 5-6 hour stretches at night which has been amazing.  Once we got past the jaundice issues and having to feed every 2 hours, I was ready for a longer stretch of sleep!  Caleb is also amazing at letting me nap on the days that he's home during nap time.  He knows I get cranky when I dont sleep.  ;-)

Lucy Grace, you are loved beyond measure.  I'm so excited to have a baby girl.

 Just a slightly proud big brother

 (moment captured by Jillian)

 Proud grandparents who finally have a granddaughter!  (Photo also taken by Jillian)

These were from their day spent with Uncle Seth and Aunt Jillian.  They got to play in a hammock!

 They didn't get spoiled at all.

 Lucy Grace on her way home!

 These two.  Aren't the precious?  Lucy has the best daddy in the world.

Caleb's Hand Saga

I know I don’t blog much anymore, but I feel like some of life's biggest moments need blogged about.  This week has one of those.

Most of you know the gist of what happened just based on facebook posts, but I'll tell you about the whole thing.

Caleb has mentioned several times about how he would love to be able to do wood working and carpentry on the side.  I had a few projects I wanted him to work on that I could sell at some upcoming events so he was outside in the shed working on some wood.  He was using a table saw (that I shall trash now) and he was cutting a piece of wood when the saw kicked back and pushed his hand in to the saw. 

I was sitting inside with my kids while they were playing and I was on the phone with my sister.  Caleb opened the back door and yelled for me to grab a towel and call 911.  Of course adrenaline started pumping and my mind was running a million different directions.  I hung up from my sister, grabbed a towel, and ran to the back door and threw it to Caleb.  I could tell by the look on his face that he was probably in the worst pain of his life.  I tried calling 911 but my hands were shaking and my phone hasn't been working right so I had to try calling a couple of times before it went through.  Liam had come running in to the kitchen to see what was going on and fortunately he had just gotten a new sticker book on our trip that he and I had just taken with my parents last weekend and I told him to go play with his new stickers.  He actually obeyed and stayed in the living room for a long time while everything was going on.  That's not like him.  This may sound silly but I really think it's Divine intervention that he did that.  That kid doesn't forget anything and it's best that he wasn't right in the middle of the action, which is where he likes to be. 

Anyway, so back to 911.  The guy was so patient with me when I kept interrupting him to talk to my children.  Liam is in the other room yelling "DADDY!  DID YOU CUT YOUR THUMB IN HALF??"  I'm still not sure how it all worked out, but I almost stayed calm the whole time.  I'm not sure that I've ever had a harder time being a parent with having to play cool about a situation when my husband is laying on the back deck in excruciating pain, breathing heavy, and I'm trying to tell my kids that daddy just has a bad boo boo and these nice guys are going to take him to the doctor to get a big band aid. 

The EMTs were pretty light hearted, which as my father in law pointed out to us later, it's probably a relief to them to get to respond to a call that isn't life threatening but they still get to do their thing.  They took a peek at his hand and told him that he got his thumb, pointer, and ring fingers pretty bad.  The tip of his ring finger was barely still connected.  One guy told him that he earned a new nick name of Stumpy.  They asked where we wanted them to take him.  We asked where the best place was and they said that he would end up in Columbia but taking him to the hospital at the lake would be the fastest.  Looking back I'm not sure why they couldn't just take him straight to Columbia, but whatever, he was taken care of.  They had him in the ambulance for awhile before they left.  It was long enough that I was able to call Christa and tell her that I needed her to take my kids right now.  I went into the other room because I was stressed and when I'm stressed I tend to cry, and I didn't want Liam to see me cry.  I told her I would come drop off my kids on my way to Columbia because the EMTs had said it could be awhile for him to get transferred there so I figured that gave me enough time to pack up a bag for them and get them taken care of before I got to the hospital.  Christa also told me that she would take care of calling family so I wouldn't have to worry about doing that.  I ran out to the ambulance and told Caleb that I would have the kids taken care of and I would meet him in Columbia. 

I went back inside and by this time Liam was crying because he didn't want his daddy being taken away.  Again, how did I keep my composure??  I didn't want him being taken away either without me being by his side!   Anyway, I calmly sat down with my kids and again told them that Daddy just got a boo boo and he would just have to go get a band aid, but it may be awhile before they could get to see Daddy.  I tried getting Liam excited to get to go play with his cousins for the day and that seemed to work. Around then Lori was there because Christa had called her at work to let her know.  She said she would go be with Caleb down in the ER at the lake.  I told her that would be wonderful so I could get the boys to Christa's house.  As she was leaving there was a knock on the door and it was Dave from church.  He wanted to make sure that I was doing ok and see what we needed done.  I told him we were good and I would get the kids taken care of.  He made sure that I would be ok driving them there.  Also, then his wife was calling me because she happened to have the day off of work and was ready to come get my kids.  I called her back and thanked her but told her they were going to go to Christa's house.  She then took the time to pray with me and said she would keep us in prayer.  While I was on the phone with her my phone was beeping because another church member was calling to see if she needed to come get my kids or stay at my house with my kids.  (Seriously, how amazing is this??)  I then decided to call my mom before she found out through someone else.  While I was on the phone with her Christa was calling me to let me know that they were changing plans and they were leaving to come to my house and just get my kids so I could go to the Lake and be with Caleb sooner.  Christa said she would stay with me and her husband would take my boys (along with her 3 boys) and take them all back to their house and Aunt Rachel would come over and help out.  This ended up working out great because I didn't feel as rushed to get my kids packed and out the door.  I could kind of just relax for a second because it would take her about 45 minutes to get to my house.  I went and dumped Liam's bag out from our trip that we had just gotten back from the day before and just threw a bunch of clothes and stuffed animals and blankets in the bag.  It then crossed my mind to pack a bag for Caleb because I was sure he would have to have surgery and stay overnight in the hospital (which wasn't the case but we'll get there.)  I got all of that taken care of and then took my boys outside to play while we waited for Christa's family.  As we were outside Caleb's brother, Micah, came over and so I left the kids with him and went and grabbed a few last minute things I forgot to pack.  Soon, Christa's family was there.  I showed Bert where all of the stuff was that he needed to take, showed him which car seats to take, and then Christa and I left and went to the Lake. 

By the time we got to the hospital (side note, I'm glad I didn't drive him to the ER because there was construction and we got kind of turned around just trying to figure out how to get to the hospital) he had gotten an x-ray and was just waiting for a transfer to University hospital in Columbia.  I could have driven him to Columbia but then he would have to go through the whole check in process again and wait in the waiting room for who knows how long. But, if he went by ambulance they would have a room waiting for him.  By ambulance it was!  Also while he was at the lake they had to cut off his wedding band before his hand started swelling.  It was sad, but it wasn't the ring that he had when we got married. That one had been too big and this was just a $7 titanium ring he had bought online.  I told him he best let all the nurses know that he was married.  He said that they had all already thought that his mom was his wife. 

So not long after Christa and I had gotten to the Lake then an ambulance showed up to take him to Columbia.  Another benefit of going by ambulance was they could hook him up to pain meds on the ride there, so that helped him sleep there.  By the time we got there they had already done an exam and then the plastic surgeon came in and she was ready to get started.  They had Caleb in a trauma room so they kept it warm since people tend to be in shock when they have trauma.  So that along with not eating much, and this doctor talking about blood and guts I had to step out of the room because it was a little much for me.  Christa and I went and found a place to eat at the hospital.  Shortly after that Tim arrived and he went to go see Caleb, then he and Lori came and joined us because they were working on Caleb and we couldn't be in there for that….not that I would want to be.

It ended up taking about an hour longer than the doctor originally estimated to get him stitched up, but she was also able to repair a tendon while she was in there.  She said that he has a tendon in his thumb that is cut in two parts, but not all the way through.  His thumb is in a big splint in hopes that the tendon will heal on its own and not break all the way, which would most likely involve surgery to repair.  The top of his ring finger got pretty severed and was hanging on by a flap of skin (sorry if you want to barf…I do too) so big prayers needed that the skin doesn’t die because if it does he will probably have to have that amputated…at least that was my interpretation of what she said.

After all of that was over and he was bandaged up then we were able to go home after I got his prescriptions filled at the pharmacy. He slept most of the way home and was kind of shaky by the time we got home.  He fell asleep almost immediately except for when we skyped the boys right before they went to bed…he kind of faked feeling ok then since Liam had been so concerned about him.  I had decided to leave the boys at Christa's house overnight because Caleb needed to be back in Columbia Tuesday morning for a follow up appointment and I didn't want to have to shuffle them around again that morning.  Caleb had a little bit of a hard time sleeping that night, but that was kind of expected.

Another side note, while we were gone that day, Micah and a guy from church came to clean up.  I had tried to clean up some of the blood before we left because I didn't expect anyone to do that and I wanted to get it before it was good and dried. Also, we were supposed to have an exterminator come and a DHL delivery so I didn't want it looking like a crime scene.  Apparently the guys cleaning up found some chunks that I'm glad I didn't find.  Someone else from church made sure that the exterminator could get in.  Our church family was just so wonderful to us. 

Caleb's appointment went well the next day.  The plastic surgeon was pleased with how his hand looked.  He told Caleb that he thinks he will have close to a normal working hand when this is all said and done.  Tim went with us to watch and see how the dressings need to be done if he needs it replaced because if I don’t HAVE to do it I don’t want any part of it until it's more healed up.  Caleb will go back next Tuesday and they will try to wash his hand up and give him another evaluation after that.  The doctor also mentioned that he may have to have some reconstructive surgery depending on the way that it heals up. 

After the appointment we went and picked up the boys.  Liam was of course talking about how daddy's hand fell off and he needed to glue it back on.  HA!  He has the story a bit more straightened out now.  The boys have been pretty good about leaving daddy and his big boo boo alone.  I've been trying really hard (only with God's help of course) to have as much patience with them as I can.  I have started transitioning my sewing business from Facebook to Etsy but some of that may have to hold off for a while since I want to give my kids as much of my patience and grace as possible.  I know it's hard on them and I don’t want Caleb to have to worry about them or what they are doing.  He just needs to rest and take things easy so he doesn't make anything worse than it already is. 

I had to get caleb's towel and pants washed that he had gotten...dirty.  Lori had told me to use hydrogen peroxide on the stains.  I thought about googling "how to get blood out of clothes" but I watch a lot of investigation discovery and was afraid to have that on my search history.  ;-)  One thing I didn't have to wash was his shirt.  They cut that off of him at the hospital.  Ironically it was his Hannibal Helping Hands shirt.  HA! (get it?)

Caleb was still able to preach Wednesday night.  Of course he wont be able to lead worship for a while, but at least he can still preach.  :-) I'll keep updates posted on facebook, or on my blog depending on how things go.  Thanks again for everyone who has prayed for us and helped us out.  We are blessed. 

Making get well cards for daddy!

 Giving daddy his cards!

 The broken ring.  :-(

An update

I know this blog has taken a backseat during the past...half of a year?  Life has changed for us quite a bit and this no longer became a priority to me.  Maybe that will change.  I make no promises.  But for now I'm here to try to update you. I'll try to keep the most important parts at the top in case you don't have time to read a forever long blog of pictures and videos.

So here's an update on us.  I started sewing more and selling some baby stuff.  I absolutely love it.  I love being able to sew fun things and make a few bucks here and there.  As a stay-at-home mom it gives me something to look forward to during naptime and after bed time when Caleb is working on his school work.  Before I would just spend that time watching Netflix while I procrastinated on house work.  I feel like this is a much better use of my time.  I have also started working with Christa in a facebook group where we find fun stuff and buy them at wholesale prices and then pass those savings along to the members of the facebook group.  Between those two things I stay busy in my free time.  The extra money has been great during our big transition time.

So, transition...earlier this year we started thinking about the possibility of God leading us to something new.  We weren't sure what though.  Caleb took the month of May off of preaching at our church and starting working full time at his retail job.  After that month he really felt called to leave his position as pastor at our church.  This decision did not come easy. There were so many pros and cons of both sides of the situation and I just had to trust Caleb's leadership in the decision.  Fortunately God has really shown me since then that this is the right decision and now I'm excited about the changes God is doing and the new season of life that is starting.  We he resigned we didn't know what we would be doing from here.  We didn't have another church to go to so he kept working full time at Orscheln.  He had talked with a few churches who needed pastors but none of them seemed right.

God then started opening the door of us possibly going to the church where Caleb's dad pastors and they could work alongside each other.  The first Sunday after we left Cornerstone we went to their church to meet with them and have a question and answer time.  That time went great and we became really excited with this opportunity!  The following Sunday they voted for us to go there.  It all just quickly fell into place and we are grateful for that.  This means that we will be moving to Eldon, MO by the end of September.  We are super excited to get to live close to family.  We will be moving in to the house that his parents currently live, and his parents will be moving in to the house they bought a few months ago.  Lots of transition!

Anyway, now to try to bring you up to speed on everything else.  I'm going to try to update as much as I can.  I'm basically just going to picture dump everything that is on my phone. I'll try to go back as far as I can and I will probably break it into a few blogs.  I'll start from the present and work my way back.  It will be like our life on rewind.  :-)

Cade started walking!  He also has learned how to climb.  I'll be needing some extra prayers for patience and safety for my children.

We also get this view a lot.  Aren't tiny people the best?

 Snapchat is delightful.  Caleb is not so impressed

 Liam got some ice cream because he pooped several times on the potty in one day.  He opted to share with his bubby.

 Caleb has a lot of reading to do for his current class so I took the boys on a walk to get them out of the house.  Liam found some flowers and a pinecone (that he calls a groundhog) and he went and took them to Ms Dorothy.  You bet that brightened her day.  We had a great time visiting with her.  She is one of the sweetest little ladies you could ever meet.

 She told Cade there wasn't a thing he could hurt in her house.  He thought "challenge accepted",  but I would intervene when she wasn't looking....like with that porcelain knick knack thing there.

 She took Liam for a "ride" in her lift chair.

 So I'm getting ready for craft fairs and just got a ton of bibs ready to go.  Since I will be trying to do craft fairs in the midst of moving I tried to get super stocked up.

 This boy.  He's great.

 Liam got a water table for his birthday.  These two have had so much fun playing with it.

 Liam was helping me change Cade's diaper.  He ran away because he said it got too stinky.  I wish I could do that when he drops some doozies in his dipe.

Normal lunchtime entertainment

 Cade is quite the fashionista these days.

 This was at church on Sunday.  You have to bribe these kids with a whole candy store to get them to sit together nicely for a picture, but they did this all on their own.

 Cade found himself a comfy spot to sit.

 Aunt Christa got a hotel room in Eldon and the hotel has a pool.  There were lots of excited boys who couldn't wait to go swimming!  I couldn't find my swimming suit anywhere so I had to sit out.  :-(

 Liam has a love of climbing on top of things and jumping off.  This cabinet is one of his favorites now.

 "Bama Suzy and Bampa Gwenn" had stopped by and they gave Liam some McDonalds money for lunch.  It was Free Fry Friday so that worked out well.  After he got done eating of course he wanted to go into the play place.  He's never gone in there without Caleb being there.  He got up to the top and got stuck and kept calling for me but I had Cade and I definitely could not climbing up there with him in my arms.  Fortunately I was able to talk him into coming down the slide and then he was ready to go home.  :-)

 Baby batman is not impressed.

 Dust busters are fabulous for toddlers.

 Look whose brother found a sheet of stickers.

 Liam had gotten into his sandbox and he told me that he had to wash his feet off.  Or course the most logical way to do that is to climb in to his water table.

 Cade has fallen in love with this hat.  Too bad his big ol noggin doesn't fit.  I ordered him a new one.

 These boys.  They make my heart full.

 Cade was being a model for my new binky blankies and teethers.  :-)

 Liam loves playing hide and seek and found himself a new hiding place.  He couldn't wait to show me.

Showing off the shirt "Miss Tista" (aunt Christa) made him for his birthday

 Cade loved getting to play with Great Grandma Donna

 Liam gets a popsicle every time he poops on the potty.  It's been great motivation for him.  I had to start cutting them in half though.  3 popsicles in one day is a little too much sugar for him.

 I asked Liam what he wanted to eat for lunch and he said "how about spinach?  Do we have any of that around here?"  That kid.

 A little bow I made to take to craft fairs.  :-)

 Liam loves to visit the Chance Garden here in Centralia and see the fishies.

 He needed a picture to send to Daddy to show him that he earned a popsicle.

 This baby boy is in love with his blankies.

 He also loves his snack cup. Caleb jokes that it's his cow bell.  You can always tell where Cade is because you can hear his snack cup as he crawls around.

 More water table playing.  I love that Liam is at the age where I can send him out into the backyard by himself and just keep an eye on him out the kitchen window.

 That hair.  That belly. That face.

 Cade has been having teething issues for a few weeks now.  He hasn't been napping well but he fell asleep on me one day during nap time.  These days are rare and I enjoyed it.

 We had to go rescue Daddy from work one day when his battery died.  We were his cheerleading team

 This is my view most days.  He wants to be held all the time.  Anytime I put him down he cries and hangs on to my legs.

 Getting in some pen control practice with his new Usborne book!

 This little diddy lived in my kitchen sink overnight.  So. Gross.  Liam found him in the creek.  There were three in the cage at bed time.  There were only two and a pair of claws left in the cage the next morning.  *shivers*

 Dis. Gus. Ting.  My stomach was not made to be a mom of boys.

Some pictures from the creek:

 Cade was sick with a cold so we didn't get to go to the creek.  I love getting to spend some one-on-one time with him.

While we were home alone we worked on "Mama"

 Liam was trying on his life jacket before going to the creek.  He was so excited!

 Ezra showing off his birthday presents we gave him.

 Liam had to watch toy story with Jessie, Woody, and Rex.

Showing off his new animal book he got for his birthday from Great Grandma Connie.  

 Christa made me some oil shirts.  I love them!!

 I kind of dropped the ball on preparing for Liam's birthday party.  The day before his party he wanted to paint some pictures to use as decorations.

 He had soooo much fun painting them.

 Here's the final product.  I'd say it turned out well considering I hadn't had anything planned.

 Aunt Meme and Uncle Bim came to visit the night before his party.  I think he was showing him some animal videos or something.  That's the way to Liam's heart.

 They were so excited the next morning that Piper was here!  (Again, that hat!)

 Liam got to open his presents from Meme and Bim!

 I know it's sideways and I'm probably not going to flip it, but here's the rainbow fruit tray for Liam's birthday.

 He was so funny sitting there on the couch waiting for his party and eating his lunch.  I didn't take the time to edit any of these so I didn't zoom in, but it's cute.  If you can't see it just take my word for it.

 Grandpa Glenn made some balloon animal decorations and we had nachos for lunch!

 Liam kept asking for "blue Jello that looks like water", so I added some fruit snacks so it was the animals that didn't make it on to the ark.

 It was raining for 40 days and 40 nights in the living room!

 Miss Vanya made Liam a fantastic rainbow cake!  I was going to try to make a cake myself, but again, I dropped the ball, and Vanya offered to make a cake so I took her up on it since i knew it would be lightyears better than anything I could make.  My mom also made Amy a cake.  Amy will probably forever have to share a birthday party with Liam.  I dont think she will mind that but Liam was NOT going to share his party this year.  We quietly sang to her and she opened her presents while Liam napped.  :-)

 Blowing out his candles

 The inside of the cake.  How awesome is this?!?

 This is one of Cade's favorite toys.  Proof he is a true Smith.

 I took the boys outside and put lemongrass oil all over them...except for their feet.  Poor guy.

 This is how Liam watches tv when Cade is trying to get his breakfast.

 Squeaky clean babe.

This kid is a mess.  He found his chalk tub that had gotten some rain water in it so the chalk was basically sludge.  He was wiping it all down his arms and saying "It's my soap!"

 Showing how big and strong he was at his 3 year appointment.  He was looking so forward to getting his head measured.  They quit measuring that at 24 months but I told the nurse and she made sure to measure his head.

 His pre-doctor's appointment date at steak n shake (still going backwards here)

 On his birthday I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to go to daddy's work and look at the animals.  Some days I wish Caleb would just take Liam to work with him because I'm pretty sure this thing of animals could keep him entertained all day long.  The timing worked well because we were meeting up with some new friends in Columbia.  I brought a cake and we all celebrated Liam's birthday.  It was so much fun!

 He really did have a good birthday, I promise.

 We went for a birthday walk to the park!  (BTW, we got a new stroller.  $10 from a Facebook swap shop page.  How fantastic?!?)

 So this is now our Louisville trip in reverse:

Cade and I were glad to see each other after being apart for 5 days.  He and Liam got to stay at grandma and grandpa's house!  :-)  I tagged along with Caleb and packed my sewing machine too.  Do you know how awesome it was to not have any obligations?  I could do whatever I wanted.  If I wanted to take a nap, I took a nap.  If I wanted to sew, I sewed.  If I wanted to go get food, I ate food. I was missing my little people pretty bad by the time we get back though.

 On our way back to Missouri we stopped in Springfield IL and visited Glenn and Leah.  It was raining and they got a flash flood warning.  The water got so high on their street.

 He loves snap chat.

 Eating our must-have bison burger.  Bluegrass burgers is our favorite place to eat in Louisville!

 Obligatory first day of school picture.  His shirt says "Nailed it" --Martin Luther.  Courtesy of Christa and Bert.

 This goober

 One time Orscheln was giving away these boot cozies (sp?).  Liam likes to wear them as real boots...ish.

 So we had been gone for an entire weekend down to Eldon and when we got home it was late, like 11ish or so.  We had gotten the boys in bed and I was eating a snack before heading that way myself.  Caleb walked in to the kitchen and pointed to the floor.  This mouse trap is usually by the back of the refrigerator.  I thought maybe he had known there was a mouse before we left and just didn't mention it but stuck the trap out further to catch the mouse or something.  Nope.  And that's no mouse in there.  It's a bat.  Caleb went and got a big work glove and grabbed a hold of it and took it outside.  It was still alive and only had part of a wing stuck in the trap.  By the time he got it outside it was out of the trap and just clinging on the glove.  It was screeching the whole way too.  GROSS.  Our Parents As Teachers educator told me a few weeks later that bats usually dont get into houses unless they have rabies.  Fortunately we weren't ever in the house when this was flying around so we don't need to do any rabies shots or anything like that which apparently they usually have you do as a precaution because bat bites can be so tiny that you dont see them or feel them. Also, our PAT educator told us that we one of three families that she knows of that have had a bat in their house within the past few weeks.  That's crazy!  (One of those bats did test positive for rabies!) I sent this picture to the landlord and he was like "oh well thats new".  We are pretty sure it came in a ceiling vent in our bedroom and got in there through the damage in the roof.

 Fun at grandma and grandpa's house!

 Looking at pictures of animals that Uncle Seth has taken on some of his adventures

 Riding the ferris wheel at Miner Mike's for Ezra's birthday party

 3 brothers going down the slide together

 This was Cade's favorite part of Miner Mike's

 Checking out grandpa's new tractor

 Better late than never, but I took a 12 month picture for Cade.

 Liam was so proud of his potato head creation.  He asked if he could watch tv with it.

 :)

 Learning how to shuck corn

 This is his favorite thing to do when I'm helping Liam in the bathroom.  (BTW, I hate potty training)

 This is so Cade.  :-D

 These two.  You never know what kind of a predicament they will find themselves in.

 Baylee from church brought over the boys she babysits and they all got to play batman toys together,

 Taking Piper for a walk.

Liam likes to act like Piper

 Caleb and I got to go on a date!  We decided to go bowling.  This is a picture of the score.  I won't zoom in because the score really isn't all that important.

 Having a potty party with Aunt Meme and pipes.

 He dressed himself

 One day I ran out of wipes.  I keep a package on the back of the toilet.  I asked Liam to go in the bathroom and grab that package of wipes for me.  Bless his heart.  He tried.

 Cade with his new haircut!

 More snapchat shenanigans

 When you take your family out for dinner and this happens.

 Amazon subscribe and save delivery days are favorites around here

 Once again playing with the animals at Orscheln

 Being a baby model again

 Listening to daddy play Jesus loves me"

See if you can find the boy.

Cade likes to fake sneeze

 Being my post office helper

 Morning cartoons with dad

 I introduced him to milk and cookies.

 Poor Cade must have gotten Roseola from his 12 month check up.  Poor guy had a fever for several days and then broke out in this rash.

 Watching the big truck come and pick up our brush pile

 Poor sick baby

 He likes to act like a "wah-wah" (koala) and climb his twee!

Sometimes Liam gets Grandma Lori confused with Ravoli

Singing his ABCs.  He insists on the maniacal laugh at the end

 So one morning Cade had woken up around 6.  As I was getting him back to sleep I heard some thunder.  I didn't think much about it.  Right after he went back to sleep and I was getting back in bed the wind started blowing harder and harder.  It was blowing so hard that it had even woken Caleb up.  We started hearing things hitting the roof.  I dont remember the order of events exactly but anyway all of a sudden the ceiling in our bedroom started leaking.  We went into the kitchen and as we were walking past the back doors we realized a tree had fallen on our house.  Branches continued to fall on the house and then our kitchen ceiling fan started dripping water.  I was starting to freak out because I thought that the tree was completely on top of the house (based on where our bedroom was leaking) and of course worst case scenarios were going through my head.  Caleb went and got the boys and brought them into our master bathroom because we didn't know what was going to happen from there.  Anyway, the storm calmed down and Caleb went outside to kind of access some of the damage.  Basically our whole backyard was tree.  Not a whole tree but just the top part of a massive tree in our backyard.  He couldn't even get to the shed to get his chain saw because the tree had fallen on the shed.  I was pretty upset because you could tell that it had fallen on the swing set and possibly even the trampoline.  (Fortunately both we better than they appeared to be, as was the house).  We were without power for the whole day.  Caleb was about to leave and go to work when a neighbor stopped by and asked if we needed some help "cleaning up the branches in the back yard".  He didn't know what he was getting himself in to.  I could tell that by the look on his face when we walked into the backyard.  Anyway, he and his son and his son's friend along with some other people that I'm still not totally for sure who they were or why they picked our house, but they were all out there cleaning up.  I'm not used to this small town life and I was just amazed at how so many people just pitched in and helped clean up.  The next day the MO Baptist Disaster relief came to town.  Caleb's dad was working with a group from their church and so they stopped by and got the rest of our yard cleaned up.  I would have never guessed that a little more than 24 hours later that our yard would be so clean.  Liam got to help with the clean up too and he was just precious.  He had his tiny little wheelbarrow and was taking loads of sticks out to the brush pile in the front yard. Here's a video I made and posted on Facebook.  In the end we were able to get a check from our renter's insurance to help replace stuff.  The biggest losses we suffered was the lawnmower and weed eater got destroyed and then a few of Caleb's tools.  If you ask Liam the biggest loss is that his new pool got popped.  Our garden hose also got split so it's like a splash pad out there every time I try to water the tomatoes now.  

 Anndddd now I'm having trouble getting more pictures on my computer.  I guess that means I'll end it here for now  :-)