As I sit here on the couch waiting for the ball to drop, watching Connor smile in his sleep and listening to Mike and Moira snoring in the recliner already ( it's only 10:15!) I can't help but think about this year in review. There were a lot of tears this year. Some happy, some I wish I could bottle and keep forever, Connors first "real" tears, my own tears of joy when I held my wee man for the first time.... but mostly sad tears.... tears of absolute heartbreak....of loved ones lost in ways I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy..tears of anger, despair, and fear.
How do you tell your 3 year old there are no such things as monsters when you know that isn't true? When you've watched a loved one have to stare down the worst kind of monster there is...the one who didn't care enough to stop... The monster who went on to Burger King to get a bite to eat and left my beautiful cousin where she lie and shattered the lives of everyone who loved her.
How do you make the call home and tell your mom that the navy isn't sending us back to VA like I had hoped. That instead we will be moving her grandbabies further away?
2009 was not kind to so many people I love and care for. It is hard to find bright spots but we were fortunate to be blessed with an amazing new addition to our family this year. Connor is our sweet little man and we love him so. We are all healthy and happy. We are days away from embarking on our biggest adventure to date, our move to GA where Mike will be going back on a boat and I will be a "real" navy wife(Shore duty doesn't count. lol). Oh and of course our dear girl has become such an amazing wee little thing. 2009 was the year Moira found herself. All the nonstop chatty, deliciously curious, go go go, & fun a mommy could ask for. She's such an amazing child and I feel so lucky that I am the one who gets to be her mommy.
As 2010 looms closer I am excited to face the beginning and hope that this will be the year for peace, joy, and happiness for so many who deserve it. Many wishes for a happy new year to you all. It is now 11:30 and time for me to wake up Mike and Moira and ring in the new year with those whom I love more than anything. <3

Apologies and Christmas wishes

I hope this post finds all of my friends and family doing well and happily busy with Christmas preparations. My apologies for not updating like I should be. We've been so super busy getting ready for Christmas and are still adjusting to being a family of four. Connor is doing wonderfully. He is such a sweet lil guy. Moira is still head over heels in love and wouldn't trade her baby brother for anything. At least I don't think she would. lol
We are still in the process of trying to find a house in GA. Mike has to report to the new boat on Jan 12th so there is a slight chance that he will go down without us. We are hoping and praying that if that happens it won't be for to long. We have an offer on a house now but there are other offers as well and we're just waiting to hear if ours is the best. It's pretty stressful.
We are also super excited to be celebrating our first Christmas with Connor. It's amazing how just a few weeks ago I was wondering how in the world we would manage being a family of 4 and now I can't imagine how we were a family of 3. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful kids and an amazing husband who is my best friend and an amazing daddy. I couldn't do it without him.
My Christmas wish for you all is that you can be as happy as we are this Christmas. I will post more pictures soon. I promise to get Christmas morning pictures up as soon as I can. lol We love you all and miss you lots.

He's here!!!!!!

After a super quick almost unreal delivery Mike and I are happy to announce that Connor Paul Miklos Smith has finally , after waiting 5 days past his due date, decided that Halloween would be a fun day to be born.
It all started at 6:30 yesterday am when I awoke excitedly with contractions about 7 minutes apart. Within an hour the contractions had started coming about 3 minutes apart and we decided that we had better leave now or else. We packed up the car, our doula arrived and hopped in with us, and away we went. After a quick backtrack for Mikes wallet we finally made it to the hospital and into a room by 8:20.
As I said before the entire labor was unreal. I had no drugs ( I had planned it that way but I wouldn't have had a choice even if I had wanted them he came that quick!). I spent some time in the tub in the room ( I highly recommend) which helped me relax and the sound of the water jets was a great diversion from the pain. Mike was an amazing partner. He danced with me when the pain was unbearable and was such a huge help. I couldn't have done it without him.
Our awesome doula Breezy was a HUGE help as well. She filled in the few gaps when Mike was filling out paperwork or parking the car and was such an overall positive force that I am so happy to be able to say that she was there to help us. Her added support and kind words helped me get through the worst of it all.
Of course the worst of it all was pretty bad. Connor was born at 9:53 am. Which means that I went from 3-4 cm upon arrival around 8:20 to delivery in an hour and a half. He was sunny side up with the cord around his neck and at one point his shoulder got stuck. It was an intense experience but at 9:53 am on Halloween 2009 Connor Paul Miklos Smith was born weighing in at a walloping 9 lbs 1 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long. His eyes are a beautiful dark blue (for now) and he has a dark head of hair. We are all madly in love and can't wait to start our new life as a family of 4!

Who knew our girl loved penguins so much!

This is from the zoo yesterday. Moira could have spent all day in the penguin exhibit if we had let her.

It's been a while since I posted a ridiculously cute video of our girl so here's a new one for ya!

Daddy's have the best toys!

Oh my, talk about video overload! :) Will this child ever stop being so darn adorable?

Moira's new friend

Moira made a new friend today. Say hello to Froggie!

Singin in the rain!

Moira and I took advantage of today's early afternoon rainstorm and decided it was high time to play in the rain!

Do you love me?!

Thought you all would get a kick out of this! Our girl loves to boogie and this froggie is her best boogie-ing friend.

my lil tattooed beauty

Moira has discovered the joys of fake tattoos. She absolutely loves them and hasn't been w/out one in a week or so now. She prefers them on her arm and when asked to show it off, she will flex her lil arm and point at it and say " I have a tattoo!" She likes them so much she has even suggested that we name baby brother tattoo. Not so much. lol

What a week!!!!!!

What a week we had this past week. Monday was pretty quiet but once Tuesday came it was go time. Tuesday was the usual story time followed by a trip to the hotdog place for lunch w/ friends, and ending with some fun times with a water hose and a Dora swimsuit borrowed from Sydney. Those girls really are the best of pals. It's so much fun watching them play. That night we went to Mikes first flag football game of the season and Moira had so much fun cheering for her daddy!
Wednesday was Moira's first trip to the movie theater. We went to a free showing of Charlotte's Web with Kat & Sydney. Fun stuff but a little long. It was the live action version so she lost interest about a half hour before it ended. Pretty good for a 2 year old though.
Friday was one of Mike's good friends from works retirement ceremony and pool party. As you can see from the picture, Moira learned how fly. lol We had a wonderful time. Good friends, good food, and good fun. You can see more of the pictures ( which were all taken by Mike's friend Chris ~ Thanks a ton!) here.
On Saturday we attended a birthday party for a friend of Mike's son. Moira got her very first taste of lumpia. She wasn't as impressed as I though she would be. lol Mike and I, on the other hand, were delighted and ate so much we couldn't move. :)
Baby boy is doing well. He even had the hiccups this morning! My next appt is at the end of the month and then we move into appts every 2 weeks. Hard to believe its gone so quickly.
All in all it was a great week. We are so blessed to have the friends that we have here. That being said I have to get Moira in the tub now. Love you all!

So cute!!!

Moira is so in love with her baby brother already. It really is the cutest thing ever. His name is no longer octopus toothbrush, it is now just Moira's baby brother...or boy for short. :) She tells him stories, gives him kisses, and is happy to share her mommy and her toys just not her daddy.

Mike felt him kick for the first time last night. Well, the first time that he was 100% sure that it was his son kicking him and not his imagination. It was such a sweet moment and one I won't forget soon. He is such an amazing father.

Happy 4th of July!!!

I stole the memory card out of my psp and took some pictures from our 4th of July festivities. We had a big BBQ with some friends and family and went to watch some fireworks at Gahagan Park. Moira loved the fireworks and the lil man was busy rocking and rolling along as well. We all ate way to much and kept our fingers from getting burnt on the sparklers. All in all a lovely day. I'm pretty exhausted so I'm going to say good-night. I promise belly pics and ultrasound scans will come soon. Oh, and name suggestions are always welcome. Poor lil guy still doesn't have a name ( other than octopus toothbrush!).

Again?!?!?!?!?!

I know I promised everyone belly and ultrasound pics today but as I was busy snapping pictures and cute videos of Moira jumping in the pool with her swimmy teacher and soaking her lil classmate with water my memory card crapped out on me. I have the worst luck with electronics. I'm pretty upset about this because if we can't get it back I will lose every picture on the card. :( Luckily Christmas and birthday pictures were recently copied so I won't lose those but all else will be lost. Ugh.

Heros con 09

We just got home from a wonderful weekend in Charlotte, NC. As most of you know, Mike and I like to go up there every year for the big comic book convention. Total geekfest, but we have a good time and Moira really likes seeing people dressed up in costumes. As you can see Batman was a big hit this year. We got a couple more really cute prints from imaginism studios. Click here to see one of the prints we picked up for the kiddo's room in our next house. All in all we got way more art then actual comic books. Let's hope where ever we end up, our next house has lots of wall space! :)
We had a tense moment today at the con when Moira put a swarovski type crystal up her nose ( there had been a wedding at the hotel we stayed at Saturday night and she found it on the floor and fell in love with the pretty) so far I couldn't see it. Thankfully about 2 seconds after I started freaking out cause Mike was no where around she sneezed and the darn thing flew out of her nose and onto my shirt. She walked around all day saying " I sneezed it out."
Speaking of the little stinker, she just snuck downstairs so I'm off to tuck her in again. Love you all lots. Tomorrow I promise ultrasound and belly pics. Good night.

A proud moment!

Moira's started taking swim lessons at the Y on Monday and she's been doing swimmingly. *groans* Yes, I know horrible pun but I'm feeling awfully proud of her so I have to share. She started the week in the almost 3 class but her and the other little girl on her class are doing so well that they actually are done with the almost 3 class already ( it's 4 times a week for 2 weeks) and started doing stuff out of the 3-5 year old polliwog class yesterday. Moira can blow bubbles, put her face in the water, kick her feet, and paddle her arms. Best part was Mike was able to make it to 3 of her classes this week! It really is the cutest thing ever and I just wanted to share. I'll take some pictures on Monday since I won't be in the pool with her next week. Love you all.

Better late than never. Eep

Back in May we Moira and I drove up to Virginia to my parents house for my little sisters birthday. We went to Busch Gardens, swam in Grammy's pool, visited Mimere & Great Grandpa ,experienced the awesomeness that is shopping at Trader Joes & Ulta, and had an all around wonderful time. Moira got to spend a lot of time with her Aunts and Uncle Bubby. She was so lonely when we got home. I took lots of pictures and the can all be seen here.

Oh happy day!

We have a camera again!!!! It's been a busy week with Moira's swim classes but I'll hopefully be able to update this afternoon. I have new ultrasound pics of the little man that I need to put up and all kinds of fun going-ons to tell you all about! We have swim class today at noon and I have some grocery shopping to do so look for updates this evening. Love you all.

PIGGIES!!!!!

Not sure how well you can see them but we finally put her hair up in piggies today!!!! She loves them and had so much fun posing in front of the camera on the laptop. This was my favorite though. She just ran off so hopefully she's not off pulling them out already.

Pool Party!!!!

On Monday we had our dear friends Kat & Sydney over for a swim. The girls had so much fun swimming, jumping in the pool, running back and forth between the baby pool and the big pool, and sitting in the sun eating Cheez-its. After the swim they came over to the house for lunch and some crazy pictures were taken with Kat's camera. Can you tell I'm a tad distraught over not having my camera? lol I've only mentioned it in the past three posts. :) Too see the rest of the pics click here.

Our little shutterbug.

I have never seen a 2 year old so enamored with taking pictures. On our way to VA she got a hold of my now dead camera and took 100 pictures of her toes and me driving. Yeah, you read that right. My poor camera is not going to make it. And to make matters worse my phone won't even turn on anymore so that camera is gone as well. I can no longer do the two things I like most, take pictures of my silly little girl and calling people to tell them about what cute pictures I took. The phone issue should be resolved in a few weeks as I am sending it to the manufacturer this time instead of dealing with AT&T . The camera may take a bit longer. Bleh.

Oh no......

I might have to put this blog on hold for a bit. I stupidly forgot to check Mike's pockets before I put his shorts in the washer and wouldn't ya know, they just happened to be the shorts with our camera in the pocket. :( I can still write out updates but they are so much more fun with pictures. Geez, talk about feeling stupid. This camera was a Christmas present to replace the one I stupidly gave Moira to take a picture with only to have her toss it out of the stroller. When will I stop being so hard on cameras? Jury's still out whether I can get pix of the card or not. We don't want to put it in the computer until its dry. Wish me luck guys, my poor camera is gonna need it.

To grandmothers house we go!!!!

I'm updating a lil early because tomorrow morning Moira and I are leaving to go up to Va for 2 weeks. Yay vacation, boo everything up to today. It's been a rough week. A tornado went through Mike's hometown causing major damage on his street but luckily sparing my in-laws home. The damage to the house was minimal although tree's and fences are down all over. The rest of the street was not so lucky. Please keep Mike's neighbors John & Sally in your prayers. They are like another set of grandparents to Mike and their house didn't fare as well. I love you all but I've got to get some sleep before teh drive tomorrow. I'll be sure to post lot sof pictures while I'm home!!!

Your daily dose of cute

Bought to you by the letters t-a-r-g-e-t :)~

You are my sunshine!

Just thought you guys would get a kick out of this. I've sang this song to her since she was tiny and I guess she just learned the words!

Mike and I went to our first ultrasound on Tuesday and are happy to announce that we have a healthy wee one. I'm only 14 weeks along but the wee one gave us a perfect shot of what the tech said she was 98% sure were boy parts. We're not to start running out for blue stuff quite yet but she said she'd be surprised if , at our next scan, he turned out to be a she. Everything looks great so far and we are still on target for a due date of Oct 26th.

Oh my, I forgot all about this!!!

I've been really terrible about keeping up with this so I'm going to really really try this time. I promise!