Meet the Smiths

We are so in love!

Aven Caroline Smith made her grand appearance Wed. July 15 at 8:29pm. She weighed 6lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long. We are just now getting released from the hospital due to some temperature issues but she is doing great!

We are having a baby tomorrow!! We go in tonight and I will be induced tomorrow. My amniotic fluid levels were low so they decided they needed to get Aven outta there. Be looking for pictures!! We appreciate prayers also!

I’m on the countdown now.  11 days until my due date.  I. Can’t. Believe. It.  It  has flown by.  I am just now beginning to feel uncomfortable, so I would say that this experience, for me, has been a pretty easy one.  I’m not swollen all of the time (except my fingers – haven’t worn my rings for about a month) – what I mean by “all of the time” is that sometimes at night my toes get swollen and my feet feel like they are on fire.  This isn’t every night and it’s nothing that a little lotion can’t put an end to.  All in all, I feel pretty blessed.  I have an appointment tomorrow so hopefully there will be some progress!  We are both so ready for little Aven to be here!  I can’t wait to see her and see who she looks like!  My bets are on Brandon – she will probably be long too, based on the amount of rib jabs I get.  :)  I filled out this fun survey since I am nearing the end – it will be fun to look back on for sure!

How far along? 38 weeks, 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: 13 pounds

Maternity clothes? Couldn’t live without them for sure.  I love my gauchos the most right now!

Stretch marks? Negative.

Sleep: Non-existent.  But I did get a good night’s sleep on Friday night, it was amazing.  I followed it with a nap on Saturday!!

Best moment this week: Hmmm…Thinking about my last day of work on Friday!!

Movement: Pretty painful now.  But, I still love it!  I love how she responds to me poking on her.  (gently, of course)  :)  Also, she has the hiccups ALL of the time, especially when I lay down at night to go to sleep.  She has them right now – I find them quite annoying……

Food cravings: Oreos and milk currently – too bad we’re out of milk!! (EDIT: Just got back from the store, couldn’t wait any longer.  When I picked up the gallon, I realized that, Lord willing, that gallon will be the last one bought before Aven gets here).

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: None really, but I have been having irregular contractions

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and sleeping period!

What I am looking forward to: Meeting our baby girl!!

Weekly Wisdom: Get all the rest you can get now because it’s about to end.  (I am actually tired of hearing that, because I have heard it so much in the last few MONTHS)

Milestones: I can’t believe it is almost over.  I may miss being pregnant, but I’m sure I will love having her on the outside more!

38 weeks..

I give empty promises.  I’m sorry for that.  I don’t even know if anyone read this anyway, but I had some time to kill this morning so I thought I would post a picture or two and update all you non-existent readers on our baby!  

We found out oh so long ago that we are having a GIRL!  This was a huge surprise to me, I thought it was a boy, but Brandon was SURE it was a girl.  He didn’t tell me what he thought until after the ultrasound – I believe that he is telling the truth though.  I am 28 weeks now and really enjoying feeling her move, kick, squirm, and watching my belly change shapes.  Her name will be Aven Caroline.  Aven after Brandon’s grandparents/mom and Caroline after my mom and me.  We are getting so excited about seeing what she looks like and who she resembles most.  I’m hoping for Brandon!!  We still have lots to do – paint the nursery, bring our furniture home and assemble it, and organize everything!  AKA – we haven’t done much yet.  We are the Smith’s, procrastinators.  

In other news, Brandon is leaving on Wednesday for a 9 day trip out west with a group of guys from church.  4 older guys are taking about 5 college guys on a discipleship trip in an RV.  Their goal is to get them away from TV, internet, and cell phones and focus on growing closer to Christ through learning about leadership, true self vs. false self, etc.  It should be a fun time for all – I know Brandon is really excited about it!  My mom will be here for most of the time that they are gone, so I’m really excited to get to spend time with her.  My first shower is here on May 9 – so Brandon’s mom will be here for that too!  We are just gonna have a party while he’s gone!  

That’s about it…. I will leave you with a picture of me at 26 weeks…and a picture of our sweet baby girl!

This is mostly for the 7 Degrees from Louise crew!

We are happy to announce that we will be welcoming our first child in July 2009!!  We are so excited and wanted to make sure everyone that reads this site as well as 7 Degrees knows!  

I am hoping to be better with updates on the progress of our little bun, but I can’t make any promises as of right now.  :)

In other news, Brandon graduates on FRIDAY!!!  Hip Hip Hooray!!  We will be celebrating on Friday night and praying continually for a job!  Please keep us in your prayers as well!

We just got back yesterday from a quick trip to NYC to visit with Brad, Dana, Alex, and Frank.  We had a wonderful time with them and we also enjoyed walking around the city.  I wish I knew how many miles we ended up walking, my feet hated me for it!  However, we had a good time and ate a lot of great food!

You can view our photos at:

I admit it.

I don’t have the gift of blogging.

It overwhelms me to even think about writing a post.  (probably because I write so rarely)

However, I am going to take this time to attempt to tell you all about our summer! (if I can remember what we did)

We have been to Memphis in June, July, AND August.  I am actually sitting on my parent’s couch as I type with Brandon sitting next to me playing on his iPhone, my dad snoring in his chair, mom relaxing watching football, Greg laying in the floor watching football, Shannon & Thomas in bed.  It’s wonderful to be surrounded by family!  I have found myself slightly homesick the last few weeks, and I think what I really needed was some QT with family.  It’s great!  We came in town for Kim’s baby shower and I have to say – it made me happy to see friends that I haven’t seen in years(!!) and sad that I can’t be better about keeping in touch with these wonderful girls.

This is the 3rd time we have been in town this summer…  We came in June because we hadn’t been here since Christmas and figured it was about time to make the trek.  In July, we brought 4 of our greatest friends from Louisville to show them around the city of Memphis, which included, Rendezvous, Beale Street, the Peabody, and the Madison (all in about 6 hours).  It was a whirlwind trip, but a great one!  It’s nice to get the opportunity to show friends where you grew up and have them meet the people that mean the most to you – family!

This summer we have gone to Morgantown, KY for the annual Father’s day cookout at the Flener’s, swam multiple times at friend’s pools, had my parents and Greg, Shannon, & Thomas in town to help us landscape our backyard, learned that we are going to have another neice/nephew(congrats Greg & Shannon), seen Dave Matthews in concert(awesome), traveled to Cincinatti, traveled to Richmond, KY to see EKU(where 4 of our friends graduated from), had many cookouts in our backyard, seen Boyz II Men in concert (also awesome), gone to the KY State Fair, taken bike rides around town, and have really enjoyed to nice weather the Lord has blessed us with in good ole Louisville.

Brandon officially started classes last week, his last semester at SBTS.  That seems so strange to say, almost unbelievable.  Like we have said before, we can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us!!

I hope people still read this, as I have neglected it for over 2 months.  I’m sorry for that, and I hope to be better!  I want to add pictures when I get home; I am on Brandon’s computer and have no idea how to find any on here!

5

Today is our 5 year anniversary.  I am so thankful to be married to someone as wonderful as this man!!  He is so supportive, loving, and caring, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without him!!  

Thank you, Brandon, for being the man you are.  I love you so much!!  ;)

Yes, he’s soooo cute and smart and wonderful, but he’s SOOOOO high maintenance…

We got home last night from the American Idol Finale(yay, David Cook), only to find a huge bump, swelling, what have ya, inside Cooper’s ear!  It freaked us out, even though I was pretty sure I knew what it was.  He shakes his head a lot because of a constant ear infection – this shaking caused a hematoma(blood filled bubble).  So, we called the emergency vet to see what we should do.  They ordered 3 Benadryl’s, an ice pack, and a call in the morning.  We did the above and went to bed, praying that it would be gone.  Well, it wasn’t.  Brandon took him to the vet and they scheduled him for surgery to have it drained for tomorrow morning.  This is not such a bad thing, except that we are going on vacation tomorrow night for a whole week.  It’s such a minor procedure, but it’s still nerve-racking(for me at least).  Luckily, we have 2 sets of people watching him that we trust to take care of him(THANKS Kim & Michael, Dave & Leigh).  I sound like such a crazy dog owner, and Brandon will probably roll his eyes when he reads this, but I don’t care – I love my dog!!  So, yeah, if you pray for dogs – please pray that everything will go well tomorrow and that the recovery is a piece of cake for those watching him.  If you pray for people – please pray for my peace of mind!!

On a happier note, we are going on vacation tomorrow AND we get to see Krystal and Andy for a day!!  I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!  Don’t look for an update while we are gone!  :)  

They were, as expected, NORMAL!  That means, I’m normal???  Nah!  It was not a surprise but a definite relief! 

We are about to head out for a drive around town with a friend of ours, Ryan.  He grew up here, so he is going to take us on a tour of the city – to include cool buildings and huge houses that we didn’t even know existed.  We also get to ride around in his BRIGHT yellow BMW – that is called “The Gold Lion.”  Yeah – I’m excited!  Look out for some pictures!!  I plan on taking alot!’

Here’s to a good weekend!