Gavin's chosen attire for watching the cardinals game!

Gavin singing

Gavin has become quite a singer these past 2 months. While Daddy jokes that he is tone deaf, I'm just impressed he can remember all the words to some of his favorite praise songs...

Gavin's new favorite game: lining up all his cars to make a big choo-choo!

Flowers from barry!

Starting New...

This week I am making the transition to my new position in the President's office. I've really enjoyed being with the fun, outdoorsy faculty & students in Recreation, Park and Tourism, but am excited for the new challenges that this promotion will entail. This change was originally scheduled last November, but this time of year seems perfect for a big job change. The weather changing is a bog motivator to look at what areas of life I can start fresh in, and where I have grown stagnant.
With a new baby coming, hopefully a new house purchase soon, and a new job, I'm feeling very overwhelmed with all this change, but I know that past periods of extreme change have also been times of extreme blessing.
When we first moved to Macomb 3 years ago with a baby on the way, a new house, and no jog prospects for me, we found very quickly that once the dust settled we saw God's hand in all the transition. So, this time around, I'm trying not to worry or be anxious about how the next 3 months will play out but just keep trusting that the house, baby, and job will all fall into place.

On a side note, Barry picked out (and he did pick them out, despite my skepticism) the most beautiful flowers for my first day at work. I love that even though I have insisted often that in general flowers bug my allergies & just seem like a waste of money, he knows I still like them every now & then. It's an even bigger deal when I know he is sweating our finances & pinching every penny. Nice to know he thinks I'm still worth spoiling!!! Love you Barry!!!

Let's go fly a kite!

We took Gavin out to fly a kite last monday, and although he was very excited at the idea, we didn't get it up very high in the air. There really wasn't enough wind, so we are looking forward to a day that is windy, so he can really enjoy it!
The pictures of him trying to make it fly are much more amusing than the ones of mommy running around dragging it.



Gavin after he gave up trying to make it fly...

Baby Coming June 1st!

We met with our Nurse Practitioner and discussed our options for a VBAC or scheduling another C-section, and the consensus we reached was the C-section would be the safest route to go. She put my odds at 25-30% of having a successful VBAC, so we all agreed it wasn't worth it (especially being they have shortened the amount of time mom & baby have to be separated, I can now hold the baby 20 min. after rather than the 2 hours I waited last time!) We then had the chance to get another sonogram where we saw that the baby is sitting breach, so that sort of sealed it for me (this baby has not rolled or moved like Gavin did, he/she has stayed put for over 3 months). The pictures we got our really funny cause it's feet & hands were up above it's head so he/she must be very flexible!! Also, looked like this baby has a skinny nose, so we may have dodged the Smith Family nose once again, but I guess we'll see.
The C-section is tentatively scheduled for June 1st which is right after Memorial Day weekend, but there is a small chance they would move it up to the Friday before Memorial Day depending on what the hospital's surgery schedule looks like around that time. That means I only have 3 dr. appts. left until we get to meet this little guy/gal. Just this last month it has actually felt real, because it took me this long to gain weight & really get a baby bump going. I gained almost 9 pounds this past month, which was a welcome change to the 1-2 I had gained every month previously. I think I'll still end up smaller than I was with Gav, but that is fine by me!! Baby is almost 3 lbs. right now.
Gavin is starting to catch on now, and talks to his baby. Whenever I lift up my shirt to show him the baby, he kisses it or talks to it (usually just gibberish, but with the tone of voice as if he is yelling at the baby because it is trouble.) He still talks about the sono. appt. from over a month ago where the dr. put that yucky stuff on my tummy & he was crying at the doctor. He doesn't like that dr. too much, haha.
I'm thinking now is a good time to start digging through the old baby clothes, sorting & re-washing everything. He will really enjoy that!!
Nothing new on the house selling front, so I'm getting used to the idea that we may still be here when the baby comes, although it's still 2.5 months away...