Blitsy Crafts: Christmas in July Giveaway

I would love to have these in my craft room....especially since my daughter is getting into all sorts of crafts along with me...we could have great times crafting together.....memories in the making.

New House Day4 (Aug 9th)

Living room looking west

Carolyn and Jerry helped me paint in the living room. We got most all a first coat. Ceiling to floor with the exception of one wall....it needed some holes filled in. They were rather large, so we skipped that wall for now. It was late....using spot lights I stole off Kent from the shed. Jesse was a gem and watched Kenda at old house. After they left I scrubbed down the dining room walls, then kitchen walls and then onto the top half of the cupboards....my dang muscles are still in the party mood....naughty things! I got home and into bed about 1 or 1:30. Set the alarm for 5!

New House Day 3 (Aug 8th)

I painted the bedroom ceiling to floor. Fun. My muscles are having a party!

New House Day 2 (Aug 7th)

Went to Storm Lake for paint...must pick in 5 minutes cause the Kent train in running fast....man that guy needs to take a minute! Picked paint for bedroom (ours) and living room, dining room and hall way. Off to the furniture store for a new table for the kitchen. Tall one, with bench seats- Kinda nifty! Then I started on the tape in the bedroom.

New House Day 1

Purchase/ Closing....wonder if a person could sign their name ONE more time just for fun! Holy cow, but it is now ours.........so went to walk around in it. Took Kenda out and about the place....hhmmm...need to mow, and spray weeds....and she got to see a cow up close and personal...that was cute.  Kent decided then and there....paint color in the house too close to yellow (he hates yellow) so rooms need painted....oh joy!

Baptism bound

My luck has finally turned around this week. It started out with the worst luck ever....even a flat tire thrown in there! But tonight something as simple as a pair of shoes has changed my luck...first off I found the infant ring that Lisa V was looking for to give to Kenda for baptism...perfect! Score! And then I went off to find me some shoes to wear...perfect comfy shoes...and not too spendy...when BOGO 1/2 off.....I got the perfect score in overtime, last second swish at the buzzer.... eyelet lace covered shoes for Kenda to match her dress! Can you believe it! I was so pumped. Now, if suddenly a clean my house fairy could ever so quietly land while i am snoozin' and finish up the task for me....which I should be doing right now rather than this, but everyone else is sleeping. Shhh.  John arrives tomorrow. I can hardly wait. He cut his hair. Dang- another big score. Dad and Kathy arrive too, then mom, Tom and Linda to follow on Saturday. Then PJ (Princess Jesse should arrive saturday too!  In the finer words of my son .....WHOOT!

Just One of THOSE Days

Ya ever just had one of those days....ya know it will be bad and long, and there is not a dang thing you can do about it as it hits you like a bug on a windshield....I hate when those days come along. I hate being the bug! Today was that for me. I knew work was going to be intense. I knew I was going to be tired, since hubby, not baby, pulled a late one and caused me to lose sleep. Finally get the baby to sleep thru a night and the other baby has to pull a stupid stunt. UG! It was cool, damp and windy...just the perfect setting for a long ass draggin day.....and everything was going just as  fate would have it...intense, tired and frustrated...when doing the best I could with what I had for today....I made a big mental note to myself....NOTE TO SELF:  when you already wore jeans that are too tight, and Mother Nature brings Aunt Flo by for a routine visit....DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT eat a whole bag of popcorn for your lunch....it just ain't gonna fly.....ladies, I am sharing my mental note with those who might need it...please be my guest and use it...if I can help but one frustrated soul....I feel complete!   ladies...live on!

You've Got the Cutest Little Baby Face

Isn't this just the most adorable face you have ever seen? She should be in the movies, commercials and magazines!

Easter 2010

This little gal made Easter this year all the more fun. No, she did not run around a yard and find easter eggs, or jump with joy at the sight of her Easter Basket....but she did hunt up some eggs with the help of older cousin Tyler and she will find enjoyment in the new board book hiding in her Easter Basket....and she made this little inexpensive dress look like a million bucks. She was so cute for church in it...she invoked many smiles in the pews and she looked around with her dancing blue eyes. I had no more than told Jesselyn that she was usually quiet in church and just seemed to enjoy looking around at the people...when she decided to sing with the choir and speak her baby jabbers very loud, competing with Rev. Saylor. It was so sweet though. It turned out to be a nice enough Sunday that she could be outside to hunt a couple of eggs at Doris and Rusty's annual Egg Hunt and then off to Ed and Patty's to enjoy the heck out of a couple 4 Wheeler Rides with Uncle Aaron. Oh brother did she enjoy that! She is most definately a Smith, no doubt! Her and Morgan had a heck of a good time at Jerry & Caroly's on Saturday...finding their little "chick" Easter eggs and sporting new matching outfits. ( I think Jesselyn might have been jealous) I think Kenda was watching Morgan crawl that whole day...I want her to crawl....I think! It was fun to watch them interact...they are just not sure what to do with one another! Ya know, the fingers in the eyes, nose and ears....of the other girl of course. They will love to play together....when they figure out how!

The Little and Big of Sisterhood

Jesselyn posed for a picture with her lil' sissy before she left. She thinks that Kenda looks like she did when she was a baby. Maybe some, but Jesselyn's eyes were way bigger when she was little. It would just have to be the face shape. I will scan in a photo of Jesselyn at about 6 months and I guess we can all decide. They love each other, it is so awsome to see them interact together.

Daddy's Little Farmer Girl

Little Miss Pretty in Pink even looks great in her over alls from Grandpa Ed. Looks like she is ready for the field! Yes that is just a little bow in her hair. We can get it to stay there long enuf for a quick picture. She just really does not have much hair, so it is tuff to get one to stay in there. I love the look on her face in this photo. She looks like this about 85% of the time. The other time she is making silly faces while she is trying to talk, or sleeping. She really does not fuss much each day on a regular basis. She does fuss some, just not a bunch thank goodness. I would say that the most of her fussin' might take place at night when she loses that pacifier and can not seem to understand that it is the object sticking her right in the neck! Takes a quick second to to replace it where it should be, but that quick second it after waking, taking myself to another room and finding it in the dim light! Ha.

Little Miss Pretty in Pink

Hello, it is Sunday evening, and seems that it was short weekend as usual. Were does the time go when you are at home with family? It crawled just the other day at work, I thought that Friday @ 5 would never ever arrive.  I think that I love this photo. My darling little baby just looks so precious in pink. We went to Sioux City yesterday on a quest for craft/scrapbook materials and a cute dress for Easter and some pictures coming up at the first of March. Jesselyn was here so we went to. At the end of our quest we discovered the bargain of the day! This beautiful sweater set for Kenda. A Steal of a Deal at $9 after starting out close to $40! She looks wonderful in it. So, we made sure we wore it to church this moring. She was  good girl in church as usual. She sat most of the time with Pandora Phipps. She sang a couple times and made some coos, but never anything loud and frightful. She loves to look around and smile at all the people.  So, here is little Miss Pretty in Pink.

Just a quick up date from our house tonight. I added real quick a picture of Kenda's new diggs. I bought a crib last weekend, and I do believe I got a great deal for this second hand crib. It is very nice and then of course I needed some fun stuff for the inside...and it ended up Pooh bear of course. She likes it  a lot as you can see. She covers almost every square inch of it each night!

Now, for the not so fun news. Sunday night we took Kenda to the ER. She was coughing and sleeping more than usual and was crying yet lathargic at the same time. It was very scary. So, they did do the test on her for RSV since it is going around a lot here and she did test positive. I think that we caught it very early. They gave us a nebulizer to use at home four times a day. Other than that it has to run it's own course. She is not drinking as well as she should. They want her to take in fluids. So, if she wont drink much tomorrow like today, she will have to go back. Not sure what they will do. There are several other babies and toddlers in the hospital right now for RSV here in Cherokee. I stayed home today, and daddy will be staying here with her the rest of the week. She has good moments and bad ones. The bad ones really stink. I feel so helpless for her. I feel so sad about it. Cross your fingers and please give a little prayer for her if you will. I want to be able to heal her up and keep her here at home!

This is just a hoot. It is in early January, so not so long ago- she really has not done this since.

Up Too Late Update!

I have been playing around as you can see. I am gettin somewhat better, but hey it is 1:45 am, what can I say! I wanted to post at least this video from the beginning of the month. TShe is having her first taste of rice baby cereal. She did quite well really. She has her cereal each night around 8pm before bed, so she can sleep all night. Or suppose to any how. She has her moments. She is a night owl. She started today at Vera's having cereal too. She must not be a morning eater yet, Vera said she would not take it in the morning, it had to be later after lunch time. Ha, I could not get her to take it in the morning over the weekend either. She is so cute. She just turned 5 months old on January 24th, can you believe it. I certainly am having a hard time. She went to doc just the other day with a rash- turns out she has Eczema. We went to get some spendy cream and it healed up great and her dry skin patches are healing too. She is sleeping better also, I think she was really itchy before since she wiggled so much. She has slowed down on the wiggles too, so finally some peace at night. I make sure she has the cream twice a day all over and then hit the patches of dry at diaper changes. We also discovered why mommy's back hurts alot...I am luggin' around a 16 pound little chunk! I could hardly believe it myself. She certainly grows in spurts. She has the chubbiest legs, her little tiny feet sorta look funny at the end of the chunky legs. She has been sitting on her own just a little now. She can balance for a couple of minutes if she does not look around too much, that throws her off balance. She is still messin' around trying to wiggle into a crawl. She pulls her legs up under her more and more each day. She has mastered the roll over Great now, and can go from tummy to back and back to tummy or just roll over twice. She is gettin that down very well. It is so wonderful to just watch her. I have another video or two to post, but I need to get to bed, so I will try that tomorrow night or so. I have tons of pics also, from the holidays- but I will just post the cutest ones! Promise!

Testing the Blog

I am testing out this whole new concept, to see if I can get my new videos on here. Looks like I can, but can I really?? WE will see wont we. I want to post more...been trying to get more done, but heck with working and all...and now I am starting to go to the wellness center to walk before I come home...long days and really really short nights. Ok, sooooo as you might tell, it is almost midnight now. I was messing with the videos, so I want to see if this will work.
Holy crud, I think it worked! Ya'll let me know if you see it , can play it and how well. I feel soooo techy!!! LOL ( really it must be the lack of sleep!)

Well, Here we are, mid October on a cold and snowing morning. YUK, I guess we just got to take what we get. Kenda is an unofficial 12# now...and from the looks of it, it has almost all gone to her CHEEKS!! I think they are getting bigger. What do ya'll think? As you can see, she is now smiling. She has been for a couple weeks. Big gummy grins. She loves to grin in the mornings after her morning milk the most.

She is doing better with the rash on her face. Doc VandeLune said it was nothing to worry about and we are applying some really great cream. It is better than it was.

Don't ya just love this shirt???!! If you can't read it very well, it says I love my Mummy...ha. Pandora found it for the shower. It is just so cute. She has a couple more so she is ready for the Halloween season. No costume just yet, but we will.

She is holding her head up more and more, even though she did a good job of it when she was born. She still likes sleeping on her side the most, but will manage to sleep well on her back. She will take a bottle of breast milk from others, and even daddy if we are not home. She is sharp, she knows when we are not here and when we are. So, I hope that she will be a good girl for Vera her sitter. She was a good girl for grandma Carolyn on Friday. I had my appt at the doctors office and she stayed with Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Jerry for that time. She drank her bottle. It was ok to leave her there, it did not bother me so much as I thought, but it was family. That makes a big difference. I already started crying again last night because she goes to the sitter for the first time tomorrow afternoon. We are going to visit Vera this afternoon and meet her and take her diapers and wipes. I hate the thought of tomorrow and taking her to the sitter. It is gonna kill me. I wish her daddy had more sympathy for me....even if he wont change things, a little compassion would sure help. He has no clue, not one about how this is tearing me up inside.

I wish the poor little thing had more of a schedule or routine but she does not. She is sleeping for longer periods of time at night. And she did hit the hay a little earlier the past two nights. I spend a lot of time making sure she is not sleeping all day to be up all night. I have to be sure the sitter understands that too. And, I get to train daddy into taking his turn now that momma is heading back to work. I have to say this is much much much tougher at 43 than it was at 23. I get so tired I could just vomit. Hopefully as time goes on and she sleeps longer at night we will all be better. I think if I could get her to take a nice big warm bottle at night she would do way better, but like I said she does not like that at home, so it will be a big struggle at the point where we make that happen.

Well, I best go and wake up sleeping beauty. We need to get ready to go to town. Post office and to see Vera after that. Suppose to be warm up to a balmy 40 degrees this afternoon. Whoot! I think we are waiting for that to happen. I don't have to go out before then, so we won't. Tomorrow is a different story altogether. I will make it up again later for adding pictures from the baby shower we had in Cherokee. It was super and we have some great pictures.

Good Morning...I guess. Kenda gave me a fright this morning...she did not get up on her regular 2 hour schedule in the night. I jumped from the bed when Kent's alarm went off and I realized it was morning. Wow. She was fine, sleeping like a little angel. Her normal routine as been down at 12 or 1 am, and then up about every 2 hours or so and doing that until noon. So, momma is tired, cuz no, I dont sleep when baby does, who has time for that! My laundry is behind, my house is a wreck. my mail is a wreck. Seems when she is up, she does not like just being still in her bouncy seat or lying on the floor...she wants some company. Who does not love holding and comforting a baby???Duh.....that is why we have her isn't it.

Gotta run, someone just woke up and is screaming her head off!! Later!

We had our first big event on the 12th- Matt and Liz's
Wedding. Kenda got a new dress to wear from Grandma Carolyn
and she looked fabulous. She posed with Bachy and Lisa and after
Sleeping thru the whole wedding and most of the reception, she

woke up for the party time. So,

Patty got to see her with her eyes open. Big sis

Jesse was here, so we posed real quick for a snap shot.

Once she was awake, she stayed that way for a long time, and did not seem to mind the very loud music. I did
so we told daddy it was time to go...little missy stayed up until 1:30 that night.....mom was one dead head the next day. Sunday was spent lying on
the couch!

Well, can you believe that tomorrow will mark Kenda's 4th week!!!! Oh how time flies. You have to forgive me for not posting so far....it is not my fault. My lovely little daughter has built in radar for two things....me eating....and me on the computer. I have started two or three different times...and just then.....wwwaaaaaaa from down stairs and I just cancel out and go tend to her. She does not understand that I am trying to share her pics...only that she is hungry. Geezzzz.

So, here it is after 11 pm and I am cutting my sleeping time way down, but I just wanted to share some pics......she sleeps about 2 hrs at a time thus far....and sometimes that does not start until midnight...depends on how the day went.

In the pictures above, she is with Dr Harrison, on her first check up. She had gained 2 pounds and had grew 1/2 an inch...! Wow, I never would have seen that coming. She slept through the entire appt, even being undressed, weighed and poked. Ha...it is the truck ride to town that does it. Knocks her out for a long time. Many ppl still think she never opens her eyes. The other pic is daddy giving her the first bottle. She did well, as did daddy. She did not so well with another bottle a few days later....but we are working on it. The other pics are just some shots....I love her little feet. Daddy says they are monkey feet, cuz if you touch them, she grips her little itty bitty toes on to you- and of course like babies are, she is very flexible....so she can "fold" them in tight to her body....she likes them rubbed, just like her daddy likes his feet rubbed.....

Well, that is going to be it for now....at this moment I better just stay up...cuz momma's little milk mug should be thinking she is starving in about 30 minutes, give or take a few. So, I will try again tomorrow for updates and more pics...she had her first visit to the clay county fair on friday, which was also the first stroller use.....that went well also. She has the cadillac of strollers from Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Carolyn....it was great. Thank you Jerry and Carolyn....the stroller was perfect.

Taa Daa- Kenda Renae Smith

Hello- we made it home. I got pics. This will be short, I am swelling in the legs and ankles really bad from the boat load of Pitocin....my ankles resemble my knees now and the knees- well, hips I guess. Everyone wants to know what Daddy thinks....I think the picture says it all. He loves her to death. He even has changed TWO diapers, and he was up with her this morning at 5, and held her til he had to leave at 6. The picture with the polk a dot blanket is from going home day. She was 7 pounds 15 oz and 21 inches long!

I will spare the long drawn out version of my week for you- long long story made short: I went for doc appt Friday and I never made it home until last night! Her fluid in the sac was almost half what it should be, pumping IV's into me did not make it better, so they induced slowly on Saturday all day, nothing, then induced really hard on Sunday- started to think we would have baby....but suddenly I quit....so since she was low on fluid and I was swelling in cervix- at 4 am on Sunday night doc said I have to have C Section on Monday at 6:30 am, which was only in a few hours. C Section went fine....Kenda was stuck in the canal.....that is what stopped my labor....so she had to be tugged and pushed out. Just my luck! She is a trooper- she is fine. All is well. She has a mommy & me visit from some nurse today- so stupid the day after we get home.

I will post more pics later...she is now awake again. Her first night home was not a magical scene at all like I imagined. She was up every hour all night....and me too. So, gotta run , stuff to do and feet to put up.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Love to all...Rhonda