Devynn

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted anything on here. Guess I've been a little busy. :)

Today is my littlest baby monkey's 3rd birthday. I can't believe Devynn is 3 already. Where did the time go?

We were completely surprised when we discovered we were having baby #4. We were quite happy with our family of 5, and didn't plan on having anymore babies. Guess God had other plans in mind for us. We made the big announcement at Andrew's 4th birthday party. I think our families were just as surprised as we were! :) I was so happy that I didn't have any morning sickness (which had been terrible with the first three) and felt great. I even continued working out with my trainer at the gym.

Everything was going along fine until I had an ultrasound at 20 weeks. I was so scared when I received the call saying they detected something wrong with the baby's intestines and I was being sent to a specialist. Up until that point, I had taken it for granted that I would have a healthy pregnancy and baby, just like my first three. The specialist didn't know what the abnormality was and he didn't seem very concerned, but requested that I come in twice a week for fetal heart monitoring and ultrasounds. Having a 10, 4 and 2 year old at home, and going to my regular prenatal appointments was crazy enough...so twice a week appointments on top of that was exhausting. They continued to detect an abnormality with the intestines, but never seemed very concerned, which frustrated me greatly. Then at 35 weeks, the ultrasound appeared to show that the abnormality was completely gone! I was so relieved that when I left the office, I sat in my car and cried. The fear wasn't completely gone, though...I knew I wouldn't be completely fear free until I delivered the baby and saw for myself that nothing was wrong.

I continued to see the specialist twice a week. The ultrasounds continued to show nothing wrong with the intestines. At around 36 weeks, they told me the baby was already over 7 pounds. Yikes! I still had 4 more weeks to go!

Then on Sunday, January 28th, the day before my due date, we went to El Torito for brunch. While there I felt one pretty good contraction, but didn't think much of it. After we ate, we ventured over to Costco. As we were walking out with our cart full, I felt another contraction. I glanced at my watch to note the time, and by the time we had loaded the car with groceries and kids, my contractions were coming every 5 minutes. Uh oh! Since my last labor and delivery had happened incredibly quickly, we zipped home, unloaded just the perishable items, zoomed over to my Dad's to drop the kids off, and raced to the hospital. Thankfully my water hadn't broken and my labor didn't go quite as quickly, so we made it to the hospital with a little time to spare.

At 4:01 pm., less than 4 hours after I felt the first contraction at El Torito, Devynn Grace Nakatani Smith made her grand entrance. The neonatal nurses were there to give her a thorough checking, and when they handed her to me and told me she was perfectly healthy, I was ecstatic! Thank you God! I was a bit surprised at how small she looked, since I was expecting her to be around 8 pounds. Guess the specialist was wrong with the last weight estimate because Devynn was only 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19" long., my smallest baby. :)

Even though we never planned or expected to have 4 children, I am so thankful and blessed that we do. Heck, we never planned to have three, either! We thought we were done after Andrew...so I like to say that Rylee was our surprise and, since we were doing such a great job with the first three, God gave us a bonus- Devynn! :)

She is definitely our most trying child, but also brings us great joy! One example of that is her recent fascination with the letter "W". I'm not sure where she even learned it, but she recognizes and finds "w"s everywhere we go... on signs and buildings around town, in books, etc. Not long ago, I asked her how old she was.

"2," she said, holding up two fingers.
"How old are you going to be on your birthday?"
She held up her three fingers and said "This many."
"Yes, you will be three, " I told her.
She continued to hold up her three fingers and kept looking at them. Suddenly she said "No, I will be W!" She recognized that her three fingers formed a "w" when she held them up! So now she insists that she is "W" instead of three. It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever! :)

So HAPPY "W" BIRTHDAY my sweet little monkey! May all your wishes come true! :)

What did I do?!

Rylee, Devynn and I were sitting at the table earlier today when Devynn turned to Rylee and told her "I wish we had a new Mom. We need a new Mom."

Huh?! What did I do?!?!

I was quite surprised, considering the fact that Devynn is my shadow! She is permanently attached to me. I sometimes refer to her as my "hemorrhoid" because she is constantly clinging to me! She won't let anyone help her or do anything for her if I am anywhere in the house. She doesn't even want Ryan to close her bedroom door at night when we tuck her in bed!!

I offered to help her find her new Mommy, but she decided to stick with me. Guess whatever I did wasn't too bad after all! :)

My Bubba :)

Yesterday I found a note on the couch that Andrew had written. The outside said "Secret Note." Inside it read: "Anything times zero equals zero."


Shhhh! Don't let Andrew know that I told you and gave away his big secret. :)


He LOVES to learn new things and has become fascinated with learning multiplication, even though they don't start teaching it in school until 3rd grade! I just hope his love of learning never goes away. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge...what a terrific gift to have been given!! That's MY BOY!!!

Go Diamonds!!

Rylee started her second season of soccer. She is absolutely loving it, and has already informed us that she wants to play again next season! :) She is playing very well, and ALMOST had 2 goals last weekend! It's amazing to see such an improvement in all the girls in such a short time. We have a great coach and a sweet group of girls! So fun!! :) Go Diamonds!!

First Day of School

Sorry it's taken so long to post these! I'm only running a little more than a month behind! :)

Here are the pictures from the kids first day of school this year! Jessie started 8th grade (OMG!!), Andrew started 2nd and Rylee started kindergarten! Their first month has gone very well. They are all doing exceptionally well, as usual! :)

Sorry some of these are sideways again!!

Aug/Sep 2009 Pics

Here are a bunch of pictures from the past two months...Sorry some of them are sideways! :)

Another addition to the "Smith kids" dictionary...

"Electricilized"- means to be electrocuted.


Andrew: "If that bird touches the power lines, will it get "electricilized"?