Introducing Mitchell Jesse

In the hospital

Proud Big Sister Sophie!

Three Days Old

Mitchell Jesse was born on Monday, December 7, 2009 at 2:33am. He weighed 6 lbs. and was 19 1/4 in. long. Just a teeny little thing, but he came out screaming! My labor was really quick and relatively painless (thanks, epidural!). My water broke just after 8pm Sunday night and out he came 6 1/2 hours later after only 15 minutes of pushing. The little troublemaker decided to be difficult by having the cord wrapped around his neck, but it didn't seem to bother him at all, just me and Phillip and the doctors! But, everything worked out just fine.

Sophie is a very excited Big Sister. She was scared of him at first and didn't want to touch him because "He's just too little!" I was okay with that, it meant I didn't have to worry! She got over that and absolutely adores him. She calls him her baby and gets upset if you try to tell her any different. She's been a huge help and so loving to him.

My mom came over for a week and was a big help. Now that she's gone, we're trying to figure out how this is all going to work. I think we're doing a pretty good job, it just takes a lot of trial and error! We'll get there, though. Phillip and I are loving being parents to two delightfully different children. Sophie has always been high maintenance and so far, Mitchell has been the opposite. He's content to just hang out and watch the world and already sleeps for 4-5 hour stretches a night! I don't expect this to last for too long, but we're enjoying it while we can. It's so much fun!!

Our first big snow of the winter

This is the only picture I got because I wasn't feeling well. Sophie did get to play in it several times with Daddy, and she had her first Snow Days from school! We got somewhere around 2 feet and were stuck in the house for 2 days!

Happy Halloween!

We went to a friend's house for Halloween this year. It was fun going Trick-or-Treating in a group. Sophie had a blast racing to each door and screaming "Trick-or-Treat!" then "Thanks, Happy Halloween!" before running to the next house. She got quite a haul and was exhausted by the time we got home. Thankfully, it was a mild night and she could wear long johns under her dress with no coat, you never can be sure in Colorado!

Update

I don't have any new pictures or really anything new going on, but it's been so long since my last post, I figured I'd just ramble for a minute.

Sophie is LOVING school, she wishes it was every day instead of twice a week, but I couldn't handle her being gone any more! She has officially moved to her 'big girl' room in the basement. I will get pictures soon, I just really want to wait till we get her headboard painted and in there (hopefully this weekend). It is such a pretty room, but one that can grow with her. She loves sleeping in there and has had no problems at all (knock on wood). She even braves the semi-darkness to come up and get me in the morning (I have several nightlights, but it's still pretty dark).

We are in the process of choosing a color for baby Duck's room (for those of you who haven't heard, this is what Sophie calls him, she refuses to call him anything else and I've picked up the habit!). I'm looking for a nice steel-blue. I'd like for it to be done next weekend at the latest so I can really start getting ready. Less than 10 weeks to go! It seems like a long time, until you count the weekends (which is the only time Phillip has to do stuff), then it isn't long at all!!

I've been doing really good this pregnancy, my blood pressure is lower than it has been in years and so far no other major issues, thank goodness!

Phillip is busy at work (as usual). He's trying to get everything set up so he doesn't have to work such long hours after Duck comes, but it means long hours right now!

It will be a different Holiday Season for us this year. We'll be staying home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas with no visitors. It's how I want it seeing as I'll be about to pop for Thanksgiving and with a brand new baby at Christmas. We're hoping to bless him the first Sunday in January, so we will still get to see family, just not on the Holidays.

Well, Sophie is begging me to get off, so I'd better go start getting ready for the day! Love you all and I'll get some new pictures soon. . .

First Day of School!

After the disaster of ballet, I was a little nervous about how school would go. As you can tell by the pictures, I needn't have worried! She was so very excited to start school! She went right in hung up her bag, put her lunch box away and started playing! I had to ask for a hug and a kiss good-bye, and beg for a picture with her teacher (Miss Vania), then she went right back to playing and didn't give me a second thought for the rest of the morning!

She attends a Christian school right down the street from our house. It's 2 days a week for 4 1/2 hours a day! I find myself missing her an awful lot by about 11am, (she starts at 8am), but I know that won't last long once this little boy comes along!

Ballet

Sophie begged to take ballet lessons, so I researched some places and found one that sounded perfect. I got her signed up, bought everything and she was just so excited. . .

Until we got to the class. She lost her mind. Refused to leave my side. We tried it two more times and it just got worse. I cancelled the lessons, but at least I got these cute pictures first!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

If you look right between the legs, you can see that this is most definitely a BOY!!!!!

Someone at the doctor's office made a mistake and some blood work I had done came back scary, so they scheduled an ultrasound for today. Thankfully, everything looks right on target and once they discovered the mistake and redid the labs, everything is fine with the blood work. It's really exciting knowing at 15 weeks, instead of having to wait till 20!

Celebrating with Mommy and Daddy

We started the morning with presents, then went to breakfast, the Children's Museum, lunch, napped, played t-ball (thanks Granna and Pagray!) and after dinner we went and saw the movie "UP". It was a really fun day that all three of us truly enjoyed!

Sophie's 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Sophie's birthday with some friends here at home. We had a lot of fun running crazy through the house, then having lunch and cupcakes!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to herself, the first time she has sung it correctly from beginning to end, of course!
Blowing out her candles on her Princess cupcakes.

Clapping enthusiastically for herself.

Angeline, enjoying the cupcakes.

Ben, worried that he was getting messy.

Nate, completely entranced by the frosting.

Charlotte, not sure if she should ask for more.

Sophie having the time of her life.

Ava, just being her cute little self.

These are just a handful of the friends that came! We all had a nice time, even when it got insane with so many kids. (11!)

Utah Trip

We spent the first week in June visiting my family for our first Steve and Susie Smith Family Reunion. We had a wonderful time! Here are some pictures. . .

Our Luau

We celebrated Sophie's birthday with the cousins. It's nice that she was born in June and we have been in Utah to celebrate all 3 of her birthdays!

Melissa, Layla, and Abby

Monica and Layla

Abby and Miles

We went to the park to meet up with Monica and her 3 kids and Melissa and her daughter. It was a lot of fun, but as you can see, I didn't get any pictures of Kyle and Sophie, they wouldn't stand still long enough!

My parents bought a Grandparents membership to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, so we all went down there on our last day in town. It is an awesome museum and I look forward to going a lot more!