Smithtacular Stories

Welcome Fiona Anne

2011-12-04T23:17:00.000-06:00

On October 21, 2011 at 11:48am, Fiona Anne Smith was born. Weighing just 7lbs 4oz and being 18 1/2" long she was a small baby but a very large blessing. After nine long months of waiting and wondering what she would be like, we finally got to meet her and fall in love all over again.

Big sister Angelica was excited to meet the new baby, her little sister. She had been referring to the baby as "baby" and "T-T" for several months, but after meeting her, Angelica settled on the nickname of "Nona" or "Baby Nona" The name has stuck and we have been calling her that ever since. Here is our first family photo, taken by Fiona's Godmother and my friend, Jen.

After spending less than 48 hours in the hospital, we came home and this is what we found...Angelica and Auntie Lisa had decorated the driveway to welcome Fiona as she arrived home for the first time.

Angelica greeting Fiona in the car

Angelica holding Fiona for the very first time

At less than a week old, we had Fiona's newborn photos taken professionally. Here are some of them. As you can see, she is very alert. Our photo session lasted almost 2 hours and Fiona was awake for about an hour and forty-five minutes!

We are happy to have Fiona in our lives and in our family. She is now 6 weeks old and growing well. At her 1 month checkup she was already up to 22" and just over 8lbs. She is very different from our first baby. She is a light sleeper and doesn't sleep much during the day, but sleeps pretty good at night. She is a bit more fussy too. It's been a challenge in taking care of an almost 2 year old and a newborn at the same time, but we are doing ok. The most rewarding thing is to see Angelica and Fiona together. Angelica has a way of calming Fiona down and Fiona has a way of bringing out the best in Angelica. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. God has certainly blessed us with two wonderful little girls and we feel very lucky.

Then and now

2011-10-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

Our trip to Bengston's in 2010.....Just over 2 feet tall.

sitting on the train with mommy - 2010

with the pumpkins 2010

With the pumpkins - 2011 - quite a bit taller, a lot more hair and a LOT more personality!

measuring in just 3 inches short of 3 feet this year!

On the train with daddy - 2011

....

.....And just for fun, here are some other pictures from Octobers past

October 2009 - at the Bears vs Lions game in Chicago (pregnant with Angelica)

October 2008 - at the Georgia Aquarium - on our vacation to GA & FL - went to see the Bears vs. Falcons game in Atlanta, did lots of sightseeing and ended up in a beach house in Pensacola with our friends! Those were the days! haha

October 2007 - bought my first motorcycle!

October 2006 - at a White Sox game - married for 5 months

October 2005 - heading to a wedding - before we were married! We got engaged in June 2005.

October 2004 - at my cousin's wedding - we had been dating for just under a year at this point!

Fall 2011

2011-10-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

The past few months have been both fun and tiring. I feel a little guilty that Angelica's days as an only child are numbered and I have been trying to do as many fun things with her as possible. Here are a few pictures that I thought were cute. I noticed that most of the pictures I take seem to be vertical rather than horizontal. I don't know why, but I may need to switch it up more. I have several frames that require horizontal pictures and I don't have many options!

smelling a flower at grandma and grandpa's house

at Lemon Lake park playing on the playground with daddy

a straight hair day

at Bengstons Pumpkin Farm

riding a pony for the 1st time!

Me and my pumpkin!

I love this picture!

with her teddy

with her best friend

Posing for the camera with her latte' - haha

Angelica's Summer

2011-08-22T16:36:00.000-05:00

Angelica has had one busy summer. Here are a few of the highlights...

beating her first pinata at her cousin Jeff's 4th birthday party.

going down the big slide 4 times (at $3.00/ride) at the Beecher carnival with daddy.

We converted her crib to a toddler bed on the 4th of July. She did good with it.

I thought she would get up and run wild around her room, but at the end of naptime, this is how we found her.

She was seriously THIS excited about the firetrucks blowing their horns in the Beecher 4th of July parade.

Angelica taking her BFF Rusty for a ride around the kitchen in her wheeled toy crate.

Wearing daddy's shoes.

She LOVES technology. My cousin Kara's fiance Jeff has a 6 year old daughter named Kendall. They came to stay with us mid-July when I threw Kara's bridal shower. Kendall was happy to share her laptop with Angelica and Angelica was thrilled!

She did good with the toddler bed and thanks to some very generous friends, we got a full size mattress. We converted her crib futher to a full size bed so that we could move the crib mattress to Fiona's room. I was more nervous about this conversion. She did good though. She fell off the foot of the bed the first night, but since then she has been doing great. She has been in the big bed for over a month now and seems to enjoy it.

her room - rearranged and with new bedding to make for a big girl room

sleeping in the big bed

At Brookfield Zoo sharing lunches with her friend ("step-cousin") Olivia.

eating chips at Mi Ranchito in Lowell with her new friend Lucas.

TUB TIME!

Our old childhood neighbors came to visit us at the end of July. Mike, Kim, me, Nikki, Lisa & Angelica.

enjoying a pontoon boat ride on Lake Holiday at my grandma Lannon's cousins family reunion

Her first french braid...I cannot even tell you how long I have been waiting to do this!!!

Last day of summer gymnastics

Her absolute favorite thing to do at gymnastics, swing from the bar. She is a strong girl!

getting her medal and hand stamp for completing summer gymnastics

All smiles, getting ready to go to Jack's 1st Birthday party

Me and my girl - finally I am not behind the camera!

Playing with baby Lucas. I think she will be a good big sister.

Feeding the deer at Deer Forest in Coloma, MI. She wanted to feed them one kernel of corn at a time. The deer were not into that.

At Silver Beach in St. Joe, MI

Awaiting Fiona

2011-08-22T16:04:00.001-05:00

The greatest anticipation in our lives right now is awaiting the arrival of our 2nd baby. From the moment we found out she was a girl, we decided to name her Fiona. We have washed and hung all the baby clothes (that's the nice thing about having an older sister - a whole wardrobe, ready to go!), we have purchased and assembled furniture, we have talked to Angelica endlessly about her new little sister. We have watched my belly grow and we have spent late nights talking and wondering what she will be like, what she will look like, and we have tried to wrap our heads around the idea that there will soon be someone else in our house that we will love just as much as Angelica. It is so hard to understand, but I know when she gets here it will all make perfect sense. In the meantime, I daydream about her, about what we will do, about what it will be like to see Fiona and Angelica holding hands, dancing in circles playing ring around the rosey, and making each other laugh. I am lucky in that I have a sister too. I know what Angelica is in for. It won't always be easy, and the teen years might be especially hard, but once they are grown, they will know that they always have each other no matter what. A sister is like a built in best friend. I am so excited for Angelica to have a little sister. Being the older sister myself, I feel like I can relate to Angelica as a big sister. Knowing how much my little sister means to me I feel like I can look at Fiona and know that she holds this special little surprise of being the best gift that Angelica will probably ever receive, even if it takes her decades to figure it out. I am amazed on a daily basis of how wonderful my husband is with Angelica and I know he will be the same with Fiona. He is the perfect dad to have two little girls. He is so patient when it comes to babies - moreso than me. He loves the snuggling and loving and he doesn't think twice about getting up in the middle of the night, even if I am already up. I can see that he truly cherishes every moment he gets with his daughter, even the moments that I don't particularly cherish myself! While it's been tough for me to cut back on work and make soooooo much less money, I feel like we have been given a real sense of what life is all about and I don't think we have ever been as happy as we are right now.

Little sister's room, full of big sister's outgrown clothes.

25 weeks pregnant

Daddy building the crib

Grandma painting the nursery

The almost finished nursery

Just waiting to rock her to sleep while sitting in this chair

30 weeks pregnant

Stephanie & Steve's Wedding

2011-08-22T15:36:00.000-05:00

Stephanie is one of my best friends. I met her in 1995 at our first day of summer band as freshmen at Marian. We had both come from public schools and didn't know many people. We became fast friends. Although I am taller than her, Stephanie is someone I have always looked up to. :) She always worked hard, held her ground, spoke her mind, and is one of the kindest most generous people you will ever meet. She did WAY better than me in french class too. We were roommates in college too. Although I was over 100 miles away, the day I called to tell Stephanie that my fiance had dumped me just 3 weeks before the big wedding we had been planning, she was by my side within a couple of hours, giving me a hug. She is that kind of friend. Stephanie deserves the best and that is what she found in Steve. We were very happy to celebrate their wedding with them on July 2nd.

Stephanie and her dad walking down the aisle.

Stephanie and Steve - Officially Dr. & Mrs. Conti!

Me & Steph at the reception

Den turns 34

2011-08-22T15:26:00.000-05:00

As usual, I am behind on blogging. Here is my attempt to catch up! June 30, was Den's 34th birthday. I can't believe how much time flies. He was 25 when we first met. Although he had to work on his birthday this year, we did our best to celebrate at home.

I got up early to make a german apple pancake for breakfast

And off to work he went

When he came home, we had one serious dinner - steak, crab legs, sweet potato, asparagus, lobster bisque, and wine (for him) YUM!

Angelica seriously LOVED the lobster bisque. After eating all of hers, she finished ours too.

And to top it all off, we had the coffee lovers cake from cold stone! double YUM!

She must take after me. Dessert makes her seriously happy :)

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy I know! :)

Testing testing 1 2 3

2011-07-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to post on blogger and it's not working. I have a big post with pictures and I have been trying to post it for a week, but when I hit the "publish post" button, nothing happens. Hmmmmm. I wonder why.

Apparently I needed to upgrade to the new posting option. I did that and now my posts are showing up.

Video Killed the Radio Star

2011-07-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

I tried posting this a week ago, but Blogger wasn't working. So, I am giving it another try. Here we go!

Me, Angelica and Rusty in the pool!

Our "no fear" little girl running and jumping into the pool!

playing dress-up at Bellaboos

Den and I in St. Joe Michigan on our 5 year anniversary

she loves spicy food - enjoying some chips and salsa while we take a break from swimming

our new landscaping - we love the new paver brick sidewalk and patio

me - 20 weeks pregnant with Fiona

playing with her new kitchen - one of my famous garage sale finds!

her first carnival ride - Indiana Beach - she loved it and went on about 10 more rides, all by herself! Such a big girl at 18 months!

Fiona, relaxing with her legs crossed and arms behind her head at our 17 week ultrasound.

Video killed the radio star, just like facebook killed the blog. I have REALLY been neglecting my blog because it is sooooo much easier and faster to post pictures on facebook. With the click of a button, I can upload 50 pictures in 2 minutes and share them with hundreds of people. Being a busy mom, always on the go, I rarely have time to sit and write at my blog.

So let's see....here's what is new.

Angelica is growing fast and learning tons of new things. She is so much better at communicating and can always manage to let us know what she wants either with the actual words or actions. I haven't actually kept track of how many words she knows but I would estimate it to be somewhere around 100 for now. Of course she doesn't speak them perfectly clearly, but for the most part I can understand her. She does a lot of repeating what we say. She is mostly out of her high chair and sitting at the big table with us. She uses her utensils to feed herself (most of the time) and she just loves playing pretend. She often puts her pajamas on her teddy bear and wraps him in a blanket and then sits in the rocking chair with him while kissing him and patting his back. She shares everything she has with Rusty and she always remembers to pour Rusty a glass of "tea" and even holds it to his lips for him when she is playing with her toy kitchen set. Rusty is a very patient dog - let me tell you! And best of all, Rusty is preparing Angelica for what it will be like to be a big sister.

We found out that our new baby is a girl. We had this confirmed at both our 17 week and 21 week ultrasound. I felt comfortable enough to buy a letter "F" charm for my charm bracelet (as we plan to name her Fiona) and to order her crib, dresser, and bedding (even with her name embroidered on a pillowcase!) We are getting excited for baby number 2 to arrive.

It's been interesting adjusting to not really working. I love my job, and I put a lot of "blood sweat and tears" into starting my own business 3 1/2 years ago, branding myself, and making a name for myself in this business. But I don't love my job nearly as much as I love my kids. So, I work during naptime - when I feel like it. I do enough to get by. I know that my job will still be there one day when my kids are in school and I can work more when I want to. I have struggled with the frustration of not being as good as my job as I know I could be, but I am starting to accept it. As the saying goes "God always provides." Although it can be difficult living on essentialy half of the income we are accustomed to, we still manage to pay our bills, keep food on the table and a roof over our head. We are so grateful for the things we do have that we don't miss the things we gave up all that much. Where there is a will, there is a way! I am glad I laid the foundation for my business so that when I do want to work more, I will be able to do it, but that I will still have the flexibility to go with my girls on field trips and be able to volunteer at their schools and other activities as they grow up. On top of all this, I am grateful for my loving and hard working husband who puts in extra hours at work when we want to save up for something special. He firmly believes that mom's should stay home with babies and raise kids. Maybe some people would consider that sexist, but I appreciate it and it works for us. He encourages me when I want to work and he also encourages me when I want to play all day with Angelica or take a nap when the pregnancy is taking it's toll on me. He is the best friend I need and I am lucky to have him.

I thought Dennis might be bummed out about not having a boy. Who knows maybe we will have more kids someday. But for now, he is so excited to have another girl, and that makes me excited too. From the beginning he said he just knew it was going to be a girl, and he was right!

It is hard for me to imagine that this year our Christmas card will have 2 little girls on it. Life is moving fast. This pregnancy has been fairly easy so far and I am more than halfway done. Come October, we will welcome little Fiona into our home.

Angelica has kept us busy with all she is doing and learning. She goes to gymnastics every week and absolutely loves the trampolines! She also likes going to the parks, going down slides, playing outside on her bikes and toys, and visitng with people. She especially loves her cousin Nate. She is pretty well adjusted and approaches most people with a big smile. While she loves us to pieces, she never cries when we leave her with a babysitter. I know someday I will have to give her a good talk about staying away from strangers because I think she would hug everyone if she could. She thoroughly enjoys playing "pretend" and dressing up. She likes to wear our shoes and walk around the house. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. She sleeps like a champ - 12 hours every night and a 2-3 hour nap every day. She does have her temper tantrums from time to time, and she can wear me down with whining when I don't want to give her something she wants (usually a bottle of water). But all in all I am grateful that Angelica is who she is. We will see how her sister is! I am hoping she is as easy as Angelica has been.

In other news, Dennis and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in May. We went to St. Joe, MI for a long weekend - just the two of us. We went to the beach, the movies, out to eat, had a couples massage, and just relaxed. We played board games and watched our wedding video. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't exactly the trip to BoraBora we had always said we would go on for our 5th anniversary, but we were still content. Maybe we will save BoraBora for the 25th anniversary! :)

We have been busy making our house a home. We finally feel very content here in Beecher and hope to stay. Sure we dream about living on the beach or on a lake, but in all reality we do like it here. We put in some new landscaping this summer that really makes it feel more like home and not just a temporary place to stay. Maybe someday...some day far far away....we will be able to get a weekend house on a lake or something, but for now we are continuing to invest in our home here. We have all that we need and even more than that. We have a lot of room and this is a good place to watch our family grow and our kids grow up.

You know what's not Smithtacular?

2011-05-02T14:03:00.002-05:00

Getting your dryer fixed.

Our dryer went out last Saturday. Dennis had just washed a load of clothes and put them in the dryer only to find out it would run for just 10-15 seconds and then shut off. He and his dad spent hours taking the entire thing apart. While they couldn't get any confirmation, it seemed that the control panel had gone bad and needed to be replaced.

So, I called A&E factory services - the same company Maytag referred us to the last time our dryer went out 2-3 years ago. They sent someone out this morning explaining to me that it would be $129 for the service call and labor no matter what the problem was or how much time it took to fix plus the cost of whatever parts were needed. The $129 was charged the moment the serviceman walked in the door and that was that. Even if I decided not to fix it because the part was too costly, etc. it would still be $129.

So today, the serviceman came at 12:02pm (as I had the 8a-12p service window). He determined it was indeed the control panel and told me it would be $170+ for a new control panel. However, he said that once he put the control panel in there might indeed be ANOTHER part that needs replacing, but there was no way for him to know that without a working control panel.

I knew I was stuck with the $129 for the visit, but wasn't sure I wanted to pay over $300. My thoughts were:
1) Can I order this part for cheaper myself and try to put it in?
2) If they put in the control panel and it STILL doesn't work, can I return the control panel, just pay the $129 service call and just buy a new dryer?
3) Can I have a day to think about it?

OK so here is how I got totally screwed. #1, It would take me some time to determine where I could find and purchase this part and see if I could get it cheaper. The serviceman told me that I had to decide right then and there if I wanted him to order the part because he doesn't carry those parts and needs special authorization to order it. Even if I wanted just 1 hour to see if I could come up with a better solution or think about it, I would be charged ANOTHER $129 service call on top of this service call and then I'd still be stuck paying the part.

He then told me that if he put the control panel in and that didn't solve the problem I would not be able to return it. At that point I'd have already dumped over $300 into fixing the dryer, so I might as well just keep spending money to fix it so I am not throwing the $300 away - even though it would only cost $500 to replace the stupid dryer. In all reality I am not going to buy another $500 dryer that will probably cost me $500 in repairs over the next 5 years anyway. I would want to buy a better more expensive dryer and that just isn't in the budget right now.

I know that it is what it is, but I need to vent. When I called A&E services I asked how much a new control panel would cost because that is what I thought the problem was. The girl on the phone said she didn't have access to that information. If I had known ahead of time that I was looking at a $300+ repair, I might have said forget it. If they had also told me that I'd need to make the decision on the spot or I'd be charged for a 2nd repair visit, I would have definitely said forget it.

On top of this, I asked the dryer repairman how long dryers like this usually last. He said he didn't know. Seriously???? Your a freakin dryer repairman...you don't know? I mean come on! Dryers of the past lasted 25 years. Can you expect 25 years from today's dryers or is it more like 5 years? I mean, I was just looking for a ballpark number. I've had this dryer 5 years already. If the expected lifespan is only 6-8 years I'd probably just not repair this one and save up for a new one.

All in all, I am just irritated.

Sigh of relief

2011-05-01T16:08:00.002-05:00

Last week I was getting worried that the terrible two's were starting at our house. Angelica wasn't sleeping well at night, was not taking her usual naps and was just as crabby as can be. When a fever broke on Easter night, I realized her problem was that she hadn't been feeling well. Three Dr's appointments, a bunch of lab tests, a shot and some antibiotics later, my little girl is finally feeling better and back to her normal self. She is taking 1 short nap in the morning, a long one in the afternoon and sleeping all night through again. Whew! I know it won't be like this forever, but she was REALLY giving me a run for my money last week. I was starting to have panic attacks about baby #2 arriving in less than 6 months! For now though, Angelica is better. We are back to our normal schedule and all is well. Hooray for modern medicine.

What a difference a year makes

2011-04-25T14:29:00.003-05:00

It is so amazing to me to witness the rate at which a baby grows. To begin with, it is a complete miracle that a baby can start out as 2 cells inside a woman's body and grow into a perfect little baby in just 9 months. Then, after they are born, it gets even more amazing. You start with this small person that can't do anything for themselves and within a year they are walking, moving around, feeding themselves, communicating, etc. etc. etc. Here is a family picture from Easter 2010 - Angelica was just 4 months old. And then a picture of Easter 2011 - She is 16 months old. I am continuously amazed by the gift of life that God gives each of us.

2010

2011

Photo Shoot with Mama

2011-04-25T14:12:00.002-05:00

Like any parent, I love taking pictures of my little girl. Angelica is now 16 months old and more lively and beautiful than ever. Whenever I am feeling kind of down, I just have to look at her and I feel better. She is always so happy and smiling. Here are a few of my favorite shots from this past month.

Just eating dinner in her high chair.

She got this dress for her birthday and really hasn't had a chance to wear it much, so I put her in at and did a little photo shoot. She had so much fun wearing her dress that day, that I let her wear dresses the rest of the week. It also inspired me to take out my DSLR camera and take some nice pictures instead of conveniently using the crappy old point and shoot.

Mmmm Pear...it's what's for breakfast.

The look on her face in this picture is priceless. Another reason I love the DSLR...I can capture moments like this. This is Angelica all dressed up before we headed to the Crete F-Men Easter Egg Hunt on the day before Easter.

And here's my little darling all dressed up before church on Easter. She looks so grown up in this picture. I cannot believe it!

SPRING FEVER!!!

2011-03-16T11:30:00.002-05:00

I have to admit that I have a serious case of spring fever! Today is a bright beautiful sunny day! We are getting close to hitting 60 degrees. I have Angelica down for a nap now because after lunch I am packing her up in her wagon and hitting the road! We are going to take Rusty for a walk and break in our wagon outside. (I think it will make her a bit sad that she will no longer be able to ride the wagon IN the house, but I think she will really like it outside!)

As I stare out the window I see birds flying, ducks swimming on the pond, and lots and lots of brown grass and dead plants. However, I know that in a few more weeks the grass will start to turn green again and the plants will bloom! I can hardly wait! It has been a Looooooooong winter of being cooped up inside.

I am feeling so motivated right now, that I am thinking of taking out all of our bright and pretty Easter decorations! I know it's 4 more days until the official start of spring, but I don't think there is anything wrong with getting a jumpstart on celebrating! :)

Happy Spring Everyone!!!!

Lent

2011-03-08T09:50:00.002-06:00

I was reading through our church bulletin this weekend and there is a quote in there regarding Lent that I would like to share. "Sometimes giving up chocolate or movies is easier than letting go of a grudge or tearing down a wall that is separating family or friends. The second will be more satisfying."

I wish more people would take this advice. There is a Bible verse (I cannot remember it exactly) but it says something to the tune of: God will treat you, as you have treated the least of your enemies. In other words if you act hateful or unforgiving towards someone, you will be treated the same way. If you judge someone or count their shortcomings instead of just loving them, you will be treated that way too.

I have struggled with this in the past. Why should I love someone who has hurt me? Why should I forgive someone who has done something considered to be "unforgivable?" Do I really want to be friendly with someone if I feel like everyone else is judging me for being friendly towards that person? What if it hurts my "reputation" or makes me "look bad?" I have certainly said some negative things about other people because I felt them at the time and because it was the "popular" opinion at the time. I have done and said negative things out of frustration, anger and impatience and definitely out of not being able to wrap my head around why someone is the way that they are.

But the thing that has helped me to really find peace in the past 6 months or so is fully understanding that above everything else....above being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend....I am a Christian. As a Christian, it is not my place to judge anyone. I must admit that occassionaly a judgemental thought crosses my mind or comes out of my mouth. But I am more consience of that now and I try to remind myself when I say or think such things, "Every human life is a gift from God. If you judge someone, you have no time to love them."

It is true that there are people who could be considered "evil" in this world - drug abuses, gang bangers, people who hurt innocent children or abuse responsibility to the Nth degree. That just brings to mind though that the devil is real too and that people who are not concentrating on doing the right thing can be persuaded to act un-christianlike.

The past several weeks we have been reminded at church to let go of the things of this earth. Our purpose in life is to be a good Christian. God will take care of us if we honor Him and act in His likeness. God reminds us that above all the other commandments "Love each other as I have loved you." I think that Lent is a good time to reflect on this thought, to spend some time each day in prayer and asking God for help to be a better person. If there are people in your life that you look towards with disdain, think about them. Concentrate on them. Realize that God loves them just as much as He loves you. Realize that although they may have made unpopular choices, hurt their reputation, or done something that has caused a break in a personal relationship, it is not your job to judge them. It is your job to love them as God has loved you. Lent is a time to break down barriers, take down walls, clear your conscience. Listen to the little angel on your shoulder instead of the little devil. Do the right thing even if you feel like it is IMPOSSIBLE or difficult or heartwrenching. Concentrate on the good. Be thankful that you were made in God's likeness and that you have been given free will. See this as an opportunity to be more like God and show love towards others. A little love can really go a long way.

So this Lent, I plan to spend some time in prayer. I hope that I will become a better person. Giving up desserts or cheese may be "difficult" for me to do because it fills a craving I have, but in the end, those things do not make me a better person. I may lose a couple of pounds, but my soul will still be in the same shape it is in now. Although I strive to lose weight and be healthy, I know that I will NEVER be healthy if my soul is not healthy. I could weigh 125lbs or 325lbs. Neither matters if at my core I am not the best person that I can be with a clear conscience and a healthy soul.

Because I believe that my life is a gift from God and because I know that God made me, just as He made everyone else, in His likeness, it is time for me to continue and concentrate on my journey of being a better Christian. I hope that once Easter arrives, I will feel ready to celebrate.

Slowly but surely

2011-01-16T21:45:00.002-06:00

I have been working on losing weight for quite a while now. Even before I was pregnant with Angelica, I had gained a lot of weight and I was pretty unhappy with myself. After she was born, I lost my baby weight immediately, but I knew I still had a long way to go. I have never had luck with diets and exervising would come in fads but never last. I longed for the day of my bikini body and not being afraid to put on my old Hooters uniform. Oh yes, I still have one stored away because one day...some day....I will be able to put it back on...just to say that I did it. This time though I decided to take baby steps. The weight didn't come on overnight and I know it won't go away overnight either.

I joined a running program and May and ran through November. I really started to enjoy it. I took a break during the colder months, but plan to return to it again this spring. I also started a weight loss program where I keep careful track of what I eat and how I cook. Not only have I lost weight, but my hubby has lost a few pounds too. It is pretty awesome to go into the closet where I stored away all of my cute jeans and take them back out and actually wear them. I am hoping to make much more progress over the coming years, but in losing just 1lb/week, I know I will be able to keep the weight off for good and permanently change my lifestyle. I am happier than I have been in a while, more confident and no longer hating being in front of a camera. I still have a long long way to go, but this has been a good start for me. I've lost 22lbs so far and the best part is that I am keeping it off. Hopefully by this time next year that number will be much more significant!

Here is me in January 2010 - One of my favorite pictures!

And here I am in January 2011. So far, so good!

Gymboree

2011-01-16T21:35:00.002-06:00

I signed Angelica up for Gymboree a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was kind of a waste of money, but after going week after week I can see how much she enjoys it and how much she is learning. Some things are different each week, but some are the same. The kids always push this "air log" across the room together each week. The first week Angelica just stood there bewildered, but now each week it is one of her favorite things to do. The kids also have a time allotted for playing with small toys and afterwards they are suppose to clean up after themselves and put toys away. This week, Angelica actually carried her toy over to the box and put it away all by herself! I am proud of my little munchkin and as we move forward I can see that Gymboree, although a short class and a long drive, is definitely worth the money.

Here is a picture of Angelica and her buddy Lucy at Gymboree pushing the air log. Lucy was in visiting from NC so we brought her and her parents as guests to our class. It was lots of fun!

1 year old!

2010-12-23T05:58:00.003-06:00

Our little girl is a whole year old. It is hard to believe an entire year has passed since she was born. It has been amazing for us to watch her grow from a teeny tiny baby into a bouncing toddler all over the course of just 1 year.

At Angelica's 1 year checkup, we learned that she is 20lbs 9oz and 29 3/4 inches tall. She is a petite little girl full of energy! We feel so lucky that she is ours.

Keep your Dog Safe on Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T11:30:00.000-06:00

Copied from this site: http://www.dogster.com/dog-food/thanksgiving-safety-tips-for-dog-owners

There's enough for people to worry about at Thanksgiving. "Oh no, not Aunt Edna's greasy gravy." "My brother's bragging is going to drive me to drink." "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." But we can't just think of ourselves over this food-focused holiday: We have to look after our best friends, too.

Dogs enjoy the revelry at least as much as humans, with bits of this and that dropping on the floor, and delectable smells wafting around the house. But Thanksgiving mustn't be a free-for-all. Just because we try to pack away all we can doesn't mean our dogs should. And there are certain items your dog really needs to avoid.

"Veterinarians experience an increased number of office calls due to digestive problems after the holidays because humans invite their animals to celebrate with high fat meals (ham, gravy, turkey skin), chocolates, bones, etc.," warns Casandria Smith, L.A. Animal Services Chief Veterinarian, in a PetFinder article.

Here are some tips that will help your dog get through Thanksgiving safely and with a smile on her snout.

Stuff Your Turkey, Not Your Dog
It's easy to want to give your dog a big fat bowl of turkey, mashed potatoes, and whatever else you think she might enjoy. But that's a bad idea. Overindulging in fatty foods can lead to an upset stomach, diarrhea, or a life-threatening condition called pancreatitis. A few strips of turkey on a dog's normal food is fine, but don't overdo it, no matter how she may plead with her "I'm STARVING" eyes. Keep in mind that turkey skin can wreak havoc with a dog's digestive system, so make sure she gets skinless, boneless turkey.

Stuff Your Dog's Kong, Not Your Dog
Here's a great way to keep your dog busy and happy during your meal. Put a bit of your dog's regular food in a Kong, and then stuff a little boneless turkey, sweet potatoes, gravy - just a tad, mind you - in the Kong. It's not much food, but it will keep him occupied for a long time.

Get Her Pooped
A dog who has been on a big walk or fetched the ball a zillion times will be much more likely to run out of energy during the feast than a dog who's been inside all day. A tired dog is a good dog on Thanksgiving. Make sure your pup gets plenty of exercise before the festivities begin.

Make no Bones About It
Cooked turkey bones can be a danger to your dog. They're sharp, and potentially very dangerous. You may not know a dog has a turkey bone lodged in your dog's digestive system for days. Don't leave plates with bones lying around. Ditto for the turkey carcass. Hungry dogs have been known to run off with the remains of a carved turkey. It can happen in the blink of an eye. You notice the turkey is gone. You notice the dog is gone. With luck, you find their hiding place before anything happens. Put plates in an unreachable area if you can't dispose of everything properly right away.

Know this Sage Wisdom
Sage and some other herbs have essential oils that can cause tummy upset and central nervous system depression if a dog eats them in large quantities. Most dogs aren't going to nosh on a fistful of sage, but keep herbs out of reach just in case.

Don't Cry Over Onions
Onions are toxic to dogs. They can lead to a dangerous form of anemia that may not be detected for days. Make sure your dog stays away from the pearly whites, and yellows, and reds.

Don't Give Her the Raw Deal
Unless your dog is already on a raw diet, we wouldn't recommend plopping a piece of raw turkey in her bowl (the change from her regular food might cause an upset stomach). But more importantly, keep your pup away from the uncooked dough for bread or rolls. What helps make dough rise? Heat. If a dog eats raw dough, what's it like for the dough in the dog's stomach? Warm. The dough rises in the dog's stomach, and if the dog has eaten enough, the swollen dough can cause pain, vomiting, and bloating -- conditions that can send you to the doggy ER on Thanksgiving.

Avoid Yappy Hour
Some dogs seem to enjoy alcoholic drinks. Walk away from your drink that's set on the coffee table, and Lulu may get lit. Dogs and booze are a bad mix. Your dog may not do anything embarrassing she'll regret in the morning, but she could become disoriented and quite ill. Too much alcohol can even lead to a coma, and death. Watch where you - and others - put their drinks, especially if you have a curious pup.

By following a few basic tips, your dog will enjoy a fun, safe Thanksgiving. Now if only you could avoid Aunt Edna's gravy...

Grateful

2010-11-16T15:34:00.002-06:00

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreicate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final goodbye.

I recently attended a meeting at our church called "Focus on the Positive" and the topic we discussed was "Thank God." I ran across the above quote and it made me stop to think about the age old saying that "everything happens for a reason." I try to be a positive person as much as I can. When I get stopped at a red light when I had hoped to make it through, I pause and think that I am stuck at this red light because this is where God wants me to be right now. Maybe He is keeping me from harm by stopping me here. But, I am human, and I can get wrapped up in negativity from time to time. I try not to, but sometimes when I hear bad news or see something sad happen, I let it get to me and wonder why something bad would happen.

Just in the past 2 weeks there has been sad news in our area. A young woman, 33, was killed while driving when a truck driver accidentally ran a red light on 394. Another young woman, 25, was killed while being playful and joking with her friends at a fancy Halloween party downtown. A bank was robbed just a few towns away from us. We still have no suspect in custody from a murder that happened 1 mile from my house. The loss of life is something I have not personally dealt with often in my life.

There are other losses as well. One of my relatives had a brain tumor removed last week and has lost her ability to hear permanently. I have prayed for her over and over and wondered how it must have felt going into surgery, talking with her husband of several decades and knowing she will never again hear his voice. I can't imagine how that must feel. I have read about other "tragedies" where a family recently lost their entire home and everything in it in a fire. When I think about these things, my heart and prayers go out to these people. But, it also reminds me how precious life is and that we need to be grateful for every moment we have.

There are so many things that are taken for granted. I can hear. I can see. I am able to walk and run. I can drive myself anywhere I want to go. I have a job and while I seem to forever complain about paying taxes, I need to remember to be grateful that I have the ability to pay those taxes. I have a family - a very large family and while I occassionally feel worn out from running around and visiting and helping whenever I can, I need to remember to be grateful that we are surrounded by so much love and history in each other.

For years I complained about not being able to find a church closer to home to attend. We have gone back to our home parrish in Calumet City and while it is a 30 minute drive, it is also comforting to know that we are welcome there and that people enjoy spending time with us there.

I am learning more and more just how blessed I am. The picture at the top of this post is what I am most grateful for - my immediate family. I have a husband who loves and adores me and a daughter who is the best thing that has ever happened to us. He provides for us and takes care of us and loves us more than anyone else can. She smiles unconditionally and is in awe of the world around her. And as I watch her play and explore, I realize that I am also in awe of the world as God created it and I feel very lucky that I am here today to be a part of it. God is good and He has give us so much in ourselves, in our surroundings and in each other. Thank You God.

Happy Halloween From the Smiths

2010-11-01T08:07:00.001-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

If the video doesn't appear above, here is the link: http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/ooCkqfcQCJGHwQ13

Perfection

2010-09-29T22:16:00.003-05:00

A friend recommended this blog read tonight and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I obviously know that I am not perfect. I have been criticized for being brutally honest in the past and I am sure I will continue to be that way even though that makes me less than perfect. I also tend to be long-winded, talk to much, wear my heart on my sleeve and over worry about "worst case scenarios" - just ask my husband. I can be nosy and I can be gossipy even thought I don't want to be. I feel like this year more than ever I have come to the realization that it is wonderful to not be perfect. Each challenge we come across in life - whether it is a challenge in our marriage, in friendships, in parenting, etc. gives us a chance to learn and grow. Not being "perfect" gives us an excuse for making mistakes. I think the most important thing for me is to realize when I have made a mistake and try to remember to do better next time. With that thought in mind, I have started living my life more in the here and now and enjoying each day just one day at a time. Some days I accomplish everything I set out to do. Some days I accomplish nothing. Some days I am proud of the decisions I have made and some days I feel full of regret over a stupid decision.

Here is the link for the article I am referring to. It was written by a single dad.

http://www.danoah.com/2010/09/disease-called-perfection.html

Summer 2010

2010-09-12T17:09:00.017-05:00

I realize that I have not blogged in quite a while. Honestly, it is just so much faster and easier to share pictures on facebook, I have been posting most of my pictures there. I do want to keep up with my blog though for our family members that are not on facebook and live far away and don't get to see us that often. So here goes my attempt at catching you up on everything that has happened this Summer.

Summer 2010 was wonderful! We did so many fun things and have been able to experience summer in a new way with having a baby. In some ways it seems like the time has FLOWN by. In other ways, we did so many things that I feel like we definitely took advantage of each and every day.

The last time I blogged, Angelica had just turned 6 months old...so that is where I will start today. Here is Angelica on the morning she turned 6 months. She was standing up in her crib!

We spent a lot of time with our nephew Nathan this summer too. Here is a picture of Nathan and Angelica from June.

Our friends Tony and Wendy came in to town from North Carolina around Father's Day. I have been friends with Tony since high school. A group of us Marian Catholic Alumni friends got together with our kids at Tony's parents house to visit and catch up. Here is a picture of all of our kids. From left to right, Tony & Wendy's daughter Lucy, Jen & Nathan's daughter Gretchen, Angelica, Matt & Tracy's daughter Audrey, Rich & Cindy's son Will, Sarah & Jason's daughter Cheyenne.

And here are all of us, with our kids.

While Tony and Wendy were still in town, we had a little pool party with the babies as well. Afterwards the kids enjoyed some playtime. Here Lucy, Angelica and Cheyenne are having some "girl talk."

Towards the end of June, my Uncle Tom came in to town from Scottsdale, AZ. We hadn't seen him in almost 4 years. I brought Angelica over to meet him. Here is Uncle Tom, Grandma B and Angelica.

June 30th we celebrated Dennis's 33rd birthday - his first birthday as a dad! Angelica and I surprised him with balloons, presnts and breakfast on his birthday.

We enjoyed fireworks on both the 3rd and 4th of July in Manteno and Beecher. Here we are with our nephew Nate at the Manteno fireworks show.

Our 4th of July tradition is that we watch the Beecher fireworks with our friends Nic and Rachele.

Angelica has spent a lot of time with her grandparents this summer, which has given me some time to "go back to work" and make some money. Here Angelica is enjoying a nice bath in her Nana's kitchen sink!

Sadly, in July we lost our beloved little dog BamBam. I had rescued BamBam almost 6 years ago. He had several medical problems and we took care of him as best as we could. I always did my best to make sure BamBam knew he was loved and that he was happy. It was so hard to see him so sick during his last days, but I felt at peace knowing we had made his life significantly better from what it had been before he was with us. I still miss BamBam and think about him every day. Now Rusty is an "only" dog and while it has been hard on him at times, I think it has also been good for us to be able to give him enough attention and care as he is battling cancer. Here is a picture of BamBam before he got sick. He somehow had picked up a small styrofoam ball on his nose and wasn't able to get it off!

After BamBam died, we planted this flowering pear tree in memory of him to honor his life and always remind us of the good times we had with him.

In July, my Aunt Sue came up from Kentucky for a quick visit and to attend my cousin Amanda's bridal shower. Here is a picture of Grandma B with her 2 girls, Linda and Sue.

My cousin Amanda moved to Phoenix a few years ago. However, the rest of us are still here in IL/IN so she decided to have her wedding here. This is a picture of all of us girl cousins at Amanda's bridal shower which was held at my cousins Jim & Julie's house. From left to right is Lisa, me, Amanda, Traci, Julie and Anna. (Notice Amanda has a cast on her left foot. Her horse stepped on her foot and broke it!)

In July, we were also invited to our friends Doug & Amy's son Ahren's 4th birthday party. I think this is the first kid's birthday party Angelica has been to. There were a lot of kids there and we had a great time. Here is a picture of Ahren opening his gifts with mom and dad and brother Liam.

Not long after Angelica started crawling (right around 6 months), she started climbing. She made it up a couple of stairs before I noticed and she was quite happy about it!

We were lucky to have a very HOT summer which allowed us a lot of time to swim. Angelica loves the pool! Here she is right after a swimming playdate with cousins Jeff & Becca...so tired she fell asleep in her jumparoo!

This is the second year we attended "Groovin at Goodenow" at the Goodenow Grove Forest Preserve. This year our friend's Nic and Rachele came with us. It was a Groovy good time!

We also went to my Grandma Lannon's "Cousins Family Reunion." This was in Sandwich, IL at Martha & Stanley's house. We even got to go for a little boat ride on their Pontoon on Holiday Lake. This was Angelica's first boat ride. It was nice to be at the reunion because Angelica was able to meet a lot of family members from my mom's side that we don't see very often.

Here is a group picture of me, Dennis & Angelica with Grandma & Grandpa Lannon.

Martha had this swing on her deck for her great granddaughter and she let Angelica give it a try. This was Angelica's first time on a swing and she absolutely loved it, as you can see!

Here is our Brewer-Seeholzer family picture taken with my dad and his wife's side of the family. Dad and Diana are sitting in front. Then from left to right it is Matt, Liz, Mark, Emily, Doug, Me, Lisa, Angelica and Dennis. It is not often that we are ALL together. Emily lives in Denver. Liz lives further north. Lisa lives further south and Mark has a busy school/work schedule. So, this was a special thing for us to all be together at one time!

As I mentioned earlier, Rusty is suffering from cancer. The good news is that he is doing well working with our holistic vet, Dr. Becker. One thing that makes cancer worse is a weakened immune system and unfortunately losing BamBam caused a lot of stress for Rusty. He seems to be doing better now though. Here he is snuggling with BamBam's old pillow and blanket.

At the end of July we took a vacation to Canada! My stepmom's sister and brother-in-law and neices all live in Ontario Canada. Diana's sister and brother in law (Bryan and Jan) have a great summer house on Crowe Lake in Marmora Ontario. We drove up to spend a long weekend with them and had the most fantastic time. On the way there, we stopped in Detroit at Uncle Dan and Aunt Diane's house. They graciously offered us a wonderful meal and a much needed break from our long drive. Here is Angelica and Uncle Dan.

We continued on our journey into Canada, stopping first in London Ontario to stay with my step-cousin Andrea for the night. The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Crowe Lake. We arrived for our long weekend just in time for a fantastic supper made by my step-cousins Ben & Colleen. Here is a picture of the bunkhouse we got to stay in with Dad and Diana. Can you believe that Uncle Bryan built this bunkhouse himself??!?!! I was completely amazed by what a wonderful job he did. It was the perfect summer break for us and we enjoyed every minute of our time here.

Just a short walk across the street was the dock we used to get into the Lake. We spent each day in the water swimming, relaxing, boating, tubing, fishing and floating around. It was so so so beautiful!

A picture at sunset.

And another sunset shot at the lake.

Angelica had the most wonderful time. I was worried how she might do with traveling. It was a 12+ hour car ride and then she spent nights in the same room as us sleeping in her pack and play. She was off of her regular schedule. However she adjusted well and stayed in good spirits for the whole trip. Here she is with daddy on the dock.

Dennis is much more brave than I. Here he is launching Angelica in to the air. She actually loved it, although I was a little scared.

More fun on the lake. Here I am tubing with Peyton and Katie. Peyton and Katie are the daughter's of my stepcousins Ben and Colleen. They are such wonderful little girls. This is the first chance I really had to spend any time with them and we had a great time together. They are so smart and polite and such energetic happy young ladies. They had a lot of fun playing with Angelica as well.

Each night we took turns creating a dinner for everyone. This is the dinner from the night that me and Andrea cooked. We made Caribbean shrimp with Roasted Lemon Dill veggies and a garlic squash dish as well. Everyone loved it!

As a special treat, dad took out his accordian and serenaded us before bed. He has been playing the accordian since the age of 4. This year for their anniversary, my step-mom bought him new bellows. He got the accordian all fixed up and tried out some new tunes as well as some of our favorites.

Diana loves fishing. A couple years ago we bought her a pink fishing poll with a sparkling light up reel. Here they are with their catch of the day.

Marmor is a small town, but known for this old mine. It is not in use anymore, but is now filled up with water...since we were there we though, what the heck...we might as well see it!

When we came home from Canada, we celebrated our nephew Nate's 11th birthday!

Here is a picture I actually took with my phone of a beautiful sunny day right outside my back door. It sure is pretty out here.

Here is Angelica with her stand up and play music table from Aunt Bonnie. Once she learned to pull herself up to stand, this quickly became her favorite toy.

I love these big flower headbands and was very happy to find a big flower hat! Angelica was totally goofing around but it looks like she is posing for this picture. This is one of my favorite!

Here, Angelica and her Grandpa Brewer are going for a crawl.

At the beginning of August, Aunt Diane, Uncle Dan and Justin came in for a visit. We met up with Uncle Lee, Aunt Dorothy and Elise and went to Brookfield Zoo.

I really like this picture I took in the dragonfly swamp area at the zoo.

Here are the kids at the zoo. Nathan, Angelica, Justin and Elise.

Starting at the end of May, I joined a running group at Fleet Feet Sports in Schererville. I started out with the walk/run group as someone who had never run before and actually hated running. My goal was to run a 5K in 12 weeks. Here I am with my group. (I am way off to the left #1224) This is the morning of our 5K race.

I completed the 5K in 43 minutes and 45 seconds. My goal had been to complete it in less than 45 minutes, which I did. I am currently signed up in a new running class training for a 4 mile run in November. My goal for that race is to complete it and to improve my time.

Dennis and Angelica came to root me on at my first race. I truly hope this is the first of many races for me. We'll see.

After finishing my 5K, I headed out to my cousin Amanda's Bachelorette Party!!!! The party was at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL. We had a fantastic dinner, went to a comedy club and then out for drinks. Here are some group shots of us girls at the comedy club.

August was the time for meeting new babies! My friend Kristin and her husband Brandon came in from Alabama for a visit with their new son Preston Allen. Here he is 2 months old. Little Preston was so adorable. We are hoping to make a trip to AL to visit him again once he is a little bit older.

August was also Angelica's first White Sox game! The Sox ended up losing, but it was still a lot of fun. We went with Dad, Diana, Mark and Lisa. Angelica was really into the game and cheering with the crowd!

The three of us, cheering on the White Sox!

Angelica's hair has grown long enough now that she can wear a bow in her hair! I am VERY happy about this! I think she looks so cute with her little bows!

On August 18th, our friends Jen and Nathan welcomed their son (My Godson) Jackson David to the world. Jack was a health 10lbs 10ozs and 22 1/2 inches long! Here he is with me and Angelica at just one week old. He is such a cutie pie. I am so excited to watch him grow up!

In August we also took a day to go to Great America. It was just me and Dennis and my sister and her husband Doug. Angelica stayed home with Nana & Grandpa. Unfortunately I got sick to my stomach from some of the roller coasters so I decided to take it easy the rest of the day. I really did enjoy this high climbing activity though.

On August 15th, my stepsister Sonya and her husband Rick welcomed Olivia June to the world. Olivia was 8lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. Here we are visiting with them. Olivia is about 2 weeks old in this picture. She is such a sweet little girl and makes so many cute little sounds. I hope she and Angelica will have fun growing up to be cousins together.

Here is a picture of Angelica all wrapped up after bath time. She is so darn cute! I love those eyes and eyelashes!

In June my friend Tiffany and her husband Dave welcomed their baby girl Stella Monroe. We finally made it out for a visit here when Stella was about 2 months old. We had a hard time holding the girls and trying to take a picture, but this is what we got! Stella is such a cutie and so stylish! Her momma always has her looking so adorable! Tiffany and I are hoping to set up more playdates for the girls in the future.

I think Angelica looks adorable in this little blue dress. Dennis thinks it looks more like a Halloween costume. Either way, we had lots of fun this day and even got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.

Here is Angelica in her new outfit from Auntie Lizzie in Ohio. I even painted her toenails to match! Here she is getting ready to spend the day at Grandma Brewer's house.

Angelica is starting to walk while pushing around her little hippo toy now.

I bought this outfit a few years ago, hoping someday I would have a baby girl. It makes me so happy to see her wearing it now.

There is a park directly across the street from our house. After having such a good time on the swings at the family reunion I thought we would try these swings at the park. She had a great time on them as well.

My cousin Amanda got married on September 11th. Since we were all dressed up anyway, we decided to take a family picture in my mom's backyard with her beautiful flowers. I am really happy with how good these pictures turned out!

Here we are at Amanda and Matt's wedding - the cousins! Kara, Traci, Lisa and Julie

The beautiful Bride and Groom! Mr. & Mrs. Petkus! YAY!

So, I think I have covered everything now from June - September! We sure have been busy but it has been fun. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share our lives with amd keep us busy. I truly cherish each and every one of the relationships I have and I hope each person in my life knows how much I appreciate them. We are so lucky and so grateful for these blessings.

It is hard to believe Angelica is going to be 9 months old next week. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of my blogging a little bit more and keep you all updated with how things are going here. I am sure going to miss summer as it is my favorite time of year, but I am also looking forward to fall and taking Angelica to the pumpkin patch and going trick or treating. I am ready to wear warm sweaters and drink hot apple cider and tea. I will remember to cherish every moment because these moments keep coming and going and as wonderful as each moment is, each moment is somehow even more wonderful than the last. Life is good. After all of the ups and downs I have experienced in my life I think I can finally say that I am truly truly very happy and I am so grateful for this happiness. :)

Westbrook Consulting Services

2010-07-22T09:41:00.002-05:00

Since Angelica has been born I have taken a LOT of time off of work. I didn't do much with work during her first 6 months. I am now finally getting back into the swing of things and I am starting to get busy again. It appears that many people are not only using LinkedIn but also now using Facebook to promote their businesses and to get to know their clients better.

I decided to create a facebook page for my business. A business cannot have a facebook profile, rather the business can have what they call a page. So, I have created a professional profile on facebook and have used that to link to a Westbrook Consulting page. You can view my Westbrook Profile on facebook by visiting: www.facebook.com/JulieSmithRecruiter
You do need to be logged in to facebook to actually view my profile.

I need 25 fans before I can set up a custom URL for the Westbrook Page. It is currently defaulted to www.facebook.com/pages/Beecher-IL/Westbrook-Consulting-Services/137270676303376?ref=sgm

Similarly I have a profile set up on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/juliebrewersmith

I also have my company blog at www.westbrookconsultingservices.blogspot.com which needs to be updated.

My company website was updated last night wt www.westbrookconsultingservices.com

I am hopeful that these 5 locations on the web will help me to continue to build my business. It is hard to believe I have been in business on my own for over 2 1/2 years now. I am proud to say that I am one of the few in my field that has made it through this recession. Hard work and diligence do pay off. I pride myself on doing the right thing and earning a solid reputation as a resourceful and ethical recruiter. I have a lot of respect for my competitors who are also still in business.

I feel lucky to say that I truly enjoy my work and am happy that I can contribute financially to our family through my business earnings. There are always pros and cons. For example, I don't really LOVE paying double the social security tax for being self-employed and paperwork can stack up when it comes to dealing with taxes, accounting and managing my daily activities. I am proud that I have been able to figure it all out though and to make a name for myself.

Since I am only 29, I have many years ahead of me. I do believe that I am the youngest recruiter in the moving and storage industry and one of the only females. I hope to keep taking steps in the right direction to continuously promote my business so that I can enjoy a successful career as a recruiter.

If you have any suggestions for any of my sites/links etc. to improve my online-presence, please let me know! I would truly appreciate it.

Thanks!
Julie

6 months old!

2010-06-29T12:57:00.008-05:00

It is hard to believe that our little girl is SIX months old already! I remember when I was growing up I would always hear "old people" say how fast time flies. Now, here I am thinking to myself that time is REALLY flying and I am wondering if that means I am "old" too! haha After waiting for so long to have a child, we are amazed by how quickly Angelica has grown from a tiny newborn to an active little baby. Each day she is doing more and developing more and more of her own personality. Sometimes I feel like she takes after me. She knows what she wants and she finds a way to get what she wants. She also LOVES peas and HATES turkey, just like me! Other times I think she is like Dennis. I watch the things she does and think of how she comes up with creative ways to get what she wants. She smiles so big when she is happy and she really lets you know when she is upset. She is also pretty easy to please, like Dennis.

I didn't do a post from when she hit 5 months, so let me catch you up on the last 2 months of what she has been up to! As you saw in my earlier post, we celebrated our first Mother's Day together and had a big brunch with all of Angelica's grandmas and her Godmother. Later in the month, Angelica had her first "real" food - squash. She seemed to like it OK. Each week she tried something new. She has enjoyed green beans (although she HATED them the first time she had them) and sweet potatos. She also has enjoyed peaches, pears, prunes and bananas. She does not like carrots or applesauce too much but she will eat them. She also started to have more fun in the bathtub and enjoyed sticking her toes in her mouth. She continued rolling back and forth from her tummy to her back but usually preferred being on her tummy. She started trying to scoot around the house as well.

During Angelica's 6th month she continued trying new fruits and vegetables. She has continued to sleep a good 10-12 hours each night as well. Angelica has been lucky enough to spend some time with some other babies and kids during this past month and she has loved every minute of it. We had a playdate with her cousins Jeff (3) and Becca (1) and they had a LOT of fun together. We also played with Gretchen (2), Cheyenne (2), Will (1), Audrey (1), and Lucy (5 months). We even had a baby pool party! Angelica had 2 new friends born this month too! Stella Monroe Kruse and Preston Allen Meents were born! During Angelica's 6th month we experienced our first tornado warning and got to hang out in the basement for a while. We also got to see the Blackhaws win the Stanley Cup! We brought Angelica in the pool for the very first time and just like her mommy, she loved it! She enjoys sitting in her floats and having us hold her on her tummy while she kicks and paddles.

Angelica's 6 month checkup showed that she is weighing 17lbs 5oz. They say she is in the 50th percentile for weight, meaning she is average. She was 27 inches tall. They say she is in the 97th percentile for height meaning she is quite tall for her age. She got 4 shots at her checkup this month. They didn't go as well as the others have in the past and seemed to cause her some pain in her legs. All in all though she did OK. The biggest news of the month though is that Angelica is CRAWLING! She is mobile and loving every minute of it. We might be in trouble here. She was scooting around for a while and could make her way across the room, but it took her some time. Now she can get to what she wants in a matter of seconds. It is time for us to do a little babyproofing and we will be starting with some real baby gates and outlet covers. Angelica has already knocked over our large metal doggy gate. It didn't hurt her but it did scare her when it came crashing down. She also took all of the books off the bottom of my bookshelf. I am hoping she will soon learn what the word NO means!

Besides crawling, she is starting to pull herself up to a standing position. We have lowered her crib mattress and taken the coffee table out of the "playroom" area. She enjoys spending time in her walker which we let her do at least once a day so she can still get around without scuffing up her knees too bad. Angelica is loving all of her toys, especially the musical ones. She is also finally sitting up on her own without falling over. It seems like she has done some things backwards, but I feel like crawling was a big priority for her because it seems her main goal in life is to get as close to the dogs as she can. She absolutely LOVES them.

Angelica is still the smiley-est baby I know and many people have told me the same thing. She still has her meltdowns from time to time, but for the most part she is always happy. She smiles first thing when she wakes up and as she goes down to sleep. She smiles when we look at her and she smiles when people talk to her. She smiles when she sees the dogs or when she eats food that she likes. She even smiled at the nurse who gave her her shots! I hope that the smiling continues. It is almost theraputic for us. Dennis or I could be having a terrible day, but we take one look over at Angelica and she flashes us the biggest smile and it's like she is telling us how great she thinks we are and it just melts our hearts and puts things into perspective. We feel so lucky to have her and so happy she is ours. She truly is a blessing.

Here are some pictures I took of Angelica for her 6 month photo shoot. The first few we took behind our backyard. The rest we took at the Goodenow Grove forest preserve just about a mile away from our house. I think they came out pretty good. I have also posted a couple of videos of Angelica crawling and of her waking up and smiling first thing in the morning. Enjoy! (PS If you click on a picture, it will enlarge so you can see it closer up.) (PPS. If you play the videos, they may be choppy trying to load the first time you play them. If you play them a second time, they should play without any interruption. I noticed you can also listen to the videos without sound if you click on the speaker icon.)

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-14T09:18:00.007-05:00

This year was my first Mother's Day. While I was excited to spend the day with my little bundle of joy, I realized that if it weren't for all of the other mothers in our lives we would not be where we are now. Angelica is lucky enough to have SEVEN grandma's and a Godmother. We invited everyone over for a morning brunch and fortunately everyone was able to come. It was a great time for everyone and I hope that we can do it again in the future. Here are some pictures from the day.

Top row: Great Grandma Julie, Great Grandma Brewer, Mom (me) & Angelica, Godmother Lisa, Grandma Brewer
Bottom row: Great Grandma Lannon, Grandma Di, Grandma Smith, Great Grandma Smith

The night before...the table is set and ready to go. We used our special china and silver!

Angelica made cards for everyone with her handprint on them.

I love these hydraengas. I wish I could grow my own!

Everyone getting ready to eat! Mmmmm (If you click on the picture and make it larger you might be able to see Angelica at the head of the table! hehe)

Opening gift baskets

Angelica with her Godmother and Aunt Lisa

Angelica with her Great Grandma Lannon

Angelica with her Great Grandma Smith

Angelica with her Grandma Brewer

Angelica and Grandma Di

Angelica and Mommy making funny faces!

Angelica helping her Great Grandma Julie open a card

Dennis with his mom and grandma

Angelica with her Great Grandma Brewer and Mommy

Angelica with her Grandma Smith

Me with my mom and sister

After the party was over and everyone went home, Angelica and I put on comfy clothes and relaxed on the front porch!

Immigration

2010-05-13T22:14:00.000-05:00

I love immigration when it is LEGAL. When it is ILLEGAL, it is just that - illegal. I thought that illegal activities were frowned upon. I thought that anyone with a decent set of morals and values would be in opposition to allowing illegal activities to take place without consequence. I guess I was wrong. The number of people supporting ILLEGAL immigration really bothers me. I abide by the laws and if I should choose not to, I should have to deal with the consequences. For example, if I CHOOSE to drive 65mph in a 35mph zone, I will rightfully get a ticket when I get caught BREAKING THE LAW. If an immigrant CHOOSES to enter our country ILLEGALY then they should have to pay the consequences and leave, just as any US citizen would have to do if they entered another country ILLEGALLY. What is so horrible about following the law? If a person wants to enter our country, just go about it properly and do it LEGALLY. Then you will be given all the rights that other citizens of the country have. Why is it that reponsible people are constantly penalized and hurt in order to preserve the so-called rights of the irresponsible? It is totally illogical and irrational.

Well - this is an interesting way to look at it.......................

Here is an editorial written by a woman to explain how ridiculous this sounds.

Her point: Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Arizona is addressing the issue of illegal immigration.

Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.
Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, 'No! I like it here. It's better than my house. I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).

According to the protesters:
You are Required to let me stay in your house.
You are Required to feed me.
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan.
You are Required to Educate my kids.
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me & to my family. (My husband will do all of your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part).
If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there. It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house.

And what a deal it is for me!!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.

Still not convinced the ILLEGAL immigration is a PROBLEM? Here are some verifiable FACTS proving that this is a MAJOR problem.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens.

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the US from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report

12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.

14. The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes have been Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States.

The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS $338,300,000,000.00 WHICH COULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY. Are we THAT stupid? YES, FOR LETTING THOSE IN THE U.S.CONGRESS GET AWAY WITH LETTING THIS HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!!! I don't care if those who will be running in the next elections are democrats or republicans. I will be voting for those who choose to help our country and who will stop taking away from legal citizens to empower illegals. I will vote for whoever is committed to stopping this problem. I will vote for whoever abides by the law and expects others to abide by laws as well. I will vote for the person who will treat this country and the legal American citizens with respect and stop making a mockery of our laws.

Making Mother's Day Cards

2010-05-09T21:45:00.002-05:00

We had fun with this little project. We wrote notes for each of Angelica's seven grandmas and her Godmother. Angelica gave each note the stamp of approval with her handprint. Since we were having so much fun, we decided to print her feet too for her scrapbook. We did this activity in the tub, followed by an immediate bath!

One hand is pink and the other is blue!

And her feet are green!

Many mother's day cards scattered about!

Brookfield Zoo

2010-05-09T21:22:00.003-05:00

We took pictures of the animals too, but who really wants to see them when you can see our little monkey!

Wearing her monkey shirt and enjoying her time at the zoo.

Is that Angelica or a Sea Otter?

Who what is in there?

looking in at a HUGE starfish!

Daddy showing Angelica the lizards

Cutie Pie

2010-05-09T21:17:00.002-05:00

Sleeping with her dolly in the stroller - this was taken while at my friend Tiff's baby shower.

Sitting in her bumbo looking at daddy

I love this smile! How can you resist?

This is what we do during the day.....we all just lay on the floor!

Little princess!

Hats!

2010-05-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

mmmm...food!

2010-05-09T21:03:00.002-05:00

Angelica has been eating food for the past couple of weeks. She started with rice cereal about 3 weeks ago and we have since added oatmeal to her diet. So far she is liking it!

This picture was from her very first meal. She didn't know what to think at first, but she ended up liking it.

Special Angel

2010-04-21T23:00:00.002-05:00

A Newborn's Conversation with God

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy..."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the small child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I doing to do when I want to talk to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will alwyas talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Eart could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, "You will simply call her Mom."

4 months old!

2010-04-20T17:06:00.003-05:00

Angelica turned 4 months old on 4/18. She is doing great! The biggest event of Angelica's 4th month was that she was baptised into the Catholic church. Besides that she has been doing all sorts of things. She has learned how to turn on her music machine that is attached to the side of her crib. She rolls over on to her side when she is sleeping. When she wakes up in the morning, she spins around and goes to the other side of her crib. She has started laughing, which I think is our favorite thing so far! Angelica has taken a few short road trips down to the University of Illinois where I have taken Rusty to the vet. She has started going to church as well. We celebrated Easter (pictures below in older post). She has outgrown another set of clothes and is now in the 6-9 month outfits for the most part. At her 4 month checkup, she weighed 14lbs 8oz and was 25 3/4 inches tall. She is also absolutely loving her jump-a-roo. Unfortunately Angelica picked up a little virus around the time of her baptism and still has a slight fever, so she hasn't had her 4 month shots yet. The Dr. would like us to do that next week as long as she is all better. Here are a couple pictures from Angelica's 4th month.

Sitting with Daddy in church on Easter Sunday.

She LOVES her jump-a-roo.

Sitting with Daddy while waiting for the Dr. to come in at the U of I vet school.

Every morning Angelica wakes up with a smile on her face. This is awesome for us as we are not really morning people. Now that we see her first thing in the morning, she gets our day started in a really good mood. She is so awesome and we are so graetful she is ours. :)

Angelica's Baptism

2010-04-19T12:09:00.009-05:00

Angelica was baptised in the Catholic Church on Sunday, April 11, 2010. She was baptised at Our Lady of Knock which is the same church where we were married in May 2006. Deacon Tom Knetl performed her baptism, which was very nice as he was the principal of Memorial Jr. High when I attended there. We chose my sister, Lisa, to be Angelica's Godmother and Dennis's brother, Greg, to be her Godfather. We feel that both Lisa and Greg are positive role models and will set a good example for Angelica to follow as she grows up. Lisa bought Angelica's Christening gown several weeks ago. It is so pretty and suits Angelica's personality well.

Overall, the Christening was a blessed event. We felt very happy for our baby girl as she was baptised into the Christian faith. We hope that we will be not only good parents, but also good Christians and set a good example for her to follow as she grows up.

Here are some pictures from the day.

I love this picture. She looks soooo happy!

Here we are as we arrived at the church. Unfortunately, Angelica came down with a virus this day and she was quite cranky for most of the day. (After seeing the Dr. we are pretty sure that she had a stomach bug with a fever.)

Angelica with her parents and Godparents listening to Deacon Knetl.

After Dennis and I gave Angelica a blessing on her forehead, Deacon Knetl asked other loved ones to come forward and do the same. After blessing her, everyone stayed up at the alter to watch the baptism up close. It was nice to share the moment so closely with others. Angelica's cousins Nate & Tony, Godparents Greg & Lisa, and Grandparents, Kathy, Dave, Larry, Diana and Sue all came forward for the remainder of the ceremony.

Daddy held Angelica during the baptism.

Angelica was annointed with oil as well.

Angelica's Godfather lit a candle for her off of the church's baptismal candle.

The ceremony was a little rough on Angelica, so we didn't get to take a lot of pictures afterwards. Here is one shot we did get to take. (A special thanks to my sister's brother-in-law, Phil, for taking all of these photos during the ceremony!)

After the baptism we had a luncheon at our house. Here is the super tasty cake that we ordered from our favorite bakery, the Calumet Bakery. They did a beautiful job!

Lisa and I made all of the food. We served tuna salad and chicken salad sandwiches along with potato salad and pasta salad. It seemed like everyone really liked the meal.

Angelica received many special gifts for this occassion. We have already read through many of her prayer books and children's bibles. Her crib cross, night light and door hanger are carefully set up in her bedroom. She even got her very own pearl earrings, a glass bead rosary and a silver cross neclace that her great grandma Julie bought while in Austria! She also received a couple new outfits, books, water and sand toys, bathing suits and several savings bonds. Angelica is very blessed to have so many loving and generous people in her life.

After the baptism, Angelica changed into a different dress. Here she is with her Grandma Smith.

Austin, Nathan and Tony playing in the back yard.

Kaylea and Leanna playing in the backyard.

Rebecca and Jeffrey playing in the living room.

All together there were 50 adults and 12 kids at the party. All of the kids were so well behaved! (Wish we could say the same for the adults! haha) We felt very fortunate to have so many of our friends join us for this day as well. Since the baptism, we have taken Angelica back to church for a regular service. Sister Alban (one of the sisters at our church) was so excited to see Angelica at mass the following week. She picked her up and said "We have a brand new little Christian here with us today!" I must say, Angelica is our little angel, and I hope she will live up to her name as she grows up!

Rusty Update

2010-04-14T22:36:00.002-05:00

I posted about Rusty back in February when I was traveling down to U of I to take him in for oral surgery. What started out as some really bad breath has turned out to be a diagnosis of cancer. Originally we thought Rusty just needed a teeth cleaning. When we brought him to our regular vet, she referred us to U of I as she had never seen a mouth in such bad shape. The weird part was that it got bad overnight. She feared he might have an autoimmune disease. THe U of I dentist performed his surgery. After 3 weeks, he wasn't healing and had developed weird scabs all over his back and in his ears and nose. Back to U of I we went to meet with a dermatologist. We thought it might be an allergic reaction or a severe infection. After performing 3 biopsies, it was concluded that Rusty has cutaneous lymphoma. His case is very rare as he doesn't have any tumors that could be removed or radiated. Instead the cancer is expressing itself all over the surface of his body. On a third trip to U of I we met with an oncologist. They told us that the cancer hadn't spread, but the prognosis, still wasn't good. They expect Rusty will live only a few more months. After many tears, we are realizing that there isn't much we can do at this point. We are just doing what we can to keep him happy and comfortable.

At first glance, you wouldn't know Russ is sick. He still loves to play. He does his tricks. He gets excited about eating and going for walks. But if you know him like we do, you can see there is a little less pep in his step and it is heartbreaking to see this. Rusty is the best dog I have ever had. He is so incredibly smart and loving and caring. He has a fighting and fearless attitude. He knows what he wants all of the time. He is not just a pet, but a good friend.

We are praying Rusty might have a chance to go into a longer than expected remission. So far, nothing has been "by the book." In fact this type of cancer is so rare in Yorkie's that U of I has only seen it one other time. It really sucks that our Yorkie had to get it. He is only 7 and we had expected to live another 10 years together with him. We are taking Russ to a holistic vet in the next couple of weeks just to make sure that we are doing every possible thing we can to keep him as comfortable for as long as possible.

I go back and forth. Some night I lay in bed and cry thinking about the inevitable. I really haven't had to deal with loss much in my life so this is especially hard for me. Rusty has always been there to go through things with me. I've gotten through some pretty tough times with Rusty by my side and we have had many happy moments together. It is sad that Rusty is soon going to leave us. But no matter where he might have been during his life, I am glad that he ended up with me. Even if it is ONLY 7 years, at least we had those 7 years together. Like they say, "It is better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all." Well I think that definitely applies here. Rusty is my buddy and full of unconditional love. He has made my life so much happier and I hope I have made his happier too. I am going to mis him so so so so much. :(

Russ loves hanging out with whomever is sitting on the rocking chair in the baby's room.

I love my little guy.

And he loves me.

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T21:44:00.004-05:00

We've been waiting a long time to have a family Easter egg hunt. Angelica is only 3 and a half months old, but we figured, why not? Are we nuts? Maybe...but not that nuts...we only hid 6 eggs. We filled the eggs with money and later put it in her piggy bank. I imagine next year Easter will be a lot more fun. :)

Here Angelica is looking at "Roo" from Winnie The Pooh in her Easter Basket.

Here she is shaking an orange egg.

Daddy helped her to find a blue egg.

After church we went to Grandpa Brewer and Grandma Di's house. Grandma Di got a new camera, so we took lots of pictures. I just love this one of Angie and Daddy looking over the back of the couch! So Precious!

Angelica was REALLY into sucking her thumb on Easter. She spent most of the day doing it. I think it's cute. Here she is with her Grandpa Brewer.

And here she is with Uncle Mark.

Angelica played with the monkeys in her crib while we ate dinner. She is just starting to be able to reach them.

Here we are. Happy Easter!

Taking a little nap with Grandma Di after dinner.

Rebecca Turns 1

2010-04-14T21:31:00.002-05:00

My cousin Jim and his wife Julie have 2 beautiful kids. Big brother Jeff is 2 and a half and Rebecca just turned 1 on March 23. They threw a party for Rebecca at Aurelios. It was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures from the day.

I bought this little red dress for Angelica long before I was pregnant. I was so excited to see her wear it!

Rebecca wasn't quite sure what to do with her smash cake. After Julie gave her a spoon she went to town! I don't think she wanted to get messy!

Dad and Diana got Rebecca the classic turtle sandbox...and here are all the other presents filling it up! Jim and Julie just bought a new house in Frankfort. They are closing on it next week. We are super excited for them. This sandbox will be great in their back yard!

Rebecca and her buddy hanging out

Doug & Lisa's IL Reception

2010-04-14T20:40:00.007-05:00

My sister and Doug got married in TN on Feb 27. They decided to celebrate with all of their family and friends on March 27 by throwing an informal reception at a local bowling alley. They were originally set up to meet on a blind date and they met at lane 9 in a bowling alley. Not wanting to go the traditional route of making everyone get dressed up to eat chicken breasts and do the YMCA and "electric slide" they opted for this. It turned out to be especially fun for everyone. Their invitation read...

We met on lane nine in August 2008
Bowling was fun on this fantastic blind date.
What better way to celebrate the start of our new life
Then to bowl again as husband and wife.
When the clock "strikes" 6 and the pins start to fall
You're invited to join us and have a "ball."

I loved this carpet and had to take a picture of it.

The people who own the bowling alley helped to get everything ready and set up for dinner.

The card box that Lisa and I made.

The wedding cake. It has white snowflakes embossed on the cake and then a ribbon of the blue snowflakes wrapping around. It was very tasty.

We had the entire bowling alley to ourselves.

Lisa and Doug in front of Lane 9. They started out dressed up, but changed into casual clothes after throwing out the first ball.

The food was catered from the Bierstube. It was EXCELLENT!

We set up pictures from the actual wedding cermony in the entryway.

The mother of the bride, choosing her ball.

Although it was quite noisy, miss Angelica slept most of the evening away in Great Grandma Julie's arms.

It was the first time Angelica got to meet Auntie Liz. She flew in from OH for the reception.

Lisa finally got to bowl at the end of the night!

3 months old!

2010-03-19T18:13:00.002-05:00

Today we had Angelica's 3 month checkup. She is doing great. She weighs 13.2 lbs and is in the 75th percentile for weight. She is 25 1/4 inches tall and is in the 97th percentile for height...looks like our once short little girl is now pretty darn tall! She has grown over 6 inches taller since she was born. Besides her height and weight, our pediatrician says she is looking awesome.

Angelica's latest interests are in playing with toys and putting things in her mouth. She is still rolling over several times a day from her tummy to her back. She also babbles on and on and on and on as long as there is someone to listen to her. We may end up having quite the little conversationalist! She is still sleeping pretty well at night. We usually get a 10-11 hour stretch of sleep from her once she falls asleep. And speaking of sleep, she is now sleeping in her own room - most of the time. I have been a little freaked out by this. Perhaps I watch too much Law & Order. There have been nights when I have tossed and turned until 2am, only to go and get her out of her crib and put her back in her bassinet in our room. I get so worried about something happening to her that I just can't relax myself enough to go to bed. One night I even made Dennis get up to look for intruders. The sound of the furnace kicking on amplifies quite a bit over the baby monitor! Hopefully this will pass...if not I will need to start having a glass of wine before bed so I can knock myself out! haha.

She really seems to enjoy taking a bath. I hope it will be an easy transition into the pool this summer! She does pretty well in her stroller. We have been taking walks all week with this beautiful weather. We have walked at the outlet mall, around the neighborhood and even headed to the forest preserve one day.

Below are some pictures that Dennis and I took of her earlier this week. They came out pretty good and we are using them as her official 3 month photos.

3 month pictures

2010-03-15T19:53:00.006-05:00

Angelica will be 3 months old on Thursday. I decided to give it a shot and take her three month old photos myself. I think I shot over 200 pictures today. Here are some of our favorites. I think that they came out pretty darn good for taking them at home on my own! Now I just need to decide which ones to order!

In these photos you can see Angelica in her Easter dress, her Christening gown, and in a little Easter outfit. She has her 3 month checkup on Friday. She is doing great! We love her so so so so so so much! :)

Little Sister's BIG Day!

2010-03-07T22:34:00.016-06:00

My sister finally met the man of her dreams! Doug proposed in January of 2009 and they got married on February 27, 2010. It was a destination wedding in Gatlinburg, TN. About 25 of us traveled down to TN for the wedding ceremony. It was truly a beautiful wedding and we were all very happy to be a part of their big day. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Welcome to Tennessee! (Friday, Feb 26)

We all stayed in cabins in the mountains. Here is a view of our 3 story cabin. Dennis, Angelica and I stayed here with my dad, stepmom, grandma, aunt and uncle. In all, I think we rented 8 cabins for the whole group.

Here is a view from our cabin right outside our bedroom door. Just beautiful!

Friday night we all drove to Doug and Lisa's cabin. They were staying at a cabin 4 miles up a mountain. It was at the VERY top of the mountain. The cabin was called "On top of the world" and has been featured on HGTV for the past 4 years. It is currently for sale for about $2 Million. However, the drive up the mountain is long and can be trecherous - especially if there is bad weather! Here are some pictures of the view. The sun was setting by the time we got up there so I didn't get a lot of pictures.

Sun setting over Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville.

Dad and Diana had been in Mexico the week before. They flew in Friday night/Saturday morning and didn't get to our cabin until 1:30am. Fortunately we were able to sleep in on Saturday. Here Grandma and Diana are hanging out with Angelica.

Dad and Uncle Mike play a little pool.

Daddy and Daughter ready for the wedding!

Our little family!

Me and my baby - her first dress!

Mom and I helped to get Lisa dressed...well Mom did all the work. I mostly took pictures! :)

The beautiful bride! I like this picture because you can see all of the lace around her train!

ta-da!

Don't forget the bling!

Putting on her necklace!

She looks just PERFECT!

..and a little splash of perfume!

the classic mirror shot

SISTERS!

with our wintery coats/shawl

Precious - dad and daughter

Lisa with mom and dad on her wedding day

Dad and the girls

Mom and the girls

Here comes the bride!

walking up to the alter

exchanging vows with their hands on the Bible

Doug and Lisa lighting their unity candle

closing words of the ceremony

You may now kiss the bride!
Mr. & Mrs. Peak!

Me and the best man, Mark, leaving the chapel

Angelica with her Grandma Brewer

Dad, Diana and Grandma

4 generations - Angelica, me, my mom, my Grandma and Grandpa Lannon

Angelica with her Great Grandpa - awwwwww

Angelica with her Grandma Di and Grandpa Brewer

And the dress is bustled!

in a winter wonderland! soooo pretty!

Mr. and Mrs. Peak!

awwwww

Angelica and her Pipier....let's not give her any beer just yet Dave!

Lisa and the infamous Iris

Cake cutting at Doug's parents cabin

but first a toast!

The wedding cake - absolutely the best cake I have ever eaten!

cutting the cake!

a sweet kiss

eating the cake

everyone was glued to the TV...fortunately the tsunami did not hit Hawaii

the pre-dinner reception

everyone's mingling

Doug holding his Best Man's son, Emmerson at the reception

Lisa with her niece/Goddaughter/flower girl! :)

Valentine's Day

2010-02-21T21:18:00.003-06:00

This year we had a special Valentine's Day. Dennis's parents were married on Valentine's Day 40 years ago so we celebrated their 40th anniversary along with birthdays for Dennis's cousins Justin (8) and Elise (10). It was nice to have the whole family together for the day. Here are a few pictures of the kids.

Tony and Elise

Justin

Nathan and Miranda

Donovan

Shelley watching the kids

Elise opening presents

Justin opening presents

Tony, Justin, Nathan and Elise

Rusty Update

2010-02-21T21:16:00.003-06:00

As you may have seen from my post below, I had to take Rusty to the University of Illinois for some dental work earlier in the week. I am happy to report that he is making a great recovery. Although he had to have 18 teeth removed, he still has half of his teeth and has been able to eat normal meals and is back into his regular Rusty mood wagging his tail and running around the house. Thanks for everyone who called to check in on him! He is doing great!

2 Months Old!

2010-02-21T18:27:00.013-06:00

Well Angelica is now TWO months old! Time is still flying by! We went to her 2 month checkup on Friday and learned that she is now 11 lbs 8 oz, and 23 1/2 inches long. Our little girl is growing! She is out of her 0-3 month clothes now and getting into the 3-6 month clothes. She is now rolling over from her tummy to her back, playing with some of her toys, and fully enjoying watching her mobile. She is smiling at us, looking around at things with a lot more focus and developing a little personality. Her sleeping is still a little random, but she is getting more time in at night, which is good for mommy and daddy.

I've posted a bunch of pictures from the last month here. And mom, the videos you wanted to see are at the bottom of this post!

So for all of our friends and relatives that don't live close by, you can catch up and see how our daughter is doing. Enjoy!

Mommy and Angelica on Valentine's Day

Daddy and Angelica on Valentine's Day

Angelica with her Grandpa Smith and cousins Nathan (10) and Tony (5).

Dennis's cousin Jennifer

4 Generations on the Smith side

Angelica with her Uncle and Godfather Greg

Angelica with Great Grandma Smith

Angelica and her Grandma Smith

A kiss from Grandma on Valentine's Day

Lyndsay came to visit and meet Angelica

Jenne came to meet her too!

Matt, Tracy and Audrey Banach came as well. Here is a daddy/daughter picture and as it turns out, both Angelica and Audrey opted to wear their penguin outfits that day! Way to go girls!

Angelica and Gretchen getting to know each other.

It seems like just yesterday that Gretchen was the baby! It's hard to believe that she is going to be 2 next month!

Angie sporting her special hat made by Great Grandma Julie

Sleeping on her Aunt Shelley's shoulder...awwwww

With her Great Aunt Diane

This is Elise and Angelica. Elise was the flower girl in our wedding. She is 10 years old now! Elise is Dennis's cousin Jennifer's daughter. I think this makes Elise and Angelica second cousins.

Angelica and Daddy are having a very sad moment!

I am cuddly and sweet from head to feet!

I am thinking about holding on to this picture to use for her sweet 16 birthday party invitations...haha

Ahhhhh TOY OVERLOAD in the pack and play! :)

Awwwww...she loves me....CUTE!

She is starting to learn to rattle.

Having fun with her musical nursery rhyme book.

Monkey ball from Uncle Doug!

Watching her mobile

Angelica really loves this big heart pillow. She got it from her Grandma Brewer.

Laying on Mommy and Daddy's bed watching the ceiling fan

Here is Angelica laying around watching her mobile and shaking her rattle. She really enjoys laying in her crib and watching the mobile go around. She has them at her Grandma's houses too and always likes looking up and listening to the music.

This past week she has started to enjoy her bouncy chair more, but only when the music is on.

Rattling away on her big heart pillow.

The past two weeks she has started to really enjoy her jungle gym (Thanks Nic & Rachele!) She is starting to grab at the toys and she can spend quite a bit of time happy laying there playing with the gym.

Rolling over at 8 weeks old.

And here is the quick version of Angelica rolling over...she took us by surprise on this one.

My Sister's Last Night Out!

2010-02-18T14:55:00.009-06:00

February 13th, 2010

My sister is taking the plunge on Feb 27th! We celebrated her last night out in style. We started with a dinner party at my house. Then we got picked up by a limo and headed to Chicago to the Baton Room to watch a drag show and then off to Sam Maguires bar in Orland Park with entertainment provided by the band Rendition. Everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Lisa on stage at Sam Maguires helping Rendition lead the crown in singing along.

This was towards the end of the night. The band congratulated Lisa several times.

The big dinner spread. Lots of tasty treats!

Lisa and her super cute neice! Angelica's first bachelorette party!

The Bachelorette!

Ready to open gifts!
(Pictures of the gifts are not available due to the nature of them....haha)

This was our ride on the way out....on the way home we were picked up by an Escalade limo! Wooo Hooo!

Inside the limo...we had lots of room!

Me and Christen on our way to The Baton Room

Lisa and her friend Jen

Lisa with our cousins Amanda and Julie

Me and Lisa outside of the Baton Room. (Pictures weren't allowed inside.) The show was pretty good though. I didn't know what to expect, but the drag queens were very pretty and did a pretty superb job lip syncing and dancing. Everyone had fun.

Heading to Orland Park in our Escalade

Heading out to Sam Maguires

Lisa and Christen enjoying champagne!

Cheers!

We've obviously had a few drinks already! Lisa and Jen

Christen, Lisa and Tammy - woo hoo!

Lisa, Missy and Mellisa

Tammy and Lisa

Lisa, Christen and Me

Mellisa and Missy dancing to "I've had the time of my life" - they had quite a routine! :)

Party's over....oh what a night!

Wait....there's one more surprise!

haha. Lisa spent the night. I had this guy waiting in the guest bedroom for her. He kinda looks like Burt Reynolds. haha

Goodnight!

Rusty Noodleman

2010-02-18T14:26:00.004-06:00

Today I am in Champaign-Urbana, IL with my little Rusty as he is getting taken care of at the small animal clinic at the University of IL. Right after the new year we noticed Rusty suddenly had really bad breath. I scheduled a teeth cleaning for him. Because dogs need to be put under general anesthesia for dental work he had to have pre-surgical blood work. So, I took him in a couple weeks ago to do that. Well, the results came back not so favorable with messed up red and white blood counts as well as enlarged platelets. So, he was put on antibiotics and we were told to come back in 2 weeks for a recheck.

Our recheck was this past Tuesday and unfortunately his teeth looked worse. Our Vet had never seen anything like this. His gums were receding away from his teeth exposing the teeth roots and he had all kinds of bleeding and sores around his mouth. He ended up being pre-diagnosed with a very rare disease called CUPS (chronic ulcerative paradental stomatitis).

The best explanation I found is that basically a dog with CUPS has spontaneously and suddenly become very allergic to the plaque in his mouth and on his teeth. Therefore any part of his mouth (tongue, cheeks, lips, etc.) that touches his teeth, becomes very infected with extremely painful lesions. The ONLY cure is to remove the teeth to keep plaque away. After this is done the dog feels a million times better and can live a normal healthy life. There is some thought that this is an autoimmune disease but since it is so rare, there isn't a lot of conclusive theory on it.

Our veterinarian is wonderful. We have followed her to 3 different practices because we like her so much. Of all 3 Dr's at our vet, they have only seen a case of CUPS once. Therefore we were referred to the University of Illinois. Rusty is currently undergoing surgery which is being done by one of the top canine dentists in the country. I feel pretty good about everything after meeting with all of them. There are several people monitoring his condition while he is under the anesthesia. They took a lot of time to discuss Rusty's situation with me and to make me feel comfortable. They are hoping to accomplish a solution in one surgery and plan to send Rusty home tonight with a clean mouth that will be free of pain. The good news is that the Dr. here seems to think we can save some of his teeth and he will be able to continue to eat normally, etc.

I was really sad when I first learned of Rusty's diagnosis. He is only 7 years old and there is no explanation for the disease. It couldn't have been prevented. It isn't genetic. It is basically just bad luck. The poor little guy. After having just lost one of our other dogs, I was pretty upset that Rusty was now going through this. He is pretty tough though and I am now confident that he will do just fine - even if he is minus 19 teeth. (For the record, dogs must have a lot of teeth, because when our dachshound had hers removed, there were 42 of them!)

Anyway, I am now sitting and waiting to hear from the Dr's once Rusty is in recovery. Angelica is with my mom today and I spent the morning re-exploring Champaign - Urbana - Mahomet - Rantoul and I am now at the Champaign public library. Boy have things changed since I went to school here! There are so many new restaurants, parking garages, apartment complexes, etc etc. I think it is funny to see students walking around everywhere talking on cell phones and texting. When I was in school, which wasn't that long ago, very few of my friends had their own cell phone and I don't think texting existed at that time. I was sad to see that one of my favorite gift shops /deli in Mahomet (Pickle Tree Farms) was shut down and is now for sale. I also stopped by Hardy's Reindeer Ranch and noticed that they have expanded and added a paintball range. I will have to remember this so I can bring my nephews this fall. The will love it!

Since I've got a few more hours on my hands, I am going to update my blog. Enjoy!

Good Morning Monkey!

2010-02-02T17:53:00.003-06:00

Angelica has been holding her head up a lot the past couple of weeks, but now more than ever. She seems to have a lot of upper body strength...this started on day 1 when she stole the scissors right out of the surgeons hands! If you come to my house I would avoid wearing hoop earrings! haha. Anyway, here is a video of her during our morning - 6 weeks old.

January 2010 update

2010-01-31T22:58:00.005-06:00

It is hard to believe that an entire month has already passed us in 2010. I am still having to make a conscience effort to remember to write 2010 and not 2009 on my checks! The year is off to a pretty good start, but just like everything there are ups and downs.

Here is a picture of our weiner dog Belfry. She was going to be 16 years old this year. I think that is like the equivalent of 82 in human years. Sadly, Belfry left this world on Jan 29th. Her brothers Rusty and BamBam miss her terribly. BamBam was really upset when we took down Belfry's cage and he went to lay where her cage use to be. Rusty has been moping around the house and I think he still expects to see her come back to the house. Belfry had a good long life though and she is now back with her buddy Sasha. It is weird for us to only have 2 dogs in the house instead of 3. RIP Belfry.

Here is a picture of our new bedroom set. We have been talking about getting a king size bed for about 6 years now and we finally went and did it. We like how the new bedroom set looks in our bedroom. It's a big change from the white wood we were use to. It feels more like "real" furniture though and we are enjoying it so far.

Me and Angelica (6 weeks old) - smiling for the camera. This picture was taken right before mommy and daddy's first date night out since she was born. We went to the Weber Grill for dinner downtown and to the Chicago theatre to see comedian Jim Gafigan.

Mommy and Angelica singing to each other.

On a side note, I got my hair dyed back to it's "original" color - although I feel like this is a little dark, it does seem to match my eyebrows well. I guess we will have to wait and see as it grows out. After being a blondie for so many years, this feels kind of weird to me. We will see if I get use to it and how much the summer lightens my hair...my oh my I just can't wait for summer!

I love her smile in this picture even though there is a weird shadow on us.

Angelica is doing a great job holding her head up and turning it towards my voice. She loves laying on her tummy and looking around.

Here it looks like she just got caught doing something. Actually she was looking at the dogs as they ran back inside after having been outside. They were heading right over to her.

Auntie Lisa babysat Angelica for the first time while I went to the movies with my friend Christen for my birthday. They had a great time!

1 month old!

2010-01-28T22:40:00.007-06:00

Angelica was one month old on January 18th. We had her one month checkup that day where she received one shot (yes...there were tears) and learned that she was at 9lbs, 14oz and 21 inches long. The Dr. said that Angelica had gained 22oz in 22 days which is exactly what she had hoped to see. She said that she is looking great and seeming to be very strong, especially when laying on her tummy.

Angelica loves to lay on her tummy and look around. She wobbles herself back and forth and if you put your hands behind her feet she will push off and scoot forward.

This Friday we are at 6 weeks and she is now developing quite a little personality. She smiles a lot more now and makes a lot of different faces. She doesn't cry too often unless she is hungry or needs to be changed. She is still doing pretty well in the car, and not too excited about pacifiers. Angelica has just discovered our puppies and will stare at them for as long as they hang around her.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks!

This is my favorite! She is sooo happy here!

Something must have been REALLY funny!

Hi there!

Laying on her tummy and trying to roll

With her new monogrammed blanket sent to us from our friend Kristin in Savannah

looking around

1 month old and looking pretty happy!

WUZUP? - Rocking her ladybug gangster look...hehe

Penguin love

4 weeks old

2-4 weeks old

2010-01-14T22:44:00.005-06:00

Today Angelica is four weeks old! She is already growing and changing so much! Although she was 8lbs, 10oz when she was born, she was down to 7lbs at 4 days old. Today she is somewhere between 9-10lbs. We will find out for sure where she is at her 1 month checkup on Monday.

She is much more active already spending 4-5 hours awake at a time during the day and she is very alert and looking around at things in the house. One thing she really loves looking at is a black and white painting of Venice that hangs above our couch. (I think she is trying to tell us it's time to go back to Italy! Sounds good to me! haha) She focuses much more on our faces now and she will try to mimic us from time to time. She loves spending time on her tummy and bobbing her head up and down.

She has outgrown most of her newborn clothes and is now in the 0-3 month stuff. She has already outgrown her first snowsuit too! It's amazing how quick the has grown!

She is still a pretty good sleeper giving us a good 7-8 hour stretch of sleeping time at night, usually sleeping from 9pm-4am and then right back to sleep after eating. As a newborn she was spending more time asleep during the day, but now she seems to be much more alert and awake during the day. She does well in the car and is usually pretty quiet even when she is awake. Last week I mastered 5 errands while toting her along! I was pretty proud of myself. On Monday she had her first trip to the mall...we bought baby clothes...of course.

I have made a pretty good recovery. After a week I was pretty well pain free from the c-section and doing good. I developed an allergy to motrin (which is what I was prescribed for pain from the surgery) and developed a pretty severe allergy. After working with a dermatologist though I am now 95% better. Most of my swelling has gone done and I am happy to say that I have lost all of my "baby weight." Now it's time to begin losing all of that other weight I had put on in the past 3 years before the pregnancy. I've packed away all my maternity clothes though and it is nice to be back in my regular stuff. As of today I have regained feeling in my fingers! This is monumental for me. It's been nearly 20 weeks since I have had feeling in my fingers! Now I am just waiting to be able to get my wedding ring back on. It looks like I may have permanently outgrown my shoes though...maybe I will need to go shopping. Oh darn!

We have been having a lot of fun with Angelica and with our new camera, as you can see below. Here are some pictures from the past 2 weeks. The most recent ones are at the top with the older ones below.

Modeling for mommy...surprisingly she kept this headband on all day long!

I think she looks like "popeye" here - definitely a strong little girl. A lot of times when I am putting her lotion on in the morning, she will curl that right arm around mine and try to pull herself up!

hahaha

Time to get some rest.

FEED ME!!!! WWWHHHAAAAAA!!!!
(Don't worry, I don't just stare at my child and take pictures when she cries....this was just too cute though so I had to capture the moment!)

Time for a little massage!

Tummy time!

Bath time...thanks Auntie Lisa and Uncle Doug for the light up rubby ducky!

Me and my baby!

Daddy feeding Angelica

Chubby cheeks! This is one of the first little shirts we bought when we found out we were expecting...it seems like just yesterday and here she is wearing it!

Angelica's first big soical event - Auntie Lisa's bridal shower. Here Angelica is sitting with her second counsins Rebecca and Jeff. Becca and Jeff are my cousin Jim's kids. I think that makes them second cousins?

Angelica with her Grandma and Aunt

Hanging out on Grandma's shoulder

Looking at her Auntie Lisa!

3 weeks old!

Happy New Year! We enjoyed a quiet New Year's Eve this year. Here we are ringing in 2010 with Angelica - 13 days old

And here she is at 2 weeks. You can see how much she's changed already!

More cuteness

2010-01-12T10:22:00.002-06:00

Here Angelica is giving me the "thumbs up" as she and I were spending the evening alone while Daddy went to watch a hockey game at a friend's house. Somehow she just went into this pose and I just happened to have my camera laying around.

And here she is sleeping peacefully with her dolly. I think she looks a lot like me (from my baby pictures) in this picture. I was just bald for a long time whereas her hair seems to be getting redder every day!

Cutie Pie

2010-01-03T21:38:00.002-06:00

She is just tooooooo cute! Isn't she?
Angelica at 2 weeks old! :)
I love love love her!

Welcome Angelica Wind!!!

2009-12-28T22:05:00.019-06:00

Angelica Wind Smith was born on Friday, December 18th at 6:27am weighing 8lbs, 10oz and 19 inches long. Here are a few of the many pictures we have taken over the past 10 days.

Den and I getting ready to leave for the hospital on Thursday, Dec. 17th. After my doctor's appointment that afternoon, I was directed to get to the hospital that evening!

One last belly shot....I was definitely ready to meet our baby live and in person!

Once we got to the hospital we had an ultrasound and were then admitted into labor and delivery. As they hooked me up to a monitor, I noticed the logo on the hospital sheets. (We had the name Angelica picked out for a long long time before this, but I thought this was funny.)

Ready to go!

We talked with our doctor on Thursday night and she felt we would be safer opting for a c-section (because the baby appeared to be almost 10lbs according to the ultrasound) rather than a regular delivery. We wanted to do whatever was best for the baby, so we agreed to the c-section. It was scheduled to begin at 5:30am on Friday morning. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink on Thursday night. I just stared at the clock thinking about how we would be meeting our baby in the morning. Here's a shot of Den before we headed to surgery.

And here she is right after delivery! It was a couple of hours before I was able to see her or hold her, but it was worth the wait. I was a little "out of it" after the surgery, but when Dennis ran into the recovery room to see me he told me how beautiful and incredible she was and he brought me some pictures to look at before I could see her with my own eyes.

Me and my baby girl!

Hello Daddy!

Our family! It's been a long time in the making and we couldn't be happier!

We think she has my nose, cheeks and lips and Dennis's chin, eyes, and hair

Angelica was quite sleepy!

Baby girl with her beautiful eyes open!

We couldn't be happier and can't take our eyes off of her.

She fell asleep in this little pose. I think she is soooo cute!

I love you little girl!

so peaceful...

All three of us again.

They kept telling me she was a big baby, but with that pacifier in her mouth, she looks so small!

big yawn!

Our little honey bunny!

She makes a lot of faces in her sleep.

It looks like she just came up with a great new idea!

Sleeping peacefully

We came home from the hospital on Monday, December 21 in the evening. It was soooo cold outside! After being in the hospital for almost 4 days we were more than ready to go home!

What a cutie pie in her little LOVE outfit

This has got to be her favorite place to sleep, although she does sleep just about anywhere. I guess daddy's arms make her feel the best though.

Angelica's first (sponge) bath.

Here is a picture of us on her due date (12/23)

Eskimo kisses from daddy.

Merry Christmas! Angelica and her daddy in front of the tree.

Angelica and her mommy in front of the tree!

All dressed and ready to go to a Christmas Eve party with my dad's family.

I thought this was a cool picture. I took it on our way to Dad's family's Christmas party.

4 generations, Angelica - me - my dad - my grandma

Our little present! Merry Christmas!

Me and Angelica with my dad. I think she definitely has some "Brewer" in her. :)

Angelica with her Auntie Lisa

This ornament says "Best Gift Under the Tree!" and she sure is!

Let's not forget about my 4-legged babies! Both Russ and Bam are taking well to the baby so far.

Rusty!

Our nephew Tony is sooooooooooo excited to have a cousin. He bought her the book "Goldilocks" for Christmas. As soon as he saw her, he told me how beautiful he thought she was and asked if he could hold her. How cute!

Me and my baby celebrating Christmas

Angelica with her HUGE 2009 Christmas teddy bear

Sleeping on daddy's shoulder (again!)

4 generations again - Angelica, me, my mom and my grandma

Angelica was one week old on Christmas day!

The ones I love the most!

Flip Video Posting

2009-12-14T22:26:00.004-06:00

Last Christmas Den bought me a Flip Video Camera. While I have used it to record short videos, I haven't uploaded any of them until now. This is just a test posting to see if I can upload the video correctly.

This video is from last March when BamBam was REALLY sick. The only thing that got his spirits up was sitting in the car with the windshield wipers on. Other than that he just slept and moped around for about a month. He seriously barks like a maniac whenever the windshield wipers in any car start going. We don't know why, but we think it's pretty hilarious!

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-13T15:37:00.006-06:00

Our new tree is a 9 foot tree. We got rid of the humongous pre-lit tree that had 95% broken lights and we opted for this new non-pre-lit tree. We bought some new LED lights but used all of our classic ornaments. It turned out pretty well I think. I especially like this night picture of it.

I have always wanted a red,white and green tree but don't have enough things to do a big tree this way. This year I put up this little 4 foot tree in my office and added red and green ribbon, white lights and red & green ornaments.

Although I only put out about half of our Christmas decorations this year, I always put out the nativity that my Grandpa made.

You can't get ready for Christmas without some snow!

Baking cookies with Lisa...and I am looking larger than life and miserable....11 more days til our due date.

My favorite peanut butter kiss cookies.

Chocolate covered cherry cookies

Lisa preparing the chocolate covered cherry cookies

Using the 1950's Mirro cookie press to make Christmas tree cookies.

All done! In all we made 10 batches of cookies and it only took us from 8am-4pm! What a day! They are worth it though...so tasty. I wonder how many calories we created in all!

Maternity Photos

2009-12-13T15:34:00.001-06:00

We decided to take some maternity photos at 34 weeks. Here is a sample of one of the pictures that I really love. Our photographer was great and we have already booked her for a newborn photo session. If you are looking for a photographer to take pictures of your family or kids, she does wonderful work. Her website is www.janetlynnphotography.com

Our Baby Showers

2009-12-13T14:53:00.007-06:00

As I was posting pictures from my sister's bridal shower (post below), I realized that while I uploaded tons of pictures from our baby showers on facebook, I never put any on here...so here are a few.

Baby Shower 1
Hosted by my mom, my sister and my friends Jen & Christen
At White Rhino in Dyer, IN
November 7, 2009

Me! You can see that they even carried our rocking chair all the way upstairs to the balcony where the shower was. The chair was a gift from my mom.

Lisa and Dennis talking with the Grandparents. - Lots of pink balloons!

They went with a pink Christmas theme since we are expecting a Christmas baby. Here is her own little Christmas tree and stocking!

My sister made these cute snowmen centerpieces. Each one was decorated a little differently. She put the big ball in the middle to make the snowmen look pregnant!

She also decorated these little trees in pink ornaments for centerpieces.

Mmmmmm. cake!

Time to open presents...and boy are there a lot of presents!

Dennis practicing holding a baby doll - waiting for the real thing.

Everyone

Can't wait to fill up this frame!

Baby Shower number 2

Hosted by my mother-in-law, Sue

Cafe Borgia - Dyer, IN

November 14, 2009

Me...getting bigger

We had an awesome Italian meal for lunch. Here is our desser! Mmmmm!

For oneof our games, everyone cut a piece of string to guess how big around my belly is. Here Dennis is walking around the table looking to see who was the closest!

Grandma Smith won! She was right on the mark!

For another game, they melted candybars in diapers and everyone had to guess what candybar was in what diaper. Here Aunt Janet is taking a sniff trying to figure it out while Aunt Natalie waits for her turn!

Opening gifts!

The Wind Family - Dennis's mom's family

Me and Den with his mom

Lisa & Doug's Bridal Shower

2009-12-13T14:20:00.010-06:00

My sister has snagged a keeper! Here are some pictures from her bridal shower a couple of weekends ago. Her fiance's mom did a great job of throwing the party.

Very tasty cookies!

Soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Peak!

(Note: We all know Lisa is tall! Doug is super tall!)

Yum!

Besides gifts from their registry, we also did a tupperware party and Lisa and Doug got a LOT of new tupperware!

Opening presents!

The presents in the red bags were marked "for your honeymoon"

Lots and lots of tasty food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T12:57:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope that everyone is able to take some time out to spend with their families this Thanksgiving and reflect on all that they are grateful for.

We have a lot to be grateful for this year.

Around this time last year we didn't know if we would ever be able to have a biological child of our own and here we are now less than 4 weeks away from expecting our first baby. While I am tempted to complain about how I have been feeling lately, overall I am truly grateful to have been able to experience a healthy pregnancy and for what is awaiting us ahead!

As I look back on this year, there have been some tough challenges that we have been able to overcome. I am happy to report that our westie/cairn pup BamBam is healthy and doing well. In January we thought we had a matter of weeks left with him due to his kidney problems, but with the help and diligence of our wonderful veterinarian, BamBam is now happier than ever and much more playful than he has ever been. I never thought he would be here with us for so long and I am truly grateful that he is happy and seemingly healthy. Of course Rusty and Belfry are doing great too.

Being a small business owner in the worst economy ever has been challenging to say the least. After January, things came to a near standstill. I saw 4 of my competitors go out of business and was worried for the future of my business. Fortunately I held on, kept working and have started to pick things back up again to the point where I now feel secure in taking some time off after the baby is born. On top of that, we were a little worried about whether or not Dennis would be forced to strike as his contract was up. After a lot of time up in the air, he was given a new contract and never did have to strike.

Of course we are thankful for the wonderful family we have in our lives. We are blessed to have parents, grandparents, step-parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews who have proven to be blessings to us time and again. Along with our families, we are grateful for the many many many friends we have in our lives. There are times we felt a little run down this past year with our crazy busy schedules, but the truth is that almost all weekends and many weekdays, we had plans with our friends and it is so nice to know that there are so many people who actually like hanging out with us! Our moms and sisters and friends did a tremendous job planning two very wonderful baby showers for us this past month. We were beyond amazed by all of the hard work and love that went into planning the showers and also by the graciousness and generosity of our guests.

We are grateful to have a roof (and a nice one at that) over our heads as so many others struggle to keep a permanent home. Our subdivision went through some rough times this year as our builder went out of business, but we banded together as a little community and helped make it a nicer place for all of us. It was nice to get to know our neighbors better and to take some pride in our subdivision.

We are grateful to be where we are now and thankful for all that the Lord has provided for us. We look forward with much anticipation to the coming year(s). As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we will be extra thankful for all we have been blessed with in 2009.

Marian Catholic Marching Band 2009

2009-11-17T19:10:00.002-06:00

I attended Marian Catholic High School from 1995 - 1999 and the greatest part of my time there was participating in the band program. Marching Band ran from the very early summer through the fall ending with Bands of America Grand National Competition in Indianapolis every November. Marian just returned from Nationals this past weekend, tying for second place. The Chicago Tribune put together this video montage of a behind the scenes look into what goes on and how the band prepares for Nationals. Mr. Bimm is still the band director there and still teaching the band how to work magic. Please take a look at this video below. It really brought back a lot of great memories for me.

Why I LOVE The Baby's Nursery!

2009-11-16T22:13:00.006-06:00

I am the kind of person who (usually) has an exceptional memory! (This pregnancy has given me some forgetful moments but for the most part I have a VERY good memory!)

I tend to think of things in a relational way. When I take a knife out of my knife block, I think of our friends Dennis & Nora. When I fold our bath towels I think of our friends Richard and Adrien. When I am washing pots and pans I think of our friends Doug and Amy. When I polish our silverware I think of my Grandma. When I serve dinner on our china I think of my mom. When I cut into a steak with my Cutco steak knives, I think of my old co-workers from The Myers Group. These are just some of the examples of how I see things when I look around. All of these things were given to us as gifts by these people (just to name a few) for our wedding. I don't just see THINGS. I see little symbols of how these people have shown their love and friendship for us and as I use the things that they gave us in celebration of our wedding, I think of them.

When I look around Angelica's room, I can see how many people love her (and us) already and how the room has been put together 100% purely out of love.

Dennis and I selected the room which she will call her own. In fact, as we started building this house nearly 5 years ago, it was our intention to build a home where our future children would have room to run and learn and live.
My dad and stepmom basecoat painted the room.
My stepmom spent many days and a lot of time painting the stripes on the walls just perfectly.
My mom came with us and purchased the nursery furniture.
Dennis's dad helped us to assemble the furniture.
Dennis and his dad installed the electrical work to put in the chandelier and ceiling fan.
Dennis's mom came with us to select the ceiling fan and she bought us the butterfly curtain rod!
My mom came over to help us set up the nursery and move the furniture into the room.
My sister helped me to organize and assemble things in the room.
Dennis hung the curtains after my mom ironed them.
My grandma Julie crocheted blankets and booties.
My mom made a beautiful homemade butterfly quilt.
Dennis's Aunt Bev made a beautiful homemade nursery rhyme quilt.
My stepmom had a very cute barrett holder made to match the room.
My friend Jen went shopping with me to pick out the curtains and butterflies and other accessories for the room.
My grandma gave me some of the books that are waiting to be read to her.
The closet, changing table and armoir are FILLED with gifts from many of our other friends and family members who joined us at two BEAUTIFUL baby showers hosted by my mom, my sister, my friends Jen and Christen and by my mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws.
I have spent hours organizing things in the nursery and writing in her baby book.

As I sit in Angelica's room and look around, I see all of the people who love her and care about her and all of their acts of kindness and generosity. It's not just a "cute room" for a baby girl. It is a place that was made with complete love and hope and that is why I love the nursery.

We are counting down the days until she is here. Of course we do not know exactly when she will arrive, but we are down to 36 days from our due date. It is hard to believe I have already been pregnant for 244 days! The time has flown by and she will be here in our arms before we know it.

This picture was signed by all of the guests at both of our showers.

Here is a picture of the "nursery rhyme" quilt that Dennis's Aunt Bev made for us and sent to us all the way from Texas!

Each square contains an embroidered nursery rhyme. Here is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

And here is "Old Macdonald had a farm."

The back side of the quilt has this tag on it.

Here is a blanket crocheted by my Grandma Julie.

Here is the quilt my mom made. When I asked for a quilt made out of squares, I had no idea how much detail and work would go into it! It turned out absolutely beautiful!

Here is a closeup of some of the squares. Each little square had to be washed and ironed before it could be sewn together and each square is hand-quilted on the back.

Here is a poem my mom wrote about making the quilt. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can actually read it. Very sweet.

And here is the barrett holder my step-mom had made for us. My step-mom also hand-embroidered a pair of booties for Angelica as well. (I need to take a picture of them still!)

All of these homemade projects took some serious time and dedication and each was done with a lot of love. We are so grateful that our baby girl is being so anxiously anticipated by so many. Dennis and I are committed to giving her the best life we possibly can. It is so nice to know that we have the support of so many others who also want the best for her. We really and truly appreciate each and every one of you!

New Camera

2009-11-16T20:22:00.006-06:00

I have been looking at DSLR cameras for a while now. I was going to wait until Christmas to get a new one, but my old camera has become a lot less reliable and with the new baby coming, we wanted to make sure we had a good camera once she is born. We decided on a Canon EOS XSi camera. I still have a LOT to learn about it. I took a one day class at the Chicago Center for Photography but could definitely use a lot more instruction. Here are a few of the first shots I have taken.

The moon was still out early in the morning and I was able to catch this shot from our deck.

Here I used the 55-250 lens to zoom in on this barn across the field from our backyard.

I like the way that the sun looks in this picture.

BamBam always makes a good photo model. He loves getting his picture taken.

Rusty doesn't enjoy pictures as much so I need to catch him in action. Here he is checking out his shadow!

And we have some ducks/geese hopping into the pond just off of our backyard.