Busy is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

Oh my! Can I push the PAUSE button on life right now? Between closing down a classroom, feeling sick as a dog, closing up one house for the summer and moving to another, baby doctor appointment and court...this girl is beyond STRESSED!

We spent Memorial Day Weekend in the country and it was so enjoyable (for the most part). Saturday was spent cleaning for our "BIG" cookout before Taylor's rodeo in Dublin that evening. Well let's just say that what started out being 20-25 coming, ended up being all of 7 people. Talk about frustrating...but oh well! After eating hotdogs, we headed to Dublin for the Double N Cowboy Church Rodeo. It's a rodeo that runs once a month in the summer and then they have a finals rodeo in September. We typically do pretty well, although Saturday night didn't go so pretty. We got 2nd in Sorting and 4th in Muggin'...'nough said :)

Sorting: Josh is on the lead horse and has to get one cow out at a time, beginning with the number the judge gives them. Getting 4 across is excellent!

When Taylor wasn't on his horse, Pumpkin, then Brooke rode him around the whole arena. Taylor is thrilled that she found her love for horses again!

Brooke riding Pumpkin

Sunday we went to church and, of course, Harry preached exactly what I needed to hear: PRAYER! Brooke begged for us to go to Cici's Pizza afterwards, but I never feel like eating there. Sorry Sweet Pea! Now Harry and Carron on the other hand, don't mind it a bit and asked if they could take Brooke to eat and then bring her home later. I was hesitant, but I know that they absolutely love spending time with her and Brooke adores it even more! I wasn't feeling so hot in the first place, so Taylor and I grabbed a bite to eat and then went home for a nap. After a 3 HOUR nap (I never do that!) I woke up at 5 and called to check on Brooke. She was having a blast :) 

Taylor has been working so hard on restoring his Land Cruiser. I can't find any before pictures, but the after ones are great! It is so much fun to drive :)

Well since Taylor loves to drive his new Jeep Land Cruiser and Brooke loves to ride in it...they decided to go for a little Daddy/Daughter drive to the ice cream store (aka Wranglers Convenience Store).

I was up all night on Sunday still feeling miserable! On Monday morning Taylor encouraged me to go to the doctor. I happened to call the minor emergency clinic in Granbury before I drove the 45 minutes and asked if I was even wasting my time with being pregnant and sick. They said that I needed to go straight to the ER. Great! Just what I wanted to do on my day off. I quickly called Harry and Carron to see if Brooke could stay with them while Taylor and I ran to the hospital in Glen Rose. They loved the request! We dropped Brooke off at 8:30, we were the ONLY people in the waiting room along with the admittance rooms and we walked out of there at 10:30 with a diagnosis of "sore throat." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was running 102 fever, had a sore throat, runny/stuffy nose, horrible cough, etc and all you diagnose me with is a SORE THROAT?! Three days later my cough is awful, but I do feel like it will come to an end eventually. IT HAS TO!

Tuesday at work was not the best of all days. Not feeling good and the stress load did me in. There is so much that goes into closing up for a school year. Trying to get report cards done, comment cards typed, desks cleaned, personal stuff packed, Kindergarten gifts made, etc....It never ends! Not only all that, but I then get a call from my attorney that said I HAD to go to his office and get paperwork, look it over and then call him on it the next morning. REALLY?! Doesn't the whole world know what I'm going through? If not, well they should. HA! Yeah right! Pity party ended right then and there. I drove the hour to Denton after school and then the 2 hours home. Thank goodness I have one AWESOME husband that brought home red gerber daisies to put a huge smile on my face :)

We went as a family to see the OB today. Absolutely love her! She is so gentle and sweet and kind. So many things are different from when I had Brooke almost 10 years ago. She is very understanding and didn't make me feel stupid at all...that's a plus! I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to hear the baby's heartbeat or even a mini-sonogram, but that's ok. She took blood-work and we scheduled a sonogram for June 20. I will be very anxious for that appointment! Here is my belly bump already...

Baby Smith - 5 weeks

As many of you know, tomorrow is a HUGE day for our family. Our court date has finally arrived and we are ready to face what the Lord has planned for us. While checking out at the doctor's office today, one of the ladies had this as her screen saver...

 

This is EXACTLY what I needed to read today! We pray that everything goes in our favor tomorrow, but we know realistically things may not. We do know that the Lord hears prayer (which we do nonstop in our household) and that... 

Baby Makes 4!

We are thrilled to announce that Baby Smith will be arriving in January!

We had just had dinner with our friends in Granbury and due to Taylor being on call, we had to go our separate ways afterwards. I had taken a pregnancy test the previous Tuesday and it was negative. Of course my feelings were hurt, but Taylor reassured me that the Lord will bless us in His time. Since I was late, I decided to go ahead and pick up a test on the way home after dinner. I put Brooke to bed, went in the bathroom and waited the LONGEST 3 minutes of my life. Long behold, I saw the 2 lines and immediately started saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" My heart was pounding more than ever. I needed to tell SOMEONE, but sure didn't want to tell Taylor over the phone. (Have I mentioned how much I HATE living in 2 different houses?) I decided to go downstairs so that Brooke couldn't hear anything. I took a picture of the test and immediately texted it to Taylor. As soon as I pushed send, I called and...

T: Hey

S: Hi! What are you up to?

T: I just got home. What about you?

S: Oh nothing (yeah right!). Hey, did you get my text?

T: Text? No. 

S: Hmmm. OK. Well I'll guess I'll talk to you tomorrow.

He was killing me! I thought about possibly waiting until Saturday (this was on a Monday) to tell him at his rodeo, but I for sure couldn't keep that kind of secret THAT LONG! I couldn't stand it any longer...I called him back :) 

T: Hi

S: Hey! Did you get my text yet?

T: No. What's going on?

S: Well, I took a test and....it was positive!

T: (Long period of silence) Are you sure?

S: Well, it looks that way. Do you want me to take another one?

T: YES!

So test #2 it was! I went back upstairs, took the test, waited the LONG 3 minutes and ...TADA...it was positive, too! I texted the picture and words "#2 Positive!" Let's just say that neither one of us got much sleep that night. We talked on the phone and texted most of the night, still in shock! We both decided that we needed to tell Brooke before we told anyone else. We had decided to meet in Granbury again on Wednesday so that both of us could tell her. That Tuesday at work was one of the LONGEST days of my life! I was ready to scream it to the mountaintops, but I didn't :) I was supposed to work late that night for an Art Exhibit, but I couldn't stand it any longer. Taylor had texted me early morning asking if there was anyway that we could meet that night. I worked it out with my team and CIT that I could be excused from the exhibit and meet Taylor in Granbury. I was thrilled!

So after school, I told Brooke that dad and I had a surprise for her and that she just needed to take a nap and we would be there when she woke up. Of course, that came with questions, but she finally fell asleep and our drive was on! We met at our favorite restaurant, ate dinner and the rest is in the video:

Let our family of FOUR begin!

Catch Up Time!

After seeing that everyone's updating their blogs on Facebook, I realized that it had been way too long since I had updated mine. The sad thing is that I couldn't even remember the name of mine! Thanks Becky for reminding me :)

So much has happened since I last blogged in October, but rest assured that I won't fill you in on EVERYTHING!

We spent Thanksgiving at Ken and Becky's with about 50 friends and family.

 

Christmas was spent in the country and it was absolutely perfect! Anne, Gee and Gramps spent the day with us before we headed out to NM for a mini-vacation.

 

January brought LOTS of changes to our lives. We  moved to Benbrook and I got a job teaching Kindergarten at my old school. To say the least, having to keep 2 houses clean is a full-time job in itself! We couldn't have asked for a better transition. Brooke absolutely loves being back with her old friends, although she continuously asks when we can move back to Hico. It will always be home! The staff and team welcomed me with open arms and I immediately felt like I was back at home. Kindergarten is different, but it's exactly where I need to be!

I celebrated my 30th birthday in February! Crazy how 30 seemed so old a few years ago :)

In April, heaven gained another angel with welcoming Grandma Frances to the pearly gates. We wish it would have been under different circumstances, but it was Brooke's first time to visit NM. She absolutely loved it! We took her to White Sands and we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!