Call me crazy...

Okay,
First of all, I have to say that I think I may be the only person in the state of Florida who enjoyed Tropical Storm Fay. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I would be willing to say that tropical storms are the BEST things that Florida summers have to offer. It did rain for about three days but it was also 20 degrees cooler than normal...with a nice breeze.
Plus, it is nice to turn on the news and not hear the weather man going on and on about our water deficit anymore. We officially have a surplus now. Yee Haw!

Second, I really think that the weather hates me sometimes. My car stinks like must from all of the moisture so I made plans today to steam clean it at my in-laws. Well...my plans are no more because of the huge lines of thunderstorms that are coming through right now. We are under a tornado watch so instead of cleaning my car and getting rid of the smell, the smell will probably just get thicker. Ew.

Other than that life is swimming along. Time is ticking away and even though it seems like it is going slow presently I keep waking up on Friday wondering where the week went.

It's my obsession...

I'm obessessed with the new Neutrogena Wave.

This cute little product is more than a great accessory for your bathroom. It is an AMAZING tool to use on your face! Usually I am more than skeptical about these little fad face washing gadgets that come out but I decided to take the leap and try it out this time. I was not dissapointed. My skin is so much smoother. The amount of small little blackheads that were on my chin has been cut in half. If I do break out, the whole rising, popping and healing process is so much faster than with a regular cleanser.

Seriously, get this product. Even if you don't think you have a problem with your skin it feels amazing to use. Your face gets tingly and fresh. The feeling is comparable to your mouth after a good tooth-brushing.

I love it!

Blogger Loser...

Hi All,
I'm a blogger loser.
I keep making mental notes in my brain of things I want to blog about and I keep not making time to blog about them. Here is a basic recap of the last couple of weeks.

1. I'm addicted to baking soda and vinegar as a household cleaner. I scrubbed both of the rings around Jane's tub (the ring from where I fill the water and the ring from where Jake fills the water) off in THREE minutes. It may not have even taking that long.

2. I'm dying to get my hands on a kitchen aid stand mixer. I would almost consider donating a spare kidney for one of the professional grade machines (I'm sure I use the kidney less than I would use the mixer... right?!).

3. The cost of "Positive Discipline: Birth to Three Years" should be written into the cost of every woman's hospital stay. We should also be tested on it periodically to make sure that the book is being read. If every parent would read this book I think we would see a DRASTIC change in our society 20 years from now. I love this book so much I want to invite the authors to Tallahassee so I can kiss their feet.

4. I've been keeping track of all the fun words that Jane pronounces incorrectly. Here is a list:
-"Eleflu" or Elephant
-"copcorn" or popcorn
-"manga" or gramma
-"monka" is monkey
-"tire" is tiger
-"night" is snow white
-"a roar" is aurora
-"la" is cinderella
-"daiyu" is Jasmin
and a bunch more.

5. I am so far into my pregnancy that I am going MORE than once a month. I can't believe it has all gone by so quickly. I'm at the point now where I can push my stomach and actually feel body parts. That is such a fun stage because when the baby sleeps close to the skin (as opposed to the spine) I can push little legs and arms around while he sleeps. I used to do this with Jane all the time. It wakes the baby up pretty much every time you do it.

6. Jane turned TWO!! I can't believe it! We had such a fun birthday party. She asked for a Princess party so that is what she got. One of her friends came over and they fingerpainted together. Then she ate cake and opened presents with the family. Almost everything she got had Disney Princesses on it.

7. AND FINALLY, I've been thinking about getting my kids a standard investment gift every year but I don't know which would be better: stocks, bonds, mutual funds or a deposit into a high yield savings account.

What do you guys think???

Recall...

I'm starting the food diary again.
'Nuf said...

Yay for weekends!

1. Two logs have been discontinued... I can't possibly keep a realistic track of my time and I refuse to keep track of my diet. I'll just work out more.

2. Jake is home for a LONG three day weekend. Yay! Tonight, instead of fireworks and throngs of people, we put Jane to bed at her normal bedtime and we are making bread, balancing our checkbook (this log is so nice, being accountable for the money on paper makes me spend less in general... who would have thought?!) and picking out different recipes to try on his weekends at home. I love my husband.

I was sitting in a restaurant last night, watching Jane and Jake walk away to the bathroom (she had a DIIIIRRRRTTTTYYY diaper) and I couldn't help but just smile. I have the best little family. Jane sat by Jake at dinner and kept reaching over and hugging and kissing him. I kept cathing the woman behind us staring at Jane and smiling. She is such a sweet little girl. I knew Jake was the right man for me when I married him and I have never second guessed my decision but going through the weeks by myself and having him home on the weekend just reaffirms my feelings and lets me KNOW that I NEVER want to be a single mother. It not as hard to do everything with a child on your own as it is lonely. I want to badly to put Jane into bed every night and feel relieved that she is down but most of the time I want to just get her back up so I have someone to sit with me and talk to me (she can actually TALK now and tell me what she likes and dislikes...it is amazing!)

Anyways, I'm not going to be a downer.

I love my family so much!

Electric Knives...

I got an electric knife!
I use it to cut the two loaves of freshbaked, whole wheat bread I have made in the last week. I also used it to cut Jane's frenchbread pizza last night. It was great! I'm pretty much addicted to it.

Usually when I try something new, I try other new things at the same time. Here is a brief recap of the new routines I am trying to establish:

1. A food Diary. Normally I am AGAINST these with a passion that is unrivaled but... I keep gaining weight with this pregnancy and I can't figure out where I am eating enough to gain eight pounds in one month and 6 pounds in the next. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the miniature chocolates I buy on the weekend when Jake is home...

2. An activity log. Again, this is something that I am normally very much opposed to but if I'm going to monitor my physical weight I should probably monitor all the junk time activities I have been filling my days with lately. So far I have half a page worth of entries and nothing really substantial to report... I've done the dishes, run to the bank, checked the mail, paid the rent...

3. and finally, a spending log! This is nothing more than a sheet of lined paper that tracks every single penny that I spend but this is big!! I hate keeping the balance of my bank on paper but with all the new money coming in and all of my lofty saving goals, I've got to figure out where I can "trim the fat."

It's interesting though, all of my new activities revolve around losing some kind of weight or another. I blame my friend, you know who you are, for filling my mind with 3 years worth of a minimalists perspective. Maybe I'll finally get it right this time...
Until then, I'm drinking a lot of water, hanging out with Jane and working while she naps. We're bored!! Call us for playdates!!!

I Know...

If you haven't already heard, Jane is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty. Most days she asks to watch the movie first thing in the morning and then asks over and over again for me to dance with her while I sing her favorite song from the movie. It is one of the great joys that I have in my life. Lately she has been readjusting our hand positions if my hand isn't in the correct leading position. I have no idea where she picked that up!

When I saw this Sleeping Beauty doll I HAD to get it for her. She has been carrying that doll everywhere. She sleeps with it. She sings to it, brushes its' hair and dances with it. She is such a smart little girl!!

In a matter of months Jane will be two years old. It is weird to think that my sweet little baby isn't a little baby anymore. I worry sometimes because I feel so close to her, I feel so drawn and hypnotized by her. How can I possibly feel this way for little baby Sawyer? (Surprise, that is the name we chose for Smith baby #2) But then, with every kick and wiggle I feel a little more bonded to him as well. Everyone that I have ever met says "of course a mother has enough love for two. A mother's heart just expands" but one of my great friends also said that you begin to love the children in relation to one another. I already feel that. Every time Jane pats my stomach and says "Hi baby soyee" my heart melts a little and I think "this child is so lucky to have such a great family waiting for him". Maybe that is a little arrogant but....oh well.

So in honor of Jane and for posterities' sake, here is a list of all of my favorite things she does.

The stink eye, her princess obsession, playing night night, walking dogs, swinging, sliding, eating as much fruit as she can get her hands on, telling other kids "no take" when they get too close to her toy, kissing me randomly, calling for "Jacob! Jacob! Honey! Honey!" instead of just asking for Daddy, grasping enough of the concept of someone being gone to say "miss Daddy" or "miss Holly", playing back and forth with me by saying "you rock!" "no, you rock!", wiggling in behind me on the couch and "hold, Mommy", screaming anytime she sees bubbles, using her fingers to close her eyes, pretending to snore when she plays night night, and a thousand other things!

I can't even begin to name all the things I love about her. The list is so long and ever evolving. I couldn't have gotten a daughter that is more wonderful if I would have written up a checklist and sent it to Heavenly Father. Jane Elizabeth Smith is one of the great loves of my life and I can't wait to see where we all go from here.

Beauty Sleep

Jane and I dropped Jake off at the Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy today. So far my experiences with being a single parent are pretty good. We went to the grandparents house from the academy and they not only ran Jane ragged but stuffed her full of food that will keep her tummy happy for the whole night. She fell asleep at 6:00pm on the way home and is looking like she is going to sleep the rest of the evening. I've watched T.V., eaten a cupcake and two leftover maple sausage links from breakfast and now I am getting ready to brush my teeth and read for an hour or two before going to bed.

I tend to have dark circles around my eyes naturally but when I am pregnant they arrive in darker shades than I have ever seen before! So here is my question for you guys; aside from getting more sleep and wearing obscene amounts of makeup, what can I do to make these pseudo-black eyes go away? Have you found any products that effectively get rid of them? Do cucumbers actually work? Tell me!!

Also, I have to say, Jake was so cute in his suit today when I dropped him off. I love my husband so much and my daughter is such a joy. I can't wait until we finish this training period (30 weeks!!) and can be a complete family again.

Fancy fancy

So I cruise all the blogs that are linked to my friends pages and I have noticed that my blog is pretty basic.
How do you add all the links at the side and make columns on the side. I even saw a blog with a little floating baby and a timer predicting its' arrival...

Tantrums...

Jane is officially, OFFICIALLY two years old.

I know, technically, we are about 6 weeks away from the big day but she is wearing me out!

She cried for two hours two days ago because we had no juice in the house. We put her in her room; she came back out and cried. Finally, after sitting in her room for the better part of two hours she decided pitching a fit wasn't going to work and turned into the most loving and playful little girl...

What has happened to my child?!

The Stink Eye...

Have you ever had a neighbor that moved in and decided, in a matter of seconds, that they just didn't like something about you??

I think I am having my first encounter with this phenomenon. And it is really getting on my nerves.

A new family moved into our complex and every attempt Jake and I have made to wave, smile or say "hello" to them has been met with a dirty look!

One of these days I'm going to... well, I haven't actually decided what I'm going to do one of these days but I'm annoyed!!

And the verdict is...

Hi All!
So, most of you know by now that I am pregnant. I haven't really posted anything about it so if you didn't already know... Surprise!

The news of the hour is that we are having a BOY!! We are so excited to have a little boy in the family. We are like a perfectly balancing teeter-totter right now and I can safely say that I'd be perfectly happy with my little family for the rest of my life if we decided to not have any more children.

Our little guy is pretty much the complete opposite of Jane (as far as being in the womb is concerned).
Jane measured a week small.
Baby Sawyer (surprise! That's his name!) measures a week big.
Jane never slept at night and I couldn't get her to wake up before 10:00AM
Baby Sawyer sleeps at night and hops around all morning.
Jane was asleep and sucking her hand in every ultrasound we had.
Baby Sawyer looks like he is the main attraction at the circus. We get flips and turns and HOPS!! When the doctor did an ultrasound on Sawyer a month ago he was hopping around so much that we could hear a sound coming across the heartbeat detecting machine. I thought he had hiccups but the Doctor set me straight and informed me that the baby was jumping.

I don't think Jane quite understands what she is in for but she likes to hold my slowly growing tummy and kiss my belly button. She at least knows that the baby is not in HER belly. In fact, if I ask her if she is "mommy's baby" she points at my tummy and says "Baby".

Anyways, we are so happy. We can't wait to share our new little baby with the rest of you.

St. Simons Island

Hi All!! I'm BAaaaaaaaaCK!
We went to St. Simons Island for the weekend to meet my mom a couple of weeks ago and I just had to share our adventures. St. Simons Island is on the Ga. Coast about an hour north of Jacksonville and it is one of the best kept secrets in the South. Above is the bridge that we took into town. It was so high off the ground you could see the water and marshlands for miles.

Little Jane loved swinging at the waterfront park by the pier but she was so tired before we left on Sunday that she was falling asleep in the swing.

The women on the beach after arriving Friday evening. It rained the whole way up to St. Simons and magically cleared when we got to our condo.

Jane was so excited when she saw a pool after the long drive that she just couldn't wait to go swimming until the morning. She is realizing the pool is a little cold in this picture. She was so cute though. We just let her plop right in the water with her diaper and t-shirt on.

Jane and Mommy at the top of the lighthouse I carried two babies all the way to the top... ;)

Well, We've missed you all. If you happen to stumble across this in passing feel free to make a comment so I know your there. Sarah, you've been so great with your harrassment for me to keep writing. You can officially begin pestering me about it again!!

Salut!

Starleigh

New Year! New me?

Hello to all of my faithful readers!
(So far I only have evidence of ONE!!) I'm back on board the blogspot train. Hopefully this year I will be able to keep up with this thing. Every year I make the resolution to start writing in a journal and every year I fail miserable at following through with that goal.
Things at home are going well. Jane is full-gear into the "terrible two's" even though she is only 18 months old. She is so smart and talks so much. I read a book today that said children at 18 months should know about 20 single words and be minimally communicative. She is so far passed that! We are working on "please" and "thank you". She says "I love you" and asks to go "Bye bye"; she says "all done" when she has completed a task or finished eating and so many other things. Honestly I would have to sit down and write a list of all the words she says. Her favorites of course are "No" and "mine."
Life isn't all bad with a crazy almost-two-year-old though. She is so affectionate and loving. She kisses all the babies that she sees and pretty much anyone that comes within arm distance of her. She is so wonderful.
Jake and I are planning on trying for our second child soon. We wanted to wait until Jane turns two in July but when the Spirit moves, well, all you can do is get out of the way.
Seriously though, last Sunday, at church, I felt like someone was missing. I almost kept looking around for someone that I knew wasn't there. It is the first time I have ever felt that way before. Usually I am so content and relaxed with just a family of three. Last Sunday I felt very strongly like it was time for a new member to join our family. We haven't started trying YET though so don't hold your breath waiting for the big news. We'll tell you when we tell you.
Other than that life has picked its' pace up a little bit. Jake is participating in the ROTC program at FSU and will hopefully be contracted next week. I am still working with LSI doing research but have been given a small promotion. It is a lot of work but it's good experience and I should get a good recommendation from this. I'll also get the 1-2 years experience that everyone in the world asks of their job applicants. (Hopefully I won't have to use it after Jake is commissioned.) The clock is tickin' folks. Jake is close to being done with school and then we never really have to worry about school again.

Hooray!!

The poet in me.

I am not a poet.

However, I was compelled to write a poem for a class. This is the one that I love best.

It is inspired by my family.

Hibiscus

Through the doorway of the room
the painted Hibiscus can be seen
the soft rounded petals are as flat as the wall
the babies cries can be heard
from the hall to the master bedroom
to the screen on the open window
the father is reading his book
hundreds of pages turning to one.
He is content
and loved by all the world.

Betty is the lady...

Betty Crocker is the lady.
When I was a little girl I used to go to my grandparents' house every spring break and eat loaves upon loaves of crunchy home-made bread.
(okay, so I didn't really like the crunchy bread back then but my how the times have changed.)
As I grew older and ultimately more mature ( I am quite charming and mature these days...) I developed a desire to have the basic skill of bread making passed down to me.

The time finally came last week.
My grandparents visited me in the great state of Florida (their first visit ever!!) and graciously took the time to show me how to bake bread.
Apparently I was cooking blind in the kitchen because my Grandmother bought me a "Betty Crocker" cook book and my world has changed.
THAT BOOK IS FREAKIN AWESOME!!

Seriously, If you don't own a copy, go out and buy one RIGHT now. (Wal-Mart is open 24-hours; there are no excuses for not having one by this time tomorrow...)

Absent.

So I guess at least two people read my blog.
Sorry I have been absent. In the last few weeks the Smith Family has driven at least 1200 miles round trip. We have gone south (to Orlando) then north (to Chattanooga) and south again (home). Our trips were great. We had a great time reconnecting with most of the different branches of our families (the only branch missing is the one my dad sits on).

When we were in Orlando we went non-stop all day. It was great. Jane had a wonderful time at the theme parks and Jake and I were able to relax a little bit too. Grandparents are great.

Chattanooga was a visual feast for the eyes. The fall colors were present in full effect. There was a national rowing competion on the Tennessee river the weekend we were there and the temperature was cool enough for a light jacket but not cool enough for hats and gloves.

Now we are all tired from our travels. Jane is finally figuring out how to sleep through the night again (Only because we make her cry in her bed if she wakes up or refuses to go to sleep). She does have a mystery virus though so we are pretty muched locked in for the next week.

I've got a lot of pictures to post from our different trips but no energy to post them right now. For those faithful readers that notice if I don't repost for three weeks, I promise I won't make you wait that long.

For everyone else...
you won't notice anyways.

Ciao!
Je suis une flame parmi des femmes.

Eclectic interactions...

Okay, I know that you all missed my senseless ramblings; so I'm back to satisfy all the cravings that you have had for your daily Smith Family update.

This picture here is a picture of the little lizard that crept into our house two weeks ago. He ran through the door, across the living room and under the couch. We searched for him almost daily. We upturned furniture, unloaded drawers and just caused a massive upheaval of the front of our house in general. Eventually we assumed that he had died. Tonight he ran across the wall and with our sticky hands and quick minds we were able to catch him before he could find a better hiding spot. He didn't go down without a fight thought; we had to coax him out from behind a picture on the wall after we scared him with the flash on our camera.

This my friends is a picture of the first thong Jane will ever wear. (I am not naive enough to let myself believe that it is the last thong she will ever wear.) We didn't do it on purpose. I know what you guys are thinking, "Jeez, they torture their child." No, no my friends, she did this all to herself. That skirt is a little awkward to begin with but after running and crawling and hiding in all of the small spots she could find in the restaurant we ate at for dinner the skirt fought back.

Tuesday was Park Day for the local play group. Jane loves this park because she gets to run around on all of the play things that are made for kids that are my size and I spend the whole time hyperventilating behind her. One of the other mom's joked by saying that she would catch Jane if someone else would catch me when I fainted. Secretely they all think I am crazy...

Jane isn't a fan of taking pictures when she is tired.

We took Jane to the pumpkin patch and she walked in unsure of herself but realized really quickly that we had taken her to a field full of funny sized balls that rolled wierd when she threw them. It was cute but then we decided we should leave before she broke one.

No, no, you're not hullicinating. That does look like a pumpkin stem growing out of Jane's head. We've been doing some experimental treatments on Jane trying to get her to grow faster. This is the only thing that developed. We love our little one-horned monster.

So we've been on a bit of a nature kick lately. Saturday we went to the Lake Jackson Indian Mounds in Tallahassee. I expected there to be at least ten mounds, tee-pees, period clothing, and demonstrations. Instead we found something a little simpler.

There were only two Indian mounds. I don't even think that one of them counted as an mound. It was more of an anthill actually. The other one was pretty impressive though. Apparently the native american's built this these mounds completely by hand. The top of the mound was covered with wildflowers that were about as tall as my shoulders. In between all of these wildflowers were butterflies. Now, I have lived in Tallahassee for three years and the butterfly migration has happened every year while I have walked around completely unaware. This time of year is amazing down here because it has FINALLY cooled down enough to wear long sleeves in the morning.

The park also had a fairly impressive set of hiking trails that wound through the forest surrounding the mounds. We crossed over streams and by little cliffs. Jane had a great time walking over the bridges. She was so cute; she would walk to one side of the bridge, turn around and walk a back to the other side of the bridge. She did this over and over again. When we finally made her stop she got mad, sat down on the ground and cried.






So I would say that our weekend outing was successful. We spent time together as a family that didn't involve sitting on the couch in our living room or on the sidewalk in the backyard. Jane was tired when we got home and we didn't have a hard time getting her to take a nap. (That is always a positive!)





And, finally, we have all of these great pictures to share with you. Of course you don't get to see them all, but really, it's okay, I know that your not that interested... :)

Chapter One

What a beautiful world we live in...

We went to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge today to look at the migrating monarch butterflies and scope out some aligators in their natural habitat.

Jane and I enjoyed some sand and sun while carefully avoiding the little critters that life in the sand

Jane hitched a ride on Jake's back when we realized that she couldn't be trusted to walk on her own. One year old's tend to go deaf when they hear their parents telling them not to do something.

The little creatures in the sand. Jake was standing very still over this crabs hole. We had to gain his trust before he would come out and greet us.

Jane and I posed for a picture in a little grove of palm trees.

Jake and Jane walked along the beach. You could see the little paths that the aligators made through the bushes.

Family picture in front of the St. Marks Lighthouse. This would make a great Christmas card...