Friday, May 27, 2011

Omaha

When we moved to Omaha, Nebraska over 3 years ago, Aaron used to tell people that he was quitting dental school and becoming a corn farmer.

He's so funny.

Who knew that we would grow to love that place so much?  I'm still a bit surprised.  We're gone.  Our house has a new family living in it.  We're not really sure if we'll ever go back to Omaha.  But we loved it.  Forget the AH-mazing zoo.  Forget the life-saving  friends.  Forget the life-changing education.  Forget all of that, and we will still carry a fondness for Omaha that can never be replaced.

Personally, I think it has a lot to do with our growth as a family (and not just the addition of our boys, Grey and Jair).  The time we spent in Omaha made us a stronger family, and it made Aaron and I a stronger husband and wife.  For that, I will always love Omaha.

And I have to stop typing now, because it's hard to sep;ll check through the tears.



"Goodbye, Omaha.  We love you."

I couldn't have said it better myself. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Time for a Change

"Twin Time Plus One" needs a name change!

Now presenting:

Jair Nelson Smith
7 lbs 9 oz
20.5 in long
7:36 pm
May 2, 2011

This sweet little guy came 2.5 weeks early just to join me for my own birthday! I've had some pretty spectacular birthday presents over the years. 2 years ago, Aaron took me to see Wicked. When I was in high school, my friends broke into and decorated my locker. When I was really little, my dad woke me up early before he left for work. He gave me a birthday card with a monkey on it and a Diet Dr. Pepper to drink before anyone else got up. On May 1, 2011, those were my top 3 birthday presents.

As of May 2, 2011...



They've all been trumped.

Jair has stolen our hearts. We can't get over how blessed we are to have him, to have him here safe, and to have him here at the perfect time. You may or not know that my due date (May 20) also happened to be the date we had to move out of our house (signed the contract before we were pregnant...nice) What a blessing to have these next few weeks with Jair here (and healthy!) before we move.

All weekend, I had a feeling that he was coming soon. By Sunday night/Monday morning, I was having lots of contractions. I spent Monday morning getting things together. Can you believe I still didn't have a bag packed? I didn't even have the baby clothes out yet! We got it all together despite the painful - yet still irregular - contractions.

About 2 pm, I couldn't take it anymore, and we headed to the hospital. Thanks to my wonderful friends for watching All My Children while we were gone. Lily and Ruby were very excited when I told them that we were going to go to the doctor and that the baby was going to come that day!

At the hospital, everything progressed very quickly. Everything, that is, besides the effectiveness of my epidural. For some reason, I had numb legs and toes, but that was about it. When the realization hit me that it wasn't working and there wasn't time to do anything about it, I cried a little. I just kept wondering how people do this VOLUNTARILY. It's definitely not for me!

Fortunately for me, I only pushed for a few minutes before our Sweet Baby Jair was born at 7:36 pm. He rocked his Apgar tests, peed on the resident doctor, and then snuggled on Momma's chest. We were instantly in love.

Aaron spent that night at home with the kiddos and then brought them up to the hospital the next morning. Lily and Ruby were so excited to meet the baby, and Lily spent the morning trying to teach Grey to say, "Baby Jair." It was love at first sight... but not for everyone.






Here's some pictures of our buddy. I hope you can enjoy them half as much as we enjoy him! Thank you all for your love and support. We truly are so blessed.