Grandma and Papa's House

We started off our two week adventure in Springfield, Missouri. We went to visit Jason's parents. Jason was able to stay there a few days, before heading back to Wylie to attend his last service and pick up the UHaul and cat. Here are a few pics at grandma and papa's house.

Sitting in papa's chair! As you know Eliana loves to watch tv, throw in papa's chair and she was in heaven!


Lovin' on Great-Grandma Bettye.


Aunt Jerri and Eliana enjoying the outside.


All the babies love Uncle Joe!


Eliana just loves her Great-Grandma Bettye!


Jason, Eliana and Great-Grandma Ruby


I love this picture of Eliana and Great-Grandma Ruby!


Eliana fell in love with her Grandma Judy! They even went on a walk together. She loved spending time with them and misses them!



Eliana and Papa Bruce. She loved to have papa carry her around and walk with her. And of course she loved to look at the ceiling fans and lights along the way.



We had a great time at Bruce and Judy's. Eliana felt right at home. She really liked sitting on the back porch. We can't wait to visit again soon!

Just a Lazy Rainy Day...

If you live in the North Dallas area, you know that right now a flood is pouring forth from heaven. The baby is cozy and asleep in her crib and I am curled up on the bed with a good book and a purring kitty. Umm... not quite. Instead, I needed to get my eyes checked today before we moved, because right now I am wearing two of the same eye, just to make a pair. The appointment is right when the baby normally eats, so Eliana is going to have to feed herself. There is a threatening cloud overhead, so I won't take in the diaper bag, the less to get wet on the way out, the better. She did a good job feeding herself, except for the bottle falling between her and the car seat and leaking all over her backside. The appointment is at the Wal-Mart vision center, and I could here the rain pounding on the roof. Great! Well, I decide to walk around Wal-Mart to see if it will let up, but wait, Wal-Mart has a McDonalds. Those golden arches have never shined so bright! I get some food, rain still hasn't let up. Walk around a bit, but Eliana is wet from the bottle and has a wet diaper. And I had left the diaper bag in the car. I decide I am going to have to make a run for it. As fast as that is, with a car seat and flip flops. Getting ready to buy an umbrella when low and behold, there is one in my purse! How did that happen? You never have an umbrella in your purse! And here is the picture, Eliana's car seat in the cart. Blanket tucked around baby. Umbrella over car seat in cart. Mommy, a target for rain drops. I take off down the aisle. Wait, were is the car? Two rows over! Ahhhh! Okay, run, run, run, umbrella flying away from baby, baby getting hit in the face with rain, mommy soaked. Now, you always thought it was hard getting into a car and closing up an umbrella at the same time. Try it with a car seat. Baby in car, mommy takes cart to cart drop off next to car, good citizen mommy, mommy runs back to car, trys to get in back with baby. I am in Jason's car, so I have to work the straps. She is in. And I climb over the seat into the front to avoid anymore rain. We get home, garage is full, so I have to run her in, blanket flies away from her face and she gets hit with more rain. What an adventure!

And another thought, these are things I never thought I would do:
1. Testing peas to see if they are hot. I don't like peas and they get on my lips every time I check them.
2. Eat a burger that has had baby feet on it. Yeah, she kept sticking her toes in my burger. This on the adventure told above.
3. Run in the rain without an umbrella, instead protecting my baby with it.

Our Water Baby

Eliana had her first experience at the pool today. We wanted to get the chance to try out our neighborhood pool one last time before the move. Not to mention the weather was nice, Jason was home, and someone was scheduled to come look at the house. The water was still a little chilly even for me, so I wasn't sure how she would take it. She was a little indifferent with her legs in, but let out a little whimper if we submersed her even more. All in all, she showed no expression either way. Not a big show of excitement and not a big "this is the worse thing that could happen to me" scream. And because of this, the video isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but hey, grandmas and grandpas like to see this stuff.



And a few pics of our beach babe...

Just Want to Bottle it Up!

I just love Eliana's laugh! It usually brings me to tears every time she laughs. Not sad tears and not even tears of joy, but "my belly hurts from laughin'" tears! I laugh so hard my mouth hurts from smiling so much! I was able to capture a little bit of her laughter to share with you. Please pay no attention to the crazy man, that's just Daddy!

So Very Sour!

Eliana's first experience with peaches proved sour! So sad a face, and yet we still keep feeding them to her. So now, eating has proven to be a little more difficult as Eliana isn't so sure with what we are putting into her mouth.


And is that a Smith belly I see?


What belly? I don't see a belly.

My First Mother's Day!

Today was a really special day for me. Jason has always celebrated Mother's Day in the past with me, treating me special because I was the future mother of his children...so sweet! Last year was special because I was pregnant, but this year was by far the best. I got to celebrate with my baby Eliana Grace.

The day started with a special gift from Jason, Eliana and Sonny (the cat). We had a great morning at church and then as a family we went to the Taste of Addison festival. We got to eat a lot of food and ok, so all we did was eat a lot of food! And although Eliana had no naps today, she was all smiles and getting a lot of compliments on her pink shades!

It was a very special day with my special husband and baby girl! I am truly blessed!

Our Trip to West Virginia

Jason and I just got back from a two week trip to West Virginia. We had a great time, although I did get a little cabin fever from being in a hotel for two weeks with a baby taking naps. Here are a few pics from our trip.


Daddy and Eliana taking it easy. They look way to comfortable.


Eliana in her baby jail/crib.



Having fun in the car with her favorite elephant.


She loves to eat her solid foods. She just opens up and is ready to go!


For those who think she never cries or gets mad. Although she doesn't really that often, so when it happens it makes me laugh and I snap pictures!


It wasn't me! That smell did not come from me!


Sucking her thumb. We are discouraging that one.

Eliana VS. Solid Food

Eliana has been eating cereal for the past two months, this past week she turned six months, so we decided to try some veggies and fruit. This is the score so far...


Green beans, not so much...however, she does like them now. Actually, she still gives the same face on her first bite, but then I guess she figures she is hungry and we are just going to keep feeding it to her, so she gives in.


Bananas, loved them! Although, when we were feeding her green beans, and went to the bananas, she was skeptical as to what was on the spoon, so the spoon kept hitting very tightly closed lips. Then when she got a little taste, she was very willing to eat.


She was rather indifferent on her first experience with carrots. But carrots quickly moved to one of her favorites, okay, so she has only tried one other veggie, so that list is small, but she does gobble them up!

Our Promise to Eliana

We are excited to announce that after many years of prayers, tears and fears that Jason and I were able to participate in the Child & Parent dedication at our church, with our beautiful blessing, Eliana Grace, on April 13, 2008. We committed to raise her according to God's word and for His purpose. We promised to share Christ with her and call her to follow us as we follow Christ. The life verse that we chose for her was Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Thankfully, she was a gem, she decided that she didn't want to eat that morning before church. I was a little panicked, this would mean that she would be going a long time without food and that she would decide that the time to eat was during the dedication. Luckily that wasn't the case and she did great. Although, Jason and I could hear her little tummy growling.

That's so funny!

I just had to post this conversation between two best buddies.


Charlotte: That is soooo funny! Totally cracks me up! My belly hurts! I think I might pee my pants!
Eliana: Ummmm... that is so not that funny.


Eliana: Now that's funny! Isn't that funny...gotta admit that is funny? I KNOW I just peed my pants!
Charlotte: Yeah, whatever...


Eliana: Good times.
Charlotte: Yeah, good times.


And this is totally a random picture of the two of them watching a movie. You can totally tell that a few years from now, Charlotte will be like "I'm bored with this already, do we have to watch it?" and Eliana will be like "Shhhhh...this is getting good." Eliana let Charlotte borrow her bouncy, but still kept a close hand on it just in case Charlotte wanted to take off with it.

Parent & Child Dedication

Sunday we had our parent and child dedication at church. It was an exciting time for us. Even though we always new that we were going to raise Eliana up in a Christian home, it was fun and exciting to have the formal dedication at church with our friends. Although interesting too, Eliana decided that she didn't want to eat that morning, and I just knew that it would hit her that in her head I was starving her, right when we were supposed to be in front of the whole church. She did great! We did hear her little belly growl!

Our Vintage Baby

These are some pictures we took over the weekend. We are excited to be celebrating her baby dedication this next Sunday and wanted to get a few pictures of her in her dress. It is crazy to see how much she has changed. She is our precious little beauty!

It's All About Perspective

Eliana is growing more and more each day. It is amazing to see her develop physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is fun to interact with her during her different activities during the day (movie time, tummy time, reading time, eating time, and more). We are so blessed to be stewards of the precious little girl. She definitely gives us perspective on life, just as we are trying to instill perspective into her life spiritually.

Pushing up during tummy time...


Smiling after tummy time...


Watching her Baby Einstein movie...


Still watching her movie...


Making her lips an impenetrable fortress at the end of eating time...