Hannah's Visit

Hannah and Jared came to visit us for a few days this summer because Jared had some training at a nearby town.  He brought Hannah with him so she could see the big apple and the days while he was in his meeting, Hannah got to hang out with me and Gemma. It was so fun getting to know Hannah better and to actually get out of the house and do something.

 Whenever Gemma got fussy at the changing table, Hanna would read her a book.  Gemma loved it!

 One of the days we went to the Crayola Factory.  Now when you hear the word "factory" you might assume that we  actually got to see crayons made.  There might have been a video for us to watch, but we couldn't fit in the crowded room with the stroller and Hannah didn't seem too interested in that part anyway. The Crayola Factory is a huge building with TONS of different activities that the kids can do with Crayola products and then you can purchase the cool items in their store at the end.

They had crayons that can write on a car and be wiped off.

Fun Mirrors that make us look skinny!

 Sidewalk chalk

Gemma was so good the whole time.  She either slept or looked at her elephant.  We were there for at least four hours and she was so perfect!

Glow in the dark markers

 The largest Crayon!

Another day we went raspberry picking at one of the local farms so we could make raspberry freezer jam.  This activity was probably Hannah's least favorite because she forgot to spray herself with the bug spray and I think she was really worried about getting bitten by a bug. It was really hot and we were probably a few days too early for the best raspberries.  We went to Walmart afterwards to get supplies for the jam and there was a huge carton of raspberries that looked so perfect and it was even cheeper than the ones we picked! 



July 4th

For the July 4th holiday we went down to a nearby town that held a parade and fireworks show with some friends from our Church.  It was a beautiful day out for the parade but, unfortunately, the town decided that parade would be more about showing off their fire trucks and police cars than anything else.  Along with those emergency vehicles they also showed off the sirens which seemed never ending.  With a small infant it didn't exactly make for the most pleasant experience for her first July 4th as she mostly cried because of the sirens.  Because of that experience we decided to forego the fireworks show that evening as we didn't think she would do well during it.  Nevertheless, it was a good time with some friends and at least Gemma looked cute in her little July 4th outfit!!

Wonderwoman made an appearance at the parade.  Time hasn't been kind to this ol' gal, as she looked like she's added a few pounds.  Her "stars" were a little stretched out, too.

Despite all of the police and fire vehicles there were a few really cool old military vehicles, like this one...

There was also a big bag pipe band that came through the parade...

This was an old funeral carriage.  The horses were beautiful.  Although, it was a little creepy amidst all of the July 4th stuff.

Our friends from Church and their kiddos (Ahrens and Oscarson families).  The kids loved getting candy that was being tossed out of the vehicles...

This old ambulance was really neat.  Reminded me of the Ghostbusters car!!

And this one reminded me of the Three Stooges...

When all the sirens weren't going off Gemma had a blast snuggling with Daddy and watching all the stuff going on around her...

Gemma and her toys

Everyday Gemma becomes more and more aware of the world around her.  Lately she's started to become more playful, too, which is so much fun to watch.  Thanks to her Aunt Rebecca and Aunt Anne back in Arkansas she has some fun new toys that bring out her sweet little smile.

It's been so much fun to watch this little angel grow and develop her personality everyday.  Her smiles and laughter bring so much joy to me and her mother.

Gemma's Blessing

One of the many joys of being a father and a Priesthood holder is the opportunity I have to give my wife and child blessings from time to time.  In our faith a Priesthood holder gives a child a blessing shortly after they are born.  It's not so different than a Christening in other faiths, for example.  Ever since Jody and I found out that we were pregnant we've been looking forward to this moment.  Jody, with all of her creative and crafty abilities, decided to make this an extra special experience.  She decided to take her mother's wedding dress and use it to sew Gemma's blessing dress.  I honestly thought this was pretty ambitious when she first told me about the idea but I told her to go for it.  The final result was absolutely beautiful.

This is a pic of Jody's mom and dad on their wedding day...

First Jody had to soak the dress in Oxi Clean (Billy Mays would be so proud!).  You can see how yellow the water turned from the soak.

This was her mother's dress after it had soaked for 6 hours in the Oxi Clean bath.

One of the many downsides of living so far from our family is that we couldn't share this moment in person with our loved ones.  Thankfully, though, we were blessed to have some very dear friends and at least one family member join us for the blessing.  My very good friend Steven George stayed the weekend with us.  For those that don't know Steven he has been commuting back and forth between Arkansas and New Jersey for several months now waiting on his house to sell.  During this time he's had to spend a considerable amount of time away from his 3 kids and his wife.  It was great to have him with us and we are thankful that his wife allowed him to stay with us instead of traveling back to Arkansas for the weekend.  Our friends Conrad and Jill Tompkins from Arkansas also joined us for the blessing along with their 3 kids and dog.  Fortunately for them the trip was quite a bit shorter as they live in Southern New Jersey.  Jody's oldest brother, Jared, and his oldest daughter, Hannah, also stayed with us for a few days because Jared had to attend a conference down in Bethlehem, PA.

Here's the Tompkins oldest daughter, Ella, holding Gemma...

The Smith and Tompkins families.

Geeking for the camera...

Jody, Gemma, and me with Jared and Hannah...

I can't take these guys anywhere...

All the lovely ladies...

The Tompkins family also brought along their little dog, which didn't exactly get along well with our dog (Mia) and cat (Chloe)...

It's amazing how the Lord blesses you during these important moments.  All this time we thought that the blessing would be a moment that we could only share with our friends at Church, but we were blessed to have close friends and some family with us over the weekend.

First trip to the hospital

One of the joys of having a child is celebrating all of the first moments.  Their first smile.  Their first step.  Their first word.  Even their first poop!  But, one of the things we parents never look forward to is taking our child to the Emergency Room for any reason.  Unfortunately we had to take Gemma to the hospital just a month after she was born.  As Gemma and Cace were walking down the stairs into the basement Cace slipped on one of the steps and fell a few feet.  In the process Gemma slipped from his hands and fell onto the floor.  Thankfully she landed on a piece of carpet.  Unfortunately she got a bump on her head and was pretty startled by the fall.  After we got her calmed down Cace gave her a Priesthood blessing and we decided to take her into the Emergency Room just to make sure there weren't any major issues.  Once we got to the ER they ran a cat scan and found that she had a minor fracture on her skull where she fell so they transferred us to the Children's Hospital.  Because it was a transfer they wouldn't let us drive her to the hospital ourselves.  Instead Jody and Gemma had to ride together in an ambulance.  We ended up staying one night in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and two more nights in the standard Pediatrics side ("the floor").  The pediatricians wanted to monitor her as her hemoglobin levels were a bit low.  Finally, after 3 days, the neuro-surgeon gave us the green light to take Gemma home.  In the end it was only a minor fracture that didn't require any surgery.  The swelling went down pretty quickly and she was back to normal after the first day in the hospital.  Nevertheless, it was worth it to make sure she was alright and to give us some peace of mind.

The worst part about the whole experience was the fact that she had to wear this mesh "boot" where they inserted the IV into her foot.  Although they never ended up using the IV it was still hard to watch them draw blood, as she screamed so loud whenever they did.

Cace got in some quality study time while we were at the hospital.

Gemma was excited when we got her ready to go home.

We just love this little angel.  This experience made us feel like we were the only parents in the world who had this happen to them.  But, after talking with the staff at the hospital and several friends we were assured that this happens quite often.  Thankfully it wasn't a serious incident but it was certainly humbling and Cace is being extra careful when walking down the stairs from now on.