Soooo long!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Daddy's been so busy with his move and getting ready for his new job that he hasn't given me any time on the computer. It's been a busy past couple of weeks between all the visits with my different families in the metroplexes of Dallas/Ft. Worth and Lawn. I'll put a few pictures on here so that everyone can see what I've been up to...

First off, I have to show you this thing!! Can you believe they put me in this every night? Look at me, someone rescue me!!

While daddy was finishing up work I got to visit with some of the Dickerson clan out at Cornerstone Lodge. Here's me and Granny (great-grandmother) and Grandpa. Can you believe we got Granny in a picture? She only did it for me.

Next we traveled to Lawn to set up shop in Nannie's house. Here's a picture from me at the Smith family reunion, this is Daddy, my cousins Davis and Cody and me in the swimming pool. Look out mom and DeeDee, this spells trouble...

Well, sorry it's been so long and that this post is short. Once I get my wireless router back and daddy has a work computer, I can finally entertain Daddy and take some time to blog at the same time.

MeMaw and PePaw for Daddy's Graduation

Well, things are wrapping up here in H-town. MeMaw and PePaw came into town for Daddy's graduation this week. Here's me and MeMaw, I can't figure out what daddy's doing with that little metal box...

Take a look at my family, no wonder I'm so good-looking. During the banquet I hung out with my good friend Nathan. Since we both slept the whole time in separate rooms, I haven't actually met him yet but I just get the feeling we'll be good friends.

The highlight of the week was watching Roger finally get his French Open victory. You can see him in the background with me laughing that the first set only took 23 minutes. He let the other guy have a few games in the 2nd and 3rd sets, just so the fans wouldn't get angry but I knew he had it under control the whole time.

In two weeks we'll be visiting Abilene for Daddy's high school reunion and the next week off to Dallas to meet some of the Dickerson crew...

Memorial Day

Well, things have been pretty great around here! Mommy is getting to stay with me all day and daddy loves to come home and play with me...

Last week Mommy graduated with her Master's degree. I was so proud of her! You can see pictures of it on Mommy's blog (justinandrachelsmith.blogspot.com).

Daddy has been at work all week taking care of other babies. But, because of the Memorial Day holiday, he was off Sunday and got to come home early today. Of course, holidays also mean that he often doesn't keep his beard short and sometimes it gets a little prickly! Yikes, like at my face in this one!

One more month until the big move to Abilene!

Happy Mother's Day

First of all, yesterday was my four week birthday! Here's a picture of me in my new hoodie. I've graduated on from my newborn clothes into 0-3 months.

Today was the first Mother's Day for Mommy. Granny D sent me a great shirt to celebrate the day in. First thing this morning, Daddy and I went to the Colache shop today for cinnamon rolls. Then we all sat around and watched some TV. In the afternoon, daddy and I hung out and watched golf and basketball while mommy went to get a pedicure. Next we went to the park for a quick photo op on our way over to some friends house for a Mother's Day dinner. Here's a few pictures from our visit to the park.

And below, find the greatest Mother's Day Present I could give mommy from last night. The video is a little dark and a little long but you'll have to see the end to know what the present is!!

2 Week Birthday

I celebrated my 2 week brithday yesterday!! Here's a picture of me after daddy sang "Happy Birthday" to me. Daddy please don't do that again.

At the top of my birthday list: Rockband 2 Check it out on Amazon.com) and a Keurig 1 cup coffee brewer for those late nights mom has me up studying Algebra...

Daddy's cousins Alan, Michelle and Tiffany came out to visit me today. I had just had a big lunch so I pretty much slept the whole time they were here. Hopefully they didn't get their feelings hurt because I was taking a nap. I'm pretty sure they didn't mind...


Tiffany and Alan sure seemd to have fun while they were here...

Here's a picture of me and my beautiful mommy! Can you believe she just gave birth to me 2 short weeks ago?

Daddy goes back to work for real tomorrow but thankfully MeMaw had a little easier time getting into Houston and she's going to stick around with Mommy to give her some help...

Maybe Baths aren't So Bad

Welcome home to me! Mom and dad brought me home about a week ago and for the most part, it's been great! I spend most of my time eating, sleeping and pooping but every now and then I have the energy to look around and figure out everything that's going on in our house.

First things first, when we first got home they made me watch "Dancing with the Stars." I'm not really sure what I thought about that but I'll let it slide. Then these two little creatures came running around checking me out for just a second but pretty much they just left me alone. Mom and dad call them Lucy and Linus but I think they're just dogs...

Daddy had to go back to work on Wednesday. He said he had other kids to take care of. I'm not quite sure I understand what that means, but maybe some day.

I'm so glad that Granny D. got to stay with us for the week. She took care of all the cooking and even washed all the clothes that I peed all over whenver mommy and daddy didn't get my diaper on right.

The second night I was home mom and dad tried to flush me down the garbage disposal but I wouldn't let them so they just gave me a bath instead. Let me tell you, I wasn't too excited about it. There was so much water and I got so slippery I thought that daddy might drop me but thank goodness he didn't.

The rest of the week went pretty much uneventfully. Grandpa D came into town and MeMaw and PeePaw tried to come and see me but between Dallas and Houston got routed around a big storm and landed in Lafayette, LA so they didn't make it on Saturday for their day trip like they were supposed to.

Sunday daddy strapped me into some bizarre torture device. It had all these crazy straps and I could barely move. I wasn't quite sure what he had in mind but then he took me out to his really cool black truck and I realized we were going for a ride.

The ride took us to Target where a really nice lady began taking lots of pictures of me. At first I thought she was a photographer, but then she started giving daddy all kinds of parenting advice so maybe she was a doctor...confusing.

I smiled alot and had a big time and even peed all over her sheets. I thought this was pretty funny until she put the sheets back up on the shelf to use again (Maybe Baths aren't So Bad).

You can check out the pictures on this website (Click here.) Type in Justin Smith.

The best part of the day came when we got home. I had a great nap and was having some pretty active dreams. There were happy moments and sad moments and very, very focused moments. Daddy got some pictures...

For the last part of the night, daddy got a phone call from PeePaw and they were on their way back home from Louisiana and were now going to get stuck in Houston for the night! That means I got to meet PeePaw for the first time after all!

TaaaDaaaa!

I know you all have been patiently waiting on me but I wasn’t quite ready yet. Life “on the inside” was soooo great. It was warm, dark, quiet and I didn’t have to do anything but lay there.

Every now and then I’d have to poke and squirm to get mom’s attention but I didn’t do it too much because sure enough dad would start poking me back trying to figure out what body part it was and what position I was in. I mean, good grief, can’t a guy get some peace in quiet in his own womb.

Then today, I started getting all this squeezing and poking. I tried to hold on for dear life but then some old dude stick 2 spoons around my head and yanked me out.

Anyway, I was finally ready today, 4/11/2009 and decided to make my appearance at 4:18 PM. and weighed in a whopping 8 lbs 9.5 ounces.

Life out here isn’t so bad. There were lots of people standing around when I first came out. I was a little mad when dad cut my feeding tube but I figured out soon that there was more to the story.

Mommy couldn't stop being close to me. It was amazing that after all that labor she still smelled like strawberries! If only I had two great aunts to kiss all over me with strawberry lip gloss too!

Granny and Granpa D were here when I came out too. They were so excited and it was great to have Grampa D's strong hands holding me so tight and Granny D watching over me while the nurse jabbed that nail into my foot to check my blood sugar.

Well, they’re about to wheel me off to the transitional nursery so I better go, stay tuned for more pictures of me and my visitors over the next few days...Here's a last picture of a great big happy family!!

39 weeks

Well, not much more going on around here. Mom is taking a nap and me and the dogs are watching the Mavericks. I'm hoping that the Mavs climb into 7th place so that Noah's first experience with them won't be seeing them get swept by the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs...

I know that one of the experiences that I enjoy most with my both my dads (in-laws count too) is watching sporting events. In person or on TV, it doesn't matter, there's just something about watching people compete that is exciting and relaxing at the same time. I hope that Noah and I are able to enjoy watching many games together over the years!

I also hope that I can use sports to teach him about life including how to handle success and failure. I wasn't exactly the best at handling failure but I should be able to teach from the experience of not handling losing very well...Hopefully, I have grown up some over the years although I still get a little frustrated when things aren't going exactly me way now.

I Cor 10:31-So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

38 Weeks

Well, here we sit "patiently" waiting...A few contractions today but nothing really consistent...Noah is still hanging on before making his debut.

Not a lot more to add over these last few weeks in the development front. I'll continue to post under this format until he is born so you'll have to stay tuned for how the blog changes at that point!!

I'm pretty pumped about the little guy showing up. I think Rachel is getting excited too but she has a little something more to be worried about than I do! Continue praying for a healthy momma and baby at the end of the process!

I'm not brave enough to say this, but I guess Paul thought that he knew enough about childbirth to make this comment:

Gal 4:19-20--My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

37 weeks

Today Noah reaches that magical day in the pediatric and obstetric world known as FULL TERM! That means that any time he is ready, he is welcome to make his appearance into the world.

Not a whole lot more to be said on the developmental front. Noah is pretty much fully developed at this point. He will likely continue to grow about 1/2 pound per week but he could make it on his own if he were to come out right this second.

I think he was just waiting for perhaps my favorite weekend in the whole world which is next weekend's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 weekend of the NCAA tournament. If he's not here next weekend then I guess Duke will have to win so that he and I can watch them together in the Final 4.

As we near the end of this journey, we've been amazed at all the support and encouragement of family and friends that we've received. We cherish all of you so much and can't wait for you guys to get to meet little Noah!

I Thess. 1:2-We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

Week 36

Well, 36 weeks and we're down to the home stretch. Just next week little Noah would be considered "term." And, if you ask Rachel, she gets more and more convinced that she's 2 weeks off and more like 38 now but I'm not so sure.

Nearly all organs are fully developed at this point. The liver is filtering waste products and the kidneys are almost fully functioning. The only thing left is the final part of lung development which will basically continue until just a few minutes after birth.

We're starting to make the final preparations around the house...Rachel has washed all of Noah's clothes that we got from all of you and I'm starting to move things around in our bedroom to make room for a bassinet. With all the planning we've been doing you can't help but think about what plans are in store for little Noah after he is born. One thing I know for sure is that the Lord has his entire life planned out for him and we all can't wait to see what He has planned...

Jeremiah 29:11-For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Week 35

Sorry this is so late, we had a busy weekend with lots of family in town and a big shower for Noah at my cousin's house. It was a lot of fun getting to see a broad mix of different people who we have met during our time in Houston.

Week 35, we're almost there. Back in the day, doctors used to call babies who were born weeks 35 and 36 "near-term." We've gotten away from that because we feel like they can have just a few more problems then 37 and on so we now call them "late pre-term." Most babies born at 35 weeks do very well so I'm excited because for the most part we've passed up the severe issues related to prematurity. I think when you're in pediatrics it's hard not to assume that all the things you have seen along the way might happen to your child some day.

Average weight this week is something like 5.5 pounds. He was already packing on the pounds a few weeks ago so I would imagine that he's even bigger than that now. In addition there is lots of fat being laid down in the arms and legs so that he will be able to manage his temperature better whenever he is born. Not a whole lot else going on in the development department which is a good thing because if he was born now he would probably be just fine.

So, now we're just beginning to pray for a healthy delivery for both Rachel and Noah.

I can't wait for this "gift of the Lord" to be here...

Psalm 127:3-Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Week 34

Week 34 of Noah's stay at the Motel 40 in Rachel's Belly, Texas. I'm in Ballinger this weekend for a sad trip for my grandfather's funeral. My mom's father passed away this week so I drove up her without Rachel since she had reached the point in her pregnancy where the doctor didn't want her traveling. It was a beautiful service and we saw a lot of family that we hadn't seen in a long time.

Well, it's time for Rachel to start dumping antibodies into Noah's system so that he will be ready to face the mean world of bacteria and viruses that will surround him after he is born. I've about decided to install a state-of-the-art decontamination room in my garage to keep from bringing all kinds of nasty germs home from work. Rachel will continue giving him antibodies until week 37. This is one of the main reasons that doctors consider babies to be full term at 37 weeks and why Noah needs to stay in for a few more weeks.

Noah has also started to open his eyes during awake times just like when he's awake (and most likely screaming) when he gets to the outside. Somehow, the Smith boys have figured out a way around the requirement of having your eyes closed to sleep as I'm pretty convinced that both me and my dad can sleep while watching TV with our eyes wide open. I don't know at what stage of development he picks this up but I'm pretty sure it's post-natal. However, I pray that when he is both awake and asleep he will have vision for his generation and that he will be a leader after God's own heart!

Acts 2:17-" 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Kristi, just write, "This is me." on the blog comments so that I will know you came by...

Week 33

Sorry this is a few days late! I worked nights all weekend which basically makes me pretty much useless during those days because I pretty much just come home and sleep the day away. I finished my last overnight shift of my residency which is GREAT! Unless I get called in for backup I should never have to spend the whole night away from home again!!

Noah has been very busy...The other night I laid down next to him before bedtime and I'm pretty sure he was moving around and snuggling up to get comfortable. I'm predicting he's going to be a very snuggly boy!

Noah's bones are getting more hard every day. They will need to support his body when he gets out of his own personal little hot tub and is placed out into the real world. Pray for strong healthy bones because with my history of wrestling and broken wrists and soccer and broken noses along with the (David) Dickerson 1/4 of his genes, he will need some serious injury protection. Maybe we should just go ahead and by his a full set of body armor!

My prayer is that Noah will grow up to be a healthy strong boy but that he will continually rely upon God's strength for his life.

I Corinthians 1:25-For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

Week 32

Well, I keep trying to make Rachel further along than she actually is but that only explains why I'm doing my second Week 32 post in a row...

If I continued going by the information that I read about fetal development, I'd start by saying that this week Noah weighs about 3 lbs 12 oz but since I actually got a look at how big Noah is getting (www.justinandrachelsmith@blogspot.com) I have to say that he is actually 4 lbs 10 oz. So far all of our prayers for a healthy baby have gone as planned but Rachel's prayer for a smallish baby have not been so successful. He actually dated out about 2 weeks ahead of where we thought. This either means that our dates are possibly off (not likely given that our first ultrasound concurred) or that he's just really big!!

I don't think Rachel mentioned that we also saw quite a bit of hair on the ultrasound! Rachel and I both had really blond hair as kids and although he probably won't be born with it, there's a pretty good chance he'll share those "Goldilocks" at some point as well.

Speaking of Goldilocks, it's time to mention another activity that I'm sure Noah will enjoy with Aunties Kris and Kelley. I'm imagining a "double" date (he gets both hot ladies!) consisting of lunch and a cookie or some pie at the famous McKay's bakery (http://www.mckaysbakery.com/index.html) followed by walk down the street to the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (http://www.nccil.org/index.htm) to see some fun books and maybe even sit for a reading! Once he falls asleep, they can pack him in the stroller and roll next door to Relic's Imported Home Furniture (http://relicshome.com/) which is where Rachel and I have bought a lot of our home furniture. They have lots of neat home accessories with big Texas Stars on them and probably even a purse with a cowboy and fringe on it!

Well, we just finished our childbirth class today and it brought out plenty of things to pray for. We were introduced to all the extra possible complications that Rachel and I want to avoid in addition to all the things that we want to go right. Ultimately, the final prayer is that Noah would follow in the footsteps of his namesake...

Gen 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.