Goings on...

We have been without internet for the last 2 1/2 weeks since we moved into our new little rental house in Lafayette. We love being close to shops and restaurants and 2 other friends with kids Rigel's age.

What's new you might ask? The biggest things are that Rigel is walking!!!!!! We have been to the pumpkin patch to see cows and tractors. Rigel got his first real "boo boo" with a band aid and everything! Our friend Josh had his 3rd birthday with a jumpy castle and even though he was the smallest in there, Rigel did some jumping! I made him this adorable Frankenstein hat for his Halloween costume... that he won't wear, so he's probably going to be a military pilot instead.

The other big news is that we have a girl name!!!! She will be named Ohana which means "family" in Hawaiian. I'm excited for a girl nursery and have been planning it for months! We will post house pictures when we get all unpacked.

For Moriah and Granny

We wear our blue ribbons to support the bravest baby girl we know!

We are happy Moriah is stable in Stanford. We will miss visiting you in December.

You are an inspirational family!

Since Rigel has is Apple shirt on, this is also for his Granny (my mom) who works for them and bought this shirt many years ago. Kisses to Granny!

The Bump Watch

It is so true you take less photos with your second baby including of my baby bump. Here is week 16 (green shirt) and week 20 (blue shirt). Not huge differences so far.

It's a... GIRL!!!!

We had our 20 week ultra sound yesterday. We had the tech seal the news in an envelope and went to have dinner with our good friends the Dolenc's. Her mom does one of those "tests" where you hold a pencil on a string over my wrist to determine what gender ALL your children will be. First was a boy- Rigel. Then it said another boy, then a girl. I went over to get my envelope and it revealed our baby is a GIRL!!!! What a blessing!!!!!! It almost makes off of our trials from this past year seem worth it, almost. It has renewed my excitement in this pregnancy since I have been so tired chasing Rigel around all the time. I'm excited for frilly clothes and a girl nursery! God is GOOD!!!!! In the pictures you can see her hand and the second is the 4 chambers of her heart... what a miracle!

Hats

I guess it took 16 months for him to finally like them and now he wants to wear hats all of the time! They don't always match and let's be clear the one with the white stuff on his face happened on daddy's watch... sunscreen!

First Zoo Trip

What do 4 moms and S-E-V-E-N boys under the age of 3 have in common? We went to the Zoo yesterday. It was Rigel's first time. Almost a reward for sleeping 11.5 hours the night before without him knowing it! He really liked the monkeys, penguins swimming and elephants. He made the noises for the monkey and elephant... what sound does a penguin make? The hippo photo is for daddy!

The Long Road Trip

Yes it's been a while, again, since we posted. we have been on a 3 week road trip. We started off driving to Lost Canyon Young Life Camp to visit "the other Smileys". They were wonderful hosts to us and our nephew Hunter who promptly asked his mom "can I come here next year?" From there we headed to Cali to see family. Rigel hadn't seen his Granny and Poppy in many months. They were delighted to see his "booty scooty", hear him babble and say some words, get hugs and watch him play with his tractors!

While in CA we took the opportunity to see some friends. We headed to Santa Monica beach to see the newest, radest baby Max Alan Jed! We made our way to the beach where Rigel loved playing in the waves... and yes, eating the sand- yuck!

Before heading back to my parents end of town we made a quick, but inspiring visit to Children's hospital LA to visit the Nelsons and Miss Moriah! So here is this young family fighting the fight of their baby girl's life and they ask us if we need anything! Wow! You can see us on her blog- Moments with Moriah from our page.

Then the Big Bear weekend came. It's a yearly family trip of sorts. Time of relaxing and catching up with each other and watching he family grow as we welcome new babies like Adain who was just 7 weeks old.

We made another trip to Corona Del Mar beach near Newport for some family fun time and my love of the ocean. Rigel ate even more sand there- more yuck!

We were so impressed with how Rigel handled the 2900 miles spent in the car! Boyd and I made it through with the help of digital audio books- we made it through the first 2 books of the twilight series and even started the third book to our surprise.

Enjoy the photos!