I GRADUATED!!!!

Well with the excitement of having a baby I guess I forgot to tell everyone that I did indeed graduate as planned. I finished my student teaching on May 1st and finished my last class on May 6th. Little did I know just how busy I would be the following week. I went to ASU for the last time on May 12th to receive my certification to teach, on May 13th I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and on May 14th I graduated, although, sadly I was unable to attend as I was in the hospital. Luckily, we thought this might happen since my due date was May 14th so we borrowed a cap and gown from my brother-in-law and took some pregnant graduation pictures the Sunday before the busy week.

I am kind of glad that I didn't have to wear this TENT in the commencement! Plus I heard it was really hot that day and that wouldn't have been very fun on my due date!

And here is my wonderful husband who supported me throughout my time at ASU!

Our darling little girl!

Ella Cheri Smith was born Wednesday, May 13th 2009 at 3:38pm. Ella was 6lbs 9oz and 20in long. I was pregnant 39 weeks and 6 days. She was very kind to mommy by having a small head and an easy birth. She surprised us on Wed at 3:30am when I started having labor pains. My sister took me to the hospital since Robert had just gone to work. I was dilated to a 6 when we got to the hospital and then we were sent to labor and delivery. Robert got there just in time to see me get my epidural which slowed down my labor. I was at an 8 for about two hours when finally things started to get going again. I pushed for about 45min and she was out. I had a great nurse named Karen Harleen who pretty much delivered the baby.


Ella is minutes old in this piture

The happy family

Chillin' on the sofa

Ella's close up!

We are so excited to finally have Ella in our lives. She is has been a blessing in our home. It is hard to comprehend the amount of love you can have for your child. We can just sit and stare at for hours, she is so stinking cute! She has already managed to wrap her father around her tiny pinky.

3D Ultrasound

Well the baby is coming in a few days so I figured that I better stop procrastinating with my blog.  Here are the 3D ultrasound pics that I had done like 7 weeks ago.  Who do you think she looks like, me or Robert?

Not really sure why her eye is popping out on the bottom left picture but I'm sure it has something to do with the fluid around her when the picture was taken.  As for the bottom right picture, not really sure if her nose actually looks like that.   I guess we will know soon enough!

Baby Shower Time!!!!

I had my baby shower a few weeks ago.  It was so great!  Here are a few pictures of all the merriment!  I am at 30 weeks in these pictures and now I am at 33 weeks, I can't believe how fast the pregnancy is going by!

My sister Dondra threw the shower for me at her beautiful home and my mom paid for a lot of the refreshments.  My sister in laws helped a great deal too so thank you Paula Jean and Sam!  My sister's friend Trisha helped as wells so thank you to you as well!

My friend Pam planned and executed all the games, they were all really cute!  Thanks Pamela!

This is my friend Janae, she helped with the baby shower and also was a great help with putting my baby's room together.  Thanks Janae!

The food was soooo YUMMY!  The cup cakes were delicious and so cute, thanks to Robert's sister Sarah!

Presents for baby Smith!!!

My lovely assistant (and niece) Jordan.  She did a wonderful job handing the presents to me!

I got tons of great receiving blankets.  This blanket was made by Sister Conover in my ward.  It was so perfect, it totally goes with my baby's room! 

I also got tons of cute outfits!   Baby Smith will surely never go naked!

These are all the people who were able to attend my baby shower.  Some people had to leave early so they didn't get in on the group picture.   It was such a great party and I had a lot of people who helped put it together so thank you to all of you that helped and those of you who were able to be there!

Baby's Room Preview

So here is a picture of my crib and bedding.  I was hoping to have my babies room done by the this time but school has proved to be a major time suck.  Hopefully I can finish it during spring break and then I can post the whole room.  Until then I hope you like what you see so far!  

As for updates:  I get to have my 3D ultrasound done next Friday so I will be able to post those pictures.  The baby is very active, especially when I am trying to fall asleep!  Robert just got a second part time job working as a speech therapy assistant in the Liberty District (that's in Buckeye).  He is way excited to finally have a job in his field of study and the pay is pretty good too!  It was a tremendous blessing for Robert to get this job since he recently received a pay cut at his current job due to the economic situation that our country is in.  We are so grateful for all the Lords blessing and this one came at just the right time!

My blog has been neglected!

So many things have happened since I last blogged so I guess I will start with the most exciting first.  We are having a GIRL!!!  We were very excited and I was surprise.  Robert said all along that he thought I was having a girl, of course, it was just a lucky guess.  I have had a lot of fun getting my baby's room together and it is almost finished (pictures to follow).  I had a lot of help from my friend Janae in getting the baby's room together, without her help I probably wouldn't have gotten as much done as I did.   

I have quit my job and am now student teaching full time.  It has been pretty hectic but I am glad to get my schooling done before the baby comes.  I have a great mentor teacher so that makes things a little easier.  I am steadily getting bigger I have posted a picture of me in my 19th week and now I am 26 weeks so I'm a bit bigger now.  I haven't really had to much to complain about with my pregnancy but I am noticing that it is more difficult to get up from a laying position and bending down is a chore too.  She kicks pretty regularly and I can actually see her kick if I study my stomach while its happening, it's pretty dang cool.  

Robert is working hard at his job to make all the money on top of going to school, he's such a trooper.  He tried to get a second job in the Dysart District as a speech assistant but the week after the interview the Dysart District had a hiring freeze, go figure!  Anyway, we will survive!  If all goes well I will graduate in May of this year and Robert will graduate in December.  Hopefully my friends haven't given up on my blog since I have neglected it so long I wll get pics of the baby's room up soon for all to enjoy!

I've been tagged!

So my cousin Jenny tagged me so I had to go to the 4th picture folder and post the 4th photo in that folder. So that folder happened to be the pictures we put together of Robert and I growing up for our wedding video. This is Robert as a 1 year old.

So now I get to tag 4 people, I choose Brittany Nelson, Dondra, Sara Trujillo, and Paula Jean.

Babys First Ultrasound!

So here is our first baby picture.  I was 12 weeks when they did this ultrasound and now I am 13 weeks so the baby hasn't changed much.  I am going in again at the end of the month so maybe we will be able to see if it's a boy or a girl.  The ultrasound tech said that they may be able to determine the sex in the 15th or 16th week and I guess we will see if he is right.  Every where else I have looked said that it has to be in the 18th-20th month, of course, I am hoping for sooner.  

Big News!

Well we were going to keep it on the down low until I reached 12 weeks but we never got that far.  I have never been very good at keeping secrets, especially my own.  So now that so many people know, I guess we better just blog it.  So I am 9 weeks pregnant!  Robert and I are very excited.  It was a bit of a surprise since I went off birth control on August 7th and became pregnant 14 days later.  I was expecting it to take longer but I guess everybody is different.  We are hoping for a boy to start off our family but it seems that everyone who finds out I am pregnant thinks I am having a girl.  I guess only time and the ultrasound will tell.  I will be ecstatic no matter what I have, I have always wanted to be a mom and now I will have my chance.  It's really scary to think of how much our life will change when the baby is born but we agreed to wait until we had been married for two years before we started a family and the 2 years is up.

I know that the big question on most women’s minds is: Am I sick?  Well the answer is….. a little.  If I don’t eat little meals throughout the day then I get annoyingly nauseous so I usually keep little snacks with me.  Although, lately it really hasn’t been that bad so maybe I am on the downward slope that leaves nausea behind.  I am at a stage where I am just fat, or at least I feel fat.  My clothes are getting tight but it would be ridiculous for me to wear maternity clothes.  I am in a between stage that just makes me look like I am gaining weight and I probably am but I am trying to eat healthier food since I have to eat more during the day and health food is not always convenient and it’s kind of expensive.  So anyway I am glad everyone can know now, I hate keeping secrets and really if anyone asked me point blank if I was pregnant (which no one would) I would have told them the truth.  Now Robert on the other hand, he has probably lied to a few people, but don’t blame him.  He was only trying to carry out my wishes.  The only reason we kept it from people was just in case I miscarried.  I had heard so many stories from my friends of how they lost their first baby and I got paranoid but whatever happens is what is meant to happen but hopefully I won’t have to blog later about bad news.  So here’s hoping!

Lets Try This Again!

So I really don't like how messed up our blog got. Our posts were really out of order and Robert finally learned how to fix it so now all our fans can look at our blog with more ease.

Anyway, we are doing well right now. School just started back up and I am really excited this semester since it is the most laid back semester I have had in a long time. The only bad part is that mine and Robert's schedules are totally opposite so we don't have many opportunties to see each other durning the week. It's only for 4 months though and we will deal with it the best we can. On a brighter note though, I have really great teachers, for the most part and they have kept the work load at a doable pace this semester. My internshiph this semester is at Catalina Ventura Elementary School which is really weird because that is the same school that Robert is doing his internship at (only he gets paid for it!). It was totally random that it worked out this way but we really don't see each other there since I do morning internships and he does afternoon internships. This will be my last semester of book work and next semester I will be doing my student teaching. I am excited to finally be done with school. It is so expensive and I am done giving ASU all my money. I haven't really decided what grade I want to teach. I have always said 1st or 2nd grade but now that I have interned twice in a 6th grade class I guess I wouldn't mind 5th or 6th grade either. I guess only time will tell.....

Robert is hoping to become a certified speech language pathology assistant by the end of this semester so that he can get as much experience as possible for the most amount of money possible before he gets his bachelors degree as an SLP. I am so proud of the way he has hit school running he loves what he is going into and seached all summer for an intership that would help him both in his classes and his pocket book. Catalina Ventura has proved so far to be a great opportunity for us and Robert enjoys the children and his coworks. Robert should graduate with his bachelors in January of 2010 which I am sure will fly by. He will try to stay on with Catalina as a SLP as he works toward a Masters degree. He will try to get into the partnership program where he can take night school and work full time. This way he will get lots of experience at a bachelors level during his 3 year masters patnership program.

Robert and I are very excited for the years to come and what life will bring us along the way. We are trying very hard to make a good life for our future family and we have set many goals for ourselves that we are very optimistic about. We are greatful for the support of our family and friends and hope you all enjoy whatching our life as it unfolds through our blog. Just as we will enjoy watching yours!