The Adventures in Florida have begun...

Day one of our move to Florida was a success! Maggie was great in the car the whole 18 hours of the trip! she played and ate and slept and only cried in the last half hour of the trip! She is my little happy trooper! 

Today we are settled in and had some family over, it was so good to see family and we still have more to see soon! We had a BBQ and sat outside while the kiddos played in the pool! Maggie loves swimming and I hope to teach her this summer as I am a swim instructor! 

She really liked driving her play car outside and seeing Cappy and Mama Risa! I can't wait to see what many things we will be doing here in our new life in the south!

It's been a while, but here we are...

It would seem that I haven't documented the life of the Smith Family since November, so here goes....

We just celebrated Maggie's FIRST birthday! She chose the Minnie Mouse theme and has loved wearing her Mickey Mouse ears to her parties and pink and white polka dotted dress! I am again reminded of the beautiful family and friends we have as they helped make her birthday so special. For her birthday, we went to Library Story Time then to the park where she is always excited to swing! She was accompanied by her awesome cousin, Will, who sat on the swing next to her.

She has done so much in the last year. Learning how to sit up, then crawl, stand up, now learning to walk, it is SO neat to watch her grow and learn to do so many things. She can currently blow kisses and wave goodbye! She LOVES playing chase with Daddy around the house! It is so fun to watch those two play together! :)

They made Mother's Day so special for me as she and my wonderful husband gave me breakfast in bed. Pat handed me a tray of food while Maggie handed me a Happy Mother's Day card! It was so precious and in that moment I was overwhelmed with the blessing of family and how much they mean to me! 

Family and Living the Dream

Well, it has been more than 6 months but I am finally in a position where I have a moment to write! We welcomed our little Margaret Weithman into this world on June 2nd. She is named after the great Grandmother Margaret Weithman who was an amazing lady. She raised a beautiful? family and was filled with God's grace and love for life. She would have loved her baby great grand child!

In preparing for a baby, no one ever could have fully told me how truly amazing and beautiful motherhood and family life would be. I feel so happy and content with what we have been blessed with. Patrick is a perfect daddy and wonderful husband! It is so awesome to watch and learn new things and sides of him I never would have seen otherwise. He and Maggie have a special connection, as soon as he walks into the room, she smiles so big! No doubt, a daddy's girl. I love to see how they interact. Truly special. I love every moment with Patrick and Maggie. When she is in my arms, when she is laughing and smiling. She rocks our world.

A Caring Husband

Pregnancy and Parenthood. Grace and love.

This whole pregnancy has been an amazing adventure, with the baby as well as with Patrick! It is soooo adorable to see him with the baby (and the baby isn't even outside of me yet)! The way he talks to the baby and little moments we have as a family makes me so excited to meet our baby. He is going to be a GREAT dad. He already is. The way he cares for the baby and for myself, making sure we are comfortable, picking up my share of the chores when I am just too tired to do so....it is a life of love and generosity and kindness and patience, all things he has already displayed. We are a family and we are so excited to be together in the Lord, sharing His love to our baby. 

The baby is growing everyday and getting so big. I can feel the baby move, but I can also see it move, which is crazy.....to think that God created this little life inside of me that is moving and breathing. It is mind boggling, if you really think about it. A true miracle of life. 

'A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men.'
Martin Fraquhar Tupper

Please keep Patrick, the baby, and myself in your prayers as we continue to prepare. 

God's blessings.

Surprise Baby Shower!

I am blessed with awesome co-workers who are supportive and caring and really set an environment of family....filled with Christian attitude throughout, they are uplifting all the time and it makes for a great work atmosphere! At our weekly staff meetings, this past Wednesday, they surprised me with a beautiful baby shower with all kinds of desserts, adorable party favors, and many gifts and kind words for Patrick and I. Here are some of the gifts they gave, one of them made a onesie and booties for the baby which are so precious! All in all, it was such a great time and I can't wait for them to meet Baby Smith, who by the way, doesn't have that much longer (in comparison to 9 months, anyway). :)

Making baby things....

And the arts and crafts come out....

So, I am getting pretty anxious for this baby to come....and I have to do something with my excitement....so....along with the more frequent house cleaning.....I have taken up arts and crafts for the baby. 

Here is the liner and basket that was made for the baby:

 (this will go on the changing table holding diapers and such...)

And this is a mobile that I made for the baby..... (inspired by one I saw from an artist)

Nesting....

So it is April and Spring is finally here! After a long, yet beautiful, winter, we can finally see the water in our pond and the ducks have come out again; it will be nice to take the dresses sandals out and take the walks in the park that we have been looking forward to! There are lots of parks here and a beautiful riverside path that stretches a few miles...good exercising. I am especially trying to keep healthy and get more exercises in for preparation of this baby.

Speaking of, the baby is getting bigger and bigger. I recently had an ultrasound and found out that it weighs 2 and 1/2 lbs (and growing)! The books I have been reading say that it is more than 15 inches long by now....How exciting! We have been setting some things up, (next to our bed) and I just hope the baby likes the color green. :) Everything looks so cute and everything is so little and tiny. I still can't believe we are having a baby. A little baby Smith.

This baby is probably going to come out loving fruit, because other than the essential foods needed for a balanced diet, as the doctor recommends, I have been eating fruit for dessert and in between meal snacks. Blueberries, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, grapes, applesauce....these has been the majority of my eating habits. There is nothing better than the taste of fruit....straight from the ground (or tree). :)

And even further along.....

Make way, Baby Smith is coming......

Baby Giraffe, Baby Elephant, Baby Smith

While my cousin Claire and Paul are preparing to have their baby anytime, I am getting more and more excited to meeting our own little one. 

Progressing along in my pregnancy, Patrick continues to take care of me and my every midnight water needs and cravings. We can feel the baby kicking and moving around in my stomach and it truly is amazing the miracle inside of me, like God's little angel and I am so humbled that we as women get to carry these little lives in our stomachs. What a beautiful process. ;)

And I must say, I am not one to cry so easily and often but when I see Patrick with other babies or his nieces, I just know he will just make the best father to our baby. He is always so caring and wonderful, I know he will be there for our baby and myself with loving embraces, and of course, bringing humor and joy to every moment. Today, he drew on my stomach a huge smiley face....

So the baby is doign well and can't wait to see all of our amazing family and friends. Speaking of, we were overwhelmed with love when we visited my parents and they held a huge baby shower for us. They are so great and it will be so wonderful when everyone meets our little baby Smith. 

p.s. I am in love with little miniature everything's that we received for the baby. I love the clothes and shoes and little small diapers and onesie's. It is all so adorable!!

We love you all and come June, I can not wait for us to Patrick and myself to meet our little baby and be apart of our new growing family. God's blessings.

Pregnant in a snow globe!

Pat and I have been enjoying the amazing snow and warm fireplace! Had a great Christmas and looking forward to the next few months as we are gaining a few more family members up here! We are excited to have Jamie come and move up here and we will be visiting Abby at FUS here soon!

I am now further along with my pregnancy. I am showing and people are starting to stare. A doctor where I work looked at me and he asked me how I was feeling. I said, "Fine and how are you feeling?" completely forgetting that I actually look pregnant.

It is so beautiful, being pregnant, and for the first time I felt the baby's arm or leg move in my stomach, it is sooo little. I can't believe I have a life inside of me. Praying that I be a safe haven for this baby these new few months until we have him/her in June. And for all of you who are wondering what it will be, we are waiting until it is born so that I can hear, "It's a boy" or "it's a girl"! I can't wait for that moment! Posting pictures soon of the belly.

Missing all the family and always keeping y'all in my prayers!
The Smith's

Fall Leaves

This is one of the reasons why I moved up here and LOVE it. There are so many yellow, red, purple, and oranges leaved trees right now and they are so beautiful. Wanted the Florida family to share in the beauty, too.

Holloween!

We found the perfect pumpkin to take home and Pat and I carved our first pumpkin together! I haven't carved a pumpkin in like 10 years, so it was so exciting!

Then Halloween came..... our little lady bug, Ellie and us with Chrissey!

Fall Time Fun!

The leaves are changing, the fall season is here, complete with the beautiful crisp air!

AND ALL THE ACTIVITIES THAT COME WITH IT!

We went to this huge Pumpkin patch and corn fields with the Ohio family, I have never been to a real Pumpkin patch, an established one, anyway.

Birthday Fun

Have I not told you how amazing Patrick is? Well, let me just say!

We have a Secord tradition called "The Birthday Breakfast", where everyone except for the birthday person, wakes up earlier before 5:00 am to make a ridiculous spread of breakfast and the traditional Entemann's black donuts. Even though I have been a huge fan of this  annual morning adventure, I am in no way a morning person, so I was wondering what Pat would do? He let us both sleep in as much as we could before he made me breakfast and gave me my beautiful present, a scarf (I LOVE SCARVES!!). It was so nice because we were both exhausted and that is what makes the tradition so special.

Then, after work, I come home to a beautifully homemade chocolate cake that HE BAKED!! I didn't know guys could bake. :) If that wasn't special enough, it was a DOUBLE LAYERED cake!! It made my year! It was so awesome! That night I got together with the girls up here, Rachel and the babies, as well as Chrissey!

Needless to say, Pat is always showing me how much he cares so much and he is the best husband ever! Very excited and loving the married life with him!

God's blessings.

Settling in.

We are now settling in to our apartment in the beautiful city of Columbus. A few weeks after we got back from the honeymoon, I didn't feel so well. So, I went to the doctor who told me that I was pregnant....PREGNANT!! It was so awesome when I told my husband, he just smiled and looked at me, obviously shocked and happy with the news. That is something I will remember. 

Every so often, he touches my stomach and says baby and talks to it. A father's love is so amazing! And the best part about having his baby, is that this will be first known blood-relative because he is adopted. God is doing amazing things to us and our little family. 

Prior to the wedding, we had decided that we would get our dog, and interestingly enough, our little chocolate lab, who is 7 weeks old, is as old as the baby in my belly. Ellie, the pup is so cute and she brings sunshine to my life everyday, especially when she cuddles next to me.

 

Do you have dogs in your family? How are they with babies and little children? I am excited to see the day when the two meet, in June 2011!

All of God's blessings!

Recently...

We got married at Saint Mary, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church with the witness of our friends and family. God certainly has given us so many people who care about us and we love them so much!

After we got married, we went to Catalina Island. It was so beautiful there and it was wonderful going on vacation with him. We rode a tandem bike, rented a boat to tour the coast of the island, played golf, and cruised the island's gardens and petite cottages and homes in a golf cart. We met other couples who were on their honeymoon and who were there celebrating their special events and milestones of their lives. It was unforgettable and filled with beautiful moments.

Our Story

Patrick Smith  and I met in Cultural Anthropology class the first week of school in August 2006. He was wearing a sailing shirt and since moving from Florida haven't seen any sailors, I felt the excitement of meeting someone from my neck of the woods. But to my dismay, he started to argue with me, stating it was a Fisher's shirt. That is how our friendship started. We became good friends for a year, when I decided to answer the call to go to the convent to see how God wanted to use me in this world. After returning a year later to Franciscan University to finish schooling, we immediately started hanging out and became best friends. After that, we started dating. (he later told me that he had liked me the entire time, when he claimed to want to "only" be friends and that he had waited for me, not dating anyone else and not even knowing if I would be his one day). 

We then, let the Lord lead us to how and where He wanted us. I graduated in May 2009 and moved to Tampa and Jacksonville to pursue a job, where we pursued a long distance relationship and then he proposed in November 2009. We decided there was no one else we wanted to be spend our lives with, and so, on September 18^th, 2010, we got married in my hometown in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

We now live in Columbus, Ohio where God has blessed us with two wonderful jobs and we just found out we are having a beautiful baby in June 2011. We were both new to FUS in that fall of 2006, we both were from Florida but never had met, we both came knowing no one and we were able to come away with a best friend and a love that will last a lifetime. 

All of God's love and blessings.