Minismith

Matthew captured Lucy practicing her rusty eating skills yesterday. 7 months already. Gah, time flies.

Lucy at 7 months from Matthew & Amy Smith on Vimeo.

Remember B doing the same 6 years ago?!

February 2006 from Matthew & Amy Smith on Vimeo.

Two years ago we made the move from our pricey, cramped home downtown to a spacious, family-friendly ranch house in the burbs. We mourned the loss of our downtown hipster status but attempted to embrace our new fiscally-wise, suburban family lifestyle. Well, at least we thought our move was fiscally wise. We didn’t account for the Starbucks staring us in the face every time we turned out of our neighborhood.

As I mentioned earlier, Financial Boot Camp is in full swing here at the Minismith Homestead. My weekly (ahem…well, maybe daily…but we’ll just say weekly) visits to Starbucks had to be nixed. Just in time for my favorite season of all – Iced Coffee Time. After shedding a few tears, I started researching how to get my afternoon caffeine fix without the $2 charge. Hot brewed poured over ice just does not cut it. But after some trial and error recipes, I figured this was the tastiest and easiest option. We use a french press for our morning coffee, which is also what I use here. Of course this will call for using my slew of mason jars like any good born n’ bred southern woman should.

1. Get out your quart sized mason jar. Or 10, depending on how strong your addiction is.
2. Grind up 6 TBSP of coffee and dump it in the bottom. I like to eat my coffee, so if you don’t like it as dark, decrease that amount.
3. Fill up the jar with cold water and give it a good stir.
4. Put in your fridge overnight or for at least 8hrs.
5. When you’re ready to partake, pour the whole jar of messy sludge into the french press. Press and enjoy!

We had a fun weekend, enjoying St. Patrick’s Day with a shamrock-pancake-and-green-smoothie dinner. Matthew and I headed up to Asheville’s Navitat to zipline with some of the crew from the Grok conference Matthew organized/hosted this past week. It was the most fun I’ve had in a good long while. Zip-lining 200 feet up in the air over a ravine on the side of the Blue Ridge Mountains was definitely a highlight. Our friend Ismael did a stellar job juggling his camera to document the adventure while simultaneously swinging from the trees. Check out his photos and blog post HERE.

Teaching Brighton to feed Lucy was also a major highlight. Can we say delegating tasks FTW?!? Having a baby this go-round is a MUCH different ballgame than it was 5 years ago with a newborn and an 18 month old. Many days, these boys are lifesavers for me.

Here’s to the week officially ushering in spring. Next post up…Gardening 2012. Progress so far includes standing in my pjs staring at my weed-filled bed wishing it would magically prepare itself. Obviously, I’m on a roll.

She’s trying. Still not quite there yet.

It’s high time for a photo dump around here. It’s been a rocky couple of months, but we’re hanging in there. Adjusting to and enjoying our new family of five.

Matthew is working his tail off at Zaarly, travelling to their headquarters in San Francisco every month. I’m working my tail off learning to be a mother to three. The boys are loving being back in school (after a very brief homeschooling stint). And Lucy is loving being the baby of the family, wooing everyone with her wombat eyes and girly giggles.

Here’s the coming of spring and leaving the winter…in every sense…behind.

We were crazy tired, worn out from sickness and sleepless nights…

…but then she smiled.

And we quickly remembered just how worth it this whole parenting gig is.

What an honor and gift it is to raise these little souls.

We made it to 4 weeks. A huge accomplishment, in my book.

We’re still trying to figure out sleep and gas and how to help our little girl adjust to life outside my cozy belly. But thankfully, the worst of the depression & anxiety for me has gone and I’m able to actually enjoy this season of newbornhood again. Now if we could just get her to stop screaming like a banshee in the car seat, I might actually be able to get out of the house one of these days and feel like a normal member of society again :)

But the sun is now shining after a week of dreary rain, so I can’t complain. Being housebound has been good for a go-go-goer like myself. Learning to rest and slow down again has been good for my soul.

Our boys have been troopers through all this transitioning. It was a rough weekend with Lucy’s sleep, so Matthew and I were tag-teaming rocking a panicky baby and attempting to engage with our boys. Brighton has been the Super-Brother, getting snacks & drinks for Levi, taking him to the bathroom (because he’s scared of fish in the toilet), giving him hugs and pep talks when he’s sad about something (which is usually every 15 minutes these days), and being okay with his little brother clinging to him like a security blanket right now. After attempting to peel Levi out of Brighton’s bed at night, we ended up just shoving the two twin beds together. Which still isn’t good enough for Levi, whom we find curled up next to Brighton most mornings. We’re thankfully for Brighton’s tender heart right now, helping his out-of-sorts brother navigate these new waters of welcoming a baby.

Just some shots of our past two weeks. Lots of adjusting for everyone, but Jesus is faithfully navigating us through the wild waters.

Levi narrowly avoided a trip to the ER the other night after a slip in the tub resulted in a busted eyelid. The poor guy is having a pretty rough time adjusting to being misplaced as the baby of the family. He’s finding great comfort in his big brother, which is pretty sweet to see. Even though he’s been shunning me lately, he’s getting his fill of hugs and cuddles from B…as well as forced ones from me that he doesn’t necessarily want, but I’m not letting him have that option :)

Lucy had a great weekend of rest during the daytime hours, which we all desperately needed as a family. Just some time to feel “normal” as a family. We’re just hoping her evening gassiness and rough patches begins clears up over the course of the next few weeks. Thankfully, my meds have started to kick in and I’ve had many more hope-filled, encouraging days over the past week. Thank you all so much for your encouraging words and many prayers. 

Little Lucia Eloise Smith joined our family at 3:40pm on Monday, August 28th. Weighing in at 7lb 8oz and 20in long, she was absolutely perfect. After a relatively quick and easy birth, we were suddenly staring at our new, beautiful daughter. We fell hard and fast for that little dark-haired bundle.

We loved that Lucy’s name meant “light”, as that’s what she is to our family after these past years of much loss. She is our little gift of light from Jesus and we believe that’s what she’ll be to many others in her life, beyond just our family.

Her middle name, Eloise, is a combination of both my maternal great-grandmother and grandmother’s names. The first, who was Elsie Louise, and the second, Louise Elsie. When we found out the meaning of Eloise was “famous warrior”, that seemed fitting as well. Our little famous warrior of light. Just like Lucy, in the Chronicles of Narnia, we believe our little girl will be a tender, strong warrior in the kingdom.

I realize that this post is long overdue. With almost two weeks past since her arrival, it’s been a bit of a unique whirlwind here at our house. As with all newborn arrivals, the house is turned upside down quite a bit, which we were expecting. What we were not expecting was the degree and intensity to which serious post-partum depression and anxiety would hit me with within a day after Lucy’s arrival.

You would think by baby #3 you’d have it all figured out and know what to expect. But the first night I woke up with a severe anxiety attack, the first one I’d ever experienced in my life, I knew this was not going to be the same road to recovery after a newborn that I’d walked two times previous.

It has been an uphill climb the past two weeks, but we are slowly starting to see some hope, thanks to the amazing support of Matthew, the incredible help of my family, an amazing post-partum doula, and the help of my doctor.

As Jesus leads our family through this difficult season, we would love any prayers you would be willing to offer up on our behalf.

- for complete healing, mentally & emotionally, for myself

- for deep, anxiety-free sleep at nights to promote that healing

- for energy, strength and hope for Matthew as he carries our family – me, the boys, Lucy – through this season in the midst of a heavy work load. He has Lucy from 9-2am (usually even later) every night the doula is not here and has had many rough nights of trying to get her calmed to sleep for hours. Pray in the nights for mercy and grace for him…and sleep for Lucy!

- for energy and strength for my mom & dad as they support & help us after just moving to Greenville to start a church plant. A lot on their plates as well.

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and encouragement as we walk through this season. As everyone keeps reminding me, it is just a season. Jesus is faithful and will “gently lead those that have young” (Is.40:11).

For those of you who’ve experienced mental illness, it can be a brute beast, and sometimes you just need everyone to believe and speak the truth to you over and over when it doesn’t seem true in your own weak mind.

A song I’m clinging to these days by Rita Springer, I Have To Believe:

I have to believe
That He sees my darkness
I have to believe
He knows my pain
I have to lift up
My hands to worship
Worship His name

I have to declare
That He is my refuge
I have to deny
That I am alone
I have to lift up
My eyes to the mountain
It’s where my help comes from

He said that He’s forever faithful
He said that He’s forever true
He said that He can move mountains
If He can move mountains
He can move my mountain
He can move your mountain, too

Oh, I have to stand tall
When the wind blows me over
I have to stand strong
When I’m weak and afraid
I have to grab hold
Ahold of the garments
The garments of praise

Cause He said that He’s forever faithful
And He said that He’s forever true
He said that He can move mountains
If He can move mountains
He can move my mountain
He can move your mountain, too

I have to sing praise
When the hour is midnight
He unlocks these chains
That bind up my soul
My sin and my shame
He has forgiven and made me whole

I have to believe
He’s got everything under control
I have to believe
Lord, I believe
Help my unbelief
I have to believe in You.

With how things have gone this time around…I’m assuming, no. But I can still hope :)

This was the night I went into labor with both of the boys. Both were due on a Sunday. Both started their arrival in the wee hours of the night on the previous Saturday, 8 days before their supposed ETA. Both were Sunday babies.

So Baby Girl, just in case you were wondering, we cannot wait to meet you and call you our own. The first ever minismithette. Our little warrior of light. (hint, hint ;)

No baby girl yet. So what’s a bored, anxious mama to do while she waits? Why, bake buttery, gooey treats, of course! Thanks to a late night perusal through pinterest last night, these caught my eye and were promptly whipped up in my kitchen by noon today. Add a little sea salt to the top and they are deliciously deadly. And just what this mentally exhausted pregnant gal needs.

I kept hearing it said that the third pregnancy can be a bit unpredictable, but up until a few weeks ago, I would have disagreed. With an easy-peasy 8 months, I arrived at these last 4 weeks with a “I-Got-This-Whole-Pregnancy-Thing-In-The-Bag” attitude. Ha.

This pregnancy has definitely thrown us for a loop here at the end. Both the boys births were pretty textbook…labor pains started, got worse, and eventually led to a beautiful little bambino. With this little girl, it’s been two weeks and counting of intense, predictable contractions lasting for hours…that eventually just go away. For those of you who’ve never been pregnant, I can’t even begin to explain how confusing and mentally maddening this can be. You start to doubt your body. You wonder why ‘Ol Faithful, who has popped out two gorgeous, healthy little guys, is being so finicky here with baby number three. If you’re a eccentric and off – like I can tend to be – you even begin to wonder if you’re just stuck being pregnant indefinitely and it was all some cruel joke that there is actual a baby in there who might some day grace you with her presence.

Every pregnancy is different and I know every pregnant gal goes through their own crazies towards the end, but I’ve definitely felt physically and mentally stretched more than I had with either of the boys in these last countdown days.

Levi told me the other day he was afraid she might be growing into a mommy in my belly because she’s been in there so long. Trust me, I’ve wondered that myself. We are all attempting to patiently wait. Eating our weight in buttery, toffee goodness is helping a just little bit.