month 17: theo daisy:)

miss Theo is now 17 months old:) To punish myself, for no real reason at all, I looked back through a bunch of baby photos and I gotta say...it, absolutely, feels like the time I spent with Theo went much faster...or her as a baby?! I think we struggled those first few weeks...and looking back, it's all sort of a blur. That makes me pretty sad...but I have so many conversations with my BFF, who has 3 of her own kiddos...and we agree...no matter how we would have done things or how we do things currently...we'll always look back and think we should have stared at their faces creepishly a few more hours per day. Or held them a bit longer. Or rocked them to sleep a few more nights a week.

ah, Theo gets held so much. And believe me...I do not take that for granted or wish that away. I'm fully aware that it won't last and that makes me the saddest you can be. SURE there are a few times a day where I wish I could get SOMETHING done without her crying to be held or cuddled...but that is fleeting. And then I pick her up and we cuddle and the damn dishes just don't matter:)

i'm sure it's the idea of another baby coming so soon. 63 days to be exact. It's hard to imagine what Theo will be 63 days from now. Hard to imagine that in 63-ish days...Theo will be the Middle Child...an Older Sister. It is a mixture of pain and happiness on my heart.

it reminds me of the feeling I used to get when my dad would make us unload a trailer full of wood into the basement for the winter - it was cold as SHIT outside and it was a BIG ASS trailer!!! My tears never changed the fact that it had to be done;) Guess that's kinda what's happening with these babies of ours...they're gonna get older. Me having another baby isn't going to change that...it is what it is and it's never going to feel good to know that they're moving on and growing up...but I can't allow myself to forget all those exciting moments along the way...that make the pain of them 'growing up' totally worth it:) 

anddddd at the end of all of this...twenty-some years from now...Jacob and I will be thankful that they're grown and happy and healthy and doing good things...and then we'll sell their childhood home to buy a camper and bug the shit out of them at least 3 times a year while we travel the country;)

 theo at One Month:)

willB and Theo Daisy...being...pals?!;)

top: Theo, bottom: Homer

baby girl:)

theo daisy turned one yesterday - March 30th, 2015. I've been okay with this, only because she's so ridiculously tiny yet (compared to her huge baby boy cousins;) that I can hardly believe she could actually be a one year old! And then I just looked back through my posts on her birth - Here and Here - yep...it goes too fast. That's all I can say:'(

theo LOVED the cake and we LOVED the banner her aunt, Renee, made for her party! It suited our baby girl perfectly:)

unfortunately, for my photo-hating husband and son...I'm pretty obsessed with getting a family photo whenever the opportunity presents itself:) I like to think that karma had something to do with my husband, unknowingly, standing in dog shit for the duration of these photos;) Maybe next time you'll just get your ass outside the 1st time I ask;) - PS. they don't alwaysssss hate taking photos...just a lot of the time;)

tulips:)

thank you, thank you for all the perfect little gifts:) We have an ever growing family...our parties just involve the immediate family and that alone consists of 13 kids and 13 adults - I thinkkkk??. So we always have a pretty packed house for these get-togethers:) Lots of love:)

theo got her first baby doll - thank you Austyn!:) Some super cute summer outfits - thank you Aunt Courts and Me-Moo (Grandma Laurie:)!:) A great play/sound machine and stuffed animal - thank you Uncle Jordan:) Some much needed bath supplies and snacks - thank you Aunt Mal Mal:) The most perfect swim suit for this summer - thank you Grandma & Grandpa Smith:) And a bunch of other great goodies!:)

i don't know what it is - Courts claims it's the going from a boy to a girl:) - Theo is so much different to me than Homer. Homer has been and is still, a very sweet little boy:) But he's a boy...rough and tumble. Theo...gosh...she's got my heart locked up in her tiny little fists like nothing I've ever felt - Jacob will agree with that 100%:). Since day one, she's cuddled up into our necks like she'd been searching for that spot for a million lifetimes. And that spot...I never knew it was meant for anything as overwhelmingly perfect as her little face. I love Theo so hard. She's not walking yet and that's probably due to the fact that I never put her down;) But I'm okay with that...I have no plans to encourage walking any time soon. Snuggles, baby girl. All the snuggles:)

happy FIRST birthday Theo Daisy. I've never really wanted to believe in meant-to-be. But I'm convinced that you were:)

and a little First Year of Theo video for ya:)

and here's Homer's video - if work is slow today;)

thanks to my mom and Courts for all the birthday photos!!!:)

we're so hot, we don't need a furnace;)

2 of the best things I ever did:

have these babies andddddd purchase myself a pair of overalls;)

sooooo it's tax refund season...which meansssssss something in the $2,000 to $4,000 range will be going wrong. Every.Damn.Time.

this year it was the furnace. And as luck would have it, the furnace failed on us during the coldest week of this Wisconsin winter. Well played, Furnace. Well.Played. As upsetting as it is to have to dish out that much money on something much less fun than 5 days in Hawaii...we're taking it in stride. Tons of snuggles and cuddles and late night talks in our parkas:) Such things can sometimes create the best memories:)

"remember that time our electric bill was over $300 because we were running 7 space heaters while our furnace was broke?? That was so funny!!"...too soon???!!! ;)

Furnace Break 2015 has encourageddddd a continued budget;) So while we wait for our Target Fund to build...we're gonna put on pretty flower/overall/pj or no pants at all and jump on the stairs and take funny photos and nap:)

xoxo.
the smiths
*shiver;)*

month 10: theo:)

miss Theo Daisy is now 10 months - and 5 days:)

she's brilliant and beautiful. Duh. She claps. And crawls. And stands...sometimes. Kinda. Mostly she just gets held and cuddled and that's just fine by me:) 

she's a good sleeper. She takes one long nap in the afternoon and then sleeps from about 930PM-830AM...sometimes only waking about once in the night!

she's still nursing at least twice a day but we've just recently moved on to whole milk in a bottle - our goal was to nurse exclusively until 10 months and we did that and enjoyed every last minute of it:) - and lots of solids to help her get her weight up:) She hasn't gained much in the last 6 months - actually, nothing:/, so even though I think it's pretty obvious that she's a very healthy little girl...we want to see her gain somethingggg:)

she's, absolutely, got us wrapped around her finger:)

3 days apart in age. at least 3lbs apart in weight;)

the making of a monthly photo - everyone wants in on the action;)

a-Homer's-eye-view.

after looking at the above photo, I know you're not going to know whether to believe me when I tell you that Homer is not currently being heavily - HEAVILY - medicated;) Those eyes though!??!?!:)

homes has been super interested in photography lately. And by Photography...I mean: taking my camera while I'm hunched over my computer, having forgotten I have children to raise, and taking at least 23 selfies, followed by a photo of everything. 17 times.:)

honestly...I don't think he sucks at it. See for yourself!!

 exhibit A: mom not being a mom. Oops;)

these are just so random and cute and perfect:) I love his little perspective:)

*these were all from a few weeks ago, during Christmas and long-haired days:)*