Happy "Kriffitz" from the Smiths

I know that it's the day after Christmas, but I want to extend warm holiday greetings to all of our wonderful friends and family. We had such a busy day but we made it through and Ben only had one tantrum all day. It was of course when we made him get off of his new trike from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Elisabet and go to bed. I sympathized greatly.

Ben was super excited for a few weeks for Christmas. He calls it "Kriffitz." We tried to teach him to say "Merry Christmas" but alas, he has not mastered the r's and l's yet so we opted for "Happy Christmas" instead. Ben also learned some fun words like present, rip and crap. I know that crap isn't the most festive word, but despite all of my sheltering, he has learned a bad word. I first heard it when he asked his favorite question "what's that?"for the 500th time a few days ago. He pointed at the beautiful bounty of presents at my parents house and said "wazzat?." I answered "Ben you know what that is. Why don't you tell me what that is." He looked at me proudly and said "cwap." Amidst the one bad word, Ben did learn about Jesus and has had a great time singing songs about Christmas and our savior. It hasn't all been a bust right?

Gemma obviously didn't appreciate Christmas like Ben did, but we were surprised with how much she loves the lights. She actually calms down when she sees them and they put her into a trance which then puts her to sleep. Very nice! We have a feeling that next year the lights won't put her to sleep. Especially with big brother explaining the magic and wonder of ripping paper to shreds and playing with boxes. I enjoyed the fact that all of "Gemma's" presents ended up being cute clothes that I will enjoy more than anyone else. Thanks Gemma maybe next year you can have presents that are actually for you!

We hope that you all had a beautiful and blessed season celebrating the light of our world, Jesus. Happy 2008! Let normal, everyday life begin, I'm done with holidays for a year!

Get your 1000 words ready. Gemma pictures are here!

Baby Gemma

Some people have asked why we chose the name Gemma and there has been some confusion as well involving the pronunciation. here's the scoop!

We chose the name Gemma because it means "a precious gem" and we want our daughter to know how special she is to our family. It is very popular in many other countries, it just hasn't caught on here yet! If you are confused as to how to pronounce her name, her is the correct pronunciation as well as some info and a graph showing how popular it is in every country but the US.

The girl's name Gemma \ge(m)-ma\ is pronounced JEM-ah. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "precious gem, jewel". Saint Gemma was an Italian saint canonized in 1940. She was an ordinary young woman whose religious life included manifestations of the stigmata, or the marks of Christ's wounds.

Parental Pride

Isn't it funny how since the dawn of time, parents have thought that their children are the smartest or funniest or best looking kids that have ever been? I'll tell you, I'm no different.

First there is Ben. He is amazing and every day he comes up with new sentences and learns at least three new words. He makes connections that I never see coming. Like yesterday, when he got his immunization he got a piece of chocolate from my mom as a treat afterward. When we got in the car that evening I told him that we were going to see my parents because it was Granboppa's birthday. He shook his head back and forth saying "nooo".... "doctor, owie, hurt....Chocolate!" My jaw dropped. My son is so smart!

Next there is Gemma. She is so darn cute. I am just in love with her face and people who aren't related to me tell me that she is just the cutest so I know that I'm not completely crazy. Also, she is so good. She sleeps in two big chunks of time each night and only wakes us up once. She is also a master nurser at only two weeks.

Okay, I think that's enough bragging. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who reads my blog, so I don't feel too bad about this shameless promotion of my babies.

~Erin

Back in Business

Hello again. Life has certainly changed since the last blog. I took an extended vacation from blogging because it was getting hard for me to write a blog that wasn't masterfully written and it was taking too long, so I stopped altogether. I wish that I hadn't. I missed out on recording so many special moments because I didn't want to write a blip, I wanted an article. I have changed.

I might occasionally write a blog that has the feel of a Dave Barry article, but from now on it will just be special things that are said or maybe even just a picture. Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to update you all on our lives over the past year.

First off, I got pregnant again and gave birth by repeat c-section to a beautiful baby girl. Gemma Noelle Smith was born at 11:23am on December 5th of 2007. She weighed 7lbs 3oz. She has my cheeks and nose and she has Colin's eyes. We love her so much. I went a week overdue this time and was quite uncomfortable those last weeks. Benjamin is a great big brother. Aside from the occasional ball that has been thrown at Gemma's face, Ben has really taken to his "sissou." He actually says Gemma perfectly.

So that's all I'm going to do for now. I'll try to write memories from the past year and update as often as possible.

~Erin