A year of PA!

It just occurred to me that it's been a WHOLE year since we moved to Pennsylvania. Before we moved up north, Chris and I made a list of things that we wanted to see and do during our time in the northeast, so I started reflecting on what we've accomplished thus far. I will say that many of the things on the list got put on a "will have to do later list" due to a very big surprise we got 2 weeks after we moved here...ahem, Nolan.

Here's some pictures taken in front of our house- a year ago and now. I'm going to blame the fact that 3 month old Nolan looks as big as 13 month Brady on an unflattering camera angle. :)



July 2012

July 2013

I've said it before, but Lititz, Pennsylvania really is a different world from Clearwater, Florida. Both are great, but SO different! Our little town is a stereotypical "Main Street U.S.A." kind of place right in the middle of Amish farmland. (Side note; Lititz was voted as "The Coolest Small Town in America".) It's so unique and Chris and I are constantly remarking on how we really hit the jackpot when we randomly chose where to live in Pennsylvania. We wanted to try new things and experience a different kind of lifestyle when we decided to move and that's definitely happened. I can't say I don't miss my friends, family, old job, and proximity to the beach, but what a great opportunity we have had getting to live a new life up north. Here's a little recap in pictures of some of the things we have gotten to experience since our move...


Moving day...Brady crawling around his new house.

Sesame Place! B-man got to meet the real life Elmo and Dorothy!!



Playing in the snow! Definitely wouldn't have happened in Florida!

The Baltimore Aquarium. B shares my love of dolphins!

Countless petting zoo trips. There's a whole lot of farm animals in our neck of the woods!

Lancaster airport- big boy LOOOOVES airplanes!

Playing in the Fall leaves.

Pregnancy #2!

First trip to NYC.

Night time corn maze.

Change of seasons...pumpkins, leaves, cooler weather.

Rockefeller Center at Christmas time.

Cut down our own Christmas tree.

Nolan's birth!!

Became a family of 4...

Went to the U.S. Open in Philadelphia.

Strasburg railroad- choo choo!!

Celebrated Brady's 2nd birthday with new friends!

Lititz 4th of July parade- a really BIG deal in this small town.

So many trips to Lititz Springs Park to feed the ducks!

Enjoyed views like this every day!
 

We still have so much more we want to explore and we are going to try our best (with a baby and a 2 year old) to make it happen. Hopefully we will get a chance to visit Washington D.C., go to Mt. Gretna, see the Jersey Shore, go to a Penn State game, see Niagara Falls, go to Hershey Park, the Philadelphia Zoo, and Dutch Wonderland. Chris and I are also determined to do a (grown-up) road trip to New England...hopefully next summer!!!

We're so thankful for our friends and family who have been so supportive of all the changes and transitions our little family has gone through. We've been so blessed to have so many visitors and hope that more of our loved ones can come visit in the future!




Spring, sprang, sprung!

Well Spring certainly took it's time getting to Pennsylvania. It was much appreciated when it did arrive. In fact, I realized how much you take warm weather for granted when you grow up in Florida. We have tried to make the most of every sunny day that we've had. I wanted to do a quick post showing some of the projects we accomplished this Spring and how we've enjoyed the weather.

Chris and I loved that our yard was full of vegetables when we moved in last summer, but knew that we could not keep up with all that the previous owners had going on. We decided to focus on just two types of veggies in a contained space. Chris (and Brady) built this garden box and we are patiently awaiting our tomatoes and green peppers! We also still have a peach, plum, and pear tree in the yard.

 

 

Our yard has been the crazy Jurassic Park yard in the neighborhood for quite some time. There were so many trees planted in such a small space, that it was time to do some cutting down. It pained me to have to remove trees (it didn't feel very "Go Green" of us) but the trees were all competing for nutrients so none of them were growing like they should. We hired a service to cut down a big Evergreen in the back corner of our yard and the "crew" was Amish! I did what you're not supposed to do and took pictures of the Amish guys working in our yard.

 

 

Chris has been working so hard to un-do all the gardening that the previous owners did. That included tearing out all of the shrubbery that was in our front yard. Here's a before and after. We are still waiting on grass to grow around the plants, but for now, less is more and we are happy to be rid of some of the jungle!

Before...B-Man could have gotten lost in that shrubbery madness.

After...you can actually see the porch. And a fresh coat of black paint on the shutters!

Another perk of Spring was outside fun. No more hanging out in the yucky basement!! The sprinkler and sand box were two of Brady's pastimes, but his absolute favorite thing to do is mow the lawn. We are hoping this love of yard work continues into his teen years...

This is how Nolan chills while Brady is playing outside. Love the mini swing!

One of the perks of being a toddler is how the simple things in life can be so amusing. I can't tell you how many "yellow flowers" (dandelions) Brady picked for me. It was completely precious, as well as productive weed picking.

Spring came and went pretty quickly, but we hope summer lasts for a long time! Below is a link to a video showing a typical Spring/Summer Saturday morning activity at the Smith house.
Click here for the video>>> Daddy's helper!

Meet Nolan!

We should have known, due to the way he has been surprising us from the beginning, that Nolan would find a way to make an exciting entrance into this world. His birth story is, to say the least, not boring. In fact, the surgeon who delivered him (via emergency c-section) said she would bet money that he would be president one day and that he was destined for great things because God obviously put him here for a reason!

Nolan Michael. Such a sweet, photogenic little man!

 After a very calm, routine pregnancy, I expected a normal birth, much like I had with Brady. The day after my due date I began having contractions around 2 AM. They died off around 6 AM so I figured it was a false alarm. They picked back up again around 8 AM and we were heading to the hospital around 10 AM. Everything was progressing pretty normally and when my water broke around 6:45 PM, it was about time to push! I pushed from around 7-7:15 PM and then realized that something was not right. Our midwife called in several more nurses and a doctor and a surgeon. They were all closely monitoring the baby's heart rate which was dropping dramatically during every contraction/push. The surgeon made a quick decision to do an emergency c-section. Everything happened very quickly and Chris and I were, to say the least, confused, and panicked for our baby's safety. There was a lot of commotion and it was hard to stay calm. I had to be put to sleep for the c-section and Chris had to wait outside of the operating room. The doctor came out to talk to Chris before the surgery and less than a minute later she had Nolan out. Chris was able to come in and meet Nolan right away and was briefed on his "unique" situation. Apparently they discovered that the reason Nolan's heart rate was dropping so dramatically was because he not only had the cord wrapped around his neck, but there was a big knot tied in his cord. The surgeon said this was very rare and potentially life threatening had they not gotten him out right away (They told Chris to take a picture of the cord because they were all so shocked by it!) It could have been like that throughout my whole pregnancy, but only became an issue after my water broke because there wasn't any fluid to cushion it. During each contraction, the cord pulled tight, tightening the knot, and cutting off all of the air to the baby.

Our sweet, little miracle!!!

We are so thankful for our knowledgeable, quick acting hospital staff for helping bring our baby boy safely into this world. Things could have gone wrong in so many ways, but they didn't. Nolan was born completely healthy...even scoring a 9 on the Apgar! When I woke up from the surgery, it took a little while to "clear my head" and after a couple explanations as to what had gone down, I was so ready to meet my baby! The things that shocked me the most were his head full of dark hair and big chunky cheeks-he was an inch shorter than Brady was at birth, but almost the same weight. Although my first meeting of Nolan was not how I had pictured it, it was love at first sight!

My boys! Chris is such a proud daddy!

Recovery has been a little more challenging this time around and Brady is not understanding why I can't pick him up like I normally would, but all in all things are going pretty well. Nolan is a total sweetheart and we are always talking about the ways he is the same or different from how Brady was as a newborn. He's much cuddlier and much louder- lots of grunting in his sleep! He's a good eater and as of today(11 days old), is almost a whole pound over his birth weight. Brady pretty much ignored Nolan for the first few days, but each day he is interacting with him more. He has been sharing his play-dough and fruit loops with him lately (so generous!) Twice now he's bounced a ball off of his face (accidentally, of course) but it hasn't phased Nolan.



Sharing his Fruit Loops- that's kind of a big deal.

We are really enjoying this time as a family. We are lucky to have my mom in town to help out with the kids and day to day house chores, which has made things much easier. We were also extremely excited that Spring finally sprung the weekend that Nolan was born. We've been able to play outside, grill out, and work on our garden and other house projects. The newborn stage is not always fun (especially in the middle of the night) but we are trying to not wish this time of our life away and just enjoy our babies being babies for the short time that they are our little guys.


Let's just speed this swing up a bit for Nolan...that's what big brothers are for, right?

Getting Ready for Baby!

We are officially 1 month from my due date. I have to admit, this doesn't seem possible. This pregnancy is flying by! I guess it took me about 3 or 4 months just to wrap my head around the fact that we were having another baby, and then another month to start to really feel pregnant, and then another month to get motivated to start getting ready for another baby.  Now I am in full on "nesting mode."

We were blessed to have a wonderful "Boy-B-Q" couples shower to help us get ready for our newest addition. Our friends Jill and Andy threw a great party that not only provided us with great presents from our dear friends, but also really helped get us excited for our baby boy's arrival.

Friends and family at our Boy-B-Q couples shower.

 We finished the nursery in early February. I wanted to do something totally different from Brady's nursery so we went with a two tone furniture set (something I never thought I would have liked) but it all came together! There is a slight nautical theme- as I am still a Floridian at heart, and a little touch of baseball- a nod to his namesake, Nolan Ryan, and a little bit of rural Pennsylvania with the red, white and blue Barn Star.

We've also had lots of visitors in the past month which was really fun to have friends and family come see our new life up North.  It was also fun to show off the nursery and make baby #2 feel more real!

A visit with my mom, Aunt Margie, Grandma and Aunt Claudia.

Visit with my Gator girls- Jill, MB, me and Lu.

This weekend we are doing a maternity/family photo shoot. I am so excited to capture some moments with Chris and Brady and my baby bump. On March 17th, some of the sweet girls I've met in PA are throwing me and another girl a "Baby Sprinkle" to celebrate our new little ones.  Then, we will be just 2 weeks out from my due date! I'm trying to think of what else I should be doing to prepare. Here's what I've done recently...

-Washed up all of Brady's old newborn clothes and all the new outfits we've bought.
-Pulled out all of the old baby bottles/pump from storage.
-Set up the bassinet.
-Packed my hospital bag.
-Picked out birth announcement cards.
-Bought some new, comfy, "post-baby" clothes.
-Began making some "busy bag" activities for Brady to occupy him while I am tied up with the baby.
-Made a grocery list to buy ingredients to make up some freezer meals for after the baby is born.

So, what am I missing?! Shouldn't I be doing something else to get ready for this little one? It's definitely a different feeling the second time around. Last time I thought it actually mattered if I had 3 bottles of baby lotion and powder ready to go. Now I know that he won't even be getting a real bath for a week or two after he gets home! Last time I was so concerned about having cute outfits ready to go, complete with matching socks and shoes. Now I know that he will most likely be sleeping the majority of the day and have pajamas and swaddles washed up... that is when he's not busy eating, pooping, and being super adorable. Last time I was worried about how our dog would react to having a new baby in the house. Now I'm completely consumed with worry about how my sweet boy Brady will react to having a new baby invade his house.

In a perfect world, Chris and I will manage to get in a date night before the baby arrives, because who knows how long it will be before we are comfortable leaving two little ones with a sitter! I'm also going to attempt to take naps or just relax when possible because I know that my days of having time to myself during Brady's nap are numbered. But like I said, I always feel like I should be doing something, so we'll see if I actually do that napping thing.

Most of all we are going to try and enjoy our last few weeks of being a family of 3- don't get me wrong, we're thrilled to be a family of 4, but we know this will be the last time Brady is an only child, so we're enjoying spoiling him just a little more. Here's our future big brother working on his new favorite hobby- golf! Daddy is so proud!

Christmas with the Smiths!

Like many people, January is my least favorite time of the year. All the excitement and build up of the holidays is officially over and I have to do my least favorite chore- taking down Christmas decorations. So, in an effort to avoid that task, I'm blogging!

December was full of lots of trips, parties, family and the longest, worst head cold I've ever had. All in all, it was a fun month (aside from my ear infection that turned into a ruptured ear drum!) We started the month with a trip to NYC. Despite the super cold weather and huge crowds, it was a fun adventure- we even took the train into the city. It takes about 2 1/2 hours from Lancaster and is so much easier than driving! We also got to see one of my besties Lindsay (got to have girl time with her at an afternoon tea and meet the Duchess of York!!) and get our Christmas pictures done in Central Park.

FAO Schwartz, Big piano. A must see!

Rockefeller Christmas tree... Very pretty, very crowded, very tired Brady.

Freezing cold carriage ride. Brady does not look amused here, although he did get a kick out of our horse.

One thing we knew we wanted to do this year was cut down our own Christmas tree. It's not something you can really do in Florida, so even though it's a little pricier (you pay for the experience!) we had to do it at least once. We did it at a place called Elizabeth Farms and you take a ride on a horse drawn carriage out to the trees. They provide the saws and then bundle up the tree for you after. They had hot chocolate, a petting zoo and Santa! Such a cute place!

Brady reeeeally wanted to help daddy with that saw.

One of my favorite things about December is how cozy and warm our house feels. I realized that I haven't taken any pictures of the inside of our house so I figured I would post some with our decorations up. It's still a work in progress and even more packed with toys since Christmas, but it's getting there.

Our living room...not to be confused with an HGTV ad.

Our dining room. It's in between the living room and kitchen and I'm happy to report that we actually eat dinner at the table every night (We used to eat in the living room) and love that it's the table my grandparents used to have in their house. Still trying to decide what to do with the awful light- refurbish it somehow or just replace it?

Gator corner in the dining room. Notice all the ornaments start 2 feet up...ahem, Brady.

Brady's playroom. Still in need of window treatments and new paint on the toy shelf.

Another view of the playroom.

The kitchen. Love that I had a window to put my very Floridian pink feather wreath on. Love that my hubby actually lets me hang that thing each year.

Our Christmas and New Years week was filled with visits from my dad and step mom and then my mom. It was so great to finally have our first visitors in Pennsylvania! Brady had so much fun playing with all his grandparents. We also got to enjoy a white Christmas. We did some sight-seeing, lots of eating and of course opening and playing with Brady's new toys.

Chris doing his obligatory snow angel.

Christmas Eve snow.

First thing Christmas morning...Brady's big gift. So BIG!

Opening his stocking-super excited about the Nutter Butter cookies.

Bubbles! Or as Brady calls them, BUB!
 



Brady sharing his toys with daddy.

Grandma got him an inflatable duck!

Brady and Grandma.

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday with their family. Our new year's goals are to get a little more organized and work on our littlest man's nursery. Now that we are all healthy and Christmas decorations are on their way out, I have lots of house projects in mind to get done before baby boy #2 arrives in less than 3 months! Happy 2013 everybody!