Look out world... here she comes!!!

That's right, Naomi is taking the plunge towards walking...

For the past while, she'll walk while holding someone's hand. But recently, she's decided to stand up and take a few steps. After that, she gets a little scared and sits back down.

She knows she's still faster on her hands & knees, but also is figuring out that walking is the next step. It's been a riot watching her figure out her legs. Pretty soon she'll be just as fast as her brother...

Fuggadeboudit...

Well, the stars must be aligning for Jonah...

For those of you out of the Transformer loop, a new PSP game was made to come out this Summer. Yes, a Transformers PSP game...

Jonah and Ethan went to the store today to look for the game. Problem is, it doesn't come out until tomorrow, June 26th. But...

They checked out another game store and the gentleman working at the time decided he would sell it to them the day before. And it came with a free poster!

So if you're looking to preview the game before it comes out tomorrow, we have it! LOL

Jonah is seriously the luckiest kid I know...

Tooth time

It's that time... Naomi is working on her 2nd tooth! Her first one started coming in around the first of the month. Shortly after, we started seeing signs of her second one. She seems to be handling it fine... we didn't even really notice until I looked closely one day...

And speaking of teeth...

Jonah had 2 cavities filled yesterday. And he was such a trooper!!! I am so proud of him. He took to the laughing gas just fine and didn't even know he got 2 shots in his mouth. The dentist and assistant were amazed at how well he was doing. And it was probably a good thing that I took him because I think Ethan would have passed out at the sight of his son getting a huge shot in his mouth. I was amazed at how calm he stayed throughout the whole procedure. Now he's all good for at least another 6 months!!!

The things kids say...

Thanks to Ethan, Jonah has recently become a Jazz fan. And it is the cutest thing to watch... Ethan & Jonah yelling at the TV. And Jonah REALLY gets into it! Yelling things like, "Get the rebound!" or "No foul, ref!" They even have their own 'high-five' during the games... silly boys.

So this morning Jonah decided to draw pictures of the players with their jersey numbers... constantly asking who's number is what, etc. He was even going as far as drawing pictures of the opposing team. Wanting to draw Tracy McGrady, an African-American player, he asked me what he looked like. I told him he was dark-skinned. With that, he responded, "Dark-skinned, huh? So did he have to ride in the back of the bus a long time ago?"

Children really are sponges!

Yet another reminder of how our children soak in everything we say...

It was my night to do the nightly ritual with Jonah... read books and tuck him in. As we walked into the room, I asked him what book he wanted to read. He started looking at his library of books to see what the book du jour would be. As most of you know, Jonah is a VERY observant and keen little boy. Noticing a book out of place, this is what he had to say about it...

"Mommy, Papa never puts the books back in their place. How come he never puts the books back in their place? Doesn't he know the books don't put themselves back???"

Yes, he must have heard Mommy yammer about Papa not ever return anything to its place.

The surgery was a success!!!

As most know, Naomi had tympanostomy tube placement in both ears... yes, she had tubes put in her ears to help with drainage. The purpose of the tubes is to allow air to be present in the middle ear space. She had a couple ear infections since December. The infections cleared up with antibiotics but she was still holding fluid in her ears. Usually, this is something infants can grow out of, and the tubes just help with the draining. So for most of her infant life, she was hearing sounds unclearly. The feeling is explained as if your ears need to pop... somewhat annoying and uncomfortable. The specialists only concern was that she was holding fluid for a few months now. And without being able to hear clearly, this could impede on her speech. So the obvious route was to have the surgery.

She was an amazing patient. She didn't even cry when the anesthesiologist took her back or when the nurse returned her to me. I've been blessed with pretty mellow, easy-going children. She was back to normal right away. We've just had to monitor her balance as the anesthesia was wearing off, but for the most part, you wouldn't have been able to notice she had the surgery!

She's on the move!!!

Gone are the days where we were able to plop Naomi on a blanket in hopes she would just sit and entertain herself. Yes, she's officially crawling... and hopping. In an effort to go faster, she has also taught herself to hop on all fours in order to get to where she's going.

She doesn't move very fast, but nevertheless she's moving. Sometimes we catch her moving in circles... which is pretty hilarious to watch!

So look out folks... before we know it she'll be running around and yelling at us.

The 3.5 foot 2-planker

As mentioned in the previous blogs, Jonah has been fortunate enough to get free skiing lessons courtesy of Snowbird Mountain School. I knew he was talented and athletic (come on, look who his parents are... hehe), but I had no idea how he was progressing...

Since I haven't seen how he truly was doing on the 'big' hill, I decided we would spend the afternoon together on skis. So much for that...

Jonah is a mad man! I knew I was already a spazz on skis, but he truly makes me look like a slow spazz on skis. And he'll jump off of anything!

Ethan was able to join us for a couple of runs and that made me look even worse! Here I am, following an amazing snowboarder and a 5 year old that makes me look silly. On a specific run, I wanted to get pictures of Jonah going off some jumps so the plan was for me to ski down first and assume the position. As we were making it down the hill, Ethan & Jonah were already getting ready... He asked Papa, "Papa, where's Mommy? She's such a slowpoke!"

Naomi's 6 Month Checkup

Poor girl...

Naomi has had a couple of ear infections in the past few months. Luckily, the infection seems to have cleared. However, she is still holding some fluid in her ears. With the pediatrician's recommendation, we are making an appointment with an Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist to put tubes in her ears. Yes, I am very sad about this. I don't know what the process is, although I do know it is common. Regardless, as a parent, I'm sure it isn't any fun. Her consultation is scheduled next week...

On a lighter note, she's progressing just fine. She is nearly 17 pounds! At the moment, she is crawling backwards! She gets easily frustrated when something is just barely out of reach and instead of moving forward to get it, her arms are stronger and proceeds to move in a backwards direction. She has, however, learned that she can lunge forward and then sit up in a new position... taking her closer to the desired object... rather than backwards... it's a funny sight to see!

Jonah can read!!!

Jonah's preschool Reading class is paying off...

As of last week, Jonah is able to read small words. He has been sent home with a couple of mini books and is reading to anyone that will listen. We are so proud of him!!!

I have such cute kids!

At Jonah's school, the teacher 'highlights' each child as their birthday approaches. The birthday kid is sent home with a project... a hanging mobile for the class to see. This mobile consists of a picture either drawn by the child or an actual picture that is pasted on. Alongside this mobile are the child's 'favorites'. And in case you were wondering... here are Jonah's favorites:

Food: Pizza

Sport: Soccer

Book: Where the Wild Things Are

And last, but not least, the last one was 'People'. So I asked Jonah who his favorite person was. And without hesitation, his answer was... "Naomi".

Naomi's First Solids

For a while there, we thought Naomi's first solids were going to be tissue, paper or anything else she could get her little hands on. Instead, she opted for the rice cereal spoon fed to her by Mommy...

Surprisingly, she didn't pull any bad faces. I think it's because she'll eat just about anything! She finished half of the cereal before she got bored with it. Later, we gave her banana 'stars' that quickly dissolve. And those also seemed to come with ease for her. Stay tuned next week as we introduce a different flavor... maybe then she'll pull a different face???

5 going on 15

Believe it or not, Jonah is another year older! Yes, 5 is the big number.

His birthday party was a hit. We had friends join us at Brasstun's Family Entertainment Center near our house in Murray. The kids threw on their bowling shoes and bowled a mean game... received 6 tokens each for the arcade... had pizza & soft drinks... watched Jonah open presents... and, of course, birthday cake to finish off the party.

His big ticket present was his Gary Fisher bicycle given to him by Nana. And he absolutely loves it! He definitely made it look cool with his red helmet covered in flames.

He now knows he'll be in Kindergarten this year and is looking forward to it!

Meet the Grandparents

Naomi was finally able to meet her great-Grandparents in Arizona...

This would be her first airplane ride... and she was absolutely wonderful. I always get nervous when it comes to traveling with the kids. But just like her brother, Naomi did wonderfully and things went smoothly.

Grandpa-Great & Nana-Great were able to enjoy the grandkids & great-grandkids for the weekend, courtesy of Nana (Ethan's Mom). This was their Christmas present... sure beats a tie or sweater! It was a big group, but that also meant big fun. The weather in Arizona was in the mid-70's. It gave me Spring Fever, but I also know it's only February...

Jonah enjoyed Randy's company (Ethan's cousin) the most. He was basically his shadow. It's always funny to me how Jonah is partial to 'older' kids. And Naomi loved Grandpa-Great's oxygen tubes... to her, he came with toys!

We hope to see them again soon. Just like the rest of our family, we never get to see them enough and there never is enough time...

Checkers, anyone???

Jonah learned a new game... checkers. While Mommy & Papa were away for the weekend, Uncle Zach decided to teach Jonah how to play checkers. Checkers is actually for ages 7 and up, but not if you're Jonah! He's actually pretty good. He thinks out his moves and makes comments like... "I'm coming after you Ricky Bobby" (from Talledega Nights) when he's on the move after being 'kinged' and reaching the end of the board.

So next time you're at the house, be prepared to be beaten by an almost 5 year old at Checkers! And if you get sick of playing Checkers, he's really good at Uno, too!

Have you seen it???

Yes, I'm talking about the trailer to the new Transformers movie. A live-action movie... none of this animated crap! Michael Bay (Armageddon) & Steven Spielberg have teamed up together to make what looks like an amazing movie. It's funny... I didn't think I'd be as excited as Jonah is, but this is my generation. Thanks to my brother James, I remember the old school Transformers. In fact, Jonah reminds me alot of James. He knows EVERY single Transformers name and whether or not they are an Autobot or Decepticon. In fact, if there was a Transformers trivia contest he'd win at the young ripe age of 4! His sound effects are amazing, too. I sometimes think there is a Transformer transforming in my own living room... until I see Jonah moving around.

If you're interested, go to www.transformersmovie.com and click on the trailers.

See you in the theaters on July 4th 2007!!!

He's outta control!!!

Okay, not really... but kinda.

Jonah has been going to Snowbird every Thursday for the past two Thursdays. Last Thursday was his first day on the mountain. He started on Chickadee (the bunny/learning hill) in the morning and then the instructor decided he was ready for the 'big' hill in the afternoon. First off, I'll start with the conditions. This was the last big storm Salt Lake received... cloudy, foggy and snowing all day. Some would call us crazy, but he's got to understand that skiing isn't going to be easy. There will be days like this... miserable, cold and wet. I know, sounds harsh but we have to learn this some time, right? Okay, to be honest we just wanted him to be up there. And it just happened to work out that he could get into a lesson that day. Thursdays seem to be the day that he can go without disrupting Mountain School. And I say it like that because he does the lessons free of charge (yes, we tip the instructor... we're not THAT cheap!) when there's room in the ski school classes.

Anyhow, he loved it. Okay, maybe not LOVED it, but he said he had fun. He expressed to me that there was some 'deep powder' that was really fun falling into. See... I knew there was a plus to the snowy and miserable conditions! And he also told me the 'big mountain' chairlifts are fun as well.

Last year he was running the slalom course on the bunny hill and practically beating me! No more edgie-wedgie for him either. So look out people... there's another crazy Smith on the slopes!!!

Interesting news for women...

So I was working out on the treadmill at the gym and came across a story on the TV (because we need entertainment while we're working out, right?). Anyway, it was a piece on heart disease and heart attacks for women.

Although we think it's a "man's" disease or something we worried about with our parents, younger people are becoming susceptible to heart disease or heart attacks... namely, women. And it went on to say that regardless of how healthy we seem to be, there is still a major cause for this... no 'ME' time. And as new-agey as it sounded, it's true. You can run daily, eat healthy, whatever... but if there's no 'ME' time, than what's the point? The point is that stress is a major factor in heart disease/attacks. And the simplicity of lowering your stress is underestimated.

So ladies, be selfish. Take time for yourselves... you deserve it!

He totally cracks me up...

precocious [pri-koh-shuh s] adjective

1. usually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: a precocious child

2. prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.

3. of or pertaining to premature development

... for some reason, I think that when I am looking up this word, there should be a picture of Jonah in the definition. For those of you that know him well, you will agree with me that he is a brilliant child. He amazes me every day.

I was trying to put socks on Naomi the other day and the minute I would get them on, she would instantly kick them off. This was a bit frustrating as we were trying to get out the door. In doing this, I had made the comment, "Wow, Jonah your sister isn't cooperating." With that, he asked, "What does 'cooperate' mean?" I replied, "She's not making it easy to put her socks on." And his response was, "You mean she's being difficult?" I laughed and agreed. And then realized, did my 4 year old just use the word 'difficult'???

New Year's 2007

Just like Christmas, New Year's came and went in a flash...

Our evening was spent the way the Smith's like to do it... low-key and mellow. Jonah spent most of the evening playing with his Leapster or UNO with us. He was the first 'party pooper' and was in bed by 9PM. At first, we thought Naomi wanted to ring in the New Year with her parents, but decided she'd fall asleep at 10:30PM. And somehow Ethan and I managed to stay up until 12:30AM... probably a first for us for New Year's since 2004. Our neighbors thought they should ring in the New Year shooting fireworks for the first half hour of 2007... that was about as much noise that was coming from our side of the street.

I told Ethan we must be getting old. As we were watching the ball drop and witnessing all the crazies on TV, we decided either those people are not parents... or their children are already old and have partying "build-up"! Regardless of how lame or boring we must have been, the important part is that we didn't care and enjoy being lame with our family. I guess the family that is lame together stays together!