Daddy's Girl

At 3:28 a.m.  I woke Jason up and told him to give me his hand.  I put it on my belly and he felt his little girl kick for the first time :)

Just get it off...

I haven't taken my wedding ring(s) off since I was pregnant with Kohen.  I waited WAY too late this pregnancy to take them off.  It finally got to the point where they were hurting me.  When I decided to try and take them off, they wouldn't budge.  I tried lotion, baby oil, windex, dental floss, soaking my hand in cold water, twisting, pulling...EVERYTHING.  Nothing worked.  Nothing even worked a little bit.  I started to panic.  This went on for 3 days.  By the third day of not being able to get it off, I started to really panic and I was getting very claustrophobic.   I went to Jason's office during his lunch hour and said "just get it off".  I don't care how.  Just get them OFF!  We ended up going to a local jewelry store (Fletcher Smith's Jewelers) and I got them CUT OFF.  

BEFORE:

 During:

 After:

My poor rings!

I have to say that I DO NOT regret having them cut off.  I'm positive that was the ONLY solution.  I am sad that it messed up the engraving on the inside of the band though.  I'm sure I will always be able to see where my ring was cut.  Not sure how well platinum goes back together!?  BUT, I do know that it will add character to my ring and I'll always be able to show my little girl where her momma had to cut off my wedding rings when I was pregnant with her :)

Stormy Weather

I'm scared of bad weather.  I'm even scared of not-so-bad weather.  I guess I can blame it on the tornado that hit Arkadelphia on March 1, 1997...  ever since that day, I have been terrified.  Ask any of my friends or family.  They will tell you that I am NOT the person you want to be around when there is a cloud in the sky.  My sister is the same way.  She's the ONLY one that understands me when it comes to weather.

About a week an a half ago we had some really bad weather come through Faulkner County.  Ned called me multiple times telling me to take cover immediately (channel 7 weather call).  The first time he called it was about 5pm and Jason was driving home from work.  I was completely freaking out.  I grabbed Kohen, Dentin and Peyton and put them in the storage room beneath our staircase.  I put a baby gate up so none of them could get out.  I grabbed both lap tops and my cell phone.  I had the door cracked so I could see/hear the tv (until the satellite went out).  I could hear the tornado sirens going off outside.  Kohen was throwing crayons at the cats and the cats were trying their best to jump over me and over the baby gate to get away from him.  It was JUST ABOUT to much for me to handle.  I was crying and trying to explain to Kohen that everything was ok.  

Jason finally made it home and joined us under the stairs.  We kept getting texts from people asking if we were ok because they heard "it was headed for Centennial Valley" on the news...  After about 40 minutes of intense weather drama we were in the clear (until the sirens went on again about an hour later).  Luckily, Conway was not hit by a tornado.  The only damage we had was to our pool liner and turned over outdoor furniture.  Our neighboring town, Vilonia, was not so lucky... 

Kohen and the cats in our storage room under the stairs...

The sky from our backyard...

Sky from the front yard...

Sky from my sisters house in Bryant... (yes, she texted me a picture of "her" sky)

We found out on the news that Vilonia had been hit by a tornado.  2 days later, I went with Jason to take supplies (toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc) to one of the places in Vilonia that were taking donations.  I took some pictures of the town... 

I don't know if you can see all the tarps on all the houses....

We saw this PEACOCK (yes, a peacock) walking around all the damage...

Supplies that we took to Vilonia...

(toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc)

The next night the news let us know that this is what was in store for us the following day....

Conway was in the "Moderate" zone but Bryant (where my brother and sister's family live) was in the "High" risk zone.  I called them and told them to come stay at my house for the night.  I was so happy when my brother, sister, Adam, Max, Maddie and Asa came to stay the night.  

Conway still got some really bad weather, but we were very prepared :)

Here's a picture of our very own weather center...

We have a name!

I can not tell you how many times I have cried, prayed, asked opinions, asked for signs and pleaded for someone, anyone, to help me decide on a name for our baby girl.

Kohen's name was either going to be Kohen or Hudson.  We chose "Kohen" pretty quickly and that was that.  Jason chose the middle name "Pryor" and I agreed immediately.  This has not been the case with our girl.  We, ( I ), liked the name Laiken and the name Saylor.  Yes.... they are BOTH girl names.  I even called mom one day and told her my baby's name was Laiken!  But when I told Jason, he did NOT like it.  By the time Jason came around to the name Laiken, I had already fallen in love with another name... Saylor.  The only problem was we could not think of a middle name that went with it.  This went on for weeks.  I'm usually pretty good at making decisions.  Quick decisions.  But not this time.  I even told Jason on Easter morning that somehow God was going to tell us our baby girls name that day.  Sure enough, at church, I was taking Kohen to the nursery and a man yelled "Laiken" right in front of me (he was trying to get his wife's attention).  I even told him to repeat the name he just said to make sure I heard him right!  You would think that would be a clear enough sign, wouldn't you?!?  But it was clear to me that I was having to make myself like the name Laiken.  I woke up this morning and told Jason, "I think her name is Saylor".  Jason said "I think her name is Laiken".  I questioned him why he didn't like Saylor anymore and he said "We can't find a middle name.".  This was true.  We had gone through so many baby names trying to find a name that fit with Saylor and we just never had any luck.
Today I called my mom and once again talked to her about how I was stressing so much over finding a name.  After I got off the phone, I came in the kitchen and sat down with paper and a pen.  I wrote the name Saylor.  I wrote it in cursive and I wrote it in print.  I loved both.  I wrote the name Laiken.  Ugh.  I looked up other spellings....  I tried writing Layken, Laken, Laykin and Lakyn.  I tried to like it.  I kept looking at "Saylor" written at the top of the page.  I pushed my paper to the side and got my lap top.  I typed in Google "middle names for the name Saylor".  I got a huge list of names that could be paired with the name Saylor.  As I read down the list, I began feeling helpless.  UNTIL I came across the name Saylor Hadley.  I loved it.  I said out loud "That's it".  I called my mom immediately and told her I knew my baby girls name!  But I wouldn't tell her on the phone.  I told her I would text it to her and for her to call me after she read it.  When we talked she said she loved it.  I told her to wish me luck, that I was about to tell Jason the name to see if he liked it....  We hung up and I wrote the name on a sheet of paper and took it to Jason.  I told him not to read it until I left the room.  When he came downstairs we talked about it and agreed that it was going to be the name!  SO, we are proud to announce that we are naming our baby "Saylor Hadley Smith".  I am completely in love with this name.  We called our parents and our friends and shared the news (and then of course I posted it on Facebook, so that sealed the deal, lol).

Speaking of names....  when we talked to our parents tonight about our baby's name, we asked what names they chose between when naming us.  My mom said that my name was going to be Stephanie Michelle or Stephanie Jean for a girl and Brian if I were a boy.  Jason's name might have been Jonathan Lee or if he were a girl they had lots of options:  Jena Jill, Jill Lavern, Crystal Jill, Jessica Jill or Cecelia Jill.

I'm so glad we have a name.  I love my little Saylor Hadley Smith :)