The Smith Family Adventures

Elias, 6 months

We took Elias to get some portraits taken to celebrate his turning 6 months old. We just want to capture him at this age….so I wouldn’t have been too upset if he cried or didn’t cooperate very well….but I was hoping for some good pictures of him. I actually had a “nightmare” about it the night before where everything possible went wrong. Nathan thought that was pretty weird.

I didn’t have to worry, though. Everything went so well! If you live in the Portland area, and want portraits done, Rob at JC Penny Portrait studios at Washington Square Mall is very talented. Here are some of our favorites:

Reading

Easter Suit

Close up

He knows something we don't!

Cute!

1. 7:00 a.m. is not early…..it is sleeping in.

2. Nothing is ever far enough to be out of Elias’ reach.

3. I’ve learned how to take a 5 minute shower….something I previously thought was impossible.

4. Even a 10 minute nap can help you get through the day.

5. Anything can be interesting if you look at it/feel it with a baby.

6. If it is clean….Elias can make it dirty.

7. Smiles really can melt the heart.

6. Nothing makes you feel so helpless as having a child who is in pain.

8. The most important “things” in life are the people you spend your time with.

9. I’ve really come to a new appreciation of my own parents now that I am a mommy (And Nathan’s Dad and Mom as well). I feel like as I was growing up I knew how lucky I was to have my parents. I grew up happy, healthy, loved, and never left needing anything essential. I knew how not all kids had it as easy as I did. My parents taught me how to be a successful woman. But now…anything I’ve ever done for my parents seems so inadequate compared to what they have done for me. The overwhelming love and pride I have in Elias gives me a new perspective on the way my parents must love me. It is something I don’t think I would have ever realized in this way unless I had a child of my own.

10. In a similar way, I have a new perspective on how God the Father must love all of us. The parent-child relationship is something different from any other. I am so privileged to be able to experience it. The thought of a loving God who created me….loves me……died for me….saved me…..has a new meaning now that I have my own child. I don’t know if I am making any sense…but I guess I am just trying to say that my love for Elias teaches me many things about myself and my relationships with others.

Now that we are almost in April, I figured I’d better finish the Indiana series of posts. It has been almost two weeks since we got back already! I will post some pictures and explanations of some of the other highlights of our trip.

1. We had an extra hour or two between our hotel check-out time and when we had to be at the airport on the way home. We decided to go view Chicago from the top of the John Hancock building. Unfortunately, there were actually thunderstorms going on at that time with hail, lightening, and all so the visibility was not good….but we still had fun. Our ears actually popped as we went up in the elevator.

Nathan and Elias on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building in Chicago.

2. Elias had his first mohawk. As we were giving a sponge bath, we realized that he has enough hair to stick up in weird ways.

Elias after his sponge bath with crazy hair.

3. We got to celebrate great-grandpa’s 84th birthday at the Olive Garden. Here are Nathan and Elias with great-grandma and great-grandpa.

Birthday Party!

4. Since Purdue is located in Lafayette where Nathan’s dad lives, we drove past the campus many times. We bought Elias his first baseball cap sporting the Purdue logo.

Elias in his Purdue cap.

5. On the day we went to the Shedd aquarium, we got a kick out of this “Man Hugging Fish” fountain/statue. Nathan couldn’t resist taking Elias up there for a picture.

Man Hugging Fish

6. Elias and Daddy got to wear compatible Linux t-shirts for the first time. A computer nerd in the making!

Elias and Daddy in Linux shirts.

Our time in Indiana was wonderful. We are so glad we went.

Elias at 6 months old

Elias is six months old today! It is hard to believe how fast half a year has gone. He had his 6 month wellness check-up today. I elected to push his vaccines to next week since he is sick right now.

Here are his most recent stats:

Weight: 17 pounds, 13 ounces (59%)

Height: 27.3 inches (79%)

Overall his growth slowed down in both height and weight, but the doctor wasn’t worried about it.

Elias has his first tooth starting! We knew he was coming close because he has been drooling like crazy for a couple months and he loves to chew on everything. Yesterday morning I was feeling his gums with my pinky finger and I felt something sharp! It is one of his bottom middle teeth. I have been trying to see it ever since, but he makes that very difficult. Every time I pull down his bottom lip to try to see he sticks out his tongue. When he smiles really big I can barely see a little white. My little boy is growing up already! Poor guy has to cut a tooth and have a cold at the same time.

Nathan installing the blinds

Back before we left for vacation Kim and I decided it would be helpful to get some blackout blinds for Elias’ room. We did a custom order, and the blinds arrived just before we left on our trip. I did not have the time and energy to get them installed until today.

Everything went mostly smooth. The minor hitch is that our window frame cheats inward a bit in a couple spots. Sadly these spots were not among the 3 I measured for width when I was doing the order. Still, we can get by. The room gets really nice and dark, even at midday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. The boys in their green while mommy was getting ready in the morning.

Besides visiting family in Indiana, we also got to do many other fun and touristy type things while we were there. One such day was St. Patrick’s Day when we went to the Indianapolis Zoo and the Indianapolis Speedway with Grandpa Smith. The day was perfect. It was one day of spring in the middle of winter! We actually all walked around in short sleeves (except Elias) and sunglasses. I think it reached 73 degrees! Overall we were very impressed by the Indianapolis Zoo. They actually don’t have very many exhibits open, but everything they did have was very good. There were dolphins and a really good desert exhibit (Although Nathan probably didn’t really like that one as much because it was so hot in the desert dome).

Elias looking at the elephants.

We got to see lots of African animals including ostrich, giraffes, rhinos (we don’t think Elias actually saw those because they blended in with the rock behind them really well), baboons (including a baby), lions, elephants, wild dogs, and more. Elias seemed to especially enjoy the elephants and the giraffes. It was fun to see the African elephants because we have Asian elephants in Portland.

On the speedway track. You can see the museum in the background. I guess I accidentally cut Nathan off. Grandpa Smith is also in the background.

After we were finished at the zoo we decided to try to see if the Indianapolis Speedway was open. It was! Nathan’s dad treated us to a bus tour where we actually got to ride on the track of the speedway! We were amused when the recording told us that we would have been lapped 16 times by the drivers at the end of our tour. I was amazed by how large the stadium is, but also how narrow the track is. It doesn’t look like cars could go speeding by so fast on it.

Here are a couple other pictures from our fun St. Patrick’s Day:

Elias excited by the giraffes.

Elias tired at the end of the day.

Poor Elias is sick for the first time in his life. He has a pretty bad cough and had a fever yesterday. He seems to be eating normally and sleeping pretty well so we are thankful for that. He is just a little grumpier than normal with little glazed eyes and a bewildered look on his face when he does an especially hard cough. Hopefully he’ll heal soon.

I am sorry for Nathan who decided to stay home with us rather than go to the Bible Tech conference this weekend. He has been trying to go for a couple years now, and has never been able to for one circumstance or another. He was so excited. I was also excited to go to Seattle because I had plans to meet up with a couple friends from college. We better start praying now that Nathan will be able to go next year.

Elias with Grandpa Smith

Nathan, Elias, and I recently got back from a family vacation to Indiana. I think I’ll write about our trip in three parts. The first part will be about our reason for going….visiting family. We wanted to visit Nathan’s dad and for Elias to meet his great grandparents. It is nice that Nathan has so much family in one place because we also got to visit with Nathan’s Aunt Barb, Uncle Dave, and cousin Teresa and her family.

Elias actually did pretty well on his first plane trip. He fussed, ate, or slept the whole way there, but mostly just slept. On the way home there were five babies on the flight! Elias slept through take-off and landing, but was awake and happy the rest of the time. Nathan and I are feeling like experienced parents now with a plane flight under our belts. We wonder why we were ever stressed traveling before now. Traveling without babies seems like a breeze.

The four generation nap

We arrived in Chicago, and Nate’s dad met us for a day of fun at the aquarium, then we drove down to Indiana for the rest of the week. Elias got to participate in his first four generation Smith Men Nap. Nathan thought that there was a strong possibility of that happening, and sure enough, it happened only a couple of hours after we arrived for the visit. Here you can see grandpa on the left, great grandpa in the middle, and daddy and Elias on the right.

Elias and Great Grandma

After some wonderful home cooking, Elias got to visit with his great grandma, and enjoyed playing pat-a-cake with Aunt Barb. He also got to try out a jumper for the first time. I don’t think he really ever quite got the hang of it because later when we saw Josiah (Elias’ cousin twice removed or something like that) in it, we realized that Elias was definitely not using it to its fullest potential. He did seem to love it, though, and maybe just needed more practice.

Then on Wednesday, we got to go back and see Uncle Dave as well as Nathan’s cousin, Teresa, and her family. Teresa has six children…so there were a lot of people at the house that day. Elias seemed to do well meeting all of the new people.

Now that we are back, Nathan and I are so glad that we went. Traveling can be difficult, but these are the times we will always treasure. Spending time with Elias’ grandpa, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins was a big highlight of our year so far and we hope we’ll see them again soon! I’ll write more about our other Indiana adventures in the next couple of days……

Elias and Aunt Barb playing Pat-a-Cake

Elias and Uncle Dave

The four generations of Smith Men (Awake this time)