day off, or not.....

i have wednesdays and fridays as my days off...i only work 3 days a week (thankfully).  and, i find that those days off turn into busier days than my days at work.  i love it though...i like to be busy.  i would just really dig a foot massage at the end of the day.  

today, smith and i had george, my nephew, around for some fun times while his mommy and sister went to the big city for errands.  he is really such a good boy and getting sweeter everyday!  also, he is a big help as smith is totally enamored with him.  george likes to get into the pack and play 'pin' with smith and help play with toys....he also enjoyed shredding some tissue paper (with smith) in sitti (my mom's) room. we took a trip to the grocery store with both boys and they were awesome, so we got a snow cone on the way home.  george had a 'red' one and was really concerned why smith couldn't have one :)  i tried to get some other things accomplished today and was somewhat successful.  

i am working on some baby gifts right now am loving the fabric i chose.  i get to make one for a boy and one for a girl, so it was fun to choose fabric so different.  today i got a good start on the girly one and cannot wait to see how it turns out.  i will post pics of the final product when completed.  

most days off, i catch up on making smith some food, and today was no different.  so, here is a shortened process of the baby food making.

first, the food gets either steamed or baked.  then, it gets pureed in my babycook.

after it is liguid(y), i place it in ice cube trays which ... for smith...is about a serving of food.  he is eating about 3 of these servings per meal...so he gets a nice variety of food.  when i am ready to get meals ready for the next day, it looks like this:

they thaw overnight...and food is ready to be served...and digested...and cleaned by mommy (super fun) :)

i also made some sweet treats for our pot-luck at work tomorrow.  i always volunteer to make the dessert.  so, i made mini-cupcakes in both strawberry flavor and a peanut butter chocolate cupcake.  here is a pic ... i made more than this, don't worry.

anyhow, all in all a good day off...minus the guilt i am feeling for skipping my run.  there was just too much to get done and need for sleep :)

missing my baby...and my baby boy

I just wanted to add a post about what's going on in the Hastings' life from the dad's perspective.  This has been a really tough time for me.  Lots of things going on for me that are taking away time from Shae and Smith.  I just got back from India last week.  I was there for almost 8 weeks doing an international medicine rotation, where I worked at a mission hospital (Herbertpur Christian Hospital) in northern India.  It was a really great experience... I met lots of great people and learned a lot about medicine and life.  Part of this learning came from being isolated from my family and learning to trust and rely on my heavenly Father for comfort, encouragement, energy, and joy in the midst of sadness and stress as I struggled to deal with difficult and frustrating patient outcomes in the hospital.  So I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the summer in India, but am so happy to be home (well, sort of home).

I was home with Shae and Smith for 3 days before I had to leave again for Temple, Texas where I am doing a rotation in pediatric gastroenterology at Scott and White Hospital.  This is an important rotation and an important time in my medical school career because I am applying to residency programs right now and trying to secure a pediatrics residency spot.  We'd like to be closer to home, so I am applying to all of the programs in and around Texas.

I am so thankful to have the most amazing wife in the world!  As I look back over the last 6-7 years (I know!  It's been a long road),  I see so many places that I would have undoubtedly quit and chosen a different and easier career path had it not been for her encouragement, support, and the confidence that she gives me.  I love that Shae put in the description of this blog "our family's journey"...because this sure has been a "journey" and it looks like it will continue to be a "journey".  I'm happy about this...I'm not sure we're intended to get to some final destination in this life on earth.  I believe the journey isn't over until we are at home with the Lord in Heaven!  So we should embrace the journey or the process now and stop looking ahead to some particular goal or end point.  Check out Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" devotional for today (July 28th) as he points to this same idea:  http://utmost.org/god’s-purpose-or-mine/

So that being said, as we are struggling through this tough time of being apart and looking forward to being together again, God is still working His will in us and through us...and we are blessed to know Him and have Him by our side as we continue on this journey.

It is also so much fun right now to watch Smith growing and learning.  I know it is clichéd, but it is just crazy how fast he is growing up!  It is very exciting to see his personality developing and to anticipate what he will be like as he gets older.  I am madly in love with this kid!  It's unbelievable.  I am continuously blown away by how awesome he is!

God sure has blessed me with an amazing family (even with really cool pets)!

tooth #6

we had a fussy day yesterday and brandy (smith's babysitter) said he was a bit fussy today.  i was going to chalk it up to missing daddy :)  who left yesterday (after just returning from a 2 month rotation in india 3 days before)for a 1 month rotation in temple, tx.  but, sorry daddy....i don't think that is it.  i found smith's 6th tooth today!  he now has 4 on bottom and 2 on top.  what a big boy.

smith at 8 months

i want to give a list of what smith is up to at 8 months of age, then....you can officially be caught up on him...more to come about what the hubby and i are up to.

physically:

-rolling constantly in every way

-can get up on all fours, but cannot go anywhere yet

-stands for ~5 sec. on his own with his arms holding onto something

-starting to pull up...at least to his knees, but not feet yet

eating:

-smith is a great eater....he is eating carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, peas, leban (like greek yogurt), hard boiled egg yolks, peaches, apples, pears, bananas, avocados

-we are using the super baby food diet for the most part...which my sister-in-law, sydney recommeded and i love it

likes:

-smith's #1 love, outside of his family...is his stuffed dog 'axel'...he LOVES him and wants him around for every nap and as often as possible

-smith likes being chased by someone when being carried by someone else

-smith is loving his walker and can get around really well!  see video below:

birth to now, a re-cap

smith was born in tennessee, lived here for a short while until we moved back to TX and in with my parents.  we knew charlie was going to be all over for his med school rotations, so we opted to move smith and me to b-town where there would be more support and help.  so, we are currently living with sitti and doc (my parents) until charlie graduates from school (may 2011).  here are some pictures to catch you up from birth to now:

i know this one looks different, but this is soon after we cut his hair short.  we thought all along he was going to be brunette, but noticed some blond roots emerging.  after a evening with the clippers, he took on a whole new look...as a blond.

labor, delivery, and the little man's debut

i was BIG, and smith was measuring big.  every time we would get a sonogram, the sonographer would say....'has this baby been measuring big?'  we would respond as she would continue to measure, with her mouth open.  so, the doctor did not want me to go past due date, even though i had plans for a super natural pregnancy via 'hypnobabies' preparation and a doula.  unfortunately, i never went into labor prior to due date and was induced on the morning of smith's due date, november 25.

so, they broke my water (around 7:00 a.m.) which put me into labor, without the pitocin.  i used the hypnobabies technique and did quite well until some confusion with shift change and consequently being told i was less dilated than i thought.  so, i got to a 6 (after about 8 hours) and stalled, they wanted to start pitocin, and i then asked for an epidural.  we continued laboring until about 10 or 11 that night, when i got to the almighty "10"...i began to push at this point.  i pushed for 2 hours, with the nurse and then doc, but had no luck with the smith man going through.  

c-section it was.....and man, was i bummed.  however, at that point...you just want that baby out!  smith was born at 2:23 a.m., the day after his due-date, thanksgiving day 2009 (11/26).  he was 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 22.25 inches long.  i guess that sonographer was right :)

pregnant with smith

my pregnancy with smith man was really, really easy....until the delivery :)  anyhow, i had no cravings except for maybe cottage cheese (so gross, i know).   in all reality, i didn't have much of an appetite at all, which helped me not to go crazy with the weight gain.   i did however drink a lot of chocolate milk and ate a lot of cereal (but those that know me...know this is pretty normal for me).  a few details i would like to remember....found out about pregnancy while charlie was out of town and told him by holding up a 'welcome home daddy' sign at airport, we told our loved ones via a video on you tube, i ran up until 28 weeks of pregnancy and stopped because of my horrific heart burn.  charlie was amazing helpful with everything when he was home.  unfortunately, he was doing his 'core rotations' for med school and spent the weeks in virginia and only the weekends home in tennessee.  at 33 weeks pregnant, i fell while running into work (in the rain) and broke my right 4th metacarpal and was in a blue cast for the remainder of the pregnancy....coming off only 4-5 days before smith was born.  i had crazy dreams while smith was in the belly.  one of them was about the gender of the baby...before i actually knew the gender.  i dreamed the doctor pulled the baby out...looked at it, pronounced it was a boy, and then put him back....ohhhhh, pregnancy dreams.   luckily, i was having a boy...

oh blog world....am i ready?

so, here we go....i really said i was not going to blog.  however, as i thought about how much i want to keep up with our family's 'going ons', there seemed no better way than to write a blurb every day (or as often as possible) and documenting those special moments.  my sitti (grandmother) wrote on a calendar (just in the box with the number) every night.  i have memories of her sitting at her kitchen bar, pen in hand, and writing just the simple events of the day.  this will be my calendar writing...my blog. i'm going to play catch up a bit, so that smith's birth to now will be somewhat complete.