We're Ready To Have A Baby!

Well, it's official: We're ready to have a baby! At least according to the certificate that we received for completing our "Prepared Childbirth Classes". It only took two classes, and all of the sudden we're ready to be parents.... NOT! I do have to admit that I think this class was quite an eye-opener for Brandon. There were a lot of things that he didn't know, and plenty of things that he was able to take away from it. Most of what we were told in this class, I have already experienced in person. I have had the opportunity to be in the delivery room for a few births already, and wasn't very surprised by anything we were taught. Although after watching the birthing videos it started sinking in that it would be ME giving birth, I told Brandon, "I don't think I want to do this anymore." After laughing, and then realizing that I was quite serious he said, "Well, I don't think you have much of a choice!" I realized.... He's right! Ready or not, baby is gonna come!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon to check on our sweet baby boy. Some of you may know that Isac was breech in the last ultrasound (at 31 weeks), and so we had to schedule a C-section. Thankfully, he has been a good boy and flipped back over, so we should be able to have a normal delivery! My sister, Rebecca, was in town and was able to come to the appointment with us. I was able to go to several of her appointments, both when she was pregnant with Carrie, and when she was pregnant with Brigham, so it was fun to be able to share that experience with her.

Through the ultrasound not only did we find out that Isac is head down (Yay!) but we also found out that he weighs about 6 lbs. 3 oz. Brandon only weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. when he was born! And our little Isac has four weeks left!! I'm starting to get worried about how big this baby will be. But we are so pleased that he is healthy and growing well. We got a few pictures of him, but he likes to keep his hands right in front of his face, so it's sort of a hit or miss kind of thing with this boy.

It is still so crazy to me that this beautiful baby is inside of me! I'm just getting used to the idea, getting used to all the kicking and crazy movement, and pretty soon it'll be over! I will now have an appointment every week to check the baby's growth, progress, and to see if I'm at all dialated. I know I've said it before, but we just can't wait to meet our baby Isac!

Baby #1 (Isac Brandon Smith)

Brandon and I were very eager to start our family once we got married. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long! We found out that we were pregnant with our first baby on December 17, 2010. (Just over two months after we were married!) We were ecstatic, but decided that it would be a great Christmas surprise to wait to tell our families!

I had my first doctors appointment on December 23rd, and we got an official due date of August 29, 2011. We waited and waited, for what seemed like forever. I got a pretty red box, a girl onesie, a boy onesie, and a positive pregnancy test. We had our families open it as a group gift, from us to everyone else. Everyone was delighted by the news!!

**Side note: I mentioned in an earlier post that Brandon's will power to quit smoking was a good example to others around him. On Christmas Day 2010, the day that Brandons's older brother Austin found out he was going to be an uncle, he quit smoking. He was about to light up a cigarette when we were sitting outside, and I said, "I'm pregnant, you can't smoke around me!" He looked at me and said, "Oh, I guess I should just quit. I'm going to have to be a good example if I'm gonna be an uncle!" He hasn't smoked a cigarette since that day! Go Uncle Austin!! :) **

For my parents this will be their 5th grandchild (Carrie, Brigham, Jacey, Rose.... Isac!). So Isac will have plenty of cousins around his age on mom's side. But it is excitingly the first grandchild for Brandon's parents! Brandon and I both wanted a boy first so badly, and I had a few dreams that it was a boy. We had a doctors appointment on April 2, 2010 and found out that we were indeed having a boy!

We decided on the name "Isac Brandon Smith" pretty quickly. His first name, Isac, is after a second cousin on my mom's side. He is the most humble, caring, understanding person, and he makes everyone he talks to feel like they are the most important person in the world. These are all characteristics that we hope for our son to have! The middle name, obviously comes from his daddy.

We were able to get a maternity photo shoot done by a friend who's been doing photography for a while now, Lorraine Craig Nunes. (You can see more of her work on FaceBook if you search for her page!) We had quite a few done, and they turned out wonderfully.

We had a lot of fun with our little photo shoot, and look forward to taking a million more pictures once little Isac is born! We can't wait for our baby boy to be here. :)

Brandon Quit Smoking!

Brandon had a pretty nasty habit when we started dating. He smoked cigarettes, a lot of them. One day when we were hanging out at my parents house, my baby brother Jake told Brandon that if he quit smoking cigarettes then he'd throw him a "One Month Smoke Free" Party. Brandon agreed to quit. On April 11, 2010, Brandon officially quit smoking cigarettes!! :)

On May 11, 2010 we had a party to celebrate! Complete with a Hawaiian theme, we had decorations, party favors, and gifts for the guest of honor. We celebrated with my whole family, Brandon's whole family, and our good family friends the Beeson's.

A "Smoke Free" shirt that I ordered online for Brandon.

At the celebration with our friends Mike and Alex.

(They both quit smoking cigarettes as well, only about one month later!)

Brandon quit smoking cold turkey, and has more self control than anyone I know. He struggled through the first several weeks, having cravings and temptations all around him. It has now been over a year and he looks back and is shocked that he ever had such a bad habit. His example of sheer will power is inspiring and has been a help to many others!

Happiest Day of Our Lives (So Far!)

Now.... three months may not seem like a lot of time to plan a wedding, but I was already dying to be married, so the wait was excrutiating! With an incredible amount of help from family and friends we were able to pull off a wedding that was more beautiful than I'd ever imagined! We were married at 5pm on Saturday October 9, 2010.

My handsome groom before the ceremony.

Brandon getting some words of wisdom from Smitty.

He refused to see me in my dress until I walked down the aisle!

The groomsmen.

My daddy walking me down the aisle.

During the ceremony.

After saying "I Do".

Mr. and Mrs. Smith!!

Finally married.

The girls.

The whole wedding party!

The Rogers' clan.

Our awesome cake.

(Made by Brandon and my daddy.)

The Smith family.

Our first dance as husband and wife.

JUST MARRIED!

We went on a cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico for our honeymoon. But that's a whole separate post!

Finding each other was the luckiest thing that could've happened to us. Marrying each other was the best decision either of us has ever made. We are so excited to be a family and to be able to share all of life's great adventures with each other! :)

Our Beginning

Brandon was born in Arizona, but credits most of his childhood to a suburb of Des Moines called Urbandale, Iowa. He grew up in a two-parent household, raised by his mother Shari, and father, Andrew. More often than not, you'll see his dad be referred to as "Smitty" which is a nick-name he's had most of his life. Brandon has a brother five years his senior named Austin.

I was born in Tennessee, moved around a few times as a kid, but I call Arizona my home. I too, was raised in a two parent household by my mother Lori, and father, Mark. I have an older sister, Rebecca, who is now married with a family of her own. Her husband's name is Justin, and they have a daughter named Carrie, and a son named Brigham. I have two younger brothers. Kevin, who is also married with his own family. His wife's name is Kandis and they have a daughter named Rose. My baby brother's name is Jake. On my side of the family we also have really close family friends that we consider family. My best friend from high school Alex, and her husband Mike, as well as their daughter Jacey.

Now how we became a "we". :) Brandon and I met in late November of 2009. He was a friend of my best friend/roommate Alex, and was at my apartment when I got home from work one day. I wasn't super excited, since I had made other plans for that evening, but we met and he seemed like a nice enough guy. A few more meetings like this and Brandon's charasmatic personality and smooth talking charm won me over. We became inseparable! He invited me to go to his parents house for Christmas dinner, and I agreed. Little did I know that his entire extended family would be there! And, I've told Brandon before that he can really credit our relationship to his brother Austin. At Christmas dinner, Austin introduced me to other members of the family as, "Marissa, Brandon's girlfriend". I was shocked, because nobody told ME that I was his girlfriend! But how do you correct somebody when you're being introduced to a whole slew of people?! Let's just say that the "girlfriend" thing stuck.

We fell very much in love, in a very short period of time. We got a puppy from the South Phoenix Humane Society, in February of 2010. We named him Chip Sahoy Smith. :) He was quite a lot to handle in the first few months, but we love him very much. He grew into a fairly large dog (about 70 lbs), which was surprising considering how he weighed like 6 lbs when we got him at two months old!

Brandon and I had both started attending LDS Sacrament meeting with my parents in early March, and started taking the missionary discussions in about May. Brandon surpassed any expectation I ever could've had for him, and finished the Book of Mormon in only one week's time. Over the next several months he and I both developed a testimony and a great love for the gospel.  We really bonded with our two initial missionary contacts, Elder Zach Lovell (right) and Elder Jordan Lee (left). They both have a special place in our hearts, and we owe them so much!

Although we'd been talking marriage for a few months, and I'd been begging Brandon to propose since April, he didn't officially propose until July 1, 2010. We got some wonderful engagement pictures done by our good family friend Kevin Beeson (he did an amazing job!). And we sent out our announcements that we would be married on October 9, 2010. *I'll put engagement pictures in a future post! :)

Brandon was baptized on Friday, October 8, 2010. The night before our wedding day. He was baptized by my dad, Mark. It was an incredible experience that we were lucky to be able to share with our friends and family!