The Smith's Are Back!!!

January 31, 2010

Whoa! October 3rd! Nice of me to send out Christmas cards saying to keep track of us, and then, well.......not update it! Sorry!

So, here we go! Our little monster is 6 months old now! We can hardly believe it. She is rolling over (one direction) like crazy and almost sitting by herself. Kassidy loves her exersaucer. She spends 30 - 45 minutes entertaining herself. It's the only way we can get anything done around here. The swing is just about old news, although, mom and dad are reluctant to take it down. She loves books and is feeling everything. What she isn't trying to feel, she is putting in her mouth to taste.

Speaking of tasting. We have been giving her graham crackers as a "keep quiet" treat. They are quite messy, but she loves them. Her first try of sweet potatoes went great. She also loves rice and oatmeal cereal. It still comes out her nose, as her palate is still open. It makes feeding her fun and messy!

Here are some quick highlights and pictures for the months I missed.

October:

Baptized October 11

Lip/Nose Surgery October 19
Shannon went back to work Ocotber 29

Kassidy's First Halloween October 31

Baptism Sponsors: Mike & Stacy Steffensen & Aaron Moerke

Grandpa & Grandma Dammer......Grandpa & Grandma Smith.....Grandpa & Grandma Sandbo

Getting Ready for Surgery.....After Surgery with Mom.....After Surgery with Dad

No More Hole in My Lip.....Going Home with My No-No's On (keeps my hands from hitting my face. We had to take them off every couple of hours to stretch her arms. She hated the No-No's)

I was a cute pumpkin, but I didn't like it one bit! I was much happier out of my costume! My friend Whitney came over, she was a cute giraffe.

November:

Started Rolling

Stayed In Hanover for Thanksgiving

No More Colic! Yeah!!!

One of my first rolls in action! Hanging out under my mobile. I love this thing!

Hanging out in my landry basket. Oh, she's drooling like crazy too!

December:
I found my toes, love them!

Tubes in ears are great! I can hear my voice too!

First Christmas

Grandpa & Grandma Dammer bought me my high chair. I love playing in it!

Cooking with Daddy! I have turned into such a happy baby!

Taking a family picture sure is a lot of fun! It's hard to get all four of us looking and smiling at the same time!


After bath time, the robe is a huge hit! Yup, I'm reading already! I'm advanced.

My pretty Christmas dress from Aunt Stacie and cousin Alayna. I really liked to suck on the bow in front.

We went to Cabelas to see Santa. I didn't hate it, but I didn't know what to think either. Good thing mom and dad weren't too far away.

Disclaimer...I need to finish uploading Christmas pictures. My goal is to post every weekend from now on. Don't hold your breath though! Thanks for following the Smith family. We are doing well and enjoying Miss Kassidy.

Whoa! 9 Weeks Old....October 3, 2009

Good Cold, Wet Saturday to Everyone!

Sorry for not updating our blog lately. Life in the Smith house has been kind of crazy. Our near perfect little girl developed colic from 7 p.m. to about 10 p.m. Conveniently, that is when Wayne comes home from work. She cries non-stop for those 3 hours, it is starting to get a little better, but man are those LONG hours.

She is growing like a weed, well a cute weed. Kassidy is 23 inches long and weighs 10.2 lbs. This is exciting because she has to be 10 pounds to have her first surgery. She loves to lay on the floor on her Baby Einstein mat and hit the rattles. She can't quite figure out how she does it though. In inadvertent hand waves and leg kicks get everything moving for her. Looking in the mirror, out the windows, and staring at the fan are her favorite things during the day. She is not a real good sleeper during the day. Someone told me that means she is gifted. Well, duh! I already knew that! Just teasing....kind of.

We continue to go to Gillette every Tuesday and other doctor appointments as needed in-between. Dr. Cermain has been changing her nose stint and mouth piece each week now. She is pushing Kassidy's nose up higher and is trying to bring her top gum line together. We clean her mouth piece twice a day and change her tape as needed. Kassidy is getting better and better with the mouth piece, the tape deal isn't her bag. She just looks cranky when that tape is on.

Many people have asked us, why the tape? It pulls the top two parts of her lip together, so when she has surgery, that top lip has more elasticity to it. This way, when she smiles, it won't pull so much. We try to keep tape on as much as we can. When it was humid, it was hard to keep on. The adhesive just wouldn't hold. When she screams, it doesn't hold up very well either. We just try our best with the good ole tape. Secretly, we can't wait until that part is over.

Kassidy had her 2 month check-up earlier this week. She is in the 50-75%tile for height; 25%tile for weight, and 50%tile for head size. Dr. Palmer, her pediatrician, says she is doing great developmentally. She is a strong little girl. Guess she gets that from her mom! (ha ha ha) She can pull her head up so her chest is off the floor when laying on her stomach and she loves to "stand" on my hands, while leaning on my shoulder. She is cooing like crazy and when she is in a good mood, she is the smiliest girl ever! Kassidy loves the singing at church, not such a fan of the sitting part though. Not enough movement for her! She loves music at the house too. I play her Baby Einstein cd in the car, she just loves it. She seems to sing along, well coo. Well, maybe I am just making this up in my head as her mother, bare with me!

Her first surgery is Monday, October 19. We will leave for Gillette Children's Hospital in the morning and will return home on Tuesday sometime. We'll send updates as we can, not sure what kind of recovery process we are in for. It's hard to believe she is going to have that top lip repaired already, it seems like just yesterday we found out about her cleft lip and palate. Any extra prayers and positive thoughts would be greatly appreciated. This isn't the end of her surgeries, but more of the beginning. She will have a total of 10-13 surgeries before everything is said and "done." This time they will fix her nose, close her top lip, and put tubes in her ears.

Enjoy the photos below. She such a little angel!

If only the Viking could play in the first half!
Man I like it when the Vikings win! The second half is always much better!
Mom and Dad got me a pacifier. I can't suck on it, I just gum it. So if their not holding it in, I guess I'll have to!

I actually like bath time. Although the temperature change sure makes things a lot colder!

Here I am being smile girl! It's fun to see mom and dad make crazy faces at me. If they only knew what I was thinking!

Here is Dr. Cermain and my station for my Tuesday appointments. I usually end of pooping through what ever outfit I have on. Mom finally figured out to just leave my pajamas on until after the appointment. It makes less laundry for her.

I love football! Mom and I spend Sunday afternoons watching football when Dad is helping the Moerke's with their new cabin.

I love sleeping in mom and dad's bed in the morning. I am a good sleeper in my own crib, but I love the extra hour of snuggle time with mom in the morning.

I especially like to be naked. Just take my clothes off and I am one happy girl! My dad thinks I should out-grow this quickly!

I love to fall asleep in my swing, but sometimes I have some goofy ways of keeping my head. Believe it or not, I find this most comfortable as I do it often!


Here I am playing on my Baby Einstein mat. I usually only last about 15 minutes, but mom thinks that's pretty good. I love that whale on the top.
Here I am hanging out, being happy...and cute!

Even though it's not Halloween yet, I got to wear my new pumpkin outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Sandbo.


This is how I play with my puppy Paige. I get to ride on mom and she throws the ball for Paige. Sometimes I even fall asleep! Fresh air wears me out.
When Mom and Dad eat, I lay on Mom's lap. Most of the time I just smile at her. She thinks that's pretty cool! Dad loves when I am smiley when he gets home instead of crabby too!

August 20, 2009

Kassidy is three weeks and three days today! Wow! Time sure flies sitting on the couch staring at her! Our past three weeks have been busy, which is why I have not updated the blog lately.

Here is Kassidy, just hanging out after a diaper change. Kassidy is our little poop monster! She goes through more diapers than we can count. She is also known for taking two diapers a change. She manages to get both mom and dad with her random peeing and pooping episodes.

Here is Kassidy with Uncle Mike. We went home for the Cactus Open Golf Tournament and the Threshing Bee. Kassidy got to meet a whole bunch of her family members, who couldn't get enough of her.

Kassidy got lots of kisses from her cousin Tate and her Aunt Stacy couldn't hold her enough.

Not only spoiled by her cousin Tate, his sister, Julia, loved holding too. We decided Kassidy looked best with the "band-aid" over her lip. It was kind-of scary to see her lip without the "band-aid" on.

Kassidy got to meet Great Grandma Smith, too! They became snuggle friends quite quickly!

A four generation picture was easy to take, Grandpa Richard, Great Grandma Smith, Kassidy, and Daddy were ready and willing!


Hayden, Alayna, and Nolan will be great cousins to hang out with too! They can't wait for Kassidy to start crawling and walking so they can play. "She's kind of boring right now."

Uncle Luke got to meet Kassidy and hold her for a brief moment. Kade, his son, wasn't too sure what to think about his dad holding a baby.

Aunt Tiffany, Luke's wife, couldn't hold Kassidy very long with Kade in the room. He REALLY didn't like his mom holding another baby. All in all, I think it's safe to say Kassidy will have to grow on Kade.


Aunt Monica was able to stop by too for a quick snuggle session.


Kassidy in her car seat, where she spends most of her days. Thankfully, she doesn't mind it too much. We have found feeding isn't very easy in the car seat and is quite messy.

Does this need an explanation? Of course she does!

Our precious angel taking a snooze. In our ultrasound pictures, her hand was always by her face. This is how she sleeps now! Too cute!

Mom's friend Jenny Andrews came with her family to visit. This is her daughter Alaina. She wanted Kassidy to be able to play too. Holding just wasn't good enough.

Aunt Tara is a baby hog! If she is around, don't plan on holding Kassidy, unless you steal her from her! Kassidy loves her Aunt Tara.

.....Doctor Update.....

We had our first visit to Gillette Children's Hospital on August 4. They put in her mouth piece and showed us how to add tape to Kassidy's top lip. The mouth piece will help pull her palate together (the roof of her mouth) and the tape helps make the lip more elastic. The orthodontist was on vacation the following week, so we did not have a visit August 11.

However, I had my c-section incision checked out August 11. All is looking good. I am healing well and feeling great. There are only a couple of things that still bother it. As far as I am concerned, a c-section is the only way to have a child. Forget all that labor craziness!

August 13, we had another weight check at Partners and Pediatrics in Rogers. Thankfully, this isn't too far of a drive. Kassidy weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz., so she was back to her birth weight! Yipie! Feeding is going much better with her mouth piece. It was taking almost an hour and a half each feeding, now she is down to about a half hour.

August 18, we went to Gillette again. We will go there every Tuesday. Dr. Cermain, the orthodontist, re-shaped the mouth piece and added the nose stint. How did Kassidy do? Well, she wasn't real fond of the nose piece to begin with, but quickly became used to it. This process remains to be more difficult for mom and dad, than Kassidy. She is such a little trooper.

We go to the ENT today to find out what is in store for her first surgery. We scheduled her lip repair surgery for Monday, October 19th at 10:15. The surgery is about an hour procedure and we will stay over one night at Gillette Hospital. They said typical recovery is about a week. They will repair Kassidy's lip and nose; insert tubes into her ears to prevent ear infections, as everything doesn't drain correctly without the complete palate; and whatever else the ENT doctor says.

Kassidy is a strong little girl. She can hold her head up and has a very strong grip. She focuses on things more and more each day. Her little arms and legs move constantly when she is awake. She continues to sleep well through the night, about three to four hours at a time. After being gone for the weekend, getting her back into her sleeping routine was a little more difficult, but she is falling back into her routine. She doesn't cry a whole lot, just fusses when she has gas pains. These are coming more frequently this week. She is a great baby!

If you are in the area or want to be in the area, give us a call. Visitors are always welcome! I will go back to work in the end of October. I took off enough time to get through her first surgery. My cell phone is: 320-493-2783. Tuesday's are not good days because of our visits to Gillette, but most of the time our schedule is wide open.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support. The Smith family can't say thank you enough! Have a great day! Enjoy the rain!