Bring the Rain

I'm adding this blog to my friends links and want to encourage everyone to take time to read it...I found it while looking at all of the links on my photographer's page and was reminded about it again by our cousin Maryellen who happened upon it also. Be prepared for a good cry....it is written by an amazing Godly woman who recently lost her baby, but it will not leave you disappointed. She has a deeper faith than I could ever hope to have, but it really encourages me to search God's heart and look beyond what we have here to what our purpose really is. Hope you leave it wanting to kiss and rock your baby for a loooooong time like I had to...and to hold onto them a little tighter, realizing they truly are a gift from God, and that nothing is ever certain in this life.

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

-Katie

Hey 98.6 we'd like to have you back again...

Well our recovery from an ear infection lasted about a week... Lorelai felt very warm when I got her up from her nap today so i took her temp just for kicks. 103.8. Shawn is out of town for the weekend (his work decided to send him deep sea fishing with some clients at the last minute and he won't be home til Sunday) and I'm already exhausted. I barely slept last night because little miss woke up at midnight screaming (guess we know why now, huh?) and we had to get up at 4:30am so I could drop Shawn off with his ride to head out for the weekend. I.am.so.tired. sorry no pics to go with this pathetic post. Pray for my little girly to get better quickly, I'm assuming this is her ear infection re-awakening.

In Open Fields of Wild Flowers...

Tonight my friend Jodi and I decided to go find a field to take pictures of ourselves with our little girls. As I was looking through them when I got home, I couldnt help but think of the old Jars of Clay that came out when we were in high school that we all know so well....it has a whole new meaning now that I have a beautiful little girl of my own. (I attached the words at the bottom of this post in case you forgot them) Here are some of my favorites from the shoot. Major props to Jodi on her skills, she took the ones of Lorelai and I together. I took the ones of Lorelai alone. P.S. To those of you who like to steal these pics off my blog and print them, if you have a birthday coming up I would suggest waiting. You may, however, make requests.










"Love Song For A Savior"

In open fields of wild flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion

"I want to fall in love with You"

"my heart beats for You"

Jodi....really???

So my friend Jodi Shippey and I are garage-sale-ing fools and it is becoming quite addictive. We went twice this past weekend, Saturday being particularly fun because we were both baby-free which means we can fly through these neighborhoods in record time. Let me tell you a little bit about Jodi. I love her because she has a very serious "one man's trash is another man's treasure" attitude, but last saturday was the funniest garage sale experience ever. The very first garage sale we get to, there is a beautiful old antique armoire for sale. I see Jodi's eyes light up as she goes in for the kill. The lady says she thinks it's for sale for $40.00. Another lady comes out of the house and says she actually wants $60.00 for it. How Jodi walks away only paying $30 is beyond me. I barely had time to blink and we're writing down Jodi's home number and she's telling these women her husband will be by later to pick it up. I do my part in telling Jodi repeatedly that her husband Bryan is going to murder her when he hear's that he gets to store an armoire in their garage for the next number of years until they move, and thus I've done my part and can say I tried to reason with her. (By the way, don't try to reason with a woman drunk with bargaining power.) SO, on we go to other garage sale's, Jodi thrilled that she snatched such a find and gushing about how beautiful this armoire is. Fast forward 10 minutes later: "Katie, I've GOT to go get my money back! Bryan is going to KILL me!" Why does rational thought always come later? I laughed my butt off as I watched Jodi walk over to the ladies and with big puppy dog eyes, ask for her money back. I'm proud of you Jodi. and I'm still laughing.

Hey, 98.6 it's good to have you back again!

Ok, not really 98.6 (normal "rectal temp" is 99.6) but close enough. I hate to speak too soon, but I think the worst of this is over. Her temp did go up to 100.8 a few minutes ago, but that seems like NOTHING now and certainly nothing tylenol won't take care of.
Last night got a little scary....at about 9:00pm I woke her up to give her more tylenol and to take her temperature, and it was 104.9. Wow. I gave her the tylenol and put her in a lukewarm bath. She just laid there moaning and then she started shaking. Thats kinda when I freaked out. I called Shawn to rush home with her antibiotics and we gave her a popsicle, and it eventually went down to 103.6 and she fell asleep. Through the course of the night the antibiotics worked their magic and when she woke up this morning it was 99.4! Whew. Thanks for the prayers....now pray we don't get thrush again! She's on a pretty heavy dose of antibiotics so we'll see how that goes!

Day 3

Well, here we are, day three of this junk. We reached a record high temperature today of 104.4 and I can't imagine how bad little L must feel. I put her in a tepid bath and gave her a popsicle (thanks for the idea Jodi.) I remember a couple of years ago when I had the flu and my temp went up to 104. I really thought I would feel better if I could just slip into a coma until my temp went down. Ugh. I will say that this has been a rather easy illness to deal with. Lorelai mainly just wants to cuddle and be held, and I'm happy to do both. It reminds me of when she was tiny and loved to snuggle. We went to the Dr today and she has a pretty bad ear infection in her left ear...I guess the rest of the symptoms are just a severe cold. We got an antibiotic and some "ear numbing" drops so we'll see what tomorrow holds. I'm ready to start working out with my Jodi's!! Here are some pics of her in the bath with her popsicle (am i spelling that right??)

Beach Disaster

Lorelai has had the sniffles for a few days, but we were heading down to the Littles beach house so Rachel and I took Lorelai down to check out the water for the first time. She fussed and whined the whole time and wouldn't let me put her down, so I knew something was up because this girl LOVES water. We took her back to the beach homestead, bathed her and put her down for a nap while Rach and I went to the Strand (Shawn and his Dad stayed behind to watch her, of course.) When we got back to Pearland, she looked like she REALLY wasn't feeling good. So I took her temperature and it was 101.8! Who wouldn't have hated the beach with that kind of fever?! She is sound asleep right now thanks to tylenol, but Shawn and I were scheduled to go see Sweeney Todd tonight at TUTS and he got to go without me. neat. Yall say a prayer for my little darlin, I don't know I've ever seen her so lethargic and sad. we'll see what tomorrow brings. Here is a commemorative pic of the disaster:

Little Rae Rae

Wow, so I know I say this alot, but I feel really old right now. My baby (and I mean baby) sister who is 6 years younger than me just graduated high school! Didn't I just graduate the other day??? Guess not. Anyways- this gal is GORGEOUS and we are so proud of the sweetheart that she is, even if she does utterly refuse to change Lorelai's diaper :) here are a few pics of the graduation night:






Farewell Bay Area Prison Forever.
Love,
the Smith girls

correction

Pool time pictures to come. This was a front yard shoot in a halter dress, not a swimsuit. Slight technicality, but still important. :)

Pool Time

Here's a little photo shoot we had in the front yard a couple of weeks ago....I'm still using my wicked sweet camera in AUTO mode which I hope to get out of very soon. My little angel is such a ham for the camera, but in alot of her pictures she is so pensive, sometimes it catches me off guard. Enjoy the pics!

New and Improved

P.S. not only are we back, but we're back with STYLE! I made some updates/changes to my page. Eat your heart out.

Weeeeeeee're Baaaaaaack!

Well after a long hiatus, the Little Loop is back in business! To those of you that were patient, thank you for being so. For those of you that made fun of my lack of technical knowledge and who don't even leave comments but STILL thought they would be ugly (AHEM PAPA and AUNTIE L) this is not for you. ha.
ANYWAYS, I thought I would commence June with the tale of Little L getting her ears pierced in what Shawn would refer to as a "barbaric ritual". Do not continue if you don't like seeing pictures of babies crying. Yes that is a blow pop in my hand/her mouth. Much props to Jodi for giving me that idea, it saved our lives. :)
These first few are the preparations. We sat in the chair (I held her the whole time) and the lady cleaned her ears and marked them with a pen:
"I have no clue what's coming!"



You didn't tell me it was going to hurt this bad!!!! Just give me the blow pop!

Okay, I can get through this, I can get through this. This is better.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?! AGAIN?!?!?!

2 mintues later:

"Hey guys...just wanted to let you know I'm going to make it. I can be a little dramatic, ya know....heh heh."

Hope this post was worth the wait. More to come!