Christmas Lights, Christmas Ornaments, and Christmas GIVEAWAYS!

Are you ready for Christmas?  Got all the presents wrapped?  Mine is currently wrapped in a swaddling blanket and sitting with his momma.  Baby C LOVES Christmas lights!  Jenn and I have caught him looking at the Christmas tree out of the corner of his eyes several times.  In fact, we've put him down on his tummy time mat underneath the tree and watched his eyes sparkle at the shiny lights all around him. It's pretty cute!

Our Christmas tree is covered in very special ornaments that have been gathered ever since Jenn was a little girl.  Her mom, Kathy, started giving her (and me once I came on the scene) a new ornament every year.  Here's the one that she gave us this year.

Here's one of my favs considering that I love VW's so much.

Here's one I made for Jenn in 2004, three years before we were married!

Here are a couple from this awesome blogger that she's sent us the last two years.

And here are a couple of specialty ones that you might like.

It truly has been an awesome holiday season...one I can really be grateful for and remember forever!

But I want you to remember it to...with a little momento from me!

Last year, Erika Myers @ Thisspartanwill.com contacted Runningmedalhangers.com (go check them out...I'll wait here) about seeing if they would send her a medal hanger to do a giveaway on her blog.  Well, being the generous company that they are, they said, "Sure!"  I happened to win the giveaway!  And, here's what my medal hanger looks like!

In all honesty, half of those medals are Jenn's...

I freaking love it!  They even sent it to me with wall anchors, screws, and spacers to hold it off the wall.  It really is an awesome way to display medals.  They have so many different options for hangers, or you can even get something custom like mine created.  So, since I like mine so much, I wanted to give you the opportunity to be blessed by this great company as I was.  I contacted Gayle who is their sales coordinator to see if they would be willing to sponsor a blog giveaway.  Of course, just because they are so generous and cool, she said "Yes!"  She sent me three hangers, one of which I gave to the winner who guessed the closest to when Baby C was born.  Here's what they look like.

Pretty cool, right?  I know that whoever wins these hangers will be happy with it, and if you don't win, check Runningmedalhangers.com out to get one of your own.

The Rules:

This giveaway contest will run until Friday, December 28, 2012 at 11:59pm, so make sure you have your entry's in by then.

You can get one entry for each of these options.  I will tally up all the entry's and use Random.org to select TWO winners.

1. Leave a comment:  That's easy, right?
2. Follow my blog: I know there are some of you out there that read but do not publicly follow this blog.  On the left sidebar, click the button that says "Join this site" and follow me publicly.  If you already do follow me, leave a comment telling me that you do. 
3. Friend me on Facebook: Click the Facebook icon on the top of the left sidebar to take you to my facebook page and ask to be my friend. Again, if we already are friends, say so in your comment.  If you want another entry, post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook wall, and let me know you did.
4. Follow me on Twitter: Just like with Facebook, click the Twitter icon on the top of the left sidebar to take you to my Twitter page and follow me.  While you're at it, tweet about this blog giveaway for another entry, and let me know that you did.

That's all you have to do.  I will announce the winner sometime next weekend and will ship them out asap.

I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the time off work.  Enjoy your family.  And most importantly, Enjoy The Food!!! :)

Infants and Ironman

Last year, I made the decision to one day train and complete an Ironman.  This year wasn't the year with moving, buying a house and switching jobs (although some people can do that, Erika).  So, I decided to go for it in 2013 in Louisville Kentucky on August 25.  Life is so much easier now with an infant that needs fed every two hours, right?  I'm totally joking!!  By the way, Baby C and his mommy are doing really well, and I know he's growing.  We go to the doctor this next week for another checkup to see how much he weighs.

All snuggly after his FIRST BATH!

So, it's time to start training!  I've looked and looked and talked and talked to established Ironmen(and women) about a training plan, and I finally settled on a 36-week training plan that I found on Tridaddy.com.  You can see it here if you are so inclined (I think it's the 36-week plan from Trifuel.com but is put in a slightly more printable format).  So TODAY is the first day of training that will take me to this:

Jenn's idea on our anniversary weekend in Asheville, NC

JUST KIDDING!  Not that IRON-Man.  How about this!!!:

I'm so excited about race day, but I'm just as excited about the training.  Check back with me at week 12 to see how excited I am.  I know that IMKY is a tough Ironman because of many factors, but I think it is the best option for me because of many reasons too.  So let the training begin!  I know that for the next 36 weeks, I am going to need a ton of encouragement and advice, plus, my #1 love language is words of affirmation, so don't be shy!

Speaking of affirmation...

Last month, I applied to be a part of the Brooks ID program, and I got accepted!  Yay!  For those of you that aren't familiar with this program, the running shoe company Brooks will be hooking me up with free shoes and apparel as I train and race events.  That's a hook up! Thank you, Brooks!

 So, let the journey to becoming an Ironman begin!  It's going to be painful, tough, challenging, difficult,.......AWESOME!

Baby "C" makes three!

Wow!  What an incredible week!  To make a long story short, we finally had our boy; we'll call him "Baby C"!!!  I didn't think I could love someone other than Jennifer THIS much!  It truly is one of the greatest things to ever happen to me.  I don't think anyone can really put into words what it is like to be a part of a miracle that is created because of you.  All the waiting was worth it!

On Saturday morning, Jenn woke me up and said that she thought she was having contractions.  Sure enough, they were coming easily and pretty far apart.  After a couple hours, they stopped.  We slept a bit more, and then I got up and went to church.  Luckily, I had my brother in law, Jason, who is also a pastor, already scheduled to come and preach at my church.  He did an excellent job!

Jason, bringing the WORD!

Shortly after getting back home, the contractions started to continue.  We were in the waiting game, although the end was in sight now.  Our doctor was super cool and called to check on us a couple different times during the day.  As the contractions started to get stronger and closer together, we headed into the hospital at about 11pm.  Once we got our room, the contractions became REALLY strong!  We tried walking the halls and different breathing techniques, but nothing was really helping.  After talking to our wonderful nurse, we decided that it was time for an epidural.  Let me just tell you, #1, if you are a guy, having a wife in contractions is one of the hardest things to deal with.  I felt so helpless!  Jenn was in so much pain, and I couldn't do ANYTHING about it!  And, #2, if I was going to have a baby, there would be no debate about getting an epidural.  That needle would be in my back asap!  Even with all the pain, Jenn was a trooper and always was positive about it.

Just after a tough contraction!

The anesthesiologist came in about 3:30am and gave her the epidural, and then we were able to rest.  We slept off and on for a couple hours.

At 7:00am, the nursed checked Jenn, and she was fully dilated.  So, we waited for the doctor to come, and she started to push.  If you have never been in the room while a baby is being born, it is quite the experience.  Jennifer was INCREDIBLE!  The doctor said that he thought she would have to push for an hour or and hour and a half.  It took THREE hours for this little guys to appear!  She was exhausted.  In fact, the nurse said that she had enough energy because she was involved in endurance sports.  Triathletes make great pushers!    Finally, after a whole lot of effort (by Jenn), this little guy appeared on the scene on Sunday, December 9, at 11:02am.

I got to cut his umbilical chord...

And he was free!  It was a little funny, because I wasn't sure who to go with.  Forever, my concern had been everything about Jennifer, and all of a sudden, there was someone else that I cared about in the same way.  I was torn between the two!  After making sure Jenn was ok, I walked around the bed to see my son getting worked on.

He was weighed and measured... 8lbs. 5 oz., 20.5 inches

He got his first diaper...

 Then, I asked, "Can I touch him?" to which the nurses laughed and said, "He's YOUR baby!"

Finally, after he was a little cleaned up, he got to go be with his mommy.

Jenn and Baby from Matthew Smith on Vimeo.

I couldn't keep the waterworks from flowing down my cheeks!  It was just a most wonderful moment in my whole life!

It didn't take long before he was whisked away to get his first bath.  I went with him as they finished up with Jenn.

So fresh and so clean, clean!

The next couple days have flown by so quickly with family and visitors wanting to get a look at this little fella.  Our church has brought us a bunch of food.  Mindy, my sister, came last night and brought a ton of goodies to munch on too.  We even had a famous blogger stop by for a visit.  We've determined that there will be an arranged marriage between our kids if they have a girl.

On Tuesday, we were discharged from the hospital, and we loaded up the car.  No one ever told me that this would be the scariest ride of my life.  I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of having not one but TWO people that I loved so much riding along with me!  I was terrified, but we made it home safely.  

Kathy, Jenn's mom stayed the night with us and showed us the ropes of parenthood.  She is a pediatric nurse practitioner, so that works out well for us!  Jenn is doing so well with nursing, and Baby C is really doing well.  I hate waking him up in order to feed him, but I guess that's just part of it.  He got all dressed up in his VW onesie this morning to go for his first doctor's appointment and passed with flying colors.  

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on Facebook, text messages and phone calls to check on us.  We feel so loved by so many different people, and I'm glad that we could share our life with you!

So, are you wondering who won the contest of who could guess when he would be born?  My aunt Linda guessed December 9 at 4am, so she is the winner.  Just an FYI, I'll be posting another giveaway contest here shortly which would make a great Xmas present for some athlete somewhere!

Baby Birthday Contest

Since little boy Smith has decided to stubbornly stay in the "oven" a little longer, I thought it might be fun to create a contest to see who can guess when he will get here.

The Entry:

Leave a comment on my blog that says the DAY and HOUR when you think he will be born.   The closest to the actual time of birth WINS!!!

The Prize:

It's just that easy.  What will you be given, you ask?  Let's just say that if you are into running, cycling, triathlon, and anything else athletic where you receive medals or know someone that is, you'll be happy with your prize.

The Facts:(To help you guess correctly)

• Baby Smith's due date was November 30, 2012
• He is now 3 days past the due date.
• Jennifer is READY and coaxing him out by walking, eating eggplant, rocking in rocking chairs etc.
• He was 7lbs. as of last Wednesday.
• Jennifer was born about a week late!

Happy Guessing!