Home Again, Home Again...

  Well the Smith family has done some traveling in the month of February. In my last post I told you about our trip to Cohutta Springs Youth Camp for Matt to speak for a high school spiritual retreat. Since then we have been to Colorado and back, and then we went Cohutta Springs again.

  Baby C is now a veteran air traveller. I think every mom is a little anxious about getting on a plane with a young child, especially when you get glares from other travelers as you board the plane with a baby. But I have to say he did great! Our flight left on a Sunday afternoon from Atlanta. We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our plane was scheduled to leave. We checked one bag and a carseat (fyi for other moms: you can check a carseat and stroller without charge!). Then the attendent asked us if we had Baby C's birth certificate. Ooops... Fortunately, they still let him board the plane after they added him to my ticket as a lap child. Security wasn't too bad either. I carried Baby C in the Moby Wrap. (Also fyi for other moms: you don't have to take a baby out of the carrier if he is on you when going through security, they just do some wipe on your hands after you've gone through the metal detector.) We got to our gate and boarded the plane shortly after. I fed Baby C when taking off and when landing to equalize his ears. He slept and played quietly in between take off and landing. Probably the best thing that I brought was my nursing pillow. I took it on the plane with me. It made it so much easier!! Also another tip for travelling moms... We did not bring the carseat base this time, because we knew we weren't going to be in the car that much.

  We had an awesome week at Campion Academy with Nick and Taryn while Matt spoke for Week of Prayer. It was an awesome experience and lots of fun to hang out with our friends. But we were pretty tired and ready to be home (for one night).

Matt, Baby C, Me, Taryn (Baby Clark in the oven), & Nick

  The day after we got back we packed our bags again and headed for Cohutta Springs for Matt's ordination review. On our way up, we got to see some family. First we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast to meet Bear (my dad), then to Grammie and Grandpa's house (Matt's parents) to see them and Great Grandpa and Grandma Smith (Matt's grandparents), and then to Grandy and Mimi's house (my parents) to see Mimi and Nana (my grandma). Then we finally arrived at Cohutta! A big thanks to Grammie for driving up to Cohutta to take care of Baby C while we were in our interview.

Grammie (Matt's mom)

Great Grandma (Matt's mom's mom)

4 Generations: Matt, Grandpa (Matt's dad), Great Grandpa (Matt's dad's dad), and Baby C

Nana (My mom's mom)

  On Thursday Mimi came to visit. We spent the whole day at the mall. That was a long day and the longest Baby C has been out and about. Then on Friday morning Mimi took care of Baby C while Matt and I got to go swim at the community pool. I will admit, it was a short swim, but at least we made it to the pool. Grandy did some biking and camping on Thursday night and Friday in preparation for a big ride him and Mimi have planned at the end of March. On Friday night Grandy and Mimi read Baby C his bedtime stories. On Saturday Mimi and Grandy came to church with us, and then we had a fun family lunch with Mimi, Grandy, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Ammie, and Cousin Rosie. We were sad to see them leave yesterday afternoon, but we enjoyed our low key Saturday night and Sunday!

Baby C, Big John (my step-dad), Cousin Rosie, & Uncle Johnny

  This week we are home, with some fun outings planned!! I'll let you know all about our adventures soon.

  "How's the training going?", you say. Well, I didn't exercise much while we were in Colorado or last week. But I have managed to hop on the trainer now and again, and I have high hopes of swimming now that we have a pool membership. Hopefully the sun will come out and warm everything up, and I'll venture out for a run or two this week. Even though, I didn't exercise much, I am getting closer to my pre-pregnancy weight, only 10 lbs to go (as of last Monday).

 Thanks for reading!