Rich, Heather and Alana’s Blog

I have a little catching up to do…

Early in the week, Kellie and I had a fun girls day together.

Pre-Alana, Kellie and I used to hang out every Thursday, but things got a little, well, busy later on in my pregnancy (while I was nesting and getting ready for the little one), and since then, we haven’t seen much of each other. Not nearly enough.

So, we decided to get intentional again and see each other as many Tuesdays as possible!

So, last Tuesday Alana and I drove to Kellie’s house and had a fun day. We went to a super cute little burger joint called “The Spot” which has been there for 70 years!

Here we are enjoying lunch…

And then we headed back to Kellie’s while she worked on some cards (remember her amazing products from her Etsy store? Keep checking back, because she is always creating new incredibly cute things!). I attempted to get some scrapbooking done, but rather, I ended up getting this adorable video of Alana.

Is it just me, or is she hilarious?

Alana Video

This is Alana about five minutes after the video! I re-swaddled, and voila! A slumbering babe!

Then, on Valentines Day, Rich and I went to the launch of a new marriage series at church! Our pastors are fabulously brilliant to come up with this idea. They got their hands on an awesome DVD series by Emerson Eggerichs called “Love and Respect.” Some of you may have read the book.

Knowing they wanted to offer the series to married couples churchwide, they decided on a once-a-month “date night” to gather for the videos. And so, on Valentines Day, they launched our new series that will run through this summer. Childcare is provided, and Rich and I decided it was time for our first date night, and hey, what better time than on Valentines Day!

We dropped Alana at the nursery and I am wearing my very first “nursery bracelet” in this photo:

Then we proceeded across the street into the room where we would all meet for the videos. The church staff had set it up so beautifully with round tables, white linen tablecloths, candles, tea, coffee, desserts, and discussion cards. It really felt like a romantic restaurant!

Rich and I paused to enjoy our freedom:

And then realized that we’d just left Alana for the first time.

Fully knowing she might be a handful for the nursery workers, we gave our best nervous faces:

And sure enough, I was called to the nursery about halfway through our evening! I ran across to the nursery, where a sweet nursery worker was trying to calm a screaming Alana. She was just really tired, so when I held her in my (very effective) “go-to-sleep-alana” position and talked to her for a minute, she fell right asleep! I always feel bad when people are holding her and she cries, because it’s hard not to take a crying baby personally. I just try to explain that she gets really fussy when she is tired, or hungry, or her tummy hurts. thankfully, it usually passes very quickly.

So, with a sleeping alana, I decided to head back over to finish up our date night. We really enjoyed the evening, even though it would have been really nice if Alana had cooperated, but I really enjoy holding her. We had great group discussion and are very much looking forward to the next session in March!

Then on Saturday, I had the priviledge of going to my sister-in-law, Jackie’s, baby shower! Jeff and Jackie are expecting their first little one, Adeline Elizabeth, in April, and we are all very excited to meet her!

Here is the fun little basket I put together for her:

And a gorgeous arrangement that my other sister-in-law, Susan, made for the shower:

Sweet, beautiful Jackie!

I got a quick picture with her before I left…

It was a beautiful shower, and we are eagerly awaiting the next little Smith! Alana needs a little playmate!