1st Month Home

Everyone at the Elephant Exhibit at the zoo. We got to see the baby very close up and pet her mommy.

Mommy Elephant getting her bath. Ashlyn was overjoyed!

Will was truly beside himself. He was pointing at Aunt Elephant (can't remember their names, sorry)

Ashlyn 5 weeks old.

Will going to school. He actually wanted to drive himself there.

Aslyn trying to keep up with big brother Will. Look at those tired eyes.

Aunt Trac and Ashlyn cuddle time.

Me and my babies! Will loves saying cheese if Miss A's in the picture.

Daddy and Will at the science museum.

Will driving an airplane.

Hello!!!!

Ashlyn 3 weeks old.

I think every parent under estimates how much work it takes going from 1 to 2 kids. Well, I probably shouldn't speak for every parent, but let's just say I completely under estimated it! The first 2 weeks home were bliss, Ashlyn slept amazing, we all got great rest, Will was the perfect big brother, order seemed to be being kept so I thought, "I got this, no

problem"

Then week 3 came and with it came belly issues for Ashlyn, major baby blues for Mommy, Daddy traveling, sleepless days and nights. The only thing that stayed consistent was Will being the perfect big brother. He loves his sister so much, he's very kind and gentle, glows with pride when anyone is around and tells them it's his baby or tells them her name and that she's his baby sister. Having her around has really brought out his personality; which I thought it would. It's also made him less shy around people he doesn't know, which I'm glad, he was very standoffish before.

Ashlyn has the same digestive issues that Will did. Fortunately I caught hers a lot sooner rather than going weeks with the screaming. Their little tummies are immature and they digest their milk very slow which causes extreme cramping in their little tummies. She's on 2 antibiotics to help with the discomfort until her tummy outgrows this. So it's gotten better thankfully but we aren't thru it yet. She has gotten back to sleeping better and the screaming has ended so we are getting back to a calmer household. I take the stress and overwhelmingness day by day and ask for help when I'm smart enough to know I can't tackle it all. Michael as always has been amazing, putting up with a crazy wife, a very busy son and helping with Ashlyn when and where he can. We'll get this all under control, just not quite as quickly as we did with just 1.

This post is a bit random on pics, but it's been hard to stay caught up, so this is what we've been doing this past month.

Back up a little bit!

We attempted family pregnancy pictures when I was 35 weeks.

They ended up just being me solo because Will wasn't having it. I love these shots, I'm so happy I was able to capture this before Ashlyn got here.

Becky was able to get a couple shots before Will snapped. If there had been horses behind those fences, we might have had more success with him. Oh well, at least we got this one. Now our little angel is here and these shots will be great memories of when she was in my belly.

Hospital Pictures

My friend Becky also known as Greygill Fish Photography came up to see Miss Ashlyn while we were in the hospital and took some professional shots of her.

Traci was holding up a picture of Will from when he was born to see the resemblance.

These shots are so amazing. She is 1 day old here, Becky gets such beautiful pictures of my children.

In Mommy's Arms.

Proud Mommy & Daddy.

Peaceful little angel. Thank you Becky, these pictures I will cherish always.

Life with Two!

Being a big brother has come naturally to Will. He's amazing with Ashlyn. She gets a dozen kisses a day. If she cries he says "it's okay baby girl", if we are on our way somewhere and she's upset in the carseat, he tries to calm her by talking to her but the entire time has a sad expression on his face because he's upset that she's upset.

I always knew he'd be great with her, but he melts my heart everyday with his kindness.

When he's not handing out kisses, he's going 90 MPH! I'm not certain where this boost of energy has come from, but he's a busy busy boy.

Ashlyn sleeps a lot! Not sure what we did to deserve it, but she sleeps thru the night already. I have to wake her to feed her every night. I know it can change any day, but what a blessing to have 2 babies sleeping thru the night; definitely gives Michael and I a chance to get plenty of rest.

The big news from the weekend was Will got a new "park" for his backyard. We don't have a large yard and it's on a slope so we are limited in options for things like this, but this set is perfect. He can play on it without us having to worry about him getting hurt and it's perfect size for the yard we have.

Anyone wanna go for a ride???

The happiest dad in the world. Will has given Michael more cuddle time in the past week and a half than he has in the past 2 years. He's always been a cuddler w/ Mommy only, but that's changed now that Ashlyn is here. Truth is, you want cuddle time, hold the baby, "his baby"; he snuggles up to whoever has Ashlyn. He's been all about dad though and as much as it pains me to share, I'm so happy he's giving his daddy the attention I've gotten since he was born.

And finally this is my new nephew, Cade. He and Ashlyn are 1 months and 6 days apart. The Mazza family came to dinner tonight and we got the scale out to see how much "Tank" weighs and at 6 almost 7 weeks old, he's 15 lbs. He's a big boy!!! Ashlyn is 8 lbs 6 oz. She's back up to her birth weight so that's very exciting.

We are adjusting pretty well; the baby blues haven't hit too bad this time so that's been a blessing. Honestly, I'm so happy to have my family complete and to have 2 healthy happy babies, it's almost impossible to be frustrated or sad. I'm sure sleeping most of the night has a lot to do with it too.

Ashlyn Kate Martin

Ashlyn Kate was born Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 9:41 am. She weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz.

Will took a little while to get adjusted, but once he was, he wanted to give her nonstop kisses.

Michael and I are in absolute heaven. To have 2 healthy happy babies; we couldn't ask for more. We've been home since Saturday afternoon and it's been the best few days of our lives. Our family is complete, our little girl is perfect and our son is beaming with big brother pride and he's so gentle and caring to his baby sister.

When she came out she looked exactly like Will, but as the days have gone by, we see more of her own identity and less Will in her. Of course they can't deny they are brother and sister, but they don't look exactly alike. Since being home, surprisingly, we've gotten tons of rest. Ashlyn is a champion sleeper, gets up 2 times a night so far, sleeps great during the day, eats well....we can't ask for anything better. We are so thankful to have this little girl in our life, now we get to watch our babies grow and enjoy our little family.

The Due Date is Near!

Will is going to be a big brother in 1 week and 1 day. Can't believe the time has gone by so fast, though these last few weeks don't seem to be moving at a quick pace. My pregnancy with Ashlyn has gone pretty well. I did get Gestational Diabetes with her, but it's been more of a blessing than a curse. Learning to eat properly and take care of she and I is a no brainer when her future health is on the line...and mine too. A little glimpse of what it's like to have diabetes full time was all I needed to make the life style change to protect my family from here on out.

Will is doing great, he's on the go constantly, talking clearly, still would rather be outside than anywhere else, but he is in denial that he's got a baby sister coming. If you ask him if he's going to have a baby sister, he'll tell you "no". But he'll take you back to her bedroom if you ask "where is baby Ashlyn's room" so like it or not, he'll be welcoming her home in a little over a week and his world will change forever!

I have worried how it's going to affect him, change is never his friend, though once he's adjusted, he's off and running, but this is a huge change. The last month, he's been very attached to me, "mommy do it" with everything. Unfortunately Mommy can't do as much as she'd like which frustrates him and has made for some whiney, fussy times. Never thought I'd be a "time out" mom, but it works for him and he's been going quite often to adjust his mood. We'll say "do you need to go to your room to calm down" and he'll say "yes" and go back there on his own for 2 or 3 minutes then come out and say "I feel better" (can't help staying mad at that!) But I hope I'm worrying for no reason and he adjusts fine after we bring her home.

We took Will to the zoo yesterday to have a Daddy, Will and Mommy day. Since this is his last official week of being an only child, we figured we'd try to do some things that are special and focused on him. It was a perfect day and he wanted another one today. "Go see Animals" "No school Mommy, let's stay home". Broke my heart, but he has fun at school and was okay once we were there. We'll have more fun Mommy, Will & Daddy time over the weekend.

I will get back to updating this with Ashlyn and Will adventures after she's born. Sorry for the absence and lack of pictures, Will has changed a lot over the past few months, but I needed a break; it was hard to keep up w/ pictures when he's moving so much. Always seems like the perfect camera moment when the camera is inside and when I'd get it, he'd be off doing something else. That has been where the phone camera has come in handy, at least that's on me more often than the regular one.

I'll get pictures on here as quickly as possible after Miss A is born. Can't wait for everyone to meet our new baby girl.

It's all about timing...

Birthday Party timing can be tough at this age, more often than not, we get invited to parties ranging from times 11:30-3:00. All of which we want to attend, we love celebrating our friends birthday's. But, in our household, that's smack dab in the middle of naptime.....and we don't have a flexible on naptime kind of child, so skipping nap turns out to be a nightmare, waking him up early turns out to be a nightmare. The only solution we've came up w/ after 3 parties where Will won't participate, clings to one of us and cries nonstop, is let him sleep, we'll come when he wakes up.

BUT, occasionally, you have a party that's off the beaten path of "normal" time and it turns out to be the best time. Will went to a 9:30 am party for a friend at school at the same place he had his bday party, Bouncin Craze, and he had a BALL!!! He couldn't get enough of the "hepicopter", and he went down the huge obsticle course with Daddy,

He was all smiles the majority of the party (water works appeared when he had to share the "hepicopter")

But he was off climing and sliding before the tears dried. (yes, we cheated and let him wear his shoes, another "not worth the tears" moment we wanted to avoid.)

Fortunately Daddy was there to chase, I wasn't in my rare form like I was for his bday.

Here are the Martin's! Both of these precious kiddo's have the same last night. I said from the infant room that they'd marry someday, it was Will's first girlfriend (sort of); Miss A was sad and crying one day and Will was sitting in front of her sucking his thumb and he reached out w/ the other thumb and offered it to her for comfort.

He and Kellen had a ball in this house...well all the kids fit in there at one point. I told Will he could have one but Duke would eat it so not right now!

He loved carrying around the BIG orange ball. He'd use his MUSCLES to lift it!

"DADDY, SIT DOWN" Love the pink chair!

I was so proud, he really tried everything this time. And it was so fun to watch him interact w/ his buddies; they play together at school everyday, but us parents rarely get to see that.

And when it was time to go in for cake, pizza and presents, Mr. Will had worked up quite an appetite. Though he was very upset he had to leave the helicopter. So the moral of the story is, early morning or evening parties ROCK! And Will went home and passed out for 3 hours after his adventures. Can't beat that!!!

Halloween 2010

I know, I know, this is a week or two off. But here it is none the less!

Halloween this year wasn't much of anything. Will wanted no part of his schools Halloween parade, trick or treating was a bust and his costume consisted of camo pants and a brown shirt. He did have an orange vest to go w/ this ensemble, but wasn't worth the tears so we left it off. He did however use red paint at school and made it look like he actually went hunting so a little theatrics to the "costume".

It was a great weekend for trick or treating, maybe we'll join in next year.

For now, Will just had fun carrying around the pumpkins!

We were productive on Halloween weekend, however...we had a garage sale. Grace came over to play with Will Saturday morning while we sold lots of stuff!

They had a ball w/ this load of books my neighbor brought over to sell.

Will even helped out with the money list. Soooo, though we didn't do much in the way of dressing up, it was a great weekend and we enjoyed lots of family time.

Weekend in Austin

This is a couple weeks old, but had to post our trip to Austin.

Not that it's ever planned, but for the past 3 years we've made a trip to Austin in October. 1st year to meet Miss Allison and introduce Will (3 months old at the time) to my dear friend Brooke and her family. 2nd year we went down for Allison's 1st Birthday. Then this year we spent Allison's Daddy's birthday weekend in Austin. So, I think it's become an annual trip and one I look forward to every year.

This year we trecked it out to Marble Falls to their Pumpkin Patch. Will got to ride a tractor, paint a pumpkin, see full size riding horsies and enjoy the day w/ his buddies Allison & Eli.

Unfortunately, the morning was a bit rough because Will didn't get a great nights sleep the night before, so after lunch we spent the afternoon taking a very much needed long nap at Mimi's house before we played some more.

Allison and Will had so much fun together, they read and shared and pretty much did everything together and got along great. (an issue Brooke was worried about w/ Allison)

I took my camera for the weekend only to snap 1 picture before the battery went dead so these are the only shots I have sent to me from Brooke. We had a wonderful weekend with our friends and can't wait for them to come to OKC to spend time here when Baby Martin arrives and over the summer at the lake. I can picture it now, Allison, Eli & Will running all over the beach. Thank heaven I won't be pregnant by that point, I'm sure it will be an exhausting weekend!

Catchin Up

This is one of those random posts to catch you up on what we've been doing.

Playing lots of basketball at our neighbors house. Let's just say, Daddy's getting a heck of a workout.

Our shower is almost done. The glass is going in this week and we are getting the front panel made for the tub....as soon as I remember to take measurements before I leave the house.

Will is constantly on the go, leaving blury pictures in his path.

His baby sister or brother is doing well, and growing, growing, growing. We go back October 27th for another check up then it's gender time at the end of November. We will be excited either way, just hope for a healthy baby.

And can't go w/out a video, Mr. Will is getting better and better at golf. Almost ready to hit the golf course w/ Daddy.

The fall weather has been amazing, we've been to a ton of birthday parties these past few weeks and played outside nonstop. My pregnancy is going pretty smooth, the rough stage seems to be passing and now I'm just getting big. So other than going, growing and playing, we are just enjoying this time of year. Hope everyone else is too.