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.

Riding the 4 Wheeler

Will finally rode his 4 wheeler last night. After 2 months of fixing it, driving while walking next to and telling Daddy to move it, he finally hopped on and gave it a go!!!

Thomas the Choooo Choooo Train

Will got to ride Thomas the Train this weekend w/ his buddy Kellen.

They were so excited to get to the train, waiting in line was not an option.

Once on the train they didn't really care, we might as well been riding in a car, but seeing the train cars up close was the big highlight and oh walking up all the steps at the train station.

It was a fun Mommy and Will morning with our pals NikiJo and Kellen. And anything train made the adventure a huge hit!!!

Fire....Wow!

As you always hear; every pregnancy is different and so far, that holds very true for me. I was barely ever nauseous w/ Will just extremely tired. But w/ this one....I've had to get on nausea meds. Needless to say, new pictures of Will have been limited. Thankfully this part only lasts for a few weeks then I'll (crossing my fingers) get a break and back in touch w/ the camera. In the mean time, phone pics are as good as I'm gonna get.

Will was in awww, watching the fire come out of a pipe in the ground across the street from the Pearls Oyster Bar on Classen. That's what he's pointing at in the above pic.

Washing The Car