12 September 2012

I have to say that I've kept my new years resolution to blog once a month, though its turned into blogging for the previous month. So here goes our September post.

We had a baby!! While other exciting things happened, the birth of Isaac was obviously the most exciting moment of the month.

Everything went well with his birth and Ryan didn't even miss any tests. Here are a few things that happened to us:

• labor is different for everyone, I think its a great idea to ask as many people as possible how their birth went, hope for the best, don't be surprised with the worst, and don't worry!
• we forgot to pack a lot of things -- like Ryan's basketball shorts, poor guy had to endure 10 hours of labor in a button up shirt
• choosing a name is hard, and they will let you leave the hospital even if you don't have one chosen
• nursing isn't as easy as you think it will be - patience and perseverance 
• let whoever comes to visit you help you, but also learn how to do things yourself, that way you won't be worried when they go
• don't forget about your husband
• you are not crazy when you realize you are worrying about EVERYTHING about your baby -- some of it will wear off

I could go on and on, but I'm sure most people have learned all of the above, so its not new information. Isaac is such a joy to be around, like right now, he's sleeping and he always makes these little sounds in his sleep, they almost sound like purring.

We had a lot of family come and see us, my dad was randomly in town when Isaac was born so he got to see him right away. My mom stayed with us for a while after he was born, I loved having her here, and I dubbed her my "occupational therapist" so she could help me learn how to do things with a nursing baby (grocery shopping etc.) She also helped me realize that its never too early to read to Isaac and to surround him with fun things. My grandparents came and visited as well as my uncle, aunt & cousin who live in AZ. Ryan's parents came for his white coat ceremony (and mostly to meet Isaac) and they were wonderful with him as well, taking him on walks, and doting on him like grandparents should. Then my mom brought my siblings, it really surprised me how much my teenage brother and sister loved Isaac, it was really special for me to watch them care for him "I think he is too cold" "lets brush his hair" "is he breathing?"

Most of all I've been surprised to see how much I love taking care of him. I am happy to feed him, change him, burp him, bathe him. I'm pleased whenever he toots or burps (because it seems like so much work for him) and I love watching Ryan have his father & son "study time" in the morning. (Except I'm not usually watching that, I'm usually sleeping) 

So here are a few pictures of September:

Grandpa Mike

Grandma Suzie

Isaac a few days after coming home from the hospital (actually I don't think he had a name at this point)

GiGi Robyn and Poppa Kevin

After Ryan's white coat ceremony
 

Feeding the crazy ducks in our apartment complex

Taking Isaac out for a walk

Grilling with my siblings

Isaac about 4 weeks (featuring my new and favorite pillow from Ikea)

August in Arizona!

July and August in Arizona have been...hot! Both the weather and in fun :) Ryan is loving his classes and I love that he comes home and tells me all about them. (But I DO NOT love smelling him after his anatomy lab!)

I love seeing him excited about school--like the day he came home from his first anatomy lab and told me all about "filleting the back" or how he'll add some tidbit of information about the development of our baby that he learned in his embryology class.

So far, I've just been enjoying organizing and (trying) to beautify our apartment. I have loved meeting lots of new and wonderful people. We've been trying to enjoy our last few date nights of "alone" time together, watching White Collar and the presidential campaigns and we have found that we LOVE the pool. (Sometimes I go more than once a day!)

Mostly we're excited for our little guy to get here. Ryan about fell off his chair at the docto'rs office two weeks ago when the doctor said our baby could come "anytime." We have been talking a lot about how everything will go (so we can calmly drive to the hospital-haha) and Ryan's promised to keep his phone on him at all times.

Girls night at our place

The pool we love so much :)

Ryan trying to scare the ducks away from the waterfall part of the pool

Ryan coming home from class

And some "bump" pictures (a.k.a. giant beach ball photos)

30 weeks (in Utah)

35 weeks (in  my typical trying to survive the heat attire)

38 weeks (on the way to church)

We are so happy and hope our next post will have a new Martin family member to introduce :)

The move!

So we're officially settled in Arizona! We love it here, but miss our families and friends in Utah.

We are so grateful for all the help we had in the move, we had fun driving down doing crosswords and singing along to fun songs :) Here are a few pictures from the move (and if you can believe it I'm even bigger now than I am in these pictures!)

June 2012

June was a fun month for us! Its been exciting to think that we're actually going to move, but sometimes (between figuring out medical insurance and finding an apartment) we look at each other and can't believe its really happening! Before we started doing the actual packing of our apartment, we decided to pack in as many fun activities as possible.  We have been so grateful for these weeks that we have had together before we start the daily grind of our new life!

Me around 25 weeks

Ryan around 28 weeks :)

Dinner with Grandma & Grandpa Flake

Visiting Grandma Erickson

Fishing on Utah Lake with friends from work. I caught the first catfish!  (Ryan caught an even bigger one-but then dropped it when it was squirming around for the picture) 

The Sound of Music at Hale Center Theatre

Some of the fam visiting me on my lunch break

Last day of work

Family Fun

As we get closer and closer to leaving Utah and starting a new chapter of our lives, we have tried to spend more time with our families. We love our families so much, and feel blessed that we've had a year of a lot of free weekends to spend time with them. 

Among other fun family activities, this month we went to Brandon's graduation from Utah State!

We also got to spend some time in Alpine for birthdays and mothers day:

"In a world of turmoil and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives and the top of our priorities. Families lie at the center of our Heavenly Father’s plan." Elder Perry.  We have set a goal to continue to make our families and our own little family a priority in our lives.

April News

 

 

 

So I missed my April post. But this was our big news :) We found out what we were having at 17 weeks! Woo hoo! The one thing I can say I've learned is that making any sort of plans for our lives (like when to have children) doesn't really work. Heavenly Father seems to bless us with trials and triumphs for the time in our life that He knows that we need them most.

Vacation

So we went on a trip! (Okay more like a dream vacation)

And we saw some amazing things!

Colosseum

Roman Forum

St. Peter's Basilica

We ate a LOT of gelato!

Trevi fountain

Bocca della Verita

good food

We climbed to the top of the Duomo

And bought some real pesto from Tuscany :)

And saw beautiful Firenze!

We touched the Mediterranean Sea!

We loved learning about Italy, its people, its history, its transportation system. We also loved learning about each other, how to navigate together, what we like and don't like about vacationing, when its time to quit because our feet can't walk anymore. ... But most of all we really loved spending so much time together. :)