Two week check-up... well almost four week check-up

We took Evie for her '2 week check-up' yesterday. Yes I know that she is almost 4 weeks... I really suck at getting us in for well baby/well child/OBGY appointments all the time but oh well.... When I took her in at 2 days old she had lost some weight and was down to 5 lbs 14 oz but that was all fine because most nursed babies lose some weight but gain it back. I forgot to call and make her next appointment but we did have the home health nurse come by this past week and when she came we were sad to see that Evie was still at 6lbs and 2.5 oz. This had the HHN a bit freaked but told me to not let the baby go more than 2 hrs between feeding and came back the next day. Well the next day when we put the baby on the scale she was 6lbs 2 oz so we called the dr and set up an appointment to just check her and started her on formula. When we took her to the Dr she was up to 6lbs 4oz so they thought that that was looking better and now we are getting her weighted next week 3 times to make sure we are getting a bit of chubs on her. I wasn't so shocked by this because we had a bit of the same issues with Calvin when I tried to nurse him as a newborn. I really did try to exclusively nurse Evie but I guess I am really one of the few woman that just can't produce enough milk. I really always looked at it as not so much that "breast is best" but more as a "healthy and growing baby is best" and if that means formula and nursing then great! Other then the low weight Evalynn is doing great! She is a pretty calm little girl. She really only tends to cry when she is starving (so most of the time that has been not much crying because she was always eating!) She is really calm and alert. She loves to look around and move her arms and legs. The boys really love her and are always wanting to give her loves and kisses. Yesterday I was cleaning up a spill on the couch and she was laying on the couch and Calvin was standing next to her leaning in and out would kiss her little hand each time he leaned in. It was so cute! Sam loves to come into my bed in the morning and gives her kisses and always is saying "oh she is so cute!" They are both really sweet with her but a lot of the time they need to be reminded to be gentle. Brad when back to work on the 20th and it was hard at first but we have really been working out the bumps of me being really out numbered. In fact I'm even going out with just me and the kids a lot now. It takes a bit more planing but we seem to have getting in and out of the car down to an art now. I even took the three of them to Ikea yesterday (Now that Sam is 3 and potty trained he gets to go in the play place) It was really kinda fun... But the cries of my sweet little girl are calling for me to feed her so that is all for now! We have been a little camera crazy so enjoy!!

Little Miss Evalynn

Here she is! Evalynn Marie Martin was born at 2:59am the 5th of September! She weighed in at 6lbs and 8oz and is 18.5 inches long.
Here is how it all went down... My due date was the 10th but with needing to be induced with both boys the dr pretty much thought that this time would be the same so when I went in for my last appointment we pretty much talked about when we could induce (Sept 17 would have been that day because the hospital requires you to be 41 weeks) I left the appointment more than a little sad but at least I had a set date. Saturday seemed to be going just like any other day had. In fact I had some people call to check in for an update for baby progress but at that point I had nothing to report. Around 7pm I started to have a few contractions and by 7:30 I started keeping track of them (in the past once I start keeping track they tended to just fade away) By 9:30 they seemed to be getting closer. Around 10:30 they were averaging about every 5 minutes apart. Brad and I decided that if they got to about 4 apart by midnight we would head in to the hospital. Well by midnight they were at the 4 min mark and I was thinking that I would like an epidural! We got the boys up and in the car and headed over to Brad's parents place to drop off the boys. We then rushed off to the hospital because at that point we were down to 2-3 mins apart. We got to the hospital at 12:50am and they got me all set up in triage to see if this was the real deal. Well they checked me and sure enough I was 7cm dilated.... Yep I said 7! I had never gotten past a 4 without an epidural with both boys so I was pretty shocked! They got us into our room and had everything all set so I got my epidural about 20 mins after we got into our own room. We were all set up by 2:15 and we all thought that we would have about 2 hrs before she was here.... Boy were we wrong. Our nurse went out to get all of the paperwork done up but when she was gone I started to feel a lot of pressure so I told Brad to call her up to let her know... Lucky for us while Brad was looking for the phone she came in and I was like 'I think I need to push' and sure enough I did need to push! They called in the dr while I was trying very hard to not push...Who would have thought that it was harder to not push than it is to just push?! They got all set up in record time and let me push... and then right away I was told to stop pushing because the baby's head was out... Yep it was just that fast! One push and she was out! We didn't even make it to 3am! She is a very sweet little girl and we all love her to bits already! The boys seemed pretty happy when they got to meet her and now that we are all home they have loved giving her kisses. Sam loves to watch her in her bed and tells her in a very sweet voice "It's okay Evie" Calvin seems really happy to point at her and say "Baby!" over and over and they both love to give her kisses and loves! So far she is a pretty good sleeper and has slept for a few good stretches. She is eating well even with me trying to just nurse her. We got out of the hospital around 1 today and are glad to be home. The boys are now in bed and Evie is taking a little snooze. I would have to say I feel really great for just having a baby less than 48hrs ago and we all seem to be doing pretty good at adjusting to a family of five... Lets keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way!

We're Alive!!!!

So I see it has been almost a year since our last post... Yeah I know I kinda really suck at the whole blog thing but there are a few reasons for the giant gap of posts. First we moved last October to Bellevue. We really love our "new" place and are really glad to not be planing another move this year for sure!! It was our 4th move since we got married so I'm glad to not need to pack this time again this year! About a month after our move our computer died... Yes we have been computerless for just under a year now! It has been hard to not have one but we did get a PS3 for Christmas so we have had limited Internet through that but I wasn't able to blog from it. So now for some catch up..... Sam is now 3 and is one crazy little man. He loves to run and play. He also loves to play the PS3 and the Wii. He seems to be able to run them better than I can. I guess it really is a learning curve that my kids will have from so much younger than I had. He has been fully potty trained for a long time now but we still have not master the nighttime yet. I think that a big part of that is it takes him a long time to get to sleep still at night so I am leery of waking him to pee but we have been working on it more as of late. He is such a smart little man. He knows all of his ABC's and can tell you what they all say and will tell me all the letters he sees. It seems to be rubbing off on Calvin also because he will repeat what Sam says. Sam really loves his little brother and the feeling seems very mutual. Sam is always making sure that we get some for Calvin too when I get them goldfish or fill up their cups. Calvin will be 18 months in a few weeks and is as crazy as his brother. He is running around all the time. He is a really happy little man and is learning new words every day. He loves to talk even if you can't understand a lot of what he says. He loves to play with cars and drives them all around the house. They both love to play monsters and I can hear them roar all the time... In fact a lot of the time that is how I know he is awake from his nap. We love our boys and we have fun everyday with them!!! Brad is still working at Wyndham and we are waiting to hear back about a new "job enrichment" he put in for. He seems to like his job and is really good at it and it has been good to us. Now that we live a lot closer to his work it is nice that he doesn't have to spend so much time in the car everyday. The boys get so excited everyday when he gets home so that they can give daddy loves! He is such a great dad and the three of them love to play together. I have been doing well. As you can see from side I have swallowed another baby seed and are ready for our new little one to come on out any day now. We also are going to have to change the name of the blog because we are getting some PINK in our world. Yep that's right we have a little girl coming! We are all excited about our little girl coming and the boys love to rub my tumming and give her kisses. I also have been working on starting up a business to sell my crochet baby items. I have been mostly just been selling to people at church but now that I have a computer I'm also going to opening an Etsy shop. I really love doing it and I think that what I make is pretty darn cute. I really can't wait to have this little girl to try on all of but last year I started making hats and it has just gone from there! So that is pretty much what we seem all seem to be up to and now I will add a few of the cute pictures from the past year.... Enjoy!!

My Big Boys!

Can you believe that Sam is almost 2 and a half and that Calvin is 6 months old?! It is crazy how fast time flies. Sam is such a smart little boy. He loves to read. He and daddy go and pick out new books at the library every few days and Sam loves to sit and read them. In fact some mornings it is the first thing he wants to do. He is also learning his ABC's and can tell you a few of the letters and what they say. He has moved up to a big boy bed and seems to be doing well with it... He was climbing back into the crib so we ended up turning the crib around backwards so that it is to high for him to climb. He also thinks that if he tells me that the letters above the beds are different then that is who's bed it is. He will point to the "Calvin" letters and tell me that they are "S,A,M,D,O,ABC's... See mama... Sam's bed!" It is pretty funny. He can sing pretty much anything and everything. We can hear him in bed singing songs from "Les Miserable" to "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam". He loves to go onto Youtube and find all kinds of songs to watch. Some of his favorites are the songs from Madagascar.... We are pretty sick of "I like to move it, move it" but it is a hoot to see him singing and dancing to it. Sam pretty much is better at working the computer that Brad and I combined and loves to pull up the blog to see pictures of his Papa and goes on my facebook to leave notes to all. Sam has learned how to count to 10 and we are now working on getting up to 20. It is crazy how much he learns and remembers every day! We have been potty training Sam off and on for the last month but we have been really working on it this past week. I'm happy to say that Sam has been diaper free for 3 days now and hasn't peed on the floor in those 3 days. We did have one accident when we were out at the store but those are to be expected. He was just on his little potty seat but now that he has learned that he can pee standing up he is really into going on the big potty! I'm so glad that he has taken to it so fast and well! I can't believe how many less diapers I have to change now and how much longer the box is lasting!
Calvin is growing like a weed! I just packed up all of the little baby clothes and I couldn't believe how tiny they look compared to him. He was weighed just this last week and is at 16 lbs. He is such a happy little guy. He talks all day long and thinks that Sam is the funniest guy around. They will just sit and laugh at each other for most of the day. He is rolling over and pretty much rolls anywhere he would want to be.... like if he sees a piece of paper on the floor. He will roll over all of his toys that are around him to get to that paper! It is always so funny what kids love to play with. He is able to sit alone for almost a minute now and will sit for a few more with pillows around him. He isn't crawling yet but he seems to be getting closer to it every day. He really wants to chase after Sam so I don't think it will be much longer! This last week has been a long one for poor baby Calvin... He has always been a really congested sounding baby and this last week it has been bad. We have been to the Dr office 3 times already and head out again tomorrow. He is getting a breathing treatment every 4-6 hrs but they don't really seem to be helping a lot. He also had to get some chest x-rays done but they came back clean so no risk of pneumonia. I hope that we will be able to find out what is wrong and that we will get it all fixed up. It doesn't seem to get his spirits down at all and he is very happy and smiley to everyone!
Our camera is dead so I have had to resort back to Ol' Crappy that seems to be pretty indestructible but for every good picture there are about 10 craptastic ones so it really gets on my nerves to say the least but here are a few of the nice pictures of the boys!

Soft Baby Skin

From the time that Sam was pretty much born his arms and legs looked like this

It was so sad. We tried all different kinds of things with very little improvement. He would scratch until he was bleeding and then more. People would ask if he his legs were burnt but even through it all Sam was a happy little guy and very rarely was upset by it. When we went in for his 2 year check we asked his Dr about it. He sent us home with a cream for his legs and a priscription of Bleach baths (1/4C of bleach for a half full tub 2-4 times a week) and wet pajamas... Yep WET PAJAMAS... like I soak the arms and legs of his pj's before bed and then put them on him and send him off to bed..... Well we left the office a little skeptical to say the least but fast forward a few weeks and....... TADA!!! NEW SKIN!! You would never know that just a month ago his legs looked like they did. We are so happy!!! in fact I even go a week between clipping his nails now instead of every other day like it was before! Yeah new skin!!!

Very Sad

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A very sad and photo free me!!!


Calvin's formula spilled all over my diaper bag and killed our camera.... I'm now very, very sad!!

June!

So June flew by! On the 3rd Brad and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We went up to Snoqualie Falls and got out of the car to see them (we have driven up to them quite a few times because it is a really pretty drive and we go on drives when we want to talk) but we hadn't ever gotten out to go and see them, see we thought that it was a big long hike (it so wasn't) and we aren't really the hiking type... We were so happy that we went! It was so much better then I though it would be... We even did the half mile hike down to the lower view point and even survived the hike back up the hill...um mountain?!

Image from here

After we went out for supper and it was really nice to not have to cut someones food up or rock a crying baby with half my meal left! Thank you Bev for watching the boys! Some times I can't believe that we have been married for 3 years... They have been very busy! I love Brad so much! Three down forever more to go.... And I can't wait!
The next week I decided to have an adventure..... I took the boys over the mountains and through the woods to Granmas house. It was Calvin's first long road trip and my first long drive outnumbered. I got the car all packed up and we headed out at 5:30 am. I thought that the boys would sleep the whole way but like most well laid plans they didn't... Sam was awake for all but 30 mins of the 3 hr drive and Calvin was awake for the last hour. There was a 10 mile stretch were we all cried but it was about 20 miles before we got to mom's so we just stuck it out. We had a lot of fun visiting. It was the first time mom got to see Calvin and she loved it and so did he! Sam loved going out in the garden with Papa and loved picking strawberries. Sam loves to spend time with his Papa and now will pull up the pictures from our trip and point out Papa.

Sam and Papa watering the garden

Sam loves water

Papa and Sam chased Mommy and Granma... I got this pic right before I ran for it!Sam was trying to get more water

We had a lot of fun bumming around the Tri-Cities and it made me want to move there so much! I love the small town feel there and how friendly everyone is over there. I think that it would be a great environment for our children to grow up in. We went to the park and to the river and had lots of fun in the sun. (our first day there we went to a BBQ and the kids there wanted to know why he was so white... I told them that we didn't have as much sun where we lived... After I told mom and she said "well he almost glows in the sun he is so white!" I'm proud to say when we left he wasn't quite so pastie) There was movies in the park one night and we went. Before the movie they had music and fun for everyone. They had a Bounce House for the kids and I took Sam in. He had a blast! At first I thought that he would be scared but he just went in and stood his ground. Even with kids twice his size. In fact he loved it so much that when his turn was over I had to go into the bouncy house to get him out! Once it got dark the movie started. We watched Madagascar 2. Sam LOVED it... He sings "Move it, move it" all the time and even goes on youtube to watch it ALL THE TIME!!!Calvin loves to chill out in his Moby carrier

While we were there I decided to introduce Calvin to the world of food in the form of baby rice cereal...well more like baby gruel but you know... It took him a few weeks to really get the whole swallow thing down but now he is up to two meals a day and we are going to start adding in some of the good stuff this week... fruit and veggie puree.

Here it comes

First bite in

Not so sure

After his first meal... Not so messy but you can see why we call him a baby Lemar

We had lots of fun visiting and all to soon we were heading home. We got home in time for Brad's birthday and Father's Day. It was nice to be home and Daddy had missed his boys and they had missed him! What a fun and crazy summer and that was just the start of it!!! Lots more fun to come!