Martinez Family

THE BUMP IS GONE!

2010-03-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

Wow it’s really been a crazy few days. I feel like Wednesday was so long ago, that when I think about stopping to recount the last few days, it is somewhat overwhelming (but I will give it a shot).

This journey really started before Wendy was born. Here is the short version of how we arrived at this week’s surgery.

Before Wendy was born they were worried that she may be too small, so they ordered an in-depth ultrasound. This ultrasound revealed two things: 1) Her size was nothing to be concerned about 2) She had what appeared to be a cyst on her cerebellum. This cyst can be an indicator or a severe brain disorder called dandy-walker. They decided that after birth they would perform an MRI to determine exactly what was going on inside her brain.

Jump to 6 months after her birth we had our first MRI at Children’s Hospital in Seattle to take a look at the cyst. This MRI also revealed two things: 1) The cyst on her cerebellum was nothing to be concerned about 2) She had another “cyst on her skull

Jump another 3 months and we decided to go ahead and remove the “cyst” Which leads us to this week.

On Wednesday we went to Children’s for Pre-op appointments. We met with one of the Neurosurgery nurse practitioners who told us about the surgery and what to expect before and after. Then we has an appointment with the nurse practitioners for the anesthesiologist. They did a lot of the pre-screening questions and told us some more about what to expect.

Thursday morning we had to be at the hospital at 6:15am, although this was REALLY early, it was nice because it limited the amount of time that Wendy had to not eat (which she was not thrilled about anyway). When we got the hospital it was very quiet, with only a few other family there. Wendy was both hungry and tired, she was not in a very good mood, but she did alright, considering.

The Before Picture

They came in and had me wipe her down with 2 special disinfecting clothes, which she did not appreciate, and we put her in her cute little hospital gown (which I brought home, even though I’m pretty certain you are not supposed to).

Next, someone from the neurosurgery team came and drew with a marker on Wendy’s head, marking the location of the cyst. We tried to get a picture.

If you look in the bottom left corner of the photo, you can kind of see it.

We waited for a while as various members of the surgery and anesthesiology team came in and introduced themselves.

Next we took Wendy over to the MRI prep area and I held her in my arms while they put the mask over her mouth and put her to sleep. She was screaming, which helped the gas to work very quickly. I laid her on the table and gave her some kisses and then we left so that the doctors could begin putting in her IV’s, Central Lines and breathing tube.

The hospital gave us a pager that kept us informed about when they were starting the surgery and when the surgery was over.

First, Wendy had an MRI, which took about 30 minutes. Then there was an hour and a half of prep between the MRI and the surgery. An hour of surgery and then a CT scan.

After the surgery was finished Dr. Ojemann came out and told us that the “cyst” was a large boney mass. They had drilled and chiseled it away and were very happy with the results. They did have to take some extra bone from another spot on her skull to fill in some of the gaps. But everything had gone as planned.

They told us it would be about an hour before we would be able to see her, because she was still asleep in recovery.

It turned out to be about 2 hours before we saw her. There were two reasons for this. The first is that she was very grumpy (either because she was in pain, or because she was hungry) they weren’t sure which one, so they gave her a bunch of morphine to calm her down. The second reason was that she was having some trouble breathing on room air so they were trying to level out her oxygen. When they finally brought her in, she was very unhappy, but she calmed down once I gave her a bottle.

She was still having a lot of trouble breathing, I could feel the crackles in her chest every time she took a breath. They called a respiratory therapist who was fabulous. She came in and came up with a plan to give Wendy a steroid treatment for the long-term and they did a special epinephrine treatment for some short term relief.

They warned us that the epinephrine treatment would give a short term burst of crazy energy and boy did it! She finished the treatment a stood up and started moving all over the place, she was touching and trying to eat everything she could see! She wasn’t holding still at all, it was crazy.

And as quickly as it came, it was gone and she was back to sitting and whining. She was very sleepy, but couldn’t sleep in her bed (It was hard to navigate around all the cords and things. Plus, we were sharing a room so there were a lot of people in and out. The only way she would sleep was if Mommy or Grammie were holding her and even then, she only slept for an hour or so at a time. (It was a long night). We took a lot of walks down the hallways in her stroller with her IV poll, she really enjoyed being out and about.

The next morning, we were exhausted. My mommy had pulled most of the night shift so that I could get some sleep, which was super helpful. The next morning Wendy ate some cheerios and we all decided that Wendy would probably do much better if we could just get her back to her own house. The doctor’s did their morning rounds and they said that they wanted her to stay a few hours just to make sure that her breathing would continue to improve even after the last steroid treatment wore off and they wanted to make sure she could poop. (Both of which were accomplished).

As soon as we got in the car Wendy was much happier, she started smiling and playing. And she finally fell asleep. First we went to my mom’s house and Wendy was thrilled. She just wanted to get down and crawl around. (She was definitely tired of people touching her).

When we got home she slept from 6pm – 12am and then from 12 – almost 5am and then again until about noon. (She was catching up too.) And as I type, she is asleep once again. She must be happy to be home! And so am I.

We have a wound checking appointment in two weeks and then we have another appointment in six weeks to do an MRI to see how everything is healing up.

So, that’s my longwinded story. If you made it this far, congrats. If you just skimmed through the pictures, I don’t blame you (that’s probably what I would have done too).

****Disclaimer****

The following pictures are not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

Hurray for ART!

2010-03-09T21:02:00.001-08:00

Well, I did it. I put my very first hole in a wall! I have lived in 4 places since I left college and this is the first time I’ve ever hung anything up.

I was a little nervous about putting my first hole in the wall, but my first hole led to two more.

I think it all came out great.

You should all check out Danny Schutt at

http://DannySchutt.blogspot.com

You need to read his story, it is really inspiring.

Thank you so much for this piece Danny! I love it! I am so proud to have it hanging in my house :-)

Wendy's Surgery

2010-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

Wendy's surgery has been scheduled for March 18th. She will have a pre-op appointment the day before. When I have times I will post them

Puppies!

2010-02-16T18:53:00.001-08:00

Wow! Five posts in one day, that just seems a little excessive, but I do feel caught up now. Today, we took a walk up to the Emme’s house to see their new puppies. They are sooo cute! Ella loved them. On our way home she asked if we could take one home ( I laughed).

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

2010-02-16T14:14:00.001-08:00

A is for Apple and Ant

2010-02-16T14:06:00.001-08:00

Today Ella and I re-started working on writing her alphabet. Naturally we started with the letter A. First, we ate some apples.

Then, we did some work sheets.

We turned the polka dotted A into an A covered in apples

Then we colored in this Ant

We worked on Big A’s and Little a’s

Then we ate some more apples. So far, so good. After naptime I think we may read some apple books and sing “the ants go marching one by one”. Should be lots of fun!

Happy Valentimes Day

2010-02-16T13:51:00.001-08:00

Well, I had every intention of taking photos and blogging through the whole process of making these, but that didn’t happen, so here are a few pictures of the finished product. Ella made these and handed them out to her friends at church on Sunday.

We pealed a TON of crayons, broke them into little pieces and then put them in silicone molds, baked them in the oven and voila!

I was going to make valentines to put them on, but then I found these ones at www.thelongthread.com (she has a ton of really cute ideas, you should definately check it out). In case you can’t read them they say, “Have a colorful Valentine’s Day!”

As great as these were, I’m afraid I may have bitten off more then I can chew. I don’t think regular boxed Valentine cards will be good enough now, we will have to wait and see.

Childhood Right of Passage

2010-02-16T13:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Ella (and Wendy) experienced something that is a right of passage for every child. Her very first trip to Chuck E Cheese. (Now, if I had realized that school was out and it would be packed, we probably wouldn’t have gone). Ella had a great time. She loved seeing Chuck E Cheese, although she didn’t want to get close to him. So a large pizza, some lemonade. 3 hours and 100 tokens worth of games later, the day was a success. Ella has not stopped talking about our trip since she got up this morning. I planned on taking more photos, but we were having too much fun. Here are just a few. At first Ella wasn’t so sure what she thought of Chuck E., cut eventually she decided he was great.

The News You’ve All Been Waiting For

2010-02-10T19:50:00.001-08:00

Wendy had her appointment at Children’s Hospital today. We were meeting with Dr. Ojemann (her doctor, as well as the head of the neurosurgery department) to check on the cyst on her brain and decide what we should do about it. He took a look at her old MRI and at her head now. He basically left the decision up to me. He said that we could wait and watch it, or take it out. Both options had risks and perks.

Waiting meant that there was a larger possibility of head malformation if it had to be removed later, and a more difficult time getting the bone to go back together. Also, there was the obvious possibility of it growing. However, there was less of a possibility of needing a blood transfusion.

Doing the surgery now holds the risk of more blood loss, but there is less of a possibility of them needing to manipulate the bone in order to cover the hole. There is also the peace of mind for Mommy that this foreign object is no longer in her head.

I have had six months to think about what I wanted to do, and I have had a peace about doing the surgery for quite a while. Dr. Ojemann was very supportive about doing the surgery and agreed that it was a good way to go. Dr. Thompson (Wendy’s pediatrician) also had advised that if given the option he would have it removed.

So, that being said sometime in March Wendy will be going in to surgery. If they do not have to manipulate the bone she should be able to go home that day, otherwise she may have to stay overnight. They did some blood work today to test and make sure that her blood does not have any problems clotting. Wendy did not enjoy this part, and they had to poke multiple times and root around before they found the vein. (Mommy was very sad). A week before her surgery she will meet with the aenesthesiologist (even my spell check couldn’t figure out what I was trying to spell) and another doctor to determine that she is healthy enough for surgery. The day of surgery they will start with an MRI to make sure they have a current idea of what the cyst is doing. Then they will cut a W shaped incision in her skull, they will then scrape out the cyst and then put everything back together.

So, know you know what I know. I will keep you posted on dates and details as I get them. Here are some of her MRI photos to give you a better idea of what is going on. (And it took me literally hours to figure out how to get these up here so I hope you appreciate them :-)

Somehow in all my messing with these the films got reversed, so picture the cyst on the other side of her brain. Don’t look for the cyst in the profile picture, because you can’t see it. I just thought it was cute!

The Big Update

2010-02-05T16:16:00.001-08:00

Ok, I know I promised more Christmas photos, but seeing as how this is February that seems a little silly, so here is an update on what has been going on post-Christmas.

THE INDOOR PARK

Ella’s new favorite place to play is the indoor park. At our local community center they set up toys inside a gymnasium and the kids can run around and play. She loves it. She especially enjoys playing with her friends Jacob, Johnny, Warren, Aubrey and Jeanine (Wendy and Daniel are there too :-)

THE LIVING ROOM SIDE TABLE

Wendy’s new favorite place to play is the table in the living room. She has claimed it as her official “playhouse”, she climbs inside and sits there for about 20 minutes at a time, some times she brings her toys in there with her, its very cute. She hasn’t figured out how to get out without slamming her head into the ground, but I’m sure she’ll figure it out eventually.

AWANA GRAND PRIX

Our Cubbies (including Ella) had there first AWANA Grand Prix. I wanted to get photos of all the kids with there cars, but I missed a few (well, most of them). They had a fun time racing. Ella designed her car all by herself. Papa cut it out and sanded it, then we decorated it. She picked everything out herself and decided exactly where she wanted it all to go. Mommy and Daddy made cars too, but we didn’t get any pictures of those.

SOME EXTRA PHOTOS

The best thing about baking will always be licking the bowl. :-)

Christmas and Haircuts

2009-12-21T17:50:00.001-08:00

We are enjoying our time in California. While we were here my friend Helena gave the girls some adorable haircuts. (Although we are just calling Wendy’s a trim, because if it’s a real haircut, then she’s a Big Girl and mommy is having none of that!)

Thank you Helena the girlies look very cute. We are enjoying their eyeballs.

Wendy has been having fun with her cousin Jake too..

More Christmas photos to come as our Christmas traditions being to unfold.

Some Fun Photos

2009-12-20T17:15:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures we took of the girls under the tree when we got home from seeing Santa.

Look how tiny she is next to the tree!

“Someday, I will be big enough to get you!”

Santa Photos

2009-12-20T17:00:00.001-08:00

We are now happily in nice sunny California. It is a beautiful 75 degrees and if you ask me that is just the way it should be at Christmas time. (I’m a SoCal girl, what can I say?) We are having a great time with friends and family and enjoying the season together. A few days ago we took the girls to see Santa. Well actually we did it on two different days.

First we took Wendy to see Santa all by herself. We wanted her to have her first Santa photo all alone. She did great. She looked so beautiful in her silver tutu and she didn’t cry. The photos we got were priceless and the Santa was so nice.

The next day we took the girls down to see Santa together. It was amazing, we went to the mall in the middle of the day on a Friday and there was no one in line. Santa saw us coming doing the elevator and came and waved at us through the glass. It was really nice since Ella was a little nervous (Last year she wouldn’t get anywhere near Santa). Then Santa met us at the entrance and gave Ella high-fives and fist pounds (or knuckles as he called them). He was so friendly. Then we brought the girls in to have their pictures taken. Once again they did great, although Wendy was not quite as agreeable. (These days you have to get her in just the right mood, as she is in the midst of getting her front teeth.) After they took their photos, Santa spent some special time with Ella and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She told Santa that all she wanted was an airplane. Santa tried to talk her into some more items, but all she wanted was a plane. Then Santa said that all he wanted was a hug, and Ella gave him a great big squeeze (which is where mommy got all weepy and emotional.)

So thank you for reading my long winded post. And I’m sure none of you care as much I do, but oh well, it’s my blog and I will write what I want to! I am very excited for Christmas and some of the surprise gifts I have gotten from some awesome internet deals. I will be sure to share them with you after Christmas. Until then, HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and remember to CELEBRATE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SEASON!

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like An Engagement Party

2009-12-07T10:42:00.001-08:00

This week is finally over, boy has it been fun and crazy! The biggest event of the weekend was Alex and Briana’s engagement party. I had spent weeks planning, it was my first big party in our new house, and really the first big party I had ever planned all by myself. The party had a candy shop theme, but seeing as it is the Christmas season, we decided that the party would have Christmasy undertones. I think that it came out really nicely and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Here are some photos, but I must warn you, I haven’t had a chance to read about how to use my new camera, and I apparently haven’t mastered how not to take a blurry photo or what settings to use inside. But hopefully you will get the gist of what it looked like.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I am really excited about how my fireplace turned out. I love my new stockings!

My nativity goes perfectly on my mantel. I was excited to have all the pieces for the first time, but then I realized that I am still missing the angel, but I still think it looks great.

I was planning to wrap that post in garland and then continue the garland along the ledge, but then I realized I only had about 3 feet of garland, so I pulled the rose topiaries out of my wedding stuff to finish off the ledge, I really like the end result.

I have the great Mickey Mouse shaped bulbs that my mom got me one year. They were just the right size to spruce up my garland.

Here is the only shot I got of our tree, its very blurry, but here it is. I let Ella decorate the tree, which will explain why 3/4ths of the ornaments are on the bottom two branches. (I re-decorated it a little before the party, just to even it out).

ENGAGEMENT PARTY

We got a little pre-occupied with games and such, so this is the only photo of the happy couple, Alex and Briana. I made them wear the hats all night! Consider it my payment for throwing a great party :-)

To say I had fun with my new Cricut, would be an understatement. I had a great time making decorations for the party, and i think they came out great!

I was so happy with the outcome of my “Candy Bar”, it looked great and there was plenty to eat.

I don’t have an ice bucket, and I wanted to make sure people knew that ice was available. So, I made cute little sign that said “ICE IN HERE” and put it up on the freezer.

I was most excited about this, because it was all my idea. I took paper clips and hot glued circles to them, each circle had a different sticker. You could clip the tag to the side of your cup, and then you knew which one was yours. It was a very quick and easy drink ID.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks to everyone who came to the party. Thank you Mrs. Emme for the great Spritz Cookies (they are one of my favorites), and thank you Mrs. Borton for the best peanut butter cookies i have ever had!! I hope everyone had a great time. Now of to the next 100 things I need to get done this week. I just keep telling myself, you can sleep when you get to California.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T14:55:00.001-08:00

Well, my first thanksgiving is over, and it was (for the most part) a success. If you ask anyone else, they will tell you it was great. If you ask me, I will tell you that the turkey was dry. Oh well, try again next year! :-) More importantly then the food, my table was beautiful, which is what I was the most excited about.

My mom brought over some of her fall table cloths (since I only own one and it's not very festive).

I took two different vases and filled them with cranberries.

Then I made burlap flowers, I used them as decorations and I turned 7 of them into napkin rings (I got the idea from Jen over at www.tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com check her out for other great decorating ideas). They came out really cute! I was very excited. If you like them also, I would be happy to sell you some. I can make them with any color fabric and any color center, just let me know what you want. $5 for a set of 6.

At the last minute I added some black beads that I had left over. When they were mixed with the cranberries, they looked like blueberries. I think it finished off the table very nicely. The foam turkeys are place card holders that Ella and her Nannie (Great Grandma) made when she came to visit. We tried to put place cards in them, but they wouldn’t stay, so they were just cute turkeys on our table.

Lastly, here are some photos of the girlies (they looked very cute in their tutus). These were supposed to be for Christmas, but Ella really wanted to wear hers.

:-) HAPPY THANKSGIVING now bring on the Christmas decorations! Well, not yet for me. I am hosting an engagement party next weekend. It is going to have a great “candy shop” theme. Keep an eye out for photos of it in the coming weeks.

Coupon Causes Craziness

2009-11-17T22:31:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else find all these coupon blogs overwhelming?
Part of me is jealous of the amazing money these women are saving and wants to get in on the action. The other part of me wants to throw up my hands and say, "forget it" this is too crazy. It just all seems so overwhelming and like I can't find a place to start. Oh well, back to it. I am determined to figure this thing out. I too will be one of those crazy money saving mamas!

Tried to be Mad

2009-11-14T14:21:00.001-08:00

Was unsuccessful

When I asked her why she wrote on her face. “My nose was itchy, and I’m not supposed to put my finger in my nose mommy.”

My First Tutorial (also titled sknath evig)

2009-11-13T18:19:00.001-08:00

So, I have been working on this project for a few days and I am very excited to share it all with you. It’s a burlap thanksgiving banner and this is how I did it:

Here’s what I started with. Burlap, twine and a cool font from www.1001fonts.com (super awesome, check it out, it has a ton of free fonts).

The first thing I did was decide what I wanted to say and type out the letters. I added a triangle around each printed letter to make sure my letters would fit the pieces of my banner. Then I cut out each letter (this is where I spent hours wishing I had one of those crickit machines)

Next I made a triangle pattern on cardstock, traced it onto my burlap and cut them all out.

Now, take the cut out letters, lie them on the burlap and trace around them. I used brown sharpie so that if it showed a little at the end it wouldn’t be a big deal (it was a little hard to see when I got to the painting though, next time I might just use black).

Next I used black acrylic paint to fill in each letter. I was really happy with how it came out.

After the paint dried I flipped each piece over and glued it to my twine

Then I stopped to admire my finished product

And learned a valuable lesson. I have a new important phrase

Think it through

Before you glue

I thought about not posting this. I also thought about fixing it first and then posting like nothing happened. However, I decided to show it for what it is, in all its glory. I may fix it, I may not, I haven’t decided yet. It’s a memory :-)

The Girlies

2009-11-13T18:00:00.001-08:00

This is how Wendy woke up from her nap the other day. I still haven’t figured out how she did it.

Ella went to her first big girl birthday party this week. We curled her hair for the occasion. She had a great time and came home with a whopper of a party favor. We are now the proud owners of Foofoos the Fish.

The other day Ella was looking through her jewelry box and she found a bracelet and necklace that some very good friends gave me when I was probably six years old. It brought back a lot of memories and made me happy to see her wearing them.

This is how Ella watches Angelina Ballerina…so cute!

Projects

2009-11-10T19:19:00.001-08:00

So today Ella was itching for “something special and different” to do. We have entered the project phase of life, which is lots of fun. I am working on some Christmasie project ideas this week and hoping ot have one new project for her each week. However today, using the limited resources I had at home and my limited knowledge of easy projects we created a paper count down chain to count down the days until Christmas. And by we, I mean that Ella tried to cut a few pieces and got frustrated and I cut the rest, and then Ella tried to staple, got frustrated and I did the rest. She did help count them and loop them together though. I think it came out really cute. Check it out.

Some Fun Stuff

2009-11-07T12:21:00.001-08:00

Just thought I would post some of the fun things we’ve done this week. Hope you enjoy :-)

Wendy has a cold. So I did what any good mother would do to make her little girl feel better. I gave her a COOKIE! She had some fun smashing it around and making a mess for about 20 minutes. (Enough time for me to get dinner ready)

Ella got to take Cubbie Bear home for the week and she has been having a lot of fun with him. Last night, after Wendy went to bed, Ella decided that Cubbie, herself and I all needed to get beautiful. She made me beautiful.

When I asked her why she was brushing my hair this way she said, “I cover you up, that’s how you are beautiful.” Haha…I guess that’s what I get for not wearing any makeup.

Then it was my job to make Cubbie Bear pretty.

Then Cubbie was in charge of making Ella pretty.

Then we took some “pretty people” photos. Which was very difficult considering I couldn’t see, but I think they turned out pretty great.

The Big Update

2009-11-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

Alright, so we are finally mostly unpacked. I found my card reader and I downloaded new blogging software, so here are the updates. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, this is the longest blog in the history of all blogs and SUPER picture heavy. Proceed at your own risk

1. We moved! We have our own place on lake Meridian and it is beautiful.

The front of the house. Isn’t it cute!

The view from our front porch.

A close up of the lake. You can see more on the other side of this house, but I couldn’t get a good shot because of the sun.

These is coming in the front door. The upstairs takes you to the living room and the downstairs takes you to the garage and master suite (pics of master will come once I get it completely situated).

Living room from the top of the stairs

Living Room View 2

Living Room View 3

Playroom. This is supposed be the formal dining room, but we don’t have anything to put there and it works perfectly as a play area.

Kitchen View 1

Kitchen View 2

Breakfast Nook / Sun Room (Off of the kitchen)

These barstools came with the house. They are a little short, but I think they are really cute.

The Office

I thought the bookshelves came out really cute. (Yes, I am aware that there are no pictures in the frames, its on the list.)

This organizer came from our bedroom closet in the old house. It is working really well for holding all that odds&ends office stuff.

The office is a work in progress. I need to get about 5 more of the towers from IKEA to put all of our DVD’s and CD’s in. I don’t like the idea of them all sitting out in the office, but right now, I have to work with what I’ve got. Any suggestions for an attractive way to store them?

Guest Bathroom

Wendy’s Room View 1

Wendy’s Room View 2

Wendy’s finished bumper pads

and bolster pillow (I designed the and my mom made them).

Ella’s Room View 1

Ella’s Room View 2

Ella’s Room View 3

Ella showing off her room!

Ella’s very own bathroom. She is very excited. Technically her room is the master, so she has a 3/4 bath. Which is never uses, because it does not have a tub, but she still thinks its pretty spectacular. If you come over to our house one of the first things you will hear is, “Come and see my new bathroom!”

Our backyard is huge! We are very excited for the girls to be able to play out there next spring. And Briana is excited about volleyball.:-)

So, that’s the house for the most part. Hope you enjoyed the in-depth tour. I don’t blame you if you skipped through it. Most of that was for my grandma. :-)

2. We did Halloween and it was lots of fun!

Our beautiful pumpkins that we got at the Thomason family pumpkin patch…super fun, I will post photos when I get them from my mom’s camera.

Yes, this took FOREVER! But I am really pleased with the way they turned out. I think it was definitely worth it. It was very easy, just time consuming.

We had an impromptu and informal Halloween party at our house. Impromptu in that we decided to have it three days earlier and informal in that there was absolutely no plan, no decoration and no food (or at least that was the plan), turns out I’m not good at not having any food…I bought tons of candy, made chicken pockets, an indoor s’more bar, and popcorn balls. The Jensen’s also brought a ton of food. All in all I would say it was a huge success. If you didn’t hear about it I’m sorry, but like I said…super short notice. I am looking at doing a winter party and if I do, you are all invited :-)

Ella was a ballerina and Wendy was a butterfly. I put Ella in her tutu, headband, tights and jewelry and told her she looked beautiful to which she replied, “Not yet mom! I need hair clippies.”

Then I asked her if she was beautiful now?, “Not yet.” She said. Then she went in the office and found this pair of pink nerdy costume glasses i have and put them on.

“Now I’m beautiful!” She said.

She had a great time trick-or-treating.

She wanted to push the button all by herself. The old man above is our very nice British neighbor. Him and his wife were very sweet.

We made the long and treacherous walk to Mrs. Emme’s for trick-or-treating. (They live a block away)

Of course we went to Grammie and Papa’s, we did the majority of our trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.

We had a great time on Halloween, hope you had a fun and safe time as well.

3. We had Wendy’s MRI at children’s hospital and everything went well(ish).

Wendy’s MRI was very successful. She had no problems with the aenesisa, which was a huge blessing. They had warned us that it may take up to half an hour for her to wake up, but she was awake before she even made it back to the room. Our doctor’s and nurses were all great and made us feel really comfortable. The results of the MRI showed that Wendy does have a small cyst in her cerebellum, but that everything is forming normally around it and it should not cause her any complications in the future. This caused a huge sigh of relief, because now we no longer have to worry about hydrocyphalus or dandy-walker. That being said, Wendy is like her mother and can’t just be normal. A few months ago my mother and I discovered a large bump on Wendy’s head that had not been there before. She hadn’t fallen or anything, so we were concerned and confused. We called Children’s Hospital and they told us to take her to the local urgent care, so that’s what we did. The doctor at urgent care told us that Wendy was fine, she just had an irregularly shaped head. We thought it seemed weird, but we were fine with it. However, after the MRI Wendy’s neurosurgeon discovered that the bump in actually a large cyst that is “sitting on” Wendy’s brain. This cyst is not IN her brain, there is a layer of bone between her brain and the cyst, so there is not a risk of it interfering with her development. That being said, there are 3 options with a cyst like this. 1- It will stay the same size – in which case her skull will form normally around it and nothing needs to be done. 2- It will shrink and possibly even go away – nothing would need to be done. 3 – It will continue to grow – in which case it will need to be surgically removed. We are fairly certain that it is growing and will have that confirmed in a few months. If they do decide to remove it, it will require drilling a hole in her skull in order to remove the cyst ( I know sounds scary right, but they assure me that it is not as scary as it sounds). They would like to do this before she is a year old, because that leaves a bigger chance that her own skull will grow in over the hole. If they wait until after she is a year old they will have to graft bone from another place on her skull to cover the hole (this does not sound like an ideal choice to me…I would prefer what cut in my daughters head, not two)

So…that is the long winded news about Wendy and everything else that is going on in her lives. I have some fun projects that I am hoping to get to soon and as I complete them I will share them with you. I am sure a lot of other important things happened during my long absence from the blogosphere, so if you think of anything you want to know about or see pics of, just let me know.

Don’t blame me if you are exhausted and overwhelmed with information. I warned you that it was VERY long!

The List

2009-07-28T10:08:00.001-07:00

A few days ago my mom told Ella that we were going to Nannie's (my grandma) house on Wednesday, ever since then she has been asking us every five minutes if it was time to go to Nannie's house. She would get very sad when we told her that we had to wait a few days. We told her that we had lots of things to do before we left. After about the hundredth time of her asking I decided to make a list of all (well most) of the things we needed to do before we left. As you can see we have been crossing them off. This has been very effective, she gets very excited to check our list and knows what all the things on the list are. She knows that when we have crossed off everything on our list it will be time to go to Nannie's house!

"The Flower in the Bottle" - by Ella Grace Martinez

2009-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Playing in the Sprinklers

2009-07-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

We tried this a few weeks ago and Ella was not interested, but with the ridiculous heat we have been having and our lack of AC we decided to trya again and she loved it! She wants to go out everyday now.

Pretty Picture

2009-07-21T16:11:00.001-07:00

Ella wanted to show me the pretty picture that she drew. She was very proud and I thought it was beautiful, so I wanted to share it with all of you.

It's a scary scarecrow face. (No it does not have a mane, that his "circly hair." I think she meant curly.)

Couch Potato

2009-07-19T21:02:00.001-07:00

Today, Wendy was sitting on the couch all by herself (well sort of)

"This is my imitation of that squirrel on youtube"

"Who are you lookin' at?"

Ella gave her a hat (it's the lense cap of the camera), she was a good sport.

Feet (with shoes)

2009-07-19T21:01:00.001-07:00

No such thing as too many feet pictures

Hurray for Hand-Me-Downs!

2009-07-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today Ella and Wendy both wore dresses to church that were mine when I was a little girl. They looked adorable. It helped that they matched. We decided to take some pictures.

All Smiles!

Ok, here is the reality...it was right before nap time and they were right on the brink of a major melt down.

After nap time Wendy was much more cooperative

Making Pancakes

2009-07-18T13:08:00.001-07:00

Ella and Grammie made some wonderful waffles this morning. Ella loves to cook, she knows all the ingredients and like to dump them in the sifter.

She has become a very proficient stirrer, today she actually got all the ingredients mixed together without Grammie's help!

However, she does not like the mixer. The baby who used to sleep through EVERYTHING has become the child who does not like any noise that is remotely LOUD. Oh well what can you do?

I LOVE BABY FEET!

2009-07-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

Raspberries and Roses

2009-07-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor has a raspberry bush and it grows through the fence into our yard. Ella and Grammie have been having lots of fun picking the many berries that are growing. It is one of Ella's favorite thing to do everyday. (BTW the berries are delicious!)

The fruits of their labor

Ella's other favorite outside activity is picking the flowers (one pedal at a time)

She says this makes the yard pretty, here is what it looks like when she's done.

Oops!

2009-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was just looking back at old posts and realized that I put down the wrong weight when Wendy was born (bad mommy)! So in case you really care (because I know you were very worried about it) Wendy weighed 6lbs 11ounces, not 7lbs 11ounces. ;-)

More Fourth of July

2009-07-05T16:29:00.001-07:00

Papa gave me his headphones so that it wouldn't be too loud

They also made it more fun to SCREAM!

"Mommy, look at all the sprinkles in the sky"

They must be sisters, how else would they naturally put their arms exactly the same way?

Happy Fourth of July!!

2009-07-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Love you to death" I'm gonna get you!

Some Fun Stuff

2009-07-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ella showing off the cherry chapstick on her lips (and her chin and her nose...)

Wendy looked so cute in her towel after her bath

We were much more amused then she was

Ella loves when Wendy takes a bath, because then she gets to play with the ducky in her tub. (For what ever reason she doesn't like the ducky in her own bath rub, only Wendy's)

Wendy loves dancing with her Grammie. Grammie is definately her favorite.

We Made It Through the Night

2009-06-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, sleeping in the same room went ok. The bad news is Wendy woke up at 3am (she was wet), she sleeps on her tummy and diapers just don't hold as much that way. Wendy decided that by 3am she had, had enough sleep and stayed awake until after 6am. However, the good news is I was able to go in and get her at 3am without waking up her sister who got a nice long nights sleep. Ella was excited to have Wendy share a room with her, but she wanted to share her big girl bed with her sissy. (I'm sure they will be able to share when they are a little older and I don't have to worry about Ella trampling her sister). So, we will try again tonight and see how it goes :-) I will keep you posted.

More Photos

2009-06-28T17:34:00.001-07:00

oops sideways oh well! Ella always needs a hat and a dress after her bath
Bubbles are a summer staple

This is Ella's favorite seat, it's a cow that Sam won at a carnival game at Disney's California Adventure

Ella loves to give her sissy kisses

Wendy's Easter dress

Wendy Jane under the biliruben lights.

Ella Grace and Sissy Wendy Jane chillin' on the couch. This is when Wendy was still very orange.

Update

2009-06-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I had every intention of updating you on everything that has happened in the last few months, but I realized that way to much has happened and i could not begin to get it all in one blog so here are a few pictures from the last few months (that's the best I can do) :-) Ella discovered that she really likes the slide by our house, now she wants to go to the park everyday
Wendy's first bath (on Easter Sunday)

Wendy sleeping in her boppy (that was basically all she did for a few months )

decorating Easter eggs

Big Girl Beds!

2009-06-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally did it, we got Ella her big girl bed (a full mattress). We decided to go ahead and move her into her bigger bed so that we wouldn't have to buy a second crib mattress. So Ella is now in a full size and Wendy finally gets to sleep in the beautiful crib that we bought her instead of the pack 'n play. This will be the first night that they are sleeping in the same room, it will be interesting to see how it goes. I hope neither of them wake of the other. Here are some pictures of both of them showing off their pretty beds. Ella's bedding is from Bed, Bath and Beyond I think it turned out beautiful. We tried to put her baby blanket on her bed, but she said it did not belong on her big girl bed.
This is Wendy's beautiful crib. I designed her blanket and my mom made it. It came out really great, exactly what I wanted. This is the first time she got to lay on it. She played it her bed for a good twenty minutes today, it was great! I think she really likes it.

Ella was very excited, she wanted me to take her picture over and over again!

We Are Still Alive

2009-04-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

So, we haven't fallen off the planet, but as I'm sure you understand life has been more then a little crazy. I promise to post some more baby photos soon, but for now I wanted to share some good news. We have finally gotten set up with Children's Hospital. They are hesitant to do an MRI on the baby because she is so young and they would have to fully sedate her. So, we are meeting with the neurologist on the 29th and he will look at my ultrasounds and make a decision about weather or not he thinks an MRI is necessary. I am so excited that we will finally have a meeting with a doctor who knows something about dandy-walker, hopefully we will finally have some answers.

In other news: everyone is doing well. Ella still loves her sissy, Wendy has finally regained her birth weight (however, she has dropped from the 20th percentile to the 10th percentile). Her billiruben level has stabalized at a 10 and they expect it to continue to drop, she is looking much less yellow :-). Although I am still only sleeping 3 hours at a time, I am doing alright. I don't think much else is going on, but my brain is a bit mushy so you never know.

On a random note I am craving a scoop of cake batter ice cream with rainbow sprinkles from Marble Slab (Hey! While I was typing this, my dad called to ask me if I wanted anything from Marble Slab!! HURRAY!!)

Good News!!

2009-04-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

I have some great news, I have to go back into the hospital on Wednesday. Now, I know that you are wondering why this would be good news - well let me tell you. Yesterday I found out that I have 4 kidney stones in my left kidney (this was no surprise). On Wednesday I get to go in and have them blasted - this means that they will send waves through my skin and break up the stones into little grains of sand, making them much less painful to pass. So, I am very excited to get to go the hospital. I have been waiting my whole pregnancy to be able to finally get my stones taken care of. I will let you know how it all turns out.

An update on Wendy Jane - We went to the doctor on Thursday and they rechecked her biliruben level (biliruben is what causes the jaundice). Her biliruben had risen from 8 to 10 in 24 hours. Although this isn't ideal, it was not a huge concern. We have an appointment with the lab on Monday to recheck her biliruben level and redo her PKU. If both of these come back normal we should be in the clear. If her biliruben has continued to rise we will have to come up with a plan to fix it. Not that I'm a professional, but she looks less orange to me, so I think we are doing OK. We are all looking forward to attending church for Easter tomorrow.

Hollywood Baby

2009-04-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here is Wendy Jane in her cool "Hollywood" sunglasses. She had to wear special glasses to protect her eyes from the UV rays. She was absolutely as content as she looks in this picture.

Here she is in her tanning bed. Well, I guess it is more of an anti-tanning bed, since it made her less orange and more white. Hehe

This is the pretty blue light that she spent 24 hours under. The bed lit up from the bottom also. Don't ask me how it works, becuase I have no idea, I just know that it does.

Here is the after photo. Our pretty pink baby was exhausted after her long night. The square on the side of her face was a piece of velcro that they had to stick on either side of her face. It was good, because it kept the glasses on and protected her face, but when it came time to take those stickies off it was not much fun, especially because they were stuck in her hair. She has little square rashes on the side of her face from where they pulled them off.

We are glad that she is doing well and we are looking forward to her second week of life. Hopefully she will spend more time at home then in the hospital.

Update on Wendy Jane

2009-04-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

Well, Wendy Jane has been in this world for 5 whole days and she is already causing trouble. Today she had her first doctor's appointment and we discovered that she was quite jaundice. You don't want her levels to be more then a 12 and hers was at 18. So...we are back in the hospital sitting under the glow of the pretty blue lights. The good news is that her levels have already dropped significantly and it looks like we will be able to come home in the morning. I promise that once we get home I will add some more pictures, we have some really cute ones of our time here in the hospital. And she looks super cute now that she's not so orange :-). If anything changes I will let you guys know.

Wendy Jane Martinez

2009-04-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Wendy Jane Martinez was born on April 2nd at 3:47am. She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. She is beautiful and doing very well. We don't know anything about the dandy-walker variant because we have to do the mri at children's hospital. However, so far everything is looking great. Thanks to everyone who has called and come by to offer support. Here are some photos of our beautiful baby girl.

2009-04-01T14:19:00.001-07:00

Heading to the hospital

2009-04-01T10:12:00.001-07:00

Still no beds..try again in a few hours

We Are On Hold

2009-04-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. The hospital does not have any nurses available so we are supposed to call again at 10am and see where they are at. I will post again if I get a chance and know what's going on.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel!

2009-03-27T15:29:00.001-07:00

For those of you who haven't already heard, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and in the words of "An American Tail" "We have a pwan." If I do not go into labor by myself they will enduce on the 1st, which is great news, because that is the day that my dad comes home from Africa. We really want him to be there. My grandma is coming into town on Monday which will also be exciting. So, for now we are biding our time and hoping that everything stays just the way that it is for now. I do have an appointment on Monday just to be sure that my fluid levels haven't dropped anymore and that the baby is still active, as long as those two things look good we should be able to wait until the 1st. However, I must admit I kind of hope she wont be born until the second, so that we don't have an April fools baby, but we will see. It would be kind of fitting for this one to be born on April fools day (since she doesn't seem to do anything normal). Anyway, that is the plan and no...she still doesn't have a name. I think I have resigned myself to the fact that we will know it when we see her.

I Have A Warm

2009-03-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ella was nice enough to share the cold she brought home from Cali with me. However, yesterday when I told her I didn't feel good because I had a cold she informed me that I did not have a cold, I have a warm. :-) She let me know that you can't go to church with a cold, but you can go to church with a warm.

What a Difference a Year Makes

2009-03-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

A year ago we took Ella up the pass to the snow and she screamed and cried the whole time. Now, everytime it snows she wants to go out and play in it.

She brought a little bit inside with her :-)

The Happiest Place on Earth

2009-03-16T13:24:00.001-07:00

Ella got to go to Disneyland with her Grammie and Papa during their trip to California. She had a great time. She loved the playhouse Disney show and Minnie Mouse was her favorite. This Snow White was the same Snow White that we saw last year at the princess breakfast. She was great! She was the only one who got a smile out of Ella. Ella wasn't insterested in any of the other princess.

While waiting in line for the princess fantasy faire Ella made friends with a few other girls in line, it was cute to see her interacting with other little girls. She was looking at the girls autograph book and thought it was pretty cool. She didn't want to go see the princesses, she wanted to play with the girls instead.

Lunch Time!!

Ella Exploring Her Big Girl Bed

2009-03-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Ella Splashing

2009-03-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

Ella wanted to go out and help Grammie while she was weeding. She decided that weeds were too dirty, so she splashed in the puddles instead.

Another Update

2009-03-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor AGAIN today! Everything looks great. The baby is in the 30th percentile and my fluid is around 14 which is wonderful news. Dr. Tagavilla believes it is possible that I will have this baby anytime now and in fact would like to enduce a week early if possible (while everything still looks good) since I am so unpredictable :-) So, that is the news as it stands right now. Sorry I don't have more details. Now we just sit and wait.

A NAME UPDATE:
The names that are still in the running are

Emma
Addison
Annalee

Do you have a vote?

More Appointments, More Ultrasounds, More News

2009-03-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today I had another in-depth ultra-sound at maternal fetal medicine. The babies size looked good and my fluid levels were in a normal range. I didn't think to ask what those numbers were, but the important thing is that they are normal. As far as the dandy-walker in concerned, they are now calling it a dandy-walker variant. That means it is a less severe version of a dandy-walker malformation. We still don't know what that means developmentally and we wont get much more news about it until after she is born. Today, when they tried to take a look at her brain it was very difficult due to the fact that she is very low and that her skull is starting to calcify making it nearly impossible to get a good image on ultrasound. However, what they were able to look at is the two ventricles that run along either side of her brain. Sometimes the dandy-walker can cause a blockage which inhibits the spinal fluid from draining out of the brain. This is there immediate concern as it can cause issues with a normal delivery. However, the baby's ventricles were well within the normal range and there did not seem to be any sign of blockage. They scheduled another ultrasound for two weeks from today to make sure that the ventricles are still of normal size.

After the baby is born they want to schedule an MRI, because it is the only way to get an accurate picture of what is going on with the baby's brain. My cousin (who works on oncology at a large children's hospital in Texas) spoke to a pediatric neuro doctor who advised that we want to set the baby up with a special developmental pediatrician through Seattle Children's Hospital before she is born that way we can do her MRI's and any other tests through a hospital that is more equipped to deal with the special circumstances. The doctor in Texas said that he has some recommendations of people to speak to at Children's, so our next step is to get in touch with the doctor's there and get everything set up for the baby's delivery. We are hopeful that the variant will turn out to be nothing, but we are not going to take any chances. The doctor in Texas says that there is a much better chance for a positive outcome if tests and any subsequent therapy are begun immediately.

I have an ultrasound at my regular doctor's office tomorrow to check my fluid levels. (Don't ask me why they can't just get the results from the one that I had today, I don't know) and then I have a regular doctor's appointment on Friday. I believe I will have to have a referral from Dr. Tagavilla in order to get setup at Children's Hospital, so hopefully we will be able to get that all taken care of on Friday. Meanwhile, we are ready for the madness to be over and for our beautiful little girl to be here. I have been joking that by the time this is all over I could be an ultrasound tech, because I am so used to looking at them (who knows maybe I have found a new calling hehe).

I know everyone has been anxious to learn about the name of our new little girl and I can tell you that it has been narrowed down to 3 and the candidates are: Addison, Emma and Lola. Sam and I are leaning toward one in particular, but we haven't decided for sure yet. We are still taking votes (mainly because it's fun). Also, once we make a final decision we are thinking we may be mean and make everyone wait until she is officially born to find out. However, we all know that I am terrible at keeping my mouth shut, so this may not happen. Anyway, I know this was long and if you made it through the whole thing congratulations! I will post more when there is more news. Hopefully later today or tomorrow I will have some new pictures of Ella's trip to CA to post.

Great News!

2009-03-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to see Dr. Tagavilla today and he informed me that since my amnio came back normal the baby does not have dandy-walker malformation. This is great news! That means most likely there will be no developmental issues once she is born. They believe that this small cyst is the kind of thing that has probably been around for a while, but the ultra-sound technology just wasn't good enough to pick up on before. Her pediatrician will continue to moniter it after she is born, just to be sure, but they don't expect it to be a problem. So, what this means is I will continue to see the doctor once a week until I deliver and they will continue to moniter the babies size and my fluid levels. I have another in depth ultra-sound on Monday just to verify that everything is fine and that the cyst has not grown and that there are no other problems. We are very thankful that everything seems to be normal and we can expect an uncomplicated delivery. I will post again with new details after my ultra-sound on Monday. By Monday I also hope to have photos of Ella's trip to CA and some photos we took of her in her big girl bed before they left.

Test Results

2009-03-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post an update, but up until today there hasn't been anything to update. However, today we finally got the results of my amnio. Everything came back great, there were no chromosomal abnormalities. Basically what that means is that there is no sign of downs-syndrome and other developmental abnormalities. However, there is still concern about the dandy walker malformation. So, basically we know what it isn't but not what it is. I have an appointment with Dr. Tagavilla tomorrow and hopefully he will be able to give me some more information. If he has anything else I will make sure to post it. On the other updates my fluid levels are still low, but they are at an acceptable range. Hopefully I will have more news tomorrow. Thank you all for your continued prayers.

The Latest

2009-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

So, my mom has informed me that on Friday I was in denial and she is probably right. I heard that it wasn't a big deal and that we did not need to be worried, because it was most likely nothing. However, after Dr. Tagavilla took some time to really explain everything to me today I have come to realize that this is not so normal and a pretty big deal. The baby has what they are calling "dandy walker malformation." Basically the ventricle that drains fluid to and from her brain is not forming properly. It can cause a myriad of developmental issues or it can cause nothing at all. The babies is very small, which is good. They wont know much until my amnio comes back and even then they will need to do an MRI when the baby is born in order to determine the extent of the problem. Right now the concern is keeping an eye on the babies head, because DWM can cause water on the brain, which would make it very difficult to have a natural birth. Dr. Tagavilla is great and he is keeping a very close eye on me. I will have appointments and ultrasounds twice a week until I give birth. This will check the size of the baby, the size of her head, the size of the cyst and my fluid levels. At this point my fluid levels are very low. This is to be expected, since they took 10cc's of fluid on Friday, we just need to make sure that my fluid levels rise instead of continuing to fall. A continued loss of fluid would indicate a leak in my amnionic sack, which would most likely cause an emergency c-section. SO, all that to say, we don't really know much and probably wont know much until next week and we wont know the full extent until after delivary. So, that is what is going on. This is latests. When we get the results of the amnio I will make sure to post and if anything changes before then.

I Can't Do Anything Normal

2009-02-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

It has been well documented through my medical history that I do not do anything normally. That being said, I had my follow in depth ultrasound today. They were worried that the baby was too small. She has been steadily decreasing in percentile. She started in the 60th and has since gone down steadily and is now in the 20th percentile. However, they took extensive measurements of the baby and are no longer concerned about her size. She is still small, but it does not seem to be something they are worried about. HOWEVER, while they were measuring they found what they are calling a "variant" on her brain. Basically, the cerebellum is shaped like a sting ray. It is shaped kind of like a barbell and then has a long skinny tail. However, when they were looking at the babies brain they were unable to locate the long skinny tail part of her cerebellum. In it's place they found what seemed to be a small cist. Most likely it is not something to be concerned about, but there is the possibility that it would be a sign of developmental issues with her motor skills possibly including downs syndrome (however this is highly unlikely). The doctor decided to do an amnio which means they took some of the fluid around the baby in order to check for abnormal chromosomes, this will help them to narrow down the possible developmental problems. Odds are good that they amnio will come back completely normal, which would be a sign that there are no genetic or developmental issues connected to the cist. Either way, the baby will need to have an MRI shortly after birth to get a clearer picture of what is going on. All in all we are not worried and trust that God will work everything out for his glory. We are hopeful of the best possible outcome and that all of this hubbub is for nothing. We will have the results of the amnio in 7-10 days and will definitely post to let you all know what is going on. Meanwhile I am doing lots of resting and I have an appointment with my Dr. on Monday. So, until then we will just sit tight.

Oh btw if you have the choice of avoiding an amnio DO IT, they are not very pleasant. Especially when your baby will not sit still and cooperate. They ended having to chase around my stomach with the needle, not an exciting process.

Ultrasound Results

2009-02-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

So.......the baby has turned!!! Hurray and Hallelujah, Happy Dances for everyone!!! This means they wont have to go in and manually turn her, which did not sound like a pleasant experience for anyone involved. That being said, they are concerned about the size of the baby and want me to go and have a more extensive ultrasound done tomorrow. So, tomorrow I have to go down to the hospital and have an hour long ultrasound done to make sure that everything is alright. We are not worried, The doctors said the same thing about Ella and she was fine. I will let you know tomorrow if I can get the ultrasound tech to tell me anything. If not I have an appointment with Dr. Tagavilla on Monday.

Ultrasound Today

2009-02-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

So I have yet another Ultrasound today. It seems I have had a thousand in comparison to with Ella. They are looking to see if the baby has finally turned. We are hoping so, because otherwise they will have to schedule and appointment to go in and turn her (which I am told is very uncomfortable). We are also checking the babies size and fluids and all that good stuff. I wouldn't be suprised if they are worried about the babies size, because they were with Ella and I ended up having to go in for monitering every other day (it was a pain). So, we are praying that everything will be fine and that she will have turned and be a healthy size. We are also going to make a final decision on the babies bed today. We found a few really pretty ones at a place called cribs 2 bunks in Tukwila. Lastly, we are going to pick up a swing for the church nursery (woohoo). I will post on the results when we get home from our busy day.

Ella Loves Lundy Lake

2009-01-31T18:27:00.001-08:00

Ok...so she's never been to Lundy Lake, but she sure looks cute in Papa's hat. Maybe someday she will get to go see our favorite fishing spot.

After Trick or Treating

2009-01-31T18:04:00.001-08:00

After trick-or-treating "Agis" and "Bwana" came over and we ate candy and ready ni-night books. Alex looked great in his completed Jack Sparrow costume (very authentic). It was a good night!

Raggedy Ann

2009-01-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Ella was Raggedy Ann for Halloween. She looked very cute. She couldn't quite get the hang of saying "Trick or Treat" so she would walk up to the door and say "Please and Thank You" it was very cute, all of our neighbors loved her.

More Pumpkin Patch Photos

2009-01-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

Remlinger Farms

2009-01-31T17:18:00.000-08:00

Grammie and Papa took Ella to Remlinger Farms to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween. They road a train and also went to a petting zoo. Ella had a great time!

Ella is Practicing!

2009-01-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

Ella is practicing for when she has a her baby sister. She loves to take care of her baby and read her stories.

College/Career Costume Party

2009-01-31T17:02:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos of our College and Career class costume party. Briana and I went at Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Alex made his Capt. Jack Sparrow costume from scratch by himself (it was very impressive). We had a great time!

Helping Papa Build A Table

2009-01-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

Ella Loves Her Papa!!

2009-01-31T16:46:00.001-08:00

Ella Likes Cookies

2009-01-31T16:42:00.000-08:00

These pictures are at least six months old, but better late then never huh? Ella really likes chocolate cookies, well all cookies for that matter. I'm pretty sure she gets it from her Grammie.

Ok..Here Goes!

2009-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

So, I figured since my New Year's resolution was to update this blog, I should at least post once before January is over. I have been waiting until I could post some pictures, but seeing as how I am currently lacking in the digital camera department, that is a little difficult. That being said, I decided to blog about the baby that I can't take pictures of yet. You see we are having a little difficulty in the naming department, so I thought I would enlist your assistance. I have a list and I want to know what people think. What is your favorite and what is your least favorite. (Now keep in mind at the end of the day I am going to name this baby whatever I want, but it would still be nice to get some outside opinions). We know that her middle name will be Jane which leaves us with ______________ Jane Martinez. So, let me know what you think. Here's the list in no particular order.
Alyssa
Emma
Madison
Audrey
Brooklyn
Lillian
Emelia
Sadie
Charlotte
Lucy
Analee
Kailyn
Wendy
Lyla
Cassady
Callie
Leanne
Claire
Myra
Madelyn
Olivia
Tessa
Macie
London
Emme
Harmony
Lynley
Courtlyn
Eliza
Amalie
Lydia
Joelle
So...there is the list, what do you think?

New Year's Resolution

2009-01-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I think they are stupid, no one ever keeps them, but here it goes none the less. I figure now is as good a time as any. My new years resolution is to figure out how to make this blog look as cool as Jessica's and to update it at least once a week. There we go, now you can all hold me to it.

Tulip Town

2008-04-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday was one of our rare days above 70. So we decided to take advantage of the day and visit Tulip Town. It is only open during the month of April and we heard that it was beautiful. We ate luch in a town called La Conner, and they happened to be having a parade. Ella got a bunch of bouncy balls, necklaces and taffy that was being thrown from the fire trucks. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to find some tulips. We had some trouble finding tulip town, but found another field full of tulips to check out. Not all the tulips were in bloom, since it has been so cold, but it was still really pretty. Ella decided to give all of the tulips kisses, it was really cute. On our way out of town we stumbled across tulip town and decided to stop. There were booths, kites and tons of tulips. Ella had a lot of fun looking at all the different flowers.

SNOW!!

2008-03-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

We took Ella to the snow for the first time. She was not thrilled with the idea. She wouldn't touch it, she wouldn't sit in it and she did not want to sled. We decided that if she was going to cry she was at least going to have fun doing it, so we took her sledding down a hill. Which she liked while she was doing it. She said "I'm Flying." It was very cute. We were worried about their being enough snow, but we realized very quickly that we had nothing to worry about. There was plenty. Unlike California the mountains weren't packed. In fact most of the ski places weren't even open. We had an entire hill all to ourselves and we only saw about four other people the whole time we were at the mountain. All in all we had a great time. Here are some pictures of our day at the snow.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well, our first Easter in Washington was a wet one! We still managed to BBQ our usual tri-tip, do an Easter egg hunt (inside), and have a great time. We went to church in the morning. Crystal sang with three other girls from the church and John preached (obviously). We had a huge brunch with the members of the church. It was a great time of fellowship. When we got home Ella opened her Easter basket. She loved her new bowls and Barney movies. We went to the Jensen's house for desert (before dinner) and had a great time playing Pirates Dice. When we got home, we had tri-tip and Ella did her Egg Hunt. It took her a second to get the hang of it, but she had a lot of fun once she figured it out. All of Ella's eggs were full of money so she spent a long time filling up her piggy when we were done. Here are some pictures from our fun day.

Disneyland

2008-03-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we took Ella to Disneyland for the second time. She understood it a little better and didn't sleep through the whole thing. We planned to do the princess breakfast so that we could get our yearly Cinderella and Ella photo without any problems. Well, it turned out that the breakfast was VERY expensive and Cnderella wasn't even there! Needless to say it was a rought start to the morning. However, we were able to find Cinderella and get our picture taken early. Ella didn't really understand what was going on, and the rides kind of scared her. She did however LOVE standing in line, which was great because there are lots of those. Here are some pictures of our day at Dland.

Hey Everyone

2008-03-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

I would like to welcome you to the first official LeProhon/Martinez family blog. We hope that this will be a place where you can get updates on what, where, when and why we are doing. We will be posting pictures, notes and any other information we think that you should know. So keep checking it out and we will keep it up to date.