Get Well Soon

This post is dedicated to my Dad, Papa, who just had knee replacement surgery. He is being well taken care of by Sandie, Grammy, and also supervised by Aunt Jen who works on the hospital floor where he is. In fact, Dad's hospital room is about half the size of our house we just moved out of...with french doors that lead into a separate living area...and Aunt Jen said she didn't pull any strings! Sam Bradford, quarterback for Oklahoma, was also on Dad's same floor but he didn't get to meet him. Anyways, I am happy to say that Dad will be released tomorrow and he plans on taking Summer trick or treating tomorrow night. Summer will be a flower and Dad will dress up as Captain Dan from Forrest Gump! Just kidding - oh, I crack myself up!

Recently Summer has been holding her bottom lip in...as if she is holding in a secret. She is a funny girl!
Tonight Summer did 2 new things; she sat in a high chair seat for the first time & she ate apples! I think from the pictures below she enjoyed both of them. After eating, Summer had some lovey dovey time with Mimi and a relaxing bath with a rubber ducky. Sidenote, Summer is soaking all her clothes in slobber this week. Teething is back on.

The Last (6 yr Anniversary) Supper

This year our Wedding Anniversary just so happened to be the day before our moving truck arrived. Our amazing Reno friends (that is what you will be called now) cooked the Thanksgiving Feast (out of this month's Real Simple) in honor of our last meal while we are Reno residents.
In cleaning out our closets I found the unity candle that we lit at our wedding and brought it for a little ambiance! Honestly I was going to throw it away but after this fond memory I have decided to keep it and burn it every year and we can think about this fun day...oh and that other fun day that joined us for life!

Jim and Rachel - yall are the sweetest couple! Jim was a super fun coworker to have and I will have many funny memories of he, Lisa and I joking around in the Placemaking office. And boy am I glad that he proposed to and married Rachel! She is truly one of the most thoughtful friends I know...and so cute and witty!

The hostess, Lisa - a great friend who always makes you laugh and who is true to herself! It is refreshing talking to Lisa as we can just say it how it is. Lisa would give you her last enchilada if you needed it. Oh, by the way, I just realized this sounded like I was giving up my friendships with these people...I am not! I just won't see them in person on a regular basis.

Rachel and I were doing our best to make Lisa's fanny packs look fashionable but the final decision is still up in the air. I mean they are made of cute material...and they are functional in an airport but they are still a fanny pack. To be determined?
Summer and her boyfriends, Nico and Ethan. They are so sweet to her. They were in Target and saw a cute girl outfit and told their mom they wanted to get it for Summer. Sure enough they did and I can't wait for her to wear it next Fall. These boys may end up in the fashion industry, never know, they have an eye for style!

Philip, Chad and Summer, Jim - I do have to say that Summer will probably miss Philip the most! Philip has such a love for kids that it is easy to detect and I think that is why Summer feels so at ease with him. Philip, in his second career, will be a major music executive; performing, mixing and directing Ethan. He made some cds for Chad's cross country drive that are landscape specific...now that's a music executive!

Nico couldn't give Summer enough hugs

Ethan wanted to hold Summer. Then we put him to work and shortly after he said he was done.

Thanks Reno it was fun! See you sometime during the ski season.

Week in Pictures

I am low on energy so I am going to zip it and just post pictures.Summer doing the ROBOT!

Practicing her Prep School Pose

Helping Mommy do laundry

I think these pajamas are getting a little small

I will NOT miss you, devil thorns! I pulled out 27, yes 27 from both of my Uggs. No wonder I have had 5 flat tires on the BOB.

We were able to meet up with my great friend Denise from Mammoth and her 3 adorable kids, Dakota, Dayton and Dallas.

Packing is coming along but it is wearing me out. I can't wait for next week when this will be over.

Summer Marie - 5 Months

Let the reminiscing begin!
Once upon a time there was a sweet baby girl named Summer Marie. To our pleasant surprise she came into the world 3.5 weeks early on May 20, 2009. Before we knew it we were celebrating her 1 month Birthday.
Much to our dismay, our sweet baby girl was gone and replaced with this cute crying girl.

Look who came knockin'. Our sweet baby girl was no longer possessed and all was well again at 3 months.

And she grew taller and stronger and more lovable!

Until one day she reached 5 months old and at that point Mommy and Daddy decided that she just couldn't get any cuter than this very moment.

Side Note: Summer just woke up in this photo and is still a little groggy.

Summer has already mastered puckering her bottom lip out and now she is trying a new skill - holding it in. She has been doing this all week long so I figured I needed to document it.

Just chillin' with Mom while she washes my bottles...think I will play with these coffee pot switches.

Future Homemaker of America

Here is a list of Summer's likes and dislikes.

Likes:

• Rice cereal - although she sometimes tries to talk while I am feeding her and I have to make sure I am not wearing anything dry clean only. At 5 months I still think a messy face is cute.
• Exersaucer - she swivels around in the seat enjoying all of the toys surrounding her. She always turns clockwise, wonder if that means anything.
• Diaper Change - go figure she likes this and she often laughs at me on the table. I always "air out her stinky hiney" by faning her with the diaper before I put it on and she loves it.
• Lights - she has always liked looking at lights but now she has noticed some of the lights from electronics...like the light on the coffee pot that blinks self clean that I cannot seem to make go away.
• Stuffed Doggy - she has this one toy that is a yellow dog and she loves it.
• Putting things in her mouth - I was pulling out my diaper coupons in Walmart the other day and she grabbed them and started eating
• Baby's First Sounds DVD - LOVES this DVD and I am convinced her first word will either start with a B or Dog. She smiles and laughs at the sheep that go Baaa.

Dislikes:

• Laying down - occasionally she will play on the playmat happily but mostly she likes to sit up in her exersaucer.
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - she loves Baby's First Sounds DVD but when Twinkle Twinkle comes on (4 times in different languages) she cries every time!

Improvements:

• The car seat has actually improved. I always turn the Sleep Sheep on and she listens to the water sounds and eats its arms which translates into less crying in the car.
• We have stopped swaddling! That's right, the Miracle Blanket was awesome but she started waking up because she was maneuvering her way out of it. It only took a night or two to get adjusted to the Sleep Sack and she has slept well ever sense. She sleeps about 10 hours every night (6:30pm - 4:30am) then I feed her and she goes back down for another 2 hours. I know you may suggest that I put her to sleep later than 6:30 but she is so tired then that I can't keep her awake and it just works well for our schedule.

Dogs - Summer now notices the dogs more, Lucy in particular (its kind of hard when she is trying to lick your face). If we are close enough she will touch Lucy and grab a handful of her hair. Summer opens and closes her hand on her hair, not ripping it out. Sampson only wants to see her on his terms. He will go sniff her in her exersaucer (and hit the piano key with his nose and it makes noise - talented dog) but other than that he doesn't want her to approach him (he doesn't like people coming to his face).

Surprisingly there is no 5 month Birthday cake as this mother is trying to lose those last 6-ish baby pounds. Don't get carried away, I am not exercising or anything crazy folks, just not making cakes and brownies for the time being. Basically I am praying that the weight will miraculously fall off my body. I think I'm skinny. I think I'm skinny...isn't that what The Secret said would work?

Moving Sale

This weekend I had a moving sale in my front yard. I was SO excited thinking I was going to make some big money. I mean I had some cute clothes that I was sure were going to pull in big bucks. Uhhmmm, well at least I think the clothes are cute because they are ALL going to remain in my closet for me to lose weight to fit into. BECAUSE I did not sell not one piece of clothing! Plus my friend brought some really cute JCrew cords over and they didn't sell either!

However, I ended up making $100 which I am still thrilled about.

Even though we had very little traffic, Kallie, Summer and I had a fun time drinking coffee in the front yard.

Later that afternoon, we watched the Alabama game and Matt got to love on Summer.

Mother Nature

Mother Nature decided to blow into town and take out two of our trees in the front yard. Thanks MN, as if I had nothing else I needed to get done today!

Here is our sweet tree leaning on his brother.

And like a horse that has a bad leg, the brother tree had to be cut down too because it was leaning.

Luckily the guy who is buying our house works at a plant nursery so hopefully he will be able to replace them without too much cost.

I just walked out there and put my foot on the stump and I almost felt like I was touching a grave. Those where healthy trees that just got blindsided by a gust of wind and didn't have strong enough roots to protect them. Similarly, this can happen in our lives. We need to make sure our roots are strong in faith and family so we can stand tall when the winds of life blow real hard. Deep thoughts by Jana Martin.

We're Moving

The Martin's take on Asheville!

That's right folks, we are moving to North Carolina. It is high time we get within a car ride of our family, dear friends and future babysitters:)

We are making the big transition across the country in two weeks. Summer and I will be flying while Chad drives our sweet puppy dogs.

Life at our house these last few weeks has been hectic to say the least! Trying to pack with a 4 month old is tough. The Martin family has exposed nerves right now.

Living in our house is like playing that doctor game where if you touch the wrong area you get buzzed. At least we are aware and we are doing our best not to buzz each other. Except Summer, she buzzes me all the time.

Since last Friday she has been CRANKY! I really think she must be teething. She is chewing on her index finger and just seems kinda unhappy. I am aware she could be sensing the stress from Mommy and Daddy but I think it is more than that.

At least it will all be over in 2 weeks, ahhhh deep breath.

This is the face of a first born who hasn't gotten Mommy and Daddy's full attention for a few days OR maybe her gums hurt...either way she is not happy about it.

Oh yeah, we are having a Moving Sale this weekend. I am pretty excited about it. I have never had a garage sale and I am really pumped and hope we get rid of our stuff.

Big Girl

Look at how our big our baby is getting!

She used to be an infant that just laid around and wanted to be bounced. Now she is a baby that can smile, babble, control her arm movements (somewhat), eats rice cereal, rolls over both ways, bends her knees like she is stepping and much much more.

Summer started eating rice cereal last weekend and I have been meaning to upload this video. This portion was taken about 5 minutes into the first meal when she had a nice mush mask covering her face. As you will see she wasn't really sure what Mommy and Daddy were doing to her. One week into eating and there really isn't much change. She doesn't act like she likes the taste so we may switch to oatmeal in a week or so.

New Mothers Support Group

Every Thursday for the past 4 months Summer and I have attended the New Mothers Support Group at St. Mary's Hospital. This class is led by a nurse named Denise (she also taught Chad and I in the childbirth classes). She is an absolute angel sent from heaven.

This group of moms and babies have taught me so much about how to parent and get through each baby phase.

Summer and I did some yardwork yesterday.

Daddy, Lucy, Summer and Sampson

I love these rosy cheeks!

It seems like everyday Summer learns a new skill.

This morning she rolled from her tummy to her back and then back to her tummy! She was screaming, literally having a tantrum, and I was checking my email...telling her I wasn't going to come get her until she stopped screaming. Then once the screaming stopped I looked and she was back on her tummy! Miracle...her frustration led to learning. Summer Summer Summer - you shouldn't have done that. Now Mommy knows that you can figure it out on your own AND if I give you long enough you will chill out.

Also, yesterday she was sitting in the exersaucer and used her feet to swivel 360 degrees, slowly of course. We are amazed to see the wheels turning in her brain.

Life is good!

Summer Update

Hi Friends and friends of Friends (by the way I am fine with that),

This is just a quick post to let you know what Summer is up to this week.

Her sleeping issues have not reared their ugly head the past 2 nights. Last night she slept for 10 hours and you should see how I look today with that much beauty rest! Stunning! Sorry there won't be a picture to document, you will just have to trust me:)

She started rice cereal on Saturday and it has been so much fun feeding her. The thicker I make it the more it comes out of her mouth. But I scoop it back up and she ends up swallowing it. She really likes the spoon in her mouth so I think she doesn't care whether the rice cereal tastes good or not.

Also on Saturday, Summer switched to 100% formula. She made the transition without any trouble. I keep telling her she isn't a picky eater so maybe it will sink in to be truth.

This morning she gave definition to a phrase that I think may become a new "bad word." As I was changing her morning poopy diaper I couldn't help but say "Holy Formula Poo Poo!" If you could have seen or smelled it trust me...it would make the list of words to wash your mouth out.

I am changing computers so I can't upload any new pics quite yet but here are some of my favorites.

This picture below is my screen saver. I just love the smirk she is making. To me this shows her personality.

****BUD ALERT - STOP READING - SENSITIVE FEMALE LANGUAGE BELOW****

I stopped pumping on Saturday. I had wanted to make it to 5 months but I have a lot going on this month (more about that later) and I needed my time. Do you know that I used to spend almost 3 hours a day sitting here at the computer pumping! Anyways, I decided to just stop cold turkey. It wasn't so much pain as it was mega pressure. I feel like I had a boob job over the weekend. They haven't gone down either. As of today, they are still full and tight to the touch but I can't feel it so I guess that is ok. In fact, I might look at this as a savings of about $10k in outpatient surgery! You know I do love home remedies, ha ha I crack myself up.

Fall Weekend

Summer has had a busy weekend. She received some gifts in the mail and she is thrilled.

Gramma and Grandad sent her some books. As you may remember, Mimi taught her how to read at Grantswood so quickly picked out Goodnight Moon and read herself a bedtime story.

Grammy and Papa sent her some adorable coats. Here she is in the Bunny Rabbit coat. The ears stay up and oh my they are so CUTE! There is a bunny tail on the back too!

Here is Summer in her cute Fall outfit.

We started Summer on rice cereal on Saturday and she seemed ok with it. A video of her first meal will be uploaded soon.