I guess this is a never-ending one!

This is by far her FAVORITE place to sleep! And I thought I'd include her favorite place during the day....she'll ask all day long, "I watch Dora mom's bed?"

Ideas for me??

Please help! Send me some boy names!! I searched the Internet trying to find some inspiration last night for HOURS, then laid in bed with boy names spinning in my head...all for what?? Nothing!!! I had this problem with Payton too-nothing seemed to stick! I just want to find a name I like and not just feel like I'm settling for one I only kind-of like. So, I'm open to suggestions!! Send them my way----Thanks!

Update: I loved having some more names to look through, so thanks! Some I had not considered. Some of my favorites so far over all are: Jace, Ty, Brock, Parker, Cooper, Cannon, Blake, Chase, Bracken, Zack, and so forth. BUT this seems to be playing out how Payton's name did....Brian says no to everything, and Payton was the Only one he ever said yes to. So far, the only YES I have recieved was in regaurds to Blake. I will continue to find names and run them by the bossman so feel free to pass on ANY more thoughts!

He's healthy....!

On Monday I got a call from the nurse at my OB's office. For some reason I KNEW this call was coming since my ultrasound last month....There was just something that the tech had said that made me wonder what she had "seen" and couldn't tell me. Anyway, she tells me that my baby has a cyst(fluid) in his brain. She said it usually goes away, but there was a chance that it hasn't so they sent me to a level two ultrasound.

I got there this morning and the doctor explains it in better detail and hints to me that it's most likely fine, and the cyst is gone...

BUT

IF it's still there AND they see other things wrong also, THEN it's pretty much guaranteed that my baby has Trisomy 18 and will either be a still born or die shortly after birth.

And then he proceeds to tell me that if they do find something wrong, then I should have an amniocentesis to be SURE that it has this chromosome disease. This part almost freaked me out the most! He said the huge needle would "only" have to be inside me for just under a minute!!!

Anyway, I had the nicest lady doing the ultrasound and they have it transferred up to a flat screen in front of me and she talks about everything she's looking at, etc...Well, the cyst was GONE and there was NO other evidence of problems and I was FREE to BREATHE again!!!

Here's some 3D shots she took of him...it's still kinda early, but she was surprised he didn't look more boney and alienish for it only being 21 weeks....

Toddlers....

(I must say I waited too long to finish this post! Things are MUCH better now, but I don't want to forget these fun learning moments!)

A few days before Christmas, Payton climbed out of her crib and we were shocked. Yes, I know, it happens all the time, but my other two never did it! Most likely because they were forced into a big kid bed by 20 months (Payton was 26 months) so the new baby could have the crib...but still-I wasn't expecting it! I was trying my hardest to keep her a baby for as long as I could. For many reasons....

Tanner was too easy...he was up for the challenge and did great with the transition...We never had to lay with him and he would wake up and stay in bed calling my name until I came to get him. It was great. He did however have a hard month or so when Kamryn was born and we had company staying with us and he was moved to a mattress on the floor of the baby's room. For about a month I did have huge struggles getting him to bed, but it ended instantly when we had his own bed back to normal. He continued taking awesome FOUR hour naps until he was almost four.
Kamryn was almost completely opposite! As soon as she moved to a big bed, she would stay up for hours talking, singing, etc...she'd finally fall asleep about 2 hours after naptime, and then need woken up or would sleep too long, THEN we had a huge problem with bedtime for obvious reasons. After a few months of craziness, my only resort was to take away the nap that my cranky gal needed so badly....she was 26 months! (younger than Payton is right now!) By doing this, she was then able to fall right to sleep at bedtime and it solved the problem.....with sacrifices on Mom's part of course!!

So with that said, I was dreading Payton hitting this stage. We had a few fun weeks, but the end is near and she's been falling asleep GREAT and staying in bed. (with a few exceptions of course) It could have been worse. I mean, she stays in her room....has only made a mess with baby wipes, once or twice, and doesn't cry!Here's some pics I was able to snap of her sleeping in random places....
Christmas Eve:

A few nights later:

In the closet in Oregon: (she'd stay up til 9 pm these nights just trying on shoes and playing in the tiny closet!)

In the bouncy seat??: (this one was by far the funniest! It was left out from when my niece was in town, and she just fell asleep in it...and when I went to move her to bed I couldn't get her out because she was buckled!!)

And the last story I didn't get a picture of, but Brian and I woke up early about 6 am to get ready for church and noticed her light was on...when we peeked in there, she wasn't there?!? Then we saw Tanner's light on and when we got to his room, there he was dead asleep in the light and still no Payton. We then found her asleep on Kamryn's floor (at least that light was still off!) Also one time when a sitter was here we went to go to bed that night and I almost sat on her cause she had snuck out and was asleep in my bed!

Now onto Potty Training....oh the joys!!!

Snow Trip

Our friends the Davis's invited us to spend a week in Oregon with them over Christmas Break. It was SO much fun. It was our first "big" vacation with the kids (not counting visiting family in Utah and CA) The kids all had so much fun with eachother and we just hung out, played games, and went up the mountain to some snow! We stayed in such a nice place and the weather almost couldn't have been more perfect!






Tanner did ski school 3 differnt days while we were there and he loved it! He wanted to snowboard, but they won't let them in that class until their 6 at this resort. Kamryn went the last day and I wasn't sure she'd stay happy in the cold for 6 whole hours for them, so she just did a half day.












We drove up to do some tubing one day and it was a lot of fun also. Kamryn was sick that day and had a pretty good fever, but she was a trooper out there all bundled up while we had some fun! She tried to go down once, but her tube came loose on the tow rope and she went tumbling down the wrong part, then she was done for the day!





We had a GREAT time and loved every second (minus Payton's random fits on the plane of course)

Well, now that vacation is over and life is getting back into routine, I was glad to get a few minutes and catch up on everyone elses Christmas Breaks....I was mostly happy to see that I was by far not the only slacker when it came to getting things posted!! I still have lots of pics from our vacation to share, and hopefully I'll have some time to get that done tonight! Happy New Year!!

CHRISTMAS DAY!!

Well, this year was SO much fun...(as is every year!) The kids came in around 7:30 and then we headed out to see what was there. I'm not sure what time they had actually gotten up, because Tanner seemed to already know what was there!



They saw the tramp from Santa immediately and then later found a note left to go check out the basement. The kids yelled, "KITCHEN!" instantly and sure enough they were right. Santa had got them just what they wanted....a play kitchen.


It turned into a whole day full of fun....we headed up to the Martin's for breakfast around 9 and got to give/receive presents from family up there....then headed back home for a few hours to play with all the new stuff before heading over to my mom's for dinner and more gifts of course!

We were more than ready for bed by the time we got home that night and the kids played ALL day the following day!!

Christmas Eve

Heidi and her family came by and Kylee's quad was in the back of the truck, so we let the kids take a few spins around the block while pulling the Dad's on the skateboard. Kamryn talked us into letting her try again. (referring back to a post in September when I caught her on film rolling the quad on her first try) Anyway, she did great! And we remembered to have the kill switch on hand just in case.





That night our pajama's got ding dong ditched at our door (well, minus the ding dong since our home still lacks a door bell!) The kids we're so excited and we changed right into them and took some pictures!





At school Tanner was given some oats to put out on the grass for Santa's reindeer!

Lots to post!

I know, I have a lot to catch up on with Christmas and all...I'll get to it sooner or later, but I wanted to drop in and say,

WE'RE having a BOY!!!

And they're wrapped....

I love getting everything all wrapped up and under the tree....such a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude! I thought I'd finally take a picture of the tree. I am going to be so sad the day it has to get taken down and all the fun put away for a whole year....

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas break and good luck for the New Year! Once I steal some pics of the Martin Family Christmas Party from someone I'll have to do a post-dated post....




Merry Christmas!


ps...we've lost(broken via multiple methods) approx. 10-12 ornaments this year, how about you??

I forgot my camera.....AGAIN....

Lots has been going on around here, but I still have yet to remember to bring my camera! Kamryn and Tanner both had cute little holiday parties today and I was able to go to both! Payton had an entire day hanging out with Dad! I'll be sure to take some pictures at our family party this weekend and then again on Christmas day!

Speaking of forgetting....I REALLY wish they made medication for memory! Is our memory "really" worse when we're pregnant, or is that a wise tale? I hope it really is true, then it'll make me feel better about these past few months! Of course there's the millions of little things I forget to do on a daily basis, but it's the ones that hurt my kids that make me so sad/mad at myself! Tanner almost missed a field trip last week because I guess I never sent in the permission slip....(I don't ever recall SEEING the slip to begin with) Brian had to rush down to the school as they were loading the buses to sign it. And then today I got to Kamryn's party, and she's on the floor with her class and she looks up at me and points to a book in her lap and lips-"you forgot my BOOK!" Sure enough they were having a gift exchange with new books to trade and I have completely forgotten about it. When she said that, it still took me a few minutes to figure out what "book" she was talking about. I guess her nice teacher had an extra and hurried and wrapped it up for her. Anyway, these were my two least favorite because they affected my kids the most. The most annoying LITTLE thing I deal with daily is every time we load the car (I mean EVERY TIME) I have to run back in the house 1 to 3 times to get something I forgot...! I know we all do this sometimes, but this is ALL the time, and it's driving me nuts!

Anyway, I better go dig out my presents and start wrapping to be sure I didn't "forget" to buy anything!!

Singing Concert

Kamryn had a little recital with her singing class tonight.

She was in SUCH a sad/cranky mood on the way there and would not smile...

I was worried she would be no fun to watch. Before they started I asked her if she was going to sing when they got up there, and she said, "Yeah, I'm gonna sing the loudest of all!" And that she did, in the first song at least. It was Jingle Bells(her favorite) and she was pretty loud, BUT......sang WAY off. Like she's hold the notes (loudly) ONE HORSE OPEN SLEIGH really lloonngg as the rest of the class and the tape was going fast. It was hilarious.


Yes, the kids SHOULD have been singing in this picture, but ALL of them were a little preoccupied with the flash lights....They were making light shows around the room and the boys sure were loving it!! Kamryns light kept going out and that was all she was thinking about...

She had a great time being up there with all her little friends!

THANK YOU DAD!!

So my Dad just left after a fun filled day fixing computer after computer(he was also here until midnight earlier this week). And now, we are back to EVERY computer working again!!

Oh, and by the way, the problem got worse since it started....A third computer got all weird on my yesterday and I spent a total of 4-5 hours on the phone between yesterday and today trying to get my "windows reactivated"?!?! yes, random....but even more random, is a couple hours ago I went downstairs, and what do you know....that screen is gone and it TOTALLY works fine now.

SO, I thought, I'm back, I should post something....BUT thing is, these problems have consumed my week and I really have nothing more to post about! I'm looking forward to this weekend and looking forward to my mind being able to rest for a while.....I'll be back!

Side note: I was in the midst of creating my Christmas card when the drama began, but thanks Rachel for letting me borrow your computer to get it all finished! SO, they will come later than planned this year, but I'm sure that's fine! Also, for you out of towner old friends, I was just going to go around and leave comments to a few of you that I NEED your home address, but I thought it would be easier to tell you here to email me if you want a Christmas card this year!! I don't want to post my main email address, but I'll check my backup one, so send it there.... klmartin22@hotmail.com. THANKS!!

Could be worse....

What are the chances....we have had TWO of our computers hard drives crash this week! Our main one, and then the brand new(well, a few months old, but barely used) Company one in the office downstairs! At least we still have Brian's laptop and our old Company one (a super old one downstairs that failed a few years back and we were able to recover! But that one has never worked the same since....)

The GOOD news is I keep all my photos and my money/banking program on an external hard drive, so I should still have all that! (I haven't checked yet, but I'm assuming it's fine?!) We'll see if my Dad can help get the computers back up and running....wish us luck!