Letter to Baby Martinez

Dear baby,

Your daddy and I cannot wait to meet you! As my tummy gets bigger and my time with you in my womb gets shorter, we get more and more excited. And you have a big brother that, although he doesn't know it yet, is going to be so happy to meet you!

I know you are enjoying it there where it is all warm and cozy. You let me know it too! You kick and punch and move like crazy and sometimes make it very hard for mommy to sleep, sit, eat, and well just be comfortable sometimes. And although I feel very miserable at times (sorry, it's the truth!), all it takes is one thought of our future first time meeting or a glance at the pictures we already have of you, to make me smile.

So enjoy your last few weeks of confinement to that space in my belly. Grow all you can and get as strong as you can. Your gonna need that strength and energy to keep up with your big brother Judah one day!
We love you and are anxiously awaiting your arrival,
Judah, Daddy and Mommy

Look at your cute picture!

All boy!

Well Judah is definitely all boy! This past weekend Stevie rented a tractor and did a lot of work on our yard. For quite some time now Judah has been enamored with anything that has tires and/or wheels. That list includes:

* his push toys

* toy trucks and cars

* a favorite fire truck toy

* my vanity chair

* any and all strollers

* the tires to my car (this proved to be dangerous once as he burned his finger on the discs behind the rims)

* Stevie's truck tires (Judah's favorite)

* the tires on the boat trailer

* the push lawn mower

* the riding lawn mower

Well, you get the picture. Anytime we go places where tires or wheels are to be found, he constantly points them out to us and has to go play with them. And man can they keep him entertained. Last week we made a stop at ACE Hardware. Judah spent at least ten minutes squatted down in front of a dolly spinning the wheels. I had to literally pick him up to get him to leave with us.

So you can imagine how Judah was in 7th heaven for the past several days when we had a HUGE tractor on our property that had the biggest tires he had ever seen. I spent most of each moment we were outside trying to keep him away from the tractor and it's dangerous parts. Stevie let him ride it a few times with it. Coupled with his sporadic rides with Stevie on the riding lawn mower, we now have officially "hooked" our son. He loves all of these big boy toys that his daddy works with. Never mind that in the backyard we have a small playground set and a box full of outside toys. If we are outside he wants to be on something with wheels!

See pictures for proof!

Long time no blog

Ok so it took me longer than I thought, but it has been a while since I last posted on my blog. So I am going to attempt to catch you all up in one, hopefully not too long, post!



Two weekends ago, Kerri, Cara, Nicole and Dianna hosted a wonderful baby shower for me at Dianna's house. We had a lot of fun and I must give them tons of credit for being so creative not knowing the sex of our baby. Here are a few pictures:

my lovely hostesses cute cake!

Another new development in the last few weeks has been in the area of playtime for Judah. I remember my friend Lois telling me how much fun this stage, 16 months, was with her son. I can totally see why! I am absolutely LOVING watching him play. He now does some pretend play-like with play food that we have, pretending to eat it and drink it. He also has such a long attention span, especially for toys that have wheels. He loves to investigate how his toys work and what makes the wheels turn. This also carries over into a complete love relationship with Stevie's truck, Stevie's boat, and more recently a tractor that Stevie rented to do some work in the yard. Judah is in heaven with all of the boy toys around here! Everyday we spend a good deal of time outside either at the park or in our backyard because Judah loves it so much. However, in our backyard we have up until this point had very limited things to play with. So a few weeks ago we started looking for some outside play toys. On Mother's Day we set up a Little Tikes 8 in 1 play set that Judah is having so much fun with now! His favorite part (besides the slides) is the door that he can open and close and go into the little playhouse part like it is his own secret getaway.

slide at his abuelos' Judah's new playset....he loves the door!

The last part of this post includes Mother's Day. Although it was a wonderful day altogether I have to comment on the more humorous morning I had alone with Judah at church. Because of Stevie's work schedule, every other Sunday I take Judah by myself to church. Latley this has become more and more of a feat of heroic measures. The two main reasons for this are as follows: 1) I have a huge belly that keeps getting bigger, my balance is officially "off" and running after a toddler is not the easiest thing (or most graceful thing) I am able to do currently 2) Judah is no longer content playing quietly with his toys in the pew, he loves to run, climb, beat on things, throw things and more recently, swat at things and say "ohhhh" really loudly. Follow all of this up with the fact that one of his favorite games is chase right now-which involves me chasing him.

So there I was Mother's Day morning thinking, I can do this. I've been doing it for months now (even though lately I have been having to give myself more frequent pep talks on those solo Sunday mornings). I even went the exta mile and decided that since it was Mother's Day I should look nice and wear a dress. That wasn't that wise of a decision easier. If I had known what I was in for I would have worn workout clothes and tennis shoes....actually I probably would have just stayed home and watched church on TV! To make a long story not so long, I spent most of the morning in the lobby chasing Judah around in my dress, waddling like the 8 month pregnant woman I am right now. I decided that if God has an extra credit book that surely this past Sunday I got at least a couple of extra points!


The rest of Sunday was so nice. My brother came in on Saturday as a suprise for my mom so he got to come to our house for our annual Mother's Day luncheon. My mom was there as well and so was all of Stevie's family. Stevie grilled steaks and chicken, his sisters provided the sides and dessert and we all ate on the patio and watched Judah and his cousins play in the yard. It was such a nice day!






Mother's Day pics...

I've been tagged!

Thanks Crystal, for the tag....hopefully this is somewhat interesting for those of you reading!

4 jobs I've had
1) Progessive insurance as a temp the summer before college
2) SMU Enrollment Services all through college
3) High School Spanish Teacher
4) High School and Elementary School Counselor

4 Movies I've seen more than once
1) TOP GUN -thanks to many sleep overs at Crystal's house in middle school! Thanks for the numerous viewings of this classic film!
2) Father of the Bride - I love it and it seems to show on TBS at least once a month!
3) The Mummy - I know, I know, I'm wierd but I really like this one!
4) Dirty Dancing - Classic. I actually have that last dance scene recorded on my DVR at home and every now and then, dance along with it. You should see my husband's reaction.

4 places I've lived
1) Garland, TX
2) Rowlett, TX
3) Dallas, TX
4) Madrid, Spain

4 TV shows I watch
1) Dancing with the Stars - although I fast forward through some parts
2) American Idol - although I fast forward through parts of this one too
3) The Bachelor - more fast forwarding
4) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - every now and then
(the fast forwarding on 1-3 and the viewing of #4 all due to my adorable son!)

4 places I've been
1) Rome, Italy
2) London, England
3) Hiroshima, Japan
4) Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic

4 favorite foods
1) my mother-in-law's dish "carne de puerco con chile" I request it for my birthday every year
2) my mom's chicken and dumplings and her sweet tea-she knows how to make sweet tea just the right way
3) pretty much any breakfast food-my favorite meal of the day
4) chocolate chip cookies - my favorite sweet

4 places I'd like to visit
1) India - I have a friend from college who lives there and I would love to get to see the culture firsthand
2) the northeastern region of the US during the fall when the leaves change color (while staying in bed & breakfasts for lodging)
3) Lake Como, Italy
4) The Dominican Republic, again, but with my dad this time so he can explain how things were when he grew up there

4 things I look forward to in the next year
1) The birth of our second child this summer! I am so excited to meet this new little person whose sex I don't even know! I can't wait for Judah to have a sibling :)
2) Watching Judah continue to grow into the amazing little person he is!
3) Celebrating 4 years of marriage to Stevie. I am so blessed to be on this journey with him.
4) Celebrating my brother's graduation from college with him. He has really made me proud.

4 friends I'm tagging
1) Kerri Culhane
2) Lois Lyda
3) Nancy Bernardino
4) Angela Deas