Thanksgiving Cookie Making

Yesterday the boys and I made some festive Thanksgiving cookies that they had seen in a magazine and have been OBSESSED with making ever since. They both really love to help out in the kitchen and Ben especially enjoys decorating cookies and cupcakes. Of course they loved trying their finished treats once they were complete :)

Here they are, busy concentrating on their masterpieces:

Ben is so proud of the cookies that he helped to decorate.



Nate, caught red-handed tasting some of the icing :)



Voila, Ben's finished product.

And here are the finished turkey cookies. Unfortunately, we didn't have very many candy corns leftover from Halloween and the two stores I went to to find another bag of them did not have them anymore. But, we did have enough for 6 turkeys and then we decorated the rest with other things.

The three Martin chefs with the entire batch of finished cookies. Abigail joined us about halfway through our project and was very content sitting in her seat watching her brothers.

Whoooo's Cute?

Here's the little female Andrew :) in her cute owl shirt and white pants, relaxing in her swing. She has been much better lately in temperament; putting her on a somewhat organized schedule has really helped to keep her from getting overstimulated and from screaming her head off for hours at night (for the most part!). She is actually starting to enjoy her swing and her crib is no longer her worst enemy (although I wouldn't quite say she *likes* it yet).


Ah, gearing up for a nap after a morning of Christmas shopping with Mom and buying little tiny summer clothing for her trip down to Florida next month :).

Second Cousins

Today my cousin Lauren, her husband Gordon and their 5-1.2 month old Emily visited us for the day. What a fun time we had seeing all of them and it was especially fun to spend some time with Lauren and our girls. I still remember the two of us playing together as little children so it's crazy that we both are moms now! It will be fun for us as the girls get older since they are only about 4 months apart in age. Here's a photo of the two little pretty girlies :)

Prayer Shawl Ministry

What a lovely surprise it was yesterday afternoon to answer the door and find a member of the Prayer Shawl Ministry from the Christ Reformed Church (located across the street from us) with a hand-knit baby blanket for Abigail! This is not our home church but it is the one where Ben attends Pioneer Clubs each week and our neighbor is the youth pastor there. I was told that this ministry gets together weekly at the church to knit blankets for people who have had new babies and then the members of the church pray over the blanket before they give it to their recipient. Our neighbor told them of Abigail's birth and they have been working for two weeks on her blanket. It is beautiful and is so warm and cozy for Abby - perfect for a winter in an old farm house! Here are a few photos of her in it:

I'm convinced she is really giving us a Mona Lisa smile in this one and it's not just gas :). Even if it is, here is a preview of how she'll look in a few weeks when she does begin to smile for real!

She has become so wide-eyed and alert at certain points throughout the day lately! Reminds us so much of Ben, both looks-wise and also because she is a fairly alert baby. Nate slept for the first few months of his life but his two siblings have liked to show off their eyes from an early age :).

Naptime

Abigail has been just a *tad* colicky at night lately and has been a challenge because she doesn't seem to want to sit in a swing or a bouncy seat or (especially) to lay in her crib. At all. This makes for a very cranky and overtired baby and the cycle continues! But, with some tried and true remedies, we are slowly battling this and she has been doing so much better these past few days.

Our first line of defense: Hyland's Colic Tablets. Go buy them if you have a colicky baby with excessive gas. They have been so soothing for her and have helped drastically. Afternoon nap is the hardest for her to settle down for, so I've found that giving her a warm, calming sponge bath while her two biggest fans (aka brothers) are asleep or in quiet time is very relaxing for her. Let's admit it, her brothers both love her dearlybut having a 1-1/2 year old shampoo your hair *gently* probably isn't the most relaxing experience for a three-week-old! Ha! We also purchased a Gund bear that straps to her crib and plays white noise that emulates the womb. She loves this! HUGE fan of this thing so I would highly recommend it if you have fussy little ones in your life. Finally, as the pediatrician's nightmare I am, we recently started to sleep her on her tummy (as we also did with the boys) and she is much more comfortable. So, all of these things combined seem to be helping Abigail. Let's hope it continues!

Listening to her "womb bear" in her bed, drowsy-eyed and mellow!


Five minutes later. Sleep tight, little princess...

2-Week Pediatrician Update

Abigail has been a part of our family for almost three weeks now! Earlier this week, I took her back to the pediatrician for her two-week check-up. She is doing really well and definitely seems to be getting bigger already. She is very alert and sweet but our challenge has been that she has been colicky at night. We have been trying a few different techniques and medicines that seem to be working somewhat, so hopefully she will get past this soon, for our sake, if not for her own - ha ha! A screaming baby for 4-5 hours every night is not exactly the life of the party! :) But colicky or not, we love having our little girl in our family and the boys are both adjusting really well to their new little sister.

Her current stats at 2-weeks old are:

Weight: 8.0 lbs. (up from 6 lbs. 12 oz. when she left the hospital...so she is eating well!)
Height: 21 inches

Grandpa G and CC Visit

Grandpa G and CC visited us from Florida this weekend and met Abigail for the first time. The boys, especially, enjoyed having their grandparents in town and what fun we had introducing our dear little girl to them.

With CC's visit comes hair bows! Yes, Abigail was given her first hair accessories and since she already has a fair amount of hair, she was able to try them out immediately. That's right. No velcro bows or hairbands on bald heads in our family! Abby sports her first real bow with style and the locks to hold an actual barrette in place :). We love it!


G and the two big brothers stop for a photo while playing outside on this 70 degree, early November day.

Getting to know the second grand-daughter in the family...

And Big Brother Nate joins them for a photo. Of course it would be too easy for all three children to cooperate at once so Ben is not in this photo. Maybe next time we'll get everyone in one shot!

Beautiful Girl

A picture of our beautiful girl soundly sleeping in Daddy's arms...

Such a Big Boy

All of a sudden, Nate seems like such a big boy! Maybe it is because we have a new baby in the house. Or the fact that Nate weighs almost as much as his three-year-old brother (whose weigh plateaued at around 20 months old so we suspect Nate's will probably do the same!). Or possibly because he repeats everything we say and has really developed his own personality over the past few months. Well, whatever it is, our little Nate suddenly seems like a true toddler instead of a baby. All he wants to do is run around and play with his brother; it seems like he doesn't stop moving all day long!

Recently, Ben "donated" his first backpack to Nate, now that Ben has his own school backpack and Nate was playing with this little backpack often anyways. So, Nate is thrilled with his new treasure. Anything his big brother plays with is "cool" in Nate's eyes :). Nate loves wearing his backpack and telling us "Bye-bye. Nate...school," pretending that he is going to school. Poor little guy desperately wants to go to school like his big brother, but for the next two years he'll have to pretend :).

Here are a few fun shots I took of him with his backpack, smiley as usual and of course, showing off those big baby blues!

"Small Paul"

Here's Abigail in her very first non-holiday, non-sleeper, "real" outfit: her "Small Paul" Paul Frank onesie from CC. I just love the sparkly kisses from the big brothers all over the monkey's face! This was taken during Abigail's quiet time with me today; I've decided to do this for about an hour and a half after the boys go down for their nap every day so that she has some quiet time alone with me and some peace and quiet once the rowdy ones are out of the picture! Post sponge-bath, she is really calm and relaxed...and smells soo good from her bath :)

Soft and Cuddly

Here's Abigail all warm and snuggly in her blankie after her sponge bath today. I have a similar photo of Nate when he was a little older in his blankie, too (both of them crocheted by Aunt Chang, coincidentally :)). I can already see the scrapbook page now... :)