Tummy Time!

Abby loves being on her tummy when she's awake lately and just loves to look at all of the bright colors on her activity mats!

Smothered With Love!

Abigail having a nice "relaxing and quiet" time playing in her activity gym :)

"You're kidding, right? Just when I thought I was having some quiet time around here...."

"Seriously?"

After the storm...

Les Deux Freres Martins

I'm one of the Outreach Moms for Ben's pre-K class, which means that I plan events outside of the school day for the moms and kids to get to know each other better. Our event last night was a Chocolate Fondue Social and I supplied the fondue pot and some of the ingredients for it. We had a lot leftover so what fun the kids had this morning when I allowed them to have fondue for their morning snack in honor of PJ Day at the Martin household :). Yum, the treat got two (well, four, I suppose) thumbs up and the fondue forks were the hit of the day. They couldn't get enough of spearing strawberries and marshmallows and dipping them into chocolate. Bon appetit!

3 Months Old

Abigail is nearly three months old and wow, what a change we have seen in her this past month. She seems eager to notice her surroundings and has been discovering new things everyday. I just love these months of "firsts" - first smiles, first coos, first time rolling or sitting, etc.

I recall with the boys that I always would bring out some of the play equipment when they were around three months old since this is when they start to notice things. So, our activity gym has made it's reappearance and it has become a new favorite past time. Abigail loves to look at the brightly colored toys and designs, listen to the music, and kick and bat at the hanging toys.

Here she is at Nana's house on the activity gym that Nana keeps there. She batted at those toys and "caught" one... and wouldn't let go of it afterwards!

Our smiley little girly!

Abigail just today found her thumb! Since she is a tummy sleeper, she doesn't sleep with her pacifier so I was waiting for this day since I know their fingers always soothed the boys in their cribs. Aww, so sweet and peaceful while she sleeps...and then the paparazzi sneaks up on her in the dark to get some candid shots :). Luckily, she slept through this interruption.

Our big blue-eyed girl after her bath, one of her favorite night-time acitivities. She coos and smiles during her entire bath and just loves it!

Just this week, Abigail has also started to roll over from her tummy to her back. This makes for a fun time trying to get her to go to sleep :). It will probably be a few more months before she can roll from back to tummy but she certainly has that upper body strength down to roll to her back during tummy time. It's happened many times already so it's safe to say that Abigail is on the move!

Northlandz

This past Saturday, my mom and I took the kids to Northlandz in Flemington, NJ for the day so that Andrew could get some projects done around the house without distraction and so we could get Barney and our Christmas gifts back. My parents had them both at their house while we were in Florida. My dad was sick at home so he didn't join us either, unfortunately.

I had passed Northlandz before and it looked intriguing but I never really gave it much thought until my mom and I were looking for a central location to spend the day. This came to mind since it is just about 1 hour from each of us. And so our plans were made. In retrospect, I actually feel a bit guilty that we went here without Andrew or my dad since this place was more than I had imagined and is really a train lover's dream! I didn't know what to expect and honestly was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Northlandz was a lot of fun!

It is coined as the world's largest model railroad and I would believe it! The 52,000 sq. ft. building is practically covered from floor to ceiling, on four different levels, with model railroad track, landscapes and traincars. The walk through is just about a mile long and there is supposedly 8 miles of train track and over a hundred trains in all different sizes.

This may not be my most exciting blog entry since it's not too heavy on people-pictures, but I wanted to post some photos of the trains since I was seriously impressed. And did the boys enjoy their trip? Well, I'll just say that they both walked the entire 1-mile path and looked at everything without any fussing or complaining that they were bored. They were so excited to see trains pass by and all of the model towns, construction sites, quarries, farms, and waterways that went along with them. I would highly recommend a trip to Northlandz if you have a little boy who loves trains and even girls would likely be very awed by the intricacy of everything, I'd guess. We had a great outing and the boys are still talking about it!

Here are Ben and Nate in the first room, looking through the glass at the very first display. We stayed here for 10 minutes and then saw a sign that we were now 2% finished with the exhibit....so we opted to keep moving along!

Some photos of the scenic train displays. Everything is manmade and so realistic!

Looking down from about 4 stories up!

Pizza Hut!!

A passenger train like the one that Nana takes to work; picking Nana up at the train station is always a highlight of our visit to New Jersey!

Often, you'd see 2, 3, 4 or even 5 trains running at one single lookout point. The boys were so excited when their favorite trains were spotted - Ben liked a long train with probably 40 tanker cars on it and Nate loved one that had 5 train cars, each holding a helicopter.

The bridges were amazing and spanned canyons and waterways all throughout the exhibit.

Ben's favorite location...the trackside construction zone!

Nana and the boys watching an exhibit together. Nana got her workout for the day since Nate was a little short to see everything from the viewing steps they had in most locations. So, he needed to be boosted up everytime we stopped. When he was finished looking he'd say "Come on, Nana...next one, Nana!" and they'd move on - lol!

Lastly, once you finished touring the model railroad, there is a real train ride (with enclosed cars, thank God!) that you can go on outside. It goes for a 15-minute ride through the woods and is a very nice way to end the outing.

Nana and the boys inside of our train car...


And I mustn't forget that Abigail was also with us for the day; she was just so content and peaceful in her stroller all day that it was easy to forget that she was with us! Here she is with her paci and in her winter hat, on the train ride.

2-month Pediatrician Appointment

My baby is two months old already; actually, she will be 11 weeks this coming Sunday and just this week went for her two-month check-up. I can hardly believe it! She has certainly had her challenges (key word here is sleep) but we have been enjoying her so much and truly cannot imagine our family without our sweet little miss :). She's an angel and we love her very much!

The past month or so has really shown some changes in Abigail's temperament and milestones. They say that the first six weeks are the most difficult and then the next six weeks you can feel as if you have a different baby on your hands entirely. This is defintiely the case with Abby. She went from being very colicky to smiling, cooing. loving a pacifier (when nothing would soothe her at all in the early weeks) and showing such interest in merely sitting in her swing or chair and watching her family. The boys just adore her and she certainly feels their love every waking minute (if she isn't totally overstimulated by their actions!).

Her pediatrician's appointment went very well. She received 5 shots so that was no fun, but she took them like a champ and today seems to be the day that the post-immunization crankiness has started to ebb (thank God!). She is reaching all of the typical milestones and her head control is exceptional, just like her brothers. This is thanks to being a tummy sleeper, I suppose. Below are her stats from the visit; she is much smaller than the boys were at her age:

Height: 23-1/2" (90th percentile)
Weight: 10 lbs. 6 oz. (40th percentile)
Head circumference: 14-3/4" (10th percentile)

So, yes, it appears that we have a tall, lanky girl with a small head in our house! Possibly a future ballerina or super model...or perhaps just the one who gets to stand next to the teacher in every class photo like her mom :). The doctor is going to keep an eye on her head since it is in the lower percentiles but since she is meeting all milestones and some people just happen to have smaller heads, she didn't seem concerned at all. We'll just pray that she has a small, dainty head and no other concerns.

We'll keep everyone posted over the next two months until Abigail's next doctor's appointment. We can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store for our little girl!

Bathtime

This poor third child of mine has hardly any pictures around the house. I realize she is only 10 weeks old so that gives me a bit of a slack, but I did have pictures of both boys up within a few weeks so I am feeling as if I am being neglectful of my little girl :).

I realized this tonight while giving Abigail her nightly bath. I glanced up and saw two bathtime photos of the boys framed on the unit over our toilet and knew that I had a nice frame downstairs that was waiting for Abigail's picture. The camera was in the next room so there were no more excuses :).

Here are a few favorites from the photoshoot. I think you can really see some of her delicate features in these closeups. And in case you are wondering, our frame is a horizontal so the second photo down is now printed and in our master bathroom :)

Dress-Up

Abby in her first dress-up outfit! CC was making a dress-up trunk for Abby's big cousin Maddie for Christmas and had extra tulle so she couldn't resist making a mini tutu for our little ballerina too! And of course she needed to have a personalized shirt and a big hairbow to go along with her tutu.

Trip to Florida 2009

Last night we got back from our trip down to Palm Beach, FL for Maggie and Billy's wedding. What a beautiful bride, beautiful wedding and great time seeing everyone! And being the professional ring bearer that he now is :), Benjamin took the role once more and did a superb job (if I do say so myself). He was so well-behaved, in such good spirits the entire time (including during the photoshoot afterwards) and even walked down the aisle alone without so much as a protest. That's our outgoing little charmer!

Here are the newlyweds, beautiful bride Maggie and a very dapper Billy, too :)

The entire wedding party including my two sisters-in-law Michelle and Stacy (the two closest to Maggie, both pregnant and looking beautiful, I might add!). What an adorable little ring bearer :). The entire time pictures were being taken, he stood up front with a smile plastered on his face and said "Cheeeese!"

Look at this cake! It was beautiful!

Andrew's dad's family were in town for the wedding so we were able to spend some time with them, which was very nice. Here is Auntie Marion with a little smiley Abigail. They all really enjoyed seeing the boys again and meeting Abigail for the first time.

The whole gang in our hotel room the morning of the wedding!

I had a bad cold all week in Florida so,unfortunately, I was not feeling my best and was not as diligent as I usually am in taking photos. However, I did capture some from the last full day we spent with Kurt, Michelle, and Madelyn at the house before they left, while the kids had fun in the pool with Andrew and Grandpa G.

The two oldest grandkids with Grandpa G - Ben and 2-1/2 year old Maddie. We couldn't get either of them out of the pool!!

Cousins relaxing in the hot tub together :)

Miss Madelyn in her stylish sunglasses, warming up in the hot tub after a dip in the pool :)

Nate opted not to go in the pool this day (although he did go in the next day). Here is a candid of him as he watches the others swimming.

Miss Abigail slept and/or relaxed in her chair in the warm Florida sunshine instead of partaking in the pool events :)

Grandpa G and Maddie and then Maddie and her mommy. I love that little girl!!Abby relaxing in her room at G and CC's house. Poor little baby had a bad cold during most of the trip but was starting to feel less congested at this point.

On our way home, we stopped in Port Orange to visit my Aunt Catherine, my dad's eldest sister. She invited her good friend Diana over for the afternoon so it was nice to visit with them both. They enjoyed seeing the kids and, especially, meeting Abigail for the first time.

Aunt Cathy with a smiley Abby.

Diana with the baby and below that with Benjamin, doing a puzzle together.

Benjamin with his new puzzle.

Abby was so sleepy that I was able to put her for a nap right on Aunt Cathy's bed.

A few more of the ladies with the children.

I love my brother! They each looked better in a different photo so I couldn't decide and instead posted both.