Making Christmas Cookies

So, we've been doing a lot of baking lately. I guess it has to do with the fact that there seem to be so many holidays right after the next at this time of the year. And it's doesn't hurt that I love to bake, too! But anyways, this past week has been filled with making Christmas cookies and candies in the Martin household: cutout cookies, gingerbread men, peppermint bark, English toffee, spritz cookies, biscotti. All of our festive favorites, some of them old traditions for me or Andrew and many of them have become new traditions for our family. Of course the boys enjoy sampling all of the treats, which will probably become a tradition for us as well :)

I've written about this in past years, but one of Andrew's traditions has been making the spritz cookies that he always used to make with his mom as a little boy. So, he always spearheads this effort each Christmas and what fun it was this year to have two little guys to assist us!

Here are a few pictures of the boys helping Daddy spritz the cookies onto the trays and then also some of them decorating their green spritz Christmas trees. They each got their own tray this year to put sprinkles on....and man, did we have a lot of sprinkles on those trays when they were done!

Once complete, the two "cookie monsters" liked turning on the oven light and watching their cookies bake.

Finally, Ben has his special "big boy time" each Wednesday afternoon with me when Nate and Abigail are napping and we are waiting for his speech therapist (Kelly) to arrive for his lessons. He looks forward to his special time each week and asks me everyday if today is the day that Kelly comes :). Last week as we waited, I let him assist me cutting out and decorating the gingerbread men. What fun he had putting faces on them and helping to cut them out! Of course he made Kelly try one of his special treats when she did arrive and she had rave reviews for him :)

Christmas Picture 2009

Merry Christmas from the Martins! Our much-awaited favorite pose from the professional pictures taken last week...

Timeless 2009

Our church does a lovely Christmas family celebration each year one of the weekends in December called Timeless. They have horse and carriage rides, a live nativity, carolers, children's plays, crafts for the kids to do, family photos, fresh baked cookies and cider. It's wonderful and such a fun night for everyone who attends!

This year we decided to go the night that we had the first snowstorm of the season. So, with Abigail being so little and the weather being very cold and snowy, we, unfortunately, did not partake in any of the outdoor activities. But, we had a nice time doing all of the indoor ones and it was fun to see some friendly faces throughout the night since many of our friends also attend.


Here is Abby all dressed up in her Christmas footie and handknit sweater for the occasion. She looked like a little red and green gift with all of the ribbon and bows - ha ha!


Ok, so I was a few minutes too late at trying to capture a sibling photo. The baby crashed and Nate decided he was not going to even sit next to his siblings for more than a second or two, let alone give me a smile! Ben has his "I'll say cheese and hope it's over soon" smile on :). Oh well, sometimes these are the funniest pictures to look back on! And at least I got one of all three of them in their Christmas attire.

The boys had a blast at all of the craft-making stations at church. They each made three ornaments to take home and the proud artists hung them all on our tree this morning. Ben just loves arts and crafts lately, especially scissors and glue sticks, so he was in his glory. Nate got some help from his dad while I carried Abby around and snapped photos.

Finally, our family photo of the evening. Merry Christmas from the Martin Family of 5!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Last weekend we went with Pop and Nana while they were visiting to get our Christmas tree. Since we moved soon after Christmas last year and did not decorate much, we haven't gotten a live tree in two years. So, it was Nate's first time getting a tree and probably the first time that Ben remembers getting one. What fun they had, running through the nursery trying to pick out the perfect tree for us!

The men intently watching the lucky evergreen we chose get wrapped and trimmed for us...of course, the use of any sort of machinery makes any activity exciting for the boys!

Abigail's 1-Month Photos

At just over 5-weeks old, it was time for Abigail to make a visit to the photo studio for her first professional pictures. Ben and Nate also had their photo taken with her in their Christmas outfits, and I included one of those. Our favorite one of all three of them is going on our Christmas cards so I will keep you in suspense for a few more weeks :).

All of the photos came out great - the kids were agreeable and Abigail was calm and content the entire time, even through a costume change :). Apparently she likes to have her photo taken! Here are a sampling of the poses we liked best:

Little Miss Martin in her first piece of cashmere!

And here she is in her little red Christmas dress (and her enormous tights!!). The tights came up to her armpits. Seriously :)

Here is one of all three of them that we liked but not our favorite, which will be on the Christmas cards (coming soon...).

As an update, Abigail is doing really well. She is about 9 lbs now and is much calmer than she had been in disposition. She can still be fussy, but not as much as before. She still has dark hair but it may be getting a little lighter and it looks like she may have blue eyes, possibly, as they are getting lighter. She started to smile this week so I am hoping to capture some more of those in pictures at home, too. You can see the one picture of her smiling above. What a pretty girl!

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... :)