Note: Poll Added

We have added a poll to our blog as a fun way to see what gender everyone thinks Baby #3 will be from now until we find out in June sometime. So cast your vote! And no worries, this is completely anonymous :). We have mixed opinions ourselves, some days thinking one thing and some days the opposite, and contrary to the change in blog background recently - I needed something lighter so my pregnancy countdown font would show up and I love pink - we don't have any feelings towards whether we will have a girl or a boy...yet. We'd be happy with either and are just excited for the 20 week ultrasound since the suspense is killing us :).

Happy voting!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Andrew was in Alabama on business this week and brought home a kite for the kids as a souvenir. Today it was perfect flying weather so we all went outside when Andrew got home from work to fly the kite. What fun, both kids loved watching it and Ben even held it for a while. Of course it's a Disney Cars kite so Ben loved watching Lightening McQueen and Sally flying high above his head!

Nate's First Haircut

So, I have been feeling really icky lately from the pregnancy and have basically been staying indoors. Today is a beautiful day and I had prior appointments to get Nate's first official haircut and to also bring the boys for photos for their 1 and 3 year shots. So, after getting peer pressure from Andrew that I should get these picures done before the boys turn another year older and the haircut before Nate develops any more of a shag hairdo :), I decided to completely overexert myself this morning and head out for a half-day outing with the kids. Nate missed both naps and the photographer was fairly busy. But, we packed lots of snacks and we all held up fairly well until our 1:45p.m. lunch. Amazing, considering this was a party of two young kids and a very ill pregnant lady - lol! On top of everything, the haircut was a success, the photos turned out great and the weather is beautiful. Very good day, which I have not had in a few weeks!

Here's Nate at Cookie Cutters in Philadelphia in his little green car seat. He watched Baby Noah, one of his favorite Baby Einstein flicks.

Not too sure about this strange lady spraying his head with water...



Ok, lady, do what you'd like but just let me watch my show!

Warming up to the steering wheel and the horn on the car. What a mellow guy Nate is!

And the finished product! Nate was still a little weirded out by this whole experience so we didn't get any of his usual smiles, but at least he sat still the entire time and barely fussed at all. Doesn't he look so much older with short hair??

March 2009 Professional Photos

After the separation anxiety fiasco at Valentine's Day (hint: my shoulder was cropped out of every photo involving Nate!), I was nervous to take Nate back for photos since I didn't want a repeat performance. But, we needed to get his one year photos and Ben was also due for his three year photos so I decided to take the plunge. What a change from last time! Nate fussed for a few minutes but our photographer was wonderful and really played with my little guy and made him comfortable. Within a few minutes, he was crawling all over the place, laughing with the photographer and being his usual smiley self. Ben was also in a really good photo-taking mood so overall I was very pleased with the results.

Our one minor problem this morning was that when I went to put Ben's dress shoes on that I had just tried on him two weeks ago, they were so small they couldn't even be forced on his feet for a few minutes of picture-taking. It was a futile effort and since we were already running late for the haircut (did I mention that I overexerted myself by overbooking our schedule?), there was no time for new shoes. So, he had to wear his sneakers and I had the photographer either not get his feet or crop this shoes out of any photo in which they were visible. Looks like we will be shoe shopping before Easter next weekend! Seems as if our three year old is going through a growth spurt all of a sudden since he was in the same size for a year and now his feet are growing so rapidly!

Brotherly love...


I chose this one for my together shot of the boys. Nate isn't quite as smiley as usual (maybe because he was getting squeezed a little too hard by his big brother!) but I liked it the best of all of them. It's hard to get two little kids to cooperate at the same time!

Nate's one year old!

This one is one of our favorites. We now own a large sepia one for our bedroom to match the one I splurged on for Ben's one year photos as well :)

Another favorite...

Ben's three now!

My favorite Ben shot from the day. What a ham!

Pregnancy Update - Week 9

Just a fast pregnancy update for this week. Things are going well, relatively speaking. I am still pretty ill all day long and have that constant feeling of nausea, as if I am about to throw up, which is no fun. I am a lot sicker this time around than with the others but am not as tired, which is odd given that I have two other children to care for now. I am praying that the morning sickness phase will pass by the 16th week, as it has with the other pregnancies.

On another note, I had my early blood testing last week. Since I have a history, I am screened for gestational diabetes at 8 weeks, instead of the usual 24-28 weeks. This came back negative with Nate's pregnancy, but this time, it came back positive: my blood sugar level was elevated after fasting for 12 hours. So, I am in the process of deciding if I will take the three hour glucose tolerance test to make sure I am in fact gestationally diabetic already, or if I will just begin testing my blood sugar levels 4-5 times daily and following a glycemic index diet and exercise routine right away. My chances of the three hour test coming back positive are high now, and my doctor is in favor of my just begining the diabetes routine since it already came back elevated. So, diabetes again for me. The good news is that this keeps me eating healthfully and exercising during pregnancy but it's no fun to have to diet and limit carbs when I am feeling so nauseous all the time with so many food aversions right now.

I will continue to provide updates every few weeks as I go through Baby C's pregnancy from now until November.

News....

SURPRISE! Well, our latest news this week is that we are expecting again. So, on or around November 2nd, 2009, Andrew and I will officially be outnumbered! We are very excited, but I am sure we will be busy come the fall since this baby and Nate will only be 19 months apart and we will have three children ages 3-1/2 and under. Yikes! That sounds so much worse when it's actually in writing - lol! :)

I went to the doctor yesterday and I am 7 weeks and 5 days along. I saw the heartbeat and all looks well. I am, however, feeling awful most of the day. I had morning sickness with the others and it was more than just in the morning, but it seems like this one is worse than the others, at least so far. Other than that, I am tired but less so than I was with the others as well. I already have bad heartburn (another hairy baby, possibly?) and I am starting to really show already. I will be tested early for gestational diabetes since I have a history with both of my other pregnancies and the doctor is testing my thyroid since I am absolutely freezing this time around. All the time, to the point that I am shaking. This could, however, have something to do with the fact that we now live in a 150-year-old farmhouse that does not use heat as efficiently as it could. :) He didn't seem too worried but wanted to run the test regardless since this can be a temporary problem with pregnancy sometimes.

Otherwise, we are doing well and are excited to spread our news. We have not yet told Ben but will tell him very soon. It will be fun to see how differently he reacts to the news this time since basically he was in Nate's position last time and didn't understand.

We will keep you posted as the pregnancy progresses!

Here is the obligatory ultrasound picture that really means nothing to anyone other than the doctor. But, I felt that I should post it, even though I was too lazy to hook our scanner up and just took a cryptic photo of it :). So, introducing Baby C.... Enjoy!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Benjamin!

Today was Ben's 3rd birthday! He has been talking about his "truck party" and his "real birthday" for weeks now and now they have both officially passed and we have a three-year-old. Can you believe it?

Each of the boys got a few small presents to open in the morning on their birthdays and then we got them one larger joint present - the Step 2 Fifties Diner. The boys love play food and this one is cute because it's a kitchen/diner on one side with a two-seat booth on the other side. So, at least 3-4 kids can play with it at once. It also is not too girly - more gender-neutral - for our little Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse! :)

Here's Ben opening his individual presents at breakfast:

He had no problems tearing off the wrapping paper this year!


His latest sound effect when he sees something he likes: "Oooooohhhh! Mommy!!"

Apparently, we are in the cheesy smile phase of life. I suppose this is better than no smiles, right? :)

Here are the boys in their diner. They love it and I love that it is near our kitchen so it gives them something to do while I am cooking or washing dishes.

Did I mention that cheesy smile? :)

Finally, Ben got one last present yesterday: a Cozy Coupe Pickup Truck from Pop and Nana. What a big hit! Thanks, Pop and Nana, for the fun gift!

Very Naughty

Nate has become increasingly naughty lately. Maybe it has something to do with now being a toddler. He is a fairly verbal guy so his favorite game is to throw things on the floor (the messier, the better), smile widely and say "uh oh!" while pointing at his poor prey that is now scattered all over the floor. Favorites tend to be food, his cup or bottle full of milk (top down, of course, so it leaks!) and anything that appears to be mine.

Another recent favorite activity is to break into all of our kitchen and bathroom cabinets when he is left to explore for a few minutes. Luckily, he has uncovered the Rubbermaid cabinet since at first he was fixated on the cabinet filled with appliances. So, I pretend to be "shocked!" at his discovery when he starts pulling out our plastic containers and tell him "no, no. no!" as he dumps them all over the place. What better way to encourage him to play with the things we really do not mind than reverse psychology??!?! :)

Caught red-handed!


So fresh!

Grandpa G and CC Visit

Grandpa G and CC visited with us for the weekend after the boys' party and on Saturday we happened to have fairly nice weather. So, here are some outdoor shots of the boys playing on the swings with their grandparents.

Ben and CC on the swings.

Ben and Grandpa G on the swings this time...

Both of the boys playing on their Woodland Playland that they got as a joint birthday gift from G and CC. Even Nate loves it!

Of course Barney has been having a great time playing outdoors with everyone lately, now that it's been warm enough to actually set foot outside again!

Construction Birthday Party

Last Friday, we threw a big joint birthday party for Ben and Nate to celebrate Nate's 1st birthday and Ben's 3rd birthday. Both sets of grandparents came in for the occasion and all of the kids in Ben and Nate's playgroups and the kids they see most regularly came to the party, too. In fact, we had 100% attendance - 21 kids in all!

When thinking up a theme for this year's big day, a few ideas crossed my mind but ultimately only one prevailed. The boys both love trucks and tools so of course we had to do a construction theme. How appropriate for two little guys who have witnessed so many home improvement projects in our own new house these past few months!

So, Foreman Ben and Foreman Nate of Martin Brothers Construction were "born" and the construction ideas really started to take off once the creative juices started to flow around our household. First, let's meet the birthday crew:

These are the invitations I made that went out for the big event:

One of the best parts of the day was that one of my dearest friends, Julia Spencer of More Precious Than Photography professionally photographed the party for us. Check out her blogsite for more of her work: http://morepreciousthan.blogspot.com/ .

So, on top of having a spectacular time during the festivities, I didn't have to fear that I would miss any crucial photo opportunities amidst all of the activity. So, most of these photos you see below are taken by Julia and a few of them were also given to me by my mother-in-law Cheri since she also always has the camera ready! Thanks to you both!

And so the workday begins...

As each "construction worker" entered the party zone, he or she had to "clock-in" to the job and collect his or her timecard. Each timecard had three different sections, zones 1-3, and each of these represented an activity that the child was to go off and do. Once a zone was completed, they reported back to the clock and got a sticker for their hard work.



Of course each worker needs a hard hat and a kid-sized Home Depot apron for the job (tied with Caution tape, naturally!). Thanks, Home Depot, for donating these aprons to us!



Certain sections of the house were roped off and trespassing was not allowed in other areas (by order of Ben and Nate!) :)


One of the zones was a Construction Play Zone, which, if not obvious, was basically a big play area filled with trucks, tools, cardboard bricks and other blocks. Even the girls seemed to have fun playing here!



Sammy and Will in the background.

Samantha and Amelia tom-boying it!

The other two "work zones" were crafts: in one area, Hard Hat Central, they had to decorate their hard hats with traffic sign foam stickers. In the other area, Color Site, there were Tonka pages to color.



CC helping Ben color a truck picture for the fridge.


Nicholas and Julia.Mary helping Ethan decorate his hat (with little Ezra in the sling!).

Elaina smiling and Tyler underneath her, hard at work. The last picture is Julia, hard hat all decorated already as she colors a picture.



Lunch was done in "worker style" as well. Each of the little workers got a personalized brown bag lunch filled with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a juice box. Some of them also ate some of the other sides - Wheel shaped pasta salad, fruit salad served in pickup-truck-shaped carved-out melons or "cone chips" (aka Doritos).

We used large trucks as serving bowls and each child got a mini traffic cone to match the large one that was in the center of the table.

For dessert, Ben and I made a fun cake, complete with an Orea road, cone candles, Whopper boulders and real Matchbox and Tonka trucks! With so many people at the party, it worked out well that we needed a larger cake since I actually made two of them that I combined into one large sheet cake. Each birthday boy was able to have his own side of the cake...and of course we sang Happy Birthday twice!

Both of the birthday boys always enjoy their desserts!

And what truck party would be complete without a large truck filled with Dirt Pudding!

Present time was extremely chaotic with two birthday boys and so many eager kids. But, I wanted to open the presents at the party since I know many children often look forward to seeing their gift get opened. Nate got his very open Anywhere Chair from Pop and Nana for his birthday so they each had their own special seat.

This car carrier was a big hit with the boys (thanks, Nicholas for the gift!). I just loved this photo of Kyle admiring it!

Finally, here are many of the great candid shots that were caught throughout the day. I especially loved seeing these since it helped me to really relive the event and see how much fun people were having with the activities and props :).

Grandpa G and a very smiley Nate!

...and with Ben. It looks like there is some mischief being exchanged here, if you ask me, based on that sly smile of Ben's!

Aunt Maggie drove in from Lancaster for the party so Ben and Nate had fun seeing her for their big day.
CC and Nate...

The Martin grandparents with the boys.

...and the Caulfield grandparents, too!

Kaya in a lovely profile shot.

Talya in deep thought!

Our youngest participating worker for the day, 7-1/2 month old Brianna. There were a few other babies there but Brianna was the youngest worker on the job.

Amy and Bri.

I LOVE this picture of Nate...one of my favorites from the whole day!

Our family photo...one serious and one as Ben tries to steal Nate's stickers off of his hat!

Nicholas.

Aimee and Jonathan.

Tricia and Jacob.

Jonathan eating his lunch. The poor guy sat next to Nate and kept having all of his food stolen by our little chow-hound!





I LOVE this picture of Ben, too!

Nana and Nate.

Nicholas and Samantha enjoying their lunches.

Julia concentrating on something.

Jonathan.

Julie and Koen, Talya's little brother.

...and there's Talya now!

Even the moms had fun with the hats and aprons! :) Here are Aimee and Barb striking a pose.



Pop with Nate.

What a fun day we had celebrating with our two little men. I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos and got as into the construction theme as we did while we were planning this party. Check back on Friday for some photos from Ben's actual birthday. These birthdays never seem to end around here this time of year - ha ha!