Songs and Giggles

Just a quick post to share some video. The first one is this years Christmas Musical at church. I just mashed together some clips so that you could see the kids without having to listen to the whole thing.  I think you'll really enjoy the back of Jonah's head in this one ;) and the second is some precious giggling from my littlest one.

Anywhere, Though Sadly, Not Anytime

I've been meaning to put this post together for a LONG time! This post is all Jonah (though if you manage to make it to the end of the post you'll be rewarded with the sweetest video of Rowan and Liam). More specifically, it's all about the places we find Jonah sleeping! 

Sleep is very elusive in our house right now. The only one who is really getting any quality sleep around here is Liam. He sleeps through everything! Jonah and Rowan are another story. Rowan is now 5 months old and has already had three colds in his short little life as well as a new tooth, robbing him of quality sleep and consequently robbing us of quality sleep. Jonah has been potty training, making night time really fun, and he also wakes up randomly throughout the night and can't get back to sleep. But enough whining, back to the story. 

Every night before we go to bed we go in and check on the boys, cover them up, pick up their books, smooch them all over. But the best part of the whole thing is Jonah. Where or how we will find Jonah sleeping! We have taken several pictures for the purposes of documentation, but believe me there could have been so many more :) And in all of these pictures he was sound asleep, completely dead to the world!

These first few are in the toddler bed in the old room.

That's Jonah's elephant (or elmetant), who is frequently part of the show.

Legs wrapped up like a mermaid

Elmetant again.

This was transitioning to the new room right before he got his big boy bed.

Now we're in the big boy bed with the toddler rails.

This one is my personal favorite. We had a babysitter that night and after she left I went in to check on the boys. Now, imagine, there was no light on in the room when I went in there. I couldn't find Jonah anywhere! I looked in the bed, he wasn't there. I looked in the closet, under the bed, in Liam's bed, everywhere. I thought the babysitter kidnapped him! Not really. Then I looked closer and realized he was stuffed in the 6 inch space between the rail and the wall, face flattened against the mesh! So, like any good parent, I left him there until Edwin got home so that he could see too :)

Here is another perspective of that same cozy sleeping space.

Same PJ's (they're his favorite), different night. He clearly likes tiny places for sleeping. This spot between the head board and the gym mat I keep under the bed is BARELY big enough for his little body. And he was sound asleep here!

I called Edwin in to see and help me get him back into bed. Edwin grabbed his legs and gently started to pull and Jonah sucked in those little legs like a turtle with it's shell and continued to sleep!

Look how small that space is!

You made it! So here is the video I promised :)

Birthdays, Brothers and Goodbyes

September was a fun and busy month for the Martinez Family! Liam's birthday is the 23rd of September and just like his mama, he LOVES to celebrate birthdays. This year, his 4th birthday, he got three parties. So he told me when he turns 8 he gets seven parties! Ha, just like his mama!

The weekend before Liam's birthday we went up to Canada and celebrated with our cousins. Alek was born three days before Liam so we had a joint Race Car themed party. Mady put everything together and it was amazing! I would put more pictures here, but I had too many pictures to share already. But they each had their own checkered cake, there were edible stoplights and little candy cars with bear cracker drivers, gift bags and games galore! Mady had them running races, painting Lightning McQueens, biking, doing crafts, it was AMAZING! She and Edwin's other cousin, Ceci, have an incredible gift for planning parties. If you ever need party planning help they are the ones to call. Edwin and I just brought some of the gift bag items and the food. Pretty good trade off, don't you think?

The weekend of Liam's birthday we had his second party here at home. He requested a green frog party, so that is what I gave him! Granted, I didn't manage to come up with games (though there was a frog piñata), but the kids and adults I think had a great time. And as always, we had plenty of food, because that is what we do! Liam requested his favorite, Sopa Verde, so we called it frog soup, and tried to stick with the frog theme throughout the food. My precious friend, Renee, offered to make the cupcakes, so OF COURSE I let her! I gave here a picture and she made the magic happen.

Liam loved every minute of each of his birthday and is still talking about them both. I imagine he'll be talking about them for a long time, because he still talks about his fish party we threw him when he was two! Amazing that he remembers it! He is so fun to throw a party for. It was worth every minute of work.

Below are just some other random pictures from September and early October. My sweet little Rowan is such a delight! He smiles all the time and giggles and just makes my heart melt constantly. I mean, just look at that face!

And I love this one of Jonah, because I know without a doubt that he is going to be bigger than his daddy long before I'm ready. I know it's going to happen overnight and I'll love looking back at him, so tiny in his daddy's tee shirt! What big clothes to fill.

Super cute little boys! Liam and Jonah love Rowan so much. The are constantly laying by him (or on him), giving him hugs and kisses, reading to him, making him laugh, talking to him in really high voices like Edwin and I do. I love it!

Someday I'm going to do a blog post totally devoted to the places we find Jonah sleeping when we go into check on him at night. There are SO MANY! This time I came in and he was NO WHERE to be found. I looked in the closet, in Liam's bed, under the bed, felt the covers, I couldn't find him anywhere! Now, remember, it was dark in there. All I had was the night light. So I turned on the light and finally saw him mushed in the six inch space between the bed rail and the wall. I don't know if you can see it, but his face is literally mushed agains the mesh! So, what did I do? Like any good mom I left him there another half hour so that I could watch Edwin's reaction when he went to check on him! :)

I mean, really, isn't he the cutest baby!?

The worst part of the month was saying goodbye to Heidi. For those of you who don't know, she has helped our family tremendously in the last two years since Jonah was born. She's been the Jill of all trades here, but most valuable to me was her help with the kids. She is the boys honorary auntie in every way. They love her so much that when she is in the room, they forget about me! And now, she's gone to Russia. Heidi was like my right arm and it hurt to see her go :(
The boys were pretty sad too. I think they both totally understood she wasn't coming back and were pretty upset when she drove away.  WE MISS YOU ALREADY, HEIDI!

And last, but not least, a super cute video I got last night of Liam and Rowan. Now, I don't know everyone in the world, but I'm fairly certain Liam is the best big brother the world has to offer!

FIRST First Day of School!

Today was my baby Liam's first day of Pre-school! We have been waiting for this and talking about it for a LOOOONG time. Liam was made to go to school. Everything about it suits him and he's been so excited. And school did not disappoint! He loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back. It was such a blessing to drop him off and have him be so happy to be there. It was almost as if we didn't exist after he entered his classroom. 

Little brother Jonah did not want to be left out and had to take his backpack too!

With his buddy Merritt, who will be in pre-school with him

Organizing school supplies with the teacher

Checking out some of the toys. Jonah still wanted to stick around an play too.

Friday night Edwin took Liam and Jonah on a campout in the back yard. They loved EVERY minute of it. He made a big deal of setting up the tent, roasting hot dogs, making smores, counting stars. They can't wait to do it again.

And for Labor Day drove up Mt Baker and went on a hike. The boys had a great time and even little Rowan was a good hiker.

Exploring the water coming out of the rocks.

Rowan's mule

 And this little guy is too cute not to get his own picture on the blog!

Rowan at 7 Weeks

We had A friend of ours, Gabe Rodriguez, come over and do Rowan's 7 week photos. We've done all the boys at that age. He did a phenomenal job, I love them all! But these are my favorites. The kids had a great time with him too. The were hamming it up for him! Thank you so much Gabe!