Awwww...

One of the things I most look forward to, having two kids, is seeing them interact with and play with one another. I know that I won't see much of it until Jonah gets a little older, but I am really treasuring even the briefest of hints at them being buddies. Liam wanted nothing to do with Jonah at first, but is showing more and more interest in him everyday. He started with pointing and saying "baby" whenever he saw Jonah. Then he started inquiring after him when he wasn't in the room. Soon Liam wanted to touch him, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Then he was willing to include Jonah in his nightly round of bedtime kisses (probably a professional stall technique). And lately Liam is paying attention to Jonah and wanting to be in one some of his play time. He gave Jonah a toy, rubbed Jonah's little head (all unprompted by us), and then last night he blessed us with this little scene...

Baths and Bedtime

I know from experience with Liam that all I have to do is blink my eyes and my little newborn is two years old already. They grow up so fast! I had a friend tell me once that when it comes to our children the years fly by, it is the days that seem to drag on forever. And there are times when she is so right!

Jonah has been with us now for two and a half weeks and it has felt like a very long time. He has been quite a fussy little guy and we have gotten very little sleep. I started to panic, thinking that he was going to be colicky and fussy for months to come! But we found out the other day that he was just extremely hungry, poor little guy. We started supplementing his feedings with bottles and he is a completely different baby. He still has some very fussy moments and isn't the easiest to get to sleep, but things are going much better the last few days.

Today we gave him his first real bath. He has had a sponge bath or two, but we couldn't fully bathe him until his umbilical and circumcision were totally healed. Naturally we couldn't help but get some video and pictures of his first bath and our cute squeaky clean little man! My favorite part? When his hair is wet it is really curly and so so sweet!

Not to be outdone, Liam has given us some good laughs lately. I noticed in the last week or so that every time I go to get him in the morning or after naps, and when we catch him out of bed when he is supposed to be going to sleep, that he is hanging out behind his door. We have no idea why. There aren't any toys or books there and he doesn't take any over to play with either. Anyway, last night Edwin and I went to check on him before we went to sleep. All of the lights were off in the house and it was dark outside. I opened the door and it bumped into something on the floor about 1/3 of the way open. At first I couldn't see what toy Liam left there that would be blocking the door. But on further inspection I saw the sweet sleeping face of my little man! Liam had snuck out of bed and fallen asleep hanging out behind the door. Why? We have no idea. But it made for some good laughs and funny pictures!

Now Presenting: Jonah David Martinez!

But first, a little side track on Liam. The night before Jonah was born Edwin and I were watching a movie and Edwin got up to get some water. He noticed Liam's bedroom light was on and went to investigate. Liam has learned how to turn on the light but is still a little too short to turn it off. This is what Edwin found when he opened the door. Liam had turned on the light and then wore out and finally went to sleep, using his monkey to block out the bright light. We thought it was so cute and funny, I had to share it with you!

In bigger news our newest little man, Jonah David Martinez, was born August 3, 2010 at 7:25 in the morning. He weighted 8 lbs. 13 oz., was 21 inches long and has an amazing set of lungs! I had my first contraction at around 5:30 AM and by 6:00 AM was in full blown labor shouting at Edwin that we needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. We got there with not much time to spare. Jonah was born about 40 minutes after we arrived. He was face down and the doctor had to turn him over before I could push. She told us that if he would have been face up he probably would have been born a half hour earlier! We could have had this little guy in the car on the way to the hospital if that were the case!

Here are Liam and Jonah meeting for the first time. Liam did NOT like the hospital and he was really not OK with me in the hospital gown and bed. He wanted nothing to do with me! Poor little guy!

Grandma and Grandpa Grant arrived a few hours after Jonah was born. They came for a brief visit to the hospital and then went to pick up Liam and take him home. They stayed with us for about 10 days and were so much help. They cooked, cleaned, ran errands, took great care of Liam and did just about anything else we asked of them. I am so grateful for their time with us. We don't have many pictures, mainly because we were in survival mode the first week. But here is a picture of Grandma holding her new grandson.

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Christine were also able to come up to the hospital for a few hours to meet Jonah.

Here is our precious little guy. I LOVE all of that hair! I think I will be a little devastated if it all falls out like Liam's did. Liam had black hair when he was born, though not nearly as much as Jonah has. Then all his hair fell out and grew back in blonde!

Mommy and Jonah just after eating. You can sort of see in this picture that he has some dimples when he smiles.

Proud Papa!

Our little guy does not like to sleep on his back or be swaddled at all. He much prefers his tummy or his side. So we put him down that way and pray like crazy!

Mommy and her little men. I love that they look so different!

I think Jonah will get used to being knocked around pretty quick!

Big Adventures

It feels like summer has finally arrived in Bellingham and we are taking advantage of it! Sleeping has been a little difficult for all of us, but the sunny days are worth it. Friday night Edwin decided to put Liam in his winter PJ's for some reason and when I went to check on him before I went to bed I discovered that Liam now knows how to take his own PJ's off without any help. Poor little guy must have been so hot!

Saturday Edwin took Liam out on the Sound with our friend, Tom, and his son, Maxwell, to go crabbing. Liam LOVED the whole experience and now has a new little buddy just his size. Well, no kid Liam's age is really just his size, they are always quite a bit shorter. But fun, nonetheless.

Here is some video of the crabbing.

Then, Saturday afternoon we went up to Ferndale for the Annual Old Settlers Picnic. We had never been before and are making it a policy to go to as many of the festivals in Whatcom County as we can. Some have been disappointing and others have been way beyond expectation (we have developed quite a fascination with the Sumas Bull-o-Rama). Anyway, They had a little carnival, tons of food, a petting zoo, museums and cabins filled with interesting artifacts and, I'm sure, a lot more that we didn't see due to time constraints. But we did what we went to do, which was take Liam to the petting zoo. He loves animals and we thought it would be fun for him to be able to get up close and personal with some of them. He also loves slides, so we paid a ridiculous price for tickets so that he could go down a big slide a few times.

It was a big day of adventures for our little man, so today, Sunday, we are taking it easy at home, eating the crab the guys caught.

A Little Bit of Liam

This time I have a really good excuse for not blogging in awhile. We lost our camera. Very, very sad. We looked everywhere we could think of for weeks and finally bit the bullet and bought a new one. I couldn't wait for it to turn up with a baby on the way!

Speaking of baby on the way, we have two and a half weeks left until the official due date, August 8, and it couldn't come any sooner! I am ready to meet this little boy and have him outside of my body. It has been hard to not be able to play with Liam much or run around or even enjoy the short heat wave we had. But Liam has been glowing under the care of his daddy. Edwin has been spending a lot of time with him lately and he has definitely become daddy's little man.

Edwin's mom, Evie (or Nana to Liam), came out for a week to spend some time with Liam and to help me out some, in early July. Liam and I were devastated when she left! He loved all the attention and I loved all the help. Unfortunately for her she came right during our heat wave and she doesn't really enjoy the heat. Especially in our home without A/C. A few the thermostat was reading in the 90's! But it was a great opportunity to break out the kiddie pool and sprinkler. Liam LOVED them!

I love this picture. Edwin is so much fun sometimes. He came out to play with us and Liam wasn't too sure about getting in the pool yet. So Edwin, fully clothed, just gets in and sits down! Liam hopped right in and started to play with daddy. I would have gotten in too, but there wasn't much room left. OK, that's a lie. I had absolutely no intention of sitting in Liam's tiny pool.

The kids having fun...

I had to add this picture for a few reasons. One, Liam is just so cute when he sleeps. He was so hot last night, poor little guy, but he just laid there for about a half hour staring at the ceiling holding on to his three animals. I went in and took the picture when he finally fell asleep. Two, it was pitch dark in is room and I used the night portrait function on my camera. I was impressed with how the picture came out. It looks like the middle of the day!

Finally, of most importance to Liam right now are the ABC's. He is truly obsessed with them. He can identify all 26 capital letters easily now. And he loves to play with his magnetic letters. He will stand at the fridge of 30 to 45 minutes just naming letters and moving them around into different patterns. Genius right? Smart and artistic! He calls out letters on signs and in books and repeatedly chants throughout the day, "ABC, ABC, ABC". Here is a little video of his fridge time. I just love my soon to be eldest son!

Annual Trip to Chelan

Last Year we had so much fun in Chelan with our friends Renee and Mark, that we decided to make it an annual event! The benefits are many, including but not limited to the fact that the weather is much better east of the mountains and we like the heat, we have kids the same age, we like to do similar activities and every family should have an annual trip, right? So this is ours! Someday when the kids are a little older we might switch it up to things like Disneyland or camping, but for now a nice condo with a pool will do just fine.

Renee and Mark have a son, Merritt, just 2 1/2 months older than Liam and a daughter, Morgan, who is 6 months old now and will be just 8 months older than our baby on the way. Much to my disappointment I didn't get any pictures of Morgan, who is one of the cutest babies you will ever see (mainly due to the fact that she never, and I mean NEVER, stops smiling). I guess that just proves that we were having way too much fun to stop and take pictures!

We drove over separately now that we don't all fit in one car. But that turned out to be a good thing because Liam had been sick for a week before we left so he was just MISERABLE to ride in the car with! I was so glad to get to the condo that afternoon and put him down for a few moments of peace. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and playing in the great yard outside our back door.

The following morning we made our annual trip to Blueberry Hills for some amazing breakfast! Even the kids love it. Note: Morgan is actually real, and we didn't leave her at the condo. She is sleeping on the floor in her car seat.

The rest of the trip consisted of more eating (isn't that what your supposed to do on vacation?), some pool time, beach time, a whole lot of play time, some hot tub time, and even some world cup soccer.

As always, Liam would much rather play with a ball than pretty much anything else.

The boys loved the beach and spent a ton of time playing in the sand.

And then, just like that, the trip ends and you wonder if someone has fast forwarded your life just for the length of your vacation. How do they always go so fast? Liam did much better on the car ride home, but the last hour seemed like an eternity for all of us! Let me just say that toddlers and road trips do NOT mix well. Pregnancy and road trips don't mix all that well either.

Another Month Gone By, Already?

Why does it seem like April and May went by without my knowledge? And what is more strange is that they can't have flown by because this pregnancy is dragging on and on. I feel like I have been pregnant for over a year as opposed to 7 months! So, somehow the time flew by but it also stood still.

I meant to blog earlier this month but Edwin erased my pictures from the camera. Don't be too upset for me, he managed to get them on his computer first without knowing they were there. So my pictures are on they busiest guy on earth's computer and I have little hope they will ever make it to mine. I was going to tell you that Liam got out of his crib for the first time! I had picture evidence of the giant goose egg on his forehead. We decided to wait before transitioning him out of his crib to see if there would be a repeat performance and there hasn't been. Lucky us, because I am so not ready to play the "get back in your bed" game. Soon, just not quite yet, please!

Mid may Edwin went back down to Guatemala so Liam and I packed up our stuff and headed for Bopa's house (Liam's name for Grandpa AND Grandma). I introduced Liam to bubbles and they are a new fascination for him. He gets so excited and screams and jumps up and down and chases them around. But he refuses to be in control of the bubble gun I use. He will not touch it. That doesn't seem very kid like to me, but maybe it takes all of the magic out when he has to do the work! So we took the bubble gun to Bopa's house and spent a lot of time playing outside.

Liam has a ton of new words and is trying new things every day. He has started to sing a little bit, loves to do the motions to children's songs, can say the letters A through G when prompted, and he has started counting but only likes to say two and four. He can say one and three, but prefers not to most of the time. I took this picture on the count of two because he gets so tickled every time he says two.

Liam started saying thank you, unprompted, at the appropriate times (what a lovely child I am raising). He is comfortable putting his face in the bath water and blowing bubbles. I have some videos but am too lazy to download them. He sits and plays with legos for long periods of time, loves to be outside, mainly playing with rocks, loves to eat and can't wait for snack time, and still loves books. He spends so much time sitting in his room reading! Edwin and I are starting to feel fear for what our next child will be like since this one is so mellow most of the time.

The baby in the belly is doing well and growing as he should be. He kicks all of the time and really hard too. I am starting to wonder if he ever sleeps! I think he is going to be a little more like his daddy. Energy abounds with the Martinez men, so Lord help me! 10 more weeks to go to carry this baby full term. 4 1/2 if he has a mind of his own like Liam did! But the doctors are monitoring me fairly closely so hopefully we would be a little more prepared this time. We are praying to carry him to full term and that he won't be as big as Liam was. If you don't remember, Liam was already 6 lbs 10 oz, nearly six weeks early!