Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween around here. Jeremy has invested a ton of time and energy (and money) into making it great- and I love that about him. He's very creative and enjoys this time of year so much.

However, the Halloween party is definitely a 2 day ordeal. It takes one entire day to set up. Then you stay up super late having fun (p.s. 2am is way too late for a 34 week pregnant girl. I definitely shouldn't have had a coke at 7pm that kept me up). The next day is spent sleeping in a bit and taking it all back down. And it really does seem to take 2 solid days.

I'm not complaining though. I do think it's worth it. Remnants of the night before also crack me up: a giant mustache, gray tufts of hair from a costume, green finger prints, spider webs in weird places... I know people had a great time and it's fun to remember the effort folks put into their own costumes to also invest in our party.

If you didn't come this year, we hope you join us next year. You better start thinking up a way to beat "the Admiral's" costume from this year. :)

Wild child

It's 8:45 am. Claire just took off her own pjs. I changed her diaper. She then took said diaper off, ran through the house, literally dodging me (like crawling and jumping away from my pregnant self), and climbed on to the kitchen table to dance around, naked.

I have a picture, so you can ask me about it sometime, but I'm not posting it here.

I love mornings at home. (I'm not being sarcastic)

Do-over

Can I please have a do-over this morning?

Claire has entered the "mine!"-tantrum-"no!"-stage. I do not love it. We discovered that time-outs actually work for her and calm her down. This morning she was so crazy that I put her down for a nap- and she fell asleep immediately. After sleeping 12 hours straight last night. (I'm not complaining about this sleep, trust me!!!)

On top of feeling very pregnant this week, my patience is at an all-time low. I'm tired of everything. My back is killing me. Basically, I'm your typical 33 1/2 week pregnant girl who is chasing after a toddler.

So my do-over will start after Claire wakes up from her nap this morning and I get a shower. Maybe a lunch date with my girl....

My love-hate relationship with allrecipes.com

One of my biggest pet peeves right now:

People who rate recipes 5 stars on allrecipes.com but they basically re-write the recipe in their review. People, you made up a new recipe with your 15 changes; don't rate the original!

Thanks :)

Hanging in there...

So I'm 33 weeks pregnant. Crazy! It's really weird to think about because I was 33 weeks pregnant when I got sick with Claire. I went into the hospital at 33 1/2 weeks and delivered her at exactly 34 weeks. So far so good this time around though! I'm going to the doctor every week just to make sure everything is okay with me. And I'm actually resting and taking good care of myself. Really, I am. I'm learning a lot and I'm enjoying Claire so much. And I'm not anxious about HELLP coming back; I can't stop it and the Lord will take care of us.

With that said, if you feel compelled to pray for Mary Jane and I, I would be appreciative. I would really love to meet her when she's full-term and no earlier :)

Mom's new toy

I am now officially the owner of a new Droid. I LOVE it!

My old phone was 2 1/2 years old and not working well. My computer is working again (thank you husband and John!) but the battery life stinks and it's getting up there as well.

The husband did some research and took me to the Verizon store yesterday to pick out a shiny new toy. THANK YOU!!!

Btw, I might be a little obsessed. I'm pretty sure I had 3 or 4 separate dreams about my new phone last night.

New Fall Fave

My girl loves a whole apple.
Minus the skin, please.

Little Mama

Claire's going to be a great big sister. She has already had practice over at the Peel's with baby Emma. Jill has taught her how to be "gentle" with her baby girl and has even let Claire give Emma a bottle! I'm grateful for such a great friend who also cares for my girl one day a week.

Claire has also been practicing at home. A few months ago I showed Claire how to give her doll a bottle and she's been doing it ever since. Then about a month ago I swaddled her doll and we instantly had a new game. Yesterday, I watched Claire climb her changing table, doll in tow. Claire laid her doll down and pretended to change her diaper pulling out a wipe and everything. No lie. I was totally floored!!!

Well, tonight I realized she had gotten awfully quiet in her room. I walked in to find her tucking her doll in to sleep in the bouncy seat. Claire was putting covers around her and saying, "Night night." It was absolutely adorable. I managed to get a pretty good picture as she played next to her "sleeping" baby before Claire got tucked in herself.

Echo Valley Retreat

Two weekends ago Jeremy went on our church's Men's Retreat. Our House Group all (well almost all) went down the second night and met up with our guys when the retreat was over. We had a great time! It was a really nice place outside of Cuba, MO in the middle of nowhere. Claire loved wandering around and watching all of the kids.

She really liked sitting on the two big tractors. Claire loves anything that she can pretend to drive these days.

We're still here...

I'm 31 weeks pregnant. That's my excuse for not blogging.

Here's what's been happening in the Martin household:

1. I'm still nesting like crazy. It's rubbed off on the husband. We've cleaned out a ton of stuff from our house and it's really awesome. We still have a bit of work to do in Claire's room, though, before we move her.

2. Claire said, "Amy," really well this weekend and even called out her name when Amy and Jeremy came back from an errand. So cute. The "Aunt" part throws her off but this is a good start.

3. Speaking of Claire talking, it's ridiculous how much she is saying. I really love it.

4. Claire's going to be a ladybug for Halloween. I had to hide the skirt that goes to her costume because she was so excited about it.

5. We're slowly getting ready for our Halloween party. We would love for you to come, let us know if we forgot to send you an evite. All are welcome.

6. I'm going to the doctor every week now to have my blood work checked in order to catch HELLP syndrome as fast as possible if it decides to come back. Everything is good so far!

7. I really love my job. I love that I get to do that and be at home majority of the time. I'm really thankful.

8. Speaking of thankful, I'm grateful to have a supportive and helpful husband. He told me last night that I needed to be really lazy for the duration of this pregnancy to take care of myself. Um, okay. :)

9. Mary Jane is an active little baby. Some folks have told me that their active babies during pregnancy have turned into very chill babies after they're born. Praying for that!

10. Apparently, I'm suddenly "showing" a lot! Every time I turned around today someone commented on my belly or asked my due date. It doesn't bother me one bit.

Oh, Claire....

My favorite new thing Claire is doing:
Attempting to wink. It's the most adorable thing ever. She squints both eyes and kind of turns her head. We'll get a video ASAP.

My least favorite thing Claire is doing:
Getting angry if you even glance at her while she eats. She will tell you "no" and want you to turn away. This isn't an "all the time" thing but she's doing it a lot.