Welcome Home Dillin!*

Top Left: Jeremy loved exploring and finding cool things on base
Top Middle: Dillin's BIG gun.
Top Right: We were dancing!
Botton Left: Hover Craft Dillin came to shore on
Bottom Right: Welcome Home!

My brother, Dillin, has been on a deployment for 7 months. He came home this week! We are so happy he is stationed here in Cali so we can be there when he leaves and for his homecoming! We took advantage of it and went to the beach for the day!

The people next to us brought dump trucks. Genius idea!
Series of events.
Fill the bucket, pour the bucket into the truck, dump the truck,
Be very roux of yourself and give Mommy a cheesy smile!
He must have done this 10 times.

J loved the water! Capri slept most of the time, except to eat, of course!

Sink or Swim*

Learning to float!
This is on DAY 3!

Jeremy is in swim lessons! We are doing a Mommy and Me class. I love it! It's a 2 week class and he was swimming by the end of it! I think the time with me has been really good for him too. Just mommy and J, where Capri is not involved!

Daddy got to come a few days.
Ok, truth be told. . . The instructor asked if there were any days
Daddy could come because I kept "saving" him in the exercise below. 

DAY 2. . .
Pull J into the pool under water
Turn him around and let him swim to the wall.
He olds onto the wall until I come to him.
This technique is teaching him how to fall in the pool and swim to the wall immediately.
It was really rough for me to watch him struggle to get to the wall. 

On the first day. . .
We had to get out early because J was falling asleep in the pool.
As soon as we got out and wrapped  up he fell asleep on me! 

Left: Jumping off the wall! Day 5
Top right: Swimming on his own! Day 4
Middle: Diving to the bottom for rings. Day 3
Bottom: Swimming from Mommy to Daddy, Day 5

Auntie came to hold Capri for most of the sessions.
We put her in to pool the last day to get her use to the water.

Here's a few videos:

You know your a Mom when. . .*

This is a collection from friends on Facebook. I love them! 

1. You whistle or sing the tunes from toys or TV shows when the kids are napping.
2. You become a pro at doing things one handed.
3. Make up is no longer a necessity to get you and the kids out the door on time.
4. Date Nights are SO relaxing!
5. When walking around the house, you instinctively walk over toys. By the end of the day, you think, "How did I not trip on these all day."
6. You have been exposed to poop, pee, vomit and possibly a tantrum before most people get out of bed!
7. You find yourself curdled up in a toddler bed because there is nothing better then sleepy cuddles with your 2 year old. 
8. You find hot wheels cars, half eaten suckers and barbie shoes in your purse.
9. You are changing a diaper and a poop blast all over you and the carpet doesn't phase you or the mommy friends you have over.
10. When a boggery juicy baby kiss melts your heart!!
11. You step out of the shower and your hubby says, "Um, your leaking." You scramble to get a bottle because you don't want to loose the precious drops of boob juice!
12. When going shopping by yourself feels like a vacation and going on a family vacation feels like work.
13. You used to dread getting stuck at train tracks, now you are hoping for one to see the glee on that little one's face!
14. Floaters in the bathtub are no biggie
15. You can function better on 4 hours sleep than you can with 9.
16. You're in the grocery store, some one whines, "mommmm", you respond with, "what" then remember you didn't bring your kids.
17. You can only laugh when your toddler takes a black marker to your white bed sheets.
18. You don't bother with perfume because it will be masked by the scent of sour breast milk in no time.
19. When you realize being a MOM is the best job in the world. (This one is from my Aunt. So sweet that she supports my job 100%)
20. I love you brings a whole new meaning.
21. You are 1/2 down your street when you realize you don't have any shoes on.
22. When, before you had kids, you'd hear a screaming child & see a frustrated mom & think "geeze, control your kid"....now you look at her with understanding & say "I get it!"
23. You enjoy buying and doing things for your kids rather then treating your self.
24. You're eating In-N-Out and you give your last french fry to your 4 year old.
25. When you can change a diaper and kiss a boo boo at the same time.
26. Sex becomes the new sleep. "Was last night good, baby. YES! We slept 5 hours straight!"
27. When a little one falls in the pool, 3 other people jump in  and you are moved to tears.
28. BIG family hugs are what you look forward to the moment Daddy walks in the door from being gone 4 days!
29. The baby pees on your bed just between removing the old diaper and putting the new one on and you put a towel down and go back to sleep.
30. You get excited at bowl movement intervals (this one is from B!)

Capri - One Month!*

She just melts my heart! A firefighter's girlfriend is starting a photography business and wanted to practice on Capri! Practice? Really? Look like she has been doing this for years! I LOVED the pictures!

Top Left: Ready for her first day at church, 3 days old
top Right: First beach day,  1 month
Bottom Left: Family day at Kimo & Auntie Donna's, 10 days old
Bottom Right: Sleeping with Daddy, 2 days old 

All wrapped up in her snuggly blanket! Thank you Zia! 12 days old

One Month Update:

• You have put yourself on a great eating schedule (every 3 hours). EBF, of course. 
• Not so lucky with sleep! You are random throughout the day. And are ALWAYS wide awake when we want to go to bed! No matter if it's 9pm or midnight! But once we get you to sleep (usually on Daddy's chest) you sleep soundly, except to eat every three hours.
• Your big Brother is so sweet with you! He is concerned when you cry and searches for a binky. He loves to take baths with you! He sings songs to you (some we all know and some he made up.) He asks to hold you and kisses you all over! He loves your toes! He does NOT like when Mommy nurses you, but we are working through this! 
• Daddy got to stay home with us for 3 weeks while we adjusted! 
• You search and move your head around when Daddy or Mommy walk into the room talking.
• You are great with tracking things with your eyes. 
• You don't mind tummy time! We let you sleep on your tummy at night sometimes, shhhh don't tell the doctors! I will admit I don't sleep as well on those nights and check on you often.
• You sleep in your bassinet in our room. On really rough nights we let you snuggle between us! 
• You have already been to a wedding at 9 days old! Daddy and Mommy were all teary at the thought of giving you away one day! 
• We fall more in love with you every day!

That's a wrap for now! Ok, Ok, one more set pictures because I can't resist!

It's Great to be Two!*

"I'm 2!"
We practiced this for weeks!

SERIOUSLY?! You are telling me our little boy is 2??? 

Man, how the time just slips by you! Jeremy has quite the personality! He is ALL that is boy! We pray that we are guiding him in the right direction every day. It's a huge task the Lord has put before us. But with His help, only His help can we succeed. it's our prayer that we are teaching Jeremy the importance of loving others, treating them like Jesus would
and to have fun while embracing his childhood! 

Opening gifts.  I have no idea what was so funny in the center picture! 

He could NOT wait o open this!
Or ride it for that matter!
Thank you Uncle David & Auntie Danielle~

No traditional cake for his 2nd birthday! We had bingets. A traditional Mardi Gras dessert from Louisiana!
I'm tellin ya. . . I was supposed to live in the South! The stork's GPS must have been off!
Daddy loves the Far left picture. 

We are soaking up the last few weeks that Jeremy is an only child!

Life with 2 Kids*

This was the first time he asked to hold her!
AND he shared his blanket with her! That's HUGE!

Whew! I am so busy, it's unbelievable! I can't even get on here to document it! B just came home from a 4 day shift. He needed to run an errand and took J with him to give me a break. Love that guy! I am sitting here watching our precious girl sleep. I know I should be cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, taking a nap, writing thank you cards, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the floors but here I sit (enjoying the quiet), veging and blogging!

Jeremy is so sweet to Capri! He has nicknamed her Lulu. It's catchy!
We all call her Sissy Lulu. She even has a song!

Last night was particularly hard! Jeremy had nightmares all night. I finally brought him in to my bed. He was so excited to get to sleep with mommy he was bouncing all over! Once he was calm, Capri woke up and got him riled up again! By 12:30am (he goes to bed at 8:30pm) we all were tucked in, sleeping soundly. Jeremy woke up 2 more times with bad dreams. One time I had to shake him awake, which startled him and scared him. My heart is breaking for him. He was scared to go back to sleep but couldn't keep his eyes open. We prayed and he finally fell asleep. I am so angry that Satan can attack our family like this. We will be praying and finding scripture to rebuke him. This may sound like a "Crazy Christian" but we need to do anything to keep our little boy safe!

I'm so blessed to be their Mommy

Jeremy is adjusting well to his little sister. There are a few times during the day he wants her to go to sleep so he can have Mommy all to himself. She does sleep a lot of the day but not at times he would like. He has been requiring a lot of attention. He used to be good at playing on his own for about a half hour, which allowed me to get things done, here and there. But I when I was on bedrest, whomever was here would play with him non-stop (which as great) and he didn't have to entertain himself. We are re-learning this task!

Helping Sissy with Tummy Time!

Capri is a month old already! I will post later (hopefully) in the week with her one month milestones and some adorable newborn pictures!

Awesome new stroller. We got a killer deal on Craigslist!

Our camera broke so I am using my phone! Boo! And we still don't have a picture of all 4 of us! UGh!
That's all for now. That list above is screaming at me!

Father's Day project we managed to get done! Yay!

It's hard to get a picture with both of them!
Jeremy is a little grumpy because he bumped himself on something. Ouch!

37 Weeks and a BABY!*

It's a GIRL!!

Capri Renee Martens
May 17, 2012
6 lbs 6 oz
17 3/4 inches

Well, 37 weeks turned out to be pretty event filled! We delivered beautiful, healthy baby Capri! I think it's fair to say the Progesterone injections worked wonderfully! One week EXACTLY to the day, and the hour from the last injection, after 10 hours of labor and 40 minutes of pushing, this is what we have to show:

Top Left: Right to Mommy's chest after delivery! 5 minutes old
Top Right: 12 minutes old
Bottom Left: Gigi meeting Capri. 1 hour old
Bottom Right: Daddy and his Girl. 2 hours old

1 day old! 

Big brother meeting Little Sister!
12 hours old

The best part about the whole day: She was/is healthy!! We got to bring her home!

 We stopped by the NICU on the way out to show her off to Jeremy's nurses!

 God was so faithful to us! He always is!