Renae's bridal shower

One of my sister's, Renae, is getting married in February so last night I went to one of her bridal showers. It was in San Clemente, which is about an hour and a half from where I live. The first picture is the Tyndall girls, my mom to the left, me, Renae and then Ruth to the right. The house the shower was at overlooked the ocean. To say the least, it was beautiful! I arrived just in time for the sun to set and so we took a few pictures. They weren't my favorite pictures because I look like a butterball turkey but nonetheless it's a picture of us. Instead of gifts we each brought an ornament for their tree next year and gave $$ to the money tree. Renae and Todd aren't registering so it was fun to do a different gift item than the usual registery gift.

Gobble Gobble

This year I cooked my first turkey and all the fun stuff that goes along with it. Alan had to work Thanksgiving evening so we decided to stay close to home and have our own Thanksgiving dinner/lunch instead of driving the 2 hours south to where my family lives. Thanksgiving evening I was able to visit Alan at his new station and he showed me around. The turkey came out good, not great, but good. We had lots of left overs and are all turkied out.

This is a picture of me yesterday. My belly is getting bigger and bigger. We are getting ready for him and have already moved furniture around. The office is now in our bedroom and our garage can no longer be used to park the car because of all the stuff that is sitting in there now. I need to go through a lot of it and reorganize it into the closets. The office looks nice in our room. I thought it would look like there's too much furniture but it actually fits in well. After getting organized it'll be time to paint and then get some baby furniture. I haven't had any leg cramps for a few weeks (knock on wood) so it has been a nice break. My belly is starting to get uncomfortable and will only continue to do so. I have to turn sideways to wash the dishes now.

23 weeks and baby clothes

What a blessing! I have a parent of a student in my class who in done having kids and her last one was a boy whose now 18 months. She was so kind and gave me 2 big tubs full of baby boy clothes. She said she was going to get rid of them anyway and thought of me to give them too. Alan and I had a ton of fun pulling clothes after clothes out of the tubs. It seemed like Mary Poppins purse where more and more just kept coming out of them or the feeding of the 5000 when the fish didn't stop coming. We ended up filling 3 trash bags full when we were done. We don't have any baby furniture yet so we're storing it all in the closet in bags. Thank you, Mrs. Walker!!




This is me this week at 23 weeks. I look huge in this picture. Some days I look bigger than other days. It must of been what I was wearing. Today I had my 24 weeks check up and the nurses eyes opened really big when we heard the heartbeat. He has a fast one! He moves a ton too. Last month, the ultrasound technician had an hard time getting pictures of him because he was moving so much. Alan and I are pretty mellow people but I have a gut feeling we're going to have an active one :)

Facebook

Okay, so I finally buckled down and joined facebook. Let me know if you are a member too so I can add you as a friend.

Random pictures & Leg cramps

Okay, so I have had it pretty easy being pregnant, no real morning sickness, nothing too dramatic until last night. I woke up to excruciating leg cramps. I had had a few mild ones last week but nothing like last night. My whole left leg started to cramp up and nothing would get the tension out. Massaging it felt worse and I had to wait it out for about 10 minutes which seemed like an eternity before it began to subside. It still hurts from last night and I'm worried it's going to happen again tonight. I've had leg cramps before when swimming and such but NOTHING like this one. I'm praying this is just a phase and goes away quickly. Any of my pregnant friends going through the same thing?

On another note, I've had some pictures I've taken in the past few weeks that I've been meaning to put up on the blog. They don't go together but instead of making a separate blog for each I'm putting them all together. Please excuse the randomness.


Last Saturday at Castaic Lake with some friends from our fellowship group from church for a southern BBQ and boating day. The food was sooo good and the water was really smooth. It was a great way to end a crazy week.

Josh and Katy were one of the couples that brought their boat to share with everyone.

Two weeks ago I had this picture taken. I was 19 weeks, now I'm 21 weeks.

My favorite baby outfit so far. We bought it right after we found out we're having a boy. I was too lazy to adjust the picture so it's sidways.

Right before the fire really took off and the whole hill was on fire. I didn't get too many pictures because we were running around frantically trying to get all our important papers together.

The smoke from one of the fires when we got home from church a week ago. At this time I really didn't think we'd get evacuated because it hadn't come over the hill yet. This was just before all the smoke dropped and made everything really dirty. It looked like the end of the world.

The smoke is dropping and coming over.

We're having a . . .

BOY!

After an extemely stressful few days of being evacuated from our house because the fire was right behind it, we were able to find out that we're having a BOY. At first he wasn't cooperating and had his legs crossed so the technician couldn't tell and didn't want to give an opinion because she really didn't know. I begged her to keep trying and maybe if I got up to go to the bathroom the baby would turn around. Sure enough, he did move and it was very apparent he's a boy. She kept telling us he's a boy and that it was very clear. She even offered to buy us a new wardrobe if he wasn't :).

It made the stressful and tiring day end nicely. We are now back at home with Roxy (our cat)and the fire has gone elsewhere. It shouldn't come back our way because all the brush is burnt ;( around here and there's nothing more to burn. It's sad because now we see just black burnt ground instead of the green brush we had before. I'm super thankful that it didn't jump the street or our house would of been toast- Praise God! Alan, me, baby boy, and Roxy are all happy to be home.

Baby kicks

I started to feel little flutters and kicks in my tummy starting week 14 but nothing too dramatic. Yesterday when I got home from work I wasn't feeling too well so I ate something and layed down on the couch. While I was there all of a sudden the baby started to kick me really hard. I felt 2 kicks with my hand and Alan got to feel the third kick with his hand. I was so surprised that the kicks were that hard because I had never felt the kicks with my hand before just the usual flutters and thumps in my belly. It was the coolest thing! I had been waiting to feel them with my hand and would sometimes press down to try and feel them but never would. Then yesterday it was like the baby kicked out to my hand to touch it because I wasn't trying to feel them at first. All night I kept trying to feel them again but whenever I pushed down the baby would stop. It makes it so much more real and fun when I can actually feel them with my hands.

Too cute too not post

My sister- in- law, Lisa, took these pictures of my nephew, Jack, just after he got his new rain boots. He decided he wanted to strut his stuff so she couldn't resist getting a few snapshots. The pictures were too cute that I had to post them too.

VOTE!!!

Come on people, VOTE!!!!

Boy or Girl??

Please take our poll to let us know what you think we're having. We're curious to see what y'all think. You have until October 22 to post your predictions which is when we will find out; that is, if Baby is cooperating.

Fall Break

Finally Fall Break is here!! I love having a week off in October. The weather is perfect- finally nice and cool but not cold. I've been looking forward to having fall break for a while which made this past week that much longer. This past week has been a busy one with waiting for Fall break, getting progress report cards out and organizing/running our Math Night at school. Over 500 people came and we had the In and Out truck come to sell burgers. This is my 3rd year running it and it's always a fun night.

People at work said I was showing on Wednesday. It must of been what I was wearing. I was wearing my biggest pair of jeans so my belly was able to feel more at ease. I don't like wearing my old clothes anymore because I can tell the baby feels squished and my stomach gets tired after a while. I guess I'll have to go shopping during my week off.

During our center time at work I have a group of kids sit around a table and read to me. I have to lean over and help them with their reading and everyday at that time I feel the baby move because I'm squishing him/her. It's fun that he's/she's communicating to me already and I can tell what's going on.

Tonight Alan's brother and his wife are coming over for dinner because they are moving to Texas in a few weeks. Now we really have no family close. The closest family is mine in Oceanside (about 2 1/2 hours away). It's a good thing we have some friends that are like family to help us out and babysit every once in a while after the baby is born.

My sister, Renae, got engaged this week too!!! Congrats Renae and Todd. I can't wait to help her plan her wedding which will probably sometime in January, just in time for me to be huge. It'll make for fun family pictures to look back on.

Next week I'm going up to visit my brother, Scott and Lisa and Jack. I can't wait to spend some time with Jack since he's at that fun age to play with and to spend some time with Scott and Lisa too. They live close to San Fransisco so I'm flying up there- it's only an hour flight. I wish all flights were that long. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Puzzle

Ten tiny little fingers

and a cute little nose.

Tapping on her tummy,

with ten tiny little toes.

She'll be getting bigger.

You'll watch her tummy grow.

Inside a tiny baby,
soon everyone will know!

Think you know the answer?

Well that just may be.

'Cuz your teacher, Mrs. Martinsen

is having a BABY!

This week I sent this puzzle home with each of my students. When they put it together it formed this poem. It was a fun way for the kids and parents to find out that I'm having a baby. I've had great reactions to it and lots of excited kids. It went much better than I anticipated and I'm so thankful.

Hawaii and Baby update

Well it's been a while since I posted that I was pregnant because I realized the last I posted was when I was 10 weeks and now I'm at the end of 14 weeks. The time has flown by. With the school year starting and getting ready for our trip to Hawaii along with falling asleep all the time I haven't had time to update. Sorry for all the writing ahead of time.

________________________________________________________

Let's see... first I'll update the Baby and me. As I said, I'm at the end of 14 weeks. I managed to get through the first trimester without getting too sick. The main things that bothered me the most were the HOT HOT weather and my toothpaste :) I can now brush my teeth without gaging too much and the weather is only in the 90s now. I've been tired as expected and just want to sleep alot of the time. I was a little disappointed at our 12 week appointment because I thought I was going to get an ultasound and didn't. They said I only get one more and it's at 20 weeks to see what we're having. We did of course hear the heartbeat with the doppler but it somewhat of a letdown beause I thought we'd actually get to see Baby again. We'll find out what were having in about 5 1/2- 6 weeks so I'll be taking a poll soon. Other than my belly now having no definition and my pants getting tighter, not much has changed. I plan on telling my students and parents in about 2 weeks so hopefully my belly will hold out. I've been trying to wear some of my bigger clothes so it's not so obvious yet. Pray that the reaction is a good one and not negative. I've heard too many negative stories at my school that it makes me nervous.

________________________________________________________

So since Alan had his vacation time this month and we wouldn't have another time to go away before the baby is born we went on a last hurrah to Hawaii last week. We went on a cruise which took us to the 4 islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. After the cruise we stayed another few days in Wakiki. We had a great time relaxing and spending time together. We got to go hiking under a volcano in some caves and to a waterfall. We also did LOTS of snorkling and swam with sea turtles ( a highlight of the trip). We went kayaking, swimming, Alan went surfing, we saw the aquarium in Maui and went to Luau. We stayed pretty busy and were off the ship mostly during the days. Our favorite island was Kauai. We had gone there for our honeymoon 5 years ago and loved it. Napili Bay in Maui come in a close 2nd to our favorite places on the trip. That's where we swam up to sea turtles when we were snorkling. Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip. I was hesitant on putting some of them up (the ones of me in a swimsuit) but thought I should so you can see my baby belly. To me it seems pretty obvious and I think I saw a few looks from others out of curiousity while we were there.

Here we are in the caves that are made out of molten lava. They went extremely high and when we all turned off the flashlights it was so dark you couldn't even see you hand in front of your face.

Alan's relaxing on our balcony. It was so nice to sit out there are watch the ocean.

Our cruise boat from the shore.

Dinner time in one of the resturants.

The biggest sting ray I've ever seen. It was in the shark and sea life exihibit at the Maui Ocean Center.

A diver feed the fish and sting rays in the aquarium as sharks swam overhead.

Alan driving the jeep we rented on a few of the islands

Kayaking up a river

The pig at the Luau

Luau

Okay, one of the riskay ones :) There's my 13 week belly. I had to buy new board shorts while we were there because my other ones wouldn't close.

Okay- the riskiest of them all but there you go, my belly! You won't get another picture like this from me again :) We're all snorkeled up ready to go.

Our first baby clothes purchase. We bought prepared for either a boy or girl.

The U.S. Arizona Memorial in Honolulu

Sunset in Wakiki, it was beautiful and ended our trip so nicely

Alan and me at sunset as the boat went by the Napali coast in Kauai. You can only see the Napali coast by air or boat.

We hiked to this waterfall and then went swimming under it. It was really pretty.

It's been a while

Hi readers!

I know it's been a while since I've posted. With all that beginning of the year stuff going on and being away for 10 days I haven't found time to post. I will post pictures of our recent trip to Hawaii (we just got back this morning) and update on the baby soon. Thanks for being patient.

Many say, well it's about time! We say, it's perfect timing!

Yay! We're expecting a little one around March 10th 2008. I've waited quite a while to post anything on our blog because I wanted to tell people at work first before they found out on their own. So I had to wait all summer.

Many of you may already know that we're pregnant and some of you it might be new news, sorry if it's new news and I didn't get to tell you in person. We are 10 weeks along and this past Friday we had our first ultrasound. Baby Martinsen's heartbeat was going 176 beats per minute and sounded strong. We were so excited to see our little "peanut" and hear his/her heartbeat. Baby Martinsen also wiggled his/her arms and legs for us. It was so fun to see.

Many have asked us if we are going to find out the gender of the baby. Yes, we are going to find out. I'm am such a planner that knowing will be more fun for us than not knowing. Some people say, "But then you won't have a surprise," however I think that whenever we find out, it'll be a surprise and just as fun.

I've had it great so far! No sickness at all. Only a couple of times around week 5 and 6 I felt a little nauseous from being in the sun too long or doing some activities too fast. Other than that, I thank God that I haven't had to run head first to that famous porcelain throne.

The picture is hard to see the baby but if you look closely you can see little arms and legs. In 2 weeks we go in for another ultrasound and the baby should be easier to see so I can post a better picture then.

We are super excited about our little peanut and can't wait to meet him/her!

Exchange Students from Sweden

Our two sixteen year old exchange students from Sweden, Katti and Natalie, said their tearful goodbye's as they boarded a bus to the airport this past Tuesday. Alan and I were their host family for two of their four weeks in California. They came with an EF group of high school students from all over Sweden and Norway. Many of them didn't know each other before the trip. They visited all over L.A. and even went up to San Fransisco for a weekend with their group. Alan and I were responsible for housing, feeding and driving them to and from their events in town. It was fun to have 2 teenagers living with us for a few weeks and learning all about their Swedish culture. The girls spoke great English which made it easy for us to communicate. Overall, it was a fun experience and we'd love to do it again in the future. If anyone else in the Los Angeles area is interested in being a host family for exchange students next summer, let me know and I can direct you to the people to contact.

Hi, girls if you're reading this! How was you're LONG flight home? Have you been enjoying your Swedish meatballs?

More pictures

Weekend in Oceanside

This last weekend my brothers and sisters and I planned a birthday party for my parents since it was a birthday year marker (60- sorry mom). My parents were born 4 days apart in the same hospital so it was only fitting that we plan one party for the both of them. Scott, Lisa and Jack flew down from Redwood City and the rest of us made ourselves available. The weekend started with a Padres Game at their new stadium, Petco Park. The stadium was really nice (still feels new) and the seats were good too. Unfortunately, the Padres lost but it was fun anyway.

Saturday evening we had the party for my parents. We played the games that they always made us play when we were kids like: pin the ear on Snoopy, drop the clothespin in the jar, cottonball races and a pinata. All the adults got way involved in the games especially with the pinata. People were diving and dogpiling to get candy. It was quite a sight!!

Those are just a few of the fun things we did that weekend. Below are some pictures of the baseball game and Jack playing in the water in the backyard. Jack loves water especially when you spray it on him. In fact, one day he got a hold of a spray bottle and kept squirting himself until he was soaking wet. He kept laughing and squirting- it was way too cute.

Me, Ruth and Renae

Alan and Chris

Scott and Lisa

Jack playing in the water