Easter, Park and LA Zoo

Happy Late Easter! Here are some pictures from our Easter. Alan's sister, Carlene, and our niece, Caitlin came out to visit last weekend. While they were here we went to the new park by us and the LA Zoo. Alan's parents have been staying with us this past week and will most likely stay for a few more before they leave to travel the US representing their mission agency and seminary in Guatemala.

Family picture

Caitlin and Noah and their Easter basket. They each got a ducky.

Noah cuddling with his duck. One day I'd like to get a real one for Easter along with a rabbit.

Noah and Great Uncle Jack on Easter

Alan and his Dad playing Frisbee at the park.

Strolling Noah around the park.

Reggie, the famous alligator, at the LA Zoo.

A 7 week old giraffe that drank 1/2 a gallon of milk in 20 seconds. Noah can't even compete. I love giraffes!
Noah will remember so much of his trip to the zoo. No, not really. He slept the whole time.

Noah and Papa hanging out.

Fun times with Noah

Yes, it's been a while since I have updated on Noah but time just seems to fly by in a foggy state of consciousness lately. Let see, some unusual milestones were that Noah turned over to his belly on day 6! We were so surprised and shocked to see him do this. He moves side to side a lot but we weren't expecting him to turn over this soon. He kicks all the time and every doctor he's seen says, "Gosh, he sure does have strong feet." I keep thinking I wasn't imagining all that kicking in the middle of the night when I was preggo. He just getting ready to kick that soccerball or football.

Noah had his 2 weeks check up this past Monday and I was super excited to see that he gained not just his birth weight back but a whole pound beyond it putting him at 9 pounds 2 ounces. His length was above average (21 3/4 inches) and his weight and head were average. Here are some pictures from the past 2 weeks.

Noah checking out his monkey in his playmat.

Noah enjoying his baths now, in fact, the last one put him to sleep.

Daddy couldn't resist and had to buy him his first LAPD outfit and on the back it said bombsquad.

Noah and Mama in our St. Patricks shirts. Mine is hard to see but it had a shamrock on it in rhinestones.

Our first walk

Noah and Chloe (just a 7 month difference)

Noah and Aunt Ruthie

Noah sleeping

This is nothing too exciting but we're learning how to post videos so I wanted to put it up.

Noah Alan Martinsen

Noah was born Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 6:48pm. He weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces and is 20 inches long. We are so excited to have him home and are loving every minute with him. Here are a few of the many pictures we've taken this past week.

Noah after his first bath. He didn't enjoy it.

Noah and Grandpa
Simply adorable
Noah and Daddy

Our family
Someone, please take care of me :)
Hooray! We're going home!

The grand induction

Yes, that's right, Alan and I will be going to the hospital for an induction tonight. After a week and a half of doctor pleading we are going in to have our baby. It's been a stressful decision-making week for me because I was hoping I wouldn't have to do an induction. The doctors found that I'm mildly preclamtic on Tuesday and have been recommending that I go to the hospital and deliver. The Tuesday before that they found my blood pressure was high and sent me to the hospital last Friday. With much pleading I was able to get them to let me go home after being in the hospital for 5 hours. But once they found out I'm preeclamtic they've been hounding me since. I didn't want to do an induction because the chances of a caesarian are much higher and it's going to be quite a process just to put my body into labor since it's not quite ready yet.

The doctor who will be delivering the baby, Dr. Yuan, called me today and put some of my nerves at ease. She is the best at Henry Mayo and is very considerate. We couldn't be having a better doctor to deliver so God truly is blessing us in that way. Anyway, if you read this blog today, pray that all goes smoothly. My next post will be all about our new baby boy!

Pregnancy Pictures- 36 weeks!

Today Alan and I went to get pictures taken after church to document this fun stage in our lives. Here are our favorite pictures that were taken. Tonight we're going to Ruth's Chris for dinner (our favorite) to celebrate and make the most of our last few weeks of "just us." We will miss it but are super excited about our pending new addition.

Renae's wedding

Last weekend one of my sisters, Renae, got married. The rain held out for the wedding and the sun came out just in time for the ceremony to begin. It was in San Juan Capistrano at the Crystal Cathedral's retreat center called Rancho Capistrano. Our camera died just after the ceremony so we only have pictures from the rehersal and ceremony. Let's just say the pictures of me are not my favorite as I was sick with a sinus cold and super swollen. Renae looked beautiful and the whole ceremony and reception went great. Congrats Renae and Todd!

PLEASE PRAY!!

Friends and Family,

Please pray for our friends Scott and Andrea Sward. They lost their one year old son, Isaac, today from a horrible car accident that happened yesterday morning. Andrea is in intensive care as she has many serious injuries and Scott has internal injuries as well. The Sward's left California a few months ago for Denver, Colorado to prepare to go on the mission field in Cambodia. Please pray for them and their families as they have extreme tough times ahead of them. I can't imagine the devastation they must be and will be going through. Pray for Andrea as she is still in intensive care and fighting to stay alive. Pray for Scott that he can be strong for both him and Andrea as he learned that his son died this morning and is trying to be in the ICU with Andrea as much as possible. God allows these things to happen but sometimes it's so hard to see why. For more information on the Sward's go to this web site: http://www.friendschurchsw.org/swardupdate.html

33 weeks

33 weeks! Just 7 more to go.

Arrgg!! I can't seem to format the pictures correctly. These are supposed to go below the next post. I need someone to show me how to format pictures because it seems like I've tried everything and I can't figure it out. First these accidently deleted from my post below so I was going to add them in but they wouldn't go where I wanted them and so I thought I just add them in a different blog below but they keep going to the top. I'm so frusterated!! Read the post below first and then these pictures will make sense.

Baby Shower

First off, I know I had said I'd update a long time ago and didn't. Life has been busy and I just haven't been motivated to blog lately. However, much has been going on so I figure it's time to update.


Baby is doing great- kicking me like crazy. Every now and then I have to push a hand or foot back into place because he really likes to stretch. Last week I went back to work from winter break and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The first three days I had energy and then Wednesday hit and I was exhausted. Thursday I rebounded and then by Friday afternoon I was spent.


I realized last week I've been having contractions for the past few weeks. I had just thought it was the baby moving and pushing my belly forward to make it really tight. But then I was reading and found out that they are precontractions that you can't feel except for the tightness.

Saturday, Alan and I went to an all day labor and deliver class which totally freaked me out! I think I was better off not knowing what is to come :) I'm excited to meet our baby but not looking forward to the labor part. I keep thinking if I make it worse in my mind it won't be as bad in reality. I hope it works.

Saturday evening my mom and sisters came out for my baby shower on Sunday. We went out to dinner at Stone Fire and then to Mimi's for dessert and then we went to go see, "Juno." The movie was very matter of fact and really displays the reality of teenage pregnancies. We all enjoyed it.


Sunday was my baby shower with friends from church, Master's and family. It was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed it. My best friend, Julie, gave a devotional and we ate and opened gifts. One of my roomates from college, Abby, surprised me and came to the shower. She moved to Colorado a few months ago and was in California visiting family in Turlock. She and her mom, Pam, and her daughter, Chloe drove down from Turlock Sunday morning to come to the shower. I was so surprised because I had forgotten she was in California and didn't expect her to come to the shower.

Abby, Cloe and Pam

Julie, Chloe ( Abby's daughter) and me

Food and cake tables

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! Okay so you'd think that since I've been blogging for a few years I'd remember how to upload pictures in order but for some reason every time I upload a ton of pictures I always end up forgetting to upload the last ones first and then it messes up the story. Oh well, these pictures are once again, in backwards order.

Alan and I spent Christmas with my family this year. Everyone came out to Oceanside and it was fun to all be together since it doesn't happen very often anymore. Alan and I arrived Christmas Eve in time for the festivities to begin. Everyone was there and Todd, Renae's fiance, parents arrived about the same time along with my Dad and his fiance, Sharon. Ted, my mom's man friend came too so it was a full house!! We had a Christmas Eve dinner of prime rib, salad, mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. Alan and I did our traditional white elephant gift exchange where we provide all the white elephant gifts (they're actually provided by my adorable loving students from a few days before :0 ). I can only store so many candles, lotions, necklaces, candy, etc so my family or Alan's family always get a kick out of what they get from my students. I'll go through some pictures and then catch up on the events below.

Dec. 27

This is what happens when you have 10 + people staying in a house with poor plumbing and meant for about 5 people. My mom didn't have a plunger so the boys went out to go get one and fix the problem. Scott and Alan made Chris do the dirty work. Chris obviously didn't want anything to come back up at him so he stood in the bathtub as he plunged.

Jack was the highlight of the trip and much attention was given to him. He is definetly a typical toddler boy. Here we are playing in the backyard just before they leave to go home.

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Dec 26 (Boxing Day- holiday in Australia)

The day after Christmas some of us went to the San Diego Zoo. When we were kids we would have passes to the San Diego Zoo and go all the time with our grandparents and parents. It was fun to go again especially with Jack who loves to see all the animals. Alan and I hadn't been for about 8 years.

Chris and Alan are putting on their monkey faces- can you tell a difference?

Our row at the Sea Lion and Otter show

Opps! I just deleted 2 pictures as I was writing about them in post. Oh well, one was Alan on the sky fare above the park and the other was Chris and Alan with a huge camel. Maybe I will post those pictures later.
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Dec. 25- Christmas Day

Christmas Day consisted up getting up, opening stocking and gifts, watching Jack play with his toys, the guys went surfing, eating, watching the sun set at the beach and going to see National Treasure. Our main meal was Mexican food- tamales, enchiladas, rice, salad, etc. Two of my uncles came over and a family friend came too. At sunset some of us went of over to the beach in front of my Dad's condo to watch the sunset and then Ruth, Chris, Dad, me and Alan went to see National Treasure. It was a fun movie

Jack opening up another train item. He loves his trains and milk :)

Jack and his lawn mower- training him early.

At the beach, in front of Dad's place. Chris and Alan threw the frisbee and Jack played in the cold puddles.

Uncle Alan and Jack playing the piano for everyone :)

Well, that's about it for now. I've been writing forever and I'm ready to go do something else now so I'll update on the baby later today or tomorrow. All is good.