June

Yikes! It's been a month already so this post will be for the month of June. It has been a busy month. It started with part of Alan's family coming to visit. His sister, Carlene, and her husband, Robert, and their daughter, Caitlin all came to stay with us from Mississippi. Noah met his Uncle Rob. We got some pictures of the cousins while they were out visiting.

My birthday came up while they were out so they watched Noah for us while Alan and I went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris (our favorite) and a movie (Indiana Jones). Another day we watched Caitlin so Carlene and Rob could go see Indiana Jones. While they were gone we converted a huge box that came in the mail the day before into a car for Caitlin. Here we are in the garage designing and decorating the car and Noah tried out the exersauser for the first time (he's not quite ready yet)

Caitlin loved her car. Alan and her pushed it down the stairs a lot and when Rob and Carlene got home Rob put Caitlin in it and had her go done the stairs in the car. It was pretty funny. Caitlin was a little unsure after the first time but was a good sport for the next 4 times.We got sunglasses and summerwear (swimtrunks, rash gaurd and hat) for Noah so when the pool gets warm enough (at least 85 degrees) we'll put him in the water. Noah loves his sunglasses and doesn't mind them on his face. He looks like one cool guy in them.Just the other day we took Noah to the pool in all his swimgear hoping that the water would be warm enough but it is still a little too cool (high 70s). We put his feet in though. Just a few more hot spells and it will be perfect for him. Last year the water got to be about 95-100 degrees because it's solar heated (it wasn't refreshing at all) so they pumped cooler water in to bring down the temp. We can't wait to take him swimming.


So I asked Alan for the Ab Rocket for my birthday and he got it for me. That's what came in the huge box that we made Caitlin's car out of. Anyway, I caught Roxy trying to work out the other day but she had a hard time getting the back part to go done so she just cried at me :)

So "lets get down to the nitty gritty" -Nacho Libre. Noah will be four months on the first of July. He loves putting his hand and fists in his mouth. He discovered them a few weeks ago along with grabbing his feet. Many times I'll go in his room to wake him up and he's awake with his hands firmly grasping his feet all four sticking up in the air. It's quite cute. This week he started fully rolling over by himself and on Monday he woke up in the middle of the night crying because he had rolled to his stomach and couldn't get back over. He sleeps at least 10 hours at night. I give him his last feeding between 7:30 and 8:30pm and put him down after he's all burped out usually between 8 and 9. He'll sleep until 6:00-7:30 depending on when he finally got to sleep the night before. His baby babble voice is influxing a lot this week like he's telling us a story and he laughs like crazy when he's tired. It's like he's getting silly because he's tired. He's very ticklish.

His weight gain has slowed down the past few weeks but he weighs about 14.3 pounds. The last 5 times I've weighed him it's been the same. I'll find out for sure what it is when we got to the doctor on Tuesday. I think he's growing longer right now instead of wider.

I know it's weird place to leave the blog but I've gotta get some things done so hopefully I'll blog sooner this time. Feel free to say hi via comment. I love to see whose interested in us. Tell me what you've been up to lately. What are you doing to beat the heat this summer?

Just for cuteness

What a cutie! I can't believe how big he is getting.

6 years and going strong.

Yesterday Alan and I had our sixth year wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been six years already. It's hard to believe that in another six years it'll be twelve years. So if it goes as fast as the first six, twelve years will be here before I know it. Noah will be finishing up kindergarten ready to go into first grade, crazy!! So what has happened in six years. Well we got married fresh out of college, in fact it was 2 weeks after graduation for me, (1 year after for Alan). We lived in a one bedroom apartment and Alan was pursuing a youth pastor position and working as a pool technician. I was about to start my student teaching in fall but until then I was a nanny for the summer. Since then we have moved to our townhome, had 2 cats (although we only have one now- sad death story) changed churches, Alan has had a few jobs (pool technician, junior high and high school teacher, youth intern, and now cruise agency owner and police officer), flipped a house, gone on a few trips and then the best; we had Noah. I stayed the same with my job of teaching first grade for five years. I guess you could call me boring but I like it because I'm so familiar with it. Anyway, much has changed since we were fresh out of college ready to embark the working/married world. It has been a great six years and we're happy. It'll be fun to look back on the next six years and see where we've come to.

My advice to any newlywed of any age. Marriage is a COMMITMENT of strength and love. There will be times where you feel weak and unloving but you must stick to it- endure! Just like it says in Philippians- endure and run the race. Don't just run it but run it hard because at any moment of weakness sin can creap in. Any moment you are not putting your loved one or anyone else first you are being selfish. NEVER talk bad about your spouse. One thing I can't stand is when people talk bad about their spouse. If you talk bad about your spouse, you're the one who married them so what does that make you. PRAISE your spouse. Sometimes it's easier to pick out the bad stuff and forget the good stuff. The good stuff is what's important. HAVE FUN with your spouse. Make time to go out and have fun and laugh. It's the fun times that your memories will build upon. Know your spouse's LOVE LANGUAGE. If you don't know what it is, read the book, "The Five Love Languages." That's the way your spouse will feel loved and if you're showing it the wrong way they are not going to feel loved. And above all FOLLOW 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Sadly our photographer didn't take the picture digitally so I have to scan the loose ones in my computer. The best photos are in our album and I can't get them out without the pictures ripping :( So these will have to do.

Weekend in Oceanside

This past weekend, we went down to Oceanside to my Dad's wedding reception. He got remarried in April and they had their reception this past weekend. While we were there we got to stay at the new Wyndham time share resort for a night. It was huge and right on the beach. The reception was there too so it was convenient. It was Operation Military Appreciation weekend so all the military vehicles were out on the sand to look at and play on. Even a hovercraft came on shore and we got to see it take off into the ocean from our room. It kicked up sand and then shot off into the ocean really fast shooting water everywhere that we couldn't even see the hovercraft. Noah got to meet his cousin, Jack , Uncle Scott and Aunt Lisa for the first time. We wish they lived closer to us.

As you can see in the first 2 pictures Noah has his arms up. He seems to always have his arms up when he's on his back now. It's his latest thing and it's actually kind of funny because they just stick up for no reason at all. I think it's from putting him on his playmat so much that he's used to reaching for things when he's on his back. Now he just does it out of habit- opps!

My two men

Noah didn't mind getting sand between his toes ;)

The Hovercraft

The propellers are so big. The Wyndham is in the background.

View from our suite. I couldn't believe how fast the hovercraft took off.


Lovely late afternoon in O'side
Noah and Aunt Ruthie at the reception

20 years ago

Exactly 20 years ago to the day, my family and I arrived in San Diego to live. We moved from Perth, Western Australia where I was born and here are a few pictures of us getting off the airplane. The airplane was small because we flew into LA and then took a small flight to San Diego. Not all my family members are in the pictures but they are the only ones I could find. Gotta love my Dad's crocodile dundee looking hat.

2 months old

Noah turned 2 months yesterday. As a celebration we went to get his shots. What a nice mama I am :) I was nervous about his shots since I didn't see him get any when we were in the hospital (or at least I don't remember). Alan got to witness all that. Noah did very well yesterday. He cooed at Dr. Kim and didn't cry too much when he got his shots. Of course he was fussy when we got home but nothing too bad. Noah was in the 75% for weight (12.9 lbs) and 90% for height (24 1/4 inches). He's a tall one!! He is awake much more now and loves to laugh, even in his sleep.

Roxy, our cat, is doing much better but still won't look at Noah if we bring her to him. She roams the house more but won't go into his bedroom. We've seen her run into his room a few times and then run our quickly like she forgot it was Noah's room now.

I realize that now all I blog about is Noah and I told myself I wouldn't do that before he was born but I just can't simply resist. Here's some of the latest pictures.

What did you say?

7 weeks old

Noah is 7 weeks old today! He smiles all the time and it starting to interact with us. When we smile at him he'll smile and coo back at us. Lately he's been more alert and not sleeping as much as the first few weeks. He usually will sleep through the night 6-7 hours which is very nice for me. His choking is getting better but he still chokes almost everytime when I feed him. I don't think I ever blogged about that.

The pediatrician suggested we have an esophogram done but it didn't really show anything because it didn't give him a chance to choke. The esophogram basically was an x-ray of him drinking to see if his esphogus was fully developed and if fluid is going into his trachea (which I am almost certain it is). Noah couldn't be on the x-ray table too long because he is so little so in the one minute that he was on the table he didn't choke which didn't give us a chance to see what's really going on. The radiologist said he is fine and that he just has a little reflux which is normal for babies. I left frusterated because I didn't feel like anything was really solved because he didn't see what really happens. We are praying this is something he will grow out of because it has been not just frusterating for me at feeding times but for Noah too. However this past week he has been doing better only choking once a feeding or every other.

On a lighter note, we went to the beach this past week for some fresh air and to watch Alan surf. Someone gave us a cute little beach outfit that Noah needed to wear soon because he is going to out-grow it so we thought what a great opportunity to wear it. The rest of the pictures are just us playing and sleeping.

What a snuggle- buggle!

Daddy and Noah sleeping

Alan surfing in Ventura (very small waves-but still fun)

Checking out the waves

Noah is playing with his "Puppers" that his cousin Jack gave him for Christmas

Mmmm, the ear tastes so good.

Music

I logged into the blog today and noticed that Alan added some new links to our website interests, one being music he has made over the past few years. I clicked on it and forgot how good he was at making music. Sometimes life gets so busy that I forget what we love to do. Since one of Alan's degrees is in music I shouldn't have been surprised how good his music sounds. It's been a while since we've gotten back to doing what we love, for Alan, music and surfing. For me in high school and college it used to be music and tennis. I haven't played tennis in forever or sang in a group for years. And even though I took 9 years of piano, I couldn't play a tune today.

I do love to run, hike, read and serve in ministry but somehow I never have the time or better yet to say, make the time. These are things I really need to get back into. It's easy to get caught up in the usual daily activities that I forget to do what I love to do.

Anyway, if you are interested in hearing some great music provided by my hubby click on the link, "Some of Alan's music" in our website interests or here http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/alanmartinsenmusic

Enjoy!

Noah's room

I've been waiting to post pictures of Noah's room because his crib has been on back order for two months. We just got his crib last week and put it together. He slept in his room last night for the first time. We didn't have a monitor yet so I was nervous I wouldn't hear him since his room is across the house. Fortuntely he didn't cry and when I went to get him this morning he was awake laying in his bed patiently (it makes me wonder how long he had been waiting). Today we got a monitor so I can sleep better in my own bed. I also took a few pictures on him in his bed today. He looks bigger in it than I thought he would.

It's hard to see in this picture but his name is on the wall above his crib

Our little man

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.