Little Miss Independence

Look at what Ally can do all by herself- we're so proud!!

OBX Getaway

Matthew and I left Ally and the dogs behind at the lake with Ray & Dee and set off on our own for some fun in the Outer Banks last Friday afternoon. We took the scenic route and even stopped at a vineyard for some wine tasting on the way! Upon arriving at our B&B in Nags Head, we checked in, enjoyed some yummy appetizers prepared by our hosts, and then we took a windy beach walk. On Friday night we dined at the Black Pelican.

On Saturday morning we had the best intentions of sleeping in, but both of us were awake at 6:30am. We hung out in bed dozing for an hour and a half and finally rolled out of bed at 8am. We had breakfast of custom made omlettes outside on the deck then got out the maps and guidebooks to plan our day.

First we visited Jockey's Ridge State Park to explore the amazing sand dunes. After working up a good thirst we stopped at the Outer Banks Brewing Station (the first wind powered brew pub) for a 'before noon' beer! Next we were off to Jurassic Putt for a competitive game of mini golf. Matthew had the advantage since he happened to have his own putter in the back of the car. He beat me 40 to 52 but we both had a few hole in ones- on the same hole no less! In an effort to continue our glutenous streak, we had a late lunch at Fat Boys! By now we were in a serious food coma so we headed out to the swimming pool to relax/ nap for an hour.

Once we'd rested up we decided some more exercise was in order so we hopped on the two complimentary beach cruiser bikes and headed south. This proved to be a bad idea. The wind was out of the south so we were riding into it on bikes with no shocks, terribly uncomfortable seats, tires that were low on air, and no gears! It was hard work! We made it about 2 miles down to the fishing pier where we stopped to get a drink and rest for a few minutes. Thankfully, the ride back home was much easier and more pleasurable since the wind was at our backs.

By now it had been like two hours since we'd had anything to eat so we chowed down on our appetizers again back at the B&B and enjoyed our first bottle of wine for the night. After cleaning up and attempting to take some pictures up on the very windy rooftop deck, we headed out to dinner at Owens. We had such a good time! It was prom night in the OBX and we sat next to a 12 top table of high school kids with raging hormones! One of the guys was wearing a top hat.... in the restaurant... at the table... while eating dinner! He looked SO COOL!! (Are you picking up on the sarcasm??) Anyway- these kids provided our entertainment for the night. We stared at the girl's dresses, snickered at the boys in their penguin suits, and eavesdropped on their conversations about how to procure mass quantities of alcohol. Ah, high school.... don't miss it a bit!!

We hit up the hot tub at our B&B after dinner for 20-30 minutes and fell into bed. Two bottles of wine tends to have that effect on us! Sunday morning we slept in a little later- 7:30ish. We enjoyed round two of the homemade omlettes and checked out early so we could book it up to Currituck so we could catch the 11 o'clock ferry to Knott's Island. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and I can't think of a better way to have spent it than sunbathing on the top deck of the ferry with my honey! We visited the Martin Vineyard for some more wine tasting then headed for home once we discovered that there was absolutely nothing else of interest on the island. What would a vacation be without one more fattening meal? We stopped for a Mexican lunch and cervesas on the way home and then it was back to reality.

We had a few hours to kill before our little family arrived home to meet us so Matthew washed our pollen covered, bug splattered car while I mowed the grass. We had time to get cleaned up, unpacked, and start some laundry before our happy reunion. Matthew and I had a fabulous time, but were very happy to see Ally.

We're down to only two weeks before Matthew deploys so we're making the most out of the time we have left. He goes back to work on Thursday, but we're planning another trip to the lake for the weekend to visit with Matthew's brother Brian and we have an early anniversary diner date for sometime next week.

Thanks for checking in- enjoy the picture montage! (You can click on the picture to enlarge the slideshow.)

A Week at Lake Gaston

We were fortunate to spend an entire week down at Matthew's parent's lake house last week. For the most part we had fantastic weather (with the exception of one pretty cool hail storm) and we really enjoyed our time as a family. We ate very well, drank LOTS of wine, played some mean games of Triple Yahtzee, and lounged around in the newly remodeled basement. Ally adjusted very well to her new surroundings- napping and sleeping well in a pack 'n' play in a new room.

I just figured out how to embed a slide show on the blog so instead of posting a gazillion pictures I can just include them all here!

Stay tuned for pictures from our Outer Banks weekend!

And She's Off.....

Ally took a big step yesterday- literally... she let go of her 'security finger' and took off on her own. She thinks it's hysterical and she walks as fast as she can until she falls down. Her record was 34 steps last night. She's had a captivated audience since then and I'm afraid she's going to be sorely disappointed to learn that people don't applaud wildly every time she walks down the hallway. I'm so thankful that she decided to start walking before Matthew leaves so he was able to see her first 'real' independent steps.

Enjoy the video !

Hello From Vacation Central

Vacation is in full swing and life is pretty good here at Lake Gaston, NC! We've been enjoying lots of fun times with Matthew's parents- Ray & Dee- as well as lots of good wine!

Here we are having an inaugural glass of wine in the newly remodeled basement (which you can't really see much of in this picture....)

Here I am kicked back with my wine- and you can see a little more of the awesome basement!

Ally is officially walking on her own, but only 10-12 steps at a time and she is still much more comfortable holding onto some one's finger.

The azaleas are in bloom here and they are just gorgeous!

Ally is getting double the love from Grandma and Pop-pop

Love this expression! Who knew that dog leashes would be such a fun toy!

We love to pick up leaves and sticks from the grass.

She's about to go kung fu on me if I take one more picture!

Matthew and I will be here for another few days until Friday when we'll leave Ally and the dogs behind and head to the Outer Banks, NC for a fun weekend alone in a bed & breakfast. I'm already apprehensive about it, but I know it will be really good for us to get away together before he leaves. We'll probably come back to the lake for a day or two afterwards since he doesn't have to be back to work until the 30th. I'm loving this vacation lifestyle! Ally is sleeping in until 6:30 (yes, that classifies as sleeping in for her!) we're eating (and drinking) well, having fun playing games and taking walks, and enjoying this time as a family.

Thanks for checking in- more updates and pictures soon.

Ally's First Steps

I was able to capture some of Ally's first steps on video this morning- it's not the best video, but it was hard to film and catch her at the same time. Go Ally!!

Just Like Vacation...

Even thought I'm officially unemployed now I feel like it's just a long vacation since Matthew is home with us. We're being really lazy and having so much fun together! This morning the three of us laid in bed together for over a half an hour just snuggling, giggling and playing.


All this extra love is helping Ally to flourish. Just this morning she took her first three steps- Matthew says they were really more like shuffles, but I'm counting them just the same. She took three steps from Matthew's arms into mine. I screamed so loudly that I think I scared her. I tried to get her to do it on the video camera but she had a stubborn case of noodle legs afterwards. Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow.

In the mean time, here are a few pictures taken over the past few days...

Ally & Daddy are enjoying lots of snuggle time

Ally helped to unload the dishwasher!

Here is a happy girl before dinner

Where is your nose Ally??

Playing with her 'goof ball'

Smiling at Daddy while loading her groceries.

Easter In An Eggshell...

I stole my cute title for this post from a friend's blog- thanks for the idea- hope you don't mind Jana!

So, we had a fun & busy weekend here at the Martin household. In spite of some unseasonably cool weather we still managed to enjoy our time together.

We watched Ally hone her flamingo skills,

I had some quality time with my first baby, Morrison,

Ally got lots of snuggle time with her Daddy.

I'm not sure who enjoyed it more!

Ally got back on a good nap schedule now that she's out of daycare.

Ally had lots and lots of fun with this balloon as you may have seen in the video I posted a few days ago.

She kept trying to bite it!

Ally finally got to wear this sweet little Easter outfit that came with it's own bunny friend that she was frantically waving in this picture.

She's really getting the hang of the sippy cup finally!

These sweet toes were spotted several times over the weekend!

We had several friends and neighbors over for lunch on Sunday after church. Sonja is giving Ally & Sophie a lesson on sharing the shopping cart here....

As you can see, they listened very well!

Natalie and Ally were trying to push Sophie in the car from both ends!

From left: Wendy, Justin (holding Natalie), Dean, Matthew (holding Ally- I promise she really is there!), Sonja (holding Sophie), and Frank. Bonnie & Libby in the front. We had a great pot luck lunch that included ham, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes (because one type of potatoes is never enough!), asparagus, fruit salad, spinach dip, rolls, fresh fruit & Kahlua cake! Good food and good friends- can't think of a better way to spend Easter!

And best of all..... Matthew did all the dishes.... which had to be hand washed because we used the china & silver. He's a keeper!

Today was Matthew's first official day of leave. We're really looking forward to spending the next few weeks together with our little girl and our furry boys. Today we went to the mall so I could pick up my new iPhone! I'm totally intimidated by it right now, but am slowly learning how to use it. I can't figure out how to get all my music from my iPod synced on it though. It's my project for tomorrow. Matthew got some new eyeglasses while we were at the mall and I bought a few pairs of shorts since we will get some warm weather eventually. Ally was a good shopper and had fun people watching from her stroller while we did our part to support the economy. Even though it was cold this evening, we bundled up and went for a nice long walk together. We're planning to spend a few relaxing days at home before leaving for the lake on Friday or Saturday for more R&R.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Where There Is Smoke...

Where there is smoke, there is usually a fire and last night was no exception. Our whole fam-dam-ily was out for a walk around the block last night (because that is about as far as we can go with our old, broken-down dogs.) As we arrived back at home Matthew and I both smelled some smoke. We hung around in the front yard for a minute looking for the source and shortly afterward saw thick black smoke billowing up out of an apartment building on our street. I started to run inside to call 911 but the sirens started blazing before I got to the phone so someone beat me to it.

The building on fire was one of many in our area that are.... less than desirable, to put it nicely. There are lots of blighted properties in our neighborhood because it is still in a state of transition. Once we were certain that all the occupants had gotten out safely, Matthew and I both watched with a sense of restrained excitement. I feel bad for being excited about people loosing their homes, especially since the majority of them surely didn't have renter's insurance, but fire seems to be the only way to get some of these blighted properties destroyed.

Our front yard turned into the Thursday night hot spot as lots of neighbors came out to watch the action. We met several new friends and actually enjoyed a beer while we watched. Is that wrong?

The fire trucks were still out there when we went to sleep last night at 10:30 pm and this morning there are beautiful orange stickers on every apartment door stating that the property is condemned and is structurally unsound- a sure sigh that it will soon be torn down.

Lest you think I'm a cruel meanie, I called my local branch of the American Red Cross and made a donation to help those displaced by the fire. I decided that the money I would have spent on an Easter basket for Ally would be better used in this fashion. (What the heck would I put in her Easter basket anyway- baby food? It's not like the child eats chocolate yet and mommy & daddy certainly don't need any extra candy around!) In the event that any of my loyal readers (all 2 of you) want to donate- please click the link above and reference the fire that occurred on 5th Bay street on 4/9/09.

Hope you're all enjoying a 'great' Good Friday!

Balloon Fun!

This is what Ally and I did on our first official morning home as a stay at home mom & daughter team. Who knew a month old balloon leftover from her birthday could be so much fun!

Last Day of Work!

This is it! My last day of work! The countdown is over. I have a mere 5 hours left here and two of them will be taken up with a luncheon in my honor with some of my coworkers. All that's left to do is rewrite an article that will appear on NASA's Researcher News website this weekend, label some hazardous materials that have accumulated in my office, clean out my desk and remove any 'incriminating' files from my computer! I'd sort of like to blow it all off, but I want to leave things in good shape for my replacement so I'm going to do my best to stay focused for the next few hours. I'm so excited though and can't wait to be free to focus on the truly important things in my life.

The next few weeks will probably feel more like vacation since Matthew will be on leave and will be home with us. We're planning to get some things done around the house, run lots of errands, then make a trip to the lake house in NC for a week where we'll leave Ally and the dogs for a romantic weekend alone in the Outer Banks!

More updates & pictures coming soon!

Angus Hunts for Easter Eggs on Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday To Me!

I turn 32 years young today! Happy birthday to me! It's always fun to have so many people think of you so early in the morning! I've had lots of emails and facebook birthday wishes already and it's not even 10am yet! Sadly I won't get to do much celebrating today. After work I have to take Ally to visit her GI doctor for a follow up appointment then it'll be nap time when we get home. Matthew has duty today so he'll be on the ship for 24 hours and won't be able to come home tonight so we've decided to postpone the festivities until this weekend when we'll really have a lot to celebrate since I'll be all through with work. Only 3 more days, or 21 more hours... but who's counting??!!!??

We had a nice weekend with some beautiful weather- made me miss San Diego. It was a balmy 70 degrees with a nice breeze. We attended a Change of Command event at Matthew's former squadron, did some work around the house, went to church and brunch, and did a whole lot of nothing. I love relaxing weekends!

The fam in front of the MH-60 helicopter at the HSC-22 Change of Command

Sudden movements during feeding time can have unfortunate consequences!

Daddy & Ally looking out the window at the backyard

Our little Monkey- she now walks on all fours!

Sometimes a girl just needs a soft spot to rest her head.

After a little snooze it was back to reading the newspaper!

It was finally warm enough to wear a pretty spring dress to church yesterday!

Smiley girl!

Random side note: This morning when I was dropping Ally off at day care- we were in the parking lot and this Honda Odyssey minivan pulls up a few spaces away from me. I can hear the music blasting from inside of it even though the windows are rolled up tight. As the passenger door slides open I realize the song is When You Wish Upon A Star- but it's the jazzed up techno Disney Princess version. I snickered briefly then admitted that there is a definite possibility that this will be me in a few years!

Happy Monday to all & thanks for all the sweet birthday wishes!

A Jump in the Countdown

You may have noticed that my ticker on the right hand side of the blog skipped a week on my countdown to stay-at-home-mom-dom.... this is not an error my friends! I've decided to quit working a week earlier than anticipated.
Matthew will be on leave starting on the 13th and I decided I really wanted to spend that week with him. My employer has yet to find a replacement for me so I'm not training anyone, which was the whole reason I gave seven weeks of notice to begin with. So, in the big scheme of things, that extra week doesn't really make a difference.
I'm super excited and will gleefully count down my remaining days at work and trips through the bridge tunnel!

Sometimes You're The Windshield.....

Sometimes you're the windshield and other times you're the bug. This past weekend, I was most definitely the bug! In other words, it wasn't the best weekend in the world. It started off on Thursday afternoon when I left work to pick Matthew up from the ship. Of all the days to forget my cell phone at home, this was not the best one! I called him before I left and told him what time to expect me. Everything was rolling along just fine until I ran into a horrible traffic jam at the bridge tunnel (for no apparent reason!) and then it started raining. Poor Matthew waited outside in the rain for me for almost a half an hour worrying what had become of his absent minded wife and daughter!



When we finally arrived home, I sat down with Ally to feed her a bottle. No sooner had a started when this happened.....



Hello lunch- nice to see you again! All that puke and I'm still smiling! Little did I know what the rest of the weekend had in store....



It wasn't all bad, in fact, there were moments that were downright great! We went to a retirement ceremony for a friend/ neighbor on Friday afternoon, had a Big Love & Lost marathon to get our DVR all cleaned up, made a trip to the mall on Saturday afternoon, ate a yummy BBQ lunch at the famous Doumar's BBQ, and attended the aforementioned friend/neighbor's retirement party on Saturday night. Despite yet another unfortunate projectile vomiting incident, it had all the makings of a great weekend. Until very early Sunday morning when Matthew started feeling sick.



I woke to hear him moaning and groaning next to me shortly after midnight. He said his stomach was really upset. I offered him so Mylanta and silently wished that he'd suck it up so I could get back to sleep. After several more hours of tossing and turning next to my increasingly sick husband, I got up with Ally around 5:30am. As I was feeding her I started to feel an unwelcome rolling in my stomach. I stubbornly ignored it and finished feeding the 'stinker', who decided to live up to her nickname de jour, by royally loading her diaper. While changing this gag-worthy gem, my stomach began to protest much more vocally and before I knew it, I was running to the bathroom with a bare-bottomed baby, slamming the door behind us, and praying to the porcelain god (which Ally thought was hilarious btw!) By 6am I was forced to admit that we had food poisoning. I notified Matthew of my diagnosis and clued him in on my brilliant deductive reasoning skills.



We spent the rest of the day literally laying on the living room floor dozing, moaning & groaning, crying out to God, alternating between burning up and freezing, and trying in vain to entertain Ally in between nap times. It ranks right up there as one of the worst days we've had in a long, long time and it was definitely a terrible day to be a toilet bowl at the Martin household! Monday we still weren't feeling well so we both called in sick from work and spent another day recuperating. We finally had a meal (our first in over 36 hours) on Monday night and are feeling back to our normal chipper selves by now.



One really fun thing happened in the midst of all this ickiness though... but first... some background... During feeding time, Ally needs to be entertained with songs and silly antics to distract her from gagging on her food and throwing up. One of my favorite little dittys is:

"Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head! Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

When I say this last little bit, I shake my finger at Ally. Last week she started shaking her finger back at me as soon as I started singing the song! So cute! Back to Sunday evening- I'm feeding her as I'm laying across our dining room table feeling sorry for myself and trying not to gag at the sight and smell of baby food and induce more dry heaving. I've exhausted all of my normal verses of "Old MacDonald had a farm" a.k.a "Ally MacMartin had a farm.." so I sing "Ally MacMartin had a farm, E-I-E-I-O, and on her farm she had a monkey...." you guess it... she started wagging her finger at me! Different song, different tune, but she now associates the word monkey with shaking her finger at me! What a smart little gal. She also demonstrated a few other fun tricks last weekend- when asked, she can now point to her nose and ears, and sometimes her eyes. We're so proud of all of her 'accomplishments'!



Here's a few pictures taken over the past few days:

Ally loves this little helicopter toy!


MoMo wasn't too sure about this padded prison, and Ally wasn't wild about sharing her digs!

Ally rocks the mullet in the bathtub!

Happy girl!

She hasn't quite mastered sitting in the rocking chair yet...

Ally & Gus are having a deep conversation while Mommy reads a book in the background.

Enjoy! Hope you all had a better weekend than we did and that you got to be the windshield instead of the bug!

P.S. Did you notice that I finally learned how to hyperlink?!?