Have You Heard The One About The Angry Panda????

There is no real punchline to follow up the title of this post, but it just seemed to fit this picture! I thought I was going to be the smart mommy this year and do a dry run with the costume the day before Halloween so I would have plenty of time to photograph my precious panda before the big night. She was SOOOO NOT HAVING IT!!

I'm kicking myself for spending $50 on a costume from Pottery Barn Kids right now!

I guess I really can't blame her for being scared of the panda head after being exposed to this! I was trying to show her how cute and funny it could be, but somehow I think I just made things worse!

The only time she was reasonably happy was while she was running away from me and the panda head!

She finally gave up on running and decided to protest like this!

Even though it is supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow in Norfolk, I think we'll attempt to wear the whole get up (minus the panda head of course) and just pin a sticky note to her that says "stubborn panda" so everyone will know what she is supposed to be!

The moral of this story is.... don't waste your money on expensive costumes with head pieces until your child is old enough to be reasoned with (or bribed!)

Happy Halloween!

Pretty and Preppy in Plaid!

Good Karma and a Shameless Plug for Diapers.com

Before leaving for my trip to Tampa last week I noted that we were down to our last 4-5 diapers so I made a note on my calendar to order more the day before we were scheduled to return. Diapers.com ships next day delivery (for free with an order of $49 or greater!) After logging my standard order- 2 cases of Pampers Cruisers size 4 (an $85 value) I was able to relax in the knowledge that the diapers would be waiting on our front porch when we returned home last night. Except they weren't!


Not only was my diaper order missing, but there was a bin from the US Postal Service that should have held all of my mail for the past week that was completely empty! I totally panicked thinking that someone had stolen my diapers and my mail!


My first move was to call diapers.com to have them track the order. As I feared- their records showed that UPS delivered it at 1636 to the front porch. I explained what had happened and asked them to send me a new order for another 2 cases of Pampers. The lovely lady to whom I was speaking offered to send it free of charge. I thanked her profusely but declined the offer since it certainly isn't their fault that I live in a diaper/mail stealing ghetto! She felt so bad for me that she gave me a $20 credit on my account. (this is exhibit A that diapers.com rocks!)


After hanging up with Diapers it occurred to me that I really need to call the police and file a report since I'm sure my weeks worth of missing mail contained at least a few credit card apps and bills. Who knows what sort of identity theft could take place with that sort of information on the loose! Before I took this step though, I decided to check with my one helpful and awesome neighbor Sonja who lives up the street a few blocks. Low and behold- my faith in humanity is restored! No one stole my diapers- they were merely picked up by a thoughtful neighbor who was worried that they may be stolen if left out on my porch for too long! Her husband brought it all back down the street to me so now I'm not stuck diapering my daughter in newspaper today!


I didn't feel right about taking a $20 credit from diapers.com for stolen diapers that were not in fact stolen so I placed my second call to the customer service department. I told them to go ahead and send the replacement order since it's not like we won't use them eventually, but that they needed to take the credit off of my account since my original order wasn't stolen. The lady I was speaking with was so impressed that I'd called to tell them this that she not only left the $20 credit on my account, but she gave me a second $20 credit! (exhibit B of diapers.com awesomeness!) $40 of free diapers! That's nearly an entire jumbo sized case of Pampers free!!! Karma was on my side yesterday!

And as if that weren't enough to convince you that diapers.com is every mommy's BFF... here is further proof. Several months ago - I received a shipment in which I was shorted an entire jumbo case of diapers. It was on the packing slip, yet it was missing. I called the customer service department and they sent me a new case lickity split with no questions asked along with a lovely $10 credit for my trouble!

And all this from the comfort of my living room??? I'm one happy customer for life! Or at least as long as I have kids in diapers that is!

A Fun Fall-ish Weekend

I say it was a fun fall-ish weekend because on Saturday it was darn near 80 degrees which is pretty hard to imagine in the middle of October... but a fun weekend it was just the same!

These first few pictures were taken on Friday. Nothing special going on. Just the norm- Ally looking cute and showing off her belly button!


I think she is making fun of her big preggo mama in this picture!


On Saturday morning we went to a farmer's market with some friends. Although it was really warm and sticky, the kiddos had a great time. Here Ally is running around like a crazy girl trying to avoid capture and confinement in the stroller.

Ally and Hal had a good time riding around together and sharing a sippy cup. Several people asked us if they were twins! I don't really think they look that much alike, but I guess when you have two tow heads that are the same age people just assume. Like I'd be crazy enough to get pregnant again so soon if I actually had twin 19 month old kids!

After our visit to the farmer's market we stopped at the neighborhood park for some play time and got caught in a big storm. We took shelter under a big gazebo structure but after 10 minutes or so the kids were getting antsy and the rain wasn't showing any signs of letting up. My friend Sarah finally gave in and said "How often to kids get to run around in the rain?" Since it was 80 degrees outside we relented and turned them loose. Ally had a blast!

Wet kiddos! From left- Marlena, Christian, Ally and Hal.

The rain did cool things off a little bit so when we finally made a mad dash for Sarah's house Ally ended up borrowing some clothes from Hal to go home in. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a flash forward to what our little guy will be look like in snuggly navy blue sweat pants and a cool helicopter t-shirt!

On Sunday we took our standard pictures before church since we were both cleaned up and looking decent. Ally just got this cute new outfit and she got a lot of compliments on it. Personally, I think she's way cuter than a button!

If you took the time to read my previous blog post I apologize that it was so all over the place. Last Tuesday was a pretty rough and emotional day for me. After I posted that mess it just got worse when I fell into the bathtub while trying to bathe Ally that night. Thankfully none of us were hurt except for my pride! I think the root cause of all of my frustration was just being alone and missing Matthew. After an epic sob session I had a good chat with my family and was reminded by my dad that no problem is ever solved by worrying and that praying is a much better alternative. I've been trying to remember that when I get stressed out and I've come to the conclusion that I don't have to have all of the answers right now. I have no clue how we're going to make it work, but I have confidence that somehow we'll figure it out together. We're blessed with a supportive and loving set of family and friends and I know that with their help, we will succeed somehow!

And finally, after months and months of debate... we have chosen a name for our little boy! Henry "Hank" Nicholas Martin! It still sounds a little strange to me when I say it out loud, but I felt that way with Ally too so I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.

Thanks for checking in with us. It may be a while before I post again because Ally and I are leaving for a week in Tampa, FL at the Martin's winter home on Thursday. We're looking forward to a week of fun and sun (it's supposed to be in the upper 80's- low 90's!) and family time. My brother in law Brian and his girlfriend Amy will be there as well so it should be an interesting time with two pregnant gals living under one roof!

What Was I Thinking???

What in the world caused me to think having another baby was a good idea when I have one that keeps me as busy as three kids would? I'm totally panicking today. We had a doctor's appointment with the specialist at the children's hospital that we've been working with for the last 5 months. While we have made some improvements during this time, we are essentially in exactly the same spot as we were in May. Ally is still limited strictly to baby food- anything with more texture causes her to gag and vomit. She still won't hold her own bottle and I have to spend approx. 30 minutes per session hunched over her in a bouncy seat while distracting her with toys and iPhone apps in order to get her to take a 6oz bottle. I do this 5 times every day in order to get the necessary amount of calories into her. If you do the math, this means I spend over 2.5 hours every day just working on bottles. Add in an extra 45 minutes of high chair time to feed her the purees three times each day and a large portion of my waking hours are spent devoted to feeding this child.

Our daily schedule is planned around her feeding times and we are quite limited in the length of time we can be away from the house since she does much better at home in her own surroundings. We have managed to get her enrolled in our church pre school one morning a week, a weekly swimming lesson, and a Little Gym class every Friday in hopes that spending more time around children that are eating age appropriate foods and drinking from cups will have a positive influence on her.

I think our appointment today was sort of a wake up call. I have no idea how we're going to do this once our little boy arrives in late December or early January! I really want to be able to nurse him since that experience didn't go so well with Ally (she quit nursing at 2 months and I pumped for the next 7.5 months) but it's just hard for me to imagine what type of schedule we'll have when I'm trying to nurse a baby every 2 hours and feed Ally every three hours! We'll never get out of the house! I'll happily accept any and all offers of help, but most of it is going to be my responsibility because no one else can nurse the baby, and Ally eats best for me since I'm the one at home working with her every day.

To add insult to injury- her specialist recommended that she be fitted for some custom orthotics that she will wear in her shoes. Even though she walks and runs just fine they think she pronates her feet which causes her to hyper extend her knees. Just once I wish we could walk out of that office without identifying some new issue that requires therapy!

The only good news of the day came in the form of her measurements. Ally weighed in at 25 pounds and 7oz (approx. 65th percentile) and was 32.5 inches tall (75th percentile). She's gained almost 5.5 pounds since I quit my job in April so I know my perseverance is paying off, but I'm seriously questioning my ability to take care of two children. I know I have more than enough love to give but I don't know if I will have enough time. I can only hope and pray that our son will be a good eater and an easy going kiddo!

Although my Ally is difficult, I wouldn't trade her for the world!

26 Weeks And Growing.....