Food

I was washing my hands after a diaper change when the thought came to me, "A large portion -- 95%? -- of today's activities have revolved around food!" Nothing earth shattering.
And I don't know why it came after a diaper change... just a realization. Just for kicks and giggles, here's a quick run-down of the day from McKay's 6:30 am feeding....
Make breakfast for family, which includes a separate meal for Gabriel.
Make lunches to send with Cory and Lucas.
Make snacks to send with Lucas and Gabey to school.
Get everyone to school, come home to clean up food prep mess.
Feed McKay.
Feed myself.
Shower.
Make week menu/grocery list.
Pick up Gabey and do grocery shopping.
Return home to put food away.
Feed McKay.
Feed Gabriel and myself.
Clean up food prep.
Play with Gabey.
Snack for Lucas when he gets home.
Feed McKay.
Prepare dinner.


Following dinner will, of course, mean clean up. Then we'll do bedtime ritual, followed by another McKay feeding. I anticipate ending the evening by getting Cory his dinner when he gets home later...and, to be honest, a little snack of some sort for me. After all, all those McKay feedings don't come from nothing.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.....

Lucas Turns 6!

2 weeks after McKay was born (which was the day after Christmas, which was a week after our anniversary, which was about 3 weeks after Gabriel's birthday....yes, each year we will be cramming 3 birthdays and our wedding anniversary within a month of Christmas. Oi.), Lucas celebrated his 6th birthday!

Fortuntately, since Mom was a bit of a dud for his birthday this year (still mostly in the nursing and napping mode), he had his grandparents and aunt, uncle, and cousin with us to celebrate. My parents were in town from Utah (which was wonderful!) and my brother, David, and his wife Maida and baby Abi came down from Pennsylvania. He thought it was really special to have them all here.

Gabey sharing in the excitement of Lucas's gifts...the theme of which was overwhelmingly Star Wars.

Everyone went bowling (except Mom, McKay, and Grandma) and found out that Grandpa -- who claimed he hadn't bowled for over 30 years -- has golden fingers. At one point, Lucas told his Uncle David, "I'm having so much fun, I don't even need to open presents!"

The birthday boy chose breakfast for his dinner menu, followed by Yoda cake and presents. I did manage to do some amazing pyrotechnics for the occasion.

We're proud of Lucas and are excited to celebrate another year of his life!

Stay Tuned

Time Flies!
I need to get pics of here of Lucas's 6th birthday and updated pictures of little McKay.
The pictures I posted for the last post do not look like him -- I've decided cameras do not do babies justice. His face is not nearly that round (not that there's anything wrong with a round face, he just doesn't have one). My parents and brother and sister-in-law have seen him and all agree he looks nothing like the pictures.

McKay

My parents make me wear this hat.

Here are some pics of the little guy -- thanks for the congratulations!

I'm taking this a step at a time. I really do want to talk about the whole labor story (probably more for my "journaling" sake than for you, although you'll be welcome to read it if you're interested), but I'll do just pics for now.

Here he is!

He looks a lot like Cory's baby picture. Just a couple of hours old.
Father?

Oh!

Oh, and his brothers really do enjoy him.

A BIG week

Between Christmas and the arrival of the newest Martin, it's been a big week!

McKay Cory Martin arrived December 26 at 12:40 am weighing 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 1/2 " long. He looks a lot like his daddy's baby picture. Do we finally have a little Cory?!

He came quickly...well, after 3 days of "prepping" labor, I'll call it. I had been contracting since Monday night, but nothing regular or strong or long; they were just letting me know that baby would be here soon. And, he came at 38 weeks, just like my other 2. Once I went into active labor on Christmas night, it was only about 3 1/2 hours before he was born. Most of that laboring was spent at home, because he was born within an hour of arriving at the birth center.

It was an awesome experience. Honestly, the day was full of miracles. More details to come for those who want to know the whole story. For those who just want the basics, here it is! We're excited to have him here and are recovering well.

Oh, and pictures are forthcoming; dealing with computer issues. Just imagine a really adorable baby for now.

Christmas in DC

There are lots of fun things to see in DC at Christmas time...and while we haven't gotten to all of them, here's our afternoon trip to the Botanic Gardens and Union Station a couple of weeks ago.

Every year, the Botanic Gardens does a Christmas train display. Emmet and Gabey watched this one over and over and over...
Major DC buildings made out of nature. Pretty!

Gabey in front of one his favorite DC icons...The Washington Monument!
This was Gabriel's favorite train -- Caterpillar.


The Union Station Christmas Tree. The kids' favorite part about this was the piano playing itself at the base of the tree. Magical!

Meeting the President-Elect. What Cory would REALLY love for Christmas.

And, finally, a "Barack in the Box".