Videos of baby Gabi...

Here are a couple of video clips of Gabriella. The first is on the 26th, her birthday. The other was taken today, Dec. 27th.

Our baby is here!!!

Our new little girl, Gabriella (no middle name yet...still debating), made her entrance into the world today at 3:07 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and measured 20.5 inches long. She was 1 oz less than big brother was and the exact same measurement, so that was very nice!!

We arrived shortly after 5 am and the put me on pitocin and broke my water. I was already 3 cm dilated. I felt contractions for about an hour...not fun at all (with Isaac I only felt 3 before I got the epidural). The Dr finally came to give me the epidural and it was awful and scary!! He couldn't find the place in my back to put it in so he dug around in my back for about 10 minutes. He said he numbed me...but it hurt! I thought for sure I would be paralyzed after that. It did work like a charm...thank goodness...and I was able to relax. I started pushing about 4 hours later and had to push for about 20 minutes. She came out crying and pink and was perfect! She has a nice set of lungs on her! It was a good labor and I'm so glad it was. Isaac's birth was so easy I was worried this one would be awful.

I still can't believe she is mine! Isaac is already in love with her and wants to take care of her. He strokes her face and loves on her. It's very cute.

Here is a photo of her:

For more photos click here:

Baby Gabi's birthday photos

Photos of the nursery...finally!

I finally finished the baby/Isaac's room. Here are some photos:

Dear Santa Claus,

How you been for Christmas? I want Star Wars presents, a Toy Story ship, and Jengo Fett, too. How about Jabba? (And say Hutt) Jabba the Hutt. Dinosaur presents, cars, a blue frog, a sticker, an orange Finding Nemo, a reindeer, a hat. Give me presents, please....and paint.

Love, Isaac Martinez (age 4)

Baby update....

Well, I thought I was in labor yesterday morning. I woke up around 7 a.m. with yucky pains. I started timing them and they were not consistent so I did some laundry and then fell back to sleep. I guess that cured them because when I woke up they were gone! Maybe Gabi changed her mind! I am hoping she will stay in now until after Christmas so that I can be home and won't have to spend Christmas Eve and Day in the hospital. I hate false alarms.....oh well!

Getting ready for Christmas...

We finally got our tree up! I was afraid with all I had to do that it would never get done! Isaac had a blast putting the ornaments on the tree. I must say that there are a lot more on the bottom half than the top half!

Isaac did a pretty good job putting the ornaments on. This is the first year that he helped me with the tree. Lemuel helped with the lights but pooped out on the ornaments. He watched us, though.















Isaac got on Lemuel's shoulders to put the star on top of the tree. He was scared because it was so high. He kept holding on to Lemuel's eye instead of his head or somewhere else. I'm surprised the tree didn't tip over!














Next year we will be a family of four! It still seems hard to believe!

Now we just need to get some presents under the tree!










In other news.....




On Saturday, the 15th I graduated from UCA with my 3rd bachelor's degree! I received a Bachelor of Music Education! I am officially done with school! The time went by so fast! I'm so excited to be a teacher! It was very hard to leave the kids and still doesn't seem real. This picture is me with my fellow music teachers, who also graduated on Saturday (minus one intern who had to leave before we took the picture). Also pictured is my UCA music supervisor, 2nd from the left on the back row, and the choral supervisor standing next to me on the right.

(Just a funny side note - the big guy in front on the first row started his undergraduate when I started mine - in 1994!! He is just now graduating!! It only took him 13 years! It was nice to have him around since we started out at UCA together and he was even my pledge brother in TBS/KKY. I wasn't the only "old" student around. We are both 31 and everyone else is almost 10 years younger..ha ha!)

Since I didn't walk, or waddle, to get my diploma, Lemuel and I went out to celebrate instead, while Mom watched Isaac. We went to the movies and dinner. It was so nice to have one last date before the baby arrives!

Lemuel also finished his semester this week so we are very happy to have a break from schoool. Woo-hoo! I guess it won't be much of a break with a new baby coming!






Isaac made this very cute present for me in his Primary class at church. I love it!!!














BABY UPDATE:

I had my last appt with the Dr. today - 38 weeks. I just knew he was going to tell me that I was still 30% effaced and that's it, like I have been for the last 3 weeks. He did say I am still 30% but that I am also 1 cm dialated...yipee!!! I thought he would induce me this week if I had dialated but I guess I misunderstood. So I am being induced the day after Christmas at 5:00 a.m....yuck! I hate getting up early. We will have to take Isaac with us until we can drop him off (I think at Sister J's) at a more reasonable hour. I'm actually a little glad to have a week left to get my life in order! I have too much to do!
Oh, I also lost 3 pounds so I have only gained a total of 15 lbs (including the baby).
It seems so strange that in a little over a week we will have a new baby in the family! Here is a video of her doing a dance in my belly:

Baby Shower and more!

On Thursday, Dec. 6, Baby Gabi had her first party....a baby shower! It was at the Hansen's house and it was great! We ate yummy Mexican food (I never get enough Mexican food!) and I got some wonderful presents. I got many cute outfits and some much needed items, too. The best present of all was from my Dad and was totally unexpected. He gave me a box full of clothes from when he was a baby, 76 years ago! The most amazing thing of all was that his mother, my Grandma, sewed all of them and she was an amazing seamstress! He wrote me a sweet letter. Of course I started to cry and was so embarrassed! The box was full of cute gowns and even his baby shoes! I will cherish those things forever! Here are a few photos from the shower:

Here I am at 36 weeks pregnant!

Our yummy Mexican food spread!

Mom looks at the new Creative Memories Baby Album I got from Sister Metcalf, a sister in the ward. I was so excited! I got some cute starter pages to go with it, and a refill and page protectors, too! Awesome!

Sister Walton made me this beautiful blanket with my favorite color in it - Purple!

Here I am hiding my face because I had started to cry when I opened and read Dad's letter. I was so embarrassed! I cried at my last shower, too!

This is one of my dad's gowns from when he was a baby, 76 years ago. It is on top of the blanket Sister W. made me.

What's up this week...

On Saturday, the 15th, I am graduating from the University of Central Arkansas with a bachelor's in music education. This will be my 3rd bachelor's degree! I guess I just really love to learn! I will not be walking in the graduation ceremony as I will be almost 38 weeks pregnant and hopefully having my baby! (I can wish!) My student teaching ends this week, on Wednesday. It is very bittersweet. I am excited to start the next chapter in my life, yet very sad to leave the children and my colleagues. I have had the most amazing experience and I am so excited to start teaching. I never dreamed I would love teaching so much!

Here is a photo of me with my mentor, Christy Head. She has been an amazing example to me:



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Lemuel is in his last week of school for the semester. He has finals this week. Good luck, Lem!

Baby Update:

It seems my belly has grown quite a bit in the last week. Gabi has been quite active in there! It hurts to walk! I am physically ready to have this baby, although I will miss her moving. As far as being ready - organization - I'm not ready! I need another month! I fully expected some major progress this week since I have been feeling a lot of pain and pressure, but still nothing! NO PROGRESS!!! She has made a happy home and doesn't want to come out! The doctor says I only need to dilate 1 cm to be induced!! I about died when he said that. He says unless she comes early on her own (or I dilate by my next appointment) he will most likely induce me on December 26th! I hate that birthday for her, but any way it goes she is going to have one of those Christmas/Birthday birthdays!

Isaac asked me where baby Gabi is and I said in my tummy. I asked when she was coming and he said on Thursday, so we'll see. He didn't say which one, though!

Until next week.....

What's happening .......

Isaac makes a 'coral reef'....



He loves to make forts or 'coral reefs' and either put his stuffed fish guys in them or get in them himself. He made this huge coral reef while watching Star Wars. I think he was pretending to be an Ewok in hiding.











We had our annual nativity program at church. I performed a flute/violin duo with a sister from church. We did selections from The Nutcracker. Isaac also performed some cute holiday songs with the Primary. He actually sang the songs or at least pretended! They held up these cute snowmen pictures.








Isaac and I made these cute Christmas countdown Santa pictures. It is a picture of Santa and his beard has 24 circles with numbers on them (one for each day leading up to Christmas). Each day you glue a cotton ball on the circle. When Santa's beard is full, it's time for Christmas!! In this photo Isaac is coloring his Santa calendar.






Here is what the Santa photo looks like. Click on it if you would like to link to the picture to make your own!




















On Sunday (12/2/07) Isaac drew this picture of our family. He had a little help from Sister Brown, his Primary teacher, with some of the faces but I was quite impressed! He also said the opening prayer in primary and did such a good job!













Baby update....

Not much to update this week. I go to my OB on Monday's. Today's appointment was uneventful. After a tiring week with a very active baby I thought I would have done something, but I stayed the exact same as last week! 30% effaced - that's it. The baby is growing, though, so that's good. I also didn't gain any weight, which is good for me. :) Dr. thinks I will make it through my student teaching, which ends next week. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.

Our first post!

Welcome to our new blog!

I decided to start this blog since we have a new baby on the way and hopefully this will motivate me to do a better job at writing down things about our family. I used to keep a journal just about every day but that was B.C. - Before Child!

This blog will be written by me, Erin. I guess I should start by telling a little bit about our family...

We'll start with the boss - Isaac! He just turned 4 years old on Halloween! I can't believe my baby is so big! He is very smart. He remembers everything! He says very funny things. He loves Baby Einstein and has started getting into superheros, especially Spiderman. We introduced him to Star Wars last week. I'm not sure if that was such a good idea since he wants to watch the Ewoks all day long! He's very good at imaginary play and will act out things. It's very fun to watch when he doesn't know we're watching! He also LOVES fish!! He can name just about any fish he sees. His favorite thing to do is to make a "coral reef" out of blankets and pillows and then to carefully put his stuffed fish animals inside of the reef! He is also very musically gifted and I'm excited about that! I practice many of my lessons on him and am amazed at how fast he catches on!

Erin - I am very busy right now! I am in my last two weeks of student teaching to be an elementary music teacher. I have been student teaching since the end of August at Crystal Hill Elementary Magnet School, teaching grades 1-5 and a 6th grade beginning band class (woodwinds) at Maumelle Middle School. I have loved almost every minute of it! It has been so fun and more than I ever expected. I am sad to leave the kids, but I am also excited for the new chapters in my life that will begin and having my own music class. I will graduate on December 15th and am due to have our 2nd baby on December 31st! We are having a little girl this time and I am so excited! It was a little hard to get used to the idea of having a girl around at first, but now I couldn't be more excited! Aside from that, I belong to a flute duet called Duo Desto. You can read more about that by visiting our website: http://www.duodesto.com/. I am RS president of the Spanish branch, but we have downsized so much that I am usually the only sister there!

Lemuel is a senior at UALR and is a biology major. He wants to be a pharmacist and has also thought about doing nursing. He has been quite busy this semester with school and also dealing with the passing of his wonderful father, Miguel Martinez. He has made several trips to Houston to be with his family, yet still managed to stay in school. His father was a great man and will truly be missed! Lemuel has been very supportive and helpful during my pregnancy. He is Isaac's buddy and they wrestle a lot! I'm glad that I won't be outnumbered by boys once this baby girl comes! Lemuel is the Elder's Q. president in the Spanish Branch and is really a good teacher and leader of the men. There are way more men than women so his job is greater than mine.

Last but not least we have our unborn daughter, who we have decided to name Gabriella. We don't have a middle name yet. She is a very active little girl and is doing some wild things in moma's belly!

Here is her first photo:

7 weeks 5 days

I have seen a regular OB with this baby, unlike with Isaac when I saw a perinatologist. That means I have only gotten 3 ultrasounds and the pictures were very poor quality. I think I got spoiled with my weekly ultrasounds with Isaac! Oh well, we'll just be even more surprised when baby Gabi comes.

Since we are in a small 2 bedroom apartment, Isaac and Gabriella will be sharing a room. I decorated the room in a Ocean Creatures theme from Pottery Barn. They have matching bedding and it is super cute! I'm not quite done, but here are some pictures of the bedding.

Isaac's bedding:
And Gabriella's Bedding:

We'll that's about it. This is my "short" update on our family. Please feel free to post a comment so I'll know who's looking at our blog! Please visit again!

~Erin M.

In loving memory

of

Miguel Martinez

1931-2007