Sharing the news with Joey's family

Joey and I stopped at Babies R Us a couple of weeks back and decided to pick up a picture frame for his mom that says, "I love my Grandma" and we asked her and his sister Jessica to join us for a movie later that night. Part of me thought that maybe they had picked up on something during the few days that they had stayed at our house: the decaf teas, ginger ale, fan blowing in the house, the nap I took at a weird time of day etc. but, we soon discovered that they had no idea whatsoever which you can tell by the video above:-). We met them in the theater parking lot and Joey handed his mom the picture frame. The rest is documented for your viewing pleasure. It was so wonderful to see the surprise looks on their faces:). Can't wait for our little one to meet them!!

Announcing----Baby Martinez!!!

This is no joke. The Martinez' have finally begun the family journey!!! We thank you for your patience over the past 5.5 years and now Lord willing if everything continues to go smoothly, we will be welcoming our first child into our arms on or around March 30th 2010. This ultrasound was taken yesterday at which point we were exactly 9 weeks along. Today is 9 weeks and 1 day and this little baby has one heck of a strong heartbeat and is growing furiously everyday!! In the largest ultrasound up top the feet are up towards the right and the head is the opposite end just in case you are like me and think that the feet are in fact hair on the head. Don't laugh, I have never studied ultrasounds before nor did I think to ask myself how hair would be showing so early on. lol. I think the doctor found me amusing. I found it amazing that you can already see the outline of toes on our babies foot and there is a wee bit of a profile beginning to show on the face. The ultrasound truly did rock mine and Joey's world. Until that first ultrasound I just had no idea what to expect. It's hard to relate to something that I haven't seen or heard but, the ultrasound attaches a face, a heartbeat and a miracle moment to the whole pregnancy experience. Joey LOVED being there and it blessed me so much that he made it. I think he is more excited than me at this point and for that I couldn't be happier!

To answer some of your questions:

We got off the pill at the end of March and found out we were pregnant on July 24th. We truly didn't expect things to happen so fast but, we are completely okay that they did. We feel incredibly blessed and do not take this miracle for granted! I have lots of fun stories that I will share over the next couple of weeks about telling our families and how I told Joey etc. Everyone has been so supportive and wonderful. Thank you!

I have been having a rough time as most of you know already. I have had nausea all day everyday and the thing that triggers it most is the smell of my house which I cannot escape because I work in it day after day. It makes it very hard to get any relief no matter what remedies we try or drugs I take. I have also been struggling with depression for the past 6 weeks and that has been the hardest thing of all as it was least what I was expecting to experience during pregnancy. I feel down all the time and even the pregnancy itself hold very little joy for me at this time as terrible as it sounds. I do want to emphasize that this pregnancy was planned and very, very, very much wanted so my mood is simply a hormonal imbalance that I have no control over and I am trying my best to ride it out and not go crazy with this heavy cloud resting over my head. I do welcome your prayers and I know that "this will pass" as everyone tells me over and over but, in the meantime this is how each day is for me.

Do we have names picked out? We have our name picked out if we have a boy but not for a girl just yet and I hate to break it to you all but, we will not be sharing the name until the birth announcement. Hang in there, you'll know in just 7 more months!! :) lol. We do not have a gender that we are hoping for more than another. We just hope and pray with all our might that this little baby is healthy and well when he or she joins us in a short while.

If you have any other questions please leave a comment and ask away. Joey and I are so excited to meet this little person!!

Hello Hello

My dear friend Elissa trekked down from Virginia to visit us this past weekend. Her two boys are so much bigger each time I see them. Logan is 2 1/2 now and Austin is 6 months old (the world's happiest, smiliest (new word) baby!). It was so nice to have kids in the house and to have a good friend around to talk with and go on a walk with:). Thank you so much Elissa for coming by and blessing us with your presence! Joey's sister Jessica also came by Sunday morning to join us for church and then hung out with us a bit after. She is GREAT with kiddos:). A weekend very well spent for both Joey and myself:).

Myrtle Beach

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Joey and I had the privilege of joining our friends Mark and Danielle in Myrtle Beach, SC this past weekend. They were kind enough to invite us to join them as they celebrated 3 years of marriage together at a condo on the beach. Joey and I have never been to Myrtle Beach and Joey has actually never been to the beach for leisure at all out since we moved here two years ago so we were both really looking forward to some beach rays and catching up on life with friends. We did have a great time swimming in the lazy river at the resort, hanging out at the beach, golfing, eating an amazing dinner and just hanging out. Thanks Mark and Danielle for inviting us and Happy Anniversary! I also added a couple recent pictures of Dakota because it has been so long since she has made it into a post:) She's our little princess and though she manages to drive everyone else crazy...we love her to pieces:).

Baby Steps to Conquer the Entryway

The entryway is just starting to come together thanks to the chandelier we got from Joey's Aunt, our new soft beige walls and a custom sign that I had made for over our door. I thought long and hard about what I would want a sign over my door to tell me every day when I walked out. I thought about, "bed and breakfast," "God Bless you," "Cozy Cottage," "Fun House," "Love Shack," lol. etc. etc. and nothing seemed to feel right. I know that the phrase Carpe Diem is used so often and so carelessly but, this phrase is so beautiful and powerful. I of course had to read up on the history of this phrase before being fully convinced that this is what I wanted to see every time I walked out of my home. Now Joey and I are both reminded each day when we step out to "seize the day" or "seize the moment." Such a great reminder. I absolutely love the new chandelier too! It is so dainty, unique and probably about 30 years old so it's one of a kind now. We only have a few more things to tackle with the entryway and then it will be finished and I can finally move on (thank goodness!): crown molding, dresser, mirror and new rug. I'll post more pics as progress is made and as usual I have to give all the credit and kudos to Joey who did all of the manual labor on this installation. Took the poor guy about 3 hours the other night but, he did it without complaint. He's the best!

Side Yard Makeover

If you haven't noticed, Joey and I tend to do a lot of yard work and landscaping in our free time. I don't know that we would do this much if we had purchased a used home that already had landscaping in place but, our new home was just bare bones and has needed lots of TLC in the garden department. We have a really longgggg house and the side of it was always bothering me. It felt so boring with just grass going down to the fence so I decided to spice it up a bit with a wavy mulch border and some azaleas, nandias and monkey grass. We will add flowers next year but, since the season is nearing an end here it would be a waste. I am sooooo very happy with the results. It is simple, low maintenance and yet very pleasing to the eye and makes me smile every time I walk to our gate now. Oh, the simple things in life. Joey and I worked so hard on this as usual and can I just say that I am so thankful that my husband loves yard work as much as I do. These things would never get done if I didn't have his muscles and energy. He's amazing! Next garden project....the backyard. It is completely bare aside from a nice green lawn so we have a blank slate to work with. to be continued....

How Bout them Bulls?

Last night Joey and I were able to enjoy a warm night at the Durham Bulls field. It was a good game with some great plays and boy was it humid! The sky looked a tad ominous for a while but, not a drop of rain disturbed the night. Great time with friends and Joey and I of course got our traditional monster nachos with extra jalenpenos. Delish! I could go to a game a week if I could afford it!! Such fun!! Thanks for dancing with me Miriam:) It was a blast!

Room Inspiration and random updates

I'll be honest, I have not had much to blog about for the past couple of weeks. We are keeping just as busy as ever but, I guess I am not taking as many pictures of all the goings on so there isn't as much to document. Joey's mom and his sister have moved to North Carolina from California. They got in last Wednesday afternoon and are getting settled a little more each day. It's such a blessing to have more of our family here in NC!

Thursday afternoon we had the windiest storm we have had to date here in North Carolina. From what I read on the news our little town got hit the hardest. Several large trees were knocked down, split in half and whipped around by the 60 mile an hour winds. Trampolines and patio covers were thrown across streets like leaves and the sky was just a roar of white for over 5 minutes. Joey and I both love watching the rain fall here and listening to it hit the concrete outside. I stood outside on my porch for a minute watching it pour like I always do but, then I heard this loud roar and a crash as the wind had knocked things down all over the neighborhood and then I saw the white tornado like spin of rain come howling down in my direction. I jumped inside just as the rain turned sideways and slammed into the front of my house. I am doing this storm no justice here. It was powerful, intense, scary, exciting and exhilarating all at once. Very neat!

Other than that, we've got my sister's wedding to fly to California for in just one short month which I am really looking forward to. My apologies in advance that I will not have time to visit with anyone while I am there. This is strictly a short trip so that I can assist my sister as much as possible. I hope to have more time to hang out with friends when we visit next. Anyhoo, Joey and I decided to get a new zoom lens since we don't have one and for a wedding it is pretty important to have zoom capabilities. Can't wait to try it out when it gets here this week and hopefully I can start getting more photography opportunities here pretty soon!

Lastly, Joey and I have volunteered to help out with the high school ministry at church. We will be leading "huddles" (bible studies) once a week with a group of 8-10 high schoolers. Joey will lead a guys group with another adult guy and I will lead a girls group with another adult gal. We both prayed about it for a while to make sure it is the right move for us and afterwards we both felt very strongly compelled to get involved in this ministry, to serve and also to learn and grow from these young people. We will be starting that up in September when school gets back in session sp please keep us in your prayers if you could! That's all for now:) TTFN...