Promotion

As of Friday evening, Randy is no longer the lowest on the food-chain, an Intern. WE are now 2nd Year Residents, which also means that we have drastically less "First Call", more time spent in education-packed rotations (ie. Hospital Service), and a teeny, tiny raise! Woohoo! But Friday night's Graduation Dinner was bittersweet....while we were excited to be one year closer to being done with this training nightmare (my word, not Randy's), we were also sad about saying "good-bye" to friends.

I had a lot of reservations about moving all.the.way.down.here for a number of reasons...probably too many to list...but a good friend helped make the tranisition a little easier. She was willing to look at houses for us, she hooked me up all sorts of information about utilities/formalities once we got here, she kept Laney's breastmilk (AKA liquid gold) in her freezer just days after we met in person (we lost power for a week after we moved in because apparently you just can't transfer the names like we were originally told), she frequently brought her daughter over to play with Josiah to help pass the time, and she shared whatever she learned about coping (about Residency and about living so far away from 'home'). Over the past year, she and I had dinners together, MOPS together, Bible Study together, and chit-chatted about anything and everything while the kids played together.

Katie and Matt became wonderful friends over the past year, and we will miss them. They've headed to St. Louis for the next year for Matt's Sports Medicine Fellowship.


And while I am losing a good friend (in person--thank goodness for Facebook and the Blogosphere), so is Josiah. Isabella (only 6 months younger) and Josiah grew to be great friends, and Josiah will tell you that she is one of his best friends. They were MOPS buddies, sandbox buddies, Children's Church buddies, and pool buddies. Being dropped off at MOPS or Children's Church seemed all right as long as they were together. I know Josiah will miss his friend.

Katie and Matt, we are so blessed to have gotten to know you this past year. We are excited for you guys as you start yet another new journey in this crazy life we call "playing doctor"....we just wish it were closer. ;-) We pray abundant blessings for you and your family...and can't wait to hear the news of Isabella's Big Sisterhood.

Dr. Matt left his scooter with us to sell.....so in the meantime, the kids are enjoying it.

Inner Iowan

"Sweet Corn" season is by far my favorite food season of the year, if I can describe a season by what which food is harvested when. I just *heart* sweet corn....and we were able to find some pretty decent corn in our neck of the woods this year ("knee-high by the fourth of July" doesn't apply down here as corn season is already over-sniff, sniff)...however, it's just not the same as the good ol' fashioned Iowan variety.


I apologize for the not-so-great pics (not great lighting)...but I wanted to show my family that I haven't forgotten that the kiddos are half Iowan (as much as Randy drills into their heads that they're 100% Texan). ;-) To say that my children loved sweet corn would be an understatement...Laney couldn't get enough (this was her first time eating corn straight off the cob).

AKA Trouble

Guess who's tall enough to open doors now?


Oh, this has introduced us to a whole new meaning of child-proofing. I've already had to switch out the knob going out to garage because of Josiah's excitement to wash the car (he helped himself out to the garage, fetched his stepstool, opened the big garage door, and hung out in the garage by himself while I was busy putting Laney down for a nap when a Police Officer drove by, walked into the garage, and then proceeded to tell me that I need to keep a closer eye on my child or he would write me up the next time he saw this happen).

We have started closing the bathroom doors because she thinks unrolling the toilet paper is a great way to keep busy for 10 minutes. However, now that she can open doors, we can no longer keep the toilet paper where it's supposed to be....it's now kept on the counter.

And, I can't forget that she (and Josiah) thoroughly enjoys playing in the pantry. And now that she can open the door, I have found canned food, boxes of mac-n-cheese, and various other pantry-stored kitchen items strewn around the house.

Of course, now that she's taller, she can grab things off the kitchen table, our usual dumping ground for bags, mail, emptying pockets (Randy).....and sidewalk chalk, need I say more? Thankfully, I watched her grab the chalk, so I could successfully intervene before our walls and floors were recolored.

Laney is into SO many more and different things than Josiah was ever interested in....we've really had to grow eyes in the back of our heads.

Adjusting to the News

It has been 10 weeks and 4 days since the "Congratulations, you're pregnant" bomb was dropped on us...and I'm just now starting to accept that I will soon be a mother of THREE, 3 years old and under.

I'm still not sure what God is thinking...the only explanation Randy and I can come up with is "at least we won't be 50 raising a 5 year old". Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not for us.

I know I briefly mentioned the news already in a previous post, but I thought I would write more detail about 'that day'...you know, for documentation purposes and something to laugh at later...when it's funny.

April 1, 2009: I went in to see the doctor, a friend and fellow Resident, about getting back on birth control now that I was done nursing (I avoid any kind of birth control pill while nursing because it decreases my milk supply) and couldn't manage to get my cycle back on track. Dr. Nina asked a bunch of questions and then directed me to give a urine sample with which they would perform a routine pregnancy test. Ah, no big deal. After all, you have to get all of the routine stuff taken care of before you can move on, right? Not even 10 minutes later, Dr. Nina opens the door and says, "I have goosebumps!" while carrying a small slide to me. She showed me the slide, and I asked, "What does that mean?" (Pregnancy was the furthest thing from my mind).

Nina: "You're pregnant!"
Me: "Nina, this is the meanest April Fool's joke anyone has ever played on me!"

Unfortunately, she wasn't joking. Oh, the tears started immediately....what was I going to do?! Randy and I had fully planned on having more children once he graduated and we could afford a bigger vehicle and home...in TWO years. I'm just now adjusting to having the two I have...and Laney just turned ONE.

For at least 6 weeks, I didn't want to talk about it, tell anyone (we did tell family and a few praying friends), or have Randy touch my belly. I didn't even have my first prenatal visit until I was 12 weeks, which is a good 4-6 weeks later than my first visit with both Josiah and Laney. I even hesitated to listen for the baby's heartbeat at the visit. I really went through a tough time.

Well, today was my second visit, and after they conducted all of the routine stuff (pap smear, blood work, blood pressure, weight), I was asked if I would like to have an ultrasound (I hadn't had one yet). If you'd asked me 4 weeks ago, I would have declined. But after discovering that I CAN fit three car seats in the back of my Accord (we are going to look like a clown car), keeping us from having to find a larger vehicle that we simply DO NOT have the money for right now, I'm a little bit more accepting of adding #3 to our 'Table'. Silly how finances can help me better accept the gift God has given Randy and me, I know....I just was feeling financially overwhelmed (babies are NOT cheap). But today, I decided it was time to see who I've started to feel kicking me...on the inside, that is.

Introducing Baby M#3.....

16 weeks and 4 days

Today's ultrasound just measured crown-to-rump, and we appear to be right on schedule with my LDMP. In 5 weeks (after we get back from my sister's wedding in July), we'll have another U/S, during which they'll take the brain, abdominal, and femur measurements. And right now, the plan is NOT to find out what God has blessed us with until his/her "birth" day...gotta keep the trend going.

So while I was in complete denial for about 8-10 weeks, I'm starting to warm up to the idea of having a baby in the house again (even though it's my most least favorite part about having babies). I've even started rearranging furniture, you know, while I have the energy to do it. ;-)

Now for my request to you, dearest readers. Since Baby M#3 will be Martinez #5, I no longer will have a "Table for 4".....so I'm currently taking suggestions as to what our new family blog name should be (I have the hardest time with creating a name), preferrably with no numbers in it...you know, just in case. ;-) Looking forward to what you come up with.

Corpus Christi/Houston Vacation: Part 3

After spending a couple of hours at the Texas State Aquarium, we hopped in the car and headed for Houston. Randy's cousin, her husband, and their darling little man, Noah, just recently made the move back to H-town from North Texas. It had been almost a year since we had seen them last, and we figured that since we were just 3 hours away, that we should 'go the distance' and visit for a couple of days.

About 5 years ago, we travelled to the Mayan Riveria with Noah's mommy and daddy and had a blast! We just love their company...and enjoyed visiting. Randy's cousin recently made the transition from career-woman to stay-at-home-mommy, so we enjoyed 'exchanging notes' and recipes. And while we didn't 'go into town' to see the sights and smells of Houston, we enjoyed relaxing at the house and watching all three kiddos play. I think Laney enjoyed having someone a bit more her size to play with, Noah just turned 16 months. And Noah enjoyed chasing Josiah around the house.


Thursday arrived, and it was time for us to make the trek back to The Valley. A drive that should take a family travelling sans children (or those with older children) 5 hours took us 2 stops and 8 hours. We really enjoyed our short, not-so-far vacation...and while it may not have been to anywhere absolutely amazing (ahem, St. Maarten like my BIL), we just enjoyed spending a few days together as a family, visiting family. That's what it's all about anyway, right?

Corpus Christi/Houston Vacation: Part 2

We spent Tuesday AM at the Texas State Aquarium. It is a beautiful facility, sitting right on the bay, just next door to the USS Lexington.

The bay side of the aquarium, taken from the Lex's Flight Deck.

The dolphin show was our favorite part of the whole aquarium experience (I still think it would be awesome to be a trainer). The kids loved it!

The aquarium has a really neat touch pool where you are encouraged to touch and hold hermit crabs and urchins. Randy was brave and picked up a pencil urchin. Josiah had no interest in holding one.

The USS Lexington seen from the aquarium's "back yard"....what a big ship!

Randy and the kids at the aquarium's entrance.

We took this as we were leaving since 5 bus-loads of elementary kids took over the area as we arrived. Laney was exhausted and ready to get her nap-on for the ride to Houston.

Corpus Christi/Houston Vacation: Part 1

A couple of months ago, Randy was granted access to use the last 5 days of his vacation, so we started planning for a short, simple vacation...somewhere just to get us out of The Valley. We had no idea where we wanted to go: FTW, Houston, San Antonio, etc., until Randy spent a couple of days in Corpus for CME. He couldn't say enough wonderful things about how his hotel overlooked the USS Lexington and was located right on the beach. I was sold. Corpus was just far enough away to "get away" but it wasn't too far where the kids (or me) would have to sit in a car for 10 hours just to get there (not to mention getting home, which is always worse). So we booked the same hotel Randy stayed in during his CME course.

We left Sunday after church (Randy was on-call on Saturday so we couldn't leave any earlier), arrived in Corpus around 4PM, checked into our hotel, unloaded the car/changed diapers, and then headed down to the street so the kids could take in the water/sand/gift shoppe where the entrance was through an open shark's mouth/entrance to the USS Lexington. The kids were SO excited about being in the hotel room...somewhere different, I guess. They were excited about the small balcony, small fridge which contained their special juice, and closet safe (the buttons beeped when pressed, which they LOVED, of course).

At the entrance of the USS Lexington:

It's not a very good picture of Josiah on the anchor, but we just thought it was hilarious that it came from the Norfolk, VA Navy Yard (something also from VA having been transplanted to TX).

Once we filled all of our tummies first thing Monday AM, we headed over to the USS Lexington. It was an overcast day (translation: not as hot), so we thought it would be a great day to use at the big, for-the-most-part unairconditioned ship.

Josiah and Laney LOVED all the buttons.

And the telescopes.

Josiah trapped in the Brig.
It would be nice to have once of these at home sometimes.

Laney and Randy's turn.


No significance of the picture other than the name listed in slot #41....
my not-so-common maiden name--Good.


On the flight deck

Me with my babies (All 3 of them)
(Laney fell asleep soon after making it onto the flight deck)

Josiah taking a seat on the Bridge
(where the Captain would have been seated).

Sadly, I don't know much more about the Lex after spending 5 hours walking through her bowels than I did before stepped aboard (small children just don't allow time for much reading). But it was really cool to see the berthing areas (did you know the Lexington could sleep more people than the world's largest hotel?), the ER, isolation room, barber, kitchen, engine room, and Captain's Quarters (he was the only one with a private escape port).

After dinner, we headed to the beach to spend the remainder of our day. Josiah loves the sand and water (his first experience was VA Beach in 2007) but we just don't make it over to South Padre Island very often. This was, however, Laney's first experience since being old enough to be excited about it (the last time we took her to SPI was in November when she was 7 months old). She was SO excited...and had no idea what to think of the sand.

Laney just plopped down just where the waves came up to greet her.

She thoroughly enjoyed splashing in the water.

About an hour (and a face full of salty water) was all it took before Laney decided she'd had enough...then it was time to watch the birds before heading inside to take a shower followed by bedtime.