CAR SEAT SAFETY - a must read for all parents!

I know how precious every child is to their parents, and everyone around them for that matter. I couldnt imagine purposefully endangering the life of my child. I know that I probably have unknowingly endangered them, and that thought scares me to death! I figure my job as a parent to #1 love them, #2 keep them safe, #3 teach them right from wrong, and the list goes on and on. One of the easiest ways to keep them safe is by using all "baby gear" appropriately. The most important piece of equipment I believe that this applies to is his/ her car seat. The national transportation and safety board estimates that 80% of car seats are incorrectly installed. Now that is just SCARY! I think that the first thing every parent forgets to do is read the owners manual! Every car seat is different, different features, different height/ weight limits, different LATCH weight limits, basically different everything. Every parent should be sure to read each car seat manual cover to cover before intrusting that seat to save your child's life in the event of an accident.


If you would like to have your childs seat checked by a certified passenger safety technician you can go to www.seatcheck.org to find one in your area.

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When did you turn your child's car seat around to forward facing?

Did you know???

The AAP is now recommending REAR facing until age 2! (or until the child has reached the maximum height and weight for his/ her seat)

Here is an article stating the AAP's new stance on rear facing. I highly recommend you read it.

Here is a video that EVERY parent should watch. Not only should every parent watch, every parent should seriously consider how they secure their child(ren) into their car seat.

There are TONS of other videos on YouTube and other sites that show the benefits of rear facing

We still have Ainslee rear facing and will keep her that way for much longer. She is perfectly content sitting that was and it gives me much needed peace of mind knowing that she is much safer that way.

Please go out and check your child's car seat NOW or call Seat Check

Firsts and Lasts

We have had quite a few "firsts" and "lasts" over the past 2 months, some worth mentioning and others not so much. In no particular order here is a little recap of them.

1st chocolate covered strawberry

1st time at the water park, she was all smiles, until.........

the water came on!

1st trip to the Farmer's Market, we will be there every Tuesday, I love that place, nothing like some fresh fruits and veggies, oh and farm fresh eggs are my new FAVORITE! If you havent tried any, you should, the difference is amazing!

she is eating a fresh green bean and showing it to me

Last day of gymnastics

1st time on the slip 'n slide

1st time I filled up the baby pool and let them splash around

1st time trying on her new "gobbles"

First live sporting event. The opening day of FedEx Park! The new baseball stadium for the U of M Tiger baseball team.
(feast your eye on a rare "true" smile from Kaylee in a photo)

Should I be worried she is already holding hands with boys?

First movie in a movie theater. I took her to see Oceans on Earth Day! I thought she might enjoy it, but it was a bust! She sat for like the first 20 minutes then it was all down hill. She really enjoyed her popcorn though.

Ok so there was only one "last", but the last day of school happened somewhere in there, and come to think of it DARN IT i didnt even get a picture. Just chalk that one down with the rest of my bad mommy moments!

St Louis (twice in a week)

In April alone I made 2 trips to St. Louis! Actually it was within 1 week that I made the 300 mile trek to my "home" state. I was born in Missouri, and most of my family remains there so I still sorta consider it my "home" state. I first set out BY MYSELF with both girls. We were headed up primarily for a photo shoot with my cousin who was driving in from Chicago and wanted to take some pics of of the girls. We met up at the Botanic Gardens and got some good shots. Im still waiting to see the final product, and when I get a peak I will certainly share them with you.

In addition to the photo shoot we spent time with one of my good friends from college. We played soccer together and have kept in touch ever since. She has 3 little ones (5 year old girl, 3 year old boy, and 1 year old girl). Her baby is just 5 days younger than Ainslee. She offered us her house, and was even kind enough to give us 2 rooms! We had a BLAST! It was so awesome getting to hang out with her again and basically having a play date everyday. My girls slept so good while we were there simply because they got so worn out during the day everyday. We were able to work together to get things done. It was like double the hands for everything: chores, cooking, caring for the kiddos, it made the everyday grind so much easier all around. It was so fun, and we will definitely be doing that again.

I cant lie, I was really dreading the drive, I have made that drive about 150 times in my life, but I had never made it with 2 children by myself. i was worried about stopping, eating at a restaurant, them being entertained in the car, them sleeping in the car, and just about everything. But the trip when surprising well, we stopped once on the way up and once on the way back. We ate at Lambert's on the way up (im not sure why I picked there considering I could hardly eat anything on the menu (including their famous throwed rolls).

Here she is holding up 1 finger for her 1st time at Lambert's

I made another stupid decision on the way home stopping at Ruby Tuesday. Why in the world did I think stopping at a buffet was the best option when travelling alone with children? I had to tote BOTH of them with me each time we went up to the salad bar. It was crazy, but fun, and the girls did great with it all.

Here are 4 of the 5 kids that were in the house, I think Ainslee was down for a nap when we took this

My girls both love to swing

Suzannah is 5 days younger than Ainlsee, what a cutie

Ella and AW on TOP of the house. Ella is striking a pose, AW thinks he is the king of the mountain


Ainslee and Suzannah cruising the streets.
side note: this photo was taken about 4 seconds before Ainslee redecorated their car in throw up. Im not sure what happened but something obviously didnt agree with her, and she puked EVERYWHERE!

We were in St Louis from Monday to Friday, and Friday morning when we were packing up to head home I received the news that my uncle had passed away. I knew we needed to head home, and the funeral arrangements were yet to be determined due to his quick passing. So we drove home, narrowly missing the crazy storms that were heading our way (you know the ones that hit Nashville and other areas so hard that it was declared a national disaster area?). Then once funeral arrangements were made I decided to head back up to St Louis on Sunday afternoon. My mom, dad, 2 brothers, sister, and my myself loaded up in 2 cars after my little bro's baccalaureate and drove up there again. We stopped to eat, and at the hotel to change clothes before going to the wake. It was really weird to see so much of the family together again. It has been YEARS since we have had some much family in one place at one time. I remember Christmas' and weddings from the past where we would all be together, but this time it was different. We are all grown up now with children of our own. And it was strange seeing the faces of the people I havent seen in so long. The next day was a short service just for family at the funeral home, then the procession to the church for mass, then the procession to the grave site. I was amazed at how many people showed up, my uncle had touched a lot of peoples lives, some 700+ people showed up to the viewing. After the burial, we went to my cousins house for the reception, and then headed home. This trip, although it was shorter, was MUCH more difficult than the one with 2 kids by myself: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Lets just say i would rather drive across the country by myself with both kids before I take another trip with my immediate family again. (too much drama to even mention it all here)

During both St. Louis trips I was able to pay visits to my only living grandmother. She is 93 years old and still kicking. Man how I love and admire that lady! Here is a shot of all of us with her. (dont ask me what the heck is up with my hair)


While in St Louis i realized just how important it is to me to move closer to a city where things are close by, and a neighborhood where my children can build friendships. While staying at my friends house we were just a few minutes from everything. We were able to load the kids in the car go for an hour or so and be home in time for naps or lunch or whatever. Fun things were nearby and it wasnt like we had to plan to be away from the house for the entire day. And she lives in an awesome neighborhood. There are so many children for her kids to play with. For example when we were leaving there were 12 kids at her house, all from the cove she lives in. It was SO fun! And the moms were awesome. One night they all came over and we sat outside sipping wine, eating hummus, and talking about whatever. It was therapeutic and great and something I wish I had in my own life at home!


So Lindley if you are reading this THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You opened your home and your heart to us and we are truely grateful. My girls love you and had a wonderful time. Please let me know when we can come back.

So much to say...

...that is one reason why I have written in so long. I feel like I never have the time to write and when I finally do have time I either have too much to say (and I hate to start something I know I cant finish right then) so I don't even start my post, or I get time to write and I COMPLETELY forget what I wanted to write about. So I decided to just write about what is on my mind today with no real direction to this post and we will see where it ends up. Hopefully I will get back on blog track and post more regularly again, but the demands and pressures of summer are quickly approaching so I'm not making any promises.

here is a little run down on Ainslee - she is getting more teeth (7.25 to be exact, still waiting for the 8th to completely break through, HA!), sometimes I wish her top front 2 teeth wouldnt come in because I like her fang look. She loves to blow kisses, is still a mommas girl, does all her poopies in the potty and most of her pee pees too, her hair is curling up more and more even when it is not wet, spends the night out with ease, laughs ALL the time! She is already a jokester, wants to be like her big sister, still eats everything in sight (unless she is cutting a tooth then she starves herself for a couple days), does NOT like milk, loves ice cream (you think if I let it melt then I can consider that her milk intake for the day? or maybe i should just freeze her milk?). When you say "time for bed, she goes RUNNING for her room," sometimes I wonder why she is so eager to go to bed. She sleeps from 6PM SHARP to somewhere between 730 and 9, loves riding the plasma car, not a huge fan of water (she likes it just doesn't LOVE it.........yet), taking a swim class with mommy, MT and Ms Katie next week. Loves her Amma and Abba very much, has picked up more words and even more signs, knows 3 animal sounds and a couple body parts, knows the sound of the spoon scraping the bowl and begins to sign "all done" and clapping before her last bite has been delivered to her mouth. She has begun exploring other uses for her teeth besides eating (biting Kaylee seems to be the most fun thing to do with her teeth at the moment), still grunts when something doesn't go her way or to basically tell me Kaylee is pissing her off, she is patient and sweet, LOVES to put away her toys (she does so without me asking most of the time), she can follow directions, she listens to everything and knows exactly what I am saying, and my most favorite thing of all is seeing her eyes light up with pure joy/ delight/ excitement/ love whenever Marcus, Kaylee, or myself walk into the room. She wants hugs and kisses from Kaylee and me ALL the time and is not stingy with them at all. I enjoy every minute of her!

I guess since I did a run down on Ainslee I better tell you a little something about Kaylee - she is growing by leaps and bounds both physically and mentally. She amazes us every day with the things that she says and does. She is a fabulous big sister (most of the time), loves play dough, LOVES watching Curious George, loves riding her Power Wheels (and running into things, she is going to really love it when she can drive bumper cars). She is still having some nighttime issues but not AS bad, has developed a dislike of spending the night out (boo hoo), has pushed her bedtime back to around 7 or 730, can't sit still or quiet to save her life, doesn't get mad or freak out when told NO (this is one of my favorite traits about her and I am especially thankful when I see the kind of fits other children throw when they are told NO). She loves loves LOVES the water and can't wait until the day she can spend hours each and every day in a pool (I told Marcus I wouldn't be surprised if she moves to the beach at first chance), buckles herself into her car seat, thankfully she has NOT mastered the UNbuckling part yet, got her teeth cleaned at the dentist for the first time and did amazing, is a people watcher like her daddy, like her sister she already has a tan despite the layers of sunscreen I have applied (white girl momma is slightly envious of this), would eat 20 pieces of fruit a day of I let her, finally developed a liking for sleeping with me (this is more of an accomplishment on my part than hers, we had tons of practice while on our road trip, more on that later), has had tiny samples of gluten over the last couple of months (still primarily GF), sucks her thumb WAY more than I would like, can make anyone laugh at anytime, would make a very good hostage negotiator, has almost given up naps some days are such a struggle to get her to rest for at least an hour and other days she surprises me with these 2 hour naps which make her mood so much more desirable in the evening, she can recite some of her books so precisely it is as if she is actually reading them, and what I love most about my little girl is that she is one of the most fun people to be around and there is definitely never a dull moment when you are in her presence, I love my little girl for all she is!

Since I updated you on the girls I guess it would only be fair if I told you a little about Marcus too. He is still working at FedEx which takes up the majority of his time! When he is not at work or on his blackberry he is spending time with us or trying to keep up with the yard work. He has more ideas/ visions of the yard and flower beds than he can keep up with. He has taken some much needed days off over the past couple of weeks and it has been really nice having him around the house more and I think he liked getting to do/ see some of the things he usually doesnt get to. He is really bummed (as am I) that the U2 concert we were planning on going to this summer has been postponed, so that trip has be cancelled altogether. He is very proud of the gas mileage he has been able to get driving the Jetta to and from work, at 52 MPG that aint too shabby. He can fall asleep within 5 seconds of his head hitting the pillow, a trait that I am MOST envious of, and am trying to learn myself. He is still trying to convince me to stay in this house, and I am trying to convince him that staying in this house is NOT an option........maybe it will sink in to that thick skull of his one day that we need to move! Overall he is such a wonderful husband and awesome daddy!

Here I am

Here are a few pics from April (well the beginning of April). I am still trying to dig myself out of the near 2 month hole I have dug for myself on this here blog of mine. I cant believe it has been so long. But feast your eyes, cause the Martinez girls are growing up and are nothing short of cuteness!...

The look on Kaylee's face in this picture CRACKS me up!

My friend Bethany took these pictures, I wish I had her talent!

Bethany's daughter is so used to the camera in front of her face that she has mastered the art of posing, she follows directions when Bethany says "turn this way, lean that way, do this, do that." What ever the command Bella listens and obeys. Sometimes Bella has her own idea of "poses" and Bethany just rolls with it and snaps beautiful pictures. So we found this bench and wanted to get some shots of the girls, Bella sits down puts her arm on the side and poses ever so delicately. Bethany get some wonderful shots and then tells Kaylee to hop up. And this is how MY child "poses!" UGH! But she sure did make us laugh!

Gotta love the fish lips

She crossed her legs on her own in this one, maybe just a few more "posing" lessons from Bella and she will be a much better model for Miss Bethany.

Kaylee is whispering their plan of attack, and Ainslee is soaking it ALL in!

I've taken up a new hobby.......hope it doesnt kill me!

I need more practice

Marcus and his protege, he cant wait until she is old enough to do this by herself

Had to throw in a video of Ainslee too