BOYS!

The official results are in and we are having 2 boys! It was confirmed yesterday in another Ultrasound. We are thrilled. I am so excited to finally be able to go shopping.

Right now the debate is on for names. With Madison we knew right away what her name was but have always had a harder time with boys. I posted a new poll on the side with a few name combinations just for fun. Make a vote or choose other and make a suggestion in comments.

More ultrasound and Christmas pictures will be coming soon.
We hope you all had a blessed Christmas Season!

Merry Christmas Greetings!

I didn't get a chance to include a letter in our Christmas cards this year so here it is. For those of you whom I don't have addresses for please consider this a Christmas card from our family to yours.

Dear Friends & Family
I hope this letter finds you all well. 2008 has been a very busy and exciting year for us. We started the year with our house in Banks on the market. Many house showings and 2 offers later we sold our first home. The last week in April we spent 5 days in Disneyland with Melissa’s family. We had a great time experiencing such a magical place as parents. Madison loved watching all the people and parades but wasn’t sure of the characters.

One week later we finished packing our home and moved into Hillsboro. It was a sad but exciting move. We love our new home and being so much closer to so many of you. While we settled in and unpacked our new home we also enjoyed many family weekends. We spent Memorial Day in Seattle with Matt’s family, camping trips, weekends at the beach, and many trips to the zoo.

In September we found out that we would be adding to our family with the new addition to arrive June 3rd. We went to our first appt in October and had an ultrasound. Much to our surprise there were not one but two babies. We were shocked, overwhelmed, but of course thrilled. They will most likely join our family sometime in May. Madison tells anyone who will listen, “Two babies Mommy tummy”. We are preparing her as much as we can already for the arrival of these two little bundles.

Madison has been such a blast this year growing and changing so much. She is now 2 and talks in full sentences. She counts to 12, knows all her colors, many shapes, loves to draw, read, play with her friends, and play outside. She is becoming such a big girl. She is fully potty trained and moving into a big girl bed next week. I cannot believe how fast the last 2 years have gone. We are so thankful for our fun, energetic little girl.

Matt is still working for Wells Fargo in Portland as a Compliance Manager. He recently bought a new Ford truck, enjoys working on his Chevelle (still in progress), golfing, and is taking up fly fishing.

I, Melissa, am working part time for my mom at www.MyPreciousKid.com. We opened a new store front location in Hillsboro this summer. I am loving the time I get to spend at home with Madison. We attend a Mom’s groups one morning a week and keep plenty busy. I will be home full time once the babies arrive. I know that life as I know it will change completely. It will be a big adjustment for our family, but we cannot wait.


Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May 2009 be full of many blessings for you and your families.

The Marteney’s

Birthday and Birthday again!

The other excuse for my lack of posting has been the abundance of birthday celebration in our house. Last weekend we started the festivities by having a joint party for Sydney and Madison. It was a Veggie Tales theme attended by several of the kids from our Mommy to Mommy class the same age (all boys). It was fairly laid back with lots of play time, cake (made by Dara and I), and presents. The girls had a great time.

The second was a family party yesterday. Some of our extended family were planning on attending but the snow kept them home. Instead my family, Matt's parents, and our good friends the Kephart's and Wills' helped us celebrate. It was Minnie Mouse themed due to Madison's love of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Minnie in general. After a rush to clean once again in the midst of finishing her cake an hour before we had a great party. I felt so blessed to have so many our our favorite people come even in the snow to honor Madison. Madison had a great time and knew just what to do when it came time to open gifts and blow our her candles. She even got to enjoy the snow for a little while.

Saturday, as I posted earlier, was Madison's actual birthday. I included some way to cute pics of Madison enjoying her very own ice cream Sunday and Christmas lights. Enjoy!

Christmas is in the air!

I know I am a bit behind in my posting. The last few weeks have been quite busy. The week before Thanksgiving we became the first house of our neighborhood to have a holiday glow. Yes MY husband put up Christmas lights BEFORE Thanksgiving. This was a first. He claimed it was due t the beautiful weather and possibly only chance to not hang them in the rain. I think I am rubbing off a bit in my excitement for the holiday season. A week later the rest of the neighbors followed in their holiday cheer displays.
We spent Thanksgiving dinner with the Marteney's in Lebanon and then traveled to both sets of my grandparents for the evening. Friday morning my mom, grandma, aunt, and myself set out at 5:30 on our traditional hunt for the perfect Christmas gifts. I will admit I was exhausted by the end of the day, but surprisingly had plenty of energy to get through my needed gift hunting.
Matt stayed with his parents overnight Friday and went to the Civil War game Saturday covered in Orange and Black attire. Of course the DUCKS kicked some Beaver butt! Madison and I were cheering along to the tv from home.
Sunday was another very important hunt and annual tradition. The hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. And now several weeks later our house has been fully decorated for quite some time with presents under the tree. Our holidays festivities start this coming weekend with 2 celebrations with extended family weather permitting. I love this time of year and the chance to spend so much time with family.

Happy Birthday My Sweet Girl!

Today my little girl turned 2 years old. 2 years ago right now I was being moved to my postpartum room, just staring at her. Amazed that I had something to do with creating that little miracle. I cannot believe how much she has changed and grown. She is such a joy to our lives. Her energy and excitement make every day fun. We spent today getting ready for her family birthday party and then going to dinner and seeing Christmas lights with my family. She really noticed the lights this year and even knew who many of the characters were. It is so fun to see the holidays through her eyes.
I cannot wait to continue to see her grow and learn. There are so many fun memories yet to be made.
Madison, you are my miracle baby and I am so blessed to be your mommy! I love you so much!

1day old

1 year old

Black Friday Discount at My Precious Kid

Thursday through Sunday you can get 25% off your first online order at My Precious Kid. Those of you with new babies there are lots of great items just for you. See the Baby AuLait Nursing Cover, Sound Machine, Sleep Positioners, and more. There are lots of Child Safety products and baby proofing as well. If you miss out on the sale this weekend check the front page for another special offer on Monday.


Go to My Precious Kid to get the coupon code and see other online store discounts.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday and Happy Shopping!

It's a ...& a ...!

We had our US today and got a good glimpse of what looks like 2...

BOYS!

Now we have to come up with 2 boy names. We got a fairly clear shot of both babies but I wont be going shopping crazy until after our next appointment on the 22nd. Matt of course is thrilled. Enjoy some new pics. There are a few of Madison as well. She has been telling me she is going to hold and rock the babies and give them a binky and bottle.

Baby A

Baby B

TWINS!

BOY!

Feet

Go Ducks, Bad Beavers!

Last weekend we got to attend another Ducks game. It was the last home game of the season. We ran into several friends and tailgated with some of Matt's bosses. Madison somehow came up with Go Ducks, Bad Beavers. And I promise she came up with the last part all on her own. She would tell anyone who would listen. All of Matt's bosses are die hard Ducks and give him lots of grief about being the only Beaver. They were loving Madison's chanting and rewarded her with Duck sugar cookies and Duck lips.


The hard part of the day was that tailgating started right at nap time. So of course the last 10minutes of our drive Madison was finally ready to sleep. She did great even without her much needed sleep. She snuggled with Daddy and played with my hair while we were in our seats and enjoyed playing with Sydney at half time. She crashed not 10 min into our car ride home. It was a fun day.

Gender Poll

We have an Ultrasound on Monday morning. I will not quite be 13 weeks so finding out the gender is not likely. Although I do know of someone else having twins who was able to find out the gender of one baby at 12 1/2 weeks. I am not sure I will trust it 100% that early though. Our official BIG US is Mon Dec 22nd. I have posted a gender to poll to the right of our blog. Please make your vote. Voting ends on the morning of the 22nd. We will post pics of our US next week as soon as possible. I would love to know who voted what, so if you want to leave a comment that would be great as well.

On a side note: Please be praying for my grandpa. He had 2 heart attacks today. He had a stint put in and seems to be doing fine. He is going home Sunday. We will be heading down to see him tomorrow.
3years ago he had a big heart attack and open heart surgery. We are so thankful this seems to be on a much smaller scale.

October Come and Gone

This month seems to have flown by. It has been full of many surprises(TWINS) and fun events. Unfortunately my nausea and exhaustion have kept me from keeping the blog up to date. Any free time I have has been spent either playing with Madison or sleeping. I am finally regaining a bit of energy.

We started the month celebrating our 5th Anniversary with a weekend Downtown. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and had a wonderful dinner at The Melting Pot. The room was pretty tiny with no view, but the great breakfast made it worth it. We also visited Saturday Market on our way home. It was fun to have a weekend just for us. Madison had a blast at Nana and Poppy's. She did not want to come home.

Later that week our Mommy to Mommy group went to the Pumpkin Patch. Unfortunately I was fighting a stomach flu on top of morning sickness. Luckily Nana lives close by and took Madison for me. I was sad to miss the event but we got some great pictures and she is still talking about the Punkin Patch.

Madison has been loving fall. She has fun pointing out all the colors of leaves as we drive in the car. She thinks they are great fun to run in and throw as well. We have been ejoying indoor playtime to its fullest. Daddy has been getting in on the fun.

Dara had a Halloween Girl's Night last week. We all dressed up. It was so much fun to see everyone's creativity.


On Halloween we went to the churches Harvest Party with Madison as Tinkerbell. She quickly figured out that she got chocolate(candy) from the games for her bucket. She had a blast and loved seeing everyone all dressed up. After the party we went out to our old neighborhood to Tacker Treat (Tricker Treat). Unfortlunately because of the over 400 kids who arrive at that neighborhood by 8pm lots of lights were out already and we only go to see one neighbor. It was still fun to go back to visit. Last but not least we went to Nana and Poppy's. Madison knocked on the door where Poppy greeted her with Raisenets. Her favorite! The night ended late to bed but full of fun.

I know this was a long post but I hope you enjoyed catching up with us. I am hoping to be much more on top of things for the month of November. We have a Dr. appointment on November 13th. I am hoping to learn much more about what to expect during this pregnancy.

8weeks Pregnant

Baby A (not sure why its sideways)

Baby B

Twins

Sorry it took me so long to get these up. Madison ended up sick yesterday. We are for sure having twins. They are measuring 2 days big and 3 days small. Very normal for twins. They both have great heartbeats. I have been pretty sick and exhausted but hoping it will pass soon. I am getting little breaks from the nausea in the day.
Thank you for all your prayers.

And then there were 3.

1+2=3

Yes, as in Madison plus 2 babies. We had our first appt today and an ultrasound and it looks like we have 2babies. I go in for a follow up appt next week to confirm. Matt is incredibly excited and I am overwhelmed. Probably a bit in denial as well. Please pray for a healthy pregnancy. We are totally shocked and need all the support possible. We feel doubly blessed but know that many changes will be coming our way soon.
We will keep you updated as we learn more about our little ones.

Potty Training Update!

If you read our previous post you know that we started potty training last Sunday. Madison has had dry panties since Sunday afternoon. I am totally shocked at how fast she has gotten this. She has even been dry 2nights and 1nap. I know that night training comes at its own pace so I wasn't expecting this either. We are so proud of her. No more diapers in our house. Well, for 8more months anyways.

Thank you Friends and Family!

We got so many congratulations as comments and emails I wanted to say a HUGE Thank you to everyone. We appreciate all of the support every one of you has given us.
Having so many people excited around us makes us even more excited(if that is possible). Thank you also for the encouragement so many of you gave me on having two. The consensus seems to be that two is easier. Guess we will see.
Madison talks to the baby in mommy's pummy(tummy) everyday. She was even sharing her potty training stickers with my belly last night and saying baby kiss as she kissed my belly. So sweet!
I hear that with the second my belly should pop out even sooner. I am actually exited for this to happen. I think it will make it feel even more real. Nausea has kicked in but nothing horrible. I am hoping to have a fairly sick free pregnancy. I am sleeping lots but otherwise doing great. My first appointment and hopefully ultrasound is on October 16th. We will have an update then.
Thank you again for your prayers and support. We love every one of you.

Potty Time

Today was officially our first day of potty training. We have been doing pre stuff for a few months. She has gone 3-4 times during that time.
Today we went cold turkey no diapers all cloth. We got some special prizes at the store thanks to Nana and Daddy.The morning started with 5 accidents right off the bat. I think she would start to go and stop herself multiple times. By lunch we were finally have successes and even dry through nap. Overall for the day we had 6 successes in the potty. She got a prize each time which was very fun. She is definitely getting it and so proud of herself. I wasn't expecting her to have any successes right away so today was such a great surprise and blessing. I know she is ready and I am so glad that we are moving forward. She is no longer a baby. Such a big girl. I hope tomorrow goes just as well.

cake cake cake...

We have had an over abundance of cake in our house since starting my cake decorating class. This week was our last class of the first course and our finale cake. I have to say that our cakes both turned out better than I think we expected. Here are our finished pieces.

Dara's

Mine

My Roses