The Marty Party

We're still here!

2011-09-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize quite how long it had been since I posted, until a friend mentioned she missed my "now-defunct blog". Whoops! I guess it has been awhile. Ok, you're right. A looooong while. There's a lot to tell...do you have all day? I'm guessing you don't, so I'll give you the Cliff's Note version to get you up to speed on the Marty Party. As always, if you'd like to see the photos larger, just click on them.

November 2010

* Amelia turns one!

* Henry Keith Marty is born!

* Miles Jeffrey Marty is born!

December 2010 - February 2011

* Feed babies, burp babies, change baby diapers...200 a week to be exact.

March 2011

* We leave the beautiful state of California, headed for greener pastures.

April 2011

* We temporarily settle in Menomonee Falls, WI with Branden's parents.

* Branden starts a new job at Great Lakes Naval base, just north of Chicago.

* We put an offer on a house in the Chicago suburbs.

May 2011

* We buy our first home in Skokie, IL!

* We begin renovations on said home.

June 2011

* Still commuting from Wisconsin.

* Stiiiiiillllll renovating.

July 2011

* Ready or not, the movers come!

* We move in to our "new" home!

August 2011

* Settle in to our new home/city/state.

* Continue the never-ending home renovations.

* Diapers continue to be delivered by the case.

And here we are! As of September 2011, we are the proud parents of three beautiful babies and the proud owners of one cute little house in the 'burbs.

Speechless.

2010-11-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

My sister just got off the phone with a customer and, apparently, I was the topic of conversation. Christina mentioned I was going to be induced, rather than schedule an elective c-section. The rest of the conversation went like this...

So, she was like "Oh, so she's going to try to have the natural?" and I said yes, that you'd strongly prefer to avoid a c-section - and she goes "Oh, well, you know, babies born via c-section are SO much healthier. They come out all pink, and whole (?!) and just much healthier. I mean, I've done STUDIES on it. I mean, I am friends with people who have friends who have STUDIED it. It's really amazing. And did you know that you can also schedule a tummy tuck to be performed WHILE you're having a c-section? So it's really a much better option."

Mmhmm.

Sorry this is a short post...I need to go call the doc! I don't want to be piecing together my babies after they're born!!!

(BTW, I make no judgement on c-section vs. natural - that's a totally personal decision. But, seriously, c-sections babies are born WHOLE? Hahahahahaha!)

My Dream Job

2010-11-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

In my previous life...
I spent my lunch hour sipping Chardonnay and nibbling on seared Ahi while I schmoozed customers and charged said Ahi to my beloved "green card" (aka my corporate American Express).

In my new life...
I spend my lunch hour trying to convince a one-year-old why it's a good idea to eat her chicken/veggie/fruit/yogurt/anything-I-can-get-in-her-mouth-without-a-fight. And then I crawl around on my hands and knees picking up all the bits she tossed to the floor before she can eat them (why she likes things off the floor but not off her plate, I have no idea).

In my previous life...
I spent so much time and money at J.Crew that my husband bought me J. Crew stock for our fifth wedding anniversary. I thought it was the most romantic gift I'd ever received (I mean, it was pretty thoughtful!).

In my new life...
My personal shopper has long since stopped calling and J.Crew's stock has lost 50% of it's value (that can't be ALL my fault - can it?!). I now wish/pray/hope that Target gets in on the act of personal shoppers so I can stop stalking the lingerie department for new shipments of nursing bras.

In my previous life...
I worked out, tanned, got pedicures every two weeks and never left the house without "my face" on. I wore freshly dry-cleaned clothes and cute shoes.

In my new life...
I shower. Almost every day.

In my previous life...
Our house was the party house. We threw fun, themed parties and were known for our raucous Christmas parties. Even game night drew knocks on the door from security.

In my new life...
Our house is still the social center for our friends, but only because Branden and I can't leave the house after 6pm (unless we care to pay $12 an hour for our babysitter to watch TV while Mia sleeps). Everyone is still welcome, but now it's always potluck, paper plates and lights out by nine. Oh, and don't forget to take off your shoes at the door.

In my previous life...
I got paid in American dollars and my boss was a smooth-talking Jersey boy. I turned in my admin on time, hit my sales goals and came prepared for meetings, so he pretty much left me alone.

In my new life...
I get paid in slobbery kisses and my boss is a two-foot-tall mini me with a feisty temper and a mischievous smile. She sets my hours and my day starts and ends when she says it does. It's her world and I'm just livin' in it.

To quote my friend, Jill...
"I have never worked harder, made less money, or been more exhausted than I have over the past year. BUT, I have never felt more love, learned more, or been HAPPIER either."

It's amazing, really. I know it sounds bad when I lay it all out like I have, but in reality, I can't imagine my life before kids. I always thought I had a dream job, but now I really do.

Baby and Belly Updates!

2010-10-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

I guess I owe you a lot of information, seeing as how I haven't posted since July! Once I catch you up, I think you'll understand.

First and foremost, the love of our lives turned 11 months old yesterday. Oh. My. Gosh. Where is the time going? I'm working on a photo book of her first year and, as I look back at all of the photos, I can't believe it's been nearly a year since her arrival. Amelia is such a special little girl and Branden and I feel so lucky to be her parents. She is still as curious as ever and has developed a fun personality. She's sassy and mischievous when she wants to be, but spends most of her time exploring, dancing and making us laugh with her funny faces and antics. She LOVES to people watch and laughs hysterically around other kids.

Here is a brief rundown of her accomplishments and new skills:
8 months
* 2 more teeth (I think I mistakenly said she got three at seven months...it was only two, as the last one actually popped through at eight months)
* Cruising (walking holding on to things)

Such a happy girl!
Like mother, like daughter!
Midwest summer fun

9 months
* Crawling
* Pulling up to stand
* 2 more teeth (that's eight now if you're counting)
* saying "Dada"

Funny faces!

10 months
* Climbing stairs

So big!
Cheering on our team!
Still a little fashionista

She has decided she's pretty much done with baby food, so she eats what we eat. Right now, her favorite foods are Greek yogurt, soup (especially veggie or minestrone), mangoes, orange wedges and any kind of meat. She's anemic so we think that might be why she loves meat so much; her body is craving the iron. Either way, it's quite funny to watch this petite little girl dig in to an Italian Beef sandwich!

Last week we had an early birthday party for her. It was six weeks before her actual first birthday, but back when we were planning it, we decided to have it early in case I ended up and bed rest with the twins. Thankfully, other than for a few weeks, that hasn't happened, but it was nice to celebrate while I still have some energy. We planned a Dr. Seuss themed party and Mia seemed to love it. The best part was having my parents, Branden's parents and my sister and brother-in-law there to celebrate with us.

Of course, as we enjoy and celebrate each day with Amelia, we are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of our twins. It's been a roller coaster few months, but I'm very thankful to report that all is well now and we expect them the week after Thanksgiving! Here's the back story to get you caught up...

As I said in my last post, Amelia and I were in the Midwest until the end of July. After two months away, Branden was coming home the first weekend in August, so we wanted to make sure we were back in time to see him. He was only supposed to be home for a few days and his visit coincided perfectly with my 20-week ultrasound. While Branden was content to keep the twins' genders a surprise until delivery day, I decided that I was good on surprises for the year (hi, TWINS?!) and so we agreed to find out the gender of the babies at the ultrasound. These days, the 20-week ultrasound is pretty much standard procedure and it enables the doctors to look for any potentially serious problems with the baby. Because it is such an in-depth look at the baby, it is also a chance to find out the baby's gender. Fortunately, most parents leave this ultrasound knowing their baby is perfectly healthy and if they are welcoming a little boy or a little girl.

You can probably guess where this is going, but like I said, all is well now! So, as you read, keep in mind that our story has a happy ending. We arrived at Balboa (our hospital) for the ultrasound, dropped Mia off at the the daycare there and headed over to radiology. A very nice and professional tech warmly greeted us and we settled in for the two-hour scan. Right away, she asked us if the twins were identical or fraternal and we said we really didn't know. She said she thought they were identical, based on what she could see. She continued scanning for about an hour and then asked us if we wanted to know the babies' gender. YES, I said! She turned the computer towards us and showed us a very proud little BOY. We were shocked! Our last guess was two boys (it's the most uncommon combination), but there was one and, since they're identical, one penis means two!

Over the next hour, she continued to scan, this time focusing on Baby B. After she was done, she said she wanted to show the doctor the photos and make sure she hadn't missed anything. I knew immediately something was up because I've had both good and bad ultrasounds and that's only something they do in a "bad" ultrasound. Unfortunately, Branden had to leave to pick-up Mia before the day care closed, so I was on my own, waiting for the tech to return. She did, with a doctor in tow. They asked if my husband was coming back and I asked if he needed to. They said yes. We couldn't get a hold of him (dumb cell phones!), so I asked them to give me the news anyways. The doctor was very kind and explained that our identical twins had an uncommon syndrome called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion. She briefly explained it and told me to expect a call from the perinatologist (high-risk obstetrician) within 24 hours.

TTTS, as Twin-to-Twin is known, affects about 10% of identical twin pregnancies. It's a little complicated, so below is a link to explain it. In a nutshell, we met with the high-risk team at Balboa and they told us there was a 95% chance we would lose both twins if we didn't get treatment right away. Thankfully, there is a relatively new surgery to treat this and one of the nation's top surgeons is in Los Angeles. Within 24 hours of our diagnosis, we had an appointment for surgery in LA. This link explains both the syndrome and the surgery, and the doctor and nurses featured are the same wonderful team that treated us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-9bfjAm2ro

It's go time! As nurse Terry likes to say, "it's time to save some babies!"

When we were diagnosed, our TTTS was a level 1-2. Six days later, when we had our pre-op ultrasound, it had progressed to a level 2-3. This meant our donor baby's bladder was no longer functioning, his blood flow was becoming irregular and he had no fluid in his amniotic sac. He was also severly growth restricted. Our recipient baby's heart was showing some thickening and his amniotic sac was 15-16cm deep (normal is 3-8). Due to the excess fluid, my belly was measuring 37 weeks, even though I was only 21 weeks pregnant at this point. During surgery, Dr. Chmait removed two liters of fluid from the recipient's sac and successfully laser ablated all of the blood vessels connecting the two boys. 24 hours after surgery, both boys had strong heartbeats, so we headed home to wait and see how the next month would go (the most critical period).

For a month after surgery, I was on modified bed rest and Branden was home to watch Mia. We had weekly ultrasounds to check on the boys and each week they looked better and better. Four weeks after surgery, we had another in-depth ultrasound and fetal echo cardiogram (an ultrasound of their hearts). To everyone's relief, our boys looked GREAT. Our doctor was so pleased and said, if she didn't know our history, she would think she was looking at the ultrasound of a normal twin pregnancy. We are SO incredibly thankful and blessed by this outcome.

We continue to have bi-weekly ultrasounds and other monitoring, but as of last week, the boys are still making a remarkable recovery. Henry, our donor baby, weighs about three pounds and Miles, our recipient, is almost three and a half pounds. They are both in the 25-35th percentile for size, which is amazing considering Henry was in the second percentile at the time of surgery. Unless the boys decide they're ready sooner, it looks like I will deliver six+ pound babies the week after Thanksgiving!

My belly is getting bigger, but compared to how it was before surgery, I feel great! I'm starting to get more tired and uncomfortable, but most days are pretty good and, of course, Amelia keeps my mind off how I'm feeling. I think my belly will get really big in the coming weeks (or, as Branden so kindly put it, "you're going to be HUGE!"), but I'm so happy the boys are healthy, I don't care! It's all worth it.

Sorry the photos aren't all the same direction - my brain isn't working so efficiently these days!

Well, you're probably tired of reading by now and I'm tired of writing, so this is probably a good time to call it a night. Before I go, I do want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers over the last two months. Through the worst of days, we were encouraged by the kind phone calls, emails and cards we received. You brought us meals, watched Amelia and accompanied me to doctor's appointments when Branden had to go back to work. We will never be able to convey the depth of our gratitude, but please know we are so thankful to have such a loving, supportive group of family and friends to lean on. We love you all very much and can't wait to introduce you to our little miracles!!

Where to begin?

2010-07-12T17:57:00.001-07:00

If you're reading this, thanks for not giving up on me! I know it's been a loooong time since I've updated, but I promise you lots of photos and updates here and now. On the advice of Julie Andrews, I'll start at the very beginning (or at least back up to where we left off)...

Since our life is now measured in monthly birthdays, I'll update you month-by-month.

Mia - Four Months
At four months, our sweet girl accomplished many things. Among the highlights were:

* started laughing
* got two teeth!
* rolled back to belly (thus making her mobile, since she already knew how to roll belly to back!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I went back to work during this time and Branden left on a month-long "deployment" (I use the term deployment loosely here - not really sure what to call it - a month-long "business trip"?). Things were going very smoothly until our full-time babysitter left us! She got a wonderful opportunity teaching special education children and we couldn't blame her for taking the job. Thankfully, Grandma Deal and Grandma Marty came to the rescue, flying in and taking two-week shifts until I could find another childcare solution. Mia loved her time with her Grandmas and I was happy to know she was in good hands. After much thought and discussion, Branden and I finally settled on a childcare solution...ME. Yes, after eight wonderful years at Gallo, leaving my beautiful daughter behind everyday proved too much for me. As much as I loved my job, I loved being with her more and I decided to give my notice. My bosses were extremely supportive and I knew I was making the right decision. Now, four months later, I am thankful for every minute I get to spend with her!

So, after what was a VERY hectic month of juggling work, baby and home, Branden returned back to San Diego and the Grandmas said their good-byes. Of course, life in the military is never dull so our time as a family once again proved short-lived!

Enjoying the flower fields with Mommy and Daddy, touring Daddy's ship, swimming with Daddy, celebrating her first Easter

Always ready with a smile for the camera!

Welcome home, Daddy! The second photo makes me laugh - do you think she's already grossed out by our PDAs??

Mia - Five Months
Mia didn't really develop any new skills at five months, but she spent a lot of time practicing. She mastered grabbing for toys, objects (always things she wasn't supposed to have, of course) and started sitting up (albeit very timidly).

I wrapped up work this month and Branden was back in San Diego, so we enjoyed lots of family time.

Celebrating our first Mother's Day!

New favorite activities - "brushing" her new teeth, eating fruits and veggies, being mischievous (in this photo she seems to be saying, "Ha ha, Mommy, I'm not napping like you want me to!!")

Still entertaining us with her many expressions

Starting to eat baby foods - some days it goes well, some days not so much

Mia - Six Months

At six months, Mia finally mastered sitting up and is having a ball! Now she can reach for toys, interact with other babies and be more involved in the world around her. It's so much fun to watch!

Branden left on a three and a half month "business trip" this month (June), so Mia and I headed to the Midwest to visit family and friends. We spent time in both Michigan and Wisconsin and Mia got to meet many family members and friends for the first time. Everyone (especially my parents and Branden's parents) went out of their way to welcome us and we appreciate it so much!!

As always, Mommy's little fashionista

Practicing sitting up

Such a smiley girl!

Still not sure about the baby food

Mia - Seven Months
Mia celebrated her seven month "birthday" in the Midwest, trying to beat the heat! It was well into the 90s nearly the entire time we were there. Despite the oppressive heat, Miss Mia has been working on several new skills and tricks. Some of the highlights include:

*getting herself up on all fours (knees and hands)
*clapping
*playing fetch (not nearly as fun for us as it is for her!)
*growing three new teeth (and learning not to bite!)
*making a piggy face
*dancing (whether or not there is music playing)

She is also becoming quite talkative, babbling to anyone and anything that will listen!

Branden is still gone, so Mia and I have decided to extend our Midwest trip by another few weeks. We'll be back in San Diego at the end of July, in time to welcome Branden home for a three day visit.

Happy, happy girl!

Still acting like we're torturing her when we feed her! Such a drama queen!

Amazingly, her attitude changes when she gets to eat treats!

Beating the heat with her favorite activity, swimming

Talking to Daddy via Skype

Practicing safe sun protection with a new hat, enjoying her own seat on the plane, loving her new toy "Rody", reading and relaxing in the bath

Sending our love to Daddy on Father's Day!

Meeting new friends and family members!

One last thing...
Maybe you've heard a little rumor, maybe you haven't. Either way, I guess it's about time to set the record straight. Yes, our little family is growing! TWO new Martys will be joining our family in November or early December. Although we were SHOCKED to discover we were having twins, we are overjoyed and can't wait to welcome them into our family.

We've been asked lots of questions, so here are a few FAQs and answers:
*Are they fraternal or identical?
We aren't positive but one doctor said fraternal (the other couldn't tell), so we're going with that for now.

*Do twins run in your family?
Yes, but on Branden's side, meaning it didn't influence our luck! The only time that matters is if there are twins on the mom's side.

*Were you taking fertility drugs?
Nope.

*When are you due?
The twins are due December 20, but our doctor/hospital won't allow twin pregnancies to go beyond 38 weeks. Given that, they will be here by December 6.

*Were you trying to get pregnant?
I mean, really, I think is a private matter, but whatev. Given our pregnancy history, the number of children we wanted and my age, we decided to let nature take it's course after Mia was born. We knew we wanted three or four kids and we haven't had the best luck with pregnancy. So, we weren't trying but we were very pleasantly surprised when we found out we were going to be blessed with two more healthy kiddos.

*Are you nervous? What are you going to do?
This question makes me laugh! Of course we're nervous, but we're also very excited! As for what we're going to do, well, we're going to love them and raise them and take it all one day at a time!

So, that's a peek into our life! It seems there's never a dull moment around here. I'll post some belly pics and 4th of July pics soon. Thanks for checking in!

Four Months Old!

2010-03-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

Mia officially hit four months this week, so I guess it's time to catch you up on her third and fourth months. As I imagine is the case for all families with a baby in the house, time flies and you're never quite sure where it all goes. Our sweet girl makes us smile each and every day...she is so much fun and her personality develops more and more each day.

As a reminder, you can always click on a photo collage and it will open up larger.

Right now, she loves swimming, playing airplane, bouncing in her Baby Bjorn seat (she just figured out how to spin the toys and she is very serious when doing so) and reading books. She also loves to examine her hands, play with her ears and suck her thumb.

She started rolling from her front to her back in her third month and now she is very close to rolling from her back to front. She is also quite the "creeper", sort of a pre-crawling move in which she digs her feet into the ground and scoots herself around. I can still leave her for a few moments, but not for much longer!

She loves to smile and just started laughing. Her giggles are music to our ears!

We love to smooch her and she is happy to oblige.

She is very patient and lets me dress her up nearly every day. Branden says "she's not a doll, Stephanie," but I disagree!

Occasionally, I push my luck and I get an "Are you kidding me, Mom?" look...

She loves to "talk" and chat! She also just figured out how to scream and screech, so she does that quite often, even when she's happy. It's pretty funny but I'm sure the neighbors wonder what's going on over here.

Most everyone notices her BIG blue eyes!

She finally got to meet Uncle Colin, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ryan last month!

In addition to watching our baby girl grow, Branden and I recently had some changes at work. For starters, I went back to work after 18 weeks off. Branden took a new job that keeps us in San Diego for another two years. He is still an aide to the same admiral, but the admiral is now in charge of a different command, so they are now stationed aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. The admiral's new tour (and therefore, Branden's) started at the beginning of March. Because the Nimitz was out on deployment, Branden and the admiral flew out to meet the ship and join the deployment. Lucky for us, the ship was already on it's way home, so they'll be home soon. They'll do a couple more months at sea this summer and then, if all goes as planned, Branden will be home for the next year and a half, thank goodness! We were both getting pretty tired of his constant deployment/travel schedule over the last three years.

Unfortunately, my timing was a bit off and I planned to go back to work the very same day that Branden left. So, Miss Mia and I have been on our own this month, adjusting to me going back to work and Branden being gone. Thankfully, we have an awesome babysitter and both Grandmas have been out to help, so the transition has been as smooth as possible. I'm not getting much sleep, but I plan to catch up once B gets home. Speaking of sleep, my bed is calling my name, so I'll stop here. Thanks for checking in with us!

Our Little Mermaid

2010-02-02T23:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Mia's first swim class! Ever since her cord fell off and she could take real baths (i.e., not sponge baths), she has loved "swimming" in the tub. We let her float around in the bath tub each night (we hold her head above water) and she loves it. So, we decided to start her in swim lessons as soon as possible and found a school that would let her start at two months. Branden and I were so excited for her to start and we've been eagerly awaiting today! To be honest, we were a little nervous that a) the half hour would be too long for her and she would get crabby before the class was over and b) that she would poop in the pool. Gross, I know, but we just weren't that confident in the swim diaper and we didn't want to be those parents! Thankfully, I'm happy to report that she loved the class and they did not have to drain the pool afterwards. We signed up for a month of classes on the way out, so let's hope tonight wasn't a fluke!

Amelia is two months old!

2010-01-19T12:54:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe but our little Munchkin is two months old! She continues to amaze us everyday and she is a joy to be around. It's been a big month, with lots of changes. She is growing and changing so much every day. She had her two-month well baby check-up yesterday and she weighed in at TEN pounds! She hit a little growth spurt around week seven and she gained 20 ounces in just 21 days. As you can imagine, she is eating all the time to achieve a weight gain like that!

With her two-month "birthday", our little one decided she was a big girl and started sleeping in her crib, in her own room. If you've talked to me in the last few weeks, you know this is a HUGE accomplishment, as she was still sleeping in our bed just last week! We had been putting her down for naps in her crib to make the eventual transition easier for her and then, last weekend, she just decided she was done sleeping with us. She wouldn't fall asleep in our room no matter how hard we tried, so we eventually decided to give the crib a try. Sure enough, she fell right asleep and slept for five hours! Since then, she has slept in her crib every night and has only woken up once to feed each night. I was really sad the first night, as I wasn't quite ready for Mia to move out of our room yet, but since then I'm just enjoying the extra sleep (we also have a video monitor so I can check on her anytime I need to)!

As her body grows, so does her personality! Mia is a happy baby (when she gets her naps!) and loves to chat and smile with us. She loves when we sing to her and dance with her - her favorite songs are currently "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music and "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha (yes, I know, it's not a very age-appropriate song for her, but she loves to dance to it!!). She's very active and loves to look around and see what everyone is up to. She's trying very hard to crawl (poor thing, she has no idea that milestone is still months away) and roll over. She has actually rolled over twice, but both times she was on a couch, so it was slightly slanted and gave her a little help. Given that, we're not ready to call her a baby genius quite yet. :)

As for B and I, we're quickly settling into life as a threesome. Now that the holidays are over and the visitors are gone, we're getting into a routine and figuring out how to make it all work. I'm still on maternity leave, until March 1, so that's helped ease the transition for us. We're starting to look for childcare for when I go back to work and that has us pretty stressed. It's going to be so hard to leave our sweet girl each day! Beyond that, we're just waiting on B's next set of orders so we can begin to make plans for our move. He should be taking a new job in the next six months or so, and most likely that job won't be here in San Diego. There's also a possibility he may deploy again, so we're trying not to worry too much about the future and just enjoy each day - of course, that's always easier said than done.

I can hear Miss Mia waking from her nap, so I'll leave you with some highlights from her second month...

A visit from Aunt Kayla

A visit from Aunt Christina and Uncle Daniel

Getting better at (and starting to enjoy) tummy time
If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window.

Melting us with her smiles!

Enjoying the boat parade with Summer, Gregg and Baby Tay

Mia's first Christmas! She was spoiled, of course!

Morning chats with Daddy

First trip to the Birch Aquarium

First plane ride! I flew back to Michigan while Branden was on a business trip. Mia was a champ, both coming and going. She slept through take off and landing and woke up once to eat and play. She cried for about five minutes on each flight. It's such a relief to know she is a good little passenger (at least until she gets mobile!).

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010! I hope that you all had a happy and healthy end to 2009. While 2009 was a wonderful year for us a family, we are looking forward to another great year in 2010. It will be hard to top '09, but we think little Mia will help us try. Before I update you on life with the little one, a quick look back...

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows (and my dad finally proposed!!).

Branden and I joined my family on a trip to Italy to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.

Branden and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a quiet dinner out.

Grandpa Rowe turned 85 years old! We celebrated with a family party at the lake.

Branden's youngest brother, Ryan, deployed to Afghanistan (and returned home safely in December).

My little seestor got married! Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. McIlhenney!

I won an incentive trip to Spain for Branden and I (Mia went too - I was 32 weeks pregnant!).

We welcomed a sweet baby GIRL on November 15!

When I look back, it is hard to believe that we were lucky enough to celebrate so much in one year. During a difficult time for so many people, we are humbled by the blessings of 2009.

While every one of these events brought us great joy, it was the birth of our daughter that truly made this a year to remember. She is seven weeks old today - I thought time flew before, but having a baby changes everything! When I look back at the photos from the last few weeks, it is hard to believe that she is almost two months old. Where does the time go??

If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window.

Little Mia is truly amazing. I'm sure all parents say that but, of course, we're biased! Branden and I feel so lucky to be her parents. She is a happy, sweet and curious baby who loves to snuggle. When she's not cuddling with us, she's cracking us up with her expressions!

If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window.

I know I always write this, but I really promise to try and be better about posting in the future! I know you all want to see pictures of Mia, so I will do my best. Perhaps that can be my New Year's resolution...

Introducing...

2009-11-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

our sweet baby GIRL!

As you may have heard by now, Amelia Rowe Marty was born on Sunday, November 15 at 3:48pm. Mia weighed 6lbs, 15oz and is a shorty at 18.5" long. She is named after my grandmother and sister (my grandma's name is Amelia and my sister's middle name is also Amelia) and Branden's mom and grandpa (Rowe is Branden's mom's maiden name).

Amelia's due date was November 8 and we spent the last week of my pregnancy trying to be patient while we waited for her to arrive. Though anxious to meet our little one, we tried to enjoy our last few days as a twosome. On Friday, November 13, I went for a check-up and was showing little sign of progress towards labor. We were happy to wait and allow the baby to come on his or her own schedule, but modern medicine had other plans. Our midwife told us that our hospital wouldn't allow us to wait past 41 weeks and 6 days, so an induction was scheduled for Friday, November 20. I had long been hoping to avoid an induction, but we were left little choice. We went home and hoped that our little baby girl or boy would decide to arrive before we were forced to induce.

Like so many things in life, even the best laid plans don't always work out as expected. On Saturday morning, November 14, my water broke around 6:30am. We were thrilled and excitedly waited for contractions and labor to begin. We called our doula and told her to be ready to come over. She gave us some ideas to help labor get started and we tried them all (walking, climbing stairs, warm shower, etc). We kept in contact with our doula all morning and early afternoon - when nothing had happened by 2pm, she suggested we start thinking about calling the midwife. Since my water had broken, she knew the hospital would want the baby delivered by 6:30am on Sunday (to avoid infection) and we were running out of time to labor and deliver before our 24 hours were up. Branden and I decided to give it until 4pm before we called. By then, I still wasn't showing any signs of labor, so we called the hospital and they told us we needed to come in as soon as possible.

We showered and got ready, again enjoying our last few moments as a twosome. We headed to the hospital around 5pm and got checked into Triage so the doctor on call could check me out. She confirmed that my water had indeed broken and decided to admit us since it had been nearly eleven hours with no signs of labor.

Once we were checked into our room, the doctor came in to discuss a game plan. She felt it was time to induce labor, so we discussed our options by which to do so. Ultimately, we decided on Pitocin. It would cause heavy, hard contractions, but it was proven safe for the baby and would force my body into labor. We called Donna, our doula, and asked her to come to the hospital for support. Already our birth plan was changing and we wanted a familiar face with us to help guide us through the world of modern medicine.

The doctor started Pitcoin about 7:30pm and it didn't take long for the contractions to begin. Upon admission, I was only dilated to a 1.5-2cm, so we knew that the Pitocin and my body had a lot of work to do before this baby was born. We settled in for a long night.

The next twelve hours are a bit of a blur. I had decided on a natural childbirth, so the doctors and nurses tried to respect that as much as possible. That said, the induction required some medical intervention and we had to be flexible with our birth plan. I had to be monitored continuously, so I couldn't leave my bed or bedside. I was able to stand and squat through the contractions, which helped tremendously. I wished I had the freedom to walk or move more but, again, we were all having to be flexible and make adjustments due to the induction. Unfortunately, as the night wore on, Amelia and I required more and more interventions, eventually forcing me to lie in bed, wearing an oxygen mask and more monitors. Her heart rate kept dropping with each contraction and the lack of amniotic fluid was causing her cord to get pinched (hence the need for me to be on oxygen). These extra interventions, while certainly needed, were making it very difficult for me to deal with the pain of the contractions - I had little relief because I couldn't move around and they were very irregular due to the Pitocin. I would have three contractions without a break and then not have another one for several minutes. The combination of these factors was wearing me down.

Finally, about 3am, when I was only dilated to 4cm and hadn't made any progress in several hours, I decided I would ask for some pain relief. I was disheartened by my lack of progress and exhaustion was setting in. I knew I had many more hours of labor ahead of me and it was difficult to deal with the pain while forced to lie in bed. Branden and Donna persuaded me to wait a little longer and really think the decision through. I appreciated their support and continued to labor naturally. An little over an hour later, I decided that I really did want pain medication and asked them to tell the nurse. The anesthesiologist was in an emergency c-section with another patient, so the nurse offered some mild pain relief while I waited for an epidural. That medication did little for the pain, but it did make me a little loopy, so I labored in a bit of a fog while we waited for the anesthesiologist. Around 7am, we finally got word that the anesthesiologist was on her way and by 7:30am, I had much needed relief. While I was disappointed in my decision, I knew that getting the epidural was the best decision for me at the time. I was having trouble relaxing through the contractions and I think the tension was preventing my body and the baby from progressing.

Of course, the epidural allowed my body to relax and it allowed all three of us (Branden, Donna and myself) a much-needed nap. We all went to sleep and woke up about 9:30am. Branden and Donna took turns staying with me while the other went for fresh air and food. By that time, shift change had taken place and a midwife had come on call. She took over my care from the doctor and came in to introduce herself. I wasn't showing any signs of infection, so she agreed to let us keep laboring, despite having passed the 24-hour mark since my water had broken. We were thankful for her patience and relieved that a c-section wasn't in our future (at least not yet).

Because I had the epidural, the next several hours seemed to crawl by. Though laboring naturally was hard and painful, it did make the time pass quickly and made me feel productive, like I was really working to bring my baby into the world. With the epidural, I didn't do anything but lay in bed and wait. It was hard but my body was progressing and we knew it wouldn't be much longer before our baby was born. My parents arrived at the hospital around 12:30pm, surprised that they still didn't have a grandchild!

About an hour later, Kel, the midwife, came in to check on my progress. She discovered that I was fully dilated and ready to go! While checking though, she discovered the our little one was in a face-up presentation. Since this is pretty uncommon, she grabbed an ultrasound machine and the doctor on-call for a second opinion. Sure enough, the baby was presenting face-up, meaning we would see the baby's face upon delivery, rather than the top or back of the head. Kel said that I could still deliver the baby vaginally, we would just have to be prepared for any complications. She told me to start getting ready to push and began to prepare the room for delivery. I asked the anesthesiologist to turn down the epidural so I could feel the contractions to be able to push with them and an hour later I felt ready to go. With everyone in place, I started to push with each contraction and our sweet baby was born just 15 minutes later with no complications! After 33 hours of waiting, we were so relived that she arrived quickly! Branden quickly checked her over and told me "it's a girl, it's a girl"! She was placed on my belly and we just marveled at this new little person that had arrived.

We had only chosen one name for a girl, so we were happy that Amelia seemed to fit her. She was very very bruised and swollen from delivering face-up but, of course, we thought she was adorable regardless. We enjoyed about 45 minutes of bonding and then Branden went to tell my parents the happy news. They were thrilled and couldn't wait to meet their new granddaughter.

A little over a week has passed since Amelia's arrival and we just fall more and more in love with her each day. She is a sweet, mellow baby and hardly ever cries (no seriously, she really doesn't cry). When she wants or needs something she just gives a little peep, as if to say "Mom? Dad?" and then that's it. Her bruising and swelling have nearly disappeared and she is just beautiful. She is petite and delicate and she seems to look a lot like Branden as a baby. For now, her hair is a medium brown and her eyes are a dark gray-blue, so we'll see if that changes. She lost a bit too much weight after birth and had a little bout of jaundice as a result, but she's doing well now. She's back up to about six and a half pounds and we expect she'll be back up to her birth weight by her two-week check up on Monday.

We want to thank you all for the many warm wishes. We've received so many phone calls, emails and cards and we feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Please be patient with us as we slowly return calls and emails, but please know that we greatly appreciate the warm welcome you've all given to Amelia. I promise to keep you updated with more photos via the blog, but for now I've got a sweet little girl to feed...

If you have a few minutes, here is a video my dad put together of Amelia's first week. It's about eight minutes long, but it has tons of pictures and some video. If you want to see it in a larger screen, you can watch it here.

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go

2009-11-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, in the words of John Denver - "my bags are packed, I'm ready to go." Definitely not leaving on a jet plane, but hoping to be heading to the Labor and Delivery floor at Balboa Hospital very soon! As of today, Diego has been incubating for 39 weeks and two days. Branden and I are so excited and anxious to meet this little one! The first eight and a half months of this pregnancy flew by, but now the days are crawling by as we wait for any sign of labor. So, while we wait, here is an update on our lives over the last couple of months...
* Because this is such a lengthy post, I condensed most photos into collages. If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window. Also, for some photos, there is a link "click HERE" to more photos, with captions. Enjoy!

August: Fun in the Sun
For us, August was a fun-filled and hectic month. We started the month with a visit from Branden's dad, Keith. It was also Colin's last weekend living in CA, so the three of them enjoyed a boy's weekend. They hit two Padres/Brewers baseball games, played a round of golf and ate lots of yummy food. I can only handle so much baseball, so I only tagged along to one game and let them enjoy their "man-time" the rest of the weekend.
The next weekend we were off to Chicago for Steph's wedding! Steph, Rachel and I lived together at Michigan for three years. It was wonderful to be a part of Steph's wedding weekend - it was a weekend full of love and laughter and we were so honored to be included. We started the weekend with fishing (the boys) and mani/pedis (the girls). From there, the girls headed to an intimate lunch in Steph's honor. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at Gibson's steakhouse and then the wedding was held at Trump Tower on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for Steph and her new husband, Dusten!

On Sunday morning, after Steph's wedding, Branden and I took the train up to Milwaukee to see his family for the day, before heading back to San Diego. When we arrived at the Marty home, we could tell something was going on. Turns out, Kayla and Ellen (Branden's sister and sister-in-law) had planned a surprise baby shower for us!! (Dede and Keith claim no part in the surprise, but I find that very hard to believe!). It was such a special day - all of our Wisconsin friends came by, some we hadn't seen since our wedding five years ago. We were so touched by every one's thoughtfulness, generosity and efforts.

After our weekend in Chicago/Wisconsin, we headed back to San Diego for a quick work week. I was in San Francisco for meetings, so Branden painted Diego's room while I was out of the house (more pictures of that later). When I got home, we headed to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend with a few friends. We rented a house overlooking the lake and enjoyed a gorgeous summer weekend! Lake Arrowhead is beautiful and we can't wait to go back. It's a perfect getaway and it's only two hours from San Diego.

Since my days of travel were quickly coming to an end, we squeezed in one more trip that month. This time, we headed back to the Midwest for a baby shower in Michigan. My family threw us a great party and, since we had just seen most friends and family at my sister's wedding in July, it was fun for them to see my belly progress. I had sort of "popped" in the month since the wedding, so I was finally looking really pregnant, much to every one's delight. Again, we were so touched by every one's thoughtfulness, generosity and effort. My friends, Kirsten and Katie, flew in just for the weekend - Kir from DC and Katie from California! All in all, we felt surrounded by love and we are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family!

September: The Last Hurrah
Of course, with my growing belly came an end to my travels. As I mentioned, though, Branden and I had decided to take one last trip before my midwife cut me off from flying. Earlier this year, I won a sales incentive trip for two - to SPAIN! It was all-expenses paid and neither of us had ever been, so with our midwife's blessing, we decided to go for it. I was pretty nervous once we actually got to Chicago and were boarding the flight to Madrid - what was I doing?! Would I really be able to travel comfortably for the next week?? At that point, there was no turning back, so Branden calmed my nerves and off we went! We spent week 32 of the pregnancy touring Northern Spain and we loved every minute of it. We were SO glad we went. I felt great and had no problems whatsoever. Here are a few photos, but if you want to see more, click HERE.

October: The Home Stretch
September flew by with our trip to Spain (and Branden's work travels - he was home for two or three days that month), so we were looking forward to a more mellow October. I wrapped up work; my last day was October 16. I'm looking forward to going back early next year, but for the time being, my mind was quickly shifting into baby mode and all I could think about was my to-do list at home. I still had so much to do, buy and prepare! Luckily, our wonderful friends took care of much of the "buying"...we were so blessed to have two baby showers here in San Diego in October. If you want to see more photos and read more about the celebrations, click HERE.
The month of October ended with some Halloween fun. We had secretly hoped that Diego would arrive before Halloween (what pregnant momma in her last weeks doesn't wish that?!), but here it is November 2nd and Diego still seems pretty content in the incubator. For now, we'll just enjoy some quiet time while we wait.
*Are you wondering who that adorable little baby is that we're holding in so many photos? That is Baby Taylor, born to our friends, Summer and Gregg, in September. We just love her and enjoy cuddling her while we wait for Diego. We think she is just the cutest little girl and Branden says that if Diego is a boy, he's talking to Gregg about an arranged marriage. :)

Diego Updates
Well, as I mentioned, we're into week 39 and Diego seems pretty content in his little home. He/she shows no signs of making an appearance anytime soon, so I'm just taking comfort in the fact that there is a 98% chance he or she will arrive in the next 19 days (although, really?! I can't even imagine being pregnant for another three weeks!). Our actual due date is November 8, so I'm hoping Diego is more like his or her daddy and will be early or at least punctual. That said, I think karma is a pretty powerful force and it would serve me right if this kiddo took after me and was late (since I am always late!).

Our little Scorpio has already proven to be a stubborn little guy (or gal). As Branden says, "stubborn like his momma (me)". As I say, "stubborn like his daddy." Either way, the kid is strong-willed. As Branden and I learned, 96% of babies get in to a "head-down" position by 32-34 weeks gestation. This gets them in position for birth before things get too tight to restrict movement into such a position. Well, of course, our little one was in that 4% of babies who decide to do things their own way. After I fell down the stairs at 35 weeks (just a little fall, no big deal!), we got an ultrasound to make sure all was well in the womb. It was then that we noticed that Diego was relaxing in an "oblique" position. He/she was sort of sideways, definitely not in an ideal position for birth. We didn't really think much about it, but when he/she hadn't turned by 37 weeks, our doula decided we should probably start taking some action. The traditional way to get a baby to turn is called an external cephalic version - I haven't had one and, from what I hear, I don't want to! In this, a doctor tries to manually turn the baby from the outside and it is, from what I hear, quite uncomfortable for both mom and baby. So, when our doula recommended trying a chiropractor first, we jumped at the chance. I had never been to one and was a bit skeptical, but the chiropractor had an 85% success rate of turning babies. Guess what? She got Diego to turn with just two adjustments and it was gentle and painless. Not only did she get Diego to turn, but she also relieved almost all of my hip, back and joint pain. I feel so much comfortable and, from the way Diego has been moving around, he is much more comfortable too. We are so thankful!!

Many of you have asked to see the belly, so here are the most recent photos. Before we go any further, may I be frank with you for a moment? If you are chatting with a pregnant lady, whether you know her or not, please do not tell her she looks "huge", "ready to pop" or ask if she's "sure there's not twins in there"? This may be surprising, but when you get pregnant, your feelings don't actually go away. If anything, you get more sensitive and such adjectives and comments do not make a pregnant girl feel any better about her changing body. On behalf of all the pregnant gals out there, I'm suggesting you either compliment her (word like "glowing" and "beautiful" are always appreciated) or just simply avoid commenting on her appearance. She'll really appreciate it and so will her husband (because no one likes to have to console an emotional, crying pregnant lady when she gets home). That said, here is the belly...

Since I finished up work and we've had a break from traveling, we finally got a chance to put together Diego's nursery. The rest of the furniture was delivered in early October, so things have really come together since then. We love how the room came out and the best part is that nearly everything in the room was made by, created by or found by a loved one. We chose an unorthodox color scheme (and didn't want a bumblebee theme), so we couldn't rely on traditional resources for nursery decor. If you want to read more about each piece in the room and where it came from, click HERE.
With that, I think I've finally got you all caught up on the Marty Party! If you've made it this far in the post, thanks! :) Hopefully our next post will not be "Belly Photos - Weeks 40, 41 and 42" and will, instead, be "Introducing...". If you want to make a guess at when he or she will arrive, click HERE.

xoxo,
Steph & Branden

Quick Belly Update

2009-08-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

We've got lots to share from August, but until we get time to upload all of our photos and organize ourselves, here's a quick belly update. It's hard to believe Diego still has another ten weeks to go - I feel huge already!!

July 2009 - the Cliff Notes version

2009-08-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

Happy August! Where has this summer gone? It seems like this particular summer is flying by faster than most, but maybe that's just me. Either way, July was a blur! We were really busy, but got to see many family and friends, which was wonderful.

We started the month with a quick trip to Grandpa Rowe's, to celebrate both the 4th of July and Grandpa's 85th birthday. Most of the Rowe family joined us in Northern Wisconsin, so we got to see many family members that we hadn't seen since Ellen and Ryan's wedding last winter. Here is a little photo collage of the weekend; if you want to see more photos (with captions), click here.

After we got back from our visit to Wisconsin, we were busy helping finish up the last minute preparations for my sister's wedding. In the middle of the month, we headed to Detroit to celebrate the big day. It was a beautiful weekend, again filled with family and friends. To see more photos, click here.

Besides our trips back to the Midwest, July was filled with various celebrations. We hosted a baby shower for two pregnant friends, a wedding shower and celebrated our five year wedding anniversary! We also enjoyed three sun-filled days at the lake with the Deal/Garza family after Christina and Daniel's wedding. For more photos, click here.

Of course, through all of this, Baby Diego continues to grow like a weed! He/she is moving all the time and Branden and I enjoy watching my belly move with his or her acrobatics. It's amazing how a baby weighing less than two pounds can make such a ruckus! My "bump" started to really show in week 19 and seems to grow everyday now. I'm still feeling great, but the warm summer days and long hours at work definitely take their toll. Branden has been wonderfully supportive, giving foot and back rubs with little complaint.

We're almost done with our childbirth classes and will take a few more miscellaneous classes before Diego arrives (CPR, newborn care, etc). I can't say I'm excited for labor and delivery, but I'm certainly feeling more prepared thanks to our classes. Again, Branden has been wonderfully supportive and encouraging (he's probably also very thankful that he doesn't have to go through the actual contractions and pushing!).

We've slowly started to put together the nursery and are trying to balance our excitement with a little together time and relaxation (knowing that this time will be short-lived once the little one arrives!). We've got a few more quick trips planned for August and then one last "hurrah" in September - a week-long trip to Spain (don't worry, we have the midwife's blessing). After that, we'll be close to home, making final preparations and enjoying our last moments of peace and quiet.

Thanks for checking in!

20 Weeks - We're halfway there!

2009-06-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

This Sunday marked the beginning of my 20th week of pregnancy. We're so excited, as this means we're halfway to meeting our sweet little one! We got to celebrate this milestone with our 20-week ultrasound. We're still waiting on word from the midwife, but the ultrasound tech said everything is looking great. While the tech was scanning, Baby Diego was showing off his/her acrobatic skills by constantly somersaulting! It actually allowed the tech to get all of the needed pictures quickly and provided some entertainment for Branden and I. Many of you have asked and I'm happy to say that we resisted the temptation and did NOT find out the sex of Baby Diego! I know this disappoints some of you but we will find out soon enough. Besides, won't it be so fun to receive news from us in November with a subject line of "It's a _____!"?

The most incredible aspect of the ultrasound was being able to see every little bone in Baby Diego's body. We could see the entire skull, his/her little arm and leg bones and every single vertebrae in the spine. We could also see all four chambers of the heart and all of the teeny tiny little fingers and toes. It's amazing, considering he/she doesn't even weigh a full pound yet! We managed to get a few photos, but they didn't scan very well, so I apologize for the poor quality. Our favorite is the one of Baby Diego's little feet - this was taken in a rare moment of relaxation for him/her, when he/she was just laying there, legs crossed at the ankles. It was too cute!

Baby Diego's little arm and hand ^ - the white images are the bones, just like you see in the picture below

Baby Diego's spine ^ - it's hard to make out in this scanned version of the picture, but there is black space in between each of the vertebrae (again, shown in white). When you see it on the screen, you can actually make out each of the 33 vertebrae!

Our favorite picture! Diego's tiny feet ^, crossed at the ankles, just relaxing in my belly :)

Mini Marty Update

2009-06-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Time continues to fly! The last month has been as hectic as ever. As many of you know, I love to be organized and prepared (not quite sure why I'm so messy, but I just chalk that up to my "creative" side). Given that, I've spent the last month researching, planning and preparing for Mini Marty. Branden and I were finally in town at the same time last weekend, so I made him drive all over San Diego to take care of "baby errands". With a little more than half of this pregnancy left, we've got our stroller and nursery furniture purchased, we start childbirth classes next week and we are interviewing doulas this weekend. I know, I'm crazy! Surprisingly, Branden says this pregnancy has actually made me more mellow...what was I like before?! Honestly, I was overwhelmed when I realized everything that needs to be done in preparation for a baby and spreading out the tasks makes me feel less anxious about getting it all done. Now we just need to pick names, paint and set-up the nursery, write a birth plan, stock up on baby necessities, fill out my maternity leave paperwork, find childcare for after my maternity leave (do you know how long some of these waiting lists are?!), order birth announcements, etc etc etc...we have a lot to do, but we are so happy to do it!

I know you really came here looking for updates on Mini, so here is the latest. Mini Marty (aka "Baby Diego") is 18 weeks old now! He/she has a new nickname, Baby Diego, and I felt him/her start to move last week! That was incredible. I don't feel the movements every day, but my midwife says I will soon. Saturday morning, while I was at pilates class, Baby Diego was moving a ton! It felt like he/she was doing pilates right along with me. The other movements have felt more like little punches, which I don't appreciate quite as much. :) I can only imagine how those jabs will feel as he/she grows in strength and size.

I had a check-up with my new midwife this morning (my doctor got transferred to the East Coast) and Baby Diego's heartbeat is still strong, in the 150s. The midwife had our test results ready for us (for Down's, Trisomy, etc) and everything looks great. We are very thankful for that.

We have our "big" ultrasound (and likely, our last) next Friday and, of course, we are very excited for that. At this ultrasound, they will check Baby Diego in detail and make sure that he/she is progressing as expected. We love seeing our little one on the big screen and I'm sure the progress Baby Diego has made since our last ultrasound will be remarkable. Hopefully, we will get some great pictures and, if so, I will be sure to post them here.

I do want to take a quick moment to thank you all for your well-wishes. I've tried to keep up with the emails, but I know I haven't gotten back to everyone. Please know that we greatly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers and feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family sharing this experience with us.

Not just getting pudgy...

2009-05-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Have you seen me lately? If so, you were probably too sweet to notice the pounds I've slowly been packing on. Don't worry, I haven't completely let myself go (though, it does feel like it some days)...those are baby pounds!!! Yes, we are finally going to be blessed with a mini Marty in early November!

We are so very excited to share this amazing and exciting news with you! I apologize now if we've lied, dodged or completely ignored a question about babies from you recently, but we weren't ready to share our news until now. On Friday we had our third ultrasound and the Mini looks amazing! It is incredible to see the changes in just a few short weeks. Mini now looks like a real baby! The ultrasound pics don't do the experience justice, but it was awesome and overwhelming to see our healthy baby on the big screen and to hear a strong heartbeat of 150 bpm. We even got a little wave, like he/she was saying "hello"!

Enjoy the pictures and check back for more updates. While you're here, take our poll on the sidebar and let us know if you think Mini will be a boy or a girl. We're not finding out, so we're guessing too!

Living the dream

2009-03-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

While our life certainly isn't perfect (hello, six month deployments!), we definitely feel very blessed and lucky. We have one another, live in a fabulous city and enjoy love and support from wonderful family and friends. When you think about it like that, it makes the small bumps seem pretty insignificant.

That said, while Branden's current job has him traveling a lot, there are also some fun perks. Recently, an admiral from the British Navy (called a "Commodore") was in town for some meetings and work with Branden's office. Over the weekend, the two admirals Branden works for hosted the Brits for a sunset cruise and dinner party. We were lucky enough to tag along and enjoy the festivities!

In February we also celebrated Branden and Colin's birthdays (Colin just moved out here from Florida, if you recall) and got to spend Valentine's day weekend in Chicago with our good friends.

Chilly Chicago (our future hometown? We hope so!) for Valentine's Day weekend

Steph, Rach & Steph - I love hanging out with my college roomies! I miss them so much!

Our new roommates (can't stay in college forever!) - Billy, Rachie's hubby, my sweetie, and Dusten, Steph's soon-to-be hubby!

Happy 29th, my love! Welcome to the club of almost-30!

Happy be-glad-you're-not-29-yet Birthday, Colin!

Sailing around the bay at sunset with the Admirals!

Yea for Soiree!

2009-01-29T22:54:00.001-08:00

I have to share my VERY exciting news!

In December, I entered one of my invitation creations in a contest with Paper Source. If you don't know, Paper Source is an amazing paper company that started in Chicago and now has 29 stores in the US.

So, as I said, I entered their holiday card contest and was sad that I never heard back. I mean, of course I'm biased, but I thought my card(s) were really cute (yes, I actually entered two). Well, you guessed it...I got a letter from Chicago today and I WON!!

To be clear, I'm not the only winner (each store has one), but I was still pretty excited about this. The best part is that my creation will be featured on the Paper Source website later this year! They will be featuring all the winners to "inspire our fellow PS card makers to Do Something Creative Everyday!"

Of course, I will email you all and show it off once it hits the site. While you're waiting, check out my own little website, seen here. I'm on an unofficial hiatus while I design, create, and assemble my dear sister's wedding papers, but someday I'll get back to it more regularly.

Thanks for letting me gush!

America's Finest City

2009-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

Have I previously used the post title "America's Finest City"? If so, I apologize. But, really, with weekends like these, how can you blame me?

Oh, and I didn't make that name up, "America's Finest City". It's official.

By the way, sorry if I've confused you. Branden is still in Bahrain; these pics were taken two weeks ago.

Another Pilot!

2009-01-28T23:59:00.001-08:00

January has been a busy month for us (who knew getting older meant getting busier?! ). After just two weekends at home, we traveled to Pensacola, Florida for Colin's winging. You may remember, both of Branden's brothers are Marines. Ryan, the "little" one, is in the Special Forces (I don't really know what that means, but I 'm pretty sure it is bad a**) and Colin is, now, a helicopter pilot like B. Congrats, Colin!

On a side note, the rest of the month consisted of Steph traveling to wine country for work and B traveling to Hawaii, Virginia, DC, Korea and Bahrain (he's there now). I guess, if nothing else, all this traveling keeps the marriage fresh! :)

And, now, back to Colin...

Colin and his huge winging (graduation) class (sign of the times?). Branden graduated with just 15 or so pilots five years ago.

I'm very happy to report that Colin will be moving to San Diego next week!! The downside is he is only here for six months or so, and then he's off to North Carolina for about three years .

Ellen & Ryan, on their four-week wedding anniversary!

After the winging ceremony, each class sponsors an after-party at a local bar. You'll see, it gets a little rowdy...

Oh, geez. This is my darling husband doing the dance to Beyonce's "Put a Ring On It." Watch the video and you'll understand. No, he didn't look ridiculous.

Not.at.all.

Aaaaaaaand, now he's got Ryan doing it with him.

Thankfully, night two was a little more subdued. We went to one of my favorite Pensacola restaurants, Dharma Blue. Yum. If you ever go to P-cola (as we fondly refer to it), please eat here. Ah-mazing!

Yes, I am officially ghetto. Waffle House is my other favorite Pensacola restaurant. Lucky for you, these fine establishments can be found in many Southern cities, not just P-cola.

Hmmm...thinking of asking for orders to Mobile. I'll keep you posted.

The amazing and talented...

2009-01-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Suzanne Hansen took these photos. So that you don't think we are completely narcissistic, we only had this photo shoot because we had a gift certificate from Suzanne (because we referred Billy and Rachel to her). I'm happy we did, though, because these photos are a great keepsake of our life in San Diego! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Swoon.

Holiday Travels, Part 2

2009-01-07T22:25:00.001-08:00

Yes, I'll admit, it was a shock to our systems to go from this...

to this...

I'm always amazed at how beautiful the water is! The Pacific is so gray in comparison.

For the first two days we were in Cancun, my not-so-little nephews were with us. It was great to see them and I can't believe how much they've grown!!

Dillon is 17, Matthew is 15 and Tyler is 12 - unbelievable!

Heading out to New Year's dinner! Taking the obligatory photos by the fountain :)

Lovely ladies

Seestors!

Mom & Dad, so cute!

Does this room look familiar?? It's where we had our wedding reception! It is always so much fun to go back and remember our wonderful wedding weekend.

Happy 2009!!

Ryan Gets Hitched!

2009-01-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

As you may remember, back in April, I went to visit Ellen, my sister-in-law-to-be. I'm happy to report that Ellen is now my sister-in-law! Ellen and Ryan got married in Minneapolis on December 27. It was a beautiful wedding and we were so happy to be a part of such a special weekend.

Proud parents, waiting for the ceremony to begin (doesn't the last hour before the wedding seem to take forever??).

Finally, it's time! The very handsome Marty boys waiting for their beautiful bridesmaids (and bride!).

Isn't black such an elegant choice for a winter wedding? All the girls looked beautiful!

Saying their "I Dos"

The Kiss!

A great looking group!

Finally Mr. & Mrs.!

The "80's Babies"
Travis, Jocelyn and Branden were all born in 1980 (they're cousins).

Sorry, had to show these off, since they're the work of Soiree Papier (ie, Branden and I)! You can't really see them in the photo, but each place card and menu was embellished with a tiny crystal to coordinate with Ellen's "winter sparkle" motif.

I love this picture! They're both laughing and the expression is pure joy.

Aren't they cute?! By the way, ladies, Colin is still available...

Grandpa's rule: each new Marty wife must give Grandpa the pleasure of at least one dance at her wedding!

The Rowe clan dancing to "Roll Out the Barrel". If you're new to Wisconsin, like I was, every Wisconsin wedding has at least one polka dance. "Roll Out the Barrel" is a favorite!

Proud Mommas!

What a fun night! Taking a load off with Kayla and her beau, David.

Yea, the happy couple! Congrats!

Sunday gift opening with the Martys and Victors. It was fun to enjoy an intimate brunch with the families and discuss our favorite moments from the big night.

One last shot before heading to the airport...on to part two!

Holiday Travels, Part 1

2009-01-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

Because 2008 was a busy year of travel for Branden and I (and he was deployed for six months), we had decided to spend Thanksgiving at home (that didn't happen, but that's a story for another day) and Christmas traveling to see both families. Given that, Christmas 2008 was a whirlwind of planes, trains and automobiles! We spent six days in Minnesota/Wisconsin with the Martys and six days in Mexico with the Deals. We didn't come home in between trips, so we were quite a sight with our four huge suitcases that went all 6,000 miles with us!

Here's Christmas in Northern Wisconsin, at Grandpa Rowe's cabin.

I wouldn't mind snow if it was always this beautiful!

Cross-Country skiing on Christmas Eve

Beautiful Jackson Lake, frozen solid.

Traditional Rowe/Marty Christmas Eve dinner: Fondue. This is one of my favorite family traditions!

Settling in for another family tradition: Grandpa reads 'Twas the night before Christmas before all of us kiddies are sent to bed !

Christmas morning visitor!

Ryan, playing his traditional role of Santa

In the Marty home, it is tradition to play with all new gifts, as they are opened. Here is Grandpa testing out his new toy, a wine preserver.

Yes, I'm still the shortest!

Preparing the field for the annual Christmas Day football game (it ended in a tie, as always).

Playing a joke on Mom...Ryan's wedding was December 27, so the only rule for the football game was "no one gets hurt!". Don't worry, Ryan was fine!

Grandpa teaching Ryan some dance moves for his wedding!

Christmas Dinner - cheers!

Merry Marty Christmas!

Holiday Shenanigans!

2009-01-07T20:44:00.001-08:00

Despite this December seeming oddly short due to a late Thanksgiving, we still managed to attend and host the annual holiday soirees.

First up was a Holiday Sweater/Costume party at the Moeller's:

Krista is dressed as tinsel, fyi! Very Creative!

Next up was the annual Marty Holiday Party. As you know, this is our favorite party of the year and we take a lot of pride in hosting a festive bash. Unfortunately, due to a noise violation at Halloween (I feel like we live in the dorms again!), we had to substantially trim our guest list. We hosted a "Cookies & Cocktails" party for out closest San Diego friends. It was a great time and everyone went home with a tray of holiday cookies! I apologize I didn't manage to get any photos of the cookies, but they were all delicious.

Just like Middle school...girls in one corner, boys in the other (take notice, the boys are in the kitchen, closest to the cookies!). Sporting the "crowns" that came in our party poppers. Thanks, Jan Moeller, for providing the poppers (Jan is Erik and Amy's mom)!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-29T22:12:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween

2008-10-28T08:57:00.001-07:00

Halloween Part 1 is behind us. We held a small dinner party this weekend in honor of the upcoming spooky holiday. We're looking forward to more fun festivities this upcoming weekend!

We were undecided as to which costume we liked better, so we tried out both at our dinner party. Option 1, seen here, is McCain/Palin. Option 2, seen below, is McCain/Obama. Which costume do you like better?? We're going to have to choose one for Oct 31st!

Prepping for the party - our attempts at mini caramel apples were unsuccessful, despite numerous attempts. Our other efforts were much more successful, thankfully!

Using Momma Marty's "crazy chocolate cake" recipe, Branden made these creepy cupcakes - they were delicious!

These caramel apples turned out much better than the mini version. Another delicious dessert!

No Halloween party would be complete without a costume contest. We had prizes for the Most Creative, Funniest and Best Overall costumes.

Momma Deal visited the week before, so she helped me with the table decor. I always appreciate her good design sense!

Eric (the old school golfer) won the Most Creative costume, Gregg (nerdy basketball player) won Funniest, and Erik (Will Farrell's "Elf") won Best Overall. Branden and I can be seen as McCain/Obama here...have you decided which costume you like better for us??

Best Overall Costume: Elf (from the movie, "Elf")
The best part is that this costume is 90% homemade!

Amy, the wine glass thief! Don't set your glass down when she's nearby, she'll snatch it up :) (She managed to steal four on this particular night!)

Happy early Halloween! What are you going to dress up as?
We'll be back next week with more Halloween fun!

Miscellany

2008-10-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

I've had a little break from papers since Kirsten's wedding, so I've been able to work on other fun projects. Here are a couple of my recent creative endeavors...

My friend, Shelly, hired me to put together these "inspiration boards" for a client of hers. Aren't they beautiful color combos??

This was a recent culinary adventure. Branden's boss and his wife just moved back here from Naples, Italy, so they hosted a group of us for an evening of Italian wine tasting. I was in charge of the fruit and cheese...I was so proud of my efforts I had to take this pic!

Kir's Wedding!

2008-10-12T15:03:00.001-07:00

Here is the follow-up to my DC post. Enjoy the pics of Kirsten's wedding; it was beautiful!
Sisters getting ready! Ashley, left, is Kirsten's younger sister, and Steph, right, is Kirsten's new sister-in-law.

Getting ready for pictures before the ceremony. The wedding was held at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. It was a perfect fall day!

Pure joy

Doing our "sassy" pose. Not quite sure why photographers love those so much!

Favors that give back - Kirsten and Daniel made a donation to their four favorite charities in lieu of a favor. How thoughtful!

Catching up with old friends, Anne and Marc Orloff. Branden and I went to Michigan with Anne and she and Marc now live in Boston.

More old friends! Cara and I went to Michigan together.

The after party in downtown Bethesda. We had too much fun!

Is that a yawn, Daniel?!

Ashley! She's the cutest!

Thanks for a great night!

Making like tourists

2008-10-12T02:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the pleasure of traveling to our nation's capital for my dear friend, Kirsten's, wedding. Since the wedding was on Friday, we had the weekend to sightsee (I had never been there, unless you count a drive-by 15 years ago). My hubby, the history buff, was over the moon at the chance to educate his wife. I must admit, it was pretty inspiring to see such historic sights. My feet were very tired, but it was worth it to watch the sun set over the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the day (note to self, cute shoes are not appropriate for a day of sightseeing in DC).

First stop: The Newseum

The Newseum is amazing! It is an entire museum dedicated to journalism and the biggest news stories in history. I think anyone going to DC needs to check it out. Outside is the "front page" exhibit. They showcase the front page of one newspaper from each of the 50 states. The most popular headline the day we were there was that Congress had passed the bailout plan.

One of my favorite exhibits was dedicated to 9/11. The wall shown here is two stories of front pages from 9/12/2001. It was a very emotional and moving exhibit. My other favorite, though not shown, was the Pulitzer prize exhibit. It featured all of the photographs, and the stories behind them, that have ever won the award. Another emotional and moving exhibit.

The Newseum has the largest collection of the Berlin wall outside of Germany. In addition, they have an actual guard tower from the wall.

This is the view from the terrace at the Newseum. It overlooks much of Pennsylvania Avenue and they have a map explaining what each of the buildings is.

On Saturday, we made our way over to Arlington National Cemetery. If you don't know, one of my mom's closest childhood friends was MIA in Vietnam for over 30 years. Miraculously, his remains were found in 2002 and he was laid to rest in Arlington. Branden and I were unable to attend the service (finals week in college), so it was important to us to be able to pay our respects now. Being in Arlington was overwhelming and reminded me of how lucky we really are. I was so honored to be able to see such a special place.

This was one of the last sights we saw while in DC (we saw a lot more but our camera died while at Arlington). It is the US Department of the Treasury. I took this picture because I noticed the flag was at half mast. I thought it strange, since no other flags were flying at half mast that day. My theory? They were mourning the loss of 700 billion dollars. Just a theory...

Shenanigans

2008-10-12T02:28:00.000-07:00

Branden is in Charleston this weekend for his brother's bachelor party, so the girls decided to work on Halloween costumes today. We consider ourselves a crafty (or at least, capable) bunch, so we spent the day perusing numerous stores for costume-making supplies. Along the way we encountered many fine wigs. Several came home with us. Why? We aren't quite sure. Perhaps a wig party is in order?

Some of our favorites...

I've always wanted to be a redhead...

If you've come to visit us in San Diego and we haven't taken you to Wine Steals, I sincerely apologize. It is, by far, our favorite wine bar in town. It's a great place to spend a Friday night with friends.

Chrissy, do you recognize Amy's hairstyle? I know it's your favorite!

Keepin' Busy

2008-09-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the second half of our summer flew by! I'm sure yours did too. We have been busy busy bees since B got home in July.

Chatting with a fellow blogging friend recently, we decided that most family and friends check our blogs for photos and *short* written updates. That said, I'll let our pics do the talking!

B is home! Celebrating the 4th by watching fireworks on the bay.

Surprise, Krista! We took a party bus to Temecula for some wine tasting to celebrate Krista's b-day.

Happy and stuffed after dinner at Donovan's. Happy 4th wedding anniversary to us!

It's a rough job but somebody's got to do it! I got to travel the Central Coast of California for work, spending a week visiting wineries and learning more about the growing region.

Barefoot Wines (a Gallo brand, fyi) proudly supports the LGBT community. B and I got to spend a weekend pouring Barefoot wine at the San Diego PRIDE festival. It was fun and entertaining, to say the least!! I couldn't post most of the pics...

In case you haven't heard, my little sis got engaged this summer! I went home to help celebrate at an engagement party thrown for her and Daniel.

Dad and Bob cooking tons and tons of ribs for the party! I think the final tally was 36 slabs! Dad is famous for his ribs and he didn't disappoint.

The happy couple :)

My date! Branden was in Asia, so my friend, Katie, was my stand-in hubby. She's getting really good at it after two deployments! She's even worked her way on to the invite list for Christmas in Cancun!

Beautiful baby Kate! Our good friends, the Fortune family, came to visit us in San Diego. Baby Kate is their newest addition, born in April.

Kate's beautiful big sister, Madison! This cutie pie turned three last weekend and it is amazing to see how much she grows and changes in between our visits.

Shelly, Steph, and Mad

We had a BBQ in honor of the Fortune's visit. Sadly, B left for Asia the same day, so Will had to cook for his own party!

Rachel's Wedding! College Roomies Reunited...Steph, Rach and I at Rachie's rehearsal dinner, hosted by Lynn and Frank Silva. It was an amazing night, full of love, family and friends! B and I agreed it was the best rehearsal dinner we have ever been to.

What a beautiful bride! The love between Rachel and Billy was so obvious throughout the entire wedding ceremony. They were giggling and whispering to each other the whole time. I felt so honored to be a part of such a wonderful day!

*These five (obviously) professional photos belong to the amazingly talented Suzanne Hansen of San Diego! She took hundreds of amazing photos of the wedding. To see more of her work, check out www.shewanders.com.

We made a long weekend out of Rachel's wedding, spending four days in our favorite city, Chicago! We got to spend time with both sets of parents, including a night at Wrigley Field with Branden's dad.

On Sunday we hit up my favorite Chicago tourist spot, the wonderful Museum of Science and Industry. You can do all sorts of fun things there, like dress up as an astronaut and sit on a cow!

Back home in sunny San Diego...on one of our rare weekends home this summer, we relaxed and enjoyed this beautiful city. We took a bike ride along the bay, enjoying the Tall Ship festival and a little nap in the sunshine!

Can you beat this view?!? Truly a beautiful city.

I've mentioned B's trip to Asia a few times now, so here are the pics. With his new job (working for an admiral), he travels a lot. Luckily, he gets to see some pretty cool things and visit some interesting places. On this trip, he visited Japan and Korea for two weeks. In this photo, he is in the DMZ (demilitarized zone between North and South Korea), a place not many people will ever get to see. He is standing in South Korea and that black line near his right shoulder is the line that marks the boundary between North and South Korea. The building behind him is in North Korea. The next time you talk to him, ask him about this trip. He saw some really interesting things and I learned a lot about the relationship between North and South Korea.

The bridge between the two countries. Again, ask him about this trip!

Well, that's the latest and greatest with us. I hope you enjoyed the photos! Hopefully, you enjoyed a wonderful summer and, if we didn't get to see you, we hope to see you soon.

Welcome Home!!

2008-07-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yea!! After six long months, Branden is finally back home in San Diego. He arrived early yesterday and immediately had a job interview for his next position. He was offered a great opportunity working for an admiral here in Point Loma. So, it appears we will be here in San Diego for another 18-24 months. If you haven't visited us yet, now is your chance! Hope all is well and enjoy the holiday weekend!

Sorry, I didn't manage to get any pictures of B getting out of the helicopter. I was too worried about getting my first kiss! We look a little tired in this pic because we had to be up by 4am for his 6:30am arrival back in San Diego. It was worth it, of course!
The helicopter was wheeled inside for the homecoming ceremony...doesn't it look great?? I can't tell it has been out at sea for six months. Branden's team of maintainers did an awesome job getting it ready for the homecoming (and subsequent inspections).
Every "DET" (a group of about 20 guys from the squadron that "detach" and get temporarily assigned to a ship) has a name...because Branden's DET was DET #2, they chose the name "DET Dos Equis". To welcome them home, some of the wives put together these gift baskets and Dos Equis donated a six-pack of beer for each guy.

Branden was lucky to get to fly in early, so after he arrived, we went over to the ship to pick up the rest of the pilots and maintainers to bring them back to the squadron, where their families were waiting. It was fun to see both the ship and the squadron homecomings. The ship does all sorts of fun things, like the "First Kiss" (one or two sailors are picked at random to get to be first off the ship so they can get the "First Kiss") and "New Daddies", who also get off before everyone else. There were seven babies born in the six months the ship was gone. It was so sweet to see these daddies meet their babies for the first time. After that, the gates are opened and everyone is allowed on the pier to find their sailor and welcome him or her home!

Welcome home, USS Vandegrift!

Singapore!

2008-04-23T22:17:00.001-07:00

After three and a half long months of waiting, I finally got to go see Branden! After several date changes, we finally met up in Singapore last week. We got to spend four and a half days together, which went by much too fast, of course! Singapore is a wonderful city/country. It is a great introduction to Asia, as everything is in English (former British Colony) and it is a melting pot of Asian culture. In Singapore, the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Thais all live in relative harmony. The people are very polite and friendly and the city is very safe. The top things to do are shop and eat...my kind of town! Enjoy the photos!

Enjoying dinner at Blu, a restaurant on the 24th floor of our hotel...great food and a great view!

Little India's version of Pike's Place Market. I think I'll take Pike's Place...I only lasted about 30 minutes in Little India.

The smartest toilet I have ever seen (it was actually in Japan, where I had a layover coming and going)...it had various buttons, including one to release extra air freshener and another to play "loud flushing noises" in case you needed a little extra privacy!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the squatter toilets! To be fair, I only saw these twice in Singapore, but I wasn't a big fan!

Despite all of the fancy restaurants in Singapore, we found the local haunts to be our favorites. On the East coast of Singapore, there is a Seafood Center consisting of your choice of several seafood restaurants. As the sign says, "if it swims, we have it". The food was memorable and delicious!

Deep-fried lobster covered in "oatmeal" (a sweet cornflake mixture). Sounds crazy but it was so good!

One of the most famous dishes in Singapore, Chilli (their spelling) Crab. It is a whole crab in a sauce of chili, tomato sauce and egg. Not my favorite, but Branden loved it! We both loved the fried rolls (just like a dinner roll, but fried)
served with it.

Singapore has an amazing Botanical Garden. It is very interesting because the rest of the city is a collection of high-rises and modern buildings. Then, right in the middle of it all, is this beautiful garden. The highlight of the park is the Orchid Garden.

Singapore has these crazy places called "Hawker Centers" all over the city. It is a crazy version of our food courts. They are outdoors and have three or four rows of all different food stands. It is very overwhelming (try finding a seat...a sweet couple took pity on us and showed us the ropes!) but once you find something you are brave enough to try, the food is delicious! There are stands for all types of cuisine (we even saw a stand with spaghetti bolognese) and for drinks. The stands are graded based on cleanliness and hygiene, being assigned an A-D. Supposedly, anything A-C is okay, but I stuck with an A. Branden chose the stand with the longest line. Both of us were very pleased with our choices!

Our daily cocktail hour at the beautiful Shangri-La hotel! I told them it was our honeymoon and they upgraded us to this special wing of the hotel. The room was beautiful and we were treated to a complimentary gourmet breakfast each morning, as well as snacks and cocktails from 10-10 each day. The house champagne was Moet White Star...not too shabby! We enjoyed a snack and a couple of cocktails each afternoon.

A fun reminder from the hotel...everyday the carpet in the elevator told you what day it was. "Monday" came too quickly!

Enjoying the beautiful pool! Singapore is just 1 degree off the equator, so between thunderstorms, the temperatures soar! The pool provided much needed relief. That's Branden cooling off.

Chinatown! The best place for buying all sorts of Asian souvenirs, if you can tolerate the pushy shopkeepers. Chinatown is also home to beautiful temples, both Hindu and Buddhist.

Time to go home! The trip went much too quickly, but now we're looking forward to Branden's return home in July!

Update from B

2008-04-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

While I have been jet-setting all over the country, my wonderful husband has been keeping busy as well. Here is a recent experience he had, hosting some locals (giving them tours of the helicopter and ship) and enjoying dinner at the Mayor's house (Mayor of where, I don't know). I cut and paste these excerpts from a couple of emails he sent, so forgive any grammatical errors or anything like that!

Giving Tours
It was a busy day for me yesterday with all the tours. We give tours pretty much everyday when we pull in, so it is kinda a pain in the butt. I don't really think most of the people on the tours speak English, but they seem to have fun and like I said before take a lot of pictures. I think they are at awe with my height because these people are so small. These little old ladies just run right up to me for a picture. And it is usually not just one. I have to get one with each of them and then some with two or three and then some with the whole group. That is only one group and I think I had 10-12 yesterday. It is not that big of a deal though and there are definitely worse things that I could be doing. I am excited to go to the Mayor's house tonight and have dinner. It should be very interesting. I'm sure I will let you know all about it tomorrow.

Dinner at the Mayor's Home
So I had a very nice evening last night. The food was great as well as the company. The mayor probably has the biggest house in the city. So we got picked up from the ship and we had a police escort throughout the town. Sirens blaring and everything. It was pretty crazy trying to go through these tiny roads that were suppose to be two lanes, but really only made for one car. Everyone would stop and stare. It was like the president was going through town. It was pretty crazy. I think that if we just went through without than nobody would have given a care in the world, but we drew a lot of attention our way when we had the big police escort. So it took about a half and hour to get to the mayor’s house. He has a very beautiful house and not just in that country. He built it himself and everything is made out of pine wood, so it smells really good as well. It looks like a log home in the US, but about double the size. He has a huge yard as well with a couple man made ponds and he had a swimming pool in the back. The whole estate has a 10 foot stone wall around it with barbed wire above that. He also has police and army guards. Pretty crazy.

Dinner was awesome. We started off with some sushi, which was really good. Then we had prawns, fish and pig. Yes they had a whole pig that was roasted. It was really good. The also had some really good rice and what I thought was black beans with bacon in it. I ate it and thought it was awesome. Come to find out it was pig’s blood cooked with pork in it. I am glad I didn’t know that before I ate it, but now since I thought it was really good I would probably eat it again. You would also be happy to know that I had wine for dinner. In fact I had Redwood Creek Cab and Carlo Rossi California Red. Good to know that in PI they support Gallo. It was nice to have some wine. They only had a few bottles, so I only had 2 glasses. It was very nice to get a little wine though. For dessert they had this great fruit cocktail and a mango cake. I know you wouldn't like that, but I thought it was delicious.

After dinner we just conversed with the mayor’s children and grandchildren. He has four girls and two of them were there and they are both lawyers. The other two live in Chicago. They were very interesting to talk to. Their children reminding me a lot of Michael’s kids, when they were a little younger. They look very similar. They are very cute children. I actually had given them a tour of the aircraft the day prior, so they were still asking questions about it. We left shortly after for the same drive back to the ship.

Racking up the frequent flyer miles!

2008-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am really bad at keeping up with the posts! Every time I log on, I can't believe it has been a month since my last post. I am very sorry. This month, I think I have good reason though...I have passing the time by traveling! I love to travel and I take advantage when Branden is gone, using the time to visit friends and family in far-off, fun places. This month, I visited my family in Texas for Easter, visited my sister-in-law-to-be in Seattle, went to Napa for work, hosted my sis, and went to Singapore to see Branden! What a great month. Singapore deserves it's own post, so I'll start here with Seattle.

Branden's "little" brother (he's 6'6"), Ryan, proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Ellen, right after the New Year. Pending Ryan's deployment schedule (he's a Marine), they are planning a December 27 wedding. Ellen is wonderful and recently moved to Seattle with her job at Kimberly-Clark. While Ryan is training on the East Coast, she is building her own career and hopes to transfer closer to Ryan sometime in the next year. While Ryan was away training for a few months and Branden was on deployment, we thought it would be fun to have a girl's weekend. So, my mother-in-law, Dede, myself, and Ellen's mom, Mary, met in Seattle for a fun weekend in early April. Ellen was the prefect hostess and showed us all the sights and sounds of Seattle! It was my first trip up there and, despite the cold, it is a beautiful city!

Dede and I enjoying the beautiful harbor views in Everett

Ellen and I braving the cold to get a view of the Seattle skyline

Pikes Place Market! What an awesome place...I wanted to buy something at every stand!

The very first Starbucks, located across the street from Pike's Place Market

A Seattle icon, the Space Needle (as seen on Grey's Anatomy)

Thanks for a great weekend, Ellen!

A Day in the Life

2008-03-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

For those of you just tuning in, Branden has been away for just over two months, with a few months still to go. His months away have been busy, with work on the ship and a couple of port calls. Branden is the air maintenance officer on his ship, so he keeps busy all the time, not just when he's flying. He and his maintainers are responsible for everything on the helicopter, so you can imagine how busy they are. They do all repairs, checks, etc. He has a team of about 15 maintainers and he's lucky because they're a great group of guys.

For now, the ship is where it is going to be for the remainder of the cruise, other than when it heads into port. The pilots fly over to a nearby island about once a week for supplies, including food and mail. When the helo is down (i.e., not working), they have to take a small boat over to get the supplies. Recently, this happened, and Branden was invited to go along. You can see his big ship behind him in the photo.

To try and relax each week, the ship has a "steel beach" picnic most Sundays. They all cook out and try to enjoy some down time. Sadly, there are no Coronas to go along with the BBQ; this cruise is totally alcohol-free. It's not like the Royal Caribbean cruise you took last year; there's no Lido deck on this ship. Even still, BBQ is better than the cafeteria food they get the rest of the week, so it's a welcome change of pace. In case you're wondering, yes, that is Branden playing chef in the photo, and yes, his hairline continues to recede!

Once in a while, every few weeks or so, the ship pulls into port, either for supplies or just a few days of liberty for the sailors. So far, their port calls have included Hawaii, Guam, and Malaysia. The port calls are nice because they usually mean a day or two away from the ship, with time to explore the city, eat out, and have a few beers. They have another port scheduled in about a month, and this is the one I am meeting him at! I can't wait to see him and I'll be sure to blog all about it (okay, maybe not all about it, wink, wink).

Pics to go with Branden's post

2008-03-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics to go along with Branden's post...

Better late than never...finally, an update!

2008-03-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know, I have been horrible about blogging lately. I sincerely apologize and I can see from the ticker many of you have been checking in for updates. It has been a crazy few weeks around here; I got really sick with just about every illness that has been going around. I'm finally on the mend, so I hope to get you all caught up on the life and times of the Martys. Branden has now been gone for over two months and has been keeping very busy. Most recently, he spent a day on land. Here is the day, as described by him...

I hope this finds everyone doing well back home. I am writing everyone a mass email because of a great experience I had the other day. It is going to be tough to explain about where it took place and when because all of that information is still very sensitive even after the fact. Steph and I have an idea of where I have been because we share an atlas and I give her the area of my location. So I hope that she will help me explain to you where I am talking about. I think that it might be pretty obvious what country I am in and I guarantee you haven’t heard of this city. Now that I have thoroughly confused everyone I will continue on.

About a week ago we found out we were going to be pulling into this place for a day. The local Navy and college asked us to set up a basketball team to play their teams. Of course me being me (I love basketball), I jumped at that opportunity. We had about 20 people interested and we needed 2 teams. It was decided that 10 would play against the Navy team and 10 would play against the college team. It ended up being a smart decision as I will get to later.

So yesterday was the big day of games. We woke up early and prepared to take off to the game. Now just because we pulled didn’t mean that everyone was allowed liberty. The only people allowed off the ship were those playing in the games. The threat level in this area was very high, so it included a lot of security. We climbed on the bus, but it was no ordinary ride to the game. We had two police vehicles in front of us and two behind. We also had a trunk of armed troops in front of us and behind us. The stopped all traffic to and from. I don’t really know what the locals thought as we came through, but everyone stopped and waved. The bus ride was only about 15 minutes, but a very interesting time. We pulled up to the school that looked more like a base. The gym was in the middle with dorms and classrooms that formed a square around it. It was also no ordinary gym as you will see. It was covered, but open on all sides. The floor was cement and the court was painted on. We arrived it was still somewhat early, but as the day went on the humidity and heat built up.

The Navy team played the first game and the other team watch. The school stopped classes for the morning so all the students could attend, so the stands were pretty full. Our first team won pretty easily. We all knew the second game was going to be the test. Most of the guys were young enlisted right out of high school, so 18 or 19 years old. Then there were the 3 officers. Myself, Josh and Ted who are a little older than that, but we added the height. Josh is the supply officer on the ship and he played basketball at the naval academy. I have a picture of the 3 of us and he is the tallest one (I think 6’ 9”). The college guys of course were young as well and ready to run us all over the court. They of course had no one over 6 feet tall, so they came out a little intimidated. We started the game on a 15-0 run before we ran out of gas and needed a time out. Now throughout the game we had armed guards around us the entire time. It felt a little like being in a European soccer match. Something that was very hard to get used to as you are playing a sporting event. Along with that the floor we were playing on was painted cement. Dust and dirt was all over it, so we were slipping and sliding around. They were definitely used to playing like that, but we were not. As you will see in a picture I ended up on my butt a few times.

We played a really good first half and we were up 15 points. They had some halftime entertainment. A young lady that sang a Whitney Houston song (I can’t remember, which one because I was concentrating on breathing), but if you weren’t watching her you would have thought Whitney was in the building. She was very impressive. During the second half was when the college team started making a run. We didn’t have much steam left in the tank. We ended the 3^rd quarter only up 7 points. At that point we could only hope to keep the lead until the end. The 4^th quarter proved to be very back and forth. With one minute left we were winning by two points. Coming out of a time out they full court pressed and we turned the ball over. They set up their offense and ended up getting an easy lay up. The score was now tied and we had the ball with 20 seconds. We set up a nice play, but ended up missing the shot and on the rebound we fouled one of their players with 5 seconds left. He went to the free throw line for two shots. If he made one the game would be over. He missed the first badly. The second shot rimmed out and I got the rebound as time expired. We were thinking overtime, but it was decided the game would end in a tie.

After the game the students of the culinary class cooked us some interesting food. I have no idea what any of it was called, but it was all very good. They were all some variation of rice patties. We shared them with the players on the other team and some teachers at the school. I got some pictures with the other team while we enjoyed the food. After about a half an hour it was time to depart back to the ship via the motorcade.

It was a great experience overall just to get off the ship, but also to interact with the native people. I hoped you enjoyed my little story. I am going to send pictures and I believe that they are pretty large, so it will be multiple emails. I’ll try to send them in the order of the day’s activities. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I just thought it would be nice to share the experience and let you know that we are having a little fun and doing some interesting things not related to our jobs.

Just saying hi

2008-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I hope this finds you well. Not too much to update you on, but I promised weekly updates, so here I am. Branden is doing well; his ship made a quick stop in Hawaii last week. Unfortunately, he had some aircraft issues, so he spent the port getting needed parts and repairs while they were in town. Luckily, the fellas over at HSL 37 (his sister squadron in Hawaii) helped out and they were able to get everything fixed before continuing on their way.

Up until Hawaii, email was down and this ship doesn't have a phone, so it was great to finally hear from Branden after ten days of unreturned emails. Since he left Pearl Harbor, email has been working fine (knock on wood!) and we've gotten to be in touch every day.

Since he had to work all three days while in Hawaii, his boss is rewarding him with a full week off in one of his ports in April. This is great because I will be joining him for the full week! I've booked my ticket and now we just have to cross our fingers that nothing changes (as is the norm with the Navy). Needless to say, we are very excited to break up the six months with a week together.

Other than that, the only other news is that I turned a whole year older last week, as many of you know! It's sad, but true. I am now 28 years old. Branden had lots of laughs at my expense, but he'll be joining me when he turns 28 next month. I had a great b-day, with my dear friends joining me for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Buon Appetito. I'll post some pics once I get them off the camera.

My bff, Rachel, came out for the long weekend from Chicago, and just left this morning. It was great to see her and we enjoyed the beautiful San Diego sunshine all weekend long.

That's about it from here! Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to blog about, but life is good. I can't ask for much more than that. Check back next week...

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

2008-01-09T16:42:00.001-08:00

Well, as you can gather from the title, Branden has left on his second deployment. After a busy weekend spent packing, organizing, and sneaking in some quality time, Branden left yesterday for a six month deployment. Since this great blog is out on the www, I can't say exactly where he's headed, but it's west and it's not where he went before (if you want to know, give me a call). We were both sad to say goodbye, but we're hoping the next six months go by fast and that I can go for a visit to one of his scheduled ports.

This time around, Branden got to fly out to meet the ship, so I went out to the Cabrillo Monument on the top of Point Loma to watch him fly out. He was able to get pretty close and give me a little rocking of the wings to say goodbye. The tourists up there with me all thought I was crazy (I was jumping up and down and waving to make sure he saw me), but once I explained, they started waving too!

Thanks to my dear friend, Kari, for keeping me company while I waited for the fly-by and for all the great pics she snapped. Thanks also to all of you who have reached out to me in the last day...we both feel so grateful to have such caring and thoughtful family and friends.

This is the view from the top of Point Loma. The land in the picture is Coronado Island, on the other side of the bay from the point. The area of the island you see is "North Island", the Navy base where Branden works.

Here, you see Branden flying by, with Coronado and Downtown San Diego in the background. You can make out the Coronado Bay Bridge on the right side.

Though you can barely see him, Branden is the pilot on the right side, closest to me.

All the stockings were hung...Part 2

2008-01-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

We kept very busy during the Marty's visit...because Christmas was over, lots more things were open during their visit, so we had the opportunity to see and do a lot around San Diego. Our first day together, Branden managed to get us into his flight simulator, show us around his squadron, and give us a tour of the ship he'll deploy on.

We also spent one day exploring the La Jolla cove, home to lots of seals and seven caves.

A beautiful afternoon at the Hotel del Coronado.

Dinner at our other favorite restaurant, Buon Appetito.

Christmas with the Marty family

Showing off some of our favorite gifts, playing with our new Wii games...

Our last day, we checked out the Cabrillo National Park in Point Loma. It's a gorgeous place where you can explore all sorts of tide pools, hike, and watch surfers take on the crashing waves.

All the stockings were hung...

2008-01-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope you enjoyed happy holidays with friends and family. As you know, we were lucky enough to host both families this year! The Deals joined us from December 21-26 and then the Martys were here from Dec 27 until this morning. All in all, we're tired but happy to report a wonderful, fun-filled ten days. Seeing as how we have over 300 photos from our ten days together, I think it best to show you our favorites and let the photos tell the story of our holidays this year. Here is part one...Enjoy!

Branden and Mom hard at work in the kitchen, prepping for one of many yummy meals.Chrissy single-handedly preparing Christmas dinner while we were at the ER with Mom. She did a great job; everything was delicious!
We have been blessed with blue skies and warm weather all week! No white Christmas here, but no one seemed to mind.

Checking out the holiday lights around San Diego...

Dinner at our favorite restaurant, Donovan's. Yum!

Christmas morning at the Marty's

After Mom and Dad left, we had one night alone with Chris and Daniel, so we headed out for a night on the t own.

San Diegans are a healthy bunch, so they have an annual 5K and parade each year on the morning of the holiday bowl. Since this was our first and last Christmas in San Diego, we decided to partake...we started with the 5K, hit the parade and ended the day at the holiday bowl, where ASU lost badly to Texas.

Here we go, huffing and puffing to the finish line...it was my best time yet, but as you can see on the clock, I am a slow runner! Not having run since my last 5K (smart, I know), I hobbled around for the next few days. My sweet husband ran with me the whole time, despite being able to run much faster on those long legs of his . Thanks, B!
While we checked out the parade, we also did some touristy sight-seeing along the Embarcadero. This statue is fairly new to SD, and B tried to recreate...

Enjoying the Holiday Bowl!

As you can see, we had a great week with my family! I'll work on photos from the Marty visit next.

Annual Marty Holiday Party

2007-12-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hi again! For those of you living in sunny So Cal, you know our annual Marty Holiday Party was last weekend. We pride ourselves on throwing a good party...from the looks of things the next morning, I think this year's party was a success.

I just put the photos up on Kodak, so check them out when you have time. If they seem a little tame, it's because I had to edit a few out (sorry, Phil!). We're a family friendly blog here, folks.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6390fzkj.4xr5jadb&Uy=
45ivp4&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

The happiest place on Earth

2007-12-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

This is our first post! Kind of a random thing to write about, but it's the most exciting happening around here lately, so here goes it. So I decided that I was in the mood for Disneyland this Christmas season...they run great commercials all the time here and it's enough to get anyone wanting to go. So we asked our families (both joining us for the holidays!) if they wanted to go and both declined, so we decided to make a date of it and go by ourselves. Neither of us can remember exactly the last time we were there, but a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. For one, I now love all of the rides that used to bring me to tears. Space Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, the Matterhorn Bobsleds...they now invoke laughter instead of tears. The lines are just as long, but they now have fastpass, so you can be "assigned" a time to come back and skip to the head of the line...a great invention!

Sadly, when you go to Disneyland and you're over 36", things look a little smaller...I've attached a picture of Cinderella's castle so you can see what I mean. It's a small world looks, well, small, and the parade is more irritating than magical (try leaving the park during parade time...good luck!).

Overall though, we had a great day. Sunny skies, lots of laughs, and a mickey t-shirt for me. No matter how old you get, I'd say Disneyland is still the happiest place on Earth...