Sweet Baby

A friend of ours in the ward did some photos of Matthew for us... and boy are they cute! Here are a few:

10 Signs You're a New Mom

10. You sway to and fro constantly

9. 800mg motrin and a spray bottle temporarily replace your husband as your new best friend

8. You smell like poop and/or breastmilk and you're okay with it

7. Your laundry quadruples OVERNIGHT

6. Your shower average is 2x/week

5. You hear baby noises 24/7 (even if you're not around a baby)

4. Burps, poop, spit-up, and gaseous toots excite you

3. Garment tops become a force to be reckoned with

2. You hate your kid from 12am to 7am, but are smitten with love the remainder of the day

1. You wake up to this:
note: your baby might not be this cute.....

To the 9

Tuesday afternoon after my OB appt. I came home (excited!) and thought it might be a good idea to pack some things together in case I went into labor. I finished watching the little guy I babysit and Scott went to take a final (at the last minute) so he could be ready to go to the hospital if needed. When he came home I had thought of a list a mile long of the things that we still needed, so we headed to Wal-Mart and Target. (Thanks be to gift cards) After we walked around for 3.5hrs and my pain level was the same, I decided we should probably go home and sleep, or at least attempt to. Around 2am I woke up and thought maybe we should go to the hospital now. I woke up Scott and took a shower- he thought I was dumb to want to wash my hair before I gave birth (MEN! This proves they know nothing about women) After my shower I decided that I wanted to wait until the labor and delivery area opened at 5am, so we snoozed another 3 hours. At 6:30 I woke him up again and we headed out the door.

I was admitted at 7 and dialated to a 5. By noon, Scott was super bored and asked the nurses that came in if there was anyway to "speed things up". About 30 min later they came in to break my water (ummm... I thought I was in charge of the show....) I was still at a 5, but I could actually feel the contractions at this point. An hour later I was 6cm and had pain of a 3 on their scale (how are we supposed to know what a 10 on the scale feels like?? I told them I've never had my arm cut off so I wouldn't know) The REAL pain set in about 30 min later when I dialated to a 9. I literally thought I was going to DIE. (and now I can tell you what a 10 on the pain scale feels like....) I changed my mind about going natural at this point and asked for an epidural. Melissa Folks, my heroine, perhaps next time I'll be inducted into your club, but I could only tolerate the pain at 9cm for about half a millisecond before I was screaming for the anesthesiologist! An hour later, Matthew decided to join us.

When they were cleaning him up, Scott told me, "He's not that ugly...", to which the nurse who was cleaning Matthew looked stunned. (who says that about their own child?? WE DO.) After which followed,"yes, I'm pleasantly surprised." The nurse's jaw almost dropped to the floor. You see, I prepared myself for an ugly baby. In fact, I think most newborns are quite ugly- just a personal opinion that I share with REAL friends... But we got lucky and had a cute one sent to us. I think it's so I could love him at 3am when he's crying and poopy and not latching on and my hormones are going a little crazy..... and you get the idea.

Progress

Just in case you were wondering, I still look like a balloon in the middle.

BUT, I got good news today at my Dr. appt. I'm at 4cm and my water could break anytime. She asked if I was having contractions and I told her they were regular at night but I was too lazy/asleep to time them, and that I hadn't noticed any during the day. "Do you have any pain?" "No, just some back pain, but other than that I feel fine." She was a little surprised that I wasn't more uncomfortable I guess? They almost admitted me right to the hospital from my check-up, but I told them what I was going to do, oh yes I did. I told them that I needed to go home and pack a bag and buy some stuff and put a carseat in the car and make dinner and that I would see them when my water broke because I live 10 min away. They said, "umm... okay".

Being stubborn has it's advantages sometimes...

Scott, on the other hand, decided it might be best to take his exam early afterall. He had about an hour to study (as opposed to 2 days) and left in a hurry. He also cancelled Scouts in the hopes that by the time his test was over I'd be able to go to the hospital. But then he asked if he could play a pick-up bball game at 9 if I wasn't in labor by then and promised to keep his phone volume at max level. What to do with him?

Stay tuned....

And the winner is....

Nadie.
No one.

Am I surprised? Not in the least. I should have prefaced the guessing game with something like, "if you can correctly think like Scott it'll be easy to get!". Of course, my Scott is one of a kind (unless you count the fact that he's the younger version of his father in almost every aspect...) and so I wasn't too shocked that no one knew what the "sculpture" was.

Are you ready?

It was our upside-down trash can. He compacted as many leaves as would fit into that thing!

Awesome right?

So glad he made me go outside and take pictures of it :)

I applaud all those who guessed and say you deserve a pat on the back and an honorable mention.

The Great Debate

Should we buy a crib or use the pack and play as a make-shift bed for the lil guy coming soon?

We can't decide and so.. well, thought maybe you (Mr. Internet, who reads this thing anyway???) could give us some feedback. To truly understand this dilemma we find ourselves in, I'll give you a little background.

Whilst in the Memphis, I received the crib I used when I was little and we carted it all the way back to the Cincinnati. It's a nice piece for being aged, don't get me wrong, but it's also missing an important part to set up the crib. So we scratched that idea and went looking for other ways to welcome home baby. A friend so graciously gave us her crib, but there is a slight problem with it as well.... it smells. Like smoke. I've tried loads of things to get the smell out, but it's more stubborn than me and I give. Scott sees this as a "sign" that we don't need a crib- I would like to have a "normal" bed for the baby- call me crazy (is it because I'm pregnant or just becoming more like my mother? Can't say yet...). What say ye?

Sculpturing

Scott has decided to take up a new hobby- organic sculpturing. Never heard of it? Let me enlighten you....
Organic Sculpturing- (v.) the act of molding, building or piling natural substance(s) into various shapes, thus creating "art". This is a trendy and "green" process.

He feels good about contributing to Mother Earth!

Can you guess what he sculpted? Winner receives a prize! (hint: it's the leaves... not the log pile, although that is also considered an organic sculpture)

Elder Rollins

We have had quite a busy month! Scott's brother, Michael, left for his mission last week. He'll be serving in the Santa Rosa mission in California, Spanish "proclaiming" as he calls it. There was an open house, his talk(s), setting apart and then putting him on the plane to the MTC all in 3 days time. A whirlwind of excitement. We look forward to hearing some of his stories and successes over the coming years and are a tad jealous he is able to serve. Scott and I have both mentioned that we would like to have the opportunity to serve again- alone. It's not that we don't love and appreciate each other, but we know the extreme blessings of serving and the joy it adds to your life. Bravo Michael! You'll do great!

Memphis

There was no barbeque, which was a sad thing, but there was lots of visiting and catching up with family and friends. My mom (yes, the one that called me a "Quaker" for wanting to make my own crib bedding) decided to throw me a "surprise" baby shower. It was with much anxiety that I agreed to her demands... you'd have to know her. I'd say it was a successful visit- we made it back alive! All in all it was fun and we have another trip planned after the fetus is ex-utero.

Pictured are: My Granny, me and my GIGANTIC belly, Mary (the saintly mother-in-law who dared to come on the adventure), my older and more tan twin/Mom. The second picture is of my Dad and his father. My Papaw has got to be the funniest 90yr old I know- he keeps lizards as pets, loves to grow anything in the dirt and can accomplish this anywhere (just ask my aunt about her flower beds) and has become quite the surly old man. He was ready to go after the first 10 minutes and told me as he entered the room,"You're a pudgy one, ain'tcha?". Then he proceeded to giggle. No exaggeration here. The last picture is of me and Ashley, my middle school band friend/highschool ROTC comrade/Chik-fil-A breakfast partner. She was the main attraction of my visit to Memphis-and was married on 10-10-10 (to help her husband remember the date, I'm sure...).

Friends at last

A while ago I posted that I hadn't become friendly with my sewing machine.... but no more! I read the instruction manual (genius, right?) and now I'm a pro! See for yourself:

Thanks Martha for the idea, and Goodwill for the materials. It surely is a good thing.

Home Teaching is AWESOME

Why is home teaching so awesome you ask? I have one word for you:

CHOLESTEATOMA

That's right friends.... be jealous! One of our home teachers has no middle ear bones! I had been wanting to ask him about this ear since he was baptized at the begining of the year (not being the shy type you know...), but never got the chance until he became our home teacher. I also wanted to be polite and not create an awkward moment at church by asking, "so what's up with the cotton ball you sport in your ear??". (I can be nice) So when he came over last month, I popped the question. He was totally cool about it and even let me go get a flashlight and peruse a little in his head! Scott wasn't too excited about it, and neither was his companion, but I was! He also had some drainage and a small infection that I was able to see clearly because his ear canal is the same diameter as my thumb. Sweet, right?

The new news

Yes we speak pidgeon English in these parts. Since I'm not a fan of the "belly shots", I'll just tell you that the little man is due December 17th. You can understand why we didn't announce our news earlier. Everything is going well and there are no tumors, which is always a plus. In fact, Scott and I have nicknamed him the "tumor-nator", and this must be said with the Arnold accent. We would have put a picture of the ultrasound up, but being responsible parents, we lost it. (we=Ally;next time I'll remember that the Ensign is NOT a reliable place to store paperwork)

Joe Biden is the ruiner of all things good

Since we got a tax return this year instead of having to pay taxes, I thought we should do something fun with the money. So, we did. We bought a cruise to the western Caribbean. Everything was planned to a "t", not one jot nor tittle was misplaced. We were excited about a much needed vacation. These are some of the things we planned to do:

Stingray City in the Cayman Islands
Mayan Ruins in Tulum
Eat a lot of good food (I planned on not looking at/thinking of a kitchen for an entire week)
Soak up the sun at the pool on deck
Play the only 2 games we agree to play with each other (phase 10 and skip-bo)
Read
Sleep
Not work

We arrived in Columbus the night before and stayed with Scott's great-uncle Jerry and his wife. They are so fun and we really enjoyed getting to know them better. Monday morning we left for the airport with 2 carry-on bags- no delays for us! The plane ride was fine and we sat next to each other! (Southwest passengers are notorious for leaving a single seat in the middle of each row) We arrived in Tampa and had a 40min layover for our next flight into Ft. Lauderdale. We asked, "Where is the gate for flight #...?" Quite possibly the rudest man on the planet with a bad mustache said, "The flight is out of gate c37 but is delayed until 3:00". Umm... WHAT? "The- flight-is-delayed-and-will-leave-at-3PM." No, I did not need him to spell it out for me..... thanks anyway. Needless to say, we tried every possible means whereby we might get to Ft. Lauderdale in a timely fashion and board the cruise liner,to no avail. I think we hit the record high for the number of times 2 people walked in and out of metal detectors/air puff machines for security measures in one day. We called Royal Caribbean and they, and I quote, "annotated [y]our account and the gate agents at the pier know you are coming late. As long as you are there by 4pm you should be ok."

GREAT

So, what can you do but wait? We boarded the plane and sat as close to the exit as possible (yep you guessed it, the 2 middle seats in opposite rows). I overheard another couple talking to the stewardess explaining the reason that the plane was delayed in getting to Tampa. Joe Biden landed in Indianapolis and the entire airport closed down- no flights in or out. By the time he was ready to leave, the plane we were on had to fly to Louisville to re-fuel it had been on the ground so long. Long story short- Joe Biden is now a common enemy among us. The plane landed and we rushed to a taxi, told him we'd pay extra for him to speed and run red lights and made it to the pier in time to argue with a man for an hour about boarding the boat. He wouldn't let us on, but informed us that we could, for $900, fly to the Cayman Islands and join the cruise there in 3 days. RIGHT.... thanks.

Back at the airport, they wanted to charge us $297/person to fly back to Columbus. I thought the lady heard me when I said my vacation was ruined and I wasn't paying another penny to Southwest since they were the reason (along with VP Biden) we missed the boat. The next available flight was Wednesday morning, which meant we had to stay in Ft.Lauderdale for 2 days.

We at least had a decent hotel, got to see a car fire, and went to a sketchy beach while we were there. Scott really liked not having a set schedule and watching sports center on a 55in flat screen TV in bed. So much for a good vacation- maybe in another 2 years when Joe Biden leaves office we'll be successful? Here's hoping.

Summer so far...

I've been meaning to update the blog, but I guess just like every other "journal" I start, it is left unfinished. The good thing about it being online is that I don't see all the empty pages I have left to fill.
Where shall we start? Scott's grandmother passed away last month. The night before she passed, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, cousin(in-law?) and I were visiting her in hospice and were chatting about all things females chat about. When my mother-in-law came the next morning to trade visits with Grandpa, she was gone. Granny"snuck"out during the changing of the guard, so to speak. All of us who had visited her the night before knew the reality of the situation- she didn't want us to come and "girl talk" around her bed anymore! We had been prepared for Granny's "trip" as she liked to call it, because she talked about it so much. It was a much welcomed rest for her and a very peaceful time for the family.

Naturally everyone came in town for the funeral, which also translates to "family reunion time" in the Martin line. We had a blast! My mother-in-law commented when we moved into our house that the reason was partly to hold bodies for the funeral/reunion. Boy did we. 13 people was the minimum for a week. Our air conditioning went out that week too, which made for more exciting times! We canoed and ate and visited and toured museums and ate and laughed and cried and played and... I could continue with a very long run-on sentence.

Not much else has gone on here... just school for Scott and work for me. We really like our ward and Scott is having fun with the Webelos. I'm still on the RS Activities committee and we are a cut-up group of gals. And that's our summer so far...

Domesticus

(For Deanna and the good ole days of definitions- can we resurrect this tradition?)

Domesticus-n. (do-mes-ti-kuhs) Greek goddess of all domestic responsibilities, influences, and ideas; creator of lovely household items that give joy to admirers. Is an acquired role. One seeking this title need not be married, possess any innate skills or talents, or enjoy domestic things. Also known as Allison?

What happens when you can't afford trendy pillows for your couch and your urge to decorate gnaws your very soul? You get creative. (and sometimes angry...) Scott's grandmother so graciously gave me this sewing machine. She received it as a graduation present from her father. The machine is in really good condition and can sew a button on a yardstick, which is the reason he purchased it. (I have not attempted this because the machine and I have not become friendly yet...thus the angry part)

Also bequeathed to us is the awesome avocado lamp you see pictured with the machine.

The finished product? One pillow that took more time to make than I work in a month. Now I just have to finish the other pillow for the love seat. Hoping it's done by Christmas time. :)
Such a cute model!

Winter Prison

There has been so much snow here lately- let the fun ensue! Now if only we could get outside...

We couldn't open our door because the icecicles were so long! I had to walk around the house to capture the picture and we literally had to break through a wall of ice to open the door. We tried to build a snowman at our back table, sitting down to tea, but it was harder than we expected, so we settled on a chemistry snowman (complete with lab goggles, metallic eyes and smile). Really we didn't have any coal in the house for a mouth, so we settled on the next best thing. The other snowman was as tall as Scott and was the "watchguard" over our garage door. Our 90yr old neighbors that share the gargage with us loved him.

One Year

Has it really been a whole year? Sometimes it seems as if time has stopped and I'm forever stuck in a dark place. Other days are more bearable and still some hold happiness. It's hard to "deal" with a reality you never expected or wanted, and I'm not sure it's all about dealing with it. It's necessary to really experience all the stages of grief and pain, not just acknowledge, accept and move on (or skip some parts). The death of a child adds complications to your life- Do we celebrate her birth/death? Have some sort of memorial for her? Include her in family things, like Christmas? Do we talk about her? Does it make it less awkward for others? There are more questions than answers. For me there is no middle ground, no gray area- either she is ours, or she's not. And either way, we have to decide- include or not include. It's no easy task. If we include her, we decide to include her forever- she is our daughter, a niece, a granddaughter, a sister to future children, etc. Including Sarah is the harder decision. Ignoring her isn't easy, but attempting to forget softens the pain and is more bearable than confronting reality.

Deep Thoughts

"There are some tragedies that are too big for a heart to hold, and they defy any description that makes sense. Time weaves its way through the shock, hurt and the inexpressible feelings, and one day you discover that in the process of daily survival, you have instinctively made decisions (good and bad), defined your theology, formed an opinion about God, and determined that you will either curl up and die emotionally or you will choose life. The terrifying but truthful fact is that, in choosing life, you realize it will never match the kind of life that was in your carefully thought-out plan for your future. It will force you to view people around you differently. The brokeness will challenge you to new levels of personal compassion. It will melt your pride, diminish the importance of your carfeully planned agenda, and it has the potential to develop and unshakable faith that defies rationality." - Carol J. Kent

Been thinking about choosing life, although it's the much harder decision to committ to. I believe that there is power in choosing faith in the things that are unknown, and possibly will remain so until the eternities- even when this said choosing is illogical (or rational) in my mind. It doesn't make it any easier, though. And I need that power right about now.

Wednesday evening rolled around

So as I was folding laundry I also did this:

ON VIDEO nonetheless...