I received an email from one of my fave PA's (personal assistants...nurses) from my extended stay at Spa Overlake (Hospital). Turns out they received a patient survey form back stating that the patients should be offered the opportunity for a bikini wax during their epidural and should be provided with better [non-chafing and exfoliating] towels. Those surveys are shared with the nurses and this particular survey got everyone's attention. Apparently it was taken quite seriously (as it should be) until someone pointed out that it was from patient Jennifer Martin. ha! I don't know why that should change the seriousness with which my suggestions were taken. I would like to know if they also added TiVo to the hospital rooms as well as mini fridges, bigger beds, and daily massages for the Labor and Delivery Nurses. I'm serious, people. Before I even consider checking into Spa Overlake for an extended stay, I insist on some changes. Other than the above mentioned ideas, the service (with a couple small exceptions) was exemplary, and I highly recommend it for your anti-partum bed rest needs.

Zachary is working on cutting his first tooth. There's a little hole on his bottom gum, but no little dagger of doom sticking out quite yet. (ooh, how fun the nursing will be)! Who'd-a-thunk that something like teething could throw an entire little person so outta whack?! He's turned into a vending machine of body fluids; poor guy.

Mike and Matthew are currently carving a pumpkin. Matthew chose to do a skeleton. Mike attended a jack-o-lantern carving contest on Saturday night and won. (Surprise, surprise). The man carved a picture of a John Deere tractor into his pumpkin. Pretty impressive! And boy, was our little farmer Matthew excited about it!

Apparently the Martins and the pumpkin patch just don't mix (view yesterday's blog update for strike one of the pumpkin patch outing). We officially give up! We're done! We can take a hint!
Today, despite the sinister dark sky and gusty winds, we headed South to meet up with friends at the pumpkin patch. After stopping for a quick bite for lunch, we pulled into the mud-soaked parking lot at the Carpinitos Brothers Pumpkin Farm. Our friend, Rebecca was in their car (wisely so as there had just been a down-pour of hail) and informed us that her husband had gone ahead to pick up pumpkins for all of us and we'd just head to their place for the carving festivities. We thought this was a swell idea, however Matthew seemed to disagree. He commenced to cry and within moments we realized the crying was not actually due to pumpkin-related sadness but another much worse malady -- he proceeded to vomit all over himself, the car seat, and the floor of the car. Again, I declare unto the Universe: you win! We won't attempt another pumpkin patch...at least not this year. We did come home with a pumpkin (thanks to Jason for stashing it in our trunk whilst we used paper napkins to clean-up mess 'o vomit). Needless-to-say, there will be no pumpkin patch pictures with the latest on our site.

Where has the time gone? Ahh, yes, I know -- wiping noses. I think that's all I've done for the last week since we've all been sick. 'Tis the season. And we've really kicked off the Cold and Flu season with a bang this year! Despite downing gallons of Airborne before Mike, Zachary and I flew to Houston last weekend [for the National Engaged Encounter Convention -- which was great!] we still managed to pick up germs from flying -- surprise, surprise! Mike came down with it first (darn him!) and then shared it (how sweet) with the rest of us. Matthew woke up one morning totally stuffed up and said, "Bombby, dere's someting wrog wid by dnose." Translation for those of you not fluent in snotty toddler: "Mommy, there's something wrong with my nose." So, sure enough, as predicted (perhaps a self-fulfilling prophesy), Matthew followed in the footsteps of both his parental units (most be genetic) and stayed home sick instead of attending the first field trip of his school career -- a trip to the Pumpkin Patch (tractor ride included). At any rate, he didn't seem too devastated as the day we were to go we were not only coming down with the cold but it was pouring rain. He even looked outside and said it was too rainy to go. So, we're making up for it and taking the whole fam to a patch with some friends tomorrow.

Zachary is six months old...today! Can you even believe it? And to celebrate this milestone, he had his first taste of "solids" -- also known as "totally runny, breast-milked-down, with yucky vitamins mixed in baby rice cereal. " He's a fan though -- totally chowed down. Also, today we all dressed up and went to the Halloween party of some friends. Matthew is a farmer (how appropriate with his latest John Deere obsession), Zachary is a cow (the cutest calf, you ever did see!), I'm a pig (huh! funny, I still feel like one!), and Mike is a horse. Now, Mike and I have a very strong relationship, if I do say so myself, and "Openness in Communication" is a topic that we teach to the engaged couples on the retreats that we lead, so I was sad to have to openly communicate with him that we did not see eye-to-eye on what kind of horse he should be. (A stallion, of course....) I had pictured a very Fabio-style flowing mane (of black fleece attached to the hood of his white sweatshirt) but what he made was a more stiff and short Trojan war-horse style mane. Not at all the look that I felt he would have should he be a horse -- a horse one would find on Farmer Matthew's farm, none-the-less. In the end, we managed to agree that he was a well-groomed show horse. I'm saddened to report that despite arriving at the party with a farmer, a cow, and a pig, some people still couldn't figure out what he was. (But maybe people are just a bit slow). [I'll work on Mike to get pictures up on the website soon.]

I just finished taping up the boxes of 0-3 month and 3-6 month baby boy clothes. Hmmm...don't really know how I feel about that. Sad, I guess. I really don't know if we'll have more kiddos or not, and I think about it every single day. I certainly had every intention of being a baby carrying machine (3 at least), but that whole hospitalized bed rest, preemies in the NICU thing followed by bed rest recovery with postpartum depression, taking care of kids and infant, sleep deprivation and nursing issues is...pretty lame. HOWEVER, with that said, God has blessed us with two AMAZING and healthy, BEAUTIFUL boys and both of them are totally and completely worth any and all moments of suffering that I may have endured.What mother wouldn't lie in a bed for seven weeks if it would help her infant? Well, sadly -- many. But I'm the kind that would do it (obviously), but I certainly know that it would be extremely difficult to do it again.

Then there's that whole girl thing. Now, I wouldn't trade my two boys for the world, but (there is a but and I wish there wasn't, but everybody has a big but -- or butt -- in some cases) going through a pregnancy being told that you're having a girl (by two doctors -- 90% sure and 95% sure, just to remind you), becoming attached to this little person (Abigail Madeline, to be specific) not to mention her cute wardrobe (which was already hung categorized by size in HER closet and included some of my puffy little party dresses), and then having to box it all up and know that it's in the garage, definitely leaves a person feeling like, "Gosh! It'd sure be nice to have a daughter in addition to our two amazing and wonderful strapping lads. " After all I was the girl in a 'two boys and a girl family' and I turned out exceptionally well -- it seems to be a great combo. It should hopefully go without saying that if we do decide to have a third bebe, I wouldn't even consider it until I knew that I'd be just as happy with a third boy as I would with a girl. AND I wouldn't ideally get pregnant again until I could hire a full time nanny and housekeeper to take care of my family while I lie in bed and finally get around to writing my novel.

I've been teaching my toddler music class -- "Little Ditties Music Academy" -- for a few weeks now. There's nothing like teaching the toddlers of today, the Mozarts of tomorrow. Two and three-year-olds have a whole other kind of attitude and energy than the puberty-stricken seventh graders that I used to teach. Both ages come with their own sets of issues and challenges, that's for sure. There are similarities though: both groups tend to sing off key and you do have about a one minute attention span in which to pack as much information and music as possible.

I'm only teaching two back-to-back classes right now (45 minutes each), and when I'm done I know I'M ready for a nap who knows about the kiddos! It takes a lot of energy to maintain the interest and attention of ten two-year-olds for 45 minutes. I always enjoy the "classes" -- which could always be referred to as 'somewhat organized musical mayhem' -- but it's always nice to be told (or shown) that the kids are really enjoying them too. I have one two-year-old boy, in particular, that I was a little concerned about. His mom, like me, is a teacher-turned-stay-at-home-Mom (which adds a little pressure), and he is a VERY active little boy. She had hesitations in signing up for the class as she wasn't sure he'd be that interested or able to sit still for that long. Well, thankfully, little Colby, showed us both how much he's enjoying class by bursting into tears at the end of our goodbye song one day. I was concerned that there was something wrong, but soon found out that he was just giving me the toddler version of a rave review. He was devastated that class was over for the week. It's a funny thought to imagine a toddler's recommendation: "The class is so good, I cry when it's over!" Never thought making a toddler cry would be a good thing.

Our boys are doing well. Matthew LOVES his one-morning-a-week Preschool and is currently very interested in the whole concept of Halloween. We've been listening to our "Halloween Howls" CD over and over (he sings along) and we always notice "Halloween Houses" (those with decorations) on our runs. He often asks "where is Halloween? Where did it go?" I'm trying to explain that it's a day, not a thing but I'm not sure he's totally catching on.

Zachary is such the mover and shaker that he's toying with a new move we like to call "The Inch Worm." He lifts his bum up in the air and scootches his torso forward, slowly inching along the floor. He's not even six months old yet! Much to my horror, Mike got down on the floor with him and was giving him instruction in the art of crawling. "What are you doing?!" I exclaimed unto him, "He's the easy one right now -- he doesn't move! Once they're both mobile, then I'm totally outnumbered!" And that's just plain crazy talk.