Hope your Holidays were amazing; wishing you all a Happy New Year

Bella has had a great time playing with all the amazing gifts you all have given her; she is very blessed and very loved and is very grateful for everything you do for her. Here are some of the best holiday pictures taken. I have had fun using our new camera and trying my hand at amateur photography; here are the results. Enjoy! I hope 2012 is an amazing year! Love you all!!

Aurora is half baked!

So we had our 20 week ultrasound today & Aurora looked perfect! Heart was beating, she was the perfect size, had 10 toes & fingers and everything was where it should be. No cleft pallet either!

Unfortunately, the septum I have in my uterus is in the way of her placenta, which has been my biggest fear since day 1, and while the doctor told me not to worry, it could cause some growth issues the bigger she gets. Bella's placenta never touched the septum so we never had to worry. At 16 weeks, the placenta was still far away from it, but in the last 4 weeks it grew and attached to the septum. Basically, the part that is attached won't get the right amount of blood flow & oxygen as the part attached to the uterine wall directly. I am trying to remind myself the doctor said not to worry, but pregnancy seems to bring out anxiety in me that I never knew I had & so, of course, I am worrying.







This last picture is a comparison of Bella to Aurora. They are very similar looking!! I am so shocked! Aurora's cheeks look a little chubbier and while Bella's nose was cut off in the picture, I think their noses are a bit different. Otherwise, they could be twins!

Thoughts & prayers that Aurora keeps growing & stays happy & healthy inside for the next 19 weeks or so!

Got to see the new baby!

So the Martin family is growing and Bella is going to get a little sister!

Here are some photos of our little girl. We are currently 16 weeks pregnant, 24 left til we get to meet her. She was very dramatic during the ultrasound, throwing her hands over her face and being very expressive. We are very excited to announce that Aurora Jamison Martin will be arriving in Spring 2012 and we couldn't be more thrilled!


^^Here is where her drama queen shows best, what a diva!

^^Little legs!
Body shot

Bella's Summer in photos

Bella will be 2 in 20 days; I can't believe how fast the 2 years have gone. She is talking a mile a minute now (not always understandable to the untrained ear) and is starting to learn how to play tricks on me. Yesterday, she came in to the kitchen screaming "It's a bug! It's a bug". I freaked out and ran around to find a shoe to kill it, and came into the living room and asked here "where is the bug?" and she smiled and ran to her playroom. There was no bug; she enjoys watching me panic. Stinker.

She is a very loving little girl, with lots of hugs & kisses to go around, and her new favorite thing to do is "snuggle mommy", where she just lays down on me and relaxes. It is heartwarming and perfect; who knew something so small could be so endearing.

Below are some pictures from the summer, including our trip up North to White Lake over the 4th, riding choo choo trains, watering weeds in the back yard, cooking in the kitchen in the apron I made for her, and having a tea party. She is all girl! Loves pink and barbies and babies...

Bella's first tea party. We just bought Bella this little table & chairs set, and she wanted a tea party. She brought Minnie Mouse & Raggedy Ann. She loves dolls more than anything....so much for having a tom boy.








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Bella's first time baking cookies






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Bella watering weeds

Bella's first visit to Orlando

Bella, Brian and I got to head down to Orlando for a week, courtesy of Mike & Leslie, and had an awesome time visiting Disney World, Gatorland and hanging out at the pool. Bella was pretty overwhelmed by Disney at first, we went to Magic Kingdom first & then Animal Kingdom, but eventually saw "poo" aka Winnie the Pooh, and had a great time. All we did was run around the Kingdoms trying to find all the characters, since that was the only thing that she really seemed to get excited about until she would see a duck or a squirrel or something like that. We have pictures with Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore, Tigger, Micky, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, & Thumper. It was a lot of fun, but it was a long day. Bella pretty much lasted 11 hours w/only a 30 minute nap, never complained or cried once. She is so amazing. She hard core crashed once we got back to the car and couldn't even keep her head up to help me undress her & put her PJs on. She loved it and I can't wait to get back there when she is older to have more fun. She says "Micky Mouse" now, however, it sounds more like "Mou Mou", ha ha.
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So these first couple of pictures are from Gatorland, taken last week, and the last two are from when Brian and his brother, Patrick were little, some 23 years earlier!









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Bella and me at Gatorland

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Bella and Me in the Hotel pool





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Bella walking around Magic Kingdom