Rainy Days

We have had such beautiful weather for the past couple of weeks, but that is over. Now we are stuck with this drizzly kind of rain which is soo annoying! It needs to either RAIN or be nice and sunny so we can do fun things outside. Well the drizzle didn't stop us yesterday! I took some cute pictures of Shane playing around outside the house yesterday afternoon while he was trying out his new snow boots. ENJOY!

Saying goodbye to Daddy

Our visit with Carah

Last week was full of firsts for Shane. He had his first airplane ride, first bus ride, first time playing the slot machines in Vegas (he was not my good luck charm as I had hoped!), first time eating Filipino cuisine and first time meeting his cousin Carah! I was very nervous taking him on an airplane as most of you know that Shane does not like to sit still for very long, but he did great. He drank his milk and went right to sleep. It is so nice and convenient being able to fly right out of Santa Rosa!



We were able to spend a couple of days with Carah, Cory and Janice at Janice's parents house in Las Vegas. Cory and Janice are doing well and are just trying to figure out all this baby stuff while Janice is recovering from her c-section. Carah is adorable and oh so tiny! She slept most of the day and would wake up briefly to eat or to cry when she was getting her diaper changed, but we are told she is quite the nightowl!

Shane wasn't very interested in his cousin, but was always very concerned when she would cry. He would sign "sad" and then "all done, all done!" It was very cute. He also tries to say her name a lot since we've been home. I will try to catch that on video soon along with many of the signs he can do these days.

Shane and Carah first meet

Big yawn for such a tiny baby

So tiny compared to Shane

The happy family

Proud Grandma

Shane and Devon were buddies

Sleepy baby

Oh, and if you were wondering about the return flight...it did not go as smoothly as the first. We flew out around 3pm which is definitely past Shane's bedtime. He finished his milk before we even took off and was throwing a fit for about the first 15 minutes. It was awful and I was totally embarrassed, but then he passed out and slept the entire flight until we had to get off of the plane. A couple people on the plane tried to reassure me saying "Oh he wasn't bad at all!"...of course they say that after when he is oh so cute and sleepy!

I'm an Auntie!

Carah Jaeda Martin
January 8, 2009
7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches

My brother and Janice welcomed the newest edition to the Martin family last week. They went home on Saturday and are doing well. We can't wait to fly out to Las Vegas this week to visit them!

Shane has been staring at Carah's picture and has been trying to say her name already. This will be Shane's first time on a plane and I am a bit nervous, but I'm sure it will be an exciting adventure for him. Wish us luck!

FINALLY!

Happy New Year! I know I am long overdue for posting pictures from Christmas, but I have been ashamed of myself for barely using my camera that day! Before I get to that though...I am soo happy to report that Shane FINALLY said those two little words I've been waiting to hear..."Ma-ma!" He has been "talking" and repeating words for a long time and has really been saying "Da-da" for weeks in this adorable high pitch little voice of his (and we are saying that "Da-da" is his official first word), but he would never come close to saying "Ma-ma" until yesterday. I finally decided to get him saying "Da-da" on video when he shocked me by actually saying "Ma-ma!" I am soo glad I had the camera rolling.

Here are a few of the pictures I took on Christmas...

Christmas morning in his jammies

Digging deep down into his stocking


YEAH, a slinkie!


My stunt rider showing off his new Alphabet Train


Playing in Dakota's new tent last week


Here are a few funny close-ups of Shane using my new camera!

Happy Holidays!

We wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas!

Great holiday weekend!

I had a very nice holiday weekend. Friday night was our Cootie Christmas party. For those of you that don't know, Cootie is a dice game that I started playing with my Mom and her friends while I was pregnant. It is a LOT of fun and these ladies are a great group of gals! We do drinks and appetizers, a lovely dinner, play Cootie and then do a pirate gift exchange. We also were lucky enough to get a visit from Santa!

Cootie Gals XMas 2008

Mom and I

CHEERS!

On Saturday we celebrated my birthday! My gift from Ryan was getting my hair done at Lauthr in Petaluma. Heidi is great and I really like how it turned out. Then we went out with a few of my best girls to Equus Lounge at the Fountaingrove Inn. We had a great night...thanks ladies!

Ryan and I enjoying dinner and dessert

Emily and Jackie who I have known for over a decade now!

I love you girls!

The best part of all...I got to sleep in on my birthday!!! Then Ryan took me out for an early dinner before we picked up Shane. It was a very nice and mellow birthday this year. Oh and after we picked up Shane we took him to look at Christmas lights. If anyone is looking to see a great Christmas light display, check out Walnut Court in Santa Rosa. The whole court is decorated and one of the houses does an awesome light show to music at the top of every hour starting at 6pm. It goes through 3 or 4 songs and then foamy "snow" shoots out from the rooftop and Snoopy even made a guest appearance. Shane was in HEAVEN and the big crowd of people thought he was just adorable yelling "lights, lights, LIGHTS" and getting very concerned when the lights went off before the show. What a fun night! I just love the holidays...

Our early Christmas

Merry (early) Christmas!

We did an early Christmas with Ryan's family this year since his sister is going to England to spend the holidays with her husband's family. Tammy and Peter cooked us a wonderful brunch and then we opened presents. Shane got books, clothes, some cute things from his Grandparent's trip to Disneyland the week before and his favorite was the bath tub toys from Aunt Tammy and Uncle Peter! Ryan got gift cards to the Cutlery store and is very excited to go out and buy his new Emmerson knife today. My favorite gift was the gorillapod that I used to take the group portrait above. It's such a neat gift and I know I will use it constantly! Thank you Sandi, Warren, Tammy and Peter for such a wonderful (early) Christmas!

Grandma Sandi was giving Angel a closer look

Shane is always fascinated by Angel's loud squawking

Tammy and Peter got some good hiking supplies

Shane was trying to be festive, but refused to smile!

Shane really liked his new bath toys!

Shane loves his Aunt Tammy
(I love Uncle Peter's thumbs up in the background!)

Ryan torturing his Mother

Everyone looks great in the hats I made for them!

Shane could not wait to get home and play in the bath

He is soo cute, I couldn't decide on just one of these smiles to share!