Announcing Keenan Grace Martin... at 6 Months!

It may be 6 months later but I am proud to introduce our littlest Martin...It's A Girl!!!

Keenan Grace Martin

Born May 29th, 2011 at 5:42 a.m.

7 lbs. 2 oz.

The birth of a baby is simply the most beautiful miracle in the world.

It is hard to believe 6 months have gone by before finding time to share her beauty on our family blog! Agh! Needless to say raising two has been a whirlwind of excitement!

Keenan entered our world on her own time. She has already shown me her personality is going to be calm, laid-back, compassionate followed by a burst of energy and be full of life! As I was reading over my last post I wrote that I had 6 weeks to go and I needed to make it to May 25, the students last day of school.

My last day of school was May 27, I had intended on spending the next two weeks tying up lose ends with Mary Carlisle's big girl room and doing as much as I could for Keenan's nursery. May 28th we got Mary Carlisle's first hair cut, ran some errands, went to a cook-out and got home at 8:15 and not 30 minutes after we got home my water broke! She was so considerate to let me celebrate summer for 24 hours! haha!

My water broke with Mary Carlisle so I was not expecting this to happen again! The books say water breaking only happens to less than 15% of pregnant woman...I thought surely not again! But it happened alright and we were NOT prepared! I mean no bag was even fully packed this time! haha! We got our sweet neighbors Peter and Allison to stay at the house with Mary Carlisle who was already snoozing and off we went to meet our newest Martin! Keenan ended up being a much quicker and smoother delivery...Amen! hehe! Hilariously she looked exactly like her big sister when she was a newborn but since has come into her own. And her measurements in my tummy weighing a bit on the chunk side have reflected on her as a baby being in the 90% since her 2 months check-ups! haha! I LOVE IT!!!

You can't deny that babies with Michelin rolls are absolutely irresistable! :)

Not to mention she is the world's HAPPIEST baby! She is happy all of the time! She is awesome!

There are no words to describe the first look or touch of your precious baby. I don't care if you are Duggar and having your 20th...it still has to be the most miraculous and amazing thing to ever experience! It is perfection!

Hearing second born children say they never had as many pictures or stories, etc... I have promised myself to not ever let Keenan feel like she isn't as special because she wasn't the first born through stories or pictures. I already feel terrible I didn't send out an announcement for the beautiful girl - hehe! (I was told she will never know the difference) Agh!

Am I doing it already?!

I may have momnesia when it comes to stories and I may not have as many pictures (but let's be honest I went Overboard with Mary Carlisle! hehe!)

There is no doubt she is the most precious baby sister this Martin family could ever have!

Keenan our lives are so much richer with you in it! I love your happy spirit and easy going personality. You bring peace in my heart when I look at you and cuddle with your pure softness. You light up my life in so many ways and I am beyond proud to be your mommy!

How Does This Little Bitty Baby Who Needs Bumpers In Her Car Seat Grow Into This Little Ladybug So Quickly?!?! Make It Stop!!! I Want Her To Be A Baby Forever!

I Love Snuggling With This Sweet Girl!

Our Precious Baby Girl and Her Bow :)

My Little Snoozer!

She Loves Her Cereal...Yummy Yummy!

She has the best cheekies and rolls I have ever seen!

At 5 Months she began smiling all the time!

At 6 Months - Happiest Baby Ever!

6 Weeks & Counting...

I haven't posted since JANUARY?!?! Agh! Where does my time go?!
...I spend it with this sweet face!

I "plan" to update my blog life this weekend, but my sister is coming to town, we are continuing our house preparations for Baby Dos, and trying to relax (what does that word mean again!?) hehehe! So we will see if updating "A Little Nugget" really happens...hehe!

I have less than 6 weeks before we become a family of 4...5 counting Major! and there is still so much to do!

First things first...We have made the "Big Girl Room" transition and it went AWESOME!!! Aaaaa- that is me singing!
Mary Carlisle loves Loves LOVES her new bed! She wakes up every morning saying, "I sleep in big girl bed!" with a smile! It is the most adorable and joyful way to start our day!
There is no turning back now...she is done with a "baby" bed! hehe!

Secondly, I must make it to the end of the school year! Agh! We have 4 weeks of school left. School ends May 25th, I am due June 8th...and the Doc is predicting an earlier arrival like I had with Mary Carlisle. She was a week early...Oh! Did I mention this Little Boxer is measuring BIG! Agh!!! Mary Carlisle was born at a perfect petite size of 6 lbs 6 oz.

At my Ultrasound on Monday, they said this baby is in the 78%! haha! And they are estimating it is around 5 lbs 9 oz! Chunky Monkey!
Now, I know this is an estimate and they were off an entire pound with Mary Carlisle...but I'm not gonna lie...I AM NERVOUS for this expectant BIG Babe to exit from me! hehe!

As the story goes...Chad thinks the baby will be a girl and I am thinking boy...only 41 more days or less until we will know the truth!...Wahoo!!!

Anywhoobies...Enough talking...here are a few pictures to show that it is actually Spring here in Knoxville and not still snowing :)...

Easter Egg Hunt At Church

Mary Carlisle Took The Hunt Very Seriously...Until She Discovered There Were Treats Inside The Eggs & Ate Her First Jelly Bean! :)

Hayes & Mary Carlisle Checking Out The Petting Zoo

It Is So Hard Getting A Picture With All Eyes Are On The Camera...hehe!
Two Different Days & Easter Day Brought Us A Successful Attempt!

A Little After Church Stroll At The Park

Chad and I Took A Trip To VEGAS! Yes, I was 7 mos pregnant when we went! hehe!

Mary Carlisle Turned 2!!! ...These pictures are for another full day of posting!!! :)

Two of My Favorite People...Looking Cool In Their Shades!

Bring on the New Year!

We Love Snow...and Lots Of It!

Our January has kicked us off real fast to a New Year of fun, excitement, and doctor's visits! We started off the year with #7 of our ear infections since September, followed by an appointment with an ENT doc to get tubes in our little girls ears. I anticipated being a teary mommy through our exit as she was taken away for the speedy procedure, but Mary Carlisle's reaction to the "happy juice" kept us in laughable tears instead.

We hardly returned back to school, when we got 3 whole days off because of this beautiful white snow! Thank You Lord! I needed some more Merry Martin time!

Chad decided we just had to have a "WHITE" Party!
White Snow, White Chili, White Russians and the movie White Dog. hehe! Chad's idea...not mine!
These are Chad's homemade White Dog cookies...yes, the dog is a mean red-eyed dog. They are supposed to look like that! :)

No one could drive up our big old hill so the neighbors packed up their drinks, food and even their babies and set up camp at the Casa de Martin for the day! It was SO fun!

Ben, Rachael & Jack making the trek in the snow

Our little fashionista checking out her boots in her reflection...hehe! Such a Diva!

Still can't find her anywhere! She picks the BEST hiding spots! Major does a good job of keeping her safe too!

Our Little Patient...She's A Trooper!

She even looks cute in scrubs!

Video 1 is the first 5 minutes of Happy Juice...Video 2 is 15 minutes later...hehe!

Laughing All The Way...

Laughing All The Way....

A Merry Martin Christmas...

10 Days... 3 Christmas', 3 Families, 12 Martins, 7 Keenans, 5 Howarths, 1 Boyfriend, 4 Baby Dolls, 1 Baby Stroller (problem!), 1 Redneck Christmas Village, 30 goats, 5 camels, 3 bulls, 1 Unhappy Santa and Unhappy Mary Carlisle, 3 Different Doctors in 3 Different Cities, 1 Bowl Game, 2 Terrible Endings to a Vol Game, and 1 Hokey Pokey Elmo...oh yes, and 17 weeks pregnant trekking across the state of Tennessee in a truck with my loving husband, 21 mos. old Mary Carlisle and our German Shepherd, Major!

She will laugh one day...right?!

Entering the Christmas Village, which we thought was going to be like the Enchanted Forest...Boy, were we wrong!!! hehe!!! :)

Happy Mary Carlisle BEFORE her encounter with Santa!

Paige getting more attention from the goat than she wanted! ...Haha!

Yes, this is their idea of Christmas...interesting?!

Anyone want to be a part of the Martin Christmas Vacation?!?! I am pretty sure we can be a top selling movie too! Hehe!!! Despite how, well, hilarious or exhausting it may have sounded...we made the best of the best and had a great time laughing our way through it! Hahaha!!!

The highlight? Watching Mary Carlisle unwrap all our Christmas gifts! Isn't that who they are all for anyway? She thinks so and she finds such enjoyment in unwrapping every tiny piece of paper and handing them to me, I couldn't help but let her think they were for her! I have a tidy girl on my hands...she doesn't want any paper to touch the floor it must be thrown away, if I blow my nose she must too and place it carefully in thetrash, and she likes to clean the space up after she eats...hehe! I am not joking! I guess she learned this at school because I am not a stickler for this kind of stuff.

Seeing Family is always so great...it makes me want to move closer to them ALL...which is slightly impossible considering we cover the greater states of TN, GA, and NC! But a girl can dream...

Another highlight was a surprise visit with my friend Jonathan. He and his wife, Alicia, recently lost their sweet 20 mos. old baby girl, Evie. It has been the saddest loss for them, for anyone who knows them, and for those who do not know them. They are one of those couples everyone loves and admires. Their strength and faith is an example to us all. I want to ask anyone who reads this to keep them in their prayers. It was so nice to see him and give him a hug letting him know I am praying for their family.

My, what a year is has been...It is hard to believe 2010 is behind us and we are onto day 2 of 2011. I find time flies by much quicker with a little one. It makes me sad...She will be 2 in March and I feel like she just entered our life a few months ago, but at the same time I cannot remember what life was like before her. I guess that is the beauty of parenthood.

During Christmas, my sister gave me a picture of the two of us when I was about the same age as Mary Carlisle. First off, the resemblence is scary between Mary Carlisle and me. But I promise I do not feel like it was THAT long ago that we were wearing those awesome 80's clothes! :) It must be because we looked so good in them! hehe! Do you think our children will be looking at their clothes like we do in our 80's clothes? "Mom, what were you thinking?!" hehe!

I am not really into New Year's Resolutions...but here's to 2011 a year that I plan to pray harder, hug tighter and kiss longer!

Love you all... :)