I am a huge sap.  What happened to me?  I've been thinking A LOT about the kids the past 24 hours.  If I were to rewind to the day we moved into this house (4 years ago last week) i would've never imagined I'd have 2 beautiful children as I do now.  A few days ago Ethan started cracking smiles and although they're far and few, they're adorable.  Emily continues to entertain.  Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Kate came in town yesterday and Emily is having a blast!  She has been really interested in "big girl words" and continues to try to communicate with us.  We still have a long way to go but we're getting somewhere.

I put Christmas lights on the house yesterday.  I've done icicle lights for the past 4 years, this year I did something different.  I put up C9 "old school" lights.  Instead of the normal multicolor design, I removed all the bulbs and installed red/white bulbs only.  I don't like to brag but IT LOOKS AWESOME!  I meant to take pictures but I forgot but I'll make sure to do it soon so you all can see how awesome it looks.

Thats all for now.

This week marks 6 in the life of Ethan, where does the time go?  He continues to become more awake and alert and we're now starting to see some smiles creeping through.  We did all of this 20 months ago with Emily but it's amazing how easy it is to forget these moments.  I snapped a few pictures last night.  Just a quick moment after a feeding.  Click here to check them out.

Grandma and Grandpa will be here tomorrow.  I think they'll be floored by how much the kids have grown.  We are starting to get the house ready for Christmas.  We've already hung the stockings and Advent calendar.  Yeah, I know, a little early.  I'm in love with the season so I kicked things off a week early.  I can't help it, I just love this time of year and I have so much to be thankful for.

Just when I thought we couldn't be more exhausted, we are.  The past few nights have been on the crazy side.  Emily is cutting teeth and between late night feedings and late night cuddle time with Emily, not a lot of sleep is happening in our home.

The one thing I will say is we're getting better at "managing" both kids.  We've been out several times with both kids and we're getting the hang of things... until they change.  Last night we had dinner with the group to celebrate Pedro's birthday.  I got some fun pictures from the event, check them out by clicking here.

Ethan has been amazing.  He is so beautiful.  I know, I know, I sound like a sap and perhaps someone needs to take another notch out of my guy card but oh well.  I caught some shots of him while swinging, check them out by clicking here.

I get to spend next week at home with the family.  Grandma and Grandpa will be in town Tuesday so that will be fun.  Maybe, just maybe we'll get a night off.

That's all for now.

So what would a blog entry be without a good poop story. Saturday marked another adventure out as we headed to Apple Hill with Matthew and the rest of the Martinezmoles clan. Mr. Ethan has been a bit on the gassy side. I had him latched into the Baby Bjorn when I heard and felt the rumble. A dark stink cloud followed and it wasn't long before I realized that he needed to be changed right away.

What I didn't see initially was it had blown out the FRONT of the diaper (one of the leg holes) and was inches from covering the shirt I was wearing. It's amazing what happens to you when you become a parent. Before my parenting days I would have been 100% repulsed. Instead I looked down and thought, "wow, impressive, I guess I should change him."

Check out the photos from our weekend outing. Both kids are doing WONDERFUL and I couldn't be more happy, even with poop on my shirt. Make sure to check out the newly uploaded video of Emily and I dancing like crazy people. -> LINK

I am at home right now while Jennifer makes a Target run.  Emily is fast asleep in dream land while Ethan swings back and fourth while he catches a snooze.  Perhaps the most beautiful thing happened today while sitting around the dinner table.  Emily said I love you for the first time.  I'm not sure she fully understands what it means yet but hearing those words come out of her mouth split my heart in two pieces.

So I've been uploading a bunch of good stuff some make sure to check out the Silly Time With Emily photos and the You Make Me Feel Like Dancing video on the main page of our website http://www.jenandmike.com

As I finish giving Ethan his 2AM bottle, I'm reminded that today marks a milestone... 4 weeks.  Jennifer corrected me that he isn't officially 1 month until the 16th but whatever the case may be, he's 4 weeks.  "Little Eman" is doing well.  He continues to be a eating and pooping machine.  He has another "well baby" appointment later today where we'll find out how much he's grown.  Two weeks ago he came up short on weight so we're excited to see how many pounds he's packed on.

We all seem to be getting into some kind of routine... ok so whom I kidding, we're working on it.  Some nights are good, some are not so good.  The real adjustment is with Emily since we've messed around with her sleep schedule a little in order to get her off to daycare and me off to work in the mornings.  Regardless, we're figuring it out so check back for an update. :)

I don't have any new pictures to share.  We're concentrating on the birth announcements and attempting to get those done so if you want one speak now and place your order. :)

Hello to the one or two people reading my blog. Some of you will think I am exaggerating but you could honestly set your watch by Ethan's feeding schedule.  He has no problem waking up day or night (every 3 hours to be exact) for some liquid goodness.  When he's not sucking he's sleeping and when he's not sleeping he's... well... you know.  Speaking of that, a few moments ago I changed a diaper that looked like a jar of mustard left in the fridge for 2 years, then dropped on the floor.  Maybe I can't remember or maybe I didn't change enough of Emily's diapers, I just don't remember it smelling so bad.

Day 1 back at work went well.  I got up at around 5:30, showered and then Jennifer helped wake Emily at around 6:15.  By 6:45 we were getting Emily dressed and we were out the door by about 6:55.  After a quick stop at Starbucks (ugh) I was at work before 7:15 = SUCCESS!  I am sure every morning wont be like that but I can only hope for the best.

Me, Jennifer, Ethan and Emily braved the crowds and headed to Apple Hill today.  If you're from the Sacramento area and looking for a good time to go to Apple Hill, now is the time.  The crowds were VERY light being that we're in the "in between" season.  We got a fairly earlier start, ariving at around 10AM.  Ethan was cuddled to my chest in the Baby Bjorn most of the day while Emily cruised around in the stroller.  We had lunch, walked around the different craft fares and I had a warm slice of apple pie (YUM).  The weather was a bit chilly but GREAT for taking pictures.  Take a look, heres the link. :)

I also uploaded a bunch of pictures of Emily giving love to her baby brother.  Here's the link, ENJOY!

Updated: November 8, 2008 @ 10:22PM

...that I haven't been pee'd on yet!  Seriously though, I've been changing diapers for almost 2 years but haven't had to worry about getting pee'd on.  I'm the first to admit that I am too relaxed when changing Ethan's diapers and it's going to come back to bite me one of these days.

Last night we had a lot of fun with the kids. We all played around on the floor and we got some really neat pictures that I just uploaded to the site. Check out the photos here.

I think we're going to try to take the kids up to Apple Hill later today (since it's only 2:45AM right now) so you can expect some more fun pictures later today. :)

Updated: November 8, 2008 @ 2:40AM

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from the other night.  Ethan was sleeping on Jennifer's chest and he was such a cuddle bug.

Here's the link, ENJOY!

I was talking with Jennifer today about Emily and Ethan and I asked if I would always be worried about them.  Not a moment goes by that I don't wonder what they're doing, if they're breathing, if they're sleeping, etc, etc, etc... Serious, I think I need to take a chill pill already!!  What is going to happen when these kids are old enough to drive and date?  I only wish my mom was alive today so I could apologize for all the times I missed my curfew.

"Falling back" does NOT give you an extra hour of sleep when you have kids.  It ends up throwing off Emily's sleep pattern which in turn means less sleep for mom and dad.

Today marks the last day before the 2008 presidential elections and I don't know about the rest of you but I CAN'T WAIT for tomorrow to be over!  If I hear another news story about the polls or see another political satire, I am going to go crazy.  Let's vote and get it over.

Onto more important things, Ethan is doing wonderful.  He's eating like crazy and doing a great job of keeping mom and dad up at night.  He's so amazing!!!  He had his first full bath on Saturday.  I've been VERY good at keeping the website up to date so make sure to check out all the new photos.  Grandma left on Saturday so it's taken some adjustment to get used to life with just the four of us.  Emily misses her Grandma but I keep telling her that she'll see her again in a few weeks for Thanksgiving.

That's all for now, have a great day.

Today marks the first day of November.  Last night we had a blast with Emily in her Halloween costume.  She had a lot of fun and although she couldn't say "trick or treat", she learned fast how to take candy from people.  Ethan had a wonderful night as although he spent most of the time sleeping so he could be wide awake for mom and dad last night.

Josh, Tracy and Gavin came over last night.  Check out the photos of the two as they enjoyed trick or treating for the first time.