SNOW DAY FUN!!

What a beautiful, snowy day. We woke up this morning to quiet, soft snow falling gently. The stillness in the air is amazing during a snowfall. The smell in the air is crisp and clean. I never thought I would say this, but it is beautiful and I do enjoy a good snow fall. Especially when it happens during the week so Ricardo can work from home.

This morning Mia and Bennett (and Nicole, their mom, and my good friend) came over to play in the snow. We're lucky that they only live 7 houses away from us, so even in a snow storm we can play!

The snow was perfect for playing.

Ring around the rosie...

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down...and eat snow off our gloves.

Sledding fun

Bennett, Ella, and Mia

Naked girls eating pretzels, playing and warming up while their snow clothes dried in the dryer.

Sofia slept through the snow fun, but woke up from her nap in time to try to eat Ben Ben's face off when he went in for a kiss.

Then after naptime, Ella and Gaga went back outside and built a snowman. Isn't he cute?

Both girls took long naps (How lucky is that?), Ricardo has built a beautiful fire in the fireplace, and I've been slow cooking ribs in the oven for tonight's dinner.

What a great day.

Where were we?

Things have been busy, so I've been bad about updating.

But today is a good day to get the ball rolling again since it was Sofia's 6 month WBV.

We all packed up and took our babies to the Doctor. Mommy and her baby, Sofia, and Mommy Ella and her baby, Fifa.
Then both baby Sofia and baby "Fifa" were checked out by the Dr. They were both such good girls.

Baby Fifa weighed, 1 lb, and was 16 inches long. We're so proud of her. :)

Baby Sofia was:

17 lbs even
27 inches long
34 cm head

all around the 75%ile.

She had a ton of shots. :( But was a champ. She cried (of course) but recovered really quickly and was back to smiling at everyone in no time.

Poor girl does have a lot of food allergies like mommy. I mean seriously, who's allergic to bananas and sweet potatoes??? The Dr. prescribed her an epi-pin (just like mommy) in case we do give her something that causes a severe reaction. Let's hope not.

We're just going to have to be very vigilant about watching for allergies and introduce new food very slowly.

I don't have the energy to type much, so I'll just do a little photo dump from the last week. We've been to two dinner parties, played in the snow, played with Mikka, read books and Ella got her first Valentine's Day flower from a boy (not her father!)

Dinner at the Lomaxes. Ricardo works with Pete, and I am in the playgroup with Sue. These are their two kids, Ben and Jessie. Can you tell they liked each other?

Sofia's a wino-just like mom and dad.


Then we had a little snow storm, and got to play for a bit.

Sofia's first time in the snow!

On Valentine's Day we went to our friend Charlotte's house for a playdate (Michelle the mommy is Alexis' friend t00)

All three girls had on the same shirt! It's very weird how much Michelle and I are ALIKE. We have the exact same birthday (9/10/77), are both left handed, are both Jewish married to non-Jewish men, I have MS and her husband has MS and we always wind up dressing our girls the same. It's very weird. :)

Saturday night we returned to Charlotte's house for our second dinner party! We had a great time.

Big Brother Jackson, Ella, and Charlotte hanging out watching TV.

We also played with the easel that Abuela and Papa bought us

Read books with daddy

and loved on our favorite doggy, Mikka.

Now, Gaga is in town helping out, so we're having a great time playing. This weekend we have a birthday party AND Ella's going to get a big girl haircut!!

Life is Like A Box Of Chocolates...

I want to apologize for not updating the blog at all this last week. It's been a rough 14 days around here.

On Sunday, February 3rd, while taking a shower, I noticed that the left side of my torso felt weird, almost like my skin was super thick, yet at the same time ultra-sensitive to the touch. I didn't think much of it, but did mention it to Ricardo.

By Monday morning, that sensation had spread from my torso down my left leg to my knee, by Tuesday it was all the way to the bottom of my left foot, and by Thursday the sensation has intensified so deeply that in certain areas it felt as if my skin was burning off and other areas were so sensitive that just the brushing of my clothing was painful...

We acted fast and I got in to my Neurologist right away. He scheduled an MRI of my thoracic and cervical spine as he felt that most MS exacerbations that are felt below the ribcage are actually caused by lesions in the spine, not the brain.

The MRI did come back positive for a brand new, shiny lesion in the T5 zone, which just confirmed that I am indeed experiencing a new exacerbation.

What does this mean? Well, I guess it just means the disease is progressing. Not only do I have lesions in my brain, but they are now occurring in my spinal region as well.

Ok, but what does this mean? Honestly, I don't know. It means that we can't keep digging our heads in the sand and pretending that I was misdiagnosed. It means I need to start actively researching and getting back on therapy. But what it means for my short-term and long-term future. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and go another 5 years without another exacerbation, maybe even longer...but maybe not.

Anyway, I am still experiencing the pins & needles and burning in my left side of my body. I am currently on prednisone (steroids) to help shorten the length and intensity of the exacerbation. I've been told this can last anywhere from 2 to 4 months.

But I'm ok. I'm not in any real physical pain. I’m just worried and emotional and a little sad...but I have an incredible family, and every day with them makes me realize how lucky I am to be living this life.

I hate to be such a downer in this wonderful family blog, but I figured this was something that is impacting our family right now, so it was important to share with you all.

But, I promise, tomorrow I'll be back to post a ton of pictures from the past 8 days (two dinner parties, snow, and a V-Day playdate)

Oh, because I have to....

It's MS WALK time and it's so very important to me that we do everything we can to raise money for the cause. Please, if you have any spare cash (even $1), please donate.

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/NJBWalkEvents?pg=personal&fr_id=8413&fr_id=8413&px=2725611


I hope all is well with you and yours.

February Schmubuary!

It's summer in the Martinez household!

Ella has a slight obsession with swimming and bathing suits. When we went to Target on Wed. she saw all the bathing suits and HAD to have one. I let her pick it out and then she HAD to have one for "baby sister". She sat in the shopping cart for the remainder of the shopping trip showing me both her's and baby sister's bathing suits.

She wouldn't nap, just sat in her crib talking to herself for 2 hours. When I finally gave up and went to her before she even said hi to me she said, "BATHING SUIT!" So, we put them on. :)

It's Super Tuesday!

Democrats-Don't forget to vote today!

Republicans-You all vote tomorrow! Did you fall for it? Darn, thought I'd try. :D


Funny story though, I took the girls this morning to vote and I guess I haden't declared my party. Westwood is a very Republican town. So the little old lady told me I had to declare before I could vote. I said, no problem and then told her I was democrat. She then proceeded to tell me that if I want to change before the "big" election, it's not a problem. I can just got to Borough Hall and let them know I'd like to be a Republican. It was cute.

I thanked her but let her know that I wouldn't be changing my party. LOL. Then when we left, I said to the girls, "I think the Martinez family (which btw, Ricardo and I were the only Martinezes on the entire voter list) are the only Democrats in Westwood! :D

What a Week!

Yikes! This was a tough week for the Martinez Family!

First, Sofia had a cold/teething and was a little clingy and whiney. I also think she's starting with seperation anxiety because she cries when she can't see me and the other day Ricardo was holding her, and I came in the room and she tried to leap out of his arms in to mine and is starting to lift her arms out to be picked up. So cute!

Then, Ella got the flu, and it was bad. I won't go in to too much detail but I will say that it involved A LOT of laundry and a trip to the pediatrician which ended in our clothes wrapped in towels in a bag, Ella in her diaper and jacket only and me in a hospital gown only...use your imagination. It was not pretty.

Poor girl. She kept telling me, "I sick, Mommy."

Luckily, it was only a 24-36 hour bug and by Friday evening she was feeling much better.

But then, Daddy got sick!! Poor guy. He woke up Sunday morning with 103 temperature and pretty much slept all day long. He didn't even get to go to our friends' house to watch the Superbowl.

But in between all the sickies in the house, we did have a little fun too.

Sofia is really loving sitting up. She does it so well now. I bathed her in the kitchen sink on Friday and she didn't even need support to sit (of course I kept my hand on her back though-we don't need her toppling over in to the water!)

As mentioned in my post from last week, Ella is very in to singing. Cousin Kianna and Aunt Anne and Uncle Garrett bought Sofia this adorable singing nursery rhyme book for Christmas. Ella has decided this gift was for her and takes it EVERYWHERE we go. She sings every song and then closes the book and proclaims, "THE END".

Here she is singing One Two, Buckle My Shoe:

Oh, and I swear this isn't posed. Ella's books are on the bookshelf right below some of my books. She likes to look through my books sometimes as well but usually puts them back quickly when she realizes there aren't any pictures.

I was doing dishes after dinner on Saturday, and came in to the living room to find Ella engrosed in Stephen Colbert's, "I AM AMERICA, AND SO CAN YOU"

If you are wondering what's on her forehead, it's the "The Stephan J Colbert Award for The Literacy Excellence" sticker. Apparently, she thinks she's award worthy. I found another one on her leg at bathtime.

She saw me taking her pictures and flashed a little fake smile.

Nothing else exciting to report here. Hopefully this week will be less sick filled.

Another Sofia Milestone!

Today-2/3/08-Sofia got on all fours for a couple of seconds. Not for very long, but she's very interested in moving. Ella was on the late side of crawling (9 1/2 months) so it will be interesting to see if this leads to anything with Sofia or if she just got lucky today.