Cuteness

Doesn't everyone think their child is the cutest ever? I think it may be a parental duty. Even knowing that, I couldn't resist this cute little face.

The Baby Office

Most people are surprised when they learn that I can take Keaton to work with me until he is six months old. I also had Cate with me at work until she was just about six months old. There are certainly some challenges to it, but people seem mostly interested in what kind of baby equipment you must have at work to make everything go smoothly. Honestly, it doesn't take much. As long as you have two good arms, most everything else is an added plus :)

I took a few quick snapshots of my office. I am fortunate to have a nice sized office. I could probably squeeze more stuff in, like a pack-and-play or something like that, if I really needed it. But I get by with Keaton's car seat, a changing mat on the floor, a portable swing I bought on eBay and a play gym. I have a stash of other toys for him including a few rattles and some teething toys that co-workers bought for him. He hangs out with me in my office (they were nice enough to supply some curtains for my interior windows) and he goes to most of my meetings with me, unless he's napping.

There is certainly no shortage of people to hold him. My office requires that I designate two people to be "baby helpers" so that I have backup support when necessary. Fortunately, it's not hard to find someone to hold a baby when I need some help. Our assistant, Winona, is terrific with Keaton and she holds me when I need to run to the bathroom or something like that.

Here are a few photos of my baby-ready office.


This is a photo from the door of my office.


This is my view from my desk.


Keaton's car seat and the changing pad I have for him. I had just changed him when I took this photo. He was happy just laying on the floor, so I let him play there for a few minutes.


Keaton's play gym. He particularly likes the mirror on it. I think he wonders who that really good looking baby is.


I bought this portable swing on eBay when I was bringing Cate to work. It folds up very nicely, so it's easy to transport. Keaton likes to nap and hang out in the swing, so this is really perfect for him.

Obama Shirt

We got an Obama shirt for Cate. She seems to like it.

Second baby

I've always heard that the second child in a family has issues because there are never as many photos, baby books are only half completed (if that) and the attention always has to be shared. While there's not much I can do about sharing the attention, I vowed that Keaton would have a baby book that is just as complete as Cate and that I would ensure everyone got equal treatment in other ways. Now I've figured out why the second kid always feels shortchanged....there just isn't enough time to handle a full-time job, two children, grocery shopping, car repairs, church, volunteer activities and more. Photos, baby books and other non-essential stuff have gone by the wayside. We're doing well to get out of the house every day with everyone in clean clothes, hair combed and full bellies.

I'm trying to do better. Poor Keaton. There are about a quarter as many photos of him as of Cate. I think I documented her birth, her first blink, every spot of drool and anything else I thought was cute. With him, the camera has laid unused for weeks at a time. I love taking photos, but there just hasn't been a lot of time for it.

This week, I got a few snapshots of him. I made the time for it because he is growing so fast that it seems like he will be a toddler tomorrow. He's a really good baby -- sleeping well, charming the ladies at work, snuggling with mom anytime he can.

Graduation

My little brother (not so little anymore, I should probably start saying younger brother) graduated from KU this spring. I never had time to post anything here about it because Keaton was born just a couple days later.

It is hard for me to believe that Jesse graduated from college. He's now spending quality time in the army for a few years, training in Oklahoma and then off to Alaska later next year.

A few random things

I am back to work full time this week. Fortunately, I can bring Keaton with me for a few months so the transition is a little easier. We are on day two at work and so far, things are going very well. I think Keaton likes the new environment and most of my co-workers seem to like him too.

I've got a couple of random photos from earlier in the summer that I thought I'd put here. One is a photo Cate riding the carousel at the mall in Overland Park, the other is a photo of Cate at the Topeka zoo. She likes going to zoo and we went three or four times this summer.

I have some new photos of both Cate and Keaton and I am hoping to get a few of them on the blog later this week.

Birthday Girl

Cate had a great birthday a few weeks ago. She has discovered the Little Mermaid, so the birthday had a princess theme. Her cake was Princess Ariel, Cate wore a princess crown all day on her birthday and there were balloons, wrapping paper and all sorts of other princess accessories. I will try to post more photos soon.

Play Time

Everyone tells you that your children will all be different. It's definitely true and I think I started to see some of the differences between Cate and Keaton before we even got Keaton home from the hospital.

One big difference between them (as infants) is that Keaton likes to play on his tummy. Cate always hated being put on her tummy. With all the "back to sleep" efforts now, newborns don't spend much time on their tummies, so the "experts" really emphasize putting them on their tummies during play time for at least a few minutes each day. Keaton likes being on his side or his stomach. Of course, he really prefers it if I just hold him....but he'll tolerate some play time as long as I'm right beside him.

The biggest surprise? He can roll over all by himself. He did that for the first time about a week ago. He is very strong, particularly when he is angry about something. He turned over when Stephen was playing with him one day last weekend and he's done the same for me. It's hard to believe that he was just born six weeks ago and he's already turning over on his own...pretty soon he'll be getting his own dinner out of the fridge.

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July weekend, for the most part. Stephen and I are still adjusting to having two little ones to cart around. It seems like it should be just double the work to have two kids, but it's actually more like quadruple the work when it comes to getting out of the house.

But back to our weekend. We started things off with a carnival and parade at Cate's school. They organized a "carnival" for the kids with simple games and prizes (fun things like toothbrushes were the prizes!). Cate had a lot of fun, particularly in the parade. We stayed for a picnic lunch and then Cate, Keaton and I spent the afternoon together while Stephen wrapped up a few more things at work. She wore a blue skirt, white shirt and a red and white barette to the festivities. She was quite proud to show off her outfit before school on Thursday morning.



We went to church on the fourth. Our church has a really nice service, followed by cake and ice cream. It was a good, cool way to celebrate the holiday.




A very generous co-worker of Stephen's gave Cate a gift card to Toys R Us when Keaton was born, so we let her pick out something. She got a sprinkler for the backyard and we used it this weekend.


We were planning to eat dinner outside at least one evening because it was unusually nice here, but Cate was frightened by the noise in the neighborhood. It's really out of hand with all the firecrackers and other large fireworks in the neighborhood. I started to feel like we live in a combat zone by the end of the weekend.

We had the idea to go shopping and out to lunch at an outdoor mall in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. As we were leaving the house, Cate was being difficult and Keaton was screaming like crazy. We decided we were pushing our luck. Even though we had just loaded the car up with the 50 things we need to go anywhere for any length of time, we decided we should stay home. We went out for a casual lunch in Topeka, then stayed around home the rest of the day.

Keaton has arrived!

Keaton Samuel Martino officially joined our family on May 28 at 3:11 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. I haven't had a chance to post anything here in part because we have serious computer problems at home and in part because I've been busy with Keaton!

Keaton likes to do things at his own pace. We went to the hospital on May 27 at 7 a.m. I was scheduled to be induced that day. We spent all day at the hospital getting medication without much change. My labor finally started to ramp up later in the evening. I got an epidural around 8 pm (I think). The first one didn't work well, so they took it out and gave me a second one. Fortunately, the second epidural worked much better. The fun really started with the second epidural. I started feeling really light headed and my blood pressure dropped as they were working on the second epidural, so anesthesia gave me some kind of medication to bring my blood pressure back up. After that, both Stephen and I tried to catch some sleep. Some time before midnight, I woke up and there were a couple of nurses watching the baby's heartbeat on the monitor (nurses I didn't recognize). I was a little groggy, so I didn't get too upset. I dozed back off and about 15 minutes later, nurses were back again. They left and I was trying to get myself fully awake, Stephen left the room for a bathroom break and in a few minutes, our labor and delivery nurse was back. She explained the baby's heartbeat was decelerating, so they put me on oxygen.

His heart rate didn't come up right away, so they paged my OB. At this point, I started to get a little upset. They turned off the pitocin (one of the drugs that helps induce labor) because apparently that can affect baby's heartbeat in some cases and waited for my OB to call. Fortunately, he was already in the hospital and came up within about 10 minutes. When he called, he said that he suspected Keaton was just getting himself into position for delivery. Sometimes when babies make that final move, their heartbeat goes down some because their head gets compressed. Sure enough, about the time my OB arrived, it became clear that it was time for the delivery. They kept the pitocin off and kept me on oxygen to help out the baby and everything went very smoothly from there.

Keaton developed some jaundice in the hospital, so we spent several days running him back up to the hosptial for check ups. Luckily, it resolved itself and he didn't need any kind of treatment.

We've been home now for about two weeks and things are going relatively well. Keaton hasn't been gaining weight quite as well as everyone would like, so I took him in for a weight check today. He had gained five ounces in five days, which is just about what he needs. He now weighs just at 8 pounds.

Of course everyone asks how a newborn is sleeping. He sleeps about like most newborns. He gets a couple of good long naps (at least two hours) on most days and he is sleeping for two or three hour stretches at night. Unfortunately, he really likes to be held, so he won't sleep for long unless someone is holding him. I have spent most nights sleeping while holding a baby -- not the most restful sleep. I am working on transitioning him to something else (maybe his car seat), but I haven't had much luck with that at night.

You can really see Keaton's jaundice in this picture. His face looks very yellow. The face is always the last place to improve, or so the doctors tell me. His jaundice is completely gone now and he looks much better.


I posted a few pictures here, some of Keaton and Cate. Cate is a very pround big sister. She loves Keaton and is always giving him kisses and little hugs. She has been a little jealous of the time he takes with mom and dad, but overall she has done a great job adjusting. She's going through a little bit of a whiny stage, but I would probably be the same way if I had experienced all the changes she has in the past few weeks.



Everyone here is happy and healthy!


I forgot newborns are so tiny.

How to Fix Cute Hair

I am not cut out to be a hairstylist (no pun intended). There are lots of interesting professions I'd like to explore, but that's not one of them. For starters, I can't cut a straight line on a piece of ruled paper. About four or five months ago, I got annoyed with my hair and tried to trim my bangs. They just recovered. I cut the back of Cate's hair once. Even the dog noticed that it was uneven.

Unfortunately, my lack of hair styling skill goes far beyond problems with scissors. Besides a basic ponytail, I've never been able to do any cute "up dos" or things like that. I can't make "french" braids or cute little buns or anything else. Having a daughter means I must learn to be more creative in this area. Cate likes to wear ponytails and barettes. And because I love her so, I'm learning. I've got a long way to go. Is there a school for this?

Fortunately, the girls at Cate's day care like to fix her hair. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped in to pick Cate up and they were just finishing this little number:


Of course, Cate was sitting as still as could be while her hair was being done. She never sits that still for me. And she loved it. She was so proud to show off her ponies to Daddy when we got home.

Honestly, even though my hair fixing skills leave a lot to be desired, I am glad that Cate finally has hair. It's been a little difficult when she has asked for ponies like her friends at school and I had no way to put them in because she was sporting a Roxette-style do for about six months. This Saturday, we're headed in for her third (I think) hair cut and I'm pretty sure we'll have an actual style with this one. She asked this morning if I would curl her hair.....don't get me started on my shortcomings with heated hairstyling tools.

Happy Mother's Day

Yes, it's a day late, but as you can tell from the frequency of the posts here, I am not exactly on top of things these days. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms -- I hope you had a good weekend.

I had a nice weekend, but the highlight was definitely the present that Cate made for me at day care. I think it's really cute, but the best part was how excited she was to give it to me. She's also been showing it to everyone because she is so proud. When I went to pick her up on Friday afternoon, she ran to me and gave me a big hug, then went to get the present. She gave it to me with such a sweet little smile and said, "Happy Mother's Day."







We went to church on Sunday, although we didn't stay for the festivities afterward. This Sunday was Pentecost and our church has an annual picnic on Pentecost. They had red balloons everywhere and Cate brought three home. Balloons can entertain her for hours. Attire was more casual this weekend and I took a picture of Cate right after church with her balloons. She asked for barettes in her hair and I thought they looked very cute. Her hair is growing so quickly; we are getting another haircut this Saturday. I have a plan to post a few more things here this week, so stay tuned for an update on our activities over the past month. In the mean time, a quick Baby Martino update: recent doctor's visits seem to indicate the baby could come about any time. I believe he is officially full term now, so there's no danger if he decides to make his arrival. And I can assure you it wouldn't hurt my feelings. We have an induction scheduled for Tuesday, May 27 if he doesn't come before then. Everything seems fine -- baby seems to be growing well, my blood pressure and all that looks great. Of course, I am uncomfortable and I like to whine about it. The last couple of weeks are rough, especially when you're trying to chase a toddler. To make matters worse, my sinus problems have returned so I am coughing, sneezing and generally unable to breathe well.

We've also narrowed down our name options. The new little one will be Keaton Martino. We haven't selected a middle name yet, but we have a few ideas. Cate is excited to welcome her new baby brother (or so she thinks) and we'll keep everyone updated when he is born.

Rock Chalk!

As you might have already guessed, we had a great time savoring the KU victory over North Carolina this weekend. We didn't do anything particularly special for the game, but we watched it at home and spent time glowing afterwards. Well, we watched almost the entire game. We had to stop watching for a couple of minutes during the second half because we couldn't stand the stress :)

Cate was all decked out in her Jayhawk gear for the game. She stayed up to watch the first half with us. She likes to mimic our cheering and she definitely knows what a Jayhawk looks like.

Last week was a really crazy week for us. To start off our week, we hit some kind of small animal on the interstate with one of our cars. One small animal can do a lot of damage to a car. Fortunately, our insurance company seems to be very easy to work with and we are getting it fixed this week. We've got a nice rental car (2008 Explorer) to replace the Escape while it's in the shop. I may have a hard time returning this rental -- leather interior, all kinds of nice features.

Unfortunately, my horrible sinus infection/cold/etc has returned. I got progressively worse each day last week and I was miserable by Thursday evening. I can't breathe at all through my nose, my head is pounding about 90% of the time and I have a terrible sore throat. Luckily, my cough is not a bad as it was around the holidays. At my last doctor's appointment, he suggested that I should schedule an induction as soon as I hit the 38-week mark. I have been suffering with this sinus problem so long that even my doctor feels sorry for me. It looks like we are going to tentatively book an induction on Tuesday, May 27. When we get more details about that, I'll be sure to let everyone know.

On the upside of things, the Legislature here has reached first adjournment, so they are out of session until April 30. Both Stephen and I were extremely busy with work last week as the Legislature was wrapping up many matters before their first break. I spent a good part of every day at the Capitol and Steve had several meetings there as well. Hopefully, we'll both get a little more even pace at work for a few weeks until they return. Stephen and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. We didn't have a big celebration, other than fixing a nicer-than-usual dinner at home. We are going out of town for the weekend here soon, so we'll try to use that opportunity to both celebrate our anniversary and have a little time together before Keaton arrives in a few more weeks. 10 years (we've known each other that long), 1 3/4 children and 2 wiener dogs later, we're doing great. I can't imagine things being any other way.

More Easter Photos

I thought I'd post a few more Easter photos of Cate, in case anyone is interested. We thought she looked pretty cute.

Happy Easter!

In spite of the cool weather, we had a terrific Easter. Cate was so excited to wear her Easter dress (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Martino). She's been asking to wear it nearly every day since it was hung in her closet. We thought she looked pretty adorable. She also had a hat, gloves and purse to match -- she was particularly in love with the purse. She put her gloves inside, along with a picture of herself and makeup brush and carried the whole thing to church.

We had to do our Easter egg hunt inside because it was so chilly, but I think Cate still had a good time. She liked looking for the eggs, but she was really happy to eat the candy inside. Next year, I think we're going to have a non-candy Easter. I had to bring a huge bowl of candy to work today to unload some of it. Unfortunately, I have managed to eat about five pieces all by myself so I think I am defeating the purpose of getting it out of the house.

Stephen took a few photos of me for the baby's memory book.
Yes, I am actually that big. No, we are not having twins. I think I had better cut back on the Easter candy...

A fun week

We had a fun week last week and the weekend was nice too. We had several days of good weather, so we went up to the park one evening. Cate loves going to park and now she's asking to go every day! Of course, the weather turned cold again on Saturday and it's been cold or rainy every day since. But as soon as it warms up we are looking forward to getting out and doing some more fun things outside.

Stephen had a press conference this week to announce a new program from his office, the creation of the Kansas Responsible Gaming Alliance. Here are a few links where you can read about it (including video of Stephen in the first link).

Help for those with a gambling problem

Group aims to expand counseling for problem gamblers

Gambling addiction help increases

I took a few new pictures of Cate this weekend and have posted them here in a slideshow. Click on the quotation button in the bottom left corner of the slideshow for captions. I'm still trying to find a place online to post pictures for viewing. I can't seem to find a site that does everything I want...maybe I'm just too picky :)

Spring is coming!

The weather here in Kansas is finally nice for at least a couple of days! I know spring is on the way, but we've still got a few weeks of unpredictable cold/warm weather to get through before I will officially be happy. Cate is definitely ready to go outside and play. I had grand plans of taking her to the park this Saturday, but that crashed and burned when I saw the weather forecast: 45 for a high, with a light rain and snow mix. Yuck.

On the home front, things are pretty much business as usual. Cate is almost entirely potty trained. I can't believe how easy it went. Either she was just ready to do it or all our preparation paid off. Maybe a combination of both. She is still wearing a pull-up at night but we'll probably try to go without that this weekend. She's had only two or three accidents total, so she's done a great job.

Cate is really into a girly phase right now, which involves wearing dresses and fixing hair. She wants to wear the same two or three dresses to day care every day. They probably think she has a very limited wardrobe. Today, she wore a jean skirt that my parents got for her. It has a cute sweater, but it was little to warm for today so we paired it with a pink shirt. She was pretty excited since she says pink is her favorite color. She also wanted to wear her Elmo barette. She wanted to take her picture and I think she would have posed all morning if I had let her.

We spent a large part of last weekend at home. Cate discovered an Easter bunny that my parents got her in the past and she had a great time playing with it. It plays music and moves. I also got a picture of her sucking her thumb (which she doesn't do a whole lot anymore) and holding on to Bear. This bear is her favorite and I'm not sure what we'll do if something ever happens to it.

At work, both Stephen and I are very busy. Stephen has some travel coming up for work, so we're planning for that. I'm starting to get into "prepare for maternity leave" mode. I'm trying to be as productive as possible so that I won't have to worry about work when I am on maternity leave this summer. With only 2 1/2 months until the baby arrives, I am trying to get things in order sooner rather than later.

A Couple More Things

I forgot to add a few important items to my update yesterday. First off, we've rescheduled Cate's surgery for tomorrow (Thursday, February 21). She will get a new set of ear tubes and she is having her adenoids removed. Both are fairly minor procedures, but they do require general anesthesia. I think it takes a few minutes (at least) off my life every time she has to go under a general. I am sure she will be just fine, but keep us in your thoughts tomorrow. She is scheduled for surgery at 8:30, she'll go to recovery for a little while, then we'll be in the pediatric unit for a bit while they monitor to make sure there aren't any complications. I am hoping we'll be home around or just after lunch time.

The other big news we have is that we have officially begun working with Cate on potty training. I never imagined that I would be so interested in this particular subject.....but when you have kids, it kind of becomes the center of your world for a certain amount of time. Stephen and I went out for dinner on Sunday evening and it was a central point of conversation. We really need to find some other hobbies, right? :) Anyway, Cate is doing so well, we are really proud of her. We bought her a potty chair a long time ago and we've let her sit on it whenever she likes. I checked out some books at the library to read up on the subject and I checked out some books for Cate as well. I also got her the infamous "Elmo Potty" DVD and she has watched in at least 1000 times. Finally, she started asking if she could wear "underpants" and we figured it was time to really get going with this. I took her to the store and let her pick out her very own pair -- of course, she chose Elmo. She was so excited to wear them last weekend. I was a little apprehensive. But she went the whole weekend with only two accidents. Then, on Monday and Tuesday at day care, she didn't have one single accident. We may have some backsliding at some point, but for now, she is really doing a great job. Several times, she has said to us "Mommy and Daddy so proud of me." That just about breaks my heart. We are, obviously, extremely proud of her all the time.

Finally, I thought I'd draw your attention to my latest attempt to let people sign up for updates to this blog. I got rid of the old FeedBlitz email updates on the right-hand side of the blog and now I have added a feature so you can get updates through RSS. If you don't know how to do this, it's pretty simple. If you have a Google or Yahoo account (I know most people do now), you can "subscribe" to blogs and get the updates sent to your Google or Yahoo home page. Just click on the logo I've added to the right-hand side of the page and you can follow the instructions. It works with quite a few feed readers, so if you are using something else, there should be instructions there for you.

The Weekend

Due to the weather, it was a pretty uneventful weekend at our house. We stayed in a large part of the weekend. We did venture out in the rain on Saturday and Cate got some new markers (the highlight of her day). She was happy to spend time coloring with them when we got home. She is very serious about her coloring.
Stephen and I did not get to celebrate Valentine's Day together because he was out of town. He was doing a little tour of the state for work, visiting newspapers to talk about the new casinos coming into the state. I have included links to a couple of the articles that resulted from his interviews. I am sure there will be more articles as the casinos get closer to actually opening and I'll keep posting information about them here.

Next step toward Ford Co. casino could be finished by late March

Gaming reps visit

Since we didn't spend much time together during the weekend, we had a babysitter on Sunday evening and caught a movie and dinner.

Cate and I baked some bread for one of our neighbors. It was so delicious that I had to post a couple of photos here. I am not particularly skilled at food photography, so these aren't terrific. But if you like banana bread and coconut, I am sure you will love this recipe. You can see the coconut on the top of the bread...it got all toasted and yummy. And the lime glaze on the top is fantastic. It's a litte sour and little sweet. Plus, it's a Cooking Light recipe, so it's pretty healthy!

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 193 (21% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.1g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 2.9g; CHOLESTEROL 35mg; CALCIUM 15mg; SODIUM 179mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2007

Cute Toddler Toes

Every parent knows there are lots of cute things about babies and toddlers. They've got sweet little fingers and hands, chubby thighs and cute toes. You know what I am talking about. They are so tiny and sweet -- it's just hard to resist. Toddlers also have the cutest little bellies. Cate insisted on running around without socks or shoes on Wednesday evening. Since it was a fairly warm day and evening, I didn't protest too much. Plus, I got a few picture of her little feet. I am savoring all these things because it won't be long before she isn't a toddler anymore. The time just flies by.