Marty is 1!

This is a few days late, but on Saturday we celebrated Marty's first birthday. I love watching my kids grow and learn new things, but it also makes me sad because I realize they're one year closer to making me an empty nester. I know, that's a long way away but it's still coming faster than I want.

As I thought back to a year ago, I can't help but laugh about Marty's birth experience. It wasn't quite what we planned, but so memorable that I wouldn't change it for anything. Here's the short and sweet version for those of you who haven't heard the story. Josh and I dropped Vince and Aubs off to a friend and headed to the hospital early that morning for me to be induced. Hours and hours later not much was happening so around 6:00 pm Josh called his brother to meet us at the hospital to take the kids to his house for the night. Josh went to our friends, picked up the kids, and came back to the hospital. By that time, things had actually started rolling and I was within 30 minutes of delivery. We called Josh's brother to tell him he'd have to come up to the Labor & Delivery floor to pick up the kids and he informed us he was just leaving their house (about 45 minutes away). Needless to say, we were speechless, panicked, nervous, scared, etc. We didn't know what to do with our two children who would soon be welcoming a baby (we didn't know boy or girl). So, with help from the nurses and doctors - which were awesome with the whole predicament - our kids were able to be in the room with us when I delivered Marty. It was so fun to hear them saying things like, "I can't see anything yet", "Is it a boy or girl", and so many other cute things. It was fun to share the experience of finding out the gender with them. They were awestruck by having a new baby brother. Wondering when Josh's brother arrived? About 10 minutes later. It turned out great because the kids were able to meet Marty before they left. It was just another eventful birth for our family. We can't do it any other way. Something always has to be crazy with our deliveries. Makes me wonder what the next one will be like...I'm not announcing, don't worry!

So, to celebrate Marty in our life I decided to do a post about Marty's first year of life. Here goes... (this will be long...consider yourself warned!)

Welcome Martin Allen Grant!

Hi Sis!

Happy Family


Being born is hard work!

1 day old

First Bath

At 2 weeks, Marty was in the hospital for a week with RSV and then home with monitors, oxygen, etc. for another week. This is his first day home from his hospital stay.

First sledding outing

One month

Some pics I took at about 1 mo. old

Blessing Outfit

Look at these rolls! Why don't mine look that cute?

Enjoying the back yard

No more pictures Mom!

Hiking. He knows how to do it right!

Just cute!

Having fun in the stroller.

At the beach

So tired!

Camping fun

He loves peaches! During bottling season anytime I left a box of peaches on the floor he would sneak one. When it was quiet in the house I would start looking for him and find him in the corner eating a peach as fast as he could. When I would give them to him in his high chair he would shake because he was so excited.

Halloween puppy dog

Messy, messy, messy

Steering wheel riding

Swinging in pjs...is there anything better?

He loves to scrunch his nose and do the noisy breathing thing. You all know

what I'm talking about, right?

First Christmas

How cute is he? Love this shot, only wish his stroller cover wasn't in it. Bummer!

Happy Birthday! (before the birthday cake)

Give that to me already!

Eating his birthday cake. Yummy!

Putting it on your head always makes it taste better. Didn't you know that?

Using both hands to shove it in.

After a bath he opened presents. He's not so sure about the ride on feature.

We'll have to work on that one.

What a great year with Marty. I can't imagine our lives without him. He is so loved in our house by his brother and sister. I always tell people that Aubrey would literally love him to death if I left her alone with him for too long. But, at least they love him, right? He is so happy and fun. The other day he was laughing at me so I asked him if his mom was funny. He smiled and shook his head NO! I'm sure this was a mistake...he really does think I'm funny! We love you Marty and are so glad to have you as part of our family!