Happenings With The Martins

Lately I have been focusing on cleaning, cleaning the inside of my house and the outside of my house. I decided that a lot of why I hate my house is simply because it is never clean. We have lived in our house for over two years now. The first year I was in school and working so all of my free time was spent doing homework and spending time with Adam. I didn't spend time cleaning because there just wasn't any time unless I wanted to sacrifice my time with Adam to clean. I don't think so, our marriage would have greatly suffered if I had chosen to clean. I remember some quarters I would start class at 10 and have a night class so I would either drive back into Spokane to go to my elementary school or stay in campus because driving back and forth was a waste of gas if I didn't have to. I would get done with night class between 8 or 9 and while I did have breaks and would spend time doing work then I would still have to come home and do homework. I took 18 to 20 credits per quarter. It was hard. Even in the Summer I would take 4 classes. Then the second year Lily joined our family. She just recently developed some independence and have decided it's ok for me to do something other than hold her. So I thought it is high time I clean my house. I am not done yet but I have a good start. I am excited, it has felt REALLy good. When it is all clean I might even invite some people over.

As far as the yard goes. We bought a hibiscus and a lilac. I planted them in the front of my house. The lilac towards the front of the yard and hibiscus right in front of the porch on the west side. I also planted an assortment of flowers in a flower bed in front of the east side of the porch. I have been watering regularly in hopes of keeping my grass green. I had it aerated and we fertilized. So far so good. I just hope to keep it up. I have a lot of work on the side of the house with weeding. I don't know what to plant on the side. Any suggestions? It is a shady area except for in the morning.

I have been trying to clean up myself too. We bought Wii fit today and I tried it out. It is a killer! I am excited. I got super sore just from one 20 min workout. I can't wait to do more. It has a variety of workouts so you will never get bored of doing the same workout. It has a 30 day challenge and tomorrow I am going to start that. Hopefully I can master the challenge and actually complete my 30 days. Please pray that I do because I really NEED it!

Lily is CRAWLING! She army crawls but my goodness she can really get around. She first attempts to crawl on her hands and knees but takes a nose dive to the floor and continues on her belly. She is getting into cupboards and drawers now which I find SO funny! She is teething worse than ever. I can feel a bump on her bottom gum. Hopefully one will pop through soon. Her nose constantly runs and she just cries randomly and I can tell it's because her teeth are bothering her. Poor girl. She also loves to stand up. She can't do it on her own yet but can if she has something/one to hold onto. She sits in her walker sometimes. She has figured out how to go backwards but is still learning to go forwards. She hates the sun! I take her outside and after 10 minutes or so she starts to fuss and her eye gets teary from the brightness. I am hoping she will just get used to it eventually so we can enjoy the sunshine this summer.

As far as Adam goes well, he is currently enjoying the fact that it's a 3 day weekend. He has been helping me with the yard work and cleaning. Even if he isn't actually doing the work he is watching Lily so I can. Which is really better than getting the direct help. I appreciate him and how involved he is in raising Lily and taking care of our home.

For your viewing pleasure:

Isn't she getting SO big!

Sitting in her daddy's highchair from when he was a baby.

Going through the cupboards in the bathroom.

Just cute!