Back to some fun

Since the last time I blogged, we've had our share of rain, floods and sick babies here in Houston. I think over the span of a week, our area received 14-16" of rain and many streets around our area in Cypress were underwater for days. Luckily, our house was high and dry, and we only had to take minor detours to get around. Ethan braved the weather commuting to and from Downtown each day, but luckily he takes the ParknRide bus and has a pretty good carpool system with a friend if it gets really nasty.

In the Martin household though, little Miss Olivia suffered from a minor cold and ear infection. When Olive is sick, I think the neighbors even know it. She doesn't act like her normal happy-self and is very attached to her mommy. I don't blame her though, and luckily, we were able to give her some antibiotics to help it. Her being under-the-weather coincided with the nasty weather, so we had a LONG week of stir-crazed cabin fever. I really want to thank Sesame Street for providing endless entertainment for a sick baby and tired mommy.

Fast-forward to this week! Olivia is feeling MUCH better and we've been able to take advantage of our new YMCA membership. Olivia is slowly adjusting to the kids care, and I have been getting in some much needed cardio. My sciatica is acting up pretty early with this pregnancy, so I needed to get back into some sort of routine to strengthen those muscles that have gotten too weary. We went twice this week.

Today, we ventured out to the Galleria, just the two of us. One of Olive's favorite Sesame Street episodes has a segment at the ice rink, so I told her that I would take her to watch some ice skating. We got there before open skate time, so Olivia was able to see the kids in skate lessons doing twirls, racing and skating backwards.

 Afterwards, we stopped to play at the "Little Galleria" , a miniature version of the Galleria fit for toddlers. She loved being able to get up and down all the areas by herself. There were even cars to show the typical traffic jams!

For lunch, we ate at Rainforest Cafe. If you've never been, the entire inside of the place  is decorated as a jungle along with life-size robotic animals. Every ten minutes or so, the animal scenes mist up like a rainforest and the animals roar. I had to be smart and warn Olivia that these animals werent real, because we sat only two feet away from a family of tigers. Typically at places like these, you pay for the ambience while the food quality lacks, but I really enjoyed my soup and salad combo. Well, really, anything I don't have to cook is just awesome.

We also stopped at Dylan's Candy Bar for some gummy candies for me and Ethan, and also a couple lollipops for Olivia. I crave sweets all the time, so I really had to limit our time in here or else I'd have to get a job to supplement this habit!

I am trying to do as much together with Olivia right now while I have the energy and before Callie arrives. With only three more months to go with this pregnancy, it has really sunk in to me how fast Olivia is growing (just look at how big she's getting in the stroller in the picture above!), and sometimes I find myself just staring at her for a long time so that I can soak her all in and not miss a thing. On our way home from the Galleria, we made our weekly stop to Cypress Assistant Ministries Pantry to donate some cereal. Olivia has made good friends from the pantry coordinator, Margo, and likes to play with her flower pens and business cards on her desk. As we were leaving, I asked Olivia why we donate, and she answers "to help people. Just like Jesus. He washes His friends feet." My heart melts.

I know my love will multiple when Callie arrives, I'm just trying to figure out how it will all happen. I'm a worrier, but God tells me not to be. He takes care of my todays and tomorrows.