Randomness

What a week it has been. To be quite honest it has been hard. I think that the numbness I felt of my mothers death has really started to wear off and the reality has started to kick in. I feel extremely guilty that I have not gotten all thank you cards sent out yet, but rest assure I am working on them.

I started the fall semester of nursing classes and fully realize how much of a challenge they will be. In the first week I have 13 chapters and 5 study guides to complete. I finally started back to work. To be honest I am thankful for the normalcy and routine I am presented with.

I have started to learn "skills" in one of my classes and thoroughly enjoy it. It is nice to get away from strictly book work and move on to a more hands on type of learning.

Time seems to be going so fast and I feel the pain of not being able to keep my mom updated on my process. I miss her more than words could ever say, but know she is here with me through this journey.

Till next time!

Angel....When he is sleeping!

Bedtime has been quite the dilemma since living in a hotel. With only one room it is really hard to make things easy and comfortable enough for Nick to fall asleep on his own. We brought the pack n play, but he has become smart enough to finally crawl out of that. To be quit honest I am surprised that did not happen months ago. Needless to say although bedtime used to be around 8:30 it is now whenever the heck he feels like falling asleep. We put him in bed and he wonders back out to the living room saying " I sawy mommy and daddy". We can't help but laugh. Well last night around 11:00 pm we had finally had enough. We put him in the pack n play, turned of the tv and and closed the door. He cried for maybe two minutes. We could not believe he fell asleep so quickly...FINALLY! Well about thirty minutes later when we decided to go to be, this is what we found.

The little stink just can't stay out of our bed. We have never let him sleep with us. We just did not want to get in that habit. Now I feel sorry for him. Even if we put him in his little bed, we wake up the next morning with feet in our face or ribs. It is so hard to say no or be angry at a face like this!

The Next Michael Phelps?

The upside of living in a hotel seems to be the fact that we are able to go to the pool when ever we want. Nick is not afraid of the water what so ever. As you can see I am afraid for him. We bundle him up in all his swimming gear and let him go. He does NOT like for us to help him or be very near him in the water. I think I am going to try to get him into some swimming lessons this winter at the Y. He is a little fish. I am glad he is not afraid of the water, but wonder what it will be like next year if we don't keep him in touch with water throughout the winter.

gearing up
making his way down the ladder

Gotta love the goggles! He put them on himself.

Birthday Fun

Random birthday pictures from Nicks birthday at Chevy's. There is a tradition in the Martin household that the entire week of your birthday, if you go out to eat you are going to be sang to. This is the picture from PaPa taking him out to eat.

Happy Birthday to My Little Man!

Seems like just yesterday I was bringing Nick home from the hospital. Now he walks, talks and has a personality all his own. I wonder where the time went. We had a very small party for him last night with just Ryan, my mother in law and I. With all that has happened there was just not time to plan a party. I feel really bad but on the other hand am thankful he is only two. Next year there will be a blow out!

Happy Birthday baby boy! We love you!

Xander, Nick and Pujols' ESPY

Yesterday I met some of my family at the Arch. My Aunt Leslie and her family were passing through on their way to take my Aunt Jan half way back home after the funeral. We all had a great time at the Arch and then proceeded to Albert Pujols restaurant in West Port Plaza. The food there is really good and the prices are really quite reasonable. After finishing our meal we went to the check out to see the souvenirs. A man (quite possibly the manager) asked if the kids would like to hold and have their pictures taken with Albert's ESPY. Happily we replied yes and the kids were ecstatic!

Nick's new ride

This post is waaaayyyy over due, but Grandma and Papa bought Nick and early birthday gift. He loves it so much as you can see he even rides it naked.

Destruction!

Just wanted you all to get a glimpse of the destruction at our house. I had not been there for a few days as Ryan was taking care of everything. I was shocked when I got there.

Our "New" Home

The hotel life really is not too bad after all. We live right next to the pool and hot tub, have breakfast made for us every single morning, and even have a happy hour every evening.

Breakfast is not just cereal and donuts. It includes waffles, french toast, scrabbled eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage as well as many other choices. Every night we get to enjoy happy hour. This does not just include adults as children are welcome too. Ryan and I get to enjoy three free adult beverages and Nick is welcome to soda, juices and milk. In addition there is a spread of wonderful snack food including nachos with everything you could want, veggies and dip, chips, popcorn and snack mixes. Who would have thought that living in a hotel would have such perks. I am sure that it will get old after a while. I am really glad we have an indoor/outdoor pool as well as a hot tub. I invite anyone who would like to visit to please do so and and take advantage of all that has been offered to us. Since we are going to be here so long the front desk has already given us the okay. I plan on going to the house in the next few days to take some pictures to post and let you all see our destruction.

Water Update

We are now officially residents of the Drury Inn and Suites of Fairview Heights. After consulting with the contractor we are out of our house for 3 to 4 weeks.

Not only do we have to completely redo the kitchen, but now the bathroom and the living room are involved. The contractor estimated that after all is said and done we are looking at around $15,000 worth of damage.

This should almost total our house. WOW! Unthinkable. I am wondering want in the world we will do for the next few weeks living in a hotel.

I had family coming over tomorrow and sadly they will not be able to make it. I was really looking forward to the fun we would have had to help me keep my mind off of things for a while. I will update you more tomorrow after I meet with the contractor and adjuster. Wish me luck!

Floating Away!

So things are starting to somewhat get back to normal. I have my nephew Xander with me for the week. We went to the zoo yesterday and had a really good time. Rachel and Taylor treated us to lunch at the Boathouse! It was fantastic. We were able to get a table by the water so the kids could feed the ducks while we ate.

Low and behold though something had to happen. At 6:20 am I am pulled out of a deep sleep by the sound of my husbands voice saying OMG! I asked him what was wrong (normally his is very quite and tries to not wake me while he is getting ready for work). I get up to look for myself and realize our entire kitchen and most of our living room is flooded.

We had a plumber come to our house on Monday to fix out toilet and hook our ice machine up. Well apparently he bumped something and after a few days the hot water line under our kitchen sink came apart. Needless to say it could have been running for hours. It was not like that when I went to bed at midnight.

We called the insurance company to report the claim. His initial estimate is already almost $4,000! We have been sucking water out of our carpets all day. Our laminate flooring is bowing and there is water standing in our air conditioning ducts. I seriously just sit back, look at the water and laugh. I keep telling myself that someone else probably has it worse than me.

We will be without water until sometime tomorrow because the plumbing company would like the original plumber that did the work to come out to fix the problem. I wonder how many excuses they will come up with to try to get out of paying this bill? Thank goodness for homeowners insurance.

Hello out there

It has been almost a week now since we buried my mom. It has really been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I have never felt the emptiness I feel now. I am so used to calling her at least once a day. Now no one answers. I miss her voice so much. I wonder who I will turn to now when I have something I need advice about. I am trying to get things back to normal, but somehow I know it will just never be the same. I hope to post a few pics of Nick soon to get off this subject. I just don't know when I will get around to doing it.
Thank you so much to all of you who have shown me support and love through this incredibly tough time. Without all of you this would have been unbearable.

Arrangements

Arrangements have been made for my mother.

The visitation will be at Buchanan's on Tuesday from 5-8.

The funeral will be on Wednesday at 10:30

Thank you again for everything. Your support through this has been so much appreciated!

Rest In Peace Mamma

It has been a very long difficult weekend. I want to let my blogger friends and family know that my mom passed away peacefully at 12:20 this morning. It was such a sad but beautiful thing to witness. I am glad that she no longer has to suffer. She has battled this disease for two years with the thoughts of winning. Someone however had other plans for her. She is resting peacefully now in the hands of her father. I will let everyone know what arrangements are as soon as we make them. Thanks to all of you who have sent prayers and thoughts our way. You don't know how much they have been appreciated.