The Martino Family

New House!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 02:59:00 +0000

This post is 6 months overdue, but it's been one crazy year! Last summer we listed and sold our home in Sugar Land, TX. It was a great 8.5 years but we have moved on. We love our new house and have had a great time settling in!

The only house pictures I really have are of it empty which seems kind of strange since we have been living there 6 months, so here is the latest item to our house. A new basketball court in the back yard! I hope our son loves having a great new activity to do at the house.

If not....I'll have the most amazing patio, pool house, or studio someday! Ha, ha!

Summer 2015 "Remodel"

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 18:49:00 +0000

In 2008 when we bought this home we didn't forsee that by the end of the summer of 2015 we would have done so many updates, but we are happy to have a majority of the updates needed or wanted done on our home. We went out of town for several weeks and had our home worked on. The process to set all this up started in December 2014.

Click on the picture to see it larger.

First in May we had our wood floors replaced by wood tile floors. They are 4' x 8" planks that are fantastic and scratch and waterproof.

The existing tile had a lighter grout, so to match the entry tile to the new wood tile floors better, we stained the grout dark and made the decorative border kind of "pop".

We painted the back of our front door a color called blackbean from Sherwin Williams (SW6006). It is pretty dark, almost black, but just slightly brown. It is a rich oil based paint.

The family room had some painting repairs needed from our plumbing work last year, so it got a whole new coat of paint and some new furniture (FYI - the couch is not purple, it's a slate gray). This large common area covers the stairs, entryway, and all the way up to the gameroom. We painted it Sherwin Williams Versatile Gray (SW6072). The door/window to the deck out back was also painted blackbean.

The family room from the other perspective shows the accent wall behind the TV in Sherwin Williams Spalding Gray (SW6074). On a side note due to the plumbing change last year the whole ceiling needed painted in this room, the kitchen and down the hallway to the back door.

The wet bar cabinets were painted in Sherwin Williams Heron Plume (SW6070) and the mirrors and glass shelving removed and crown molding added, as well as a new backsplash. The granite countertops were not changed. All the cabinets done this summer are Heron Plume and were sprayed with an oil based paint.

The most work was done in the kitchen. Several drawers were in need of repair and the finish on some cabinets was wearing badly, and the previous countertop and appliance updates (we didn't replace them) didn't really fit the kitchen as a whole (the wallpaper and oak cabinets kind of dated the kitchen despite stainless appliances and granite countertops). So....the wallpaper (the last of it in this 80's home) was removed and was textured and painted Spalding Gray, added crown molding, converted light box to LED with custom glass panels, added cabinet lighting, new hardware to the cabinets, updated desk and at the last minute changed the backsplash. We are thinking that we may put the same new wood tile in this room as well at some point next year.

Also in the kitchen the pantry was spray painted inside. The old pantry had layers of contact paper on the shelves.

This is a closer look at the new glass tile backsplash. It matches the wall color and granite quite well, and there are pieces of what looks like stainless steel as well. The lights are making the backsplash look pink and red but it's not.

The laundry room also had the cabinets painted inside and out. All the painted cabinets used to be honey oak.

The wall below the stairs was also painted the accent Spalding gray. The study door was painted blackbean. Some updates were made to the staircase as well.

The round ball topped posts were removed and the posts modified to have a square top. The new tops and hand rails were painted blackbean. The spindles used to be white wood, and several didn't match and one was broken and not easily replaced, so we ordered iron ones.

The stairs get a lot of traffic, particularly this first section up to the study (where Ryan spends a lot of time) and the kids up to their rooms. We had a carved carpet installed that is short pile and wears well.

The handrails on the right side of this picture are new. The wood from the upper game room "balcony" (that was replaced to be a solid half wall) was painted blackbean and recycled for use here. It gets a lot of use as right handed people (mostly kids) prefer to use it going down.

A closer view of the stair carpet, and showing the edge of the transition to "regular" carpet we had put in upstairs. This carved carpet was also put in the master suite earlier this year. The "regular" carpet is so nice and soft with a memory foam pad.

The half wall was installed to replace the old full open railing. 2 electrical outlets were added and any shelves or furniture are no longer seen from below. We may put some artwork on the other side of this wall that faces the front entryway at some point.

The transition up the wall at the end of the half wall was added so that the game room could be painted a different color than the common areas downstairs. The gameroom was painted Spalding Gray (same as kitchen and family room accent walls). The hallway through the open doorway was also painted due to 4 wall patches from the plumbing replacement. The entire ceiling was also painted because of a few sections that are not easily reachable by us.

A scaffolding was used to paint the ceiling and we got the last 3 recessed lights changed to LED. We have about 17 of the recessed lights throughout the home (like the ones you see in the picture), and all have been converted to bright 65W output LED retrofit lights that only use 11 or 13W or something like that. Some of those lightbulbs we have replaced were originally using incandescent 75W flood lights (x17 lights throughout the home!). Yikes!

The exterior door upstairs was also painted blackbean.

Although not unpacked yet, the upstairs wet bar is no longer a wet bar. The sink was removed and granite added to the top last year, the glass shelves replaced with deeper white ones years ago, and now the cabinets and drawers have been painted.

Quentin's room had some wall repairs from the plumbing and his bedroom was the only one in the house without crown molding, so half his room was painted Sherwin Williams Sporty Blue (SW6522) and crown molding added. His room like the entire upstairs got all new carpet.

The color to the left was the original color of the room when we moved into the home.

Happy Surgery Anniversary To Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 14:47:00 +0000

Most people probably wouldn't celebrate the anniversary of having surgery, unless perhaps it was a surgery they had wanted for over a decade and has loved every day since they got it and would do it all over again if they could.

I was originally going to title this post "Why I Got a Breast Reduction" but I didn't want to draw TOO much attention to the post. Mostly I wanted to educate my friends and acquaintances who may not know much about the surgery about why a person would do it and LOVE it.

Sometime in my mid-twenties I realized how weighed down I felt by my breasts, and I didn't even have children yet. I always felt the need to wear 2 sports bras that were probably one or two sizes too small in an attempt to get the support I felt I needed to run or exercise. I ran track and cross country in high school and I rarely enjoyed doing it once I had gotten that large. I have tried to regularly exercise on and off in my adult life, and this was a big problem. However, at my lowest and healthiest weight, the size of my breasts was basically unchanged, so don't go thinking that if I just exercised they would get smaller. I have even worked with a personal trainer and ultimately he was one of the people who wrote me a letter of support to the insurance company.

Buying clothing was a bit of a hassle, because in order to get a shirt to fit comfortably around my breasts without pulling at the buttons or the clothing fitting so snug I felt it brought unwanted attention to my breasts anyway, I was practically wearing a tent and felt very frumpy. It was hard to get cute clothes and feel attractive in them.

I have a spot on my back that would hurt when I sat down to play the piano. I know I had bad posture even standing, and whenever I wanted to practice I would get this burning knotty pain between my shoulders. If I ever looked in the mirror and properly aligned my posture with a straight line through the ear, shoulders, hips and ankles, it felt incredibly unnatural and awkward. I had no idea how I would ever get it corrected.

Although they were only starting to be visible, my shoulders were starting to get grooved and indented from where my bra strap pulls down. Oh, and did I mention how hard it is to get a "pretty" bra that fit and even did a half way job in supporting me? Whoops! I almost forgot the mention the occasional rash that would develop under the breasts from moisture and rubbing. So much fun, right?

So maybe large breasts it seems that everyone wants are less "attractive" sounding now, right?

Breasts are made up of a variety of tissues, with different biological functions, and the tissues are more dense for some people than others. Basically that means that some apples feel more like melons, and some melons feel like....you get the picture. Ha!

There is a ligament discovered by a man named Cooper where a clever nickname has been given to a common phenomenon - "Cooper's Droop", which is when gravity is not a friend and the inevitable sag sets in, which is worsened over time and by pregnancy and breastfeeding.

So, take gravity over 20 years of adulthood + genetics + 2 kids and you get a miserable and desperate person who literally daydreams about breast reduction surgery.

Last May during my annual well woman visit with my OBGYN my doctor found a lump in my breast. It was a soft, moveable lump but it was disconcerting as you can imagine and I had to get an ultrasound and mammogram to get it looked at. Although it was determined to be benign, it was the last straw. I didn't need one more reason to hate my breasts. So, I made a consultation appointment with a plastic surgeon who I was comfortable with because he had done a small lipoma removal on me a few years prior.

The surgeon and his staff were great in helping me submit the information required to get the surgery approved by insurance. Although there are women with a much more obvious need for this surgery than me, I did fall into the range of measurements to get the procedure approved for medical necessity. After multiple photos, 5 letters (3 from doctors, one from a massage therapist and one from a personal trainer) and a peer-to-peer phone call between the surgeon and the insurance company, I was eventually given approval to get the surgery for the cost of my deductible and had 90 days to get it done, and due to some paperwork delays, I only had about 60 days by the time I found out.

Yikes! I was so excited but suddenly I had to figure out how I was going to handle recovery with an almost 2 year old running around, work, back to school, and my brother's wedding on Labor Day weekend. I was blessed to have my mother come to Texas and stay with us for about 2 weeks following my surgery. I had my surgery a year ago today (September 4, 2013).

I could go into more details about the surgery and recovery process, which I am happy share if anyone lets me know they are interested, but I would like to emphasize how much I LOVE the results.

I was a bit in denial of my true size. I went from probably a 36DD (and I was actually buying exclusively minimizer bras in size 34D or 36D hoping a smaller and tighter bra would support me better) to a true 38C. I can wear any 38C off the rack, with none of the unattractive issues that come from bras that don't fit properly (spilling out the top, coming out the bottom, accentuating back rolls, etc). Just about any kind of swimming suit, tank top, or built-in-bra top is not an issue anymore.

My posture has noticably improved, I am finally pulling my shoulders back. Over the past year I have been known to play the piano for 30-45 minutes without discomfort (so as a result I am a much better piano player). I am in love with Yoga and boot camp style exercise, which includes exercises I previously hated (smashing my breasts into the floor while on my stomach, any kind of jogging or running in place, jump rope, etc.). I still don't like the bear crawl but I don't have the same excuse for hating it now. Ha, ha! And this is very important: I can exercise while wearing only one sports bra, any sports bra, and that is enough.

My existing tops and dresses either fit better, or they are too big. I will always have the beginning of shoulder grooving but it will never get any worse. My blouses don't pull over the buttons. I don't have the back/neck/shoulder pain and the CONSTANT need for massage that I used to. I am not flat, by any means, I feel I am just proportional, more like the size I was in high school (which was plenty big back then) and it didn't hurt that the reduction naturally comes with a "lift" too!

I just can't say enough about how much I loved having this surgery. I waited and was not disappointed. Breast Reductions have the highest level of satisfaction of all types of plastic surgery. The only regret I have heard about repeatedly is that women who eventually do get the surgery wished they had gotten a breast reduction SOONER. A few months ago I joined a FaceBook Group about Breast Surgery information and support. I was able to see one woman after the other desperately want this surgery, and celebrate the results like me when they did. Some women have anxiety about surgery itself, or can't take enough time off to recover because of the physical demands of their jobs. I am just so blessed that I was able to get this surgery done without any complications in surgery or the recovery.

On a side note, a male co-worker of mine mentioned the surgery I had to his wife knowing she might be interested, and she ended up having the surgery 5 months after I did. She couldn't be happier as well, especially because insurance paid for hers too! I am not saying you make the suggestion to every large breasted woman you know, but if you hear a woman mention breast reduction surgery, think about how happy the women are who get the procedure done and support her in getting the same relief. If you are leaning towards being very unsupportive, I challenge you to walk around even one day with a 4 lb bag of sugar hung around your neck. By all means, go for a run, try and put on your clothes, bend over 200 times a day to help your child. Maybe by the end of the day you will change your tune. If you need the number for my massage therapist, she could probably use the business. She has seen a LOT less of me this past year!

My House Had a Heart Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 23:02:00 +0000

Well, we had one leak more than we were willing to deal with. We finally decided to do what we knew we would have to do when we first bought our home 6 years ago. We replaced ALL the plumbing.

We decided to purchase a home in a mature part of Sugar Land Texas in 2008. Our neighborhood was built in the mid-80's. This is apparently right at the end of the galvanized plumbing days. Thank goodness. That was a BAD idea. So, we knew eventually we would have to replace the plumbing. Last year we had our first leak. Then June we had another. A couple weeks ago we had another. We already had an estimate and a plumbing company in mind, so we have NEW and CLEAN pipes! And more water pressure! And lots of holes cut in our walls and ceiling. And a very large bill. Sigh.

I would not have blogged about this topic at all but I am completely fascinated with the old vs new plumbing. Below I am putting 2 photos of the old, 2 photos of the new and a YouTube video demonstrating the amazing thermal memory of the new pipes. They are called PEX.

When I saw the clogged pipes (the picture showing the gross rust colored buildup) I actually got a little sick. Showers, drinking water (albeit filtered), washing our hands, icky!! It reminds me of a clogged artery that leads to a heart attack. Rather than doing bypass after bypass, we did a transplant.

I have to be honest, I am so sorry this happened to us but it is happening to a lot of people in our area whose homes are all about 30 years old. If you have galvanized plumbing, this could be your pipes.

So, here they are. Hold onto your lunch.

Photo of our water main....

Random pieces they cut out....

The new plumbing came in big lightweight rolls like this and could be run a lot like electrical, which is less invasive to your sheet rock.

An up close picture of the pipe. It is NOT PVC pipe, it is PEX pipe.

Here is a YouTube video describing how kinks and damage to the pipe is remedied by heating and recooling the pipe, and it goes back to its original form, strength and rating.

Merry Christmas 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 07:27:00 +0000

Merry Christmas 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

We are pretty much in denial that 2013 is already coming to an end. It has been a very busy year and we hope that you are all well and are enjoying celebrating this wonderful season. Some of you may be reading this and have typically gotten a physical card and letter from us in the past. As much as we love to send and receive cards, Jen has made a promise to herself and family that she would simplify the holidays this year compared to last year or most years before it.   We still love and care about each person from all times of our lives that we stay in touch with and think about you all often.  In an effort to keep the promise to simplify, we have decided to send physical Christmas cards to mostly family this year, and digital to many other friends we keep in touch with. Perhaps next year things won't be quite so hectic!

Through your Christmas letters, FaceBook. phone calls, parties and reunions, etc. we have stayed in touch with many of you, even if only in a fun and casual way. We know about many of the ups and downs shared in 2013 and we have had our own. But, overall we are grateful for our health, our home, our jobs and our friends and family.

Last Christmas we took our son to Disneyland. It was quite an adventure and we are still hoping to go back again relatively soon. We will take our daughter next time, most likely, so we don't have too many more pictures where later on in life she notices she isn't in any of them and we have to explain that we left her home with Grandma. Ha, ha!

Speaking of that redheaded, strong willed child, she is doing fabulous in preschool and is enjoying the love of everyone who gets the pleasure of teaching her. She is sweet, funny and quite entertaining.  We better stop there or there may be a rant about the terrible twos, full body tantrums, and the drama.   What a challenge to have such a different type of child for our second! She turned 2 years old in September and we keep asking ourselves "Is she in kindergarten next year?". You can imagine how overwhelmed we were when we figured out she is not going to kindergarten until Fall of 2017 because of her September birthday.   We are trying to celebrate the extra year we get with her, but it is tough when sometimes it seems so far away - so many diapers, so many meals picked over by a picky eater, so many shrieks of "I'm not getting my way"! Sigh.  We are sure it will help when Alina's language has improved enough to protest with words instead of tantrums. One can only hope.

Quentin finished his first year of mainstream school in the spring and is almost midway through another fantastic year in second grade now. He is earning wonderful grades, is making friends and loving school. Even though he does not have great handwriting (due to long term side effects from the chemotherapy) and he lacks interest in writing, even that has gotten better recently. He even learned to ride a bike without training wheels and swim the length of the pool in proper form this year. He earned a green belt in martial arts and joined a chess club. He played soccer in the spring and is playing basketball now. He also attended a number of camps this summer including his first cub scout day camp and Camp Periwinkle, a cancer camp. He also flew unaccompanied to Kansas City for "cousin camp" this past summer. He recently turned 8 years old and was baptized on Thanksgiving Day. He just started boy scouts and seems to never be without fun and adventure.

Perhaps you are starting to get a clearer picture of what we were referring to when we said things were "hectic". Quentin needs to be active and stay busy with activities, and it is clearly the best thing for him.  A little "hectic" goes a long way with him and for now we wouldn't hesitate to say it's very worth it. It is a demanding schedule to keep up with but that's what we do. Ryan and Jen are just trying to keep up with the kids and get away to have some quiet time as much as needed.

Ryan is working in a new group at work and it seems to fit him perfectly! He is coaching Quentin's basketball team this year and that seems to be going very well so far. Jen is still working part time for Halliburton, taking pictures, attending church and community activities and considers most of life to be like a marathon. She is trying to pace herself to just simply finish the race, it may not be fast or pretty, but the goal is to just get through it and feel great about the accomplishment overall.

We are so blessed. We are so grateful. Here is to another year of blessings, hope and happiness!

Sincerely,
The Martino Family
Ryan, Jennifer, Quentin and Alina

Click below to see more family photos.

My Curly Redhead is Two!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 05:22:00 +0000

It was exactly one year ago (as I type this) that I was laboring at home, not knowing it was for sure "the real thing", and in less than 7 hours my baby girl would be born, sunny side up and a head full of red hair. I have to make a big deal about her red hair now (see title) because I am sorry to report that it is lightening quite a bit and it may not be red forever.

So the truth is I barely got to the hospital in time to have her, and my doctor (nor ANY doctor) was there in the delivery room, but I got my wish and had a natural birth without even an IV in a hospital. I documented my birth story and continue to get questions even today about natural delivery.

So, our little girl is 2 years old (in 6.5 more hours) and she will continue to be in a hurry to grow up, just like her impatience to come out WHEN, HOW and WHERE she wanted to. Aye, yaye yaye. She has an independent and determined spirit, with some definite interests in clothes, shoes, purses and jewelry. I didn't know these stereotypes about the female gender could be so obvious by this age.

She and her brother get along pretty well, and she has been a blessing to her whole family but especially her brother. Sometimes having almost 6 years between them is not ideal, but as siblings I have a feeling she was just what he needed at just the right time.

It is an overwhelming responsibility to be raising children at this time in our society. I will have very different concerns with my boy and my girl, and I chastised myself for recently wishing (due to the terrible twos) that we could just bypass the next few years and skip to an "easier" stage. I can't believe even in jest that I would wish to take away any part of her childhood, particularly this extremely innocent time, because there will be some very difficult years ahead I am sure I will be wishing she was 2 again, dirty diapers, runny noses, jam hands, colossal tantrums and all! I just hope and pray that I will know what to do for both my children when those difficult parenting times come ahead. There is so much I want to protect them from but I think my focus should be "there is so much I want to prepare them for". That seems more realistic.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

The End of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:52:00 +0000

I know it is only April (almost May), but it is the end of the school year which feels just as significant, if not more, than the end of December. My kids are growing so much and changing so fast it is mind boggling. It seems Quentin was recently at an age where he was in danger of running out into traffic if I wasn't paying close attention. I still tell him to watch for cars and be careful, but he gives me the "yes, I know mom" exasperated reply. He just isn't a little kid anymore.

Quentin is finishing his first year at Cornerstone Christian Academy, a private "mainstream" school and our first real try at the mainstream thing. I can't believe this was his 5th full year of school. It has gone so much better than expected I can hardly believe it. I have had some pretty crazy moments when children I don't even recognize, but apparently know I am Quentin's mom, will come up to me and ask me if they can have a playdate with my son (and Quentin is nowhere around). For a mother of a child with Asperger's this pretty much brings you to tears. I have also read some of Quentin's writing, which is both creative and grammatically correct. He pretty much refused to write more than 5 words at a time at the beginning of the year out of pure stubbornness. Quentin has fantastic grades, fantastic behavior reports, he adores his teacher, school and friends, and it was a no brainer to send him back next year. The picture below is most of his class on his birthday last year at recess while we shared mini-bundt cakes to celebrate.

Quentin has thankfully diversified his interests recently. He still tends to "fixate" on things, but it is a nice break to have a bit of variety finally. Quentin played his first team basketball season this past winter. He struggled in the beginning but loved the game, improved quite a bit, and even scored a few baskets in the games. He frequently asks to shoot around in our driveway or down the street at the elementary school. It is an easy activity for him and his dad to do together.

At the beginning of the year we picked up Martial Arts as an after school activity. After about a month of figuring it out, he really "got it" and has even tested and received his orange belt. I think we will have him doing some of this over the summer. I can take all the "yes ma'am", "please" and "thank you"s I can get.

He just started soccer and has some action packed summer camps to attend this summer. We are taking a break from swimming but will be in the pool as early as this weekend here. I hope he continues to love sports and physical activity. Ryan and I truly believe it is making a big difference in his moods and behaviors at home.

On the non-athletic side, Quentin has picked up two new hobbies: geography and board games. Quentin has excelled in the optional learning of the country's states and capitals, but he took it so much farther and has learned continents, countries, oceans and the tallest mountains in the world. He has dreams of traveling someday to see all these places he is learning about on the iPad and our iPhones. He has almost completely stopped playing all other video games. One weekend he wanted to make his own version of Monopoly (that might have been my idea and therefore I trapped myself into doing it with him). Below is the photo of "Geopoly" where he selected 3 countries from each continent, oceans instead of railroads, and the US and China instead of Boardwalk and Park Place. We play with the regular pieces, money, houses, hotels, community chest and chance cards. He also really loves Clue and hopes that we (or anyone who comes over) is interested in playing board games with him.

He certainly has a love of learning and reading. It is not uncommon for him to coming running down the stairs full of energy at 7am to tell us excitedly how he had been up since 6am reading books. That child can read, talk your ear off, and drive you crazy, but I would take that any day over the scary uncertainty we had about his life at one point.

Quentin has developed quite a love for his little sister. He is a typical big brother in some ways, laughs as she is actually getting into trouble like climbing onto the kitchen table or pulling out all of the baby wipes from the box. But, like most siblings, there is a soft spot for protecting the younger ones, and he is caught holding her hand as she walks, helping her up or down as needed, and exposing her to all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) things she has yet to learn.

I admit I am still biting my nails in worry about his future. Will his barely emerging social skills regress? Will he stay engaged in school to have good classroom behavior in years to come? Will we start having difficulty getting him to complete school work at home, or get him to care more about the neatness and quality of his work? Will he ever really learn to do chores, have good hygiene, and not laugh at inappropriate times? Will this amazing kid with a brilliant brain who seems to have such a bright future considering his life thus far actually get to college someday and be able to live and function independently? Will he have a romantic relationship someday? And the one that pains me the most, (when) will kids start being mean to him (bullies) and when and if they do, will he notice and will it hurt him now that we've spent so many years teaching him to process and interpret emotions appropriately? I worry about these things frequently, and thankfully these days that is more often than how much I used to worry about whether or not he would even make it this far.

Where Did My Baby Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:12:00 +0000

This is the year when my baby boy will turn 8 years old. I can hardly believe it! Quentin has been an amazing child - I think I know him better than any person in the whole world, including myself. We have been through some intense circumstances together, and he doesn't remember most of it. All I know is that we could not be more proud of where he is now and how far he has come.

This will be the first year that Quentin can go to the overnight cancer camp for Houston area pediatric cancer patients Camp Periwinkle. It is the first full week of August and I am really excited for him. Applications are available in March and his pediatric oncologist has been excited for him to go for a few years now. Alina will miss him like crazy (she's not the only one). We will do a few other day camps this summer but I think I am going to take it easier than the last few summers.

Quentin has been learning to swim for a few years now and we are giving him lessons through a local swim club. He has been steady and slow to learn the swimming, so I just hope it all "sticks" this year and that he will be a strong swimmer for life. I think one focus we will have this summer is getting him to ride his bike more and without training wheels. I may have to get a bike and trailer for Alina and I.

Quentin's first 2 quarters of his new school were fantastic, beyond our expectations! He is doing well both behaviorally AND academically, and we could not be more pleased. I know his social challenges are not completely conquered, there are a lot of difficult years ahead of us, but we certainly enjoy the compassion and tolerance extended to our family from his school and we hope he continues to thrive and progress there.

We are taking a break from occupational therapy because Quentin is playing in a local, recreational basketball league. He has scored baskets 2 times now in different games and continues to improve his focus and understanding of the game. Ryan will even get a chance to coach his team for the last game of the season.

Quentin is involved with a few after school activities as well, one of them is called Kid Fit and it is general team sports in a non-competitive atmosphere. He also started doing martial arts after school, which is more "respect and manners" lessons than it is kicking and punching, which is great! Yes sir, No sir, Thank you and Please are the main focus of his time there. I am not complaining! He loves it and if he ever certifies to get the next belt level is not nearly as important to me as the self control and manners he can learn there. Both Kid Fit and Martial Arts are at his school immediately after school so they are super easy and convenient. I don't have that much running around to do.

At home Quentin struggles a little more with things like eating new foods, showering or bathing without protest, being a good big brother (and not an aggravating one), but overall we have some good laughs and entertainment because he is in our family.

He still loves cars and plays with them daily, but he is picking up the classic Asperger's trait of being really into maps. He is currently asking about the rankings of the 50 United States in size, population and hottest to coldest. This weekend I made him his own laminated place mat with a US map and 3 lists of the states in their respective rankings. He is inseparable from it, I am surprised it isn't under his pillow while he sleeps to be honest.

I am trying to go to the Asperger's Support Group meeting here in Sugar Land each month now. It is helpful information and useful to look further into the future than what I am dealing with right now. I am particularly excited to be reading the book "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin. She is the most famous adult with autism and is an advocate that speaks to parents, educators, etc. around the world in addition to being a PhD and designs livestock handling equipment that is widely used in handling cattle and sheep. She was the subject of a 7 time Emmy winning HBO movie starring Claire Daines as Temple Grandin. The movie and book are completely fascinating and I am getting the privilege of going to hear her speak in north Houston this weekend. Reading the first chapter of this book gave me more insight into how my son's mind works than I have ever had. Everyone one in the world of autism has her to thank for a greater understanding of the condition overall.

I love Quentin so much and the little moments when he defies the autism stereotype and lets the emotions and feelings he has be communicated to us in the form of hugs and sweet unsolicited "I Love You"s make all the hard work it has been raising him completely and totally worth it.

My Curly Redhead

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 06:27:00 +0000

As a person with a very strong interest in photography it seems absurd that I would be delaying writing a post for pictures, but I have. I do take a lot of photos but not always of my own family, so I finally decided to complete my recent thoughts on Alina, my adorable curly redhead when someone else (thank you Madison) took this picture of her today. Her beautiful hair color is still observed by strangers 1-2 times a day, so it is hard not to get an ego about it. It is lightening somewhat, but for her age she has so much of it and those little ringlets in the back are just too precious for words. I will try to post more pictures!

Alina is 16 months old, and I admit this is NOT my favorite age. Nothing has been easy about this age for either of my kids but for totally different reasons. Quentin was in the hospital between the ages of 12-18 months. Nothing was ideal about that, and certainly not easy. Alina is healthy and not in the hospital, but fervently mobile and extremely determined. This age is known for increased mobility, talking, and eating and drinking patterns that are more like the rest of their lives. It is my first time experiencing this and parts of it are great, and some not so much.

So Alina is quite mobile now, since her first steps were around 11 months old. She is actually well into the climbing and walking down the stairs stage. Yikes! She can frequently be found standing upright on top of the kitchen or coffee tables or walking down the stairs (not crawling backwards on her tummy and safe). I am assuming I look closer to 40 now.

She is not talking as much as I'd like, but she says Mama, Dada, all done, bye bye and Ryan thought he heard her trying to say TinTin, which is baby talk for Quentin. I am satisfied with her choices, I just wish we were onto other helpful words and phrases. I have been though so much speech therapy with Quentin she is about to get immersed in full blown panic mode from me if she doesn't stop whining with no words. She also communicates well through full body tantrums, either diving on the floor and rolling on her back in protest, or arching her back and head way back on the couches or beds to show her disapproval of a situation. Message heard loud and clear honey.

She is shaking her head no but mostly because she is entertained at our reaction to it. We are puppets to her, I guess. She selectively chooses when to wave and blow kisses, since I think her point is that she decides who and when, not us. Her latest trick is priceless. Quentin and I have started acknowledging minor celebrations with the fist bumps instead of high 5's. Alina wanted in on the action and thinks it's fabulous fun to do a fist bump with us. Oh yes, I got a picture of that!

She is eating much better than Quentin, hands down, but due to allergy results that showed a reaction to wheat, I am back to utilizing as much gluten free food as I can for a child, and that is not cheap or fun. I am not excluding wheat entirely, just cutting way back on it. It seems to be going okay, she eats lots of things. She doesn't drink lots of things though, and I can't really seem to get her to take more than a few sips of anything but water. And she still nurses a little. I am not mortified that she doesn't like cow's milk, I don't care for it as a beverage at all, but it would be nice if she could like something so now and then she can get some calories from something quick and easy. I am guessing she will be weaned in the next few months, but I would be surprised if the milk situation changes. Juice is a no-go too - she just likes the thin texture of water, if that makes sense, and everything else is too thick or too cold.

This cutie pie is a charmer though, I just wish she would still let me cuddle her. She likes to be held in our arms, but doesn't like to be hugged or snuggled as much. I hope this is a phase because it would be nice to have one of my children okay with hugs and physical contact most times, not just occasionally. If you didn't know, many people on the autism spectrum don't like to be touched as a sensory issue.

Alina is TOTALLY into her books right now. She grabs one, brings it over to us and "backs in" to our laps. Slowly she is starting to actually show interest in what is on the pages. It is great to see this, I just can't help but think every day about how different this can go with Alina than it did with Quentin. Quentin taught himself to read by 2 years old. We have never worked with him on reading or spelling, even now, and we just correct his pronunciation of words now and then. We will be challenged to go through the much more typical process of learning to read with Alina.

This curly redhead will probably be in preschool at Quentin's school next year. She is currently doing a mother's day out program but will probably be in a 2 year old class next year. She loves to go to her program now and her teachers tell me she is very happy and quite the chatterbox. Because of her late September birthday, she is ahead of her other classmates in the eating and walking thing by quite a bit. I just hope she is as enthusiastic in a couple months when it is time to go into the nursery at church. She better not pull a shy act on me then. That will probably be when she decides to get cuddly with me and become clingy. Stinker.

Whenever she gets dressed she is trying to put her own socks and shoes on and then goes and waits by the door for us to go somewhere. I am finding that to avoid disappointing her we stay in our jammies until I have somewhere to actually go! She gets a little sad when anyone from the family leaves the house if she doesn't go too. We take her to the window to watch and knock on the window for lots of good bye waving. It seems like the rest of us are doing most the waving.

It is so wonderful seeing her in the backdrop of all our family time together, at bedtime reading stories, at the dinner table during meals, in the back seat of the car next to Quentin, walking in and out of the house and all kinds of places with us, and to see her mature into quite the little girl with a big personality!

Our Disney Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:13:00 +0000

About a year ago, we heard that the opening date of Carsland was going to be June 2012, we started planning a trip to Disneyland to take Quentin there. At the time, our 6 year old with Asperger's was obsessed to say the least with Disney Pixar Cars movies. The Cars 2 movie had came out in summer 2011 and the obsession hit a new level building up to this grand opening.

We did not want to go during the summer however, especially right after it opened. By the end of the summer, I figured I better start doing some research on our trip. At the time we had planned to do it in the fall over a long weekend, and possibly the trip would only be Ryan and Quentin.

I found out that Disneyland was not what it was in the 80's (the last time I was there). There were now 2 theme parks and Carsland was not the second one. Carsland was a section of California Adventure Park, a newer but not as popular park that opened in 2001. Since Disney never fails at anything, they figured out how to increase its popularity and now it has met and a few times exceeded the attendance of the 50+ year old Disneyland park.

So, where to stay? I read some trip reviews online and discovered that staying at Disney hotels had benefits that could make the extra money worth it. Disney hotel guests are close enough to walk to the parks, so no overcrowded shuttles or schedules needed juggled to get to the park. Disney guests also get to go into the parks one hour before the park is open to the public. I think the value of this was underestimated. Finally, the other perks were more subtle but added up - you were simply given better status whenever it could pay off.

Even though I had read that the week between Christmas and New Year's is the busiest week of the year for the parks, we decided to go for Christmas anyway, and we decided not to tell Quentin until Christmas morning. Late in the planning, we were given the gift of having my mother come out to watch Alina and we ended up leaving her behind which gave us a completely different experience. Just days before it would have been too late, I thought of ordering some kind of guidebook for the parks. I chose "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2013" which had great reviews and promised to save up to 4 hours of waiting time in lines. I realized after reading parts of this book that I would have been grossly unprepared for how to organize our strategy and time without it.

We booked the hotel about 3 months in advance and made other small decisions as the trip got closer. We took the Disneyland Resort Express shuttle from the airport round trip and did not rent a car or need any other form of transportation. We checked in late on Christmas Day and got an early start on Wednesday. We arrived at the gates of DCA (Disney California Adventure) 15 minutes before the Disney Hotel Guests were allowed to enter the park. With classic herd mentality, we all plodded over to the same ride. Why? It's the newest and most exciting and our "Unofficial Guidebook" told us to. There were touring plans on the book and as part of an iPhone app that would give us the order to ride the rides to see the most in one day, along with updated ride wait times for exceptions to their recommendations we wanted to make. Their plans were based on many, many studies of crowd patterns. It described how to use the FASTPASS system and it was the best ~$12 we could have spent!

We lucked out that Wednesday morning it rained a bit and that kept the overall crowds smaller. We had packed and prepared for the rain, so we were happy to go anyway, and even happier others did not go. It made us wish that it had rained Thursday and/or Friday as well. Those crowds were massive and overwhelming! We planned to have simple breakfast bars early in the morning which paid off since there was nothing but hotel room service open before 7am for breakfast (we had a "real" breakfast later in the morning at the parks after we had fully utilized the early morning, less crowded hours and needed a break). We packed two pairs of shoes, extra socks, jackets and small water proofing items for phones, cameras, park passes, etc. for rainy days. We did not have to go into the parks with purses, bags or backpacks, which got us through security faster. Instead I wore a waterproof pouch around my neck. PERFECT!

I had researched what eating options there were before we left. I didn't want to spend $30 a meal per person, and believe me, you can. I think the 3 of us ate for $100 a day, and we only had 3 days there. I really expected to tire quickly of greasy, overpriced carnival-like food if we didn't go to the "nicer" sit down restaurants that cost and arm and a leg. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and selection of food all around for <$15 per person (and sometimes half that). We gave Quentin a $25 gift card for his choice of souvenirs and Ryan and I didn't get any (and we didn't bring any back for anyone else, but I regret not getting one thing for Alina from Disneyland, it's not something I can order online). One of the packing lists I had looked up suggested bringing quarters and pennies to have ready to make flat pennies in the machines. We started collecting those with Quentin very young, and it is usually the only souvenir he gets from the places we visit but has been satisfied with doing that so far! We made 3 or 4 (which was under $5 total). Our Disney Resort Package and shuttle ride was prepaid before we arrived and we flew with frequent flier miles to California. We did pay "extra" to stay at a Disney hotel but like I said, for us it paid off because of the extra time and convenience it provided.

The guidebook suggested that you needed at least 1 full day to see the best of DCA and 1-2 days to see the best of Disneyland. We ended up doing 2 DCA days and 1 Disneyland days. It also couldn't stress enough to GET THERE EARLY!!! Although our son is only 7, he was tall enough to ride every ride in both parks and turned out to be quite the thrill seeker! No baby rides for us! We had to fight longer lines for the more popular adult rides with Quentin, so it didn't surprise me that we didn't walk through Sleeping Beauty's Castle or ride It's a Small World. I think I will have to wait 5-6 years and go back with Alina to have that kind of experience.

If you want to know what the modern Disneyland experience is like, there is a great "behind the scenes" video available on Netflix streaming and Amazon Prime Instant Downloads. It is called "Disneyland Resort: Behind the Scenes" and it is just under an hour. I watched it after we got back and it really made me want to go again! The big difference between that video and our experience was everything they talked about doing in DCA is already finished and open! DCA was not as aged as Disneyland and the technology and newness of it appealed to our family. Ironically, I am not a video game person but my favorite ride was Toy Story Midway Mania. Quentin's favorite was the California Screamin' roller coaster. He got to ride it 7 or 8 times. To be honest, I don't know what Ryan's favorite was....probably any ride that Quentin didn't drive him crazy in the line. I would have loved to have stayed a couple more days and been able to split up and do a few more things on my own or with someone else while Ryan and Quentin did all the thrill rides, but while they were riding, I was getting FASTPASSES for them so they could do even more, and I am so glad because for them it paid off, even if it did leave me wishing we could immediately go back and do all the things we just didn't have time to do. Without kids this time. Ha, ha!

Below are the pictures....ALOT of pictures. I may try and consolidate to a slideshow later, but for now here is a picture recap of our experience. If you want to see fewer pictures with basic captions, see the photo album I uploaded to Facebook called "Christmas at Disneyland 2012".

2012 Christmas Card

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:18:00 +0000

Thank you for following the news of our family! We wish you and our family a wonderful and safe holiday season!

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View the entire collection of cards.

Quentin's Baby Book

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:41:00 +0000

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

Alina's Baby Book

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 04:48:00 +0000

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New School, First Day, First Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:06:00 +0000

Today feels like Quentin's "real" first day of school to me. Quentin has been going to a learning differences school for the past 4 years (link to video) because when we moved to Houston we found out he had a significant language delay and was presenting with symptoms on the autism spectrum. He has since been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and has been attending that school for his developmental, behavioral and pre-school education. He has done remarkably well and we are so excited to see if he is ready for the challenge of taking the next step! Technically he started the kindergarten 2 years ago at the age of 4 because of his strong reading, math and memory skills. So, actually he has completed the first grade curriculum already, but he is going to get back on track with his same-age peers and start 1st grade today at a mainstream private school. I think attending this new school will be able to fill in a lot of gaps that were lacking in the "special" environment at his previous school even though we loved it and will miss it so much!

I am including a picture and just wanted to remark that we are very proud of Quentin. We know it will be an adjustment for him and all of us, but we believe he can do it and we are prepared to advocate for what is best for him as time goes on so he has the best possible future. He has come a long, long way.

On a side note, we have been telling Quentin stories about the time he was sick in New Jersey. He asks for a "story" about it pretty much every night now. We are preparing him because we are planning to go to New Jersey early in the week of Thanksgiving and visiting the hospital where he was treated for Leukemia and where we lived for 6 months of his life (The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital). I believe even 5 years later there are nurses and staff that still work there and remember us. It has been difficult to go back and recall some of the things we went through and to see some of the pictures of Quentin from that time - puffy from steroids and as bald as a cue ball. I have done it so far from memory, but soon I'll have to go back and start reading his medical blog to remember more of the details. It helps that as of now, our story has a happy ending. Happy First Day of First Grade Quentin!

Goin' on a Cruise, Cruise, Cruise!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:40:00 +0000

We are not going in a real cruise, we are enjoying the thrill of watching Alina take off as a cruiser! Did I say "enjoy" and "thrill"? I meant "suffering" and "torture" of Alina the "Trouble Finder". 8 months seems like a lot more work this time around!

Alina is working hard to stand, get around, and get her way! It is adorable actually! She completely fascinates me in all new ways, like having a child for the first time did. Not too long ago, Alina was insisting on standing up as soon as possible after she was put down. Then, she could not get herself down (or she didn't want to) and if she couldn't go anywhere, she would just stand there frustrated and cry. Thankfully, this phase didn't last too long. She can now slowly lower then plop herself down to the floor as needed to change perspective. She can easily walk around furniture and cruise from one thing to another. So young!

She is eating solid foods - but I wouldn't say she loves them. She seems to want to go straight for the food we are eating and so since she is barely 8 months old, it seems a long ways away from her getting her wish. She is not gagging, refusing or struggling with textures at all like Quentin did. We don't really know what to do with that. We may get to do things that we never got to do with Quentin, like feed her pasta, rice, soup, and vegetables. On the other hand, UNlike Quentin, we may have to teach this one how to read. Quentin just figured it out on his own, but still won't touch rice, pasta, soup and barely can be convinced to eat vegetables.

Quentin is making progress, however, and we am learning more and more strategies to help him with his diagnosis. Quentin was diagnosed a year ago with Asperger's, and even though we really suspected that about 2 years before that, we are really just learning what the syndrome is and what are its common characteristics in specific detail.

Quentin meets at least 90% of the descriptive characterstics of Asperger's every time we read a list of the signs and symptoms or a definition of Asperger's. It is remarkable. I am reading a book called Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood and it is so eerie, it is like he knew my son when writing this book, even though it was published in 1998. We have uncovered each aspect of Quentin one thing at a time through his learning differences schooling, therapy, etc. and I could have read a whole book "about him" before he was even born. It is almost troubling to wonder what is his personality versus the neurological disorder?

The book said one thing incredibly comforting, something I had said and concluded about my son and some of my friend's children have said about their children with special needs or learning differences. It is not uncommon for a child to have to exert so much mental energy to function appropriately in school that their behavior is in fact much worse at home in comparison because they are simply tired of exercising all the expected behavoirs they've been taught. This is "not necessarily an indication of parents being unable to manage their child." (Asperger's Syndrome, Tony Attwood, Chapter 2, pg. 39, Be Aware of Two Characters) It is nice to have the validation that we are not bad parents, and it is nice to know it is a sign that Quentin really is trying hard at school to retain self control and do what is expected.

Many people have asked us if we have watched the TV show "Parenthood". One of the sub-plots is about a family finding out their 3rd grader (at the beginning of the series) has Asperger's. It is very relateable for us, although like we said, we have known for about 3 years that this was likely his ultimate diagnosis and Quentin is only 6 now. I am so grateful we found out when he was so young. As we are learning and as one of the first few episodes explained, it is not something you can cure or "beat". It is something he learns to live with and we will always be working on. It is very humbling to know that we have been blessed to have the right doctors, therapists, resources and treatments available to us so we can stay on top of things. As Quentin gets older and his syndrome evolves, we are learning more and more about his remarkable abilities, the battles we can fight, and the depth of creativity we need to help him understand what it takes to function in our society. We love every bit of him, but we have to prepare him that other people can be mean and will not think good things about all the things he does that are the deep traits of the disorder. It has been and will be a lot of work.

The saddest thing to learn is that although he can learn what is proper to do, he can spend the rest of his life doing what is expected, he may never feel like much of what he does socially is natural. He can do something "right" over and over but never understand why he has to do it that way.

Sorry for the boring post, how about a picture post to come next? We'll get on that ASAP. Pictures coming soon!

We've got a crawler!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000

About 4 days ago, it became "official" in my mind. She is crawling! Alina is so determined to grow up to quickly it is actually upsetting! She is already protesting sitting on her bottom and wants to pull herself up and cruise. Seriously? Could you at least crawl for a week my sweetheart? I am not ready for this!

We are experiencing all kinds of ~~fun~~ trouble. Currently she seems to be attracted to all strangulation hazards, jewelry, shoes, paper, magazines and especially my keys. She is quite the determined little lady! I am certainly enjoying her - some days I literally can't stop kissing her! She is so good natured and captures everyone's attention with her beaming smile and enchanting eyes. What a blessing!

She has started down the road of exploring solid foods, but neither of us are too crazy about it. She is still nursing exclusively and I'm sure in the next few months several more things will really take off!

First Soccer Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Quentin had his first team sports experience this spring. At Quentin's school, The Parish School, the children have some kind of language or learning difference. The kids have all different diagnoses, but many of them come with physical developmental delays that present themselves as difficulty with fine and gross motor skills, general coordination issues, etc.

Unofficially, some parents got together a few years ago and started TPS Soccer, which permitted any child to play soccer for 6 Saturdays on a different kind of team. It is not competitive in the least, and it is a nice, safe place to introduce these children to a team sport.

Quentin picked up on the game very quickly. He only played 4 times total, and did a fabulous job. See the pictures below and video clip of Quentin playing soccer.

Awesome Acorns and The Might Oaks (team names derived from school mascot)

Quentin and friend celebrating their first trophies

Showing off his soccer tattoo

Happy 6 Months Alina!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:39:00 +0000

Happy 6 Months Alina! It has gone so fast, and we are so pleased with the addition of our little girl to our family. Alina is progressing and growing and changing all the time! Here are some highlights:

1. She rolled over for the first time around Christmas in Denver. She now insists that she flip flops about every 10 seconds. It seems effortless and she is very skilled picking up toys and playing with them with both her hands AND her feet!

2. She learned to sit up by herself over Spring Break. She is doing it for longer and longer each day without falling over!

3. She is almost 18 lbs, but who's counting? She has doubled her birthweight and has the traditional chunky legs, kissable cheeks, and pinchable everything!

4. She still has red hair, but it is lightening up all the time. She may end up a blonde child, or she could have beautiful red hair like her aunt Kristen. We'll see.....

5. She still has big, beautiful blue eyes surrounded by long lashes. Everyone seems to notice.

6. She still just smiles, and smiles, and smiles. People ask me at least a few times a week "Is she always this happy?" and I am proud to say "She is!".

7. She sleeps. Unfortunately, she does get hungry after about 6-7 hours max now, but that is probably because we are still just breastfeeding. I am not ready for solid foods yet (and she doesn't appear to be ready to take them from me anyway). What's the hurry?

8. She is loved! She is daddy's little girl, a momma who can hardly stand to be apart from her, and she has a big brother who is so sweet and loving with her, right up until he lets her suck his toes (ok, that only happened once). But other than that, we are all whipped, and whipped good!

9. She takes a bottle of pumped milk when needed, because she can be left occasionally with Daddy, friends or Madison. Madison is our long time babysitter and Alina lights up around her just like family. I wish all my family lived close enough for that :(

10. She is a MASTER maneuver-er in the walker, and she is army crawling and can just about get anywhere she wants, even though she is not doing the traditional "crawl" yet. She is constantly playing on her tummy and resting on her side, half propped up with her arms. She can get up on all fours and rocks back and forth, so I think she will be crawling before the end of April.

She's so good natured and pleasant, but most important, she is healthy and happy! We have been so blessed to have her in our family!

Long Term Survivor!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Quentin is officially a long term survivor!! We had our first long term survivor visit a week ago, and it will be different not seeing our usual oncologist every time, but she stopped by and said hi anyway. We go to the same clinic floor and office at Texas Children's, but we saw a different doctor who specializes in watching patients after their treatment and looking for late effects from chemotherapy and possibly enrolling kids in clinical studies of their long term survival.

It went pretty well! We asked a lot of questions about what to be watching for, his dental complications from the chemo, sensitivity to the sun, and his schooling and occupational therapy needs. In so many ways I feel like cancer is way behind us but perhaps it is just because what we do (special schools, therapy, medications and/or supplements) is just normal life now.

We had bloodwork done and Quentin's annual EKG and Echocardiagram to check his heart function. It is still beating strong and they are just making sure the function doesn't weaken over time post chemo. Quentin very much hates to get his bloodwork done now. We can't convince him that he never cried at needles when he was a baby, he just does not want to do it. They had to stick him twice for the first time because I think his anxiety and struggle made the first vein blow. It also severely impaired our chances of letting the dentist look in his mouth a few days later because he was convinced they had needles too.

Thankfully we won't have to do bloodwork for 6 more months. We will sneak back in and see our regular oncologist around October, then back to the long care survivor specialist next March! All the bloodwork came back and the doctor called to follow up! Everything looks great and we will do everything we can and pray that it stays that way.

Why is 2012 Flying By So Fast?

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:35:00 +0000

So much for posting more often! I think this post will be a downer if I go into all the ways I feel overwhelmed and inadequate, so we will just move on ASAP.

I can't believe 2012 is already 2 months gone! Alina just turned 5 months old officially on Leap Year Day! She is still sweet and strong, the first two words that always come to mind when I think of her. She is also about 17.5 pounds so I am starting to think - "wow, my back is sore", "when did she get this heavy?" and "well, she's too tall for that outfit", etc. She is cruising right a long, still nursing full time and still a very go-with-the-flow baby. I really needed one of those!

She is rolling around in all directions, cruising around in her walker, laughing, smiling, and playing on her tummy all day long. She can nearly sit up on her own, too! She is not sleeping more than 6 hours at a time, however, because the breastmilk isn't quite enough for overnight anymore (she has just doubled her birthweight, so this is common). If I can get organized, I will start her on solid foods soon, but she still sleeps so well, I don't really mind it as long as it only temporary. The time of night she gets up varies and depends on what time I put her down. I was hoping to wait until she was at least 6 months old to start solid foods, so we'll see if we make it until April or not.

Quentin is also doing well. He had a great progress report at school showing us that he is doing well academically and seems to be enjoying writing, art and creativity more than he ever has. For him, I am very pleased to see growing willingness in these areas, but it is not where he excels. He is still such a great reader and is starting to replace other activities with books and reading. Don't get me wrong, he will still play a video game any time we let him, but he has accepted that we will rarely tell him to stop reading so it is a nice compromise between parent and child to have an activity that doesn't result in us telling him to stop doing something he wants to be doing. We are all happier then!

Quentin has also started a VERY informal soccer experience at his school. It is just a few Saturdays of practice and games, but he seems to enjoy it and has done pretty well considering it is his first experience. We are taking a break from swimming lessons because as busy as January and February were, March is going to be worse, so we are keeping it as simple as we can. He still goes to occupational therapy once a week and he loves it EXCEPT when I send him foods he won't usually eat because he is so picky. The therapist tries to get him to eat a certain number of bites as one of his activities with her.

The first few times he ate the food like it was any other snack, and it wasn't much of a challenge even though he will tell ME that he won't eat them. For example, apple slices with the skin on them, carrots and ranch dressing, rice pudding (because of the rice), etc. Things got more difficult for him with the macaroni and cheese. He goes back and forth between liking it and hating it because of the pasta. I may have the only 6 year old who has never had spaghetti. We are moving in that direction - trying to get him to eat spaghetti - not because I insist that it become a major part of his diet, but because it represents picky-ness over food he should like based on all information we have. He likes pizza, mac and cheese sometimes, ketchup, meatballs, etc. yet he won't try spaghetti. We know he has had texture/sensory issues with food in the past, but he is mostly past that now and it's mostly behavioral at this point. When he does consent to bites of some foods he finds undesirable he is still prone to gagging very slightly or just keeping the food in his mouth and not chewing and swallowing normally.

I know many children are picky and they have their favorites, love them or hate them, just take a moment to be thankful for having many levels of improvement over our situation. Then again, Quentin has more than 3 or 4 foods he will eat, so I have much to be grateful for too, because some unfortunate parents have a real nutrition issue on their hands with their ultimate picky eaters.

We have grandparents visiting this month, spring break, testing at a new school for Quentin for next year (if we get accepted), and Quentin's first long term survivor appointment at Texas Children's Hospital. It will be another busy March for us and the year will keep flying by!

4 months already!

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:54:00 +0000

The mark Alina is making on our family is starting to get deeper by the day. We are all completely in love with her, but she is really starting to turn the house upsidedown! She is just past 4 months old. At her last doctor's appointment (2 month checkup) the doctor was having me watch her eye tracking so that she could do it by 3 months. She started doing that within a week, thankfully. Then, we just had her 4 month appointment and I was able to report she was rolling over but not consistently. In just 3 days since that appointment, that has changed VERY dramatically. Alina now hardly lays on her back anymore! She flops over to her tummy almost immediately. Yes, I realize this means I will have an early crawler. I'm just thrilled. I am no where near ready for this - because even though she isn't crawling, she is rolling around to the point where I have to baby proof a larger and larger perimiter for her every day. She doesn't even mind being on her tummy, most of the time, but if you can picture the exasperated belly flop of an overtired infant on her stomach with a pathetic, whiney cry to accompany the body language, she is not always happy to be on the floor. So, she still gets cuddled, put in the swing, up in the high chair with us, and out and about as we try and keep up with our busy schedule.

Speaking of a busy schedule, we had a crazy January, one of the busiest I've had in a long time. On January 9th, we experienced some drastic rainfall in a short period of time in the Houston area, and nearby a tornado acutally touched down. Unfortunately, I was on my way to a dentist appointment and got caught in some rapidly rising waters. We ended up with flood damage to our car (along with many others throughout the city). We recently got the car back and all is well (and covered by insurance, thankfully). We also happen to know several families who are expecting a baby in the next month, and one already had hers come a month early! I have been to 4 baby showers in the past couple weeks and still have 5 friends due by the middle of March! I hosted one of the baby showers only a week and a half ago, and my house has become such a diasaster zone since then it's a miracle I even had it cleaned up for the event.

Quentin couldn't be more cute with his sister. He is starting to go over and help her "stop crying" without being asked. He played so much with her today after we pulled out all of his old baby toys. I am so glad he has this chance to be a big brother. He often wants her to sleep with him, and asks to be with her (but usually when she is sleeping, of course!). Aside from the rolling over, Alina is also doing a "sit up" where she raises her head and shoulders off the ground. She also, like all babies, sits with her legs straight up in the air quite a bit. She is starting to really hold onto and play/entertain herself with toys. She is also giggling and making lots of cute noises. She also does the thing where when you lean close enough, she opens up her mouth really wide like she is about to give big, open mouth kisses! She is charming, just adorable and we get asked a lot how old she is and told how cute she is by people we don't know.

Alina is truly thriving, both physically and developmentally. Yep - all 15 lbs 10 oz. of her! She is so strong and good sized, the doctor looked at me carefully again when she asked to make sure I was only feeding her on demand (versus a schedule). Really, with a baby who has been sleeping though the night since she was 6 weeks old with almost no exception, do you really think we would try and impose a schedule on her that is different than what she is doing herself? I don't think so. We were just blessed with the most easy going, happy and well rested big, strong baby!

And those smiles....I just can't get enough of how happy this child is. I will be crushed if that doesn't last. I just think she has brightened my day so many times in the last few weeks when I really needed it that I don't know what I would do without her. I also started working again, a very little bit, from home. She is going to make this much more difficult than Quentin did, I can tell!

I will post some pictures of her latest "positions" to demonstrate her latest strength. I am sure I am forgetting a few of the things I meant to update with, but I guess that means I will have to start blogging more than once a month!

(And don't worry, I do take pictures with Daddy, they will be posted soon in a different post)

Has it been 3 months?

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:19:00 +0000

Wow, things have been busy and crazy and wonderful since Alina was born! I can't believe it has already been 3 months! I felt a strong need to document a few things about this adorable child and get it saved before the precious memories slip my baby brain.

Alina has been a real sweetheart from day 1. We had a wonderful all natural delivery (see Alina's Birth Story) and proceeded home from the hospital with relatively few complications. As it turns out I was group B strep positive, which many women are, and didn't know it nor was there time to treat it anyway, so it required an extra 24 hours of observation for the baby's sake. I guess that was better than unnecessary anti-biotic treatments (because she did not catch an infection) and we had full insurance coverage for the hospital stay. We had a bit of a time deciding on her name, but it has finally caught on and it is growing on me by the day.

She slept and nursed quite well in the hospital and it wasn't just beginner's luck. Alina has been sleeping through the night - 10 hours on average now, since 5-6 weeks. She wakes up sometime between 7:30am and 9am, nurses and then goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. I am the luckiest mom on the planet! She is a little more petite than Quentin was, but she is not small to say the least! She was born almost 9 lbs. and is just cruising up the growth charts at a healthy pace.

We have had a few minor blips, but nothing serious. Alina had a tongue tie that we had an ENT doctor clip. That just means the "skin" that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth was connected all the way to the tip of her tongue making it hard for her to stick her tongue out and could cause speech issues later on. It didn't affect her nursing, but we had it clipped anyway. She did not cry much and thankfully I didn't either.

Another strange incident was she had a little bit of green poop. I had to google this one...I spoke with Alina's doctor about it as well and there was unlikely any serious reason for it, I tried a few things and eventually it went away. My doctor sometimes forgets this is my second child and perhaps doesn't realize how much I went through with my first, so she thinks I have to be seen for every little thing like a paranoid new mom. I am paranoid about some things (with good reason), but green poop isn't one of them.

She has so many similar expressions and tendencies as Quentin. I am not sure how many of them are common to all newborns, or just mine, but they sure are cute. When she has been sitting or sleeping for a long time and I go to pick her up, she does this cute thing where she puts her elbows out and sticks her butt way out at the same time, like she was stuck in the sitting position. This is hard for me to capture in a picture since it usually only happens when I am the one picking her up.

She also is balling her fists in such a cute way, it is like she is punching the air and stiffens her arms. Darling!

She also has the funny drunk like expression after nursing sometimes, and she literally can smack her lips in satisfaction. It is so funny! She can also burp-with-the-boys as far as I'm concerned. She thankfully does NOT spit up often and does not drool often either, so my whole laundry situation has been much different this time around. However, we just started having blow out diapers where it goes up the back and requires an outfit change. I am not thrilled with this stage and can't remember how long it lasts.

She is cooing and smiling and started doing that much earlier than I expected. I have also been working with her on tracking with her eyes, which is following an object around smoothly as it is moved in front of her. I wish she were better at this, I would be less worried, but it is there and she is capable of it. The doctor told me that she needs to be doing it well by 3 months, so I may call and discuss this with her since it isn't a fantastic skill yet and after Quentin's issues we are watching this particular skill closely.

By the way, did I mention that she has SOMEONE wrapped around her little finger?

She surprised us in Denver over the holidays that she rolled over from front to back and from back to front once. She is not doing it regularly, but I was not kidding when I said she is strong. She is constantly trying to stand with her legs and push off with them to avoid being "sat". She was not quite 3 months!

She loves the swing and has more recently enjoyed sitting under her activity mat and batting at the hanging toys. She can grip things pretty well and will certainly start "playing" with things soon. I am going to have to do some research on what signs I should look for that she is ready for solid foods, since I don't intend to rush it. Her doctor has commented several times that because she is not fussy, has gained so much weight and sleeps so well and consistently, I must make really good milk. I know she has been "early" on many of her milestones already, but I am trying to approach new things for her on the most natural timeline and not Gerber's timeline.

Quentin has been the best big brother and I couldn't ask for anything better considering their 6 year age difference. He is so sweet and loves her so much! He mimics my tone of voice and speaks nicely to her, puts his head really close to hers and asks me to take pictures of them, and kisses and hugs her. He even puts himself under the activity mat too and will ask to hold her (using my boppy pillow). He helps get her pacifier when needed and does everything EXCEPT listen to me when I ask him to be a little more quiet around her when she is sleeping or resting. It could be worse.

She still has dark reddish hair and blue eyes, so we'll enjoy watching it grow longer and possibly change into a more permanent shade of whatever! She has a very light whitish blonde streak on the side of her head that is probably a hair birthmark and will probably always be different from the rest of her hair color. There is also a small patch of lighter red hear right across her forehead, so she could have natural highlighting that most people have to pay big bucks for!

She was born on the same day as a cousin who was born only 14 hours later, so they met for the first time over the Christmas holiday. She was also able to meet the rest of her immediate family so everyone on both sides of the family have now met our Alina! It has been a wonderful 3 months and I will try and update more often!

Pictures of Alina (First Week)

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Click here to view these pictures larger

Pictures of Alina (Hospital)

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:50:00 +0000

Click here to view these pictures larger

Alina's Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Martino Family) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:11:00 +0000

Alina’s birth story really starts back to some point in time after the birth of our first child, Quentin, and the moment I found out I was pregnant. I have changed my perspective on everything health and nutrition related since our son was diagnosed with Leukemia and Asperger’s Syndrome. We have embraced many forms of intervention for our son to get him in the excellent place he is today. Many of those interventions have to do with understanding our bodies and how they work, and more importantly understanding how our current environment and common practices in medicine and nutrition are affecting our health. I know not everyone would agree with me, but approaching our son’s treatment and recovery with this philosophy has improved the outlook of his life in so many ways I will never be able to deny the effect taking care of our bodies naturally can have on our health. Going into a pregnancy with another child, you can bet I recognized the opportunity for a “blank slate” to apply the things about health and nutrition I had learned to bring our next child into the world.

So, it would not surprise anyone who knows me now that I was hoping for a natural childbirth, meaning completely non-medicated unless it was a true, life threatening emergency. And, anyone who knows me, would also not be surprised that I read 3 books about natural childbirth and enlisted the help of an experienced friend (I considered her my birth coach) to prepare me for bringing this child into the world “my way”, which is not my way at all, but the way our bodies are naturally designed to give birth.

What I learned as I read and discussed with my birth coach is that it is very difficult to work against the modern system of prenatal care and typical hospital births. My doctor told me 90% of his patients had epidurals for childbirth and most receive pitocin through an IV. He only has about 20% c-sections, but for an obstetrician in 2011, this is actually pretty low. My first birth was vaginal but induced and with an epidural. Everything went very well having my first baby, and considering that I had no specific birth plan back then except to avoid c-section if possible, I couldn’t have asked for a better delivery. This time around if I wanted to have an non-medicated childbirth I knew I would first have to avoid induction, and then work to decline the standard practices of giving pain relieving narcotics, pitocin and other drugs, episiotomies and of course anesthesia. To be honest, I was more worried about fighting doctors and nurses “standard care” than the actual pain of childbirth.

So, by Wednesday September 28th, I was 40 weeks and 4 days overdue and completely panicked about being induced, because my doctor was only going to allow me to go one week overdue before scheduling an induction. He was supportive of natural childbirth if all the conditions were still favorable, but he did not want me to go past 41 weeks. I had an appointment with the doctor Wednesday morning and I had absolutely no contractions and I was not dilated at all. Everyone talks about how your second comes quicker and the fact is, there is nothing that is true for everyone. I was pretty sure as I left the doctor’s office on Wednesday that I would end up being induced the following week. Since the thought of being induced upset me so much, I admit I tried a few of the do-it-yourself labor starting techniques, and although that could be a separate story in and of itself (if I could determine if any of them actually worked), let’s just skip to the labor starting around dinner time Wednesday evening.

I was starting to feel crampy and decided after dinner to take a bath. That helped with the cramping and I proceeded to wind down for the evening and went up to our guest room to sleep, where I had been sleeping late in the pregnancy to spare my husband the tossing and turning and multiple trips to the bathroom common at this stage. I had a bit of heartburn as I usually did making it even more difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep, but more unusual were the sharper pains in my back I was starting to feel. Only able to get about 20-30 minutes of sleep at a time, I finally defined what I was feeling as back labor, but I was not sure if this was “it”. I had hoped I would never be a person who would have back labor because it seemed like when other women told me they had it, they described it as worse than “regular” labor. I started to experience true back labor contractions (meaning I didn’t feel anything across my stomach) on and off all night long. At one point I got up and watched a bit of a movie, read and commented on Facebook and sent a fairly long email to my birth coach with the details about the night, because at this point I was pretty sure my baby would be born on Thursday.

I should have actually called my birth coach, in the middle of the night, because I ended up doing all my laboring by myself including counter pressure on my back to relieve the pain of the contractions. In my husband's defense, I did not wake him up to help me through labor at all, he was very disoriented I'm sure waking up to the situation the way it was. It would have been nicer to have help, but I was doing okay holding my own and applying pressure as they got worse. I was thinking that either my husband or my friend could help me in the morning. However, by around 5am, I was ready for some help or relief. I went downstairs to get in a hot shower, hoping, like the bath the night before, that water would provide some relief. As long as I didn’t move too much in the shower, it did provide relief and there was a good stretch of time without contractions, again all in the back. At this point I had no reason to doubt we would get to the hospital in time if my contractions could be stopped with a shower. Oh, how wrong I was. That was the calm before the storm.

I got out of the shower and within minutes I was having pretty intense back contractions only a few minutes apart. This woke up Ryan (my cries of pain) and I told him we needed to call the doctor’s answering service, the birth coach, the babysitter for Quentin, and get to the hospital. Within 20 minutes we left for the hospital at about 6:15am. Since it was still pretty early, we didn’t have any issues with rush hour traffic, especially going the direction we were going, and we made it just before 6:30. Since it was still “after hours” at this hospital, we had to enter through the ER. Before getting to the door I had another contraction and was clinging to Ryan pretty desperately. A security guard offered to get a wheelchair, and during a quick stop at the check in desk, my water broke and they had me going up to Labor and Delivery with surprising efficiency. Thank goodness I pre-registered.

On the Labor and Delivery floor (which I was very familiar with having visited multiple friends there, been monitored once during pregnancy, and gone on the formal maternity tour), they attempted to put me into a triage room, where I knew they were planning on “checking” me first to assess my progress and follow up with the doctor before moving me. I knew there was not time for that, so as politely as I could, I told them if they put me in a triage room that would be where I would be delivering. I’m glad they listened to me. The floor was full, meaning every regular room was occupied, and they only had a smaller room typically not used for deliveries, but it was much better equipped than the triage room.

After getting into the hospital gown and on the bed, I was checked and determined to be completely dilated. According to their typical protocol, the doctor himself had not been notified, just the answering service. The hospital is supposed to contact him AFTER I’ve been assessed. So, I knew about then he was going to miss the birth. My birth coach was on her way as well but would likely miss it too since her drive was more than twice as long as ours, and clearly we didn’t leave much time for anyone to get there. Approaching the 7am hour, it was also shift change for the nurses. Let’s just say it was a drastic awakening for everyone!

The strange thing is, I remember the intense contractions at home after my shower, I remember the contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, I remember having a contraction in the parking lot, but I don’t remember having them clearly after my water broke. Ryan actually had to leave the room to go back to the car to get the cord blood collection kit, and I remember trying and hoping I wouldn’t deliver the baby until he got back. I was also realizing that I didn’t know who was going to deliver the baby or tell me when and how to push if my doctor and birth coach weren’t here yet. As soon as Ryan was back and I verified that I was dialated enough to push, I just did it, and all at once (in one push) Alina was born at 6:49am. We had been inside the hospital less than 20 minutes and a nurse had to “catch” the baby. It was an amazing relief and in retrospect it was not as bad as my worst fear of the pain. I did it and it was awesome.

The most important things are 1) that we made it to the hospital in time, 2) that everything was okay with the baby, 3) that a nurse knew how to collect the cord blood, and 4) that I had made it through the entire labor and delivery without any medications like I wanted and without staff confrontation. They never even got the required IV in me. My doctor arrived shortly afterwards as did my birth coach and she was able to celebrate the euphoria of childbirth and the accomplishment it was and of course, see the precious baby girl.

What I didn’t expect was having ALL of my labor in my back all the way until the end. Everyone said that the second one could come really fast after the first, but I didn’t know how to measure what “fast” would be comparing a medicated/induced first baby to a non-medicated second baby where I actually went into labor on my own. I had studied the stages of labor but had a harder time recognizing them than I expected. I also didn’t expect that the answering service for the doctor would not have asked for enough information to see if the doctor should wait for a call from the hospital or meet us there. Granted, most people don’t cut it as close as we did, but the doctor missing the delivery was what resulted from not having a few bits of key information when we called from home.

If I were ever to have any other children, I would certainly do a non-medicated childbirth again if I had the choice. I would also probably be a little better at recognizing the right time to go the hospital. I can also say that my own physical recovery has been so, so much better than after having my first baby, even though I thought that recovery went pretty well. Just for emphasis, I am going to repeat myself. My own recovery was so much better without any drugs being involved and I would definitely do it again.

A little bit harder than deciding when to go to the hospital was deciding what name to give her. We finally decided on Alina Rachel Martino, born in Sugar Land, TX at 6:49am weighing 8 lbs. and 14 oz. and measuring 20 inches long. We are very happy with how her birth went and we are even more happy to have her in our family!