Sienna Laine Martens!

This is Kurt posting for the first time... wanted to let everyone know that we are all settled in at home after a few days at the hospital. Sienna had a bit of a rough start as she swallowed some fluid and had the cord wrapped around her neck upon her grand entrance to the world. As a result, she spent the first few days in the NICU as they observed her and monitored her vitals. It was hard seeing her hooked up to various wires from the outset, but she came around quickly and was released to our room on Saturday afternoon. Sienna weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.25 inches long. Now that we are at home, Kazzye, Sienna, Stella and myself are doing great and getting adjusted to our new schedule and daily events. I am taking the next few days off from work to ease in to life as a new parent. Sienna is such a blessing and we enjoy staring at her, observing her many features and movements. So far we're covered some of the basics that we expected - middle-of-the-night crying, HUGE diaper blowouts, and puke. I'm sure there is PLENTY more to experience along the way. Stella has adjusted quite well - she really likes Sienna and would LOVE to lick her entire face, but she's been instructed to keep her distance for now. She's a great companion in the nursery though, and keeps a careful eye on Sienna as she gets fed, burped, and changed. Thanks to all for your well wishes, and we'll continue to provide updates as we begin this new journey...

A new arrival!!!

Very early this morning at 2:45am we welcomed our little girl into the world!! Her name is Sienna Laine Martens and she is the spitting image of her daddy! I was in labor for 13 hours or so and she weighed only 7 pounds 8 ounces- amazing given the fact I was a 9 pound baby and Kurt was 10 pounds 4 ounces! Pictures to follow a little later when we can get them uploaded.

7 Things You Never Knew

Staci tagged me with the task of revealing the "7 Things You Never Knew" about me. Some of these may surprise you and others may not! :)

1. I used to work for the CIA...
In college I interned with the CIA in Washington, DC. I had to clear a background check and a polygraph test in order to do this. I was lucky to have done it before 9/11 because after that they quit letting interns have access to Top Secret stuff. I decided to return home and go to law school even though I could have gone back to work there!

2. Kurt and I met in the bathroom line at a party! I was actually there with another guy and he says he had to hit the keg multiple times in order to come talk to me! He then proceeded to try to kiss me after just meeting me in the bathroom line! Talk about love at first site- haha! Sorry honey- hope you don't kill me for that!

3. My name comes from a pro-basketball player from the 70's- Cazzie Russell. His was spelled a little different as you can see. My Mom only agreed to the name my Dad wanted on one condition- that it end in "ye" like her name does since she's Bettye with a "ye".

4. I have probably owned over 100 pets in my life! Our house was like a zoo growing up- we had guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, mice, hamsters, rabbits, sheep, hermit crabs, fish, dogs, cats, lizards, and even something really gross called meal worms which I now have no idea why! This probably explains why I literally cannot exist with only one pet now...I have been pushing Kurt for another dog even though we're about to have a newborn!

5. I am a total clothes (and shoe!) horse...this probably actually won't surprise many of you who know me... I am not kidding when I say that I probably own around 100 pair of shoes and have hauled them all across the country! Oh, and of course now none of them fit since I'm pregnant!!!

6. My favorite places in the whole world are tropical. Growing up we went on vacation almost every summer and it was almost always to a tropical place. I have been to Hawaii twice, the Bahamas twice, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Miami, Mexico and the Florida Keys. In fact, I'm feeling a little deprived...haven't been on a vacation like this since we started moving around the country a year and a half ago! I did get to live in Santa Barbara though, so I shouldn't complain!!

7. I was somewhat of a mammoth in school! Up through the 7th or 8th grade I was taller than all the boys (and the girls too!)! That made me great at sports, but unfortunately didn't help much in the dating department!! Not to mention I had a Dad who was superintendent- they were really afraid to ask me out!! I'm afraid our daughter is doomed considering my history and the fact that Kurt is 6'5"!!

Okay, so now it's your turn Kate, Julie and Christa!! You've been tagged!

A little bit of everything...

Stella loves to snuggle up to the belly- it's so cute- I swear dogs can sense things!



We took these pics at the park near our house right before we left SB....An ode to our beautiful former home and all the people suffering through the raging wildfires there right now...


Last week we snuck in a dinner with Chris and Robin amidst all the craziness of moving in, preparing for baby, etc. We were afraid if we didn't see them that week we might not see Robin until after the baby! This pic's for you Robin since you said you didn't have many of your pregnancy and the belly!

Pregnant Pics

Kurt and I decided the perfect way to capture both Santa Barbara and my prego belly would be to have a professional photographer take some pics before we left! These pics were taken at about 34 weeks prego. Some are at our house there, some at the church across from our house, and some on the beach! Here are some of our favorites!

Oh, and by the way- we are officially Frisco residents now! We got mostly moved in this weekend and I had my first Dr. appointment here last week. Now we just have to start getting that baby room ready!!

Movin' on up...

Well, the time has finally come for us to leave our beautiful SB! In fact the movers are here packing our stuff up as I type this! They are packing us up today and moving everything out tomorrow. Thursday Kurt's office is giving us a baby shower at lunchtime. Thursday evening after Kurt gets off work we will drive to Palm Springs and spend the night, then continue driving for a couple of days to Dallas! We made time this past weekend to get in a few of our "favorites" here in SB....like a trip to Cajun Kitchen for breakfast, a stroll to some of our favorite shops on State Street for Christmas presents, and a trip to the beach on Sunday! The weather here is still in the 70's most days, so we will definitely miss that when we leave- I hear it has been pretty chilly in TX the last few nights! We are excited to get moved into our new place in Frisco though and get ready for baby girl's arrival! We know we will return to SB one day to show our daughter where she lived before she was born!

Our next move is to...

Dallas!! Or Frisco is actually more correct! Last weekend we took our house hunting trip to Texas to look for a place to rent for 9 months. This will be Kurt's last rotation and hopefully we will be staying in the Dallas area after that, but we are renting just in case! We found a beautiful 1 story house in Frisco (Kurt is actually working in McKinney but we wanted to be closer to all the fun stuff nearby in Frisco) that is on a pond and golf course. So Kurt can't ever say his dreams of living on a golf course were never fulfilled- Hah! We leave SB at the end of October to drive back to TX! These next few weeks are going to fly by for us! Have to get in that one last trip to the beach!!

Oh, while in TX we also finally were able to buy some baby furniture!! We got it at Lonestar Baby and it's called the Munire "Deco" pattern in espresso. Baby girl will be all set up in her nursery...now if only we can finally buy ourselves some real bedroom furniture!!

And a couple of the guys...

I wanted to post these pics the other day, but didn't have enough room! Here's a couple of the guys at our Austin shower- good lookin' group!

Whirlwind Week!

I headed to Friendswood about a week and a half ago and directly into all the hurricane mess! We had two baby showers planned and I had to attend a CLE class in Houston the next week. The baby showers went surprisingly well considering the circumstances and the hostesses did such a lovely job with everything- especially considering half the town was still without power! My parents power finally came back on two nights before I had to leave (out a total of 12 days and cable is still out!). Susan's parents, Russell and Eva, who have always been like family to us were kind enough to take me in so I could sleep in air conditioning! It was an interesting visit to say the least! I was thoroughly impressed with the way the community has pulled together to help friends and neighbors through the aftermath however!

So last Friday my Mom drove me to Austin so I could meet up with Kurt for ACL Fest and a baby shower our friends were throwing there. We had an awesome time in Austin eating at our favorite places, seeing some of our favorite people, and just generally being back in our old stomping grounds! Thanks so much to Jess for hosting us for the weekend (and even giving up her bed to the preggo chick!) and to Darri, Lacey and Julie for such a wonderful couples shower! We enjoyed it so much! ACL was pretty fantastic this year since the weather was generally cooler than in past years! We made it out all three days for the late afternoon/evening shows. Foo Fighters definitley rocked the house and was our favorite. Yesterday we flew back into SB (on the hottest plane ride I have ever experienced- probably thanks in part to changing planes in Phoenix!). We had our first celeb sighting on the plane ride. Jeff Bridges (who many of you will recognize from lots of movies including Seabiscuit, The Big Lebowski, Iron Man) was on our plane and we didn't actually realize it until we were waiting for our bag! I looked over at him and told Kurt, "That guy sure looks a lot like Jeff Bridges- couldn't be him right?" Finally we saw the girl who sat next to him on the plane go over and take a picture with him and we figured it had to be true! Kurt was so embarassed that I dragged him over to ask for a picture too, but Jeff was very nice to us and apparently has a house in SB! Anyway- made our night to meet him and sort of cracked us up that movie stars have to ride in on the regular puddle jumper in the sweltering heat just like us (no first class into this town)!

Ike Aftermath

When Ike whipped through the Galveston/Houston area early Saturday morning it left quite a mess in its wake. My parents were left with downed fences and trees. They had a neighbor's tree fall on the corner of their house with what they think is some minor damage. Also had a tree completely uproot and land on top of their carport- the carport luckily sustained no damage at all! Their garden shed was also smashed when a tree fell into it. We feel very lucky that nobody was hurt and all friends in town also seem to be fine. Electricity to their house still is not on, so please pray that will be up and running soon! Quite a few others around Friendswood seem to be starting to get power back, so hopefully it will not be too long! My parents are very thankful to have so many wonderful friends and neighbors who have shared power from their generators with them (to charge their phone and to plug in their freezer).

I feel pretty helpless out here in CA, as you can imagine. It seems very strange to me that life around me in Santa Barbara is going about it's usual course, when my heart is in TX where so many are affected. I am supposed to fly into Houston on Friday for two baby showers this next weekend. Please say a prayer that the power will come back on around town and we will be able to have the showers and I will still be able to get back home...

The Big 3-0!

So yesterday marked a milestone for my life- I turned 30! Hard to believe since I sometimes still feel like a teenager! It was a good day though, as we have so much to look forward to this year! Kurt started off the day with a cute card that informed me that I was to keep my new iPhone (part of my present) close by me all day to receive further instructions. Throughout the day he kept texting me these clues that all led up to dinner on the beach at sunset last night! He was so cute, he had gone and gotten takeout from The Boathouse (this cool restaurant that just opened up on our favorite beach here) and had a blanket and everything laid out. It was nice that it was a Wednesday night because there were hardly any other people on the beach with us. He also gave me a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses I had been lusting after- to shield my eyes from the sun at sunset! Thanks, honey, for making me feel so special and loved on my birthday! Thanks also to my Mom and Dad who sent me the beautiful bouquet of flowers shown in the pictures above!

On another note, please say some prayers for my parents and the other residents of the Gulf Coast region. Hurricane Ike has turned in the last day and now appears to be going in much closer to Galveston than anticipated. My parents are packing and boarding up to leave town right now, as Friendswood is currently under a voluntary evacuation, but could switch to mandatory later on.

From SB to SD!

We spent Labor Day weekend in San Diego! Kurt had Friday off too, so we made it down to SD on Thursday night. We stayed at the most beautiful hotel, the Estancia La Jolla! I can't even count the weddings we saw there this weekend- beautiful grounds! We spent Friday at the San Diego Zoo. My favorites were probably the pandas since I don't know that I've seen one in a zoo before. Saturday we took a trolley tour of SD that you could hop on and off of to see the sights. Our first stop was the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. Pretty much as soon as we got off the trolley we happened to pass two guys running. Turns out one was Kurt's marketing prof. from UT- how crazy to run into him out in SD! The Midway tour took several hours and we were pretty worn out by the time it was over- but we had so much more to do! We also got off in the Gaslamp Quarter and at Balboa Park. The Gaslamp Quarter was pretty cool with lots of restored restaurants in it- we enjoyed an icecream at Ghirardelli since we were so hot and tired by then! Balboa Park was beautiful and a definite place to go if only for a stroll. At the end of the day the trolley let us off in Old Town and we had some good Mexican food and most importantly fresh tortillas! Yum! Sunday was spent around La Jolla breakfasting, walking by the beach, laying by the pool, and finally a very nice dinner at George's. On Monday we had to drive back, but we drove a stretch of the PCH so I could see Laguna Beach (yes, I know I'm too old to be watching this show!) and Newport Beach. Very fun and pretty beach towns- but not enough time to stop! Oh well, all good things must come to an end, right??

Congrats Susan & Trace!

On Saturday my best friend from growing up, Susan (Ring) Williams and her husband, Trace, welcomed baby Ethan! When I talked to Susan on Sunday she was on cloud 9! We are so excited for them and can't wait for our little girl to meet Ethan!

Our little Hoosier dog...

It was a sad weekend for our little family this weekend. We had to take our little weiner dog, Hoosier, to a rescue organization in LA. He had bitten me pretty badly a couple of months ago and then two weeks ago when I went to pick him up at the kennel they told me he had bitten one of their personnel and would have to be quarantined by animal control for 10 days because of it! That was kind of the last straw for us since he has a history of doing things like this and we can't have that around the baby when she is born. So, we had to make the very difficult decision of giving him up. This was not easy for either of us since I bought Hoosier for Kurt as a birthday/Valentines gift back in college. He has been with us for 8.5 years and so we definitely feel an emptiness in our house now. Please say some prayers for us that we can now have some closure with this, especially Kurt since he spent so many years in Austin before we got married with Hoosier. We have faith that he will find a good "adult only" home- hopefully with people who have had dachshunds before and know what to expect!

From NYC to SB...

My good friend Christina, who actually grew up right around the corner from me, came all the way out from NYC to visit us this weekend! She spent the first part of last week in the San Francisco area, then rented a car and drove down the coast to see us. We had a nice meal out on Friday night at Opal, a cute little place we can actually walk to from our house. On Saturday she got my typical driving tour of SB, then we joined up with Kurt and did the State St. thing. For lunch we were all excited to have some good mexican food (which I'm happy to report closely resembled Tex-Mex for once!)! We ended the day with a stroll on the beach with Stella- she loves to run off leash with the big dogs! So cute! We both really enjoyed our time with Christina! We just always seem to have the best conversations with her and I really enjoy reminiscing about old times since we were best friends back in about the 5th grade!

On another note- WELCOME HOME HONEY!! Kurt was in training last week in LA and it was so lonely around here without him! It feels so good to have him home again!!

Fiesta...forever!

I forgot to post that last week was Fiesta here in SB! This is a big event around here with events starting Wednesday night and continuing through Sunday. You wouldn't believe the amount of confetti eggs being sold on the streets in all different colors and sparkles- so fun and of course we couldn't resist cracking a few on each other! We went down to shop at the vendors (we bought Jumper- that's what Kurt calls her since she always jumps around so much on ultrasounds- a cute little senorita dress), eat some authentic mexican food, and listen to some music! We decided to get Stella a little something to celebrate the occasion too and she was the hit of the party in her sombrero! Ole!

An LA kind of weekend...

Kurt is in training in LA this week, so we decided to go down a day early and see some friends! On Saturday we drove down and checked into our hotel (after about an hour of sitting in LA traffic on the 405!!). Then we headed over to meet one of my best friends from home, Alison Spencer and her hubby Earl at their hotel. Alison had a hookup and got us some awesome Dodgers tickets and a VIP parking pass and everything! We were right in the middle of the 3rd base line about 12 rows up and were able to see Manny Ramirez hit his first homerun as a Dodger! Super cool since we were in Boston last year for the world series. Alison's Mom, Katie, and her stepdad, Bill, were also along for the fun night! We had such a great time hanging out and catching up with them!

On Sunday Kurt and I laid out at the hotel pool for a while, then he had to start his training, so my friend Tracy who lives in LA came to pick me up and we went down to Hermosa Beach to shop! So fun!

Golf, Greek and the Cowboys!

Kurt and I had a busy weekend! Kurt decided we should go down to Oxnard (about 30 minutes down the coast) to check out the Dallas Cowboys training camp. On Saturday we drove down there and did some shopping first (since our shopping opportunities in SB are limited- we don't even have a Target!!). Then headed over to the training camp about 3pm. We don't have any pictures because even though we brought the camera, we forgot the charged battery! Oh well! Guess my picture with Tony Romo will have to wait! On Sunday we headed over to the driving range so Kurt could work on his golf game and I sat and got a tan while he hit some balls. Then we drove over to the Greek Festival that was going on in town and chowed down on some Baklava and Gyros! Probably the best Gyros I've ever had- yum, yum!

It's a...GIRL!!!

We are SO THRILLED!!! Bring on the pink!

Texas girls on the town!

My good friend Darri came to visit several weeks back and I just now got some pics of her visit! Darri and I worked together in Austin and I was so excited she was able to come out and visit since I hadn't seen her in a year! One of the highlights of her trip to SB was the morning the Big Dog Parade marched down State St.! Caesar Millan, better known to animal lovers as The Dog Wisperer, was the grand marshall. We were sad to see Darri go (especially since she probably gets the #1 houseguest award!) but hope her and Danny will be able to make it back to SB sometime in the future!

Hotel Martens...may I take your reservation?

We hosted another group of visitors this weekend- Kurt's parents Murro and Darla. Murro had been to Santa Barbara before for work, but Darla had never visited. They were here for about 5 days, so in addition to showing them the local sites (I think we should just start a tour service!) we also took them out to the wine country. On the drive out we didn't see any signs of the Gap Fire that plagued Santa Barbara in the last few weeks- so that is good news now that it has been put out. While in the wine country we visited Bridlewood Vineyard, the towns of Los Olivos and Solvang and ate steaks at the Hitching Post. If any of you have seen the movie Sideways, the Hitching Post was the restaurant in the movie! The Santa Ynez Valley right outside SB is where the whole movie was filmed. We were sad to see Murro and Darla go since we probably won't see them again for a few months- but it sure was fun while it lasted!