Hello Friends,

It has certainly been a hot and busy start to the summer.  Anders and I have had a wonderful time preparing for Baby Asher!  It has also been a busy time of starting school and seeing friends and family.

In May, my dear friends from high school along with their sweet moms threw a shower to celebrate Baby Asher.  Anders and I were overwhelmed at the generosity of our family and friends.  Asher received many lovely and thoughtful gifts.

We also celebrated Mother's Day by having Anders' family in town.  They were able to come for the shower and then stay through Sunday.  We had a nice lunch at our place and enjoyed hosting everyone.  Anders and Baby Asher gave me a sweet gift!

In June we were able to take a trip with my family to our place down in Panama City.  Despite getting a lot of rain during our time there, we had a great time!  We had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the beach.  Also, we had the opportunity to eat some really yummy seafood at some of our favorite places, The Red Bar, The Great Southern, Bayou Bill's , and The Old Florida Fish House.  

My co-workers also hosted a great lunch shower for us.  We were thrilled to receive one of our car seats!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful co-workers and friends! 

So far July has been HOT!  With temperatures well over 100 degrees, we have been staying inside as much as possible and getting the house ready for little Asher.  Anders has also been very busy working on his masters courses.  He is taking 2 classes this summer that will both wrap up around the beginning of August, which happens to be Mr. Asher's due date.  Anders is really hoping that Asher waits until his due date to arrive, but Mama is hoping that he may come a little sooner.

The pregnancy has been going really well.  We continue to have good check-ups at the doctor, and I continue to feel pretty good (other than being extra sleepy and a little slow-moving).

35 weeks

We cannot wait to meet our little man.  Only a few more weeks!  

Catching Up

Hello Friends!

Anders and I have been busy bees over the last few weeks.  Anders is finishing up a couple of classes at Macon State College so that he can receive tuition assistance to start his masters at Auburn University.  He will either be getting his masters in computer science or software engineering.  Either way we are super excited that he will be getting and advanced degree, and we think that it will open a lot of doors for him professionally.  

I have been busy trying some new recipes.  Anders having class 3 nights a week has given me a little extra time to try out some new things and work on my minimal culinary skills.  Also, we have been busy getting the nursery ready for little Asher.  We are super excited about how things are shaping up, and cannot wait for it to be all set for the little guy to come home.   

Speaking of Little Asher Bug, he is growing and growing, as am I.  He is moving up a storm these days, and I am loving knowing some of what he is up to in there.  We go next week for our next doctor's visit, and we will have another peak at him because he didn't want to show off last time, which means we didn't get all the pictures that we needed.  I'll also have my glucose tolerance test.  So, we are excited to enter the 3rd trimester!

We traveled to St. Augustine this past weekend for my dear friend, Marie's, wedding.  Here are some new pictures of our trip and the baby bump.  

So We Were Wrong...

The last time I blogged I told you guys that we were probably expecting a little girl.  Yep, we were wrong!  We went for our official ultrasound, and we are pretty certain that we are having a little BOY!  Anders and I are thrilled, and the little guy was not shy about showing off his goods.  So without further ado, here is "Asher Aron Martin!"

The little guy was measuring just right for his gestational age and looked good.  We are going to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks because they couldn't see everything they wanted.  So, I guess we get to peek at him again soon.

The name Asher means "happy and blessed" and that is just how Anders and I feel!  It is also the name that I (Carlie) was going to have if I had been a boy.  Aron is Anders' middle name.  We like that little Asher will have his Daddy's initials, and it's a little bit of both of us.  We are so thankful for this blessing and cannot wait to meet him in August!

Update from the Martins

As most of you probably already know, Anders and I are excited to finally announce on the the blog that we are expecting the arrival of our 1st child at the beginning of August!

The picture is at 10ish weeks, but I will be 16 weeks tomorrow.  I'm feeling pretty good.  There were a few weeks of feeling pretty icky and tired, but things are much better now.  We took a sneak peak at Baby Martin's gender, and we are pretty sure it's a Girl!  Although Anders and I didn't really care what gender Baby M turned out to be, we are very excited to welcome a little girl.  Knowing my love of all things girly, one of my high school friends told me, "God knew you needed a little girl."  I think Anders will have a great time with a baby girl and I feel pretty certain she will have him (and probably me) wrapped around her little finger.

I'm glad to finally share this news with you and cannot wait to keep you updated on the nursery progress and other baby related things.

Secondly,  I'm very excited for spring to arrive.  Spring is my favorite time of the year for many reasons like my birthday, warmer weather, flowers, and The Cherry Blossom Festival.  So hopefully, I will have some non-baby related things to talk about.

Thanks for checking in with us!

Long time no see

Hey Friends, I'm back. I have absolutely no good excuse for not writing, except for I just haven't wanted to. We have been having lots of fun in the meantime.


Anders entered his late 20's. To celebrate, we went to Atlanta and had a nice dinner and stayed at the Intercontinental Buckhead. Then on his actual birthday, we met up with his family to celebrate. He was very celebrated and I think is enjoying his late 20's so far.

We tried some new recipes. I'm really loving skinnytaste.com! The above is Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken we LOVE it and it's super easy to make on a busy day.

We celebrated our first anniversary.  The year old cake was surprisingly delicious.  I'm so thankful for Anders and still delighted to be his wife.  

We celebrated by going to Beaver Creek, CO.  Neither of us had ever been to Colorado, so it was a wonderful opportunity to relax, see a new part of the country, and enjoying being together.

Our hotel had a Spago, so we celebrated there on our actual anniversary.  The food was amazing and the company was even better!

The last day there we took the concierge's suggestion and went on a hike.  Now, I should state for the record that neither of us is athletic.  We enjoy being outside and it seemed like a very Colorado thing to do. So after talking it over with our European concierge and being assured that "if her 60-something year-old parents could do it, we would have no problem," we took the hike to Hanging Lake.   The hike nearly killed us, but the view was breath-taking.  We were passed by people caring small children and the elderly, and looking back I should have realized that Europeans are in much better shape than we are, but overall we had a good time and made a memory. 

Whew,  that was a lot for September!  I think I'm going to give October a post of it's own!  It's nice to be back to sharing with y'all.  Here's hoping I can keep it up! 

What we have been up to

Hey Friends, Sorry I've kinda left y'all without a post in a while. We have been busy bees these last couple of weeks! So here's what we've been up to...

We celebrated my brother and sister-in-law's birthdays. Kyle's birthday is at the beginning of the month and Allison's is at the end, so they split the difference and we celebrated in the middle with a delicious brunch at Parish in Inman Park. It was so yummy! We had a wonderful time with everyone, then the Birthday people had to hit the road, so we milled around Virginia Highlands, then headed home. On the way home we stopped at one of my favorite place J Crew Outlet! Hurray for a couple new clothing items for both me and Anders!

Unfortunately, at the end of July we received a call letting us know that Anders' sweet grandfather had passed away. Roscoe, or Papa, was a wonderful and Godly man who passed into eternity praising his Father in heaven and loving his family. What a mark of a life well-lived! Papa was a man of many talents, who had a great love for people. He was funny, a little flirty, and very, very wise. Although we will miss him greatly, it is such a comfort to know that he is at home with his Savior! We celebrated his life last weekend with a sweet funeral service and reception afterward. At both events it was clear to see he had had a great impact on many lives and he will be greatly missed!

Anders and I also had the opportunity to head down to my family's beach house for 4 nights. It was a wonderful time to rest and relax! While we do love hanging out with family and friends, it was really nice after a stressful week for it just to be the 2 of us.

We had a wonderful time and are so thankful to be able to use the beach house. We basically did nothing but lay around, read, and eat delicious seafood. We hit up some of our favorite restaurants, but for me nothing tops The Red Bar's crab cakes and Key lime pie! I think we waited for around 2 hours for a table, but it was well worth the it! We love going down there and can't wait to do it again!
Until next time,
Carlie
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Sunday Breakfasts

When I first got married, I had all these great dreams of getting up early on Sunday mornings and cooking a delicious breakfasts for my husband. Well, the first couple of Sundays came and went with us trying to fulfill my dream and ending up rushed and grumpy as we headed to church. Over time we fine-tuned our Sunday routine to allow for either a quick breakfast standing in the kitchen or a Starbucks run on the way to church.

So, I think that means that I'm probably just too lazy to get up a little earlier than normal. Oh well, we are much happier with our new routine than me being constantly frustrated by the fact that I'm not Susie Homemaker.

This Sunday, Anders I had did have a nice little breakfast made completely of food bought at a local market on Saturday. First, you ought to know that Anders and I are not lovers of health food. We like it alright and know it's good for us, but if we were to be honest we both would rather have doughnuts, candy, and fast-food. However, in light of the fact that we would both like to live to a ripe old age, we are making strides to do better with our eating. So the yummy and not unhealthy meal you see pictured is some-type of homemade, whole grain bread with seeds in it, with locally grown and made peach jelly and a fresh peach. It was delicious and hopefully this is a first step to happy Sunday mornings and a long healthy life.