more memories

as i'm trying to figure out where all this "stuff" is going to fit in our new apartment it has been fun going through bins of memories from my youth.  a lot of what i'm finding is from high school and college.  love notes, regular notes, letters back and forth, random pictures, etc.  it's cracking me up!  above, i filled out this questionairre when i was almost nine years old.  i'm loving the fashion statements that show the period (#4), the wonderful relationship i had with derek at the time (#9) and the clear understanding of what money can buy (#13).  awesome!

kelly hart was one of my best friends in high school.  i have some really great memories with her!  she was one of the sweetest people you'd ever met, but also so fun.  we were common thrift store buddies and had numerous sleepovers.  this is us snowboarding in lake tahoe during our ski club's snowboarding trip during senior year.   her boyfriend was a trooper and stuck with us quite a bit, even despite the fact that he was a seasoned snowboarder.  we were just starting and weren't very good.  we had so much fun though!

miss lauren and i grew up going to middle school and high school together but really didn't even get to know each other until half way through our senior year.  all that time wasted without knowing each other better!  anyway...above is proof that ditching school was worth it for us...a quick ten minute drive to the beach from school.  too perfect!  we were quick ditching buddies.  the beach and power surge cafe were our mainstays, though i've no doubt there were other such wonderful places we ventured to.  she also introduced me to they might be giants, who we saw in concert at street scene in 1998.  i've since seen t.m.b.g. two more times....love them and their music!  below is said concert in 98' with lauren.  ("ugly dog" to come lauren!)

more memories are sure to come with all these bins full of fun things to share!

looking back...

malerie was asking about my history of pre-term labor, so i thought i'd backtrack and review said accounts a little bit.  it's crazy to think they ever happened.  the first experience (in 2006) was the only serious one, and even then things turned out rather well.  in this first picture i am 33 weeks along.  this was my second visit to tri-city hospital, my first being two weeks before.  i had previously been admitted to the hospital by my doctor, gerald white, md. due to early spotting.  he sent me to the hospital to be monitored to see if i was contracting.  i happened to be contracting quite a bit so i was given terbutaline pills and the lovely betamethasone shot (in my rear).  the pills are to stop contractions and the shot to help develop the baby's lungs, should they be born early. 

after being in the hospital for about five to six days the hospital/my doctor decided to send me home, still on strict bedrest. 

so i went home, staying down for about three days.  then one morning i got up to use the restroom.  after doing so i returned to my doomed futon/bed/seat/couch/bedrest area.  upon sitting down, i felt a small pop.  i stood up slightly and a little bit of water came out.  the more i tried to walk or do anything more came out.  luckily my mom was there and stephen was only a minute away (at school).  we called him to come home, cause i needed to go back to the hospital.  off we went!

after being re-admitted to the hospital i was hooked up to an iv with antibiotics (to try and keep infection away).  i was at the hospital three days after my water broke, and then...around ten or eleven at night the contractions were starting to get consistent and stronger.  i was in labor!

roughly six hours later sienna jo baker was born, weighing in at 4lbs, 1oz and was 16 inches long.  she was breathing pretty well on her own, amazingly.  this bottom picture is me just an hour after birth.  i remember feeling completely at peace and so relieved that all that drama was over.  i was remember that apple juice they gave me to drink tasted like the most expensive and delicious thing in the world. 

sienna was whisked away to the nicu where she stayed for three weeks.  she was just a small little thing that needed to gain some weight and needed to learn how to eat, breathe and suck at the same time.  once she completed those things, she got to come home. 

i pumped those three long weeks and was lucky enough to get two bad breast infections.  those are miserable!!

~fast forward thirteen months~

i was pregnant with our second daughter.  i had spotting (yet again) at 28 weeks and was sent to scripps encinitas by my awesome obg, robert biter, md to be monitored (considering my history).  i was contracting, but not much.  hours later i was sent home on strict bedrest.  after a week i was put on partial bedrest (which honestly really freaked me out considering what happened with sienna, but i did it anyway).  every time i contracted i would lay down.  

~fast forward three more months~

i was sure looked out for in many ways, because little miss chloe wasn't born until three days before her due date, coming all on her own.  after eighteen hours of grueling natural (bradley method) labor i finally arrived at a ten!  i pushed for three hours (without having a real urge to push...which i knew was not right) and had no progress.  at this point i was completely exhausted and apparently my heart rate was a little too high.  so i consented to have an epidural (after all that!).  right as they're in the middle of giving me the epidural did i have the urge to push....ugh.  

after resting for about thirty minutes dr. biter came in and had me push some more, this time with him helping guide chloe down the canal.  every time i pushed she would descend and he would guide her down the middle (for some reason she was staying on the right side of my belly).  inbetween pushes she'd go right back up there.  lack of progress for sure.  i pushed for another hour and we were all tired and not sure what to do.  

after some serious consideration and prayer, stephen and i decided that it would be best at this point to do a cesarean (boo).  definitely not my first choice, but i'm grateful that both chloe and i were healthy and safe and doing well. 

the cute little stinker, miss chloe eve baker was born weighing in at 8lbs 6oz and 21 inches long.  more than double sienna's size!  she came out with thick, dark brown hair...later growing in totally blonde. 

look at that conehead!  i love that she already has rolls on her arms too.

chloe with dr. biter. 

this third time around things have been going so smoothly.  i'm so grateful that i'm healthier in this pregnancy than ever.  i actually eat healthy food (as opposed to my other pregnancies, i ate whatever).  i also exercise a little bit, mainly walking fast.  i'm also sure to do my kegel exercises and to do yoga whenever possible.  

feelin' good!

so there it is...a little long-winded.

flashbacks!

sorry about the quality of the photos, i didn't touch them up on p.s. at all, but i just had to share.  i love these people!  not referring to myself, by the way, but the others with me.  in this first photo is my wonderful friend cari.  we served a mission in uruguay together back in 2003 and have been buds ever since.  here is our trip to key west together.  my cousin and her husband were so cool in inviting me and so i dragged cari along...though there wasn't much dragging in reality.  we were about to go parasailing here together.  good times!

next photo:  me and julia (now julia sandiford) at michelle and cameron rowe's wedding reception.  she was the maid of honor.  it was our first time meeting but we became instant friends.  

stephen and i had only been dating for a few weeks officially when it was halloween time, which meant time for the young single adult's boat dance on san diego bay.  it was a blast!  you probably can't guess what i was, the wig threw everyone off.  i just adore wearing wigs!  i love how they transform my identity.  anyway...i was a speed bump!  i bought the yellow top and pants at walmart, spray-painted my four-runner's tires with black spray paint and drove back and forth over them a few times.  it was awesome!  i even ran over my yellow shoes.  stephen was a sailor, just another excuse to color with black sharpie all over his body.  yes, his beard and tattoos are really black sharpie.  little did i know i'd have it on my face at the end of the night (eek!).

this last picture is of my buddies, cameron and michelle rowe.  they were still dating at this time.  they happened to have tickets to the same concert i was going to the same night.  michelle and i were roommates at the time in vista and had no idea of our awesome agreeable taste in music.  so we met up there and enjoyed the awesome musical talent of travis.  it was such a great concert!  if you've never heard of them, you might recognize this song.  or this one.  at the end they let people rush the stage and sing with them...it rocked!

great grandmother

on this lovely friday, i share a picture from my family history.

this is my great grandmother whitaker.  she was my mother's father's mother.  there are two things in this photo that i particularly love.  one being her beautiful green coat.  how perfect it is and how perfectly the shade of it goes with her eyes.  the second thing being her glasses frames.  i have always been rather drawn to older 50's and 60's frames like that.  i also like that she has wrinkles.  no plastic surgery.  no need.  she is beautiful and aged.  sometimes i joke about the "lift" that i'm going to get when i'm all done having kids.  but in reality, i'm not sure about it (tangent!). 

anyway...that's that.

and here is something sienna drew yesterday.  i have yet to ask her what it is...but i will!

(red mouth...vomiting blood?  eating red cotton candy?  way too much lipstick?)

a presidential flashback

 

did you know that georgie was at our wedding?  and gosh, stephen looks young!   oh, that's because he was!  anyway, it sure was nice of the ex-president to visit the temple that morning and take a picture with stephen.  it's been five and a half years since we were married that day, and i can't believe how ridiculously fast it has gone by. 

oh, and i guess maybe i could explain george.  obviously he is a cut-out (yes, sorry if you didn't notice.  haha...yeah right.  you all noticed), and they had printed out a picture of stephen's brother, jay, who was in iraq at the time.  that way jay was technically in a few pictures.  see?  there he is!

  oh, and stephen's twin came to the wedding too.  (his face was covering george's on the cut-out when his brother jay got married, while stephen was still in el salvador)

anyway...just thought i'd share that today!

nostalgia

is it so wrong for me to be so sad when i look at this picture?

you may ask why.  here i tell you:

1. sienna does not any longer have the cute curls in her hair

2.  sienna isn't little anymore, and i need to cope with that

3.  my hair looks good when the roots match the rest of my hair

(not like now...5 months and counting people!)

4.  i like my tan skin in this picture...not much to show today

5.  haley took this picture.  i miss haley!

that last reason reminds me how the other day, sienna and chloe were helping me peel about 12 pounds of apples we had picked, and i asked sienna what we should make with them.  she said exactly this, "i want haley to come over and make apple pie with us."  

of course my desire was the same.  oh haley, why ever did you move away?

much better

the girls and i finished painting their cradle.  it's so cute, i love it and they love it.  we have plans to make some bedding for this lovely cradle, something soft and cuddly for their baby dolls.  i'm glad to report that the girlsies aren't waiting for said bedding to start cradling their babies.  there are many a tired babe in this house.

on a side note, it's friday, so i'm posting this oldie for nostalgic's sake.

my grandmother, my mom, and i'm thinking my aunt luann's side is what we see here.  looks like christmas morning to me!  i love my mom's adorable haircut.  sometimes i see a lot of sienna in her, especially in photos like this. 

friday flashback

can you say, estrogen?

how did my grandfather do it?  eight women and him...i just don't know how he did it.  plain and simple, estrogen scares me.  i never was very girly, and to top it off i had three little brothers.  when i had my first daughter, i was beyond happy.  our family (mostly referring to myself there) needed a girl!  then i found out my second was a girl too.  that's where i paniced a little.  i love my two girls, don't get me wrong.  they are the best of friends and are adorable.  but i don't know how to deal with that.  i don't know how to settle future arguments.  i really won't understand, is what i'm trying to say. 

i'm really hoping i don't end up like my grandparents, with seven girls.  to keep trying for that son, and wind up with a mountain of estrogen each month.

 (a short p.s. to this post:  i'm not saying that we're trying to get preggers or that i'm even ready...fyi.  meaning, don't ask. haha)

vintage

i love all these old photos that i've got my hands on.  my grandma was moving away from the home she'd lived in for over 25 years, and while packing and cleaning out the house, my mom, her sisters and her mom found boxes and boxes of slides and pictures.  my grandfather was an amazing historian and organizer.  he kept everything.  and i can't say i blame him when i see some of the stuff.  it's priceless!  to have these pictures on cd and to be able to see my mom at such a young age (that's her in the front in the red, squinting...just like i do), is truly priceless.  i'm so grateful for my grandfather and for his great love for family history and the preservation of it.

i need to find me some sweet 60's get-ups like my mom and her sisters!  or shall i sew?  nah!

Friday Flashback

Katie inspired me. I will start posting pictures of the past on Friday's. I've been meaning to scan in more of my old pictures anyway. So here we go!

Me, Christy LaLa (sis-in-law) and Stacy Helfrich (good friend) at Amvets in Escondido doing some serious shopping, and trying on...as seen! We all found matching petticoats!!! Sweet! This was probably in November-ish of 2004.