Flashback Friday: Retro Baby Edition

It's been awhile since I have done a Flashback Friday post!
After Luke was born, Kevin's mom brought over 2 of Kevin's outfits from when he was a baby.

 I put them on Luke for a little photo shoot last month.

Kevin's mom still had pictures of Kevin in these outfits, so I of course had to do a side by side comparison

  Kevin is (obviously) on the left with the 1970's pink tinged photos.

Luke was like....get me out of these 1970's clothes.

Kevin & Luke as sleeping babies. I totally think they look alike. It's kinda tripping me out.

And, just for fun, here are pictures of my sisters & I and my girls in the same outfit.

I am so glad my mom saved this outfit of ours and that Kevin's mom saved a few outfits of his.

And, they had pictures of us in them!

I have a few of the girls dresses saved as keepsakes that I will give them if they have baby girls. 

As Luke grows out of his baby clothes, I will put aside a couple of my favorites to save for his future kids.

Anyone else have their own baby outfits that they have dressed their kids in? 

And, is anyone else obsessed with comparison pics like me?

Flashback Friday: Kate's Birth Story

In August of 2009, I decided to start doing Flashback Friday on my blog to document things that happened before I had a blog. I didn't start the blog until Kate was 18 months old & I was 8 months pregnant with Claire. Because I started this blog as a scrapbook for my girls (but it has turned into much more!) I want to incorporate things from Kate's first 18 months!

In honor of Kate's 4th birthday this weekend and the fact that 4 years ago today was my due date, here is a flashback of her birth story.
Read Claire's birth story HERE.

January 21, 2007 was my due date with Kate.
I wrote Kate's birth story when she was just a week old & had it saved on my computer, so I thought I would put it on the blog! Just a warning, it is long. I wanted to remember everything.

On Sunday, the 21^st, we went to church & then I spent the rest of day nesting like crazy & cleaning house. Kevin and I went to a local pizza for their pregnancy pizza. It supposedly makes you go into labor within 24 hours. It didn’t work for me!
Here is my last belly picture with Kate on 1.21.07


(You can see the rest of the belly pictures HERE)

My 40 week appt. was Monday, January 22. I was hoping to make it to then for a few reasons. First, Dr. W. was out of town on a hunting trip in Seattle until Sunday. And, the school semester ended for me on Friday, January 19, and Monday the 22^ndwas a teacher workday. I was hoping to get in all my days before my maternity leave.I went to my appt on Monday January 22 with Dr. W. I was still 1 cm dilated and he said, “you have a big baby, we need to induce you.” I didn’t like hearing that I had a big baby because I didn’t want to end up with a C-section. Dr. W said he would induce me that night or on the 23^rd. He would call me back that afternoon. I didn’t want to be induced because I wanted the labor experience where I told Kevin, “It’s time!!!” But, oh well. And, I had heard some scary things about Pitocin. As I was driving back from my appt. Jennifer from Dr. W’s office called and said that they would be inducing me tonight and that I needed to come back to the office at 3 and they would be inserting a Foley catheter into me to help dilate me. Then, I would check into the hospital at 7 pm and they would start pitocin at 5 or 6 am on the 23^rd. So, I went back to school for a few hours and I was freaking out. This baby was coming within 24 hours!! We would finally get to find out if it was a boy or a girl. I couldn’t wait!

Kevin and I went back to Dr. W office at 3 and Jennifer put in the Foley catheter. Getting that put in was NOT comfortable at all. She had to use this duck billed metal tool. Ouch!! Jennifer also took out my mucus plug. Gross! But, once the Foley was put in, I was fine. It had this tube thing hanging down that I could pull on every few hours to help dilate me. Pretty funny. Kevin and I went home and got organized. I ate a strawberry bagel with cream cheese for dinner because I didn’t have an appetite. I was too anxious & excited about meeting our baby!

We got to the hospital a little after 7. It was empty; there was only 1 other woman in labor. They hooked me up to the machines, the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor. Our nurse was very friendly and nice. She checked me and said, you are having regular contractions every 2 minutes. I had no idea, I couldn’t feel a thing. She wanted to call Dr. W and tell him this to see what he wanted to do. She came back and told us that Dr. W wanted them to start the pitocin at midnight instead of 5 am. I couldn’t believe it, I was very excited! The nurse would come in every few hours and check me. Kevin slept on the pull out chair bed, but I was too anxious & scared so I couldn’t sleep! A little after midnight, the nurse came and checked me. I was at a 2 and the Foley catheter fell out, and they started the pitocin. She asked if I wanted the epidural and I said not yet. The pitocin was no big deal, I could barely feel the contractions and I was still very comfortable. I was wide-awake the whole time listening the heartbeat on the monitor. A little after 2 the contractions were getting a little stronger, I was still very comfortable. The woman down the hall was getting her epidural and the nurse asked if I wanted mine. I wasn’t in pain, but I figured maybe since the anesthesiologist was up, I might as well get mine. So, a little before 3 I got the epidural, it wasn’t painful getting it put in and the doctor did a great job. His name was Dr. Chang; he was probably in his mid 30s. At that time, I was dilated to a little over a 3. Well, a few minutes after the epidural, I had NO feeling in my legs or lower area. It was crazy. I thought to myself, what have I done, why did I get this….I cant feel a thing!!! Then, I started getting very nauseous. I didn’t throw up, but I felt like it. About 10 minutes after that, I started feeling very light headed and dizzy. Then, my blood pressure machine started beeping. Kevin got one of the nurses and my blood pressure had dramatically dropped. It was 70 over 35. Very low. The nurse ran to get some epinephrine to add to my IV. Basically, it is a steroid. Well, that didn’t help right away and the machine keep beeping and I still felt nauseous and dizzy. Finally after about 20 minutes, they got everything under control and stabilized. Luckily, during this whole ordeal Katelyn’s heart rate stayed the same and consistent.

Then, when Kevin and one of the nurses where moving me to my other side, I heard this fart noise. When the nurse left, I asked Kevin if he farted and he said, no, that was you. How funny! I didn’t even feel it! Around 6 in the morning they checked me and I was at a 6. I still had not slept a bit because I was too anxious. At 7 am the new nurses came in for their shift. We couldn’t believe it when our friend Andrea walked in. She graduated high school with my older sister, Elyse. She went to college with Kevin went out with her a few times and took her to one of his Fraternity functions. What a small world! So, that was fun. A little before 8 Dr. W came by and checked me. He said I was about a 7-8 and my water was bulging. He said he had to go help with a c-section and that he would break my water in an hour when he was done. Then we called our families and told them the update. Well, about 15 minutes after Dr. W leaves, I feel a big gush, I was pretty sure my water broke. I had Kevin go get a nurse and tell them. Sure enough my water broke and I was at a 9. Then, my mom gets there and she is freaking out because she is the first one there and my water broke and when her water broke with all of us, we were born within 30 minutes. Then my sisters get there, and they were frantic because my mom was frantic. It was pretty entertaining. They check me again at 9:30 and I was at a 10. Dr. W was still in surgery. When he got back at around 10, he wanted to wait for the baby’s head to come down before we started pushing. Apparently, part of my pelvic bone sticks out, and he wanted to have the baby come down on her own before I started pushing. By now, my mother in law is here along with my dad. Jeff and Cindy are on their way. We do a few practice pushes, I have no idea what I am supposed to do! But, I just listen to the nurses. Finally around 11:15, we start pushing for real! Every contraction that would hit, I would push 3 times for 10 seconds. Her head was stuck on my pelvic bone and it wouldn’t get past it! My goal was to get past that pelvic bone! After every push I would ask, “Is the head past the bone yet??” I was getting very tired, hungry and thirsty. I hadn’t eaten since 6 the night before and all I had was a bagel and cream cheese. I was so thirsty, all you can eat is ice chips. I was so tired, I had been up since 7am on the 22^nd. And, I was so hot! I was sweating and I wanted the air on, or I wanted the door to the balcony to stay open so I could cool off. But, that wasn’t allowed. So, Kevin would feed me ice chips, which was almost more effort & energy to chew! And, he would dab my forehead with a washcloth, to cool me off. One of the nurses got an ice pack to put on my neck, which helped! I was so tired pushing at every contraction, the nurses let me push on one contraction and wait out the next one. I felt no pain pushing, just a lot of pressure and the desire to push when the contractions came. Finally, her head was past my pubic bone. Dr W arrived at about 1:20, I had been pushing for almost 3 hours.

Finally, at 1:58 pm, she arrived. I cannot explain the feeling or emotion when she was pulled out and laid on me. It was the most surreal & amazing experience. Kevin and I were both crying.

When Dr. W said “It’s a Girl!” it made all of those months waiting, totally worth it! The nausea and throwing up for 20 weeks was well worth the arrival of our beautiful daughter. She received APGAR scores of 8 & 9. They put her on the warming table and she pooped out her meconium. They weighed her and she was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 ½ inches long.

Then, I noticed Dr. W stitching me up. Apparently, he gave me an episiotomy and I had a 2^nd degree tear! I felt nothing, my labor and delivery experience was wonderful, and I felt no pain! It was great! I would do labor and delivery any day! After they were done cleaning up, Kevin went out to tell everyone. Jill and Linda were right outside the door, and Kevin said “It’s a Girl” I could hear the screams from the room. It was funny. Then he told everyone else who was walking up the hallway. A few minutes later, everyone got to come in the room and see her. It was so fun & exciting!

We couldn’t believe how long her fingers were! They looked just like my fingers! Even Dr. W commented on her fingers. She looked similar to how I did as a baby, but her face was much rounder, and we decided she looked like her Auntie Becky!

About an hour later, they moved us to our post partum room, but before we left labor and delivery, the nurse had me ring the bell that plays angel music throughout the hospital. It was very special because when I had my miscarriage in October 2005, Kevin heard that music while I was in surgery for my D & C. So, to be able to ring the bell was very special.

We had a lot of visitors that night. Cindy & Kathy came by, Tara P, The Shields brought us Jamba Juice which was so refreshing and good!!! Our pastor also stopped by & prayed for Katelyn. Dr W came by around 11 pm because he was on call. I still had not slept and I was so pumped on adrenaline! I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to! He told us to send Katelyn to the nursery for a few hours so we could get some sleep. We did that I was able to sleep for a few hours. In the morning around 6:30 Dr. H came by to check out Katelyn & meet us.

No one tells you about the pain you feel the next day after giving birth! Or the amount of blood that comes out of you!!! My whole body hurt. My legs, my arms, my neck, my jaw muscles, my face. It felt like I had done preseason soccer for a month. The weird part was on my right hand, my index, middle and ring fingers had nerve damage or something! The tips of those 3 fingers were numb and tingly. It was very strange. It lasted 2 weeks!

Kate's Birth Announcement:

So that is the birth story of Kate, our first child born on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 1:58 pm. She is the most beautiful baby and everyone who meets her thinks she is beautiful. I can’t imagine our lives without her. We are so very blessed and thankful to God for a wonderful delivery of a healthy baby. God is so good. I feel privileged and honored to care for her and to call her my daughter!

Flashback Friday: Hurricane Katrina

This weekend marks the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

It was one of worst natural disasters to hit the United States.
5 years later, people in New Orleans & the Mississippi Gulf region are still not back in their homes.

After Katrina hit, I knew I wanted to help in some way, even though I lived across the country in California. During my Spring Break of 2006, my younger sister Rebecca & I went with our church on a mission trip to New Orleans & the gulf shores of Mississippi to help build houses for people who lost their home when Katrina hit.

This was the 2nd mission trip I have done within the United States, the first one was 9/11 relief which you can read about here.
(Becks & I)

Churches from all over the country were involved in the project.
Sponsor churches built the framing of the houses in church parking lots & all the framing was sent on trucks to Mississippi/New Orleans for a neighborhood project called Victory Park.
Another group of churches had been there the week before pouring the foundation, so when we got there, our jobs were to get the framing up, put up the siding and windows, plumbing and electricity & then paint the houses.
This is the house framing that our church did & then they were shipped to Mississippi on a truck:
A total of 16 new homes were built.
Becks and I volunteered for the painting team. It was a lot of fun!

Scafolding was fun to be on!

A view of some of the new houses:
Becks & I painted the majority of this house along with 2 other people.
In front of one of the houses we painted:
The second to last day we were there, they had a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication of the houses. People in the community who were hoping to put a bid on one of the homes were there.
It was amazing & inspiring meeting them & hearing their Katrina stories. It really put things in perspective.

We had the opportunity to go to a Sunday service at one of the local Baptist churches.
We were the only white people there. In fact, we were the first white people to ever attend a service there. It was shocking to see how segregated it still was in this little town in Mississippi. The people at the church were WONDERFUL. The pastor, Greg was amazing. We were there on Palm Sunday. It was one of the best services I have ever been to in my entire life. I will never, ever forget it. Ever. Pastor Greg is an amazing man & we got along great. His family is awesome.I send him a Christmas card every year!

Here is Pastor Greg helping us on the work site:

One of evenings after our work day, we took a drive to the gulf coast and saw the devastation in Biloxi, Mississippi. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what damage Katrina had done to this city. It pretty much wiped it out.

Gorgeous sea front homes were unrecognizable.
We were there 6 months after Katrina hit & nothing had been cleaned up. It was incredibly sad.
It was an amazing week...a week I will never ever forget.
My heart has a special place for the people of New Orleans & the Mississippi Gulf.
I am still praying for them, 5 years later.

Flashback Friday: A post about Sports

If you know me, you know that I LOVE SPORTS.

I love watching them, playing them & following sports, especially soccer!

Two very exciting things are going on in the Sports world right now & both have special places in my heart.

Event #1.....
Today is the start of the World Cup.
I LOVE soccer.
It is suffice to say that soccer has helped shape who I am.
I played competitive soccer from a young age & played college soccer.
I coached high school soccer for 6 years.
The "beautiful game" has changed my life. I really miss playing.
But, every 4 years, the World Cup happens!
In 1994, the World Cup was held in the USA.
The quarterfinals were held at Stanford Stadium & we got tickets to the Romania vs. Sweden game.
Myself, Elyse & Jimmy outside the stadium:
Waiting to go into the stadium, it was a very hot day in July!
A picture of the score board.
Sweden ending up winning on penalty kicks. Such an exciting game!

I was very fortunate my parents supported my love of soccer & took us to this game and then 2 years later took us to see soccer at The Summer Olympics.

And so today, the 2010 World Cup began.
What a great way to kick off my summer!
Kevin & I turned on the game this morning & when Claire woke up we told her about soccer & for the first time ever she said the word "soccer". I can't wait for the US vs. England game tomorrow morning!
Will you be watching?

Event # 2.....
The other exciting news in the sporting world was announced yesterday.
My beloved University of Colorado Buffaloes, the school that is my alma mater, officially announced yesterday that they are switching conferences. They are leaving Big 12 and going to the Pac -10!!! (Now Pac-11?)

I can't tell you how EXCITING this is for me.
I LOVE my Colorado Buffaloes.
Before, we were in the Big 12, which mostly consists of schools in the Midwest & Texas.
As someone who lives in California, Big 12 games are RARELY televised out here and I hardly ever get to see Colorado play (in person or in real life)
Although, it is sad that the Big 12 may now fizzle out. It really is (was) a strong conference.
Any one have any ideas on what I should do with my Big 12 laptop bag & tshirt that I have had since college from the Big 12 soccer championships? Sell them on e-bay as collectors items? ha!

We flew out to Colorado when Kate was 8 months old for my soccer reunion & we were able to see a soccer game & a football game.

With the move to the Pac 10 (our local conference) I will now be able to see Colorado sports on television.
Even more exciting is that now Colorado will come out to California to play teams like Cal & Stanford which are so close to us!
My mom on the other hand is SO bitter about Colorado changing conferences, she wishes they did this 10 years ago so that they could have seen more of my college soccer games.
(I was deciding between Cal & Colorado as my college choices and my parents wanted me to go to Cal so they could see more games. Sorry Mom & Dad...I am NOT a Cal fan!)
I am so excited that my girls will grow up going to Colorado football, basketball & soccer games even though we live in California!
Go Buffs!
Seriously, this makes me so, so, so happy. (I know I sound pathetic)
So far, this summer has started out with great news!

Flashback Friday: The Olympics

Are you watching the Winter Olympics?

We are!
Kevin and I both love playing sports, watching sports & attending sporting events!
We especially love the Olympics.
My first memory of watching the Olympics was when I was 5 years old and I watched on TV as Mary Lou Retton won the gymnastics Gold in 1984 Summer Olympics. That started my obsession with the Olympics.

I wanted to be an Olympian so badly. Obviously that didn't happen, but a girl can dream, right?

Imagine my excitement when my parents told us at Christmas of 1995 that they were taking us to the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. My sisters and I were ECSTATIC!
Luckily for us, some of our family friends had just moved to a suburb outside Atlanta and they graciously invited us to stay with them for the week.
The events that my parents got us tickets to were the 2 Women's Soccer Semi-Final games and tickets to see Track & Field.
(These were the 2 events we wanted to see because my younger sister and I were both heavily involved in Soccer and Track).
Of course, we would have loved to see gymnastics, but those tickets were hundreds of dollars. Oh well!
I will never forget our flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. Almost everyone on the flight was going to the Olympics & was wearing red, white & blue. It was so fun to hear everyone excited & talking about what events they were going to.
The American & Olympic spirit was alive and contagious!
Our first event was on the 2nd day we were in Atlanta. We were going to see 2 Women's Soccer games, both semi-finals. It was a double header held at the University of Georgia.
(My dad fell in love with the University of Georgia during this trip and since then has been a die hard Georgia Football fan. He even likes Georgia Football more than he likes my alma mater, the University of Colorado!)
The first semi-final was China vs Brazil (China won)
The 2nd semi-final was USA vs Norway (USA won)
Both games were amazing & so exciting.
Our original plan was to see track & field the next day and then after that, head to Savannah, Georgia for a few days of sight-seeing.
Because the US Women won the game & were heading to the Gold Medal game, my awesome parents decided to find tickets to the Gold Medal Soccer game & not go to Savannah.
We were able to get tickets to the Bronze medal game AND the Gold Medal game.
It was amazing. The US Women beat China to win the Gold Medal.
It was an experience I will never forget & so fun to witness.
(A year later, when I was playing college soccer I actually played against 2 girls who were on the Gold Medal winning Olympic team!)
The next day, we hung out all afternoon in the Olympic Village.
It was crowded! But, it was fun to see people from different countries who have traveled from across the world to attend the Olympics.
We got to hold the Olympic torch used in the torch relay:
(I can't believe how tan & in shape I was. Oh, to be 17 again!)

This next picture is classic & typical me as the middle child.......
Here we are on the "medal" stand. Of course I insisted on being the Gold medal winner. And poor Becks was the bronze medal winner.
We also went to a track meet, but I don't have the pictures from that because we lost the roll of film from that day. I still haven't gotten over it ;) The track meet was great, even though we had seats in the nose bleed section. We got to see Michael Johnson & his gold shoes.

The last few days of our trip were spent sight-seeing in the South.
Growing up in California, most of our family vacations were to Lake Tahoe or to Oregon.
We had never been to the South, so it was fun to experience.
We went to Chattanooga, Tennessee and went to several historical plantations in Georgia.
We also went to the Whistle Stop Cafe, where Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed:

One of my favorite things about the South is Cracker Barrel!
We don't have those in California.
We became OBSESSED with Cracker Barrel and ate there almost everyday of our week long trip. I have now had a 14 year love affair with Cracker Barrel.
(Remember our trip to Florida last year? I made Kevin go to Cracker Barrel everyday!)

This trip was also the first time we were introduced to Sweet Tea. Oh my goodness! So good.
Here in California, if you order an iced tea, you just get plain ice tea, no sugar.
Sweet tea is Amazing. I could drink it by the gallon. Do you know how happy I was when McDonald's starting selling sweet tea 2 years ago? Yumminess for just $1.

This past October, I was able to actually hold an Olympic medal!
This is me with SF Giant & USA baseball player Nate Schierholtz at our High School Athletic Hall of Fame Induction dinner. He was on the USA Olympic Baseball team that won the Bronze in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
{I was surprised at how heavy the medal was!}

I am so thankful that my parents gave us the opportunity to go to the Atlanta Olympics!
I would LOVE my girls to experience that. And, I would love to experience it again!
On my "Bucket List" of things to do before I die is to go to the Winter Olympic Games.
I would like to experience the Olympic Games with the winter sports.
I would love to see figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, downhill skiing & curling (for reals)
I better start saving now!

I hope you have been enjoying watching this year's Winter Olympics, it has been full of excitement & drama (of course!) I can't wait for the women's figure skating to start in a few days! What is your favorite event to watch?

Flashback Friday: Kate's Cupcake 1st Birthday Party

Back in August I decided to start doing Flashback Friday on my blog to document things that happened before I had a blog. I didn't start the blog until Kate was 18 months old & I was 8 months pregnant with Claire. Because I started this blog as a scrapbook for my girls (but it has turned into much more!) I want to incorporate things from Kate's first 18 months!
In honor of Kate's 3rd birthday (tomorrow!), here is a flashback of her 1st birthday party!
Here is the invitation that I made:

This was the very first invite that I ever made! I never would have guessed that 2 years later I would have started a side business making them!

The theme was cupcakes, mostly inspired by this cute outfit I got her at Gymboree:
The day of her party was rough. I was 7 weeks pregnant with Claire & the morning sickness (all day sickness) was full force. I was throwing up 2-3 times a day & the morning of her party I could barely function. Luckily, we were having the party at my parents house (our house couldn't fit everyone, there were about 50 people there). And, no one knew I was pregnant except for my parents & sisters. We hadn't even told Kevin's side of the family yet, so I had to "fake" smile the entire party & try my hardest not to throw up.

Our little family before the party
(please excuse how AWFUL I look. I felt like I had been hit by a car)
Here is a picture of the food:
(Thankfully my mom & sisters helped make most of the food)
The drinks:
The favor table:
Close up of the favor table:
Close up of the favors I made, they were cookies shaped as cupcakes:
The cake & cupcake table:
Close up of Kate's smash cake that my mother in law made:
Close up of the amazing Cupcake Cake that I found the day before the party at a specialty grocery store in town:
Everyone said it was really good, it was white cake with raspberry layers.
I didn't have any because I knew it would come right back up...
Kate greeting her guests as they arrived:
We had this slide show of Kate's first year playing during the party:

Singing to the birthday girl:
Kate enjoying her cake. She didn't get messy at all.
She was very dainty about eating her cake.
(Claire on the other hand got very messy when she ate her birthday cake)
I totally dropped the ball on taking lots of pictures during her party and documenting all the friends & family that were there to celebrate her. I was so focused on "not throwing up" that I didn't get pictures of all her guests. And, we forgot to video tape her eating her cake. Oops.

Opening Presents:

Me & my birthday girl:

Kate had a fun first birthday party!
It feels like we just celebrated her 1st birthday...
I can't believe she is going to be THREE tomorrow!

If you want to see the post about her 2nd Birthday Party, click HERE!

Tomorrow is her 3rd Birthday & Party, stay tuned for that post!