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Before

After

Before

After

On the Forth of July we drove to Santa Barbara to hang out with my friend Kate and her family. The sun came out, which was amazing (it has been really gloomy here lately) and our precious boys got to see each other. They are almost exactly a year apart. Here is them posing for our little photo shoot. It was so funny. Every time Zach was on the chair Christopher would get fussy, and then as soon as Zach would get down Christopher would be as happy as can be. I guess he likes to share as much as his momma does :)

sitting up...

...or should I say leaning like a big boy!

Look what I can do

He actually did this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but we were able to catch it on video the other morning. So amazing how this simple little action makes me so excited :)

So much fun!

Our last picture together before baby :)

I love the idea of keeping up with this blog and recording the goings on in my life, but it has been so busy and so much fun obviously doing other things like taking care of our amazing, beautiful, sweet, loving boy, Christopher, that I have just not found the time until now. Long story short. I went to the hospital just for a check up and left with a baby. When I got there the monitors they hooked me up to said I was having contractions (what? no pain) and since I had already been told that I had a ten pound baby in me (they were wrong, only 8 lbs 10 oz) my doctor suggested we schedule a c-section for that night. That was May 10, 2010 and today is June 29th. WHAT!!! How did that happen? In that time we have had many feedings, diaper changes, baths, and visitors. It has been so much fun, and here are a few pictures from Christopher's first 7 weeks.

Just arrived in our room at the hospital

Day 1

We are home! Looks like a comfy spot

Bath time! He loves them!

At Auntie Keely's Wedding

At the lake with Grandpa

Baby's first wine tasting trip :)

"I'm one month old and I love to smile!"

Looking like a big boy already

Big smile. He is starting to make a lot of noise when he does this now. Maybe the beginnings of a laugh

With momma

It has been indescribable so far!

Sunday in the Park

Sunday Chris and I took a great drive to Solvang to try and tame one of my cravings. I love the Butter Ring pastries that they have there and have been craving one for a week, so Chris took me all the way there just for one. I devoured it so fast that I didn't even get a picture.
The weather at home was pretty cold and icky but as soon as we got away from the coast, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day. We spent the afternoon eating, laying in the park, and listening to live music. It was such a great little road trip for just the two of us. It may have been our last one for a little while :)

Make an appointment baby

I always thought that when I got pregnant I would finally slow down for a little bit. I have always been an extremely busy person between work and school and family and friends. But who isn't, really? I feel like everyone I know is moving a million miles an hour. But because of that, I have had to have a serious talk with the baby lately. It goes a little something like this: "Okay baby. My last day of work is Friday and I doubt you are coming that early so I think we are okay there. But I have a project for my Master's program next Monday so please stop with the heartburn so I can get some sleep and you absolutely can not be born that early. I have to present this project. You can't come on April 24th because Grandma will be out of town, and come to think of it, you really need to wait until after May 3rd, because that is when my last final is. So anytime after May 3rd is okay. Well let me take that back. You can't come late either. Summer school session for my Master's starts May 26, so you need to be here before then, and Auntie Keely's wedding is May 30 and I would like you to be at least a couple of weeks old by then. Okay, so that leaves you from May 4th until May 14th. Anytime between the 4th and the fourteenth is okay. Well come to think of it, I would like to have a little extra time to shed some pounds before the wedding so how about we make the deadline a few days earlier. Anytime between the 4th and the 10th. Yeah, the 4th and the 10th. That should work."

I know he can hear me in there, so we will see what happens :)

100th post

Baby Shower #1

A few pictures from our baby shower. It was a wonderful day with some of our favorite people. My students also threw me a great surprise baby shower but I don't have those pictures yet. 5 1/2 more weeks and baby Christopher will be here! We can't wait!

Life and death

For that past couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about life and death. While this wonderful life is being created in my belly, I have been surrounded by so much death at the same time. First my grandfather, and then days later a student at our school. This student was a freshmen, so loved, a character, a football player, a friend, a son, a brother. So many people on campus loved him and knew his big personality, and at the age of 14 his life ended. I can;t really make sense of the tragedy so I will stick to the facts:

• He went to sleep and did not wake up the next morning
• we found out during 2nd period
• the school shut down, emotionally
• I had never heard a high school so quiet at lunch
• there was a lot of crying
• I did not have him in my class
• My friends did and the empty desk breaks their heart
  
• I became a counselor and mourner all at the same time
• the kids were scared
• we all came together
• We talked about John
• we still can't believe what has happened
• 
  

It just does not make sense to me. We have now found out that he had an enlarged heart and it just stopped. At 14 years of age he went to bed and never woke up to go to school the next morning. It is so hard for many of us to believe and I feel for his family that lost a son too soon.

Goodbye

Today is going to suck. I don't know how to put it any other way. My grandpa Bill passed away on Monday and today is his funeral. It might sound weird but I am 28 years old and I have never been to a real funeral for one of my family members. I just don't know what to expect, and I know that seeing my dad upset is going to be brutal. The truth is, Guevara men are pretty special guys. I have a really close relationship with my dad, as he did with his, and today is going to be such a sad day for everyone.

I do feel lucky though that I was able to know my grandpa for so many years. I am sure that anyone that even only met him once remembered the experience. He was a witty, funny, playful man that knew how to make everyone feel special. He affectionately nicknamed me "The kid." We teased each other about sports (he is a USC fan and I went to UCLA), played cribbage (a card game that the Guevara's are obsessed with) every time we got together, and ever since I was little and made a comment about the stubble on his face when I kissed him, he would make sure his face was freshly shaven for me. As soon as I walked in the house he would give me a hug, and rub his cheek on my face to show that he shaved just for me. But that is what he did. He had little nicknames for everyone, and shared special stories and bonds with everyone he knew.

The last time we were together and he was feeling well Chris, Dad, Grandpa, and I were sitting around playing cribbage; me with all my guys. It was getting late but once you got him started he would play forever. Once the last game was over and it was time to leave I gave him a hug and he told me how excited he was for his great grandson to arrive. Just thinking about that moment breaks my heart because he will now never get to meet him. But, I am comforted by the fact that my son will have a great relationship with his grandpa, just like I did.