Sydna's First Year

Again, it is so time consuming sorting through hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of our past but I fnally narrowed them down to 21 pictures. Scanning them all and putting them back in their rightful spot while Riley tried to grab the pictures from me was not an easy task ... this is why it took me months to finally get this post together.


This picture was taken years ago. December 1996. This is my oldest sister Deborah and mom. I believe she's over the hill now, maybe 52? Not sure as I have forgotten what year she was born and I have no way of communicating with her. It's a sad situation and I wish we could all be close once again no matter the miles between us. Looking at this picture is making me cry because I wish she were living a happy healthy life. Why must people have a weak mind?! I can't comprehend that! Last I saw her was last July and for a few hours. Things are just so different now.

Here I am with my in-laws. I was six months pregnant with Sydna. And this was back when I used to like the Dallas Cowboys. I'm not a fan of theirs anymore.
This was my very first time to meet Jacobs parents. We went on our first road trip to Colorado Springs to spend Thanksgiving with them back in November of 1996.

Here I am at 21 years old, seven months pregnant.
On January 1997, my mom and a few of her friends threw me a baby shower. Jacob and I both wanted to find out the babys gender so we did.
Even in my first pregnancy I grew a BIG belly. That's just the way my body is I guess. At one point in my first trimester my OB thought I might be carrying twins. I was so scared. Jacob's grandmother was a twin and I've heard that it can skip a generation so it would have been our generation and none of Jacobs cousins had twins. Thankfully he was wrong. I can't even begin to imagine the stress of caring for two babies at once. And with my lack of patience that would really not had been a good thing.
I used to dye my hair, light ash blonde,lol.

Blogs didn't exist back in 1997. And back then it didn't occur to me to keep a journal about important dates. I had a tough pregnancy. Horrible morning sickness that lasted almost my entire pregnancy. I even had to go to the emergency room because I was dehydrated. I was even vomitting water. Not to mention how crappy morning sickness makes you feel so I wasn't in no mood of taking pictures so I don't really have that many and the ones I do have well, I look just awful that I opted not to share. I don't even like to look at ugly pictures of myself but I kept them for my childrens sake, for their album of memories. 

Sydna was born on March 29, 1997 at 12:01 pm.  She weighed 8.5lbs and measured 19 1/4 inches long. I remember I was at home. At the time Jacob used to work at the Hotel del Coronado as a bellman and he used to go in at noon. Thankfully I began to get contractions mid morning. They started from front to back when real contractions are from back to front but mine were real. I called the hospital to tell them I was coming in. I also called my mom and told her I was on my way to the hospital. Once I arrived I was taken to an exam room where they checked me and I was already 6 cm. The time that it took me to change into a gown and for them to put in an I.V. which I hate! and I was checked again I was fully dilated, that was a total of fifteen minutes! So they told me to push and Sydna was born on the third push. My mom arrived just in time to hear her cry. It was crazy fast. I'm just glad I trusted my body and headed over to the hospital when I did or else I would have had Sydna at home or in the car. I had Sydna natural. I hate needles but even if I had wanted an epidural I don't think I would have gotten it on time or that it would have done any good since my labor progressed so quickly.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of when she was born. Only that one they take at the hospital. How horrible is that?!

 

 

July 26, 1997.

Sydna at four months old on the day she got baptized. My parents were her godparents. Not sure where my dad had gone.

 

After the baptism we had lunch at some restaurant in T.J. down in baja. Love my arm tan. Horrible!

 

We always read to Sydna, even as a baby. I read to her throughout my pregnancy and studies have shown that if you read to your child or listen to music throughout your pregnancy chances are your child will love reading or listening to music. Studies are correct, at least I think so because Sydna LOVES to read and she will usually finish a book in one day, two days if it's an extremely long book. So proud of her!

 

July 1997.

A happy little chunky girl. I remember telling my mom that I didn't want Sydna to end up being a chubby kid. I was worried that she would because from the day she was born up til four months she looked huge to me. Of course it was only baby fat but being a young mom it freaked me out a little. I breastfed Sydna for the first three months. Soon after I stopped my hair began to fall, in bunches. It still falls out but not as bad. I just hope I don't go bald by the time I'm 50.

 Both Jacob and I had braces in our early 20's.

 

 

Oh yeah, I had stopped dying my hair weeks before I gave birth. My natural hair color is almost black but I like it. I also got a haircut. I think a mid length bob suits me the best.

Here I am hugging my baby girl on my twenty second birthday, October 12, 1997.

 

 

Sydna at seven months old.

If I'm not mistaken Sydna got her ears pierced at four months old. She's so cute!

 

 

This thing on her hair was the only hair accessory that she would leave on. I tried using bows but she would take them off.

Looking all cute in her sweater and skirt and tights. Aww, she had a lot of clothes. Her closet was three doors long and it was full of clothes. I would buy her clothes every chance I got and not to mention my mom spoiling her with a new outfit about every time she would visit and that was often.

 

She put her own key rattle as an ornament. How cute is that!

 

At almost ten months she began to stand up on her own and taking a few steps while holding on to things.

 

It's so funny. We knew when she was going potty. She would stand underneath the table and go. I believe this is what she was about to do in this picture.

 

Babies little bodies are so darn cute!!! So huggable.

 

The poor thing got her first cold at 9.5 months old. Yummy salty boogers. Oh, and don't you just love the hair? Lol! When Sydna looks at pictures of when she was a baby she gives me a hard time for putting this ridiculous looking pony tail on top of her head. I told her that her hair wasn't long enough to do much with it and this was the only thing I could think of and by this time she didn't like to wear anything else on her hair. Oh well, at least people didn't mistake her for a boy whenever I would have her dress in unisex clothing. I think it looks cute.

 

 

February 1998.

 

In just her big 'ol diaper.

 

Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, CA home to a huge white cross which an atheist has been fighting in court for years to bring down. He should be the one to move. I hope he never succeeds. You can see more pictures of Mt. Soledad by clicking on the name under "what i've written about" on the right hand side.

 

 

At a party in February 1998.

All my three kids look so much the same during their toddler years. It's crazy.

 

 

Sydna's 1st birthday party. It was the Cat in the Hat theme birthday party. The guy that made the piñatas did a great job.

 

And the cake was super delicious! I still remember how good it was. It was a chocolate cake with bavarian cream in the middle and of course the icing was excellent too. I love buttercream icing!!

 

Sydna didn't want anything to do with the piñatas. She didn't even want to hold the stick. I had to put her hand on it. It was such a great party. We served barbacoa. It was good too. A lot of family was there.

 

We did a whole lot more during her first year of life but I had to limit myself and not post too many pictures. Again, I wish I had recorded my thoughts and feelings as soon as I knew that I was pregnant but I didn't and it's really been too long to remember it all.

 

I do remember it was so much fun dressing her each day. Putting on a new dress and her little tights. Taking her to visit family and everyone wanting to hold her. She was very much loved. Even my best friends family adored her. Always wanting to see what cute dress she had on. She was always such a happy baby.

 

It will probably take me another few months compiling and scanning pictures of her second year.

 

 

Our Beginning - Me.Our Courtship.

NOTICE: I will begin writing about the beginning of our married life together {August 1996} until I get caught up to when I began blogging in June 2009. I feel this is important for me to do for my childrens sake. Yes they have these pictures and hundreds more in albums to see but writting about each one will be extra special for all of us. I'm excited to be doing this. It's gonna be fun. I hope all my readers will find these postings entertaining and funny at times.

6.6.12

Well I'm done scanning the photos for this post and finally ready to write about them ... to try to dig into my lifes archives to tell you a bit about my life in my late teens and of when Jacob and I began courting. These pictures are in numerical order.
As I was looking through storage photo boxes I noticed I really don't have many pictures of my teen years or early twenties OR when Jacob and I began dating. That made me sad. I bet that if I was into blogging back in 1993 I would have thousands of pictures capturing every single special moment of my life. It's disappointing but it's useless to have to dwell about it.
Of course I have quite a few embarrassing photos which I may not share but here are a few that are bearable for me to do so.

{To my blogging mommas I would like to remind you just in case you forgot that I've lived in San Diego, CA the majority of my life. Ok, now that being said we're good to go.}

This was during the summer of 1993 at Coronado beach. I was 18 years old. Now that I was out of high school I didn't want to look back. I was ready to begin creating new memories ... go to college but I would soon find out that wasn't His plan for me. I were to get hired at one of the retail stores at the Hotel Del Coronado where I would meet my future husband ... but that story will be better told in just a minute...
I had gone to the beach with my friend Brenda and my mom. I always enjoyed my moms company even as a teenager.
I've never actually felt comfortable in a bathing suit ... although I did wear them I prefered shorts and a tank top. And those sunglasses I'm wearing are just awful, lol.

My eyebrows have always been thick but they looked thicker and darker when I was this young. I also used to dye my hair ... well my mom or sister would dye it for me. I've dyed it ash blonde and even reddish orange. Awful I know. I was looking for that picture but I couldn't find it. This picture was in bad shape ... all bent and a bit scratched. That's why it looks the way it does. Anyway, I was at my future sister-in-laws bridal shower. I believe it was in late summer of 1993. Aw, I was so skinny then.

Here I am along with my sister Claudia at my brothers wedding on November 1993, as bridesmaids. Just before the ceremony. I was 19 years old. 

This is Jacob and my story ... our beginning.

I always wanted to be a wife and mother ... and wanted to have children at a young age. What surprised me was that God had a plan ... for Jacob and my path to cross. I never knew real love before Jacob. We both worked at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1994. He was security then and I got a job at one of the shops. I remember seeing him walking around making his rounds and would notice him looking my way but didn't really paid too much attention to him. He began saying hi to me and calling me by my full first name {Graciela} when I had to turn in the shops keys at the security office. I would hand in the keys and I would get my batch back in return so that's how he knew my name. This went on for several weeks and I became annoyed by the way he pronounced my name. I would avoid him as much as possible, lol.
But then while I was on my lunch break in the cafeteria one day he came in and saw me there and sat next to me and that's how we began talking.
I remember it was summer of 1995 when we began talking up until our first date in November 1995. He had his own place and was having a gettogether and had invited me ... and I went. That was the beginning of our lives together because while I was at his place surrounded by his friends and listening to music I knew that he would be the one for me. It's the feeling I got ... the way we connected with only hours of talking. It was surreal and it was meant to be. We spoke on the phone every single day and we would see each other almost daily as well. We were always together.

Here he is a few months after we began dating, relaxed watching a movie. Jacob had very wavy hair and it was longer than how he has it now.

He bought me flowers just because. Isn't that sweet?! Even then without me telling him he got me my favorite flower ... tulips {among other ones}.

This was our first offical social event we attended as a couple. It was to one of Jacob's friends brothers wedding in February 1996. I was 20 years old.

Celebrating his birthday in April 1996. I had my hair cut and dyed it back to my natural hair color which is a dark brown almost black. I have no idea why wer were cracking up ... nerves I guess. Young and in love.

Our first 4th of July together. Even while we dated I wanted to make it tradition to spend Independence day in Coronado.

And guess what? These are all the pictures I have of us during our courtship ... at least the ones I'm willing to share. Not many but enough to share with you a bit of the several months that we spent knowing each other better and realizing day after day that we wanted to be married.