Rogers Family

Matea

2012-01-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

I felt like I needed to do an update on Matea. My itty bitty girl is doing good. Over christmas she took her first steps but since being home has refused to walk, instead she does this knee walking thing that is very funny to watch. She can show you where her nose is and how big she as. She still loves animals and playing in the water. She can say mama, dada, and is starting to figure out up and meow. We just started taking her to gymboree and she thinks it's pretty cool.

At 14 months Matea weighed a whooping 16 lbs landing her in the 1-3% range for weight. Shes my little string bean. She still doesn't like to eat so it's a struggle each day. She'll probalby have to be on a bottle for a while longer which is kind of annoying because she refuses to hold it. We've switched her from formula to pediasure and she gets about six 3-4 oz bottles a day (she still doesn't sleep through the night). Besides the feeding and wieght issues Matea has caught up to her actual age which is fantastic. Her fine motor skills are pretty amazing, if I may say so. We love this munchkin!

Maxfield Christmas

2012-01-30T12:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a blast! My whole family was able to get together in Washington. We played a ton of games, squeezed cute babies, took a ton of pictures, played in the snow at the cabin, and just had an overall great time. Here are some of the highlights in picture form

First Snowfall of the Season

2011-12-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Matea had her first experience with snow this weekend. Her Aunt Katy had just sent her a snowsuit so it was perfect timing. She didn't know what to think of not having any hands.

where'd my hands go?

We went out first thing in the morning, hence no makeup and bedhead. Matea looks cute though

Making her first snowangel

Look what I made!

A winter wonderland-that only lasted till noon

Daddy's little girl

The below picture is right before she face planted and learned that snow is cold. It's hard crawling in a snowsuit.

A Guys Thanksgiving

2011-12-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

This thanksgiving was definitely a guys holiday. That's not to say I didn't have fun, because I did, it's just the guys had a blast. It started off thanksgiving morning with flag football. While Jacob, his dad and brother did that Matea and I played in the park.

Just swinging

The boys played for quite a while

Next up was day 1 of golfing.

I tagged along while my mother-in-law Tara babysat. ( I married into a great family)

Jacob and his brother

All the men folk. We then headed home for a delicious Thanksgiving meal. I had fun this year actually cooking some sides. I did happy bread, my aunt Patty's yummy stuffing, pumpkin cookies, and a chocolate vanilla walnut torte. Sooo much yummy food. The next few days were filled with more golfing and watching any/all sporting events on tv. Whenever we could get the boys away from the sport shows we'd play games. Our favs are dominion, bohnanza, bananagrams, and great dalmuti.

Matea helping me do laundry after thanksgiving.

Here's a cute video of one of Matea's latest tricks.

Birthday Week 2011

2011-12-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

This post is very overdue. All our birthdays fall within 6 days of each other and my parents said they'd take us on a trip when Jacob graduated. We decided to combine there offer with our birthday week. Matea probably had the best first birthday of any baby.

It was a great trip. Matea did awesome flying. She loved eating sand and playing in the water. She was a little hesitant with the wave but once you got her in the ocean she was happy as could be. Since my parents came with us we had babysitters and could still do fun activities. We got to scuba dive 3 times, jet ski,paddle board and go to a funny magic show.

The only bad thing was about 5 hours before we left our rental car got broken into and my diaper bag with my wallet was stolen. Luckily nothing else was taken and the police gave me a report to prove my identity to fly home.

Thanks mom and dad for the great vacation!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

A Hawaiian Halloween with the prettiest mermaid on the beach

With a wail that would put any Siren to shame

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

2011-11-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Before I blog about Maui and Halloween I wanted to talk about Matea turning one. Our itty bitty girl turned one this past week and I can't help but reflect on how far she's come! From an emergency c-section, a 2 month stay in the NICU, to coming home on a feeding tube, Matea has had some big obstacles to overcome.

Born at 3lbs is now 14lbs 10oz. She can say mama, dada, baba, and make all sorts of cute noises. She is crawling all over the house and follows you where ever you go. She can pull herself up on almost anything and can walk while pushing something. Her Physical therapist says Matea is doing awesome and has got up to her real age in gross mototr skills and her fine motor skills are above. Her speech language therapist is impressed with how Matea is progressing. She still is a slow eater and picky but at least she eats some things and we've been able to avoid a Gtube

She is such a happy social baby. She only really cries when she's hungry,tired,or needs her diaper changed. She smiles at everyone and gets sad if people don't smile back. She just figured out dancing and can do a wicked shimmy :) I know I'm forgetting a lot but I don't want to bore everyone so I'll just say we love this little munchkin!

First time seeing my baby

Above- Matea's hand in her dads at a few days old
Below- Matea's hand at a year

Since we were in Maui over her birthday we just had a small party with family when we got back

With some of her presents

She thought the cake was pretty awesome

And here's a video of Matea eating her cake. She first got an ice cream bar that she liked to play with but was too cold for her mouth. She then got a pudding cake.

Silver City

2011-10-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

For the Month of October Jacob has beeen on rotation in SIlver City. He would stay there mon-thursday night and then leave here Sunday afternoon to get back. It was hard not having him around and my hats off to all military/ med student wives and single mothers. One week I got to go down with Jacob and stay at the little apartment the school has for them.

Silver city is a Copper mining town so on thedrive down we stopped to check out the mine. Matea wanted to climb the fence.

Silver City is onthe smaller side so there wasn't a ton to do but we did hike up to some cliff dwellings

Can you see them

Matea thought it was pretty neat

A painting

I'm glad that Jacob is finally done with that rotation and now we are off to Maui to celebrat all our birthdays!

Balloon Fiesta

2011-10-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Every October Albuquerque has a hot air balloon fiesta. While we didn't quite wake up early enough to see them take off or do the night glow we did get to see them in the air.

It's crazy how many balloons they have at this thing. Maybe next year we will actually go to the show grounds.

Watching from the warmth of our car

That weekend Kevin and Noelle were in town so we got to see them a few times. We had a blast catching up.

Dads and their daughters

Matea playg in a box

HIghschool Reunions and the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jacob had his ten year highschool reunion this month. In honor of it (and the fact that the pumpkin patch was close to it) we went to his old stomping grounds. Check out that proud pinto (the horse, not the bean). That night was the actual reunion. Jacob had fun, i got to eat out so we were both happy lol.

In between going to the highschool and the reunion we went to McCall's pumpkin patch. This place is great! they have hayrides, a huge pumpkin field, three corn mazes, a petting zoo, bouncy castles and so much more. What's really nice is that once you get in everything is free except the food and pumpkins. At night they also turn it into a haunted Barn and corn maze. We went to those a different weekend but didn't take any pictures.

Making our way through one of the mazes

There was a little bunny town that was great for Matea.

We had fun finding the perfect pumpkin

Matea even got a pumpkin just her size

And then she told me to stop taking pictures :)

October

2011-10-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wow October has been a busy month! I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. You can bet that once Oct. 1st rolled around Halloween decorations went up. Jacob even got into the fun by mowing BOO! intoour front yard, isn't he cute!

Decorating for Halloween was always a big deal in my family so my mom sent me a package full of crepe paper to make spiderwebs with. Matea was taking a nap when I put them up so when she woke up she was all excited and kept pointing at them.

Thanks to pinterest I made the easiest Halloween wreath ever and love it.

Another pinterest find- free prints!

Spooky bottles

And of course we have the candy bowls out

Our fireplace- hopefumore pumpkins will be joining these two.

I'm even making Matea get in the spirit of Halloween by dressing her in Halloween gear at least once a week. Some of her outfits-

She wouldn't look at me for this photo

Hope everyone is enjoying the best month of the year!

Provo

2011-10-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we made the drive to Provo with Jacob's parents to meet Matea's newest cousin Norah.

For the first time Matea showed interest in another baby. It was so fun to meet Katy and Jordan's little girl.

She also got to meet her Uncle Jeremiah for the first time.

Jacob holding Norah

Matea loves the pool

We also went to the aweful game that was BYU vs Utah. To makeit worse we were three rows in front of the Utah marching band.

Matea also got to meet her gigi and pa pa

Katy came back with us to Albuquerque to hang out for a few more days.

Cute cousins

Video overload

2011-09-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Here are 4 cute videos of Matea. The first is her third attempt at crawling. All her therapists are very happy with Matea's progress and she is exactly on track with her adjusted age.

The next video has some cute giggles in the first 30 seconds

Matea has now had a few run-ins with dogs and it's hard to tell what she thinks. She has a shrill laugh/cry but when we would take her away she would cry lol

One thing Matea does love is the pool. We can't wait to take her to Maui for our birthday week

Random

2011-09-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

Here are some cute pics of Matea I just had to share

Ohh we also got a second car! Nothing fancy,just a honda accord off Craigslist. It sure is nice not having to juggle our schedules around who needs a car

Murder Mystery

2011-09-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Once again I've fallen behind on blogging.I completly skipped the fabulous trip to my parents cabin. Luckily my sister in law did a great job blogging about it so if you are dying to know what we did check it out.

In somewhat more recent news we had a murder mystery party at our place with Jacob's co-workers. The best part of it was finely having nice kitchen to cook in.

I made 2 desserts- cookie dough pops and carrot cake whoopie pies

For appetizers I made artichoke dip, bruchetta, and meatballs. Jacobs coworkers also brought some things so we had quite the spread.

My character was the town librarian/gossip who loves cats. Matea made the perfect kitty.

Contrary to the above picture Matea had a fun time too.

Jacob was the detective but I didn't get a good photo of him.

I love having a house where we can actually have people over and have parties!

Tent Rocks

2011-09-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we drove out to a place called Tent Rocks to go hiking with some of Jacob's coworkers. While going through the park entrance a worker told us to pay attention to the weather because they'd had some flash floods the last couple of days. That made us all real excited lol. Luckily, the weather was great and the sights were beautiful.

mini tent rocks

at the beginning of the hike

little canyons to walk through reminded us of the movie 127 Hours

Big tent rocks

view from the top

Matea loved hiking but on the way dowon fell asleep

It's definately a hike I'd do again

Pinterest Made Me Do It

2011-08-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

Like so many others I have become addicted to pinterest. After pinning all these cute ideas I decided it was time to do some of them. My first project was some baby name art. I was just going to by it from the etsy seller but she had closed her store for the time so I decided to do it myself with a little bit of help from Jacob. The finished canvas.

The next project involved my wonderful dad. Jacob and I had left some boxes at my parents house so they were kind enough to rent a truck and bring it out to us. Before trekking from WA to NM I asked my dad if he could make me a headboard and sent him a few pins I liked. This is the finished project

Pretty amazing I think! My dad is awesome with his hands, not only can he work on teeth but he can draw, paint, and do woodwork. Now I just need a better duvet cover.

The next project also involved my dad. He made me a pallet shelf which I am loving. I still need to fill it with pictures though

While my dad was hard at work My mom and I got to decorate Matea's nursery. We started out by making a mobile using an embroidery hoop, paper, fishing line, and ribbon.

The next project was some wall art made from embroidery hoops and fabric. I love how it turned out.

There are still a few more pictures to be hung and boxes to be organized but Matea's nursery is now a cute and happy place to be.

I already have more crafts from pinterest to do so I better get started.

Matea Update

2011-08-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Matea had her 9 month check up yesterday. When looking at growth statistics the go by adjusted age which puts her at 7 months. At a whooping 13 pounds she is around the 3rd percentile for weight. The crazy thing is her head is in the 98th percentile. We had to get two ultrasounds to make sure nothing fishy was going on but it looks like it's just a cause she comes from a family of big heads. Her adjusted length puts her in the 25th percentile.

What's amazing about our little munchkin is that she is almost caught up to her real age as far as milestones go. That big head of hers has slowed down her gross motor skills a smich so she is still seeing a physical therapist for that. She can now sit be herself for a bit, scoot backwards when on her tummy and if she's motivated enough roll around. Her fine motor skills are right on track for a 9 month old as well as her communication/social skills. She's a little chatter box and loves smiling at people.

Getting into her toy box

She is still having problems eating as much as we like so she's going to start seeing a speech therapist again soon. We started feeding her solids and I would say at least half her meal ends up all over her. We've really liked the early intervention here in New Mexico. All the therapist come to our house which is great since we only have one car. Here's a little video of matea when she was first figuring out how to scoot.

Matea is doing a lot better sleeping now. She only wakes up once at night to eat and then at 6 or seven. This has been great because I can now get at least a 4 hour block of sleep, if i'm lucky i'll get 6.

We love are little girl and can't believe how smart, happy and curious she is.

Water park fun

2011-08-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

In Albuquerque there's a hotel that has an indoor water park attached to it. When you buy a room you get wristbands for access to the park. Jacob's older sister and two boys were coming into town so we got to go hang out here for two days. It was a lot of fun

By far Jacob's favorite thing was the surfing. He did say it was different then surfing in San Francisco, sorry babe but there's no ocean near by.

Matea in her teddy swimsuit

Cousins!

Our home

2011-07-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait and do this post once the house was completly unpacked but decided that might be awhile. So here we go with our house tour. What you see when you walk in

To the right the living room

To the left the wall

Walk back to the dining area and kitchen. Through the kitchen to the...

Panty and laundry room

Off the dinning room is the guest bathroom

Then the office/guest room which is definately needing some time spent on it

The hallway with two closets

Matea's room. We just ordered her a crib and then we will decorate and make it all cute

Master bedroom

Master bath

Master closet

last but not least our backyard. Yep and empty pool. To bad it doesn't work, with the heat right now it would be amazing.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

We had a nice fourth of July this year. Jacob went golfing in the morning while I played with Matea. We then went to Albuquerque's minor league baseball stadium to watch the Isotops and fireworks.

Just hanging out looking cute (thanks for the bib Aunt Patty)

All dressed up and ready for the game

All we needed was some apple pie and it would've been an all american night

We used the headphones from the BYU basketball tournament and Matea slept right through the fireworks. It was a fun night of family, food, and fireworks

What Now

2011-07-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Now that Jacob is done with school he gets to start the real world. Well kind of. Jacob is doing a one year AEGD dental residency with UNM hospital. He will get to rotate through different dental clinics and gain more experiance and become more time efficient before starting in a real dental office. There are ten other dentist in the program, 3 are guys, 7 girls so no fun dental wives group in New Mexico.

Before they started thier program they held a little dinner for those finishing the residency and those entering. It was fun for me to see who Jacob will be working with for the next year.

After a week of orientation Jacob had his first real day seeing patients as a certified dentist today. We had to go buy him scrubs since UOP was business dress. I made him get a pair of Greys Anatomy scrubs because they felt the nicest. Now I can call him Mcdreamy/steamy lol

I left My heart in San Francisco

2011-06-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

While our parents were in town we took them to two of our fav restaurants, Tadich Grill and Fresca

The dads had to ride in the trunk

We did most of the packing Saturday so when Monday rolled around we were ready to go.

After two days of driving we made it to our new home in the Land of Enchanment. MAtea did pretty good and freaked out when we were about 20 minutes from our house.
Thanks Tara and Darell for driving the truck.

We are loving the warm weather and having more space to live.

On the second or third day here we had a barbecue and hung out in the front yard (the back yard is an empty pool)

Look at matea's cute swimsuit

We are loving having cousins and grandparents around

Nany and her grandkids

Cute cousins

Introducing Doctor Rogers!

2011-06-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the actual graduation ceremony. Before heading to the event we went to the school to get some photos.

I'm so proud of my husband

Jacob and his parents

My parents

Graduation was held at the Davies Symphony Hall.

Waiting for the ceremony to start

Honors baby!

Jacob and his friend Rad

Walking in

Getting hooded

With the dean

After the ceremony we kind of booked it out of there because it was so crowded. It was nice to get away but then we realized we didn't get to really say goodbye to anyone. The three years flew bye (ok maybe not first year) and we were sad to pack up and leave on monday.

A video of Jacob receiving his diploma

Matea's Baby Blessing

2011-06-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

In between packing and graduation we had Matea's baby blessing. She looked adorable wearing the same blessing gown I wore and a cute bonnet my visiting teacher made.

Get ready for a ton of pictures

Alumni Banquet

2011-06-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Jacob on his last day of school

The start of packing

My mom came down a few days before graduation to help us pack and watch Matea. She also got to babysit her while JAcob and I went the UOP's Alumni Banquet.

All dressed up and ready to go

It was held at the Ritz and was a very classy affair.

Us with Jason and Frances

Awkward high school prom pose

Dr Salmon who we went to the Dominican Republic with

Our table. The food was great. We ate, watched as they presented awards, and then danced till my feet were sore

The wives club. I miss you ladies!

Check out those doctors

Jacobs soccer team, minus a few

Laura, Stevie and I

after dancing we need some sugar in the form of doughnuts. We headed over to Bob's doughnuts and got The Big One. (Don't worry we shared one)

It was delicious, also their apple fritters are amazing! It's open 24hrs and it made the night complete.

Misc.

2011-06-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

Before I start blogging about Jacob's graduation and moving there's a few pictures I need to share first.

I saw these really cute necklaces on etsy and thought it might be fun to have a california one to give Matea when she gets older since she was born in CA. They were a bit pricey but I showed Jacob and he said he could make that. We then decided it could be fun to make our moms some to say thanks for supporting us.

I think they turned out great!

Matea can now hold her own bottle, but only if she feels like it which isn't that often.

I love these two!
And lastly, a fun video

Over the river and through the woods

2011-05-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

To Grandma and Grandpa's house we go! While Jacob was taking the WREBs (dental licensure exam) Matea and I headed to the Tri-Citites.

we played with cousins

Visited the great grandparents- My moms side

my Dad's side

Played some more with cousins

Went on walks around the lake

Look at that face!

Snuggeled with grandpa

Attened her cousins first dance recital (she even got to wear a tutu too)

Lovely ballerinas

It was sad to leave but we really missed Jacob and couldn't wait to get back

See ya in a couple of weeks for Jacob's graduation

UOP"S 2011 Crawfish Boil

2011-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I aren't huge fans of craw fish but we figured it was our last year to attend UOP's craw fish boil. Matea seemed pretty interested in the little crustaceans.

Rub a Dub Dub

2011-05-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Matea loves bath time and I love the smell of a clean baby

Take me out to the ball game!

2011-05-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Matea attended her first baseball game! She was pretty cute decked out in her Giants gear.

She was a little fussy at the beginning but then calmed down. I blame it on the fact the the Giants were losing the first few innings.

In the end the Giants pulled out a win against the diamondbacks.

Go Giants! Torture never felt so good!

TKO

2011-05-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Jacob got inducted into the Tau Kappa Omega honor society. This means he is in the top 30% of his class. When they invite you into the honor society they pull a prank. Jacob got pulled into one of his teachers offices and was given a letter from a patient of his who was very upset with the service Jacob was giving him. After making him sweat for a few minutes they let him in on the joke.

It was a great induction ceremony at the War Memorial building. When they get inducted a fellow student who is already in the honor society shares a little bit about the inductee. Jacob's friend Eryn was the one to present Jacob into the group. Eryn and I teased him by saying I had told her an embarrassing story about Jacob and she was going to tell everyone. He was greatly relieved when this didn't happen.

Jacob is pretty amazing. He was ADEA chapter president his 2nd year , has been involved with ASB, has gone on two dental mission trips, set up an unofficial UOP soccer team (that won the championship one year) and participates in the Future Educators group. He does all this while still being in the top 30% and being a great dad/husbnad.

Jacob is a TKO, total knock-out (yeah i know i'm cheesy)

First Mothers Day as a Mom

2011-05-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

What a great day. Jacob took care of all the night feedings then woke me up with waffles, yum! He even bought me some beautiful flowers. He's such a great husband that he changed all the poopy diapers and cleaned the house too! I sure love him.

One of my favorite meals is chicken parmesan and in the 4+ years we've been married Jacob has perfected his recipe.

Jacob also made this slideshow for me to say I'm a great mom. Made me cry. I love my husband and baby girl soooo much. My life has definitely changed in the past 6 months and I love it.

I'd also like to say thank you to my mom for all she's done for me. Thanks for the great role model of what a mom is. And last but not least, thank you Jacob's mom, Tara, for raising such an amazing son.

On a side note- is it Mothers or Mother's Day? Both work, hmm.

Family Photos

2011-05-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had family photos taken by our friend Alex. I wanted some famly pics of us in San Francisco before we move in June. I think they turned out pretty dang good. Thanks Alex!

Now I have to decide which ones to frame.

EASTER!!!

2011-04-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty laid back this year. We played with baby

Got dressed in our easter best (don't worry she didn't wear the ears to church)

After church we went over to Berkeley for an easter egg hunt with friends

Matea wanted to wear her basket as a hat so who was I to say no.

She's an easter egg hunting pro!

Oh Pampers

2011-04-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

So Pampers has a little mini series on a family with a micro preemie. It does a pretty good job of sharing the experience. Here's the first "episode." You can bet I watched them all and cried while holding my little girl.

Just in case you forgot

2011-04-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Matea is so stinkin' cute!

Here's a little video of Matea squealing. Sorry you have to hear me chatting with her

One Last Chance to Be Rockstars

2011-04-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Just about every quarter of the year one of our classmates organizes "Acoustigasm" and we all get an opportunity to remind ourselves why we choose dentistry rather than music as a career. Two of my classmates (Rad and Jason) and myself put together a few numbers for this quarter's show. It was our second and final appearance as the "Sweat-lodge Bromance" (a name we were dubbed after a particularly interesting camping experience). The theme was the 80's and although you can't really tell I am sporting a mullet. It's always nice to venture into realms outside of dentistry with my classmates. Enjoy!

Spring Break

2011-04-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks back we had our last spring break...well at least until Matea starts school. We thought it would be fun to stay in San Francisco and go do somethings around the city before we moved. Just our luck it rained the whole week. We managed to still have a great break snuggling with baby, reading, and playing games with friends.

On Friday morning the sun peaked out so we hurried over the the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. On MWF from 9-10 it's free, it's a small garden so we were glad we went in the morning

The gardens were beautiful and the cherry blossoms were in bloom

They had this really cool steep bridge you could walk over.

We then drove up to Twin Peaks to look at the city.

We're going to miss living here that's for sure.

2011-03-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Lets talk hair, specifically my hair. I love changing styles but am in a rut. That's why I'm turning to you, my friends and family. Here are some of my past looks

Short

Braids-did this for a summer of camping

Extensions

Blonde

Dark Brown

Brown with highlights

Red-It wasn't this red the lighting is just weird

Bangs-both straight across and side swept

This is what my hair currently looks like. I've been growing it out and let my natural color come back

Puh-leeze help me decide what to do next!

Happy St Patty's Day!

2011-03-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

Upgrade!

2011-03-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

When Jacob proposed to me he did so with a wooden ring he had made. I loved it!

We then looked at several ring designs online and I gave him my top three. He surprised me with this beauty a few weeks later

I later heard about chocolate diamonds and fell in love. I told him that if I could pick out my wedding ring again I'd have one of those instead. Well, 4 years and a baby later, my diamond has some chocolaty friends

I love it! The small diamonds aren't extremely dark but have just a hint of brown. Isn't my hubby awesome!

Vegas Baby!

2011-03-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

We decided to jump on the Jimmer Mania train and headed to Vegas for the MWC. We met up with my parents and had a great weekend. There were a lot of first for little Matea- first time flying, first basketball game, first time swimming. She was quite the trooper through it all. We got her special headphones to protect her ears during the basketball game so she slept through most of them. We got to go to all three games, go outlet shopping, and watch Love the Beatles Cirque de Soliel show.

Thanks mom and dad for this great vacay

4 months!!!

2011-03-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

On the fifth Matea hit the 4 month mark! With preemies the also look at the adjusted age- hers is 1 month and three weeks. Matea now weighs 9 lbs 4 oz and is a little over 22 in long. So when you look at her adjusted age she's right on track.

Matea has been tube free since mid january and it is so nice! She still doesn't eat a lot, maybe 16-19 oz a day but she's slowly eating more and more. We have to do a lot to make up her bottles. It starts with me pumping for like 15-20 min, then we add a little formula to add calories, then we blend it with a thing called simply thick. Simply thick does just that- thickens her milk. We have to thicken her bottles because she had a swallow test done that showed she aspirates when eating. This means some of her milk was going down the wrong pipe. By thickening her bottle this should help reduce this. She then eats the bottle in 20-30 min and 2-3 hours later we do it again. Basically my day consists of trying to fatten her up :)

Matea is smiling now and it melts my heart! I've caught it on camera a few times but it's tricky. She is working on holding her head up, loves to coo and kick when she's playing in her gym, and prefers our bed to hers.

Daddy daughter so sweet

Happy valentines day!

Tired mom and baby

We wanted to see what she'd look like with hair so out came my wig

Big laugh

since being home from the NICU Matea visits a lot of drs for different things

Ped- shots, weight check, the usual

Speech therapist- work on her feeding

Physical therapist- help her gain muscle strength in her neck and core

GI- she no longer has to see on a regular basis but he checked her for reflux and swallowing

Nutritionist- Makes sure she's getting enough calories and volume

We've been lucky and have loved all our doctors and nurses.

We love are little angel! We are flying to Vegas in a few days and it will be our first time with a baby. Wish us luck!

Black Tie Affair

2011-03-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we had our first date night since Matea came home. Jacob's school held a Legacy Ball which is a black tie fundraiser for their school. It's mostly Alumni and donors but Jacob got a free ticket for being in the student government so we figured why not. It was held at the Asian art museum and was really cool. The exhibits were open and there was food, a live band, and a photographer. We had a blast getting all dressed up and had great evening.

Dropping Matea off at our friend Sarah's. Thanks sooo much for watching her!

The food was yummy and kept coming.

Stairs up to the main room

We're so cultured

Isn't he handsome in his Tux?

Keeping it classy

Thanks UOP for a great event!

For your enjoyment - a few pictures of baby Matea and crew!

2011-01-30T23:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world baby girl

2011-01-23T17:56:00.000-08:00

After Matea came home Jacob and I tried our hand at photography. We waited until we had to change her feeding tube so that the ugly thing wouldn't be in her baby pics. I am pretty happy with the outcome. We also made preemie birth announcements on shutterfly stating her birth stats and her homecoming stats. Enjoy the cuteness!

Mother of a Preemie

2011-01-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

How are you doing?

This is a question I've gotten a lot lately. More often then not I smile and say I'm fine because who really wants to hear it all? I hate crying in front of people so instead I just laugh about not getting as much sleep and what not. I save the tears for my husband and occasionally my mom.

The truth- i feel like I'm on some crazy roller coaster that I never agreed to get on in the first place. Some days are so perfect and others are a mess. I've come along way since the beginning and know one day it will all just be a memory that me and Jacob will say remember when.

Remember when we couldn't even hold our daughter

Remember when she needed help to breath

Remember commuting back and forth from the hospital

Remember the joy of getting to hold her

Remember celebrating each wire coming off her

Remember feeling robbed and helpless

Remember the amazing nurses helping us care for her

Remember having to hold her still while we place her feeding tube

Remember her throwing up all the time because of her iron supplements and tube

Remember cuddling in bed together as a family

I've never felt so many emotions then in the past 3 months. I'm sorry to those people who came to visit at the beginning if I zoned out, i would start a conversation with someone only to find myself not listening and wondering how Matea was doing. I was in my own little world. Some days I'd find myself asking why all this had happened. What had I done wrong during my pregnancy. Did I not eat healthy, should I have exercised more, should I have said my prayers more regularly? Other days I would be so grateful and feel so blessed, she was alive and getting better each day. Compared to some preemies she is doing amazing.

I love Matea so much. I had no idea the love a mother has for her children was this strong. It makes me regret ever yelling at my own mother when I was young. My mom is an amazing woman who helped me so much during all of this. She drove me to the hospital, cooked me dinner, even attempted to vacuum our apartment (sorry the vacuum exploded on you mom).

Even though I sometimes feel robbed of the whole delivery thing I'm grateful for modern medicine and being able to have her here. Sorry if this doesn't make sense and is all over the place, that's my life lately. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I am doing good.

She's Home!!!

2011-01-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

After 60 days in the Nicu, Matea came home January 3rd and we couldn't have been more excited. Before she came home she had to complete certain test. She had to go 7 days without having any apneas or bradycardy spells. She past this off at the end of November. She had to then pass the car seat test. This means sitting in her carseat for an hour without any of her vitals dropping. She passed with flying colors.

She looks so small in there

The last test was eating 85% of her feeds through a bottle. FAIL! The doctors still don't really know why she won't eat her whole feed from a bottle. The thought is that my due date could have been guessed wrong and instead of being born at 31weeks she was really born at 29 weeks. After much discussion it was decided that Mate could come home on a NG tube. This is a tube that goes in her nose to her stomach. A pump is then used to deliver whatever she doesn't take from a bottle to her tummy. We had to get trained on how to insert the tube and use the pump. It's pretty easy to put the tube in but it breaks my heart a little because she screams during it. Once all that was taken care of we got to spend the night at the hospital with her in our room like a trial run.

This is the room we got. It was crazy not having her hooked to any monitors. We were to feed her every three hours but I think I was awake most of the night being paranoid and checking on her the whole time. That morning she was discharged!

This is her going home outfit. A little big but ohh so cute!

Heading out of the NICU

Her first time being out in the real world!
We love having our little girl home with us and being able to snuggle whenever we want. The lack of sleep is totally worth it.

Resting in her boppy while mom gets her bottle

Thank you everyone for your love and prayers during this crazy time.

Christmas

2011-01-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

This year was the first Christmas Jacob and I spent with just us. It was fun being with our little girl to celebrate.

Matea won best dressed in the NICU and everyone was ohhing and ahhing at her. I love the above picture, she looks like a dancing little elf :) Since we weren't with extended family Christmas eve dinner was up to me. I think it turned out pretty good. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and an artichoke with butter dipping sauce.

Funny story about the ham. I had no idea what the going rate is for one and since I was buying it the night before Christmas eve i got the first one I saw at $5 a lbs. Holy cow was it expensive, but i figured that's what they'd all be like. Nope. I later heard Safeway had a ton for a dollar a pound. Next year I'll know better lol

our little tree and gifts

Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents then headed to the NICU with gifts for Matea. She had on a pretty Christmas dress to celebrate the day.

Matea with a few of her gifts

A present from daddy. it won't fit for a while but who cares

A San Francisco book from Grandma and Grandpa.

After Christmas Jacob's family flew into town to hangout.

We flew kites, played a ton of games, checked out union square and so much more. It was great having them around and fun for Matea to meet her Nanny and Grandad, and aunts and uncles.

It was a great way to end the year with family.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

A lot has been happening and I've fallen behind in blogging. Time to catch up!

For Thanksgiving my family came to San Francisco and rented a house to stay in.It was a cute old victorian house

We had the upstairs apartment and it fit all of us comfortably.

The kitchen and dinning room

The fancy shmancy living room

Everyone together minus Matea

It was fun having everyone in SF. We had a great thanksgiving dinner, celebrated an early christmas, went sightseeing, and played games.

we hung out at the tourist trap that is fishermens wharf

We went to alcatraz

Grandpa and grandma got to hold Matea for the first time

And Matea got a sweet pumpkin hat for Thanksgiving.

Matea Video

2010-12-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

Matea gets the hiccups just about every time we visit her. We think they are the cutest thing ever. Here's a video to enjoy:

Cuteness update

2010-12-19T19:08:00.001-08:00

Matea has hit some big milestones lately. She celebrated her 1 month birthday, doubled her birth weight (she's now +6lbs) stayed in each NICU room at the hospital, and made it through her mom and dad giving her a bath for the first time. I can't believe how much bigger she has gotten, she actually has cute little rolls! As far as when she can come home it's still up in the air. She is great health wise but needs to learn how to eat. In order to come home she has to eat 85% of her feeds for a few days. Right now she is taking 55 ml at each feed but only getting 5-10 ml by bottle, the rest is being given to her through a tube. The nurses keep saying it's like a light switch and will one day just click. Matea is teaching me patience that's for sure. We were hoping she'd be home for Christmas but that might not happen. So for now it's back and forth to the hospital. Now what you've all been waiting for, pictures

Thank you everyone for the love, prayers, and packages. It's been so helpful having great friends and family for support. I'm sorry I haven't sent out thank you cards, I've been a little busy, but know that we are so grateful for everything.

Card

2010-12-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

With all that's been going on i just didn't have the energy to send out a Christmas card. This will have to do.

2 weeks down

2010-11-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

In two weeks our little Matea went from this

to this

During that time we got to hold her for the first time,

With preemies they recommend something called Kangaroo Care or skin to skin. This helps the baby regulate their temp better, helps with respiratory and heart rate problems, and is a great bonding experience.

Got the IV moved from one hand to the other and then to the head

Lost the IV and Canula (the thing in the nose giving extra oxygen)

And showed signs of wanting to be bottle fed.

This last one is going to take some time to get down. It's hard work learning to breath, suck, and swallow. She will take a few sucks, stop to breath and relax and then suck some more. She usually only gets a little bit down and the rest is tube fed to her.

Matea is doing pretty awesome. They gave her back the canula for just a few days because lately she's been taking shallow breaths or forgetting to breath. This is pretty normal and she doesn't have a ton of episodes so it was mostly out of precaution. They also started her on a small dose of caffeine, this will help the part of the brain that senses how much oxygen is in the body work better. All the nurses can't believe how little help she needs. Each day she is gaining weight and looking great.

Now for some cute photos

Baby Time II

2010-11-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

So, we have an update on the baby proceedings. Everything went well with Morgan's c-section and she delivered a beautiful little girl - Matea Louise Rogers, 3 lbs, 16 inches. Mom is doing great and recovering from a long couple of days. Baby Matea is also doing well, all things considered. She is in the newborn intensive care unit and will probably be there for a while. She had a few struggles breathing but with a little oxygen tube she seems to be getting the hang of it. Thanks to everyone for their support! Here are some pictures:

Baby Time

2010-11-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Family and Friends,

As many of you have probably heard, Morgan is in the hospital right now. She saw her doctor yesterday because of back pain and nausea which started on Monday. Her blood pressure measured very high. They took urine and blood samples and a CT scan (to check for clots). After taking a look at the lab results she was diagnosed with preeclampsia (pregnancy induced high blood pressure) and was transferred to another hospital for over night monitoring. They gave her a steroid (beta methasone) to help speed up baby's development as well as magnesium sulfate to decrease her blood pressure and contractions (which she started having upon arrival at the hospital). The baby has been fine the whole time - she's already a real trooper. Morgan has also been a real trooper too and right now is feeling just fine.

They've been taking urine samples throughout the night and another blood sample this morning. A natal specialist came to speak to us this morning to inform us that Morgan has severe preeclampsia, for which the only treatment is delivery. So, long story short, Morgan is scheduled to have a C-section this afternoon (around 4:00). The baby is 31 weeks old and about 3 pounds (which I guess is larger than most babies in the NICU) and they anticipate that the baby will be fine - although she'll have an extended stay at the hospital.

We just wanted to give everyone the latest and ask for your thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Jacob, Morgan and Baby Rogers

Morgan and Baby say HI!!!!!!

pumpkin patch

2010-11-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Our last October in San Francisco we decided to head down to Half Moon Bay and check out their pumpkin festival. We got there early enough to have pumpkin pancakes, check out the craft booths and catch the parade. They have a competition for the largest pumpkin every year and this years winner weighed 1,535 lbs!

We then headed over to a pumpkin patch to find a cute little pumpkin and eat more pumpkin pie and ice cream.

Catch up

2010-11-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Jacob's school had their annual softball tournament. Jacob played on the third year team White Trash. They lost both their games but looked good doing it.

Check out Jacob's shirt made that morning

Wa Gwan?!?!

2010-10-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

That's Jamaican for, what's going on? For Jacob's summer break we got the opportunity to team up with the organization Great Shape! 1000 smiles and head to Jamaica to do dental work. When we signed up I wasn't pregnant and knowing how primitive our last dental trip was had me a little worried. This trip was completely different though. Great Shape works with sandals resort in Jamaica meaning we got to stay at a nice all inclusive resort.

We left Friday and flew to Miami and then Montego Bay. From there we had about a 2 hour drive to Ocho Rios where our resort was. Saturday was a free day for us to explore and a big group went to Dunns River Falls. It's a waterfall that you can climb up and explore. Everything I read online said it wasn't the best thing for a pregnant woman to do so I stayed at the hotel and read by our private pool. That night we got together for a meet and greet with the other volunteers on a sunset catamaran boat. We all introduced ourselves and then ate and danced. The waves got pretty crazy on the way back in which made for some awesome dancing ( dont worry I sat a watched)

The next day was orientation and we went to set up our clinics. Instead of going to different places like we did in the DR great shapes had split us into teams for the different locations. This meant we were at a place called Steertown for all five days. This particular town had raised money for a dental clinic meaning we had actual dental chairs, sterilization equipment, and town members to help us direct people. On our team there were 6 dental students, 1 dentist, 1 hygienist, 1 dental assistant, and me on sterilization. There were a lot of extractions, a few fillings, and few cleanings done in those five days.

The weather was interesting during our trip. The first day there it was extremely hot and i thought I was crazy to tagging along 26 weeks pregnant. However, mon-fri we got the tail end of a hurricane and it rained like crazy. It was actually really nice though because it kept the clinics cool. On our last day there it was starting to clear up so we were able to go scuba diving/snorkeling and kayaking.

The people of Jamaica are awesome! I could understand almost every other word except for the really little kids who i just smiled and nodded at :) They were all so nice and grateful for the work being done. At first we thought it was just a resort thing for the Jamaicans to say "Ya mon", like they were just doing it to make us happy. When we went out to the small towns though they were all totally saying it. It was awesome and they loved hearing us try to speak patois.

The trip was amazing and I'm glad I tagged along, even if I gained a bunch of weight and my feet swelled up. Serving people while getting a vacation is an awesome way to go.

Ultimate Couples Weekend!!!

2010-09-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Over labor day weekend Jacob and I were invited by our friends the Larsens to participate in their annual Ultimate Couples Weekend (UCW). Sarah was nice enough to open up her parents place in Laguna beach for several couples to come and hangout for the weekend. WE had a blast! Thanks Sarah and Patrick for planning this fab vacation.

Picking up trashy magazines for the beach and of course some frozen yogurt.

Girls getting pedicures while the boys were playing tennis

The girls at the beach

Making s'mores by the beach bonfire

The boys after taking a dip in the ocean in their birthday suits.

Back in San Francisco we attended a surprise birthday party for Emily and got this great group pic (thanks julie) of most of the dental school families. Still can't believe this is our last year.

Girly books

2010-09-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

For some reason I'm really excited to have a girl so that I can read/ share with her some of the classic chick lit. My list so far

Little house on the prairie series

Little Women

A Little Princess (I've actually never read the book but loved the movie so I will be reading this)

Girl of the Limberlost

Anne of Green Gables

Harriet the Spy

Matilda

Some less girly ones

James and the Giant peach

Charlotte's Web

The Hobbit (I don't know if I could read it a second time but it was a great book)

What are some books you loved read to you, or reading by yourself, as a kid?

Baby Shower

2010-09-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

This past week I was able to fly home and visit my family. The trip was completely last minute but soo much fun. My mom and sister-in-law Jessica threw together an amazing baby shower for me too. Get ready for picture overload

Decorations-

Jacob and I as babies

Yummy food

party favors

Napkins in diapers

Jessica even made creme brulee

Me and my high school friend Janell who is due around the same time as me

Playing games

Opening gifts

Me and Grandma Lola

Grandma Maxfield, me and my mom. We made this quilt!

Jessica, the party planner

High school friends, Joanna, Natalie,and me

High school friends and moms.

I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming. I know it was last minute and the weekend before school stated but thanks for coming out. Our little girl will now have clothes, lotion, toys, and a stroller!

Baby Girl!

2010-08-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

Last week Jacob and I went to get an ultrasound to check up on our little baby. We found out we are having a girl! We couldn't be more excited. Jacob keeps reminding me that not all her clothes have to be pink and frilly.

I recently switched doctors and the difference in facilities is night and day. The last time I got an ultrasound it was in a big room with curtains to divide patients. I got placed next to the drunk bum which was interesting. This time we went to a fancy shmancy office with individual rooms and they even made a cd with photos. Our little girl was folded in half with her feet in her face for the whole appointment so it was hard to get a decent shot. Everything looks healthy and normal now though so that's all that matter.

I'm posting the pics mostly for our parents because to be honest I think they are kinda scary, especially the 3d ones. With the feet, hands, and umbilical cord she's kinda looking like the swamp monster. We love our little monster though!

Acoustigasm

2010-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

My school holds a music show every quarter and this time myself and two classmates (Jason and Rad) thought we would participate. It's great to have a venue like this to channel our inner rock stars. We played two songs and although we weren't perfect and there were some technical difficulties we had a great time. We're already starting to prepare for the next show. Any requests?

Baby update

2010-07-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Family has been asking for picture updates so here we go. To find out how far along we were I had an ultrasound to measure what size baby was. I guess that little dot is a baby at 7 weeks and 1 day.

Here I am at 12 weeks

14 weeks and i just feel like a look chubby

Finally it resembles a baby. Here's our baby at a little over 15 weeks.

I'll probably have another ultrasound in mid august and hopefully we will be able to find out the sex!

Jeremiah's Visit

2010-07-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Jacob's brother Jeremiah came to visit us for his birthday. I was feeling sick for a good part of it but we still managed to have a great time. The boys got to surf and golf, we went to see toy story 3 (so cute) and Jeremiah got to explore downtown SF

We had a great time Jeremiah and you are welcome back anytime!

That goes for everyone else too, we love having visitors.

Part 2

2010-07-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

One version of paint balling we played involved making one person dress up in life jacket, three pants, helmet, and gloves and be our target. Jacob and Steven were the brave ones

We took one tradition from Jacob's family reunions. Each couple got a model boat they had to put together and design to float. We then took turns shooting each others boats to see who could last the longest.

Construction area

Jacob and I had the Titanic. We wanted to rewrite history.

all the boats

Let the shooting begin!

Surprisingly the Titanic was the last to sink

The girls thought it was loud

We also went on a great hike

Riley led the way, she was so fast.

Emma did a great job all on her own

I needed some help

The rest of the trip was filled with flower picking

Hot tubbing

and enjoying each others company

Thanks for planning such a great vacation mom!

Fourth of July Reunion Part 1

2010-07-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

For the week of fourth of July my whole family got together at our new fabulous cabin. We relaxed and played bocce ball

Ate lots of good food

enjoyed the view from our bakyard

rode dirt bikes and four wheelers

soaked up some sun while boating and jetskiing

May have been the only one on lake cle elum. So pretty and just about the same temp as the columbia river, brrr!

Went paintballing

was the a picture overload? Don't worry there's more to come :)

Cabin History

2010-07-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

For the past few years my mother has been looking for a cabin to call her own. My mother grew up with a cabin get-away in Mack's Inn Yellowstone. Their cabin was named Scalleywag cabin (my mom's maiden name is Scalley)

Then both my grandparents lived up in the mountains while I was a child. There are several memories of driving up the winding roads, spotting out the spooky old tree or fallen giant, and spending time on the mountain with family.

My Parents finally found the perfect cabin a few months ago. Located about 2 hours outside of Seattle, it is convenient to get to. While it may be the most modern cabin I've seen, it fits our families needs perfectly.

Visitors!!!

2010-07-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago my brother and his wife came and visited us before we all flew to Washington for a family reunion. We tried to cram as much into the few days they were here. Our first stop after the picking them up from the airport was our favorite taco place in the mission. We then drove to the painted ladies (aka full house houses)

After that we dropped off their luggage at our place and headed to the tourist trap that is fisherman's wharf.

We checked out the sea lions and then had Boudin's bread bowls for dinner.

WE then drove to chrissy field to fly our new kite. It was cold but so much fun!

The next day we drove to Muir woods to check out the redwoods.

Later that night we saw the Giants beat the Red Sox. Steven and Meredith were sad, Jacob was happy, I was content with my pretzel.

The following morning we watched USA lose which was so sad. T make us feel better we went to the beach. The flew the kite a little more and played bocce ball.

We had a great time in SF with them and then flew early morning the next day to Seattle to see the rest of my family.

Bun in the Oven

2010-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

That's right, as of today I am 12 weeks pregnant! It's pretty crazy to think that soon Jacob and I will be parents. As far as how I'm doing, blah! the name morning sickness is so deceiving. It should be all-day sickness. It's kinda kicking my butt, however Jacob is being great and helping me out. He's driven several times to taco bell when that is all that sounded good to me. I love him so much. I also am a bit emotional. An example, Jacob and I were marathon watching Lord of the Rings extended edition and Jacob turns to look at me and I'm bawling! It wasn't even that sad of a part, it was a fight scene lol. Will I ever feel normal?

As for how we found out I was pregnant, it's an interesting story. Some of you could probably care less so no worries if you stop reading now. I just want to record it mostly for me anyways. A little more than a year ago I went off birth control because I had heard it takes a while to get out of your system and with my family's history I figured I should start now and just use other contraceptives. Well during the time I stopped taking the pill my periods were few and far between. Those first couple months of missing my period had me buying a pregnancy test frequently. After so many negatives I figured I just wasn't having my cycle. I read online that this can be normal and take about a year to get back on schedule. Well a year rolls by and still missing my monthly friend. This is when I start to worry. We had started talking more seriously about trying to have a baby but I was freaked that I wouldn't be able to. So I called my doctor and made an appointment. Well they took my weight, height, blood pressure, and had me pee in a cup. I didn't think anything of it because, to be honest I had ruled out the idea of becoming pregnant until my period came back. I sit down and start telling the doctor my story and she says, surprise you ARE pregnant!!! First shock, then excitement, then a little fear. Was I almost one of those girls on the I Didn't know I was Pregnant show (if you haven't seen an episode it's pretty crazy). Because of my missing friend my doctor couldn't tell me how far along I was. She made an appointment for an ultra sound where I found out I was only 6 weeks along. So this little baby is already sneaky and giving me a hard time lol but we are loving it.

I want

2010-06-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

How cute is this pillow?

With the end of 2nd year approaching, i'm realizing how little time we have left here in San Francisco. While I may have hated (maybe not hated, but strongly disliked) it here a good portion of 1st year I've come to love the city. With all it's diversity, great shopping, sight seeing, and temperate weather San Francisco will always hold a special place in my heart. I know, I know I still have a little more than a year left which is why I'm going to make a list of everything we need to do before we move.

Visit Big Sur
Visit Point Bonita Lighthouse
Hike the Marin Headlands trails
go camping again
Kayak near Sausalito
Go to the park more often
Revisit Alcatraz- the tour is surprisingly fun

I'll add more as they come to me.

Hair Trends I'm loving

2010-05-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

OMBRE

aka color melting

aka long roots

I love this color trend for several reasons, first it's natural. Look at any little girls hair and you'll notice that the ends of her hair are naturally lighter due to the sun. Second, can we say easy maintenance. And last, it's great because while lightening you hair can be damaging, keeping to the ends makes it easy to cut of if you don't like it.

What I think looks best is keeping the highlighted ends just 2 shades lighter. Of course if you are into extremes go for it.

REDS

A lot of stars have made the change over to red and I think it's beautiful. THe thing to keep in mind when going red it that this color fades the fastest. I recommend a color depositing shampoo and conditioner. If going completely red scares you, try adding a few red lowlights.

THE LOB

aka the long bob. This haircut is very sophisticated and sleek to me. It's a great haircut if you want something different but don't want to go too short.

FRINGE

aka bangs

In school I was told not to call bangs bangs but fringe. If you're looking for something to change your look but don't want to cut off a ton or change the color fringe is the way to go. There's the side swept which is a classic, straight across which is a little more fashion forward, or you could try a very retro bang for something fun. Most salons will do free bang trims in between haircuts so feel free to ask.

Last day!!!

2010-04-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Our last Day in the Dominican Republic was spent being a tourist. The Orphanage group first took us to a souvenir store

Orphanage Outreach is what keeps this place in business

We then went to a park with a clock tower designed by the man we designed the Eiffel Tower

If you've ever heard about our seen the movie The year of the Butterflies this is next to the daughter's husbands home (did that make any sense?)

We then checked out the orphanages English language center. The teach English here for students everyday and have a small library so they can check out books.

There were some good views from the top

Jacob and I with Bryson, the man in charge of organizing the dental trips.

We then got feed a delicious lunch at a restaurant

Can you spot the stewed goat on our plate?

We then headed to the ocean where there was a little hike you could take.

Behind us is the beach we walked down to to swim

All the girls

The boys

IT was a great way to end our trip. The water was so warm, the sand was smooth, and the sun was out in full force.

We also stopped for ice cream

The next morning we left early only to find out our flight was delayed. Because of this we missed our connecting flight. The airline was nice though and gave us free hotel accommodations and a meal voucher. It was nice having a warm shower and a good nights sleep before jumping on another plane.

Day 7

2010-04-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of dental work. Instead of working at a disco tech we were located at a banana washing facility. We were originally supposed to work out of the manure storage shed but when we arrived it was being used. We gladly set up on the loading dock instead.

Bananas being brought to the station on a pully

The loading dock

The washing tubs and the line

All the instruments

Setting up the suction. We had a hard time this day with our generator but still managed to see a ton of people.

This boy was sad when his mom left to get work done. I tried to cheer him up but he soon fell asleep on my lap

The whole dental team at the end of the day.

Omeed, who was the one to plan a lot of this trip, got sick this day because he drank some water. Good friends that we are, we all stuck our name tags on him without him noticing.

It wasn't until we got back to the orphanage that we told him

Day 6

2010-04-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of dental clinic. The lines were very long here and the population here was 90% Haitian but they had already immigrated from Haiti prior to the earthquake. I was excited because I was told that more people would speak French at this location. I figured my two years of high school French would pay off, nope. The Haitians spoke this mix of Spanish and French that was so hard to understand called Creole. The Spanish translators and the French Canadian family had a hard time making out a few words.

This was probably the craziest day. At one point the men were pushing in front of the women and children and we had to shut down the line for a little bit to do crowd control. Luckily there was a gate we could close until things settled down.

Setting up in the morning

already a line

Watch out for cows walking down the road

where we set up

The crazy long line

Me having to gate off the entrance

The man in charge of the dental clinics here in the DR and our Supervisor Dr. Salmon

One fun thing about this place was that we were right next to a cock fighting ring. Here's Jacob and Chrishelle in front of the cages

Jacob fighting Herbie in the ring

We got to burn things at this location

On the drive home after a long day of work. Some house we saw.

Day 5

2010-04-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

This was our second day of dental work and as we soon realized each batay was poorer then the last.

Some of the housing next to the disco tech we worked at.

One fun thing about this location was all the children running around.

They loved taking pictures and then looking at them.

I taught a few of the girls the high five game -up high , to the side, to slow joe and they loved it

A good pick of the area the dentist worked in behind us

While I got to play with the children and register people Jacob was hard at work

One of the many teeth he pulled out.

Day 4

2010-04-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1950’s, the United Fruit Company was the company that owned the banana plantations in the DR. When the US left and the company disbanded, the people nor the government took advantage of what was left. . Each banana community is called a batey and we would visit a different one each day as a mobile dental clinic. We would set up in discos (open air dance halls) and run power off the generators we brought. Every morning we woke up at 6-6:30 AM, had breakfast at 7 AM, was on the bus by 7:30 AM, arrived at the location by 8:30 AM, pulled out suitcases of dental supplies off the bus and set up, registered patients and worked until 1 PM. Then we had a half hour lunch break, worked until 5 PM, cleaned and packed away our supplies onto the bus, left by 6 PM, got back to the orphanage by 7 PM, ate dinner, took showers, had some free time to spend with the orphans, and went to bed. Each day was very long and exhausting.

The first Day of dental work was in an area where the rich Americans stayed back in the 1950’s.

On the shuttle bus to our first batey

A pool from back in the day

Setting up

I did registration everyday. This entailed handing out numbered bracelets and then calling the numbers and getting the persons name, age, and where it hurt. I would then let them wait in one of the five chairs inside the disco tech. The main language in the DR is Spanish and all I know how to say is hello and count 1-10 so it made for some interesting pantomime.

The lines were crazy. These people would stand around hours in the heat, sometimes with children just to try and be seen by a dentist.

Jacob checking out the patients to see what they need done.

Hard at work

Lunch break!

One of the many giant spiders we saw everyday.

In the evenings we would play games. The most popular was by far Carcassonne.

Day 3

2010-04-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

The day after we arrived we unpacked all the dental supplies and organized them. WE found out that there were 5 dentist, two from Canada, two Mormons, and the teacher that had come with us as supervisor. There was one hygienist and one dental assistant. There were 13 students from University of the Pacific, one from the UK and me. One of the dentist brought her husband and kids and another brought his daughter as an assistant.

After organizing everything the Orphanage coordinator took us on a little tour around the orphanage neighborhood.

One particularly muddy street.

Later that day we went to church with the orphanage. The Orphanage is run by the Pentecostal church so while we stayed there we had to follow there rules. No shorts for the girls, no tank tops, no swearing or drinking or worldly music, and swimsuits had to be one pieces.

We had to borrow skirts to attend the service.

One thing that really surprised me about the trip was how good the food was. I was expecting rice and beans every night but they made some delicious food for us.

We went to bed anxious for the next day of dental work.

Dominican Republic Day 1 and 2

2010-04-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

As some of you have probably heard by now, Jacob and I spent our spring break in the Dominican Republic on a dental service mission. We were there for a week with some of Jacob's fellow dental students through a group called Orphanage Outreach. We saw and did a lot so the next few blog posts are going to be about this awesome experience we had.

We left on a Thursday afternoon from SFO and headed to JFK where it was midnight and we had an 8 hour layover. We caught a cab into New York and ate/walked around.

We then headed back to the airport and caught our flight to the DR. Surprisingly we got through customs with all our bags filled with dental supplies quickly. We then found two of the most uncomfortable vans to take us to a resort we would be staying at for one night before we would head to the orphanage.

making sure we have everyone and everything

In the resort lobby waiting for our rooms

Our room.

The next day we spent on the beach relaxing and playing volleyball.

We then got shuttled over to the orphanage we would be staying at for the rest of the week. There was some confusion with the cab drivers on the price and we ended up paying a lot more then was originally bargained, dang language barrier.

The Orange and cream building is the orphanage and the bright green is the office/supply building. We stayed behind the building in a separate area so we wouldn't distract the kids to much.

The blue bunk is for boys

and the green bunk is for girls.

Inside the cabins were bunk beds with mosquito nets. The first night was awful because I was sunburned and different groups were checking in all night. The rest of the nights I slept great but that was probably because of the benadryl. Jacob and I didn't get too many mosquito bites unlike some in our group.

All the towels drying.

The bathrooms were interesting. We had to take navy showers (cold water to get wet, turn off and lather up, turn water back on and rinse off) and the toilets followed the rule if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. Oh also no toilet paper in the toilet. These bathrooms seemed awesome after a day of dental work at the banana plantations.

Me and some of the dental students relaxing before the day began.

Gym

2010-03-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

I just have to brag about my friend Sarah and I. We made New Years resolutions to go to the gym as often as possible and the amazing thing is we have actually been doing it! We usually do one class a night but this past week we really stepped up our game

Mon- Pilates, Boot Camp, and Kick boxing

Tues- Spin

Wednesday- Dance Fusion (kinda like zumba) and Kick boxing

Thursday- Spin

Friday- relax

Saturday- Core class, Hip Hop

So far I've lost around 6 pounds! Thanks Sarah for keeping me motivated!

A few of my favorite things...

2010-02-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

This song keeps running through my head today because Jacob is out of town for an ADEA conference and I am a bit lonely and sad. To cheer myself up I thought I'd share some of my favorite beauty items that make me feel better.

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara- Inexpensive, long lasting, thickens the appearance of lashes.

Whenever I am in a hurry, and can only pick a few things to throw on my face before leaving the door, I automatically grab this. I've tried expensive mascara but I am alway left disappointed.

L'Oreal Elnett Hairspray- Cheap,long lasting hold

Ignore the tacky container, this stuff is great if you want your curls to hold but don't want to look like you are wearing a helmet. (wow two L'Oreal items in a row)

TRESemme European Tres Two Hair Spray, Extra Hold (Climate Control Formula)

This is great if you live in a place that constantly wants to make your hair look flat and sucks out any style you may have put into it (aka San Francisco)

Rusk Deep Shine PhytoMarine Lusterizer- A little more expensive but only a small amount is needed so it lasts. The protect helps control fly aways, adds shine, and hides split ends. The best part- it doesn't feel oily like so many shine serums. I use it everyday

OPI for Sephora- a great brand of nail polish at a great price. My favorite color metro chic. It's the perfect combination of gray and purple. LOVE IT

Aveda Dry Remedy Hair Masque- Pricey but great results.

Having just graduated from the Aveda cosmetology program I am left with tons of Aveda products. some I like, some I hate. However, this hair masque is the major reason I am missing my student discount. This formula is great for adding moisture back into dry and damaged locks. The reall reason I love it is this- I have fine hair that is extremly processed due to years of coloring my hair. However I have to wash my hair everyday because of how oily my scalp is. This hurts the ends of my hair and leaves them very angry. This masque makes my ends happy and refreshed without making me look like I poured chicken grease all over my head.

Ahh...feeling much happier. I love talking about hair and make-up.

Masquerade Murder Mystery!

2010-02-21T23:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday night some of Jacob's dental friends threw a murder mystery party. The setting was a Masquerade Ball for society's elite.

Our fabulous masks we bought. Jacob picked his because it reminded him of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (a hilarious tv show- though at times highly inappropriate)

Our Characters-

Jacob:
Sherlock Tracy is an infamous big city homicide detective. In recent years, he’s had a reality television crew following him around at the station for his new reality show, Big City Cops. The producers love it when Sherlock talks in clichés and performs rhymes…which he does constantly! It makes for good television!

Morgan:
Blondie Fawn cringes at the phrase has been as it is rumored that her time is nearly up on the Hollywood Scene. In her last movie role, she played a grandmother for the first time and this didn’t sit well with her ego as she’s only 40 years old! Blondie is known to be a tad delusional on occasion, so be careful during conversations with her.

Round was was during appetizers where every quickly discovered they had one thing in common, their hatred for Sherlock Tracy.

Round two is when the murder happened. Poor Tracy got bashed in the head with a champagne bottle. Who did it?

Round three everyone guesses. I was the winner by figuring out it was Tracy's chef who he had just fired. Go me and my detective skills! I always loved the game and movie Clue.

The whole group.

The prize I won

The Girls

Some of the guys

Thanks Eryn and Ashley for putting together this fun party!

OVO

2010-02-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

For valentine's day Jacob surprised me with tickets to go see Cirque du Soleil's Ovo. It was a great show that I would recommend to anyone. It always amazes me what these people can make their bodies do. My favorite act had to be the one where two butterflies(?) use a rope to twirl and spin above the audience. Jacob liked the flying trapeze and the grasshopper acts. The costumes of this show were very elaborate.

The tent

The spider contortionist

An example of the crazy costumes.

I have seen three different Cirque performances and each is amazing. However, my favorite still has to be O.

Thank you Jacob for a fantastic valentine's day. I love you!

Mavericks!

2010-02-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night the call went out that The Maverick's Surf Competition was on for Saturday. Seeing how we only live 40 minutes from the massive wave we decided to go check it out. We left early, hoping to get a good vantage point, but the place was already crowded by the time we arrived. We still managed to grab a cliff-side seat with a view of the competition and the spectators on the beach that would be pummeled by "rogue" waves throughout the morning. Watching the surfers was awesome, it's hard to believe that there are people crazy/stupid/insane/awesome enough to take on 40 ft waves. It was also somewhat entertaining to see the waves crash into the crowds of people below. I'll admit, we actually laughed a few times - but that was before we were informed that people had been injured. It was funny to see people crowd into the exact same spots that had been hit by a wave only minutes earlier - over and over.

The Sunrise walking to our cliff seats

A view of the beach

We ate at Gorilla BBQ after the competition. Delicious! It was featured on Guy Ferari's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

Below is a clip of what was happening on the beach. It's pretty intense from this angle compared to watching it from far away.

Amalgamators, Champions of the World!!!!!!!

2010-01-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

On Friday my coed soccer team won the tournament for our league. It was a special moment. We were presented a trophy and given championship t-shirts. I got to take the trophy home and I'd like to present the following slideshow of my adventures with Jeffrey the Trophy.

Over the Hump!!!

2010-01-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

It's official! Jacob is now half way through dental school!!! To celebrate Jacob's school throws an Over the Hump party.This year it was held at club Bimbo 365. Contrary to what the name sounds like, the club was very nice/classy. The people who put it together did a great job. There was food, musical entertainment by the students, a talent show, a free photo booth, dancing, and fake casino games.

Jacob outside the club. Way to go babe!

Having fun in the photo booth

all the dental wives crammed in

Jacob's soccer team

Our table.

The wives again

Jacob's soccer team

trying to cram into the booth

the boys playing poker

Laura, me and Kari-Lynn playing black jack. Kari-Lynn was quite the card shark

Jacob looking fine!

Striking a pose

Jacob and Rad, so GQ

Had to get Jon in the photo.

Me and laura

I love having an excuse to dress up and party

Congratulations Jacob, only 18 more months!!!

Licensed Cosmetologist

2010-01-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

On January 5th I took my state board exam to become a licensed cosmetologist. I wanted to share my experiance. First off it was probably the most stressul thing i've been through. The place is located in Fairfield, CA so the evening before my mother and I drove up there and stayed at a hotel. I had been studying for a while and was so stressed yet just wanted to get the thing over with. My day started at 5 am. I didn't get much sleep (like 4 hours) even though i went to bed at 9 because thought like sodium hydroxide relaxer and pin curl formation wouldn't leave my mind. At 5:45 we drove to the location and I recieved my rental kit which is a big suitcase of supplies. We then filled in some paper work and got assigned a room and station. This is where the fun begins. On a side note models are not allowed to talk, listen to music, or read. This makes the room very quite

My procedures were
-set up
-predisposition test
-manicure and build a nail- this means my mom got a manicure on one hand a fake nail on one finger of the other hand
-Wet set- for this you finger wave the enitre head and then put in rollers, pincurls, and volume pincurls while keeping the finger waves intact. I totally rocked this part.

In case you dodn't know what finger waves are here is a picture from when I practiced them.
- Hair cut
-Tint back to natural- this is where we apply shaving cream to the hair and pretend it is hair color

We then got a 20 min break

-Sodium Hydroxide relaxer- again we used shaving cream to represent relaxer product
-perm- we used color water as the perm solution
- eyebrow waxing
- thermal press- this with a comb and curling iron that go in a mini oven and is then used to straighten and curl hair.

In the morning I finished a few minutes early but my fake nail was a joke. In the afternoon I finished just in time. It's pretty crazy because the whole time a proctor is watching you and writing down notes. They mostly watch if you are keeping your client safe and being clean. One time when i was rinsing out my mom's hair I spilt water all over the floor. Panic almost took over but i remained calm and cleaned everything up.

After the practical I had a break and then took the written section. This was 110 questions and they throw out 10 random ones. After completling the test you head to a room and wait for your name to be called. Luckily i passed and will never have to go through this again!

Thank you mom for letting me cut your hair short and put shaving cream in it.

Chirstmas and New Year

2010-01-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

After New Mexico we flew to Washington to be with my family. Everyone was there so it was great to catch up. I'll Let the pictures do most of the talking

We walked around the frozen pond behind my parent's house

Read the Christmas story while dressed up

Jacob and I were the camel. He was the hump.

Got Pajama's from the elves on Christmas eve.

Woke up early and opened all our gifts.

Played a ton of games. I actually won one of them.

Visited the Grandparents. Funny story I have to share. For Christmas my brothers and Jacob got little remote controlled helicopters. They're pretty hard to steer so I told Jacob to be careful and not hit my grandma with it. A minute later and the helicopter is crashing into my grandma's head. She was fine and we all had a good laugh at Jacob

Played in the Snow. WE pulled a tube behind the 4-wheeler

For New Years I came up with a new tradition. We all dug through the costume box and took old time photos. At first there were some sighs and eye roll but everyone got into it by the end.

Jacob and I

The Women folk

The Men. Jacob is so creepy or maybe he really doesn't like his in-laws :)

*mom- jacob wants you to know this is just a joke

the whole group

My brother really getting into it (sorry Steven, I had to do it)

Bringing in the the new year!

Christmas Part 1

2010-01-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

For the first part of Christmas break Jacob and I headed to New Mexico. Jacob's youngest sister Katy was getting married. It was a wonderful four days of family, eating, and pictures.

Jacob's mom did a FANTASTIC job of pulling together a wedding in such a short time.

Jacob and his older sister Kristen sang a song at the reception which was so sweet.

I helped do Katy's hair for her big day. She looked Gorgeous.

It was sad to only have a few days with Jacobs family but we made the most of them. Welcome to the family Jordan and Congratulations Katy and Jordan!

Parents weekend!

2009-12-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago my parents came to town for my graduation party. Don't get to excited. I still haven't graduated yet. My last day at school is December 12th and then I will take the state board sometime in January or February. My school celebrates it early so that they can combine with a few other classes.

WE tried to cram in as much as possible in such a short time.

We went to the Sutro Baths which is the ruins of an old bath house on the beach.

Watching the waves

At the graduation party. Thank you so much mom and dad for making it possible for me to go into such an exciting career.

Also, thank you Jacob for all the love and support while I tried to decide what to do with my life. And also for letting me practice my mens haircutting skills!

Me, Amanda, and Jessica. Just the coolest/prettiest/awesomest girls at the school lol

My Intro teach who is hilarious and made sure we didn't get to frustrated with finger waves.

Priscilla- my current instructor who is fabulous and has made me not so freaked out about state boards.

The next day the boys went golfing and my and my mom drove the carts.

Love my mom!

zoolander face

Look at him strike a pose. if only they had America's Next top Model for guys lol

A beautiful day to golf.