Leave Paige Alone Doctor

Today we took Paige to the doctor for a quick check to make sure everything was going good with her weight and check to see that everything was going well with her. Our pediatrician told us to go to the Saturday Morning Pediatric Clinic. We were a little worried because we know that there would be lots of sick kids that and we didn't want either of our little ones to catch anything. We found a little corner and tried to keep Ryan close. He has been cooped up in the house with us all week and has not really played with any kids so his first reaction was to be social and play. We had to keep reminding him to stay close to us. Once we got into the exam room we were told to strip the baby down to her diaper. She was not happy at all when we did that. The nurse came in to take per vitals and to weigh her. Paige started to fuss and Ryan was not happy at all. He was very concerned that his baby Paige was being touched by someone he didn't know. We explained that she was helping the doctor and Paige would be okay. he was not satisfied with that and started to cry as Paige got more upset. He finally said "No doctor!" he wanted his baby sister safe in mommy and dads arms.
It makes me happy to see how protective he is of his little sister and how much he cares about her. He has not told us to send her away or tried to get rid of her so we will see how that goes as the days go on. He has been given lots of attention my me. Everywhere I go he goes too. We run to Walmart or Target. He has been my little shadow. I am going back to work on Tuesday and am not sure how he will do with mom paying so much attention to the baby and dad not being around to make up the difference.

What's in a Name?

A few people have told us how much they like the name Paige Carmen so here is a little post of the story. In November 2007 Katie and I went to Disneyland with her Uncle Doug. We were getting on Tower of Terror at California Adventure. There was a worker whose name was Paige. I remember telling Katie that I liked that name and that if we had a girl I liked the name alot. So that was going to be part of her name. Carmen is a very important name in our lives. My grandmother on my mom's side was an amazing woman who lived a life full of love and caring for all those around her. Everyone who ever met her was touched by her selflessness and spunky attitude. My childhood memories are filled with memories of her. I have always wanted to continue her legacy by naming my daughter after her. We have our little Paige Carmen Jacquez

Carmen Esparza Ruibo

Paige Carmen Jacquez

Paige entered into the world in true Jacquez style... 25 days early. The funny thing about it is Ryan was due in Feb. 10th (the same day Paige was born) They were both 25 days early. Ryan was born at 235 am and Paige was born at 2:27 pm.
So here is the way it all went down. I had a meeting at work so i planned to get to work early. I was up late so that didnt quite happen. I jumped in the shower and Katie went to iron my pants and shirt. I was in the shower and Katie opened the restroom door. I told her to close the because she was letting the cold air in. Then she told me that she was checking to see if her water had broken. i had to ask her again ... What!!!???? Then I got out of the shower and got into get things done mode. Called moms to let them know. I called a coworker to pick up my lesson plans (which i still had to write) I packed the bag and kept cool. I did forget a few things but the importnat things made it in the bag.
Once we got into the hospital we were not sure how fast things were going to go. Things moved quickly but not too fast. Katie was having contractions but wasnt feeling them for a while. After the doctor ordered potosium to speed things up a bit things really got moving. Katie was amazing and Paige was born at 2:27... Our little lady weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. We are so happy to have her here with us and are looking foward to the new adventures that are to come.

New Van

So we are now officially the owners of a mini van, we'd been talking about getting one in the near future, 5 or 6 months from now but weren't really planning to buy one this soon. I found an 06 Toyota Sienna online for a great price with low miles so we went Thursday night just to look at it and ended up driving off the lot with it. We couldn't beat the deal and our Mitsubishi was in need of a LOT of work, it was hitting the point where we were just going to start dumping money into a dead cause so we decided we would dump our money into payment on a new vehicle instead. I am intimidated by it because I have only driven very small cars (a honda civic, a hyundai, and the mitsubishi) but now I have no choice but to learn to drive it! It will just take doing it. Here's to our growing family :)

Ryan's Cake

SO here are some pics of the cake that I made for Ryan's Birthday party. It evolved from a few ideas and this is what the final product looks like. I have been watching the food network cake challenges and that is where i got the idea for the rice crispy treat figure. It wasn't as hard as i thought it would be but it was a pain covering it with the fondant.
Here is a quick recap of the process.

Our Little Pirate

Since Halloween Ryan has had an obsession with Pirates (his cousin George was a pirate for Halloween). It has been a bit of a love/hate relationship where one minute he loves them and the next he's terrified of them. We got him a little pirate set for Christmas, at first he wouldn't even let us open it because he was afraid but now he loves to play with it. Here's just a quick picture of my little pirate that was too cute to pass up. Arrrrrrrrrrr!

2008 was GREAT! The year in review

So many people have been talking about how bad 2008 was and how ready they are for it to be over. We in the Jacquez home have really enjoyed 2008 and have been very blessed. Here are a few highlights!

January: We started the year by celebrating Ryan's first birthday. It was a fun Mickey Mouse bash complete with a cake made by Dad and a Pinata made by Mom.

February: Ryan finally was able to have his g-tube removed. At first we were a little anxious about how he would handle the transition but as always he was a trooper and adjusted well to life without being "vented."

March: We were able to spend spring break as a family. We were able to visit Disneyland and the Long Beach Aquarium.

April: We decided that apartment living was not for us and started looking for a new place. We didn't have to look very far because we found a little house to rent just a block away. The yard is great and the neighbors aren't so bad :-P

Mario had been looking in to different Masters programs in the area but wasn't sure any of them were for him. One day he happened upon the perfect program but only had about a month to get all the paperwork taken care of. Katie did the whole application for him minus most of his personal essay. Along with the paperwork he had to take the GRE (Graduate Record Exam). Talk about stress 4 weeks to cram for a test that most people spend months preparing for (and Katie couldn't do the studying for him although she did help).

May: Mario scored high enough on th e GRE to meet the requirements for admittance into San Diego State Universities Master in Educational Technology.

June: Mario was lucky enough to not have gotten a pink slip in the the whole school district budget fiasco.

Mario also got his acceptance letter into SDSU.

Mario got called as Young Men's President and got to go on the High Sierra trip with the young men.

We found out we were expecting our second child.

July: Ryan enjoyed our new yard with lots of slip-n-sliding and fun in the kiddie pool with cousins and friends.

Mario was asked to take a leadership role in a district sponsored field study of the Underground Railroad.

August: We had the opportunity to take a family vacation to Catalina. It was affordable, relaxing, and the perfect get-a-way. Ryan loved every bit of it and Katie was still able to get her much needed naps.

September: Mario's masters classes started and so did the stress. Katie and Ryan had to adjust to not seeing Mario as much.

October: We found out that we are expecting a girl. Exciting news that will bring whole new adventures.

We had a great halloween fully outfited in pumpkin costumes made by Mario.

November: We celebrated 3 years of being married. It's been a great 3 years and we look forward to many more.

December: Mario finished his first semester of his masters

program with an A and and A-. We had a great Christmas surrounded by family.