New Year's 2010 Resolution!
We have decided to start having family dinners on Jimmy's side once a month. Every 1st Saturday of the month we get together for dinner and each month we will rotate whose house we go to. It doesn't matter if we go out to a restaurant or have a home cooked meal. It will be up to the host to decide!
Happy New Year's!
We had a blast for New Year's! This year Becky and her family, Bobbie, Mom, Eddie, Robin & Mike all came up to the house and spent the night. We had a FULL house!! Emily was a great sleeper that night and missed out on all of the fun! We had some cocktails mixed up by Jimmy and Mike of course and played the Wiii, then we watched the ball drop and finally all of us watched the The Hangover. Overall it was a great night and everybody had a blast!
Below are some pictures of us girls kicking ass on the Wii!
Below are some pictures of us girls kicking ass on the Wii!
Robin and I posing for a quick shot
First Christmas With Emily
Merry Christmas!!
Poor Emily was not happy about taking pictures today!
This year was definately different now that theres a little one in the family. Suddenly we are all exchanging gifts and there are tons of presents under the tree.
Our tree!
Brian and Sandie hosted Christmas dinner for the Robitaille's at his house this year and we hosted Christmas Dinner on the 26th for my side of the family and Jimmy's mom. It was hard for Emily being on two months old because her nap schedule was interrupted and everybody wanted to hold her so it made her very stressed out. I feel bad having to tell people that they can only hold her for so long before I have to take her away. I felt like I should have had a "dance card" so that everybody could get a chance at holding her.
Her candycane stripped pjs were so cute I had to have her wear them right away!
Here she is with Autie Becky.
Overall she was a trooper though! And luckily my family was smart enough to not get her too many toys. She has so many already and she hasn't even noticed them yet!
My sister-in-law, Sandie is so talented! She made this for Emily's room.
Jimmy and I just adore it!
New skill today!
Today Emily started to put things in her mouth! I put a toy in her hand and her fist closed around it and she immediately put the toy in her mouth. I guess it's now time to wash all of these toys finally.
PS: while I type this on my phone she reached out and grabbed my thumb and held it while I type! How awesome!
Paradise or Bust!
The last weekend we took a quick trip up north to Paradise to visit my Grandfather and his new wife Jean. Jimmy has never met them, I haven't been up in almost 15 years and with our beautiful little girl here we finally decided to head up so she could meet them. Mom and Eddie carpooled with us which made for a packed truck! We left on Friday morning and Emily did wonderful, we only had to stop a couple of times. We drove on route 99 which is great because there are so many cities that we passed compared to the 5 fwy. In Tulare we stopped at the Bravo Cheese Factory which is a cute little tourist stop. They have a restaurant, gift shop, petting zoo, cheese factory and wine tasting. Jimmy fell in love with their chocolate covered peanuts and Eddie had fun feeding the animals in the petting zoo.
We didn't get to Paradise too late so we were able to meet up with Papa and Jean and have dinner at the Casa de Paradiso. They had excellent Mexican food. Jimmy said it's now his second favorite mexican restaurant he's found. And coming from La Puente that means a lot! Mom and Eddie stayed with Papa and Jean but because Emily still wakes up a couple of times a night we decided it was better if we stayed in a hotel. The next morning we met up for breakfast at the local diner. They serve these large pancakes that are part pancake and part crepe. Very yummy!! After breakfast we went to the Festival of Trees where Emily met Santa for the first time!
She did pretty well and only fussed for a few moments until Santa was able to get her to settle. (She must know how this Santa-thing works already!) Jimmy fell in love with these handcrafted grilling hooks that he ended up buying two of, he also bidded on a couple more of these in the raffle and won those as well. Then we headed to the Train museum and took a look around. Papa and Jean are so cute together that while they were walking to the museum I had to take this shot.
Papa and Jean still going strong. Jimmy and I laughed because my 88 year old grandfather is a better driver then both of our moms!
Our next stop was the Gold Nugget Museum. Every year growing up my mother, during the summer, would ship me up north to stay with my Grandparents. My Mama and Papa were docents at the Gold Nugget Museum (http://www.goldnuggetmuseum.com/)so I pretty much grew up in there. It was great to see it again and all the changes they've done to it over the years. Jimmy was really impressed with everything that the museum has.
Our last must see was Mama and Papa's old house. After Mama died Papa sold it and moved in with Jean not terribly long afterwards. Jean and Papa have been living together for almost 13 years as legal domestic partners and just last month they finally decided to get married. There wasn't a ceremony really, they just went down to the court house. They finally decided it was time after some friends of theirs that also weren't married had issues when going in to a retirement community. The community wouldn't let their friends stay in the same room because even though they were also domestic partners they weren't married. I guess Papa and Jean decided it was time to finally tie the knot so when they decided to move to a community they won't hit the same road block.
We had a lovely dinner at a chowder house up there then Jimmy and I went back to the hotel for the night. Too much going on all that day I think was too much for Emily. She was really fussy during dinner. It was also good for us because we would be leaving the next day on Sunday.
On Sunday we picked up Mom and Eddie and after some breakfast muffins with Papa and Jean we were off back down to southern California. It's a 9 hour drive each way. And although Emily is only 6 weeks old she did fantastic! Jimmy couldn't believe how much fun he had and now we are talking about trying to go up every year. It would be great so that Emily could get to know her Great-Grand Parents, not everybody gets to meet theirs.
We didn't get to Paradise too late so we were able to meet up with Papa and Jean and have dinner at the Casa de Paradiso. They had excellent Mexican food. Jimmy said it's now his second favorite mexican restaurant he's found. And coming from La Puente that means a lot! Mom and Eddie stayed with Papa and Jean but because Emily still wakes up a couple of times a night we decided it was better if we stayed in a hotel. The next morning we met up for breakfast at the local diner. They serve these large pancakes that are part pancake and part crepe. Very yummy!! After breakfast we went to the Festival of Trees where Emily met Santa for the first time!
She did pretty well and only fussed for a few moments until Santa was able to get her to settle. (She must know how this Santa-thing works already!) Jimmy fell in love with these handcrafted grilling hooks that he ended up buying two of, he also bidded on a couple more of these in the raffle and won those as well. Then we headed to the Train museum and took a look around. Papa and Jean are so cute together that while they were walking to the museum I had to take this shot.
Papa and Jean still going strong. Jimmy and I laughed because my 88 year old grandfather is a better driver then both of our moms!
Our next stop was the Gold Nugget Museum. Every year growing up my mother, during the summer, would ship me up north to stay with my Grandparents. My Mama and Papa were docents at the Gold Nugget Museum (http://www.goldnuggetmuseum.com/)so I pretty much grew up in there. It was great to see it again and all the changes they've done to it over the years. Jimmy was really impressed with everything that the museum has.
Our last must see was Mama and Papa's old house. After Mama died Papa sold it and moved in with Jean not terribly long afterwards. Jean and Papa have been living together for almost 13 years as legal domestic partners and just last month they finally decided to get married. There wasn't a ceremony really, they just went down to the court house. They finally decided it was time after some friends of theirs that also weren't married had issues when going in to a retirement community. The community wouldn't let their friends stay in the same room because even though they were also domestic partners they weren't married. I guess Papa and Jean decided it was time to finally tie the knot so when they decided to move to a community they won't hit the same road block.
We had a lovely dinner at a chowder house up there then Jimmy and I went back to the hotel for the night. Too much going on all that day I think was too much for Emily. She was really fussy during dinner. It was also good for us because we would be leaving the next day on Sunday.
On Sunday we picked up Mom and Eddie and after some breakfast muffins with Papa and Jean we were off back down to southern California. It's a 9 hour drive each way. And although Emily is only 6 weeks old she did fantastic! Jimmy couldn't believe how much fun he had and now we are talking about trying to go up every year. It would be great so that Emily could get to know her Great-Grand Parents, not everybody gets to meet theirs.
My Baby Story
On Oct 12th at 6:30pm, I had just finished making dinner and had it on the stove to cool. I went to the dryer and grabbed a load of laundry. Just as I was in the middle of the kitchen my water broke. At first I didn't know what to think. Then I didn't know what to do. I had my arms full of laundry and we had just had the carpets cleaned so going from the kitchen to the bathroom required going over carpet. So I sort of ran past the couch and threw the laundry down on my way to the bathroom to check to see if it really was my water. I cleaned my self up and went to the garage to let Jimmy know what happened. He was stunned like me, after all she wasn't due for another two and a half weeks!
After all the childbirth classes and hospital tour you would think we would remember what to do but in those moments you can't think of anything. I wasn't contracting so I told Jimmy that I wanted to eat first because they told us that once you check in the hospital that they won't feed you in labor. Then I wanted to take a shower. Jimmy was working with his brother in the garage and they were right in the middle of something that required both of them so I told him to finish up in the garage, he need to eat dinner as well and he wanted to take a shower too. We also realized I never got a picture of my pregnant belly so as we are heading out the door we snapped some belly shots too! At 8pm we finally headed to the hospital.
When I checked in my water had definitely broke. After all I had continuously had water leaking this whole time, and I was dilated 4cm. (By the way, by the end of labor I had probably lost near 3 liters of "water"!) But I wasn't feeling any contractions yet.
At 6 am - I still wasn't really feeling contractions. They were still just 10 mins apart and no worse then pain level 5. Plus I had only dilated to 6cm. But because it had been 12 hours since my water broke the midwife and I decided to start antibiotics and pitocin. Thankfully they gave me a sandwich too since I wasn't in active labor still.
At 9 am - Contractions were coming closer together but still weren't painful at all. I was informed that if I wanted my epidural that I should get it soon since there were three c-sections scheduled that morning and if I didn't get it soon then it might be the afternoon before I get it. My strongest contraction had been about a 6 at that point but I didn't want to wait and regret it later. So they gave me the epidural. Which wasn't painful either. They gave me a local first which hurt at bad as the IV. And then I never felt anything afterwards. Unfortunately they had me sitting too low in the bed so the epidural moved up to my respiratory system causing it to dilate and my blood pressure to drop. To counteract this they raised me up in bed and made me wear an oxygen mask the rest of the time in labor.
It was about 4:30ish when the midwife informed us that I was finally at 9 cm and that I should be ready to go soon.
At 5:00ish I started pushing with Jimmy holding one leg and my Mom and Jimmy's mom, Marie, took turns holding my other leg. But the oxygen mask was making me lightheaded so in the middle of pushing I threw up. Which my midwife congratulated me on since she said this will help push the baby out.
On October 13th at 5:19pm, Emily Marie Robitaille was born. 7lbs, 4oz. 19.5 inches long. Jimmy and I were so happy we cried. Daddy cut the cord and even got a lesson in the placenta. I declined. I just wanted to see my new little girl.
After all the childbirth classes and hospital tour you would think we would remember what to do but in those moments you can't think of anything. I wasn't contracting so I told Jimmy that I wanted to eat first because they told us that once you check in the hospital that they won't feed you in labor. Then I wanted to take a shower. Jimmy was working with his brother in the garage and they were right in the middle of something that required both of them so I told him to finish up in the garage, he need to eat dinner as well and he wanted to take a shower too. We also realized I never got a picture of my pregnant belly so as we are heading out the door we snapped some belly shots too! At 8pm we finally headed to the hospital.
When I checked in my water had definitely broke. After all I had continuously had water leaking this whole time, and I was dilated 4cm. (By the way, by the end of labor I had probably lost near 3 liters of "water"!) But I wasn't feeling any contractions yet.
At 6 am - I still wasn't really feeling contractions. They were still just 10 mins apart and no worse then pain level 5. Plus I had only dilated to 6cm. But because it had been 12 hours since my water broke the midwife and I decided to start antibiotics and pitocin. Thankfully they gave me a sandwich too since I wasn't in active labor still.
At 9 am - Contractions were coming closer together but still weren't painful at all. I was informed that if I wanted my epidural that I should get it soon since there were three c-sections scheduled that morning and if I didn't get it soon then it might be the afternoon before I get it. My strongest contraction had been about a 6 at that point but I didn't want to wait and regret it later. So they gave me the epidural. Which wasn't painful either. They gave me a local first which hurt at bad as the IV. And then I never felt anything afterwards. Unfortunately they had me sitting too low in the bed so the epidural moved up to my respiratory system causing it to dilate and my blood pressure to drop. To counteract this they raised me up in bed and made me wear an oxygen mask the rest of the time in labor.
It was about 4:30ish when the midwife informed us that I was finally at 9 cm and that I should be ready to go soon.
At 5:00ish I started pushing with Jimmy holding one leg and my Mom and Jimmy's mom, Marie, took turns holding my other leg. But the oxygen mask was making me lightheaded so in the middle of pushing I threw up. Which my midwife congratulated me on since she said this will help push the baby out.
On October 13th at 5:19pm, Emily Marie Robitaille was born. 7lbs, 4oz. 19.5 inches long. Jimmy and I were so happy we cried. Daddy cut the cord and even got a lesson in the placenta. I declined. I just wanted to see my new little girl.
Baby Shower
Well, first of all I have to say a HUGE thank you to my Baby Shower hosts: Becky (my sister) and Robin (my best friend). They put together a fabulous shower at the Central Park Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
They really did everything to make this day really special to me. Jimmy even got a gift of his own - his very own Daddy Toolkit!
Emily received so many generous gifts and adorable clothes that it blew me away!
Here is the infamous belly shot - the start of my 9th month!
More pictures available in the Photo Album!
Big Pine and the Search for Methuselah
This year's annual camping trip was as great as ever. Our site this year was right up against the creek. The constant sound of running water made for some very peaceful sleeping. We drove up on Thursday on the scenic route which took us through Red Rock Canyon.
We set up camp in our little pop-up trailer. We love our little trailer that was a gift from the Wahl's. It has been well loved since 1972 and is holding up great. I can cook, have running water and bed to sleep in that isn't on the ground. (Especially nice since I'm having trouble getting off the ground these days!)
I did make a terrible packing mistake this year - I forgot pillows!! So we had to do with throw pillows from our friends' trailer and the back pillow I brought.
Jimmy insisted this year that I do some fishing with him. So Friday morning we woke up and grabbed our gear. Jimmy tied the lure and even casted for me the first couple of times. Then he walked me through when to reel it in and when to jig. Sure enough I got my first bite. Again, he talked me through how to reel my big catch in and voila! I caught a fish.
As you can see I didn't want to touch it so Jimmy gave we a rag to hold it with. I felt really sad watching it die. But what we are catching is dinner for Saturday night so I had to come to peace with it if I wanted to eat. I got two more bites later that day but both escaped.
One of these is mine.
Later that day Dave Wahl (Mike's brother) joined our camping trip. I was disappointed because I was hoping his wife Maria Elena was going to come because she is preggo too (about 2 months behind me)! But unfortunately she couldn't make it this year. Dave is a geologist/college professor and works for the National Geological Society and National Geographic. He told us of this great hike that is in the area where the oldest living thing in the world grows. Well we couldn't pass up that opportunity so........
On Saturday we went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This forest is home to some of the oldest trees in the world. Who knew! Led by Dave, all of us (Cheryl, Brad, Danny, Mike, Robin, Alyssa, Christina, Travis, Kevin, Jimmy and I) went in search of the 4,800 year old Methuselah Tree. This tree is one of our nations biggest secrets. Believe it or not. There are no pictures nor will our government print where it exactly is. Dave has a friend that has actually taken a core sample from the tree and described it to Dave so we thought we had a good chance of finding it. Our 4.5 mile hike at approximately 10,000 feet elevation took us down 400 feet then back up 400 feet at it's end. And yes I did it at 7 months pregnant. (My doctor had to pick her jaw up off the floor when I told her.) It took us about 5 hours but that is because we stopped at every tree that was close to the description we had and inspected it thoroughly. And every mile for a short rest, water and a snack.
In the end we never did officially find the Methuselah Tree. We did come across three finalists though.
That night we had our group fish cook out. Jimmy ened up contributing about 6 (plus my big catch!) for a great dinner. We sang songs around the fire pit and ate s'mores.
The next morning is all about breakfast and cleaning up. We had breakfast at the Wahl's camp of omelets made in a ziplock. This is a camping favorite! Then packed up our trailer and headed home. Another great camping trip was complete! Check out our photo album for hundreds of photos of our trip.
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I did make a terrible packing mistake this year - I forgot pillows!! So we had to do with throw pillows from our friends' trailer and the back pillow I brought.
Jimmy insisted this year that I do some fishing with him. So Friday morning we woke up and grabbed our gear. Jimmy tied the lure and even casted for me the first couple of times. Then he walked me through when to reel it in and when to jig. Sure enough I got my first bite. Again, he talked me through how to reel my big catch in and voila! I caught a fish.
As you can see I didn't want to touch it so Jimmy gave we a rag to hold it with. I felt really sad watching it die. But what we are catching is dinner for Saturday night so I had to come to peace with it if I wanted to eat. I got two more bites later that day but both escaped.
One of these is mine.
Later that day Dave Wahl (Mike's brother) joined our camping trip. I was disappointed because I was hoping his wife Maria Elena was going to come because she is preggo too (about 2 months behind me)! But unfortunately she couldn't make it this year. Dave is a geologist/college professor and works for the National Geological Society and National Geographic. He told us of this great hike that is in the area where the oldest living thing in the world grows. Well we couldn't pass up that opportunity so........
On Saturday we went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This forest is home to some of the oldest trees in the world. Who knew! Led by Dave, all of us (Cheryl, Brad, Danny, Mike, Robin, Alyssa, Christina, Travis, Kevin, Jimmy and I) went in search of the 4,800 year old Methuselah Tree. This tree is one of our nations biggest secrets. Believe it or not. There are no pictures nor will our government print where it exactly is. Dave has a friend that has actually taken a core sample from the tree and described it to Dave so we thought we had a good chance of finding it. Our 4.5 mile hike at approximately 10,000 feet elevation took us down 400 feet then back up 400 feet at it's end. And yes I did it at 7 months pregnant. (My doctor had to pick her jaw up off the floor when I told her.) It took us about 5 hours but that is because we stopped at every tree that was close to the description we had and inspected it thoroughly. And every mile for a short rest, water and a snack.
In the end we never did officially find the Methuselah Tree. We did come across three finalists though.
That night we had our group fish cook out. Jimmy ened up contributing about 6 (plus my big catch!) for a great dinner. We sang songs around the fire pit and ate s'mores.
The next morning is all about breakfast and cleaning up. We had breakfast at the Wahl's camp of omelets made in a ziplock. This is a camping favorite! Then packed up our trailer and headed home. Another great camping trip was complete! Check out our photo album for hundreds of photos of our trip.
Just Beachy!
We all had a great four days camping at Leo Carrillo State Beach. Jimmy got in a little ocean fishing and even got my brother-in law and nephew in on the action. This was a huge camping trip that included not only us but the Egnew's, the Barr's, the Moore's, the Wahl's, and the Reaben's. All together I think we had 24 people on the trip!! The weather was great, hot but breezy! The beach is pretty isolated to only people that are camping so it seemed like we had the beach to ourselves. On Saturday night Cheryl was telling us about a great campfire dessert but thought she didn't have enough bananas. But with 5 families all camping together we were able to pull together all the ingredients for the banana smores (no gram crackers needed!). Yummy!!!
4th of July!
This year we celebrated the 4th at Jimmy's Mom's house but with a twist. Jimmy and I threw the BBQ and we had all of my family and our friends, the Wahls, join us. Jimmy made his famous ribs and sweet potato salad. I'm so lucky to have married a man who loves to cook! We all had a great time swimming, eating, and watching the neighborhood fireworks from the driveway.
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