Time lapse of Lorele's Hemangioma (birthmark)

Well, now that Lorelei's birthmark is hardly noticeable (in comparison to what it was), we thought we'd post photos of Lorelei's "hemangioma journey". When we first learned about it and saw the rapid and dramatic changes that occured over the first weeks and then months of her life, it felt like we would never reach a time when it wasn't a daily concern. But now we have. She calls it her "butterfly" and thinks that it is pretty special. And we think that she is pretty special as well.

Check out the dramatic change:

Lorelei's Hemangioma journey

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Some February photos of the girls

February has been a pretty wet month so we have spent LOTS of time indoors playing. Here are a few photos of the girls from this month. I can't believe that I have a three and a half year old and a twenty-one month old! Where does time go?

February 2010 photos of the girls

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Punkiboo Designs Website Up and Running

For everyone that has been following my recent endeavor with Punkiboo Designs, I am pleased to announce that my webiste, www.punkiboo.com, is now up and running. It is set up using a blog-style format similar to what you see here on The Bakers of Lodi and you can easily subscribe to updates over there to stay up to date on all things Punkiboo. Also, I now have a shop up and running on Etsy.com, a website dedicated to the retail of all things hand-made. Please check out my Etsy.com shop at www.etsy.com/shop/punkiboo.

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"Humboldt" Girls weekend in McCloud, CA

This past weekend a group of 9 of us ol' Humboldt gal-pals converged upon McCloud, CA (near Mt. Shasta) for a snowy, estrogen-filled weekend of catching up with one another. Two of us came from the central valley (April and I), one from the Bay Area (Julie), one from Colorado (Petra) and five from Humboldt. I had not seen most of these gals in over two and a half years. I really miss them and found our weekend to be good for my soul and not nearly long enough. What is funny is that this weekend had been planned months and months ago but as it got closer, we realized that we were all leaving our men with the kids on Super Bowl weekend! Oops! They were all really good sports about our timing though.

Here are some photos from our weekend!

Girls Trip

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Punkiboo Designs Baby Shirts

I know that you all receive my Punkiboo e-mails about recent shirts that I have completed, but I wanted to post a collection of "collages" of the shirts for you to view on the blog as well. Here they are! I have been quite busy with orders and have had a lot of fun creating custom shirts recently. Thank you all so very much for your business and your support! With your help our Haiti relief fund is growing!

Punkiboo

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Yeah, we're still here...

Ok. So a New Year's resolution of mine (among many others) is to keep up with my blogging! I have been so bad! Please forgive me and hopefully you still remember who we are.

We are all doing well. Matt started a new job recently after being unemployed for SEVEN LONG MONTHS. He is really enjoying it and we are all thankful to still be in our home after such crazy times. In his "free" time he enjoys tinkering around the house and his new goal is to get our hot-tub leak patched and the spa working before winter is over! We are getting close. He also enjoys "farming" in our winter garden with Lorelei.

After a medically rocky December of 2009 when we experienced a twin pregnancy that resulted in a miscarriage and a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that required surgery, I am back feeling like me again. I have taken on a new venture in life: I have started my own business as most of you probably know. Punkiboo Designs is my new baby and I am having a blast hand-painting baby onesies in my "free" time (AKA: 8:30pm-midnight). I hope to have my Etsy shop and website up within the next two weeks (another goal!) I am still blessed enough to be a stay at home Mom and the girls are my little buddies during the day. We play hours of dress up, rock out to old 1980's records of the children's band "Greg and Steve" and cook lots of yummy meals at Charlotte and Lorelei's new play kitchen. Life is good.

Lorelei is 3 years and 4 months old now. She is a very verbal little girl with a fabulous imagination and burning need to "mother" her little sister whenever possible. Most of the time it is with good intention. Lorelei is a sensitive and empathetic little soul and she enjoys baby dolls and art as her activities of choice. She will be starting preschool in the Fall and Mommy is on the hunt right now for the perfect one for her. Tot soccer starts in a month or so and Uncle Kyle will be coach. We are looking forward to watching an amorphous blob of 3-6 year olds zig zag its way across the field in a perfect rendition of "bunch ball". It should be fun and hilarious.

Charlotte or "Charby" as she is most often called is a bundle of energy from sun-up to sun-down. She has started to show an inclination for speech after 19 months of grunts and gestures. Two and three words are now being grouped together as she frustratingly tries to convey to the world her point of view. She is a raspy-voiced little bull-dozer who shadows Lorelei in everything she does. But man, can she cuddle. What a little love she is.

The dogs, Baxter and Bailey are still up to their old tricks: shedding, barking, wrestling and licking kids. These two creatures crack me up.

We hope that 2010 will be a year of adventures (only good ones please) and prosperity (lets hope) after a tumultuous 2009. Check back from time to time and we will try our best to keep you up-to-date with the lives of the Bakers4.

Here are some favorite photos from the last 6 months that we've been M.I.A. on blogger!

Favorite photos since last July!

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Lorelei Fun!

Lorelei has been learning and doing a lot of new things lately. She is such a curious little gal. Here are some photos of her recent adventures.

Check them out here:

Lorelei's new adventures!

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Lots of summer fun

We've been having a great summer. The girls are at really fun stages and are both very active! Lorelei is taking swimming lessons with her cousin Ethan and despite the tears, they are learning a ton and are doing very well. Charlotte no longer walks... she now runs. It is really had to keep up with her. She is now finally SLEEPING THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT! Praise God! Getting full nights of sleep has been a blessing after a year of getting up with her every few hours! Charlotte says several words now: Mama, Dada, Dog, LiLi (Lorelei), up, milk, no, stop. Some of these are in a language all her own. Lorelei is a bright little gal and amazes us daily with the things she knows and the things she says! We've been having fun enjoying summer activities and LOVE our pool. We are also really looking forward to Uncle Kyle and Auntie Aimee's wedding in a few weeks! Every day Lorelei asks, "can we go to Kaka and Aimee's wedding today?" and then says, "oh, the doors aren't open yet?" after hearing my answer. The girls will be the flower girls and we ask that everyone start praying now that they actually go down the isle! Hope all is well with everyone and we'll keep you "posted"!

Here are some summer photos:

Summer fun

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Memorial Day and Birthday photos from Grandma Barrow

My Mom sent me some great photos from Charlotte's first birthday party as well as fun photos from the memorial day BBQ at our house. We wanted to share them with you!

Memorial Day and Charlotte's first birthday 2009

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I wish pets could live forever...

Today was a sad day for my Mom, Dad, Kyle and I. We had to put our beloved cat Tugger to sleep. He was shy of 16 years old and was fading fast. Over the last few months he went from being the slightly-portly but healthy, beautiful cat we loved to a shadow of his former self. His balance was failing him as were his kidneys and quality of life. Kyle and I opted to not attend the appointment today and said our goodbyes yesterday with a few scratches under his chin and kisses on his nose. This left Mom and Dad to be the ones by his side as he slipped away but they assured us that they didn't mind. He left his body peacefully and he gave the gift of peace to my parents by his willing surrender. We had made the right decision and we knew that he would be happy to see his old pal PeeWee as his paws padded across the threshold of heaven. There they would be agile once more, romping together in their nightly wrestling match.

Our beloved pets live for a fraction of the time that we are on this earth leaving us to experience the full cycle of their life and death...and then the void they leave behind. But the joy they brought by their uncomplicated and unconditional companionship makes the pain of their loss more bearable. How sweet it must be to live such a simple existance. We only hope that in their blink-of-a-life they found joy in our presence as well.

We'll miss you Tugger.

Love,
your family

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