30 days to 30: day 1

as of today i have 30 days until my 30th birthday. i decided (just within the last 20 minutes) that i want to do something each day until my birthday to commemorate my first 30 years of life. what, exactly, i will be doing each day is still formulating in my mind.
i thought i'd start today by sharing stuff from my first year of life. i have no recollection of this year so i'm getting a little help from my baby book. mom, if you're reading this, yes, i did go rummaging through your closet to find this.

here's a letter written by maternal great grandmother Lois Jordan Lake:

Dear Natalie-
Remembering the morning you were born —
In the wee small hours of early morning darkness Grandma Monica and I drove to San Jose — the long, weary, anxious days of waiting were over.
Your Mother and Father left for the hospital about 4:00 A.M. Jennifer came down stairs, wide awake. I told her to go back to bed and sleep awhile longer. She said, "Oh, no! Come and help me get dressed. We must go to the hospital, the baby is coming."
At the hospital we were all in a room just like a bed room at home. About 5:30 A.M. the nurse gave us all sterile clothes to put on.
Shortly after 6:00 A.M. I stood with Jennifer in my arms— a little round dark-haired head appeared and then an arm, waving as if in greeting to us all.
Jennifer in her eagerness almost shouted as she cried out, "There's the baby!" My eyes we[re] wet with tears of joy.
I thought of the majesty of creation—it was a Divine Moment.
You were welcomed into this Mortal World surrounded by those who love you most.
Great, Grandma Lois

thanks grandma lois for recording this. what a special thing to have from her.

i still can't believe i was born so early in the morning. it must have disagreed with me because if there's one thing i know about myself it's that i am not a morning person.

the cover of my baby book along with some coins my mom saved from the year i was born.



my hand and foot prints at 8 days.

my hospital, day of birth photo seems to have gone missing...here i am at 1 month. proof that not all babies are cute.



here i am looking a bit more adorable at 5 months old.