A Brief History of Me: Birth - 5 Years

My full name is Izabella Parisiana Tovar. I was born on March 15, 1995 at 3:17 am at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. My mom’s name is Vi and my dad’s name is Erik. My mom was 21 and my dad was 31 when they welcomed me into the world. They had been married for almost three years and had been actively trying to conceive for three months when they got pregnant with me. My dad is Mexican and my mom is half Danish, half American.

The first home I lived in was in East Millcreek, Utah. I lived there with my mom, dad, and our three-year-old Old English Sheepdog, Bonita. I have very fond memories of my early childhood. My parents spoiled me rotten. I had been to Disney Land four times by the time I was four. (Which is a lot considering we didn't live in California!) I never did get used to the characters. Even now I have a strange fear of mannequins and some costumes. 

I began attending St. John the Baptist Catholic School when they opened in August 1999. I was in 4-year-old preschool at the time. (This is the school I attended my whole life and eventually graduated from.) In 1999 my parents began building a house in Draper, Utah on South Mountain. This is the house we still live in today. I was 4 years old when we moved in. We moved in the day before Christmas Eve and we brought Bonita and her newly born puppies with us. It was such an exciting time. One of the most prominent early memories I have of this house is when I was 5 years old. My mom sat me down on the stairs and told me that I was going to be a big sister. I was so excited! For months I had been drawing pictures of my mom, dad, Bonita, me, and me holding a baby because I wanted a baby brother or sister so badly!

The year 2000 held a lot of big moments for me. This is the year I found out I was going to be a big sister, the year my little brother was born, and the year my beloved Bonita passed away. On November 22, 2000 my sweet dog Bonita was put to sleep. She had been battling cancer and it was time for us to let her go. She was eight years old when she passed and it was so hard on my parents and me. She was their baby before I was born. She was such an amazing, beautiful dog and I still miss her to this day.

On December 15, 2000 my little brother Sebastian Gabriel was born. (Fun fact: I picked out his middle name after the Angel Gabriel because my class was putting on the Nativity play at the time.) I was in the room when my mom delivered and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was standing up by my mom’s head but I remember her being in a lot of pain. Then when my brother was born and they handed him to my mom, he wasn’t crying and he was blue. My mom freaked out and told the nurses to do something because he wasn’t breathing. They quickly took him over to the little bed they had set up in the room. They were trying to clear his nose and lungs but he wouldn’t cry. His initial Apgar score was a 0. I remember walking over to him as the nurses were frantically trying to get him to breathe. Finally he started taking shallow breaths. I reached into the little bed and put my finger in his hand, and he squeezed it. He closed his little hand around my finger, and in that instant I knew he was going to be okay.

Sebastian did end up being okay. His color changed from blue to pink. He never fully reached the color we expected him to. Everyone thought that he would be at least my coloring if not darker since my dad was dark. We were all shocked at his coloring. When my grandma saw him for the first time she said to my mom “I’m sorry Viola I don’t think he is going to make it.” He was so white that she thought he was dying. But he ended up always being white! It turned out that Sebastian was white with blonde hair and light blue eyes! Sebastian and I had a great childhood. We were definitely spoiled by our parents. Even though we were almost 6 years apart, we always had a great bond. I love my little brother so much and am so grateful to have him in my life.