The Noriega Family: 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Day

Natalia woke up Christmas morning a little before 7:00. I, on the other hand, had been awake for ever because I was so excited to see Natalia open her gifts. We went down stairs. No one else was up yet, so we fed Natalia a little food before we went over by the Christmas tree. We heard people stirring upstairs so went to see who was up and we found Grandpa in these funky pajamas!

We headed back downstairs and let Natalia check out the stuff that Santa had brought her. Hector and I checked out our stockings from Santa as well. She thought it was great fun to dump out the stocking. Most everything in the stocking was wrapped so she quickly lost interest (We have been telling her for the past month that she cannot rip the paper on the presents until Christmas...at this point she had not realized that that day had come...let the ripping begin). She had an unwrapped gift from Santa (that I happened to find at a garage sale this summer) of Mr. Potato Head and friends. She was content to play with that for awhile. In fact, as far as she was concerned, her day was complete. She had no idea there was so much more fun stuff to come.

Once everyone was up, we started opening presents from under the tree. I love watching other people open presents. The ripping of the paper, the piles of bows and crinkled packages, the smiles and laughs all make Christmas morning so much fun. It was fun watching Hector's cousins open presents. They are cute kids and fun ages for present opening. Natalia was interested in all the new gifts being opened; even those that were not for her.

In this picture, Lourdes is showing off her new wedding ring. I think the original one was lost. The new one was beautiful. Good job Ron!

We had many laughs throughout the morning of Ron in his pajamies, but the best moment was when he got up and had a bow on his bum. Now this eyeful of an image is captured forever.

Natalia was really cute with all of her gift opening. There were a few presents that were really exciting to watch her open. We were all really excited to watch her open up the doll that her Grandma got her. Natalia was so focused on putting all the wrapping paper in the trash bag that it took her forever to realize what was actually in the package. She would tear off a little piece of paper, then walk over to the trash bag and throw it away. She would then go back to the package. She did this about five or six times before she actually looked and realized there was a baby doll in the package. It was really funny to watch. Even though the doll was in plain view after the first piece of paper was taken off, she did not notice until all the wrapping paper had been thrown away. Then finally she looked and started saying "bebe" in her soft little voice. Hector got the doll out of the package (removing children's toys from packages; not the easiest thing in the world) and Natalia was so cute with the doll.

I scored some great gifts myself. Here I am opening a present from Krystale. She got me these great cake pans that make fun shaped cakes (I think we can guess what Natalia's birthday cake will look like this year). Ron and Lourdes also got us some really nice gifts. We are supper excited about the video monitor. We are not the type of parents to listen to the baby all night on the monitor, but the video monitors are so much fun. Babies and toddlers do funny stuff when they are sleeping...or trying to fall asleep. I am guessing the monitor will provide some good entertainment for us. We received lots of great stuff, but I am not going to list it all.

Natalia was excited to watch Grandma open the ornament she made her. As soon as Lourdes got the gift open, Natalia came and took it from her and went and put it on the tree.

The other highlights for Natalia were the stroller and the magnadoodle. Natalia put her baby in the stroller and her face lit up with so much joy as she pushed the little stroller. She has had a blast the last few days pushing the stroller around the house. She also loved the magnadoodle that she got from Grandma Beck. She wanted it opened as soon as she got the wrapping off. She had to draw a couple of pictures before she could focus on any more presents. It was really cute how excited she was about the new things she received.

Krystale was supper excited for Natalia to open the purring cat. This looks just like Sebastian, the house cat, only Natalia's fake cat is smaller. Natalia really likes the cat and she giggles every time she plays with it. It purrs when you pet it and then takes a couple of steps. Natalia always tries to pet Sebastian, but he runs away. I think Natalia finds it fascinating that she can actually pet this one.

Hector gives me a hard time because I always get practical gifts for him. I like practical gifts myself, so I have definitely projected that on him. I had a special gift for him this year though. I knew he would like a GPS watch and I had been planning for months to get it for him. When I was out shopping with my sisters on Black Friday, he texts me and tells me he wants a GPS watch. I had already planned on ordering it that day, so I text him back and told him that was a way to expensive gift so he better just keep dreaming about that one. They are kind of expensive but I found a really good deal so I was supper excited to give him something he really wanted instead of just practical gifts of things he needs. I wrapped other practical gifts so he would think that was all he was getting. Once we were done opening presents, I asked him if he liked what he got. He said that he did enjoy all of them even though they were my typical practical gifts. I told him that I saw one more gift behind the couch. It was fun watching him open it after he thought all the gifts were open. He kept saying, "I wanted one of these, but I did not actually think I would get it".

After all the gift opening we sat around and enjoyed a good breakfast and then some of us went for a little hike. It was nice to get out and enjoy nature. I forgot my camera, but the walk was really pretty because the water was frozen over.

Later that afternoon, Natalia and I had tons of fun back at home. We went for drive and sang and danced to Christmas songs in the car. At the house we had tons of fun playing with all her new toys. She helped me put together her block and wire toy from her grandma. I could tell she was so proud of herself for helping. She pushed her stroller all over the house and had fun drawing picture (scribbles) on her new art boards. I loved watching Natalia this Christmas. I cannot believe how much she has grown up since last Christmas. I can only imagine what next Christmas will bring. Hector and I have already talked about some great ideas for fun traditions that we want to start. There will be four of us next Christmas...life is always changing. I am so glad that I enjoy each stage of life. It is fun to move to the next stage, but a little sad to leave the current stage behind.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Eve

Hector, Natalia, and I got up early Christmas Eve day and packed up our car to go to Hector's parent's house. We did a little last minute cooking (I have to eat rice pudding on Christmas) and then headed over to his parent's house. Hector's Aunt, Uncle and their two kids were in town from Colorado and Hector's Sister and Husband were up from North Carolina. We spent the day with everyone, just hang'n out at the house. Natalia had kind of a hard time in the morning. Hector's sister brought up her dogs and Natalia was very afraid of them. She wanted to be held whenever they were near. If they came close to her she would start to cry. It took her awhile to calm down, but once the dogs went to sleep she had a great time. The two little girls had a great time doing Christmas Craft. Natalia's Aunties helped her do her crafts.

Natalia is showing off her artwork in the next picture. Sometimes when I tell her to smile for a picture she squats down like this. I am not sure why she thinks this is a good picture pose, but I guess it works for her.

I love this next picture of Natalia gazing at the tree.

Hector's parents, aunt and uncle and kids left in the evening to have dinner with Hector's other uncle, so we hung out at the house with Hector's siblings. I wanted to make Christmas Eve special for Natalia so we let Natalia put out her stocking, sang Christmas songs by the tree and talked about Baby Jesus.

Yes, I am singing in the video, but apparently Natalia does not mind my singing because she danced and clapped her hands through several rounds of "Jingle Bells" and "Rodolph the Red Nose Reindeer".

Natalia was supper tiered after having a somewhat traumatic morning with the dogs, so she went right to sleep and Hector and I enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out with Anthrea, Andy, and Krystale. We stayed up late playing games and watching movies. I am so grateful that I enjoy spending time with Hector's siblings. I knew I liked both of his sisters from the moment I met them over five years ago. So it was nice to be able to spend time with them on the most special eve of the year.

Christmas Prep

We spent the last week before Christmas getting ready for Christmas and we had mounds of fun doing so. On Monday, for Family Night, we painted Christmas ornaments for Natalia to give to her Grandma and Great Grandma. Natalia was a natural painter. I think I have a little artist on my hands. We have never painted before and she has never seen anyone paint, but that did not stop her from knowing what to do. She grabbed the little brush, put it in the pot of paint and started painting the ornament. I thought she would try to paint the table or even want to eat the paint, but she never even strayed from the ornament.

Here she is showing off her completed projects. You may not be able to tell by her face, but she really did have so much fun painting. She was very focused while she worked. She is a very serious artist. Even when she colors, she hunches over and gets a stern look on her face as if she is contemplating the next Rembrandt.

To end our family night, we said prayers. I love how cute Natalia is when we pray. She is really good about always folding her arms and she usually bows her head (we will work on closing the eyes later). Whenever we say time to pray she immediately folds her arms. She is funniest at meal time. We do not put her food on her tray until after we say prayers. Sometimes she is impatient and she cannot understand why she does not have her food yet. We tell her that we have to pray first, so she sighs and throws her arms to the folded position almost like she is pouting while she waits for us to pray. When we finish the prayer she opens her arms wide and sighs. This is her way of expressing...finally; I prayed so give me my food.

The next day Natalia and I made cookies. I let Natalia lick the beaters. She thought that was awesome. The funny thing is, prior to this day, whenever I would turn on the beaters, she would cry (she is afraid of most everything electric: the beaters, the vacuum, the blender...you get the picture). Ever since she got a good lick of the beaters, she has decided they are not such a bad thing after all. I can now beat in peace.

Natalia and I spent the next morning delivering the yummy treats we made to some of our friends in the area. It was really cold, so Natalia mostly stayed in the car, but she had fun driving around with me. We stopped by Costco on the way home to pick up some last minute supplies we needed for cooking more yummy Christmas food and let me tell you, everyone and their mom was at Costco two days before Christmas...I do not care how much you love Costco (mom), I would not recommend going this close to Christmas. But at least we were able to get what we needed to cook a berry and a peach pie when we got home.

I love Christmas time. I think I love the build up to Christmas more than actual Christmas. We plan to do more pre-Christmas activities next year since Natalia will be able to participate a little more. I am happy with what we did this year. It was fun reading Christmas stories with Natalia and talking about baby Jesus. It was fantastic decorating the tree with Natalia. She loved the tree so much. Sometimes she would just sit in front of it and gaze at the lights. If the lights we turned off, she would point until we turned them on which usually elicited a good "oooohh" from her. I could tell that Natalia really had no idea what Christmas was, but at the same time, she could tell that something fun and special was going to take place. Her enthusiasm was a beautiful thing to watch.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Cold Weather Fun

Now that the weather is cold, Natalia and I have to find more creative things to do around the house. Natalia loved playing outside all Summer and Fall, but it is so windy and chilly now that we usually stay indoors while we are at home. Poor Natalia needs a play mate...aparantly I am not fun enough. Earlier this week we dressed up her bunny and she played with him all day. Here she is telling him stories and in the next picture they are dancing together. Natalia loves the Christmas jams.

Natalia is at such a fun age. She is excited by everything. She loves to discover things around the house. She loves to play hide and seek. She says "Boo" whenever she thinks she is hiding. She gives high fives and giggles.

It snowed for the first time this winter on Thursday. We just got a couple of inches, but that did not stop us from playing in it. Natalia was to little to play in all the snow we had last year, so this was really her first snow experience. I did not know if she would like it or not. Sometimes she is rather hesitant with new things. Well, she loved it. She did take a little time to warm up to it (no pun intended), but then she did not want to come inside. There is still a little on the ground and everytime we go outside she smiles and says, "snow".

Natalia looks like a big pink marshmallow in her snow suit.

This is Natalia's attempt at a snow angle.

Natalia really likes to help. Hector was shoveling the snow and she wanted to help so bad. As soon as he put the shovel down, she scooped it up. I think by next year we should be able to send her out by herself to shovel snow.

Two little girls!

Hector and I went and had an ultrasound for the second little munchkin about six weeks ago. We were supper excited to find out we are having another girl. Now I cannot believe that I only have three months left. When Hector and I were flying to Washington for Thanksgiving we were complaining about how difficult it is to fly with Natalia. After complaining for moment I was stunned with silence as I realized that the next time I fly I will have two children. Even though flying will be a whole new type of challenge I am supper excited to have my two little ladies!

Being pregnant makes me think about the all the changes that us grown ladies get to go through.

The Joys of being pregnant: The fat phase...I only recently got over this. You pregnant ladies know what I am talking about. It is that in between time when you do not really look pregnant yet, you just look like you have put on a little extra winter weight. Bladder control...seriously...sneezing, laughing, coughing...thank goodness I do not have a trampoline. Gas...I am going to leave it at that...but come on ladies, hopefully it is not just me. Swollen feet...or for me...swollen feet, angles, and legs...also known as cankles. It has not been that bad this time around. Hopefully I will not have a repeat of my first pregnancy. Inappropriate touching...seriously, why do people think it is okay to touch a pregnant woman's belly? Would you ever touch a non-pregnant woman's belly? No. Sleep...I am not suppose to sleep on my back or my belly. Huge bummer for me. Maternity cloths...I have to special order pants that are long enough for me...what, do they think that tall women do not get pregnant? I realize that our selection of men is more limited, but not inpossible. While I love the stretchy top pants (supper comfy) they never stay up...saggy butt jeans after about ten minutes. Food...I do not feel guilty about eating a little more than usual. Not even the cold winter can stop me from consuming large amounts of Ice Cream...humm...maybe that is why I gained 50 pounds with Natalia. Feeling the baby move...how special are the little kicks and wiggles from the inside.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

My little helper

Natalia has decided that she likes to be a helper. This is a video of her sweeping at my mom's house. She also loves to help put the toys away (lets hope that lasts for awhile). Her favorite thing is to mop the floor. She dumped her milk (on purpose) the other day. I told her that she should not do that. I explained that when we make messes we have to clean them up ourselves. So I gave her a rag and made her clean. I am not sure the lesson was learned, because she thought cleaning the floor was about the best thing in the world. Now whenever she gets her hands on a rag, she is down on her knees scrubbing the floor. When I give her a Kleenex to wipe her nose, she uses it wipe the floor.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

My baby girl is growing up

I realize that I have been terrible the last few months about blogging. This is unfortunate as I love that the blog chronicles Natalia's life. Let's face it, I do not write in a journal or scrapbook, so the blog is it for me. So what has Natalia been up to?

She started going to Nursery a week ago. That's right, she is eighteen months old. I love that I get to drop her off in the Nursery for the last two hours of church. She has stayed in there the whole time both weeks. I am told that she is a little sad when I leave. She is not much of a social butterfly, so she has just been sitting on one of leader's lap, mostly watching the other kids play. Natalia likes to observe. Anytime we go somewhere new she spends the first twenty or so minutes just watching, then she will usually join in.

Natalia loves to copy the things that I do. I usually have a hair tie on my wrist. The other day, she found some of my hair ties and she put them on her wrist and kept them there all day. She was just like her mommy. Now, I keep my hair tie on my wrist so I can pull my hair back whenever I feel like that. Natalia still does not have much of a need for them. Her hair has grown a little, but certainly not enough to require a hair tie. But speaking of hair, Natalia has decide that my hair is fun to play with. She does not pull on it like she did when she was a little baby, rather she tries to style if for me. She tries to put barrettes and bows in it. This usually just means she pushes a bow into my head as hard as she can. Good thing she is not very strong. She even tries to pull it into pony tails for me. She laughs while she is doing it. With the love of my hair also comes the hate of my hair. She only likes my hair that is attached to my head. If she ever finds a loose hair on her or even worse if one is on her hand, she has to have it removed immediately. She sticks her hand out for me and if I do not promptly remove the hair than she flips out a little. It is actually quite funny, she acts like she cannot function until the hair is removed. I guess it is a good thing she does not have long hair yet.

Basically, Natalia has been a ton of fun lately. She is easily excited. She loves to chase and be chased. She loves to play with Daddy when he gets home from work. She is still a great napper. She finally learned how to come down the stairs on her own. She mostly just slides down on her belly, but it works. She loves to try and put on her own socks and shoes. She cannot do it, but she will spend some quality time trying. She puts my shoes on sometimes and then looks at me like she is so cool...which she is of course.

There are many funny things that I am forgetting to put here (this is why I should blog more often). I love my little lady and I am having such a blast watching her grow up.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Thanksgiving

Hector, Natalia, and I were able to make a last minute trip to Washington for Thanksgiving. All of my siblings and their kids were able to come. It is a rare occasion when we are all together, so it was fantastic that we were able to all spend Thanksgiving together (technically we were not together until Friday, but that is when we celebrated Thanksgiving).

It was a fun filled weekend. We left Thursday, because it was tons cheaper to fly on the actual holiday. Flying with an 18 month old is far from the best time of my life. Hector and I were complaining about how hard it was and then we remembered that the next time we fly to Washington we will have two kids.

Another great treat about visiting Washington is that I also get to see my grandparents. Here I am with my grandmother. She was able to spend the evening with us in the crazy full house.

My parents currently have 11 grandchildren and there are another three on the way. I love that my kids will have cousins their ages. Natalia loved playing with her cousins. My older sister has a daughter who is seven. She loves all the babies in the family and she is really good with them. Natalia loved all the attention Haily gave her.

After our deliciousThanksgiving meal, my parents had a little surprise for the kids. The kids got to "fish" over the loft wall. They used real fishing poles with gummy worms on the end. My parents attached fun little toys and games to the end and the kids got to pull them up. All the kids had fun from the oldest to the youngest! Natalia even got to do little fishing.

Natalia thought the fishing was fun, but what she really loved was the gummy worms. Apparently Hector had given her a few upstairs, then she came down stairs and bummed one off me. Then she gave Grandma a cute smile, so Grandma gave her a few. Once we realized how many she had actually eaten we tried to put a stop to it, but by that point she was in love with the worms. She would snatch up any that fell off the poles and plop them in her little mouth before we could stop her. It is a good thing she is so cute.

After the kids fished, my mom pulled out five big boxed for each of the families. My mom is amazing. She has been through so much in the last two months, yet she has not let that stop her from being a fantastic mother. Natalia thought the boxes were fun to play with. She wanted to climb them all. We even let her help open them up. It was a little preview of how fun Christmas is going to be with her this year.

My mom made each of us Christmas quilts. They turned out fantastic or course. Amazingly I was able to squish it into our little carry on suitcase. Now it is resting on my couch for everyone to see in our living room.

All the food and the fishing and toys did not top the hot item of the chair with wheels in the minds of the little girls. Natalia, Naomi and Adele all loved riding in the chair. It kept them occupied and happy. Here Natalia is riding with her three older cousins, Kyle, Haily and Spencer. I got them spinning pretty good. Natalia could not walk straight when she was done, but she was ready for another turn.

The fun really began after the kids went to bed. We had an adult white elephant gift exchange. Most of the gifts were silly...this gave everyone a good laugh. I think this is a good look for me.

My brother Dan really stole the evening. This was the first gift he opened up and the gift that I ended up with at the end of the night. My sister Rachel made this amazing growth chart. It was a hot ticket item! Since this gift was taken from Dan, he got another chance to open a gift........

I have a few more pictures of Dan opening this gift and trying it on, but they are a little inappropriate for the blog....use your imagination...it was very funny. If you know my brother Dan, then it is even funnier. I love that my siblings and their spouses all have good senses of humor. We laugh when we all get together.

Natalia loves to be outside. Dan planned a scavenger hunt for the kids the following morning. We knew Natalia was a little young for the scavenger hunt, but we took her out anyway. She had fun trying to keep up with the other kids. She loved trekking through the woods and she did not even mind falling in the mud.

What is it about Grandpas? Natalia has always loved her grandpas. Not to say they she does not love all her other relatives, but she has a special fixations with Grandpas. She loves Hector's Dad, but she see him on a regular basis, so that is to be expected. She does not see my dad much, but as soon as she sees him, she just walks over and put her arms in the air waiting to be picked up. Natalia and Naomi had a hard time sharing him.

She wanted to help Grandpa with the tree. If grandpa was on his knees, so was Natalia; if he leaned over, so did she.

Natalia's next favorite had to be Spencer. Natalia loves the boys that are a little older than her. One night after things had quieted down at my parent's house, Natalia and Spencer played for hours together. They each had a bowl and plastic spoons. They spent over an hour pretending to made stew with the toys. They would stir up new dishes and then have me take a pretend bite so I could sample their yummy cooking.

The last couple of days that we were at my parents, Natalia kept going to the kitchen and whining. I thought it was because she was hungry or thirsty (that is what she does at my house), but it turns out she really wanted to wash dishes. I have a feeling she will be "helping" me quite a bit in the furture.

The last day of our trip was just my family at my parents. I am so glad that I got to see all my siblings and spend time with them. I love them so much. I wish that I could see them more often. I love spending time with them. I look up to all of them. They are all such fantastic parents. I get all my parenting ideas from them. I also enjoyed the day that I got to spend with my mom. We finished decorating the Christmas Nook and we rearraged her living room. We also did about twenty loads of laundry. We felt that all the blankets in the house needed to be washed after having ten pucking children in the house.

Overall, the trip was fantastic. It was great to spend time with my family. It was nice to celebrate with the people I love so much. We laughed and played games and enjoyed one another's company. It was a bummer that all the kids got sick. It was heartbreaking watching Natalia puck...all over me. I hate that she had no idea what was going on, but at least she was supper snuggly. That was fun. It was nice to get a sence for how my mom is doing. The trip home did not seem as long as the trip there. It helped that Natalia slept some of the way home. Still it is a long way to travel and we were so grateful when we finally made it home.