January

Welcome 2011. I love the New Year's first days. there is something about starting a year that makes things fresh and gives you a good and new perspective about life.

Things I am looking forward to:

- Julia is starting Kindergarten this year. We have entered in a lottery to attend a Spanish based charter school.
- New Costco’s opening this year which might equal to new opportunities for our family
- Josh is starting preschool this year I am looking forward to doing Joy school with a couple of other moms from my ward
- Andrew will be turning 1 this year. Amazing this boy is growing too fast. I want a girl next; yes I am baby hungry already. My body doesn’t learn. I am stubborn and regardless how painful being pregnant is to me I am ready for another little sunshine. Bad thing is that I keep thinking of boys names, let’s hope my intuition is wrong.
- It is due time for a family vacation. We’ll see how well it turns out to take a 9 month old baby on a 7-hour car ride.
- I’ll be getting rid of the changing table on the boy’s room. I am so excited to re-do their room layout.
- Will be celebrating 10 years since the day Spencer and I met on a cold October night on Myrtle Ave, a Brooklyn corner in NYC.
- Will be celebrating 10 years since I graduated from High School. All my friends will be getting together for sure and I’ll be missing them all
- My birthday this year will be 11/11/11. This only comes once in a hundred years!!!... I know I am such a dork for thinking this is special, but oh well. I think it definitely deserves some extra celebration.

These are some of our big events for this New Year, some are getting closer than others. I am so excited for all these new goals and challenges that we are about to start.

January is a very unique month for me. It is just hard to go back to routine after you have had so many days off where you could sleep in and so many nights of staying u late. Having freezing temperatures and a little baby don’t make things easy when you are trying to get rid of your cabin fever.
We had to come up with ideas to make this month a bit more exciting.

Josh and Spencer had a father/son day. They went to the Union Station in Ogden to see the trains. Josh is obsessed with trains and it is not only a crush. He is really into them. He can name you 5 different parts of the train; his favorite daily movie to watch is the Polar Express. His favorite books to read are TRAINS. Spencer and I borrowed some books from the library after reading the book to him for the first time the next day he remember the name George Pullman, which is mentioned in one of his books. Now his little train conductor’s name is George Pullman.
It is amazing to see his interests grow and have such a determine admiration for trains. They fascinate him. It thrills me to see such passion at such early age. I know this little boy is capable of anything; I feel such a great responsibility to widen his horizons, support and encourage him and help his mind grow.
Speaking of Josh, this boy made a HUGE accomplishment this last year. I have forgotten to mention that at the short age of 2 he is potty train. We started potty training right after Thanks Giving and was about to give up because he was just soaking those pull-ups. On the beginning of December I ran out of pull-ups and decided to buy diapers instead because they are less expensive.
Wouldn’t you know? He hated wearing diapers again. He said they were for babies like Andrew and refused to put them on. Ever since, he is been wearing his underwear and has had but a couple of mishaps

On the other hand Julia and I had our own private time. We went to see Tangled. This was such a beautiful story, so clean and non-scary. Every time we’ve gone to the theaters with Julia (2 other times) she gets really nervous during scary parts and hides her face behind the seats in front of her. This movie just kept her smiling and very interested the entire time.
The best part was the ride home. She was talking to me in such a grown up way that it was shocking. She recalled the entire movie and even asked me questions about some scenes that she didn’t understand.
I think she is the reason I am baby hungry. I see my little girl slowly but definitely evolving into this beautiful young girl full of sweetness and love. I love to see her put lip gloss on and tell me which cloths she rather wear, but I did not think the time would come this fast.
I miss my little Julia, my baby Julia, the Julia that cry the second I left her in nursery because she needed to see me nearby. The Julia that had to fall asleep holding my hand and listening to my voice. I miss those tender moments. In a way I am glad that she has moved on, because there other two little sillies that need my attention, but I guess I’ll just always miss those first moments together.

A.D had his first fall from the couch. He is starting to wiggle a lot and somehow managed to get out of his boppy pillow and landed right on the carpet. He didn’t cry and I think I was more scare than him. He is really trying to make himself mobile. He scoots backwards and is even starting to swing back and forth on attempts to crawl. He is also developing separation anxiety, where he freaks out the second I am out of his sight. It’s very nerve-racking but I am glad he loves me as much as to want me around all the time.
Today, January 25, A.D’s two bottom teeth finally broke in. We’ll have to start him on cheerios and expand his eating abilities, which by the way are going fantastic now. Andrew loves to eat everything, well everything except green beans. He can spit those out of his mouth to the other side of the room if he needs to.
Finally, we have started primary and nursery again. Thank goodness for the church programs, otherwise I don’t think I could make it through church, especially now that it starts at 1:00 pm.
Julia is on CTR 4 this year. She loves her teachers, her new friends and her new sitting spot during Sharing Time.
Josh is still in nursery, He loves it, adores his teachers and his friends. He can’t wait to see them every Sunday. He loves to wear his suit to church and show off his black shoes.

6 Big Months

Our big boy turned 6 months on December 29Th, time goes by so fast.
I was brought to tears remembering all of my kids at this same stage, half way through the 1 year mark.
Tend to forget that Julia and Josh were this little once, they just look so grown up to me. I am glad to have these pictures to remind us how little and fragile they were and admire how much they have grown.

So Can you guess who is who in this picture? Hint they are in chronological order
Andrew at 6 months:
Stats

Height 26 inches
Weight 18 lbs

Can do:
-Roll from back to tummy and from tummy to back
-Hold his own bottles.
-Stand with help
-Say mama (although I don’t think is intentionally)
-sleep through the night from 10 pm until 9 am
-Play with toys
Can’t do:
-sit up without help
-Fall asleep without a bottle (He just has to have it)
Favorite toys:

-Soft toys, specially his squeaky book
-musical puppy
-his bounce-a-roo
Loves to do:

-Play with Julia and Josh. He enjoys seeing them and would always smile when they are around
-Smile. There is not one morning that I pick him up from his crib that he is not smiling at me
-Play with his toes. He’s figure it out how to reach them and although sometimes he pulls
them too hard and hurts himself, he loves tickling himself
-Roll free on the floor.
-Reach for things he shouldn’t (so young)
-Get his baths. He loves to splash mommy with water and make a big mess with the water.
-Make bubbles with his mouth when he is really happy

-Stick his tongue out when he wants to play
Big First:

After my fail attempts of starting Andrew on Rice Cereal, he finally had his first solid food on January 1st, that’s the way to start the New Year. He had peas and he loved them that day. He wanted nothing to do with solid foods for the next couple of days. The poor boy has been really sick since Christmas and is been really though on his appetite.

Counting down to New Years

On the 22nd of December I went to the Doctor because of a stomach pain I’ve had for a couple of months. He finds out that I have a really Over active Thyroid, how overactive you are asking, well He said that he’s never seen results that high in his career and referred me immediately to a thyroid specialist. After tests and diets that happen to be right in the middle of Christmas, therefore my Christmas Eve Iodine free diet meal, I was diagnosed with severe Graves’s disease.
The next step was to give me a high dose of radioactive Iodine which was intended to be absorbed by my thyroid and therefore died from the radiation.
Upsides of it, I could start feeling better; Downsides were the isolation from any human contact that I had to have on the next 7 days. The kids and Spencer went to live with his parents for 4 days.
The worst part was that I was forbidden to hold my A.D. for 2 weeks after the radiation. And I felt homesick (even though I was home) and missed my family terribly.
Finally they all returned home on the 31st of December and we were able to enjoy the last day of the year together.
Spencer came home at 7:00 and we had the last meal of 2010 together. We had: Scallops potatoes, Lemon Chicken, Green Salad and of course some Martinelli sparkling apple cider.
The kids went to bed at their normal bed time. They are too young to understand the importance of that first strike of the clock after midnight. We called my parents in Ecuador at 10 because it was already midnight their time and also my aunt and cousins in NYC.
Spencer and I then just waited by ourselves the first minute of the New Years. We ate some spicy appetizers and had some more cider as the hour drew nearer.
Finally we watched the ball in Times Square come down and we welcomed with a kiss the New Year
Welcome 2011

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve was received with great anticipation. We had countdown chains and calendars all around the house.
It took me about 5 hours to plan and cook our Christmas Eve Feast because I had to make it with ingredients from my Iodine free diet. Happy to say it turned out delicious. We had roasted potatoes, apple salad, grilled chicken and a cinnamon drink.
We waited for Spencer to come home from work at 7:00 to enjoy our meal together as a family.
After eating we watched the Nativity movie from Living Scriptures. Spencer and the kids both agreed that this was the longest 30- minute movie ever
After finding as many excuses as possible we finally let the kids go by the tree to open one present.
They were delighted to see what they had gotten each other, even A.D. seemed excited to unwrap his.

The kids went to bed that night at 9:00 pm Santa’s elves stayed up until 1:30 AM. Julia made sure she left some chocolate chip cookies (which she helped make); Santa told her they were his favorite, and a glass of milk. She also spread all over our front porch some magic oatmeal for the reindeer.
Christmas Morning came along. Julia woke up at 6:45 anxious to see if Santa had come. She was thrilled to see that Santa had managed to make her a unicorn pillow pet and had brought her the princess zhu zhu pet that she wanted.

Josh was out of it, we had to wake him up and when we did he refused to leave his bed. We had to drag him to our living room, but as soon as he saw all the toys set up on the couches he forgot how tired he was. His first response was My BIG chu chu train and raced over to his train and hugged it. He also loved his train engineer hat.

A.D woke up at 10 AM. He was starting to get sick and since he is too little to care about waking up early to open presents, his present was sleeping in for as long as he wanted.

Santa was so good to these kids this year, but then again they deserved it.
There were even more surprises in their stockings: lip gloss and princess pea for Julia and hot wheels fire engine and Super Why for Josh and of course some candy and an apple.
Josh was really happy about the apple he could care less about everything else.
He ate Julia’s apple too.

As Julia and Josh were standing by the living room they noticed a big bulk being covered by a blanket. At first they didn’t care, they probably thought it was one of my messes, but then they became really inquisitive.
They found a note explaining to them that there was one more present under the blanket and that Lito and Lita had worked really hard on helping him build it.
Out came the blanket and there it was a Ford F-150. Josh screamed: My car, my car and Julia couldn’t stop smiling. They absolutely loved it and jumped in it right away for their first test drive. Julia did fine, Josh drove over me.

After playing with our toys we got a call from Spencer’s family wondering where we were. We had missed the opportunity of talking to Spencer’s younger brother, who is a mission in Tennessee; thank goodness he comes home in February.
We headed out to the grandparent’s house and stayed there the rest of the day.
The highlight of the day was seeing Spencer’s mom and dad opening their presents from all of us kids. We took a picture of all the grand kids together and framed it for them, thanks Megan for putting it all together.
Elaine was so touched by the picture that she started crying, something that all of the daughter’s in law were anticipating. I am glad we could give them something special for all of the special things they do for us.
When we came home we had to take the truck out on the street for a ride, even though it was freezing the kids loved playing with their new favorite toy.

Our Favorite Things This Christmas:

Favorite Christmas decor: Julia-Jingle All the Way singing dolls; Josh-train under the tree
Favorite nativity: Julia-Little People; Josh-Mini nativity set; Mommy’s-Willow tree
Favorite movies to watch: 1) The Polar Express; 2) How the Grinch stole Christmas; 3) Elf
Favorite songs to sing: 1) Jingle Bells, 2) Santa Claus is Coming to town; 3) Rudolph
Favorite ornaments: Julia-her tumbling girl; Josh –picture of Jules
Favorite place to be: Our front room; they spent hours playing with the train under the tree and my village pretending to knock on doors and ring door bells around the houses.