The Blessing

Sunday was Natalia's day. She was the star of the show. Natalia was blessed at church by her father. It was a beautiful blessing and a wonderful day.

Natalia looked perfect in her beautiful dress that Uncle Phillip made for her. This is a picture of Natalia sleeping prior to sacrament meeting starting. It was almost as if Natalia was given a copy of the agenda for the day and then cooperated with the schedule. She slept through the meeting and the blessing. No crying from our baby at church (I doubt that will last long, but she was great on Sunday).

So cute!

Natalia was so lucky to have both sets of grandparents at her blessing. Here she is with her two grandmothers. With these two ladies around, it is hard for anyone else to get time holding Natalia.

This is the beautiful dress that Natalia wore. She looked absolutely perfect. I could not have found a more perfect dress at the store. I am so happy that Phillip was kind enough to make the dress for her. She looked like a little angle. I know that Natalia will love to look at her dress when she gets older. I can imagine that she will ask me to pull out her dress just so she can look at it. Maybe someday (way...way in the future) her daughter will wear the dress when she is blessed.

My mother gave Hector and I instructions on the proper way to hold a baby in a beautiful flowing dress (see above picture). We were instructed to place a hand behind her neck and the other beneath the dress so that the dress would flow properly from her little body. I am executing the proper hold above. My mother informed Hector that he most hold Natalia the proper way while giving the blessing so that everyone could see how beautiful the dress was on her. Well Hector was a little nervous prior to giving the blessing and he did not have the dress/baby hold quite right. My father had overheard the instructions and, not wanting Hector to face a disappointed mother-in-law, helped Hector secure the proper hold once they had brought the baby to the front of the chapel. Not that my mother would really have been upset, but for those of you who know her, you know she would have given Hector a hard time. I guess my dad saved the day. Who would have known he was such a fashionista.

She really did look cute in her dress.

It was nice to have family and friends support Natalia on her big day. Grandma and Grandpa Beck are in town. I was so happy that my father could participate in Natalia's blessing. Hector's parents and sister also came. Natalia is so lucky to have so many family members who love her.

Hector and I are such proud parents. I know, I should have taken off my heels for the picture. I had swollen, really swollen, feet for four months of my pregnancy. Because of that, I could only wear over sized flipflops. I got really tiered of wearing the same shoes every day. It has been really nice to wear heals again. I actually had to dust them off before I put them on. It had been that long.

Hector did a wonderful job with the blessing. He may have been nervous, but no one would have guessed. He gave Natalia her blessing with such confidence. I am sure that Natalia will grow up to be strong young women.

Three generations of women. My mother has been such a great help. I am so glad my mom came out to the East the first week of Natalia's life. Without her, Hector and I would have gone crazy. It was so nice to have someone with experience in the house. She comforted me when I needed it and made me feel like a competent mother. She even volunteers to change diapers.

Thanks again Uncle Phillip for the beautiful dress. Phillip looked like a natural with Natalia. He is so talented. I really could not have pictured a more perfect dress for the day. I am so glad that Natalia will have her dress as a keepsake.

I love this picture of Tim, Phillip and Natalia.

Auntie Krystale has made a lot of improvement in her baby holding skills over the four weeks of Natalia's life. Last weekend Krystale thought the baby would be more fun if she were awake. So Krystale spent a lot of time trying to wake up the baby only to learn that a baby who is woken from a nap is not very happy and therefore not more fun. On Sunday Krystale was perfectly content to hold a sleeping baby.

Grandma Lourdes and Auntie Krystale brought over more new clothes for Natalia. She will look so pretty in her clothes. Grandma Lourdes is a natural with Natalia. I love seeing them together. I feel so blessed that my daughter has great grandparents. Sunday reminded me of how important family is. I am grateful that both Hector and I come from good families. I appreciate the the lessons we have learned and I hope that we will be as good of parents to our daughter as our parents were to us. I love my daughter. I am amazed at how much I can love this little person that I have known for so little time. She is absolutely perfect.

Not all baby pictures can be cute!

I may be a little biased, but I believe that my baby is absolutely adorable. With that said, I can recognize an ugly baby picture when I see one. Natalia...this is not your best look.

She looks like a little pirate. She is just missing the eye patch and a peg leg.

Happy Due Date

Wednesday June 24. Today is Natalia's due date. It is funny to think that she should just be born today. It feels like she has been in our lives forever. Even though she is only three and a half weeks old, it is hard to imagine life without her. I can hardly remember not being a mom.

The Weight Check

Natalia is now three weeks old. Yesterday she had a weight check up with her doctor. Natalia was an entire pound below her birth weight at her two week checkup. Natalia and I have been working really hard this week on the weight gain (helping Natalia gain weight that is...I really do not have to work hard at all to gain weight myself).

Each feeding takes over an hour. After nursing for a half hour, the little munchkin gets a bottle in order to ensure she is getting enough food. After the bottle, mommy gets the pleasure of pumping with the hopes that this fun task will increase the milk supply. Natalia and I have been keeping up this routine and everyone has been hoping she will finally gain some weight.

Sunday evening before her check up we (both sets of grandparents, three of Natalia's Aunts, her parents, two cousins and some friends) all decided to make bets as to how much she would weight at her check up. We documented our bets. 12 people voted and the winner is: Leah. Ironically enough Leah is the only one who has not actually held or seen the baby. She just happened to be on the phone while the rest of the family cast their votes. Natalia weighted in at 7.12. Jason took second place with a guess of 7.13 and I took third place with a guess of 7.10. Sorry Ron...10.2 was a little optimistic and Spencer...we were all really glad you did not win with your guess of 6 pounds. We will not hold your underachieving guess against you since you are only two years old.

Good job Natalia. 11 ounces in 7 days. We are all proud of you for finally gaining weight.

Happy Father's Day

Hector celebrated his first father's day. He was a proud daddy. Hector is very good with little Natalia. He loves to hold her, especially right after she has eaten ( this is when she is most happy)! He cuddles with her and loves to take naps with her.

After church we went over to Hector's parents' house to celebrate father's day. It was a nice day because we spent time Hector's Dad and my Dad. My parents got into town Saturday night. My dad got to see his newest little granddaughter for the first time.

Our friends Jason and Vanesa spent Father's Day with us as well. Jason and Vanesa had a baby boy about nine weeks ago. Jason and Hector are both proud Dads. We are sure these two cute kids are going to be friends. When one baby wakes up, the other decides to follow suit. When one baby cries, the other starts to cry. They are already causing trouble.

Hey Baby Talia

My sister Rachel and her two boys are here visiting from Buffalo. The boys are so cute. They love to look at the baby; they are fascinated by her. Spencer will come up to her and say, "Hey...Hey Baby...Hey Baby Talia" It is very sweat. He uses a really soft voice when he talks to the baby. Garret likes the baby too. The boys have been a little sick the last two days. They are bummed because they cannot touch the baby when they are sick. They still talk to her though.

My sister Rachel is so much fun to have around. Hector and I appreciate her parenting advice. We figure if Rachel thinks something is a good idea, then we do too. Rachel is way better than any parenting book. Rachel is also much better at taking pictures than I am. We are planning another photo shoot before she leaves next week. We are excited for Rachel to have her baby this fall. Natalia will have another girl cousin to play with.

The First Two Weeks

Natalia is the cutest baby I have ever seen (I am a little biased). Even when she has her unhappy face, she is cute.

Natalia is just over two weeks old and she is already breaking the rules. She started breaking the rules by coming three and half weeks early. I was not very happy about this because I had every intention of teaching until the school year ended. She really messed up those plans, but when we found out she weighed 8 pounds 1 oz, I decided that maybe it was a good thing she did not have another three and a half weeks to grow. I cannot imagine delivering a 10 pound baby. According to my doctor that is what we would have had on our hands had she gone the full 40 weeks.

Sunday, May 31st, I sat in church and started to feel a little uncomfortable. I decided to leave the chapel and head to the bathroom ( I became quite a frequent visitor of the bathroom at the end of the pregnancy). During church I noticed that I had a pain in my lower abdomen about every five minutes. I was sure it was something other than labor pains...I had another three and a half weeks...there must be another explanation. I decided to stay in the foyer on the soft couch. During Sunday School I stayed on the couch and chatted with a friend who suggested I was probably having false labor pains ( she is a doctor, so that seamed like sound advice to me). I made it through church and called my sister as soon as I got home. She told me what labor felt like. It sounded a lot like what I was feeling, but I was still convinced something else was going on. I really was not ready for the baby to come. I had not finished writing the finals for my students!

The "false" labor pains did not go away even after 10 glasses of water. Finally around 6:00 p.m., I decided I better call my doctor.

The Doctor:

Remember: I am only 36 and 1/2 weeks when I call my doctor and I am a first time mother. No one really took me seriously. I can imagine the doctor and the nurses thinking, "Oh these first time mothers...they are so paranoid...I am sure this girl is not really in labor"

The Doctor told me to come in just to check it out. I was hoping we would just get checked out and then head back home, but we took the hospital bag and installed the car seat just in case. At the hospital I could tell that no one was really taking me seriously. I would not let Hector call family and friends until I was checked in case it was just a false alarm.

When the nurse finally checked me she said, "Oh, these are not mild contractions...they are moderate. OH! You are already dilated past four centimeters...We should move you to a delivery room! Soon!"

So it was confirmed...I was having a baby much earlier than expected.

At 1:54 a.m. on Monday June 1, Natalia Jenea Noriega was born. After a half hour of pushing the doctor held up this beautiful girl. With a tear in my eye, I said, "Oh my, where did she come from. She is so big." Her head was perfectly round and her cheeks...well they speak for themselves.

Natalia is working on showing her plumbers crack in this picture. If that diaper where a little lower, we would be in trouble.

Natalia has not had any trouble with her head size, but we cannot say the same about her weight gain. At her first doctor's appointment she had lost 15% of her body weight and she had not had a wet diaper in a few days. The doctor was concerned so we started working really hard on getting her to drink more milk. This caused me a little stress because my milk supply is less than fruitful to say the least. I am suppose to feed her every two to three hours. However, she eats for about an hour. She has to work really hard to get milk. Then we supplement formula and then I try to pump more milk with the hopes of increasing my milk supply. All of this takes about an hour and a half. So feeding the baby is pretty much all I do. By time I finish one feeding, it is almost time to start again.

She is so cute. Aunt Rachel did this cute photo shoot for Natalia.

At Natalia's two week appointment she was still a pound below her birth weight. She has been getting a lot of food this week and mommy has been working hard to make sure she starts gaining some weight. Monday she has a weight check...keep your fingers crossed.

I am amazed at how entertained I am by Natalia. I love to sit and watch her make cute faces. She is so funny when she stretches. She has also discovered her ears recently. She grabs her ears when she eats. When she has decided she has had enough to eat, she purses her lips together in a tight lock and there is no chance to get more milk in there.

Mom loves her little girl. Natalia loves to snuggle. Maybe that is why she does not want to sleep at night. She is so spoiled. Natalia spent time with Grandma Beck the first week of her life. My parents had planned to come out for her birth...but that is not suppose to happen for another week. Needless to say, once we called my parents to let them know we were at the hospital, they got online and my mom came out the next day. I was glad that my mom was here when we brought the baby home from the hospital. She stayed up with me in the middle of the night and she took turns holding Natalia when she was crying.

Natalia has also spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Wielsma. Hector's parents and sister came to the hospital the night she was born and have come by to visit a few times since. Baby Natalia loves her family. She is a popular girl and she has been snuggled and held by lots of loving family.

Tummy time for Natalia

The doctor says tummy time should last around 5 minutes, but man I just cant bear to watch Natalia's face buried straight down into the couch. She actually did very well this time, her face actually moved from side to side.

Grandmas

Here are a few pics of Natalia with her Grandmas. We thought it was funny that a Chipotle burrito is almost as big as she is.

Pictures of Natalia

Natalia was born at 1:54 A.M. Monday morning. She was 8-lbs. 1 oz., and 20-1/2" long. She has big cheeks, and a very round head, that we are not sure where she got from.