Life in Sienna's First Week in the World

Sienna is officially one week old.  Natalia has been super cute this week.  I was really worried about her having a negative reaction to the baby, but she has proved me wrong.  She loves the baby and is so sweet with her.  Natalia is also going through a very silly stage.  We love watching her do her dances when ever there is music playing and we love to listen to all the funny things she says.  She will laugh at about anything and she loves to tickle and be tickled.  As soon as you put a stranger in the room, she gets very shy, but when it is just us hanging around the house, she is as silly as can be.  When Hector gets home from work she runs to the door and wants to help him take off his boots.  She then likes to try them on.  She thinks she is soooo funny with the boots on. 

Monday night we decided we needed frozen custard for Family Home Evening.  Natalia is definitely old enough now to understand what a treat is and she was very excited to go.  I am never disappointed with our custard place.  We brought Sienna along; she did not get any custard, but I am sure she will have many opportunities in the future.  This was Sienna's first outing that did not include doctors. 



Natalia preferred to eat the custard from the cone.



I have not had a true test of being home all day with two children yet.  Hector did work on Monday and Wednesday this week, but Krystale was here all morning on Monday and my friend, Nadia, picked up Natalia for a few hours this morning.   Tomorrow will be my first true test of being home all day with two kids and no one else to help.  All should be fine, but then kids are always full of surprises. For example; this is how I found Natalia when I got her up from her nap this afternoon.  I am still not sure how her shirt ended up like this. 

Sienna has been great this week.  Her weight was a little low at Monday's doctor appointment so we got to go back on Tuesday.  She showed signs of gaining weight so the doctors are not concerned.  Yeah...this makes life so much easier.  Sienna is a good little sleeper.  She seems to have the nights and days figured out.  She is almost impossible to wake up once she falls asleep except for when we are eating dinner.  Without fail, when we sit down at the table to eat dinner, Sienna wakes up and wants to eat at that exact moment.  I think subconsciously she knows that everyone else is eating and she doesn't want to be left out.  When she is awake she is bright eyed and very alert.  I am having so much fun snuggling with her.  She feels as light as a feather when I carry her and it is hard for me to believe that she will not stay this way forever.  Then I look at Natalia, pick her up, or change her diaper and I am reminded how fast babies get big.  Natalia loves to bring the baby blankets and she loves to watch her sleep in her swing.  I love my two little girls. 

Sponge Bath

Sienna is now four and half days old.  We gave her a sponge bath for the first time this evening.  For the most part she actually seamed to enjoy it.  Her hair was supper greasy, so it seamed like a good evening to do it, but when she pooped up her backside it solidified that a sponge bath was indeed needed (of course five minetes after being done with the bath, she pooped again).  After her bath, her hair was so soft and fluffy.  I tried my best to capture it in the picture.  She is sleeping for most of the day, but it is fun when she is awake.  Her eyes are really wide and she smiles.  At times she looks quite a lot like Natalia, but there are some stark differences as well.  The cheeks being the most obvious.  Sienna does not have anywhere near as large of cheeks as Natalia had.  This makes Sienna's face look much more slender.  Sienna also has much lighter skin.  It is the same color as mine.  I think that Sienna will end up looking more like me.  Natalia on the other hand is the spit image of her father. 

Welcome Home Sienna

We finally got to return to our home on Friday.  It is nice that we have hospitals to deliver our babies in and wonderful medical professionals to assist in that whole process, but it sure is nice to leave the hospital and come home.  Last week Natalia helped me pick out a special dress for Sienna to come home from the hospital in.  She looked very pretty.  Both Hector and I were not looking our bests, but we had to get pictures with a baby girl anyway.  Hector came straight from work at noon, we checked out and then went and picked up Natalia from our friends house.  The four of us returned home and began the process of settling in. 

It is so nice to be able to use all the stuff from Natalia over again.  We got out our baby car seat.  Clearly we were a little out of practice; it took Hector a half hour to get the straps right.  I think it is so funny putting a newborn into a car seat because the buckles cover her entire body. 

Once at home we started settling into a nice family of four routine.  When Natalia was born, Hector's favorite bonding time was cuddling and napping with the baby.  Not much has changed as you can see by Hector and Sienna resting together.  They sure are cute. 

We have had a couple of visitors in the few days we have been home.  We appreciate the people that have brought us food.  Natalia especially loved the edible arrangement we got.  She went to town on the grapes and strawberries.  I am pretty sure she ate over half of that thing.  Natalia has been so cute with the baby.  Every time Natalia walks into the room she goes up to Sienna and says hello.  When she leaves the room, she repeats, "by by bebe...by by bebe".  It is very sweat.  Natalia loves to give her kisses and bring her blankets.  She is fascinated by everything we do for the baby and she loves to watch.  She been really good about not touching when she is sleeping.  I am really enjoying seeing them together. 

Will the Love Last?

Sienna Jade Noriega

Sienna Jade Noriega born 3/16/11 at 11:57a.m.  She is 8lbs 11oz.  and 22 inches long.  This was a surprise to us again since her due date was 3/27/11.  I think I lost my head this time.  I had nothing ready in fact I was planning on going in to work, but Stephanie around 5 am said "I don't think you are going into work today."  I already new what that meant.  It meant wake up Natalia super early, pack a whole bunch of stuff I was not going to need, and basically freak out.  This time it caught me by surprise.  But all is well, we are so excited to welcome Sienna into the world. 

Enjoying the Weekend

Saturday afternoon we spent at Great Falls with some of our friends.  The weather was beautiful (so excited for spring weather) so we went for a little hike and had a picnic.  Natalia loves anything outside, so she was as happy as can be. The kids all got walking sticks.  Natalia watched our friend Clark break a stick over his leg, so she thought she would give it a try too.  While she was rather unsuccessful at breaking the stick, it was pretty funny to watch her try.  She did have fun using the walking stick though.

I decided that if Natalia could do the hike, then I would be okay hiking at eight and half months pregnant.  Hike for toddlers, is much more like a stroll in the park. 



Hector taught the kids a few survival skills; hug a tree if you are lost in the woods.





Natalia and William throwing rocks into the stream.



Natalia is a little to independent outside.  She would have toppled head first into the stream if Hector had not grabbed her.  She was very determined to dip her piece of wood into the stream. 



I love my little Hikers!

We wore Natalia out; really, she wore herself out.  We got home and got her ready for bed and then got ready to head back to our friends house for games.  Natalia sleeps in the pack'n'play when we play games at firiends' houses.  She is great about it.  She goes right to sleep and when it is time for us to come back home we just carry her to the car and then up to her bed and she goes right back to sleep.  Now she knows that when I fold up her blanket it means she is going to sleep at someone else's house.  As long as she gets to hold the folded blanket, she is as happy as can be.  She was pretty wore out Saturday night, so while she waited for us to get ready, she snuggled into the kitchen floor.  

We had a great weekend and then today, Monday, Natalia and I got to hang out just the two of us.  Monday is trash day and Natalia loves to watch the trash truck and I love to watch Natalia watch the trash truck.  I love my little munchkin so much.  We have so much fun together and I never get tiered of spending time with her.  It will be interesting to add another kid to the mix.  I think Natalia will be a little jealous, but I look forward to watching Natalia interact with her sister.  I know that all of our lives will be blessed by our new addition.  Natalia will be a great big sister. 

Daddy's Little Helper

We got a new bookshelf (free of course) and Hector put it together this weekend.  Natalia was SOOOOO excited to help him.  She wanted to use all the tools and she could not get enough of the screws.  She copied everything Hector did.  She found a little screwdriver and she thought she was accomplishing some serious carpentry. 

I love this stage of Natalia's development because anything new is supper exciting.  She really is so much fun to watch and interact with.  She gets so excited about the littlest things.  She finds pictures and words funny; I love to hear her giggle.  Lately peacocks have been funny.  If she sees a picture in a bookof a peacock, she busts up laughing. 

Pregnant Pictures

Yes, I really am pregnant.  I really popped out about a month ago.  I knew I had to stop wearing my regular dress pants when I busted a seam.  I feel like I popped out again about a week ago.  I have been consuming mass quantities of ice cream, so I guess I cannot blame it all on the baby. 

Good Morning Crazy Hair

This is evidence that Natalia's hair is actually growing.  Usually when she wakes up her hair looks the same as it always does.  We do literally no styling of her hair, but earlier this week Natalia woke up with some crazy hair.  It was kind of fun to see and I of course had to take pictures.  This is truly the first and only time her hair has done anything other than lay flat on her head. 

I love all these pictures because you can see the different stages of her waking up in the morning.  Starts with confusion and then joy to be in mommy's presence followed by some stretching and then ending with more smiles. 

Natalia and I ventured to the park last weekend while Hector was doing some projects around the house.  We took a fun walk together around this little lake.  It was chilly outside, but Natalia had cabin fever so it was worth going out.  She had so much fun looking at the water, playing with the leaves and pointing at the birds and the trees.  My girl would play outside all day if I would let her.