I'm Sorry

Natalia ripped a page in one of her favorite books the other day.  She knows that ripping pages in books is something that she should not do and normally this is not a concern.  She is really good with her books.  She loves to read them and have them read to her.  As soon as she ripped it, she knew she had done something wrong and she started to cry.  She got to sit in time out for a minute and then we had a little talk about how she needs to take good care of her books and when she does something wrong she should say she is sorry.  Well, apparently she understood our little talk.  All week she has been bringing the book over to me and opening up to the page that she ripped.  She then looks at me with puppy dog eyes and says, " I sorry, I rip, I sorry mommies."  It is so cute and she has done it four or five times a day for the past few days.   I give her hugs and we talk about it is okay because she is not going to rip her books again. 

Pack-pack

Last Sunday when Natalia got up from her nap she sat on the stairs by the front door and pronounced, "pack-pack, ou-side, hike, duckies, water, me, pack-pack, pease."  How could we say no to that.  We knew exactly what she wanted.  She wanted to go for a hike to the little lake near our house to see the ducks and she wanted to ride in the back-pack.  She even said please.  So we packed a picnic and the four of us headed to the lake.  There were not any duckies out, but Natalia threw some bread for them to eat later.  She loves riding in the back pack and I love hearing her call it the "pack-pack."  Sienna just got to be pushed in the stroller...not as exciting as the pack-pack.  The weather was nice and it was great having something to do on a Sunday afternoon that all four of us could enjoy.  I love that Natalia is getting so much better at communicating the things that she wants. 



Hector and Natalia eating their snacks by the lake




Sienna just hanging out while we ate our picnic



The Blessing

Sienna is a month old.  We have enjoyed the first month of her life more than I could express in words.  She is beautiful, precious, innocent, radiant.  She is a good baby, rather mellow, but hates to be left alone.  If she is being held, she is always happy.  Today at church Sienna got her baby blessing.  Hector gave her a beautiful blessing.  Sienna was blessed to be a compassionate woman willing to help those around her.  Her blessing already seems to fit her budding personality.  These special occasions remind me of how blessed I am to spend my life with my beautiful little girls.  I do not want them to get any bigger, but at the same time I am excited to watch them grow.    It was so nice to have Hector's family here for the blessing.  I am glad that we were able to bless Sienna on a weekend when Andy and Anthrea were in town.  It was good to have a family member in the circle with Hector.  I am also grateful that our friends Jason, Vanesa, Rak, and Lilian could come down.  We are so grateful for all the people that make our life special. 

Hector, Stephanie, Sienna, Andy, Elijah, Anthrea

Natalia, Hector, Stephanie, Sienna, Lilian, Rak, Nicolas, Jason, Vanesa

More pictures to come soon.  The pictures with the whole family did not end up on my camera, so I will have to add the pictures with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Krystale later.  Sienna got to wear her pretty blessing dress, but we decided to let Natalia wear her pretty new spring dress so she would not feel too left out of the fun.  After church, our friends came over and had brunch with us...I love morning church.

Little Elijah

We got to meet little Eli for the first time this weekend.  We are so excited that Sienna and Elijah are just four days apart.  Eli is so cute.  He looks like a little man; a good looking one of course.  The babies did not get to do much interacting with each other, but we are all excited to see them interact as they get bigger.  It will be loads of fun when everyone in the family gets together in the future.  We are excited for fun cousins! 

Hector took Thursday and Friday off and we had a nice time hanging out at Hector's parents house.  We got in several games of Settlers and did some good relaxing too.  Hector enjoyed spending some man time with Andy (he has been overwhelmed by girls lately).  It was really nice that that Andy and Anthrea could come up for the weekend! 

Little Thumb Sucker

Sienna found her thumb the other night in the tub.  It was very cute watching her work to get the thumb in her mouth and then contently suck away.  

We still love her post bath fluffy hair.

Sipping Soda

Okay, so it is not really soda, but that sounded better for a title.  Natalia did not want to share the raspberry lemonade; she thought is was hers, so I got another straw and she decided it was okay to share with daddy this way.

Family Home Evening

I forgot that I downloaded these pictures on Monday and then never wrote about it.  Natalia has been enjoying Family Home Evening these days.  Hector and I used to have Family Home Evening after we put Natalia to bed because we did not feel she was old enough to get anything out of it.  A few months ago we started having Family Home Evening with Natalia and she is starting to enjoy the experience.  We are new at catering these things to kids, but we are starting to figure it out.  Kids love treats, silly activities, and short lessons.  On Monday after our very short lesson, we walked to the park and played a little and then had popsicles on the front porch.  The weather was beautiful and Natalia had a great time.  When the weather is not so nice, Natalia loves to play "Ring around the roses", and "motor boat" for the activity.  In fact I think that she believes motor boat is a built in part of Family Home Evening just like the prayer and song are.  She is also really cute singing along to "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam."  She says beam in all the right places.  She is also quite the fan of "Once there was a Snowman".  If you want to see Natalia smile, just start singing that song.  Her arms will shoot into the air and a smile will spread across her face. 

Sienna's First Bath

Sienna finally lost her umbilical cord late Tuesday night, but we have been busy and she did not get to take her first real bath until Sunday night.  Natalia was excited to take a bath with her sister.  We had to remind Natalia a couple of times not to dump water on her sister, but other than that they were really good together in the bath.  Sienna was a little hesitant at first, but once I covered her with the wash cloth, she thought the bath was pretty great.  We let the girls take another bath together tonight and Sienna loved it the whole time. 

Sisters

I love watching my two little ladies interact with each other.  Sienna does not do much interacting at this point, but Natalia has been quite entertaining.  Natalia loves to give Sienna kisses, she loves to help burp her, and she also loves to act like Sienna at times.  The first two of these things are really cute, but the acting like Sienna is only cute sometimes.  It was cute when we were having tummy time with Sienna and Natalia decided to have tummy time as well.  It is not so cute with Natalia steals the pacifier or blanket from Sienna or cries just because Sienna is crying.  Sisters are so much fun.



Both girls bonding over tummy time.



Hiking with Daddy

I have been speeding the vast amount of my time with Sienna these last couple of weeks.  Natalia has handled it really well, all things considering, but she has needed a little extra attention.  Hector has been great about giving her that attention.  On the days Hector stayed home and on the weekends, Hector and Natalia have gone on little hikes.  We have a cool backpack that Natalia gets to ride in (she loves it) and the two of them walk to the lake near our house to look at the ducks.  Natalia has a blast, Hector gets some exercise (Natalia weighs 26 pounds now), and I get to take a nap while they are gone!  On the days that it is just me and my two little ladies, Natalia uses lots of stickers.  This is her posing for a picture.  When I get out the camera now she starts saying, "cheese."

Two Weeks

Sienna had her two week appointment on Wednesday.  I cannot believe that she is already two weeks old.  These two weeks have flown by.  With Natalia, the first two weeks seemed never ending.  That was mostly due to the fact that Natalia was starving and therefore unhappy which meant no sleeping which in turn led to one tired Stephanie.  Sienna, on the other hand, is eating well and therefore she is rather happy and content.  She is sleeping well so I am getting much more sleep this second time around (still grateful for a nap when I can get one).  Sienna weighs just over eight pounds now.  She is gaining slowly, but she is gaining, so the doctors are not worried about her.  She seems really happy and content most of the time.   She is not much of a crier, but when she does cry she is loud.  No sweet, soft little baby cry for her.  I am really enjoying holding her and watching her make funny faces.  We all love our little Sienna!

Circles

Natalia is really in to dancing these days.  She also loves to spin in circles.  While she is spinning she says circles and laughs. 

Cousins Please

Poor Natalia does not have any cousins that live near by, so she does not get to see any of her many cousins very often, but that has not stopped her from loving to look at pictures of them.  Every time she sees the computer she comes over to me asks, "cousins please".  We then open up the blogs and look at pictures of her cousins.  I do not think she really understands what a cousin is, but she sure does love to look at the pictures.  She will sit still and look at the pictures while I tell her who everyone is for over a half hour.  In fact, she would probably do this for longer, but I cannot sit still for longer than a half hour.