Whoa...did all that just happen?!

I woke up this morning to the aftermath of Christmas scattered all around my house, and I realized it's all over. I also realized I have not updated the blog once since mid November. I guess the busy holiday season got the best of me. I really was hoping to do a better job of keeping it updated for Luca's sake. He has grown and changed so much in the last month. I can't believe he will be 6 months old next week. His first year is just flying by. Sometimes I get emotional holding my little one in my arms at night just wondering where that tiny little baby went.

November and December have just flown by in a blur of work, visitors, holiday events, parties, sickness, and milestones. I went back to work on November 1st, and since then one of us has been sick with something almost every week. Luca is still battling his second cold, we all three had the stomach flu, I had food poisoning, and Luca also broke out head to toe in eczema. It's been a rough couple of months! In the midst of all that illness, we have had a slew of visitors and celebrated Luca's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since I fell behind on my posts, here is a photo timeline of Luca's first holiday season:

At 4.5 months we started Luca on some solids. He loved it in case you couldn't tell. So far he has tried bananas, avocados, pears, cereal, and a little bit of mango gelato. Can you guess which is his favorite?

Luca celebrated his first Thanksgiving with a visit from his Great Uncle Jerry and Great Aunt Mariana. He loved all the attention. 

Luca loved all the excitement and magic of his first Christmas. We took him to Home Plate for the Holidays at the Goodyear Ballpark where he saw Santa and snow and had his first real experience with cold weather! We also enjoyed the Tolleson Luces de Navidad parade and he was absolutely mesmerized by the police motorcycles. The kid loves lights and sound. He also loved scooting himself under the Christmas tree and pulling on the branches in an attempt to get to the lights. 

Luca's cousin Ruthi came out to visit for Christmas and they got to meet for the first time. They are just 4 months apart. It was so great spending time with my parents, Andrew, Candice, and Ruthi. We all had a great time together and even had a professional photo shoot of everyone together. I can't wait to see how they turned out! 

As 2012 quickly approaches I am so excited to see what the new year will bring. 2011 was such an incredible year, and we were so blessed with the arrival of our little boy. I am looking forward to watching him continue to grow and change over the next year. I am sure many more special memories are ahead. God is good!!!!

Holiday Blessings

It has been awhile since I have written, so I wanted to update everyone on how things are going here. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. We enjoyed a nice, quiet Thanksgiving just the two of us. We made all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (and then ate them for a week afterwards!). After we ate we got to spend some relaxing time together and put up Christmas decorations. Although I missed being with family on Thanksgiving for the second year in a row, it was nice to just take a break from school and work and spend time together. December was a blur. I had bronchitis which wasn't pleasant. Things at school were crazy. By the time Christmas arrived I was exhausted. Although I was tired and ready for a break, the last day of school was very special. For my students (many of whom don't have a lot of things) I bought several new games and toys for the classroom. I put the presents under the tree in our classroom, and I picked several students to open them while everyone watched. They were so cute! There were so appreciative and understood that they had to share the presents and they were to use at school. They were already asking when they would be coming back to school to use them! Giving is my favorite part of Christmas:) Santi's parents arrived on the 16th. It has been nice to have them here. Santi's dad has been working like crazy doing things around our house. So far he has put knobs on the kitchen cabinets, lights under the kitchen cabinets, painted the guest bathroom, put shelving in our garage, and a new shower head in the master bathroom. Plus he has fixed a few things here and there that we didn't do such a good job with:) Our Christmas was nice and quiet. We went to church on Christmas eve (they had a beautiful service), went to zoolights which is a new tradition for us, then came home to a delicious meal that Santi's parents made. On Christmas day we went to see Marley and Me and of course I cried my eyes out. I love the book, and the movie didn't quite do it justice, but it was good none the less. Both of our parents were very genrous to give us money for our backyard for Christmas, so that project is lined up to be completed in the next couple of weeks. It is going to be a lot of work, but it will be so nice to have a backyard we can actually use and enjoy. We are very grateful for this gift, and the labor that Santi's dad is going to put into it! They are going to be here until the end of January, and we are enjoying spending time with them. Next week I have to go into school and get ready for the 3rd quarter. On Friday we are going to Las Vegas with Santi's mom and dad which was our Christmas present to them. This will be my first Vegas trip so I am looking forward to it. We also plan to stop by the Hoover Dam which I have heard is amazing.
As 2008 comes to an end, I feel so blessed. We have had some ups and downs this year as everyone does, but God has truly provided for us. In 2008 we moved into our first house, I started graduate school, and Santi continues to be successful at work. I love my job, even though at times it can be very stressful. Our families are doing well, we are both in good health. We have a lot to look forward to and be excited about in 2009. We are BLESSED! I feel espcecially blessed this year because I have seen those close to me go through very difficult times. Our neighbors I grew up with lost one of their children to a heart attack at age 23. He died at their home just 4 days before Christmas. Every day for the past couple of weeks there has been a homeless person sitting up by the cross streets just outside our neighborhood. I can never see the person because they have made a make-shift shelter out of plastic bags and cardboard that always covers them. There is a black dog that sits with that person all day. Despite how sad this is, I think it has shown the good in others. Every day I see people bringing food to the person and the dog, and yesterday someone had brought a huge bag of dog food. There are still pleanty of good people in this world. Despite all that is going on in the world around us, we have much to be thankful for.