Hanging out with my family

This Christmas was a VERY special Christmas for my side of the family.  All of us were able to go to Northern California.  Laura & family drove from Arizona, Mike & family flew from Pennsylvania, and we drove up.  It was so special!!!  Mike & Jen's kids had never met any of their cousins before, so that was quite special.  It was so cute to see all 9 cousins playing together.  I loved spending time with everyone.  If only we didn't all live far away from each other... 

Ethan and I drove up on my birthday (December 17).  It was a wonderful birthday present to be with my parents & Phil and Jaime's family.  It was so cute to see how excited Phil & Jaime's kids were about Julia.  They all were so anxious to hold her.

Uncle Phil got to hold Julia first!

Ella holding Julia

Annalee holding Julia

Georgia holding Julia

Adam holding Julia

Daddy and his daughter.  So sweet...  :)

We arrived on the 17th. Mike's family arrived on the 19th. Then, Laura's family arrived on the 21st. It was so cute to see all the cousins meet their "boy" cousins. You should have seen them. When Laura's family first arrived, the girls all stood at the top of the stairs just stairing... not knowing quite what to do. We told them to come downstairs. Then, all the kids just kind of looked at each other awkwardly. It was so cute! Although they were shy at first, it didn't take long before the house was very noisy with kids playing and having a great time. :)

This was when Laura's boys arrived and all the cousins were together for the first time.

Uncle Mike holding Julia for the first time.  So cute!

Aunt Jen holding Julia for the first time.

Aunt Jaime loved holding Julia...

Aunt Laura holding Julia for the first time

Uncle Jason holding Julia for the first time





Joshua (Mike & Jen's) and Adam (Phil & Jaime's) are almost the same age.  They both love trains so they had to learn to "share."  They were so cute together...

The girls cousins (minus Ella) working on a craft

Adam loved holding Julia...

Ethan & I stayed at Mom & Dad's house.  One day, Mike & Jen's family came over to Mom & Dad's house.  We all had brunch together and then took a stroll around the lake.

Mikee is such a good daddy!

My Aunt Linda visited one day and got to meet Julia for the first time.

Mike loved holding Julia.  When this picture was taken, Julia kept smiling at her Uncle.  If you look closely, she's touching his beard.  :)  It was so cute...

Awwww....

The cousins got to eat at their own table...

One night, Dad got his guitar out and we all sang Christmas carols.

We all enjoyed singing Christmas carols.  The grand finale was singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" where each kid and some grown-ups got to have solos for each day of Christmas.  It was cute...

The kids, on their own, decided to put on a "play" of the Christmas story.  It was very cute.  :)

Lola and Lolo enjoying their 10th Grandchild

I loved spending time with my family!  It was very hard to leave.  But, I'm so thankful that we had the amazing and rare opportunity of being all together for a few days.  Lord willing we'll be able to do it again, some day.

Julia smiling

When we were up in Northern California visiting my family (I promise to post pictures very soon!), Julia started smiling.  She often smiles the most when she first wakes up.  It is so sweet!  Here's a video of her that captures a small smile.

SNOW!!!

Yesterday, we were driving home around 4:30 after eating lunch at Ethan's mom's house.  It had been raining all day.  As we were driving, Ethan made a comment about how the rain was kind of like sleet.  Well, we drove a little further and Ethan pointed out that the hills were covered in white... snow!!!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It never snows here!  (It snowed a few years ago but it melted once it hit the ground.)  The snow was everywhere and was sticking!  It was so beautiful...

This is my Toyota Carolla covered in snow.

This is the view from the top of our stairway.

 

Lolo and Lola Visit

Last week, my parents drove down from Northern California to visit.  This was my dad's first time meet Julia!  It was fun to have "Lolo" and "Lola" (Filipino words for Grandpa and Grandma) around.  It was hard to see them go, but we will see them again at Christmas, which makes it easier.

Lolo's first time holding Julia

Lola enjoying her Granddaughter again

Julia's shirt is perfect - she loves her daddy so much  :)

I love this picture of Julia in her car seat!  :)  Her face is just so classic.  She often falls asleep with her mouth open...

Here's another picture of Julia in her many funny sleep positions.  She loves to place her hands in different positions when she is sleeping...

Ethan and I started placing Julia on her tummy for "tummy time."  She seems to enjoy it.

Tummy time wears her out...  :)

Here are a few more sweet pictures of our Julia:

Thanksgiving

Ethan's mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.  This was the first time we took Julia somewhere for an extended period of time.  She did really well!  It was the first time for our nephews and niece to meet Julia.  I think they enjoyed meeting and holding their new baby cousin.  :)

Ava got to hold her first.  :)

Eric got to hold her second.  Look at Julia's face!  It appears she likes her cousin, Eric.  :)

Cousin Jared

Aunt Lisa - she absolutely loves holding Julia...  :)

Thanks, Teta (Grandma) for having us all over!  We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal and time of fellowship.

Video Clips of Julia

Ethan took this video of Julia while he was with her in the nursery (waiting for me while I was in recovery from my c-section for 1 hour).  I love how alert she was!

When I was pregnant with Julia, she used to get the hiccups several times a day.  She still gets them several times a day.  The nurses at the hospital explained that the hiccups don't really bother babies all that much - it's more the parents who get bothered by them.

Here's one more video of Julia.

Professional Hospital Pictures

While in the hospital, a professional photographer took Julia's pictures.  We absolutely loved them, so we went ahead and purchased the cd that gives us full rights to copy/post the pictures.  Here are some of my favorites: