Our Christmas Angel

Merry Christmas!! I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday. Ours has been wonderful and busy! Isabelle was baptized last Sunday, 12/21. My family wasn't able to make it, but we were very blessed that all of Ian's family was able to come. She wore the same gown that all 5 of my siblings and I wore for our Baptisms, which was really nice. Ian & I started a new tradition for her... we gave her a cross that she wore during the Baptism. Our intention is that she will also wear it for subsequent sacraments. She was such a good baby... she didn't cry at all during the Baptism itself. It was until the pictures afterward - when she was starving - that she cried at all. We did a little photo shoot of her in her gown, since the pictures at the church itself weren't all that fabulous. They turned out really well - sweet angel baby. They're available on our Picasa site.

Most of Ian's family was able to stay for Christmas. We've had a wonderful visit. I'm so happy that now all of our immediate families have been able to meet and spend time with the baby girl. Here are a handful of photos from Christmas... Aren't the ones with Sophia so cute? When Naomi & Sophia came to stay with us at the beginning of November, we discovered that Sophia & Isabelle had been given identical outfits as gifts. What are the odds? Naturally, that required that we dress them up and take pictures. Isabelle was still too little to wear hers then, but the shirt worked out well as a dress by Christmas! :) We've been singing the theme to the Patty Duke Show (they're cousins... identical cousins...) ever since!

Ian's parents and sister, Aileen, will be heading home on Sunday. After that, it will be just our little family of three, basically for the first time since about the middle of November. We love our family, but we're also looking forward to some "us time" and spending some quality 2-on-1 time with the baby girl.

That's all the big news from here. I am hoping that I'll have a little more time to keep up with the blog once everyone leaves... and there will be more people not here who will probably want updates. :) Until then, we hope you are all enjoying the blessings of the season and looking forward to good things in the new year!

Well, hello there

It's amazing how infrequently I get to a computer these days. This fall, I got an iPhone, which I thought would help me stay in touch with everyone. It does - to a point. It's super-easy for me to check my email, other people's blogs & Facebook. It is not easy, however, to write emails, blogs or anything that would involve me communicating other than the occasional FB status update. In some ways, it's made communication more difficult because I'm less motivated to get on a computer when I don't need it to check email or anything. So, that's a long way of saying sorry it's been a while since there's been a new blog posting! And I'm sorry for not responding to emails more quickly!

We've been very busy here in the Villanueva household. Let's see... since my last post, my sister-in-law, Jill, came to visit & help us out for a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Then my ENTIRE family came for the holiday. We had a wonderful time! It was great for everyone to get to meet Isabelle and we always have so much fun when we're all together. Most everyone left on Sunday and then on Monday, my sister-in-law (on Ian's side), Naomi, and niece Sophia arrived to lend a hand. How lucky are we? We really would have been a mess without Jill and Naomi's help! It was also wonderful to get to spend so much time with Sophia. She just turned 1 in September. We'd only been able to see her a couple of times over the past year and both times there were lots of other people around, so we'd never had much one-on-one time. She's such a sweet little girl! And it doesn't hurt at all that she loves her Tita Mae. :) I'm glad she'll be coming back soon! So, Naomi & Sophia left on a Friday and Ian's mom arrived on Sunday. Isabelle was very excited to meet her Lola. Ian's mom was planning to have a double knee replacement surgery this year and we all decided it would be best for her to have it done in Wichita. Since I stay home, we could be sure someone would be around to help her and she could help with the baby. Isabelle has had lots of quality Lola-time over the past week. I think being around the baby is helping Lola's recovery, too. Ian's dad (Lolo) was in for a few days last week, when Lola had her first surgery. He'll be back this week for the 2nd one. Tita Aileen arrived a few days ago and the rest of the family will be joining us by Saturday for Isabelle's Baptism this Sunday. Most of them will be staying through Christmas, which should be wonderful. I think our house will seem very, very empty come January!

So, that's what we've been up to. In the meantime, Isabelle is doing wonderfully... growing and changing every day. She's started smiling socially and has the most adorable gummy, dimply grin. She's also really observing objects around her... she's become a big fan of the mobile in her swing and the ceiling fan. She's a little hit or miss on the Christmas tree. So even though it's been a crazy whirlwind of a month, we're all doing well and feeling very blessed during this holiday season!