My Boys

Noah in Missouri for His "Auntie" Rachie's Wedding

Apparently, we are jet-setters (ha!) or perhaps just slightly crazy, but my best friend, Rachel, was marrying her love, Justin, on November 1st in the great state of Missouri (told you that you would meet a boy out there and leave us, Rach!) and I wasn't about to let a little thing like, say, a 5-week old baby keep me away!

So, I over-packed our stuff, talked my parents into going, made Anthony take more time off work, and we boarded a plane headed for the "Show-Me State" during the last week of October.

Here is Noah on his first plane ride...


And, some more shots of Noah later in the week, smiling at Grammy...


Here he is again yawning (but I always think it looks like he is screaming his head off when I take pictures of his yawns!)...


Papa feeding Noah...


This was Noah on Halloween. I failed to take a picture of him with the hoodie that completed his ensemble turning him into a furry little creature (bad mommy, I know), but in my defense we had quite a lot going on!...


And Noah and I on the wedding day (he is sporting the c-UUUU-test little vest and tie)...


Here is the part where I would love to put up a picture of the beautiful bride, but I'm a terrible photographer and none of them turned out (all out of focus...)!!! But, nonetheless, the day was beautiful and I was grateful I was able to be a part of Rachel and Justin's wedding. We are sooo happy for the two of them and pray God's blessing on them!

Noah at 1 Month

Our first month with Noah has been fun, exhausting, overwhelming, etc. All the things that new babies bring to a home.

The poor guy had some pretty bad jaundice, so (as mentioned in a previous post) we ended up having to put him on a bili-blanket. Luckily, this worked within the first 24 hours to start bringing his bilirubin levels down and we were no longer receiving our daily visits from the home health care nurse to take the poor little guy's blood.

Noah does a lot of sleeping, staying true to his Valenzuela heritage ;). Noah did well with sleeping from day one, and already only gets up once in middle of the night to feed, giving us a good three and a half hours or so of sleep at a time.

He also does a lot of eating. Pretty sure this trait comes strong from both sides of the family.

We're pretty sure he's the cutest baby EVER, but we might be slightly impartial.

So, this is Noah at about 1 week old...


And here is Noah at the end of the month (looking less yellow!)...

4-Week Photos of Noah

Here are a couple of the shots we had taken of Noah exactly on his four-week birthday.

Noah's Announcement

These were Noah's birth announcements.

I still have several, so if you would like one - feel free to ask!!

Home with Noah

A summary of our first few weeks...

I had my first car ride...

There was lots of sleeping:


Some tears:


Some pacifier sucking:


And on a less happy note there was also
jaundice and blood tests and biliblankets, oh my!

(yep, he was our little gloworm for a few days,
but it helped kick the jaundice, thank goodness!)

A tired daddy...


...Who loves me very much!

And of course a lot of cuteness in general:



All in all, life as a family of three has been pretty amazing.

Welcome to the world, Noah Sebastian!

Noah was born September 24, 2008 at 12:42pm,
weighing in at 7 lbs 5 oz, and 20 in long...

(can't get this pic to rotate...grrr...)

And more wonderful than we ever could have imagined!

Our child in 3-D

Oh the wonders of modern technology!

Missions to Mexico '08

We were blessed to be able to take a group of teens/young adults from our church to Ensenada, Mexico for a week-long missions trip. There were 22 of us (23 if you count Noah - he's already been on his first missions trip!!) and we split into two ministry teams.

One of our ministry teams built a house for a family. Our other team ministered to children in two communities by running two VBS programs. The experience was both utterly exhausting and completely uplifting. We have loved seeing the change that has taken place in our youth. They have developed such a heart for serving!!

We built the home for a young, single woman named Guadalupe (or Lupita, as we came to know her) and her daughter Ariana. Ariana's father left the family to come to the United States for work. Here he met and married another woman and cut all contact off from his family in Ensenada. As a result, Lupita has been living with her mother, her brother, his wife, and their children. And not just living with them - but working in the fields picking tomatoes for around $70 a week to support them.

Our construction team worked very hard in building this home in only 4-days!! And, due to God blessing our group's fundraisers, we were able to furnish the home with a cook-top, dining room table and chairs, a couch, bunk beds, and a toddler bed as well as home goods such as floor rugs, curtains, blankets, towels, and dishes. Oh! We were even able to purchase groceries! Seeing the look on Lupita's face as she entered her furnished home for the first time was indescribable.

Perhaps my favorite part about Lupita's story, is that she was not a Christian when a Pastor from her community began reaching out to her and nominated her to receive a house. Through this blessing she received, she has become a Christian! And it was great to be the hands God used to bless this new Christian.

Our VBS team, as I mentioned, worked in two churches. This experience was also rewarding and tiring!! Everyday we taught a memory verse, Bible lesson, sang songs, and did a craft. Oh, and we also played some fun games.

It was really fun to see the teens in our group working with these children. And some of the kids stories were incredible! We had kids walking over an hour to be at the church for the VBS. And every day there were decisions to give their lives to Christ. I know that the seeds we planted will forever have an impact on those kids.

One thing is for sure - the group we left with was not the same group we came back with. God really used our experiences in Mexico to grow us all in many areas of our lives - spiritually, physically, emotionally. And it also brought us all closer together - there is a unity I never dreamed of! God is good and we can't wait to go back (and we'll take Noah again, too!).

And he shall be called...

Noah Sebastian Valenzuela.

We can't wait to meet him!

And baby makes 3 (soon)...

That's right, for those not "in the know", we are pregnant!! And our little baby BOY is scheduled to arrive sometime in early October. Our due date is Oct 6th, but as most people know that's more of a suggestion than something to plan by.

At any rate, we are looking forward to starting this new chapter. And praying that I (Awnie) make it through the summer!!