Noah's First Haircut

Hi Family & Friends,


Noah received his first hair cut this weekend. We were having such a hard time keeping his hair out of his eyes and behind his ears, that we knew it was time for him to get a trim. Noah watches hid dad give hair cuts all the time so he was pretty comfortable when the clippers came close to his head. Check out the pictures of his haircut. 

Future Soccer Star

Here is a video of Noah running around my parents house demonstrating his developing athleticism.

Christmas Time!

This year Noah was big enough to "help" us put up our Christmas decorations. He loved playing with the Christmas tree lights. He loved them so much that as soon Jorge put them on the tree he wanted to pull them off. Due to Noah's curiosity we decided to keep all of our glass ornaments off the tree. Fortunately, most of our ornaments are fabric and we didn't mind if Noah played with those. 

This year, we visited Jorge's family the weekend before Christmas. We hadn't seen Jorge's grandparents in a while and it is always special when we can have three generations in one room. On the Friday before Christmas, we headed up north to my parents house. On Christmas morning it was pretty clear that Noah was a very good boy this year because Santa brought him lots of presents. One of the most exciting was a baby four wheeler. Beyond all the gifts, it was wonderful spending time with family. 

While we were up north, we though it would be fun to go to the Children's Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. In this huge museum, kids have free reign and are free to touch anything in sight. At the museum, Noah enjoyed his first ride on a carousel. 

Noah's favorite exhibit by far was in the outer space room. There was an area where kids could turn on fans and blow inflated balls in the air. The expressions on Noah's face were priceless as he tried to catch the ball as went flying in the air. 

Though not all moments were pleasant (see picture below), this holiday season reminded us how blessed we are.

At the Pumpkin Patch

In October, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. We went with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Noah had a great time riding on the antique tractors. 

                    

In the corn maze, Jorge was our navigator. He took a picture of the corn maze using his phone and then used that to guide us through the maze. I know the point of going to a corn maze is to try and work through it without any assistance, but it was pretty cold that day and we wanted to move as quickly as we could through the maze. 

After we walked through the corn maze we took a hay ride around the farm. On the hay ride, we learned about different local crops. 

After the hayride we picked out a couple pumpkins to bring home with us. 

Noah at the park - blowing bubbles

Noah is such a boy - he's learning how to blow spit bubbles

Noah at the Park

Here is  a video of Noah on the jungle gym at the park.

It's Been Awhile

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been awhile since we've updated you all so there is a lot to catch up on. At the end of July we headed up north to attend the wedding of one of Stephanie's great friends. I (Steph) was a bridesmaid and Noah was the most adorable ring bearer. We had a great time at the wedding and we ate and danced the night away. 


While we were up north, we spent a couple of days hanging out with my parents. In Delaware we took Noah to the zoo for the first time. Unfortunately my mom tricked us into thinking this zoo was worth the ten minutes it took to drive there. After getting there we quickly realized that this zoo was one of the worst zoos imaginable. The entire zoo was about 1/4 mile long and the exhibits included bees, a fox, and ducks. There was a potential bright spot of the zoo - a monkey house. But when we entered the monkey house (which was literally a house converted into an animal enclosure) our hopes were quickly extinguished. There were monkeys in the house, but there was also the smell of poo, roaches, and mice. Next time we take Noah to the zoo it will DEFINITELY be an improvement. 

This August the Rivera family saw many new and exciting changes. I started a new job at Cook Endoscopy in Winston Salem, NC. My new title is R&D engineer and I will be working to bring medical devices that are used in the biliary system (bile duct, pancreas, and liver) to market. These devices will typically be used to clear any blockages that may be present near the liver and pancreas if people have gall stones or tumors. So far I've been there for a couple of months and it has been an easy transition. Most of my coworkers have been at Cook for more than five years but they have been super friendly in welcoming me. It helps that another engineer started a month before me so I'm not the only new engineer in our department.


On the same day that I started my job, Jorge started attending A&T University full time to a pursue a MS in Computer Science. At the end of July he resigned as a teacher from the Durham Public School system. After many discussions, we decided it would be a good decision to make a career change. He's done a great job of managing his busy class schedule with spending time with us.

Noah has been awesome as usual. Since our last post, Noah celebrated his first birthday and walking became his main mode of transportation. He also loves to babble and play hide and seek. For his birthday party, Noah celebrated like a super hero. Check out the pictures of Noah in his Super Noah outfit. 

Now that Noah is able to walk, we though it would be great to take him to the park. We aren't quite sure if Noah enjoyed himself or not because when we put him in the swing he had a look of confusion the entire time. 

Well that's all for now! Love you all!

God Bless,

Stephanie, Jorge, and Noah