End Of The Month Picture Dump

Here are some random pictures and short stories that didn't make the cut for their very own blog post in November. I've posted some on Facebook, but others haven't been seen by most. Enjoy...

Ezra and I took a walk along the Washougal River one chilly and dry day while Armando and Esperanza were off together doing something. Last time we were here, he was in my bellyEsperanza didn't have school the week of Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, I really struggled to find things to entertain her with. For some reason she's become even more needy than usual (I didn't think it was possible, but she proved me wrong) . So I dumped out some beads and buttons, gave her a set of chopstix and told her to pick everything up. She had a lot of fun with it! And she didn't loose interest after only a few minutes. AND, it builds fine motor skills. Another Esperanza entertainment activity: glueing anything and everything onto a piece of paper to spell her name. I told her to go read a book
Playsilks provide a whole new world of entertainment for both kidsHe's pretty wobly still, and needs just a little bit of support to stay put, but Ezra is sitting upright! Geneva and her kids came up for Thanksgiving. I didn't get any pictures of us on our gathering day, but I did get a few of the kids the day after Thanksgiving. Here's Anycia and Esperanza Anotonio, Anycia, Angelica, Esperanza & Ezra - day after ThanksgivingEarlier this month we had a bit of a scare with George. He had a series of siezures. Scary ones from what my mom and Mary say. Ever since his stroke several years ago, he hadn't had a seizure, and his epilepsy seemed to have disappeared. The damage from the stoke apparently had done something to the part of his brain that was causing the siezures he had had consistently since Vietnam. Then all of a sudden, they reappeared a week or so ago. My moms theory is now that his brain has begun to show signs of healing from the stroke (him being cognitively more 'with it' than he has been since before the stroke), his epilepsy has also been returned. He only had them on one day so far. Lets hope it was just that day and no more. Here's Grandpa George with 5 of his 6 grandkids (missing Roman). We gathered with Armando's family the day after Thanksgiving. Again, not many pictures. Here's Marti's little boy Emmanuel - he's is so sweet!Cathy's baby Camerino Jr is catching up to Ezra in size. He's kinda curled up here but he's almost as long and feels the same in weight...and he's 2 months old. Grandma Angelina with EzraEzra wants food. Bad. I started off with giving him carrots. Whole. They make a great teether toy. We've moved on a little bit from there, but here he is with his carrot teether My sister Mary and my mom watched my kids awhile back while I went to the dentist. Mary put make-up on Espernza, snapped a photo, then took it all off before I got homeWe had some family photos done earlier this month. Everything and everyone was great until the moment the shutter went to work. Esperanza lost it. It was bad. To top it off, it was really, really cold outside. Esperanza cannot stand cold weather for some reason. She clams up no matter how many layers I put on her. Fortunately, our amazing photographer somehow managed to still get a few decent shots but I don't have them yet. Here's a picture I snapped of Esperanza, mid-tantrum. I'll share more pictures when I get them back, but here's a little preview. Cold or not, Ezra is one happy boy!Good-bye November, hello December! Bring on the holidays and cold weather. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Painful Photo

I don't even remember the whole story behind this photo. It was taken a month or so ago when we were visiting some friends. She wanted to go home really bad, but it wasn't time to leave yet. I was actually trying to get her to sit on the couch with my friends' little ones to get a group shot. She wanted nothing to do with that, instead this is what I got. It hurts me so bad when I look at it. Had to share, but mostly save for future memories.

November Rain

Wasn't that a Guns -N- Roses song from like 20 years ago? Anyways, it's also a good description of our day today. This morning I woke to rain drops pounding loudly on my window and my first thought was, 'we're gonna go stomp in mud puddles today'. Unfortunately, Esperanza wasn't as giddy as I was about the idea. A few hours later though she said she was ready to go play in the rain. Yay!

Big tree stormdrain always brings up lots of questions and deep thinking as she processes the answers My feet

Vintage Clothes

Vintage sounds better than 80's. Esperanza is in a phase where she wants to wear dresses ALL the time now. Which is great because she just happens to be the perfect size for some dresses my mom handed down to me awhile back that once were worn by my sisters and I when we were little.

This was my dress given to me as a Christmas gift by my Grandma & Grandpa Gill the year I was 3 years old. Sooo glad I tried this on Esperanza because I was just thinking that I needed to get her a Christmas dress. Not any more! Love it!This dress was my little sister Mary'sAnd this one was Naomi's

And look, I even found Ezra a cute lil' vintage outfit. My mom doesn't recognize these overalls, but for some reason I do. Why do I think they were Tim's? Not sure where they came from or whose they were for sure, but they're old, hand made by someone and was packed away with all the other stuff my mom gave me a long time ago. And, yes, those are flowers.

My Little Nursling

Making Play-Doh

My bff asked me for a play-doh recipe awhile ago and I couldn't remember all of the ingredients. That was the indicator that it had been way too long since we last made play-doh. So I did some research, found a great web site that has a variety of recipes using all kinds of things from peanut butter to coffee grinds and Esperanza & I began making play-doh. We did the cream of tarter one, like always. I know it works great and that we like it...and I had all the ingredients. Rice was part of lunch, not part of the play-doh...thow it might have added a neat texture - hmm

An Autumn Day At The Park

Don't you wish you could just squeeze this little guy! He, he - I get to every. single. day.

5 Month Old Baby Ezra

Ezra is 5 months old! He's getting so big & strong, becoming increasingly more playful and is very vocal. I plan to wait one more month to introduce him to solid food, but he constantly stares at my food with his big brown eyes when I'm eating and even tries to grab at food if it's close enough to him. I feel so bad not letting him eat, but of course know better! He is getting over his first cold. It was passed around the house from Esperanza to him and now me. Somehow Armando has been able to avoid it. So Ezra has a little bit of a lingering cough but is pretty much over it. He gets very distracted while he's nursing now. If there is anyone around or any noises he won't nurse. Or he'll just take a few drinks then he's done. This might explain why he prefers to nurse more at night, which means, we're sleeping less. Even with our sleepless nights, he is such a good baby! I'm always expecting him to fuss and get upset when I have to wake him up from a nap, stop a nursing session too soon or have to set him down right after I pick him up (for reasons that usaully have something to do with his big sister)...but he rarely does. He just goes with the flow, and is almost always happy.