Snow - LOTS of Snow!

We have here in Vancouver more snow than we've had in my lifetime, which is also more snow than the snow storm of '68-'69 my mom says she can't remember (hmm, wonder why - what year was that again?). It's amazing! While it is probably something many of you see each winter in your neck of the woods (all you Ohio-ans), this is very rare for this part of the country. It was pretty neat at first, but I'm kinda getting tired of it. After two weeks, the snow has finally let up and now we're getting rain - ahh, back to the normal Northwest weather. We took Esperanza out in the snow only a couple of times for brief periods of time since she, like any normal person, would rather be inside where it's warm and cozy. Here are a few pictures I took last weekend...

A BitterSweet Holiday

Christmas day was filled with moments of sadness as well as happiness. I'll begin with the bitter and end with the sweet...
For two weeks now we've had snow falling almost non-stop, causing the roads to be somewhat trecherous to those who dared to venture out. And of all the days, Christmas day ended up being the worse day to be out driving in it. While it was beautiful to wake up to a white Christmas and see huge, fluffy flakes of snow falling from the sky all day long, it also put a big damper on the day by forcing my family to be seperated. My parents tried their best to make it out here from Washougal, but decided to play it safe and turn around before things got real ugly. My little sister Mary was in Gresham and her ride got stuck in the snow the night before Christmas. My sister Cyndi and her husband Tony stayed home with thier newborn baby rather than exposing him to the cold weather and the tons of people that would be ogling over him. And while they weren't expected, my sister Geneva, her kids, my sister Naomi and my brother Tim were all missed as well.

Okay, on to the sweet...
Mando has 8 siblings, (not counting the 5 or 6 in Mexico) and I think we're at 24 nieces & nephews (not counting the one his sister Eva has in her womb or the one our niece Sarah has in hers). Everyone lives in Clark County so as you can imagine, family gatherings are almost always chaotic, fun and entertaining with lots of good food. Those that couldn't make it - one of Mando's brothers, one niece, one nephew and an aunt and uncle, were missed. Even with the absence of so many people, we had a house full! Some of the highlights of the day included Santa Clause coming to hand out gifts to all the children and then the Christmas tree toppling over - twice! The first time it fell right on top of our little 15 month old nephew Ezekiel - but it mostly scared him and he wasn't hurt. Here are several pictures of our day...

Esperanza Eats Rice Cereal

Over this past weekend we decided it was time to give Esperanza her first taste of 'solid food', brown rice cereal. I was a little hesitant and kept putting it off, not really ready myself to give up being her only source of food. For a little over a month now, she's been eyeballing everything I put into my mouth, so it was pretty obvious she was ready...regardless if I was or not. I was however pretty excited to see how she would react to something new and different. So, I gave in - and it was worth it. We mixed a little rice cereal with a little mama's milk and here's what happened...

Before

During

AfterShe LOVES rice cereal. Next up - maybe some steamed and mashed carrots or winter squash. Any advice from other parents on the best first veggie for babies? We videotaped the event as well. Here's a little clip (scroll to the bottom and pause the music first)...

Roman Silver Biggi

Today, snow fell endlessly throughout the Portland area. Many probably watched the snow fall through office windows at work after battling a morning commute through it. Others may have been lucky enough to have been out playing and building snowmen in it. My sister Cyndi spent the snowing day indoors birthing her first baby, a son. Roman Silver Biggi decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet the world and his family. He may have been a few weeks earlier than we all expected, but he is beautiful and healthy at almost 8 pounds! Congratulations Cyndi and Tony!

Roman Silver Biggi - Born December 18th, 2008Tony is finally a daddy Grandma & Grandpa Espy loves her new baby cousin... and I love my new baby nephew!

Of course, I can't resist from adding a few pictures of my sweet baby girl...

Sunny Saturday in December

This morning Armando got up before the crack of dawn to go hunting with his uncle (yes you read it right, hunting! Bambi survived this trip though). When Esperanza and I got up a few hours later and saw how sunny it was outside, I decided we'd take a trip to the NatureScaping Wildlife Botanical Gardens just up the road from our house for a little bird watching and garden strolling. I've been going there for a couple of years now to volunteer as an apprentice for the Butterfly Garden, though the last year or so my priorities changed a little and my visits have been mostly just to observe rather than work. I can't wait until Spring time though when I'll start taking Esperanza there with me to work and introduce her curious little hands to soil, bugs, flowers, weeds, etc... This days visit I had hoped to run into some fellow volunteers to visit and show off Esperanza. I was a little disappointed though to find not a soul there...other than all the beautiful birds. The air was brisk, the sky clear and the birds were putting on quite a show. Esperanza was in awe of the scenery and the music the birds sang.

Just before we left, we saw this 'garden' kitty spying on all the birds.

We left the garden and stopped at home to nurse and nap before heading out again - I need a pair of used, super cheap black or red dress shoes for Esperanza to go with her Holiday dress - so we stopped by Tiny Hiny's - a small treasure box of a store crammed neatly with all kinds of second hand and locally handmade baby stuff. I didn't find the shoes I was looking for, but I did find a few cute sweaters in the boy section (It's only been 4 months and I'm already sick of pink) and also got a couple of cute hand knit hats.

I actually miss this face

A little blury (still trying to figure out the new camera) but isn't this red sweater a steal for $3 with a tag that says it was hand made by some lady!?

We drove up to Val's house afterwards and visited with her family for the rest of the afternoon and evening - Esperanza did amazing considering we'd had such a long day. Here is Val's daughter Annabelle holding Espy.

4 Month Update

We've had 4 amazing months of having Esperanza in our lives. Though four months is a relatively short period of time, it's hard to remember what life was like without her and now that she's in our lives. And now that I know what life it like with her, I can't imagine it without her - to fall asleep next to her every evening then wake up next to her every morning, to kiss her, cuddle with her, play with her, gaze into her eyes, watch her sleep peacefully and to experience all the wonders of the world and our surroundings with her each day. It's almost as if I'm experiencing everything for the first time myself. Esperanza has given me a new meaning to life and has made me fall fast in love - it's the type of unconditional love that is so powerful it hurts, yet feels so wonderful at the same time. I should mention that it didn't take 4 months for me to feel this way - I must just be feeling a bit sentimental at the moment. Back to the update - I know most of what she does is typical for babies at her developmental stage, but to me everything she does is special and unique. Here are a few things she's been up to...

• Esperanza has become very vocal. Her soft coos she once had have turned into high pitched screaches which are so cute and girly.
• Sometimes, she wakes in the middle of the night and just giggles, wanting to play! It's cute, but in the middle of the night?!
• She sticks everything she can get her hands on into her mouth
• She's gotten very good at holding objects and shaking rattles. She can reach for an object and grab it right out of your hand.
• If you put your face up close to hers, within hands reach, she'll touch your face and play with it. I just have to remember to take my glasses off and pull my hair back when I put my face that close.
• Her hair is out of control. I recently started putting a pony tail on the top of her head (someone said it's like Pebbles' do from The Flinstones), but the shorter hair sticks out all over the place and it looks really funny.
• She's a restless sleeper, kicking and flairing her arms half the night. When she does sleep peacefully, she is sprawled out with her arms extended out - we're in the process of trying to get her to sleep in a small 'pack 'n play' next to our bed so we can get a good nights rest again, the family bed thing just isn't working out like I'd hoped.
• She's strong - able to hold her weight on her legs for as long as you want to support her. She also doesn't mind tummy time as much now because she can push herself up enough to keep her face from being smashed into the floor
• She's a thumb sucker - or sometimes two fingers
• She's pretty much camera shy - she can be laughing and giggling but as soon as I put the camera in front of her to 'capture the moment' - she gets distracted and just stares at the camera. For every picture of her with a smile or cute expression, there were 20 others just like it without a smile (thank goodness for digital cameras).
• She weighs a hefty 16 pounds
• She likes to go for walks through the neighborhood - we use a stroller sometimes or I stuff her in a wrap other times.

New Camera

This year for the holidays our family decided we would do one family gift, a new digital camera. We have a couple of mediocre digital cameras that we've been using for awhile. But recently, I spent way too much money at Costco printing some photos I'd taken from the cameras only to find out that they turned out awful! It was such a disapointment to see all the pictures I'd taken of Esperanza's first few months of life blur in almost every picture. I nearly pulled my hair out! Neadless to say, there was no question that we needed a new camera. So, after a few visits to electonic stores, lots of online research and exhausting rewards on a credit card to get a gift card to purchase the camera, we finally have it! Yay! Of course, we weren't going to wrap it up and wait until Christmas to use it, though it might take me until Christmas to figure out all the nifty features it offers and how to use it to it's full potential. It's no fancy DSLR which I wouldn't have the patience for anyways, but it's a few steps up from a standard point and shoot and should meet our needs perfectly. I haven't printed any pictures yet, but can tell a huge difference in the clarity of the photos even on the computer. I could still use a lot more practice but here are a few pictures...

Black and White Nursing

My sister Mary and Esperanza

Close up

The last few leaves on a tree in my backyard

Bird taking a bath in a little rain water sitting on top of one of our compost bins (I was sitting on my couch in the living room, used full zoom through the room, window and to the back of the yard)

Flying in Daddy's arms

Spit Bubbles

The other night we were getting ready for bed and I set Esperanza down in her 'bouncy' chair so I could change and brush my teeth. When I emerged from the bathroom and looked at her she was making silly noises as usual and blowing spit bubbles - deliberately! She's been slobbering for months, but now she's found a way to entertain herself with all that spit. It was pretty entertaining to me too. So, I ran downstairs, grabbed the camera and was able to catch a few moments video of her talking with a little bit of the spit bubble action. The video isn't the best quality but it sure is cute. Be sure to scroll to the very bottom of the page and pause the music before you play the video...