Art Show to BeneFOOT George

The Art Co-op that my parents belong to, Six Days, is hosting a Benefoot for my step dad George. As you know, he recently had his foot amputated because of a bad infection. He is currently at the Vancouver VA rehab center healing and will hopefully be able to come home in a few weeks. To benefoot him, the members of Six Days Art Co-op will be creating & selling 'foot' art just for this event.
If you can, please come out to the Last Thursday event on Alberta Street this month to benefoot George.

Dr. YouTube

When we were at Aurelia's wedding on Saturday evening, Esperanza and her cousin Clarissa were running around and collided into one another. Clarissa is a couple years older so I think she just bounced off of Esperanza. But Esperanza fell down and hit her head, REALLY hard. There were only a few people upstairs with us at this point, so I heard the thump loud and clear when her head hit the floor. But, Esperanza falls and bangs her head all the time. She's tough. It's gotten to the point where if I react, she reacts. If I don't react, she's fine and acts as thow nothing happened. Usually. So, I ignored it. It was quiet for about 4 seconds. Then super loud screaming. I ran over to her, knelt down and held her. Then, the scariest thing in my life occured...

Her body went limp in my arms! Her eyes rolled back in her head! And a little trickle of clear liquid came out of her nose. I think I screamed or cursed or both. About 5 seconds later she came to and started crying again. In those 5 seconds Cathy called 911. But then when Esperanza came back, I made a decision not to have the ambulance come and to just see how things go. One of the guests there was a nurse and she came over and sat with us for awhile and made me feel good about the situation. After about 20 minutes, Esperanza was back on her feet running around as if nothing happened at all.

The next morning, even thow she was still acting normal, I got concerned about the idea that maybe she did have some serious damage done. I already figured she probably had a concussion, and that I just needed to watch for anything out of the ordinary. But for my own peace of mind (and b/c Geneva kinda freaked me out), I went ahead and took her to Urgency Care just to make sure we were good. They told me to go straight to ER at the hospital and kinda made me feel like a crazy mom for not taking her there the night before. Then, the people at ER gave me strange looks for not taking her in the night before too. OK, got it!

After waiting forever in the ER waiting room, we finally went in and saw a doctor. After about 10 minutes of me explaining what happened, him asking questions, him checking Esperanza's ears and head, he asks me 'do you have internet'? 'Sure' I respond with a puzzled look. 'You should get on You Tube and look up 'Breath Holding Spells'.

Seriously, YouTube? Wow!

Have you ever heard of 'breath holding spells'? I guess I kinda thought I knew what that meant, but never knew there was actually a 'medical term' for it. And I initially thought it meant something different then what this Dr. YouTube was saying it was. When toddlers and/or infants cry so hard that they hold their breath for a little bit too long, long enough to freak a parent out. Thats what I thought it meant, and I think thats what most people think it means. I had heard you are supposed to kind of blow in the childs face to get them to breath. Story has it that George used to throw water at Cyndi when she did it as a toddler (I can't help but laugh about that). Apparently there are two versions of what a 'breath holding spell' can be. And for the record, I did look it up on YouTube and both versions of that 'spell' are on there. HUGE difference thow...one is really scary and is excactly what Esperanza did, and the other is basically a kid that is crying but not breathing or making noise...Cyndi. Still, this 'spell' doesn't really explain everything...

So back to the ER and Dr. YouTube. I ask questions...

Me: What about the fluid that came out of her nose?
Dr. YouTube: Could have been spinal fluid, could have been mucus. There's no way of knowing. And because it was just a drop and not continuous, no worries.

Me: Ok, but she hit her head, hard. She wasn't just holding her breath!
Dr. YouTube: Bring her back in if she starts to vomit or acts abnormally.

Me: Should she have a CAT scan?
Dr. YouTube: Protocal for CAT scans are pretty tight especially for children b/c of the radiation factor. She has no bruising around her eyes or ears and is acting normal and healthy, so there is no reason for CAT scan.

We left shortly after that. Even though I completely expected a CAT scan that day, I didn't really want one done. I was just looking for someone to tell me everything was fine, and it was/is...but YouTube? I sure didn't see that one comin'.

I am so thankful that Esperanza is okay and hasn't shown any signs of problems - other than the usual. That honestly was the most scary event that has happened to me in my entire life (yes, my life is pretty uneventful). I'm also thankful that our first visit to see a doctor ended up actually being fun and completely uninvasive for Esperanza. Hopefully the next time we go see a doctor it'll just be for a regular check up and she'll remember how well things went the last time she saw one.

Here is Esperanza after we got home, still wearing her 'ankle bracelet' from the ER

Two Wedding Weekend

Two ladies we know got married this past weekend.

Armando's brother Chilly's wife's sister Vicki (I know that was hard to follow and it probably didn't come out right, but stay with me) got married to Jeremiah on Friday evening. They had a small ceremony held at their church which we didn't attend but then celebrated with them at the reception. The bride wore a beautiful dress and looked like an amazing version of Cinderella with her handsome prince. I didn't see much of the bride and groom as I was spending most of my time in the stair well with Esperanza - going up and down, up and down, up and down the stairs. She did take breaks occassionally to dance and run around a bit. No sitting or mingling thow. Unfortunately, I got no pictures of the happy couple. Here are a few others thow.

Recognize this dress Geneva? Anycia wore it to one of our cousins wedding about 6 or 7 years ago. I told Esperanza that it was Anycia's dress and she actually got excited about wearing it!There were 5 or 6 little girls that had the time of their lives dancing togetherOn Saturday Armando's sister Aurelia got married to Gary. They had a beautiful and unique wedding which catered to both American and Mexican tradition. They didn't cut corners anywhere when it came to entertainment, food, good beer, decorations and fun for themselves as well as the guests. Get ready for a ton of pictures...

Aurelia & GaryMariachi band for the ceremony and part of the reception - I think this was the same mariachi we had at our wedding cause I recognized some of them, but I forgot to askGet this, instead of 'walking' down the isle, the groom, the officient, the bridesmaids and the groomsment all DANCED down the isle! It was really neat. Here is the groom lookin cool mid-dance wearing his glasses. Kinda looks like Angelina was dancing too

This little flower was supposed to be one of the flower girls...but she fell asleep, and we don't disturb her beauty sleep!
Chilly with Esperanza
Armando's mom Angelina & his sister Cathy (it was Angelina's b-day too) Sisters Cathy & Eva
Clowns making fun animals and other things with balloons for the kids
Esperanza with her cousins Marissa and Addy (E changed out of her big poofy dress) Kids dancin
Rock band for reception dancing First Dance - E wanted to be part of it too
Yummy cake
Esperanza and Raf
Sisters Marissa and Addy with their cousin Samson (son of the bride Aurelia)
There is a scary little story about Esperanza that goes along with this wedding but it deserves a seperate post. Check back soon...

Congrats to both couples who got married over the weekend!

Just Me & E

For the past almost 5 weeks, it's just been me and Esperanza. Armando comes home from Greece soon and I can't wait...both Esperanza and I miss him a lot. I'm pretty close to breaking point by now so it's a good thing he'll be back before I completely loose it. This whole single parenting thing is not something I'm cut out for and I have a new found respect for single parents out there. I am not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to this many months ago. Whew, I sure could use a break.

Over the past several weeks we've been busy. Though it gets exhausting at times, Esperanza is a pretty fun kid to hang out and do things with. I thought I'd share some of the little things we've been doing recently.

Picking a ripe strawberry from the garden And eating it! Changing her dolls diaper
Strolling threw the backyard naked
Naked eating a juicicle outside on a hot day Coloring outside on a hot day Coloring with Zeke at a wedding rehersalShe can put these shoes on all by herself! Oh, and she's eating chap stick here too... Playing at Cafe Sip N Play with some friends Eating lunch on the front porch on a cool day Bed head coloring first thing in the morning. Notice a trend here...this girl LOVES to color and I now take crayons and paper or a coloring book every single place I go. I'm using it to my advantage and she's learning her colors this way too. Neighbor girls come over to play with Esperanza every now and then. Here they are playing dress up with play silks. Just being cute on the rocking chair Mary and Esperanza weeding my garden since I never do Esperanza and I repotting some herbs Diggin in the dirt

Fourth Of July 2010

This year for the Fourth Of July, I took Esperanza to see the infamous firework show at Fort Vancouver. I was thankful to hear they had started it back up again after it was cancelled for the first time ever last year. I grew up going to this amazing and free local firework show. They charge now, but it is definately worth it. My sister Mary went with us and we had a great time!

Having fun with a sparkler Throwing 'pops' Esperanza responding with a screaming NO when I asked if I could take her pictureMary and Esperanza dancing to the music at the FortA bad respresentation of the firework show (couldn't figure out the 'firework' setting on my camera) Watching the the sky light up with pretty colors

Playhouse Play

So I haven't made much progress with cleaning up, decorating, painting or furnishing the playhouse. That doesn't deter Esperanza from wanting to play in it thow. She loves her playhouse! I did however finally clean out the sand box part, so we've had a chance to play in the sand lately.An empty playhouse means more room to jump, dance and run around

Enjoying a warm evening on the deck

Berry-Licious

Earlier this week I picked up some berries at a local farm and made some jam. I don't seem to be too excited about strawberries this year, and neither is Esperanza. But we couldn't keep our handa off the raspberries. I canned raspberry jam the regular way then made strawberry freezer jam. She may not have been excited about the actual strawberries but she went gaga over the strawberry freezer jam. Mmmm! We are both patiently awaiting the arrival of blueberries...can't wait to go pickin' & stock my freezer again.