Oh Christmas Tree

At 2 1/2 (almost), this is the first year that Christmas means anything to Esperanza. And it actually is her whole entire world the past few days. It began with Christmas trees. She saw some at the store with her dad just after Thanksgiving. Since she loved the trees so much, and because she's 'daddy's little girl', we went and got a Christmas tree much earlier in the year than we typically do. Despite the fact that the tree is pretty much dead by now with pine needles covering the floor no matter how often I vaccuum...Esperanza loves the tree! I'm going to have to come up with a really good story/conversation to have with her when it's time for the tree to come down.

Fall-ing Behind

It just occured to me that today is the last day of Fall! The days will be getting longer now. As we say goodbye to Fall and welcome Winter, I'm sweetly reminded that I'll soon have seeds sprouting in my window sill. Not long after that, Esperanza and I will be planting those seeds in the garden. I was also reminded that I've again neglected my blog. I've given my camera a break over the past couple of months, but still have taken a few pictures here and there when I remember to bring it along, or pick it up off the shelf. Here's a brief update of a few things Esperanza has been doing this Fall.

Esperanza is still overly obsessed with feeding our cat Lucy. She calls her 'big Lucy' or 'fat cat'. How appropriate.

Our collection of stuffed animals and dolls continues to multiply. Among her favorites are her 'Lion King' (which is actually a tiger), a purple care bear and most recently a big teddy bear that her aunt Naomi gave her. She loves stuffed animals so much and has a ton of fun playing with them every single day! Here Esperanza is changing the diaper on her big bear. How cute is that!

Esperanza has been baking and cooking a lot lately, in her play kitchen as well as with me in the real kitchen. When it's just her and her kitchen, the meal usually consists of popcorn being shaken on the stove then given to Lucy to eat (it's cat food that she's using thow if you didn't already guess).

We often go to near-by parks, pull the wagon with her animals around our neighborhood, go stomp in mud puddles, or take short walks threw the woods. Here is Esperanza pushing a few of her dolls/stuffed animals in the swing. Here's Esperanza just as we were heading over to my moms on Thanksgiving evening. She loves to wear her backpack (which is full of stuffed animals). The dress she's wearing is a handy-down that belonged to my sister Mary when she was Esperanza's age.

When we need out of the house, but also need a break from the cold & often wet weather, Esperanza and I head over to the library for storytime, or we visit a place called Cafe Sip-N-Play that is a lot of fun for Esperanza - and relaxing for me or we visit some of the many friends we have with little ones close to Esperanza's age where she can play with little people and I get some adult interaction.

Turkeys

Here are some of the turkeys I got to spend Thanksgiving with this year...

My handsome nephew Roman and Daisy

Sergio Jr. & Jose Jr.

Esperanza, Cathy (with Rocky) & Addy
My cookie monster

Twins Sadie and Andy

June Bug

Sometime around the middle of September, Armando and I had a conversation we typically avoid. Should we have another baby, and how soon? We both agreed that we did want to have another kid, soon, but maybe re-visit the topic in a few months (that was my call since I didn't want to plan another summer baby). A few days later, with that topic still kind of going on in my head, and noticing a few little things about myself that seemed odd (but oh so familiar), it occurred to me that I might already be pregnant. So, I dug out a still new in the package, but 3 year old pregnancy test that had been around since I got pregnant with Espeanza and thought, what the heck. It tested positive. I decided to sleep on it. Then the next day I bought a new test. Low and behold, it came out positive too.

As it turned out, we were already pregnant when Armando and I had that conversation. And we will be having another summer baby...sometime in June actually so I guess it might still be Spring. This pregnancy has had me feeling very ill all day long, every day, like I caught a bug. And since I did catch a bad flu bug on top of it recently, I've decided to nickname this little one June Bug. I'm about 10 weeks along so far. I had my first prenatal appointment earlier this week and even went in for an ultra-sound where I saw the little one waving his or her tiny hands around (thats the little bug in the picture above). We are planning another home birth with this baby and I think we might actually find out this time around if we're having a boy or a girl before he or she is born. It'll be awhile, but I'll keep you all posted.

This little family of three is soon to be a family of 4!

Zzzzz's

After 2 years and 3 months, Esperanza is FINALLY sleeping all night long. I've been slowly weaning Esperanza over the past 5 or 6 weeks. We started with no nursing at night time (we nurse before bed and not again until the sun is up). For several of those weeks, she would still wake up several times crying in the middle of the night, asking to nurse. After a couple weeks, she slept through the night once. Then it began happening a little more often.

Now, and I hesitate to say it out loud - let alone write it down, she's sleeping pretty consistently through the night. Sometimes she'll wake up a little and just move around, but then go back to sleep. We're on the right track though and maybe even one step closer to getting her to sleep in her own bed, without me! The only other time that we nurse is to go down for a nap...the alternative is no nap or having to drive her around in the car to fall asleep. A couple hours of quiet time is certainly worth a few moments of nursing. Boy, Esperanza really has gotten the best of me. I feel a little sorry for the next kid (more on that later) cause this isn't going to happen again!

It would have been most appropriate to include a picture of the sleeping beauty, but I don't have a recent one...and really just wanted to document this wonderful milestone in our lives. Now to catch up on that REM sleep I've missed for sooooo long!

Hallow-eek

We had a week full of Halloween celebrating! Parties, trick-or-treating, games, candy, pizza, cup-cakes, throw-up, costumes, laughing, crying...and now recovery.

First up, an adult only Halloween party Val and Jameson had the weekend before Halloween. Armando decided to bail out on this event so I went solo.

Me (the scary witch), the dead bride & groom and Sexy Devil Val

Firefighter, Biker & Pirates
Indians (aka Vals parents)

Devil Val, Angel Vanessa & Witchy Hanukkah

The Wednesday before Halloween, we took Esperanza downtown to the annual Camas Boo Bash. It was seriously overcrowded with thousands of people! The majority of businesses downtown Camas participate in this event by handing out candy to little kids (and business flyers/coupons). Parents bring their children dressed in their Holloween costumes and it's a little trick-or-treating event.

Esperanza took a late nap so we didn't actually get downtown until half way into the event, just in time to experience the height of the chaos. Armando was already downtown at the library doing homework so we met up and off we went....very slowly....standing in line.....after line....after slow line. All for one piece of candy at each business. I can't say Esperanza had the time of her life. Nor did we. So, after Esperanza got about 10 peices of candy in her little basket, we got out of line and wondered around for a bit, then grabbed a bite to eat at a Thai restraunt.

Getting her treatLittle monkey with candy and ice cream coneSpreading it all out to see what she got

The night before Halloween, Val & Jameson had yet another Halloween party, this time for the little ones. Esperanza chose her witch costume over the monkey outfit for this event.

All set and ready to fly away on her broom

There were tons of little kids all dressed up so cute for the party. Val had seperate games for the little kids and for the big kids - bean bag toss, ring toss, musical chair, bobbing for apples, mummy dress-up, etc. It was really fun for everyone. As the party began dying down, and without any warning, Esperanza began to projectile puke! Over and over and over. I was in shock! So was she. I'll spare you the details. Eventually we got everything cleaned up and headed home...we had a very long night ahead of us.

The next day, Halloween, Esperanza was up and at 'em as if nothing happened the night before. Strange. Maybe she just ate too much junk food? I hesitated all day about the whole trick-or-treating plans and for some stupid reason gave in and agreed to take Esperanza out for a bit. We headed to Armando's sisters house and met up with a bunch of Esperanza's cousins. We did ALOT of walking, much more than I had bargained for. After about an hour, Esperanza was clingy, tired, sneezing, whining, runny nose and just misserable. I wasn't feeling so hot either. We headed home for yet another long night.

Cousins Clarissa and Celeste helping push Esperanza along

Both Esperanza and I have been sick ever since. The flu bug really got us both, bad. 4 days later and we're still draggin'. Going out Halloween night was a bad idea and I feel so bad that I put her through that. But, we're getting better. We spent two days cooped up in the house and then have spent the last couple days outside in the warm and windy fall weather.

Esperanza and Daisy running off some energy

Joe's Pumpkins

Last weekend we ventured on over to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. The morning started off kind of rough with Esperanza so we opted for Joe's rather than The Pomeroy Farm which is about an hour further away. This way, we could leave if there was a breakdown without feeling too frustrated. Luckily, Esperanza cheered up as the day continued though. We were able to pick out pumpkins, go threw the fort maze, wonder in the corn fields, play in the hay bales, eat lunch at the cafe and even go on a hay ride -wow, we did alot now that I think about it! And notice, it was another warm and sunny October day.

Hidden Trails

We discovered an interesting little trail and pedestrian bridge in Camas a few weeks ago. It's less of a nature hike and more of a concrete path built over a huge water pipe which was recently placed smack in the middle of whats left of our wetlands and wildlife. It had a 'look but don't touch anything' kind of feeling. The path is built a few feet above ground level, so you are prevented from physically touching or feeling the earth beneath you. No additions to our nature table this time. It was still a beautiful and peaceful walk though. And the weather, as unusually usual lately, was amazing!

You would think by the looks of our outfits and the sunshine in the pictures that these were taken mid-summer. But nope, early October. We deserved an extra month of sunshine thow since we were robbed of June. Here's Esperanza and I strolling along...

Beginning of Fall

I know a year has gone by when Autumn arrives. New Years Eve/Day just doesn't do it for me. Fall does. You can say I'm a little obsessed with the season, if you haven't already guessed. Our transition from Summer to Fall this year has been gradual and perfect. We've had many rainy days, then just as many warm sunny days in between. It was sunny and about 80 degrees today!

On the day of the Equinox, Esperanza and I hung out at home and did some nice Fall things. We baked pumpkin muffins with walnuts after eating rice, black bean soup and a sweet potatoe for dinner. Esperanza loves to cook with me and gets excited when we bake something yummy like cookies or muffins. The pumpkin muffins were delicious and Esperanza actually ate them! Sometimes when she helps me cook or bake something she doesn't appreciate the reward in the end.

We also set up a nature table to display all the many things we collect when we go on walks, to the park or even just from our yard. Some of the things that have been in various places in the house, and are now all nicely together on the nature table include a ton of acorns from our neighborhood park, some dried moss, a few pinecones, various rocks, some fallen leaves, a few beach shells (one from the Columbia River walk the other day) and a walnut shell. I decorated the display area with some fall colored play silks, a pumpkin and a few other seasonal things. It's really pretty and I expect it will probably get a bit cluttered as time goes on: Esperanza is just getting into collecting these kinds of things! The plan is to change things out as the seasons change, clean it up every now and then throughout each season and keep it going all year around.

I've fallen behind on blogging, as well as taking pictures. Here are a few recent photos from the past few weeks...

Have a tomato, fresh from my garden.

Her first discovery of mushrooms in natureSwinging with two Fall leaves and her stuffed kitty at the park She loves to help me do the dishes! Nothing to do with the season, just cute This past Saturday we had planned to go to the zoo. We underestimated how busy it would be. Once we got there, the zoo parking lot was maddening and even the line to get on a bus from the overflow shuttle parking lot was insane. So, we changed our plans and went to the Portland Farmers Market for lunch then headed to Multomah Falls. Much better!Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall!!! Bring on the rain, wind and pumpkin ale.

Last Day of Summer

Esperanza and I joined my mom and her dogs for a walk along the Columbia River one sunny day last week. It was the day before the Autumn Equinox. And what a beautiful day it was, a perfect way to say 'good-bye' to summer.

She would have dived right in if I'd given her the go ahead Mom, Daisy and Maddy What kid doesn't love sand and water?

I ♥ The Rain

I'll regret saying that in a couple of months, but for now, I do love the rain! My favorite part of summer, is the end of summer. Fall is so close I can almost touch it. We had a nice but short lived downpour last night. Esperanza and I put on our rain gear and headed outside to play in it.

One of the few things I'll miss about summer are all the adorable summer dresses Esperanza has hanging in her closet that got very little use. Our summer was so short this year, she didn't even come close to outgrowing or wearing in any of her summer clothes. At the rate she's growing, maybe it'll all still fit by next Spring/Summer. And who knows, maybe I'll just put leggings/tights and long sleeves on under these dresses and she'll wear them threw the winter too. Here is Esperanza wearing a summer dress (and matching purse) my mom made her for her birthday. It's pretty roomy on her so it'll for sure fit her next year too. These pics are for you mom!