Miss Opinionated

It was inevitable. Yet it happened a little sooner than I expected or hoped. Esperanza, my little fire ball, is opinionated. Very opinionated. On so many different levels. One example is her clothing. I can no longer pick out an outfit for her to wear without it becoming a battle. She has her favorite articles of clothing. Some of them go together well, some of them don't. She likes to pair things that I wouldn't. But, it usually isn't worth the effort to convince her my style is better than hers. So, as long as what she's chosen is weather appropriate, I let her make part of the decision on what she wears each day. It's usually a compromise. This is the result of yesterdays compromise.

An oversized t-shirt with a blue horse on it, blue pants and pink light up princess boots.Cute? Of course! Arguabley cuter than the outfit I had picked out for her.

Esperanza loves animals and her obsession with the color blue is only becoming more and more dominant. If an item of clothiing happens to have a blue animal on it, like that handy-down shirt pictured above (thank you Geneva & Anycia - I can barely get it off of her), it's a sure winner. Anytime I am shopping for clothes for her, I look for things in any shade of blue. Sometimes I can get away with a greenish blue. Otherwise, I risk buying something and her not wearing it, which has already happened several times. Currently, I'm on the look out for a blue winter coat, blue stretch pants and blue boots. Used, cheap and preferably from the girls section, but thats just me being opinionated, I'm sure Esperanza wouldn't care. For Halloween, we're considering cookie monster, smurf or a blue cat.

Oh, and don't forget that hair. It's a mess! It keeps getter longer and longer and longer. I'll admit, on days that we plan to just stay home, I sometimes opt out of brushing it. Yes, it makes the next days hair combing process that much harder, but so worth it. Esperanza really wants me to cut it. I think she's serious, so I'm considering it. On this such day, we hadn't planned on leaving the house, but then Grandma showed up for a very brief visit and I suggested she take Esperanza home with her. Off she went, ratty hair and silly outfit. When I picked her up a few hours later this is what I found...

The outfit just got 10x better and Grandma did the horrid hair task. If I had suggested a yellow dress with pink polka dots over an already questionable outfit (which I never would) she'd have turned her chin up and ran away from me. Because of Esperanza's firey attitude and opinionated personality, I'm quickly learning that the less rules I have, the easier life is for everyone. I kind of feel rebelious allowing Esperanza to do things I instinctually would never consider. All I do when she asks for something, before saying no, is to think of a good reason why not? Amazingly, most things she wants to do are harmless and I can't come up with a good reason to say no...so I've been saying YES a lot more often. Some examples:

"So, you wanna take the paper off of every single crayon, go for it! And break them into two? Great, you'll have twice as many crayons."

"You want blue nail polish huh? Well go grab a blue washable crayola marker and paint those nails blue!"

"Go ahead, drink the bath water after I've just washed both you and your brother in it."

"You don't have to use a spoon if you don't want, go ahead and drink your yogurt out of the container."

The other day I sent Esperanza outside because she wanted to sing very, very loudly in a playful, yet 'not so indoorsy' tone. While she was out there, I heard our neighbor girl ask Esperanza if she would be quiet. Twice. Esperanza didn't stop & I just laughed.

Of course some rules stay. I have things that I don't want broken or ruined, nobody should get hurt & there are a few 'baby' rules she has to follow. The house, clothes and bodies can always be cleaned. Hopefully my relaxed attitude about this will keep us happily entertained this fall/winter.
Before I end my opinionated review on Esperanza, I have to share a little conversation we had the other night.

I was sitting down nursing Ezra and asked Esperanza if she would go get me a glass of water. She said "say por favor mama". I smiled at her and said "por favor". She ran down the hall, stopped halfway, ran back and said "say por favor ______________ agua". I was speachless. I didn't know what she said, or what she wanted me to say because she said it in Spanish and I only understood the first and the last word. I stared at her confused, on the verge of laughter. Instead of laughing, I responded with "por favor get me some agua". That worked and I got my glass of water.

Guess what shirt is under that blue sweater?

Ezra is 4 Months Old

Where did the last four months go? It flew by so fast. All of a sudden my once tiny baby boy is now a big squirmy bundle on the verge of becoming mobile. He's not quite rolling over yet, but once he does, the days of him staying in one spot are forever gone. He is very strong. He's been able to lift his head for a couple months now, but the amount of time he's able to keep it up is increasing.Ezra is a very easy going baby. He's calm and comfortable during short periods of time in his bouncer or swing, following me around with his eyes. When he does cry it's when he's hungry, tired, because of the occasional fuss over teething or tooting discomfort, or just to let me know it time for him to hang out in my arms, on my lap or just on the floor with some interaction. Basic needs. He is usually very happy, even when I am constantly waking him from his naps and moving him from one place to the other to go places and do things. He still wakes with a smile, ready to do whatever. Poor kid is having a hard time getting a consistent napping schedule down because of Esperanza's school schedule though.

He likes it when I sing to him, but he usually laughs at me (I have a lovely voice). He loves to be talked to and played with. He will now grab teethers, toys or other interesting things when they are put in front of him and will of course immediately put it into his mouth. His teething hasn't let up any even though I've yet to feel or see any shiny whites. There are times it really bothers him and he's screaming in so much pain. It has messed up his sleeping habits too. At least thats what I'm blaming the no sleep situation on lately. As soon as I started to brag about how well his sleeping habits were, he began a new pattern of waking more often at night and no longer sleeps for very long stretches of time. He also doesn't just sleep anywhere any longer because he's become a little too distracted of his surroundings. It was nice while it lasted.

Sometimes when he's fussy and he won't fall asleep by nursing and/or rocking, I'll set him in the swing and he'll instantly calm down, take focus on something and drift off into dreamland. It's amazing and certainly easier than taking him for a car ride in the middle of the night (something I did with Esperanza all too often to get her to fall asleep).

And as far as car rides go, they have become much more tollerable for Ezra and everyone else in the car. When he is upset in the car, he'll usually take a binky and that keeps him distracted and happy. Other times, he'll fuss for a few minutes and then fall asleep. If he's already happy and Esperanza isn't next to him to entertain him, he sits in his seat and talks to himself. It's so cute.

It's such a joy to watch him grow. We all love Ezra so much.

Esperanza's Paintings

Esperanza loves to paint. She asks to paint all the time. Unless we have something else important going on, I let her paint whenever she wants - though I limit her to 2, maybe 3 paintings per sitting. Not only does that mean she uses a lot of paint and painting paper, it means that I have a ton of paintings that continue to add up! I have one framed, several on the fridge, a few displayed in the media room and then a huge stack of them on the book shelf in the living room. I need to come up with some creative uses for them rather than just keeping them piled up. We've used a few as cards when we go to birthday parties. Unless I come up with another idea on how to use them, I think cards are the way to go.

Does anyone have other ideas on how to use these colorful keepsake pieces of art?

Purple Hat

I knit this purple hat for Esperanza a long time ago. It was the first hat I made for her (2nd hat I ever knit) and it turned out wonderful. Esperanza fell in love with it and wore it ALL the time...until it became too small for her. I actually had to hide it from her because she still really wanted to wear it. A few weeks ago I pulled it out of hiding and began re-knitting it, bigger with the same yarn. After just a few days, she's got herself a new 'up-cycled' purple hat - Yay!

Oh, and here's Esperanza having a bit of a laugh attack after she posed for the purple hat pictures...

Lion Jammies

Ezra is wearing clothes that are in the 9 month age range these days. One of the pairs of jammies he wears have lions on them and were also worn by Esperanza when she was a baby. I knew she had to of been a little older than him when they fit her because they have a little food staining on them. I didn't realize how much older though until I came across this picture the other day of her wearing them. So here you have an interesting comparison of the two in the same jammies.

Esperanza 10 months old &

Ezra at 3 1/2 months old with big sis

These two are so adorable

Summer Neighborhood Kids

Now that summer is over and school is back in session, it sure is quiet. A few days out of every week this summer we had half a dozen or so little neighborhood kids playing in our yard with Esperanza.

Ring around the rosies

The sad part is, some of these kids would be over for the entire day without a parent checking on them or even knowing where they were. I never once met a parent or even heard anybody call their kids home. They would usually go home on their own when they wanted to. I'd feed them, give them water but send them home if they needed to go to the bathroom. Keep in mind, these kids' ages range from 4 to 7!!!

Zoey & Esperanza Having a Picnic

The very wonderful thing though was that I was able to provide a safe and fun place for these kids to spend a good part of their summer. Esperanza had kids to play with & I had entertainment for her while I tended to newborn baby Ezra. It really was perfect for everyone. They mostly played in the front yard/porch but when Armando was home, he'd take them all out back and push them on the swings and let them play in the playhouse or sandbox while he supervised.

Goopy hands

Aianna & EsperanzaOkay, Carter is no neighborhood kid, but he had fun with everyone this day tooI hope these kids have some good memories, I know Esperanza does.

Camerino The 4th

Sorry to those of you who got this in an email twice...I tried posting from my phone and apparently it isn't as smart as it thinks and turned all the pictures sideways. Won't try that again.

Meet my new nephew, Camerino. He was born September 24th, 2011 to Mando's sister Cathy and her husband, you guessed it, Camerino (we call him Nino). I am so thrilled that Ezra has a cousin his age! Isn't he precious?

Camerino the 3rd with Camerino the 4thHe might be a Mendez, but you sure can't take the Valencia out of him

Coast & Back In Under 24 Hours

When we went to the coast for Jason's wedding last weekend, it was a very quick trip. We were there less than 24 hours. We went to the wedding Saturday, stayed the night in a cheap motel, got very little sleep then packed back up to head out when the sun came up. The weather changed over night and it was cold, windy and wet. So instead of our original plan to spend a couple of hours on the beach, we went to the Cheese Factory in Tillamook. Once Esperanza found out they made ice cream there, she forgot all about missing the sand and water on the beach.

Unlike Esperanza and I, Ezra slept like a log Oh my, look at that face!
With the excpetion of Armando getting wedding party pictures taken on the beach the day before, this was the closest we got to the beachLast stop before heading home was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We toured the place, sampled cheeses, bought some goodies to take home, and got some ice cream cones. Miss Esperanza got Bubble Gum flavored ice cream!

...and she loved it
For drives longer than 20 minutes, I pack some mamas milk in a bottle to keep Ezra happy and his belly full.Before long, both kids were in dream land and our trip was over

Ezra Chatter

I Do's In September

Two of Armando's friends tied the knot with two amazing women this month.

Jeff & Jasmyn

Jeff and Armando have been friends for as long as I can remember. He started dating Jasmyn several years ago, had a beautiful baby girl sometime after, got married in Vegas last year then recently held a more formal ceremony and reception for friends and family here at home. Sadly, we walked into the ceremony just after they said "I do". I used to always be promptly on time, if not, early to everything. Now, poopy diapers, temper tantrums & unexpected naps (kids, not me) make me late for just about everything. We were still able to enjoy the reception and congratulate Jeff & Jasmyn on their marriage.

Jason & Awna

Armando and Jason have been good friends since high school. Though Jason and Awna went to high school together, their romantic relationship and life together has only just begun. They had a small, intimate ceremony which was held outside on the Oregon Coast. Armando was one of the groomsmen and we were honored to have had the opportunity to be a part of their very special day. Esperanza and Samone (Jason's niece) followed Awna around like they were lost puppy dogs. Esperanza kept calling Awna Princess.Ezra enjoyed being held through all of his naps

Say Cheese

Armando recently got a job where he needed a phone with more reliable service. So he switched services and got a new phone. Lucky for me, he decided to get me an early birthday present and got me one too. Whoo-hoo! Besides it doing what a phone is supposed to do (which is new for me), it also takes neat pictures...here's a preview of some shots I've taken of the kids.

Cute naked baby Strawberries are still going strong!
Love this picture!I can't get her to quit picking her nose! The other day I asked her "you don't pick your nose at school do you?" Her reply, "No, only at home". Oh, Lucy Sleepy baby
Could he get any cuter?
Esperanza running with Maddy & Daisy at moms Corn field behind moms houseMy two favorite kids in the world I finished knitting Esperanza a blue hat she's been asking forever for. She loves it, and her blackberry milkshake. I moved Ezra's carseat to the middle the other day when we had another person in the car. Instead of moving it back later, I left it. I was hoping Esperanza wouldn't try feeding him something, or wake him if he was trying to sleep. As it turns out, the opposite was true. She holds his hand to try and comfort him when he's crying & she giggles and laughs with him when he's happy. A few days ago I asked her to try to give him a binky when he was really fussy while we were driving and he took it from her! Then today after I picked her up from school and he started crying on the way home she said to me in a very matter of fact kind of way "mama, I need his binky".