Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Querido Marcelo



Querido Marcelo
Where has the time gone my handsome little man?  You will be one year old in just a couple days and are officially a TODDLER now!  Walking!!!  What?
You are changing way.  Too.  Fast.  How could a year have gone by already?!

The last few months, you have been climbing up the stairs, pulling up and cruising on all the furniture. Then when we were in San Diego earlier this month you were standing on your own more and more.

Of course, as soon as you noticed though, you would fall down.  After a couple weeks,  you took your first steps...just 5-6 at a time.


When we got back from San Diego, it took you just two days to pretty much give up crawling all together.  You are even carrying golf clubs now.


I went back and read about your hermano when he was 11 months and it was like I was talking about you.  He even started taking steps for the first time while at abuela's house.

You recently took up dancing too, and now that you can stand up, you have taken it to a whole new level.


Who dat who dat? M-A-R-C-E-L-O!
You really crack me and your papi up.  You have such a playful sweet personality.  You are happy all the time and rarely cry.  (minus that bad flight from San Diego)  You are easily going and easily pacified.

Yeah, that's right mijo.  You are just an easy baby and I thank you for that.  Sometimes I fear that this year-long easy phase will come to an end.  Walking presents a whole new set of challenges, but your sweet easy going demeanor has been consistent.

Your mama loves you so much.  I love that you give me kisses and walk to me with your arms wide open so I will hug you.  As a matter of fact, you do this with everyone that you love.

There is no doubt in my mind you will get crazy.  I mean, you are Mateo's brother.  Mi bebe, have you ever heard the saying "monkey see, monkey do?"  You are a climber...just like someone else I know.  You tackled the stairs at 9 months and haven't stopped since.  Im looking forward to seeing your personality develop along with your physical feats which will surely keep us on our toes.



Here is the 411 on other topics:

Talking/signs
You said your first word.....wait for it....AGUA!!
Well I guess technically your first word was "uh-oh" back when you were 9 months old, but I was so happy when you said agua!
You also woke me up one morning (in SD) saying "mama" from your pack and play (which was sitting right beside our bed.)  You don't say it much though at this point, but you know who every one is already.

The other day I was holding you and walked by the picture of a cow [divided with the different meat cuts] in the kitchen and you pointed and said "moo" or maybe it was more like "eeeeewh"
Either way I knew what you were saying!  I have also heard you "meow" like Titi.  Smart boy.

Since your abuela's house is right on the flight path into San Diego's airport, there were planes flying by all day long (not close enough to be really loud, but you can definitely hear/see them) After a while we started to tune them out.  But not you my little mexi-can, you would wave your arm in the air every time one would go by, and sometimes add sound effects.  You are so funny.



































Even funnier than the airplane wave though is the "araña"(spider) impression that you do.  Your abuela kept doing it and you quickly started copying her. You even make your hand jump with a little noise when the araña "gets you."
(video coming)

You love "talking" on the phone.  Your phone, mamas phone, the remote control, it doesn't matter.  If it's shaped like a phone, you put it up to your ear up to it and talk to whoever is there.

Eating
You are such a good eater.  Period.  You lived on breast milk until 6 months and after just a short time with purees, we let you do your thing with solids.  You prefer to feed yourself anyway.  In fact you are already experimenting with utensils.  You do a good job with placing food into your spoon and you are about 50-50 at actually getting the food into your mouth.  You had your first taste of cow's milk a couple weeks ago and you were not impressed.   It has nothing on mama's milk Im sure, but you will learn to like it!  (even if I have to mix in bananas like I did with Mateo!) You are still nursing in the morning and just before bed, but I think your interest is waning so it may not be much longer.

You are an adventurous eater so far, and we plan to keep it that way!  Indian, Thai, Mexican (of course!) to name a few cuisines!  I would say pinto beans are probably your favorite food.  You can polish off a half can in one sitting.  (yes, I rinse them!) Strawberries and blueberries are in a close second! You surprised us a couple weeks ago by eating about 6 jalapeño stuffed olives.
I found out you love peanut butter after you snatched your brothers sandwich.  No allergies - whew!


Sleeping
You are a reliable sleeper. 11-12 hours every night (never waking) and 2 naps during the day.  You have slept in so many rooms/beds (in our house and others) over the year and it never phases you.  You slept in your mama y papi's room (off and on) until eight months.  Bassinet, crib and then in a pack-n-play in our walk in closet! Most recently you were sleeping in the extra room in the p-n-p until just a week ago when you started sleeping in Mateo's room.  So far so good.  Even though your hermano forgets his whispering voice sometimes, you have proven to be a sound sleeper.

Here is how bedtime/nap goes: Read a book or two. Pull the elephants tail for a lullaby, give you your chuper (pacifier) and you immediately lay your head down on my shoulder.  I rock you for a minute, kiss you, lay you down in the crib and walk out.  Done and done!
I KNOW!   Please keep doing this my little mexican.

We are at your grandma & grandpa's house this week to celebrate 5 birthday's in our family!  Your uncle Scott turned 50 this week! Whoa!  Also your aunt Jenny, aunt Margie and tio Brrrian had birthdays.  Of course you are having a birthday too and everyone is coming over for a fun airplane party! And I know you are ready to party.  You are always up for a good time.  Details and photos coming soon mi amor.




Thursday, June 19, 2014

Daydreaming about an RV!

Longer posts are in the works here at VC, but I thought I would post really quickly today.  This is totally random and a perfect example of how I get easily sidetracked.  I was searching Canton Craigslist for a queen headboard [for my sis-in-law] and this came up in the search:
A 1994 Holiday Rambler with only 35K miles.  Like I said, totally random.  They are asking $12k.  Thats good right?  It seems a small price to pay for basically a house on wheels. When I was growing up we traveled in a van.  Five kids hello?  Of course we had a van!  My parents were adventurous and did some big roads trips. I would love to create these kind of memories for my kids.  I could totally imagine my little family going across country in one of these.  Or how about out of the country?  I would love love love to drive to South America one day!  What an adventure that would be!  No deadlines to get to abuela's house in San Diego.  I'd probably add a trailer for all the Craigslist scores I would find along the way.  Stop where ever we want for how long we want?
(Are you down mi amor?You better say yes!)

The other thing that gets me excited when thinking about this is re-vamping the inside.  Its like a new house to decorate.  I would totally pimp this out (in a tasteful way)!  It would be so fun!  Let's take a look and imagine, shall we?

This little kitchen could easily be updated.  Paint and new hardware would be a huge improvement, or heck, just buy some new cabinets all together.  


 Its such a small area, it wouldn't cost much.  While I was at it, I would get a remnant piece of marble or quartz for the counter top.  Might as well tile the backsplash too, that wall looks nasty. 

I would have the front seats reupholstered and recover the back chairs in a fun/durable fabric. 
 It comes with this pullout couch/bed, which would be fine, recovered, but who wants just fine? I could /would easily get a cuter couch.  Ditto that for the curtains you see in the corner here.
Yeah, any existing fabric carpet would be replaced.  I want this thing to look new and make me happy when I get inside.  Add some cute wall paper and and awesome rug in front of the couch and you have a beautiful home on wheels.  And notice the brass shower fixture.  I think it was meant to be!

So what do you think?  Can you see my vision?  Would you guys be into taking a long trip in an RV?
Or maybe you have already done it and have some tips.  I don't want to hear anything negative right now though, Im all starry eyed about this idea for for today.

ps.  This Crusie Master is pretty awesome too.

Monday, June 09, 2014

Happy Anniversary to Me (and Neto!)

{Ernesto's parents y 2 of the Espinoza boys and their girlfriends}


Ernesto and I got married thirteen years ago today.  I know, can you believe it?  I just found this picture at mis suegras house.  This picture was taken just a couple days after he proposed to me [at his college graduation party].  We were on an overnight boat from Barcelona to Majorca.  That trip was a magnificent 3 weeks long!  We covered a lot of Spain and I have a lot of great memories.  We didn't even have a digital camera yet (omg!) but we do have grainy nice prints. (btw, nothing can make you feel your age more than saying you remember life before cell phones and digital cameras right?!) Yep, this was a long time ago folks.

I remember I couldn't stop looking at my new ring on that trip.  So thrilled that it was official.  So happy that we would be sharing our lives together.  So excited for future adventures.

So naive as to what that really meant.

Oh, the highs and lows of marriage right?!  Ha!  I am proud to say we have survived and even thrived for 13 YEARS!  And I...a-hem...we, (right mi amor?)  have been on a serious high since having kids.  Although challenging, tiring, time-sucking, travel-inhibiting, and sex-retarding, being a parent brings me/us such happiness.  In fact, most days, I think I want another one.  (Notice I said I, not we) I know, I'm crazy like that.  But how can we stop when we made the two most gorgeous kids ever?!  #imaybeabitbiasedhere
 Life is nothing without adventure (I think someone famous said that) and we have always done a good job in that department.  More kids = more adventures?
Having kids is an new adventure and also the time you really get to know your spouse. Because seriously, you DO NOT know a man until you raise children together.  Am I right ladies or am I right?

I guess what Im trying to say is that Im glad you are my man mi amor.
I love you!  Thanks for living this adventure with me.  We make a great team.

Anyhoo, to celebrate our anniversary, we thought we would take two small children to the airport at 9pm and board a romantic red eye flight home from San Diego.  Wish us luck!

**UPDATE**
We did not make that night flight.  We got up the next morning and sat in the airport for 6 hours. (#standbyisabitchsometimes) Both boys slept for one hour while waiting and then we boarded the 4 hour flight.  Mateo was his "normal" active self, but in a twisted turn of events, it was Marcelo that could not be controlled.  Yes, my little angel Marcelo was the crankiest he has ever been in his entire life.  Pobrecito, he was so tired.  Not even the power of chi-chi made him happy.  Times are a changin'

Monday, June 02, 2014

Surfing Craigslist San Diego!

You know I had to!  I have some peeps here that say there is nothing good on San Diego Craigslist....and I beg to differ!!  Unfortunately, since it took me a week to pull this post together and publish most of these listings are already expired, which means other people agreed with my picks!  But let's take a look anyway.  

Let's start with this rug shall we? 
Although not a steal (and definitely out of my budget) may be just the statement piece one of my San Diego readers is looking for. Its huge!  12 x 16 so I guess the $1200 should be expected for an all wool rug.  Look at the colors on this beauty!  If you have the space for thing you should see if they are willing to deal.  This would be a show stopper!

Remember this beautiful couch from Anthropologie?













Well you could have it right here for $40.  

Even with the cost of upholstering and new fabric, this would be a steal.  And a gem.  I would do blue again.  So pretty.  I really could go on and on with the cool couches.  Here are 5 more options for you. 







1. The shape of this sofa is so great and it looks to be in great shape.  I would recover it of course, although this print doesn't really offend me.  Strange but true.
2. Check out this vintage couch (midcentury lines) covered in cowhide.  I know!  And its only $400.  Please, I beg of you, go get this thing!  It might not look good in everyones home, but it could work.  I mean it's black and white. And $400!? 
3.  This is the Petrie couch from Crate & Barrel and sells for $1600 new.  I have sat on it (leather version) in the store and it is quite roomy and comfortable.  Seller says there is some fading due to sun, but you could recover that and have a nice couch for $1000. 
4.  I love this couch for the length and its square body.  Recovered, of course, but it looks crazy comfy. 
5. This vintage gold velvet couch is beautiful!  Recover it is a jewel tone velvet or go with a neutral linen. Looks like it is down filled and comfy. 

This grand headboard [and bench] got me excited when I saw it. 

It would be just perfect under the chandelier in my bedroom!   Unfortunately the bench was not included (already sold) but they were only asking $200 for headboard and it comes with the mirror.  I was thinking I could find out how much to ship it, but I was too slow anyway.  It's gone!

Here is another ornate beauty!  This Hollywood Regency set is awesome!  I know some of you are shaking your head, but I would so love it in my room!


For $700 you get the Mad Men swag lamps, the tufted headboard AND bench, bedspread and candelabra sconce over the bed (I would not use bedspread or sconce).  I know it is a bit much, but I could totally tone it down with white walls and I would possible paint some of the gold.

I have been looking for more mid century modern furniture for my master, but this goes to show how versatile I am.  Ha!  (or flakey!) This is still mid century.  What can I say?  I like a lot of different styles so who knows what I will end up with.

This pair of Milo Baughman style chairs is too cool...$75 for both. So easy and so cute.


This vintage fold out couch/bed would be perfect in an office/guest room.  Recovered of course.  I love the shape of it and it looks like it is on casters.  Perfect for a quick rearrange when the guests are in town. 



2 Baker Campaign dressers?  Do I even have to explain?  Someone go get these beauties for $300!!! 

This may not be in the right decade to be considered cool, but there is just something about it.  I think with the right furnishings, it could be great.  And at just $40, why not give it a try? 
Not sure? Well, you're too late anyway.  Someone had my vision and purchased it. 

OK, these next two are in LA, but sooooo worth the drive.  Its only two hours. 

I would love to have these chairs. The set with the table is $600, which I think is an ok deal for a very unique dining set.  You would probably spend more at Rooms to Go...and Im pretty sure it wouldn't be this cool.  

The chairs remind me of the chairs in Nate Berkus' NY apartment. (featured in Lonny a few months ago)  Ok, Not as nice, not even the same shape...but reminiscent right? Very cool none the less.
This vintage dining set is a steal at $200.

 I am not a huge fan of the table, but the chairs are killer.  I would put them with a wood table.  It says they are leather, but they kind of look like vinyl.  Still cool, but if they are leather, way cooler.

This mid century modern dresser looks to be in great shape and although at $325 (OBO) I don't think its the deal of the century, its a darn good price for a well made versatile piece.  You could put this in any room of the house. 

This mid century set is a steal (and still avail as of now), so hurry ....$200 for all four pieces. 

Again not a deal, but this vintage Martinsville set is something, that if I saw it in Atlanta, I would somehow justify the $900 price tag.  Look. At. This. Beauty!!!

Unbelievable, right?  And the nightstands?? Ugh!
 If only... Paul's Shuttle operated out of California.

This king headboard ($125) would be the perfect frame for a DIY tufted headboard.  















Again, would love to find this in Atlanta instead of having Ernesto cut out the frame for me.  (which has been my idea for the last couple years)  Obviously that is not a priority, so buying one (for $125) would be great!

And with that, I think I will cut this post off.  I could go on and on, but there is a little taste of San Diego Craigslist.
Not bad and all.

Have you found anything great on Craigslist recently??
If you have a city request for me to stalk just leave it in the comments!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails