We had a fun family night out at La Cantera. Yummy pizza and a visit to the Apple store to see the iPad for the first time. We have heard that you just have to hold it to see what the excitement is all about. And it’s true. The features and size are awesome!
I can’t go to La Cantera anymore without a stop at Orange Cup. It’s frozen yogurt with fun toppings and supposed to be healthy for you. They put all the nutrition info on the side of the cup. Mine was 136 calories. Not bad!
Testing posting to my blog from my iPhone. It would be awesome if this works! I still miss my laptop and the ability to blog while the kids play. Right now I can only blog during nap time and at night since my machine is in Daniel’s office.
About two weeks ago Daniel left for a 10 day trip to help with a Pastor’s conference in the Philippines. Unbeknownst to him I was planning a surprise bedroom makeover while he was gone. In almost 5 years of living in this house we never even once hung anything on our bedroom walls. We lived with the ugly curtains left for us by the previous owners. We have worked on almost every other room the house except our own.
A lot of friends and family pitched in with their time and money to help me do this. I am incredibly thankful for them!
In the before photos below you can see my room in its messy, clean clothes glory.
Before
Isn’t that nice of the previous owners to leave us some amazing curtains? They are gold with a leopard print valance on blue curtain rods. I got that chair and ottoman at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $10. The print is ugly, but I liked the shape and I was desperate for a chair in my room.
After
I bought some new chocolate brown curtains at Target and spray painted the curtain rods a glossy brown to match. With the paint and curtains it cost me $17 a window to fix them up.
We upgraded to a $15 chair that I got on sale for 50% off at a MOPS rummage sale! The top had a big tear under the head rest cover. My mother-in-law sowed up the tear with clear thread and a hook needle. She then made me a pillow from a sham and recovered the back of the head rest cover. We wanted a Lazy Boy in our room, because our friends the Schlueters have one and it is so comfortable! Funny enough, this turned out to be the exact same one they have too!
Doesn’t that chair beckon to be read in!?
Before
Oh yeah, my desk became a dumping ground for stuff. It also had a red plastic chair not in the picture.
After
Isn’t the desk beautiful now? I re-organized the desk. My friend Jennifer gave me the lamp on top, the bowl, and antique-looking book boxes. I bought the skyline art at Target for 50% off for ten bucks. The frames are postcards from our travels. I bought the new chair from a thrift store for $10. I scrubbed it with a magic eraser. I love the shape and navy velvet on it. The back was a horrible fabric and my mother-in-law recovered the back with a fabric that pulls in the green from my desk accessories.
The top green basket is designed to work as a catch-all for anything that needs to go on my desk. I hope that plan works!
Before
Our walls were white. Our room became the home for all clean clothes.
After
I should have probably moved my cat out of this picture. Oops. Kristin and Barb helped me paint the room a Buttery Tan color. We have lots of brown downstairs and I didn’t want another brown room, so I decided on this color. I like how it is very different colors in different lights.
The art on the wall was an antique liquor poster in red. We found Daniel’s map of Europe in the garage and decided to use that in the frame. It goes well with all the traveling post cards anyway. Cost: Some new wire to hang frame in in a different direction.
Before
After
Wahoo. I cleaned the room too. I dusted every surface and I even cleaned the mini-blinds! The art on the walls is random stuff that we already had laying around. They are photos and postcards from places we have been. Natalie helped me organize and hang them up.
Another After Photo
Roman likes it!
Several folks have asked me how did Daniel like the room. He loves it!
Here is a video of his reaction.
Daniel’s Reaction from Amanda Espinoza on Vimeo.
Daniel’s reaction to the surprise bedroom makeover.
In an effort to blog more I downloaded the WordPress for iPhone app to see how easy/dificult it is to use. So far I am impressed by the features and responsiveness of the app. The geotagging feature is nice. I’ll try to add a photo from my recent Philippines trip next. The photo add from the phone is seamless, but I’m not sure where they will display. Let’s save and see.
Daniel is on a mission trip with Pastor Sean, Pastor Willy, and Bo right now. Daniel is blogging about their trip over at the new River City Community Church missions blog. Go check it out here: http://blogs.reallife.org/outreach
They have already finished their Saturday and are sleeping while we are enjoying our Saturday. The first Sunday church service of 4 begins at 7:00 a.m. They are certainly going to have a very full day!
I had already been thinking about fasting something for a week. So when our satellite and DVR went out last week after church I took it as a sign. Daniel and I had toyed with the idea before of saving money by cutting off our television. We took the week to see what it would be like to live with out live television. We also fasted personal television as a way to seek the Lord for some guidance.
We did not subject our little ones to the television fast. I just didn’t think it would be fair to them. The DVD player got a lot of use this past week full of kid’s movies and Dora the Explorer.
I learned that I don’t want to live without television. I felt oddly disconnected to the world. I was constantly on Twitter, Facebook, and Google news to see what was going on in the world.
Twice I had my neighbor Zandi record things on her DVR for me. I can’t keep asking her to do that for me. Also, watching the same DVDs over and over gets old. The options at the library are not that great. And if you do get a DVD from the library you cross your fingers and hope it is playable.
I am glad we did the experiment. I love T.V. It was a big sacrifice for me. It is usually what I do fast when I need to fast something. We ended our television fast by watching “An Education” from redbox and catching up an episode of “The Amazing Race.” It was nice to see an old friend again.
I started to write a post last night, but as I was picking out photos to blog they all became fuzzy and ran together in my head. So I gave up and went to go see who got kicked off American Idol instead. Then I would be able to return to my social media habit. On results nights I stay off Twitter and Facebook until I can watch the results myself. (Is this not one of the worst seasons of American Idol? My fast forward button on my remote is getting quite the work out!)
Today I am writing bullet point style. I sometimes even prefer bullet style in posts. Here it goes. 
- We have been sick. Roman sick with strep and crud. I was sick for one week. Well again for the next. Then the next week I got some crazy cold that had me bed ridden for at least a day. It made me rest when I didn’t want to.
- Daniel has been working A LOT. One of the projects he has been on is called Mojo Themes. Even if you don’t know anything about what the site does – it is a cool design. He makes all the buttons work. Check it out here: http://www.mojo-themes.com
- Daniel and I have been asked to help lead all of the Missions department at church. Previously we were just over the Mission Trips arm. Now we get to be The Hub to connect ministries with volunteers. I have been working on a new blog for our missions department. Can’t wait until it is live.
- I get to help coordinate a new Women’s Mentoring Program at church too. I am super excited about this. I have been busy recruiting mentors, mentor coaches, and ladies who would like to be mentored. Love it.
- Roman turned 1 year old! I can’t believe how fast that year has gone by! He is 75th percentile in height and weight. At 24 pounds he is a bowling ball to carry around! He isn’t walking yet, but we aren’t worried. He is getting close though. I love his laid back demeanor and I can’t resist his smile.
- Annabelle is doing wonderful. She has become a night owl and I can hear her singing and playing in her room well after we put her to bed. She sleeps in too. That silly girl. Her language is growing and she is fun to be around.
- Spring is here! The sun is shining, my flip flops have claimed their rightful place on my feet, and I might even care about how my grass looks. I even love the bright colors of clothes that return to my children’s wardrobes. I have already put away their winter clothes.
- Daniel and I got to go on a date in Gruene, TX.
- The Spring Cleaning Bug has bitten me and I have been cleaning out a lot of the house.
- I have been a reading machine. I am in my 9th book of this year. More on that later!
- I spent two days in a row at La Cantera with different people. Orange Cup is good!
- We went to Fredricksberg with Daniel’s family the Friday of Spring Break.
- We will be attending our fifth dinner party within the span of 3 weekends this weekend. I love that God has been providing food for my family with community. We have had French, Hawaiian, Korean, Steak, Shish-ka-bobs, and something yummy TBD this weekend.
Can’t wait for more fun! Here are some more photos from Roman’s birthday!
Our impromptu party for Roman on his actual birthday. Our neighbors Zandi and Owen came over. Roman really enjoyed the bounce house, bubble machine, pizza, and cupcakes.
Roman’s birthday party with family and friends.
Finally, our duplicator machine worked!
This morning I took photos of Roman for his first birthday. He had a birthday this week! Taking photos and chasing Roman was tiring, but fun. I think I got a few good ones. I can’t wait to show you more, but I have way too much fun at picnik.com sometimes. Here is a peak of the photos from this morning.
Roman’s debut album “Nursery Rhymes”
This is what is up with us as seen through my iPhone. I am so thankful that I researched and found how to sync my iPhone to my desktop machine. I was sweating losing the 45 iPhone apps I have installed. Anyway, here we go.
Ace got a valentine…
…from Owen our neighbor. She talked about it for days. “Owen gave me my heart.”
I met Erin Chase from 5dollardinners.com. It was really cool to meet a blogger who has made it big.
Roman is growing. Today he weighs 23 pounds 7 ounces. His 22-month-older-sister only weighs 27 pounds.
I cleaned out my car. This is big news in my world.
Roman is now fully weaned and sleeping almost 11 hours a night. Wahoo!
We still aren’t well.
Today Annabelle was diagnosed with strep and I have a virus. Roman has an ear infection and a rash. So far Daniel is good. Praying tomorrow we are all getting better.
…has been testing my parenting skills lately. Roman is almost a year old now and is still having trouble through the night. He wakes up sporadically during the night and each instance is for a different length of time. He likes to sit up and scream facing the door. You know, just to be sure he is heard. Oh, I hear him alright. It’s hard to let him cry it out when I know I can nurse him and he will be back to sleep in less than 5 minutes.
Now I am having trouble nursing him. Somehow he doesn’t cover those cute little two teeth when he nurses. The word “ouch!” doesn’t even begin to describe how it feels for momma. We have switched to whole milk since he is so close to being a year old.
We have tried various methods to help him sleep through the night. One method the pediatrician recommended was to nurse for a minute less each night. That sort of worked. The last two days we have been letting him cry it out and I have drastically reduced nursing him to once a day. He still wakes up, but I think the duration of his crying is getting shorter. I am also hoping the whole milk will be a little more filling that boobie milk.
Then Sunday he woke up with hives on his chest and arms. Later that afternoon he had a fever. We think it is/was Roseola. He seems to be better today. He was just getting over pink eye and an ear infection that he had two weeks ago.
My poor baby boy. I just want him to be well, sleep, and be weaned from momma. I love him, I really do, but I am ready to wean him and for him to sleep through the night.
I took this photo this morning. He doesn’t look like he is having any problems here!
