Ezra goes (mid)west!

Last week a friend of mine told me she had 14 southwest frequent flier vouchers that were about to expire and she would love it if I could use one (or two or three or four...) to go visit my family. I don't believe that it is typical to come across people who soo generously want to dish out their well-earned frequent flier flights, but for Lora this is nothing. She is truly one of the most giving people I have met and seems to find sheer joy in it.

I booked my ticket on a Monday night for a Wednesday morning departure. My brother-in-law and two of my nieces were having birthdays and this would allow us to get there in time to visit with everyone as well as attend the party!

Ezra's face when I told him we were going to meet his cousins...


His concern about traveling via airplane...


Preparing our birthday gifts...


Meeting Great Grandpa Echelbarger and Barb for the first time!


Relaxing outside in the gorgeous weather...


Ezra deciding if he loves grass as much as mama does... (he decided he does!)


Seeing my niece Lizzy who is as cute as can be and growing up wayyy too fast!


Haleigh decorating the front porch...


(Abby + Ryan + Ezra = love)




There was never a shortage of hands for holding Ezra. In fact, there was usually a list of "who gets to hold Ezra next". Here Emma and Roger are giving Ezra lots of love...


Aunt Nichole...


Lydia...


Snuggling against Grandma Sue...


Oh, and for the record, Alyssa is now officially taller than me. Much taller. And, she still loves to read.

A day with Aunt Rachel...

Rachel had a half day at school earlier this week, so we picked her up and hung out at our house all afternoon. She is a little mama's helper indeed.




And while Rachel and I mommy'd away, Ryan sang songs to us about diapers, pacifiers, swings, and everything Ezra! :)

Mother's Day...

It's true, Mother's Day felt different this year. In the past I always just thought of Mother's Day as the day when we are to appreciate our mothers. Which, don't get me wrong, I totally do appreciate my mama. But now being a mom myself, it felt more like a day to celebrate being a mama! So, I did.

We spent the morning relaxing and playing in bed.


Then we played some more in the living room.


After church, we went to Cafe 54 for brunch with Marcia.

Then back home for a nap. Chest to chest...how we both sleep best.


Dinner with Lori, Sara, Grammie, and Aunt Terri.


A trip to pick-up Ryan from the airport! Ezra is wearing one of Ryan's childhood outfits in this photo.


Bath time, and then story time reading, "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss.


Oh yes, I love being a mom.

the world wide web

I was reading Reader's Digest about custom googlemap envelopes...and well...I think they are worth blogging about. :) Check out mapenvelope yourself and pick your location, write your message...then just print, fold, stamp, and mail!

Auntie Jani is in town...

My good friend Jana from Boulder (via Boston) is in town visiting! I LOVE having company...it is so nice to have people whom you have such history with come and be part of the "newness" of where we live now. We literally did nothing the entire time she was here. We sat in the living room and stared at Ezra, went for walks, chilled at a coffee shop, cooked meals, and went to a game night. I guess that isn't really "nothing", but really it was the most chilled out version of having someone in town that I've probably ever experienced (aside from my parents being here after Ezra was born)...and it was wonderful!

Cozy with Auntie Jani right from the start...




Lovin' his blue hat from Grandma Sue!


Modeling his button down shirt...definitely a daddy look alike. :)


Speaking of dad...we are totally missing him while he is away in Missouri for the weekend!

Photos...

Here's a look at Ezra over the past week...

Ezro...is that you?

We don't know anyone by the name of Ezro. But, if Ezra had been named Ezro...we're pretty sure he would've needed a little more hair to go with the name and look a little something like this...


...so, I wanted to just leave the post like this because I thought it was funny. However Ryan thought I needed to give a little explanation. And well, based on the comment I received...Ryan wins. :)

Ryan was trying to see what Ezra would look like with long hair, so he is leaning over Ezra so that he has Ryan's bangs hanging down on him. Does this make sense? See, I guess this is why I was avoiding writing an explanation. :)

Intentional Act of Kindness...

This is the view from our front window that we woke up to this morning...


...Eileen, David, and Kai picking our weeds! This winter was especially rainy, and we had a TON of weeds covering our front yard. Kind of an embarrassing amount to be honest. But, with being uber pregnant when we first moved back into our house, and now with a newborn, there was just no way that picking weeds was anywhere near the top of a priority list. And, I know that Eileen and David didn't care about our weeds either, they are the just the type of people who love to give gifts, help people, and build community. The amazing thing about this act of kindness was that it was so intentionally planned. Its not like driving by and seeing a neighbor who left their mailbox open and you just close it. It took deciding ahead of time that they wanted to spend their morning (several hours!) picking our weeds so that we wouldn't have to worry about it or even have it on a to-do list! And, on top of that they brought donuts! Shouldn't we have been the ones offering them donuts? As Ryan said after they left, "That just made my whole day!"...tis true...it really made our day...and now we look forward to getting to "pass it on". Thank You!!

workin...

My connection with Cafe 54 really is the sweetest hook-up I could imagine. Last week they called to see if I'd be interested in coming in and doing some paper work for them. Whatever hours I want to work. However many days I want to work. And, I can bring Ezra with me. Sweet, no?

Now, just to give you a little background information, the Cafe is a job training program for adults with mental illness. And next door to the cafe is a day center for adults with mental illness who are not job ready to hang out at and learn computer skills, write poetry, make friends, etc. I was actually using the space in the day center to do my paper work and got many of the clients coming in to say hello and meet Ezra. And, not once, but twice (by two different people), I was asked if he was my grandson!?! Really? My grandson? Oh dear, those gray hairs aren't hidden as well as I thought they were.

Then, another client came in.
"What's your baby's name?"
"Ezra"
"Oh, is that like Ezro but with an "A" at the end?"
(I kid you not Megan, this conversation happened the day after you commented on my blog about his name!)

Oh, how I love the laughs I get at work.

today...

Happy one month birthday to our sweet lil' Ezra!

Ezra's friend Kaia sent him this video of her singing to him...if you listen closely you can hear her say "Ezra" during the fast section of the song. :)

cousins...two of a kind!

Yesterday Ezra got to meet his second cousin Eleanor who just turned 1 week old! Here they both are totally zonked out. I think this was the first time that I saw Ezra as being HUGE...especially since he was next to such an itty bitty precious newborn. I know I've said this before, but I can't believe how fast he is growing. It's fun that although he doesn't have first cousins close by and around his age, he has two second cousins within a 5 mile radius that are within 3.5 weeks in age as him.

Better than Beyonce?

Ezra LOVES to be held! Well, maybe it's more that WE love to hold Ezra! Either way you look at it, the boy is often in one of our arms, laying on one of our chests, or snuggled up in one of our baby carriers.

Ryan isn't home right now, but the house is calm and it's a perfect time for blogging, so I'm going to write anyway, despite the fact that I don't have a photo of Ryan in his very own baby carrier for Ezra.

Here we are getting some good snuggle time...


Needless to say, I'm a fan of baby wearing. And, I was on a blog the other day and saw a youtube video in the side margin that was titled "Baby Mamas (Put a Sling On Em)". Curious, I clicked it, and this was what I got...



Ryan the started singing "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce, and I told him that the girls in the video for Baby Mamas are just as good of (if not better) dancers than Beyonce. Just to prove my point, we then watched the videos back to back.



Well, upon that close of examination, I have to hand it to Beyonce, she's good. She gets paid to be good. But, I just love the Baby Mamas! :)

"tu" cute!

What better way to celebrate a two-year old's birthday (that falls on the 22nd 'two-two' of April) than with a tutu party??

It was absolutely adorable to see all the little girls running around in different color tutus (handmade by the birthday girl's mama!) exclaiming, "I'm a princess!"

And for the guys? Handsome striped ties....

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaia!


David and Eileen are known for their extravagant party planning. Just a week earlier, we celebrated David's 30th birthday party...click here for the detailed fun!

In Ezra news...

Ezra took his first bottle from Ryan yesterday! It was quite sweet for me to witness, he didn't hesitate one bit (he's his mama's boy when it comes to food!), and the whole time he stared right at Ryan.


We got a mirror for him...and he loves it! He'll just stare at himself for minutes on end (I was going to say "hours on end", but that would've been a total exaggeration). :)

It's official...

...we are not movie stars.

Tonight we watched The Blind Side. You may remember from last summer, that we were extras in this movie. However, after watching several football bleacher scenes in a slow motion screen by screen manner, we have come to terms with the fact that we didn't make the cut. Actually, we were cut out by just 1 person. Seriously. Our friend, Dana Lee, was sitting next to a woman that we saw over and over again...if the camera shot would have been just a little more to the right..we would have been movie stars. :)

At one point, I was sure that I saw Cameron, however upon closer inspection...it was Tim McGraw...I think he'll be happy with my mix-up.

Our lil' man

When we chose the name Ezra, we never saw it coming that so many people would think that it's a female name. I suppose that living in a community influenced by the Spanish language, a name ending in "a" tends to mean its feminine. That, paired with the fact that Ezra wears a lot of gender neutral clothing, he is often mistaken for a little girl. Which, truly doesn't bother me...except for when we are at the pediatrician's office. We always correct the nurse (the same nurse every time), simply because we don't want her to be surprised when/if she opens his diaper. So, at our most recent visit I dressed him in ALL blue to help her out a bit. But, no luck, our little man got called a "she" once again.

Green Baby!

In less than our first two weeks of being home with Ezra, we went through more than 2 containers of baby wipes. Which, this frugal green mama is just not cool with. So, cloth wipes became a priority, and I have to say that I LOVE using them! Some that I have are made of flannel, but the ones I like the best are actually just thin washcloths. The extra bit of texture that they have, help to clean his bottom easier. Thanks to Megan's suggestion, this is what our set-up looks like:

Inside the coffee carafe is where we store our toasty warm wipes solution. I put a washcloth from the stack on the left in the bowl, and the squirt out some solution directly onto the washcloth to use only what I need...and then wipe away!

There are a gagillion wipes solution recipes online, but the one that I've been using and like is:
1/8 cup of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of baby shampoo
4 drops of tea tree essential oil
8 drops of lavender essential oil
3 cups of warm water

If you are using cloth diapers, the cloth wipes can just go right in the same diaper pail, as opposed to having to separate out the disposable wipes from the re-usable diapers. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!