A couple videos

Here's a short video of Ez.  He'd been drenching himself in his own spit all day by blowing spit bubbles, so I thought it was time to catch it on film.  Videos of grandbabies make for happy grandparents, people.

This one is, once again, Ezra just playing with a toy.  Sophie the Giraffe to be specific.  I'm really just a sucker for trying to capture every moment of his life on film ;-)

Shiny Happy People

I just saw a news report about an accident causing a huge traffic jam here in San Diego.  They were interviewing drivers, asking how bad it was and every person ended their statement with the same sentiment - ..."but the weather is so nice - it's just a great day for a drive!" or "...but it's Southern California...!"

Seriously, I LOVE Sand Diego.

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I feel like I'm constantly sorting through Ezra's clothes, putting away the ones that are too small and bringing out the new, bigger sizes.  Like, every few days the pile of "doesn't fit anymore" grows and grows.  I'm not a fan of all this growing.  Not a fan at all.

Perhaps it would be easier if all the sizing wasn't as screwed up as it is.  It's worse than the vanity sizing that adults deal with.  Seriously.  Ez is currently fitting in a few 0-3 month all the way to some 12 month pieces.  Oh, and one newborn-sized hoodie.  Crazy, I tell ya.
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Here's Ezra.  Doesn't he look more like a little boy and less like a baby?  You can also see the gloriously sharp teeth he's got :)

And then he goes right back to my sweet little baby again - 

Then we had a bit of a heat rash situation happening, so there was lots of naked time.  For Ezra.  Once the diaper went back on, the camera came back out.  I swear, he looks like he's in the middle of a conversation here.  The kid can pose.

Then he caught a glimpse of something super-interesting on the television and refused to look at me.  I think this is the beginning of us not leaving the TV on as background noise anymore ;-)

A Jumping Lesson

I was on the phone with my mother yesterday while Ezra was jumping away in his Jumperoo.  She was a little unclear on what exactly this crazy contraption is.  Considering I'm her youngest, I suppose I can give her a pass on this one.  Sure, similar toys were available at the time, but everyone knows that the second (and ultimately last) child doesn't get new toys of their own.  Goodness, no.

So, Mom...this is a Jumperoo.  The Fisher Price Precious Planet Jumperoo, to be exact.  Oh, and Ezra.

To answer your question, Yes, it's like the Johnny Jumper that I had.  Except it's free-standing and doesn't require a doorway.  See the round base?  It was the 3 pillars that hold the jumper by springs.  Those are "make-Ezra-jump-and-squeal-with-laughter" springs.  

Here's an example of why they are so named:

He's mid-jump there.  You can tell by his hair ;-)

He's mid-squeal here.  You can tell by his mouth and flailing arms ;-)

And for the rest of you, who already knew what a Jumperoo looked like, here's a cute picture of the boy.  Just for funsies.

That smile.

Gah.  

Gets me every time.

Cowboy Up!

Guess whose favorite show is back on May 26th??

No, it's not Ezra.  It's me.  And it's So You Think You Can Dance.

Dude.  Best.Show.Ever.

I hope you're all ready.  I know I am.  I mean, Mary Murphy is back - which is good for two reasons: I like her & wanted her back AND Mia Michaels can go back to choreographing.  Plus, they may or may not be bringing Alex (the man tore his achilles during a rehearsal last season) back for another shot this season.  It's going to be awesome.
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Ez has started waking up a little earlier lately.  I had to wake his little butt up for the Great Cloth Diaper Change last weekend and since then, we've stayed at least an hour earlier than our old wake-up time.  Progress, people.  Progress.

Because of the earlier wake-up calls, he's been going to sleep a little earlier too.  Some nights he still wakes up for about an hour of serious play-time around 10pm, but other nights he's out after bathtime-and-coconut-oil-massage-time-followed-by-milk-and-snuggle-time and stays out.  So, we're getting there.
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I'm really wanting to make this chai concentrate.  I think I'll try remembering how badly I want to make it the next time I'm at the grocery store.  Or, better yet, shortly before I'm at the store...so I can not forget some super-important ingredient.  Sounds like a plan.
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Awhile back, Ezra scored a couple adorable outfits from my dear friend Jenna.  Ez is finally big enough to rock his holy-crap-it's-so-cute, pearl-snapped, plaid Wrangler onesie.  He's a cowboy, baby :)

Also, Ezra would like you all to know that he has tried - and very much enjoyed - peas.  I know, it's big news ;-)

Randoms

A couple weeks ago, we watched Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.  If you have the chance to watch it, you must.

Eye-opening doesn't even begin to describe the film.  We've maintained a good distance from the store over the years but occasionally will succumb to the low, low, bargain-basement prices.

Not anymore.  It's sad and very, very scary how this mega-giant works to squeeze out small business, treat employees with as little respect as possible and ultimately suck the life out of every community it can get it's stores into.

Here's the trailer.

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Here's a couple pictures from bathtime a few days ago.  He was giving me some cute looks :)

And here he is playing with one of his music toys.  He loves it.  I, on the other hand, hear this thing when it's not even playing.  

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We're working on replacing the shed this week.  What this really means is that my house and backyard are littered with things from the old shed.  I decided that since a lot of those boxes are full of things we haven't seen, and therefore haven't needed, since we moved here 2 years ago...it's time to do a little purging.  We threw out or donated probably 1/4 of the stuff and the rest is still being reorganized.  I love purging.  I'll love it all even more once the new shed is up & built...and I have my house back ;-)

Easter!

I finished dying and prettying up the eggs this morning.  I think they turned out awesome.  Sure, they took approximately 29 times longer than the prepackaged dyes, my kitchen temporarily qualified as a disaster area and Ezra would've been just as happy had I given him an empty box to play with...but hey, it was fun.  Seriously, it was a lot of fun seeing what colors you can get out of different veggies and spices.

And here's Ez outside with his eggs.  It only took about 25 seconds before my choice to not use artificial dyes was validated.  Ezra seemed to really enjoy mouthing the spinach and turmeric-dyed eggs the most :)

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Lately he's just been all-out refusing to smile for the camera, so I had to sneak-attack.  

A Saturday of world records and natural dyes

He just turned 7 months and he's already helping set world records.

This morning, Ezra and I participated in the Great Cloth Diaper Change.  We're talking, Guinness World Record here, people.  In honor of Earth Day, over 10,000 babies (with the help of their diaper-changers), in over 400 locations in 20 different countries had their tiny little tushies placed in a cloth diaper - simultaneously!  At the USD location, we had 34 babies counted toward the record :)

The host mentioned that in the time we would be changing our kids' diapers, 3000 disposables would be put into landfills...in San Diego.  Alone.  Wow.  Think about that the next time you pass the disposables at the grocery store.

Yay for cloth diapers and yay for world records!

Here's the only picture I managed to take while we were there.  It was immediately after the change.  As in, he didn't have his pants on yet ;-)  Sadly, I could've taken this photo anywhere, anytime.  You're just going to have to trust me on this one.

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I then spent some of my afternoon and evening dying eggs.  I couldn't see myself using the technicolor stuff that comes in nifty little packets (just add water & vinegar!).  Though I've used and loved that kind for as long as I can remember, I thought it was time to bring my philosophy on processed, ready-made goodies to this area.  While I do adore some of these things, I'm trying to make them less present in my life.

So, when I saw a link to this lovely blog on PW's Cooking page, I decided to try a few homemade dyes. With the guidance of that awesome post, some help from my good friend Google, and too many YouTube videos...I had my plan.

Beets, spinach, turmeric, red cabbage, and red onion skins with pomegranate tea.  Each mixed with a healthy dose of white vinegar.  You can imagine the strange and far-from-wonderful smells wafting through my place today.

I'll post pictures of them tomorrow.