5 Months

For Eliana's 5 month pictures, I dressed her in her Halloween costume. She's a bunny!

A very happy bunny. I had to cut the legs off and shorten the arms because size "infant" is really like size "18 month old".

At 5 Months, Eliana...

- Wakes up every 2 hours at night and takes two 20 minute naps a day. And how many cans of Pepsi I drink per day will remain a secret. She got sick at about 4 months, so I started feeding her on demand. After a couple of months of sleeping through the night, her schedule got all messed up and now she's still waking up. It's a nightmare.

-She rolls over both ways. She started rolling from tummy to back at 3 months and just learned how to roll over from back to tummy.

-She babbles nonstop. I love hearing her play with her voice.

-She is not interested in solids, which is fine because I'm not really pushing it yet.

-She has had her ears pierced for a month.

-She is getting more and more interested in her brothers and tries to get their attention by screeching.

-She loves her jumper, exercauser, and walker. She stays in the bumbo or on her playmat for shorter periods of time, and is too big for her swing now.

-She makes us fall more in love with her everyday. Even if she doesn't sleep.

Baby in a Tutu

I recently did another newborn photoshoot. Have I already mentioned those are my favorite? Once or twice? Well, they're my favorite.

I put a ton of the pictures from that shoot on my photography blog, but here's a glimpse:


My weekends from now until Christmas are filling up fast. I've got an engagement shoot, a wedding, and some family photoshoots coming up. I feel so blessed to be able to do this as a little part time gig. I never get tired of it!

Lentil Tacos

I grew up eating lentils. One of my comfort foods is Colombian lentils and rice the way my mom makes them. I make them for my family regularly. One day I'll post the recipe, but I've never actually measured what I do. (It's basically rice and lentils with tomato, onion, and garlic, and some spices that are used regularly in Colombian cooking.)

Since lentils are a superfood, great source of protein, fiber, contain no fat, and are all around really healthy, I've been wanting to find other recipes to add to our regular menu. I found a great one that my whole family loved. (Okay, the 3 year old had to be coerced a bit.)

Lentil Tacos
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2-1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup salsa
Flour tortillas or taco shells
Toppings (see below)

In a large skillet saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the lentils, chili powder, cumin and oregano; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
Uncover; cook for 6-8 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash lentils slightly. Stir in salsa.
Spoon mixture into shells and top with whatever toppings you like. We did lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, lime, and cilantro, but next time I'll try adding black beans and/or cilantro-lime rice.

Little Painters

Two posts in one week! That's unheard of these days. I thought I would take advantage because I probably won't be blogging much for the next month while my grandparents are here.

This morning I was in a big rush as I was trying to get the kids out the door. Diego was following me around being my shadow, as usual. I would rush into my room and he'd be a half step behind me. I'd turn and try to walk into another room, and he'd be right there in my way. After almost trampling over him for the 100th time, I snipped, "Diego! Please!" He was like, "Why are you talking mean?" I said, "Because I'm trying to get things done and you keep following me everywhere." He said, "That's because I want to be with you."

Who wins the jerk of the year award? Me.

So to make it up to him, I let him and Celo do one of their favorite things in the world: paint. Here they are working on their masterpieces. (They picked these houses out at the store today and as I type, they are using their dried creations as a garage for their cars. Shocking, right?)

Diego's is the same color every single thing he ever paints is: all the colors mixed together. It's a self control issue. ;) Celo's is his 3 favorite colors: green, yellow, and black.

Many moms may do this on a regular basis, (actually MY mom lets them paint pretty much every time they go to her house) but painting is a special treat at our house. And the fact that we did it today is an especially big deal because I'm really sick right now. I'm hacking up a lung and lack the motivation to pick up clutter, let alone a giant paint mess. But I did it. And the kids were happy. Listening to them say, "Let me just put on the finishing touches" was just the medicine I needed today.

Randomness about my kids

Life is busy busy busy right now, but I wanted to come on here and write a few things about the kids before I forget.

Last week, on our way home from picking Diego up from school, the boys started asking me if we could go somewhere.
Celo: Can we go somewhere?
Me: No, we're just going home.
Celo: Can we go to Mitchell's house? Can we can we can we?? (A friend of theirs.)
Me: No, not today. We're just going to go home.
Celo: Okay, Mommy, you have two choices. We can go to Mitchell's house, or we can go home. Which one you choose?
Me: Go home.
Celo: (Pause.) Good choice.

A few days ago, Diego came up to me and asked, "Mommy, who's Justin Bieber?" I was shocked. Where the heck did he hear about Justin Bieber? The next day, when I went to pick him up from school, I heard one of his classmates singing, "Like baby, baby, baby, ohhhhh." I wasn't aware that Justin is such a big hit with the 4 year old crowd.

Also, while at Tata's house, Diego drew some paper money. He announced that he wanted George Washington to be on his money. He then drew a little circle and a line in front of George Washington, along with a long wavy line. Tata asked him what that was and he said, "That's his microphone (with a long cord) so he can talk to all the people." Apparently President Washington was holding a press conference.

This is a typical day at our house:
Eliana sits in the bumbo watching her brothers play with trains and I sit on the couch and fold heaps of laundry.

These pictures crack me up. I wanted the boys to sit next to her and smile but they just wanted to be silly.

A sweet one:

Cuteness Overload: Soccer and a 3 month old

I've been hesitant to post these pictures for fear of being reported to CPS. What I'm about to show you borderlines on child abuse. Ready?




Yes. Those are pigtails on my 3 month old. I know. I'm terrible.

I promise she didn't mind it one bit. I mainly did it just to show that her hair is long enough for it. Oh, who am I kidding? I pretty much think she's a doll sent here for me to dress up.

And in boy news, Diego and Celo had their first soccer practice last week. Marcelo is their coach. I almost teared up because of the adorable-ness of it all. Here they are warming up.


Walking along the field lines learning all about boundaries.


Not that it did anything, because as soon as they started their scrimmage, Diego and another kid ran all the way to the other field.

Celo lasted about 10 minutes before he decided that listening to the coach (a.k.a his father) was optional. The little balls in his hands were Marcelo's brilliant idea to keep the kids from trying to pick up the soccer ball. It worked really well!

Diego scored a goal and was so proud of himself. Aaand Celo sat on his daddy's hip for a large portion of the time. The fact that we were unable to find cleats in his size should have clued us in that he's not quite ready for soccer.

Diego did great for the most part. Until someone took away the ball as he was trying to score another goal. That really hurt his feelings. Here he is being comforted by Coach Daddy.


I can't wait until their first game!

Picture Updates

It has only taken me 3 months since the birth of my daughter to finally update my photography blog. All of her pictures and the rest of the pictures I've done since April are finally on there.

See the latest pictures HERE.