Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.

-Robert H. Schuller

How have your holidays been? We still have one more holiday to celebrate here. Tomorrow is Three Kings Day. That means that tonight every child, well at least every Puerto Rican child, will take a shoe box and fill it with grass. Then they will put the box next to their beds along with a bowl of water and a note. They will go to bed and tomorrow the grass and water will be gone and in their place there will be presents for the little ones.

The grass and water are for the camels of course, and the note is for the Three Kings. The note is usually a list of presents you would like them to leave you. However, at home we make it a thank you note for the Three Kings since we already asked them a while ago for the present we want. Three Kings as well as Santa only bring one present for each kid, the rest of the presents mommy and daddy buys for them, well at least in this house.

This year we have a special little baby that is also leaving a shoe box full of grass for the camels. Little Esperanza, my new baby doll, asked the Three Kings for a chihuahua when I started making her a couple of weeks ago. She’s been such a good girl, I’m sure she will get that special puppy tomorrow morning.

Esperanza is a happy baby girl. She always has a smile and makes the sweetest little sounds when she giggles. She loves animals but she really loves chihuahuas. I guess they are so tiny she thinks they are the perfect size for her. Esperanza enjoys playing peekaboo, imitating dog sounds, and babbling the Bingo song. I don’t think I have ever seen her sad or crying and just seeing her face makes me feel so much hope for this new year. So that is why I name her Esperanza. Esperanza means hope in Spanish and that is something we all need to have stepping into this year.

I have learned a lot from last year and I’m grateful for that. There was also a lot of sadness and frustration, but I have hope, so much hope. I’m hopeful this year I will get to hug my parents and my siblings again. I’m hopeful we will get to see my in laws and they will finally get to meet my baby boy. I’m hopeful my husband will be able to open his new business, which I’m sure it will be a success. I’m hopeful my little girl will get to go to school and make new friends. Social distancing is pretty hard when you are a hugger like us. I’m pretty sure we all made some space last year for all the amazing things coming our way. Esperanza knows what I’m talking about, I can see it in her eyes.

I haven’t made a big needle felted art doll for a while now. I was busy making all the sweet simple faces, which I have come to love so much. Making the more simple faces gave me so much more practice and taught me so much about doll making. I’m not planning on stopping making them but I also want to make a big art doll like Esperanza every now and then. I actually had this whole headless body already made four months ago. It was just waiting for the perfect baby head to come to life.

This baby girl’s head was made slowly and carefully. Applying all the knowledge I have come to acquire in the last couple of months. Of course, I have so much more to learn still. I love the never stop learning aspect of doll making. Baby Esperanza also has a new hair technique I had never used before. Her hair is a black straight mohair weft that has been securely hand stitched to a black mohair crocheted wig cap. The wig cap is also hand sewn to the head. Her hair is so soft but also pretty crazy. Who knew straight hair could be so difficult, LOL! I love how her hair looks though. Is a perfect messy hair look for a baby.

Esperanza is a 16 inch preemie size natural fibers baby doll. She fits into most preemie clothes. Her skin is heavy weight Laib Yala in red brown color, her limbs and torso are firmly filled with clean wool. Her head is floppy and needs to be supported at all times, just like a real newborn baby.  Her legs and torso are one piece but the legs are floppy because of the way they have been sewn. Her arms have been sewn to her torso with both upholstery thread and polyester thread. They are very floppy as well. Her face is firmly needle felted, soft sculpted, and hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss. Esperanza’s hair is a black straight mohair weft sewn to a hand crocheted wig cap. She’s fully soft sculpted, weighted in the torso, and she’s anatomically correct. Esperanza weights 1 kg 300 grams (a little under 3 pounds).

Esperanza will go home with all the clothes and accessories you see in her photos.

• Cloth diaper with snaps
• Denim romper with embroidered details made with a pattern by Peony Patterns
• Pink tights
• Hand crocheted boots
• Hand crocheted head band
• Kimono shirt and harem pants made from a pattern by Fig and Me
• Hand crocheted bonnet
• Hand crocheted socks
• Traveling friend (not shown in the photos). Shhh… it will be a chihuahua but don’t tell her yet.

If you would like to see more photos of Esperanza you can check her album.

You can also get a feeling of what she feels like by watching a video of her getting dressed here.

Esperanza’s adoption fee is 685 USDollars plus shipping. Shipping inside Mexico is free, to the US, PR, and Canada is 45 USDollars and for the rest of the world is 70 USDollars. This baby doll will ship Priority with tracking. There are short payment plans available, but at least 1/4 of the doll’s price needs to be paid upfront. From that payment 50 dollars will be taken as a non refundable deposit that will go towards the final price of the doll. Shipping can be paid afterwards. The doll will be shipped after it is paid in full, including shipping.

If you wish to adopt this baby girl just comment below stating so. I will take entries for Esperanza until tomorrow Wednesday, January 6, 2020 at 4pm CDT. If more than one person is interested I will draw a name later on. Once a family has been chosen I will send a PayPal invoice that is due upon receipt.

As always by commenting you agree you are 18 years or older and please do not comment for someone else.

Baby Esperanza has found a loving home.

Hope that Esperanza fills your heart with joy and hope for this new year. Thank you for taking the time to learn about her.

Read you soon.

Hugs, love, and hope,

Aubrey

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