Here and there; comings and goings; odds and edds...

E is still a little crusty around the nose, but he's slept well the last few nights. I've started to cut back on some of his food intake since I read an article in the current Parenting magazine that caused me to believe I was leading my son towards a life of obesity with all the food I've been shoveling in his mouth. The boy is a vacuum cleaner when it comes to food. And I was under the impression that rice in the bottle would help him feel fuller longer, thus helping him sleep. But after reading this article, it is apparently a myth and the only thing that it really does is add more calories to his diet, causing him to crave food that he doesn't really need. So, after I read the article (Monday night after I put him to bed with a rice bottle- Ethan woke up 4 times that night), I stopped putting rice in his bottle and he's slept through the night since (well, it's only been two nights, but I'll take it!). Go figure. Anyway, he eats a little more than a normal 5-month old, but he'd probably eat as much as a 12 month old if I let him...Anyway, here is a shot of Ethan right after his 3.5 hour nap yesterday. Imagine me saying in a sing-song-y voice "Eeee-than":













Mallory is changing so much. In the past month, she's added about 30 words to her vocabulary (which only consisted of about 7 words) and is starting to use her imagination so much more. She's so cute and I LOVE watching her discover that Spunky (one of her 5 stuffed dogs) loves to share her snack and that she plays peak-a-boo with Blue (yet another one of her dogs...). I love that she now says "oops" when she drops something. She'll SAY "please" rather than sign it. She eats her cereal with a spoon. She loves to drink the milk from her cereal bowl. She loves to look at her clothes and play with the tags on the ones that are still new. She calls her brother "E Pice" (for Ethan Price) and will give him kisses without me prompting her. She'll even have Blue and Spunky kiss, though she still doesn't like it when mommy and daddy kiss. She's a sweet one. A heart breaker. A Mommy lover. A Daddy's girl. And she'll be 2 on Saturday *sniff sniff*.












"Mallory, whatcha doin'?"













We're heading to my folks house this weekend for a little birthday celebration and some MUCH NEEDED r&r for us! Patrick and I have about reached our limits with our own responsibilities at work and home. We're maxed. Patrick is off all next week, too, so I'm PRAYING that we'll use that time to regroup, rest, and re-focus our minds on Christ and what he's blessed us with, not just materially, but spiritually as well (grace, peace, sufficiency, love, meekness...shall I go on?).