In our living room we have a huge picture window that goes almost to the floor. Often we get birds or bugs that don't see the window and instead think it is a big open area to access our house. This has resulted in several dead birds on our porch through the years. One time we even had a "bird print" on the window where one totally crashed into it with wings stretched out wide. Ouch.

Today Noelle and I were playing Candy Land and bugs were crashing into the window left and right. She was making up stories about why they wanted in, and what they would do to us once they got here. At one point she saw a little moth-like bug and said "oh, there's a so...somito." I said, "Do you mean mosquito?" She paused and said, "no, his NAME is Somito." Somito the mosquito. Sure, that's what you meant.

It's tough being a baby.

This was Evan's set up today as he watched Noelle and Andy wash the Jeep (and mama took a quick nap). What a life! He just relaxed and watched them playing around in the water, even taking a few sprays himself here and there.

He is such an easygoing baby, and we are really enjoying getting to know him. He thinks almost everything is funny and is laughing all the time. He rarely fusses unless he's hungry and I'm not feeding him or he's tired and I'm not putting him to bed. He goes to sleep entirely on his own, and is close to sleeping through the night regularly. At this point he goes from 7:30 PM to 5 or 6 AM probably three nights a week.

I forgot to report back on his Upper GI scan, it showed no signs of reflux. We have another appointment scheduled with the Pulmonologist, but I'm guessing we'll just call it Tracheomalacia and move on.

Today at lunch Evan was fussing a little because he was tired, and we think maybe teething a bit. Andy decided to offer him one of his big apple slices to gnaw on, and Evan loved it. So much in fact that he got so sad and cried when he dropped it and couldn't pick it back up. It was very cute. Noelle rushed to the rescue and got it back for him, she's a great big sister!

So the car is clean, Noelle is watching a movie, Evan is chilling in his crib, and we'll be having leftovers for dinner. It's a great Sunday night.

I am going to start posting 2 weeks at a time, I think, because I just end up running out of time to post and then I feel behind, and the more behind I feel, the less I even want to post. It's a vicious cycle, I tell you.

I decided to make a binder of all our recipes, including a section of recipes we've printed out to try. We have a "recipe drawer" next to Andy's computer where we keep found recipes, but it's just too much of a mess and hard to find what we're looking for. So if we print a recipe that we'd like to make again someday, we put it in there and can easily find it later on. That's your helpful meal planning tip of the day. Free of charge.

This week I have linked to several off-site recipes. These are recipes that we are either trying for the first time, or haven't quite made it to "loved recipe" status. This week we are having:

Hamburgers with Cauliflower and baked sweet potatoes - double hamburgers and freeze

Southwestern Salad

Stuffing Chicken with roasted red potatoes

Beef Stroganoff with Schnitzel Beans

Red Beans & Rice



And next week:

Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas with green salad (Andy found this recipe in a magazine ad, we had it in Tampa this weekend with ground beef instead of chicken) - double and freeze

Chicken Salad with Ramen Noodle Salad

Italian Beef Sandwiches with Macaroni and Cheese

Chickpea Curry with rice

Baked Potatoes

I haven't posted in two weeks! We've had some nice days that have sent us outside a good bit. Also during that time, I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning and organizing. I would love to just get rid of practically everything. I have been going through our "stuff" and thinking about whether it is worth moving it to Illinois next summer or not. If it doesn't pass the test, it's out of here. Andy has been selling some of his things to raise funds for an iPhone, so even he is joining in on the fun! That amp he's had sitting in the closet for the last 4 years? GONE! Shelves full of movies and CD's? Listed on Half.com! Comic books? He's thinking about it.

Noelle and Evan started sharing a room about 2 weeks ago, too. We bought Noelle a toddler bed and put the crib back together for Evan. So far it's working out well. The first night they were together Noelle told us Evan was bothering her while she was trying to go to sleep. I said, "don't tell me you were trying to go to sleep, you've never 'tried to go to sleep' a day in your life!" I think she just didn't like the competition of someone else talking at bedtime.



We also switched out the bassinet in our room for the pack and play, since I'm quite sure Evan was over the weight limit. We need to have something in our room for his afternoon nap, when Noelle is having "quiet time." We also keep him with us after the first time he wakes up in the middle of the night, so that gives him a place to be.

Speaking of quiet time, Noelle has officially stopped napping. Well, except for this one time! She fell asleep while reading books, but that is pretty abnormal for her. She does well to be in her room for an hour or so, but then she starts to get antsy and is likely to get into some trouble. Yet another reason I haven't posted much! Usually it is something minor like making a mess of her toys or climbing on top of the changing table, maybe ripping a page or two in a book. Sometimes though she does something that tests my patience (and unfortunately I often fail!). I guess it's all part of being a kid, but man I wish she would just take a nap. The good thing about it is she goes to sleep pretty quickly at night now, whereas before she might have talked and sang for up to 2 hours. That works out well for her and Evan sharing a room, so she doesn't keep him up.

Also these past few weeks, Evan has starting eating solid food. Andy jokingly pretended to feed him a banana a few weeks ago, and I said actually, give it a try! He loved it, and just a few days later he ate a whole banana at once. Now he's had banana, sweet potato, carrots, pears, and pumpkin. We enjoy making his food, and it's been fun feeding him. Noelle never really did the mashed or pureed food thing, so we didn't get the chance to make much.

Finally, we've had a few doctor visits for Evan. Today was his 6 month visit, and he weighed in at 22 lbs and was 27.5 inches tall. Last week we went to see a Pulmonologist about his wheezing. He had an Albuterol treatment in the office which did not help at all, which is what we expected. He is scheduled for an Upper GI scan this Friday to test for reflux to see if that is causing the wheezing. It is becoming more likely that it's probably Tracheomalacia, or floppy throat tissue, something that resolves on its own by age 2. If the scan on Friday is clear, they may do a Bronchoscopy to test for Tracheomalacia, but since they don't do anything for it anyway we will probably just skip it. We just have ourselves a loud boy! But isn't he cute?