Pictures!!!

We're Here, Still!

Ok. So here's the rundown of what has happened over the past few weeks/days:

• Saturday, October 20th - Ezekiel sat up unassisted for about 5 seconds. He also choked on a piece of plastic that he found on the floor and put in his mouth. Thankfully, he was able to cough enough to get it out of his throat with a little bit of throw-up. Not too much drama!
• Sunday, October 21st - Ezekiel's first tooth popped out (the bottom, middle, right). He also turned 8 months old!
• Friday, October 26th - Ezekiel sat up unassisted for over 30 seconds. He is getting better and better at this when he wants to.
• Saturday, October 27th - Ezekiel gets "sick" for the first time. He's got a minor cough (and no other major symptoms) that Malachi shared with him. I think he might have had a small dose of a stomach virus that he caught from me about the 3rd week of school. So, this might actually be the second sickness, then. ***Remind me to talk about "liquid gold" sometime later.***
  
• Sunday, October 28th - Ezekiel gets his finger shut in a cabinet in the church daycare. It was very deep at first and had me worried about bone and tissues in the finger. A little over an hour later, he was fine. We took him to the doctor today, and it was just fine. It's still really swollen, but it doesn't bother him at all.
• Monday, October 29th - Ezekiel sleeps in his crib for the first time. he's been sleeping in a bassinet or pac 'n play since birth. He really was excited to be in a crib with colorful bumpers.
  

Malachi is doing very well. He is doing a little better with being flexible, but I have decided that my word for him is "passionate." He handles life well, but it's either all or nothing with him. It's really hard to change his mind or get him off topic. He wants it his way. I know that he's 2, but there are a lot of other 2 year olds that don't show out like him at times. There are also others that are worse. He loves to cuddle and be with the people that he loves. It's not all about Momma, all the time. That's good!

Daniel recently stepped down as children's pastor of our church. He is currently looking for a full-time position, where he can be home more than he has been in the last 9 months. You see he was working 30-40 hours a week at the Y. He was also working 10-20 hours a week for the church. He loved working with kids and the church, but our family was being sacrificed in the process. It was time for God to move us. We thought we had a full-time opportunity, but it fell through. So, we're back attending at the church that we grew up and got married in, etc. It's nice to have some time to spend with the family again. Please pray that God will provide the right job for him.

My volleyball season got over about 2 weeks ago. Praise the Lord! I totally enjoyed coaching, but it was ALOT with two small children, and a husband who is not home in the evenings. Thankfully, I survived (as I always do), and God got to show off (as He always does). My children are healthy and happy. They got to spend time with their two great-grandmas. I got to have some fun and make a little extra cash (and I mean little, for my time). I feel like I have all the time in the world and energy now that I can get home at least 2 hours earlier each day than I used to.

Random notes

• Please pray for Callie D. She was born almost 2 weeks ago in the area. She contracted pneumonia right after birth and should not have survived the first night. God protected that little baby girl, and God is continuing to "show off" in her life and the family's lives. Please pray that she would come home soon and never have to face the things that she has encountered the past two weeks ever again.
• I have 2 weddings to go to on the same day in December. One is my brother's! He's marrying a beautiful woman. The other is one of my best childhood friends. She is getting married in the area and then moving to the Ukraine with her husband. Wow!
• I am totally excited about the upcoming holidays and having two boys to experience it with.
• Our house is starting to come together more (a little). I haven't forgotten about pictures of our house. I know a house is never "done," but we're still at the stage that we don't want visitors yet. Our other two houses (that we never owned) were able to be guest-ready quickly. I hope to maybe have our family Christmas at our house this year, and have the house mostly "done."
• Kiev is doing much better. I had to take her back to the vet about a week or two after getting the drains out. She had fluid built up under the skin. The doctor was "sure" that it would fill back up with fluid, but it never did. Praise the Lord! We couldn't afford anything else.
• God is good, all the time!!!
  

Brotherly Bonding

The boys have started enjoying each other's company even more lately. The past week, I have started bathing them together. Ezekiel always watches Malachi intently and wants to play. Ezekiel still can't sit up unassisted, but that doesn't seem to bother him. He can roll and crawl to get where he wants (not in the water, of course).

Watching "tee-dee" together on a lazy Saturday morning

Bathtime!!!

Ezekiel can...

• "crawl" - He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He just recently started getting on his hands and knees, then pushing his feet up on his toes, so his bottom is in the air. It is soooo cute. He will do the typical "commando" style crawl to get where he wants to go quickly (i.e. he lays on his belly and uses his forearms and hands to pull his body in the direction he wishes to go.
• grab a small object (like his pacifier) with one or both hands and quickly put it in his mouth.
• put EVERYTHING in his mouth.
• eat almost a whole (small) jar of baby food in one sitting.
  
• not sit up unassisted yet. I just think that he doesn't feel the need to do that. He can move around and get where he needs to go or lunge for a toy. Sitting is not a necessity.
• (and always does) look much smaller than every other baby his age (or younger).
  

Malachi-isms

"hup-ups" - hiccups
"ray-ray" - Rachel Ray
"show-zoes" - Cheerios and any other cereal we eat for breakfast
"cha-cha molt" - chocolate milk
"Z-mats" - one of our nicknames for Ezekiel (Z- max)
"da-doo" - thank you
"peas" - please
"My-my do it" - Malachi will do it.
"bop is?" - Where is my bop (pacifier)?
"Z doin?" - What's Z doing?
"wait" - awake and wait, like "Z wait" (Z is awake)

***Malachi still has no "g" or "k" sound in his vocabulary yet, so it usually turns into a "d" or "t" sound.***