This and That

So... In four days Ronan will officially be 6 months old! I can't believe how fast he's growing and growing up. He's been eating a little oatmeal in the mornings, and he feels pretty special about it. He's very mobile and he is about to start crawling on his hands and knees. He gets up onto his hands and knees constantly, and sometimes he'll take a few crawling steps -- he's still trying to get the hang of it, but it won't be long! He can sit up by himself for quite a while too! He loves playing -- playing with toys, Ellie, other big kids. He wants to be a big kid so badly. It's happening too fast for me.

Ellie is definitely in the terrible twos and I am not particularly enjoying it. She surely has plenty of moments of being sweet and cute and loving, thank goodness. She is exhibiting her stubbornness and defiance and strong-will so much lately, it has been an enormous challenge for me. She is toilet trained now, and has been for about 2 months (since she turned 2). Yippee!! I am very proud of her, she has done so well. We have been putting a diaper on at night, waiting for her to fully get the hang of it during the daytime first. I am pretty sure she is ready for underwear at night now too. She wakes up every morning with a dry diaper, and recently she's been waking up in the middle of the night and telling us if she needs to use the toilet. So I guess we'll be taking that final step any day now. I am so happy and relieved. One kid in diapers is plenty!

The kids and I just got back from a trip to Utah. Nanako, an old friend from high school, came to visit and brought her two little girls with her for two weeks. It was a fun and busy trip and so good to spend time with Nanako, Fairen, Siany and family. Ellie even picked up a few words in Japanese! It's nice to be back home and together as a family again.

Donovan was supposed to be going to Mongolia for 4 weeks in June-July. At the last minute he couldn't go because he couldn't get properly vaccinated in time. I am bummed for him that he has to miss out on the opportunity and experience of Mongolia, but quite relieved that we don't have to be separated from our Daddy for a month. We are still waiting to sell our house. At this point we are considering taking it off the market until next spring... not sure. I turned the dirty 30 and actually feel quite good about it! Hmmm... not sure there is any other news to share. Pictures still to come...