Ethan's first camping trip!

We love to camp. Unfortunately Ethan hasn't had a chance until recently but it was a blast! We went to a state park outside of Houston (about an hour out) with some friends from church. Ethan until this point had been crawling only. We knew he was capable of walking since he has been climbing all the furniture but just being his stubborn little self about getting off of all four. Until the great camping trip! He isn't the biggest fan of being dirty--I know, lucky mom:) and so he decided to start walking rather than crawling in the dirt. Since then the walking has definitely been on the up! Anyway, back to camping.....

Because the great state of Texas (that's the official name of the lone star state for those of you who don't know) has suffered a drought this year--funny since I remember several flooding incidents--we had a fire ban. Instead of roasting those delicious mallows over an open fire we used our "propane accessories". It was wonderful to see stars again. We must have heard every bird in the state bright and early which should please most campers but is sometimes annoying to those of us who are not morning people! We even heard a hoot owl and a rooster....not to mention a few car alarms and the boy scouts just down the road.

 

(Ethan learning to walk on Daddy and Daddy falling through his 3rd camp chair)

The next day we took Ethan on his first official hike....which hilariously wound it's way around a perfectly manicured golf course. It was still pretty though and the river and scent of the wild onions was refreshing. Ethan enjoyed watching the potato bugs crawl in the dirt and birds flying through the trees. I think he especially enjoyed the other baby who came with her parents. He loves to give her kisses and spent a good part of his morning following her around simply to kiss her and show off his cool belly button.

Finding a healthy balance for an unbalanced family

Lately I have been thinking about the food we eat. This is not very common for me because I have always been of the attitude that eating is a waste of time--other than the whole survival issue. Now as a mother to a 17 lb 1 and half year old lagging behind in the -6 percentile I find my own food issues hitting me harder. We have also discovered recently that Craig has fairly high cholesterol (a family trait I would wager since he eats pretty well and exercises often). I cannot be left out of this equation either. After nursing Ethan for a year I dropped quite a bit of weight without really realizing it. Down to the "freak out level" as the Dr. calls it--a battle I have fought my whole life.

 

So, with mom and baby working to gain weight and dad working to level out to a healthy cholesterol we are kind of stuck at evening dinners. Lunch is where we try to really divide. Craig has gone vegetarian for lunches while me and Ethan have ice cream and cookies for lunch--not really but we do always follow up with a treat which of course kills Craig, the one member of our family who actually enjoys eating. I just can't figure out how to do dinner other than make two dinners. Me and Ethan need all the butter and protein we can get, while Craig needs vegetables! If anybody has any ideas we would love to hear them!