A deep sigh...

I'm frequently looking at this picture of my children loving on each other (it was a totally spontaneous moment during our CNY photo shoot) and praying that all will be well between them again soon.
We've had about a week of wonderful days with just a few minor skirmishes each day, (that I can deal with) but starting around 5pm yesterday and lasting up until this blissful two hour nap they have been brutal with each other (this I can't). Even Ian noticed it this morning and felt bad that he was leaving me with two warring children. I'm sure it will pass and they'll be back to their normal "love you as long as you aren't playing with MY stuff" soon. Maybe these long naps (and the prayers that I've been sending up) will help...

***Disclaimer ~ when I say that I hope "all will be well with them soon," I'm not delusional enough to think that they will suddenly stop fighting and always be happy with one another. I'm just hoping that the RAV's will come back to a more normal level of a few a day instead of a few an hour! I realize (and remember from having a sister relatively close in age) that they will have their share of disagreements, arguments, and the occasional physical fight, I just want the times of peace to outweigh those moments...***

Anyway, a few questions and comments from previous post comment sections that I wanted to respond to:

Maya's eye ~ Maya has always had weepy eyes. At her last vet visit in September the vet decided that it was due to allergies. We were given a VERY expensive antihistamine that was NO FUN to get an 85 pound dog who LOATHES pills to take (twice a day may I add!). Inserting the pill into a hot dog worked for a while until one day when she unfortunately bit down on the pill as she was chomping. The capsule broke and she began to shake her head violently in protest of the bitter taste. Blue foamy drooly stuff was slung all over the kitchen. (To this day Maya still won't eat a hot dog...) This was in the midst of Ian being gone during the work week before we moved. For the last few days of the treatment I had to straddle her, pry her mouth open, shove the pill as far down her throat as I could, and pray she didn't manage to gag it back up. We decided that weepy eyes were better than twice a day struggles...

Conquering clutter ~ Cindy, you seemed to feel defeated that Ian and I could conquer clutter in our house in one long, Sunday afternoon nap. Please remember that we now live in a 1300 square foot home with far less than half of our belongings. Our old house is still furnished (the only furniture in this house that we own are the kids beds and dressers ~ the rest is borrowed from family and friends) and there is lots of stuff still there to make it look "homey," not that it seems to be working as far as selling it... Another large portion of our belongings is currently being housed in a climate controlled storage center, so we are really here with the bare minimum!

Kylie in short sleeves and Caleb with a coat ~ Our kids seem to have different internal thermostats. Said plain and simple, Kylie sweats while Caleb shivers while Ian and I are comfortable. They have cars with dual heating systems, anyone know of houses with heating systems for individual rooms?

Caleb's bed ~ At first I was pretty annoyed with the fact that we only have a mattress on Caleb's bottom bunk (because we have one more twin mattress on a bed in the old house and we are just waiting to be able to bring it here). Sure he doesn't need the one on top yet, but it looks pretty weird to see just the slats on top. BUT, it does allow for me to get above him and take some pretty good pictures of him sleeping (see most recent post of my sleeping angels titled Is there Much Sweeter?)

My Chocolate Stash ~ No, I no longer have my stash. (Though for the past 24 hours I've really wanted it...) After seeing a particularly unflattering picture of myself from the day we went to the zoo, I decided that telling Ian about my stash was my best defense to prevent me from finishing it myself. I'm done with chocolate because it is my main weakness. I've also started buying snacky food that the kids like but that I could care less about like pretzels so that I'm not as tempted during the day.

The Look ~ My mom, sister, and college roommate stated that "the look" was only a mild version of the ones I give when I'm really annoyed. They are right, I was afraid that a true photo of "the look" at its strongest may cause those of you that are untrained in avoiding it properly to turn into stone...

I think that takes care of the things I wanted to answer. I'm sure there will be another clean up post like this sometime in the future.

**Post nap report ~ My babies are currently laying side by side on the floor playing happily with their Little People Barn. Looks like God sent attitude restoring sleep to them! I'm praising Him for His goodness!**