We've reached another stage in our daughter's development. As we learn something new each day, the term I'm referring to is pouching. Last Tuesday May turned 17 months old and for the last couple of days she's been taking her food and storing much of it on the right side of her cheek. Now at first we didn't really see it as being odd but then she started doing it more and more. May is still picky with her foods. We give her rice, pasta, bananas and such but then she just started storing the food in her mouth like a chipmunk! I'm not talking for a few minutes, she'll walk around with the food in her mouth for like 15 minutes. Eventually she'll swallow the food or we have to get her to spit it out.

I searched what she was doing online and saw the article mentioned earlier. I read that it's usually a phase and is relatively harmless, though the child can choke if you aren't careful. Usually when we give May her food, it's in a small bowl and in a small amount. We'll definitely be keeping more of an eye on the foods we are giving her. She is still gaining weight. Hopefully she will grow out of this, it's kind of gross having to take out her already moisten food, but we also want her to be safe.

May is also getting more teeth. Right now she's at 6 teeth, with 4 at the bottom and 2 on the top. It actually looks like she'll be getting another one on the top. We're soon going to start brushing her teeth. I remember her pediatrician said to use toothpaste with no fluoride in it, so I'll have to look out for that. The liquid vitamins she takes, has fluoride in though.

Meanwhile I'm still searching for a job. I'm looking more for temporary at the moment. Even though I have a Masters in Atmospheric Science, many of the jobs in my field are all over the US. Rex and I talked about moving to where the job is and we decided that it is worth it. Rex already has to commute an hour to his job and we've already discussed moving out there. I've really been applying many different places, in anything from clerical to air quality specialist. Air quality is what I really took to heart while doing my research for my thesis and I've always been very passionate about researching to help the general public improve their health and understanding of an atmospheric phenomena. I know Rex too, wants to be more of a nurse and though working at the meat factory he's gaining more experience (and bringing home free meat), he doesn't want to stay there. We actually think we might try to go back to Maryland, or at least Rex go back to Maryland to start. His old job at the hotel said they'd be more than happy to have him back. His condition with his anxiety has gotten better too. He still has a few symptoms but they are becoming more in control.

We know we'll get more on a straighter path eventually. We are so forever thankful of our friends and family who have helped us. It's tough but we'll make it, together.