Ch Ch Changes . . .

Dan's first day back to work is today. I'm excited and nervous. I'm excited that he is doing so well. I'm excited to get things "back to normal." I'm nervous because I'm not sure I remember what normal is. I've been on survival mode for over a year now & I'm not sure how to function in normal mode anymore. I'll figure it out, I know. I'm also sure that once I get things down again it'll all change. Such is life.

So a little update on Isabelle's friend situation. As I have dropped off and picked Isabelle up I've started connecting names with faces. Alyssa likes Isabelle again. As Isabelle put it "she like me, she gives me hugs." Naomi even likes Isabelle now. She came up to me this morning to tell me she liked my baby (Claire) before running off to play with Isabelle. Plus she still plays with Skye (who I still haven't seen yet) and Frankie (who is absolutely adorable). I also got to see Christian yesterday too. He looks like a miniature version of Dan. The brown hair, the glasses, the face and build. She has good taste - we are so in trouble. The proofs of her school pictures came in too. I have no idea what they did to my little girl, but she looks ticked off. Isabelle loves the camera, loves getting her picture taken. She loves to pose & is a total ham. Whatever they did - it was bad. The pictures were awful.

Maddy is potty training and doing very well. She's very independent though. We were at my cousin's wedding last week - absolutely fabulous, the girls were in these adorable tutu's and wings - and once Maddy knew where the restroom was that was it. She'd take off whenever she needed to go. Here's the problem - she didn't tell any of us that she had to go, she'd just start running off. So like a good mommy I'd chase after her - but she can squeeze between chairs and duck under tables while I had Claire strapped to my front. My girls are growing up so fast.

Now me I guess. I've done all of the requirements for a leader to get my personal progress award. I have my interview with the bishop on Tuesday & hope to get it on the 24th (my birthday). Still through it all there's my mom's voice in the back of my mind saying "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right." That's one thing that has always stuck with me from my mom. I never had the chance to do the full requirements so even though I don't *have* to, I am. I'm halfway through my final value project and then I will be done. DONE. With ALL requirements. I hope to have it done by Tuesday. I'm excited.

Claire is going through a change herself - one from disposables diapers to cloth. Nothing against disposables, I was surprised with my decision to change too. She was just getting irritation on her inner thighs no matter what brand we put her in and I learned how to do cloth as inexpensively as I do disposables. It also helps that I have wonderful friends (plug for sweetbabybottoms.com) that helped me with my starter stash. We started at 9pm last night & have been trying different kinds all day. I'm learning what I like and what works for her. It's been super easy. Some of what would be her more *ahem* difficult diapers changes were actually easier than they normally were with disposables. I do like some of the pricer diapers, but I'm keeping it simple for now. Hopefully I can convince Dan that nice diapers are a good Christmas present for a 10 month old.

That's all for now. Maybe when things settle down (ha ha ha) I'll post some pictures. I know they are way overdue.