MOST Change is Good

I have never been one that really invites change, but lately most of the changes that are happening in our lives are very welcome. We have been very busy lately, primarily running to and fro--but here are our changes--good and not so good.

Makayla gets her big girl bed with her big girl pillow. Makayla has finally figured out how to climb out of her crib. So, very reluctantly we changed her crib into a big girl bed. I am no longer able to enjoy keeping the girls in their room until 8-8:30 in the morning while I get ready. Makayla now graces us with her presence usually before 7:00 now. She has done pretty good with it, considering her new-found freedom.



My diet did it's job. I am now 20 lbs. lighter! Here are the before and after pictures.

Before:



After:


Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy. The 26 days of the actual diet wasn't too bad. Some days were harder than others, but the 3 week maintenance period and incorporating more "normal" foods (aka--wheat bread, yogurt, potatoes, etc) have been really hard to keep my weight in check. It has been pretty intense trying to keep my weight where it needs to be, but hopefully I am figuring things out and trying to not freak out if I go over a half a pound over my "allowed weight". I am running a 10K at the end of this month and I have found running a lot more enjoyable when I'm not carrying extra weight around. Would I do the diet again? Well, let's just say I REALLY hope I don't have to, but if I am desperate enough, I would consider it. Good change!

I can't post pictures yet of this next HUGE change. The beginning of September, Jeremy's parents came out to Arizona for a week and a half . And for that whole time we kept them busy with renovating our dining room. Poor Jerry and Jeremy worked 15-16-hour days knocking out walls and putting up new ones. Janet and I tried to keep the girls from getting in their way. Sometimes not so successful, Natalie decided to EAT the newly textured wall that Grandpa so perfectly mudded, TWICE. Then my brother, Nathan came and helped take down the popcorn ceiling in our living room. It has been a mess, but we are emerging. Hopefully soon we can post a picture of the after. We have baseboards, trim and odds and ends to finish. I love this new change!

On to other changes, not so good. Makayla becane a hair stylist. One morning after having her own hair trimmed by her aunt, Makayla decided she needed to try her luck with the scissors. Here's the run-down according to Jeremy--
"Where we used to be able to keep Makayla caged in on mornings when we wanted to sleep in, now she is free to roam the house when she wakes up. This is usually not a problem, since we usually get up before her, but not this Sunday morning when we were trying to catch a little extra sleep. For about an hour I was aware that she was awake and right outside our door pushing the buttons on her cell phone (an old one no longer connected to the network), which was set on speaker phone so the beeping was extra loud. After a while Jamie got up and took a shower and I heard Makayla go back into her room where Natalie was asleep. When she went in it woke up Natalie, which annoyed her and me, and I figured I would be having to get up soon, but then they both got quiet and I drifted off into a dream about dishwashers (really). Next thing I know I hear a blood-curdling scream coming from Natalie, so both Jamie and I hurry into their room. As I open the door I see Makayla sitting in Natalie's crib with a pair of scissors in her hands and Natalie screaming at the top of her lungs. My first thought was that Makayla had stabbed her in the eye with scissors, and that my child was going to be blind, but it looked like her eyes were okay, and I didn't see any blood on the scissors. I went over to Makayla and took the scissors from her and then took her out of Natalie's crib. I picked up Natalie to figure out what was wrong and was immediately covered in hair. Turns out Makayla decided to turn herself into a junior beautician and start by practicing on her sister. She also did a little practicing on herself. In the process she clipped Natalie's skin a few times, once on the neck and once behind her ear. Oh, and she also clipped Natalie's hair down to the scalp in several places and gave her "layers" in the back and on the sides of her head. She took out some of her own bangs and a few long locks from the back of her own head too. So now both of our girls have hair that is pretty amazing."




I am still not completely convinced that all change is good, but it keeps life interesting. One last change, my garden is now completely frozen and gone but here is a sample of the last thing we harvested. I hope they last until Halloween!