Busy, busy, busy

Life around here has been pretty crazy lately. I started back to work for 2 1/2 days a week this past Monday. It's a big change, but I'm super excited about it. I'm working at the Umass Five College Credit Union. I worked there for about 4 1/2 years before I moved to Wyoming. A lot of the people that I worked with then are still there, so it's not too huge an adjustment. It's so exciting to get out into the "real" world for a couple of days a week and have contact with other adults! I love my daughter, but it's still nice to have this opportunity. Isabel will be spending Thursdays and Fridays with my parents and on Saturday mornings she will have special daddy and daughter time. I'm so grateful to my parents for offering to watch her, otherwise we couldn't afford for me to work at all. They are such a huge help! This past week I worked on Monday and Tuesday attending training sessions and I'll start my real schedule this next week. Of course everything didn't go completely smoothly to start. Isabel came down with a fever, about 101, on Monday, which luckily was fixed with some Tylenol and I didn't need to leave work at all. Then on Tuesday I was sick in the afternoon and had to leave early. Not the best start to my new job, but hopefully next week will be better!

I've just got a few recent pics of Isabel to post here. This first one is from a night recently where she was pretending to be a superhero with a cape around her neck, actually an old pillow case. Not really sure where she picked this idea up from, amazing how their little minds just absorb the strangest stuff! Pretty cute watching her run around the living room with her hands above her head making zooming noises. Up, up, and away!

This is Isabel's favorite new toy. I had been thinking about getting something like this for her birthday. She really enjoys drawing and makes tons of messes with her crayons and paper all over the place. I had looked around a bit at prices, then I saw one outside a house down the street that is up for sale. I sent Jason down to inquire if it was for sale or free and he came home with it for free! I cleaned it up and now Isabel draws on it everyday! Of course now I have to come up with another idea for birthday presents! :) I can't believe that she'll be 2 in less than 2 weeks!
Here she is so thrilled with her new easel. I can't get over how grown up my baby is getting! She's still pretty tiny, but she seems to have gotten heavier lately and she's definitely gotten taller recently. She's starting to outgrow her summer clothes and we had to go buy some new Fall clothes for her since none from last year fit. At least she manages to wear the same size for a whole season so I don't have to buy all new clothes halfway through. But she's always stuck in some pretty funny outfits when the seasons change until I manage to get her some new stuff. We had a stretch of cooler weather last week and she wore tights and skirts for a few days because she had no pants that fit. She was thrilled, she absolutely loves her striped tights and even insisted on wearing them to bed one night. She is such an independent little soul, a very strong-willed little girl. I really love this age. She is completely exasperating at times and challenging, but seeing her creativity and personality and watching her explore her world is so amazing! Plus, it's really nice to go back to work and have the chance to miss her a bit, makes me appreciate even more that I get to stay home with her most days! :)