Much happens

1) Things are good in Portland again: Having established 2 weeks ago that of 3 possible opportunities, mine was the "least strategic", I took the fall and let my client down. By the end of last week, a stunning series of events wound up occurring, and in the end, BOTH other opportunities were lost, and I got my guy again. And happily, the client was more than forgiving and completely willing to give us another chance. So he's starting out in Portland next week, and what's even better is that this episode has helped trigger some internal changes to the client and lo, they WILL be a more strategic partner in the long run.

So I was dancing a happy dance. Add to this, I'm finally getting emails back from prospects who had let my inquiries fall into the gutter for months - apparently if you call or email enough times (in a polite way - not daily or anything), then you pass some sort of "persistence test" - If after 5 months this guy is still calling, he must be legit? At any rate, it's nice. I'm still liking my work.

2) I came home tonight to find both children with distinctive markings: Isaac has a shiner from falling on the floor, and Bella has bright pink sunburnt cheeks and nose from being at the pool all day (despite a generous slathering of sunblock of course!!!) They were both exhausted by their respective days, and we started bedtime at 7 for both! Bella's face glistened with moisturizer by the light of her nightlight turtle. She was reduced to tears tonight when a sheet of stickers weren't sticky ENOUGH and started to peel off of the paper she was working on. That took a good 30 minutes to pry her off the ceiling. Hence the early bedtime.

3) Isaac has some more teeth coming in, combined with yet another language leap: We've taken a step backwards on his "solid food eating adventure" and have had more wakeups, some just for cuddles with heaving sobs which break our hearts - he must be having lots of dreams he's processing. His words are developing too - "Stuck", "Bite", "Pizza", and a lot of words that have deep meaning to him, but no meaning to us, leading to lots of crying fits, which are sad but also hilarious: It's as if he has watched old movies of how people "wail" - he grabs his head and cries "NO NO NO!", he sinks to his knees and shakes his fists at the heavens (or us, I suppose), he flops face down and pounds the ground. Oh, this boy is a DIVA.

4) We've destroyed yet another camera (2 years this time) and have gone for another Canon Elph, and I'm deeply in love. Bella can't keep her hands off of it either, and there have already been dozens of "art photos" taken around the house (close ups of toys are a favorite). That girl loves the pictures.

5) Oh yeah we did a ton of stuff all weekend and I barely recall all of it. Bella's Birth Family, neighborhood Progressive Dinner, Breakfast out with friends, Isaac's swimming class... it was all there.