On to the Next Stage of Life

As I celebrate the arrival of my good friend Jaynee's sweet little princess, I have begun to ponder how we are beginning a new stage in our family. Lane and I sat with Frank, Jaynee and Khloe for a little while Sunday, it really hit us. They are at the beginning, and we have moved on from the baby stage. Although she is a gorgeous little one, and I love holding her. I am not envious, nor do I feel the yearning for another. Lane and I bought our last box of diapers last month. Owen is in preschool, Hayden is in first grade and Lizzie is beginning Middle School. Life is changing. Normally I am not big on change but these are good changes.

Camden is almost completely potty trained. I know we will have an occasional accident, but he is doing very well. I think he misses his diapers. Every now and then he will ask for one, but then we let him pick out a new pair of underpants to put on instead. He is the cutest little guy, but now he looks even older with out his diaper bulge.

Owen is still in preschool, I am happy to say he is staying at Wolff for the time being. (We'll see how the progress goes.) The big change for Owen is he is learning to ride a bike. He has been riding it throughout the house. This is a great thing considering yesterday he was flat down again with a fever and the horrible cough he has.

My sweet little Hayden is starting first grade. For the past three years, we have had half day school. He is getting a little nervous about starting first grade. He picked out his backpack. A very cool Bumblebee Transformers backpack. And after about 6 stores, I found a lunchbox that matched. This is something I am very weird about. They have to match. He keeps reminding himself that Carter and Kiley are in his class next year and that seems to be calming him. He is also looking forward to the new bigger "park" (playground). I know he has a wonderful teacher who will be great with him, so I know he will be just fine. Not to mention starting on the 10th of Sept, until track break, I am there too. Then off and on. It is my home away from home. Camden thinks he has free reign of the school.

Then we move onto our biggest change... Lizzie goes to middle school. Okay, so not ready for this one. Although she is crazy about the Jonas Brothers and has had a crush on a boy from another Ward in our Stake, she is not a Middle Schooler. I don't want her to be a middle schooler. She is back to being my sweet, innocent beautiful little girl. She had a rough time a few months ago, but realized her personality changed when she started hanging around a couple of girls. She moved on to a great group. She is really looking forward to tennis with Amaya and Tessa. Her best friend Macy and her compliment each other so well. She has a few other really good friends. They are just down to earth GOOD GIRLS. I know she will be fine in middle school. But it did seem weird to watch Lane and her walk out of the huge school.
So life is changing. I am so happy to be home and able to watch it change. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to subbing also. The greatest part of that is it is as much as I want. I can still be a mom... I am more organized as a working mom, so I think this will the best of both worlds for me. So as this Barlow Family progresses on to new adventures, I can't help but think of how lucky I am to have such a loving family to set off with.