Jen Playing House: Life Lately

I feel like life is changing around me so fast! We originally planned to stay here in Spokane until after Thanksgiving at least. But Matt's job hasn't been going as well as we had hoped and we are worried about possibly trying to get back to Rexburg while it's snowing. So after prayer and weighing the pros and cons we decided we would go back as soon as we could find an apartment thinking that surely nothing we were looking at would be available for at least a month. We have had our names on the waiting list for a subsidized complex in Rexburg since July but I recently found one in Rigby that had bigger 2 and 3 bedrooms for around the same price and we applied and got our names on that waiting list about a few weeks ago. I decided to try them first because they were my first choice and the day I called she said they had a 3 bedroom available immediately! I couldn't believe it, I didn't even know what to say to her and I am sure I sounded like an idiot. But after talking with Matt we took it as a sign that going back as soon as possible was the right thing to do for our family right now. However, they weren't going to pro-rate October's rent for us even though we would only be there for about a week and a half of it, so we set our move-in date for November 1st. I am really glad we were able to find exactly what we were looking for so quickly, we are truly blessed. I am also glad that we are waiting to leave until after Alexis' birthday and after Halloween since I really wanted to at least celebrate those two things with my family.

{Floor plan for our new apartment in Rigby}

Besides moving (again) the girls are both growing up so fast so I thought I would do a little update on them. Alexis will be a big ONE year old this Saturday! She is so fun and we have had a wonderful year with her. She just finally got her first tooth a couple weeks ago but having no teeth has not stopped her from eating anything and everything we will give her for the past couple months. She is not picky and I am so happy about that! She eats better than Regan most of the time. She's also learning some sign language, she can say "more" and "all done" and she has started saying "cheese" with a goofy grin when we point a camera at her and she loves to say "uh-oh" but usually she only manages to get out the "uh." It is so fun watching her learn and pick up on things. She loves her big sister, even though most of the time Regan just tries to annoy her. But when Regan is taking a nap it is really hard to keep Alexis out of the room because she just wants to go in and play with her sister! She isn't walking yet but she is a really fast crawler, walks along furniture, and we just got a push toy that she walks with really well so I think she will probably walk within the next month which is when Regan walked. She is a happy and fun little baby girl and we love her so much!

{Alexis saying "cheese!" and showing off her big girl pig tails.}

Regan is definitely a two-year-old. She is pretty defiant sometimes and doesn't always like to listen, but for the most part she is a very good and sweet girl. She is really smart too, I bought her a big pre-school workbook to do with her and she is learning her shapes and colors and how to trace things. She's also started singing the ABC's but just says random letters and she tries to count to 10 but it always goes something like "1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 4, 8, 10, 4!" She refuses to learn that 3 comes after 2 no matter how many times we tell her, it's always "1, 2, 4." She loves to dance as much as ever and just keeps getting better so I really hope to get her in a dance class when she turns 3. She is excited for her baby brother, I think she understands pretty well that there is a baby brother in my belly even though she has no concept of time so she likes to say he is coming out in just a couple minutes or weeks. Also, every time she is telling us about something she did she says it was "last night." She is really starting to say funny things all the time, I am going to have to start writing them down! The last big thing I want to write about Regan is that she got her first haircut a couple weeks ago! She did so good and I am really glad I decided to give her bangs so now her hair isn't in her face all the time, and she looks so cute and grown-up! She's a funny and spunky little girl and is so loving, we are so lucky to have her and so are her little siblings!