Greg and I just got a reservation on an apartment in Virginia. I am SO excited!!! All that needs to happen is a background check or whatever they do and it will be a done deal! I'm soooo excited. One less thing to worry about. One BIG thing. I have been stressing about it. I have been thinking nonstop about EVERYTHING. And now that's one thing I don't have to think about. It was SUCH a stress looking at craigslist and trying to figure out locations and comparing different townhouses. Then two days ago we decided to try the apartment route and suddenly everything became easy. I was so sure we'd have to live in a dump and CRAM in, but it's actually going to be just fine. We figured we can afford a 3 bedroom/2 bath and the whole complex actually looks quite nice. So I'm happy. The ONLY thing I'm worried about is the smell of smoke. Since we can't physically BE THERE we just have to go on faith. I will just hope for the best and be prepared to constantly light candles. It's weird, already the smallest of details have been different. Like, over on the west (at least in Oregon) apartments only have washer/dryer hookups, but you have to provide your own machines. Over there it's all included. They thought it was really weird when we asked. Here everyone smokes outside their living area and now I'm thinking, "What's the culture over there?" Does everyone smoke inside? But however it is, it just is and I will have to deal with it if it's not so fabulous. Anyway. I will just pray that we don't have to deal with overwhelming smoke smell.

Scarlet has been super fun and super not fun lately. It just depends on the moment. As for the fun- she is talking and learning words like crazy. It's absolutely insane. She's got her animals and even their sounds down pretty well. Now that we realize how quickly she learns we've been trying to teach her more, where as before she just sort did it all on her own. It's funny to me that we've finally become those parents that understand what there kid is saying when it sound like nonsense to everyone else. It cracks me up. It seems like everyday she says something and Greg and I look at each other, thinking, "Ok, that's a new word. What is she saying?" And if we figure it out I'm like, "Sweet! Lelela means Cinderella!" But we just as often don't figure it out. But it always feels good when we do.

She LOVES bubbles and requests them all the time. It's pretty cute, she gets SO excited. For the first time, as I'm typing, she's using a spoon. She's never requested to feed herself before and I was really happy about it, and then Greg just gave her a spoon and apple sauce and she was pretty psyched about it. She has repeated the experience 3 times within a few hours. She can't get enough. And it really wasn't too messy. She was more dipping the spoon than scooping.

She is LOVING to play the piano and also requests that everyday. It's pretty exciting because she is literally playing with her FINGERS instead of slapping down on the keys like most little kids. So I'm pretty excited about that. It is really cute because she is constantly turning the pages of what's on the piano, while she's playing. And she seems to be playing for longer stretches each day. She loves music and dancing so much and is just so dang EXPRESSIVE. All these things, everyday, and I just think, "Man! I see myself in you." And I think it's really exciting. Even her unfortunate mood swings are very much a trait of her mother's. But they HAVE improved with age.

She has gotten really good at prayers lately! For a long while now, she's been bowing her head when we say it's time to pray, but lately she does pretty well at folding her arms and sometimes saying Amen (I mean honestly, it sounds nothing like amen, but that's what she's saying.) 90% of the time we have to tell her to say it at the end and as soon as we START the prayer, the head comes up and she starts eating or even talking- but hey, I think it's a really good start for a one year old and I'm pretty dang thrilled about it.

She has been such a little bugger lately!!! Oh my gosh. Today, she's done a lot better, but the last week it's been constant fits. It makes me think her terrible twos have come extremely early, but maybe I underestimate that stage. I certainly hope not. But it's like someone has taken over her body! She just doesn't behave that way! And now it's a daily if not HOURLY thing. Oh man. I suppose we have been overly occupied with everything that needs to get done between now and the move, so she's probably lacking in attention. It's not CRYING. It's this incredibly LOUD, WHINEY yell. It's horrible. First thing in the morning, after her breakfast, as I'm trying to eat MY breakfast- every single day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. It has caused ME to yell too, which wasn't ever a problem with me before. I hate that I find myself hypocritically yelling, "SCARLET!!!! STOP YELLING!!!!!" Oh man, that one comes out a lot. It is so hard to keep patient sometimes.

My chocolate consumption is increasing everyday. I have almost no motivation to stop it. As long as I'm not as bad as I was, I'm ok. But I might be there in a couple weeks if I'm not careful. I did so good for so long!

That's the latest. I am SOOO excited for our new apartment! I am SOOOO excited for our new baby! Bye!