It's been a while. I enjoy blogging, but sometimes it takes SO STINKING LONG to get a post published. I spend a decent amount of time thinking of what to write about and mentally mapping it out, then at least an hour writing (often scrapping what I started and trying again).  Choosing and editing the photos takes another 15-30 minutes, and then I have Stephen read over the post to make sure it makes sense. Once he's given it the green light,  I read it and reread it to make sure I like it and THEN I publish it. It can be scary to put something out there on the internet for anyone and everyone to read with your name and picture attached to it, so it's not something I take lightly.

But I read a quote recently that said, "To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing" and it really resonated with me. 90% of the people who read this blog are friends and family so it's not that I'm so worried about cyber-bullies or people attacking me because of what I write on here, but it is still always in the back of my mind. Reading that quote helped me realize that I need to stop stressing so much and just write.

So in this post, I'm just going to write. I'm not going to worry about if it flows or it's interesting or if people will care about what I have to say, because the real reason I write on this blog is to keep track of life in the day-to-day, so that's what I'm gonna do, in a very causal stream-of-conscious kind of way...

WE MOVED! We are officially in our own apartment now. We are so grateful to my aunt and uncle who let us stay with them for the summer! We are now, however, in our own space and it feels WEIRD! Well, in the sense that it feels very adult. Obviously we should feel like adults because we're 25 and we have a child...but nothing has made me feel more like an adult than moving into this apartment (is that weird that moving into this apartment has made me feel more like an adult than having a baby?).  It's filled with the very few furnishings that we have, and we pay rent to someone other than my parents (haha) AND we have the utilities in our name! I've never had utilities in my own name before so that part feels extra adult-ish.

As for the furnishings...we have a bed, and a pack-n-play for Lydia and two barstools and a highchair! I really don't mind using a cardboard box as a nightstand (I made sure we saved two boxes of the same size so we could at least have a symmetrical look going haha) and we don't need a kitchen table any time soon because we have a bar, but I'm starting to go a little crazy without a couch! Couches are expensive, man! We thought we found one on KSL but they had to back out because the person who had put an offer on their house backed out...so we still have no couch. Boo. I need to redouble my efforts in scouring KSL, I'm just still in mourning over the couch that could have been.

Also, our apartment is big! I mean, it's no penthouse, but it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a walk-in closet and COUNTERSPACE. The fact that it is two bedrooms is the biggest change though because for the first time since Lydia was born, she has her own room! Which means we no longer have the need to whisper 100% of the time we're in our room and we can even turn the lights in the evening which is just so different from how our life has been for the last ten months, haha.

SPEAKING of Lydia. She will be turning ONE in a month and half. WHAT. It's so funny because before I had Lydia I would look at one-year-olds who couldn't walk and couldn't talk and I would think, "What the heck. That kid is one and can't even do anything. That must have been a long year for those parents!" And now I am actually laughing at myself for thinking such a hilarious thing. Lydia can't walk or talk yet (although I am curious to see where she is on both accounts in 7 weeks...) but she can DO SO MUCH. It's scary. And it's amazing how much she understands, too. To think that just a year ago she didn't even know that her hands were part of her body!?!?! Life is amazing. Babies are amazing. And Lydia has been uncharacteristically cuddly this past week which has been amazing, and caused me to hope she will stay a baby forever.

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han.