3 Months Later

So, it just occurred to me that we had been in Denver for exactly three months on Christmas Day! Huh. On the one hand it feels like we've been here for much longer, and on the other, it feels like we just arrived yesterday. So I thought this would be a good time to do a recap of the last couple of months - sort of an update to the 31 days series, if you will. :)



Apartment

I'm still loving our apartment. Scratch that, we are all still loving the apartment. We've settled in, I'm even getting things pretty organized, and we have so far succeeded in not filling up every nook and cranny in this place. Score! I'm trying to find the right balance between making this apartment comfortable and homey, and not investing too much time or energy into all of it since we will most likely be moving this spring. We have plans to buy a house in the next three months or so, if everything goes according to plan. Which it never does, right? :) But knowing that we won't be here for a long time is tempering my obsessiveness over getting every single detail right.

As far as apartment living, it has its pluses and minuses, like anything else. The neighbors downstairs are not a fan of Javi's head banging (understandably) and that can be stressful. Coming home at the end of a long night and not having a parking space is a first world problem but it's frustrating nonetheless. But - we love the simplicity of a finished home, on call maintenance, and watching our kids' relationship blossom as they share a room. So overall it's a win in my book.



The Kids

Javi struggled a bit in the beginning with all of the changes. He asked after his Poppa, Nana, cousins and friends constantly for the first few weeks. He had trouble sleeping and tested every rule and boundary we had ever set. But he quickly settled down as we found a new routine, some classes for him to have kid time, and lots of conversations about our new home. He's doing great now, and man, does that kid have an imagination! I wonder where he got that from? :)

Keilana is growing intellectually and developmentally, but not really physically. It's why we call her Peanut! She's sixteen months old and finally (mostly) fits into 12 month clothes. She loves her brother and is adding more words to her vocabulary every day.

They both seem to really enjoy sharing a room. I'll do a complete post on it in the future, but for now I'll just say that they usually spend 15-30min giggling, chatting, playing or growling at each other once we put them to bed at night, and then they settle down and sleep well. Usually. :)



(at our Life Group Christmas party, dressed as Sheldon and Amy)
Lover and I

Lover loves his new job, and more specifically the culture there. They are laid back, trusting and easygoing, which just makes it so nice of an environment to be in everyday! I've noticed a huge decrease in his stress level, which has been awesome. He's sleeping better here, working less hours, and has a lot more energy for everything. It was a great change for him.

I'm starting to round the corner of the first trimester exhaustion and nausea, so I'm feeling more like myself everyday. I'm loving the smaller and easier to clean home, the lack of busyness in our lives, and I'm so excited about the little one that will join our family next summer. There are days that I really miss everyone in NY, but we are working hard to develop good relationships here so that we feel as connected here as we did in Rochester. I joined a fantastic MOPS group and I look forward to those meetings so much.

Now that we've met more people and know some people we can trust, I'm hoping Lover and I can get back to semi-regular date nights. We miss our weekly date nights very much!

(Christmas cards from friends old and new!)

Community

This is the big one that we are focusing on this year. It's been awesome to have so much time together as a family, and a few months to really kick back, relax and recharge, but now we are charged up and ready to go! :)

We found a fantastic church during our first few weeks here. I shouldn't say that. God DROPPED this church in our laps. And we love it. The kids are happy there, my MOPS group is based there so we are starting to recognize faces, and the church family itself is so welcoming, friendly and Jesus-loving. :) They are a hugely international and missions minded church, which you know we love, so we are excited to get involved this year, make some connections, and get to serving again! We've also joined a life group that is all young families like ours, which has been a great source of fellowship and community.


Denver

Denver is still awesome. Like, way awesome. :) I still can't get over the sunshine or the mountains. The wildlife. The laid back atmosphere of the people here. I have a list a mile long of places to explore as we have the time. And that's just in and around Denver! Then we're 6-9 hours from lots of other cool places like Mount Rushmore, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, NM and so much more. I'm confident we'll spend at least the next decade exploring, if not longer.

So - there you have it. A little update on where we are and what life is like these days. We've got a lot of exciting things coming up in 2015 - a baby! a house! an international trip! family visiting! As well as lots of unknown things that are sure to be awesome. :) So here's to a great year!