Newborn Ellie

My friend Freya did it again. This girl, you guys, is the best. Freya I love you! I was looking through old posts and I remembered that I hadn't posted Ellie's newborn pictures! Aren't these pictures adorable? I wanted Ellie's pictures to be in a natural setting. I do like all the pearls and big tutu's but there is just something so sweet about a baby, on a big bed, all alone. Just squishy in her own nature. I swear I must have blinked too long because it is hard for me to remember this newborn. It hasn't even been 4 months. My little squish is now a big squish!

Brinley's first Primary talk

My girl Brinley gave her first talk in Primary. She helped me write her talk and we practiced many times before Sunday. She was so excited to give it! This girl doesn't have too much fear about speaking in public. Side story- (In December, she followed Ryan up to the pulpit on Fast and Testimony meeting and goes, "Hey, it's me. Brinley." WE DIED. This girl is so funny!). Back to Primary, she got right up there and started saying her talk by memory! She said, "In the premortal life..." even before I could whisper it into her ear. Having your oldest in Primary automatically puts you into the big leagues of parenthood. We are just at the brink of all the wonderful experiences she is going to have from Primary. The friendships she is going to make. The songs she is going to learn. and her Testimony is just starting to blossom. I am so grateful for the Primary program!

In the premortal life, we lived with our Heavenly Father. He loves each of us. Because of his love, he provided a plan to help us grow. We were so excited about the plan, we all shouted for joy. Jesus said he would come to earth and be our Savior. He would help us by setting a perfect example and by teaching us. Heavenly Father's plan makes us happy. We will be able to live with Him again someday. I say these things, in Jesus' name, amen.

WO: 2 months recap

My weekly working out posts have definitely settled down. and I don't think you're really interested in a weekly update anyways...But the past few weeks have been full of sporadic work outs that I don't think a whole post is necessary.

I have averaged 2-3 days a week at the gym and it definitely varies on time, and day. I wish I had a consistent time everyday to run.

The idea of working out before Ryan leaves for school/work (he leaves at 7:15am) kind of paralyzes me. Yes, Ellie sleeps 6-7 hours at a time. But, that means she wakes up sometimes at 3am. and then some nights she doesn't sleep the 6-7 hour stretch and she, and I are up every 3 hours. And some days, Brinley wakes up because of growing pains. You catch my drift. AM work outs don't work for me. Most days, Ryan doesn't get home until 5:30pm. add dinner and bedtime, and we don't stop moving until 8pm. Motivation after all that is always absent and I'd rather lounge on the couch while Ryan studies besides me.

I haven't lost any weight since my first weigh-in, but I think my stomach (ahem, pooch) has gone down. I am still having the post-baby body issues, and who knows if that ever goes away, but it is hard. It is soooo hard. My baby weight with Brinley fell off by this point and I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans and feeling really good about myself. Now, I almost cried when I had to buy new jeans to fit my body right now. Cried because I buttoned some jeans without a fight. And also cried because I have a long way to go.

As long as I am nursing, the weight isn't going anywhere. I have the appetite of a 17-yr-old boy. I could eat all. the. time. I am hungry all. the. time. It gets annoying sometimes. Granted, it is pretty awesome that I still basically get to eat whatever I want and don't gain anything, but still...the whole feeling of dieting, working out, and seeing results is so gratifying. But so is seeing the chub on Ellie's arms and legs. Knowing that my mama milk is doing what it is supposed to is a great feeling.

first time getting to 3 miles!

ran a 5k!

sporting my new Nike tights

Ryan really pushes me to get over to the gym and I am so grateful for that. I dash out of the door the moment he comes home and when Ellie has been fed. Someone is usually crying when I leave, but Ryan gives me the reassuring look that tells me "I've got this, go run." Almost every time I am 5 minutes to go in my run, I get a text, "she's losing it" or "are you almost done?" Now I expect those texts, so I try and run faster to get to 3 miles. I am so appreciative of those moments when I can work out, alone, and have time to think. Sweating feels so good! Who knows if I am building any endurance because my work outs are so random, but it sure feels good to get out of the house and burn some cals. Only to then stuff my face the moment I get home to replenish them! 

I know my goals of losing 20 lbs by May was lofty. I realize that now after finding out how hard it is of a Mom of 2 to get to the gym everyday. Losing weight means cutting calories, and I just can't do that right now as long as I'm nursing. My biggest goal is to feel good about myself right now in this awkward saggy belly body. That is an everyday struggle. I feel like the skin above my c-section incision is dead. Maybe it is the nerves that were damaged, but who knows if that skin will ever tighten up. 

Thanks for all the motivation! It is amazing how good it feels to have my cheerleaders scattered across the country rooting me on every step of the way. I am going to try and post a monthly update since my weekly updates are full of randomness and excuses why I didn't work out. 

Ginger

I have noticed that people look at us a lot when we go out. I thought for sure it was because I was a sweating, struggling Mom trying to juggle 2 kids. But no. Miss Ellie catches everyones eye because of her hair. I have heard so many ohhhs and ahhhs over her hair. What is even better is that those fellow red heads come out of no where to look at her hair and talk about how red her hair is and where it comes from. It makes me laugh so hard! She is such a cutie pie and I can't believe her hair somedays. I really hope she keeps the red, but we are already noticing it falling out on the sides (just how Brinley's did) and of course the bald spot on the back of her head. Sometimes the light catches it just right and it reminds me of either a forest fire, a carrot, or Anne with an E from Anne of Green Gables.  I have only heard one carrot top reference and I almost went into defensive mama bear mode. I am sure it is the first of many, unfortunately. And if that is true, I sure hope Ellie is as feisty as Anne.  

please tell me you grew up watching Anne of Green Gables too? 

linking up with Lindsay @ Hello Hue

Stuart, Florida

You may be wondering, where in south Florida?

The firm is in Stuart, FL. Just north of West Palm Beach. Unfortunately, it adds 2 more hours onto our drive to get to Charlotte, NC, but it is still doable. When we met my mom half way just outside of Jacksonville, the girls and I officially did our first Stuart to Charlotte drive. Granted, we didn't get into Charlotte until about 9pm because of the late start we had pulling out of Stuart, but the girls did amazing. You definitely feel those last 2 hours when you're used to driving only 8.

zoomed in

south Florida. about 2 hours north of Miami.

state of Florida. Hello Bahamas next to us :-) and the top of the Keys are only 3 hours away.

Stuart is surrounded by water. There are canals everywhere. When we went down before Christmas, the firm put us up on Hutchinson Island. It hugs up and down the coastline and it is so beautiful. Palm trees everywhere. I am trying to embrace it being "summer" weather every day basically of the year. And the humidity. and sweating. but there are benefits to it as well! 

I had a hard time in Tallahassee because I just couldn't let go of my clothes. Growing up in Seattle, I am just used to wearing my fall wardrobe (scarves, boots, coats, oh my!). I just need to get some new shorts, short sleeve tops, and cute sandals other than my rainbows to really feel at home. Yes, the AC will be on almost every day of the year, but hey....it is called the Sunshine State for a reason! We are happy to be in a beautiful vacation spot and we are happy to call it home.

This past weekend, we made a trip down to look more in the area and to possibly narrow down a place where we will live. We plan on renting for another 2-5 years depending on how fast we can get into a house. We had fun driving around and checking out some different complexes. We met up with 2 partners from the firm for dinner and it was so much fun. I asked them plenty of questions regarding alligators, hurricanes, Burmese pythons, and the weather. They all rolled their eyes about alligators and snakes coming for me, but as for the hurricanes, it is always a possibility and we need to be prepared. They all raved about the area and it just got us more and more excited to get down there and start life!

Here is our weekend in iphone pictures:

diva in her sunnies

lunch at Pei Wei

mommy smooches

Big E holding onto her rings

Park time! Brinley wasn't too sure about all the sand.

Ellie wasn't too sure about the hot weather.

her face. her arm rolls. delish!

cute girl!

 the little squishhhhhhh! In her first swim suit!

chilling in the bathroom waiting for the girls to fall asleep

beach!!!

we were on this tiny strip of island where the ocean was on one side, and this channel/bay was on the other. That bridge in the distance takes you into Stuart.

We are kind of shocked that this will be our home in 4 months. We feel so blessed. Everything has worked out so smoothly, I only hope and pray our move will be just as smooth. But, knowing us and our track record of apartments, something will happen. Just praying it won't be the air conditioning going in and out all summer! Ryan takes the bar in mid July so until then, we will be stressed out and not seeing much of each other, but at least Brinley, Ellie, and I will have the beach to keep us company! Thank you for all your well wishes and congratulations! We are over the moon to be employed this quickly after graduation and to moving to such a beautiful place.

Guess what!?: we got a job!

Being in law school right now is a scary deal. and finding a job in this economy is scary for a lot of people. Especially when you have a 6 figure student loan to pay back. I have to first say, Ryan is the networking master. He is always going to school functions putting his name out there and meeting as many attorneys in the area that he can. I am so proud of him. He has no fear. He can talk to anyone. That's one of many reasons why he is going to be a slam dunk attorney.

Sometime in October, after Ellie was born, Ryan applied for some jobs through the schools placement office. You see, in law school, it depends on your class percentile for almost every job you want to apply for. There was a certain job Ryan was really interested in where he fell just outside their required percentile. But, he applied anyways. When you fall outside the range, the placement office contacts the employer directly, and they decide if they want to view their résumé. The said yes, and that was that!

A couple weeks later, Ryan got an email saying they wanted to interview him during the On Campus interview week (employers come to interview on campus and decide if they want a follow up). Ryan interviewed with a certain attorney from the firm and they hit it off. Ryan felt really comfortable and he said they talked about FSU football for a lot of the interview. He told Ryan that a lot of the time they think, "Could I be locked in an elevator with this person for a few hours and not want to poke my eyes out?" It is so true. Not only should a person have the qualifications, but to be personable is a huge deal. This firm had everything Ryan was looking for in a firm, and he felt great about the interview, but didn't hold his breath.

The school was holding a seminar thing where they had a few attorneys from the area come and give presentations. Ryan didn't think he was going to go, but last minute he snuck in the back and sat along the side of the classroom. He noticed the attorney that interviewed him was amongst the other attorney's that were going to speak. The attorney got up and introduced himself and said, "and I recognize a few of you guys here that I have interviewed. I see Ryan sitting over there" and pointed to him. Ryan kind of laughed but was also surprised that he remembered him and took the time to point him out! After the seminar, Ryan went up to him and reinforced his interest in the position and was hopeful to get the follow up interview.

The next day, he got an email that they were requesting him to drive down for a follow up interview! What!? We were so thrilled. But also nervous because the more we talked about this firm and the idea of moving, the more we liked it and we were afraid of not getting the job.

Two weeks later, Ryan drove down for the night and the next morning, he went into the firm for the day. Remember when Brinley got the 24 hour flu bug? That happened when Ryan was gone. It was super fun! Back to Ryan, his day was full of short interviews with a few of the partners he would be working with. I was SO anxious. It was a long time to wait without any updates! They told him that he was 1 of 6 going for the position. Ryan again felt super comfortable with the firm and he really liked what he would be doing.

We were SO anxious waiting the three weeks until we heard anything from the firm. Three weeks to the day, Ryan was going mad. We basically didn't talk about the job the entire three weeks and especially that day, I didn't say anything. Ryan felt that he needed to send an email to the attorney that interviewed him at FSU to see if someone had been offered the positon. He emailed back quickly and said no, email the partners to emphasize again your interest. So, he emailed the partners.

Within the hour, he got a call. It was the main partner of the firm. Ahhh! He didn't exactly offer Ryan the job on the phone, but he said they wanted to pursue Ryan. He kept saying that they wanted to bring the family down to meet us, see the area, and come into the firm. I couldn't believe it! They wanted us! It was an amazing feeling. I totally cried my eyes out after getting that phone call from Ryan. What a RELIEF!

We planned to go down that next week. They put us up in a swanky resort hotel right on the beach. It worked out that we would go down to south Florida, and then meet my mom half way the next day to continue on to Charlotte for Christmas break and Ryan would stay back to work the following week. We woke up at 4am and got on the road. It was a LONG day.

Jack along for the trip as well

We got to the resort around lunch time and Ryan got ready to go into the firm. Brinley and Ellie took a nap at the same time so I just hung out in the dark for a couple of hours dozing off and on. When they woke up, we went for a walk down to one of the canal docks.

nap time

lots of water!

dock!

pointing out some pelicans that were diving for fish!

bjorn and diaper backpack. I looked like a tourist!

smily! 

Around 5pm, I got a call from Ryan that he was on his way back with the offer in his hands! WHAT! A written offer. What we have been waiting for! One of the partners offered his daughter to watch Brinley while we went to dinner. It was so much fun. The babysitter was great with Brinley and we had a good time out to eat!

my dinner future-wife-of-an-attorney attire.

We went to this awesome restaurant on the canal and mingled with 4 other partners and their wives. We felt SO important! They were asking us so many questions and really want to get to know us. I was pretty stressed having Ellie with us, but they were all passing her around and gooing over her. Ellie started to get pretty angry and so I spent most of the night outside walking around with her. It was so nice and humid outside we enjoyed it.

every time I picked her up, she started to cry. 

just before she passed out on the couches outside

The main managing partner tracked me down and made sure that I was comfortable with the idea of moving here and living here. I couldn't believe how concerned he was about my feelings and not just going along with it just because Ryan was excited. Granted, a jobs a job, but everything about this firm just felt right. We were thrilled they even wanted to consider us, let alone want us!

victory!!

That night was kind of a blur, and over the next few days, Ryan read through the offer, and by Monday (dinner was Wednesday), we signed and mailed it back to the firm. So there you have it! Ryan graduates May 5th, and starts his new job May 20th! We will be moving sometime in between there :-)