First Post-Baby Run

So I've been meaning to start back running since Sally was about six weeks old. I finally succeeded in going on my first post-baby run last night, only about, oh, two months later than planned. Woo yeah!

The trouble is lack of sleep and lack of time! Sally gets up to eat at 7:00 (never, ever at 5:30 like this morning... or 6:30 like yesterday morning). So I could go running right after I feed her and lay her back down, but I'm so exhausted that it's a struggle. But we're slowly trying to better organize our time, and Sally's becoming more manageable, so we actually went out and ran as a family last night. And I brought our camera to take pictures of the pretty horses on our run, but that never happened. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It's funny because my older sister told me that she didn't start back exercising until her first was four months old, and I chuckled to myself and thought I'd be different.

Anyway, it was a beautiful night — perfect weather, the smell of spring in the air. And we paused about halfway through to get some pictures together and of nature. But then Sally started crying and wouldn't be soothed for anything! It was almost her bed time and about 15 minutes past her feeding time. Sal don't mess around when it comes to getting fed on time. So next time I will make sure she's well fed before we go.

We ended up sprinting the last half mile to get her home as fast as possible, and she screamed at the top of her lungs the whole way. Lesson. learned.

Still, it felt great to exercise. Johnny said something like, "It's nice to feel my lungs stretch again." Since we haven't gone running since we lived in Boston, that's an understatement. We ended up going a mile and a half, and we'll slowly build up from there. My lower abs are the most sore today. Pregnancy really does a number on those muscles.

Favorite Evening Walk

Johnny and I love us some evening walks. It's one of our favorite warm weather activities. No matter where we've lived, it's been our thing. Our current neighborhood is rather cookie cutterish, and a full loop is only half a mile long. But don't fret! We crossed the street and found the most perfect place to walk. It's a dead end street with only a few homes, AKA no cars. And it's quiet and naturey with farms and horses to boot. It feels like we're going into a portal of nature when we enter it, and by the time we get back to our own street, we're back in the real world again. On most nights between the hours of six and seven during the summer, you can probably find us there!

Life Update

Well, Sally is 6.5 weeks old! I can't believe it. We're definitely still adjusting right now. She's been sleeping well at night, but the daytime is another story. She was a bit of a grump (understatement) yesterday and today and wanting to nurse every couple hours, so I'm guessing that she's going through a growth spurt.

We faced a major milestone last weekend --- we went out as a family! It was pretty great, actually. On Friday night we got Indian food. And on Saturday we got barbecue with some friends! And Sally slept through both meals, although I was holding her. And then on Monday we all went to Costco together. And Sally was great. We brought a bottle for her, and then I walked with her in the Bjorn. On Tuesday I went to my doctor with her all by myself, and she screamed almost the whole time. That was not so great, but baby steps, right? This week I've been giving her a bottle a couple feedings a day, but something terrible happened tonight: she refused it! Sally wanted the real thing or nothing. Noooooooooooooo. Hopefully it's just because she's extra grumpy because of her growth spurt. Time will tell.

And Johnny and me? Yes, we still exist. We are slowly figuring out how to have our own lives while still having a baby. Johnny's been super busy with work. I've started back cooking actual dinners and getting back my groove. The house is still a mess, but I'm learning to let some things go. And we make sure we get a couple hours each night hanging out sans baby once Sally is upstairs in her bassinet. We're getting excited making plans for this summer and deciding what trips we want to take. Sally is kind of all-consuming right now, but we're seeing glimpses of being able to have normalish lives again in a few months.

Well, I took some pictures for a possible announcement when Sal was two weeks old. HOWEVER, since we've yet to have time to order announcements, I am just going to take more photos of her next week. She already looks so much different now! So, here's an overload of Sally at two weeks, mostly for my remembering:

An Update

Tomorrow will mark one week in North Carolina. Before Johnny interviewed down here, neither of us had been to this state, and now we're residents!

• Monday night we signed the lease on our townhouse, and we move in September 1st. It couldn't be a more perfect place for what we were looking for. 
• Currently, we're in corporate housing, and Persie is getting used to all kinds of new sounds: the dishwasher, washer and dryer, and disposal. I don't think she likes any of them so far, but I sure do!
• My free time is spent looking for stuff for our new place! This has been my favorite part about moving. 
• Johnny and I will be getting NC licenses on Friday, and I just found out I will have to take the written test! I am notoriously bad at the written test. I have never been able to take it just once, if that tells you anything, which Johnny thinks is so funny.
• Central A/C has done wonders for my new found hot-naturedness. I was hating summertime in Boston, but I don't mind it at all down here!
• Johnny is already stressing about how he will watch the first BYU football game, since it's on the same day that we move in, and he wants to make sure the cable is already installed and ready! I love his priorities.
• Also, our new place will have a big kitchen with an island, and I am SO thrilled about fall baking! I'm such a cliche girl, but thinking about it makes me super excited.
• Johnny's already looking out for our little girl! I've told him I'm not supposed to sleep on my back now that I'm over 16 weeks along, and right before we fell asleep he said, "Make sure you don't sleep on your back tonight. I think you were doing it some last night." And it's true: despite my best efforts to sleep on my side, I sometimes move to my back without knowing while I sleep. What's to be done?
• Speaking of pregnancy, I'm at an incredibly frustrating in between stage clotheswise. None of my old pants fit. I've been claiming that for a while, but now it's actually true. And me wearing maternity right now is a bit of a joke. So I'm currently wearing black tights everywhere.
• Also, I had never had heartburn before being pregnant. It's the worst thing ever. To all the men out there who have it regularly, I feel for you. No more chips and salsa for me until baby is out of my belly.
• Lastly, and most importantly, Johnny loves his new job so far! He has had only good things to say. It's so nice to see him loving his work!

Well, that got lengthy really fast. All is well here, and we feel so grateful for how everything is working out right now. We know we're in the right place for this stage of our lives, and that's a really good feeling. 

Our Lives Summarized

January has almost come and gone. I can't believe how fast time is flying. Johnny has been super busy with work, and I think it will only get busier from here on out. The poor boy has barely had a chance to play his new PS3. I have been extremely busy with work lately as well. Both of us are working nonstop it seems.

Lately Johnny has been making me laugh a lot with some of the things he says. For instance:

"Jo, you cleaned the fridge! It's so clean!" "No, Johnny, we just don't have any food right now."

He's also come to me with his musings on girls and their obsession with lotion and makeup. He has strong opinions on both apparently. I really enjoy living with a boy. We are so different, which means constant entertainment.

We've had one day of snow up here in Boston, but for the most part it's been very mild. Johnny gave me the idea earlier this week to go running along the water. All I wore were capris and a short sleeve shirt---in January. It was so great.

Both of us have been sick for the past week or so. Johnny got sick first and then gave it to me. It's just the inevitable winter cold that seems to come once a year. We recently got asked to serve in nursery at our church. I felt bad for laughing when they asked us, but it's kind of a joke now how long Johnny and I have been nursery workers. What can I say? I guess we need plenty of practice for parenthood.

Well, I hope to better document our lives in February. But so far 2012 has been good to us. Despite the loads of work hanging over us, we're very happy. It makes each moment we spend together all the better.

Thoughts and Persie

I cannot believe it's November! Time has been flying. I absolutely love this time of year---I know, super original. Seriously, though, I get so excited when this time of year rolls around. Before I get to the meat of this post, here are some pictures I never got to share of Persie. As we packed up our NYC apartment, it was as if we were creating all the chaos just for her---an obstacle course of sorts. I would find her in all kinds of places:

Johnny and I are really loving Boston. I can tell Johnny loves his job. He is still doing copywriting, but of a different kind than he did at DDB. He is working for a major political campaign based here in Boston. It is fast paced and high stress at times, but he really enjoys it.

Being out here feels so natural and right. I can't get over what a beautiful city Boston is. As I've finally begun exploring, I have been shocked by how unique and charming each neighborhood is. So many areas are so picturesque.

Because of Johnny's new job, we won't be taking any vacation days for the next several months, so for the first time ever Johnny and I will be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with just each other! I know this may seem weird, but I'm really excited! Of course, we'd rather be with family, but I think it will be fun to make our own little traditions. I just ordered groceries, and our stuffing, rolls, and pie will not be homemade on Thanksgiving :) That still leaves me with the turkey and a few other side dishes that I'm sure will be plenty overwhelming!

Stay tuned! My sister and her husband recently visited, and I'll be posting more soon!

Ramblings

Aside from BYU barely losing to Texas, this weekend was pretty great. Is there such thing as a bad weekend? I don't think so.

I continued working on my crocheting project, and Johnny got his yearly fill of 9/11 specials on TV. We were both relieved that the weekend came and went without incident. Late last night Johnny and I walked up to the Great Lawn in Central Park to see if we could see the 9/11 memorial lights in the sky. It was a super cloudy night, but we could still make them out from 5 miles away. I think the memorial site is beautiful. I love the fountains, and I can't wait to go see them next week with Johnny.

Tonight is another GOP debate. Johnny and I love debates of any sort. I'm sure that aspect of our personalities attributed to our very argumentative first year of marriage. And it's partially why we get along so well now!

Speaking of being argumentative, Johnny and I have an ongoing battle with Scrabble. It's one of the only games that I actually beat Johnny at sometimes. Last game, I beat him, and that score has been up on our cork board for a few months now. This morning Johnny walked past it and said, "Hmm. This Scrabble score is still up." Seemingly harmless comment, right? No. I feel a rematch coming on this week, maybe even tonight. I'll let you know who wins...

p.s. Poor Persie... she can only resist yarn for so long...

Life Lately

Our weekend came and went. It was a luxuriously long weekend. Now, it's Wednesday and I'm not sure where the time has gone.

Johnny has been working long hours lately, and the long weekend was well-deserved for him.  Johnny spent almost every waking moment on Saturday watching college football. BYU won its first football game, and no one was more thrilled than my husband---trust me.

We were able to watch the game with the Hardings and the Youngbergs. The Youngbergs were perfect hosts, and I am proud to say that we were all wearing Cougar blue! Half the excitement of football season is having BYU fans to watch the games with!

With the late hours Johnny's been working / the cancelling of our Netflix instant play / the start of college football, I decided I needed to start a new craft project. After much deliberation, I settled on crocheting a blanket, and the picture at the top of this post is my first finished square! I'm quite proud of myself. Now we'll just have to see if I can stick with it...

Also, the fall weather has started to hit NYC, and I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm loving it, because I am. I am a summer girl through and through, but fall comes in close second for me. I couldn't contain my excitement and ended up purchasing two fall cardigans on Monday. Johnny is not much of a fan of fall, and I tried to have him pretend that "fall" stands for "football" without the "ootb," but he didn't buy it. His loss. I'm sure the ensuing months will feature many posts on both fall and football.

As of Late

East River

Last week flew by for us.

Our good friends Travis and Kira stayed with us, and it was great to get to spend time with them and their daughter Kenzie. We loved it! They are wonderful people!

Johnny got a last-minute root canal! Fun! He had intense tooth pain on Tuesday night, and at 1:00am we went to Rite Aid and got him some gel that was supposed to relieve the pain, but it did nothing. Advil did nothing. The pain was so intense that he couldn't sleep the whole night. The next day we got him a last minute appointment and Vicodin.

Last week a campaign Johnny has been working on began running in Grand Central, Times Square, and Penn Stations. The campaign is for Tropicana, and it has been so fun to see the pictures from it. I will be posting more on this later!

Friday night Johnny and I took a walk in the park along the East River. Johnny and I are always amazed at how the pigeons sleep and cluster together over there at night.

Also, we see so many beautiful dogs out here. I have seen more beautiful dogs in the one year we've lived here than I have in my whole life, but this is one of my favorites yet. Amazing!

Lastly, Johnny agreed to let me order the 50mm lens, and it arrived today! I'm so happy! Of course, the first shot had to be taken of Persie.

Anyway, that's all for us! Hope all is well for our friends and family near and far!

Practicing

Summer weekends are great.

Johnny got off early on Friday, and we finally went and saw Harry Potter. I thought it was perfect. I enjoyed every second of it.

Saturday Johnny and I ran errands around the city and relaxed that night. Lately, we've been obsessed with this show called Dual Survival. We love it.

While Johnny was playing basketball on Saturday morning, I went up to Central Park to practice taking pictures with our camera. I am trying to learn to shoot on manual, and it is hard and frustrating! Over and over, I have to look at these kinds of charts to wrap my mind around the logistics:

Hopefully, I can look back in a year and see that I've gotten better at using our camera!

4 Years

June is a big month for us. Johnny turned 26, I turned 24, and today we've been married 4 years.

So much has happened since June 27, 2007. Johnny had just turned the ripe old age of 22, and I'd just turned 20. 

year 1 (on our honeymoon)

Our first year of marriage we honeymooned on the Gulf, worked at Los Hermanos together as servers during the summer, started our junior year at BYU, and watched the first five seasons of 24.

year 2 (Snuggie craze)

Our second year of marriage we went on a Fleming family vacation in Florida, worked at BYU full time during the summer, started our senior year, obsessed over BYU football and basketball, started going to Vegas for the MWC basketball tournament, and briefly lived in NYC for an internship.

year 3 (graduation)

Our third year Johnny interned in LA and we lived with his grandparents for two months, we graduated from college, bought our first car, started working full time, moved into a townhouse, and Johnny got a job in NYC.

year 4 (NYC life)

Our fourth year we moved to New York City, got a cat, and both adjusted to the New York way of life.

The last four years have been my very favorite. Each year brings a new adventure, and I'm so happy that I get to experience it all with Johnny.

I love him!

finally friday, friends

It's been raining in New York for over a week now. I just went outside for like five minutes, and now my hair is a frizzy mess. There is something I love about humidity, though. It just makes me feel more alive because I can literally feel it around me.

Here's an update of what's up with us lately:

• Our average bedtime right now is after two. Most nights this week that it was closer to three. Johnny's work schedule has thrown us both off big time. And, let's be honest, I love an excuse to stay up late. Even on the weekends when he's not working, we're both wide awake until the wee hours of the morning.
• To add to our lack of sleep, the woman living above us has a hacking cough, to the point of heaving until she's gagging. You may be disgusted at my description, but it's much worse hearing it at 4:00 in the morning. She coughs for an hour straight sometimes. One night we didn't hear her, and Johnny said, "Maybe she died." And in that moment be both realized that was an actual possibility. Not to worry, though. She was right back at it the next night. She needs to see a doctor pronto.
• I do some part-time editing on the side for a company that does SEO articles. Lately, most of the articles I've been editing have been for online poker sites and cash loan companies. What a depressing combination.
• So, I'm not a blond anymore. It only lasted a DAY. I hated the highlights so much that I dyed my hair dark again with a box color. And that's the last you will hear of my hair for a long time. I promise.
• Now that summer's almost here, we have concerts to look forward to. In the next month, we have Death Cab for Cutie and Dispatch, and then in August we have Bon Iver. Can't wait!

The picture at the top is from Johnny and Klane's softball game (they're the yellow and white team). Angie and I headed down to the Lower East Side last night to offer support :)

Foreign Experiences

Johnny and I have been keeping ourselves very busy lately. Sadly, I keep forgetting my camera everywhere I go! It is so nice to be able to spend time outside now that the weather's nice. It has seriously changed my life. My friend Angie and I have started running on Monday mornings together. It's so fun to have someone to talk to as I run, and running 4+ miles with her goes by so quickly! I love it.

Also, last Friday night Johnny and I went to our first baseball game of the season. It was Dodgers vs Mets, and we had a great time watching it with our friends the Egans. Unfortunately, the boys (both proudly wearing identical Dodgers hats) insisted on staying all 9 innings! That was a first for me.

 Monday, I got my first pedicure ever in my life. Hard to believe? I know. . . . My friend Lindsay knew I'd never gotten a pedicure before, and she gave me a gift certificate for one for Christmas. It was such a funny experience for me. I could not relax the whole time because having someone touching my feet was just such a foreign concept to me. I felt bad for her! And then, she had me sit in front of the dryer, and I assumed my toes were done when they weren't, and I ruined three of the toes, which she then squatted down on the floor and repainted. So awkward. And then, I put socks and shoes on afterward (which apparently you're not supposed to do), but luckily my toes were all right when I got home. I can never just have normal experiences, I swear.

which leads to another story. . .

Today, I went and got my hair done at a salon near our apartment (I'm blond again!). It was the weirdest thing ever. First of all, the salon was run by a 40-something Turkish man and woman who spoke to each other in Turkish the whole time. The man did my hair, and it wasn't until there were at least five foils in my hair that I began wondering how legit the salon even was. I really think it's a possibility that I got my hair done by a self-taught hairstylist today. The whole time they were trying to sell me more things (i.e., "You need full highlights....They would look much better." "You have beautiful eyebrows, but one is different shape than other. I wax them?") By the end I was just thinking, Get me out of here! In the end, he seriously styled my hair like a mid-90s Jennifer Aniston. I really disliked him in that moment. As soon as I got out of there, I stuck it up in a bun. The highlights didn't turn out how I wanted, and I was really upset right after, but I'm fine with it now. And I went through all that so I could spend $110 on my hair rather than $250. Oh, New York, you are cruel sometimes. Never again.

How do I get myself in these situations? No idea. Hopefully the rest of the week will be a little less eventful...

update

I don't know how or why, but I've gotten out of my groove of posting. Life is quite great right now. I really have no complaints. This morning I realized that it's getting warm enough that I may have to start wearing shorts running, which means exposing my white legs!

As summer is quickly approaching, I've been ordering myself some summer clothes here and there . . . and then sending pictures to Johnny of said clothes while also talking on the phone to sister about said clothes.  Exhibit A:

Johnny worked late some last week. I need him around. I have a large family, and while I do enjoy alone time, I don't enjoy lonely time.

But that's what the weekends are for. I did desert him some this weekend while watching North & South on my laptop, but he was sure to get my attention every now and then with his commentary: "That movie seriously sounds so depressing." "Just hearing it is making me angry because of how depressing it sounds." "That sounds like the worst movie ever."

What a boy. (Also, I missed his softball game last week, but he hit a home run and was game MVP!)

We had a wonderful Easter weekend of eating lots of jelly beans and being together. For Easter dinner, we had enchiladas. . . . I guess the spiral ham will come once we have children?