+ Ellie

We were so blessed with an adorable little girl on August 4th.  Much to my relief, labor and delivery went well. She weighed 7 lbs and 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  She is definitely smaller than Brynlee was even in her features like hands and feet. Otherwise, I think she looks a lot like Brynlee did. All I know is I have dang cute girls!  :)

 We were so glad to have Gramie and Natalie here!  I don't know what we would have done without them! We miss them so much!

Brynlee has really done well overall having a new sister.  I think she is a little more attention seeking, but she really has been good.  She is great help getting diapers, wipes, and whatever else she can reach.  She loves Ellie.  She has been so cute lately playing with dolls more than ever. 

Jordan and I had a really difficult time naming her.  I was really set on Daphne until after we had her and Jordan didn't think she looked like a Daphne and worried she'd be made fun of with such a name.  His pick was Eliza which I struggled to like.  After going back to the baby name apps on his phone we couldn't come up with anything.  I finally decided I could do Eliza and would just call her Ellie or Lizzie.  He liked Ellie so we went with that. It was such a quick and somewhat desperate decision that I am still getting used to her name since it wasn't one we ever discussed prior.  Her middle name is Louise after Jordan's mom.  We know she smothered her with kisses before she got here.

She has come a long way in just a week with lots of happy awake and alert time. I think she just keeps getting cuter!

 Ellie has crazy toes like Brynlee did.  I wish you could tell better from this picture.  She has the wide space between her first and second toes like a crab pincher.  They're pretty cute.

 Ellie is such a smiler in her sleep.  I love to just watch her!

Yesterday I realized we hadn't taken a single picture of all of us together.  After many many failed attempts, we got one!  We are excited to be a family of four.

Anticipation!

I officially have an induction scheduled for next Wednesday night at midnight (I guess that's technically Thursday morning).  I've had several people ask me if I'm ready.  The truth is I really don't know!  I think I have forgotten the whole newborn/nursing/diapers/up in the middle of the night routine.  It's also weird since it's another baby girl so we have pretty much what we need in the way of clothes and blankets and all the big stuff so there's not much to prepare. 

I'm definitely a little nervous.  I've seen a million births and clearly have even done it once myself, but there was a lot of security in knowing that there was a neonatologist and a whole team of awesome NICU nurses that I knew and trusted only a quick flight of stairs away last time.  I really am confident that its going to be okay (much more so than when we first moved here).  We are still uncertain on a name.  Hopefully it reveals itself when we see her. I'm so grateful my mom and sister are coming and Brynlee is certainly thrilled and excited asking every day if today is the day.  This has really been a good pregnancy and I have to say I'll probably even miss it a little....and I'm really not looking forward to trying to get back into shape.

Jordan is stilling working a lot.  The docs here aren't always the nicest, but I sure appreciate his willingness and ability to just keep going without whining or complaining (maybe that's because I do enough of it for both of us).  He is getting awesome experience in the OR and plenty of experience in the ER as well as clinic.  We thoroughly enjoyed his first week without call last week.  The sound of that silly pager is dreaded around here.  I am so grateful for his hard work and desire to provide for our family.  He's an awesome podiatrist and a great dad.

 Brynlee just gets more fun all of the time.  She scares me sometimes how she uses my words against me.  She is still singing like crazy!  The last couple of days have been "Row Row Your Boat" over and over and over.  She also reads her books to herself frequently and it cracks me up what she says.  She will be a great big sister and a little mother...though I'm afraid it will be more like a smother.  It is so fun that there are several little girls her age in the ward here.  We are so grateful for new friends!  (We finally did manage to hide the snow boots :)

We were able to go to the Missouri History Museum and to Fitz Resturant in St Louis with my Aunt Connie, cousin Kellie, and her kids a couple weeks back.  The history museum is another fabulously free activity.  They do weekly activities for kids and we happened to be there for Mr. Saxophone.  Brynlee loved it and had a great time with cousins.  It is so fun to have some family close by!  We wish were were able to get up there more often.  In fact, I'm really craving a trip to the mall today.  I'm trying to decide if it's worth the money to spend on gas to go spend more money shopping.  It's actually why the blog is being updated today....its a distraction from temptation!!!  Curse these stores for sending me emails reminding me that there is something besides Walmart out there.

We are also excited that we have plane tickets for a trip to Colorado to see Rachelle come home and see Luke off on his mission.  We are hoping to bless this baby that weekend as well.  We hope to see some of you then!  Of course, you are always welcome to come see us too!!!

St. Louis Day Out

Saturday, Jordan had a meeting in St. Louis early in the morning.  We also were planning on attending my cousin Kellie's daughter Hailey's baptism up that way later in the day....so we made a day of it!  We left at 5:30 in the morning.  Brynlee was confused and thought we might be going to Gramie's house (why else would we ever get up that early??)  We just hung out and did a little exploring of the area during the meeting and then went off to the zoo!

 It was unbelievably hot and humid and there were a lot of people there, but we still had a good time!  Brynlee loved the hippos best!

 

One of the best things about the St. Louis zoo is that it is FREE!  Love that! 

 I'm really not a fan of some of these pictures, but it's all I got!  As you can see...I'm gynormous!  We did some shopping afterwards and then headed the baptism.  Brynlee loves Kellie's kids and had been talking about going for days.  She goes right ahead and makes herself at home there.  Kellie and Casey were nice enough to babysit for us during a dinner Jordan had for work up in St. Louis a few weeks ago.  We love having them close.  It was fun to see Uncle John and Aunt Connie too.  John made sure Brynlee knew that the "best lookin guy she ever did see" was not Luke (as her recent brainwashing had taught her), but John instead.  She'll still tell you that it's John.  Her favorite Uncle she still says is "Lukie" though.

 I had to share my garden pictures too!  (Aren't you impressed Dad??) Ok, so its not that impressive, but we are excited have something!  A lot of it was given to us by the now second year residents that didn't want to move them to St. Louis.  It's fun to be growing tomatoes, zuchinni, peppers, strawberries, and some herbs.  We also have a blueberry plant that doesn't seem to be doing much. 

About a week ago, I was trying to move the tomato plant so it wasn't bent clear over on the ground and prop it up.  I broke two of the fruit bearing branches and was not happy.  I wrapped them in ribbon for a bandaid and lo and behold....IT WORKED!

We got tomatoes and those branches still look alive!  Made my week :).

Transitions

I apologize in advance for the long long post.  So much has changed and we have had a hard time keeping in touch with everyone.  Our phones get little to no service and drop calls constantly.  Hopefully we'll get it worked out soon.  We're in Missouri! We made it! It has been an interesting move since the last year has been spent in transition. We are happy to have a home again and to be somewhere for a while...even if its only for a year.

I have much to report on so I guess I'll start with the present and move backwards. This small Missouri town came with a little shock but we are getting used to it. There are many sporting missing teeth, mullets, scantily clad obese people, bad grammar and language, smokers, and other forms of classiness (or lack there of). Walmart is certainly the happening place in town. We have been entertained at times just by people watching. Ya ever heard of peopleofwalmart.com (don't visit if you haven't)?  It's kinda like that... We've already met a lot of awesome people though, and I really do think we'll like it here.

We were able to enjoy the 4th with ward members at the Bohn's home. We swam and had a bbq and got to know some new friends better. We came home in the evening and were able to see the city fireworks from outside our apartment with a large group of neighbors. They also put on their own show in our parking lot.  Fireworks and rednecks are kind of scary but entertaining. Apparently no type of firework is illegal here.  Only one went the wrong way towards the apartment.  Glad it only knocked some pictures off the walls.

It has been stinkin hot and humid here and there are a plethera of creepy crawly things I can't name. It is enjoyable to be in a small town, and it is certainly beautiful here with lots of rolling hills and tall trees. We are close to a few state parks we are looking forward to checking out.

We are so glad to have our friends, the Allreds, here as Jordan's coresident and family. We have also enjoyed our ward so far and are grateful for the support system the church offers. They have been very kind. Jordan was called as a counselor in the YM's Sunday along with Aaron Allred. Looks like they'll get to spend plenty of time together. Jordan has enjoyed his work so far. I think that he has been to work every day since he started minus the fourth when he had only a phone consulatation. He and Aaron are going to all of the "call" right now so he is basically on call all of the time. Hopefully it will be less when they are able to split it and as they get faster with more experience.

Brynlee and I are still working on getting settled and ready for the baby. We've been able to play a little here and there as well. She has been so funny lately singing all of the time.  Occasionally, she sings primary songs, but mostly she makes up random songs and then says, "Did you like that one mom?"  When she's not singing, she is beatboxing (thank you Uncle Luke). She makes me feel like I live in a musical. 

It looks like our new baby is doing well. It's good to have a OB picked out and I took a tour of the L&D in the hospital here. We also had another ultrasound which brought a lot of peace of mind that everything looks good. It was fun to get to see her sweet little face in 3D as well.

 

The belly a month ago...its sigificantly bigger now

 I think all ultrasound pictures are a little scary, but so fun to get to see her little face!

We are grateful to finally be mostly settled. With much help from my family (thanks again guys!), Jordan and I packed up one of our vehicles and my parents Suburban with most all of our earthly possesions and headed to Missouri minus our Brynlee who my mom was kind enough to keep for a few days.  It was a tight fit but we made it! Because there "must needs be opposition in all things..." we had a break down and set back in St. Louis. We are grateful that we broke down in the city and not in the middle of Kansas somewhere. We emptied the Suburban did a little furniture shopping and headed back to Colorado to get our cute stinker.

Bryn got to play with lots of friends while we were away...I don't think she really missed us.

While we were in Colorado we got to go to the temple with Luke for the first time and spend some time with Jason, Andrea, Aliyah, and Joshua.

We got to enjoy swimming and relaxing at my parents for a while. Gramie and Papa also had a backyard campout with the two girls. They (the girls) had a blast...as for the grandparents, I think they survived :).

Our move from Utah went fairly smoothly. We miss being close to Jordan's family already. We are so grateful for all of the help from Jordan's siblings. Brynlee asks all the time to play with cousins...especially Hawsey, Sage, and Mya. Before we left we were able to some fun things I never blogged about.

The Saturday before Mother's Day we were able to do the Susan Komen Breast Cancer 5K in SLC. It was nice to be able to do something in memory of Jordan's mom. We went to breakfast and to the zoo with Rob, Jamie and Haws afterwards. It made for a long day for my pregger self, but it was so fun.

We also went to Torrey, UT area with Jordan's sister Shawna and their family for a little mini vacation.  It was so fun and very beautiful!

We were also able to visit what's left of the home Jordan's grandpa grew up in. Crazy to imagine a bunch

of kids in that little house!

Whew!  That's all I have for now!  Hopefully, now that we're kinda sorta settled, I'll do better keeping this up!