Busy New Beginings

July 3rd was my last day at Weil.  I had been there for nearly 8 years.  We bought our house while I worked there and we had Cole Reynolds and Gemma while I worked there.  Now that I am moving on, I can look back and say it was worth it.  I worked with some really great people, met some really great friends and am a better attorney for it.  When I went to work there in September of 2005, I would never have guessed I'd be there in September of 2009.  Market melt downs, recessions, kids and life all conspired to result otherwise.  Strangely, I was sad for my last few days.  I will miss a lot of things about my time there.  As hard as it was at times, we were really spoiled about a lot of things.  Weil really does give you a lot of tools to make your life easier so that you can crank out a billable hour.  Nevertheless, I know I made the right decision leaving.  I'm going to join two of my favorite people at ACE Cash Express.  On my first deal at Weil, I worked with Ted Eades and RB Ramsey.  The deal lasted about 8 months so I got to know them well.  Ted left just as the deal wrapped up, but RB continued to work together.  Even after we were no longer staffed together, he was my biggest mentor at Weil.  He was my go-to person if I ever had a question.  When he left, I cried real tears (not the boo hooing kind, but the tears well up in your eyes kind).  I knew that my safety net was leaving.  I ended up being ok without him, but it is not surprising that when he asked me to join him at ACE, ultimately, I could not say no.  There are a number of reasons that this is the right job for me (despite my initially thinking otherwise), but the most important reason is that Ted and RB know that I want to strike a better work life balance and so I think I will.  That is the trade off--less money for more time with the kids and Joel.  We would all make that trade off, right?  I am told that within 4 to 6 months I will think I am a different person, that I will hardly recall the anxiety of waiting for the hammer to fall.  We shall see.  In the meantime, I am making the most of my two weeks off before I start my new adventure.

We have been going to the pool at the Y.  Cole Reynolds has become increasingly more comfortable in the water.  Gemma has as well.  So when my friend Cori told me about the two week swim lessons that she put her boys in, I decided to sign the kids up.  Well, initially I signed up only Cole.  After the first day of classes, I decided that I needed to sign Gemma up too.  First, it can't hurt.  Second, it was time for me to spend with her.  Even though I was off on Monday, I feel like I barely saw her.  I put her in the class so we would have an activity to do together during my time off.  In addition to the swim lessons (Cole's in the morning and Gemma's in the evening), I decided that I was finally going to take a Bar class.  Monday at 3:15, I took my first bar class.  It pretty much kicked my butt.  The really impressive thing were the people that were in the class with me.  They ranged from college aged to 50s (and maybe even 60s).  I am not kidding when I say that this class is pretty intense and there really isn't a way to cheat.  These women kick ass--mine at least.  Needless to say, I was inspired.  I promptly paid my $100 introductory rate and I've been every day this week.  I have a month at that rate and I plan to make the most of it.  After that it's about $20 per class.  Throw in Cole's twice weekly therapy and I'm racking up some serious miles in the car this week.  There hasn't been one day where I've had a chance to sit and relax.  Maybe tomorrow will be that day since there are no swim lessons--somehow I doubt it though.

In addition to the above exciting activities for the week, on Wednesday, my parents, brother and I took the kids to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  Cole loved it as usual.  It is still a little advanced for Gemma, but she really enjoyed the cafe.  She had a nice grass fed lemon chicken and herb roasted potatoes for lunch while she intently watched the hundreds of children in the cafe and outside of the museum. (As a side note, I was really impressed with the selection and quality of food at the museum.)

As a side note, Gemma finally got her 5th tooth today!!  The top, left lateral incisor FINALLY came in.  Shockingly, the top, right lateral incisor has yet to come in and we all would have sworn that it was going to come in about two MONTHS ago.  In any event, the left beat the right, but I expect that the right will come through before long.  For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me if the bottom ones follow soon--you can see the little tooth buds.

As another side note, Cole Reynolds and Gemma are finally (hallelujah) playing together.  Let me be clear.  This does not mean Cole LOVES to play with Gemma or that he likes to all the time.  She is still not allowed in downtown (his room) though she is allowed in the police station (his bed).  The fact remains, he is playing with her some, so I'll take it!  One day a couple of weeks ago, I came home to find him pushing her around in her baby doll stroller as fast as he could.  He was making lap after lap after lap.  She was giggling with joy the whole time.  I think her legs finally got tired (she kind of had to hold them up) and her foot kept getting caught under neath the stroller so I had to nix the stroller derby.  Then a few days later, Elena told me that she heard Gemma let out a cry.  A few minutes later she went to wake up Cole.  Lo and behold he was not in his bed or his room.  She went into Gemma's room a little concerned and found Cole curled up with Gemma in her crib.  Apparently, since she cried he had to go rescue her (he is, after all, a fireman these days).  More recently, two nights ago, Joel and I heard a sound in Gemma's room.  At first we didn't think anything of it.  Then Joel yelled, "He is in her room." and took off.  Joel went through Cole's room and the Jack and Jill bathroom.  I went straight into Gemma's room.  We both converged on Cole squatting next to Gemma's bed with his doctor kit on the floor.  All of the doctor's tools were neatly laid out.  He was giving her an exam.  We still don't know if he was crawling into her bed to take her temperature and blood pressure or if he was doing it through the slats.  Joel was super pissed.  He hurried Cole back to his room to screams of "You hurt my feelings!" To which Joel replied, "Well, you hurt my feelings too."  In hindsight, Cole had been very frank about his intentions.  He had told Joel while he was getting ready for bed that Gemma needed an examination.  Further, he had insisted that I leave the doctor kit on his bed when I left his room.  Silly little guy.

Below are a couple of pictures from our week.