Weekend Recap!

It was a pretty good weekend for us! Not a whole lot went on... But I was able to spend some quality time with Ella and even get my house cleaned up and the laundry caught up!

We have been working on Ella's nap schedule this past week and I was really excited to get to work with her on Saturday and Sunday. I did see some great improvement, but of course she is human and it is not always perfect. My main concern is her morning nap and she did great with that...of course today she slept the whole way to M'Boro, so I will anxious to see how today's 'morning nap' went.

On my workouts....
Last week, I continued to go at it! Wednesday, we ran the same route. It was a little harder because our legs were tired but we accomplished the run and finished up with some good stretching. Thursday I rode on my lunch hour. It was a hard ride! The wind was very strong and I felt like I was barely moving! Friday I rested :) Saturday I met Angel and Henry at the park and we walked the Greenway. It was a good little walk and the kiddos enjoyed it!


Ella and Henry along for the ride...

Sunday I spent most of the day cleaning. Jeramy worked outside. He fixed my car...Thank you Lord! and then he washed all of the vehicles! We ended the night at Los 3 Amigos and boy was it goood...

Today! Well, I was all geared up to ride on my lunch hour. Had my bag packed and bike loaded! Jeramy was helping load all my stuff this morning and asked me several times if I wanted him to load my work out bag, I said no I'll get it! And out the door I went. I get to work and realize, no work out bag! Great. So maybe when we get home EJ and I will head out TN Hills and take a quick run/walk to make up for my ignorance!

Have a great day everyone!

Quick Run Post

As I mentioned below, Angel and I were going to attempt some running. Last night was the first attempt and I have to say we passed with flying colors!!!

We postponed our run till 7:30 due to the heat... We head out from her house and take off down Taylor rode to Hwy 55. We cross 55 and head down some street...name unknown at this time. We took 1 walk break up a small hill and we had a quick rest as we crossed the Hwy. As we started down this new road, we were both feeling pretty strong. After about a half mile we saw some railroad tracks up ahead. When we got to a certain point, I said "Let's Sprint!" And we took off! What a burst of energy!!! We took a brief rest as we turned around to head back. We ran solid to her road when we hit her road we had the same idea to sprint to her mail box. This time it was a lot harder. We walked it out afterwards and stretched some. After that we jumped in the car to track our distance:

roughly 1.6 miles

I would say that is a pretty good run for a first time attempt. I stretched some more when I got home. I'm feeling pretty good today, a little sore through my neck from riding the bike, but it feels kinda good...

4 Months!!!!

Ella Jean and Uncle Craig


Ella Jean is now 4 months old! Wow, this time has flown by... It feels like it was yesterday when we brought that little girl home from the hospital. She was tiny! And now She is all over the place...

Yesterday we had her 4 month check-up and her shots. I am soooo proud of her! She let out a good scream when she was first pricked but after that I picked her right up and she was all smiles, what a little trooper. She had a fussy afternoon, but she slept great last night and all is well!

Now for the fun stuff, her stats:

11lbs 5.5oz 23 1/3in long

She is still little but she is growing and that is all that matters! Nana, Jeramy's mom, says he was the same way. She said it took him FOREVER to get to 15lbs! Dr. Libby and I had a lot to talk about. Ella still spits up, A LOT! She was taking Axid but I just did not like it, it didn't seem like it worked. So we are switching her to PrevAcid SoluTab, so please pray for Ella and her little tummy. I just hope she will grow out of this soon... We also talked about cereal! Dr. Libby said to go ahead and give her cereal and to start introducing Stage 1 foods! YAY!!! We went home last night and had some rice cereal with a little bit of pears mixed in...Ella loved it! So today we had it again for breakfast. She seems to be doing pretty good with the pears, no allergic reactions, yet!

On a previous post I showed you a video of Ella rolling over, well this is our latest trick:





She is all about her tummy now and just moves those legs back and forth! She is also all about holding her head up! Whether it is in the car seat or in the Bumbo, she is definitely using those neck muscles!

Ride till you're red in the face!

So today I picked up my riding again. I rode some Friday but it wasn't as long as planned. Yesterday, was Ella's 4 month check up, I'll post about that next, and I didn't take a lunch so no riding on Monday. So I was bound and determined to get out there today! I pretty much did the same route as last time, with an out and back on Old Lascassas. It was a great ride, hotter then the first one! I ran into a little construction on Rutherford Blvd but was able to get around that pretty smoothly.

Today's Ride:

7 miles in 46 minutes(estimate)




I am nice and sweaty today and my hair is pretty wet, my face is also blood red...I think I need to bring a blow dryer and some make-up to work....

My plan:
Ride- Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Run- Tuesday, Thursday

Yes you read right, I am going to attempt running again! Running is a slow progression and for someone who is eager to lose weight and get their body back it is a lot of work and little results...at first! I know it takes time to gain distance, but right now, I am totally overwhelmed with running. My friend Angel, another recently new momma, is wanting to attempt running. She claims it is really the only thing that will get her tummy back in shape. If you ask me, she looks great! But I understand the whole flab thing... So together we are going to attempt this journey to the land of the FIRM!

Ride On!

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know that every now and again I touch on my exercise or lack there of! So I thought I would blog about something I'm very excited about:

Yesterday, as I scarfed Chinese food, I suddenly became depressed. The food was great, but my guilty conscience was just to much for me to handle. That afternoon I decided Ella and I would go on a walk when we got home, and that we did. It was a nice casual walk along the Manchester Green Way. On my walk, still feeling guilty about the Chinese food, I was thinking to myself

"What can I do, at work, to get some kind of work out? I could walk, tried it...bored to tears. I could run, tried it...too much effort. Hmmm...maybe I can ride my bike?"

So after we returned home from our walk I decided to pull out the VERY dusty bike rack Richard had given to me.
I cleaned it up and began investigating how to hook it to my car. Once it was all hooked up I grabbed my bike, flat tires and all, to see how it would sit. Pretty darn cool if you ask me!


So Thursday at around 11am, I head out.

Wait...back up, First I sent my friend Holly an email asking her for the Rules of the Road. Then I headed out. Scared to death!!! I made my way around the out part of the University then over by the Hospital and back to my office.

Total Miles: 6.04 estimate

And let me tell you, I feel GREAT! I think I am really going to enjoy this...

Still Smiling...

Exciting Times for Ella Jean!

This week Ella is going to be 4 months! Can you believe that...

For weeks she has been so close to rolling over but just couldn't get that arm under her. Well Saturday morning was the day:

Monday my little bean slept all day, can we say growth spurt? She has also gone from eating 4oz every three hours to eating 5 to 6oz every three to four hours and gnawing on her little hands like crazy. This morning as I was giving her a 6oz bottle I decided I was going to give her some rice cereal too. I left about an ounce in her bottle, woke up Jeramy to take pictures and mixed a tablespoon of cereal. I was so nervous and excited but we all had a great time! Ella seemed to really get the hang of it... I'm so proud of her!

The end result was pretty clean!

Bonnaroo

So this past weekend was Bonnaroo. For those of you who are not familiar with the Roo, it is a weekend full of camping and music all crammed into my small little town, Manchester, TN. Over 100 bands to choose from and close to 100,000 people! It is pretty crazy but we always manage to take part :) Jeramy took part Friday night and got to enjoy Metallica and Willie Nelson, I was not too interested in either so I hung out with my Ella Jean and our little friend Henry, who had a sleep over with us! Saturday, me, Jeramy and Kim headed out while Ella got to spend the night with Nana. We met up with lots of our friends and had a fabulous time listening to B.B. King, who was given "the key to the city, " Jack Johnson and Pearl Jam! What a great night. Sunday Jeramy and I headed out to see Yonder Mountain String Band, who was great! And O.A.R. Kim met us up there and we took in just a little bit more of the spectacular weekend.

Holly and Me

Jerm!

Brad and Katy

Me and Kim

Kim

"Aunt Bethy, I'm mad at you..."

"Aunt Bethy, I'm mad at you! You are suppose to come over so I can walk with you and Ella and you haven't come. I even got new walking shoes!" ugh oh... I'm in T-R-O-U-B-L-E!


For those of you who know my sweet little niece Keely Parker, you know that is she is quite outgoing. Seriously 5 going on 25! She is so passionate about things and is not afraid to tell you what it is all about! If I had to guess, I would say that little Keely is a lot like me... especially when I was 5. All about the attention....

After I had Ella, I was very anxious to get outside. When it was nice, we were at the park or walking in Fredonia Village(my brothers neighborhood) where Keely would hop on her bike and cruise around the neighborhood with me! It was lots of fun and she is always good company. So then the exhaustion set in: sleep, Ella, work, Ella, home, Ella.... You see the pattern! So I kinda escaped my urges to exercise after a long day of work. Little did I know that I was being held accountable by a five year old who was anxious to spend that time with Aunt Bethy and Baby Ella! Boy do I feel bad...

1.) I hurt my poor nieces feelings, she was really looking forward to those walks!

2.) This just confirms my laziness!

Oh boy! I told her I would be there Monday afternoon... She's counting on me, I better do it! Sometimes it just takes a little encouragement from a 5 year old to get your butt in gear...
;)~

Crystal Potts Photography

I wanted to tell you all about my dear friend Crystal. She is an amazing woman with whom I had the privilege of working at CLINIQUE with. Crystal is a photography major at MTSU and currently works for a freight company in Nashville to pay her bills! Her dream is to be a full time photographer. She has an amazing eye for color and uniqueness. Below is some of her work:


Ella Jean's 3 month pictures

Other pictures by Crystal Potts Photography

Crystal is very easy to work with and would love to build her business! I am proud to refer her to any of my friends and family! Feel free to ask me any questions regarding her work or how to contact her!

Thank you Crystal for doing such an amazing job with Ella!

Summer Lovin'

This past weekend I headed to Brentwood to hang with Kylee and Grace! Crystal, my good friend and EJ's photographer, also came over to hang out and take Ella's 3 month pictures.
I was feeling so much better by this point and I was able to eat a little bit with out getting nauseous! After we ate, we TRIED to get Ella's pictures done so we could head to the pool. Well, she got hot and bothered and was not going to let us take pictures of her any more! After a short nap from Grace and Ella we headed to the pool. We had a great time and I even got Ella in a pool for the first time! She was not very impressed but she didn't get upset :) Side Note:Ella has been very emotional lately. I'm not sure why but she is just so sensitive these days and her moods are very hit or miss. Grace on the other hand loves the pool, but she is also very used to it too! We had a great evening and thoroughly enjoyed each others company.




Grace Marie :)











Sunday Ella and I headed to Eagleville, TN to meet up with daddy and spend the day at our friends Mel and Jason's new house. Brian, Angel and Henry were also there. We ate a fantastic lunch and jumped in the pool! Today Ella was much more acceptable of the water. I'm going to have to do some float shopping for her :)

Then we headed down the road to Rover, TN. This is where Kent and Jill just bought a house.
Kent is the new Defensive Line Coach for the Eaglville Eagles! I think they will be very happy here, but we are going to miss you in Manchester :( They bought a cute house and have already made it theirs... it is coming along great, Jill! (Jill is 5 1/2 months pregnant and they also have have a 2 yr old, Cade. They have had a busy couple of weeks!)

Sick and Tired!

Last week was not a great week for me or my family for that matter! Monday morning Jeramy woke up complaining of an upset stomach. Later that day her called to tell me he was going home to lay down because he still did not feel well. By the time I got home he was out working and felt tones better, but I had started feeling nauseous on my way home from work! As the night went on I got more and more nauseated. By 11pm I was tossing my cookies. That last throughout the night and every time I would stand up right I would throw up! NICE... Needless to say, I called out of work and Jeramy so wonderfully took Ella over to Melissa's. Wednesday I went to work and felt pretty good, but by that night I was tossing those cookies again! Thursday, called out of work but Ella stayed with me. By Thursday evening I was feeling tones better. Friday, go to work, doing pretty good. Get to work, sit down at my desk and my body just goes limp! I am physically so exhausted and I have a bad headache. I go to Wal-Mart at lunch to get headache medicine and stop at Dairy Queen for a quesadilla and some french fries. Not Smart... I end up leaving work early and going to my Mom's to take a nap before I picked up Ella. Thank God for family members!!!!