Two Years

What a difference two years makes. Two years ago today, God blessed me and Joe with our sweet son, Easton.


He quickly went from newborn to infant...


From infant to one year old...


From one year old to a two year old...


Easton, you are the best thing in mine and your daddy's life. Your smile lights up a room, sweet boy. Happy 2nd birthday! I love you to the moon and back.

Weight Watchers Wednesday

Since I weigh in on Tuesday nights, Weight Watchers Wednesday seemed perfect to start doing. I think it will help me stay accountable. While I won't be posting my actual weight, I'll update gains or losses. Last night I went in thinking and feeling good. I lost 1 pound exactly. I really it might be more than that, but it's a LOSS! Tonight I cooked a meal I used to cook when I was on WW. I cut up zucchini, squash, broccoli, and chicken. I added some spices, which is what our meeting was all about last night. Add a little soy sauce when cooked and voila!


It was really good!

Falling

One of the most dreaded calls as a parent is when daycare calls you at work.  It's never good when they call you at work.  Instead of me getting this call yesterday, Joe did.  Easton had tripped and fell off the slide at school and hit his nose pretty hard and it was swelling up really quickly.  They said someone needed to come get him and take him to a doctor.  Cue:  Me and Joe freaking out!!  I had already left school when they called so when I called Joe once I got cell service for our afternoon chat, he told me what had happened.  It just hurts your heart when your baby is hurt and you aren't there.  So, we called and got him in with his pediatrician to have it looked at and Joe picked him up and took him to the doctor.  Meanwhile I called the daycare to check in (even though they'd just called Joe...but what's a mama to do when you feel helpless!) and they said he was drinking juice and eating a graham cracker.  I actually said, "OH! I  was expecting blood, screaming, etc."  It never even bled and they ended up calling Joe back saying the swelling had went down some and it wasn't as bad as they had originally thought.  Joe still took him on to the doctor just to be sure.  It turned out to be nothing, no broke nose, not fractured, or anything like that.  His pediatrician said to expect at least one black eye out of it, though.  I was so glad Joe took him on to the doctor just to be 100% sure.  Our pediatrician said with a nose injury, when they are little, ALWAYS bring them in because if a blood vessel busted it could erode the septum which in turn could require surgery. So, better to bring them in just to be sure!  Poor Easton...it's still a little swollen and starting to bruise. 

It doesn't look quite so bad in the picture.  But, as you can tell above, it ain't phasing him a bit!  Thank goodness my little man is tough!  

Weekend Wrap-Up

We have had a nice, relaxing weekend!  We didn't have much on the agenda and I was able to get some things done around the house, which is always nice.  Lately after our nightly walks, Easton has been asking to "go ride".  By "go ride", he means go ride in the car.  Where he got that from, I'm not sure, but we have rode over to a beautiful golf course near us and let him run and play.  Joe loves to play golf so I know he has enjoyed seeing run on the golf course.

On Saturday Joe watched Easton for a little while at his work while I got my hair done.  I'm pretty sure Easton LOVED being with him and thought he was the king of the castle!

Today we have had a laid back day.  I've gotten a few things done around the house and Easton has enjoyed coloring a lot today. 

This week is our last week of FULL days at school.  Next week we have half days.  Five full days + three half days...woohoo! 

So far so good

So far, so good on eating healthier and following Weight Watchers this week!  I've exercised every day and tracked what I'm eating every day.  I even passed up a chocolate chip cookie at a workshop yesterday and ate the banana I brought with me instead.  Now that is motivation!

I bought healthier foods at the grocery store to have on hand at home.  One of Easton's favorite foods are fruits, especially bananas.  He eats at least one a day, sometimes two.  I also tried a new Smart One breakfast meal, which is a cheese omelet and hash browns with peppers.  It was delicious and only 5 points.

Tonight I baked chicken that had been marinated in Italian dressing and cooked peas (2 points for 1/2 cup) and carrots (0 points) and kidney beans (2 points for 1/2 cup).  It was healthy and really good!

Easton is enjoying the good stuff like mashed potatoes!  :)  

Weigh in is Tuesday night so I am thinking about doing a "Weight Watchers Wednesday" post, mainly to keep myself accountable.  

Future Blue Raider?

While we were at our nephew's birthday party last weekend we took a walk around my college campus.  It was so neat being back on campus and I had so many memories of walking to class.  I'd say I had a good college experience.  I worked full-time most of my college experience so when I was at school, I was only focused on school.  While we were walking around we noticed the gates were open to the football field so we walked in to snap a few pictures.

Easton saw a huge, empty field and took off!

All I could think about while we watched him was "Will he ever get to play on this field?  Will he want to play football?  Will he be a future Blue Raider?"

I just smiled watching him have so much fun running around.  The best part?  Watching him come in for the touchdown...

We then walked around campus and saw so many buildings that I spent so much time in.

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Easton loved sitting on the famous horseshoe.

MTSU really does have a beautiful campus.  So much was familiar, but they have updated and added on since I'd been there.

We had a good time just walking around.

After our walk we headed to the baseball field to watch MTSU play baseball.

That morning Easton had woke up at 5:30 and had not napped all day.  We hadn't been there for 5 minutes when all of a sudden while Joe was holding Easton, he just fell sound asleep.  Uncle Mike held him for a while.

While at the game, I got this SUPER cute MTSU bag!

Keep It Real

In an attempt to keep it real, I thought I'd post about how Weight Watchers is going.  About a year ago I joined Weight Watchers, lost almost 30 pounds, and met my lifetime goal.  I worked so hard and felt better physically and I felt better about how I looked.  Then, I slowly quit going and the weight started creeping back up.  Why is it so hard to lose and so easy to gain?  I eventually just quit going to meetings and now I have gained back almost all of the weight I lost.  It almost makes me sick to even admit it.  What's so bad is that I KNOW what I should be eating/should be doing and I haven't for quite some time now.  I feel more tired than I have in a long time.  The truth is that it is really hard to work full time, be a mom and wife, and do my masters online.  When I started this masters program I said that I did not want it to take any time away from Easton.  Joe has been so helpful watching Easton while I've worked on school stuff.  I do the majority of it after Easton goes to bed, which puts me getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night.  I think it's all starting to take its toll.  I know I will be SO glad I did it and so proud of what I've accomplished, but right now in the thick of it, I'm tired, yall.  I know part of being tired is from stress, from being stressed with the end of the school year approaching (there is so much to be done...packing my entire classroom for summer cleaning, meetings almost daily, etc), part of it is my masters stuff, and a big part of it is me not eating the right foods and not taking care of me (physically).  We will be heading to the beach this summer and I don't want to feel embarrassed because of the way I feel/look.  With all that being said, I have decided to go back to Weight Watchers and start exercising.  Last night I ran/jogged/walked 1 mile.  I know that sounds like nothing, but when you haven't done it in a LONG time, it's something.  I thought I was going to die (HA!) and I am so, so sore today.  I went to Weight Watchers tonight and fully intend on getting back on track.  

Besides looking and feeling better, what better motivation is this sweet, smiling face?  He needs his mama to be active and healthy!

I've debated on doing a weekly check in on my blog about how Weight Watchers is going.  I hope I can stay motivated and lose this weight once and for all.  Wish me luck!

Birthday Party

Our main reason for going home this past weekend was to celebrate our nephew's 6th birthday!  He had a baseball themed/tailgating party that was lots of fun!  It was at the college I attended so it was neat to be back there as well.  Here is Easton with the birthday boy!

The party decorations were super cute and it was just a fun atmosphere!  

Easton got some good loving on by his Grandad.

It was nice for him to be able to see his Uncle Mike, Aunt Heather, cousins Yates and Anna Clark, Gram Geren, and Grandad.  

At the end of the party Easton wanted a balloon as they were taking down the party decorations.  All of the sudden, he let his balloon go.  I was expecting a meltdown, but he waved at it and said "bye bye!"

Then he wanted to take every balloon and tell it bye bye!  Silly, silly boy!  We had a great time at Yates birthday!!  Afterwards we took a walk around campus and then went to the baseball game.  Fun, fun times.

Weekend Part One

We had one of those way-too-fast but much-needed, breath-of-fresh-air weekends!  I decided it would be best to break it up in a few posts to share all the pictures that I have.  Friday after I got out of school, Joe and Easton picked me up and we started our drive towards Tennessee.  

Easton did so good driving and only fussed once. We stopped near Knoxville to eat and had Krystal's.  It's hard to understand how good Krystal's was unless it's been years since you had them.  We don't have one anywhere near us in South Carolina.  I think they were the best Krystal's I'd ever ate.  Ha!

I may be biased, but Tennessee is so pretty.  Driving the Knoxville way is so scenic.  This is one of many lakes we pass.  We finally arrived at my mom's house around 9:00 pm, just as Easton had fell asleep for the night.

The next morning we gave my mom her Mother's Day present.

Then, Gracie came over to play since her mommy and daddy had to work!  She and Easton played outside all morning.  

They watched some people cut tree limbs down.  They were so cute watching them.  Easton kept saying "Oh no!" as they started cutting.

They would be best buds if we just had more time with them.

Next post:  Yates 6th birthday party + MTSU baseball!  

Making a Splash

One thing Easton loves to do is splash around in a water puddle.  When we water our yard, we usually get a puddle in our driveway.  Almost every time Easton will run right to it and splash around.  Watching him play in the puddle almost makes you want to be a kid again.  So carefree.

He is so full of life, so fun, and so sweet.

I saw a Tennessee necklace on Pinterest which led my curiosity to search for Tennessee necklaces on Etsy.  Love those two websites.  I am now the proud owner of this necklace.  L.O.V.E.  It is so me.  

About a week ago I noticed a rabbit in our front yard, which I thought was odd because we live in a neighborhood in a city.  The next night, she was in our yard again.  How do I know it was a she?  Well, because she had babies!  We now have four precious and tiny little bunnies in our flower bed.  With Easton being as big of an animal lover as he is, he has loved seeing them and always says "Oh, wabbits!" when he sees them.  They are rather cute, but they will have a new home this weekend as a neighborhood in the city just isn't a suitable place.  No worry though, they will be properly taken care of before being released.

Now for just another picture of my flowers.  I know I have posted quite a few, but they are so darn pretty!  I think when you start from scratch and do your own landscaping, you appreciate it much more!