This is a bit outdated...taken about a month and a half ago, but this was the beginning stages of one talkative little girl! I had to empty my memory card so I can get newer, ever more exciting footage...stay tuned!
Living, learning, loving...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Bridge Run Success
Well, I did it.
Something for me.
I made plans to go to Charleston and run a 10k race (that's 6.2 miles for you metric-challenged people out there) and I did it. And it felt good.
Everything worked out. Brandon went to Alabama with his buddies for a conference so Ella and I had some girl time together. We stopped in to Columbia so we could give Grammy and Pappy some baby time before we trekked down I-26 towards the coast. Ella slept the whole way (Praise the Lord for THAT!) and we arrived in Mt. Pleasant just in time to eat some pasta dinner with Claire & Chris Eckert, Nan & Eric McGregor, and Mary Johnston. Sooooo fun!
Claire hadn't been feeling well, and was iffy as to whether she'd be able to haul her sick body over the bridge. I thought I was prepared to run it alone because I brought along my new iPod shuffle that PB&J bought me for my birthday. I was sad to realize, however, that I forgot my running earphones! The earbuds constantly fall out of my little ears when I don't sit perfectly still.
So I was not really excited about running 6.2 miles by myself AND with no music. But God had other plans.
My running buddy, Brooke, and her husband had signed up for the race but were not able to make it down to Charleston because of work issues. I had had their race packets and t-shirts picked up, and luckily had their numbers available. Since the race officials were being pretty adamant about not letting "bandits" run the race (read: people who didn't pay the $25 registration fee but who still want to run).
I called my old running buddy, Shannon. She and I used to run in Charleston before I got old and married and had a kid. She hadn't signed up but wanted to run...what a coincidence ;)
So we got to run and take the entire hour it took us to catch up, too! She has a baby girl who is about 2 weeks younger than Ella, so we have lots to talk about. It was wonderful to just enjoy the morning...beautiful running weather, 40,000 people, and the view from the top of the bridge. We weren't worried about a time or anything but finishing without walking...we did so in just over an hour. Not too shabby for some new mamas.
Claire, if you're reading this, I'm going to put a big space right here and will fill it with the picture you're going to send me that we took on your mama's back deck...
Something for me.
I made plans to go to Charleston and run a 10k race (that's 6.2 miles for you metric-challenged people out there) and I did it. And it felt good.
Everything worked out. Brandon went to Alabama with his buddies for a conference so Ella and I had some girl time together. We stopped in to Columbia so we could give Grammy and Pappy some baby time before we trekked down I-26 towards the coast. Ella slept the whole way (Praise the Lord for THAT!) and we arrived in Mt. Pleasant just in time to eat some pasta dinner with Claire & Chris Eckert, Nan & Eric McGregor, and Mary Johnston. Sooooo fun!
Claire hadn't been feeling well, and was iffy as to whether she'd be able to haul her sick body over the bridge. I thought I was prepared to run it alone because I brought along my new iPod shuffle that PB&J bought me for my birthday. I was sad to realize, however, that I forgot my running earphones! The earbuds constantly fall out of my little ears when I don't sit perfectly still.
So I was not really excited about running 6.2 miles by myself AND with no music. But God had other plans.
My running buddy, Brooke, and her husband had signed up for the race but were not able to make it down to Charleston because of work issues. I had had their race packets and t-shirts picked up, and luckily had their numbers available. Since the race officials were being pretty adamant about not letting "bandits" run the race (read: people who didn't pay the $25 registration fee but who still want to run).
I called my old running buddy, Shannon. She and I used to run in Charleston before I got old and married and had a kid. She hadn't signed up but wanted to run...what a coincidence ;)
So we got to run and take the entire hour it took us to catch up, too! She has a baby girl who is about 2 weeks younger than Ella, so we have lots to talk about. It was wonderful to just enjoy the morning...beautiful running weather, 40,000 people, and the view from the top of the bridge. We weren't worried about a time or anything but finishing without walking...we did so in just over an hour. Not too shabby for some new mamas.
Claire, if you're reading this, I'm going to put a big space right here and will fill it with the picture you're going to send me that we took on your mama's back deck...
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Not your typical date night.
As I've mentioned before, Mondays are usually good days in the Berry household. Brandon is used to having off from work, and especially before the baby, we were pretty consistent with date night. It never had to be anything super special or expensive, but usually was just time we enjoyed spending together.
Well, Mondays are getting a bit of a face lift. Brandon has chosen to take Fridays off instead of Mondays because his new staff all work on Mondays, so if he wasn't in the office Mondays and they weren't there on Fridays, that leaves only 3 days in the office together. Not the best scenario for someone who's trying to save the world.
So, although I wasn't expecting a date night last night, Brandon called to tell me that he was not going to be attending a previously scheduled evening meeting, and that he wanted to take me out.
Awesome. Except one little thing....it was 5:30pm when he was calling and I had no babysitter lined up. Our gal pal Ashley was happy to oblige, and showed up within the hour with a smile on her face. By then I had written all the instructions out, but hadn't changed out of my sweater that had baby puke among other Ella fluids on it. Brandon got here later, and we were off by 7:30. The restaurant he wanted to take me to (Augusta Grill -we have a GC) is closed on Mondays, so was option #2 (Sassafrass). So we decided P.F. Chang's would do.
We got in the car, and I was confused to see our trunk door ajar light on in the dashboard. Not thinking much of it, I told B, and he jumped out to close the trunk. We talked on the way to the restaurant. We came up to a part of the trip where 85 and 385 come together in a big clover-leaf on ramp. Out of the corner of our eyes, we saw a blue Saturn flying around the circle and on its way to hit us...it was not slowing down in the least and would surely sideswipe us if something didn't happen and quick. Brandon braked and honked the horn to let the seemingly oblivious guy know that we were coming through and had the right of way. But the guy cut us off something fierce. As we kept on the ramp, all of the sudden he slammed on his brakes and came to a complete stop, trying to get us to hit him from behind! Seriously...we were shocked. Luckily, my husband is a pretty alert driver and narrowly missed this dude. Before he sped off he made sure to let us know that he thought we were number one...
And I almost forgot that I am a pastor's wife and came close to doing the same. Had Ella been in the car and we'd hit him, I don't even want to think what my husband would have done.
Thankfully, God calmed us down pretty quickly, and our date was not ruined. We enjoyed ourselves immensly, and came home quite content. We were talking to Ash about a new CD that we had, and I wanted her to borrow it. I ran to the car because it was in the 12 disc CD changer that was in the trunk...I opened the trunk...and didn't see it.
We kind of felt a bit violated...I figured that someone during broad daylight broke into our car (it was unlocked in the driveway because I didn't have a free hand to manually lock it when I pulled the baby carrier, Ella's diaper bag, groceries, and my purse out earlier...yeah, we don't have a clicker) and ganked our changer. Yuck.
The cops came and took all the information down and sounded kind of doubtful that it was going to turn up. We came back inside and both got on our laptops to finish a few things. That turned into at least a 2 hour ordeal as Brandon tried to get his laptop to connect to our wireless internet system. He was on the phone with someone in the Philippines for crying out loud. So just as we were about sick of trying to get it to work with no luck, I hear Ella Bella crying.
"She doesn't usually wake up at 1am," I thought. After a while, I went into her nursery. She was absolutely burning up. I took her temperature...yes, in "there"...and it was almost 103. Time for the Tylenol and cold, wet compresses. Brandon and I were up until almost 3 with her before we all retired to our bed, her in between us...without her diaper (that was his idea...he put a towel under her). I was so tired, I couldn't argue.
A fitfull 3 hours later, I woke up with a hot, wet body up against me. Don't get any ideas...It was Ella! Wet wasn't just sweat from the fever, but also pee-pee! All over our bed, it soaked through the trusty towel. A temperature check, a cool bottle, a new diaper, and a few flicks of the hand, and the Berry family was dry and in the guest bedroom while the sheets and mattress pad were getting washed.
We awoke to Ella's new purring skill being practiced. So despite almost geting run over, almost totalling our car, becoming victims of larceny, and seeing our precious daughter through one heck of a fever, our life is indeed Berry Good.
Well, Mondays are getting a bit of a face lift. Brandon has chosen to take Fridays off instead of Mondays because his new staff all work on Mondays, so if he wasn't in the office Mondays and they weren't there on Fridays, that leaves only 3 days in the office together. Not the best scenario for someone who's trying to save the world.
So, although I wasn't expecting a date night last night, Brandon called to tell me that he was not going to be attending a previously scheduled evening meeting, and that he wanted to take me out.
Awesome. Except one little thing....it was 5:30pm when he was calling and I had no babysitter lined up. Our gal pal Ashley was happy to oblige, and showed up within the hour with a smile on her face. By then I had written all the instructions out, but hadn't changed out of my sweater that had baby puke among other Ella fluids on it. Brandon got here later, and we were off by 7:30. The restaurant he wanted to take me to (Augusta Grill -we have a GC) is closed on Mondays, so was option #2 (Sassafrass). So we decided P.F. Chang's would do.
We got in the car, and I was confused to see our trunk door ajar light on in the dashboard. Not thinking much of it, I told B, and he jumped out to close the trunk. We talked on the way to the restaurant. We came up to a part of the trip where 85 and 385 come together in a big clover-leaf on ramp. Out of the corner of our eyes, we saw a blue Saturn flying around the circle and on its way to hit us...it was not slowing down in the least and would surely sideswipe us if something didn't happen and quick. Brandon braked and honked the horn to let the seemingly oblivious guy know that we were coming through and had the right of way. But the guy cut us off something fierce. As we kept on the ramp, all of the sudden he slammed on his brakes and came to a complete stop, trying to get us to hit him from behind! Seriously...we were shocked. Luckily, my husband is a pretty alert driver and narrowly missed this dude. Before he sped off he made sure to let us know that he thought we were number one...
And I almost forgot that I am a pastor's wife and came close to doing the same. Had Ella been in the car and we'd hit him, I don't even want to think what my husband would have done.
Thankfully, God calmed us down pretty quickly, and our date was not ruined. We enjoyed ourselves immensly, and came home quite content. We were talking to Ash about a new CD that we had, and I wanted her to borrow it. I ran to the car because it was in the 12 disc CD changer that was in the trunk...I opened the trunk...and didn't see it.
We kind of felt a bit violated...I figured that someone during broad daylight broke into our car (it was unlocked in the driveway because I didn't have a free hand to manually lock it when I pulled the baby carrier, Ella's diaper bag, groceries, and my purse out earlier...yeah, we don't have a clicker) and ganked our changer. Yuck.
The cops came and took all the information down and sounded kind of doubtful that it was going to turn up. We came back inside and both got on our laptops to finish a few things. That turned into at least a 2 hour ordeal as Brandon tried to get his laptop to connect to our wireless internet system. He was on the phone with someone in the Philippines for crying out loud. So just as we were about sick of trying to get it to work with no luck, I hear Ella Bella crying.
"She doesn't usually wake up at 1am," I thought. After a while, I went into her nursery. She was absolutely burning up. I took her temperature...yes, in "there"...and it was almost 103. Time for the Tylenol and cold, wet compresses. Brandon and I were up until almost 3 with her before we all retired to our bed, her in between us...without her diaper (that was his idea...he put a towel under her). I was so tired, I couldn't argue.
A fitfull 3 hours later, I woke up with a hot, wet body up against me. Don't get any ideas...It was Ella! Wet wasn't just sweat from the fever, but also pee-pee! All over our bed, it soaked through the trusty towel. A temperature check, a cool bottle, a new diaper, and a few flicks of the hand, and the Berry family was dry and in the guest bedroom while the sheets and mattress pad were getting washed.
We awoke to Ella's new purring skill being practiced. So despite almost geting run over, almost totalling our car, becoming victims of larceny, and seeing our precious daughter through one heck of a fever, our life is indeed Berry Good.
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