Jessica's Journal

Weekend of 'Firsts'...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:13:58 -0400

Adlee had a big weekend! We took her to a LOT of new places! She loves being out & about…whew!

Thursday: First trip to Beer Run

First photo shoot!

Friday: First Fridays After Five

First trip to X Lounge to meet Francois. He even brought her a drink of her own…a shot of water!

Sleeping in on Saturday:

Hanging out with daddy:

Sunday: First overnight trip to Richmond- Capital Ale House & The Jefferson Hotel

She is really starting to like sounds & toys!

One Month Old!

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:56:02 -0400

Adlee was one month old on July 9th…time flies! She was a little grumpy during our photo shoot that morning!

Our 2 year anniversary was on the same day so we had fish tacos and champagne at home to celebrate! The next night, ‘Grammy & Gramps’ watched Adlee while we went out to dinner to celebrate again!

First Fourth of July

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:39:14 -0400

We kicked off the 4th of July the night before with a party at Relay Foods (Chris’ work). Adlee slept through most of the party but when a couple of the guys started playing guitars & banjos she woke up and LOVED it! Looks like we will have to take her to see lots of live music!

On the 4th I made a red, white & blue breakfast while Adlee slept in her ‘first 4th’ onesie.

It was HOT in C-ville so we decided to head up to Wintergreen for their 4th of July celebration where it was much cooler. She slept through most of that too!

Adlee's First Babysitters & Brewery Tour

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:16:00 -0400

It was a busy weekend for the Bullards! Chris was a groomsman in Brady & Sarah’s wedding at Ashlawn on Saturday so we left Adlee with my parents for the first time on Saturday night. She did great and we had so much fun at the wedding. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Kirby!!

I had my first glass of wine…I was so excited I had to take a picture of it!

On Sunday, Chris spent some time napping with Adlee while I did a little shopping!

On Sunday afternoon we decided to drive out to Colleen for the opening of Blue Mountain Barrel House! Adlee had her first tailgate diaper change and her first brewery tour! I got to have my first beer tasting since she was born too. All of the new Barrel House brews are AWESOME…my favorite was the Local Species!

By Sunday night we were all very tired so Adlee and Scout had naptime together!

The First 3 Weeks

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:03:25 -0400

At the hospital:

Going home!! This is the blanket that me, my mom, aunt Beckie, uncle Woody and all of my cousins went home from the hospital in!

Checking out the backyard. Chris picked her ‘locally grown’ going home outfit.

Meeting her sisters- Scout & Ellie

She LOVES to be swaddled! Doesn’t she look like a burrito?

Father’s Day!

Yep, she’s Daddy’s Little Girl!

She loves her blanket made by Shannon!

First stroller ride with her quilt made by Theresa

First Baby Bjorn walk!

Adlee’s Birth Announcement:

Happy Birthday Adlee!!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:54:07 -0400

I meant to post at 40 weeks pregnant but I guess I never got around to it because here we are almost a month after Adlee was born and I’m just getting around to posting again. I didn’t plan to do a ‘baby blog’ but I’ve been looking at all of these sweet pictures we’ve been taking of her and I decided that I’ll add to this ‘journal’ as often as I can so she will hopefully be able to look back at this one day when she’s older to see what she was up to early in life!

Here are a few ‘belly’ shots from the 9th month:

Me at Martha Jefferson Hospital (for the first time!) We went in on Friday, June 8th in the morning but they sent us back home.

After heading home, I started having contractions at around 3pm that afternoon. We headed to the hospital around 9pm that night and Adlee Elizabeth Bullard was born the next morning (June 9, 2012) at 10:09 am. She was a bit larger than we expected- 9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long. I was SO scared of the hospital & labor but I have to say it was a pretty amazing experience and of course she is totally worth it!

Thelma & Louise

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:22:58 -0400

30 weeks..whoa! I just can’t believe we only have 10 weeks to go! Last week was a VERY busy one so I decided to do a lot of relaxing this past weekend. It was nice to spend some time at home with the doggies, chickens and Chris…and, I didn’t touch my computer at all until Sunday night.

We spent a lot of time outside and my parents came over for dinner and to see Baby B’s cute little room on Sunday! A great weekend and I’m feeling much better this week! I went to yoga on Saturday and Darcey and I walked the Monticello Trail tonight which felt really good. I find that when I exercise, I feel a LOT better overall!

A couple of Thelma & Louise from the weekend…

Baby B Progress!

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:53:07 -0400

Well, here we are at 29 weeks and it was a very productive weekend around here! Yeah, it’s pretty early but we have a VERY busy Spring so I wanted to get a head start. Saturday morning I unpacked the smaller stuff that we already have for the nursery and it is looking so cute! I still want to do a couple of decorating projects but here is a little tour of the nursery so far! I LOVE the changing table not only because it’s really cool but because Chris made it himself!

If you read Chris’ blog you know that we’ve been doing a bit of stroller research lately (Check out his post, Stroller Wars) and we actually found the one that we wanted on Craigs List this weekend! We were looking there because the orange one that we really wanted isn’t made anymore and we were really lucky to find a great deal on one that was only used for a very short time! My mom was even headed to Richmond today and was able to pick it up for us. Check out Baby B’s new ride, the Bumbleride Indie!

As if that wasn’t enough, Chris also spent ALL weekend working in the yard and our raised gardens look AWESOME!! By Saturday afternoon, I was feeling like a big slacker to so I did a little yard cleaning up and then planted a few flowers to make the front porch pretty!

Everyone had been saying that ‘the belly’ was really small and not even very noticeable but after the last few days, I think those days are over! I tried to take a photo of myself but it didn’t work very well so I had Chris take one from a distance too! I think it’s funny that Ellie is looking up at me like I’m nuts in the one I took!

We even ‘practiced’ putting the cloth diapers that Kathy & Desmond were nice enough to pass on to us on a teddy bear! :)

Between getting all of this done and working almost all day today, I am TIRED!!! Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Future JMU Duke!

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:58:50 -0500

Once again it’s been a while since I’ve blogged! It seems like time is just flying by…I am already 25 weeks pregnant. How is that possible!?!? I am feeling really good and the doctor says everything is looking great! We had the big ultrasound a few weeks ago and managed to get through it without finding out whether Baby B will be a boy or girl! We really do want it to be a surprise in June but it’s tough when it’s right there in front of you! I wasn’t planning to ‘publicly’ share any of the ultrasound photos but this one is pretty funny…the little guy (or girl!) had their feet in front of their face & arms behind their head most of the time! They are looking pretty ‘laid back’ to me. Hopefully that continues once they are born!

I *think* we’ve chosen 2 names which we’re keeping to ourselves for now because who knows if we will change our minds since we hear new ones every day! In the meantime, whether it’s a boy or girl, they have two (and just 2 so far!) pretty cool outfits waiting for them! Chris chose to put together plaid shorts, a BYOB shirt, a Red Sox bib and John Deere socks. A bit ‘boyish’ since I believe he’s thinking it’s a boy.

I, however, decided that the kid needs some JMU purple and gold (Go Dukes!) so I bought everything I could find here in UVA land. With all of these layers, I guess they will be warm at Homecoming this year at least!!

In other news…Chris has started a blog about his backyard & baby adventures: www.backyardbs.com He’s been doing lots of work to get the yard ready for Spring. The chickens have an upgraded coop and he’s already working on a raised garden! Oh, and I’m sure he will soon be blogging about how much he hates Pinterest since I keep finding all kinds of cool stuff for him to build on there. Check out this storage/changing table that he built last week. Don’t worry, it’s super sturdy and we’ll be adding a changing pad to the top. I just couldn’t see buying a ‘real’ changing table that I know I’ll never use when there are cool options like this in the world!

Big, Big, Weekend

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:11:36 -0500

I thought January was going to be a quiet month but it was another crazy weekend! On Friday, my Grandly moved into to a nursing home. I was very sad that she needed to go there but she joked that maybe she’ll meet a boyfriend :) and it sounds like she’s actually enjoying all of the activities that they offer, and the food! I am looking forward to going to see her this week.

The Big Big Bennie-Fit on Saturday night was a lot of fun and a big success! Nelson County Life shared some great photos HERE. The place was packed! It was really cool to see so many people coming together to help out Bennie & his family!

Chris reminded me that Saturday was also the 3 year anniversary of the first time we met. Awww… So we went to Fry’s Spring Station for a little celebration on the way to the Bennie-fit. I had been wanting to try it for a while and it was really good! It was some of the best wood-fired pizza I’ve had recently…except for from the back of the Dogtown truck, of course!

Today I took a little road trip to Culpeper to meet up with some of my JMU friends! Random location but it’s pretty much central to all of us so we thought we’d check it out. We had lunch, checked out some of the cute little downtown shops and then ended the day with a great cupcake! There were really 5 of us there + Sarah’s daughter, Camryn but I only got a photo of Darce, Danielle and I. It’s so nice that we are all so close 15 years later! 15 years…ouch!

Sadly, while I was road-tripping, Chris called to tell me that our favorite chicken, Arlene, was killed by the neighbors dog. I never thought I’d be so sad over a chicken. I guess these two really did become more like pets. We will miss you, Arlene!

Bend & Bennie-Fit

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:17:45 -0500

Tonight I went to my second yoga class at Bend Yoga- where yogi’s are born :) I really enjoyed it but also learned that my arms have gotten pretty weak. It was definitely motivation to keep doing yoga and to get back to the gym. I’m planning to go to the ‘Mamaste’ class every Thursday and hopefully most Saturdays too. If you’re having a baby or already have one, you should check it out!

The other big thing coming up this week is The Big Big Bennie-Fit! Bennie is a local musician and a great guy. On Saturday there is a benefit at Fry’s Springs Beach Club from 6pm-1am to help with a pile of medical bills that he has from a recent hospital stay. Tickets are only $20 at the door and a while list of great bands are playing…check out the website for details! I hope to see all of you there! Here are a couple of photos that I love of Bennie at our wedding. played the cocktail hour but stayed late and ended up singing with the band!

Holiday Fun

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:27:48 -0500

It’s been a busy, but great, couple of weeks! We were in Vermont for about a week at Christmas and had such a great time! We got to spend a lot of time with everyone and it was really fun to see all of the nieces & nephews enjoy Christmas! It’s still really strange to me that I have such a large family now! I went from being an only child to having 9 siblings on Chris’ side of the family. We did a lot of relaxing, even more eating and didn’t want to come back to reality! I included some of the photos below.

This weekend, we had Christmas #2 at Dani & Bob’s farm in Madison and #3 with my parents on New Year’s Eve! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I’ll have to get some photos from others to share but it was really nice to spread Christmas out over a couple of weeks so we could really enjoy time with everyone instead of too much running around! Tonight we’ve just been resting and eating some of our snacks from the weekend. A big THANK YOU to all of our families for an awesome Christmas! I’m looking forward to a great 2012!

Chris using the popcorn maker from my aunt & uncle while wearing his new Patriots jersey from my parents. Baby B got lots of Red Sox gear for Christmas. I’m sure the Patriots will be next!

Yummy treats that Dani & Bob brought us from Paris where they spent Christmas!! Bob and his daughter Erin made the cheese board for us! Isn’t is awesome?

Thanks to a birthday gift from my mom and dad, I finally got a new haircut & a manicure before we headed to Vermont!

We fit in a little shopping trip to the Vermont Country Store- love that place!

Jac made cookies for all of the kids, including Baby B!

Chris and Nick before the carriage ride to celebrate Christine’s Christmas Eve birthday. It was cold but sadly, no snow!

Chase, Aiden and Xavier getting ready for the ride! Natalie, the only girl in the family, is the only one missing!

Chris and I with the horses.

The view from Gary & Christine’s house..I love it! Unfortunately the actual dock where we got engaged was damaged by the flooding earlier this year but they were very lucky that it wasn’t worse.

Chase gave a ‘thumbs up’ to the snacks we left for Santa and the reindeer!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Back To The Blog

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:19:04 -0500

Well, as most of you know, 2012 is going to be an exciting year! We recently found out that we’re having a baby and he or she is due around June 6, 2012. I think this is good enough reason to get back to blogging so we can keep everyone updated easily. So far I just know that I’m feeling a lot better (finally), I am terrified of those maternity jeans with the big stretchy front panel and that we won’t be finding out whether it’s a boy or girl!

Last weekend we went to Lynchburg to see Kathy, Desmond and Andrea & Emily, Nick and Edie! Since they are fairly new to this baby thing too they all had great advice and we even headed home with an awesome bag of cloth diapers (yes, we have lost our minds and are thinking about trying them) and a book that I plan to start reading on the flight to Vermont today:

Now THAT is my kind of ‘learn what to do with a baby’ book! We will be in Vermont until Monday and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone there and to some time off!

Home Sweet Home

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:56:34 -0400

Wow! Has it really been a month since I’ve blogged! It’s been a busy one for sure! In case I missed some of July we filled our weekends with Dani & Bob’s Wedding, a trip to VT before Gary moved to Germany, a trip to VA Beach & then we moved! Whew…makes me tired just thinking about it all but it was a great time!

We’ve been in the new place for 2 weeks today and we LOVE it! Except for a dining room full of stuff we must not really need because we haven’t unpacked it yet, we’re all settled in. The dogs love the backyard and we do too…we’ve been weeding, mowing and gardening and today Chris moved the garden and compost. By garden season next year it should be really great back there! We’ve already gotten another chicken so now we have Arlene & Thelma and they are laying a couple of eggs a day. I was a bit nervous about having chickens but they are really easy and I like watching them…they are actually pretty animals!

Here are a few photos of the new place…it’s still a bit of a work in progress but these are a start! First, my office with the Cardboard Safari moose that I finally got to hang! Ellie loves hanging out under the desk.

The kitchen is my favorite room! It’s too bright to get a great iPhone shot of.

The living room… also very bright!

I also love the antique tub! The awesome new towels that we just got make the new bathroom feel like a spa!

And the awesome backyard. It’s not easy to find a backyard like this just a few blocks from downtown!

And, finally, meet Arlene & Thelma.

Next up on the project list is painting. We will be staining the porch and painting the columns and then doing some interior painting too. I think I’ll start with a small painting project tomorrow night…a window frame of photos for our wedding pictures. We bought two vintage frames from an antique store the last time we visited Floyd so I just have to choose a paint color tomorrow and then I can get started. Here is a sample of what it will look like (photo from Johnny In a Dress) and here is how I’ll do it. Photos coming soon!

Great Weekend!

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:28:35 -0400

A lot happened since I last wrote! On Saturday I took a road trip to DC with Darcey to watch our friend Brian compete in the Metro Dash obstacle course. It was HOT but he did great and it was fun to watch! Once he was done we went down to National Harbor for a bit. We also got to grab a quick lunch with our JMU buddy, Danielle!

We got to play in the sand a bit around this cool statue too!

When I got home Chris surprised me with dinner at Savour. We LOVE that place. Totally random location but the food is great and the owner & staff are SO nice! We also exchanged anniversary presents. We decided on the traditional ‘paper’ so I got Chris a print of a photograph by Robert Wrenn Jones that he liked when we saw it in Floyd. Check out his work at www.throughtherectangle.com

Chris got me something that I have always wanted (seriously!)- A cardboard moose from Cardboard Safari. You can buy them here in Cville at Rock, Paper, Scissors!

Thanks to Nick and Maggie we had a gift certificate to stay at Silver Thatch Inn so we decided to use it on Sunday to end our anniversary weekend. It’s located right in Hollymead on 29 North but we felt a lot further away! The rooms are lovely (we chose the James Madison room….Go Dukes!). We planned on just having an appetizer or two in their adorable little ‘pub’ but the menu looked so good that we decided to go for a full dinner. It was REALLY good! The restaurant is open to the public so if you’re looking for a place to go for a special occasion, I’d recommend checking it out! Here is a photo of my favorite part of the meal: Scallops with Corn Pudding…YUM.

And a self-taken photo of us in the pub!

It was back to the real world this morning but at least we just have a few days of work & packing before we head to Vermont on Friday!

Happy Anniversary, Chris!!!

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:54:03 -0400

One year ago today, Chris and I had a BBQ at our house and surprised everyone by getting married! What a great day! Unfortunately we were only married for 6 days before he headed back to Afghanistan. VERY thankful that isn’t the case this year! Happy Anniversary, Chris! I love you :)

I guess you could say we started celebrating last night at Fridays After Five where The Dickens (our wedding band) played! Such a great time with old friends, new friends…and even new family! We’re trying to think of another excuse to have The Dickens play a party!I can’t say enough how talented and fun they are!

On a different note, I got to spend some time with my Grandly yesterday and she give me a pile of old photos…I love them! Chris and I are planning to have a garden at the new house to support our ‘real food’ eating. Turns out, I’ve been a gardener all along! This is me picking beans in my grandparents garden and 2 years old and then helping my Gai-Gai peel potatoes at 5 year old. That’s Garnett where the business name and engagement ring come from! He always had a HUGE garden!

Watch out family…I have a whole pile of these old photos to share on Facebook now :)

Wedding Weekend!

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:40:45 -0400

I just realized that I haven’t blogged in a while! We did finish two weeks of clean just in time for Dani & Bob’s wedding. What a fun weekend! The wedding events were SO much fun, we got to spend lots of time with Nick, Maggie and Chase (the cutest little nephew in the world) and I now have 9 brothers & sisters. Whew…what a weekend! :) Photos coming soon…

We did fit in some fireworks last night in the park where we live and then it was back to work (and eating healthy) today! I took a little trip to Whole Foods this afternoon (and felt slightly guilty for cheating on Relay Foods like that). I got the ingredients to make 4 meals: chicken fajitas, eggplant parm, a chicken, barley & blackberry dish and stuffed peppers.

If you need to make a quick (really good!) dish, try this: buy one of those bags of assorted peppers and then hit up the whole foods salad bar. I chose a quinoa salad and a buckwheat salad. I simply stuffed the peppers with the salads and topped with some Parmesan cheese. I’ll bake it for a few minutes before we actually eat it but look how pretty it is:

On a less healthy note, we have been thinking about not eating foods with ingredients that you cannot pronounce or foods that have more than 5 ingredients. Well, on the 4th of July, we gave in to the ‘oops, we baked too many red, white and blue cookies’ line and bought these. Not only do they have 52 ingredients (Thanks for counting, Molly!) but I can’t pronounce a single one of them :(

Clean: Weekend Style

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:36:35 -0400

We gave ourselves a little room to ‘cheat’ this weekend which was part of the plan. We don’t want to be too strict otherwise these great habits won’t stick. We didn’t end up going to the beer fest after all so we had lunch at the Whole Foods ‘pub’ on Saturday (sushi for me and a veggie pizza for Chris) along with a beer. We were laughing about what we consider ‘eating badly’ now. Totally different than before. We also had some beer that night and then treated ourselves last night to Ben and Jerry’s. But, first thing this morning we were back to being clean! It seems like a good mix for the future…clean during the week and then take a little break on the weekend.

Today I came across the blog ‘100 Days Of Real Food’ and I think it’s what I would like to do next! It’s much less limiting that what we are doing now so you can do it for a long period of time. Check it out- it includes some great recipes and ideas for eating well on a budget.

Another note about today, I had a peach from Critzer Family Farm that was SO good!! It reminded me of Summers as a kid when I would help my grandparents with their garden. I got to actually pick that morning whatever I wanted to eat for lunch. My favorite was a cucumber sandwich! I wish I remembered more about how they did all of that stuff! Maybe I’ll ask my Grandly for some canning lessons!

Big night at the Bullard house tonight…we bought Monopoly last night to keep ourselves busy while we’re not going out and the first game was continued until tonight. I’m winning so far!

Clean: Days 4 & 5

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:01:57 -0400

I didn’t get to blog yesterday but we are still ‘clean’. I’m not sure what the difference is this time but I’m still feeling really low energy so I think I’ll add in more protein over the weekend so see if that helps.

Yesterday we did our smoothie breakfast and since I was in between meetings I grabbed a bowl of hummus and some veggies at Cville Coffee. Not 100% clean I’m sure but close enough for eating out!

Today I had much with my sister-in-law, Maggie, at Whole Foods and it’s actually really easy to follow the plan there. I got a quinoa salad and then made myself a spinach sald with beets, cucumber and an olive oil & lemon juice dressing. I love that place!

This afternoon will be hard since it’s a beautiful day for a cold beer at Fridays After Five but we’ve got other plans…Chris is making clean sushi (you replace the rice with walnuts soaked in water and then crumbled) and then we’re going to see Bad Teacher. We got a great deal on a Fandango Living Social deal a couple of weeks ago so this is a great time to use it!

Tomorrow, we will cheat…a little. We’re going up to Leesburg to the Nova Brewfest. Chris has been wanting to go forever so we decided that a few beer tastings in the middle of all of this won’t kill us! The purpose for us is to kick start eating well every day so if we make it TOO extreme we won’t want to keep going at all.

Have a great weekend!

Clean: Day 3

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:21:34 -0400

It’s Day 3 and I have to admit that I am tired! I checked out my blog from the first round of clean and I was starting to have lots of energy by Day 3. But, reading it also reminded me that I hadn’t incorporated any exercise yet. Today Darcey and I walked the Monticello Trail (about 3 miles) in the heat so I think that may explain it. I just made sure to drink plenty of water all day and the exercise seemed to fit in pretty well.

I started with an energy smoothie this morning followed by what we now refer to as ‘chinese food’: buckwheat noodles with grilled chicken and vegetables. Add some wheat free tamari and I swear it really does taste like Chinese! I had a couple of snacks in the afternoon to keep my energy up for the walk: almonds and some hummus/veggies. Dinner wasn’t quite as fun…it was a great smoothie but it certainly didn’t taste like chinese! :)

This time around actually feels pretty normal since we have been eating TOO badly for the past six months anyway. I have to admit that I hope the energy portion of this that I have been waiting for kicks in tomorrow!