Out of the Blogging Loop!

Man these last 4 months have been crazy (in an awesome way) ever since starting my business as an online fitness coach! Unfortunately, my personal blog here has been severely neglected. I think it is just because I want to spend only a certain amount of time at the computer, and that time almost ALWAYS gets focused into Beachbody. But I am so sad to see how few posts I have made recently! I am going to work on that. Expect a few posts coming soon!

4 Months Old

Ellie is 4 months old! Time has gone by so quickly, but at the same time, I can't believe there was ever a time she wasn't in our lives. We adore her, and most of you can probably tell that by the excessive amount of #ellysetaylor posts I make on Facebook. But, let's be honest, how could I not?

Baby Stats:

Head Circumference: 15.5 in (15%)

Weight: 12.9 lbs (20%) 

Height: 26.8 in. (100%)

Loves:

• smiling
• cooing
• rolling over 
• sleeping on her belly
• watching tv
• her sock monkey
• her orange ball
• standing up while mom and dad help
• "flying" baby style
• swimming
• baths

Hates:

• being tired - she is just like mom and gets REALLY dramatic if she's tired. 

Because Facebook Isn't my go to place for religion and politics

If you scroll through your Facebook news feed right now, you are bound to come across countless posts regarding the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. I never really feel comfortable sharing my thoughts and feelings regarding religion and politics on Facebook because I use Facebook for other purposes, but I feel like I can share on my own blog. So enjoy my short thought on this marriage equality decision. I have put a lot of thought into what I actually believe and feel is right over the last several years, as the debates have made me really question what I know and feel is right.

I personally feel that marriage is a sacred institution designed by Heavenly Father to be between a man and a woman. God intended for marriage to be an ordinance and covenant shared between Him and a man and a woman to further His work and intention for there to be eternal families. That is God's law, and that will never change.

That being said, I also think that people should have the right to make their own choices, and whatever their choices, we as a people should respect it. (Obviously there are choices we can't respect, and when that's the case, people end up in jail or prison, and that's obviously a different story) Agency was one of the first laws given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As a Christian, I feel like we should love people and show them the respect they deserve regardless of their personal choices.

The example the Savior set in the scriptures illustrates this time and again. He loved people - not necessarily for what they did. I feel like it should be the same for us. So, although I personally feel that marriage is sacred and that it should be between a man and a woman, I am also going to love and respect people for their own personal decisions and beliefs.

SO there we have it. My thoughts in a nutshell.

An Update on Team Beachbody Coaching Life

I love staying at home with Ellie. But in the same breath, something inside me wants to feel like I can continue to help contribute to my family financially. Money has always scared me.... I guess I should say that lack of money has always scared me. When I found out about the opportunity to be a Beachbody coach, though, I thought the opportunity would be perfect for me. And so far it has really turned out to be even better than I expected. When I signed up as a coach, I joined a network of people who just want to be healthy and to help others achieve their health goals as well. Before I became a coach, I thought it would be an "on your own" kinda thing. I didn't realize that I would be joining a team of amazing inspiring women who would be there to help me with any health, fitness, personal, or financial goal I might have. It has been amazing! And it has been fun to share my health and fitness journey - and the cherry on top is getting paid on average a solid Benjamin a week to do it! So grateful for this opportunity!

I get to attend optional weekly team calls with some of the women on my coaching team. We help each other out, give ideas on how to be successful, and just have a good time! It is cool, because these are women I would have never gotten to know without Beachbody. Some of them have completely different standards and beliefs than me, but I seriously have SO much fun talking to them, getting to know them, and learning from them. They have helped me be successful with my business, move up in rank, and be successful at my own goals for myself. It's awesome!

An Update on the Whole Stay at Home Mom Thing

Getting to stay at home with Ellie has seriously been such an amazing blessing. I have loved seeing her grow every day and hit new milestones. I love being a stay at home mom! I am so grateful to think that Bryce's job will allow me to continue to stay at home.

 Here is Ellie's newest talent - you can't put her on her back without her deciding to roll over right away! However, I think she might be better at rolling from her back to her belly than her belly to her back... 

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

I once heard that moms are just called "moms" because "multitasking ninja warrior" isn't a real job title. I just need to note this moment because just now I really lived up to the title of multitasking ninja warrior. Ellie woke up extra early this morning to eat. Please note the time below at which this was posted. As she was nursing, I could feel that her diaper was extremely saggy... It felt like half her body weight was sitting in that diaper. I was bummed because if I had to change her diaper after she was fed, it would definitely make her wake up more than I wish was necessary. So right there, as I was nursing, I made a bold decision. I decided to change Ellie's diaper while nursing. Was it stupid? Yes. Was it crazy? Very. Was it multitasking ninja warrior status? Most definitely. So I carefully unzipped the bottom of her swaddle blanket,  unbuttoned the bottom of her pajamas, opened up the ten pound diaper (which was luckily just urine), slipped a new diaper under her bum, pulled the old diaper out, did a quick swipe with a wet wipe, strapped the new diaper on, buttoned her pajamas up, and zipped up the bottom of her swaddle blanket - all while continuing to nurse my baby. In the dark. All with one hand. I finished feeding her, and put her back down in her crib - sound asleep. Today is the day. Today is the day I earned that extra awesome job title. I know moms earn that title countless times throughout momhood, but this was my first unnecessary success story.

Signing out, 

Beki

3 Months Young

I cannot believe how much we love our little girl. Every night, after Ellie is sleeping and Bryce and I are laying in bed, we always talk about how much we love Ellie and how lucky we are to have her as our daughter. She is so fun! She is such a happy, easy going baby. She's just the very best! Happy 3 month birthday, E!

Here is some Ellie facts:

LOVES:

• baths
• pacifiers
• "flying" in the air
• her activity mat
• cooing
•  diaper changes
• going for walks
• watching TV
• her sock monkey

HATES: 

• being tired
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

School's Out!

Wow. Year 2 of teaching is down in the record books. This year was SOOO fun, and so hard for me at the same time, just because of the major life events I have had this year (ie. having a baby, becoming a mother, etc.) I will never forget the fun times I had with these 4th graders. I had a student from another class take a picture of me with my class on the last day. I should have asked to see the picture before I told him he could go... But oh well. I am looking on the bright side! If I could actually see their faces, then I probably wouldn't be able to put it here on my public blog!

Welp, for now, I am retiring from teaching. I'll probably go back once my kids are older and in school. I think if I go back, I will teach middle school again. As much as I loved teaching 4th grade, with the 2 years experience I have, I REALLY loved teaching middle school. 

I am passionate about teaching. It truly feels like something I was supposed to do. And now that I have had that opportunity in my life, I am very grateful to now have the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. Thank you, Bryce, for making that a possibility for me! 

Oh and PS. In addition to staying at home and taking care of my sweet Baby E, I will continue being a Beachbody coach. I have had some success and I am loving it!

Ellie is 2 Months!

It's Mother's Day and I have been a mom for 10 weeks! We love this special, sweet, happy girl! And she is cute. SO yah. We are lucky. :)

Ellie weighs 10.5 lbs (34th-35th%)
She is 24.5 in. tall (99th%)

LOVES:

• Baths
• Smiling
• Being held
• Bouncing
• Stretching
• Wiggling her legs
• Making goofy faces
• Being dramatic
• Rolling from her tummy to her back

HATES:

• Being woken up from her naps
• Being hungry
• Having to stop what she's doing to eat
• Her pacifier on random occasions
• When mom goes to work and dad goes to school

And now for a picture/video overload...

Tummy Time! (haha - forgot to put text in the video. But this is Ellie's first real tummy time)

Rolling Over! (Oops... once again didn't change all of the default text...)

Playing Soccer!

A New Job Adventure

I have made a pretty fun decision about what I am going to do post-teaching. (Well, I guess technically I have already started.) In addition to being a stay-at-home mom, I have decided to become a Team Beachbody Coach. This is an idea I have been toying with for over a year... ever since I started T25. I have been inspired by other Beachbody coaches, and I have had such amazing success with this program. I LOVE the Beachbody programs. T25, P90X, Turbofire, Insanity, 21 Day Fix... I LOVE THEM - and I know first hand that they work. They have changed my life. As a coach, I get 25% off their products, like Shakeology, so even just that makes being a coach worth it for me. But I also get income from anyone that orders products through me or signs up for a Beachbody membership. Truly, though, I am not doing it for the income. I am a Beachbody coach because I love it. I love feeling like I am improving myself every single day, and I'd love to inspire others to live healthier life styles as well. As a coach, I will create fitness plans for others, and create support groups and challenge groups for others as well. EVERYTHING is done online. I can work as much or as little as I want. If I didn't feel like working ever, then I could just keep my coach status for the cheaper products-like Shakeology.

Anyway. I don't want to be that annoying family member or friend that makes you feel obligated to buy stuff or participate in things you don't want to. But I am just, for now, going to put it out there that I am now a Beachbody coach! I promise not to inundate you with Beachbody information... at least for now :) 

HOWEVER - 

If there is one thing I would invite EVERYONE to do, it would be to get a Team Beachbody membership. Throw away your gym memberships. It is hard enough to get the motivation to work out in general, but being able to work out AT HOME with on demand streaming of the best, most fun workouts in the world will totally change your life. No matter your fitness level, Beachbody is seriously for everyone. If you're young or if you're old, if you're trying to lose a few pounds or if you're trying to lose a lot of pounds, if you're trying to get in shape or if you're trying to stay in shape... you will never regret paying less than $40 a quarter ($160 a year or 44 cents a day) for the online streaming. I even share it with Bryce, so it makes it feel even cheaper. :) Whether you want to do Shakeology or not, that's one thing. But the Team Beachbody On Demand streaming is seriously the best thing EVER! In addition to the online streaming, with a membership you get:

• Program and nutrition guides
• A coach for guidance and support - ME!
• A place to record your goals and progress if you want
• 10% off all Beachbody products
• Live chats with THE trainers - Tony Horton, Shaun T, Chalene Johnson, Autumn Calabrese
• Message boards to answer your questions about fitness and/or nutrition

I do feel a little awkward posting this photo. BUT I just want to show you what just 4 weeks with a Beachbody membership and plan can do. I really haven't lost much weight at all between the before and after photo - only a couple pounds. But I look and feel better, I am stronger, I have more energy, and I am definitely happier! This isn't a final "after" photo - just kinda like a progress report. I still have a lot of work to do. I am so excited to continue with the Beachbody program and continue to improve and change my life, as well as help others in their journey! (And I will also work on my flexing skills :)

If you want to get a Team Beachbody membership, go to teambeachbody.com and then click "join the club" on the left hand side. Or click this link and it will take you there. When you get to the "coach referral" section, be sure to add me as your coach! Here is my information. Use any one of these three to find and get me as your coach:

Screen name: Bekilynn

Email: bekilynn@beachbodycoach.com

Coach ID: 668868

HGTV Inspiration

During the 6 weeks I was on maternity leave, I watched a lot of TV. And I discovered HGTV along the way. It is amazing how my whole perspective has changed in regards to a home that's a "fixer upper." I used to think I wanted to avoid "fixer uppers" like the plague. But now, they actually intrigue me. Everywhere I go, I have ideas of how to make a space better, more open, more practical, more beautiful, etc. Now I just want to knock down walls and redo kitchens and bathrooms.

Anyway, I can't do those things in a rental apartment.

 But, I realized not all hope is lost. I can do little things for now.

For instance, last week I decided I hated Ellie's crib color. It was brown and ugly. And had chew marks on it from a previous tenant. So here is my latest project. Bryce and I took it apart, sanded it down, painted it, and put it back together. I thought it would take a few hours, but it seriously took an entire day. But it was worth it! I didn't want to spend any money... we had a big can of white primer and a little can of really dark gray paint. At first I thought I would paint the crib white with the primer. But then I decided to mix the two together and do a lighter gray instead.

I didn't really take a "before" picture... I forgot to. But here is a picture of Ellie's bedroom before I redid the crib. 

And here is an "after" picture. I love it! I also repainted the frame of the picture above the crib as well. 

Mondays.

WARNING: This blog post contains complaining on the part of Beki. Read no further... she just needed to vent.

My whole life I have heard people talk about Mondays. How Mondays are the worst day of the week. How hard Mondays are. Most of my life, Mondays really haven't been that bad to me. I mean, yah, the weekends go by fast, but for the most part, I have always loved school. I have always loved my job. And usually I kinda looked forward to a new week. Mondays have never been that bad in my mind. (Granted, there have always been hard days... but I wouldn't blame it on Mondays.)

Well, I went back to work last Wednesday for the first time since having Ellie in our lives. And ever since Wednesday began, I longed for the weekend. I wanted so badly for it to be Friday at 4:00. I have never disliked being at work this much.... ever. And to be honest, a Monday has never come so fast. And for the first time in my life, I will truthfully tell you that I hate Mondays.

I love my students. I love my job. Having a teaching job has been such a blessing to our family. It has also brought a lot of joy to me. But I think no matter what I do, it will always be hard being away from my daughter all day. She is my world now. And she is on my mind constantly. I love her.

When I went in to the teaching profession, people always said that being a teacher is the best "mom job." I can definitely see why people say that - you get off work relatively soon after your kids get done with school. You get summers off. Well I just have to say that the one bad thing about having a teaching job is that when your contract hours are up, you aren't done with work. There is always more to do. There is always grading to be done, lessons to be planned. But here is my goal to help me get through the next 6 weeks and to be happy. I am going to work my bootie off and get done with work at 4:00 every day. I am going to leave school... and all my work behind. I am going to come home and cuddle, play with, and love my sweet baby with no distractions. If any of you really know what it's like to be a teacher, you know this is a lofty goal. But I am determined. 

May 29th cannot come soon enough. I can't wait until my only job is taking care of this sweet girl. 

Ears, Bottles, and Cuteness!

First of all, I just love this little face... 

Second of all, you can't see her face very well because of the shadow, but Ellie has 2 wires attached to her head, one wire attached behind her left ear, and another wire thing going in to her ear. When she was born, they tested her ears at the hospital to see if she was hearing okay. It is amazing that they can test that at such a young age! Unfortunately, after two tests, Ellie's left ear didn't pass the test. So yesterday we took her to the audiologist to have her checked again. Sometimes babies still have fluid in their ears from spending 9 months in said fluid, which makes them fail the test - so waiting a while and testing again will often times come back with a "pass" result. Anyway, she passed! She can hear just fine.

Then this morning I took a bunch of pictures right in a row of Ellie. That's what I do. All day long. Take pictures. Because I just love her adorable faces she makes! The next 5 photos were taken in the space of about 10 seconds.... so animated! 

Ellie has struggled to take a bottle. She hates it, actually. Often times, she would be starving and it would still take 5-15 minutes of her screaming and crying for her to even entertain the idea of sucking on any bottle I gave her. She is so dramatic sometimes :) Anyway. After spending a fortune on bottles, we have finally found one she will take with little or no protest at all. 

Which one is it, you ask?  

With a close vote between Medela, Dr. Browns, Tommee Tippee, Nuk, and Avent, Ellie has made her decision...

Avent it is!

A Day in the Life of E

Hi Everyone! I'm Ellie. My first name is Ellyse, but most people call me Ellie. And sometimes mom refers to me as E because that is what she called me before she wanted everyone to know my name. I am 5 weeks old today! Here is a picture of me.

I bet a lot of you are wondering what a day in the life of Ellie is like. So now I'm going to tell you. 

I wake up at about 7:00 am. 

Then I eat.

Then mom and I snuggle in bed and read scriptures. 

Then mom makes me get out of my pajamas and put on real clothes. 

After that, I sit in my swing and watch the birdies above my head while mom works out. 

When she is finished working out, I get all cozy and swaddled and take my morning nap at about 8:15. I usually sleep until 10:00. Or I try to, at least. 

That's when I wake up and eat again. Mom usually tries to feed me a bottle this time around. I don't really like drinking out of a bottle, so sometimes it takes me 10-15 mins to even start sucking on it.

But I'll do it. 

When I finish my bottle, it's play time! Sometimes I lay on the floor and mom tells me stories or makes funny noises with my toys. I don't interact much, but I like to look at whatever it is that she is showing me. Sometimes this is also when I run errands with mom, like going to the bank or the grocery store. 

After some play time, I get pretty tired again and have to go to sleep at about 11:15. Then I try to sleep until about 1:00. 

Then I wake up again and eat. Sometimes I get a bottle this time around, too. I am going to keep practicing with a bottle so that dad can feed me when mom goes to work. 

Then it's play time again! Sometimes I watch TV with mom, or walk with her out to the mailbox. Sometimes, when the weather is nice, I even get to go for a walk with mom in my stroller!

Then, once again, I get sleepy at about 2:15. So, I get swaddled, lay in my bed, and and try to sleep until about 4:00. 

Then I wake up, eat, play... and then it's one of the best parts of the day because Daddy comes home! He cuddles me, hugs me, kisses me, loves me... and then I take a short nap at about 5:15. 

Then I eat at 6:00, play a little and get ready for bed (some days I get bath time here!), take a nap, eat at 8:00, go to sleep, eat at 10:00.... and then sleep! Sometimes I'll sleep about 4 hours here for mom and dad. Then I'll get hungry, eat, and go right back to sleep. Then a couple hours later, I'll get hungry, eat, and go right back to sleep again. Then it's morning time and I start my day all over again!

Anyway. That's a day in my life. Hopefully I can keep this schedule up so that dad will have an easier time taking care of me when mom goes back to work. :)

Creative Works Conference

Bryce presented his embedded systems project at BYU-Idaho's creative works conference yesterday. I got to help a little bit with the aesthetic appeal by adding soccer jerseys and cleats to the decor. Bryce did awesome! He hasn't found out what place he got yet, but I am so proud of him and all his hard work! Also, he passed his senior project which was a Pandora-like recipe finding program. He is pretty much done with his semester now! Wahoo! This was his most difficult semester. I am so happy for him because now he only has 2 classes standing between him and graduation... and he thinks they will be pretty low key. (I'm sure it will be a little more time consuming than he thinks, especially since he will also be taking care of our little girl for half the semester. But he will do great! :) Start the countdown to graduation on July 23rd!