Currently : June

I am so pleased to be co-hosting with Anne this month for 'Currently'! 

I love having these posts to look back on to see what we did during the months.  I have been slacking on blogging but I love to at least have these posts to reflect back on.

First up, traveling: I recently returned from a girls trip to Clearwater, FL.  We had an absolute blast! We all met in college and have been friends for 15+ years.  The trip was a perfect mix of beach, wine, LOTS of girl talk and just good ol relaxing.

Also can we just get an applause for getting multiple, good group shots?! Not easy with 9 people! 

Grilling: We grill out the majority of the time in the summer.  One, we love it and two, it gets me out of cooking every meal, Mister is the grill master in our house ;)  I am pretty sure we could eat burgers from the grill every single night.  If we have the time we will use the charcoal and it is SO yummy.  We love to experiment with various seasonings and versions of burgers.  I would love to try grilled pizza but it is slightly intimidating.

Exploring:  Unless LM is sleeping, there is not a moment we aren't exploring.  He is incredibly, busy and curious.  He LOVES to be 'outchide' looking and picking up all the rocks, sticks and dandelions.  If you visit our yard you will find piles of rocks all of the place.  We really love to watch him wander around the yard exploring every inch.  

We are also trying to explore more of Cincinnati and things to do as a family while enjoying our summer.  So far we've hit up the zoo and multiple parks.  

Planting: We have a local nursery that we absolutely love.  They are incredibly friendly and the prices are great, it's really hard to beat.

Last weekend we made a big trip and picked up veggies, herbs and flowers to plant.

Mister and I really enjoy being in the yard and experimenting with various plants.

A few years ago I picked up this raised bed for the patio and it always does well. 

 This year I planted: rosemary, cilantro, basil, cherry tomatoes, peppers, lavender (keeps mosquitoes away!) and melons!  I also picked out a few flowers for a big planter I love to deck out.  

Playing: We are obviously always playing with LM, he really loves rocks, his food truck and reading books.  

We also played some fun games on my girls trip.  We tried out Monikers and Last Word and they were both really fun!  They would be great for a group weekend away! 

And that's what we've been up to! What is currently going on in your world?

Join the link up here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Weekend Wrap Up: No Plans

I haven't done one of these in a while and the irony is, we didn't have anything planned this weekend worth even reporting on BUT we had a lot of quality family fun time and there are always good pictures to go along with that!

Friday: We had a little play time after LM's dinner and off to bed for him.  Fridays are rough on the poor guy, he plays so hard all week and usually crashes on Fridays.

Mister and I made this Mexi Meatloaf in the insta pot.  SO good and it makes a ton, I definitely recommend it.

Saturday: LM had gymnastics first thing and we ran around, rolled around and explored the gym.

Afterwards he and I ran some errands (Target, duh) and back home for play time. 

In an effort to get him outside but not in the soaking wet grass, we went on a run before lunch time.

While he was snoozin, my mom and I went on yet another jean short hunt.  I had ordered these from Nordstrom Rack and they were SO short it wasn't even funny.  I didn't find any other ones either.  I think I'm giving up.  The shorts I want are a unicorn that will not be found.  We then hit up Trader Joe's for some goodies (everything but the bagel seasoning for LIFE).  

That evening we headed out to dinner with NaNEE and LM, once again, almost ate more than we did.

Sunday: We headed to church but got there a little too late so LM's class was full.  Instead he and I hung out in the atrium running around and eating snacks.

Once home from church and errands we played outside and watching LM collect rocks and play with his broom-two of his favorite things.

We rounded out the day with a neighbor birthday party and grilling out with NaNEE.

(LM NEVER snuggles us in bed so I treasured these quick few minutes he sat with me on Sunday morning.)

 

See, no real plans all weekend long but we chocked it full.

l of goodies and snuggles and the kisses that LM has been giving us lately, which are THE best.

How was your weekend?

Currently : May

Hi friends!

I am happy to be linking up with Anne and Carrie today for the May edition of Currently.  

Like most folks, I am not sure how it is May already but the fact that I'm pretty sure Spring is finally here to stay I am okay with it.  

This month we are talking all things:
Celebrating:  This may seem insignificant to some but I am jumping for joy that we recently ordered new horizontal blinds for our family room.  Last year we had the entire house painted and once we did I HATED our window treatments.  The window treatments came with our house so we've lived with them for quite a while and I was more than ready for an update.  We finally settled on these from Select Blinds.   Even working in the design field, I have trouble nailing down exactly what I want or what I'm picturing in my head.

Creating:  Another simple house update under creating lately.  Awhile back my mom gave me a large wooden monogram 'T' for our front door and I finally managed to get it stained.  I used the same stain we have on our dining table but not as many coats.  It is a subtle gray with a tint of blue and I love how it looks on our navy front door.  There's something about warmer weather that makes me want to update the entire house.

Wearing: More Spring joy here! Dresses and skirts finally!  I picked up this adorable polka dot dress from Loft during one of their sales lately and I'm loving it!  I have also been on the LARGEST jean short hunt of all time.  I feel like Goldilocks.  Too big, too small, too short, just not right.  I really love these but they ran out of my size and I wanted to love these but on my longer legs they were a no go.  I have a pair a Levis in route to the house so I will see how those go. 

Sharing: These muffins with my coworkers.  I did not have super high expectations for them but they are SO good.  They're gooey and so yummy when warmed up and had with your morning coffee.

Going:  OUTSIDE OUTSIDE OUTSIDE with LM.  He LOVES to be outside and so we are go go going out the door as much as possible.  I cannot resist that little voice asking me to go 'ouchtside' so out we go and we play and collect rocks and walk around until bedtime.
And to the zoo as often as we can, because what's not fun about popping down to the zoo?

Next month I am honored to be co hosting with Anne for Currently : June.  Please join us to talk about what you're: traveling, grilling, exploring, planting, playing

Life Lately

Oh hey look, here I am.  I promise I haven't forgotten about this space but you know, life gets in the way.  Also I have another project I am working on that is taking a lot of my time.  I am not ready to spill my guts yet but I am so excited about it and cannot wait to share it with you! I will need your help once the cat is out of the bag so get ready!

Otherwise here is what has been going on in our life:

If you saw my Insta you saw that Mister and I went camping last weekend.  Yes, me, went camping.  We love love love our church and church community and they have land that they do camps on every so often.  Last weekend was 'Couples Camp' and at first I told Mister NO WAY.  However, over time I came around to the idea and I am SO glad I did.  We had a fabulous weekend, so much goodness.  Even when we woke up in the middle of the night to rain in our tent :(  

Little Mister spent the weekend with Nanny and they had a ball! They went to gymnastics and played, played, played.

A few weekends ago some of my best girlfriends came into town and LM had a weekend long play date with his aunts and birthday buddy Edie.  They weren't planned to be so close in age but LM and Edie are only a few days apart and so fun to watch together.

 

Friends of ours moved (major sad face) but they gifted LM their slide and he has been in heaven.  He is constantly chanting 'outside outside! slide slide!'.  When he's not sliding he's really into picking up rocks.  My mom tells me that from about age 2 on I always had a rock in my pocket every time she did laundry so it's only fitting he loves rocks.  

I think those are the only major things going on in our life!
We are still LOVING our insta pot and keeping up our Whole30 diet in an 80/20 aspect.  We need our wine and Diet Coke but otherwise we are doing a pretty good job sticking to it.

What's going on in your life?!

18 Months!

LM is 18 months old!

We are so proud of him!  He is becoming such a sweet little man.  So funny and silly all the time.

Everyday is more and more fun with him.  Recently he is talking up a storm.  He has 20+ words at the moment and is exceptional at repeating.  Most importantly, he's started saying 'mama' more and more often.  And it's my favorite thing in the world.  He says 'hi dog' and 'hi dad' alllll the time which are also adorable.  He is a true little boy and very obsessed with balls.  He says 'Baalllll?' as a question and statement all in one.  I love it.

His is also very obsessed with blueberries and hearing him say 'blueberry' is so cute.

He is a busy, busy man.  He does not stop moving. All day long.  Until he crashes.
Our sitter will tell us that sometimes she finds him taking a quick power nap on the floor in the middle of the other kids playing.
He goes goes goes until the moment he's in bed and then crashes.  

We recently enrolled him in a gymnastics class and he's loving it!  They have little miniature gymnastic equipment (bars, beams, rings, etc) and they work on different skills, singing and a very light curriculum.

He is a very curious soul and loves to wander around when we're outside and just take it all in.  We were at the park recently and he spent a good 30 minutes just walking back and forth on the trail investigating everything around him.

 We recently introduced him to Elmo before bed while he has his milk and he is starting to enjoy it.  He says 'ELMO' as soon as we put jammies on and head for milk and the sofa.  He has yet to be a big tv kid (which is 100000% okay with us) but I think Elmo may be becoming a favorite.

At his 18 month check up he was 22.6lbs and 31".  He is built just like his papa...tall, long and lean.  Knock on wood he is a very good eater! He will eat anything we put in front of him.  When he's getting teeth (working on #s 15 and 16 right now!) in he is a little more picky but otherwise he's a good eater. I'm pretty sure if we would let him survive on blueberries, bananas, carrots and green beans he would.  And the occasional cheese stick because who doesn't love cheese sticks?
 

Whole30: Round 2

Whole30 seems to be all the rage lately and it's for a good reason.

We did our first round of Whole30 back in October and while it has it challenging moments, it is TOTALLY doable and totally worth it.

As the founder says, cancer is hard...Whole30 is not hard. 

We recently listened to Jen Hatmaker (LOVE her, please go read her books and listen to her podcasts if you aren't already) interview Melissa Hartwig, founder of Whole30 and it was enough to make us want to do it again. 

If you are new to Whole30, in short it is a program that strips away sugar, grains, alcohol, dairy and MSG from your diet in order to get your body in check.  

We originally did Whole30 in the fall as a reset for our bodies and our systems and it worked.  While the program isn't focused on losing weight, I did not hate the fact that I lost 12lbs over the course of the 30 days.  The literature is careful not to call Whole30 a 'diet' and that's true.  Within the approved foods, there is no limit to the amount that you can eat.

I've talked before how I have some (annoying) belly issues (in short, my body is allergic to sugar and can't process it well) and that leads to a lot of bloating and digestive issues.  Unfortunately, sugar is in LITERALLY everything, so many things you wouldn't even think it is.  So while Whole30 can be on the verge of boring, the program works really well for my system.

The founder of Whole30 makes it a point to encourage trying Whole30 for 30 days and then slowly reintroduce the foods you eliminated back in and seeing how your body reacts.  Whole365 should not be a thing...for one, I think you would lose your mind.  Two, mama needs her glass of wine and some cheese every once in a while.  While not on Whole30 I like to employ the 80/20 rule.  Good food in 80% of the time and the not so good stuff 20% of the time.  For me that 20% is usually Diet Coke, red wine, fries and cheese.  Again, all of those things have sugar and my body will surely tell me about it.

Since we've completed one round of Whole30 I thought I would share my favorites with you guys.

I will say, that in general we eat pretty 'clean' so I didn't see an excessive change in our grocery bill or what we were buying.  

The #1 piece of advice I have is to plan and prep.  I usually use Sundays to prep and cook roasted veggies, spaghetti squash and chicken.  I've been doing chicken in our Instant Pot and we also make a big batch of scrambled eggs to have throughout the week. 

Whole30 Favorites:

Rx Bars (any of the fruit ones)

Kind Pressed Bars

Larabars (fruit flavors)

Dried mango, pineapple, banana (Trader Joes has the best)

Roasted potatoes (we slice them thin, season with garlic salt and roast at 425 for 25 minutes)

Apples with almond/cashew butter

Fruit

Roasted veggies

Aidels/Applegate sausages

Creamy sun dried tomatoes + chicken thighs 

EGGS (so many eggs)

Flavored seltzer water (coconut is my favorite)

Pumpkin Turkey Meatballs 

Tessamaes dressings

Nutpod creamer

Lean beef burgers with avocado 

Sweet potatoes

There are TONS of easy and yummy Whole30 recipes out there.  I will say we struggle most with snacks.  We are used to having portable snacks and carrying around half a chicken breast isn't the easiest thing.  Nor is surviving on Rx bars, mostly because we would run out of money.

So here we go again...wish us luck! If you have any questions, just ask! I am no expert but have ton a bit of research and enjoy talking about it!

Working Mama : 1 Year After Maternity Leave

Today marks 1 year of being back at work after LM was born.  

To say that was a terrible, no good, sad day would be an understatement.  I was on the verge of tears the entire morning trying to get ready and I think I cried almost all the way to work.

My sweet neighbor met me in the driveway with a card and a Starbucks gift card, both were very needed and appreciated.

 (1 year ago...my last day of maternity leave)

That being said, getting back into a groove was good.  I missed LM like crazy and really just wanted to be at home with him, but it was nice to talk with other adults and put on real clothes.  It had been quite a while since I had done that consistently.  I left work on September 16th (not knowing I would not return for a while) and did not go back until February 2nd.  (Well I went back 1/2 days for 6 days right before he came home...that barely counted since I was only there for 4 hours and had to pump twice during that time.)

The advice I heard over and over again was to take it one day at a time.  And that is all I could really do and over time, it worked.  To all you mamas that eventually have to go back to work, I promise it works.  It sucks hard core but it does get better.  It makes coming home all that much better. 

My other big advice is to not start back on a Monday if you can help it.  I started back on a Thursday and only having to go in 2 days and not dread the weekend (if I had started on a Monday) made it a lot easier.

Even before we had LM I had the upmost respect for working mothers.  Now that I am one, I have enough more respect for fellow mamas (and papas).  It is hard work.  Plain and simple.  It is 100% worth it, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard.

It has definitely taking some adjusting and schedule wrangling but we make it work.

Our days are pretty much nonstop from the moment we get up until the moment LM goes to bed.

I get up at 5:45 (on days I workout) and about 6:25 on the days I don't.  

I start the coffee and get LM's milk ready.  I then speed get ready and by this time LM is usually awake and jabbering away in his bed.  Thankfully he is pretty good about chatting with himself and playing in his bed until it is time to get dressed.

By 6:45 I get him up, dressed and teeth brushed.  After that Mister takes over for milk time and off to the sitters.

It is our goal to pick LM by 5 (or before) from the sitter and rush home for dinner and play time.  It depends on the day of the week but usually he starts crashing by 6:30-6:45.  After pjs its milk and into bed.  

 As you can see, sadly my time with him in the morning is limited.  I have a bit of a commute so I leave as early as I can so I can in turn, leave as early as possible in the evening to return home.
It is my goal to be in the office between 7:30-7:45...barf I know.

But then I can leave around 4:15 and then we are able to maximize our time in the evening with him.

By 7:15-7:30 we all crash in some form.  LM in his bed and Mister and I on the sofa with dinner (terrible habit I know).  

Mister and I both have been pretty busy with work the past few months and often have to work in the evenings.  I do not mind this too much (I mean, yes I would rather be doing nothing ;) ).  However I do think it is important to set the expectations of those you work with and for if you are in a similar situation.  I've made it clear that I am okay with working in the evenings if necessary but refuse to do so while LM is awake.  Since he is only awake a few hours after we get home, I am not going to spend that time sitting on my computer. I did recently have to jump on a call when I got home and LM insisted on sitting in my lap (and I did not mind one bit) but let's just say thank goodness for the mute button.

Having 2 full time working parents is definitely new territory for us and is constantly changing but the groove we are in right now seems to be working as best as it can be.  Whether you work in or out of the house full or part time or your job is to be an amazing stay at home parent, you get all of my props.  Parenting is like 148 jobs rolled into one that you can't train for.  Throw that on top of normal life and craziness and jobs to boot...it can be a doozy!  I am guessing this is an area that we can all give ourselves a little bit of grace.  This is something that I am certainly working on.  

Thankfully Mister and I both work for companies that value family time and a work/life balance.  If LM has a doctors appointment or I need to leave early to get him, my office is great about letting that happen.  That flexibility means the world to us.  It makes a lot of difference to the balance we strive to keep.

I remember counting down the days until I had to go back to work and absolutely dreading it.  We are very fortunate that LM and we love our sitter he goes to.  While I'd love to hang out with him all day, I enjoy my job and he enjoys his friends and our setup is working at the moment.

I have a couple other thoughts on this subject and am thinking about starting a series around working mamas and how we make it work.  Let me know if you have anything you want me to touch on.

Current Beauty Favorites

I seem to be on a beauty buying bender the last few months and it's only right I share my favorites with you.

I love reading and watching beauty product/skin care/makeup recommendations from other bloggers and youtubers.  If you have any favorites I need to be using, send them my way!

I have always been a huge fan of Moroccan Oil products.  I LOVE the way the smell. So much.

For Christmas my mom gave me this great heat protecting spray.  It smells yummy and protects my hair when I actually dry it, win.

She also gave me their split end treatment.  While I love going to get my hair cut, I never do it on a regular basis and split ends inevitably happen. This seems to be helping.

Come to think of it, Mama gave me my holy grail mousse too.  We share a love of hair products.  I am always in search of more volume and Kenra Volume Mousse is magic. I usually cannot get volume to last more than a day but with this mousse I can get at least 2 days worth. 

As far as face products, I have continued to use Philosophy's oldy but a goody Purity face wash but recently picked up one of their masks as well.  Their Pore Extractor Exfoliating Clay Mask is excellent.  I try to use it at least once a week and can immediately tell a difference.  I feel like it brings out the impurities in my face but also clears them up very quickly. 

I have never really used any of Korres products but I've been using their Pomegranate Balancing moisturizer and it is lovely! It is super lightweight and a little goes a very long way.  I literally lightly dab my finger in the the jar and that amount will cover my whole face. 

Before I lightly swipe on my moisturizer I use BareMinerals Skinlongevity Vital Power Serum.  This guy has all sorts of good stuff in it and I can tell a difference that it is working.  It is for sure making my face smoother and also decreasing the appearance of wrinkles.  Again, a little goes a very long way.

In the makeup department, I finally purchased a Naked eye shadow basics palette.  Granted it is the small travel size but I can see what the hype is all about.  The colors are very nicely pigmented, stay on all day and go on like a breeze.  

On the drugstore side of things, Wet n Wild has really been winning me over.  Not only are they cruelty free but they are so affordable! At the moment I have at least 4 favorites from them.

Their foundation is currently my go to, it is a great medium coverage and lasts all day.  

I am also a very large fan of their Megalast Liquid Catsuit lipstick.  It is the first matte I've tried out and really like it.  

And they cannot be beat for face and eye shadow primers.  I've been using both for the past few years and they are both under $5.  Enough said.

Kait and Casey turned me on to Vital Proteins Collagen.  I wasn't sure I needed it at first but after a few weeks of putting it in my coffee each morning I can tell a big difference in the thickness of my hair and how fast my nails are growing.  I've already turned 2 other friends onto its magic.  

And those are some of my favorites in my beauty regime.  Are any of these on your list?  Do you have any that I need to try out??

16 Months

I realize this is an odd month to do an update on but hey, the last one was 4 months ago so here we go.

I mentioned a little bit about LM in my last post but thought I would dive into the details a little more on this post.  Plus this Mama loves having these posts to look back on.

At his 15 month check up LM was 22lbs and 31" long.  I would say he's about the same weight now.  But he has definitely gotten taller lately...sometimes I'm pretty certain he grows while napping.

He LOVES to eat.  Knock on wood, we haven't found much of anything he won't eat.

He doesn't like lunch meat ham but that is about it.

He loves pb&j, chicken, bananas (dried and fresh), dried mango, yogurt, pudding, grilled cheese, string cheese and basically any form of CHEESE. (Just like his mama)

He loves his milk!  We are working on transitioning to all sippy cups for milk.  Judge away but this boy may get a bottle before bed until college.

He does really like this straw cup and anything with handles.  

He is a walking fool.  And with that comes with a lot of tumbles but he generally gets right back up and keeps going.  He LOVES his blankie and has mastered walking with it, even wrapped around his legs.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  

His feet are still kind of tiny so we've had a tricky time finding hard sole shoes for him (and that aren't CRAZY expensive) but they seem to be growing so hopefully that won't be a huge issue soon.

He can climb up stairs and is starting to figure out how to climb on the sofa.  He was on the sofa the other day and just up and started walking across it....so I'd say we have a little daredevil on our hands.  He does not seem to have any fear.

LM is saying 10+ words at the moment. His little low voice is so funny.  There are a lot of 'hi's' in our house.
He is also picking up some sign language.  He can do 'all done', 'more' and 'milk'.  We are starting to work on 'eat' and 'water' next.

He is still pretty stingy with his smiles and giggles but we've noticed him laughing and giggling more often.  He does have the stink down pat though ;)
 He has definitely started finding his sillies lately.  He knows how to at least make us laugh, and he does that every day.  

Brushing Off The Dust

Tap, tap, is this thing on?

Do I remember how to do this blogging thing?

If anyone has noticed I've taken a bit of break from this space but I won't lie that it has been calling my name.  I've had quite a few people ask if I was planning on blogging again.

The short answer is yes.

The long answer is I can't promise how consistent all be and I can't promise every post won't have a pictures of LM.  But I can promise I do really enjoying blogging and I have some posts lined up in my head.  I love this space and I love connecting with all of you friends and having a record of our lives and even the every day things we're doing to look back on.

I am going to use the total mom excuse that life just got very busy.  And it goes without saying we have a very busy 15 month old on hands.  From the moment we get home from the sitter and work it is go go go until LM crashes.  We do our absolute best to maximize our time with him in the evenings.  Maximizing that time did not include blogging sadly but now that he goes to bed earlier, I am hoping I can get back in the groove with this space.

So last I left you off with was LM's birthday party.  And if I didn't say it enough, I had SO much fun planning that party and celebrating our little man.

We rounded out the month of October with Halloween where LM went as Charlie Brown.  However in true Ohio fashion it was far too cold for anyone to see his costume. 

We also took a trip to the pumpkin patch, LM wore jeans for the first time and he finally found out what it means to be a Bengals fan.

November was a crazy work month for me but we still managed to squeeze in some fun. 

We traveled to Tennessee and Indiana for Thanksgiving.  

And Mama snuck away to Indianapolis for a night with the girls.

Complete with a Taylor Swift themed dinner!  Can we talk about how great the new album is?!

Just like everyone else, our December was also bananas.

Work again crazy, holidays crazy, you know the drill.

Nonetheless we had fun and I think every month is more and more fun with LM, I feel like he really, really started to blossom in December.  His adorable, silly, funny personality is really shining through and he is just so fun.  In December he decided his favorite words are 'hi', 'cheese' and 'shoes'.  Which all fit our personality quite well.  We want him to be friendly, cheese is our favorite food group and we love shoes.  Makes sense. 

While our Christmas Day sadly involved a trip to urgent care we still had such a fun day with LM and our family.  Thankfully LM was fine, just a virus from getting vaccines.

We spent the rest of the day loving and him and playing with all sorts of new goodies for all of us.

December also marked my mom moving in with us for a little bit while she transitions to Ohio.  LM is loving having his Nanny around all the time! 

 The end of December sent us to Scottsdale to meet up with Kait and Dane and Casey and Eric.  As most of you know, we all met through blogging and have continued to be the best of friends.  We do our best to see each other as often as possible and the Scottsdale trip had been the works for quite a while, the fact that we were celebrating my birthday made it even more fun.  

For a full recap, check out Kait's post here! 

We had an absolute blast in Scottsdale, the best food, margaritas and overall fun.  I have not laughed that hard in a very long time and it was amazing.  The perfect weather didn't hurt either! 

And I think that pretty much catches us up to present day!

If there is anything you want to know, need up an update on or would like to see just let me know while I work on getting back in the blogging saddle!

Happy New Year everyone!

Currently : July

I feel like we are in that season of life where we have a lot going on and nothing all at the same time.

Evenings fill up quickly and days I am lucky enough to have off to spend with LM go by SO quickly.  I took this past Monday off to extend our weekend and by the time we ran errands, came home for lunch/naps and a work out for mama it was already time to head to a cookout.  I sure don't know where the time goes but here's what I've been up to currently....

Documenting: I am doing my very best and hardest to keep LM's baby book up to date.  We have this one an LOVE it.  Its so cute and a little funky and I love how it's laid out.  I also documented LM's entire birth story/NICU stay and a few other things but I've been thinking I need to go back and add little stories along with the other milestones I've jotted down.

Accomplishing: I am happy to say that I am well into week 2 of the Beta round of T25.  It kicks my butt literally every day.  I am talking DRIPPING in sweat but I really, really like it.  I love that it's only 25 minutes and it goes by so quickly.  

Enjoying: This is probably a cop out but I am always really enjoying LM.  His little personality shines through more and more and it is so precious.  He is silly like his papa and his belly laughs are just the best.  I am also enjoying experiencing summer and all the new things that brings with him.  He loves to be outside and splash in the pool.

And on a personal note I am enjoying some new beauty products I had the pleasure of trying out.  Kate reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try EVER Skin's Revive Eye Cream, Daylight Corrector & Concealer.  Yes please!  As a new mom I can use all the help I can get when it comes to making me look more awake and alert!  I have to say I was very impressed with how it all worked and definitely made a difference in my make up throughout the work day.  If you want to learn more check out Kate here and here and I know she would be more than happy to help!  

Reading:  I am currently reading 'The Singles Game' and enjoying it! It's a light, summer read.  I desperately need a book for the car but my library seems to be out of EVERYTHING lately.  I need some new suggestions.  I saw Mix and Match Mama just put up her new list, I need to go jot down some notes.  Her readers always have the best suggestions.

Spending: Truthfully not too much lately in the money department but you know we always need to hit up Target for diapers and food! LM says 'not Target again Mom!'

Kait is doing 'no spend July' and it's inspired me to be a little more conscious of our spending habits.  But the Nordstrom sale is on my radar....

Linking up with Anne and Stephanie! 

Currently : June

Two posts this week, what!?
2+ hour naps from LM on the weekends are helping a mama out!

Here's what's going on in June land around our house

Planning : Some fun adventures to see some new things, friends and trips to the pool.

Wishing : that I could bottle up LM's giggles.  It's deep and throaty and makes my heart swell.  Most recently when Papa tickles the bottom of his feet we can really get some good belly chuckles out of him and it's the best.

Learning : about seasons of life.  I mentioned I read Grace, Not Perfection recently and I also just finished Present Over Perfect.  Both of woman/mom centered and both I would highly recommend.  Sometimes you need someone else to remind you 'you don't have to do it all' and 'life comes in waves and seasons'.  

Browsing : Not too much lately.  Clothing wise I snagged a few items (these shorts) from Old Navy on Memorial Day and these shoes from Target which are a MUST buy.  I could probably use one more swimsuit if anyone knows of some cute ones (always a debacle).  I did pick up one from American Eagle that is oh so cute!
I am browsing for a new book to read...any good suggestions?
I have also been browsing Third Love's site...anyone have one of these bras?  I've heard good things about them!

Going : Somehow our summer weekends aren't as full as they normally are, which I am okay with.  We have a few things marked down here and there but nothing too crazy.  I'm hoping we can get out and do some exploring around Cincinnati and possibly down to Lexington.

Linking up with Anne and Erin!

Currently : May

Yay May!
Bring on the warm temperatures and flowers!

(sun's out, chunky thighs out)

Here's what's going on in our neck of the woods...
(linking up with Anne and Nancy)

Baking: I need your ideas! We are hosting an early Mother's Day this weekend and I need an easy, yummy treat! My mom and I made this over Easter and it was quite yummy.

Listening: I flew through S-Town and Missing Richard Simmors, just finished up Up and Vanished and in the car I just started Grace Not Perfection (which I am LOVING). Though I keep wanting to highlight things the author says so I may need to pick up a hard copy soon.

Loving: I have a full review post coming about this but we used Shipt for the first time this past weekend and I am in LOVE.  The short story is someone does your grocery shopping and then brings your groceries to your house...yes please.

Planting: Surprisingly we've only been to the nursery once this Spring but I can only assume there are many more trips in our future.  I can't wait to go and make our yearly choices of what to plant.  For me, the more color the better!
I'm hoping to start back up my vegetable garden this summer too!

Remembering:  With each week and month that passes I always think back to where LM was the month previously and can't believe how much he's growing and learning!

Life Lately

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTER!!!
We love you Papa and are so excited to celebrate you and the amazing papa and husband you are!!

Okay now on blogging!
Remember me? I remembered how to blog, shocking.

This whole working mama thing is a lot of...work!  And generally after I pick up LM all I want to do is snuggle him and that's usually what I do.  You can see where this space takes a small back seat BUT I'm back and I'm going to do my best to keep up now that we are semi getting in rhythm around these parts.

And the easiest way to do that is with one big ol life lately post and photo collage.

Twins much?!

Past summer my mom and I were going through some of my baby clothes and we found an old Super Bowl shirt of mine.  I snagged it up and when we were invited to a Super Bowl party I knew just what LM had to wear! I then found the photo of me wearing the same shirt.  I've always thought LM looks a lot like Mister (and he does!!) but that side by side is also very convincing.
And a new family photo of us! We will work on everyone looking at the camera next time.

1.  LM's first day of daycare!  Only one of us cried...
2.  Just a couple of best buds hanging out
3.  He's getting knuckle dimples and I'm obsessed
4.  Just reading one of his Valentine's gifts
5.  Out for a stroll during the beautiful weekend weather
6.  I was filling up Floyd's food container and turned around and he just decided to help himself...
7.  Right before LM tried green beans for the first time!
8.  My newest, most favorite Valentine
9.  After work snuggle time, MY FAVORITE

And that's what's been going on here.  SNUGGLING, resting and getting in the swing of things.
I promise to do a better job of keeping up but it may take me a while!

Currently : February

Oh February...the month of change in our house.  

Most notably back to work for me :( and a birthday to celebrate for Mister!

Here is what I am up to in February while I readjust to a work schedule:

Packing:  SO many bags now.  Purse, lunch box, pumping bag (post on that soon) and Little Mister's bag + bottles for daycare.  I am pretty sure getting all of that organized will take me a while to get down to a science.

Jonesing: Warm weather.  I need some sunshine and warmness in my life STAT.  

Texting:  Too much according to Mister but primarily cute pictures and videos of Little Mister to our friends and family.  My recent most favorite is

(one day I'll go back to posting photos other than Gman)

And group chats with friends will always top of list of of my favorite things.

Reading:  I am trying to finish up Truly Madly Guilty.  I have heard mixed reviews on this book so I am anxious to finish it up and see what I think.  I am about 85% through it and feel like it is dragging just a little but I know how she writes and am predicting some sort of twist coming up.  

Hearting:  Our little family and the sweet time I was able to have off with Little Mister.

Linking up with Anne and Erin!

Mama's Snack Drawer

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpecialKGoodness #CollectiveBias

I am not quite ready to talk about it but I have to go back to work soon.

I'm doing my best not to cry about it but that may be inevitable. 

I deal with anxious or new to me situations by planning, thinking through what's going to happen and feeling as prepared as I can.

One area that requires planning is my snack drawer.

You would think I am kidding but I am not.

I eat approximately 97 times a day.  I seem to always be starving + pumping/nursing means I need to have ample snacks around me at all moments.  I often have a mid morning and mid afternoon snack amongst breakfast and lunch.  I get panicky and hangry if I don't have snacks around.  Just ask Mister, he witnesses it all too often.   

Last weekend Little Mister's grandma was in town and she let me sneak away to Target to pick up a few things.  (She didn't mind staying home to snuggle :) ).  I had been thinking about how I needed to stock up on some snacks that would keep me full and focused while readjusting back into the work place.

I was wandering down the snack aisle looking at options.

I spotted these Special K Blueberry Almond Quinoa Protein Bites.

Jackpot!  A snack filled with protein to keep me full and focused?
Yes please!  These are are also incredibly attractive to me because they are perfectly portable to pop a few in my mouth as I am running to a meeting.

I have always been a Special K fan, I have a bowl of Special K Chocolatey Delight every single night, so I know these will be perfect for my snack drawer at work.

The more I looked the more I found.  The Special K Cashew Pretzel Protein Bars were right next to the bites so I snagged a box of those as well.  I already broke into my stash and tried these out.  They are a great mix of chewy with a touch of crunch.  Plus with 8g of protein they are helping me get through the days when I forget to each lunch until 3pm.  Looks like I will have to head back to Target to stock back up before I head back to work.  Darn ;)

I also picked up a bag of Special K Sea Salt Crackers.  Because as much as I love a good protein filled snack, sometimes you need some salty and crunchy to get you through to the next meal.  

Now we were on our way to a well stocked snack drawer.

I would consider myself a champion snack drawer stocker.

I pride myself on my snack drawer building skills and here is how I do it:

1.  Pick up the goods: It is important to start the week on the right foot and not need to resort to the vending machine come 10am Monday morning.

I am generally at Target every week so it is easy for me to pick up my weekly snack needs while I'm there.  I add snacks to my list and check Cartwheel for any good deals they have that week.  Luckily Cartwheel has a Special K deal running right now, double win!  Click below to add it to your Cartwheel app!

2.  Have a variety: Part of my snacking repertoire involves having a variety of items to snack on.  I love snacking and I want to be excited about it so for that to happen, I keep it interesting with a lot of different elements.  Along with the Special K Nourish Protein Bars and Bites I like to make sure I have a jar of peanut or almond butter in my drawer as well.  Don't tell me you've never just stuck a knife in a peanut butter drawer for a quick pick me up?!  I think I went through an entire jar when I was pregnant...

3.  Add in some fresh:  To make sure I have a well rounded snack drawer I always make sure I have a few fresh elements to grab when I run to a meeting or a walk around the block.  My go to items are mostly apples and carrots.  

Both do not necessarily have to be refrigerated and will keep for a few days.  Plus apples and peanut butter are one of my favorite snacks!  I also like to bring in grapes, berries, nuts and humus to dip carrots in.  

So whether you are heading back to work, working on keeping up your New Year's resolutions or just like a good snack during your day, I highly suggest picking up some Special K Nourish Protein Bars or Bites to add to your snack drawer.  You won't regret it!  

Check out more great snacking options here to build the perfect snack drawer or snack basket for the car!

Currently : January

Along with a yearly list, I love a good 'currently' list to look back on.

Let's start this year with the following:

Gathering: All the sweet baby toys Little Mister received for Christmas.  I picked up a few small baskets to gather all the little things so they did not start over taking the living room and his room.  

Making: Everything from this cookbook.  I love Chrissy and now I love her even more because there is literally not one item in this cookbook that doesn't look delicious.
I made sure to start this week off by putting together a meal plan for a least the next two weeks.  A blog goal of mine this year is to share meal more meal plans.  I love putting them together and reading them on other peoples blog, I think it is such a helpful tool we can all share.

Sipping:  About a million things throughout the day.

Mother's milk tea, coconut seltzer water, Diet Coke and my rediscovered love of Cherry Coke Zero.

And about once a week, a small glass of red wine.

Following:  I blame Casey and Kait but I am recently obsessed with Living with Landyn.  Am I totally late to the ballgame on this or what?! I love how white and neutral her house and also how she seems like she could be your best friend.  And her hair.  Give me that hair. 

Resolving:  I will have our big list up later this week or next but I think my overall theme for the year is to be present.  I have a feeling this year may go VERY quickly and I don't want to miss a second of it.

Linking up with Anne and Jessica! 

2016 List Accomplishments

Ideally I would have gotten this together before the end of the year but I am going to use the baby card ;)

I love looking back at these types of posts every year and seeing what we actually did.

We are working on our 2017 goals list that we do every year so I will have that up soon but first let's look at what we crossed off this year.

Admittedly it wasn't as much as previous years but we did birth and are raising a chid so I think that counts for something, right?!

Looking back, ironically, 'have a baby' was not on our list BUT it was on our radar so there's that.

I like looking back at this list because it helps me focus on what this years goals should be and if anything worked really well that we should repeat.

I know it's the norm to start January 1 with new goals and resolutions but for me, anyway, with the craziness of the holidays by the time my birthday and new year's eve rolls around I haven't given a single thought to what I want the next year to look like.  We usually think and work on our list for a few days before nailing anything down.

With that, let's see what we did manage to accomplish in 2016!

Not too bad!!

I'm giving us a 13.25/19

Here are the highlights:

1.  I have definitely increased my water intake.  Pregnancy and breastfeeding/pumping have really helped that.  Mostly because I am legit thirsty 90% of the day.  Our investment in Kroger's version of La Croix has greatly increased.

2.  Mister did a good job going through his closet and we found out through our church they have a donation program that provides business attire clothing to men going to their first interviews so we are more than happy to take his things to them!

4.  We swapped out the light in what was Floyd's room so we get .5 for this.

5.  We had our fair share of cheap (fun!) date nights at home and this is one we will continue this year.  We often make a homemade pizza and watch one of the 19 shows we are engrossed in.

6.  I read 41 books and Mister read 6.  I'm giving us a .75 on this one.

8.  We did make it to Columbus! Right before Little Mister arrived.  I loved our day trip there and hoping we can go back when it's warmer.

12.  I ran until I was about 6 months pregnant and then picked it back up a little when Little Mister was still in the NICU.  I do know one goal for this year is to always enjoy running.  I often put too much pressure on myself when I run and I want to stop doing that.

14.  We bought salt 3 (!!) times this year and for us that was a major accomplishment.  Mister also worked on our water softener so I think that counts as well.

15.  Cable is still around but maybe once I'm done with leave we can be done with it.  In the meantime, I love my Real Housewives during the day.

16.  I am VERY happy to report I paid off the end of my loan. WHOOOOO!

17.  This has been a big, BIG year of trust and remembering we love one another because there were days that that was the only thing that got us through.  Now we have one more person to say I love you too a million times a day ;)

So that's our year, what did you accomplish in 2016?