Wednesday, April 29, 2015

What's Up Wednesday



It's What's Up Wednesday and I'm linking up with some of my favorite blogs Shay at Mix and Match Family,Sheaffer at Pinterest Told Me To,Mel at The Larson Lingo and Kelly at Kickin It with the Kost's  to share with you.....What's Up!


{What We're Eating This Week}
I meal plan on Sundays and usually use Tuesday's preschool day as my grocery shopping day since I can do it with just one kid. I typically try one or two new recipes a week, but we have a lot going on right now, so I decided to stick with some of our regulars! 

Sun- Chili
Mon- Steak on the Grill
Wed- Taco Salads 
Friday- Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza 

{What I'm Reminiscing About}
Sleeping in! With two kids I'm really missing those lazy mornings in bed. Nathan has been waking up extra early now that the sun is coming up so early.

{What I'm Loving}
This weather! I think we can all agree that the reason people live in Virginia is for the Spring and Fall. Loving me some mid-70's!

{What We've Been Up To}
Nothing new! Lots of outside time as a family since the weather is finally nice!

{What I'm Dreading}
Work tonight. Wednesday has turned into my least favorite day of the week. I am back to work and on Wednesdays I work 7pm-11pm (which really means I get home at like 1am!) I love my job, but Wednesdays are a huge rush to get everyone fed/ready for bed and then I run out of the house and hand everyone off to Eric the minute he walks in the door. It's working for our family at this stage so we'll stick with it, but this mama is tired! Thursday mornings Eric get's up with the kids and lets me sleep every single minute I can before he leaves for work. #andhemakesmecoffee #lovelanguage

{What I'm Working On}
My fitness. I've started to use the 21 day fix dvds and I love them. They are the perfect amount of time and recently i've even been able to get them in with Nathan running wild around me!  



{What I'm Excited About}
Our new house! A little single family in the burbs! 

{What I'm Watching/Reading}
I'm currently hooked on Southern Charm on Bravo. It's a hot mess of southern people and I love.every.second.
This girl though..I can't.

{What I'm Listening To}
At this very second... Handy Manny. My boy loves this show. He loves everything about "fixing fings". I'm dreaming of having a live-in handyman of a teenager one day!

I'm loving Jason Aldean's new songs. Unfortunately, he isn't on spotify so i'll have to actually go and buy his new cd #boohiss 

{What I'm Wearing}
I wish I had a good answer for this one. #yogapantsallday #scrubsallnight 

{What I'm Doing this Weekend}
This weekend is pretty open for us. Nathan has soccer on Saturday morning and on Sunday our neighborhood farmer's market is opening up for the season! 

This picture is from the first week. This boy loves soccer! 

{What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month}
Our new house! We've been living in a townhouse since Nathan was born and now that he's older we realized that we are going to need a backyard for this boy (and his brother) to run and play! Among other things, our new house has the perfect yard for Nathan and Bryce and I just can't wait to have this place for them to play!

{What Else is New}
I think that about covers it!

What's up with you?!




Monday, April 27, 2015

Bryce's Birth Story


February 4th. Two days away from my due date and I was seriously exhausted. Nathan and I met my friend Kelly and her daughter Gracie at an indoor park for the kids to blow off some energy. Kelly and I were both pregnant and due in February, and both had 2 year olds #cuzwecrazy. 

When Eric got home that night, I told him I was too tired to eat dinner and went up to bed at 7pm. I woke up around 10pm...starving. I headed downstairs, made a bowl of cereal and met Eric on the couch for some Tv. After I finished eating, I noticed I was having some cramps. I blew it off as braxton hicks and went on with my night. Around 11pm I decided I should probably take a shower "in case I really am in labor". The cramping got worse during my shower. I got out and told Eric he may want to throw some stuff in a bag "in case I really am in labor". I texted with Eric's aunt Shan who happens to be a midwife at my OB office #mypersonalmidwife. I started timing my contractions and tracking them on an app I downloaded. They were about every 2-3 minutes apart, but very irregular. So I went on and tried to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs. I walked around my house for a little and tried to get comfortable on the couch. Eric came down around 2am when he noticed I wasn't in bed anymore. I was close to tears and he said, I think we should go. Thankfully my father in law lives close enough and was "on- call" for when I did go into labor. We called him over around 3 am. It was a chaotic 10 minutes of last minute cleaning and organizing and sneaking in to kiss my first baby goodbye. I had been kind of nervous about when I did go into labor how emotional I may be saying goodbye to Nathan. Luckily, since it was the middle of the night I got to sneak in some sleepy cuddles with him and he didn't have to see mommy ugly cry! 


The car ride to the hospital is nauseating. It's a horrible mix of excitement, anxiety, and being totally scared to death of what is about to happen. 


We got to the hospital around 4am and were greeted in the lobby by Shan. She was on call overnight and had a day off the next day. It couldn't have been more perfect (for me)!

I started off at 3cm. I got admitted and we were off! I did a little walking and at around 8 am I was (very) ready for my epidural. Labor was pretty easy after that. Around 2pm I was feeling so much pressure. They checked me and I was complete. I was seriously anxious about pushing this baby out. We did a "practice push" while I was waiting for everyone to get set up. The look on everyones faces was a little shocking! They told me not to push anymore because they didn't want to the baby to come out before the NICU doctor was in the room. A couple minutes later everyone was all set up and 4 pushes later out came our brand new miracle. 


Bryce Thomas our sweet, second born was born February 5th at 2:58 pm.  
9 lbs 2oz and 22 inches. Full head of hair. #bestillmyheart 
I honestly don't have a good story for how we came up with his name. It just fit and stuck. 
Thomas is my step-dads name, who was a big influence in my life growing up. 
Bryce is the perfect completion addition to our family and Nathan is patiently waiting for him to "grow up" so they can play. God is good. 












It was my perfect "Birth Story" and everything went so smoothly. It was completely amazing to have Shannon there with us. She was such an amazing support system to me and was really able to focus me during labor. 


When it was all over I felt such a "high". I MADE THIS! This baby making thing is totally addicting! Such a miracle. #letsdoitagain #justkidding #maybe 





Friday, April 24, 2015

It's Friday, ya'll!


It's Friday! This week has been really busy for the Smialek crew, so it's flown by! Eric has a half day at work today so we are excited to have him home in just a couple hours! 

{Favorites}

{One}
Ok, I'll admit it. I haven't been to get a pedicure since Bryce was born. Luckily it's been winter, so I haven't needed to have my toes out... But my feet were getting SO dry #ew. I bought this thinking maybe it would help between pedicures to keep my feet smooth. I love it!! I've been using it one and week and putting lotion on after and my feet are looking great #asgreatasfeetcanlook


{Two}
I bought this to have something quick and easy for breakfast. With two littles I wanted something really easy! I mix it with almond milk, throw in some fruit and heat it for 20 seconds. 

{Three}
When we first found out N was a boy, I was SO excited for the day to come that I could be the mom on the sideline! This kid loves sports! We signed him up for a 2-3 year old soccer "team" and he's having the best time. It's pretty much just a bunch of kids kicking balls all over the field but I have to say N is pretty much the allstar 😂



{Four}
Fresh summer haircuts! Why does he look 15 years old?! #cuddleme



{Five}
On Thursday I met with my best girl friend, Kelly! (kickinitwiththekosts.blogspot.com)
For a coffee date while our two oldest kids were in school. It was the best! I can't remember the last time we've had a conversation without one of us stopping to yell "don't throw that!" "No pushing!" "Be nice or we are going home!" We brought the babies with us and they both slept the entire time #favoritechildren #justkidding 
If you know me.. You know my love language is a chai tea latte (Is that a love language?) 
This one was a dirty chai
#dowehavetocallitthat
Because it has a shot of espresso in it. 
Yes.yes. And yes. 

I can't believe April is over next week! 
I'll be taking a look at my April goals and sharing how miserably I failed at them all.
#ilovesugar 

Xoxox 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

April Goals


It's April! 
April happens to be my favorite month because it's my birthday month and the weather really starts to get nice! 

I'm sharing my goals for April today with the hopes it keeps me accountable! I'll come back in May and review how I did! 

1. Pack 7 boxes per week
    - we are moving the first week of May and I'm hoping to slowly pack throughout the month to minimize the stress at the end. Packing with two kids...yikes 

2. Three Date Nights with E ❤️
 -hoping we can fit these in this month 

3. No sugar after 8 pm
 - except on April 7th! This ones gonna be a challenge for sure but I'm gonna try!
#wineisafruit #doesntcount  

4. Increase water intake
- yes 

5. Active 4 days/ week 
-21 day fix or walking with the stroller 

6. Planned outside activity for N at least once a week
- my boy needs to run and I need some color on this chalky skin 

7. Read 1 Book 
- #inmysparetime 


Happy April #insertaprilfoolsjokehere