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

Tues- SkinnyTaste Roasted Chicken Sausage

Wed- Taco Salads 

Thurs- Clean Chicken Fajitas

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?!

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 

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 

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

A little bit of everything..

Catching up on the last two weeks around here! It's been so crazy trying to get used to my new normal with two littles at home. 

In no particular order.. Mainly because I can't figure out how to move the pictures on my phone! 

A beautiful day at the park! My favorite mama and I got brave and took all 4 kids to the park #andeveryonesurvived

Love these two toddlers! 

The neighborhood church has a great date night once a month! We dropped off Nathan for the night (they feed him! Hello!) and went out to dinner. Then we met up with our friends Kelly and Nate for a glass of wine! This picture is simply evidence that we do actually wear makeup still. The moms are back!

And of course.. Our third wheels in the corner of the bar. What? Bars are totally baby friendly #itwasawinebar #totallyacceptable #secondkids 

For St Pattys day we headed to the beach! They have an awesome parade and it's such a fun time. Unfortunately this year it was cancelled because of the weather. Grandma still got her cuddles in with her favorite boys in green!

Matching outfits

Silly brothers relaxing at grandmas beach house! 

My big man 

Nathan had his 2.5 year check up! He is happy and healthy! 32.5 lbs and ____inches. #imabadmom 

We had a warm and sunny weekend day so we took full advantage and tested out our double stroller. 

My girlfriends and I snuck out for dinner #margs and to check out a makeup place downtown where they make custom lipsticks! It was such a fun time and we all have new lipsticks for spring! 

That's all for now. A more organized post is next #probablynot 

Month One Favorites

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my littlest love is 1 month already. Post Partum with baby #2 is wildly different then it was with baby #1. I am laughing at my old self who used to carry baby #1 into the bathroom with me because I just "couldn't set him down". WHAT. #sorrynathan

Finally have my energy back and feeling my old self again and I'm ready to share some of my favorite things over the last month! 

1. Boba Baby Wrap

I was totally intimidated by this thing. Turns out it's actually pretty easy to do. I did youtube a video on how to wrap it and then practiced a couple million times. It's comfortable and my snuggley loves it. It says it can hold up to 35 lbs which is the size of my toddler. #nothappening 

My wrap is in black, because if you know me then you know that I like to look slim when I am wearing my baby. 

2. Honest Company Nipple Cream

My nipples were sore for over 3 weeks. This stuff saved me. I feel like there needs to be some sort of {extra sensitive nipple} support group out there. Seriously. Killer. 

Enough of that. Buy it.

3. Bryce Thomas Blanket

This is one of my favorite purchases I made before Bryce came. I found it on Etsy. It came super quick. It's so soft and we use it all the time. I love the way it looks in pictures! It would make a great baby shower gift if you know the baby's name! 

#omgcuteness

4. iBaby Feed Timer

With my last baby, I used a complicated app that drove me crazy. This time I knew I needed just the basics. This is it. #thispictureisnotmine 

5. My Brest Friend

The name is ridiculous. Come on. A play on words using "brest" in place of "best". No. 

The product... is ah-mazing. 

I used the boppy with my first, and this is so.much.better.

Lets just call it something different.

Once the weather is nice I'll finally get to review our new double stroller! 

xoxo

Friday Favorites

I'm linking up with some of my favorite bloggers Andrea and Erika to share some of my favorite things this week!

1. FRIDAY

Can FRIDAY be a favorite? Because TGIF, seriously. The winter is officially killing me. I am ready for spring and outside time with my boys! 

2. Pandora "Sleep Station"

I have this playing whenever Handy Manny isn't on #sonever. It chills us all out and has a perfect mix of music. I listened to it in labor with both boys and i've just kept it around for days when Nikki Minaj is just a little much. 

3. My Boys

This last month has been c.r.a.z.y. 

I thought I had prepared myself for life as a "mom of two", but lets be honest...there is no preparing. 

But then in the middle of the chaos. this happens. #melt 

(p.s. I totally bribed the big one with a sip-up for this picture. #winning)

4. My Magic Mud

 I just started using this and so far i'm loving it! It's a total mess..so I use it (with a different tooth brush) while i'm in the shower. So far i've noticed some whitening and it gives a great clean. It's black but tastes like nothing. It's all natural and doesn't make your teeth sensitive like the whitening strips. 

5. Eminence Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant

I got this from a girlfriend for Christmas. I was a little skeptical. Mainly because my face routine includes...well nothing. I've been using it a couple times a week since Christmas and I LOVE the way it makes my skin feel #likeababy. It's a little pricey, but you use such a small amount I think it will last forever. Anything that smells like pie, is a friend of mine. #girlhityahallelujah

Bring on spring! See you next week!

xoxo