You only have 18 summers with your babies…let that sink in for a second. I was scrolling Instagram and stumbled upon a post by one of my mommy friends and that was what she said in her caption. It made my heart sink a little. 18 summers where you can really make it count with your children- and lets be real, have more of a say of what you all do- ha! It made me more than motivated to spend as much quality time as a little family together and make sure to do a lot of fun family acitivites…even if it’s just simple! The point is we are spending quality time, –together. 

Friday:

Friday afternoon we made our way to target because we wanted to get a little baby pool for some summer fun! After making our purchase we ran a few fast errands, including a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings. I don’t know why but I have really been craving Bdubs the past few weeks and have been going there once a week. Yikes! My go to meal has been the snack size desert heat wings (340 calories for just 5 wings- eeek!) I get the dry rub which helps with calories. Don’t get me wrong, the meal still contains quite a bit of sodium but if you are looking to shave off calories, dry rub is the way to go! Ask for celery and carrots on the side to sneak in some veggies! I told myself (and Matthew) that this was my last meal at bdubs for awhile because I think I’m getting slightly addicted! Anyone else understand my wings addiction? It is totally a real thing!

Here are a few healthier options that I am going to start trying out:

  • Grilled Blackened Chicken Salad– only 320 calories and 8 grams of fat.
  • Bdubs has fat-free ranch, light french, light balsalmic, and light Asian Sesame dressings to go with this salad.
  • The naked tenders – only 260 calories and 6 grams of fat.
  • Boneless wings snack size– 5oo calories. You can add Buffalo, Chipotle Barbeque or Lemon Pepper sauce for only another 10 calories!

Any other healthy suggestions that you have tried out? Let this Buffalo Wild Wings addict know!

Okayyyy moving on! A package I had ordered Monday arrived in the mail Friday and I was more than eager to receive it! I’m going to explain to you what it is and how I heard about it because I find it very interesting. However, as a disclaimer I would just like to make clear that I am not an expert on this product nor do I have much knowledge on it. I’m merely exploring this because I have heard amazing  reviews and wanted to see what all the hype was about!

Behold, Hemp oil!

How did I find out about this?

This sounds weird yet comical but I was watching the show, Southern Charm, last Thursday and Kathyryn (a girl on the show) came out saying she was having a challenging time dealing with anxiety and depression. She went on to explain that her way of coping is by taking antianxiety medication which she felt very ashamed of. Now, this medication totally has it’s place and there is no judgment on my end! It was hard to see her break down because you could tell it was raw and authentic. This was not an act and it was obvious she was hurting. Now, me being a total Instagram stalker I decided to creep on her latest post because I knew there would be a lot of commentary on what she had said. There were SO many comments. Mostly very uplifting ones relating to what she felt, but one comment stuck out to me in particular. It was a mother of a 16 year-old girl and she commented, which came across more as pleading, for Kathyryn to seek a more natural way. She went on to say that medication only messed with her daughter more but this oil, called CBD oil, helped immensley. Get this, I actually sent this women a direct message on instagram asking her what oil her daughter used because it had me very curious. I did my research and this oil seems to be a very hot commidity currently. How did I just now hear about this? I have to admit I am curious about this natural remedity because of my postpartum anxiety. It is so much better but part of me wanted to research other ways to cope. Exercise helps me so incredibly much but it would be nice to know of other ways because I know working out isn’t everyones jam. Before I recomend something I always try it on myself so that is what I am doing. There is a little difference between CBD and Hemp oil, I’m still researching that now, but as I read more on people who have used these two oils, this one seemed to be favored. That’s why I purchased this one first but I also plan on trying CBD at some point to see for myself. Please remember, I’m not recommending this! I am just sharing that this is something I am exploring and learning more about. It is fun for me to learn of new remedies for various things. Not to mention, I like showing the behind the scenes of how I go about finding new remedies, products and what I decide to actually post about on Lively Girl! I’ll keep you updated on my thoughts of this product later in the week along with whats actually in this oil!

Let’s continue with Friday, shall we?

We arrived home and filled the baby pool because HOLY HOTNESS. This weather is just crazy. I was getting the babies swim diapers ready to put on and then I was like, “this is dumb”. These babies are the happiest in their birthday suits so let them be happy! Into the pool, in all their glory, they went and Stella joined them for a little swim!

Look at those baby bellies and rolls!

Saturday:

My sister was in town for the weekend so during the babies long nap we headed to the pool (Matthew was on baby duty!) After an hour of sunshine we made our way to Portillo’s. I have to say this was my very first time ever eating here! I went with their signature chopped salad (I know I know, shoulda got some cheese fries, am I right?!) For the signature chopped salad it was hard to find an exact calorie count but according to MyFitnessPal, it is about 393 calories. Not baaaaad! Seriously though, for those reading this, what is your go to order from Portillos if you are choosing healthy? If you are making it your cheat meal, what would you order? I am curious over here!

I made it home before my babies were awake which is always a win in my book! We played the rest of the evening until around 6. Matthew and I planned a date for that night so my mom was babysitting. I have received a lot of messages asking how often a month we make time for date night. Honestly, it just varies! Some months we go on two or three dates and others maybe one. We have been making quite a few weekend trips in the past three months for weddings and graduations leading to not as much time for dates! It’s important to get out as a couple, one and one, and have that time. I’ll be honest though I still get a little sad everytime I leave Ollie and Liv, especially near bedtime. What can I say, I’m a big mama bear and fiercely love my cubs hahaha. I’ll start to second guess whether we need to really go on a date and Matthew will be like, “Rachel we are going, I need attention too!”. Touche on that! Off we went and two and a half hours flew by. Another successful date night in the books!

Sunday:

My cousin Mitch and his wife Katie welcomed their baby girl, Charlotte, into the world a week ago! I had the honor of taking a few newborn photos for them!

They came over in the morning and we got started. I have never taken newborn photos before and I would just like to say that it was ten times more challenging than adults photos- Ha! But Charlotte was such a sweet little baby and slept majority of the time- I got lucky! The only part that was hard was figuring out how exactly to position her. My sister, Jennah, came over and we decided her official title was “baby positioner”. Maybe that should be she her side hustle as a family Doctor? Sounds pretty legitmate to me! To be honest, we looked at a lot of photos on Pinterest to find information- there is no shame in our game! Here are a few of my favorite shots of her!

Obviously I am not a professional photographer here folks, but I got the job done! It was fun and oh my goodness it was even more fun getting some newborn baby snuggles in! Afterwards, it was just our typical Sunday grind. We worked on the house, I squeezed in a few hours of work from home and we made it to the grocery store to stock up for the week!

What are your “go-to” items lately from the store? If I had to list off my top 5 it would be these:

  1. Cauliflower pizza (Costco purchase) Super easy lunch/dinner when you just don’t want to think about cooking!
  2. Better Oats Oatmeal (Kroger)- My breakfast every single morning!
  3. Morning Star Burgers- Easy lunch when I’m in a bind!
  4. Banana’s- The babies are eating these like crazy. They prefer it over the solid baby food!
  5. Sweet Potatoes – We make sweet potaoe fries every week because it’s something all four of us can eat! Our babes love them!

What are a few your go to’s? Comment down below!

I hope everyone had a fun-filled, safe weekend! Get exited for the 4rth of July!!