Hi friends! It’s been a minute! Normally I would be typing up my weekend recap but I have to say a lot of house improvements have been going on and a few are collaborations! I have to wait to share these with you until they are completed so in the mean time how about a little life update on, well, EVERYTHING?

Family:

MY SISTER IS PREGNANT! Look how cute that baby bump is!

By all the boxes in the background can you tell they are in the process of moving?!

Jennah is 20 weeks, halfway there! It is a baby girl and we are all so so excited. Olivia is going to have a little girl bestie! Guys, I can’t wait to be an AUNT. What makes my heart even more happy is that Jennah and her husband will be living fairly close to us. The thought of our children growing up together is just too dang cool.

I am in the process of planning her baby shower and we decided to have the theme be hot air balloons! There are so many precious ideas on Pinterest that make my heart melt. I have a few decorations on the way now that I will be sharing at a later time!

Fitness:

I haven’t been slacking in the exercise department but rather my nutrition. To be honest there are times I do not have a choice (with exercising)  because my morning run/walk is literally part of the babies schedule. If I choose to skip it, it tends to make the rest of the day not go smoothly! Talk about accountability! Body wise, I am my pre-pregnancy weight but I can still tell I am weaker and need to get back on the grind of lifting. Of course, I am lifting some sweet babies all day but I do think weight training would be beneficial at this point of my postpartum journey. Yay to getting back into weight training!

Here is my issue with nutrition. I’ve been getting lazy! Uhg its hard to type that one out because I usually pride myself on being proactive but hey, I’ve been slacking. Lately, I am drawn to any semi healthy frozen meals versus utilizing their nap time more to prep healthy food. It’s either that or I find the time but then realize that I am missing a certain ingredient and can’t make my recipe! I obviously can’t leave the house to go grab it because Ollie and Liv are napping! Time is such a brat sometimes, ya feel me? My solution: I need to plan better and prepare ahead of time better! I went to the store yesterday and bought ingredients specifically to make a few healthy easy meals for this week. Here is what I prepped right after they went down for their nap. Also, it says the prep time is 5 minutes…I would say it’s more around ten but that’s still AWESOME. Are you like me and get super annoyed when a recipe on pinterest says prep time is 10 minutes and it takes you 40? Drives me nuts!

Quinoa Taco Salad

First, I prepared my quinoa. Then I chopped up some bell pepper and avocado. I also added in some black beans and shredded cheese and voila! It is not shown in the photo above but I topped everything with some salsa for flavor. Nom!

Along with getting better at organizing my meals for the day I have been making my Lively Juice in the a.m. and packing it for my morning walk. Before that I was making it to sip throughout the day but it would end up getting wasted because I would get caught up in “mom mode” and forget about it! I’ll stop on my walks and drink some while Ollie and Liv (oh and Stella!) are content. The goal is to finish it before the walk is over!

Here is the recipe for those that want to give it a go!

Lively Juice:

  • Mason jar filled with 3/4 water
  • half to a whole apple (cut up into pieces)
  • 1 TBS lemon juice
  • 1 TBS apple cider vinegar (personally I prefer the Braags brand)
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • Sweet drops or truvia. Adjust the sweetness to your liking!

Benefits:

  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Aids in weight loss
  • Boosts energy
  • Improves nutrient absorption

Mom Life/Struggles:

First off, can this year slow down a little? I am feeling very nostalgic. Look at these almost 11 month olds!

Honestly, I am feeling alllll of the emotions because I am in the process of planning the babies (almost toddlers, what!?) first birthday. The theme is a donut theme! I figured since that was my biggest craving while I was pregnant (and all day, everyday) with them, why not keep the memory alive?!

Their invites say “Donut Grow Up!”. I also liked this idea because it worked for a boy/girl party. When I looked up little girl party ideas it seems like unicorns are all the rage and for little boys there were truck, animal, and race car themes. This seemed like a nice compromise to me. I mean, who doesn’t love donuts?!

For their birthday I don’t want it to be some huge rager. I mean they are going to be one…they won’t remember it. As long as they eat some yummy cake and are surrounded by their loved ones than I am happy! I am focusing a little bit more on their one year old photo shoot because these will be photos they will look back on years from now. Theresa Williams will be taking them and I couldn’t be more excited! For the backdrop, I plan on just making it in our home. I found some great ideas on Pinterest that I’ll link below so you can check them out yourself! It’s similar to what I already do when I take photos of them to post! Love this idea because it’s not only adorable but inexpensive! Woo!

Click here for some back drop inspiration!

…In another breath,

I have to share that I have been feeling a little down the past few days. As Oliver and Olivia’s momma I really do feel like I give it my all when it comes to devoting my love and attention one hundred percent. However, I have been struggling with giving them one on one time. By coincidence, Oliver went down twenty minutes later than Olivia the other night and it was twenty minutes with my little guy that left me feeling sad and happy all at once. Liv went to bed at the normal time and Oliver wasn’t feeling it so we hung out in the living room to get him all tuckered out. In this brief period, I noticed he seemed a lot more outgoing, energetic, goofy and laughing constantly. He needed this time with it just being him and my gut felt it. Once he went down for the night I left the house to run some errands and just felt a pit in my stomach which transpired into feeling angry at myself. They are almost a year old and maybe I should have been doing more one on one time this whole year. I know this is normal (and just the beginning) where as the mom I doubt myself and whether I am doing the best that I can. The gameplan from here on out is to every other day drop one baby off with my mom- or to Matthew when he’s home from work- and take the other with me even if its just back home or on a fast errand. I use to do this when going to the grocery store but the guilt of leaving one behind really ate at me, so I stopped. After the other night it hit me that it really is healthy for them to have alone time. But I will say it always feels like half of my heart is missing when I take just one with me to do things (as if I am picking favorites). Buttt this isn’t about me so I guess I need to just suck it up, buttercup!

Don’t get me wrong, Oliver and Olivia love love love eachother so dang much. It’s obvious! They smile everytime I bring the other baby into the room! Like two long lost friends (after a nights sleep) reunited and play constantly. I think for our situation it comes down to personality differences. I have touched base on this before but just to keep you all up to date Olivia is definetely our outgoing, goofy, giggly baby girl. She is full of spunk and loves the limelight. Oliver is naturally quieter, thoughtful and honestly, just plain sweet. He is very purposeful. They are extremely different yet obtain such amazing qualities. We really did get the best of both worlds.

Sorry if it seems like I am going on an emotional tangent. What can I say I’m an emotiona gal and motherhood has made me ten times more emotional (anyone else?). I just really want to do the best job that I can and make the right moves. Typically this sad little thought would stay to myself but I know other momma’s of multiples read my posts. Maybe you are in the same stage as I am and struggling with this? Or maybe you are past it and can offer me a bit of advice!

Last random thought I would like to share would be this book! I was on a run with my friend Shannon and she mentioned how much she enjoyed reading it. It looks like a great read so I can not wait until my copy comes in the mail! Have any of you guys heard of it? Once I dig in I’ll let you know my thoughts (:

As always, thank for stopping by the blog to check in! I hope everything has a great last half of the week!

Stay Happy & Stay Lively!