Life Update!

Hi Friends! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm not even apologizing for the radio silence. It is what it is. HA! Thought I would share a little life update & just check in.

I traveled back to South Carolina for our National Sales Conference. It was awesome to see everyone and get back in the groove of work related stuff. You can start to feel like an island some days when you work from home and everyone else is in the office. I wouldn't trade it for anything but I LOVE to get to see my teammates, sales managers, and actually dress up in work clothes for a couple days.

I turned 31 a week later and my parents came to visit. I managed ZERO pictures of my birthday and ONE of my parents with Luke. We also kicked off college football that weekend too! I have GOT to get better about snapping. I take plenty of Luke...and that's it. HA! Oops.

Luke turned 6 months. I cannot believe it. We have started thinking about his first birthday because if the first six months went that quick, the second half is going to FLY. He is such a joy to be around and is the HAPPIEST baby. He can be a little high maintenance when it comes to feedings but overall, he is EASY. He also graduated physical therapy on September 14th so we are moving and shaking with getting this boy 100%. He gets his second DocBand this week. He grew out of his first super quick. Cranial Technologies has been nothing short of amazing with scheduling to helping with insurance. They are AWESOME.

I became a Beautycounter consultant this month. I had been pretty strict about what we were putting on Luke and what we were eating. Well, guess what, I wasn't thinking of myself or Brian. Beautycounter offers safer skincare, beauty, and kids' line. We love the baby wash, oil & balm. I am also loving the dew skin, this palette, & this lippy in 'Twig'...the PERFECT everyday neutral!

I am training for my third half marathon & still doing FASTer Way To Fat Loss. I seriously love it and have seen TREMENDOUS results. I feel better and am overall eating 1000x better. My coach Loren Mattingly is amazing too. If you are interested in joining, the next round starts 1 week from today! I promise, you can do it.

That about wraps it up for me. If you're still reading, bless you! HA. I'm off to Vegas tomorrow for customer visits. It's my first time there so I know I'm in for a fun {quick} trip. Happy Monday, y'all!

Life Update - Home Buying, Luke, & the #NSALE

Hi friends! It's been a bit since I've written here. Life has been quite the whirlwind. I figured I'd update y'all on everything happening these days. We have been busy busy busy and had our both sets of parents in town in town one time or another.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
That's right. No more apartment life. We moved about 30-40 minutes north of Austin to a cute little suburb. We love it because there is a lot less traffic, more ROOM to spread out, and just a change of scenery. It's so funny. When people found out we bought a house, they all said "So it's permanent huh?" Not really. Brian's job is here right now; but we both agreed, if they called him tomorrow to come back east, we would put the house on the market in a skinny minute. Nothing is ever really permanent. We love the house, but we definitely would love being closer to home more.

LUKE
He is growing like a weed y'all. He turned 4 months this past Monday. He is so happy and smiley. I can't get enough of him. He learned to roll to his belly 2 days before he turned 4 months old. Cue the freak out when I woke up and saw him on the monitor. But, it's just great because it means he is growing and learning to do all the things. We have also spent a lot of our Saturdays at the pool. He is so calm there and naps like a champ (AT THE POOL) when it's time. It gives Mom & Daddy a bit of downtime to enjoy adult talk....and beverages.

Bathing Suit, Amazon | Sunglasses, Quay Australia (ON SALE for HALF OFF!!) | Hat, Local Find

Luke's Rash Guard, Target | Luke's Swim Shorts, Target | 

Luke's Hat, i Play | Sunglasses, Target (similar)

We have also been in PT since a little bit past his 2 month birthday/doctor's appointment. He was diagnosed with Torticollis at his 2 month appointment. That was causing Plagiocephaly. He is doing GREAT with fixing his torticollis, and he will be getting a DocBand next week to help round out his head shape. And can we all say AMEN that insurance is taking care of it 100%?!

EXERCISE
I totally understand since having Luke just how tough it is to get back into the swing of things when it comes to exercising regularly. Between work schedules/feedings/all the things, it is TOUGH. When we moved, it became even tougher. My beloved CG (Camp Gladiator) was not really working out anymore as far as times of classes. I cancelled that, MUCH to my dismay. I really needed a 4:30am class to swing it. I didn't want to take time away from Brian and I in the evenings by going to a class. I started FASTer Way to Fat Loss which has been so eye opening. It pairs exercising with eating WHOLE foods, carb cycling, and the most important FASTING. Let me tell you something, nothing tastes as good as healthy food AFTER you have been fasting. And, you get to eat {healthy} carbs so there ya go. I will post more on that as I am only in the first official week. My main reasoning behind this was to get me eating better. As a mom, I found myself scrounging. Eating crackers here. Grabbing a cookie there. Not really focusing on what I was eating -- just putting something in my mouth because I was hungry. It has really helped me plan out my meals to hit those good macros.

WORK
Back to work has been good. I have a sales conference at the end of August. I am looking forward to it because it's always nice to really interact with other people when you work from home. It can definitely get lonely. I am thankful I can work from home, but it's always nice to get back to see my colleagues and be in an office setting.

Lastly, here are a few items I picked up from the #NSale. I didn't blow it out of the water but picked up some staples. What did you find? Are you shopping it?

It's good to be back. I really really really am going to try and do my very best to start being more consistent here. Y'all hold me accountable! What do you want to hear?!

This and That: Life Update

Hi friends! I thought I'd just chit chat with y'all today and give a little bit of life updates. I feel like we have so much going on but at the same time, not much at all. Do you ever feel like that?

Moving on, it's LOVE WEEK! I know that Valentine's is a made up holiday, but I really do love it so much. Nothing makes me happier than seeing all the pink and red candies, flowers, balloons, and cards. But please...leave the stuffed teddy bears alone. HA! You don't have to have a significant other to celebrate...honest. There's always galentines! Last year, B and I hit up In&Out for our Valentine's dinner. Yes, you read that right. We went and got cheeseburgers and fries. It couldn't have been more us if you tried. And guess what, we are going to keep this 'tradition' and do it again this year. Ain't no shame in our game! I don't need steak and lobster (ew!!). And I really don't care to be dressing up at this point in my pregnancy. Sooooo cheeseburgers and fries are our choice. Do y'all do anything low key? Or is Valentine's an over the top holiday for you? BTW, did you see my Valentine's dessert post?

This past weekend (Friday) to be exact...I think I temporarily lost my mind. I for some reason freaked myself out (for no good reason at all) that this baby was coming any day. Y'all, I'll be 35 weeks on Thursday. He could very well come at any time (but let's be real, we have a few weeks), but I had myself in a straight up panic and started throwing everything into a suitcase. I wasn't even happy with it because it wasn't organized, and I didn't have time to plan everything out. And GOD FORBID, I didn't have my own going home outfit -- don't worry, I ordered it, and it will be here Thursday. I can't even begin to tell you how crazy my mind works. Of course, B set me straight once he got home and told me to take a chill pill. We made lists of what we have left to do and pack. I have him packed as well as baby. I just have a few last minute things coming in/things I need to put together (nurse gifts!).

I guess the fact that my next appointment starts my series of weekly visits. How did I get here so fast? I have constantly gone over things in my head...do we have everything? Am I ready? Is B ready? What about Gopher? Is he going to even like the baby? Will we know what to do? Is B going to pass out in the delivery room? It's hard to anticipate the unexpected...truly. Especially for quite a monumental event in one's life. I think we are as 'ready' as we'll ever be.

Does anyone else like the new snapchat? I think it's AWFUL. I hardly get on it anymore and mainly just watch InstaStories. I feel like everyone is migrating there and away from snapchat. Now, if Instagram would just go back to the regular scheduled programming and not this STUPID algorithm, we'd be in business. If you aren't following me on Insta, be sure to find me! I post there mostly.

This Wednesday starts Lent. Is anyone out there giving up anything or taking on anything? B always does a better job at this than me. He is giving up quite a bit this year (alcohol in general being one). A podcast he listens to suggested doing an almsgiving which we already do with our snack packs. I think giving back to those in need is so important. Why not incorporate both almsgiving and volunteering to your Lenten season? Junior League of Austin and helping those we pass on Austin street corners has been eye opening. I highly suggest getting out of your comfort zone and helping. I promise you have the time...sacrificing that show or sleeping in, you can be helping. You just don't really know, until you know. I know that we will so encourage this once baby is old enough. Just a challenge. :)

And I can't leave y'all on too much of a serious note so here are some recent purchases of mine. Some aren't here yet so I'm patiently waiting stalking the delivery man. Anybody else this way? I'm also refusing to buy any real Spring clothes (even though it's about to kill me) because I want to see just how much weight is left over after baby and where I stand on sizing.

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

 

Life Lately: October 2017

Life has been busy. October is always a busy month for us: birthdays (3 days in a row <Brian, my sister, & her husband> + one at the end of the month <my mom>, anniversaries, Halloween, etc etc. But it is so fun. Tack on a baby brewing, and it seems our days are flying by. We've been to our church's Fall festival which I won a cake at. (!!!!) B was like "you have to do it." Well, it was me and then all these little kids and guess who's # got called first? I was slightly embarrassed but it was fun.

We spent our 4 year anniversary out to eat. It fell on a Thursday this year. We also decided to keep it low key since baby and decided no presents. It was great. We did dinner at The Peached Tortilla here in Austin. It was ramen night so I got that, and it was SPICY. B got the taco trio. We shared the bacon jam fries. Funny story: when I made the reservation it asked if it was a special occasion. I chose anniversary. Well when we were done, one of the chefs came out, introduced himself and asked how everything was. He told us to hang tight as there was a surprise coming. Immediately, my mind jumped to dessert. Well I was wrong. They brought out 2 glasses of champagne. HA! B thought it was hysterical. Needless to say, he got 2 glasses of champs! LUCKY. We wrapped our anniversary weekend with a hike. It was glorious and cool and we took the pup!

The romper I wore was a total steal last winter from Loft. Someone had returned it from what looked like online. I think I snatched it up for like $10? Well, it was a small. And I got myself in it for dinner. All the praise hands! Mommas to be....you know what I mean. I've linked a few similar options if you are interested.

As I have stated before, I have been holding back on purchasing items for myself since this belly is growing. I've picked up a few things from Loft. I got 2 packages in from them this week....needless to say all but a camisole are going back. FAIL. Argh. They were just on the smaller end of the spectrum and I didn't really LOVE them on me. But I have gotten 2 dresses and a vest from there that I am obsessed with.

Vest: Loft // Leggings: Zella // Tee: BP Similar (Nordstrom)

Monstrosity of a pregnancy pillow: Leachco

I'll be back on Thursday with a baby update -- 20 weeks. WOAH! It is flying y'all! Oh! And don't forget to pull for the Astros tonight if you're watching the World Series!! They only need one more game and nothing would make me happier to have a. a Texas team win it and b. the City of Houston NEEDS THIS! Go Astros!!

Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween!!