Happy Wednesday, y’all! It’s been a few weeks, but it’s time for a little life update with What’s Up, Wednesday with Shay! Check out last month’s update here!

WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK…

A few weeks ago, we started our postpartum diet. I had heard a lot about a certain diet/ meal plan from a few others bloggers that all had babies about the same time as Olivia, so we decided we’d try it. With the plan, it had everything laid out- breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner, along with a master menu of approved foods, so there was no trying to figure anything out on your own. Well, to be honest… that particular meal plan lasted about two days for us. We were so hangry (and light headed), we joked that was a fast way to get divorced. 😉 So we’ve taken that meal plan and modified it a little for our needs/ wants. For example, the original meal plan was gluten free and dairy free, neither of which are important to us. We have cut out basically all carbs (we still have fruit (which who knew was a carb???), a whole wheat roll with dinner, and I have oatmeal for breakfast), and basically all processed sugar (Steven’s cut it completely, and I just have it in my oatmeal). Lunches are either beef or chicken over a salad. For dinner, we have a protein (fish, beef, or chicken typically), and two servings of vegetables, then fruit for dessert. On Wednesday nights, we have Chick Fil A as a cheat meal because we just can’t quit CFA, plus it’s something easy and fast when we’re trying to get to Wednesday night church. Our other cheat meal is Saturday night, and we alternate cooking something at home that we like that isn’t really approved (like nachos, or my favorite sweet and sour chicken). So, all that to say, this is what our meals have looked like this week…

Monday: Shrimp scampi, zucchini noodles, asparagus and a whole wheat roll

Tuesday: Salmon, green beans, sautéed squash, and a wheat roll

Wednesday: CFA (yay!)

Thursday: Steak with two vegetables and a wheat roll

Friday: Shrimp with two vegetables and a wheat roll

Saturday: Cheat meal

Sunday: Hamburger (no bun) with two veggies

Sense a pattern? We have a schedule and eat the same protein on each day of the week each week. Sounds boring, but it really works pretty well (we mix up the sides and how we cook the protein, so it’s not exactly the same), and it has made grocery shopping and meal planning SO EASY. #momwin

 

WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT…

Oh, just about every day, I scroll through my camera roll and look at pictures of Olivia and lament about how quickly she is growing! She gets more fun every day, but she was so sweet when she was brand new and teeny tiny. I love her getting bigger and more lively, but I’ll always feel like she’s growing too fast.

 

WHAT I’M LOVING…

I finally bought a letter board and I love it!

I’m planning to use it for Olivia’s monthly pictures, but also for decoration on our counter with little quotes or Scriptures to inspire!

 

But, what I’m loving the most is this little miss’s personality exploding! For the first few weeks, we mainly got angsty teen looks, and few smiles, but now there are more smiles than ever, and she can coo and make lots of little noises like she’s holding her end of a conversation. Case in point, here she is updating her dad on the happenings of her day…

 

Olivia and her Gran (Steven’s mom) had a little photoshoot in her Bumbo, and she put on quite the show! #totalham

 

And I snapped these after her two month check up last week. Steven says it looks like the very definition of high maintenance, haha! #hesnotwrong #girlfriendishighmaintenance

 

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO…

Just adjusting to parenthood! This is my last week of maternity leave, and then I’m going back to work two days a week. Steven has been working on the infectious disease service, then the GI clinic for the last few weeks, so his hours have been good. He only has two more weeks each of clinic, VA wards, GI hospital service, med consults, and one week of nights and then… He’s a third year! I feel like the last two years have kind of flown by! (even though they felt like they dragged at the time).  He’s been prepping for application season starting around July/ August for fellowship by finishing up several research projects.

I’ve been working on a few projects around here during my leave, like reorganizing our pantry, linen closet, and bonus room off our bedroom. I’m working on getting Olivia’s room reorganized as we’ve brought in more clothes and other gifts (LOTS more clothes– both as gifts and some we’ve bought. She hasn’t grown as fast as we anticipated (which I will NOT complain about!!), so we had to buy more seasonally appropriate smaller clothes). Plus, I’m just trying to deep clean and get everything really organized before we have our nanny start coming in for the two days I’m in the office. And I’m officially done with thank you notes from all the gifts sent when Olivia was born through to our Sip and See a few weeks ago! (as far as I know– there’s a decent chance someone might have slipped through the cracks, so if you don’t get one from us, it was definitely an oversight!).

WHAT I’M DREADING…

So, two years ago when we bought our house, our builder laid sod in our front and back yards before we closed. This was nice, as we didn’t have to worry about installing it ourselves; however, they laid it right over a yard full of existing weeds. This, combined with the empty lots filled with weeds that have blown over, means that our yard is overcome with weeds. Unfortunately, it’s gotten to the point that it needs some work, so that’s our plan this weekend– tackling all the weeds and I’m not looking forward to it. We have some weed killing granules to spread out, so hopefully that works at least a little so we don’t have to pull them all individually. Once the weeds are under control, I’m planning to tackle the flower beds again. They were somewhat of a mess this time last year with overgrown grass, so I pulled out the liners and planned to lay down landscape fabric, but then found out I was pregnant and spent the summer queasy and nauseous, so needless to say, that’s all grown in and is now a total mess and ready for an update!

 

WHAT I’M WORKING ON…

Like I mentioned before, just a few projects around the house, and finishing up thank you notes (which the last of them should go out today). Does anyone else ever feel like the laundry is never ending?? Every time I turn around there’s another huge pile. I thought it was bad with the two of us, but this tiny thing seems to have made it two to three times more! (And let’s be honest, I let her hang out in her diaper a lot because of all the messes!)

 

WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT…

We don’t have anything in particular planned coming up, just rolling through the end of our year! (Residency rolls on an academic calendar, so July to June).

 

WHAT I’M WATCHING/ READING… 

I’m waiting for my copy of the Everyday Holy devotional by Melanie Shankle and I’m so excited to dive in! I ordered it a few weeks ago from Target and accidentally ended up with someone else’s different book, so I’m still waiting for mine!

As far as watching, Steven and I finished The Office. We waited a few days, and then started it all over again. It just never gets old! I’ve also been watching Good Girls, Splitting Up Together, and the last season of The Middle (who else loves The Middle??), plus I’ve been trying out Alex, Inc. with Zach Braff, and AP Bio. (I know it sounds like I watch a lot of TV, and well, that’s because I do. I’m home all day snuggling a newborn. 😉 ).

 

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO…

Not really anything in particular music wise. I’ve been listening to the Popcast while I iron, cook, and get ready.

 

WHAT I’M WEARING… 

Nothing super fancy, just transitioning from winter to spring! We’ve had a few pretty chilly days, and then others that are super warm (like 90 degrees :|), so it’s a little hard to predict what to wear from day to day. And, like last month, the “momiform” is still on repeat 😉

And obviously, I try to match Olivia whenever possible… 😉

 

WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND…

Like I mentioned earlier… yard duty 🙁 Other than that, we’ll go to church Sunday morning and that’s about it!

I’ve tried to make it a tradition to take her picture in front of our front door every Sunday before church like my mom did with me when I was little. I’ve been fairly successful so far, and here are her pics from last week. Isn’t she just a little doll baby?? (Obviously, I’m biased!) Steven’s Granny bought her that onesie with the matching doll and it’s a newborn size. It still fits, but probably not for much longer so we had to take pictures before it gets too small!

 

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH…

Nothing in particular!

 

WHAT ELSE IS NEW…

This is usually where I give an update about the boys…

The boys are doing well in their off season training. Pecos has been getting longer retrieves, as well as shoring up his obedience. The older boys (Ruger and Gump) are getting long (like several hundred yard) retrieves and working on handling. And Boudreaux is just enjoying his best life inside when he gets the chance.

And lastly, we got to make a quick but great trip to Lubbock a few weeks ago to visit a few special friends (more details to come!), but I wanted to end with sweet pictures of Olivia and the yearly tulips at Tech! Happy Spring and Wreck ’em!