Self care is SOOO important especially for us Mamas. I think as mom's our "self care" gets pushed to the background because we are so busy tending to our kids and households. It is the first thing to go. I noticed this a lot when I had Leo. I was so busy juggling having a new baby that I couldn't even think about taking 30 minutes a day to workout or something. Let's just say I didn't have the best postpartum situation. Eventually once Leo got older I started having babysitters come a few times a week for a couple hours so I could get out of the house and have some "me time". So with Monroe I was bound to keep up my "self care" routine. 

Jay and I recently snuck away to celebrate an early Valentine's Day shopping at Columbia Center Mall. Can you believe this year Columbia Center Mall is having their  50th Anniversary.  Jay and I first headed to lunch at Twigs. Over a glass of champagne at 12:30pm (don't judge) and we started talking about one of our dates in high school at Columbia Center when they used to have a Coldstone Creamery. I remember it was one of the first real "dates" he took me on and I was so nervous as he had picked me up after school and I was in a rush to get ready after soccer practice. It is funny to look back and think those kids (us) would be back in the same place but instead of talking about ice cream and school dances we are enjoying a glass of champagne and talking about our sons 3rd birthday. Crazy how life turns out and I'm so thankful we have those fun memories of us from the past! 

Ok you know it is bad when I couldn't really find a picture of just Jay and I without kids for this blog post. With little kids it is just plain hard to carve out time for your spouse. What I realize is when Jay is off on a weekend I often pick group social activities over just a date night between the two of us. And when we get babysitters we like to go out with friends. So in 2019 I am making more of a point to have a "date night" at home. Jay has a weird schedule so our date nights often fall on a Tuesday night and not a Saturday but that is what works for us. I am going over some of our favorite things to do for "date night at home".

I'm a big time audio girl, podcast and audiobooks. I listen to at least 1 audiobook a week and quite a few podcasts a week. This all started when I was pregnant with Leo and I couldn't sleep at night and needed something to do. It has turned into a slightly unhealthy obsession as I tend to be a binge listener. My go to listens are murder mysteries like Up and Vanished and Serial, but I also love learning random facts and listening to quite a few other podcasts. I don't listen to anything policitcal or motivational but if there is podcast you think I should try in these areas let me know, I'm happy to give them a try. So here is my list of my favorite podcasts I tried to keep the list down to 20! Like I said I have a problem. 

Life is always so crazy in the summer. We are now home and settled from a great vacation at Priest Lake. More on that in a little bit. But I just thought I'd update you all on a few things that have been going on in our lives as well as this pregnancy. We are getting close to having the new baby less than 7 weeks. Jay has added a new job, as if we weren't busy enough. Ha ha! He is now working a few days a month at Tri-Cities Regenerative Institute. It is very different from his ER gig, but he is really enjoying it. It is awesome that this is now being offered in Tri-Cities, they do stem cell injections as well as Platelet Rich Plasma injections for injuries and cosmetic reasons. Once I have this baby I'm dying to go have a vampire facial!! You guys should check out their website HERE. 

I had a few issues with my pregnancy with Leo that didn't allow me to workout as much as I wanted to and I really had to watch my heart rate with that pregnancy. Thankfully, this pregnancy I don't have the same issues so I've been able to work out a lot more. Although week 8-14 I had to take off cause I was so miserable with all day sickness.  I was able to continue all my workout classes up until 8.5 weeks and I was having some of the best workouts I have had in years. Anyways, after my little month break I have been able to continue to workout at the gym 2 days a week and at home 2 additional days. So today I am going over my "go to" workouts. Since I only get to the gym twice a week I like to do more "complex" workouts vs working just my arms or just my legs. You don't have to be pregnant to do these obviously as I continue them when I'm not pregnant. I just increase the weight and decrease rest time in between when I am not pregnant..... oh and usually add in burpees and box jumps! Dare I say it.... I miss burpees. 

School is out or almost out and everyone is starting to think about their summer plans. Leo is starting soccer this summer and doing swim lessons. But on top of that I made a little summer bucket list for us. This one is more catered to toddlers and younger kids, but is a fun start to some summer activities. I want to make this summer as special as possible because it will be my last summer with just Leo. I have adored my 1 on 1 time with him for the last 2+ years and as excited as we are to add another to the family I am a little sad all my alone time with him will be coming to an end. So until September we will be working away on our summer bucket list! 

When we remodeled our house I wanted to build a little catch all area. The previous owners had installed a little bench here but I knew that would not be enough. So I quickly went to Pinterest and did some looking and made sure this type of space was added to our home. We had a small space to work with but I needed to to be as function as possible. I think we accomplished this and I got to have a little fun decorating it too. 

So I kind of skipped over spring cleaning here because it went straight from winter to summer. Normally we get some rainy and windy days in the spring but starting in March we started getting almost 80 degree weather. Then we had visitors and plans so I am finally getting around to doing a little spring cleaning and it feels so good. Today I'm going over 10 things you should throw away! 

So I've been crazy about eye cream for years. I wish I could tell you I have an eye cream that I love love love but what I have noticed is as I have age or the season's change my under eyes require something a little different. With this pregnancy my skin is really dry so I've been really into gels which is something I have never used before. So I am sharing my top 10 eye creams and the best part of the top 10 is that 5 or 6 are all under $30. You don't always have to pay an arm and a leg for eye cream. And if I could tell my 18 year old self anything I'd say start using eye creams NOW. I didn't really get into them till about 24 (which is younger than most) but I wish I would of started even earlier.