SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

What's Up Wednesday

Hi There and happy What's Up Wednesday!


What We're Eating: We are pretty much eating all Meal Train meals this week plus whatever my mother-in-law makes because it's a chemo week. No cooking for me. 😊

What I'm Reminiscing About: You know the expression "the days are long but the years are short?" We've hit the phase where I am grateful the days are long because the kids are so dang fun and easy right now. These are the days I want to be long! It is making me remember just how quickly each phase goes and I am trying to soak up this current one. 

I mean look at sweet 2 year old Lily Grace! I wish I could bottle each phase up and keep it forever. 


Must be nice to take a nap mid-hike. 😊 

And this little guy! 
It blows my mind that he was ever this small. For those of you who don't know us in person, Liam is HUGE. He is a 3 year old that often gets mistaken for a 5 year old. He is taller than several of Lily Grace's kindergarten classmates, so the thought of him ever being this tiny is mind blowing to me! 

And look at him now, practically a teenager 😉

I know we all say it, but babies don't keep!

What I'm Loving: Prior to my diagnosis, I used whatever makeup I wanted without really thinking about the ingredients/what exactly I was putting on my skin. Now I am much more aware and have been trying "clean" makeup. I have been very impressed by the quality! I don't know why, but I assumed "clean" makeup wouldn't be as good or last as long, but I have found the opposite to be true. I plan to do a whole post on clean makeup soon, but one of my favorites has been this Kosas concealer

It is very similar to the Tarte concealer I had been using for the past few years except it is free from several of the toxic chemicals found in many makeup brands. The shade I use is 02W.

What We've Been Up To: Playing outside as much as possible! Ya'll, I LOVE spring in North Carolina. The weather is beautiful, the plants are blooming, and the mosquitos aren't out yet. 

One day last week I picked Lily Grace up early from school so we could play outside. Liam was still on spring break and we were playing in the backyard and thought "I wish LG was here too!" The weather was PERFECT and LG had dance class after school, meaning she was going to be stuck inside and not able to enjoy it. Her recital is two weeks away, so rather than her miss dance I picked her up a little early and let her miss Spanish and PE. It worked out perfectly. Missing one day of Spanish and PE in kindergarten isn't going to hurt anyone. 😊

What I'm Dreading: As you are reading this (assuming it's Wednesday), I am currently at chemo. Not my favorite place to be. As of today though I am officially at the halfway point, meaning I only have 6 more chemo sessions to go through. The end is in sight!

What I'm Excited About: Liam is going to be getting a newly updated room now that he is a "big guy". I've started ordering all the things and they have started trickling in. Here is my inspiration:

I can't wait to see how it all comes together. 

What I'm Watching/Reading: For watching, we are about halfway through Shrinking on Apple TV and love it. 

I love the concept of it: a therapist who bluntly tells his patients what they really need to hear. I think the whole cast is really cute and works well together. 

For reading, I am just finishing Goodbye, Things as I finish up my month of decluttering and I think it helped me get rid of more of our stuff. By no means am I as minimalist as the author, but it has made me more aware of just how much we have that we really don't need. 

What I'm Listening To: I have fallen behind on my Bible in a Year podcast but am trying to play catch up. 

I finished the Gospel of John and it was SO GOOD. I have never read the Gospels from beginning to end before, I have only ever focused on a few passages at a time. I really enjoyed reading it all the way through and found it to be much more powerful when read that way. Once the Gospel of John was over and we went back to the Old Testament, I began to struggle with keeping up. I am trying to motivate myself to get back into it again though!

What I'm Wearing: I have been wearing a mix of joggers/t-shirts to nicer clothes:

These joggers are new and I really love them. The fabric is so soft and I love the waistband-- it is similar to the Lululemon leggings that keep the tummy tucked in a little bit. 

This jumpsuit is a Free People dupe and I love it. I saw one of the other teachers at the preschool wearing it when I dropped Liam off one morning and she convinced me to buy it-- I highly recommend!

I popped into J Crew Factory one day and got a few things...

Dress/Sandals

Dress/Sandals

Top/Pants/Birkenstock Dupes (thanks for the recommendation Jen-- these are so comfy!)

Top (old, but similar here)/Pants/Jacket/TOMS

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Next month is going to be jam-packed with wonderful things. Lily Grace turns 6, she is having a joint birthday party with her best friend, Mother's Day, a field trip (I can't wait!!) and kindergarten graduation. The thought of kindergarten graduation makes me want to cry!!! 

What Else is New: I have started running again-- woohoo!! I will be very honest, calling it a "run" is a bit of a stretch. It's 90% walk, 10% very light jog. But whatever! It feels good to be getting a little bit more of my regular life back!

Favorite Amazon Purchase: We bought one of these window bird feeders and set it up on the window by our kitchen table. We had our first bird come to it last night and the kids went bonkers. They were so excited!! It really was cool to see them that close while we were eating our dinner.  

1,000 Hours Outside Update: We have completed our goal of spending 1,000 Hours Outside as a family!! Now that the weather is nice, we are spending hours and hours playing outside in our backyard, in the creek, and at various playgrounds. I plan to write a post soon about all that we learned from spending 1,000 hours outside together. If you are considering doing this, I highly recommend it. It was an incredible blessing for our family in many more ways than I anticipated. 


Thanks for reading along today! I am looking forward to catching up with all of you too!

8 comments :

  1. I want a bird feeder! I'll check that one out! You are looking great!

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  2. I want to be taken out of school to play outside. Your the best mom. I love your inspo for Liam's room.

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  3. Prayers for you during this time. The past three years I watched my sweet 2nd cousin (she is 27) battle this and she had a clear scan after her treatments and then it returned to one lymph node. She went then to Utah to the Huntsman Cancer Treatment Hospital as they have the renowned Dr. for HL and she did the stem cell replacement, and she has done amazing. You are going to come out of this on top and a stronger testimony!

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  4. Yay for being 1/2 way through your treatments! I am loving all your outfits and heading off to check out that jumpsuit right now.

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  5. I am praying for you right now as you are in a chemo week. I look forward to reading your 1,000 hours outside post as I am very inspired by it.

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  6. Wonderful things for What's Up Wednesday! Except for chemo, but you are halfway! I hope you feel ok and have minimal side effects. Do you have an anti-gravity lounge chair to lay outside in the sun? I got mine off of Amazon and I am obsessed. It even has a sun shade you can pull over your head or choose not to. I just requested Goodbye, Things on your rec and I hope it inspires me too!

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  7. So many things in the post make me happy! So glad you are able to spend so much time outside and to be able to exercise-so good for the soul! Keep fighting-I only know you from these posts, but you seem to have the best attitude which is so inspiring.

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  8. I love all your outifts...and Liam's big boy room looks perfect. Congrats on 1,000 hours outside...that's amazing. I hope you are doing well.

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