Oh No! I am in Serious Trouble!!!!

Well Bloggers this is it.  My diet is officially screwed...My beloved cereal brand Fiber One is now making Brownies! Ahhhhhh I don't know if I should rejoice or cry?!  I was just minding my business at Costco eating free samples shopping for healthy foods and then I spotted these little packets of joy.  Yep Fiber One Brownies.  Sold in little individual packets.  Each one has 90 calories and 5 grams of fiber.  And here is the best part: they are delicious!!!  I mean, not like a hot gooey fresh-out-of-the-oven delicious, but still very tasty!!  I ate 3 yesterday :(  BUT even those 3 only equal 270 calories so I guess its no biggie.  Yum so good.  Now I just have to make sure I can find them again bc I went back to Costco a few days later and they were gone. 
Speaking of diets-I need to stop eating like a linebacker.  This is ridiculous.  My handsome hubby is 6'5 and 225 lbs and I eat as much(if not more) than him :(   I have a trip to Hawaii in 6 weeks so I may as well use that trip as the catalyst to stop eating like a dude.  I will say I'm stronger now than Ive ever been thanks to teaching a bunch of Dailey Method classes each week-but still I need to do 2 things: practice some portion control and also make sure I take 4 classes a week myself (teaching doesn't count). Alright enough of my ramblings!  Here are some pics from from Easter :) Isn't the bottom one hilarious?

Cute Day & Cute Lip Stuff!

So life is made up of good days and bad days. Yesterday was a good one :) Nothing outrageous happened but things were simple, sweet and I took time to appreciate how great life is. Studio was busy, classes were awesome and lots of new members signed up!! I came home and Tanner was sleeping even though the cleaners were buzzing around and vacuuming right outside his door-he just slept like a champ(for 3 hours-he never naps that long-it was heaven!!!)!! Kevin got home early and so we walked the pups then had a glass of Chardonnay on our patio.  I spent a lot of time while preggo on our patio reading and relaxing and it was so surreal to now have this amazing baby sitting on my lap bc it just feels like yesterday that I was rubbing my bump and feeling his kicks out there.  Time sure does fly.  We grilled up some tri tip and put the munchkin down early and talked and ate and enjoyed each other :) It was just so nice. Anyway enough of my ramblings-lets get to the good stuff:

Cute new product alert!!!  Well it is new to me ;)  It is Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm.  Now I'm not sure I would call it a "balm" but it is cute and I love the way it looks-just a touch of subtle color.  I struggle w/ not looking too 'done' while I'm teaching classes at my studio.  I mean I always wear make up (wouldn't want to scare my clients away), but I am exercising  so some lip colors seem a tad much.  But these Chubby Sticks are perfect!! Here is the info from Clinique:

"Super-nourishing balm is loaded with mango and shea butters. Just what dry, delicate lips need to feel comfortably soft and smooth. Eight natural-looking lip tints in all, each with a subtle sheen."

CUTE!!

LOVE this cleanser!!

This will be short and sweet:  I tried a sample of this cleanser and could not love it more!!!  Really-it is a delight!  It almost makes me not dread washing my face in the morning :)  It is Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash and it is as fab as can be!  Smells divine!  Great texture that gets sudsy enough but also has little round exfoliator beads-so it just makes my face so nice and soft. It rinses off well and leave my skin nice and squeaky clean w/out over dying!!  This is what Bliss has to say about it:

"•oil-free, 2-in-1 gel cleanser and exfoliator effectively removes dirt and makeup
•gently exfoliates with perfectly soft, round exfoliator beads
•calms the skin with soothing botanicals
•guys have been known to sneak some as a shaving cream stand-in
A two-in-one oil-free exfoliating wash for all skin types, this fresh, fruity cleanser contains rose hip extract, milk thistle, passion flower and chamomile in a non-stripping formula that rebalances even the most schizophrenic of skins."

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!  It is $22 for a bottle and I think it is well worth the price!

Support System

Happy Friday Product Junkies!!!    I feel like I'm on cloud 9 today-not sure if its bc I finally have a day where I'm not going to the studio (don't worry-I'll be back tomorrow), if its bc we made the yummiest cookies yesterday (lactation cookies and they TOTALLY increased my output this morning!!! I'll post the recipe soon!), maybe its bc my little sweetie only flipped himself over once last night (Tanner is a rolling maniac and keeps scooting all over his crib and rolling over and getting stuck which wakes him up-which wakes me up, etc), or if its bc I'm surrounded by people I love (Tanner, my Mom, the pups, sweet Hubs and I are all hanging today).  Regardless-life is good :)

Onto today's post-recently I got an email or 2 asking about nursing bras, so that is what we will discuss.  When I was preggo I was an idiot and just kept on upgrading the size of my regular bras until the week before T came-but once I was at Pea in the Pod and tried on their nursing bras-it was like a whole new world of comfort and support!  Amazing.  And-holy crap-I could breath (I guess my regular bras were tighter than I thought-whoops!)!  My favs are the Seamless Clip Down Nursing Bra from A Pea in The Pod ($42.50-pictured above) and this other one from Tagert(its Gilligan & O Malley) that I cant seem to find right now.  Honorable mention also goes to the Unlined Nursing Sleep Bra  and the Sports Wrap Nursing Sleep Bra( both from Pea in The Pod).  I would say invest in a few good comfy ones that you can basically live in (comfort wins here ladies-they aren't glam-but trust me-they will be covered in milk/baby slobber soon enough anyway).  As far as nursing tanks/nursing night gowns-I have a couple of each but really prefer to wear regular clothes w/ a nursing bra underneath.  For my hospital stay I did get a few soft and comfy nightgowns that were short and loose and so comfy and it felt great to not wear the ugly hospital gown the whole time!!  I also got a new robe that is soft and cozy and wore that too.  Awe all this talk about my hospital stay makes me want to have another baby...

Shedding

Well this is out of hand. I kid you not-I am shedding more than a Husky in July. Like handfuls of hair. Uggghhhhhh. I know this isn't a cute post about a fantastic product or about my fantastic baby-this is just a FYI to other mamas to be and a huge bitch session for me! I have looked into it and it is perfectly normal to lose hair after you have a baby. I guess one of the reasons preggo women get such amazing hair is that they don't lose as much when they are pregs which results in think, long hair. Well don't get too attached to it! Mine started really coming out at about 3.5 months and I think (knock on wood) that the worst is over. Literally a huge handful would fall out when I wash my hair. It is so gross. I could stuff a king size pillow w/ all this damn hair! And Tanner is so into grabbing things that it isn't usual to find a my hair in his little fist. Oh well-another perk of mother hood!

Growing Up Too Fast!!

In the top photo my sweet Tanner Charles is 2 months old, in the bottem photo he is 5 months. I cannot belive how big he has gotten. Look at how much more of his bouncy seat he takes up now!!!! He is a little man and he is growing and changing everyday :) Sorry Product Junkies-today's post is just a chance for me to show off my gorgeous boy!

Nipple Confusion

Alright Mama's. I have been through the ringer. I knew I wanted to breastfeed my baby-but I did not know how challenging it was going to be in the beginning. I mean-holy crap-it was hard. Way harder than my c-section. My little munchkin latched right away, maybe 45 minutes after he was born (I was so drugged up-it was very blurry). The nurses were shocked that a 45 minute old baby could latch and suckle like a champ. So that was good. Then on Thursday(T was born on Tuesday) morning I woke up and made Pam Anderson look flat chested. My milk came in and came in like it was nobodies business. So it seemed that this was going to be a piece of cake, right? Wrong! Tanner could be part human part barracuda. He destroyed my nipples. I mean-I hate to be so graphic-but really, things were looking bad and feeling worse. I had to get on antibiotics-it was a mess. My nipples were bright red and painful to the touch. I cried while I fed him and eventually I started to pump more than I nursed(which is a whole other post bc exclusively pumping is tough too and then my milk supply went down and the saga continues) So along the way I tried just about every nipple cream under the sun and that's what this post is about.
The very best choice is the Medela Tender Care Lanolin. It is the perfect amount of stickiness and is super easy to apply. It weirdly has the same texture as my beloved Kiehl's #1 Lip Balm. Its my fav. The next one worth mentioning is the Mother's Love Nipple Cream. It is all natural, organic, yada, yada and it is good-but it doesn't feel like it stays on. And last and most certainly least is the Lasinoh Lanolin. This stiff is thick. Like rubber cement. I kinda hate it. It is too hard top squeeze out of the tube-then once it is out-it is too hard to apply(think very cold butter not spreading on bread-its the same idea). So there you go-this was the longest post and the moral of the story is: Medela's Tender Care Lanolin Nipple Cream is the best:)
PS: Nursing gets a million times easier w/ time. I'm glad I hung in there :)

I Cheated....

On my product BBF Kiehl's #1 Lip Balm. I was at Nordies minding my own business (and smelling the perfume you guys recommended-more on that soon!) and then I locked eyes on a little black tube of happiness: Jo Malone Vitamin E Lip Conditioner SPF 15!!! It's $20-but worth it in my opinion. This stuff is AMAZING!! Yummy smell/taste and a very nice texture (similar to Kiehls!), but this stuff has SPF! Be still my heart. It had me at hello. Here is how Jo Malone describes it:

"A targeted treatment that softens, smooths and cares for vulnerable skin. Known for its restorative powers, Vitamin E is enhanced with UVA/UVB protection to defend the lips from the damaging effects of the environment. Honey, a natural emollient, brings a hint of flavour to this curative treatment"

Yes!!! All so true! Soooooo will I stop carrying around my little white pots of Kiehls? Will little black tubes be my newest accessory? Only time will tell....I have the loyalty of a Labrador-so there is no way I would drop Kiehls that quickly. But it may turn into a joint custody type of situation. We shall see!!!

Mama Must Have: Video Moniter

Love this. The Summer Infant Slim Secure handheld Color video monitor. It really is wonderful and we use it daily. The 1st few nights of Tanner sleeping in his nursery-I swear I slept with this monitor in my hands and would wake up every hour and check on him all night long :) It is amazing and helpful and such good quality that I can see him breathing at night (yep in the dark-it has night vision!) It is also helpful bc now my sweet little man makes all sorts of weird noises at night and I can just see that he is fine and I don't need to go into his room. It is great. Knock on wood-we haven't had to do any sleep training-but for those who do-this would be a lifesaver bc you could see that your little one is fine. Worth every penny!

Looking for the Perfect Scent-Help Me!!

Oh Bloggers, In all of my 31 years-I have not been able to find the perfect perfume. I REALLY want a signature scent and have tried and tried-but have come up empty handed :( I just think everything always smells amazing when I'm shopping-then I get home and hate it. Any advice/suggestions/recommendations? I like subtle. I don't have a type of scent that I usually go for bc Ive dabbled in everything from clean scents (Bobbi Brown Beach) to floral (Marc Jacobs or Micheal) to sexy (Angel, or Chanel Chance) to Vanilla-y(DKNY Pure)-I mean really the list goes on and on. I'm desperate. Help a friend in need! And just for fun here is a pic of my sweet Tanner :)