Goodbye July.

Another month has gone by super fast. Now I wish I would have blogged more the past couple of months so I can remember everything we've done.

Guess I'll just start now. Hopefully I can keep up with posting in August. Speaking of August, I'm pretty excited for it. We will be visiting my grandparents in NJ next weekend and getting to see other family members and we are hopefully going to VA Beach again to see Gary's family. If we don't make it this month then we will be there the first of September. 

We spent the last day of July doing a little bit of shopping with my mom and Sophia. We also met up with my friend Stephanie to say bye to her. She will be moving to Charlotte, NC to work as an occupational therapist. I'm super jealous and I'm going to miss her lots! BUT I am VERY proud of her. She has worked very hard to get to where she is now. She is going to do great. And I see trips to Charlotte in the future! 

July was a good and fun month like every month of the year. I am just thankful for each month that is given to me. Just wishing these months would slow down .. like always.

Can you believe that Sophia will be two .. 2 YEARS OLD in just THREE months!! I'm pretty sure I was just planning her first birthday?? 

But as each month passes Sophia is starting to look more like me each day .. finally!

She still acts like her daddy though.

Talk to you all in August! 

Now I Know My ABC's

I wanted to get on here real fast to share that Sophia finished a song for me! She may have said this before at daycare or when I'm not around but I got to hear it for the first time tonight.

I was sitting with her while she was taking a bath and I was singing the ABC's to her. I got to the end and stopped at Z and Sophia finished it with...

"Now I know my ABC's"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I just stopped and looked at her with the biggest smile on my face and I yelled for Gary to come listen. She did it again for him. My soon to be two year old is talking SO much. And she really is smart!

Sophia can remember everyone's name and says all kinds of words. I need to do her monthly update and list every word she is saying. 

Oh, and she also says I love you! I died the first time she said it and my heart is so close to bursting every time she says it. She'll say "I lub youuuu" in the sweetest little voice. 

I can go on and on about all the words she is saying now but I'll save that for when I get to her monthly post. I'm making it a goal to get it done this week.

Now for two pictures from this evening.

My Lil Ruffle Butt

I wish that I could wear polka dot one pieces with ruffles around the butt and still look cute like little miss Sophia did today. She even picked this bathing suite out herself today .. I think she did a great job {even though it was a size 12-18 months}. 

I'm actually pretty jealous about all of Sophia's outfits. She has SO many clothes. I need to start doing a weekly post of her and share her outfits. Actually, I need to do one with me too. I buy so much clothes and never wear them. Maybe by doing this I actually get these outfits worn.

Well, I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was very relaxing. We didn't do too much. I really can't even remember what we did Friday after work. I've had this headache/migraine since Monday of last week so I'm blaming my laziness and forgetfulness on that. 

I spent all day Saturday cleaning our house and doing loads of laundry and putting them away. That evening me and Soph decided to get out of the house so we had a quick dinner with a group of girls. It was def. needed.

Today {Sunday, I started this post real late} we woke up and had the best breakfast. We took a nap after and then spent the rest of the evening playing outside. Sophia can spend literally all day outside and be the happiest lil girl. 

I realized I've been slacking on using my camera. So I took advantage of it today. Here are a ton {really a ton} of pictures of Soph playing outside in her lil ruffle butt bikini. It's basically our whole day in pictures.  Oh, and please notice her new face. She now sticks her lips out like the picture below. I think she gets that from her daddy.

So Sophia is everywhere now and she is constantly exploring. She will also do things even though I tell her no. Today, she decided she wanted to climb the hill. The hill is not too steep but as a toddler I guess it could be a little difficult to climb. Poor thing had the hardest time climbing up the hill but she did it anyway. She was climbing on both her hands and feet. She was also grunting haha. As soon as she got "far" she decided to come down.. by sliding. She just slid the whole down and I let her and took pictures.

This next picture was right after she slid down. She's like "Mommy, I can't believe you just let me slide all the way down and just watched." I think she even has a little piece of grass on her lip haha.

And now to the MANY pictures of Sophia's new pout/duck face. I think this may be her new smile.

And then we saw this tiny moth {I think that's what it was} that Sophia was terrified of. I guess I was too because I only got close enough to take a picture of it.

Then it was time to cool off and play in the pool.

My mom is probably going to kill in me for posting these next pictures but I think they are too cute. Sophia was copying every face she was making. My mom cleaned like a crazy woman today so that is why she looks the way she does, even though I see nothing wrong with how she looks.

A few more of Sophia and then I'll be done for the night :)

And we ended our evening with a 2 minute cry session because I told her no. Don't worry though, Grandma saved her from it and made it all better by pushing her in her favorite car.

It's so crazy that I was able to capture that many pictures in just a few hours. I need to start doing this more because I know we will appreciate looking back at them. I also like being able to share our days with pictures and just a few words.

Now it's time for this momma to get to sleep. I went to the gym for the first time in 3 months tonight and now I'm up past midnight. I'm going to be sore AND tired tomorrow for work. Can it be the weekend again? Goodnight! 

Dare to Bare

This post is sponsored by Dove® ClearTone™ Deodorant - designed to visibly reduce underarm dark marks and even skin tone.

____________________

After having Sophia I became very self-conscience about showing too much skin. I was extremely lucky to only get a few, very hard to see stretch marks and was able to lose all my baby weight. I just never felt comfortable after. Maybe it’s a mom thing.

But during summer it’s kind of hard to avoid not showing any skin so I have to find ways to feel comfortable. Yes, you’ll still see me in a bikini and wearing cute summer clothes but trust me, I’d rather be covered up. And I have to be in a swimsuit to be able to enjoy fun water toys with Sophia.

One thing that is a must during the summer is making sure my skin is smooth all over. No one wants to see hairy armpits and legs in cute shorts or a new Victoria Secret swimsuit. Ah, I don't even want to think about it! So both my legs and underarms spend a lot of time with my razor during the summer.

Shaving a lot can irritate my skin and sometimes cause razor burn so I have to make sure I am doing everything I can to prevent this.

Here are some tips I have learned since I started shaving forever ago:

•  Always use clean, sharp blades.  I would suggest spending some extra dollars on a nice razor. Disposable razors can often cause nicks, bumps and even burns.
• Try to shave only on moist skin – never run the razor on dry skin as an easy fix, especially on your armpits. I’m not going to lie,  I have done this when in a hurry wearing a sleeveless dress or shirt. Ouch is all I’m going to say.
• After shaving your armpits, try to wait a few minutes before applying deodorant. Your skin is sensitive after shaving and needs some time to “heal”
• I always use warm water and try to shave in the shower. If I am unable to shave in the shower I try to use shaving cream. This helps a lot.
•  And the most important thing, to me at least, is applying a moisturizing lotion after. My skin always feels so much better once I had put lotion on.

 After I have a good shave {that sounds so weird to me} I feel smooth and a little more comfortable to show off my arms and skin.

What are your tips on showing off your skin this summer?

I was compensated for this post by the Clever Girls Collective. All the opinions expressed here are my own.

Embarrassing Beauty Disasters Solved

This post is sponsored by Dove® ClearTone™ Deodorant - designed to visibly reduce underarm dark marks and even skin tone.

_____________________________

The other day I tweeted about how exhausting it was to get myself and a toddler ready in the mornings. I don’t know if it’s because I wait until last minute to wake up for work  (I love and NEED my sleep) but all I know is I am sweating as soon as I walk out the door. 

I honestly feel like a crazy woman running around the house in the mornings and it’s to the point where I have to sit Soph on the sink/counter while I do my hair and make up because it’s just the two of us in the mornings and I have no one else to watch her while I get ready.  I try to give her toys or something to occupy herself but she will only sit for so long so I have to do things very fast.

{The picture above is what every morning looks like. My hair up in a bun and Soph sitting on the countertop while I attempt to get ready.}

Well, my hair is very thick, wavy and frizzy (thanks to my Dominican genes) so styling my hair is what takes forever to do and I really don’t have the time to do it the morning.  I honestly don’t even have the time to even wash it every night.  Oh, the joys of motherhood. So easy hairstyles are a MUST for me when getting ready in the mornings.

I know a lot of my readers are mommy’s like myself so I wanted to share some quick hair tips that I use for rushed mornings. 

Get Rid of Grease – ok, so I may have to do this one a lot and it’s very easy and every mom should have the ingredient needed to do this so it works perfect. Just grab some baby powder and apply it to your roots with a fluffy make up brush if you have one. The baby powder absorbs the grease and freshens your hair up. Just style it up if you need and then you’re ready to go.

Do a Messy Bun – this is one of my favorite hairstyles to do when I’m in a hurry and I’m sure everyone knows how to do it. It’s very simple and only takes two seconds. My hair is very long and can get annoying when it’s down so it’s nice to throw it up sometimes. I can also do this style when my hair is both straight and wavy.  I just gather my hair on top of my head and wrap an elastic band around a couple of times. I then shape the bun the way I want it and use bobby pins if needed. I add some cute earrings and I’m ready to go.

Wearing it All Natural – I know this may be easier for people who have wavy/curly hair like myself but I have found that using Sea Salt Spray makes my waves look like I’ve actually spent time on them. I can sleep on my hair all night and wake up in the morning and spray Sea Salt in my hair, scrunch and be satisfied enough to walk out the door. I really recommend using Sea Salt and it may even help straight hair get waves.

So these are basically the three ways I do my hair each morning and I never spend more than 5 minutes doing them. I go into work and have had compliments on my hair. If they only knew what my mornings were REALLY like and how little time I actually spent on my unwashed hair. ha.

Hope this gives some of my busy momma’s some helpful tips. If you have quick hairstyles please let me know. I’d love to add it to my busy mornings!

I was compensated for this post by the Clever Girls Collective. All the opinions expressed here are my own.

Blaming it on summer.

Well, once again I have abandoned my blog for another month. ONE WHOLE MONTH! I don't know why this happening but the only good reason I have is .. summer. 

Sophia is now toddler who loves outside. So any free time we have, we're outside enjoying summer.

It has been relaxing, like I have mentioned in my previous posts, to not have to worry about blogging or catching up on my fav reads but I do miss it. I know that I will regret not documenting anything for the past two months but I'll just make up for it now.

So expect to see this momma posting more. I have decided that I won't be doing any swaps or sponsors for a little while until I find the time to start again. I don't even know if anyone is even still reading my blog or is interested. But we'll see. 

I also have some posts that were supposed to go up in June {sorry ladies} that I will be posting within the next couple of days. But for now I'll leave you with a couple of pictures because I know you all have missed seeing lil miss Sophia ;)