Hot Weather Favorites

It has been so warm lately, and I have been loving it. Sunnshine= Happiness, right?

I have been using my warm weather favorites, and wanted to share them with you.  

Dry Shampoo:

I have fine/thin hair and during the summer it gets really oily, especially if I am not washing it daily. I like to freshen it up with my favorite dry shampoo: NYM Clean Freak. I have about 6 other brands, and this is my favorite, I have lost count of how many cans I have gone through.

Sea Salt Spray:

I love this sea salt spray for my hair. I just spray it into my ends and let my hair dry naturally. I love the look of wavy hair during the summer. Just don't forget to also use a leave in conditioner on your ends or you will dry out your ends. Its all natural, which is awesome. 

Sunscreen:

I burn really fast in the sun, so sun block is a must for me. However, if I am outside, I can get lazy about reapplying it. So I love this spray sunblock, I can reapply regularly and not get my hands all in unblock, So I have no excuse for laziness. This one is my favorite, It is waterproof, sweat proof, paraben free, oil free, uva/uvb protection. 

Face Sunscreen:

I use a different sunscreen for my face: Kiehls Super Fluid, I have tried a lot of different face sunblocks, and love this one the best. It is very watery and dries really fast so I can apply makeup on top. This is my 2nd bottle. Love it!

Sunless Tanner:

So what does a pale girl who doesn't tan do in the summer? Use sunless tanner off course. This is my favorite sunless tanner, it is a mouse which you apply with a mitt, it is tinted, so you can see where you have applied it, which helps with avoiding streaks. After 6 hours, wash it off and you have beautifully bronzed skin. 

spf Lip Balm (Sun Bum):

I am a chap-stick freak, I have to always have some on my lips, These are so amazing! They literally melt on top of your lips, they taste amazing and they have SPF! I am currently using the mango and pomegranate.

Weekend Getaway to the Oregon Coast

We decided to go on a last minute weekend beach getaway to the Oregon Coast. We stayed in our trusty condo, which happens to be a time share. We don't own the time share, we just know someone who knows someone.... ;)

Now Oregon beaches are not your dreamy sandy beaches with warm water and palm trees swaying... Instead they are usually cold, especially in Spring. This weekend it was in the 60's... brrr.... Never the less, we still enjoyed every minute of it. 

We went with our friends, who also have 3 kids. So there were 6 kids under 7! It was crazy, but so fun! The kids are still talking about it. 

We all stayed in a 3 bedroom condo and pitched in with the food. And let me tell you, there was so much food and I ate way to much.

We are already planning on going again in the summer, hopefully on a hot day, or at least warm enough to swim in the condo pool. 

Exploring With The Family...

We happen to live in the beautiful NW. This weekend we visited Multnomah Falls and it was breath taking. I haven't been here in years, and I don't know why. The kids were amazed at the beautiful falls. Little Nico (3 years old) was running up the path and kept giving me little heart attacks, There is no controlling that little guy. He seriously needs one of those leashes for his own safety, Ha Ha! (You know I actually bought one of those backpacks with a leash for him about a year ago-- yeah he hated it and we have never used it since.)

Anyways, it was nice to get out and breath the fresh air and be amazed of God's wonderful creation all around us. It is so peaceful and beautiful. 

Thanks for visiting,

Burning Calories... Polar FT4 Review

Have you ever wondered how much calories you burn doing your every day actives? And I am not talking about just working out, since most machines have heart rate monitors on them.

 Weight loss has been on my mind lately. Like every morning when I try to fit into my pre pregnancy clothes. I have been loosing weight slowly, but "impatient Rita" wants to loose all the baby weight at the snap of her fingers. 

 I am certainly not dieting ( nursing) ,  But I know from my previous "calorie counting" days before this baby, that I ate about 1700-2000 calories a day.  I eat what I want, when I want. I definitely don't eat fast food every day, and we eat very healthy at home. Although I do indulge in chocolate- its my weakness. 

I read that in order to "loose weight" one must burn more calories then they eat. I thought this was crazy! Because after working my but off on the elliptical for 45 minutes, I would only burn around 400 calories- or so the elliptical machine told me. So I have always wondered how much calories I burn during the day.

Have you seen those watches that monitor your heart rate and can tell you how much calories you burn? Well I got one for Mothers Day: The Polar FT 4. I thought it would the perfect gift for me since I want to eventually loose all this baby weight. 

The Polar Watch comes with 2 parts, the chest strap (heart rate sensor) and the training computer (watch). The sensor is the little black box that gets attached to the strap with electrodes that is worn around your chest. 

The chest strap is not uncomfortable at all, in fact I completely forgot I was wearing. If you are used to your bra strap, then this is exactly how it feels.

When you are finished working out, you just unclip the sensor and rinse the strap. (It is machine washable)

Next we have the training computer, which is the watch. I got to set the gender, height, weight, using the buttons on the sides. One you set all the necessary information, you are ready to work out! Just press the train button and you will see your heart rate. While you wear the watch and strap, it transmits information like heart rate, calories burned and how long you have worked out. 

You can also pause the watch if you take a break and don't want the time to keep going. 

In my case, I wanted to see how much calories I burned on a typical day doing regular things. 

I got my watch on Tuesday, and decided to wear it on Wednesday. I will tell you that I was blown away with the results!

In almost 8 hours I burned 2059 calories! And this wasn't even my full day! I took off the watch and strap when I went to take a shower before dinner. 

Here is what I did that day:

Wake up at 7:30am

Get dressed, put heart rate monitor on. 

Brush teeth, make beds. 

Get kids dressed.

Make breakfast/wash dishes

Do Homeschool

Clean house (I clean my house every wednesday)

Laundry (I do 2 loads every day: darks and whites)

Make lunch

Prep dinner

I mowed the lawn since it was nice out, trimmed a few dead flowers. 

and that its! Then I took a shower at 3 or 4 pm!

I am sure I burned a ton more calories after that, I finished getting dinner ready, we ate dinner, I cleaned the kitchen and we all went to Target and out for jamba. 

Oh, and lets not forget nursing, since that burns calories too. :)

I have to say I am pretty impressed, No wonder the weight has been slowly coming off without much effort. I still want to work out to get stronger and build muscle, but "working out" is not going to be on my mind all the time now. I guess this showed me that I can do something productive like clean the house and burn calories at the same time. I am planning on wearing the watch on a full day next time, I will let you know how that goes. 

Thanks for visiting,

4 Month Old Update

Remember when you were a kid and  your days seemed to drag on?  I remember that very well, well now my days fly by, and I don't understand how since there are the same amount of hours in the day.
But we have been busy, busy busy! (hence why this update is a week late)
Anyone who has met Baby William, remarks at what a happy baby he is, and they are right, about 90% of the time he is very happy, smiling to anyone around him, cooing, laughing and sucking on his fists.

I am still not sure what color his eyes are, one day they look blue, the next day they look hazel. I guess we will wait and see.

He loves his brother and sister and they love him. He has also mastered grabbing things: toys, blankies, hair. Anything he can get his hands on and it all goes in his mouth.

The big news is that William got his first 2 teeth! He cut them at 3 1/2 months, which I think is so early. My daughter got her first 2 teeth at 8 months and my 2nd son was 5 months.

Weight/Length:  He is a healthy big boy. At his 4 month check up, he was 20 lbs and 27 inches long. That puts him in the 100th percentile in both hight and weight. Definitely my biggest baby yet. Doctor says that I must have very good milk, But I don't know, I think it is genetic. My babies are big, my mom's babies were big too. 

Sleep: He is my first baby to sleep so well during the night! Goes down anywhere from 9pm-10:30pm and sleeps till 6:30-7:30 in the morning. We co sleep, so as soon as I hear him moving around, and starting to wake up, I nurse him and he continues to sleep. He doesn't poop at night, so I don't change his diaper till he wakes up in the morning. He also sleeps really well in a stroller when we go on walks, or the outside swing.
If he is fussy during the day, I swaddle him and give him a binky and rock him, he instantly falls asleep. I notice that motion is his secret. Anything moving puts him to sleep. 

Eating: He is such a great nurser now. He nurses from one side at a time every 1 1/2- 2 hours. I am just so glad I stuck to nursing/pumping. (see my struggles here)
I love that my milk nourishes him and helps him grow. Our struggle now is him biting! Now that he got his 2 teeth, he will occasionally bite me. It doesn't happen all the time, but it certainly is not pleasant!

Eshakti Dress Review

eShakti recently contacted me asking me to pick a dress and do a review, I jumped at the opportunity since I Love dresses and I have already bought 2 items from them myself. 

I really like that you can customize your dress/skirt/shirt. You get to choose the length, what kind of sleeves you want and the measurements. There have been so many times when I have seen a dress and thought, "I wish it had sleeves" or I wish it was a tad bit longer, well with eShaki, you can customize your dress/skirt. They ask for your  height and you get to select weather you want a dress to hit you above, bellow or knee length. No tailoring needed! You also get to select if you want sleeves and the length of them. 

I have always wanted a chambray dress for summer, I just never found one I liked- They were either to short, didn't have sleeves, or the sleeves were 3/4 (too hot for summer). Well I found the perfect chambray dress!

For this dress, I entered my height in the order form and chose a standard size based on measurements I took of my bust, waist, and hips. I wanted an above the knee length dress and the length and size were spot on.  I was really happy with the fit of the dress I received.  I chose cap sleeves and absolutely love them!

 This particular dress is made of a nice cotton and I think I will be able to wear it for a long time. I can dress it up or dress it down. I love that it has pockets and the cute little cap sleeves. 

Right now, eShakti is having a special, Buy 2 get one free. 

Here are a few of my favorites for the warmer days:

Bicycle Dress $69.95

Floral Print Dress $64.95

Row Houses Dress $64.95

Thanks for visiting,