Chuck E. Cheese!

This past Saturday we drove up to LA since Sean had a day game out there. It was a fairly warm/hot day (high 70's - low 80's), so I had decided I wanted Honor and I to just spend the afternoon with her grandma since we don't get to see her too often. We had quite a bit of time to kill before Sean's game would be over, so we picked up her older cousin (JJ) - did a little bit shopping, and went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and much needed playtime for the kids and downtime for my mother-in-law and I. This was Honor's first time there. I wasn't too sure if there was anything for her to do where I could watch, but there were some cute little kiddy rides for her and her cousin to do together. 

Here is Honor with her big-cousin JJ

She looked so cute "playing" on these rides

Some mommy and me pics!

It was so cute to see the fun look on her face! Plus, I had a blast too! Thankfully, Saturday was my cheat day... and mannnnnnnn... the pizza was sooooo good!!
I can't even remember the last time I had been to Chuck E. Cheese! But now that I have Honor, I am sure that is going to be one of our most frequently visited places throughout her childhood - hahah.

Flashback Friday

Yesterday I was looking back on my instagram feed and saw so many pictures of Honor when she was only a couple months old. I totally had a sad moment seeing how itty bitty she was compared to now. Now she's this little smart, independent toddler running around everywhere. Where has the time gone?! It's so crazy to see how much she's changed in just a little over a year!  ::insert sad weeping face here::
she was only maybe about a month or two old here :(

...and now

Can I just freeze time just for a little bit?! Just so i can really enjoy these younger years even more!

Weight-Loss Supplements - My Must Haves

As I continue my weight loss journey post baby, I thought I’d share with you guys some of the things I have been using and taking.  I realized that post baby, my body doesn’t respond to diet and exercise alone. So I really needed to incorporate some supplements to help the results show (a tiny bit) quicker. I’ve gone through some trial and errors with different products, and I have finally figured out what works best for me. (Keep in mind, everyone one is different, and everyone’s body will respond differently. Again, this is just what is currently working for me.) Also, remember that eating clean and establishing a good workout routine is essential. The key to a great body starts there. Supplements are only there to boost your body in response to diet and exercise. (Diet is not your cliché thought of depriving your body of food and nutrition. Diet is making sure you EAT and make HEALTHIER choices – let me know if you would like to see a general breakdown of what I eat during the day to help give you some ideas on how to make better choices, while making it easier to maintain a clean eating habit.)

I usually purchase all of my products through Amazon. They generally have the best prices, along with quick shipping.

Cellucor Super HD (Fat-Burner) 

This is a great thermogenic fat-burner. This by far has been the best on the market (for me) as I’ve tried countless ones. This is the only one with a formula that truly helps burn fat and boosts your workouts. Since one of its main ingredients is caffeine, it really gives you the energy you want to power through your workouts – even on days you may feel fatigued or lazy. If you want to purchase Super HD, find it here.

Cellucor CLK (Toning & Sculpting)

This soft-gel is really great to stack along with Super HD. It is a non-stimulant formula so you will not feel jittery or hyper. Aside from the fat-burner, I like to stack this with Super HD to help boost the toning in my muscles when I work certain groups out. It helps give you that extra “pump” that we all LOVE to see as we are working out! If you want to purchase CLK, find it here.

Cellucor Super HD & CLK Stack, available here.

Sweet Sweat (Workout Enhancer)

 I tried sweet sweat a while back, and I am not totally in love with the product, but it does do what it says it’s supposed to do. This product helps you produce sweat in areas that may not do so – easily. Along with added sweat production it helps flush toxins from the body. I think that if you are going to purchase this product, you may see better results using it in a sauna verses just standard workouts. (That’s just my opinion) I did however use this product under my waist trainer, which helped tone my stomach a bit more. If you want to purchase Sweet Sweat, find it here.

Waist Trainer/Cincher 

I found my current waist cincher on classicshapwear.com. The brand I chose, Squeem, is a great cincher to start out with. After baby, you don’t really realize how much of your abdominal muscles weaken to accommodate the little one growing. The beauty of a waist cincher is to help strengthen your core muscles during workouts as well as shed inches. The thing I like about waist cinchers is that you can wear it any time, anywhere. For me, I mainly wear mine during workouts, when wrapping (more on that further down), or in the late evening an hour or two before bed. To maximize your results of a waist cincher, it’s best to wear it for a minimum of 6 hours or more. (That is just impossible for me, so I make it work to my personal needs.) If you want to check out and purchase the Squeem Cincher, you can find it here.

IT WORKS! Wraps

Does it REALLY work?! So not too long ago I caved in and decided to check out the skinny wraps craze that has been all over instagram. A fellow mommy I follow started selling them, and after seeing her own results from the products, I was SOLD! The products that I have purchased and have grown to really love are the Body Applicators, Defining Gel, and Fat Fighter capsules. The body applicator is amazing to help flatten your tummy and get rid of any excess bloating. The defining gel really helps tone other areas as well as a great maintainer in between wraps. This gel is seriously something I don't think I can live without! I've noticed the biggest difference in my thighs as it has toned them even more on top of workouts. The fat fighter capsules are great for days you may have a cheat meal, and don't want the after effects to be so "drastic" - this helps block your body absorption of that cheat meal. Let me get one thing clear, I am not a pill popper or anything like that! LOL, so don't get the wrong idea that you can cheat your way around things with the fat fighter capsule. That capsule is just to use on OCCASION, given you may have had something too heavy as a one time treat.

I'm sure many of you would still be skeptical to even think about giving this product a try, and I definitely don't blame you. But I can honestly say that adding this in on top of everything else I am doing to really change my lifestyle and get my body back, has helped me begin to really feel confident about my body again. 

If you are interested in giving this a try, give her a shout!

instagram // miss_sherls 

website // skinnywrapsbysherls

To some, I may be doing too much... But to me, I am just determined to do whatever it takes to get the fit, toned body that I want, in the healthiest way possible.

I would love to hear about your weight loss stories post pregnancy! Feel free to share with me in the comments below. Also, if there are any questions you may have, or just want to chat, comment or find me in my "connect with me" bar under my picture! 

Hope this is helpful! See you guys soon! xo

Daily Routine

Life as a full-time mom, wife, and student is a 24-hour job that requires you to be pulled in a number of different directions. Pretty much all at the same time. Establishing a daily routine became crucial for me in order to get my laundry list of things done - without losing my sanity. In the midst of it all, I always make sure that my day includes something for me personally. Doing things that make me feel good, aides in me being the best mom, wife and student I can be. After all, happy wife, happy life; right?

So here is my daily routine breakdown:

Monday through Friday usually consists of the same thing, with the exception of doctors appointments or other activities that occasionally happen. 

8:15AM My little alarm clock is usually bouncing all over the bed, talking/babbling, and singing, waiting for me to open my eyes. (Some may consider I'm lucky that Honor sleeps till then, but no matter how hard I try, I can't be a morning person. It's still so hard for me to get up even then, sadly.)

I usually have us lay in bed for about 30 minutes before we begin our day. 

8:45AM Time to get up and make the bed. I usually place Honor in her crib while I straighten up our bedroom. I head into her room to watch her read her books for about 5 minutes. During this time, I take my workout supplements (Cellucor Super HD, and Raspberry Keytones stacked - all on an empty stomach) and chase them down with a full bottle of water. Once I'm done, I change Honors diaper and we head downstairs for breakfast. 

9:00AM We usually spend anywhere between 30-40 minutes enjoying breakfast, and watching NickJr shows. 

Breakfast for Honor usually consists of 1 medium banana (or some sort of fruit) and either Cheerios, organic strawberry yogurt or a gluten free waffle - whichever I have on hand. 

Breakfast for me is usually some black coffee sweetened with Stevia, and whatever I have logged in on MyFitnessPal for the morning (making sure I stick to clean eating, and macro counting). 

10:00AM Once we have finished breakfast, I clean and straighten up. This is usually the time when Honor and Bentley run amok playing. Once that's all said and done, we head upstairs to get ready for my morning workout. 

10:30AM Workout for about an hour, either doing HIIT, Plyo, Weights, or going for a 2-3 mile run. If I workout in the backyard, Honor and Bentley are usually running around playing, otherwise they're both in the stroller enjoying the fruits of my labor!

11:30AM Come home, and start preparing lunch. Honors lunch always differs, and mine is once again according to MyFitnessPal log. 

12:15PM Clean up the mess made from Lunch, and then head upstairs to shower. Depending on how messy Honor got during breakfast and lunch, I will have her shower with me. 

12:50PM Time for Honors mid afternoon nap (thank goodness for a moment of silence and rest!). This is usually my opportunity to rest and relax with her, since she can't nap unless I am holding her. Sometimes I am lucky enough to turn my brain off and get a good nap in with her. But a majority of the time I am catching up on things in my phone. That can be social media, emails, or a small amount of school work that doesn't require me sitting in front of a computer. 

 #momlife

2:45/3:30PM Late afternoon snack and play time. 

4:45PM Squeeze in a second workout. Usually opposite from what I did earlier in the morning. So if I did HIIT, weights, etc., I will do my jog at this time, or vise versa. 

6:00PM Sean gets home from work. This is usually my momentary relief time, but then I am on to preparing and making dinner for all of us. 

6:45PM Dinner, then clean up. 

7:45PM Honor and I shower (yes, we co-shower together), then get ready for bed. 

8:30PM Honor has 8oz of milk while we read her Bedtime Bible to her.

9:00PM My opportunity to catch up on things I didn't get to earlier - boutique orders, random laundry loads, school work. Other times, if I have everything else done, I am able to catch up on any shows dvr'd. 

11:30PM/12:00AM FINALLY, Sleep! 

Some could argue that my days seem easy-peasy... BUT any fellow mommy's know that doing all of that with a toddler running around, can have it's good and bad days. I am forever a slave to cleaning up everything that has kept her attention for that brief moment in time.

Most of the time it is easy to stick to our daily routine, but some times Honor throws a curve ball and our day doesn't go as planned. Not to mention, I'm usually helping my parents out with some sort of technical issue they could be having. Whether it's the cable, internet, computer/printer connection, or their iPhone, or whatever it may be - I'm CONSTANTLY squeezing in their needs throughout my day as well. So pretty much I work for everyone else, all while trying to keep my sanity! Haha. Nonetheless, whether it's jam packed, or just as simple as listed above, that's what we do Monday thru Friday!

One year down, a lifetime to go

Rewinding back to friday June 12th 2014, Sean and I celebrated our First wedding anniversary. It's crazy how quickly our first year of marriage flew by. 

We didn't do anything too fancy, except go out to a nice dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (our favorite high-end restaurant). Though most couples generally celebrate their anniversary on their own as a couple, we decided to celebrate it with Honor.

Everything on the menu is A le carte, which means all entrees are ordered separately and not in meals. Our dinner consisted of calamari, Baked Lobster Mac n Cheese, Sweet Potato Casserole (my absolute fav!), mashed potatoes, twin lobster tails, and filet mignon.

All of Ruth's Chris' entrees are to die for! Everything is beyond delicious and just melts in your mouth like butter! The food is served on ceramic plates that are heated to 500 degrees fahrenheit. Crazy right?! 
It's really one of those things in life you MUST experience!




Fine dining isn't something we do often. I mean lets be real, a $150 bill for dinner isn't being all that frugal. But give us an important occasion, and we are there! 
They say the first two years of marriage are usually the hardest when it comes to newlyweds. I can attest to that statement, especially with throwing a new little addition to the mix. Despite some of the trials and tribulations that can come in the first year, I would have to say that the roller coaster of marriage has been nothing short of amazing thus far.
Having a lifetime of marriage to look forward to is such a blessing to have.

Honor turns O N E

I know, I know. I am a little late on posting about Honor's first Birthday. Two months late to be exact. But hey, better late than never, right? 

It's crazy to think that I had Honor a year ago... People sure aren't kidding when they say babies grow up so fast! 

Her birthday celebration couldn't have been anymore perfect! It was such a gorgeous 80+ day, which was perfect for all the kids to enjoy the sun and go for a swim. For those of you who follow me on instagram or facebook, You know I have a massive sun burn to show for it! 

We decided to keep it small and quaint, and only invited close family and friends - people who are constantly in Honor's life. It was held at our community lagoon - which is pretty much a man-made beach, the view and setting on a gorgeous day like it was made it all so breathtaking to enjoy the day in. 

Her whole birthday theme was "Sparkle and Shine" which consisted of everything being pastel pink, white, and gold. I purchased a personalized DIY party pack on etsy and printed everything on white cardstock. With that I made 3 banners, water bottle covers, goodie bag tags, treat tags, and a bumbo banner. A lot of printing, gluing, cutting, and assembling happened to make her theme beyond perfect. As many of my close friends and family know, I LIVE for DIY projects! I love seeing the outcome of how creative I can get, and Honor's birthday was nothing short of channeling my inner creativity. 

We had all finger foods to make it light and easy to eat, especially since we were in a beach/pool type environment. Food consisted of: deli pinwheel rolls, mini deli sandwich sliders, Lumpia, salt and pepper chicken wings, chips, homemade fruit platters, and mini "pigs in a blanket". 

As far as sweets/treats go, we had a personal smash cake for honor, a cake for the guests, and homemade oreo pops. See how to make them, here.

The cake was made by a dear friend of mine, who also made my baby shower cake. And let me just say, she is by far the greatest chef/cake maker I have ever encountered. Her work is nothing short of AMAZING, GORGEOUS, and she nails my vision everytime! Check out her facebook page, here.

To be able to celebrate Honors first birthday with people who we consider dear to our hearts, made it that much more special. We enjoyed everyone's company, and was nothing short of fun and amazing. 

Here is a peek of how the party went!

Read about Honor's One Year latests, here.

My Weight Loss Journey - Post Baby

As women, we all know how hard it is to keep our bodies in tip top shape, especially after having a baby. While a small percentage of new moms "bounce" back to their svelte figures, I am among the vast majority of those who hasn't had it that easy. 

I have always been fairly thin/petite my whole life. Exercise, weight loss, and workouts were always easy when it came to my figure - which is why I had never needed to really work hard for it or maintain it. Now that it's life after baby, it's been such a struggle to get my pre pregnancy body back. Being that I was sporting extra pounds after Honor, I was motivated to shed the weight as fast as possible. 

Two months before getting pregnant

Two Days before delivery

During my pregnancy I gained 42 lbs - going from 107 pre preggo, to 149 the night of delivery. After having Honor and breastfeeding and eating somewhat healthy, I went from 149 to 129 in a matter of weeks. I was beginning to feel like my old self again, and becoming less miserable about how I looked. But then I ended up getting mastitis in each breast (a week apart) and after that, my milk supply dramatically dropped to almost nothing. That then lead me to begin supplementing with formula and the weight I started to lose slowly, made it's way back up to 136. This is where I found myself to be stuck in a rut. So I reverted back to what I knew best because it has always worked for me in the past, and that was crash dieting, cutting calories, taking diet pills and living off of smoothies. But much to my surprise, none of that was working and giving me the "quick fix" results I was longing for. At this point I began working out like crazy. I would put Honor in the baby carrier and walked laps around our community lake in the middle of hot summer days to help burn more calories, as well as incorporating weight training and "healthier" eating habits. Here is where I went back down to 129 after 6 consecutive weeks of this low - medium intensity regime. 

I was doing great with staying on track but then once the weather began changing to cold-gloomy days, I started to take more and more "rest" days to where I eventually stopped my routine altogether. And then... Here I found myself yo-yoing back to that good ol 136 pound mark. 

At this point, I became extremely hard on myself and hating the way I looked, felt, the whole nine yards. 

After feeling sorry for myself and throwing a pitty-party, I decided that it was really time for a PERMANENT change to not only look like my dream Victoria secret model but to maintain it after I reach my goal to avoid that yo-yoing effect from happening all over again.

Now that I had changed my mindset from feeling sorry, to I want to make changes, I sought out to contact a former friend of mine from high school. I had been following her journey on fitness competitions that she recently started doing and saw how amazing she began to look. So naturally, I wanted to know all of her details on what to do, eat, etc etc. I wanted to take a different approach to my weight loss than just taking a short cut with diet pills and pretty much no food. 

So with her guidance on workouts and meal plans I recently began a new journey on losing this weight the RIGHT way. 

So far I haven't had a huge change weight wise, but I have started to notice a major difference on how I feel. Though the physical changes to my body will come with time and discipline, I can proudly say I don't feel bloated anymore and my arms, neck, and face feel smaller. There have been many times where I have wanted to quit it all because the number on the scale wasn't dropping fast enough, but that "smaller" feeling I had been experiencing is what has kept me going. At the end of the day, I just don't want to have to start from square one again. 

Here is my current progress picture as of: 3/28/14. My weight is currently at 131, but everything is beginning to tone up and get tighter. 

Since I am no where near my goal weight and desired look, this post is just simply about my progress so far. I have started to gain the mindset of wanting to be stronger, faster, and fitter which has helped take my focus off of how much weight am I losing or how much I wished I looked like a Victoria secret model. I have slowly began to accept my body for what it is, what it has endured and now I workout and eat healthier solely for my pleasure in feeling good. Although I would love to indulge in pizza, fast food, desserts, and anything else I want, that brief moment of deliciousness isn't worth the "lifetime" of living in my body.

 I have learned that as long as I keep that mindset, my physical appearance will fall into place and I will have my dream body one day. Let it consume your spirit and there won't ever be another day where you wished you looked like another woman with a svelte figure. 

You can very well be that inspirational and motivational person that others admire and look up to! You just need to value yourself enough to know that you have the willpower and self control to turn down unhealthy food choices. Once you're able to prove that to yourself, maintaining it will be a walk in the park 

Make your changes permanent, not temporary. 

*I am not using any supplements as of right now, however I am using a waist cincher by Squeem. So far I love that it is training my waist to become tighter, and helps keep things tight during my workouts. I will be ordering the extra small very soon since the small is becoming more of a comfortable fit.

Hope this helps in any way, shape or form. Or just simply motivates and inspires you. Loosing weight isn't easy, and is definitely a long process, but don't give up on yourself. Trust me, I know it has its trying times, but JUST KEEP GOING!

All about Bedtime

A few weeks ago I was talking to a dear friend of mine from high school about our daughters and tips we may have for smoother bedtime routines/rituals. My friend Cosette and I have decided to do a collaboration post about our bedtime routines. We thought it would be a great idea to share what our routines consist of, especially since I co-sleep, and Cosette has her daughter sleeping independently in her crib, giving you best of both worlds! 

As any new mom/parent knows, bedtime could either be your worst enemy, or greatest "friend" depending on how each child is/or acts around that time. Establishing a bedtime routine early on is key to having a smooth transition from daily activities to bedtime. Now, establishing a bedtime routine is certainly no walk in the park... It takes time, consistency, patience, and repetition for it to really work to your advantage. As long as you are consistent with your time management/ daily schedule, you can begin to establish a great routine within no time! 

With that being said, here's a little bit about how our bedtime routine goes:

Now most of you may know, Honor co-sleeps in our bed, and has been ever since she was about 4-5 months. Initially, I was completely against it and didn't want her to become dependent on the security that comes with sleeping with mommy and daddy, but I had to cave in because of the amount of times she would wake up when sleeping on her own. So for the sake of all of our sanity, here came Honor, into our bed. In the beginning of our new sleeping arrangement, I was a bit worried about her safety in our bed, but after a few nights, that completely ceased and we were all sleeping peacefully. Now, after having Honor in our bed, I had only intended on keeping her there for about a month or so, until her teething pain stopped (which was the cause of her constantly waking up in her crib) I ended up becoming so in love with the idea of co-sleeping. I went from completely against it, to absolutely loving it! In fact, I can't sleep now unless she is in our bed (go figure). The sense of security I get from having her next to me makes any worries I have go away. 

Though we all get a better nights rest with co-sleeping, Honor has her moments of waking us up throughout the night due to her teeth now cutting through. But other than that, she is still a pretty good sleeper like she was in the beginning. On a "good" night, Honor will fall asleep by about 8:50/9 pm (as long as she's had enough playtime time between her afternoon nap and bath) and sleep till 6:45/7am - with one late night feeding at 4am. 

Here is a breakdown of our bedtime routine, which begins at 8pm:

8:00 PM - Get all bottles prepped for bedtime and the next morning with proper water measurements. Clean diaper, jammies, brush, and ointments laid out.

8:15 PM - Run bath or shower (sometimes Honor and I co-shower together) water. Then we hop in, and get squeaky clean.

8:20 PM - Sean will usually come in the bathroom to get Honor and get her dressed for bed while I finish up my shower.

8:30 PM - Comes and lays in our bed, and has a 7oz bottle which usually puts her right to sleep - granted, if she has had enough activity prior to tire her out. Now on days where she may still not be tired by bedtime, she usually wiggles around like a little worm, or plays with my hands until she has had enough activity, then will proceed to fall asleep with a paci – 20 min after being put down (sometimes, those are the toughest nights because she tends to force herself to stay awake – you can only imagine how nuts it drives me! Lol especially if there’s a ton of things I need to get done for the boutique).

As far as products go, here is what we use to help get her to relax and have her mind focused on bedtime:

   

I honestly swear by these bedtime products! The relaxing scent really does add a calming effect to her nighttime routine.

We only shampoo her hair every Sunday and Wednesday evenings.

We also use these hair products for her little curls. Even though her hair texture is fine like mine, it does dry out quicker if washed on a daily basis, since she is a mixed baby J. So we use these products morning and night to keep her hair frizz and dry free.

We use Aquaphor on her face to keep it from drying out, as well as diaper cream (we have two of them to keep it from cross contaminating. This keeps her face hydrated.

Here's what we use to style/brush her hair.

If you aren't co-sleeping, and want to read about Cosette and Victoria's independent crib sleeping, head on over to her Blog and read about her bedtime routine & what works for them!

In honor of this collaboration Cosette and I are doing, we have decided to put together a giveaway of some of our favorite bedtime products, & a $15 Shop credit to Honor’s Boutique!

Here's how to enter:

1. You must follow both Cosette and I on Instagram:

@ilovingvictoria

@honorsboutique

2. Repost this Giveaway Picture & hashtag:

#honorsandvictoriagiveaway

3. Tag 2 friends on each of our posts to increase your chances

4. You may enter as much as you like 

(Get creative using our giveaway picture, keeping all contents of it - this will make you stand out!)

5. For extra entries, Like Honor’s Boutique on Facebook and Follow us on Etsy

6. Giveaway ends on Wednesday 3/18/14 and 12pm PST. The winner will be chosen at random, and be contacted via Instagram for further required information so that details of the giveaway can be given.

I hope you all enjoy reading about our nighttime routines, and can maybe gain some inspiration to create your own! Feel free to comment below about your current routine, and any tips you may have for us or anyone else!