One thing I hate to do is chores. I am sure every person on the planet will agree with me on this statement. Who wants to spend hours at a time cleaning and scrubbing when we could be binge watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? When I decided to stay at home to take care of my son one thing I vowed to do was to keep the house clean and organized. Hey, I am at home all day, at least I want it to be pretty and clean? But, one thing I do not like, is spending a whole day cleaning and missing quality time with my family. So I have been using this schedule to stay on top of chores around the house. 

First thing that is important is that the first time you do this you will have to spend at least one day of deep cleaning to get your house perfectly clean, then it will be just upkeep. This is my schedule:

Mondays

Mondays are bedroom days. I start my day by taking all sheets from our bedroom and my son's bedroom and washing them. While they are in the wash I dust our nightstands, blinds, windowsills, door frames, baseboards and crown moldings. I wipe every surface with cleaner and put new sheets on the beds and crib. I also do a load of all the blankets we have on our couch. It seems like a lot but it takes me an hour tops to do all this, which I do while my son naps. 

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are bathroom days. I wash all towels, washcloths, changing table cover, hand towels and bathroom rugs. While they wash I clean showers and toilets, and wipe down counters and mirrors. I sweep the bathroom floors and dust the bathroom door frames, baseboards and crown molding. After towels are clean I fold them and hang new towels to be used that week. This is by far the hardest day since it takes me around 2 hours to do this, but again, it is not that much in comparison to doing the whole house in one day. 

Wednesdays 

Wednesdays are kitchen days. As soon as I wake up in the morning I put a load of whites on the washer. Then I scrub and sanitize counter tops, wipe any spills on the microwave, wipe the stove top, wipe the cabinets and sweep and mop the kitchen floor. I also dust the floorboards and the door frame. Finally I go through the fridge and toss anything that is expired and wipe any spills. I also do a quick tidy up of the pantry. Before going to bed I fold and put away that load of laundry.

Thursdays

Thursdays are my easiest day! As soon as I wake up I put a load of light colors. During the day I sweep the dining room floor and mop it. I clean the table and dust baseboards, crown molding, door frames and picture frames. I also clean my son's high chair. In the afternoon I do a load of my son's baby clothes and then fold them. I also fold the load of laundry I put in the morning.

Fridays

Fridays are living room days. In the morning I put a load of dark clothes on the wash. During the day I sweep the floors of the living room, mop, dust the floorboards, crown molding, door frames, blinds and furniture. I also wipe my son's toys and organize them. 

Saturdays

Saturdays I vacuum the house and dust our stairs picture frames and floorboards. 

Sundays

Rest, rest and rest some more. 

Because I have this routine I have a decently cleaned house every day. There is always chores I do every day like put away my son's toys and do dishes. Every morning I unload the dishwasher and during the day I load it again. At the end of the day I run it and so I have clean dishes in the morning. By keeping this schedule at any given day I have less than an hour of house chores except on Tuesdays. This gives me plenty of time to take care of my son and have time to prepare dinner. This is what works for me and my family and keeps my OCD in check. It drives me insane to have a dirty house. I don't want to be a slave of cleaning, and I really, really like to binge watch Real Housewives! 

I hope this helps you to create a cleaning routine that works for you!

This year was my first official Mother's Day! As my present, my son woke up at 4:45 am! Happy Mother's Day to you, Frances. My husband was nice enough to take care of him until 7 am, then he brought him to my bed. Up until that day, I had nursed him in the morning, while we snuggled together. As I laid in bed with my son happily nursing, almost falling asleep from a milk induced coma, I started to cry a bit. Not because it was Mother's Day but because I knew that was the last time I was going to nurse my son. It was going to be the last time he would drift to sleep while still latched. The last time I would feed him with my body. The very last latch! A world of emotions came pouring down! I felt so grateful I was able to breastfeed for as long as I did. I only planned to do so for 6 months and was able to nurse him for 9 1/2 months! Before having him, I didn't know the incredible connection you have with your child when you breastfeed. I took a couple of pictures of that last nursing session. Time stood still and I held to that moment for as long as I could. And then it happened, he fell completely asleep and unlatched for the very last time! 

Even as a write this, tears are pouring down. I get so emotional about it, although I know it was time for us to move forward. The next morning, my son woke up and my husband went to get him as I went downstairs and made a bottle for him. I gave him the bottle on our bed, snuggled like always, the only difference was the bottle. He was happy and content and drifted to sleep without even noticing momma was no longer nursing him. And so life kept going. He is still a happy boy. He still looks for me for comfort. He still snuggles for two hours in the morning on my bed. Nothing has changed in his eyes. For that I am grateful. I was so worried that he was not going to adjust but he did, he was ready to wean. 

As for me, I am still dealing with the aftermath of not nursing anymore. I had some engorgement for a couple of days but now it is bearable. Life is the same. Emotions have settled down and I am happy again. I do miss nursing but at the same time, I am happy I have a bit more flexibility. Breastfeeding was an amazing experience. At the beginning I struggled with low milk supply, soreness, bleeding, latch problems and vasospasms, but I am so happy I powered through! I gave my son a wonderful gift, and I feel he, in return, gave me the satisfaction that I did it. Not all women are as lucky as I am to nurse their babies. Some struggle so much they have to stop and formula feed (which is also totally fine). For any woman who is struggling with nursing, if you really want to do it, power through, don't give up and surround yourself with a supporting group. That's what I did. I had my husband who was incredibly supportive and an amazing friend who gave me the strength to keep on going and encouraged me. She listened and gave me her advise. I even sent her pictures to see if she could tell me what was going on with my latch and my ladies... I am so grateful for her and for my support group! 

If I have another baby, I will most certainly endure all of this again. It was so worth it! My son thrived and with every pound he gained I felt prouder because I know that was 100% me! With every roll of fat he had, with every milestone he reached, I felt like a super mom! Now things are a bit different but also the same. Different because I have to mix formula and feed him a bottle but they are the same because his attitude towards his mommy and our relationship is the same. 

I hope by sharing my journey, some of you felt comfort in knowing that you are not alone. That it is a very draining yet satisfying experience. If you are nursing your baby, you go momma! Pat yourself in the back, because it is not easy! If you are about to wean, you can do it, and give yourself time to get used to it. Don't rush it. I am happy with my approach.

 

Stay strong!

Product Review

 

I recently was gifted two products from bhcosmetics. A really good friend of mine gave them to me for my birthday. Last Monday I reviewed the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Eye and Cheek Palette. If you are interested in that review click here. 

So today I will be reviewing the Sculpt and Blend Brush Set. I had never used bhcosmetics brushes before and I loved these. They feel high end! They are incredibly soft and there is no shedding whatsoever. The brushes are synthetic duo fibers with a black and gold finish. I had no complaints at all with them. I have to say, I have other brushes that are more expensive and do not feel nearly as soft as these and apply makeup as good as these. I've had them for about three weeks and I've used them every single day. I have a lot of brushes and these are starting to be my faves. 

I definitely recommend this set for someone who is starting with makeup, since it has pretty much every brush you will need. They are excellent quality and they are pretty affordable. Not to mention, what a great gift they are. 

These are the ones I used the most. The flat top buffing brush (123), I use to apply my foundation, as it is perfect to give an airbrushed effect. It is very dense and I love that there was no shedding at all. I use the tapered face blending brush (124), to do my contour. I personally do not like very sharp contouring for my every day makeup, so I feel like this brush gives me the opportunity to lightly contour without overdoing it and looking to harsh. The tapered contour brush (125), I use to set my under eye concealer. It is the perfect shape to do this and picks up lots of product without making me look "caked". The precision blush brush (126), I use to do my cheek highlighter as it is the perfect size for my cheekbones. Lastly the angled face shader brush (127), I use to do the contouring around my nose or to do some "baking" on my cheeks if I do want a sharper contour. I know that I am not technically using these brushed for their intended purpose, but YOLO! They work for me.

 The small deluxe blending brush (128) I use to blend my concealer in place. It is perfect for the under eye area and dense enough that it gives an airbrush effect. The small round blending brush (129) I use exactly as it's intended purpose, to blend out eye shadows. Very nice and fluffy brush with no shedding. The large shader brush (130) I use to apply concealer and also to pack on eye shadows if I will be doing a one eye shadow look. If you want a more precise application this brush will not help that much. To be honest the nose contour brush (131) I have not used at all and I really do not see myself using it since I do my contouring with the angled face shader brush (127). Finally the precision detailer brush (132) I use to do winged eyeliner using eye shadows and to apply highlight on my inner corner.

I hope this review was useful. Until next time, stay gorgeous!

Product Review

For the last couple of weeks I have been playing with this palette that is very new to me. One of my best friends gave it to me as a birthday present. I was so moved by her gift, not for the material things, but because she has taken the time over all these years of friendship to know me, and be there in good times and in bad. I hope I am to her as good as a friend as she is to me! So, a quick shout out to you girly! Thanks for remembering my birthday and for coming to my house and spending time with me and my family...and for the added bonus of makeup! What?! Truly blessed! 

Now, back to the bhcosmetics palette review. I have never owned a bhcosmetic product, so I did not know what to expect with them. I've heard many, many friends of mine rave about them for a while now, so I was very excited to try them. I was pleasantly surprised. The quality of these products is amazing! They are quite pigmented, they blend pretty well and the palette is very versatile. You can go on many directions with it. You can keep it neutral, you can go with a very warm look, or you can go POW dramatic smokey eye. The cheek products were also quite nice. I appreciate they gave me one shimmery highlighter and two blushes.

The palette has twelve eye shadows and three cheek products. One thing to mention is they do not have names so I will do my best to describe them.

From the top left the first eye shadow we have is a cream color with a slight yellow undertone. This color is ideal for an all over the lid color for yellow to neutral undertone skins and for setting the eye shadow primer. It is very creamy and blendable. This for me is the exact same color of my skin so I can use this to just do a natural makeup to even my eyelid tone. Second from the left is a true gold. This color is very pigmented with a shimmery finish. Although it looks like it has glitter in it, I was happy it didn't. I loved this color so much! The third eye shadow from the left is a rose gold. The pigmentation is very similar to the true gold I just described. Very beautiful, you could apply this all over the lid, put some mascara and listo! Fourth color from the left is one of the stars of this palette. It is a warm rusty brown (yeah, I know, I am so detailed with my descriptions!) with a red undertone. This shade is to die for. Highly pigmented and super buttery and blendable! I always gravitate to colors like this. This would be the perfect crease color for a blue smokey eye or a black smokey eye and use this to bring some warmness to the look. Fifth color from the left is a copper color with a red undertone. This is the shimmery sister of the previous color. Very beautiful and super pigmented. One thing, it was not as sparkly as it appeared. Last color of the top row is Brown copper with a pink shimmer. I really like this one. Very pigmented as well and it is in my opinion a very unique color. This was my favorite of the shimmery colors.  From the second row left we have a cream color with a pink undertone. This color for me was a little disappointing. It applied very chalky and when I tried to blend other colors with it it made them chalky as well. Second color is a beautiful shimmery lilac color. It almost has a blue undertone in it. Very beautiful, almost glittery. It blended nicely and with a little bit of Mac Fix Plus it can almost look like a foiled eye shadow. Third color is a shimmery plum color. Although the color is very pretty I feel that when I applied this it lost it's purple color and it looked gray. I wish the staying power of this particular shade was better and that it applied true to what it looked like. Fourth color is a shimmery gray color with a purple undertone. This is one of those eye shadows that look beautiful on some people and on some others it looks like a bruise. For me, it looks like a bruise. I do not do well with gray colors for that particular reason. I always have to warm them up with some warm tone on the crease in order to make them work. Fifth color is a sparkly silver. I was a bit sad that all the shimmer and glitter that this color had was only on the surface of the eye shadow. Once I dipped my brush in it the glitter disappeared and I was left with a shimmery gray with a neutral undertone. This is not a bad color but I was disappointed that it wasn't sparkly. Last color of the eye shadows is in my opinion the ROCKSTAR of this palette. Oh my god, this color is a true matte black. It is insanely pigmented. I love this color. It is one of the blackest black I have in my makeup collection. I will be using this a lot!!!! The third row of this palette are all cheek products. The first color is a champagne shimmery color. I don't know if this is intended as blush but I think it is more of a highlighter. This is the perfect color if you are tanned and what to look like JLo. Girl, if you want to glow, this is your shade. I personally want to look like her all the time so I know I will be reaching for it this summer. Second cheek color is a dusty rose blush. Decently pigmented and a shade that will work with many skin tones. Last cheek color is a shimmery peach color. I loved this one and again is a color that will work with many skin tones. One word of advise...be VERY light handed with this puppy because it is pigmented! 

Anyways, sorry for the long review! This is in my eyes, a winner. I cannot wait to show you guys a couple of the fun makeup looks a came up with using these colors. Until then, stay gorgeous!