Come Bake Holiday Cookies with Peace and I !!!

We decided to have a little fun on a rainy day and bake! Watch this quick tutorial on how we made pecan shortbread cookies. 

Getting in Shape after a baby ... UGH !

Welllll my doctor said " Felicia , make sure you stay within the 25-30 lb. weight gain bracket . Pssss who was she fooling ? I gained a full 50 LBS. YIKES ! So much for staying within my bracket Dr. Patterson lol. I knew I was going to have work to do to get back to what I was before the baby if not close. I browsed through photos of me before the pregnancy and I was so skinny I almost feel like I looked sick lol . 5'8 & 128 lbs. Eghh too small . 

One thing about having a baby is you literally turn into another women . All of the sudden I have a big O'L booty  & hips . Looking back in the mirror like " danggggg girl ! " haha ! Only problem is mama needs some tightening & lifting . I'm a very busy person so I have to eat right as well as do exercises at home . I am slowly but surely getting back into working out but eating right is the 1st factor .

I am on a no carb diet until I lose the weight I desire which I have lost 38lbs. of the 50 so I am making LOTS of progress . I am drinking a lot of water and staying away from sugar drinks . Eating clean is something I am focusing on and just trying to get back into the swing of things . My workout routine is simple for right now . 

250 Abs, 50 Push Ups, 60 day squat challenge, 100 lunges . This week I am adding cardio which is including running & Yoga . As you can see , I use my newborn for a weight . She is with me all the time so I figured she can help me with getting back into shape . I mean , she did help me gain 50 lbs. lol . 

I am excited to share this workout challenge with you ladies and hope some of you moms join me in this journey ! Lets keep one another accountable and lose this baby weight ! 

Peace & Blessings 

XoXo- Fee La Tour 

Bottles & Pacifiers

Someone recently said they are having a hard time with taking their baby off of the boob and onto a pacifier to sleep . Geez , I couldn't imagine having to pull my boob out each time my little one needed something to suck on . Ouch . !!! 

Babies naturally have a sucking urge for survival. They want to constantly suck suck suck which sometimes leads us to thumb suckers . My little one sucked her thumb for the first time the other day and I have to say I snatched it out quickly and realized she needed a pacifier . I was a thumb sucker and my gosh I needed hot sauce to get me to stop sucking it . 

When I was in the hospital I was told that they don't like when you give a baby breast milk in a bottle because of nipple confusion . Hmmmm I don't agree with that . What about when you leave the baby with a sitter and she needs to be fed ? Or what about the dad wanting to bond and feed baby ? I believe the trick is getting a bottle the mimics the nipples form so you don't run into this problem . 

My mother in law is a genius when it comes to baby stuff and she got me " Como Tomo Babby Bottle " , hygienic silicone bottles . These are not only cute but they feel like a boob and my daughter probably doesn't even know the difference . They are a bit pricey but so worth it because sometimes you want to pump and have the hubby feed her. We purchased these from RightStart.Com , if you don't have one near your house , order online :) 

Another brand of bottles she likes that are a bit cheaper are Avent bottles. This is the same brand pacifier she likes as well because it also mimics the nipple . I purchased these at Target and I got the large pack that comes with 5 bottles , soothie , storage container , and bottle cleaner. Worth every penny because she uses it all. Their soothies are the bomb.com 

I hope this review helps mom as I needed help !!! Enjoy :) Remember to get BPA free :) 

XoXo- Fee La Tour 

MUST haves right after giving birth

Right after giving birth I began to learn a few things about myself and my new body . First , I had to accept my new body for what it is right now and just simply work on getting it back to what it was . Leaving anxiety to the side I began operation " snap back" just a day after labor . 

First, My stomach was all over the place . My uterus was nice and swollen still so It still looked like I had a baby in there.  I was advised by many mothers that it was important for me to breast feed to shrink my uterus , and WRAP my stomach night and day . I purchased a " Belly Bandit ." At first It didn't fit due to my uterus being super swollen still . I took an ace bandage and wrapped myself in that for the first 2 days. Soon after the Belly Bandit fit . I ordered a size small because I am determined to get back to my pre pregnancy size lol ! So far so good with the band, I am shrinking very fast and I am also making sure I am eating as clean as possible  to help me . I don't want to diet being that I am breast feeding and it eliminates so many calories I want my baby to be nice and healthy so I probably need to eat more food but its all a matter of what I am putting in my mouth . 

Lots of my weight has been water weight that literally just falls off . If you are pregnant and reading this, DRINK LOTS OF WATER . Not only to ease your swollen body while prego but to help the weight slip of right after . It is day 4 after birth and I have already lost 15 pds . I am making sure I     am drinking nothing but water and herbal tea which brings me to my next point . 

While in the hospital , most woman don't produce milk yet . Your body only has  colostrum so your baby will feed on that until it comes out . My baby would cry out in hunger pains because my milk took 4 days to start coming so I had to drink " mother milk " tea. This tea is a lifesaver !!! As a new mom , everything is new . You want to be able to do everything right and you want to be able to make your baby happy . I was so sad when I could hear my babies hunger cries . I ended up giving her my boob for the colostrum but I would also give her organic formula from whole foods called " natures best ". The Mother milk helped so much . I drink about 3 cups of it a day to help me get the milk down and poppin for my little one . 

Another Tea that I use is " Monthly comfort tea" , this is a good healing tea for my insides being that I had a baby living in me for 9 months . Everything is out of wack lol ! Vitamin D I give to the baby ( add a drop on my boob before breast feeding ) . My doctor recommended it and says they recommend all moms who breast feed to . 

These are all things that I needed asap after giving birth on top of a positive attitude . I'll keep you posted on my belly bandit / snap back journey regularly :) 

Peace & Blessings 

XoXo - Fee La Tour 

Terrible pregnancy skin !!

        ( Pregnancy skin & non pregnancy skin regimen ) 

When in my first trimester of pregnancy , my skin went CRAZY ! I freaked out with it , which only made it worse :( I hand break outs all over and was very embarrassed to be in public . I've never experienced acne or anything of that nature so I was sad lol . First my body is gaining weight and going through changes , next I am hormonal and emotional , last but not least my skin is bugging out ! What do I do !? 

                                 Lovin my new skin :) 

The answer for myself was to say " this is only temporary , you are creating a human . This is normal . " I began to drink lots of water through out the day and also decided to switch over to all organic face products . I switched over for two reasons , one being that I didn't want products with a bunch of chemicals being transferred to my baby . The second reason was I didn't want to make my skin even WORSE with all that extras clogging my pores . Not only did I have to switch my skin care but I also had to switch my makeup . I knew liquid makeup wasn't going to cut it any longer . 

The products that got my face back to normal are listed below , keep in mind these products are ORGANIC , these products are also for sensitive skin . WATER is a necessity not only for you baby but also for you to stay looking fresh and fly through this pregnancy :) 

African Black Soap : I purchased this from Whole Foods in the beauty dept. I got this for many different reason . The first being that it is organic , but I also wanted something that would help me with dark spots after picking at my face . Me not being use to having breakouts I picked a lot but I heard this stuff helps with that and it did . I indulge night & day with lukewarm water . 

Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive Skin : I also purchased this from Whole Foods . This stuff is amazing for dark spots as well as rejuvenating your skin and keeping  it nice and firm . It is a GREAT cleanse and keeps my face nice and smooth . I only do this once a week due to me not wanting to mess with my skin too much but to keep it nice and fresh of course !

OLEHENRIKSEN Sheer Transformation moisturizer : OMG ! This product is the bomb.com I bought this product from the spa and I can't rave about it more than I am about to . Like I said I was picking at my face and began to notice ugly dark marks . I freaked and ended up getting treated to a facial at this place . SOOOOO relaxing & amazing ! I got a deep cleaning which also included a peel like the one listed above as well as exfoliation process which is amazing . I asked him about getting rid of dark spots and he guided me to this product . I have been using it for only 2 weeks and my skin is already clear and back to normal . No dark spots!! :) 

All of these products helped me so much in the process of my skin calming down and I am very gentle with it .  My makeup had to change as well , below you will see the new compact I use . I've never been a compact powder type of girl but this is my new thanggggg 

PUR 4- in- 1 Mineral foundation w/ skincare : My mom has been telling me for years to try this product but I was so against powder foundation . As soon as I got pregnant I knew that I needed to make a change . I headed over to Sephora and the lady went straight to the PUR department . I am OBSESSED with this foundation . Its light , fresh , has great coverage , and is so much better for your skin than liquid. I will stick with this foundation even after I deliver for sureeeee !

I hope all this information helps ! Good luck on your journey 

XoXo- Fee La Tour 

Belly Buds Product Review :)

Baby & Fee is a new edition to the FeeLove Blog . You will be seeing tips for soon to be mommies like myself . I will be sharing my journey with balancing my career as well as becoming a mother .

My first baby product review are the Belly Buds !!  These things are super cool ! You can play your growing baby audio from voice recordings , books , and music . They say your baby starts learning in the womb so why not start now ? I received these little gems in the mail and I am addicted ! I hope my baby is loving them as much as I am ! I want her to be advance , well equipped , while enjoying her " growing party " in my belly . When running errands or working , I can play her some music and she can jam out . I thought this invention was really cool ! I also really like the fact that they aren't like headphones wrapped round my belly and no matter how big I get , she can still get her tunes played to her while mommy is comfy .

I am excited to share this part of my journey . It is a big step for me to share because it is very close to my heart but I figured I can inspire young moms like myself to have fun with it and keep dream chasing while still being an amazing mother :) 

Enjoy ! Peace & Blessings

                                                                                                        Xoxo- Fee La Tour