Harper Reese-16 Months Old + The Houston Zoo

Yesterday, Harper turned 16 months old. As she gets older, it's nearly impossible to get photos of her (especially if you ask, she will laugh and run away) so I'm sharing photos from our trip to the Houston Zoo today as part of her 16-month update.

This month Harper's language really exploded. I remember being a little worried at her 15-month checkup that she wasn't saying many words (to which my pediatrician replied "don't worry, my son didn't talk until he was 3, and now he works at Google). Thanks for the reassurance, doctor.

About a week or two after that check-up, it was like someone flipped a switch and this girl started to say new words practically daily. It's awesome. She even talks to herself in her crib in the morning. If she wakes up earlier than usual we just let her hang out for a bit chatting and flipping through books.

Favorite Moments, Memories & Milestones:

new words:

"wawa" for water

cheese

bubbles

open

purple

oh no!

uh-oh!

this

ba ba ba for sheep

up up!

staaarr (said drawn out, just like that)

hi

bye

baby

all done
"nay nay" for horse

She also started to say "I don't know" (but it sounds like one word)--- she shrugs her shoulders and puts her hands up by her sides. It slays me, it's so cute.

Loves the song "wheels on the bus." It is now part of our bathtime routine. To keep it fresh, I make up new lyrics to the song and sing about things that wouldn't actually be on the bus�like a cow. I also sing that "the star on the bus goes twinkle twinkle twinkle" and "the spider on the bus climbs up the water spout" because she loves those songs too. She looks at me all the time and does the "wheel turning" motion with her arms and says "buh buh buh" so I will sing the song. It's adorable.

At night when she is ready for bed, she goes to the gate at our stairs and turns around and waves and says bye to Lulu.

She knows her shapes. One week at daycare they learned aboout shapes and I try to reinforce what she learns there while we play. You can watch a video here and here.

She knows some of her colors and is getting great at puzzles and matching them correctly.

She cries hysterically if you take away an eating utensil. If this girl has a spoon, she uses it, even if it means most of her soup ends up in her bib pocket

One day she saw a mom holding her newborn baby on the blacony on the house across from ours and now whenever she goes to the window she points and says "baby baby" even if the baby isn't there. Sometimes, the baby will be there and she will alert me to it. I hope our neighbors don't think we're staring.

Harper had her first pigtails in her hair this month. Her hair was finally long enough!

She loves stickers--- she likes to put them on herself, windows, books, toys.

She loves to color- you can check out some of our favorite coloring tools here.

She likes to put laundry into the laundry basket and put things in the garbage�sometimes she tries to take things out of the garbage can and now we have clear packing tape on it so she doesn't try to dig in there. My husband is thrilled I taught her that.

She knows most of her body parts and will point to them when we ask on her own body, or ours. She likes to dig inside my bellybutton. Laughs really hard when she does it. It kind of hurts, but it's cute.

She is very playful and mischevious. Always testing boundaries and playing little games with us.

Likes to play a game where she offers us food and then is all "psych!" and pulls it away and laughs and laughs.

Has been a total daddy's girl for the last few weeks. It's always "dada dada dada."

She answers questions with yes or no all the time now.

She still loves to dance. We regularly "get down" to some tunes. She's got moves, y'all.

She often brings Lulu his octopus toy and laughs when she throws it to him. She loves watching him run around the house.

Harper's dress- baby gap  |  bow- happinessliveshere

I hope you had a great weekend! We had so much fun at the Houston Zoo, definitely check it out if you're ever in town. We bought a membership so we can go all year, especially when the weather gets cooler. We got there early enough to see the elephants get baths, including the baby elephants and it was adorable!

Five Products I Love + Three That Didn't Work Out

When I started my blog five years ago (has it seriously been FIVE years?), I focused a lot on reviewing beauty products. My blog was new, and I was so excited to share products that I had been using for years and new ones I had discovered along the way.

I don't try as many new products as I used to, but every once in awhile I find products worthy of sharing---and today I'm also sharing a few products that didn't work out for me.

I ran out of my usual Suave dry shampoo right before my trip to San Francisco, so while there, Jen recommended I try the Big Sexy Hair dry shampoo. I picked some up at CVS and I really like it a lot. It goes on clear and has a nice scent. It also makes hair feel more textured and volumized. It's pricier than Suave, but I don't mind splurging once in awhile. 

I made a video about this awhile ago, but I have chronic urticaria (hives), diagnosed by my dermatologist, and they are primarily induced by changing temperatures. I often break out in hives in very cold or hot weather. I typically use cheap razors, but I noticed that my skin would break out in hives immediately after I shaved and would be very irritated. I finally started to use the Schick Intuition razor in the pomegranate scent. It gives such a close shave but it's so gentle. I get less nicks and my skin is less reactive when I use this razor, which is great, because when I break out in hives they itch and I sometimes ruin my skin scratching my legs. Totally worth the extra cost.

I shared this NouriShine lipgloss in my recent Mary Kay/Project Runway post (there's still time to enter that giveaway here!) The color is called "au natural" and I wear it nearly every day. It's neutral and looks great layered over any lip color as well as on its own. 

When I reached into my makeup bag on the plane ride to SF to find some chapstick, I realized that I forgot to pack my MAC StudioFix powder foundation. I figured I'd stop at a drugstore and pick something up to use for the next few days, but there was a Body Shop at the airport so I ended up picking up their "all in one face base." I don't love it as much as my StudioFix, but it was nice on my skin and was easy to apply. I will say it doesn't last as long as MAC's version, but we were out and about in the sun all day so it's hard to tell if that had an effect.

Last on my love list, I'm sharing the Hot Iron Holster, which has become an permanent fixture in my bathroom. I was contacted by the company and was sent one for review and I'm only sharing it because I truly love it. I get a lot of emails from companies asking me to review products, and to be honest, I'm not interested in 90% of them. If I can't incorporate the product into my daily routine or see myself genuinely using it and wanting to share it with my readers, it's not worth it for me, even if it's free. I don't like clutter, so accepting things just because they're free isn't my style. I want this to be a place where you can come for honest reviews. If I don't like a product I am sent, I would send it back or simply not blog about it. That hasn't happened more than once because I typically really look into products before I accept them to make sure they're a good fit. Just wanted to clear that up!

The Hot Iron Holster is basically a silicone holster that attaches to your bathroom counter on its own. To remove, you just peel it off and can re-apply it anywhere. I love it because it keeps my hot tools off of my counter and stores them off to the side so that they're easy to access but not in the way when they're not in use. I just keep my curling iron plugged in and inside the holster and when I'm ready, I turn it on and wait for it to heat up.

Before I had the holster, I used to unplug my curling iron and store it on top of the 3-drawer unit tucked under our sink. I know this sounds lazy, but it was annoying to reach down and get it and plug it in. I much prefer having it in the holster. I can imagine this would be an amazing tool for hairstylists too. You don't have to worry about your hot tools ruining it and it keeps them all easily-accessible in one place.

 Now onto the products I didn't love...

One of my co-workers told me about this Aveda product--- i's a damage remedy hair repair product. Her hair literally looks like gorgeous mermaid hair so I thought I couldn't go wrong. It was just "meh" for me. I didn't feel like my hair was smoother or more repaired and the texture of it was weird. I'm actually contemplating calling Aveda because it almost seemed as though my product had "broken down" somewhat or was on its way to expiry, which is odd, since I bought it at an actual Aveda store.

Though I'm absolutely obsessed with my Ojon shampoo, this oil was just so-so for me. I am using it as a smoothing serum on second or third day hair and it's a little too heavy for what I need it for so I went back to my Frederick Fekkai Glossing Creme. Overall it was just a little too oily for me. I will likely use this as an overnight treatment now to infuse moisture into my hair since I know it's so rich�so it may end up being a "like" after all, but not for the purpose I bought it for.

Sigh. I may be the only person on earth who doesn't love Urban Decay's Perversion mascara. I wanted to love it so badly, but since it's not waterproof and the formula is very "wet," it pretty much makes my lashes go completely limp and straight. I have lashes that don't hold curl well, so I have to use a hairdryer on my eyelash curler to even keep the curl in. Waterproof mascaras are more dry and they help keep the curl in my lashes. This was too heavy/wet of a formula for me, but I know plenty who love it, so don't be discouraged to try it if you have lashes that hold a curl well and typically use regular mascara with no issues.

Have a wonderful week!

FTC Disclosure: all items except for the mary kay lipgloss and hot iron holster were paid for with my own money. These are my honest opinions and I am not being compensated to review any of these items.

Half A Sleeve

I absolutely love half-sleeve tops. This one is a recent purchase from Banana Republic and it's so easy to wear and is a great transition piece between our searing hot summers and our (less) searing hot falls.

A simple cream and black outfit is always classic and today I added a faux calf-hair leopard print heel for a little interest in an otherwise basic outfit.

 top- banana republic (nla but check out these similar options-I love them!  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6)  |  skirt- j.crew  |  heels- nordstrom  |  necklace- ? tiny tags  |  watch- michael kors

What are your favorite transition pieces if you live in a warmer climate?

Our Weekend...

I've been way behind on blogging this past week because I was in San Francisco (seriously one of the most amazing US cities I've ever been to) on a blogger's trip with StitchFix. It was such an amazing experience and I'm so excited to share it with you. I'm still going through photos of the trip but I'll have something up later this week. In the meantime, you can find some photos from the trip on my Instagram account.

Though I had an incredible time, it was so nice to come home to my family and enjoy our weekend together! My flight was delayed and didn't get to Houston until nearly 2 a.m., so Harper was a little confused when I walked into her room Saturday morning. I fed her breakfast and soon we were playing peek-a-boo. She loves opening and closing doors and "hiding" from me. 

Harper's romper, ? CuteHeads

In other cuteness, Harper said "cheese" for the first time this weekend and I actually caught a snap of her saying it!

Saturday we hung out at home (me in my PJ's with dark circles under my eyes) playing, unpacking and taking naps when Harper did because I was still tired from the trip and plane ride home (I didn't sleep well on the flight). It was the perfect time to make up for the lost few days of snuggles.

Sunday we had a play date with Bennett and Tyler and we all headed out to Buffalo Grille for some brunch. 

After brunch, we played at Liz's house for a little while and then we all headed home so our toddlers could nap. I had to pick up a few things at Target during nap time, so I headed there with a list on my phone and no intentions of sticking to it (isn't that how it always goes at Target?)

Harper does a lot of coloring and arts + crafts at school (they send their projects home each week!) so I picked up more markers, crayons, coloring books and blank pads for her. I LOVE to draw and color with her so it's a little for me, too, haha! She has a habit of scribbling over every single thing I draw. I also started to ask her "do you want mommy to draw _______" and she tells me yes or no. It's so cute.

 crayola color wonder mini markers  |  crayola color wonder brush-tip markers

crayola color wonder mess-free coloring  |  crayola color wonder mess-free coloring mickey mouse clubhouse

crayola washable crayons  |  crayola washable markers 

drawing pad

five little pumpkins  |  room on the broom 

if i could keep you little  |  happy halloween daniel tiger!

polar bear polar bear, what do you hear?

bunny peplum pullover (just $12!)

mead notebook- college ruled  |  mead notebook- wide ruled  |  pilot pink pens 

anastasia of beverly hills #12 brow brush (not from Target but wanted to include it anyway since I got it to work with my dipbrow  |  Tom's of Maine Toddler Fluoride-Free Natural Training Toothpaste

decorative glass pumpkins- in stores--- LOVE these and these (need to order them!)

I tried on this top by Mossimo, but I need to order one size down. I may just wait for a re-stock since it's   a basic.

When I got back from Target little miss was still napping. She had a three hour nap which is a rarity these days. As you might imagine, she was a ball of energy for the rest of the night. We read our new books, colored and ran around like wild things!

It took me a week to realize why Harper would randomly say "ba ba ba ba ba." I thought she was babbling. She always says it when she sees her sheep mat and her lamb upstairs. Duh. It is unbelievable how much her language has exploded in the past few weeks. She went from saying just a handful of words at her 15-month appointment to saying and repeating new words on a daily basis.

Harper's headband- little hip squeaks

 In other news, I can't get over how long her pony tail is getting!

Harper's headband by Ryan and Wren

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here's a fun shot of our photo shoot with StitchFix. I can't wait to share more!