Hola! Just kidding, still dreaming of being on the beach in just a bikini. If you ask my husband, Jay, he would tell you that I have an obsession for swim suits and that's probably true but as you grow older and have kids and things start to hang, become a little squishier, that itty bitty string bikini starts to get a little bigger in material size. 

Funny story though.. two months postpartum after having Oliver I went to Vegas for my best friends Bachelorette party. I was a new mom, hadn't started working out yet, my eating routine consisted of teddy grahams and trail mix (not the good for you kind either, the kind with three different kinds of chocolate) and I spent most of my days rocking my newborn baby that didn't stop crying in my oversized comfy and plush robe. Well, when it came time to start thinking about what I was going to wear in Vegas, surrounded by beautiful women who were much skinnier than me, well put together, and just drop dead gorgeous I insisted that I needed 4 new one-pieces so I could feel good about myself. I think I spent a total of $600 dollars on 4 one-piece swim suits which believe me I feel utterly embarrassed about. I can't even fathom how Jay let me spend that type of money, or where I even got that type of money for freaking SWIMSUITS! I was convinced that if I could cover my postpartum belly that I would look and feel amazing. I thought wrong. One pieces only made it worse, it made me feel larger and just excentuated my squishy belly. I ended up borrowing some larger bust tops from Jay's aunt and they weren't one pieces! 

Moral of the story, feel damn proud about your body and all that it is capable of. Yes, you may feel a little squishier, less attractive, and frumpy but that doesn't make you any less beautiful. Feeling confident in your new mom bod will give you the strength and courage to get through each day, rather than putting yourself down on how you don't look the way you want to. That day will come. It may take some time, but with some hard work and patience you will get to that body goal you have for yourself. Don't be too hard on yourself, don't bring yourself down and think that you need to start working out right at 6 weeks. Take your damn time. You just had a freaking baby, a beautiful new baby and it's okay to soak in all that yummy newborn goodness for as long as you want. You've got your hands full with a toddler, multiple kids or you're a busy working mom and its okay! If you're reading this, then I want you to know that you are amazing. You look beautiful and you're doing a damn good job! It's easy to compare ourselves to one another, I do it all the time. There will always be someone who you think is "better" than you, but once you learn  to love yourself and everything that you already do have your life will become so much richer. You will feel so much happier in your life and just grateful for everything you DO have.

I'm not going to say that this has ever been easy for me. I tend to be very hard on myself and always wanting to be in better shape, have more things, want more more more and It's no easy task, it takes a lot of work, but its worth working towards. At 8 months postpartum, after having Attikus, I can say that I feel good about where I'm at in my fitness journey. I try to work out 5-6 times a week, hoping that spring and summer months will bring even further results as we can walk and play outside. I usually do Jillian Michael's home DVDs but two weeks before Cabo I started doing BBG and I LOVE IT! It's a home work out right on your phone. The work outs are hard, make you sweat and are about 30 minutes long. I plan to continue to work on myself because when I feel good about me I am the best mom, wife and me that I can be. I hope that this encourages you to work on you and put yourself and your happiness first. You deserve that, we all do! Lets remember that we're in this together, woman to woman, mother to mother. Lets rise up and see each others worth because when we do that great things happen!

To give you a better idea on what size to get, I'm 5'6" tall, 130 pounds. I usually take the padding out of all my swimsuit tops because I hate how they make my mom boobs look and I'd rather nip out than have weirdly shaped breast. I am a 36C now. I was a 34C before having kids, but my rib cage expanded and never went back! Now after having kids, I tend to stay away from triangle top suits and go for the halter, or sports bra type which fit me much better and hold up my deflated size C pancakes I have for breast.

Unfortunately the orange/yellow swimsuit that I wore in Cabo is not available for purchase in the US but I've found a few other ones that I think are just as cute below! (It is from Women's Secret, which does not ship to the US) Click on any image below to shop that exact swim suit. Many of the ones I've found are ones that I currently have or want to buy! As always, please Like, Comment, share on pinterest, or just leave me some love! I love sharing brands, products that work for me and my family and I sincerely hope that you enjoy them too!

The swimsuit brands below are the top brands I shop, but I do buy swimsuits from American Eagle, Boys and Arrows, L*Space, Everything but water, and Target as well, but there are so many cute suits out there right now that it would of taken me forEVER to put all those picks on here!

ZAFUL PICKS: I wear size L, but kinda want to try out a M next time I order

ASOS PICKS: I wear size L top and S bottom

ZINGARA PICKS: I wear size 10 top, size 8 bottoms

XOXO Mari