First visit to see Santa

Last Wednesday was a very special day...... it was Brooke's first trip to go & see Santa!
I know it's crazy and everybody says don't bother the first year because obviously she has no idea about Santa, or even what's going on at all, but I love Christmas and was determined to get little B in on the action as soon as we could.

We booked to go on the 16th for a couple of reasons. Firstly I thought it would be near enough to Christmas that the atmosphere would be good, but not near enough that it would be crazy busy with all the kids broken up from school. Secondly it was that exact day last year that we did a pregnancy test and found out we were having a baby so being the silly sentimental girl that I am I thought it would be nice to take our baby girl somewhere exciting on that day to sort of mark the occasion.

We went to a garden centre not too far from where we live which I booked a couple of weeks beforehand. I didn't fancy going to a busy shopping centre grotto so this was ideal for a quiet mid-week visit for us.

The grotto area was separate from the main garden centre and had a nice little walkway lined with Christmas trees leading up to it. About 5 other kids came in at the same time as us which was a lovely small group.

We went into a large room with decorations all around it, benches in the middle for us to sit on and Santa in a little stage type area at the front. We all sat down and Santa told all the kids a story which was really sweet and made sure he interacted with each one and asked them questions. Then each child got to go up and see Santa individually, have a chat about what they wanted for Christmas (of course!) and have some photos taken.

We were allowed to take our own photos in the grotto as well which I loved. It's definitely a nice touch and means you don't have to fork out for the pricey professional photos if you don't want to. Obviously with it being Brooke's first Christmas they were obligatory for us!

We were over the moon that Brooke actually seemed to really enjoy herself. She loves all the twinkly lights and Christmas music and was just in the best mood for the entire morning which I was so pleased about. I was a little bit worried she'd be too young and find it all overwhelming and get upset but it was the total opposite. She wasn't too sure what to make of Santa so wasn't her usual smiley self but she wasn't upset about it either. While Santa was telling his story she sat there good as gold, cooing away and seemed quite interested in what was going on! haha 

After we came out of the grotto she was squealing with happiness all the way round the garden centre and shouting chatting at everybody we saw. Strangers always comment on how vocal she is it's so funny, she gets really loud!! 

It was G's birthday last week as well so we ended the day with a trip to Toby Carvery as a treat and B slept the entire time AND the whole way home so all the excitement must have worn her out!

Did you take your little one to see Santa when they were small? We'd love to hear about your experience.

XOXO

Mummy and Me - November 2015

I've just realised I never posted our Mummy & Me post for November! Ooooops. Only half a month behind...

Last month I had two favourite pictures

11.11.15 (11 weeks old)

Brooke first time swimming. We started swimming lessons with Turtle Tots last month so G and I wanted to take Brooke swimming together for the very first time so that neither of us missed out. She loved it! (Despite her face saying otherwise!) 

19.11.15 (12 weeks old)

Poor B! This was sitting in the waiting room of the doctors waiting for the nurse to call us in for her second lot of injections. This little hat is my favourite!! We were wrapped up all warm to go and watch the Christmas lights be turned on afterwards.

XOXO

Mummy and Me - October 2015

18.10.15 (7 weeks old)

06.10.15 (5 weeks old)

Mummy and B hiding from the rain.

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XOXO

Brooke's First Halloween

Even before Brooke was born I've always loved Halloween! I know it's not for everybody and is very American but that doesn't bother me. In fact last year I was lucky enough to spend Halloween in Las Vegas with work and it was in-cred-ible! Literally the craziest night out I have ever had - the Americans go all out for Halloween and I'd never seen fancy dress costumes like it.

This year is Brooke's first Halloween so we couldn't resist getting her some cute little outfits to mark the occasion.

Brooke's Nonna found this for her in a charity shop for the bargain price of £2!

It's actually size 3-6 months so I was expecting it to swamp her but it wasn't too big at all which is a little bit scary.

Today we've just gone for a casual My First Halloween babygrow which I picked up for £5 at Asda. It's actually really lovely quality and has the helpful fold over sleeve/mitt things which is always good because Brooke's hands get SO cold during the night!

We did actually get invited to a Halloween/birthday/fireworks party this afternoon but I didn't think Brooke was really old enough this year. All the other kids going are quite a lot older and will be able to enjoy the fireworks where we would have to stay in the warm and watch through the window/or be asleep so we turned down the invitation.

Daddy is at work today so me & B are staying in the warm & having cuddles tonight but I can't wait until she is a little bit older & we can go to parties or go out Trick or Treating!

Brooke's Nonna bought her these lovely little Halloween presents which I thought was so sweet! Even though the candle holder isn't really baby friendly as such I think it's great that we can get in out every year & light a little candle to "spooky" the house up. The little owl puppet book is just adorable and I'm sure B will love it by next Halloween and again it's something we can get out every year.

Are you doing anything special for Halloween? I'd love to see your baby's costume?

Happy Halloween everyone!

XOXO

Me and Mine - October 2015

My favourite and actually the only photo of the 3/4 of us this month. This was just a random Sunday at my mum & dads and we thought it'd be nice to have a couple of photos of all of us <3

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XOXO

Mummy and Me - September 2015

I can see I'm definitely going to have problems just choosing one photo each month....still this month I'm managed to limit it to two so better than August!

This was during the Man Utd v Liverpool match. The little vest is 0-3 months so miles too big for Squish at the moment but we couldn't resist!

12.09.15 (17 days old)

My sleeping baby - possibly the cutest thing ever!!

14.09.15 (19 days old)

If you're enjoying our updates I'd love you to follow our story either here or on Bloglovin'

XOXO

Me and Mine - September 2015

I'm so excited to finally be able to join in this linky properly because photos are something that are so important to me. I don't think there's any better way to capture memories and I'm forever taking hundreds!

Naturally with a newborn we are taking SO many photos at the moment but this is definitely my favourite from this month.

Just Squishy, G and Me!

It was taken at about 2am when we'd just got in from our friends surprise 30th birthday party - the first time I'd left Squish - and I was just so happy to be home with her again (even though she doesn't look quite as thrilled!)

XOXO

Mummy and Me - August 2015

I totally meant to post this a few weeks ago but understandably life has been a little crazy! I'm so pleased it's not too late because I was so excited to join in this month and celebrate my first month (well 5 days of it!) of being a mummy!

Our very very first selfie in the hospital 26.08.15 (0 days old)

Having a lazy day - excuse the lack of makeup in all these pictures!

29.08.15 (3 days old)

Am such a proud mummy! 

29.08.15 (3 days old)

If you're enjoying our updates I'd love you to follow our story either here or on Bloglovin'

XOXO

Introducing.......

Morning everybody, hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday weekend.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will probably have seen the reason why things have been a little quiet over on the blog front this week. After keeping us waiting an extra week Squishy has finally arrived!!!

So without further ado just a little post to introduce our gorgeous baby girl.

Brooke Harper was born on Wednesday 26th August at 05:40pm weighing 8lb 9oz. She is absolutely perfect in every single way and we are utterly besotted! 

We may only been 4 days in but I am absolutely loving being a mummy and already forgotten what life was like without her.

XOXO

Pawsomebox Review

A couple of months ago I came across the Pawsomebox online. It is basically a monthly subscription box...think Glossybox, Birchbox...but for your pets!

The Pawsomebox is created with dogs and puppies in mind and the Puuurfectbox is for cats or kittens. You simply sign up to the subscription service and each month your pet receives a box full of goodies in the post. Each box contains 5 or 6 items specially suited to your pets age and size worth over £30.

Marley is our King Charles spaniel puppy...well I say puppy, he'll be 2 in December but definitely still acts like a puppy. He literally sees this box come through from the postman in the morning and gets SO excited! It's near on impossible to get a photo of him with the products in tact because he wants to get his nose into everything and try all his new treats.

This months box was the July "Hello Summer" box and Marley got 6 items.

- multi vitamin dog paste

- a Georplast bone toy

- a travel pop-up bowl

- a Petbland cuddly plush toy

- crunchy chicken treats

- Mutt & Jeff treats

To be honest none of those are brands I am familiar with but we love every single product and will be using them all the time. I think the variety of different items in each box is good and there's plenty to keep Marley entertained and out of trouble for a little while at least!

We actually managed to take advantage of a free trial period that Pawsome were offering back in May meaning that our first box was free to try and we only paid £2.95 postage so without a doubt we got a bargain! We did however have some problems with the postage and our box took much longer to reach us than it should have resulting in the lovely people at Pawsome gifting us another box for free....but sadly again this one went awol in the post and took a long time and me chasing it up to reach us which is a shame.

Monthly subscription to the Pawsomebox is £19.90, but if you commit for a longer period of time you get discounts. I do definitely think the products that you receive each month are worth the amount you pay and I think we will look into signing Marley up in the future but unfortunately, along with many other things, we just can't justify an extra expense while I'm on maternity at the moment.

For more information head over to www.pawsomebox.co.uk

Do you have any pets? I'd love to hear all about them and see some cute pictures

XOXO

My birthday

As I think I've already mentioned it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, the big 2-7! I actually have no idea how that has sneaked up on me, I honestly still feel like I'm in my early 20's and 27 sounds so old! I'm the youngest out of all my friends so quite regularly I've got friends turning 30 now which scares the life out of me. I always said I wanted to be 26/27 when I had my first baby so I guess things are right about on track for that....

Unfortunately we didn't really have the money to celebrate my birthday in anyway but I did get some lovely presents as always and was happy to spend the day with G and Marley.

I got my first "godmother" card from my gorgeous little goddaughter Betsy which I thought was the cutest thing ever! I didn't even know those sorts of cards existed? She may only be 6 months old but she already knows how to spoil me, bless her.

G got me a bottle of Dot by Marc Jacobs which I had been lusting after for ages and loads of other little bits. My mum and dad mostly gave me money which is always appreciated but my mum can never resist getting me a load of smelly bits so I have something to unwrap on the day.

My little brother always gets me the cutest presents, this year included Yankee Candles which are always going to be a winner, some ultra comfy memory phone slippers for my hospital bag (so thoughtful!) and this amazing recipe book for Mug Cakes! Don't they look incredible!!

G's mum bought me the loveliest Missoma bracelet which I absolutely adore. It's so pretty and delicate which is exactly the kind of jewellery I like and has the cutest little "daughter" charm so it's very special. I'm not huge on gold jewellery and tend to only wear silver or rose gold so it really is perfect. I've actually decided to not start wearing it until Squishy arrives so it will be extra sentimental.

That's about it for my birthday this year. As I said we didn't really have the money to do a lot and being heavily pregnant does limit the sort of thing I fancy doing anyway to be honest. We're hoping to save some pennies and squeeze a final date night/late birthday/late anniversary in before Squishy arrives so I'll be sure to keep you posted if we do manage it.

It feels really bizarre that this is my last birthday before I become a mummy. The last one of no responsibility! Eeeek! Birthdays will never really be the same again and it makes me a little bit sad....but crazy excited at the same time. I'm not sure I really made the most of this last birthday of freedom at all but never mind.

Have you celebrated your birthday recently? What do you usually do to celebrate?

XOXO

Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium!!!

Last night we were lucky enough to go to the Ed Sheeran concert at Wembley Stadium!!

It was so so amazing!! We'd bought the tickets last year before we knew Squishy was on the way and I was a little worried that I would be too heavily pregnant to properly enjoy it and was worrying about having to get the train & the tube in the hot weather but I needn't have been - everything turned out just fine!

We went with our friends Lloyd & Gemma who very kindly offered to drive us there and back which made the whole journey SO much better!

Ed was absolutely amazing!!! It's pretty surreal thinking one little man with a guitar can sell out 91,000 people at Wembley Stadium - I'm pretty sure he's the first solo artist to do that! I just love that Ed seems like the nicest, most genuine, humble person ever and it totally melts my heart that he has done so well for himself. I think he fully deserves all the success he is having!

He played 2 hours solid with no break or anything. No band, no backing tracks, just Ed Sheeran and a guitar - amazing! Most of the songs were from his second album Multiply (which you absolutely need  to buy by the way, if you don't already own it. It's incredible!) and then he did all his big hits like The A Team as well.

Elton John even popped out as a special guest and they sang a couple of songs together which was a lovely surprise. I bet Ed has the celebs queuing up to appear with him. Let's face it, it doesn't get much bigger than Sir Elton coming out on stage with you!

We were sitting up on the 5th tier, which if you've ever been to Wembley Stadium you'll know is very high, but to be fair we were quite happy with our seats. I always think at a concert it doesn't really matter what view you have because you're there to listen aren't you? The stadium was absolutely packed, all three tiers and the entire pitch was full to the brim. I've actually been to a concert at the stadium before, Take That a couple of years ago and I definitely think there were more people in the venue last night.

I did start to get a little uncomfortable sitting in the same position for too long. Baby definitely seems to be right up under my ribs on the left. My midwife says I have a short torso so baby literally has nowhere to move to anymore. She's head down & fully engaged but because I'm short her body is literally taking over my whole insides & she's going to struggle to change position much more now.

Would I recommend going to a concert 8 & half months pregnant? Absolutely! As long as you make sure you take it easy, sit down & rest where you can, and in my case keep really really hydrated in the hot weather!

Are you an Ed Sheeran fan? Have you been to any concerts recently or while you were pregnant?

XOXO

My first baby

It's just occurred to me that I should probably mention and explain the first baby in my life.

Introducing Marley ......

Okay so he's not actually that small anymore because he's now 15 months old but he's still a cutie.

Marley is the first pet that me & G have owned together. G's mum still has two little Bischon Frise dogs (Jack & Howie) and they were lucky enough to always have a dog in the house growing up. I however was not! I have always loved dogs but was never allowed one. My mum spent our whole lives telling my brother and I that she was allergic to animals - but we were allowed rabbits? & then finally we got to an age where we realised she was actually a big fat liar, had her OWN dog as a child and actually just didn't like animals so that was that.

One of the first things on my list of things I wanted to do when we moved out was get a puppy - a girl cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy, who would be orange and white to be precise and to call her Minnie. Since our first home was a new build flat a puppy was neither allowed or practical but a year later when we moved into our current 2-bed house a new addition to the family became top of my list.

We went to see Marley & his brothers and sisters in early January 2014. When we arrived all the little puppies were crawling around and were so SO cute but Marley definitely chose us. He was the most adventurous puppy by far, crawling over to us, having a good old sniff and a cheeky little nibble of our ankles. The other puppies weren't as outgoing and brave so we were instantly drawn to Marley. My dreams of an orange and white girl puppy went right out the window and I didn't even care!!

 

Just over a year on from when we first brought Marley home I love this puppy more than I ever even thought was humanly possible! Something you can't explain to somebody who has never owned a dog I guess but he honestly is my little best friend.

He follows me everywhere, snuggles up with me at night, has his own little personality and likes/dislikes. Even something as simple as being in the house on my own when G has to work late or through the night is so much more enjoyable now I have a little puppy to share it with.

 

Do you have any pets? I'd love to hear about them & see pictures if you do?

XOXO

How much is too much?

To be honest I wasn't sure whether I wanted to blog about this because I know it's a touchy subject and something that some women don't have a lot of choice with, but I'm struggling to find a balance with how much work is too much?

Since falling pregnant I have found myself in a pretty unusual situation with my work life. I'm an air hostess, which is amazing and a job I absolutely love, but unfortunately due to what I can only assume is EU laws I am unable to work whilst pregnant. Nobody within the company really explains to you why this is and air hostess' in America fly right up until their maternity leave begins a few weeks before the baby is due (as you would with any other job I guess) but for some reason here in Europe it's not the done thing and you have to declare you're pregnancy as soon as it is realised and from then on you are "grounded" until the baby is born.

Now usually in this situation air hostess' would go and work in the office Mon-Fri during this time but again I am in an unusually predicament that because I am an international long-haul dolly I am lucky  that I am able to manage living a long way from the airport and commuting for each flight as I tend to be away for a significant period of time each shift. Unfortunately this means it simply isn't practical for me to drive a 2-3 hour each way commute in rush hour Mon-Fri so subsequently I am grounded at home on my basic salary until Squish comes along.

Now I know no work would be some women's idea of heaven especially during the first trimester when sickness plays a big part. I know how extremely lucky I was not to suffer with that! But believe me after a few weeks with Jeremy Jyle and no-one but the puppy to talk to I was beginning to go stir crazy!

The upshot is I have taken on some temp jobs in the meantime a) for a little extra cash. G is a builder and has had a very quiet winter which has been super stressful for us, especially now I am on a reduced wage through no fault of my own and b) mostly to keep me busy and out of trouble. 

What started off as a little temp job two days a week sat down in a travel agents office has now turned into 2 temp jobs, waitressing, bar work, 37.5 hour weeks and the option of plenty more hours if I want them. And now I'm beginning to feel a little silly....

When I signed up for all this extra work I was feeling fine - fresh as a daisy in fact- I still am really. I really can't complain and have had an amazing pregnancy so far but I'm definitely finding myself coming home with NO energy now. I get in, put my feet up and already dread the next shift 'x' amount of days away.

I don't want to mess people around and pull out of shifts I have agreed to but obviously I don't want to over do it and keeping Squish safe and healthy is my absolute priority over everything else.

I know lots of other women work 37.5 hour weeks (some more I imagine!) right up until they go on maternity leave and I feel silly moaning about it but I'm torn between listening to my body and listening to my head here!

Has anybody got any advice re working hours and pregnancy? Did anybody else reduce their hours as they got further along in the pregnancy? At which stage?

Any advice would be so appreciated.

XOXO