Rory Has His Own Room!

We lived in a tiny 1 bedroom house when Rory was born, the garden wasn't useable, tiny kitchen and everything was unbelievably dated. We tried our best to make it look nice, we painted and bought all new furniture and I'll be honest, we really did love it but Rory was outgrowing being in our room and Watson (our dog) desperately needed a garden.


We always said that one Rory turned one we would start looking to move but my the time he was 10 months old we realised we needed to get a move on and hopefully with his own room he would start to sleep better.

Spoiler: we were wrong! Still sleeping as badly as ever

We are now fully moved in and unpacked, we are loving all the space, the big kitchen feels like a crazy luxury for us and Watson is in his element running around the garden. I may do a full house tour at some point but until then have a look at Rorys new room!

I'm sure things will change as time goes on, more toys will sneak in after his upcoming 1st Birthday but at the moment, his room is adorable and its working well for us, Rory absolutely loves to play and pull down all his books but sadly, not sleep! Baby steps!

Birthday Wishlist!

I am turning 27 next week, like what?! There isn't much I want this year, my birthday lists are usually makeup, makeup, makeup (which it still kinda is) but this year thanks to a little pain the butt named Rory, I don't have as much time to experiment like I used to with makeup. I do still put it on most days but I tend to use the same products every day which has made compiling a list for Liam really hard!

1. Revolution X Roxi palettes - Roxsauraus (a youtuber) has created three palettes with Revolution and they are so lovely! I am including these because I really like them but I wouldn't be too sad if I don't get them or one of them as they are quite bright shades and I know I won't make full use of them in my now boring daily makeup routine.

2. Too Faced Damn Girl mascara - this mascara has only recently been released and I already know I need it! I can easily incorporate this into my daily routine and I am the biggest fan of their Better Than Sex mascara so I'm sure i'll love this one as well. How gorgeous is the packaging?!

3. Cath Kidston Pushchair Organiser - I don't know how I have managed for 10Months without one of these, I am constantly trying to juggle a coffee or losing my keys and phone while out and about so I just really need something to keep everything together. The colours of this one would look lovely with our pram but honestly i'd be happy with any organiser that stops me spilling my Starbucks Caramel Macchiato.

4. Wilde Women by Louise Pentland - this book is the third in a series and I have loooooved the previous two so much, I am desperate to read this one! Sadly, it doesn't get released until July but I may just have to put some birthday money aside to get it and pre order it on amazon. Dying to find out what's next for Robin Wilde!

Lastly, we will be in Ilfracombe, Devon for my birthday like we are every year. Last year we had tapas and this year I have my heart set on a full Afternoon Tea with a sea view. This weather had best cheer up otherwise it will be a rainy indoor Afternoon Tea but either way I am getting a scone! haha! 

10 Month Baby Update! 🎉

Apologies for my absence in the here recently but omg, having a 10month old and being back at work part time has been hard! 

Firstly, I’ve been back at work for almost 2months now and it has been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. Initially I was really worried about leaving my boy, I fully trust our family to care for him but he is still exclusively breastfeeding so I’ve been pumping a lot to keep up with him but thankfully, as it turns out, he doesn’t drink/want as much milk when he’s not with me so it hasn’t been too bad! This has meant pumping at work which my work have been great with and as I only work part time I haven’t lost too much time with my baby boy. It’s been nice to have a bit of me time as well. Who would have ever though work could feel like me time?! 

Breastfeeding wise, he loves the milk! He’s a milk monster! He still feeds to sleep but has become less reliant on it recently and will settle just as well with his daddy which has been nice for us all. I intend to continue until he’s one then slowly weaning him off the tit at his own pace. Neither of us are in any rush, it really is a lovely experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world. 

Weaning is great! We are are all really enjoying it. He is very adventurous and doesn’t struggle with new foods, he is very able when it comes to different textures and shapes of food. He pretty much eats what we eat now which has been good for us as parents as we have had to start eating a little healthier. I’ve been making more food from scratch to make it healthier for sharing! He loves a snack, rice cakes and fruit such as banana, strawberries and orange are his fave but he’s not fussy! He eats a lot! More than my 3 year old niece, definitely explains his moobs! 

Physically, he is doing amazingly well! He’s been crawling for a while, cruising the furniture and recently he has started standing unaided and taken his first few shaky steps which he is improving at everyday. Certainly won’t be long until he’s running! 

Speech wise, he’s a noisy little thing! Loves to laugh, squeal, blow raspberries and growl but hasn’t made any noises that sounds like actual words as of yet and we think he won’t for a while but that’s fine by us as he will do it when he’s ready.  

Sleep... well, this is something he has far from mastered. He wakes many times a night which is frustrating but he is showing progress. He used to need feeding back to sleep but often now he will just have a cuddle and go back

down or sometimes a pat on the butt does the trick. Sleep is something we really struggle with but it’s also something we have accepted and manage with as best we can. Again, he will sleep when he’s ready. He still naps for a good 3-4hours over the course of the day but if he doesn’t get that he’s a very moody boy so I am reluctant to reduce his napping. But this does mean that I also sometimes get a daytime nap which I looooove!

His favourite things to do are eat, feed and play with wheels! My god does this boy love wheels, pram wheels, car wheels, toy wheels, scooters, anything with wheels so we have accumulated quite the collection of vehicles recently! He also really enjoys his fur brother Watson, everything that dog does is hilarious. He especially likes to watch him poop! 

His least favourite things are being put in the car seat ( he loves the car once it’s moving though), being laid down for a bum change or getting dressed and being told no when he’s bashing toys on the tv. He has developed a special half cry half scream for these situations and it’s the most vile noise on earth. 

The fact that he is 10month old both terrifies me but also makes me so incredible proud. He’s such a loving boy and such a character! We are currently in the process of moving house and planning his Hey Duggee themed birthday party as well as a week away in the next month so there’s a lot going on! We are so excited for all of it though! Count down to a one year old is on!

Weaning: Completely Baby Led

Weaning terrified me and I am back to tell you that it doesn't anymore!

 My baby is growing up and becoming a little person. A little person who can and will be influenced by my eating and the food I choose to give him. 

I'm not a healthy eater, I don't eat fruit, salad or many vegetables. I have a fear of unknown foods and a huge fear of texture, living off mostly carbs and meat. I have gotten better in recent years but my diet is still far from good.

I want Rory to have a healthy relationship with food unlike his Mama!

Not long ago I wrote that we were doing a combination of purees and baby led, that was mostly through fear if i'm honest with myself. Fear that I wouldn't know what to give him that was healthy so a puree full of veggies would be the healthiest option but I have realised that just isn't the case. A healthy balanced diet includes fruits, veg and everything else!

Rory started refusing the spoon, he only wanted to feed himself so thats what pushed us to let him, I started with what I considered safe food such as boiled veggies but soon enough he was stealing my toast and staring longingly at our food.

I just thought fuck it, i'm going to feed him what we eat but with baby safe changes and added fruit and veg. He now eats a close variation of our meals everyday and he is finally embracing food! He could eat all day long if I let him!

Here he is eating a mini stir fry! Well cooked steak with baby corn, carrot and broccoli. He loved it and it was relatively mess free which is a huge bonus!

Mini pizza is definitely a fave of his as he is such a carb lover like him mama, he really enjoyed this meal. The pizza got demolished first followed by the carrots but as usual he ignored the broccoli.

I just don't get why he doesn't like broccoli! It is one of the few veggies that I like so I try and hide it as best I can! This is a quick dinner of cheese and broccoli on toast, he really enjoyed this one!

For breakfast he often has cheerios, fruit and a yoghurt. This may seem like a lot of cheerios but they mostly end up on the floor or in the dogs belly! The blueberries always get eaten though as they are a huge favourite! The skins do tend to come out in his poop though so I try not to give him too many haha!

A yoghurt is one of few things he will let us spoon feed him as he just loves them so bloody much! 

If you are struggling with BLW I would advise you to just do it! Give them a little of everything to try and if they don't like it, try again later. Get yourself up to date with how to cut and cook things safely which can easily be found online and away you go. As with adults, everything in moderation. The only things we avoid is chocolate, sweets and we try to keep salt at a minimum.

These are some other foods that have been a big hit...

. Grapes cut into quarters

. Easy pealer oranges, these are his faveeeee

. Blueberries

. Crumpets

. Toast

. Reduced salt baked beans

. Raisins

. Cream cheese sandwiches, sometimes with sneaky broccoli inside!

. Cheerios

. Mamia Carrot puffs (instead of chocolate for Easter, because bunnies love carrots!)

. Humous

. Carrot fries (homemade)

. Grated cheese

. Peas

And a few things he doesn't like...

. Broccoli on its own

. Cucumber

. Strawberries

. Banana (which he will eat from other people but not me?) Maybe he knows I hate them! lol

Learning With Little Ones This Easter

Something a little different on the blog today! I was recently contacted by education.com and asked if I would like to share a learning worksheet (https://www.education.com/worksheets/)with my readers and talk about their website. At first I thought well, Rory's too young for this but then I thought, many of my fellow mums do have older children and with the Easter holidays in full swing they may be looking for both fun and educational activities to do with their little ones! 

"Education.com aims to empower parents, teachers, and homeschoolers to help their children build essential skills and excel. With over 12 million members, Education.com provides educators of all kinds with high-quality learning resources, including worksheets, lesson plans, digital games, an online guided learning platform, and more." (education.com)

Education.com has a huge selection of worksheets and activities that you can download and print for free, whether your kids love to learn or would rather just colour it in, they are sure to find hours of entertainment and maybe even give you time for an uninterrupted cup of tea!

The worksheet I have chosen to share with you all is the "Crawlies Maze" as it is great for a range of ages, even Rory who is only 8months old will enjoy watching me do it or me holding his hand to help him it. In addiction to this worksheet you can find loads more printables on the website for you to explore. 

Zoella X ColourPop Collaboration - Brunch Date Palette

I am a huge Zoella Fan, I do feel she has been slacking recently with her youtube channel and her Zoella Beauty range but when this collaboration was announced, I knew I needed to try something. I had never used anything from ColourPop before either so this gave me the perfect excuse to try them out!

I have always been concerned about shipping and customs costs when ordering from America so have always avoided it but this collection if ordered within 24hours had free shipping to the UK which was a really nice and well thought out choice from Zoe and the team at ColourPop. This fact is definitely what swayed me into going for it!

I am all about eyeshadow palettes, I have quite the collection already so I knew what item I would be purchasing! 

Lets first talk about the packaging, it's beautiful! The palette is a basic cardboard (reminds me of Zoeva) but has a luxurious matte soft feel and the design is wonderfully whimsical with the waffle design outer packaging and the brunch inspired pink palette. A perfect combination of fun but also grown up. 

It fits perfectly with the design of the rest of the range which I think is so well designed, very unique and aesthetically pleasing!  

I would have loved to get the whole collection but my maternity leave budget meant just the palette for me. It cost roughly £17 including a small fee which I thought was a reasonable price for a collaboration palette.

Inside you have 12 shades, 5 mattes and 7 shimmers/foils. In my opinion there is a good selection of creases shades, natural shimmers and a few pops such as the gorgeous blue and the gorgeous burgundy. It is certainly a palette you can wear everyday but it is entirely possible to make something more fancy out of the shades. It is the perfect take on holiday palette for me, I could easily create a week or twos worth of looks out of this.

Left Top to Right Bottom

Maple Syrup - Sundae Funday - Sunny Side Up - Americano - Brunch Club - Extra Slice

Champagne Toast - Pancakes Please - French Toast - Skinny Latte - Cinnamon Sugar - Mimosa

As you can see, the swatches are impressive! The mattes are very pigmented but also very blendable so it's easy to apply because it is so easy to blend out and keep looking perfect. It really doesn't take a lot of work to get the crease looking great. Brunch club is an intense matte blue, not the most unique of shades but is a nice addition. 

Maple syrup, Americano and Mimosa are the perfect selection of crease shades that will work with most looks and French Toast is the most beautiful burgundy that you could use in the crease but I think would work wonderfully for a smokey eye. Extra slice is a matte with flecks of gold glitter and it is the absolute dream! I can't wait to do a full smokey eye with it.

The shimmers, especially Pancakes Please and Cinnamon Sugar just kill me. They are so incredible beautiful and right up my street! I have used them both so many time since owning this palette so I am sure they are going to become everyday faves. 

There has been a lot of backlash on this palette, people saying the shades are boring but I just don't agree. It is an everyday palette, yes but it is a step above. A step more pigmented, a step more sparkly and you definitely can make it work for a night out too.

Ultimately I am really pleased with my purchase! What does you guys think of the collection and this palette in particular? 

TOP TIP: Like many ColourPop shadows (so ive heard) the shimmers and even the blue are best applied with a finger in order to get full pigmentation. You can use a brush but you get the best look with your finger.

SHOP THE COLLECTION HERE

MUM TAG!

I came across this new Mum Tag on youtube created my Emily Norris (find her here!) and it has been done by many of my fave mum youtubers now which ive really enjoyed watching so I thought I would do it here on my blog! Its so interesting to hear how other mothers find parenthood and their experiences so I hope you enjoy reading mine!

1. Favourite mum hack? Im not sure this counts as a hack really but a baby carrier! Babies clingy? Carrier. Babies tired? Carrier. Need to be hand free? Carrier. Muddy walk? Carrier. Breastfeed on the go? Carrier. I love it.

2. Most embarrassing mum moment? Ermmmm, none? I don't embarrass easily and for some reason Rory is better behaved in public than at home!

3. What part of the day do you love the most? Either seeing his smile first thing in the morning or 7pm when Liam gets home from work and Rory is so excited to see him!

4. What part of the day do you like least? Between 5 and 7pm, Rorys a grump so its just counting down the minutes till Liam gets home.

5. The worst thing someone said to you while pregnant? Again, none. People were really supportive while I was pregnant and I loved every minute of it. 

6. Baby name you didn't agree on? Many! I like unique names and Liam doesn't so much! I can't remember exact names honestly but I remember liking Ryan or Bay for a girl and Liam hated both.

7. Do you co sleep? Absolutely not, its something I really done agree with. I mean, each to their own but I would never do it. I do not think its safe, I think it creates bad habits for baby and I also like to have one place thats just mine!

8. Something you bought but never used? We were really careful not to over buy so there wasn't much that went unused but we never used mittens because they are just pointless and we didn't use the swaddle as Rory is a spread out sleeper!

9. Two hospital must have items? I gave much during a heat wave so my mini fan was a life saver. Also makeup, I know that sounds crazy but to be able to have a shower, fresher myself up and put a little makeup on after birth made me feel human again.

10. Are you a routine mum or a go with the flow mum? and what does bedtime look like? Both! During the day I go with the flow, he feeds when he wants, eats when I do and sleeps whenever he needs too but I done let him sleep after 5.30pm so that he is tired enough for bedtime at 8.30pm. His bedtime routine is always the same, up to bedroom, pjs on, feed in nursing chair while Liam reads out loud, baby lullabies on then bed. 

11. What type of labour did you have and what pain relief? I went into labour naturally at 40+4. I started feeling light contractions on the Friday, the ramped up Saturday night and we headed to hospital at 4am Sunday. He was born Sunday 11.47pm. It was a loooong labour and I had high blood pressure and temperature so it was really difficult, I had an epidural and do not regret it!

12. Have you been mum shamed? No but I wouldn't take any notice if I was. I don't care about other people opinions of my mothering in the slightest. Unless i've asked for it and its constructive!

13. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced since becoming a mum? In the first 5weeks, breastfeeding was really hard. He cluster feed really badly and I felt really trapped. I couldn’t leave the sofa for 5+ hours a day and often in the evening while Liam was at work so I would sit in the dark watching Netflix with dead feet and starving. I cried over that a lot. Now, it’s sleep. He’s is a terrible sleeper, currently waking 8+ times a night, it’s really hard and people always say it will get better but it never seems too.

14. The best bit of advice you’ve received and the biggest piece of advice you would give a new mum? I think people telling me that it gets better has helped a lot actually because it’s true. Every hurdle will improve eventually and it’s all worth it for your baby. To a new mum I would say don’t pressure yourself into doing too much, you may feel you need to say yes to all the visitors and all the baby groups but you don’t. Take some time to relax with your baby, to sleep, to get used to being a mum rather than putting pressure on yourself to please everyone else.

15. Who’s your mum crush and who do you tag? Charlotte Louise Taylor and Giovanni Fletcher! And I tag BecomingMumsy!