New Mummy Wish List

Its been a couple of months now since Peanut came into the world and it's safe to say my figure is not looking great. After a good rummaging through my clothing I have discovered that I'm in good need of a shopping trip. I'm currently in that horrible in between stage two where my maternity clothes are too big and my pre baby clothes are too small. With my 30th just around the corner it's safe to say that I'm not feeling all that great about my self so I've been thinking about treating myself for my birthday. This is some of the ideas on my wish list. 

Some snuggle jumpers (its all about comfort to me)

Some day dresses (for when I'm having a more confident day)

Jeans ( because I'm currently walking around on holey leggings!)

These are just some of the bits I found on the New look website. There was so much on there I would love to have for Spring I was even debating an all in one! 

Don’t forget Valentine’s Day – the best last minute buys

There may be many reasons why you have decided not to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year. The most obvious and sad truth could be that you’re single, in which case you may be excused. Or, like the bah humbugs of so-called ‘commercial holidays’, you may be a Valentine’s Day scrooge, perhaps even using this as an excuse to cover up for the former. Anyway, if you happen to fall in love with the stranger that you brushed hands with when attempting to grab the last copy of PC Gamer in Tesco, here’s a few last minute Valentine’s Day gift ideas for him and for her that won’t be laden with desperation.

Gadgets

Everyone loves a gadget, and what could be better than giving her the gift of listening to music stylishly with these sparkly Swarovski Crystal Earphones from Presents for Men.  Every girl likes a bit of sparkle, so you can keep the glitz of a diamond ring with a less intimidating declaration. And, if she doesn’t like them, they offer superb outside noise reduction, so you can borrow them to drown out her unimpressed tone.

For him, this ultimate survival kit, complete with instructions and suitable for hiking, walking and general exploring, also doubles up as a discreet way of getting your fella out of your hair for the weekend.

Chocolate

Most women (and men) will be struggling through their New Year’s health-kick by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, and temptation covered in chocolate may go down like a skinny girl announcing that she’s on a diet. Thankfully, it has been scientifically proven that dark chocolate is a healthier option and this could be a perfect small Valentine’s Day Present for somebody that you’ve just met. My personal favourites are Divine’s 70% Dark Chocolate Raspberry Discs, and the ‘choose your own Chocolate Box’ from hot chocolates online store for men.

Flowers

Suitable for all occasions, from “I’m sorry” to “good job on those reports”, anyway, depending on how much you or the object of your affections knows about flowers, you may want to consider the right bloom for the occasion. Apparently the cyclamen flower means ‘resignation and goodbye, the Gloxinia means ‘Love at First sight’, and a bunch of roses generally means ‘I love you’ – so choose wisely! And this isn’t purely for the ladies - we live in a metrosexual society. here’s my pick of the best florists:

For Him: Serenta Flowers have compiled flowers for men arrangements, inspired by ‘gentlemanly aesthetics’.

For Her: Waitrose have a great range of classic roses to suit all budgets.

Gifts for Men that have everything

Yeah, those kinds of men – we’ve all been there. I find that in these circumstances, it’s best to take a trip through the weird and wonderful world of kitsch and retro – surely they can’t own everything they need from each individual decade?

Things that you should outright avoid

·         Personalised gifts – creepy much?

·         Expensive Jewellery – give it time!

·         A holiday – don’t plan too far ahead

·         Clothing – especially for her

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Exciting plans for 2013

Well its been five weeks since Peanut was born and I'd like to think things are getting back to normal slightly. Lady P is back at school and enjoying her new topic of Kenya, while Little man has increased his sessions at preschool giving him more time to play with his friends and escape from me. 

Now we are back in the swing of things I feel I'm dealing quite well, I had images in my head of the children running around getting up to all sorts of trouble while I'm busy looking after Peanut. Things have been very calm and we have started off the school term with comments from both of the children's teachers saying that they are doing really well. I could not be prouder of them both and this year I plan to make sure this boost in their development continues to thrive. 

The biggest thing for me this year is focusing on the children. The reason I started blogging originally was to encourage the family to spend more time crafting, baking and doing activities rather than watching TV. I want to go back to making this my focus for 2013. I feel this will really help the older ones at school and give peanut a good chance to bond with mummy. Family time has always been so important to us and this year I would like to make sure we make the most of every day, starting with a holiday. 

We have never been aboard and its something I have always been keen to do. Unfortunately daddy is scared of flying so this has been some thing we have avoided. The other day some one suggested to me that we should look into cruises as they are not too expensive now days. Since the children have been going on about going to  Disney World I thought I would look into the Disney cruises at Virginholidayscruises.co.uk and where they go. I'm excited to think we would be going on a holiday this fabulous this year and can't wait to surprise the children!!

New Year resolutions- Getting Organised

This year I have promised my self to try my hardest to be organised. Not just in our family life but with our business and blog. My mum has always tried to encourage me to write lists to help me be organised, however I find I will often start and then loose the lists which I have made. So I came up with an idea that after getting my beautiful new ipad for the Carphone Warehouse this year I would download an app that would help me stay organised and I have discovered a few now. 

Astrid- This is a free app for making lists. Your lists can be divided by topic such as home, blog, children, work etc. You can look at the list as a whole or under each topic. Once you have added a task these can then be assigned to different people and emailed across. What I love is how easy it is to tick things off your list! 

Pinterest- I have started to use the free app to help me brain storm ideas for baking, crafts at home with the children and ideas for blog round ups. The app means that I can plan on the go and make full use of every minute in the day.  The app allows you to do every thing you would normally do online apart from add links and build pins yourself. 

Facebook Pages- This handy app has allowed me to monitor how well our company Chaos Protein are doing on FB. I can up date it easily as well as reply to private messages and add photo's. I think this much easier to use than the Facebook app it's self as there are certain things the normal app will not let you do. 

Fingers crossed with a little bit of help and these app's I may be able to become more organised and focused in 2013. We have a lot in store for us this year and hopefully this will help us get through it smoothly. 

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Having a fun night in

On the run up to Christmas its hard to justify spending money on a night out whether its a trip to the cinema or a meal out. I recently discovered a love for Bingo on line. The great thing about it is that you can sent your self a budget of how much you want to spend and stick to it with out any pressure.

From the comfort of your own home you can still watch your favourite programmes, make a cup of tea or leave after a game and go back to it after you have cooked tea. For me the joy comes from all the excitement of waiting for the numbers to come up. I'm able to get all excited over a win with out looking like a wally in front of others and any winning for me usually go be into playing more games.

 To me I treat it like a game on my phone but its important to make sure that you realise the money you put into the game is real and to set your self a budget. If your bored of watching reruns this Christmas a fancy a go at online bingo check out Ladbrokes Bingo.

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Christmas Gifts with Jessops

Each year I find it hard to know what to buy the adults in the family. I don't like to spend too much as we simply don't have the money at the moment. I do think its quite nice to send something personal from the children and I tend to find that photo gift are an easy option especially for those who do not live near by.

 We are lucky to have a Jessops near by so I always plan to spend an afternoon with the children dressed up and take photo's then take them down to the shop where the staff are great at helping pic the best quality shots for each gift. If you don't have a Jessops near by you could also try them on line where they offer a lot of different gift ideas!

 

Planning a Nursery

You would think that I would be excited about planning a nursery for the baby. Its the first time one of our children would have a room of their own from when they go into their cot. I have found it extremely hard to find the nursery furniture to fit and suit the design I would like in the nursery. I would like an under the sea or nautical theme and found a few item's which match from Baby & co. I have decided to make the rest my self and developing my craft skills at the same time.

I love the white furniture which seems to be very in fashion at the moment but as his draw unit which I already have is pine I would mix it up with this lovely white and wooden number. I think this would go really well this the Lollypop Lane, Fish and Chips bedding set.

I will soon be sharing posts on the handmade items we have made to add more character to his room.