Payday

Best day of the month...

Strawberries!

This may come as a bit of a shock to some of you but I really dislike strawberries! I don't know why, I find them really sharp and I hate the texture of the pips on the outside. 

Anyway I was in the supermarket the other day and they had a pack of strawberries and even though I don't like them they looked really ripe and juicy so I bought them as I know Adam and my sister will eat them. 

Last night we decided to make creeps and my sister decided to have strawberries with her and Mia couldn't stop staring at them! She was mesmerised by these strawberries and so we held one out and let her have a little taste. She absolutely loved it! She couldn't get enough! So I puréed some for her today and she will have them for breakfast or lunch. 

We have only recently started weaning Mia and until now she has liked some things like porridge and apple purée but she has never loved anything and cried for more so I'm really pleased we have found something she really loves. 

Now before anyone says 'oh all the books say no berries until 9 months incase of allergies' we have given Mia a very small amount to see if she reacts to them. This morning she is fine, no rash or unusual behaviour. I will obviously continue to keep an eye on her today but there are no reports in either mine or Adams family of allergies. 

Hope you are all having a nice day. 

A day in the life of a mum

8am-9am

Mia wakes up for the day! First I change her nappy and then we go downstairs and I give her some breakfast. Usually this consists of either baby rice, porridge or puréed fruit and then she will take 5-7oz bottle of milk. 

10am

Mia usually plays in her Jumperoo whole I wash all the stuff from breakfast and sterilise all the new bottles for the day. 

10:30am

We usually go upstairs and we play with some of her toys. At the moment she is loving anything that makes a noise or lights up! 

11am 

Mia usually goes down for a morning snooze now which gives me time for my shower! 

12pm-1pm

Mia has her lunch time bottle and I change her nappy again. 

1:30pm

We usually play some more now. Sometimes with her tummy time mat or just with small toys. 

3pm

Mia usually has another nap around this time. Normally she will only nap for 30-45 minutes. 

4pm

Mia's dinner time bottle and another nappy change! 

4:30pm-6:30pm

Mia usually plays during this time and occasionally will have another nap. 

6:30pm-7:30pm

Mia's playtime with daddy and bath time! 

7:30pm

Bedtime bottle and bedtime. 

A trip to the zoo

                       

                       

                       

                       

Cheeky penguin!

                       

                       

My favourite animal!

                       

Baby reindeer! 

                       

Wolves!

                       

Mia watching the giant tortoise. 

Mia hates melon!!

So I tried Mia on her first finger foods today. She gets really jealous at dinner time when we are all eating and she is sitting in her highchair playing so today I have her a slice of melon with her water. Boy did she hate that melon! I never expected her to react to it the way she did! At first she tasted it and didn't look particularly impressed but I had expected that. But then she went to suck the juice for a second time and pulled a face like 'mummy what is this disgusting thing you have presented me with?!' And proceeded to gagging until she spat up her milk from earlier and then cried until we have her some water to wash away the taste!

 

It can be quite scary like their choking but in our case I knew she wasn't so it was fine. I think Mia knows how to tell us if she doesn't like something! Little madam! Haha! 

Tomorrow I have cooked and mashed some potato so we will see how that goes down....a little nervous about trying her with it but fingers crossed all goes well! 

Gift box...

The postman delivered a gift box today from Boots...

Adam had ordered me a gift 'for being a great mum' aww how sweet :) it came from Boots and was all very exciting as I never get flowers delivered let alone gift boxes!

This is what was inside....

I am very excited to try all of these out! I have tried to Bad Gal mascara before a few years ago and I found it dried up very quickly but it does have a small brush which makes applying mascara to your lower lashes really easy so I am going to give it another go! 

Have you ever had any surprise boxes in the mail?

The World of Photography!

Adam and I have finally taken the plunge and bought a digital SLR camera. We have bought the Nikon D3100 which is a basic model for beginners, which we are, therefore it is perfect for us. It came with an 18-55mm lens....I do not quite understand all this photography terminology just yet....I will get there in the end! 

I know this is a post about this great new camera so you will have to excuse the awful picture quality of these because I took these with my iPhone! Haha!

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

I would love to know which camera you all use.....

Holiday Diary - Day 2

8:30am

Mia is up for the day. She has her milk and we play downstairs in the living room with her toys. 

10am

Mia has strawberry and apple purée for breakfast. Yummy!

11:30am 

We take Mia to the zoo. She is much more interested in either: going to sleep, playing with her buggy toys or talking loudly to herself! Haha!

4pm

Back home now playing with some new toys we bought her at the zoo. Mia picked these herself :)

Here they are:

5pm

Mia has her milk. 

8pm

More milk and bed

Cleansers

So I have been trying some cleansers recently. I have tried a very high end product in the Liz Earle cleanse and polish and also a cheaper alternative in the sanctuary cleanser. I have never found a cleanser I loved, so I tend to jump around trying different brands in the hope I will find my ideal cleanser! 

No7 Radiance boosting hot cloth cleanser. 

I found this product had a really weird texture. It was really thick. I didn't really like this it actually made my skin feel a little greasy :(

Liz Earle cleanse and polish 

This made my skin feel lovely, however I did break out with a few tiny spots the next day which is very unlike me. I'm not saying this is definitely due to the product but I am a little nervous now to try it again.

Sanctuary brightening facial polishing hot cloth cleanser. 

This felt really thick at first and almost felt like I was putting a face mask on. Afterwards my face felt really weird, my skin was soft but I will felt like I still had a layer of the cream on. 

I think my favourite product is the Liz Earle out if the three above but I'm not in love with it. It was the nicest to apply and my skin felt nice afterwards. But I'm not sure if it made me break out or not so I will try it again and see. 

Holiday diary - Day 1

6am

I got up and got myself ready for the long car journey. 

6:30am

I got Mia up and dressed (big smiles from her even though she doesn't usually wake up until 9am) she had her bottle and we loaded up the car. 

1pm 

We arrived at our destination after only stopping once to feed Mia. She was amazing the whole journey. She slept 90% of the way and the rest of the time she was content playing with the toys on her car seat :) 

6pm

We introduce Mia to her great aunt and uncle. She is very excited to see them :)

8pm

All tucked up in bed but showing no signs of going to sleep. Haha!

Baby Mia has a highchair!

I originally wanted the Mamas&papas highchair recommended by a friend but when I went to buy it they were all out of stock :( 

So we decided to get the chicco polly highchair. I saw this at the baby show in February and loved it, the seat looked really comfortable and the chair folded down really small which was great as we don't have a huge kitchen. It retails at £100 but we got it on offer for £70. 

I have only been using it for a few days so I haven't written a review yet but I will in a few weeks! 

TK Maxx

I love TK Maxx, not for clothes as I hate looking through rails and rails of what is mostly rubbish, although don't get me wrong you can grab some real bargains in there if you take the time to look. 

I love the home ware section. The other day Adam and I went into our local one and picked up loads of la cruset kitchen bits which were reduced to £20 from £140! This is an amazing bargain and we really wanted some new bits for the kitchen when we move. I love that they drill these adorable boxes in there, like keepsake boxes and chests. We bought one for Mia to use as her memory box and put things inside like: her birth certificate, first outfit, any keepsake gifts she has, like this beautiful silver hairbrush and her baby book once filled in will go in there too. 

I really like the vases in TK Maxx too as they are always so unusual in shape and colour and therefore I feel they add a unique touch to your home. 

What's your favourite item that you have ever purchased from TK Maxx?

Balmi Lip Balm

I was very fortunate to get one of these for free when they were first being promoted. They were handing them out at the major train stations one afternoon in London and at the time Adam was commuting to work each day in London and got given this for free! Naturally he gave it to me, he's not much of a lip balm kind of guy......haha! 

I originally packed it in my hospital bag as I had read that in child birth your lips can get very dry so it was a good idea to take a lip balm with you. I am not much of a lip balm person, I can never be bothered to keep reapplying it or carry it around with me. However I really like the Balmi lip balm, It's easy to carry around and you can attach it to your keys which is really useful. It also lasts on your lips for ages and smells lovely! I have the blackberry one and it smells like Ribena! I also like to fact it goes on your lips really easily and just glides on rather than some balms I have tried which are not very smooth and you really need to press it hard on your lips in order for it to go on. It also contains SPF 15 which is a great added bonus, especially in summer!

If any of you are looking for a new lip balm I really recommend the Balmi ones. I think they're quite expensive at £4.99 in comparison to other lip balms but for me it is worth it as I have been using this one more than I have ever used any other.

Cup Cakes!

Straight from the oven....

Chocolate cream icing....

White chocolate chunks....

If you guys would like me to write these recipes out for you and do baking/cooking tutorials leave me a comment below and I will do that for you :)

My Favourite Hair Conditioners!

These are my favourite conditioners which I like to use on my hair. 

Trevor Sorbie: Beautifully Straightened - £5.10 (Boots.com)

Toni&Guy: Nourish for Damaged Hair - £5.99 (Boots.com)

Bed Head: Urban Anti-dotes Recovery - £17.06 (feelunique.com)

If any of you are interested in purchasing any TIGI bed head products and you live in the UK I would suggest trying TK Maxx before buying online as they often have the TIGI products in stock for a fraction of the price!

Drugstore Haul for Babies!

So we went to Boots at the weekend and went a little mad in the baby section. This is what we bought:

I don't normally like the idea of jars and packets but these ones by Ella's Kitchen have no artificial colours in and are 100% fruit and nothing more :)