Pregnancy Must Buys

Aside from quite literally the thousands of biscuits, sweet treats, chocolate bars, comfort snacks and carb heavy meals these are the things I couldn't live without during pregnancy:

1) Make-Up Essentials. (My own personal de-zombiefication-kit.)) At the beginning when you could sleep for England and towards the end when you are bloated, blotchy and wheezing with breathlessness you need long lasting cosmetic products that take second to apply and make a big difference.

My two must haves are Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Eclat highlighter (I use a number 2 shade) to ride me of bags and touch up any blotches. It just makes you look that much more bright eyed and bushy tailed and I'm a great believer in if you look like it you will feel it...

Second is an all important splash of colour. A bright colour. It'll pick up your whole face and outfit, even if your outfit is your scruffiest, oldest, stained "fat joggers" and a funky 80's-esc pineapple hair do... I do think the assumption is if you've managed a full lip stick then it must all be intentional. I use a bright red and I just feel better for it. Max Factor Lipfinity is my favourite, it lasts all day and doesn't rub off for toddler kisses and this "Hot" shade works with my slightly paler skin tone...

2) Leggings. What better time to rock a bump than at such a time when leggings are in fashion?! Stretchy, comfortable, black, essential leggings. There isn't a more flexible wardrobe essential than a black pair of leggings, for in or out, dressed up or down, prenatal yoga classes to date night. You need leggings. I got by the last 9 months in these The Essential One Maternity Leggings.

(Clearly they Photoshopped in a picture of me as this lady's body double... Villans. :P)

3) H&M stretchy vests, tees and dresses. Non maternity ones. Like these and these. From £3.99 to £12.99, they've saved me a fortune, they're super stretchy and long so cover bump a treat and as they're not maternity they will do me after the birth as well. I have only had to buy 1 dress size up from my usual size too.

4) "Hypnobirthing: The Breakthrough Approach to Safer, Easier, Comfortable Birthing" by Marie Mongan. Seriously, this book has changed my whole perspective on pregnancy and birth. Not to mention it has rid me of 99.9999% of my pregnancy and birth related anxiety. For reading it's theories on "fear-tension-pain-syndrome" I have a whole new perspective on my birth with Euna, the social context of childbirth and what an impact expectation affects women's experience of birth globally. Since reading it I have learnt to love my pregnant body, be excited for birth and learnt solid relaxation techniques that I believe I will carry forward long after childbirth. I can't recommend it enough...

5) Theraline Maternity & Nursing Pillow. In my last pregnancy I made do with a £5.99 v-shaped pillow from a cheapie bed sheet and bath towel shop in town. I swore by it and couldn't for the life of me understand why people spent £40-90 on a specialised maternity pillows. Then about 3 months in to this pregnancy I was really struggling with sleep and Steve insisted I at least gave it a try. It cost £44.95 from John Lewis and worth it's weight in gold for getting me comfortable in bed for the last 6 months. Better than any normal foam pillow because it doesn't flatten over time as you lay on it. It's full of tiny beads that mould in to position and stay there. Great support resulting in great less rubbish sleep.

6) Bath smellies. Baths were made for pregnancy, I am sure of it. Aches and pains, stresses and worries, tiredness and even early labour pain can all be relieved in the bath. It's good bonding time with your bump and I find essential to get to know and accept your body as it changes. Needless to say I rank a bath up there with things you should have a little splash out on and pimp with some luxury smellies. These Neal's Yard products have been two of my favourites...

7) Bravado Maternity & Nursing Bras. I actually bought when Euna was newborn and they have been repurchased and repurchased over the last 18 months. They are my favourite. They give a great shape, great support all around and they're sized to expand and retract with ever changing pregnancy and breastfeeding breasts. More than anything they're particularly a great purchase to have ready for after the birth and the logistics of making it to a bra fitting are a little complicated.

The Essential One: Ambassadorship & GIVEAWAY!

A while back I discovered this (The Essential One) great little online retailer for maternity and baby clothes... I ordered some maternity pyjamas and was so impressed I couldn't not review them! 

So impressed with The Essential One's fabric quality, fast delivery and I'm a sucker for a bit extra in the packaging department... I got to stalking them on Twitter and was super excited to see them advertising a scheme for bloggers! Cue one application from yours truly and would you know it... I'M A THE ESSENTIAL ONE MUCH LOVED BLOGGER! 

 What does that mean? Well it means new baby A isn't even born and he or she has his ir her first blogging assignment... To model and review a few of The Essential One's very fine newborn bits! YEY!

Just to reiterate how much I love this brand check me out in this maternity tee here...

 And here...

Bought with my very own pennies and hiiiiighly recommended long before the days when I could boast a "Much Loved Blogger" badge! You will not regret treating yourself and/or baby their essential items... The lovely thing about The Essential One is they're not out to clutter up your wardrobe with one wear wonders, their pieces are all about being quality, staple reliables that you enjoy wearing and dressing baby in time after time! I can honestly say this is my favourite go to tee! :D

If you are still not convinced enough to part with your own pennies then how's about you just spend THEIRS?! Fancy a £20 voucher to test them out...? Then enter below using the widget...

Remember to come back everyday between now and the end of the giveaway to receive more and more entries, there are tons of ways to build up your entries too... GOOD LUCK!!! 

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Joules Fabulously Fluffy Socks GIVEAWAY

It's no secret after my last review of a Joules product that I'm a big Joules fan! I love their premise for bold, colourful, quality items that suit an active outdoorsy lifestyle. I love their statement prints and I love buying items that I know will last me a while. 

Joules = Mummyography win.

So here I am super chuffed to be able to offer a few Joules freebies up for GIVEAWAY! I have 3 pairs of the Fabulously Fluffy Socks in a selection of colours to send out to 3 lucky winners. They retail at £7.95 and I confirm they are indeed fabulously fluffy! Fluffy socks are always an Autumn/Winter essential, especially for those of you planning to rock a pair of wellies when the weather starts turning everything sludgy and these ones are a particularly brilliant way to kick start your new season wardrobe!

All you have to do is promote my blog and the giveaway shamelessly to gain entries. You can gain new entries everyday so keep popping back and then when the week is up I will randomly select 3 winners who will be contacted for their details for postage. Use the widget below so I can track your entries and that's it! Simple! 

ENTER HERE... 
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Joules Baby Pram Blanket Review

BY FAR my favourite part of baby shopping is blankets. Not swaddle blankets. Not sleeping bags. Beautiful, traditional, knitted or crocheted natural fibre blankets. For me buying them is a right of passage through pregnancy. Feeling their softness. Imagining snuggling up under them with your teenie tiny bundle for hours on end. Day dreaming about tucking them in to their moses basket all cosy and calm with them. 

They're for cuddly, cosy night slumbers and snug, sofa day snoozes. They're for enjoying everything that is wonderful about babyhood. 

I love baby blankets. Point stressed. Moving on...

Enter this Baby Pram Blanket from Joules to sit in wait for baby bump...

The review:

It's a "pram blanket", this means the dimensions (100 x 75cm) are set for tucking a 0-6 month old (ish) in to their respective pram, moses basket or crib, bouncing chair, car seat etc. They're not really big enough for baby in a cot or cot bed but an essential size for the early days.

It's 100% cotton. For me personally this is essential. Natural fibres are much more efficient at regulating babies body temperature than man made fibres are. The knit pattern also has little holes for extra breathability. It feels natural too, super soft and thick without feeling heavy or dense. Most ideally this blanket is for cooler months but the breathability of it would mean it isn't totally redundant during the summer.

The look is a classic baby knit, diamond pattern in the main body of the blanket, a striped boarder and then a pretty zig-zag trim. To punctuate the whole piece there is an embroidered "Baby Joule"logo. Whilst I'm not the biggest fan of logos I don't mind this, it's small, embroidered and well... it's Joules.

Price is £30, for the quality, versatility of use and expected longevity of this item that seems spot on. We already have a couple very similar John Lewis own blankets in our stash, including this cable knit blanket which is also priced at £30. Equally Mamas and Papas knitted blankets range from  £26-49.95, so this sits well with what I would consider it's counter parts.

Great version of an absolute baby essential at an apt price.

Disclaimer: This product was given to me for review by Joules, though all ideas, opinions, images and content within this post are entirely my own.

Holiday Review: La Mare Chappey via Baby Friendly Boltholes

This has been a couple of weeks in the post but we seemed to have returned from holiday and hit the ground running in "get stuff done" mode but I had to share a review of the place we went on holiday because it seriously was a special little find!

Our holiday mission statement was to make things easy enough with a toddler that it still felt like a holiday for us whilst taking the opportunity of getting away to see somewhere new. We wanted warmth to enjoy the outdoors but we didn't want to be too hot to run around after the small one. We also wanted separate rooms from said small one and living space to chill out in the evening.

Going with my first piece of criteria ("make things easy enough with a toddler") I checked out the aptly named Baby Friendly Boltholes who do exactly what they say on the tin (and explained in more depth here). Factoring in budget (£1000 for a week we initially set), distance from home (6-8 hour max) and facilities (we wanted a pool) we found this place...

La Mare Chappey 

So the set up: 4 self-catering cottages (or Gites) in repurposed barns on the grounds of a beautiful refurbished manor house. Additional facilities on the grounds include a brand new heated and fenced swimming pool, jacuzzi, a playground (tramploine, swings, slides, wendy house, see-saw etc), an indoor "play barn" (ball pools, wendy house, table tennis etc), a bistro and/or the in-house dining brought to your door, wifi, pretty courtyard area and bouncy castle everyday from 5:00pm. The cottages all had different sized sleeping accommodation but the premise was the across the board; very clean, comfortable living with everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, you could need for a week with a baby. From a fully loaded kitchen complete with all the appliances you could ask for, children's crockery and cutlery, to highchairs, stair gates and toys to cots with clean mattresses and sheets. Also every cottage had it's own outdoor area with dining furniture and shade and 3/4 of the cottages look out over the playground for older children who might be capable with being left to it.

What did we think? Excellent. In every way. This is a seriously well oiled holiday machine. Everything is in good condition. Everything is clean. You feel at home. It's all been thought about. Be it from their own experiences or they are just simply very good at listening to the needs of their clients, the wonderfully polite and helpful owners have a spot on idea of what you need to have enjoy a home from home with young children and to have a good family holiday. 

Beyond convenience being key, La Mare Chappey is set in the most beautiful part of France. The same stunning stonework you see in these pictures is scattered everywhere you turn around the region. Charming, unspoilt towns and villages are connected by quiet rural roads. We saw no traffic and it made for easy driving whcih is a huge plus when you're doing it on the "wrong" side of the road. There's plenty to see and do. Amongst our checked list of sights were beautiful golden beaches (which I never expected), historic World War II sites (like Omaha and Utah Beach), the Bayeux tapestry and the glorious town of Bayeux, beautiful churches/cathedrals, unique boutique shopping, restaurants, quintessential creperies, pattisseries and biscuiteries and a nature reserve. 

Check out the rest of our holiday pics here and here and here and here and here!!!!

Thank you La Mare Chappey, it was wonderful! Exceded our expectations on every level... Our only regret was a week being far to short! 

Joules Baby Lizzie Dress Review

I was absolutely over the moon when Joules sent this beautiful baby girls dress over for review! For us Joules is on the more luxurious end of what we splash out for clothes and every time we have been pleased with the investment. They offer quality statement pieces, which are also very wearable and can really accent your wardrobe. In the past we've had a sleep suit, a dress and a t-shirt and shorts set. All have been favourites, so I am particularly excited to have this dress and share a review with you.

So what I have found recently with clothes buying is that Euna is coming out of her babyhood. She is in her clothes for much longer, so spending a little more on longer standing items is becoming more and more worthwhile. I'm a firm believer in buying less but buying right. I love some of the supermarket brands and I am quite partial to a Primark haul but you can end up spending more if a lot of it doesn't wash tremendously well, or the buttons go, or the designs are a little bland, so you get bored and buy more... Gone are the days of "panic dressing" to get her through the piles of beautiful baby gifts and all the wonderful things we stock piled in pregnancy. Now we can wear clothes out. So when possible I think we should be buying to last.

Cue this delicious iconic, floral print, jersey, A line dress from Joules. The Baby Lizzie dress.

First off, the aesthetics, I love the print. A classic pink floral on a little girl? Everytime. What's more is the pink is a fuschia pink and the cuffs are an almost luminous turquoise. So what we have a classic floral print with a funky, bold twist. Fabulous!

The fit is a straight for A line. I would call it a "jumper dress". This is why I think the item is so wearable. I'm a firm believer babies and toddlers need to be comfortable. I love to see Euna looking lovely but I don't want to see her tripping over long skirts, scratching itchy zip fastenings or rolling around with her farm animal set on the floor in something fitted and restrictive. This is essentially like a long jumper, comfortable, soft jersey fabric, no waist band or hidden fastenings at the neck. There's nothing to make me imagine this isn't anything but a comfortable, play-friendly piece.

I got a size 12-18 months. Sizings seem accurate. This is roomy on Euna so lots of growing room for when the weather cools off in Autumn when she'll get a little more wear out of it and then into winter when I'll team it with wooly tights and maybe welly boots (if her feet grow enough for ickle wellies which I am dying to buy!) FYI Euna is now 16 months, she floats around the 25th percentile and is about 22lbs. She's proportional in her height too and the length is great. It is just on her knee so not short at all and not so long I see her trip at all.

The first wear was yesterday and the 100% cotton stood up to a fairly intensive 40 degree cotton wash (I had some gnarly beach towels to go in hence the intensive cycle). The pattern stayed perfectly and the fabric didn't "bobble" in the slightest.

Cost is £24.95. Yes you could buy 3-4 dresses from a supermarket for this money, but I do believe that this is something special. I'd always rather have a few great items I rotate for Euna than a wardrobe full of pieces she wears a handful of times. Given the wearability and how well it's gone through the wash I expect to see this dress really earn it's keep. Buy less, wear more as Gok would say! £24.95 (at a very rough sweeping look) seems to put it a pound or two above JoJo Maman Bebe's jersey dresses (which I am little disheartened with when it comes to how well they wash) and maybe one or a few pounds cheaper than Hatley and Frugi. So amongst brands that I would group it with it seems right on.

Round-up:

• Bold, iconic, print design
• Quality fabric and make, that washes well
• Comfortable and very wearable
• £24.95 with a lot of scope to get your money's worth

Click here to find this dress and other girls dresses from Joules!

The item pictured in this post was given to me for free by Joules, though all opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own and entirely uninfluenced by any external parties.

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Softly Snail Activity Fun House Review

A little while back in February I had a little look over Euna's Christmas presents and had a think about best toys for gifts... Amongst them was this beautiful rocking horse we got family to pitch in for for Christmas...

I'm a big believer in buying less but buying for forever and that's exactly what this rocking horse is...

It's from quite a plush toy company called Little Bird Told Me, a company I already adore for the quality and beautiful designs of their toys.

So I was over the moon when this little guy came in the post for review...

This is the Softly Snail Activity Fun House! It's a (copied from the website)...

"Brimming with activities and fun surprises, to excite, stimulate and delight! Her antennae rattle and squeak and you can pull her along on her removable wooden wheels. Lift the roof to discover a hidden mirror and discover where Curious Caterpillar lives. Don’t forget to pop a photo behind the door to add a personal ‘peek-a-boo’ touch!"

And what did we think? Well for me, the parent, I love the look. That shouldn't matter, but it does a little bit. It's so sweet looking with his little face and the pastel colours. It's not just a toy you like to see them play with, it also looks gorgeous displayed on a shelf in the nursery. When she's playing with it I'm reassured by the quality. The stitching is tight, the materials are soft and luxurious, the manufacturing is clearly well done and all the parts appear baby very baby safe. I can imagine this toy being appropriate at 6 months and lasting well in to toddlerdom (2-3 years). I also like the wooden wheels, I think we all like to see natural materials used where ever possible.

Well what does she think? She LOVES it! She loves pulling it around the kitchen, she stores anything and everything in the little house, sits and does her little "bop-bop" dance to twinkle twinkle little star when you pull the antennae and more than anything she seems surgically attached to the little caterpillar rattle!

The only negative I have come across is that the pull cord has a break point in the middle that reattaches with soft velcro. I can only assume this is for some kind of health and safety reason to prevent the cord getting wrapped around anything but for Euna it detaches a little too easily.

Price is £28.00. At a quick glance on Google I can see you can get a very small and very basic pull along toy from £3 and they go up depending on brand, quality and interactivity to £50.00. So £28.00 puts the Softly Snail at the middle to upper end of the bracket, though I do advise in the case of this toy you are getting what you pay for. It is musical, interactive, of quality construction, uses natural material and looks absolutely adorable. Plus I believe this is a toy that will adapts with a child's development so you will be getting a lot of play time for your money.

In conclusion... Little Bird Told Me do beautiful "forever toys". Unless you've married a footballer you probably don't want to fill your whole toy box with this stuff, but what is lovely to have is a few quality staple toys that are your little one's favourites. Staples like a pull along and a rocking horse are perfect additions that you will keep thinking to yourself "I'm so glad I invested in a nice one of those". 

Positives of the softly snail are: it grows with your child, made with natural materials, very safe, interactive, has a lot of little extras like the photo slot and caterpillar rattle, it's well made and looks beautiful.

Negatives: the safety break in the cord detaches a little too easily for a more active toddler. 

Verdict: recommended, especially as a real "wow" gift for a special occasion.

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Check back in a bit... I have a photo post coming with some of my favourites from this weekend's toddler shoots... (Go "Like" my photography page Farlie Photography if you can't wait! It's really growing over there! Eeee! :D)