Pages

SOCIAL MEDIA


This weekend James' sister came up for a few days. Lily adores her so we tried to see her as much as we could before she went home. On Saturday we went for a walk in the park with various members of James' family. Lily had her first ever ride on the park train that runs on weekends and she enjoyed herself so much that she spent the next 48 hours telling anyone and everyone about it!



That evening Lily was invited to have a sleepover at James parents with Laura and although Lil had seemed keen on the idea all day when it came to actually putting her down to sleep there she became really upset and kept asking to go home.. so home we went! I talk about it in a bit more detail in my weekend vlog but I found the whole thing quite upsetting as Lily got really hysterical at one point which made me feel guilty! 


On Sunday and after a rubbish nights sleep none of us felt like doing much. James took Lily for 'brunch' at a nearby restaurant and to say goodbye to Laura before she caught her train and I attempted to catch up on some much needed Zzz's. The afternoon we stayed in, watched Frozen and did lots of cuddling on the sofa! The ultimate lazy Sunday and it was much needed!

How was your weekend?


Weekend Watch | 24.01

Tuesday 27 January 2015

I totally had one of those all powerful mother moments last night. Ever since the fiasco of Saturday night (which I'll talk about in my weekend post once I get round to writing it!)  Lils sleeping has been totally off. Last night she was totally hysterical again and I was about ready to accept that it was another night of no sleep when I heard her little voice over the monitor say 'mummy, cuggle me please' 
I went into her bedroom, took her out of her cot and sat on the chair in her bedroom with her. She put her head on my chest, snuggled into me and immediately shut her eyes and after a couple of minutes I heard her whisper 'thankyou mummy.'

We stayed cuddling for a few more minutes then I gently put her back in her bed and tucked her in and I swear she was fast asleep before I even reached the bedroom door! In that moment I was just totally reminded of the power of being a mother. It made me think back to when I was a kid and whenever I was feeling rubbish all I wanted was my mum, nothing else would do. Sometimes we forget just how incredibly important we are to these little people and how we have the ability to set their little worlds right again just by the power of 'a mummy cuddle.' 




Magic Moments

Monday 26 January 2015


4/52





The 52 Project - 4/52

Sunday 25 January 2015


This week for Mummy B's Photography Challenge the theme is 'light.' Yesterday we took Lily and her little cousin Ava for a walk around our local park and there happens to be a train that drives round the park offering rides on weekends. The girls jumped at the chance to go on it and the sun happened to be setting as we had our ride which made for some beautiful views. Unfortunately I didn't manage to capture the sun setting in the background like I was hoping to but I still love this picture! She looks so warm and snug and I hope it captures a sense of the cold crisp air and winter light..it was frickin freezing! 
Head on over to Mummy B's page to join in, I'd love to see all your pictures!


I've only just come across this linky created by First time mummy and I love it, it's right up my street! During the week I tend to dress Lily in whatevers easiest as we go to a lot of playgroups that do messy play and there's no point ruining her nicest clothes. However at the weekend its a totally different story and I like to make sure she has nice weekend outfits! 
Today Lily's wearing this super cute white elephant dress. I actually found it at a carboot sale for cheap and I'm so glad I did! Underneath it she's wearing a long sleeved vest with plain leggings and her winter boots from Mothercare.




Weekend Baby Style | 24.01

Saturday 24 January 2015


This winter I've been all about the red and black. There's something about these two colours together that I just love, so when I spotted these leggings in Primark for a mere £5 I just had to get them. They're super comfy and stretchy but what I've found with Primark leggings is that they go insanely baggy at the knees after a short while and surprise surprise these leggings have too (as you'll see in the picture below.) If your looking for these leggings but better quality I know that New Look do a similar but more expensive pair (around the £17 mark if I remember correctly) and I'm sure a lot of other places do too. 
I've always been a fan of black boots in winter and these were from Primark too, for around £20. Primark do some really nice boots but they can be a bit hit and miss quality wise. These I've been wearing constantly since I got them and haven't had a single problem with though! 

Although I cant wait for summer I love the winter style..baggy woolen jumpers and comfy leggings are definately my thing (!) and so I hope to post a winter outfit from my wardrobe once a week right through till spring. If anyone wants to join in please feel free as I would love to nosy at what everyone else is wearing at this time of year!




Winter Style

Thursday 22 January 2015




Oh I do love a good snow day! It doesn't half cheer me up! I woke up this morning to James complaining about how it was too snowy to go to the gym..I thought he was over exaggerating but I'm so glad he wasnt! It was the first time Lily's ever been in actual deep snow, the kind that crunches when you walk on it and she loved it! There was a point in the day where she decided that the snow was too cold and announced that she 'didnt like it anymore!' but after a short break inside to warm up she was soon eager to go out and play in it again.

Has it been snowing where you are?


Snow Day!

Wednesday 21 January 2015

So I'm currently having a huge inner struggle - Should I continue to be a stay at home mum or should I become a working mum?

 I'm one of these people who always has to be doing something..stay inside too long and I go crazy and because of this I always thought I'd end up being a working mum. I was a stay at home mum for the first year of Lily's life and to be honest I struggled with it quite a lot - I think because she was so little and the weather was always so awful we ended up staying inside all the time, which resulted in a lot of cabin fever for me. When Lily turned one I went back to uni to finish the last year of my degree and whilst I enjoyed exercising my brain again I hated being away from Lily a lot more than I thought I would. Uni was a lot of work and I often wouldn't be home till late evening and when I was home I constantly had exam revision and dissertation work on my mind. I felt like I was missing all the important stages in her life, the walking and the talking stages especially and I actually found myself longing for the days of just me and Lily alone in our little flat spending all of our time together. 

I graduated uni last July and have been a full time stay at home mum to Lily for the last 6 months. I'm really loving it and finding it so much easier than when she was a little baby. I love the age she's at now, love the little adventures we go on together and just love the overall routine we've got going on right now. I feel like we're so close, she's my best bud and I want to appreciate the time we have left together before she starts pre school.
On the flip slide however me and James had agreed from the get go that once I'd graduated Uni I'd start looking for work. Whilst I was at uni it was fine because I was getting student grants etc but now there's only one of us working we're beginning to struggle financially. Money worries are the worst, as I'm sure a lot of you know, and with baby plans and plans to buy a house in the not so near future I feel like time is ticking for me to get a job.

Choosing to stay at home with Lily will probably result in us having to push back both of these plans  yet getting a job will mean losing the time I have left with lily before she starts pre school. Oh what to do what to do!

Have any of you experienced this kind of struggle before? What did you end up doing? Would love to hear your stories.


Stay at Home Mum vs Working Mum - The Inner Struggle!

Monday 19 January 2015


This weeks theme for the photography challenge is 'simplicity.' I think this has been my favourite theme so far because lets be honest, its those simple everyday things that really matter the most.
A few mornings ago, after a very bad night with Lily, I decided to let her come into bed with me so that she could watch tele as I dozed for a bit. I was half asleep and half awake (I'd never fall properly asleep with her in my care) when I felt these teeny little arms patting and smoothing the blankets around me.  I opened my eyes to look at lily and she bent over and kissed my cheek and whispered "It's okay mummy I'm tucking you in. And look I've brought Ralphie and Bear too." I looked next to me and she'd tucked in her two favourite soft toys, the two that she hasnt been without since she was a baby..honestly my heart just melted! She was doing the same routine I do with her when she goes to bed and it was just the most beautiful feeling watching my sweet little girl emulate this. 
You don't realise it at all but its the every day simple routines you carry out that your little ones pick up on the most. 


52 Week Photography Challenge - Week 3 (Simplicity)

Sunday 18 January 2015



So yesterday evening my monkey did her first ever wee on the potty. What a momentous occasion! haha! We gave her three stickers after which she insisted on wearing to bed and she was so proud of herself that she made me ring granny so that she could announce it down the phone! 
I thought it might be a one off as she's never really shown much interest in the potty before now but she came racing down the stairs this morning and started shouting about how she's 'a big girl that doesn't need nappies any more.' So I guess she's ready! I better start researching potty training and what are the best pull ups etc whilst she's still enthusiastic! Let me know if you have any tips as I'd love to hear them. I cant believe my little girl is growing up so fast!!




Another Milestone

I intended to challenge myself with lots of different blogging projects this year but as I've been computer-less for the last week and a half I havent had much chance to search for any. Today I got my laptop back so I have had a chance to take a quick look around the community whilst Lily napped. As I was doing so I came across The 52 Project. This is obviously a very popular challenge and there are some amazing photos out there. I felt really inspired just looking at them all. The aim is to take a picture of my daughter every week for 52 weeks. (or in my case 50 weeks as I missed the last 2 weeks!) Along with Mummy B's photography challenge, this seems like it will help me develop better camera skills and will be lovely to look back on at the end of the year!



Here is my first photo of the 52 project,. Lily was in such a good mood this morning that we decided to do a little photo shoot and she loved posing for the camera! I took this picture of her smiling to herself and its my favorite of all the ones I took this morning as she didn't realize I was taking it! 




The 52 Project

Friday 16 January 2015


Yesterday Lily went on a walk in the remainder of the snow with her friend Harrison who is 5 months older than her. I love seeing the way she is around other kids, especially those who are older. She adores Harrison and copies every thing he does and he adores her back. Its a shame there wasn't much snow left but we still had a lovely walk, stopping to feed the ducks, trampling through the mud and ending up at the swings!






At one point during the walk they decided to hold hands so that they could help each other get up the 'slippy bridge' which was just the most heart warming thing! There really is such a beauty and innocent in friendships at this age.




A helping hand

Thursday 15 January 2015




Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday 14 January 2015


Sunday

This weekend was quite the hectic one! On Sunday we travelled to Manchester for James' sister Laura's birthday. She lives in such a nice area of Manchester (Hale for anyone whose interested!) and I was literally in shock at the houses around there..I've never seen anything like it! I was in house hunting heaven! Laura and her family are currently renting out this rich guys 'out-house' and his out-house is absolutely massive, bigger than the house we live in! You can only imagine how big his actual house next door is! Oh to be that rich ha ha. 



We spent much of the day outside exploring this guys gardens (yes plural!) & although it was completely freezing both Lily and Ava had thick winter suits on so they were fine! Laura has a step son and daughter who are ten and twelve and Lily spent the whole time playing with them as she absolutely adores older kids! She cried when it was time to leave and said she wanted 'to stay at Auntie Roaras' bless her! But we've promised her we'll be back soon :)

Saturday

This Saturday was mostly a day of running errands. Lily slept quite badly on Friday night so had a fairly long lunchtime nap and after she woke up we travelled into the town centre to take my broken laptop in to be mended. (They said it would take at least 8 days which means I'm stuck on James' crappy work laptop till then wah!) Afterwards we had a lovely little visit from my beautiful little nephew Bigby. He's almost 3 months now and I cant believe how fast he's growing. Lily was so sweet with him and kept bringing him all her favourite toys to play with..melted my heart!



Isn't he just the cutest!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend 




Weekend Watch | 10.01

Monday 12 January 2015



This weeks theme for Mummy B's photography challenge is cold and boy have we experienced a lot of cold recently! In fact its currently snowing in Leeds as I type this! (That horrible snow that's mixed in with rain and never settles though boo) The above picture shows a few of my winter essentials that I couldn't have lived without in the last few weeks. Our fire is never off at the moment as we spend most of our time in the living room and get cold air coming in from the patio door windows. I dread to think what our next bill is going to be like to be honest! We also have a lot of candles burning in the evening after Lily's gone to bed as it makes the room feel much more cosy and gives off an illusion of warmth. Dressing gowns and hot water bottles are must haves for me at the moment too! There's nothing cosier than a dressing gown in the winter and Lily even has a personalised one that she wears over her pyjamas in the mornings. I like to put a hot water bottle in our bed as its absolutely freezing when we climb into bed at the moment! I honestly don't think I could have gotten through the last few months without these items!

How do you cope during the cold winter months?




52 Week Photography Challenge - Week 2 (Cold)

Sunday 11 January 2015


Like most bloggers I am obsessed with taking photos so what better to do than to take up a photography challenge! I think I attempted one a few years ago (I might go back and try to find it actually!) but it was a photo a day challenge and it all got too much, I think I only made it to the middle of March if I remember correctly! 

Mummy B's photography Challenge is perfect because its 1 photo a week, so not too taxing and I like the sound of all the subjects! This weeks subject is 'Beginnings' - 


As its the start of 2015 I'm doing the cliche thing that everybody does at the start of the year which is to start eating healthily again. For me this is less about losing weight and more about feeling guilty about the amount of crap I've put into my body over the Christmas holiday. When I eat rubbish I start to feel all lethargic and so I'm hoping that the green smoothie diet will help revitalize me and give me back some much needed energy...Oh and I wouldn't complain if I were to lose a few pounds in the process ;)  



52 Week Photography Challenge - Week 1 (Beginnings)

Tuesday 6 January 2015


Lily got so many presents for christmas, she really is such a lucky girl! What has already become her most played with toy is this pretend kitchen from Ikea. My parents got her it and myself & James bought her a lot of pretend food along with a teapot set with cups and saucers to go with it. She absolutely adores pretending to make us cups of tea and meals and will pretend to feed all her dolly's too. Although the kitchen itself takes up a lot of space in our front room it's definitely worth it for the amount of time she spends playing with it!


We also bought Lily this pink and white highchair for £10 at Smyths, an absolute bargain! We definately bought it at the right time as she uses all her new pretend food to feeds her dolly's in her highchair. It's only a little highchair but it works for us as it slots in perfectly next to the kitchen and looks cute! 

Finally, let me just leave you with this picture that has nothing to do with Lily's christmas presents but makes me laugh every time I look at it.. 


What a little poser! Just like mummy ;)!

What did your little ones get for Christmas?


Lily's Fave Christmas Gifts

Sunday 4 January 2015