The Mum Tag

I got this from Lulu over at A Mumma's Time Out :)

1. Are you a Stay at Home Mum, or a Working Mum?

Stay at home mum for the foreseeable future. 

2. Would you have it any other way?

I'd love to work from home. Maybe sell some things that I make but I seriously lack confidence in myself.

3. Do you co-sleep?

No. We have done on the odd night but it's not something I want to get into the habit of.

4. What is your one must-have item for your baby?

Besides a pram, I'd say a bouncy chair.

5. How many kids do you plan on having?

I'm expecting my 3rd and she is most definitely my last.

6. Date night? How many nights per month?

Never. I can't remember the last time Paul and I went out on our own.

7. Your childs favourite show?

Keira loves Phineas and Ferb. Actually, she loves everything! Haha. Logan loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dinosaur Train, Chugginton, Peppa Pig and he LOVES The Gruffalo!

8. Name one thing you bought before you had your baby and never ended up using?

Insulated bottle bags. Silly thing is I bought them for my first baby and never used them and then went ahead and bought them again for my second. Never used them again. Lol!

9. Your child’s favourite food?

Keira loves tomato flavoured everything but not tomatoes. She actually eats tomato puree straight from the tube which I think is disgusting! Lol! Logan loves anything meaty. Mostly beef.

10. How many cars does your family have?

None at the moment. Paul is going to be starting lessons soon though. Don't fancy trailing 3 kids around on the bus.

11. Weight gain before pregnancy, during and after and now?

I've never been at a perfect weight. But with every pregnancy I've lost weight at the beginning. With Keira and Logan I lost a stone at the start both times and then gained that stone back through out. This time I lost around 7lbs at the start and haven't gained a thing. I actually lost a further 2lb because of a sickness bug.

12. Dream holiday with your kids?

Disney World Florida

13. Dream holiday without your kids?

I'm not too fussed. But if it was without the kids it would be Las Vegas or something.

14. How has your life changed since your baby has been born?

My life has changed completely. The life I was living just stopped and my new one started. 

15. Finish the sentence: 'It makes my heart melt to see … '

My kids playing nicely together... and to hear 'I love you Mummy' :)

16. Where do you shop for your kids?

Everywhere really. Asda, Tesco, Primark, Next, Debenhams, Matalan, etc etc etc.

17. Favourite makeup and skincare products?

I don't have any anymore. At one time I would have had a whole list. Now I barely have time to think about applying make up.

18. Huggies or Pampers?

Pampers

19. Have you always wanted kids?

No. Before I was pregnant with Keira I was pretty sure I was never going to have kids!

20. Best part about being a mum?

Everything! Seeing these little people that I made grow. The endless love! It's amazing!

H&M - Bargain Buy!

I pretty much use all my spare time browsing websites on the internet for clothes for my kids (resulting in hundreds of wishlists!). I recently found out that with H&M you can order online and have it delivered with a payment slip. As long as you go to a bank and pay or do a bank transfer for the order within 20 days of the invoice date you're okay. I think this is a great idea. Sometimes I miss out of good sales because I'm skint, etc. 

When I was online yesterday I found out that they have the Converse style hi-tops on sale at the moment for £2.99 a pair. They were in the boys sections but I got one of each colour for both Keira and Logan. I ordered them in a size up so they should be perfect for the summer time! They've had the H&M ones a few times and they're perfect. 

I love this style of shoe because they're so versatile. They can be worn with jeans/leggings/trousers, shorts and even dresses or skirts. They also sell girly colours like pink and lilac but they aren't on sale at the moment. The colours I did buy are obviously suitable for both girls and boys though!

So, in total, I got 10 pairs of shoes for £36.79 including delivery! Obviously there was no need to order each colour but it's great to have the options there!

Little Haul

There hasn't really been a lot of spare cash the past two weeks and there still isn't this week! However, I have managed a small haul. =)

First of all, I've only been out one place. The whole family have gone through a sickness bug and now I'm at the start of a cold.

So, to start with Paul went out to Edinburgh for a couple of things. He picked up the other two name plaques I wanted to get. Not 100% happy with the colour combinations he picked (I wanted it to be more mixed up) but never mind. They're still nice.

He also picked up shampoo and conditioner for me. I use Tresemme and it usually costs me £5 per bottle but Tesco had it on offer for £2.40 per bottle. So, I got 4 for my £10 instead of 2! Not sure if the offer is still on. I haven't blogged because of all the puke going on in my house.

I ordered a bed set from Amazon for Logan. It's all bright primary colours and has cars, buses etc on it. That arrived over the weekend. I also bought his duvet and pillows but I didn't take pictures of those! 

Macey's sheets were finally picked up from Asda. I also bought her the cutest knitted dress and tights set. It cost £8. Logan got a whole ton of pants. And a packet of bibs that were on sale in Mothercare. They should have been £6.99 but they were on sale for £3.49 (I think).

I was in Mothercare buying potties for Logan. One for my house and one for my mum's house. Logan has been using the big toilet for a poop since just before he turned two but he only just recently became aware when he was needing to wee. I decided to go for potties for learning a wee purely for easiness. I don't want to have to make him run to the toilet when he needs to go chancing that he might not make it and have an accident. He'll still use the big toilet for a poop though!

I also bought the carpet for the kids bedroom this week. As far as I'm aware it's being delivered tomorrow. I only really need to hire a carpet fitter and buy the mattress for Logan's bed before I can move them in together now! The rest of the stuff can be done after Logan is in the room! So, hopefully by the end of next week!

Now I'm well and truly skint! Haha!

Home Made Hair Bows - How To

I love, love, love making hair bows for my daughter and now that I'm expecting my second daughter I'm venturing into baby headbands. I love that fact that my girls will have hair accessories to match all of their clothes. They also make lovely gifts! They are really simple to make so I wanted to share how I do it. There's a few different styles I do but today I'm starting out with the basic plain bow attached to a pony tail bobble. I don't have any clips at the moment but once they arrive I will show you how to attach a bow to a clip. I've tried to explain everything as simple as possible. I know I find things a lot easier when it's put in simple form.

You will need:

• Two types of ribbon of your choice. (If you're just starting out, I recommend grosgrain at about 1" wide and 3/8" for the center)
• Glue gun
• Hair bobbles
• Ruler or tape measure
• Scissors
• Lighter

Here goes:

Measure out your ribbon. It has to be double the length you want your bow to be. So, if you want a 3 inch wide bow you need to measure out 6 inches of ribbon. Run both ends of the ribbon through a lighter to stop it from fraying. My ribbon is measured out at 8 inches.

(excuse the horrid old lady hands and chipped polish! My hands are so dry and sore at the moment. Also, please excuse the dirty oven tray in the lighter picture. Paul had just taken his dinner out the cooker!)

Fold the ribbon in half and press it hard at the crease so that it makes a visible line.

Lay the ribbon out flat, picture side down.

Put a thin line of glue right next to the crease line and fold the ribbon over. Repeat for the other side.

Turn your bow over so the picture side is facing up. Put a small dot of glue right in the center of the bow and fold both sides up. Hold in place until it's set.

Turn your bow over onto it's side and put a small dot of glue in the center and fold the side down. Hold in place until it's set. Repeat on opposite side.

Turn your bow over so it's upside down. Put a bit of glue in the center of the bow and place the end of your smaller ribbon down. Hold it in place until it's set. Wrap the ribbon around your bow and pull it until you have it looking good at the front. 

Put another bit of glue in the center of the back of the bow on top of the ribbon you've already placed. Press a bobble into this glue and hold in place until it's set. 

Put some more glue in the center and over the bobble. 

Wrap the remaining ribbon around and through the bobble pressing down into the glue.

Trim the excess ribbon off and carefully run the lighter over the end of the ribbon and you're done!

You can also add a center if you chose to. Like a button or a gem, etc. 

You can pick up glue guns really cheap on eBay. If you don't want to use eBay you can buy them from Argos and they cost £11.99 with 24 glue sticks. It's a bit more expensive but still worth it if you ask me!

Remember that practice really does make perfect. The more you try the better and easier it gets. It literally takes me two minutes to make a bow now and they are wearable almost instantly. As soon as the glue cools it's stuck!
Another little tip for collecting ribbon... when you buy new pyjamas (sometimes blankets, especially from Primark) they come folded and wrapped in ribbon. Keep the ribbon! It can be used for bows! 
Hopefully this was easy to understand and happy bow making!!

Pregnancy Update...

I haven't done a proper pregnancy update in quite a while and since I'm nearing the end I thought I'd better do one now.

(one of the very few bump pictures I have this time around. 31 weeks and 3 days. To be honest, my belly has only really started sticking out like this in the past couple of weeks. It stays sticking out like this when I first get in bed for about 5 minutes then it disappears. Certainly does not feel like I'm almost 32 weeks)

I'm currently 31 weeks and 5 days along. Things are still going great. I've had no problems at all. I'm getting plenty of sleep at night. I remember at this stage with both Keira and Logan I was in pain at night. Especially trying to turn over in bed. I don't have much problem with it at all this time. I've only just recently started to feel out of breath. This week I started getting that pressure feeling in my lady parts. (TMI!!) I think it's called lightening. I've also only just recently started getting braxton hicks. Baby is a good mover. Always giving me loads of kicks/jabs and moving around. She still doesn't feel that very big to me. I'm due my scan in 4 weeks time to check on her size.

I had a glucose tolerance test a couple of weeks ago because of Logan's size when he was born. They wanted to make sure I didn't have gestational diabetes. I went into hospital for 9.15 am and had bloods done. I then had to drink a bottle of this really sugary drink within 10 minutes. It was like flat coke but even more sugary. It was so sugary that when I finished the drink you could see sugar crystals in the bottom of the cup! I was then left for two hours in a nice little room. I was on my own so it was great. I got to read my book in peace and quite! Haha! Then once the two hours were up I got more bloods done. The second lot of bloods make me a bit ill. I think because I hadn't been allowed to eat since 10pm the night before. I got so dizzy and my hearing disappeared, which happens when I'm going to faint. However, I managed to pull myself together. Then I was given a sandwich and a drink. My tests all came back clear. As I've said before all the boys in my family have been big. Dating back 80 years. My great uncle was a twin and was 15lbs at birth. Logan is third in line record holder! Hahaha. I'm also having my weight gain supervised too. I thought I had gained some weight but apparently I have gained nothing at all! My weight is exactly the same as it was at the start. Baby is still growing and getting bigger so that actually means that as baby is getting bigger I've been losing weight! The dietitian said I will notice it once I give birth. I should be a good bit down in weight. I'm really happy about this of course! I'm on the right track!

Now as the weeks are creeping in I'm definitely feeling the fear of giving birth. I'm not scared to give birth, I'm scared of what could happen. I get to see my midwife again in two weeks time so I'm going to have a proper discussion about my birth. I'm in two minds about asking for a c-section. I'm terrified of going through labour only to end up with a c-section that goes badly again. If I'd planned on more babies after Macey I'd have been more enthusiastic for a VBAC. But she is most definitely my last baby. I won't put my body under the stress of another birth when I'll have 3 beautiful children to look after. I feel like the weight of my fear is starting to bring on a bit of anxiety again. I do not want to go through that again either. So, some tough decisions ahead!

I still haven't bought anything else. I want to finish the kids' room first. I'm buying their new carpet and hopefully the mattress for Logan's bed next week. So, fingers crossed that after that I can do a huge baby haul. All the last bits and pieces and a major clothes shop!!

Haul For The Week

Not a big haul this week due to lack of money! But what we did get were bargains. 

We got a box of Cheeky Bots nappies from Tesco. They cost £15 and there are 196 (I think) in the box. They only had size 2 left when we went to get them but we got them anyways. It's a good supply. I only have one small packet of size 1 so far, so now I need to work on getting more of them.

Today when I was on the Babies R Us website I noticed that they had the 3 packs of MAM self sterilising bottles down to £10.59. They were unavailable for home delivery and I wasn't able to reserve them, so I gave my nearest Toys R Us a call to see if they had them in store. They had two packs of pink left. When I got there I decided to just go ahead and get a green pack too. So, I saved a good bit of money on these today. 

The only other things we got this week were things that arrived in the post. I bought all of this last week. 

The light shade for the kids room turned up and is gorgeous! It makes loads bright shiny circles on the walls when the light is on. Both the kids love it!

(Picture is horrible and gives it no justice. I will get better pics once the bedroom is finished)

I also got a lot of ribbon for making hair bows. White with black polka dots, Jack Skellington, and Frankenweenie. I made bows for Keira's hair. I also made one for Macey with the polka dot ribbon. I haven't put a center on it yet though because I need to buy or make headbands first. 

I'm on huge hair bow kick at the moment. Going to be ordering tons more ribbon over the next couple of weeks. I might even post a how to for the basic hair bow. It's lots of fun to do and the more you try the better you get!
If there's any kind of haul next week it won't be much either. Money shortage for a couple of weeks! I've got so much stuff I need to do before Macey arrives!

Baby Checklist

It suddenly hit me today just how little time I have before my baby will be born. I've barely bought any of the necessities. I made a point of buying the cot mattress yesterday. Macey is having Logan's cot but obviously I'm going to throw out the old mattress. It was down to £35 in the sale at the Asda Baby Event and is being delivered tomorrow. 

This is what I still have to buy. =\

Bed Time:
Clair De Lune bedding bale
Matching mobile
Moses basket
Cot sheets
Moses basket sheets
Blankets (maybe another 2 or 3)

Feeding:
MAM Self Sterilising bottles (9 bottles, 3 to be left at my mum's house)
MAM milk dispenser
Bottle brush
Bibs
Flasks

Bath Time:
Hooded Towels 
Changing mat
Baby Wash
Baby Shampoo

Other:
Bouncy chair
Travel System
Pink coat hangers
Little storage boxes for socks, tights and shoes
Nappies
Wipes (We have two boxes of Johnsons wipes, which is 12 packs. I want another couple of boxes though!)

I think that's all the things that I really need apart from clothes. I'm taking advantage of the fact that this baby is a girl and will more than likely be my last. I'm buying as many pretty, frilly, pink dresses as I can!

I also need to start working on my hospital bag too. So far all I've bought is a toothbrush! 

NOW I'M FEELING TERRIFIED! Hah!