Instagram Q&A

21-12-2016

I recently posted onto my Instagram that I was going to be posting a Q&A here on my blog, therefore I have some questions to answer...obviously... either way that's what we're going to be talking about today, hopefully I will be doing a chit-chat post talking about our Christmas and everything surrounding our day; so keep a look out for that. Also I uploaded this much later than expected so some questions probably won't make much sense as I wrote this before Christmas haha.

if you've missed the opportunity to take part in this Q&A be sure to head over to my Instagram dons_steph to be notified as to when I will be doing another one, but anyway on to this one...I will be writing the questions exactly as to how they were written on my instagram  hopefully I can answer them all to the best of my ability.

What are your future goals? career? family? car? house?

Hmm, my future goals and career? being completely honest I have no idea, I love what I do now - I get to work with so many amazing companies and I'm beyond lucky to do so, I love running a blog..although sometimes it can get a bit much haha. If however what I aim to achieve or what I'm doing doesn't work out I'd love to be a midwife. My future family goal would be to eventually get engaged and married, have more children and a tad cringe but live happily ever after. 

I'd loveeeeeee some sort of luxury car a Range Rover, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Jaguar haha, something like that ;)...and for a house, just somewhere I can truly put my stamp on and live comfortably.

What are you most looking forward to for x-mas?

Spending time with my family, food and everything surrounding Christmas; its by far my favourite time in the year.

Your fav scent for Christmas?

Anything really, I'm not particularly fussy, anything that smells nice. 

What are you Christmas plans?

We're spending our time with family, my family and Zachary's family, celebrating and having fun; but we're not 100% sure, so we will have to wait until the day. 

Do you still like blogging?

Yes of course, I just don't have as much time on my hands - not that it bothers me, obviously I'm a stay at home mum looking after my 5 month (almost 6 month) old daughter, so spend a great deal of time playing, feeding, tidying, cuddling, kissing with her. I'd much rather spend every minute with her than upload or write a post being 100000000% honest, but yes I still love blogging. 

What is your fav thing about Christmas?

Everything :) being able to spend time with my family, the decorations, watching movies, pigging on food, present giving, just in general everything around Christmas.  

I know its a little while away but do you have any plans for Evie's 1st birthday?

Ironically I have started planing her 1st birthday already, we intend to have a party for her but obviously I can't give to much away but its going to be great fun, special and cute. but I'll let you know nearer the time. :)

Were is your inspiration for topics on your blog? what do you take pictures of your baby with?

A majority of my posts are chit-chats so mainly whats on my mind, so it doesn't really need much inspiration haha, and my phone. 

Would you ever vlog/ be vlogging?

I've thought about it, but I have no idea...who knows...we'll just have to wait and see.. ;)

Why were you in hospital a few weeks ago? are you ok?

I'm getting there, I have gallstones or stones in my gallbladder, which let me tell you is not fun; its ridiculously painful. I have a relatively high pain barrier so not much phases me, but gallstones, my goodness. Due to this I can't actually eat a lot of things as certain foods trigger an attack which usually ends up with me in hospital. However I'm actually due to have an operation at the beginning of January to have my gallbladder removed, so hopefully I recover fast and am back to normal, and able to eat whatever I want. 

Do you plan on having any more babies if yes, when?

Yes, we want 1 or 2 more. And we haven't really made any permanent arrangements, we hope in the next 2 years or so, but of course these things could change. As you may know I have a few problems with fertility, so it takes as long as it takes...but hopefully within the next 2 years.  

What phone do you have?

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. 

Will you be doing a house tour as you done a nursery tour?

Probably not, but maybe one day? who knows? I don't see it in the near future, but that doesn't mean I never will. 

Favourite Christmas movie?

The grinch, Elf, Polar express, The littlest light on the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, home alone..the list goes on haha. 

One thing you think is a great trait? for example honesty, funny, kind etc..

All of the above lol, honesty, sense of humour, friendly, considerate, caring, kind, loving, everything in my partner. #cringe 

What is your favourite quote? about anything?

Any to be honest, any that I'm feeling at the time haha.

Best thing about being a mama!?

There isn't just one thing, everything! 

You shop a lot on Instagram what is your fav thing about it?

I love the fact that every clothing item is unique, not something you see on the high street.

What apps do you use to edit your pictures?

Repix, square ready and logolicious.  

What do you feel is most important in life?

Family. 

Why is Evangeline so cute?

I often ask myself the same question, she's beautiful, perfect inside and out. I guess me and Zachary just have good baby making genes haha.

What mummy buy do you regret buying most?

Erm, I dont have any to be completely honest.

What makes you happy?

My daughter, partner, family, pets and of course you lovely bunch.

How do you take your pictures on Instagram?

On my mobile phone. :)

What gender baby do you want next? if you plan to have more?

I'd love to have a little boy, but in all honesty I wouldn't care as long as they are healthy. 

What is your fav colour to wear for this season? P.S ILY

Red.  

Your daughter is the cutest! what is your dream car?

Defiantly like I said above something luxury  a Range Rover, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Jaguar haha, something like that.

Whats your favourite platform of social medias? and why?

Instagram. 

How did you know you was pregnant? 

I done a test haha, I didn't actually think I was it was my sister and Zachary who convinced me to take a test. 

I hope you've found this interesting and that I answered these questions giving you all the information you wanted haha, if you missed this Q&A be sure to follow me to take part in the next. thank you ever so much for reading and I'll talk to your in my next post. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and new year. 

Feeling festive

'It's the most wonderful time of the year.'

Christmas is swiftly approaching, I still haven't quite finished my Christmas shopping, which is actually rather odd for me...for the last 3 or 4 year's, by the time we've reached December 12th I've finished wrapping presents and there either sat under the tree, or scattered around my bedroom sparkling away in some pretty festive paper, waiting to be opened. Ironically you would've thought that would be the same this year, but oddly enough it's not. I have wrapped practically every present I've bought and they sit under our tree in our living room, which let me tell you is much easier than having them piled at the end of your bed like I used to at my parents, manoeuvring around my room was like taking part in an obstacle course each and every time - of course as you know I live in my own home now with Zachary and Evangeline, well maybe some of you don't know, but anyway...I live on my own which means we can pretty much put thing's were we want haha.

Our christmas tree, its so pretty.

A little Christmas snippet of our December so far :) 

Our little princess, she's perfect. <3 

Pretty little princess. <3  

So let's get back on topic, I'm much more excited for Christmas this year; as I've mentioned in previous post's, it's Evie's first Christmas, our first Christmas as a family of three and our first Christmas in our own place - so it's much more exciting this year. But I'm just not as prepared...although it'll probably becoming more challenging throughout the years with Santa Claus cropping up, where on earth will we put presents then!? I think I need to give myself a peptalk if I want to make Christmas a success this year haha, lets just cross our fingers, toes and whatever else can be crossed? And send me buckets of luck in hope I actually manage to finish my Christmas shopping before the 25th!

We have such a hectic diary for the build up to Christmas, well the most hectic it's been for me. My Christmases at home were simple, Christmas eve consisted of preparation for Christmas day...Christmas day consisted of food, family, fun and games and presents and of course spending some time with Zachary, and boxing day was almost like a chilled or lazy day in the morning and in the afternoon we'd spend time with extended family, and then again I'd get to see Zachary so pretty simple I'd say. 

However this year we've got a heck of a lot more planned. So nothing is actually set in stone but:
• Christmas Eve we're heading to Zachary's mums for dinner and celebrations in the evening.
• Christmas day, we're spending the morning as a family and then going to my family's, having dinner, playing games and just in general celebrating.
• Boxing day, this is when we visit my nan for a little while, before popping over to see Zachary's nan and dad for you guessed it...Christmas dinner and celebrations.

Your probably thinking - "Donna, love. That's not what I call hectic..." but from my usual routine, that's pretty jam packed, don't you think?

Anyway, I should probably finish this post here as I need to continue with my online shopping, hunting for the perfect Christmas presents…I shall be doing another post before the 25th, probably a Q&A over on my instagram dons_steph so be sure to check that out! and I'll speak to you lovely lot in my next post! 

What I've learnt:

My year: then and now.

I felt like having a chat about what I've learnt this last year, how it's changed or how its different from the last few years, what I know now that I didn't then and all about what I want for the future.

How my life has changed? What I've learnt?

I've learnt so very much this year and my life has changed in so many ways - the biggest, most amazing, life changing event was becoming a mummy to mine and Zachary's beautiful daughter Evangeline Rose, she turns 5 months old on the 7th December, which is crazy...it still feels like we were bringing her home from the hospital yesterday; I've blinked these last 4 nearly 5 months away. Becoming her mummy is the best thing that has every happened to me, ever. And in all honesty I doubt there will be anything that will top it. I love her unconditionally - becoming a mummy to Evangeline by far is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

So myself and Zachary have moved into our own place, this took place around 5 months before Evie was born. It was such an odd feeling when we took the plunge and moved from our family homes, I've always been incredibly family orientated and quite often found that every time I would stay the night at a friends house I would become 'home sick' - ironically I wasn't to bad with it when we moved out, I mean don't get me wrong; I cried a few times and Zachary and I had to avoid watching certain programmes or talking about certain things or I'd just burst into tears, part home sickness, part pregnancy hormones haha..but that soon passed as I still get to see them daily. Regardless we've nearly lived here a whole year! I believe its a year on the 28th February? But I'm not 100% sure. Its flown by.

Talking about a year, its just over 4 months until I've been running my blog for a year! 4th April 2016. Although - my posts aren't anywhere near as frequent as they used to be, I just don't ever really have the time...I know I could write post's whilst Evie is asleep, yet I'd much rather sit and give her a cuddle or catch up on house work...mainly give her cuddles haha. But I'm going to be making it my new years resolution to try and stick to some sort of 'uploads a month schedule'.

We've been working with so many amazing compaines, we're unbelievably lucky. We quite often recieve free goodies or work alongside buisnesses promoting their amazing bits. Head over to my instagram to have a nosey at some of the compaines, give them a follow and show them some love - @dons_steph. We've been offered so many amazing opportunities and collaborations so keep your eyes peeled!!

So what have I learnt this year?

I've learnt that not every single person you considered 'friends or family' are going to be supportive or happy for you on every occasion or every situation in your life and its okay to cut people out of your life. All that matters is family, and of course the friends that stick by you. As long as you are happy and you have individuals who do support you, what else matters?

I've learnt the responsibility of living on your own and how lucky I was when I lived at home. 

I've learnt what other mummies mean by "an instant connection" with your baby; I was lucky enough to feel this the moment I saw Evangeline, feeling a sudden wave of unconditional love, I love her more than words can describe, she's my entire world.

I've learnt just how hard it truly is to run a blog, I think I underestimated just how challenging it would be. Crazy thing is, its just under 4 months until I've had my blog a year like I mentioned above! Well until I started on WordPress on the 4th April 2016- before moving onto here. Either way, I never thought it would be as difficult to keep post coming on a regular routine or schedule but I'm hoping I can stick to a more regular upload schedule in the new year; I'm making it my new years resolution!

I've also learnt that people, or you guys reading, actually care about what I have to say, whether your a blogger yourself or just someone whoese stumbled across my blog - you, yes you, you truly are amazing. Thank you.

I've learnt unbelievable amounts, I'd be typing forever if I listed them all. So I'llstop here.

I think it's probably best to wrap it up here..haha, a bit of a Christmas pun as uts December now...you know what's coming next as I say this at the end of everrryyyyy post lol - I'm ending this post now or it'll go on for ages, and I'll speak to you in my next post.

Night time natter

Good old chit-chat

It's 12:30am, I'm laying in bed wide awake, Evangeline is is fast asleep in her mosses basket to the left of me, although she'll be awake soon for a feed and cuddle, Zachary's sleeping to my right. I'm not at all tired, which is rather odd for me, I'm usually always tired, but nope...not tonight - I'm wide awake and just can't seem to sleep? So instead I thought I'd write a post having a 'night time natter'.

I don't know why, but 95% of the time; unless I'm ridiculously tired - I have so much to talk about the moment myself and Zachary snuggle up under the duvet. I find myself rambling on about absolutely nothing, or making important plans like what we're doing on the weekend - haha. A majority of the time I think I pretty much talk to myself as every time I turn to look at Zachary he's always asleep, bless him. And I guess tonight is just one of those nights that I have so many things, or thought's running through my brain that I can't possibly drift of to sleepy town - the fact I've picked my phone up and starting typing this probably doesn't really help the situation haha.

So I've been really slacking on my blog this last week, well, pretty much the whole of November. I've been so set into a routine with my uploads and practically post the same time each and every week, the odd day change has been occuring quite a bit...but at least once a week. And I feel like I've completely neglected my blog pretty much the whole of this month - which isn't fab...however I did promise that I'd upload 2 this week! I don't think that'll actually happen, but hey, I can try!

I can't believe just how quickly Christmas is coming around! I believe that we are pretty much already half way through November, its the 16th today, my dads birthday - so I'll be spending the afternoon at my parents, of course I'll have to wait until he finishes work first; and plus I've still got to pop into the shop and grab him a few more presents!

I've only just started my Christmas shopping, which isn't like me at all...I usually have at least half of my Christmas shopping complete now - but nope, I have only ventured into 1 or 2 shops to buy presents....I tend to find myself buying clothes for Evie instead haha. Which I should probably stop, mainly because she has more clothes than she could possibly wear in 3-6 months and the same happened with her newborn clothing and 0-3 clothing, we've probably sold or thrown away 30, if not more items that shes never worn. But I just can't help myself; I see an item, know she'll look absolutely gorgeous and end up buying it haha.

So our house has been pretty hectic this week filled to the brim with workmen, we've been nonstop- which you would've thought would make me tired, me to...but apparently not!

So this weekend we're going to be taking Evie swimming for the first time, mainly because I can't actually swim...but also because I wasn't to comfortable with being in a bikini or swimming costume. But regardless, its only been 4 months since having Evangeline - and being completely honest, I very much doubt that anyone will actually care about how I look or what I'm doing, because they'll be far to focused about what their doing. Its just taken me a little while to realise this, but better late than never. She loves bath time and having a splash around, so I have a feeling she'll love swimming, but we'll see.

Anyway, I think I'm going to wrap it up here; or I'll never get to sleep.. so thanks for reading, it means a lot. And I'll speak to you in my next post.

Formula feeding and tommee tippee review :

Mummy Chats:

I wanted to do a post kind of having a ‘mummy chat’ with you beautiful bunch; I’ve been asked a few times – particularly in person as to why I didn’t breastfeed Evangeline. So I wanted to talk a little about that, so that those of you that were wondering will have an insight as to a reason why. I’m also adding in a review on our ‘Tommee Tippee closer to nature easivent feeding bottles’.

So starting right from the beginning- the whole idea of breast feeding was something that I intend to do upon finding out that I was pregnant. I had done a bit of research and spoken to my midwife about breastfeeding and formula feeding, and being completely honest after looking into the pros and cons of both, I wasn’t bothered about which one I would end up doing, in my opinion as long as your baby is gaining the nutrients he or she needs, as long as you baby is thriving why does it matter how you feed them.

I know that there a people out there that judge us mummies for making the decision to breastfeed and for choosing to formula feed – throwing negative comments about either. Anyway, going back to the decision I had made in regards to feeding our baby. As I said I did intend to breastfeed, but wasn’t to bothered either way.

I was prepared to breastfeed we had bought a breast pump, breast pads, milk storage bags – everything that we felt we needed. When packing mine and Evangeline’s hospital bag these were all things I had placed into the bags, products that we felt I would need; obviously we ended taking way more than what we needed haha. We also added a ready made formula and some bottles into our bags, just in case we needed it and boy am I glad we did. I think every first time mum has those thought’s running through their head “what if my milk doesn’t come in?”, “what if I can’t do it?” so many different thoughts, and in actual fact the reason that I couldn’t breastfeed was actually something I hadn’t heard of before, although now I’m aware that it is incredibly popular.

Your probably all thinking ‘well what was the reason then?” after Evangeline was born, I was taken into the recovery ward – this was due to having a csection. When in the recovery ward I had my first attempt at breast feeding, around 10 am. The midwife helped me to try and get Evie to latch; but she wouldn’t. Obviously I started to panic thinking that maybe I was doing it wrong, maybe she wasn’t in the correct position; the midwife said she wasn’t concerned because not every baby is hungry straight away. Which eased my mind.

Through the day up until around 6pm I was constantly trying to persuade Evangeline to latch, with the help of my mum, midwife and a breastfeeding specialist- but she just wouldn’t. I was given the option to self express and syringe my colostrum into Evangeline’s mouth; which we tried but not going to lie I was to out of it on medication that it became to much, I just wanted her to feed at this point and after around 8 hours of trying I was becoming extremely concerned and stressed, and myself and Zachary made the decision to try her on a bottle of the ready made formula – you know, the one that comes in those tiny cute bottles. And she latched straight away, feed for about 10 minutes and took 30ml or just over 1 ounce. Which was such a relief, a relief that she was finally feeding. Although I did blame myself, thinking it was the positioning or my milk. But the truth is it wasn’t either of our faults.

The next morning the paediatrician came around the ward to check Evie, to discharge her from the hospital, they do this for every baby; carrying out routine checks. Which is were the reason we couldn’t breastfeed was found, Evangeline was diagnosed with tongue-tie. It’s a condition involving the tongue  (obviously). Normally the tongue is loosely attached to the bottom of the mouth with a piece of skin called the lingual frenulum – however in babies that have tongue tie this piece of skin is particularly tight and short, preventing them from being able to breastfeed or in fact some babies can’t feed at all. Fortunately Evie’s tongue tie didn’t prevent her from feeding with a bottle. So we’re very lucky. I will say to anyone who is in the situation of their baby not latching defiantly ask for your baby to be checked for tongue tie.

Anyway, moving on. Let’s change subject to the review. Since Evie’s arrival we’ve purchased and trialled a variety of different bottles by numerous companies, however none seemed to work for Evie – I guess this is because she couldn’t quite get to grips of the bottles I suppose, or she just couldn’t work with the teat...I’m sure you understand what I mean, or at least I hope you do. But we finally found the perfect bottles for her, the Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles. These are absolutely fabulous, Evangeline latched and feeds on these bottles like a dream and I don’t think we will ever change to any other bottles. When trying other bottles we found that Evangeline would just move the teat into the side of her mouth, and a majority of the milk would end up running down her chin.
Anyway, moving swiftly on – I’m just rambling…

So lets talk about the products or bottles:
The great thing about these bottles is that the teat is shaped to help encourage natural feeding. Also meaning that it is incredibly easier for baby to switch from breast to bottle. Fortunately these bottles work extremely well for Evangeline, she has a perfect latch and doesn’t dribble or loose any milk when she is feeding, unlike some of the other bottles that we have tried. Ironically, a high percentage of babies that have tongue tie tend to be unable to feed on bottles that mimic the breast, however that isn’t the case for Evie. The bottles we bought came in a set of 6, all of which had attached a slow flow teat – suitable from birth up. They are BPA free and can be held 3 different ways and offer the most natural feeding position. Our bottles in specific come in two sizes, 150ml and 260ml – we used the 150ml up until Evie was around 1 month old, and now use the 260ml. Another thing I love about these bottles, is due to the size Evie can easily grip and hold onto the body of the bottle, I really hope you know what I mean by body lol.

I love these bottles and would strongly recommend them. We also use the tommee tippee dummies, which are just as fab!

I’m going to end my review and chit-chat here, other wise it’ll probably end up being 320,967 pages long haha, thank you for reading; and I’ll speak to you in my next post.

Happy birthday to me

Another year older:

So it’s my birthday in a few days, although when I hope to upload this post, it will in fact be the day of my birth - 26th October to be precise, hmm, actually it’ll probably be the day after being completely honest, I doubt I’ll have much time on my actual birthday...but we’ll see... anyway its the day I turn 21; my first birthday being a mummy.. Although I was pregnant on my birthday last year, I just didn’t know, so technically in a sense it’s not technically my ‘first’ birthday as a mum, but it is at the same time...hopefully you get what I mean? Haha. 
I can honestly say this year has been the best year of my life, so many changes; all positive changes, all changes that have made my life a million times better, more than a million times, I don’t actually have a word for how much happier I am now or a word to describe how much my life has changed in a positive way. How much love I have now, there just isn’t a word in my vocabulary that could describe those things. I don’t think in my entire life I’ve been this happy, becoming a mummy has been the most rewarding, amazing, the greatest change in my life; being a mummy to our beautiful daughter Evangeline is the best thing that has ever taken place in the 21 years I’ve been on this planet – I love her more than anything.
If someone had said to me this time last year, you’ll have a beautiful baby girl, living with Zachary in your own place, running a blog, working with so many amazing companies and have over 31 thousand followers on your instagram; I never would’ve believed them. I cannot even begin to think of a way of describing how lucky I am. And I cannot even comprehend or even begin to think just what it’ll be like next year...will we be living in the same house? Will our little instagram family have grown? Will I still be uploading on my blog? (I hope so!) – I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. And so many things to look forward to next year, and this year too! But that’ll all be spoken about in another blog post I’m sure. 
But anyway, I’m going to wrap this up – because as I mention in pretty much every post, if I don’t I’ll be sat here for hours typing away having a good old ramble...so I hope you all have a spiffing day, thank you for reading and I’ll speak to you soon!

Mamas and Papas Urbo 2

Pram review 

I’ve been asked recently on my other platforms of social media whether I would do a review on our pram – so here it is. I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts about myself and Zachary purchasing a new ‘travel system’ for Evangeline. I uploaded a very similar post a few months back reviewing the ‘mothercare orb’ what are views on the pram were, why we bought it and so on – so if your interested feel free to go and have a nosey. But since that post we’ve purchased a new pram the ‘Mamas and Papas Urbo 2’, I briefly spoke about this pram in the other post to haha. 

 
So for those of you wondering ‘why did you change your pram?’ the main reason we purchased a new pram was because of our car, we bought a new car – our previous car wasn’t very practical as it only had 3 doors (including the boot) so moving Evangeline in and out in her car seat was a full on work out haha. We bought a 5 door car (again including the boot) which happens to be a lot smaller than our previous car – therefore our pram frame/chassis didn’t fit along side the carry cot therefore it resulted in us having to travel with the carry cot on the front seat when using the pram; which was a bit of a pain and not very practical if we’re being honest. But anyway, I’m rambling. We had to buy a new pram that could actually fit in our car, and I guess one that we both liked. 

So as I previously mentioned in my ‘travel system’ blog post, I’ve always been drawn to the Mamas and Papas Urbo 2 ever since we started looking at prams when I was pregnant – but I didn’t particularly like the pram wheels, silly I know, but I wanted a pram I loved 100%. However every time we’d go into a baby shop I’d instantly be drawn to this pram, pushing it around the shop haha. When it came to finding a new pram that actually fit in our car boot, I suggested this pram to Zachary and he agreed, he liked it, we both did – and I had grown to accept the wheels haha. Apart from being a lovely, modern looking pram it fit perfectly in our car, BONUS! 

 
Lets move on to the review or I’ll be rambling on for hours haha. Our pram is as I mentioned the  Mamas and Papas Urbo 2, ours is in the colour ‘slate blue’ although to me it just looks grey...haha, either way its a beautiful neutral colour; and has a chrome frame with fabric details. We purchased our pram from Mothercare, a bundle deal that included the chassis (obviously haha), a carry cot, the ‘seat’, car seat adapters, rain covers and my fav a cup holder.

The pram is described as a ‘stylish pushchair, perfect for city living.’ And I couldn’t agree any more, this pram is a simple, modern, classy design and can be used with either gender. As I stated above the pram has a simple look, nothing to bright or to in your face if you get what I mean haha; which is what we were looking for.

As I mentioned our pram came with a bundle deal – so lets talk about some of the items that were included:

• Carrycot: The carry cot can be used from 0-6 months, enabling Evangeline or your baby to sleep comfortably and lie on her/there back. Which is perfect for on the go napping!
• The adapters: These enable us to attach Evie’s car seat or your baby’s car seat to the pram chassis for a quick pop into the shops or when needed – the adapters are extremely easy to use, they are one click to attach and detach; so you dont bave to faf around
• Cup holder: This is perfect for keeping you hands free, having a cup holder enables me to place a bottle or cup onto the pram for easy reach; rather than having to hold a cup/bottle when trying to control the pram.

So far we’re loving the pram, it’s very easy to assemble and folds rather compact meaning storage isn’t an issue (unlike some other prams we looked at). There is only one thing I will grumble about – and that is the performance of the pram on a variety of different terrains, unfortunately any flooring that isn’t ‘city like or completely flat the pram is very bumpy, but its still comfortable for Evie so isn't really that much of an issue. Back to the positives. The carry cot is padded and comfortable for Evangeline resembling her mosses basket,, its a very sturdy pram which I love (I hate wobbly prams) and just overall a great travel system and I would totally recommended it! 

For those of you wondering when purchasing the pram the retail or bundle price was £649.00 – which in my opinion for the items you receive the price is amazing!

I hooe yoi found this helpful if you are on the hunt for a new pram/pushchair. Thank you for reading, and I'll speak to you in my next post.

Saturday chit-chats

08-10-2016

I don’t believe I’ve actually ever written a post on a Saturday before?! Or least I can’t remember doing so...I’ve been so busy this last week working on future posts, non stop emails and having discussions about some exciting collaborations with some fab companies – specifically for my instagram. I just completely forgot that I hadn’t written a post to upload during the week, whoops! 

We’re not doing to much today; perhaps some Christmas and birthday shopping, hopefully somewhere indoors or at least I hope? The weather has changed drastically the last few days, or at least I think so haha, the beginning of this week I was wearing flip-flops and a top; yet now I’m busting out the winter boots and jumpers! I love it, although I’ve probably contradicted myself considering I’m wanting to stay indoors and I guess anyone who says they ‘loved’ the weather would want to be outside…

This is my favourite time of the year, full of celebrations. So this months filled with birthdays, Zachary’s mums birthday – the 10th, my nephew’s on the 16th, he’s going to be 4! Then on the 20th there my mummy’s birthday, my birthday is on the 26th and I’ll be 21!! Then of course there’s Halloween. November, my daddy’s birthday on the 16th. Before that there’s firework or bonfire night. Then there December my sister’s birthday is the 2nd, on the 23rd is Zachary’s birthday and of course Christmas and new year. So a very busy next few weeks.

I’m in the process of washing Evangeline’s 3-6 month clothing, although in saying that I’ve been in the process of washing them for a few weeks now, she has sooooo many clothes – and I just keep buying more haha, there just all so stinking cute!

Anyway, I’ll be uploading some exciting posts in the next coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled for those. I’m going to end this ‘chit-chat’ here as we’re about to head of on the hunt for a variety of gifts and I’ll speak to you beautiful bunch in my next post! ♡

My little lady

All about Evangeline 

Evie’s going to be 12 weeks on Thursday, Thursday 29th October 2016. She’ll be 3 months on the 7th October, 3 months!? Its crazy to think my teeny tiny little newborn is going to be 3 months old. It baffles me just how quickly time has flown by, I mean I know I say it on pretty much every other Instagram post and in every other blog post too haha, but I just cannot get over how quickly these weeks are flying by – it feels although I’ll blink and she’ll be 1! 

She’s such a happy, loving, cheeky, inquisitive little lady; brightening up the day of everyone she meets – such a social butterfly, always showing of her beautiful smile. It amazes me how such a tiny little girl can light up the room and melt everyone’s heart. ♡ 

She had her jabs a couple of weeks ago, well more than a couple... almost 4 weeks ago, and she has them again at the beginning of October. I hate every moment, I know it’s good for her, helping her to build up immunities to all of those horrible illnesses, but it breaks my heart. In actual fact, I think I cried more than Evangeline when she was having them being completely honest- I could’ve slapped the nurse that done her jabs haha, I’m sure some of you can relate. 

So she’s completely out grown her newborn clothing - although saying that now is a bit late as she outgrew it weeks ago haha... and some of her 0-3 is a bit snug, she’s actually been able to fit into and wear some 3-6 items this week and the last few weeks, so other than the items she’s worn (as they have already been washed) we’re in the process of washing all of her 3-6 clothing; which is taking forever, she has more clothes than Zachary and I combined lol. 

She’s starting teething now, so we’ve bought her several teething rings – she only likes one that we purchased at boots by Nuby, I believe the one we've got is called the teething keys or something haaha. Other than that one, she doesn't want anything, although in saying that she’d much rather chomp on her fist over any teething ring… 

So we’ve recently started attending a ‘baby play group’ there are some lovely other mummies that also attended; everyone’s so friendly and welcoming. Its nice, I lost pretty much all of my friends during pregnancy some of them I’m pretty chuffed about having absolutely nothing to do with being completely honest, they bought nothing but negativity to our friendship – so its nice to be able to go and meet other mummies, and Evie can socialise with all the other babies. But anyway back to Evie, the first time we attended the group she was asleep the whole time haha; this will probably be a recurring situation as it falls at the same time as her afternoon nap haha – 1 till 2:30pm.

Talking about naps lets talk about her routines, so we’re pretty much set in a solid routine now; I know some people don’t agree with having a routine at 3 months, but actually it works really well for Evie, Zachary and I- and we’ve had this routine since around 3 weeks. So I guess I’ll start from evening to morning...it’s easier to explain haha! 8:30 pm she has a feed, usually a bath and placed into her pjs; then she has a cuddle and falls asleep, around 12-2am she will wake for a feed 90% the time its around 2, she’ll feed, we’ll change her nappy and then put her back down to sleep, she doesn’t normally wake until 5:30am – she has another feed, nappy change, cuddle before falling back to sleep at approximately 6-6:30 am. She’ll wake between 7-8am, a nap around 10:30am after a feed, she'll nap at around 1pm to 2pm, 4pm till 5pm and then the routine continues, filled with nappy changes, feeds and lots of playing and cuddles...so it’s fairly “solid” but don’t get me wrong, it depends on the day really...what we’ve done and how much she slept during the night. Obviously I haven’t gone to in depth into her or our routine, but if you’d like me to do a post going over that – let me know. 

So everyday she’s becoming more alert, she's into so many different things; she loves laying or sitting (on our laps) in front of the telly – she loves the lights and colours that are on the screen. She loves her baby sling or carrier, she LOVES having cuddles, and playing under her activity mat. She adores bath time and splashing around – our little water baby. One thing she defiantly doesn’t enjoy is the forever dreaded ‘tummy time’ and boy does she let us know haha. 

Becoming a mummy has honestly been the most amazing and rewarding experience of my entire life. Watching our little lady blossom and grow – its the best feeling in the world.
I know this was a brief update or chatty kind of post, but I thought I’d round it up, or I’d be typing all afternoon...I hope you enjoyed reading this post – I’ll be doing more ‘update’ kind of uploads in the future; and I’ll speak to you lovely people in my next post. ♡

Chit-chats and changes.

A new appearance:

My beautiful little princess. <3

Hello you beautiful bunch, I hope your all doing well! I’m uploading one of my favourite, most enjoyable post’s that I write, my typical chit-chat, nattering, rambling on about everything that crosses my mind kind of post. 
Being honest I don’t really have that much to talk about; I guess the main reason I sat down to type this post is to discuss the new or revamped appearance of my blog. I suppose I could start by saying that the main reason I changed my blog is due to wanting a more elegant, mature, simple design- I felt my previous design didn’t match the what I intend to achieve with my blog or didn’t match the content I upload, you no...sounds odd, but I know what I mean haha. So not only have I changed the pink, girly, floral theme to a simple grey, white and black design – I’ve also changed my blog title or name, rather than being “my life” which being completely honest, I was never particularly happy with; its now “Our journey as a family of three” for me, this name is more than suited to the content I upload, as since the beginning, since starting my blog; I’ve always written about my life, relationship, family, pregnancy and since her arrival about our beautiful baby girl, our journey as a family of three just suits and works with the whole “feel” of my blog. 

Being completely honest, I haven’t really known what to post on here; I mean there’s several thing’s I’d love to talk about...toxic friendships – a ‘friend’ that was possibly the most unpleasant, malicious, dishonest, repulsive human being I’ve ever met; whom I absolutely hate or loathe to be polite; but honestly it’s not worth the time of day, the whole subject infuriates me and plus I don’t like posting negative things on my blog – so I’ll probably leave that post out haha.. but anyway moving on...on a more positive note I'd like to upload some posts about being a new mum, all about Evangeline, family life, budgeting, travelling, my tips and tricks, my interior and DIY ideas...you name it; I have loooaadddsss (felt the need to extend for effect haha) of ideas of posts that I will be uploading on my blog. So hopefully I’ll be starting to work, finish and upload them in the near future – so keep your eyes peeled! ♡ 

So, what have I been up to recently...not much really, just day to day activities and mummy things; cuddling with my little princess, cooking, feeding, shopping, cleaning all the usual –  I know it’s probably incredibly boring to read, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. ♡ 
Myself, Evie and Zachary have been venturing out on walks every weekend, mainly for fresh air; but also because I’m wanting to budge a bit of weight, although that hasn’t really been discussed haha but I’d like to loose maybe a stone or so...I’ve lost all the weight that I gained during my pregnancy, but I’d like to loose a little more, just to make myself 100% more healthy and back in shape! 

On another note we’re entering probably the most expensive but fun and exciting part of the year for me (other than buying stuff for Evangeline or maternity clothing hehe) my nephews birthday, mums birthday, then mine – not that I buy myself anything haha, dads birthday, my sisters birthday, Zachary’s birthday and of course Christmas. It’s also coming up to a year since I found out that I was pregnant, it’s shot by so fast. I’m even more excited this year, more excited than I’ve ever been in my life – it’s Evangeline’s first Halloween, firework night and Christmas; and the first year that we celebrate as a family of three. ♡ 
I guess I should probably consider wrapping this post up, or it’ll only go on for a decade or 2 haha. Thanks for taking your time out to read this post, and I’ll speak to you in my next. 

Q&A

My Instagram Q&A:

I posted on instagram that I would be doing a Q&A styled blog post; I asked you beautiful people to ask me whatever questions you had and that I’d answer them on here. So I’ve taken all the questions, written them exactly how they were asked and tried to answer them the best I can. ♡ 

How old were you when you got pregnant? 

I was 19, almost 20.

Who and how did you come up with Evangeline’s name? 

Both Zachary and I loved the name Evie for a little girl and decided this would be the name we chose for our baby, however we both wanted something more unique, long and unusual and for Evie to be almost like a ‘nickname’ if you will...so we both sat down and agreed on the name Evangeline – although it was in actual fact Zachary who popped the name into our heads. :)

What is your biggest fear? 

I would say my biggest fear is fear of the ‘unknown’, not knowing what will happen in the next 5 years, next week; or any point in the future. I suppose it’s a relatively unordinary fear, but maybe some of you can relate. Other than that, a more ‘normal’ fear is probably any creepy crawly! 

What mummy or daddy buy have you made that Evie doesn’t/didn’t like? 

Around 1 week after Evangeline was born Zachary went out and purchased the ‘next to you’ cot, I believe that is what it was called...either way it attached to the side of the bed, to enable me (as she sleeps my side) to see her during the night, it also made it easier due to my csection and moving...but she hated it – she didn’t sleep in it, she prefers to be enclosed and it was huge in comparison to her – so we ended up returning to her mosses basket.  

Do you want more children? If so when and how many? 

Yes, both myself and Zachary would love more children – obviously this depends on my whether my issues with fertility worsen; but fingers crossed they don’t!! But we’d love to have 1 more baby in a few years time. ♡ 

What is your favorite season? 

I would have to say that I love all seasons except spring...for those of you wondering why I don’t particularly like spring; it’s mainly because I have really bad hayfever during spring but not throughout the rest of the year...strange right? Haha. 

What apps do you use to edit your instagram pictures? 

I use 3 apps – repix, add watermark and square ready. 

What is your favorite thing about being a mummy? 

Honestly everything, watching Evangeline grow, seeing her smile, helping her to learn new things, her cheeky little personality, having a family of my own. Just everything that is involved in being a mummy. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. ♡♡ 

Where was yours and Zachary’s first date? 

Our first date and the first time we met was at a bowling alley where we had a few games – I was awful, I’m rubbish at bowling, then we went for a meal, we were accompanied by some acquaintances. So our first proper date on our own consisted of the cinema and then we went out for a meal after the film.  

What is your no.1 clothing accessory for Evie? 

Definitely a hair bow or hair wrap. 

What makes you smile? 

This is a tricky question to answer without rambling on haha. I would have to say being a mummy, cuddling Evie, anything to do with Evie really, spending time with Zachary and spending time with my family. 

What is your favorite clothing brand for yourself and then for Evie? 

My favourite clothing...to be honest I don’t really have one for myself, I’ll shop anywhere; if I see an item I like (obviously depending on the price) I’ll buy it, it doesn’t bother me what brand is on the label as long as I like it haha. There are many brands I love buying clothes from for Evangeline, ted baker, mothercare – especially little bird, h&m and many different Instagram clothing pages; where there pretty much all one of a kind. Again as long as it’s good quality, comfortable and I like it I’ll buy it. 

Why did you change your pram? 

I mentioned this briefly in a blog post we now have the ‘Mamas&papas urbo 2’ we had the ‘mothercare orb’ before but had to replace it due to it being a bit of a tight squeeze into our new cars boot haha. 

1 negative about where you live? 

We have very loud neighbours, who love to argue at 3 in the morning and play there music extremely loud; we’ve had to tell them to be quite and turn the music down on so many occasions. That’s tge one negative...#notfun 

Who was at your daughters birth?  

Both my mum and Zachary were at the hospital with me, my mum came to support myself and Zachary, mainly me as I’m a bit of a nervous wreck in hospitals so I wanted my mum there haha. I had a caesarean so Zachary was with me throughout the whole procedure and was there when Evie was welcomed into the world. ♡♡ 

What is your favourite flower? 

My favourite flower by all means has to be a sunflower or a Rose. But to be honest I like all flowers, apart from lavender- I’m allergic.  

If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live? 

I would live in the UK, boring I no...but I don’t think I could see myself living anywhere other than the UK haha. I’d probably have a holiday homes in the Caribbean or America. 

What do you want to do as a career in the future? 

I’d really love to be a midwife, I hope to go to university in the next 5 years to start training. :) 

What is your dream holiday destination? 

I don’t really have one, probably somewhere hot, but somewhere that you don’t have to be on an aeroplane for ages – I’m petrified of flying, I hate it haha. 

I hope that you enjoyed reading my answers just as much as I enjoyed answering them. If you missed out on asking me a question I’ll be doing more in the future so be sure to follow my instagram- dons__steph to be notified when I do another.

I hope you have a lovely day, and I’ll talk to you in my next post.