A festive day out

Visiting the reindeer farm

I've been wanting to take Evangeline to visit Father Christmas again this year. We took her last year in a shopping centre we visited, she was roughly 5 months & being completely honest she wasn't at all phased and didn't actually care one bit; I think she was a little young and probably didn't understand. But nevertheless we took her, and I'm hoping to make visiting Santa a tradition, a thing we do every year at Christmas right up until the girls loose interest in Santa. 

We visited the reindeer farm today (7th December), mainly because they have Santa and lots of different Christmassy bits and bobs going in. The weather was pants, which sucks as we got absolutely soaked when walking from barn to barn; and covered in mud as its a little farm. I must say, a positive was that there wasn't many people; probably because it's a Thursday so most children are at school, which was nice as Evangeline was able to wander around and play on the toys. 

We made it our goal to see Santa first before it got busy, and being honest that put a bit of a downer on the day; Evangeline was petrified of father Christmas, she hated him... refused to sit near him and cried the whole time she was in the room with him; she happily sat on my lap - but lets just say our photo is one for the baby book haha! We didn't stay with Santa very long just enough to get a picture of Florance, Evangeline, Santa and I; as Evie was far to upset. I must add they gave a smashing gift, a little Father Christmas hat, a Peppa Pig tambourine and book - which she loves! But I guess they have to give a good gift for an entry fee of £49.00! 

They had a small exhibition which you walked through filled with lots of Christmas lights, a variety of ornaments, statues and other bits and bobs - but as great as it was Evie was still upset from seeing Santa so we kind of rushed through - as it was the only way out to get outside to the petting zoo & other barn so she could play, so didn't really take much of it in. But it was pretty. 

As I said above it wasn't very busy, which was great as Evie was able to play on all the different things in the barn and the little animal part was empty to, so we didn't have to struggle or squeeze between people to see anything. Evangeline had fun on the pirate ship climbing frame, the push/sit in cars - her fav had a horse on the front (I'll insert a picture) which she lovedd! and I was gutted not going to lie, I was going to get her it for a Christmas present but didn't think she'd be interested  so maybe I'll have to pop into the toy shop to see if they still have it! 

There were sooooo many reindeers, I think its only my 3rd or 4th time seeing a reindeer; or from what I can remember haha! They are much smaller than what I imagined, but after having a conversation with the 'elves', my mum & sister I think I may have been confusing them with mooses! 

Anyway, we had a pretty good day - other than the palava with Santa, I'm feeling ever so festive.... we're home now, in our pjs with some snacks; watching The Polar Express. I'm going to leave it here, carry on having cuddles with my babies and we're nearly at my fav part of the film - the hot chocolate part . 

I'll speak to you all in my next post. 

Bugaboo Donkey Duo Review

A little review and how we picked our pram

Picture from Google.

I've finally gotten around to writing this review after weeks of typing a few sentences here and there before leaving it all nice a cosy in my drafts. As you can tell by the title I'm going to be doing a review on the 'Bugaboo Donkey - Duo', so keep reading if you'd like to know what I think so far. It isn't going to be very in-depth as I'm sure theres many of these reviews scattered online, but I'm just going to do a tiny review on what I think.

As a 2nd time mum I knew the struggle of picking a pram; when pregnant with Evangeline I always felt completely overwhelmed when walking into Mothercare, John Lewis and all of those independent baby shops - theres prams everywhere, so many different brands and knowing whats right is a big struggle, or at least it was for me. Ironically you'd think picking a pram would be much easier; but of course we were looking at a different type of pram - a Duo pram. 

I was always under the assumption that picking a double would be much, much easier because there wasn't many - and boy was I wrong.  I never realised just how many different brands made Twin/Duo prams. Needless to say it took much longer to find a pram than we anticipated. 

Originally we had around 6-7 if not more that were in the running to be the pram we chose, there was the I-Candy Peach, Egg Tandem, Joolz Geo, Silver Cross Wave, Upper Baby Vista, Mountain Buggy, Oyster Max and of course the Bugaboo Donkey. I was completely surprised to find this many twin/duo prams, like I've touched on above I thought only limited brands made them - when in fact practically all of them do. 

When it came to picking out our pram there were many factors that we weren't to keen on, and being completely honest what I wanted was unrealistic. I wanted a pram where I could see both of my daughters at the same time, wanted something sleek & modern, yet able to withstand any terrain (our old pram was a city pram so country walks were extremely bumpy) but also narrow enough to fit around every location we visited, I wanted a basket large enough, I didn't want it to long or to wide - as you can see I wasn't being very realistic haha! Eventually we had to go by what we liked and managed to narrow it down to the I-Candy, Joolz Geo, Egg or Bugaboo. 

Due to having the pram with a toddler and a baby we had to take into consideration Evangeline's size, she is quite big for a 16 month old, so we had to sit her in each pram to see roughly how long it would be before she grew out of the seat or the hood was touching her head. Straight away the I-candy Peach was ruled out as as soon as she was placed into the seat her head was probably 1-1.5 inches from the top of the hood, meaning she wouldn't fit into it for very long after it had been bought; this was the same with the Egg, so they were ruled out for that reason. Next was the Joolz Geo, the main reason we didn't get this pram is because they didn't have it in store and I love to look at prams in-depth, push them around a little, check basket size and so on before making any decisions - also we weren't able to sit Evie in the seat to see how big she was in it. So therefore we went for the Bugaboo Donkey duo.

The Bugaboo Donkey meet most of the criteria, I was able to see both of my daughters at the same time, the basket was large, its multi-terrain, the seat was of a perfect size for Evangeline and pretty much still is and its compatible with a buggy board for when she's older. There were a few disadvantages being completely honest, the prams very wide, its very expensive, everything had to be bought separately and it isn't very sleek.

So onto the main review; (Little disclaimer - if you have this pram and don't share my opinion that absolutely fine & if you do thats great too - just remember I'm not saying that what I'm saying applies for everyone, its just what I feel). The Bugaboo Donkey Duo is a great overall, it enables me to see both Evangeline & Florance at the same time, unlike other tandem/double prams which was a large selling point for me. As I said its multi-terrain which is fab as we tend do go on a great deal of walks along country roads, down the beach, around the park and within towns, so having a pram that isn't extremely bumpy is excellent. The basket is MASSIVE which is an added bonus as it allows me to pop rain covers and shopping underneath. It's available in pretty much every shop that sells prams/baby stuff which is also an added positive meaning you can get your hands on it in pretty much every shop. Another positive is you can buy the pram with 8 different colour packages and 2 different colour packages for the chasis - although you do have to pay extra for different colours.

So the negatives, the pram is extremely wide and I find it very difficult to fit into every shop, clothes shopping is practically impossible as fitting between the isle is very tricky; I often find myself knocking stuff of the rails just trying to navigate around and a majority of the time I tend to leave as its more hassle than its worth. It's not just shops, footpaths can be awkward to - trying to fit down an average sized footpath with people, other prams or wheelchairs is practically impossible being honest as there just isn't enough room.. The bonus is being able to see both babies/children at the same time; but the negative to that is that its very wide. 

The price is another thing that makes me grumble, the pram itself is great, but we paid roughly the same price you'd pay for a small car - £1315.00 - roughly, having to buy seating a separate seating unit, purchasing hoods and colour packages separately its very pricey. Not just this we had to purchase another car seat - the Maxi-cosi as we were informed this is the only car seat compatible with the adapters which we also had to buy separately, they cost around £29.00. So the price for me I would have to say is a massive negative. However in saying that most prams nowadays break a hole in the bank. But as I said paying £1315.00 for a pram is something that I screw my nose up at. The look, I'm not to keen on how the pram looks, its very bulky and not very modern/sleek; and to me it looks and feels a little flimsy - which isn't great when you pay a lot of money. 

The pram is easily put together which is great as it doesn't take a genius to assemble like some prams. Its pretty straight forward and everything is basic to assemble - the hood is the trickiest part haha!

I think thats all I have to say really, overall the pram is an okay pram and it does the job; once Evangeline is a little older I will be selling this pram, maybe even before to buy something more suited for me and my lifestyle. Positives outweigh the negatives and it is a good pram but of course its all personal preference. I hope you found this review somewhat helpful especially if you are in the market for a twin/duo pram - if you have any more questions defiantly let me know.

Twistshake Review

 Our honest review 

We were very recently gifted two items from the Twistshake tableware line - their divided plate and their stainless steel cutlery. This isn't the first time we've worked with Twistshake and everytime we've been more than satisfied with their products... from sippy cups, bottles to their new lines we've always been thrilled. 

As I said above we were very recently gifted a few bits from their new line - and they have asked if I would do a little review; an honest opinion to what we think.

*So this post is completely my opinion and hasn't been influenced.*

First up - Twistshakes divided plate for 6+M in a lovely light pink/pastel pink. I done a little research on the both items before I accepted them and after reading everything they had to say I was extremely excited to test them out - well for Evangeline to test them out. 

So on the website they've said that their plates are developed to make meal times more comfortable, they have a antislip bottom which prevents the plate moving around and the plate is also designed to fit perfectly with Twistshakes cutlery. It comes with a lid transforming the plate into a lunch box - perfect for on the go and for storage.

Their tableware products are BPS, BPA and BPF safe. They are manufactured from premium material, dishwasher safe and microwave safe. 

My first impressions were that the items were very well made, the packaging was simple and modern helping you to focus more on the product than what it came in, I've found some bits I've purchased or received from other companies have come in quite bright, flamboyant boxes which can be somewhat distracting from the item itself (probably just me that gets distracted 😂). I was immediately drawn to the colour that the products came in, a lovely pastle pink. Which I loveeeee! Pink happens to be one of my fav colours haha! 

Starting with my review on the plate - at first I didn't think to much of it being honest. But after letting Evangeline use it, I'm very impressed. I love the fact that the plate is divided into 3 parts, meaning I can split her food- Protein, veg and carbs, or whatever really - sandwiches, crisps & fruit; you can split every meal. I find this handy as Evie doesn't have to rifle through trying to find particular bits - it also encourages her to try different foods as she can see the bits separated (hopefully that makes sense). Another plus I really enjoy is the antislip bottom - beyond handy!! If Evie isn't particularly keen on an item on her plate she has a tendency to try and push/throw the plate onto the floor, but with this feature she wasn't able to, or at least it made it much, much trickier - bonus! 

This particular item in their tableware range retails at €11.99 or £10.59, which is definetly on the higher pricing of children's/toddler tableware, but I'd say its really worth it. Overall I'm really pleased with there plate and would definitely recommend! 

Moving onto the next item we were kindly gifted- the stainless steel cutlery. Much like above I love the simplicity of the packaging and overall look of the product. Our cutlery matches the plate and comes in a lovely pastle/light pink. Which is great as I love matching! 

Our cutlery and plate together.

A little into what they've put on their website about this product the stainless steel cutlery is manufactured with short handles which are suited to the hand of a small child and they are finished with a soft touch, anti-slip property to ensure and enable a steady grip. They also have a smart edge on the handle to prevent little hands ending up in their food. 

As I said above their tableware products are BPS, BPA and BPF safe. They are manufactured from premium material, they are dishwasher safe, they are soft touch - a mild and ergonomical surface to provide the best grip possible. This set contains a knife, fork and spoon and are perfectly suited for 12+ months. 

My review of the cutlery, I have been trying to teach Evangeline to use cutlery when she eats her breakfast, lunch and dinner. I must admit at first she wasn't particularly keen on using cutlery and preferred using her hands, and she still favours her hands over a knife, fork or spoon. But of course she has to learn at some point, but I'm not to fussed as she's still little. 

The set she was sent, she is learning very well with. She definitely has a good grip which is great as I've found with some others we've tried they have slipped out of her hands and luckily we haven't had that issue with this particular set - so I 100% agree with the statement that they have a surface which provides the best grip. Once we've started using them much more I will do another review talking about the cutlery separately and I'll be sure to add lots of pictures if Evie using them. 

Little lady using her spoon.

This item in their tableware range retails at €12.99 or £10.58, which is around the higher pricing of children's/toddler tableware, but I'd say its worth it. So overall I'm really pleased with these cutlery items and would definitely recommend! 

I really like the Twistshake Tableware range - and would really recommend it. I wanted to add (even though I said above) my opinion is purely my own and hasn't been influenced in anyway, shape or form. If I wasn't keen or disliked an item I would be 1000000000% honest as I wouldn't want you to waste your money. But honestly I think their products are of a high standard and really suited to babies/toddlers/children.


Twistshake have very kindly given me a discount code for all of you to use:
Use code donssteph30 and receive 30% discount on all pastel products and 40% discount on all neon products at www.twistshake.com.

My Christmas song playlist

Song's I love at Christmas

Picture from Pinterest.

Just because I've done my top 9 favourite Christmas movies, it only felt right to do my top Christmas songs that are in my playlist....don't you agree? haha! Out of all Christmas music I love blasting out these festive tunes most of all; these particular ones really put me into the Christmas spirit, whether I'm cooking, wrapping presents, Christmas shopping or I'm simply snuggled up indoors with my family these are the ones that make the cut for my Christmas playlist. 

What are you favourite Christmas songs? Let me know! 

1. All I want for Christmas is you - Mariah Carey

2. Mistletoe - Justin Bieber

3. Do they know its Christmas time? - Band Aid

4. Walking in a winter wonderland - 

5. Rocking around the Christmas tree - Lee (Scratch) Perry 

6. Santa baby - Eartha Kitt 

7. Last Christmas - Wham

8. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues 

9. Christmas - Michael Buble

10. Mary's Boy Child - Boney M

11. Baby its cold outside - Idina Menzel 

12. Drummer Boy - Justin Bieber ft Busta Rhymes

13. Driving home for Christmas - Chris Rea 

14. Merry Christmas everybody - Slade

15. I wish it could be Christmas everyday - Wizzard

16. Have yourself a merry little Christmas - Judy Garland

17. Frosty the snowman - The Ronettes 

18. The chipmunk song - Alvin and the Chipmunks 

19. Someday at Christmas - Stevie Wonder

20. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow - Frank Sinatra 

Anyway, I'm going to stop here or my list will go on for everrrrrrrr... but I hope you enjoyed having a little insight into some of my fav Christmas songs that appear on my playlist each year! 

Merry Christmas! 

My top 9 Christmas movies

My fav xmas films!

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the festive movies. I love snuggling down under a warm blanket, on our sofa, in my Christmas pjs, with a snack and hot chocolate cuddling my babies watching Christmas movies. I have to admit I found this post pretty tricky as I love practically any Christmas film; so trying to whittle it down to 9 was actually pretty challenging; but nevertheless I finally managed! So heres a list of my top 9 favourite Christmas movies - and a little insight as to why, I haven't gone into to much detail as I didn't want this post to be written like a novel haha! 

1. Elf 

Much like every person I've ever come across Elf is by far my fav Christmas film, I love this film - its an all round family film. A comedy with some hilarious scences and a great story of a family coming together at Christmas time. 

2. Polar Express 

I love this film, I remember watching this in the cinema when I was a little girl. As a child I loved the magic of the Santa, hes elves and of course the North Pole. As I've grown up I've realised theres a little message behind the movie - and that is that I don't have to grow out of the Christmas spirt, no matter how old I get Christmas can still be magical... My fav part is the hot chocolate scene haha! 

3. Dr Seusss - How the Grinch stole Christmas 

This film is such a classic, I watch this film daily during the Christmas months. Much like all Christmas films there are hidden meanings in this film to, which is another reason I love it. It's a funny, thoughtful, family film and will always sit in my top 10.

4. The Santa Clause 

A good old classic and one I've always watched at Christmas. I remember sitting in the front room at around 5 years old (I could've even been younger) watching this film with my family on Christmas Eve, since then its always been something we've done. Sat around with snack, in our PJs watching this good old family classic. I'm excited to be able to continue the tradition with my daughters.

5. The littlest light on the Christmas tree 

This film is the. cutest. film. I. have. ever. seen. I don't think this film is particularly popular? But as I've said in almost every paragraph this again is a film I've watched since I can remember. It's a lovely film about a little boy, he's mum & sister and a little light on a Christmas tree. It would take me ages to explain the whole movie - but long story short, the little boy finds the little light outside of a toy shop, its broken but he puts it on he's tree eveb though its broken, theres a massive storm and the little light shines as bright as ever and saves the toy shop owner who was trapped outside. There's a lot more to it, but I don't want to destroy it! Anyway, its one of my fav Christmas films and I can't wait to watch it with my girlies & family.

6. Disney's A Christmas carol

Again, a good old family classic. I'm a huge fan of this film, I don't really have a massive explanation as to why - but I just really enjoy watching this film and it always makes me veyond excited for Christmas haha! 

7. The Santa Claus & The Snowman 

I've watched these films every year since I was a baby, Christmas wouldn't be the same without watching them. There family classics in my opinion, such lovely films to watch - filed with humour, love and brilliant story lines & perfect for the whole family. I love the vintage feel of these films. 
Unfortunately I can't find a picture of the Santa Claus movies :( :( :( 

8. Home alone

Much like Elf, Grinch & The Polar Express this film is a good old classic that I watch, of course there are others that are classic that haven't made it into my top 9 but, this to me is another classic that I just have to watch yearly. I love the humour and the story line of this film. It never fails to put me in the Christmas spirt. 

9. Miracle on 34th street

Finally, Miracle on 34th Street. This film just screams Christmas to me, I love everything about it. The fact they bring Reindeers into a court to prove Santa is real always makes me giggle haha, ah and the scene when Santa signs with a little deaf girl who comes to see him in the shopping mall - puts me in tears every time..its just an all round great Christmas/family film. 

All about my girls

A teeny-tiny update 

It's been a little while since I've spoken soley about the girlies or done an update on them, so I thought it would be nice to have a chat about what their doing, how they are and everything surrounding my babies. 

Starting of with Evangeline; she's very almost 17 months old, she turns 17 months on the 7th December- its insane to think she's almost 1 1/2 when it feels like we were only celebrating her 1st birthday a few weeks ago! She officially cut her first 4 teeth 3 weeks ago, I know thats pretty late, well very late to start cutting your first teeth but better late than never!? I was convinced I'd have to buy her dentures and in fact she had been referred to an orthodontic surgeon in regards to her gums being to thick to allow her teeth threw - but fortunately the day we got the appointment she'd just cut 2 teeth! She'll soon have 3 at the top and 1 on the bottom as there almost completely grown through, its so bizarre seeing her with teeth when she hasn't had any for so long!? 

Nursery, ah nursery...I've spoken briefly about Evangeline having some settle sessions at nursery a few posts back. Just to touch on the subject if you haven't taken a peak at that post - (Ill link it here - Shall we have a natter?) I took Evie to a nursery, the staff were lovely but it wasn't the best if I'm honest; whilst we were there, there were tiny, tiny blocks that Evangeline kept putting in her mouth and heaving on - I had to remove the blocks from her mouth several times before the staff had even noticed.. and for me that makes alarm bells ring as I don't want to put Evie in a situation where she could choke. But on a more positive note the nursery I have been wanting her to go to since we started looking back in June finally has a space!!! So we have a viewing there on Friday!

She now weighs 23lbs 8oz - so edging onto 2 stone, shes growing up so quickly! I don't think I've spoken about it on here but we are still having problems with her feeding/eating and digestion, so more medication and appointments with her paedatritian- I might do a seperate post going more indepth about those particular subjects, but as for now I find them much easier to not talk about... hopefully you all understand. But she's happy, smart, healthy and absolutely gorgeous - shes beautiful in everyway so everything will be perfect in time. 

She was talking non-stop but would rather not really say anything other than gibberish now, regardless we still have a good old chat haha  She's wearing 12-18 month clothing, some 18-24 months - although a majority are still much to big and swamp her. 
Her favourite toys are dollies or teddy bears, her microphone and clock. But of course that'll all change after Christmas haha! I'll leave it here for my biggest princess, or I'll end up writing 1 million paragraphs. 

Moving onto Florance. She's 8 weeks old now, 2 months on Monday, I swear I was just leaving the hospital with her yesterday!? She's growing so quickly, just like her big sister. She's still teeny-tiny (although in pictures she looks quite big haha!) and weighs 9lbs 4oz, she's got around 2lbs to gain then she's doubled her birth weight. She's finally grown out of her new born and shes able to wear 0-1 month clothing now & and the odd 0-3 month item. Speaking of out growing  we'll be changing to size 2 nappies shortly too! She's moved onto hungry baby food/milk now to, as she just loveeeesssss her milk and eats practically every hour; I have a feeling she's going to be a proper little chunk! 

She's started to develop cradle cap now  just like Evie did, so we've bought the same shampoo and creams to use, I'm hoping it clears up quickly; fingers crossed! She's has quite dry skin to bless her, so has to be smoothered in E45; but its looking sooooooo much better so its not to bad. 

Florance is much more active now to and loves to lay underneath her activity gym watching everything moving around above her, she loves watching baby stimulation videos and Evangeline running around! She's not to keen on bath time, although shes starting to warm to it - the complete polar opposite to Evie who is a right little fishy. 

She has her jabs the second week of December; I'm dreading it - I cry everytime Evangeline has her jabs and I know I'm going to cry this time too. Being completely honest I think the whole thing upsets me more than it does the girls, its just horrible - I swear the needle is almost big enough to come right through and out the other side, there done for a positive reason so a few minutes of upset is bearable as they serve a good purpose.

I think I'll end this post here, its not very indepth but a little update; I may do 2 individual posts doing an more indepth update on both girls? But who knows, I hope you've enjoyed reading this and having a little update on my princesses and I'll speak to you all in my next post. 

What I love about Christmas

40 Things I love about X-mas

Picture from Pinterest.

As some of you know I'm a very festive person, Christmas is by far my favvvv time of the year (excluding a few other days that are special to me) for many reasons.. So I thought why not make a list of all of the things I love best during December & the Christmas season. 

1. Spending time with my family 
2. The Christmas tree 
3. Twinkly/fairy lights
4. Visiting Christmas markets & craft fairs
5. Chocolate & junk food!! 
6. Wearing Christmas jumpers
7. Watching Christmas movies with loved ones - I have done a post talking about my top 10!
8. Sending & receiving Christmas cards
9. Tinsel
10. Listening to carol singers
11. Pigs in blankets & stuffing balls
12. Cringy jokes from the Christmas crackers
13. Lush Christmas shop window displays
14. All the different Baul-bauls
15. Wrapping presents - I'm not the best!
16. Blasting out my fav Christmas songs
17. The possibility of a white Christmas - or snow in general & the chance to build a snowman
18. Christmas Ornaments 
19. Hot chocolate with all the trimmings & seasonal spices
20. Christmas parties
21. Boxing Day sales haha! 
22. Baking and eating Gingerbread men & houses
23. Pulling Christmas crackers
24. Santa & he's reindeers 
25. Giving presents
26. Christmas shopping
27. Mince pies
28. Eating Christmas treats or everything in general
29. Christmas scents
30. The little paper hats in Christmas crackers, that tear when you put them on...
31. Holiday Cheer 
32. Planning your New year celebrations
33. Last minute Christmas food & Christmas present shopping
34. Leaving mince pies, carrots & milk for Santa with my children & nephew
35. Driving around the neighbourhood to look at Christmas decorations 
36. Having Christmas dinner
37. The smell of Christmas oranges
38. Reaching into your stocking, finding little goodies.
39. Writing personal messages on gift tags
40. Having a great time & creating memories