Products I use everyday

These are my everyday beauty products, I have quite sensitive skin so I tend to stick with what I know. 

What I use is -----

Garnier Micellar cleansing water

Garnier miracle skin cream

Benefit it's potent eye cream

Norwegian formula nourishing body lotion with Nordic berry for normal to dry skin

Rimmel wake up foundation in Ivory

Benefit dandelion blusher

Kohl pencil eyeliner 

Bourjois mega felt tip liner

Bourjois 1 second mascara ultra black

Benefit dandelion lipgloss

Dove go fresh pomegranate and lemon deodorant 

Jimmy Choo perfume 

Since having the boys I've had to perfect (try to anyway) getting ready in 5 minutes. I used to wear a lot more eye make up but that always used to take a lot of time so I've had to scrap that from my daily routine and just leave that look for nights out. Which is probably once in a blue moon.

3 years ago to this day.....

We were told the Twins had a one in three chance of surviving!

They had twin to twin transfusion syndrome. I had to have laser ablation on my placenta to shut some vessels up so that Oscar would get fluids and that Alex would stop getting too much!

Oscar was starving to death and Alex was drowning! 

If I didn't have the laser ablation they would have both died. I had to take the one in three chance. There was no doubt in my mind!

Three years later and they obviously survived, they were born 7 weeks early and spent two weeks in the ICU.

They took a little longer to walk just because I think they were lazy, other than that they hit all their milestones on time!

Alex can count to ten and is great with his colours, Oscar is getting there, he just a little behind Alex. 

Having twins is something I never thought about. There is no twins in either of our families. So it never even entered my head that I would ever possibly have twins.

I had always found twins at school pretty weird.

When I was told they were twins I laughed as I just couldn't believe it.

Having twins was hard and very taxing but all the good like double hugs double kisses double cuteness made all the hard work worth it! 

People always said it gets easier as they get older, but I always think those people may have been dropped on their heads as babies!

The boys were easy as anything when they were babies, they fed, they slept and did everything they were meant to do when they were meant to do it!

As the toddler years have approached and they have become little people they have become more independent and they like to test the boundaries like most toddlers! They are becoming less wild and are starting to listen more and understand what I ask them to do.

They now walk to school rather than sit in their pushchair and I get comments daily about how well behaved they are. Which always makes me feel I've done my Job well :) 

As they get older their bond gets stronger! It's so lovely to see them sitting together and giggling about secret things. When one is hurt the other will go and cuddle them. I'm sure they have their own little language.

I can't wait to see the bond get stronger and stronger as they grow!

Am I glad I had twins?

Over the moon!!

Do twins still freak me out??

Of course but now it's daily!  

The Affordable Art Fair Battersea! A fun and quirky Mother's Day gift idea / day out

The AAF ( Affordable Art Fair) is at Battersea Park from the 12 - 15th March

Perfect for a Mother's Day outing!!

The March event encourages visitors of all ages through its doors and little ones won't be short of things to do. Kids aged 2-10 can be dropped off at the "outstanding" ofsted rated crèche complete with arty activities!!

With the little ones taken care of, that leaves you to wander around and browse at your own leisure!

They also have activity packs and a packed programme of hands on work shops to keep children aged 4-11 entertained!! 

The fair, which showcases a huge array of paintings, original artist-made prints, sculpture and photography is the ideal place to start or build an art collection.

Now into its 16th year with 111 events across 11 countries, 1,300 exhibiting galleries and 232,000 visitors, the Affordable Art Fair is as vibrant and diverse as ever! Priding itself on making art accessible for everyone, the fair offers the chance to find art that reflects each buyer's passion whatever the budget.

The Art Voucher scheme allows you to purchase gift vouchers (ahem ahem Mother's Day ahem ahem) to spend at the fair! 

Artworks are all priced between £100 and £5,000

I was allowed to have a sneak peak and share some of my favourites with you!

It was hard to pick but these are my top five ::





“Hare IV” by Heidi Wickham, Charcoal on paper, 30 x 25cm. £274 at The Doorway Gallery

“Nandilal Mishra“ by John Kenny, Photograph, 90 x 60cm, edition of 12. £1,650 at Capital Culture Gallery

“Le temps qui s'evanouit” by Adele Blais. Mixed medium on canvas. 102 x 76cm. £2,025 at Arteria

“FalinVitturBlar” by KristjanaS. Williams, Limited edition print, 59 x 84cm, edition of 175. £295 at Outline Editions

“Scrimshaw Sam” by Sarah Young, 4 colour oil-based screen print, 120 x 90cm, edition of 40. £850 at Catharine Miller

If you fancy going along just for a day out to marvel at the gorgeous art works or go to purchase something lovely for your home or your mother, 

Here are the fair details -

Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park

12 March - 15 March 2015

Opening times 

11.00 - 6.00

Ticket prices 

£10 - £20 

You can buy tickets on line at http://affordableartfair.com

Ru is 10 months old!!!

My very own Rupert the bear turned 10 months yesterday!!

These past months have really flown by.

He's no longer my teeny baby that just like to sleep all day, he'd rather be trying to chase his brothers around and make them play with him!

He's in 12-18 month clothing 

He crawls like a race car

He took his first few steps yesterday

He has 5 teeth, with more about to pop out.

He says egg a lot 

He likes to dance

He loves to clap hands 

Has just learnt to wave 

He likes my awful singing

His eyes are turning green!

We still use cloth nappies

I still baby wear - but I am thinking about buying him his first ever pushchair.

We co-sleep if he wakes, otherwise I leave him be

He loves blueberries 

We are BLW (baby led weaning) he hates me trying to feed him now. I can just about get away with giving him his breakfast!

He loves the swings at the park

He's still very very smiley!

I love watching him babble about to himself! 

The newest fluff in Ru's life - 

3 from Baba and boos new collection 

1 from bambinomio's new collection 

He also has his first two books 

Lemur dreamer

Roo the roaring dinosaur.

The Baby Show .... My experience

I was contacted by  Emma's diary and they asked if I fancied two tickets to The Baby Show! Which of course I was very happy to say yes too.

My plan was to go with my mum - a home birth midwife, but when saturday came she was unable to come as something else had come up!

Emma's diary is a parenting advice diary that covers everything from pregnancy to toddlers, as well as advice for mums and mums to be! This year they teamed up with The Baby Show.

Saturday arrived and I was greeted by a winter wonderland

I was a little worried I wouldn't make the show but everything cleared up by 9 am.

Ru and myself went off to London to have a wonder round the baby show! 

This was Ru's first train experience, and he found it so thrilling he slept all the way into London! 

Once we arrived at the ExCel centre I was rather over whelmed by the sheer size of it! 

I "man'd up" and got stuck in 

I had done a bit of research before I got there so I knew where I wanted to go first .... The bumpkins baby show stars stall - you could get a free photo of your babe and also be entered into the baby show stars competion! Ru being so gorgeous it was a must!

I then had a walk round to the Prima baby and pregnany magazine stand 

(Sorry for the poor quality photo ..... Had hands full and was still feeling a bit overwhelmed)

I signed up for the subscription and got myself a goodie bag

12 issues for £20 and a free gro bag which is worth £25.99!  

The goodie bag was £3 with goodies worth of £22!

I didn't realise how heavy the goodie bag was going to be and instantly wished I'd had a buggy for Ru rather than his Tula carrier!

It's all well and good being hands free but when you have coats, bags, snowsuits, and even more bags taking up your hand free hands you do start to question your sanity lol! 

I took Ru to have his lunch and we sat in the Tommee Tippee feeding area - what he was enjoying his sandwiches I was planning my attack and where I wanted to go. 

I wanted to see the lovely Cosatto display as is seen little snippets on their instagram page

I wanted to wonder round the mothercare clothes as usually I'm banned from going in when we are out and about. 

Then I just wanted to see what I could see.

Ru finished his lunch and had finished my coffee, off we went, walking up and down the Isles we saw lots of lovely looking displayed, I looked at the super gorgeous pushchairs at the Cosatto stand which made me want a buggy even more!

Looked at all the gorgeous cloth nappies by Totbots,Bambooty, gnappies 

( I would have bought some but I had banned myself seeing as I had just recently bought Ru 4 new nappies)

I Found the lovely my little duckling stall where I nearly jumped for joy - I had seen these great hats from other bloggers on Instagram and really wanted one for ru so of course it would have been rude not to purchase one!

They also had a 10% Baby Show discount 

Ru modelling his hat the next day::

I came across the funky giraffe Bib stand where they were doing 6 bibs for £10, Ru is always wearing a bib as he is constantly teething which obviously means he is constantly dribbling!

The bibs are super soft and very funky. 

I also pledge to read even more to the boys at the book start stand!

By now I had even more bags and was getting rather flustered Ru had fallen asleep and was feeling rather hot, so I walked over to The Baby Show stage and sat down! 

I caught the end of 'shared parental leave - what it means to you' speech which sounded rather interesting and I wish I'd seen all of it!

Annabel karmel was due on in the next ten minutes!

Perfect I thought, I have most of her book ..... Or so I thought, 

she has 40 books!! 

Wow!

I never knew that!

She was great and I'm really glad I got to see her. 

Ru slept for the whole talk, once he woke I gathered up l our bags, coats and the other bags and headed off to mothercare!

They also had a 10% Baby Show discount so I treated Ru to some little bird t-shirts and some very colourful pyjamas!!

 Ru was getting grumpy and my arms were about to break so it was time to head home. 

On our way out we were given a free kangaroo teddy from Go Skippy insurance!

We had such a great day!!

I truly think every pregnant / new mum should go to the Baby Show at least once if they get the chance!

So many discounts, and everything you need plus more under the one roof!

My baby show haul::

Once home I had a well deserved bath  

Here are some links to some of the brands I mentioned above ...

https://mylittleduckling.co.uk 

http://funkygiraffebibs.co.uk 

little bird 

http://www.gnappies.com 

http://www.totsbots.com 

http://www.cosatto.com 

  

Never work with babies!!!

Trying to take some shots of my new wrap but all Ru is interested in is trying to rip my glasses off my face 

Photo fail!!!! 

Alfie and Grandma - book review

Alfie and Grandma is another book from the Alfie series written by Shirley Hughes

The book offers a special collection of stories celebrating grandmas and grand children - 

• Looking for Winnie

• A journey to the North Pole

• Lost sheep 

The boys really loved this book, their favourite story was 'A journey to the North Pole' 

It really captured their imagination and made them think of their own granny's.

Reading it takes me back to when I used to visit my great gran and we had our own special little game of shops that only we would play. 

Noah now has his own special game of 'buses' which he makes my gran play with him when she visits and now the twins are older the boys all play too.

They love it and she also loves it.

The illustrations are beautifully done and really capture the love between a grandma and her grandchildren 

The bond you have with your grandparents is unbreakable. I think this book would make a lovely Mother's Day present for your children's grandma - granny - nana - gran - mimis (whatever the name is in your house) from the kids! 

The book is on sale from Friday 26th February 

Available to buy on Amazon preorder for £6.09 here 

You can watch the video of Shirley introducing Alfie on you tube .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3m6ibi6G0k

Point+shoot! 24th feb

This weekend was a good one.

On Saturday Ru had his first train journey as he accompanied me to the baby show up in London ExCel! 

You'll hear more about what we got up to at the baby show in a later post! 

Ru wore his newly purchased little bird pjs that he made me buy Saturday evening and looked very handsome!!!

Sunday!!!

We took the boys to the park in the morning, to let them run around like wild animals 

After lunch I had a play with my new woven wrap, all the boys were happy to help try and break it in ... 

Noah was going to have a go but Alex leaked and the wrap had to go back into the wash!!!

Then after that we all chilled and watched Toy story 3 which is always a firm favourite!!

Stain busting!!!!

Stains are my arch enemy!

Baby and stains go hand in hand!

Boys and stains go hand in hand!

As you've probably guessed...

I have to deal with stains on a daily basis!

Grrrrr

One thing I really really hate is grubby highchair straps, Ru is BLW so feeds himself and the food doesn't just go in his mouth, so every few weeks i pop his orangey looking straps into the wash to make them nice and white again!

How I do this I hear you say?!? 

Well....

These are pictures from after last night

 

He had beef chilli for dinner! 

After I had cleaned up all the mess and wiped away his Essex's tan I got out my best pals ....

I like to soak really grubby stuff over night as I'll getca better result, and it's more of an attack on the stain.

I'll use the bar on it first as this really helps get rip of stubborn stains 

Then I'll fill the up the basin with hot water and a scoop of vanish

Leave it over night, then in the morning pop it into the wash with another scoop of vanish and my usual washing powder

And voilà

Mother's Day BakerDays cake - review

I follow the BakerDays on Instagram and Twitter and so I thought I'd try my luck and see if they wanted another blogger to review their fabulous cakes.....my luck was in and they said I could review a Mother's Day letterbox cake.

They let me pick which design I wanted. 

Being a big fan of pink I went for the ...'I love you to the moon' design 

As soon as I opened the tin I was hit with the amazing smell of vanilla!!! 

The cake looked great, it smelled great and my gosh it tasted great!

Usually I get disappointed by cakes and think I could have done a better job myself but with the letterbox cake I don't think I could have even come close! 

There is a big selection to pick from, you can personalise them with a name or picture of yourself, the kids, the person you are sending it too or whatever takes your fancy.

They also offer a bespoke design service.

They do cakes for all occasions, if you ordered before 2pm you'll get next day delivery.

If you order a week in advance you will get free delivery 

You can check out their birthday-cakes here.

Once you've picked your cake you then get to pick your sponge, you have a choice of 6

• Vanilla

• Chocolate 

• Fruit 

• Half and Half

• Gluten free

• Dairy free

Your cake will come in a lovely little cake tin with a mini party pack. 

Their cakes stay fresh up to 14 days!!!!

They don't just offer the letterbox cakes they do, cupcakes small cakes 7", medium cakes 9", large cakes 12".

So why not treat your mum to a lovely cake for  .Mothers Day ... It really is the perfect gift because surely everybody LOVES cake!!!

You can get the letterbox cake for just £14.99! 

Why not go have a look for yourself BakerDays. 

I shall be ordering one for my mum and my Gran! 

Mum its snowing....don't be silly! Mysundayphoto

The unexpected snow!  

Yesterday morning Noah came running in laughing saying "mummy I don't think you'll be going out today, look outside."

I got out of bed and this is what greeted me behind the blind.

Yesterdays shenanigans

Jon took a days holiday yesterday so we could go out and do something fun as a family.

We thought about going to a local farm but were put off by the price ...... Being a family of 6 doesn't half put the price on days out up! :(

We decided to look at chessington zoo ...... Much cheaper than the farm and probably more fun for the boys. 

We started the day with bears on toast ... I thought it would go down well but they boys decided they were to nice to eat!

We saw the seals and the twins loved waiting for them to turn up by the glass

Oscar made friends with the black sheep in the petting farm

All the gorillas were in hiding ..... Like most of the animals at the zoo lol!

So they decided to make friends with the pretend one. 

We did see some lions, but they were fast asleep looking rather cold!

The boys tried to coax the animals out of hiding by playing the bongos!

At the end of the day, all 3 boys were pretty tired and grumpy! 

I think Noahs face sums up his mood.

After the zoo we went to boxhill to get some lunch in Smith and Western.

 This cheered all the boys up.

The day was topped by the boys auntie and cousin come to stay at Nana and Gramps's.

The boys have not left Jenni alone and Sam and Noah have bonded over the Xbox! 

In other news coming up on the blog next week ......

• Mother's Day bakerdays cake review 

• Alfie and Grandma book review

• What I thought about the The baby show  London ExCel