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Dear Daisy, It is your first day at school...

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!

The end of 2014 is iminent and I am sat cuddling my little squishy girl thinking about the year that's about to pass and also the year that's due to jump on us!


2014 has been the most exciting year to date, for the obvious reason that we introduced Daisy to our world! And that would take some beating. I always used to say I wouldn't have children, until it seemed to be the next thing to do in life and I'm so glad my mind set changed. Life will never be the same again, it can only keep getting better! 

That's not to say that 2014 has not been challenging at times for various reasons; pregnancy, sickness, labour (eeek!), hospital appointments, getting used to having a little someone rely on you, different sleep patterns, looking at work options, new jobs, friends  etc etc. But it all works out in the end for the best, everything happens for a reason. Even the little things. Sounds a bit heavy and cryptic but I'm a firm believer. 

I'm already seeing the hundreds of statuses and tweets about fresh starts, new me, this is my year, blah blah blah! I'm happy being me so I won't be saying any of those things, I'm not taking anything away from those that are saying it though. If it's the motivation they need then that's great! 

But for me I always think new year is just a new day, you can work on changes any day and why wait until the year changes? That's not to say I don't want to start the year healthier, fitter and happy but that's nothing dramatic and not a resolution. I'm already happy and healthy, fit- maybe not that one!! I just feel it's a good time to kick start these things after a heavy, fattening Christmas time. 

What I generally mean is people put too much pressure on themselves, new year new me? You are the same you, just look at it differently.



Back to the blog; My little blog has made some steps forward this second half of the year and there's more to come. We've been lucky to have some great opportunities from some fabulous brands and other bloggers, fingers crossed we continue to grow in 2015. 

So I'm off to enjoy the last few days of the holiday and spend more time with my family and friends :)

Have a good one and happy new year!

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx

Possibly the worst glitter varnish of 2014

I'm usually nice and positive on here, okay I'm honest and do say when I'm not happy with something but I wouldn't go out of my way to do so.

I had a mini Rimmel haul in Boots before Christmas for some sparkly, seasonal bits and pieces. One of the products I bought was Rimmel precious stones in Ruby Red 002, it's what looked like a deep, very sparkly red colour. Perfect for the big day! 


Applying glitter Polish is never overly easy but I've never tried anything like this before. It was very opaque and almost slid of the nail when being applied. I had to do 3-4 coats to make it resemble what it should have looked like and I was ok with it. Not majorly over the moon but if you didn't look too close it looked alright. Nice and sparkly! I put a Rimmel top coat over as usual and as recommended on the bottle. 

Well, it must have lasted about 3 hours before it started falling off, and falling off in huuuuuuuge pieces! Awful. By lunch time my nails looked disgusting. 

I give it a whopping 0 out of 5!! I must add I've bought many Rimmel nail products before and been very happy with them, but not this one! 


Have you tried any of that range??

Love, Hayley xxx

Making our own Christmas traditions

Each family have their own traditions for Christmas, birthdays, New year etc... whether they know it or not. 

Now we have our own little family I've been thinking about traditions for us and how to make Christmas that bit more special for the three of us.


Some things Daisy won't recognise until she is older and I'm fully aware that she won't know what's happening this year except for some excitement, but it doesn't mean that I won't enjoy them too! 

This year on Christmas Eve we have a family party which will be lovely :) Then we want to be home fairly early ish to get all bathed ready for Father Christmas, then in to our new PJs, watch a Christmas film, hot chocolates and quality street (No chocolates for Daisy this year! She can have fruit puffs! ) while we wrap any last minute pressies etc.

Then I have ordered (it's taking a lifetime to arrive!! I may have to improvise and use her hand puppets this year at this rate!!! ) "The night before Christmas" Book to read. This is something I have always dreamt of us doing since I fell pregnant, sat snuggled on the sofa reading her a book before her milk and bed time ready for Santa to have the all clear to come down the chimney!! (I think these thoughts are a woman thing!! And the little things we think of and imagine doing with our own little children when they get here! I'm sure men must think we are crazy!) 

I know she won't understand what we are reading, but we do often read and she likes to look at the pictures anyway and all the silly voices I do!! But each year she will become more and more engaged, and its a nice little tradition to have while we can!  


Christmas morning will change as she gets older I am sure but no matter where we go or what we do it will be nice to have some time together to see if Santa thinks we have been good or naughty boys and girls!

I love listening to other peoples traditions and seeing them unravel on Facebook and in photos, things like Santas footprints outside, putting out mince pies and carrots for Santa and his reindeers, reindeer dust so they can find us etc! All things my mum and dad did for us, I will make sure its just as magical for Daisy as she grows up (and any future additions !). I'm sure mum and dad got just as excited doing all of those things for us as we were as the children!!

What traditions do you have?

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx

A look back to last Christmas

I love photographs and often like to sit and look back how things have changed in a year. This year has obviously been full of changes with our new addition, Daisy! She was just a good little bump this time last year. But I love looking back on others too like my niece and nephew, my niece was just a few weeks old and so cute (She is still very cute!).














Lots of love,
Hayley & Daisy bump xxx

I own copyright to all photographs featured

Daddy daycare

Going back to work wasn't really something I wanted to do but it was more of a need to. Going back filled me with dread during the last few weeks of my maternity but deep down I knew my baby was going to be in the best hands, her daddy's.

To be honest even this panicked me! Only because I wouldn't be there sometimes to ensure all was okay and I would miss her!! But it's completely normal to miss your baby even at the thought of leaving them. Or so I think it is, or at at least that's what I tell myself anyway. You work so hard to grow them in your tummy and then so hard to protect them and nurture them when they arrive and of course most of us don't want to miss a thing with them! They grow so fast (bit if a cliche but true I'm afraid!) and I don't want to miss a thing (que Aerosmith!)

Daisy's dad has been hands on and so knows what Daisy needs and wants most of the time so I felt quite comfortable. However there is always times when I do everything, because I want to! And deep down I was thinking what if she wont eat her dinner or wont drink her milk, or he cant settle her when she has a "moment"? It seems all of that was silly thinking, she is good as gold for him! Thank goodness! It definitely makes it easier for me to work knowing they're fine.

Luckily Ben likes to be doing something, just like Daisy. So plenty of walks and looking around, listening to music and interacting, all of which Daisy needs to fill her day! And keep her amused! That's the trickiest bit about having a 7 month old, they need to be kept busy and amused ALLLLLLL day to stop the whinging!

Thought I would update you all as to how being back at work actually is!

Lots of love,
Hayley & Daisy xxx

The big return to work

I went back to work this week, something I've been dreading for most of my maternity. But I knew I had to return at some point.


For those of you that follow our blog you'll know I started a brand new job rather than returning to my old one, so it's all change. I expected to feel sick Sunday and be a real Debbie downer but to be honest I was fine. 

For my first few days I needed to be in London, away from home and over night. To make things less anxious Ben and Daisy came with me and so I wasn't completely alone after work and I didn't have the anxiety of leaving my baby girl for too long alongside the anxiety of being the new girl too. I'm very lucky that my husband did this! 

I also expected to be sat there in the office thinking about them all day and wishing I was there rather than working. I did think about them and I did message them a few times. But it wasn't as awful as I thought it would be. A big part of it was down to her being with her daddy and only being a few miles away but am so maybe I'd just built myself up to think it was going to be awful!! 

To be able to have a nice hot drink and not have to be jiggling Daisy up and down or playing peekaboo whilst mopping up yogurt off her was quite a novelty! Also adult conversation and having to engage my brain back into work mode was nice too in a funny little way. I'm sure this will wear off though!!!!  

I guess this is just a post to say thank you for all of your messages and support in my return to work, you were all right, it's not so bad after all. 



Love, Hayley xxx

A baby Christmas wishlist #1

Daisy and I have been busy writing her list to Father Christmas and thought we would share a few bits that we've seen that we love!!

There are lots of things from House of Lilah that we love but this has to be top of our list:



The same goes for Jackandjillaroo where we have spotted the most gorgeous bibs ever:


H&M is always a good stop point for us and there is always something we've got our eye on in the kids section. To be honest we either love things or really aren't fans of them in there but in the most at the moment it's LOVE:




Baby Zara is also a huge favourite, I love this whole look:



So just a few bits of clothing mainly, we have many, many more bits on the lost but that's a sneak peek for now!

Love Hayley & Daisy xxx

7 months old??? How?

How is this possible? My tiny baby is now 7 months old. Crazy.


This month has been all about weaning really and I'm pleased to say she's got to grips with it nicely. She's still not convinced on meat but she's getting there. She would live off yogurt if I let her but I do make sure she eats various things each day to keep tickling her pallete and get her to used to different tastes and textures. Some favourites T the moment are bannana, yogurt, apricots and croissant! A girl after my own heart!!! 

I am now combination feeding her and it's going well. I feed her when I want to and mix in bottles here and there in the day alongside her food. I had to get her to this stage as I'm back at work on Monday- scary I know.  :( so her dad needs to be able to feed her too when I'm not here. I go back to work on Monday and am still feeling so sad about it, but am much more comfortable with the idea than last month. I think seeing how good she is with her dad has let me relax a little and knowing I'll still be around quite a bit makes me realise it won't be so bad. 


Her sleeping is a little all over the place at the moment, one night she will go through and then the next she will want feeding once and then other times she will wake up at 5/6 and won't go back to sleep! Or she will when I'm holding her but I put her down and she's wide awake! I think part of it is she's growing and becoming more aware of everything and also it's chilly! So when I put her into her cot it's colder than if I hold her, who can blame her. 

We still have no teeth.. The dribble is still coming thick and fast and her cheeks areso  rosy they burn sometimes, as well as everything going in her mouth all of the time but no toothie pegs! 

Daisy is now pretty much into her 6-9 months clothes with the exception of a few bits I can't let go of like her little rabbit dungarees! But I really do need to pack them away now as sad as it is. 

We have now finished rhythm time and sadly didn't make it to our last one because I had a nasty migraine but I think we will see her little buddies and their mummies again soon anyway. We will really miss our Monday mornings with them. I am going to have Wednesdays off as my four day week pattern and so I'm planning on taking her to swimming lessons then. It will get us out and about and means we can still do some mummy- baby socialising! As well as obviously getting her used to the water!!! 

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx

Nuk first choice vs Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles



I always knew I wanted to breastfeed Daisy, and actually my second Alex. But with both I knew I would have to try all kinds of things to be able to combination feed.

When pregnant I automatically purchased Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles without a second thought. I didn't even look at other brands, I think the main reason being they were on a great promotion in the Asda baby event and so just chucked them in my online basket.

I knew I would try to breastfeed Daisy but thought I would need bottles if it didn't work out or if I expressed or even combi feed her. Fortunately the feeding took off beautifully albeit a tad painful those first few weeks. I expressed a couple of times in the first few months mainly when I was engorged but we also had a period of giving Daisy her evening bottle so Ben could do it. 

She always fussed a little bit with the bottle and it always seemed hard work for her. I then got lazy and didn't offer bottles for around a month. When it came to introducing them again it was awful, she point blank refused at first! She would scream until she was sick. Each day I just kept trying her with two ounces to see if she would get used to it, it was hard going. That will teach me for being lazy and confusing the poor little lady!! It took around a month but she then started to take four ounces (that's her limit for some reason, boredom maybe), slowly and with fussing but it meant I could start not to panic too much about leaving her and even returning to work soon. 

Tommee Tippee



Then this month we got sent a NUK first choice bottle in our Nonabox (see link here). If I'm honest I'd never have picked it up off the shelf, it's got green rims and features Winnie the Pooh on it. I've since looked and they do some lovely versions which are much more my taste. 

I tried her with a few ounces in it as a test and she downed it in minutes! It takes her ages to have a few ounces in the Tommee Tippee, so slow that she gets bored and gives up after four usually. 

NUK




I wish I'd tried the Nuk earlier!! 

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx



The countdown

Be warned this is probably going to be one of those over emotional, whingey posts that I write from time to time. But hey I'm going to write it anyway...

So I have two weeks to go, in fact less than two weeks now. Until I go back to work. Except I'll be returning as a mum.


You might think and what? Lots of women and (gents of course) who are parents go to work every single day. But this muma is yet to try this out! 

I feel quite anxious about it and I think part of it is down to going back to a brand new job, although I do know that I feel better about this than returning to my old one. There wasn't anything wrong with the old one really just how the role would now sit with my home life, I've had to make some changes to fit in around my favourite times of the day, morning snuggles and bath time etc. Or at least try to anyway. 

I'm sat writing this at 4am because Daisy has a bit of wind we need to shift before she drifts back off. I would usually be losing my patience slightly by now but today I'm feeling a little careless about the lack of sleep and instead savouring the moment when I don't need to worry about driving miles and entertaining a client in a few hours. Instead I'm cherishing those cute little smiles that keep looking up at me (she is so cheeky!), even the little scratches I'm getting as she runs her tiny fingers over my face and chest are making me smile and I feel so lucky. 

It's now no longer a ridiculous time in the morning but the next evening. You'll be pleased to know the wind passed quickly and we were all back to sleep in no time. 

Back to the post. So the point of this was that I've been thinking and wondering what I'll be like on the return to work. I'll be professional and do my best at all I do but will my standards be as high? Will I not be thinking about getting back to my baby and how I'm going to teach her to say dada and mama, how to army crawl across the floor and how to actually swallow meat rather than letting it sit on her tongue for ten minutes? Will I not just be wishing the day away so I can close my laptop, switch off my phone and be mummy rather than an account manager? 

I guess I don't know. In one respect I need to teach myself to tear myself away from Daisy and work is going to force that on me even if I don't feel ready to. But I don't want to, I don't want to have to leave her. But it's in all of our interests to some extent that I do. Hopefully in my new job it won't mean all week away from her but days here and there and I'll be around to pick her up from nursery etc when she is in. 

In one respect it will be nice to have a little me time, driving to my interview the other week made me realise this. I was all emotional leaving her and had a little weep but after an hour I relaxed. I enjoyed listening to the radio or my music and having my own thoughts. Also wearing clothes that I don't need to consider to be feeding friendly will also be an added benefit. And the money of course will also be nice. A little more adult conversation too. But that's about it! 

Any tips on how I can make it feel less stressful and lessen the anxiety?!

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx


Our 1st family holiday #3 Padstow & The Eden Project

Here goes... the last post of our family holiday and probably the most picture heavy!

It's making me quite sad actually writing this, our holiday was a lifetime ago now :(

First up Padstow. I have been here before with my family when I was a child, and you see it a lot on the tele. To be honest I was disappointed, it didn't live up to what I was expecting this time. I was expecting it to be bigger and probably more high end than it was. i wonder if it would be different in peak times?

It wasn't as quaint as I remembered either. Rick Stein has definitely got the monopoly here, everything has his name on!






And then the Eden Project. I wasn't sure what to expect here but I had a lovely day, and Daisy really enjoyed it too! 















Lots of love, 
Hayley xxx