Crazy With Twins

How many of you mums and dads booked a Babymoon before your baby was born? How many of you didn’t, but wish you had? Are you pregnant and planning a Babymoon right now? According to LoveHolidays, there’s been a 52% increase in online searches by people planning a babymoon. With this in mind, I thought I’d share a post on babymoon tips.

What is a Babymoon?

Well quite simply, it’s your last little holiday or weekend away, before your baby is born. Some special time to relax and enjoy yourself, a bit like a honeymoon, before your adorable new sleep-thief makes it’s way into the world. I think it’s really important to spend some quality one to one time with your partner (if you have one) and to make the effort to look after yourself, before your new arrival.

My Babymoons

With my oldest daughter (now 12), I didn’t have a babymoon at all. It was simply something I couldn’t afford at the time.

When I was expecting my twins, I booked a babymoon in London over a long weekend, in a four star hotel. I enjoyed 3 course dinners out, swimming and spa treatments and a little bit of sightseeing. I was 30 weeks pregnant at the time and in hindsight, I feel I would have been better off on a short haul trip abroad. As much as I loved my babymoon in London, I developed SPD around the same time and London was simply too much walking for me to cope with. I was in pain. If I could go back in time, I’d have made that babymoon a more relaxing one, sunning myself on a beach somewhere warm.

As I prepared for Baby Bear to arrive, I took a trip to France, with my three daughters. It was just before I met my now-husband, so I didn’t have a partner on the scene. Taking my daughters probably made it less of a “babymoon” and more of a “holiday” but it was fantastic to get away and spend some quality time together as a family, before our family dynamic changed.

I had also booked a solo trip to Kos towards the end of my pregnancy, but due to motorway closures, I missed my flight and I can’t put into words, how disappointed I was.

The point of this post, is that forward planning is the most important aspect of a babymoon. Here are a few babymoon tips from me, on things to consider when planning a babymoon.

Babymoon Tips

Plan a babymoon. Whether it’s with your partner, a friend or even your own children. BOOK IT. It’s worth it, trust me. No matter how many children you already have, your family dynamic will change with your new addition. That time away will give you a chance to recharge your batteries, boost your morale a little, cement your relationship or your support network and put a smile on your face. You’re growing a human, you deserve to have a little you-time.
Even if you are the fittest person on the planet and your pregnancy has been smooth sailing until now… plan your babymoon to be relaxing. Overdoing it with trips, excursions, walking etc could well spring up complications, such as fallen arches, SPD, back ache and other minor pregnancy ailments.
Allow an extra night. If you’re flying, book into an airport hotel the night before. Pregnancy plays havoc with your emotions and I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer the emotions I did, when I missed that flight to Kos. I was inconsolable. I had thought that allowing 5 hours for a 2 hour journey and allowing an extra 2 hours for check-in was plenty. It took me 7 hours and I arrived in the terminal just as my flight took off.
Over pack! Pack every medicine you might possibly need. All approved by your own doctor or pharmacist for use in pregnancy. Pain relief, indigestion relief, allergy relief. The last thing you want to be doing on your babymoon, is tracking down a doctor and trying to ask in another language, whether what they are prescribing you, is safe for use in pregnancy.
Get travel insurance and CHECK that your travel insurance covers you whilst pregnant. SOME DON’T! Whilst nobody plans to go into premature labour and hopefully nothing like that will happen, you need to cover all your bases. Sods law would have it, that if you buy the insurance, you won’t need it, but if you don’t buy the insurance, you probably will!
Get a “fit-to-fly certificate” from your midwife or doctor. When I arrived at Gatwick airport I was asked to produce this, prior to them allowing me to check in. If you are in your third trimester or you carry your babies quite big, they WILL refuse to allow you to fly
Use a tool like the LoveHolidays Babymoon Finder, which helps you choose a destination for your babymoon based on your due date, how long you want to fly for and what type of holiday you’d like. It tells you the latest date you can fly, based on NHS guidelines and suggests countries and deals for you. It basically takes all the stress out of deciding when and where to go!

The most important of all my babymoon tips though… remember it’s supposed to be fun and relaxing. Planning a babymoon shouldn’t be stressful and nor should the holiday itself. Give yourself plenty of time to book, to pack, to get there, to make it as calm as possible. This is your time to bond with your partner and your unborn baby and just take a break from normality.

Good luck with planning a babymoon, let me know if you have any babymoon tips of your own?

Post written in collaboration with LoveHolidays

Over the half term holidays, we spent 6 days testing out and reviewing the Vauxhall Grandland X. I’ve always been a Vauxhall fan. I learnt to drive in a Vectra and an Astra. My first car was an Agila and I’ve also owned a Zafira. I just find Vauxhall’s really easy to drive, pretty comfy, good value and ideal for family life.

I previously reviewed the Grandland X’s little sister, the Vauxhall Crossland X.

The two cars are actually very VERY similar, with the most obvious difference being that the Vauxhall Grandland X is significantly bigger than the Crossland X. I like bigger cars. I feel safer in bigger cars. So before I even started the engine, I preferred the Grandland X to the Crossland X.

Vauxhall Grandland X Review

The most basic model of the Grandland X is the SE, weighing in it’s starting price at £23,785*. Although for some reason the Tech Line Nav model, which contains satellite navigation and a few additional features, actually has a slightly lower starting price on the Vauxhall website, at £23,415*. Next up in specification and ascending prices we have the Sport Nav, followed by the Elite Nav and the top of the range model is called the Ultimate, with a starting price of £34,935*.

The Vauxhall Grandland X and Family Car Safety

As a mum, safety is my number one priority for everything and cars are no exception to that. What I loved about the Vauxhall Grandland X is that is that you can switch the child locks on and off at the touch of a button on the dash. Gone are the days of having to get out and wiggle a key around in the side of each back door. And not just the doors, but the windows too. There’s a button on the drivers side which controls all windows and overrides the back windows. So if you’ve got some charming little terrors in the back who are likely to lob things out of their windows and blame it on their sibling… you can just lock their windows.

This car also has automatic braking, so if you get too close to the car in front, it will beep, display a warning message and actually brake for you. The dash will also show you warning signs, road signs, speed limit signs and if you want to, you can switch on lane assist, so it will tell you if you veer over the lane dividers. I personally disable lane assist as I find it irritating, but this is very much down to personal preference. One thing which I did find hugely helpful though, was the little indicator lights on the wing mirrors. These would flash orange if there was a car in my blind spot, so I’d know it wasn’t safe to change lanes.

The Grandland X In-Car Tech

Another super smart bit of tech on this car, which is pretty bloomin’ awesome if you ask me – is the adaptive headlights. Picture this… you’re driving down the road at night and a car is coming the other way… the main beam on the Grandland X dips automatically BY ITSELF without you doing a thing! And once the oncoming car has passed, the Grandland X automatically switches back to main beam! It knows the difference between a street lamp and an oncoming car and only dips and beams when it needs to. So you’ve no worries about accidentally blinding another driver. Genius or what?!

The Grandland X also has advanced park assist, meaning that if you are struggling to parallel park into a particularly difficult space, it will actually park it for you. I don’t know how I missed this at the time of driving it, because I would most certainly have tested out that function. However, I didn’t know it was there, so I parked the traditional way. I say the traditional way, but to be honest, parking is a DODDLE in this car. Front and rear parking sensors and an excellent rear reversing camera were options which were present on the model I test drove and they make parking so simple. The clarity of the reversing camera was exceptional. You could see every tiny detail and the camera worked in harmony with the visual and audible parking sensors.

With the Vauxhall Grandland X’s Techline Nav model, you get integrated Sat Nav in addition to the standard Intellilink Infotainment system. Use this Infotainment system to connect your phone to your car, via Bluetooth and access your contacts, music and make calls through the cars speaker system. I loved this feature as I currently use the sat nav on my mobile phone, which runs my battery down and disappears when I take a phone call. Furthermore, if your smart phone is compatible with wireless charging, you can simply pop your phone down on the pad and the car will wirelessly charge your phone for you. My husbands phone has this. The fact that my phone doesn’t, probably suggests I should get a new phone!

And for when the children are NOT in the car and you want to enjoy some solo drive time without the regular chants of “Are we nearly there yet?”, the Grandland X has a kickass sound system. A Denon 8-speaker sound system with inbuilt subwoofer, provides great sound quality when you want to belt out some tunes.

For the gadget geeks, or people like me who just love the novelty of a new toy, let me tell you about the boot… Wave a foot underneath and with a “BEEP” the boot opens itself. Wave that tootsie under the back bumper again and “BEEP” the boot closes by itself too! Storage wise, the Grandland X has 1652 litre boot space and the rear seats fold down if that’s not enough for you. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we could actually fit in the boot. I used it to travel down to Dorset with all my Body Shop kit and my suitcase, and there was still space for more stuff! On the way back I discovered I could actually get my trolley case in without needing to be split into two.

Space and Comfort in the Vauxhall Grandland X

When talking about space, it’s important too that when choosing a family car, you consider how well car seats fit in. For a five seater car, this one is pretty spacious. We had no trouble at all getting two car seats in the back and my 12 year old in the middle between them. When I had little man with me too, I was able to disable the front airbag at the touch of a button and fit his car seat effortlessly in the front passenger seat. I think if you are looking for a five seater family car, then this has to be one of the best.

Comfort wise… well the Grandland X had me at the heated seats, but it also boasts heated steering wheel and windscreen too – just to show off! The pricier model has full lumbar support if you opt for the ergonomically certified AGR sports seats with tiltable cushions. This is great for both comfort and back support.

What’s the Grandland X like to drive?

But what’s a car review without talking about the actual driving? We drove this on the motorway down to Dorset. We drove it through the countryside. We drove it into town. And we also drove it out into the Cotswolds. Despite this being a manual model, and I tend to prefer automatics, the Vauxhall Grandland X was such an easy drive. The steering was super responsive, but without being oversensitive (nobody wants to sneeze and end up in a ditch now do they?!). Despite the big alloys, it was a very smooth drive. The cruise control got whacked on for motorway driving and does manual driving really get much simpler than that?

This is such an economical car too. Bearing in mind that this was not an eco design car, I was really impressed by it’s fuel efficiency. I did around 500 miles on one tank of fuel.

My verdict on the Vauxhall Grandland X

So let me summarise a moment. The Vauxhall Grandland X is spacious, easy to drive, comfortable, economical and has all manner of safety features and technical gadgets to make driving a breeze. And let’s face it, raising a family has enough stresses, without your car being one of them. If they made this in a seven seat version, I’d buy one in a heartbeat!

f you’re after a 7-seater car, make sure you check out my review of the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer.

*Prices, models and features referred to in this article were accurate at the time of publication and checked on Vauxhalls’ website.

Disclaimer: This post is a working collaboration with Vauxhall, but all words and opinions are entirely honest and entirely my own.

Bunny has been doing acrobatic gymnastics for six and a half years and tumbling for one and a half years, trying to reach her gymnastic dreams. She started when she was just 5 years old in one of the recreational classes, like my twins are in now. She started in the Blue group, which at the time, was the youngest group of gymnasts. She did two gymnastics badges per year and gradually moved up to the green group and then to the general gym group. From there she moved onto the development squad, where they prepare for competitions. Then a few years ago she got moved to the C Squad, where they first start doing competitions. This really lit her fire and her ambition grew.

Bunny has never had any false illusion of grandeur. She knows she’s not going to be an Olympian. Gymnastics is not going to be her career. Gymnastics has never come naturally to her. She’s not naturally flexible, she’s fearful when it comes to tumbling and her balance has not always been great. She’s clumsy, skinny and has big feet. But it’s never put her off. It’s meant she’s had to work ten times harder than the gymnasts who have an innate natural talent. It’s taken her much longer than most gymnasts to move up through the classes. But it’s never clouded her passion or her determination. Her end goal has always been the same. Bunny’s gymnastic dreams are to get to the A Squad and compete in national and maybe even international competitions. The top gymnasts at her gym get to compete at Disneyland in Paris and that is Bunny’s ultimate gymnastic dream. She won’t get there this year… but maybe one day!

Last month, we had a bit of a setback.

Things weren’t going great for Bunny. She has some issues at school. Friendship issues, bullying issues, drama over the drama production, peer pressure, detentions and few phone calls home. She has some personal issues too (the pre-teen hormones are well and truly kicking in) and she was feeling vulnerable. She found out that her gym partnership had been split and her partner was moving up and she wasn’t. Not only that, but her partner was skipping out B Squad and going straight to A Squad. Disappointment isn’t a strong enough word. Bunny was devastated. We had tears and angst. We had, wanting to quit and throw the last 6 years training away. She didn’t want to do gymnastics without her partner and she didn’t want to get left behind again (we’ve been through this before with a previous partner). She felt like she would never be good enough. We had a very sad little girl indeed. And I’m not ashamed to admit, I was heartbroken too. I cried over it myself. It’s horrible seeing one of your children feel so low and so upset, knowing there’s nothing you can do to make it better.

But after the dust had settled, I assured her she just needs to keep working hard and doing her best and prove to her coaches that she’s good enough to move up too. I said if she genuinely wanted to quit, she could, but that she needed to think it through and not make a rash decision. Gymnastics is her passion and I knew she didn’t want to leave really. This was just a setback.

And just two weeks later, on a random Sunday afternoon, a message pinged into my inbox.

Bunny was being offered a trial. Not for B Squad, but for A Squad. And not only for A Squad, but WITH her previous partner who had just moved up!

I didn’t want her to get her hopes up too high. It was just a trial. There were no guarantees. But she was so excited she barely slept. And all day at school she couldn’t take her mind off the trial. She kept messaging me. She even asked if I could pick her up from school early so she could rest her legs for a bit and then do some stretches before the trial. I said no of course. School is important too.

Eventually the time came to take her to gym. She was a nervous, excited, uncertain ball of panic! We arrived early and she ran straight to her partner to tell her she had a trial. I stayed. I usually drop her off and pick her up, but I stayed the full two and a half hours. I chatted to some other mums to pass the time. I did a bit of work. And I watched through the window at the times when I thought it wouldn’t distract her too much.

The warm-ups were long and pretty hardcore. She was put into her new trio (with her old partner plus a top) and in that one session they mastered a new move, that Bunny had never even attempted before. Holding their top in straddle, high above their heads, I watched as they repeated the move again and again. I know that as a mum, these kind of moves look super impressive, but to coaches and judges they can look sloppy. And all I could do was hope that the coach in charge was impressed enough to let her move up.

At last the wait was over. I was called into the gym and the answer I got, was just one simple word.

“Yes”.

And that was it. The culmination of six and a half years of training. All that hard work rewarded with her end goal. She is finally where she has always wanted to be. And yet this is also just the beginning. This is where the hard work starts. Training will change from five and a half hours per week, to ten and a half hours per week. Fees will go up. Difficulty and precision will go up. Competitions will be more fierce and more important. Those gymnastic dreams are closer than ever. And I’ve never seen her look so happy and so proud of herself. And of course… with that… comes a huge helping of mum pride too!

Big thank you to Rik McRae Astro Photography for allowing me to use some of his incredible images (the poorer quality images are my own – the good ones are his!).

I was recently asked to do an experiment, to find out the best mothers day spa treatments for combatting mum stress. In order to do such an experiment, I needed a way to measure “mum stress”… And guess what… there’s an app for that!

What is Mum Stress?

I’m not talking about the stress of spending time with your mother – I’m talking about the every day stresses of motherhood!

Personally, despite being a working mum of four, I don’t get stressed easily. At 21 I took to motherhood, like a duck to water. I felt like I was born to be a mum. My maternal instincts have been extremely strong since the moment I discovered I was pregnant with my first child. I’m also someone who has been through an awful lot in life. From life-threatening illnesses, to varying crises over the years. That means that I take things in my stride. I take stressful things one day at a time and refuse to let them bring me down. But EVERY mum, no matter how strong their resolve, no matter how patient, EVERY MUM faces stresses sometimes. For some mums it might be toddler tantrums, for some it might be the teenager answering back for the umpteenth time. It could be a huge pile of minor stresses adding up. It could be the 400th time you ask your children to put their shoes on for the school run. But we ALL face mum stress from time to time.

For me, I think if I had to rank my top three sources of mum stress, they would be:

My Tween answering back
When the kids are poorly (two of them currently have norovirus as I write this)
When one of them is heartbroken over something which is beyond my control

Those situations are ones where I feel the most stressed within myself, although I’m not one to vent that stress in front of the children.

So how do you relieve mum stress? Well writing is one way for me. My blog is my outlet and even sometimes writing posts which I don’t actually publish, can help immensely.

Buyagift offered me the chance to experience a spa day with my mum, in order to test which are the best spa treatments to combat mum stress.

Buyagift is a great gift option in my opinion, because you can gift somebody an experience (such as a spa day) and they can choose where and when they redeem it.

Mum and I chose to try out The Village Spa in Swindon. Included in our Buyagift package, was 3 spa treatments, a light lunch and full use of the facilities. I’ve blogged a full review of the village spa in Swindon, over on my travel blog.

The Experiment – Testing stress levels

So the idea was to test my stress levels in some ordinary home situations and to test them between each treatment at the spa – and compare my results. I used an app (supplied to me by Buyagift) called HRV4Training, which measures your heart rate variability. The app is primarily designed to help people with sports and fitness training, but it includes a stress indicator. Using your phones camera, it detects your heartrate and gives you a stress score based on “recovery points”. The lower the score, the more stressed your body is. The higher the score, the more relaxed you are.

I took three test readings at times when I was fairly relaxed and I seemed to get readings of 7.6 recovery points each time and a resting heart rate of 70-74 beats per minute.

So… My oldest daughter (11 going on 16) throwing a tantrum and answering back is probably my biggest stressor at home. My biggest source of mum stress. So after one of her tantrums, I whipped out my phone and took a reading. I got 7.3 recovery points. (As I mentioned – even when I’m stressed, I’m not hugely stressed in comparison with most people).

On arrival at The Village Spa in Swindon for our spa day, my heart rate was 74 and my recovery points were 7.6.

My first treatment was a back, neck and shoulder massage. I love massages and I think they have to be one of the single most relaxing things you can do. Mum had a massage too. We were side by side in a room with the two of us and two therapists. It was a thoroughly lovely massage, with calm relaxing music and wonderful aromatherapy scents. I couldn’t really fault it if I’m honest, other than the fact it seemed to be over too soon. After the massage, I scored a reading of 7.8 recovery points and a resting heart rate of 70 beats per minute. I was really surprised, that despite feeling thoroughly relaxed, I’d only gained 0.2 points.

Onto the foot and ankle massage. I wasn’t so sure about this to be honest. There was a foot scrub which was nice. Hot cloths, which were also nice, but not really a great deal of massage and not much attention on my ankles. It actually scored me a 7.4 in recovery points, meaning it hadn’t relaxed me as much as the massage. My resting heart rate of 69 beats per minute.

My last treatment was mini pedicure. By this point, I got the feeling that the therapist was rushing. For the mini pedicure, she literally just painted my toe nails. Nothing more. However, I was by this point, in a blissful, post-massage sense of mindfulness. The music was sending me into an almost-asleep meditation-like state. I scored 8 recovery points, with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute.

What are the best spa treatments to combat mum stress?

This experiment would lead you to believe, that a mini pedicure is more relaxing that a massage. And that a foot and ankle massage is only mildly more relaxing than my 11 year old throwing a tantrum. Therefore, having been there at the time, I’d have to conclude that this wasn’t particularly accurate.

So which were the best spa treatments to combat mum stress?

If I were to rank the treatments in terms of how they made me feel…

The back neck and shoulder massage, was without a doubt, the nicest and most relaxing of all the treatments. I’d rank the foot and ankle massage second. The pedicure itself wasn’t particularly relaxing, but the atmosphere in the room was, and I was still feeling relaxed from my prior treatments.

The point of this though I guess, is that I got to enjoy some special time bonding with my mum. Overall, we had a very relaxing day and we both left, feeling happy and calm. Whilst I wouldn’t return to the Village Spa in Swindon again, I would most definitely choose a spa day with Buyagift again. Any excuse for a nice pamper session with my mum! This is the sort of gift you can give for mothers day, birthdays, valentines day, or just for an excuse to treat yourself.

You can see more about this experiment on Buyagift’s spa wars.

I was gifted the HRV4 Training app and a spa day for two, by the lovely team at Buyagift. I was not paid for writing this post and all words and opinions are completely honest and entirely my own.

We were recently offered the opportunity to review some artwork and frames from Desenio. Desenio is a stunning website full of affordable art posters, prints and co-ordinating frames. When I say affordable… I actually couldn’t believe the prices or the value for money, when I was browsing the website! It actually took Mike and I a few days to decide which posters to order. It would be so easy to choose art for every wall in the house from Desenio. There is a huge selection of very varied pieces of art. From abstract watercolour images, to inspirational quotes and even animals, it would seem there is something to suit all tastes.

For my budget, I was expecting to only be able to get three or four small posters and three frames if I was lucky. I was wrong! I managed to get SIX large posters, one GIANT poster AND SIX quality frames too. The 30×40 white wooden frames look so classy and they were only £12.95 each!

Whilst we debated every room in the house, trying to make a decision, two posters caught my eye and we instantly knew we had to get those! We have always called our youngest “Baby Bear” and now he’s a toddler, we mostly just call him “Bear”. Now Bear’s bedroom currently has a circus theme. So what could be more appropriate to go in a frame on his wall, than a bear on a yellow tricycle, with a dog holding an umbrella, on his back? The poster was aptly titled, “Bear on a yellow bike”.

And to co-ordinate with the bear on a tricycle, there’s also a matching bear on a bicycle, carrying a surfboard, with a bird on his baseball cap! If you want to search for it on Desenio, it’s titled “Surfing Bear Poster”. They were absolutely perfect, so we just had to have them. We bought them in 30x40cm sized posters (£9.95 each), with white wooden frames

Now personally, I think that two pictures side by side, would look a bit odd, so we needed to find a third. We chose the “Rules of a superhero” poster. Again we chose 30x40cm and white wooden frames, so that they’d all match. The poster bears the quote:

“True superheroes are brave and courageous, use kind words and do their best. Smile. Have fun. Laugh. Share their toys. Clean their room. Dream Big. Play in the rain and explore. Have good manners. Brush their teeth and do their homework. Help others”.

The three pictures together, look great. We staggered the heights slightly, for effect, but essentially had to put them very high up, to keep them away from curious little fingers. Bear LOVES his new artwork!

So with Bear’s new art in the basket, we decided that our oldest daughter, Bunny, should also have some new artwork for her bedroom wall. She currently shares a bedroom with her twin sisters, whilst we are awaiting our extension to be built. We thought a few nice pieces of art above her bed, would give her a nice little bit of space to reflect her individual taste. Now I know you were expecting me to say that we chose posters with bunnies on… but actually, Bunny’s obsession is cats.

Having perused every single cat poster on the Desenio website, we chose three that we knew Bunny would love.

The poster quite simply titled “cats”, was a black and white cartoon style picture of 14 different cats. This one was £9.95 and again we stuck with the 30×40 dimensions. To contrast with the cartoon-esque style, we chose a stunningly detailed close up photograph of a cat’s face, with a butterfly landing on it.

The detail and clarity in this “butterfly cat” picture makes you want to just keep looking at it. In a 30×40 poster, this one was £11.95 and worth every penny. So with a photographic cat and a bunch of cartoon cats, we wanted to add further contrast to this duo of wall art. We added “Proud cat”, which looks more like a painted, completely undetailed cat (almost a silhouette), with deliberate ink smudging around the tail.

We hung this one on the wall in a 21×30 size (£8.95), in between the two larger pictures. I love the contrast of three entirely different types of art, coming together as a set, based on the common theme of cats. It works. It looks great on the wall and my 11 year old is thrilled with it.

Our final choice was just for me. We bought a giant poster full of inspirational quotes for our hallway. As a writer, I’ve always loved quotes – I think they are good for the soul. We bought this one in a 50×70 size for only £18.95. And as much as I’d love to show you this poster, this one will remain a secret for now, as we are waiting to have our hallway replastered. Once it’s all fresh and painted, I will update this post with some pictures of that poster too! In the meantime, if curiosity gets the better of you, you can find it on the Desenio website titled, “Manifesto of Life”. It’s absolutely awesome, trust me!

The Desenio website was easy to navigate, had more artwork than I could even comprehend and checkout was quick, easy and secure. The posters and frames were exceptionally well packaged, but without being excessive. All the artwork and frames arrived quickly and in immaculate condition. I was thoroughly impressed with my experience with Desenio, from start to finish and I still can’t believe the value for money on their products. I would definitely shop with them again and I imagine one day I will have Desenio art work in every room!

Special Reader Offer

I have an exciting special offer for Crazy with Twins readers. Head over to the Desenio website and select the posters you’d like to buy and enter this code…

The code “CRAZYWITHTWINS” gives 25% off prints* on all of our sites between March 5th and 7th 2019.
*Except for frames and handpicked-/collaboration/personalised prints

Sometimes in life, it’s not enough to just break a habit or two, you need to make long term lifestyle changes to succeed. We are only two months into the new year and already it has been a crazy rollercoaster of a ride. But I have decided it’s time for my luck to change. It’s time to work harder at my ambitions. My book wont write itself. My blogs wont grow by themselves. I’m not going to get sales by sitting back and doing nothing. I’m not going to improve in every aspect of my life, unless I take charge and put my heart and soul into everything I do.

I feel like every health knock back, I have had these past two months, have made me throw myself further into my work and my family. My incomplete miscarriage, a bad cold, fevers, night sweats, many hospital appointments and my impending dental surgery. It’s like the bad health fairy is trying to knock me down, but it’s having the reverse effect. The more knockbacks I get with my health, the more determined I am to make a success of my businesses and be the best mum and wife I can be. I get knocked down… but I get up again!

My mental health is soaring. My drive, my determination, my ambition is rocketing. By making just a few lifestyle changes, we can achieve so much in both our personal and professional lives.

Lifestyle Changes and Home Goals

Mike and I have decided to prioritise the renovations that we would like done in our home. We’ve made a list of which tasks are the most important and which order we are going to tackle each task. We’ve re-budgeted all our finances, focussing on less eating out, being more conscious of wasting money and ways to do that. Paying off some debts, increasing business revenue and meal planning, are just a few of those strategies. Taking the children to National Trust properties, museums, picnics and parks, rather than expensive days out. By being stricter on ourselves, we’ve planned a saving strategy. We’ve set goals and timescales for most aspects of our home life. These aren’t new years resolutions, these are lifestyle changes. Instead of splurging on things and paying it back later, we are going to save hard and achieve all our goals.

In January, I made the final payment on a debt that has been hanging over me for the last three and a half years. A debt that wasn’t even mine, but I was forced to pay, as the other person made themselves untraceable. It’s a huge weight off our shoulders. We finished paying off another age-old debt just before Christmas. With debts out of the way, it’s time to move on to achieving the things we want.

By the end of 2019, we hope to have renovated most (maybe even ALL) of our home, to have it just the way we want it. We are going to get onto the builders to make sure our extension is definitely built this year. And post extension, it will be the garden’s turn for a make-over.

We are going to book at least two of the abroad holidays that we have always talked about booking. We may even sneak in a few UK holidays too.

We are going to invest in a better family car and make sure we end the year completely debt free. It’s amazing what tightening your belt and working harder can achieve.

I’m personally going to put a lot more effort into taking care of my body, looking after my skin and hair. My Body Shop at Home business has already worked wonders on my confidence, self esteem and beauty regime.

Lifestyle Changes and Business Goals

I have set targets for both of my businesses.

At the start of January, I set myself some targets for my Body Shop at Home business. I well and truly SMASHED those targets in January AND February and hit bonus both months too! I even made the top 5 for sales in my entire region. I really hope that this is the start of things to come and that I can sustain this level of success month on month.

I have now set myself some targets for both of my blogs.

I want to treble my traffic on my travel blog, work on SEO and start ranking for more keywords.
I want to MORE THAN treble my traffic on this blog.
I want to double the income I make from blogging.

Feeling Inspired

I don’t know what has fired me up, but I just feel like this is going to be our year. I have the motivation. I have the positivity. I have the strategies. I have the determination. Determination to work hard and improve every aspect of my work life and home life. I feel like this is the year I’m actually going to get results. This is the year that success is going to take hold. I’m done with bad luck and bad health and muddling along. Muddling along and getting through isn’t going to inspire my children. Showing them that hard work and determination are the key to success… that’s what inspires them. A few little lifestyle changes to change our lives for the better. This is where is all begins. Right here. Starting with me!

My 11 year old daughter Bunny, is soon to be in her very first secondary school production!

She absolutely LOVED acting in primary school. Actually scrap that. She absolutely LOVED any kind of performance. Whether it was gymnastics in the school talent show, speaking in an assembly, dancing or even singing in a school play. She always auditioned for the bigger parts and she made me so emotional when she sang her solo in her final primary school play.

I was never in any of my own secondary school productions and I kind of think that if I went back to secondary school now (not that I’d want to… hell no!), that’s one thing I would do second time around. So it goes without saying, that I found it quite exciting, when Bunny told me that she has signed up for the school production of CATS. She was OVER-THE-MOON-EXCITED as she had been given not just one, but numerous different parts to rehearse. She has a speaking (morelike chanting) part. She has a gymnastics part, she has a chorus part, and she’s been allocated a specific “CAT”. I’ve been ordered to buy tickets to go and watch. Chats about her costume keep evolving. Rehearsals have been getting longer and longer.

A few weeks ago, I had picked her up from rehearsal early. She was sat in reception in tears and told us she’d been kicked out of rehearsal. I’d emailed the teacher producing the show and she’d assured me that nobody had kicked her out. It later emerged that Bunny had been told to leave, by some other children, who were really nasty about it. I emailed again and the problem was supposedly resolved.

Two weeks later, I found out from her teacher that she was skipping production rehearsals and hadn’t been for a fortnight. It was news to me – I’d been picking her up from school at 6pm! Having already marched into school and demanded to speak to her tutor about some of her own bad behaviour, I decided to change tack for this one. So I took her out, just me and her. Nowhere exciting, just a couple of shops – this wasn’t a reward, it was just me and her time. I got upset. I cried in front of her. I couldn’t believe she had been lying to me about her whereabouts, about CATS, about what she was doing until 6pm and about a few other school things too. It felt horrible.

After a long chat, which started with “dunno” type answers, we eventually got some conversation and some answers. It turns out… those girls hadn’t left her alone. Those girls were so nasty to her at rehearsals, that she stopped going and hid in a computer room at school, rather than telling anyone. So all the time I’d been picking her up late from school, thinking she was rehearsing and actually she was hiding from the mean girls. She was ashamed to tell me as I’d bought a ticket to watch.

So once we’d had our little heart-to-heart, I told Bunny that that is NOT the way to deal with bullies. And that actually snitches DON’T get stitches! That we can’t deal with these problems if we don’t know about them and she can’t let mean girls control her life for the next five years!

The next day, she found the courage to report those girls. And I wrote to the teacher producing the play to explain what had happened. She wrote back, offering Bunny all of her parts back to her, on the condition she makes every rehearsal from now on. Bunny came home full of beans, back to her happy self and presented me with a printed out rehearsal schedule. She’s now rehearsing until 6pm every day and missing some lessons and assemblies for rehearsals. In fact, this production is being taken so seriously, that she has to be at school 9-5 for rehearsals on SUNDAY!

Bunny’s excitement and enthusiasm is back. The mean girls are being nice to her. She’s been given even more scenes and she’s been coming home with new additions to her costume every day. She’s had her clothes spray-painted. She came home with a collar and braces earlier in the week. Yesterday she came home with ears and today she even got her tail stuffed!

I’m so pleased to see her enjoying it again and that she’s no longer going to let other people stand in the way of what she wants. I literally CANNOT WAIT to see her perform on that stage now. The more excited she gets, the more excited I get!

Oh… but I’m on strict orders not to post any photos of her costume until after the school production… it’s a secret!

TRIGGER WARNING: Please don’t read this post if the subject of incomplete miscarriage will upset you or cause emotional distress. This post is quite detailed.

I started 2019, feeling tired and unwell. I was 9 weeks pregnant and had both a cyst on my ovary and a bleed in my womb. It’s taken a while to talk about it, as it’s been pretty raw. My husband and I had confided in a family member about our pregnancy, and that family member went and told all the family, even though we’d asked her to keep it a secret. It made it so much harder when we then had to tell everyone that we had lost that baby. Not only that, but I haemorrhaged, was taken to hospital by ambulance and spent a day and night in hospital. Alone. Nobody would watch the children, so Mike couldn’t come to hospital with me. I’d lost an estimated litre of blood and my blood sugars dropped right down. It was only a night and day but with hormones and emotions all over the place, we missed each other terribly and all we wanted, in that time, was to be by each other’s side.

I sat in the ambulance bay of A&E with people who were drunk, people who had overdosed, people who had headaches, elderly people who had taken a fall, and a fair few people who seemed to be there against their will. I knew ambulance services were overstretched, so I hadn’t actually called 999 myself. I called 111 for advice and a ambulance had arrived within 8 minutes. I was weak, tired, dizzy, desperately thirsty, and missing my husband. A&E was short staffed and overcrowded. Half of those people had self inflicted illnesses or injuries. Another quarter should have gone to a minor injury unit or gone to out of hours. The hospital ward I was sent to was short staffed, dirty, in dire need of renovation and it hit me how badly the NHS has suffered due to funding cuts.

This is the state of the toilet on my hospital ward BEFORE I used it! Is this really hygienic enough for patients on a gynae ward in an NHS hospital?

The staff on duty hurt me. The doctor ignored my pleads for her to be gentle when she examined me. She hurt me to the point I was screaming out loud and squeezing the nurses hand. The doctor showed me what she’d pulled from the neck of my womb and then left the room for me to get dressed. There was blood all down my legs and I sat there sobbing loudly, feeling violated and full of grief. I had to ask for something to clean myself with and the doctor was of no help. Thankfully a nurse came to my rescue, with everything I needed to get cleaned up. Nobody could cannulate me. I had puncture wounds and bruises all over both arms, where they couldn’t get drip in or blood out. I was a crying wreck. The doctor eventually apologised, but it was too late. The damage was done.

It’s taken me three weeks to be able to write about this and I am sat here sobbing as I write it. I feel traumatised by the memory. But I find writing cathartic. My blog is my therapy and this is my way of getting through it.

I eventually got given a bed at 4:30am and then an anaesthetist came in to finally cannulate me successfully. They woke me at 6am to take my obs. I heard the breakfast cart come around at 8am and it missed me. They stood outside my door and a nurse told them I was nil-by-mouth and couldn’t have anything. They hadn’t even told me. At this point, even not being allowed a cup of tea made me cry some more. I was so hungry, that I cried again about that. And through it all, all I really wanted was my husband.

When a doctor eventually surfaced, I asked about why I was nil-by-mouth. He said I couldn’t get a scan until Monday and that I’d possibly need surgery after the scan. I was then allowed to eat and drink again and just had to wait for bloods and someone to remove my canula. My mum and stepdad drove up from Dorset to comfort me and I was discharged early in the evening. They drove me home and Mike was left to pick up the pieces of his broken wife.

I have been diagnosed with an “incomplete miscarriage”. Part of our “pregnancy” (as the professionals tactfully call it), is stuck inside my womb, not wanting to leave. I can’t tell you what feelings and images that conjures for me. I’ve been offered 3 options.

Wait and see if my body completes the process itself.
Take medication which will cause painful contractions and further blood loss (and might not work).
Surgery. Either awake or anaesthetised.

We’ve opted for option 1, to give me time to heal emotionally.

So here we are four weeks in, with an incomplete miscarriage. I’ve kept myself busy with work and the children. I’m starting to think about it less. My emotions are settling. My hormones are settling. But I am worried. I know nothing has happened yet and I don’t really want to suffer options 2 or 3. I’ve also just found out I have to have dental surgery to extract 2 of my wisdom teeth. If you have read my post about the tooth extraction from hell, you’ll know I am extremely phobic of any dental work. So 25 days into January and I’ve been to hospital on seven of those days. I have more appointments lined up and I’m facing one or two surgeries in the next month or two.

So I’m sorry to those of my friends who have been asking why I’ve not felt up to discussing why I’ve been back and forth to hospital. It’s nothing personal. I just don’t want to chat about it. Suffering an incomplete miscarriage Writing it here, means I can get it off my chest and update everyone, without having to repeat my story so much that it hurts. I don’t need sympathy or well wishes. Mike and I are happy to deal with this quietly together, without any well-meaning messages. Just know that I will be okay. I AM okay. WE are okay.

Running two businesses, having four gorgeous children and one incredibly supportive husband, is keeping me busy, positive and strong. And for that I am immensely thankful.

No longer a last-minute shopper!

Most of my life, I have been one of those people who is happy to wait until the last minute for things. I always used to do all my Christmas shopping a few days before. Valentines Day, I’d pop out and buy something the day before. There have been more than one occasion where I’ve crashed into the post office just a few moments before the post man, to post a birthday present. Pancake day, I’m usually found frantically searching the aisles for flour, milk, eggs, lemons and Nutella, about an hour before dinner! (We always have our pancakes for dessert). I guess I’m just not one to rush things and I’ve never had a problem with that.

Mothers Day however, is the one occasion I always seem to leave a bit more time to plan. Probably because my mum doesn’t live near me, so I have to plan ahead for getting her present to her.

I’m not sure what has changed, but the past year, things have been different. I actually started my Christmas shopping in SEPTEMBER! I bought my Mum’s birthday present two weeks early. We have started making my birthday plans three weeks early, instead of three days before. My children’s birthday presents and parties are usually planned the week before. It’s only February and my husband and I have already started planning the girls birthday presents and parties… which aren’t until May! We’ve discussed Bear’s birthday present too and his birthday isn’t until July.

Mothers Day 2019

So it makes sense that I’m also planning even further ahead for Mother’s Day too.

Mother’s Day in the UK is on 31st March this year (2019).

In the USA Mothering Sunday is on the 12th May 2019.

I already know what I’m going to get my mum! And for those of you reading this, who also want to plan ahead, I thought I’d make a few suggestions of great Mothers Day gifts.

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

You can get extra special Mothers Day Gifts from Miller Harris who are experts in luxury perfume.

Flowers are always a brilliant choice, whether you order online or deliver in person. Who doesn’t love flowers?

Another popular option is always jewellery. A quick trip to Pandora and you’ll definitely score some good daughter or son points!

For those whose mums aren’t on a diet, don’t just go for the first box of chocolates you see in the Supermarket… shop around and get the nicest box of choccies you can find! It’s not the first place that pops into your mind, but large garden centres often have luxury chocolates (as well as cookies, cakes, jams, cheeses and chutneys).

Experiences also make a popular Mothers Day gift. You really can’t beat spending time with someone and making memories together. So how about a spa day in the countryside or afternoon tea at the Ritz (or somewhere equally as fancy)?

Does your mum collect something? Is there a particular ornament or collectable she adores? Make a note of the ones she already has and go the extra mile to find the one she hasn’t got or can’t find.

Keen gardener? Book worm? Avid yoga fan? Crazy cat lady? If your mum has a particular hobby or interest, get something personal to that passion. It’s the thought that counts remember.

We only get one mum and no matter how much time we get to spend with her, it’s never enough. Make sure you always put the effort in and get her something special on Mothers Day, whether that’s a lavish gift, or your precious time, or both.

If you’ve read the news recently, you’ll know that weather forecasters are predicting that the UK will be hit with a deluge of snow from tonight onwards!

This not only promises days of disruption and delays out on the road, but it also recreates the age old challenge of keeping yourself warm while also maintaining a keen sense of style.

This is a genuinely tough balance to strike, and I’ve made a number of faux-pas while trying to make my winter wardrobe work! I’ve also learned some lessons along the way, however, so here are some tips to look stylish and stay warm during a winter cold snap.

Make your Coat the Focal Point of your Wardrobe

If you’re going to look smart this winter, choosing which coat to wear is one of the most important decisions that you’ll make.

After all, there’s a huge range of stylish winter coats available on the market, while these garments are made to offer warmth and provide protection against the cold. Long, three-quarter length coats are particularly fit for purpose, while shearling jackets are also in vogue and capable of providing exceptional warmth.

With the right choice of winter coat, you can easily strike the balance between style and warmth, without necessarily having to spend huge amounts of your hard-earned cash.

I’d also recommend donning a stylish and matching scarf or pashmina, as this adds a unique sense of style and some much needed warmth.

Layer your Clothing

Whether you’re at home or abroad, layering your tops and clothes remains one of the best ways of coping with changeable climates.

It also creates a flexible and comfortable look, and one that can reflect your unique sense of style as an individual.

Layers of fine knit tops can keep you warm more effectively than one big chunky sweater, for example, while wearing natural and breathable fabrics like cotton and wool can also bring your winter wardrobe to life.

I’d say that cashmere is the perfect fabric for layering as it’s lightweight, soft and retains heat really well, while it’s also deceptively affordable.

Introduce Colour and Comfort with Micro Fleece Pants

When selecting your winter trousers, you could do far worse than investing in a few pairs of low-cost, micro fleece pants.

These pull-on garments, which are sold through online retailers like Damart, are extremely comfortable to wear, while they feature a draw cord that enables you to adjust the fit to suit your body shape and style expectations.

As they’re made from fleece, these trousers are also exceptionally warm, while they can be purchased in a range of bright and vibrant colours that bring your wardrobe to life!

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