• Cath Kidston - handbags - Orla Kiely

    Some Orla love

    Life just doesn’t stop being hectic lately. I was joking with my husband that I didn’t know what I’d do with my time after I stopped my driving lessons but dental and physio appointments seem to have plugged the gap. To cheer myself up I’ve been doing some online shopping. I have no time for real shopping as it’s pretty impossible with the toddler who gets bored if I so much as look at a clothes shop. I turned to an old favourite of mine, Zalando, and typed in those two magical words ‘Orla Kiely’ and hey presto, a choice…

  • moving - sleeping

    Where should Little Sis sleep?

    Little Sis is now 5 months old. She sleeps quite happily in her bednest next to me and I adore having her there. We’re thinking about what to do next as ideally we would move her to her own room around 6 months. However, we are so short of space we still haven’t decided on what bed to buy or where to put it. doubt they’ll be so keen to share when they’re teenagers! Her brother had a nursery from practically the moment he was conceived but our third bedroom is my husband’s office and, as he works from home,…

  • baking - Olympics - Sports crafts - tutorial

    Olympic cupcakes

    As we passed the 100 day milestone to the Olympic Games last week my thoughts turned crafty! What could we make? We applied for tickets for three events and we know we’ve got some tickets, we’re just not sure for what events or if we’re able to take Little Sis as we applied when I was pregnant. We have less than 100 days to find out. Olympic cupcakes We haven’t been baking in a while so thought we would make the basic fairy cake recipe from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible, a recent birthday present which I am enjoying working my…

  • baby products - being green

    Adventures with gNappies

    As it’s Real Nappy Week it seems a good time to tell you about the gPants we have recently been using. We love using reuseable nappies and were really excited to meet the founders of gNappies recently. Whilst reuseable nappies have obvious benefits to the environment gNappies go one step further. They give you two options which go easy on the planet – a disposable but 100% biodegradable gRefill or washable gCloth. Little Sis has been trying out the little gPants with the gRefills. As you can see they look adorable on her little bottom, just like proper pants, and…

  • film review

    Thomas & Friends: Rescue on the Rails new DVD

    You may know that the toddler lives and breathes Thomas the Tank Engine all day long. You may have a son just like him. He goes to sleep in his Thomas pyjamas, wakes up and puts his Thomas slippers on, gets dressed in his Thomas clothes and plays trains all day long. At meal times he uses his Thomas plate, cup and cutlery. So when we were asked to review the new Thomas & Friends DVD I couldn’t really say no. I’m beginning to wish I had said no as we’ve watched it continuously since it arrived! Thomas & Friends:…

  • baking - birthday

    Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake

    There’s a great article in the latest issue of Gurgle magazine on how to throw the perfect party. I was pleased to see that Big Brother is ahead of himself, having a Thomas the Tank Engine themed party at the grand old age of 2! We knew that we wanted to make a special cake for his birthday and that it would probably be train-shaped. My husband’s mother set the bar really high, making my husband a concorde birthday cake when he was little. I have to admit that we had a bit of help with the cake from the…

  • homestyle - London

    Moving on

    We’ve just had one of those weekends where nothing has really happened but we’ve spent a lot of money. I had a tooth out, we got an imprint of Little Sis’s hand and foot prints, a lovely lunch out, the weekly food shop, all pretty mundane really. What we should have been doing is getting ready to put our house on the market. There’s a whole list of things to be done around the house before we put it on the market, and being a traditional household we’ve split the chores according to our ability. Me – painting, cleaning and…

  • baby products - blogging - Olympics

    The day I met Paula Radcliffe

    Blogging has it’s perks and the best event of the year so far was the invite for me and Little Sis to meet Paula Radcliffe. I have photographic evidence: Yes she is tiny and I am huge but doesn’t Little Sis look pretty?! Moving on…. We were there to celebrate Pampers who have teamed up with Paula Radcliffe to celebrate babies’ spirit of play through the Pampers Little Athlete campaign. Did you know a cruising baby can take as many steps as a marathon runner in a race within 24 hours? As the world’s greatest athletes descend upon London for…

  • handbags - Orla Kiely

    The shelf of many handbags

    Now as you may know I’ve been having a good clear out lately, partly due to my excessive hoarding of clothes and because we want to move house this year. Most of my shelves were piled high with maternity and old work clothes so they’ve all been bagged up and donated to charity. Unfortunately it didn’t leave as much space as I was hoping so I will have to be a bit more ruthless. I have one shelf which I’m just not sure what to do about – the shelf of many handbags. I’m not really a girly girl so…