A Student Mum ....and Good old Guilt

The washing has almost grown legs and the ironing is overflowing, where's mum ? Oh she gone to school! No time for cleaning or washing or planning Annabelle carmel dinners, beans on toast will do tonight! Every morning at half 5 mums up, packs the lunch boxes along with her books, walks out the door and run's for the number 9! Lilah couldn't stop me even if she tried she practically drowning in the piles of washing ! 

Any one else feel the guilt of it all?!?! More then anything right now I want to be a midwife but that doesnt stop me feeling guilty about leaving lilah to go study! Shes is that bit older now which does make it easier but still that longing to be that brilliant mum AND a midwife is a bloody pull!

But as they all say its the future I need to think about and its true, I want to inspire Lilah, I want to watch her face admiring me on my graduation day, I want her to see she can do anything, when you put your mind to it.

Iv got an image in my head, a picture of me standing under a tree on a sunny day, in my graduation gown, Jordan in a suit and Lilah in a dress ....... half the time, picturing this is the only thing that makes me stick at it.

I'll get there...... we'll all get there :) 





SO tips for a Student mum.....

Don't multitask We all know women can do it all. That doesn't mean you have to do it all at the same time! Dont trying to study while you make dinner, check your emails, chatting to the girls. If your brain is busy doing other things, you'll miss half of what you should be taking in. So make assign time to sit and do little bits at a time and do them in a certain area you made for your self to study..... I upcycled an old bureau to sit at.

The hardest part of studying is always getting started. Create a schedule for studying. If you sit down to study at the same time every day, it'll be easier to get into study mode.

And just don't punish yourself or make yourself feel awful about something that slipped your mind....things will be late and you will miss things and making your self feel worse about this is not going to improve it

xx

Seasonal Children's books

So I had a light bulb moment while drinking my Tea! 

I wanted to introduce Lilah to reading a bit more than just a bed time story. So we pulled out her book case and revamped it! 

Because I am slightly obsessed with the autumn/ winter months I thought it would be a good idea to teach Lilah about the season's through books. Trailling through Amazon I found some beautiful books all to do with Fall/autumn, pumpkins, foraging, Halloween and Thanksgiving (have always wanted to celebrate this) !

We then went to the park near us and collected conkers, acorns, and leaves to decorate the book case with.

Cuddling with your kids, watching them become engrossed in a story told to them from their own parents animated character vocie, is a priceless experience. More and more studies are proving how beneficial reading with a parent is for developing children. 

A child who has been read to will want to learn to read herself. She will want to do what she sees her parents doing. Reading increases a child's attention span and a parent's own cognitive ability, It is one of the most essential and valuable activities kids can inherit from parents simply by observing them being engrossed in a book or magazine. 

When we pack away the Halloween decorations this year, I will be pulling on the Winter/Christmas books to re doctorate this book case with. I wanted to conitue to rotate this books throughout the year with New year, Valentines day, Spring, Summer and so on 

The books in this picture were all purchased on Amazon:
Maisys, Trick or Treat
Beware Beware 
Let it Fall
The Berebatain Bears - Thanksgiving 
Pumpkin Soup
The haunted House
Squirrel's Autumn Search
Halloween Surprise

A Love affair with Autumn

Hellooo out there! 

currently sat at the laptop annoyed that iv left it so long since the last post... really need to get on top of the blog post's and make a schedule now I am back at university! However here I am with cuppa tea beside me ready to spew out the latest of my, away with the fairies nonsense!

First of all hope your all having a beautiful beauitfullll autumn! What have you all been up too ?! This time of year, through till after new year is by far, BY FAR my favourite time of year,  and this is my favourite autumn snap this year !

My Beautiful Lilah after our autumn forage 

One of the best days this autumn was Jordan winning tickets to go see an American football game in London, It was the Miami dolphons vs Oakland raiders. There was a competition on twitter for who twitted the meaning of NFL would win four ticket, a meal and cocktails at coast to coast. Jordan enter not thinking much more of it... but a few days later he actually won! being the first thing he had won since a tidy room competition at school! 

It was amazing, we have always wanted to see an American football game, its on the lists of things we need to do but don't have the doller for right now. 

Still till this day I watch at least an episode of Friends everyday, every night I put one series on to watch and drift off to sleep watching, so I loved pretending in my own little head that I was in america back in the 90's, at thanksgiving watching the game .... I know sad right ?! but so time;s I so wish I could have lived in new york in the 80's/90's    

So here are the pictures hope you're all having an amazingly beautiful Autumn/Fall 

Bramble Ramble

While I sat drinking my tea and eating my porridge full of blackberries, that we had foraged for when we where camping, i smiled because the itv news did a piece on foraging for fruits and veg of the British countryside, Sooo I thought this would make a good blog post, sooo here you goo :) ....

The British countryside is the best supermarket of all, healthy, sustainable and free!

Every year since I was a young, as the summer begins to wind down and autumn begins, we go foraging! Early autumn is one of the most productive times, from apples and blackerberries to the last of the plums meeting the first of the pears and we collect the lot, walking down the country lances, baskets, buckets and containers in hand ready to fill to the brim.

Once we even found and entire field of pumpkins! It was so beautiful iv never forgotten it. Bright big orange, shiny pumpkins as far as the eye could see. We grabbed a few and used our jumpers to craddle them in, to carry them back home.

The caravan's are packed up and the jumpers are pulled on as we leave the country side after the summer holiday's and the buckets and bags of berries, apples, plums and pears are pushed in to the car boot ready to come home with us..... then though tout the year mummy bennett pours blackberries in our porridge every morning, and the apples and pear's are pulled out of the freezer ready to be peeled and chop and put in to a hot pie ready for the Sunday roast.

So go for a walk, take a basket and keep your eyes open. Any trees or brambles hanging over a footpath or right of way are yours for the picking.

Camping and Scrumping

Ever since I was kid we have spent most of the summer holidays camping, when we was young there was a whole gang of us cousins, that explored the entire day, riding round on ours bike, fishing on the lake, making a lemonade stand to sell on the beach, crabbing off the pier and then saving our pennies up so we could run along the beach to the shop to buy prank jokes and plot our next trick on the grown ups.

And even the days when the rain poured and the mud tracks would fill up with water and create puddles that were deep enough to reach our knees, we loved it! and once the rain had stopped and the mud would start to dry we would be lined up one by one, taking turn's to stand in a baby bath while my mum hosed us down.

It will always be the fondest memories of my life growing up, even now all us cousins have grown up we are forever talking and reminiscing about it. 

I was so determined that my girl would also have this up bringing, to be a real kid with no electronic's, and mud across her face.

We've spent the last few weeks there, strolling down the country lanes, pick apples from the apple tree's, black berries from the bushes and potato picking in the fields. The little ones love it, I love watching them fall in love and make memories with camping like we did when we were young. The plan is still get out there and camp throughout the autumn and the odd winter day to get the most out of this year as we can because we not quite ready to say good bye to camping and getting away from the rat race for this year just yet. 

Meet Pip! My 70's Ride

At this moment in time, I am sat in bed grinning like a cheshire cat....

1. because I am cosy in bed with a cuppa

2. because its cold enough to put my cosy winter onsie's back on andddd

3. meet Pip... 

Pip, I Love Her!

Today started of as a pretty poo day, just one of them days where there is so much to do and soo little time to do it so everything goes wrong! but then my mum rang me to ask if I had seen what my twin brother had brought home ...I searched the garden and the alley but there wasn't anything but she kept telling me to keep looking then the phone lost signal, so I chucked it down and went to answer the back door and my brother was stood with this little beautyyyyyy !

I have been wanting a vintage folding bike for donkeys years!! But the last few nights I have been especial obsessed with getting one, dropping off every night with my phone screen full of picture's of them! 

It was a bit spooky actually out of nooo where my auntie rang my mum this morning and asked if she knew anyone that wanted a vintage folding bike because she had just spotted one in an old shop, not actually knowing that I wanted one, out of everyone she rang my mum!.........Its because me and Pip were meant to be ;) 

At first I was looking at a pastel coloured one, or even white but Pip is a cherry red and she is so much better then one I would have picked!  

I have many plan's for my little Pip.....some new cherry red paint, maybe a wicker and bell! so watch out for her in future posts :) x

Sea Shell's and Rain Storms

Evening beautys! 

Something you may not know about me I am totally, completely obsessed with winter! Don't get me wrong I do not want to wish the summer away for you summer babies and I do enjoy it but I wish that it could be boiling hot for 6 weeks of the year then freezing, cold, grab your coat and hot chocolate for the rest of the year. At the moment I am lovingggg the weather, it may be only august but its been feeling slightly autumnal these past few mornings, which has sent me running to the garden, with my cuppa tea for the last few mornings to grab a feel of that crisp autumn air feeling! It is only august but I cant wait for the real autumn to begin! 

The last few days has been a mixed bag of sun, cloud and rain so on Sunday morning I was looking forward to putting the pjs on with the famalam and enjoy a cosy Sunday with films, chocolate and a roast but first I thought it would nice for Lilah beau to have a quick walk to the park, get muddy and be home in time for the pjs coming out the tumble dryer  but all did not go to plan.....

As we walked along to the park with nanny in toe, we could see the beach was full of families going on long walks all wrapped up, so we thought it would be nice to grab an ice cream from the park cafe then take a quick stroll down to the beach.... we ended up getting totally lost in the sandy moment, walking right along until we reached the next town !! We stopped by the beach huts to grab a cuppa when we realised it was half past 3!!

Realising the time we walked up through, to the top of the cliff where the park is, deciding to walk through the park home. Part of the park is a forest, and as we walked past this area lilah squealed that she had just seen a fairy inside so we must go in and find more. Me and mum giggled as we played along rattling bushes as we went past them insisting there must be fairies inside. Then out of no where the heavens opened and my lordy did pour down! We where sopping wet but the tree's did give us a slight shelter so we camped out in there, under our umbrella until it past.

 It was a beautiful unexpected Sunday, one which I hope sticks in Lilahs memories as she grows up.

A Mummy's Backpack

Gone are the days of cooing over my baby changing bag! I loved my changing bag, every night it use to feel so good knowing that my nappy bag was all ready neatly packed for the next day, it may sound strange to some but I think some mums will know what I mean! All of her little gleaming white bibs and muslin squares, spares baby grows and squeaky clean bottles packed and ready.

It felt good when the day came when it wasn't a military operation to get just to the corner shop, and I could just chuck a few things in my handbag and we're off.

 

Buttt admittedly I do miss it now! SO the other day I was sat in the window early morning with the first cuppa of the day and really fancied getting out on an adventure as early as we could, so I legged it up stairs woke the man, and my little lady, then I ransacked  my mums out house, and under all the old camping things I found a backpack big enough for a picnic and all our things. We spent the day at a village fair we found ( which had an old fashioned punch and judy!!!) and then grabbed a fish and ships dinner on the beach as we strolled home in the evening. 

Now, I have realised that I could coo over a Mummy backpack, with everything a toddler/young kids would need, all  pack and ready for the next morning !

So what do you muma's have in your toddler survival kits ??? I want to know! any tips ?!? And what backpack/mummy bag do you have??

 

So farrrrr we have spare cloths, snacks and a drink, hand sanitiser, wipes, sun cream and sun hat, but what do you ladies have ? any hidden treasures that come in handy with a 3 year old ? 

I also soooo want the new Cath Kidston Autumn flower collection backpack for this purpose its soo beautiful 

What They Didn't Tell You

A post for the future...

Having children changes everything, from your view and opinions on life and your home, your fashion sense, to your lady bits and tummy's !

The sleepless nights, the soggy potty training moments and the ceebeebies tsunami you will be in are a given but what no one warns you about are...

 Them times you said "children wont change me, I will travel across tailand with a back pack, holiday every year, and still make time to go for a weekly pamper...it looks unlucky my lovely chum

I will be a cool mum, my kids will love me always, we're be friends as well as daughter/mother - the deal is your be irrationally overprotective, that beauty of a child is your cub and you are a mother lion willing to destroy anything that may upset or maybe a danger to your baby cub...... and sometimes this will annoy your children 

You'll struggle to cling on to your lady like dignity.... your children will hide under your skirt or pull out your boobs as they jump all over you in public ..... or in my case you'll share a toilet cubical with them and because they think it is hilarious they will shout out over and over again "mummy why have you pooed your self ?! mummy why have you pooed your self ?! mummy you've pooed yourself!........... in fact I most definitely didnt my little madam just thought this was bloody hilarious to shout out in a Marks and Spencer's toilet packed full women. 

Never again will your handbag look like the inside of a glamorous women's bag..... your keys with a pretty, glittery keyring, your make up, some nice smelling hand moisturiser. Swap that for nappies, wet wipes, snacks and little sticky raisins hanging around the bottom of the bag and that nice smelly hand moisturiser will be a bottle of hand sanitiser because children will stick their hands everywhere and in anything!

Oh and your going to have to let go of that lovely idea that your little ones will much prefer their greens over their sweets, your only drive yourself mad trying to achieve this! 

However no matter what any one else thinks, of course your children will grow to be ballet dancers or famous Olympians

You'll loose hours of your life staring at that amazing little piece of you growing and changing everyday.

You'll laugh till you cry at just something they said that made them sound soo grown up!

You'llbe so unbelievably overwhelmed and proud of them

You'll love that little person so much, that it actually hurts, it really does!  

So having children changes everything, so apologies to those who I loose touch with or friends who we are no longer on the same level any more. We will meet again my lovely, maybe as two older mums pondering over these magical times in our lives :) so for now cuppa's cup and carry on you beautiful mummy's xxx

The Making Of The Princess Dress

My mum use to work in clothing factory  growing up, making everything from dresses to swimwear for Mark and Spencer's. So now that I have a free summer, mums going to pass on the talent :) 

If you saw my previous post you would have seen that lilah had a princess themed party to go to so my mission was to make her the ultimate princess Cinderella dress! I marched off to the haberdashery in town to buy up all the  lovely pale blue netting and material. I was lucky to have found any there as the man behind the counter said he has had so many amazing mummy's in there buying up everything pale blue to make Frozen dresses! 

It took a few days to make the dress as I am only learning but I loved being able to be so creative. I would love to be able to set up a little business making and selling these dresses and all things girly one day :)

Mums machine 

Sat in the garden sewing 

The finished Cinderella dress. 

Princesses in wonderland

Blogging from the garden today as it is the first nice sunny day in about 3 days! .....Sat with a cup of tea in one hand and Vogue in the other ( Victoria beckham looks so amazing on the front of this august issue)

Butttt today's blog post is about Princesses in Wonderland....when I feel pregnant with Lilah Beau before I knew she was a girl, I found this thing online, something like a Chinese birth sex chart. You had to find your age on the chart and then follow the rows along until you find the month you conceived your baby. When I did that, there was an entire row of all blue squares meaning a boy, but one small pink square in the middle which I landed on. I did hope for a girl secretly but I was happy either way and thought nothing more of it. Through the rest of my pregnancy everyone I knew who was pregnant was having a boy, even on my first night of staying in the hosptial after having lilah, the midwife was really excited to look after me and Lilah because she said on that night Lilah beau was the only girl baby on the entire ward. Soooo you never know maybe there was something to it.

However I did make it my mission to find another girl living near that was also having a baby girl ! And I meet keisha :) !

Both our girls are so so similar. They were both real big babies, they have always been taller then the other kids their age, people have mistaken them for sisters, even the girls themselves,  say they look alike, Lilah was looking at a picture the other week and asked me if it was her or Aurora. and obviously they are both outstanding beautiful :)  We use to joke that its nice when they play together because they look in proportion for their age hahaa :)  

It was Aurora's 3rd Birthday the other week, and keisha goes all out ! she spends weeks preparing and making everything and her birthday cake making skills are kick arse amazing hahaa ! Aurora wanted a Princesses in wonderland theme so it was a mixture of princess meets the mad hatter.

The amazing birthday cake Keisha made 

Aurora and Lilah 

Birthday Girl Aurora 

Lilah Beau

Times Are A Changing .... And A Bag Of Luck

Howdy Howww

( just a small post )

My Little Family are going through small changes, I have now finished my course, and Jordan has changed his job meaning a lot more family time over the summer, and also we will be moving in two a little house at the end of summer. All normal family events but I couldn't be more excited about watching these small changes. Jordan was stuck in a job that he hated for years and now has finally been able to change. My course took up so much time that it almost feels wired being able to sit down with a cuppa and think about others things that are not from psychology and biology based. This september we will even be picking Lilahs school!

 Its just a really nice feeling that we have a long summer together now waiting for these changes so me and Jordan went for breakfast on the seafront to mark the start of it all :) 

My mum was giving this little bag by some nuns that were handing them out to people in a village and she gave it to me so I am carrying it around in my purse as a little good luck charm at the moment :) 

Happiness kit An eraser to make mistakes disappear. A coin so that you can never say "im broke". A marble in case someone says you've lost yours. A rubber band to stretch yourself beyond your limits. A piece of string to tie things together when things fall apart. A heart to remind you that love is all around you 

Boo and Kayleigh Kiss And Make Up

The lemsip has now (thank god) been changed for a Big Mug of Tea ......

Just a quick explanation about the name of this post.... My big brother called me Boo ever since I was a baby and once my friends heard it, it just stuck and Kayleigh Kiss and Make Up is my friend kayleigh business name...

Soooo have youuu meet Kayleigh?? ..

(I hope some of you watch the American Show How I met your Mother or you wont get that little joke) :) 

Kayleigh is a scrummy/yummy/well travelled/ambitious/quick thinking/ old school friend of mine, who is always off chasing what she wants in life. She has worked on big cruise ships abroad doing her beauty, and is really passionate about what she does. 

However K9 (as I like to called her, as she had a football shirt with K9 on the back when she was a little girl ) is a bit lost for once...
She has found her self a man, who she could possibly be falling mad for. 
She has started to enjoy being at home and the simple things in life that make her happy, even thought about getting a little mortgage on a little apartment for her self....

K9 has even got plans in place to start her own business up ... Kayleigh Kiss and make up. Butttt kay has also been offered a full time job to work on a cruise ship in Italy.
For the moment this girl has noo idea what she wants to chase, and what is the right decision for her,  so as you can imagine we had a lotttttt to talk about!!

I meet kayeigh at work, she left me to wait for her in the relaxation room on a hot stone bed for a while ....was amazing !  Then we went for dinner, we eat at ASK, it was real good food and good company....... apart from when we was sat out in the patio area eating then the seagulls sent us running for our lives clutching our dinners!!!!

Summer night out

 So as you may know, as hopefully all who are reading this do live on this World, but hello to you to if you are reading this from space or beyond :S .....anywayssss the World Cup is on... and this was my very womanly/English support for it ........

Great British Coloured Flowers with a good Cuppa ! 

This birthday I had planned to get Jordan the new play station 4 and set it all up under the TV and just wait until he had noticed, but that didn't go to plan as Jordan found out my plan and told me not too, as the money it would cost could pay for a family weekend away on Brighton sea front.....blown away by his suggestion, we agreed that's what we would do as soon as we get a weekend free this summer. My Man deserves some credit there! couldn't believe my ears without going soppy I sometimes forget how good my man is, I am very lucky. 

(We were both young when I fell pregnant with Lilah, both young and planning on going to uni. But Jordan still sent me off to university just after I had had Lilah beau, and he went to work full time to support us finacial, in a job he hated with a passion, until the day I qualify and can support our family so he can go to uni. Basically putting his dreams on hold, so I may follow mine first. Could never ask for more from him, an amazing partner and father, i am very very lucky........

So the first England match landed on Jordan's Birthday. So we both went out to watch the match and meet our friends, it was a really good night out (apart from the score ) I didn't take pictures of me and jordan that night which I really should have but I have a few that the girls took on the night out 

Annabel Karmel Sleeping Dolls

Replacing the Tea with Lemsip today as there's a stinking cold and tonsillitis bug camping out within me!

One of the things I wanted blog and share with you lovely yummy lot was Annabel Karmel. I recently picked up this book after finding it packed away from over a year ago from when we moved house. Some of the recipes are brilliant in here! Really creative for example Jacket potato sailing boats !?! and the one I made Sleeping dolly's ?!? 

Soooo as I have now finished my studies for the summer, I plan to be making a lot of things out of this beauty of a book

This is the finished result of the Sleeping dolly's .....

Lilah Beau absolutely loved it! so much so that it actually took a long time to actually get her to eat in because she loved the dolly's that much :) the Dolly's heads are mushrooms, their features are made from tiny cuts of peppers and olives, their hair is made of cheese and their tiny patient shoes are black olives :)

The dolls are actually pasta tubes stuffed with a cheese onion sauce, baked in a cheese sauce. This is the book I used but the recipe can also be found online.