As you know we've just returned from a weekend break to Paris. It was the most amazing weekend of my life, and I can't thank Jack enough for giving me such a special birthday present. I'll do a separate post on what we got up to but I just couldn't wait to share some news with you all!

I'm Engaged!

I know you all want to know the story, so here goes...

On the Saturday we began exploring as soon as we arrived. We stumbled upon The Louvre and spent plenty of time taking in the sites and taking pictures in front of the famous pyramids. I had Indie on my lap looking at the fountains as Jack was setting up his tripod for some family shots.

He was taking forever setting it up but it didn't surprise me as I know he loves to fiddle about with his camera, there were quite a few people around too so I assumed he was waiting for it to go quieter.

Finally he wandered over as I assume he was ready. However he didn't sit down next to me. He got down on one knee and I still didn't click haha. He took his hands out of his pockets and out popped a box... still nothing haha! All I remember saying was 'what are you doing?' over and over.

Then out comes 'I'm asking you to marry me' and I just couldn't believe it! I then just couldn't say anything other than 'are you serious' poor Jack must was just waiting for me to say yes haha. After getting over the shock of course I said yes, I just couldn't believe it was happening!

The ring is absolutely beautiful. So simple yet stunning and just what I wanted in an engagement ring. He even had 'my little one' engraved on the inside as that is what Jack calls me. Then he tells me he had it especially made as he remembered me showing him the ring and saying how much I liked it!

The story gets even more amazing as my romantic other half even asked my parents permission before we came away! It is a story truly from a romantic movie, and I'm so amazed to call it my own! To top it off the next day we added our padlock with our names and the date of our engagement to the love lock bridge, so it will be remembered forever. Jack even captured it on film so we can look back on it too.

I'm so excited to finally share the same surname as Jack and Indiana, and my sisters and I have already started making plans. Eeek... I'm getting married!

Indiana's 9 Month Update

9 Months old... what?! Next week when she turns 40 weeks old she would have been out longer than she was in, and that's just such a crazy crazy thought. Month 8 has been pretty amazing and once again Indiana has amazed me with how much she has learnt! I've returned to work, turned 21, we took a trip to Paris and she's learnt some new tricks.

Weight

I had Indie weighed last Wednesday (when she was 38+1 weeks) at the clinic. I was a bit surprised that she's only put on 9oz bringing her to 18lbs 9oz, but she's still following her curve nicely. She's eating loads and filling her clothes better so I'm not worried!

Daily

Now I'm back at work we have a pretty smooth routine. On Mondays and Fridays she goes to nursery with Jack. She has all her meals there and has got on really well with it. She loves all the older children and now happily plays with the toys there and gets on with it. Then in between it's our time together to do what we like. She still wakes up between 7/8 and has a bottle. Then breakfast, lunch, another bottle at 3, dinner and then her bedtime bottle and then bed at 7.30. She has two naps that last between 1-2 hours at around 10ish and 3ish. We spend these days playing, seeing friends/family and relaxing. I work every other weekend where she spends time with Jack or if not we do family things. We're really lucky she's a great napper and sleeper as it makes life so much easier, and makes for a happier baby!

Bedtime

Now she's only having 2 naps a day she's usually knackered by bedtime, bless her. She doesn't have a bath every night anymore as it just wasn't necessary (especially now meal times are less messy!). We have cuddles from around 6.30/7ish, her bedtime bottle, which she usually falls asleep during and then we pop her in her cot. She's still in her 1tog sleeping bag but as it's got cooler we now are back to using sleepsuits. She then has her bunny comforter and soothing giraffe which are our lifesavers!

Eating

Her bottles and their routine are exactly the same as last month. She now feeds herself her bottle, although we still hold her as I personally love the snuggles haha. She doesn't always finish them anymore as she's much more into actual food. With food I would say she's pretty much weaned and not weaning anymore. She eats everything and anything, and especially loves fruit! Eating out isn't any trouble and she happily sits in any highchair now.

Sizes

Sizing is pretty much identical to last month. Her clothes fit pretty much perfectly now, dresses no longer drag along the floor and the lengths are good at last haha. She's finally growing out of her 0-6 months tights, although I'm sure 6-12 months will be back to being huge! I had her feet measured at Clarks and she's still smaller than a size 2. However she's got feet just like me as she's already a H width! We're still in size 4 nappies too.

Milestones

• She can now clap - she usually just does it herself if she's happy. But will also do it if you ask her to 'clap clap' - cutest thing ever!
• She also waves properly. Although she still doesn't do it on demand it's getting there though.
• She can now sit herself up from laying down!
• She can also kneel up and now spends pretty much most of the time playing on her knees.
• From this she learnt to pull herself up! For the first few days it was just to her knees but now she's fully mastered standing. She stands in her cot and pulls herself on anything she can. As much as I love seeing her learn, this development scares the hell out of me!
• Drinking from a cup! After weeks of trying sippy cups she now drinks water from her Doidy cup.
• Cruising is pretty much imminent - she's standing one handed and turns to move - this scares me even more haha!
• Starting nursery.
• First trip to France - we have just returned from a weekend break to Paris. She came with us everywhere and has even been up the Eiffel Tower!

We're now only 3 months away from her first birthday! Written down that does seem like ages but I know it's going to fly by. We've already started getting presents and planning her birthday party, and we have decided to do our own cake smash! Please slow down time, I want my baby forever!

I'm 21!

For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram (first of all why don't you - click those links on the right or at the bottom of this post haha), it was my birthday yesterday, and I'm now the grand age of 21! I spent the weekend celebrating with my family and couldn't have asked for a better birthday. I'll do a separate post on what I got (let's just say I was well and truly spoilt!), but thought I'd first share what we got up to! 

All week it had been miserable weather and I was literally praying for it to be dry Saturday. We went back to Howletts Zoo as we have our year passes and obviously it would have been rubbish in wet weather. The weather man was on my side though and it stayed sunny the whole day and was a really good temperature too! We wandered around the park and we saw literally every animal, even the ones that we've never seen before. We also had a huge picnic and the day wasn't complete without a tasty ice cream! The kids were so well behaved and Freddie (my nephew) even got in the spirit and had his face painted as a tiger... I can't wait until Indie's old enough to do it! Jack even got someone he works with to make me a cake - it was an Oreo cake and it was AMAZING!

On my actual birthday Jack, Indiana and I spent most of the day as a family. We went shopping (yes I know, we do this all the time, but we like it haha), had a relaxing afternoon at home and obviously I opened presents! Then we went to Wagamama with the crazy family again for dinner. The food is amazing and we didn't even need to bring anything for Indie as she ate so much of everyone else's meals. 

Although my parents and younger siblings are away they still made sure to send me a message through Snapchat... as well as plenty of other pictures/videos of them enjoying Disney, so thanks for that Carmen haha! I also got so many lovely messages from the amazing people in the blogging community on Twitter and Instagram so thank you!

Jack took so many pictures and we vlogged the whole weekend too, but I though I'd share a few with you. Keep an eye out for my next post on what I got, and you'll find out why I cried haha!

My 1st Years | Review

If you know me you'll know I'm obsessed with buying things for Indiana. She probably has a completed wardrobe to last until she's a year and half yet I can't help buy more haha. So when My 1st Years contacted me and said they'd love for me to review an item for them of course I had to pick an item of clothing!

If you haven't heard of My 1st Years they are an online site specialising in personalised and unique gifts for babies. Taken from their website

'My 1st Years offers the opportunity to mark this truly precious occasion with a gift that is personalised with a name or special dedication. The site is designed into categories all giving the option of customisation, ensuring the present you choose shows it’s been sourced with love'.

It was SO hard trying to pick just one thing. Nearly everything on their website I wanted (I say nearly as the stuff I didn't want was only because it was for boys haha). The website is very easy to navigate through with everything split into categories, and also with the option to shortlist the bits you want such as price. I eventually chose this personalised heart print romper which will be ideal for the summer weather we're having at the moment. It was originally £18 but is on sale at the moment for £9; an absolute bargain!

The first thing I thought of when it arrived was simply how beautiful it was presented. Every order is sent in one of these gorgeous presentation boxes. The colour is one of my favourite colours and I think the bow is such a cute touch!

The personalised tissue paper is the icing on the cake and I would be so happy and impressed if I had received this as a gift! My box did arrive a bit bashed but I think that's more the fault of the postmen and not the company itself.

I was then even happier when I saw the romper itself. It is gorgeous and the picture on the website simply doesn't do it justice. It's made with 100% cotton so is lovely and soft to touch. The embroidery is of great quality and I think having it personalised really completes it.

The romper is covered in small pink hearts and then there is a matching pink corsage by the straps too. It has spaghetti straps tied with bows which are super cute, and then it is fastened at the bottom with poppers - much easier for changing nappies!

The legs are also elasticated so they are tight around the ankles which shows off the frill detail. Then there are the standard labels (Indie has an obsession with playing with these bless her haha). It can be personalised with up to 12 letters so most names would fit along the front - this can also be added in a choice of two colours, we have the lighter pink.

Indiana looks totally adorable in it and I'm so glad I made the choice of this romper. It's slightly baggy around the top at the moment as I went for the bigger size so it would last longer. Although it is tight around the legs where the popper are so the sizing may be slightly smaller than most shops. The second I put it on she was feeling it and was happily crawling along and climbing around in it, which shows it must be comfortable and easy to move in.

Disclosure - I was sent this item for the purpose of this review, all opinions are honest and my own

Back To Work And Starting Nursery

As you know I went back to work on the 3rd August, so I'm officially a working mummy. That first day back was so hard. I've left Indiana before but this did feel really different. The idea that I could have been at home with her and Jack made me so sad, but I just had to think she was lucky she had her daddy for company! It was actually a pretty good day though so I didn't need to worry.

It's amazing because even though I had 9 months off I didn't even feel like I had been gone! I remembered how to work all the systems, where everything was and to be honest apart from a few new faces, nothing had changed haha! I'm lucky to have to fab co-workers who gave me a warm welcome back so I felt totally at ease.

I'm luck to be only part-time so I still get lots of time with Indiana, but it's also great to have a bit of time off from being a mummy. Speaking to adults and having a gossip reminds me of my pre-baby days and it's great to feel more than just Indie's mummy. I'm also quite enjoying putting on my uniform and having a bit more of a routine in my weeks. Having a baby is damn hard work, so it's nice to have a break from that too - on the days I work it's a nice thought to think Jack has changed more nappies than me haha.

Me being at work has meant a big change for Indiana too. She seems to be settling in well at nursery and making a few new friends - she's the youngest there at the moment so they all think she's a great new toy haha. She's so happy to see me after and I now get the huge smiles and cuddles instead of Jack. I love reading about what she's been up to when she's been in and Jack always makes sure to keep me informed on how she is during his breaks.

It's hard to hear when she has been teary or upset as I just want to run straight there and take her home. But I know she'll be completely settled soon enough and that this is normal. I also always try to remember that if anything was seriously wrong Jack is never far away (I know he makes excuses just to go see her anyway haha).

Overall we've settled back into the working/nursery routine quite nicely now. I'm lucky to have loads of holiday this month as it's my birthday so it's easing me in gently. But I definitely think this has been a positive change for our family and I think in the long run we're all benefiting. Especially Indie, as mummy working means more money to spoil her with haha :).

How did you feel when you returned to work?

Sit Down Little Lady!

It's amazing what a week can do! In the last week Indiana has learnt to balance on her knees, sit herself up from crawling/laying down, and pull herself to standing... slow down little lady!

This is just going to be a quick post as I've got to permantely keep an eye on the monkey now haha. I'm just completely gobsmacked how quickly she's learnt to do all those things. One minute she's laying asleep in her cot, the next minute I go in and she's like this (luckily this was after Jack had lowered the cot):

 I don't think I'll ever get tired of her learning new tricks. Every minute of every day she amazes me with what she can do. My squishy little baby is growing into such a clever little girl and I couldn't be prouder... at this rate she'll be walking before we know it! 

Baby Led Weaning: 2 Month Update

If you've followed me for a while you'll know that we have been following the baby led weaning route with Indiana. I did weekly updates for about 8 weeks but stopped due to them become pretty samey (and because I would probably say Indie was more weaned than weaning anymore). So as I haven't posted in a while I thought I'd update you all on how she's doing!

We were SO lucky that Indie took to weaning like a duck to water. She absolutely loves her food and will happily eat anything and everything, and it doesn't really matter where she is either! She now has three meals a day and eats nearly everything we put in front of her.

For breakfast she'll have things such as cereals, toast, porridge, a rice cake with a topping such as marmite or mashed banana and usually a portion of fruit. For lunch it's usually something snacky as we don't have a cooked lunch ourselves. She loves sandwiches with any filling, her baby snacks including flavoured rice cakes and the vegetable puffs/rings, beans on toast, and then a portion or fruit and vegetables. Then for dinner she generally just has a small portion of what we are eating. This includes shepards pie, stir fry, any form of pasta, potato wedges (homemade), fish, meat, roast dinners, chilli, fajitas, etc, etc. She's tried so many different flavours, textures and types of food this way and we have noticed she particularly favours strong flavours - she ate all her chilli before her jacket potato the other day!

She dropped her mid-morning bottle herself after a month and a half so now only has 3x8oz bottles of cow and gate first stage formula a day. We also have progress with her drinking water. To begin with she absolutely refused anything else but milk from her bottles. We tried about 5 different sippy cups including free flow ones, but she just wasn't interested. However last week we reintroduced the doidy cup and she loved it! She even held onto the handles and was bringing it back to take more water. We have never given her juice as we feel it isn't necessary as water is all she really needs. 

I have loved cooking for her and finding new meal ideas. I made sure to join helpful Facebook groups which have been a great source of support, ideas and guidance. I would definitely recommend these for anyone thinking of doing blw. The Little Grazers website has also been fab for food ideas such as sweetcorn and cheddar fritters and the flourless banana pancakes which are SO easy and yummy!

That's about all for her update really. Like I said I definitely think she's not really weaning anymore as she literally just eats and eats. She is becoming better at eating food from her bowl and has always been a pro with self feeding with her spoon - she even gives it back to be loaded with more food now! The mess has decreased too, although I still find myself shocked that there's no food left hidden in her highchair!

Baby led weaning may not be for everyone but I couldn't love it more and think everyone should give it a go! She still amazes me now with her eating and I don't think that will ever change.

Little Dish | Review

Taken from their website Little Dish was created by "Hillary and her business partner John in 2006. Expecting her first child, Hillary noticed that no one was making fresh, healthy meals for toddlers and children which parents could buy in the supermarket. She then set out on her vision to provide a range of food much like the meals you cook at home, only using ingredients that you would find in your kitchen".

I thought these would be brilliant for when I'm back at work, or for if we got a takeaway that Indie couldn't have any of. We recently tried out the chicken and vegetable risotto and our overall opinion is that they're brilliant!

We went shopping on Saturday so we froze it straight away (they can be microwaved or cooked in the oven from frozen as well as fresh), and then gave it to Indie as we were going out for a date night. It was so convenient and I didn't worry about it being a 'ready meal' as I knew there were no nasties inside, and that it was made with good, healthy ingredients. The box states that the meals contain no salt, no added sugar, and no additives or preservatives, as well as them containing 2 of your 5 a day!

They are designed for kids so you know that their suitable and not like your regular ready meal. The second I gave Indie a spoonful she was going 'yumm yumm' haha. She ate a whole bowlful by herself - she preferred to use her hands in the end and was literally shoveling it in! They are quite large portions as they are designed for slightly older children (I wouldn't suggest them for those not doing baby led weaning). I finished it off and even Jack wanted to try it, and I can honestly say it was really tasty and full of flavour.

I wouldn't use them all the time as they are convenience food and I'd prefer her to eat the things we make, but for certain occasions they are fab. A big downside of them I would say though is that it was very unappealing to look at. But then I suppose there's not a lot you can do to make a ready meal look presentable haha. They are also slightly on the pricier side at £2.50 per meal. However I would be willing to spend that much for my child, as I know you're paying for decent ingredients and a meal definitely suitable for them!

Princess Castle Ball Pit by Chad Valley

Last weekend we went to our friends little boy's first birthday party. It was a lovely day despite the rainy weather and Indie spent most of the time enjoying the birthday boy's ball pit. She absolutely loved it and sat in there for a good while before trying to escape haha.

We just knew we had to buy one of her own when we got home as we didn't want to wait until her own first birthday, which is still 4 months away. Browsing through the Argos website my eyes were instantly drawn the one we got her and the second I saw it, it was in the basket haha. Pink balls shortly followed and our order was complete.

The princess castle we got is by Chad Valley and also doubles as a paddling pool which is an added bonus. We unfortunately don't have a garden but we will definitely be taking to grandparents houses is the weather stays sunny! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen and although Jack isn't so keen on all things pink thinks it's great too.

It's a lot bigger than we thought haha, but luckily Indie has a double room so it fits in there nicely (I don't think Jack fancied a princess castle taking over the living room haha). It was only £9.99 too! So a bargain price we thought, although we need more balls as the 100 we got (which were £4.99) barely cover the bottom haha.

Indiana absolutely loves it and Jack's even got in there to play with her as well... too cute! So for all you mummies of little princesses, I would highly recommend spoiling them with one of these!

Mamas & Papas Kato Buggy | Review

All the way back in June we went on our first family holiday to Majorca. We knew one of the first things we needed to purchase was a smaller buggy for whilst we were there. We decided on the Mamas & Papas Kato buggy in grey/pink. It was on offer for £50 down from £100 so we knew it was going to be good quality, and the price was reasonable too!

My initial thoughts of the buggy was that it was quite big and bulky. When folded it is longer than most buggies and only just fit in the boot of Jack's Seat Ibiza. However, after using it for our holiday I really love it!

It's SO easy to push and had no trouble with uneven surfaces, it even survived being pushed along the beach. The wheels can be either locked or allowed to swivel (which is what we prefer), and the handles are foam covered so are comfortable to hold whilst pushing. The basket is a reasonable size and fits in a lot more than you think too.

You can easily pop the hood up or down to offer shade. Then the foot rest can be lifted up or down depending on the size of the child it is being used for. The website claims the buggy can be used from birth as it lays pretty flat by just pulling the tab at the back (then pulling it u again to sit it back up). Although I would never used a buggy for a newborn I think it's great that the option is there.

It came with a raincover which is a bonus. It just poppers onto the hood to protect the child when it's wet. A negative of this though it that it doesn't cover the whole buggy, so the hood itself would actually get wet, which I think it a bit silly really! The five point harness although easy to use could also do with some improvement. As the straps are joint together they become twisted and mixed up quite easily.

Overall we love the buggy and will be using it for definite when we need it. Indie seemed to love facing outwards and watching what was going on, and had no trouble falling asleep in it either (with help from the SnoozeShade of course)! For the price I think it's just what we needed and I would definitely recommend it for a holiday or just for use as a buggy in general.