Moana, 2nd Birthday and Chicken Pox #LittleLoves

We've had a busy week this week which has been a mixed bag of emotions. We've had funerals, a birthday, some fun times, some sad times and now illness. You can catch up with last week's #LittleLoves post here, Ice Skating, Santa and Food Poisoning.

Read:

This week I read an incredible blog post written by Lucy at 'Mrs H's favourite things'. It was An Open Letter To The Girl who Just Attempted Suicide. It was a hard thing for me to read this week after attending the funeral of my beautiful cousin on Monday, who committed suicide due to suffering with a mental health illness. It was such an honest, brave post for Lucy to write and I'm so glad she did. It helps to raise awareness which is what I want to continue to do.

Heard:
Without this sounding morbid, I heard one of my favourite Michael Jackson songs at my cousins funeral. I've always been one of the biggest MJ fans around so to hear this set me off into a million tears. It was 'you are not alone,'. Such a shame to hear it under sad circumstances but the words are beautiful. 

Made:

It was Ophelia's 2nd birthday this week and ever since our girls were born, we have made them a special birthday cake ourselves. Ophelia is obsessed with Moana so we decided to throw her a Moana inspired party which of course meant we had to make a Moana themed cake.

I wish I could take most of the credit for this but I can't. Hubby did most of it and I am so proud of him. Ophelia thought it was amazing.

Watched:

This weekend we went to see Olaf's Frozen Adventure followed by Frozen. We all loved it. It was a heart warming Christmas short and the new song is great. The girls had a fab time and Ophelia sat through both screenings singing and clapping.

Wore:
For ophelia's birthday the girls both had new dresses to wear. We went for something sparkly so they'd last through the festive season. Ophelia's was a gorgeous purple dress from Next and Eva had a glittery one from Asda. They looked adorable.

And Lastly:

So with a week of ups and downs, we've ended on a down. Ophelia has caught Eva's chicken pox. I'm trying to put a positive spin on it and i'm grateful that she's got it now rather than when we fly to Australia in a couple of weeks. However, i'm not looking forward to another week in isolation. 

How was your week? What did you get up to?

Are We Nearly There Yet? A poem about our road trip to London with our Cosatto car seats

A couple of months ago we received some wonderful new Cosatto Hubbub ISOFIX car seats. We took them on a road trip to London. See how we got on.

“Mum are we there yet?”

She asked as I strapped her in,

“No we’ve not left yet”

I replied whilst thinking about Gin.

The boot was jam packed,

The snacks were ready made,

With our new Cosatto car seats,

We as parents were not afraid.

The journey would be long,

Entertainment was at the ready,

Hubbub car seats with ISOFIX were fixed in,

So, we knew the kids would be steady.

“Are we nearly there yet,”

They chirped from the back,

We strapped them in with the 5-point harness,

This anti-escape system would be a tough one to crack.

We set off for London,

The kids couldn’t wait to arrive,

Half way through the journey,

We were in for a surprise.

“Are we nearly there yet”

She shouted with desperation,

“Will you stop asking that annoying question”

Daddy replied with much frustration.

“But I need a wee”

“I need to go right now”

We raced to the nearest service station,

By the sweat of one’s brow.

“It’s too late, it’s too late”

She shouted on endless repeat,

With removable washable covers,

We didn’t worry about the seat.

“Are we nearly there yet”

She was fed up of sitting still,

“mummy I’ve got something to tell you”

“The smell of my sister’s nappy is making me ill.”

“OH NO” I cried,

“It looks like a poonami”

Another pit stop it is,

The journey was driving us barmy.

We pulled in at the services,

Could we get her out slickly?

But with the quick release harness,

She was out pretty quickly.

We continued our journey,

Along the long m4,

The girls were clearly comfy,

Because they started to snore.

Two sleeping bunnies,

All safe and secure,

In their fab, new car seats,

They looked so innocent and pure.

“Are we nearly there yet”

She asked for the last time,

“Yes we’re in London,”

I replied with a chime.

We unpacked the car,

But didn’t have to take the seat,

They were fitted with ISOFIX,

Not having to carry them was such a relief.

We had a fab time in London,

The kids were easy to please,

Back into her happy stars car seat, 

Littlest thought she was the bee’s knees.

Thank you Cosatto,

The car seats were great,

They’ll last them for years,

More adventures await.

*A big thank you to Cosatto for kindly sending us two car seats for our journey. All opinions are our own*

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The Siblings Project - November 2017

With Ophelia turning 2 next week, I thought it was the perfect month to join in again with The Siblings Project. However, shamefully I looked for my last siblings update and it was back in January of this year!! I can't believe I haven't shared pics of the girls and talked about their relationship since then. You can read it here, Siblings Project January 2017.

Eva will be 5 in January and Ophelia 2 next week. Their relationship is very different now. They are most definitely acting like sisters. It's wonderful to see. The big change that i've seen is that they now play together properly. They play games, do role play, they'll sing and dance together and keep each other entertained.

Of course playing together isn't always harmonious. They are typical siblings. They fight like cats and dogs if one of them has something the other one wants. But that's normal and to be expected. Listening to Ophelia telling Eva off is hilarious. She still can't string sentences together so it's usually a lot of loud gibberish with finger pointing.

Ophelia clearly idolises her big sister. You can tell she thinks of her as her hero. She wants to be just like her and copies her every move. The dance routines they do are usually the best.

They both love Disney films (well that was always going to be the case with such a Disney obsessed mum). They quite often reenact Frozen which is adorable.

This month they've had lots of exciting experiences already. They visited our local Winter Wonderland and they had the time of their lives. Seeing their little faces on the rides was super cute. They laughed and giggled all evening. You can read about it here, Cardiff's Winter Wonderland.

They also got to meet Santa last week which was an awesome experience. It was a walk through Candyland before meeting the big man himself. Ophelia wasn't sure of him at first but finally sat near him for a picture. 

The end of November will be very exciting with Ophelia's birthday. Then is December we are heading to Australia to visit our family for Christmas so I should hopefully have lots of Siblings things to share with you in the upcoming months.

Ice-Skating, Santa and Food Poisoning #LittleLoves

Time for last weeks Little Loves post. I've recently started joining in and I love it. It's a great way of remembering all the little things we did during the week. If you missed my last post then catch up with it here, Halloween, Magic Shows and Mindfulness. 

We had a really busy week last week which included lots of festive activities that have put me in the Christmas spirit.

Read:

Last week I was mainly reading my latest edition of the BBC Good Food magazine. I have a subscription because I love it and this particular issue is always my favourite. It features the taste test results of all of the Christmas food which I find very handy.

Heard:

I have digital radio in my car and noticed that there are now a few dedicated Christmas channels. I've had 'Magic Christmas' on constantly. I know, I know it's too early for some but I don't care. Christmas is my fave holiday of the year so i've been very happy, driving around listening to the delights of Mariah Carey 'All I Want for Christmas'. 

Made:

I've been making lots and lots of lists. I'm trying to be organised this year but this month is just flying by. We have a lot on over the next few weeks with Ophelia's birthday, Christmas and going to Australia so I currently have lists everywhere for various things. Just gotta work on actually ticking stuff off.

Watched:

Wahoo the rugby internationals have started. I went into town for some mum time and watched Wales v Australia in a bar with some work friends. We had a good drink and a good laugh. Shame about the rugby score though. Hopefully we'll have a win this weekend.

Wore:

We've mainly been wearing winter clothes. I bought a lovely new black knitted poncho from Primark, which I wore ice-skating. We had a fab time at the press evening of our local Winter Wonderland. We tried out all of the rides but the highlight was the ice-skating. You can read about our time there here, Cardiff's Winter Wonderland.

Ophelia kept warm by wearing her amazing snowsuit from Jojo Maman Bébé. She adores it and I think she looks super cute in it. You can find out more about it over on this blog post, Embracing the outdoors with Jojo Maman Bébé.

Lastly:

Lastly I was convinced I had food poisoning  I ate a soup at lunch which really didn't sit well in my belly. A few hours later and I was being violently sick with a fever. I was really ill. I then continued to be sick, a fever on and off and unfortunately unpleasantness the other end (gross :() for days. It may have been a bug but I am sure it was the soup. Needless to say i'll never be eating it again.

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Beauty Faves - October

Didn't October fly by! I bought a few new beauty products last month and I have a rather large Christmas list for Santa. There are so many fab products around at the moment. 

If you missed my faves from September then catch up here, Beauty Faves September.

Here are my beauty faves for October:

1) Too Faced Kabuki Brush

This has been without a doubt, my favourite beauty buy of last month. In fact, it's probably my fave beauty buy in a while. It is the most amazing brush ever. It is so soft.
It's cruelty free and vegan which is great. It can be used with liquids, creams and powders. It's designed to be used with pressed powders, loose powders and any cheek colour. However, my friend and local make up artist Ant Gorgeous suggested that I use it as a foundation brush and I've never looked back since. It is perfect for applying foundation and my skin has looked flawless since applying it with the Kabuki brush. The brush is retractable so I use it shorter for my whole face and longer for my neck. Get this on your Christmas wish-list asap. You won't regret it.

www.toofaced.com

2) Benefit Moisture Prep Toning Lotion

I've been using the same skincare products for years and whilst i've never had a problem with them, I thought i'd start to take it a bit more seriously. After all, my skin unfortunately isn't getting any younger. I cleanse, tone and moisturise every day but thought i'd start trying some new products in that routine.
I decided to try the Benefit Moisture Prep Toning Lotion which allows the skin to fully optimise the benefits of your moisturiser. It contains vitamin E acetate, meadowsweet, natural oat, a blend of aloe leaf and yeast extract and botanical extracts. 
Even though it comes out of the bottle and appears quite thick, it feels very lightweight on my skin. A small amount goes a long way. It's very cooling and refreshing to use so i'll be taking it with me when we head on holiday to sunny Australia next month. I find it very hydrating too. One of the best things about it is the smell. 

Image from www.benefit.com

3) Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1

Another Too Faced product has made the fave lists. This time it's their Hangover 3-in-1 primer and setting spray. I absolutely adore this and use it all the time. It's a coconut water infused mist which is designed to prime, set and finish your make up whilst keeping your skin hydrated. 
It's a fab product. I've been using it for all 3 things. I've found my make up can be applied smoother after using it as a primer. I love using it throughout the day as a spritz to keep my skin feeling refreshed. When I used it as a setting spray, it gives me a great glow and sets my make up for hours and hours.  I also quite often use it first thing in the morning to help my skin (aka me) wake up.

Image www.toofaced.com

4) Bobbi Brown Lip Colour in Soft Rose

This was actually the very first lipstick I ever bought and i've been using it ever since. I recently ran out so I bought a new one. I wear it for a day look during the winter months. It leaves my lips feeling soft and moisturised and the colour lasts well.

That's it for my favourites for October. I did buy other beauty products but I haven't been to impressed with those. I'll have to share them in a different blog post. 

Have you bought anything recently that you've loved?

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