Sunday Mini Styles #19 (Birthday Party Edition)

If you follow me on social media or have read my blog over the last few weeks, you would most definitely know that last weekend we had a first birthday party for baby girl last weekend.

As I am becoming quite obsessed with baby girl's outfit, I just knew that her first birthday party outfit would have to be fabulous, outstanding and one of a kind. The party theme was rainbow polka dot  and I wanted her outfit to match her theme but without being overly cutesy.

Having recently discovered the world of Instagram shopping, I came across some wonderful shops who were able to help me create a bespoke outfit made just for baby girl. I'm so happy with the finished product. This is my favourite mini styles post by a long shot.

I made baby girl a birthday chalkboard and I have included it as a prop it today's post. I'll be posting a tutorial with how I did it later this week if you're interested.

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First Birthday Gift Haul

Leading up to baby girl's first birthday I was finding that a lot of the toys she already had were feeling a bit young for her and I was needing to do more and more to occupy her day so we decided that for her first birthday we would get her a selection of gifts that would:

• Keep her busy for periods of time
• Help with her development 
• Keep her interested for a few years 

Our budget was £150 and we managed to keep it under that. Here's what we got her:

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DIY: First Birthday Cake Smash Photo Shoot

To mark the occasion of baby girl's first birthday, I decided I wanted to try out a cake smash photo shoot. My baby is growing quickly and I try to take as many photos of her as possible. She's never had cake before and I thought it would be so funny to just put a whole one in front of her and document what she did with it through photos.

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First Birthday Celebrations

Well it's official. My baby girl is one. My baby girl is now technically a toddler, although she will always be my baby girl. We had a fabulous day on Friday reminiscing on her day of birth and had the most perfect first birthday party for her on Saturday.

On her first birthday party we celebrated with 50 of our closest family and friends in her grandparents garden. The weather was hot. The garden was well equipped with a bouncy castle, babies toys, picnic mats, chairs and tables for everyone to enjoy. My husband who is the worlds best BBQ'er was behind the flames literally all day making sure our guests were fed, and that they were. I did a weeks worth of baking and DIYing to make sure everything looked pretty and the guests had sweet treats after their feast. Baby girl mingled all day like the sociable bunny that she is making sure everyone got their fair share of cuddles.

The theme of her party was rainbow polka dots.

I have SO much blog material to write up about this mega first birthday and I'm going to get stuck into it. In the meantime, I just wanted to share few photos and let you know what kind of posts to be expecting.

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On Your First Birthday

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Losing Baby Weight Challenge Week 5

This week I have felt like I got back on track and I'm in the right headspace. Time really flies. I'm in week 5 of this weight loss thing. I'm proud of myself because this is the furthest I've got. The longer that I go on, the more I believe I can reach my end goal of losing 4 stone.

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Spinach & Ricotta Pinwheel Recipe

Quick and easy - TICK

Easy for little mouths and fingers - TICK

Ability to do some creative baking - TICK

Ability to use up bits in your pantry - TICK

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Sunday Mini Styles #18

We're all about the monochrome lately. I feel like baby girls wardrobe is moving from cute baby style to cool toddler girl and I keep gravitating towards monochrome and denim.

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Open Letter To A Brand New First Time Mum - From A First Time Mum One Year On

Journey To Motherhood
This journey is not going to be easy. This journey is probably not going to be anything like you expect it to be. This is going to be hard work. Like hardest work you have ever done in your whole life. The most challenging and enduring job. But it will be the best and most rewarding job that you could ever have so get ready for the ride.

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Losing Baby Weight Challenge Week 3 & 4

I have to be completely honest with you all. Last week, the scales were not my friend so I skipped my weigh in update post. This week, I'm still not feeling very fond of them but I have forced myself to get back on it and write this post because, well, the whole point in me documenting my weight loss is to be accountable, and so that is what I will be!

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Mini Naked Rainbow Lemon Layer Cake Recipe

These babies have been my best party contribution over summer. After being super happy with my experiment one evening, I have made them quite a few times now to share. They are not as complicated or long winded as they look and they always go down a treat. I make them in my favourite cake flavour - Lemon!

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Sunday Mini Styles #17

You've seen most of the individual bits from this outfit as I've featured them in different mini styles posts but this week I've chucked them together in a new combo. I'm making the most out of her latest size before she grows out of them and I tuck into  her next sizes up. The real feature of this week is this gorgeous bow. I think the monochrome look makes this bow go POW! I love it.

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A Day With Me (Eat.Love.Live)

I often get asked, 'How do you find the time to do everything that you do'? My answer is normally 'I don't need a lot of sleep'.

Which is true. I'm a night owl and always seem to have a huge supply of energy once baby girl goes to bed.

The reality is, we have a finely tuned routine that's been in the making for nearly a year. We are finally at a place when I know what baby girl needs at what time of the day and we stick to it like clock work. It means, that most days I get to take care of a very happy baby. Knowing when she is going to go down for her naps means I can be effective with how I utilise it. In saying this, what I squeeze in around baby girl's (aka BG) routine always varies. I can't really say we have a typical day.

It's not easy being a stay at home mum and a work at home mum all rolled into one but I couldn't imagine not being with my princess everyday so we make it work. I decided to take note of one of our days and bring you along for the journey.

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Flatbread & Tzatziki Dip Recipe

I've had a bit of a recipe break recently. After we came back from our holiday, I decided I wanted to try and get serious about my weight loss. To help with that I was going to go easy on the baking to ensure no temptations. Funnily enough, even though I haven't been posting recipes, my baking theory went out the window. I have been baking like mad. I love to include freshly baked goodies in baby girl's lunches. At nearly 11 months old meal times are (mainly) fun. I also don't like to turn up anywhere empty handed so have been getting creative with some naughty baking too and refraining from eating too much of it by giving it away.

Whilst we were holidaying in Greece, I really loved the food. Even though I am not a meat eater and the Greeks really are, I love the idea of chucking bits and pieces together for a meal. Things like flat bread, tzatziki and salad I really enjoy. You can buy these in the supermarkets if you want something quick but they never taste as authentic as in Greece. I've been playing around and have nailed a tzatziki recipe, it's not naughty so it has been great for my diet. I also got some inspiration from Mr. Oliver and come up with a super easy flat bread recipe.

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Sunday Mini Styles #16

What I am about to tell you may be a hazard to your purse strings.

GAP is on sale. A BIG sale!

After last weeks Sunday Mini Styles post, I decided to pop in to my local GAP just to see what was about and it just so happens that all sale stock that was already at least 50% off, had a further 20% off. Needless to say I stocked up on bits, some up to sizes too. I love their clothes. The quality is excellent and although I feel sometimes their normal prices are a bit steep, give me a sale any day! I think this deal lasts until Monday so go and have a sneaky peek if you're game!

Baby GAP Jeggings  |  Primark Shirt  |  H&M hair clips  |  Clark's Shoes

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