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What We Ate For Christmas Lunch

Hello!! Long time no see. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

I've had an unintentional weeks break from blogging, taking the time to enjoy Christmas festivities with my family. We had a mammoth few days of celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my immediate family and then Boxing Day with the extended family. 

Having two homes (Australia and UK) is mostly a wonderful thing. Theres two lots of warm welcoming homes, two lots of families, two lots of traditions, two lots of cultures, opposite seasons meaning at any one time I can escape winter and welcome summer, double the love for Baby Girl. It also means that while I am enjoying one home, part of my heart will always be missing my other home. It was strange to be Skyping my UK family on Christmas Day rather than the other way around and I did miss them. 

There's many similarities on Christmas Day between both of my families and they're the things that matter the most. A day full of love, laughter, sibling banter, competitive game playing and really good food! 

The big differences are: The weather, Christmas in the UK is cosy inside with fires raging, whereas in Australia meals are outside soaking up the suns rays. Common after lunch activities in Australia include swimming if you're lucky enough to have a backyard pool or other backyard sports like cricket, AFL or soccer (the Aussie name for football). Those little family traditions that subtly get embedded over the years becoming just something that everybody knows as the norm during the festive period. Christmas Eve in Australia is one big sleepover with all the siblings camping over at mum's house even though all of us have flown the nest. This means Christmas day starts as soon as we wake up often resulting in the champagne being popped before midday. In the UK we always enjoy some hot mulled wine before lunch. There is also a lot more grazing throughout the day in Australia leading up to and after Christmas lunch. Christmas lunch is very different between both countries. This is very much a cultural thing. In the UK we enjoy a traditional roast of turkey and all the trimmings whereas in Australia we enjoy a buffet of different selections which to hubbies surprise includes salads. He was flabbergasted that we would serve salad on Christmas Day.

I am going to keep the finer details of how we spent our very special Christmas Day in my memory bank but I thought I would share the details of our delicious Christmas lunch with you. I am salivating just looking at these photos again! Most of this creation was by the best chef in the world - my mum. She did have a little bit of help from her apprentices, my sister in law and I.

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Sunday Mini Styles #32

I realise I'm a day late with this post and it's Monday, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down at my laptop and I didn't want to leave it a whole week before I post these outfit shots. So I just had to share as soon as I had the chance.

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A Peek Into My Home: Nursery Tour

The next room in my home feature that I want to share with you is Baby Girl's nursery! I just love her little part of the house. It was so nice to create a room completely from scratch and after adding to it bit by bit, it finally matches my vision.

I started thinking about Baby Girl's nursery when I was about 6 months pregnant and we were getting ready to renovate our house. I decided I wanted to go with a vintage and a touch of animals theme. J was worried that it would look to adult when I told him how I was thinking of decorating it but I think the end result is actually a really good balance.

There had previously been a fireplace in the room that was really lovely but taking up a whole wall which we needed for furniture so I decided to get it taken out and boarded up and have that wall as a feature with vintage style purple wallpaper. I decided I would lay down floorboards like the rest of the house and have the rest of the walls pained white. I also chose a gorgeous small chandelier for the room.


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Sunday Mini Styles #31

I am writing this post sitting on my mum's deck in Melbourne having just taken some outfit pictures of Baby Girl. It's a hot day today and the summer clothes are out, the breeze is fresh and my hubby J is out on a boat in the bay with my brothers fishing.

I never put our summer clothes away when winter hit as I was putting them away for this trip. The next few Sunday posts will most definitely be summer fashion and may incorporate some Australian labels when I get around to doing some shopping.



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Home Sweet Home

I am here, and it is so wonderful. I am typing this sitting in my mother's kitchen in the leafy suburbs of Ferntree Gully in Melbourne, Australia.

Even though she has just recently brought this house and this is the first time I have visited here, it still feels like home. After all, home is so much more than a physical property.



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A Busy Mama's Skincare Routine - Clarins & Liz Earle

Sometimes I look at new mummies and I'm shocked at just how well they keep it together. Pristine clothes with no wrinkles. Beautiful skin finished off with immaculate make up. Hair, in a style not just a mum bun.

I felt very inferior for the first 6 months of Baby Girl's life because I there were just not enough hours in the day for me to maintain myself. To be perfectly honest I felt like a hot mess.


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A Gorgeous Gift Idea For A Baby Girl's First Christmas

I wanted to share a special little idea I had for my daughters first Christmas last year. Her very first Christmas.

I've always loved Christmas day. To me, it's all about family. Getting to spend my first Christmas last year with my very own daughter for the first time was like nothing I could even put into words. It was literally like all my Christmases had come at once.

Baby Girl was four months old on her first Christmas day.


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DIY: Cake In A Mug Christmas Gift (Double Chocolate Cake)

I really love the gift of giving. 

Time, advice, support, physical presents, coffee, wine...... ;)

I am in my element at Christmas and I much prefer the process of giving my gifts over receiving them. In my older age I am really do put a lot of thought into my gifting and I'm also a big fan of DIY. If you're a regular reader of my blog you've probably already had some insight into this. A few months I posted a recipe/ tutorial for cookie in a jar which really does make a wonderful gift. You may also know that I am the proud owner of Little Bump Shop, an online gift store for pregnant/ new mummies and I hand make everything I sell myself.

This Christmas I wanted to do something really special for Baby Girl's nursery teachers. She's come so far since she's been going there and I really can see the special bond she has formed with them just by watching them interact.

I have personally been a fan of mug cakes lately. What's not to love about them? They are quick, easy and come in single portions meaning you don't have to feel extra guilty or tempted by any left overs. LIGHTBULB MOMENT! Cake in a mug Christmas gift! Your recipient will get to enjoy a delicious portion of cake and then get to keep enjoying the mug for years to come. Who doesn't love a pretty mug? I got creating and I'm so happy with the finished product that I just had to share with you all. 


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Sunday Mini Styles #30

Wow. Sunday Mini Styles is 30! I remember the evening when I just randomly started this blog nearly 9 months ago. I'm so proud of how far it's come and it has really helped with my sanity as a first time mum. Sunday Mini Styles has been something I've done consistently pretty much from the beginning and I still love writing up this post every week. Most importantly I have connected with so many cool mummies by writing these posts. Hello to all of you, I appreciate you :) x

Let me get straight into this weeks outfit.

River Island  denim shirt  |  H&M stripped vest  |  Gap jeans  |  Zara scarf & shoes 

I can only apologise for the quality of this flat lay. The sun hid at 12.30pm (how rude!) and there was no natural light. No matter what I did to try and edit this photo it still didn't look great.


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A Day With: Happy Mama = Happy Baby

A Day With: Is a fun series I am running on the blog. I love 'day in the life' style mummy posts. They are fun to read and interesting to see the way different mums manage their days. I think all mummies are superheroes  We all have our own challenges with managing our lives and running our households, but we get through it and that should be celebrated.

If you want to have a nosey at the first posts of this series, here they are:

A Day With: Eat.Love.Live
A Day With: The Moderate Mum
A Day With: Motherhood: The Real Deal

Todays guest is Julie from Happy Mama = Happy Baby. Julie, her husband and her 16 month old baby boy live in Portugal (are you jealous yet?), having recently moved back there after a 5 year stint in Brazil (you must definitely be jealous by now!).

I love Julie's gentle parenting approaches. She shares them on her blog and it's lovely to see them in her day to day. I also love the idea of baby yoga. I'm totally going to look it up and see if they do it in my neighbourhood.


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Losing Baby Weight Challenge Update: Nov 25th 2015


My weight loss challenge has been coming along nicely this week. My determination and will power is very much sticking around thankfully. I did have an overindulgent cheat day on the weekend. I felt like I needed it at the time but now I am kicking myself because our holiday is creeping up and every little effort is going to help shift those pounds.

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To My 15 Month Old Baby Girl

I always say that one of the greatest things about writing this blog is that you will be able to look back at this for many years to come and read all about how much fun we had, what real life looked like for us and understand just how loved you are.

You are now 15 months and you are becoming such a little character. You are the funniest, craziest and most endearing person that I know and I am so totally blessed to spend every day with you and watch you grow.


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Losing Baby Weight Challenge Update: Nov 16th 2015

OK so I promised I would weigh in every week before I go away so today is the day!


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I'm Sad. I'm Heartbroken.

I'm feeling a bit lost this week.

Let me rephrase that. I'm feeling very lost. On Friday, after getting home late from being out visiting family, I was settling Baby Girl in her cot. She was pretty much asleep. I was lying next to her and singing to her, waiting for her to go into a deep sleep before I could creep out of her room. It was about 10pm. Something told me to check my phone and have a look at the news. I must have read one of the first news reports about what was happening in Paris. As I read, I knew this was bad. Very bad. When I left her room I went straight down to the living room and told my husband J what I had read. We put the news on and watched the live reports. He ended up falling asleep on the couch, as he often does.

I was in a weird place where I couldn't stop watching, but I just didn't want to know. I wanted to hide away and be oblivious, but it was too late. I watched the whole thing unfold and finally forced myself to bed at around 2am. I went to bed that night with a broken heart. My heart was broken for the victims of this senseless crime. My heart was broken for their families. My heart was broken for the people of Paris and one of my favourite cities. The very city where my fairytale began and J proposed. My heart was broken at how many people this would affect. My heart was broken because this was one of those things that reminded me that the world isn't always a good place.

What will come of this? Is this just a horrible isolated instance, or could this really be some kind of new normalcy? My heart was broken for my innocent baby girl, sleeping soundly in her cot. What world have I brought her into and what will her future be like?

Taken today by my kitchen window

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Sunday Mini Styles #29

There is so much 'diva-ness' in today's outfit, I just can't take it!

A diva - Baby Girl is certainly becoming. I'm sure it's got a lot to do with a stage she is going through to but I have no doubt that part of it is just her developing personality. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it, whether it be fake crying, trying to be cute, or busting out words we haven't heard her say before. At nearly 15 months I'm finding her so much fun and she is hilarious. She is hands down the person who can make me laugh most in the world.



Next gillet  |  H&M vest  |  Primark leggings  |  Choice boots
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A Peek Into My Home: Bathroom Tour

My blog is like my little online diary. The things that I hold close to my heart feature heavily - family, food, and fashion (mainly of the baby variety).

One really important thing that I don't blog about is my home. I really am a homebody. There's nothing more I love than being curled up in my humble abode with my family, spending hours in my kitchen making wonderful creations, soaking in my tub, hanging in my living room and in front of a roaring fire when winter kicks in, and lazing in my bed in my ultimate haven - my bedroom. My home is where many of our family memories are made. This is where J lived when I first met him. Together we tranformed his bachelor pad into a family home - in more ways than just the renovations. This is the home where we planned our wedding together This home is where we brought baby girl after she was born.

When I was 7 months pregnant we did a full house renovation that included an extension, walls being knocked down, new flooring throughout and a brand new kitchen. No room in the house was left untouched. It was stressful doing it so close to giving birth but it was totally worth it. The end result has been a house that we  love and we have chosen every little detail down to the kitchen cupboard handles. I have been thinking about it for awhile, but I'm finally going to do it. I am going to share these rooms with you in a very special blog series - A peek into my home!


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Losing Baby Weight Challenge Update & Weigh In

On Monday I realised that there are only 4 weeks until we go on our holiday. If you've read my previous weight loss posts you will know that we are going to Australia for a Christmas holiday and I want to be as beach body confident as I can. So I got on the scales and this is what I was faced with:


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Our Sleep Diary - How We Got Baby To Settle In Her Cot Without Using Controlled Crying

I'll hold my hands up. We've neglected our night time routine for far too long. It's not that we haven't been sleep deprived. Believe me, we have. We've not really be confident with how to tackle night times. We've been really unsure about trying controlled crying. Rocking Baby Girl to sleep when she was a newborn used to work a treat. Put some music on, rock for a few minutes and put her in her cot asleep. Then it started to take longer for her to fall asleep. Then some nights she didn't want to be rocked but she didn't know how to fall asleep any other way. Then it was too late to easily put her down in her cot sleepy. And the putting to sleep process got longer and longer. The night wakings got worse and worse. We could never put her down in her cot without her already being asleep.

Things started to improve a bit but then as soon as Baby Girl turned one it went downhill rapidly. We had regular refusals to sleep until midnight, waking every hour, refusing to go into her bed, waking and then wanting to play, refusing to sleep anywhere but our chest. We were parenting 24/7 without time to reset ourselves. There was no time to wind down at the end of the day or even for a stretch of sleep for longer than 3 hours most nights.

J and I decided that for our sanity, we had to make some changes by doing things differently at night. We had to teach our girl that her bed is her bed. That is where she goes at night and that is where she stays. Most importantly we had to teach her how to fall asleep in her bed and settle herself when she woke.

I'm really quite proud of how far we've come in 2 short weeks. I kept a sleep diary to track our progress and I thought I would share it.

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Sunday Mini Styles #28

The only thing this weekend has been good for has been to snuggle up indoors and bond with the family. I don't mind the weather getting colder but constant rain just makes me want to hibernate and never leave the house. *Dreaming of an Australian summer in a months time - bring on our holiday!*

This week's main feature is from one of our trusty high street favourites H&M. I love that H&M are both affordable and stock the latest trends. Grid patterned dungarees, who would have thought you could pick some up from H&M? From memory, I think they were £14.99 and I found them last week.

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Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding Recipe

I have so many early family memories based around food. My mum is the world's best cook and even though as we were growing up she was studying full time, working full time and being a full time mum and wife she always made sure we had wholesome home cooked meals. She is definitely my inspiration for providing the same for Baby Girl. She is also the reason behind both my love of food and sharing that with people.


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Sunday Mini Styles #27

Oh dear! I have been Instashopping again. I just can't help myself. Recently I discovered Sofia Rose Boutique who source some gorgeous pieces to sell on their fab Instagram page. I've already purchased a few bits from there and today I am featuring this gorgeous shirt.



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A Day With: Apparently Awkward

A Day With: Is a fun series I am running on the blog. I love 'day in the life' style mummy posts. They are fun to read and interesting to see the way different mums manage their days. I think all mummies are superheroes  We all have our own challenges with managing our lives and running our households, but we get through it and that should be celebrated.

If you want to have a nosey at the first posts of this series, here they are:

A Day With: Eat.Love.Live
A Day With: The Moderate Mum
A Day With: Motherhood: The Real Deal

I'm so excited to introduce you to today's guest - Amy from Apparently Awkward. Amy is my favourite expat mummy blogger. Originally from America she's now settled in Oxfordshire with her husband and little boy. I have so many hilariously funny and honest blogger friends and Amy is certainly one of them. Her blog is bound to make me chuckle, nod and agree. Amy doesn't filter her views on motherhood and I love her for it. Amy is also a fellow mumpreneur having recently started up her own gorgeous handmade gift business.

Reading her post made me realise how much more we have in common than being fellow expats and small business owners, there are so many parts of the day I can nod my head and relate. Especially feeling like the day revolves around nap and eating times. I still feel like this 14 months on. Anyone else? Amy and I share the same taste in TV shows too.



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A Home Decor Haul - H&M, Next, Dunelm & More

My latest shopping obsession recently has been things for our home. Our house was completely renovated last year and I absolutely love it. We've chosen everything from the floorboards, to the light fixtures and even the kitchen cupboard handles. Every. Little. Detail.

We were so happy when our renovations were complete, it takes a lot out of you! I had a vision for all of the small details I wanted to add to make my vision complete but then I got kind of busy having a baby and getting through the first year of motherhood so that was pushed to the side. But now I have a new found energy to get the finishing touches just right and I have spent many hours hunting down the perfect home interior bits and bobs.


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Sunday Mini Styles #26

The change of weather has really hit this week right? If I'm honest we've had our heating on for months because we like to keep toasty warm but this week we've had to really crank it up. I've also resorted to carrying an umbrella with me everywhere - we only have one car so Baby Girl and I walk a lot. We've also had our winter coats and hats out.

The real feature of this week's mini post is Baby Girl's winter coat. It's a beauty. It was a first birthday gift from her Nanny. It's size 18 months to 2 years so it's big on her but we can roll the sleeves up and it will fit her next winter too. Perfect!

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Time For Baby Number Two?

Well well well! Lately I have really been thinking long and hard about this. I always assumed that I would have all my babies close together. In my imaginary world before our first, I wanted 4 babies each a year apart from each other. Crazy right? But that was my family goals.

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Review: Bottomless Brunch - Bad Egg London

Last month I posted a review about my bottomless brunch experience at The Avenue and I mentioned that I was starting a love affair with brunch. When my closest girlfriends and I were planning a catch up for last Saturday, I decided to find another brunch place so we could have our long awaited girly date over good food and mimosas. Google told me that Bad Egg sounded like a good option for us so I booked right away. This place sure is popular so make sure to book in advance if you are planning to go.


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Sunday Mini Styles #25

I love Autumn, not quite as much as I love Summer but Autumn is such a lovely transition from the summer months into Christmas.

The heating in our house gets cranked up, the woolies and blankets come out to keep us cosy, we have nights in wearing flannelette PJ's, we crunch through piles of brown leaves when going on our daily walks and then before you know it the Christmas decorations go up, there's Christmas markets to go to, festive celebrations and lots of lovely memories made.

It all starts in Autumn. I really do love the start of any new season because it means rotating your wardrobe to pieces that are suited to the changing weather. Recently I've been packing away our summer clothes (ready to pack in a suitcase for when we go to Australia in December) and replenishing with warmer clothes. 

The outfit I am sharing today, although does require a heavy winter coat when venturing outdoors, screams Autumnal fashion to me. I love the colours. This waistcoat can be layered with so many options and can add spunk to any outfit. How cute is it? It's from Miss Coco's Closet. I discovered this store on Instagram and I just love the range. I want to buy the whole shop!


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A Day With: Mama Loves Nate

A Day With: Is a fun series I am running on the blog. I love 'day in the life' style mummy posts. They are fun to read and interesting to see the way different mums manage their days. I think all mummies are superheroes  We all have our own challenges with managing our lives and running our households, but we get through it and that should be celebrated.

If you want to have a nosey at the first posts of this series, here they are:

A Day With: Eat.Love.Live
A Day With: The Moderate Mum
A Day With: Motherhood: The Real Deal

Today's post features a wonderful mummy that I first connected with on Instagram - Yinka from Mama Loves Nate. Yinka is a gorgeous mother of one to the totally adorable Nate. She is a working mum who manages her full time job, son, family, household, blog, social media.... you get my point.... she is busy! I love her mummy blog. My favourite post of hers is 5 Things I Will Teach My Son As A Nigerian Mum, a very useful read to me with my husband being from Nigeria. She has also recently been posting her pregnancy journal which is doing no good for my broodiness I tell ya!

There is a lot of multi-tasking in this mama's day, things seem to run very smoothly and I'm impressed! I can totally relate with her on the tangled hair (need to learn to braid my baby girl's hair), teeth brushing and lot's of singing heads shoulders knees and toes.

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Mini Cheesy Vegetable Pie Recipe


Well well, it has been a long time between recipes again. I'm sorry! I'll try and be better. They really are my favourite posts to publish. 

Today's recipe has been a firm favourite in my house for a few months now and I suspect as the winter months creep in they will continue to be. There is something about pies that scream comfort food to me. Making them in mini form means they are great for my one year old, and also makes me less guilty if I consume a sneaky one. 



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9 Things To Consider: Choosing A Nursery For Your Baby

A few weeks ago I blogged about my thoughts when we were faced with thinking about nursery for Baby Girl. She's been at her nursery for over a month now and I'm so totally blessed that she loves it. She didn't even really need her settling in sessions. Whilst I was filling out the paper work before her first session, she took herself straight off to the baby room next door and started  playing with toys and making friends. She barely acknowledged me enough to say goodbye! There were no tears while I was there or gone. I knew straight away we had chosen the right one.

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Sunday Mini Styles #24

This week when I went to pick up Baby Girl from nursery her key worker handed me a little package. They were her first ever set of nursery photos. My first thought was 'Oh no! If I had known they were going to be taken I would have done her hair nicely and made better outfit choices'. I had no idea they were happening.

However when I looked at the photos I realised none of that mattered. The photos were absolutely gorgeous. She was beaming. Somehow they managed to capture her in some gorgeous poses. She was sitting by herself right on the target and she was sporting a million pound smile. They managed to get 4 amazing shots and poses I could only dream of snapping myself. I take photos of her daily and am now on my 24th Sunday Mini Styles and I feel like getting the perfect shot is getting harder and harder. I think I need to find the photographer and get some tips from her!

Today's outfit has been on weekly rotation for awhile now. I'm surprised I haven't shared it with you all yet. It's the perfect mix of comfort and style.


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Sunday Mini Styles #23

J thinks we should dress baby girl in pink....

I say, nah to that!

I really love the neutral and monochrome look and I think it suits her. We have hit a new fashion milestone. I have started dressing baby girl in some 18 month sizes (albeit they are baggy but hey the will last!) which means that we have a whole new range of clothes available at H&M. Oh gosh, there are too many options now.


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A Day With: Motherhood: The Real Deal

A Day With: Is a fun series I am running on the blog. I love 'day in the life' style mummy posts. They are fun to read and interesting to see the way different mums manage their days. I think all mummies are superheroes. We all have our own challenges with managing our lives and running our households, but we get through it and that should be celebrated.

If you want to have a nosey at the first posts of this series, here they are:

A Day With: Eat.Love.Live
A Day With: The Moderate Mum

This week I'm so excited to be featuring the lovely Talya from Motherhood: The Real Deal. I love Talya's blog. Talya is a mum to one gorgeous toddler. Her little girl seems like quite a little character! Talya shares blog posts showing the real truth of motherhood - my favourite kind of mummy blog to read. She shares real stories, gives 'tell it like it is' advice, she's really funny and does a great job at bringing the blogging community together.

I'm super impressed with everything Talya squeezes into her day. I love how she describes dinner with her little one and how she manages a dinner with hubby so they can enjoy some quality husband and wife time. I will definitely be taking some tips away from her!


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Losing Baby Weight Challenge: Update

For any of you who have been following my loosing baby weight challenge, I thought it was about time I posted an update for you. It's been awhile...


15

Here's What I Scored At The Next Sale For Baby Girl

To all my baby fashion followers. I'm sorry there was no Sunday post this week. The truth is, this last week was so busy my feet hardly touched the ground. I barely had time to choose Baby Girl's outfits and get them on her, let alone trying to create flat lays and photos.

I'll make it up this Sunday with a fabulous outfit, I promise!

In the mean time, I thought I'd share some bits that I purchased in the Next sale. I've never been game to join the long lines or the crowds on Next sale days so on Saturday morning, when the sale began I logged in, browsed and made some purchases from the comfort of my bed.

Here's what I scored:


 Happy Rose Gold Foil T-shirt £4

2

Guilty For Not Having Nursery Guilt

I didn't put too much thought in to nursery for the longest time. It's just not something I ever thought we would be doing this early. Then my life as a "stay at home mum" got busy with my entrepreneurial endeavours and I had no other choice than to look into nursery options for Baby Girl.

I've heard so much about this nursery guilt, and actually as we were going through the motions of looking at options I felt guilty for not having guilt. If anything, I was excited for Baby Girl. She's such a sociable bunny. She loves other children. She is an observer of the world. You can see it in her eyes whenever they are taking in, absorbing, learning. I just know nursery is going to help with her development and shape the little person she is becoming.
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A Weeks Worth Of Dinners For My 1 Year Old

I love reading meal planning and family dinner blog posts and I get so much inspiration from them. I also love posting random shots of what baby girl is having for her meals on my Instagram feed and I often get people telling me they get inspiration from me which is awesome.

I do put a lot of effort and thought into what we eat as a family. It's complicated let me tell you. I am a vegetarian on a low fat diet. J is a meat eater on a low fat diet. Baby girl is a fussy 13 month old that needs full fat options. I have to spend loads of time meal planning because I prepare three meals every night! I try and be efficient as possible by cooking one meal from scratch each night for one of us, and then freezing batches that can be used later on. It sure is a process but I seem to have a good rotation.

I would love to post our meal plans but that would be far too complicated so I last week I decided to take a photo of baby girl's dinner each night so I could share.

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Sunday Mini Styles #22

UK Ladies. Don't pack your summer clothes away just yet. I've just been reading about the Indian summer that we're about to have in a week. And it's meant to be 3 weeks long! I do love the change of season and pulling out the winter woolies but I will quite welcome a little bit more sunshine before I need to fully embrace the colder weather.

This week outfit is a simple one. It's ALL about the gorgeous knee high socks. I just love them and had to dedicate a post to them.


13

Review: Bottomless Brunch At Avenue Mayfair

On Saturday I had a baby free day and a catch up with some of my lady friends. We decided we would do brunch.

OOTD - The End Long kimono | Dorothy Perkins trousers | Zara handbag | Office shoes

When I visited New York in 2007 brunch was THE thing to do. Brunch in New York was an institution. A weekend activity that was so much more than combining breakfast and lunch because you'd slept in. Brunch was a time to fill your bellies with amazing food, drink and a time to catch up with friends. Brunch was (and still is) even worthy of its own menu combing the perfect mix of things like eggs, pancakes and some more substantial lunch type dishes. Back in Melbourne it still wasn't a thing and then when I arrived in London in 2010 it's not something I ever noticed.

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Sunday Mini Styles #21

Its busy times at the Eat.Love.Live house this weekend so this post is going to be short and sweet and all about the outfit. As it should be, this ones a beauty. This is the kind of outfit I wish they did in adult size because I would love it.



River Island Mini - denim shirt and leggings set  |  Monsoon moccasins  |  Rockahula hair clip



This outfit is still a little big but that's OK she'll get more wear out of it that way. I really love the length of the shirt and the side splits.


I've been busy publishing blog content this week. If you missed any of my posts, here they are:

Thank you for all your well wishes for Baby Girl's nursery settling in sessions. She was fine and absolutely loved it. She bonded with the nursery girls really quickly and jumped straight in to get involved in playing with the other babies. There were no tears whilst I was there or when I was gone so I really don't think it could have gone any better. She has her first full day tomorrow. I'm excited for her because I know she will love it but I will miss her so much!

Kat x

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This Mama Life
15

A Day With: The Moderate Mum

Last month I published a 'day in the life' style mummy post where I documented the ins and outs of a whole day and what Baby Girl and I got up to. I wrote it because I really enjoy reading these kind of posts, I'm a little bit nosey and I find them really interesting. It got me thinking and I thought it would be fun to run a series of guest posts on the blog with all my favourite blogging mummies. I think all of us mummies are superheroes with how we manage our days and that should be celebrated.

I'm so pleased to launch this series with one of my fantabulous, wonderful, wise, insightful, witty, fun and gorgeous blogging friends - Charlene from The Moderate Mum. I feel very grateful to have connected with this wonderful chick. If you're not familiar with her blog, you should be. Not only does she offer loads of advice for any parent looking for someone who is straight talking, honest and tells it as it is but her posts will also make you belly laugh at the end of a crappy day. Some will even tug at your heartstrings.

I just loved reading about Charlene's super busy day with her gorgeous son Roscoe. I could relate with her at so many times of the day, especially the teeth brushing. Any tips?


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DIY: Birthday Chalkboard Tutorial

When planning Baby Girl's first birthday I just knew I wanted to include a birthday chalkboard as part of her decorations. It's a great way to reflect on the first year and capture information that is relevant at that moment in time. The chalkboards are a unique display for people who attend the party to read your baby's vital stats and even better, they look great in photos.


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The Night They Sent The Ambulance - Our Croup Story

Last weekend I had my scariest experience as a mother to date.

J was having a rare night out with the boys. Baby girl had been unwell for a few days and still wasn't her normal self that day but I assured him that we would both be fine. I would get her down to sleep and have a chilled night to myself. Baby girl sounded quite wheezy but we put that down to her having a bit of phlegm stuck in her throat and not knowing to cough. We did the bedtime routine as normal, she fell asleep relatively quickly. J made sure everything was OK with both of us and then head out at 8.30pm.

Silence.

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A Rainbow Polka Dot Themed Birthday Party: Table Decorations

Continuing in my theme of birthday parties on the blog, I wanted to dedicate a post to how I created the table at baby girls first birthday party a couple of weeks ago. I am absolutely in my element when I am party planning. This table was a weeks worth of baking and DIY and I was so happy with the outcome.

Theme: Rainbow polka dot

The table was in the conservatory and it was super sunny but there was shadows in all the wrong places in the photos so I'm sorry that the quality isn't amazing.

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Sunday Mini Styles #20

Sunday Mini Styles is 20. Woohoo!

I'm so glad I started this series. It's so much fun to put these posts together - choosing the outfits, taking photos with baby girl and updating you all on my week.

This week has taken me by surprise. It feels like we went from summer to winter in a week. Although I feel like I have been doing a lot of shopping for baby girl lately, much of it has been in summer sales gearing up for our Australian holiday and next summer and I realised we had a lack of winter basics. So what can a mummy do in that situation other than hit the shops? I had a big spree in Zara. That's one of my favourite places for both myself and baby girl.

In saying all of this, I'm not quite ready to start the winter baby fashion posts yet so I thought I would try and squeeze in at least one more summery number.


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Cooking With Kids - Little Whisks Workshop

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be the guest chef at a school holiday cooking workshop that took place at the fabulous Discovery Nursery based in outer North/West London. The cooking program called 'Little Whisks' and was attended by a group of budding chefs aged 3-5 who were looking to practice the culinary excellence whilst on school holidays.


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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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