Ecover Laundry Challenge

Before having children my household chores were minimal and easily accomplished. I did not have little monsters darlings destroying a room the moment I turn my back after cleaning and tidying it. My home was not overrun with toys. I did not have little feet and hands leaving messy prints throughout the house. My laundry pile was not a never ending mountain and my laundry basket was often EMPTY! I did not have hungry kids to feed and water creating an abundance of used dishes and a dirty oven.

But fast forward a few years and 2 kids my days and household chores have changed. Now keeping the home at a respectable level of tidiness is a constant battle and my list of household chores is never ending.

Adventures on Autumn days,

We love being in the great outdoors. Throughout the year we love any excuse to get outside to explore and play.

To me ever season has its own special charm. The beauty of each season is a wonder to experience and we love nothing more than having adventures in the great outdoors as we bask in the beauty and magic that each season has to offer.

 At the moment we are relishing Autumn. We are enjoying Autumn days spent having adventures in the crisp Autumn air. We love kicking crisp golden brown leaves and hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot as we enjoy long walks, escapades at the local castle ruins and hours spent playing at the park.

During Autumn as we edge ever closer to Winter we dig out our wellies and waterproofs for wet Autumn days for lots of fun puddle jumping and walks in the rain and our woolly jumpers for the dry, yet chilly other Autumn days when we enjoy our adventures in the crisp, fresh Autumn air.

For our recent adventure in the great outdoors when we enjoyed the beauty that Autumn has to offer on a lovely dry Autumn day when the sun was shining beautifully and the air was fresh and crisp, Bug wore a new outfit courtesy of House of Fraser.

Summer sales saving money.

Most savvy saving families like us will have already scoured the shops or be planning to hit the shops to snap up some bargains and clothes for their little ones during the mid-season sales.

We recently snapped up some new clothes for Bug at bargain prices at Tesco in their clothing sale.  The ongoing final clearance clothing sale at Tesco with up to 50% off on selected items both in-store and online has an array of children’s, women’s and men’s clothing on offer.

Other supermarkets also have clothing sales running at the moment.  George at Asda has an up to half price sale on clothing - I just wish I could get to an Asda store to see what items are on sale in-store as the items I fancy for Bug online are no longer available in his size.  Morrisons have a summer sale on their Nutmeg range of clothing with selected lines on sale in-store only – having never had a chance to try the Nutmeg clothing due to no local Morrisons stores stocking the Nutmeg range of clothing I wish I was able to snap up an item or two of clothing for Bug during the Nutmeg sale as their clothes look adorable and colourful.  Sainsbury’s also has a sale on the Sainsbury's Tu range of clothing with saving of up to half prices on offer in-store only.

Excel Clothing Summer Wish List.

As I love entering competitions and love creating wish lists, dreaming of what I would love to buy if I had plenty of money, I could not resist entering Excel Clothing’s exclusive blogger competition where one lucky person will win a whopping £500 to spend at Excel Clothing.

To enter the competition I had to create an Excel Clothing wish list of my favourite items of clothing for summer.

Clothes shopping for myself......what is that again?

After shopping for an outfit the other day for an upcoming family friend’s wedding I realised that it was the first outfit I had bought myself in ages.  Realising how long it had been since I bought myself new clothes other than underwear and pyjamas shone a huge light of reality on the fact that I do not really bother much with my appearance.  Thinking about how long it has been since I bought myself some clothes I realised that it was in fact over 2 years ago when Bug was a little baby in my ever expanding pregnant belly that I last bought some clothes when I treated myself to some lovely maternity dresses.

When Bug was born I carried on wearing a lot of maternity clothes and soon found I could fit into my wardrobe of pre-pregnancy clothes.  As I could wear the clothes I had before my pregnant belly popped out I did not had a need to buy new clothes except nursing bras. 

Over the last 2 years I have not really had a need to buy clothes and with being a family on a budget I have wanted to use whatever spare money we have on buying clothes and toys for Bug as well as go on family days out rather than selfishly buy myself clothes when I already have a wardrobe of clothes that suffice.  Also since having Bug, apart from going out as a family for days out or to children-orientated places I do not go out, in fact Lee and I have not had a night out together for a ‘date night’ away from the house since I was pregnant.

Wedding outfit shopping.

With an upcoming family friend’s wedding on the horizon I have been on the hunt for some outfits for us all to wear on their big day. 

As the wedding is quite a posh do, with the couple having a white wedding in a chapel and the reception being at a splendid venue, we can’t just go in our everyday clothes so I need to get some smart outfits for us.  Thankfully it is not an overtly grand wedding so I do not need to go over-the-top with our outfits but I would like us to look nice.  I would normally wear something I already own but unfortunately I do not have any smart clothes that would be suitable for a wedding which fit, especially as Lee and I have not been for a night out since before having Bug I have not had a need for smart, going out clothes……so shopping is a must ;-)

I had hoped to get a full day with the car to go shopping further afield to have more choice of shops to look for outfits but with Lee busy working overtime the chances of being able to have a full day at the shops and some retail therapy is looking less likely before the wedding.

As I am struggling to be able to get to the shops to buy us some outfits I have been doing some online shopping instead. 

AlexandAlexa dream wishlist.

As Bug is growing so fast he needs some new clothes as the ones he has now are getting tight, short and small on him.  I love vibrant, interesting clothes on my little love Bug and I am always on the lookout for shops and websites that sell trendy, gorgeous and cute kids clothes and accessories.  When I stumbled across a website called AlexandAlexa I found myself drawn into their world, getting lost in an amazing array of contemporary, cutting edge and gorgeous clothes from “the World’s best kids brands”. 

AlexandAlexa provide customers with an impressive range of clothes and accessories from well-known designer brands such as Fendi and Burberry and items from sportswear specialists such as Nike and Puma.  I was impressed to see a range of items from niche labels such as Finger in the Nose and Dolls and Dirt, which are brands I have never heard of but now love.  As well as clothes Alexand Alexa also sells toys and gifts from brands such as Lego, Le Toy Van and Moulin Roty.

New Look Wish List.

There can be a fine balance between loving or hating shopping for clothes.  Personally I have had days out clothes shopping which I have hated and then other shopping days have been fantastic and I have enjoyed every minute.  Most often the days that I hate are when I need to find an outfit to wear for a particular upcoming occasion; usually on those days shopping for an outfit gets very stressful and I end up hating it, struggling to find a suitable outfit or clothes that will fit!  The days that I have loved shopping for clothes have been when I do not need to buy anything, only browsing the shops with no pressure to buy anything.  Window shopping and trying on clothes for fun with friends makes shopping for clothes stress-free and enjoyable.

As I live in the sticks, a fair few miles from civilisation and a good variety of high street clothing shops I do not often get the chance to enjoy ambling through the shops, having fun clothes shopping.  When I do go clothes shopping I usually need something in particular and the joy of clothes shopping is hampered by the need to buy clothes and more often than not I struggle to find clothes that will fit my not so yummy mummy body.  Also the days of clothes shopping for hours on end with friends or family and having lots of fun are distant memories with the reality of my life now meaning I often have a busy little man in tow who needs entertaining or I am quickly popping into shops, getting in and out quick when I have some free time from little man. 

Win a pair of Slugs&Snails tights

Following my review of Slugs& Snails tights I have purchased a few more of their “bright tights for bold boys” as I think they are brilliant high quality tights with funky designs aimed at boys that are comfortable to wear and keep little legs and tootsies warm. As I love their tights I was delighted when Slugs&Snails kindly offered to provide 2 of their tights for a giveaway on my blog.

Slugs&Snails have a great range of tights with 10 fab and funky designs available. There are 4 designs from their old (but still fabulous) collection; Ahoy, High Flyer, Out of this World and Spooked.

Brilliant bargains on "bright tights for bold boys"

When I reviewed Slugs & Snails tights for boys I was extremely impressed with their tights and just had to buy some more tights to keep little man’s legs and tootsies warm.  I think Slugs & Snails’ tights are extremely high quality and in my opinion their funky tights are amazing value for money.   As their tights are very comfy for little man to wear and I know he is kept warm by wearing them I decided that some of Slugs & Snails’ “bright tights for bold boys” were an essential buy ready for the cold winter months ahead.

Next 7 Days Of Shoes Challenge

When browsing the inter-web last night I stumbled across a blog that I've never read before called Hi Fashion.  Whilst having a good old gander on the blog in question I noticed that there was a competition called Next's Seven Days of Shoes.  

As I love Next I decided to enter said competition in the hope of winning 7 pairs of shoes from Next; plus it gave me a good excuse to peruse the Next website to my heart's content, admiring all the clothes and shoes I would love to buy if I had a money tree in the garden with an endless supply of cash.

Slugs and Snails Boys Tights Review

During little man’s first Winter I struggled to find tights aimed at boys, failing to find boys tights I bought him some tights from the girls range and found them great for keeping him warm from the cold providing all over cover of his legs and feet.  Even though the tights I got him were great for the purpose of keeping him warm I did wish I could find some designs aimed at boys instead of having him wear girlish colours and designs.  Unfortunately I did not find any tights for boys until recently when I heard about a small family business called Slugs and Snails who design tights for little boys.  I was over the moon at finding a company who make tights for boys and was delighted when I was given the opportunity to test out a pair with little man.

Forever lost

Little man is nearing 14 months and in that time I have lucky managed to never lose any of his things.  No toys have gone missing.  No items of clothing have gone astray.  Amazingly no socks have disappeared without a trace.  I was quite pleased with myself that in the midst of the whirlwind of a little one that I had managed to keep trace of his things and nothing had been lost.

My track record for nothing missing was spotless.  ‘Was’ is the key word here.  My track record now has a big, dirty mark on it.  It is no longer blemish free.  For the first time ever I have recently lost something of little man’s things.

Missing – little man’s adorable Jiglz doggie hat.

Blade and Rose Leggings Review

I have reviewed a few times for PR company Rock & Roll Babyworld, having reviewed The Land of Sometimes CD and Dinosaur Train as well as other products for them I even get to proudly display a ‘I’m a hot rockin’ reviewer for Rock & Roll Babyworld’ in my sidebar and I love working with them.  This amazing PR agency has recently started representing the exciting new baby brand Blade and Rose.  Blade and Rose’s products are for baby girls and toddlers and as I don’t currently have a daughter I was allowed to offer one of their baby leggings to my friend’s little girl, little Angel, to test out for us.

Daffodili.

I just wanted to share with you all about a fabulous Welsh company I stumbled across whilst browsing the internet. The little company I found is called Daffodili, who sell baby and childrens clothes and accessories.

Daffodili is a small family run business from Rhondda Cynon Taf and they have a few years experience in their trade. They sell some lovely items, from traditional and classic to funky and colourful. Daffodili provide their customers with new unique and exciting products on a regular basis, giving you plenty of choice and hopefully a whole new shopping experience every time you visit. They only sell products that they genuinely love themselves. Daffodili say that their “main aim is to provide quality gems that not only look gorgeous but are just that little bit special too!”