Positive Morning

Having 2 children under 3 can be manic at times, especially in the mornings. Having a positive morning can make the day go so much better so I wanted to share some of my tips to get a good start to the day. I don't necessarily have time to do all of these every day but I do try!

Make lists
I have always loved a good list (sad I know!). I have yearly lists, monthly lists, daily lists, lists for my children and lists for my blog. Each evening before bed, I make a 'To Do' list for the next day and I then check this in the morning, normally when brushing my teeth. It makes me feel more in control of the day and the sense of achievement when I get to cross each thing off is brilliant! 

Tidy up the night before
I have to admit that this is Chris' job - he ensures that the living room and kitchen is clean and tidy before bed. This just means that when I get up in the morning, I don't come down to a messy house. 

Get up before the kids
I am pretty lucky that my kids aren't 5:00am wakers, as they generally get up between 7:30-8:00am, so as soon as I hear Jackson stirring I jump out of bed, shower and get ready for the day. I have learnt to do this incredibly quickly by now!

Get everything ready the night before
When Chris is bathing Jacks and Florrie, I generally get their clothes out, ready for the next day. I used to do this for myself too when I was working but now I have a limited amount of clothes that fit or are suitable for breastfeeding, so it's easy for me - whatever is clean will do! I also make sure that the changing bag is packed ready for the next day's activities. 

Open the curtains 
If you're like me and your house is like a fish bowl where everyone can see in, opening the curtains after your dressed is the only option! ;) 
But opening your curtains and a window lets the natural light and fresh air flow through the whole house and makes you feel a lot fresher. 

Breakfast
Before I fell pregnant with Jackson, I would often miss breakfast. However, now I couldn't go without eating something. I try to make sure I have a healthy breakfast and it means that you are not thinking of picking on food later and you are more alert for the day.

Make up
This doesn't necessarily have to be a full face of make up but doing something that makes you feel more put together really helps. This could include doing your hair, applying some make up or wearing something nice. I don't do this every day though, as I do have make-up free days in my PJ's when nothing is planned!

Remove make up at night
This goes on from the last one, making sure that before bed you take off your make up. This is something that I have always done but the rare days that I haven't brings a real shock when I wake up in the morning and see my face!!! Not a pretty sight.

Make the bed
When I wake up, I leave the duvets at the end of the beds to let them air for a bit. After breakfast I generally then head upstairs and make the beds. This automatically makes the rooms look neater and more organised. I also think that getting into an unmade bed is not nearly as satisfying. 

Let me know if you have any more tips! 

Love Sophia xxx

Florence's 4 Month Update

We had our first holiday this month as a family of 4 and it was so good. It was so lovely to spend time all together. 

Dada and Mama had their first date night too, for which Grandma and Yaya looked after the kiddies - apparently both of them were very good. 

Another first as a family was going to a music festival, which was so much fun!!

Milestones

Florrie rolled over for the first time! She could only do it front to back and is trying so hard to do it the other way but I am sure it wont be long. 

When we were on holiday, she also went swimming and, even though she did get a bit cold, she seemed to really enjoy it! Following on from that, she had her first swimming lesson this week and she absolutely loved it! She smiled and giggled throughout the whole class. 

Another amazing thing is this month is that she has started going down to bed earlier, around 7:30pm. We sometimes have to go back upstairs to put her dummy in but generally she stays asleep. 

Most nights she wakes round 3:00-4:00am for a feed but sometimes she will go all the way through the night!!!

She's still exclusively breastfed, which I am just finding so much easier! She's such an efficient feeder. 

We are starting to get much more alert times and she is starting to enjoy toys (she already has her favourites). She also found her voice and does this sort of squealing noise loads. 

She had her 16 week jabs, which did cause her to have a high temperature afterwards but she quickly recovered. 

Routine

Again, I am still not following any specific routine and feed on demand but this is roughly what she does on a day-to-day basis: 

7:30am - She wakes up and has a feed and will be awake for about 30 mins to an hour before falling asleep again.

9:30am - I wake her to get her dressed before we head out. I also give her a top up of milk. 

2:00pm - She has another feed.

4:00pm - Another feed.

6:00pm - Bath Time. 

7:30pm - Another feed and bed. 
3:00-4:00am - Normally wakes for another feed.

She tends to only cat-nap during the day but as she's so good at night I don't mind.  

Weight

12lbs 6oz and still following the 9th percentile but we have been to the doctors and hospital and she is doing amazingly. No one is worried anymore, she's just going to be a little girly! 

She is still in a few 0-3 month clothes but mainly wears 3-6 month ones. We have got so many beautiful clothes that we have either been given or bought ourselves that it takes me ages to pick her outfit for the day!

Love Sophia xxx

Slimming World update #2

You all seem to be enjoying my Slimming World related blogs so I thought I would share how this month has been.

I have been doing Slimming World for 8 weeks now (plus one week that I was on holiday for) and my total loss is now 1st 1lbs. So that makes this last month a total of 4lbs off. The weight loss has been a little slower recently but, as mentioned, I was on holiday and had a few events (one being a food festival... oops!). A few people have mentioned my weight loss now too, so it must be showing. 

I have a mini goal for my holiday, which is in 3 weeks, to lose another 4lbs. This would take me to pre-Florrie weight, which might be a bit tricky but I would be over the moon if I can achieve it. When I get back from the holiday, it will be 6 weeks until the wedding so will have another tough goal for that!!!!

I have tried to up my exercise this month in aid of the weight loss. Firstly, I have a Fitbit and try to do at least 10,000 steps per day. Secondly, I have started running. Before I had Jackson, I started using an app called 'Couch to 5k', which seemed to work really well, so I am using this again. I am just about to start week 2 and finding it a lot easier than I thought to fit it into the busy schedule of Mama-hood. I have also going with a friend which definitely keeps me motivated. I think another big reason I have found it easy to keep up with, is because it gives a bit of 'me time'. It's 30mins where I am not Mama, I am Sophia again (although I do look a bit like Phoebe from friends when I am running)! 

I'm afraid that I haven't been as experimental with food lately; still LOVING the Sweet Chilli Chicken recipe from Slimming World but one other one that I didn't mention last time is the Carbonara recipe. You use yogurt instead of cream, which I didn't think would be very good but it's amazing! The new magazine is out this week so I am going to try to be a little more experimental for the next month! 

Love Sophia
xxx