What My Kids Wore #5

I love this week's outfits and photos! It was from Sunday. Jackson went to soft play with Grandma and Florrie came food shopping with me (sorry Florrie!!!).

Jackson is loving picking dandelions at the moment, I don't mind too much as it helps me do the weeding!! 

I managed to get the jacket from the Next online sale and anyone that has a boy knows that's incredibly difficult.

The trousers were a gift from his Uncle and Aunty and I love them! Jackson's bedroom is grey star themed too so they match perfectly. 

Denim Jacket: Next 

Top: Next

Trouser: M&S

Shoes: Clarks 

Florrie's outfit is so cute this week, she's starting to wear her 3-6 month clothes even though they are still quite big! When Florrie was born, we were given a gift card for Jojo Maman Bebe and this is what I bought with it.

I paired it with this cardigan as it's still a bit on the chilly side. 

Top: Jojo Maman Bebe

Trousers: Jojo Maman Bebe

This week, we are teaming up with thismamalife's linky, 'What My Kids Wore Wednesday'.

Love Sophia xxx

Coping with 2 under 2

When I was pregnant with Florrie, one of my worries was 'how would I cope with two under two'?! There is 22 months between them so, as I type, Jackson is actually 2 and Florrie is 11 weeks now. 

I found it so much easier than I thought it would be, even during late pregnancy, which I thought would be near impossible. I actually gave up work as a childminder just before Christmas and Florrie arrived on the 7th February, so I had planned on having a bit of time to relax. However, it wasn't very relaxing after all, when all of the Christmas fun was out of the way it did get increasingly difficult. Having the large bump and being really tired is the polar opposite to what an active toddler needs! 

Here are a few tips that I found helped me: 

• Batch cook meals - I googled 'freezer friendly meals' and pretty much made all of the recipes I found! This is a really good relief, even when having your first. After giving birth you need to feed you body good healthy meals in order to keep your energy up and this isn't easy to do when you have a newborn, so having pre-made meals makes it so much easier. 
• Accept all help you are offered! - My mum was amazing and cooked us tons of meals, which, on top of the freezer meals, meant I didn't cook a single dinner until Florrie was about 8 weeks old! It made it so much easier!! She would also come round to the house if Chris was working late or if I just needed a bit of help during the day. It's not that I wouldn't have been able to cope but it's just nice to have the extra support if it's available. 
• I find that the days we spend at home indoors are normally more difficult than the days we head out to the playgroups or classes that we usually have booked, so try and keep a few things in the diary. 
• Friends are amazing - Heading out and seeing my friends definitely helped me feel happy when the 'baby blues' was trying to take over. 
• In the early days, Chris would take care of Jackson while we established feeding, which leads on to my next tip, Breastfeeding. I know that not everyone is able to breastfeed and this isn't me saying 'breast is best' (fed is best in my opinion) but not having to wash and sort out bottles constantly gives you the gift of time. I can feed Florrie quickly and easily wherever I am.  
• Another thing which really helped was including Jackson in everything. I would ask him to bring me wipes or nappies and even to open the back door when the dogs needed to go out to the toilet! Anything that he could do, I would ask him to help and he loved it.
• Whenever Florrie was asleep, I would focus all my attention on Jackson and vice-versa when Jackson was asleep, which I think stopped some jealousy coming in to play. 
• Something that not everyone will be able to do but I was lucky enough to; get a cleaner. She would come once a week and it meant that my time was not taken up by cleaning and I could focus more time on the children. Again, just to stress this, I know many mums do it all while still being brilliant mums and I am not saying I wouldn't be able to cope if I hadn't got one, but it's just a little something to make life a bit easier. 
• Finally, sometimes when it all goes shits up, drink lots of wine (making sure you aren't breastfeeding straight afterwards of course)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sure it's all going to get a lot more difficult as soon as Florrie is on the move, but I'll update you on that when the time comes. It may be a very different blog!! 

Anyone else got any tips? 

Love Sophia xxx

Slimming world update

I am 4 weeks in to Slimming World now and I have lost a total of 11lbs. Thats pretty amazing if I do say so myself!

I haven't found it too hard to stick to, although you do have to plan, plan and plan. I have even started planning my breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner, although I have always been good at meal planning for dinner anyway. I have mini goals of what weight I want to achieve at certain times, one being my holiday to Centre Parcs on the 8th May, for which I want to lose a stone (that means I have 3lbs to lose this week). It's quite a bit to loose in just one week but I am going to give it a really good go!!!

Some of my favourite recipes so far have been:

Sweet Chilli Chicken - for this, I use skinless chicken thighs, sweet chilli sauce, chilli, soya sauce, garlic and ginger. I serve it with egg fried rice, which is just rice, egg, peas and soya sauce. It's just an easy and quick recipe which is so scummy. I think I could eat this every day. 

Another favourite is good old Spag Bol - This is a good one to get tons of vegetables in (speed foods) and also one of Jackson's favourite's too, so it's a good family recipe. 

If I had to give some top tips on keeping to the program, they would include:

• The app - If you're out and about or you are unsure on what syns an item of food has, it's really easy to check.
• Muller Light Yogurt, especially the chocolate sprinkle ones, are such a good sugar fix for when you are craving dessert!
• I get the 'Hi-Fi Light Bars' from the meetings and they are brilliant. Plus, you can use them as your 'Healthy Extra B'. 
• My most recent find (another sugary one) is Mcvitie's Thins. They are only 1.5 syns each and really satisfy your cravings.   
• The last one is my 'Hydrate m8' bottle, which is brilliant for making sure that you are drinking enough water. 

Are any of you doing Slimming World? Any more tips? 

Love Sophia xxx

What my toddler ate

Thought I would mix it up a bit with this regular feature, 'What My Toddler Ate', and film a day, instead of the usual photos. 

Enjoy...

Love Sophia xxx

Last day of paternity

We filmed our last day together before Chris went back to work, after his two weeks paternity leave.

Enjoy...

Love Sophia xxx

Easter 2017

The Easter Bunny visited and we had chocolate for breakfast!!!

Enjoy...

Love Sophia xxx

What My Kids Wore #4

We celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday 2 weeks ago and wanted to get him a cool outfit to wear on the day. I came across this shop on Instagram called 'Emmas bambino', they had some awesome dinosaur leggings! After I ordered it, she emailed saying that unfortunately the print was no longer available though. However, once I told her that it was a dinosaur themed birthday party, so I really wanted dinosaur print, she went out of her way to find another dinosaur print which I actually much preferred! I loved the communication and when I finally received the product I was so happy with it, so would definitely recommend this company. The top had a 'J' on it in the same pattern... LOVE LOVE LOVE the outfit!!!!!!!!

For Florrie, I wanted a cute little dress. I still had a voucher for Jojo Maman Bebe so I thought that I would head there to have a look. I ended up buying this gorgeous navy blue with one white flowers. I also put this cute little bow with the outfit, from Flynn and Tilda.

This week, we are teaming up with thismamalife's linky 'What My Kids Wore Wednesday'.

Love Sophia xxx