HAIR 101: HOW TO DO HAIR WHEN YOU DONT DO HAIR

I cannot do hair.
I grew up dancing so a bun and I was good to go and then I discovered weave and I didn't have to touch my hair at all. Both my sisters dance too so they weren't any help when it came to learning. But who cared? I didn't need to learn.
Until Isla.
When I found out I was having a girl I was so excited for a mini me decked out in skinny jeans, leather jackets and messy buns. But Isla had other plans entirely.
Isla likes princesses, ballet, Spider-Man, Dylan, tutus and princess hair. And it was Mother's Day this year when she let me know that my buns, bunches and ponies were just not cutting it anymore.

So now I'm coming at you guys with a hair post because I'm pretty damn proud of myself.
So here is my hair post for people who can't do hair.

The number one thing you need to learn is that YouTube and Pinterest are your friends.
And vodkano not really, vodka would be really unhelpful when you're trying to decipher Pinterest instructions.
The second important thing is that this takes time so snacks are super important. And iPads. And bribes.
Lastly, throw your perfectionism out of the window because at first things are going to be wonky, loose and nothing like the photos you were inspired by on Pinterest.

1. The god these Dutch braids are taking forever, I'm giving up here.

Hahaha i am not good enough to give you guys my own tutorials so here is one of my favourites:
http://pin.it/KWSmmVM

2.Yes I've learnt how to do Dutch braids, now I'm going to do fancy braids. 

http://pin.it/wMtvH3B

3. If I add a bow to these braids I can make them even more fancy.

  

4. Oh wow making her hair into a bow is way easier than I thought, why haven't I don't this before?

 

 http://pin.it/-9puDaL

5. The now I can do hair I want to do some fancy shit for ballet.

  

This has been an adventure and a half but as I am a horrible perfectionist with an insane obsessive streak it's become a bit of a thing.

I think Isla may even be regretting her request for princess hair because I'm trying something fancy nearly every day now and she is getting bored of the snacks and bribes I keep throwing at her. Not literally throwing of course, I'm not throwing crackers at her head, that would be terrible parenting

Honestly, go on Pinterest.
It'll change your life.
And for someone who doesn't do hair it's helped me do pretty well.  . 

DEAR DYLAN

I realised the other day that you'll be starting proper nursery this year. I say proper nursery because this one is actually part of a school, the school you'll hopefully be in for many years to come.

How have we reached this point? Where has the time gone?

Over the Christmas period this year you've suddenly learnt so much. You can name your shapes, animals and colours and you can count to twelve! It's no wonder you're sleeping so much now. 

Speaking of Christmas, you were such a joy to watch this year. You understood the stories we told you about Father Christmas and his reindeer and told everyone you could about what you were askng for and how the big man in red would come down your chimney and that you would leave him some Christmas pudding. We actually left him milky tea and biscuits this year because mummy forgot to buy the proper treats (oops).

You've suddenly blossomed into the most amazing child. You're the top of your ballet class, you're even moving up to the next grade next term! Your learnt to draw (and paint) people with heads and limbs in the right places and you love to help with cooking, pouring and cutting things with me and naming the different ingredients as we go.

My favourite thing is to watch you with Isla. You think I don't notice yu whispering to her but I do and it warms my heart to watch. 

You've handed down one of your amber necklaces to help her feel more balanced and replaced it with your own amethyst necklace.

You help when she cries, telling her things are ok and bringing her toys. And you love to have her sit with you which helps her learn to sit up by herself.

This year so much will happen, not just nursery.

I have plans for all of us that I'm so excited to watch you experience. Aaa

This year you turn three (only five months!) and you've already requested your fireman party.

I'm so proud to be your mother, to watch you grow and learn and become the amazing little boy that you are.

Love forever 

Mummy x

OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASODE

 

                                     

Apologies for our sudden absence. The last few weeks of summer were full of days out, friends and good food and the sudden change into autumn kept us busy adjusting to our life and it's new routine.

Our summer ended with a trip to the Norfolk coast. A trip we've done several times, to stay at my cousins house by the beach.
This year we were joined by my mum, two sisters and two friends which Dylan loved. He loved spending time with the girls and would stay up long past bedtime playing with them or just sitting in their room while they talked.

As per usual the British weather was on and off, but we flirted with the sunshine and still managed a few ice creams on the beach.

                                  

Dylan developed quite an obsession for the 2p machines in the arcades, possibly his most repeated phrase of our time there was "more money please" or maybe "come on! Money machines!". It even became part of our morning routine: Breakfast, get dressed, a walk down to the arcades to play on the 2p machines while the girls got themselves ready. 

This is one of those little breaks that although it's cheap and cheerful it was desperately needed and a lot of fun. Getting away from home, even for a few days and spending time with my family is something we cherish. 

And the chips over there are pretty nice too.

PHOTO POST - ISLAS CHRISTENING

PHOTO POST - MAY I TAKE YOUR PICTURE?

ON BECOMING A MUM OF TWO

I'll admit I've been worried. How could I love anyone as much as Dylan? How could another child compare and how would they share the space in my heart?

The list of what if's grew as my pregnancy progressed.

When I struggled with Dylan it would cross my mind if I would face the same struggles with Isla. Of would she be calmer? Would she be easier in that sense? 

And I worried about balancing their needs equally while still treating Dylan the same. I'm worrying about that now, I doubt I'll ever reall stop.

I worried more than anything about Dylan's reaction to his sister. While I've been confident about his fascination with babies and his laid back attitude and openness to change, I worried that he wouldn't adjust to this change. Another person, competing for our attention, another person in his house, in his parents arms.

What if, despite being so sure of his openness Dylan reacted badly. Shunned his sister and didn't cope.

My what if's still exist of course. I still worry about my ability to parent two children with two sets of needs. 

Five days in and Isla needs closeness, skin to skin and feeding every two hours whereas Dylan wants to read, explore and build towers. 

Having Harrison here creates a balance for now but soon enough his paternity leave will be over. I need to find my own balance. 

What I'm not worried about is Dylan's love for his sister. 

His compassionate, caring nature is suddenly so evident, more so than it ever has been. He checks on her periodically throughout the day, kissing her cheeks and stroking her feet when she cries.

He calls her name when he hasn't seen her for a while and brings his toys over to show her. 

His absolute openness to her becoming a part of our family and his unquestionable love for her settles almost every worry I have. His love for her is so beautiful.

Watching him learn to be 'gentle gentle' when he nuzzles his nose into her head and hold her hand as he lays next to her fills my heart with so much light. 

We all have a way to go till we find a routine that works for us and a balance in our lives, but witnessing his love for her gives me so much hope.

THIRTY SIX WEEKS PREGNANT

Thirty six weeks! Finally. Well actually I'm thirty seven weeks tomorrow and just incredibly lazy when it comes to blogging. This pregnancy has gone so fast though, with Dylan it felt like years but this time I'm struggling to see where the past few months have gone. Did they even happen?
This week however has been riding on the back of a snail. I think that's because I FINALLY got my induction date!!! July 22nd! That's Monday. Crazy huh?
Also did I mention it's my twenty second birthday on Saturday?
I realised a few days ago that the reason I blog so little despite my sudden bout of commitment, is because my bump makes it so incredibly uncomfortable to sit anywhere with my laptop. Actually it makes it uncomfortable to sit anywhere regardless of a laptop. Or lay anywhere. Little bird is now taking up so much space in my torso that I move like I had a rod up my back. She also sticks her knees and elbows out and I suddenly have these odd angular lumps producing from my bump.

I had my final scan on Thursday, they estimate little lady is weighing in at 6lb9oz now! A whole 1lb1oz bigger than all of my pregnancy apps tell me is average and almost a pound bigger than Dylan at 37+4. Everyone tells me second babies are bigger than the first but also the second labor is faster. As start to finish my induction with Dylan was a little under eleven hours I'm feeling a little better
My scan also showed that I've gained more fluid! They still don't know what causes it as my GTT came back fine (hoorah for no diabetes!). I suppose that doesn't really matter as I only have five days to go now anyway.
And with five days to go we're all ready. All I have to do is move everything into the relevant rooms on Sunday evening when Dylan is staying at my mum's/ That's weird to think. On Sunday evening I'll kiss him goodbye as my only child and the next time I see him he'll be a big brother and I'll be a mother of two.

Over on my tumblr I've been writing a post a day to count down my last week. You could check them out here.

CLOTH NAPPIES - BREAKING IT DOWN

(almost) all of my cloth nappy stash. 
picture one: outer nappies
picture two: different types of inserts
picture three: nappy wraps
picture four: wet bag and flushable liners

We started using cloth when Dylan was one. It was something I had considered for a long time but never got round to. Because we started so late I didn’t ever consider birth to potty nappies and stocked up on mediums/size 2 nappies (the itti bitti’s and gnappies)
As Dylan grew and we discovered I was pregnant I started buying different brands of nappies but chose birth to potty ones so I can use them with both kids. 

Gnappies

These are by far my favorite nappies. They’re so easy to use and they look great. You pop the insert into the waterproof outer nappy and you’re good to go and of course if you’re after extra absorbency then you can double up with the liners.
They do up with velcro which I was dubious about at first but it’s lasted amazingly and is still pretty much like new. They also fasten at the back which meant Dylan couldn’t pull them off whenever he wanted.
Te only down side is they don’t do a one size fits all nappy so you have to buy full sets (they recommend 12 nappies) in each size which is expensive.

Itti Bitti 

These nappies appealed to my visual nature. The prints are adorable. I found they tend to come up quite small though, so after buying a few in size 2 he grew out of them pretty fast. 
I’d buy their one size nappies if I were going to buy them again.
I have both the AIO (all in one) and SIO (snap in) versions. I prefer the snap in’s as you can add and remove liners depending on how heavy a wetter your child is, they also dry a lot quicker which means you can use them again a lot faster. 
In honesty at £18+ per nappy I wouldn’t say these are worth it.  On sale however, they’re a good buy.

Yellow Bloom

I found these on Amazon baby store. I was looking for some cheap birth to potty nappies in nice prints and these fit the bill. They have a massive range of prints in both minky (the soft velour type fabric) and printed (a more waterproof fabric) and when you spend over £30 on their ebay store you get a free wet bag.
These are pocket nappies, you put the insert(s) in a pocket of the outer nappy to hold it in place. For the most part I don’t do this because if you just line the nappy, if you’re on top of changing time you can just swap liners without needing a new outer nappy as well. 
I have to double stuff these with Dylan but they work a treat and at £3.95 for a nappy and one liner you really can’t go wrong.
As I only really got my itti bitti’s because of the prints I can honestly say I’d buy these instead 100 times over.

One Life

I feel like this set of birth to potty nappies will be MUCH better for Isla than Dylan. They look so much like the Fairy liquid baby’s nappies when they;re on (but you need to use a nappy wrap with them because just terry has little to no protection when it comes to leaks). 
The nappies and inserts are one size fits all but the wraps come in four sizes - newborn, size 1, size 2 and size 3. 
For Dylan these aren’t ideal because he’s a massively heavy wetter which means I have to pad out the front of the nappy which makes it look pretty strange under his clothes.
For a girl the fit seems to be a lot better (yes I’ve tried it out on Dylan) so I’ll probably come back to these nappies in a few weeks.

Cloth Bottoms

These are the only prefold nappies I have. I really wasn’t sold on the whole prefold idea until a forum on Netmums mentioned that prefolds were great for heavy wetters i.e Dylan. 
The liners are relatively big, relatively padded rectangles  that you fold in different ways depending on what best suits your child.  This is great for Dylan because I can pad out the front of the nappy without having to add any extra liners then you just pop it in the nappy wrap and you’re ready to go.
Apparently there’s a fold to hold in newborn poo explosions so I’ll try that one out soon. 
I like these nappies a lot but again they don’t do a one size fits all set. However as the liners are one size you only really have to buy different wraps so it’s not so bad. 

Regardless of what brand or size I’m using I always use a flushable liner as well. I’m not the keenest about scraping poo off a liner and NEEDING to soak it before I wash it. 
Sometimes I also stock up on biodegradable liners which are eco friendly disposable alternatives. They work with my Gnappies and are perfect for day trips or long journeys as they last for a lot longer than cloth liners.
Cost wise they aren’t the best option.
If you’re looking for an eco/bum friendly disposable nappy option there are loads out there, it’s just good to have some biodegradable liners for those ‘just in case’ moments.

DYLAN DATES

I've been wanting to have some proper Mummy and Dylan time before Isla arrived. It dawned on that I was fast running out of time last week after I struggle to arrange a date to appear on a morning tv show. There is just no time.

I've been wanting to take Dylan to the cinema for a while now, months now. A few cinemas local to us have mother and baby screenings that I've been meaning to take Dylan to, however after actually looking into them they only seem to show short films designed for children under five. They generally last for about thirty minutes. That's not time to finish a box of popcorn.

So last week I decided I would take Dylan to the cinema. A normal cinema, a normal viewing.

Tuesday was my day of choice as Odeon cinemas do a discount on all tickets, every ticket for £5.50 (opposed to £9.20). The discount appealed to me in case out cinema experience was a bit of a disaster. 

Our local Odeon also has screenings of PG films starting from 2pm. 

The combination of the Tuesday discount tickets and the guarantee of an almost empty cinema cemented the idea. If Dylan wasn't ready for the cinema and needed to let off some steam it was unlikely that he would interrupt anyone else.

Well, that and Despicable Me 2 is finally out which was the perfect because I've wanted to see it for ages.

We picked up some popcorn and went upstairs. Dylan chose where we sat and settled in to watch the adverts. He pointed at the planes in the new Pixar advert and laughed at the monsters university ad.

As the film started he laughed a lot at the minions, in fact every time a minion was on screen he would point and laugh. 

About half way through the film we needed a bathroom break. Dylan complained about his nappy and started getting restless so we went to change him.

When we came back he decided he wanted to sit in the front row and that he HAD to hold the box of popcorn. 

I mean, when did he get so grown up? 

He sat and watched the rest of the film, sharing popcorn with me and laughing whenever a minion caught his attention.

I'm genuinely so proud of him for sitting so nicely and engaging with the film so well. And I'm also kicking myself for not taking him sooner and wondering how feasible it is for me to take Dylan and Isla to the cinema despite her being an infant.

Is that a ridiculous idea?

I hope not because today was lovely.