Bespoke Invitations

Ok, so been doing more wedding planning recently and was really struggling to find invitations that a) matched my vision and b) matched by budget too!

However I came across the most wonderful website at bespokeweddings.net

and have fallen in love with the invitations that designer, Paul, created to my own brief.

I got a free, no obligation consultation where all I had to do was write a short paragraph about what was inspiring my wedding style and he got back to me with four of the most perfect invitations I have ever seen (and trust me I have seen many invites!)

We are definitely going to be using them for our invitations - now I just have to find a venue (!) and get our amazing invites ordered :-)

xxx

Summer clothes for Lily

I am so excited about this summer - it will be Lily's first summer and as she will be six months in June she will be the right age for all of the adorable summer clothes around! I can't wait to see her crawling about and exploring in these cute dresses! The birdcage print is by Vertbaudet and is just so funky, and the broderie anglaise by Next is tres chic - won't lily look adorable in her new outfits?!

xxx

I Love Next!

Im loving the new Next Spring/Summer range and can't wait to treat myself to some of their pieces.

I have an obsession with checked or boyfriend style shirts at the moment (luckily so does Scott so there are plenty in the house for me to steal!) Im also loving the light denim jeans and the feminine but casual striped cardigan in the bottom picture.

I'll be pairing my light denim jeans with a long white vest, a boyfriend shirt and my gladiator sandals - cute, relaxed but still fashionable!

xxx

Valentine's Day - Spreading the Love

In honour of Valentine's Day I thought I would share with you two of my favourite romantic poems:

I cannot promise You - Mark Twain

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine

I cannot promise riches, wealth or gold;

I cannot promise you and easy pathway,

That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;

A smile to chase away your tears of sorry,

And a hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.

Extract from Bei Hennef - DH Lawrence

You are the call and I am the answer,

You are the wish and I the fulfilment,

You are the night and I the day,

What else? It is perfect enough.

It is perfectly complete, you and I.

Have a blissful day - I know I will :-)

xxx

Nappies!

So originally we had planned to use reusable nappies, however the effort involved in drying them without using a tumble dryer made them pretty impractical - particularly as in our place there isn't much drying space!

Instead we are using disposables and have tried and tested a few different brands so here is a review:

The WORST nappy award, unfortunately, goes to 'Tesco'. We tried their newborn nappies for just three days as they were so bad we couldn't bear to subject Lily's poor bottom to them for any longer! They were leaky and badly shaped and resulted in six, yes SIX baby-gros and sleepsuits being thrown into the bin as they were ruined by the stains!

No Stars for 'Tesco' i'm afraid!

Just slightly better than the 'Tesco' nappies were the 'Huggies' newborn ones - we had fewer leaks with those but they were so badly shaped that they cut into our poor baby's thighs and left red marks on her legs. Ridiculous really, seeing as Lily was right at the starting weight for the nappy - let alone at the maximum weight and doesn't have chubby legs either!

1* for 'Huggies'

'Pampers' and 'Asda' are joint second. They were both reasonably well fitting and didn't leave marks on her thighs. However she has grown out of the newborn size a lot sooner than she has reached the supposed weight limit for the nappies. 'Pampers' claim that the nappies will fit until the baby is 11lbs, yet Lily-Rose is only 8lb 12oz and they are too small. Of course this means that half a packet has gone to waste! Exactly the same thing has happened with the 'Asda Little Angels' nappies. Also both styles, but particularly the 'Asda' range were very bulky underneath her little clothes.

2* for 'Pampers' and 'Asda'

By far the best nappies we have used for Lily-Rose have been the 'Sainsburys - Little Ones' range. Both the newborn and the Size 1 nappies have fitted Lily perfectly, we haven't had one leak and they aren't too bulky under her clothes - true perfection in a nappy! Then of course there is the price, just £3.74 for 24 nappies is a true bargain when they are of such good quality!

4* go to 'Sainsburys'

xxx

Swaddling Blanket

Lily-Rose is six weeks old now but when she was newborn the best way to get her to sleep was with the use of a swaddle.

Unfortunately we didn't think to buy a fancy swaddling blanket before she was born so when it came to bedtime she was wrapped in a plain cot blanket, which, to be honest is not a good look (she looked like a little wriggling maggot... albeit a beautiful one!)...

Which is why I now have an obsession with the beautiful swaddling blankets that I have been seeing EVERYWHERE now they have my attention!

And aren't these ones beauties... I want another baby now so I can justify the expense :-)

This one above is from www.handmadefootprince.com and is utterly adorable.

Other fun and pretty designs that I love are over on www.landofnod.com - in particular the 'Swaddle it Bee' blanket with its funky animal patterns :-)

xxx

New Life, New Start and New Blog!

Hello :-)

My goodness it has been such a long time since I have posted anything up here! I do have an excuse though as in the time I've been gone something very special has happened...

Our little girl Lily-Rose was born on the 4th January 2010!

I'll be posting up our home birth story soon so keep those peepers tuned :-)

I am absolutely loving being a mummy - it really is special (hard work and tiring but very special all the same!) and Scott is the most amazing dad - Lily is such a daddy's girl already!

xxx