A Mothers Body Blunders

So again I’m putting out a warning to all the pregnant women out there.. Stay away from this blog if you want to keep all those glorious body changes as a surprise. 

Now magazines make it a well-known fact that having a baby transforms your body... But really they only talk about weight gain and loss (because their annoying like that), but being all knocked up means it’s an inevitable fact that you’re going to pack on a few pounds. Then after you’re going to lose some... Some people lose more than others of course, but what I’m trying to say is… that’s not all that happens to your body, there are a few more shockers I’m afraid.

When I became pregnant I was ‘an average sized girl’ not obese and certainly not thin. When I saw those two pink lines, those lines telling me I was about to have my very own Chahul I decided right away that it was acceptable to eat copious amounts of food… because after all I was pregnant and that’s when you’re socially allowed to get fat!

So I put on 3 stone during those 9 months, about a stone of that in the last week before labor.. I think that was my body preparing for those 2 days of working my back side off in order to deliver a baby.

I think I burnt about 800 calories an hour just by the amount of screaming I did as when I got home I had lost a stone and a half! My Daughter only weighed 5Ibs 13 so I’m pretty sure the rest of that wasn’t all blood and liquid! It was worked off by pure screaming effort!!

In regards to my weight now.. I have to be honest; even though I am fully aware I am ‘one of the lucky ones’ I’ve lost about 50 pounds in 4 months. Now I know that’s a hell of a lot and I’m actually a lot smaller than I was before I became pregnant.. But this is why I’m spreading the love for breastfeeding!! 

I utterly thank breastfeeding for my weight loss, ok please don’t hate me you ladies that haven’t lost weight, I know you will anyway.. But I’ve managed to carry on eating like I’m pregnant and still the weight just drops off. Now before you shout at your screen thinking that I’m just showing off... I am fully aware that once I stop nursing, the weight will more than likely come back with a vengeance! As I am just quite frankly totally adapted to eating like a pig now and I’m not mentally prepared to stop that I’m afraid.

Now I’ve mentioned weight.. But what else had happened to my body with the delights of pregnancy I hear you ask? 

Well I now have no bum! My mother told me that once she had me, her bum migrated round to her waist and has stayed there ever since. Despite not believing that would ever happen to me, my bum would surly never disappear! Well what a shocker.. It has. My husband reassures me that it is not flat just ‘perky’ but I know that’s because he loves me and is trying to see a positive in the situation.

Another hindrance would have to be constipation. For me constipation appeared towards the end of my pregnancy, I don’t think constipation is seen seriously enough! People laugh when you complain of constipation but believe me… It’s no joke! 

So I was quite looking forward to giving birth so that my constipation difficulties could be behind me.. But little did I know that after an hour and a half of heavy intense monster pushing and some serious dehydration my bowel complications had only really just began.

So out pops my daughter and along with her come some haemorrhoids… or piles as their known to most. I’m sure those little buggers have moved into my rear end for the rest of my existence! No amount of cream or positioning or stool softeners will destroy those troublemakers.

4 months postpartum and I still can’t go to the toilet without a few deep breaths beforehand, a cuddly toy to squeeze and at least half an hour scheduled for the whole occasion! It’s a burden on my life! And what makes it worse it that I have to take my daughter in with me as half an hour without me time can only result in trouble, and most probably a huge amount of tears and tantrums.. So now I’m worried if she’ll be affected by this at all? They say babies can pick up on anxiety and pain and stuff don’t they! Not to mention the facial expressions they mimic. 

Ok so the next thing I’m going to talk about, because quite frankly I have to don’t I! As we all know where babies appear from when they enter into the world! Now I’m a Nurse so I have no issues with the word vagina. But I know a lot of people do for some reason or another... So for you I’ll call it Lavender. My Lavender does not resemble the purple flower in anyway but it’s a pleasant flower and I don’t know anyone by the name Lavender therefor I can’t offend. 

So my Lavender went through quite the ride during labor, and ironically it did actually turn purple... but I want to talk about postpartum Lavenders... Now for me personally, I had stitches… So that area was really sore for about 2 weeks, not so sore I couldn’t function but just sore enough for me to consciously avoid sitting on anything without a big cushion. But on occasion i'd forget and get a fright.

After to immediate swelling and soreness and hard seat dodging… things started to get better, and to be perfectly honest with you, everything now seems to be back to normal! The body is amazing at repairing itself, although I can still feel the stitches it’s nothing compared to the horror stories and myths you hear.

One thing I didn’t expect was that I became pretty much hairless during my pregnancy; I hardly had to shave, and my hair growth slowed right down. Now I must say I got pretty used to that luxury and it now seems that now I’ve gone and out popped a baby my hair has realised… and is growing at the speed of lightening! Must be something to do with hormones but to be honest at least its winter now and the extra layering kind of helps.

Finally I want to talk about teeth! Oh my word did I mess my teeth up! After 9 months of demolishing cartons of orange juice and kit kats in the middle of the night, those damn cravings have a lot to answer for… Apparently pregnancy can weaken your teeth... another glorious surprise for me hurrah. But the great thing is all dental treatment is free for 12 months after pregnancy so I’m going to have a nice gloriously sedated root canal treatment soon..

And another post pregnancy bonus is that if you’ve given birth you’ve pretty much experienced the most amount of pain you’re ever going to have, and you’re now a hard core warrior when it comes to pain! So what’s a root canal to me now? Nothing! Because I’m now diehard and nothing can break me okay!

So there we go weight loss, constipation, flat bums, piles, root canals, increased hairyness and altered Lavenders and I’m still standing! I guess I’ll now just have to wait for the next surprise... will the outcome of breastfeeding result be in my saving up for a boob job to fix my newly lower positioned breasticals... who knows?

Another Autumn Wardrobe Rummage

After last week’s fashion blog I received a bit of feedback, my mother told me that I should be putting things together.. Showing for instance how one dress can be worn in three different ways. I totally agree with her! I think that would maybe make better reading? Although I do feel as if I’d sort of be claiming to be a bit of a Gok… I don’t want people to think I’m claiming to be a fashion icon? 

This blog isn’t about teaching people how to dress, it’s just about showing you things that I like.. Things I find pretty! I’m doing it as more of a little weekly collection of items then next year I can look back on and this oh my god what was I thinking! Or oh I forgot I had that hooray.. And so on. 

I’ve never been one to listen to advice and feedback, so to show that I do listen to my Mother… sort of… I will add in my favourite outfit of the week. That way I’m putting an outfit together, but I’m not giving how to dress a cardigan in 5 different ways tutorial. 

So I’m just gonna go with it this week and scrap the template stuff. This week I’m just gonna let my creativity flow so to speak and see where it takes me, rummage as I go.

Crikey there are sales everywhere at the moment! Personally I think this is an outrage! It’s far too close to Christmas to be temping me with lovely things! Half of me thinks I should get out there and buy everyone’s presents while there cheap, but then I hate buying presents too early because I just get impatient and give them to people as the suspense is just too much..

However, being on maternity leave n all I can’t deny that I have poked my head in the shops a few times just to make sure there’s not anything that I’m desperately missing out on.. and of course there was!

So I have to say hurrah to River Island! They have a fabulous sale on at the moment! I found this glorious sheer shirt in there for £12, it’s got all those lovely autumn leafy colours on it and it’s super versatile! 

This I also found in River Island, again for £12.. It’s really floppy and comfy and big! I sort of had to buy this because my Husband is getting fed up with me wearing his to the extent that I do, obviously I still prefer his Levi one but I think this is a smashing buy for £12!

Knitwear is amazing!! I love knitwear! I live in cardigans and this is lovely and warm and neutral.. This too was from River Island for £15, which to be honest I think is dead cheap as Primark are now trying to sell their knitwear for the same sort of price! Which in my opinion is robbery? The Primark people need to review their recent rise in prices I think.. It’s not on.

I also got a few bits of jewellery this week , It wasn’t on one of my loner shopping sprees but when my Husband and I wondered into Windsor, he wanted to get some new earrings from Topshop ‘man earrings’ which are indeed from the ladies section but are still very manly all the same. So when picking those up I grabbed a few bit for myself also..

So obviously I have an obsession for birdie things, so this was dangling in the sale section down to I think £4 at half price.. I had to have, because you can just never have enough birdie things in my opinion.

I love these Grannyesk old jewellery box earrings, I’m not a dangly earing kind of girl nor am I particularly big on studs, so I tend to opt for something like this. I love the dark green ones in particular because I have greenish eyes so yup there a winner.

Now you know when you go to Boots and you spend like £10 or over or whatever it is, they give you a voucher for No7 for £5, so I’m usually really bad at saying thanks.. stuffing it in my bag and forgetting I have it! So I thought seen as it’s a voucher I really should use it! So I got a new nail varnish, £7.. so It worked out at only £2! Bargain! No7 have those amazing brushes which are wider and easier to apply, and I adore this matt greyish colour! Very wintery, very classy.

As I just posted about a nail varnish I’m gonna make this flow and move onto lipstick! So I am a huge Made In Chelsea fan! The only way is Essex is good.. but I much prefer the girls in Made in Chelsea, their style anyway! Problem is I live in Slough not Chelsea… So I have to sort of try my best at attempting that look like them but on a budget. Therefor I was super happy to find this lipstick! By Kate Moss Rimmel, No.4 It’s a deep purple colour, very similar to the lipstick Louise Thompson wore on Made in Chelsea! Love it so much! Plus Rimmel have a 3 for 2 offer on in Boots at the moment, and their nail varnished have those cool wide brushes too!

http://madeinchelsea.tumblr.com/

Now I’ve spoken about my bargains I’m going to move onto my two outfits of the week, the first one being mine which I wore yesterday, and the second being my daughters.

This for me is one of those comfortable outfits, not too bright.. Something I could eat a big lunch in and still feel good. The dress is from H&M’s current season, it’s got little cats all over and I believe it cost £12.99 or around that price… the shoes are some old Topshop sale brogues which I wear all the time! The scarf is an old River Island January sale piece.. It’s huge so it’s great for breastfeeding coverage! The jacket is from Miss Selfridge and the bag in an old vintage pass down, it’s a real Chanel bag I am proud to say, my Mother was given it by a friend about 11 years ago and it’s still going strong!

This cute little outfit is so lovely, the dress is from a recent Gap sale for £4.99, the jacket is a soft blazer type coat which is still in the Gap sale now for £6.99, tights from M&S and the little brown booties are from Mothercare in the sale for £4! So this is quite a bargainous little outfit, it’s just a shame my daughter seems to be growing at an obscene speed at the moment so these too will soon be hand me downs for another lucky little girl. 

So I reckon now I’ll finish off with my wish list, I’m feeling all festive and sparkly this week, due to the freezing cold weather! Therefore I am adoring all things metallic and sparkly! Here are two things I’m desperate to get my mitts on.

This skirt is from Oasis and is leather, so it’s £80! Which obviously is quite a lot of money so I won’t be running out to buy it sadly.. But nevertheless the still want it and I reckon it would be a pretty staple piece; I’d wear that day or night! Magnificent.

These are absolutely delightful! There little baby girl brogues! And they sparkly! I need them! I found these in Zara and there £17.99, so if we get invited to any Christmas parties you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be taking my daughter in these.

Finally, my Husband often says I dress like a Granma, I personally take this as a compliment as I think the Granma style rocks!! Dot Cotton has the best dresses! I’ve found this beauty on www.beyondretro.com. It’s a gorgeous crimson & white 1980's vintage polka dot dress with a sailor collar and a matching belt! For £22!!! Amazing! There’s loads of cool retro clothes on this website, but obviously it’s pot luck whether the piece you like will be in your size or not.. But this one is and I intend to purchase it.

So rounding up this week’s fashion blog with an array of words would be; River Island, knitwear, Autumn, Metallics and sparkle, cool lipstick and retro. 

Beautiful charming stuff!

A bit of toilet reading for my significant other

So when I asked my Husband the reason why it takes him literally 40 minutes to empty his bowels of an evening… he explained that the reason behind his everlasting evening poo is, because he likes to check twitter, facebook, maybe have a catch up with a friend and also browse my status’ 

Therefore I proceeded to make a suggestion that since he had so much free time available for this event perhaps he would consider reading one of my blogs? He then stated that he didn’t understand how to find them and then asked if they were about him… When I told him they weren’t, but that they were in fact mostly about nipple shields, on-going hemorrhoid problems and bargain shopping he seemed remarkably disappointed.. Hence why I am writing a blog about him.. To give him some decent toilet reading material, for this evening.

So this is my husband..

 We met 4 years ago when we both started uni, he was quite energetic and I thought he had a good sense of humour when he told me he lived for wrestling... little did I know he wasn’t making a joke. He basically moved in with me straight away, unofficially. We spent 2 years living onsite at the hospital and then 2 years living in a flat of our own. Living with my Husband can sometimes be a dream and sometimes it can be testing. There’s no in-between with him he’s either so happy you can see his smile from a mile away or he’s so moody that it’s pretty clear to all around he’s not feeling on top form that day. Although he’s pretty easy to cheer up and a homemade lasagne or a trip to the cleaning aisle in Tesco’s usually lifts his spirits.

So my husband is a Nurse, he doesn’t wear a uniform but he does wear scrubs.. which I’m personally chuffed about because in my opinion scrubs are far more attractive on a man than a nurse’s uniform. He’s an endoscopy nurse, so he spends his days investigating people’s insides using long camera’s, these camera’s either travel down the throat or up peoples rear ends.. We both spend a lot of time with other people’s rear ends in our jobs.. Which would explain our inability to become embarrassed about toilet talk.. We have become immune to it, and we’re no longer aware of what is and isn’t acceptable dinner time conversation. 

But he’s not just a nurse, he has many passions other than troubled rear ends.. He’s a wrestling fanatic and can answer any wrestling question thrown at him.. We once played a game where I would play the first minute of a wrestler’s entrance song, and he would guess which wrestler the song belonged to, he of course got them all right! He is also the proud owner of a WWE wrestling replica belt, which he’s placed neatly on our front room shelf for all to see.

Because of this when we go away on holiday or on a day out he tends to get on really well with other young boys with the same appreciation for wrestling, the conversation moves quickly from innocent chit chat about their favour wrestling moves to my husband actually demonstrating ‘The Tombstone’ on a young boy.. I usually stand there not knowing what to do but give a quick smile over to the boy’s mother to let her know he means no harm, whilst my husband waves at me mid motion to make sure I’m watching.. I sometimes grab for the camera to capture the moment but that usually only encourages him more, so over the years I’ve learnt to just give him the thumbs up and then attempt to quickly move on. 

Other than his desire to wrestle he loves a good shop! This I adore because we’re as bad as each other! I hate it when guys just linger behind looking lost, almost like they’d rather jump off a building than be inside a shop with their wife! He has a strong fondness for shoes and all things bright, often spending a good half an hour in Topman debating whether or not he should invest in a new piece of knitwear or if his money would be better spent on boat shoes or slim jeans… I am of course usually to blame for encouraging him to buy all three! But it has to be said that he is easily swayed.

Now my husband is a very intelligent guy, he can understand pathology and physiology in an instant.. he adores science and has helped me to understand certain parts of the body on many occasions! He learns quickly on the job and can demonstrate his knowledge clearly with confidence. But when it comes to some things he bewilders me. On occasion he may come across as a bit of a numpty.. I wish I kept note of all the wonderful daft things he comes out with! But for now I will share a few. He has ‘blonde’ moments.. Despite having black hair and quite frankly having no excuse for these moments.

The other day I asked him if he would like lamb for tea, due to his puzzled looking face I added ‘I will make it tender’ to which he then replied ‘oh no I only like lamb in slices’. Another moment was when we were in Devon he asked me if we were by the Irish sea.. and then though that sangria was made from ‘vodka and a portion of lemon’.  Let’s see what else? That lovely curry you cooked for me where you replaced chicken with eggs as ‘they both do come from a chicken’. When you mistook a naturist for someone that enjoys digging, or when you expressed how talented a musician Ed Sheeran was because he can sing and play a guitar at the same time!! .. But don’t worry darling all these things make you more endearing to me.

I could go on and on about his passions and daft moments all day, so I’ll round him up with some words and then move onto my next husband dedicated paragraph, so to get a perfect picture of him I would say; Filipino food, rom coms, all things chicken, coca cola, obsessional clean freak, impulsive, ever mood changing, gym, veet, weekly barber visits, repetitive American sitcoms, sports fanatic, basketball lover, good jumper and leaper, amazing father, son, older brother, husband, friend, gossip lover, centre of attention, and probably the most approachable person I know. So hopefully those who know him will agree with some of those words representing him and others will build a picture from them. 

So we’ve grown together really, we qualified together, got a place together, got married, had a baby.. All pretty huge things to go through in life, all things that can test a couple’s relationship I suppose.. But despite all the challenges and what not we’re pretty solid.. sure sometimes when he insists on sticking his chin in my back to get his way, pretends to be Scottish, breaks wind an obscene amount or pretends to be totally incapable of putting a pizza in the oven.. I think he’s smashing! He’s my husband and the father of our baby and I think he’s doing a splendid job! 

So there it is my tribute to you my husband! By now you will probably be around 10 minutes through you’re evening toilet time, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about yourself.. P.s can you please put the toilet roll back on the toilet roll holder! I hate that you leave it on the side.

Welcome to our wardrobe

So here goes, my first ever fashion blog.. this is daunting as there’s so many amazing fashionable bloggers out there who look just marvellous, so I’m going to try my best to pull the best pieces together, give you a real feel of my personal style as well as making it cute by adding in some of my daughters glorious pieces. 

It’s gonna go like this, I’m going to have some categories which I’ll keep the same each week and just update them by changes the pieces in each category (I felt like Keith lemon when I wrote that).

Oh also some things may be crinkly, that is because I can’t be bothered to iron because I’m not a very neat person. Ah and I’m also just taking photos of my clothes on my floor.. Nothing fancy no white backgrounds, let’s keep this real. 

Three of my favourite finds in my wardrobe

Living in England means a rain coat is an essential item! One that folds up small and can live in your bag until the rain strikes. I love Cath Kidston and I could spend all day in the shop, most of my kitchen is made up from Cath Kidston bits, as is my phone case and baby bag and key rings etc etc you get the picture! I love flowers. So I needed to get this! I think it was £25 but I can’t say for sure.. Which really isn’t bad, it is bad for a plastic rain coat but not bad for Cath Kidston.. So this makes me happy.

I just like this because it has elbow patches! I love stripes also, and crop jumpers are sensational but the elbow patches are all suedey and I think this is a glorious piece for the autumn weather! Not to hot not too cold. Bought from H&M for I think £9.99. 

Ok so these are a little worn but I think worn shoes are the best! These go with everything! I love tan shoes and I love ankle boots, I’ve worn these day and night and being 5’8 I am already tall so I really don’t need much of a heel. These were £45 from River Island and I reckon I’ll still be wearing these in 4 years time.. not just because I’m poor but because I love them.

Bargain of the week

This high waisted jogger kind of skirt I got from Topshop in the sale for £5.99, I’m completely mad about anchors! I have a tattoo of an anchor on my back so defiantly feel the need to buy anything with an anchor on! More of a summer piece I guess but teamed with a chunky knit cardie, some black tights and my overly worn brogues, lovely. 

Obsession of the week

BIRDS! I love birdie things, swallows, eagles any kind of bird… so this whole birds on clothes thing is amazing, I love it! Again I have a tattoo of a swallow on my wrist so I really do love birds. There’s loads around at the moment, so here are a few bits I have.. all bought in the sale may I add!

This T-shirt’s from Topshop again..( I spend a lot of my time in Topshop) It was in the sale for £12, which isn’t the cheapest really, but I love the way it’s embroidered and the colours are amazing! I have a rule that you should really always buy T-shirts in a size bigger because I like to wear them with high waisted skirts/shorts, and I like a bit of bag. 

This super sweet vest is from Pumpkin Patch, it was given to me as a present but I’ve since been in and bought more in bigger sizes.. they have the most amazing sales! I think this was £3.99 and buy one get one free (and you get two in a pack) I love that it has a bird on it, that’s really the only reason I bought more.

This necklace is adorable! I love little gold necklaces there so easy to wear and I think there so quirky. This was £1.50 in the sale at Topshop (yes Topshop again) I think it’s gorgeous and I love that the little eyes are sparkly. 

Husband steal 

This is my Husbands Levi shirt, I love wearing man things! Man things always wear really well and make you feel all little and comfy. This shirt cost him £85 so I think it deserves to be worn by more than one person to spread the cost out a bit! I think Denim looks superb thrown over something delicate.

Weekly wish list

So there’s leaves on the ground, well there’s not in Slough because we don’t have tree’s but everywhere else has leave on the ground.. Because I live in Grey Ville I think this top is brilliant as I can wear leaves! It’s a tad pricey at £48 which is why it’s on my wish list and I don’t actually own it. Thanks Topshop for making such a beautiful piece, I shall be looking out for this in the sale.

This is from River Island at £30, it’s one of those mid leg shirts which I adore! My problem is I suffer from cankles. So in order to wear this skirt I need to lose another 2 stone. But I really like it and I love mustard! I can only wear mustard if the colour isn’t near my face because I think it reflects on my teeth and my teeth look mustard. Gorgeous silk skirt though! Would look fabulous with one of those crop/bra tops I think.

My daughter has an elephant which she’s obsessed with; we’ve called her Ellie so I’m going with the whole elephant theme here.  This super delightful Knitted piece is called the Nelly the elephant vest, it’s from Cath Kidston and costs £28. I don’t know if it can be washed.. probably not because it’s totally expensive and impractical but I just thinks it’s charming!

Cute Cassie finds

I got this jacket as a hand me down, but it’s originally from George at Asda. It’s so soft and looks ultra-cute with a little hat, mitten and glove set. I am a bit obsessed with dressing my daughter like me.. I know it’s sad! But I live in my denim jacket over what usually is a floral dress, so when this got handed to me I was more than pleased.

This if you can’t recognise it is a hat, it’s one of those knitted floppy hats. I have loads and they are brilliant at coving up a bad hair days. I think you can get away with wearing these kind of hats indoors! As they sort of look like part of your outfit rather than just something you wear for practical reasons, like keeping your head warm :-S So I found this in the Mothercare sale for £1.50, bargain!

These knitted dresses are everywhere it seems, and they come with matching tights attached, so you get a whole outfit all in one! Marks and Spencers have marked all there’s down to £9 each this week and they have an array of colours. Very cute and warm, just lovely.

All in all favourite things this week: birds, anchors, denim, flowers and mustard.

So Ta dar.. There’s my first fashion blog, hope it was ok. Please give me feedback, let me know if I’m on to something here or if I should just give up because it was mega boring? Cheerio.

Me and my flowery wardrobe

My biggest memory of my 18^th birthday was heading off to the bank and getting myself a debit card.. Something I was looking forward to immensely for at least 4 years!!

I started working in a hairdressers when I was 14, earning myself around £20 a week, it was around that time that I started noticing that other girls my age were using tools to make themselves look and feel more attractive.. I discovered hair straightens, padded bras, bronzer and the thong..

From the age of 14 up until around 17 I experimented with makeup, hair dyes, and fashion.. those years were tragic, I didn’t know what I was doing and I quickly developed an obsession with lip gloss and tan. I used to get told I looked tangoed and I’m pretty sure I spent most of my school days walking around with my lip gloss dripping onto my chin. 

It took me a long time to gets things right, I cut my own hair quite a lot.. wasted a lot of money on benefit makeup that was three shades too dark for my skin, and over the years I must have used enough bleach on my hair to fill a swimming pool. I would add photos to prove just how horrifying I looked but quite frankly I don’t want to reveal the shocking state of my youth, until I’m at least 40 and then I can laugh about it. It’s still far to raw..

I seemed to get it more wrong than anyone else, I personally put it down to the fact I was still mentally the age of about 7 when I was 15 and really and truly I shouldn’t have been let loose by myself in Superdrug…  I also started hanging around with a group of girls that seemed to know a lot more about well everything than me, and perhaps me trying to keep up with their ‘coolness’ resulted in me trying too hard when really I should have just continued being pale and skinny and a little bit of retard. 

But lessons were learnt and I’m now fully aware of the dangers of a bronzer obsession and owning a debit card with an overdraft 10 times bigger than you're actual income. It took me a good few years but I finally now feel like I’m comfortable with who I am. Maybe it’s because I’m older, now a mum, and working in an industry where appearance really is the last thing that matters.. 

So at 18 I got myself into a bit of trouble, spent some money I didn’t have.. Had some fabulous outfits I didn’t actually ever wear and probably realistically went shopping for new stuff every day! It became a bit of an obsession, I became an actual shopaholic! Granted I never got over this obsession and I’m still definitely a shopaholic.. People say their a shopaholic, but when I say I am.. I really really am! Like dangerously so! I’m like a hard core addict for florals, fur, and all things pretty.

The difference is now, I’ve become somewhat of a savvy shopper, I love a good bargain and I think I now know what suits me. 

Because I’m still on maternity leave and I have a pretty girl to dress now as well, I’ve decided to start blogging about fashion.. For both me and my daughter. I’m not claiming I’m a fashionista or a know all about trends, because I'm far from... but I enjoy fashion and I love lovely things.. You may disagree and think I’m a total mess, but I’m going to give it my best shot what the hell.

So every week I’ll do my little fashion blog, I’ll include such things as: bargain of the week, my wish lists, husband steals, and super cute things I pick up during the week for my daughter. Hopefully in doing so it will distract me from going out and buying quite so much as it’ll give me a new appreciation for the things I have.. :-S

Hold tight for this week’s instalment, off to have a rummage.. oh the excitement.

Are some children born bad-mannered or is it their parents doing?

I know that we are who we are and we all have personalities and stuff but how much can a parent actually influence their child? The final product as such..

I have to get this down because for some reason it’s really playing on my mind, I think I was really wounded by it.. Maybe I’m scared that my daughter will more than likely be subjected to incidents like these over the years, and I don’t want her to be. I want her to be safeguarded and oblivious to prejudice and cruelty.. Maybe home schooling isn’t such an irrational idea? Maybe these wacky hippy mums who bring their children up on seaweed, segregated on boats.. learning about wood and water appreciation aren’t so wacky after all.

Yesterday whilst wondering round the sale aisles of Marks and Spencers, dodging elderly feet and weaving between fallen cardigans.. I came across a little girl and her mother.

This little girl was around 4 years old, so pretty young and unaware, but in my opinion still aware of what’s nice and not nice, and perhaps what shouldn’t be said? (Am I expecting too much for a 4 year old?) Anyway this little girl said to her mother “I don’t like babies” to which her mother replied “yes you do” and without any hesitation she pointed directly into my pram and said “well I don’t like that one”.. The mother looked at me and then just walked the other way with her daughter.

I was flabbergasted by this to say the least, I didn’t know what to do, I looked down at my daughter who was looking back at me completely innocent, smiling and gurgling away.. how could anyone not like her? I was actually shaking! And in shock.. Despite my short lived teenage rebellious stage I am not a confrontational person.. I don’t act quickly when it comes to comebacks and I usually find myself standing stiff in situations such as these. So I did just that, I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there hurt, feeling completely sorry for my daughter and feeling only what can be described as disgust for that child and her mother. 

I know I sound most likely like a complete drama queen because seriously it’s not really a big deal is it? Kids say thoughtless things all the time they don’t mean it!! But it really did cut deep..

It made me afraid, that one day she’s going to have to go to school and I won’t be there to defend her (or to stand there startled and hurt for her).. I won’t be able to push her away in the pram! I don’t want her to be hurt or ridiculed, the reality of the whole situation just hit me.. I remember being teased and it’s still very raw to me now.. The last thing I want is for her to receive any negative comments from anyone. Ever! 

So basically what I’m getting at is.. sure the mother didn’t apologise which personally I thought was cowardly and hideous.. But that little girl? Was she being rude? Because she’s little does she know? She has no idea how much that hurt me.. was she rude because of her mother? I don’t know.. and how protective can I be before I protect too much? So much so that one day my daughter will experience something much worse and she won’t be able to cope with it? 

I’m not ill-mannered, but maybe my daughter may say something rude one day and really hurt someone, of course I would apologise.. and she would be made to also, but how much control does a mother really ever have over what their children say in the moment? What I’m wondering is.. When a person is born how much can they be shaped into being a nice person? And even if they are shaped.. Are they really a nice person or are they just a heavily disciplined nasty person? 

Bit of a senseless blog really but I needed an outlet.. now to try and forget the matter and move forward with my home schooling plans, how ridiculous would it be to bring my child up knowing very little about Maths and English but a hell of a lot about baking and pot painting.. Advisable? Honest answers please.