I ♥ Bottle Green Cordials!

When you're pregnant it can get a bit tiresome drinking the same old soft drinks every day! Alternating Orange squash and Apple and Blackcurrant gets a bit boring after a while, so when I was sent a Bottle Green and Blossom Cottage Cordial to try, I think my taste buds thought they'd gone on holiday!  

I tried the Bottle Green Strawberry and Elderflower and Blossom Cottage Pear and Elderflower. Both were delicious - think I favoured the Strawberry one more because it just feels so summery. I liked it with loads of ice and still water but the suggestion is that you could drink it with sparkling water to make it more buzzy or even if drinking it in winter it could be used as warming hot drink. Other suggestions that will become more interesting to me once Baby Boy is born is to mix with a with rum, making a yummy summer cocktail!

They are both free from artificial flavours, colours or sweeteners and are made from natural ingredients mixed with spring water.

Both drinks are available from all big supermarkets. Also if you 'Like' the Bottlegreen Drinks Facebook page, they will donate 25p to the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Campaign.

I was sent both drinks to try and review and my opinions are my own.

Bump Watch...Week 40 & Waiting

As I'm hoping this is going to be my last week of Bump Watch I'm being brave. I wouldn't normally post a picture of me so scantily dressed but it was a hot day, I was getting splashed by the toddler in the paddling pool and I look at this picture and see it for what it is, me with my 2 children! I'm not massively confident about my body but I love how it has housed Baby Boy for 9 months and I'm proud to show it. So here I am (my one regret: I wish I'd fake tanned!):

The due date has come and gone and we're waiting for baby boy to make an appearance. It's strange waiting because I didn't have to last time, things started happening 3 days before my due date with Isla so this is all new to me. Because I had a few plans in the run up to BB's due date I fully expected him to put in an early appearance thus scuppering my attendance at CyberMummy, but I needn't have worried it seems and he's still hibernating inside my tummy. Making his presence felt with big shunts and wriggles.

So what have I been doing? Well, it's been nice to spend some 'extra' time with Isla. These were days that I hadn't expected to spend with her as a family of 3 and it's been great and the nice weather has helped as we haven't been cooped up. She's also carried on with her normal routine of nursery and also spending time with her grandparents, so I've had some time to rest and also potter around the house, preparing things (that were already prepared!) and thinking about the future. I'm enjoying the day times but the night times are a bit long. Most nights I'm up for the loo at least 3 times, my hips ache on both sides from sleeping on my side with this heavy weight and I generally don't sleep past about 5.30am (Isla usually doesn't rise till at least 6.30).

What happens next? I'm booked in for a 'sweep' on Saturday morning, something I'm not particularly looking forward to, given all the intervention I ended up having last time. I was told I could phone midweek to see if there was a cancellation and I could have the sweep early - mmmm, let me think....NO THANKS. Although part of me thinks maybe I should? 

It feels a bit like life is on hold but at the same time like it's situation normal. Here's hoping that he decides to come soon, we want to meet you!

Bump Watch...Week 39

I'm nearly there, come on baby boy, no tardiness please!

Goodbye Family of 3... Hello Family of 4

In the last few weeks I've really been thinking about how our lives are going to change when we become a family of 4. For the past 2 years it's been Mummy, Daddy and Isla. I'm not going to pretend it's not tough when you're new parents and the early years are not all plain sailing, but we've nurtured this gorgeous girl and now approaching her 2nd birthday she is really blossoming into this wonderful, enchanting being. I look at her and feel enormous love for her and see her changing and growing, talking and learning and most of the time so happy. I watch her with wonderment as she says new words and makes up little games with her teddies (I'm not going to pretend that there aren't other times where I want to tear my hair out though, when she's running around naked ignoring me when it's bath time!).

I'm slightly anxious about her reaction to having a new baby in the house, she will have a little brother and I'm feeling this mixture of emotions that I didn't think I'd feel. I'm so excited about our family growing and having a new family member but I'm also slightly apprehensive as to how Isla is going to feel. I'm sure most mums feel like this in the run up to having another baby. I'm feeling a lot of guilt about how our time will have to be divided and that she won't be the centre of attention anymore. I know however that it can be great to have a sibling, and it will help with teaching the valuable lessons in life like sharing and being kind and gentle. She will be a big sister and I'm sure she will be great at it - eventually.

We've tried to prepare her for the baby and there's no getting away from the sight of my bump - and she's been told there is a baby in there, but I think she's definitely slightly too young to grasp the reality, and so it will hit when he arrives. We've bought her a present from the baby and we know that we need to tread carefully and give her lots of attention in the early days and make sure other people also don't make her feel pushed out. We're doing all the right things but it's still hard and until Baby Boy arrives I think I will continue to be anxious and lavish loads of love and attention on her in a bid to ease my conscience.

All that said, I'm really looking forward to the new adventure of having a boy in the house and in the way that Isla is definitely Daddy's girl, I will hopefully acquire a Mummy's boy.....

How have you found it when you're eldest is joined by a new sibling? I'd love to have your comments - be they positive or negative experiences!

Pregnancy Pampering

Last week I did a couple of lovely things just for me! I was feeling really really pregnant - I feel like I've got a beach ball full of wet sand permanently attached to my front! So firstly after I'd finished at Blog Camp on Thursday I took a stroll up to John Lewis and had myself a fantastic manicure at Nails Inc.

I don't know about you but since I've had children my hands have gone to the dogs, they're rough as sand paper, my nails are all jagged and all different lengths, it's embarrassing. Anyhow after 30 minutes of pampering my nails looked fantastic, and BRIGHT PINK! I felt really girly although I have to say I did feel a bit guilty spending money on myself. But then I think the guilt disappeared and.....

Next up was a bit of eye brow threading. I've been a fan of this for a couple of years now and I really enjoy having it done. I know that there are cheaper places to go but I always go to Blink as after the threading they give a lovely little massage around the forehead and temples and I find it so relaxing. I love how my eyebrows look afterwards (they were like bushes before - but my new fringe helps to cover them a bit!) and I don't really notice the slight pain throughout.

My pampering didn't end that day as I decided on Friday I'd take some time out over lunchtime during work to go and have a pregnancy massage at Spa NK on Westbourne Grove. And oh my gosh, it was bloody fantastic! I opted for an hour long massage that was £75 (I know, spending more money on myself! - but that all stops when Baby Boy arrives!) and it was worth every penny.

On arrival at Spa NK I was taken to the changing room and given the key to my locker where I found a robe and slippers. I got changed and then went to the relaxing waiting area and waited for my therapist to take me to the treatment room. Once there I hopped (read as galumphed) up on to the massage table with a convenient hole for my bump to fit into. I was asked to breath in some oils and then the therapist got to work on my back. It was fantastic, I hadn't felt so relaxed in weeks. The oils used were gorgeous smelling and the soundtrack to the massage was sleep inducing. Half way through I turned over and she set to work on my feet, legs, arms, neck and shoulders. What I wasn't expecting though was my bump getting a bit of treatment too - very gentle stroking massage. I had my fingers crossed that Baby Boy wouldn't start making his usual jabs and kicks and he was very well behaved, the massage must have worked wonders on him too and he was asleep. I enjoyed it so much and really didn't want it to finish, but all good things must end and I still had to get back to work.

So that was my week where I did a few things just to focus on Moi! It's not something I do very often but I figured in the coming months things will again to cease to be about me and they'll be all about this little person that I'm carrying around and I think he'll do a lot better if he comes into the world with a relaxed mummy at his beck and call.

PhotoBox Photo Book Review

I was recently contacted by the people at PhotoBox asking me to check out their products and give my honest opinion. I have to say that this opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time as since Isla was born I’ve meant to make a photo book of her and 21 months later I still hadn’t done it! All photos of her were either still on my digital camera or in an array of folders on my laptop! Seeing as baby boy is coming in July I felt that it was high time we put together a record of Isla’s first years before he arrives.

PhotoBox is a great site offering their customers with beautiful and innovative ways of making the most of their family and kids snaps. PhotoBox supplied my account with £30 credit and invited me to use it to either order a Canvas print, make a photo mug or photo book. Photobook was my choice and so I set to work making it!

Firstly I had to wade through almost 2 years of photo’s! Obviously this is my fault and I’m sure some of you are far more organised than me and have them properly catalogued! This took me an entire evening but what I was left with was 130 photos to then whittle down to my favourites to put in the book. Although it took a while, I really enjoyed looking back over the old photo’s and seeing how Isla has changed from a newborn into a toddler. Her character shines through in recent photo’s and I felt like I couldn’t wait for this to transfer to our very own book.

I uploaded the photos to the site, this took no time at all and then I selected the option to make a photobook. I chose to make a A4 Personalised Photobook I opted to use the 'Instant' way of making the book where the photos get taken from your album and the book is automatically created for you. This is genius as it can save you a lot of time fiddling around manually creating the book. I don't have a great design eye, so this helped me a lot. I could see that my 130 photos made a book that would cost in the region of £50, slightly more than I had in mind. So from that point onwards I went through the book deleting photos that I felt didn't make the final cut, moving photos around and whittled the book down to 36 pages, a more reasonable £39.49, plus postage and packaging of £3.99. At this point I found a discount code that entitled me to £5 off when I spent £20, so I used this and my book was then £34.49, plus p&p. I find that there are always discount codes for these types of products and they can really make your item more affordable.

The process of making it was so enjoyable as although I created it instantly I also then manually rearranged photos and made some more of a feature than they were when they were automatically put in. It also helped to show me which photos I could really do without in the book - I will just get these as prints I think.

Here is the finished article:

I absolutely love it! I love the whole idea of Isla starring in her own book and I love how it documents her growth from birth to now. The memories that it evokes every time I flick through it (which I have done at least 50 times now since it came in the post!) are amazing. I now can't wait to show it to people. It's also made me realise I've been a real slacker and need to get my 4 year old wedding photos in order too, so that will be my next project!

So in summary, big thumbs up from I Heart Motherhood for Photobox, I'll definitely be using them again for Photobooks!

Bump Watch...Week 29

Week 29...Already feeling like the back end of a bus!

I'm Going to Cybermummy (well I hope I am!)

As per the title - I sincerely hope I am going to the Cybermummy conference, the reason i'm unsure is that it depends on whether baby boy can cling on and either arrive on time (1st July) or a bit late! I have the ticket and I'm really looking forward to it.

I uhmmed and ahhed for ages over the decision to buy a ticket and then I thought, GO FOR IT, I'm quids in whatever happens - if I get to go then I'll get to meet all the fab mums I've 'met' through twitter and blogging since last November and will have the chance to attend some fantastic workshops and listen to inspirational speakers. If I don't get to go then that means that I've got my lovely baby boy and I'll be up to my eyes in nappies and will be too tired to even remember my own name! I also know that there are many mummies who missed out on a ticket for this years event so if I can't go then I already know peeps who will snap my hand off for my ticket.

So here's hoping that I do get to go. I hope that everyone is as friendly as they seem to be and that I get to make some new friends. This year is a big year for me what with extending our family but my blogging 'hobby' is something that I do just for me and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience.

If you're going too, let me know below!

Born Free Giveaway!

Recently I was very lucky to win a competition run by the people at Born Free. I won £100 to spend on their fabulous products. I bought things I knew would come in handy for Baby Boy when he arrives but found that I had more in the coffers than I needed, so I decided to buy a Born Free Gift Set (retailing at £24.99) with my left over spends to give away to one of my lucky readers!

For those who don't know Born Free products are all Bispenol-A free (BPA). BPA is a chemical compound used to create polycarbonate baby bottles and recent research suggests that small amounts of BPA may leach into foods and beverages causing neural  and developmental damage in children.

The gift set I have for one lucky person includes the following:

1 x 260ml bottle with level 1 teat
3 x 150ml bottles with level 1 teats 
2 x level 2 teats
1 x 220ml trainer cup

The bottles have an anti-colic vent and promise no leaks! This would make a lovely prize for someone expecting a baby this year, either yourself or a friend/ family member and the BPA free guarantee will set new parents minds at rest.

If you'd like to enter this giveaway, please do the following:

- For one entry, please leave a comment below with your contact details - twitter name/ email address
- For a 2nd entry please 'Like' my Facebook Page 'I Heart Motherhood'
- For a final entry tweet the giveaway on twitter “I’ve entered to win a @BabyBornFreeUK Gift Set on @iheartmuthahood’s blog” and tell me you have done so below

The Giveaway will close on 22nd April - Good luck everyone from I Heart Motherhood x

And the winner is @daisyangel1 - Angela - I'll be in touch!

Wellstart Parenting & Child Development PC Software - A Review

I was recently offered the chance to review a new computer based software package dedicated to recording details of pregnancy and your child's development. It also has information about conception and fertility for those at the family planning stage.

I love keeping records of Isla's development and up till now I've done this through a paper baby journal, inserting scans/ photo's and writing bits and pieces about her development as and when I remember to do it. And that's the trouble with baby books, you have to remember to write in it (that's once you've remembered where you've put it in the first place!) and so you can forget to record all those momentous milestones, like first rolling over, first tooth, first steps etc. The beauty of the Wellstart program is that it starts up on the laptop once Windows has opened, so given that I use my laptop everyday, it works as a prompt to add in a quick note about something that Isla has done that day or something about my pregnancy. There is no excuse not to do it.

The program itself is a calendar and in relation to pregnancy, it gives notes about what to expect each week. For existing children it gives guidelines of what you should expect of them for their age, along the lines of how many words they should have in their vocabulary, things that they should be physically capable of doing  for their age, like climbing the stairs etc.

When you first use the software you input all the family details, mother, father, existing children and pregnancy details. You can then add in photo's of your children and from that point onwards you can make journal type entries relating to each of your children. For each note you make you can add photo's, video footage or sound files, so written memories of babies first taste of solids can be accompanied by a video of those first few mouthfuls - which I think is brilliant - the memories all consolidated in one place! This makes it like a library of your child's development and I think it will be fantastic to actually be able to sit with Isla or the new baby when he's old enough and show them all the notes and media you've kept about them. I remember being fascinated with the cine film footage that my Grandparents took of me when I was very young and that didn't even have any sound, so I can imagine their delight at seeing all this.

My only criticism of the Wellstart software is that it could be aesthetically more pleasing, it has a basic look about it - you are able to change the colours in it and the fonts and you can add your own photo's, but I think it can look a bit clinical. So for me I'd like it to be 'funked' up a bit - this is minor criticism though!

If you are the kind of person who likes to have hard copies of this kind of thing then you can also print off your records and you can email records you've made too. Another feature I like is the link to BabyCentre which has a wealth of resources for child development and advice, I'm a regular visitor to their website, so for me this is a useful resource.

Overall I'm sold on Wellstart, and I can't wait to start using it for our baby boy's arrival in July. I will enjoy recording his milestones right from the beginning and using the software to store favourite photos and videos of him. I have already bought him a paper baby book and I think it's nice to have both anyway!

We were supplied with a copy of the Wellstart software to review free of charge in order to write this blog post.

I ♥ Sweetheart Knits!

Anyone short of ideas of what to get Baby Boy when he arrives then get over to Sweetheart knits and check out their cute and cool designs for little ones. I love these Pirate Booties and this Pom Pom Hat!

Bump Watch...Week 25

Week 25 - We missed Week 24 - feeling quite big and definitely think I'm bigger this time round with baby boy than I was with Isla - I'm sure we'll break the 9lb barrier this time....