Mamas and Papas Maternity Wear - Lucky Me!

I've been lucky enough to be able to sample some of the new summer range of Mamas & Papas maternity wear recently and over the next couple of weeks I plan to show you some of the lovely things that the people at M&P sent me to try out!

It is so hard when you're pregnant to look nice and when I got pregnant for the second time I looked at the clothes I wore last time around and wanted to cry!! It's a real catch 22 situation as you don't want to spend too much on new clothes as your body shape isn't going to stay like Mr Greedy for long (or so you hope!) but at the same time none of your normal clothes fit. Before I was sent the clothing I'd already made a couple of purchases from Mamas &  Papas as they had a brilliant sale on their maternity jeans, I got these jeans:

Then a couple of weeks later I found these fantastic combat trousers in the sale - so comfy but can also look stylish with the right top/ footwear:

This week I've worn this outfit:

Me Rocking My Bump In Hyde Park!

I've felt really summery and not at all frumpy. The cropped jeans (£28) are under the bump and have been perfect in this warm spring weather. The top (£32) is really pretty and Mamas and Papas also do a maxi dress in the same material.

Over the next few weeks I plan to wear more of my Mamas and Papas clothes and show you just how good the range is, I'm most looking forward to 'showcasing' (love that word!) the maxi dress, it's gorgeous!

Check out Mamas and Papas maternity clothing range online

Silent Sunday



How to Make an Easter Bonnet

Recently we were lucky enough to visit Maggie & Rose family members club in Kensington for a baby event and Isla and I had a fab time, she got her face painted and made some cookies and generally had a lovely time. We don't have anything like that in our area and it was really fun, so when I was contacted by the people at Walker Books about a new Maggie and Rose Eco Friendly Activity Book for Isla and I to try out at home I accepted immediately.  We were sent the 'This Book is Totally Rubbish' Activity Book which is bursting with brilliant ideas for games and things to make and do - all based around the subject of art and recycling

Just before Easter I found the perfect opportunity to use the book when Isla and I got stuck into making an Easter Bonnet for her Nursery Tea Party. Since having a little girl I've always felt like I can't wait till we can do craft type activities together and this was our first go at a bit of messy creativity at home. I decided that we would make her Easter Bonnet using the instructions on how to do Paper Mache from the book - a great way to use up old newspapers. See below all the photos from our creative journey making an Easter Bonnet that eventually earned Isla an Easter Egg prize from the nursery for best Bonnet (not blowing my own trumpet at all......!!)

As you can see she loved the finished result and I'm really looking forward to making more things using this book - Eco Moulding Clay is our next project I think.

So following on from our fun using this book I have one copy of 'This Book is Totally Rubbish' to give away to one lucky person to have fun with! All you need to do to enter is:

Compulsory entry: comment below telling me your child's favourite craft activity or if too young something you look forward to doing with your child when they're old enough

Extra entry: Tweet the URL of this Giveaway post including twitter IDs @iheartmuthahood & @WalkerBooksUK and leave a separate comment below that you have done this.

UK Entrants only
Good luck and the competition closes midnight, Friday 20th May!

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 31

Baby Bump, Week 31 - after lots of baguette and easter Eggs in France!

I ♥ Pogofandango

I've just discovered Pogofandango through the website Not on The High Street. I absolutely love greetings cards and there is nothing I like better than taking my time to select appropriate cards for all occasions for my close family and friends. I think sometimes the card can be more thoughtful than the gift itself. In the last year I've really loved the laser cut designs that I've seen in the shops and the one above particularly appeals because obviously we're due a new baby in July and this card is gorgeous!

The cards are made by a mother and daughter from Cornwall and they don't just do baby cards, they cater for all manner of occasions, check out their website for laser cut cards!

Chicken Soup for the Soul (and to make you feel better when poorly...)!

A few weeks ago when I was feeling a bit under the weather I knew that what I needed most was Chicken Soup! Luckily we'd only had roast chicken the day before and I'd got the carcass in the fridge and so I stuck it in a pot, covered with water, chucked in half an onion, half a carrot, peppercorns and a bouquet garni and made some stock. Strictly speaking I don't know how long you should simmer the chicken carcass for but I usually just use my own judgement and it probably ends up being at least an hour and a half. The house ends up smelling a bit 'chickeny' but it gets your taste buds going!

Once the stock is made I drain it carefully ensuring there are no bones left lurking in the soup. Then I strip the meat from the bones. Next I get the food processor out and grate a couple of potatoes, a couple of carrots and an onion and then bung them in the chicken stock along with the meat. I season with salt and pepper (I like white pepper for soups - nicer flavour) and then let it cook for about half an hour until the veg is cooked and voila you have your chicken soup. Best eaten with big hunks of crusty white bread (and extra white pepper)!

I definitely felt so much better after eating a bowl of this and it also makes me feel better to know that I've made something wholesome and used up all the leftover chicken!