Balancing Childcare when at home and on holiday

Being apart of the Millennial generation as well as being a self-employed work from home mother of two active boys I know my life like many others is pretty hectic as well as very different to our parents generation. Now more than ever people work digitally and nomadically, offices have been exchanged for coffeeshops, hotels and even city centre parks and we are seeing more and more woman taking advantage of being able to work around their children and from home. Also with the rising cost of living we see a more move away from the traditional setup of there being one breadwinner in a family and now two incomes are usually needed. Working flexible hours means that occasionally I need flexible childcare and even though I strive to get a good balance of working around my children that is not always possible especially when deadlines are looming. Personally I have found that not having a defined place of work with define working times is both a privilege but can also be prob......

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Hello Moon Prints & Giveaway

Kids rooms should be all about colour and creativity, a place to celebrate the magic of childhood and to help nurture your child's unique personality. Its also the chance to inject some fun into your household and it's such a enjoyable interior space to style as it's unlike any other room in the house. As you know we love art, design, photography and prints displayed on our walls so why should it be any different for kids bedrooms? Well Hello Moon have some of the cutest and quirkiest prints that I am sure your kids will fall in love with, especially as you can customise them for your child. With iconic prints such as the London bus or all time favourite characters such as Pirates and Dinosaurs there really is going to be a print to suit your little one's personalities. Hello Moon was started by four like minded parents in search of something original and fun for their own kids and they are constantly adding to the current designs. They also offer free shi......

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Monday Interiors - Wallpaper love

So as some of you may already know we are working on the house to get it ready to put on the market and we have been slowly sprucing up each room. After being so delighted with the Laura Ashely wallpaper we used in the nursery we decided that maybe our bedroom could do with a change up. I have to be honest I have never been a massive fan of wall paper simply because how often people use it in the wrong ways but if done right it can really create a chic and inspiring space. We wanted something subtle with a nature inspired print that has a hint of Orla Kiely to it which is why we went with this Ashcroft Sable  and I cannot wait until the bedroom is finished and share the end product with you.  We also really love all these Laura Ashley vintage and heritage prints at the moment which draw on nature, floral and botanical inspirations. Perhaps more suited for the older style property such as a bay fronted Victorian but would also work we'll in any kind of bedroo......

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For the home

Of course there has been a lot of change the past few weeks with our new little arrival Baby G, which has meant having to convert my small home office into a nursery as well as having to install a new bathroom and retile the wall as well as working on the bedroom (photos to come soon) but for now have been picking up a few bits and bobs. I am a big fan of traditional nursery rhymes such as Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh so when I saw this lovely Obaby Gliding crib from George at Asda I thought it would make a great fit for the nursery. I then recently saw this Winnie the Pooh mobile on sale at mother care and thought it would make a perfect fit We have also been keen to get more art on the walls and we I cam across this fun and super cute print from Ollie Ella which stock some wonderful kids interiors and there are few other bits and bobs I want to pick up from them in the future including their stunning Gum Ball rug. I have bene trying to kick star some seri......

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Not just a rug

So as you know we have recently been working on getting the nursery ready for the new arrival. We wanted to make the room feel relaxing and cosy so when Just a Rug  invited me to pick a rug from their children's range I thought this cute little shaggy soft bear rug would make a lovely addition to the room. It's so soft I can foresee some fun "tummy time" on this rug and the great thing about rugs is they work on both wooden floorboards and carpet and are a nice accessory to any room. I'm hoping to change the carpet at some point and I had thought of using bright-coloured carpet tiles from www.carpettilewholesale.co.uk  to make up a fun design and a space that is child-friendly and welcoming.  I always remember my parents had a large Persian carpet in our hallway and I use to spend hours as a child looking at how it was hand-weaved and the intricate patterns, around the border was various images that told a very subtle story, I was totally fascinated ......

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A little peek at the nursery

Our little nursery in the eaves is starting to come together We have recently paired up with the lovely people at Laura Ashley to bring a few special touches to our nursery we have been working on and you can see the full tour on the Laura Ashely blog  which is very exciting. Basically a few weeks ago this little room in the eaves was my office space since then we striped it back and slowly turned it into the nursery which is now almost finished. Having given it a coat of paint when we moved in we felt it needed a bit of colour and decided to use some beautiful Laura Ashley wall paper to the one side as well as some cute fabric star bunting to add a touch of texture and fun. We decided to go with a traditional British theme with hark back to the childhood fairytales of Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh - which is actually engraved on this lovely Obaby Gliding crib , which is a slightly larger option to the moses basket we used last time and we are hoping to get a lot......

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Witty Doodle Nursery Art giveaway

I have a lovely little giveaway on the blog today for one of our lucky readers. I your looking at bringing some art and creativity into your baby nursery or toddlers bedroom than look no further than Witty Doodle, who offer some beautiful Wall stickers, canvas's and prints that encourage imagination and have been specifically designed for 0-2year olds. By using geometric shapes, bold and contrasting colours and repeating patterns helps stimulate vision and brain development in younger children. The lucky winner gets to choose either a beautiful designed Canvas (worth up to £45) or high quality print (worth £29) of their choice and it's super easy to enter. a Rafflecopter giveaway ...

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Nursery Prints

I love this simple and nature inspired wallpaper print ( image ) So I cannot believe I am already 32 weeks and we haven't even really started on the nursery, so that is our first port of call for the New Year and what a fun project it will be (hopefully). We recently picked up some lovely printed wallpaper from Laura Ashley which I cannot wait to share with you all. I have to admit I have never really bought into the "statement wall" trend unless done very well, although I have to say that I do think it works best in a nursery or kids room as that is the type of place you can really have some fun and it's the type of room that you need to inject a bit of colour and texture. I love this simple, subtle and stylish nursery and how cute is the cloud pillow ( image ) The great thing is now there is so much choice, you can still keep the room fairly simple and clean  but bring in some light and subtle prints, which is what we are going to go with when w......

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Nursery inspiration and 21 weeks Update

We have some really exciting news this week - we finally had the anomaly scan and just couldn't wait another 19 weeks to find out what we would be having so I am happy to announce there is another boy on the way (I am going to be outnumbered!). It was one of those things were I was secretly hoping for a girl as I have an older brother and I think one naturally wants what they grew up with but on the other hand Mr A really wanted a brother so I was very happy his wish to come true and it really was smiles all round. How cute is this wooden bunting ( image ) Otherwise I am feeling pretty good and in fact I have been keeping myself very busy lately, something which I am enjoying as I know in a few weeks my energy levels will probably drop again and logistically things will become more difficult as I get bigger, but for now everything is going well. My heart condition has been playing up a little bit lately but that was to be expected and even though I am having lots of ......

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18 Weeks Pregnant and Nursery inspiration

Mama style - Dress M&S, Jacket Topshop, Shoes Converse, Necklace Tigerlilly Quinn shop Once again time is really flying by - we l left to go on our holiday I was 16 weeks pregnant and now I  have returned at 18 weeks and cannot believe I will soon be at the half way mark. My energy levels have started to pick up and I have started to feel little flutters and movements. The bump has really arrived now although I am still making do with the clothes I have for now such as this soft jersey knit dress I was given for Christmas last year. Lately I have also been opting to relaxed and casual trainers as being on your feet with a 4yr old and pregnant can be hard work. I have started to get a little bit of the nesting feeling creeping in and have started to do mini spring cleans around the house. At some point we are going to have to think about the nursery, which at the moment is our very cluttered box room/office space in the eves. We are going to keep things fairly simple......

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