UK Mother’s Day 2015 (and mini Lush review)

 

I am one of the fortunate people in this world who actually gets two mothers days. The UK have always celebrated their day in March and the Netherlands celebrate theirs with the rest of the world in May.

Michael took me to the shops as a distraction as I was not back in England with my mummy for mother’s day. I was a little down as I had had a monstrous illness all week and felt pretty rough and then I was in the Netherlands away from my family when they were all about to go out for a family Mother’s day meal. It’s times like that when I just feel a bit low and I really miss being away from my family and seeing them regularly.

However; we went out and had a lovely quick bite to eat, walk around the shops with my little Finn who is growing so fast. Seriously he amazes me every day and he makes me so proud. I guess that’s how Mother’s are supposed to feel on Mother’s day. My little Finn is my biggest accomplishment in life and I cherish him with every moment that goes by each day.

Enough of the downey ‘I miss my family’ talk (which I do believe me I really do!)

Now’s time to see what Finn got me for Mother’s Day! Obviously he went to the shop himself and chose everything by hand because he is a smart one!

My Week on Instagram 02/03/15-08/03/15

I thought I would start something new and give myself a kick up the behind as I have been slacking in many ways recently.
I have always enjoyed Instagram and the concept of it and I decided yesterday that I want to use it more.

So here is my first post on my week on Instagram… and it’s been a quiet one, hopefully my next will be more eventful ^^

Benefit Sweet Tintations Gift Set

Being a fan of Benefit I had always wondered what their tinted lip balms were like… As many of you will know by now; I am a HUGE sucker for a lip balm and I love the brand Benefit as I get on with a lot of their products.

The only reason I hadn’t purchased one of their new lip balms is due to the hefty price tag of £14.50/€20.00 – with a small child; I had been reasoning against it!

H&M Fall Baby Haul #2

Oops I went shopping again! I had to… Finn needs nice warm clothes for Autumn/Winter right?!

Mike and I popped into H&M quickly whilst we were out on Wednesday evening.

Here’s what we picked up:

The Jelly Taste Test

 

Here is Finn’s reaction to the Jelly I made him yesterday!

 

 

H&M Fall Baby Haul #1

(Finn looks like he has a MASSIVE forehead in this picture! He doesn’t; it’s just the angle I promise!)

It’s my favourite time of the year; Autumn!
Except now the sun is shining and it’s back to wearing shorts again 😦

Having a baby means getting to buy cute new clothes all the time and spending lots of money on them! I don’t often go clothes shopping; and if I do, it’s only for Finn really! I find it quite therapeutic, but Michael hates it as I always end up buying way too much and spending more money than I should do.

I managed to restrain myself this time and only bought a couple of things…

We went to H&M as they have a great valued ‘basics’ range, and to be honest, Finn grows so fast we really have to try to save money where we can. He was in desperate need of some trousers (leggings, joggers etc) there’s going to be a day soon where he can’t wear shorts anymore…

 

We picked up two pairs of leggings – one in dark grey and the other pair is navy and white striped. I wanted some leggings as he doesn’t necessarily need to wear joggers or thick trousers in the house.
I also picked out a nice pair of dark charcoaly grey joggers for him, I think he looks really nice in grey!
In total we paid €10 for the 3 pairs of trousers; they were €4.99 each and it was 3 for 2!

The next things we picked up was a 2 pack of long-sleeved shirts. Naturally I was drawn to these as they have Mickey Mouse all over them. It was €11.99 for the pair, which I don’t think is too bad as I think he will get a lot of use out of these.
We also got the clothes in a much bigger size so hopefully they will see him through till the end of the year.

Things we still need to get:

1. Socks
2. Hat, Scarf & Gloves
3. A few more pairs of trousers; maybe some jeans!
4. A jumper or two

I hope you liked my short Finn Fall haul; there will be some more on the way soon 🙂

 

Finn tries Baked Beans!

I didn’t think we’d have any issues with Baked Beans as he has had Cheesy beans before… Oh how wrong I was 🙂

Finn tries Marmite!

 

Finn and I went for a nice walk last Thursday and I packed up a little picnic for him to have whilst we were out… Marmite sandwiches!!

Watch my video below to see if he liked it or not!

 

 

Trying to Crawl!

Here is a short video I made with a few clips from this morning of Finn trying to be on the move.
Finn can move around backwards; but not forwards!

England Baby Food Haul – August 2014

Moving from England to the Netherlands; I have realised that I was REALLY spoilt for choice when it comes to food and things being readily available in England. I’ve been living in The Hague for just over 6 months now and I am only just starting to get my head around things here. I don’t know if it’s the whole of the Netherlands or just the area that I have moved to; but everything shuts early, opens later and baby things seems VERY expensive over here in comparison.

I am used to being able to go to the supermarket and being able to pick up a duvet set, replace an old saucepan or even just buy some painkillers. It’s not so easy to do that here in the same type of shops.

In England you pretty much go into any supermarket; head down the baby aisle and there’s ALWAYS baby food on offer. Not here. Not in The Netherlands. We occasionally get a sale every couple of months, but that’s if we are lucky enough for it to be a brand that we use!

As you can imagine, a quick weekend in England meant I could really take advantage of those baby food sales! It’s always handy to keep a stock (I find anyway) of some ready-made baby food in-case we are going out. Who doesn’t love the Ella’s Kitchen food pouches huh? Now we do get Ella’s Kitchen in the Netherlands, it’s just VERY limited in what you can get (in my area anyway) and it also costs a fortune as I am guessing it’s imported.

I picked up some of the following food pouches for Finn:

• Squashed squishy Fishy Cakes with Parsley sauce
• Fabulously filling Fish Pie with mash
• Oodles of fun Chicken + Noodles with red peppers
• Cheery Chicken Roast Dinner with stuffing
• Punchy Pork Roast Dinner with apples
• Very, very tasty Vegetable Bake with lentils
• Big smiles Cheesy Pie with veggies
• Very veggie Four Bean Feast with big flavour

I also picked up a Zingy Lamb + Cous Cous with mangoes + raisins which Finn has already eaten and LOVED.

I also took advantage of the cheap Heinz baby cereals that were on offer (I find them very expensive here too!). They were 4 for £5 which I thought was a bargain!

I picked up:

• 2 x Peachy Porridge
• Blueberry Porridge
• Oat & Banana Cereal

Please let me know if you have any tips on how we could save money on buying items like this for Finn. If we are at home, I do tend to give Finn fresh food instead of ready-made food as I do prefer knowing exactly what I am giving him. But we all know these are really for convenience; it’s much easier to pop one of these in his changing bag for lunch when we are going out!

 

 

Disclaimer: All photos used in this post were taken by myself.