Amelie's 11 Month Update

Sorry for the extreme delay on publishing this month's update. As mentioned last month, we had a two week family holiday at the end of last/beginning of this month which has completely thrown everything!

I can't believe my little munchkin will be 1 next month! Preparations are fully underway for her birthday. I'm really hoping for a wardrobe to match her chest of drawers in her room as she has completely ran out of space!

Measurements: Amelie is fitting in 9-12 month clothing! The weather has been gorgeous since coming back from holiday - it's now been 3 1/2 weeks of solid sunshine everyday. Which has meant her summer clothing has finally been worn! (I bought a load of stuff in last years summer sale). 

Hair: Her hair is a mousey brown and seems to vary on day to day basis. It did get lighter in the sun..but she's a definite brunette!

Teething: Amelie now has a total of 6 teeth! It seems to be whenever we set off on an aeroplane she decides to start sprouting teeth and now has another two to add to the collection. 

I've found that she is coping with teething far better than before and doesn't need any Dentinox. (I still carry it just in case!).

She had an ear infection on holiday which was probably down to a combination of aeroplanes & teething.

Eating: Amelie has completely gone off her milk, however I try and give it her she just doesn't want it.

Instead I've really been trying to give her as much dairy as possible and she has a yogurt after each meal. I've also started to introduce Cows milk after consulting my health visitor.

She is loving meal time and is such a good little eater. Her favourite is pasta - she loves feeding herself and plays with the pasta tubes, it's so cute to watch her squish it in her hands.

She also loves fruit and will eat bananas by the bunches!

Sleep: Amelie's sleep has been much better considerings she was teething. When we were on holiday she had to share a room and always woke about 3am for some water & then slept in between Connor & I. Since we've been back she's slept right the way through.

It's a good job we moved the cot down a few levels last month as she can now pull herself up! Every morning when Amelie has woken I go into her nursery and she's there standing at the corner of her cot waiting for me to pick her up!

Nursery: Amelie is still really enjoying nursery and I have had my contract extended at work which means that Amelie will now be staying there until March.(with the hope that this will be extended again!). 

She has developed such a relationship with the key-workers and children and it's the best feeling in the world seeing her smile because she recognises you when you collect her.

Talking: We've had no advances on words this month, she has also stopped saying Mama which is disappointing! She will happily babble and say dada though.

I've also noticed that she's trying to communicate with her actions this month, she points at object that she wants (like her bottle, or toys..) and she shakes her head too.

She also has the cheekiest grin in the world, she screws her little face up when she knows she's doing something she's not meant to!

Moving: As already mentioned Amelie can now stand up, which means she is one step closer to being able to walk! I think she finally learnt because she was so restricted with crawling and moving about on holiday (being by the pool etc) she got fed up of being in a high chair or on someones lap! 

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Amelie's 10 Month Update

Hi lovelies! Sorry this month's update is running a few minutes late. I've had a busy week running errands and last minute shopping ready for our holiday next week.
Amelie's officially in the double figures when it comes to monthly updates and this month I've seen the most change in her.
My little sweetheart can now officially CRAWL! It's the best thing in the world seeing her get around and make a conscience decision to move to where you are in the room.
She has developed her own  way of 'crawling' she lifts her left leg almost in a 'hopping' motion. I think she's learnt this adaption as we have wooden flooring downstairs which is where the majority of her time is spent when we are at home, during the day. 

Measurements: Amelie is now fitting in most of her 6-9 month clothes and has outgrown the majority of her 3-6 apart from a few summer dresses. I've also started to put Amelie in 9-12 vests as she's got quite sensitive skin and I don't want it to rub while she's moving about. 

Hair & Eyes: Amelie's hair has been growing so much, I'm also surprised with the amount of hair that she's managed to keep hold of as I've seen lots of babies her age at nursery have bald patches from where they sleep. I can now clip pretty hair slides in her hair and she's worn a hair tie at the top of her head a few times.
Her eyes are still a bright blue colour which I'm confident are to stay now.

Teething: Amelie's top teeth are now through and now has a total of 4 teeth! She really is getting such a big girl! I brush her teeth morning and night which is made easier by the fact that she LOVES having them done.

Eating: Amelie is starting to eat finger food, she has completely gone off her porridge which was what she used to eat every morning for her breakfast. She loves bread that is slightly toasted and as a treat on the weekend she has plain scotch pancakes (which you find in the bread aisle of supermarkets) as a treat - which is her absolute favourite! 
I'm still giving her, her 5 a day. Strawberries, pineapple & melon are her current faves.
Her meal times have increased to 3 main meals a day, with three milk bottles in between.

Sleep: Since the arrival of her two top teeth, Amelie's sleeping has improved again. We've also moved her cot down a level as she's sitting up and is showing signs of trying to lift herself into a kneeling/standing position.

Nursery: Amelie is still doing really well at nursery. She's an observer and loves to people watch and see what all the other children are doing. Her favourite part of the day are during singing time - she bobs her head, claps, smiles and babbles as soon as anyone starts singing! She also really enjoys the 'sensory area' which has different textures and sounds in.
Since being at Nursery, Amelie's immune system has definitely taken a beating! She has conjunctivitis at the beginning of the month which required two doses of antibiotics and a 10 days to get over.

Talking: Amelie can say Baba which is mostly directed at Simba (our Chihuahua). She's also close to say 'Chester' which is the name of Connor's Mum's cat.
She is still most vocal during singing where she babbles along.

Moving: As stated above Amelie can now crawl, I have to watch her like a hawk as sometimes, even when things have been moved out of her reach she can still find ways and means to get to it! Her favourite thing to reach for are Simba's toys!
She's also showing the early signs of wanting to lift herself up.

♥

Primark..Available Online?

It happened..after years of speculation, Primark is finally available online at ASOS!!

I've had a quick look and it seems that there are currently only 20 items available online but I'm sure there will be more to come.

(I've already eyed up THIS dress).

& there seems to be some improvement on their own website too, photos of current clothes along with their respective prices are featured on their website but are (as yet) no news on whether this will turn into an online store.

You can shop Primark online HERE.

What do you think about the Asos/Primark collab?

Happy shopping!

♥

Dainty Doll | Bargain Alert

I'm sure the countless tweets & blog posts have already made you aware of this offer already. But if you've been hiding under a very well placed rock these past few weeks, I'm about to let you in on something that will allow you to give yourself a slight exception to any spending bans you currently have in place, stretch the last few pounds in your bank account before payday and recreate the madness of Christmas sale shopping..It's a good'en. 

Dainty doll is the brain child of band member (and fellow pale gal) Nicola Roberts. The brand was created specifically for paler complexions. 
Despite the brand being around for the last 5 years, and being available online on websites such as Boots & Asos, it's not as easier to get hold of in stores, and seeing as I'm a swatch-before-you-buy kinda girl (especially seeing as the average product is priced at a heafty £13.00), I've never got round to purchasing anything.

And thats where the bargain alert comes in. Fragrance direct is a discounted cosmetic site that I have previously ordered from. It's a serious one to bare in mind when your looking for a bargain buy and I'd definitely recommend you all to save to your favourites. You'll thank me later.
In this case, when I say discounted. I don't just mean a slight reduction  - I'm talking MUA prices here and you could say I got a tad carried away..

I ended up purchasing six blushes all together; 3 powders  & 3 creme.
Looking back it does seem a bit OTT; I only have two cheeks and lets face it I'm not going to be wearing a colour on each! But for £1.99 It was all the justification I needed.

The packaging is very swish and bares some similarity to Nars' rubbery casing.. Not the most practical as far as finger print marks go, but looks great for the first week!
One thing that I did notice was that only the number of each blusher was visible on the back of the case - Not a deal breaker, but it makes it harder to remember which number correlates to which colour, especially if you own more than one shade.

Another thing to add is that you do get an extra 2g of product with the powder blushes compared to the 5g of product with the creme blush. Here's a run down of shades:

All colours have great pigmentation and colour pay off, I literally swiped my hand once to get the following swatches:

(L-R): Billion Dollar Babies, Orange County Girl, Paper Roses

(L-R): Hippy Shake, My Girl, You Are My Sunshine

My favourites are Orange County Girl & You are my sunshine I love the similarity to Nars Orgasm but for a fraction of a price!

I managed to also track down the lipsticks on another website and another post will be up soon.
I think another order with Fragrance Direct is in order.. It's perfect to make little birthday presents or even stocking fillers for Christmas - well it is only 8 months away..

Have you tried any Dainty Doll products?

♥

Amelie's 9 Month Update

This month marks Amelie's 3/4 birthday! I seriously cannot believe Amelie in three months time Amelie will have her first birthday, I know i seem to mention it every month.. but time has flown by.

This month has been an absolute blur for me and I'm still trying to find a happy medium with my work, being the best mama possible. It's been made a thousand times easier that Amelie has taken so well to childcare - the poor thing really does get carted around during the week; I've had to split childcare between Connor's mum (on a Monday), Nursery on Wednesday's & Thursdays and Connor's step-mum (on fridays). My mum works during the week so can't commit to a particular day but she helps contribute some money to Amelie's nursery as a contribution!

It actually works out really well as my mum works near to where I live and is always popping in once she's finished. Everyone is seeing Amelie on a regular basis.

Measurements: She hasn't been measured exactly this month but she now fits into most of her 6-9 month clothing. Which is just in time for the hot weather as she has some lovely summer dresses that she hasn't worn yet. (They were far to big for her when we went to Lanzarote in Feb.)

I think for the most part Amelie will always run 1 size clothing behind her age. 

Amelie is going to be a bridesmaid for the first time this August for one of Connor's good friends, and they've put off getting her dress made for as long as possible to make sure she'll be able to fit in it!

Teething: She's still only got her two bottom teeth through, although she is showing signs that her top front teeth may be making an appearance very soon. She still has red teeth and is showing most of the signs of teething.

I've also been continuing to use Dentinox at night before she goes to bed. Amelie LOVES it and it seems to be doing a good job at stopping her from crying whenever her teeth flare up.

Eating: Excellent. Amelie is now having bigger chunks in her food which makes it so much easier to cook home made meals. She loves her fruit and veggies and there's nothing that I can say she doesn't like.

She's also making huge improvements on her finger food too and loves cut up bananas and grapes. Her favourite 'treat' foods are Heinz Biscotti Biscuits in Apple flavour & Yogurts.

Sleep:Amelie is going to sleep later than previous months but I think this is mostly due to the increase in sunlight. We need to invest in some black out curtains!

She's stopped having as many disturbed nights sleep but when she does wake up which is usually at around 5am it's hard to get her off again!

Nursery:We went to Amelie's 'parents evening' event at her Nursery which was a brilliant chance for Connor to see the carers as he is at work for any pick ups/drop offs.

Amelie's also made friends with a little girl a few weeks older than her and they hold hands when they sit next to each other.

Talking: Amelie is saying 'Da-Da' and 'Ma-Ma' comfortably now, and it seems to be a little more directed at Connor & I. Although I'm not entirely convinced that she knows who is who!

She's also really vocal with music and I'm convinced sometimes that she's trying to sing along. 

We're continuing to read to her every night and I'm sure she's going to be picking up more words in the next few months.

Moving: Amelie is so close to crawling! she can get herself into the correct position, It's literally down to her working on her coordination to move forward. It doesn't help that we have wooden floors downstairs (where she spends the majority of her time during the day at home), so It's hard for her to get her grip.

She has found out that she can now roll on her stomach to get to places, which is great for our entertainment.

She's still continuing to dance and 'bop' her head to the side whenever she hears any music or she gets a little excited. She's also worked out how to rock backwards and forwards when she's in the sitting position.

She's continuing to clap and wave at everyone!

Going Out: We really haven't gone anywhere exciting this month. We've got our holiday coming up towards the end of next month as well as our insurances for both cars, and we're desperately trying to save!

It was both my brother's and my father's birthday last month so it was nice to spend some good ol' family time, celebrating both birthdays. I also saw my cousin and her husband and son too, and really enjoyed catching up.

I did go to Beyonce with my mother at the end of last month which was AMAZING. If you ever have the chance to see her live, GO!

❤

Major bargain alert!

Hi everyone!

This is just a super quick post to draw your attention to another great offer (I'm certainly on a roll at the moment!)

This time it's in the form of Real Technique brushes, and trust me.. It's a gooden.
Just head over to I herb and see for yourself. Not only do they have the cheapest prices that I've seen for RT brushes usually (and believe you me, I've done my fair share of looking around) but they've also got an amazing 20% off the entire range! The discount is added in your shopping cart.

And not only that... I herb has given me an amazing extra discount to share with you all!
If you're a first time customer simply enter code DNJ747 and you'll receive an extra 5% off orders under $40 or an extra $10 off all orders over $40. Amazing!!

My order would of been $95.92 but with my discounts I saved $33.04 bringing my total to $66.88 (£43.18 (approx)). The price of two starter kits!

And for UK readers, international shipping starts at just $4.00 and takes between 1-5 weeks. Which is such a brilliant price.

Whether your looking at having a back up off your favourite foundation brush or seeing what the rest of the range has to offer, I'm sure you'll be able to find something.

20% offer ends tomorrow but you can continue to use my code.

Will you be ordering anything?

❤

Disclaimer - I herb is not paying me to do this review, I am not affiliated with this company in anyway. I purchased my order with my own money. Honest reviews as always.

Sleek Correcting Concealer

It's not often that I write a 'disappointing' review. I've always thought of purchasing my make up as an investment of some sort. I carefully look at product recommendations from Bloggers who I genuinely trust before making any commitments or parting with my hard earned dosh.

On the whole, I quite rate Sleek as a Make Up brand - I have several of their eyeshadow palettes and like how their priced in the 'middle of the road' range, it's not expensive but It's more so than your regular drugstore brand.

For the extra money, you do get a few added frills: fancy cardboard exterior packaging makes a welcomed change from the usual cellophane wrapping and inside even has a decent mirror that covers the whole of the lid. Perfect for the girl on the go.

Enter Sleek's new Corrector & Concealer Palette. It's a relatively affordable option, priced at £7.99. There are a total of 5 shades to choose from. I bought number 2 the lightest shade available in stores, although I believe number 1 is on their website.

The palette is nicely housed in a slim palette that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. It's not at all bulky which makes this perfect to fit in the smallest of bags for on the go touch ups.

And that's just it, apply this and you'll almost certainly have to take this with you to reapply multiple times throughout the day. In fact I really did struggle to see any coverage with the under-eye corrector concealer, it seemed to settle into my pours and highlight any blemish scars on my cheeks. I found the texture greasy & oily (and this is a girl who likes a dewy finish), it made the layer of foundation underneath patchy and uneven.

The setting powder was a bit unnecessary in my opinion. I understand its concept - making this palette the perfect travel must have, but in this case the quality of the under-eye corrector is sacrificed.
It's also contains an SPF which is not something I look for in powders.

Before you write this product off your concealer list to try out, all is not lost with the standard blemish concealer.
The texture has the perfect balance with its coverage and consistency. The coverage makes this perfect to tame even the nastiest blemish - even the freshly depussed ones. (Yup, we've all done it). Lovely image for you all there.
The consistency is what excited me the most. It's thick, creamy and is easily blendable which is exactly what I want.

So was it worth it? The short answer - No. 
I'm glad I gave this a whirl, I've found a good product within the concealer and I can definitely see myself using it up when my skin is needing a little something extra. As for the fixing powder and corrector - these will probably stay untouched and for this reason It won't be something I'm going to repurchase.
Alas, Next stop, Laura Mercier..

Have you tried this product?

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