Merry Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas & Happy Stephen's Day! I hope you are all having a relaxing holiday! Here's a look at what we got up to this Christmas. It was the most fun we've had as a family so far, as Emilia is old enough to unwrap presents & although she doesn't quite understand who Santa Claus is yet, she still got pretty excited!  

Here's how it all looked before she came down in the morning. Jonathan attempted to do his best at wrapping Emilia's kitchen but it was no easy task! I actually think he did quite well! 

She woke up to discover a stocking full of treats that Santa Paws (*cough-Albi-cough*) had left on the foot of her bed. She was SO excited, I think she would have been happy with just that! 

At first Emilia wasn't sure what to do with her kitchen...and tried to get into it. Then she realised it was actually a lot more fun to put one of her doggy friends into the fridge instead! Albi/Santa Paws didn't seem to mind! We got her the Kidkraft Large Pastel Kitchen from Jellybean. She absolutely loves it! We also got her the Kidkraft 27 Piece Cookware Playset and the Kidkraft Cupcake Set. She has so much fun stacking the cupboards & shelves and organising all of her dishes/cutlery! 

For breakfast it's our family tradition to eat pandoro or panettone on Christmas morning. My mom got Emilia her own mini Peppa Pig pandoro! It even came with a little Peppa figurine inside...so cute! 

Can you name the puppies?! They are: Albi (up top), Sina (on couch), Nivea (on couch in front of Sina), Nuvola (on floor - far left), Bianca (behind Nuvies) and Theo (far right).

Even the puppies looked adorably festive in their red suits and Christmas bows! We bought the suits at Maxi Zoo (Goodboy Brand) - I got 3 size XS and 3 size S. The XS fit Bianca & Nuvola but Albi's neck was too big so he wore his original Santa suit from Accessorize (complete with a fancy gold trim and sleeves!). The Goodboy size S are a bit long/big but they fit Theo, Sina & Nivea pretty well when the velcro is pulled tight.

The four girls! Sina (above), Bianca, Nuvola & Nivea (from L-R).

Three sisters! Nivea, Bianca, Nuvola (L-R).

My two little boys :) Theo & Albi.

Our Christmas outfits :) Emilia's dress is the Hepburn Gingerbread Town dress from Loveaboo, vest is from Carter's, bow is from Layniebug Designs and her tights are from Miniclub.  My dress/cardigan is from French Connection (not maternity - about 2 years ago), leggings are Kate Thomas maternity and my Uggs were a Christmas present from Jonathan (they are the Bailey Button Bling in grey - got them in Brown Thomas Dublin)! 

We had Christmas dinner at my mom's house, where Emilia was showered with even more gifts! Being the only grandchild has its perks, ya know! I think she got a little overwhelmed by all the toys...we've sort of spaced them out now so she can appreciate them all and play with them in her own time. She still hasn't opened a few of them properly but we will give them to her over the next couple of weeks :)

Merry Christmas to you & yours! Hope you had as fun a day as these two crazies ;) Of course you can check out our vlog of how we spent Christmas day here: 

xoxo

Anna

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve! I'm sorry that my Blogmas posts have been pretty much non-existent over the past two days but this week has been crazy! I literally have not had a free moment to sit down and blog, let alone film a video. I hope to return to regular posting soon but in the meantime, here are some snaps of our evening as well as a little look at how I decorated for Christmas :)

Our seasonal table, complete with an opened Advent calendar! 

Emilia stroking Theo's new Santa suit! Each of the doggies got one today. When we put them on Emilia went around to each dog touching their suits!

My new cinnamon candle and poinsettia :)

Jonathan serving dinner like a total freak. (Yes he knew I was taking the picture!)

I lit all of my little candles & night lights for a cosy, festive evening. Emilia loved looking at them all!

Nighty night from my house to yours & I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow! Santa Paws came to us pretty early tonight as Emilia was out like a light by the time bedtime rolled around. I can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow morning!

xoxo

Anna

Weekend in Dublin!

 

This weekend we were in Dublin for a family Christmas dinner and we stayed in the Westbury Hotel. The location was perfect as it's very central & right beside Grafton Street (which was ideal for Christmas shopping!). Here are a few pictures of our room. One of the reasons why I booked this hotel was actually because of the four post bed...I've always wanted to sleep in one & see what they're like! 

Bathroom

Jonathan testing out the hotel robe & slippers! ;) 

Emilia busy writing notes & organising her toys!

Bed & writing desk. Lots of room for editing, writing blog posts, etc.! You can watch my hotel room tour below:

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Anna

Fashion Friday: Driving to Dublin!

Cardigan/Mexx (about 5-6 years ago), Top/Boob, Maternity Jeans/ASOS, Boots/Timeless, Bracelet/Cos, Earrings/Accessorize

Yesterday evening we drove up to Dublin for a family Christmas dinner and this is what I wore. These jeans are so comfy & stretchy...they are perfect for a long drive! They fit more like leggings than jeans. The cardigan is not maternity but works with a bump anyway and the top is actually nursing wear but as I've mentioned before they are quite long & made with lots of fabric so they stretch very easily! You can watch my outfit of the day video below:

I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday! I can't believe it's the last weekend before Christmas!

xoxo

Anna 

Throwback Thursday: Sister Bathtime!

This week's throwback is brought to you by a 4 or 5 year old me & my baby sister Emma! We always took baths together...sometimes my mom would bathe with us and I have such fond memories of that! I actually have yet to bathe with Emilia (I'm not really a bath-taker anymore) but I have taken showers with her & I think it's such a wonderful bonding experience! On a sidenote - how cute was my sister Emma when she was a baby and how curly was my hair?! I wonder will Emilia be curly or straight?!

Don't forget to check out this week's Ask Anna video below (I upload these every Thursday)! 

xoxo

Anna

What I Ate Wednesday {A Bit Late!}

Here's what I ate today! I'm sorry for the lack of posts yesterday but I was home alone with Emilia for pretty much the entire day and didn't get a spare minute to film or blog :( Unfortunately today didn't really go as planned either but better late than never right?!

Breakfast

This morning Emilia & I both had Flahavan's Hi8 Muesli with hot milk (I had almond, she had whole milk) and 1/2 banana. I also had a decaf Nespresso & my Spatone which I'm taking now as my iron supplement. It is working wonderfully! No more nausea - thank god!

Lunch

I had a panino with tuna, mayo, cherry tomatoes, cucumber & babyleaf rocket salad. Nothing special but this is what I usually have when we're at home!

Dinner

Dinner was super late...but we had chicken stir fried in some olive oil with some veggies (these are the Luxury Stir Fry ones from Green Isle), black bean sauce & basmati rice. 

Snack/Dessert

Decaf latte with almond milk and a Snickers bar! I loooove my Barbie cup so much! My mom got it for me in TK Maxx. It has a little white poodle on the back :)

And that's it! What did you eat today? You can watch my video of today's eats below:

xoxo

Anna

Mommy Monday: 25 Weeks Pregnant with Baby #2!

How far along? 25 weeks!

Total weight gain/measurements: Weighed in at 134lbs - same as last week. That's a total of 19lbs gained since pre-pregnancy. 

Maternity clothes: Actually nothing in this outfit is maternity, the leggings are just way too big for me so I like to wear them when pregnant and the top stretches out! I have been living in leggings lately though...anything that's comfortable! 

Stretch marks? Still no new ones.

Sleep: Going really well this pregnancy...I feel so lucky! No need for a maternity pillow/extra cushions, no leg cramps...nada.

Best moment this week: Seeing our baby again on the ultrasound! :)

Miss anything? Not really.

Movement: Lots of movement, today in particular he felt very low down/close to my bladder & I kept feeling like I needed to pee every 5 minutes even though I didn't! 

Food cravings: Ham & cheese wraps...what?! I don't know...

Anything making you queasy or sick? Thank god, no! For the first time in this entire pregnancy I actually feel well & the nausea is gone. This is because I'm off all pills (prenatals & iron supplements that were making me sick) and am now taking Spatone twice a day for iron instead. It's working so much better.

Gender: Boy!

Labour signs: Nope!

Symptoms: Heartburn, hormonal acne (never seems to go away), shortness of breath.  

Belly button in or out? In!

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy!

Looking forward to: Travelling to Dublin this weekend!

Check out my 25 week pregnancy vlog featuring a special guest below!

xoxo

Anna

My Week in Pictures!

To round the week off, I like to give you guys a little look-back on what I got up to through my Instagram shots! Here's my week in pictures from Dec. 9th - 15th!

Tuesday

I got my anatomy scan (which was actually pretty tough going...the doctor has to lean really hard on my belly when he's getting a good look at everything on the ultrasound! At one point I thought I might cry!). But everything turned out perfect & we got a good shot of the baby's face (above - creepy!!) and another confirmation that he is definitely a boy (below - ha ha!). 

Tried out a new look on my nails this week which I love! White with gold accents. I used OPI's Alpine Snow for the white and a Barry M nail paint for the gold. (It didn't have a name, but I think it's from their foil collection as it has a gold top - I got it last Christmas!)

Friday

As you know we went to Fota Island's Believe to visit Santa! Before meeting him we got to ride on his sleigh :) 

Sunday

Happy 3rd week of Advent! It's going so fast...I actually got confused this morning and thought it was the 2nd week because we weren't home last Sunday. Oops!! Our wreath is from Dunnes Stores - I got it last year. I also did a bit more decorating in our house yesterday now that the bulk of the T-shirt stuff is out of there. I will do a proper blog post on our Christmas decor when it's all done.

Hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday and a wonderful Advent!

xoxo

Anna

Style Saturday: Christmas Gift Wrapping!

I decided to go with a more rustic, homemade look this year when it came to wrapping my Christmas gifts - here's how they turned out! 

I bought the recycled snowflake wrapping paper, matching gift tags and sparkly gold/silver/plain white ribbon from Paperchase.

You can watch the tutorial on how I wrapped my Christmas presents below. It's nothing fancy, but I share a couple of tips I've learned which I hope you find helpful!

xoxo

Anna

Fashion Friday: Visiting Santa Claus!

Today was Emilia's first visit to Santa Claus! We didn't bring her last year because she was so tiny and probably would have slept through it but this year she actually got to enjoy it! We went to Fota Island's Believe which we had heard was the best place to go in Cork. It definitely didn't disappoint...I don't think I've ever experienced a more magical or well-organised Winter Wonderland! Emilia got to meet the elves & Mrs. Claus first, before being brought on a train ride up to Santa's cabin. We got offered hot chocolate & mulled wine, we were showered with fake snow, she got to hang a candy cane on the Christmas tree and we even met a 10 week old husky puppy!! This was the highlight of the day for me - I'm the kind of person who really shouldn't be allowed around puppies...seriously, it's dangerous. I think I would have 20 dogs if I could. Something happens to me when hold a new pup, I get a whiff of his fluffy adorableness and before you know it I'm smuggling him into my bag. :-/ 

Here's what Emilia & I wore to our Santa visit! We made sure to wrap up warm as the train ride is quite cold. She is wearing a purple, pink & turquoise fleece set (top & pants) from The Children's Place, her bow & headband are from Layniebug Designs and her shoes are from Clarke's. My cardigan is from Vila, the leggings are by Selected, boots are Chinese Laundry and my scarf is from Soaked in Luxury.

And here is our Santa photo! I can't decide whether Emilia looks more petrified or just totally unimpressed!

xoxo

Anna