What I Ate Wednesday {12.12.17}

Sorry this blog post is late but the run up to Christmas and end of term has been crazy! Blogging and YouTube have sort of taken a backseat for the short time-being just so I could catch my breath as it's been so busy preparing for Christmas and all of the festivities involved with Emilia & Eduardo's school. I also made a conscious decision not to let myself get unnecessarily stressed out this year and it has been an amazing feeling! I love Christmas but sometimes you lose sight of what it's all about as you can get too caught up in minor details and end up feeling stressed or overwhelmed. So I do apologise if you've been missing the regular posts on here, but please know that I'm not going anywhere I just will always prioritise being a mum over everything else! 

Having said that I did manage to film a What I Ate Wednesday this week...didn't get it up on time but better late than never! This was my breakfast - my winter staple of warm muesli with almond milk, black coffee & water.

Lunch was a ham, cheese and pickle toasted sandwich with cherry tomatoes & fresh pickles (one tomato and one pickle slice is missing from this picture, haha!). I also had another bottle of water.

Later that afternoon I made myself an almond milk cappuccino and had one of these Kind bars with caramel, almonds & sea salt. I feel like I say this all the time but these are delicious! My favourite part is the caramel coating underneath. 

In between my snack and dinner I got really hungry right before putting the children to bed so I grabbed an apple from the fridge. Pink Lady apples are my all-time favourites!

Finally after a rather stressful bedtime routine it was time for our dinner! We had baked salmon and mixed veggies in a coconut cream sauce. The vegetables are sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas and I also added some seasoning & fresh dill. This is one of our staple mid-week meals and the kids love it too. I also drank another bottle of water with this!

I genuinely could not stop laughing at this most pathetic photo of a mince pie EVER! I'm so sorry for this rubbish presentation but this is the reason why I'm no food blogger!! I love mince pies but I'm the only one in the family who eats them! So putting one in the oven each time just seems so silly (it would make more sense if we were heating up half a dozen) plus it takes about 10 mins which frankly is too long when your stomach is grumbling! So I shoved this one in the microwave for what ended up being too long and it kind of collapsed! Then I added some double cream but it just looks like a puddle. Not the prettiest looking pudding in the world but it did taste amazing!! 

If you want to see a bit of what Alessia ate today as well as the video version of this WIAW, you can click play on the video above and let me know what your favourite Christmas treat is! Mine is definitely mince pies!

What I Ate Wednesday {5.12.17}

Today I was inspired by Emilia's English muffin she was eating for her breakfast and decided to have one too! I actually kind of forgot about them as I've been really into hot breakfasts like porridge or muesli with warm milk but this is another one of my favourites as well! I love the combination of banana and peanut butter so this is super yummy. I toasted a muffin, then slathered both halves with peanut butter, topped with banana and a sprinkle of chia seeds. I also had a black coffee and bottle of water.

For lunch I had an egg salad wrap (basically egg, mayonnaise & cress). My favourite kind are the seeded wraps which I find more filling & satisfying than the white ones. I also had some cherry tomatoes, cucumber and another bottle of water.

Later that afternoon I made myself an almond milk cappuccino and had one of these Graze fruity flapjacks. They are so delicious! I've got Emilia into them as well and she loves them. 

We always have quite a big gap between snack and dinner as we eat later than the children and sometimes their bedtime has a tendency to drag on so I end up getting really hungry! Bedtime with three exhausted kids can also be very stressful...so sometimes you need a little something to get you through, hahaha!  On my way downstairs to get Emilia's reading, I stuffed my face with two chocolate chip brioches which were left over from Saturday's breakfast (one even had a bite taken out of it...I have no shame!!) and an opened packet of Maltesers which I had taken two out from the day before in an effort to bribe Emilia & Eduardo to smile for our Christmas family picture. This is real life folks! 

For dinner we had salmon fishcakes filled with hollandaise sauce, home made sweet potato chips and green beans. I had another two bottles of water before bed and was quite full from earlier so didn't feel like anything else after this!  

And here's today's video for you to enjoy! I didn't include the cooking bits today just because it was a hectic day with loads of people coming in & out of the house, plus Jonathan and Izzy were working all day on #SJXMAS...basically we need a bigger house and I need an office!! Hahaha...but seriously though. It gets pretty crazy in our house with three kids, six dogs and two adults who both work from home! Anyway, hope you enjoy and let me know what you ate today! 

Postpartum Body Image

What I'm Wearing in This Outfit

Ade Cropped Fluffy Jumper - AllSaints

Hunter Stretch Modal Blend Skinnies - Splendid

Taupe Suede Lunata Heeled Boots - Toms (out of stock)

Army Jacket with Embroidered Artwork and Quilted Lining - Maison Scotch

Necklaces - Topaz Birthstone Star Choker in gold-plated

Scorpio Zodiac Necklace gold plated (45cm chain)

Bracelets - Scorpio Zodiac Charm Bracelet in gold-plated (medium length)

Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée Signature Bracelet in Yellow Gold

Louis Vuitton Box it Bracelet (leather strap)

Earrings - Tiffany & Co Soleste Earrings in Rose Gold

Rose gold watch - Michael Kors

Neverfull MM Handbag - Louis Vuitton

Makeup

- Heliocare Gel SPF 50

- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque

- Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Medium Beige

- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth

- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher

- BareMinerals Invisible Glow Highlighter in Fair to Light

- Benefit Browzings in 04

- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02

- Urban Decay Primer Potion

- Buxom May Contain Nudity Eyeshadow Palette

- YSL Shocking Eyeliner Pen

- YSL Babydoll Mascara in Black

- Bobbi Brown Lipliner in Cocoa

- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.

Today's video is an important one and a topic that I very feel strongly about. Postpartum body image is something that often gets swept under the carpet and women are expected to effortlessly "bounce back" a few short weeks after giving birth. The pressure put upon us by the traditional media (TV, magazines, etc.) our diet-obsessed culture and more recently social media to live up to these impossible standards is overwhelming. I feel like our whole sense of what's important post baby has become completely warped and in a world full of technology & apps to solve every problem, people are forgetting to just trust their instincts. Women don't need a crash diet to "lose the baby weight" as quickly as possible, they need love & support during those special first months with their baby. Instead of cutting calories they should be taking in more, especially if they're breastfeeding. Add starvation to sleep deprivation (both methods of torture) and you've got a recipe for disaster. I'm fed up with the horrible, unhealthy messages out there in the media shaming new mothers into thinking they're not good enough and urgently need to set a goal to change their bodies after giving birth. What a terrible message to send anybody, let alone someone who has just created a miracle. Let's all remember that the postpartum body everyone is so quick to find fault with and shame has just housed that little miracle and singlehandedly grown it for 9 months so I'd say it deserves a whole lot more respect than that. 

Alessia's 8 Month Update

Do you want to know something really embarrassing? Alessia has never even been featured on this blog. I know, awful!! So while there are hundreds of videos of her on YouTube and even pictures of her on Instagram, until now I had never managed to find the time to get some proper photos of her (taken by an actual camera and not a phone). So finally 8 months later...here she is! Alessia Francesca Saccone Joly in all of her beautiful blue-eyed glory. We happen to think she's adorable and I hope you all do too. 

Height/Weight: I actually don't know any of these because she hasn't been weighed or measured since she was about 4 months old! But she's growing and that's all that matters. She is in size 3 nappies and age 6-9 month clothes.  

Routine: At the moment Alessia's routine looks like this: 

7am - Wake up & breastfeed 

8am - Breakfast

9:30am - Breastfeed and nap of 1/2 hour

10am - Wake up

11am - Breastfeed (sometimes...she had actually dropped this and then she got ill so she picked it back up again)

11:30/11:45am - Lunch

12:30pm - Breastfeed followed by 2 hour nap

2:30pm - Wake up

4pm - Breastfeed

5pm - Dinner

6pm - Bath, breastfeed & bed

Sleeping: Alessia sleeps for 1/2 an hour in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon and is normally fast asleep by 7pm until 7am. She was sleeping through the night but again, recently she's been feeling poorly so she has been waking in the night off & on. It's not every night though and I think once she gets back to normal so will her sleep.

Eating: Alessia loves her solid food and she eats a considerably large amount for such a small baby! She never ceases to amaze me with how much food she can put away...especially breakfast! She normally has three courses: porridge, fruit purée and toast! She likes to eat most things though she does like banana & avocado purée the best and is a fan of root vegetables. She doesn't mind peas or broccoli but hates spinach & courgettes. She has tasted beef, pork, chicken, salmon and a tiny bit of cod. I have finally got her to drink from a sippy cup which until this month she absolutely refused. I had to feed her water from a spoon! But now she seems to like her cup and I don't have to fight her to drink from it anymore. 

Milestones

- She has four teeth! She grew her two front top ones this past month although one of them grew in after the other so she looked like a little jack-o-lantern there for a while!

- She can give me a high-five and wave bye-bye

- She recognises people by their names...so if I mention "daddy" she knows where to look and same thing for "Emilia", "Eduardo" and "doggies". 

- She's standing a lot (assisted) and has taken a few steps holding onto our hands. I feel like she likes standing more than the other two did, or at least she prefers it to sitting! 

- Lots of babbling and chatting away but no first words yet! We're still waiting patiently. 

What I Ate Wednesday {28.11.17}

9:20am

Here's what I ate today! Breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast; I make mine with 2 eggs, almond milk, salt & pepper. I fry everything in a bit of coconut oil and serve on top of well-buttered seeded toast. So filling and delicious! I also had my usual black coffee & bottle of water.

12:15pm

For lunch I made myself a wholewheat bagel with tuna, mayonnaise and sweetcorn with a side of pickles. I am NOT pregnant but for some reason have been seriously loving pickles lately?! No idea why... I also had another bottle of water.

3:45pm

In the afternoon I got hungry again so made myself an almond milk cappuccino and had a caramel almond & sea salt Kind bar. These are AMAZING! Especially the caramel at the bottom...this is the yummiest snack. I also drank another bottle of water.

Later on in the evening (while putting the kids to bed) I got hungry again as we eat so late so had a banana which I ate so fast I didn't get a chance to take a photo...sorry! 

7:20pm

For dinner we had turkey lasagne with carrots, mushrooms & homemade béchamel sauce. It was good but I personally think it's better with beef or lamb or full vegetarian. But Jonathan's been trying to eat less red meat so this was his request! I used a Jamie Oliver recipe however there were lots of modifications...so it's not this exact one! I also had another bottle of water with dinner.

8pm

Ocado were sold out of these cookies for so long and it broke my heart because they were the best thing ever! These are their walnut studded Belgian chocolate raisin & oat cookies and they are super chewy, American style. I had one this evening but the night before I ate two and went to bed full which was a mistake, haha oops! I think my eyes are bigger than my belly! Although full disclosure after this one cookie I also had two chocolate Oreos!! 

That's everything I ate today. Let me know what you ate in the comments below & if you've ever tried these amazing cookies! 

And here's the video version, where you can see a little bit of how I cooked everything! Let me know if you like this style better.

November Favourites 2017

What I'm Wearing in This Outfit

Tara Sand Curved Hem Jumper - Joules

Distressed jeans - Ted Baker (out of stock)

Boots - YSL (out of stock)

Necklaces - Topaz Birthstone Star Choker in gold-plated

Scorpio Zodiac Necklace gold plated (45cm chain)

Bracelets - Scorpio Zodiac Charm Bracelet in gold-plated (medium length)

Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée Signature Bracelet in Yellow Gold

Louis Vuitton Box it Bracelet (leather strap)

Earrings - Tiffany & Co Soleste Earrings in Rose Gold

Rose gold watch - Michael Kors

Makeup

- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque

- Bare Minerals Original Foundation in Medium Beige

- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth

- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher

- BareMinerals Ready Luminizer Duo

- Benefit Browzings in 04

- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02

- Bobbi Brown Lipliner in Cocoa

- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.

I realise this outfit is basically the exact same as my last post except I swapped out the jumper for a different one! But I've been loving this look lately; ripped skinny jeans, an oversized jumper and ankle boots. The perfect autumn uniform! 

And here are my favourite products for the month of November! There's a mish-mash of beauty, skincare, children's products and err...food. Well that's nothing new really when it comes to my favourites! I've linked all the products below in case you want to check them out.

1. Buxom May Contain Nudity Eyeshadow Palette

2. Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Bloom Perfume

3. BareMinerals bareSkin Perfecting Veil Medium

4. First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue Blemish Patrol Pads

5. Kiehl's Creme de Corps Body Moisturiser

6. Childs Farm Blackberry & Organic Apple Hair and Body Wash

7. Childs Farm Baby Moisturiser

8. Skin Doctor InGrow Go

9. Rude Health The Ultimate Organic Muesli

10. Graze Original Fruity Flapjack

What I Ate Wednesday {14.11.17}

My breakfasts have been quite boring lately but I tend to just reach for the same thing almost every morning because it's easy and quick! Today I had Rude Health The Ultimate Muesli (which is amazing) with almond milk, heated in the microwave for 1 min 30 seconds and that's it! The perfect breakfast which keeps me full till lunch time. I also had a black coffee & bottle of water (like always). 

Lunch was a bagel with chicken salad filling (not pictured because I got distracted and forgot). The chicken salad was basically grilled chicken, mayo, peas, cucumber, pickle and some seasoning. It was really yummy and I'm so sad I never took a photo of it! But my two gorgeous girls, Annie & Amy-Lou came round to my house for cake & tea so I was having too much fun and just forgot! They brought me this amazing rocky road cake from Lola's Cupcakes which we all ate a slice of after lunch and I also had a cappuccino...the combination was divine! 

For dinner we had mashed potatoes, veggie sausages (these are the Cauldron cumberland style sausages - really recommend them!) and green beans, broccoli & peas. I'm just now realising I ate quite a lot of peas today, hahaha! I had a bottle of water with lunch & dinner. 

After dinner I decided to keep it a bit healthy and had an orange with a mini packet of quinoa chips. And that was it!

You can also watch the video of today's What I Ate Wednesday here! I hope you enjoy and let me know what you ate today in the comments below! 

Mermaid Hair Tutorial

The irony of this blog post is that although the video I put up is all about how to achieve my wavy "mermaid hair", in these photos my hair is straight. Haha, oops! This is actually the outfit I wore on Halloween night. No I didn't dress up...I was too cold and getting all three kids (and the dogs believe it or not) into costumes proved difficult enough so I didn't bother! I do love our pumpkin family though, I think my favourite outfit posts are those taken around this time of year purely for the fact that these cute little orange guys make their annual cameo in the background! 

What I'm Wearing in This Outfit

Ribbed pink jumper - MiH Jeans (out of stock)

Distressed jeans - Ted Baker (out of stock)

Boots - YSL (out of stock)

Necklaces - Topaz Birthstone Star Choker in gold-plated

Scorpio Zodiac Necklace gold plated (45cm chain)

Bracelets - Scorpio Zodiac Charm Bracelet in gold-plated (medium length)

Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée Signature Bracelet in Yellow Gold

Louis Vuitton Box it Bracelet (leather strap)

Earrings - Tiffany & Co Soleste Earrings in Rose Gold

Rose gold watch - Michael Kors

Makeup

- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque

- Bare Minerals Original Foundation in Medium Beige

- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth

- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher

- BareMinerals Ready Luminizer Duo

- Benefit Browzings in 04

- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02

- Urban Decay Primer Potion

- Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette

- YSL Shocking Eyeliner Pen

- Benefit They're Real Mascara

- Bobbi Brown Lipliner in Cocoa

- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.

If you do want to see how I achieve my wavy hair look, then check out the video above! Here is a list of products I featured: 

Nume Curl Jam 3 in 1 (32mm wand)

L'Oreal Elnett Hairspray Extra Strength

Batiste Dry Shampoo XXL Volume 

My Night Time Routine | Get Unready with Me

What I'm Wearing in This Outfit

Henley top - Free People (sold out)

Embroidered jeans - Abercrombie & Fitch (out of stock)

Boots - YSL (out of stock)

Necklaces - Topaz Birthstone Star Choker in gold-plated

Scorpio Zodiac Necklace gold plated (45cm chain)

Bracelets - Scorpio Zodiac Charm Bracelet in gold-plated (medium length) 

Van Cleef & Arpels Perlee Signature Yellow Gold Bracelet

Louis Vuitton Box it Bracelet (leather strap)

Earrings - Tiffany & Co Soleste Earrings in Rose Gold

Rose gold watch - Michael Kors

Makeup

- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque

- Bare Minerals Original Foundation in Medium Beige

- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth

- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher

- BareMinerals Ready Luminizer Duo

- Benefit Browzings in 04

- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02

- Urban Decay Primer Potion

- Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette

- YSL Shocking Eyeliner Pen

- Benefit They're Real Mascara

- Bobbi Brown Lipliner in Cocoa

- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.

Today's video is a highly requested one; my night time routine/get unready with me! I do apologise for the crap lighting but this was filmed at 9pm and in a house full of sleeping children and dogs, I didn't really want to haul a big studio light into my bathroom!! Anyhow, I hope you find this helpful as this is exactly what I do every night before bed (minus the fake tan, that only happens twice a week). Here is a list of the products mentioned in case you missed them!

Products Used/Mentioned

Caroline Hirons x Pixi Double Cleanse

Emma Hardie Cleansing Cloth

Oral B SmartSeries 6000 Toothbrush

Janina Ultrawhite Intense Toothpaste

Zoella Beauty Gelato Shower Shake

Obagi Foaming Gel Cleanser

Obagi ClenziDerm Pore Therapy

Obagi ClenziDerm Therapeutic Lotion

Sanex 0% Deodorant for Sensitive Skin

Oral B Satin Floss

Tata Harper Restorative Eye Creme

Tata Harper Rebuilding Moisturiser for Oily/Combination Skin

Dove DermaSpa Summer Revive for Medium to Dark Skin

Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Cream