LIFE UPDATE.

Seeing as it's a new year I've decided to try and blog more often - this will be my creative outlet aside from my life as a soon to be mother of 2 under 2 years old. Though I'll be writing about my lovely children, I'll also be doing lifestyle, fashion and beauty posts. First up is a life update, just to put things in perspective. 

So, my daughter Emilia is about to turn 1 on January 12th. We want to make it a special event even though she won't remember it, so we're inviting our parents, close family and my best friend to my mums' house for a little tea party. It's going to be pink themed (typical, i know) as Emilia loves Minnie Mouse; I'm hoping that she'll like seeing the banners and balloons and bright colours. She's going to be given so much attention by our family and friends, she'll be completely in her element. I just wish she had baby friends.. Of course she'll have her little sister when she's born but I think this year we're going to make more of an effort to introduce Emilia and baby O to some other children so they can get used to child interaction before they go off to nursery (sob!!). We're going to take lots of pictures at Emilia's party so we can put them in a giant scrap book and show her when she's older, I'll hopefully do a post about it too.

MY SECOND TRIMESTER ESSENTIALS.

Having just entered my 18th week of pregnancy I've discovered a few items and products that have become my essentials that have helped me out over these grueling past couple of weeks! I'm a firm believer in finding bargains and only having the occasional splurge so the majority of these products (if not all) are totally affordable.

1. & 2. Maternity leggings and jeans. I think I speak for many pregnant ladies when I say during the second trimester your old clothes start to feel a bit tight. Sometimes through pregnancy weight gain, the majority of the time due to your uterus growing. It's not great wearing jeans or leggings that cut into your belly - you feel sick, you feel like you need to pee waaay more than usual, you feel like your whole body is expanding; last thing you want are tight bottoms cutting off your circulation! My personal favourites are these MAMA leggings from H&M, they're £7.99, they're not see-through and they are so comfy and versatile - I wore them throughout the whole of my last pregnancy! My favourite jeans at the moment are these maternity Moto black ripped Leigh jeans from Topshop, they're £40 but completely worth the money, especially seeing as most girls during pregnancy (especially the last stages) seem to alternate between the same 2-3 outfits haha, I certainly did/do! The way I see it is when you're pregnant, why substitute style for comfort when you can have both? I find that H&M and Topshop are the best retailers for affordable pregnancy style.

EMILIA'S AUTUMN WARDROBE.

Seeing as my darling daughter has just started wearing 9-12 month clothes I thought it was time she had some new, weather-appropriate clothes. She's a lot more active now and she enjoys going on walks (in her pushchair, haha) and she loves going to the park and going on the baby swings, so it's about time she got some cute, warm clothes!

Right now I'm loving the selection of baby girl clothes in Primark, the pink sweater with the navy polkadot elbow pads was from there and was around £6, very impressed with the quality and durability of this item. The grey socks were part of a pack of 4 or 5 and are from Next and were £5, they are perfect as they are super soft and stay on baby's feet thanks to the roll-top. The faux fur hooded gilet was also from Next, I believe it was around £15, here is one similar. These trusty denim-style jeggings were from Matalan, they were £5 and I find them so easy to pair with anything!

HOUSE PROGRESS // BEDROOM, HALLWAY AND BEAUTY ROOM.

I've recently been doing some painting, it kinda feels like I've been desperate to get the house perfect so I can finally relax and enjoy my beautiful daughter and this lovely weather we've been having - nothing wrong with that I guess. There's still a lot to do, but I'm getting there each month. This month I've painted the entryway and landing, the beauty room and our bedroom.

Before...