Entries from November 2015

Christmas gift ideas for baby girls

Earlier today I shared some adorable Christmas gift ideas for baby boys.  Now it’s the turn of the baby girls. I had such fun putting this list together because everything is so, so cute!  While I’ve called this a baby girl gift list, there are lots of things here that would work just as well for a baby boy too.

I’ve picked a selection of toys, clothes and useful things all with gorgeous design and lots of cuteness for babies aged 0-2 years.  So here are my favourite Christmas gift ideas for baby girls:

1.baby bear shaker toy | 2. dusky pink cotton twinset | 3. melamine bunny plate | 4. ricepuffy soft toy with knitted hat | 5. pingo the penguin soft toy | 6. cosy cocoon sleeping bag | 7. wooden heart wall music box | 8. reversible bunny bib | 9. knitted cloud sweater | 10. wooden baby rattle | 11. origami boat bath toys | 12. apple pillow | 13.pull along wooden train

Christmas gift ideas baby boys

I can’t believe I’m talking Christmas already – where has this year gone?! But Christmas is coming and that means it’s time for me to share some gift ideas with you.  Every year I ask you guys if you want gift lists and every year I get a big, huge yes!  So once again I will be sharing lots and lots of gift ideas for kids of different ages and some ideas for mums too.

To kick of this years gift list, I’ve got a whole range of Christmas gift ideas for baby boys.  Babies don’t need much but it’s always fun to spoil them especially at this time of the year.  So I’ve gathered a range of fun toys, a few clothes and books most of which are suitable for babies from 0-2 years.  I will be sharing a separate gift list for baby girls but as you’ll see there are many gifts on both lists that will be loved by baby boy or girl.

1. mountain cushion | 2. peter pan collar striped shirt | 3. penguin in sail boat bath toy | 4. simon the elephant wooden toy | 5.  pompom knit hat | 6.  whale soft toy (can be personalised) | 7.  metallic polka dot print leather bluchers | 8.  knitted tree trousers | 9.  animal mobile | 10. rabbit ears sweater | 11. camper van soft toy | 12.  musical mushroom | 13. my first storybook and fish toy

tips for getting to school on time

Lately (ok if I’m honest it’s ever since Anya started school) we were always in a mad rush to get out the door. No matter what, it always seemed that the last 10 minutes were a crazy panic to get to school on time.  We usually ended up arriving at school about a minute late or at best, bang on time.  It doesn’t matter if you have one child or four, I think so many of us have manic mornings.  And that got me thinking – why can’t we be just that 2-3 minutes earlier so that we aren’t running like crazies.  After 2 years plus of trying to beat the clock, I decided to make some changes to our morning routine.  Some worked and some didn’t – so I thought I would share the tips for getting to school on time that worked for us and helped us have less stressy mornings (maybe not stress-free everyday but definitely less frantic):

1.  Get up earlier than everyone else
This has been a game changer for me – maybe you all know this secret but I didn’t.  I started doing this at the start of this school year and I feel so much less stressed for it.  I lose around an hour of sleep, but it’s so worth it  – and yes I get up at least an hour earlier sometimes a bit more. Especially if you’re a working mum, that hour in the morning before everyone else is awake is a godsend.  I check my emails, think and plan the day ahead both work day and any family chores/errands that need to be done and most of all just get my head ready for the day.  Before, I got up with everyone else and tried to do this alongside everything else and it was mayhem. Now I really look forward to my hour of solitude in the morning – if I ever oversleep I feel cheated!

2.  Make a morning routine chart
We made a morning routine chart just over a month ago.  It simply lays out the order of what has to be done when so it saves me shouting out instructions and nagging every two minutes.  And I was doing a lot of shouting before this chart!  Now Anya looks at the chart every so often each morning and she knows what she has to do when.  I also built in ‘golden time’ which is a little play time in the morning if everything is done on time.  This has turned out to be a good incentive – even though Anya hardly ever manages to get golden time, she tries which makes her more likely to stop daydreaming and start getting ready.

3.  Sunday evening planning
There’s always something happening in school – from mufti days to bringing in autumn leaves for craft projects and so much more.  I have started spending just 5 minutes on Sunday evening reading school emails and putting reminders for the week in my phone.  I always set two reminders – one for a couple of days ahead in case anything needs to be bought or organised that requires time and one for the morning of the day.  In the past I have forgotten mufti day and the crestfallen look on Anya’s face when she was the only one in uniform at school taught me a lesson.  So plan ahead and know what’s in store for you for the entire week.

4.  Make a game of it!
Kids love games and love winning. Anya gets dressed at the same time as Richard so I have made a game of this – I challenge her to be dressed before he is.  She always wants to win so the speed at which she now gets her uniform on is amazing!  Before, getting Anya to put on her uniform could take upwards of 10 minutes.  Not any more.  This kind of challenge or any game can really speed things up in the morning so think about where you can do something like this in your morning routine.

6. Check the weather
Nothing is more frustrating than spending precious time in the morning madly hunting for things, while stress levels are climbing high because time is ticking. We live in London and that means we can have summer one day and winter the next so by checking the weather the night before I can get umbrellas’s, raincoats, wellie boots, scarves, hats etc ready and by the door instead of scrambling around in the morning.

7. Prepare your kids things the night before
An obvious one but I thought I would include it anyway as we all know we should do this but do you do it?  I didn’t because I would leave it till last thing at night by which time I was too tired so I always put it off till the morning. But then I started getting everything ready in the evening and this has made me much more inclined to do it.  So by around 7-7:30pm I get book bags ready, any PE/swimming kits packed and uniform hung up outside the wardrobe so it’s ready to be grabbed and worn.

These 7 tips have helped us get to school on time and avoid last minute scrambles and they’ve also made me feel calmer in the mornings.  Not every day – we still have those manic mornings but they are far less than they used to be.  What do you do to in the mornings?  Any tips – please share!

Have a wonderful weekend a hopefully a calm Monday morning!

unisex childrens tshirts UK

Do you know Wild Boys & Girls?  It’s a new label of purely unisex t-shirts and decor.  There is no boys section or girls section but instead everything is for everyone.  It’s so refreshing to see more unisex brands popping up – I am all for kids fashion that can be worn by both boys and girls and that’s why when I discovered Wild Boys & Girls, I had to collaborate with them.

korean kids fashion UKblack and white t-shirts for kids

I wonder what they were plotting!

Annie, the founder and designer, and I decided to organise a play date with our kids and mix and match up the clothes our kids wore – some from my shop and some from Annie’s collection.  As you can see (in the top picture), Felix is wearing the black & white feather print trousers from my shop which are supposed to be for girls but doesn’t he look so cool?  And Anya wears one of the Wild Boys & Girls tee’s with my tutu. 

mini dressing bear knee socks

Sharing secrets.

happy kids playing

It was clearly a good secret!

unisex kids clothes

No more photos please!!

There is so much amazing choice out there for gender specific clothes but not so much for unisex clothes. So it’s great to see a new brand doing purely unisex kids clothes.  In the past I have often shopped for Anya in the boys section but maybe it is easier for a girl to wear boys clothes?  So I’m wondering, would you consider looking at the girls section for your little boys?  Or do the clothes have to specifically be called unisex before you would consider them?

{Outfit 1: Anya wears wrinkle tutu skirt, Felix wears feather print trousers and all t-shirts by Wild Boys & Girls}
{Outfit 2: Anya wears frill neck tee, floral skirt and bear knee socks, Felix wears his own trousers and t-shirt and number cushions by Wild Boys & Girls}

mini eggs benedict

Eggs benedict is probably one of my favourite breakfasts ever.  But strangely I hardly ever eat it for breakfast, instead it’s a dinner thing for me;  especially on those lazy Sunday evenings when you don’t want to cook a full meal but still want something delicious.  The last time I made these eggs it occurred to me that I could make mini eggs benedict which would be fun for parties.  So I made these delicious little morsels when I had a few friends over and they were a hit.

To make these bite-sized mini eggs benedict you have to use quails eggs of course.  I had no intention of poaching these tiny eggs so they’re fried instead – a lot easier and just as tasty.  Also I have used a dash of sour cream instead of hollandaise sauce as hollandaise is tricky to make and even worse when you have people over.  I’ve adapted quite a few bits to make it work as party food but the result is delicious and very do-able.

MINI EGGS BENEDICT
Makes: 12

12 quails eggs
1 loaf brioche
6 rashers of pancetta
sour cream
chives
salt & pepper

Start by slicing your brioche and cutting out small discs using a cookie cutter or similar – around 4-5cm discs that are 1 cm high.  Next cook your pancetta rashers according to the instructions on the packet and drain on kitchen towel.  Cut each rasher in half.  I prefer pancetta to bacon for these mini eggs benedict because pancetta is thinner and crispier but you can use bacon if you prefer.

While the pancetta’s cooking,  heat two large frying pans – one to toast the brioche and the other to fry your quails eggs.  For the brioche, the pan should be very hot and once it is just put your discs in and turn over in about a 40-50 seconds at most – they toast really quickly.  For the quails eggs, you need little olive oil and then just fry the eggs a few at a time so that they don’t break. 

make mini eggs benedict

Now it’s time to assemble.  Place half a pancetta rasher on each brioche disc.  Top with a fried quails egg, season with salt and pepper, add a drizzle of sour cream and sprinkle with chopped chives.

In case your mini eggs benedict become cold while you’re preparing everything, just assemble (without adding sour cream and chives) and put them in the oven for a minute or two.

party food ideas mini eggs

These mini eggs benedict not only taste great but they look so good too.  And each little morsel is just the right size to give you a mouthful of delicious runny egg yolk with crispy pancetta and sweet, buttery brioche.  

mini eggs benedict

If you’d like a few more party food ideas, take a look at my mini fish and chips and these soy, honey and ginger skewers

*I’ve linked up to honest mum’s tasty Tuesdays.

Evolution a colouring book for kids

We love colouring in this house.  Anya of course loves it but she often asks me to colour with her and I find it quite therapeutic.  Recently, while on holiday during half-term, Anya even got Richard involved and the three of us spent a rainy afternoon colouring (who said we don’t know how to live!).  As with story books, I try and look out for fun, unusual and unique colouring books and this one called Evolution: A Colouring Book is exactly that.  It’s Anya’s current favourite (and mine!).

unique colouring books

Evolution is a colouring book as well as a book on evolution.  As a colouring book it’s interactive with flaps, die-cuts, stencils and mix and match pages and then you have the text on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The facts are presented simply so it’s ideal for kids especially 6-8 year olds.  Anya has been asking a lot of questions on evolution lately and this book is a great introduction to the concept.  But the fact that it’s an interactive colouring book too makes it even more engaging for a child.  It’s unusual to find a colouring book that teaches and is interactive and that’s why I love Evolution as it is so much more than just a coloring book.  This book would make a great gift too especially with Christmas coming up. 

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