Dressing Dapper This December – Toddler Boy Clothes Edition

As the carrier-arounder and main wardrobe consultant of a 20 month old, I find myself perusing the aisles of clothes shops these days mostly in the kids section – nothing there will make me feel bad about my own body, and the vast majority of it is so damn cute. I’m a demon for picking up little bits and going “Ah yeah sure of course he needs a millionth jumper, sure isn’t there a few euros off, it would be CRIMINAL to leave it there”, despite knowing he has an overflowing wardrobe thanks to this shopping habit and the generosity of friends and family who have kindly donated a hefty stylish wardrobe that will have the child dressed until he’s starting school. With that in mind, I have made the conscious decision to stick to the more economical brands – sadly this kicks Next off my Christmas list (see you in the sales, maybe) and a few others but the alternatives really do make up for such losses. Shh, look at the pretty tiny clothes…

Dressing Dapper for December - Toddler Boy Style Winter 2015

Absolute disclaimer; these are not things that are currently in my wardrobe (sigh), nor are they things I’ve been sponsored or bribed to say are wonderful (though if anyone is interested, feel free to contact me), I merely have a habit of staring at the gorgeous toddler clothes and mentally spending the entirety of my bank account on clothes he will outgrow within weeks. This sort of thing may work out slightly better on the old bank account. Maybe. (Perhaps I should hide the card for the rest of this post). Read More

Wrapped Up and Well Dressed; A Toddler Autumn/Winter Clothes Wishlist

toddler fashion cute animals warm functional four walls rainy days

I’ve got a problem. The toddler clothes, they make me want to spend far more money than I would normally justify on clothes. The fact that they’ll fit him for a grand total of three weeks is besides the point. There are so many animal prints, how could I leave out any?

I’m trying to be good at the moment, while also wanting to satisfy the part of me that fawns over these ridiculously cute (and functional, I have kept some form of common sense!) tiny clothes which cost me more than my wardrobe does in a year (sigh). It may be down to the fact that it’s not yet hitting the colder weather – sure, the Irish weather can’t decide whether or not it’s adopting a monsoon section to the year, but it’s still sticky warm and summer-clothes-only climate. I’ve restricted myself thus far to a wishlist, a “I’ll get that in a few weeks when I’ve got birthday money/payday/less self restraint” collection which will fill my child’s wardrobe with gorgeous animal prints, beautiful colours and more-cute-than-functional designs. If you’ve got a little boy, most of these clothes are from ranges which start at newborn and go up to 24 months – hopefully you’ll see something you like too!  Read More

Funky Giraffe Bibs – Cute, Dribble-Proof and One for Every Outfit

Funky Giraffe BibsReview and Giveaway

Since having E last year, I’ve bought a lot of baby bibs. For one thing, it took us a long time to figure out just how bad the staining was with sweet potato (never, ever ever use white bibs when your child is a messy eater), as well as sheer forgetfulness on my part to stick spare ones in the bag on our way out. The fact that they came in ridiculously cute designs merely added fuel to the fire, and sure “They’re only four euro”, the ever-lasting Penney’s trap, was at play at the same time. I’ve bought them in varying quality; some would be nearly considered disposable, others (the amazing wipe clean ones from Tommy Tippee) considered lifesavers and essential items. I’ve always had a soft spot for the multiple designs though, bandana bibs can truly make an outfit, they are full on baby accessories. So, when I got the chance to review some of the wonderful Funky Giraffe Bibs, I jumped at it. Read More

A Bit of a Gorgeous Nails Haul! Elegant Touch Sale Gone Mad

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I may have documented on here once or twice how much I’ve started liking to have my nails done pretty despite having crappy nails myself – the invention of false nails has definitely been a help in this. Normally I’ve picked them up in Boots on random wanders in, but lately I made a trip to the Elegant Touch website and discovered they have a sale on – DANGEROUS! I discovered quite a lot of bargains and so after splurging out a bit, lets call it investing, I managed to get 10 pairs for the price of 4 – not bad going for a random find! May as well do a bit of a “haul” post! (Usual programming of parenting, poo and caffeine addiction will resume shortly). Read More

What’s In My MakeUp Bag – War Paint for Mammy

There are three things I’d recommend anyone who has ever contemplated having a child start stockpiling now – coffee, baby wipes and a good concealer. It’s a hectic time of life, no doubt about it, and most days I find myself waking up more tired than I was when I went to bed thanks to a night time visitor who likes to practice his karate moves in his sleep. In an attempt to avoid people screaming with horror when my pale, red eyed face hits the world, there is the introduction of makeup. Before becoming a Mammy, I wasn’t hugely into everyday makeup. Nights out, yes, and as a teenager I lived for my eyeliner, but on a day to day basis I could take or leave it. It’s not that I had flawless skin and “was born with it”, no, I just wasn’t bothered. Motherhood seems to have given me a sense of needing to try new things, and in the early days of parenting, makeup was my mask to the world that showed them I was fine and doing well (even when I wasn’t).

makeup for parents who have not slept

Full disclosure; despite following numerous beauty bloggers and youtubers, I still have very little knowledge of techniques or the advantages to brush types. My knowledge is basic. Basic. But it does the trick. Read More

Got This Thing Nailed, A Giveaway!

If you follow me on Instagram* or are a long-time reader of this blog; you’ll know that over the last while I’ve grown a tiny little bit of an obsession with my nails. Mostly, in my case, fake nails, because I’ve a nervous tick of biting them and any attempt to kick this horrible habit hasn’t gone so well. What can I say, bit of a stressful year, but hey, that’s what the gorgeous false ones are for.

I’ve also recently been trying to spread the word about this blog, and all of it’s ramblings about nappies, PND and other such fun Mammy activities on different social media accounts, and I did mention a giveaway over the last few days. That time is now, so I’m combining my thanks to the lovely people who are reading my blog (new and old) and my obsession with pretty nails and having a nail product giveaway! These are all things I’ve picked up over the last while and stashed away as potential lovely bits to giveaway or use myself. I hope you like them! Read More

All of the Pretty Stationery… A foray onto Minted.com

Guide to Minted.com

 

Anybody who knows me, knows I’m a stationery fiend. I look at pretty notebooks – too pretty to write in – and try in my head to justify buying them just to add them to my collection. In college I had a lot of different notebooks – while this sated my pretty stationery buying urges, my lack of organisation to boot meant that finding random references written on random pages in various notebooks was a bit harder than it should have been, leading to panicked sessions of cramming for final projects. Many hours have been spent staring at the Paperchase website, and many others like it, trying to justify my future lack of food. Who needs food when there is pretty things in life? Read More

And Now For Something A Little Different

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I’ve been a blonde now for the last three and a half years; after flirting with a lot of other colours over the years, I seemed to like it being blonde and kept it that way. But lately I’ve been feeling a bit, well, bored with the whole thing. And I’ve been on Pinterest, which can never really lead to good things when unsupervised.

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Latest Beauty Finds

So it’s been a while since my materialistic retail therapy side paid a visit to the blog, indeed since the contents of my makeup bag did. January was a fairly, let’s say, sparse month for new things but between a payday flurry at the end of the month (who lets me loose in Boots??) and some stuff I got for Christmas but waited to try out, there have been some new additions crying out for attention. Read More