Happy Halloween

Hope you have had plenty of treats and not so many tricks!

I was lucky enough to see the new James Bond film "Skyfall" today. I have to say (as someone who isn't a massive Bond fan) it's incredible! Our local cinema does a mum and baby screening on a Wednesday morning which is fantastic if you can't easily get a baby sitter.

I definitely don't look like a princess at the moment since my daughter had started waking every 2 hours to feed!

Here are the aspects of the challenge I am managing to stick to: exfoliate weekly, use an anti-ageing skin cream, apply eye cream, intensive nail treatment, go for a walk daily, eat a healthy breakfast daily, remove make-up each night, de-fuzz regularly, have one early night per week, give up crisps and finally only have two cups of tea per day.

I really hope these a good "habits" that I will continue after the 100 days is up. It's also led me to think about what other sort of challenges I would like to undertake in a 100 day time frame. My current favourite is 100 days of doing something kind for strangers. Let me know if you have any challenge ideas for me!

Here is the day in pictures...

I ate Lindt chocolate

I applied Ojon hair treatment

I admired my new camera

I wore Mango jodhpurs

It's Monday!

And the clocks changing has made baby's sleep pattern go a bit amiss! She was up 4 times last night so I am pretty tired today!

She woke up at 6am this morning (I have been trying to get her into a 7am wake up) and then was so tired she fell asleep at 8.30am for an hour.

I very much enjoyed her nap and used the time to get dinner in the slow cooker (chicken, bacon and leeks) and do some washing.

My eyebrows are a tad wayward and my nails need touching up but these will have to wait for later.

I have decided that this week I will go back to exercise classes, feeling ready and want to step up my activity levels in the final part of the challenge!

Poo, floods, nails and Christmas!

After another night of being up every 2 hours, it was pretty hard to drag myself out of bed today. But my little girl was due her vaccinations so I had to be ready to go.

So I managed to get her and I ready and then the phone rang at 8.30am- the GP cancelled the appointment as the nurse had phoned in sick. This put me in a rather bad mood!

Things didn't improve as baby is teething and spent the morning screaming like crazy and chewing everything that went her way.

Luckily I felt a bit better when I met my lovely friend who is going through exactly the same thing- shared experience really does help give you perspective on things.

I set off home with a new, positive outlook and looked forward to an afternoon of reading a book about baby led weaning and having a herbal tea. About half way home my little one started screaming, thinking it was teeth again I picked her up to give her a cuddle. Strange...the car seat is wet...my hand is wet!

Yes, it was an epic nappy. All the while she was still screaming and I was trying to figure out how to get the baby gro and tights off without covering the poor child who was already wearing poo from knee to ankle!

I caved and am not afraid to admit that I started crying! The combination of being unable to settle her, feeling knackered and having a child covers in poo was rather overwhelming.

I took a very deep breath and ran a bath (she loves the bath!), grabbed a pair of disposable gloves and managed to extract her from the tights and baby gro without too many problems.

As soon as I put her in the bath she was splashing and cooing away like nothing had happened!

Feeling a little better, after I got her dressed and settled in her baby chair I tackled the clothes. I decided to pop them on a rinse cycle in the wash first. And then the kitchen flooded...

Oh dear. It took so long to mop it all up and I felt more sorry for myself then ever. My lovely other half came home from work early and made me a cup of tea and a fish finger butty. Order was restored.

Thankfully I managed to get her down to bed around 8pm so I have done my nails, had a cider and am having a little chill out time before sleeps.

On the plus side I bought my first Christmas present today! I won't say what it is but it's lovely and I can't wait for it to arrive.

Here is the day in pictures.

I ate homemade apple and raisin pie.

I applied Leighton Denny polish in Starlet.

I admired my new Baby-led weaning cookbook.

The dreaded vaccinations

I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning. Not just because I will more than likely be tired but because I am taking my daughter for her vaccinations.

Last time she was grumpy and hot afterwards and I am dreading the sme reaction this time, especially given that she is so unsettled.

The rest of my day went pretty well, managed to knock up a home made apple pie for desert- yum!

Spent quite a bit of time finding various bits to eBay- needs must considering that my savings are nearly gone and maternity pay isn't great.

This means that any beauty treats will have to be presents for my birthday next month as I definitely can't afford to be buying them for myself!

I am pretty excited as the allotment man said I should have a plot by new year- cant wait to grow my own fruit and veg and get some fresh air. Mind you my friends might well get sick of me passing endless crops of veg to them.

The dreaded sleep regression!

Wow, it's been really crazy here lately with my sister visiting and getting out and about with friends.

Unfortunately my daughter has hit the 17 week sleep regression phase and has gone from sleeping 10pm until 6am to being up every 2 hours at night. Not only is it making mummy and daddy tired- it's also making the poor tot tired! Apparently it's caused by a period of intense brain development which causes sleep disturbance.

We are a bit tired and a bit grumpy and she still refuses a bottle so it feels like we are really up against it at the moment. I would love to get out to an exercise class but don't have the energy or motivation!

Hopefully I can settle her at a reasonable time tonight and post properly!

Follow me on Twitter!

Just to let you know you can now follow me on Twitter @beaubellabellez

Tea and cake with lovely ladies and lovely babies.

Today I was lucky to go to an indoor picnic at a fellow mummy's house. We were very well looked after with a lovely veggie frittata, homemade raspberry muffins, crudités, dips and lovely scones!

As you can guess I've had several cups of tea so probably too much caffeine!

Tonight I am being truly spoiled as my sister and her boyfriend are looking after baby while I have a chill out. I've done a lovely Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel, exfoliated and moisturised my feet and had a lovely play around with my new Leighton Denny winter colours which I am loving!

I can highly recommend the Leighton Denny Miracle Drops which speed up drying time of your polish- unlike other sprays and drops that claim to dry quickly, these genuinely work. A great buy for mums on the go!

The day in pictures:

I applied...Leighton Denny Take a Bow.

I admired...Leighton Denny nail collection.

I wore...H and M cardigan.

The weekend is here!

Hi everyone,

It's cold outside but the sun is shining and we are sitting in a cafe by the river having breakfast- sausage butty for me, well it wad supposed to be a sausage butty but he ordered me a bacon one instead and scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for my other half (no healthy breakfast today but the 4 mile walk to town and back will burn it off!)

We got up early so we could get all of our jobs done before lunch and can have family time for the rest of the day.

I got my eyebrows done while my partner bought swim nappies for baby then we took her for her first trip to the library (she slept!). We bought some birthday cards for our friends and even had time to take some rubbish to the tip.

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday morning.

I ate...bacon sandwich

I admired...paintings by local artists.

Let me know what you think of our new look!

Hi everyone,

I did eventually get off to sleep last night but not before I had played about with the blog following some feedback from readers. Please let me know how I can improve it further.

I am amazed to say that people from the UK, US, Greece, Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Canada and France are reading the blog! It's incredible to think that people have stumbled across this little piece of the internet. So a big big thank you to all of my readers!

Today we went into town to meet my friend and her lovely little girl. We had several cups of tea and some lunch and indulged in a bit of shoe shopping at Office. I was incredibly jealous of the lovely pink Converse that my friend bought and had to talk myself out of buying a leopard print pair after deciding that I am clearing out my wardrobe rather than filling it! You can click on the link to see what you think!

In terms of Princessing, the good I have done today has probably been out-done by the wine and chocolate I am currently consuming. Ah well, can't be good all the time! I have managed to walk a lot, do my cleansing-toning-moisturising routine and drink some water. The heartburn has put me off taking my vitamins- I have been swallowing Gaviscon instead!

Our lovely daughter has discovered that she can scream, she has been practising her new skill for a lot of the afternoon. It's really hard not to encourage her by laughing too much. She spent half an hour lying on the playmat in the kitchen screaming happily as I made dinner. That was after she decided to dunk her head completely underwater in the bath so that she could drink some of the water. My heart was beating so so fast I thought my chest would explode, my little girl thought it was great fun and was eager to do it again so bath-time was cut short!

So here is the day in pictures:

I ate.....I applied.....I admired.....I wore.....

No, I haven't eaten the whole bag (yet!)

L'Oreal ColorAppeal Platinum in Metal Plum (well used!)

Scarf from Miss Selfridge

Macmillan Thank-you card following coffee morning

Evening (or should that be morning) all...

Well it's past midnight and I can't sleep! My daughter has been asleep for a couple of hours now but I am wide awake. Don't feel sorry for me- I had a nap at 6pm and that's what is keeping me up now.

It's cold and dark here but I an enjoying lounging around on the sofa wrapped up in my cuddly dressing gown and listening to the rain outside.

So what have I decided to get up to on this rare baby free time? Well I've sorted out a pile of washing and unpacked the dishwasher. Then I thought- this is complete madness! What you should do is sit down, get comfortable and just enjoy the silence!

As for princessing, I managed to get back on the healthy breakfast bandwagon with porridge to start my day. I also drank a lot of water (and milk as I had terrible heartburn). I cleansed, toned and moisturised as usual and took my little one out for a walk which she slept through. My fruit intake has been terrible, largely due to the heartburn and I also had some fizzy juice. Oops!

My eyebrows are now taking over my face and being dark haired, they are very very obviously out of control. Roll on Saturday so I can have them threaded as my partner watches the baby.

I'm really excited as my sister is coming down from Scotland to visit, I haven't seen her in a couple months so it will be great to catch up properly. She has just found herself a nice house to move into with her boyfriend so I have bought them a couple of presents for their new place. I also had a clear out of my own cupboards and have lots of glasses/mugs/utensils etc to give them.

I'll be back later today to fill you in on my activities, I've decided to re-start "bottle wars" with my little girl so I may be a tad frazzled by 10am!

I am a woman, hear me roar!

I felt I needed some sort of battle cry before continuing the wardrobe detox! Today I have listed another 6 items on eBay and I have another bag of clothes to go to charity.

The ironing basket now only has bedding and a couple of shirts in it so the utility room looks a lot better.

Now I need to find some sturdy storage for shoes (any suggestions lets know) and find some way of organising my clothes. Last but not least I need to tackle the dreaded laundry basket, a task I am dreading!

On the princessing front, I didn't go for a walk today as my baby is still poorly. I don't like the thought of her infecting everyone else so decided to keep her indoors! I have really let the body brushing go over the last week so I resolve to start again tomorrow!

Managed to do my nails today, the usual cleanse, tone and moisturise, use hair oil and drink some water. It's axing how things become habit and I now don't think twice about doing them.

I ate Smoked Salmon, Shallots and Lemon Zest Spaghetti

I applied Chanel Le Vernis in Frenzy

I admired the ironing basket in its new neat form!

New found organisation...

It's been a busy day today- my little one still didn't have her voice back by morning and was a bit wheezy so I decided to take her to see the doctor just incase she had a chest infection- luckily it's just a virus and we have been told to give her plenty of calpol and keep her warm and comfy. Poor little thing hasn't been her usual cheerful self- it's really hard seeing her upset and it feels like one thing after another for her.

On the plus side I got rid of the charity clothes to Oxfam and filled another bag which I will drop off tomorrow to British Heart Foundation. There's an entire street of charity shops close by so I thought I would start at the bottom and work my way along giving each one a bag of clothes.

I also filled a black bag to take to the tip- it's all the stained/unrepairable stuff that not even the charity shops would use.

I am really really thirsty today so hae had loads of water- I think it's putting the heating on that's done it. Did a 4 mile walk, cleansed, toned, moisturised and planned a Saturday eyebrow appointment. Currently doing my nails- just waiting for the base coat to dry before I put the polish on.

Tomorrow we have a play date in the afternoon so really hope my little one is a bit better!

Organisation hmmm what organisation

Hi everyone!

It's not been a bad day on the princessing front. Had a healthy breakfast of fruit and water, walked 4 miles, cleansed, toned and used eye cream and managed a full body moisturise. Managed to stick to my 2 cups of tea a day too.

I did forget my vitamins though (as I woke up late) and had some coke at lunch time as I felt a bit tired!

My new found wardrobe organisation has really helped- I managed to wake up late this morning but pulled an outfit (with accessories) straight out of the wardrobe- yay!

Not so organised is my lovely partner who, despite having a calendar, iPhone, iPad and diary has confused his night shifts and we now cannot attend our friends wedding. Men!!

Here's the day in pictures:

I ate slow cooked ham baked in cola (loving the slow cooker for winter comfort food!)

I applied Benefit "You Rebel" tinted moisturiser.

I admired my eBay parcels ready to post and the bag of clothes for the charity shop.

Who wants a rummage in my drawers?!

No, I don't mean like THAT!

Princessing is spilling over into other areas of my life, looking and feeling better is influencing my choice of clothes and for that reason I have decided to embark on a wardrobe detox.

As you'll see from the pictures below its quite a mess really, waaay to many things I don't like/don't fit into/don't remember buying! And I have a habit of buying very similar things (4 pairs of red shoes, 6 black clutch bags anyone?!).

So here's my wardrobe detox plan:

1. Sort shoes and handbags- eBay those I no longer like, arrange the ones I am keeping into boxes or on hangers.

2. Sort clothes hanging in wardrobe into 3 piles: keep, eBay, throw out.

3. Take my dry cleaning TO THE DRY CLEANER!!

4. Repeat step 2 for the ironing basket and laundry basket.

Anything that doesn't sell on eBay will be donated to charity. I also bought matching sets of velvet hangers which allow me to get loads more stuff into the wardrobe and keeps it neat.

So here's the wardrobe in pictures::

Now even the Jehovah's Witnesses have seen it!

Oh yes, there are no limits as to how many people I can expose my boobs too!

There was a knock at the door while I was feeding baby and I rushed to answer it. Standing at the door were two very young women who looked slightly shocked and said "Oh you seem to be busy...." I hurriedly tried to put my boobs away but the damage was done! They offered me a leaflet then made a hasty retreat.

It's our anniversary today so dinner was lamb in a rosemary and red wine sauce, washed down with a lovely Malbec. My mum has come down to help us out for a few days as we are feeling the pressure of having a constantly screaming baby!

Princessing has gone out the window a bit, I have been walking daily and applying my beauty products, my diet is shocking! Too much chocolate and cups of tea!

I've been neglecting my blog!

So I really have neglected the blog a little lately, mainly because life has been very busy!

We are going through a really unsettled patch with my little girl and a situation that I like to call "Bottle Wars". I am going back to work in January so I need to establish bottle feeding by then. I've been attempting to give her one bottle per day since she was 6 weeks old. She's now 14 weeks and isn't having any of it.

Today, we tried for 45 minutes. She screamed, screamed and then screamed some more and I eventually felt so worn out with things that I gave in and let her have boob! She then fell asleep for an hour and a half as she had tired herself with all the crying.

So to be quite honest I am at the stage of panic, I know I have plenty of time to get things sorted with the bottle but it's so so draining not being able to go very far incase she needs a feed all of a sudden. Even this weekend and the hen do my other half had to drive around with her in the car nearby where we were incase she got hungry!

In addition to this she is teething so everything is covered in a layer of baby drool! Poor girl is really upset with it and although chewing on her teething ring seems to help, she's still a bit hysterical at night. We are all pretty tired right now as she's not sleeping well