It’s almost upon us, the ‘month of love’ and while Valentines Day is often poorly labelled a ‘Hallmark Holiday’ I like the reminder it gives us to make sure the one we love knows how special they are to us. And as the saying goes, […]
Ahh, here we are again, playing the name game! This time we are tasked with choosing the perfect name for a boy and we’ve found it quite hard so far. I love a good traditional name while Sean is definitely one for more modern choices. […]
If you’ve been around here for a while then you might remember I had a maternity photo shoot with Alison Lewis Photography while I was pregnant with Florence. The photographs from that shoot are ones I will treasure forever. They perfectly illustrate my excitement and joy at the prospect of becoming Florence’s Mummy and mark such a special time in my life.
With pennies sparse and life being as hectic as it has been this time around, I haven’t got around to booking a professional maternity shoot but I still wanted to document my baby bump in a special way and so with a little help from Sean (& Florence) I’ve attempted a couple of DIY bump shoots at home. Pinterest is a fantastic source for inspiration when it comes to poses & settings for maternity photo shoots and I’ve made a whole board of my favourites here. A lot of them share tips & tricks too so if you, like me, want to capture this special time yourself head over and take a look.
I used the tips I picked up from Pinterest along with some awesome advice I’ve taken away from my Red Shoe experiences to create different poses to best flatter my expanding and ever changing shape.
I opted for quite a minimalistic style keeping the backgrounds white and wearing mostly black & white. Mono stripes / spots have been my go to throughout this pregnancy so it seemed only right that they featured.
As well as capturing my journey to becoming a second time Mama, I wanted to include Florence in them too. Afterall, you don’t get to become a big sister every day do you? While slightly cliché these shots of Florence & I comparing our tummies are some of my favourite photos ever! 
We also tried our hand at some silhouette shots but I think our curtains were too thin to get the desired effect we were after. Maybe with a bit more expert editing they might be a bit better. I’m probably going to keep on tweaking them to see if I can get them to how I want them to be.
Lastly, while Florence was napping the other day, I had a go at snapping some on my own using my camera timer & phone app. I wanted to somehow mark that this time I’m becoming a boy Mama so chose to add some subtle blue accents in some of the shots. The simple addition of a baby blue cardigan and some blue nail polish did just the trick.
I think I’d like to give one more look a go but I’m just not sure when I’ll get around to it. Hopefully, before too long, I’ll be sharing photos from our own DIY newborn & family photo shoot when the little one arrives next month too.
Follow me: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Bloglovin / Pinterest
As you know we’ve recently moved back in with my Mum so we can save to buy our own home and while we are here, we are helping her with some home improvements. As part of that we are replacing all of the flooring, both […]
So if you didn’t already see, we announced that I am pregnant with baby number two yesterday! Here’s our little video announcement if you missed it. I will be documenting this pregnancy both here and on my YouTube channel along with all of our usual […]
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while but have only just got around to do it. A few of you have asked to see what Florence got for her birthday and so I’ve put together a little (actually incredibly long) list of all of the beautiful gifts Florence was given. Some of you may think that this list is quite excessive for a one year old, but we are part of a very big family and 60 people came to celebrate Florence’s special day. Some of the below were purchased with some of the money she was given too.
We very much focussed on buying outdoor toys for Florence from us. She loves getting outside and exploring.
Step2 Summer Seaside Towers Water Table*
Little Tikes SmarTrike – This was a gift from Florence’s grandparents and great grandma. I’ve written a little review of it as Florence just loves it so if you’d like to see what all the fuss is about click here. 
Pink Tractor Ride On
Animal Hoppers – these were a complete bargain at just shy of £12 each from a shop I hadn’t heard of before called This Is It Stores and we used them for a game at her party too.
Car garage
Happy Land Toy Sets – I love Happy Land but the sets can be so expensive! I managed to pick up the Happy Land Mouse House & windmill farm on a Facebook selling group for next to nothing! My sister just gave me the money for them and gave them to Florence as a birthday present.
Happy Land Fairy Figures
Toy Pram
Upsy Daisy Doll
Hand bag – At just one year old, Florence has quite the handbag collection. She was given two beautiful handmade bags for her birthday and marches around the house with it over her shoulder saying ‘bag’ over and over.
Bonnika Doll – This is actually one of the gifts we bought with her birthday money. It is such a lovely little soft doll and comes complete with a Moses basket and bottle. As soon as I gave it to her, she took the bottle and started feeding the baby.
Play Doh
Build a Bear dog
My First Years Personalised Photo Frame – I managed to keep it together without any tears or emotional moments over Florence birthday until we unwrapped this beautiful frame from my best friend. I actually sobbed! I was so touched by the love and thought that had gone into putting it together and it will be a wonderful keepsake for Florence as she grows. 
Personalised Cloud Book Ends
Hydrangea Plant – As well as the pram and garage, My mum bought her plant that will grow with her through the years.
The Jungle Book & Peter Pan
Julia Donaldson Collection
Happy Birthday Book
Gordon’s Great Escape
Don’t wake bear, hare!
Say Hello to the Baby Animals!
The Birthday Suprise
We’re going on a Bear hunt
Boots Mini Club Short & Tunic Set
Unicorn Day Dresses
Minnie Mouse occasion dress
Navy floral dress
Pjs
Florence was a very lucky girl! I hope this has helped you with some first birthday gift inspiration for your little one.
Things are about to look a lot different around here as we prepare to make some pretty big life changes. We are swiftly outgrowing our little house. I honestly underestimated just how much room little people take up and with our plans to expand our […]
With so many lovely responses to my recent Simple Baby Play posts, I thought I would finally get around to sharing with you a list of items I class as baby play essentials. These are all things that I have built up over time and […]
