Gimme all the carbs - my pregnancy cravings

Collaborative Post*

Most women will experience cravings during their pregnancy - for me, that’s currently macaroni cheese and blackcurrant with lemonade! Literally, I could eat Dann's homemade macaroni cheese every night of the week and I'd be one very happy pregnant lady! As for the blackcurrant and lemonade, apparently I'm a fizz girl when it comes to pregnancy, going against the tradition of sweet cravings mean a girl!!

With Henry I only really craved twiglets (during my first and second trimesters) and fizzy apple drinks. Apple Tango still reminds me of being pregnant with Henry.

Many cravings are just due to the whole range of hormonal and biological changes that happen whilst pregnant, but some cravings can be a sign that you’re lacking in some vitamins or nutrients.

What to expect from a 4D scan

Review post*

I'm pretty certain the highlights of pregnancy are the scans. 

Aside from eating all the foods you want (within reason of course) and the baby kicks, there isn't a whole lot of other stuff to look forward to as the months go by, until you're ready to meet the new addition. 

But those scans, and seeing your little one, has to be one of the best feelings. I'm not sure much beats that first scan at 12 weeks, but a private 4D scan has to come as a pretty close second. 

We recently went along to Babybond and Ultrasound Direct* in Southampton for their 4D bonding scan, and it was such a great experience to grow that bond with our second baby boy. 

10 thoughts when getting ready for a road trip

This is a sponsored post*

Road trips aren't just for newly loved up couples and free-spirited teens out for their next adventure.
We quite often go on road trips as a family, especially as we live some miles away from our respective families.

However, road trips as a family are much less care-free, and definitely need a lot more planning. Jumping in the car and just driving into the sunset isn't really an option with out at least two checklists, an assortment of bags, and a couple of arguments thrown in.

At the very least you have to get yourself organised, then there's the kids and their menagerie of toys, clothes, wipes and other necessities.
Then there's the car. Because to be honest, prior to kids, a little bit of rust really wasn't an issue, and that squeaky brake was drowned out by the badass roadtrip playlist you put together. However, now you have kids and you're basically putting them inside a metal death trap, so every safety precaution is needed... right now!

So here's some parental thoughts whilst getting ready for a road trip!

18 thoughts about winning the lottery

This is a collaborative post*

Do you know what one of my favourite, completely useless, pastimes to do is?

I like to plan what I'd do if I won the lottery.

It might seem a teeny bit sad to be planning something that has odds very much not in my favour, but it's a nice little thing to think about when walking home from swim class whilst Henry chills in the stroller.

Now when I say a lottery win, I do mean a big one. Go big or go home.
And my thoughts usually go a little something like this:

#OneLessWorry How We Get Christmas Ready

My favourite time of year is almost upon us, but I have to admit I usually start my Christmas prep way before December hits.
I like to think I'm a pretty organised person, and that quality seems to go into over-drive when I start planning Christmas.

One of my favourite things about Christmas is actually the present buying. I just love buying gifts, and I really love shopping for them. Searching out that perfect gift just gives me a little buzz, especially when I know they are going to love the gift.

But this means preparing early as one thing I have learnt from becoming a mother is shopping centres, kids and crowds are a cocktail for catastrophe, even if the pushchair does give you ample storage for all those bags.

Photobook fun with Lifecake

We're a little obsessed with photos... in case you hadn't noticed. 

I take literally so many, and I can't share them all on social media. Well I could but I think a lot of people would probably start to get a little frustrated with the photo spam. 

And I really think my photography addiction has escalated since I had Henry. I just don't want to miss a cute photo opportunity, or capture a memory. 

Although I do really believe in being in the moment too, I just can't help having a camera in hand to grab those candid moments and the fun family photos. Plus I have literally the worst memory, so I find having photographic evidence really helpful for remembering all our little adventures and family moments. 

Since last year, we've been using the Lifecake app to store a good (read very high) percentage of Henry's photos. These include ones of him on his own, but also family ones too. And we basically have an online photobook, in time order (the app reads the meta data of the image and orders them in date order based on the image information - though you can edit if it isn't correct). You can read all about the app in this post from last December - look out for the very cute Henry photos at six months old!!

Although I do love having all our images backed up (again... I literally have our photos backed up in so many places as I worry I'm going to lose them all!) and the timeline is fab, nothing beats real printed images. 

I, of course, have photo albums to put my printed off images, because they are my ultimate faves. But I also really love photobooks, especially as gifts. 

Lifecake have now introduced their own photobook* service, and I was asked to make a little video all about the process.

Getting Spring Garden ready

Anyone else really looking forward to Spring now? Don't get me wrong, I know British Spring isn't always much better than our Winter, but it is a teeny bit warmer, with a little more sun! And with the first signs of Spring, comes the hint of Summer, and that's a season I'm really looking forward to this year.

Anyway, with Spring in mind, we've been thinking about all our Spring cleaning, which always results in us decorating, re-arranging and organising some part or another of our home.
This year, we're focusing on our garden. With Henry hopefully being on his feet come the summer, I want to get him outdoors as much as possible, which means getting out in the garden. And it requires a much needed spruce up.

Don't bust those purse strings - save money this January

Does anyone else get a little tense around this time after Christmas?
All the festive happiness has dissipated, the Christmas food dwindling, and your waistline has grown three inches at least. And the state of your bank account leaves you reaching for the left over mulled wine.

On top of it all payday feels like it's six weeks away still, and you're rapidly getting into the single digits and on the cusp of eating beans on toast for the remainder of the month. Just as well you put on that extra cheese weight over Christmas, as meals are looking less and less comforting.

Luckily there are a few ways that you can save some money this time of year.

FOOD: Nostalgic for Family Favourites

As you may have noticed I’m a bit of a foodie, especially for homemade food and recipes made from scratch, usually simple but effective meals or treats. I’ve collaborated with Wren Kitchens to bring you something a little new today.

The campaign #WrenFamilyFavourites is all about getting nostalgic. And nothing gets us kids more nostalgic than reminiscing about our favourite home cooked meals. Every mum, or dad, has that go to recipe that their kids love. My mum has a couple of firm family favourites, including this chocolate biscuit cake that I blogged a few months back! You’re welcome – it is yum!

So my mum makes a mean chilli con carne, but so does my husband! And they can take a lot of work, and I wanted to share something quite simple, but really tasty with you.

So I’m sharing my mum’s lemon and thyme chicken, with herb potatoes. This is kind of a winter staple and was a popular dinner when I was growing up – though I did always avoid the carrots (sorry mum). This is the dish that I taught my husband, and I’ll be honest he’s most definitely the cook in our household, so me teaching him a recipe is kind of a big deal (though things be changing as I get a bit more confident in the kitchen!).  

So what do you need?

For the chicken:

Skin-on Chicken Drumsticks

Fresh Thyme

Lemon

Ground pepper

For the herb potatoes:

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Fresh Rosemary

Garlic
Olive oil

What to do?

Lemon and Thyme Chicken
Gently peel back the chicken skin and score the flesh. Squeeze lemon juice and pour a small amount over the chicken. Crack pepper over the top. Rub fresh thyme leaves into the flesh, including into the cuts. Cover the skin back over and place inside a deep dish. 
Place the lemon rinds inside the dish and cover with extra lemon juice and black pepper. Add a couple of thyme sprigs. 
Bake in the oven for 35minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and golden. 

Herb Potatoes
Peel and dice the potatoes, carrots and onions. Crush the garlic and add fresh rosemary into a dish with the potatoes, carrots and onions. Drizzle with olive oil and toss the mixture together. Roast in the oven until crispy, approximately 35 minutes. 

Read all the blogger recipes here!

*collaboration post with Wren Kitchens

LIFESTYLE: A couples photo shoot with Studio1314

A photoshoot - for couples? How original.... perhaps not.
Yes I know we have all seen the forced smiley photo shoots in studios, dressed in your finest outfits, skyscraper heels and a face full of make-up, including the guy. And yes some of them do come out pretty good, some are actually really good. Some, not so much.

We've done a photoshoot in the past, very much in this manner, right at the beginning of our relationship - some seven years ago. I have a quirky fringe, fake curls, smokey eyes and way too much foundation. Dann looks like a teenager and well just very young (though with a little model-esque look too) - you can see a photo from that shoot in this blog post from February, second image down!
And we do like these photos - well at least some of them. Our families have copies, and we have one displayed. But of course, seven years later, they are a little dated, and hardly present us as people.

Our next photoshoot was technically our wedding. By far my favourite photos I've ever had taken. I mean they are simply breathtaking. You can see a couple of them here.

And I've done a number of photo shoots since, both on my own and with a friend.
But we've never gone back for another couple shoot.... until now.

We actually met Wayne from Studio1314* at the Chilli and Cheese Festival back in August where he took our photo and we had a chat. A few weeks later he asked about working together. I was intrigued. I'm not going to lie, I am super picky when it comes to photos. I mean really picky, especially studio ones. But I was impressed. So impressed I agreed to a full shoot with Wayne.

Wayne and Lucy who run the studio are both trained photographers with over 20 years experience and have done both studio and location (such as wedding) photography throughout their careers. Having worked for other people they decided to branch out and do it on their own and create a fun and relaxed style of studio photography. So Studio1314 was created. Studio1314 specialise in photography that is all about you. We had a phone consultation, where myself and Wayne chatted away about what makes Dann and I tick. This was trickier than I expected as we are actually quite different people, with different hobbies and likes, but we did settle on a few ideas.

We ended up doing a studio and location shoot! Which was really fun... not your standard, stand and smile and I'll change the background colour that you tend to get. Or let's move 'room' so you're on a chair or inside a hole! It was simple, but it worked. Our location shoot was at the Black Boy pub in Winchester, with a couple of outside shots near the river.

So the big Q... did we like the photos!?! Hell to the yes! I was a little on the fence on whether I was going to like them or not, as they were quite different from what I'm used to for photo shoots. Usually I like about five and the rest I can fault and not be bothered by. When we saw Wayne a couple of days after the shoot to see the photos I have to admit I was a little nervous about seeing them, especially as I knew he would have done a good job, but I might just hate my face in them.
BUT I didn't hate them. I loved them. Hands down the best output of photos from a photo shoot I've ever seen. I mean I think I only disliked two, and that was purely down to my double chin making an unwanted appearance.

Wayne created a number of collections for us, based on out themes, and also some stand alone photos.
Here's a small collection to give you a taste of what Studio1314 can create....

Huge thank you to Wayne at Studio1314 for all the amazing images!

*collaboration post