Weekend Meet & Greet Blog Hop #11

It's time to Meet & Greet...

Welcome back to Meet & Greet Blog Hop!

Join in, meet some fellow bloggers, greet them with comments, and grow your blog with new friends!

A big thanks goes out to everyone who comes and participates on a weekly basis as this hop grows. We're now extending the hop for a Weekend Meet & Greet, hosting Friday nights all the way until the end of Monday. That gives us all extra time to meet new bloggers and greet everyone!

Here’s how it works:

* Start by following the three hosts, and our featured guest! (First 4 links below)

Leave us each a comment letting us know you’re following, to say “Hi!”, or answer our fun question for the week!- We would love to follow/comment you back!

* Link up and add your blog to the list! Please link to your blog home page, not a specific post. And we also like to keep it family-friendly.  =)

* Please visit and MEET some other bloggers, greet them with a comment and make their day a great one!

* Grab our button if you like and share with your readers! (Optional, but greatly appreciated if you do)

* Share and invite others to the Blog Hop, The more the merrier!

* Each week one participant will be chosen and featured along with the hosts for the following week’s Hop.

* Remember to come back next week and join the fun again!

The Meet & Greet Blog Hop will run Friday nights - Mondays each week! 

Meet Our Hosts!

This week’s fun question is:  What was your favourite food when you were a child?

Sara - from FlowerLandShop:  My favourite food was the apple pie!...When I grew I discovered that I'm allergic to apples, this is misfortune!XD

Kim - from 2 just B you: Pizza (I know, I know...Not so original).  I was a really (OK, I still am) a picky eater, but I'm getting better.

Laurie - from Created By Laurie: I fell in love with peanut butter and marshmallow crème sandwiches. I still eat them too!

*Featured Guest*

Kayleigh- from Beauty, Life, and Babies: Hmmmm when I was little my favourite food was an 'egg in a cup' I'm not too sure if it is common in the US, it’s a soft boiled egg mashed in a cup :) I used to have mine with toasted soldiers and a hot vimto.

What was your favorite food when you were a child?

Spread the Word,

Grab Our Button!

<a border="0" <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">href</span>="<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">http</span>://<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">createdbylaurie</span>.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">blogspot</span>.com/" target="_blank"><<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">img</span> <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">src</span>="<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">http</span>://i13.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">photobucket</span>.com/albums/a292/<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">PrincessCardShark</span>/meetampgreet150.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">jpg</span>"/></a> Now Link Up and Have Fun!

Finley's Faves

 It has been a little while since I lasted posted about Finley's current Faves so I thought its about time I did an updated version. 

Rather than jotting down his favourite toys or books I wanted to show you all a little more of his personalty and what makes him tick :D 

Number 1 - Kissing *mwah* 

For a few months now Finley kind of grasped the idea of kissing and sometimes vaguely attempted to kiss you back, one of those strange open mouthed dribbly baby kisses! The one you try and dodge but deep down they are your baby so you have to let it go. But more recently he has given the cutest little pecks on the cheek, kisses goodnight and even kisses for his teddys. The other day when putting his to bed I said 'give teddy a kiss' just as a passing comment and he picked up his little teddy and gave it a kiss! *double take* hmmm it must be a fluke, but no every time I asked politely a little baby lips kiss flew its way over to teddy. Yay, so now we can ask Finley for kisses all day long :D He will also stroke when asked (picked that one up from the cats) although he has taken to stroking a kissing his Dads arm! Lets hope he grows out of that before he goes to school or he will be the kid that strokes and kisses arms rather than says hello! 

 Number 2 - Dancing

Lets be a little more precise, Disco Dancing! For some reason the beats of 70s disco classics are really floating his boat right now. You can put on the top 40 music channels on and maybe he might jig around a little to the beat but put on Smooth FM and he is off. Rocking side to side, bouncing up and down....we need to cool this boy down because this baby has got Disco fever!

Here is one of his current faves on Youtube

Number 3 - Moving

Finley is loving moving in general....anywhere and everywhere! He loves climbing up, climbing down, crawling, bouncing, anything that involves those legs and arms wriggling around you can pretty much guarantee that he wants to do it! He hasn't quite grasped walking yet but I know it wont be long before he is zooming past me trying to catch the cat! 

This picture says everything and to be honest 95% of the pictures I take nowadays look exactly like this, our Finners just will not sit still...ever! Little disclaimer, there were 3 of us surrounding him to make sure he was okay, he is like P Diddy and we are like his posse of bodyguards!

  I would love to hear what your little ones are loving at the moment, it is great to see how individual such a tiny little person can be. 

Love Kayleigh x

Throwback Thursday

When Finley was born everyone including me agreed that he was a mini version of Matthew, I was surprised he was even related to me because he looked nothing at all like me. A few friends had said 'oh does he look like you or Matthew as a baby?' hmmmm I pulled out the photo album to have a glance but no, he just looks like a very tiny, wrinkled version of Matthew.

Well to my surprise the other day the thought popped into my head and out came the same photo album and BAM...

It was as though Finley was it all the pictures from 1988 onwards! How did this happen, why didn't I see this change in him! I thought you might all like to see a few snaps of me when I was the same age as Finley, let me know if you can see the resemblance or if I am going mad.

 I even noticed that Finley and I had the same eating habits, I'm glad to say that I have grown out of mine but now I'm just waiting for him to stop throwing his weetabix up the wall and squishing strawberries through his fingers!

There were a few other similarities I spotted, we both seemed to have that slight ginger tinge to the wispy hair dotted sparsely around our head although his is turning blonde as did mine at around 1ish (so I'm told).  Our eyes seem the exact same shade of blue, mine are a little more green nowadays so I'm expecting his to change a little. In the millions of photos I looked through there were only about 4 where I actually had noticeable hair....I was 3! Sorry Finley it looks like that little Egg nogin' of yours will just have to be bald for a little longer.

If you would like to see a few other comparison photos I will dig out some more for you all to have a look at, I love seeing old photos especially now we have a little baby of our own to see all the little similarities and family traits. 

Love Kayleigh x

Andrex Washlets + Exciting Competition

A little while back a lovely lady from the Andrex team sent me some of their new washlets to try out! With wet wipes currently being one of my most re-purchased product of 2012 this was definitely something  I wanted to put to the test. 
There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not reaching out for a wipe to clean up leftover lunch from Finley's cheeks, touching up that mascara smudge from getting hit by an oncoming mega block or wiping over those dubious toys at playgroup!

Last year I wrote a post about my favourite wet wipes here, the things I look for in a wet wipe are moistability (new word for you there) and reliability (i.e no tearing!) Washlets are like a perfect combination of both making them easy to use and very soft to the touch. 

They even come in a handy refillable tub, no more flicking a packet around with one hand to then pull out 50 wipes whilst you hold down a baby with the other. Please tell me it isn't just me?! Plus...they aren't just for babies....pop them in your bathroom for you to use! Not only will you be feeling more refreshed just think how impressed the in-laws will be!

I currently have the hard tub sitting pride of place in our bathroom and the handy refillable pack stowed away in the changing bag for any 'wet wipe emergency' we may have. Well....one we will definitely have, it kinda comes with the territory of having a one year old. 

And of course Finley cant stay away whilst Mummy takes a few snaps, here are a few of him messing around with the packets and of course one wipe ended up on his head.

And WAIT there is more!

Beauty Life and Babies has teamed up with Andrex® Washlets, a pre-moistened flushable toilet tissue wipe, to help you feel fresh, energised and prepared for any occasion this January. Andrex® Washlets are a great essential to keep you feeling fresh at all times, even when you run out of time to get ready. So whether you are heading from a child’s birthday party to a dinner, or from January sales shopping to a school play, use Andrex® Washlets to help you feel fresh when out and about.

Andrex® Washlets is working with TV presenter, documentary maker and writer Dawn O’Porter, on the Clean Campaign that aims to inspire people up and down the country to try Andrex® Washlets and incorporate them into their family’s daily bathroom regime.

To celebrate the Clean Campaign and to help you feel fresh this winter, Andrex® Washlets is offering one lucky reader the chance to win a fabulous pampering gift set, complete with a bath relaxation pack, hand cream, lip balm, hand sanitizer, hairbrush and Andrex® Washlets.

To enter all you need to do is follow my blog via Google Friend Connect and comment below with why you would like to win a pamper package, please validate all entries via Rafflecoper below. Please note that this competition is for UK followers only, the closing date is Wednesday 6th February 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  
To monitor how Dawn is getting on, visit https://www.facebook.com/cleancampaign and sign up to the Clean Campaign yourself!

How exciting, I cant wait for you all to enter and good luck :D 

Love Kayleigh x

ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

Hallmark - Barnardo’s Fostering & Adoption Week

In honour of Barnardo’s Fostering and Adoption Week, which helps to raise awareness
of their family placement services, here at Hallmark we wanted to pay tribute to families in all of their
many wonderful forms with the creation of this poignant card. If you’d like to share a
special moment, visit Hallmark online for a great range of personalised greetings cards
and gifts for the family in your life.

Thank you for reading

Love Kayleigh x

Finley's Birthday Trip to the Zoo

I have a feeling that January may involve quite a few 'birthday' posts, everything from tea-parties to a birthday haul. Today's post is a little look into what we got up to on the big day itself! We decided that because he seems to have a soft spot for animals at the moment we would head to Blackpool zoo.  

The weather was lovely, cold but lovely. You may be looking at these pictures thinking 'where is his hat, where are his mittens'....well in the pram basket! He hates anything on his head, hands, even feet! We kept persisting which lead to him crying and whinging in the 'shhhhhh must be queit' enclosure! I wouldn't mind too much if he had a little more hair to keep that bald head warm but somehow that tiny wisp just doesn't cut it. We kept trying to sneak his hood up but he just wasn't having it!

Anyway, we had a lovely walk around the park admiring all the animals that ventured out into the cold January air. I have to admit that Finley wasn't the least bit interested in anything but these little monkeys. I think he somehow related to them and their cheeky ways.

His little face lit up just looking at these tiny furry mites, I spent ages knelt down propping him up so he could smile and 'talk' to the little monkeys, its a shame I didn't take note of what breed they were so I shall be googling that! Unless anyone is a nature enthusiast and can help me out? :D We even bought a souvenir monkey teddy for him to snuggle with less chance of destruction, we already have one cheeky monkey running riot in the house, we definitely don't need another haha. 

We wandered through the park and in total took nearly 300 pictures, sheesh! Here are just a few and one of the cutest monkey I ever did see.

Note the lemur in the first photo

 - it was sat legs akimbo meditating in the sun! They were all in a huge open enclosure, they ran free climbed trees and I felt much more comfortable with that environment. I love to see the animals running as free as they can, rather than behind cages and high fences. I was surprised that there was so many species of animals there and how much space they all have, I admit now I haven't always been the biggest fan of Zoos for the 'caged' element but I am happy to report back I found it really well layed out and all the animals seemed as free as they could be.

Here is a little picture of Finley and I at the end of our Zoo Adventure, both windswept....Mummy a little more so! Yikes! I wasn't sure whether to include this pic because of the very serious 'hair issue' I am having but hey, that's life! That's what happens when you spend hours walking around the Zoo, delving in and out of the deeply filled changing bag for a Sippy Cup 20 times and getting your hair tugged by a very excited Birthday Boy! 

He had a lovely Birthday morning....yes there is more to come! In the afternoon we opened prezzies, had a balloon party and played with toys! Wow - such a busy day for us all. 

Can you believe he is one! 

See you all soon

Love Kayleigh x

Happy 1st Birthday Finley

I knew this day would come along but yikes it has whizzed around much faster than I imagined. 

 

To be honest I was quite emotional yesterday, reminiscing about times he was so tiny he fit in the crook of my arm, times when he was swaddled up so snug he dreamed all day. But today I have come to terms with the fact that he will never be that tiny boy so fragile that 1 year ago today we were scared to pick him up. But look what fantastic things we have 1 year on, today he is that strapping boy that loves to let Daddy fly him through the air, that cheeky sausage that is just the right combination of loveliness to cheekiness! That cheerful boy who when he smiles his nose wrinkles and scrunches.

Today our son Finley turned one. Happy Birthday :D

 Love Kayleigh x

This day one year ago

I was sat at home enjoying my first official day off after leaving my ever so lovely workmates for a good year off to have a tiny little baby.

Little did I know that we would become parents the very next day!

Finley came into the world at 11:45pm on Sunday 15th January 2012

How do I have a baby that is turning one tomorrow, a baby that after today shall be known as a toddler and will soon be running around causing even more havoc (happy havoc that is)!

Wow what a year it has been....

I wrote the above sentence and felt the tears welling up so I had to stop before I began sobbing like an emotional wreck. Lets just say it has been amazing plus 10 times more amazingness piled on top.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow our little Fin Sausage

Love Mummy and Daddy x

Snazzy New Blog

You may have noticed that the Blog has had somewhat of a revamp....a fab revamp!

Before Christmas I decided I wanted to makeover my blog and make it feel a bit more 'me' and have that quirky edge you sometimes cant quite put your finger on. 

I was searching online for all things blog related and I just couldn't find anything I loved, either that or I had to be a HTML wizard to just add a sidebar icon. 

I decided to head to Etsy, my one stop shop for anything lovely, bespoke and totally wonderful. And guess what, I found exactly what I was looking for. I came across a lovely lady called Theresa from Always in Bluhm designs. 

I purchased a Blog makeover package which cost me $75 and everything started from there! She was lovely, easy to work with and knew exactly what I was looking for! It was as if she was a mind reader!

I love my new layout, header, buttons......well, everything! 

I totally recommend Theresa and cannot thank her enough for giving my blog that pizazz it needed. 

What do you all think of the new design? I hope you love it as much as I do.

See you all very soon

Love Kayleigh x

Philip Kingsley PK Baby Shampoo and Bodywash Review

Hi Everyone, hope you are all settling nicely into the new year and sticking to all those new year resolutions you set :D I haven't been too strict with myself resolution wise, a few bloggers out there have set out to blog everyday till 31st December 2013!! Wow, I'm not sure if I could keep up the pace for a year of daily blogging like Mummy B. But I may do a few months here and there of daily blogging in the future :) What do you think?

Lets get cracking with today's post, it is a review for you all on a fab product I was kindly sent by the team over at Philip Kingsley. 

If your not too familiar with Philip Kingsley you can pop over to their website here, they are of course fronted by the main man Philip Kingsley who I would say is a Doctor of hair. They really concentrate on what treatment your hair needs to get it in tip top condition, whether your hair be over processed, damaged, long or short etc. 

I have been aware of Philip Kingsley for some time now, I received a sample size version of his famous Elasticizer treatment in a Glossybox months and months ago. And his products regularly feature on QVC, it can be really helpful watching his team give the presentation on QVC as they often give hints and tips on the best products for you. 

The review today is on the wonderful Philip Kingsley PK Baby Shampoo and Bodywash. 

 For some time now I have been chopping and changing Finley's bath products to see what suits his skin best, he has inherited my pale, sensitive skin and no doubt get my freckles in the future! He is also prone to developing dry patches on his scalp, you can still see them poking through as he hair is still so short and fair! I really don't think it will ever grow haha!

In the past I have used a range of shampoos and bodywashes from Johnsons, Simple Baby, Supermarket brands, The Bodyshop and Burts Bees. But PK baby is so far the best I have tried. 

Here are a few of my favourite things 

1. The product itself is in a pump bottle, with normal baby products they have to be picked up and poured over either a sponge or into your hand.  But with the pump it takes just one hand whilst keeping the other free to either distract a splashing Finley or if they are still super tiny support their head and keep them from wriggling around. 

2. Another feature of the bottle I like is the sturdy round base, I have found that Johnsons bottles for example when half empty tend to fall over and develop a wobbly bottom Eekkkk!

3. The shampoo/bodywash itself is almost a gel formula, it is thick and silky and when I rubbed it into Finley's hair for the first time I was so shocked to see how it almost went into a creme texture, from what I have read on their website this is to prevent it running into their tiny sensitive eyes. Great Idea!

4. It doubles up as a bubble bath for soft conditioning bubbles 

5. There isn't an overwhelming strong fragrance, but one that is mild and has that 'clean' scent. 

6. Finley's dry patches on his head have totally cleared up, before using PK baby I was tempted to put Liz Earle superskin serum on his head to help but now there is no need :D yay.

The only niggle people may have is the price, for a 500ml bottle it will set you back £18. It does seem a lot of money for a baby wash but you only need one pump and a little goes a long way. Plus it has given Finley the results I have been looking for so the big question is would I repurchase....yes.

If you want to read up a little more or even purchase PK Baby Shampoo and Bodywash you can here. I have my eyes on the Exfoliating Scalp mask as a new years treat!

I have a few more reviews planned for January and I am excited to share with you all what we love, whether it be Beauty, Life or Baby related :)

Please let me know if you love this product as much as me or if there is anything you recommend we try out!?

Love Kayleigh

Finley's First Christmas

Happy New Year everybody! Can you believe that it is 2013 already...this time last year I was psyching myself up to give birth in February whilst panicking that I still didn't have my hospital bag packed! 'Relax, you have ages' I thought, Little did I know I would be giving birth in less than two weeks! 

 Just as quick as the year began with Finley in our lives, it shot by even faster!  

One of the most exciting times Matt and I had this year was celebrating Finley's first Christmas :) For the first time in our 9 years together Christmas was celebrated at our house, Matt was the hostess with the mostess and I donned the role of Chef, to quote my Dad 'these are some of the best roast potatoes I have ever had'! Eat your heart out Ainsley!

Hands up who had Christmas Pyjamas on? We Did.

It was such a laid back lovely day, we had the usual festivities playing on the TV whilst family popped round to open presents with Finley and dress him up as Father Christmas.

My Dad spent the day with us and helped Finley unwrap his goodies from Father Christmas. He even did the washing up after I used every baking tray and pan available in the house...his invite is already in the post for next Christmas. 

Along with the good old tinsel bun went the obligatory paper hat....if you don't wear one whilst eating Christmas dinner you actually get arrested by the Christmas police! You have been warned!

Although Finley wasn't too interested in ripping open the presents and just played with his old toys he still had a great time. He was so spoilt but hey that's what having babies is all about, right?

He has far too many clothes and toys to post pictures of everything here but some shall feature in his upcoming 'Finley Faves' post :) 

Here are a few snaps from dinner, excuse his messy chops!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed eating your body weight in Roses and feasting of left over turkey sandwiches! If anyone has any Orange or Strawberry Cremes left send them my way....they are my most favourite.

Overall it was our best ever Christmas, I just cant wait for more Chrisrmasas to come around for those little squeals of excitment and 5am wake up calls to see if he has been.

Merry Christmas from us all and I hope 2013 is lucky for everyone!

Our last photo of Finley from Christmas in more Christmas PJs saying Goodnight and Thankyou.

Love Kayleigh x