Chin Up...

Source - Google Images

I am no doubt sure you have noticed me missing in action for a few weeks, well I just wanted to keep you all in the loop and let you know where I have been....nothing exciting unfortunately. 

I am not usually one to dwell on the things that make me frown in my little online land, I am not that kinda girl that dwells on the unhappy things in life and to be honest when the stuff does hit the fan so to say I can cope quite well. In Matt's words he would say I was strong....too strong for my own good sometimes!

But recently I have been trying my very best to file this one 'unhappy thought' to the back of my head's imaginary filing cabinet without success. And as a result of over thinking and trying to ignore it, what happens?? You think of it more 10 times over! That coupled with my obsessive compulsive habbit to Google every symptom and cause under the sun has left me worrying all day and all night long!

Lets get to crunch, as you may or may not know Finley has had a few little issue with his walking. I posted on twitter a few months back he took his first few steps :) Hooray we thought, he has finally hit this milestone and we don't have constantly bribe him with toys and cuddles to take a step. 

Well...that's still as far as we have got, ever since Finley could stand unaided and couch surf (around 12 months) he has been up on his toes. I mentioned it to our health visitor but she wasn't all too concerned at the time and said it was just his balance adjusting and he will get the hang of it...phew I thought!

Well at 18 months old he is still up on those tippy toes and doesn't seem much closer to getting brave enough to take a proper lunge across the front room. I have always had a niggle in my head telling me he wont walk for ages, a mothers intuition if you will and I seemed right. 

We have had health visitor visits and seen our GP and we are set for a Paediatrician appointment at the end of August.

The worrying part is he seems more than happy 'walking' on his knees!! It is as though he just doesn't feel the need to walk ever. I also have over done it on the Googling front and worried myself beyond control, my mind has been so pre-occupied with looking at leg casting, possible causes, autism spectrum and it just has got way too much. 

Every time I opened blogger to write a new post all I could think about was Finley, one thing led to another and there I was sat reading forum after forum about knee walking, club foot, operations and far more than I need to know right now. But the promising thing is he can stand flat footed unaided and balance fine, its just when he goes to step he uses the ball of his foot. 

At the moment he hasn't been diagnosed with anything and we have no way of knowing when he will fancy walking, I am hoping to get some answers in late August and I will of course keep you updated. It could be anything at all from what we have read, but I am hoping for a case of 'lazy Finley' syndrome. 

I have had to deal with some pretty crappy things happen the past few years and had sooo many changes to my life that I have always seemed to manage and deal with really well, but this has just taken over...I guess this is what happens when you have babies eh? I still cant help but squish him every day, no matter how many trousers he wears out!

I am sorry for this not being a happy cheery kinda post but I just have felt so down in the dumps about this recently it really got on top of me and sort of took over for a little while...well I am here to kick those worries aside and get back on track with everything. I have something way too exciting happening next Friday and you couldn't possibly miss out on that :) 

If anyone has any advice or help on this topic please let me know as we have tried everything we know so far. Any tips to keep his feet flat, protect his knees....and a place to get fab cheap trousers as we go through dozens!!

Thank you all so much for being patient and waiting for an update :) I probably wont make a video just get in case I get wrapped up in it all again and end up a blubbering mess. 

Lots of Love

Kayleigh x

Our Day Out at the Zoo

Hi Everyone :) sorry I haven't blogged in a little while, it has just been one of those weeks where everything happens all in one go...days out, phone calls, forms to fill out plus we couldn't miss out on the sunshine and the occasional nap! 

And we have been organising something amazing, I have some very exciting news coming up in the next few weeks YAY! No babies but something just as tiny :)

Last week Matthew, Finley, my Dad and I all headed off to the zoo for a lovely day out, I say day it was more a morning as Finley was becoming a cranky pants with the combination of heat, being still for longer than 5 minuets and the bustling crowds. We happened to arrive the same day as 'school trip' day aghhhh it was kid crazy, but it was fun seeing all these little kiddies getting excited and laughing at a rather loud monkey.

We popped off to our local zoo which is the same one we took Finley too on his 1st Birthday - if you fancy a gander at that post you can here. I just looked back and he looks tiny!

We were treated by Grandad for our tickets and off we went on our exciting zoo adventure. Finley is still a little tiny to take in exactly what is going on, especially the animals far far away, for example we were at the tiger enclosure and all he could do was sniff the flowers and trees haha. But he did love the penguins this time around and giggled as they swooshed past him. Last time we went it was the monkeys he fell in love with but they were all out in the open this time and he didn't manage to get a close up look. 

But oh my, I had no idea how many tiny little babies had been born! Wowzers, I couldn't contain myself and swooned at every little baby there was especially the tiniest little chimpanzee :) It reminded me somewhat of Finley, all the big ones were relaxing and taking a nap and this little critter wouldn't stop bouncing around, swinging on ropes and generally being cheeky...Finley's monkey double. 

It was a beautiful sunny day and was lovely taking in the sights as we wandered around the zoo, they even have an open enclosure that you can walk through and see birds flying around a monkeys jumping all over the trees. My Dad was somewhat cheeky and decided to give one a little stroke even thought they can nip :) 

I do love visiting the zoo and Finley really enjoys getting out and about, he is a massive show off really and will smile and wave at anyone he can...3 separate people came over and commented on how smiley and happy he was :D if only they knew and saw him in total melt down mode throwing his tea all over the floor and screaming because I  moved his spoon!!! 

We even saw a elephant getting a manicure! The keepers would just shout "back, back, back" and it shuffled itself into place and popped its foot up ready to be pampered! 

 
We had a really great time and took soooo many pictures, I didn't want to overload you all but thought I would share a few snaps to get a feel of the day :)

Thank you very much Grandad for a great day out :D

What are your fave days out with your little ones? Especially with the sun shining as big as it is at the moment!

Love Kayleigh x

We have a Giveaway :)

What better way to kick off a new month with a giveaway :) (we are a day late because my video took agggeesss to upload) Sorry!

A little while back I had a giveaway planned and as it has taken me soooo long to get the prizes I thought I shall re-jig and let you all know about it. 

I wanted to say a massive thank you to the people who visit my little blog and those that leave lovely comments along the way...it really does make my day. I write this blog for fun, to escape the daily stresses and of course to share the little bit of knowledge that I hold hehe. And to have met some lovely people and gained fab readers along the way has just been even better. 

So I wanted to thank each and everyone of you soooo much for stopping by and reading my ramblings, I cant give you each a big squeeze so the 2nd best thing I can do is offer a chance to win some lovely prizes. 

I have tried to get products that would suit anyone from a beauty lover to a new mum. Some products are steered towards little babies but we have no rules here, if you want to smother yourself in baby body butter then who am I to say no...I hold my hands up as a stealer of Finley's products :) 

Each and every little prize has been bought by my fair self, nothing is included that has been sent to me or anything like that....so you will be happy to know I picked out everything...I am even jealous and wish I had picked up two of everything haha.

PLUS you will be all jumping for joy to know it is an international giveaway - so anyone anywhere can enter and I shall happily post it wherever its new home will be. 

So, your all sat here thinking 'come on Kayleigh, what are the prizes?' Well lets go -

A full Size Body Shop Buriti Baby Body Butter (that's a mouth full)

1 MUA Lipstick in shade 15 Juicy

1 Revlon Colourstay Cream Blush in Coral Reef

1 Banana Boat SPF 50 Baby Sunscreen

60ml Bottle of Bio Oil

Tiny little coin purse

1 Carmex Lip Balm in a Pot

1 Carmex pomegrantie lip balm

1 Rimmel Apocolips in Big Bang

ASOS fine band rings

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Phew.....what a prize! 

If you fancy watching my giveaway video you can below, I go into a little more detail about each product and why I choose it :) Plus I probably ramble on as usual.

If you would like to enter this fab giveaway here are the rules

1 - Please be a subscriber of this blog - either via Bloglovin or GFC (if its still there)

2 - Subscribe to my Youtube Channel - Beautylifebabies

3 - Leave a comment on either this blog post or my YouTube video saying you want to enter.

That's it :)

I do have a Facebook and Twitter but you don't need to be a follower of these to enter....I may have to make a new Twitter soon anyway as its all messed up!

If you left a comment on my previous giveaway post you will be included in this so don't worry, I shall be using Random.org to enter peoples entries and to then pick a winner. Please make sure your email is on your blogger profile or YouTube so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner!

This giveaway is closing on the 31st July 2013 so you have plenty of time to enter :)

Again I just want to thank you all so much and I cant wait to announce the winner and send off their box of goodies!

If there are any questions please don't hesitate to ask as I am more than happy to answer anything you may wish to know. 

Good Luck

Love Kayleigh x

Summertime Nail Saviours

You may remember my springtime nail polish recommendations that I wrote not too long back, well I delved back into my nail polish collection and pulled out a few Summer shades. 

I was waiting for the weather to perk up to post this but it really doesn't look like the sun is popping out any time soon, so what better way than to get into that summer spirit that get those nails painted a jazzy bright colour.

I am really getting back into loving nail polish again, I went through a phase of never hardly wearing any...purely because of the time it takes and its not something that can easily be done with a toddler by your side. It all involves smudges, nail polish vapours and broken bottles...yup! It doesn't mix well, but now Finley is going to bed earlier and earlier plus he now sleeps like a dream....finallllllyyyyy! Haha. I have that little extra time to fall back in love with my huge stash of polish again. 

OPI - Nice Stems Collection

OPI Polishes Left to Right - I Lily Love You, Be a Dahlia won't you, Come to Poppy, Play the Peonies.

First up I picked 4 mini OPI lacquers from the Summer 2011 collection called Nice Stems. I got mine a while back from Buya Powa but you can still get a set from Ebay here.

All four shades have pinky tones and all have an element of shimmer , some more subtle some brighter and sparkleier - if that's a word haha. My personal favourite out of the four has to be Play the Peonies which is the pale pearlescent shade...how amazing would that look with a tan. Here are a few OPI facts for you :) Whilst watching QVC the other day the OPI lady was saying how with even the mini bottles you still will get at lest 16-17 manicures out of each bottle....possibly more from a glitter as the majority of the time you use it as a top coat. Plus if you notice the lid/brush holder is ever so slightly textured, this is so it is less likely to slip whilst your holding so you don't mess up your fab polish job! 

Leighton Denny

LD Left to Right - Shipwrecked, Cool Blue, Sunburst.

Next I wanted to show you some new shades that Matthew picked up for me :) He doesn't understand why I have over a hundred nail polishes but doesn't question my obsession lol. So whilst on his online travels he picked up a few Leighton Denny Shades for me...Thanks Matthew :) 

The two more pastel shades are more like spring shades but I didn't have them at the time I wrote my previous post so thought they would slot in nicely here. 

All three are amazing quality, you could get away with one coat for that 'dashing out of the house' moment but I would recommend two just for that extra pizazz. You may notice in time to come I LOVE orange and coral shades on my nails, and Sunburst fits the bill to a tee. Its bright and glossy and contains no shimmer whatsoever :) I have to be in a certain mood for shimmers and tend to only wear pink shimmery shades, unless they wow me! The pastel colours are also beautiful, I don't have long nails so personally I love them on a short nail for that pop of bright pastel colour. If you fancy some Leighton Denny Loveliness you can grab them all over the Internet but Matt got mine on Ebay. The only places he shops lol.

Mix of Allsorts

Mix Polish Left to Right - Rimmel Sunshine, Nails Inc Candy Orange, 17 Miami, 17 Peacock

 

3rd in the Que are a mix matched jumble of shades, however I am not all that impressed with all of them! 

Again another orange, Nails Inc in Candy Orange. I picked this up last year in Instyle magazine and if my memory serves me correctly the new sets should be out around now or very soon. I love the shade and always find the brushes on a Nails Inc polish so easy to work with! The next three are for the cheaper end of the budgets, however I can really tell the difference....sorry drugstore. First the two 17 polishes, the colours are lovely and I have used them so many times but they just don't last. They are already gloopy and unfortunately may be heading to Nail polish heaven. The next is a vibrant yellow colour from Rimmel, I wore this last year and it stained my nails soooo bad but recently re-visited it as I thought it may have been my own fault for not using a base coat....nope it still stained each and every nail. It is such a shame because I love the colour so much but it ruins my nails each time...sorry Rimmel. So I am out to hunt for a new 'in your face' yellow as that was my only one. All these apart from the free magazine polish were from Boots.

Models Own Summer Shades

MO Swatches Left to Right - Bubblegum, Coral Reef, Top Turquoise, Sophie's Pink, Toxic Apple, Golden Peach.

Last up I have picked a couple of my fave bright Models Own shades. You may notice I love Models Own, they offer great quality nail polish for not masses of money. Plus if you are like me you stock up when they have their huge 50% off sale on. Now there is a shade missing, we had a casualty when I was sorting through my bag of colours...Finley grabbed a beautiful blue shade and it smashed! Don't panic he was fine as I was right next to him but my couch, new tshirt and Matthews hands didn't escape! Ironically the shade was 'feeling blue' which I was! I am hoping to replace and it isn't discontinued as it was stunning. 

Anyway here are the unscathed colours I picked, 2 are the very first ever polishes I bought from Models Own! 'Coral reef' and a Neon pink shade 'Bubblegum'. Coral reef is so old its in the really really old bottles - plus you can tell they are all really well loved as most are half empty. Here is a little tip I learnt, if you own any really bright or neon polishes you should pop them in the fridge to help it retain its wow factor!

The other colours are a stunning pink that I am wearing today, a beautiful turquoise that is a regular for my toe nails. A rare shimmery polish that I love called golden peach, this would be amazing if you are really tanned or olive skin toned...perfect for the holidays. And lastly a mega bright green that I have only really worn once or twice, I just cant figure out a way to wear it, maybe I am too pale but I love the colour! Maybe its more of a festival shade. Overall they are all amazing quality and the shade range Models Own stock is outstanding for the price they charge.

You are probably realising by now that I love nail polish! For some reason I cant seem to wear gel or acrylic nails, so I love experimenting with colour. I love the way false nails look but I end up walking around like a robot with them on and cant do anything haha. My friend Keri is an amazing nail technician and wants to get my nails all fancy but I panic I wouldn't be able to do anything but sit....hmmmm maybe I should get them done haha.

Also I have just bought 10 new polishes from Nails Inc so I may do that on a separate post as the value was ridiculously amazing - they will also be in an upcoming haul video so keep your eyes peeled.

If you have any tips for nails or polish recommendations please let me know as I am always expanding my never ending collection.

Have a great weekend everyone 

Love Kayleigh x

Finley's New Threads

A little while ago I treated Finley to some new clothes as he is still growing *hmmmf* and will soon be wearing 18-24 months! When did that happen...where did my tiny 5 pound baby go who wore 'tiny baby' babygrows that were so big we rolled up the sleeves!

I hopped over to the Next website and picked up a few treats for him and a bargain coat! I'm not usually one for buying all brand new clothing as he has grown out of them in a blink of an eye and when you add up the cost it makes me wince slightly lol. But as he will be in these for at least 6 months I dont mind spending a little extra, plus who doesn't like treating their little baby. 

So if you fancy seeing all the goodies I bought for him check out my brand new video below :)

I am still a little nervous but managing to not waffle too much. If you have any video requests or questions as always please let me know. 


Hope you enjoyed and I shall see you very soon with an updated nail varnish post plus a verrrryyy exciting giveaway!!!

Love Kayleigh x

Child Safety Week 2013

A little while ago the lovely team over at Kiddicare popped over an email into my inbox to let me know that Child Safety Week was coming up and wanted me to get involved. 

They asked if they could take a few of my top tips to keep safe with a baby/toddler, of course I said yes as I am all about being a safety squirrel with Finley around, maybe more than most as he is so accident prone! And being a first time Mum myself I am still learning so please pass all your tips my way! I sent over my top tips and luckily this was picked up and published on Babyworld.co.uk - yay :) You can take a peek at my top tips and some other lovely Mummy bloggers ideas too here

I then thought to myself why not write a post and drum a little business up for Child Safety Week, I know that I don't have loads and loads of followers in the grand scheme of the huggggeee blogging world out there but if it reaches just a couple of people and prevents any accidents or potential big disasters then its only taken me an evening typing away...plus points all round in my book :) This isn't a sponsored post nor have I been asked to write this  but safety is something I am very passionate about and wanted to get everyone involved. 

After a browse online I have found the official Child Safety Week page here - they have some great resources and even a safety shop.

Whilst I was pregnant with Finley I always pictured having to buy the obvious safety bits and pieces such a stair gates, plug socket covers and those cupboard locking thingies that Joey cant open on Friends....but now when I think about it I have learnt that there is so much more!

Its not only 'child proofing' when your baby is mobile and grabbing things of a table but its the tiny dangers I didn't think twice about before having a baby. 

Here are a five of my tips to think about but please please please add a comment of anything you think should be on here - I would love to collate them all and create a list for parents to refer to.

1. Smoking!! Passive smoking around little ones is not only unfair on a baby but it also has severe health risks. Just a few include developing asthma, SIDS risks and middle ear disease. You can read further on the NHS website for all the details but if you can please avoid at all costs smoking around anyone especially those tiny fingers and toes. 

2.Cot Bumpers - When I was pregnant I was eying up beautiful handmade cot bumpers with ties that circled the whole of his cot and looked so pretty. But the more I searched the more I realised that they are not recommended and can potentially be very dangerous. So I scrapped the idea no matter how much I loved them and went for an airwrap version instead. Yes it was white and plain but it gave me peace of mind knowing that his arms and legs were safe inside and if he rolled into it he could still breath. I would highly recommend these and we loved ours. We don't actually need ours anymore so I am thinking of selling it so if you would like it let me know :) 

3. Nursery Furniture - If you can only do a handful of things please consider this! I read a blog post around 5/6 months ago and was left in tears, a mother had described how she lost her darling daughter due to not bolting down her nursery furniture. I wont go into the detail here but if you would like to read this story you can here and also please visit meghanshope.org and show them some love. It may take an afternoon fumbling with bolts and brackets but this is life saving. 

4. Blinds! If you have a blinds up in a toddlers bedroom please re-consider, again a few months ago I watched a couple describe their heart ache on This Morning over their little girl was killed by her blind cords. Again here is the link to the paper article. However if you do have them please don't panic as you can buy blind safety holders and wraps to prevent any accidents. We currently have them in Finley's room because of the amount of light they block out, but as he isn't walking yet the cords are way out of reach...even mine! But as soon as he is mobile they will be whipped down asap.

5. First Aid Awareness - As above I watched a week of first aid awareness on This Morning (from memory it was safety week). Please arm yourself with the basics for any emergency with your baby or toddler, we have had a few scary moments that these have come in handy...one being my biggest fear choking. Luckily it wasn't as bad reflecting back but at the time it was heart stoppingly scary. Here is the link to a video that goes through some basics, but there are always First Aid courses available at your local collage or surestart center and most are free.

If you have or would like to pop over to the child safety website they have a parent pledge which also gives you a few tips to think about, from swimming to road safety. You can also request further information and leaflets from them if you want any more ideas or advice. 

I know that this isnt mt usual jolly happy post but I really felt that I wanted to contribute and put a few of my ideas out there. If you have any tips at all, from the small to the big pop them in the comments or send them to me in an email and we can hopefully help out any parents out there. A safety list is endless in my eyes. It is so important to keep our children and babies safe, and lets face it they are the most precious things in our lives so I know any parent wants to keep them as safe as they can....sometimes we even considering bubble wrapping them :) 

Stay safe everyone, if you have any questions please ask.

Have a great week.

Love Kayleigh x

3 years ago today...

I married the most amazing man I ever did know!

I have never really spoken much about my wedding on this blog or shared that many pictures, not for any particular reason other than I have never had a good excuse, so what better time to crack open the wedding album and share a few of our snaps with you all. 

I am going to be honest with you all here and you don't often hear many people say what I am about to, I would change almost everything...yup that's right. Our whole lives have changed so much since that day, we no longer speak to certain people that made decisions for me on major things like my dress :( which in all honestly I never really liked. I suppose it is an okay dress but it never wowed me - now I would have a totally different style, a quirky frilly number with an accompanying cashmere cardy. I stood my ground on having my hair down but lost a fight to accessories as I wanted flowers in my hair and white Alice band. I even kept my shoes a secret till the day so they couldn't be changed haha! hmmmmff well, you cant dwell on the past I suppose and to be honest the main focus wasn't about how I looked it was about marrying the man of my dreams Matthew.

And that is exactly what I did, on June 19th 2010 at 1pm in a lovely local church across from a huge green and a beautiful seaside we became Mr and Mrs Bamber.

You couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, the sun was out shining but the clouds that passed over kept us nice and cool and added some lovely effects on our photos. As everyone says the day flew by with a blink of an eye and before you know where you are you are sat on the couch writing a blog post about a day that happened 3 years ago!!! 

Happy Anniversary Matthew - I love you more and more each day :D <3 Mwah xxx