My week on Instagram – one week and counting!

I quite enjoyed documenting my first week of maternity leave on Instagram so, I thought I’d try to keep it up until Little Pea’s arrival. Admittedly it might get less interesting – the nearer I get to the big day I’m slightly worried my waters are going to break in some terribly public place so becoming increasingly on lock-down, dammit.

But, I was let out last weekend to enjoy a belated shopping trip with best bud Rachel T – wangled a complimentary hand and arm massage at the beautiful Jo Malone store in the Victoria Quarter, stocked up on loads of ‘essentials’ from Liz Earle, Boots and the White Company as well as the obligatory coffee stop at La Bottega Milanese and lunch at Anthony’s Patisserie.

I’ve also been ‘forced’ to relax with lots of baths filled to the brim with Kiehls lavender, sea salts and aloe bath foam as well as beautiful meals at Mum and Dad’s and a few cheeky (but non-alcoholic fuelled) trips to our beautiful local pub, The Old Bridge Inn in Ripponden.

I’ve also been using our spare time for final Pea preparations including midwife appointments, birth plan writing, crib making and ticking off all the final purchases and washing.

Even the loft is moving on apace. The builders arrive every morning with a look of terror on their faces that I’m going to pop before they finish construction but, they’re doing an amazing job. Roof steels, joists, insulation and windows in and the building inspector is happy so, they’re moving on apace with the staircase and plastering now.

Turning my attentions to this week’s plan of action – how to keep boredom at bay in the final week or two (or three!) and finalising plans for the nursery – blog posts for both coming soon!

Little Pea Green

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Top 5 money saving tips for pregnancy and birth

Now I’m ramping up the purchases for Little Pea’s imminent arrival the costs are starting to spiral too. But, the good news is there are tons of baby clubs, competitions and special offers out there to help keep costs down as much as possible.

Being the kind soul I am I thought I’d share my top 5 money-saving tips:

1. Bounty Parenting Club
   Anyone that has been to an ante-natal ward or for a maternity appointment can’t fail to notice the Bounty pack in every expectant mum’s arms. Bounty has been around for decades and gives money off vouchers, samples and advice through packs (five in total) from birth to bump and beyond. I’ve had the first few packs already which have included samples of washing powder, Sudocreme and nappies so well worth getting involved. Usually your midwife will give you all the details but if not, you can sign up on the Bounty site.
2. Supermarkets
   Most of us have Nectar and Clubcard’s so, Sainsbury’s Little Ones Baby & Toddler Club and Tesco’s Baby & Toddler Club are definitely worth signing up for. I’ve just got a free Huggies Mum & Baby Bundle (worth £9.99) from Sainsbury’s which will be really useful for my hospital bag and Tesco are in the process of sending me £150 in discount vouchers as well as regular Baby & Toddler magazines until Little Pea is three.
3. High street mother and baby stores
    I’ve also done quite well out of the Mothercare Baby and Me Club (which gives you £100 worth of money off vouchers for toiletries and clothes as well as larger goods such as cots, moses baskets and prams) as well as Mamas and Papas who give you a £5 gift card and other money-off vouchers when you register for their latest catalogue. And, one store I’ve not yet signed up for but which might also be worth exploring is Boots Parenting Club. They don’t seem to provide discount vouchers as the other stores but, you do get Advantage Card points on all your purchases and the ‘chance to get free gifts the more you spend in-store’.
4. High street discount vouchers
   If you’re a regular reader of the blog you’ll know I’ve blogged a few times about the beautiful baby and maternity clothes in GAP. If you sign up to their newsletter you’re entitled to 15% off your first purchase and they’re always sending additional discount codes which do make a big difference to your final spend, even when you’re just buying a babygrow or two. Of course, it’s always worth signing up to other voucher and discount code sites including My Voucher Codes, Money Saving Expert and Voucher Codes.
5. Baby suppliers
   Don’t forget to also sign up with the likes of Pampers, HiPP, Huggies and Cow & Gate amongst others. Yes, of course, they’re trying to pitch the benefits of their own products but it’s a great opportunity to stock pile some samples for your hospital bag and try out which products suit your little one without buying full-size. At the moment, the Pampers Village club gives you a free ‘Baby Welcome Pack’ and coupons (before you’re 32 weeks), the Huggies Club sends you a free personalised story book, the HiPP Baby Club sends you a free calendar, samples, discount vouchers and 1st year record book and the Cow & Gate Mum and Baby Club will send you a free cuddly cow, pregnancy diary and money off vouchers when you join up.

And, the good news is, there’s no need to stop there. Google ‘baby freebies’ and you’ll find a wealth of other free products and services including:

• Free BabySafe training courses from Tesco and the Red Cross
• Free antenatal classes and advice from the NHS and Baby Centre
• And even a free contraction app for when the big day arrives!

This is only a starter for 10 – there are so many more opportunities out there for saving your hard-earned pennies. Have you got any money-saving tips you’ve found invaluable? If so I’d love to hear them. Share them in the comments below.

Little Pea Green

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A surprise baby shower

We’ve all heard about the big baby showers popular in the US and although they’ve been slowly gaining in popularity in the UK in recent years my friends and I have never been massive fans. I don’t know what it is about them – perhaps a little too contrived, a little too organised and we thought a little greedy, especially when the guests at a shower seem to buy you a present for the party as well as one for after the baby is born.  But, my mind was turned a few months ago when my friends organised a little surprise tea party to help me get excited about Little Pea’s arrival.

I guess the difference with my baby shower was that they didn’t go overboard with fancy invites, favours and masses of ornate decorations but it was just an excuse to get together and have a good natter with an immense amount of cake.

Mr G was under strict instructions to keep me occupied away from the house for a few hours while the girls delivered their cakes and gifts and, under Dad’s strict instructions not to make me jump (!) only shouted ‘surprise’ quietly when I arrived back home.

The girls had surpassed themselves with the home baking – carrot cake, lemon drizzle cake, and some fabulous cupcakes as well as ham and mustard, egg mayonnaise and salmon finger sandwiches. Accompanied by big pots of tea and eaten off a beautiful china tea service we also dabbled in a few games including Guess Little Pea’s ancestors (some brilliant old photos of Great-Grandparents, Grandparents and Mr G and I) and A-Z baby name game (some great suggestions for Little Pea’s new name).

I had a wonderful afternoon so thank you ladies – it’s not often you manage to catch me out!

Little Pea Green

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Setting the trend – Little Pea at GAP

Well, who knew. Just received an email from GAP announcing their latest baby range and it would seem Little Pea has started setting trends!

The latest unisex collection, Seed Co. has some adorable pieces features eggplants (aubergine for us in the UK!), carrots and yes, you’ve guessed it, Little Pea’s!

Obviously I’ve already ordered everything possible featuring that particular print, including the babygrow and sleeping bag but, there are also some lovely striped knit pieces too.

GAP garden print one piece, £12.95

GAP print bundler, £16.95

GAP sweater knit one-piece, £14.95

GAP apple hat, £6.95

And helpfully, GAP are applying a 25% discount on full price items today (23rd July), 20% tomorrow and 15% on Wednesday 25th July if you use the code GAPTODAY.

Happy shopping.

Little Pea Green

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My week on Instagram – and what a week!

I’m always looking for new ideas for blog posts and last week I was inspired by Amanda aka The Online Stylist who regularly documents her week via Instagram.

I’ve been slightly sceptical doing a trial as my life is no-where near as glamorous as Amanda’s seems (afternoon teas, champagne, fashion launches, shopping sprees etc etc). But, it was a pretty momentous week for me and I thought it might be nice to look back when Little Pea is a little older and show her what I was up to a few weeks before she arrived!

Sunday saw a surprise lunch trip organised by Mr G with Mum and Dad, my little sis and friends Rick and Rachel. I had a sneaky glass of wine with our three course lunch which included an Eton Mess that was to die for. Hop, skip and jump to my last week at work before maternity leave and, my birthday! Again, food was a key feature with my homemade rice crispie crunch for everyone at work, a trip to Pizza Express at lunch where my friend Jacquie presented me with the most amazing nappy cake you’ve ever seen (you can read more on my how-to blog post) and, a fabulous birthday dinner with the family.

Monday also saw the start of our much anticipated loft conversion. And yes, we know we’re cutting it a little fine. It’s a competition to see who is most efficient in project planning – me with Pea’s arrival or the builder and his completion date! Thankfully I still had a whole week at work to escape the construction noise and the lovely team pulled together an amazing surprise party with a ridiculous amount of cake, balloons and presents to send me off in style on Friday.

And, now I’ve officially started my maternity leave it’s onto the serious stuff. We ventured into the unknown world of the NHS ante-natal class on Saturday but Sue, the amazing midwife who delivered the 3 hours course, made everything much more fun than it actually is (bless her) whilst still retaining that damn reality check – “I’m not going to lie, it’s going to hurt and anyone that tells you otherwise is deluded”. Thankfully she’s spurred me on to start packing my hospital bag, finish buying bits and pieces for the nursery and washing Little Pea’s extraordinary amount of clothes (I think we’ve all got a little carried away!).

As you can see, the bump is pretty impressive now. Scary, and exciting, that after all this time we’re only 2.5 weeks away from the most extraordinary experience of our lives!

Little Pea Green

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Amazing baby shower idea – a nappy cake!

It was my birthday yesterday and, along with some rather wonderful gifts from family and friends I’ve also been surprised with even more lovely baby gifts for Little Pea.

Massive kudos to @Jacquie_Fisher who trailed my latest surprise through the street of Leeds for a whole morning and, even more impressively managed to hide it under the table at lunch for an age before the big reveal – a nappy cake!

Never seen or heard of one of these before but essentially, it comprises three tiers (hat boxes) with lots of little gifts inside, surrounded by nappies (Pampers of course) tied up with ribbon. Each tier had a theme – toys and treats (rattle, teether, sweets and moisturiser); clothes (babygrows, vests, dresses, skirts and muslins); and toiletries (wipes, sponges, nappy bags, dummies, cotton wool and Sudocrem).

I’ve taken as many pictures as possible for you to get the idea but impressively Jacquie made the ‘cake’ herself so, if you’re feeling creative it would make a brilliant centrepiece for a baby shower.

 

Has anyone seen a nappy cake before?! If so, I’d love to see more pictures – such a great idea.

Little Pea Green

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What foods to give up when breastfeeding

The lovely team at Wriggly Rascals invited me to guest blog for them this week and I was only too happy to oblige.

It was a great opportunity to research a topic I’ve not even thought about yet – what foods to give up (or possibly avoid) when you’re breastfeeding.

From spicy or unusually flavoured foods to caffeine and alcohol and foods which might cause problems for your baby, I’m hoping the post will provide a useful overview for anyone slightly daunted by all the information we’re having to take in at the moment.

You can view my article on the Wriggly Rascals site and also share your top tips and advice for other breastfeeding mums in their questionnaire.

Little Pea Green

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Moisturise, moisturise

In ‘normal life’ I always had the best of intentions of moisturising every day but sleeping, rushing to work and generally not being bothered always got in the way. However, as soon as I found out I was pregnant everyone I knew started extolling the virtues of moisturising to keep those dreaded stretch marks at bay.

I’ve now tried everything anyone recommended, anything on special offer or products given to me as presents and thought I’d share some of my favourite oils, lotions and creams with you. Obviously it’s easy to get carried away when faced with so many fab products, which is clearly no good for the bank balance, so I’ve pulled together Spree and Steal versions.

I’ve tried everything below and can heartily recommend them all.

Oils

Spree

Boo Boo Super Stretchy Miracle Oil – £15.99 – 100ml

Steal

JOHNSON’S® Baby Oil with Aloe Vera – £2.95 – 300ml

Lotions

Spree

Clarins Moisture Rich Body Lotion – £30.00 – 200ml

Steal

Vaseline Essential Moisture Aloe Fresh Light Feeling Lotion £4.69 – 400ml

Creams

Spree

Kiehls Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion – £50.50 – 475ml

Steal

Dove Essential Nourishment Body Lotion – £4.60 – 400ml

Would love to know which lotions and potions you’ve found useful during pregnancy.

Little Pea Green

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