Showing posts with label hm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hm. Show all posts

Monday, 20 October 2014

Newborn Essentials

Baby Girl has been here three weeks now and I think it is safe to say there are some newborn essentials I could not live without. Now what I consider essential is most likely different to what baby books say but I know I prefer honest opinions from real people so I thought I'd share what has become part of our every day life these first three weeks:

Shnuggle Moses Basket



Shnuggle is a hypoallergenic and silent modern Moses basket. It is big enough that she'll be able to stay in our room as long as medically suggested but not so large that it inhibits our living space. All of the dressings are cotton and machine washable which means it is easy to clean--great especially since she has spit up and leaked out her nappies a few times! 



The shell is fully ventilated and hygienic so we can feel safe putting her to sleep and since it's not wicker like traditional baskets it can be fully wiped down and sterilised. The stand is also a great height for me as it is high enough that I can easily bend over and get her without straining myself and the dog can't jump up and reach her either.

Cosatto Giggle Pixelate Travel System


Since you have to limit the amount of times you go up and down the stairs after a c-section, baby girl has been sleeping in her Cosatto Giggle Pram downstairs. It is a great height for me bending down and the pram base is large enough for her to sleep comfortably. One of the things I love the most is the pattern on the inside of the pram base; Baby Girl has kept herself occupied staring at the colourful patterns on several occasions. It's an extra feature I'd never have thought of but is so clever.



NotBlondeHusband has been raving about the Hold carseat and base as it is so easy to click her in and out. With Blondie Boy we had a carseat we had to strap in with a seatbelt every time we got in and out of the car so this is so a vast improvement! We keep getting tons of compliments on how bright and fun the pattern is too, again another improvement from the bog standard black seat we had 4 1/2 years ago!

Thurpenny Bits Feeding Pillow



When we came home from the hospital I didn't have any sort of feeding pillows or supports and was sort of stacking various wedge pillows together and well it just wasn't working. Thurpenny Bits Feeding pillow has made such a difference to helping me support Baby Girl and taking pressure off my incision when feeding.  The portable pillow was invented by Mum Melissa Hyatt-Fosbury out of necessity for something supportive and stylish. It can be carried like a bag and ties at the back so it won't slip off. The cover is washable and can be re-used as a toddler bag (if you remove the pillow) once your baby is older.

HM Nursing Tanks



If I'm at home I like to be braless but when you are breastfeeding that is just not an option; my best friend mentioned how she slept/lived in nursing tanks so I had NBH take me to HM to grab some and honestly I never want to wear anything else. They are super comfortable and my feeding convenient. They give me the right about of support without being overly restrictive and are much preferable to bras to sleep in.

Tommee Tippee sangenic Nappy Disposal System


The nappy disposal bin offers anti-bacterial protection and odour control in a uniquely coloured tub. All you do is put in the nappy, twist and it is wrapped and sealed killing 99% of germs and sealing in smells. It makes night-time nappy changes super easy and means we don't have to rush to get nappies out to the outdoor bin. It is so simple and effective I'm not sure why we didn't have one with Blondie Boy.

Volvic Touch of Cherry Water




I'm perpetually thirsty (maybe a breastfeeding thing?) and have become obsessed with Volvic Touch of Cherry water. I will drink normal water from the tap but instead of pop or juice I've just really gotten into flavoured water. I couldn't tell you how many liters I've gone through but the stuff is good.

Vitamix Professional Series 750




In general I tend to follow medical advice but I refuse to take iron pills because of their *ahem* unsavoury side effects. So instead of taking the iron pills I was prescribed for blood loss/anemia I've been supplementing my diet with added iron. We've been having lots of red meat, fortified cereals and most of all green smoothies. The Vitamix seriously makes green smoothies the easiest thing ever. I throw in a handful of ice, some berries, a banana, handful of spinach and a splash of almond milk and it does all the work for me. All the spinach is blitzed down and I end up with a thick frozen smoothie like you'd get from a shop. Best of all it even has a self-cleaning setting so I don't have to worry about clean up either!

Tommee Tippee Breast Pads



Not the most glamorous item but wet patches are even less glamorous. NBH brought these home for me from the hospital and when they ran out we grabbed a supermarket own brand to replace them. The supermarket own brand were smaller, not individually packed and I still leaked out. Literally every time I used them I wound up with wet patches, not nice. I've gotten more of the Tommee Tippee pads and am much happier and drier now. I wouldn't think there would be a difference between generic and name brand breast pads but I was definitely proven wrong!

....and most important 

My husband

I honestly don't know what I'd do without him being home these past three weeks. This has been a totally new experience breastfeeding but he's been amazing and getting up to change her in the middle of the night when I get up to feed her. It makes SUCH a huge difference especially since I'm still stiff and sore bending over. I can't drive still post section so he's been on the grocery runs, taking BB to and from school--not to mention just entertaining the boy in general--making dinner, taking Baby Girl off me so I can grab a shower. Honestly he is by far my most important newborn essential but unfortunately for you can't buy him in any store; I'm a lucky lady.

What newborn products could you not live without?

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Transatlantic Blonde was provided the linked items for review but all opinions, on review or non-review items, are our own. I'm too tired post baby to be anything but truthful!

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

What I Wore Wednesday: Tiger Sleeves

I've gotten into a pattern of wearing the same thing, or a variation of the same thing, most weeks. It's cold, I'm lazy and leggings and a t-shirt dress with a scarf suits my needs.  I've got a pile of things from HM that I've never worn. I've bought them on sale with the best intentions and then they languish away never to see the light of What I Wore Wednesday. So today I dove into that exiled pile of loneliness head first and ended up with an outfit far from my norm.


Tiger Sweatshirt

Tiger Sweatshirt-HM
Jeggings-New Look
Slouchy Sweater Boots-Pineapple
Black Glasses-Vivienne Westwood

When I bought this sweatshirt it was totally because I'm a Cincinnati girl and huge Bengals fan and thought I could wear it to watch games. I sent pictures to some of my friends and cousins in Cincinnati who all were totally opposed to it but I kinda love it. Photo animal prints are super on trend right now in the UK but maybe just not so much in the US?  

There is a photo of a tiger on each arm and it is super comfy. I think it's supposed to be 3/4 sleeves but on me it's just about full length. You can't tell but it is longer in the back so cover my butt which makes the jeggings slightly more acceptable.

Since I'm a shorty and curvy skinny jeans don't always really work on me but jeggings do. These ones have pockets so they aren't totally disgusting (I hope) and work really well when mid-calf boots.  Like I said it is cold so I wear boots almost every day and these ones were a total bargain at TK Maxx.

Are you loving animal photo prints right now or loathing them?


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Tuesday, 4 February 2014

What I Wore Wednesday: Meet Bex

I'm really lucky that there are so many friendly and helpful bloggers in Glasgow! I've met Bex from Olive Dragonfly at a few different events and she's just as sweet as she comes across on her blog.  You'll recognize her as a regular What I Wore Wednesday linker and a lover of accessories!

I had just been thinking how I had a lot of outfits pictures from the last month ready to write up for my blog (Olive Dragonfly) when I noticed on Twitter that the lovely Transatlantic Blonde was looking for someone to guest post for What I Wore Wednesday so I volunteered.  :)  (It's also doubling up as this week's Pin It Do It on my blog, featuring Michelle Obama!)

I had a great night out at Grill on the Corner recently with some fellow Glasgow bloggers and I wore what turned out to be a selection of sale garments!


www.bexphoto.com 
My bright pink cheerful jumper was just £7 from the GAP sale a couple of years ago, the black statement necklace is from Argento a couple of weeks ago.  The leopard print shoes were from Nine West in the Debenhams' summer sale and I've been waiting for warmer weather to wear them but in the end couldn't wait and settled for dry weather!  Even my scarf and belt were from the Accessorize sale and the Jasper Conran coat was bought during one of Debenhams' 25% off designers offers.

Only my bag and brooch were full price and both still bargains :)  The bag was £14.99 from HM and the pewter dragonfly brooch was £16 from Lady Crow Silks at a Christmas Fayre.


www.bexphoto.com

I had a brilliant night with the girls and really enjoyed my steak with blue cheese sauce!


www.bexphoto.com 

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit obsessed with accessories, especially big, statement ones!  Are any of you partial to a statement necklace or jewelled belt?



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Tuesday, 15 October 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Kate Spade Wrap Dress

Wow. It's been six weeks since I last wrote a blog post. That's got to be a record. Things have been crazy around here. I'm super grateful to Sara, Vick and Zaz for helping me out with guest posts and to all of you for sticking around and still joining in What I Wore Wednesday.

Since I had to fly home to Ohio unexpectedly it meant I had to shop for a dress for my German sister Nadine's wedding while I was home. Nadine was an exchange student who lived with us for a year while I was in the 7th grade and then I went and lived with her for a month right before I turned 15. We've both been back and forth visiting and I think of her as my older sister.

I didn't have tons of time to shop while I was home. Luckily I totally struck gold at Nordstrom Rack. When I was growing up in Cincinnati we didn't have a Nordstrom let alone a Nordstrom Rack but oh my gosh do they have amazing deals. For those of you in the UK Nordstrom is a higher end department store like Harvey Nicks or House of Fraser; Nordstrom Rack is their outlet store. 

I bounced from rack to rack and was pretty excited when I found a Kate Spade dress that was originally $398 reduced to $60! I don't normally wear yellow but after a sad week the dress just screamed happiness to me. When I tried it on it was a little too low cut but I bought it anyway and had the straps shortened when I was back in Glasgow.





Yellow Floral Wrap Dress-Kate Spade
Purple Shrug- HM
Gold Bangles-HM
Gold Chandelier Earrings- New Look
Nude Patent Pointed Court Shoes- New Look

In my head it didn't make sense to wear silver with a yellow dress and I don't own any gold jewellery so I grabbed some cheap and cheerful earrings and bangles to accessorize. Nothing wrong with mixing high street and designer right? If I'm honest I was super self conscious about the um deep cleavage on display so I kept my shrug buttoned up most of the time to cover it up. I finished it all off with a blue gel manicure and I was pretty happy with the look.

The wedding was gorgeous but we ended up leaving after dinner because I was feeling so crappy. We didn't know then but that was probably the start of bronchitis starting to take hold. I'm still glad we were able to go to Germany and be there for her big day. I'm glad I went for the Kate Spade dress but I honestly don't think I'll ever wear it again and will probably try and sell it.


Do you mix and match designer and high street? Do you wear dresses from special occasions more than once or do you sell them? 

Anyone want to buy a Kate Spade wrap dress? ;)





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Wednesday, 2 October 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Meet Mummy's Got Style

I'd fully intended to jump back into What I Wore Wednesday with both nude pumps this week as everything I wore to a wedding was brand-spanking new but what I didn't intend was to come down with bronchitis. So the multi-talented Vicki has very kindly stepped up to the plate in my place this week! Vicki hosts #Fashionfriday over on her blog mummysgotstyle.com every Friday so please do link up your outfits or any of your Friday fashion finds over there too if you like!


Hi, it's a real honour to step into Transatlantic Blonde's high heel shoes this week, or perhaps that's woolly slippers right now as she battles bronchitis. Get well soon lady!

So, today I'm wrapping up in a my slightly warmer clothes as we go through the transitional phase of summer to autumn with sunny yet windy weather here in Yorkshire.

I do love Autumn/Winter style though and have loved lugging out my winter wardrobe from the spare room; big coats, my collection of hats, floral print scarves, knee high boots, brogues and *whispers Uggs!
dogtooth fedora monochrome hat
©Peter Broadbent.
So here I am wearing my new monochrome dogtooth print Marks and Spencer fedora (picked up in charity shop Oxfam in Harrogate (never been worn) for just £8-what a find). My faithful midi length black skirt is Topshop, black long vest, HM and pretty vintage style cardigan is by Darling, all puffed shoulders, pretty pearl buttons and crotchet embroidered collar. It might just be my prettiest cardigan for A/W and I plan to live in it!

heart print cardigan pearl buttons vintage
©Peter Broadbent.

Of course I've had to toughen it up a little with my leather style Topshop jacket and Clarks leather studded biker boots to give the look some edge. 60 denier tights are also Marks and Spencer.
black leather biker jacket
©Peter Broadbent.
Do you like the look? What are you excited to break out as the cooler weather comes?





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Wednesday, 14 August 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Rocky Horror Picture Show

We've had so much on lately and work has been crazy busy--I'm just perpetually exhausted. Last week though I went to go see the Rocky Horror Show with my friend Susan at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow. I'm a HUGE RHPS fan and I'd never seen the stage show so I was really excited. Since I was coming straight from work and Susan was taking the train in alone we nixed the idea of costumes. I did give myself a Rocky Horror inspired manicure though for good measure.





Black and Blonde Glasses: Vivienne Westwood
Black Top: HM
Skull Scarf: Chelsea
Black Plaid Skirt: New Look
Black Leggings: Marks and Spencer
Studded Ballet Flats: New Look

I bought the skirt from the same sale I bought the sugar skull necklace from last week but I'm still not 100% on it. I needed a new skirt though and it was £8 so it worked. I should be able to wear a lot of different tops with it since it's black but since it's plaid it isn't too boring. Kilts are totally back this A/W and plaid makes me think of kilts so it's vaguely trendy, right?

I'm really struggling to string two words together so I will leave it at that! This week I'm enabling voting so vote for your favourite linked up look! I'll let you know who everyone liked best next week!

 



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