Mum to Be Monday #5 - My Baby Shower

Mammy bubbles, myself and bump. xxx

Girls! I'm officially on maternity leave and I'm sitting down to blog for the first time in four months! Hallelujah!!

At the beginning of my pregnancy I had a vision of what the following months of pregnant life would involve and it turned out being noting like what I expected. Taking it easy, saving and exhaustion meant very little time for hanging out with friends so I thought having a baby shower would be the perfect opportunity to catch up with my family and friends before baby arrives. 

I had an absolutely brilliant day and would recommend having one to any expectant mum. It was a great distraction full of laughter and lots of yummy cake. 

You can't have a celebration without cake and boy did I have some cake! My good friends Sarah and Katie who I have known since the age of twelve graciously made me the spectacular cake creations you can see in the pictures above. The cake actually stole the show on the day. The three tier cake was jaffa-cake flavour on top, lemon in the middle and chocolate on the bottom. There was also a separate cake which was carrot cake. Yes, I tried them all! Sarah used the front of the shower invitations as inspiration for her design which turned out beautifully. 

I wanted to treat my family and friends on the day so I had Katie from Nails by Katie & Suzie on hand to do nails. Trying to stay away from the traditional baby shower games that not everyone would be interested in I set up a few cute activities instead. I had a table with plain baby grows and sleep suits with some fabric markers and everyone got to design one for Poppy. They turned out great and will make a lovely keepsake. I got the baby grows from Penneys and fabric pens from the Art & Hobby shop.

Nearly all my friends have children and I wanted them to come along and join in the celebrations too. Seriously who else would help eat all that cake?! There was about ten children as well as a few babies there on the day. To entertain them I purposely had my baby shower in the pre-school I work in so they had many toys to distract them. Teresa, a friend from work also did face painting on the day. I think the kids had fun and some even made new friends! 

I also had a table with a photo album of baby scans from the last eight months. On the same table I had a white tree borrowed from my friend Lorna who used it at her wedding recently. I used it on the day for pink prediction cards I bought on ebay. Everyone had fun filling them out guessing weight, due date of baby and giving messages of advice. I will treasure them forever in a special keepsake box. I also can't wait to see if anyone was close in guessing her due date. 

For fun party favours I had little pink baby bottles filled with tasty treats. They were also personalised using stickers thanking my guests for coming. For food we just had sandwiches, lots of finger food and a sweet table....it was a day of gluttony really.

I was really spoiled on the day and I'm delighted I got to see my friends before baby arrives as I have no idea what to expect once she is here! 

Love,

Sarah & Bump

Mum to be Monday - My Pregnancy Journey

• Pregnancy announcement & 18 week pregnancy update
• Gender Reveal
• 21 Weeks Pregnancy Update
• Baby Bump Painting - My sister-in-law

Mum to Be Monday #2 - Gender Reveal

I've been dying to share the news of our gender scan with you after we told all our family members over the Christmas holidays first! I'm going to start from the very beginning so this might be a long post. Finding out the gender was something that we both wanted to do, some people prefer to wait until their child is born to find out but this was a personal choice and we will cherish the experience forever.

When we went for our twelve week scan in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda I was told that we wouldn't be having another scan until I was 34 weeks to check the positioning of the placenta. I was suddenly taken by surprise, I thought all women had a twenty or twenty one week scan to check the babies development and if possible they would be able to find out what gender the baby was. Seemingly this was not the case for all women. First time mam here so there is a lot for me to learn!! The lady was happy with what she had seen in our scan and sent us on our way.

On the way home that day we talked about finding out the sex of the baby or leaving it until the very end and I think we both decided instantly that we wanted to know as soon as possible. There was no specific reason why. It had noting to do with purchasing gender specific items for our child we just could not wait to find out. We are just so excited about becoming parents that we wanted to know would a little boy or a little girl be changing our lives forever.

It looked like a private scan would be on the cards for us so while we waited for baby to grow and develop past the recommended eighteen weeks we looked into different types of scans available. My brother and his partner are also expecting and they had a 3D scan at the Babyscan clinic in Swords, Co Dublin. They had a great experience and it was only a short drive for us so myself and John opted for the gender scan there. Booking was so simple, you can ring in and also book on-line. There was no waiting list. I was even given a list of available appointments that week and I selected the best time for us. What better time than the week before Christmas, my favourite time of year.

Skipping straight to the scan I just want to say that the women we dealt with at the clinic could not have been nicer. They genuinely seemed interested in our pregnancy and made me feel very comfortable and at ease.

The room where the scan took place was very spacious and John got to sit right beside me and hold my hand. At the hospital for the twelve week scan he had to sit on the other side of the room and look at a different screen. I didn't even feel like he was in the room with me. I was so happy that this gave us the opportunity to have a more intimate experience. Walking into the room the sonographer could see that I looked uncomfortable and a few moments into the scan she told me that my bladder was too full and that the baby was a little squished in there so after a quick trip to the toilets I came back to find out the good news. She already knew the sex before I went so we spent the next 15-20 minutes looking at our babies hands, feet and beautiful face.

She asked us our predictions, we both said boy. 

She said " well, it's a baby girl"

Well...I just burst out crying! I was so shocked. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I kept thinking boy. Every time I seen something even remotely related to do with girls I just thought ah, maybe next time. I was so convinced we were having a boy.  John had the biggest smile on his face, we both actually had the stupidest big smiles on our faces. Now we knew....it felt much more real than it did half an hour beforehand. 

Another plus to having the gender scan done privately was that we received a tonne of photos to take home of our lil baby girl. The whole experience really was worth every penny and I would do it all again in a heart beat...I'll just drink less water next time! 

Oh my god I just remembered, she actually yawned during the scan and we seen it all in almost slow motion on the huge television monitor beside us. It was so surreal. At one point she (I can also say she now!) kicked her two legs up to her head. She's going to be tall just like her parents! 

So we have a little girl on the way.....far too exciting. Still searching for the right name for her. We had a name all set if it was a boy...how wrong were we! 

As I write this post I am currently twenty one weeks and only began to feel little flutters from within my bump a few hours ago. There is so much to look forward too and time is going by so fast, I'm trying to enjoy each moment as it comes. 

A bloody girl lads! Who's up for dress shopping in the new year?!!!! 

Love,

Sarah & Bump! 

**WIN** Cocoa Brown Tan - My Party Season Must Have

It's officially party season girls and I'm going to tell you why Cocoa Brown should be on your shopping list when you dash out the door to buy a new dress for that all important Christmas work party or girls night out. 

I have three simple reasons why you should include Cocoa Brown on your must have's list. 

Affordability - From the first moment CB came on the scene I was surprised and delighted at just how affordable the tanning range was. With prices ranging from €2.99 to €7.99 it's very easy to understand why this has become the fastest selling tan in Ireland.

Quality - I would not be one for regular tanning but when an event does arise I always reach for Cocoa Brown. I love Tough Stuff and Chocolate Whip for preparing my skin prior to applying the 1 Hour Tan. You can see instantly where you have applied the tan and washing off the excess tan after your desired time leaves little room for error. I also love the colour and scent.

Improved Confidence - I don't wear tan to give off the impression that I've been sunning myself in the Bahamas. I wear tan because like most of the female population in Ireland I have pale skin and Pale skin does not go too well with that perfect little black dress (unless you're Nicole Kidman...damn you!). Wearing tan gives me the confidence to get dolled up and enjoy my night out. If I can do that with a product at a fraction of the price of other tanning products and get results that I'm happy with then you can bet your bottom dollar that this brand will be in my life for a very long time! 

 Cocoa Brown also have a range of Tanning sets on the market that would make perfect gifts for friends and family. There's the Be Bronzed & Beautiful gift set for €9.95. The set contains Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan that Delivers a radiant, bronzed glow in just 1 HOUR. Cocoa Brown Tough Stuff Body Scrub 50ml which Exfoliates your skin in preparation for the tan, plus it also removes your tan when you’re done! And lastly the Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze Gradual Tanner.

Also available this Christmas season is the Luxury Gift Set for €19.99 and currently on special offer on Feelunique.com for €12.80 or in Tesco for €13.33 until the 24th of December. This set includes the 1 Hour tan, Tough Stuff Scrub, Chocolate whip moisturiser and a pink tanning mitt. 

My favourite set is the Ultimate Travel Set. It costs just €10 in Penneys and is perfect for travelling obviously but it's also handy if you're getting ready for a night out at your friends and don't want to be arriving with a heap of products. It contains a cute 100ml 1 Hour tan, 75ml Chocolate Whip body moisturiser and 75ml Tough Stuff body scrub. 

Win yourself an Ultimate Travel Set and a 200ml of Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze by heading on over to my Facebook page.

Also head on over to the Cocoa Brown Facebook page to stay up to date with new products and offers.

Love,

Sarah

Pretty in Pink Glitter Nail Tutorial

Products L to R: Rimmel London Try Harder double duty base coat, NYC 170 Oh Soho Sweet, NYC 238 MoMa, Art Club nail art lacouer in silver glitter, Studio iridescent polish and LA Splash nail art glitter in Trickery.

Iv'e seen a lot of gradient glitter nail looks on the interwebs lately and I wanted to try it for myself. This girlie glitter nail look is what I came up with. I really like how quick and easy it was to achieve. I think anyone at home can do this for themselves and it doesn't have to cost a pretty penny either.

Step one: Treat/clean your nails. I used Bubble White.

Step two: Apple base coat to prevent your nails from staining and prolong the wear of your varnish.

Step three: Apple your base colour, choose a light natural shade.

Step four: Apply your chosen darker shade to the tips. It does not have to be prefect because you will be covering it with glitter later. Look at mine above, what a mess!  

Step five: Apply your chosen glitter, again no special technique here. Just apply to tips.

Step six: Bring out the big guns. I applied a nail art glitter for extra sparkle to the tips.

Step Seven: Apply your top coat to bring all the layers together.

Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you try this look out for yourself at home please share your pictures with me on Facebook or Twitter, I would love to see them.

Love,

Sarah