Life Update | Back to Work & We've Bought a House!

I realised that I haven't given you guys a proper good ol' chatty life update since around October time, and oh my, so much has happened since then.

Back in November, we were still so unsure of what would happen with our early June 2021 wedding. We were back in a lockdown for 4 weeks, guest numbers went back down to 15 from 30 and we just didn't have much hope for a bigger wedding by June. So we made the decision to postpone for the second and hopefully final time for June 2022. 

Liam and I have always wanted to start a family and planned to take that route pretty soon after we had got married. However, the world had other plans meaning we would've had to hold off for a while due to the wedding postponements. After we postponed our wedding for the second time, we had quite a few emotional chats. We both felt so down that our lives had been put on hold because we had never wanted anything more than to start a family together. So, we sat down over Christmas, had a chat and decided to start trying for a baby. Obviously you will all already know that I am pregnant and expecting a baby girl at the end of September. We are so blessed and feel like it was meant to be. 

As you guys know, we have been house hunting for over a year and I'm so thrilled to say that we've finally bought a house! It's been so hard for us as first time buyers and me being furloughed, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster to be honest but I'm so glad we've been able to do it. Our completion date was the 21st May - we haven't yet moved in as we're having to redecorate everywhere and give the place a modern touch. People aren't lying when they say buying a house is stressful and one of the hardest things you'll ever do. I have never been so confused in all my life and all the forms and paperwork were overwhelming and never-ending.

 

After being back on furlough for four months due to the latest lockdown, I finally went back to work on the 13th of April. I couldn't wait to get back in the salon, I never knew I could miss work so much. Since being back, it really has been a struggle for me working the long hours again and getting back into a routine as well as growing a baby, I've just felt so exhausted. Although, how crazy is it to think that I'll only be at work for two and a bit more months before I go on maternity leave?! I'm definitely making the most of being back with the work girls and socialising with clients as I know my maternity leave will come around so quickly now.

As for my little blog, I feel like I've neglected it a lot recently. It's just so hard to find the time when I work full time and going through the house buying process, I'm trying not to exhaust myself out too much. But, I love blogging and will try to stay consistent with it but I can't promise you anything. I will of course keep you all updated on my Instagram so you can follow my pregnancy and house journey on there!

It's a ... | Pregnancy Update

When Liam and I first found out that we were pregnant, we wanted to keep the baby's gender a surprise until the birth. However, our decision quickly changed due to the excitement. So, we ended up booking a well-being and gender scan for when I hit the 16 week mark.

Today I am 16+4 weeks, which is just insane. I can't believe how quick the past few weeks have gone since my 12 week scan. We wanted to find out the gender with our close family instead of in the scan room, so the sonographer got us to close our eyes when she was checking for boy or girl parts. Our baby's umbilical cord was actually hanging down between the legs so I had to go and empty my bladder and have a little wiggle. I was just giggling to myself in the toilet, bouncing around and doing star jumps to get the baby moving. 

The jumping around worked and they were quickly able to determine whether it was a boy or a girl. As for the well-being part, baby is growing absolutely perfect and I also found out that my placenta is at the front, so I won't feel movements until a little later on which was handy to know. 

Just before the scan, we bought a heartbeat teddy, then after the scan was done the sonographer put either a blue or a pink heartbeat teddy in a box for us, somehow without peeking we made it all the way home. I then gave the box to my sister and she filled up a balloon with the correct colour confetti and then we popped it not too long after.

It's a girl!

Liam had been guessing girl since the beginning and I had boy in my mind. We didn't mind what the gender would be as we would love both a boy or a girl. 

As for body changes, my clothes are now starting to get tight, I've been patiently waiting for the shops to re-open so I can buy lots of new and stretchy clothes. From the end of 14 weeks to 15 weeks, I suffered with really bad constant headaches, nothing I done to help would make them go away but luckily, they've now eased! I'm now just having tired spells throughout the day like I did in the first trimester. I've also bought a hypnobirthing book which I'm hoping to start reading with Liam in the coming weeks. 

That's all to update you on for now, we're just so over the moon that we have a little baby girl on the way!

Surprise... I'm pregnant!

I can't even believe I'm writing this, it feels so surreal. You may have already seen the exciting news on my social media over the past week or so but if you haven't, I'm pregnant!

Ahhhh.

This has been the hardest secret Liam and I have ever had to keep. Well, we told our immediate family the day after we found out (before I was 4 weeks), because Liam was too excited, bless him. But waiting to tell the rest of the family and our friends was so hard. All I can say is, people aren't lying when they say the first 12 weeks drag. I feel like I've been waiting an absolute lifetime, yet I feel like how the hell have I gotten to this stage already?

I knew I was pregnant before I even took a test. I just didn't feel myself. I had period-like cramps two weeks before my period was due which never happens! I was constantly tired and struggled with insomnia. And oh my god the bloat in the evenings was unreal! 

 I'm now just over 14 weeks, so I am due at the end of September which feels forever away, but I know it'll come around so quickly! I'm not gonna lie, my first trimester has been pretty interesting. The nausea was so awful. I weren't even being sick, I was just feeling sick 24/7. Along with headaches, dizziness and lots of days spent in bed for the majority of my first trimester, it's been a mixture of good and bad days. I'm so glad that I'm feeling much better now and much more myself!

This is something Liam and I have wanted for such a long time and we are both so over the moon. We are so lucky and grateful to be able to experience this amazing journey.

MALTEASER EASTER CUPCAKES

Following on from my last Easter Baking post, I'm bringing you Malteaser Easter Cupcakes! I was so excited to make these, mainly because of the decoration part. Not to toot my own horn but these were bloody delicious.

Ingredients:

Cupcake Ingredients:

125g Self Raising Flour

150g Light Brown Sugar

150g Unsalted Butter

3 Eggs

25g Cocoa Powder

Buttercream Ingredients + Extras:

125g Unsalted Butter

200g Icing Sugar

150g Malteaser Bar

Malteaser Bunnies (enough for 12 cupcakes)

Malteasers (enough to share between 12 cupcakes)

Method:

For the Cupcakes:

- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.

- In a bowl, whisk the Unsalted Butter with the Light Brown Sugar until fluffy. Add in the 3 Eggs, Self Raising Flour and Cocoa Powder and whisk until well mixed.

- Evenly distribute the mixture into the 12 cupcake cases.

- Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes until baked through. Leave on a cooling rack until fully cooled.

For the Buttercream:

- Melt the Malteaser Bar in the microwave or in a saucepan on a hob.

- Pop the Unsalted Butter into a bowl and gradually, slowly whisk in the Icing Sugar until it is all combined. Then, up the speed on your whisk and mix until smooth and fluffy.

- Add the melted Malteaser chocolate to the Buttercream and mix in until smooth.

For the Decoration:

- Pipe the Buttercream onto the cupcakes. (I couldn't find my piping set so I had to make do with a teaspoon and butter knife).

- Then add the Malteasers and the Bunnies to the cupcakes, decorating how you wish. (I managed to get my hands on a bag which included the full size bunnies, mini bunnies and the Malteaser balls all in one bag which worked out cheaper than buying them all separately).

These were super easy to make, I can't wait to do this again with different chocolate treats.

MINI EGG COOKIE SQUARES

If you know me personally, you will know that I never bake and if I do, it's usually a good ol' box of Betty Crocker cake mix. This is the first ever time I've baked from scratch and honestly, I could take this up as a hobby! I decided that I wanted to bake some Easter treats this year and had so much fun making these Mini Egg Cookie Squares.

Ingredients:

275g Plain Flour

1 tbsp Cornflour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp of Salt

115g Unsalted Butter

55g Granulated Sugar

135g Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

300g Mini Eggs

100g Milk Chocolate Chips

Method:

- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees and line a square baking tin with parchment paper.

- Mix in a bowl, the Plain Flour, Bicarbonate of Soda, Cornflour and Salt together and leave to the side.

- In another bowl, add the Unsalted Butter, both the Light Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Then, add in the Egg and Vanilla Extract and whisk until smooth again. 

- Then, add in the ingredients from the first bowl which you left aside and mix in with a spatula. Milk Choc Chips can now be added as well as the Mini Eggs (leave about 15/20 of them to the side), again fold these in with a spatula to create a thick cookie dough.

- Once all folded in, put the mixture into the baking tin - you may have to press it in with your spatula or fingers. After it's all even and level, you can then grab the remaining 15/20 Mini Eggs and press them into the top of the mixture. 

- Bake the traybake in the oven for 20-24 minutes.

- Leave the traybake to cool off for about 10 minutes, then remove the cookie from the tin and put onto a cooling rack to cool further. Once cooled, cut the cookie traybake into squares.

I was honestly so chuffed with how these turned out! I know cookies can be a bit hit and miss on timing so I thought they would either be undercooked or burnt but they were the perfect in-between. Family also gave great feedback on these Easter treats and wanted me to bake them again.

My Self-Care Sunday Afternoon

I love a good self-care sesh and a Sunday is one of my favourite days to do that. Mainly because it's my day off, but also because it's the perfect day to unwind, relax and prepare for the week ahead.

I love to have a good ol' candlelit bubble bath. I light my favourite candles and either pop them around the bath or on my bath tray - this is one of my favourite ways to de-stress and relax. 
My skin changes so much when the seasons change, so I like to do a good proper skincare routine and slap a face mask on.

Whilst my face mask is on, I also like to apply a hair mask too. My blonde hair can get very dull, brassy, and dry, especially at the moment as I haven't been able to get it done, so a good hair mask always manages to replenish it and freshen it up.

I also like to put fresh sheets on my bed along with jumping into clean pyjamas. There's nothing like getting into fresh sheets with fresh PJs on, right? I then like to make myself a vanilla latte or a hot chocolate and grab the blankets and sprawl out on the sofa binging a Netflix series or TV show.

How do you spend a self-care day?

A NEXT Beauty Box for Only £20?

I have been so excited to write this post for you all, because did you know that Next did beauty boxes?  Neither did I. It actually came to such a shock for me, because of the amount of times I've shopped their website and I've never come across them.

This is my first ever beauty box. I have considered Glossybox and Cohorted before, but I never got round to trying them out. I was so close to purchasing the Look Fantastic beauty box over Christmas but I was too late to the game as it sold out so quickly.

Next currently have a range of different boxes at different prices. I decided to go for the Self-Care Beauty Edit Box for £20, because as soon as I saw that Bobbi Brown, Smashbox and TooFaced were included in this box, I was sold!

Next states "As with all our Next beauty boxes, the total combined value is based on full-size and travel-sized items only; sample-sized items (that may read 'not for resale') are NOT counted in this value."

Next also states that this box is worth over £70, which just didn't add up to me. How can two full sized products and three travel-sized products add up to over £70? So, I decided to do a little bit of research beforehand to see how much the box is really worth. Adding up the full sized and the travel-sized products, this box is actually worth over £50 - coming in at exactly £53.95.

Even though their calculations aren't correct, I still think it's definitely worth paying £20 for as it includes some amazing brands and pricey products that I've always wanted to try but didn't want to splurge my money on before trying them first.

Overall, we have some great little products in here. I've always wanted to try Bobbi Browns Vitamin Enriched Face Base - it is sample sized but a little always goes a long way with Bobbi Brown so I'm chuffed. 

I have also wanted to give the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara a go for a while but never got round to it as I always had lash extensions on, so I'm glad that I can finally try it. 

The Rabot Liquid Chocolate Body Mask smells absolutely incredible, it literally smells like you've just whisked up a chocolate cake mix. This product is hefty and will most probably last me a while, I just can't wait to smell like chocolate 24/7.

Reflecting on my 2020 Goals + A Few Goals for 2021

 I'm sitting here on this early Monday morning wondering where the heck to even begin because I literally haven't posted on my blog since late November. I have also been so undecided on whether to post this or not as it's a little late to the party, but I suppose it's better late than never, right? 

2020 was a year to remember wasn't it!? I didn't really have any goals for 2020 as Liam and I had some big things planned which we wanted to focus on, but unfortunately those plans weren't able to go ahead. However, I did mention exercise and losing a bit of weight which, with the help of lockdown, I actually achieved and stuck to, as well as actually taking exercise up as a hobby. Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd admit to enjoying exercise.

Like last year, I don't have many goals for 2021. The goals that I want to achieve are more for self-care and wellbeing, which I think sprouted from the rough year we had last year. However, I am determined to focus on them, and hopefully come out of 2021 as an even more positive person.

Take each day as it comes

Don't stress over things I can't control

Appreciate the little things in life

Take time off social media more often

Improve my skincare routine

Three of these goals have derived from the past year we've had. I'm not going to lie, I have found it really difficult at times. But 2021 is a fresh year, it hasn't started off great but I'm trying not to be a negative Nancy and more of a positive Polly and just take each day as it comes.

Since Christmas, I have taken a few well needed breaks here and there from social media, and it has done wonders for my mental health. At first, I actually thought that I would struggle because I check social media multiple times daily, even more so at the moment as I'm not back at work yet. 

I usually just randomly check social media throughout the day without even thinking about clicking on the apps. Half the time, I don't even need to check social media or I was only on it about thirty minutes prior. I found it easier during my social media break if I logged out of each social and put them in a separate folder on my phone, I didn't seem to find myself looking for the apps. Whereas, when I left them where they always have been, I just click on them out of habit, it's like a routine. I've told myself to definitely take breaks more often when I need to this year.

Lastly, there's always room to improve your skincare regime. I personally feel like I have been so slack over the past few months with my skin. I'm slowly getting myself back into a routine and I'm hoping to stick to it and try new products.