20 THINGS

~ 20 Things That Freak Me Out As A Parent ~

(What if.....!?)

(My cheeky little 3 yr old!)

1. Doing a bad job

2. Them growing up hating me 

3. Turning into my mother

4. Their health, happiness, future....etc

5. Them choking on something

6. The eldest one being too rough when playing with the other. Eg. Sitting on the youngest one & squishing him

7. Teeth going through lip, tongue... general blood & open wounds, broken bones...

8. Other kids being mean or yours being the bully

9. Temper tantrums in public

10. Toilet accidents in a shopping centre, shop or supermarket

11. Teaching your children to swim

12. Leaving them at daycare, babysitter, school or overnight somewhere for the first time

13. Finally taking the gates off the stairs & them falling down them in the middle of the night as they stumble their way to your room

14. Slamming their fingers in doors or draws and having them completely fall off

15. Slipping over in the bath

16. Losing them in the shopping centre, park or any other place

17. When they pick up bad language & then say it in public 

18. Waiting in lines trying to keep them from cracking

19. When nappies magically come off in the middle of the night

20. Whenever you notice the slightest, rash, spot, sniff, cough or bruise

(Can't believe my little man will be one this month already!!!)

Classic toys all kids love!

Are you a parent or one to be?

What freaks you out?

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Another Hair Product!

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BLOOM POPS

~ BLOOM POPS ~

Flower Jewellery Pack!

It's a well known fact that children of all ages need constant stimulation to burn their endless amount

of energy, (where do they get it all anyway?!) learn and have fun!

So when the opportunity came up to try out a fun, new arts & craft set, I jumped at the chance

because I knew (even though this is recommended for ages 5-10 years) my know-it-all, clever

little 3 year old would absolutely LOVE this!

Detailed instructions including loads of easy to follow pictures are included to help out
the slightly older youngsters and simple minded parents such as yours truly! ;)

Here is an overview of the contents you get inside!
Fabric Flower Petals/'Daisy' The Bloom Pop Maker/Design Tray/
Flower Bases/x2 Flower Clips/The Un-Popper/Instructions/Sticky Gems/
Flower Spaces/Necklace Chain/Bag Tag Clasp/Link Chain/Sticky Rings/x5 Scented Flower Buttons

As you can see, you get a great variety of shapes, colours & designs to mix and match!

To begin - Take you design tray (shown below) and place one of the small flower bases in the centre.

Choose your first Fabric Flower Petal and place it over the ring.
Before placing the next petal take one of your blue flower spacers in between each petal
so they don't end up all bunched together.

Once you're happy with your flower stack choose a Scented Flower Button to place in the centre.

Next - Place 'Daisy' into the Bloom Pop Maker!

Once she is screwed in, pop her on top of your creation on the Design Tray.
Gently push down on her head. (Her arms will raise up!)
This step ensures your Scented Flower Button is firmly secure.

Your Bloom Pop should look a little like this!

An optional extra fun bit here.
Adding some colourful, sticky gems for a bit of bling!

What I like is once you're done creating your Bloom Pops

'Daisy' can become a fun new friend for your little one to play with on her own!

(She's the perfect doll house size!)

Moving on - This is what the bottom of your Bloom Pop will look like.
To get a bit creative, you can turn it into many different fun things!

Take one of your Sticky Rings, peel off the backing paper and place it over the bottom of your Bloom Pop.

On the left shows one of the Flower Clips stick on. Now you can clip it pretty much anywhere! One your clothes, shoes, hang it on some string.. there are endless ways! On the right shows a Hair Clip placed over the Flower Clip. This makes a bold, bright and beautiful addition to your child's hair!

Here is an overview of the extras provided in your pack to experiment with and get

you started with ideas on what you can do with your Bloom Pops!

Left - Attach your Link Chain & Bag Tag Clasp together and link it onto the Flower Base.

Now you have a brand new bag tag or keyring! Right - Thread your Necklace chain through the side

of the Flower Base to create a long, statement necklace!  

Lastly! - Once you've finished making your Bloom Pops, aren't 100% with your design or
just want to start again for more fun, the green Un-Popper with help you to simply detach the
Scented Flower Button that is holding all your Fabric Petals in place and you are back to the
beginning to begin creating more fun designs! :)

Overall, such a fun crafty box of joy for you...ahem, I mean your child/ren! ;)
(I think it's great fun for adults too!)
My daughter and I have been having loads of fun creating these and she loves
being independent with choosing the designs and placing them all together, etc.
Her favourite is the necklace - she's been wearing it everyday!
I'm keen to stick them on the door of her bedroom around her name sign.
Not sure if she's let me though as she is constantly pulling the others apart and
making new designs! :)

Other variations available include:
Flower Design Studio/Flower Decor Pack/Flower Bouquet Pack/Flower Theme Park
in 'Sweet Pop' or 'Rock Pop'

Check out the Bloom Pops website for more details!

:)

What kinds of arts & crafts activities do you like to do?
If you have kids, what are their favourite activities?
(Feel free to let me know your brilliant ideas, mine gets bored really easily!)

Love Candy!

xo

Missed yesterday's post?
NEW! Maybelline NY Foundation!

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Win a huge beauty hamper!

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*This product was kindly sent to me & my daughter for review

*All opinions & photographs are my own

BABBLE BOX

~ Babble Box ~

July 2014

Girls/Boys 2-3 years! 

If you're a parent of a child up to 4 years old then this is a fun filled treat

you need to sign up for!

For $34.95 a month (you can order per month or for 3, 6 or 12 months)

 this subscription service delivers to your door, between 

4 to 6 quality, not to mention cute and fun items

catered to your child's age and gender.

This month's box is filled with a great mix of goodies which my daughter who is

actually turning 3 next week (delivered at the most perfect time!) was very excited

about and could not wait to get stuck into!

As you can see from the picture below, you clearly get your money's worth!

From a drink bottle, fun toy, a book + more there is enough in here to keep

your child happily amused for hours!

Check them out below!

Babble Box!

After we both carefully un wrapped the nice, bright pink tissue paper together,

the first item my daughter quickly reached for was the fun little toy as she said

"Giraffe! Giraffe! Look Mummy! It's a Giraffe!!" 

:)

Kaper Kids Wooden Flexi Jungle Animal RRP $6.95

(After seeing the other animals available,  I actually think mine is a Zebra!)

Oops, close enough I guess! :)

Dear Zoo Mini Edition Book RRP $9.95

It took all of about a minute after we'd looked through all the goodies in the box,

before I was asked to read this book. I think I've now read this about a hundred

times already! The fun, interactive flaps which she can open on each page makes

it extra special and encourages her to be more involved in the book.

Little Bellies Animal Biscuits RRP $3.99

I was lucky to be able to snatch this box long enough to get a good photo before

my little miss tore it open and pretty much devoured them all as she pulled out

each bickie identifying what animal it was before tossing it into her mouth

one by one. Must be pretty yum!

Skip Hop Zoo Straw Bottle (Panda) RRP $14.95

This drink bottle couldn't have come at a better time.

Even though my daughter has long since finished teething, for some reason she's

taken up the chewing habit and gnaws on the straw of her current drink bottle. :/

Let's just say it's seen better days - now it can see the bin! Yay!

Skip Hop Zoo Snack Pack (Monkeys) RRP $19.95

These cute little monkey zip up bags will be perfect for packed lunches when

we're out and on the go. The cheeky faces are so incredibly cute!

We actually have a but of a monkey theme going on in my son's bedroom, so these

may be going to him. :)

Watch my unboxing video below!

Have you heard of Babble Box? 

Which subscription box do you subscribe to? 

Love Candy! 

xo

Missed yesterday's post? 

Half Moon Nails

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* This box was kindly sent to me for review

* All opinions & photographs are my own

MASTITIS

~ MASTITIS ~

(Mummy Stuff/Parenting)

Not a word you hear everyday! 

I am currently breast feeding my second child who is now nine months old.

I've never had any problems with breast feeding before, apart from actually getting

the hang of it at the beginning with my first child.

Since then it has been smooth sailing, until a few days ago...

I am usually up at least 2-3 times during the night with my son for feeds.

Since he's eating more and more solids I suppose he was just so full and comfy,

he decided to sleep all throughout the night. My boobs were not happy campers!

Needless to say, by morning my boobs were huge, hard, lumpy and screaming to be

drained! If you've ever breast fed, you'll know the feeling.

Having a three year old toddler running around and wanting to sit with me whilst I feed

isn't an ideal situation to be in. That's just the way it goes at my house.

I try to keep her entertained with various things, drawing, playdoh, tv, leggo, toys, etc,

I guess she feels a little left out and just wants to sit with us. So every few sucks or so

my son spins his head around to see whatever my daughter is doing, because

apparently everything she says or does is so interesting and funny to him.

It is sweet, they adore each other, but having him niplash me every 30 seconds

sucks! (Pun intended!)

Getting slightly off track there, where was I? 

Oh right, waking up with uncomfortably full breasts!

I tried to feed him as much as he would take but apparently my boobs were not

satisfied and a few days ago the left one started to get really sore! So sore in fact that it

felt as though I'd been punched, hard fair the side of my tit. :(

The following day I started to feel off. I was lethargic, more than the usual for someone

with low blood pressure and a lagging pulse rate. My first thought was, holy shit, I better not

be bloody pregnant again! Luckily, after some quick Googling my mind was put to ease,

when I realised I most likely had Mastitis. By the end of the day I felt really run down. The same

kind of feeling you get when you feel like you're getting the flu. Only no runny nose, cough or

sneezing, etc. Just the, I feel like crap, have a heavy, pounding head and want to lie down kind of feeling.
My temperature had also risen to 39.7 degrees.

The following day I decided to call up my Dr. for an appointment.

By this time my boob had an oval shaped red, very tender and hard lumpy area on one side.

Apologies for the odd picture, I didn't want to show my whole boob online.
But hopefully you can see what I'm talking about.

After a quick examination, my Dr. confirmed I did indeed have Mastitis and told

me not to hesitate and to come and see her straight away next time and not to

wait a few days. I had no idea it was such a serious thing. Apparently it can make you quite

sick very fast if not treated quickly and worse case scenario you could be admitted to hospital

to have the infection taken care of. 

So I've been prescribed some antibiotics called Distaph 500 which I am currently taking

every six hours which should help clear it all up within a few days.
I think they're making me drowsy, so upping the caffeine intake even more than usual!

Thank goodness no other nasty side effects!

I was in two minds about weather or not I should write about this.

I don't often do a lot of personal posts. I thought my blog is lacking some mummy 

kind of posts though, and with being a 24/7 mum and it being probably the biggest part of my life, it is also my most

passionate. So why not share my experiences with others who may find it interesting or

helpful. This was just my experience. Each one of course is different and should be treated that

way. All I can say is, if you think you may be getting Mastitis, don't wait, just get it checked

out as soon as you can. It isn't worth getting sick over when it can be cleared up so simply

and quickly with just a few pills rather than having to be admitted to hospital if you ignore it.

Have you ever suffered from Mastitis or something similar?

Thanks for reading!

:)

Love Candy!

xo

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Solids Journey With Cerelac!

My Son's Solids Journey With Cerelac!

As part of being a member of Soup, where if selected you get to

Trial and review various products,

ranging from beauty products, household items,

food, pet food, etc.

This time around I have been trialing Cerelac Cereal 

for my now big 7 month old, so far he's loving it 

and in my opinion, growing super fast on this stuff!

From 4 months old we started him off on the

plain Rice flavour, which comes in a powdery form. 

I wasn't sure how he'd react, as with my first baby,

she was and still is super fussy with her food and I 

found/find is exceptionally difficult to get her to try

new foods. My son, however can't seem to get enough!

I have upped to feeding him this 3 times a day with 

snacks and breast milk in between.  My boy

is always on the hunt for a feed and if you're eating something,

no matter if you're mum, dad, sissy or the cat! 

If you have food, he will be watching you waiting for more

than a crumb to drop! 

Now that he's 7 months and we've long gone through all of the

Rice Cerelac, we've moved onto the Weat flavored one. 

Rich in iron and vitamins C & B6 with no preservatives, artificial colours or flavour.

There are also a range of other flavours available.  

I tried him on the Oats with Prune flavour for ages

6+ months, I'm not sure if it's the sweeter taste, 

but he screwed up his face and was not keen. 

He is the same with fruit in general, even mashed 

banana at the moment, so I'll just

wait and try him on it again in a month or two.

Soon he'll be 8 months old and ready to try

The Multigrain with Pear flavour which is recommended

from 8 months. He'll reach this age by the end of the month,

so I'm looking forward to his reaction to a new texture and flavour.

-

Have your kids ever tried Cerelac?

Let me know how you found them trying different flavours

and any tips or advice you have. I would love to hear it.

Thank you! xo

*I was fortunate enough to receive these products to trial and Review

as part of being a Soup member.

*I was not required to write this blog post as part of the trial.

*All opinions and photos are my own.

The Mummy Tag! ♡

1. Are you a SAHM or working mum?

I'm a SAHM.

2. Would you have it any other way?

I absolutely love being a SAHM, and as hard as it is at times, it would break my heart to leave them to go work a 9 to 5 job. Then again, if I had to do it, then I'd do it for them. ♡

3. Do you co-sleep?

Not by choice! We put Imbi to sleep in her own bed, but she always ends up creeping in with us throughout the night. We're trying to cull it, but I'm still getting up several times a night to feed Rory, so it is difficult.

4. One must have gear for baby?

Stock up on nappies! I stocked up both times when I was pregnant and even though it may look like you have bought the whole store, you will run out in no time and it's always at an inconvenient time!

5. How many kids do you plan on having?

We always said 4, buuuut now that we have 2, I'm not so sure I could handle anymore! Time will tell I suppose.

6. Date night? How many nights (or day) per month?

None. :(

7. Your child's favourite show?

Peppa Pig.

8. Name 1 thing you bought before you had your baby and you never ended up using?

I was lucky as my sister has 3 kids and let me borrow a lot of stuff she had, most of which I didn't need or end up using. I can't think of anything I bought that I didn't use... My hubby spent a crazy amount on one of those Tommee Tippee nappy disposal bins which I said at the time was a total waste of money - I was right!

9. Your child's favourite food?

Carrots!

10. How many cars does your family have?

I have a VW Green New Beetle and hubby has a work car.

11. Weight gain before pregnancy, during and after, and now?

Before - None

During - Between 15/20kg I think

After - Took about 5ish months for both pregnancies to go back to normal.

Now - I'm back to my normal weight.

12. Dream vacation with your kiddos?

Disneyland, Peppa Pig World & Hello Kitty World.

13. Dream vacation without the kiddos?

Europe, NY and Hawaii!

14. How has your life changed since your baby has been born?

Pretty much everything has changed, a lot I knew and was prepared for, and some not so much. My life has been flipped on its head. Motherhood came so naturally to me, but some things that have changed I miss and wish hadn't. It's all worth it though, no question!

15. Finish the sentence: "It makes my heart melt to see......"

My daughter getting so excited to see her daddy each night when he gets home from work. When she sings and dances and reads books to her little brother. When she copies things I say and do - it's hilarious! I also can't get enough of my son's laugh. ♡♡♡

16. Where do you shop for your kids?

Wherever. It really depends what we need. We are given a lot of hand me downs, so we don't often need to shop. Occasionally we'll wander Big W or K-mart and find a few new toys to keep them stimulated and learning.

17. Favourite make-up and skin care products?

Can I say everything? I have a million favourite beauty items, they're my escape! I love them all!

18. Huggies diaper jeans: yay or nay?

I've seen them but never bought. Don't really care, a nappy is a nappy, so long as it does its job that's all I care about. Who cares what it looks like, it's covered up by clothes 90% of the time anyway!

19. Have you always wanted kids?

Yes!

20. Best part about being a mum?

Being loved unconditionally, loving insatiably and just being there for them and watching and helping them grow. 

♥ CandyFairy