BABY: Pregnancy update - April - weeks 28-31

I honestly can't believe how fast the weeks are going in this pregnancy, but we're back at another update already. The last couple of weeks have been pretty good all round to be honest, and we're officially in the third trimester!! In fact we're into single digit weeks til the due date! Now that's a little bit scary.

We've been pretty practical recently having been to our first three antenatal classes and doing a lot of learning. We've also done a bit of shopping to buy the last few large bits for the nursery and made the final payment for our travel system (collecting next month... OMG). I've even started pulling things together for my hospital bag, but still a little way off getting that complete! I have to admit I totally love decorating the nursery, and we've started work on the playroom too!

FOOD: Yushoi Snapea Rice Snacks for sharing and out & about

If you hadn't noticed before I'm a massive fan of food. Especially the naughty stuff. 

But with a baby on the way I am somewhat trying to work a little harder to eat more healthy, not just for my pregnant body, but to get into good habits so we can teach our children to have a healthy outlook towards food. 

When I was approached by Yushoi* I knew this would be a great place to start with some healthier snacking. We first discover Yushoi Snapea Rice Sticks in one of our Degustabox subscriptions and we really enjoyed them so were really intrigued to try some of the other flavours available. 

We love oriental food in our house, which you've probably noticed from some of my recent recipe posts (chicken laksa anyone? Or Chinese inspired Green Tea Salmon?) so these green pea and rice backed savoury snacks are right up our street.

LIFESTYLE: A letter for a gentle man

Today is St George's Day in England. Not a massively celebrated event I will admit, but for me personally it's a day of significance. 

This is quite a personal post inspired by a chapter from the Unmumsy Mum book (it's excellent by the way) and a 4am moment of reminiscing. I think part of it came from a discussion with Dann about summer trips back home when Baby Bee arrives.

So why is St George's Day important to me. Because of my Grandad, Gordon St George Lewis. As you can probably guess from his name he was born on St George's Day. Unfortunately he is no longer with us.

FASHION: Woolovers for mummas

I don't often get to do fashion posts, but when I do I really love them.
I'll be honest being pregnant, and becoming a mum in the near future has changed my views a little on fashion, and made me much more aware of practical fashion, which usually comes at a price.

Recently I was approached by Woolovers about their Cashmere & Merino collection which includes beautifully created knitwear at affordable prices. They currently market themselves to busy mums who want great clothing but convenience too, which let's be honest, is most of us. The cashmere/merino wool blend collection combines the luxury of cashmere with the ability to throw it in the washing machine at the end of the day without any worries. And they're super soft.

I was sent the gorgeous women's poncho shrug* in navy, and I have to say I adore it.

BABY: What to buy the mumma-to-be for her baby shower

It's a big question for a lot of people, especially when it's the first friend in their group to have a baby.
Baby showers are becoming more and more traditional and with it comes gifts. And baby shower gifts are a bit of a mine field. This can be made trickier if like me, the mum-to-be is gender neutral so all those pink and blue outfits are going to have to wait. And no new mum wants to start out with baby and 600 tiny newborn onesies and 40 blankets in the middle of summer.

FOOD: Easter and Breakfast with Degustabox

My favourite parcel to arrive through my door each month is most definitely my Degustabox*, and the March Degustabox did not disappoint once again. (apologies this is a little on the late side, I will be posting April's much faster, I promise!!) There's a discount code at the end of this post to get £6 off your very own box so you can join in the fun! 

The March box was inspired by Easter - of course - and breakfast, with a mix of snacks and other bits and pieces thrown in.

FOOD: For the love of caffeine - 24 coffee hacks

You guys know I love coffee right? If you didn't where have you been? I covered some of my love in my recent post with Mettricks. So it only seems right that I share this infographic all about coffee with you in collaboration with MyVoucherCodes. As it's Coffee Week UK (11th -17th April) why not celebrate with some coffee hacks and a cuppa!

BABY: Making the most of a teeny baby nursery

We're fast approaching Baby Bee's arrival date so we've been spending a lot of time thinking about the nursery and how to make the most of the space we have. We're really lucky in that we have two spare bedrooms, one larger room and a little box room. We've planned to use the larger room as a playroom and the box room as the nursery, which as the little one grows up and we add to our family they will move on from the nursery into the playroom.
As you can probably imagine, the box room is little. So we're having to come up with some clever solutions to ensure we have everything we need, with enough space to actually move.

I've collaborated with Boori* to share some of our space saving ideas and nursery inspiration.

FOOD: Juice Boost Smoothies - get your fruit in this summer

Last week I went along to Boost Juice Bar to learn a little bit about their brand and their smoothies and juices. If you've followed this blog a while, you'll remember seeing lots of smoothies over on my instagram last year, especially in the summer. I love the convenience of smoothies in getting so many vitamins and healthy bits into your diet. I do occasionally struggle with eating enough fruit and vegetables, so I find smoothies so great. I'll definitely be incorporating them into our diets more and more as Baby Bee arrives and as grows up.

BABY: Purepotions Baby Skincare Range

Last month at the Brighton Blog Meet Up I discovered a new brand that I'm kind of loving and wanted to share a little more about, purepotions. 

Purepotions is a Brighton-based skincare brand who specialise in natural skincare for problem areas made from locally sourced and organic ingredients. According to their website:

"Purepotions began trying to help a little girl find a safe, effective, dry skin treatment. So naturally, all of our products are suitable for babies, children and adults and can be safely applied to any area of the body, including the face, hands and scalp. We will not use ingredients known to cause harm.

We use high quality ingredients as close to their natural state as possible and ensure they are not highly processed or modified. Those ingredients are organic where possible and are always 100% natural. We only use ingredients that are essential to moisturising and nourishing the skin. For this reason we will not use fragrances and perfumes, or any other artificial additives that involve preservatives or petrochemicals."

They are also cruelty-free, but able to be used on everyone, adults, children and babies. Which brings us to the products I really want to talk about. 

FOOD: An evening at the Artisan, Southampton

A few weeks back I had a little evening out with some of the blogging girls, and guys,with the Artisan in Southampton. Back in September we went across to their new launch after they re-furbed and re-branded, so I was pretty excited to try out their new menu launch.
They are launching a new evening nibbles menu ready for the summer which perfectly combines excellent food and great wine in the heart of the cultural quarter of Southampton.

BABY: Our 4D scan experience

Last weekend I had one of the best experiences of my life, in approximately 15 minutes.
We had a 4D scan with Ultrasound Direct in Southampton, and honestly I can't stop thinking about it, and I just had to share the experience with you.
We booked the Simply 4D scan at 28 weeks and 5 days with Baby Bee.

FOOD: Coffee education with Mettricks

You may have noticed from my Instagram and Twitter that I'm a little bit of a fan of Mettricks (you can read my recent post on their evening menu launch here), so when I was invited with the Soton Bloggers to attend a special education event after hours in Old Town, I just knew I had to attend.

Mettricks is leading the way in Southampton with speciality coffee education, including mini sessions over breakfast for £15. Our session one evening last week (because bloggers don't function too well in the morning!) entailed an interesting presentation from Dom, and coffee tasting (like wine tasting but with spoons), and lots of facts.