In the garden

These are now the last photos of Benjamin that we have - sadly he escaped on Monday night and instead of staying in our garden like he normally does, he ventured further afield and the shock/fright of being out overnight (our area is full of foxes) must have proved too much... Our neighbour found him under his hedge the next morning without a scratch on him! RIP Benjamin bunny :-( xxx

The stationary addict

Oh. My. God. My name's Bells and I'm a stationary-aholic. And I'm sorry for totally spamming your various feeds with posts recently but the addict in me is unbelievably excited about what arrived in the post this morning and I couldn't resist posting about it immediately. Do you wanna know? DO YOU?? Check it out.

**WARNING. The following image may be deemed boring by the entire population except for those of us who get excited by trips to Paper Chase**


Eeeep! I'm a real blogger now ;-)

These gorgeous cards came from moo.com and I would fully recommend them! The best thing about this site is that you have the option to either use pre-made templates for your cards or (if you're an artistic genius like me) you can completely design your own from scratch and upload it onto the website. Aren't they amazing?

If looking at the awesomeness of my cards has made you want some of your own (especially with Cybher '13 and other bloggy events coming up) and you want 10% off your order, just click on this magic link. So there are absolutely no excuses for scrabbling around in your handbag for a pen and scraps of paper now!

Pssst! I wasn't given any incentives, monetary or otherwise for this post but if you use my referral link for your order then you'll get your 10% discount, I'll get some moo.com credit and we'll both be happy :-)

Let sleeping babies lie

I'm so excited that today is finally here!! That's right... today is the day that my very first post for the new and improved Emma's Diary blog goes live! Head on over there, I'm discussing the dreaded '18 month sleep regression - myth or fact?'

I think you all know which side of the fence I'm on!

What I wore Wednesday - Oliver steals the show!

Wow I've managed two weeks in a row... I'm on a roll! Pick up your jaws off the floor please ;-)

David cousin's wedding was last weekend and I had a fantastic time planning outfits for us all (yes I planned David's too!) Firstly I had to choose my own dress, so I had a colour to work with (it's all about me right?) and I finally settled on a strapless black and gold number from Dorothy Perkins (very similar style to this one but knee length) along with some black shoes with snake detailing (also from Dorothy Perkins) and a gold necklace (similar to this one). I was a bit worried it was all a bit dark and glam for a spring wedding but I loved the dress and I should mention that this entire haul of goodies was in the sales so I got an outfit that should've cost about £100 for £53. I do love a good bargain (or three).


David recycled a grey suit that has seen him through countless weddings, funerals and christenings over the past few years which I believe was purchased from good ol' Marks and Spencers, teamed up with a white shirt with black piping around the collar that came from Next last year. The only new purchase I made was a gold tie (this one) so that he would match my dress.


Which brings us to Oliver... who completed the look and completely stole the limelight in the process (how dare he?). The trousers were some pinstriped ones that I picked up from Next a while ago with this purpose in mind - I find children's formal wear a real challenge, particularly boys, as no shops really seem to have much selection. Or so I thought.

I found a fantastic shop for anyone living in and around the London/Surrey area called Little Angels. I stumbled across it on my way back from my latest hospital appointment (it's on the same road) and discovered not only the perfect white shirt but a gold bow tie as well! This shop had a seriously amazing selection of small children's formal wear, as you can see on the website - I'll never look anywhere else again!


OK so I've teased you all long enough.... here we are in all our finery (well me and Oliver anyway, believe it or not these are the only photos I managed to get!)




Isn't Oliver just the cutest???

Linking up with Transatlantic Blonde for WIWW

My best friend

My best friend knows me better than I know myself.

My best friend never lets me down.

My best friend is bright and colourful and always cheers me up.

My best friend always knows what I'm doing and when and where I'm doing it.

My best friend never lets me forget things that are important.

My best friend goes with me everywhere.


I heart my Filofax. Yes I am pathetic but is this *points to self* the face of someone who cares? :-D I covered the dividers in butterfly wrapping paper to make them more exciting, added a cute pink notepad and pen and it was good to go!

In case anyone was wondering, I purchased the personalised pages from i heart organizing. I love them!

Nice day for a white wedding

Happy Monday everyone! So this weekend was fun. Fun in the way that I'm not entirely sure if I'm being sarcastic or if it really was fun?? It was David's youngest cousin's wedding on Saturday which was lovely and everything was beautiful.... but.

Hands up who has ever taken a wilful 20 month old to a wedding? If you haven't.... let me explain. Remember when going to weddings used to be all about the fun of choosing an outfit (or letting your wife/girlfriend choose one for you), stuffing your face with free food and then getting as drunk as possible? Alas, this is no longer the case when toddlers are involved. When your babies are tiny or more grown up (say 3-4+ years) life is a little bit easier but between the magic ages of about 12-36 months things are different. Weddings are stressful now and require meticulous planning just to get through the day with the three of you still intact. First you have to desperately try to get your child to sit still and quietly during the ceremony (apparently bribery in the form of yoghurt covered raisins only works for about 15 minutes) and just when you think it's safe to breath, you have to run (in heels) to stop them from ruining the photographer's lovely (and probably hideously expensive) photos by running in front of every single one (and yet refusing to actually be in any). Mine apparently does not appreciate being told he cannot run out of the car park into the road either.

The drinks reception isn't so bad if the venue is somewhere the kids can run around (thankfully this one was in a beautiful enclosed parkland - although sadly with lots of steps and ponds but never mind) but then comes.... the wedding meal. *sigh* You know how you actually used to taste your food? Not anymore. Now you both scarf it down at lighting speed so that between the two of you, you can try and keep your child entertained (and in his highchair) for the duration of a three course meal. Not easy but with the aid of a colouring book very helpfully provided by the bride (and then my lipgloss and keys when he got bored of that after approximately 15 seconds) we managed it.

The evening part of the day was actually fine. We changed him into his pyjamas and proceeded to let him run around the dance floor like a maniac in polar bear slippers while we desperately tried to neck as much wine as we could before he got tired and wanted to go home. He did well but his normal bedtime is 7 and he'd had his nap early that day so by 8:30 he was flagging a bit. We decided not to push our luck so by about 9pm we were home, toddler tucked up in bed and parents on the sofa drinking tea and eating cheese on toast (it's amazing how little of your own food you get to consume when you're busy picking up someone else's off the floor).

How times have changed.

Psssst! If you are interested to see what outfits I ended up choosing for us to wear, keep your eyes peeled for Wednesday's post!

What I wore Wednesday - Put On Purple 2013

Recently I started reading a fantastic blog (which also happens to have the worlds most awesome blog name) called Luck Fupus. Please do take a second (after reading this awesome post of mine of course :p) to visit it! The owner of this fabulous blog is inspirational and hilarious (in a good way) in equal measure and is fast becoming one of my favourite reads.

So when she tweeted this....

Tomorrow, May 10, Put On Purple for World Lupus Day!! #PutOnPurple #WorldLupusDay #LupusAwarenessMonth #lupus #spoonie ������

— MarlaJan (@marlajan) May 9, 2013

And then this...

oh shit, I lied. Put On Purple Day is May 18. Can I blame it on lupus fog? #LupusAwarenessMonth #PutOnPurple May 18!! #lupus

— MarlaJan (@marlajan) May 9, 2013

And then eventually this...

I lied. Again. Put On Purple Day is Friday May 17. #LupusAwarenessMonth #PutOnPurple #lupus #spoonie #thirdtimesacharm

— MarlaJan (@marlajan) May 10, 2013

What choice did I have (once she'd finally decided on a date :p) but to obey??? So I know technically I'm cheating by wearing my outfit today for the photo but I will take it off right now and save it for Friday ;-) Anyone else feel like busting out some purple? Any excuse eh!?


Watch | Skirt
PS - Apologies for the crappy mirror shot and the lame hair - I will defend the lame hair by saying that I've just had it cut and it's not quite 'sitting right' yet. The photo is because I am at home all day and a 20 month old doesn't take great photos :-)

Linking up with Transatlantic Blonde for WIWW