My first Mother’s Day

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016Leave a comment

For this weeks flashback, I’m looking back on last years Mother’s Day.

It was a very special one and not just because it was my first one as a mum – we also had Sophia christened on this day.

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It took place in the very same church that I was christened in 28 years before, our local Brentwood Cathedral and we chose my sister and brother in law as her godparents.

It was a short and sweet service and we had lunch and cake at my parents house with our family and friends. The weather didn’t play ball unfortunately but hey, this is England after all so no surprises there!

One big surprise that did throw me though was the arrival of my darling Canadian cousin, my little sister Maylani and my uncle Tim. It was so special to have them with us for this important moment, especially as my uncle is my godfather and Maylani, my god sister. Love you guys!

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Here are a few pics of the lovely day we had courtesy of my mister.

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My favourite feature of this day deserves its very own mention, and no it’s not the cake (a family combined effort – damask stencils are NOT the one people!)

It is Sophia’s christening dress.

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I have always wanted to do something with my wedding dress and for a little while I was torn between keeping it as it is or turning it into something else. Being a sucker for tradition though the latter won out and I decided I wanted her christening dress to be made out of my wedding dress. My lovely friend Sindhu did the same for her daughter Avaana and I was sold when I saw the result – it was truly beautiful and a wonderful sentiment.

So who else would I turn to to take on this incredible task than my very own incredible Nora Walker, my mother. I don’t know how she is able to do absolutely everything I need/ask/want her to do, but she can and does, and always so well.

Here are a few pictures of her magic. I only hope I’m able to do the same for Sophia one day if and when the time comes

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It meant the world to me that on this special day, she wore a dress made by her grandmother from her mothers wedding dress.

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A tribute to heritage, one I will use for all my children and I hope it will be passed on for many generations to come. Special thanks to my mum for all that you have done and continue to do for us x 2016-03-05_0001

Wishing you all a beautiful Mothering Sunday this weekend x I’m sure every single one with this little peach will be as special as my first x

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February 26, 2016February 29, 20161 Comment

The title of this post sums up the last few months nicely and I’m feeling a little dizzy as I’ve only just stopped spinning (ok, who am I kidding? Sophia is now a toddler… I’m still spinning). It also perfectly describes the theme of Sophia’s first birthday party.

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The big ONE. I’m glad I can look back on it fondly even if the weeks leading up to it were a little stressful. Just a little. Her party was, as most events in our household have come to be, a labour of love but I’m so glad we went all in.

As you might know by now, I do love a good D.I.Y so most of my party planning starts with something I’d quite like to make and on it spurs from there. In this case, I decided I wanted to make Sophia a carousel cake!

I found a fantastic tutorial on Paul Bradford Sugarcraft online school which took me through it step by step (thankfully!) Probably one of the most challenging cakes I’ve made but also the most rewarding. I used sugar moulds for the horses and all the little details and gilded them all in edible gold paint and glitter – so chuffed with how it turned out!

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Now cake aside, there were a fair few other DIY details too. It’s lucky I have my very own Handy Andy as it definitely saved us a penny! My mister is a dab hand at DIY and helped bring the theme to life. He made two wooden structures for our funfair themed games (Tin Can Alley and Hoopla) and a Photo Booth out of a palette which went down a treat!

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He also made and wired the LED letters that spelt SOPHIA and it looked great as a centrepiece on the cake table. 2016-02-21_0026

The cake table was finished with a fabric banner that I made – (surprisingly easy to do and much cheaper than buying one!) and these super cute ferris wheel cupcake holders – thank you Wilko’s, you gem of bargains!

Hub also painted a scrap of MDF in chalkboard paint for me to draw a milestone chart on – just like my previous posts on this blog. It took me ALL night but it was worth it and has served as a nice keepsake since. We hung her monthly photos on 11 helium balloons and had them hanging from the ceiling above the chalkboard. It was especially nice to set this up as it was a rather sweet trip down memory lane.

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As most of Sophia’s little buddies were babies and toddlers, we hired and set up a soft play area next to their little picnic tables. Each little person had a lunchbox, a milk bottle with chocolate milk, chips in newspaper cones, a mini pinwheel that we made and a pretty pastel balloon tied to their chair – not going to lie, I wanted to sit there!

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Considering my very sweet tooth, it’s not surprising that I frequented my favourite spot – the dessert table! Lovely Jade, of Jade’s Balloons delivered a perfect array of helium filled balloons for the party and I especially loved the arch she made for this area. 2016-02-21_0020

A bit of home baking and a trip to Costco’s sorted this in no time. My mum made a whopping 80 cupcakes (they are better than Lolas) and I dipped some mini donuts in edible glitter for good measure. 2016-02-21_0030 2016-02-21_0029

For party favours, we homemade caramel toffee apples covered in nuts and sprinkles for the kids and put together some popcorn and candy floss. It was definitely a high sugar zone – oops!
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Phew! All in all, it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed a lovely day with our closest friends and family. A big thank you to our parents and siblings for all their help and to my pretty talented husband for creating a lovely day for our dear little Sophia!

If anyone is looking for a party venue in the Essex area, I cannot recommend Little Channels enough – a great space for littles with an enclosed courtyard to use if weather permits and the loveliest staff who went over and above to help facilitate everything we wanted.

The super talented Slawa Walczak (http://www.slawawalczak.com) took these precious photos I’ve shared here and below and we are so grateful for these memories!
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Some might say that the effort was wasted – I mean what’s a 12 month old going to remember? Yes, you’re right – she probably won’t remember all of the above but I will. We will.

You see, to me, Sophia’s first birthday was much bigger than just a party – it was a celebration of 365 days of change, of chaos, of perfection, of imperfection, of challenges, and of accomplishment, and I’m not just talking about Sophia. It was also a congratulation to each other on surviving our first year of parenthood and most of all, a thank you to our family and friends for supporting us for every one of those days.

The above applies however you choose to celebrate, big or small. It really doesn’t matter as long as you celebrate it the way you want. So when your tiny human reaches this milestone, go forth and plan, or don’t, and enjoy it – whatever it is that works for you!

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ONE. 1. First.

February 24, 2016February 24, 2016Leave a comment

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Well hello stranger, it’s been a while!

So much has happened since I last blogged- I went back to work, Sophia’s first birthday party, Christmas, New Years, my husbands 35th which somewhat got overshadowed by probably the most exciting news of all (sorry bubs) – the arrival of my brand new scrumptious nephew! As such, the blog took an inevitable backseat.

But hey ho, fast forward 4 months, and I’m baaaack and ready to get my blog on! I’m going to try and change things up a bit and get my structure game on. I’ll be posting twice a week (rather than sporadically which became my trend, oops!) Fridays for all the catch ups and Mondays for just about everything else. That’s the plan anyway.

And although it’s difficult to plan anything with a little one, I’m going to give it a damn good go. So for my very first ‘Flashback Friday’ as it were, I’ll be blogging about Sophia’s first birthday party! For now, I’ll share a few memories of her actual birthday which we spent at home with our parents and siblings – fitting as this is how we started.

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It was low key and just lovely. A relaxing day with good food, good company, cake and cuddles. Just what we all needed before her party the following week. More on that in my next post!

For now, a few snippets of her birthday. She absolutely loved being with all her favourite people, jumping up and down in her cot full of balloons, and of course, tasting the icing on her cake – well, she’s definitely mama’s girl then!

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Introducing Sophia Ishana!

May 23, 20151 Comment

So I have a confession to make. I have a teeny tiny case of OCD. You see, I like things in order, any sort of order at all, inextricably linked to my need to constantly pen lists of course.The problem arises however when I don’t manage to cross anything off said lists. This post? Case in point.

You see, I intended on digging through what has become a rather enormous digital photo pile (not unsurprising being the wife of a photographer) to find a picture or three to date stamp each of Sophia’s months. A little journal if you will, for us to look back on as a reminder of the little things she accomplishes that have me clapping like a seal right now. They may be easily forgotten when she’s older, even with my so called photographic memory. A sort of digital scrapbook.

The problem is, the skill of procrastination is one I have mastered. The result? A very very late blogpost and a couple of dozen half written posts awaiting the publication of this one. Oops.

So here is my promise to myself to try and let go a little on logic…after all there is very little that is logical and orderly about my days now! I’ll do my best to digitally embrace the organised chaos and blog as I feel so bear with me as I get up to date and post more regularly! Yes, you guessed it, in no sort of order at all (eek!)

And with that note of self-shaming behind us, back to this post! It was rather an emotional roller coaster to put together if I’m totally honest! I reminisced, shed a few tears, laughed and stood back in amazement at how much she’s grown and where on earth the time has flown!

So here she is, introducing my little or rather not so little poppet, Sophia and her first 6 months!