Lyla's Bedroom

Anyone who follows me on Snapchat (LylaJaneBlog) will have seen I changed her room around a little over the weekend. 

It still needs a little bit of tweaking, a new rug, a new lamp, and just some finishing last little touches that will probably never get done. 

I didn't plan on going down the pink route, but after a three month search for yellow or pastel green curtains for her irregular sized windows I gave in and bought pink. I'm glad I did now because the early starts are getting earlier from all the sunlight in the morning. 

So, here's how it looked when we first moved in:

Decorating a toddlers bedroom

Bright, cute and colourful, all of these toddlers bedrooms are perfect for our beloved little people. Lyla's room is anything but perfect. Although bright and airy its a mish mash of furniture and prints we had to spare when we moved in.

Behind The Scenes

Two adults, a camera, and a lot of 'Oh Lyla look there's a cat' to get one semi decent picture. This is the edited version, there was 79 photos, the reality of a blog about a toddler. 

Halloween Costume For Babies

Many a year ago I made a last minute attempt to dress up as Barbie. I put on tan and my pink debs dress and asked my brother if he knew what I was dressed up as, 'A dope' he answered. Grand, I looked nothing like a barbie and decided I wasn't dressing up. That's pretty much been my Halloween every year since, I don't do dressing up. I'm too lazy and unorganised. 

Last year was my first as a parent, so pressure was on to dress Lyla up. Knowing I didn't want to dress her as a cute bunny rabbit or pumpkin, I started scouring the Internet for ideas. When I found one that was simple, cheap and worked well with her name. 

What We Wore

The past few weeks have been so busy, what with moving house, decorating, work and just general life! The busy-ness makes me cherish the slow days I have with my little girl even more, traipsing around town, coffee dates which now include Peppa to keep Lyla entertained, and afternoons spent feeding the ducks in the park. Days that leave me feeling tired and happy and like I'm somewhat on the right track in life. 

Patent shoes & Mama Stripes

Surrounded by bags, boxes and Lyla's toys I am taking a moment to appreciate where I am and the person I am here with, at this time in my life. My life is pretty sweet at the moment and I am beyond grateful for the people who have made it this way. 

Anyway, now to the actual post. Lyla got this dress as a gift for her birthday. At the time it was way to big for her, now it fits her perfectly, if not a little snug around her belly. (Baby bellies = beyond cute). It never ceases to amaze how much a baby can change in such a short space of time. She has about 10 words now, sings the Peppa pig theme tune and despite holding my hand in these pictures can take at least 8 steps unaided.

Her dress is from Gap and her adorable little patent shoes are from Penny's. I think my goal in life is to find a way of wearing patent shoes with socks myself, without looking like a twat. 
Until then I'm pretty happy with these little Zara ankle boots. They aren't leather like my 6387 other pairs of boots, so I feel like I'm progressing with being a bit more experimental sartorially. 

Although the stripes and black Mac style jacket might beg to differ.

The shorts are actually a play suit that I have decided is too young for me (THIRTY THIS WEEK!) but with a jumper covering the low plunge line you'd never know.

Emma: Playsuit - Urban Outfitters, Jumper - Zara, Jacket - H&M, Shoes - Zara

Lyla: Dress - Gap, Cardigan - Pennys, Shoes - Pennys

Did I mention I'm THIRTY this week!?!?

Life Lessons from a Toddler

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*Silly Mummy Moment*

Getting a little bit emotional about Lyla learning to walk. Not because it means she's growing up (which, by the way, is happening way to fast), and not because parenting is involve a lot more chasing; but because of what I'm learning from her. 

Toddlers have so many traits we all aspire to as adults. Motivation, courage, perseverance; no matter how many times that child has fallen down she will get right back up again. 

Failure is not part of her vocabulary (admittedly that stretches to about 5 words at the moment!). She wants to walk, and she is going to keep on trying until she does.
Same with using a spoon. I spend an inordinate amount of time scrubbing weetabix (which is a motherf-er to clean) off her face; my face; the floor; the wall; the window... but the lack of food going into her mouth doesn't even deter her from trying. 

I was at an up styling class yesterday and I couldn't get the hang of one of the styles. (A vintage wave) 

After about half an hour of trying I was ready to give the mannequin a crewcut. I took out my phone and started scrolling through Instagram, I looked at my latest picture, the one above with Lyla walking holding my hand, and got a bit of a reality check. 

I am the worst for letting failure get to me. I have an awful habit of giving up when I find something too difficult and have thought to myself, on many occasions, that I hope Lyla isn't a quitter. Failure, or fear of failure has held me back from doing so many things I could have been great at. It is something I am acutely aware of, and have been proactively trying to fix. This quote is repeated in my head on a daily basis.

                                                                                                                                           Image via Lucy & Lola Creations

Anyway, I put my phone away and tried the style again. And again. And again and again and again, until I created something that vaguely resembles the wave. (Here it is) It was far from perfect, but I was happy enough to have overcome my difficulties and gotten the technique down. Now its about practicing that technique to perfect it. I'm not there yet, but I will get it.

And I have to thank my 15 month old for teaching me this important lesson.

This is the theme tune to this post...if you ignore Aaliyah's dating advice (and diamante choker) and just listen to the chorus. Anyway, tune. 

One Year.

Oh hi toddlerhood. You're awesome.

I turned one last week. Saw my first monkey, giraffe and elephant. Ate 3 varieties of cake. Went on a carousal. Got my very own kitchen. Wore a tutu. Ate an ice cream. Petted a dog. Stayed up late. Had a lie in. Gave my mama extra cuddles. Waved to a cat. Learnt to pull myself up on to anything. Put my dads glasses back on his face. Crawled naked. Decided Michael McDonald 'Yah Mo Be There' is my theme song. And have almost got my first ever tooth.

This getting older thing ain't half bad.

Week 52.2

36 hours, 23 mins and 56 seconds until B-Day.

Life is just zooming past my eyes. It feels like only yesterday I was being born and now I'm almost a fully fledged toddler.

Well, I'm sorry. You can't make me grow up if I don't wanna!

I don't even think my mom wants me to get older, she keeps saying she wishes I could be a baby for longer, so that's what I plan on doing.

So, I've reverted back to the good ol' days waking every two hours for Mom cuddles, refusing all foods (except cake, I'll eat all the cake), hanging out in my moms arms 23 hours a day, and you can forget walking, I'm staying firmly on my tush. Nuh-uh.

#Babyforever.

#Lylaturnsone

Week 52.1

Week 52 - 63 hours, 34 minutes, 29 seconds until I'm one

Its all downhill from here. 

Function Over Fashion

Function over Fashion.

Trainers for all the walks you go on to get the baby to sleep.

Comfy sweats to make it easy for constant getting up and down off the floor.

Over sized sweater - because who doesn't love an over sized sweater.

Jacket with a million giant pockets -  perfect for storing snacks, socks and other baby paraphernalia. 

  

Jumper - H&M, Trousers - Urban Outfitters, Trainers - Adidas, Coat - Urban Outfitters



#Momlife  #Mamastyle

Week 50

15 days, 9 hours, 51 minutes and 12 seconds until I'm one.

And you know what that means?

CAKE!

Mom and Dad have been discussing what cake to get, Mom says she's going to bake something healthy, Dad says chocolate. I'm siding with Dad on this one. He's a cake enthusiast, knows his stuff.

This will be my face all day...

CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!

#cake

Week 46

March 28th 2015. The day my mind was opened forever. 

And it all started with a little bit of crawling...

You see, with crawling as each day passes I become more and more cultured.  Once upon a time, my experiences were determined by what was within reach. Literally. A 2 foot radius defined my interests, tastes and experiences for the first ten months, two weeks and three days of my life.

I never knew the joy of banging pots on a tiled floor; or the visual pleasure of a room chaotic with the colour of toys; and most importantly, the flavours on offer with every mouthful of food. 

For months now my mom has been feeding me carrots and the likes, never letting on that there was so much more on offer. Well I am in revolt. 

No longer will I sit in my chair and eat what is given, nuh-uh. Now, when I can see a scattering of crumbs by the sofa or a some soil by the plant, or better yet, the spongy 'baby-proofing' stuff around the TV, I am free to indulge. Delicioso. 

My Mom keeps testing out new recipes, to try and get me to eat her food again. 'You're gonna love this!' she says, I act all interested, put after teasing her with a pea or two (she goes for it every time!) I simply sit back and smush the rest up. (For you beginners out there, I've found rice to be particularly excellent for smushing.) 

It's not that her cooking isn't nice, its just my taste buds have developed. My Dad says I'm a regular Gor-Mett. I think I've already outgrown their simple, uneducated taste buds. Whereas I am sampling the finest food available on the carpet,they revert to the same thing again and again. Really?! Ham sandwiches again Dad?! Tragic. 

In other news, my hair is OUT OF CONTROL. Srsly. 
I had been rocking the mullet, but its gone a bit wild. I've started brushing it myself because my Mom is slacking (and she calls herself a hair stylist?) It seems, a comb has no effect over this barnet. My Mom says I'm too young to use a straightener so I've taken to holding it down with hair clips until it sorts itself out.

In the meantime though, it does kind of make me look like kind of a badass. So it's not all bad.

Laters xx

Week 42

The art of movement. Elusive and yet so compelling.

I'm almost 10 months old so I decided I best get going on the ol' moving. My Dad's Playstation has been calling out to me from across the room. Lots of wires for pulling, new surfaces to scratch and twisty things for twisting. Every girl's dream.

It's about four toy lengths away from my playmat, and I've been plotting my route for a week or so now. I was going to sketch out a map, but then I scrunched up the paper because scrunching is soooo much fun.

So when Mom was distracted last week, I decided my moment had arrived. I've developed a technique I've been calling 'The Bumshuffle,' which involves...well, involves shuffling one's bum along the floor. While Mom was playing with her shiny toys in the sink with the bubbles (which she loves doing!), I made my break.

Within a couple of shuffles, I had reached the Promised Land. Man, oh man, that Playstation. It was everything I hoped and more.

Emboldened by this new ability to discover the world, I've been weighing up where I might go next. Some of my pals have a different technique, called 'crawling' I think, and Mom keeps telling me to try it, but I'm not so sure.

Just for a lol sometimes, I pretend I'm going to crawl to get her excited, and just as she sits up, I drop back onto my bum. It's lol.com. She falls for it every time.

So, she's going away this weekend, and I'm going to stay in my Nanna's. She has loads of cool things for scratching and scrunching, so I think I might just give crawling a whirl. A little holiday treat, you know yourself?!

I'll let you guys know what happens. If you can keep up with me. LOL.

xxx

Wearing my official 'Award For Bravery' sticker after a blood test this week

Update: I wrote this last week, but my mom was too sick (*cough* lazy) to post it. Decided to keep them all hanging on a little longer. 

Week 41

This week I have mostly been clapping. All day. And all night.
Mam-mam sings "Clap hands till Daddy comes home, with sweets in his pocket for Lyla alone."
Well, Daddy's home and I'm still clapping. And those sweets have yet to materialise.

I usually applaud when Dada enters the room but I think I'll stop as he's getting a big head.

I also made a new friend this week. Holly and I have known each other a while now but we never really got to chat because our moms just never. stop. talking.

I didn't know how I felt about having friends forced upon me, but when she pulled her socks off to have as a mid-morning snack, I knew we were kindred spirits.

My uncle Daniel

Today is my uncle Daniel's birthday. I never got to meet him but from what I've heard he was pretty cool. 

Mam-mam says if you were here you would have loved me, well obviously, I mean who wouldn't? 
She says you would thought me all sorts of naughty things to do to annoy her, like hiding the remote control, playing music reaaaaaaal loud (I do play my tambourine and xylophone pretty loud), and only eating chicken fillets and eggs, nothing else. 
I don't think I need anyone to teach me how to cause mischief but it sure as heck would have been nice to have a side kick. 



Apparently you loved dinosaurs!? I can see why! Rawwwwr! and you would have let me watch Jurassic Park 4586306 times in a row, without a break. AWESOME. 

We have lots of pictures of you around the house, your my hair and dimple twin! #Twinningiswinning 

Happy Birthday Sneactha Ban, I gave your picture and extra slobbery kiss today and I promise I'll try to not eat the flowers we bought for your grave! 

xxx

OK...maybe just one...

Week 39

Mam-Mam. One word (or two) with so much power.

Cooking, cleaning, tidying, washing, showering, dressing, walking, talking, sleeping.
No matter what my Mom is doing, all I have to say is "Mam-mam" and she drops everything to come to me. Sometimes she doesn't hear me so I do a little cry and "maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-mam, mammamamamamam" and she's there, arms open ready for a cuddle. The sucker.

Working hard on getting my dad in on this. I already have him wrapped about my little finger but I know as soon as I master 'Dada' he will melt.
It's a bit of a work in progress. Currently, best I can do is "Heh-Dada"....but I'm getting pretty close.

This communicating stuff is such a LOL. When someone walks into the room, or even just for LOLs every so often, I wave and say 'HIYA' and they all gush about how cute I am.


It's just too easy!

p.s. LOVE my selfie stick.

Week 38

So...a couple of days late, but I have had quite a week...

Vomiting bug; a cough; and now teething. I mean give a gal a break?

I could dwell on the negatives of being sick but I'm a glass half full kinda gal, and there has been a few silver linings along the way:

1. I got to make to spend most of the last three days in my Mom's arms. They're awfully comfy!
2. I got to sleep in her bed too. Pretty cool, right?
3. And I had my first ever sip of 7up. Oh holy moly sugar! Wow. Just wow.

Teething: now that's a whole other ball game.
Give me all the Calpol. And Teetha...and whatever else you got. Keep it coming.

I'm trying to smile through the pain. I figure the sooner I get teeth, the sooner I get chocolate.
No pain no gain. Right?!

Week 37

Week 37


Finally getting a bitta strength in these legs of mine. This week I mastered standing with just holding one of my moms hands. She gets waaaay too excited and keeps calling me 'Wibbly Wobbly Wonder'.

She's been at me and at me for ages now about crawling but I have absolutely no interest. 'Dream Big' they say, well that's what I'm doing.

'These booties are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do...'

Crawling -  ain't nobody got time for that.

I LOVE CABIN FEVER...whatever the heck that is.

My Mom said she had it so we got to go to the park. She put me on the swings, I was a little apprehensive at first but when she whipped out the camera and started clapping I soon got into the swing of things. Lol.

Anyway, the park is most definitely my favourite place ever, much more fun then when Dad brings me recycling.