This is my life now

My wee man is 4.5 months old and recently diagnosed with silent reflux. It is so damn hard when they can't tell you what is paining them! The mama guilt is bad enough, but to get to 18 weeks only to be told that your kid actually has a problem and it isn't just teething hurts pretty hard. Our first round of meds (gavison) left him constipated and suffering from acid farts so bad that even without pooping, his poor arse was red raw. We are ten days into the second option, ranitidine, and we have the opposite problem.

Thanks to the frequent bum changes, we've been getting through disposable change mats pretty bloody frequently, but until this week, the only ones we had found were the pampers ones, 12 for £4 in most stores. However a few days ago the husbeast went on a nappy run to Aldi (hands down the best nappies we've tried...and we have tried them all!) and came home with a pack of Aldi brand mats at £2 for 14. Lo and behold, these are in fact so much better! So much fluffier, thicker, softer and definitely more absorbent! Cheaper and better works for us!

While on the subject of changing, here's a pro tip for changing those wriggly Lil boys, cos lets face it, getting pissed on is never fun, no matter how much you love them. My mama gave me this suggestions and it has worked great for us. Instead of laying the baby down square on the mat, lay the mat diagonally and place the top point at th small of baby's back. Then, if you get shit on the mat, just fold up some of the bottom layer for a clean mat again. Or, if they're just recreating the Bellagio fountain, bring the bottom point up between their legs to catch the sprinkle. Voila!

Jump!

I'm always seeing the beautiful items from Miss Candyfloss on Instagram and I've been lusting after so many pieces from the new Librarian Girl collection, however very little looks BF friendly, so I've held fire. I couldn't resist getting a few things, one of which was their gorgeous 40's style jumpsuits.

Dear God but it is lovely! It's incredibly comfortable to wear as the fabric feels lovely against the skin & the cut makes moving around simple. The handy dandy zip up front makes feeding a breeze, in fact I'd say its one of my easiest and most discreet items to feed in. there is one working button and a wee pop fastener at the top to keep things closed and the gorgeous cut of the V-neck means that your boobs look incredible, but not indecent.

My only downside is that the length of the trousers is rather long for my 5'5 frame, even with heels. I'm going to have to take them up a touch when I can get back to my sewing machine.

I wore this to take my little boy in to visit my school for the MacMillan coffee morning on Friday, as well as running a few errands in town and I had nothing but compliments and double takes wherever I went. I even has one of the lady employees in the Apple store stop me to say how stylish I looked! Enough to turn a girls head ;-)

My suit is the wine colour in 3XL, I'm 5'5, a UK size 22 top, 20 waist and 38 HH boobs. I styled it with some retro heeled sandals from Gianni Bernini, a mustard cardigan from Dunnes stores and one of my own hand knitted hair snoods. How do you wear yours?

Www.miss-candyfloss.com

Redheads can't wear pink

So when I finally got up this morning, the sun was shining merrily and I couldn't wait to get out and about. I've never been much of a one for rules, so despite my red hair, there is the odd item of pink in my wardrobe. Not long ago I bought a gorgeous pink and white polka dot dress from Lindy Bop and today was the day to give it an airing. Fully lined, the fabric feels gorgeous, flows beautifully and there is enough give in it for me to pop a boob out around the wrap front. My only downside is that I can still see my bra peeping out the front, but that's more of an issue with the quality of nursing bras available in a 38HH/J, and nothing that a small popper won't fix, when I get around to it. The length is ideal for me (5'5) and it left me feeling flirty and fabulous...with nowhere to go 😉 check www.lindybop.co.uk to see if they have your size!

 

 

 

This body's too boobylicious!

So my name has changed twice in the last two years, with a wedding and a baby, and it's not only thing to have changed. Those of you who know me, know that I have always loved the vintage silhouettes of the 30's, 40's & 50's, but I'd never had the confidence in myself, or my plus size, to wear those styles full time. Over the last 3-4 years, my confidence has been slowly climbing, and in the last few months, after discovering an amazing group of women (yes RetroMummies, I'm looking at you!), I decided to say screw it and I stopped giving fucks about what others thought of me and my style. As always, my weight has yo-yoed, but since the birth of my boy, I'm at the largest I've been in a very long time. 

Yet, I'm also at the most confident I have ever been. I made a human with this body! A whole tiny human was nurtured and grown inside me. Hell yes, I've got a muffin top, that's where they cut me open to get my kid out and I wouldn't exchange it for any old six pack. Are my boobs ginormous? Indeed they are, they are the sole source of sustenance of my kid, and I never cease to be amazed, annoyed and intrigued by them these days. 

However, breastfeeding, and being a plus size mama, have their own issues, especially when you aspire to look fabulously vintage on a daily basis. Finding clothes that are easy to feed in, comfortable to wear, and affordable on maternity pay, is not an easy job. So in an effort to assist those other statuesque mamas,and mamas-to-be, I've decided to resurrect this blog and document my finds, along with my ups and downs as a mama, for those who come after me. Summer is drawing to a close, and the nights are getting both darker and cooler. Soon will be the time when I used to haul out my sweaters and jeans and hibernate my legs for the winter, but not this year. This year I forge a path into stylish vintage motherhood! At least I hope to 😉 I'd love for you to come along with me and share your finds in the comments. Below are a few snaps from my recent weekend away in the Scottish Highlands...which I'll be blogging about over the next few days and weeks.

 

 

 

 

Where to begin?

I know, I know, I suck at this regularly posting thing. It's been a busy two years for me. Like I said last time, my life changed in the blink of an eye after meeting P. We met in late February 2014, and by July we were engaged. Well, when something feels right, what was the point in waiting? We married in May 2015, a truly gorgeous day, despite the early rain. It was everything we had hoped and planned for, and I felt like a million dollars.

See, I am never going to be thin. I've come to terms with that. P loves me just the way I am, and I have learnt to love myself. I'm the healthiest I've been in years, so what if I am a tad curvaceous?

Just a few short months later, our happiness stretched even further when we discovered we were expecting a little bundle of joy. Little Bird (not his real name, don't panic) has changed my life completely. It was a tough pregnancy, culminating in him arriving a month early, so when I say it's been a whirlwind...I'm not exaggerating! We brought him home on our first wedding anniversary, and life as mama is a most amazing place. Life, truly, is good.

 

So, it's been a while...will fudge do as a peace offering?

I know, I do rather suck at keeping up with this thing. Since my return from the US I've been pretty busy. Returning to my UK school was really tough to begin with, as everyone and everything had moved on in my absence and I had missed a lot. It took me several months to find my groove again, and they were hard, hard months. My smile was MIA for quite some time.

Despite me thinking that everything was crappy, I did find my place here again, and life picked up dramatically. Trust me when I say that if you had told me a year ago that I'd be where I am right now, I never would have believed you. Last February, I met my perfect Mr Right. I'm not going to go into detail, as my friends do tell me it makes them sick, but let's just say, all the clichés are proving to be utterly true for us, and we are knee-deep in planning our spring nuptials. 

I haven't stopped my crafting though, and that leads me on to the reason for today's post. I've been making lots of recipes from Pinterest over the last few months, and adding them to my "Been there, pinned that" board, but I often make adjustments or have to adapt US measure to UK and I decided that I'd take some pics and measures and blog about today's attempt. 

Salted caramel chocolate fudge.

Or ...yummmmmm

Whatever you feel like calling it. I decided to give my work colleagues fudge for Christmas this year and this beauty topped my list.

 I used this post as my base recipe, but I omitted the mocha, as I hate coffee

http://www.shugarysweets.com/2014/10/salted-caramel-mocha-fudge#_a5y_p=2991372

I'm not going to lie, my finished product does not look like hers. I left it to cool for about 6 hours, but it was still very sticky and oozy, so I'd definitely recommend leaving it to chill overnight if you have the time...but I didn't. 

Anyway, here goes nothing!

Firstly, I had to purchase my ingredients and as I planned on making four batches, I opted for the value range at my local grocery store. 

I decided to try to be organised for a change and so I measured out 220g of dark, and 220g of milk chocolate into the bowl of my stand mixer, all broken up into wee pieces.

Next, I unwrapped 312g of value toffees into a glass, microwave proof bowl and poured 60ml, or 4 tbsp of double cream over them.

I placed them into my microwave, but didn't turn it on just yet. 

My final act of prep was to measure out 240g of butter, and (shh, try not to think about this next quantity too much, or you will actually hear your arteries crying) 840g of granulated sugar, 237ml of skimmed milk and a tsp of vanilla extract into a heavy based pan. 

 

With all this prepped, I was finally good to go. 

I set the pan on a med/high heat and melted it all together. It took a good 5 minutes at least just to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Once melted, I brought it to a rolling boil, stirring frequently.

I let it boil like this for another 2 minutes before dropping my 25 marshmallows into the mix and stirring for another 30 seconds or so. This started the mallows melting, and so speeded up the next step. 

Once they had started to melt, I turned off the burner and poured the mixture into the waiting stand mixer. 

I set it to a medium/low speed and turned to my toffees instead. I nuked them for about 2 minutes total, in 30 second bursts, stirring between each blast, until they were melted and the cream had been totally incorporated. Meanwhile, the mixer had been plodding away

It took quite a while to get it to a smooth, creamy, chocolatey consistency, but once I had I poured it into a lined roasting dish. After 4 batches, I came to the realisation that splitting the mix over 2 smaller pans worker better than one big one. Once, the Chocolate mix was in the pan, I poured the melted toffee mix on top 

I used a big knife to cut the mix through the fudge

Finally I sprinkled the salt over it and shoved it in the fridge.

It does taste delicious! And it looks lovely in my little jars too. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. 

The Big Easy

I've made many wonderful new friends here in the south and this weekend two of those lovely people tied the knot in New Orleans. I was lucky enough to be able to join them and decided to make along weekend of it. There were a lot one teachers from my school attending and by Thursday lunchtime the exodus had started. 3pm saw myself, MJ & Brooke sitting in the bar at the airport. Hey, it was five o'clock somewhere!

We hit the ground running, heading straight out to Pat O'Brien's (home of the hurricane) to meet other wedding guests. From there, we wandered the rest of Bourbon Street, picking up beads along the way. They throw those things hard!

I'll admit, there was a LOT of booze consumed, but the next day I was fine. We kicked things off a with a hearty breakfast, then headed out to grab a streetcar. We rode it all the way to the end of the line at the French Market and meandered our way back home via Cafe Du Monde (and beignets, naturally) and Jackson Square. I even tried the Gator Jambalaya! I'm not a fan ;-) Friday evening brought the rehearsal dinner, this first I've ever attended, as its not a part of UK weddings.

The day of the wedding could not have been more glorious, and the bride was absolutely radiant. I even got a little sunburnt at the outside ceremony ;-) Another new tradition for me was the cake pull. Such a sweet idea and I was thrilled to have my wee charm as a souvenir of such a wonderful day. I had the most amazing time and the evidence is below. Yet, another pic spam ;-) enjoy!