There’s nothing better than when you have a baby, their skin, so soft. I was always told with all three of mine to make sure I use moisturiser of some sort to make sure their fragile skin doesn’t go dry. But then you also want to make sure you’re using the best you can get because that’s your baby and you don’t want to irritate their skin.

We have tried so many bubble baths and moisturisers over the years and one we love is Child’s Farm.

We were kindly sent some ones we haven’t tried yet, the Orangic Tangerine Bubble Bath and the Grapefruit and Organic Tea Tree Moisturiser.

Bubble Bath

I personally love this bubble bath. It smells absolutely amazing and you only need a little bit to get a lot of bubbles. The bubbles made the babies skin so soft and even Harriet noticed how soft her skin was after using it. The squirty bottle makes it really easy to use and you only need a little bit so the bottle lasts quite a while as well.

Moisturiser

The moisturiser is one of the best I’ve used. For the best results it’s better to use twice a day, I only use it once a day, after bath time, but my gosh George’s skin is amazing! I wouldn’t normally pick a Grapefruit smell but I honestly love it, it smells devine and makes the children smell amazing. The moisturiser comes in a pump action bottle as well, making it easy to use and apply. A little goes a long way, so you don’t have to use much at all. George’s skin has never felt so soft, and Elsie and Harriet love using it too.

All Child’s Farm products are clinically tested and are peadiatrician and dermatologist approved. They sell a huge variety of products with some fantastic smells. It contains organic essential oil and naturally deprived ingredients.

I highly recommend the Child’s Farm range, if you love a fantastic product that makes your babies skin so soft then this is the one for you.

Katie ❤️

When I was pregnant with George I had so much self doubt. Would I cope with three? What if I can’t do it? And all everyone said is routine, routine, routine.

I’d never really been good with routine, I am a bit of a push over when it comes to the kids 🙈.

Once George was here I realised I have to start putting my foot down and start with some sort of routine otherwise the kids were going to run circles around me 😂.

When Aaron returned to work after paternity, I had the school run to do as well as get all three kids ready. It felt quite daunting at first, but we soon got into our own little routine and this is what worked for us. 🙌

Morning Routine

In the mornings, our routine just sort of clicked into place. I’ll wake up at 6.30 and get George’s bottle ready and a nice cuppa tea for myself. 😊 7am I wake the kids up and get Harriet and Elsie their breakfast, and I give George his bottle and nappy change. 7.30am the girls brush their teeth and get dressed, I do their hair and we have to leave by 8.20am ready to get Harriet to school and now Elsie to nursery.

Once I’ve dropped the girls off I come home and get any cleaning done, wash load on and start prepping dinner. Then it’s time to get Elsie from nursery. When we get back I do lunch, normally just a sandwich or something easy. Now George has started weaning he has lunch too. Then we chill for the rest of the afternoon until it’s time to get Harriet.

Evening Routine

The evening routine is the one I find the hardest. None of my children have been good sleepers and none of them ever seen to want to go to bed😩

We all have dinner at around 4.30/5pm. At 6/6.30 it’s time for a bath, the first night I’ll do the girls, the next night it’s George’s turn. (We do that throughout the week).

George is quite good when it comes to bedtime, I take him up around 7 and he has a bottle and is asleep by 7.30. The girls on the other hand are a complete different story. They get their PJ’s on ready for bed around 8 but can sometimes still be awake at gone 10.

George sleeps from 7.30 til 3, has a bottle and goes back off until 6.30. Elsie can sometimes be awake 3-5 times a night or sleep through.

I don’t act like I’m a perfect mum, I’m far from it. Some days the routine goes completely out the window and I just wing it 🙈 Some days I just generally can’t be bothered. Especially when George and Elsie have had me awake all night.

I wish I had always had a strict routine with them all, but I haven’t, and I’ve learnt from that. Routine is definitely key when it comes to children.

What’s your routine with your children?

Katie ❤️

We all know our babies, we carried them throughout pregnancy and we watch every little movement from the moment they’re born. This situation made me realise this. Here’s Elsie’s story, this was one of the scariest times of my life.

Bronchiolitis

Most babies under 2 get bronch, and can fight it off themselves, but not Elsie, she struggled really bad when she got it at 6weeks old.

When Elsie was around 5 weeks, I knew something wasn’t right. She wasn’t feeding, she was vomitting, inconsolably crying and just wasn’t herself. We took her to the doctors, and was told she had colic. A few days later I noticed fluid coming from her ear, so off we went back to the doctors, we was sent home and told it was viral and would clear on its own. Over the next week we was back and forth from the doctors, walk in centre and A&E. Something just didn’t sit right, my baby wasn’t herself. Finally someone listened to me, because Elsie wasn’t feeding, they kept her on hospital to monitor her. That first night she seemed to go downhill, fast, she was put on oxygen and had a tube fitted so we could tube feed her. The next day a nurse noticed Elsie’s head was bobbing as she was breathing, so they took her blood gases, within about 10 minutes we was whipped around to HDU (High Dependency Unit).

Elsie was ‘working hard’ to breathe and she was in respiratory distress. Her heart rate was high, she was breathing at around 70 breathes per minute and her oxygen levels were dropping, so they put her on a machine called ‘CPAP’.

The CPAP machine gives a high continuous flow of oxygen to keep the airways open. Seeing my tiny baby hooked up to machines, knowing I wasn’t able to hold her, broke my heart. Elsie was put on fluids, she wasn’t able to have milk as it made her breathing worse. After 24hours there was still no improvement. Her heart rate kept going really high and her breathing was no better. We were told what would happen if she didn’t improve, she would have to be ventilated and took to intensive care, I didn’t think it would happen to us though. I thought she would start to improve and we would be back home in a few days. How wrong I was.

I will never forget the night, it was around 11pm, and I just about getting ready to go to bed. (I was given a parent room just around the corner.) The consultant came in, took one look at her and said those dreaded words. “This baby needs ventilating, if she carries on like that her body will give up.”

I was made to go and get a coffee, I wasn’t allowed to be with her while they sedated and intubated her. Aaron was at home with Harriet, so I rang and told him what was happening. He dropped Harriet off to my mum and came straight the hospital. The nurse came and grabbed us when it was all done. Nothing could of ever prepared me, seeing my baby lying there, tubes hanging out her mouth. I took one look at her and cried my eyes out. We was transferred to Nottingham’s Queen Medical Centre’s Children’s Intensive Care Unit.

No parent ever wants to see their child like this. It still makes me cry to this day. Unable to hold her and comfort her, I wanted to just break down, but I knew I had to be strong for her. They kept the ventilator in for around 2 days, when they took it out I was finally allowed to hold her. The first time I’d held my baby in over a week. She was still on oxygen and a feeding tube, but she was awake. Her big eyes looking at me. I’ve never felt so relieved in my life.

We was transferred back to Derby Royal where they weaned her off the oxygen slowly. When she was able to maintain her oxygen levels without help and tolerate feeds we was allowed home. It took me a few days for it to sink in about what had just happened, it all happened so fast.

As well as going through all of that, Elsie has had sepsis at 4 months due to a urine infection, pneumonia at 18months and a numerous amount of chest infections.

I knew something wasn’t right with my baby, but I kept getting told it was viral. Trust your instincts. You know your baby better than anyone else.

Katie ❤️

The people at Zimplikids kindly sent us some of their products to try.

I’ve never really thought of buying stuff like this as Elsie is a bit funny with different textures and messy play.

Harriet decided she wanted to try the Glitter Slime Baff, which comes in different colours, but she obviously wanted pink.

I was really impressed with this product, the instructions are so simple and easy to understand, and you can make it to the consistency you like by adding more water.

We filled the bath with warm water, about a quarter full, then literally just sprinkled it all in evenly. Then leave it for 10-15mins, stirring occasionally.

These are really simple to use and the kids had so much fun.

I personally think the Zimplikids products are great for any age range, (I even enjoyed having a little play😂). My girls are 7 and 2 and they both enjoyed it just as much as each other.

The Slime Baff is easy to dispose of and it’s stain free. We just pulled the plug and ran the tap to dialute it. It’s really that easy. I definitely recommend buying this for your kiddies. We can’t wait to try the other products.

Katie ❤️

I honestly couldn’t wait to have children, I knew from a very young age I wanted to be a mum. Pregnancy for me wasn’t straight forward, I have a blood clotting disorder that makes me more prone to clots and pre eclampsia, so I was regularly seen by the midwife and was under the consultant at the hospital. Seeing your little baby on the screen for the first time is the most amazing feeling in the world. It doesn’t feel real until your see that tiny human on the screen.

Harriet Ruby

My first pregnancy, with Harriet, I was only 17 and it was a huge shock as I was on the contraceptive pill. The pregnancy went quite well, Harriet was healthy and I was put on Clexane blood thinning injections to prevent me from getting a clot. I was scanned 4 weekly from 28weeks to make sure everything was okay. At 38+1 I went for a scan and to see the consultant. Harriet hadn’t grown for 4 weeks and I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine (all signs of pre-eclampsia). I was booked in to be induced 3 days later, that weekend waiting felt like a lifetime. I went in on the Monday at 38+4 for induction, which was quite straight forward. I had the pessary tablet, they broke my waters and then put me in the drip to speed my contractions. Aaron and my mum were my birthing partners, after contracting for about 18hours I couldn’t take any more so decided to have the epidural. At around 3.30pm on Tuesday 1st November the midwife checked me and I was 10cm so it was time to push. I pushed and pushed and pushed but she just didn’t want to come out 🙈 no matter how hard I tried. After an hour of pushing, baby started to get distressed and her heart rate was dipping. I was petrified, all I kept thinking was am I going to loose my baby? The emergency button was pressed and in came all the doctors and midwives, the doctor decided the best thing to do would be forceps there and then. At 5.09pm Harriet made her entry into the world, weighing 5lb 15oz. I was so in love, she was perfect.

Elsie Georgina

Elsie’s pregnancy was definitely my worst and hardest, nothing seemed to go right for me with her. At around 18 weeks my waters starting very slowly leaking, I didn’t realise it was that, I just thought I kept peeing myself 🤷. At my 20 week scan they noticed my amniotic fluid was low and baby was breech. Over the next 14 weeks I was constantly in and out for scans and check ups. I had reduced movements on numerous occasions and my bump was tiny. I went in for a scan on Friday 07th Oct at 34weeks with my consultant. I was expecting a normal scan and to be sent home, instead my consultant scanned me, took me to a room and told me I was having the baby that day. My placenta had stopped working and I had no fluids left, luckily I had already had the steroid injections for her lungs. I was sent round to labour ward while Aaron went home and got our bags ready. I had to have a cesarean section, I didn’t have a choice with having no fluids and baby being breech. I walked down to the operation room at 8pm and was given a spinal block. Once I was settled and the spinal block was working they let Aaron into the room. I was so nervous I was shaking. At 8.40pm Elsie Georgina entered the world, 6 weeks early, weighing 4lb 3oz. Luckily she didn’t have to stay in NICU, but she did have to go straight down there and have antibiotics and was put on a heated cot as her temp was low. Elsie had to be fed 2 hourly (which was an absolute killer) but she managed to maintain her weight so we was allowed home 5 days later.

George Joseph Michael

After 2 quite scary pregnancies, we decided we wasn’t going to have anymore children, as much as I wanted another, so I went onto another contraceptive pill. July 2017, after numerous symptoms I took a test and it was positive, I felt so nervous. 2 weeks later though I started to bleed, only really lightly, but the doctor booked me in for an emergency scan 2 days later. The bleeding got heavier and I started getting tummy pains. When we went for the scan we was told the heartbreaking news that there was no heartbeat, my whole world felt like it had come crashing down. I miscarried naturally at home and we decided to try again. October I got another positive, but a few days later I started to bleed again, another miscarriage. I felt so deflated, why me?

December 2017 I got another positive test, but I couldn’t get excited or happy about it. Every little twinge I thought something was going to happen. Everytime I went to the toilet I was expecting to see blood. But luckily everything was fine. We had our 12 week scan and could see little George waving his hands around, now I finally felt excited. At 16weeks we had a private gender scan. I was so happy it was a boy, I cried 😂. George’s pregnancy was my best one yet, no complications and he was growing really well. I opted for a planned section at 39weeks. At 38+4 I started getting tummy pains, every 10 mins or so. I went up to bed, but I couldn’t sleep, the pains were coming stronger and stronger. The next morning I rang labour ward and explained and they asked me to come in. I’d been having contractions for 18 hours so the doctor checked me and I was only 3cm dilated. I was given the option of continuing with labour to see how I progress or have the cesarean. I opted for the cesarean, George made his appearance at 1.35pm on Saturday 18th August 2018 weighing 7lb 14oz. He was absolutely gorgeous, the spitting imagine of me. Everything was fine, so the next day we was allowed home.

So there’s my pregnancy stories, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it 🙂. Pregnancy can be hard, and they’re not always straight forward but knowing you’ve got a tiny human in there that you can love and cherish makes it all worth it. ❤️

Hi everyone, I’m Katie, I’m 25 years young, from Derby and have 3 children with my partner of 9 years, Aaron.
We have 2 girls, Harriet who’s 7 and Elsie who’s 2 and a baby boy, George who’s 5 months.
I’m a stay at home mum and always thought about giving blogging a go so decided to finally do it! 🙂

Harriet is our eldest (but she’s still my baby) and she’s in year 2 at school. She’s never really had much confidence in herself but this past year she has really started coming out of her shell. She loves reading, will literally sit for hours reading books and obviously, like every 7 year old, is obsessed with LOL dolls haha. Harriet’s doing so well at school and constantly talks hehe. She loves learning new things all the time, especially things to do with the olden days.

Next is little Elsie. Elsie had such a hard start to life. She was 6 weeks early, was in intensive care at 6 weeks old with bronchitis and had sepsis at 4 months. But to look at her now you would never believe it. She’s such a happy, strong, independent 2 year old. She loves singing, dancing and playing with her baby dolls. She has just started nursery, which is going great, and her speech has come along amazing.

And now baby George, our little rainbow baby. George is 5 months old and is such a happy little chappy. He loves music, playing with his toys and cuddles. He’s currently weaning and loves his food, just like his dad 😂. George doesn’t know what sleep is, but then again none of them do. All three have been horrendous sleepers, i’ve not had a full nights sleep for atleast 3 years 🙈. He sits up unaided and rolls over and has 2 teeth coming. I love being able to be at home and watch him hit his milestones.

So that’s a little bit about me and my family. I hope you all enjoy my blog and i don’t bore you too much. I’m so excited to start this adventure.

Katie x