mother

The best baby name app! 

Now as I have said before we struggle when trying to agree on baby names and while it is only early days, the same can be said this time around. I think it may become easier when we know the baby’s gender but I could also be kidding myself! 

Enter the app, that I now consider my little life saver BabyName. Basically you and your partner both connect to the app and become linked. Then you flick through the names, swiping left if you don’t like and right if you do (yes, tinder for baby names!) Any matches that you find get listed so you can go back to them later. 

What a genius idea! It is supposed to help prevent  arguing over names, I’m yet to believe this one as I may be one who will push a bit if I find a name I love that he hasn’t matched to me. I guess time will only tell, in the meantime it’s fun and I can’t help but get excited when I see a little egg pop up on my screen to tell me a new match has been added to our list! 
What did you use as your naming tool? Did you read through books, search through pages on the Internet (been there!) or did you find a little gem like this app? 

Let me know below! 
Until next time, 
B x 

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Morning sickness sucks! 

This week we ticked over 13 weeks pregnant with our newest bundle of joy! While I am beyond excited and truly can’t wait for our addition to join us, I would be lying if I said the last five weeks haven’t been testing. 

I’m just going to put it out there – morning sickness sucks! I am sick most days and it lasts all day! Work feels long and I’m tired all the time. I’m napping when Rhemy is and I am finding it difficult to keep on top of my uni and housework. So to my friends I’m sorry I’m always tired, my house a mess and my mind a jumble. I’ll come good, I promise! 

  

I’ve come to the conclusion that pregnany doesn’t agree with me and that’s okay. When I was younger I had a water bottle that I used when playing sport that had “no pain, no gain” printed on the side of it. Pregnancy for me reminds me of that quote. The gain I get out of it is totally worth it and something I definitely don’t take for granted! But I’d be kidding myself if I said there wasn’t some kind of “pain” and that’s not even considering the actual birth! 

How’d you get on? Was pregnancy a breeze for you or did you vomit for 30 weeks? 

Do you have any morning sickness remedies? Cause please share them if you do! 

Until next time, 

Brylee-Peta 

xo

And just like that, we are gunna have two under two! 

So happy, excited and busting to announce that Rhemy, Sean and I are welcoming baby #2 to our family. Our wonderful bundle of joy will be joining us November 2016! 

  
Here’s a quick debrief: No it certainly wasn’t planned but yes we definitely want another! I’ve been sick as all hell and I’m already starting to show. Rhemy doesn’t have any idea but soon enough she’ll have to share us and a part of me thinks she’ll love it and another part thinks I’m kidding myself. 
Today I just wanted to announce our exciting news, but I will be sharing my journey as we go! Wish us luck 🙊 
Until next time 

X

9 songs that I’ll listen to until the day I die! 

I seen this posted on another website a few months ago and I thought it was such an amazing idea! So here we go, I’m going to share with you all 9 songs I’ll listen to until the day I die and why! 

1. Kiss – Rock N Roll All Nite: My dads favourite band when I was growing up was Kiss. I never really got it when I was younger but you hear something enough, you become used to it.  However when I was a teenager I went to their concert with my family and now the song has such a sentimental value to me that I actually really like it. 

2. Blondie – One way or another: Another memory from when I was growing up, we’d have sing alongs in the car when we travelled and my mum was a Blondie fan, to be honest I always liked to sing along too! 

3. Queen – Fat bottomed girls: I have a memory of me and my mum dancing around in our kitchen to this song. It was such fun and one we always laughed along to. It was our song, as we are of the pear body shape!

 

4. Aerosmith – I don’t wanna miss a thing: When I was in Vegas we went and seen Aerosmith. They were incredible! It certainly helps that this is the song me and my husband danced to at our wedding. It brings back such lovely memories. 
5. The Temptation – My girl: Like so many girls my age, this was a song my dad sang to me when I was young. It also helps that this was also one of my favourite movies! 
6. Brian McKnight – Marry your daughter: I walked down the aisle to this song, enough of a reason right there. The lyrics get me every single time! 
7. ABBA – Waterloo: Mum loves ABBA, I remember it playing as part of her “cleaning soundtrack” while I didn’t help clean, I certainly helped sing and bop along! 
8. Axiom – A little ray of sunshine: When Rhemy was born my grandparents came to see us and on the way they had heard this song and thought it was so appropriate. As soon as I listened to it, I knew it was too. 
9. Heartland – I loved her first: I danced with my dad to this song at my wedding. What a tear jerker this song turned out to be! 
Now your turn, share with my songs that you will listen to until the day you die and why?! It was so fun looking down memory lane and I know I have missed some out! I probably could have done 20 songs but ain’t nobody got time for that 😂. 
Till next time, 

B ❤️
(Featured image credit: http://www.scienceillustrated.com.au) 

What being a mother means to me! 

I thought seeing as today is Mother’s Day, I would share with you all what being a mother truly means to me. 
I am forever grateful for having Rhemy in my life as I realise how difficult it can be for some amazing ladies to have the children they deeply desire. I am extremely lucky and have been blessed with a happy and healthy baby girl. One who keeps me on my toes, challenges me and makes me laugh on the daily. She is my biggest achievement in life and the one person I am most proud of. 

I always knew I wanted to be a mother, I knew I would love it, try to to excel at it and learn from it every single day. And I was right, so very right! Some days are hard, Rhemy doesn’t want to nap, would rather cry about not much and cling to me for the entire day. Other days we play and laugh and she sleeps for 4 hours. Without those “hard” days, I wouldn’t truly appreciate the “good” days, I wouldn’t get hour long cuddles and I wouldn’t want to share her with her father when he got home from work. 

My daughter is my legacy, my family. She is my heart wandering around outside my body. I never knew what it was like to love someone so much until she came along.. and that is what being a mother means to me! 

 

Changing your surname after marriage.

I have seen many articles popping up on the big wide web exploring the shift in women not changing their last names after marriage. I find these articles extremely interesting. I also found it fascinating that a lot of countries lawfully do not allow women to change from their maiden names once they are wed. 

After I married my husband I did not legally change my name straight away. We were travelling and I did not wish to get a new passport. However on return from our travels (approximately 6 months after our wedding) I changed my surname and what a pain in the backside that turned out to be. There are so many places you need to go to change your name and they all want to site your marriage certificate or have a certified copy sent to them. It is long process, one I am glad will not be happening again. 

Before we were married we discussed if I was going to take my husbands name or hyphenate (haha – my maiden name was ten letters long, I think not!). Keeping my maiden name once I was a wife was not something I ever considered. I come from a traditional family, my mother took my fathers name, my grandmothers their husbands. I knew we’d eventually have children and I wanted to have the same surname as them. To me that made it a simple case. I will admit it wasn’t easy to leave my maiden name behind. I am proud of who I am and where I am from. I love my maiden name and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it because I do. 

I want to know your opinion, did you take your husbands name? Why or why not? It’s such a personal decision and as far as I can see there is no right or wrong answer. 

5 reasons your child needs a dog

In our family we have a beautiful dog that is now 3 years old. She is playful and energetic and is an extremely special part of our home. Watching Rhemy with her has shown me that every child needs a dog and I thought I would share my top 5 reasons why.

1. It teaches the child to be nurturing! Encouraging your child to show their dog love and compassion is teaching them a wonderful trait to take through their life with them. 

2. It encourages your child to share!  This can be especially helpful for only children or children with much older siblings, who do not often have to share their belongings. The dog can encourage them to share by simply playing with them. Games such as fetch means the ball must go between dog and child. 

3. It encourages your child to exercise and be outside. Pretty self explanatory but when there is an animal outside running around, when your child goes to play with them, they too are running around in the fresh air. How wonderful for an era where kids are obsessed with all things related to a screen. 

4. It teaches your child responsibility. Giving your child the “chore” of feeding the dog of an evening (supervised of course) allows the child to gain some responsibility for looking after another living thing. It allows them to learn that if they do not fulfill their obligations there are consequences. 
5. Last but certainly not least, having a dog for your child gives them friendship and companionship with a living thing, that quiet frankly thinks they are the bees knees! That will never leave them out of playtime and won’t ever decide they are no longer their best friend. To me, there is simply no better reason to have a dog for your child! 

  
Comment below tell me what you think! 

10 baby names we love but won’t be using! 

I thought it might be fun to share my top ten baby names I loved while naming Rhemy but we won’t be using, no matter how many children we have in the future. I’ve seen blog posts like this before and thought they were really fun! It can be a great convo to have with other parents, kind of cool to learn what names they loved but just didn’t make their final cut and why. 

Anyway, here’s mine:
  Our dogs name is Tilly and we refer to her regularly as Tilda. Therefore this name was out for us, before we even had a chance to consider it. 

  I personally love this name! I never suggested it to my husband, it is too close to our surname and quite frankly sounds silly with it. 

  Our friends had a baby 5 months before us and called their beautiful daughter Indiah! We can’t have two Indi’s running around together. 

  My favourite boys name, I guess you could say I have outgrown it. Lucky we didn’t have a boy.

  We both liked this name at the start of my pregnancy but I guess we never really loved it, so it never really became a contender. 

  I love Josephine in its entirety, I dislike it shortened. Too often I found this to be the case, the full name beautiful, the nickname not my style. 

  I loved it, Sean did not. Case closed! 

  Same as above! This tends to happen a lot, it sure is difficult agreeing on names, when you have such a different tastes from your partner. 

  My husband especially loved this one, but it’s been used too often, by too many people we know. 

 Sean loved this name, I wanted to but never really did, I just couldn’t imagine myself with a daughter named Piper. 

Now tell me, what names do you love but won’t be using?  

My slap on and go makeup products! 

Now I’m not pretending I’m good at makeup or that I am an expert in any of these products, but before Rhemy I was really into makeup and I had acquired a decent collection. Now I am a mum, I rarely do my face without a little baby hanging around trying to help! I have had to adjust my makeup “routine” into a five minute exercise, and in doing so I have found new products that make this process as easy as possible. 

   Firstly, is my base make up; I always wear a primer, it smooths my face out and I feel like my foundation applies quicker and easier. My fav primer, is Maybelline Baby Skin. I bought this when I was in America because it was cheap and I have not found anything that I like more since. My fav foundation, is Lancome Miracle Cushion. It’s is pricey ($60aud) but I have yet to find something so easy to use that gives me a good result. It is a liquid foundation in a compact. The foundation is in a cushion and applied with a sponge. It is lightweight with a light to medium coverage. I wouldn’t use this for nights out but it is my favourite day time foundation. 

  Secondly is my blush and bronzer, I have multiple blushes but this Milani blush in Rose Amore is my favourite as it goes with everything. It’s kinda shimmery but not glittery, it’s just a pretty colour.

 My all time favourite bronzer is this Calvin Klein bronzer, that I got on clearance for $5.00. I absolutely love the colour and I use it every time I do my makeup. It gives my face warmth and makes me look like like I have seen the sun recently which is a  complete and utter lie haha! 

  
My go to brow pencil is Marc Jacobs Brow Wow, it gives me a decent brow and I am able to get my brows matching in lightening speed. I am no brow expert and find a lot of products difficult to use, this pencil is different and I will be repurchasing forever.

 I am yet to find a mascara I love. This covergirl clump crusher is good but not a “go to” I just would never bother doing my makeup without putting on mascara. 
   

My go to eyeshadow is the Gwen Stefani by Urban Decay palette, it is versatile and has a huge mirror. I find that when I am slapping on my makeup I am not looking for any another palette and that proves to me what a great purchase this was! There are so many neutral colours and I’m a neutral girl.
  
Lastly, my fav lip products is this awesome combo! This Rimmel exaggerate lip liner in Obsession 064 is not as dark on the lips as it looks so it makes the best base. This Marc Jacobs lipgloss in Love Buzz is always in my bag and I use it everyday single day! 
So now I ask you, what’s your favourite slap on and go make up products? You have to juggle and change so many things when you become a mama, so why should your makeup be any different? 

 

Goodbye unwanted lady lumps! 

As soon as the eggs were handed out for Easter today, all I could think about is how I really need to get healthy and get back into shape! One of my best friends just asked me to be a bridesmaid in her upcoming nuptials, another is also getting married within 12 months and I really don’t want to see myself in photos and wince! 

So I’ve set our family a challenge! We will eat well, treat ourselves less, drink more water and try to exercise every second day. Whether that is going to the gym (which I try to do three times a week with my mum and her friend) or going for a family walk! Rhemy loves being taken on walks in her smart trike and her doggy Tilly just loves to get out. It is so easy for me to say, I don’t have the time at the end of long days when I truly can’t be bothered! However I am trying to start this change to my lifestyle!  It’s time to take care of myself (and my family).

The “challenge” will be starting on Wednesday (as its my first day back to the gym) and I will check back every few weeks to let you know how my little family is going. I will share tips, healthy recipes and my failures. I will be open and honest with you all so hopefully you guys can help me along the way! 
Here’s to the start of being healthy, of feeling good and hopefully losing weight! Join me? 

📸feature image: Pinterest