Has it really been nearly two years?

Wow. I can't believe it. The worst blogger award of the year goes to... ME!

I seriously am shocked that it's nearly two years since I last updated my blog. I know it's terrible. I'm sorry. I've been busy! The last post I wrote was all about staying healthy during your pregnancy and now, I have a beautiful daughter who will be turning two in two months' time! Time really does fly. It's so random but I've decided to make a comeback to blogging! I have been feeling uninspired lately and feel like my creative juices has dried up. I refuse to let my love for blogging and social media die down so, here I am! I've always loved blogging ever since I discovered Internet and Matmice (OMG, who remembers that website?) I feel like it's the only platform where I can show my passion and love for things whether it be make up, food or a place I've been to.

Now that I am a mother, I also love sharing what me and my family has been up to especially my beautiful daughter Aaliyah Rose! I know she's nearly two and you guys have missed out on a lot, but I think now is the perfect time for me to actually start blogging about her and not just sharing her pictures and videos on instagram and facebook. My time management has certainly improved and I have finally learnt how to juggle things between motherhood, work and everything else in between so I'm sure I can fit blogging into my life now! Plus, I've given myself a project to work on too - VLOGGING! Now that Aaliyah is growing up and she's starting to talk and really show her personality, capturing it on camera just seems like the right thing to do! I don't want to do it for the views or anything, but mostly for me and my family to look back on and capture memories. I even asked my partner Mike if he thinks it's a good idea since he's not really into social media that much, but he said yes and completely supportive of what I want to do. So yes, hopefully soon enough I will have some vlogs up on my youtube channel!

It feels so good to blogging again. I'm excited for things I will be blogging about in the future! I may not blog everyday, but at least I know I've started again and will have the motivation to do it!

To end this blog post, here is a picture of me and my beautiful family from the beginning of the year. Have a nice day guys!

"Fun Ways I Stayed Healthy During Pregnancy"

Recently I got an email from a fellow mummy blogger Katie Moore informing me about her blog, which I checked out straight away. Her blog entries are mostly about motherhood, fitness, health and other pregnancy related topics too which were perfect since I am currently pregnant at the moment and I love all things fitness and health related as I was a bit of a health and fitness freak before I even became pregnant!

She sent me an article that she wrote which is titled "Fun Ways I Stayed Healthy During Pregnancy" and I loved it! As a young, soon to be mum, I am finding pregnancy weird and wonderful at the same time experiencing all these new feelings and sensations I did not even know existed! As a health and fitness freak, I did try to be as active and healthy as I can, but I have let myself go a little bit sometimes and just eat whatever I want! But one of the things I've learnt is that you have to try your best to be healthy while your pregnant because in the long run, it will benefit both you and your baby and will avoid any complications in your pregnancy and labour. Anyways, check out Katie Moore's fun ways of how to stay healthy when you're pregnant!

Fun Ways I Stayed Healthy During My Pregnancy

Expecting a new baby is usually exciting and can be stressful at the same time. As a mother-to-be, I was concerned about doing everything I could to stay healthy.  I spoke to my doctor about every pregnancy topic I could think of, like asprenatal vitamins, cord blood banking, swaddling and more!   As I went through my pregnancy I found ways to stay healthy and still have a little fun with it.  Read on for some of my suggestions of how you can do the same!   

Wash Your Hands Often

Regular hand washing is a proven method for fighting germs and illness. I spiced up this regular chore by choosing fun, scented soaps to de-stress and give my hands a yummy scent. My personal favorite scent is cinnamon, but I also tried jasmine, peppermint, and chamomile.

Replace Coffee with Tea

Most doctors recommended cutting down on my caffeine intake during pregnancy, but I did not have to get rid of it entirely. Teas have much less caffeine than most coffee blends, and come in many delicious flavors. Some teas even have added special antioxidants for an extra boost. 

Stay Hydrated

I used to associate staying hydrated with consuming cup after cup of water until my doctor told me that people do not realize eating foods with high water content can be just as good as drinking water directly. I frequently ate foods such as cabbage, watermelon, and grapefruit to stay hydrated without constantly lugging around a water bottle. 

Eat Healthy

By experimenting with new recipes, I encouraged myself to eat well while preventing meals from becoming boring or flavorless. Trying new recipes was also excellent for rethinking foods that usually did not appeal to me. Prior to becoming pregnant, I hated eating vegetables, but I found a great recipe for a vegetable casserole with cheese that I enjoy often!

Exercise and Stay Moving

Besides being a mood booster, I really enjoyed exercising. I loved my low-intensity dance class, walking though the park with my dog, or jumping in the pool for a swim to get in my daily exercise. 

I rested often- I hated bedtime as a kid, but I indulged during my pregnancy. I often read a book or magazine before bed, treated myself to a cup of herbal tea or warm milk, and lightly sprayed a lavender linen spray on my sheets to promote peaceful sleep. 

Staying healthy during pregnancy can be easy and fun. By looking for ways to switch up routines or to make otherwise boring things more interesting, I changed my whole outlook on taking good care of myself- and my baby!

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26

I can definitely recommend all these great tips when you're pregnant! All these are important and are just some of the things you can do to make pregnancy an easier and a more enjoyable experience. It's important to take care of yourself during this wonderful time. But just remember that before you try anything different especially when it comes to exercising, make sure to consult your doctor or midwife first. We're all different and so will our experiences :) 

This was me after doing prenatal Pilates! I did pilates before I  was pregnant and prenatal pilates is just as amazing! Definitely helps you with backpain and keeps you in shape :) 

Have a good week everyone! Stay safe :) 

-andreadxo

Black Saturday Birthday....

Hello everyone. I know it has been so long since I last blogged and I haven't been able to post anything for the whole month of March! Sorry for abandoning my blog.

Well, my pregnancy is going very well at the moment! I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant... not long to go! I'm very big and swollen and heavy but I am loving this amazing experience. I am even more excited to give birth and meet my little princess!

It was also my birthday on Saturday (30th March) and I had such a great day! I couldn't really do much since I'm heavily pregnant, but I did go out for dinner with my amazing boyfriend and family. I enjoyed it a lot since all I ever do is eat!

This was my OOTD :) I got this maternity dress from New Look and I absolutely love it. It definitely accentuates my growing belly and shows off my curves in the right places fortunately! It does make me look a little bit smaller as it is black, but I'm not complaining. Pregnancy hormones has also made my hair grow thicker and longer which I love. I am planning to get it trimmed before I give birth though as I know it will be harder to manage. But right now I am taking advantage of it :)

This was one of my surprises of the day. Birthday roses from my boyfriend! He did say he got me presents but I was not expecting roses. I will blog about the presents he got me which were NYX make up products! I'm also currently waiting for some Nails Inc polishes. He definitely knows what I like ;) 

That's pretty much it for now. So so so sorry for abandoning my blog again. I should be blogging more often now.. and it will be more on pregnancy and motherhood! With bits of fashion and beauty in between :) <3

-andreadxo

Valentines/Thursday 2013.

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day this year :) To be honest, I'm not a big fan of it myself and me and my boyfriend don't really celebrate it. We just think it's so commercial and you don't need to take just one day of the year to show someone how much you love or care for them. So it was just like another day for us. We did go out for dinner though but it was just like another fat date for a fat couple like us :)

You can definitely see the weight gain on my face now! But for our Valentines/Thursday date, I decided to do some soft curls. I think this definitely suits my face shape and adds definition to my disappearing jaw line ;P My boyfriend doesn't really like me wearing much make-up so I opted for light pink and browns for my eye make-up. 

Fattest couple of the year! Haha. I do love our outfits so we were being a bit vain before heading out that night. The top I'm wearing isn't a maternity top. It's actually still a size 8 top which is from Jane Norman. Before it was totally loose but now you can see it's tighter now especially where my bump is :) And as I said in my previous posts, all I want to wear now are maternity leggings since nothing else fit me anymore. My butt and thighs has definitely gotten bigger!

Some goodies that I got that day! A new Longchamp Tote and Select Sheer pressed powder from MAC! Two of my favourite things in life - bags and make-up!

For dinner we went to Vapianos! We got there around 6pm and luckily it wasn't that busy or packed yet. It looks like super small portions, but the dish is quite deep and I had difficulties finishing my meal! It was absolutely delish though and the prices are pretty reasonable. 

And for dessert, krispy kreme donuts! We haven't had them for ages so we decided to buy a double dozen. I was really excited to try the red velvet cake, but it was disappointing. It was quite dry and didn't taste anything like previous red velvet cakes I've had. The rest were still yummy though :) 

My boyfriend spoiling me didn't end there though. The next day, he ran a candlelit bath for me! It was very cute and sweet. I really needed it especially with the back pain I've been feeling. Luckily, my boyfriend does things like this not just on Valentines day, but whenever he can really. He spoils me and takes good care of me and I must say I'm a very lucky girl :) 

What do you think of Valentines Day? Do you celebrate it or is it just another day for you as too? Let me know your thoughts on it!

- andreadxo

Onesies - Yay or Nay?

It seems like onesies has been one of the must have items this winter. They look so warm and comfortable not just to be worn indoors, but outdoors too! I've seen a lot of cute adorable onesies on the High street with cute and pretty patterns and I've also seen funny ones like animal onesies and even cartoon characters. I've always thought they were pretty cool but I never thought I would purchase one for myself. Until yesterday! I was in Primark Oxford Street and walked through the kids section and I saw a Hello Kitty Onesie! I'm a big hello kitty fan but I was having second thoughts about buying it because I didn't even know if I would really wear it, even if I'm just at home. Also, it's a kids onesie. The length of it was perfect because I'm super short, but I didn't know whether it would zip up because of my big baby bump. But because it was Hello Kitty, I knew I had to get it as I've never seen a hello kitty onesie before! I wasn't bothered to try it on but if it didn't fit it would be easy to return anyway.

Hello Kitty Onesie from Primark (£9.00) size - for 13 year olds! 155 cm. 

I love the colours of it because it looked so simple yet the Hello Kitty pattern made it look so adorable.  Also, I loved that it has a hood! And when I tried it on, it actually fit me perfectly even with my huge bump! But it probably won't fit me soon as I know my bump will definitely get bigger and I won't be able to zip it up anymore! The hood is so cute with the pink bow at the top. Very hello kitty! It's also very warm so I know it will keep me during these cold winter nights especially now the temperature's dropping down to the minus numbers again. It even keeps my feet warm! The material is also very soft which makes it so comfortable to sleep in. I highly doubt that I will wear this outside though. I don't think I have the guts! I must say though, I'm very  happy with my purchase. It's also very cheap retailing at just £9! Most onesies I've come across in High street stores are usually £15 to £30. Maybe it's also because it's a kids onesie and not an adult one? Haha. Being short does have its perks :) 

Cute Hello Kitty onesie! P.s. don't mind my messy room!

                     

What is your opinions on onesies? Do you own one? Would you buy one and wear them if you don't? Let me know by leaving a comment below! 

-andreadxo

Baby girl Fever

Hello loves! As you all know from my other post (click here), I'm having a baby girl! My boyfriend's family just recently came back from America and they bought her a lot of beautiful designer clothes! This has got me even more excited for my bubba's arrival. Some of the things they got her was Calvin Klein and Guess dresses, hello kitty onesies and Converse booties! They're all so adorable. And very pink. I love all of them but I will definitely do another post on my faves. If only they were my size! Haha. We really appreciate all these baby clothes and I'm sure they will look beautiful on my baby girl :) 

His brother and his girlfriend also got me these Hello Kitty Vans to add to my collection! I absolutely love it. I have a pair of hello kitty black vans so this pink one is definitely a contrast to it! I can't wait to wear it out. Vans are my ultimate faves. Next to uggs for the winter of course :) I'm glad they got me a slightly bigger size since my feet swell now! Oh the joys of pregnancy. Haha. It's all good though.

And of course, the food! All these american goodnessss! I love all of them. But I should really try to avoid too much sugary stuff. I don't want to get diabetes! :) Oh how I wish I could eat all of them :P 

Fact: I have already gained 22lbs so far and I'm 25 weeks! I cannot believe it. And I'm bound to gain more! I know this is normal but I really hope I lose all these baby weight fast after I have given birth. I wanna be able to fit into my old small clothes again! I hope everyone's having a nice week and are getting excited for the weekend :) Next post will be a review on the Elf 100 piece eyeshadow palette which I recently got! Take care my loves! <3

Look of the day: Kiss me

Face: Dream Fresh BB Cream by Maybelline and Sheer Pressed Powder NC40 Mac.
Lipstick: Mischief from Topshop.
Eyebrows: Dark eyebrow kit from Sleek.
Eyelashes: They're real from Benefit.
 Eyes: Liquid eyeliner from MUA.