loving : milk from a thistle forest maxi

style file : lilly b

colourful maxi's; that's what i'm seeing and loving this spring/summer in maternity fashion. recognised for their gorgeous maxi dresses, the lilly b label will have you looking and feeling fabulous while pregnant, in any of their delightful designs. the calypso dress as shown above has to be one of my favourites. i am a colour person, i love how wearing a colour can lift your mood for the day, no matter how hormonal it may start out as!

the calypso is a super maxi, meaning it is extra long in length. however, it would be no problem to slice a little from the hemline if you feel it is too long for your height. us shorties will no doubt need to slice some off, but for the taller, this dress will indeed cover your ankles. available in sizes small, medium, large and extra large, this maxi is really quite generous, so if you're on the smaller size of your sizing, then definately go down a size. priced at $199.95, you can see the calypso dress here.

my next favourite is the flora multi tiered maxi in aqua. this dress was extremely popular last year and was featured throughout every pregnancy magazine and worn by some of our aussie celebrities. it was remanufactured so many times to keep up with the demand, but this season see's the popular colourway in aqua, as shown, phasing out. which is such a shame as the colours used are so sweet and soft. the only sizes available now are a small and large. this dress is also $199.95 and is a standard sizing, so stick to your regular size for this maxi.

and one more of my fave's is the drawstring print maxi. this dress is featured in the latest copy of cosmo pregnancy and although this image above looks fab, it doesn't do it enough justice. this dress is divine! it is made from polyester and spandex, so it has a bit of a shimmery look to it {perfect for a wedding or special occassion} and is also quite long in length. available in sizes small, medium and large and is again $199.95. you can find this dress here.

note that all of the dresses i have picked out are bra-wearable. i have a lot of customers who prefer to wear a normal bra wherever possible, so these dresses all have awesome boob coverage! any of the maxi's on the site are generally over $150, so this gives you free postage with your purchase.

congratulations to all of our readers who are expecting, we hope you're enjoying it xx

let's get physical {physical}

do you ever look at your child and think, wow, you used to be in my belly and now look at you! it's been over 2 years since this little moo has been in my tummy and only now have i decided to get into a bit of exercise and start paying some attention to my body. better late than never, right? in my defence, my god that 2 years has gone so quickly! the first 6 six months of summer being born just flew by, gooing and gaaing and filling in the baby book after every new trick she had done, emailing monthly photo's to our family down south. then i brought yummy mummies and the next 18 months of starting a new business mixed with the learning curves of parenting, has also just flashed before my eyes! life is busy, there's no doubt about that.

i started my baby boot camp this morning with missfit pt. it was great. it was a really relaxed atmosphere, there was none of that out of place feeling like you get when you go to the gym. i don't think i'm completely alone when i say that gym's are intimidating! instead, our location was down at my local, the gorgeous burleigh beach. we all done a fitness analysis as our first session, jotted down some measurements, took some before photo's and asked questions. next session will be all systems a go and straight into the serious training. and we thought we were buggered after today's session!

so what is baby boot camp? it is a pram based health and fitness program for new mothers. it is run over 6 weeks and includes 2 or 3 group training sessions a week, depending on what package you decide to go with. they take everything into consideration and in class today we touched base on things like breastfeeding and exercising, the importance of drinking water especially when you are exercising and breastfeeding, and nutritional plans. within 8 weeks of having your baby you can sign up to baby boot camp. you get trained by local female personal trainers who have done it before and are successfully teaching others how to do it. i look at it like a mother's group where you get fit!

today marks the start of the next gold coast course, however if you're really keen to join in from our next session, i'm sure it won't be too late to slot into the group, just give kate an email on kate@missfitpt.com.au. this is only the second 6 week course that has been held on the gold coast, missfit have been successful in brisbane for a while now, and have finally decided to come down and share the love with us gold coast mum's! for any brissie readers, the next course there starts on the 4th of october.

if you think baby boot camp might be fun, yes it is! i've got links all through this post to direct you to the missfit pt website and you can click on the banner above or email or phone kate directly. there is also the missfit facebook page too. grab your mum friends and sign up together. and always remember, it is never selfish to do something for yourself. you will find it easier to meet the challenges of motherhood when you are fit and healthy. when mummy is happy, the whole family benefits!

jelly slice

i'm not a big fan of cooking. there i said it. i do wish i had urges to cook up something beautiful for the family every day, or at least once a week, but the reality of it is that i just have little love for cooking and for the kitchen. maybe one day that will change forever. i hope it does.

so when my partner saw me dig out some of mum's old recipes and proudly place the jelly slice recipe on the bench, he laughed. i laughed too. it was kinda funny. but i did it, i made the slice, and it was yummo, so i thought i would share my jelly slice with you too!

what you will need :

2 jellies (3 cups of water) + 1/2 tsp gelatine

1 1/2 packets of milk coffee biscuits

270g butter

1 tbsp gelatine

1/2 cup of boiling water

2 tins condensed milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

make the jelly {i used port wine, yum} with 2 cups of boiling water, stirring until the jelly crystals are dissolved. dissolve gelatine in a further 200ml of boiling water then add to the jelly. stir in together and place in fridge and let set slightly.

crumb the biscuits. i done it the old skool way and put my biscuits in a few layers of freezer bags and smashed the bejeezes out them. found it great for a bit of stress relief. they don't have to be crumbed to minute pieces, but if there are chunky bits, the butter wont stick it together. then add melted butter to the crumbed biscuits. combine well then press into base of a tin {lamington size}. place in fridge to set {i cheated and put mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes}.

combine gelatine with boiling water, stirring until dissolved. add to condensed milk and stir until well combined then add the lemon juice.

once the base is set, pour milk mixture over and let set together {about 30 minutes in the fridge}.

pour jelly on top to make the top layer {keep an eye on your jelly and don't let it set before this stage}, then leave in the fridge until set.

and that's that. jelly slice done. did your mum ever make jelly slice? do you make it now?

review this + giveaway : marquise fundies

toilet training started in our house a few weeks ago. it was unexpected and unplanned, and as many a mum tells me, it will happen when it happens. there is not a truer sentence said in the world of parenting. is anyone else toilet training their mini me's?

we're quite big on nappy off time here. from my own personal experience, i find it's a fast way to help clear up nappy rash. so when miss 2's back teeth were giving her grief and her nappy rash started, it was off with the nappy for a couple of solid days at home. we got one of those toilet training step ladders, with the mini toilet seat attached to it, a while ago from toys 'r' us and have been suggesting to summer that she could go to the big toilet on her special seat whenever she would like to. and whilst she was having nappy off time from her rash, what'd'ya know, she wanted to hop up on her seat and do wee's in the toilet. i couldn't believe it. seems she was paying real attention to all that suggesting, and right there and then, it was obviously time to take it forward and start this toilet training bizo!

it's was all very very cute, and we were all of a sudden in the market for tiny teeny little undies. no sooner later, we got a gorgeous announcement on our emails that marquise has a brand new line of undies called fundies. so i got some in for summer, and let me tell you, they're are the cutest little things ever! they are avialable in a 2 pack for $12.95 and come in sizes 2-3, 3-4, 4-6 and 6-8. i particulary like that the label has been sewn down in these undies so it doesn't annoy the kids while they're wearing them. we did duck off to big w and picked up a pack to get us started, but they have a big tag at the back {which i thought was actually ridiculously too big in general, let alone for kids undies} and summer keeps putting her hand around, grabbing it, saying "what's that mummy, what's that". so i am loving the flat labels on the marquise fundies.

they're made from 100% combed cotton and they are fantastic quality with a great firm stretch, they're definately undies that are going to last the wash after wash they get. they're also breathable and help remove moisture away from the skin, keeping them comfy and happy to have them on. there are quite a few different designs and you can pick some up from myers or dj's.

marquise have sent me an extra 2 x 2 packs of their new fundies to giveaway to 2 of you lovely readers. i have a girls 2 pack and a boys 2 pack, and both are sizes 3-4. the girls pack are the pink and white butterfly fundies, and the boys pack are the robot and striped fundies. the robot is very cool, i like this design! if you would like to go in the draw to win a pack, you just need to leave a comment here with your name and your email address {so i can contact you if you're a winner} and state if you'd like the girls or the boys pack. good luck! i'll draw a winner out next thursday.

and please, if you have a toilet training story you'd like to share, please feel free to do so. i love hearing other mum's advice. i found that we got off to an excellent start with it all, and after a week or 2 of home training, i ventured out into leaving the house with undies on summer instead of a nappy. i think it's more scary for me than it is her! it's a long, full on process and we've taken a couple of steps backwards, but it's all perseverance, i'm sure! xx