style file : bobbi sunshine swimwear

it's almost always a beach day here on the gold coast. even if it does involve a hoodie and a blanket, i have really grown to appreciate the beauty and benefits of living at the beach. my children don't know any different, both of them born and bred on coastal grounds. my girlfriend and i often call it easy parenting at the beach, the kids can run for miles, build sandcastles, talk and screech as loud as they want, and if i've had a particulary difficult or sleep deprived morning, then it lets me calm down and clear my head while they are happy and content to play and explore. i admit, it has taken me probably 4 of the 6 and a bit years i have been living here to be 'ok' with the sand everywhere thing. it's in the car, in your hair, through the house, at the bottom of the washing basket... you get my point?! maybe at that turning point of not caring about the sand, i finally became a 'local'?

 

summer holidays see our beaches at their fullest, and each and every summer our swimmer collection grows. long gone are the days when one, or maybe two {at the max}, swimsuits were more then enough to see me through our swimming days. my kids have at least 5 pairs on the go and i am so happy with the durability and the wear, and secondly important, the designs of the bobbi sunshine swimwear label. this is my second year of stocking the label at my shop and already i'm busting to see what designs and styles are in store for next summer, as i know i will be sticking with this brand. pictured above is summer and marley who are both wearing bobbi sunshine rainbow bunting suits. summer is 4 and a half and is wearing the rashie and bikini pant, although you can't quite see the pant from the rashie covering them, in a size 4. marley is 3 and a half and is wearing the full piece in a size 4 also. so you can see from the styling of the full piece that the sizing is actually quite versatile and marley is going to get at least another one or two summer's out of her pair. summer still has room in her rashie, and depending on what growing she does this year, i dare say she'll be wearing this rashie next summer also. the fabric is 80% nylon 20% lycra with a spf of 50+. this season's full piece is lined inside with another layer of fabric, which makes them so soft and comfortable to wear.

if you're looking for swimwear, pop over to our shopping site {especially if your eyes have not met the yellow chevron full piece yet! and mum's of boys, there is a very cute board short available in the yellow chevron too, sizes 1-12}. i only have a few select style and sizes left in stock, but i can most definately order in your size if it's not available on the site. you'll need to allow about a 3-4 day turn around for delivery on special orders. feel free to flick me an email for more info and if you would like to see the full available range.

threads on thursday

are you doing the instagram thing? if you are, would you like to join in with us on a thursday to share your wardrobe style? ...or your kids style, or your nans style, or even a sneaky stranger shot style {you get where i'm going with this?!}. the bestie and i thought we'd try and drop some more fun into the instagram thing and start a hashtag : #threadsonthursday.

it's not about designer clothes and showing off. it's about giving yourself a little push into your wardrobe and mixing some outfit combo's you might not have pulled off before. it's about $15 kmart mint jeans. it's about those new shoes you just couldn't resist. it's about sharing style idea's. it's about having some fun. it's about getting creative with your camera. it's about replicating your pinterest boards into your real life. for me, it's about neon and blazers right now {because i am an obsessed neon freak, but you already knew that if you follow my pinterest boards}.

in around-about way, this started from 4 years of wardrobe neglect. i am certain i am not the only mum out there who has been obsessed with dressing their little people in gorgeous, adorable, too cool for school ensembles. it brings me so much pride to have my little people looking their cutest. i love my kids, i love fashion. it fits together. but i lost "me" along the way. somehow. i had style in my 20's, for years i was all about the denim with heels and a tee. along with many new years resolutions this year, one of them was to re-build my fashion style and add some new clothing pieces to my wardrobe. and now, i'm seeing my old style peeking through at me from my wardrobe and you know what, it feels awesome to want to get up and push my wardrobe limits each morning.

we'd love you to join in and play along too, you don't need to be asked to hashtag your image, just chuck the hashtag on and mingle with some instagrammers like yourself, who have "stuff" in common. if you're a private user, you can still play too - only your followers will see your image in the hashtag gallery, anyone who doesn't follow you won't see your image. and of course, all public profile images are there to be seen by anyone {this is the mingling part i was talking about}.

i'm on instagram as @becwatts - i'll see you tomorrow!



one year old

on tuesday my family and i celebrated frankie girl's first birthday. there was no party, just my two girls and i {and my nan on skype} and a big cake for morning tea. i'm that womens weekly cake book mum. i don't cook much, but when i became a mum, something inside of me urged for a special home made cake to come out for birthday's. did you get novelty cakes as a kid? i did, i distinctly remember having the piano and the dressing table, clearly my favourites, but i'm sure i had others. great memories. and i would love for my kids to have the same sort of memories.

i firstly spotted the pink ombre layer cake on pinterest and i then saw on my instagram feed that jody from lemon rhodes had made one for her little one's 2nd birthday. jody posted her recipe on her blog, so i figured i would give it a try too. why not hey. you can find jody's blog and recipe here {thanks jody}. as always, my cake has a story - almost blew up my mix station and didn't have a supermarket open for supplies due to our public holiday - so i improvised with the icing, mine is just a vienna butter icing, still looks the part, although the raspberry flavoured icing would've been amazing.

it's a big milestone turning one. especially for the parents. what a year frankie's first year has been. she has such character already, summer calls her "the cheekiest baby ever", and that she certainly is. she waves bye bye now, she points her finger at you and puts her head down while doing it {erm... not sure where she gets that from}, she's loud, she's VERY loud, and she's mastered the cool head nod "dancing" when any slight beat hits her ears. this is my favourite of the moment, especially when we're in the car and i have my old skool house music playing. too damn cute.

i'm looking forward to the 12-24 month stage, i think this age is the best!



3 ingredient pancake recipe

it's saturday 6am. the mini me's are up and at em'. there's no weetbix in the house. there's no banana's or fruit. the pre-schooler is hungry and doesn't "like" toast. of course. mummy's tired. sigh. mummy sucks it up, takes a breath, puts her happy face on and makes a coffee. actually, the coffee came first. "who wants pancakes" she suggests in a loud fun filled voice. "meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"...

the easiest thing to make with the biggest satisfaction ever. 1 cup of self raising flour, 1 cup of milk and 1 egg. combine well and away you cook. get your cookie cutters out and shape them into love hearts. add mayple syrup. and what the heck - add ice-cream too. serve on adorable love mae melamine. eat.

happy kids. happy mummy. happy start to the weekend!

101 uses for your jellystone necklace

number 4 : try clipping it around the shopping trolley handle. guaranteed at least 10-15 minutes of non squirming out of the big girl seat during the shopping, and is sure to please those teething gums.

i may not be able to come up with 101 uses, but i can definately give you a handful of handy idea's that our jellystone designs necklaces can provide for you! and seriously, for cost of $16, these silicone pendants are worth every cent! give it a try for yourself.

sharing a story {my story} in cosmo pregnancy

every mum-to-be has a tale to tell of her nine-month journey. in the newest issue of cosmo pregnancy, autumn 2012, i share some of the emotions i experienced while having a low-lying placenta during my second pregnancy.

i was excited and nervous about sharing my little pregnancy story with the world. pregnancy and motherhood can be very touchy subjects, and some of us have very strong opinions on certain issues and procedures. and so we should. i like to share. i like to help. if someone wants my thoughts on a subject, i love talking about my own experiences, and on the flipside of that, i love listening to other parents and parents-to-be tell me their own experiences - the good, the fabulous, the not-so-good, and the really crappy parts - it all helps me grow into the person and mother that i am.

so a big thanks to the girls at cosmo for sharing my story with their readers. and big love photo credits to our favourite photographer, naomi v photography for our maternity photo's used in the article x

love it or hate it. it's monday.

love it or hate it. it's monday.

review this : myrtle & tuppence night night sleep tight + crusty coconut

do you have a couple of items for your baby that you couldn't imagine living without? the ones that you suggest to other mum's when talking about your babies? well get ready to add 2 more awesome products to that list! if you haven't already discovered myrtle & tuppence, do read on...

i'll start first with the night night sleep tight lotion. i'm a firm believer in a night time routine. i used a night time oil on my first baby and she was always an excellent sleeper, sure she woke up during the night for breast feeds, but was always happy to go straight back down in the cot and settled herself well. i believe the oil i was using back then played a vital role in her sleep. the first couple of months with my second baby were quite full on, with lots of wind issues and what i thought was going to be a cat napper. 6 weeks in and still trying to find our new family groove, which now included a toddler, i realised i wasn't following a night time routine. i'll tell you right now, i was finding it hard to find the time to cook dinner let alone have that beautiful spare hour of bath and massage time for the baby like i did with my first {poor second child right?!}. once i realised i wasn't doing the same things that seemed to worked for my first {night time cream and music playing sweetly as she lay down to rest}, i was straight onto the internet to see what new products were about. and that's where i found the myrtle & tuppence website.

the night night sleep tight is as it suggests, a lotion for restless babies. ingredients are chamomile, mandarin and lavender essential oils in a plant derived base lotion, citricidal. i definately smell the lavender scent firstly, and then the mandarin and chamomile hit your nose and give the lotion a slightly fresh scent. it's really quite nice. you don't need a lot of cream, which means the bottle will last a while, i pump out 3 squirts {as below}, rub together on both hands and use one hand to massage onto the chest and the other hand for the back. the cream, along with a couple of other practices put into place {that music cd i was talking about and the love to swaddle up wrap}, have made our bedtime routine for frankie hassle free and pleasant. coincidence or not, the first time i used the cream i got a 7 hour sleep from frankie. that might not sound much to some, but for us, it was heaven. i've also been known to pin my toddler down and smother her in the cream aswell! worked a treat the first couple of times i caught her, but she's onto me now and runs away when she see's me rubbing frankie with it!

now the other product is the crusty coconut. this oil is fantastic and if your child has cradle cap that you are trying to get rid of, seriously grab yourself a bottle of this magic lotion. both of my kids have had cradle cap, frankie much worse than summer's. the baby oil wasn't seeming to work too well on frankie's, i felt it was drying her head out too much. so i saw this on the myrtle & tuppence site and didn't even hesitate to grab a bottle to try. glad i did, it has worked a treat! i tried to take some before and after shots but they didn't turn out too clearly, so you'll just have to take my word for this one! ingredients are coconut oil and rosewood essential oil, citricidal. the rosewood is quite a strong pleasant smell and that's what i smell straight up with this. you rub the lotion onto baby's head and leave it for half an hour and then wash off as normal. i done this every second night, for 5 sessions and the cradle cap was mostly gone. she just has one small section of cradle cap left on her soft spot, which obviously i am very gentle around, but i don't participate it being there after the next couple of doses. fantastic product, i'm extremely happy with the results we got for frankie and definately recommend it to my mum friends!

i think the main thing with baby products is to not be skeptical and give a product a go. it may just change your routine around for the better! the night night sleep tight cream is $9.50 for 100ml and the crusty coconut {clean my coconut} is $9.00 for 100ml. postage is $5 and to order you enter your details through their website and the girls will call or email you to arrange payment.

myrtle & tuppence

{website} http://www.myrtleandtuppence.com.au

{facebook} http://www.facebook.com/myrtleandtuppence

iphone italk : play-doh

art and craft really isn't one of my strongest mum assets. i'm that mum that draws stick figure people and the two stroke mcdonalds symbol birds on the chalk board. and i'm totally ok with that! when it's play-doh time at our house, it's normally sausages and rissoles that get made by me. but i've stepped it up a knotch thanks to the play-doh iphone app!

sometimes you need to make a morning out of an activity. when i downloaded the play-doh iphone app {free app - search "play-doh"}, i decided we should make some play-doh from scratch, you know, just for fun...

{play dough recipe} combine 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt, 4 tbs of cream of tartar, 2 tbs of cooking oil and 2 cups of boiling water in a bowl and mix well. add more flour if it's sticky, which i did. section out your dough and colour as your heart desires.

note : when it comes time for the food colouring - wear gloves!

so how the app works is it gives you idea's and instructions on what to make with play-doh, you can take photo's of your creations and share them via email and facebook, you can make your own designs and load and share them, and you can browse play-doh products.

we decided we would make the backpack creation already loaded. it gave me step by step instructions by both pictures and words, and before we knew it, mum was suddenly a play-doh pro. we snapped a photo of it with the iphone {as per below} and we saved it into our play-doh app and we emailed it off to grandma.

i cannot tell you how impressed summer was to see our backpack creation. so impressed that when dad walked in the door, it was THE very first thing she rushed to tell him about. go mum.

review this : eco child natursutten natural pacifier

when i was pregnant last summer, i noticed these natursutten dummies from eco child in the shop 4 kids eco news. shop 4 kids labelled the dummy as being a huge hit with mum's in europe and that they are growing a cult following in australia. and i can see why.

i think you're either a dummy mum or you're not. i am. i wasn't at first, with my first, but my mother threw a dummy in my daughter's mouth at about 3 weeks old to help settle her down one day, and well, i went with it and haven't looked back. so when my second baby arrived, i was a lot more relaxed and knew that more than likely i would have a dummy for her.

we all worry about what's going into our baby's mouth, some things can't be helped, but a dummy can be. the natursutten soothers are made from all natural pure rubber. they are non-toxic, bpa free, phthalate free, have no allergy causing substances, no artificial colours, aswell as also being completely biodegradable and non harmful to the environment. they have no cracks, crevices or joints where bacteria can hide, so they are very hygienic. they definately tick all the right boxes.

pictured above is the orthodontic in size small {0-6 months}. it also comes in sizes medium {6-12 months} and large {12+ months}. the round pictured is in size medium {6-12 months}, it's also available in sizes small and large. what's the difference between the two and which one is right for you?

orthodontic : is better for their teeth - providing it is placed in the right position. if they are placed in your baby's mouth upside down, they can actually do more harm than good.

round : cannot be placed in wrong and are a popular choice recommended by midwives and clinic nurses, especially before baby has teeth. this shape also tends to work better for breast fed babies as their tongue is positioned under the teat as it is during breast feeding and this helps prevent nipple confusion.

the dummy will gradually change to a darker colour during use. this is normal and is your signal that it needs to be replaced. you should generally replace your child's dummy between 6-8 weeks of use.

i've had frankie on the natursutten dummy for two weeks now and i highly recommend them. if your baby has a dummy and it's time to replace it, don't head to big w, jump online and give these ones a try. you can purchase them from eco child {http://www.ecochild.com.au} for $9.96 each.

love it or hate it. it's monday.

loving : native shoes

a shoe addiction? who me? who us? we're loving the natives right now. so comfy. so the summer connies!

the mini me wears : pink jefferson natives from http://www.littlepinwheel.com.au
the yummy mummy wears : grey jefferson natives from http://www.ladypinwheel.com.au

kindy kat

that's right, there's no abc kids playing in the background at our house today. my biggest little girl started kindy for her first time. today is going to be the start of a whole new chapter. i am so proud right now.

love it or hate it. it's monday.

love it or hate it. it's monday.

love it or hate it. it's monday.

i want my daughter's get up!

hair : flirty bird

tunic : princesse rock n roll

stockings : pumpkin patch

boots : gap

my mother's day gift

frankie mae {14 days new}

it started at 11.30pm on a saturday night when i was tucked up in bed trying to get to sleep. i was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. i had been struggling with my sleep for quite a few weeks by this stage, i just could not get comfortable, i couldn't fall asleep, and if i did i would wake up after an hour with a massive pain right up under my ribs. yes, little feet were tucked up in there, stretching as long and straight as they possibly could! i was up and down for the past hour going back and forth to the toilet, more than a normal night, and each time i wondered if this is when my waters were going break. laying back in bed, i heard a pop and within a split second they had broken. finally, it was game on!

i didn't have any pains, no contractions yet. i rang the hospital. i rang my mum. my mum lives an hour away and the plan was for mum to come to our house and stay there with our 3 year old while i was in labour. so by the time i had made the phone calls and started getting organised, the pains and contractions had come to say hello. big hurty hello's! there wasn't going to be any time to wait for my mum to arrive and watch our daughter! "scott... pack the car and get summer up... we need to go to the hospital now!"

so off we go. it was about midnight by this stage, the 3 of us are in the car. contractions in the car don't make for a nice car trip do they?! my daughter was saying to me "don't worry mummy, we'll be at hopstable soon". god love her little soul. a contraction starts, i look at the clock and it's 12.18am. i breathe big and slow. i work through the pain and the contraction stops. next contraction starts, i look at the clock and it's 12.21am. farout, they're only 3 minutes apart and we are still driving to the hopstable. we finally pull up out the front and work our way through the emergency section to get into the hospital. i stop for another contraction and as i look around i see some pretty rare sights sitting in the outpatients room. considering the fact that i look like i have just wet myself and am holding on to the wall for support, i look rather normal in comparison to what's around me {don't forget, it's a saturday night}!

we make our way to the lift and up to the delivery suite. the ladies show me my room and i tell them i desparately need to go to the toilet. except it was no toilet visit i needed. it was my baby, ready to rock and roll it's way into this world. i struggle to make it to the bed, but i get there. the midwife gives me a check over and officially announces that the baby is almost here. seems we made it to the hospital in the knick of time! my mum was still on the road, the change of plans ment she would need to meet us at the hospital. one of the student nurses takes our daughter up to the tea room for a cup of milk and a biscuit while they wait for my mum to arrive. back in the delivery room, it was push time! i had only 2 midwives and my partner in the room with me. the midwives were amazing. so calm, so helpful. within the next half an hour they helped me deliver my baby with no drugs and no tears. dare i say it, i had a wonderful and almost enjoyable birth. don't get me wrong, it bloody hurt, and scott had a few pinch marks on him afterwards, but i was focused and somewhat in control of what was happening. it was all in the breathing.

at 1.04am we were blessed with a 7 pound 10 beautiful baby girl who we named frankie mae. a little sister for summer leonie. a daughter for scott and i. it was now mother's day and my mum comes in with summer and we all look at and admire our newest family member. summer is absolutely smitten with the new baby. she just watches the baby's every breath and move. i take a few minutes to look around me. scott was smiling at me. my mum and summer were smiling at the new baby. and i lay there and let a few tears of happiness roll down my face. i feel like the luckiest woman there is.

and just like that, my pregnancy is over and within an hour and a half after laying in bed on that saturday night, i give birth to my precious frankie mae. i am now a mum of 2 beautiful little girls!

i want my daughter's get-up!

hair : flirty bird

top : mini metalicus

skirt : minti

shoes : noon