Want Longer Hair? Bondi Boost Review!

My love affair for this little product began on December 1st of last year.

After spending 3 days crying after all my hair broke off from a bleaching disaster, I read and researched all about this product and I couldn’t seem to find anything that said it was a lie. So I took a deep breath and hit the order button. It arrived 3 days later in a beautiful little box and I couldn’t wait to jump in the shower.

As soon as I lathered up the shampoo the intense minty smell hit me. Then all of a sudden my whole scalp became tingly and warm. I straight away knew this was something special. I use this product 3 times a week as directed. Sometimes 4 if Evie and I have been to swim lessons. This coming from a girl who use to wash her hair once a week if lucky. It is a little hard to find the time but I’m so excited I just find the time. Because it really works!

Three Months later and my hair is so heavy again and super thick. And it definitely has grown.

Here are my before and after

This is exactly three months. And I couldn’t be more in love with my results. I can’t wait for a whole year of using this amazing stuff.

Hate your hair? Please try this!

Xo

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Life update.

Hello sweet friends.

It’s been a real minute since we’ve connected. Life has been busy. Being a mother is even more crazy now than it ever has been. But in a great way. Evie is getting into absolutely everything, testing her limits daily and being super cheeky. But she’s learning so that’s all I care about.

The house hunting is officially in full swing. We’ve viewed 4 property’s so far. And we think we may have found the perfect one for us. We have a meeting this weekend at the bank, to get pre approved, and hopefully by early next week we will be putting in an offer if all goes well on our final walk through Saturday morning. It’s not the big place we wanted. But it is completely updated with my dream kitchen and bedroom. And as an added bonus, a park 100m down the road for Evie.

It’s currently 2am here. Why am I up? Well Monday night I got struck with random gastro. It was not a fun time and took me 2 days to recover from. Hubby had to take time off work to look after Evie for me. Then yesterday afternoon while napping she started to throw up and just didn’t stop for hours. She finally ate one bit of dry toast and has been asleep ever since. I woke at 11pm to hubby in the bathroom. Safe to say he hasn’t come out. Nothing worse than having a sick family. So he’ll be home today.

Evie also stared day care. And then left day care. Yes you read that correctly. As some of you know my original plan for our family was to be a stay at home mum until Evie went to school. We arrived at play group a couple of weeks ago for the start of term 1 to hear all these stay at home mums talk about how all of their babies are in care. I was very confused by all of this. But seeing how forward their children were we started to think it might be great for Evie So within 2 days she was booked in for orentation. It did not go well. You know those people who tell you to listen to your motherly instincts? Listen to those people. Those people are right! I always knew I never wanted her in care. And here’s why..

We arrived at the centre to be shown to our room. Now I was under the impression I stayed with her during these sessions until she properly started attending. Within five minutes of watching her play I was told to go sit in the parents lounge. The parents lounge has a window you can watch your child playing in the court yard. She was fine until I could hear her making noises indicating she was hungry.

I went to the window to let them know to feed her but they just kept putting her dummy in her mouth. I then noticed Evie with a Lollie wrapper in her mouth. No one noticed. She then had a stick in her mouth no one noticed.

I ended up going back in the room not being able to handle the anxiety of my child’s care in someone else’s hands. We went inside to play and I noticed a small boy trying to bite other kids arms. AGAIN no one noticed. Lunch was then served and I happened to look down at Evie’s bowl to see steam, As I felt the food it was boiling hot. I mentioned this to the educators for one of then to giggle at me. Safe to say we were out of there! We will be keeping her home until kinder.

The anxiety about purchasing a house has been keeping me up at night. Not in a bad way, just the big change. Buying a house has always scared me, like most people we can’t afford our dream home and I think I’ve gotten over every single rental we’ve ever lived in within a year. I love change, new scenery and buying is so permanate. This is something I’ll need to work extra hard on. Being settled. I’m so grateful we get to do this. Not everyone can. That’s not to say not alot of hard work has gone into it. But it’s definitely something I want Evie to know growing up. That mummy and daddy own our home and we don’t have to leave.

It’s been a good start to 2019 x

Keeping your marriage alive after having children without date nights.

It’s a tough one isn’t it? You swear while pregnant you’ll never let it happen to your marriage and 6 months later your finding yourself sexless and very very tired.

Being a parent is tiring, Being a parent who works full time is tiring, Being a stay at home mum is tiring. No matter if you go to work everyday or you work at home everyday. Your going to be tired. Throw in never being alone with your spouse again and you’re left scratching your head. Wondering how this is going to survive.

The only time hubby and I get to be alone is when our daughter goes to sleep at 8pm every night. But by then we are both exhausted. Once he gets home we are in full parenting mode. Dinner, bath time, dishes, reading, bedtime.

Not that we care, but we are not one of those famlies who have people to mind the kids while we venture off for a few hours and enjoy some alone time at a fancy restaurant or cuddle down in a movie theater. So when it’s bed time all you actually want to do is sleep or catch up on a few episodes of a new TV show that’s taken you 3 months to make it through season 1 because your TV only knows care bears from 7am till 7pm.

Here are some of my top tips for keeping things alive

1. Turn the TV off! Some nights we literally just lay in bed with no phones, no books and we just talk. It helps us feel connected.
2. We go for alot of family walks. Walking together somehow brings out our deep and meaningful conversations. Walking is where we make our biggest plans.
3. We eat together every single night.
4. On a weekend while bub naps we will take a shower together. (with the monitor beside us of course) we just enjoy being together we cuddle while the water runs and if it leads to sex great! If not, just having that skin to skin helps us feel close.
5. We text everyday. Some couples get into the habit of ‘not needing’ to text while their spouse is at work for 9 hours because they live together. We don’t text all day but a few times a day we will text.
6. We say I love you every night before we go to sleep.
7. And lastly we always choose being together over being apart. Movie and Netflix? Yes please!!

Even after 7 years together I’m still very in love with my man. It’s the small things that makes the big things work. We very much get into ruts and don’t always communicate the way we should, and we become boring parents from time to time. But we talk about our future plans almost every day so we always know where we are going and what we have to look forward too. Most importantly so when/if it gets hard we are reminded what we are working towards. It’s not always easy but it’s so worth it for the family we have created the rest will flow when the time is right!

You have a right to feel safe. No matter what!

You may have recently heard on the news about a young woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in a suburb in Melbourne. Well that suburb, is next to mine.

Aiia Maasarwe was in her early 20’s. She had come to Australia to study. She had been to a comedy show earlier in the evening, and caught the tram home from the city. She was believed to have been followed off that tram and only metres from where she got off her body was found partially naked and lifeless. In a suburb that is classed ‘family oriented’ where my friends children play after school sports, where our supermarket is, somebody was attacked and murdered.

It is not and never will be good enough. Every single human being has a right to feel safe. No matter what time of day your out, or where you are, or weather or alone or with a friend. A teenager should be able to walk the street in a short skirt on her way home from a dancing class in the dark and feel safe. But that is not the world we live in. It is not the world I will be raising my daughter in.

Australia is not a county that when you hear it’s name you think of these violent acts occurring. We are a land of beautiful beaches and freedom of speech. Not violation of these utter filthy humans who can’t keep there dirty hands to themselves. Who think because they want something they can just have it? A woman’s right to wear whatever she wants, to say whatever she wants to not have to worry about being followed home by that man she turned down at the bar earlier in the evening.

When will it stop? And it’s not the police. It’s the human race. When will these people stop thinking they can do whatever they like? Home invasions? Holding up an elderly woman at an atm and stealing her last bit of her pension? The pension she’s entitled to becasue prior to this she worked for 50 years. I prey they find this man and he gets life in prison. I hope he gets what he deserves.

May Aiia’s beautiful soul rest in peace. I hope she blames this coward for her leaving us to soon and not our community and county. May she fly high.

Xo

For the loves of my life

The sleeping coffee

The room is quiet, Everything still.

My coffee is hot, What a thrill

You’re still sleeping my darling

Are you dreaming of me?

I love to watch you sleep

You’re as sweet as can be

As the sun rises, and we begin another day

I love you with all my heart, is all I want to say.

For my daughter

The one

The phone beeps, I look down and smile.

It’s you, I’ve been waiting a while.

Waiting a lifetime you see,

For you to come and rescue me.

The touch of your hand, quiets my heart.

You and I will never be apart.

You are my one, When its all said and done.

I waited a lifetime you see, I know we were meant to be.

For my husband.

All the things I want in our new home

Buying a house is so exciting! Although it hasn’t happened for us just yet, it will soon enough. As the time closely approaches here are the things I want our new to home

• A decent sized kitchen. Every house we have rented has had a rather small kitchen. Cooking is a huge passion of mine and I need the space.
• A separate lounge. Once again, We’ve always had opened plan living and I’m just not a fan. I feel like it looks messier. And now that Evie is here I like that all of her toys and such can be in one room not scattered through the dinning area.
• A walk in closet in our bedroom. We’ve been spoilt in this house so it defiantly would be nice to have again. We sure need the space!
• A nice backyard, It’s important to me the older Evie gets she spends a lot of her time outside playing. So far she already has a swing set, a little slide and we have a sandpit waiting to be set up.
• I would love an undercover area we can have an outdoor table set up under.
• Carpets in the bedrooms and floorboards throughout the rest. Something about carpet on your feet during winter is so cosy, and I love hardwood floors because they are super durable with kids and a dog (the dog we hopefully buy when we move)

 

It sounds like so much when read in a dot points, but when you add all of these things into a complete house, it’s not that much. Of course there would be dream things I would love like a wood burning fire place but lets not get selfish. Once we move into a home I know money will be tight for a while until we get into the swing of things and get used to paying a mortgage so I have let go of the dream of knocking out walls or adding brand new flooring but here is a list of the small changes I will be making to make it a little more of our “dream home

• I will be painting our kitchen a bright white, now obviously with babies comes mess but I think a bright white kitchen makes a space appear bigger and more fresh and clean.

• I will also be painting the rest of our house a light grey, but leaving the skirtings and ceilings bright white, something like this

 

Obviously I realise that life is not a dream, but these are just some of the small changes I hope to make over the next Christmas holidays.

What does your dream home look like?

My heart knows what it wants, my bank account does not!

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a mother. A stay at home mother to be exact. I would day dream of baking, and singing nursery rhymes to my little ones. But lets face it, Motherhood is nothing like we use to imagine is it?

Its a lot messier, louder, and there is a lot more crying. From baby and you! Its stressful. And then there is money to consider. How do you make it work for multiple children? If you just make it by with one. Throw in a mortgage, and a second baby is looking like a daydream again.

I don’t see the point in having babies for someone else to raise them. Not to mention, us mothers return to work to pay for child care. So why not stay home. I know its not that simple for everyone. But in my situation. Its exactly that. I have a one year old daughter. I can’t have a full time job. She is my fulltime job. So if I ventured out into the world and found a part time job, I would be paying for child care. Unfortunately all of our family work so we don’t have anyone else to mind her.

We have been saving like crazy to buy our family home. Our first home for that matter, because aside from a great life and education, This is one of the many things we wish to give our baby. For her to wake up in the same bedroom, until she’s 30 if she wants (Gosh I hope not) I may want a yoga studio by then! I just don’t want her to have to move all the time like I did growing up. But then a little flutter in my heart says, have another baby.

I never want Evie to be lonely, and although she will have us, and we will always put in that special time with her, Its important that she have someone else to turn to. Its not a matter of house or baby, But how do you make both work? Do you buy the house and then realise “crap we can’t afford both” Or do you bite the bullet and try?

I’m so excited to begin house hunting this year, we have a meeting at the bank this weekend to discuss our finances and options . This is a dream coming true for the both of us. I always wanted my children to be super close in age. But maybe that’s just not feasible. There is 9 years between my eldest sister and I, and we are the best of friends! Maybe it wont be so bad having a bigger gap.

Having another beautiful baby to hold, love and raise is something that I defiantly want in our future. But the stability for the baby I hold, love and raise right now is more important to me.

Baby number 2 – Coming soon-ish

Family home – Coming 2019

Looking good makes you feel good

We all love a fresh hair do right? Or a brand new outfit? But when your down and out, getting up and making yourself glamorous can be the last thing on your mind. BUT it actually should be the first thing you do.

I’m not saying jump out of bed and start applying make up, but once you’ve had your morning coffee and fed your little one breakfast, go and get yourself ready for the day. You don’t have to spend hours applying fancy contours (I still don’t really understand the concept of that anyways) but just a little lippy can go a long way.

Next, actually do your hair! Not just run a brush through it. Even if its just a messy bun, quickly curl your front bits of hair. It’ll make your face look completely different. I hear people all the time talk about their “going out clothes” forget you ever heard that saying from here on. Lets be honest, we are mothers. We are tired, busy keeping a human alive and trying to keep things in order. Aint no one going out to a fancy event when the sun has gone to bed. Pull out those jeans girl!! Yes the high waisted sexy ones that hug your hips, even if you are just going to the park with your bub. Pair them with a casual tshirt and you will feel amazing all day I promise! You should get use out of your clothes, because if you keep waiting to wear them you never will

Doing this every day makes me feel so much better about myself. No matter of weight, or the colour of my hair, or even if my eyebrows haven’t been plucked since I was 18 (joking, its maybe been 3 months!) Doing these small steps make me feel like a beautiful woman. not just a mother. Its so easy to get caught up in the slump of being a “stay at home mum” But your also a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter and a valuable human being. I know its hard having children, some days I’m not ready until 12:30 because I wait for Evie to have her nap but its worth it. Most days I get a little pretty to go re stock up on fruit but always remember this, nobody else knows that!!! No one in the supermarket is staring at you because you’ve got your super cute boots on. You know what they are thinking? “Wow, she looks nice, and she has a child? She must  has her life together’

And just when you think your mood couldn’t improve anymore since that cute young guy checked you out while you were filling up the car, your husband will walk in the door and say something like “Wow you look great, where have you been?’ and you can smile and say “oh no where” You’ll feel a million bucks!

 

How I moved on from post natal depression, and how you can too!

When your pregnant, everything is a dream. You glow for 9 months and you feel nothing can bring you down. You feel those tiny (and big) kicks from inside and you know it’s your little one saying ‘hello Mumma’

Your nervous about labour, but you believe it’ll be the most natural and beautiful thing in the world.

After I gave birth to my daughter, I felt like I was living in a nightmare. My labour lasted 29 hours, 28 of those hours were medication free, and I just kept thinking to myself if I can last a little bit longer I’ll be holding my baby girl and all of this will be over. Next thing I know I’m being rushed down a hall of bright flashing lights with nurses speaking medical terms which I knew meant “this baby is giving up, get it out immediately”

I remember shaking uncontrollably, from being scared and the epidural I was forced to have before going into theater. It smelt clean in the room as they placed the sheets above my face so I couldn’t see anything. I few minutes later with a few painful tugs she was lifted above that curtain. A screaming 9 pound baby girl. But all I could focus on was the burning I could feel. I felt like someone was burning my stomach with a lighter. No one had brought my baby over yet and I started to cry. Next thing I woke up in recovery from being placed unconscious.

When I first met my beautiful Evie, I was so drugged up, I could’ve been holding your baby for all I knew. And the nurses knew I had a very long labour so they let me sleep. Seeing as it was 3am. I woke at 5:45am eager to properly meet my daughter.

We spent 4 days in hospital and I was so exhausted I just kept falling asleep. I wasnt running on the ‘love adrenaline’ like everybody told me I would. My body just kept shutting down on me.

When we got home my mind started to take over. I started having these thoughts of panic. That I wasn’t good enough to be her mother. I would stare down at this perfect tiny sleeping baby, and think of how she deserved a great life. And what if I wasn’t what she wanted in a mother? What if I can’t give her that? I’m going to fail her! I would think as I cried.

It’s not that I didn’t love my daughter. I did. But everything was difficult. My body never got use to having no sleep. I would cry in the middle of the night when she would cry. We would share tears as we did the nappy change. I was so exhausted, I just couldn’t even think. It wasn’t until one night I completly gave up. It was 3am and she was screaming. Nothing I did would calm her down so I wrapped her up and put her back in her bassinet and back to bed I went. My husband thought I had gone insane.

“Are you joking?” he said to me. Your going to leave her? “yep” I said without a care in the world. He scooped her up and left the room. She calmed down within a few minutes. I knew I had to see someone.

I went to the gp and got put on anti depressant. Within 3 days, I was a different person. Whenever Evie would wake I was excited to see her beautiful face. Happy to give my hungry baby a bottle. And rock her to sleep.

Eventually it all leveled out and I still had times when I thought ‘why did I do this? ‘ but I’ve learnt it’s the small things that matter. Here are my top tips for moving forward

1. Just remember, the newborn stage doesn’t last forever. Eventually your baby will sleep though.
2. Ask for help!! Something I never did.
3. Recognise when it’s more than the ‘baby blues’ your feeling and seek help.
4. Don’t be ashamed of taking medication.
5. Allow yourself alone time. Give Bub to your husband and have that bubble bath. It’ll make you a better parent.
6. If you have to put your screaming baby down and walk away, your not a bad mum!!
7. Talking really does help. Sometimes to a stranger is even better.

Right now the fog may seem unbearable, I know it was for me. It took me 6-8 months to start enjoying my daughter. And it took me a whole year to absolutely love being a mother. Does that make me a bad mum? No. It makes me a real one.

There are so many options out there for new mums. You are never alone. And it’s worth it, I promise.