What Cora Wore // Question Everything

In between the clouds and April showers there are glimpses of summer and I just can't wait.  Six weeks off of school, long days at the beach, plenty of ice cream and all my washing drying line dryed.  I am quite used to dressing boys for the warm weather, but dressing a little girl for summer is new and exciting.  I am slowly putting together a summer wardrobe for Cora and I just adore this pretty dress set from Question Everything.

I am planning on getting her a mixture of practical playsuits and pretty dresses as I think it will be around this summer that she starts walking.  I am hopeful that we get lots of nice weather so this lovely light dress will be perfect and I love the little matching pants too.  

Until the weather warms up properly we have been teaming it with white tights and a little cardigan.  I love how easily dresses adapt for different seasons and I know we will get a lot of wear out of this dress! Question Everything do beautiful dresses and lovely playsuits for little boys and girls.  

Question Everything believe in making clothes well and ethically and each dress is made by a family run business in Manila (where Angie the founder grew up) and hand smocked by ladies of the Batangas village community.  A percentage of their profits goes to Childhope Asia

The dresses are quite true to size, Cora is a petite 9 month old wearing 9-12 months here and it has plenty of growing space.  The buttons up the back make it easy to take on and off and it looks so lovely in real life.  I think this is a lovely addition to her summer wardrobe -now we just need the sunshine to come back!

Thank you to QE for sending us this beautiful dress.

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Easter Egg Hunting with Cadbury

The two week school holiday can feel rather long especially when the sun seems to have disappeared again.  My children have been buzzing with the excitement of Easter, talk of the magical bunny and what he may bring and asking to do activities, games and crafts in the lead up.  I love bringing the seasons to life for them, but sometimes I need a little help with ideas.

Cadbury have come up with some great Easter activities to try over this long weekend and we couldn’t wait to do our own Easter egg hunt.  We only have a tiny little garden and it has been sorely neglected over the winter, but whilst we were away last week my parents kindly came over and cleared it for us, so this was the perfect place to hold our hunt.  Admittedly all the weeds would have given us some much better hiding places, but this way they could run around afterwards (and create their very own car wash for the garden toys).

255,000 Cadbury eggs are made at the Bournville factory ever day (that is 177 a minute if you were wondering) and I am sure you can guess the best seller? It is of course the creme egg, which happens to be my favourite so those are what I chose to hide for them (with some bonus Cadbury caramel eggs too)

There are some other great activities on the Cadbury site including making pompom bunnies which I know is exactly what Dylan has been hoping to try and the activity sheets will keep them all entertained in the mornings when Mummy and Daddy haven’t quite had enough caffeine to function properly.

According to Cadbury's research, the top activities over Easter are eating Easter chocolate, seeing friends and family, giving Easter chocolate, going on an easter egg hunt and baking. 

Easter egg hunting is most definitely the boys' favourite activity though, they love the excitement, the race (everything is a race when you have two brothers and a sister) and of course the delicious Cadbury goodies at the end!

If you want to join in with the Cadbury’s Great British Egg Hunt then head over to their website to find a downloadable pack! There are over 300 hunts going on at National Trust sites in the lead up to Easter too, you can find more information on the Cadbury website

 This post is in collaboration with Cadbury

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What Cora Wore // aden + anais

Oh sleep, how I miss it.  For some reason my youngest two seem to have been wonderful sleepers as little babies and then backtracked at around 4 months and decided that it isn't  for them anymore.  Finn slept through the night for a whole month around 4 months old lulling me into a false sense of security, because he then decided to wake up at least once a night until he turned two.  

Cora only slept through once, but she was doing a solid 8 hour stretch most nights from about 10 weeks and I couldn't believe my luck.  By the time she turned 4 months things had changed though and she was awake pretty much every hour.  At 9 months she still feeds quite often at night and I have come to accept that I was just really lucky with the big two.

Somehow naps have never been a battle though, especially if we are in the house.  Cora still wants to be fed to sleep, but so long as she can sleep on my bed, she has two good naps a day.  When we are out and about she is less convinced about sleeping but she will eventually go off in the sling or buggy.

Aden + anais sent us one of their muslin sleepsuits and I love how soft and snuggly it is.  We have lots of their muslins and swaddles as I think the quality is fantastic and the sleepsuit is just as lovely. Cora has been wearing it for bedtimes and for lazy days around the house and I love how it instantly makes her look littler again.

 I am staying positive that she will eventually sleep better and enjoying the extra cuddles whilst she doesn't (especially when she is wearing such a soft sleepsuit!).  Caffeine and under eye concealer are my new best friends!

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Dear Zoo Trail at London Zoo

On Saturday we were invited to the launch of the new Dear Zoo trail at London Zoo.  To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the childhood classic book by Rod Campbell, ZSL and Macmillan books have created a trail around the zoo where children can collect stamps for all the classic Dear Zoo characters.  

Dear Zoo was one of the first books we bought when Dylan was little and I think we all know all the words now.  I took Archie and Cora with me for our trip to the zoo as Dylan and Finn were both ill and we loved following the trail and finding the stamps for the animals that were too fierce, too jumpy and too grumpy to become pets.

We were really excited to meet Rod Campbell and listen to him read Dear Zoo to the children.  We loved the special birthday cakes and Cora got to wear her Dear Zoo dress (M&S did a lovely range last year).  

The elephants are currently at ZSL Whipsnade rather than ZSL London so our card came pre stamped with the 'too big' box, but the rest of the stations were located by their animal and the children could do the stamps themselves.  The Dear Zoo theme extends around the park and the restaraunts sell themed kids meals as well as having decorations baring the famous giraffe.  It made our visit to the zoo even more special and Archie was so proud to complete his card.  

As well as enjoying the trail, we loved the new Land of the Lion area which transported us into the heart of India with a colourful hands-on exhibit surrounding the mighty (and far too fierce) animals. Archie and his friend T loved playing in the vehicles, trying to pedal the bikes and exploring the different areas. 

The zoo is brilliantly designed to keep children occupied and we could break up discovering animals with areas like Land of the Lion to discover, parks to play in and plenty of space to run around. 

The Dear Zoo trail is on from April 1st to April 17th at ZSL London and is included free with your ticket price.  We had the most wonderful (and exhausting) day.

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Me and Mine March

I started the year so much more organised than I finished the last one and I managed all of two months before I gave into disorganisation once more.  March has been the month I tried to catch up again, mastered the to-do list and completed failed at the elusive work/life balance.  

Generally it has been quite quiet with more quiet weekends close to home than anything else.  The bloke had a birthday and we had a lovely Mother's Day seeing my Mum and Dad and my brother and his family - these photos were taken on Mother's Day in my parent's garden.

We are all ready for the two weeks off school which start this afternoon and whilst we have few few concrete plans we are looking forward to some spontaneity and family time. 

This month

Mama is loving getting her sandals back out, lighter evenings, eating creme eggs and brunch outside at the beach cafe.

Daddy is loving his new coffee machine (something that seems to come up far too often), Finn's crazy personality coming out more, cuddles with Cora whilst she still feels like a baby and a big night out with old friends

Dylan is loving doing Easter crafts at school, playing games on the X-box, choosing his own sweets at the newsagents for film night and playing Mummy, Daddy and baby zombies at school with his friends.

Archie is loving building 'battle bots' with his Lego Duplo, dodging lasers and crocodiles on the walk to preschool, not having to wear a coat everyday and his new bunk beds.

Finn is loving playing peekabo with Cora, being out the buggy walking more often, singing the Tiny Tim turtle song over and over and counting things.

Cora is loving having breakfast every day, practicing her pincer grip (mostly on my skin), playing with duplo and playing peekabo with Finn.

And finally, to sum up March here is what a real family photo look like - not a single person looking at the camera!

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Cora's Style

When I was pregnant with our fourth baby, I couldn't imagine ever having a little girl.  Whilst a big part of me was convinced that is what I was having, I doubted my instinct constantly as I was a Mama to boys and happy to stay that way.  At every scan they confirmed that I was carrying a baby girl, but I still felt unsure and not entirely comfortable with the idea.

I went shopping for baby girls clothes, but anything pink, frilly or with bows on was a little scary and I stuck to more unisex designs.  I didn't know why she would need dresses and there was no reason that this baby of mine couldn't wear the same bright colours and prints that her brothers did.  When she arrived, she looked much like them, the same squished nose and chubby cheeks with a little bit of dark black hair.  Dressed all in white she looked like a baby, not a girl or boy - just a baby.

As the weeks went by, my fear of girly clothes started to subside, and when Cora was a few weeks old I tried her in something pink.  I wasn't expecting to like it, but it really suited her.  Over the months we have added more pink into her wardrobe, however all the while I am in charge of choosing her clothes she will have a range of colours.  Pink is lovely, but so is yellow and blue and she can look incredibly 'girly' without a single touch of pink or flower on her.

I feel like I am constantly experimenting with her style, trying out new things, different colours or prints on her and I am having so much fun dressing my little girl.  There are so many dresses for girls  that are full of colour or challenge the stereotypes and she has lots of practical dungarees and leggings too.  

As we enjoy the final weeks (maybe days) of having a mostly non-mobile baby, I know that things will change all over again, some of her baby girl dresses will no longer be practical and we will be moving back to rompers and leggings until she is up on her feet.  I am really enjoying the different choices for little girls though as whilst Finn wears a lot of unisex clothing, dresses and skirts were a bit too far for me so it is a whole new section of the shops to explore.

Collaborative Post

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What Cora Wore // Martha and Hepsie

Whilst I am starting to love pretty little dresses, leggings are still the most practical baby clothing and we have recently discovered Martha and Hepsie.  Cora was sent a pair of their Tally tabby cat leggings and they are adorable, fun and easy to wear.

Martha and Hepsie manufacture everything here in the UK which is something we are really keen to support.  The small design team are based in Sheffield and Devon and their online store sells beautiful products from homeware to stationary to their newly launched baby range.  Their three fun designs come in bibs, leggings (up to 18 months) and blankets and I love how unique and well made they are.  

Cora is a baby desperate to move but not quite sure how and these leggings will take her through the next stages as she becomes more mobile.  Whether she crawls, bum shuffles or walks (and we still aren't entirely sure which she will do first) these leggings will be perfect.  I love the Hetties hedgehog print as well which comes in a beautiful blue. 

They currently have free standard postage on the baby range with code 'BABY' 

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