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I am a multi-award winning blogger, photographer and writer from London. I’ve travelled to over 38 countries, lived out of a backpack for a year and love to scuba dive! This site is a destination for all things travel, lifestyle and my successful online book club.

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That Night, Gillian McAllister

Beauty Pie Review: easy skincare for new mums

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7 Things to Know Before Renovating Your Kitchen
The First Trimester: My Pregnancy Diary
Coming Off the Pill: How I Feel Three Months On
What to Buy from Beauty Pie
The Truth Behind Fashion Blogging on Instagram
Accepting That I Can't Do Everything
How To Grow Your Bookstagram
I Don’t Want to Go Home
Pregnancy After Loss: Coping in the First Trimester
DIY Gel Nails: step by step tutorial

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The only alarm clock that I’ll always adore waki

The only alarm clock that I’ll always adore waking up to 🌅✨🧡
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Final sunrise walk on the beach. You’ll be pleased to know we’re heading back to normality in dreary England today, so balmy October days and pastel de nata for breakfast will cease! By normality, I mean living out of a suitcase and house hopping between kind family members as the mice are still exercising squatters rights in our flat. 🐭🙃
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I was actually thinking this morning how brilliantly adaptable Z has been. He’s slept in 7 different homes in the last 3 weeks! That’s enough to stress anyone out but he’s just so chilled and cheery. I’m so proud of him. This week at @martinhal Sagres has been the dreamiest escape and it’s definitely somewhere I can see us booking to come back to in future years, especially for autumn sun.
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Ad - part of press stay at @martinhal! Full review coming soon to @motherhoodedit 👀
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Ziggy’s cardi: @thelittlecardishop 💕
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My son. My sunshine, my rainbow. Parenting after b

My son. My sunshine, my rainbow. Parenting after baby loss is complex for a number of reasons, not least because often another baby wouldn’t have been born had the other survived. I find it almost impossible to wrap my head around the dichotomy between grieving the two babies that could’ve been, but weren’t, and the utter overwhelming joy and gratitude for the little boy in my arms.
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Quite simply, had we not experienced the soul-crushing loss of two pregnancies before Ziggy, he wouldn’t be here. Which is now unfathomable.
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But why does acknowledging that make me so feel so guilty? Perhaps it’s the assumption that a rainbow baby heals a loss; it doesn’t. Or because I now can’t possibly wish that things had turned out differently than they have. Maybe it’s simply that loss is complicated, consuming and not always very rational.
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What I feel now is closest to acceptance. Peace. Fear (for the future), hope.
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I thought I’d want to show up this week. To add something meaningful or helpful to the conversation. Last year I was anxiously pregnant again so I hid. This year, the emotional labour just feels heavy. Having my baby in my arms has perhaps surprisingly made it harder to think and talk about loss. We don’t really need a week to reflect or remember either; we don’t forget. So I think it’s for everyone else. It’s a moment to listen to those brave enough to tell their stories, and think of those brave enough to sit quietly with them too.
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Tomorrow at 7pm there’s an international Wave of Light. It’s a moment of pause to light a candle wherever you are and honour the babies who live in hearts not homes. 🤍⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
——
Helpful charities & accounts: @tommys @sayinggoodbye_charity @sandscharity @miscarriageassociation @babyloss @blisscharity @tryingyears @zoeadelle @jenniemonologues @the.infertile.midwife @feathering_the_empty_nest @missmalinsara @ihadamiscarriage (feel free to tag any I’ve missed)

I got myself a water baby! This one had SO much fu

I got myself a water baby! This one had SO much fun in the pool today. It’s incredible seeing how much he’s grown in confidence even just in the last few weeks. He’s loved water since his very first bath which makes me so happy because I do too. I know it’s a ~ really ~ weird connection to draw but I always hoped that he would be born into water but the circumstances surrounding his birth made that impossible for him and any future babies, so it brings me a lot of comfort and joy seeing him splashing about. 🐳💦 Do your babies like water? I’m so intrigued by the swim classes where they dunk them under?!
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Ad* - brilliant splash pool at @martinhal Sagres! All the pools are heated year round and this one was just perfect for babies and toddlers to play in. (*part of a press stay! @motherhoodedit)

Oh Lagos, I like your s-tile 😜
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There’s little I enjoy more on holiday than wandering around an Old Town in all its higgledy-piggledy cobbled glory and stopping for a sangria in the sun. Lagos indulged that AND threw in pretty tiled buildings to boot! It’s on the southern Algarve and only about a half hour drive from our hotel. 👌🏼
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Side note! Will forever sing the @babyzenuk YOYO’s praises. It’s an utter joy to travel with.

ad| We love Autumn! Especially cosy, cuddly layeri

ad| We love Autumn! Especially cosy, cuddly layering in @newbielovers limited edition ‘Down to Earth’ collection. It features scandi inspired, neutral unisex (yay) pieces including a little matchy matchy for mama and baby 🍂 What do you think? 🥰🦔 #newbielovers

ad| Swipe for a surprise! 👣 For our first famil

ad| Swipe for a surprise! 👣 For our first family holiday, a @tuiuk Sensatori by Blue resort was absolutely perfect. We loved that we really didn't have to think about a thing beyond what cocktail to order next or what restaurant we fancied that evening! It was also a huge bonus that Ziggy loved the nursery and gave us a couple of baby-free hours to truly relax now and then.
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While we were away I noted that there was quite a lot of confusion around what exactly a package holiday is. Mostly with people worrying about them being too restrictive, forumalic or samey! A package simply means that you book your travel and accomodation with one operator; for example, picking a TUI destination and booking your flight, transfer and hotel all in one. This gives you lots of peace of mind and travel security, particularly in the current climate. Sure, there are a wide range of all-inclusive resorts catering to a variety of budgets and tastes but there are also lots of more boutique or cultural options. Dubrovnik Old Town? Shopping in NYC? The Costa Rican jungle or Christmas in Sri Lanka? There is no one size fits all! 🗺
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If you could magic yourself anywhere in the world, where would it be? ✈️

September is #NICUAwarenessMonth. I’ve almost le

September is #NICUAwarenessMonth. I’ve almost let it completely pass by because if I’m honest, it’s still all far too raw. What happens when you don’t get the “healthy baby” everyone wishes for at the end of a pregnancy? Occasionally it hits me how close we came to losing Ziggy and the thought is unfathomable. I don’t have any huge words of wisdom yet other than that I am so very, very proud of my brave little boy. He had such a horrendously difficult start in life and yet here he is, happy, strong, an actual little miracle ✨
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Ziggy turning 6 months also marks half a year of exclusively breastfeeding him. Bringing your milk in with a pump is brutal, as is setting alarms through the night while your baby is miles away, scrolling through photos and sniffing a bonding square. I was utterly broken and so heartbreakingly desperate to make it work, and some how, we did.
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Thinking of all the little NICU miracles past and present and the extra special ones who didn’t get to come home 🤍 If you need support or just to see that someone else ‘gets it’, these are brilliant accounts:
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@blisscharity @the_nicu_mummy @miraclemoonuk @dearnicumama @nicuawareness @projectnicu

6 months of Ziggy Rex ⚡️🐆🌈

6 months of Ziggy Rex ⚡️🐆🌈

A love so vast it split me in two First there was

A love so vast it split me in two
First there was me, then there was you
My heart, beating outside of my body
The tears, the fears, the unrivalled glee
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And when the exhaustion sets deep in my bones
I know it’s in my arms that you call home
To be your answer to every question
Muddling through, each day a lesson
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The pressure to be better, the best for you
Whilst doing all that I can do
A guilt so heavy for not cherishing each minute
Because I dreamt of you and now I’m in it
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Each day you yearn and learn and grow
Whilst I watch and beg the clock to slow
So I’ll bottle it, these escaping years
Milky breath, warm skin, salty tears
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For whoever it is that you become
Forever my baby, always your mum.
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☁️🤍✨
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(My tiny baby turned 6 months, so forgive me for the really lame poem)

ad| 6 brilliant books I’ve read in 2021! Save th

ad| 6 brilliant books I’ve read in 2021! Save this post for later for some ultimate reading inspo 📚
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📖 Finlay Donovan is Killing It: a funny ‘just one more chapter’ parody about a chaotic mum who gets mistaken for a contract killer…
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📖 I Am Pilgrim: don’t think spy novels are your thing? Me neither. Read this.
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📖 The Authenticity Project: if you’re looking for an easy, feel-good read with heaps of charm then this is for you.
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📖 This Lovely City: set in Windrush Britain, a story of love and race with a heart wrenching crime at its core.
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📖 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: 1950’s Old Hollywood glam, brilliantly real characters and LGBTQ+ themes come together in this book that’s so well written, it’s hard to believe it’s not a true story.
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📖 Educated: Tara Westover’s memoir on growing up in a survivalist family who don’t believe in education or healthcare but do believe in the Illuminati. Poignant and SUPER interesting!
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Reading on a sun lounger somewhere hot is one of my favourite things to do, ever. I’ve been a kindle convert for over 10 years now and have been trying out the @amazonuk Kindle Oasis on holiday. It’s brilliant! As well as all the known and loved features (long battery, huge storage, zero glare, backlight) it’s also waterproof, holds audiobooks, has a high res screen and a sleek ergonomic design making it so comfy to hold in either hand for long periods of reading bliss!
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What shall I read next? Which books have you loved recently?

ad| TRAVELLING WITH A BABY 👶🏼✈️
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Before coming away, I knew I’d need to adjust my expectations about holidaying with a baby. My main concerns were the heat and whether we would relax!
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He’s been brilliant. Sure, he did NOT get the sleep memo, but thankfully being sleep deprived on a sun lounger is far more pleasant than on the sofa.
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This is what has worked for us:
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🧳 Packing light! Some feel comforted by having ALL the stuff but I knew that would stress me. He’s got clothes, swimwear, a few small toys, carrier & YOYO pram
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(TUI give infants 10KG - can be mixed with your luggage - plus a free pram and carseat. There is a cot & steriliser in our room)
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✈️ I fed for take off, he slept for landing. On the way home I’ll ask for an aisle seat, I felt bad for the woman who kept having to move for us! Long haul, I’d want extra leg room if possible. He did get a bit bored but it just meant less reading my book and more jiggling! Bring spare clothes: of course the plane is the PERFECT time for a 💩 leak…
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🌞 He’s been happy in the shade (it’s 30° with a breeze). I packed UV suits, hats and sunglasses.
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🍽 He can’t sit in a high chair so he’s not a great dinner date. Instead, we’ve been doing bedtime routine then putting him to sleep in the pram with a SnoozeShade, white noise machine and Rockit!
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😴 Nap times: sometimes we’ve done room naps but mainly in the pram in the shade poolside with a SnoozeShade.
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🍹 Nursery: my biggest, most pleasant surprise! We’ve been using the TUI nursery occasionally. Totally not something I planned on but it’s LOVELY, the staff are amazing, it adheres to UK regs and he has a brilliant time playing in the AC while we enjoy a cocktail in the sun and a chance to be a couple instead of Mummy & Daddy for an hour or two. We’ve even got his ‘artwork’ to take home 🥺😍

What have you found has worked for you?

@tuiuk @atlanticahotels 🏝

ad| Feel confident on holiday knowing that your ho

ad| Feel confident on holiday knowing that your home is secure with the Ring Home Security System. With door alarms, motion sensors and optional cameras, you can keep an eye wherever you are in the world. The range extender means you can even ensure garden offices, sheds and garages are secure. Personalise a ‘home’ and ‘away’ mode to bring you peace whether you’re going on holiday or simply heading to bed for the night (build it into your Alexa bedtime routine!) and check in on your property via the nifty app, where you’ll find all your Ring products together.

Having experienced the utter devastation and sense of violation that comes with being burgled once before, I find this home security system really reassuring. It’s so easy to set up and install too, with no need to hardwire if that doesn’t suit your home or rental.

Do you have home security? @ring #RingofSecurity

Holiday Ziggy is such a mood 🦓⚡️🌊

Holiday Ziggy is such a mood 🦓⚡️🌊

I’ve always been bad at switching off. Sometime

I’ve always been bad at switching off.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I don’t always need to be a step ahead of myself. That it’s important to close the hundred brain tabs and just focus on what is right here, now.

In many ways, becoming a mum [and the last few years as a whole] has made me considerably more mellow because I realise how little I actually have control over. In my limited experience, it’s far more stressful when a rigid routine veers off course.

Still, that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to go with the flow nor to let go of worries that only force you to potentially live out that particular concern twice — once in your head and once maybe, possibly, probably not, in real-time.

Is it a self-imposed uptightness? A societal pressure to bear emotional labour? Is it even a bad thing?

I remember listening to an audiobook on mindfulness once about placing a raisin on your tongue and really taking time to notice everything about that raisin. It’s taste, texture, shape, chew.

The weird guilt I still carry at not being more present, at not being able to watch a beautiful sunset without thinking about something that’s happening in 3 weeks time, or what’s for dinner, or that mortifying time you got properly stuck in the railway ticket barriers 6 years ago.
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How easy do you find it to switch off?
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(Sod the raisin. I prefer liquid grapes anyway. 🍇🍷)

My favourite dinner date 🌸💕
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…Just kidding 😝 We’ve been putting Z to bed in the pram and then taking him to dinner asleep which has been really lovely. Like a date night every night! Yesterday he had a very late siesta so decided to join us at the restaurant annnd…nope. Firmly prefer it when he’s a peacefully snoozing participant! We’re at such an awkward ~ too small for a high chair ~ too sassy & independent for a lap ~ stage.
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Ziggy’s night sleep has been pretty terrible since we’ve been away and no matter how lovely and sunny the setting, sleep deprivation still feels as dark and stifling. Thankfully, all inclusive iced coffee helps. ☕️🙏🏼
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(ad - @tuiuk @atlanticahotels)

Postcards from Paphos! We took the local bus from

Postcards from Paphos! We took the local bus from the resort (€1.50 a trip or €5 for unlimited day travel) to wander around the Old Town. We found it really quiet and there wasn’t a whole load to do, but that did make wandering around the market and eating gyros in the sun all the more satisfying (especially as tiny human slept most of the time) 😋☕️
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Some cute spots in Paphos Old Town:
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☕️ Grafico for courtyard seating and tasty iced coffee
🥙 Souvlaki Livadias for Greek gyros
🍲 Laona restaurant for checked table cloths and casseroles
🦞 Christos Grill & Seafood for fish with a great sea view
👛 Old town market for a wander & tourist tat
🧿 PSI cute gift shop with jewellery and homeware
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The bus stops right outside our hotel which is super handy and it takes about 40 mins (it has aircon!) to the harbour where you can explore or get a further short bus to the Old Town or to Coral Bay for a sandy beach. 🌞
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(ad - we’re in Cyprus primarily on a press trip at @atlanticahotels Aphrodite Hills with @tuiuk)

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