Mother's Day Gift Ideas

As I am sure you are all aware Mother's Day is just around the corner (psst it's next Sunday!) now and I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some gift inspiration. This will be my second mother's day and possibly the last one I celebrate on this date (It's celebrated in May in America).


Whatever you decide to buy your mum this mother's day make sure she gets it on time by using a reliable courier service. Parcelforce offers UK and Worldwide delivery.

1. Twinings Earl Grey Candle Gift Set

This sounds lovely and is a limited edition gift set just for mothers day. You get a tin of earl grey tea and a special earl grey fragranced candle. 

£15.00 

2. Thorntons Yummy Mummy Collection

This is the perfect present for any chocolate loving mummies out there. 

It includes: lovely heart collection, I love mum cups, continental collection, limited edition spring classic collection and a chocolate gift tag which can be personalised. 

£20.00

3. Light Pink Tote Bag 

I think this bag is gorgeous and would good on the arm of any lady, mother or no mother. 

It from the J by Jasper Conran collection at Debenhams. 

£55.00

4. Miss Dior Eau De Parfum

Perfume is always a good gift and this one is no exception. I use it myself and it has such a beautiful floral scent. It also comes in such a beautiful bottle. 

£66.00 for 50ml 

5. Yankee Candle Tart Warmer Gift Set

I love the range of tarts you can get from Yankee Candle. They have a wide range of beautiful scents you can burn to get your house smelling beautiful. This tart burner would be the perfect gift for any Yankee Candle fan. 

With this gift set you get a beautiful butterfly design tart burner plus 2 wax tarts (1x Midnight jasmine and 1x Fresh Cut Roses) and an unscented tea light.

£13.99 

Outfit of the Month: February

In true Calleigh style this month's outfit features a cat.

 Cat Jumper- Tesco 
Leopard Print Jeans- Next 


*Also excuse the black eye Calleigh had a little fall off the sofa onto the corner of a table.
Poor baby.
She was very brave though, probably cried for about 10 seconds and then carried on chasing the cat.*

Bacon, Leek and Potato Pie

Time for another recipe.

This one is a quick and easy but so nice, especially on a cold day. 

As you can see this is a Schwartz packet recipe, it's okay to cheat every now and then. (Oh I also missed out the chicken because I forgot to buy some haha. 

Here's what you will need:

• Chicken, Bacon and Potato Pie mix
• Leeks
• Potatoes
• Bacon
• Milk
• and chicken if you remember but it tastes just as good without it. 

Method:

• Peel and slice your potatoes and leave them in a bowl of cold water.
• Cut up the bacon into small strips and add to a frying pan with a little bit of oil. Fry for 5 minutes until crisp. 
• Add the sliced leeks and continue frying for another 5 minutes. 

• Add the packet to 400 ml of milk and mix together well. Then add this to the frying pan and heat through     for about 3-4 minutes. 
• Transfer the mixture into a ovenproof dish and top with the sliced potatoes. Put it in a pre-heated oven for 35 minutes on gas mark 6. 

• Take out of the oven and top with lots of cheese and return it to the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly. 
• Serve with green Vegetables. We went with broccoli. 

New Trike

 After seeing a large number of parents pushing their kids around in a trike I decided I wanted one for Calleigh. 

We found one on Amazon that wasn't too much money and ordered it. It arrived the next day and we were a little disappointed to find that It had already been assembled then obviously sent back for some reason and resold to us. 

Nevertheless we set Calleigh to work on putting it together. 

Eventually Daddy had to get involved as Calleigh refused to read the instructions. Once it was built I was eager to take Calleigh out it in. Unfortunately it snowed a lot that week and we were not able to get out anywhere.

Finally with a bit of nicer warmer weather this week, it had it's maiden voyage to the park.

Calleigh enjoyed it and spent the whole journey shouting away and giggling to herself. I on the other hand found it difficult to steer and weaved left to right trying to keep it off the road. My arms were killing me by the time we got back home.
Maybe next time Daddy should push.

Our Valentines Day

I know Valentines Day has long gone now but I just wanted to share with you what we did for Valentines Day. 

Paul made me believe he hadn't got me anything and even though I tried to pretend that I wasn't bothered the disappoint in my face when I woke up to no card or flowers was evident. Although he did bring me a cup of tea in bed, which was nice. 

When I got up to join Calleigh and Paul downstairs, Paul had carelessly left his phone on the table and just as I sat down his phone flashed up with an email. The preview read: "Your Interflora delivery is on it's way". I grinned at Paul and he instantly knew that the jig was up. 

Later that day I received a beautiful heart shaped box of roses. 

That evening we had booked in at our local pub for a 3 course feast for two. We took Calleigh along and also invited my mum and sister. 

The pub was beautifully decorated with hearts and roses and the tables were all set up nicely. Calleigh even had a heart shaped napkin on her highchair. 

To eat we both had a Combo starter, Steak for main and for dessert I had black forest gateaux while Paul gave his to Lana who happily scoffed down two desserts. 

Calleigh was treated to her favourite, fish fingers chips and peas. 

Yummy. 

Calleigh spent the rest of the evening running around the pub like a mad woman until someone said hello to her and she came bolting back to us, bless her. 

Just a quick one before I go, I have started up a new blog called Emigrating with the Eatons which will cover everything we do on our journey to America and whilst we are there (if we get there). 

You can check it out here. 

Pancake Day

Happy Pancake Day everyone!! 

I hope you've all enjoyed stuffing yourselves with pancakes. We definitely have! 

Calleigh loved her first taste of Pancakes and kept on coming back for more! 

And I found out that I can actually flip pancakes (we only had one that fell on the floor)

Go me!! 

A Fun Day at the Farm

On Saturday Calleigh, me and my good friend Charlotte took a trip up to White Post Farm. This was Calleigh's first time at a farm and she loved it. 

I took the pushchair with me although it was more of a hindrance than anything as Calleigh just wanted to walk everywhere. And she did, her walking has come on leaps and bounds and this was her first solo outdoor adventure. 

The first thing we saw were the Turkey's, Calleigh spent quite a while looking at them which is understandable as they are quite strange looking creatures. The male actually freaked us out a little with his "nose". 

We then stopped for a cuppa before heading off to check out the rest of the farm. 

We saw some Meerkats and some Dogs and then went into the reptile house. There was a snake that was out for you to touch but Calleigh wouldn't touch it. The poor bloke who was there supervising looked so incredibly bored too. Calleigh was much more into the Tortoises and the big fish. 

That fish looks evil 

Eventually we moved on to the barn. On the way Calleigh got to sit in a tractor and meet some Chickens. 

Inside the barn there were lots of cuddly bunny rabbits, goats, pigs and a llama. 

I attempted to feed the llama but threw my hand away (and the food all over the place) when it came towards my hand haha. 

Calleigh was not impressed at all and was a bit afraid of most of the larger animals inside the barn. 

Finally we walked past a duck pond spent some time feeding the ducks. 

Unfortunately Calleigh's throwing skills are not exactly very good and none of the food she threw at them actually made it past her own feet. 

We had an awesome day and Calleigh was so tired when she got home. All that walking she did, I bet she felt like she had walked a marathon. 

I shall end this post with two videos I took on the day which I really like. 

The first one is Calleigh and Charlotte walking together. I think it looks so good and really shows off Calleigh's walking. 

And this one is Calleigh's attempt at feeding the ducks. 

Getting Better

Calleigh is so much better today. She still has a little cough and a very runny nose (cue lots of tissues everywhere) but is a lot happier and has got back to her usual antics. 

She was so bad on Monday and her temperature shot right up that I ended up taking her to the doctors. After the all clear from the doctor of anything serious she prescribed some antibiotics and some paracetamol suppositories (What?!?). 

Luckily for Calleigh when we went to pick up her prescription they were fresh out of her bum pellets (as I have so aptly named them) so we had to make due with the usual oral method of getting the drugs into her. 

Poor Calleigh at her worst on Monday

I downloaded the Calpol app (It's free!) onto my phone to monitor her temperature and when I was giving her each dose. It has the option to set reminders for each dose so you don't have to try and remember when the last time was. Really useful for someone like me who has no concept of time. 

She had a rough night on Monday but woke up looking a lot better. And last night managed to sleep through the night without waking (although she did only go to bed about half 10). 

I tried to give her a bum pellet this morning but couldn't bring myself to do it and it kept slipping out of my fingers. I think I will stick to the liquid, even if it is a fight to get her to take it. 

I'm hoping by the weekend all trace of this nasty cold has gone as we have plans to visit a farm with a friend haha and I definitely think that being house bound these past two days has sent her a little stir crazy. 

Looking a lot happier 

Poorly Calleigh

My little Calleigh beans is a poorly girl today. 

I've had a cold all through the past week and tried my hardest not to pass it on to Calleigh, even though it broke my heart to miss out on all the cuddles and kisses she wanted to give me. 

We even sent her away over the weekend to stay with Nanna and Grandad as Paul came down with it too. 

She came back yesterday evening happy as ever to see us. 

Unfortunately it wasn't enough and this morning my little angel was snuggled up on the sofa with her cat, with red cheeks and a snotty nose, coughing and sobbing to herself. 

She looks so sad bless her. 

I hope she feels better soon, it's horrible to see her suffering. I want my happy little beans back, running around everywhere causing chaos. 

Oh how I missed the chaos this morning. 

Saturday Bloggy Take-Away - A blog hop

 

 It's Saturday again and that means take-away day !

Just like our favorite take-away meals I hope you can find some great blogs to take-away today.

So lets get the bloggy takeaway underway. I'm in no way making this a strict blog hop but some basic etiquette should be followed to make the hop sucessful for all participants.

Etiquette

1. Follow your two hosts. (1 and 2 in the list's)

2. Follow all six co-hosts (2 - 8 in the list's)

3. Add your main blog URL to link up not a specific post.

4. Visit some of the blog's you like the look of and follow, if you want leave a comment 

this is a great way to make bloggy friends.

5. Grab the button and display on your blog.

 

  <a border="0" href="http://chandodaddy.blogspot.co.uk" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1323.photobucket.com/albums/u599/adaddyblogger/Button_zpsded48cdd.jpg" /></a> 

This is our first week so we are keen to tempt you back. I will be selecting everybody who links up for the next four weeks in a row and selecting at random a winner. The prize I hear you shout, A $15 Starbucks gift-card Open to UK and US only

If you want to Co-Host email me - gibbo252@gmail.com

Ok, now get linking up from the comfort of your sofa just like a real take-away!

 

The Breakdown of a Name

Deciding on a name for your baby is a long process where you and your significant other can spend hours looking through baby name books until you find that one name that both of you can agree on.
It was a little different for us, see I already had a name for whether it was a boy or a girl and it all just depended on whether Paul would agree. Fortunately he did and once we found out we were expecting a girl she was always going to be our little Calleigh beans.

I liked the name Calleigh ever since watching CSI: Miami (yes, she is named after a TV character). I thought it was a beautiful name and knew from then that if I had a daughter that is what I was going to call her.

It does cause a bit of confusion for some people though. My Nanna still to this day can't grasp the name Calleigh and instead calls her either Kayleigh, Carly, Kelly or Kylie. A few friends have also adopted the name Kayleigh for her, along with doctors, nurses and some others.
There is also the fact that, like my dear sister who has the unique name Lana, we will find it extremely difficult to buy her those personalised key rings that give you a little history of your name.

So after some extensive Internet research (It's even hard to find it on the Internet) and using variations such as Callie and Cali I have found a brief history and meaning of her name.

Glitter Text Generator

Calleigh (or Callie)- Comes from the Greek word Cal meaning "most beautiful" 
Could also mean "from the forest" 
Cali is the nickname for the state of California

People with this name are excellent at analysing, understanding, and learning. They tend to be mystics, philosophers, scholars, and teachers. Because they live so much in the mind, they tend to be quiet and introspective, and are usually introverts. When presented with issues, they will see the larger picture. Their solitary thoughtfulness and analysis of people and world events may make them seem aloof, and sometimes even melancholy.

That is about all I could find out. But all you really need to know is that it's a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl.