PRETTY YOUNG THING

Today i'm talking about body confidence, well really my lack of body confidence. Since having Amelia my body has changed alot and honestly I don't feel very confident in myself anymore. I have never really been happy with my body, like everyone I have those bits that i'm not happy with. I lost a lot of weight a couple of years ago! I did Slimming World and lost about 2 stone! I was the happiest i've ever been with my body. I felt slim and toned and felt proud of myself. I found out I was pregnant this time last year and during my pregnancy I did put on a lot of weight. I had a lot of morning sickness and a lot of food aversions. I just felt like I was going to get big anyway so I stopped doing Slimming World and just ate what I wanted too.

After I had Amelia I felt like the weight would just drop off me and I'd start going back down to my pre-pregnancy weight but that hasn't happened. I want to start eating well again and doing some exercise but I need to ease myself in as I haven't done much for about a year. I am very active, I walk a lot as I don't drive so I walk into town. We go to Gymboree on a Monday and we get a lift with my friend but we can't fit my pram in her car so I carry Amelia in her car seat from the car to Gymboree and back to the car which is a good walk, my arms are always killing. We also live on the fourth floor with no lift so i'm always carrying the pram, car seat, Amelia, changing bag, shopping etc up all of those stairs. I would consider myself quiet active but I just eat too much chocolate and cake.

It's not just my weight that is now an issue. There's a couple of other things that have affected my confidence. My periods have been very sporadic since having Amelia so I always feel on edge and unprepared in case I come on. This underwear from Knixteen has a built in pantyliner, so I wouldn't have to worry about leaking. It also has odour-crushing technology, it's designed to soak up moisture and dry fast and is seamless so no VPL. I really think something like this would stop me from stressing out. 

I also have really bad stretchmarks! I used so much moisturer and oils to prevent stretchmarks. I didn't have any at all for most of my pregnancy and then in the last month or so they just came out of nowhere. I'm going on a spa day this week and I will be wearing a costume, I have always wore bikini's and even when I was bigger, before I lost weight I would still happily wear a bikini but now I'm not sure if i'll ever be able to wear a bikini as I feel like everyone will be looking at my stretchmarks. I know most women have them from childbirth and even some women have scars from c-sections and I should be proud that I carried Amelia but it's hard. I was fairly confident before but now i'm really struggling to be proud of my body.

Have any of you struggled with body confidence, do you still struggle or did you find coping mechanisms? Is there any way that I can over come this issue with the way I look? I know I can diet and loose weight but can I be happy with the way I look without always being on a diet? My weight and my appearance really stresses me out and upsets me and I feel good talking about it. I know i'm not alone and that I'm not the only woman who's lost weight and had a baby.















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Spring is on its way, well, according to the calendar anyway, the weather seems to have other ideas. But whilst we wait for it to show its face in terms of sun and warmth, there are some small additions and chances you can make to your home to ensure it’s ready for spring.

These are the simple ways to update your home for spring this year.

Change your cushion covers and throws
Cushions and throws are easy ways to add some colours into your rooms, and whilst heavy jacquard and velvet fabrics work well through autumn/winter, changing them for linen materials and printed cottons makes them ideal for spring/summer.

Switch from deep and dark colours through winter to lighter and brighter shades in the summer months.

New bedding
Give your bedroom a new look with some printed bedding or a clean and crisp new set. Again choose something bright and light that will give the room a clean feeling that we associate with the brighter days of spring.

Flowers
Floras for spring might not seem revolutionary, but it works. As much as we love the idea of plants throughout the house, make your home spring-ready with the addition of flowers. Whilst it might not be cost effective to have fresh flowers in every room, add in some fake ones to the spaces that you don’t sit for hours.
Keep fresh flowers in your living room or kitchen, and then add in some fake ones to your bedroom, bathroom or dining room. This way you’ll add some instant colour to the space and won’t have to worry about replacing them regularly.

Colour
Add bright colours or pastels to your rooms in the forms of vases or other trinkets, perfect if your rooms are mainly neutral shades as this will definitely make them more spring ready.

Rearrange furniture
Give a room a new look by simply moving around the furniture if you can. It’ll take a little heavy lifting and effort, but it won’t cost you a thing and you’ll give the space a whole new look.

Solar garden lights
With the days getting longer, and hopefully the sun making a more regular appearance adding in some First Lighting solar garden lights will make your garden instantly more appealable. If you have some lights outside you’re more likely to utilise the space once the sun has gone down, and solar garden lights are easy to install and incredibly cost effective too.

New scents
Change the scent of your rooms and home by adding in some new room diffusers and candles. Keep things light and fresh which are perfect for spring and summer.

Remove clutter
If you’d prefer your home to be bright and clean for spring, you might prefer to pack things away like cushions, throws, vases etc. Remove bits of clutter from the rooms and keep things tidy this season.

Replace curtains
Change the curtains in your home from heavy fabrics, to lighter and thinner design which are great to let even more light into the rooms. Perfect for when the sun is shining the whole day.

Bring more light to your hallway
The hallway is the first place that guests will see, and if your hallway doesn’t get a lot of natural sunlight, it might be best to add some lights to the space so that it’s bright and light throughout summer. Interesting and fun table lamps will add novelty, or keep things fuss-free with wall lights.

Buy a new rug! You wouldn't believe how much difference a rug makes to a room. I'm actually on the lookout for a new rug for our living room as ours is just getting old and tired. I'm after something light and neutral so if I change the colours of the room that it will still fit in. By going for a nice light colour i'm hoping that the room will look fresher and bigger. We have carpet in our living room so i've used the infographic below to help pick out the perfect rug. We have quite thin carpets so I think a nice thick rug will add some texture to the room.







* Sponsored Post

Freddie's Flowers is an flower subscription service. It's £22 per box and you can sign up for weekly deliveries. No delivery charges and they take payment on the day of delivery so your not tied into a set number of deliveries. Use the flower calender to organise your deliveries

Freddie's Flowers deliver all over mainland UK and their vans choose routes to keep emissions down, they also make some deliveries by bike.

Why not treat your mom to a flower delivery this Mothers Day, you could pay for a few weeks and she would get a fresh delivery week after week.

The flowers come packed into a box which can be left so you don't have to stay in waiting for your delivery. Mine had actually been left in the side passage all day as I had them delivered to my mum's house and they still looked really good when I got them out of the box.

They arrived in a long cardboard box and the flowers were wrapped in brown paper and tied using string. The flowers were placed really well and there was brown paper at either end to reduce the risk of the flowers getting damaged.

Inside the box was a little booklet that told you some information about the brand and a little information about how to arrange flowers and what to do with your flowers.

I used this information to arrange the flowers and i'm super happy with how they have turned out. They look really unique and unusual, it's not just a bunch of Roses or Lillies. There are some gorgeous Pink and Purple Tulips, purple Iris, Crinkly leaf pittosporum and Birch twigs. This creates a beautiful arrangement of flowers. 

I love how bright the flowers are and they look amazing in my bright blue vase. I'm tempted to cut a few of the Tulips down and pop them in a smaller vase. There's loads of flowers, my vase is bursting with flowers!


I'm really impressed with the flowers, you get loads of flowers for £22! It's such a gorgeous bunch of flowers and honestly i've paid more for alot less flowers and flowers that were boring and bland from a much bigger brand but Freddie's Flowers are so different and such a lovely smaller brand who deserve your custom. It's a great price and I was really happy with how the flowers were packaged. It's a lovely brand and such a great idea. I'd love to recieve some gorgeous fresh flowers every week!