Capturing Matilda

I spend a lot of my time recording little videos of Matilda as well as taking a ridiculous amounts of photos. Armed with a good camera, I am learning the techniques to get Tilly to smile (although it doesn't take much) and how to use the best lighting for photos and what to use as backdrops etc. It's turned into a little bit of a hobby to do photo-shoots with her for each month of her life and during special occasions like Christmas. 

1 month old

I also captured her first ever smile during these photos. Something I will always treasure.

2 months old

My photography skills had improved a little by this stage and I managed to capture some beautiful photos of Tilly, all in the comfort of her own moses basket! At this stage it was difficult to get her to sit up and stay still, although strangely she managed it at 1 month!

3 months old

These are my absolute favourite photos of Tilly so far, this one I have blown up and framed in our living room. I used her little letter names for a bit of a prop-the lighting was also fantastic that day so they barely needed editing!

4 months old

Whilst she wasn't actually 4 months for these photos (she was 16 weeks) I took them a little early because that day she just looked extra beautiful in her pretty smock dress and I grabbed the camera and started shooting! This is my favourite, her face is like a little dolly and she looks so cute! I will be doing her proper '4 month' pictures this week, I am excited! But choosing what she will wear may take a while!

When you have a baby, I think it's so important to capture as many memories as possible but also to enjoy those moments. It's hard sometimes when you think, "wow that would make a great picture!" and it just takes away from the moment. So I try and put my camera away sometimes because not ever moment HAS to be captured on film, it's there in your head and heart. I will say though I am so so happy I have these photos, videos, my blog, my baby book, memory box...all these things I am "logging" because I know they will be wonderful to look back on in the future.

Here is one of my favourite Tilly videos this week, I don't tend to upload many on Facebook because otherwise I would be spamming people ridiculously on a daily basis. However, I just love this one xxx

A wedding for under 1k...part one!

So we're getting married in May. Funnily enough this is also the month my maternity pay stops completely, great timing huh? The main reason we chose the date was because Michael has a week off work, the weather is normally lovely and not too hot and it means we can combine it with a nice honeymoon/first family holiday. Me and Michael don't earn a lot and have even less spare cash now we have a little Tilly to provide for so needless to say, my aim in organising this wedding has been to spend AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE! My goal is to get the whole sherbang for under £1,000 and it seems so far we're doing pretty well. Don't get me wrong, if I had the money I would love a lavish wedding (as you may know from previous posts, we originally planned to wed in Arundel near the castle) but when you break it down, the most important thing is that you are there with your loved ones and they get to share a very special day with you. To us, it's just a piece of paper...it doesn't prove we are any more in love, it's practicalities and of course, it will be lovely to be a wife and a husband. I am also excited to become a Dommett. It's all happening, eeeek! So how have I done it on such a little budget? Here's how so far....

Keeping the numbers small

We are getting married in a registry office and only inviting around 18-20 people, just family and a few close friends. I wish I could invite more people but this is where there has to be super money saving. The registry office is beautiful though and close by in one of our favourite towns. It has pretty gardens and we get to have our own music and vows, all for the sum of £160! Getting married on a weekday has saved some serious wonga.

Using Ebay and the 'high street' for my outfit

I've always wanted a gorgeous long glamorous wedding gown but as money doesn't allow I am sticking to a gorgeous dress from the high street (BHS) for £100, it has everything I want (lace and vintage style) and is simple enough so that I can accessorise with a hairpiece and jewellery. 

My veil was the bargain price of £7 from Amazon, my shoes are £12 from the Debenhams sale .All my jewellery I have bought on ebay! My flowers are artifical and also from Ebay for £15 (see below) so the cost of the total outfit is in the region of £150!

Calling on friends

My friends have been amazingly generous with my wedding planning and I've had so many generous offers of dresses, shoes, jewellery...it's been such a help when we are on such a budget. We have our wedding photography sorted for a fantastic deal thanks to my university friend Jennifer at http://jlrphotography.co.uk/

An old school friend is also helping with the cake,without the help of all these people, we'd be lost! 

Barter with people to get good costs

After lots of discussion with our reception venue, they agreed that they wouldn't charge us a hire fee because we're hiring mid week when they are very quiet (pub function room) and we will be ordering lots of food and drink. Also rather than a set menu they have allowed us to set our own budget per guest so that they can pick what they want from their menu. That way there is a big variety of choice for everyone and we can set what we can afford. The room we are hiring is lovely and we are able to cut costs by not having a dj and just using their ipod speaker system for our own music. Here is the room we are hiring, we get to use their garden too which will be lovely:

We will get all the chairs and tables re-organised so that we have a little space in the middle for anyone who wants a dance hehe! For the music, Michael and I are pulling together all our classic 80's and 90's CDs and will then transfer them to my Ipod.

Being creative

I plan on making my own favours to save money and there are so many gorgeous ideas on websites like Pinterest. Favours can be anything from some yummy chocolates to pretty candles! I haven't decided what I want to do yet but here are some gorgeous ideas:

Little plants

Retro sweet table

Homemade jams

I am very excited to get started and I'm really enjoying all this wedding planning business, even on a small budget! Will be back with part 2 soon.
xoxo

Matilda at 4 months!

I wish I could have kept up with my other blog about Matilda and recorded all her weekly achievements. At this age babies just grow and develop so quickly, one minute they are a newborn and the next they are rolling, sitting up, trying to crawl...these moments are just going too fast for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I love the newborn days but now Matilda is almost 4 months and able to interact with me more, it makes our relationship so much stronger. It's no longer just a cycle of nappy changes and feeds, it's pure and utter love between us and a bond that is growing day by day. The love I feel for her is just something beyond words, she makes me feel like I can do anything. She grabs my hand because she wants to. She smiles and laughs at me because she finds ME funny. I am her world and she is mine. It's touching. She has started to babble and coo and me and Michael love being able to pick out little "words" she says (don't worry I'm not claiming by daughter can talk at 4 months but it always sounds like she says 'mama'...so sweet!). She has now completely outgrown colic (which was awful from weeks 2-10) and her reflux is under control for now. Unfortunately she has bad eczema at the moment and she likes to scratch at any given opportunity!

One of my new year's resolutions was to take Tilly out more to baby groups, not just for her benefit but for me also. I am starting a new support group for mummies on the 13th Jan which is I am really looking forward to. I'd love to make some mummy friends and now she is at the stage where she can play with some toys and get some enjoyment out of it. This month I am going to continue to take her swimming (Michael and I recently took her and she loved it), playgroups and to the library for rhyme time. I think it's something we will both love. We recently bought her a jumperoo (yet to come out of the box!) and a bumbo type seat for Christmas. These are quite grown up toys for such a little bear but she has started to enjoy sitting her in seat for short periods. She can now roll about everywhere, from back to front and visa versa. She has developed her own cute little sense of style with pretty dresses with bows...all in pink of course.

It's been a rocky road for my depression recently but with the support of my family, friends and my health visitor I am feeling stronger and truly enjoying the bond I have with Matilda. I'm lucky I still have 9 months off with her to get even closer to her, this year is a big year for Mummy and Daddy as we get married and hopefully move into our own place at the end of the year. 2014 is going to be the best and I get to share it with the two loves of my life, how lucky I am.

xoxo

I'm bacccccccccccccckkk!

Well, hello everyone! I'm back! After nearly a whole year of not blogging (well, that's not strictly true) I've decided to bring back my favourite 'Cheryl Wants Cake' blog so I can share my tales of motherhood, wedding planning and just general fun cake stuff. In the 10 months since I posted on here, I've become a mummy to my beautiful daughter Matilda! Whilst I knew I was pregnant when I last posted, I couldn't share it with the blogging world because it was still very early days for us and we wanted to keep it a secret until our 12 week scan. Well, now here we are with a little cheeky 3 month old Tilly! I kept a pregnancy blog and also started a blog about Tilly which I found difficult to keep up in the early days because...well, newborns are exhausting! Now Tilly has a regular bedtime and nap times, I have my evenings free to blog (as well as a million other things!) and do lots of wedding planning which I know you all enjoy reading about.

As some of you may well know (it's not like I ever talk about it right?!) Michael and I have set the date for May 27th 2014 so with only 5 months to go until we get married, I am panicking slightly! I still don't have a dress, the reception is almost finalised but there is still so much to do! So I'm going to enjoy doing some more research in the coming months and sharing it with you all. Life has been amazing in 2013, I have learnt many lessons about myself and what I can achieve, I've grown up and become a mother which is the best job in the world. I've lost family and friends along the way this year but I've also gained a whole new group of friends who have been my rock in the past few months. I'm not ashamed to admit that my emotions have suffered in recent time BUT the only way is up. We have a beautiful little girl and soon I get to marry the man who I consider my soul-mate, after many many years together.

So I'm officially BACK in the blogging world, hopefully posting twice a week. To finish this post here are some cute Tilly pictures because let's be honest, you never see enough of her do you....xxx

Berlin!

So Michael and I came back yesterday from a wonderful 4 day trip to Berlin! I am truely exhausted now, we did a lot of sightseeing and walking but unfortunately because of travelling etc, we only really had 2 full days there so we didn't get a chance to see everything and there was sooo much to see!

We stayed in a lovely apartment close to central Berlin which had a little kitchen so I was lucky enough to have Michael cook us some lovely German food every night and it was nice to stay somewhere homely. It also had a computer and little desk too as well as a huge TV (although German 'Who wants to be a millionaire' is hard to follow if you don't know the language!)

 

In terms of sights, we made sure we saw the Berlin wall memorial, which was very moving and we took time to read the memorials and plaques there and take it all in. We visited the famous Reichstag building which pretty much had no tourists whatsoever, we were very lucky! We spent an afternoon in Berlin zoo and aquarium also, which apart from Michael hurting his head, was lots of fun! We also visited the German technic museum whilst we were there as well as famous landmarks such as the Brandenburg Tor-very grand!

Berlin itself is a great city, VERY easy to get around with their travel system, it was very romantic with lots of snow so LOTS of snuggling up occured (which I am not complaining about) and whilst it was cold, it was a manageable temperature and we sampled some German food-Michael in particular was very impressed with currywurst! We will definitely go back one day for a few more days because there is so much to be seen. I have a few more days off before I go back to work so intend on doing some serious relaxing :)

Outside our apartment was also my favourite 'Photoautomat' machines which you only get in certain cities in Europe, we had lots of fun posing for this vintage photobooth style strip, which is up on our wall already!!

xoxo

Hello February!

Blogging for me has gone on the back burner at the moment and for that, I'm sorry! I feel like I am neglecting my poor little Cheryl Wants Cake world. I have been feeling really under the weather the past few weeks, a mixture of 2 colds (in the space of a week), my trapped nerve and feeling sick. It's all been rather poo but I am starting to feel a bit human now! 

February so far has been good, I only have one more week at work and then it's off to Berlin for 4 days whooo! I can't believe it has come around so quickly and it will all be over soon and back to reality! I haven't done much researching this time on what we can do whilst we're out there because I think it will be nice just to explore but a visit to the zoo is top of our list! We go from 17th-20th Feb!

I have been trying to make some positive changes in my life in 2013 and I have been getting a hold of my anxiety pretty well. Don't get me wrong, it's still there but life is so busy and I am occupied enough that I have been feeling pretty good. I am now on the waiting list for some counselling, after loads of phonecalls and a phone interview, finally it is all in progress! I am getting a short course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which I actually had about 4 years ago. It is pretty useful for handling anxiety although I don't know whether it will help long term, I will have to wait and see!

I have also started physiotherapy which is great as I have been plagued by this trapped nerve for a few months now. Due to all these various complaints and my tired level plummeting, I am still keeping part time hours at work for now although I will need to make a decision soon as to whether I want to carry this on.

Michael and I have been doing some SERIOUS sorting/ebaying/throwing away of stuff in our room the past few weeks and it has been lovely to do some de-cluttering. We are moving loads of stuff around and also re-decorating our bedroom. Currently it is an unslightly barbie pink from when I painted it at 17 but we really want a change and a slightly maturer and dare I say less girlie (although there will still be a lot of pink!) colour scheme. We are steering towards bluey purple colours at the moment and looked at a few samples-we just can't decide! I am leaving the whole job to Michael though-DIY is a man's job ;)

I shall leave with this lovely quote picture I found online! Have a great weekend everyone.

xoxo

25 facts about me

It's been a super long time since I have posted on my blog, massive apoligies! I have been busy, ill, tired, occupied...but hopefully I am back now!  I have seen the "25 facts" post on many blogs recently and thought I would do it myself! So here goes....

1.  I am a really fussy eater. I love beans but I can't eat Heinz. I can only eat tomatoes if they're hard, I hate soft ones. I hate softly cooked pasta-strange I know!

2. I don't really drink alcohol at all. I don't need it to have a good time plus I'm a horribly emotional drunk so it's best to leave it alone haha.

3. I am obsessed with the Back to the Future movies. I have the Blu Ray boxset which I watch a few times a year. I almost always watch it when they're on television too.  I pretty much know every line.

4. I met my wonderful Michael on a dating website. When he messaged me, I was just about to delete my account but decided to read it. 6 1/2 years later, here we are, very much in love!

5. I can only fall asleep lying on my stomach-I can only sleep on my back if it's light outside.

6. I have an extreme sweet tooth and pretty much eat cake every day. My stomach is paying for it haha!

7. I'm extrememly close to my Mum-we still go out, go on holiday together and do things together all the time, she is my best friend.

8. Michael cooks for us pretty much every night without fail-in 6 years I have cooked for him about 4 times.

9. I used to want to be a west end musical star. I travelled 2 hours to go to Sylvia Young Theatre School in North London every weekend when I was about 12/13. Thankfully that phase is over now.

10. I then decided I wanted to be a journalist-I graduated from Roehampton University in 2010 with a 2:1 in Journalism and News Media. Half way through I decided I hate journalism.

11. I have extrememly varied music tastes-I love 80's rock, 90's pop and at the moment I love One Direction, so much so I am seeing them live in April this year!

12. I loose everything and anything. So never trust me with anything precious of yours.

13. I always wanted to get married to my Prince Charming when I was younger but never thought I would meet anybody. I got engaged on 1st September 2012.

14. I don't really like being alone because I tend to reflect on life a lot more.

15. I have lived on a council estate all my life and hate when people play the sympathy card about having such a tough time-it really isn't that bad.

16. I went to an all girls private school from 11-16 and absolutely hated it. The day I finished in 2003 and walked out the door was one of the best days of my life.

17. I love studying and I used to like exams too. I actually enjoyed taking my GCSE's.

18. I am more in control of my anxiety and depression now than I ever have been in my life.

19. I love Hello Kitty, even at age 26. I even used to have a HK phone and was very sad when it broke!

20. My secret fantasy is winning X Factor and being a worldwide superstar haha.

21. I love planning trips and I always have to have something in my diary planned for a future date. I love researching new places to go.

22. I wish I was Zooey Deschanel. Her fashion sense, her hair...she is perfect.

23. I read quote websites pretty much every day because they lift me out of sad moods.

24.  I was born on the 25th September 1986, weighing 6lbs 13 onces and with no hair haha!

25. Many of my closest friends I have met through the internet and a mutal love of various celebrities.

xoxo