A pink coat and a yearly tradition

For the past five years now we've visited this beach with Tom's mum during the summer. I always grew up not visiting the same place twice as my parents never saw the point of repeating trips but I'm starting to see the benefit of doing so with places like this. There's a definite nostalgia about comparing pictures year on year. Tom's mum even had some video footage of Tom there as a child the same age as Wilf is now!

We spent the weekend with 'granny' which was so lovely for the kids who totally adore her. Mabli was especially taken with her having not spend a huge amount of time together yet as a toddler. She was passed down some of her aunties clothes from the seventies which I'm thrilled about. One of them being this amazing coat, it suits her so much and she LOVES it. I even had a battle trying to convince her to not wear it today when it was boiling outside and we were all in T Shirts.

I mean come on, how cute?!

I've been trying to get into video more (I'm actually vlogging every single day this month) so I made a little video of our time on the beach. Funny enough I actually did one last year too so it was nice to watch back and include the footage in this one. I think I'll try and do one every year!

Incase you're wondering my trousers are from here (and are made from organic cotton, you can get 15% off with TLQ15 if you fancy it)
Top and sunnies are from here

This boy of mine, so effortlessly cool!

If you want to watch the video of this day I'll just pop it below!

Life Lately - When you're not always the mum you want to be

I saw an illustration shared on FB the other day that said 'you're making it hard for me to be the parent I want to be' which both my made me laugh and cry. The first week of the holidays were HARD. I think I'd built up this time in my head so much as being the answer, the answer to the juggle of the school run, toddler activities, Wilf being exhausted by four O Clock us never seeming to have quality time together.

So on day one when both my children had already cried by 8am and it felt like lunch time I wondered what on earth I was thinking. We needed to slip into new routines, the kids have never spent a huge amount of time together at ages when Mabli wasn't an immobile baby and I think we all needed to work out our new dynamics.

I can honestly count on one hand the amount of times I've lost my temper before I had two kids. It helped that I can also count on one hand the times Wilf ever lost his temper too. We were both just quite chilled and despite there being hard days for other reasons I always felt like I was kind of being the mum I wanted to be. Lately that has definitely not been the case and I've found myself turning into a total monster, yelling and saying things I don't mean, throwing around empty threats to try and cling onto some control. Not enjoying being a mum and not being the mum I want to be.

I always think that when I yell it means I've lost control, I know it and my kids know it and really it doesn't help anything. It's so hard sometimes though, especially when you've asked your five year old to put his shoes on twenty times just as nicely as can be and the only way he responds is to you yelling that if he doesn't do it in three seconds we're not leaving the house all day (again total empty threat!).

This post doesn't have much of a moral, there's been no magic solution I've come across but we've settled into our new routines much better by week two (now three as I write this). I think Wilf has been feeling jealous of his sister which is of course totally normal. I want to make an effort to do some 'me and him' activities which will be easier now Tom is off and so important I think. Likewise I think it would be great for Tom to get to do that wth Mabli now she is old enough to not need to breastfeed all the time.

I'd love to know if there has been anything that has worked for you in terms of calming siblings squabbles or not resorting to shouting when your kids have selective hearing!

I'm also daily vlogging over on my YouTube channel if you fancy a watch there xx 

For the Love of Jumpsuits

Sneakily little side eye, not sure who or what I was looking at here!

You may need to get used to looking at these colours, because the amazing background on Portishead Lido might be cropping a few times over the next few weeks. You can see my first outfit post at the beautiful pool here.

I did a little video with M&S over on my YouTube channel so I thought it might be fun to show you guys over here too. I've got to be honest I'm a little nervous about the fact that I'm in a swimsuit (twice) on the internet but I'm trying to embrace whatever hang ups I have about my body (which also happens to be the theme of the video ;))

Jumpsuit here

Do join in with the comp if you fancy it too!
Photography Lauren Jayne Hall 

You can be in with a chance of winning a box of holiday items of your own. All you need to do is share on social media when you felt most confident with the hashtag #noholidayhangups and tag me in your tweet or IG!

You can see the M&S range here - http://www.marksandspencer.com/c/wome... 

T&C’s please see below:
Runs for seven days from 2nd of August (9th August 2017) 
Entrants 18 and over
UK entries only
Entrants must use #NoHolidayHangUps and tag me in your entry @tigerlillyquinn 

A year of school

As summer is fully upon us I'm so please we have broken up for summer holidays and I full six weeks with this beautiful boy. I can't believe that we are at the end of his first year at school!

I remember this time last year, feeling like the clock was ticking down to our last days together, the end of an era. I couldn't have predicted how much he would love his days at school, how much he would learn and how I didn't need to worry at all. That he has discovered things like the joy of reading! Magic! That for a few hours each day he has a life apart from me, and although I often miss him and those simpler days I'm happy for him and the person he is growing into.

We're working with Deichmann in this post and their 'back to school' range. Thinking about next years school uniform makes me feel nostalgic for the first uniform we bought. Making sure we had polo shirts for each day of the week, his book bag, school jumper and of course first school shoes.

I feel like shoes are symbolic for so many milestone moments. I remember like it was yesterday Wilf's first steps and first ever shoes and somehow in a blink we were buying him school shoes!

The ones we picked out for this post were the Bobbi Shoes for £19.99. I'd definitely recommend getting shoes with velcro straps like this for little ones as I think for Wilf he's a while off learning laces.

One of the things I loved when Wilf started reception was that 50% off all their learning was done outdoors. I love that when I pick him up he's usually filthy and covered in a mixture of paint, sand, dirt and probably soggy sleeves from some kind of messy play.

As such his shoes need to be robust and comfortable as well as looking smart which I think these do perfectly. The fact they are made of real leather and the quality stitching makes the price point even better value in my opinion. You can also buy one and get one half price at the moment which is brilliant as it means you can pick up daps for P.E too!

We took this pictures in the last few days of school and it reminded us how nice it is to do simple things like this together. Of course it helps when the weather is this good! I know that Mabli misses her big brother so much when he is at school, its so nice to see them play together when they are reunited.

Do you have little ones starting school in September? How do you feel about it? It's such a big occasion isn't it but if anything I think I would love to tell myself this time last year that it will all be OK! 

In association with Deichman
SaveSave