Trendy Tuesday - Children's Fashion - is it worth it?

This might seem a strange subject choice for Trendy Tuesday, a linky which, after all, focusses on children's fashion.  However, I feel it's the perfect time to write about this.

Children's fashion - is it worth it?  What do I mean?  Well... from a personal point of view, I LOVE children's fashion.  My boys are a huge part of my life.  I love clothes and fashion and rightly or wrongly, the boys are an extension of me (at their young age at least!) and as a result, I love dressing them as much as I love dressing myself.  Probably even more so.

Does it matter what our children wear?  No.  Of course it doesn't.  As long as they are appropriately dressed  for the weather in clothing that is of good quality (i.e. not falling apart!) then it doesn't.  All they need is to be warm, dry and comfortable.  They aren't born with a need to be in the latest fashions.  So.  Why does children's fashion exist?  Well, for the parents of course!  It is us who buy their clothes, and to make more sales, brands have to appeal to us.  Hence the huge variety of choice.

Panda cap - H&M

Bright as Day top - Boys and Girls

Arrow leggings - Saltcity Emporium

Fashion isn't about necessity, it's an indulgence. It's about expression, personality... even showing off.  I enjoy dressing my boys.  I enjoy having lots of clothes to put them in so that they look different from day to day.  I find exciting outfits interesting to look at.  They inspire me, clothes allow me to express myself.  I like to think that by exposing my boys to colours and patterns that they will be happy to wear whatever they like and be happy to express who they are, not who they feel they should be.

Neck warmer - Polarn O Pyret

Fleece - H&M

Jeans - Asda

Wellies - Joules

There are other benefits to buying slightly 'higher end' children's clothing, such as the use of materials which are better for the environment and kinder to the skin.  There is also the argument that better quality clothing washes better and lasts longer allowing the clothes to be worn by siblings, cousins, friends etc.  In our case, I am saving the best items for my grandchildren once the boys have grown out of them!!  If I don't have grandchildren, well, I'll pass them on to someone else!

Romper - What Mother Made

I do buy cheaper items for my boys, I'll happily buy second or third hand, but I do love to have a lot of variety and it gives me endless pleasure dressing them in gorgeous clothes.

Bib - Funky Giraffe

Leggings - Saltcity Emporium

Moccasins - Mocons by Sock-ons

What are your thoughts on children's fashion?  Do you have a huge selection of clothing for your children?

If you have a children's fashion blog post, you can link it up below!  Share the love, comment here and visit others who join in!

Trendy Tuesday - stripes and unisex fashion

Stripes.  I love them.  They are classic, always in style, they look fantastic on pretty much everyone (as long as you wear the right type).  I love to wear them myself, hubby loves them too and we both love them on the boys!

Somehow, until recently, I'd never heard of the Little Bird range by Jools Oliver at Mothercare.  Once I discovered it though, I had to make a few purchases.  It seems Jools shares my love of stripes and retro style.

Another brand big on stripes are Polarn O Pyret.  Their classic range is all stripes and they also have range called the "circus collection" which features their classic stripe in some beautiful bold colours.  I purchased a pair of tights for Felix from them, and a top for him to grow into.

Green & yellow sleepsuit - Rainbow Kids

Bodywarmer & wellies - Little Bird by Jools at Mothercare

Stripy top & tights - Circus Range from Polarn O Pyret

I think what I love most about these ranges and about stripes in particular is how unisex they are.  Lots of items from PO.P and Little Bird could be worn by a girl or a boy so it makes them really easy to pass on to subsequent children.  Love it!

Are you a stripe lover?  Link up any of your children's fashion posts below and please tweet me your link and visit others who join in - don't forget to comment here and on the other posts you read!  Thank you :-)

Trendy Tuesday - The New Maxomora A/W collection from KyNa

I love Maxomorra and I love KyNa!  Jenny always stocks items I love, I've said it before, and I'll keep on saying it because it's true.  That lady has taste!!

As you will (probably) know, we were away at Centerparcs last week, but one evening, whilst chilling out, I checked in on Twitter (it's hard to stay away when you have a smart phone and free WiFi!) and I noticed Jenny tweeting the arrival of the A/W13 Maxomorra stock... owls and tree prints!! Some of my favourites.  She said that they'd be live on the KyNa site from 9pm, so I set an alarm (yes, on holiday!! - that's how sad I am!) and then allowed myself two new items for Felix.  Something to wear now and something to wear in a few months.

We arrived back from our holiday on Friday evening and my package from KyNa was waiting on the doormat.  Such a lovely welcome home!  Felix then spent the weekend rocking his owl vest.

Ethan also wore a bit of Maxomorra this weekend, his pink jeans.  I bought them from bebaboo.com a while ago.

Ethan wears:

Green jacket - H&M

Red jeans - H&M

Purple Cardigan - TK Maxx

Pink jeans - Maxomorra via bebaboo

Felix wears:

Knitted cardigan - Charity shop

Owl vest - Maxomorra via KyNa

I do love how unisex Maxomora items are.  Honestly, I like to dress my boys in an interesting and funky fashion, I don't like to stick with blue, green, red and tractor/car/boat prints.  Though ironically, blue & green are pretty much my favourite colours, at least for me!!

I also wanted to show off Ethan's warm fleecy jacket from H&M.  It's so furry, bright and cosy and he always gets comments when he wears it (at Centerparcs I heard "Doesn't that green look fantastic on that little boy!").  I want one of my own... it's like wearing a teddy bear!

Have you had some funky outfits on your children recently?  Link up below!  Don't forget to check out others who join in and comment here!  If you know any other bloggers who might like the linky, let them know!

Trendy Tuesday - Hot Picks!

I thought this week I'd share with you the clothes & shoes I would love to buy for my boys for this season.

Many of you already know about KyNa Boutique I'm sure, but if you haven't heard about KyNa before, you must check them out!

Jenny from KyNa has a very similar taste to me so I know she'll always have loads of stock I'll want.  Which is lovely and dangerous at the same time!!  She's recently stocked a new brand, Modeerska Huset, and I am in love!!  Another favourite is Indikidual & Maxomorra.  These brands are fantastic, so bright and fun & their clothes wash well, maintaining their bright colours.  These are my top picks (lustings) from KyNa this season:

Leggings by Modeerska Huset at KyNa

Fox print all in one by Maxomorra & Borris hat by Indikidual from KyNa

 In terms of shoes, Felix doesn't really need any yet, but if he did, I'd be buying him some from Livie & Luca.  Their shoes are so beautiful.  I've never owned a pair but always wanted some so I think I'll have to put some money aside to make an order.. A pair for Felix when he's a bit bigger and a pair for Ethan to wear at the weekends!!  These are my favourite:

Have you been lusting after anything in particular for your children?

Link up any children's fashion posts below!

Trendy Tuesday - Moomns, Monochrome & Tie Dye

Two of my favourite styles at the moment are monochrome and tie dye.  I love tie dye because it's so easy to do yourself - you can funk up a boring item of clothing and feel crafty whilst doing it.  It's so nice when someone compliments you on an item of clothing and you can say "Oh, I did that!" as well.

Ethan loves tie dye.  He only has a few tops.  Felix on the other hand has had loads.  When I was pregnant I died all the neutral and white baby clothes we owned in a variety of tie dye colours.  The looked so cool.  He's grown out of those now, but there is one t shirt I dyed, age 3-6 months which fits him now.  When I made him that one, I made Ethan one to wear as well - I'd happened to find a white Next t shirt in a charity shop for 50p so I thought it was ripe for the dying!!

The results were pretty good and Ethan loves having a top that is a little different to his brothers but similar as well.  They look cute together when they are both wearing them.

I've got to mention this cute long sleeved Moomin vest the lovely Anna from Funky Little People sent us when Felix was born.  I loved Moomin stories as a child and the clothing line is so cute.  Apeals to little ones and adults alike!

We've been enjoying lots of Autumn walks lately, picking blackberries as we go.  I've got to say that I think the tie dye tops look a bit like they've been dyed by blackberries!! Not the case though.. I used them to make a crumble!!

Monochrome I love love LOVE at the moment. On me, on the boys and on our accessories.  I've just had amazing winter accessories made for our Xplory in monochrome chevron and I think they look AMAZING.

What have your little fashionistas been strutting their stuff in this week?  Link up below, comment here and visit others who join in!! Let's try to grow this linky as well - do you know any other bloggers who you think would like this linky?  Let them know!

Trendy Tuesday - Staying bright when not at school!

We're now into week three of Ethan's school life and I think we're starting to get into the flow of things - kind of!  It's still a bit tricky as he's not doing a full day yet so there's lots of too-ing and fro-ing still but so far getting out for 8:30am has been OK.  It's always a rush but we make it and we've not been late yet.  Which I think is impressive seeing as we have a young baby and are up several times each night.

One of the things Ethan and I both miss with him being in school is the lack of opportunity for cool outfits!  Of course, I understand the need for uniform, and I do think uniform is a good thing.  Whilst it does make everyone seem a little less individual, it does remove some chances of bulling and most importantly, if they get mucky at school, it's the uniform that bares the brunt, not nice home clothes.  Ethan is one for getting messy, so that's definitely a good thing!

I'm quite looking forward to the first non uniform day and the first school disco though.  Ethan will get a chance to shine there, I'm sure he'll be one of the funkiest dressed children!  I love that he enjoys his clothes, enjoys picking them out and wearing fun bright colours and prints.

So, what have the boys been rocking when not restricted by uniform?  Well, here's our week in photos:

Felix wears:

Lief top - bought from the charity shop

Zezuzulla trousers - Funky Little People

Green knitted cardigan - charity shop

Striped trousers - Asda

Owl Vest - H&M

Ethan wears:

Orange top - GAP Kids

Brown trousers - Polarn O Pyret

Ampersand T Shirt - Boys & Girls

Jeans - Ej Sikke Lej from Bebaboo.com

Ethan wears:

Stripy jumper - H&M
Chevron leggings - Indikidual via KyNa Boutique
Panda hat - H&M

Felix wears:

Smafolk all in one - bought on ebay years ago
Legwarmers - Babylegs

Ethan wears:

Coat - Smafolk via bebaboo

Felix wears:

Green stripy bodysuit - Rainbow Kids from TKMaxx years ago
Bird print long sleeved vest - Polarn O Pyret
Stripy leggings - H&M
Spotty vest - H&M
Romper - Zara Kids
Little Lamb nappy

What have your children been strutting their stuff in this week?  Blog about it and link up below!  Please comment on my post and share the love, visit others who join in!!

"It's really hard to make a 4 year old look cool!"

We went out into Bristol on Sunday to see a few more Gromits before they were being removed.  We headed to the Broadmead/Cabot Circus area as we hadn't seen any of those and I also needed to pop into GAP to get some baby socks (they really do the best socks, don't they!?!).

Whilst out we received a lot of compliments on the boys' outfits and also our fantastic Cosatto stroller (more on that another day).  I do dress my boys quite differently to how other people dress their children.  I'm not afraid of colour, pattern or things that are a bit different! However, I've never received as many comments as we did on Sunday! My favourite comments came from the staff in the Bristol branch of Lush including:

"Wow, It's really hard to make a 4 year old look cool, but he really does!"

"He looks cooler than me!"

"He couldn't be more on trend - tie dye, jellies and socks.."

Girl one "That is the coolest buggy I've ever seen, where is it from?!" 
Girl two "Are you getting broody?  You're not even pregnant!!"
Girl one "No, but when I do have children, that's the buggy I want, I want to know where it's from!"

I know it's a silly thing, what my children are wearing isn't really that important, but then I do want to teach them that it's OK to be individual, to be yourself and one of the ways I've always expressed myself is through my clothing.  I've always dressed a bit differently, not been afraid to wear unusual items (I used to rock a red Lycra cat suit when I was 12 - bit difficult to go to the loo when wearing though!!).  I hope that by dressing them like this they learn to express themselves and not to be afraid to be who they are.  Of course, I'm not going to force them into certain clothes.  When they get to the stage that they want to choose their own I'll hand the reigns over to them.  Even now I ask Ethan to choose items he likes.

So.. what was the outfit Ethan was rocking that sparked so much attention?  Here we go!

Ethan wears:

Tie Dye top - handmade by a friend

Leggings - Salt City Emporium

Jelly Shoes - JuJu Jellies via Project Jelly

Felix wears:

Chevron print dribble bib - Funky Giraffe

Ship print babygrow - Ej Sikke Lej

Foxtrot stroller from Cosatto 

Do you use Instagram?  I LOVE Instagram, it's about my favourite thing online, it's one of the first things I check in the morning!  For a while now I've been following a lovely lady on there called Susan who'd I'd like to introduce to you because she has the most stylish family ever and the way she dresses her daughter Penny is nothing less than inspiring.  You need to follow @soobylynch NOW!!

Thank you to all of you who linked up last week.  I hope you got to your blog to comment.  I'm afraid my head is all over the place at the moment.  Of course Ethan started school last week, we've all had colds and the baby is teething.  Last night we barely slept and all of us have been awake since 5am so I'm only just managing to cobble this together! Have a good week everyone - now it's over to you! Link up your children's fashion posts below, don't forget to comment here and visit others who join in!

Trendy Tuesday - Salt City Emporium & Funky Giraffe

Where does the week go?  Every evening I think "I need to blog!" but I so rarely have the energy/time.  I am amazed at how other bloggers find the time.  I'm sure once Ethan starts school it'll be a bit easier to find the time.  At the moment my only chance is about 9pm, once the children are asleep and we've eaten.  It's hard to feel motivated!

Despite lacking in energy, I'm still loving dressing my boys.  Instagram is a constant source of inspiration for fashion, both for myself and the boys.  I love seeing what others are wearing and dressing their children in.  I follow loads of funky dressers and end up finding all these amazing companies who make really cutting edge clothing.  I recently discovered Salt City Emporium, an "Urban lifestyle brand for the modern family" founded by Jen and based in, yes, you guessed it, Salt Lake City, Utah.   I couldn't resist ordering a couple of items from them, despite having to get them shipped in from America.  It was totally worth it though.  I bought a pair of leggings for each of my boys.  I've got to be honest, it was hard to choose which designs to go for!  The leggings aren't cheap, especially when paying for international postage, but they are handmade items made from organic cotton, so you are getting something special.  I went for a mountain print for Felix and a chevron print for Ethan (I am so feeling chevron prints at the moment!).  You can follow Salt City Emporium on Instagram @saltcityemporium.

Another company I've ordered from recently is Funky Giraffe.  We're long standing fans of the dribble style bandanna bibs in our house.  I'd actually like to say I introduced them to all my friends.  I was certainly one of the first people to use them in our town when Ethan was a baby, all my friends asked about them and ended up buying loads and now almost all babies have them!! I've never bought any from Funky Giraffe before now though.  I'm impressed with theirs- the more you buy, the cheaper they are! Funky Giraffe also sell some clothing and little moccasin slippers which I really love.

So - that's our style for the week!  Over to you - have you discovered any new brands on Instagram?  Been inspired by something on Twitter?  What have your little ones been rocking?  Link up below!  Don't forget to comment here and visit the others who join in!

Trendy Tuesday - Jelly Shoe Love!

Did you have jelly shoes as a child? If, like me, you were a child of the 80s (and teen of the '90s! Let's not forget the high heeled Ju Ju Jellys from '95!!) then chances are, you did.

I loved my jelly shoes.  They were perfect for the summer, perfect for the beach, perfect for holidays.  As a child we holidayed in France most years.  We didn't always camp near a beach, sometimes we were nearer a river, and French rivers were lovely to swim in.  Jelly shoes were just right for that because it was safer to have shoes on when paddling and swimming somewhere like that, protecting your feet.  I have a soft spot for jelly shoes :)  When I spotted a pair on Instagram last week, I had to investigate.  I discovered a rather gorgeous pair being sold by Project Jelly.  Project Jelly is a fundraising project, raising money for Mencap, a fantastic learning disabilities charity, a collaboration with JuJu shoes.  25% of all profit from each shoe sold goes to Mencap and shoes retail at £17.95.  Ours arrived very quickly after ordering and came with a cute little bag which Ethan has taken to.

Ethan loves his shoes, he wants to wear them to bed.  I love them as well. They look adorable with socks but I know they are going to be really handy as well, after swimming lessons (we all know how hard it is to pull socks on damp feet, it'll be much easier to pop these on!) and when we visit the beach - easy to clean!

It's been a good week for clothes in our house.  I got a huge bundle of clothes for when Felix is older in the charity shop, some items were unworn with labels attached, Zara Baby, Minymo, Snuglo - some cool brands!!

We're still really loving the Indikidual leggings and Felix has been rocking his zebra print tights!

Got some children's style posts to flaunt? Link up below!  Share the love, comment here and visit others who join in and don't forget to tweet me your links so I can retweet them!

Trendy Tuesday

I'm writing this at 10:30pm on Tuesday.. I think I'll just get this posted in time!  It's hard to find time to blog when both children are with me 24/7.  I don't think it's fair to get my laptop out and blog when they are awake.  Ethan didn't go to sleep until after 9pm tonight, hence this post being so late!

One of the best things about the children being home for the holidays is being able to dress them in lots of nice fun outfits.  No uniform - yay!  Three weeks from now Ethan will be in uniform 5 days a week.  Of course, Felix is only 11 weeks old, it'll be a while before he's subjected to that.

It occurred to me recently that I'll have to stop buying so many clothes for Ethan.  I've always bought a few years ahead and stock piled clothes, but now he's a school boy, he really isn't going to need as many, so I'm going to have to curb my habit!  Booo..

I thought I'd share a few outfits from the last week:

Scarf - Lidl

Top - Katvig via bebaboo.com

Leggings - Hjorn Hoarth via Funky Little People

Hightops - H&M

Top  left: Romper by 4 Funky Flavours via Monkey & Bo

Top right: Leggings by Indikidual via KyNa Boutique, socks Ted Baker

Bottom left: Poncho by Boys & Girls, shorts by Katvig, Converse hightops with Shwings

Bottom right: Felix wears a Brights & Stripes babygrow.  Bib & nappy via ebay.  Ethan wears a Smafolk top (bebaboo.com), Polarn O Pyret leggings and Moccis.

Do you like our new pushchair?  We've been sent it to review by Cosatto and we are LOVING it so far.  A full review will follow in a few weeks of course.  We need ample time to test it out!

What have your little folk been wearing this week?  Link up below, comment here, visit others who join in - let's see what all the little fashionistas have been rocking!

Trendy Tuesday - Zezuzulla

I've written before about the online children's clothing shop, Funky Little People.  Anna, who runs it, is really lovely and has fantastic taste to boot!  If you haven't before, you should really check out her shop.  There's a link/advert on my blog at all times, but there will also be links throughout today's post!

Anna recently discovered a Polish children's clothing brand, Zezuzulla.  Now, whilst they are obviously not Scandinavian, they must surely be influenced by Scandi brands - just take a look at some of the items Anna stocks.  They definitely have a Scandi feel.  If you read my blog regularly you'll know how much I love Scandi clothing brands for my boys.  You may even know about our Polish connection (my husband's maternal grandfather was Polish - that's why Felix's middle name is Jakub).  So, this brand is perfect for us!

I have a couple of Zezuzlla items in Felix's wardrobe (I say wardrobe, it's actually a chest of draws).  Both have a bear print on them.  Yesterday, Felix was rocking these gorgeous trousers.  What do you think?  I really think their items are gorgeous.  Fantastic quality as well, and as the designs are screen printed on, they aren't mass produced items.

www.medicatedfollower.com - Zezuzulla via www.funkylittlepeople.co.uk

Black long sleeved vest - Molo

Trousers - Zezuzulla via funkylittlepeople

Crochet boots - handmade by Katerina's Crochet

What have your little ones been wearing this week?  Link up below!  Don't forget to comment here and visit some of the others joining in!

Trendy Tuesday - It's back!!

Whew, I've decided I have neglected my blog enough.  Although Felix still feeds twice a night (and that's not all that surprising, he's only 9 weeks old) I'm getting enough sleep now to allow me the odd late night here and there.. that means I can dedicate some time to my dear blog again. Hurray!!  I can't really blog in the day at the moment.  Felix's naps are still too unpredictable and Ethan is now at home 24/7 as it's the school holidays so there's no chance of any free time in the day.

I digress..  Let's get on with some fashion!

Have I been loving having a new person to dress?  Are you kidding?!  For me at least, dressing a small person has to be one of the perks of having children.  I adore clothes.  I adore fashion.  I love that they can't tell me what they will and won't wear yet (Ethan does choose a lot more of his clothes these days of course). There are just so many gorgeous clothes for baby's and young children.  Of course Felix is wearing a lot of Ethan's baby clothes though I have bought him the odd thing and we've been given some items as gifts as well so he has got some things that are new to him.

I'm going to write about a bit of a marmite subject today though (love hate that is).  Siblings in matching clothing.  Now, I'm not someone who dresses her children in matching outfits at all times.  Personally I think that would be far too much.. but I have to admit that the potential cuteness of matching kiddies hasn't totally gone over my head.  It's a bit of a novelty and it does look cute (OK, maybe a bit twee as well).  Ethan had a t shirt from Boys & Girls that I loved and without realising, I bought Felix a romper in the same print.  It was unintentional, but once I realised I'd done it, I couldn't help putting them both in their Boys & Girls clothes at the same time and snapping away with my camera.  They'll probably hate me for it in years to come (though actually I suspect there will be other things to hate me for instead, not in the least blogging about them!!) but I can't resist.  It is a bit cheesy, I know, and I'm never going to be someone who buys them matching outfits to wear every single day - that's just weird in my book!  They are individuals after all.  Now and then though?  Why not!!

www.medicatedfollower.com

What are your thoughts on the subject?  Do you ever dress your children in matching outfits?

Joining in with Trendy Tuesday is easy.  Write a blog post about your children and their style/what they've been wearing and link it up over here.  Spread the word!! Tell blogging friends about the linky, get them to join in too.  Don't forget to comment here, I love to read your comments, and please visit the other blogs that join in.

Trendy Tuesday - Shwings - wings for your shoes!

I'm still here... I'm still (just about) managing to do a Trendy Tuesday post.

I thought today I'd write about Shwings.  I can't remember when I first saw these.  I know it was online.  Perhaps on Instagram.  I thought they looked fantastic though and I knew Ethan would love a pair.  For ages I've had them on my eBay and Amazon wish lists.  I had a bit of spare money in my PayPal account last week so I thought, what the heck, I'll buy Ethan a pair.

They arrived last Wednesday when Ethan was at preschool, so I popped them on his pink Converse whilst he was out, excited to show him them later.  On Thursday he wore them out for the first time when he spent the day with my parents.  He was ecstatic when he saw them and, according to my Dad, spent the day "flying".  Bless him.

www.medicatedfollower.com - Shwings

I got a pair in a turquoise type shade.  I knew they'd contrast nicely with his pink Converse but also be the kind of colour that will work well on other shoes in the future.  After all, unlike his shoes, he won't "grow out" of these.  They are one size, for adults or children.  Hubby has mentioned he quite fancies a pair now, and when I get myself some Doc Martens, I think I'll want a pair to funk them up!  So, yes, we're all loving Shwings in this house!

www.medicatedfollower.com - Shwings

T Shirt - Smafolk via Bebaboo.com

Leggings - DUNNS via Bebaboo.com

Socks - Ted Baker @ Debenhams

Converse - second hand via eBay

Shwings - eBay

I bought ours on eBay but you can also get them on Amazon and probably loads of other places as well :)

If you'd like to link up for Trendy Tuesday, please do so below. Don't forget to comment on my blog post and visit the others who join in! Oh, and if you can, send me some labour vibes!!  Whatever they are.. but it's time for this baby to come out and star in his own TT post!!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.




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Trendy Tuesday - rocking out his own style

When it's a school day, clothes aren't so much fun.  They are more practical, more "I don't mind if this get's ruined".  I tend to dress Ethan in a school jumper/t shirt and cheap jeans/second hand tops.  I pick stuff up at the charity shop or he wears hand me downs from his cousin.  Wearing nice stuff to preschool just isn't really worth it.  As children go, Ethan isn't very messy, he doesn't really like to get his clothes too messy. Probably because he's spent his life hanging around with me and as a result he's learned to be neat and tidy.  Most of the time.  This probably explains the fact I've found him polishing the mirror in his bedroom lately.  Hmmmm...

Anyway.  What am I on about?  Well, as I was saying, school day clothes aren't as exciting or expressive or stylish as other days.  Often I choose outfits for other days of the week for Ethan, but I do like to offer him a few things to choose from.  Sometimes he chooses the whole outfit.

A few weeks ago I moved age 4 clothes into his wardrobe seeing as he's nearly 4 and has grown recently.  This has meant there are lots of new items for Ethan to wear.  Something he's been eager to wear is a funky purple top from H&M with one of their crazy prints on it.  I've been holding it back because it's age 4-6 and to be honest, too big for Ethan, but he kept getting it out of the wardrobe.  On Friday, I relented.  After all, he wants to wear it, what does it matter if it's a bit big?  He teamed it with a pair of Polarn O Pyret trousers (which despite being age 3 are still too big really!) and, best of all, his bow-tie   A bit of an unusual look but if Ethan was happy, that's all that mattered!  The bow-tie was made by my lovely friend and fellow blogger Lise.  You may know her, she writes over at How To Be A Domestic Disgrace.  You should check her blog out if you haven't before, she's most amusing!!

Top - H&M

Bow-Tie - Lise of How To Be A Domestic Disgrace via Belle & the Bean.

Trousers - Polarn O Pyret (similar)

What have your little ones been wearing this week?  Do you let them choose what they wear?

Link up using the Linky below and don't forget the simple rules:

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.




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Trendy Tuesday - some warmer weather!

Yay! The sunshine has finally found us! I'm not sure how long for, but at last, it's been time to break out the sunnies, hats and even... SHOCK HORROR!  Shorts.  Not for me you understand.  I'm still stuck wearing laddered and unsightly compression tights rendering anything other than maxi dresses and leggings worn over the horrible (but helpful) tights impossible.  No, for Ethan.

I thought I'd share a few of this outfits from the last seven days.

Top Left:

T shirt - Boys & Girls

Leggings - Polarn O Pyret (old)

Socks - Ted Baker

Top Right:

Sunglasses - H&M

Jacket - Hatley

Leggings - DUNNS via bebaboo.com

Bottom Left:

Hat - Asda

T Shirt - as before

Star print shorts - H&M

Socks - Next (old)

Bottom Right:

Hat - as before

Vest - Cath Kidston (last season)

Trendy Tuesday will probably go a bit quiet from here on in... well, for a few weeks at least.  I'm 38+2 weeks pregnant now, and whilst I know I could easily go on to 42 weeks before baby arrives, I want to make sure I'm not pressurising myself to be doing anything beyond keeping the house ticking over and relaxing as much as I can.  When I was pregnant with Ethan, I went on maternity leave quite early and I didn't blog.  I spent loads of time just relaxing and reading.  This time around, I've got Ethan to look after, make sure he gets to preschool, keep the house running (which always takes more effort when there's more than two of you!), keep food shopping, cooking etc.  You know the drill!!  Blogging is too easy to continue with in a way.  Unlike with maternity leave from work, you can always blog.. your phone is always there, your laptop near by.  I'm going to have to force myself to take a bit of a step back.  That doesn't mean nothing will be happening on the blog.  I have a couple of reviews that need to be written up and published and I hope to do a weekly pregnancy post, but other than that, I'm planning to take a break until the baby arrives and I feel up to blogging again.  I hope this won't put people off popping by and reading.  I will be back to normal one day, but for now, for me, I need to slow things down.

I'll hand over to you now - if you have any trendy children/fashion blog posts this week, please link them up using the linky below.  Don't forget the simple rules!!  Please PLEASE remember to comment here and link to my blog post/use my badge.  After all, it's only fair!  Thank you!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.




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Trendy Tuesday - Chambre Shirt

A quick Trendy Tuesday post today!

I've been after a chambre shirt for Ethan for ages now, and when I was in GAP recently, I spotted one in his size in the sale! Bargain!  For £3.99 we got a lovely quality shirt.  I do love the quality of the clothing at GAP and always take advantage of their sales!

Ethan wore his shirt for the first time this weekend when we went to Cardiff for my bra fitting at Bravissimo (you can read about that here!) and I thought he looked smart, but not over the top.  Which is just what you want from a chambre shirt I think!

Chambre shirt - GAP

Jeans - ASDA

High Tops - H&M

Sunglasses - Primark

Have you got any bargains for your little ones lately?  Been hankering after a trend but not been able to find it in there size?

Over to you lovelies now, link up your children's fashion blog posts below and don't forget the easy rules!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.

Trendy Tuesday - New clothes and moustaches

Hello Fashion Fans! Sorry.. that's very cheesy DJ isn't it! I'll start again...

Hello! It's Tuesday so it's time to share what Ethan has been wearing and what I've been doing for baby fashion wise.

Lately it's been all about new clothes in our household.  Not for me.  I'm still flogging my small selection of maternity wear to death (yawn) but Pete (hubby) has bought himself a load of new jeans and t shirts and as Ethan has grown lately and is getting closer to turning 4 I decided it was time to take the clothes he's grown out of (or will grow out of soon) out of his wardrobe and replace them with the age 4 clothes.

Ethan's always been a little bit diddy.  He's generally caught up with his peers and is about an average height for a 3 year old (he's 99cm) but he'll be 4 in July.  Perhaps he'll grow a few cms in that time.  He's grown about 2 cm in the last few months so he does seem to be shooting up a bit more quickly now and he's physique has changed, he's lost that chubby belly babies and toddlers have, his legs are looking lean.  There's not really any fat on him to be honest!  He's eating less and is more active.  All this seems to be pretty normal.  I've noticed his weight hasn't gone up in a long while though.  I don't normally weigh him - it's not healthy I don't think, but the other day he wanted to stand on the scales in his grandparents bathroom (he made me stand on afterwards which is something I didn't want being 36 weeks pregnant!!) and he was only 2 stone - he weighed more than that a while back!  Oh well, I'm sure it's all normal!

As usual I've gone off on a tangent.  Yes, Ethan's got a whole new wardrobe of clothes to enjoy - and of course I get to enjoy dressing him in them as well!  I love getting out his next set of clothes, items I've bought a year or two before.  It's fun because I can't always remember everything!

Bright colours and some sunshine!

T shirt - Boys & Girls

Stripy long sleeve - Katvig via bebaboo.com

Trousers - Molo via bebaboo.com (these have actually gone in the loft now - age 2!!)

Converse - eBay

We did a bit of dressing up this week.  Ethan has an extensive range of dressing up clothes but doesn't very often ask to use them.  He went for quite the eclectic look, borrowing one of my wedding hat/facinators!

Dressing up www.medicatedfollower.com

I've been doing a lot of nesting again this week.  I have the baby's bedroom finished now apart from some bunting I've ordered and a large letter F for the door.  I keep going in there and just standing in there like some mad person.  I love being in there though, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  

Clothing wise I've done a bit more tie-dying for the baby.  I really cannot stand cream and white clothing.  Apart from quite often being boring - at least on babies (in my opinion) - they are very impractical.  Bright yellow baby poo and white clothing?  Not a good combo!  I bought 3 snugglepods on eBay for the baby.  All were white so that had to be changed.  I threw a few other items in the machine with them, mostly they were other colours to start so I ended up with a real variety of tie-dyed items!

Tie-Dye baby items - medicatedfollower.com

Finally, I want to share with you Ethan's outfit from the weekend - one of the tshirts Pete bought recently has a moustache print on it.  We're all a bit partial to moustache prints in our house!  At the weekend, Pete and Ethan had a moustache theme going on!!

Moustache prints! www.medicatedfollower.com

Pete's moustache print t shirt - Primark

Ethan's t shirt - Primark

Stripy long sleeve - Polarn O.Pyret

Green jeans - H&M

Trainers - Debenhams

Moustache print cushion case - Primark

Funnily enough, all our moustache prints come from Primarni!

Just one more thing before I hand over to you - someone, or perhaps more than one someone was kind enough to nominate me for the BIB awards (Brit Mums Brilliance In Blogging) under the style section.  If it was you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I didn't mention the BIBs on my blog this year.  I've not really had the time to think much about awards and I'm really touched to have been nominated and make the shortlist.  You can find out all about it here.  Voting for the finals is now open.  It would mean SO MUCH to me if I were to make the finals.  I'm up against some other amazing bloggers, but I have to say it would be fantastic, as one of the smaller blogs on the list, to make it to the finals.  It would be nice to see a few different blogs reaching finals, that's for sure!  It's quite tough as a smaller blog even to get this far, so I am thankful, but I often feel like it's not going to go very far because I have very few readers and followers compared to some on the list.  If you plan on voting and you enjoy my style posts, particularly Trendy Tuesday, please do consider me for your vote - here's a kiss from me in advance! XXX

So - what have your little ones been rocking over the last week?  Have you had any sunshine yet and gone crazy - perhaps you've not needed to use a coat!! Shock horror!!

It's easy to join in, follow the rules below and use the linky!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.

Trendy Tuesday - Nesting for baby!

As I write this post, I'm sitting at home in my living room at the table.  The house is peaceful - well, I have the radio on in the background.  I have the back door open next to me, the sun is shining and whilst it's still not exactly warm, I can hear the birds and see blue sky.  It's relaxing and calm.  A few weeks from now, this calm may well be shattered!!

Yes, at 35+2 I am well and truly in nesting mode because the arrival of my second son is imminent.  At the very most it could be 7 weeks.  Hopefully it'll be less than that.  I reached 42 weeks pregnant with Ethan and whilst I'm expecting to go overdue again this time (it's what I know!) I'm hoping I won't go quite that far over.  If nothing else, I don't want to have to fight to have my home birth and I know that the more overdue I go, the more I'll have a fight on my hands.

I digress.  Over the weekend, hubby finally moved our spare sofa out of the baby's room and downstairs to the living room.  The living room isn't intended to be it's final resting place, we are hoping to put it in our summer house in the garden (I have a fantasy of feeding the baby in the shade in the summer house on a hot summer day whilst Ethan plays in the garden - watch this space!).  Now the sofa has gone from baby's room, I can work on arranging it into a bedroom.  My intention is that he'll sleep in his moses basket in our room for the first few weeks but I still want to have as much ready before he arrives.  I've been nesting like a woman posessed.  I barely slept last night because I couldn't switch my brain off.  All I can think about is getting the baby's room sorted out, getting everything I need for the home birth and packing a hospital bag "just in case". I'd love to be someone who lives in the moment, but I'm not like that anyway, let alone when coming towards the end of a pregnancy!  If I could make pack lunches now for Ethan to eat next year at school I would.  I'm just wired that way.  Even now, I should be grabbing a quick nap whilst Ethan is at preschool but instead I'm doing this.  There is ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE DONE!

Tuesday is about style and fashion though, so I thought I'd share a few photo's of the baby's room so far and some of the clothes I have for him.

Most of the clothing is Ethan's stuff and has just come from the loft but I have bought this one a few new items that are just for him.  I couldn't not really!

Tie-dye vests - plain vests I dyed myself

Knitted cardigan - from a small shop in Hawes, Yorkshire

Little Brother top - Asda

Star romper & retro print romper - Boys & Girls

Stripe shorts - Polarn O Pyret via eBay

Stella McCartney cloud print top - TKMaxx

Leg warmers - eBay

What do you think of baby's room so far?  I have a few more things that need to be added.  For one thing, I need to put up a couple of shelves for books and some toys to go on - I'm thinking floating shelves would look good.  I've also got some more bits and bobs to decorate the room with - I ordered a load of stuff from The Pippa & Ike Show last night (you should check out their site, it's wonderful!) and also a couple of bits from Lapin & Me.

Well, I'm going to hand over to those who want to join in now and show off their trendy tots, toddlers and older children.  It's easy to join in, just follow the rules below and use the linky form!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.