The Mama Diaries

Well hello there!

I actually can't believe I'm saying this.... (excited scream)

I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!!!!

I have wanted to start a channel on YouTube since I was a teenager.

Now I'm a mother, I have been obsessed with watching peoples daily vlogs/family blogs/day in the life vlogs, you name it!

Originally I wanted to start a beauty channel, however, I have gained multiple interests since being a teen, which means my YouTube channel will consist of a bit of everything! My main topic is parenting, however now I have my DREAM CAMERA, I can do my makeup videos I've been dying to do for years!

So why now?

For Valentine's Day, my partner, bought me the camera of my dreams!

I've been using the same Nikon camera for years and the quality just isn't up to my standards, but of course, when you can't afford the best equipment, you work with what you have; and that's exactly what I did.

So the camera I got was the CANON G7X MARK II..

I still can't believe I'm the proud owner of this camera, I'd of never been able to afford something this luxurious for a loooong time, meaning my YouTube dreams would be put on hold for even longer!

I cannot thank Dan enough for doing this for me, he knows how badly I've wanted to get going with this dream of mine, and its finally happening, earlier than expected.

I've uploaded four vlogs since having my new Canon camera and I've fallen in love with my new hobby! YouTube is just as amazing as I expected it to be, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and my channel.

I will still be posting on my blog as normal, whilst vlogging as well.
I love pushing myself to achieve more, and sometimes I can get myself worked up when I try to hard but this is a challenge worth accepting!
For those who don't know, I have quite severe social anxiety, therefore, even though I'm only talking to a camera, its still really tricky for me to get the hang of, and confidence! I hope by finally pushing myself to vlog more, I will gain some social confidence back.

I just wanted to share this news with my followers, as I hope you will also love my YouTube channel as much as you do with my blog.

I will insert my latest vlog for you to check out, please please subscribe, like or comment! It means the world to me when I get feedback from my videos.

And in no way are my vlogs perfect, but I'm progressing everyday!


Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you over on my channel - The Mama Diaries.

Who'd of ever thought it would be so hard to find the perfect nappy?!

Its taken me 8 MONTHS to find the perfect match for my son and its been a journey to say the least!
We've been through numerous poop explosions, wee incidents and smelly nappies, but finally, I've found my all time favourite nappies..

When my son was a newborn, Aldi's Mamia nappies were brilliant, I had no complains, until my child grew...

Noah is constantly having massive growth spurts and has moved up in nappy sizes extremely fast, so its been challenging to keep up with it all. Being a new mum, it can be frustrating, especially when you think they'll be in one sizes for a while, I had no idea; I guess I just learnt along the way!

My son is getting to the stage now were he's always on the move, he has just learnt to roll over, so its all GO from here!
Noah now wears size 4 nappies and as I now have a wider variety of styles and brands of nappies to look at, I wanted to find something that would be comfortable for when he's moving about.
For a while I looked into pull up nappies, but was always under the impression that they were more for toddlers, that were, say: walking, crawling and climbing.
After a while I realised that Noah will already fit in pull up's, therefore I thought there could be no harm in trying a few.

Noah now wears the Pampers Baby Dry pull up nappies.
We gave them a shot purely due to the fact that they were on offer when the baby event was on in Asda not long ago. Me and my partner didn't think they'd be right for him yet, however we were wrong.

These pull up's are such a life saver, I now don't have to worry about any leaking out of the nappy, these ones fit him like a glove.

The nappy at the waist is super stretchy, almost like a waistband, which means Noah's stomach isn't restricted and I don't have to worry that his nappy is on to tight.

     - "I would highly recommend these to any parent"

As you can see, Noah will not stay on his back anymore, now he's learnt to roll over, he's obsessed!

These nappies work wonders for wriggly babies like Noah. There basically like underpants!

Some nappies can feel really rough, almost like sand paper, these on the other hand are super soft and that's what I want for my son, I would hate for him to be uncomfortable all day!

So what's the worst nappies I've ever bought...

The Asda's Little Angel's nappies!
Not only do they feel rough, they also leak every time Noah wears one. We tried the Asda nappies as I use to enjoy testing different brands out, which is how I came across the Pampers Pull-Up's.
Although they are a brilliant price and on offer often, I would rather pay more for better quality.
I just really don't like these nappies, I find them to be a bit on the small size, Noah is a size 4, however in these nappies he has to wear size 5.
They may work better with other babies, its just a personal opinion of mine.

I'd love to know what your personal yay's and nay's are! Why not let me know in the comments :)

Thank you so much for reading.
Have a great weekend, until next time..
.

As we all know Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, that one day where everyone celebrates the meaning of love.

Now if your single, February 14th may just be a normal day to you, however, I believe this special day shouldn't just be about romance, it should also be celebrating the love you have for your family, friends; those people close to you. 

And of course love should be celebrated everyday, not just one day a year.

I've never previously had a date or partner for Valentine's day, so now this day has a very important place in my heart! I never had any self confidence when it came to relationships or dating people.

I wanted to do a story time post tonight.

I like to keep my blog almost like a diary, for me to look back on when I'm older and read all the awesome memories that have been created.

Therefore, this is my story on how I met my partner of nearly two years, Daniel.

Me and Dan started talking on the ever romantic Facebook, I know! Its not the most romantic story to tell our grandchildren, however it does get more interesting, I promise.

To be honest I don't even know how me and Dan came across each other online, but once we got talking I had a good feeling about our friendship.

Me and Dan have both struggled with anxiety for many years, both in different ways but some ways very similar. We got talking about the topic of anxiety almost straight away, and again, I can't remember how or why. We both helped each other from then, onwards, with our struggles relating to anxiety, and this was before we even met.

We spoke for a good few months online before arranging to finally meet, for me, meeting someone new was one thing that set off my anxiety, due to it being social. I've had social anxiety for what feels like forever! I would never want to go to parties, sleepovers, school disco's; you name it, I just didn't like socialising, it scared me. This trait unfortunately stuck with me throughout primary school, high school and still to this day.

Dan turned from a stranger into my rock, he helped me on a daily basis, when I was having a bad day, I knew I'd have him to talk to and cheer me up, things were great!

I felt like the time was right to find my soul mate and strongly believed that if I met Dan, it could turn into something life changing, and my instinct's were right. 

For some reason Dan was the first guy that I didn't get myself worked up about meeting, I felt as if I was meeting a friend I'd known for years. For the first time I felt fine about meeting someone new and it felt so good to not have a million worries going through my head, so I just went with the flow.

I met Dan one morning and we took the train to Preston for the day. We both loved to shop so it was only right we would spend our first date shopping. This date was incredible, there wasn't one awkward moment, we were both really chatty and just happy to finally be face to face. I knew from day one that this was the man I wanted to grow old with and still to this day feel the exact same way.

The day went by super fast and not for one minute did I feel awkward, it honestly was such a bizarre feeling as I never thought I could ever meet someone and have such confidence and excitement about it. After our date we took the train home and I went to Dan's house to meet his parents. I never usually rushed to 'meet the parents', however for some reason, I felt like it was necessary, it wasn't a big deal to me, and yet again, my nerves were non existent.

We finished the day off with a walk to the local nature park and literally sat for ages on a bench, eating junk food and chatting away. It didn't matter what we did, we didn't feel the need for a fancy dinner date, or to have to impress each other, we were just happy to be together.
Whilst we were sat down, Dan asked me to be his partner, as we had previously spoke about it before meeting, and of course I said yes! I was extremely happy that I'd found someone genuine and down to earth, a true gentlemen.

And that was just the beginning!
Two months into our relationship we discovered I was pregnant, it was not planned and very unexpected as I was on the pill at the time. I knew from the second the pregnancy test came back positive that I was going to keep the baby, abortion wasn't an option. From then onwards, life has been amazing, I couldn't be happier with the life I have now, with my little family!

Me and Dan have always said that we were made for each other and I now truly believe that your life is planned out for you, things will happen when the time is right, whether you expect it or not!

And with all that being said, Happy Valentines Day!
I love you Daniel Bracey.

If you could help save a life, would you? 

This week I made one of the proudest decisions I've ever made. 

As scary as it is to think about, my decision in the future, will save someone's life. 

I'm always thinking of ways to 'do my bit' whilst I exist on this earth. I get a real buzz knowing I've helped someone, made someone smile, held the door open; small little gestures like this make me feel super positive.

Although I'm not one to set myself new year resolutions, I do set myself goals all the time, I'm someone who always likes to feel like I'm pushing myself to do my best.

A huge goal I want to achieve this year, and for many years to come, is to help those less fortunate than me.. I'm a very sensitive person and worry about everyone else before myself, even if I don't know that person, which brings me to the topic of this post..

After coming across a campaign from a Vlogger I follow on Instagram - Maisy Meow, I instantly wanted to take part. 

I decided to join a campaign called #ObjectsForOrgans, which was started by a woman called Adele, her main aim is to raise awareness about becoming an organ donor and to get as many people who want to get involved, signed up. People are helping spread the word via social media and we want to get this campaign across to as many people as possible, so everyone has the option to sign up and help change a life or multiple.

Organ donation is simple to sign up to, you simply register yourself on the Organ Donation List on the NHS website which can be found by clicking here. 

I took just a few minutes out of my day to sign up, and afterwards I felt so proud of myself, knowing that when its my time to go, I will be able to give something back and make a positive change to someones life - Because after all, life is so precious!

So why should you sign up? - Well here's just a few amazing facts that convinced me to want to donate:

• One, JUST ONE, organ donor can improve up to eight lives, as well as being able to save the lives of up to 50 people by donating tissues and eyes.
• As of last week in the UK alone, there are 6,414 people waiting for organ transfers.
• Every 10 minutes someone is added to the national transplant waiting list, however on average 20 people die a day from not having a transplant available for them.
• You can chose which organs to donate, whether its one, or like I chose - all of them.
• Its free to apply for and takes literally two minutes to fill out.

I hope this post has made at least one person aware of Organ Donating, if not more!

If you are interested in applying, then please do!

You could help make such a difference and give someone a second chance at life!