10 reasons why you should have a child.

by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, Uncategorized

The other day I did a ten things you should know before having a child and today I wanted to do from the opposite side. The good bits. Every negative has a positive and here are ours.

One. The love. You will never feel anything like it. You will never love as fiercely and you would die for something other than yourself. You feel and run off nothing but love in the newborn stage. The toddler stages may be hard but when they cuddle you or say I love you it makes your heart melt. Even the hardest of souls are melted like me!

Two. They’re funny. Elijah thinks he’s a comedian. The silly things he does to make us laugh. The funny faces, the farts. Everything about them will make you laugh at some point. They’re just a ball of laughter and silliness.

Three. When you see they’ve learnt something from you. You feel proud of both yourself and them. You get so excited over the littlest things like rolling over or learning to count. Soon everything they do is interesting because you made that and it’s incredible watching someone learn absolutely everything.

Four. No judgement of watching kids tv and Films. Nobody can judge if your still watching a kids cartoon when they’ve left the room or for buying toys that are clearly more for you then them. Fairly sure I buy toys because I want them not him!

Five. You get to relive your youth again. You get to pretend to be animals, run around being aeroplanes and being silly. You remember things you loved as a kid and try to share that with your child. Creating memories while reliving your youth is pretty cool.

Six. You get to be crafty. You get to make arts and crafts and create play. You get your creative side out. You’ll be amazed at just how many ideas pop into your head. Even if your art looks like your two year at least you can blame it on them and class as their hard work.

Seven. Seeing your parents with their grandchild. It’s lovely watching your kid loving and being loved by grandparents. It’s nice seeing how different they are and the happiness they bring. It’s nice to see your parents have a playful side you don’t remember after the teenage stage.

Eight. Happiness. Your child will bring you happiness. When they smile at you, talk to you, do something new or just talking to you. Sometimes you just have to look at them and your happy. If you’ve had a terrible day a cuddle fixes everything.

Nine. Enjoying being a parent. Being proud to talk about them, being proud to be their parent. Enjoying that this is your life now. Although there are days you want to rip your hair out there are some rare days where you feel really great and like your killing this parent game! Days when you feel achievement because you survived another day and your kid did too!

Ten. Seeing a loved one with their child. Nothing will ever describe that fullness I get in my heart when Elijah and James play together or do something together. When they smile and cuddle. When I first saw James hold Elijah I think my heart wanted to explode out my chest I was so full. This love is like nothing I could ever explain.

As always thanks for reading, Charlie x

Revamping our room with photo wall

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Home Stuff, lifestyle

So the lovely people at photo wall got in touch and offered to send us some gifted wall paper to review. as we’d been planning to redecorate our room since we first moved in we jumped at the chance.

We immediately looked at what they had and had to make the hard decision on what to choose. There was so many beautiful prints and styles and I was so close to ordering a animal mural for Elijah but you know what I deserve nice things too! Ordering was super easy and we out the measurements in. Within a few days it arrived.

It arrived with instructions, paste and the wallpaper. You could tell the quality just from opening it. We went for the top range so no reflection at day time as our bedroom is very light.

Before. White, Chipped, dirty looking.

Now the wallpaper had arrived we contacted someone to come do our wallpaper the following weekend as covid guidelines allow it now and we got to work. Our bedroom was a state. The previous owners had rushed about and made a mess. Gouges in walls, dodgy filling, a whole in the wall and paint here there and everywhere. It took us four nights to paint the walls, ceilings and fill holes. We took of the clothing rails and filled and painted them too. We glossed everything we could and even touched up the door and window sills. I painted the inside of the fire box and it looked so much better.

Then came the wallpaper day! The guy came as we didn’t trust our selfs and got to work. He said it was super easy as it was clearly labelled and informed him wear to cut. He was able to line and match up the wallpaper easy. He said it was easy then the other wall paper we got for the chimney breast. When he was done we where amazed at how it looked.

After as it started to dry on wall!

Immediately it became the smartest room in the house. It was like our very own art work. Something different to any one we know. The flowers and birds are beautiful and like nothing I have ever seen before. I enjoy looking at it and thinking wow this is our room! I love birds and cherry blossoms so I’m so glad I picked this. It goes with bedding and my bedroom already so no need to change the room over either which is always a plus!

The only downside was we over measured and had to cut the birds tales of because of the door way and the fact we run out of space but I’m super glad the faces of the birds look like they’re peaking in and they’re all there.

I’m so thankfull and my house feels a bit more like a home. It’s my personality, my happy place my safe space!

Massive Thank-you to photo wall for gifting is this beautiful wallpaper. I will cherish it forever!

Go check them out here- https://www.photowall.co.uk

Also check their Instagram here- https://instagram.com/photowall_sweden?igshid=xh7cw7o04lxc

You can get 25%off with code – hazelwoods2020

Thanks for reading, Charlie x

The perfect Father’s Day gift

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in books, family life, lifestyle

The people over at hooray heroes kindly gifted me a book for Father’s Day to show my followers and readers what I think about it. I’ve been eyeing up their books after seeing many ads so I was very excited to be gifted one!

So first of all you choose the book you want. Then you design your characters. This is the fun part! You can choose hair style, colour, freckles, skin tone, eye colour and more! You can put your names in as well so it makes it super personal to you. It’s really nice knowing that something your helping to create will be in a book. Especially if you have a hard to find name in a gift store this is the perfect personalised gift for you.

I love that you can also choose what stories go inside you can preview and select up to ten mini stories to go in the book too.

Once you’ve ordered it only takes a few days to come I think I waited five days and I was alerted when each step of the creation process was completed and a time my parcel would be delivered.

When it arrived it was in a nice cellophane wrapping to preven damage. The book is hardback and the quality is amazing. Each page is full of colour and keeps your child’s attention. This was a gift to the whole family really which was nice because we all get to share it.

It’s something that will last for years and we love all the stories, you can read as little or as much as you like!

We will defo keep them in mind for our next personalised book adventure!

With Father’s Day coming up now is the perfect time to get idea and this is the perfect book for lots of family’s!

You can shop here! https://hoorayheroes.co.uk/personalised-books/fathers-day

As always thanks for reading Charlie!

Medications / topical creams that help my rosacea flares.

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Beauty And Skincare

When I am stressed I have a flare. I get spots, my face goes redder them a baboons backside and my face burns. It burns so much I want to scratch it off. I have at times if my life even contemplated suicide because it has hurt that much. So I am very, very lucky my dermatologist found the creams that work with me. I use it every now and then when I have a flare. As LOTS of you have been emailing and messaging me on Instagram about what I use I thought I’ll just do a little post on it here.

Obviously these are not over the counter medications but you could request your doctor try’s you on them. You can however buy a low dose of azaliac acid by the ordinary and that’s quite good too. Not as strong but it is good. So without further rambling here’s some products I use and have helped me.

First up. Soolantra aka Ivermectin. This cream is prescribed and is hardcore stuff. With rosacea you are more prone to being exposed to sunlight, food, cold, stress, skin notes and lots more. This cream is prescribed to help stop the inflammation caused by rosacea. It helps treat and heal skin lesions and helps reduce the spots that come with it. It also cures facial mites and scabies. This is basically like a anti inflammatory magic cure for your face. When I first took it I had a swollen nose that wouldn’t go and a face littered with spots after 6 weeks I was cleared up. It then returned with spots and wide spread redness but my nose has never looked anything near as bad as it was. When you have a flare they suggest using a few times a week for 6 weeks as it’s strong stuff. This is my wonder cure. It stops the burning. I feel like me again.

Next we have skinoren- azeliac acid. This can be used alongside. This kills bacteria and helps acne. You can buy a low dosage version as I stated above. As my rosacea causes acne it helps with my confidence of not only redness but full on adult acne at the same time. This stuff really does work and again you use a few times a week for a few weeks then have a break then use with a flare.

You should only use these medicines as and when. Why? Because your skin needs to heal and work our what time do with itself. You also want breaks between medicines and for your skin not to get used to the medication.

These medications worked for me and I hope if your doctor can be persuaded to let you try that they may work for you.

I’m back on them again now so will show a before and after. If you are using this it is important to have a full skincare session.

I cleanse, exfoliate and tone regularly. I also apply moisturising serums twice daily and also apply a thick night cream because these medicines will dry your skin out. Make sure to wash your face twice a day and treat your skin like it deserves.

Also ALWAYS where high spf sunscreen. I don’t care if it’s snowing outside your skin will burn and you need to protect yourself from the uv damage to your skin.

Good luck, any questions send me a message! Charlie x

Space masks review

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Beauty And Skincare, lifestyle

So it’s no secret I have insomnia and basically lack any ability to relax some days so when I received a space mask in a recent beauty subscription box I was quite excited to try a new product. Of course it’s been raced about by a few celebs who I like so if course I was excited to give it a whirl so here’s my opinion.

First of all packagings quite nice this was a valentines special edition which is why it’s red. There’s nothing fancy but the colour so it’s quite plain but that’s not what the products about.

So what it does is heat when opened up so it creates a nice warm feeling on your eyelids which makes your eyes feel light and you relaxed. I’d say it worked for about half an hour staying warm and then cooled down. I quite enjoyed it as I haven’t experienced anything similar unless I’ve had a hot flannel on my eyes. My eyes felt lighter and I felt the tension leave that part of me and it did enable some relaxation. My eyes didn’t feel as puffy either and although there was no direct oils or products on me I did feel almost like my eyes where in a bit better condition. It enable relaxation after a while and my mind sort of went away at times.

Unfortunately I think I was too anxious that night so I took a while to relax and I didn’t notice no change on my sleep. I will be trying it again after a nice relaxing skincare session and getting myself calm first to see if it really works. I’m also going to buy a cheeper Version on amazon to try too. Will update you on that too!

Thanks for reading! Charlie! x

Giving notice of your wedding

by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle

A friend of mine the other day asked me about what it’s like giving notice of marriage as she was confused and stressed about the meeting. I also was like that at the time as I was made to believe it was some quiz on your relationship and why your getting married. My anxiety caused stupid thoughts such as I would be married to someone I didn’t know about or something wildly dramatic would happen to me like being told we can’t get married. So here’s some information on what happens in appointment.

First of all you arrange the appointment and they tell you what Identification you require as I was born after a certain date I needed my mums birth certificate to prove who I was. I took some utility bills, bank statement, birth certificate and provisional license. James brought same except his driving license and passport. If you need to give your parents birth certificate you can request this through them prior to appointment if you have a poor relationship with parents.

They ask you for your job, your husbands, and your parents. If you have a poor relationship with family or don’t speak you can tell them this. I don’t know my biological dad so I didn’t want him on my marriage certificate so requested to have my step dad. They okayed this. You can also request not to have this asked to you on your wedding day when they reconfirm info before you go in.

You had to confirm each other’s date of birth. Where each other live. They may ask how you met but I think it’s just interest and not of question. You also have a photo the queen staring at you while you give all these answers it’s a bit weird. You also just answer pretty normal questions like his job extra and fill in their details and the they do the same.

Then they pretty much give you a pack with decisions on vows, what you want said as legally you need certain things and song choices exetra as they have to be okayed as a wedding ceromony is a legal thing. Then you go home to email back what you want. It can be intimidating but it’s nowhere near as bad as people make out. I think they ask more questions if from different country’s as people do try to scam visas exetra and also to make sure people aren’t breaking laws they might pester into past marriages and ask for proof of divorce. Also you can take your child we took Elijah and he just ran in circles and they didn’t care.

Any questions email me! Charlie x

Writing to pen pals!

by Charlie-Jane, posted in lifestyle

I know it is super dated using pen and paper to write messages but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I decided recently to put out a message to find a penpal on my twitter and three lovely people replied one of them from wales, one from America and one from Australia!

I was hoping to message people from outside England because I want to know what it’s like where others live. I want to know other people’s hobbies and what they like and dislike. I want to know more about people and how their lives are different to mine!

So once I confirmed with each person our addresses and what to add I got to it. I found my old stationary and started writing straight away. I introduced myself and said what I like and dislike and some fun facts about me. I asked questions such as how are things where people are living at the moment around the coronavirus and I asked everyone to introduce themselfs a bit more and tell me about themselfs and their home towns!

I also included some photos I printed of to add inside which shew my family, my home town and our local beach where we go all summer and winter long.

I think it’ll be quite exciting getting to know new people and discover who they are. I know we live in a generation where I could text but this seems more personal and a lot more fun. Also who doesn’t enjoy and handwritten letter anymore. I’ve had enough of bills, takeaway leaflets and vouchers for bingo coming through my door now!

Have you had a penpal before? would you like to find one?

Thanks for reading! Charlie x

How I got diagnosed with rosacea

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Beauty And Skincare, lifestyle

Since writing a short little paragraph on my rosacea on my Instagram I had a lot of love in my dms from other suffers and one lady who thinks she may have it too. it’s so nice that I am able to use my platform to spread the word and empower other woman. If you haven’t seen my post it’s on my Instagram and it’s got a photo of my skin without make up, without a filter laid bare. This was part of a partnership with Pegasus owned cetraben to empower others to talk about their skin conditions.

Something I am very uncomfortable with is my rosacea. For years friends and family and work colleagues called me Rudolph. Why? Because that’s how my rosacea started of. My nose was very red and became swollen from how bad it was. For three years I had a red lumpy nose. Doctors put it down too acne. Over and over I was told to wash my face, take their medication that doesn’t work whilst they refused to send me to a dermatologist. After some research I realised I was entitled to be sent as I had attended over 4 appointments in half a year for the same reason with no answers so once I complained I was referred. I was sent to the dermatologist when I was 19. By then the redness started to spread from my nose to around my face to my cheeks. The woman I saw swabbed my nose and said she believes it to be rosacea but it is so rare in my age. So I was given some cream that didn’t work and sent away to fight to get a diagnosis again.

When i came in one day to the doctor I broke down in tears that I couldn’t take it anymore and said I have had enough of feeling sick looking in the mirror now. I explained I would cancel plans because of my looks. I would actively avoid photos because I felt so ugly. He sent me back to dermatology after fight for three more years and it changed my life.

On the day of my appointment I was late so ran through the hospital. You have no idea how large our hospital is so I was running for a while in summer! when I got to the desk the staff at the desk where worried about me because my face was so red and sat me down. When the dermatologist called me through pretty much immediately he smiled and said straight away I can confirm you most defiantly have rosacea. He explained that my red face was a symptom and that stress, heat, exercise and many other factors can affect it. It causes redness and flushing. When I had cooled down a bit he inspected my skin. He looked at the redness and then the spots. He said the acne is caused by the rosacea and that it will most likely never go away. However he said we should try some strong antibiotics and topical creams and he’d see me in three months. I went away and took the doxycycline and ivermectin. Within weeks my nose cleared up. I could see my skin for the first time in years. I remember the confidence it gave me and some of the redness surrounding my face cleared. Of course after stoping taking it the problem came back but not on my nose and not as bad. However I do find that the doxycycline does help when I take it although it causes side effects such as reflux for me and can only take short term.

It’s one of those things I have to live with as it goes and comes back. As the dermatologist said it’s something you have to live with but you do fantastic at hiding it. One thing I’ve become good at over the years is hiding my redness with my make up so that I have a bit more confidence. Stress aggravates it, spice, the heat, the cold, infact I think living just aggravates it. But I was glad I had someone who took the time to listen and I could finally put a name to my redness. I finally understood why as a child I would be red as a tomato after playing on the school ground. I understood when I flushed so much if I was embarrassed. I understood and that was enough for me. As I’ve gotten older I’ve accepted it. I don’t like it but I’ve accepted it’s who I am. I’ve started not wearing make up as much and owning it. However one downside is that it has spread to my eyes and causes a lot of irritation and of which I’m under the hospital for. I have more good days with my skin then I used too so I’m always thankfull for that. My face still burns and itches at time but atleast I’m not up crying in the night with it anymore or sticking a ice cube on my nose to cool it. Here are some photos of how bad my nose was and a recent flare up!

If your reading this and thinking that sounds like me please do talk to your gp about it because it can change your life. I am thankfull everyday that my nose is no longer a giant swollen ball of pain.

Thanks for reading, Charlie x

Using the earth as our own sensory wonderland

by Charlie-Jane, posted in parenting

As Elijah has gotten older we have tried to incorporate sensory play into our day to day lives. We have started using the outdoors as our play ground more and using natural supplies for both learning and fun. We enjoy going for walks and collecting plants and pebbles for arts and crafts or play.

We enjoy going to the beach and playing with the rocks. We like to build towers with the pebbles, we like to practise writing in the sand with our fingers or sticks. We like to build sandcastles and to dig holes. We like to throw rocks as far as we can in the water. This is Elijah’s favourite activity. We do this all year long even in the winter. We like to collect pebbles to take home with us to paint and then hide on future walks.

On walks we like to gather flowers, we like to gather sticks and leafs. We use the leafs and flowers for arts and craft activities such as sticking them to paper and painting. We often collect pine cones and conkers and use them for sensory play or counting. We also use the conkers to paint with as well sometimes. I like to fill a bowl or tray with flowers and natural things and incorporate Elijah’s toys to them. For example i have often put flowers in water in a tray and filled with some paint so its coloured and got Elijah to explore it. I like to use elijahs tuff tray and pick a theme and add natural items to compliment the play. I.e if i was choosing woodland animals id find all his toys that relate to that so id choose bears, squirrels and deer toys and add sticks, leaves and pine cones.

I like to use water in play. I like to set up a car wash or animal washing stations where i fill bowl with washing up liquid and water and Elijah sits there with a cloth cleaning his toys for ages! We also have a water table which he adores and a sandpit in the garden. He also uses his water and sand table which i often replace the filling to sensory items instead. We like to freeze toys in water and i love to watch Elijah’s mind working trying to get toys out with spoons or by smashing on the ground. You can also freeze flowers also!

We like using sand pits to hide toys or practice scooping or playing with his diggers in. We like using a brush and looking for bigger dinosaurs in the sand. We like hiding toys like a easter egg hunt around the house or in the garden and looking for them and collecting them all up.

You can also give your child a patch of dirt to garden in where they can dig, water and rake. Get them to help watering plants with a watering can. Get them to help plant their plants and seeds. Artificial plants are great for the child who loves to over watering and it teaches them to care for their planet at the same time.

I sometimes use flashcards and books to teach at the same time. I like hiding things in the trays to and instructing him to look for them. He likes digging for dinosaurs in his sandpit and fishing for fish in water with his net. We also hide flowers amongst leaves and fake insects to find.

I really want to get a mud kitchen for the garden for Elijah as i know he’d love it! But i think i’ll wait till hes bored of his kitchen being indoors. Until then we like to use plastic bowls to make mud cakes using dirt and water or we make potions with flowers and water and a little bit of glitter. When hes older i will make perfumes with him like i did with my nan. We used to pick flowers grind them up and place in water to make perfumes. We also look for bugs with our magnifying glass.

I hope you enjoyed my little using nature for sensory play blog post. Comment if you would like more! stay safe, Charlie x

Candle review! With Am botanical

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Home Stuff, lifestyle

Gifted product- This candle was kindly sent from the lovely people over at am botanical. The candle is really really pretty! I think it’s the most beautifully presented packages I have ever opened too. The package had a beautiful note, lots of lovely tissue paper and a beautiful bag to hold it. This makes it the perfect gift because it makes the candle look classy and like you’ve gone to a lot of effort to order it!

The smell is really fresh! I was sent the joyful odorata. It smells similar to a few candles such as jo malone ones. It’s the prefect fresh scent for calming you and bringing your mood up. It has lavander in also which is so good for calming and mood boosting. It is packed full of essential oils and is plant based. It is vegan and cruelty free so perfect for anyone to use! They are also ethically conscious so you know your product is made with the planet in mind.

The candle itself looks so elegant in any room in the house I love the simplicity of the design. The burning is really strong and smells nice everywhere in the house. It burns really well and lasts a long time. With Father’s Day coming this would make the perfect gift as the scent is not to feminine either!

Check them out and show your support! Website – http://www.ambotanical.com Head over to Instagram to follow- https://instagram.com/ambotanical?igshid=mthbv1yupnfh

Use code- HAZELWOOD15 for 15 percent off.

Thanks for reading! Love the candle connoisseur aka Charlie! X