I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!!!!

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.

I DONATED MY ORGANS!

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!

iCandy Peach Moonlight Pram | Review

As Noah is 7 months old now, I thought it would be an ideal time to do a review on Noah's pram, since we've had a good 7 months of testing it out. 

I have the iCandy Peach Moonlight pram which is a travel system, it comes with the carry cot and the pushchair which easily attach onto the frame of the pram.

When falling pregnant it came as a total shock, we were in no way prepared. We had to buy everything on a budget but luckily we had very supportive families who helped out whenever they could. This brings me to how we ended up choosing iCandy. 

My partners parents were kind enough to offer to buy our pram for us, this was a lovely surprise and we were extremely grateful.

Me and my partner had opposite ideas when it came to choosing a pram, meaning we had to come to a happy medium. After months of looking for the perfect pram, we came across the iCandy Peach Moonlight, which was on display in our local pram store, 'Simply Baby'. This pram is fab for many reasons, such as: variety of colour options, easy to disassemble and the fact this pram can be used from newborn to toddler, meaning we wouldn't have to folk out for another anytime soon. 

The iCandy Moonlight is super easy to push and also light weight, which is not what I was expecting from this pram as it looks quite bulky.

This pram is especially great for cold weather as the inside of the pushchair is lined with fleece type material, making it extra warm and snug, just like your baby is wrapped up in a duvet. 

One down side is that I don't drive which means having to use my parents car to get lifts anywhere, this means that its always a tight squeeze with having a full car majority of the time and having to fit both the pram frame and pushchair into the boot, unfortunately we have a small boot so the pushchair has to go on the back seat, or if the cars full, someone's knee, and trust me its a tight fit! This is not ideal when your in a rush, everything has to be put into the car prior to going out so were not rushing around last minute.

Now we get onto the price.. Before I say the price I just want to point out that if it wasn't for having the pram bought for us, I wouldn't have bought an iCandy purely due to the high price range, this pram would of been way out of my budget. I was never interested in a pram for the price, I was looking at Mothercare prams for a while as I liked the fact they were affordable, yet great quality. 

This pram cost a whooping £1060, and that was the SALE price! If I was to ever have more children I would be keeping this pram as for the price it was, I would want to get as much use out of it as possible! The great thing about this pram whilst on this particular subject is that the material is very high quality that my pram still looks brand new, even after pushing it around in rain, going through puddles and having baby food and milk spilt on it numerous times; which means if I was to use it again it should still look good as new! 

Overall this is a fabulous pram, however the price range would 100% put me off if I would of had to buy it myself. I believe (unless your a millionaire) that as a parent-to-be you want to be able to afford all the essentials and still have money left over for anymore baby bits you may need, although saying that, there are many brands out there who range their prams at a more reasonable price, so you still do have other options which is great.

I love the quality of every part of the iCandy Moonlight pram. There are so many great features, especially the spacious storage basket under the pram which makes shopping trips so much easier, that's one thing I'll miss when don't need to use a pram anymore, I actually have to carry my own bags!

You can buy add on's to this pram such as: cup holders, matching change bags, rain cover, clip-in sun protector umbrella and many more.

Head over to the iCandy website to check out the wide range of prams they have to offer.

Also if you want to check out Simply Baby, the store I bought this pram from who also stock popular/similar brands, then click here to be taken to their website.

Thank you so much for reading, until next time,

                                                                      

Angelcare Soft Touch Bath Seat | Review

Since my son turned 5 months old, he has hated lying down in the bath, the struggle of holding a wriggling baby who is refusing to lie down is a challenge. This is why I decided to start my search for a bath seat. I looked at tons of seats, however only one really took my fancy!

I wanted a bath seat which was going to be comfy and that would support my son well so he's not slipping around. One night I was on Amazon when I discovered the Angelcare Soft Touch Bath Seat, I'd heard of this brand before, but never seen this product. After reading lots of positive reviews this product instantly caught my attention, however, I am an extreme cheapskate and the price did put me off a little, £25 this bath seat cost, which I though was a bit of a rip of for what it was. After umming and arhhhing I decided to go with this seat, after all I'd rather of spent a bit more than what my budget was if I was going to have a happy, comfy baby during bath times.

The bath seat took two days to arrive and was packaged well. When unboxing, I had a very strong feeling I was going to love this product, and sure enough I was correct.

I've been using this bath seat for over two months now and I absolutely love it! I would recommend it to any parent, and can confidently say this is the best baby product I've spent money on. It definitely paid off to spend that extra money as the quality of this seat is fantastic! My son adores bath time now, I bath him daily as I know that he enjoys his 20 minutes of relaxing in the bubbles and playing with his toys, or should I say, eating his toys!

One great feature is that the legs of the seat have suction pads on that stick to the bottom of your bath, this makes the seat stay put so there's no need for worrying about it sliding about. The part of the seat which baby's bum sits on has little holes in, this keeps the water around the baby instead of blocking it off so your baby is getting cleaned whilst having fun playing - Its a win, win!

This seat is labelled for babies 6 months+, my son was 5 months when we first tried this seat out, he fit perfectly as he is pretty much the same size as a 6 month old. Noah doesn't slip about inside the seat, the rubber type material makes sure his cute little booty is gripped nice and snug.

As you can see from the photo, Noah is so relaxed, he loves the fact he can sit up, look at all the bubbles and be able to grab his bath toys that float around him. Bath times are a breeze now!

I couldn't rave about this product enough, I will be keeping up to date with this brand and seeing what other awesome products they have to offer.

Fancy having a look for yourself? Then click here to be taken to their official website.

Thanks for reading, until next time..