Hey friends, happy Friday, and welcome back to the Friday Five! It’s been several months since I’ve put out a Friday Five post so I’m excited to get them started back up again. If you’ve never read a Friday Five post, they’re a bit different in that I choose five categories and share five things about that specific category. I usually try to center them around frequently asked questions (AKA category #3!) or items I know you girls are shopping for right now. Anyway, personally, I think we have a great list of categories today and I hope you all enjoy the post! Happy Friday and have a great Memorial Weekend!!

Five Must-Have Baby Accessories

BABY CARRIER

I’ve been loving the BabyBjorn baby carrier when we’re out. Louie does so well in his stroller but, if we’ve been out for awhile, I’ll get him out to let him stretch and put him in this carrier to give him a change of scenery. In my opinion, this carrier is the perfect size for his age, super comfortable to wear, and easy to get on and off. The best part though is that it keeps my hands free while we’re out and about while still technically “holding” Louie, which seems to be what he wants more of these days, ha!

For being at home, the Solly Wrap has been great. It’s much less heavy-duty than the Bjorn but still keeps Louie snuggled up against me when he is fussy and momma needs to get things done.

WHITE NOISE MACHINE

I knew white noise machines were important but it’s truly one of the items we do not leave the house without. We use this one, which is portable, has multiple settings, and stays charged for a long time. Definitely something to register for or snag yourself before baby comes!

REALLY GOOD SWADDLES

Louie is a wiggler so he breaks out of regular swaddles, even the ones by Solly Baby. Their stretchy material is amazing for really calm babies because you’re able to wrap them really tight to keep their arms down but Louie ALWAYS figured out how to loosen them up and get his arms out. So, we needed “really good swaddles”. These are the ones we love:

• Love To Dream Swaddle Up: This swaddle was the first game-changer for us. Louie loves to have his hands up and this one allows him to do that while also calming his startle reflex. This one is also a breeze to get him in and out of… AND it has double zippers so if you want to change your baby in the middle of the night, you can do it while keeping their arms in the swaddle.

• Miracle Swaddle: We wish we had found this one sooner but it does take a minute to figure out how to wrap your baby in it at first. The instructions are a bit misleading. But, once you figure it out, it’s amazing at keeping your baby’s arms completely down so that they don’t startle themselves.

• Velcro Swaddles: This 3-pack was also a great purchase. These were super easy and intuitive to get him in and out of and kept him feeling secure.

SILICONE PACIFIER HOLDER

If you’ve opted to give your child a pacifier for comfort, you know how terrifying it is when one of your sterilized ones drops on the ground. I’ve found that it’s KEY to have backups and to make sure those are readily available. I tried plastic pacifier holders over the weekend and they failed me [opened up as we were walking and the pacifiers fell on the ground; thankfully I had two more that were ready to go in my bag] so I am now set with this silicone pacifier holder that easily loops onto the stroller handle. Thanks to its design, it doesn’t give me any fear of them falling out.

BABYBREZZA BOTTLE MAKER

If you’re planning to or currently feeding your baby formula, the Babybrezza bottle maker is 100% a necessity! It’s basically a Keurig for formula. It makes a bottle in 15 seconds, which affords you more sleep time being that it’s so fast at making bottles, and also has safety measures in places, like telling you when certain things need to be cleaned, when the water chamber needs to be filled, etc. Worth every single penny in both John’s and I’s opinion. 

Five Summer Denim Items I Love

If you’ve been here awhile, you know I love me some denim, even in the Summer! So, I thought I’d round up what denim I’m eyeing right now to give you some style inspo!

WHITE SKINNY JEANS

I know white denim isn’t for everyone, but I love it and it’s officially white denim season so I had to share some of my favorite pairs with y’all. In the past, I’d typically opt for skinnies, which are still my favorite, but I also linked some more straight options for you girls as well as distressed!

JEAN JACKETS

A jean jacket is an absolute summer staple, especially if you live near the beach or have any bonfires in your near future! Really though, it’s an amazing layering piece that I think every girl needs in her closet for Summertime! I recently purchased this one from A&F and am loving it!

DISTRESSED DENIM

If you watch Stories, you know I’ve been living in and loving this pair of distressed denim! They’re kind of a dupe for the agolde pair and a great way to test out of the style before investing any further, however, I really think the quality is there for this pair as well as the ones I linked below!

JEAN SHORTS

I can’t not include jeans shorts on this list! I found some really great options that are below $100, and also have really come to appreciate the higher rise and longer inseams we’re seeing on a lot of jeans shorts these days. These are trends I can get behind, ha!

DENIM DRESSES

I’ve been noticing so many cute, flowy denim dresses lately that I thought this would be fun to include!

Five Things I’m Looking Forward To In Our New Flat

MORE ROOMS

First, and foremost, I am excited about having enough rooms to suit our needs, which has been the biggest struggle in our current space. Our second bedroom has become John’s office, his gym, my extended wardrobe, and Louie’s nursery / storage room. It’s really frustrating for both myself and John. We quickly realized, when our Wifi ended up being absolutely terrible in the dining area [where John was initially going to take up as his workspace AND THEN found out we were pregnant, that this space was not going to be a good fit for us after all. We needed more than two bedrooms, especially after our lockdown got extended for as long as it did. I needed a workspace that wasn’t a desk in the corner of our living room. John needed a workspace that has good Wifi [he originally was going to work from the dining room table so I could have the second bedroom for work but the wifi is better in the bedroom]. Louie needs a nursery. And, then, obviously, we need a bedroom.

So, this new space had four bedrooms. We all get what we need and we’re so excited about that!

LOCATION

We will be moving South London [from Northwest London]. This is going to be a much better location for us – mostly John. We wanted to be closer to Surrey so that he could more easily pop down to see his mates. The location is also great in that it’s still really easy for me to get into central London when and if I need / want to.

UNDER FLOOR HEATING

This is so frivolous and bougey but I am pumped that the downstairs floors have underfloor heating. It gets COLD here in the Winter. I’ve never worn slippers more in my life, honestly. I’m so excited about it!

TV IN BEDROOM

Since living in the UK, we’ve not had a TV in our bedroom which, honestly, isn’t devastating. However, two weeks ago, I had a bunch of laundry to fold and put away [so. much. laundry with a baby!] and I wanted to get it done but it was also late in the day. I was tired and I really wanted to hang out with John & watch an episode of the Bachelorette [or something mindless] while I was doing it. I mentioned to him that I loved doing that in Florida on Friday nights … pouring a glass of wine and tidying up my bedroom and bathroom while watching Dateline and then getting the best nights’ sleep and waking up in the morning to everything put away. He was like ‘well why don’t we get a TV in our next place?’ so yeah! Seems like something pretty random to be excited. about but we are going to see about putting a TV in our bedroom in the next place.

We are constantly hanging out in our bedroom with Louie and the boys on our bed and it’s time I truly treasure – just us five. Some nights, I’m like ‘aw it’d be so nice for us to cozy up and watch a movie together while Louie sleeps in his bassinet’ so, yeah … I’m really looking forward to it!

SEPARATE BATHROOMS

I love John and I’m sure you love your husband / significant other but how nice is it to have our own beauty space? There’s an en suite bathroom in the room that will be my work room in the new place so I’m so excited to just use that as my space to get ready. I’m excited to have all the storage to myself and to decorate it my way, ha! [He will have the bathroom in our bedroom]

Five Questions From DMs I Haven’t Answered

What security cameras by Eufy do you use?

We use these and absolutely love them! They were super easy to install. John isn’t the handiest of guys and was able to put them up with no issues [and they’ve stayed up! Ha!]. They’re connected to an app and the camera quality is so good! John gets an alert when the dogs are going in and out of our garden. He knows when delivery guys are dropping something off. We’ve caught quite a few people randomly coming up to our door – two of which were trying to steal packages. We’ve loved these and will be bringing them with us to our new place.

Can you explain what you were saying about the itCosmetics concealer? Do you use it in place of the Becca Undereye Brightening Corrector?

Yes, okay I think the easiest way to explain it is by first explaining how I wear the Becca Undereye Brightening Corrector. So, I put that on under my eyes after I apply my foundation. Then, I apply a skin colored concealer [usually Tarte’s Shape Tape] and then a lighter concealer [again, usually Tarte’s Shape Tape just in a lighter color] on top to brighten up that area.

With this product, I use it in place of the second Tarte concealer and I do NOT apply the Becca product. So, it gives you the same effect by using one less product. I hope that makes sense!

How is your recovery from a C-section going? Has your uterus contracted all the way back down or is there still a pooch there? Wondering because I also just had a c-section.

It’s going well! Thanks for asking! My stomach isn’t sore at all anymore. I’ve been able to go back to sleeping on my stomach, which has been a true gift, let me tell you! I actually feel like sleeping on my stomach has helped my uterus / stomach shrink down. My skin is still loose but that’s to be expected. I feel like everything has shrunk down as far as it will but, sadly, I haven’t had a professional look at it to tell me that. My postnatal check was over the phone so I’m currently trying to find a company that specializes in women’s health and wellness that may be able to do a proper postnatal assessment. I’m at the stage where I think everything has shrunk back down but I’d love for someone to tell me that for sure, how severe my postnatal diastasis recti is, and how to move forward from a physical perspective. I’d love to work with a trainer to slowly get back into physical activity and heal it [as best as it can be healed if it’s really that bad] but I don’t want to do that until I have a healthcare professional take a look. If you’re in London and know of an amazing place to go, please please email me!

How did Louie’s 8-week appointment go? How come he has to go back to feeds every three hours?

His appointment went well! He met all of the markers they look for except his growth marker. We are being referred to a pediatrician to advise us and rule out any absorption issues but were told it could take up to four weeks to hear from them about an appointment. For now, we are doing every three-hour feeds except for a five-hour stretch from 11:30 pm to 4:30 am. The doctor assistant who did his assessment said it might be good to wake up in the night for the 1:30 feed but, until a pediatrician tells me it’s necessary, we feel like if Louie is sleeping soundly, it’s more important for us all to get some good rest. Both John and I were small kids thanks to fast metabolisms and genetics so we are pretty positive that is what is at play here. However, we look forward to having a pediatrician take a look at him and provide us with their insight.

[I kindly ask that no advice be given in the comments or via email on what you think Louie needs. I am simply answering the question at hand. Thanks so much, friends! xx]

You’ve worn a pendant necklace recently and I wondered if you could link it?

I recently got this one and this one from Anthropologie here in the UK but I don’t think they’re available on the US’s site. But, wow, you guys have so many more necklace options on their site so I can’t feel too bad, ha! I love this one. I have the ‘J’ one and I’m tempted to get one with ‘L’.

Five Summer Dresses To Consider

Dresses are my absolute favorite Summer outfit option! They are one of the things I have been deeply missing as of late — along with warm weather — being that we’ve had such a cold and rainy Spring. However, I haven’t let that keep me from perusing new dress options and styles. I’ve been dress shopping so much, in fact, that I will be launching a Summer Dress Look Book in the coming weeks so, if the following dresses don’t fit your fancy, I can almost guarantee something in the look book will! Be sure to subscribe to daily post alerts to be the first to know when that goes live!

WHITE PUFF-SLEEVE MIDI DRESS

I love everything about this dress – the romantic silhouette, the empire waist, and puff sleeves – it’s stunning! The tiered detailing and broderie anglase combo add even more romanticism. It makes me want to go for a stroll through an English country garden and get lost and be the subject of a Jane Austen novel. Anyone else? Haha, it gives me that vibe but so do so many other dresses out there these days. This style is very in and I can’t get enough of them! You’ll see me wearing similar styles to this a lot as it warms up here in the UK!

GINGHAM OFF-THE-SHOULDER DRESS

Since I’ve been scouring the internet for this Summers’ best dresses in order to give y’all the cutest look book,  I’ve definitely picked up on the off-the-shoulder trend, especially with flowy dresses. I think it’s so flattering! Gingham is also having a moment so you can almost already guess that this dress will likely be featured on the ‘On Trend Dresses’ page of the look book since it ticks both of those boxes. This would make an amazing gender reveal party dress or baby shower dress!

FLORAL TIERED MIDI DRESS

There’s so many aspects of this midi dress that I feel sets it apart from the others. The high neckline is incredibly unique and the cinching detail in the fabric also adds a beautifully different element to it that, in my opinion, makes it a beautiful option to wear to a wedding this Summer! I also can’t get enough of the color. It’s a color you don’t see often and florals are everywhere this year but, this floral print, isn’t as ‘in your face’ as the others, which I kind of like. I’m not sure the tiered detail is necessary. I think it could have been just as gorgeous with a flowy A-line design but, I also don’t hate it! This dress is on sale this weekend so a great time to grab it!

SOFT HIGH NECK MIDI DRESS

Give me a high neckline in a dress or a tank top and I’m in! It’s a detail I find incredibly flattering. This rust-colored dress is absolutely stunning. You could easily dress it down with sneakers but, for me, personally, I’d wear it dressed up to a wedding or special event. I’d with a statement necklace OR let the neckline stand alone and go with a pair of chic gold hoop earrings & a slicked back hairstyle. You could even wear it into the Fall season with a black bomber jacket. This dress is also on major sale this weekend — and also comes in black or white!

PRINTED COTTON DRESS

I actually wore this dress yesterday and you’ll be seeing it as one of the featured dresses in the look book I’ll be launching very soon. It’s incredibly flowy and beautiful. It has a subtle floral design and is a great everyday kind of dress you can wear all the time this summer to almost anything! It has a really cute back design, as well, so be sure to check that out in the product images! It’s on sale this weekend when you spend over $120 so don’t miss that!

Alright, that does it for the Friday Five! There are tons of sales going on this weekend! Here are a few I’m eyeing:

• EXPRESS: 40% off everything

• Abercrombie: 25% off select styles

• Nordstrom is running their Half-Yearly Sale where you save up to 50% off select styles

• Kendra Scott: 20-25% off site-wide

• Colleen Rothschild: $25 off when you spend $100, $50 off when you spend $200 // codes on site

• Anthropologie: 20% off ready-to-ship furniture + decor

Be sure to check out stories over the weekend for more sale updates + my picks!

Thank you for visiting today and checking out 2021’s first edition of the Friday Five! Let me know what y’all think and I’ll be sure to keep them going this year! Until next time! xo.