by Olipophatbaby | Mar 7, 2018 | Fashion & Beauty, Motherhood, New Mum Mondays
My mum for Monday (even though its Wednesday and I am two days late #Pregnantmotherofthree) has to go to the simply fabulous Mrs. Leanne Brown from RHOC. The reason I am dedicating a post to Leanne is that you all need to check her out and in this world of celebrity and glamour, very rarely do we meet genuinely lovely people who are using their celeb status for the better.
The first time I met Leanne was at The Protein Bakery launch, she had a warm and welcoming smile and was so easy to talk to. We got chatting and she told me about her passion, which is being a patron for a charity called ‘One Women at a time’
The aim of this small local charity is to identify and assist women of any age to achieve a helping hand in gaining education, training, and employment to change theirs and their families future.
One Woman At A Time is working in Ortum Kenya and Nigeria to sponsor girls to fulfill their dreams of getting an education, to gain financial independence and to have choices about their lives. Having three girls myself, like Leanne It dawned on me how I take our education and equality for granted and how my children don’t truly understand the importance of it.
Some of these young girls ONLY want to go to school to learn to better their lives. Children as young as my children, who are already so grown up know the importance of having an education. Then when I look at my three who are still so little and don’t really understand the importance of school it dawned on me how lucky we really are.
Leanne continued to tell me about her clothing collaboration with OBD Clothing where 30% of all their sales go directly to One Woman At A Time Now most celebrities that do collaborations with brands get 30% of profit so when she told me that I was happily surprised. Here is one of the few celebrities that is doing something for the greater good of others less fortunate.
So, not only woudl I like to recommend you give Mrs. Leanne Brown a follow I also suggest you check out her collection at OBD! As, if you, like me love a slogan t-shirt and jumpers, but also think the ones that other fashion brands do aren’t really suitable… For me especially, a 31-ear-old pregnant mother of three children with comments like “dick sand”, “Brains, Beauty, Booty” or “Girl Gang” just don’t seem to cut it!
If you would like to be one of my Mums for Monday, then please send me an email momboss@motherofmaniacs.co.uk
Lots of Love
Jess #Beyourownidol
by Olipophatbaby | Mar 2, 2018 | Motherhood, Recipes for the chaotic, Winging healthy food like..
This dish is just absolute goodness on a plate. Every single ingredient used here is healthy
and full of the good stuff mum needs to nourish her baby.
There’s a lot of pregnancy superfoods in this dish. Feta is a great pregnancy cheese as its full
of calcium but contains a far smaller amount of calories than other cheeses. Figs are full of
fibre, magnesium and vitamins and the more pumpkin seeds and walnuts you can eat, the
better as they contain lots calcium, iron, zinc and omega-3.
Add to that all the healthy benefits of the cucumber, avocado and spinach and you have a
delicious and nourishing dish. Visually this is also one of my favourite salads as the roasted
figs open up like flowers when cooked
Ingredients
-6 figs
-200grams of feta
-two oranges
-two teaspoons of honey
-one handful of walnuts
-one avocado
-two teaspoons of pumpkin seeds
-half a cucumber
-two handfuls of rocket leaves
-two handfuls of spinach leaves
Method
-Cut up the avocado, orange and cucumber into bite sized pieces, add the rocket and spinach
leaves and mix together in a bowl, adding a little seasoning and olive oil.
-Turn the grill on and slice criss-crossed into the figs about two-thirds of the way down. Fill
the figs with some of the feta and roast under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese has
melted.
-Remove from the grill, drizzle a little honey over the figs and top with crushed walnuts.
– Place in the salad, sprinkle pumpkin seeds over and serve whilst still warm.
Why is this good for mum and baby?
Figs = Fibre, magnesium, iron, vitamin B, D, K
Oranges = Calcium, Folate, Vitamins A, B, C, potassium
Cucumber = Vitamin A, B, C, K, folate, magnesium,
potassium, fibre, iron
Avocado = Vitamin A, B, C, D, E, K, folate, potassium,
omega-3 fatty acids, fibre, magnesium, calcium, iron
Pumpkin seeds = Calcium, protein, iron, vitamin B, zinc, omega-3
fatty acids
Rocket = Vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, fibre, protein
Walnuts = Omega-3 fats, vitamin B, E fibre, protein
Spinach = Calcium, Iron, Vitamin A, B, C, K, folate,
magnesium
About At Dad’s Table: Instagram @at_dads_table
I’m a Leiths trained chef on a mission to overhaul the way we see and enjoy
food during pregnancy. Current healthy-eating advice when you’re pregnant focusses on what you
can’t eat whereas I want to focus on all of the amazing food that you can eat over the nine months
and beyond.
When my wife became pregnant with our first son last year as a guy I felt pretty redundant. So I
decided to make sure that whatever we ate over those nine months not only tasted delicious and
made her feel good, but was also full of vitamins, nutrients and other good stuff for our unborn child.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram @at_dads_table for food that is, well , delicious and also cheack out my blog
www.thefmlyman.com
See you soon
Adam
by Olipophatbaby | Feb 23, 2018 | Lifestyle, Motherhood
A few of you may have seen my debate on GMB with Marina Fogle yesterday. So I thought i would follow it up with an obligatory blog post! I read an article in the daily mail that Marina Fogle had written saying that she is bringing her children up in a naked house, has told them about all the details of sex as well as what condoms are used for as well as her and Ben (her husband) all piling in the bath with her 6 year old daughter and 8 year old son (that must be a BIG bath). I was also under the impression from the article I had read that Marina and Ben are full-blown nudists. So when Marinas first statement on air was “Im not a full blown nudist, i don’t walk around the house naked or cook naked, but i don’t shriek either when my kids come in the shower or bathroom” – well neither do most people – me included, I simply teach them about their bodies belong to them and them only.
My three daughters are six, five and three years old and we have had baths together, I have got undressed in front of them, they have seen me naked, this was before each of them started to understand about boundaries. What I am conscious of is teaching the kids about their body, and how privates are privates and I lead from how my children are and their personalities.
My eldest Pops is six nearly seven and now she starts asking for privacy when she goes to the toilet, when she is putting on knickers and vest on and she also enjoys a bath alone. She thinks it is normal to have privacy when she is doing all these things – BECAUSE IT IS hence why we don’t take a shit in public or bath in public.
Olive who is five, is kind of halfway to be open and free and halfway to understanding boundaries to do with her body. Sometimes she will want to chat whilst she is having bath, sometimes she will close the door, sometimes she will get dressed in front of me, other times she will say “don’t come in, im in the nudie and my privates are out”.
Hatti, who is three, however, is an all-new ball game. She will be fully dressed ready for nursery one minute and then naked and free running around the house the next minute after going for a poo, tone minute before we have to leave for the school run.
My issue with being in a fully naked house and encouraging your child to be naked is that it is completely different to teaching your children body confidence. My children are body confident because I teach them about body confidence with how I speak about my body, how I take care of my body through food and exercise and how I speak and teach them about their bodies. I honestly believe it wouldn’t make a difference if i was naked 24/7 they would still be confident in their own skin.
They key thing for me is to teach your children the appropriate lesson for the appropriate ages that they are and for the individual characters they have. Not every child is the same, i know this through my own children.
The reason I choose to parent this way is for a couple of reasons – the first one and the main one being i know of a situation where a close friend of mine had friends who’s house was naked house, and the father groomed my friend and it started because it was normalised by my friends friend and her family walking around naked. Now, I also understand that of course, this is not an everyday situation and you cant stop play dates for fear of meeting a paedophile but my point is, situations like these do happen. They can’t be undone.
The second reason being, when i was 18 i worked abroad and lived in a house of girls and boys. A girl i lived with was brought up in a naked house, and because of this she would walk around naked as soon as she came home – regardless who was in. At the time, i thought “wow, how liberating” she is really confident about her body (she did have an incredible body) but as iv got older and had children, when i think back to that, it scares me to think it only takes the wrong person to be in that house to see her for something bad to happen. I know I wouldn’t want my girls to feel so comfortable walking around naked they would do it in front of anyone, because this is putting themselves in danger.
Because of those reasons I am choosing to teach boundaries to my children about their bodies and what is socially acceptable and what is not. Teaching children’s to be comfortable in their own skin is different to teaching them to be comfortable in being naked.
As a parent we all teach through instinct, through experience, through knowledge and we lead with our hearts as well as our heads. Me included.
I would love top know your thoughts on this.
Love Jess
by Olipophatbaby | Feb 15, 2018 | Fashion & Beauty, Lifestyle
I am a skincare fanatic. I love anything to do with pampering my skin and I am always up for trying new lotions and potions! So when I got the chance to receive and review Simply Argan I nearly bit their hand off for the chance as I had heard lots about the benefits of Argan oil –Which you can find here.
I told them what kind of skin I have, what I want to achieve with my skin and left the rest up to them….little did i know what I would receive…A ROLLER DEVICE WITH ABOUT 1000 5ML NEEDLES ON IT that I have to roll on my face!!!!!
IMG_9764
Anyway, I thought I would feel the fear and do it anyway (you know how I like my self-help analogies) and also indulge in the other little freebies that I received!
The ‘Turn back time” gold spray hand sanitiser is ACTUALLY AMAZING and the three queens think its ‘magic money spray’, and every time i spray it on their hands I tell them that wealth and abundance is on its way- teaching them early about the powers of the universe!!!
Then we have the derma microneedle roller and the oil and moisturiser that goes with it! JESUSSSS! This one scared the bloody shit out of me!!!
Instructions
- On a clean and dry face massage a pump (i like two pumps) of oil into the skin
- Put on a brave face and roller the sh!t out of your skin. This felt like torture to start with, especially around the smile and eye lines. HOWEVER….every day that I have used the roller (I use once every 2-3 days) someone has always commented on how fresh my skin looks!
- Massage a pump (or two) of the collagen facial moisturiser into the slightly reddened skin!
- Make a victory cup of tea, you did it!
- Compare selfie from weeks ago to now and voila! Your skin looks far more radiant than it once did!
On a serious note, I have actually been impressed by the oil, moisturiser and derma needle. I feel like I am doing my skin justice and it is safely holding off the botox for at least another 5 years! Which is always good!
I also received the violet infused shampoo and conditioner to try, coffee body scrub and perfume.
Now if you watched me on The Apprentice, you may of notice how thick and full my hair was – this was because I only washed it once every 2-3 weeks and I didn’t really need to style it! Then after CBB, I started styling my hair more and not protecting it….around 7inches of my hair just broke off! WTF!!!
Soooooo now as you can imagine going from a brunette Rapunzel to a Pixie – I look after my hair. So thank God that the first time I used the Argan shampoo and conditioner it left my hair feeling like actual silk and smelt amazing, or there would not have been a fifth, sixth and tenth time!
I also use it on the girl’s hair, as they love the idea of pamper night, washing their hair with posh shampoo and conditioner (they take after me)!
Then we have the coffee scrub! If you have been pregnant, you will know that not only do you get fatter but you also get added extra of more cellulite. GREAT! If you don’t already know, a coffee scrub helps to eliminate the appearance of cellulite, stretch marks and other skin conditions.
To be fair, I was quite sceptical about this, but iv used it around 7 times and my bum is looking smoother! I wish I would have done before and after pictures now, however, I think the before may have cracked a few smartphone screens!
So what is the verdict?
I actually really enjoyed reviewing the products, although I think that this must of been their plan from the start as now I am a confirmed future purchaser (purely because I like getting told I look fresh and young (all down to the derma roller)). The products aren’t badly priced either, they’re not at affordable as supermarket brands, but I personally like little treats of luxury and for a luxury skincare brand, they are pretty affordable, also when the box arrives with the product in, you will feel like the queen of England!
Happy shopping <3
Love Jess
by Olipophatbaby | Feb 14, 2018 | Motherhood
Instagram and celeb endorsements are a brands dream. Never before did brands have such easy access to celebs, or could measure within minutes how influential celeb endorsements are. I am no different in wanting to use other celebs to endorse the products that I have and I also enjoy endorsing products and businesses that i believe in. The reason, I get paid and I get free products. However, I am also very choosy in what I endorse. This is because I am cautious about my posts being detrimental to the audience I am promoting it too.
Which leads me on to my next sentence, The other day I was looking for celebs and influencers for a new product I have launching in April and I came across 2 well known UK reality star promoting that they are ambassadors for Coral (The gambling bookies). This was a sponsored ad, and one of the hashtags was # 18+, but all i could think of was how irresponsible this was. In fairness, one of the post seemed more justified than the other, as one of the reality stars is becoming a jockey for Coral to raise money for Macmillan cancer. I agree that raising money for a great cause is bloody brilliant. But is this really the best way to do that and are the main reason for this collaboration morally ethical?
Are we so naive to think that Corals main objective by using these two, popular and likable tv stars with a combined audience of 3.3 million followers is purely to raise money for Macmillian Cancer? Or could it be that their main objective is to gain a younger, easier influenced crowd, which think gambling is cool. Now it has never been so easy to retarget people who have only shown an interest (not even bought) through social media ads and affiliate marketing.
Could actually the main reason for Corals choice of ambassador be mainly to promote their growth as a company, after all, they are a business and business need to make money. Could their main reason be to attract a younger, loyal audience of customers that think gambling and horse racing its cool- the hashtag was #LoveRacing after all.
Casinos, bookies and other gambling platforms make their big bucks on people who are addicted to gambling, not the people who put a £10 on a horse now and again, but the people who put £10 on a bet now and again is generally where the start of the journey where the addiction begins.
I know people with gambling addictions and its really flipping sad to see. Many of their journeys started when they were 18, over the many years they have lost small fortunes, one small fortune was enough that they could have bought a house, cash. Another lost his wife, kids and home…Iv heard stories where I have thought FAK! I can’t believe this actually happens to people. Most of these are successful adults, where on the outside they seem to have their shit together.
With any addiction, whether its gambling, drugs, sex…it isolates family and friends, causes depression, relationship problems, mental health issues and often the only way to change an addiction is through regular meetings and therapy sessions. Even then, an addiction is still something that has to be learned to be lived with.
Then we have the other addiction that 95% of celebs seem to be promoting. Lip fillers, botox and other image altering surgery! Upon searching for influencers and celebrities to promote my products, I was lost in different accounts but with everyone looking the same. Same lips, same forehead, same cheeks, same ass, same hair (actually Iv joined the hair clan) – Where are the Diana’s in a world full of Kardashians?
Instagram is the most used App for teenagers aged 13-16 and everyday I see images of young girls who have had image altering surgery. Every day I see a new (literally new) pair of lips. Every day I see flawless images of beautiful girls, but their images are #facetuned to death.
I am comfortable in my own skin, but one thing Iv noticed and it is definitely to do with the content I see on social media is that I have started to question whether I would look better with lip fillers and a bit of Botox.
Iv started seeing pictures of celebrities from years ago to now, and they are unrecognisable and I’m ashamed to say that I felt inadequate. I questioned maybe I should be getting all these image altering treatments. Then I stopped and realised my thought process. I am a 30-year-old woman, with three children and not easily influenced – if my thought process started to change, just think about the thought process and influence social media is having over teenagers and young men and women who are easily influenced?
Which then leads me onto a conversation I had with my 20-year-old babysitter Millie, she told me that at least 10 of her friends (who are all the same age) have had lip fillers and they all felt like it was the normal thing to do. WTF!!!!!! Again, this has been normalised by influencers and celebrities promoting cosmetic surgery on social media to their following.
And last but not least, we have a new website called “Fansonly” which is a subscription site where people pay to see footage that they can only see if they pay a monthly subscription. Don’t get me wrong. this is a good little platform to monetise on. Take, for example, Nadia from celebs go dating is using the platform to offer her expertise as a dating coach, where her subscribers can pay to learn the best tips to help find love.
I think this is a great way to use the site as this is giving confidence and skills to people who want help in their love life at an affordable price. Where usually to see a dating therapist would cost well I’m excess of £50 per hour.
Then there are the other half of users of “fansonly”, where a lot of reality stars are monetising by getting naked and uploading saucy pictures of themselves! Which again, each to there own and if they are comfortable in doing that, go for it. But is it the best ethically correct to promote this career choice? Are really telling the next generation of men and women that to make money all you have to do is take your kit off?
I don’t think there is anything morally wrong in nude or semi nude photographs, Iv done lingerie photos. (I’d like to think they were tasteful) Part of my reason was to make money, another part was so I could look back in my 80’s and say “I wasn’t half bad in my late 20s after 3 Childen”.
What I have an issue with how this images are promoted and the age of the audience that are seeing these images.
Is there a cap on what is morally right to promote and is it worth the money? Or are we living in a society where sex, gambling and not being comfortable in your own skin in the new norm?
Love Jess
