My New Labrador Puppy

Let me start of by saying I didn't rush out during lock down to buy a new puppy out of loneliness or whatever reason. While I understand people's reasoning for this, our puppy was very much pre-planned and the deposit had been paid right at the start of March- way before lock down was announced.

Now the disclaimer is out of the way... Meet Knox! 

As you can probably guess by the title, he is a Labrador puppy, and is currently nine weeks old.

Before I go any further, I want to say that puppies are hard. Really hard. I thought I was prepared for the reality of a puppy, but I hadn't appreciated how much they turn your life upside down. I've touched on this is a previous post- it is impossible to do certain things at home while you have a very curious puppy following you around all day. I attempted a home workout this morning while Knox was asleep, only for him to wake up in the middle and cut the workout short by repeatedly attempting to undo my shoelaces. He's currently in the stage where he insists on following me around everywhere, and generally isn't comfortable chilling in a room on his own yet, so I have to accommodate this throughout the day.

Not only are puppies hard, getting a puppy in lock down is extremely hard. There is no way of socialising him with other people and dogs, as we can't mix with other households and he's not had his second round of jabs. We have two more weeks before he goes back to the vets, so I'm counting down the days until I can take him out for walks. He briefly met my friends dog during a social distance friendly chat, and he reacted quite well to that, so I'm looking forward to him getting to meet others.

Now I do want to talk about something that you really have to go looking for if you want information: Puppy Blues. Now I'd never heard of this before getting Knox- in my mind getting a new pup would mean sheer joy and happiness/ rainbows. The reality of this was quite different for me. He initially seemed to really struggle setting in at home, and although looking back I can see it was entirely normal, during that period I was so convinced I was doing something wrong and he wasn't happy. I spent hours trawling the information about new puppies, and there is so much conflicting advice online that I gave up in the end and went by gut feeling more than anything else. I think all those feelings were magnified by being in lock down and not being able to meet anyone and talk to them about it. Overall, it was a pretty hard week or two while I adjusted, and there definitely isn't enough information on the surface of things.

However- after adjusting to having a puppy in this house, I can honestly say I love it. There are still challenging times, but they are forgotten in the midst of his craziness and cleverness. The past few days, as I've been sat in the kitchen working on my blog he's been my little guard dog sat beside me napping away and bringing me toys to play with (as well as hoping for more food to be given to him) and he's really brighten my day.

A typical schedule for us looks like:

6-6.30 am: Wake up time 

7-10.30 am: Breakfast, then this time is split between playing and training

10.30-12 pm: Nap time. This amount varies depending on how active he has been in the morning

12ish: Dinner (happy time)

12.30- 5 pm: Knox spends this time playing, training and napping until Ollie gets home from work.

6- 12 pm: Knox will have his third meal at 6.30 and will spend the rest of the night playing and napping (puppies sleep a lot)

12 pm: Bed time! Knox sleeps straight through until the morning- this took around a week to settle down as opposed to getting up 2/3 times a night.

If you've made it this far, well done and thank you!

 Feel free to comment talking about your experiences with a puppy- I'd love to read them!

xxx

Lockdown Wishlist: Things I can't wait to do

So unless you've been living under a rock, you'll have noticed the world has gone crazy the past few months. What started as something I watched on the news with mild interest rapidly turned my world on its head, and for the past god knows how long we've all had to get used to a completely different lifestyle.

As I work in a special needs school, we responded slightly differently to the lock down than other schools. Initially, we shut our school down even before lock down was announced, due to the vulnerability of out children. After a few weeks, the setting was reassessed on how we could open safely and since then we have been operating on a rota basis, meaning there are only a few members of staff in at a time. Since lock down began, I have only been to work for one week, and am currently furloughed from my other two jobs, so I've had a lot of time to think and reflect.

So here are the top things on my list I cant wait to do (when it is safe to do so of course).

• Go and visit my Mum and Nan (and the rest of my family). I haven't seen my family properly for ages. Before lockdown there were the floods, meaning it was impossible for me to cross the river and see them. My mum doesn't drive, so she is fully reliant on me being able to drive and get her, and due to our hours worked we never seem to have time together. They are both on the vulnerable list, so while I have dropped some essentials off for them it's not the same as actually being able to go inside the house for a cuppa, or even give them a hug. As soon as it is considered safe to meet with other people again, I'll be heading there.

• See my best friend. I'm fortunate enough that she only lives five minutes down the road, so we managed to have a very socially distanced chat a couple of weeks ago while she walked her dog (and her dog could meet our new puppy). While we message each other most days, it just isn't the same as being able to sit down and have a proper chat together and to give each other a hug (there's a theme here).

• Exercise properly. This ties in with the previous point- my friend and I go to a Muey Thai class together every week, and I also go to a Clubbersize class as well as the gym. I'm really missing being able to attend exercise classes and going to the gym as this was something I really enjoyed. The first couple of weeks after lock down was announced I had started to focus on home work outs and going for an hours walk every day, but then we got pup and everything changed again. When he is allowed on walks it will be better, but at the moment its very hard to exercise at home when you have a very curious puppy trying to bite your ankles every five seconds.

• This is a much less important thing to be worrying about, but I really can't wait to be able to get my eyebrows and nails done again. I've only ever had my nails done four times in my life, and the last time was when I was nineteen. I decided a couple of weeks ago that as soon as it was safe to do so, I would treat myself to a set of nails as I get really bored and impatient doing my own. I'm really looking forward to getting my eyebrows threading again, as I tried to get it done not long before lock down was announced but the lady wasn't working, so they are long overdue a thread. In comparison to everything else, these are small things just for myself but I'm sooooo looking forward to it. Except maybe the pain of threading.

• Work. I'm one of those people who really enjoys their job, and while this year has been hard work I absolutely love it and without work I'm never quite sure what to do with myself. I've tried to help out as much as possible from home but it's just not the same. This is the longest period of time I've had away from a job since I was fifteen, so it's taken a while to adjust.

As I'm writing this, the whole of England is waiting for BoJo's speech later on, about what is happening with the lock down. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the lock down being lifted (if it is) as while it means I may be able to return to some normality, it doesn't bode well that we will be the only country in the UK to have not extended their lock down. Unfortunately, I think that even with a lifting of restrictions it's going to take a very long time for life to return back to normal afterwards.

Beauty Bay Haul

So for my first blog post in a very long time, I thought what better than to post my most recent haul from Beauty Bay. It's been such a long time since I treated my self to new make-up and skincare products, and I'm so excited to use these products.

First up, skincare bits.

Mario Badescu- Enzyme Cleansing Gel and Glycolic Acid Toner. 

Truthfully, I ordered the Glycolic Toner as I couldn't get my hands on my usual brand, and this was highly rated on BB. However, I'm really looking forward to using this to see how it compares to other brands and the benefits for my skin. I have used the Enzyme Gel before as part of their 50th Birthday set, so I already know I really like this.

The Ordinary- Squalane Cleanser, Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 and Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

I have used both the Hyaluronic Acid and the Niacinamide before, so I know these both work really well for my skin and are a useful part of my routine. I'm really looking forward to incorporating the Squalane Cleanser in my routine, as some of the reviews I have read say how good it is at removing make-up. Time will tell! 

Also included in this is the Revolution Caffeine Essence Spray- I just haven't got a photo of this! I'm still not 100% sure I'm convinced facial mists really do make a massive difference in a skincare routine like what they say they do on the bottle, but I really enjoy using a mist as if nothing else, it helps to make my face feel refreshed. Hopefully, the caffeine in this will actually help brighten up my complexion.

Next up... Make up bits!

The Ordinary Coverage Foundation (2.1P)

I know I love love love this foundation. I've used it before and it seems to really suit my skin type (oily but dehydrated) and lasts for a really long time when I'm wearing it. The only trouble with this is getting hold of it in the right shade- most places that sell this foundation always seem to be out of stock, especially in my shade so I was very happy to find this!

Florence by Mills- Like a Light Skin Tint (M090)

I'm really excited to try this skin tint- it's part of the new range by Millie Bobby Brown which seems to be aimed at a slightly younger audience than me, but while I was looking for something a little bit more lightweight than a normal foundation, this really stood out to me.

Revolution Conceal and Define Supersize Concealer (C6/ 13)

Now I have used the Conceal and Define concealer in the past and really liked it, which is what drove me to repurchase it. I hadn't initially realised I'd ordered the supersized versions, but I'm really glad I did as they run out pretty quickly. I also ordered the shade C13 as a contour shade, as this is something I've never really experimented with before. 

Nabla Brow Divine (Uranus)

This is a brand I'd never heard of before this haul. I was initially looking for a different brow product and struggled massively to find anything darker than dark blonde. When I checked this out, it had really good reviews and it being a micro pencil was a massive bonus. It was a bit of guess work trying to find the right shade, but on first impression I think I got it right.

wet and wild Mega Protein Mascara (Very Black)

So this is the first wet and wild product I've ordered. Initially I was very surprised at the size of this mascara- it is tiny! At £2.50 I wasn't expecting the world, but even so it does seem very small. I've had sample mascaras the same size as this. However, I'm not going to write it off based off size, I'll wait until I've worn it for a whole day before forming an opinion.

Overall,I'm really looking forward to using these products. There are some old favourites couples in with some brand new items and after being so disinterested in make up for so long, this was exactly what I needed to kick myself up the bum and try again.