Celebrating the Jubilee

Whether you are a royalist or not, you can't deny that the Jubilee is bringing the country together in a unique way.  I mean when else are street parties not only accceptable but commonplace?  Every commercial company seems to have cottoned on and it is not only your biscuit tins that are patriotic - suddenly everything from smoothies to Marmite (ma'mite) is covered in red, white and blue.

The local breast feeding support groups organised a picnic, (open to everyone no matter what your feeding choices).  Luckily the weather gods were being kind and the afternoon was beautifully warm.  The chosen park had enough trees to provide shelter for those blonde of hair and pale of skin, and enough open space for the sun worshippers.  In a show of community spirit, we had a shared picnic, with everyone bringing something along, and both parents and babies alike loved it.

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Cheeky Wipes Review

We made the decision to start using cloth nappies when Dylan was two months old, however it has taken us another seven months to get round to cloth wipes.  It seems silly that we waited so long, as we are doing the extra washing anyway, and Dylan was not immune to nappy rash.

We discovered Cheeky Wipes at the baby show but it was not until last month that we actually started using them.  The pack comes with everything you need for your first year of reusable wipes, all in a handy case. (The oils will run out after about 12 months but can be replaced very cheaply)  It consists of:

A fresh box

A mucky box

A fresh travel bag

A mucky travel bag

Oil for the fresh wipes

Oil for the mucky wipes

25 cloth wipes

A mesh bag

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Playing with a nine month old

I am always looking for ways to keep my nine month old entertained without spending too much money.  He has plenty of toys, but what he really loves, is household objects, or anything that I have used.  Nothing has ever been as interesting or as entertaining as a bus ticket after I have showed it to the driver, and he managed to spend almost an hour playing with a plastic disposable nappy bag (I know he shouldn't play with plastic but he loved it!) after a nappy change the other day too (A clean bag of course)

So I thought I would put together a list of ways we play with household items.

The Scarf

After a nappy change, I grab a scarf (I may have a little scarf shopping addiction) and run it over his body.  As soon as I start to shake it I can see the excitement building up and he loves it going over his face, feeling the tassles stroke his skin.  If you have a variety of scarfs, you can do it with different materials and tassle types.  It never fails to get him squealing and giggling.

The Bottle.

We have a random bottle which

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Review - Galt Playnest

The Galt playnest is a large rubber ring covered in a sensory material cover, forming a little nest to sit a baby in.  Suitable from very small children (partially inflated) through to toddlers, I think they are perfect for babies learning to sit unaided, to give them the extra support.

The play nest is brightly coloured with a farmyard theme, and has eight sensory areas around the outside, including a squeaker and a fluffy pigs nose.  As soon as I sat Dylan in it, he went straight for

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Silent Sunday 27.05.12

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Win a Taste Adventure with Plum

I told you all about our day out with Plum, and the lovely new meals they have been making.  Hopefully I got your, and your children's mouths watering.  Fancy giving them a go?

Well one lucky reader can as I have 2 pots of each Taste Adventure meal in the new range, and a fantastic 'Around the world in 80 days book' to give away!

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is fill out the simple rafflecopter form below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Next Supporter's scarf - How will you wear yours?

With the Olympics fast approaching and the Jubilee just round the corner, there has never been a better time to be patriotic.  Next have released a tribute scarf to celebrate the Olympic games and Paralympics, with all proceeds going towards supporting our British athletes.  The big question is. . . how will you wear yours?

Dylan stepped up and offered to show us how it is done.  He tried it as a neck chief/ dribble bib, proudly showing off the red white and blue.

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Fun in the Sun

The British summer has arrived, and I am never sure how long it will last.  We decided to make the most of it by spending the afternoon at the beach.  Armed with sunhats and SPF50 we strolled down and found a spot on the sand.  Dylan has been to the beach before, but as 6 month old baby in a snowsuit.  Today dressed in shorts and T-shirt we visited once again and he really got to discover the wonders.

Happiest in Mummy's arms

Too engrossed in the sand to pose

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Mummy Adventure on a Taste Adventure

Parents preparing to wean a child are faced with a multitude of questions; when is the best time to wean?  How do I know my child is ready? What foods should I start them with?  Plum baby invited us to a lovely event to find out more about their answers, and the products they have designed to make this taste adventure easier.

They make food for a variety of stages, with your stage 1 first foods which are simple combinations to get baby used to having something more solid.  Stage 2 is for babies 7+ months, and are fork mash texture, to get little jaws working in preparation for talking, and filling up little tummies with energy for mastering all those new skills.  Stage 3, which Dylan is ready for now although it is aimed at babies 10 months + is about bigger and chunkier textures, and is a final stage before they are introduced to more 'adult' foods.

Their new range of stage 3 meals are called 'taste adventures' as they are based on dishes from around the world, giving your child a varied yet balanced diet, and encouraging their taste buds to discover new flavours.  At the event, we were presented with some lovely little canapés, delicate little crisp breads with a meaty paste and light humus topping.  They were passed around and consumed by the parents as the children ate the lovely snacks that Plum had provided them.  We were later told that we had in fact been eating baby food!

They made an excellent point, how can we expect our children to eat something that we would not?  I try everything that Dylan eats, and we always try and go for the nice tasting purees (just in case he can't finish them!)  The new taste adventures went down a treat with both parents and babies, as they genuinely taste like the dishes they claim to be.

The new taste adventures range consists of 4 flavours:

-Sweet cape curry with beef

-Chickpea and chicken tagine

-Mediterranean paella and salmon

-Aubergine and lamb moussaka (my favourite)

The handy 190g pots are priced at £1.79 and available in Sainsburys and Ocado from mid June, and Tesco, Asda and Boots during July/August.  They are perfect for babies ready to explore and looking for new tastes and textures.  To find out more, check out the plum baby website

We had a lovely day out, and Dylan enjoyed playing with Oliver from Mum of three boys and Kai from Always a Mummy and we met lots of other lovely bloggers.  After meeting his Aunty Nat for the afternoon he was very tired by the time we got on the train and chilled out with his books.

Reading his books on the train journey home

Disclaimer: We were invited to a blogger event by Plum and provided with a goody bag to take home.  All thoughts and opinions are my own, and we genuinely liked these products.

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Listography - Top 5 things I love about kids

This month's listography is titled 'Top 5 things I love about kids'.  Not necessarily your own, but what we love about the little people in general, so here are mine.

1)  I love how the smallest thing can become so magical.  The very best toy I can give Dylan is not an expensive all singing, all dancing computerised whatsit, it is something I use.  When we get on the bus, it is the bus ticket that he wants, and it will entertain him all the way home.  He is just so excited to have something that I play with too!  The sheer joy on his face when we get out a pot of bubbles is priceless.

2)  I love what they can get away with wearing.  I would never get away with a tutu and wellies but on a 3 year old?  Simply adorable.  Put me in an all in one tigger suit and I am ready for fancy dress but put a baby in one and he is ready for a day out!  Grown-up clothes are so boring and tame in comparison.

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Silent Sunday 20/05/12

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Win a pair of Little Dish shoes!

The  Barnados Big Toddle, held on 23rd May  is the biggest fundraising event for under 5s.  This year will see hundreds of thousands of children toddle in a superhero themed sponsored walk.  The event is being sponsored by the lovely people at Little Dish, who are responsible for bringing you handy, healthy microwaveable meals for little people.

Little Dish are running a fab promotion, selling special packs of their chicken and butternut squash pie with a pair of toddling shoes for only £5!!!  This offer will be available in Sainsbury's from the 23rd May 2012 so make sure you  head down there to pick up yours!  I have five pairs of these funky toddler shoes to give away right here, just by following the instructions below.  They come in 3 sizes, 4/5, 6/7 or 8/9 and even come complete with a little mabel badge so make sure you let me know which size you would like if you win.

Sceptical as I was about microwavable children's meals, I was amazed at how little junk and how much goodness were actually in them,  The amount of salt is around 0.14 g per serving!  The meals look and taste amazing and are perfect as the next step in our weaning process.  Both Dylan and myself thoroughly enjoy them, and they are ever so handy when you don't have the time or energy to cook a fresh meal.

To find out more about the big toddle and how you can get involved, click here

To win your very own pair of Toddling Shoes just use the rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: Little Dish offered me the chance to give you lucky readers this giveaway and sent me some lovely little dish goodies to try ourselves.  

  

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50% Mum, 50% Dad?

So we all know that technically babies are made up of half of the mother's genes and half of the father's, but sometimes it is very hard to tell.  Since Dylan was born, we have constantly been told that he is the spitting image of his dad, and I see what they mean- they definitely have a lot in common.  It is only recently that people can see elements of me in him.

From his Dad

His hair- He was born with plenty of hair round the back of his head, and very little on top, much like his father has now.  Popular opinion says that you end up with the hair you are born with, so bald babes end up as bald old men, or wispy old ladies whilst the hairy babes are those old women with plaits down their back.   I am not sure exactly what truth is in this, but I am thinking that the baby will end up going bald from the centre out, much like the bloke.

Dylan at 5 days old with his Daddy

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Congratulations to Me!

Somehow, I have no idea how, I have managed to get myself nominated for the Loved By Parents Blogger of the Year award.  What is even more amazing is that I have made the shortlist!  Along with 4 amazing and established bloggers sits my little name.

I am over the moon to have been shortlisted, and impressed that a little newbie like me has been deemed a worthy opponent.  I have no expectations of winning but getting this far has made me do the happy dance, and encouraged me to keep doing what I love and keep writing. 

If you enjoy reading my blog and think that I deserve such an amazing award then please feel free to go ahead and vote for me (under special awards - blogger of the year - Becky)  right here.  I will love you forever and share all my virtual cakes with you.  How can you decline that offer?

There are some amazing products you could nominate while you are there, I love Tots Bots easyfits nappies for best reusable nappy, cheeky wipes for best reusable wipes,  Frugi for toddler fashion and Trunki's paddlepak for swimming accessory.  

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Silent Sunday

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Still not crawling?

This is a question I am being asked at least once a day.  So is he crawling yet?  And the answer is still no.  Whats more, I don't expect this to change any time soon.

There is nothing physically wrong with Dylan, he was sitting up and rolling at 5 months and is a perfectly happy and healthy 9 month old boy.   He just hasn't found anything worth moving for!  I have tried a little light encouragement- putting toys and/or dangerous objects just out of reach to see if he is tempted but after a little stretch and a little whinge he settles with playing with the closest toys.  And if there are no toys in reach? he says what the hell, and plays with his feet. 

I think his cloth nappies are partly to blame, not in that they limit his movement but they must make sitting on your bum that bit more comfy!  A lovely padded soft cushion that just follows you around, why would you want to move on your barely covered knees?  He is not a small baby and there is quite a lot of him to carry around, (trust me my poor arms know) so maybe he has decided it is a lot less stressful to just sit.

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Win an Experience Day!

Fancy winning yourself a £50 voucher for an experience day?    I have one to give away to a lucky reader right here.

What will you choose if you win?  If it were me, I would like something a bit different.  I love the sound of this indoor ice climbing as it is something I have never done before.  Ice crampons and an axe with one to one tuition and three centres across the uk!

But I know that many of you are mothers of young children, so maybe you just fancy a nice bit of 'me time' and something relaxing, like a pamper day or a makeover and photo shoot.  If you win, then you can pick anything you like!

To enter just follow the rafflecopter instructions:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Competition is open to residents of the UK and the prize is as stated one £50 experience day voucher.  The prize is non transferable.  The winner will be chosen at random from all valid entrants and their details will be passed on to the experience days company for them to send out the winner's voucher.  For any more details please email me at beckygower@live.co.uk


ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

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A day in the life of a nine month old

Ever wondered what goes on in a 9 month old's life?  Dylan and I took some photos today to illustrate his.

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Icandy Cherry Review

One of the most important decisions when pregnant is picking which pram your little one will be carried around in, and we spent hours deliberating and browsing to find the perfect one.  It was actually the bloke that found it first, but I fell in love as soon as I saw it.  The icandy Cherry was beautiful.  I already knew that a generic black buggy wasn't for me, and the cherry came in a range of lovely shades, my favourite being mulberry (which we have).  It had a beautiful carrycot, which looked super comfortable.  I love big traditional prams, and hated the idea of using a carseat as a replacement.

Practicality

The pushchair seat unit was spacious and comfy, and the footmuff was super soft and looked fantastic.  The fleece covered the entire seat unit, meaning that a smaller baby would not look so tiny, and would stay nice and cosy in there.  The front of the footmuff can be zipped off so you can keep the pushchair cosy without making it too warm in spring and autumn weather

The basket underneath was deceptively large, although I have found it much easier to use when the seat is facing outwards than in any other position.  It easily carries everything I need, and all my shopping goes in nicely.

One of the main reasons we chose the cherry over other icandy models such as the apple was how lightweight it is.  As we do not drive, I was going to spend a lot of time pushing the pushchair around, getting on and off buses and trains, and so an easy to manoeuvre and light to lift pram was a definite priority.  I have had no problems at all with this, and actually find it easier to get on and off public transport than our stroller!

The seat unit reclines to three different positions, and the slight bucket shape means that a sleeping baby is so comfortable and almost in a cuddle position.  Dylan grew very fast, and had to go into the pushchair quite early on, but as we had the seat fully reclined, he looked very comfortable, and people often assumed that the seat was suitable from newborn.  

Although Dylan did outgrow the carrycot at about 12 weeks, he was about the size of your average 6 month old, so it is more to do with him being extra large than the carrycot being extra small.  I would have loved it if he could have stayed in it longer however.  Because of this I was even more grateful that we had the icandy cherry, as the seat can be both forward facing and parent facing, meaning that I could still see my little baby boy as we walked around.

Appearance

One of the main things that I look for in a pushchair (I have to be honest and superficial)  is how it looks.  Offer me a fantastic pushchair in lime green and I will have to turn you down.  The icandy is a stunner, and not a week goes by without me being approached and asked what make and model I am pushing and where one can be bought from.  This is one of my favourite things and I am proud to be seen pushing it,  making sure that I take it out everyday just to show it off.

Every pushchair comes with negatives, and it would not be fair to ignore them.  The handle is not adjustable, and at 5 foot 9, I do sometimes wish that the handle was a little higher, but it has not caused me any backache, and is a small price to pay in my opinion.  Like every other similar travel system, it also comes apart into two separate parts to fold it down.  This is not an issue in the slightest for me.  As I said, we don't drive and so it is very rarely folded, and when we do fold it, it is so simple, and just as fast to do as an umbrella fold stroller.

Overall

One of the reasons we were keen to try out the icandy range is that they are British and proud to be so.  Their products are sold only through a network of retailers, and they bypass the bigger chain stores.  It feels great to be putting the money in the smaller businesses hands rather than adding to the giant corporations, and they have set prices which means you are guaranteed that nowhere else sells it cheaper.

All in all I love my iCandy Cherry, and unlike everyone else I know, have never regretted my pram choice.  I keep waiting and expecting to see something new that I prefer, but nine months since I bought it, and nothing so far!  The pram is beautiful, easy to push, lightweight, with a huge basket and extremely comfy looking carrycot and seat unit.  I would definitely recommend it!  We paid around £550 for the chassis, seat unit, carrycot and footmuff which I believe to be excellent value for this high end travel system.

This is not a Sponsored post, and I have received nothing in return I just wanted to share my love for this beautiful pram

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What to do?

I love my mum, she is such a kind, loving, wonderful person.  She will go out of her way to help anyone and everyone and rarely stops to do things for herself.  She has been kind enough to offer to have Dylan one day a week while I go to work as well, which makes my life so much easier as shift work and childcare don't go well together.

She always offers to babysit, even when we didn't even know that we want to go out, and when she does, she does our washing up.  Any of my friends will tell you that I am not a house proud woman.  I actively avoid housework and keep my house clean enough to be healthy, but not tidy enough to really have visitors.  I do the washing up when I have run out of clean items for the purpose and moving onto bottle feeding has meant that this is a lot more often than previously.

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Silent Sunday

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Babasling Review

As much as I love my pushchairs, I also love a good sling.  I have lots of friends living so close that it doesn't seem worth loading up a pushchair, when I can pop the baby in a sling and be out.  With the great British weather that we have, I find it a lot easier to hold an umbrella with Dylan in a sling than push the buggy one handed, and protect myself from the rain with the other.

The Babasling is one of the simplest baby slings to use.  I adjusted it to the right settings for me on the first use, and now I only have to pop it over my shoulder and it is ready to go.  No fiddling around tying it up while it drags on the floor, and no fiddly clips to do up. It also folds down really small and comes with a matching bag to pop it into, perfect to fit in a larger handbag or under the buggy for those occasions when the baby will only be happy being carried.

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Snap Happy Britmums

So for the month of May, I am joining in with the Snap Happy Britmums photo challenge. Everyday, they post the prompt, and I post a photo.  I love taking photos, and blogging is really encouraging me to try new things so here goes.  I will be tweeting them every day and posting my favourite ones here.

Day 1 - 1st thing in the morning

Dylan is not one of those babies who wakes up crying.  Quite the opposite in fact, he wakes up babbling away to himself, and for the first two hours of the day he is happy and content to entertain himself while I struggle to wake myself up.  I love his happy morning attitude, but have no idea where he gets it from!

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A Semi- Crunchy Mum

I heard the phrase 'crunchy mums' for the first time only last week and it has really got me thinking. ( If it was about parents liking the golden chocolaty goodness that is Cadbury's crunchie bars then I am one of those! ) Google searching comes up with the ever wonderful Urban dictionary's description

Mother who supports homebirth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, gentle discipline, etc. One who questions established medical authority; tends to be vegetarian and/or prepare all-organic foods.

I think that another way to describe a 'crunchy mum' therefore is one who attains to a natural, holisitc, organic, environmentally friendly eco life.  A modern day hippy mum.  

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