Aldi bedding review: I’m a bedding snob
There’s been a lot of bed hopping going on at our house. With me working in London on three consecutive [...]
Baby swimming lessons: are they worth it?
It’s a good question, because at around £13 per class they’re not cheap. Although I took BB swimming regularly when [...]
Mountain Buggy Protect review: it’s amazing what you can hold between your teeth
Maxi Cosi better watch its back. Mountain Buggy has entered the travel system market with a new group 0+ baby car seat from birth to 13kg (pictured). And boy, is it light. In case I haven’t harped on about it enough, we live in a fourth floor flat, which is one thing when you’ve got an independent three year old who can walk, but quite another when you’ve got said independent three year old AND a baby. Which is asleep in the car seat. And shopping. And wellington boots the independent three year old discarded in the hallway downstairs…you get the picture. It’s amazing what you can hold between your teeth. […]
Aldi and chinos aren’t words you’d expect to find in the same sentence
Aldi and chinos aren’t words you’d expect to find in the same sentence. Misery Guts and chinos aren’t either, more’s the pity. He’s more of a Levis man, but somehow the artfully dishevelled look on the mannequin in the shop translates to simply dishevelled owing to the fact he doesn’t iron anything. (One could argue this is partly my fault, as I avoid it at all costs. Frankly, life’s too short). So when Aldi asked us to review their new Men’s Classics range, which went into stores on January 22, I thought why not? […]
I’ve been giving our baby drops of something I don’t EXACTLY know what is from a bottle I bought on the internet…
After weeks of nightmare evenings and nights with Little B wreathing around in discomfort I’ve started to give him something to help with the griping pain. I had hoped the phase would pass without third party help, but I couldn’t stand it any longer. I visited Boots but came away empty handed when I read the ingredients in the likes of Infacol and Gripe Water – there are more E numbers than you can shake a stick at. Rather than giving him something to treat the symptoms (mega wind, gas, tummy as tight as a drum) I want to get to the root of the problem, so am starting with a probiotic to try and balance out whatever’s going on in his tummy. I opted for BioGaia drops after a reader kindly recommended them, although rather than paying the full £14.99 I bought them from eBay for under £10 instead. […]
Bedside cribs: a ‘safe’ co-sleeping solution?
At just six weeks old Little B has outgrown the moses basket. Not that he slept in it much anyway, preferring to sleep in our bed spread-eagled between us. But while this would send him into a deep, peaceful sleep, it of course meant I slept terribly, worried one of us would roll onto him, accidently pull the duvet over him or that he would shimmy himself against one of the pillows in his sleep. The health visitor advised putting him on my side of the bed rather than between us because as his mum I naturally sleep more lightly, but that’s hardly a long-term solution for the next few months when he’s too small to go into a cot in his own bedroom. So, after a bit of research, I think I’ve come up with the answer: a bedside crib (pictured). There are lots on the market, some as much as a couple of hundred pounds, but we went for the cheapest, Chicco’s Next2Me (£149.99), given he will have outgrown it by six months old. Even Misery Guts, who was predictably sceptical about buying yet more paraphernalia, admits it’s a nifty bit of kit. (You can hire other brands through the NCT, but the waiting list was until the middle of January, so not much help). […]
Playmobil crane review: beats Cayla and Frozen hands down
Forget Cayla the talking doll or anything Frozen related this Christmas: a Playmobil crane beats both hands down. The remote controlled crane has been the top toy in our house ever since it arrived a few weeks ago, and not just for the little kids: the big kids love it too. While BB and her friends have been using it to hoist Polly Pocket up and down (pictured), visitors including BB’s uncle and granddad haven’t been able to resist seeing what they can pick up with its moving plastic hook either. At £59.99 it’s not exactly a stocking filler, but I think it definitely makes the grade in terms of longevity. It’s got a little Playmobil man in a top box ‘operating’ the crane (pictured) and a hand held remote control (also pictured) which can make the crane itself move in a 360 degree circle and the pulley go up and down, left and right. […]
Phil & Ted’s Dot double buggy review: walking is getting rather tricky
I thought the three year age gap between BB and Little B would eliminate the need for a double buggy. I was wrong. Although BB will quite happily walk the couple of miles to Tesco and back, anything further and she (quite rightly) starts complaining, which given that we don’t have the car during the week and go everywhere on foot is making life rather tricky. So when MadeForMums asked me to review Phil & Ted’s latest Dot double buggy (pictured), I jumped at the chance. The double-decker style forward-facing Dot is designed to hold two children from birth to five years old, with the younger on the bottom and the older on the top. Marketed as Phil & Ted’s ‘most compact’ double pushchair to date, its 59cm wide slimline design makes it no wider than a standard stroller. And with a seat height of 65cms the Dot boasts one of the tallest seats on the market, although the main seat is rather snug and I would say there’s only limited growing room left. I’d be surprised if BB would fit into it when she’s five. […]
If someone had told me this is what lunchtimes would involve, I wouldn’t have believed them
She might have just turned 3, but BB is itching to start school. She asks me daily what colour her uniform will be (I don’t know because it depends which over-subscribed school we actually manage to get her into), who will collect her and pick her up (again I don’t know because it depends how far away said school is) and can she go to the school in Time For School on Cbeebies (at last a question I can actually answer – no.) Being an August baby by this time next year she will be in reception class, but until then I’ve got to come up with ways to satisfy her school curiosity or suffer death by questioning. So when aplaceforeverything.co.uk asked me to review LEGO’s latest lunch box set, launched to celebrate the release of the LEGO movie, I had an idea: we could start, like school, having ‘packed lunch’ at home (pictured). This is a brilliant idea, even if I do say so myself. I realise it’s a total waste of cling film, but the look on her face as she unwraps each item and says ‘wow’ is worth it (also pictured). […]
Pregnancy after multiple miscarriage: hello third trimester
Week: 28 Waist: 37 inches (-0.5 inches…again!) Feeling: Coming down with a cold, worst luck The quest for decent maternity clothes continues. When I was expecting BB in 2011 there was a plethora of inspiring ranges to choose from, and I remember having to rein myself in to curb the spending. What’s changed? Last month I ordered four tops from H&M – nothing fancy, several vests and a ‘smart’ top – but the fabric was so thin it was virtually transparent so I sent them straight back again. Instead I’ve spent the last few weeks in a (non-maternity) maxi dress from Peacocks, which is just the ticket in this hot weather. Sadly this isn’t going to see me into autumn though, and it was while pondering this that I stumbled upon what actually appears to be a nice selection of affordable outfits to house my growing bump. And you’ll never guess where from: Asda. That’s right, you did read correctly. […]
What’s wrong with a big pot yoghurt poured into a bowl and eaten with a spoon?
It’s been almost 10 years since Ella’s Kitchen pioneered the squeezable ‘pouch puree’ baby food concept and despite claims the format is no match for real fruit/veg and is no substitute for a ‘proper meal’ blah blah blah it’s fair to say the market is now awash with copycat brands. Which is why I was surprised to discover that gourmet yoghurt brand The Collective’s new Suckies are the first fresh branded yoghurt pouches on the market for kids. You’d think Petits Filous or someone would have thought of it before – why has it taken so long? Needless to say BB’s eyes lit up when a polystyrene box full of samples landed on our mat for the purposes of review this week. Like Ella’s Kitchen, Suckies come in brightly coloured pouches which became instantly referred to by BB – and no doubt countless toddlers – as ‘the red one’ and the ‘green one’ as opposed to their proper names. […]
Perhaps ‘Two Kitchens Kate’ simply wants to be a wife and mother
If you could have two kitchens, a fully staffed and automatically stocked one with catering standard equipment and a ‘private’ one for when you fancy preparing a meal in bare feet without a professional chef peering over your shoulder, would you?I ask because I’m becoming increasingly incensed by reports of ‘Two Kitchens Kate’ at 1a Kensington Palace. Apparently the Cambridge’s have put in an all-singing all-dancing kitchen, which presumably palace protocol dictates they have, and which ‘scandalously’ cost £170,000 of taxpayers’ money (don’t get me started: it’s generally agreed the monarchy bring in as much tourist revenue as they cost, an industry which supports one in 12 jobs. And I bet the Cambridge’s are responsible for a large stake in that. Of course the methodology varies, but their wedding was said to boost London’s economy by £107m while the birth of Prince George boosted consumer spending by $383m according to Britain’s Centre for Retail Research) plus a smaller one for ‘Kate’s’ – why oh why does such sexism still wheedle its way into the British media? – own personal use.I don’t blame her. What if she fancies making Prince George’s tea herself, and actually wants to be the one to scrape the peas off the wall and floor afterwards? […]
Days out in East Sussex: Drusillas Park
With the weather hotting up we’ve been making a concerted effort to explore the often-overlooked attractions right on our doorstep [...]
Pregnancy after multiple miscarriage: it’s time to dress the bump
Week: 20 Waist: 35 inches Feeling: Optimistic with spells of nausea There’s no getting away from it: at 20 weeks pregnant it’s time to dress the bump. So far, being superstitious and fearing that buying maternity clothes will make something go wrong, I’ve cautiously bought a three-pack of maternity vests from New Look (pictured), but that’s not going to cut it for much longer. I’m literally busting out of everything else that involves a waist. A trip to both Mothercare and New Look left me decidedly underwhelmed – think dull coloured tops (Mothercare) and poor quality fabric (New Look). And I’m simply not prepared to spend Isabella Oliver-level cash on clothes I’ll wear for less than six months. Where are the hot pink tees and empire-line linens of my imagination? So I’m going to do exactly what I did when I was expecting BB: cover my bump with a maternity vest, stick to low rise jeans and take to the internet to find non-maternity clothes that can fit over the top. And I’m particularly pleased with one little find: Joe Browns. […]
‘He was standing on the loo proudly displaying his willy’
We’ve been on a trip down memory lane in our house lately. It started when BB’s granny gave her a 1984 copy of I Want To See The Moon by Louis Baum for Christmas (pictured), a fave when I was growing up. If you don’t know the story, it’s about a little boy called Toby who wakes up in the night and wants to see the moon, but of course it’s behind the clouds. In some ways it’s very PC: there’s no sign of the mum (I always assumed she was at work) and the dad is the one who takes Toby out of his cot to the loo before making him some hot milk. But at the same time it contains illustrations you just wouldn’t get in a kids book today, like Toby standing on the loo proudly displaying his willy, also pictured. (‘You wouldn’t get away with that today!’ a male friend said when he saw it this weekend). […]
