Thursday, 4 April 2013

Help! How do you do it?!

Well we are approaching our baby blue turning 1 month old. My 3 year old has been really good with everything and we are doing well! I have had no time to write any blog posts though, I have to seize every moment when baby is in his cot to clean, make Squiggles dinner, get those baby grows in the wash, and read some of those stories I have been promising all day!

I'm not the first person with a blog to have more than one child so it clearly can be done! How do you do it? Tips please!

I am writing this while feeding baby so maybe it's a case of utilising my iPhone and multitasking. Watch this space I'm hoping to write a few posts next week and get back in the swing of things...

Wish me luck and excuse any spelling mistakes, posts may be written at 3am! X x

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Daddy's back to work

So yesterday was our first day without Daddy around to help as his paternity leave came to an end. We have got used to having him around and hanging out as a family so it was a sad day. I was all ready for chaos to commence but yesterday went shockingly smoothly!

I got showered and dressed, made breakfast and actually ate it together. I was pretty chuffed with this, I even managed to get some mascara on me! We cheated in the middle and went to Nana's house for lunch but I managed to get her to nursery on time. Baby was just such a good boy and slept and chilled at all the right moments. I even got them both bathed with Squiggle in bed and dinner on (even if it was a pizza) before Daddy got home. Small things maybe but I was pretty darn pleased with myself.

I think it may have been a fluke though, I have got NOTHING done today, every time I pop baby in his cot his wakes up after 5 minutes. Yes this is more how I remember things... I just managed to squeeze in a sandwich...

Right I am about to try and get him back in his cot, quiet please!

Monday, 25 March 2013

Tommee Tippee launches the Perfect Prep Machine at the Excel Baby Show

A few weeks back I was invited to the Baby Show to find out more about Tommee Tippee's launch of an exciting new product. Unfortunately I was feeling very heavily pregnant and just at the end of my last week commuting I just couldn't face travelling anywhere and so I wasn't able to attend. They very kindly sent me through the information though and as a mum with a new baby the product is very much in my interest!

The big reveal was 'The Perfect Prep Machine' and apparently received a great response at the show. It is a clever machine designed to prepare the 'perfect bottle in under 2 minutes'. Breast feeding is going well with my son but it wasn't the case with my daughter. She had to be given bottles in hospital and although she got the hang of feeding eventually it was never easy and I continued to supplement her with bottles throughout. My husband and I were just looking back and saying how much hassle it all was, especially at night, so perhaps this really would make life easier?



If you are interested, take a look at the press release below:

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Specially designed to make preparing bottles* easier, quicker and more accurate, this clever device makes a fresh bottle at just the right temperature in less than 2 minutes - so you have the extra peace of mind knowing your baby’s bottle will be perfect every time. The perfect prep™ machine:

(1) filters your tap water
(2) delivers a small “hot shot” to kill any bacteria in the feed and ensures the formula dissolves quickly and easily
(3) dispenses the correct amount of water to make up your feed

…which means the bottle is ready to serve at body temperature - in under 2 minutes!

tommee tippee® Global Marketing Manager, Katy Pigg comments,

“If you make the move from breast milk to formula milk, it can be a challenge. It isn’t always easy to know if you have the bottle at the right temperature or dilution, but the perfect prep™ machine gives you the peace of mind that the water has been filtered, the bottle isn’t too hot and that the dilution is consistent - and what’s more, it does all of this in under 2 minutes, which is great when your baby needs feeding quickly– such as in the middle of the night!”

The perfect prep™ machine is part of the closer to nature® range from tommee tippee® and is designed to fit most bottle shapes and sizes. It is available from the first week of May in Babies R Us and online at Amazon, and costs £99.99.

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Alphablocks Phonics First Steps DVD review

We were sent an Alphablocks DVD to review from Abbey Kids and I couldn't wait to receive it as I am a big fan of the show. We are a bit late with this review due to the distraction of the arrival of baby brother but my 3 year old has been enjoying this a lot over the last few weeks! It's provided a great distraction for my daughter for those inevitable moments when mummy has been a little bit busier than usual... and as she's learning while she's watching I am not left with the guilt factor!


If you haven't seen Alphablocks before, it is a fantastic learning cartoon which helps children learn phonics. The Alphablocks really make learning letter sounds fun and show children how to put sounds together to form words. It is all done in an entertaining way so kiddies don't even realise they are learning, which is the best way I think!

Each Alphablock character is a different letter and makes it own sound in clever ways, for example letter 'm' is a chef who likes to say "mmmmmmmmm" and 'd' loves to "d d d d d drum". The characters use a lot of aliteration when they talk to really hammer in their individual letter sounds. When the letters come together and hold hands they each make their sounds and the join them up to form the new word. My daughter will really happily sit and watch it and it really helped her pick up her letter sounds at a young age. She's 3 and a half now and is starting to put her sounds together (to mummy's amazement) to read simple words like dog, cat... and activities like this really help.

Phonics didn't exist when I was learning to read, so a lot of parents won't really know how to get their children started on it. I have an ex-primary school teacher mum who pointed out to me early on I was doing the sounds all wrong when teaching my daughter the alphabet! The DVD includes a Parents Guide which gives some helpful tips.

The DVD is fantastic and has episodes a plenty, you get a really long run time so you really won't feel short changed. The episodes are great fun and Squiggle would happily watch the whole thing in one go but I have been breaking it down into a few episodes at a time to help her take it all in. A couple of the episodes even had her laughing out loud, and she'll happily watch her favourites over and over.


The DVD also comes with a great poster which she has put up in her bedroom and is a great way to introduce little games and practice sounds away from the programme.

We will be getting a lot more use out of this DVD for a while but I will eventually be buying the next volume in the series to keep up the good work!