• baby - competition - parenting - reviews

    Baby’s First Year: A Parent’s Guide

    *****Competition has now closed and the winner has been notified***** Shanta Everington is the author of ‘The Terrible Twos: A Parent’s Guide’ and she has just published her second book, ‘Baby’s First Year: A Parent’s Guide’, which has just been published (available from Amazon, Need2Know Books and all good bookstores). Shanta kindly agreed to answer some questions. What inspired you to write this book? When my son was born five years ago, like most new parents, I didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I read a lot of parenting books but none of them really spoke…

  • parenting - pushchairs - reviews

    Gurgle magazine

    There’s a new glossy magazine aimed at modern mum’s just like me and you. It’s called Gurgle and available exclusively in Mothercare stores, Early Learning Centres, or via subscription. So what do you get for the princely sum of £2? I was sent the first copy to review and I loved it. It is packed full of advice on parenting and tips for family life, fashion must-haves, food, travel and celebrity news. I had a good read from cover to cover and will be passing it round my circle of mum friends. Things I liked: appealing front cover fresh layout…

  • days out - parenting - The Gallery

    The Gallery: trees

    The theme for The Gallery had me thinking and looking back through my archives for pictures of trees. My son is obsessed by them and spent the first few months of his life sitting in his pushchair and watching the trees above him. However. before I found a suitable picture I remembered what my husband did at the weekend. We love geocaching and find it a great way to get out and about. Last weekend we went out for a walk round Ealing and bookmarked a couple of geocaches. One of them was in an unusual place. Yes, that’s my…

  • baby - baby products - competition - parenting

    Giveaway: Earth Friendly Baby Goodies

    We were recently sent some Earth Friendly Baby goodies to try and we are able to offer you the chance to win five products from their range. We tried the mandarin bubblebath (which smells divine) and left Edward’s skin smooth and clean. We also used the Daily Care Cream which helped moisturise Edward’s skin. It can also be used to aid prevention of nappy area problems and minor skin irritations. Earth Friendly Baby is a pure and natural range of affordable, everyday toiletries offering everything mum needs at great value prices. This award winning, eco-friendly range is crammed with ingredients…

  • baking - blogging - fun - parenting - playing - reviews

    Closer to Nature hygiene range

    Tommee Tippee, well know for their feeding and weaning products, have just launched a new Closer to Nature hygiene range and Edward and I were invited to attend the launch at Maggie & Rose. Their new hygiene range has been designed to make routine feeding easier through a range of products which help keep feeding equipment and the environment clean. The range consists of a hand serum, Steri-fluid, surface spray and soother, teat and teether wipes. All of the products (except the wipes) contain Byotrol  – a new anti-microbial technology which forms a barrier to germs which lasts for hours.…

  • Cooking - parenting - reviews

    Romance on a school night

    Despite being on maternity leave I’m sad that this year’s annual celebration of romance falls on a ‘school night’. We’ll be staying in, and after putting Little Man to bed, we’ll be cooking up a romantic storm in the kitchen. If you want to enjoy a bottle of bubbly this Valentine’s Day but still have a clear head for work the next day (like my husband) then why not try a bottle of Shloer? Shloer uses only the best ingredients to create its delicious non alcoholic sparkling drinks. Available in White Grape, Red Grape, Rosé, Apple and White Grape, White…

  • Bugaboo Cameleon - Maclaren Quest Sport - parenting - pushchairs - Quinny Caster - Quinny Zapp Xtra

    Pram junkie

    When I was pregnant I naively thought that I’d have one pram which would see us from birth to the toddler years. At 10 months Little Man has three pushchairs: Bugaboo Cameleon, Quinny Zapp Xtra and a Maclaren Quest Sport. Looking back through some old pictures I realised that I must have inherited this pram lust from my mother. In my first year I’m photographed in a Silver Cross,  a Maclaren and another pram (name long forgotten). I love this photograph of me in my Maclaren in 1977. Apparently my mum bought it from Mothercare for £9.99 in 1973 when…

  • parenting - reviews - swimming

    Swim Baby Swim iPhone app

    We were recently asked if we would like to take a swimming course with Anne Hawley who is widely recognised as the pioneer and expert of infant swimming and has been in the profession since 1974. Her reputation and lifelong commitment to safely swimming infants has resulted in her distinct, innovative and unique method of swimming babies being copied all over the world. Anne teaches at locations across London, Surrey and West Sussex. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take up the offer of swimming lessons but luckily for us they have released an iPhone/ iPad app called Swim Baby Swim,…