• 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,…

  • flexible working - motherhood - parenting - post-pregnancy - pregnancy - weight

    Losing the baby weight

    Little Man is now 10 months old and I have arranged an interview with my employer to discuss flexible working. Today I went shopping to buy some new work clothes and I came away empty handed. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is struggling to lose their baby weight. I wasn’t too worried about my weight while I was pregnant and happily bought lovely maternity clothes and lots of cake. My weight began to drop off after I gave birth and a couple of months after my son was born I packed away my maternity clothes and slipped…

  • baby - parenting - social media

    Operation baby towel

    Have you heard of Cuddledry? It was set up in 2007 by two mums – Helen and Polly – after much faffing about cutting up sheets and playing with pretend babies. Helen and Polly went on Dragons’ Den, were offered money, but turned it down. Since then, they have done a fantastic job of building the company up from scratch, and are now a small team of women, all working from home flexibly round their families. The brand has grown from their fantastic towels (we have one!) to bathrobes, poncho towels and very cool looking bath mats. Cuddledry are up…

  • Chinese New Year crafts - Miffy Mums - parenting

    Happy Chinese New Year!

    February 3 marks the start of the Chinese New Year – and this year is the Year of the Rabbit. To celebrate, Miffy’s author Dick Bruna has designed a series of new Miffy images.  In a lovely little twist, Dick Bruna was actually born in the Year of the Rabbit, back in 1927! Illustration Dick Bruna © Mercis bv 2011 Miffy is of course one of the most famous rabbits of all time. Just for fun I thought I would list the top ten most famous bunnies (in order of creation): • The White Rabbit – featured in Lewis Carroll’s…

  • baby - eating - parenting - reviews

    Ella’s Kitchen organic baby and toddler foods

    Little Man was recently sent some delicious products from Ella’s Kitchen to try. We’re a big fan of organic food and Ella’s Kitchen makes 100% organic foods as certified by the Soil Association. The products have nothing else added, no sugar or salt, no additives, no hydrogenated fat, no GM and nothing artificial. We tried a selection of Stage 2 baby food – including Edward’s favourite, chicken casserole with rice (the others didn’t last long enough for me to remember their names) Cooking sauces – the Italian One and the Indian One Baby Brekki – banana, mango, raisin ‘n’ prune…