Review: Feeding Time With Munchkin

I get easily excited by all the new feeding products for babies these days, with all the new innovative products being sold to make lunchtime easy as well as fun, it's hard not too! We were very lucky to have recently received some lovely feeding products from Munchkin which both kids have been testing out this time. With over 20 years in the industry Munchkin have certainly proved their popularity and can be found in a wide range of leading retailers both online and instore. The items we received were a 4 pack of  Stack-A-Bowls with snack lid, a dinosaur deco toddler plate and a pack of six soft tip spoons.

 

Munchkin soft tip spoons (6 pack)

These are suitable for use from 3 months, so for whenever you start weaning your baby, these spoons are ideal. They are rounded and soft making them gentle on baby's gums. The long handle makes them easy to reach the bottom of jars or containers of baby food, whether its homemade or shop-bought and each pack contains six different bright vibrant colours making them attractive to your baby. I've always found with both of mine that they knew it was dinner time as soon as they spotted the spoon, so the bright colours reaally help make them stand out. Although they are advertised as weaning stage spoons that doesn't mean they are limited to just babies, Gracie has been using them too for her yoghurt and cereals and has had no problem picking up food with them as the tip is fairly sized.

Dinosaur Deco Toddler plate

These are suitable from 6 months, so when you start being more adventurous with textures and introducing snacks. The plate has three sections, one large and two smaller sections, this is to encourage healthy eating habits. They come in four different designs suitable for both boys and girls and there are matching bowls also available. I've recently started giving Zach more snacks to encourage him to try different textured foods, I've been using this plate to put a few different options on for him to pick at and he is loving being trusted with a plate! I usually just stick them on the tray for him. Of course Gracie could't be left out and as the plate is new and exciting she's also been using it for her dinners.I would definitely say the plate is suitable for both babies and toddlers, especially when trying to teach babies to use a plate.

 

 

Stack-A-Bowls with snack lid (4 pack)

These are also suitable from 6 months. The set includes 4 x 7oz bowls with spill proof lids and 1 snack catcher lid. These are great as you have two different functions for them they can be used to store food and keep it fresh with the tightly sealed lids or they can be used with the snack catcher lid, which is great for out and about if your child is picking at food and you don't want them to tip the contents everywhere. The lid is a lot softer than I expected making it perfect for little hands to get in and out. Zach hasn't quite realised how to do it yet! but Gracie has been helping him and can get into it perfectly. Although by helping she's also been sneakily stealing his snacks. It's a good job he loves his big sister or she'd be in big trouble!

 

 

Disclaimer:

We were sent the items featured free of charge for review purposes but all opinions are completely my own.

ODEON Newbies- Taking babies to the movies

This week I took Gracie and Zach to the cinema for the first time. I had never done this before incase they didnt like it or made too much noise. It is very rare that I get to go see a new film at the cinema in fact its rare I get to do anything child free. There are many parents that don't have help with childcare so feel that they can't do the things they like to do.

Well my friend text me and asked me if i'd like to go to the 'newbies' thing to watch 'The Great Gatsby' with the kids. How could I say no to a few hours watching Mr Dicaprio on the big screen?! Until this week I hadn't heard about the ODEON Newbies scheme. ODEON Newbies is exclusively for parents and guardians with new babies. You can watch current film releases with your little ones and sit back and enjoy the latest blockbusters - without worrying about them making noise. The volume in Newbies screenings will be slightly quieter and the lights will be raised more than usual, creating a more calming environment for you and your baby and making it easy for you when you are rummaging through your change bag! The screenings are held weekday mornings and all films will be certificate 12A or lower. Tickets are priced as normal with babies going for FREE!

It was lovely to get out and do something different and finally watch a film I wanted to see before it comes out on DVD. Even though it was a long film Gracie felt so grown up sitting in a big seat watching a 'big dvd' and was so well behaved. It was also nice knowing that if your baby was to get upset you wouldn't be being a nuisance. Not that I had to worry Zach slept through the majority of the film and only woke for a bottle and some snacks.

I'm not sure if it is all ODEON cinemas that take part but there is a list of all partcipating cinemas on the website. It's definitely worth looking at if you have a baby or preschooler and want to get out and see a good movie. I'm definitely glad i've now found it and the £5 I paid for a morning out for the three of us was money well spent. 

Review: Personalised Peppa Pig Book

As long as I can remember Gracie has been a huge Peppa Pig fan! she has a Peppa bedroom and lots of Peppa toys, clothes and accessories. When Penwizard offered me a personalised book to review, I was so excited to create it and give it to Gracie!

First of all I had to make the book on the penwizard website. I expected this to take a long time but infact took just minutes! All I had to do was pick which book I would like to personalise, I chose Peppa Pig Playgroup Book Once I had chosen the book it was time to do the personalisation. First of all you choose your childs gender and hairstyle, then you have options to change the hair/skin/ eye colour and you can also add glasses if your child wears glasses. You then type in your childs full name and choose  whether you would like the book to say playgroup/preschool/nursery/school and that is it!  I chose nursery as Gracie will be going to nursery in september so thought it fitted perfectly. You can add an optional personalised message on the first page if you like, I didn't only because I wasn't sure what to say, would be great if the book is a gift though as you can say who it is from so they always remember who bought it.

The book arrived just two days later and it is even better than I could have imagined! Gracie was so excited to see she had a new Peppa book so you can imagine her reaction when I told her the little girl on the front was Gracie. That evening she was so excited to go to bed so we could read her new story book. The story was a lot longer than I thought it would be, which of course was a good thing. It wasn't too long to be boring but also wasn't too short like many of her other books. She loved feeling involved in the story with Peppa and her friends and has read the story daily since we received it. It's lovely to see her going to bed so happy every night. I'm already planning on buying her the party book for her birthday.

These books would make the perfect gift for any young child and are just £14.99. I know that sounds expensive for a book but I would definitely pay that for such a special book, the smiles make it worth every penny!

You can purchase this book along with a selection of other lovely books at www.penwizard.co.uk
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Disclaimer
we were sent the book featured free of charge for review but all opinions are my own.

Finally Dummy Free!

This past week we managed to do something I thought would never happen... well not for a long time anyway. Gracie has always loved her dummies and has used them as a kind of comforter. She would always have one in her mouth and others hidden in various hiding places around the house!

For a long time i'd been listening to family members moaning about her still having a dummy but had ignored it as it made her feel happy and safe. If she was ever scared or upset all she wanted was her dummy but now that she is 28 months and preparing to go to nursery in september it made sense to start planning to get rid of it.

After reading a thread on facebook which had lots of tips to help remove a child's dummy from parents that have tried and tested, I decided to give it a go. If i'm honest I didn't expect it to work but was willing to try. The next morning when Gracie woke up she accidentally left her dummies upstairs so I decided it was all systems go! When she realised she didn't have one and asked for it I told her that the fairies had taken them to give them to the little babies like Zach. She seemed to like this explanation but then asked a lot that morning for her dummy. Each time I told her the same story again and she seemed happy for a while. After spending the whole morning without one I told her the fairies would buy her a present if she was a big girl without her dummy which got her very excited. She spent the rest of the afternoon saying Tinkerbell was going to buy her a present.

The day was pretty successful but my next worry was bedtime, she had never gone to bed without her dummy before so I decided if she asked that I would tell her the story again but if she got very upset I would let her have it at night time. Night time came and surprisingly I only had to tell her the story once and she went to sleep with no problems and not a sound all night.

The next morning she asked for her dummy once and that was it after I told her the fairy story one last time we haven't heard anything since. She hasn't even tried to steal Zach's!

So thats one thing down. Next is potty training wish me luck!

Ecover: Discover the message in our bottle

Since having kids I have become much more aware of how everything we do impacts on the environment. One day we will be gone leaving behind our children and grandchildren and I would like to think that we will be leaving them behind to the best possible future for them. I recycle all of our cardboard and plastics, I use cloth nappies and I try to use environmentally friendly products wherever possible. This is where Ecover come in and their pledge to clean up the planet one bottle at a time.

''The Pledge
We pledge to constantly innovate, evaluate and future proof our products; from the ingredients we choose, the processes we use to the bottles in your home.
We're hooked on plastic - future proofing our bottles with the clever mix of Plant-astic, Recycled Plastic and reclaimed Sea Plastic will set new standards in packaging, closing the loop in everyday recycling making it the easy choice for you.
Our pledge to you is that we will never stand still when it comes to sustainability.

Philip Malmberg, Ecover CEO''

 

 

Cleaning The Seas: One Catch At A Time
Ecover are working with Waste Free Oceans (WFO). An initiative committed  to taking plastic out of the sea and bringing it back to land for recycling and sorting. They then take it one step further by turning it into recyclable packaging. By removing this plastic the seas become cleaner, the fish healthier and it reduces the chances of the plastic breaking down in the water and finding its way into the food chain which could be very harmful.

Plant-astic
Ecover introduced a green plastic made from sugarcane, which is 100% renewable, reusable and recyclable. Plant-astic reduces the need for fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and a scarce resource.

Recycled Plastic
By recycling and recovering packaging material, fewer raw materials are used, reducing waste sent to landfill and the impact on the environment.

The whole of Ecovers plastic bottle is made up of plant-astic, recycled and sea plastic making it more environmentally friendly. The infographic below shows you more about the 'message in our bottle' scheme. It is definitely worth a read. If we can all do our bit for the environment by buying green products we can all make a difference.
 

Cleaning the seas, one bottle at a time. Visit The-Splash for more information and to read our pledge.


Disclaimer:
 In return for this post Ecover are sending me a personalised large bottle of their washing up liquid as a thank you gift. I am posting this as it is something I feel is important and any opinions expressed in the post are my own.

Proud Mummy Moment: Crawling

For a few weeks now Zach has been able to pull himself into the crawling position and even mastered the art of crawling backwards perfectly! Well today he completely suprised me by getting himself up and crawling forward properly! No army crawl or forward shuffling like I expected to start with he just got up and went. Now is the hard part, I forgot what it was like to have a baby crawling around getting into everything they shouldn't have until today but I couldn't be more happy!

Returning to work

Zach is almost 8 months now. I've been lucky enough to have been on maternity leave since August but with my maternity pay finishing next month I need to plan my return to work. It is not easy to return to work after having a baby.

Firstly theres the seperation anxiety, you carried that little life around inside you for around 9 months, you then look after them day in day out until you one day return to work. For some returning to work is a choice, for me I have no option we can't afford to pay our bills on one wage. I would love to stay at home until both kids are at school or even find a well paid job I could do from home that would bring in enough money to put food on the table and keep the house warm.

Secondly, childcare can be a massive issue. Childcare can be so expensive especially for more than one child. To get a full time day job it would cost me all my wages to have someone look after them taking me back to square one. This isn't just a problem for me but one for a large number of parents. With the rise of the retirement age people can no longer turn to the children's grandparents for help with childcare. When I was younger me and my brother, along with our cousins, would all be looked after by my Grandma while are parents were at work. My babies will be working themselves before my parents retire! With no family or friends available to help with childcare me and Andy must work around each others hours so that one of us can look after the kids at all times. We manage to make this work but its at an expense.