Lauras Birthday :)

No news - no work today :D - just thought I'd share my breakfast in bed. Presented by 3 boys before school, the bed became a little overcrowded, and hot-tea-drinking temporarily ranked as an extreme sport, but Happy Days.
Made more so by the gift of a super-whizz-bang new food processor (LOVE shiny new kitchen toys :D)and a Nintendo Wii (YAY!!!).

We're the first for new Bio-nappies :)

LittleStuff have the proud honour of being the very first people in the UK to try out the new Wiona Bio-nappy. Review is coming shortly on the site, but here's first impressions (thats Ella on the left there, proudly showing you her Wiona nappy...):
Soft and silky - but most important of all NO leakage!
I'm loving them - have to admit that Katy's the eco-warrior, and whilst I try and do my bit, with nappies I'm firmly in the convenient-brand-disposable range (though i do think tescos are as good as pampers...).
But I'm converted. I love the way these feel on Ella, when I take off even a bulgingly heavy full wet one in the morning her skin feels soft and smooth and dry. And not a leak is to be had, despite her wearing them for 12hrs a night.
All that, and goods for the environemnet too. Its looking like a thumbs up from us for these...

Prima Pappa Evo on a road test

We have this highchair for review - so here's first impressions (we've used it twice, Ellas just been introduced to the delights of food-that-comes-on-a-spoon):
It's well built and sturdy, and was all put together and ready to be used wihtin 5 minutes of opening the box. How practical the casters (even with brakes) are on a laminate floor remain to be seen, but so far so good.
The seat reclines nicely for Ella, who at 5mths still hasn't mastered the art of sitting up, but refused to wait any longer for some decent food (or rather, I got tired of the new 2hrly-feed demands at night form the baby who has slept through from a week old).
She seems confortable, the seat is nicely padded without being bulky, and the straps adjust enough to fit her well, but have plenty of scope for expansion (!).

The verdict on the banana was a huge yummmmm, by the way... :)

Wilkinet Winners

Our Wilkinet competition closed last week - the two lucky winners were;
Rebecca Reid from Co. Durham, and Rachael Holmes from Newton-le-Willows.
Congratulations to you both!

Bec was lovely enough to mail us today;

"My Wilkinet carrier arrived today. Can't believe I actually won!
So many thanks!
Bec Reid"

Our pleasure Bec - hope you get much use out of it, and send us a pic of it in action please!

Onya Bags

Ohhhh....
I won't spoil the site review of these.
But.
I LOVE mine!!!!
Sandra at sasaslings had a feeling we might like them. How right she was - pretty AND practical. What more do we ever ask for?

Help please - free listing for reward!

Once again, here I am, trawling the web looking for a product, and getting CROSS. When I find one, I'm going to give them a FREE listing on LittleStuff - mail me if you can help!
I'm looking for a baby nightdress. Thats all. It's not much to ask, is it? Once upon a time, we all had them. Until someone invented the popper-filled sleepsuit... I have currently have three nightdresses for Ella, one of which was mine when I was a baby, and two my sister gave me from her first baby, 18 years ago. 100% cotton, no gathering at the bottom, pretty, and SO practical.

But NO ONE sells them anymore! Ella has grown out of the two newer ones, which are narrower in the body, so I'm down to one now. The trouble is, tumble drying my sleepsuits has shrunk them, and all her 3-6mth sleepsuits are now too short. It seems silly to buy new ones for her at the age of 5mths, and the 6-9mth ones are ridiculously long.
A couple of new nightdresses would be just the ticket, I thought, especially for the summer months - no matter how much I manage to shrink the nightdress in the tumble dryer, her feet will just keep on growing right out the bottom :).

But no one sells them!

Anyone reading this - shout of you know of any! I know Cut4Cloth do them, but they're elasticated at the bottom - call me fussy, but I already have a sleeping bag, I want a nightdress! I bet you all remember them - where can i get one?!

Baby Banz Review

Baby Banz - Judith from Kiddymania suggested we try these out, convinced that we'd love them. Hmmm. I have to admit, I was sure I would be in the "well, they're okay, but a bit unnecessary" camp.
WRONG!
I LOVE these! Ella's sunglasses I'm still thinking are possibly not necessary yet and will probably just live in the car. Toby adores his, feels like a rock star in them and its a job to get them off him, so I'm thinking they'll be in use all summer.
But the hats... oh, they are something else, SO brilliantly designed!

This is Ella, clearly showing how great she thinks she looks - but more importantly how a young baby can wear this big brimmed hat without it popping off when they lie back in it. Genius design.
Oh, and Toby feeling like a rock star has to be included!
I don't need to bang on about the importance of UV protection - suffice to say that these products just do it really well... You can see the whole range on KiddyMania's Sun Shop - do go and see, because they are SO worth it! Our full review, as always, can be found on LittleStuff.

Matching Tops...

Okay, so matching tops for Daddys and babies are naff, yes??
NO!!!
I thought so, but I was SO wrong.
Babes With Babies sent us a couple of sets to try out. Firstly, the packaging was just gorgeous - felt like I'd been SO spoilt with this beautiful tissue-wrapped parcel coming in the post. The second thing you notice is the quality - these tops are really well made, thick cotton in truly lovely shades of blue (and pink on ours!).
You can read our full review at LittleStuff - but see! How great do they look??? (we can hear your 'aaaahhh' from here!) :-)

Caboodle Smart Bag - First Impression

Review coming soon over on LittleStuff for the Caboodle Smart Day bag but thought Katy's mail this morning was a good taster (I haven't tried it for myself yet...)

"Yay! I'm loving mine - used it today for the first time and it was really really good. Better than I thought it would be. I'm a rucksack-only kinda gal 'cause I like to have my hands free and bags never stay on my shoulders. However, with this baby you can strap it to the buggy (that would be the Quinny, of course) and it's fab. I also love how it stands up by itself and the lots of pockets on the inside - easier to find stuff.... and it looks really cool and luxurious too. Muchos impressed."

Pretty impressive first impression, I'm thinking...

Bambino Merino Sleep Bags

Leslie (from the Price Jones Partnership PR agency) hooked us up with some Bambio Merino baby sleep bags. Wow, these are the creme de la creme of baby sleeping bags, no doubt! Read our review at LittleStuff.

Leslie has some more products up her sleeve for us to baby-test so watch this space.

Katy

Pah....

What a DISASTROUS afternoon.
Thought I'd be sensible and combine the school run with a quick trip to Sainsburys.
Ha.
Ella loves to sit and be adored from the trolley throne. But she'd been 'off' all day, and in the fruit and veg section she was approached by a really nice lady who wanted to tickle her toes - Ella apparently didn't WANT her toes tickled - and hollered about it very loudly. She continued to grizzle or cry all the way round.... sigh...
THREE times I was asked (bear in mind Ella was wearing jeans with pink flowers embroidered on them, and a white top with a bright pink rainbow) how old HE was. This made Toby very cross, and the final straw was a lady asking him what his brothers name was - 'She's my SISTER not my brother, and her name is Ella - can't you SEE???' in that very vocal disdainful way that only a 4yr old can get away with.
Finally, we made it to the checkout, all boys still in one piece, not too much junk added to the trolley when my back was turned, Ella STILL moaning loudly.
And my card was refused.
AARGHHHHHHH!!!!
Plenty of money in the account, PIN number was correct - but card was denied.
No chequebook, and flustered brain can't think of the PIN numbers for any of the four other credit cards in my purse, husband was in the studio and not available for help.
Nothing for it but to leave the shopping and drive the 13 miles home, ring the bank, shout at the bank, listen to banks abject apology and nonplussed assurance that the card 'should' have workd (No, you think???). Thankfully husband is now home, so i leave the boys with him and head back to the store. All hail the computer age - I had visions of having to have the lot rescanned, but no. they simpky rescanned the receipt, my shopping appeared, and ai paid. Same card, same PIN - no problems. My trolley was rescued (still fully packed) from Sainsburys store chiller, and I got to go back home with shopping again.
Two and a half hours this has taken (my 'quick' shop...), it's now gone 6, Ella's managed to drift off in the car (yes, like I want her sleeping NOW...), I have done nothing for dinner...
Get home to find clean tidy house, boys all sat at the table eating, laundry all sorted and next days lunches being packed up. God bless my husband, eh?

Organix and the Soil Association Like Us :)

I've just had a great email (for us!) from the Soil Association - (it gets better, patience) - asking about our Featured Supplier slot on the homepage.
Apparently, Marie from Organix recommended us (thank you Marie!). It means so much when a really great company passes our name on. Had us smiling for days!

Stephen is in charge of setting up the Soil Association's new enterprise on WhyOrganic - which we were really pleased to be able to help with. Katy's a bit of an organic-fanatic (apart form the fact that that rhymes rather pleasingly, she really does have her very own foodie-rant soapbox, known and beloved by her friends) so naturally she was really excited about this. Organix and the Soil Association have teamed up with a freebie box of Organix goodies (£20's worth!) to anyone signing up to a family membership before the end of June - so please do go and have a look and see for yourself. There are other freebies with the membership too such as the 'Organic Baby and Toddler Cookbook' and 'Mole's Dream' - an introductory DVD for young children. And there's more! Click on this link to find out more.

There's loads of stuff on the site too, not just interesting organic info., but useful tips, recipes and games for the smalls. Go on, its fun!

NooNoo's!

I was chatting with the lovely lady from Hippins a few weeks ago, and she asked if I'd seen the new Noonoo products. I hadn't and she said "but you must!" and sent a few over for us to review.
Well, Ella nabbed the mini blanket straight out the beautiful box and I whisked the Eyepod and the Lambstails off to Katy before she saw those too.
The Noonoo range is just comfort of the highest quality. You couldn't ask for anything nicer to snuggle up to and fiddle with. We have done quite a long review on these - but we couldn't help it, we love them so much!
Ben sleeps with his Eyepod every night (have to admit I couldn't see the point of the Eyepod - but then I'm not 7 months old and apparently, in the World According to Ben, the Eyepod has a very definite and perfect place in the scheme of things). Honestly, seek these out - they are just the yummiest comforters we've seen and as Katy said in the review, are the kind of thing that'll be remembered and treasured for years.