Afternoon bath time fun with Cuddledry

Gabe in his Cuddleroar towel

We haven’t bathed the boys every day since Toby was a baby and we discovered that it dried his skin too much. For a long time now they have only had a bath once or twice a week. We used to do baths before bed but they seemed to take so long and since Toby has started school and Gabe stopped napping they are both so tired by bedtime that baths were just ending up making everyone grumpy. So for the last few months we’ve had a new routine – weekend afternoon bath time fun! Read more

Starting toddler swimming lessons with Puddle Ducks

Gabe grinning after his swimming lesson

When Toby was a baby I took him to swimming lessons for almost a year. We had some wobbles on the the whole it was really good, and it definitely gave me confidence to take him in the pool on my own when we were on holiday. But when Gabe was a baby, I also had a toddler to look after and so swimming lessons were something we just didn’t manage, and I’ve always felt a bit guilty about that. But now he’s two, and Toby is at school so we started looking around for toddler swimming lessons. Read more

Can the iPhone 8 Plus really replace my DSLR?

Can the iPhone 8 Plus replace my DSLR - I find out thanks to Three

I currently have an iPhone 6 and although the camera is good I still tend to use my DSLR for blog photos and even for Instagram pictures most of the time. But carrying a bulky DSLR around all the time is a pain and so I don’t always get the pictures I’d like. So when the fabulous people at Three sent me a shiny new iPhone 8 Plus to try out I was keen to see if the camera really was good enough to permanently replace my DSLR. Read more

Getting ready to start primary school

Toby looking super smart in his school uniform

Schools have now broken up for the summer holidays and that means it’s only six weeks until Toby will be starting in Reception. And that means just six weeks to get Toby ready to start primary school. I know lots of children are super excited about starting school – they can’t wait to get their uniform on and go off every day to learn and play and make new friends. Toby though is going to take a little more convincing!

Although he says he is looking forward to starting school, and will be joined by a few of his friends from nursery, he is still quite apprehensive about the whole thing. This seems to be manifesting itself in some pretty out of character behaviour, and this week a couple of bed-wetting incidents too. He was only four a couple of weeks ago so he’s still quite young really and I think it’s going to take quite a lot of adjusting to get ready for school. Read more

Hisense Fridge Freezer review // My American-style fridge freezer of dreams

At our old house we had separate under counter fridge and freezer and I hated them. They were too small, I had to bend down to get anything out, and once Toby worked out how to open the door I had to always be on my guard for him helping himself! When we moved I knew I wanted to get an American-style fridge freezer but I had some very specific requirements. Read more

Celebrating 35 years of Dear Zoo with Milly & Flynn

Did you know it has been 35 years since the children’s classic Dear Zoo was published? Of course I’ve heard of the book but somehow I’ve never actually read it! However, that didn’t stop me being keen for Toby and Gabe to try out some Dear Zoo toys from the lovely Milly & Flynn.

We tried some lovely wooden Peppa Pig toys from Milly & Flynn back in November so I knew before we even got them that these Dear Zoo toys would be great quality too. We were sent a wooden shape sorter, and a lift the flap puzzle for the boys to play with and as you can see Gabe couldn’t wait to get his hands on them!

Dear Zoo shape sorter and puzzle from Milly and Flynn

We’ve got a couple of different shape sorters and Gabe has just recently worked out how to use them. Read more

Introducing Shake That Weight // Giveaway

Here we go again… Yes, I am once again attempting to lose some weight. Having had two babies in the last four years, and pretty much not had a full night’s sleep in all that time I am currently about two and a half stone more than I would like to be. I know I need to change my eating habits and my attitude to food if I am ever going to lose weight and keep it off but with so much to lose I would like a bit of a kick start first. And so when Shake That Weight got in touch and asked if I would like to try their products I was happy to give it a try.

Shake That Weight is a meal replacement diet, and although I am familiar with this kind of diet and have tried them before they all work a little differently. There is a tool on the Shake That Weight website which enables you to put in your height, weight and exercise levels and they will recommend which of their plans would work best for you.

Shake That Weight Products

The tool recommended the Woman Plan for me, which is a Total Food Replacement plan. This means four Shake That Weight products a day and no ‘conventional’ food. Read more

Bluestone National Park Resort with a toddler and a preschooler // An in depth review

At the beginning of last month we were invited to stay at Bluestone National Park resort in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The last time we went on holiday was when we went to Center Parcs last May so we were well overdue a break away! So we loaded up the car, packed up the kids and set off on our mammoth drive to Wales.

This is going to be quite a long and in depth review of our stay so if you haven’t got the time to read it all now then you can watch this little video of our stay instead…

Getting there

The journey was relatively stress-free, even though it took us seven and a half hours to get there! We were coming from the north west, it takes about 15 minutes to get on the M6 at Preston from where we live and then we were off. We decided to stick to the motorways even though it would make our journey a bit longer, just because you never know when you might need to stop with two small children and we wanted the convenience of stopping at motorway services. Read more

What’s in my changing bag? // Pacapod Oban

I know some people love having lots of different changing bags but I’ve only ever had two…that is until I was sent a lovely Pacapod Oban in mocha to try out.

Pacapod Oban Mocha

The main design feature of all the Pacapod bags are the detachable ‘pods’ that they come with. The Pacapod Oban has a changer pod and a feeder pod which fit neatly inside. The pods can be unclipped from the main bag and used separately – it also means you can make extra space in the main bag if you need it.

Pacapod feeding and changing pods

The changer pod includes a folding changing mat and a small wet bag. Read more

Learning to scoot with the SmarTrike T1 Scooter

Just a boy and his SmarTrike Scooter

At three and a half Toby has had his fair share of wheeled transport. We got him a SmarTrike 4 in 1 trike for his first birthday, a sit on scooter for his second birthday, a balance bike for his third birthday… If I’m honest the second two haven’t seen much use – although Toby was full of enthusiasm he never really lasted more than ten minutes before he got fed up. I’ve seen lots of other kids his age who seem to be pros on a scooter so when we were given the chance to try the T1 scooter from SmarTrike I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to give it a try.

Just a boy and his SmarTrike Scooter

The added bonus of the T1 scooter is that is actually suitable from 15 months. With the addition of seat and adjustable handlebars it can be used as a ride on for younger children before removing the seat for scooting when your child is bigger. The scooter has two front wheels making it very stable for beginners too. Read more