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Monday 29 September 2014

Mama Natural **REVIEW**

I recently came across a fantastic website called Mama Natural.


If you are pregnant, about to give birth or have a baby you really need to check this website out!
 Mama Natural is a source of Natural, Organic and Practical products for Mama and Baby. All Mama Natural products have been carefully selected and grouped into recommendations for each stage of the baby journey – Bump, Birth & Baby.


One of the lovely Brands Mama Natural stock are Frugi. 

We were sent 

Frugi Lovely Babygrow - Flower Power Owls



This babygrow is such great quality! The material is lovely and soft and the colours are vibrant and bright. Frugi have lots of wonderful, unique and stylish designs and Mama Natural stock lots of these. 

We were also sent 


As you may have seen on my blog I love baby wearing with Peanut. I love the closeness we get from it and using the Boba made baby wearing peanut a lovely experience! It also gives us a hands free options for things like the school run! The Boba is so soft and easy to wrap with, it comes with easy to use instructions and shows you how to easily wrap with it. The Boba wrap comes in a variety of colours on the Mama Natural website including Black, Grey, Khaki, Purple and Navy as shown above.

 Mama Natural also stock other carriers and wraps such as the Moby Wrap, Boba 4G, Beco soleil and Beco Gemini. 

Also included in the products we were sent were  range of 


Mama Natural stock a wide range of organic health and well being products including the Shea Mooti  range of products. Firstly these smell AMAZING! As well as the individual pots and bottles of Shea Mooti products Mama Natural also offer Shea Mooti gift boxes which would make perfect gifts for new or expectant mums, The head to toe wash and Body balm both have a lovely scent to them and leave skin feeling lovely and soft for ages after use.
One of the products I received was a bottle of Mamas Belly Rub, Stretch Mark Oil. I really suffered from stretch marks with both my babies so I was excited to try this. I have been applying twice a day as instructed and my skin has become so soft! I definitely think the oil is making my stretch marks less red and I will report back after a few months use how well its worked. 

All of the above items and so many more are all available on the Mama Natural Website! 

The Customer Service from Mama Natural is second to none! They seem to be a fantastic team who are quick to respond to and query's you may have. My package arrived very quickly and well packaged so no damage to any of the products. 

Mama Natural is a one stop shop for all your Pregnancy, Birth and Baby needs and stocks such a wide range of beautiful, practical and reasonably priced products for every possibility and need. 

You can find the full range of products Mama Natural stock by visiting their website here - www.mamanatural.co.uk

Or keep up to date with all the latest news, products and offers from Mama Natural on one of their social media pages here -


What is your favourite product from their website? 

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Friday 26 September 2014

Nuby Natural Touch Bottles **REVIEW**

The lovely people over at Nuby recently sent us some of their NEW Nuby Natural Touch bottles to try out with Peanut and here is what we thought of them...


Here are some of the Nuby Natural Touch bottle features -

  • Each bottle holds 90 oz / 270 ml 
  • Helps Mum to combine breast and bottle feeding 
  • EASY LATCH, slow flow teat
  • Breast size, natural shaped teat encourages baby to latch on
  • Teat flexes, stretches and moves just like mum's breast 
  • Superior valves in the base of the teat to help reduce air ingestion, which may cause colic 
  • Soft nubs on the surface help to massage baby's gums
  • Available in 3 colour ways - Blue, Pink and Clear. All with cute Elephant design

I loved how cute and girly they were and the little elephant design on the front is so sweet. 

Peanut seemed to take to these bottles really easily and actually drank her milk much quicker and with less fuss compared to the previous bottles we had been using.

The bottles seem to be slightly bigger and hold an extra 1 oz compared to previous bottles we've tried which is great as the way Peanut is drinking her milk we will soon be needing that extra oz lol! 

The bottles seemed to be easy to hold for Peanut who has recently started showing an interest in holding her bottle !

(I don't care its all gone mummy i am not letting go lol!) 

The bottles come with a size 1 teat as standard but you can buy other size teats depending on your needs. Peanut is almost 4 months so we used the size 2 teats and these seemed to work really well for her. 

I often find with bottles that after a while of washing a sterilizing the design and numbers often start fading from the side. However we have been washing and sterilizing these for a while now and there is no sign of either fading! 

The bottles come in a box of 6 and are excellent value and are normally priced at £14.99 a great price for 6 bottles! However they are currently on offer at £10.00 for 6 and can be found here www.nuby-uk.com (price correct at time of posting 26/09/2014). 

You can find out more about Nuby and their new Natural Touch range on their website here - www.nuby-uk.com

Or keep up to date with all the latest news, offers and products on one of their social media pages here -

Twitter - twitter.com/NubyUK

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Little Tiger - Five Little Ghosts Book **REVIEW**

Halloween is just around the corner and this year I am going to be hosting my first ever children's Halloween party! With this in mind I have been chatting to James about Halloween and what better way to convey the fun of Halloween with a great child friendly book! 

The lovely people at Little Tiger recently sent us one of their new Halloween books to try out with James called "Five little ghosts".

Five little ghosts is written by Patricia Hegarty and Illustrated by Julia Woolf. 

" Five little ghosts at the end of the day, are on the lookout for somewhere to play! Follow the adventures of 5 little ghosts in this comical rhyming caper."

This book has a cute rhyming rhythm going through the book making it a fun and quirky story to read. 

The Five little ghosts story book features lots of brightly coloured, fun pictures that really capture the imagination. My little boy loved looking at the pictures whilst listening to the storyand was quite happy sitting and looking at the pictures after we had finished the story. 



 The book is made up from a very thick front and back cover and then sturdy cardboard pages inside. Great for little hands to turn the pages as I often find paper pages get torn to easily with little children eager to turn the pages! 

I loved the fact the book introduced Halloween to young children in fun, friendly way and although it is "Halloween" themed it is definitely a book we will be keeping on our book shelf to be read all year round. 

Do you fancy treating your children to something a little different this Halloween why not treat them to a lovely Little Tiger Halloween book! 

Little Tiger have such a wide range of children's books for all ages and genres and you can see them all here on their website - www.littletigerpress.com

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

A New Badge!!

As you may know James has been attending swimming lessons for over 6 months now and is loving it! 
The last few weeks he has moved up classes so is no longer in the "preschool" classes he has now moved up to the school age class! Well yesterday he got another new badge his Alpha 1 badge. This is his 3rd badge since starting swimming lessons and im so proud of him, When he first started swimming lessons he didn't want to put his head under water and couldn't swim at all. Now he loves being under the water and can almost swim 5 metres completely unaided! 


Another favourite of James's is to visit the library after swimming lessons, So after his lesson this week we walked over to the library and James took his own library card and chose lots of books. James has just started school so I have been trying to make sure I read to him more consistently and try to get him to read to me. 
I  thought I would let him choose any books he liked although when he came to me with his pile of books I realised he had chosen quite a few lol!!


Peanut even got her first library book and loved her first trip to the library and looking at all the pictures. She would not let go of this Animals book so we ended up taking it out and bringing it home!


Do your children like the library? 

xXx


Monday 22 September 2014

Bakedin Cinnamon swirl kit **REVIEW**

I love baking!! So when we were offered a Cinnamon Swirl kit from the lovely people at Bakedin I couldn't wait to try it out!


Bakedin are all about Less fuss, No waste and Great taste. 

BakedIn is based in Basingstoke, North Hampshire, and was founded in June 2013 by three friends. Their ethos is core to what they do, and they take pride in seeking out quality produce to use in their products. Bakedin also hate wasting good food, and so providing exactly the right quantities of all the dry ingredients needed makes a lot of sense (as well as saving you time weighing things out).

When our kit arrived and I opened it I was instantly greeted with the delicious smell of cinnamon! I then noticed the kit contained everything I needed bar a few basic ingredients that I already had in the house and even contained the baking tins! Each high quality ingredient was in its own little clear bag and clearly labeled with what it was. 


The kit came with really REALLY easy to follow instructions that coupled with the pre-weighed and clearly labeled ingredients made baking so simple anyone could do it. 


and best of all they tasted TOTALLY DELICIOUS!! Honestly the whole house filled with the smell of them cooking and the smell didn't disappoint. They were soft yet a little crispy on the outside, full of cinnamon in the swirl and melted in your mouth. Priced at just £6.95 these are a great price considering this kit made 12 large swirls!


I really do recommend trying out a Bakedin kit for yourself I can guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Find out all about this kit and all of the other baking kits here on their website - 


Or keep up to date with all the latest products and news from Bakedin on one of their social media pages here - 


Which kit do you like the sound of the most from their website? 

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Saturday 20 September 2014

STORE - LEGO Movie lunch set **REVIEW**

James is a HUGE fan of the LEGO movie and ever since watching the film has been engrossed in his LEGO. 
So when the lovely people at STORE sent us a LEGO movie lunch set I new James would love it. 

STORE is a website for all of your storage needs for everything from Shoe storage to kitchen and Bathroom storage and so much more. If your looking to store it you will definitely find a way to at www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk!

As mentioned above we were sent the LEGO movie lunch set which came just in time as James has just started school! 

The set consists of a lunch box and a drinking bottle and is officially licensed by LEGO themselves. 

The drinking bottle features pictures of the LEGO movie characters and has a funky LEGO top! As well as this the bottom of the bottle comes off to create a little cup so the drink can be poured from the bottle, into the cup and easily drank. 

We try to encourage James to drink from a cup as he tends to pull at the caps of the sports bottles with his teeth and we don't want him to damage his teeth so this was great! It also meant he could pour what he wanted into the cup and then reapply the lid to the bottle and we didn't have to worry about the whole bottle contents being spilt. The bottle can hold up to 350mls.

Also in the lunch set was the lunch box.

This is a great sturdy lunch box that measures 6.5cm high x 16cm long x 14cm wide and has plenty of room to hold a sandwich, crisps and a biscuit. The colours and pictures of the lunch box are bright and vibrant and would be a real hit with and LEGO or LEGO movie fan! 

This lunch set is a Limited Edition (so quick grab yours quick whilst you can!) and is priced at £14.00 which I think is a reasonable price for a branded, sturdy lunch set that is definitely built to last. 

You can find this and LOTS of of storage products on the STORE website here - www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk

Or keep up with all the lastest news and products on one of their social media pages here -


xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Carddies **REVIEW**

James is a typical child he cant sit still for more than 5 minutes and gets bored very easily especially when out and about in the car, With the classic "Are we there yet" ringing in our ears every car journey. 

So when the lovely people over at Carddies offered us one of their sets to try out with James we were thrilled! Carddies are little card people in a robust cardboard box complete with a background, pencils and stands to hold the little people! 

Here is a little about the company itself...



Carddies Limited is owned by two sisters, Raquel and Esther.
During a rainy seaside holiday Raquel started drawing little card people for her three house bound girls, using the backs of cereal packs and any card to hand. Since then Raquel has drawn hundreds of little card people for many children, who love them and play with them for hours.
Raquel and Esther joined forces to develop this lovely idea into a business and so the Carddies evolved. Their past experiences working as a lawyer and accountant respectively, and as full time mothers of their seven children, have been useful.
All the Carddies, scenes and packaging continue to be drawn by hand by the two sisters. The seven cousins are key advisers on many aspects of the business, including branding, packaging, current sets and future product ideas.
As James has just started school we chose the School set and he loved it! 

Each set comes complete with a variety of "characters" to colour in, a background scene to colour in, plastic stands so that the card characters can stand up and a set of colouring pencils. All of the above comes in a sturdy cardboard box to keep it all in and its perfect to take along in the car or on day trips as everything can be kept in one place. The box even contains a cute little space to put your chulds name!  



James had lots of fun colouring in all of the bits and referred back to his own class and school friends when colouring in. 


We coloured them in together a little at a time and he told me all about his day at school and his classroom as we coloured in. After we had finished we had a lovely time creating some little stories with the set. It seemed to help James relay some of his activities from school to me (Usually when I ask about school I just get I don't know or I forgot lol!). 

Carddies are priced at £8.99 which I think is a great price for something that gets the imagination working, can be used time and time again and gives children something to do on long journeys! 
There are so many kits to choose from including... Ballet, Cavemen, Fairies, Family, Farm, Football, Knights, London, Nativity, School (same as pictured above) and sport. 

You can find out more about Carddies on their website - www.carddies.com.
Or stay up to date with all of the latest news from Carddies on one of their social media pages here - 
Which kit do you think your children would like the best? 

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Friday 19 September 2014

Our Top Tips for saving some Pennies!

With summer almost over and those days by the beach and sunny holidays becoming a distant memory our focus changes to other things.

Christmas is looming just around the corner as the shops starts filling up with Christmas gifts, cards and chocolates (I've even seen mince pies!!!) and we stare longingly into the estate agents windows dreaming of our next holiday in the summer our mind turns to SAVING!

Today I thought I would share with you our top tips for saving money whether its saving for Christmas, your next holiday or a bit of extra money for those January sales!

Money Tins

These can be great for saving up loose change! I like the actual tins that you require a tin open to actually break open the tin (once opened it cannot be used again) as it deters you from taking money back out. At the end of each day or week pop all your loose change inside and you will be surprised at just how much you can save this way without even really realising you are doing it!


Voucher/Discount code apps

If you are planning a day out, going out for a meal or even just taking the kids for a game of bowling check out voucher/discount code apps such as VoucherCloud and Groupon. Places like this offer discounts codes for everything from holidays and hotels, too clothing and food and can really save some money. We always make sure we check them out before heading for a family day out and have saved lots of money this way. 

Check out Comparison websites for utilities


Its always best to check that you getting the best deal for your utilities before renewing or paying time and time again as you could be saving lots of money by switching companies! Websites such as Compare the market, Uswitch and Moneysupermarket can help you compare utility prices and get you the best deal. 

Make Extra


When cooking meals make a little extra to freeze and use later. When I make meals like spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, cottage pie etc I try and make double and then freeze them. They come in handy on days when I cant be bothered to stand in the kitchen cooking or I know we are busy and going to be back late. It saves having to nip to the takeaway and everyone is still getting a healthy, filling meal. 

Check out the sales


Don't be afraid to have a good rummage through the sale rails! Big supermarkets like Tesco and Asda often have big sales on their clothing as each season comes to an end and I have managed to pick up loads of outfits in a range of sizes at better than half the "normal" price. Although the jumbled rails may look  a little daunting sometimes you will be suprised at the bargains you can get if you spend a little time having a look through. 


Free Activities for Kids


Websites such as Cbeebies and Disney have free colouring sheets that you can print out in your child's favourite theme, character or programme for them to colour in. James loves colouring in so these keep him entertained for a little while and they are free! 
Also use everyday items to create crafts, Have you seen our "Getting creative with leaves" post you can find it HERE, Where we made art simply with leaves it was free and James had lots of fun. 
You can also check out your local library (as well as all the books to borrow some libraries run free events and classes!), museums, and parks (when the weather is nice!).

These are a few of our money saving tips that will hopefully help out.

Do you have any money saving tips you can share with us?? 

xXx


Thursday 18 September 2014

Getting Creative with Leaves!

As the summer comes to an end and the leaves are beginning to fall off the tree's we figured we would put them to good use.

After crunching through all of the leaves at the school gates and talking about why the leaves fall from the tree's, We decided to pick some up and pop them into a little bag and bring them home to create some funky art! 

We took all the leaves we had gathered and picked out the ones that were whole (and not damaged) and in a variety of shapes, colours and sizes...


We then stuck them down on to plain paper (you could use some coloured card or paper if you prefer) ...


Then we used paint, pens, pencils, googly eyes, and some bits and bobs from the craft box to create objects and animals from the leaves...


It was lots of fun and made for some interesting funky pictures and best of all it was free!!



Whilst we gathered up the leaves and made our pictures we spoke about why leaves fall off the tree's and about the different seasons. It was a fun, free and educational activity and we were left with some pretty pictures afterwards. It was lovely to see James imagination run wild with what he created with just a few leaves as a base.

Why don't you try gathering up some leaves and see what you can create with your children with them. Don't forget to share your leafy pictures on our Facebook page.

What other free activities do you get up to with your children? 

xXx


Tuesday 16 September 2014

Yoomi Feeding System **REVIEW**

You may have noticed a new badge on a side bar... Yep that's right I am a Yoomi Mummy!


The lovely people at Yoomi sent us a 8oz feeding system to try out and we were really excited to be trying out this new system as Peanut, As mentioned before she is a bit of a diva and will only take her milk warm which can be a bit of a faff when out and about! 
I thought I would share with you a little about Yoomi and the people behind it first. 


All About Yoomi - 

Yoomi is a unique bottle and warming system designed by Jim and Farah, A Mum and Dad whose experiences of bottle warming (stumbling around the kitchen in the early hours and begging waiters for hot water when out and about) inspired them to look for a better solution.
The combination of Farah's inspiration and Jim's engineering skills, together with expert advice and help from friends and family, has resulted in yoomi, the bottle that warms baby's feed in just 60 seconds

The Yoomi Concept - 




The yoomi bottle contains a unique warmer that is activated by pressing the orange button. This triggers the internal solution to warm the unit in just 60 seconds.
The cold feed is gently warmed as it flows through the specially designed channels on the outside of the warmer. By the time the feed reaches the teat, it is at natural breast milk temperature (32-34 deg C).


To heat the milk you simply charge your warmer pod 
and then place the warmer in the neck of the bottle, click the orange button through the soft neck/teat and it heats the milk within 60 seconds. When I first read about charging the warmer it sounded like a bit of a faff  but once I had actually worked it out it really wasnt and it saved a LOT of time.



Heres a video from the Yoomi website about charging your warmer...


Once we had for the hang of charging the warmer pod the Yoomi feeding system was really easy to use and saved a lot times and tears which were usually caused by peanut getting upset having to wait for a bottle to be warmed. Using the warmer pod saved all the time and worry of trying to warm the bottle in the microwave and wondering if its too hot or too cold as the Yoomi warmer pod heats the milk to the correct temperature every time. 

The Yoomi warmer also saves the hassle when you are about an about and need to warm a bottle and have to go on the hunt for warm water or wait for someone to bring it to you. Now you can simply warm the bottle in 60 seconds wherever you are! 

Heres another short clip from the Yoomi website about warming your babies feed using the Yoomi bottle -


Overall I would definitely suggest trying out these bottles if like me you have a baby who only likes to drink their milk warm. It took all the hassle, fuss and guess work over getting your babies milk to the correct temperature. They also come in 2 sizes 5oz or 8oz bottles so size to suit everyones needs. I would say if you intend on using these on a day out you may need to purchase more than 1 warmer pod to last.

Have you tried Yoomi before? 

You can find out more about Yoomi and their unique system on one of their pages listed below...

Website - www.yoomi.com/

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.

Monday 15 September 2014

Shampooheads **REVIEW**

Like most boys his age James has reached that stage where he wants to do things by himself. Especially since finishing nursery and starting school he wants to be more independent and that includes bath time!

James has quite sensitive skin so we have stuck to certain products for his skin but he always wants to try the "child based" bath products from the supermarket, You know the ones in the funky shaped bottles or with funky pictures on. 

So when the lovely people at Shampooheads offered us some of their hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested products for James to try we new he would love them.


Shampooheads was created by the Bell family and has 3 product ranges each being based on each 1 of their 3 children - Awesome Annie (tropical scent), Busy Bob (blueberry scent) and Raging Rosie (strawberry scent). They are now joined by Dr Miriam Stoppard who is working with the family as their resident childcare expert. On Sunday 16th September 2012, Shampooheads appeared on BBC’s Dragons Den. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength even expanding our product ranges to include Bubble Baths for each of the 3 characters.


Busy Bob Bubble Bath

* Hypoallergenic
* Dermatologically tested
* Tear free formulation
* Blueberry scent

James loved the bright colour of the bottle and couldn't wait to use this in his bath. The scent was amazing and as promised there were no tears even after using the vast amount of bubbles created from the product to create a beard lol. His skin was lovely and soft afterwards and he had no flare ups of his eczema!

Busy Bob Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash.


* Tear free creamy formulation
* Dermatologically tested
* Hypoallergenic and Paraben free
* PH Balanced
* Child friendly pump for independence
* Measured amount – no spillage
* Blueberry scent

I love the fact this product in everything in one! It means no messing around with a separate shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Again the scent of this was so fresh it really did smell lovely. I really liked the fact the pump action bottle had a child friendly pump which was easy for James to use by himself, Also when pushed it delivered a measured amount so there was no over using the product and he could simply use 1 pump for his hair and 1 for his body again giving him the independence he really wants.

Busy Bob Crazy Hair Gel


* Wet look gel

* Strong hold
* Easy to wash out
* Dermatologically tested
* Hypoallergenic
* Paraben free

* Blueberry scent

James has recently started getting his hair cut with daddy at the barbers (I used to cut it at home previously but hes apparently to "grown up" for that now lol!). Despite that we have never really tried putting gel in his hair but when we explained to him what this was he was excited to try it out. He loved "spiking" up his hair and as promised it really held all day even whilst running around the park, Then was easy to comb and rinse out at the end of the day. I would definitely suggest trying this out if your little ones are wanting to try something funky with their hair without causing any damage as a first hair gel. 

Shampooheads aim is to make children aware of personal hygiene through child friendly products and it certainly seems to have worked in our house with James really looking forward to using his "own" products each morning. 

You can find out more about Shampooheads and the family behind the brand on their website here - www.shampooheads.com

Or stay up to date with all the products and find them on one of their social media pages here -

Do you children like to be independent at bath time? Which of the 3 characters do you think your little one would like the most? 

xXx

* I was not paid for this review. All opinions given are my own.
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on xJessLegresleyx@hotmail.com.