H&A Squirting Ducks review

During my pregnancy we used to go swimming every week and I thought that the love of water will be passed down to my baby. As any newborn L hated water at first, and the more baths she had the more she started to relax and enjoy. 

Few days ago we were sent a set of 4 squirting ducks for a review and a chance to claim a place in the H&A "Bathtime Fun Squad".

H & A's Bathtime Buddies Squirting Ducks (£2) are four wonderfully coloured squirting ducks, for your little ones bath time (or your own).

                                        
They comprise of four bright and vibrant colours which are guarenteed to add fun to bath times.

The colours are green, purple, orange and the traditional yellow.

They are extremely easy to fill with water, simply place the duck under the water and squeeze the ducks belly. Once full, squeeze the water out and water your little one smile with glee.

It might just be a coincidence, but I have also found the ducks to be useful for teething infants. My little one seems to be interested in chewing the ducks head, which seems to supress the teething pain. Perhaps that could be used as another "unique selling point" ?!

The ducks are slightly smaller than an average rubber duck but bring lots of fun nonetheless.

Ducks are our family favourite bird, so here is our poem dedicated to ducks:

Quacking and drinking 

Settled on the pond 

Playing and flapping 

Chasing everyone 

Peaceful birds 

Lovely and graceful 

Feed them bread chuck the pieces in 

Let them love you from within 

Sitting by the ducks on a clear blue day 

Nothing will affect you, nothing in the way 

Silent yet faint noises of the ducks on the pond 

I am clearly very fond 

My favourite animal I declare 

When they glance, stop and stare 

Ducks will always be special to me 

Thats why I love them so dearly

You can also watch modern duck vs original duck GIF:

Disclaimer: I was sent the above items for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.

What Little L wore- Bluezoo baby

When I was pregnant with L I have asked our relatives to buy baby clothes for baby shower rather than something for me. It saved us from buying any clothes for 6 months!

This dress set is one of the outfits my daughter's godmother bought for her. The set i for 3-6 months (height 68 cm, weight 8 kgs). 

The top itself has very cute patches on both elbows:

What do you think yay or nay?)

Our weaning journey

As you know L is a small baby, at around 3 months my husband and I started to discuss when L should start solids. I didn't want to rush and was insisting on 5,5 months on the other hand my husband wanted to start earlier so that L could have Christmas meal with us. 
At around 4 months I've noticed that L shows interest in what I eat and drink, she was literally grabbing my glass of water and pretending to drink, it was so funny to watch!

Even though she was intrigued about food I wanted to be sure that it's the right time for us all to start weaning and went to our local health clinic to speak to a health visitor. 
Health visitor agreed that 5 months could be the right time for us and suggested starting with finger food.

On one of the weigh ins I spoke to a different health visitor actually said that it's too early to give her solids.

On our last weigh in-today third health visitor suggested that she should eat what we eat!

I know for some of you health visitors are not the best advisors, but I thought that if we technically should go by what they say why not to ask exactly the same question every time I see a different person. As you can see so many men, so many minds!

My 5 months I was totally ready to give L solids as she wasn't gaining much weight and I needed something to fix it. I had high hopes that L will be sleeping better, will be eating and gaining weight..wrong! 

I had all sorts of booklets and books about weaning, I liked the idea of 5-step weaning plan from Cow & Gate, looked at the Annabel Karmel's meal plan but wasn't keen on her method and so I came up with the meal plan which my good old friends used.

I decided to start with purified vegetables for lunch, which i was planning to do myself. I wanted L to try purees first as I remember from my childhood how much I loved them. 

Week 1 (Courgette): I boiled courgette without oil and seasoning and purified it in a blender. On a day 1 we started with one teaspoon and the plan was to add one more teaspoon each day so that my day 7 she could have 7 teaspoons.

L's first reaction of her first tastes was recorded on a phone, we had to convince her to eat by singing, making her smile, the best word to describe the way she looked throughout the whole experience- uncertain.
Unfortunately, we only managed 3-4 teaspoons as L was constipated if was given more.

Week 2 (Cauliflower): On day 1 the idea was to give 6 teaspoons of courgette and 1 teaspoon of cauliflower; day 2- 5 teaspoons of courgette and 2 teaspoons of cauliflower, so that each day we give slowly introduce new vegetable by mixing them all together but each day changing the amounts. 
This week L was on and off with vegetables as she was constipated most of the time. I had to stop giving her solids for couple of days and only breastfed her. 
She didn't like cauliflower by itself, she was gagging most of the time, and if only it was mixed with courgette she didn't it.

Week 3 (Sweet potato): the principal of introducing was the same as with cauliflower, only difference each day to give different vegetable mixing with sweet potato. 

We even didn't manage the stage of stating sweet potato properly. L was constipated badly and I had to stop giving her any vegetable until I spoke to the doctor.

I was really gutted that L's constipation didn't allow her to enjoy her first tasted properly. 

To help my poor little girl I had to introduce fruits and buckwheat porridge instead of baby rice (as it rice is starchy food) earlier than I planned. At first she didn't mind porridge but she never manages to finish it all and won' t eat more than 3 teaspoons. She loves fruit purees though, just like me!! I couldn't do fruit purees myself so we are using Organix pots for now and hoping to try other brands as well.

Did you have similar experience to ours? Please share your meal plans or posts.

Children's favourite songs DVDs and CD set review

L loves music, different cartoons and TV shows so when I was recently offered the chance to try out the CRS Records CD and DVD sets I jumped at the chance.

CRS Records have been children’s audio and video specialists since 1986. They offer the very best selection of kid's CDs and DVDs online.

CRS Records offer fantastic children’s song gift sets of 6 or 3 CDs, personalised children’s books and CDs and all their bestselling kids DVDs and CDs. There are also CDs from Justin Fletcher, Charlie and Lola and all your favourite CBeebies characters.

Children's favourite songs (6 CD set) £11.99

Children’s favourite songs cd incorporates all of the classic children's tunes into six superb cds, for your enjoyment. I really enjoyed the range of songs in the set. They helped assist me during the dreaded play times with my little girl and when I needed a second to myself. 

There is a large selection of songs which your child might recognise/enjoy (depending on the age) and also a couple which you as a parent will recognise and subconsciously enjoy. 

I like the idea of having few cds in one box firstly it will keep your little one entertained for a while and secondly it minimises the risk of having loose cds.

My only criticism is perhaps there could have been some animated videos to go with the super tunes.
So far our favourite tune is 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes'.. but I do have a soft spot for Amarillo ;)

Never smile at a crocodile DVD (£5.10)

All 3 DVDs we have watched introduced us to the cast members-Tony and the kids who act, sing and dance their way through the songs in different scenes related to each song!

They  were very entertaining and looked like they were having so much fun, during the Never Smile at a crocodile dvd. I guess when my little one is older, it would be more amusing to watch her try and jump around the room whilst watching this dvd.
'The wheels on the bus' is our favourite tune, L has heard this a couple of times during some classes we have been attending (perhaps she recognises it?).

I would recommend this for the family to enjoy bouncing around the room (try not to knock anything over).

Twinkle Twinkle little star DVD (£5.10)

Another super title in the CRS franchise and it does not disappoint.

My little L is quite young, so focusing her attention on certain things can prove a little difficult sometimes. However she seems to be taking to the series of dvds. 

L could certainly recognise "Twinkle Twinkle" as I was singing it at the same time and 'Round and Round the garden', mainly because we tickled when prompted by the song.

An excellent addition and as usual, recommended for all the family!

The Wheels on the Bus (£5.10)

Very similar to the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star dvd, we watched them back to back. L enjoyed elements of the dvds and enjoyed 'If your happy and you know it clap your hands' (I did gently clap her hands at certain parts of the songs).

We also recognised 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' so that became an instant favourite as well.

Overall I like an idea of having different scenes with each song- from the zoo to the pirate ship.
Tony and the crew were very entertaining which added to the enjoyment of the dvd.

Very much recommended for the family and an active/energetic child.

Slight negative for the set of 3 dvds is that you can only pick to watch all songs or individually, but not from a certain episode. It is a matter of watching them all or manually choosing each song (mind you that was based on viewing the dvds on a laptop).

If would like to purchase one of the mentioned CDs or DVDs or fancy having a look at the online shop click here.

Disclaimer: I was sent the above items for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.

Ozeri products review: Rev Digital Bathroom Scales

During the first two trimesters of my pregnancy I was obsessed with weighing myself. I thought I knew if I'm putting weight or not gaining anything at all. At one of the routine appointments with my consultant I was "pleasantly" surprised to find out that all this time my bathroom scales were broken as the weight shown on doctor's scales was completely different to what my scales showed. 

So when Ozeri representative offered to review scales I thought that it is a great opportunity to finally have a working set of scales as I plan to start healthy eating for my 30th (hopefully I will stick to that plan).

Ozeri Rev Digital Bathroom Scales (£19.99) combine a modern and classic look of traditional dial scales with the benefits of a digital display.

One of the things I like the most about using the scales is the electro-mechanical dial and LCD display that automatically lights up with a clear and easy to read display. It promptly gives your weight in lbs or kg, which is both a positive and negative thing.

Both my husband and I have tried Ozeri scales, I was happy with reading in kg whereas he thought that the scales should have a reading for stones, without that function, he is constantly having to calculate the weight in stones. 

On the flip side, the dial is large (at 14 cm) and is perfectly positioned on the scales. I love the chrome surround around the scales dial, it gives the scales a retro/sleek look, which in turn would be a super addition in a modern bathroom.

The scales can weigh up to 180 kg (400 lbs) and it will calibrate itself automatically and also automatically turns off to conserve battery life. It runs on 3 AAA batteries which are included and has a low battery indicator so you won't be caught out.

One interesting feature which I might use in the feature is a 24 hours alarm setting. 

The alarm beeps at the same time every day, the timing is calculated from the last time you weighed yourself.

We have tested the scales over a period of few weeks- few times a day, at the same time every day, on a full stomach or before the breakfast or before and after our evening walks and the readings were always similar to original ones which concludes that scales perform with accurate reading.

Disclaimer: I was sent the above items for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.

The post in written in collaboration with guest poster- my other half.

Little L is 6 months

Just over a week ago it was L's half birthday, unbelievable! Little one missed her very first Christmas celebrations as our household was in quarantine, but she had all the attention in the world on New Year Day. She wasn't interested in presents opening, in fact she didn't care about presents at all and those pictures I tried to take are not really good ones. I hope that next Christmas will be a proper 1st Christmas for us as she will be more interested in things and fancy wrapping paper.

L is just few days into 6 months and seems like a different baby- she wants to sit upright, very active, smiley, interacts more, she used to avoid eye to eye contact where as now she likes to do it.

She likes jumperoo more, she won't fall asleep there like some babies but she can stay there, jump, babble to herself. Oh she just loves to babble, she sticks her tongue out and just babbles to herself or trying to have a chat with us.

Clothing- L outgrown her 3-6 outfits and seems to be too small for 6-9 months items. I need to find a brand which will fit us perfectly.

Weight- L dropped on a lower centile line which according to HV nothing to worry about. How weird when L was born health visitors and midwives pestered me about L's weight loss and now she is just a small baby.

It's been a month since L started solids, I can't say that it made her calmer or her sleep improved, it seems like it made things worse- she is constipated most of the time, in particular sweet potato caused us lots of worries. She can be constipated for 5 days, we tried prunes, juices, water, lactolose but it's not working out. I'm hoping that it gets better otherwise will have to ask our GP to prescribe something else.

Everyone says that L changes every day, I can only hope that her sleeping and eating routine will change for the better as well.

Funky Giraffe Bandana bibs review

I can't say that L is a massive dribbler, having said that like any baby she starts drooling when sees daddy or someone she recognises, when chewing on toys or teething. So when Funky Giraffe contacted me I thought that it's a great opportunity to test bandana bibs as I heard a lot about them, but never had a chance to buy.

At Funky Giraffe Bibs we design and make beautiful baby & toddler accessories in funky designs from retro to modern to quirky. All our products are eco friendly and ethically made by hand and by ourselves.

Our Bandana and Cotton bibs are designs to go from birth to well past teething meaning that you will only need to buy one set of bibs. We shape the bibs to fit your child’s neck to ensure they are comfy and your child is less likely to object to them being there. Carefully designed folds in the fabric mean that the cotton will give a snug fit without being too tight. All of this care an attention means that Funky Giraffe is both practical and funky.

I couldn't even imagine that Funky Giraffe will have a huge variety of designs and sizes, you can choose a cotton, satin or bamboo bibs or personalise your own. 
If you are into fashion and would like to own a bib which matches your baby's clothes this online shop is up your street.

For those who are struggling to pick  just 1 bib (I am!) you can purchase a set of 5 or 10 bibs for £11.50 or £20. 

I opted for a Pink Stars Bandana bibs set as I wanted something pink, purple and girly (4 plain bibs and 6 bibs with prints). I was a little bit worried about the size, as it wasn't specified in the listing but they are just perfect!

Bibs are made of 100% cotton and are very soft to touch, the fleece backing keeps dribble from soaking through and also helps to soak that excess water which L spits out when drinking. The double poppers mean you can adjust the fit ensuring it fits smaller or bigger baby. 

Even after several washings, it is recommended to wash them at 30 degrees, bibs look like new, the dye and the prints didn't fade away.

These are our favourites:

These bibs are a great addition to L's "wardrobe" and I don't have to change L's clothes  as often as I used to plus L likes to chew on these beautiful bibs which means she is pre-occupied and I have an extra minute for myself.

If you want to purchase Funky Giraffe bib for as little as £1.50 hurry! bib sale is on whilst stock last!

Which one is your fav from the set?

If you live abroad be sure to check the Italian, Spanish and French websites.

Disclaimer: I was sent the above items for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.