Hipp Organic pouches review!

Good Morning everyone! We have been very lucky recently and able to test the Hipp Organic range! As parents to our little boy we have been through the struggles of finding foods he will eat, foods that are easy to transport, and foods that are affordable! This, is all 3!

We received a parcel containing lots of different flavours. To begin with,we have the 4+ month pouches. The flavours were
• plum, pear & blackcurrant
• parsnip, sweet squash and chicken
• sweet squash, sweetcorn and peas
• parsnip, sweet potato and broccoli

Then we had 7+ month pouches. These flavours were
• hearty cottage pie
• vegetable and chicken risotto
• sweet potato, cauliflower and sweetcorn bake
• mild tomato and chicken curry

Finally, we had a selection of 4+ month small (dessert size) pouches. These flavours were
• apples and baby rice
• banana and baby rice
• peaches and baby rice
• peach, mango and banana with yoghurt
• banana, apple and apricot with yoghurt

What a lovely variety! You have the traditional meals with cottage pie and curry, yet different combinations such as the plum, pear and blackcurrant, for the little one to explore.

Flavour wise, these were lovely. They smelt like real food rather than the processed blobs some companies provide! We set about testing them all out straight away, and found that most were accepted by the little one, which is rare! The only ones he was slightly reluctant on were the curry and cottage pie, which he does have homemade at times. He still ate some, but didn't finish it all on these. The sweet ones though - wow! He gobbled these like nobody's business! The small pouches were literally gone in a few minutes, especially both peach ones! If you have a sweet toothed baby in particular like us, these are definitely for you!

Preference of these pouches was a cold temperature. For all flavours. They were more easily accepted cold than when we warmed them, and more was eaten. We kept them in a cold area - not as cold as the fridge, but slightly below the average room temperature!

When it came to trips out, these were so handy! They are slim and compact, so easy to slide into a handbag or changing bag. We used to use the glass jar foods, which in a bag took up space, and made us wary of putting the bag down too hard! With these, it doesn't matter how hard you throw the bag, it won't break!

Design wise, it is rather good. The seal is super tight, and we haven't encountered any leaks - even after opening, resealing and squeezing it as a test! Another highly positive about this packet, is the nozzle. It is think yet wide enough to allow the food easily through, it means everything is focused in the direction it needs to go accurately - no food sprays or splatters when squeezing into the bowl. Our little boy also liked sucking it like a straw. Now obviously, that's not the original design, and there are warnings to supervise use, we held the packet and the nozzle if he wanted to suck it, so we know it won't go anywhere. Just one warning regarding this product though - the edges of the packet can be a bit rough! Not on all of them, but on a few we had some sharp edging, which as we picked them up, caused scratches and cuts. So please be wary of how you handle them, and don't leave in reach of children!

Overall, we love these pouches! Tasty, convenient, and best of all - DIFFERENT! You can find these pouches now in your nearest supermarket and all good stockists.

Thankyou Hipp, a great new range!

And now for all of our lovely readers, see for yourself! Working in partnership with Hipp we are giving you the chance to win a £25 Hipp hamper, full of goodies to enjoy! To enter simply complete the rafflecopter form via the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mummysmakingmemories !

Best of luck, and enjoy! :) xx

Arts and crafts!

Morning everyone!

You are never too small nor too big for a bit of arts and crafts!

We have a new facebook site especially for this! With many many ideas all supported with photos of actual results, and regular competitions, you won't want to miss out! Head on over now!

Www.facebook.com/kolourfulkiddies !!!

The last few days have been spent planning, and we will be uploading AT LEAST 1 craft post per day!

Plenty to keep the kiddies happy and engaged!

Hope you enjoy it :)

Competition winner!

Good morning everyone!

We have a winner announcement today!

Congratulations to Michelle Sykes for winning our MAM bundle!

More competitions to follow very soon, keep your eyes peeled! :)

Have a lovely bank holiday!

X

MAM Oral Care Bunny review!

This week we received a wonderful parcel from MAM! And boy have we been busy testing! 

This is the oral care rabbit! He's super cute, and super effective! We struggle in our house to get little monkey to open his mouth, so it's all guesswork going with a toothbrush! Never actually knowing what's reached and what isn't! Also, even though I know it is soft bristle, I still worry about hurting little monkeys gums! So receiving this I breathed a huge sigh of relief! We put it into action straight away, and have been using ever since!

The design is fantastic. It is eye catching for the child and very cute! The slot is easy to fit your finger into, with no faffing about. So it's just as quick as using the toothbrush!

In actual use, it speeds up brushing time! Rather than fighting to get his mouth open its straight in! I feel a lot safer using the bunny as I can tell how far into his mouth I am, and clean all of his gums, so we don't miss anything. All the while my little monkey is distracted by having something fun in his face rather than a stick!

It's really simple to clean too, no harder than rinsing your toothbrush, and no bristles to get in between where it all dries hard - yuck!

Since we have been using this, toothy time has been much more relaxed. As a result, monkey is happy, mummy is happy, and we have a better oral care routine! What more could you ask for from it?!

This highly recommended product is available at good retailers such as the MAM online store, amazon, and toys r us! It's available in blue or pink, so if you have a prince or princess you are catered for! 

Thanks to MAM for another wonderful creation!

http://www.mamonlineshop.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fmamonlineshop%2ecom%2f&WD=oral%20care&PN=oral_care%2ehtml%23a198#a198 

Competition time!

Good evening everyone!

We have a very special competition lined up for you - and it starts now!

We have teamed up with the lovely people at MAM to bring you a selection of their wonderful products!

This is the must have prize for all of you parents/parents to be/grandparents/aunts/uncles.... Etc!

First up we have the MAM snack pot - ideal for taking those healthy snacks along with you! Dishwasher safe, microwaveable and freezeable, it's practicalities won't fail to amaze!

Next we have the MAM baby's cutlery set - with non slip curved handles these are designed to help baby (6 months plus) coordinate food to mouth! Brilliant start to the weaning process!

And finally, we have not one, not two, but THREE mam night soothers! With their silk teat and very cute glow in the dark design, these are perfect for any nursery! And what's more, they are suitable for 0 months + !

So what are you waiting for - this bundle could be winging its way to you very soon!

Fill in the form via our facebook page www.facebook.com/mummysmakingmemories , or via this link http://bit.ly/13JQ9hH , and cross those fingers and toes!

Good luck everyone!

Starlight Mobile review!

The lovely people at Mattel have sent us a wonderful new mobile for our little monkey!

It is the Fisher Price Starlight Cot Mobile and is available now from Boots, Argos and other good stockists - see http://www.fisher-price.com/en_GB/Products/FindaProduct/index.html?&catCode=cribs_mobiles,

First up, the style. It is a standard cot attachment, with a long arm. Off of this arm are some adorable teddy bears holding onto mirrored stars, with more stars underneath. On the unit there are 2 additional coloured stars, which light up. All fairly straight forward. However, on top of the arm. There is a light. And over this light, cut outs of the moon and stars! This makes for a gorgeous display on the ceiling of the nursery! The shiny stars on the mobile also reflect the light which bounces around the room.

Now, the functions! No more on/off buttons for us! On the arm of this mobile, you have many options to have the mobile how you want it! Control the lights, sounds, spin, volume... It allows the parent to provide an atmosphere the specific child requires. 

The noises are fantastic. There is the music with well known soothing tunes, and also nature sounds. The other half and I almost fell asleep ourselves while those were on!

Our little monkey can be a bit of a terror sometimes when it comes to sleeping - wanting to be rocked or driven around. So to be honest, I was a little skeptical. However, he loved it! He watched the lights and was calmed by the sounds enough for us to have a peaceful bedtime!

In all honesty, this is a fantastic little mobile. It does what it should - provides a calming environment for baby and aids their sleep. What more could we ask for as parents?! 

Www.fisher-price.com

In the summer time when the weather is fine...

Mid summer. The rain is tip tapping away at the skylight and I can see a mix of grey skies or black clouds floating by.

Since when?! When I was a diddy thing yes we used to have rain but nothing as extreme as lately! And this was only 20 years ago!

Got me thinking about our summer holidays. 6 of us used to go away every year, just down to Cornwall from Bristol. Me and my little sister, my parents and my grandparents. We used to rent this lovely little bungalow in Perranporth for a week - few minutes walk from the high street and chippy, and more importantly, dirctly across the road from the beach!

Every morning me and my sister would wake up and go to my grandparents room, purely as a noelty of having them in the same house. We would usually read or play games for about an hour snuggled in with them until it was an acceptable hour (7am ish!) and my parents got up! Then it would be all pile into the kitchen! We would sit around the table playing games while my mum and nan would cook a full english breakfast, followed by rounds of toast, with the windows open - heat starting to flood in, birds cheeping, gentle ocean humming...

After this we would decide what we were doing for the day. Beach day, shopping, activity park... If it was a little cloudy we would go to the opposite side of cornwall as the weather was always different for each side!

Now we were never well off, always struggling by, but my parents always made sure we had the best days we could possibly want on our holidays.

We would normally be done with our daily activities by about 3pm when we would wind things up and return to base. From here we would then decide what was for tea. There was a lovely chip shop just around the corner where we would often go - mum would go and collect it with dad while nan buttered bread in the kitchen, and grandad kept me and little sis entertained! Or we would go to our favourite restaurant Pickwicks (still there to this day) in the high street - the black cherry thick shake was amazing! We had some great moments here. Just a few years back we went in and placed our order with the waitress. But bless my dear nan hadn't been paying attention and after we finished saying what we wanted, asked the waitress if she wanted our mains order too! 6 roasts as a starter would have been excessive I believe!

Evenings would be spent in our bungalow playing silly games like beetle, ludo, snakes and ladders... Or as we got older, yatzy and uno! Then off to bed at a reasonable hour, happy and ready for the next fun filled day.

New years day this year I had my little boy. As a mummy myself I would love to give him the experiences I had as a child, in the same places. Unfortunately, the economy thinks otherwise! The prices have gone crazy in the last few years, and for the first time in 26 years, even my family are not going away. Its devastating really. But then I wonder, if we had booked a holiday, what would it have been like?! It seems we have summer through winter and winter through summer lately! Could we have done beach days? Would we have stood a full day at a kids adventure park in mackintoshes and welly boots?! And when will it all go back to normal?! I hope day after day, but for now that is all I can do.

So I shall sit here, eating a freddo for comfort (yes at 7.30am!) and sipping my tea, and remembering the good times.

There will always be next year...

Competition sponsored by Butlins Holiday Parks, helping your family make memories.

Summer, summer, summertime!

Good morning lovely people!

I do apologise for being neglectful, most certainly been a busy week for us!

How is everyone enjoying this weather?! Quite unbelieveable for the UK to have such sunshine and heat - especially at the correct time of year!

We have been having lots of fun with our little baby bear in the paddling pool! Loves having a little splash around. Anyone else been doing the same?

Busy times ahead too for us - we are starting a new business adventure, moving house, and planning more fun as daddy bear is off work for a week! Not sure where we will find all of the hours in a day!

Currently awaiting a lovely parcel from Mattel too - a very new and exciting product coming our way which I cannot wait to share with you all!

So thats it for today, back off to the sunshine we go!

Hope all of you have a wonderful day!

Mummysmakingmemories

:) xxxx

Cheesecake!

Evening everyone!

How are we all? Been busy?

I certainly have! Today was my mums birthday - I make all the family birthday cakes, and decided to switch it up a bit and do a cheesecake instead! White chocolate and strawberry, with lettering carved of strawberries, and a jelly crab - cancers starsign symbol!

What do you all think ?!

Follow the link to facebook here to see the pic!

www.facebook.com/mummysmakingmemories

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Night all!

Christmas in June?!

So we are almost halfway through the year. Summer should be getting into swing and holidays lined up.

Indeed that is the case in our household. Holidays definitely well planned and in motion. However, not as you may think. Not a summer holiday, but the CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES! 

I know, I know, its June. Not November. Even October is acceptable. But no. June.

I have always been a forward planner. Liked getting started before Halloween. No worries then about money, stock, forgetting people. 

This year we have one extra event though - our baby bears first birthday! Born on 01/01/2013 we have just a week between xmas and the celebrations. And even less money. So I decided we needed to plan ahead to get some bargains and make sure we can afford it all!

Nabbed the ipad and quickly opened a new note. Titling it Christmas 2013, I set about my lists. I have lists for who we need to buy for, what we have bought for who, ideas for other people for our baby bear, and who has already bought/reserved what for baby bear. Then right at the bottom, baby bears birthday.

Its kind of daunting to be honest. The list seems so long! But on a plus note, its because we have almost finished the shopping for our little boys Christmas! Seeing as he will only be 51 weeks at Christmas, we aren't going mad. We have a trike, a train set, a doodle plush and bath time basketball. We have £17 left to spend to hit budget, and then the stocking. Already have a little ball and stacking bath turtles for this. 

With both nans and grandads, 2 aunties, 2 uncles, 2 great nans ... He is going to have plenty!

And now thoughts are turning to everyone else! Eek! Now I have them listed, I want it bought and out of the way! It seems no matter when you start planning, you always fret!

So as I sit here mulling over whether to make mince pies and start blasting out a bit of Cliffs Mistletoe and Wine, it got me wondering, is it just me entering the festive euphoria? 

So here are my questions to you - 

* Have you started yet?!

* Am I wrong to be this far in this early?!

* And when is it acceptable to start playing Christmas music?!

Sleep? Yes please!

So its fathers day - little ones morning went as normal, been downstairs had a play etc etc, and we come to nap time.

Last night was horrible. 3 hours sleep for me as my little baby bear was tossing and turning. This morning I spot the issue - we are almost there with tooth number 1! Hallelujah! So that is why the bad sleep lately I realise. 11am came and baby bear was getting sleepy. The last few days his naps have got progressively worse with his wriggling etc. So I had stopped seeing it as a break for me.

Upon my usual facebook browse at 6am this morning however, I stumbled upon an app for the ipad - soundsleeper. Tried apps with noise before, but downloaded it anyway just to see what the who ha is about. Little one was fighting but falling asleep and I opened the app. There were several different noises available, of which I thought were quite well compiled - womb, car journey, ocean, rain, vaccum cleaner...

I selected the car journey, as little one tends to fall asleep in the car! All of a sudden the fight was over! Baby bear was sleeping. I went to close the app thinking it had done its job, nothing left to do. Then I find the button - "listen". Listen? Listen to what? 

I opened the help and find this app listens for when the little one stirs and automatically plays the noise again - soothing them back off! Well I will certainly try that I thought! 

Pushed the button after selecting "womb". And decided to chance getting some things done around the house. Usually the little one is such a light sleeper if I do anything he wakes up, and naps tend to be around 15 minutes lately because of it! 

Twice the noise activated. He was stirring, almost awake, and then back off. YES!!!

35 minutes after falling asleep, after I had got what I needed to do done, up gets my little baby bear. Happy, well rested, and ready to play with a chuffed mummy bear!  

All doubts out the window, this app works for us! Will certainly be using this afternoon. And tonight. And tomorrow. And the next day .....

Link below for anyone interested!

ITS FREE!!!

Sound sleeper app - itunes

Kiddicare review

I purchased a car seat from Kiddicare as my little boy outgrew his first - long baby! We installed it in the back seat of the car and went about business. After a few days I did not like him being in the back as the head is poorly supported and I wanted to keep an eye on him. The next day however, he managed to lift the buckle on the car seat and out fell a spring! I grabbed it quickly before he ate it - if he had been in the back it would have been in his mouth and choking him! Shocked and upset I contacted kiddicare regarding this. All they offered to do was refund, and after lots of emails a £20 gift card. Now due to this I could not go out, as the little one has to come everywhere. Im self employed and he comes to work with me - I lost £225 minimum of work. My partner doesn't drive and I have to take him - taxi fares cost £60. Then we had to buy a new seat £30. And I could not take my son to weighing, to see family, days out... Kiddicare had to collect the seat (the next week) and then I had to wait for a refund, which was a week to clear with my bank. I told them £20 was simply not enough to cover my losses but was told to get legal representation if I wanted to get more. What parent has money for this? They clearly do not care about customers health, safety or emotions. We have photographed and video taped this negligence and are contacting relevant safety authorities to prevent other families going through this. This company seem neglectful, do not value individual custom and I certainly will never be using them again. Avoid if you value your child's life!

Tots 100

Happy to be part of TOTS 100 !

Win win win!

Don't forget to enter our competition via the tab above! Lovely chance to win a personalised gift!

Aldi Mamia Nappies review

When little one arrived on New Years we were all stocked up with huggies little ones nappies, and pampers. 

After about 3 weeks I was sick to the back teeth of he amount of leaks! No matter what we did we just could not get on with them, so we switched to Aldis Mamia Nappies. Best thing we ever did! 

These nappies are so secure, we maybe have a leak once every few weeks - and usually as a result ofus doing it up a little looser! 

They have a lovely design with animals iver them making them interesting for the kids - my little one sits and pulls at it trying to get the animals off to play! 

The tabs are great - never break and give a really solid attachment. 

Absorbency wise - I could not ask for more! On the rare nights when little one will sleep through it will hold all moisture - up to 12 hours as the pack describes! 

Now everything I have mentionned is convenient, of course, thats what all parents want. But most importantly, is it comfortable for baby? YES! 

With other nappy bands little one would rub at it and fidget, especially when just wet. With these, its like they arent there! No bother to him at all! 

Now, the price... 

Pampers average - 10-15p per nappy 

Aldi mamia average - 8-11p per nappy 

So, these are comfortable, secure, minimal fuss AND cheaper! 

What more could we ask for mums and dads?! 

All in all, 10/10 for these nappies, highly recommended - thankyou Aldi!

Summary: Excellent nappies - would never use anything but!

Welcome!

Hello everyone! Thanks for joining my journey! 

This is where you will find me writing about my experiences as a first time mummy, reviewing products and services, having discussions with other parents and running some great competitions!

I would love to hear from you all so don't hesitate to join in!

Thanks and enjoy the ride!

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