Little L's Christmas Wishlist

I feel extremely unorganised this Christmas, still lots of things to do and to buy, but at least all our relatives are aware of what L wants for her first Christmas. 

Just few weeks ago I wasn't sure if I want to buy personalised presents for L's first Christmas. I didn't want a teddy bear, or booties or socks or a bib (the list can go on and on) but I have decided that a christmas bauble is a great keepsake and can be used every year. As you can see I'm more of a practical person, so L's wishlist consists of toys she will need up until she is 1.

1. Lamaze Toys Balancing Bug Stacker
2. ELC Sensory Stacking Rings
3. ELC Discovery Cylinder
4. Fisher- Price Cookie Shape Surprise
5. ELC Baby Percussion Mat
6. LeapFrog My Pal Violet
7. World Apart A-Zebra Square Sensory Ball Pit
8. Tumble doll

Kiddicare Christmas Gift Guide

Few months ago I have started creating L's Christmas wishlist as I wanted to get her something she can use till her 1st birthday. I couldn't find any gift guides by age and my only source at that point was online community for parents. It helped me greatly and made me think that maybe online toy shops should implement an idea of age gift guides to be available at all times as mums like me always on a search for a toy or a book for a little one.

Few weeks ago I came across Kiddicare Christmas Gift Guide, if only I could buy all the toys in the world for L, but I have settled just for few.       

Kiddicare have a wide selection of toys that would make great Christmas presents for toddlers and babies. The products cater for a range of ages and prices so are ideal for stocking fillers or more expensive main presents.

You can have a sneak peek at:

• 2014 top toys
• The first Noel with toys suitable from birth to 12 months 
• Early years with toys suitable from 12 months to 3 years and
• Grow their imagination toys for 3-5 years.

The first Noel category is perfect for my almost 6 months old baby, but I have picked 2 items from different ranges:

Learn With The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book from First Noel and Buzzing Brains Xylophone from Early Years.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a set of 4 board books: numbers, words, colours, animal sounds. 

This compact set of books are for little hands to hold, board pages that are durable enough to withstand the rough and tumble of toddlers. It is filled with collage art, and large and simple text.

This is a great set of books but I feel that L cares more about putting things in her mouth and colourfulness of things rather than the educational side of it. 
From the very first day L was eager to put them in her mouth, we even made a joke that she is learning through chewing. They already show signs of use as you would expect from a tiny baby but I hope they can last us longer so that she can learn a little bit more about the world with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Buzzing Brains Xylophone- a classic toy xylophone with 5 different colour keys, each a different tone.

Features:

• Helps develop hand eye coordination
• Early introduction to music
• Great for learning first scales and simple tune
• 5 different colour keys, each a different tone
• Two wooden beaters to help develop left and right handed play and sharing

It is a more of a success for us even though it states that the toy is suitable from 12 months I think it's the ideal musical toy which helps stimulate her senses and develop her skills as well as just an ideal addition to L's musical instruments collection.

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

Nib Nibs review and giveaway #5

We are passionate about nibbling and love creating moreish quality snacks that are full of the very best of everything. We personally source our ingredients and always ensure they are the finest quality and wherever possible most definitely British. 

We also produce all of our snacks at our bakery in North Yorkshire. We are reassuringly local and a true artisan producer.

Have you heard of Nib Nibs before? These lovely cheesy pastry straws are an alternative to Mini Cheddars. 

I have received:

Mininibs Roasted Salt & Pepper Jumbo Peanuts (70g)

Mininibs Exceptional Cheddar Cheese Straws (65g)

Mininibs Exceptional Cheddar & Spicy Chilli Straws (65g)

Mininibs Exceptional Cheddar & Cheeky Onion Straws (65g)

Nib Nibs are also available in four delicious flavours: Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper; West Country Cheddar; West Country Cheddar and Cheeky Onion and West Country Cheddar & Spicy Chilli, in a generous 175g pack.

I am a big fan of pretty much everything cheese related and was very eager to try Mininibs. Mininibs tub has a pull- back foil seal which can be left or you can easily peel it away and use just the re-sealable lid.

Save to say that the contents of each tub was finished within few minutes mainly by myself. I had to share them with my husband but as a breastfeeding mother ;-) I had the most of it.

From the 3 different flavours my favourite one is cheddar and onion. I thought that it's very tender and onion flavour is not overpowering at all, where as cheddar cheese straws were a little bit too strong for me. The real "heat" for us were cheddar and chilly straws, they definitely have a kick to it, but it is quite gentle which is great as I prefer to eat spicy food and to enjoy the flavours rather than not to be able to taste anything.

My second favourite- salt and pepper peanuts, I liked them so much that I had to lick the whole tub afterwards, I just couldn't get enough of them!

These are absolutely delicious, I have previously tried peppercorn crisps from a different brand which my husband brought from work which I thought are way too strong, I felt as if the actual peppercorns were stuck in my throat and had a weird pepper after-taste in my mouth. So having tasted the crisps I knew what to expect. I was totally wrong! Mininibs peanuts are much nicer and more enjoyable!

The only problem I had was with finding local stockists, there is just one farm shopc in my area who might stock Nib Nibs (I haven't checked yet), I have managed to find an online store, where you can purchase Mininibs at £1.95. If you would like to find your local stockists please click here.

I am very please to offer my readers the chance to WIN a selection of their own Nib Nibs simply fill in the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Where do you nibble yours?

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

Little L is 5 months

I can't believe L is 5 months!! We've been through lack of sleep, lack of time, arguments, doubts, crying, smiles, poonamy, rolling back and forth, touching toes and lots more. 
As L is tiny comparing to other babies her age, she is now dropped to 2nd centile line, I thought that 5 months is the best time to introduce solids. She is showing the interested in what we eat or drink and gets upset if I'm not sharing a glass of water with her. She is obsessed with bottles especially if they have something inside, every time she sees a bottle she wants to grab it and every time she sees a glass of water she holds it with 2 hands if I give it to her and pretends to drink.

Her 2 bottom teeth are pretty much there for everyone to see, so weird to see these changes. L has all signs of teething- has rash on her body and face, grumpy and has odd days of long naps . We have tried Dentinox and now testing Anbesol, but none of these seem to work. 

Sleep during the day or night has been the main issue for me this month, she won't fall asleep on her own, for the past couple of weeks it happened just once, when I try to calm her and then leave the room she starts crying, it either takes us hours or she falls asleep and wakes up at 10 pm ready to be entertained.
I thought that when we move house and start solids she will sleep better, I was fooling myself. Health visitor suggested to put L in a cot with a comforter, we have previously tried comfort blanket and my pillow- it never worked, but I'm willing to try it again. Health visitor's method is slightly different to mine, I used to sleep with comforter so that it smells of me or put it in my bra and then leave it next to L in her cot, health visitor suggested to have comforter with us at all times, few days later to try and leave L on her own in a cot but with the comforter, apparently it can take 3-4 days and it should work. Fingers crossed!

It is fascinating to watch L grow and develop! Sometimes she is lifting her hand and looking at it from a different angle or when she is trying to roll but one of the arms is on the way or her weird laughter if something is incredibly funny or weird noises she makes!

I think I'm obsessed with her, can't help myself but we are so attached to each other that I don't trust anyone with her. She sees her grandparents, aunties and cousin but I worry a lot about her playing on a cold wooden floor or her being to close to cats or too close to someone smoking or coughing. I feel overprotective and full of love towards her!

Nordic wipes review

When L was born I started to use water wipes but just few days later I have noticed that she has a nappy rash. I decided to use baby wipes when on the go and for day to day bum wiping to use well- known cotton wool and water. 

Few months ago I came across Nordic Wipes and thought that it's a great alternative to cotton wool.

We are two Danish mums that have started a company called Nordic Wipes, that specializes in unique allergy friendly wipes, which can help prevent nappy rash. These wipes have been used my mums and nurseries in the Nordic countries for decades. Moving to UK we realized that these wipes did not exist, and after having family and friends bringing them over for years, we decided to start our own company.

Today the wipe is recommended by Nordic midwives and health visitors, to be used on newborns and babies as it is good for sensitive skin, and helps prevent nappy rash. 

The Nordic Wipe is:
100% Allergy friendly
100% Fragrance Free
100% Parabene Free
100% Free of preservation substances
100% Free of colouring and bleaching agents
100% Disposable
100% Oeko-Tex certified

Nordic wipes (100 wipes in a pack) come in a vacuum compressed bag once I had opened the pack it expanded.

I have received a pack of full size wipes, they also come in half size. The total price for a box of 5 packs of wipes is £9 including postage. You can purchase them here.

It is very easy to use Nordic wipes just follow these easy steps:

- open the pack

- take the wipe out

- wet the wipe

- squeeze excess water if needed

- apply the wet wipe on your baby's skin

Wipes are made of soft foam and become even softer when wet and don't leave any irritations on baby's skin. Even though they are foam wipes when wiping nothing comes through and your fingers will be poo-free.

We have been cutting wipes into small strips or just torn bits for "topping and tailing" and at every nappy change, by doing so they lasted longer.
I wasn't brave enough to use them when out and about as recommended on the website, as I think it might get messy especially when changing area is lacking in space. 

The only minor concern I had was with storing the wipes, as from the moment you open a pack you can't put the wipes back in it's packaging, but if you can find a tin or a small box it won't be a problem. I have also noticed that over the time wipes became yellow- ish but this didn't affect it's properties.

Recommendations: as per my previous comment it would be great to see a range of products from wipes to storage boxes.

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

It's the most wonderful time of the year with Webbs of Wychbold

GROTTO
Last Wednesday was a truly magical for us! We were invited to the Webbs Garden Centre in Wychbold to visit their newly opened outdoor Ice rink and Santa's Grotto.

Families with young ones or just the young at heart can visit the Winter Wonderland, which has been created at the award-winning garden centre, and see the animated elves in their workshop, the polar bears skating on the ice rink and enjoy songs and dance from the playful electronic penguins before being greeted by elves and taken to meet Father Christmas himself.

After telling him their festive wish, children will then enter the toy warehouse and choose their own gift as an early festive treat – but only if they’ve been good!

The grotto will be open from 9am – 4.30pm on Saturdays until 20th December, 10am – 4.30pm on Sundays until 21st December, 1pm – 5pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 26th November to 5th December, 1pm – 6pm on 10th, 11th, and 12th December, 9.30am – 6.30pm from 15th – 19th December, 9am – 6.30pm on 22nd and 23rd December and from 9am – 2.30pm on Christmas Eve.
Grotto tickets are priced at £7 per child, which includes one accompanying adult and a free gift worth £5. Booking in advance is recommended, and can be made in-store or online at www.webbs.co.uk.

I have never been to the Grotto before therefore didn't really know what to expect apart from the obvious bits- meeting Santa and a present.
Prior to the visit my expectations were not high, I thought that we will be rushed throughout our visit to the Grotto and thought that Santa would be friendly but I didn't expect him to be nice. 
How little did I know! We were really impressed with the welcoming service, decorations, animated polar bears, penguins and elves on the way to Santa, staff members dressed as elves and of course Santa!! I take it back, he was great!!

When we walked into the room where Santa sat we were greeted by a girl elf, who took pictures of us all with Santa, we were also allowed to take our own pictures.

As L is tiny and can't talk Santa asked me what I want for Christmas, I couldn't think of anything at that moment so said that I wish for L to have lots of presents this Christmas. 
After all the pictures were taken we were offered to visit Santa's toy warehouse to pick a toy. 

Oh my, it was tough! We were told that one boy spent more than half an hour trying to pick 1 toy out of 6 he had picked as well! Not surprised!
Further more, in the next section staff members offered us to pick and purchase photos which were taken earlier by the elf.

ICE RINK

Unfortunately we didn't use ice rink which is a shame as I really wanted to, but with 4 months old it was impossible.

Here is a little it more about it from Webbs Chairman, Ed Webb “There’s nothing to make you feel festive more than skating outdoors on real ice. And this year we have our biggest rink ever plus a great clear roof covering so you can skate whatever the weather. It’s a great activity with family or friends and we are thrilled we can bring such a cool experience to our customers again this year.”

He added, “It’s magical skating outside in the early evening with lights twinkling and frost in the air and just as much fun in the quieter sessions, perhaps teaching your children to skate.”

The ice rink will be open seven days a week until Sunday, 4th January (closed Christmas Day & Boxing Day), including some evening sessions. Each session is 45 minutes long and ticket price includes skate hire. The rink-side Christmas Café will make the experience complete. Ice skating tickets are from just £6.

Disclaimer: I was offered to visit Webbs of Wychbol for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.