Daddy Guest Post: Why I Don't Mind Working Weekends....

Working Sundays is now the norm for me.

 It has been an adjustment, but it's not all doom and gloom.

There are some bonuses. In lieu of Sundays off I get a weekday in its place and this is time to spend with Hayley and Tyne. We get to have days out having fun and going to nice places. I get to spend days (yes whole days) with my family and not just an hour before Tyne goes to sleep.

We don't just have to squeeze in an hour or two at night before bed. I get to sit and feed my son, his breakfast, lunch and sometimes tea. 

I get to experience the joys of daytime shopping during the week. Empty parks and restaurants you don't have to reserve a table for or queue at only to be told there are no high chairs available...

Before becoming a Dad my days off would be spent laying in bed recovering from the night before, possibly a lunch out, maybe browsing online or watching a movie....

But now feeding and cuddles are high on the to do list, playing is higher of course....just sitting with Tyne whilst he plays, or watches TV and relaxing and being with him is my favourite hobby now. 

Watching his facial expressions as he discovers a new feature on a toy, a new advert or programme, or pattern on the sofa he's never noticed before. 

There's always something new and fresh that we as adults may take for granted but to him it's new and wonderful. 

Be it watching TV with him (even the ads for Professional Negligence Solicitors and Loan companies offering to solve financial woes aren't annoying when seen through the eyes of a child!), trying new foods, having funny face competitions..it's all time well spent.

May be we should all take a leaf out of our children's books and start looking at things with fresh eyes and not just taking them for granted. I've tried, and I love it.

Review: BrotherMax Non-Contact Thermometer

You may recall me mentioning that a few weeks ago, Tyne was really unwell with a fever?

Anybody who has had a poorly baby will know that it can be terrifying when they have a fever, and trying to coax them into allowing you take their temperature can really make the situation worse.

Our thermometer is an in-ear one and, of course, Tyne hates it at the best of times but when he's feeling rubbish and has sore ears anyway - the last thing he wants is us sticking that thing in them!!

So when the Brother Max Non Contact Thermometer arrived, I was intrigued.

We are already BIG Brother Max fans in this house as you may recall from our Highchair review....

I wanted to test it right away - and thanks to the fact that the batteries are included (how rare these days?!) I was able to!

The thermometer reads both body temp and room temp and is very easy to use.

To read the room temperature, you simply press the button until the home symbol appears and then you aim and press - voila! That simple!

To take a childs temperature, you point the sensor at their forehead and ensure that the display is showing the Head symbol - then press the button and the temp appears!

Firstly I was pretty sure that it wouldn't work very well, and wouldn't give an accurate reading...so I took Tyne's temperature on his in-ear thermometer (with much fuss!) and then on the Brother Max thermometer - the reading was exactly the same.

I could not believe how simple this was to use! No fuss whatsoever - the child doesn't even need to know that you're taking their temperature! - and within a second, its done!

There are some great features too, including the backlight which allows you to read the temperature in the dark and the sound off feature which allows you to take a reading without waking the child.

I literally could not be more impressed with this thermometer, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to any parent.

Available from Boots & Amazon for £39.99

November NonaBox Review

Last week saw the arrival of our third Nonabox....and as always, as soon as I opened the door and saw the delivery driver standing there with it I felt a little twinge of excitement!

I know it sounds silly but I LOVE these boxes so much and get so excited about tearing into them to see whats inside!

I have subscribed for years to beauty boxes and never felt half as excited about the contents as I do with Nonabox!

So....what was inside this month?!

As always, the contents did NOT disappoint!

We received:

1) Jojo Maman Bebe Changing Clutch Bag - RRP £15.00

I have to say, as soon as I saw the Jojo Maman Bebe label I was excited as I`m a big fan of the brand!! The clutch bag is a lovely stylish design, and a great idea - it contains a changing mat and enough space for a few nappies and wipes, and mummy essentials - perfect for when you DON'T want to lug around your every day heavy, overloaded changing bag but just need a few essentials!!! I will definitely get a lot of use out of this, particularly if we go on cruises in the new year as I can always nip back to the cabin if I need anything other than what fits into this bag - ideal!!!!

2) Jojo Maman Bebe Pocket High Chair - RRP £14.00

This has to be one of the best ideas I've ever seen! The packaway pocket highchair is exactly what it says - a highchair that fits into your pocket!!

You fold it out and attach it to most chairs, so that you have a highchair wherever you are!

This will get a lot of use from me as when we're visiting my sister at dinner time, its difficult to feed Tyne as she doesnt have a highchair - now we can attach this to her dining chair and we're sorted!!!

3) Jojo Maman Bebe Rabbit Comforter - £9.00

This super cute little guy has barely been out of Tyne's hands since he arrived! He loves playing with material and sucking on things atm, and this rabbit is ideal and I know its safe for him to be playing with - he's also very cute!

4) Fireman Sam & Mr Men Books - RRP £2.90 each

These books are perhaps a little old for Tyne just yet, but no doubt he will enjoy them when he is a little older and I love that they're seasonal and Christmassy!

5) Plum Stage 1 Baby Porridge - RRP Approx £2.50

I was a little bit confused as to why we received a Stage 1 porridge as Tyne is now well into Stage 2, but I guess some babies his age may not be and its better to have a stage lower which he can still use than a stage higher which may go out of date before its used - so makes sense when I think about it! I like Plum as a brand so we will certainly use this.

6)Humphreys Corner Shampoo & Bubble Bath Sample Sachets

A nice little extra which will be fun to try out at bathtime!

Overall Verdict:

Once again, I am blown away by the high quality items in the box - highly trusted and sought after brand named items are included, with the contents being worth over £45 when the box only costs £25....great value for money!!!

I was once again very impressed with the box - and I am absolutely thrilled that we have been chosen to become long term Nonabox bloggers so will continue to review their amazing boxes!!

YAY!!!

To Subscribe to Nonabox from £25 per month (Or less with a long term subscription!), visit http://nonabox.co.uk/monthly-subscription/

Review: Baby Weavers Shuffle SP Car Seat

Over the last few weeks, I'd noticed that Tyne was seeming less and less happy spending time in the car.

As we spend quite a bit of time in the car doing deliveries for my craft business, this was becoming a bit of an issue and I started wondering if perhaps it may be because he was ready to come out of first car seat.

He was still using his Group 0 car seat, still rear-facing so all he could see was the back seat.

Luckily, with perfect timing, the lovely people at Kiddicare contacted us to ask if we'd be interested in reviewing a car seat from their extensive range....

We had a browse through their website, and from the many great options on offer we settled for the Baby Weavers Shuffle SP.

Choosing a car seat can be a tricky business, particularly for a first time mum like me as obviously it's not something I've ever needed to do before and the various Groups and age/weight limitations were somewhat mind boggling to me!

Luckily Kiddicare have a fantastic easy-to-use guide on their website which you can view HERE - I found this invaluable when deciding which car seat to go for!

So....why did we choose the Baby Weavers Shuffle SP?

I decided that it made more sense to me to go for a car seat that would last Tyne from now right up until he is 4 years old, it seems more cost effective than swapping and changing again and if he's anything like me he'll be a creature of habit - so will hopefully settle into and get used to his own car seat!

The seat has 4 easily adjustable recline positions, a 5 point safety harness, and a deep side wings for increased side impact protection.

The key points to this for me are that it has removable/ washable covers and an in-built alarm system which alerts us if the harness is released from the locking clip - I think this is such a clever idea as little ones are always playing with these things and how easy would it be for Tyne to undo the lock without us noticing?!

I also LOVE the design of this car seat - its funky and fresh without being in-your-face, and its very unisex so would be suitable if a little sister ever happens to come along too!

I'm really impressed with the car seat, and thankfully Tyne is much happier in it now that he's forward facing and able to look out of the window as we travel!

To browse the range of car seats and many other great items, visit www.kiddicare.com 

Competition: WIN A Night in on Morrisons!

Have a night in on Morrisons!

Morrisons M Kitchen dishes are lovingly developed by professional chefs, who provide tasty meals from the M Kitchen to yours, and to celebrate the relaunch of the M Kitchen range we’re sending one lucky competition winner a night in on us!

Now’s your chance to win a selection of Morrisons products, a bottle of wine and chocolate treats all guaranteed for a perfect night on the sofa and just in time for Christmas!

For further information, visit the M Kitchen blog for news, recipes, videos and insights from the M Kitchen Chefs at www.mkitchenblog.com

To enter the competition, complete the Rafflecopter form below

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Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Dressing The Baby: November

We've been keeping snug & warm as the winter approaches with lots jumpers to snuggle in and hats to keep us nice and warm!

One area we need to concentrate on though is shoes! You'll notice that throughout this post -Tyne has an amazing lack of shoes in all photos!

Mostly because he just will not keep them on!

I have been thinking about getting him some more lace-up styles though as these may be a little easier?!

I've been browsing a lot on Ebay and Treds  for baby converse and vans shoes so I may have to splurge a little before Christmas!

This super thick warm jumper is ideal for the cold days and looks gorgeous paired with bright blue chinos.

I love this grey cable knit hooded cardi from Miniclub at Boots - it's just gorgeous and goes with so many otufits!

I love it most with your Baby Baker jeans and the super cute bowtie and brace print vest that Uncle Derrick sent from the US, I believe he got it in Old Navy if I recall the tags correctly!

This super cute waistcoat, shirt and jeans set was almost forgotten about in the back of your wardrobe...its actually size 0-3 months so its incredible that it fits you! You wont get more than a couple of wears out of it sadly but its so gorgeous!

Recently we've putting you in your pram suit if we've been out for walks, and it looks so snuggly!

I love you in baby blue!

Your new personalised outfit from My 1st Years is another of my favourites - I love seeing you in anything with your name on and hats really suit you, plus I love that they make you look like a little tiny baby again!

And finally, I decided to include the outfit you wore today as its a little different from what you'd usually wear but it suited you!

It was a gift from a friend, and it is covered in lots of little robots - Daddy's favourite! - so its very boyish and you look very cheeky in it!

So thats my favourite outfits from November! I think next month we'll be seeing lots of red!! :)

My Day At Build-A-Bear - By Tyne!

A few days ago, Mummy told me that we were going to Build-A-Bear in Exeter for the day to see what we thought of it!

Build-A-Bear Workshop is a place you can go to where you can make your very own teddy bear friends, buy them outfits and just have lots of fun!

When we got there, we met a lovely lady called Starla who told us all about it and explained what we would be doing.

Starla said I should look at all of the bears they had and choose which one I wanted to make.

There were so many lovely teddy bears to choose from, so I had a good cuddle of lots of them to make extra sure I chose the right one!

Santa Claus was cuddly and looked really nice, but Mummy thought I might eat his glasses....

I thought Rudolph's light up nose was extra cool!

And the brightly coloured rainbow bear was really snazzy!!

They had so many cool Christmas bears too! The Snowman was really nice!

In the end though, I decided I liked Rudolph and his flashing red nose the best of all!

Starla gave me an empty Rudolph and we set off to make him cuddly!!!

Starla said we could put sounds in Rudolph if we wanted to, we could choose from giggling and words like "I love you" - but because I love music SO much, we decided to get the Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer song!

Starla showed it to me and we had a dance to make sure I liked it!

We went to the stuffing machine, which is full of fluffy stuffing for inside the teddy bears.

The machine has lots of bright lights inside which looked really nice and I got to step on the pedal myself to stuff Rudolph!

Daddy said I did a good job!

Then I chose a heart for inside Rudolph - I could have had a scented heart or a beating heart, but I decided a normal plain heart would be best so I gave it a kiss and made a wish...then we put the heart inside Rudolph!

The nice lady stitched Rudolph up nicely, and said that if he ever opens at all I can bring him back and they will fix him again for free! 

Then we took Rudolph to the Fluffing Station where we brushed his fur and fluffed him up under the hand dryers!

Then Mummy typed up Rudolph's birth certificate - so that if he ever gets lost and somebodys hands him in to a Build A Bear shop, they will open him up and look at his tag number - then they will find our address in their computers and return him to me!!

This is me with my finished Rudolph - isn't he cool?!!

Starla put him in a box for me with a ribbon and my name on, and said I could keep him forever!

I had so much fun at Build A Bear, everybody was super nice to me, and Rudolph is my new very best friend - I have played him with lots since we got home!

We also got an outfit for Rudolph to make him look extra Christmassy! Mummy said it was cute coz it matches my onesie....Look!!!!

I had SO much fun at Build A Bear that Mummy says she's even thinking about taking me and my cousins there for my 1st Birthday party - won't that be cool?!

Bye Everybody!!

Love from Tyne ( And my new very best friend Rudolph!)

xxx

Rudolph costs just £19.00 from Build A Bear workshop, outfits are sold at an additional cost starting from £4.50.

For more information, please visit http://www.buildabear.co.uk/

The Perfect Christmas...all from one store!?

With December finally upon us, it's time to really start focusing on Christmas!

Every year I have the image of the perfect Christmas in my mind but of course, at this time of year shopping for the supplies to make that image a reality can be a bit of a headache!

Dragging myself and a baby around the cold streets, being shoved around by other shoppers, fighting for parking spaces and all the rest of it....

Wouldn't it be great if you could get everything you need for Christmas in just one store?!

Well actually - I think you can!

Last year, I discovered BHS's amazing Christmas range which covers every corner I could think of when it comes to my Christmas Needs!

Perfect Christmas Food? Check!

Thornton & France Festive Hat Box - £50.00

Retro Sweet Hamper - £25.00

Gifts for difficult men in your life? Check!

Keep Calm Onesie - £28.00

Moustache Christmas Tree Jumper - £20.00

Something for the little ones? Check!

And how about items to make your home look picture perfect for Christmas?! 

Dear Santa Cushion - £20.00

Snowflake Fleece Throw - £10.00

Decorative Reindeer - £8.00

Nordic Bauble Tree - £20.00

Sorted!

So there you have it, wether shopping online from the comfort of your own cosy home at www.bhs.co.uk or heading to their high street stores, you have Christmas all under one roof!!!

On the 12th Day Of Christmas, Sparkles & Stretchmarks Gave to Me....A Personalised Christmas Decoration!

It's the FINAL day of our  BIG Christmas Giveaway!!!

Are you excited for the big draw tomorrow?!!!!

So what's today's prize?!

Today it's a gift made by my own fair hands! ;)

You get to choose from ONE of the following personalised Christmas decorations, unique to you & your family!

So to be in with a chance of winning a unique, personalised Christmas decoration from my very own crafting business - just complete the Rafflecopter form below!

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