Kids Swimwear

Believe it or not, Summer is actually coming! I'm very excited for it as we can have lots of day trips. I'm thinking about taking C to the beach and starting to take him swimming! To do these things of course, you need the right clothing and accessories. So I've decided to do a little round up of my favourite items that I've spotted on the high street.

Kids Swimwear by x-walter

Croc Swimwear, £6-7 / Mothercare Crocodile Sunsafe, £12-13 / Crocodile hat, £4 / Taz Swimming Trunks | Boys | George at ASDA, £5 / Buy Toy Story Buzz Sunsafe Suit (3mths-6yrs) from the Next UK online..., £13-14 / Buy Toy Story Woody Sunsafe Suit (3mths-6yrs) from the Next UK online..., £13-14

Do you like the things I've chosen? Have you bought any already?

Let me know your thoughts!

Plum Baby's new range of savoury pouches - review

I recently volunteered to try out Plum Baby's new range of savoury pouches. 

Plum recently polled over 2,000 parents and a massive 76% were worried about their babies developing a 'sweet tooth'. I, myself, am worried about this! Plum developed these pouches because, in their words, "the sooner babies learn to appreciate the wonderful flavours of vegetables, the healthier their diets will tend to be later on".

These new pouches use ingredients like purple carrot and quinoa which contain antioxidants and they are smooth enough for babies 4 mths+ to eat. Quinoa makes them well-balanced which is brilliant because I'm always worrying about whether or not C is getting enough nutrition.

I was sent: broccoli & apple; sweet potato, corn & apple and pear, blueberry & purple carrot to try out. All of which upon opening I thought "that's a bit of a weird combination!" but we went for it anyway.

First up was broccoli & apple.

This was the first time I had introduced C to broccoli. He seemed to really enjoy it and slurped every bit of it! I gave it a little taste myself. You can really taste the broccoli but there is a bit of an apple tang afterwards.

Next was sweet potato, corn & apple.

Sweet potatoes offer more fibre and beta-carotene and have less effect on baby's blood sugar than the white variety. This is something that I didn't previously know so I will definitely be feeding it to C more. C couldn't get this into his mouth quick enough. So much so, in fact, that he ended up sucking it from the pouch and eating 2 of them in one sitting!

Lastly was pear, blueberry & purple carrot.
I'll be honest, I'd never even heard of purple carrot before and I was excited to try it myself never mind give C it! It tasted beautiful and again, had a nice tang. I think I may try to get my hands on some purple carrot. They contain antioxidants called anthocyanins which help prevent against diseases so I'm glad I heard about them.

Again, C couldn't get enough of this one and had both pouches in one sitting and sucked them from the top.

All in all, both C and myself loved these purées! They're fab because they're in handy little pouches so you can carry them out and about with you or the baby can suck on them (as you can see!). I love the how the recipes are so unusual but they work and it's a great way to get your baby to taste new fruits and vegetables. 

(Disclaimer: I received these pouches free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are my own.)

C's last ever visit to baby clinic!

Today, C had another visit to baby clinic to see how he's developing after being born prematurely. I always get very nervous going and feel as though people might judge me or I'm doing something wrong (don't know why!).

We arrived and were seen straight away. Last time we were there was in January and C weighed 15lbs 8oz. Now, he is 18lb 9oz! 

The consultant tested him by sitting him up unaided, checking his heart rate, how he stands and if he follows items around the room. Everything was perfect! She then told us that they don't see any reason to see him anymore and that he's developing really well!

On our last visit, we were told that he will probably be a bit behind but by his first birthday there should be no differences between him and a baby born at full-term around the same time. This time, we were told that at only 7.5 months old, there are no differences already!

He loves visiting baby clinic because he loves all the attention. He was smiling away at everyone and sticking his tongue out like a cheeky monkey!

I'm over the moon that everything is going so great. Even when he was in hospital after just being born, everything was good and we never had to take a few steps back. I'm just waiting for something to go wrong now!

Itsyourstory book review

I'm a sucker for anything personalised and I had come across itsyourstory before when hunting for first birthday gifts (I know, a bit premature) and thought their range was fab!

itsyourstory launched in 2004 with just three books and now their range has expanded to 26 books PLUS cards, party invites, e-books, e-cards & photo-personalised Father Christmas letters!

They were looking for people to review their adult & child's Zoo Adventure personalised book for Father's Day so I hopped on board. It was really easy to create. You just state the size of book you want (small, medium or large), upload your photo of daddy's face and answer a few personalised questions such as their names and address, their favourite foods & daddy's age and colour.

It arrived really promptly and I fell in love with it as soon as I looked at the cover!

C and daddy go around the zoo visiting all the different animals. My favourite thing about this book is that it's so interactive. Yes, you've got the photo of daddy and personalisation but it engages with the child with questions such as "Can you walk like a penguin?" and "Can you roar like a lion?"

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful as you can see from my photos below.

The back page is filled with facts about zoos/animals and daddy!

It was such a brilliant idea for a book and a great gift idea for Father's Day with prices ranging from £12.50 to £22.50. I will definitely be purchasing from itsyourstory in the future!

You can find itsyourstory on their website, Facebook and Twitter!

(Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are my own and I have not been compensated in any way).

Silent Sunday - 5/5/2013