Toddler momma, bride to be, full time worker and busy !

Every mum feels snowed under at some point!

 

So since I last posted me bubble and hubbie to be have been on a dream holiday, bubble has learned some words and me and the man have came to realise she is now a toddler and no longer our teeny baby but she is still brilliant!

Im a full time working mum and it’s tough I juggle work, childcare, drop off and pick ups for bubble, cleaning, cooking and being with the partner. Full stop I’m not going to complain I choose to work full time because I need to in my situation but there still is always a choice.

Today me and the partner and bubbles had a day together to find a wedding location and we found the one! Now for the next 12 months of planning, saving, cutting a few corners, disagreeing, laughing, crying but hopefully if today is anything to go by generally having lots of little family fun!

Yes I’m snowed under but I want to build a snowman!

Partyzilla

bubbles is nearly 1 kind of

In a little less than two months my little bubbles will be 1, it is scary and exciting !
I’ve started organising her party yay and have became a little partyzilla

London Town

It was mine and bubble’s first time in London and we had fun!

We stayed overnight and packed lightly 2 bags for the three of us, impressed at my packing skill’s hopefully they will be as good when we take our 2 week holiday later this year.

We tested out some new products on our stay namely the tommee tippee disposable pre sterilised bottles and the chillipeeps teat!
The disposable bottles are convenient, easy to use and bubbles can drink from them fine. If I was a millionaire I would use these bottles and pre made milk constantly, however I’m not! And these bottles are not cheap. There great for use once in a whole and easy to use on trips and holidays. Overall I would give these a 8/10 and will use them again on holiday later this year.
Chillipeeps teat is a great teat with a screw option to either screw a bottle teat onto a bottles of water ect or screw the teat into a carton of milk. The concept is great! The reality is less so. Bubbles will drink from any teat and is a quick drinker however when screwing this onto a carton the baby must be sucking onto the teat for milk to come through it otherwise baby drinks air and the teat leaks. The first time we used this bubbles got very wet. The second time she got less drenched in milk and seemed to do better. However overall I can only give this teat a 5/10, it does leak, it can’t be sterilised in a steam steriliser and it only comes in green, however it does work great for emergency feeds, it stays sterile in its little container and its a good concept.

We also took some trusty favourites, the quinny zapp xtra and our joy and joe wrap. Sorry but the quinny got sidelined as London didn’t feel like a very pushchair friendly city so the joy and joe took to the capital city.

The wrap performed great, and best of all daddy tested the wrap out too and enjoyed it. And I secretly loved seeing him strut around with our baby and our joy and joe. And he gave a review of 7/10 he liked how light it was once on and the snuggles with bubbles and how easy it made the London Underground with a baby. However he didn’t like the faff with tying the wrap and it was a little hot as it was the hottest day of the year. I would love to try a woven wrap next so we could have the option of a back carry and the OH would like more masculine looking option.

London was fun for all three of us and something we’ll defiantly do again next year! And I’m sure it’ll be a completely different experience with a toddler.

Thanks for reading

There’s a new toy in our house

I never thought a few years ago I’d get so excited over a toy, but I was so excited for bubbles to see her new toy I’d put up while she was napping!

The fisher price ballcano ! 6-36 months 4 AA battery’s and a very excited baby.

This toy encourages pulling to stand which bubbles loves doing and chasing balls another favourite pastime!

The ballcano has replaced the jumperoo so it certainly takes up less space and bubbles is happy with it, which is the most important factor.

Not technically a review, but if I had to rate the ballcano I would give it 7/10, It would have been nice if it had an air pressure ball popper, and although I purchased this in the sale and have found it to be good value for money I wouldn’t if I had had to pay full price which is £40.

Review time # quinny zapp xtra

We’ve owned the zapp xtra for just over a year now despite our bobba only being 8 month and do you know why ? Because its a cool stroller, it looks cool, it is cool and it has the advantage of being a small folder!

Ok so that’s why we purchased the zapp xtra as one of our first baby buys but how’s it now babys here? Now it’s good! For a newborn it’s okay it may be better now as you can now purchase a newborn insert, this wasn’t available when bubbles was tiny but may have kept her a bit cosier in the large seat. Although an advantage of the zapp xtra is that the seat is nice and wide at the centre to accommodate a toddler.

The advantages of this pushchair !

It looks cool!
It folds relatively small
Rearward facing option (this is great for a newborn and when you want to keep an eye on the baby)
Recline feature, the original zapp didn’t offer this.
Good size hood

Disadvantages
A bit nosy on certain terrains and deffo not an of roader.
Extending hood mechanism a little flimsy mine bend near straight away.
Not perfect for a newborn but there is an insert now for this purpose.
No adjustable handle height

Overall rating 7/10

A lovely looking pushchair and perhaps let down by the lack of adjustable handle hight and the flimsy hood. It would be great if the cosy toes was included as this is a must in the winter. However this is a good pushchair for being lightweight, stylish and small folding!

Review time (door gate)

Review time

I was kindly sent the Simply Pressure XL Safety Barrier made by safety first from safety first to review and this came at a vital time as our little bubble is climbing and crawling every where and everything!

Firstly it looks nice! It’s natural pine and sleek and lovely a lot easier on the eyes than the metal stair/ door gates

Now secondly it’s important to state it’s not a gate it’s a barrier. It’s not a gate as it doesn’t open so the option are climb over (not recommended with a baby) or remove and place back up. This is easy enough however it isn’t as easy as opening a gate so if you want an easy to open option then this probably isn’t your best bet!

And now what let this gate down a little for me was the fit. It is not not universal the way the gate is extended is by moving it to the next screw along by doing this it is unable to find a size to fit my down stairs doors safely. Now this is where I wanted to fit the gate so I suggest anyone looking to buy this gate contact safety first first and check it will fit there door width.

Our overview

Best looking barrier on the market! If it fitted it would be perfect for my family so could be for yours if it fits, however as it doesn’t fit all doorways I can only give it a 4/10

Pictures to follow hopefully

You can’t beat these moments

Bubbles now will crawl up to me to be cuddled to sleep and as much as people tell you you should put them down, you can’t beat the moments when your baby has fell asleep cuddling you!

Work Is here (well tomorrow it is anyway)

So back to work is now here and the timing isn’t great, bubbles is teething badly and has been very clingy and a bit of a moaner, but I love her millions! I have all mine and bubbles stuff ready for the morning and daddy is looking after bubbles so she will be fine, probably covered in food but fine.

How do I feel?
I don’t know ?
I’m kind of excited? It’ll be nice to go back to work and hang out with my mates and have a good laugh, I may even manage to do a little work.
Scared? Bubbles is a mom as girl though and through and I’ve never left her for more than 3 hours. I’m sure she’ll be fine once I’ve gone it’s the going that’ll be tough.

So as of tomorrow I’m officially a working mum … Go me !

Car seat love and hate

Road trip time! We took a 2 and a bit hour drive down to see family this week and our amazing baby slept the whole way! Amazing.
The way back however was a different story half way back and our little madam awoke and the crying began. Our baby used to hate every car ride she hates straps we call it her strapaphobia and used to scream every minute of every journey, however lately she has been a little better maybe she’s learned from the seven months of screaming that no matter how loud she gets we’re not going to instead her! So back to the journey she cried and whined and we fed her (muffin ooops), covered her wailing arms with a blanket to stop her dummy being pulled out and put up with the whines, maybe she’ll never love the car seat but she’s staying in one till she’s 12 or 4 foot whatever tall sorry bubbles.

Car seat love now

So out on the town with baby tonight, well not really just a family party but at bedtime she had her usual milk cuddle and dummy but instead of then being placed in her cot bubbles had to go into her car seat oh no. She awoke and fought her straps a little #strapaphobia, but was soon back to sleep as I set off and amazingly I even was able to carry her car seat into asda to pick up some milk and put her back in the car without bubbles awakening once back home I sorted the cot put and placed her in still asleep where she is now, here I have some car seat love. Not so long ago I dreaded ever trip and the thought of taking a tired bubbles for a 20 min car drive a ten minute shop drop another 5 min drive then bed would have me and bubbles crying outloud. It might have just been a one off but it was oh so good!

Some people don’t believe in hero’s but I’ve

Some people don’t believe in hero’s but I’ve met one and his called daddy!

A little early Father’s Day quote, I’ll dedicate this one to bubbles daddy