Do you have an early teether?: Sophie La Girafe.

Mr Eli enjoying his Sophie; he particularly enjoys her head.

Poor Mr Eli has had it rough the past few weeks! Just after his 8 week injections he was extremely grizzly, crying A LOT despite the usual check list all being checked off! It was 4 days after the immunisations and he was really chewing on his little hands… more so than in the “oh I have hands!” way. I switched the big light on in our bedroom and noticed he had rosy cheeks. “OH NO!” I yelled out to my OH who was downstairs. OH raced up the stairs “HE’S TEETHING! ALREADY!”.

We managed to prise Mr Eli’s little jaw open and saw that indeed, on the bottom left, there was a REAL toothy peg. An actual tooth sitting there, ready to cut through the gum. At just 8 weeks old. Poor little mite 🙁

Obviously, at 8 weeks old, Eli was too young to understand the concept of a teether… or chewing for comfort… or even be able to grasp onto a teether for that case. We did try a few that had been purchased for us from friends and family while I was pregnant. Eli didn’t like any of them. And we REALLY did persevere.

We had the Sophie La Girafe large teether on our list ready to purchase when Eli was around 5 months old. Which is when we anticipated he’d NEED one! After looking around I saw that you could buy a small version, that was really soft and has two rings for easy gripping action… or in Eli’s case, more for him to chew and lick! At 10 weeks old Eli had mastered both grasp and chew! I firmly believe I have Sophie to thank for encouraging Eli’s gripping development!

I think the Sophie La Girafe teether is fast becoming Eli’s favourite toy. He literally cannot go anywhere without her! Eli particularly enjoys chewing really hard onto Sophie’s head (harsh, I know), which seems to give him great relief. This teether, however,  is not for the faint hearted as it makes the most almighty squeaking noise as he chomps down! Massive massive cringe (think nails down a chalk board, touching wet terracota, wet cotton wool etc).

I massively recommend this Sophie La Girafe teether to everyone I meet, best £7 I’ve ever spent! It would make a really nice stocking filler this Christmas too!

Buy Sophie La Girafe teether right now from JohnLewis.com

 

MM.

Our iCandy Strawberry: Seat unit/Stroller and Carrycot.

**Quick warning, this post is quite photograph heavy**

We had looked at lots and lots and lots of reviews of travel systems, push chairs, strollers, joggers, car seats – everything! We came to the conclusion that we *needed* the iCandy Apple. No, not because we’re massive Apple fans… but because iCandy products are the most innovative, easy-on-the-eye and well received. Also, it’s quite important to us that iCandy is a British brand – we’re massive supporters of all things heritage, so this was also a key selling point for us!

Upon further investigation, we found that the iCandy Strawberry was due to be released – after much anticipation. We watched a ton of videos from trade fairs and Which, along with reviews, and decided that we now *needed* the iCandy Strawberry. We called up John Lewis dozens of times awaiting the delivery of it to the shop floor so we could look at it in real life. FINALLY, it had arrived at the Oxford Street store, so we dashed down after work to have a butchers.

We were not disappointed – but knew there was a waiting list and all products that were being delivered, were going straight to customers who had pre-ordered, months and months and months previous.

We looked at a handful of forums and spoke to iCandy stockists and found that we were likely to have a 3 month wait. So we thought, ‘sod it, let’s get it ordered’. So at just 12 weeks pregnant, we ordered the entire package from John Lewis in Stratford. We just wanted to keep it simple colour-wise, black goes with everything – and is unisex. So we ordered the seat unit (£450) and seat unit flavour pack in Assam (£75) along with carry cot (£95) and carry cot flavour pack in Assam (£75).

We were told that we’d get a phone call when everything was in stock, ready for dispatch. Personally, I thought it would be longer than the 3 month wait… judging by conversations around the amount of pre-orders and the length of time it takes to dispatch to the stockist – for the stockist to then dispatch to the customer directly. Just 3 weeks later we got a phone call saying that all items would be delivered in a further 3 days time! We couldn’t believe it.

But hey, I did say we were organised, didn’t I? 😉

So, obviously, at just 24+1 weeks pregnant, we haven’t given it a proper test drive yet. But check out the pictures. We’re chuffed with it! Will have to follow up on this post when Baby Boy actually arrives! From driving it around the house, I can confirm that it is smooth, easy to manoeuvre and quite light. The iCandy Strawberry comes with ‘memory’, meaning that it can be folded with the seat unit attached still – it will then unfold back into the same position before it was folded.

What’s in the box? iCandy Strawberry Chassis, Stroller seat unit, bumper bar, wheels, rain cover and instructions/warranty.

What’s in the box? iCandy carrycot, bumper bar, rain cover, instructions/warranty.

Carry cot attached, with bumper bar. The carry cot features the Assam flavour pack – hood and cover.

Stroller, rear facing. The stroller features the Assam flavour pack – hood and seat cover.

Stroller, front facing.

Folded, free standing, with stroller still attached.

Folded, laid flat with stroller still attached.

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We’ve also ordered the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix car seat from Amazon, which attaches to the iCandy Strawberry chassis. You need to purchase the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix adapters (£30) however!

The complete iCandy Strawberry Travel System that we purchased above came to a total of £725 from John Lewis. We still need to purchase a the Parasol (£25), which can now be purchased online at JohnLewis.com

MM.

 

Our Baby Boy’s first bedroom.

We’ ve been super organised during this pregnancy – despite all the scares and the tests and the anxiety. I think the being organised has been therapeutic in a way; and has given us something to keep our minds focussed 🙂

Here are the first picture’s of Baby Boy’s first bedroom – he’s going to be in our bedroom for around the first six months however! I did say I was organised, didn’t I?

We painted the walls first – ‘Willow Tree’ by Dulux. We must have painted the room at around 12 weeks. We needed something to do while awaiting CVS results.

We then went to IKEA at around 18 weeks and bought all the furniture! Check out the little dog-bum hooks!

This is OH putting together the cot. All very exciting!

Then putting the shelves up! He very much enjoyed using his new drill and fancy spirit level 🙂

I’m particularly enjoying my curtains, which I hemmed and put up myself. It’s quite a small room, but feels so cosy and nice. We just need July to hurry up now!

MM.