Belle & Boo | Very Merry Christmas (book).

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This week I received the most wonderful book in the post – “Belle & boo, and the Very Merry Christmas.

We’re mad on Christmas, always have been – always will be. I think most people are surprised our tree and decorations aren’t up yet to be honest… but we’re traditionalists since Mr Eli arrived, getting a real tree again this year, on 1st December.

Anyway, I digress. We had decided last year, that we would buy Mr Eli a Christmas book every year; that we would sit and read on Christmas Eve. Last year we went classic with  The Night Before Christmas, by Clement. C. Moore. This Christmas Eve, we’ll be reading our amazingly beautiful “and the Very Merry Christmas” book by Belle & Boo creator, Mandy Sutcliffe.

I’d had this book on my ‘wish list’ since it was announced on pre-order. I was TOO excited. So imagine my absolute joy at opening the book and seeing the below specially signed copy from Mandy herself.

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I’ve had a very quick flick through the first few pages, but do not want to look further – I don’t want to spoil our Christmas Eve read!

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But from what I’ve seen, I can assure you, this is a very pretty book that will make just the perfect Christmas present for any little one! We really cannot wait to read this one.

Do you have any Christmas traditions you and your family create year-on-year?

MM.

 

UPDATE | Mr Eli has Talipes and Benign Paroxysmal Torticollis.

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Last week wasn’t a very nice week, at all.

Mr Eli has been suffering with his Torticollis more frequently since I wrote my epicly long blog post, Mumsnet: This Is My Child | Mr Eli has Talipes and Benign Paroxysmal Torticollis. We haven’t had any attacks with the accompanying sickness and drowsiness since Eli’s 1st birthday; it has been just his head tilting to his shoulder. He’s been teething quite badly (well, he’s been teething constantly since he was 8 weeks old…). His Torticollis tends to flare up more when he’s teething – or when he reaches milestones. We were so hoping he’d started to outgrow the attacks.

His neck had been tilting to the left side since 24th October – coincidentally, OH’s birthday. It finally straightened up, to a perfect mid-line by Friday 1st November, 8 days later. Then on Tuesday 5th November Eli’s head started to gradually tilt towards the right. He had been unaffected for just 3 days. By the evening of Wednesday 6th November, poor Eli looked horrendously uncomfortable and was very clingy. We had a physio appointment at the local hospital at 11am on Thursday 7th November. This would be the first time our physio had seen him so badly affected with the Torticollis.

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Eating an apple after breakfast on Wednesday 6th November.

On Thursday 7th November, Eli woke up crying. He never wakes up crying… apart from when he’s been severely affected with his Torticollis, and we’re due an attack.

I struggled to get Eli into his high chair, he was so off balanced and crying in discomfort. He barely ate any breakfast. His head was completely touching his shoulder.

I got us both ready for the hospital appointment; we walked the 25 minute journey and Eli was fast asleep as soon as he went into his pram. He NEVER sleeps in his pram when we’re out and about now. He’s too nosey.

When we got to the hospital he started to wake up with the lights and noises. As he gradually came round, I noticed his eyes weren’t quite right. They looked misaligned. I pulled him out of his pram for a cuddle and closer look. And as I did so, he projectile vomited. EVERYWHERE. He was having the first full blown Torticollis attack in 3 months. His eyes rolled back and he passed out into my arms. There were such lovely people in the waiting room, rallying round with tissues and water for us both! It’s so scary and upsetting when it happens. This is the first time it’s happened outside of our house too.

I then went into the physio room. Our physio was in a state of shock I think – she’s always seen him when he’s been unaffected and his usual jolly self. She admitted she never realised the extent of the attacks and began noting down everything that had happened, so she could write to the big hospital in Chelmsford for a referral to a specialist.

We know that there is no treatment or cure for Torticollis. It is something that Eli must grow out of, and should grow out of by the time he is 3. But I would still like him to be seen by a specialist.

He was sick a further 3 times in the physio room. The physio took a video of how the Torticollis was affecting him during his attacks; so we can use it as reference for any further appointments, where hopefully Eli will not be affected. OH and I watched this back on Thursday night together and it was very, very distressing to watch back.

Eli continued to be sick all of the day on Thursday – something that doesn’t usually happen. Eli had changed through 6 tops, 2 pairs of trousers and I used 12 muslins and 4 tea towels to clean things up. It was too chilly to not have his clothes on. I kept him nil by mouth… aside from syringing water into his mouth as he just couldn’t drink from anything else. He slept on me in-between the sickness. As he snored in my arms, I sobbed. I don’t think there’s anything that quite prepares you for feeling so helpless as a parent – not being able to make Eli better is just the WORST feeling in the entire world. For his last nap that day, I put him into his pram – where he slept for 90s mins.

When Eli woke up, he was chatting away. I pulled him up and out of his pram for a cuddle. He wanted to be down and straight away grabbed his beaker! He was almost back to his usual jolly self again – aside from his head was still tilting to the right, just not as severely; but it was a huge improvement on how it had been when he woke up that morning. It was almost as though the earlier part of the day hadn’t happened.

He ate toast, a banana and some biscuits for his tea that evening, along with 2 beakers of water. He went to bed normally with his bottle of milk.

He was clingy on Friday 8th November and looked very uncomfortable still. His balance was still affected by the Torticollis so he was very clumsy and couldn’t sit upright on the floor or in his highchair, choosing to slant to the affected side.

Fast forward a few days to today. Eli is much better now, sitting comfortably and back to his usual routine. His head is more or less perfectly straight in the mid-line again. After previous attacks, his head has straightened back during the course of the day. So this has been a lengthy process, this time.

Eli has an appointment to review his Talipes at the end of this month – which we’re so looking forward to as his feet are remarkable now. His referral regarding his Torticollis will be at the beginning of December, at the same hospital.

If you or your child has been affected by Torticollis, or indeed Talipes, please do get in touch. I’d really like to hear your experiences with both – Torticollis a rare condition and there is not a lot of information out there.

MM.

BRAND IN FOCUS | Hello Apparel.

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I LOVE finding new Childrenswear brands. Hello Apparel has been on my radar for a little while – I just haven’t gotten round to writing up my Brand In Focus for them!

Hello Merch is an independent company started in 2008 by Sam Means as an outlet for artists to manufacture and sell merchandise online and on tour, without giving up their rights by signing major label-style merch contracts. Hello Apparel is available for Adults as well as kids; although, I think the kids range is much cooler! ;o

Unfortunately, Hello Merch is just available for import at the minute. But the ever so lucky Southwood Stores will be the ONLY UK stockist very, very soon! So keep your eyes peeled! I actually cannot wait!

Here are my favourite pieces, that I’d love to dress Mr Eli in!

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Hello (Kids) Navy Raglan Pullover, $35.00.

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Hello Individual Onesies,$18.00.

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Arrows (Kids) Black Tri-Blend T-Shirt,$22.00.

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Sunglasses (Kids) Raglan Tri-Blend Shirt,$24.00.

 

MM.

Happy (post) Halloween!

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As previously mentioned, at Halloween Mr Eli is ALWAYS going to be a Mr Skellington (complete with Converse!). Here he is in his second year of skellyton-ness! This year his outfit is actually pyjama’s from Gap KIDS: Glow in the dark skeleton sleep set. It’s sold out at the minute, but always comes back in stock.

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We love this little Skeleton Boy SO MUCH! 

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Flying Mr Skellington!

After Mr Skellington Eli had his bath, Daddy asked if Eli could indeed go to bed in his skeleton outfit pyjamas. Who are we to decline a skeleton of his threads? So Mr Skellington did indeed go to bed suited and booted! He was a little confused at his outfit when he woke up I think…

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Please do share what your little ones dressed as this Halloween!

 

MM.

CUSTOMER SERVICE | Kiddicare, Lakeside.

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I just HAD to write a blog post on the customer service we received on a recent trip to Kiddicare, Lakeside.

So let’s start at the beginning…

We decided that we REALLY, REALLY needed to get Eli is new car seat after massively outgrowing his old one a little while ago. The weather was pretty bleak on our journey to Kiddicare, so when we arrived and were greeted with (Starbucks) hot chocolate at the door, it was more than welcome! Such a nice touch.

We headed straight over the to vast car seat section of the superstore. A friend of ours had recommended the Maxi Cosi, Axiss car seat – but it had been priced at £225 previously on Amazon, so we had disregarded that one.

As fans of Maxi Cosi however, we started looking at cheaper models. We found a great one for £120… but it didn’t swivel. After struggling with our old car seat and pulling our necks/backs trying to get Eli into the damn thing without banging his head in the process, I wanted one that swivelled! So we looked at the Maxi Cosi Axiss anyway – it was priced at £160 in Kiddicare. Quite a saving! We checked out how much it would be on Amazon, and couldn’t believe the price had dropped to £113!!! Even better. We couldn’t believe it. We went to the Car Seat fitting desk to ask some questions about this model. They told us that this particular car seat only fits 20% of cars; and they test each car seat fits your car, for you. We thought this was a great service.

I mentioned the price difference… and then noticed that they had signs around the store that said “Price Match Guarantee”. I, cheekily, thought I’d ask the lady at the front desk if they would indeed price match with the Amazon price. She was so lovely and said that yes, indeed they would! As long as the item on Amazon was sold by Amazon, and not a private seller. We ACTUALLY couldn’t believe it.

So then we had the car seat fitted into our car – it was pouring down at this point and the two lovely assistants had smiles on their faces and nothing but positivity about them. The car seat fitted like a glove! Again, we couldn’t believe it.  Out of 20% of cars! PERFECT – LET’S BUY IT! We got to the car seat desk again to have our receipt for collection printed out. The car seat we’d ordered was the LAST ONE IN STOCK. Unbelievable.

So with that, we dashed to the till to pay. The lady at the till, again, was so lovely and polite. It makes such a difference to have a smile and a ‘hello’, doesn’t it? Another assistant sorted out the price match while some other items were put through the till for us. They then said, “So the car seat will be £99 today, is that ok?”. EXCUSE ME WHAT? WHO THE WHAT NOW?

This is where it gets RIDICULOUS. When Kiddicare do a price match, not only do they match that price – but they then extend the discount to a further 25%. How amazing is that? The car seat that we really wanted, that was £225 RRP was just sold to us for more than half the price! We felt like we’d committed a crime as we walked out the doors, with the same lovely assistant who had tested the car seat.

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She again fitted the car seat for us, for the drive home. She showed us how everything worked. All this in the pouring rain! Then she took the card board box away to recycle for us. So polite and patient, she didn’t rush or cut any corners. Just simple good manners and being good at her job. She strived to go the extra mile to make sure we were comfortable and confident with the car seat. You REALLY don’t get service like we received anywhere (apart from maybe John Lewis), and that’s such a great shame.

We can’t thank Kiddicare Lakeside, enough for their help that day – or the huge saving! It meant that we could have our first date night in a very long time 🙂 So there you go, always head to your local Kiddicare store or shop online at Kiddicare.com and get a price match where you can. We’re certainly customers for LIFE.

MM.

GUEST POST: Wriggly Rascals | Best toy’s for babies.

Click here to head to WrigglyRascals.com

The lovely ladies from Wriggly Rascals asked if I’d do another guest post for their wonderful website, and of course I said yes! This time we’re looking at the best toy’s for babies. Christmas is coming up, so take a look at the full blog post, here: Best Toy’s for babies.

And don’t forget to sign up to the Wriggly Rascals website to join the conversation!

MM.

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If you need any parenting reassurance, ask @wrigglyrascals for help. www.wrigglyrascals.com

@wrigglyrascals is a new community to help newmums, join in. www.wrigglyrascals.com
About Wriggly Rascals
Wriggly Rascals was set up by Shona Motherwell, a frustrated mum of twins Mhairi and Archie to get mums together to share pregnancy, baby and toddler advice via quick surveys to get the facts about what other mums do. Our mums pass on loads of great tips to mums who have asked for help. If you would like some advice, get in touch at www.wrigglyrascals.com

EVENT | Celebrating 80 years of iCandy.

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A few months ago I was contacted by iCandy; it was all a little bit secret. I was intrigued, excited. Then a few weeks ago I received the most wonderfully presented envelope, in the post, that I’d seen in a long time! Inside was even better, an invitation to the  iCandy 80th Anniversary event on Tuesday 10th September, at superb events venue, One Marylebone, London.

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I was thrilled to be invited and of course made that RSVP shortly after.

Looking forward to the event, I made my journey into London early so that I could meet my OH and he could then take Mr Eli for some lovely food and then home for bed. I arrived at One Marylebone just a little after 6:30pm, where I was greeted with the warm welcome of event staff, a red carpet and a truly eye-catching iCandy facade, laden with vibrantly coloured parasols!

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Upon ticking my name off the guest list, I was ushered upstairs; where I was promptly handed a glass of Moët & Chandon and walked around the show space that displayed all the beautiful iCandy designs to date.

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I paid particular attention to the newest model, the Apple2Pear, as I hadn’t yet seen it in real life. I was astonished at the versatility and function of the design. Coming in 7 different colours, I am drawn to the Chilli and Raspberry Blue colourways. This is definitely the perfect travel system for when your family grows.

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So as the drinks flowed and the very tasty canapés were devoured, the time had come to head downstairs for the show to really begin! I was shown to a magical room filled with all things ‘woodland’, including a huge tree.

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I was seated on front row, or FROW as you fashionista’s will refer to it these days 😉 Once everyone was seated we were treated to the most amazing sounds of Whinnie Williams – voice like an actual angel!

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Other familiar faces to FROW were Imogen Thomas, Grace Woodward, Jasmine Guinness and Jodie Kidd. We were then introduced to iCandy‘s Managing Director Martin Boyle and joint CEO’s the Appel Brother’s themselves. It was incredible listening to men with such passion for their work – and their teams. I was in literal tears during the speeches. A new partnership between iCandy and The Lullaby Trust was also formally announced; and a cheque of £5,000 was given to the trusts’ CEO, Francine Beats. iCandy have teamed up with ex-Mulberry designer, Janet Collin, who has created a special new changing bag; the Emilia bag. £10 from the sale of each bag, will be given to The Lullaby Trust.

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Following the speeches was a fashion show, previewing the 2014 collection. New flavour packs in bright colours, upgraded designs (including a black chassis) and fashion-conscious handbags.

The highlight for me was the big reveal of the forthcoming new model to the iCandy family, The iCandy Raspberry. Of which, I was in actual awe – both during the catwalk show and post-show, where I stood for a good 30 minutes watching the hands-on demonstration, showing us all the multitude of ways the pushchair can be flipped and changed around, as well as folded up. The iCandy Raspberry is a stunning piece of innovative design, in form and function. The design is very, very neat, lightweight and stylish. The iCandy Raspberry is suitable from birth, but does not have a carrycot! Brilliant! There is however a very snuggly newborn “Pod” that will keep your brand new arrival warm, cosy and most importantly, secure. This pushchair has been designed for the city-dweller, someone who needs a pram that is adept in crowds and along city streets, lightweight to get up stairs and on public transport, but it’s also pretty darn cool too! The best-looking pram I’ve EVER seen – and we’ve seen A LOT of prams! This design can lay completely flat, but also reclines for older children; it’s also forward and parent-facing. Bonus. I also want to mention that I was shocked at how small the Raspberry was when folded, it’s tiny. We currently have an iCandy Strawberry and although it folds down well, we do struggle to get it in and out of the car – and it does take up pretty much the entire boot of our VW Polo. The Raspberry would give you back your boot, if you’re in the same situation!

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I also loved the large shopping basket on the iCandy Raspberry, which features a ‘glove compartment’ as I fondly like to call it. The hard case could house your raincover, keys, phone etc, great for keeping your valuables out of sight. The iCandy Raspberry will come in around 7 new colour flavour packs, names to be confirmed. But the colours that were displayed were just stunning. I want them ALL! I love that you can swap and change the colours around – so versatile.

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After the demonstration I headed over to the cupcake table, passing the very lovely ’80’ cake and took 2 cupcakes home. One for me with a midnight cup of tea and one for OH, who’d had a tough evening with Mr Eli. We both really appreciated those delicious cup cakes, believe me! I also thoroughly enjoyed my lovely iCandy goodie bag filled with lots of lovely catalogues, magazine, leather-bound note book, mug, pen and yummy chocolates!

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What an absolutely amazing evening was had by all. I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to iCandy for inviting me to the event. It was wonderful to meet the brains behind the brand and to experience the passion of everyone involved.

MM.

 

PS – Apologies for the rubbish quality of some of the photos. The show was very quick-paced and the lighting changed frequently. Plus, to be fair, I need a new phone!

 

We’re moving out of our first family home…

Eli packing

 

We’re sad (but oh so happy!) to be moving out of the first home we three have shared as a family. This move marks our 7th house for myself and OH, our second as a family. July has been ridiculously hectic, I don’t even know where to begin! But there will be more posts to follow our house move. We’re moving in the local area, just somewhere with more space for Mr Eli.

We’ve been concentrating on packing, in this sweltering 30c heat. As you can see, Eli puts my packing to shame. He’s really helped me out with closing those boxes up! Clever boy!

So so proud of Eli, he’s such a happy boy. And look how steady he is on his beautiful feets. Thanking you Mr Ponseti 🙂

MM.

PS – click on the image to view the InstaVideo. WordPress is being whack and doesn’t embed the video within the post, so it’s easier to just view it on Instagram itself.

Woe is me… I have SPD.

As I’ve documented over my recent Weekly Updates, I’ve been suffering with what I thought was just ligament pain. Albeit, with ‘just’ ligament pain I should have probably kicked up more of a fuss (I hate causing fuss and I hate fuss!). But since Saturday last week I’ve been in absolute agony with my coccyx. To the point of screaming to just roll over in bed. And I like to think I’ve got a high pain threshold! Needless to say, I’ve not slept since Friday night (and that was a rubbish night’s sleep anyway!). On top of this, I’ve had a cold… a proper cold. Every single time I’ve sneezed it’s felt like my undercarriage was going to rip out of me. Horrendous.

I’d reluctantly started taking paracetamol on Sunday as the hot baths and heat compresses had failed to ease the pain; and had the long Jubilee weekend to rest. But forced myseld into work yesterday. I cried on the train journey in, just limbering on the edge of the seat. I got to work and was completely drained. I felt emotional and tired out. I couldn’t sit in my chair at my desk. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m the first pregnancy in my department, EVER. So have found it difficult when having even just standard Midwife appointments – people continuously asking why I’m at the Midwife so much. (As if I need to explain my medical situation anyway! I would NEVER ask a colleague why they’d visited the Doctors, would you?!). So when I’d been suffering with the aforementioned ligament pain, I found that people were more or less confused or found my blatant explanation “distasteful”. Goodness knows why! So of course, when I got to work yesterday in obvious pain, explaining that my coccyx were killing me didn’t go down all too well. I don’t think people understand just how sodding painful it is!

So I thought SOD IT. And got myself to the doctors at 5pm. The Doctor examined me and diagnosed me with SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction). I’ve been referred to a Physio (not sure how long it will be before I get my appointment mind!) and has given me a cream to rub onto my coccyx and upped my paracetamol intake. He did offer to give me Codeine aswell, but refused this as it can affect the baby. He also gave me a sick note. My first sick note. So close to the end of work, before my Maternity Leave begins on 22nd June… so I’m quite disappointed with myself. I’ve never ever had a sick note. I didn’t even know what to do with the damn thing.

So that’s that. I’ve had my first day off work today and literally slept the entire day through. The paracetamol and sitting on a hot water bottle has helped.

I just need to keep on top of resting and relaxing. This is definitely my body’s way of telling me to SLOW DOWN.

Has anyone else suffered with SPD? What are your coping techniques? Did you get better post-partum?

MM.

 

Our GroCompany purchases: Swaddles, GroBags and GroEgg.

We first came across the Gro Company when researching cot’s and moses baskets. We completely fell in love with the pretty patterns and prints of their now-famous Gro Bags (baby sleeping bags) and decided that on that alone we would definitely purchase a few for baby boy bump! The Gro Company are the original, and only company to be recommended by the FSiD.

So I signed up to the mailing list and received a lovely catalogue through the door. The designs are so lovely we could have bought them all! We had decided that we wanted to swaddle baby boy bump when he arrives – so went straight to the GroSwaddles section.

We’ve gone for the ‘Woodland Friends’ and a twin-pack of the ‘Wish Upon A Star’ print.

Woodland Friends GroSwaddle £11.50. Click here to purchase exclusively online at JohnLewis.com.

We also opted for the ‘Day/Night’ twin pack and a ‘Little Trikes’ sleeping bag. Absolutely love the Little Trikes print. It looks and feels really vintage – but in a good way!

Click here to purchase GroBag sleeping bags exclusively online at JohnLewis.com

From the catalogue you can receive a massive 25% off when you order over £40 – so we thought ‘Sod it, let’s buy a GroEgg while we’re at it!’. So we did. Looking forward to using it! Had a trial run in the bedroom last night…turns out that bay boy’s bedroom isn’t a bad temperature! The GroEgg will also make for a great nightlight too!

GroEgg Room Themometer, £19.94. Click here to purchase at JohnLewis.com

 

All in all, we’re pretty chuffed with the quality of all the products now that they’ve arrived. We can’t wait to use them!

Have you had your little one’s in any Gro Company products?

MM.