Bump Watch... Week 38

I can't get much bigger than this.....can I?!

I ♥ Franck & Fischer

I came across this gorgeous baby sleepsuit by Franck & Fischer and I felt I had to share it with you. After having a little girl and being told that it's not as fun buying for boys, I've looked around and I have to say that it is harder to get excited about boys baby clothes, because the girls stuff always looks far prettier, but there are some really cute things out there for boys if you look hard enough. 

Franck & Fischer also have some fab baby toys - and a few owl related items too and I love owls.....Check them out.

Mind Your Own Business!

I started maternity leave this week and I'm wondering if I've become slightly sensitive to other people's comments, pointed questions and observations about how I do things with my daughter purely because I've shed the skin of being a 9 - 5 worker and walked back into the world of being a stay at home mum? Maybe I didn't have time to listen to things that people have to say, or I had bigger things to worry about than whether I was doing what everyone else does.

What am I referring to?

It seems that now my daughter is approaching 2 years she 'should' be potty training, or even totally dry by now! This is news to me, my feeling has always been that she will show me when she feels ready for it and in the meantime I will do things to gently prompt her in that direction. We've had a basic potty in our bathroom since she was 18 months, she knows it's purpose, quite often sits on it, asks for tissue and mimics wiping herself, but it is very much a piece of role play at the moment. I feel like this is good enough and I don't want to push her but when someone mentions it in such a way that you feel like you've failed at something it can get you down.

This isn't the only thing. Isla also uses a dummy, some days quite heavily. It isn't my favourite thing of hers and I admit to feeling fed up on occasion about her having it, but when I rationalise things, she will give it up eventually and in the mean time it would be nice if again people didn't make it their business to help her rid herself of it, because as far as I'm concerned they're only raising her own awareness of it and making her more stubborn about not taking it out. Also referring to it as 'dirty dummy' etc. It's not dirty, and neither is she. It's a habit and for some of the people who say these things, they actually smoke! A habit that is definitely damaging and definitely dirty (I don't hate smokers though - please don't make something of this comment)!

I don't mean to go on, but this is my outlet for letting off steam and for a whole evening this week I felt thoroughly miserable thinking that I wasn't doing things right. Perhaps I'm being over sensitive? I'm in the last 3 weeks of pregnancy and tiredness could be distorting how I see things, but one thing I do know is that Isla is a very happy little girl (as pointed out by my best friend) and surely that is all that matters and from the many responses to my moaning on twitter, it's fair to say that there aren't many 10 year olds that walk around with dummies in their mouths, wearing nappies (thanks Northern Mum!).

Johnson's Baby Wipe Out Waste

Johnson & Johnson recently invited me to an event to launch their new Wipe Out Waste initiative. It involved a trip to the lovely Maggie & Rose Family members club, so I took Isla, as well as my mum to help get around London as I'm on the MASSIVE side now at 8 months pregnant!

As parents we'd all like to do our bit for the environment and some manage to do more than others. Bringing babies into the world brings with it more waste products to get rid of from nappies to extra food packaging etc. One of the things us mums use plenty of is wipes, we go through them by the truckload, for wiping dirty bottoms, to cleaning faces and hands after eating and I discovered they're not bad for removing make up occasionally! So to find out that these packets are actually recyclable was quite a surprise, but the catch is that no one up till now actually had the capability to recycle them, therefore no point in putting them in your council collection box! But, see I said up till now. J&J are now working in partnership with Terracycle to 'upcycle' the wipes packets. Upcycling is different to recycling in that they will turn the packets into new products, like bibs and mouse mats for example:



Just 6 packets of Johnson's Baby Wipes can make one of these baby bibs!

And not only do Terracycle make waste into new products they will also donate 2p to the charity of your choice for every pack you send them.
It's so easy to get involved:

- Go to www.wipeoutwaste.co.uk and register with Terracycle
- Enter the charity you would like Terracycle to credit
- You will get sent a pre-paid postage label to use to send off your empty packs of baby wipes

The initiative starts this month and I would urge us all to do it - it takes very little effort and we could also benefit local charities or even our children's nursery with the donations that Terracycle will make on our behalf. You could start it as an individual or you could spread the word to your child's school, nursery or playgroup and get a collection box started, then we can all do a little bit extra for the environment!

My CyberMummy Sponsors - Mamas and Papas!

I'm going to CyberMummy courtesy of......

I have my ticket all ready for CyberMummy this year and I'm now proud to announce that my sponsors for the conference are Mamas & Papas! I'm such big fans of their products - maternity and baby related and I feel like we're a great match! The story behind our pairing goes like this....

Back in March this year I was starting to get a bigger bump and I was finding it so hard to find maternity clothes that I felt looked good and also were going to grow with me. I paid a few visits to some stores I'd relied upon during my first pregnancy and felt so dissatisfied with what I came across. Then I went to Mamas and Papas, a place I didn't even consider first time around for maternity clothes, and when I went in the store they were doing a fantastic offer on their denim jeans and I desperately needed them. The following week I found myself in there again and got another bargain - combat trousers in the sale - I have lived in these I have to say.

I tweeted about my maternity clothing dissatisfaction and Mamas and Papas tweeted back. I liked the direct contact that they were prepared to have with their customers (I'd tweeted M&S about my disappointment that they'd moved their maternity wear to online sale only and had received no response). It was then that I decided to contact M&P directly to see if they'd be interested in doing anything with a blogger. I explained how I'd found maternity clothing mostly a let down and that I'd discovered their range to be a cut above the rest. To my surprise they said they'd love to work with me and straight out asked what size and styles I liked. The following week I was astounded by their generosity, I received a box with some gorgeous tops (amongst them an excellent breastfeeding top, that I hope to put to good use), a fantastic maxi dress, a lovely pair of cut off jeans and some leggings.

Me in my maxi dress on my last day at work before maternity leave!

Since receiving these items I've put them to good use (read that as lived in them!), posted about them on the blog and have had some lovely compliments, at times I've felt I'm better dressed pregnant than when I'm not. So last week I plucked up the courage to ask the lovely people at Mamas if they would consider sponsoring me for CyberMummy and to my delight they said yes! I was on cloud nine about it to be honest as I've loved the brand since before Isla was born, her bedroom is decked out in the Gingerbread range and I regularly bought clothes for her online.

I'm really excited about going to Cybermummy and hoping that baby number 2 can just hold on for a bit and make an appearance after the 25th June! Thanks Mamas and Papas for making me feel well dressed for this pregnancy and also for helping me take 'I Heart Motherhood' to Cybermummy 2011.

Peter Rabbit Organics' Juices

The kind peeps at Peter Rabbit Organics' Juices sent us some of their delicious juices (Apple & Grape, Apple & Blackcurrant and Pear Juice) to try recently and I have to say that I'm very impressed with them and they're one of the few ready to drink juices that I would feel happy to give to Isla. Isla loves it when she is given a drink that comes in a carton or a bottle - I think it makes her feel grown up, and she likes drinking from straws too. So when the box came through the post and I opened it up, she wanted one immediately, 'Juicey', 'Juicey', was the demand, so I let her have one. She guzzled it all (the pear juice), so on that occasion I didn't get to try any!

The next time she had one I was determined that I would get some, so I opened it secretly myself, had a swig and was impressed immediately by how the drink was not 'strong' - the flavour was light and not in the least bit sugary, which is my main worry with these drinks. I worry about her teeth (as she's not always that co-operative when it comes to brushing them!) and so when she is allowed anything like squash or juice, I like to have a certain amount of control over how strong it is made. I now feel after trying this that I don't have any worries on that score with Peter Rabbit juices. 

They're so useful for out and about occasions and I also tend to use these drinks as a kind of reward or treat as Isla really enjoys the experience of drinking from a vessel other than her baby cups!

Peter Rabbit Organics are a small, privately owned company who are passionate about providing parents with healthy, organic children's drinks and snacks with no added salt, sugar or artificial ingredients and I'm sure that this will appeal to most of us mums. They are available in the baby aisles from Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asda and are priced at 55p each. I Heart Motherhood recommends!

In order to write this post we were sent a box of 3 small cartons of Peter Rabbit Organics Juice Drinks - my opinions are my own. 



Bump Watch...Week 35

Last week at work, then maternity leave....eeeek!