Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas - Christmas Stocking Filler!

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview lunch for the new Ice Age DVD release - A Mammoth Christmas. In recognition of the fact it's a Christmas release we had a delicious 3 course Christmas lunch and pulled crackers while Christmas Carols played in the background! It really was a lovely way to spend a lunchtime, I appreciated some me time away from the kids and also caught up with Mirka from All Baby Advice looking glowing with baby bump!

So after the festive fun we went to the screening room and watched the 20 minute film. So what's it all about?

Everyone's favourite sub-zero heroes are back in an all-new holiday adventure for the whole family. When Sid accidentally destroys Manny's heirloom Christmas rock and ends up on Santa's "naughty list", he leads a hilarious quest to the North Pole to make things right - and ends up making things much worse. Now it's up to Manny and his pre-historic posse to band together and save Christmas for the entire world.

I can't wait for Isla to see it as she really loves the characters in Ice Age (she should do after the number of times we've watched it together!) and she loves the little squirrel who chases the acorn all the time. I enjoyed it, it was very funny and all the original voice cast are back too.

Ice-Age: A Mammoth Christmas is out on DVD from the 21st November 2011and is available exclusively from Asda, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Priced at an excellent £5!

I was given a box set of the Ice Age collection and a cuddly squirrel on the day. The views written here are my own.

Justin Fletcher's New Single - Hands Up

I don't know many kids who don't know of Justin Fletcher in his many different guises in 'Something Special' and 'Gigglebiz'. In time for Christmas Justin is releasing a single 'Hands Up' from his forthcoming album of the same name.

I'll honestly say that this isn't my cuppa tea at all but seeing as the music in the car isn't allowed to be of my choosing anymore then what's it to me if we have to listen to this on repeat everywhere we go?! Isla loves it and Justin's voice is so distinguishable that Isla says put Mr Tumble on when I've dared to try and listen to something else. So there you go, 2 year olds love this stuff and who am I to argue. Justin if you're reading, no offence, I'm just more of an Indie girl  and I really do love you on the telly!

We'll be reviewing the album here at I Heart Motherhood in the spring but in the meantime if you want to connect with Justin you can on Twitter and on Facebook

Hands Up is released on 20th November.

Noah is Given his Marching Orders!

On Friday I had myself a really lovely lunchtime stroll around Borough Market with Noah and one of my dear friends. I was a little bit anxious about venturing to London on my own with Noah, but given I was only travelling to London Bridge, I knew that we weren't far from home and that we didn't have a tube journey to contend with.

We were all having a really lovely time, Noah was taking in the sights and sounds and my friend and I were spending on delectable foodstuffs! After an hour we thought it best to have a cuppa and a cake and get Noah fed, so we went to a Patisserie on the edge of the market.

Being on maternity leave at the moment I'm finding myself having coffee and a cake in cafes quite a regular thing, so on entering the cake shop I had no inkling that we would be asked to leave as that has NEVER happened to me before, so I was blissfully making my way to a table to sit down when the waitress intercepted me and said that we couldn't come in here with THAT. I initially thought she meant the buggy and given that it was a really small shop I thought, fair do's it is a bit tight, so I said, that's fine I can fold it down (handy Maclaren!), again she said no and I mistakenly thought that as she had an Eastern European accent that she didn't understand what I meant, so I repeated that I could fold it down and put it under the table. How wrong was I? She understood quite well what I meant and she then had to think up some other reason that we weren't welcome. 'Erm, we have no seat for him'. Well that's easy I said, he can't sit up on his own anyway and he would be sitting on my lap. I'm very calm, really still not getting that she doesn't want my baby in the place - it's not the buggy at all!!! To which she just bluntly told me that her boss wouldn't welcome us. So 'THAT' which she was referring to was my baby.

The penny dropped.

I was a bit gobsmacked and anyone that knows me would know I would at that point normally have flipped, blurted out a load of angry words and flounced out. But my saviour was my friend who I hadn't seen for ages and I really didn't want to make a scene and embarrass her. So we walked off up the road perplexed, with my friend feeling bad that she'd suggested the place.

On reflection now I'm actually outraged. When we found somewhere to sit down and have coffee, Noah was brilliantly behaved, had his milk, looked cute, giggled and did not once cry, he drew admiring looks and we got on with our afternoon.

I found myself thinking about the incident quite a lot since it happened and I decided that it deserved a blog post as I've never been refused entry to a cake shop because of my kids and it got me wanting to google this particular place and I'm glad I did as I now feel that I wasn't singled out, apparently this place has a terrible reputation for pushing people out the door for not spending enough, telling people they can't use laptops and now telling people with kids that they can't come in! Unfortunately this establishment will not suffer as there is enough trade in the area but I now feel it's my duty to add to the online log of dissatisfied customers (although obviously I can't call myself that, not actually having imbibed anything!) and name the place as PATISSERIE LILA.

Don't go there unless you really can't find anywhere else and you fancy potentially being humiliated.

Christmas Stocking Filler - Talking Princess Holly Soft Toy - Review

Isla was recently very lucky to be sent a Talking Princess Holly by Entertainment One to try. She was at nursery when it arrived, so I unwrapped it and left it on the table for when she came home. I didn't even get a chance to give it to her, she spotted it as soon as she got through the door and was so excited! Along with Peppa Pig, she is a massive Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom fan and she already had a Ben Elf, so she was so pleased to have Ben's partner in crime! She pressed her tummy and heard all the phrases, she loved that she had a wand and she started running round the room 'flying' Princess Holly around. She is now one of Isla's current favourite toys and is definitely fuelling her new obsession with Princesses. Much to Isla's annoyance Noah also seems to like toys that talk and has taken great pleasure in cuddling and dribbling all over Holly too!

You can squeeze Princess Holly's tummy to hear 5 fun phrases including, "I'm Princess Holly", "Come on let's play", "Now wand, what shall we do today?" Made from soft and cuddly fabrics she's ideal to hug and hold.

Talking Princess Holly retails at £12.99, from all good retailers and would make a great pressie for any budding little Princess!

I ♥ Essie Jain

Essie Jain's 'Until the Light of Morning' is simply gorgeous and if like me you have a baby that loves to fall asleep to music then this will be right up your sleeping beauty's street! Not only that it's also really enjoyable from an adult perspective too, not a Twinkle Twinkle in sight! I would compare it to the likes of Zero 7 (who I love!), it's really quite folksy and Essie's voice is beautifully hypnotic, sending baby into a gentle slumber (not to mention a tired mummy)!

You can purchase the album on iTunes for £5.99

We received a copy for review and I'm happy to say we absolutely loved it!



Fab Oh Baby London Giveaway!

Oh Baby London was started as an independent baby and children's wear brand in Brick Lane, London in 2002. What started as an allergic reaction to pastels by founder, designer and mum of two Hannah McHalick has grown to a full collection of cool but cute fashion for kids and the coolest kids products. Eccentric, bold design and irreverent truths like 'Been Inside For 9 Months' are the essence of Oh Baby London. 

All designs are 100% original, created in the Brick Lane studio by people who love what they do. Oh Baby think that clothing shouldn't be disposable, so they build it from high quality materials, and don't believe in throwaway fads or hype. They also try their hardest to be ethical throughout the entire process, from the fabric all the way through to distribution. Oh Baby collaborate with the HEBA Women's Project, a non-profit organisation which aims to empower women by teaching them skills and all the clothes manufactured from August 2007 use fabrics are tested free from harmful chemicals, and are made by people paid fairly with good working conditions.

Noah was lucky enough to be able to try out one of the wicked rompers - he looks like a member of Bad Manners (Baby Buster BloodVessel?) - very cool! This particular one costs £20, and there are many other designs.

There are so many lovely things on the site that I would love for Noah and I'm sure I'll be spoiling him sometime soon!


The lovely people at Oh Baby London are giving my readers the chance to win £20 to spend on anything on their site and there are plenty of things you can buy for that amount! All you need to do is visit the Oh Baby London site and tell me in the comments below what you would spend your £20 on. Please leave a method of contacting you should you win.


For an extra entry please tweet this competition mentioning @iheartmuthahood and @OhBabyLondon and the URL of this post. Please leave an extra comment below to let me know you have done this.

For a second extra entry please follow @OhBabyLondon on twitter and let me know you have done so below in a separate comment.


This competition will end on Sunday 20th November at midnight. UK Entrants only.


Good Luck!

Charity Shop Gems

Since having the kids I've found myself looking in charity shops more often than I ever did. They are such great places to find bits and pieces for children and so I thought I'd share with you some of the little gems that I've bought and my most recent find is my favourite so far...a Thomas the Tank Engine throw. A steal at £4! Noah is often found lounging around on top of it.

The shop we bought it from was fantastic as it was a children's hospice charity shop in Truro that only sold children's clothes, toys and equipment (buggies etc.). It wasn't like any other charity shop I've ever been in - everything was set out so nicely and I had the patience to look at stuff rather than seeing a load of jumble and walking out. Of course we couldn't escape without buying Isla something too, so she fleeced us for a bracelet and cuddly dog!