Lifeasweknowit

Fingerlings Untamed Review

Fingerlings Untamed …..where do I start ?!

First of all welcome back to my blog and thank you for taking the time to read my review. Chances are if your reading this you’ve got children a similar age and will of already heard of the product and would like to see if its worth it .

We were kindly sent one of the fingerlings untamed , much to the boys delight ! Our boys are 9 and 6 and I would say the 6 year old enjoyed it much more and enjoyed playing with him including his other dinosaurs , we had already seen this product in a number of shops and the boys had added to there Christmas list as they had always liked the look of the fingerlings but they were very girlie so we were over the moon to find these ones !

The fingerling we have is called RAZOR he has a beige tummy and is black ,purple and green camouflage , perfecting for using to sneak up on your big bro ! He has 40 different sounds which I personally think is fab for such a small toy ! These toys are advised for age 5 years and up and I think that’s perfect as they do have fiddly fingers and toes so not great for younger ones who would maybe chew it !

These retail usually around £14.99 or £15 depending on the retailer which is brilliant for Christmas presents and if family members maybe want to get gifts they can collect them all! I have inked a few sites where these can e purchased ( none of these are affiliate I just thought this would be helpful )

Amazon Fingerling

Argos Fingerling Untamed

Smyths Fingerlings

I asked both boys there favourite part of the toy and there least favourite and here are there answers ( as I thought best coming from the ones that use it !)

9 Years old – Favourite part – That it blinks turns it head and it can be hung upside down

9 Years old – Least Favourite- That it doesn’t talk like us .

6 Years old – Favourite Part – That it Roars

6 Years old – Least Favourite – That it doesn’t Fly

9 Years overall score out of 10 – 9/10

6 Years Overall Score out of 10 – 6/10

Overall I would say this toy is most definitely worth the money and would make a fabulous Christmas present the boys have had a really good time playing with him and testing him to his limits to make sure he does actually make 40 sounds !!

Thanks For reading our review of the fingerlings untamed .

Jess

My 1st Photos Review

Hello and welcome back if you’ve read my previous posts and a big hello if this is your first. This post is a honest and open review of a product we were kindly gifted from a new company called My 1st Photos. This company caught my eye with their moto ‘you bring the photos we’ll make the magic ‘ I absolutely loved everything about them from the first time I spotted their page on Instagram.

Memories are a huge thing for me and I wanted something special for Penny to know mine and Craig’s grandparents by as she would never have the opportunity to meet them herself, and boy would they have adored her ! So when I spoke to My 1st Photos and they offered to send me the most amazing photo book, I over excitedly got to work creating our design . Their website was simple to use from the very first page (something i have struggled with when creating other personalised products online so this was a big hit for me ) and I am sure many others too !

The book has a front cover with the logo on but the title can be personalised to anything you want up to 14 characters. We chose My Family . Then there is 5 double pages that can be personalised so 5 for word descriptions all with 4 lines of 9 characters on and then 5 adjacent pages for photos of your choice, these can be anything from phone to camera pictures, black and white or colour ( I had a mixture and all turned out great ).

We have shown the book to many family and friends over the last week, we’ve always got a house full ! Everybody absolutely adores it and a few asked for the website to place some Christmas orders! I shared the book and all of its individual pages over on my Instagram page @jesslifeasweknowit and the response I got from this was also brilliant people wanting to know how much and where to get it ! so overall I would say it was a huge hit !

Memories are such a huge part of life and how wonderful to have something for Penny to treasure right from 6 months for a lifetime ! I am forever grateful to My 1st Photos for helping our grandparents memories live on through such an amazing gift !

The book itself is made from soft material just the same as a babies book you can buy to hang on there pram meaning its safe for them to use as young as you choose as long as supervised of course ! the Book costs just £25 with free p&p . The offer gift vouchers and a range of other amazing personalised products including baby comforters and Christmas sacks !!

This review although the product was gifted as with all of my reviews is completely honest and my own opinions. I will always share with you exactly what I think and I would a million times over recommend this product !

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please head over to the website to purchase and to My 1st photos Instagram to show them some support !

Jess

A plane and a Baby ….

Hello and welcome to my blog about going abroad with a baby , before we booked I was super excited looking for somewhere, somewhere amazing for or first time abroad as a family of 3 but soon after looking into it I found myself researching things for a holiday that had never been an issue before, my biggest search became around time zones and the time change we’d have , Penny is such a good sleeper and has been since weeks (12 hours a night with the help of her Ewan the Dream sheep ) and we didn’t want to knock her out of this routine too much ,I soon found out that the canary islands had no time difference which straight away made it a best seller to us! us 3

Having already been to Lanzarote as a couple we decided to look at Fuerteventura as many people had recommended to us that it was family orientated. After searching travel sites for a few days , as you do ! We chose Oasis Papaygo Hotel in Corralejo , we booked a Jet2 Holiday Package the package included a 1 bed room apartment self catering ( they have the option for all-inclusive )and access to the Fuerteventura Main water park for the whole week. The hotel was fab , 3 swimming pools, one a large family one with fountains and plenty of sun beds, one large pool for people wanting to swim lengths and locals had swimming lessons in , and one quite big children’s pool. The children’s pool was our favourite as was only about 30 cm deep and we had taken Penny’s Zoggs swim float which was brilliant for her as then it was if she was in a baby walker but in the pool so she pushed herself round quite happily ! Covered in sun cream and a sun safe suit and hat of course !!

The plane journey we had left the UK at 3pm mid afternoon which was perfect for us as Penny would be due a bottle on take off , and she did and fell asleep , she loved the plane journey ! Coming back we left at 9pm and arrived in the UK at 1am which again she was absolutely amazing , she had her bedtime bottle in the airport and hen fell asleep as we took off and woke up around 30 minutes before landing !

A helpful hint we found out at the airport as we checked in they told us if the flight isn’t full when you go abroad and you have a child under 2 ( who doesn’t usually get their own seat ) you can pay £22 and they give you an extra seat as long as there are spare ! so w had 3 seats on both flights which made things so much easier as penny just slept n the chair in between us !

When packing and planning for holiday I got a little excited as to what to take for penny, she had around 10 nighttime outfits cute dresses , rompers etc and then 14 pairs of shorts and 14 tops, Numerous baby grows and vests !This was my biggest mistake as on a night she lived in a little strappy vest and nappy snuggled into a muslin from Happeahome ( find them on Instagram) and during the day a pair of shorts and t-shirt so we didn’t even need half of what I packed ! For anyone planning a break away I would definitely recommend the vest we had from Sainsburys Vest

During the day penny seemed to have 1 extra nap compared to home I think because of the heat and walking a lot more than home in her pram. Before we went I was concerned that she had never took to drinking water or juice and worried in the heat how I would keep her hydrated, this has been mentioned to me by a few people and once we arrived after the first few hours she just adapted and all of sudden started drinking almost 1 full bottle of very weak baby juice every day, I did give her this in a juice cu with a bottle teat on to make sure she was able to get as much as she needed with not being very confident with a sippy cup top yet . Since coming home has gone right off it again ! Far too clever !

Overall on this holiday we couldn’t have had a better baby, she enjoyed walks the sea, the pool, chilling in the apartment, out for meals and getting lots of attention, we would go out on an evening just before her bedtime bottle so she would have that sat with us then fall asleep in her pram and we would just lift her in to bed when we got back! I think the thing she enjoyed most about our week away was having daddy off for a whole week , and so did I !

Going again my list of must haves for penny

1 pack of 48 nappies
3 packs baby wipes
10 /maybe 12 vests
1-2 baby grows just in case of unexpected cold days.
Shorts and shirts or rompers enough for 1 a day
4-5 bottles as I sterilised and prepped the next days every night
Mam juice cup with bottle teat mam juice cup
Ella’s kitchen pouches ( although they were stocked in Fuerteventura )
1 tub of baby milk ( always make bottles with bottled water )
Nivea waterproof factor 50 suncream
Zoggs baby float seat
10 large muslin swaddles,we used them for everything !!
Pram ( which you keep right until you board plane )
Microwave travel steriliser we had the Nuby microwave steriliser

Thank you for reading our post and I would love to hear what your holiday must haves are for your babies so I can be more prepared next time and hopefully this will help others going on their first holiday with a baby!!

Also remember guys you need to pack nappies or milk in your case and waste luggage space as you can Pre order and collect in bots once your through security !

Thanks

Jess

Babease – Food for babies review !

Welcome to our first baby food product review , we were kindly sent a gorgeous box of different Babease pouches for Penny to try, and we were absolutely over the moon to get these and give them a go as up until then Penny was refusing vegetables, she was enjoy finger food snacks , yogurt, fruit but seemed to know when we gave her vegetables , these babies are far too clever sometimes don’t you think ?

Can i just eat the bowl aswel please mummy ?

We received 5 different flavours of their pouches and we tried them over a week , I can say honestly that penny totally loved all 5! Her favourite was the sweet potato and pear in coconut water which we took with us to her daddy’s birthday meal and her big cousin helped to feed her , because she loved it so much meant there was minimal mess in the restaurant , always a winner right ?

The message that came with their products said they are ” food for babies not baby food ” which really stuck with me and made me think that what i was giving penny was really enjoyable and i think she definitely agreed! You can purchase this range of baby food products at Tesco, Boots, Ocado and Amazon so a great range of stockists ! I have since been out and bought more of these for penny, and they will most certainly be packed in our suitcase for holidays , who wouldn’t love coconut water in the sun !

She couldnt wait to get started on this one !

The range we have tried is the pouches from 6 months ( no earlier than 4 months ), so from next month we will certainly be trying the next stage pouches and will get back to you with how they go down !

We really enjoyed trying out these pouches and they have definately made vegetable eating life much easier with our baby so thank you !

Please leave a comment below if your little one has tried these pouches and what you thought of them ?

Thank you for reading.

Jessica and Penny

Our Traumatic Birth Story …..

It all began …Wednesday 7th March 2018 I felt funny but nothing out of the ordinary , collected the boys from school at 3pm ( my stepson’s , being a Stepmum I will write another blog post about as I’m sure lots of you can relate ) this being day 3 past my due date , made tea put the boys in the bath and put them to bed and we went to bed as usual ourselves like any other normal night , but tonight was going to be the start of a long intense journey ! I woke at 1am with my waters breaking in bed I jumped up and woke the other half , this being my first I was unsure what to do , we rang our delivery suite who advised I should go in but as we had other young children as long as I didn’t have any contractions I could take them to school at 8 ( If I got that far ) and then go in to be assessed , we then rang my mum and mother in law who both preferred it if we went straight in , so we woke the boys at 1:30am , who were very excited although didn’t realise understand what was going to happen and we dropped them at their nana and grandads, it couldn’t have happened on a better night the boys were due to go home that day and we get them back the next week so it meant no plans or routines for them needed to be changed , and if you know me you’ll know how much i like organisation and routine so this was just perfect ! Off we went to James Cook University Hospital Maternity Unit , they were amazing ! Checked me out checked the fluid and all was okay but baby wasn’t on the way just yet so they booked me in for midnight that night to go back in and be induced as they only allow you to go 24 hours after your water break, not all hospitals do this which I found astounding as if you lose too much fluid it can put baby at risk, so we went home , even went out for coffee to costa coffee with the in-laws for lunch , but what I was most shocked at was the fact when your water go they continue to leak and leak and leak until you go into full labour , no one prepared me for that ! It felt as if i was peeing all day !We had a labrador puppy at this point , the other half and him went for a lovely long walk to tire him out and I relaxed on the couch we got to about 4pm and my pains started to get stronger although manageable but soon got close together so we thought we better set off as the hospital is around 30 minutes away so car packed and off we went again … this was it ! A very surreal feeling came over me in the car and one I will never forget, i was going to hospital as me and coming home as a mum, how would I manage, would I get it right , will my baby love me , what if I can’t give birth, all sorts and I was suddenly very teary !

When we arrived we were seen straight away and examined , I was only 1cm and it was the most painful assessment ever ..and I mean ever .My mum and dad were no with us too and I was in a side room but not on delivery suite just yet , the pains were intense and making my eyes water, I was given paracetamol and codeine for this ( I’m not the bets with pain anyway ) , I had my mind-set on a water birth and little to no pain relief if I could, at this point my dad was amazing rubbing my back calming me down , I totally didn’t expect this from him but it was just what I needed.

Next onto the delivery suite, again staff at all points were fabulous and nothing was too much trouble, as soon as we were in the room and settled they ran me a huge nice warm bath and I got in , expecting to be able to manage my pain through the water , how wrong I was , or more how unprepared for the pain I was, I soon needed to get out the bath and realised I needed something to help me through this , I was helped out of the bath and into some comfy pyjamas and given gas and air….now i’m not one for drinking as I don’t like the feeling of not being in control , and the gas and air soon made me feel like this and very scared they offered me an epidural and I accepted , soon the anaesthetist was in the room and prepping me for this ( this i cannot remember and is what I have been told from my mum and partner ) I became delirious and scared of the anaesthatist I thought he was there to hurt me and my baby but felt unable to speak to tell anyone, my partners face looked like it was made from playdoh and melting ! because of this I moved as he put the epidural into my back ( more on this later ) soon the epidural began to work and I stopped using the gas and air and felt more in control although unable to feel much , I felt the need to push and the midwife checked me and i wasnt fully dilated, she advised me an hour or two and baby would start to come down , but much sooner than that she nipped out of the room and my mum noticed something on the monitor connected to baby, I thought she was worrying for no reason but when the midwife came back in my mum asked her and she was very concerned within minutes an amazing team of nurses midwives and a doctor were present and trying to get my baby out , I was being told to push but baby wasnt moving ,i was rolled from side to side to try to get baby moving but nothing helped, next my legs were put in stirrups and the doctors tried to suck baby out , this again didn’t work , again I don’t remember much of this and all still feels very surreal, after only 5 minutes of trying the doctor just simply said “get her to theatre” , they gowned up my other half and i was wheeled down , laid in the prep room watching him stood in blue scrubs , the next words were awful, my epidural was blocked and I’d have to be completely put to sleep , meaning he wasnt able to come to theatre, as I watched the doors close and I was put to sleep , mine and my baby’s life were completely in their hands. I was taken to theatre around 2:40 and out gorgeous girl was born at 2:47am on friday 9th march weighing a tiny but gorgeous 6lbs 2 oz, I was brought round around 45 minutes later, and took to a room where they brought her in ( her gender was a surprise ) neither me or my partner met her until i came out of theatre and he was allowed to tell me we had a girl, completely and utterly amazing after 25 hours of trauma , we had our baby safe and sound and we were now a family, i was a mummy ! I looked at my other half and still do , and love him now more than I ever thought possible ! Happy ever after right ?

Wrong ! I was kept in for 3 days , being allowed home at tea time on the sunday 11th ,mothers day , my first ! by the Tuesday morning I couldn’t get out of bed for pain in my head , horrific pain , I couldn’t even lift my head, it took me 4 hours to get from my bed to the couch then we decided it was probably best to go back to hospital, we got there and again the staff were amazing and quickly the anaesthetists were back in my room , as Imentioned earlier because of my distress I moved when having my epidural inserted and because of this the epidural didn’t go into the correct dural space and instead punctured into my spine causing the fluid around my brain to leak and my brain to drop, this causing the awful pain. It was soon arranged that I needed to go back to theatre for a second op, called a blood patch to TRY and stop the leak, luckily for me I hadn’t given myself my bloodthining injecting that day as id been too poorly which meant I could go to theatre that night , so 6pm came and I was taken back to theatre awake this time ! In I went and given another epidural, one which I was much calmer for this time as I was fully aware of what was going on and what was needed from me , absolutely stillness ! they sterilised all of my shoulder and arm and placed into a sterile area while I laid on my side , they extracted blood from my arm and passed it over to the other surgeon to inject into an area in my back to hopefully block the leak , after the procedure I was taken back to my side room where my partner and baby were allowed to stay which definitely helped, I had to lie completely flat for 6 hours, no getting up for the toilet or anything , awful 6 hours but soo worth it in the end, I was allowed up about 2am for the toilet and then back to bed to sleep, once I woke the next day i was seen again by the anaesthetist , who checked everything with me again and were pleased with my response to the second op, as at this point I was told a 3rd of people the op fixes them in 24 hours ( which it seemed to have me ) a third, need a second blood patch, and a 3rd it doesn’t work for, the headaches learn to be lived with and managed, im so please di wasnt in this third,I simply couldn’t of coped ! but from that day I havent suffered anymore and I am so very thankful to the amazing team at the james cook hospital for their work looking after me and my baby, as only recently my mum has told me that she really thought at one point I had lost her, something which was so hard to hear as because of the gas and air I wasnt with it and never thought it was that bad, but luckily she is here and just perfect almost 6 months now !

Thank you for taking time to read our first post

Jessica – Lifeasweknowit

xxx