Learning About Road Safety

As parents we all know how important it is to teach and practice road safety to our children from a young age. I remember back when Noah first started walking when I invested in the slightly controversial baby reigns, the main reason being my fear of him letting go of my hand and running out into the road. Even back when he was finding his feet I always explained that roads are dangerous and he was to hold Mummy's hand at all times, even though he didn't understand a word I was saying to him.

Noah is now a fully fledged toddler and now understands things a lot more so I've really stepped up our road safety talks. He goes to nursery three afternoon's a week and on our way there we need to cross a busy main road. Every day I tell him we need to stop, look and listen and then if no cars are coming, we cross over the road. He understands that it's very important and enjoys the responsibility of helping to check that it's safe to cross.

Accident Advice Helpline recently created an online game to help promote road safety to children. This week I showed the game to my three year old and my nephew who is eight and they both really enjoyed it. The game is lots of fun to play as you follow the journey of a little boy who is on his travels and answer road safety questions a long the way. I think the game is a fun and informative way to introduce more in depth road safety tips to our little ones, it's wonderful and I can't recommend it enough.

At what age did you start talking to your children about road safety?

- This is a collaborative post. 

Dinky Duvalay Review & Competition

Noah is now three years old and for the past six months or so has been sleeping in his toddler bed. As soon as we switched him from cot to bed we introduced a pillow and duvet full time and said goodbye to our trusty and much loved sleeping bags. It took a while for him to adjust from one to the other but with potty training just around the corner we knew it was a switch we had to make sooner rather than later. Imagine trying to get a toddler on the potty at night when zipped up in a sleeping bag! That would be hard difficult! 

Last month I was asked if I'd like to work with a brand called Duvalay. In case you aren't familiar with them Duvalay is an award winning company who specialise in numerous sleep products. One of the most popular being the famous Duvalay sleeping bag which is award winning and has sold over a million pieces world wide!  

Duvalay have taken the technology from their past products and created a brand new one called the Dinky Duvalay. This is a mattress, duvet and pillow all in one design which is aimed at children between the ages of 2 - 8 years.

Features:
Memory foam mattress which moulds to support the body.
Made with a hollow fibre duvet and washable percale poly cotton cover.
Rolls up, stores and is transported easily. 
Perfect for a mini bed within a bed. 
Ideal for sleepovers and camping with the family.
Can be opened from the left or right hand side. 
Helps prevent children from falling out of bed.
Includes a matching pillow and pillowcase. 

My initial impressions of the Dinky Duvalay were all extremely positive. My favourite aspect being the animal design, as not only is it unisex but I also noted how it would also suit most bedroom styles and is colourful without being too busy. Noah really enjoys to point out all the different animals and make all the different animal sounds. I found that the quality of the memory foam mattress, duvet and pillow were very good too.

Noah was really excited to try out the Dinky Duvalay and we decided to try it out first at nap time. I did wonder how he would get on with it as he is a creature of habit and likes his usual comforts but he was fine. Once the excitement of having a "new bed" subsided he quickly went to sleep and looked super comfortable.

Overall we really rate the Dinky Duvalay however there are a few things that I'd like to mention which I think could be changed or slightly improved. The first one being that the pillow is quite small and I found that Noah would roll of it or get frustrated with it. It's quite a lot smaller than the pillow he usually uses, perhaps a full sized and thinner one would be more suitable for us. I also found that the duvet slipped down a lot inside the sheet but when making the bed in the morning I could quickly correct that. 

Although Noah has gone back to using his regular bedding we will still be using the Dinky Duvalay for sleepovers and for our annual trips away in the UK as it really is a fantastic product. Prices for the Dinky Duvalay start at £89.95 which I think is reasonable for the level of quality you receive.

How would you like to win a Dinky Duvalay Children's Memory Foam Sleeping Bag? To enter all you need to do is use the Gleam form below. Good luck and don't forget to enter my other blog competitions!

Duvalay Children's Memory Foam Sleeping Bag worth £89

Terms & Conditions.                                                                                                 
1. There will be 1 winner who will win the prize mentioned above.
2. Prize sent directly by the PR. 
3. Competition ends 05/02/17
4. Incomplete entries with be disqualified. 
5. UK entries only.

My Trip to the Pampers Innovation Center

I've been a member of the Pampers Baby Board for the past couple of months and back in October I was invited to the Pampers Innovation Centre in Germany for the day. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time and the thought of flying and travelling to another country on my own was very daunting. I have to admit that I was absolutely terrified but I'm so glad that I did it as it really was a once in a life time trip and I had such an amazing time. It's not every day that you get to fly to Germany and back in 24 hours!

Once we arrived at the Pampers Innovation Centre we were welcomed into a board room and were greeted by friendly faces and some well needed refreshments. After a brief break we were then given an in depth and interesting talk about Pampers. The discussion was all about the history of the brand and information and facts on how they continue to develop and improve their nappies.

Having used Pampers with my son I was already fond of the brand, but I learnt so much from the presentation. I was already aware of their commendable work alongside UNICEF, but what I didn't know is that Pampers are recommended by the British Skin Foundation. This gives me peace of mind as we will of course be using Pampers with our newborn when she is born next month.

After the presentation we then headed down to the testing area where we met Frank who is a principal scientist at the Centre. Parents bring their babies to the Innovation Centre on a daily basis to try and test out the products for research. It was great to be able to see these parents and tiny testers and you could really tell that Pampers really appreciated and valued their feedback and cooperation.

We were then given a tour of the entire Innovation Centre and what a large and impressive place it is. We visited various rooms which all had different purposes, the baby playgroup testing lab, the 3D measurement room where they make sure their nappies fit perfectly, the skincare lab and even the room where they produce the nappies which is totally top secret. It was really enlightening to learn what happens in each of these rooms and I was astounded at how much work and thought goes into every process. I was amazed at the fact that it can take up to ten years for them to develop a brand new nappy!

Pampers have recently improved their Baby Dry nappies, so a lot of our afternoon was focused around them. We learnt about the new technology which is now inside the new and improved Baby Dry nappies and how it works. Did you know they are now filled with three different channels of Micro Pearls which ensures that when your baby wets their nappy, it's absorbed and spread more evenly. This helps prevents unnecessary leaks and provides optimal comfort and dryness for our little ones. They are also designed to last up to 12 hours which make them the perfect night time nappy.

It was then time to leave and make the long trip back home to the UK. I left feeling totally in awe of Pampers because the brand is so much more than just a company churning out nappy after nappy. Believe me when I say that that Pampers really care about the health and well being of babies everywhere, not just here in the UK. They work tirelessly and strive to make the best nappies they possibly can and also do their part for many different charities. I'm very proud to be associated with Pampers and look forward to continuing to work with them over the coming months.

- This post was brought to you in collaboration with Pampers. 

My Sunday Photo - 02/52

Project 365 - Week 1/52

1st January - 7th January

1st January 2017

2nd January 2017

3rd January 2017

4th January 2017

5th January 2017

6th January 2017

7th January 2017

Hello 2017! I'm joining Project 365 for the third year in a row and it's still a favourite of mine although not as many people take part anymore. I take a photo every day so it's not hard for me to join in and I really enjoy it because it's like looking back at a visual diary on my blog.

The first week of 2017 was a pretty lazy one, I'm not going to lie. I've got to the stage in my pregnancy where I want to do absolutely nothing. It's like my body just wants to save as much energy as possible before the baby is born. That being said you can't truly be lazy when you have a toddler. The majority of the week I've been washing and arranging all the babies things while entertaining Noah and thankfully I've got quite a bit done. He's not back at nursery yet so we've just been visiting family and playing indoors really. Nothing overly exciting but lovely none the less.

What have you been up to this week? 

32 & 33 Weeks Pregnant - Baby #2

Baby

It's estimated that the baby has grown from 16.7 inches long to 17 and is now the length of a pineapple! I never understood the fruit sizing references as they vary in size, you see small pineapples, large pineapples! But yes, she's now the size of a pineapple apparently! She's continuing to put on weight and should have gone from roughly 3.75 lb to 4.25 lb. It's comforting to know that if she was to come early she should have quite a substantial weight now. She should put on another half a pound for the next four weeks! I would love to know exactly what she weighs at the moment because she may double in weight by the time she's born. I think she will be around 8lb 2oz, a pound bigger than her brother, just a wild guess.

I also have a feeling that she's quite a big baby already or that she's just a lot more vivacious than Noah was in the womb. She moves around a lot and often responds to our voice or to our touch, which I absolutely adore. She is also really strong and some of her movements can really hurt, especially when she wedges herself in my pelvis or behind my rib cage. I think she's going to be a feisty one, just like her Mummy. 

I think we've finally decided on a name now too. It's the one that we've liked all a long but we were keeping our options open, that being said I want to wait until she's born before I totally decide!

Mummy

Thankfully my pelvis and lower back pain has now subsided slightly and I'm getting a little bit of relief. This is a surprise because at times I can feel the baby really low down and you'd think that would cause me further pelvis issues but it's not been the case as of yet. I've been feeling quite lethargic lately, forever tired and quite often feeling sick. I'm getting to that stage now where although I love pregnancy and everything it entails I'm looking forward to feeling human again and of course I'm so excited to meet our baby girl.

This pregnancy has totally flown by but I think from this point going forward it will now it will start to go slowly. I'm huge bump wise, just like I was with Noah and people have mentioned that they think I look like I've dropped, but I'm not too sure. I do still feel like she's going to come early but as I said on my last update, we will have to wait and see. I'd hate to go overdue but I wouldn't mind waiting as long as I can experience a normal labour and not have to be induced again. I really want to experience going into labour naturally and a water birth would just be a dream come true. 

I cannot wait for our family of three to blossom into four. Noah is so excited to meet her too, he's forever kissing and stroking the bump on his own accord and he keeps telling her to hurry up! I really do think he's going to make an amazing big brother.

See you next week.