Children’s Clothing at House of Fraser

When I think of House of Fraser, I think of a big department store, the home of designer brands and luxury items. I don’t, I admit, think of children’s clothing. At least none that I could afford. I have written before I can be a bit thrifty, and I don’t like the thought of spending more money on my children’s clothes than I would on my own clothes, especially considering how quickly they grow out of them!

When I was contacted and asked to choose some children’s clothing from them for £30 or under I was intrigued to see what clothes they had, and what I could get for the money. Well I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the options available and the lovely clothes they stock. Luckily for me it was sale time and being the bargain hunter I am I wanted to see how may items I could get.

I think I did pretty well and got some gorgeous bits for both kiddies.

Monkey is wearing a lovely striped Benetton t-shirt and gorgeous cord trousers from Pumpkin Patch. I quite like the Pumpkin Patch brand but had never bought anything from Benetton before. Both are lovely quality and my favourite for baby/toddler clothes – machine washable and tumble dry-able! A must for me 🙂 It’s difficult to get a photo of him standing still but here is a few shots of him in his lovely new outfit.

house of fraser clothes monkey

Little Miss is wearing a gorgeous onesie from Kite, a brand I hadn’t heard of before but will be keeping an eye out for in the future. I couldn’t resist the colours as they are just gorgeous and the material is extremely soft and snuggly. Again machine washable and tumble dryable and I think LM looks just gorgeous in it. She looks pretty happy in it too don’t you think?

house of fraser lm

I am loving the quality of all of the clothes and they are certainly affordable so will be adding House of Fraser to the shops I consider when looking for children’s clothes.

We received the clothing for free for the purpose of this review, however all thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own.

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The Giggles Family

Monkey’s first day at playgroup!

This week was a big day for us as it was Monkey’s first day at playgroup! Looking after Monkey, raising him and teaching him about the world has been my job since he was born. It is why I wanted to be a SAHM and I feel privileged that I have been able to do so for this long. However there are many reasons why we think it will be good for him to go to playgroup. One day he will have to go to school and we want to be able to ease him into it, first of all with a couple of days of playgroup, then preschool before he starts school. The local playgroup generally feeds into the local school so our hope is that he will make friends at playgroup and pre-school and that they will move up together to school one day.

Making friends is the biggest reason we have been keen for him to go to playgroup as although he sees my friends’ children, with jobs and other commitments he doesn’t see them quite so often anymore and it would be nice for him to have more time playing with other children. But he has never been left without me, hubs or his grandparents before so we knew it would be a big change for him, and for us, for him to be in someone else’s care.

He was originally due to start in November, when he was 2 1/2, but with LM being born we didn’t want to make such a big change at that time, as we didn’t want him to feel that he was being taken there because  she was here. So we delayed his start date until after Christmas as we felt that would be the best time for a new start to the routine, and Friday afternoon was his first day.

WP_20150109_18_57_43_ProWe had been trying to prepare him and help him feel enthusiastic and excited about starting playgroup in the run up to the big day. We were recommended a lovely book by a friend who had used it with her son to help him prepare for playgroup, “Lulu Loves Nursery.”* We substituted the word nursery for playgroup but it is a really lovely book and talks about how Lulu is worried about being without her mummy, and feels shy at first, but then decides to be brave and she really loves her day at nursery. It is a great book and also comes with a certificate you can fill out and give to them at the end of their first day.

Monkey absolutely adores this book and we have been reading it over and over since we gave it to him, it has definitely helped Monkey with the concept of me leaving him there but coming back again afterwards. It has also helped that our playgroup provided a little leaflet, which reads like a story, about all of the things you can do there.

The big day dawned and we had a fairly quiet morning at home to make sure he was well rested. Daddy didn’t want to miss it so he came home and we all went off to playgroup together. Monkey had his little backpack on and was dead excited, running basically all the way there and dragging Daddy along! We got there much quicker than I thought we would have actually so had to wait outside for a little while!

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When it was time to go in, Monkey was straight in there, playing with puzzles, he didn’t seem bothered about us at all. We decided not to hang about too long so said our goodbyes after a few minutes and headed out. He only gave us cursory hugs and goodbyes, but as we were leaving we did see a bit of a sad fac, though we heard no cries and saw no tears.

We were both a bit on edge that afternoon, though I think because I still had LM to deal with I was a little less anxious than hubs who was back at work, unable to focus! I did keep an eye on my phone though in case they called but we heard nothing. When we went to collect him the staff said that he had been a little upset, and cried a few times, but that they had been able to distract him with books and toys each time and he had got over his tears.

At the end of the session they have all the children sat together to wait for their parents and then call them out one by one to us parents who are waiting in the foyer, though they can’t see us. I didn’t really know how they did it and if I had I would have asked if he could come out first, but I didn’t so they called out 4 or 5 other children before calling him out, so by the time he came out to us he was very unhappy again. I can understand it as from his perspective, sitting there waiting for mummy and daddy, watching other children go out to their parents, wondering if we were coming for him, it must have been pretty scary.

WP_20150111_11_11_05_ProWe had big cuddles though and he said he enjoyed himself. He showed us the fab picture he made and was excited about the fact he had been using glue.He was telling us about the books he had read and the friend he had played with (I’m not sure he actually did play with this little boy or just said it because we had talked about him beforehand) and within a few yards he said “I love playgroup” which we took as a very positive sign. In fact he even asked me if he could go playgroup again the next day, which is another very good sign. We stopped for an ice cream on the way home (as they do in “Lulu Loves Nursery“*) and he very pleased with his certificate from his  book 🙂

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I am expecting more tears on Monday, potentially even when I drop him off, and probably for a few more times, but hopefully he is off to a good start and it well get easier and easier the more he gets used to the playgroup, the staff and the other children. Fingers crossed anyway! But for now I am just a proud mama and think he did so so well for his first day!

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with his first ever picture from playgroup 🙂

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A Christmas Tree from Pines and Needles

Pines and Needles Christmas TreeI love Christmas and I love getting into the festive spirit. This year we are getting started nice and early with this fabulous Christmas tree from Pines and Needles.

I have always been a huge fan of real Christmas trees. I love the smell and there’s just something nice about having a real tree rather than an artificial one. There is also something really nice about going to choose a tree yourself. But, I have to be honest, that part has become more of a challenge now we have small children. Fitting the tree in the car along with said children is a bit interesting for one thing and then there is carving out the time to go and get the tree.

Pines and Needles, with their delivery service, take that hassle factor out of choosing a tree as they deliver them right to your doorstep. We chose a Nordman Fir, as the needles are softer than a “traditional” Christmas tree, and they drop less, which means less hoovering, a huge plus.

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The Truth about… the early days of breastfeeding

WP_20141022_16_24_10_ProSo far all is going pretty well with breastfeeding Little Miss. A complete contrast to how difficult I found breastfeeding Monkey in the early days but that doesn’t mean that it is entirely plain sailing. This isn’t going to be a post slating breastfeeding, or promoting it particularly either. There are many positives to breastfeeding but I’ve always had problems with the portrayal of it as being ‘perfect’. As with anything, setting it up to be perfect experience only leads to problems (as perfection is unattainable) and feelings of failure or not being good enough when you can’t achieve it. Some of the things you read or are told about breastfeeding feel a bit like propaganda and heaven forbid you have a different opinion or suggest there may be any negatives to breastfeeding.
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Disney Cars 3-Wheel Tri Scooter from Suppose.com

We were recently contacted by the lovely people at Suppose.com and asked if we would like to review a Disney Cars Scooter. We’ve held back on getting Monkey a scooter as, although we have seen lots of kids his age (and younger) having great fun on them, he is not the most coordinated of toddlers and so we weren’t sure how we would get on. As these kinds of toys are generally not very cheap we didn’t want to risk buying something he would not get much enjoyment out of.

Suppose.com is a great way of getting the best price for things, which is so handy with kid’s toys (especially coming up to Christmas), as they track the prices of things for you and let you know when there is a good deal to be had. The Disney Cars Scooter is currently on offer at a just £12.50, you can find out more here.

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Car seats for tall babies and children

Monkey is not quite 2 1/2 yet, but at over 3ft he is seriously tall for his age and his current car seat has been feeling really small for him. Trying to look for the best car seat for your child can be so difficult as they all vary and are based on age and weight. Please note this post contains some amazon affiliate links, for further information please click here.

Car Seat groups:

Group Child’s weight approx. age of child
0 birth up to 10kg/22lb birth up to 6-9 months
0+ birth up to 13kg/29lb birth up to 12-15 months
0+ & 1 birth up to 18kg/40lb birth to up to about 4 years
1 9-18kg/20-40lb about 9 months to 4 years
1 & 2 9-25kg/20-55lb about 9 months to 6 years
2 15-25kg/33-55lb about 4 to 6 years
1, 2, 3 9-36kg/20-79lb about 9 months to 12 years
2 & 3 15-36kg/33-79lb about 4-12 years

DSC_0171Looks confusing doesn’t it? When Monkey was a newborn we started off with a Maxi Cosi Cabriofix car seat (Group 0+), with Easyfix base, for ease of getting it in and out of the car mainly. We loved it, it was such a handy car seat and we hoped it would last quite a while Unfortunately though because Monkey was on the 98th percentile of the growth chart he outgrew this seat pretty early. To move onto the next group of car seat they need to be around 9kg, which is estimated at being at about 9 months of age. Our tall baby was already 9 1/2 kg by 5 1/2 months and just far too long to be comfortable in this seat much longer.

Because of his size, as soon as he was able to sit by himself (around 5 1/2 – 6 mths) we moved on to a group 1 car seat. We chose the Maxi Cosi Axiss because we liked the handy swivel of the seat. My car (an 08 Honda Civic) has really wide back doors, which means that in tight parking spaces it is impossible to open them very far. Having a seat the swivelled when you put the little one in made life so much easier for us. We have loved this seat and it has grown really well with Monkey… until now. (In the below pictures he is in the Axiss at 8mths old and 21 mths old )

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For a group 2 seat, they usually say the child should be around age 4, or over 15kg. A group 2 seat is also what is known as a booster seat. With a group 2 seat there is no harness and instead the child is strapped in with the car’s 3 point seatbelt, whilst sat on a seat. They vary in terms of support but it can vary from a very simple, basic little booster seat (the kind I remember sitting on as a kid) to something more resembling a car seat.

As I said at the beginning of the post, Monkey is not quite 2 1/2, but he is just growing too big for his group 1 seat. The highest level for the straps is actually below his shoulders, which means they come up and over his shoulders before going down over his chest and he just wasn’t comfortable in it any more. Plus his head was higher than the headrest, making it ever so slightly pointless. He has also just reached the 15kg mark.

But a group 2 seat, with just a normal seatbelt? Felt a bit scary to me. My friend has just moved her 3 1/2 year old onto a car seat with the normal 3 point seat belt and has mentioned how she can now pull the seat belt and wriggle around more. At a year younger than her I didn’t feel Monkey was ready for this at all. He certainly isn’t ready to just sit on a booster seat as I think he would slide off it!

I didn’t know what to do, but luckily there are seats which bridge the different groups. We popped to our local Kiddicare on Saturday morning and the young lad we spoke to there was just so so helpful. We talked about the different options and the fact that although 2 1/2 feels far too young to be in a bigger seat, that it really is weight, and in our case height, that is the most important thing for meeting the safety requirements.

In his big Boy Car Seat, the Kiddicare I seat

In his big Boy Car Seat, the Kiddicare I seat

We tried out one of the Kiddicare Opus SP Group 1/2/3 car seats which definitely bridge the gap from a group 1 to a group 2 seat. It can be used as a group 2 car seat, using the cars 3 point seat belt restraint, but it also has a 3 point harness which you can remove as the child grows. The key factor for us was that this harness has more height levels, at and it’s highest level it is comfortably above Monkey’s shoulders, which is where it should be rather than part way down his back! It was also incredibly good value and a lot less than we had thought we would probably spend on a car seat, at just £39.99. There aren’t many seats on the market (that I have found anyway) that bridge the different group boundaries and the sales assistant showed us one other more expensive brand, though we couldn’t see anything about it that made it seem worth the extra money. There didn’t seem to be any extra padding or safety features etc.

We were really happy with this and about ready to buy when the sales assistant recommended we have a demonstration in the car. We weren’t fussed but said yes and thank goodness we did as sadly the seat didn’t fit in my car! The angle just wasn’t right and there was a big gap between the back of the seat and the car. Thankfully they had the same design seat with a few variations for just £10 more. The Kiddicare I seat  (sadly I can’t find this available on their website but it was in stock in the Peterborough store). It has moveable arm-rests (not a big selling point) but also wedges on the bottom of the seat which you can lift to change the angle of the seat. With these lifted the seat fit perfectly into my car, phew!

 

Monkey loves his new big boy car seat and we are relieved to know he is safe and comfortable in a bigger seat. Do you have tall children? How did you get on choosing car seats? Did they fit into the ‘average’ age bracket?


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Super Busy Mum

Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

Mega Bloks Junior Builders review

I was recently contacted by the lovely people at Mega Bloks to review their Junior Builders Build a Story set. Monkey loves building so I jumped at the chance. When I think of Mega Bloks I think of them being the big, chunky blocks, and what I didn’t realise before was that they also do some smaller building blocks, which are perfect for Monkey. I am not sure how to describe them without mentioning the Duplo range from Lego, as that is exactly the size that they are. They are completely compatible and if you mixed them up together, without looking closely at the branding you would not be able to tell the difference between the two ranges!

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Coping with Colic

P1020228After publishing my breastfeeding journey with Monkey recently, I have been reminiscing a bit back to those early days of Monkey’s little life. With the arrival of baby no.2 approaching faster by the day I guess it’s no wonder really! I am nervous of going through the baby days again as I didn’t find it very easy first time round. There was the initial breastfeeding struggles, which led on to a much longer struggle. You see, Monkey had Colic and coping with a colicky baby can be really hard. I’m not sure any newborn baby is easy, but I am really hoping we don’t have Colic to contend with again this time!

I have been remembering the things we did and methods we used and thought I would share them, in case anyone else is going through the same struggles and needs some help Coping with Colic.
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Supernanny’s book and the Dawn of Discipline

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means I would receive a small commission if you were to purchase the item by clicking on the link. There is of course no obligation to do so and any income goes towards the upkeep of this blog.

We knew this day would come, but it would seem that the terrible twos have arrived. I’ll be honest I don’t think he is actually that terrible but there is definitely an edge to his behaviour lately that we haven’t seen before. The tantrums are worse than before and there is some serious defiance going on – so it is definitely time for some firmer discipline.

But what discipline? We are not fans of smacking, it just isn’t for us. I have blogged recently about Monkey’s love of counting, so counting to 3 in the hopes he stops before I reach 3 failed miserably the once I tried it as he then just started off counting on his fingers!

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Bretton Water Park, Peterborough

There is a little outdoor water park in Peterborough (Bretton Water Park) that I have heard about a few times, but not been to before. It doesn’t really have much information online about where it is or how to get there but in photos I had seen on Facebook etc. it looked great, so I decided to give it a go.

Bretton Water Park

 

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