Me & Mine - April 2015

I completely forgot about Me & Mine this month and I have only got one photograph of the four of us to share. I must work harder!

It was an impromptu one taken one morning. We weren't long awake, the lighting is awful but I still love it. Especially C's cheeky little face.

This month seems to have flown by. Chris started his new job so it feels like we hardly see him which sucks. It does make the time we are with him extra special though. He gets every Sunday off so that's automatically been dedicated to "Family Day". If it's good weather, we'll go for a picnic, if it rains, we'll think of something else. Not in our house though, maybe something like soft play.  

Trespass MEL Women's Waterproof Jacket

I've made no secret of the fact that we, as a family, love getting outdoors no matter what the weather is like. C hates being stuck in the house so I always like to get him out to blow off some steam.

It's fabulous when it's sunny but when it's pretty miserable you need to be equipped to battle the elements. 

I recently received the MEL Women's Black Waterproof Jacket from Trespass to put to the test whilst being outdoors. The black colour with added pinkish/purple inner layer makes it the perfect girlie outdoor jacket. 

As soon as I put it on, the heat engulfs you. The jacket has coldheat insulation so the combination of your own body heat, the lining, coldheat insulation and the outer shell ensure that you will stay warm and protected from the wind. 

The jacket has many features which, when combined, make it the perfect outdoor coat. It is waterproof to 3000mm. I've had coats in the past that have claimed to be waterproof but one rainy Northern Irish day later and my clothes are sopping wet. This isn't the case with the Trespass jacket. It is coated using their pioneering Tres-tex membrane which repels moisture. It says waterproof, it means waterproof. 

I have quite bony, thin wrists so the adjustable cuffs were a welcome addition. You can tighten the hem of the jacket with a drawcord. I love that it can be fastened to however you feel comfortable. It has a breathability rating of 3000mvp so when you sweat, you still feel fresh and comfortable. I found this to be a godsend as pushing the pram is real workout for me and even though the coat keeps you warm, it wasn't too hot. 

Additionally, the coat has two water resistant fleece pockets. I tend to keep my phone in my pocket so the fact that no rain can get in there is a bonus. It has an inner pocket too so there is plenty of space to carry around whatever you may need. 

Every outdoor jacket needs a good quality hood. This one is a grown on hood so you can roll it into the neck of the jacket if need be. It can also be tightened using a drawcord ensuring that your entire head is covered, your hair doesn't get wet and there is no danger of the wind blowing it down. 

The MEL Women's Black Waterproof Jacket is available in sizes XS-XXL. I opted for M which would be my usual size and it fits perfectly. The coat retails at £74.99 but you can currently pick it up for an amazing £29.99. 

You can find out more about Trespass at their website, Facebook and Twitter. 

(Disclaimer: I received this coat for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

My Given Name Book - Review

My Given Name is like no other book I have come across before. C loves personalised books and he loves feeling like he is part of this story but this book goes one further - it aims to have a positive effect on children's lives.

You create your book online by typing the child's first name and surname, selecting their gender and choosing a child with skin tone similar to theirs then My Given Name do all the hard work.

The story shows Bindee, a stork, travelling around to find your child's given name. He meets lots of animals along the way that help him do so. The animals he meets give him a letter using a characteristic or positive phrases, for example, the cheetah says that he is caring so C gets added to the name. Next he meets an aardvark who tells Bindee that he is adorable and again, that gets added, and so on until your child's name is spelled out. Obviously, you will get different animals dependent on the letters in the name. You can use just the first name or first and middle names.

The story is longer that most of C's books but the story kept his interest, I think this may have been down to the bright colours and beautiful illustrations too. I love the positive image that it conveys and I hope that the more we read it with C, the more he'll see that he is caring, adorable, loving and that every problem has an answer and beauty comes from the inside just like the book says.

This book would make a gorgeous gift for any child. The book retails at £16.99 and it is recommended for ages 3-8 years but it can be a lovely keepsake for babies and toddlers too. It has been fantastically well written and I genuinely felt happy whilst reading it to C for the first time.

You can find out more at the My Given Name website, Facebook and Twitter.

(Disclaimer: We received this book for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Mummy & Me #2 - April

One thing I've already learned from joining in with Nicola's Mummy & Me linky is that I take a hell of a lot of iPhone selfies with my kids. They always seem to be taken when I'm in my PJs! Probably because early in the morning or before bed is the only time when they aren't running around being crazy! I'll have to work on taking less of them and roping Chris into photograph us more.

The month seems to have flown by and Chris got a new job so he is with us a little less during the week - boo!

Here are a selection of my favourite pics of me and the kids from this month.

Not strictly "Mummy & Me" as Chris is in it!

I love this one. She's growing up so fast but still loves a snuggle on mummy!

Zippy Suit - Review

One of my favourite things about blogging is discovering new baby and toddler brands, especially clothing. I do like buying on the high street but I also like having clothes for my kids that I don't see lots of other children wearing.

I was aware of the Zippy Suit brand before as C actually owned one of their fabulous bandana bibs when he was little. E was recently given the opportunity to try out one of their beautiful sleepsuits.

We received the Fabulous Flamingoes printed Zippy Suit in size 6-12 months.

As per the company name, the sleepsuit doesn't have poppers but has a single high quality zip in place of these. I've found this really handy. E is quite an active baby and she is constantly kicking her feet. This leads me to struggle to do her poppers up and when I do, they end up being buttoned wrongly! The zip fastener means that all I need to do is pop her legs in, zip it up and there we go! It even has a zip cover to protect your baby from it. E tends to chew on the zips of her coats so the cover is a great addition.

The suit is 100% cotton and it is luxuriously soft and stretchy. I actually put E in it as soon as I opened it out! She looked and seemed very comfortable. It is quite thin but I don't think that's a bad thing. I always worry about overheating so I can put this on E and have her in a sleeping bag at night without having to worry. I mentioned that this is a 6-12 month suit. She is almost 8 months old (but quite long) and this fits perfectly. It doesn't drown her but there is also room for her to grow. It is machine washable and can be tumble dried.

I am in love with this suit and I might be a little biased but, isn't she so cute!?

The Zippy Suit is also available in Alarm Clocks and Mice About Town designs. You can also buy matching bibs and hats too!

The Zippy Suit retails at £15.00 and you can purchase them at the Zippy Suit website. You can also keep up to date on Facebook and Twitter.

(Disclaimer: We received this suit for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

A Family Picnic

All last week, C kept asking me for a picnic. Chris had Sunday off so as it was a good day, we decided we'd have a picnic then. 

We packed up sandwiches, cocktail sausages and lots of other treats and made our way to the park. The park in question is beautiful and its never too busy which I prefer to other parks in our area. 

We sadly don't have a garden and I feel terrible about that. C loves being outdoors. We are hoping to move this summer so I'll definitely be looking for a house with a garden!

C had so much fun running around kicking his football, throwing his frisbee and blowing bubbles. The picnic that he had wanted all week was overlooked by how much fun he was having playing outdoors. 

My heart broke when he cried because he had to go home. Seeing him so happy over something so simple melts my heart. 

Look In My Letterbox #3

It's my third week linking up with the Look In My Letterbox linky! Here's what I've had this week.

Wins:

Konfidence swim jacket

This will be perfect for C when we go swimming. He loves the Octonauts so that's an added bonus.

Gosh goodies

A girl can never have too much make up, right?

Personalised Cherry Coke

How cool is this?

Anchor dress

I am so in love with this dress from Zombunny Designs. She makes them to your measurements!

Reviews:

Peppa birthday book

C is Peppa obsessed so he will love this. His birthday isn't til September but I'm forever planning!

Ella's kitchen 6 month range

E loves Ella's Kitchen so we're happy to be trying their new range!

Huggies 

C has only been swimming once and E hasn't been at all. I keep meaning to take them so now that we have these to review it'll give me a kick up the bum!

Others:

Shnuggle catalogue

I wrote a while back about E having a photoshoot with Shnuggle for their new baby bath. They sent us a few copies of their catalogue and here's Baby E sitting in the bath!

Have you received anything nice this week?

ZPM Trolley Dolly Review & Giveaway

In April 2013 here in Northern Ireland, the Carrier Bag Levy was introduced. This means that all stores must charge customers at least 5p per carrier bag (whether that be plastic or paper). 

When I was offered the chance to try the Eco 8 Bag Set from ZPM/Trolley Dolly, I jumped at the chance. 

The outer bag is a gorgeous handbag with a Velcro fastener and you can choose from 5 different designs for one to suit you. Inside the handbag, you have two box-style shopping bags, three vest-style shopping bags and two fruit & veg net bags. 

We have two children and don't drive. Occasionally we will do an online grocery shop but I don't like the faff with substitutions and omissions and best before dates can be a bit rubbish so I prefer to go grocery instore myself. The handbag has a long shoulder strap so I can either carry it or hang it over the handlebar of the pram easily. This way I have all my bags at hand. 

The eight bags are more than enough to get all my groceries home. The box style shopping bags can be carried over your shoulder as can the vest style ones. I tend to hang the vest ones over the buggy handles but as the handles of the bags are quite long I need to tie them up a bit so they don't drag. The bags seem very sturdy and haven't broken on me which is impressive as we've been carrying lots of heavy items like cans and juice. They are also washing machine friendly. 

The Eco set also has some very clever features. It comes with a trolley token which is handy if you don't have a pound coin and the handbag has lots of pockets so you can store loads of little bits in. There is a clear plastic window on the front too. I've been using this to keep my store vouchers in. I always forget them so it's great that I can display them where I can see them. 

I did worry that I'd end up forgetting about the set but as soon as I unpack my groceries, I put the bags back in the handbag and keep it in the basket of the pram so it's always with me. 

I would definitely recommend the ZPM/Trolley Dolly Eco 8 Bag set. Not only is it extremely helpful, you're also doing your bit for the environment. It is a world first patented solution to getting your shopping home plastic-free and using it will save you £28 in your first year of use!

The set retails at £19.99 but at the time of posting (25/04/15) it is on offer at £15!

You can find out more about ZPM at their website, Facebook & Twitter. 

ZPM have very kindly given my readers the opportunity to win their very own Eco 8 Bag set in the colour of their choice. All you need to do is fill in the Rafflecopter widget below. The competition will run from April 25th until May 8th. The winner will be selected and emailed within 7 days of the competition ending. The winner will then have 28 days to respond to their winners notification or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!

(Disclaimer: I received a bag set for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

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