Ella's kitchen - first tastes review

I have used Ella's kitchen foods on all my boys, the twins still eat the snacks and have the squeezey fruit smoothies such as the purple one, the red one and the green one! 

........now it seems it's little Ru's turn to try it out. 

I wanted to wait till Ru was 6 months (the recommended age to wean), but my chunk is ready now :( it's sad that he's growing up but it's also exciting to be on to an new adventure with him. 

I weaned Noah early and the twins didn't really wean till they were over 6 months.

I've had enough little ones to know what signs to look for and so on.

Your baby is ready to start weaning when they can do three key things:

• Sit up - with their head held steady
• Feed themselves - look at food, grab it, and put it in their mouth by themselves
• Swallow food - babies who aren't quite ready for solids often push their food back out with their tongue

It's always a good idea to talk to your health visitor before you wean, specially if you do it before 6 months.

I emailed the lovely lovely people at Ella's Kitchen about doing a review on their pouches and they were ever so helpful. 

They also sent me a lovely box filled with 6 70g pouches for Ru to test.

On tonight's menu it's prunes prunes prunes!

No Ru you can't eat the packet!

Seeing as this is Ru's first time with food I was expecting it to go all wrong.......but the little chunk I have created ate like a pro! You would have thought he'd be eating for months the way he gobbled it up.

I was only going to feed him half but he cried when I took it away so I let him finish it!

After the pouch was all finished we were left with one happy but slightly messy bub!

I do intend make Ru's food myself but I always like to have a ready to use selection for the times when I'm feeling lazy or when I'm in a rush. 

There's nothing better than knowing you are feeding your baby the best even when it comes from a pouch. 

A little bit about Ella's pouches 

·         The First Tastes range is aimed at babies from four months and includes nine yummy tastes

·         Each pouch contains nothing but one single deeelicious fruit or veggie

·         The squishy pouches are perfect for introducing little ones to a variety of tastes right at the start of their weaning journey, encouraging them to grow up to be good little eaters and introducing healthy eating habits that last a lifetime

·         The 70g pouches are the perfect size for little tummies

·         They’re super convenient and perfect for popping in your changing bag for use on-the-go

·         Tastes can be mixed with baby rice or cereal for slightly older babies to enjoy as a scrummy snack or dessert

You can also collect all your pouches and send them back to be recycled. 

Every time I'm down the baby isle (which is a lot, it's my favourite isle to be in! Sad I know lol) I'm always noticing more and more of  Ella's kitchen range. Some look so  yummy that I would eat them! 

Our weaning adventure has started and it looks like it's going to be an exciting one!

For more info on Ella's Kitchen, head over to their fab website  https://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk 

Saving the world one nappy at a time.....my cloth journey

I have been using cloth since Ru was 5 weeks old. Someone on my instagram led me onto the baba and boo web page 

Babaandboo

Where you can buy a trail nappy with two inserts. 

The hardest part about getting a trail nappy is picking what gorgeous design you want!

There are soooooooooooooo many to choose from. 

I picked mr fox as my first ever cloth purchase!

I think I may have waited at least.....oh say an hour before I was back on the website and ordering a bundle! 

I am well and truly hooked.

I do have to stop myself buying nappies every now and then as I would happily blow all my money on pretty nappies! The point of cloth nappies being cheaper than disposables pretty much goes out the window when you see all the range you can get! 

You can sell them on as pre loved once you are potty trained so you'll make some money back off them.....that's if you can bare to part with them. 

I now have a lot of baba and boo nappies in ru's stash 

Some of my other nappies are tot bots, gnappies and some cheapies off amazon.

This is a handful of my favourite nappies

Why did I decided to go over to the cloth side? 

The amount of nappies we get through with the twins is ridiculous, we pretty much fill up one of our wheelie bins up a week with nappies! 

The smell is awful. 

They aren't as cute as reusables

And the money ...... We spend a fortune on them things that just end up in a bin then rotting away in a big hole in the ground! 

I wanted to change up my way of parenting, I'm also trying to be more Eco friendly and the benefits of reusables really won me over.

The Many Benefits of Using Reusable Nappies

During the course of infancy a baby will need approximately 6,000 nappy changes...if that baby has worn disposable nappies that is 6,000 nappies that will more than likely end up in a landfill where they will sit for hundreds of years- far longer on this planet than the baby that wore them. Shocking stuff...

Make the decision to use reusable nappies, and you are instantly diverting masses of waste from landfill sites, so go ahead and pat yourself of the back!

 Real Nappies- Better for the Planet

Around 8 million disposable nappies are used and thrown away every single day in the UK! ). 92% of these end up in landfill sites. We are a tiny island, and this is quite simply unsustainable. With such massive pressure on our landfill sites, the use of incinerators is going to increase, would you want one near you?

 

By using reusable instead of disposable nappies you can reduce your household waste by half. In the UK alone we get through 500,000 tonnes of disposable nappies every year, don't contribute to that.

 

It is estimated that disposable nappies take 500 years to breakdown, but no one is yet sure if they ever fully decompose as they have not been in existence long enough yet! That means that every single disposable nappy that has ever made its way into landfill is still there....

 

Ancient Canadian and Scandinavian forests are being felled, and animal species threatened, by deforestation in order to supply the UK’s paper pulp- the largest single component of the disposable nappy.

 

Instructions on disposable nappy packages recommend that fecal matter be deposited into the toilet before disposing of it, but less than one half of one percent of all waste from disposable nappies goes into the sewage system.

 

Instead the solids end up in landfills, the bacteria contaminating ground water and posing a threat to wildlife and the ecosystem. Not what you would necessary consider when throwing that nappy straight in the bin!

 

It is estimated that more than 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable nappies for one baby each year.

Real Nappies - Better for your wallet

 By ‘going cloth’ your family can incur a direct saving of up to £500, and even more for baby number 2, 3, 4, 5.....!

 

For every £1 spent on disposable nappies, there is a cost to the taxpayer of 10p to dispose of them! Help to ease the expense on your wallet both directly and indirectly by switching to reusable nappies.

Real Nappies- Better for your baby

By choosing real nappies, you are helping to protect your baby’s very delicate skin from the harsh chemicals, plastics and adhesives that form the basis of disposables. A baby’s skin is 5 times thinner than that of an adult, and it is vital that we carefully consider what we allow it to absorb. A baby is usually in a nappy for 24 hours a day, for 2.5 years...

 

In 2000, a scientific study was conducted at Kiel University in Germany which indicated that the widespread use of disposable nappies, which heat the testes above body temperature, is a significant factor in the declining fertility rates in Western European men.

 

Wide spread nappy rash surfaced with the introduction of the disposable nappy. A review of Proctor & Gambles own studies (The Landbank Consultancy Limited, 1991) found that the incidence of nappy rash increased from 7.1% to 61% with the increased use of disposable nappies.

 

Sodium Polyacrylate is the chemical used to absorb and hold urine in disposable nappies. This chemical has been linked to toxic shock syndrome and was banned from use in tampons in 1985. It can cause allergic reactions and it lethal to cats when inhaled. Its long term safety to a child's vulnerable genitals has not been assessed. In the short term, its super absorbency draws moisture away from the skin, in some instances causing severe nappy rash, and bleeding of perineal and scrotal tissue.

 

Problems reported to the Consumer Protection Agency relating to disposable nappies include; the discovery of wooden splinters plastic melting to the skin, choking on linings and paper tabs, ink staining the skin and chemical burns.

 

The design of disposable nappies means that the child can not feel when they are wet, which often leads to delayed potty training. Real nappy wearing babies will generally potty train sooner than those in disposables.

I was worried about the extra washing, but  my washing machine is on constantly so I hardly notice that I have extra loads with the nappies. 

I had looked at cloth when Noah was still a bump but being young and not to into saving the planet I discarded it and sold on the big bag of tot bots I had bough at the baby show. 

Oh how I regret that now!

I still use disposables at night time as I have yet to find a nappy that doesn't leak. Ru is a very heavy wetter and no matter how many insets I add to the nappy it always seems to leak :( 

Here are some links to some of my other favourite nappies 

TotsBots

gnappies

My babies are big boys now!

The twins started nursery yesterday!!!

They went for an afternoon session, 12pm till 3pm. 

I knew they wouldn't cry (like Noah used to!)

They are a lot more out going than he was I think that's due to there bring two of them! 

 I wasn't prepared for them to walk in without saying goodbye or even a kiss. 

My heart broke just a little, my babies are all grown up!

I went home and felt like id forgotten them. I pretty much spent the 3 hours drinking coffee and eating. Which was nice as I didn't have 4 little hands reaching for everything on my plate. Ru enjoyed rolling around the lounge without bumping into a million toys.

Next week I'm going to spend the time a boy more wisely and take Ru swimming.

When it came to collecting them I was running out the door, they may drive me nuts but it keeps life interesting! 

They didn't want to leave and cried most of the way to collect Noah, but once in the car they crashed out! 

The teachers said they had a great time and that they were really lovely! 

I'm sure they can't wait till next Thursday, I'm also glad they loved it, makes me feel I've done the right thing putting them in before they are 3 and their free funding starts! 

Silent Sunday #4

One lovely blog award!

I was nominated by mental parentals http://www.mentalparentals.com

Thank you :) was lovely to be nominated and it's nice to know someone actually does read my blog!

Right here are the rules - 

• Thank and link with the person who nominated you
• List the rules and display the award
• Share 7 facts about yourself
• Nominate 15 or so amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they've been nominated
• Optional: Display the award logo on your blog and follow the person who nominated you

Ok here we go .....

1. I got my first tattoo at 17 with the help of a fake ID

2. I fell pregnant with Noah 3 months after my 21st birthday

3. I've had a placenta smoothie ........ Twice

4. I met Jon on plenty of fish 

5. I hate fish 

6. I've been to Cambodia

7. My ears are stretched to 12mms 

I nominate .....

whatkatysaid
Baby chaos
brummymummyof2
two-tiny-terrors
everythingmummy
mymummyspennies
babyblogandme
zombiiemummy
mrsmumsie
goblin child

Panda drinks - review

I'm sure everyone remembers panda pops!?!

I used to buy them secretly on the way to school, my favourites were cherry aid and lemonade.

Well forget them, Panda drinks are back and they're now better than ever,  as they're minus all the rubbish and only contain nautral fruit flavours! 

There key messages -

• made with only nautral fruit flavours 

• contains no added sugar

• contains no artificial colours or flavours. 

The lovely people at Panda sent me 8 bottles. The flavours I have are 

*Raspberry juice x2

*Panda Splash blackcurrent flavoured water x2

*Panda Splash orange and pineapple flavoured water x2

*Blackcurrent juice x2

As soon as they turned up and Noah saw them he got excited..........

what is it that makes a drink in a sports bottle so exciting???

I really try to limit the boys sugar intake as they are already crazy enough thank you very much. I don't want to fuel them with artificial rubbish to make them even more crazy. 

I let Noah have first dibs on which flavour he wanted and he picked Raspberry juice

He loved his, I gave the boys the black current juices and they downed them in seconds 

My partner even agreed they tasted nice.

The Panda drinks have been a big hit in our house and I'm sure I'll be made to buy some more when we run out of the ones I have been sent. 

You can Panda drinks on Facebook here :: https://www.facebook.com/pages/panda-soft-drinks

And follow them on twitter 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Panda_Drinks

Their website 

http://www.pandadrinks.com

**disclaimer - I was sent the drinks free of charge and the thoughts are totally mine and my boys own! 

This week has been no better....

..... It's only Wednesday I know

But this week is pretty much going the same way as lasts 👎 

Sunday we had to take Noah to a&e as his temp was sky high and he was I able to sit up with out his tummy hurting.

Jon took him and I stayed with the little ones.

Once they got to a&e Noah was put on a nebuliser straight away as his breathing wasn't right 

Jon sent me this, which made me cry and ring up my parents to come and look after the littles and let me go up and be with No.

Once I got there he was giggling and messing around with Jon - panic over. He was still really hot. The doctor said she thinks he has an infection in his intestine and we just have to monitor him. 

We kept him off school on Monday so we could keep an eye on him and he was back to normal, his temp spiked a little bug calpol bought that straight down again.

By Tuesday I thought he was fine, sent him off to school and I went off to the twins 27 month developmental check with the health visitors. 

Whilst waiting to be seen Noah's school calls up and suggests he comes home as he's boiling hot again and not himself. 

So he shall have the rest of the week off just so he can rest and get back to normal!

Year two really isn't going so well! 

The boys impressed the health visitors with their language and play skills at their check up. They had no concerns with them and said I was doing a great job.

Which is always nice to hear :) 

After the check up my mum met me with Noah (she went to collect him) and we went to costa coffee to have some lunch 

My little Ru has the sniffles thanks to me :( but he's a star and is still super happy 

Fun things that have happened so far this week

ALEX DID A WEE ON THE TOILET!!!!!!!!

So I've gone and ordered a child loo seat and some sticker charts.

Toilet training is a go go! 

I made a yummy cake 

(It was a packet job, as I was lazy but still super yummy!)

I also made my first body scrub..

Will write a blog on this soon 

One parent down, sick mummy, nursery visit....

This week has been pretty pants.

Jon went away on business, he's back tonight! 

Yay!!!!

I came down with a cold and I'm feeling like poo,

It's been 4 boys against an out of action mummy.

It's not been a fair fight!

So I haven't been able to blog.

I've also been nominated to write a blog......which will be done as soon as I'm back on form! :)

The good things this week have been - 

Visiting a nursery and getting a space for the twins, they start on the 25th September. 

They're excited.....I'm excited

They're only going to half a day once a week as that's all we can afford at the moment but to be honest that's probably enough to start off with. 

We also went on a little lunch date with Mimi to the garden centre.

Ru got weighed on Sunday and is now a chunky 17lb5 and is fitting snugly into 6-12 month clothing. He's not even 5 months yet :( 

Noah has had a good week at school and got lots of home work 👎 

We have been doing it daily so it's not a last minute rush like we ended up doing last term!

Silly mummy.

He had a camping day on Tuesday which he really really loved. 

He had to take in 5 items which he thought were essential camping items 

He took

A sleeping bag

A camping mug

Camping food trays

Tin of soup 

And a torch! 

I think I need to invest in a tent so he can go camping in the garden. 

My favourite photo of the week was taken on Sunday whilst over at my patents!

My dad's new toy is a wheelbarrow!

The kids loves their little rides in it around the garden.

Right I need to go and dose up on some lemsip. 

I shall blog again when I'm back in the world of the living! 

Silent Sunday #3

Surcare laundry sachets review

THEIR PROMISE TO YOU *We promise not to put anything unnecessary into our products that will irritate your sensitive skin. No enzymes, no dyes, no acids. None of that stuff that other brands seem to think is okay for something that’s going to go next to your skin. Not even perfumes. Even if they’re the nicest smelling scent in the world Surcare laundry products will stay completely fragrance free and suitable for sensitive skin. Because in our view nothing smells as good as the 'just-off-the-line' smell of fresh air. And we know that anything we put in that’s not absolutely necessary to get your clothes clean risks irritating your skin. And for us, as the champions of sensitive skin, that simply wouldn’t do. We also promise Surcare will get your clothes outstandingly clean each and every time you wash.

I received my surcare sachets the day after I came back off holiday!

Great, lots of washing to test it out on.

I was in two minds about this due to having no chemicals, how would it give the dirty clothes a good old wash??? I am completely won over. 

All my boys have super sensitive skin and if I change my laundry products they usually break out in eczema. 

I have used all ten sachets and we have had no break outs.

I have even washed a bunch of Ru's nappies with them. 

Every thing comes out smelling fresh and clean and stains from the twins all washed away! 

I'm really pleased with this product and very happy I got to test it out. I will be switching from my normal washing powered to surcare as I'm that impressed with it. They really do stick to their promise! 

You can buy the above pack of ten for RRP £3.50

Other products they do are::

•Surcare sensitive washing up liquid 450ml £1.25

•Surcare sensitive fabric softener - 28 washes £1.73

•Surcare powder 800g -10 washes £2.55

•Surcare sensitive liquid detergent - 18 washes £2.99

•Surcare sensitive non bio gel 630ml - 18 washes £3.50

•Surcare 2.4kg - 30 washes £5.95

You can currently buy Surcare in Tescos, Waitrose and on Amazon or direct off the surcare website. 

 http://www.surcare.co.uk

 If you would like to be part of the Surcare test panel just email the below 

emailsurcare@smokinggunpr.co.uk."

They are a great company to work with 

Disclaimer I was sent this product free of charge and the thoughts are my own.

Twice as nice.....

Having twins has turned my whole life upside down.....would I change it, heck no! 

They drive me nuts, 

They egg each other on (I'm sure they just enjoy seeing the look of horror on my face when I think they are about to hurt themselves.) 

I get double hugs, 

I get to see them interact with each other which is adorable....yep even when they are plotting to do naughty things. 

I can't help but smile even when I'm pulling my hair out over them!

When i was pregnant the most asked question I got asked was "will you dress them alike?"

My answer was always oh no way! I hate that.............oh foolish foolish me! 

When they were babies it was easier to dress them differently because they couldn't talk back or scream at me for not putting the right T-shirt on the right body!!

I got drawn in pretty quickly to dressing them alike though! Gosh how cute was it to see two tiny babies dressed in matching outfits!?!? 

As they grow and become more and more vocal and opinionated I really have no say in such matter. If I dress one differently to the other 10 X out of 10 it usually ends up with a screaming fit. On occasion Alex has been known to try and take the clothes off Oscar and put them on himself as apparently that his current favourite top! 

I have learned the hard way It's just safer and easier to dress them alike. 

I really have to pay attention to what treats I have given to one and make sure the other has exactly the same Orr I'm done for!

I'm constantly on my toes! The twins are defiantly the boss of me and I am just their play thing! 

My pregnancy story.....

My twin journey started when I was 10 weeks pregnant, we had previously been for an early scan when I was about 6 weeks and we saw a ONE tiny egg clear on the screen, we were told to come back in a few weeks for a dating scan. 

The night before Jon and my mum both had dreams that it was going to be twins.....I laughed this off and told them no chance it was going to be twins and beside we had already seen it was a singleton! 

As soon as the image popped up on the screen in the darkend room I saw it....... Two little dots! 

It went quite and then my sonographer went " oh Hannah!!!!!!! " before she could say anymore I was said " it's twins isn't it! " " yep " after that I don't remember much, my mum came in and screamed I knew it!!!!

Jon was as white as a sheet!! 

I ended up laughing in disbelief for the next few days. 

My dad's response was ha you're joking and it wasn't until he saw the scan that he believed me. 

We were growing little identical babies! I was a super baby making machine! 

The pregnancy started strong and didn't really have any problems.

It wasn't until I reached about 18 weeks that I started to feel uncomfortable and it was painful to touch my belly. I was reassured all was fine. We had two week appointments by now, so our next scan was when we would find out the sex! 

I was sooo excited!

Jon couldn't get the time off work so I had to go alone, my mum was working at the hospital so she came in with me. 

My consultant always took his time measuring and checking and measuring and checking. 

I could see straight away they were boys, there was no doubting that! 

My consultant was more concerned about other things. 

He then gave me the shattering news that I may have TTTS! (Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) )

Also sometimes known as 'FFTS' (Feto-Fetal Transfusion Syndrome), and as 'TOPS' (Twin Oligohydramnios-Polyhydramnios Sequence), TTTS is a disease of identical twin fetuses caused by abnormal connecting blood vessels in the twins' placenta, resulting in an imbalanced flow of blood from one twin to another. The implications of this are very serious for the survival and health of both twins. Once thought to be extremely rare, TTTS is now believed to affect as many as 1 in 1000 pregnancies.

There was far too much fluid in one sack and very little in the other. One of my babies was drowning and the other was starving! 

He phoned up st George's to get me seen! They said I could go in the next day and I was sent home! 

I got out the car park and my mum was phoning me, telling me I had to get to at George's straight away!!

I phoned Jon and told him to get to my mums if he could and I'd meet him there and all 3 of us would drive there together.

We all arrived back at mums at the same time. Jon was worried, mum was worried, I was blank!!!!! 

Mum drove us as she knew the way. 

When we arrived we were taken to have a scan, and here the consultant confirmed it, the twins had TTTS and we only had one option ....... Laser ablation surgery (where they do keyhole surgery to blast the veins and vessels in your placenta to stop them from sending more to one baby and not to the other)

 this surgery only had a 1/3 chance of both surviving! If I didn't go ahead they both would have died! 

The only tears I cried throughout this pregnancy were now! 

I knew I had no other choice than to go ahead and try to save my babies.

We went back the following day, I was given drugs to make me sleepy, not to knock me out but just sedate me a little, and in we went. Jon was at my head end watching everything. They went in with a little camera and a laser, we saw everything on screen.......their tiny little faces, their tiny little hands, their little button noses! It was amazing! 

Our very own inside the womb documentary!!

(My lovely consultant went on to send me this video on a memory stick to keep forever!)

After they had finished lasering my placenta they then went on to draining the excess fluid in twin ones sack! 

By this time I could feel Jon's strong grip on my shoulder loosen, then all of a sudden the nurses were shouting oh catch him!!! 

Jon fainted! 

When I was told this being the loving girlfriend I am started to laugh! 

Bless him!

We then we sent to the ward to wait a few hours before we could have a scan to see if it had worked! 

I had my first ever cup of tea on this ward and questioned myself to why I had never had tea before! 

We went for our scan around 4 o'clock, by now my mum had joined us to hold my hand whilst we found out the results.

They had survived! Now I had to be careful and see every day being pregnant as a blessing!

We had scans every week now to keep an eye on them and to see how they were doing. 

Every oz they gained every lb target they reached was amazing, every day that went by that they stayed inside was a miracle! 

We were booked in to have my final scan on the 6th June, we then had to go back on the 7th to book in my c section date! 

C section was book for the 28th June! Perfect they were going to get to 38 weeks!!!!

Just before we left my consultant told me if I got any pains I must come in straight away, I nodded and off I went! 

He knew!!!!!

7am 8th June I woke with pains, I was just going to ignore them but Jon made me phone my mum and tell her ( my mum is a midwife btw) she popped over and felt my tummy and just watched. It only took her a couple of minutes to know I was in labour! She called up labour ward and told them I was coming in.

We got there about half ten, I was prepped and ready to go into surgery in an instant. 

My gorgeous boys were born at 11:42am and 11:45am 7 weeks early.

Twin one - Alex weighing 5lb13

Twin two - Oscar weighing 4lb14

Alex was having breathing problems so I never saw him, my mum quickly showed my Oscar but then they were both whisked away to the icu. Noah and my dad were both outside the theatre so they got to see them and travelled form in the lift with them.

I was stiched back together and taken to the recovery ward!

I stayed there for 9hrs!

It was 11hrs before I got to go and see my beautiful little babies!

4 days before I could hold them

9 days before I could try and feed them

14 days before I could take them home!

Only that one time did I cry for what was happening, 

Not one time did I worry what could happen. 

I had to stay strong and focused if I didn't my babies wouldn't stay strong and fight their fight!

I know things could have been a lot worse and I don't look back and cry and sob over what could have happened!

My babies survived and I know many don't or some lose their twin. 

I am very lucky

They are very lucky

I am very thankful for them

I don't usually talk about their story as I don't want to bring up old memories but sometimes it's good to share a personal journey! 

Sassy bloom box #2

Today my sassy bloom box arrived, I had an email this morning saying it had been dispatched and would take a couple of working days, it turned up at lunch time which was a lovely surprise and made my day a whole lot better (Alex breaking his bed this morning had put a black cloud over the day)

 :) 

Once again I'm very pleased with it.

It was filled with teething toys, just what I need right now as little Ru is constantly chewing on his fingers making them rather red. 

I've been umming and ahhing about buying socks on, so I'm glad I don't have to now! Looking forward to trying these out on Ru. 

The cd case has a slight crack in it which is a shame! I shall be trying this out tonight to see if it helps send Ru off to sleep :) 

Ru has taken to a goodie straight away, this time being his little taggie cow 

The only disappointment I had was the courier who delivered my box had obviously been smoking in his van which made the outer box it was delivered in smell like smoke. For a none smoking house it smelt really strong, once I had removed the outer packaging and thrown it in the bin outside the smell went with it, nothing inside my sassy bloom box none of the products were affected. 

Once again I'm counting down the days till my next box :)