Askamum love my blog, ooo-errr how exciting!

Do you ever find when pregnant that everyone else has an opinion for you! You always hear (and even from complete strangers) how big or small or lopsided or low or high your bump is as if it is their right to give you their thoughts on the subject! I know that I too am guilty of it, only couple of weeks ago I exclaimed to a fellow blogger how small her bump is. I actually meant it as a compliment as in she looked slim and not because I was trying to say I thought her baby wasn’t growing but my ill thought out comment could have made her worried and what right did I have to remark? Absolutely none, it was a stupid thing to have said. Especially when I myself was sick and tired of everyone remarking how small my bump was only a few months ago! For goodness sake, I used to think, I’m only 5ft 3” and my older child has always been small so what do they expect?! What on earth do people want from me? Some enormous comedy bump before they’ll be satisfied enough to not remark? But then of course if that was the case they’d be saying how BIG my bump was… I guess you can’t win. I know people (and I am people too remember) don’t mean anything bad by it but perhaps they should think a little before they open their mouths!

It doesn’t stop with pregnancy, no Siree! Once the baby is born ‘people’ still have all their opinions to give you on your growing child! I constantly hear how small Florence is as if it’s a bad thing and people can’t wait to tell me how tiny Jimmy is too. I KNOW! They’re not big! They’re not gonna be big you fools! I’m little, Jonny’s little, be a bit odd if we had a giant porker of a baby wouldn’t it?! I guess it’s just a way of communicating and passing the time of day. As if ‘people’ do want to communicate with one another but we’re so buttoned up we can’t do it without a common interest. So for example if at a bus stop and someone is drunk or being socially unacceptable then the rest of us can get together and talk to remark on this but ordinarily we wouldn’t even look at each other even though we might actually want to interact. Pregnancy I guess is something, like the drunk man, we can all get on board to talk about and it becomes an ice breaker. It does seem a little strange though that this is the one area of life people feel ok to pass on their thoughts on your life. In every other aspect people keep their mouths shut. Hardly ever does it happen that a complete stranger would say ‘Oh you live in that part of London, little bit rough don’t you think?’ or ‘Your house is lovely but just so terribly small, I could never live somewhere so poky’! They don’t ever comment on your weight in normal every day life unlike pregnancy! People just don’t say ‘By golly Ruth you’re looking fat today, been eating lots of pies have we?’ Nor do they comment on the clothes you choose to buy, the car you drive, occupation you have or partner you chose to marry! It’s just not the done thing now is it! But pregnancy, babies… they’re fair game obviously!

Funnily enough people still haven’t stopped commenting on my pregnancy even though Jimmy is 5 months old now! My bump, my tiny little bump that was the subject for SO many conversations when it was there and even warranted an extra scan ‘just to make sure’ it wasn’t small for a bad reason was under scrutiny again the other day but not for being small this time, this time for being BIG! I saw an acquaintance, a lovely friendly lady who I know by sight and she asked how old my boy is now. When I told her she exclaimed she simply couldn’t believe it had been that long since she’d seen me waddling round with my HUMUNGOUS BUMP! I was a little taken a back and she must have seen but she carried on digging… ‘Yes, your bump was so HUGE wasn’t it, I remember seeing you with so and so and you both had these gigantic bumps’… I said ‘well actually I was measuring quite a bit small, most people were worried too small at the time’. ‘REALLY?’ she said, ‘I can’t believe it, the two of you (me and another acquaintance) were SO BIG!’… Bloody hell… And what’s worse is that I now feel a bit offended by it. It’s true, the other lady this lady was talking about did have a huge bump (not that I’d mention that to her even if I knew her well enough) but she’s larger in general let alone pregnancy and now I’m worrying people think I’m as big as her… Oh well, c’est las vis! Everyone has an opinion and the fact that everyone’s opinion is different only compounds the fact that the only person whose opinion counts for you is you!

 

Me just before popping with Florence on the left and Jimmy on the right. Not particularly big but not so small it warranted all the attention on the topic, after all, everyone’s different!

DONKEY WATCH

Donkey Packed!

Packing up Le Donk and having him fold up really small is something which is quite important to our lifestyle. I thought that having a double buggy, of any kind, would mean we wouldn’t be able to fit it in our car and was quite prepared for that but living in the type of converted flat that we do it was always going to have to fold up to be stored and the smaller the better! We have a shared communal hallway which my downstairs neighbour has always been really good about allowing us to leave the buggy in but our Bugaboo Bee is tiny really, even when up so I wasn’t too sure how she would feel once the Donkey started being the feature in our entrance lobby instead!

Ok, so the Donkey is a double, therefore it would be ridiculous of me to say that as a duo, in its full capacity, it’s just as small as the Bee. It would be sillier still if I were to say that once up, as a single, it’s as slim and nippy because it’s not. The Donkey has the shopping basket when in single mode making use of the prongs the second seat clips on to when in double; this obviously makes him wider than the super slim Bee. But, and here’s where it gets really impressive. When folded down, with just one seat and the shopping basket, it’s really no bigger than the Bee. I mean, it must be but it doesn’t look it and it fits into the same spaces the Bee would so even though it must be, it’s not? My husband looked at the Donkey for the first time when it was up and said ‘no way will that fit anywhere we need it to’. He has since eaten his words! Fits in the hallway with the carrycot and seat on top of the folded frame and if anything takes up less floor space than the Bee… And guess what! It also fits in our car! We have a 3 door Corsa and yep, it fits! With no problems either! We fold the frame down and place the seat on top in the boot and we’d even get a second seat in the boot too. The carrycot has to go down behind the front seats but because it squishes flatter and the children don’t need leg room this is no problem at all. Once Jimmy is out of the carrycot (soon) we can start filling to foot wells up with all the rest of our gubbins when we travel cause Jimmy’s seat will fit with the rest of the Donkey in the boot but it’s really been no problem at all!

 

As you can see, the frame fits in my boot very easily with ample room for one seat to the right in an upright position and the second will lie across the top flat. The picture to the rights shows the carrycot  behind the front seats and taking up the footspace for back seat passengers which of course is not needed as they are the children! (we also tend to stuff it with other things to maximise space.)

For more information on the ‘Donkey’ and all other ‘Bugaboo’ products please see their website www.bugaboo.com. It’s also worth noting that ‘When you choose a ‘Bugaboo’ product (now available in more than 50 countries) you are choosing a company which is a proud (PRODUCT) RED™ partner. ‘Bugaboo’ contributes a portion of its profits across all products – to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, with the goal of ending mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015.

I currently have a fantastic give away with Tiny Love which is running from now until Sunday (when The Baby Show, Earls Court finishes) and you can bag yourself a fantastic Activity Gym! To enter see HERE!

So what has been entertaining us all recently? Well, theatre has been a huge part of our past week! I went to see Dangerous Lady with a friend at the Theatre Royal in Stratford and we’ve also been introduced to one of the best children’s theatres ever, been getting really crafty with spoons and spending some time cleaning the house! Ok, so the last one might not sound very entertaining but with my super-duper new vacuum cleaner it has certainly left me with more time to be entertained! I had a massive house clean at the end of the week and boy did it need it! I’d stocked up during Asda’s cleaning event and bought all my fave products at massively discounted prices! My sink is now shining and the rooms smell delicious! Bring on the next cleaning event! Don’t forget there’s also their wonderful Trick or Treat Street which will save loads for Halloween parties, dressing up, sweets for the children and spooky decorations! I’ll tell you all about how my Halloween party goes next week!

If you haven’t entered my competitions already do check out these links for how to win DVD’s of Transformers and Top Cat!

MY LIFE WITH 2!

This past week has seen Jimmy try solids for the first time! I want to do a bit of baby led and a bit of mush, you know, just whatever’s easiest on the day! To start him off with finger foods I gave him these Baby Mum-Mum biscuits (6m+) and they are perfect because they just dissolve in the mouth! He’s been really enjoying the sensation of holding the biscuits and feeding himself. I guess textually they’re a bit like prawn crackers so very easy for a baby to eat; they are made with organic japonica rice and contain no nasties. Florence really loves the Toddler Mum-Mums (18m+) and that’s saying something because she’s really not that into snacking at all! Again they are organic and made with japonica rice but these ones have a bit more texture to them and they are flavoured with strawberry. She likes them so much that she’s been known to eat a whole box in one go! Each box contains 8 packs of 2 biscuits which when eaten do not create any crumbs whatsoever! We love em! I was very happy to make these the first taste of real food Jimmy has had mostly because they are so natural but the second plus is that they are so easy for him to eat and I don’t have worries about him choking on them at all! We have loved these biscuits ever since we were first introduced to them and the only down side is that they can’t be bought in the shops in the UK yet but Amazon do really great deals so it’s definitely worth it! Can’t believe my tiny baby is eating food now! I also gave him home-made apple puree and mashed banana but so far he hasn’t been impressed with that… I am however impressed with the bib we’ve been using for helping with the mess of a new feeder!

Both children enjoying their Mum-Mum biscuits!

We were first introduced to the Mum-Mum range at one of The Baby Shows and I’m really excited to be going to another one this coming weekend! Tomorrow sees the opening of the 2012 Earls Court show and I’ll be there from beginning to end taking advantage of the discount shopping, FREE crèche facilities and soaking up all the new and exciting things in the world baby! It might sound funny to keep enjoying going to the shows but they’re so fab and you always learn so much! They’re not just about shopping because they have such wonderful guests on the stage that you can really use it as a tool to improve your parenting skills! Professor Robert Winston is due to make an appearance this year. I first remember watching him do a programme about IVF when my step Mum was pregnant with my brother some 21 years ago and have found his television offerings fascinating viewing ever since! I’m very interested in what he’s going to say on the stage! We’ll also be entering the Face of The Baby Show competition, using the changing station which means I won’t have to lug nappies round with me and relaxing in the baby feeding areas! All that and I still haven’t come to the most important aspect of the day! The First Aid taster session that I’ll be doing with the British Red Cross. They have recognised that like me, lots of parents don’t have a clue about first aid for their children and have launched a new nationwide campaign (the First Aid Challenge) to get all parents learning first aid. It begins at the Earls Court Baby Show on 26th October and runs to the end of the year! It comes as a result from a survey showing that 96% of parents feel that all parents should have basic first aid knowledge but two-thirds don’t feel confident or worry they would do something wrong! This is a UK-wide campaign and everyone can get involved; for FREE first aid advice, videos and to sign-up to the First Aid Challenge visit www.redcross.org.uk/firstaidchallenge.

Just before I go I must tell you about my great friends at Bizziebaby! They’re responsible for sourcing real reviews from the people that matter (us parents) about the baby products we need to use every day! Think of anything baby and you’ll find a review on their site! They also have yearly awards with all the products being given their medals because they’ve been approved by us Mums and Dads! You can become a tester yourself by signing up for just £5 a year and you will be sent products which are guaranteed to be this value or more (I’ve had bras, lotions and potions and even a stair gate while my best friend got to try out a fab bike that turns into a buggy)! They’re currently busy compiling the list for their 2012/2013 awards which you would think would keep them busy but they’re also launching weekly polls on their Facebook page just so that us lot can be kept up to date with all the things relevant to us! They’re compiling information from all their followers and will bring us the results each week. As well as all this they also invite us to post on their page any parenting questions we may have so as a collective group they can help us help each other with all our dilemmas. Want to know how to get felt tip out of a school blouse? How to get a baby to sleep through the night or the best tips for teething plus anything else you can think of? Then head on over to their page and pose your question for the other followers to assist! Fantastic isn’t it!

Well, that’s it from me this week, see you next week but in the mean time follow me on Twitter @rocknrollerbaby. 

(All opinions and words, apart from those in green, are my own. I have not been paid for this article although I did receive some products to keep after I had reviewed them.)