It has been bought to my attention that there is a few safety issues with some Mummy made items. I believe that all of these women have the best intentions, however sometimes they are not taking the safety measures they should purely through lack of knowledge.

I believe in sharing this information with you all so you can all be aware and protect your children from an unfortunate accident.

The biggest concern is dummy clips. There are so many beautiful dummy clips for sale however there are things you should look out for when purchasing a dummy clip for your little one that has not been bought from a store.

* Ensure all beaded dummy clips are knotted between each bead and secured with a metal clamp at either end to ensure the beads will not fall off if the end knots become untied.
* Ensure dummy clip is sewn with a heavy thread, normal cotton used for sewing is not strong enough to ensure safety.
* Ensure any embellishments are sewn AND glued on with the appropriate glue for the materials used – For example: Hot glue is not an ideal solution for metal.
* Ensure the seller is willing to answer any questions about the safety of the item and avoid those who avoid these questions.

These safety points also apply to all other handmade items – Bibs, clothing, hairbands/clips etc.

Ensure any item you that attaches to safety straps in your car seat or stroller apply with current safety standards and be an approved after market attachment for the carseat or stroller. Carseat/stroller liners are fine as long as they do not interfer with the working of the safety harness, however be very aware of harness straps to prevent your child from wiggling their arms out. These attach to the harness and can interfer with it working properly or cause serious injury to your child.

So remember, while things look pretty, ensure the product is safe for your child.

Jen xx

This is very late but I still want to share Cooper’s super fun 2nd birthday with you!

We decided on a Farm Theme as Cooper loves animals and we have also decorated his room in a farm theme. I started planning his December birthday in early October, I wanted to make sure I was organised because as we all know, December is a super busy time!

The day went so smoothly, I learned a lot from Cooper’s first birthday and from his Halloween party -

* Never have a party before 12pm! It gives you time to finalise the setup in the morning, prepare food and have a shower!
* Only have food you can easily prepare a day or two before or food that is easy on the day.
* Having a party at home is so much easier to coordinate! You can set up the day before, you have a day or two after to clean up properly and you can easily put the birthday boy to bed straight after the party for a little nap.
* It’s all in the details! I learned this while planning our wedding. The overall look of a party is important but once people sit down they see the smaller details. If you have carried your theme all the way through it is those tiny details your guests will love!
* Plan well in advance and buy things when you see them because they may not be there when you go back to find them (I learned this the hard way!)

Being a busy work at home Mum I decided to source most of the party supplies online with the help of some friends with impeccable taste! Jade from Super Organiser Mum is a really bad influence when it comes to party planning! She has amazing taste and a natural talent for party planning.

The first direction Jade pointed me to was the beautiful online store Emerald + Ella (www.emeraldandella.com.au)

I wanted everything to fit into a “farm theme” so I wasn’t interested in having plastic plates or cutlery and when I saw the wooden cutlery sets and the eco plates I knew they would fit perfectly! The plates almost look like wood and have a real “rustic” look. I also bought some blue and white paper straws, some paper food trays and some cherry and white twine.

I then decided to find a printable party pack and searched high and low before I found the right one at Polkadot Prints (www.polkadotprints.com.au). They have the most adorable farm pack called “Billy Farmyard”. I already had an invitation so I used the thank you tags, straw tags, party dots and a special printable they created for the party boxes.

I also gathered a few extra things I needed from Spotlight. I decided to make tablecloths as I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I got some red and white check material and cut it to the right size, I left the edges raw to give it a more rustic look. I also got a red tin drinks carrier and used it as a cutlery holder (I also used it at Christmas too!).

Living in Queensland the weather is never predictable and it had been raining for about 6 weeks so we decided to set the party up inside. This included 6 hay bails! They were rather messy but really added to the feel of the farm theme. We left the hay bails until the day before the party and we ended up having to hunt around town as everyone was sold out! But we finally found some thankfully

The next post I will show you how it all came together and what a fun day we all had!

Jen xx

Modern Little Munchkins is a fabulous eco friendly site for modern eco parents! They stock a large range of eco products that are not only great for the environment, they also wont break the bank.

Along with your favourite eco baby brands they also stock one of my favourite ranges of eco cleaning products – B E E  are fun cleaning products with no nasty chemicals and they work so well! My favourite is the “I Love Your Every Surface” Surface Spray!

Modern Little Munchkins was created by Lousia and Garth in 2008, the idea came to her when she was pregnant with their first son. She became very aware of the toxic chemicals in her everyday life and wanted to create an online store to help other eco parents access fabulous products.

BPA is a growing concern for all parents and Modern Little Munchkins stocks the latest in BPA free baby and child feeding items including Green To Grow bottles, Earthlust Stainless Steel Sippy Cups and much more!

One of my favourite eco products by Modern Little Munchkins is the Eco Lunchbox! We use ours all the time, it fits a cut sandwich, cut fruit and snacks and it’s dishwasher safe!

Check out Modern Little Munchkins www.modernlittlemunchkins.com.au

Living in the Queensland heat I am always on the lookout for ways to keep food cold on the go. The lovely people sent us a fabulous Fridge 2 Go to review and I really love it!

The Fridge 2 Go 2 Bottle holder is an all in one cooler bag that can be used for bottles or even baby food jars, fruit, yoghurt and snacks. It’s big enough to pack a sandwich and snacks for yourself or your little one! So it wont become redundant once baby grows out of bottles.

It’s so easy to use, each fridge to go comes with built in cooling panels covered with a Tempguard outer layer.  It’s an all in one unit so just detach the strap, pop in in the freezer and leave it there until it’s frozen or you can unzip and remove the panels to freeze them separately. No need to mess around with ice packs that take up much needed room, the Fridge 2 Go panels are much slimmer than ordinary ice packs. Just freeze and pack in your bottles or food! It’s that simple.

The Fridge 2 Go 2 Bottle Holder keeps the contents cold for up to 8 hours making it great for a long day out shopping or an outdoor family outing.

The Fridge 2 Go range can be found at http://www.haggusandstookles.com.au

Haggus and Stookles specialise in products that make life easier when you are travelling and out and about with babies and children. In the car, at the park, on a holiday…happy anywhere.

Thanks to Haggus and Stookles we have a fabulous Fridge 2 Go 2 Bottle Holder to giveaway! It’s easy to enter …

Head on over to www.HaggusandStookles.com.au and tell us what your favourite product is by leaving a comment below! The winner will be drawn Wednesday at 2pm! Good Luck!

Jen xx

I love Smart Trike! Cooper was lucky enough to get a Smart Trike off Santa last Christmas and we have used it almost everyday since! It is so cute seeing his Smart Trike grow with him.

When he first got it he could not touch the feet pegs and his little toes used to dangle just above them. As he has grown we have seen him reach the feet pegs, then reach the pedals and at 21 months he is starting to pedal! While I love seeing him do all of these things it is still sad to see him grow so quickly.

The Smart Trike is more than another “trike” for us. It was a great investment and has provided us with so much fun and many memories. Just looking at the Smart Trike and we remember how much he has grown and changed in the last 9 months since he unwrapped it at Christmas.

Smart Trike have just released their new All In One Trike. While I love Cooper’s Smart Trike I am so jealous these weren’t out last year! They are so cool!

Here is how the new All In One works -

Stage 1: The seat has a fabric seat cover for comfort and a handle is attached so the parent can have complete control. The safety tray attached to the front of the ALL IN ONE is convenient for parent and baby use and the rocker base allows for baby to be rocked while wheels are folded in.
Fitted for 6 months +
Stage 2: With all the same features as Stage One, but with the four crazy-wheels on the rocker base folded out, the ALL IN ONE can be used as push-along rocker.
Fitted for 6 months +
Stage 3: Remove the rocker base and the product turns into a ride-on for pushing your baby around. Use the special recliner seat to let baby take a nap.
Fitted for 6 months +
Stage 4: Now that your baby can sit independently, remove the soft seat cover for a   supportive push along ride-on. The four rubber wheels give good traction while the foot rest and stabilizers give a comfortable and safe ride.
Fitted for 10 months +
Stage 5: Once your baby is completely confident with moving around, remove the control handle, hand rest protector and special seat. The product is now ready to function as an independent ride on.
Fitted for 14 months +
Stage 6: Once your child is walking, transform the ride-on to a stylish, stable, 4-wheeled scooter by sliding the seat upright and locking in position.
Fitted for 24 months +

How cool is that? I think Santa will be carrying quiet a few new Smart Trike All In One’s this year!

A couple of months ago our fabulous Super Organiser Mum did a review on a Smart Trike she was sent Click Here to read her awesome review!

Smart Trikes are available at Target and Toys R Us and range between $199.95-$249.95.

More information can be found here – Smart Trike All In One

As you all know I only write reviews for products I 100% believe in and this product is one of them!

The awesome people at www.bornenaked.com sent me one of their fabulous liners to try out! It was only a little while ago that hubby asked if we could get a “neutral” bag we could transfer from my handbag to him filled with everything Cooper needs when we go out. Since I have stopped using a nappy bag and just put some things in my handbag hubby was finding it hard to get organised when he was taking Cooper out alone.

So when the Borne Naked arrived I knew it would solve our problem!

I have been using it for about 4 weeks now and I honestly don’t know how I lived life without it! I use it everytime I go out and sometimes even take it out on it’s own and slide it under the pram in the basket. Hubby also uses it and the fact that it’s clear and not overly girly means he is not embarrassed to use it!

The Borne Naked fits so much in and it has more than enough space for the essentials. I generally pack – 4 nappies, wipes, jar of food, cutlery and a few snacks. I also fit keys, mobile and wallet I can swap handbags easily just by taking the Borne Naked from one bag to the other. It also makes finding everything easy as it’s all in one place, so you don’t have to dig around the bottom of your bag to find your mobile!

I love the Borne Naked. It is nice and slim so it fits in my handbag but also has enough room to fit everything in! This is the perfect solution for Mum’s!

Priced from $24.95 – $34.95 and they come in 3 different sizes (small, medium and large).

You can buy the Borne Naked from http://www.bornenaked.com

Here is a picture of my Borne Naked in action, filled with everything hubby needed to take out today!

Jen xx

I love cloth nappies! We switched to cloth when Cooper was about 6 months. I had full intentions of using cloth when he was born, but it just seemed too much with everything else that was going on in our lives. So at 6 months I did a little research and bought from a company that had a sale on at the time. While I love the ones I have I honestly wish I bought mine from www.Itti Bitti.com.au!

The lovley Deanna sent me some nappies earlier this month to try (also some to giveaway!!) and they have quickly become my favourite nappies in my stash!

The nappies I have now (I wont mention the brand) have a really high waist band, they have an elastic waist with a frilly top that are very bulky under clothes.

The Itti Bitti nappies have a low waist band with no excess above the elastic waist which means they are trim and slim and fit neatly under clothes! I find my current nappies hang over the top of Cooper’s shorts or pants, making his shirts and pants buldge.

I tried 2 styles of nappies from Itti Bitti – the AIO’s (all in ones) and the SIO’s (snap in ones). Basically an AIO is exactly that, an all in one. No need to add any extra boosting unless bubs is a very heavy wetter and the SIO’s allow you to “snap” in extra boosters to suit your absorbency requirements.

All In Ones: I personally love the all in ones. I found they had enough boosting to last right through the night with nothing additional. Cooper is a heavy night wetter and they kept him nice and dry. The aren’t bulky like a lot of other brands which means Itti Bitti have used good quality fabrics that absorb the moisture, rather than “bulking” up the nappy to get the desired result. The downside to the AIO’s is they take much longer to dry. Because they are layer upon layer they can’t be separated like the SIO’s so therefore they take longer to dry meaning you need more in your stash to allow for nappy “down time”.

Snap In Ones: I am just not a fan of snap in ones. I find they are too much fiddling to get everything in order. You need to fold one of the linings and get it to sit neatly with the snap in booster. I much prefer the all in ones. But having said that, I did find these dried a lot quicker and also would be great if your baby it a heavy wetter or even a light wetter allowing you to adjust the amount of boosting in the nappy. They are also great for people who don’t have money to spend on a large nappy stash! They dry quicker meaning you don’t have a big “down time”. Allowing you to have fewer nappies and still being able to keep up with frequent nappy changes.

I guess each nappy style has it’s pros and cons! It really depends on your lifestyle and preference.

I also tried the Ultimate Wipes! I loved these wipes and I really think they are the best on the market. I would have used 2 per nappy change I am guessing (I only had one to try). I use the liners to remove the excess in the nappy and then would use the ultimate wipe to remove any left over residue, I would have liked one more just to do a “for good measure” wipe, so I used a normal wipe instead.

I would estimate you would need 2-3 per nappy change depending on what your baby is like, we average about 6 changes per day (8+ on a bad day) so to make life easier you would need 2 days worth. I always work on the worst case scenario! So I plan on buying 20 wipes giving me plenty to work with. But at $39 to set up your wipe system it would really only take 4-5 weeks of buying disposable wipes to make it worth it!

The wipes are great quality and the material is fantastic for wiping poo’s. Sorry if this is too much detail, but the material has fibres that help to grip and hold onto the poo not just smear it on the skin. Meaning you use less wipes and also making nappy changes quicker.

Final Verdict:

I am so impressed with Itti Bitti! I loved everything about them. The way they were packaged, the fact that they came with a cute card showing real fabric samples in all of their colours. The materials are high quality and best of all they wash really well! I have used and washed them over a dozen times now and the look brand new! I will definitely buy Itti Bitti in the future and really encourage everyone to give them a try!

Here are some adorable photos of my boy in his gorgeous Kaleidobrite Bitti Brite All In One!

Click The Banner Below To Visit

Ok I want to squeel about this product it is so awesome! I have been hunting for the perfect shopping trolley cover for so long I honestly thought I would never find it until I stumbled on the site www.BabyGrowSafe.com.au

Baby Grow Safe sell a trolley cover called the Buggy Bagg. I was so surprised it had all the features I was looking for!

I was a little particular in what I wanted out of a trolley cover here are the features I was after:

- Well padded
- Good quality material that will wear well over time
- Attractive for me and Cooper
- Pockets for storage of keys, snacks, wallet etc
- For the cover to cover the whole trolley seat including all sides and the handle
- For it to have it’s own safetey strap or to have holes to use the one attached to the trolley.

I recieved my Buggy Bagg this week and yesterday I took it out with us to do the grocery shopping!

The Buggy Bagg is zipped up like a duffel bag, all you have to do is sit the buggy bag in the seat, undo the zip and fold out all the sides. The sides have elastic so they secure nicely to the trolley and the back flap has out-of-reach-from-baby pockets for storage of keys, wallet, snacks etc. There is also a secure safety strap underneath that holds the cover to the trolley seat making it nice and secure.

The Buggy Bagg is so padded and comfortable, Cooper looked so snug in the seat and he didn’t complain like most shopping trips. Normally by the time we reach the end of the shopping trip I have to juggle him while I load the shopping at the checkout. I now realise this is because the trolley seats are so hard his poor little bottom must be sore!

The material is really lovely and thick. With a stunning pattern that is suitable for girls or boys and also very pretty for mummies!

The best part of the Buggy Bagg? The attached cushion! It is perfect for placing in front of them so they can lean on it or behind their back for extra support. It is attached through a loop and velcro and can be unattached and will sit in front of baby or reach behind their back.

While walking around the shops I had a few Mum’s comment how pretty my trolley cover was so I spent some time telling them where I got it and how much I loved it!

The Buggy Bagg is so easy to pack away! Just undo the strap underneath, fold all the edges in and zip it up!

Final Verdict

I am sure you can guess I love this product! It is everything I wanted and more, I just want to walk around the supermarket and tell all the Mum’s they must have a Buggy Bagg!!!

Baby Grow Safe have them on sale at the moment so get in before they sell out!

I am truly blessed in all areas of my life! I have a wonderful and amazing son who is now walking, which is so fabulously exciting. I have an amazing husband and a loving family. But the other exciting part of my life is my job. I get  to wake up everyday and go to a job I love without having to leave my house or my son!

What is the best part of my job? I get to try amazing products and tell you all about them!! So stay tuned for some more product reviews coming soon!
Jen xx

A few weeks ago I was rushing through a shopping centre and came across 2 girls selling their cookbook! I was in such a rush I grabbed an order form and a meatball and took off to the car. I put Cooper in the car, sat down and at the meatball and almost died! It was so good!

I finished my busy afternoon and emailed the girls – Amanda and Sally!

They were nice enough to give me a cookbook to review some recipes so here is my first review!

The cookbook is called Kaotic Kitchen – Mince and Sausages. Amanda only dropped the book off to my house today so on my way to the shop tonight I flicked through it and decided to make Chicken Parmigiana and Gazpacho Salad!

My brother and his girlfriend are staying with us for a few days so they were my guinea pigs!

I was a little cautious as I have never used chicken mince to make parmigiana before and always used chicken breast fillet. So I followed the recipe and served it up, watching everyones face as they took their first bite and was greeted with lots of “yummy noises”!

We all loved it! I actually don’t think I will bother cooking parmigiana any other way anymore! This was so much easier and tasted so yummy!

The salad was so fresh and had a wonderful crisp taste with a light tang.

I am so excited to cook more recipes from this book and even more excited to giveaway 3 copies of the book later this month!

So check out Kaotic Kitchen and grab a copy of this awesome book and stay tuned for more reviews!

Jen xx