Emma enjoys being a mummy blogger’s offspring and this January was rich in beautiful products she got to try and enjoy.
Our most special item was actually sent out at the end of December by Zapf Creation and brought comfort to her, as a bereaved sibling.
Baby George came in the post a few days before Christmas and I decided to give it to her straight away, instead of saving him as from Santa.
Emma misses her brother more than she wants to admit. She tries to be brave for me, especially on my sad days but I know that the reality of what she is missing will forever stay with her and will grow with time.
I cannot replace her brother. I cannot be the playmate he was meant to be. I cannot take the ache away.
But I can at least give her the comfort of a toy named like her baby brother and fill her arms with it.
She loves her baby George toy. She still plays with it daily, even after so many weeks. It is a beautiful doll, flexible and realistic.
It is not her brother but it is a reminder of his baby days. Of better days.
Another product we have absolutely loved and we go back to time and time again are Georgie and Emma’s Lostmy.name personalised books.
We bought one for Georgie shortly after he passed away but then in January Emma was offered the opportunity to review her own version of it.
We love the idea behind the book and we love the attention put into personalising them.
Back in August, I found reading Georgie’s copy bitter sweet: a beautiful reminder of a brave little boy’s life; painful details of things that were never to happen.
Emma’s copy is perfect for her. She is in primary one, learning her letters and sounds and shyly attempting her own deciphering and the book provides plenty of opportunity for sound and reading practice: 
Speaking of letters, we were fortunate to be also sent a Bathtime Buddies Alphabet Set to review by H&A, the official and generous sponsor of Tots100.
We were meant to review them as potential brand ambassadors but this mama was fortunate enough to be offered a job in January and we missed the deadline for applying.
But we have loved the Alphabet Set and it has provided many fun evenings of spelling bath time:
The last but definitely not least in our January list of reviews is our Weekend Box. This is our second time reviewing the Weekend Box, we wrote our first review of it exactly one year ago.
We loved it last year and we love it this year even more!
We have noticed that the box has got even funkier, with clear instructions about the activities at hand and fun characters to represent each activity:
Last year, our activities were fun but a bit randomly put together. This year, the focus was clear, it was all about the Chinese New Year and Emma totally loved getting stuck into it, as soon as she got out of bed :-0!
We had fun making Chinese lanterns together and she did a second activity with her friends who came to visit that afternoon, the Chinese dragon(we didn’t take photos of it, sorry!).
Compared to last year, when Emma was still young and needed her concentration refocused on the activities at hand, this year she was the one begging me to have a go at them and do more! The activities were excellent conversation starters, we had very interesting chats about China, the red colour used in making the lanterns and its symbolism for the Chinese and she got very interested in trying new Chinese foods.
The Weekend Box won ‘Start-Up of the Year’ at the Start-Up Loan Competition in London last year. The team also launched a campaign called PledgeOneHour along with the National Trust, designed to provide parents with free activities to do with their children which went down very well and got a lot of public coverage from big names, like Richard Branson.
The boxes are billed monthly as subscriptions at £15.00 for fortnightly boxes or £7.50 for monthly boxes.
Andy, the lovely founder of the Weeekend Box project, is generously offering my blog readers the chance to try their first box for free using the promo code OANA52 at checkout.
We loved our box even more this time around and we would recommend the trial to any parent who struggles to keep the children happily engaged into beneficial and educational activities over the weekend.
Disclaimer: we were sent to review all the above mentioned products. No monetary payment was otherwise made in exchange for our opinions, which are personal and truthful.
Mama's Haven 
I am so sorry to hear about Georgie and of course I know a toy could never replace such a precious baby but if it gives a little bit of comfort to your little girl, then that’s a good thing.
On a lighter note I think alphabet letters are great for children to learn through play in the bath.
I’ve been following you on Instagram and often see lots of lovely memories of Georgie, he was and is up there – such a precious little boy!
I was really sorry to read about Georgie. So glad that you are trying to remain positive for Emma’s sake. I wish you all the best and look forward to reading your blog and more about your family.
Thank you, Mina. It has been seven months and some days are easier than others.xx
I love the books, and so pleased to see that Emma has her own version to go alongside Georgie’s
Yes, and the review offer came spot on as I had been looking to buy Emma her own as a Valentine’s gift.xx
I love the bath alphabet. I could do with getting some for bath times here.
Oh that Doll is fab and I hope it helps Emma with processing. Love the lanterns too
Thank you, Jen! I love that doll too and the Weekend Box is always very welcomed in our home now :-).xx
I think the doll is a great idea and I hope it gives comfort in many ways.
Thank you, Stephen.
So wonderful to read about you and your family again. And how wonderful to see Emma smile. Georgie will always be in your hearts and minds but how nice for Emma to have a doll that she loves so much x pupici
Thank you, Otilia. Emma has kept us alive these last seven months. Her optimism and joy have been a healing balm for our sore hearts. I am so glad she has got that doll and so thankful to have been able to review it.xx
We have the personalised books too! They’re great. We love them so much we bought 2 copies. 1 to read and 1 to save.
That was really thoughtful of Zapf. I really hope it is helping her in some way – She is adorable.
The lanterns are pretty darn awesome, brilliant craft idea. I wonder if Hayden will make them with me.
Thanks for sharing hun
Charlotte x
I’m very sad to hear about Georgie. The baby George toy is lovely and I’m sure that it must help your daughter to talk about how she feels about her brother.
what a great round up , I have heard and seen the books on dragon den x
those books like brilliant! x