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A Christmas Present List and Lottie Dolls Giveaway

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So, before I start, this is by no means a bragging post.

I am acutely aware of the fact that so many children out there who will not be visited at all by Santa this year. My heart breaks for all the Syrian children and the sustained attacks they have had to endure in the past months.

This is just a post to inspire other parents who are lucky enough to be healthy and well, living in a country where peace reigns, who can work to make their little ones’ dreams come true.

What has my seven year old girl been dreaming to find under the Christmas tree this year?

At the top of her list, we have had My Little Pony dolls and sets. I have been scouring the shops since November and managed to get her half price items and two for one sets so the house will be filled with glitter and pink ponies on Christmas morning :-).

I love it that she is still into dolls at 7. To me, that is a sign of innocence and playfulness and I will be happy to continue to buy her dolls for the foreseeable future if that keeps my little girl still little.

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The second item, which has been on Santa’s list for ages, but I only deemed appropriate for her age this year, is a camera. She loves seeing me taking photos for my blog and she would beg for my camera/phone every time something interesting catches her eye so this year, she will be able to do just that, at her heart’s content. I debated with myself for absolute ages and was very tempted to get her an instant one but the film can get very expensive, so I went for an underwater camera. Emma can swim but she doesn’t have the confidence to do it underwater just as yet so I thought this will encourage her to move onto the next level, when the time is right.

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Since Emma’s list to Santa was short this year and had only the items above, I took the liberty to add a few bits and bobs, all thanks to lovely companies with which I have been collaborating this last few months.

First of all, from Trends UK, I got a couple of the new Shopkins Kinstruction sets. Emma loves Lego and all Lego-like toys but most of her sets are Disney related so I thought these would diversify our collection of buildable toys and introduce her to the Shopkin trend.

It will also give us something to do during that week off school following Christmas, so perfect toy, really :-).

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If you have my on Facebook as a friend or have been following this blog for a while, you know that I always promote toys and websites that empower little girls to become everything they want to be, not what the society tells them to.

Within this line, I decided to choose, off the same wonderful website (I highly recommend it!), from the Discovery Kids range, the planetarium from which Emma will learn so much more about stars, and a telescope, which she could use at her daddy’s house to spy on seals, since he will be moving by the sea very soon.

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So this is it, this is what Emma will be getting for Christmas, more or less. I’m truly hoping that this Christmas will be her most magical so far!

But I will not finish this post without making this Christmas a bit magical for one of my readers as well.

You all know that I’ve been a huge fan of Lottie dolls and I wrote extensively about them last year and how inspiring I truly find them.

In September, as part of our ambassadorship, we were send another set of dolls, this time a STEM one to suit perfectly with the new educational trends in the UK.

Emma has been having great fun playing with them and dreaming about becoming a scientist, just like Robot Girl and an astronomer, just like Stargazer Lottie.

And now, just in time for Christmas, I would like another little girl to start dreaming big, about achieving her dreams of becoming who she is meant to be!

So, without further a do, here is the Gleam link where you can enter the competition. I’ll make it very short, so you can hopefully get the bundle just in time for Christmas!

Disclaimer: we have received some of the toys mentioned above for the propose of this post and giveaway. All opinions expressed are truthful and entirely my own.

iHealth Core Wireless Body Composition Scale – Review and Giveaway

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My faithful readers know that at the beginning of autumn, I embarked on a wellness and weight loss journey. I have done really well on it and to date, I’ve managed to lose over 1.5 stones, my goal being 2 stones and fitting comfortable into size 10 jeans.

I have changed my lifestyle dramatically since I started this journey, from the way I eat to the way I look at life in general. I have also started considering regular exercise from home (I know, all that weight loss so far has been exclusively diet related!) and sort of veered towards a semi-professional approach to weight loss as the weeks clocked in.

The one thing that professional athletes count on while training are accurate scales, which show not only the weight gain/loss but also the body fat percentage, water retention and so on. I do not, by any means, see myself as a professional athlete (not just as yet, anyway :-)) but this measurements can be important to anyone on a weight loss journey as well.

I have had scales in the house during the past few months but they always appeared unreliable so when the lovely people from iHealth Labs offered me the opportunity to review their latest iHealth Core Wireless Body Composition Scale I saw it as an opportunity to up my game when it comes to weighting. Literally!

What diferentiates the iHealth Core from the rest of the scales out there?

“With its sleek design and easy set-up, the iHealth Core provides a complete assessment of your body composition.  

The Core Body Composition Scale measures weight and BMI, but also calculates body fat indices, lean body mass, muscle mass, bone mass, water mass and your visceral fat rating.

It is useful to regularly monitor your weight and body composition to stay healthy. This allows you to track your weight and to avoid significant weight gain or loss that are often sources of complications. It also helps you to measure the effects of a balanced diet and of regular physical activity.

The free iHealth MyVitals app, on both Apple and Android devices, automatically keeps a history of your data using you WiFi connection and gives you the option to share your analysis information whenever suits you. For such an affordable price, this smart scale offers so much more than everyday scales. 

Beautifully designed, this smart scale meets rigorous accuracy standards in both US and Europe, and will look good in any bathroom.”

    Features:

  • WiFi Connected
  • Complete assessment of your body composition
  • Including weight, BMI, body fat indices, lean body mass, muscle mass, bone mass, water mass and your visceral fat rating.
  • Free iHealth MyVitals app for both Apple and Android devices
  • Keep track of your results over time
  • Can measure up to 400lbs weight
  • Share yours results with your family, carer and doctor

So, what do I think of it?

I totally love it, not only its sleek design but most importantly, its reliability. There are no unexplained jumps in my weight during the week, as it would have happened with my normal scales, which would have been too sensitive and alter their results depending of the incline of the floor.

I also love the app and the fact that each time I weigh myself, the results register into my account. No slacking excuses there for me then :-).

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There are also the more detailed facts that a medical professional will find very useful, if my weight needed controlled more drastically:

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 The lovely people at iHealth Labs also have a giveaway gift for one of my lucky readers, in the form of their own iHealth Core Wireless Body Composition Scale! They have also added a 20% discount for all my readers on their website, so do stop by and have a look at their amazing range of products!

The giveaway has very simple terms and conditions, visit and like the company’s Facebook page and come back and tell me which product or article from the page caught your eye!

 The giveaway will run until the 15th of December and the winner will be drawn randomly and announced in this blog post.

Disclosure: we were sent the scales for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are entirely truthful and our own.

Congratulations, Christine McCann, the Random Number Generator drew your number! I’ll get in touch ASAP for delivery details. Many thanks to everyone else who entered, wishing you all a very happy Christmas and 2017!

 

Healthy Teeth, Now A Child’s Play – A Playbrush Review

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I’ve always struggled with keeping Emma’s teeth clean. As any child, she goes through long spells when she refuses to brush, preferring to watch another two minutes of T.V. in the morning or pretending to be oh, so tired, in the evenings :-).

She started changing her baby teeth last year and her new front ones became very quickly a shade of unhealthy; that made other children make fun of her in the playground so when we were in Greece, she had them cleaned by a dentist. It was not a fun experience and she did promise to brush more often but come September, she swiftly forgot and went back to brushing randomly and chaotically.

Both my brother and myself have quite bad teeth and it is a real concern, keeping Emma’s healthy. I allow her to have sweets only occasionally and until now, we haven’t had to visit the dentist for any other reasons but the above mentioned clean up but I wouldn’t want her to get to the stage where she needs fillings…etc.

Sooo, when the Playbrush team approached us and asked if we wanted to review their interactive toothbrush, I was very curious to see what Emma would think of it. I did not have huge expectations, mind you, knowing how sporadic her brushing can be but…I couldn’t have been more wrong!

We got the brush last weekend and took it with us on our Daisy Lodge break. It was perfect timing, really, as I had plenty of time to download all the play apps and introduce them to Emma, with a maximal success!

 

So, what is a Playbrush, I hear you ask?

Here is a little video to explain the concept:

So, simply put, it is a chargeable device (it works with your iPad charger so don’t worry about forgetting it home when you travel!) which can be attached to any toothbrush. The genius of this toothbrush lays in the games which children get to play while brushing with the Playbrush. Not only are they fun and make the two minutes required for thorough brushing fly by, but also the device can detect their moves so it instructs them to brush in different areas and at an adequate speed, all through the paces of the chosen game!

(The games have even been updated with a Christmas theme and Emma has been loving chasing the reindeer, she says.)

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What has Emma thought of it?

As I said, I did not set with high expectations here BUT she has loved it! She now requests(!!!), miracle of miracles, to brush her teeth both in the morning and at night and does it properly as well, under the fun guidance of the apps!

There is a Christmas sale on the website at the moment and the Playbrush is down to £19.99 from £26.99. Well worth the peace of mind, if you ask me and well worth the fun brushing, if you ask Emma :-).

Disclosure: we were sent the Playbrush for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are entirely our own and truthful.

The Christmasaurus Book Giveaway

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Oh, my goodness, one month to Christmas Eve, folks and this morning my living room has Christmas carols in the background and smells of orange and cloves, as Emma decorated one yesterday at her lovely friend’s house.

So I thought I’d run a little giveaway of one of the best sellers of this year in children’s fiction, The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher.

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Just to get us all warmed us and jolly for the month of December, that is!

We are actually still eagerly waiting on our copy, which I assume will become THE bedtime book of the month in December in our household. So I thought I’d let the author himself introduce you to it and tell you a bit more about his latest work:

Tom Fletcher does not need any introduction himself.

As the author of The Dinosaur Who Pooped series, he has been making our little ones giggle so now, we can hardly wait to see how he has done as a bigger kids’ author (brilliantly, I am pretty sure!).

 Puffin, which has published his latest book, have added a selection of wonderfully festive activities on their website, to encourage even the most reluctant Bah Humbug to join in the Christmas spirit.

There is a hilarious Christmasaurus Santa letter template, which we used last night to write our Christmas list:

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There are also Christmas cards and a festive door hanger the children can decorate the back of themselves to welcome Santa with.

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Do visit the link I included above to also read an extract from the book if you can’t wait until you get your own copy!

Speaking of which, as I mentioned above, I have one copy to give away. If you’d like to get your hands on it, all you have to do it leave a comment below telling me which activity on the Christmasaurus link you liked the most! I will decide on a winner in a week’s time, on the 1st of December and announce the winner in this blog post so do pop back to check if you have won!

Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed are entirely our own and truthful.

Congratulations, Rachel King, the random number generator picked your number as a winner! I have sent a message to you on your Facebook page.

Thank you to everyone who has entered the competition and please do come back next week as I have two more amazing giveaways for you all!

Life Changing Transformation with The Body Confidence

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I have always been proportionate when it comes to my weight but losing my son in 2014 put my mind and body under unimaginable stress and I resorted to food for a fake sense of comfort. Before I knew it, I had ballooned by almost 2 stones and my body confidence reached rock bottom. I started wearing size 14 clothes, from an average 10-12 beforehand. I did try on several occasions to go on diets and exercise programs but failed miserably, as I found them too strict.

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These photos were taken in 2014 and 2016 respectively and show the massive weight gain. Not proud of the second one and my double chins…

This summer, I followed the weight loss journey of another fellow blogger and was amazed at the results she managed to achieve in only eight weeks. And then, Ru-Tee, the founder of The Body Confidence program, decided to take on more bloggers and I did literally jump at the opportunity. I knew that if I were to lose weight, I could do it only within a mentored program which did not drag on forever and this is exactly what The Body Confidence is all about!

From day one, Ru-Tee took me under her wing, so to say. The weekly conference calls were used not only to monitor our progress but also, in equal measure, to celebrate our victories and be given loads of encouragement and praise.

The Facebook group Ru-Tee has set up and running for all the new “recruits” was a daily encouragement, especially in those first few days, when withdrawal symptoms from caffeine and gluten made us all a bit batty :-).

The menus were amazing, easy to shop for and cook, even after a very busy day. I loved the flexibility they gave me also as I felt I did not have to stick to a strict list but was able to mix meals as my appetite and time dictated.

The best part of the program?

Being able to take control of my eating and my well being!

The program did become, as Ru-Tee had promised, a lifestyle and not only a fad for a couple of months. I have been off it for the past three weeks but I have continued to cook my meals following the guidelines in the program and more importantly, my weight has continued to drop!

Specifically, I have managed to reduce 44.5 inches in the eight weeks (which has made me the biggest “loser” on the program!!) and I also dropped nearly 2 jeans sizes. Although Ru-Tee does not encourage us to weigh ourselves while on the program, I know that at the end of August when I returned from Greece I was at my heaviest ever, at 82.6 kilos and that this morning, I am 73.6 kilos, which brings my weight loss to almost 1.5 stones!

I wholeheartedly recommend the program to anyone who is ready for a similar empowering journey. The next one will start on Saturday the 17th of December and is priced at £450.

Disclaimer: I was offered the program free of charge in exchange for this review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and truthful. All the hardwork that went into getting those amazing results has been mine and I truly hope my blog post will encourage many people to embark on this amazing program!