All posts tagged: Review

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

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. …

Realistic plans and tools for getting fitter in 2016

Since losing Georgie, I lost my zest for life and last year was all about pure and raw survival. All I managed to do, on a daily basis, was getting Emma up, dressed, fed and the house tidy; dinner cooked and myself washed. I had very little energy for self care due to not sleeping well at night and constant headaches during the day, all because of crippling grief and emotional pain. Due to the lack of motivation, which led to a crass lack of exercise and binging on comfort food on a regular basis, I started accumulating weight which in a year and a half ended up being almost two stones (10 kilos). Although this second Christmas was not easy by any means, it did feel a little bit more manageable as it was something I knew I would be able to survive, since I had done it in 2014. I also found myself wishing to decorate the house a bit more, not only to keep a sense of normality for Emma but for …

Great Children’s Books and Family Games for Christmas

As I had promised, when it comes to Christmas gift recommendations this year, there will be no toy in sight on this blog! But there are plenty of other wonderful children’s Christmas presents worth mentioning here, books coming first to mind for me, a declared bookworm and avid reader! We have been reviewing a number of books and games this month and here are some titles that caught our attention or gave us the giggles: Norman, the Slug Who Saved Christmas, by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet We hadn’t heard of Sue Hendra before receiving her latest book, even if she is the illustrator of other hilarious titles like Barry, The Fish With Fingers, Supertato and N0-Bot, The Robot With No Bottom! Norman, the Slug Who Saved Christmas is this year feel-good children’s Christmas book which will amuse young children and parents alike and bring the festive cheer into our homes. Even if the book is designed for younger children, Emma found it truly fun to read and it sits on her nightstand now, along …

Lottie Dolls: Let Girls Dream Beyond The Princess Dresses

I have a girl whose mind is sharp as a needle. A girl who loves to ask questions and learn about the world. A girl who is not satisfied with the appellative princess and who dreams of being a scientist or an explorer when she grows up. A girl for whom Lottie dolls are absolutely perfect as role models and appropriate toys. What sort of dolls are the Lottie range and what sets them apart form the crowd? According to the Daily Mail, they are: “…A range of dolls created to defy gender stereotypes and encourage girls to be adventurous, inquisitive and sporty. Lottie is billed as a ‘fashion doll with a difference’ because – unlike a Barbie doll which has an impossibly slim figure – Lottie has been designed to look and dress like a child.” Our love for the Lottie doll range started exactly one year ago, when Emma got the Lighthouse Keeper Lottie for her 5th birthday. I chose it as a significance-filled toy, for Emma as a surviving sibling to Georgie …

Halloweek: Cooking with HelloFresh

Back in September last year, I discovered this amazing company called HelloFresh, which deliver fresh food boxes with a difference. The differences, rather, that set HelloFresh apart from and above similar food box delivery services are: the excellent quality of the products, the careful outsourcing of each and every fresh ingredient and the thought that goes into creating the most delicious, fun, relatively easy to make and healthy recipes! This Halloween, HelloFresh got in touch with a number of parent bloggers in the UK and invited them to a family cookalong event, hosted by the wonderful founder of the company, Patrick Drake in the HelloFresh headquarters. We were lucky to be part of the bloggers invited to the event and it was with great trepidation that we awaited the delivery of our HelloFresh box! Hello Fresh offers at the moment a selection of recipe boxes, to suit various needs and family units. Last year, we used to order the Classic Recipe Box, which offers a selection of 3 or 5 delicious recipes and all the …