Cast & Crew, Adam's Take

It was by complete coincidence that I thought of writing this now, when Adam is 13 months old, so it is quite amusing comparing the list to Emily's 13 month list. Amusing, and so very similar! They are completely different characters, and yet at this specific age, there are certain toys they have both been drawn to. Of course, there are some differences. Here is Adam's Cast & Crew list:

Wheels
Anything with wheels is right up there in Adam's books. And I literally mean anything. He will turn doll buggies upside down to inspect their wheels. He will whine and whine to touch car wheels (real, big, dirty-wheeled cars, not toy ones). But it's not cars he's crazy about, it's specifically wheels. He is happy to sit for ages inspecting his ELC Motor Town cars (which sadly don't seem to be available any longer!), spinning, spinning, spinning the wheels. He now also pushes little cars around the room, especially around the dining room - he likes circling the table. But "wheels" also extends to steering wheels. He has a Little Tikes roadster which he loves to be pushed around in - but it's that steering wheel that's most important. He even holds it like he's been driving for years!

Bop and Go Alien
Look who it is!! A little worse for wear, but still going strong, and I've only changed his batteries once since I last wrote about him! But I am quite heartbroken to report he is no longer available to buy (not unless you find some old stock still available anyway). Adam LOVES Bop the Alien, slams his head to make him move, and then chases him around the floor like it's going out of fashion. Might hold on to this one for the grandkids! Ha!

ELC Activity Triangle and IKEA Bead Roller Coaster
He seems to have a technical mind. Have I already mentioned this? He loves playing with these little beads and spinning things.

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Activity Table
This toy makes a comeback! Adam is so much taller than Emily was at his age and it was due to this table that I really began to appreciate that! The main attraction of the table for Adam is the spinning "bowl" in the middle of the table, because it doubles as a steering wheel and we've already established that he loves wheels. So yeah. Plus it's got a NANA on it, which makes him very happy. He hasn't yet tried to eat it.

Mickey Mouse and several soft toys!
Adam is a snuggler. He adores soft toys and anything cuddly. But give him an option and Mickey Mouse will win every time. He is thrilled to bits when he so much as lays eyes on Mickey, and has this week begun snuggling him at night. We are already at a stage where, if Mickey isn't in Adam's cot at bedtime, David and I run all over looking for him!


Adam is also very happy leafing through books quietly, and organising. He is a good organiser. He loves reorganising toy tubs, or moving things from one bowl to another (I handed him a bag of oranges and a bowl the other day which kept him busy for ages!) He will readily pick up toys once he's ready from playing with them, and if he doesn't then I can ask him to and he will. He will often get everything back out again once he's done, but we have time to work on that!!

Cast & Crew: The New Team

This post was written in February 2012, but for some reason, never published. I suspect it is unfinished, but I have just written a Cast & Crew post about Adam's 13-month favourites and it seems a pity to waste this. So here is Emily's. Tomorrow, Adam's.


Some of you may remember my original Cast & Crew post back in September. I really enjoyed putting that together and recently enjoyed reading through it (and it seemed to be enjoyed by a few of you too!). Six months later, now aged 13 months, Emily has changed a lot. Even looking at that picture of her in September's post feels like I'm looking at an entirely different child! Time for an update!


Fisher Price Activity Table
All I knew when we decided to buy an activity table was that I didn't want to get the Leapfrog one. Nothing against Leapfrog in the least - we own a good amount of their 0-24 months range! - but I've had enough of Leapfrog tunes. We needed fresh sounds. If not for Emily, then for me. So we found this one, it's very colourful and a little bit different from all the others and we went for it. No regrets: Emily loves having something she can play with while standing up, as well as another thing to use to pull herself up with. And best of all, she loves the songs (or so her swaying bottom tells me)!



Megabloks
She has two bags of these, one large, one small. When she wants to play, she'll hand me the small bag to unzip. And then it begins. She'll sit there taking each piece out and flinging it somewhere around her. If two blocks are joined, she will take them apart and fling separately. The extent to which these blocks are used for building things at this point is this: I build, she destroys. However I have noticed that over the last couple of days she has taken a certain interest in the way I build things, just this morning she was even handing me blocks to add on to my towers. Either way, she spends ages happily entertained by these blocks, and I have no doubt that they will continue to entertain for months to come once she finally works out what they're actually for.




Bop and Go Alien
Oh this alien! Both Emily and Gabriella own one and he is loved equally by them both. You press his head down and off he goes, sliding around, making alien noises and lighting up. He is meant to encourage babies to crawl and move after him. Emily loves hitting his head to get him to make his funny sounds over and over. She has now even realised that he doesn't work on carpet as well as on the floor. Fantastic fun.




Baby Picture Books!
They tell us that babies love looking at pictures of other babies and that's all well and good, but just watching her scan her bookshelf specifically for these three books is amazing. They are almost always the first she'll choose, she recognises them by their (well-creased) spines. Then she'll sit herself down and smile at the babies and talk to them. I'd recommend these - or any books with big, clear pictures of babies' faces - to anyone.




Happyland Family
They get chewed, poked and investigated, banged against each other and hidden under the sofa (of course). But they'll go far together!
(Note from 2014: Her love for her "people" is s till going strong!)

Again, the list could go on and on really. Those stacking cups are certainly moving up in her list of favourites!

Keeping Little Specs On

It's been just over four months since Emily started wearing glasses (it feels like far longer). And in these few short months we have tried out several little accessories to help her little specs stay put. She'd look down and her glasses would slip down her nose until they're at the tip in what she calls her "granny look." It's actually really funny, but that's not the point.

One thing I promised myself when she first got glasses was that I didn't want them to hold her back from being a child. Meaning that, amongst other things, I wanted her to be able to play in a playground as she had done before glasses. We needed to find a way to make her glasses stay put.

We trawled opticians in Malta at the time, but no one had anything more than those awful loose strings that simply turn a pair of glasses into a necklace, or thick sports bands that only came in adult sizes. So we moved the search online... David came across Speccles, and I came across Stay Puts. I ordered both to try them out and see what worked best.

[image via babyology]

Speccles are clear, bendy plastic pipes which fit snugly onto the arms of a pair of glasses. They are as secure as it gets. Emily can do anything when she's got her Speccles on. They are slightly tricky for a child to remove, thus ensuring glasses don't get taken off (handy if you have a child who keeps trying to remove their glasses). We had no such problem but Speccles were our accessory of choice when Emily was at school simply because it meant it was more difficult for other children to remove her glasses.

[image via eyepowerkidswear]

Stay Puts are silicone hooks that are slipped onto the arms of a pair of glasses to keep them from slipping back and forth along the ear. They do an excellent job - even in the playground, Emily's glasses are always safely in place. They give the child freedom to remove their glasses if need be. Emily uses these most of the time because it means she doesn't need us to help her remove or put on her glasses, and it's generally less faff.

She'll be back in her Speccles once she starts school again in September though!


We have also begun patching. Her sight has responded to her lenses very well and she has improved significantly (I can count the amount of times I've caught her eye turning on one hand since New Year), but one eye has responded slightly better than the other. So we are now patching for half an hour every day.

Our optometrist didn't specify whether he wanted her in adhesive patches or not, as I hear some do. But finding patches is quite a bit harder than I'd ever have thought! We moved to Dubai four days after we were told to start patching so we were in a new place, trying to work out where we might find some. The only place we had any luck was at a pharmacy, where we bought plain brown adhesive patches. I promised Emily I'd buy her some fancy ones online, but in the meantime we'd use these regular adhesive ones.

We stopped patching less than a week later. Removing those patches hurt her so much, we couldn't bear to put her through it again for the sake of half an hour. I ordered the online patches and decided to wait until we had those (not quite knowing when that would be as Dubai post isn't hugely reliable).

They made it eventually and we picked up where we left off. I explained to Emily why we are patching and she was cooperative. She's even been out on her bike with a patch on!

We bought our patches from Kay Fun Patch, and are extremely pleased with them. Emily picked out the patterns she wanted herself (sparkly pink skull and crossbones, and a ballerina print one) and chooses which patch to use on a daily basis. They're good quality, reusable, and were worth the money.

Emily's new pair of glasses have transition lenses, so they "magically" become sunglasses when she's in the sun.

And what do you know... Bunny's got glasses too! (also via Kay Fun Patch)

As an aside, we have also tried Kay Fun Patch's Wedgees, which I do not recommend. After using Stay Puts, they seemed like the amateur little sister, didn't fit onto Emily's glasses very well, and were uncomfortable. Five minutes after trying them on, her Stay Puts were back on!

The Moogies

In light of the recent article advising that children under 3 should not be allowed to watch TV (which I wholly disagree with*), this probably isn't the best time to mention this but hey ho, I don't care.

Emily watches TV, it has been my saviour especially towards the beginning of this pregnancy while I laid lifeless on the sofa. I felt bad about it for a long time - electronic babysitter and all that - but she only ever watches programmes that are appropriate to her age and that are educational. We can see the benefit of this now that she is recognising letters of the alphabet at 20 months of age, can count items in front of her, uses expressions that certainly didn't come from me or David ("oh dear!"), and can even mutter a few words in French and Chinese (she loves the Lingo Show!). TV isn't on all the time, we do puzzles, build towers and castles, use play-doh, dance, read, go out, cook, paint, etc.

There's no denying this generation is born into a technological age. Moderation is the key, as with everything. Denying it is like trying to pull the world to an age it simply doesn't belong in any longer.

But I digress. What I wanted to write about is an iphone app that Emily loves. (*shock horror* yes she also plays on my phone.) She's known how to unlock it since she was 9 months old. Like I said, they're born into a technological age. There's a little folder on my phone called "Emily" that she knows to go to and find her games (once I unlock the phone!!), and she will stay within this folder 99% of the time. She's good like that.

There are about eight apps in that folder. To name a few of her favourites, there are:
Phone4Kids
Playtime with Dora (a huge favourite - she loves the Memory games, better on ipad)
Baby Sign and Learn (this has been amazing, she is actively learning new signs and words thanks to it)

But the game she can spend hours on (or at least until it kills my phone battery entirely), is The Moogies. This is a clever little discovery game. A house with nine characters at nine windows. Each window reveals a different scene with different "tricks" to discover. The characters will dance or sing, even the frames on the wall and the moon or the sun have surprises up their sleeves. You press anything and something happens.

Emily has her favourites. The talking Parrot at window 8 and the fishing Cat at window 7, and lately also the dancing Sheep at window 4.

We didn't know what the parrot did at first. We thought he was really boring until Emily spoke one time and the parrot repeated what she'd said in a funny high-pitched voice. There was no turning back. Part of me wishes there was a Moogies toy in it's own right, not just an app on my phone. Because if there were, I could guarantee it would go everywhere with her. She has entire conversations with that silly bird, often interspersed with infectious giggles, she asks him things and accepts his repetition as a reply, then more giggling/dancing/jumping around.

This app has become an absolute life-saver in doctor's waiting rooms or times when Emily needs to sit down quietly (like my 12 week scan!!). Try it out on your toddler - trust me, it's worth the 69p - and let me know what you think! :)

(Note: this app will override the mute setting on your phone)



* Beth pretty much sums up my thoughts on the "no TV for under 3s" issue here

Toddler-Teenager (The Wonder Weeks)

I'm not big on parenting books. I initially owned a Gina Ford book as well as the Baby Whisperer. Both were donated to the local library pretty early on. My instinct, along with genuine advice from friends who have been there, has never let me down.

However when Emily was four or five months old, someone mentioned The Wonder Weeks to me. This isn't a book about how to bring up a child. It merely outlines the typical mental development of a child (based on 30 years of research) and helps you understand why, at certain times, children are unpredictably clingy, grumpy, and all those other fine qualities mothers dread waking up to.

The book spans the first 20 months of a child's life and Emily is nearing the end of that. We are currently going through the final wonder week. Thus my bloggy silence.

I could sit here and moan (oh boy could I moan) about the nightmare child that Emily has suddenly turned into. Not to mention that our blissful full night's sleep has turned into patchy "catch an hour of sleep if you can" and has both David and myself feeling like homicidal zombies by morning.

Today - day two of Nightmare Emily this time round - it occurred to me that it might be a wonder week, so I checked my book. Sure enough, outlined in almost eery detail, was a description of Emily, and how a child's behaviour will probably change around week 74 of their life.

It didn't make today any easier. I shouted at Emily, I shut my ears to the endless moaning, I may even have turned off the baby monitor for the latter few hours of last night. I'm not proud of any of it, but she wasn't going to come to any harm and you do what you have to to cope.

But reading about the mental development that's ongoing at the moment helps. It helps to look out for new abilities and sometimes even helps patience last a little bit longer. Not much, but it does.

She's just gone to bed, and despite the pretty awful day, it ended with cuddles and - finally - a laugh or two from her. Most beautiful sound I heard all day.

It'll be an early night for me and David tonight!



(This post is not sponsored, but if you'd like to buy a copy of the book it'd be really nice if you used the link I provided *wink*)

Cast & Crew

I thought, perhaps, you'd like to be introduced to Emily's team... get to know her very favourite toys - the ones that, no matter what, will get a smile out of her. Very often even a chuckle. More than anything, hours of entertainment. So I cheekily borrowed said toys from her and - under her hawk-eyed scrutiny - photographed each one (while feeling like a total dork).

To begin, let me make one thing clear: there is no distinction between a teething toy and anything else. In Emily's eyes, they are all teething toys. They all get gummed and drenched in drool until they're silently begging to be tossed aside in exchange for something - anything!! - else. So I will not bother to mention this fact in my introductions lest I end up repeating myself.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great amusement that I introduce you to... Emily's Cast & Crew.


McBoingBoing
This bunny was a sale purchase, £2.50 (if not less) from ELC. She's one of the Blossom Farm animals, probably last season. She's called McBoingBoing because when you press her tummy, she makes a Boing Boing sound. Emily loved this from day one, and McBoingBoing (a combination of an old cartoon and too many episodes of Grey's Anatomy under our belt, she was given this name by David) has somehow become a "highchair in the morning" toy. I guess it's because we know that no matter what mood Moody McMooderson (Emily) has woken up in, McBoingBoing will always lure a smile out.



Mr Happy
...is an old toy, a long-suffering survivor from my childhood (!). He squeaks and Emily has taken a huge fancy to him. He is almost always the first toy she reaches out for when she's on her playmat. He frustrates her no end because he keeps rolling away and she can only stop him from doing this if she manages to wrap her fingers around one of his little arms - not always easy when your fingers are teeny and those yellow arms are even teenier. I guess it's a love-hate relationship that she has with Mr Happy but I do think they will go far.



Violet and Baby Tad
Both are LeapFrog educational toys. They both play songs, Baby Tad teaches colours and shapes, while Violet is more your playful companion. She comes with a USB connection which allows you to input your baby's name, favourite colour, food and animal and then uses the information in little phrases and songs. It was thanks to Violet that we confirmed when Emily knew her own name. It was a magical moment: Violet sang out Emily's name and Emily spun round to look at her in a mixture of surprise and shock. Violet quickly became a firm favourite as did Baby Tad (when we showed him to her at Toys'R'Us, she didn't take her eyes off him until he was safely in a carrier bag with us as new owners). Personally I prefer Violet (can you tell?) but both are great to have around.



Er... Ball?
Yeah, let's just call this one Ball. Emily loves this because it's so easy to keep hold of. And it jingles, which is a bonus. Not really much else to say about a ball although if she could speak, Emily would probably be more than willing to sing its' praises! It's by Bright Stars. (Baby Einstein also do a very similar one)



Penguin
We (ok, I) love Lamaze toys and own a number of them - all of which are greatly loved by Emily. This little squeaky penguin, however, takes the biscuit. In fact, he lives in the little bag of toys in the pushchair basket - for those moments when we are out and about and in need of emergency entertainment. I get the feeling that she loves everything about this little guy - the texture, colours, sound, you name it. Poor penguin has seen much better days!



B Block
A very recent addition to the crew, I bought this set of 3 Fisher Price blocks off ebay. She has taken a huge liking to the B block - not A, not C. Just B. She literally looks at it and laughs. I'll try and get a video of it sometime. It's priceless!


So there you have it. Realistically, I could say something about many more of her toys: the plush lion that sleeps beside her at night, the sensory ball she loves to touch, the Nuby bug-a-loop teether she just adores, her Lamaze firefly, her Vtech crawl and learn ball (which she tries to hold down when it moves away)... but let's leave it at that for now!

Baby Equipment Reviews - Part 3 - Travel Edition

This post lists a few items used during our trip to Malta and our long weekend to the Isle of Wight in April, and my opinion of their usefulness and functionality.

Samsonite Pop-Up Travel Cot
Knowing that I am somewhat incapable of travelling light, I didn't want a cot that added another 7kg or so to my luggage. This cot is a pop-up cot (you just need to push 4 rods into the seams, very easily) and the entire thing, in it's bag, weighs just 2.17kg.

It's a nifty little thing, and takes up far less space than the traditional travel cot. However it is at ground level, so you may want to keep that in mind if you have back problems.

The mattress is included but is in my opinion too thin. What we did was fold a blanket underneath it for extra padding and Emily happily slept in it for over a week in Malta. There is an inflatable mattress you can buy but it is expensive and adds weight and I have not read a single good review, so I opted out!

As for the cot itself however, I highly recommend it. It comes in 4 colours: Cafe Creme, Lemon&Lime, Aubergine, and Baby Pink. Insect nets are in-built and the cot is basically a little insect-proof bubble, thanks to the zipped "door" on the front.


Oasis Disposable Sterilizer Bags
It is things like these that make me thankful I am no longer sterilising bottles. Don't get me wrong, they're very handy bags to have when going on holiday. They're made of tough plastic with a drawstring and a sterilising tablet ready inside the bags. All you need to do is add water and bottles/dummies and they are sterilised in 30 minutes. What's even better is that you can keep using the same bag for 24 hours, then just start a new one.

However, needless to say, when full of water, the bag is HEAVY. There is no way I'd happily hang it off a door handle as it suggests. Also, being a plastic bag and therefore not solid, makes the whole thing involve a bit more faff. Water can splash out easily and you can't expect more than a couple bottles to fit into the bag at the same time (although I do use Dr Brown's bottles which are larger than most).

Having said all that, there really is no easier alternative. It's certainly lighter than carrying a steriliser (steam or cold) about with you. They work - and they work well - but just be ready to need some patience when using these bags!

[While I'm at it - should anyone be interested in buying these, I'm selling some here.]


Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym
This isn't really specifically a travel mat, but while we were away, we wanted to have something for Emily as entertainment (other than just random toys). She loves lying on her playmat but there was no way we could take our Rainforest one (which is also brilliant and she loves the lights on that one!). A friend had bought this Infantino mat for her son and when I saw how easily it folded up, and how much Emily enjoyed it, we got this as a second playmat and then also took it with us to Malta.

Sure, it still took up a lot of space in her suitcase, but the point is it DID fit in the suitcase, along with everything else I needed to take along for her. I would recommend it as a travel mat, as well as a space-efficient option! It's so easy to hide away when not in use, and then so easy to open up again - even with just one hand.

The downside is that the toys aren't very interactive but you can always add some more to the spare loops. However, even with this in mind, Emily really loves the toys that came with the mat. I guess the detailed patterns on the materials used intrigue her. It's also very pretty to look at :-)


Mothercare Spin Travel System (further review)
I've already reviewed the Spin and had some very good things to say about it. I do not retract any of the comments I have previously made.

However...

When it comes to travelling, Travel Systems are not ideal. Especially if, as in the case of the Spin (and most other travel systems around, admittedly), the chassis and the seat come apart in order to fold the pushchair down. Airlines will (perhaps somewhat begrudgingly) provide you with two tags to attach to the separate parts of the pushchair, however it is always going to be easier, come time to fold it up FAST with a queue of people waiting behind you, if the pushchair simply folds into one compact thing to be handed over to luggage handlers.

Instead, you have two rather bulky items. Luggage handlers always assume pushchairs come in one piece, it seems (we were made to wait while they looked for the second part of ours on the plane upon our return).

Also consider public transport when travelling. Are you going to need to collapse the pushchair when getting onto buses/metro/etc? How easy is it going to be? In the case of the Spin, near impossible.

Another negative point to the Spin that has come to light recently is that, in pushchair mode, the seat reclines fully but does not sit entirely upright. Emily is a very alert baby, loves sitting straight up, but is unable to in the Spin and gets very frustrated - pushing against the harness in protest! - as a result of this.

We have since purchased a more compact stroller, review will eventually follow!

Baby Equipment Reviews - Part 2

Mamas & Papas Apollo Bouncer - Rainbow
This was something I bought before Emily was born. I remember my younger brother and sisters always being sat in a bouncer so it was one of those things I assumed had to be bought. Unfortunately, not all babies take to them, Emily being one of them.

The bouncer itself is very pretty to look at. It's a neutral design which is why I chose this one. It has a "music book" with different tunes depending on what "page" you choose (they all sounded pretty much the same to me), and a heart-beat simulator and a vibrate function which, as Sex and the City fans will know, is a good thing to have with a baby. Again, Emily wasn't quite a fan so it was only a matter of weeks before we moved on to the swing in desperation (see below) and sold the bouncer.

My one qualm about the design of this bouncer is that the vibrate and heartbeat functions don't have an "off" button. You need to keep the main button held down to turn it off. Now, when you've picked up a screaming baby and are trying to calm her, the last thing you want to be doing is still be bent over (be careful not to tip baby over!) to hold the button pressed, because let it be known this bouncer eats batteries for breakfast and you do NOT want to have it on for any amount of time longer than is really necessary. Other than that, if your baby likes this sort of thing, it's a very pretty chair.


Fisher Price Rainforest Open Top Take-Along Swing
I've said so over and over on twitter: I owe a good portion of my life to this swing. It was the best money ever spent and I LOVE it. It has kept Emily quiet for longer than I thought possible. She loves swinging and has a soft spot for the hanging toucan and salamander, spends ages gazing at them in awe.

The swing has 5 speeds and 7 tunes which play in succession, on two volume settings. It's small and compact, can be folded away or moved around the house and out into the garden. HUGELY recommended.

That's all I need to say really. I have nothing negative to say about this swing. Even it's battery usage is darn good.


Ewan the Dream Sheep
I'd never seen a Ewan until my own arrived from Amazon. I'd read the twittermums talk about their Ewan and how great he is time and again, until the curiosity built and built and I couldn't resist any longer - I had to know what they were talking about. Within 10 minutes, there was a Ewan in my shopping basket.

Ewan's feet each make a different combination of sounds: womb, rain, vacuum cleaner & harp music. The best thing about it is that the womb sounds are actual recordings, not computer generated ones. So for very young babies especially, this is going to be so comforting to them.

My first impressions were that he is a really nice size and soooo soft. When I introduced Ewan to Emily, I wasn't expecting that much, so I was quite surprised when she visibly calmed down and just listened to the sound. That night, she self-settled faster than she ever had. It couldn't be just a coincidence. (I've since heard that Ewan works on older children too, not just babies)

Battery life also seems to be good. The batteries Ewan comes with won't last long as they are demo batteries, but once you've put in a fresh set, they'll last a good amount of time.

We've had Ewan for about a month now and he accompanies Emily to bed every night, and every night we see a change in her as soon as Ewan starts doing his thing. I only wish I had bought him earlier - much earlier! If you're expecting, this is one gadget I hugely advise having ready beforehand, you'll thank yourself later.


[Read Part 1]
[Read Part 3]

Baby Equipment Reviews - Part 1

I quite like sharing little notes about my experience of products, and when it comes to the big purchases involved when preparing for a baby, the amount of money spent and thought put into everything, it makes me want to do it all the more. So here are a few personal review notes based on my experience of these products:

Mothercare Spin Travel System
We spent weeks if not months trying to decide what travel system we would buy. Initially we were going to buy one of the Graco systems but changed our minds at the last minute due to weight and bulk even when collapsed. More research later, we settled on the Spin, and never looked back.

It's not the lightest of travel systems (but then again none of them really are!), but it folds down quite small, and you have the additional option of removing the wheels to make it smaller.

The pram becomes the pushchair, meaning there's no additional bit to store away once the baby's grown out of it. I especially liked that part.

The basket is a very good size and easily accessible. Wheels are big and sturdy (The cobbled roads in our neighbourhood needed to be kept in mind).

We went for the special edition black jacquard, but the other colours available at the time (green and orange) were also really lovely. I didn't particularly fancy the silver version - bit too space-age for my liking.

The feature that gives the Spin it's name is extremely handy in that you are able, with a simple twist of the handlebar, to change the direction the baby is facing. This has come in handy especially in tight spaces such as restaurants. Instead of turning the entire pushchair around, you leave it where it is and spin the seat. See the video for a more accurate explanation.

The one downside to the Spin is the brake. It's slightly flimsy and doesn't always do what it's meant to do. During my research prior to making our decision, this was the one issue many people had as far as I could read. When I mentioned it to the salesperson at Mothercare, I was told that the issue had been addressed and the brake no longer plays up. But it does, and I've heard from two friends I know who also own a Spin that they have the same issue with the brake. It's not a deal breaker - you quickly learn how to work around it, it's just annoying.

Ultimately there seems to be no such thing as the perfect travel system. What seemed to work best for us was to make a list of qualities in a pram/pushchair that were most important to us and then try and find something that ticked most boxes. In the end, we found the travel system that was right for us and I'd choose the Spin again if I had to make the decision afresh. All in all, I'm extremely pleased with it and really do enjoy being out and about with it.

[Further Notes]


BabyBjorn Classic Baby Carrier
This has been an absolute lifesaver at times. Good support for your back and adjustable straps for different users. It's pretty simple to put baby into and out of once you know how and Emily absolutely loves it. We've often used it just around the house - I've cooked dinner and done laundry with Emily thanks to the BabyBjorn. It can be used inward and outward facing (outward only once baby can hold her head up herself) and is an all-round winner. Treat yourself or find one on ebay - some way, own one.


Foam Bath Support
I was given this by a friend and it's become one of my "basics at bathtime." I bathe Emily in the bathtub so this is really great to avoid her slipping around in there. If you're planning on bathing baby in your regular tub, this comes highly recommended! Available in various shapes in several shops.



That's all for now. More to come soon.


[Read Part 2]
[Read Part 3]