Beaut Scooting with Globber

Keeping a super active two year old entertained all day is hard enough, let alone trying to encourage outdoor activity when you live somewhere full of hills, steep drops and general danger.

The purchase of our new home in the river side {flat} suburb of Maroochydore initiated my interest in sourcing out a bike or scooter suitable for Ned who turns three in August.

Enter Globber.

I was lucky enough to receive a scooter for Ned to try as well as an adult scooter for us to share to join in on the scooting fun and ever since we've received them Ned's request pretty much as soon as he gets out of bed is to 'do scooting Dad, come on'.

Ned's MyFREE Up which he has named Green Gecko is the perfect model for his age group and not having really scooted before he has picked it up amazingly well, impressing us with his technique and skill, and scaring me with his speed and risk taking. Luckily my heavily pregnant state excuses me from hours and hours of riding which also means he gets plenty of dad time in. This scooter is more expensive than your standard character scooter from Target but you can feel safe in the quality the extra expense delivers. The handle height is adjustable and is easily removed for transportation, it has an intuitive steering system {directional pivots or locked}, and there is a long and covered rear brake preserving the back wheel and saving your child's expensive shoes which they often initially use as the brake.

It took Ned a couple of rides to figure out the steering and the 'scoot, scoot, glide' technique but now there's no stopping him!

When our 18.0 by Kleefer scooter arrived both the husband and I didn't really know if we were cool enough {and whether the word 'cool' was actually even cool} to ride it. Again, the quality is top class but I won't pretend that I'm hip-to-the-jive {refer cool reference above} to know what I'm talking about specs-wise so you can read about that here. Instead, I'll tell you that just about every adult member of my family {including my 60+ year old parents} has ridden the scooter, AND enjoyed themselves without an accident to date. The scooter folds up neatly with an easy kick system and can be stored either at home or in the car, vertically or horizontally with ease.

Globber is a great option to investigate when thinking about purchasing a scooter and associated accessories and we LOVE ours here. I'd say in a couple of years we'll be adding a couple of more scooters to our collection {if these twins ever come!}

Love to Dream Lite | Ice Green

If you've been reading this blog for a while you might remember me raving about Love to Dream swaddles. Seriously, they are a god send and are something I recommend to every new mum. They're also a fabulous baby shower or new baby gift.

I've had a relationship with the brand basically since Ned was born and when I saw the delicious new ice green colour that Love to Dream had released in the 'lite' range, I knew I had to get one for my soon-to-be-born nephew.

The colour is beautiful {much more pastel than the image}, the fabric is breathable, washes beautifully and is and oh, so light meaning you don't have to worry about your baby overheating. My twinnie wasn't aware of Love to Dream when my niece was little {they just wrapped her nice and tight} and when I asked her what she thought of the Love to Dream swaddle after using it for a short time she sung its praises. Basically little Hudson, who is now 10 weeks old knows it's bed time when the swaddle comes out. He settles quickly and is off dreaming {and loving it - see what I did there?} without too much fuss or hassle {well most nights anyway}.

The incomparable love to dream products can be bought directly from the Love to Dream online store or check here for stockists.

Sinchies - Reusable Food Pouches - Review and GIVEAWAY

I was lucky enough to receive a pack of Sinchies resusable food pouches to trial recently and let me tell you, they are fabulous and I wish I had discovered them before purchasing a whole pile of plastic containers.

The Sinchies brand is a local Sunshine Coast business who produce a range of food pouches and associated products, not only super handy for mums but for a range of people and purposes. Not only can they be used for food, you can also use them for travelling by filling with essentials like shampoo, conditioner or body wash. The variety of sizes also will help you comply with flight liquid restrictions.

{from the website}

Handy and easy to use - designed with a ziplock at the top for easy filling and a side spout so you can suck or pour the contents out. Simply mix up your own home-made goodness, healthy snacks, baby food, yoghurt, smoothie or fruit crusher, pour it in and zip it up.Young children can enjoy feeding themselves through the handy spout which allows them to suck or squeeze out their snacks and meals. Older children can participate in the preparation process, learning about healthy foods along the way. Parents can use them for storing dips, soups, spice rubs. These are suitable for all sorts -  store all manner of liquids, soft foods, sauces, salad dressings and even toiletries in Sinchies pouches.Made free from BPA, Phthalates and PVC, these are designed for easy filling and washing, with a double ziplock top to prevent leaks. Sinchies are freezer and dishwasher safe making cleaning and storing easy!

Oh, I forgot to mention ...they are super affordable too and offer great cost-per-use. For example, a pack with 5 x 140ml and 5 x 200ml pouches is only $18.95 - great value for money right there!

Ned loves his greek yoghurt and berries so I added these to a 200ml pouch before heading out earlier this afternoon. I love that they are sized appropriately for babies and at this time, the 200ml is perfect - still small enough for eight month old hands to hold and large enough to provide enough (well too much really) for his ever growing stomach. Ned has mastered sucking through a straw so the pouches are a fabulous way for him to feed himself and gives me time to do things like go to fabulous coffee shops and write blog posts in relative peace. 

To aid in filling the smaller sized pouches you can use a larger pouch and squeeze it in or purchase a funnel from the website. You can also get anti-choke lids for the little ones AND there is also a try before you buy option where you can receive a pouch of your choice (80ml, 140ml, 200ml or 1L) and all you have to do is pay the postage costs (although these don't really need to be tried first - they are fabulous - take my word for it)

What is almost as good as the product itself? The Sinchies website which has a huge amount of information, tips, recipes and FAQs to compliment the product.

Visit the Sinchies website, facebook or instagram accounts for more fun and information. Sinchies food pouches are available on the website and a number of brick-and-mortar stores. Check the list of stockists here.

Like to win a pack for yourself? Leave a comment on this blog post - simple as that! 

Make sure you like trainee mama and sinchies on facebook too!

{competition is open for a week and will close at 5pm 16th April 2014. Winner will be drawn randomly)

Baby Wearing - Not Just for Hippies (BabyBjorn Baby Carrier One Review)

I used to think 'baby wearing' was only for hippies but then I also used to think that stay-at-home mums had no excuse not to have a completely spotless house. My, how things have changed.

Living in such a beautiful place it would be criminal not to visit the beach as often as we can. Nearly every weekend we take our dog Rocky for a run at one of the dog beaches here on the sunshine coast.

It is however not as easy as it used to be now that we have our precious little man. I was recently sent the new BabyBjorn baby carrier one to review and am so grateful that I was given the opportunity. I have used the carrier before now but I would only put Ned in it if he was asleep as he didn't initially love being in it. I would recommend to others to start your baby in your carrier early so they get used to it rather than trying to introduce it a bit later. My persistence however seems to have paid off though as he loves it now. Instead of having to put him in it while he was asleep he now puts himself to sleep in it!

Trainee daddy finished work early on Friday and we headed to North Shore as a family for a walk. I strapped on my baby carrier one and off we went. We were down on the beach for around an hour and were lucky enough to see the sunset.

The baby carrier one is super comfortable and lightweight (I have the mesh style) meaning no sore back or shoulders (even after wearing it for over an hour) and is easy to take on and off. I'm trying to convince trainee daddy to try a bit of baby wearing but he hasn't come to the party ... yet. The One is fully (and easily) adjustable AND can be used for newborns right through until three years of age making it very economical. I love the piggyback style but we're a long way off using the carrier that way.

Next time I'm going to try taking Ned shopping in it - the freedom of having two hands free whilst shopping is not something I've been able to enjoy since Ned came along.

Thanks again to BabyBjorn - this is another product that trainee mama loves!

The Baby Carrier One is available from a large variety of online stockists and brick and mortar stores.