Caption day

Can you come up with a caption? the last of 2011

WINNERS of Pushchair Trader VIP Membership

WINNERS

Pushchair Trader VIP Membership

winner 1

winner claimed

congratulations once again and good luck in the competitions for 2012

winner 2

Pushchair Trader announced this today-Anyone asking for a VIP membership for Christmas? Could be an easy present to organise for any partners who are not yet organised - they can even do it on Christmas morning of course!! We will randomly refund one person's membership who signs up today (Christmas Eve)!

 to buy your VIP Membership at just £10 for a whole year click here

you can like them on facebook 

The Winners

Please email me the following details

Name

email address

address

Phone number

are you expecting a baby?

How many children under 6

age of youngest child

send this to mummy2five@live.co.uk with VIP Winner in the subject

Congratulations & Merry Christmas

from all of us

Win VIP membership for Pushchair Trader

If you like pushchairs you will love this, Pushchair Trader have launched their VIP membership, for £10 a year, yes a whole year you will be entered into every competition they run not only will you get 1 entry you will get 10 into their normal competitions and 25 into their advent competitions. The prizes that you could win are really amazing. If you are a VIP member not only will you be entered into the competitions but you will receive great discount codes worth £100s, and you will be able to apply to test products worth £1000s. VIP members have won 92% of the competitions so far and Pushchair Trader have an amazing 300+ competitions to run in 2012. I am giving away 2 free membership in time for Christmas, so you will be entered into all the Advent competitions to view the prizes for the Advent please click here. You can like Pushchair Trader on Facebook and Twitter. You can also like me on facebook and Twitter 

How to enter 

Post a comment on this post below telling me what you favourite Pushchair is.

For extra entries

* Follow me on GFC can be found to the right of this post

*Follow me on networked can be found to the right of this post

*Tweet about the competition using the following
 " I want to win a VIP Membership for @Pushchairtrader with @mummy2five1 http://mummy2five-mummy2five.blogspot.com/2011/12/win-vip-membership-for-pushchair-trader.html

How many of the extra entries you do is up to you but you must post a separate comment on this post for each extra entry you do. Failure to do this will invalidate your extra entry.

competition closes 11.59pm Friday 23rd December

winner will be drawn at Random on Saturday 24th December

The competition is open to the U.K only 

*Please note I will need address details, email details and if you are due a baby and how many children under the age of 6 you have. 
this competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook
winners must claim by midnight 29th December 2011


CLOSED WINNERS ARE
http://mummy2five-mummy2five.blogspot.com/2011/12/winners-of-pushchair-trader-vip.html

When all your hopes and dreams change

It was November 30th 2001 my sons due date when I actually went into labour with him, the labour was only short and I was home the next morning with my baby boy. My daughter was almost 21 months old when her baby brother was born so life was hectic for a while, little did we know how hectic our lives would become. I guess in a way I’ve always known Thomas was not like his sister but it was when he was around 6 months old that he stopped breathing whilst sitting in his pram it appeared like he had chocked on saliva. He was admitted to hospital and discharged a few days later armed with inhalers and instruction to give him it every 4 hours and I will receive an appointment for a follow up, fast forward 6 weeks and his check up came the Dr's was not worried about him having the episode of not breathing but was highly concerned about his muscle tone or rather the lack of it. The penny dropped he confirmed to me what I had been telling the health visitors all along yet been fobbed off with “he will get there “ “boys are slower than girls”. Life then because one hospital appointment after another with blood test, bone age x-rays, more blood test, examinations then can the diagnosis GLOBAL DELAY. Life then was filled with checkups and therapy sessions. 

                                    

            So once I had come to terms with having a child with special need my life slowly became just normal to me because I got use to it I went on to have another daughter who fitted in great but it was like having 2 babies because Thomas was so delayed, then I became a single parent it was hard work the hardest I’ve ever done but was so so rewarding so we just plodded along for a few years then  In 2007 I moved to Wales to be with my husband and the whole hospital appointments started up again because Thomas was not progressing as he should so his school Dr ordered test from what felt like every specialist going, I am so thankful that he did so at the end of 2009 beginning of 2010 Thomas was diagnosed with ADHD to me I think I did the whole denial thing because I always thought the child had to be wild for them to have ADHD and Thomas was not yes he was very hyper but we could control him in a sense. The conversation of the dreaded medication come up which made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. I told them I didn’t want him not to be him so they came up with Medikinet XL10mg it’s a slow release medication that we give him 1 hour before school so it starts to work for the start of school and will wear off just at the end of school time, the 1st time I picked up the prescription from the chemist was awful because I had to provide identification and the tablets came out of the safe this alone made me not want to let him swallow that tablet but I knew I had to do it for him to be able to concentrate better in school. I am glad I did his school work as come on  loads and he can finally sit and do a little task well sort off we still have the odd day when he refuses to do anything that was not his idea. Since we moved to Wales we have added another 2 children to our ever growing family so life is hectic, I love every second of it.

Sudocrem's Christmas Superchef 2011

Sudocrem

Christmas Superchef

2011

could it be you?

Sudocrem have launched a competition to be their superchef all you have to do is below.

What will you be making? I will probably enter my orange cupcakes. can't wait to see the entries.

Instructions on how to enter the Superchef 2011 competition:
Step 1- Prepare, bake, fry, steam, boil or stew your own Christmas themed recipe then take a picture of your creation. 
Step 2– Visit and ‘Like’ the Sudocrem Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Sudocrem) and click on the Superchef Competition page
Step 3- Follow the competition page instructions: Enter your name, upload your picture and paste your recipe into the text box provided
Step 4- Keep your fingers crossed that our judge, Aggie MacKenzie takes a shine to your creation!

The all important prize

Prize Details

1st Prize: All Inclusive 3 day cookery course for 2 in the Dordogne, France. (Prize excludes flights and transfers; however £200 from the competition budget will be contributed towards the winner’s transportation costs.
2nd Prize: £150 Luxury Selfridges Christmas Hamper
3rd Prize: £75 of Marks & Spencer’s Vouchers

Prize Eligibility

Only persons who are at least 18 years of age can enter.

Contest Starts

December 07, 2011 @ 12:00 pm (GMT)

Contest Ends

January 04, 2012 @ 11:59 pm (GMT)

Read the official rules here

Saturday is Caption day

Win £500 of Toys R Us vouchers with Sudocrem

Name the Sudocrem's Moose

Sudocrem have just launched their Twitter & Facebook pages for a new, mystery product expected in spring 2012 and to celebrate they are running a competition to name the mystery products mascot, the Sudocrem Moose. The winner will received £500 worth of Toys R Us vouchers and a personalised Santa sack, the winner drawn in time for Christmas!

Instructions on how to enter:
It’s simple all you have to do is ‘Like’ the new Facebook page and then enter your suggested mascot’s name. One lucky winner will be picked on the 21^st December 2011 and receive their prizes shortly afterwards.
Competition Start Date– 18^th November 2011
Competition Finish Date– 17^th December 2011
Competition winners announced– 20^th December 2011

The Prize

 £500 worth of Toys R Us vouchers and a personalised, handmade Santa sack worth £150.

We came up with Marvin, Maverick, Monty Moosketeer, Mooseycrem

good luck 

Many thanks to Blog match for informing me of this great competition

22 year old lego passed down from Father to Son

A few days ago my Husband thought it was time to pass down one of his most treasured toys down to his Son, my son is now the proud owner of a 1989 Black Seas Barracuda lego pirate ship.

Black Seas Barracuda 

My husband received this as a Birthday Present when he was around 9 years old. My mother in law recalls him spending hours carefully putting each piece together taking great care to make sure each piece went in the correct place. Once the pirate ship was complete he then went on to spend hours upon hours playing, and creating adventures of his own with his pirate ship. To think he put this together when at the tender age of 9 shows he must of had great patience as a child. When I think back to when I was around the same age there is no way I could of possibly sat down, and put this together, I would of lost patience put it back into the box and gone out to play.

Lego gold Deblume

Barrel of swords

What amazes me not only did he keep this built for 22 years, he still has all the pieces, and many of them are tiny from the treasure chest full of gold deblumes to the barrel of swords all are perfect. The figure head still sits in pride place on the bow of the ship, the hinged stern still opens smoothly to reveal the Captains cabin, and what ship would be complete without the pirates parrot.

the figure head at the bow of the ship

When my son excitedly sat at the table with his hands over his eyes knowing he was to be given a special toy that gave his dad hours of fun was a fantastic moment. Tristan has an amazing imagination so I know he will soon be sailing the seven seas as a one legged Captain or he will play the role of a pirate counting his gold deblumes.

the hinged stern pulls down to reveal the Captains cabin

Hopefully Tristan won't decide to take it apart because the instructions are no longer with us. To put this back together from memory will be a real task, and only a task my husband could do.

the ships parrot

I hope that Tristan loves his pirate ship as much as my husband did, and I hope it takes him on many magical adventures that only a child can create.

Pirate ready for action 

In years to come when Tristan has been on every adventure possible with his ship mates I hope he follows in his dads foot steps, and carefully puts his Black seas pirate ship away, so he can then pass it on to his children so it can give another child hours of fun

the 4 canon sit waiting ready to fire their canon balls

The stern of the ship

Have you passed anything down to your child that you treasured as a child? My husband recently gave Tristan 3 wuzzles, and still has Thundercat toys ready to give to him. I would love to hear your stories

Proud Mummy Moment

This week we received Tristan's first ever school report, the scoring was a little worrying because the children was given a score of 1,2,3 or 4 for each 1 being 18-24 months level, 2 = 24-30 months, 3 = 30-36 months and 4 = 36-48 months(3-4years).It was based on an on-entry assessment into nursery. Tristan's scored a 1 for reading and writing which put him at the age of 18-24 months so you can imagine this was worrying considering he is 3 and half yet he scored a 4 for physical with the comments "Tristan is able to confidently thread beads onto a string" and "Tristan is able to catch a large object (ball) between his arms and torso" so last night we went to parents evening with lots of questions that we wanted answers too. Well it came our time to hear how our son is progressing and he is doing brilliant, the scoring system is done by people who don't teach and don't come across the children. Tristan scored a 1 in reading and writing because he has not yet chosen which hand he prefers to use that is how silly the scoring is. Tristan is average-above average in all of the categories and has settled perfectly into school life. He even scord a level 6 putting him at 5-6 years for the social part in personal, social and emotional category which was music to my ears because when he had just turned 2 the health visitor at flying start was trying to push me and my husband into putting him into the free nursery placement when he reached 2 and half, I did not have too much of a problem because all my other children went into a nursery setting early due to work commitments but my husband was set firm, Tristan was not to attend free day care whilst there was somebody at home to look after him, the health visitors argued that it will be good for his social skills and teaching him it's ok to be away from mummy and daddy she made it sound like we was holding our son back because we would not allow him to attend and she always left the application form. So to see he is a well adjusted boy who is developing at a perfect rate was really good to hear and when I asked if there was anything we could be doing at home to help him and she said keep doing whatever you are doing because you are obviously doing it right. My boy is a pleasure to teach. So today when he finishes school he is going to the shop and picking an ice lolly for being such a star

John Crane teams up with Sevi

If you like wooden toys you will love this

teams up with 

John Crane likes to bring us quality wooden toys for excellent value, wooden toys are excellent for allowing our children to explore their own imagination, I love to see my son Tristan playing with wooden toys because each time he plays there is always a new way that he interacts with them he loves nothing more than exploring the many new adventures he can achieve with wooden toys, so I was delighted to hear that John Crane will soon  have Sevi products for our children to enjoy.

Sevi have been around for almost two centuries in its devotion to wood and the success of Sevi is down to its design, quality, commitment to professional service and the hundreds of satisfied customers.

Sevi – a history...

1920 – At the beginning of the 1920’s Sevi excited the local market with their small, hand made masterpieces.

1930-1940 – To keep up with a now growing market, new machinery was purchased to support the craftsman’s skills.  Automation did not affect the high quality of Sevi but enhanced it.

1950-1960 – The booming economy lead to a new craze of giving children small ‘surprise’ gifts.  Inspired by this Sevi continues today to producing not only toys but objects that express the warmth, wonder and friendliness of a child’s world.

1970-1980 – This was the brands boom years with new characters born – the Happy Clown is still in the line up today, reborn in the newly styled Le Cirque collection

1990-2000 – Sevi is acquired by the Trudi Company in 1998, remaining faithful to it founding principles and values; Sevi continues in hand crafted wood, caring for detail and dynamic creativity.  Stringent safety testing is applied to all products and Sevi was awarded UNI EN ISO 9001 certification in 2001.

2010 – Sevi chooses John Crane Ltd to distribute to retailers in the UK, and a strong wooden partnership is born.

So what can we expect 

My son would love this to add to his collection of tools to help him fix things and do the DIY in our house 

My kids will be able to make me some fantastic meals prepared on this 

Then once our meals have settled they will be able to get creative and play us some music on these fabulous wooden instruments 

you can find John Crane on facebook and twitter or follow their blog

bloggermatch

REVIEW SLEEPY LITTLE MONKEYS - BABY SLEEP GOWN - 6-12 M

Monkey Stars

we was kindly sent the sleepy little monkeys-baby sleep gown to review from monkey stars and I must say its quite cute
it is suitable for boys and girls and 100% cotton the size is 6-12 months
it arrived very quickly from them offering it to us.

the  BABY SLEEP GOWN makes nappy changing much easier especially at night time when you are struggling to keep your eyes open you don't have any fiddly poppers to do up (and if your anything like me you will do up the poppers wrong and have to redo them), you also don't disturb your baby as much as you do with baby grows, I think it is ideal to combine with a baby sleeping bag because it has long sleeves and because the babies feet are free they wont get too hot.

It has an envelope neck and elasticated bottom, the material is really soft.

 I washed and dried this item because I like to know how clothes wash and dry and it came out the same as it went in so washes and dries really well.

The elasticated bottom helps it not ride up your babies back as they move around in their sleep

Rhian in her baby sleep gown

its was a little too big but that is because she is not yet 6 months

the SLEEPY LITTLE MONKEYS - BABY SLEEP GOWN is priced at £5.99

you can follow them on facebook or twitter or visit their website for more fantastic products

Operation Christmas child- shoe box appeal

This year I am once again taking part in operation christmas child in making shoe boxes for disadvantaged children across Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. As a parent I know the joy it brings to a child and parent when they receive a Christmas present and they rip into the shiny wrapping to reveal what they have inside, not many children get to experience this joy for many different reasons,but a shoe box full of goodies can change this it can bring the widest smiles to a child who has very little.

operation Christmas child is the largest children's Christmas project in the world, and is run by the christian charity samaritans-purse they have been sending gift filled shoe boxes to disadvantaged children since 1990 and have brought joy to over 80 million children.

last year alone 500,000 people got involved and wrapped and packed around 1.12 million shoe boxes.

Girls from Swaziland

Last year we managed to fill 3 boxes and passed them onto my sons school but this year I am hoping to fill a lot more than 3 but to do this I need help if any company has any products that they would like to donate please contact me on mummy2five@live.co.uk a product list is below of things to pack in a shoe box

Brother and sister from Montenegro

Things to put in your shoe box

toys- bear, soft toy, tennis ball, finger puppet, jigsaw, yo-yo, building blocks, small musical instrument,
for boys- truck, cars etc
for girls dolls clip on earings etc
educational supplies-felt pens, pens, pencil, pencil crayons, eraser, sharpener, colouring book, note pad, picture or puzzle book, chalk, stickers etc
Hygiene items- toothbrush, tooth paste, flannel, bar of soap, hair brush or comb bobbles, hair clips etc
other items- sweets( sell by date must be at least march the following year), gloves scarf hat. sun glasses, cap, bangles, necklaces

you should include 1 or more things from each catagory

please don't send

No Food

 especially chocolate - non-chocolate sweets are allowed

No medicine

 or vitamins of any kind

No war related items

 toy guns, soldiers or knives of any kind

No clothing

 other than listed above

No fragile items

 glass containers, mirrors.

No liquids

 including blow bubbles, shampoo, bubble bath, toiletry sets or aerosols.

No dangerous items

 sharp objects, scissors or razors

No novels

Nothing of a political nature

No hand-knitted stuffed toys without a CE mark

once your box is decorated you need to decide if your box will be for a male/female and what age group then you need to attach the appropriate sticker

please don't forget to include £2.50 to help with the distribution cost you can pay here then download and print the bar code place it in your shoe box and you will receive an email that will let you know where your box went to.

boxes need to be made up and ready before 18th november

mummymummymum are running a competition for people who get involved in the shoe box appeal please click on the link to find out more

once again if any company can help in any way even if it is donating shoe boxes or wrapping paper please message me on mummy2five@live.co.uk I will link your company in this bog post 

Thank you 

lets put smiles on children's faces this Christmas

shoe box appeal companies that have donated 

massive thank you 

visit their website 

REVIEW Munchkin bath letters and numbers

Munchkin letters and numbers review

we bought these Munchkin bath letters and numbers from ASDA for £6.99, they are suitable for ages 3+.
they stick to the bath wall or tiled surface when they are wet, it includes 26 floating letters and 10 floating numbers. The letters and numbers are made from a non toxic, soft, durable material.

my son loves playing with these and it really helps recognise letters and numbers whilst having a bath, they also still feel soft when dry unlike some I have had in the past. They are around 8cm in height and come in various colours which again helps your child learn colours whilst they play. I would recommend buying Munchkin letters and numbers

REVIEW Teething bling uk bangle

teething bling uk very kindly sent us one of their teething bling bangles for me and my 17 week old daughter to review.

the teething ring and organza gift bag

teething bling was created so us mums who have given up on wearing jewellery the opportunity to wear something that looks great and would fit in well on the trendy accessory stands in most high street stores, yet at the same time it’s very practical. Being a mum for the last 11 years I have plenty of broken necklaces and bracelets from the usual grabbing and pulling from one of my children sitting in a jewellery box never to be worn again, so my solution was to give up wearing pretty things, but teething bling uk have created jewellery for us that look really pretty and are safe enough for your babies. The bangle I was sent is called Jade, it is a speckled Jade colour (Ithink the name gives it away). The bangle is made out of the material that most teething toys are, their teething products are non-toxic, phthalate, BPA, PVC, latex and lead free, all pendants come with a breakaway clasp for added safety. They carry the important CE trademark which means they meet strict safety standards and teething bling went through four years of vigorous safety testing.  They are also dishwasher safe.

They have a huge range of colours in both the pendants and the bangles

The bangle is approximately 8cm and one size fits all

Rhian happily chewing on her teething bling

Bangles are £8.95 and pendants are £12.95 individually or they can be bought as a gift set for £19.95

They come in a beautiful organza bag which is available in 3 different colours

The bangle looks like a normal solid bangle but when you touch it, it has the soft feel like a teething toy. It is very easy for your baby to keep hold of, my daughter is only 17 weeks and has no trouble keeping hold of it, and it is also very light in weight. As soon as I held it out in front of her, her eyes lit up and when I placed it in her hand she happily chewed away on it. If its on my wrist she will happily sit for a while playing with it and giving the occasional taste test. I would highly recommend teething bling  and I will be buying some for myself in different colours.

Mummy2five and Rhian Recommends Teething bling uk

WINNER Lamaze stretch the giraffe toy

The winner of stretch the giraffe is 

Jenna Keller
congratulations can you email me your details please mummy2five@live.co.uk

Sunday again

After 100’s cups of coffee, 220oz of baby milk god knows how many nappy changes and loads of washing here we are, Sunday we meet again.

A week full of fun

We attended learn and play at my sons school to make games and things to enrich our sons learning, and I had so much fun this week we cut out and laminated matching socks and with these you could play  find the matching pair, discuss colours and shapes and also counting.

Visit http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/ for 1000s of FREE teaching resources.

Rhian was weighed this week and weighs a nice 12lb 10oz, we bought her a Lindham door bouncer which she loves and she made the move from 0-3 month clothing to 3-6 months clothes, she is growing so fast.

Madison attended her Violin audition on Friday so hopefully she will be starting violin lessons soon so I better buy those ear plugs to use until she can play a little.

Chelsea helped with her opening evening at school and we have been learning her welsh words, this week the words are

Hawdd--easy

gyffrous (c)--exciting

ddoniol (d)--funny

bwysig--important

ddifyr (p)--pleasant, cool

don’t ask me how to say them as I haven’t a clue

Tristan had fun playing with the wooden animals that we won from http://www.facebook.com/LeToyVanToys he loves playing with them

Thomas won the most stars this week for good behaviour so he won the prize of a toy helicopter

This weekend my brother and sister in law came for a visit, I love catching up with my family J my mother in law made yet another gorgeous Sunday lunch for us all, she is a fantastic cook.

Most of the home work has been completed and the tumble dryer is being put to good use. All that is left to do is iron the uniforms, get the kids bathed, get the younger children off to bed, help Chelsea to do the last of her homework then relax on the sofa.

Happy Sunday everyone xx

WIN a Lamaze stretch Giraffe toy

                                                  WIN a Lamaze stretch Giraffe toy

Here I have a Lamaze stretch Giraffe toy to give away to a lucky winner, here in my house we think Lamaze toys are fantastic and my daughter loves her Lamaze stretch Giraffe toy. For more information on this item click http://www.lamazetoys.co.uk/lamaze-stretch-the-giraffe-toy-639-p.asp you can read my review of the Lamaze stretch Giraffe toy here http://mummy2five-mummy2five.blogspot.com/2011/09/review-lamaze-stretch-giraffe-toy.html

                                          ****So the all important information****

To enter

just like my page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mummy-2-five/137471466348191 and comment on my wall saying “I want to win stretch the giraffe”

Or you can follow and tweet me http://twitter.com/#!/mummy2five1 saying “I want to win stretch the giraffe”

Or follow me on my blog http://mummy2five-mummy2five.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment  on this post  saying “I want to win stretch the giraffe” and don’t forget to leave a way for me to contact you

You can do all 3 if you like and will be entered into the draw 3 times

GOOD LUCK X

I will be allocating each entry a number then I will use a random number picker for the draw

Competition closes 2pm 30^th September 

REVIEW Britax safefix-plus-TT

We won this car seat from  http://www.facebook.com/babyonboardUK after my daughter won the beautiful baby competition, we got to choose which car seat we would like and after talking to the safety guys at Britax we opted for the Safe fix-plus-tt because it has the ISOFIX system, pivot link system and the top tether.  To learn more about ISOFIX click http://www.britax.co.uk/safety-centre/what-is-isofix.

The product features are

ISOFIX systemanchors the seat directly to the cars ISOFIX connection points

Pivot link systemreduces the child forward movement within the seat

5-point safety harnesswith one pull adjustment

	H	W	D	Weight
	65 cm	46 cm	60 cm	12,5 kg

Group 1

19kg - 18kg

(9m - 4y)

The safefix-plus-tt has soft padded side wings along with performance chest pads. The harness and headrest are easily adjustable and the seat can recline into 4 different positions allowing your child to sleep comfortably. The cover is removable and you can also buy spare covers, summer cover, and a keep cool cover. A drink and snack holder is available to buy handy for your toddlers drink or snack on your journey.  The car seat comes in 8 different colour to suit everybody’s tastes to view colours click http://www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/car-seats/safefix-plus-tt then click fabric options.

The fabric is very soft and the seat is well padded we tested this seat out with my 3 year old and he was snug but still had enough room for it to last him a while. The head rest stopped his head from flopping about whilst sleeping. Because of the fitting of the safefix-plus-tt it does not move about when you are driving round corners and my son has a much more comfortable car journey because of it. Fitting the car seat is really easy and the instructions on how to do this are clear and easy to follow, their is a netted pocket at the back of the car seat that is great for storing the safety information booklet that comes with the car seat. I highly recommend the safefix-plus-tt 

To buy this product click http://www.britax.co.uk/where-to-buy/where-to-buy to find your nearest stockist

http://www.britax.co.uk/

Join their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/babyonboardUK

The image that we won with