by jo

App Time – My PFF – My Pelvic Floor Fitness

“Don’t forget your tight schedule.”

A random link on a Facebook group of new mums and I’m on my way to recovering my overall wellbeing by exercising my pelvic floor via iPhone App (there’s an app for Android too!).

My PFF
My Pelvic Floor Fitness (PFF) might sound like a joke, and its tongue in cheek reminder certainly has a sense of humour, but pelvic floor fitness to a new mum or in my case a second time mum, is top priority if we are ever going to sneeze and stay dry down there again.

Of course the last thing on a the post natal mind is exercise – we are too exhausted to think about much other than those precious little people who have turned us into wobbly jiggle bits. Having a toned pelvic floor is important: you may not feel like getting frisky with daddy now, but you will, and you’ll want to know that everything is still in good working order. You may think that holding your wee for hours on end devoted to a demanding baby is enough to keep you dry, but what happens when you sneeze?

My PFF
Pelvic floor muscles are not just important for wee wee and nookie; your overall health and wellbeing is at stake. Since downloading this awesome FREE app – there isn’t a day that goes by that I forget my “tight schedule”. Tutorials to help you do it right as well as daily reminders, this app is genius!

Review by Tracy – thankyou!

App Time at Mum Friendly

by jo

BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge – Week 4

Week Four. I fear I’m getting a bit evangelical about it all, as I slowly tot up points and work out what I can or can’t eat. It’s all feeling quite easy, although in my head there’s a touch of self-doubt – like, I’m succeeding so much right now and losing weight, so it’s all set to go wrong soon too. I guess I’m just not used to things going well quickly, and maybe a few listens of the SlimPod (which I can recommend, while it hasn’t helped me lose weight it’s helped me think differently) and I’ll get back on track.

Anyway, I had a sad day yesterday, an anniversary so I finished it off with wine, so things are a little more ‘down’ this week than previous ones. I stayed well within my limits though. So… here’s the weigh-in…. and… I’ve lost 1lb*. But I’m happy with that. However those sneaky WW gremlins have officially moved me down to 29 points on the app, so now I’ve got to work that bit harder.

I’m starting to think we are quite boring food-wise. I get in from work at 5.30 and we eat at 6.30, so generally I have 30 minutes to prepare, cook and serve food, which isn’t very long. We’ve never taken the ready meals route, and I’ll always serve fresh vegetables, plus we always sit and eat as a family together at that time. Taking a photo of every meal this week does show this too – the same vegetables, plenty of them with different sauces – and surprisingly the biggest points is the soup! (thankyou bread rolls)

I tried out the recipe calculator for our bread making (which is done in the bread maker) to get a proper points value, and was pretty shocked to find that it’s 3 points per slice – I’d thought it was 2 – so I’m trying to find ways of improving the recipe – though the points come with the flour and there doesn’t seem to be alternatives (and with our busy lives we need to just put stuff in the bread maker and have bread in the morning) – so if anyone has any good tips to share, please do!

I do a weekly shop with Ocado and have found their WeightWatchers selection of foods to be pretty good – and most importantly of all they have the chocolate digestives in! I’ve still not found the vegetarian pizza – every supermarket has the meaty option which isn’t an option.

Other than that, I tried some different options for my lunchtime when I’m at work – though while Waitrose do a wrap which has the same points as Sainsburys (and tastes loads better) it’s double the price – so I’ll be sticking with Sainsburys for now. Also, I was making myself do their meal deal, so rather than having juice and snack a jacks with a sandwich, I’m now just getting a sandwich for 99p which does me fine and saves a bit of money too.

So, this week I decided to take a photo of my evening meal each night and add the points total. What you’ll see is a mass of sludge when I cook, and a beautifully laid out plate when Shaun does! Hey ho…

Sunday – pasta and veg with quorn – a kind of spag bol (though it’s angel hair pasta)Sunday - pasta and veg kind of bolognese

Monday – butternut squash, veg and basmati rice curryMonday - Butternut squash, veg and rice with quorn

Tuesday – left over curry and cous cousTuesday - left over curry and cous cous

Wednesday – Butternut squash soup with bread rollsWednesday - Butternut squash soup with bread rolls

Thursday – veg and pasta with tofu Thursday - veg and pasta with quorn

Friday – curry with vegetables, sweet potato and butternut squash
Friday - curry with vegetables, sweet potato and butternut squash

Saturday – sweet potato and butternut squash with veg and pasta

Sunday - pasta and squashed butternut squash

Goodness, we’re boring, aren’t we? (apologies for awful resizing of photos too)

One thing I found this week – Iceland do WeightWatchers chips, coming in at 5 points per portion – one to remember when the need for chips starts. Actually, that’s what I like about WW – the options are there so you don’t have to get a bag of chips from the chip shop if you felt tempted. Having said that, I was sat next to a girl on the bus eating chips from a bag and oh GOD they smelt so good, I was like the Bisto kid taking in the aromas.

There’ll be no update next week as we’re away. The next update will be when I’ve more to share. Don’t forget you can try WeightWatchers for £1 for seven days – so you get to try out the app too.

WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge with BritMums

I received six months of WeightWatchers membership for free, and a load of WW food goodies to try out. All opinions are my own.

* I have been reliably informed by Shaun that our scales may be being a bit odd right now, and need a new battery which I’ll be getting tomorrow. I’m sticking with 1lb though.

by jo

We Love Books – Nick Butterworth – When There’s Work To Do & When We Play Together

Nick Butterworth

I have to be honest and admit that I don’t read much to my 11 month old. Receiving these lovely little books was a fantastic opportunity to start our reading habit together! The books were small and durable, with thick cardboard pages to withstand a good amount of baby handling(!!). The stories were also nice and short with only about 10 words on each page, enough to hold my little one’s attention and give me a chance to talk about the lovely pictures.

What I really like is that this series of books have a regular set of soft toys that feature, with their names on the back of the book so that you get to know them. I think this is a really nice touch as one becomes familiar with the toys and this in turn gives an extra depth to the stories.

These books are £4.99 each, which I think is a reasonable price to pay, especially as places like Amazon do offers regularly. I would definitely recommend these books as I believe they make the perfect first book to share with your little one.

When We Play Together and When We Go Shopping are both available by Nick Butterworth now!

We received copies of these books for review – all opinions are our own – review by Karen

We Love Books at Mum Friendly

by jo

BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge – Week 3

I’m starting to feel like there should be some kind of announcer, a bit like when The Apprentice is on, doing a swift recap of the previous week and all the things I’ve learnt.

If you don’t want to read what I’ve found out this week, then let’s just get it over with – I’ve lost another 2lb!

Actually, one of the great things about this challenge is finding out what others are doing, stealing the idea and making it work for me – and one of those is the very excellent Sonya over at Ramblings of a Rock n Roll Mum who suggested substituting butternut squash (nul points – to be said in Eurovision voice), when everyone’s having baked potato. Even better, I made a ton of veg and added some mashed butternut squash to the top and voila, a sort of veggie Shepherds Pie which came in around six points – and there’s enough for two nights too.

Work-wise I’ve got my snacking under control (though it has been a stupidly busy week) – my Graze box I’ve been getting has snacks at around 100 calories tops, so 2-3 point snacks.

I’m finding my way around the app a bit more now too – every night I was typing out the same vegetables until tonight I spotted the ‘Recently Added’ section which saves me a bit of time. Also Clare at Seasider in the City  pointed out the app will also work offline which I hadn’t realised – something that I’m going to find useful as I’m on my iPod Touch relying on free internet when I’m out and about (but not any more!).

WeightWatchers app options

I’ve also started looking at the recipes – and I’m liking that you can add the ingredients to your shopping list within the app, so you know exactly what to buy, so I’ll be planning my Ocado shop this way this week. I did notice some of the recipes in the cookbooks weren’t in the app, so I’m adding them manually as I go along.

WeightWatchers app recipe

Oh, and we made a Pea and Sweet Potato Korma from the WeightWatchers cookbook which was delicious!

Things I’ve found out this week: most supermarkets stock WeightWatchers food – however, most of it seems to be ready meals that are meaty, so not much use to me. Those supermarkets that don’t have their own brand ones (cough, Tesco, Waitrose), but the vegetarian options are poor – for example broccoli and pasta – which would take around 5-10 minutes to make anyway. Nowhere is stocking the cheese and tomato WeightWatchers pizza which I’m dying to try – though Sainsburys are stocking the meaty ones which is a start (even if I can’t eat them).

Poundland again came up trumps as far as snacks go – I picked up another £5 worth of snacks including pitta bread. They stock the wraps too – and there are deals to be had which is a much more impressive range than the supermarkets.

I checked out our local Iceland who have some of the Heinz WeightWatchers meals, including six chocolate eclairs at £1.50 and only two points per eclair. They taste pretty good too, we treated ourselves yesterday. A regular one would come in somewhere between 6-8 points (and I just looked up Krispy Kreme’s – 10 points – that was out of curiosity, but that’s a meals-worth; food for thought there) – worth knowing when you don’t want to deny yourself the food, but you don’t want to go over your points allowance.

Super Amazing Mum has a bloghop going on, so head over there to read others progress on the BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best challenge – and don’t forget, you can try it for £1 if you click this link (and you get to trial the app for free too)!

WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge with BritMums

I’ve been provided with six months of free WeightWatchers membership, plus I received a hamper of WW goodies. All opinions are my own.

by jo

App Time – Around the Clock by Wombi

H is a bright little girl and wants to learn, which is great. We’ve been doing lots of learning how to tell the time but couldn’t find anything which could give it a context – she’ll look at the clock on the wall and work out the time, but doesn’t quite get it yet – mainly the time of day.

Around the Clock by Wombi

Then ‘Around the Clock’ came into our lives – a really charming app which has plenty of fun as well as learning in there – you’ve a clock which has a window next to it, so you know if it’s day or night – and a little activity once you hit the ‘play’ button which will also relate to the time of day.  The app is an introduction to the clock and how a day can look, rather than teaching your child to tell the time (though it helps!)

Around the Clock by Wombi

The tasks are really simple, but clever enough to be fun so H was never bored – and given there’s 24 hours in the day, that’s 24 different parts of the game. Each game has a fairly simple straightforward task for the bear to do and once a challenge is completed you get a happy bear.

Around the Clock by Wombi

The Guardian listed Around the Clock in their Top 50 Best Apps for Kids too!

Here’s a YouTube video so you get a proper idea of how it works –

Around the Clock gets a thumbs up from us – anything which is educational and fun is a good thing – and this fits exactly where we are with learning right now – I’d highly recommend if your child is starting to learn to tell the time.

Around the Clock is available from the App Store and costs £1.99

We received a promo code to review this app, all opinions are our own.

App Time at Mum Friendly

by jo

Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book – A Review and Giveaway

Justin's Sticker Book

Justin Fletcher never needs an introduction once you have children. He’s everywhere, especially in the world of Cbeebies. He made it into the Top Twenty this year with his ‘Hands Up’ album (which was on repeat when we went to North Wales and had a CD player in the car) and he had a Joke Book published. What on earth could he come up with next?

Oh, only a fabulous sticker book – complete with fifteen pages ready for some reusable stickers. The minute it arrived H was beyond excited, with squeals of “STICKERS!” “CLOWNS!” “PIRATES!!!!!” and of course “JUSTIN!!!!” as she looked through the pages. You get four pages of stickers which peel easily from the pictures once they’re stuck and plenty of variety with your sticker options too. My only complaint – no Cliff Tumble!!

Justin's Sticker Book

We peeled a few stickers off, and H being just three demanded we recreate all the pictures on the front of the book. Once she’d done that she then demanded we stick the stickers wherever she wanted them, so we had a few interesting creations….

Justin's Sticker Book

As she’s currently having to wear an eyepatch for two hours every day, this was a fantastic indoor activity, plus it’s helping improve her hand-eye co-ordination (not that it’s bad, but patched up she’s using her weaker eye) – and using the stickers wasn’t a problem at all – they’re huge sturdy stickers and easy to remove.

Justin's Sticker Book

There was one pair of glasses which didn’t make it though – so I’d say your child would need adult supervision initially, but once the stickers have been removed, let them go a bit crazy!

Justin's Sticker Book

We’re really happy to be able to offer a copy of Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book as a giveaway – all you have to do is answer the very easy Rafflecopter question correctly – good luck!

Justin's Sticker Book

Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book is published by Faber Kids and has a RRP of £3.99. It’s currently £2.99 on Amazon – and we think it’s a fab stocking filler!

We were sent a copy of the book for review, all opinions are our own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We Love Books at Mum Friendly

by jo

BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge Week 2

Hello! Here’s my Week 2 update. Firstly, may as well break the good news – I appear to have lost 3lb! I don’t want them back, thankyou, so if you do happen to find them they’re all yours.

So this week has been an interesting one. I’ve made some discoveries – I can eat the same as I did pre-WW, it’s about the portion sizes (most of which I’d been doing way too high) – which has been very easy to fix.

My biggest problem last week was my lunches at work. I’d be choosing a sandwich and doing the Sainsburys £3 meal deal, trying to find a healthy option (and usually failing) – a sandwich would come in at around 14 points which is really too high. HOWEVER – they have their healthy range, and an egg mayo sandwich comes in at around 7 points – not the most exciting of sandwiches there – AND they’ve put the points on the sandwich. Alas my local Sainsburys doesn’t always have them in stock, so my new fall back is sushi – as I’d never have thought they’re low points – but they are. Oh, and I don’t actually have to do a meal deal – who needs Snack A Jacks and fruit juice anyway? I only bought them as it worked out at a good discount.

So now I’m a little more on track than I was last week. Eventually I’ll get some energy and make food the night before, but for now I’m pleased I can buy something that’s low points. I also tried soup for the first couple of days, although that prevents me leaving my desk and having a walk for lunch (and every single little walk is being tracked on Endomondo now, to make sure I’m getting everything logged properly) – so I wont do it every day. That works out really low, points-wise.

The WeightWatchers app is helping me a lot, it’s like some little creature with its own little personality trapped in my iPod – me and the app are in a little bit of a battle, and one which I’m winning – just by me keeping within my points. I’ve dipped into ‘the overdraft’ a couple of times (and only by 2 points when I have), so I feel like it’s definitely me 3, WW app 1. We’ll see. It’s also really good for working out portion sizes when we’re out and about. Being on the iPod means I’m not online all the time, but there’s so many networks available when you’re on the go I’m logging everything quickly. It’s really convenient and much faster than doing it directly online – it’s also really straightforward to add items to the system.

Poundland stock a decent range of WeightWatchers food – so I got a load of things (snacks for work and so on) for a fiver which pleased me a lot – including some crisps – the nachos – which are really tasty. Even better they’re on a 6 packs for the price of 4 kind of deal, so that’s over a weeks worth of snacks at work there – and at 2 points per pack. They’ve also got the bread rolls – and they’re proper bake in the oven rolls – 2 points each again and they taste really  good.

In addition to this weightloss, my jeans are feeling quite loose – I was even able to fit my camera into one of the front pockets (something I’ve never been able to do)! I fear I may need to spend money soon… not too soon but soon… and I only got these jeans at Christmas…

We ate out today at Pizza Express where I tried one of their 500 calorie pizzas (which will be approximately 12 points – the kind with the salad in the middle) – and while I wasn’t full afterwards I can have some fruit or veg when I get home if I need to snack.

Looking ahead, next weekend could be our first quiet one in ages, so we’re going to attempt to cook something from our WeightWatchers cookbook, so hopefully this time next week I’ll be reporting back on that.

So yes, a positive week so far – I’ve been able to have wine, gin, pizza and not go over my points. I did plenty of activities (walking mainly) which earned me some really good points – and I lost that weight. Excellent! I’m also being realistic, I know I’m not going to lose lots next week like this as otherwise by Christmas I’ll be a stick, quite possibly – but I’ll keep on keeping on, oh yes indeedy.

WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge with BritMums

Disclosure – I have been given six months of free WeightWatchers membership. All opinions are my own.

by jo

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

Okay, so first off the disclaimer. I was a Brownie and a Guide and never once did I do orienteering. Maybe someone else knew something I didn’t (as I’m quite well-known within the family for taking longer detours when they’re meant to be a short cut), but having a compass and plotting things and doing whatever you do has never happened in my life. I’ve also never been a rambler (apart from in speech and writing).

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

So today we tried out Geocaching – as our local National Trust place Polesden Lacey does it. As we’re National Trust Members it didn’t cost us a thing, just our membership card as a deposit for the GPS receiver – which already had everything pre-programmed in. All we had to do was follow the co-ordinates on the GPS to find each Geocache, sign the logbook and move onto the next one. We were also provided with a map.

Simple, right?

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

Actually, bar number 1 and 3 we did find everything – at the start we had no idea what we were looking for and number 3 was impossible to find – but once we got to the second one and found a round container with a film tube inside it with a roll of paper which is in fact the logbook (I signed all ours with H’s name) it all clicked – and became fun for all of us (before then Shaun was complaining a bit that it was a bit boring). I was particularly smug when we found number 12 and were the first people to find it today – considering there’d been a good five or six people before us too. Ner!

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

The GPS receiver had our route pre-programmed in, and the few times I accidentally pressed that we’d completed one level it was easy enough to backtrack in the receiver and find the clue we’d missed (I even did one manually, go me and my supposed lack of navigational skills!) – oh, and I forgot to say, the man at Polesden Lacey told us “this used to be called Orienteering you know” – to which I piped up “ah, and then it got all modern with computers and stuff, right?” – I get it!

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

We got to walk around parts of the grounds we’d never visited before which was good – including a killer hill all the way back up towards the end of our favourite tree tunnel. H was amazing and walked most of it – though was really tired by the end. I tracked it in Endomondo and it comes in at 2.2 miles which isn’t too bad a distance.

We’re now on the lookout for more Geocaches locally – I’ve been told there’s one on Epsom Downs so that might be our next one – and the best bit? In some of the geocaches people leave a little present. If you want that little present then you substitute it with something of equal value. H decided she wanted a little toy chick, so we left a conker, but then she wanted a ladybird so we traded the chick for that – so she’s learning she can’t just take things without leaving something for the next person too which I reckon is a pretty good lesson. (it’s also a good way to find a new home when you’re overwhelmed with party bag trinkets)

 

By the time we got to the end we were close enough to the cafe/restaurant area, so treated ourselves to a nice National Trust ice cream – I reckon we earned it!

I bet I’d have been quite good at orienteering too. Hmph.

Official Geocaching Site

National Trust places with free Geocaching (deposit of some kind may be required)

by jo

App Time – Magic Belles

Magic Belles Logo

Have you heard of Magic Belles? There’s six of them and they live in Bellevue. They’re colourful, have pleasant music accompanying them and there’s quite a lot to do – spotting things, colouring in, animated stories, crafts – oh and there’s also the Flutterbud Club (and we’re loving Rainbow Belle’s Rainbow ring)! They’re targeted at girls, particularly ones of H’s age; three and upwards. Here’s what their creators Luma Creative have to say:

Magic Belles is a brand with good values and special wishes:

  1. To help little girls appreciate the many wonders of life.
  2. To celebrate and encourage their talents.
  3. To engage them in the magic of music.

We hope, with your help, that these wishes can come true!

We were given an opportunity to review the Magic Belles app, which has just been released. I sat with H and we went through each section so we could see what you had to do. I’m very much a fan of letting her work out games herself with minimal help from me, and happily she played immediately and with no help – a very good sign.

Magic Belles Homepage

So the app opens and you’re greeted with this page. If you’re familiar with the Magic Belles website, then clicking the blue bird in the middle will take you to a very familiar page

Magic Belles

Drag each Magic Belle onto the star and they’ll play their tune (which is quite lovely and hypnotic!). However, if you know about this already, chances are you’ll be exploring all the other parts of the game…

Here’s what you get:Magic Belles - how to play

So as you can see there’s more than just the games – little extras and what H and I love is how lovely it looks – bright and colourful and most of all fun! (and an additional huge bonus point from me – no Comic Sans to be seen ANYWHERE which is a good thing!)

Magic Belles

Of all the games, H’s favourite by far is Cupcake Belle’s one – she always going back to that one first – though loves playing Star Belle’s dot to dots game (and has a real sense of pride every time she completes one). MY favourite is Love Belle’s guitar game when I can get a turn…

All the games are really straightforward to play – they’re not complicated at all. We also celebrate music in this house and I love how each game follows the same overall tune but is based around each Belle’s part. The extras in each game are fun too, and helps with H learning to explore beyond what is obvious.

We love Magic Belles – this gets a BIG thumbs up from H!

Magic Belles: Magic Music is available from the App Store for £1.49 now. There’s a free Lite version too which has the first game – try it out!

We received a code to review this app – all opinions are our own.

App Time at Mum Friendly

by jo

Beanies – Croydon

Beanies Croydon

Once upon a time I owned too many records (actually I still do) so often made the trek to Croydon – taking some of those records to the famous Beanos – a huge second-hand record store which was over several floors. Eventually Beanos closed and reopened as a cool shop called Stuff which had loads of local businesses inside, though that only lasted a short time. Fast forward to a year or so ago and word started to spread that Beanos was set to be a place for children and was set to be re-named Beanies – who then opened in June 2011.

Considering how close we live to Croydon, it’s taken a while for me to get to Beanies which is bad of me – but after getting upstairs and having a look around I have to say, it’s fantastic! There’s little things which could be improved (I’ve already suggested to Hina that they get some insulated coffee cups to use for upstairs – the coffee stays warm and it’s less likely to spill!) but not the kinds of things which would spoil the experience.

Beanies have all kinds of things going on too – on Wednesday afternoons there was a cinema, where you could take your babies – and they showed all the John Hughes films (this is another reason I can’t quite work out why I didn’t go) in a child-friendly environment. They do yoga, football lessons, Sing & Sign, they sell Barefoot Books and have loads of classes – basically, if there’s something Beanies aren’t doing I’d be surprised. They’ve even had a Swishing Party – for kids – Little Swishers. Oh yes, they do knitting and crochet mornings too, baby massage, yoga…

There’s a cafe downstairs which is really reasonable, and plenty of space for buggies. There’s also second-hand clothes and toys which are worth a look. Upstairs is the soft play area where there are toys, toys and even more toys as well as some dressing up costumes – suitable for up to 5 years. You pay £5 if your child is  1-4 (up to their 5th birthday), adults go free. If your child is over six months but under a year then it’s £2.50. There’s settees everywhere, Ikea highchairs around and plenty for your little ones to do; it’s a fabulous place.

We haven’t made it up to the top floor yet but I’m guessing that’s where the cinema is – which is by the way, free if you have some food there or £3 otherwise.

Quack Quack Moo are coming to Beanies – a brand we’re very aware of after meeting them at the Brighton Baby Show – and to celebrate on October 11th there’s a whole day of activities – including meeting Peppa Pig. Alas I’ll be at work, but all the info is here – plus they’re offering 50% off the Barefoot Books range which I’m quite tempted by – having been a Barefoot seller in the past… see, they’re not just limited to daytime – there’s an evening do there, going from 7pm until midnight. Heck, I could get the bus home afterwards!! This is like a night out! (I’m a bit excited)

If you’re in the Croydon area please support Beanies. They’re not too far from the main shopping area, they’re all really friendly and helpful – there’s membership available which pays for itself if you plan to go more than three times a month (and it gets cheaper over time too – a year costs £90 – so that’s 18 visits). The cafe is free and child-friendly (though be aware, it’s a cafe so there’s hot drinks around). They even have little toilets for kids – no locks on the door – for the first time ever H and I went into our own cubicles which I was more than a bit proud of (and she felt like a proper big girl!)

Beanies do deals via Groupon as well, so keep an eye out – there was a fantastic deal recently to have your party there (yes they do parties too!) – so keep an eye out.

To sum up Beanies, it’s a place created by mums for mums – they know the kind of things you want and need, and it’s all there over the three (or is it four?) floors of the building formerly known as Beanos. It’s kind of weird and good (and a bit sad too as I miss the old shop) sitting in the area I’d take my CD singles and 7″ singles to sell and it’s now a huge soft play area my daughter is benefiting from – and we’ll be back for more. Plus you get to meet other local mums – I wish Beanies had existed while I was on maternity leave as I’d definitely have spent lots of time there!

Beanies Website

Beanies on Facebook

Beanies on Twitter