Review of The Baby Show 2013 - Kensington Olympia

The MamaBabyBliss stand

Well after a very long and tiring day, we are back home from The Baby Show. First off I have to say I was really impressed with how things were organised as at around 11.30am when we arrived it took just minutes to get through into the hall itself. First tip: make sure you grab a hall map as not all the aisles line up so you could accidentally miss something good.

The first thing we did was sign up for the British Red Cross First Aid for Babies and Children. It is free and there are sessions throughout the day that give you basic, but essential knowledge on what to do if your child chokes, is burnt or unconscious. Make sure you sign up on arrival as sessions fill up quickly.

The next stop for us was the Mothercare stand where we snapped up some clothes for the Mini Grumpy Egyptian that were discounted. The VEtech and Chicco toy areas were also great and I got some good ideas for Christmas.

The Babies R Us area was well discounted and on the way there visit the Prima Baby stand where for £20 I got a years magazine subscription and choice of 4 Tommee Tippee free gifts. They are also selling goodie bags for £2 that have October and November issues of the magazines as well as a load of products.



A selection of the Funky Giraffe bibs we bought

Sadly I missed the talks I wanted to listen to, but did visit the speaker's respective stalls and get some good tips. After the Babies R Us area, make sure to keep an eye out for the Fisher-Price life-size rocker that adults can sit in!

When it comes to the smaller brands, it was nice to put a face to some of those I follow on Twitter. I got to meet the guys behind The Gro Company and see the product in person. I didn't get one in the end but on reflection wish I had because with these cold nights the MGE will need it. My favourite item was the travel bag that could safely be worn with a car seat.

Another brand I enjoyed meeting was MamaBabyBliss who launched their new CDs for both expectant and new mums as well as a birthing kit at the show. They kindly gave me a copy of their CD for new mums (The Mama & BabyBliss CD) that along with other things teaches you about baby massage - something I've struggled with in the past. A review of the CD will follow shortly. They also have a gorgeous range of products that smell fantastic. Holly Matthews, who acts as brand ambassador for them was even there to sign CDs.

I did make good use of the Tommee Tippee feeding area with breast pads and rocking chairs, as well as microwaves and free Plum baby food. There is also a baby changing area (ran by ASDA) that has changing tables, free wipes and nappies as well as talc/nappy cream.

On the way out we stocked up on Funky Giraffe bibs - 5 for £10 or 12 for £20.

The only downside related to public transport and the lack of signposting telling those wanting to go in Clapham Junction direction that there wasn't a lift to the footbridge and they had to walk all the way round, but that wasn't really the fault of The Baby Show!

All in all we had a great day and really had to work hard to keep our cash in our pockets! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did and see you next year.

*DISCLAIMER* I did win tickets to The Baby Show in a Tommee Tippee Freebie Friday competition on Facebook, but was not required to write about the show

The Baby Show 2013

I never win anything. Well until last week when I won two tickets to The Baby Show 2013 – Olympia Kensington, in the weekly Tommee Tippee Freebie Friday competition. I enter this competition on Facebook every week so was rather excited when I got an email saying I had won. The show runs from October 25-27 and features everything from shopping to advice and a load more competitions.

While there I want to take a British Red Cross First Aid class, listen in on talks by Clare Byam-Cook (breastfeeding), Jo Tantum (sleep) and Annabel Karmel (weaning), visit the Nipper Clipper Nail Salon (invented by the guy that won The Apprentice a couple of years back) for tips as I’m terrified of doing the Mini Grumpy Egyptian’s nails and spend a penny or two on some early Christmas presents in the shopping area.

I am hoping to go up on the Friday so will try and do a review that night to help anyone that comes across this post while researching pre-visit. Who else is going to be visiting the show? Any tips on what talks or stalls not to miss?

Tickets are still available to buy so if interested click HERE for more details.

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I'm not in anyway linked with The Baby Show, just an excited mummy who happened to win some tickets.

Buying second-hand

When we found out that I was pregnant, The Grumpy Egyptian and I began planning what we were going to buy for our little one, but not once did the idea of buying second-hand come up. That was until we found out how much things for babies cost! It seems like shops take a cheap item, add the word baby to it and an extra couple of pounds. Where we were living in Oman, there was quite an active group on Facebook that allowed parents to sell baby/children items they no longer needed rather cheaply. However once we moved back to the UK I struggled to find a similar group in my hometown.

Some of my fave second-hand buys: (L-R) never used sleeping bag from Mama's & Papas, Stacking cubes and Animal Spinner

A Google search found me a group called Little Pickles Markets who organise markets for parents to sell their good-quality used items. I went along to one of these a couple of weeks ago in Winchester and despite only taking £17 ended up with numerous bags of toys, clothes, a musical mobile and books. To get across how good value this all was, I saw the same musical mobile for sale in a shop for £35… I paid £4 for this one and it looks as good as new. Aside from the usual stuff, people were also selling cots, pregnancy pillows, pushchairs, walkers and maternity clothes.

On my local NCT website, I found out about its Nearly New Sale that takes place twice a year so have put November 9 in my diary ready for that one.There are also a few websites I keep an eye out on and these include Preloved, Gumtree, Emmaus and Baby Swap or Shop.

Wooden Noah's Ark with a load of animals hidden away inside

I used to be a bit funny about going through charity shops as I remember them being musty places full of granny clothes, but that seems to have changed. A recent rumble through a couple landed me two Annabel Karmel baby recipe/weaning books, a Baby Gap coat for winter, a gorgeous puffball skirt that the Mini Grumpy Egyptian is going to look adorable in, as well as some sound books for 50p! I love wooden toys so much more than modern plastic ones so have snapped a few of those up as well for when MGE gets a bit bigger.

I am certainly going to be a lot less prudish about buying second-hand now and if anything quite enjoy searching through stuff for little hidden gems. What has been your best second-hand find? Any suggestions for other sites to keep an eye out for?

The Egyptian Mummy

Baby toiletry essentials

When I reached my 35^th week of pregnancy I realised that I really should start buying some toiletries for the Mini Grumpy Egyptian and myself in case I went into labour early. Walking around the shops, I was amazed at how much variety there is and a quick Google search showed every mum had their own favourite brands. After a couple of bad product tries... I have come up with my top picks for babies and will do a post later for mums.

Nappies

I chose the disposable route and after some horror leaks with other brands, a friend recommended I try the Tesco Loves Baby ones and we haven’t (touch wood!) had a leak yet.

Wipes

To be honest we are still changing on this one as the ones we used to get in Oman for some reason cause a reaction on the little one when we got them in the UK. Currently trying out the Tesco Loves Baby sensitive wipes and Huggies Pure wipes as they were on offer. Loving the fact the Tesco ones have a proper lid to them instead of the useless peel/restick one many wipes seem to. When it comes to nappy bags I have been using the Mothercare ones as they are scented enough that if you are somewhere without a bin and need to do an emergency change that is going to be stuck in your bag for a while, it isn’t going to get offensive!

Nappy Rash cream

We have been lucky with Mini Grumpy Egyptian that she hasn’t had much issue here, but when she did seem a bit uncomfortable I tried a couple of products and found Boots Baby SensitiveBottom Balm was the way to go on this one. It acts like a barrier cream and helps sooth any sore bits so two big ticks there.

Bedtime routine

The Mini Grumpy Egyptian has never been too keen on bedtime, but loves the water so it was really important for me to try and introduce a bedtime routine that included a nice warm bath with lots of bubbles. Currently we use Tesco Loves Baby Bath Bedtime, but it can be quite hard to get hold of so have been known to use the Johnson’s bedtime bubblebath. However worth seeking out the Tesco version as it is cheaper, has a lovely relaxing smell and gives lots of bubbles for grumpy princesses! We follow her bath with Johnsons Baby Bedtime Lotion because it smells AMAZING.

Extras

When needed we use Boots Baby Sensitive Moisturiser on her face and (for when the sun shines in the UK) a bottle of Nivea Sun Kids Caring sun lotion at 50SPF+ keeps her skin safe.

So there are my favourites. What products do you consider your essentials?

The Egyptian Mummy

New mum onboard

I moved to Muscat four and a half years ago from the UK with the intention of working two years and then moving back to the UK. A couple of months in and I met The Grumpy Egyptian (TGE) and things changed forever. Now we are married and life just got more exciting with the introduction of Mini Grumpy Egyptian (MGE) back in May 2013.When I was without kids I used to tease my friends that had children about how they were always the last one to turn up at the coffee shop, the first one to leave and instead of Chanel No 5 they were wearing Eau de Baby Powder (and that was the lucky ones!). They always smiled and I thought they were just humouring me, but now I know it was a knowing smile as they knew I was pregnant and soon I was going to be the one being teased.

When the MGE came into our lives she came with quite a spectacular bang and demanded to come out a couple of weeks early. As I recovered in the hospital room, I found myself staring at this beautiful bundle of joy that happily slept and woke almost like clockwork every two hours for a feed/change/cuddle and then dozed off again.

Despite reading the books and having younger siblings, I started to fool myself that perhaps I was going to be one of those yummy mummy types that you see other mums glaring at. Oh how wrong I was. The day after we got MGE home, the screaming and the sleepless nights began. Now I have competitions with people – when I manage to go out/talk long enough on the phone – about who has slept the least.

Now we have moved back to the UK and this blog is going to act as a way of me sharing my adventures as a new mum as well as hopefully helping some other new mums realise things never go to plan - and there is nothing wrong with that!

See you soon :)

The Egyptian Mummy (who isn't really Egyptian!)