Archive for the ‘Product reviews’ Category
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26
Feb
2010
Pocoyo; Great TV For Even the Tiniest Tots
If you, like me, find it hard to think of things to do with a very young baby, you should take a look at the Pocoyo series. My baby is 7 months old and I’m pretty much constantly changing whatever basic object it is in his hand every 5 minutes because that’s how long it takes for him to get bored. He can’t crawl yet, build blocks, draw or doing anything particularly engaging and I had thought that it was far too early for television. But he actually seems to love Pocoyo.
The white background, bright colours and lively music of Pocoyo have just enough sound and movement to capture the interest of the youngest infants. It’s a welcome addition to the arsenal of entertainment tools with which I am constantly attempting to kill the boredom.
The best part is that I think it’s really cute and funny and enjoy watching it with him. The narrators are delightful in both Spanish and English. Stephen Fry does the English version. Parents generally seem to find the shows pretty entertaining – evident from comments on websites and forums, which is a quite an accomplishment when it’s a programme that’s made for the very youngest infants.
17
Feb
2010
Private Cord Blood Banking
When we fell pregnant with N all our friends told us to get on to cord blood banking. Debate ensued as to which of the private cord banks were the best. Private cord banks are big here. There are seven operating in Spain, and their marketing is evidently effective. At no time did anyone address whether banking your cord blood with a private bank was the right thing to do. So confident were they of the need for private cord blood banking that one can see how expecting parents come to assume that cord blood banking is a given obligation. It almost feels un-parent like to be questioning the benefits of committing to anything that might benefit your child in future. ‘How could we not invest in something that may one day save our child’s life?’ you ask yourselves. This line of thinking is encouraged directly (or indirectly via your peers) by the well executed and powerful marketing messages of private banks. Private cord blood banking is a very expensive programme with questionable benefits. You need to go beyond the marketing material to make your decision.
12
Feb
2010
San Miguel Food Market Madrid
The San Miguel Market (Mercado de san Miguel) in Madrid is an exciting culinary and entertainment addition to the centre of Madrid, long overdue. Very overdue in fact. The building sat empty for over 10 years. It has been beautifully renovated and the food displays are a pleasure to look at as well as feast on. You can sip on champagne while sliding back freshly shucked oysters or grab a tray of tapas and a beer to enjoy under the high ceilings of the light and airy interior.
If you go on the weekend, try to arrive outside of 2:30 to 3:30 when it gets a little bit crazy – but if you arrive at peak hour, the insiders trick is to enter through the “back door”, the entrance farthest from plaza mayor where there is more space than the hordes realize. We found a space even with pram in tow.
San Miguel Market and Surrounding Buildings
4
Feb
2010
Make your own personalised word cloud canvas
I stumbled across website wordle.net a few months ago. Wordle lets you create your own word cloud image. I have been pondering ever since what a great gift it would be to use it to create a unique canvas for your baby’s room, or as a gift for, well, anyone. Or maybe you just want one for your own living room.
You can create your own word cloud image on wordle by entering a list of words and then changing the font, colours and the way the words are arranged. The image is yours to use as you wish, so you can save the file you’ve created and have it printed on canvas. (Google “print on canvas” and you’ll find any number of sites that will print your image on canvas and send it to you. Assuming you don’t live in Tristan da Cunha*).
28
Jan
2010
Child attacked by face eating bear
This is my son. Not, as it may appear to an alarmed parent in the middle of the night, being suffocated by a wild brown animal, but voluntarily, softly rubbing his face up against his FLATOUTbear.
Apparently FLATOUTbears are already pretty well known to many parents, but there may be a few of you still unfamiliar with these teddy bears, or, like me before, were aware but not especially enamored with them — at least not with any more affection than for your average cuddly bear. Now, however, I totally get why flat is good.
You can’t rub a normal bear on your face like that. Nor, most likely, would you want to — the snout and belly and all those other curves would make it not quite as pleasant. There’s nothing wrong with curvy bears, I’m sure they’re good for lots of things, but being plastered against baby’s head, well, that’s where FLATOUTbears really come into their own.
19
Jan
2010
Party on Parents, the Babyphone iphone application is your portable baby sensor
Hold on to your hats iphone fans, I may have found the most useful iphone application ever. Well, let’s not forget about Total Baby, which is still going strong for me, but let’s just say I’m at least as excited as I was when I discovered that trusty application. My latest discovery is the BabyPhone iphone app, which, in the briefest of explanations, let’s you monitor your baby with your iphone – calling or emailing another designated phone number (or email) when it senses your baby crying or moving. It works; I’ve already tested it on the Christmas, New Year party circuit. Quite simply, it’s genius.
Koolistov BabyPhone iphone application, Activiation Screen
No more popping in and out of the party/dining room every five seconds to see if your precious one is still sleeping peacefully in the room where you’ve left him or her, as opposed to the hysterical crying you’re constantly imagining could be going on unnoticed and unattended. No more pretending to listen to conversations and appear relaxed when you’re actually wound up like a rubber band trying to separate the sounds of voices from what could possibly be a cry from the distant room. No more ducking in and out of the party to plaster your ear against the door or opening the door only to find the baby was sleeping… until you opened the door.
12
Jan
2010
Baby Carriers – are you a hippy or a trendy?
I know very little about baby carriers and slings. But I am nothing if not helpful, and someone asked me the other day about which one was the best, so Alex – this one’s for you. Oh, and anyone else pondering the great unknown of the carrying/wearing world. Just writing to Alex would be weird. Although she is already probably slightly uncomfortable at having a whole post dedicated to her. Quite selfish the rest of you are thinking? I know – Alex is like that. Anyway, poor Alex, don’t be mean to her if you meet her, she can’t help being like that.
So slings, carriers and pack thingies – they are your big three segments. Slings are for babywearing hippies, carriers for trendy inner-city types and packs for healthy ruddy-faced outdoorsy types. Who carry hiking sticks. Got that? I love a good generalisation. Now this is not supposed to be the pinnacle of research, just a point in the right direction for beginners, to start you off even better than my ramblings, you might want to read this Which column.
20
Dec
2009
Things I have wasted money on
If you ask my husband — most of my wardrobe, half the bathroom cabinet, all of my top drawer, the spice cupboard, the bottom three shelves of the bookshelf and everything in my half of the CD rack — falls into this category. But for the purposes of this post I will keep it to Items I Have Bought for Children or Childbearing Purposes. Also known as Things Kate’s Friends Should Have Told Her.
17
Dec
2009
The Very Talented Anneka Tran
"Single Tree" 3D Illustration by Anneka Tran. Visit her blog at http://annekatran.blogspot.com/
Many of you I am sure have been admiring the illustrations on our site. We’ve put them there to distract you from the writing. All of them were done by illustrator Anneka Tran, a young, energetic and very talented lady from Staffordshire, England. Anneka has her own blog and website which shows her amazing selection of illustrations and work.
The blog also gives an indication of her impressive work ethic, with something new and gorgeous posted almost every week. When we brief Anneka for an illustration it takes longer for us to pick up her response email and approve the drafts than it does for Anneka to whip the illustration itself. Sometimes it’s actually scary.
The artist’s latest, self-assigned large scale project was an illustration (well more like a series of illustrations) of The Table Of Elements. How’s THAT for self-motivation? I don’t think I have ever given myself an assignment. If I hadn’t partnered with Kate on this blog and given myself some outside pressure I wouldn’t get anything done. You can check out Anneka’s Table Of Elements here. Art meets geek, and the result is amazing. Be sure to scroll down on the article to see the larger images.
13
Dec
2009
For the slack Christmas shoppers – last minute ideas
I was going to do a long post on Christmas present ideas. Then I started getting them come in thick and fast from my favourite blogs and I decided that:
a) I had left it too late
b) I couldn’t possibly outdo the lists I have already been sent and
c) Why on earth would I rewrite a whole post that I was clearly going to shamelessly copy from other sources anyway (ah, Internet, bless your cotton socks)?
So I thought I would highlight a few fun ideas/gifts and then give you the links to my favourite present lists for you to peruse at your leisure (or not – Christmas is only 12 days away. If you haven’t finished yet you’re absolutely buggered).
Nice traditions for book-loving parents
- See Jacqui’s post on passing down books. What a gorgeous idea.
- Stolen from Babyology – think about starting a tradition where you give each child a special book – like a special hardcover or vintage book. Do books come in vintage? We’ve bought the Mouse a hardcover set of Beatrix Potter. I hope she doesn’t read this and find out. She is 14 weeks and VERY advanced.
10
Dec
2009
Truly awesome newborn present
I have just received a gift from my cousin for the recent birth of my first baby. I opened the package to see a slightly tattered and dog eared edition of Graeme Base’s “The Eleventh Hour”.
The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base
It’s a wonderful, beautifully illustrated book with a captivating story in the form of a rhyme, including a who-dunnit mystery for the reader to solve.
But what makes this present really special is that this book was first given to my little sister, 21 years ago. My mother then gave the book to my cousin’s younger sister and then each of my cousin’s three children in turn have enjoyed the book being read to them hundreds of times. And now I have the book for my own child to enjoy. In it my gorgeous cousin has written an inscription to my little baby wishing him the same joy it has brought to all the children who’s sticky fingers and eager eyes have absorbed its pages before him. It’s a beautiful thing to see that list of names in the inscription.
I can’t wait to give it to my little sister for her first child, already on it’s way, so that the book will have come full circle.
26
Nov
2009
Pram, stroller, buggy warmer bag, footmuff whatsits
The NASA certified Outlast Snuggle Bag from Pushchairs.co.uk
For those of you coming into the colder months, if you don’t have a stroller bag or fleece you may already be tiring of putting on and removing three layers of clothing each time you step outdoors and return. And you know how much babies love to get in and out of clothing. About as much as a cat likes to be bathed.
So I can highly recommend investing in a stroller bag/buggy sleeping bag/footmuff/pram-thingy-that-goes-by-infinite-names. You’ll avoid the whole layering trauma and keep your baby warm and comfortable for each outing. They have places for the safety straps to go through so they stay in place and keep your baby in place too. So what are the options? Naturally they range from expensive to more affordable.
You’ll probably find that your pram/buggy/stroller will sell some form of fleece as an accessory to the pram. However, we’ve found there are often better options and I’ve put together some suggestions ranging from more expensive to reasonable, but all of them, in my opinion, good value.
23
Nov
2009
More top tips before having a baby including great things to buy
This is not me interviewing my mates.
OK, further to yesterday’s top tips from my mates, here is the second part of my scientific research project…
What did you wish you had done in the early days?
- Travelled more when he was small! We didn’t take any weekend breaks which are so much easier before the wee one starts to want to move around.
- Taken more holidays – they are much easier to travel with when they are small.
- Written down the dates of her key milestones (crawling, sitting, walking) etc. I’ve already forgotten a lot of them.
- Printed off photos and started an album straight away, kept a record of milestones and videoed the first seven months as only got the camera out at 8 months.
- Had baby Panadol in the house after the first immunisation. Big mistake!
- Not wished the time away. I look back and wonder where the various stages have gone.
- Relaxed and gone with the flow! They are only tiny for such a short time so I wish I had felt that I didn’t have to be doing something all the time.
- Got more stuff in the freezer for post-baby.
18
Nov
2009
Wallpaper porn & other fabulous things Scandinavians are good at
"Feather" wallpaper from Scandanavian Design Center
I am loving Scandinavian design right now. I came across online store Huset shop recently – “your house for modern Scandinavian living”. It has so much truly awesome stuff I don’t even know where to start. So just go there. I suggest you start small – with the kids section – and then go as far as your credit card will take you.
A few days before that discovery, I stumbled across this other piece of Scandinavian fabulousness (while reading some high brow fashion magazine that I can now no longer recall); Scandinavian designed wallpaper from a company called Scandinavian Design Center. I love the patterns. They are works of art. As far as I am qualified to identify what is art. Which is not at all. But take it from me, it’s a delight for the eyes. Not even sore eyes. Just eyes in general. I could stare at the wallpaper and fabrics all day and, seeing as the article was only 5 pages long, I had to take my addiction to their web page where I was delighted to browse pages and pages of wallpaper and fabric designs which I stared at for many, many minutes and at least two cups of tea. I should have been doing other things and not coveting that which I can not pay for or find a place
11
Nov
2009
Baby Deli Madrid
Madrid has a new(ish) and very cool destination for parents and children, the likes of which we’ll hopefully see more of before too long. Baby Deli is the project of interior designer and Mum Tatiana Arelle and her three business partners, all young, successful Mums. Among them is fashion designer Carolina Herrera. The shop includes a food and toy range (of ecological and commercially-just products), cafe, and classes for babies, mums and infants.
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- Baby Deli Madrid
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- Entrance
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- Activities Board
10
Nov
2009
What is Etsy? Helping you keep up with the cool kids.
If you get any cool blog alerts sent to you, or tend to trawl the web a bit (in a very non geek-I-have-a-life manner), you will no doubt have come across references to ‘Etsy’. And if you are genuinely cool and don’t surf, you should still pay attention because Etsy is actually really good. Not in a facebook/twitter/2.0 kind of way – in an oh my goodness, some of these things are beautiful, I must buy something immediately kind of way.
So Etsy is like a massive online shop, where people who make things can sell their wares. But we are not talking all painted light globes and pet rocks here (although I am sure they are there somewhere), there are actually high quality, beautiful and individual pieces of jewellery, craft, art and clothing, alongside vintage gear. According to Wikipedia (and what quality journalist wouldn’t quote Wikipedia?) it has been compared to “a crafty cross between Amazon and eBay”. Don’t get me wrong – there is some utter sh*te , but there are also some fab pieces.
So – in order to sound truly hip and with it, feel free to drop the following conversational gems into dinner party chit-chat:
9
Nov
2009
Pregnancy massages – or why there is discrimination in the world’s leading expert field.
I consider myself a bit of an expert on pregnancy massages. Not one of the world’s leading experts or anything. Although I would be more than willing to throw my hat in the ring for the role. Except if it involved being pregnant again. Which it probably would. Surely that’s discrimination or something? I should email the people in charge of giving out these World’s Leading Expert roles and point out my skill set – surely someone could run it up a flagpole for discussion? I’m very good at thinking outside the box and being strategic. ANYWAY.
The best pregnancy massages I ever had were at Body Freedom in Melbourne. Just a smallish salon but my god, do they know their fat-bellied women. Seriously good stuff. None of this hole in a table business – beautiful body length pillows and crisp white sheets on a comfy futon. I don’t know if she’s still there, but Jacqui has magic fingers and makes you feel all floppy and sleepy – the sign of a good massage for me (even though those World’s Leading Experts people don’t know a good thing when it emails them).
4
Nov
2009
8 reasons why I love IKEA (but not the Billy Bookcase) and other storage solution meccas.
I love IKEA. As I have already posted previously, my love borders on the extreme. I also have love for Howard’s Storage World in Australia and Lakeland in the UK. Something about a massive catalogue and an innovative storage solution makes me overly excited. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (yes, this is just a clever ploy to allow me to write yet another list):
- Because it makes me think I can be better. It’s a bit like starting the new school year – everytime I visit a store and see a new clever way to store my magazines, I think I’m going to be good. This time I will be neat and tidy and everything will be in an easily accessible and yet attractive place in my sleek Scandinavian home. A man called Sven will whip up meatballs and lingonberry juices (no, I don’t know if lingonberries really exist either). In short, my life will be perfect.
29
Oct
2009
Happy Birthday Asterix and Thank You Rene Goscinny
Today is the 50th anniversary of Asterix and Obelisk. Happy Birthday guys! For certain people this is a BIG deal. It’s top news here in Spain and I am personally hoping to see some people, very large men specifically, celebrating by baring their man breasts and donning stripey trousers and wigs. I know weird. I can’t explain it.
But the the thing for which I REALLY love René Goscinny (other than bringing us large men in high pants) is the result of one of his other collaborations with an illustrator, this time Jean-Jacques Sempé; the book series, “Le Petit Nicolas”, or, in English, Little Nicholas (published by Phaidon, who have a dedicated website to the series here).
I fell in love with Little Nicholas while reading the Spanish version to practise my Spanish. I guessed it would be better than studying grammar exercises, and I was right. I CRIED with laughter all the time (see, that doesn’t happen when practicing verb conjugation) and I only understood about 50% of what I was reading.
28
Oct
2009
Bonds Easysuit not so easy
I think Bonds is great. And they make great stuff for babies. But something went horribly wrong with their Easysuit because not only is it not easy, it’s the OPPOSITE of easy. It is literally the most difficult item of clothing I have ever had to put on my child.
The problem starts with the head. It’s not, as the word easy would imply, a cross over bodysuit that does up along the front, which is actually the only type of clothing I would buy for the baby until recently (now 4 months old), because trying to get their head through a head hole is just not worth the trouble. I don’t know how Bonds managed to miss this fact because every mother you ask says the same; babies get VERY objectionable about having their head shoved through a tight little elastic hole and then they get SERIOUSLY hysterical about the next step – trying to get their arms through the clothing which is consequently tightly scrunched around their neck. Bonds didn’t even try for the “American” style neck opening which is supposed to make things easier, which I guess it does but in a holding your nose makes it easier to eat brussel sprouts type way; it’s still not great.
