Teething taggy!

Sent us their Teething Taggy from their Basic Beings collection! Now starts my pathetic excuses for why my photo's look so bad on this blog like:

1. I don't have an awesome camera
2. Sweetpea wasn't co-operating
3. She was so excited with it she wouldn't keep still

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH BLAH BLAH! But it's all TRUE!! Sweetpea loves her taggy and it arrived at just the right time as the last 3 weeks or so she clamps down with those little jaws of hers on anything willing (or not willing) to participate! This taggy was up to her mouth countless times and she did it all on her own. The excitement was actually priceless, the arms kept flying up with it in her hand!

What I love about it:

• The raw ring has no chemicals on it
• It is really easy for Sweetpea to grasp either the ring or fabric
• The ribbons in black and white really do keep her attention
• The obvious relief she gets from chewing on it
• The ring doesn't get soft or squishy at all from countless minutes of sucking on it
• The fabric taggy comes off easily from the ring to wash
• The taggy can also be attached to a pacifier which is a great soother for baba but makes it easier to find if the paci falls on the floor! BONUS!

Cute right?! And oh so useful!

Right no excuses could justify this pic but really she was moving so I just couldn't get a good one, you get the picture though?!

Sally, founder of be.play.learn has a really great site on encouraging your children to play and hosts workshops on "nurturing a child's natural sense of learning" and she offers one on one consultations on "creating an empowering learning environment"

 Check out the Basic Beings range! Really gorgeous and there isn't anything like it at the moment! Loooove the colours and fabrics used for this collection.

This vest with a pink headband on would make a great photo prop! Gorgeous!

  You can find them at:

http://beplaylearn.co.za/

Another wordless wednesday!

 Miss Sunshine enjoying the rays!!!

     

Wordless wednesday!

Princess at 3 years old! Going to be 7 soon!

Wishy Washy Wednesday! OH LIEF!

Sweetpea was sent two products from OH-LIEF! And OH-MY-WORD! These products are really high up on my "most wanted" list!

Every mamma just has to try their bum balm! We have pretty sensitive skin in this house and Sweetpea is no exception. She has a lovely smooth finish (sounds like a car,right?!) but her little bits are a tad sensitive. This balm has been awesome not only as a every day barrier but for any skin rashes, dry winter cheeks (on all the munchkins!), infant massage and Princess has even used it for her lips that normally dry out in the winter!

It works great with our cloth diapers and you will find a tub of this in our nappy bag, girl's room and Sweetpea's stash basket! The scent of lavender is heavenly and the pure goodness of this waxy balm is exactly that PURE!

No harsh chemicals in the Oh-lief range! Their range is 100% natural and organic raw ingredients sourced locally! It's an amazing company started by 2 sisters with a love for genuinely real natural products!

As I mentioned before, there are sensitive skins in this house and Miss Sunshine (and her daddy) are our biggest product testers, if it works on their skins it's a big PASS! Enter their aqueous cream.

This is what they had to say about it:  

The first product of its kind in South Africa, this aqueous cream contains no petroleum jellies, paraffin or mineral oils and is perfect for newborn babies.
Use as a wash-off cream or a lotion.

This is my first choice for cream on all the kiddo's in this house. It's super moisturizing but doesn't leave our skin clammy and sticky. It absorbs right in and leaves your skin silky soft, really it does! I love that it has Bentonite Clay in as it's known for it's awesome properties. It's just about cleared the tiny little bumps Miss Sunshine had on her upper arms!

OH-LIEFS bonus points is that it's free from:

• Paraffin
• Mineral oils
• Petroleum
• SLS's and SLES
• Perfume
• Fragrances
• Parabens
• Phenaxyethanol

Told you it's awesome! Want to check them out:

http://www.ohlief.com/

You can find them on  Facebook and Twitter too!

FAYE & LOU Muslins and Cozio!

Just too cute, I had to share it! Since we've received them, we use them all the time! A must have in our home!

You can purchase them at:

http://www.angellove.co.za/

Wishy washy wednesday! Victorian Garden Baby Collection

Sorry for being MIA but it's been a busy week and have had issues with our internet! Let's get straight to it though!

VICTORIAN GARDEN BABY COLLECTION

We were sent a few products from the lovely people at Victorian Garden but will reveal them all in weeks to come but today I'll be introducing you to their Purple Coneflower and Aloe Face Moisturizer. I'm actually sorry I didn't take pics of it before I applied it but Sweetpea had this really dry patch on her neck and even though I was applying cream to it after every bath it was just never going away.

So when we received the Baby Purple Coneflower and Aloe Face Moisturizer I put it on after her nappy change and no kidding it was gone after 2 applications and it hasn't come back! This is how they describe their product:

"Babies often have little dry patches of skin on the face and during winter the skin can become dry, red and itchy. This gentle non aromatic cream with Shea Butter is ideal for use on the face and neck or wherever the skin is dry. With baby-safe Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) and Aloe Gel, both offering wonderful soothing and healing properties on baby skin. Ultra Sensitive Skin – 50ml Cosmetic Jar"

Miss Sunshine looooooves cream so when she noticed that for the last few days I've been applying face cream to Sweetpea she decided she'll take over that responsibility!

This company really believes in your baby's safety and health and this is what they stand for:

At The Victorian Garden we believe that Babies deserve safe, healthy
and gentle skincare products which are free from harsh unnatural ingredients
and are a delight to use. Products which nurture and soothe. Products which
comply with our strict “green” policy on ingredients , packaging and meet
international Health and Safety requirements. We believe that Baby Care
products marketed as “natural and organic” ought to comprise ingredients
which are genuinely natural and organic to as near 100% as possible.
Unusually for the 21st century, our products are handcrafted in our own lab
using the best quality organic and natural ingredients – not mass produced,
bottled and labelled in a factory. We personally source all our own containers,
design and print our own labels and recycle where possible. That way we can
offer you world class products at an affordable price. Great care, love and
attention goes into the making of every batch of our products. We support Fair
Trade suppliers where possible and use 99% Certified Organic, non Certified
Organic and Natural ingredients. For safety reasons, the amount of essential
oils used in our Baby Products equals about one tenth of that used in our adult
formulations. All products are mild and gentle – they are petrochemical,
paraben, SLES and animal ingredient free and are not tested on animals. You
can now include your baby in your choice of “go green / go organic” lifestyle.
Within The Victorian Garden Baby Collection you will find a choice of 18
unique and unusual, safe and non toxic baby products, many of which are
based on traditional Victorian baby care recipes combining different plant
extracts popular with Victorian mothers during the 19th century. The formulas
cater for babies from the moments straight after birth, through infancy and into
the toddler stage and have been formulated by an experienced cosmetic
chemist, aromatherapist and herbalist registered with the Allied Health
Professions Council and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance ManufacturersAssociation (CTFA).

So great to see a company that is truly ALL NATURAL AND ORGANIC and their products are really of a high standard. We love them in our home and will be revealing many more of their gorgeous collections to you over the next few weeks!  

Do yourself a favour and check them out at:

www.thevictoriangarden.co.za

FLUFFY FRIDAY!!!! Snugglybum

We received a gorgeous CAMO print Snugglybum nappy to review! Now before I could even wash it to prep it for use Little Man noticed it! It's already become his favourite and he asks me to put it on which he doesn't do with any others! Wanna see?

Yip it was nap time so he had his dummy...  Little Man has it on the middle setting. It has two rows of snaps on the rise so therefore 3 sizes. So Little Man will still be able to wear this for a while.

This nappy is super trim so I was concerned if it would hold through nap time (always a test in this house!). Well it did! Really well actually! He had it on for 3 hours without a leak and then gave it the best he had in the poop explosion department! Yeah I know, it's always the new nappies that get it!

I'm used to double gussets as a big part of our stash has them so I thought this wouldn't contain a toddler on solids and a baby exclusively breastfed as it doesn't have them. Well I was wrong! It held up both times! WOOOOHOO! 

Great features on the Snugglybum:

• They are really easy to use, just stuff the pocket with the insert and you're set to go!
• Easy and quick to dry
• One size, birth to potty
• They come in GORGEOUS prints
• Are trim
• Really soft inner fabric that really keeps your baba dry
• Really a good price
• Can buy extra inserts for night time or long trips.
• Snap placement is really great. Sometimes they are placed to close to the inside of the leg so when baby sits they are against baba's legs and can leave marks. 
• Has a double layer of snaps at the top which really prevents "wing droop".
• Some snaps are easy to take off when your toddler gets to that experimental stage but these are really difficult to pull open.

What I noticed with this nappy is that it's more absorbent than my other nappies that have microfibre inserts. It was also a rather large insert so I thought it would be bulky especially on the smallest setting that I used for Sweetpea but it wasn't.

This is Sweetpea wearing it on the smallest setting. It also has overlapping wings for smaller, trimmer babies to give a tighter fit around the waist.

Did I mention they have gorgeous prints....

You can order these at their site:

http://www.snugglybum.co.za/ 

I'm in loooove with the ORGANIC BAMBOO Snugglybums. I really like these as it's only natural fibres against baba's skin! Hope to get one of these in the future!!!!

You can also find them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/snugglybumnappies

ENJOY looking around their site, really good quality and great prices and service!