I can’t wait for summer to come so she can show off her pretty bum under a cute summer dress!

So why pick Stokke Sleepi?

Not only is the iconic design pleasing on the eye, but it has many extra features too.  I love how it can be extended and change. It starts off life as a ‘Sleepi Mini’, you then add the extra panels, different base and different mattress to make it into the ‘Sleepi’. You can then remove the side to make it into a ‘Sleepi Bed’. But it doesn’t just stop there…you can then add an extension kit to make it into a Sleepi Junior. And as if that wasn’t enough, you can even make it into two chairs! As with all Stokke products you can guarantee the quality is going to be superb.

Life as Sleepi Mini…

I love that it is on wheels, which means we can move it easily from room to room in mini size.

Converting it into Cot sized Sleepi was easy, everything came included in the box…

Baby Emma went from looking massive in the Mini Sleepi, to looking tiny in the Cot Sleepi…

I am in total love with my Stokke Sleepi. It’s purple, it converts as she grows, and it looks amazing and the icing on the cake is my baby girl LOVES it.

You can win your very own Purple Stokke Sleepi with Emma’s Diary,  it’s a Pinterest competition and lots of fun. Simply pop over to http://blog.emmasdiary.co.uk/2013/05/win-stokke-sleepi-package-in-purple.html for full details on how to enter. Good luck! 

This year I have been looking for Crocs for not just one of the kids, but all three walking ones. These Batman Crocs  are just perfect for my three year old…

While my 8 year old daughter has her eyes on these Disney Princess Crocs, very girly…

Personally I wouldn’t wear Crocs myself, but these Slip On shoes from The Art Company look perfect for lazy days. I love the design, and I love the soles of the shoes with the multicoloured bits. They look easy to pop on and off, I adore them.

What’s you summer shoe of choice?

These bright coloured wedges would look lovely with a pair of denim skinny jeans.

http://www.lotusshoes.co.uk/sandals-c2/comfort-sandals-c25/lotus-ashwan-multi-coloured-basket-weave-effect-wedge-sandal-p1280

Wedges are all the rage this season, and are so comfortable to wear you don’t even notice it has a heel. But at the same time it makes you feel nice.

For the special evening out, girls night or even date night, these Taupe Wedge Peep Toe Wedges are lovely!

You could wear them with a dress or even nice black trousers. The peep toe is lovely for showing off a little bit of nail varnish too.

Remember ladies, nice shoes make you feel good!

I actually squealed at my very own personalised jar with name on! My hubby is under strict instructions that the red mug is mine, and the jar is NOT to be opened, instead it sits on display for all to see.

So why was I sent this?  NESCAFÉ is celebrating being 75 this year, and they wanted to share their special birthday with me.

The past 75 years has seen it all; man walking on the moon, the first female Prime Minister, hem lines going up and down in synch with the nation’s mood, rationing, recession, recession again and countless right Royal knees ups. But the music, fashion and sporting successes of the 60s make it the time us Brits are the fondest of from the past eight decades, according to research released today.

 

The Beatles top the charts as the most loved band from the past 75 years, Kate and Will’s wedding steals the nation’s hearts as the favourite Royal moment, and men reveal they are particularly partial to flesh-baring women’s 60s’ fashions, including the mini-skirt and the bikini.

 

The study, which asked 3,000 Brits to recall their fondest iconic moments and memories from the past eight decades, was conducted by the nation’s best loved coffee brand NESCAFÉ Original to celebrate its 75^th anniversary. Alongside the research, NESCAFÉ Original has recreated five memorable moments from history in a light-hearted photography collection, to be displayed at the company’s key sites amid birthday celebrations.

 

Top of the Pops

With 40% of the votes, 60s legends The Beatles are unrivalled when it comes to best British band, with Queen and the Rolling stones next in line. Even the younger generations quizzed aren’t pledging their allegiance to new kids on the block like One Direction, with over a quarter (26%) of 18-24 year olds voting for The Beatles as well. What’s more, these young music lovers are champions of the original trailblazers of ‘girl power’ the Spice Girls, voting them in at number three, with twice as many votes as boy band Take That.

 

The 60s music scene is the reason why 84% of people voted for the 60’s as the best decade, followed by culture, fashion and sporting events.

 

Sporting Victories

Even after a spectacular summer of sport in 2012, almost a third of the nation (32%) still hold on to the 1966 Football World Cup win as the greatest sporting moment of the past 75 years.

1984 Winter Olympic winners Torvil & Dean, perhaps surprisingly, skated into second position, eclipsing other Olympic legends such as Sir Steve Redgrave and our 2012 hero, Bradley Wiggins.

 

Fashions Favourites

The mini-skirt, ‘Little Black Dress’ and bikini are the nation’s fashion favourites of the past 75 years, with men six times more likely to vote for the bikini, and twice as likely to vote for the mini skirt than women.

 

The 60s ‘Little Black Dress’, elevated to iconic status by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s,  is the undisputed fashion favourite  of women, suggesting a true classic will stand the test of time and remain iconic for generations to come.

 

Celebrity Coffee Companion

When asked who they’d most like to share a cup of coffee with in the morning, Sir Winston Churchill was voted the favourite.

1.       Sir Winston Churchill

2.       Elvis Presley

3.       Lady Diana Spencer

4.       Nelson Mandela

5.       Margaret Thatcher

Memorable Moments

Martha MacGregor, Brand Manager for Nescafé Original, says: “75 years ago coffee was seen as a pretty exotic treat in many households and still unheard of in some. Yet all these years later NESCAFÉ Original is as reliable a choice as ever to set you up for the day. That’s why we would like to think that a mug of the nation’s favourite coffee would have been a welcome start to the day on the morning of these memorable moments in history.”

 

The historic occasions celebrated in NESCAFÉ Original’s light-hearted photography collection include some of the moments topping our poll of the nation:

1.       The Queen’s coronation – 1953

2.       The advent of the mini skirt – 1964

3.       Man walking on the moon for the first time – 1969

4.       Backstage at the Brits with the Spice Girls – 1997

5.       Triumphing at the London Olympic Games – 2012

 

The limited edition 75^th birthday images will be showcased in NESCAFÉ’s key factories around the country including Dalston, York and Tutbury.

 

NESCAFÉ Original fans are sharing their favourite moments of the last 75 years on Twitter #NESCAFÉ75. What’s your favourite moment?

Crayon rubbings is something I remember as a child doing with leaves and coins, but to my three year old son that is just not interesting. However, using this he loved seeing the images come through the paper.

Included in the box is

1 Frame unit

2 dual sided rubbing plates

1 cute character rubbing tool

4 crayons in different colours.

To use, you simply choose which side of the rubbing plate you want to use, place it inside the frame unit, put a piece of paper on top and push down to lock it shut. You then get the character rubbing tool and pop a crayon inside, we find it easiest to slide the crayon in. You can the cute character  use to rub over the paper.

When rubbed it activates music and makes sounds!

Marky loves creating pictures, and it has kept him engaged for a long time. It also doesn’t wear down the crayons quickly, so you get loads of use out of them.  The cute character which holds the crayon is easy for little hands to hold, they do need some assistance changing the rubbing plates and adding paper, but I would supervise the task anyway.  It is great fun, it puts an extra fun spin on the traditional crayon rubbings I done as a child.

As Crayola Ambassador 2013, we were sent this product to review, all thought are my own. 

I was recently send some pots of Organix Fruit Pots to try with Baby Emma.

The first thing that stood out ot me was that in each 4 pack, there is two flavours. One pack had Apple & Blackcurrant and Apple & Raspberry, the other had Apple, Banana & Plum and Apple & Vanilla. I like that you get a selection of flavours.

Baby Emma is still experiencing some first tastes of food, and these were great to give her to try. They are suitable from 4 months, as they are a completely smooth blend.

The important bit, the contents. In each pot there is just pureed fruit and a trace of Ascorbic Acid(antitoxidant). It has on the top of each pack the exact ratio of what fruit is inside each pot.

As you can see from the picture, one pot is one of their ’5-a-day’.

Baby Emma has tried all the flavours, and definitely has her favourites. I have continued to buy the pots, as not only will they be good to mix with porridge when she is a little older, but they make great snacks. You can also mix them in yoghurt as well.

Finally, another good reason to buy them is the offer currently on the packs. Buy two packets and get a FREE Usborne Book from the ‘That’s not my…’ range, we are big fans of the books, so the chance to get more free books is brilliant. This offer runs until 30/06/13.

We were sent two packs of Organix Fruit Pots for the purpose of this review, all thoughts are my own. 

Last Saturday I made the exciting trip to take her, the hard part was choosing an outfit for her to wear. All babies have to wear a ‘Happy Nappy’, which means they have a disposable nappy on underneath, and the Happy Nappy sits on top, keeping everything contained, should their be movement from inside. I was keen to not just use the Happy Nappy, mainly as Emma and Mark look very similar as babies. I wanted to be able to tell which was which in 20 years time. So I bought baby Emma a new outfit for her shoot….

This is a Happy Nappy with extra material to create a costume look. I love the look of it, and we had plenty of comments about it at the shoot.

The shoot runs like a lesson, we do the usual songs and activities, but this time the underwater swims are done in front of a camera. It’s always a nervous moment not knowing what is going on under the water, babies seem to do what they like when underwater, some turn, some twist and some dive.

I didn’t have much time to wait, as soon as I was dressed I was allowed to see them on the computer screens. I was in complete awe at my 5 month old baby girl swimming underwater. Each shot was lovely, and I was pleased to see she had turned different ways on them all. The hard part was choosing which photos to pick as ours.

I gave myself a budget for the pictures, and decided my maximum would be 3 pictures (RRP £299), so I decided one from each underwater shot would be perfect. The staff who were present were not sales staff, and it was nice not having an pressure from them to upgrade what I wanted. It was so relaxed.

I am ecstatic with my selection, all of them so so special to me. I am so excited to share them with you all.

This is Baby Emma swimming underwater….

Monday was out first second term lesson.  It was excited to see what would change from term one to term two.

Our class started off the same, with the songs, splish splashing and even the ‘Name, ready, go!’ splash of water in their faces to get them used to the water. But that is where the similarities end. We have a new swimming position for the babies, for when they swim on the surface we hold them to the side of us. This is lovely to do, but baby Emma does love to dunk her head in the water, so it’s a struggle to keep her head up at the moment.

We also have been doing more safety work. We have been getting the babies to hold on the side, which is exciting as eventually they will learn to hold on and climb out themselves. This is brilliant for water safety should anything happen in an accident (let’s hope we never have to try it, but reassuring to have the knowledge!).

This week we done some exciting new swims with the babies. Firstly the underwater swims are getting more frequent, and we are going underneath with them which is lovely to do. I burst my eardrum two weeks ago, so I had to sadly I had to miss out this week, but I can’t wait until next weeks lesson when I will hopefully have the go ahead to get wet again.  The one I am most looking forward to is the ‘Ring-a-ring-a-roses’. We do this in a circle and all the parents go under at the end, leaving the babies above water. Then on the second go, two people with supervision of the instructor takes the babies down. This was amazing to watch, seeing the babies looking for their mums, and seeing the look on their faces when they come out of the water, a real heart melting moment. As always, our instructor is amazing. She took Emma underwater for her swims that I could not do, it meant she was not missing out.  She puts us all at ease and is always on hand to give support or advice if there is anything we are unsure of.

I wonder what next week will bring!

The new John Deere toy range has many different products. We were sent a selection of products to give our thoughts on. Markys absolute favourite has to be the Monster Treads Lights and Sounds Tractor. As the name suggest it has both lights and sounds, which gives this plenty of play value. Marky takes his tractor everywhere, and the large tyre wheels mean that it easily goes over the rough ground of grass, and even the sandpit.

The set with the most play value has to be the Fun on the Farm Playset, it has four vehicles, four animals, fencing, hay bales, a farmer and an extra trailor included. This has provided hours of fun. Marky loves using the vehicles, and the animals mean great role play. Marky loves using the forklift to pick up the hay bails, and putting the animals in the pen!

The John Deere Toy Range by Tomy is robust, easy for little hands to play with, it has lots of play factor. Marky is in absolute love with the range.

We were sent a selection of John Deere toys for the purpose of this review, all thoughts are my own.