New Mountain Buggies - Part One!

If you know me, you will know that I am a dedicated Mountain Buggy fan. I have a faithful Mountain Buggy that has done two and a half kids at the last count, and still has plenty of life left in it!

When Janet and I attended a Mountain Buggy University (aka training day) back in July we were really excited to be getting a glimpse of the new models before they went to production.

Mountain Buggy have stuck by their core strengths of maneouvrability, adaptibility, durability and simplicity when designing the +One, and have managed to put all these assets into an inline buggy that will comfortably accommodate two children.

The stats?! It weighs in at 13.5kg and is 63cm wide. Quite impressive for a buggy that is strong enough to accommodate two children up to 20kg.

The +One comes as a complete buggy, that is, for one price you get everything you need to use the +One as a single buggy and adapt to a double. The +One has all the same great features as the Urban Jungle but with a few tweaks, has the capability to become a double.

It features rear wheel suspension, swivel/lock front wheel, adjustable handlebar, full recline on the main seat, foot operated brake and a lightweight aluminium frame. As with all Mountain Buggies, the +One comes with a 1 year first purchaser warranty.

Having had a go with the +One I can confidently say it has all the handling of any other Mountain Buggy. The advantage it has over other inline buggies (apart from being a Mountain Buggy of course!) is that the second child sits higher so can see over the child in front - a real plus!

We will have a +One on the shop floor really soon so if you fancy having a go, come and see us. They are now available to pre-order, just visit our website, give us a call on 01305 259929 or pop in to the shop.

More on the new Mountain Buggy Duet (super narrow side-by-side double) tomorrow!

Carry me!

My daughter and I had a lovely day out with her pre-school last week. To be honest, when she bought the letter home I thought it was a bit optimistic. A day on the beach at the end of September?! However, as you will have noticed, Summer was not ready to say goodbye and it turned out to be a great decision. We had a day on a beautiful sandy beach and they were all able to go in the sea.

We caught the train to get to the beach (the most exciting bit of the day for some of them!) and I had the dilemma of whether or not to take our trusty Mountain Buggy. I knew that she would not need it for most of the day but also knew that the walk home might be unbearable without it! I decided in the end that if I threw in my ERGObaby carrier it would avoid buggy/train issues and would mean she could opt to walk and get a carry when necessary.

I was really glad I had taken it but what was noticeable was the reaction of the other mums. A lot of them had clearly never even considered that a carrier could be useful with a 3 year old, whereas it is still an essential piece of kit in our house! There were numerous comments about how easy it was to use and we avoided the problem of crossing the bridge with 100 steps at the train station....result!

A piece of advice....when looking a baby carriers, think about the long term. Are you just looking for something to pop a newborn in around the house to give you a bit of hands-free time or are you likely to use it beyond those early stages when out and about? Do you plan to have more than one child? Because if you have an active toddler, having a baby in a carrier is far easier than trying to manage the 'baby in a buggy and toddler on the run' scenario. For me a decent carrier would be top of my 'essential baby kit' list.

National Grandparent's Day

Becoming a parent is one of the big milestones in life. Everyone who has kids agrees, it is a life changing moment. What about when those kids have their own kids?! My mum says she enjoys her Grandchildren more than she enjoyed us as children, simply because with the Grandchildren she can relax and enjoy, without worrying about the mechanics/logistics (most of the time anyway!)

I, like mums everywhere, talk about my parents and my in-laws with my friends. I often chat to customers in the shop about their parents reaction to becoming a Grandparent and conversely, with Grandparents about their new grandchildren and the change in the family dynamic. Of course, it is not always a smooth transition and we all have our moans periodically but generally speaking, we are all grateful for the time with each other.

I watch my kids with their Grandparents and enjoy seeing their relationship develop. I think the feeling is mutual. My kids love their grandparents unconditionally. They know time with them is special time. They know the rules are different when they are with them. They have special things that they do together that are unique to them.

National Grandparent's Day is a great opportunity for us to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have both sets of Grandparents close by. How lucky our kids are to have regular time with them, to really get to know each other. We know lots of people are not so lucky.

This Sunday 2nd October is UK National Grandparent's Day. If you get to spend time with Grandparents this weekend, think yourselves lucky and take a moment to give them an extra hug. If you are not so lucky and can't see the Grandparents this weekend, for whatever reason, perhaps take a moment to talk to your kids about their Grandparents. Talk about time you have spent together, talk about happy memories.

Hooray for Grandparents!

Playing house!

We spent the afternoon sheltering from the rain at home yesterday. The children came and went, along with various friends. At one point our middle one (aged 8) was at home with two of his friends. His younger sister and older brother were both busy elsewhere.

Watching them play, it reminded me how important it is to provide a variety of play opportunities for children of all ages. Outwardly, they seem to grow up so quickly, and yet I frequently hear parents commenting to each other, 'he still likes a cuddle at bedtime' or 'she still plays with her dolls you know'. The three boys at our house yesterday, independently instigated a game of 'shops' which grew into role playing different members of a family, one of whom had their birthday. By the end of it we were all involved because they insisted on us all coming to the 'birthday party' - the cake was delicious!

I know that if I had suggested they play like this, I would have been met with fierce resistance, but given an afternoon of wet weather and some good company, they had a great time, fully engrossed in their make believe family.

I guess it just made me realise that at 8 and 9 years old, they still love to really 'play'. Give them a variety of ingredients and let their imaginations loose....I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I have just had the promised call from my daughter's pre-school (second day, I think it is worse than the 1st?!) to reassure me that she does want to stay for lunch because she is so excited about her new Skip Hop lunchies lunch bag!

I have been working hard on reducing our reliance on plastic so the fact that the Skip Hop Zoo Lunchies are BPA and phthalate free is a bonus for us.

The photo shows how pleased she is with it and I have to say, I am almost as excited! The Skip Hop Zoo lunchies and Zoo packs are just adorable and they really appeal to kids. If it makes her happy at lunchtime, I am all for it!

As I looked out of the window waiting for my eldest to get home from football last evening it struck me how, all of a sudden, the evenings are drawing in. It seems to be dark so early. This coupled with the fact that I have had trouble keeping warm the past couple of evenings, can only mean that Autumn is just around the corner.

I have to admit I am a real sun worshipper. I love the warmth of Summer, I love the beach and swimming, I love having the kids at home, the absence of school runs, not having to carry a coat everywhere and sandals are so much easier than socks and boots!

With young children we are constantly reminded of the passing of time. Every time we see someone we have not seen for a while the "Oh you've grown so big," and "Hasn't she shot up?" comments reinforce it.

So this year as they go back to school, I am trying not to wish their short childhoods away. I am trying not to mourn the loss of Summer because I don't want my children to feel negative half of the year. Let's face it, they often moan if its too hot, they don't seem to worry if they get wet in the rain, they love standing on a hill with the wind really blowing, they love kicking leaves and collecting conkers and the past couple of years they have seen more snow than they have ever seen before! I am not going to label the day as 'miserable' just because there is cloud in the sky. I am not going to let the weather stop us finding fun things to do outdoors and I am going to enjoy cuddling up by the fire.

Although I am a sun worshipper I can see that without Autumn and Winter, the Summer would not be half as appealing, so come on Autumn, do your worst!

Essential kit for making the most of the Autumn and Winter:

• sleep is essential all year round, but children can be confused by changes in sunset/sunrise times. Get them a GroClock so they know for sure when it is time to go to sleep and when to get up.

• don't let the weather force you to stay in when you want to be out! Get waterproofs and wellies and go splash in the puddles!

• make sure everyone is warm enough, especially at night. Get 2.5 tog Grobags and a GroEgg Room Thermometer to make sure your little ones are just the right temperature.

• BuggySnuggles are great for keeping them warm in the buggy and we found that they often do away with the constant on and off of a Winter coat.

• new Split Leg Babysnuggles from the makers of Buggysnuggles are great in car seats and baby carriers where the straps can get in the way of some all in ones.

Well, as I am sure you are all more than aware, the Summer hols are over for another year.

We have had a wonderful Summer and hope you have too.

As always in our house, September is a month of catch up. My husband and I both work from home as much as we can but over the holidays this obviously presents challenges!

Apologies for the scant input on the blog over the last 6 weeks but I intend to get back into the swing of it, with lots of new input over the next few weeks. I just hope all you working parents have enough spare time to read it occasionally!