Monthly Archives: December 2012

Dec 19 2012

5 Terrible Christmas Songs

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Britmums have challenged us bloggers to come up with a festive playlist in order to support a drink driving campaign sponsored by Coca Cola. Now as a rule of thumb, I hate Christmas songs! Most of them are really twee and get played ad nauseam during this time of year.I’ve been known to walk out of shops that dare to play Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas” as it makes me want to batter people with my handbag.

Ever the conscientious blogger - I couldn’t turn down the chance to win an iPad mini highlight the importance of not drink driving, so decided to give it a go. I decided to hunt down 5 of the worst to give you all headache on this cold and miserable Wednesday, and to remind us all why we shouldn’t ever google ‘Christmas Music’ over the festive period.

1 - ‘Cherry Cherry Christmas’ - Neil Diamond

Noooo Neil. It’s hard to believe this guy bought us classics such as Sweet Caroline and America. This is among the most depressing and non sensical Christmas songs ever - what ever does a Cherry have to do with Christmas anyway? My view seems to shared by the poor little girl that he leads onto the dance floor as she looks utterly perplexed and a little scared.

(There’s also an unforgivable ‘Sweet Caroline’ plug that makes him look so terribly desperate.)

2 - ‘Funky Funky Christmas’ - New Kids on the Block

How this timeless boy band classic didn’t make it to No 1 is beyond me. I mean we all went ’1 Direction’ over NKONTB didn’t we? This might have whipped me into hysteria in the 80′s but now it gets hits on YouTube for all the wrong reasons. What are the bets that Jedward cover this at some point? I only hope they have a slightly better budget and don’t have to play the tune on their mums pots and pans like these heroes of the 80′s did.

3 - ‘Jingle Bells’ - Barbara Streisand

I actually thought this was a joke when I first heard it - but nope this is actually how it was recorded. I don’t know what on earth came over Bab’s to record something so utterly shameful - she sounds possessed! So out of breath is she, that there’s some desperate shouting at the end to get the words out. I’m reliably informed this is a showcase of perfect ‘musical theory’ - just sounds like a drunk Bette Midler to me.

4 - ‘Boys and Girls (Xmas Time Love)’ - The Cheeky Girls

Oh dear. Isn’t this so tragic? There’s not a whole lot of ‘Christmas’ in this shocker but it does feature the bikini clad twins writhing in front of a Christmas tree at a pool party, and a few bells in the intro. This song actually makes their debut single ‘Touch My Bum’ look like Bohemian Rhapsody.

5 - ‘New Shoes’ - New Song

This song really shouldn’t be funny. It’s all about a kid getting his priorities all wrong and leaving his mother’s deathbed to buy her some new shoes. It’s emotionally manipulative, depressing, and ridiculous in equal measure. The strained rock anthem singing makes me want to toss him Strepsil, rip his microphone away, and check him in somewhere.

The #FestivePlaylist Linky is sponsored by Coca-Cola and its special Designated Driver programme which helps promote the positive role that soft drinks can play as credible alternatives to alcohol.

Dec 18 2012

Review: EverEarth Trangle Activity Centre

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Dexter is a very calm baby. He rarely cries and is easy to entertain. However, we do have the odd day where he throws a paddy and we run out of ideas for play-time.

Having bought him a number of traditional toys for Christmas - it’s been very hard to resist to opening them and letting him play. I just know he’s going to have a field day on Christmas Day ripping open his presents (with a little help from mum and dad). I’m not naive to the fact that it’s going to be a battle to get him to play with his toys rather than the paper - but I’m hoping some of them are a hit.

A few days ago, during one of Dexter’s “I’m bored” moments, my resistance broke and I opened a toy I ordered way back in November. This was an impulse buy when EverEarth were running a promotion via a discount site. I think I got it for around £10 but it’s available from a number of different retailers including Giraffe Toys (£10,95), Babe-equip (£17.95) and Amazon (£20).

 

Although the recommended age is 18 months +, I never leave to Dexter to play alone and he loves to fiddle things so it’s ideal for him. The activity centre has six different activities including a peg maze, abacus, and bead slide - so is ideal for promoting hand-eye coordination, counting, and hand and finger dexterity. Another plus is that triangle can be placed anyway-up depending on which element has caught your baby’s eye.

As a note of caution, I should explain that I usually position Dexter between my legs and help him navigate all the different puzzles with his little fingers. I definitely wouldn’t allow him to play with it without having my hands over his as Dexter can lift this toy by himself and I suspect he’d wave it above his head and clunk himself with it given half the chance.

As a way to explore shapes, textures and colours - I love this toy. It’s very sturdy, well made, and is a great distraction for little people. EverEarth are also eco-friendly manufacturers and use only renewable resources for their toys. Above all - it looks gorgeous. You can’t beat the look of traditional wooden toys in your home and this one is no exception. It’s the sort of toy you don’t mind having on display in your nursery.

You can view all EverEarth’s toys on their website but they are available to buy from a number of UK retailers (both on and offline).

Disclaimer: This post has not been paid for, nor have I received any products for the purpose of this review. I will be reviewing all of Dexter’s Christmas presents as we enjoy sharing our experiences.

 

 

Dec 17 2012

Drinking Baby

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Dexter turned lots of heads on Saturday when we had a break from shopping and sat down in a busy shopping centre. I took him out of his pushchair and let him do some standing on the seat beside me to stretch his little leggies.

It had been a long day and it was lunchtime so I prepared a bottle and settled him in my arms to feed him. Imagine my surprise when Dexter grabbed the bottle from me, flashed me a look as if to say “I can do this myself now Mum”, and proceeded to lift all 180mls to his mouth. He stopped for regular breaks, lowering his bottle without spilling it, then bought it back to his mouth all on his own. Even more impressively, he placed his hands at the base of the bottle and tilted it upwards to get every last drop.

I tried desperately to film it one-handed but somehow managed to get more of my cleavage than Dexter. As Dexter is a fairly tiny baby, he was getting lots of attention from onlookers and I must admit, it did feel strange not to help him out. He wasn’t having any of it though and any attempts by mummy to interfere were met with screaming.

Back at home we offered him another bottle and, once again, he showed the same dexterity with his bottle. This film is a little better as you won’t get distracted by my enormous boobs.

So, at just 7 months - Dexter has reached yet another milestone and can now drink on his own! Go Dexter!!!! Now to master those sippy cups…

 

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