Review for Kiwi Mummy Blogs: Hairy Maclary and Friends: Cuddle and Play by Lynley Dodd.

Review for Kiwi Mummy Blogs- Hairy Maclary and Friends: Cuddle and Play- A Crinkly Cloth Book. By Lynley Dodd.

I was sent the soft, cloth book featuring Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd to review. It arrived in a beautiful gift box, so I think this would make an ideal gift for a baby. I really pleased to receive a Hairy Maclary book, we have quite a few of these books by Lynley Dodd. My daughter is aged 3.5 years old and my son 20 months, so I felt they were too old for this book and for me to really do the review justice. I gave it to one of my friends who has a daughter the same age as mine and a baby daughter who was born at the end of July last year and I just knew the book would be perfect for a young baby.

The book is six pages long and features the lovable Hairy Maclary as well as his friends, Slinky Malinky and Zachary Quack. The pages are crinkly, and can be scrunched or shaken. And since the book is soft it would be the perfect toy for baby to cuddle.

Photo Credit: Little Treasure Magazine

I asked my friend Claire some questions about what she thought of the book and she also took some photos for me, what a star Her answers are in italics

What were your first thoughts of the book?

The packaging is appealing in the branded presentation box, I would definitely be pleased if someone bought me that as a gift.

What do you think your girls thought of the book?

As my 3 year old is already a Hairy Maclary fan she was attracted to it straight away and was keen to show it to her baby sister.

Who is it age appropriate for?

It is definitely age appropriate for a baby with the soft material and one page makes a rustle sound when you scrunch it so appealing for their sensory development. I could happily leave my baby with it AND let my 3 year old play with it near her as no hard edges and nothing sharp.

Would you buy it for someone else? Eg- a baby shower gift or new baby gift?

A great gift for someone who may already have all the ‘useful’ baby stuff or someone with a sibling that is already a Hairy Maclary fan. My only hesitation would be the price, I would probably want a bit more to show for my money – but baby safe toys always seem expensive for what they are when your looking at it from an adult perspective.

What are the illustrations and content like?

Illustrations were lovely as usual from Lynley Dodd but it wasn’t a story as such just a few lines from the main books.

Anything else to add?

Over all it isn’t something I would buy myself but often those are the things that make the best gifts.

I found this Hairy Maclary website which is well worth a visit and there are links so you can find shops, or websites if you wish to purchase this book or any other Hairy Maclary books.

The book was published 3rd December 2015, and retails for $25.00

Many thanks to my lovely friend Claire and her lovely daughters for assisting me with this review.

Goodbye September, Hello October

Wow, another week has gone by and tomorrow will be October. Lots happening next month, I have a ball to go too and a wedding, fun times! Plus the other day I found out one of dear friends in England is expecting a baby soon, I love a bit of baby shopping!!!

I don’t work again until Sunday so I had planned to have a day to myself. Poor Mr Happy is not so happy though, he’s sick poor guy. It’s not even lunchtime and he is on his second nap for the day. So a lazy day ahead for us, gives me a chance to do some writing and watch TV. I really enjoy Mr Selfridge, so I’m catching up with that. I just love the clothes, the way they talk and its history. Believe or not I find some history quite interesting. Any other secret Mr Selfridge fans out there????

I’ve always been a bit of a TV watcher, I mean who isn’t? I find these days I have to be quite selective about what I watch. I will admit though I still watch Eastenders, (much to my husbands annoyance!). For those of you who don’t know it’s a soap set in the East end of London and its been on U.K television since 1985. I have probably watched it from the beginning on/off. We are fortunate to have Sky and I follow it on UKTV. Anyway, I found out that would be covering the storyline of Stillbirth. As someone who has unfortunately experienced one I was keen to see how they would portray it. The U.K. is several weeks ahead of the episodes here in NZ so I was quite prepared for when it would be screened here.

I’m glad they have chosen to portray such a taboo subject. 1 in 4 pregnancies result in a loss and sadly I am one of those four. I read quite a few stories and watched a few clips before the Eastenders episodes were available here to watch, I wanted to mentally prepare myself. And they did a great job. It made me feel like my experience was normalised and I’m not alone. It took me back to how I had felt at the time, and it was ok. I embrace it, I awknowledge I feel sad and it brings me comfort, if that makes sense. Eastenders had a lot to do with Sands in the U.K whilst they were researching the topic and filming. And I really think the actors who portray the Mother and the Father to the baby did a great job. If you feel you want too, I have selected a couple of the scenes from the recent storyline which I found powerful and what I could relate too.

I have been working on some other projects alongside my blog which I’m pretty excited about. Unfortunately I’m not going to share too much right now, hopefully I will be able to tell more soon!!!!! I have approached a couple of online Mum type websites and other blogs, so watch this space.

I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with Instagram, actually who am I kidding I am obsesses with Instagram. It’s been great and putting me in touch with other bloggers and just seeing what others get up too. I actually applied to be a Brand Representative for a couple of businesses I saw via Instagram, sadly I wasn’t picked. I wasn’t really expecting to be but I was gutted. I’m ok now, I’m just too sensitive for my own good. I’m just really keen to help out any small businesses by helping them promote what they have. I guess I will have to see what else comes along.

October also marks babyloss awareness week which is the 9th-15th October. I’m working with my local Sands group to organise some events for this week. We will do a balloon release on the 11th and there will be the ‘Wave of Light’ service on the 15th. I might save how the events of this week go for another blog post.

CarlyMarie, (a bereaved mother who I have mentioned before in previous blog Sands Conference Wellington 19-21 June 2015), is doing her fourth year of Capture Your Grief. This is a monthly photo challenge for the month of October. I only found out about this year at the Sands conference and when I heard about it, I was immediately keen to take part. The prompts were shared a few days ago. Looking at some of them I’m wondering how I can photograph some of the prompts, I will have to get thinking. I did also think it would be nice to maybe write a few words each day. I will have to let you know how I get on.

The journal I will use to document Capture your Grief 2015

I actually wrote the beginning of this post several days ago before Mr Happy had to go into hospital. I thought it was best to get him checked out by our GP, who quickly rang the hospital as he felt he should be seen by the doctors there. His respiration rate was 60, normal range is 35-45 and his heart was beating faster than usually. Plus watching him breath, he was sucking in his chest where he shouldn’t of been. This poor Mumma, wanted her Mumma but couldn’t, several times I almost burst into tears but managed to push them away. I had to be strong for my boy, plus he was still reasonably happy in himself. By doing this though I have been left feeling overwhelmed and low in mood, how I wish I had let myself cry at the time, as any mother knows seeing you child unwell and distressed at times is just awful. He is doing well now though. We were given an inhaler which helps with his wheeze, we were told it was viral wheeze, quite common in small kids. I have asthma and it is in my family, so could be a sign of that, we are also dealing with a small amount of eczema as well…… The joys of parenting huh?

Craftygirls: August Daily Photo Challenge

Geez, can you believe it is almost August? No? I can’t either, wasn’t Christmas last week?!

Yes, ok slight exaggeration, I know we are closer to Christmas 2015 than we are to Christmas 2014, but this year is flying by!

Anyways the lovely Bec at twodaysgirl and I have joined forces again to do another Craftygirls Photo Challenge (check this link out to see what we got up too last month).

I LOVE taking photos and love seeing others interpretation of the theme. Plus there are no rules. If you are not inspired to take a photo or you simply don’t want to, that’s cool. I find it’s lots of fun, a daily challenge for myself and something that is just for me.

We each thought of half of the prompts and both agreed each month it would fun to take a #selfie and #today I…. We all lead different lives and we thought it would be enjoyable to share each month how we are feeling or what we are doing on a certain day.

Bec twodaysgirl designed our lovely layout for the month, isn’t she clever? I took the photo, just something I snapped whilst walking along the AWESOME Coastal Walkway in New Plymouth

I think it looks really good and looking forward to seeing what photos August brings.

Here it is!

Craftygirls Photo a Day Challenge

My lovely blogger friend Bec at twodaysgirl asked me if I wanted to collaborate and do a photo a day challenge. As some of you may know, I rather enjoy a daily photo challenge so I thought this was a great idea. We each thought of half the prompts and then twodaysgirl made the design up using a photo I took.

When I was looking through my camera roll for a photo I realised how I don’t actually have many or any of landscapes or something pretty, it mainly the kids. I do love taking photos of the kids and it’s so handy having a phone that takes good photos. I’m definitely going to make a conscious effort when I’m out and about to try and capture some more photos of landscape, nature and generally anything I consider to be cool.

We also needed a name. I was thinking a combination of both our names would be good, Craftygirls came to my mind straight away. I quickly checked with Bec at twodaysgirl and she was happy with it. I thought it was funny how quickly I thought of the name considering it took me ages to think of craftyorganisedme. We’re planning to do the photo challenge each month. It would be great to see some of my family and friends trying it out. I know taking photos isn’t for everyone and people are generally busy with work and family but don’t worry if you miss a day, you can always play catch up or just skip the day altogether! If you have an Instagram account, use #craftygirlschallenge.

I can’t wait to see how people interpret each prompt, let the imagination run wild and roll on tomorrow 1st July! And didn’t Bec do a great job with the design on the prompts?! Bec is one cool lady! Check out her blog (if you haven’t already!) twodaysgirl

FMS Photo a Day Challenge

I discovered the Fat Mum Slim Blog and her daily photo challenge app Little Moments at the end of February this year. I mentioned to one of my craft friends that I had always wanted to do a photo challenge and she suggested Fat Mum Slim. I had to purchase the Little Moments app, it cost $3 but I think it was totally worth it. I have looked at it everyday. Since I went back to work at the end of April I have got a bit slack with my daily photos, I’m often too busy and lacking inspiration. There is a FMS photo a day Facebook page that I joined. I don’t post my photos to the page but I love looking at what others around the world have interpreted the theme to be. I have found the challenge really fun, let’s me be creative. I use my iPhone, I don’t have have a fancy camera but that’s the beauty of the app. Fat Mum Slim says it’s alright if you don’t take a photo everyday, you can always play catch up or if you miss days that’s ok. Just have fun, no pressure which I like!

Fat Mum Slim is a woman called Chantelle, a Mum of two and her blog includes, recipes as well as the photo challenges. There is also a Facebook page.

I am going to make a conscience effort to post one everyday this week since I love the theme for his week, check out http://fatmumslim.com.au/photo-a-day-week-24/

Fat Mum Slim has done her first collaboration with Disney for the release of their new Pixar movie Inside Out. I love Disney movies and this one sounds great, plus Amy Poehler does one of the voices, love her! So the movie is about a young girl named Riley who moves cities and focuses on the emotions in her mind, Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. With the Little Moments app ideas are suggested along with the prompt to help you achieve your photo. It also has different filters you can use, also you can add text and embellishments to your photos. For today 8th June, Sadness I was at the park with Little Miss and Mr Happy this morning and saw a sad looking tree, not many leaves left and it looked sad and lonely, perfect for today’s prompt. I always share my photos on Instagram and Facebook (I’m sure some people most get sick of it!). But I enjoy it so that’s all that matters.