As parents we all know how important sleep is to both our children and ourselves. We are quite lucky in that both of our girls have generally been good sleepers. There are various things we do to help them get a good night sleep such as reading before bedtime, comfy bedlinen and mattress.

Before I had Ophelia we knew we wanted a bedside crib as opposed to a moses basket. We ordered a SnuzPod and we haven't looked back since. We had read lots of reviews and ordered a mattress from Little Green Sheep to go with it.


We were delighted when they asked if we would like to review a mattress for Eva. We've been so pleased with Ophelia's that we jumped at the chance. Eva is now in a normal size single bed so we ordered her one to fit her bed which is 90x200cm, mattress.


Little Green Sheep mattresses are all made with the best natural ingredients meaning that your child is sleeping safely away from any chemicals and are allergy free. The 4 ingredients are coconut, cotton, natural latex and wool.



The cotton aids breathability and has been grown without the use of pesticides. The coconut fibres form a supportive core acting as tiny springs and reducing pressure points. The natural latex binds the coconut fibres and acts as the comfy, supportive layer. Finally, the wool is hypo-allergenic and temperature regulating. The organic sheep's wool remove the need for chemical fire retardant sprays due to its natural fire proofing properties.

An organic mattress is kinder to your child's delicate skin and to our environment as it's free from harmful toxins.

Eva was delighted with her new mattress. The first thing she did was jump on it. This is clearly the top priority test for a 3.5 year old. Luckily the mattress passed her vigorous inspection.

I asked her what she thought of her new bed and these were her own words and opinions:
"It's very soft and comfy. I like sleeping on it and so does bunny (her teddy)." As you can see, she approves.

We've been so happy with the quality of both Ophelia and Eva's mattresses. They are firm and very durable. Even though they are firm they are soft to touch and provide the girls' with a comfy, yet supportive night's sleep. 


We'd recommend the brand to everybody. We always choose high quality mattresses for ourselves and are very fussy about what we sleep on so it's only natural that we would do the same for our children.  

Ophelia has now moved into her own bedroom and is in a cot. We've been looking at their range for cots and we will be buying one asap for her bed. You can view the range here, Cot Mattresses. They are unique in that they are dual sided. One side is firm and can be used up until the age of 12 months old as recommended by industry experts. The other side is more supple with durable support which can be used up until age 5 years. 



We just wish they did them for adults..

Have you heard of the brand before? Have you used any of their products?
I don't know if you read my Me and Mine Project post for June, Post but I was saying how hopefully I was about us taking lots of family pictures because we were going on holiday. How wrong was I?!

We went on holiday to Turkey last month for 10 days. I was sure we would get some family pictures but to be honest, we were having so much fun that it just slipped our minds. i am gutted that we didn't take more but at the same time, I am happy that the memories are there in my head.

Turkey was amazing. It was boiling hot but we all coped very well with the heat. The flight over was a bit of a disaster. We didn't have a very good experience with Easyjet. If you haven't read that, make sure you do as it may help you when travelling with little one's in the future, EasyJet Post.

We stayed in a lovely, quiet apartment block which only has 8 rooms. It's run by a fab couple called Reg and Heidi. They really looked after us well and were excellent with the girls. They made tasty breakfasts and Heidi's homemade jam was the best i've ever tasted.

Whilst there we spent most of our time relaxing and playing in the pool. Both the girls took to the water like mermaids. It was fantastic to see. We need to keep their momentum up and make more of an effort to go swimming back home. 

We went to the beach a couple of times. We enjoyed lots of lovely meals and drinks out and savoured some stunning views. I don't want to say too much about the holiday as it'll all be in its own blog post.


In july, we also went fruit picking together. We loved it so much that we bought a family pass to be able to go all summer long. I think hubby enjoyed it more than any of us. We're hoping to make it a weekly thing now (along as the weather holds up). If you have any strawberry or raspberry recipes i'd love to know them.

We don't have much planned for August as i'm heading back to work on a few Saturday's. We are going to try and make the most of the summer though as Eva is starting nursery school this September. Massive sad face alert.

Together this month we've loved:

  • Strawberries
  • The Sea
  • The Beach
  • The Sunshine
  • Watermelon








The Me and Mine Project
We were recently sent the new Summer Infant Babble Band which is the first wearable audio baby monitor to review. I'll admit that we do have a video monitor in Ophelia's room so I wasn't sure whether I needed another one. However, the fact that you can wear it around the house, got me very curious.



The Babble Band is the first of its kind. It's revolutionary in that you can carry on getting jobs done around the house or garden without having to move a monitor around with you. The wearable part is similar looking to a watch. It's a wristband made of silicone which is easily adjustable to fit both men and women. 

The audio transmitter unit is left in your babies room or wherever they are sleeping. The unit also doubles up as the recharging base for the wristband. To recharge you simply place the wristband on top of the unit and it fits neatly on. Once charged it lasts for 8 hours of continuous use.

The Babble Band has a range of 600 ft which is pretty far. It certainly covers my 3 storey townhouse and garden. 

There are 3 monitoring modes to choose from:
  • Audio and lights
  • Sound lights only 
  • Vibration and lights
We've used the Babble Band more than we thought we would. It's one of those products that you don't realise you need until you have it. As you may know I have 2 children so even when Ophelia is sleeping, I am still on the go either doing some activity with Eva or doing housework. 

When there has been sunny weather, Eva and I have been able to enjoy playing in the garden together without me having to go inside every 5 minutes to check on the baby. I have been able to peg the washing out and cut the grass. 

I've managed to cook and do the washing and ironing with the reassurance that I can keep track of Ophelia's sounds. 

I love the fact that you can choose which monitoring mode you want to use. If i'm doing a particularly noisy activity such as entertaining Eva and her friends or cooking, then I set the band to vibrate. If i'm reading or doing ironing then I have audio and lights.

It's really given myself and hubby the freedom to carry on with our everyday activities without being tied to one room and being fixated on a video monitor. I will say that we do still use the video monitor for bedtime. 

I like the fact that it's quite compact. The band fits neatly on top of the audio transmitter unit and therefore is easily stored away.

We have just returned from a holiday to Turkey and we had a ground floor apartment. We were able to leave Ophelia sleeping whilst one of us sat on the terrace (usually me reading a book whilst hubby was in the pool with Eva). It was a massive help on holiday and it didn't take up a lot of room in the suitcase. It's now a must have travel item of mine.




The only complaint comes from hubby who said he would like it to look more manly. Silly really as it's not a fashion accessory and he only wears it in the house and garden. I think he would prefer it in black though.

Overall, we are both really pleased with it. It's a very clever invention that has helped make our lives easier. It's reasonably priced at around £50. For a list of stockists check here, stockists.

Have you used this before or heard about it? Do you think it is something you would use?




Please see bottom of the post for an update.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you will know that as a family we love traveling. We have flown all all over the world with our children and Eva took her first flight at 6 months old. She adores flying and normally relishes in the experience. However, what happened on our flight last week has tarnished her enjoyment. She was left absolutely distraught which was distressing for all of us.

We booked our flights to Turkey with EasyJet a few months ago for myself, hubby, Eva who is 3.5, Ophelia who is 8 months old and my dad. We hadn't given sitting together a second thought as EasyJet say they seat families together. It's the first time we have booked with EasyJet as a family.
The following is copied from EasyJet's website: It’s important that we know if you have children in your booking in order to make sure they get allocated an appropriate seat and are seated with you. When you make your booking for your family, please make sure you clearly identify any children in the booking. Just add the number of children and infants in your party in the relevant section and include their ages when prompted. 
We had provided all the information that was required from us when booking and then received email confirmation to say that everything was booked and that our seats were auto allocated. To me that reads that they have allocated us seats together (I was clearly wrong).




It was only when we decided to check in online that we noticed that our seats were all separate. None of us were sat anywhere near each other. Not even on the same rows. Again we thought this must be some sort of mistake as surely a 3 year old wouldn't be placed in a row on her own, separated from family members. We decided to phone EasyJet to double check. 

The first phone call was with a gentleman who was very blunt, very rude, very obnoxious and very unhelpful. He told us that those were our seats and that if we wanted to sit together we should have paid. He said he couldn't do anything about it and that it would have to be dealt with once we got to the airport. He also decided to point out to us that it is illegal for a 3 year old to sit alone on a flight and therefore if they can't place her next to us, we wouldn't be able to fly. This was obviously not what we wanted to hear and it started to cause us a lot of stress and worry.
I then decided to call twice more to see if someone else would be a bit more helpful and sympathetic but once again I was met with the same nonchalant response from them. I was getting very stressed about this situation. I also tweeted EasyJet a few times and I had no response. 

The day came for us to go on our holiday. Eva was beside herself with excitement. We headed over to Bristol airport and waited in the bag drop queue. At that point my husband approached the EasyJet customer service desk to try and resolve our problem there. Once again he was brushed off and told they would sort it out for us at the bag drop.

I was still hopeful that this would be resolved (how silly was I for being so positive?). The woman at the bag drop told us she also couldn't resolve the problem and that it would have to be dealt with at the gate. She said that she couldn't see anyway that they could sit us together but they would try. Once again it seemed like the problem was being brushed off and left for someone else to deal with it.

We arrived at the gate and were then told that the cabin crew would have to try and seat us together. I said I did not want to get on a plane and have my daughter sat in a row on her own whilst they tried to find seats for us but we were told this was the only option.

We entered the plane and the cabin crew knew nothing about the fact that we weren't sat together. It was the first they had heard of it. We were told to take our seats and then they would sort something out. I sat down in mine. My dad then went to his row. As you can imagine Eva did not want to sit on her own next to two strangers and therefore stood in the aisle with her dad. Even though she is only 3, she is not stupid. She could understand everything that was being said and started to get very distressed. She stood there crying.

After about 15 minutes the cabin crew made an announcement and said that they had a child who was separated from a parent and can anybody swap seats. As you can imagine that was met with total utter silence (other than Eva still crying). They then had to inform the pilot as we were late taking off. A following announcement came over and said that we would be unable to take off until somebody moved. Again nobody moved. My poor daughter heard all of this and was distraught. This then made me very upset. It was truly a horrifying experience. 

Someone eventually swapped seats with me which meant that a seat was free next to my dad. Hubby and Eva sat in those seats and myself and my dad went to the other two seats that were allocated to us (in separate rows). Eva was still hysterically crying as she now realised that she wouldn't be sat with her mum and sister. I went to take my seat in-between two older people. They had booked a window seat and an aisle seat even though they were travelling together, which I think is ridiculous and shouldn't be allowed. I went to get in and was told that they did not want to sit by a baby. They were not happy to have as sat by them (more fool them as little did they know that she was a frequent flyer and therefore was actually the best behaved child on the plane). I was totally humiliated. The cabin crew didn't stick up for me at all and allowed these people to speak to me like that after already experiencing half an hour of hell. 

I took the other available seat which was in-between two men. This wouldn't be a problem ordinarily but I breastfeed Ophelia so I found that very uncomfortable. Eva was still crying and still very shaken up and terrified. She actually wet herself through fear and distress. She has been potty trained for a long time, so this is totally out of character for her. After we took off a lovely lady saw that I was breastfeeding and asked her daughter to swap seats with me (I was sat by her dad). I was so relieved as at least I could breastfeed next to a woman, rather than being sandwiched between two men.

As a family we have never experienced anything like this whilst flying. It was awful. We were humiliated. Eva was beside herself with fear and was beyond consolable and it has totally ruined her enjoyment of flying. I've never been so angry at the way we have been treated. EasyJet's customer service is without a doubt the worst we have ever experienced from an airline. They passed our problem onto whoever was next in the chain and they have ignored our cries for help.

I am so worried as we have to do this all over again when we fly home on Saturday. We are all separated. I am not happy for my little girl to be put through that again but EasyJet don't care. We are currently still on holiday so we have tried contacting them via twitter. The only response we've had is a link directing us to their flying with children page. This doesn't help us at all!

I appreciate that sometimes you can't seat families together. We understood that but our argument was the fact that they had allocated a 3 year old a seat on her own away from any parent. 

After the way we were treated I will avoid flying with them again. Their lack of empathy and disregard for help was appalling. We still haven't even had an apology. I'm writing this to warn people so that your experience will not be ruined like ours. It seems to me that it is all a money making scheme by EasyJet to get you to pay for your seats which is not necessary if it is illegal for children to be seated alone. Paying for seats shouldn't even come into the equation when you are flying with young children. 

Have you ever had an experience like this?

Update:
We are still away on holiday. I have finally been contacted by Easyjet who have apologised for the customer service we have received. Eva is now sat by us on the way home. Even though there was availability on the plane she was still separated from us. Anyway, that problem has been solved and she is sat next to us.

I also would like to clear a few things with my readers as I have received lots of abuse from people via email and social media. This post is my own personal opinion. I write a blog and share my experiences on my blog. I would have written about flying with EasyJet if it had been a positive experience too. This is by no means a complaint letter (I will be sending one separately). This was written to share my experience with my readers and to warn others of the terrible customer service we received. 
I read and appreciate comments that have been left but I think lots of people have taken this  whole post out of context. I have in no means written it for any financial gain. I will emphasise again, it was written to highlight the appalling customer service that we received from EasyJet before, during and after the flight. 
I would also like to highlight that I had tried to resolve this issue on numerous occasions before boarding the plane.
If our experience home is a good one I will also be writing about that. I will be writing about my holiday, my apartment and everything in between like I always do. I have not written this for 5 minutes of fame, I am sharing my personal experience. 

With regards to EasyJet and complaining as i've already said, my complaint letter will be written when I return home. The customer service needs addressing (before the flight) and after. I have spoken with them about their flawed booking system and they have agreed with the points I have raised. I have written proof of things that have been said to me by EasyJet which will be going in my letter. 

Where I have discussed what happened on board. Again that is my personal experience. For the people attacking me over the breastfeeding comment, I will emphasise again, I was sharing how I personally felt. I am in no means demanding that I have to sit where I want because I breastfeed. I was simply saying that with everything that had happened on the plane before hand, everybody was staring at me and I felt self conscious. I was sat in between 2 men and everybody was staring and talking about me and my family. I wanted to cry. This will not be going in my complaint letter. Once again I will say it was my personal feelings. People that read my blog regularly will be able to relate to what I was saying as they will understand that I was simply sharing how I felt like I always do.

I am not a cheapskate and a chav as I have been called. I had at no point refused to pay for a seat. If you re read the post it was the first time we have ever flown with them as a family and it said upon booking our seats were allocated. 

I also want to thank people for the lovely comments that have been left here and across my social media and by emails. There are plenty of people that were in the same situation I was who will now be checking their seat allocations also. 
A few weeks ago we were sent a bottle of Nimble Babies Milk Buster to review, which is a cleaning spray for bottles. It targets smelly milk residues and odours and claims to get rid of the cloudiness that often appears on bottles.


Ophelia is primarily breastfed but she occasionally has a bottle of milk. Eva also often has milk in a beaker before bedtime and we find those a pain to keep clean. 

The product is made from the safest cleaning ingredients derived from coconut, sugar and amino acids. Its pH is balanced to be similar to water and it also contains plant-derived products to remove water hardness. It's been clinically tested to be as mild as water. 

It's very simple to use. You add a little warm water to the bottle and then spray twice inside. You can also use the spray directly onto a teat. You can then either use a brush to clean around the inside of the bottle of just shake it. 
If the milk has been left in the bottle longer than a day you may need to spray a couple more times.

We've been using the product for a few weeks and we are very impressed. It really does make the bottles and beakers a lot cleaner. It's very good at getting rid of smelly odours. I've also been using it to clean the monstrosity that is my husband's protein shake bottle. If you've ever used one of those then you know how smelly and grubby they become. It's a miracle worker on that.

We love how simple it is to use. Cleaning bottles can normally be frustrating when you are trying to reach the bottom and remove leftover milk from the sides. The fact that it's a spray allows the product to reach all areas of the bottle that can normally only be reached with a brush. 

We've been so impressed with the product that we've actually bought it away on holiday with us. The temperature where we are has been at least 35 degrees everyday so as you can imagine the bottles and beakers smell very quickly. 

It costs £5.99 for 200ml or £2.99 for a travel size which is 60ml. Its lasted us a while but we don't use bottles daily. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It's a product that you didn't know you needed until you've used it.


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