I don’t often get to many blog events. The juggle with being a working mum between nursery runs, childcare with Lil H and Baby G is still so little makes it tricky, however last week the lovely people at Warburtons and Clarion Communications hosted a coffee morning at the Manchester Museum – snacks and Dinosaurs – all the ingredients for a great morning out.Apart from having great names let me tell you some more about ChippidyDooDaa Pitta Chips and SnackaDoodle wholegrain snacks. I can’t think of a comparison to draw to explain what ChippidyDooDaa Pitta Chips are like, tortilla-esque so great for dipping but a lower fat choice as they’re twice baked rather than fried. The three flavours Mature Cheese & Spring Onion, Chilli Jack and Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar are mouthwateringly distinct (nothing worse than a snack you can’t tell the flavour of!). My personal favourite was the Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar.SnackaDoodle snacks are not dissimilar to bite sized rice cakes but crunchier and with only 84 calories per 20g bag a good choice for the dieters snack attack! Sadly Mr L & I have eaten our samples but they are arriving on shop shelves as I type. For more information or to order some savoury deliciousness visit www.warburtonssnacks.co.uk

I also got to meet up with my best mummy blogging mate Amy from and 1 more means four … and 1 more, I finally met for the first time the lovely Sandy Calico from Baby Baby, Amy and Sandy gave me the lowdown on what I missed at Cybermummy due to our Cornish staycation. I also met skybluesea, adventures of a sleepless toddler, AandEMummy Daisy Davies and other lovely ladies.

A big thank you to Warburtons and Clarion Communications for a great Blog event & letting this mummy sit down drink coffee, munch on yummy snacks & chat with my blogging buddies!

As you know last month we jetted off to Egypt for a week of sun and family fun.  It was our first trip abroad with the children and I was more than a little bit anxious about it.  Through this blog and my twitterstream I was fortunate enough to be given a few items to review and I took with us the Love Bug Mosquito Insect Repellant by Prince Lionheart. 

I personally really struggle with reactions to insect bites, insects seem to find me really quite tasty and I also don’t like using pharmaceutical or chemically derived products on the children if I can possibly avoid it.  The Love Bug really appealed to me as an insect bite preventative as it wasn’t a spray, a roll on, a lotion or a cream.  It’s a simple battery operated plastic ladybird which you clip on/off to your buggy, cot, car seat etc.  It emits a safe, low-level tone that imitates the sound of a dragonfly’s wing beat, the mosquito’s natural predator.  The Dragonfly being the mosquito’s mortal enemy keeps the biting kind at a distance. 

I did wonder if it would really be non-intrusive or if I’d have something buzzing in the background and I can confirm it is silent!  Well silent in the sense that you can’t hear it unless you put it to your ear to check if its on, any children background noise will overtake it.  Its subtler than a really subtle thing!

Now Egypt in March is pretty much its worse biting season and yes I can confirm we all did collect bites during the week.  However interestingly the children had no reaction, they had tiny little red pin pricks, no swelling, no itching.  Guess there are just a few perks of not having a fully formed immune system!

Interestingly we had the Love Bug clipped to our double buggy and our pals didn’t have a Love Bug attached to theirs and my two kids had noticeably fewer bites.  We did a “count up” on the plane on the way home and the toddler and baby in the buggy without the love bug clipped on it had 45 bites between them and Lil’ H and Baby G had 17 bites – bascially two thirds fewer. 

The only downside I can see to the product is that its cute ladybird appearance was a bit of a magnet to the toddlers at first but the interest soon waned with sea, sand & mini-discos on offer. 

The Love Bug requires a 9V battery (one of the rectangle ones!)  We used this almost evening for a week from about 5pm til midnight and didn’t have to replace the battery during our holiday although we had taken a couple of spares just in case.

I do think it helped prevent my kids getting bitten, I rated it and I will be using it again. 

To buy the Love Bug from Prince Lionheart costs about £9 , the cheapest I found it online was here for £8.97

“The what?”  I hear you cry!  Puj Tub (pronounced “pudge tub”) Never heard of it?  Well me neither!  So please allow me to introduce you to the Puj Tub. 

I’ve mentioned before my local Wilmslow pal Becky who set up Lord & Lady Tantrum with a toddler and baby twins, well Lord & Lady Tantrum has also just become the UK Exclusive provider of the US baby product hit the Puj Tubs.  Luckily for me just as I was heading off to Egypt the first of her stock landed.  Whilst Baby G was at the top end of its age range for use at 5 months old I also knew there are no baths in Egypt, not a problem with a toddler but a bit trickier with a baby so I borrowed one for our trip. 

Here’s how I would describe the Puj Tub, it is bascially light flat foam shape with hidden magnetic clasps which folds it into a cradle to sit in the sink allowing baby to be easily, safely & comfortably be bathed in the sink without mum having to bend down.  But the best way to explain the Puj Tub is to show you, I had thought about vlogging this but then I found this much better looking chick clip doing just that on You Tube and frankly she’s way better looking than I could ever hope to be! 

I can understand why this product is a big hit stateside, its a great idea!  Its really soft for baby and really easy for mum.  If you’ve just had a c-section or have any back or knee problems this is going to make a big difference to the first six months with baby. 

My family and the family we were holidaying with used the Puj Tub and whilst both our babies were at the top end of the age range at 5-6 months is was really useful and we could both see how useful it would have been if we’d discovered it when our babies were younger.  From a travelling perspective it was no bother in terms of space or weight to lie it in the case and from a storage perspective when both on the road or at home it takes up absolutely no room whatsoever by being simply hung up on the back of the bathroom door.  Compared to any other baby bath or seat I have used they are all like an extra piece of bathroom furniture.  It’s a great idea and one I am bit disappointed to discover at the end of my opportunity to use it.  The Puj Tub was a real help on holiday in a hot country without baths as showering a baby I always find is a two man job – one to shower with baby and the other to pass baby over to dry.  Having it meant that I could go and get Baby G and I changed and ready for the evening and Lil’ H and Daddy could stay in the pool or at the beach.

The Puj Tub is suitable from newborn to 6 months old, or up to 17 lbs and available to buy online exclusively in the UK from Lord and Lady Tantrum for £49.95 with Free UK Delivery.

I attended NCT classes during my pregnancy with Lil’ H and learnt all the technical and medical facts about having a baby and made some life long friends along the way.  Sods law dictates that the one and only class I missed would be the one covering Cesarean Birth (C-section) Delivery & Birth and everything  I needed to know when it came to my second delivery with Baby G.  G was delivered by a emergency c-section, it was a category one crash section by general anaesthetic our birth story is here whilst dramatic it has a happy ending

So as the new baby in the house choas subsided to be replaced by a new family of four chaos I have found my thoughts increasingly flicking back to what happened.  I realised I have a really big gap and I don’t mean the time it took for me to properly come around from the anaesthetic I mean I have absolutely no idea what physically happened!  I have a scar so I know the site of exit but I missed the class so I have no idea what actually took place and how Baby G and I parted company if you like, in the nicest possible way.  Next stop google and I found the answers I needed.  I also got to watch, courtesy of You Tube, a number of c-sections.  I don’t mind a bit of blood and gore but if you do I would be cautious of viewing however this video below is gore free and a great explanation, animated demonstration that explained a lot to me.

It was about 8-12 weeks since my section my ponderings started and around this time there was a “anyone had a c-section?” request on Twitter from Mum Versus Kids to trial some massage oil which whilst originaly being marked for ante-natal perineum massage was also good for healing and improving c-section scars, I raised my hand and have been using this massage oil by Boo Boo for the last three months.  I now know my scar:

• My scar was stitched with one single running stitch held with a bead on either end.
• My scar is on/in the crease where my recently vacated bump overhangs (its a six pack in progress!)
• My scar is long:  approx 9 inches, 24cm.
• It is one single as near as damn it straight cut
• It is quite thin/fine in thickness.
• It was red and raised three months ago.
• Today it is pretty flat and pinkish going clear in places.
• Truth is I have underwear of the “too-small-now-but-too-expensive-not-to-wear” variety which leave more marks by the end of the day! 

I will never know whether my scar would have faded and become flatter without either the oil, the massage or both, however I do know I would never have bothered to rub and massage the scar area without the oil.  I never expected to have a c-section and I needed time and giving it a two minute focus a day to massage the area to come to terms with what happened and truly accept my new addition. 

The Massage oil is available to buy from Boo Boo here for £10.99 for 100ml/3.40fl oz