Review: Just Juice Orchard

The guys at Just Juice have bought out a new range of fresh juices.  And they are pretty scrummy {I'm a sucker for the Sun kissed Orange}.  Paris did the main review on this product, but I wanted to note a few things that she doesn't think about:

The cartons looked great - they stood out and made you think hmmmmmmm, which is what you want right? if your browsing the shelves at the supermarket, you will always look twice and the drinks that stood out at first glance :) They were also easy to store in the fridge, and easy to open and pour.

Farm Style Apple:

The flavour is really nice and crisp, but after a while it got a little sour, which I don't think apple should do, and I didn't really enjoy it very much.

Score: 6/10

Sun Kissed Orange:

The flavour of this drink is delicious, it's very sweet which I love.  I did find that it left a bit of an aftertaste in my mouth, which I didn't enjoy so much, but overall the drink was great.

Score: 8/10

Summer Strawberry & Kiwifruit:

The flavours worked really together in this drink, and when I took the first sip, it was like a burst of flavour in my mouth.  It's a very sweet tasting drink with a pleasant aftertaste.

Score: 9.5/10

Merry Christmas

...here's what Santa left at our house last night...

I'll update more in the coming hours/days

I would like to take this time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful day and get to spend it with your nearest and dearest.

Review: Be Natural Cereals

Imagine my suprise when I recieve an overly large package that I wasn't expecting, only to open it up and discover not 1, but 3 boxes of Be Natural Cereal AND 2 boxes of Trail Bars
Anyway as I was saying, 3 boxes of cereal, in 3 different flavours:

• Pink Lady Apple & Flame Raisin
• Cashew, Almond, Hazelnut & Coconut
• 5 Whole Grain Flakes

So me and my lot have been plodding our way through the different flavours over the last couple of weeks, and here's what we have for you:

Pink Lady Apple & Flame Raisin

Reviewed by: Joshua {12yrs}

The flavours worked really well together and the flakes, fruit all taste great on their own as well.  The textures were very plesant as some rough, others smooth, and some crunchy.  The idea of Apple, Raisins and Flakes was very "Natural".  The only thing I didn't enjoy was the big raisin you put in and there were too many for my liking. 
Score: 8/10

Cashew, Almond, Hazelnut & Coconut

Reviewed by: Leesh {32yrs}

I have 3 letters only to describe this cereal. OMG!! it was like a taste expolosion in my mouth, I LOVED it.  The flavours worked so well together and every single mouthful was full of flavour.  I find it hard to find cereals, that I enjoy eating, and this one was good it's already on the shopping list for next week.
Score: 9/10

5 Flakes

Reviewed by: Joshua {12yrs}

The flakes taste great and they didn't need sugar on top of them.  The tasted better than plain old ordinary corn flakes.  I can't fault them, as they tasted just great!
Score: 9/10


And that concludes our "family" rewiew for Be Natural Cereals.  In short, we will definately purchase these cereals in our regular shops, as they went down a real treat for everyone :)

The Trail Bars unfortunately ended up being shipped up to the caravan last week by mistake, so will be reviewed over the Summer Holiday.

Advance Warning

I put my name in the hat for a couple of product reviews recently... and it appears that I have been selected for most of them... just judging by the products the courier keeps dropping off to me... so I am giving advance warning to you all, that the next few posts are gonna be product reviews.

It's official....

There will be no more babies for us.

When we made the decision to try for Axel, we knew at that stage that he would be our last baby.  Then when he was born 9lb 1oz, it really cemented our decision.

So Ian went off and did the extremely noble thing by having a vasectomy.  Obviously we still need 2 clear tests before we can confidently say it worked, but we are on the right path to making sure we have no little surprises in the next few years :)

And then, to really make it all official, I have tonight sorted through all of my maternity clothes, taken the photos of everything, and am getting ready to list it all on Trade Me.  I have one friend who is planning on looking through it all, before I list, so have sent her all the photos and details tonight.

Next step - listing all the baby clothes...

it just tastes better...

When you know you grew it yourself...

Cryptosporidium

Never heard of it? Well neither had I until Cam was diagnosed as having it...

What made the doctors test?  Well... back to the start we go... {Warning: TMI ahead}

Day 1-2 - Diarrhea - and lots of it...
Day 3 - more Diarrhea only today Cam is struggling to get to the loo... by this stage, it is falling out of his poor system with no warning... on one such occasion I noticed blood in his stools {and not just a little bit either}
So straight off to the doctors we go, with our soiled undies in a sealed bag for proof - doctors takes stool sample and sends it off, he is testing for Camplibacta and Giardia
Day 4-6 Still more Diarrhea
Day 6 Blood tests for lots of sinister things
Day 7 Still more Diarrhea

Through all this, he seems completely well in himself, except he hasn't eaten since Day 2

Day 7 - Doctor calls and heres how the conversation goes

Dr: I know whats wrong with Cam
Me: Oh, yay, I think
Dr: Nothing in his bloods, which is good, but is stool samples have returned a positive result for Cryptosporidium
Me: Cryptospor-what?
Dr: Exactly - I'd never heard of it till today either
Me: Bugger
Dr: It's a parasite
Me: Bugger
Dr: And it's a notifiable parasite
Me: Oh, Bugger, Bugger

you get my drift right lol

So we are now on day 11... and Cam still has diarrhea - he has some normal-ish BM's also, but always finishes off for the diarrhea

We have been back to the doctor today, still not allowed to return to daycare - he can not return until the parasite is gone, or the Ministry of Health gives us the all clear - whichever occurs first.  GRRRRRRRR

This is so frustrating for Cam and me... cause as I said above - he is still his normal obnoxious lovable self, he needs wants to go to daycare for him and me but he can't...

Today we managed to get a stool sample off to be tested... all I can say at this early stage, is that even though it was a relativly normal BM there is still blood :( so I'm not holding my breath that the result will be the one that we want

So, Daycare have couriered us a care box, with all the equipment needed to finish all the Christmas'y things that he would have made if he was there - bless them, they really do rock!

'Tis the Season

And before you can blink people, it's that time of year again. My kids love the day we get the tree out to decorate.  This year, for the first time ever, I decided to let the kids do all the decorating, so after I "built" the tree, I left them to it.

Cammy getting ready to start decorating while I finish "building" the tree

Didn't they do well?? This is the first time Cammy has every been involved in any aspect of the tree going up at all, and he really loved it, was singing us Christmas songs the whole time

Qubies giveaway - Prize Draw

Well it was a pretty poor turn out for this comp, but never mind.  Here is the list of entrants:

And the results of the draw... taken over at random.org

Congratulations to you Mealz

Flick me a message on Facebook with your address, and I'll pop this prize in the post for you :)

Hearing... or not...

as I suffer from quite bad hearing loss, and it's hereditary, my kids have always been in the system for regular hearing tests since birth...

4 months ago, Cammy failed a test :( he had a sinus infection, so I was nice and hopeful and ever so positive that the infection, was the reason for the fail...

cue - 3 month wait... {if you fail a test, you have to wait 3mths before they test again}

2nd test, last month... and he failed :(

We saw the ENT, {Ear, Nose & Throat} specialist last week - quick I know...

Cammy has fluid behind the drum in his left ear... we have to go back in Feb for another hearing test... if the fluid is gone, but he fails, he will need a CT scan, if the fluid is still there then he will be getting grommets... so for now, we wait...

Don't forget to enter my comp, winner drawn tomorrow

How does he keep doing that...?

Cam has been getting out of the back yard heaps lately, and it confuses the heck out of me... we have a simple hook and eye latch on the outside of the gate much like this one, but heaps bigger:

I keep thinking that maybe I had accidently left it unlocked after hanging out the washing, or getting lettuce from the vegie patch... Cam would be outside playing, then next minute he would just walk right in the front door.

The other day Ian caught him unlocking the gate and leaving the back yard, so I asked him to show me how he does it:



What do I do now???

Competition

you only have 5 more days to enter my competition

an update on the kidneys...

remember this post, where I first actually mentioned anything at all about Axel having issues with his kidneys?

Well a few weeks ago, we had an ultrasound and a specialists appointment and were discharged from the Renal Pead's has the dialation has completely gone...

You cannot imagine how relieved I was/am... Of course we can't become complaicent or anything about this... if he has any urine infections in the next 12-18mths, we have to be sent immediately to have an ultrasound to make sure the dialation hasn't returned...

But for now, at least, we smile, and we celebrate

Don't forget

to enter my competition.

if you have a small baby, or are pregnant, or you are looking for something different to give as a baby shower gift, then this prize is for you...

http://leeshshighway.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-review-and-giveaway.html

Vege Garden Update - Nov

Remember our Vege Garden that we planted a month back...

well check it out now....

Guest Review and Giveaway

As you all know - I use a different solids freezing and storage system.  BUT - I won one of these a few months back, and have been trying to figure out what to do with it, so I thought, If I could get someone else to write a review for the product, I could then give the one that I won away to a lucky reader. - so here you go.. my first ever guest review:

This review is bought to you by my friend Shelley.

I first used the Qubie when I won one in a giveaway on their facebook page. Other mum’s had used them and sworn by them, but didn’t think I could justify the price tag (RRP of $25) so was over the moon to be getting a free one. First thing I noticed was that the dividers are attached to the lid and that the lid was made from a flexible material.  I continued on regardless and made a batch of pureed pears for my baby.  I poured the mix into the base as per the instructions.  There is a handy ‘MAX’ fill line which prevents overfilling and therefore having spillage when putting the lid on the base.  During this process it was when I encountered my first problem with qubies, if you didn’t have a full batch to pour into the moulds, then you end up with the same number of cubes, but the size is reduced.  While it isn’t the biggest problem, it can cause inconsistent cube sizes.

Placing the lids on it easy, place it on at one end and then run it closed around the edges to meet at the other end. And that is it done J So into the freezer were issue #2 arises. They don’t stack perfectly inside themselves, well they wouldn’t for me. As they are full and sectioned already, the worst that could happen would be a 30 ml cube being freezing skewed slightly.

Once frozen, removing them is relatively easy. I remove them from the freezer and stand on the bench for a few mins before trying to remove the lid.  The Qubie needs a gentle twist before removing lid by holding each end and twisting opposite directions.  The lid comes of easily and the cubes are ready to pop into freezer bags.  Washing up is easy as they are dishwasher safe and wouldn’t take much in a sink of soapy water either

Pros:

- Easy one pour fill
- Cubes are easy to get out
- No constant twisting and turning in order to remove the frozen cube

Cons:
- If the tray isn’t full, the cubes won’t be the full 30 mls
- Can’t make a half tray
- Stacking issue, but still remain compact

Might I also add to this that if you head on over to qubies they have a whole heap of recipes online for you to try.

How to win:

Leave a comment below stating which recipe off the qubies website, you would like to try and make in your Qubie.

Extra Entries:

If you blog about this competition I will give you an extra entry.
If you FB or twitter about this competition I will give you an extra entry.

Fine Print:

max. 3 entries per person.
please comment and let me know if you have blogged, FB'd or Twitter'd about the comp.

Competion closes 5pm NZ time Wednesday 30th November.

New Discoveries... and Mean Aunties

A few weeks ago, Axel discovered a Koosh Ball while at my mum's place



and my sister being the lovely sadistic person she is, decided to explore the Axel & Koosh Ball relationship a little more:



cruel I know - But oh so cute at the same time... BTW: there were no lasting effects, and Axel now plays with the koosh ball sometimes.

When I grow up....

This picture is Further to my Learn First Aid post...

Cammy Update

• I have just turned 3yrs old
• I love: Cars, Transformers and Toy Story toys - I also love the movies
• I'm getting heaps better at sleeping, and will now sleep through the night 95% of the time, this makes mummy and daddy very happy
• I suffer from hidious sinus infections which then distrupt all my sleeping patterns 

• I can, however, fall asleep anywhere :)
• I have a very active imagination, and often I'm not Cammy, but instead I am a great big T-Rex, or Optimus Prime, or a butterfly fairy even
• Paris helps me heaps with my imaginitive play, and Josh helps me with things like building blocks, and train tracks - I'm lucky to have a big Sister and a big Brother
• I love Axel very much, but I don't like him touching or even thinking about touching my toys. 
• but I will give him blocks every now and again if it keeps him away from my other things
• I love having baths
• I go to swimming lessons on Mondays and am really starting to enjoy them 
• Now that I am 3, I go to Kindy sessions at daycare 3 days a week, I love my friends at daycare, espeically my girlfriend Violet - she is cute x

Check out my Optimus Prime!

weighing in

It's been ages since I've mentioned anything about my exercise routines and weightloss. I may have stopped talking bout it, but I certainly haven't stopped doing everything... and I think my weigh in this week says it all

Axel Update

• I am now 7mths old.  My mum wants to know where the time has gone? She thinks it's gone far too quickly for her liking.
• I can roll, commando crawl and sit up all by myself now
• I love to play with my big brother Cammy {read: annoy him by destroying his block towers, playing with his toys, eating his jigsaw puzzles pieces etc etc}
• Paris and Josh are heaps of fun, especially when they take me to play on the trampoline - oohh how I love playing on the tramp
• I LOVE food... I eat 3 meals a day plus snacks, my favourite foods are avocado, pumpkin and zuchinni - this makes my mummy very happy
• Breastmilk is still my drink of choice {and I've only biten mummy very hard once}
• My reflux is still horrific, though I am pleased to say I lasted 10days off the meds before I became unable to sleep or eat due to pain {mummy, daddy and the doctors were happy with that effort}
• I can say 3 words: Hi, Bubba and RAH {I actually RAH at you if you RAH at me}
• After a tough couple of weeks, mummy and daddy have got me back into a good sleeping pattern at night, where I go to bed at 7.45pm, wake for a quick feed at 11pm then go back to bed till 5.30am, most days after that I go back to sleep for a little bit, but somedays I like to play :)
• I can't sleep at all if I am not wrapped in my miracle blanket. I drive mum nuts cause sometimes I can escape my miracle blanket hehe
• I am ALWAYS smiling

Cam's 3rd Birthday

So after all the posts I made about the Party Planning for Cam's birthday party, I thought I had better post some pics of his party, unfortunately, after a week of great weather in the lead up to Party Day, it did nothing but rain on the day, so the Party was completely moved inside.

Some of the guests and some of the food {yes - I burnt the sausage rolls}

my gorgeous niece Shae

Axel had a blast

Paris with my niece Daley {thats my SIL in the background behind Paris, and my brother on the other side}

Blowing out the candles

My cousins daughters eating cake

Paris and Violet {Cammy's girlfriend}

And at the end, while we were all packing up, Axel fell asleep on Nana

We  held Cammy's Party at the Epsom/Roskill Plunket Rooms

Learn First Aid

We had a very scary experience here the other day...

Axel was crawling around the floor in the lounge as babies do, being inqusitive as babies are.. I noticed it looked like he was chewing something, so I popped my finger into his mouth to do a sweep to remove whatever may have been in there, but came up with nothing...

He then started crying, and seen as it was naptime, I started to feed him... he gaged immediately... again, I swept out his mouth with my finger, found nothing, and latched him again... he gaged again, I took him off and looked in his mouth, there it was... right at the opening to his throat there was something, looked green and red, could be paper, I was just about to pop fingers in to try and get it out by pinching it between two fingers, when he swallowed...

And it got stuck..

I turned him onto his stomach and thumped his back hard. twice. nothing. lifted him up to my face, turned him back onto his stomach, thumped his back hard. twice. again. nothing... by this time he was screaming.

I picked up the phone and called 111.  Axel was still screaming, Ian was inside by this stage helping me, Axel kept trying to swallow, then he would gag, whatever was in his throat was not moving at all... he asw bright red, turning purple {a colour I never ever want to see again on one of my kids}, then we could hear the sirens, heard the ambulance backing down our drive, and Axel vomited, and drew breath in *sigh* we looked in his mouth and there at the opening of his throat was the culprit. again.

Ian managed to fish it out as the abulance officers walked through our front door. they took us out to the Ambulance and monitored Axel for 25minutes before decideding that he was good and they were happy to take him through to hospital if I wanted to, but were also happy to leave us at home if I wanted that also.

I choose to stay home and monitor him myself.  I am after all very trained in the area First Aid.  Others, however, aren't.  If you haven't taken a first aid course people. DO IT.

Our emergency could have ended so differently. but it didn't. and I won't dwell on the "what if's". I'm just thankful my wee boy is ok.

I wish to thank the 111 emergency service, the call dispatcher who kept me calm the whole time, and the 2 Ambulance Officers who were brilliant, special thanks to the one who let Cammy "drive" the ambulance {pics to come later}.

Gorgeous

Tattoo's

I love tattoos... but I know they aren't for everyone... I am about to get a new tat or 2 in the next few months, so wanted to share with you my current ones :)

My 1st tat... got this one in 1998... It's my iguana, his scales are actually waves {a perfect left and right hand break}... this little guy {fred} really represents the beach person lover that I am... reason I choose an iguana to show it off - because they are cute :)

My 2nd tat... got this in 2005. Paris chose it off the wall... I love it

My 3rd tat... got this in January 2007... This one, I got for my dad. 03.09.1955 - 10.01.07... RIP

I was going through his art folder after he died, and his next Tattoo {he loved them like I do} was a dragon, similar to this, so I changed it to look cute and girlish, and for the tail to become an "S" for Steve

The Starters Excercise Plan

One of the other CM Mummies posted the link to this the other day... I decided that even though I already excercise a bit, I'm keen to try this, so today is day one...

Source: iamsammieandiwillbethin.tumblr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

look alikes?

Everyone always goes on about my boys being identical... I just don't see it... do you?

Cam - 6mths

Axel - 6mths

Best Pavement Sign I've Ever Seen

I came across this Sandwich Board on a pavement in Brisbane in 2010... Just wanted to share it with you :)

Review: Mumi&Bubi Solids Starter Kit

At the 2010 Parent and Child Show in Auckland I came across this neat looking product made by Mumi&Bubi.

It was their Solids Starter Kit.

I thought it looked so cool, and so easy to use that I bought it there and then {my sister did too}.  I have had to wait quite a while to be able to use this product, as I was only 4mths when I purchased it, and Axel didn't start solids till he was 5 1/2mths, but boy oh boy it was well worth the wait.

It has made it soooo easy to make all of Axel's food, the starter kit saves time, freezer space, money and sanity.  The trays hold up to 21 cubes of food, and lie flat in the freezer - it's genius! AND it's so easy to pop the cubes out.  The Mumi&Bubi E-Recipe book is also great... I never would have thought to give Axel lentils or even corgette/zuccini if it hadn't been for the recipe book.

So a big thank to you to Mumi&Bubi, for coming up with something that, I believe, was extremely needed on the baby market, and is so great, fun and easy to use. 

Peaches and Pear ready to go into the freezer

pears and lentils

mmmm pumpkin {one of Axel's fav}

My only gripe - I don't have one to give away, and after I no longer need the kit for Axel's baby food, I know I'm still going to find lots of uses for my ones, so wont even be able to offer that one up for a competition.  Sorry guys




Disclaimer: this is a personal review, where I have actually gone out and bought the product, then decided to review it for you all

Vege Garden

A couple of weeks ago we set down our vege garden... we changed location from last years garden, and also built it up - one might say "we are getting better at this" lol

We have planted:

• lettuce {2 types}
• tomatoes {3 types}
• beans
• cauliflower
• silverbeet
• capsicum {2 types}
• spring onion {transplanted from last years garden}

We have corgettes and cucumbers to plant still at this stage, but they are going to go in last years spot so as not to strangle or take over this garden.

Party Planning...

The Cake

ready to cook {yes thats a roasting pan}

mmmmmmm

1st layer of buttercream icing on... and edible sides done

black fondant - on

and the grass

add some white lines and checks and you got a race track

the finished product