SOCIAL MEDIA

Thursday 29 August 2019

PARENTING: Mama Hug Gift Boxes

I want to share with you this amazing small business that I discovered on Instagram recently; it’s Mama Hug, firstly let’s talk about the name! It’s amazing because when we are on the journey to becoming a mum we could really do with a hug. They ship out to you ready made gift boxes full of must have items for your vaginal labour, section and breastfeeding journey. As new mums we are severely neglected, we are sent home sometimes within hours of having a baby either via major surgery or vaginally we are then left
To our own devices to care for another human whilst not having the time to even pee. It’s exhaustingly and daunting and not every new mum has a support network. 



Here is what the company have to say about their boxes. 

“Postpartum Care Kits
Wouldn’t it be nice if we nurtured new mums the way we nurture new babies? Unfortunately when it comes to postpartum care, mums are so often at the back of the queue. Yes, childbirth is beautiful, but even the most straightforward of deliveries can leave mum feeling battered and bruised.
It was this thought that grew into Mama Hug – a postpartum gift service for new mums. Moving away
from traditional ‘push presents’ and baby shower gifts, our selection of postpartum care kits are designed with one goal in mind – to get mum on the
mend.
You can choose from the Arrival Survival, which is perfect for natural deliveries, the Caesar Easer; ideal for C-Section mums; and the Bosom Buddy; an essential selection for breastfeeding mamas.
We like to think of our care kits as a helping hand for new mums who have just been through what may well be the most physically enduring experience of their lives. And anyway, why does baby, who is happiest in a pair of willing arms, always get the best gifts?
We hope you enjoy the selection and welcome your feedback. Find us @mamahuguk”

These will make the best gifts, a useful gift that will get used and appreciated. They start off at £69.99 and are worth every penny. 

They have 3 boxes available to purchase - 

The arrival survival 
The Caesar easer
The Bosom buddy 





I honesty recommend any new breastfeeding mum or nun to be to have a look at what they offer and maybe pop it on your push present list. 

Check them out here 




Monday 19 August 2019

DAYS OUT: Finkly Down Farm - AD

The farm itself is situated in a business park in Andover, it’s quite a straightforward route from Portsmouth’s direction. 

It’s a huge space to explore, they have both indoor and outdoor things for the kids to do. As you walk in there is the gift shop and then feeding station where there are a lot of hungry (greedy) goats. 




The indoor space consists of picnic area and cafe as well as a huge amount of soft play for all ages. 
Down side is parents do not supervise their children so there are over twos in the under two section putting the fear of god into the mums of the babies in there. 







Autumn loved the soft play there was all different types of areas for her to explore and get rid of any excess energy. It is honestly HUGE! And there is ample seating for parents to take a 5 minute respite. 

They have so many signs with information on all different animals, it’s an amazing learning environment for children, there is not only lots to learn but amazing talking points for questions and discovery. 










They have so many outdoor activities alongside the animals. 
Trampolines 
Crazy golf
Outdoor play area
Mini pool
Truck driving 
Sand pit
Sheep racing 
Birds of prey display 

And so much more. 

Honestly every time you visit you can discover more.

The farm is open 10-6 daily and have new baby meerkats too! This was such a wonderful surprise as we love meerkats. 








I highly recommend Finkley down farm, it will be fun for all the family and be sure to tire out the little ones. 
Autumn had a great day and was so sad when it was time to go! We can’t wait to start planning our next visit. 




*This was a gifted visit, all views and opinions are my own.
Tuesday 13 August 2019

DAYS OUT: Chessington World Of Adventures

So our second use of our Merlin pass took us to Chessington World of Adventures, this time we were prepared, we planned and had a plan of action of how we wanted our day to go and what rides we wanted to do. 



We arrived at 9am an hour before the park opened, parked and got there for park opening. 

By 11am we had already enjoyed 4 rides a complete contrast to our day at Lego land. 

Rides we went on. 

Flying jumbos 
Zufari
Canopy capers
Tiger rock 
Jungle bus 
Sea dragons 
Griffins gallion
Monkey swinger 
Scorpion express
Tiny truckers 

Honestly I cannot fail the day, we had an absolute blast, we were less stressed and really got to experience the park. 










We took a packed lunch much to Davin’s disgust when he saw loaded fries, we brought the Merlin drink saver, the theory behind it was that you buy a reusable bottle (exclusive for Merlin pass holders) it was £1.99 and it entitled you too 75p refills all day! Amazing right! We thought so until we tried to find places that actually did the refills, and when we did they didn’t have any soda. What a faf! 

Parent pass was brilliant! We both got the chance to enjoy the day and rides, it wasn’t too easy to understand  and if took a few tries to get it right ...

One parent queues with the child for the ride. They have a card that gets signed and time stamped, they get off the ride and give the card to the other parent who can then go through the fast pass lane to ride. 

Autumn was super happy she got to go on everything twice. 
Ashton even went on two rides! It was so cute. 

The zoo was awesome! Next time I’m going to book a feeding session with the giraffes. 


Have you ever been?


Wednesday 7 August 2019

DAYS OUT: LegoLand

Autumns one promise was Lego land this summer, so in the interest of getting the best value for money and saving where possible we opted for the Merlin monthly premium annual pass. Also it was my husband Davin's birthday and he has never been.




We all arrived at LEGOLAND excited for the day at 10am, on arrival the carpark was already busy. (note to self arrive 30 min before the park opens, rooky mistake)
By 1pm (time seamed to fly so fast, mainly because we were queuing so much) Autumn and Davin had been on two rides, myself 0. 



I really don’t recommend taking a young baby with you as you will be left standing around whilst everyone else has a blast. 
They need to take note of Chessington, they have a parent swap so one parent can go on and then they swap! It means both parents get to enjoy the day. 
I will be honest I would have been absolutely gutted if we had brought day passes at £60 per person, I do not feel it is worth that price at all. The queues are in excess of 60 minutes for the popular rides and to get a fast pass it will set you back - MINIMUM £25 to £90 per person. 



You will never get to do the whole park in 1 day, if your lucky maybe get to do 15% of what's there to "enjoy" (thank god for the annual pass). 

Next time I will get a baby sitter for Ashton so I actually get to do something other than stand around watching everyone else. 

The park is almost totally card payments only (had no idea and brought cash to spend, again need to research first). 

Autumn and Davin enjoyed 
 The haunted house 
Coastguard HQ
fairyland Brooke 
Pirate falls treasure quest. 
Viking river splash 


I went on the river splash and fairyland brook as they had short queues.

Parking wow. A terrible system and it took us over an hour and a half to leave the car park, not ideal with a screaming baby and over tired 6 year old.  

90% of our day was queueing, honestly if we didn’t have the annual pass I would say it was a waste of money and very over priced. 


We were made aware of the parent pass, but were told it was only for single parents? To later be told actually it’s for parents of multiple children, so I missed out because of Ill informed staff.



The App they suggest you download wasn't up-to-date and constantly showed incorrect ride waiting times, not particularly helpful.

Would i go again? Yes .... Why? because we have the Merlin Annual pass, that is quite literally the only reason. If i had brought a day pass at £60pp regardless of age, then no i wouldn't waste my money going again. A lot of the staff were quite rude, unknowledgeable and clearly didn't want to be at work.



At least Autumn had a lovely day, and it was quite the experience. 

Have you been to Lego land and how did you find it?