Mothering Sunday

When I opened Eve's bag after nursery on Friday evening I shed a few tears when I saw the lovely art works that the girls there had helped Eve create for me for Mother's Day. They had also done some baking and Eve had decorated a fairy cake for me; it was scrumptious, just like my girl, and I ate it for dessert that night after dinner. A good way to start the weekend.

We didn't have any plans for the weekend, just mainly pottering about at home and things. Mother's Day was pretty relaxed for us. I'd been up with Eve a fair bit the night before, so I was tired and didn't want to do too much.

After a nice morning where I was cooking in the kitchen and Eve was having a nice time looking through the books on the shelf, we took a quick drive over to Mothercare to get a demo of a Group 1 car seat. The Joie Stages Combination car seat faces rear and forwards. I'm really hoping that I've made the right decision buying this one.

Playing on toys in Mothercare

After the demo and a bit of a lark about in the shop we went home for a walk through the woods together.

We walked over to Boca Bar to have a drink and relax for a bit. Eve had the most fantastic time wandering about, waving and saying hello to people. 

Eve spied a first birthday party nearby with a bunch of a balloons. The mum of the birthday boy was very kind and let Eve play with one of the balloons, which was a great hit. Eve was ecstatic.

It was nice to kick back for an hour or so and chat 'kids n baby stuff' with people who were attending the birthday party.

Eve wearing the lovely blouse that Granny sent her for Christmas

Daddy and Eve having fun

We had a stroll back through the woods to our house after Boca Bar. It was really good to breath in the fresh 'woody' air and feel a bit of inner calm. Unfortunately Daddy hurt his neck carrying Eve such a long way in the sling. Think we'll have to take the pram from now on.

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mumma's out there. It's got to be the toughest, yet most rewarding and incredible job in the world!!

Afternoon Tea

A walk through Arnos Vale Cemetery

As usual, hurrah for Facebook! An old school friend read my blog about the Joie Stages car seat and has sent me a link for a friend of hers who also runs a blog.  Have a look at the blog called 'A rear facing family' - there is a post about how to deal with short seat belts and the Joie Stages car seat:

http://erfmission.com/?p=1277

This is really good news as now I feel like I can go and buy this car seat and not be worried about having issues with it. The Internet is great - there's always someone in the world going through the same thing as you.

We didn't do much at the weekend, storms were raging most of the time so we just enjoyed pottering about at home.  The only time that we ventured outside was on Saturday afternoon for a stroll through the cemetery. Daddy carried Eve on his back and I had a great time with the perfect sized walking stick, from a fallen branch.  We stopped in the cafe in the cemetery and had a quick drink.  Eve shared a piece of lemon polenta cake with me and absolutely adored it. A tricky thing for her to hold as it was quite crumbly - needless to say her coat is a bit of a sticky mess now...

On Sunday afternoon I made a loaf of wholemeal bread (in the bread maker machine - I'm not super mum I'm afraid), so Daddy took a break from his music production upstairs in the studio and came down to eat fresh bread and drink herbal tea with me and Eve.  My dear muth had given us some natural Cornish honey at Christmas so I put some on Eve's bread. Due to government guidelines I've been a good mama and have waited patiently for Eve to reach her first birthday before trying honey (it contains spores of a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, which can germinate in a baby's immature digestive system and cause infant botulism, a rare but potentially fatal illness).  She investigated it for a good 5 minutes before finally thinking it was ok to try. Sam and I laughed when we saw her expression when she started eating it - her face seemed to say 'Wow! This is delicious, why have I not had this before?'

Eve looking very grown up here, with her hair clip in her hair

We're attempting a new strategy with Eve's sleeping at the mo, and are seeing if one nap per day (she has a long one in the morning, usually 2 hours) will help her sleep more during the night time. So far it seems to be working well.

Welcome to the world, Lamorna Violet!

I'd like to take this opportunity to say Massive Congratulations to my dear friends Jilly and Joe who have just had their first baby. Lamorna Violet Pridmore arrived on Friday 9th January at 18.52.  I've known Jilly since I was 12 years old when we lived in Cornwall and am absolutely thrilled about her little girl's arrival.  'Lamorna' is a fishing village and cove in West Cornwall.  Jilly is a proper Cornish maid so Lamorna is the perfect name for their baby.  Sam, Eve and I are really looking forward to seeing them at the weekend.  I cannot wait to have cuddles with this little lady.

Buying a Forward or Rear Facing Car Seat

I love the look of the Koochi Motorhero Group 1 car seat, however looks aren't everything. The review on madeformums.com isn't that great. Shame!

Eve must be around 19 lbs now (haven't had her weighed for a while), so I've started thinking and researching the next step up for her car seat (Group 1).

i-Size is a new European standard for car seats. It came into effect in July 2013 with the aim of making buying a car seat simpler and safer. Changes made by this regulation are going to be gradually phased into the UK by 2018. 

i-Size seats are fitted into a car using the Isofix system, which will reduce the risk of car seats not being fitted properly. All cars made from 2006 onwards are fitted with an Isofix system, so fitting a car seat should be simple and easy for everyone. The new regulation is also striving to make car seats that fit in all cars.

Since the 1970s, Britax has repeatedly come up with successful innovations which have influenced the entire market, setting new standards for the industry. The Britax Isofix anchoring system was developed in 1997 in co-operation with VW.

Always looking for new ways to improve safety, the Isofix system connects the child seats rigidly to the vehicle chassis rather than just using the adult seat belts, reducing installation errors.

The Britax Pivot Link system stops your child being jolted so far forward - not only reducing the amount of force your child is subjected to, but reducing the odds of their head hitting the car interior.

Once your baby weighs more than 9kg, you can use a Group 1, Group 1/2 or Group 1/2/3 car seat.

Group 1 car seat is suitable for a baby weighing from 9kg to 18kg, which is roughly 9 months to 4 years.

Group 1/2 combination or multi-group car seat is suitable from 9kg to 25kg, roughly 9 months to 6 years, but isn't a very common option.

Group 1/2/3 combination car seat is suitable from 9kg to 36kg, which is roughly 9 months to 12 years, and there's quite a wide range of these on the market.

Here is a review of the 12 best car seats according to madeformums.com:

http://www.madeformums.com/reviews-and-shopping/the-12-best-car-seats---from-9-months/7750.html

Scandinavian countries use rear facing car seats until the child is 4-5 years old (they then move to a belt positioned booster seat).  For the past 25 years in Sweden there has been an aggressive campaign to convince parents that rear-facing seats are safer. Statistically it is five times safer for a child to be in a rear facing car seat if they are in a collision.

Read up on the facts:
http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/facts.php

We don't drive very much really. We tend to walk or get the bus everywhere in Bristol. So our main trips in the car are to do the food shopping, when Eve is always with me, or if we are visiting some of the Grandparents further afield.

Sam and I have been looking forward to Eve being able to face forward so that we can see her and talk to her which would make things much easier, but that said, safety is the most important thing.

The slight problem in the Fergusson household is that our car is older than 2006 so we do not have Isofix anchorage points built into our car to enable us to buy a rear-facing isofix car seat. I emailed a nice lady called Helen at rearfacing.co.uk and she was very helpful. She said that our best bet would be to buy a BeSafe rear facing car seat which utilises the seat belt.  These seats are Plus tested in Sweden, which is the most stringent test in the world. However, they are pricey...

BeSafe izi kid x3 rear-facing car seat

The BeSafe izi kid x3 is around £250:
http://www.besafe.com/en/car-seat-products/toddlers-car-seat-0-18-0-25kg/izi-kid-x3


There is interesting information on the following website.
This is in line with Rospa (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/