{Review and Giveaway} tommee tippee® closer to nature® Express and Go

This post is brought to you in collaboration with Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature and Kids Business.

I've been breastfeeding Darcy now for just over a year, and whilst I could just transition him to cow's milk I would prefer not to and for a while there he was refusing bottles of expressed milk completely and would only feed from me, but now he will happily take a bottle from B and this allows me to have a bit of a sleep in occasionally or to go out at night without worry about him missing a feed.

We recently received the tommee tippee closer to nature Express and Go system and have been trailing it for a few weeks now.

I love that it comes with adaptors so that the pouches can be used with my Medela breast pump. It also can fit Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature, Ameda, Evenflo, Lansinoh, Philips Avent pumps.

The storage case fits perfectly in my freezer and I'm no longer worried about people moving my expressed milk on me or leaving it out of the fridge/freezer.

And well the bottle warmer is just a lifesaver when I've decided to go out at the last minute and B's got now defrosted breast milk to for Darcy. I've never used a bottle warmer before and let me tell you, I'm kicking myself right now! All those years of sitting and waiting while a bottle heats in a bowl of hot water that you had to boil the jug to get could have been prevented. Or even those phone calls from B asking how to heat or defrost frozen breast milk.

The bottle warmer is really easy to use and comes with really clear instructions.

And the sterilised pouches not only have adapters for a range of breast pumps, but they also come with a breast milk pouch bottle (pictured below)

And now for the the giveaway!

One lucky reader has the chance to win a Breast Milk Starter set valued at $44.99 (pictured below).

To be in the running to win this great prize simply comment below and tell me in 25 words "How will the tommee tippee closer to nature Express and Go System make your life easier?" 

For more information on the Express and Go system be sure to check out the following links:

• www.closertonaturebaby.com.au/
• www.facebook.com/closertonaturebaby 

*Giveaway conditions: Entry is open to Australian residents and closes midnight October 14th 2015 AWST. Winner will be notified via email and will have 5 days to respond with their postal address in order to claim their prize. 

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How did that happen?

Next week we will be celebrating Darcy's first birthday and truthfully I'm in all kinds of denial about it. I mean how can he be ONE already? But I really should pull my head out of the sand and acknowledge this little milestone in all our lives. He's gone from a dark haired newborn to a blonde hair blue eyed baby/toddler in what feels like a blink of an eye. 

He's got 6 teeth and has crawling down pat, I'm not expecting him to walk anytime soon as all of his siblings started walking between 14 and 16 months. He loves to laugh and he enjoys being the center of attention. He really does bring all of us so much joy. 

We are having cake tomorrow afternoon to celebrate his birthday a few days early because B will be working on his birthday but no doubt there will be more cake and presents on his actual birthday so we can celebrate it with a bang. 

But now if you can excuse me I'm off to cry in the corner about my baby turning ONE. 

My Top 5 Baby Sleeping Tips

This post is written in conjunction with The Gro Company Australia

I've been pretty lucky in the baby sleeping department. And yes LUCK is a big part of it. For some babies it just doesn't matter what you do they just struggle to go to sleep or sleep past one sleep cycle.

But here are a few things that I have always done with my kids to ensure we all get a decent block of sleep.

1. Ensure that the room that baby is sleeping in is a pleasant temperature- We have two things in Darcy's room the are able to tell us the temp. One is his baby monitor and the other is the room thermometer that came with his grobag sleeping bag. Both are pictured below.

 2. Use the room temp as a guide to dress baby- This can be tricky sometimes but over time you will be able to figure out what temperature and clothing your baby is comfortable at. At night D's room sits at around 25 degrees at bedtime, but quickly drops to 19-20 overnight so at the moment he is wearing a longsleeve romper and a 2.5 tog grobag. If I put him in a 1.0tog grobag he wakes from getting cold. We do use a 1.0tog grobag during the day now though since it's heating up here.

3. White noise is your friend- We have a small box fan in D's room that it switched on for all sleeps. It's even used in winter! I just make sure it isn't pointing towards him if his room is cold. This has been a lifesaver because the sound of the box fan drowns out the loudness that is our house.

4. Routine- I'm not saying that at 10am he must have a sleep and at 7pm he must be in bed for the night, but he knows that after he has had dinner, a bath and a small amount of nappy free time that it's time for his feed and then bed. Same goes for day time, we do things in the same order every day and then watch for tired signs.

5. The use of sleeping bags- this is linked to point number 1 and 2 but they are a lifesaver. We both get more sleep because I have never worried that he has kicked his blankets over his head and he never wakes up cold because he has kicked them off! I've always swaddled/wrapped my babies until around 4 months and then I transition them to sleeping bags. They are lots of reputable brands of sleeping bags on the market today (heaps more than when Caden was a baby almost 9 years ago!) but we have pretty much always stuck to Grobags because they are fantastic quality and have lasted so well. Darcy actually wears grobags that his big brothers and sisters wore.


So there you have it- My top 5 baby sleeping tips!

I really should apply those tips to myself so I can wake up as happy as this guy.

Do you have any tips sleeping tips for babies? 

What has worked for your family?

Decking Out Darcy for Winter

Darcy doesn't REALLY need many clothes, being the 4th child and 3rd boy. But that doesn't stop me looking now does it?!

I've just been playing on Polyvore (a great time waster that is!) and found a few things.

Baby Boy winter set by actually-amy on Polyvore

Alexandra Ferguson Baby, It's Cold Outside Lumbar Pillow, 125 AUD / Hand Knitted Baby Boy Wool-Alpaca Hoodie Cardigan/Jacket, Chunky,..., 56 AUD / gray baby shoes gray toddler shoes gray booties gray crib shoes gray..., 31 AUD / Gold GLITTER Dream Big Sparkle More Shine Bright Toddler Raglan Shirt, 29 AUD / BLACK SWISS cross, BYRON modern baby crib shoes, soft sole shoe, black..., 28 AUD / baby onesie, Brave One, baby boy, baby girl, onesie, winter, holiday, 14 AUD / Cool story Bro. funny youth kids toddler shirt girl or boy size and..., 14 AUD / Discounted black and white baby girl or baby boy leggings, baby pants., 13 AUD

Tell me though, where should I be looking for some nice, well made but not too expensive baby boy clothes?

my creative space {wk5 2015}

This past week I actually pulled out my sewing machine for the first time since November last year. Yes, it's been a long time between sewing sessions and it was great to get back into it if only for a short time.

I had two things on my to sew list. They were some dribble bibs and a teething toy for Darcy.

The dribble bibs needed a bit more tweaking to accommodate his chunky checks and neck (and my pliers for my snaps has gone walkabouts)

But the teething toy is all done and it was a super quick project so I think a few more will be in our future.


Has anything been happening in your creative space this past week?

Wordless Wednesday: The Darcy Chronicles

He's here!

Yes, it's a boy! And his name is Darcy George.

Here are all his stats:
DOB: 18/9/2014 11:13pm
Weight: 3.18kg
Length:47cm
Head Circumference: 36cm

Born at 37 weeks on the dot. He had us all scrambling and his Daddy missed his birth.

But I'll tell you all about it later. We just got home from Perth so I am going to enjoy my surroundings and my new squishy baby.

Crossing things off my to do list

I've got a week until I fly down to Perth to wait patiently for this baby to makes it's appearance so I've been trying to get everything organised and project finished before I go.

Realistically I'm not going to get it all done, but I'm slowly getting the most important things finished.

I've finished a fair few baby related crafts recently and just have three more things that I want to get finished before I go.

They are:
The modernqal baby quilt
The Low Volume baby quilt
Some bloomers that I cut out the pattern and fabric for about 2 months ago...

With the house stuff, well I'm pretty much done with all of that. There is no point in my cleaning showers within an inch of their lives or scrubbing walls, because B and the two older kids will be here messing up all my hard work for just under two weeks after I leave. Instead I'm leaving all that on B's list (insert evil laugh here).

Etsy Shop Love: All about Baby

You should have gathered by now that my head is full over everything to do with babies! So needless to say when browsing on Etsy I end up looking at baby things. 

Here are a few of my favs that I have come across this week. 

Baby Headbands by Little Highbury 

 Leather Moccasins from Keal Designs

Baby Moccasin Pattern from Peekaboo Pattern Shop

 Gold Moccasins from Keal Designs

 Baby Crib Mobile from Felt n Joy

 Sock Monkey Hat from Wennie Gets Crafty

 Organic Baby Leggings from Lola and Stella

 Baby Romper Pattern from Brindille and Twig

Woodland Animal Nursery Art but Aldari Art

WIP Wednesday: Low Volume Baby Quilt Progress

Last week I shared my low volume baby quilt that I am in the process of making.

I wanted to get the quilt top finished over the weekend, but between a last minute invitation to have dinner with friends on Saturday night and the kids soccer games on Sunday by sewing time was cut down to practically nothing.

But never fear, yesterday I got stuck in and finished chain piecing all the squares into 4s and pressing them so they are all ready to be sewn into blocks of 16.

I have done some blocks of 16 already, but I was being lazy and only finger pressing them so that aren't perfect.

But hopefully these next set of blocks I put together will make up for that.

What are you creating at the moment?

Cluck Cluck

A few weeks ago over on And Sew We Craft it was baby week. It was to celebrate the fact the Cate was in the last few weeks of her pregnancy. Over there I shared some things that I recently made for my cousins new baby. But while I was making those gifts I was also making some things for Cate.

And well she is now in the last week of her pregnancy and she has received the gifts I sent to her now so I can share them here.

The package included these cute little baby pants that I made for her.

And I packaged them up with a bib and a onesie that I had made a little while ago too.

Do you give handmade gifts often?