My Little Baby Born Doll: A Mini Video Review

Here for your watching pleasures, is Mini from The Lazy Girl's Guide to Life, who is today reviewing the newest Baby Born doll, My Little Baby Born, just right for first dolly owners and dolly fanatics alike. 



The Baby Born has certainly proved popular in our house, with Littlest also enjoying (and finding hilarious) the big selling feature of the doll- that it pees. They had hours of fun making it sit on a dolls potty, on the toilet (or over our toilet), and then even more hilariously making it pee itself (Mini was most unimpressed with this though). Hardly surprising as they are at the age where wee is the funniest thing ever, second only to breaking wind of course.

It's reasonably priced for a doll that pees and makes real life baby sounds at £24.99, and luckily most baby doll clothes will fit the doll too. There are lots of accessories available from pocket money amounts upwards, and it would be ideal for the Grandparents or friends to buy bits for birthdays or Christmas.

The My Little Baby Born is available from all good toy retailers as well as Smyths Toy Store, and comes with a bottle, two nappies, an outfit and headband.

Gumigem - Jewellery for Mums with Teething Babies

Guest Reviewer, Emma from Mellow Mummy has a baby girl who likes to gnaw on anything in sight.  Find out how she got on with Gumigem jewellery.

Gumigem jewellery is for mums to wear but is made with babies in mind.  Everyone knows that babies find enormous pleasure in pulling and chewing on your jewellery (so much so that I have pretty much stopped wearing a necklace sine my youngest was born) and Gumigem embraces this.  Gumigem jewellery is made so that babies CAN chew on it without you having to panic.

I first tried Gumigem with my eldest daughter and the necklace became a favourite which I lifted out again this time around.  But in the past couple of years the Gumigem range has grown and now they make a fantastically wide range of chewable pendants, necklaces and bangles... they even make chewable dog tags so even Daddy can get involved!

Gumigem Miller Heart Teething Pendant

I love the simplicity of Gumigem jewellery.  Our latest acquisition is a matching chunky pendant and bangle.  They are both made from flexible non-toxic silicone that is free from any nasties so perfectly safe for baby to put in their mouth.  There are no small parts and the silicone won't be bitten through.

Our chilli pepper red Miller Heart and Bubba bangle are really quite large pieces and go very well with a plain black top to make them stand out.  They aren't delicate pieces (in fact I find the necklace quite heavy) but that doesn't mean that they're not feminine.  The pendant is tied on securely with a knot and has a soft  black lace with a clip-in fastening, all designed to reduce any possibility that the pendant or clip might ever come off.

Chewing the Gumigem Bangle

The bangle was an instant hit with both my baby girl AND my bigger girl.  In fact, I think that Gumigem jewellery is perfect for my big girl to wear around her baby sister to!  My youngest daughter is currently at an age where EVERYTHING goes into the mouth and with almost constant teething (but no more teeth in the last 6 months... sigh) she is always on the lookout for something to gnaw on and drool on and these Gumigem pieces are perfect for her right now because as long as I'm here, they're here too!

Gumigem also sell a range of other teething products such as bibs and toothbrushes.

Plum Tots Little Foodies Range

Guest Blogger, Emma Button from Mellow Mummy has been trying out the new range of tots meals from Plum Baby.

As a foodie mum, I've always been happy with Plum baby foods and snacks for my girls to back me up but I will admit that as a second-time mum, I've used less and less pre-prepared food, mainly because my youngest daughter has always been quite happy to eat what we eat.  Saying that, when I am out of the house for the whole day with my girls, I do always like to keep an emergency back-up meal available either to warm up somewhere away from home, or to quickly rush to get ready when I get home with an over-tired, over-hungry toddler.  We were excited to hear that our favourite baby food brand, Plum, have launched a new range of meals for tots.

As with all Plum recipes, Plum Tots Little Foodies brings together exciting, tasty ingredients with the super-grain quinoa and at least two portions of vegetables. The range is designed for children over 12 months old and features Caribbean Jerk Mango & Chicken with Wholegrain Rice; Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Apricots & Bulgar Wheat; Neapolitan Tomato & Beef Ragu with Ditalini Pasta; and Vegetable Biryani with Wholegrain Rice.

We tried out the Tomato and Beef Ragu one evening after a long day out. The meal comes in a single-serving dish which you heat up in the microwave and, once it has cooled a little, your child can eat directly from it. My daughter loved the meaty sauce which was VERY tomatoey and left some interesting stains on her bib. She wasn't that keen on the pasta though which seemed a bit soggy after cooking. I thought the portion size was good for my daughter who has just turned one but I think that by three years (which is the age range Plum recommend) it would be a bit small.

I liked the fact that all of the ingredients in this Little Foodies dish were things I would have used if I were cooking the same meal at home - there were some quite adventurous flavours such as garlic and oregano which I am so glad Plum are happy to add to their dishes because they are exciting flavours for an age when the whole world of food is there for your little ones to explore.

I have kept a Plum Tots Little Foodies dish in my changing bag for when I am away from home just in case I need it! Each meal costs around £2.25 and they will be appearing in Boots and in supermarkets over the summer.

Tree Fu Tom Pyjamas

Littlest from the Lazy Girl's Guide to Life is a massive fan of all things CBeebies, including Tree Fu Tom, a great action hero who kids can join in with. So, when he was asked to try out a pair of Tree Fu Pyjamas, he was very eager, and couldn't wait to Tree Fu Go and try them on (sorry sorry, I'll get me coat!)

Crosse & Blackwell 4 Kids Pasta and Meatball Meals

Our guest reviewer Mellow Mummy has been feeding her brats delightful bundles of loveliness these exciting character meals from the Crosse & Blackwell 4 Kids pasta and meatball meals - find out what they thought of them.

As someone who normally feeds the same food to everyone in the family, a special tin of character pasta is always a very special treat for my eldest daughter who gets extremely excited when I let her choose her own tin of character pasta.  These new 4 Kids Pasta Shapes in tomato sauce from Crosse & Blackwell feature some of her favourite characters - Winnie the Pooh, Disney Princesses, Tinkerbell and Cars are all favourites in our house and at 49p they are a bargain.

I found the shapes of the pasta very floppy and barely recognisable (crowns and bows for the Disney Princesses, spanners and wheels for Cars) and I felt that the sauce was quite runny but to be honest, it doesn't really matter what I think!  My daughter loves them.  In fact, on the day she first tried them, she ate an entire tin and then disappeared into the kitchen... I found her a few minutes earlier having rummaged in the cupboard and opened up the next tin of pasta.  She was ready to eat them there and then, cold, from the tin!

The pasta shapes have slightly less sugar in them than one of our current brands of character pasta in tomato sauce.

My daughter has also tried out the 4 Kids meatballs meals - I don't think she had ever tried anything like them in the past.  These larger tinned meals feature meatballs in either tomato sauce (a hit), onion gravy (not a hit), gravy or bolognese sauce.  The tins all feature Scooby Doo characters and look bright and fun.

I have great memories of meatball meals as a kid myself so I'm glad that my daughter enjoys some of these tinned meals.  For me, these are great value (79p) that I can keep in my cupboard for days when I want to serve something quick and easy for my girls while still winning 'fab mummy' brownie points.

Ozeri Double Wall Insulated Beverage Glasses

Guest reviewer Emma Button from Mellow Mummy likes to relax with a coffee at the weekends so we asked her to test out these snazzy coffee glasses from Ozeri.

I'm not a big fan of the y-shape of traditional latte glasses and will normally ask for my coffee in a mug, even when I'm in a coffee shop!  However, I really do like to be able to see what coffee I'm drinking so these glasses are perfect for me - I love the innovative, bumpy shape; it feels comfy in my hand and I can grasp the whole cup as I might do a mug.

The really clever thing about these glasses is that the two walls of glass act as an insulator and mean that hot drinks don't lose heat and cold drinks don't lose cool!  I was really impressed that I couldn't feel the heat of my coffee through the outside of the glass (another reason why I don't like traditional latter glasses), instead you get a gentle warmth.

The fact that these Ozeri Double Wall Insulated Beverage Glasses are freezer safe and dishwasher safe is appealing to me but they feel more delicate than they are described - I'm still not brave enough to put them into the dishwasher and prefer to wash by hand but then I tend to do that with all of my most prized glassware anyway.

One of the most impressive things about these glasses is that they look just as groovy holding my Friday night cocktail (I'll have a rum and coke please) as they do with my Sunday morning coffee!

Iron Man Action Figure

Littlest of The Lazy Girl Blog has been lucky enough to try out the brand new Iron Man figure from the latest in the film franchise, Iron Man 3. So, did it beat Action Man, his usual fave figure?

The Iron Man figure is available from Amazon, priced at £28

Crosse and Blackwell 4Kids Fruit and Jelly Pots

Its summertime, and now that we don't have to fill the children up with foods that will provide them with an inner warmth, it's time to look for alternatives to sugar filled ice lollies and other treats. Crosse and Blackwell asked the Brats from The Lazy Girl Blog to try out their new range of Jelly and Fruit Pots. Here's what they thought, as told by Mini (6)...

Mummy always tries to get me to eat fruit, I like strawberries and apples but they are boring. I like them in ice lollies, but they are not very good for my teeth. 

I liked the Crosse and Blackwell desert pots, because they have Toy Story characters on them, I like Jessy the best, as she's a cowgirl. They are very nice to eat, I liked the jelly, it was very wibbly wobbly, so it made my brother laugh when we ate it.

Mummy put one of the pots in my lunch box instead of my usual snack bar. I like having a piece of fruit in my lunch box but if I have bananas they go all squidgy and not nice, and I can't eat a whole apple if it's not sliced up, but then if it is it goes a bit brown in the box, which looks yucky and I don't want to eat it.

The pots were perfect, though. They have a little spoon which folds up and is very cute, and they didn't leak in my lunch box like one of my yoghurt's did before. I liked that they are like having treasure to find when you get a big lump of lovely fruit from in the jelly.

I shared my Fruit and Jelly pot with my friend, as I found it very big at lunch time or after my dinner, but it was nice to share some, and it tastes lovely and not to sugary either.

Mummy says she likes the pots as they are one of our five a day and I didn't have to be bribed to eat it, as sometimes she tells me something I'm going to eat is something else but she fibs. 

I have told Mummy to buy lots more of these because they are very nice when it's warm and then I can eat fruit without it turning squashy or brown.

Littlest thinks they are yummy too.

So, there we have it, high praise indeed from a fussy Mini!

The desert pots also have natural fruit juices, no artificial preservatives or colours, so if you are trying to keep a healthy lifestyle for your child (or yourself- I tried one and they are delicious) these are a great substitute for sweets and great if you are trying to introduce more fruit to your child who is a bit reluctant to eat it.

They also come in a variety of different flavours so even the pickiest of child will find one they like, from mixed fruit to strawberry and apple, all with a fresh tasting, home made style jelly.

The Crosse and Blackwell 4Kids Fruit and Jelly pots are currently 65p from Tesco, and are 2 for 1 at the moment.

Smoke Relief E-Cigarette

Smoking is something which we all know is a habit which is very bad for your health. However, if you are a long time smoker, like Gadget Dad, it can be very hard to break the habit, and will power alone is sometimes not enough. He's been trying out Smoke Relief, to see if it can help in the fight to break his habit.

I tried to give up smoking earlier in the year, and it wasn't my first attempt either. It's something I've done since my mid teens,  and I'm now in my mid forties. That's a long time, and it has had an effect on my health, which I'm noticing now as I get older. 

The problem is I start off with good intentions, binning my cigarettes, hiding my lighters, and swearing off nicotine. I've tried patches in the past but found them irritating, and a bit of a faff. I then tried a prescription drug from my GP, which it turned out I was allergic to and which made me quite ill. So, despite starting off well, it wasn't long before I was back to my old routine.

When Lazy Girl asked me to try out an e-cigarette- something I'd not tried before- I'll it I was sceptical. I have seen them advertised but thought they looked a bit daft to be fair.

Smoke Relief is marketed as America's most popular brand of e-cigarette, and the packaging is pretty non-descript. The device itself looks just like a cigarette, and smokes like one too, as well as having a glowing tip. The difference is that I was allowed to smoke them in places where smoking is banned, and also didn't have to stand in the rain of the garden when wanting to try it out indoors.

I wasn't sure of the taste, which was meant to be tobacco, but was slightly strange to me. You can taste a small amount of nicotine, but the overpowering  flavour I could detect was slightly sickly and took a few attempts to get used to. They are available in a variety of flavours though s if you don't get on with one you may find another you prefer. You can chose from Cherry, Menthol, Vanilla, Cappuccino and Apple.

I liked that the problem of having something to occupy my fingers- something patches don't help with- is taken care of. It becomes the norm to light up after a coffee or in the pub and suddenly when trying to quit you have hands which don't know what to do with themselves.

From a safety point of view, there is no risk of leaving a lit cigarette or lighter around to catch fire, there is no smelly ash tray, and my clothes didn't whiff of smoke. The Smoke Relief e-cigarette comes in a handy, pocket sized recharger the same size as a cigarette box, and it has three "filter" style tips which contain the combination of nicotine and fruit flavour.

The smoke is caused in much the same way as dry ice using vegetable glycerine, they don't contain tar which is what causes the cancerous cells to develop around the body. The glycerine is absorbed into the body the same way as sugar is so they are harmless.

I have used them in between trying to cut down on my smoking, it certainly is more helpful when out or at home when I have sole charge of the children as I've not had to nip outside to have a smoke. However, I do get slightly put off by having to re-order cartridges. They cost £5.95 for 5 cartridges, plus postage and packaging, so you do have to make sure to order them in bulk or well before you run out.

They are of course, cheaper than my usual cigarettes, but obviously it's much easier to walk to my local shop to pick up ten cigarettes rather than having to order these online.

Overall, I found these very easy to use, just plug in and recharge as you would a mobile phone. They taste a bit strange but you don't end up with the discoloured teeth and stinky breath associated with smoking, and they do sort out the empty hand problem. I don't think I could go "cold turkey" with it, but it certainly helped to cut down on my usual habitual use.

They'd be a great tool for a light smoker, or a social smoker who doesn't want to be the odd one out on smoking breaks.

Smoke Relief is available online. A starter kit the same as the one I used costs £29.97.

I was sent the kit as part of a review, but it has not altered my opinion on the product

Ozeri Touch Professional Digital Kitchen Scale

The Ozeri Touch Professional Digital Kitchen Scale is part of the new range of kitchenwares from Ozeri. Ozeri is well-known in the USA but they have only just started to sell their products here in the UK and the range can be found on Amazon.

There are a number of features of the Ozeri Touch Professional Scales which are perfect for me because I spend a lot of time cooking with my children.

The surface of the scale is made from smooth tempered glass which means there are no little nooks and crannies for flour, sugar and other bits of food to get stuck (this is what caused my old kitchen scales to die!). The smooth surface also makes it really easy to wipe clean after a chaotic cooking session with my girls. Quite apart from the practicalities of the tempered glass top, I think it looks stunning and the whole jet-black, sleek style fits perfectly in my modern kitchen.

The numbers and display are very bright and large which makes it easy for my preschooler to read the digits, far easier than any other scale I have used before. There are two buttons on the front. The first button changes the unit of measurement (grams, pounds and ounces, fluid ounces and millilitres (yes my husband did try out the ml measurements to make sure they told the truth!!!). The second button is labelled TARE which is described by the manufacturer as the ability to automatically deduct the weight of the container you are using which is slightly over-egging the functionality... basically this button resets the scale to zero, even if you have something already sitting on the scale.

I was also impressed by the range of weights that the Ozeri scale can measure - upto 5050g which means there are few things I normally cook that I wouldn't be able to weigh on the scales, even in my heavy ceramic mixing bowls. I would say however, that for a full-sized mixing bowl, the surface of the scale is relatively small compared to the bowl but at least the scale is compact (about 23cm by 15cm all told, and less than 1.5cm thick) so it takes up very little space in my kitchen.

Overall I found these kitchen scales to be smart, compact and easy to use and I will definitely be checking out the other products from the Ozeri range. The Ozeri Touch Professional Scales have a RRP of £29.99 but are currently available on offer at Amazon.