the BABI PUR blog

So the date was set for my Grandmother, Lilian,  and I to climb Snowdon and raise money for a charity she has helped set up.  People had made arrangements, taken time off work and we had a support vehicle arranged.  The plan was for my Grandmother's group to climb from Pen-y-pass youth hostel with her group and me and my friend Dafydd (of Tilestop) would ride our bikes from Criccieth Castle at sea level and we'd all try and meet at the top of the mountain for a pleasant photograph.

However . . . . mother nature had other ideas and the chosen date, 23rd May turned out to be pretty much the windiest and wettest day of the year.  The forecast for the following day was better so, sensibly, my Grandmother's group abandoned and decided to do the climb the next day.  With work and other commitments over our heads Dafydd and I decided to continue.  Standing on Criccieth Pier with the waves crashing against the rocks and rain sand blasting our faces I was what you might say a little concerned about conditions at the top of Snowdon.  The last thing we wanted was to be airlifted off by mountain rescue so we went on carefully keeping an eye on how things were shaping up weather wise.

So we pressed on with gritted teeth and a nice tailwind/ tailgail that blew us from Criccieth to Beddgelert and up towards Pen-y-pass.  From there we walked and climbed our way to the summit and luckily the weather improved and the south side of the mountain seemed to offer some shelter from the wind.  Eventually we got to the top and the winds were gusting at 80-10omph so staying on our feet was the focus of our concentration.  The view from the top was pretty spectacular and incredibly wasn't covered in mist so that was a bit of a treat.

So we made it

The journey back was pretty tough, the wind was right in our faces, when you have to pedal downhill you know things are bad.  Energy reserves running low and muscles aching.  All worth it in the end and I have to admit it was great fun.  Often we don't take the time out of our busy lives to do silly things like this but we should!

Thanks to all who sponsored and everyone who contributed on our facebook auctions.  Well done to my Grandmother too who got to Snowdon's summit the next day, not bad for a 72 year old.

Here at Babi Pur We've expanded our Plan Toys range and added new lines from eco toy companies Educo and Hape.  Why do we love all these wooden toys so much?  Well . . . . we love the bright colours, we love wood because it's hardwearing and we love that they encourage children's development and learning through play.  Did we mention they're eco freindly too!

Our latest favourite is the Plan Toys Build-A-Robot, pictured above, this chunky wooden robot has 4 heads to choose from, the legs can be unscrewed and screwed back into the front holes so he can sit down.  Loads of fun for small hands, switching heads and making the robot angry or happy, and I have to admit we have been playing with this one in the office a little bit whilst making some silly robot noises.

We really like the new wooden rainbow puzzle (pictured above), partof our new ranges from Hape and Educo which also includes the little wooden cars.  The rainbow is a simple and beautiful toy that small children will love making into different patterns and completing the rainbow shape.  Hape and Educo toys make predominately wooden toys and puzzles with an emphasis on safety, quality, education and social responsibility.  We're really impressed with the quality of these toys and hope to expand the ranges further in the future.

All our wooden toys are made from sustainable rubber wood or bamboo and painted with low impact eco friendly dyes such as soy ink.  Our toys are free from nasty chemicals, they are safe for babies who often put things in their mouths and kind to the environment unlike many plastic toys that quickly end up as landfill.

Everyone likes a bargain and at Babi Pur we have also added some products at discounted prices, these stocks are very limited so be quick.  Here's a few of our favourites.

  Eco train station rrp £19.99 NOW £11.99

  Car transporter rrp £14.99 NOW £10.00

              Discovery set rrp 13.99 NOW £9.49

Lot's of new Green and safe toys for babies and young children and currently with free delivery head over to the Babi Pur toy section to have a look.

To be in with a chance of winning all of the items in the picture, all you  need to do to enter is leave a review of any product on the Babi Pur website.  Each review from today until the end of August gets an entry so the more reviews you do the better your chances of winning.  All products can be reviewed, you'll need to create an account, if you don't already have one, then simply go to the product and hit the 'write review' tab, it's easy.

Reviews help our customers make decisions when buying so get creative and start writing, and remember more reviews equals more entries.

The winner will receive the following items from the above picture..

• 1 x mini octopus rattle - blue
• 1 x mini octopus rattle - pink
• 1 x gift-boxed Sophie the Giraffe
• 1 x Flip Nappy with your choice of organic or stay dry insert
• 1 x baby boo organic cleanser

Add reviews to Babi Pur HERE

You can tell us what you have reviewed in the comments below but this is not required for entry.

 This competition is now closed and the winner has been chosen!

Winning review details:

Product: Itti Bitti Minky Wet Bags
From: Alex Langston
Date: 26/08/2011

Hello again!

Ever since I heard about the hole in the o-zone layer when I was a child, I've tried to live a green lifestyle.

I’ve always used eco-friendly cleaning products/cosmetics; buy local, organic or fair trade; use energy saving lightbulbs and haven't flown in 6 years.

However, there are always improvements to be made, so I’ve come up with a little list of goals/targets for this year. Sharing them with you gives you a chance to get to know me better, and gives me a much needed kick up the bum!

1. Switch on to solar - My house has a large expanse of south facing roofspace, perfect for solar panels.

I’ve always dreampt of a house with photovoltaic solar panels (the kind that generate electricity not hot water) and the ‘Feed in tariffs’ currently on offer make this quite a lucrative prospect.

Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the 10k or so needed to install them, so when I heard about ‘rent a roof’ schemes, it seemed like the next best thing. Basically, a company supplies the panels for free, you get the electricity and they get the FIT. You miss out on an income, but hey, a reduction in leccy bills aint bad, and as either OH or I are in a lot during daylight hours, if we can run all our major appliances then then our savings could be quite significant.  Plus there's the satisfaction of knowing you're generating some of your own energy.

We’ve signed up with a major energy supplier and, cross fingers, things’ll move ahead soon.

2. Switch to washable wipes - Although I’ve been using cloth nappies for a while, I’ve not made the switch to washable wipes, but with a new baby in tow, I think now must be the time to switch.

3. Grow my own - I’m hoping this year to produce at least one ingredient a day from our own garden. At this time of year it’s easy enough to produce full meals, but given that this is my first year with a proper veggie patch it might become more of a challenge winter time.  I’m relying on the chickens to help me with this one!  Hopefully as I become a more experienced gardener, I can up this to a full meal a day.

4. Cut my fuel habit - Unfortunately, my car is a bit of a guzzler. Not intentionally, I don’t have a thing for powerful cars. It was just the only car that we found which was the size we needed at a price we could afford.

Now we are stuck with a beast that is cripplingly expensive to run as well as being bad for the environment, but its so battered we’d hardly get anything for it if we traded it in.

I’d like to say that I’ll switch to using just public transport but living in a rural area with an erratic bus service with two young children and two dogs it just doesn’t sound that feasible. Just getting to my mum’s would take about 3 hours each way, and that’s if I make all 3 connections on time.

So, how am I going to cut my fuel dependency? We’ll I’m not quite sure yet but I’ll let you know as soon as I have an idea!

5. Buy no more than 12 items of clothing this year - This is an idea I‘ve shamelessly stolen from another blog.

To be honest,  I've never been much of a one for clothes anyway, and I’ve always done most of my shopping in charity shops, but occasionally I do like to have a bit of a splurge! I had one a couple of weeks ago when I was fed up with nothing fitting me post baby, and I bought three pairs of trousers and a dress - so that takes my total up to 4. Hmmmmm, this might be harder than I thought!  I might have to arrange a clothes swapping party for a wardrobe update.

Either that or get the sewing machine out! Which brings me to.......

6. Make an item of clothing for each of the boys - I’ve wanted to get into making clothes for a while, and have some cute hoodie patterns and lovely fleece to get going with. Like most mums it’s just a matter of finding, or rather making the time.

I’ve already made them some toys, what do you think?

7. Make a loaf of bread each week - I hate mass produced chemical filled bread, so, having bought a lovely bread book yesterday, my new, possibly unrealistic goal is to make at least 1 loaf of proper bread a week. Not that hard right?!:)

8. Get creative with recycling - We do the usual cans, papers etc to the council kind of recycling, but it must be possible to cut down waste/consumption in other ways too,and make useful things for the home. So far I cut up old clothes to make cloths for cleaning, and use the water from our condenser dryer to water houseplants, but thats about it.

There must be better, more interesting things to do, like customising clothes, making rag rugs etc. Any ideas?

9. Install water butts - self explanatory really.

Anyway, we’re more than half way through the year already, so I think that’s enough to keep us going till Christmas. Do you have any green goals you’d like to achieve?

That’s all for now!

Catxxxxx

Babi Pur at Home Nottingham is hosting a Nappuchino in Nottingham on Monday 18th July 10am-12.30pm
It is being held at my own house at the moment as with it being a private residence please contact me via email for my address: nicola@babipur.co.uk
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Hi all,

I hope the summer is treating you well with lots of sunshine and smiles!

Can you tell I’m in a good mood? Well, I’ve got a few bits of good news to kick things off.

Firstly, it seems the dairy free diet is taking effect- yipee!. Although we’re not completely colic free, NW’s been a lot easier to settle and the screaming and pain has been down to an hour or less a night, which is amazing!

The only day we had any trouble was the day I couldn’t resist an ice cream from my favourite shop in Beddgelert (check it out if your ever in the area). Anyway, that night he was in pain again, which suggests we we’re on the right track. Good news is I’m also getting into my soya milkshakes so this dairy free aint all bad! Yet again, thank you all for your advice.

A fantastic consequence of this improvement is that he’s hit that amazing milestone all mum’s dream of - he slept through the night! Granted, in reality he only slept for about 5 and a half hours, but he went to sleep at midnight and woke up in daylight, which is good enough for me. Unfortunately, DW decided to wake at 4am so it wasn’t exactly an unbroken night, but it really feels as if we are turning a corner.

And there’s been another magical first too - baby NW smiled for the first time! I’d taken the boys to see the playgroup DW will be joining in September, and the little girls wanted to see the baby. I knelt to they could see him, and he flashed them (and his mummy) the biggest gummy beauty! I think I have a heart breaker on my hands.

Anyway, back to my topic of last week, the question of how to entertain a toddler.

When I embarked on the journey of motherhood, I had this golden vision of long days in the warm sunshine and fresh air picking berries and gathering food with my kids. We’ve had the chance to do a bit of this recently, as discussed last week, but unfortunately, living in North Wales as I do, sunshine isn’t something you can always bank on.

So, what to do with DW on one of our many rainy days?

The easiest thing to do, of course, is reach for the remote control, and it’s a temptation I can’t pretend to be immune to, but I feel really guilty for sedating him with telly so I’m making a concerted effort to lessen our dependence on the goggle box.

Next easiest is to grab a colouring book and some crayons. DW’s happy enough colouring, and its relatively mess free so he can be left doing it while I see to/comfort NW, prepare dinner, put a load of washing on, blah blah blah!

However, he’s much happier if I go one step further and let him do some painting. It’s fortunate that I’m not particularly houseproud; painting with DW would be a somewhat stressful experience if I were! I do love to see him get creative though, and I was really proud the other day when he painted something rather than just dabbing paint on a page....... and here is DW’s crocodile!

Quite good I think, although I am, of course, biased!

We’ve tried other crafty things, such as making salt dough decorations (salt dough recipe), and making plasticine models. I’ve bought a bumper pack of crafty stuff; pipe cleaners, googly eyes etc so I’m ready to go, all I need now is inspiration.  I thought this blog looks interesting http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/ , but I'd love to hear any recommendations you have.

Apart from crafts, we’ve tried cooking together, but so far this hasn’t been a massive success. We’ve made flapjacks and the classic corn flake cakes, but to be honest, DW looses interest quite quickly.  Either that or I end up taking over when ingredients end up all over the kitchen, given to the dogs or get eaten raw.

My other rainy day fallback is, of course, toys!

Now, this is where I have to confess to a bit of an addiction. DW has the usual array of plastic toy trucks, building blocks etc, but his favourites and most definitely mine are his growing collection of Plan Toys toys. I’ve lost count of how many we have; some might say too many (OH for example) but I say not enough!

I was introduced to Plan Toys through Babi Pur, and I was impressed straight away by how much imagination goes into their products. Not some singing, dancing plastic lumps that teach children nothing more than how to press a button are these. They are proper, well crafted and beautifully designed toys that encourage children to interact with them in creative play that is lovely to watch. Not only that, but they look fab in your home too!

My favourites must be the solid drum (which makes an amazing sound!), the dancing alligator and the walking elephant. Do you have any Plan Toys, and if so which are your favourites? I may well find myself checking them out!

The latest addition to the collection to arrive from Babi Pur was the Plan Toys farmhouse with a farmer and his wife. When it arrived, it was in loads of bits and looked a bit complicated.

But as we’ve found with so many of the Plan Toys we have, it was actually really easy to put together, and it’s lovely.

The house is easy to access as the roof comes off and the sides are open so little hands can get in, or you can add an extention! In many ways, it’s really simple, but I love little details like the hooks above the fireplace for hanging pots, and the really cute furniture.

DW’s favourite bit (and mine tbh) is the little porch with raised bed where little man gets to tend to the ‘blodau’ (welsh for flowers).

I think my next investment will have to be the Plan Toys farm animals . DW is like most two year old obsessed with animals and their noises so I’m sure he’ll love this. Until then, I’ll enjoy watching him play with the farmer and his wife, and enjoy all the compliments we get from people who come round and fall in love with it!

Anyway, before I go, I thought you’d be glad to hear that OH has braved the shed and detonated our elderlower bombs. Poor man was terrified (I can’t say I blame him) and was fully decked out in body armour complete with chainsaw helmet to face the task.

Thankfully, none of them exploded on him, but it sounded like there was a shooting range in our garden, and the process could have been dodgy for the weak hearted! Anyway, I now have a different and hopefully less dangerous recipe bubbling away.

So, from sunny Wales it's  goodbye from me, or, as we say here: hwyl fawr!

Cat
xxx

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your kind words and comments about coping with colic.  It’s great to have so many new options to try.

Yesterday I cut dairy from my diet, which I'm finding more difficult than I'd anticipated. I’m really craving sweet things (was the same last time I breastfed) and have been reaching for the yogurt (and bananas) as a way to keep myself off chocolate. As from yesterday I’ll be reaching for the soya yogurt instead! Hopefully it’ll help.  Only a day down at the moment so too early to tell.

One of the many difficult things I find about coping with the colic, and in fact one of the most difficult things I find about having 2 children, is how to give them both the care and attention the need and deserve. In particular, how do I ensure that my toddler, DW, is stimulated and does not feel left out when I am feeding/comforting NW?

Daytimes are pretty easily sorted, and I try to take DW out of the house to do something he enjoys at least once a day. We do the usual run of mother & toddler groups, music class, toddler gym etc.

But while the sun’s been shining these past couple of weeks, my favourite things to do with DW has been to go foraging or to the local pick your own. He’s become become a master gooseberry picker, doing extraordinarily well at avoiding nasty thorns for a 2 year old! He’s less enamoured by the challenge of picking Elderflowers, but does enjoy a good run around the field while I’m picking.

This has lead to a flurry of late night preserve making on my part, and to be honest, I’m glad Elderflower season is nearly over as I’m shattered! Its not a good idea to take on all that work with a 5 week old colicy baby to look after; my health visitor thinks I’m mad!

I’m proud to say that it has resulted in us having loads of bottles of Elderflower Cordial . I love to have home made cordial in the house.  DW has unfortunately developed a bit of a sweet tooth and I hate to give him shop bought squash - way too many nasties in there.

I used a recipe almost identical to this one, except that you use 30 heads of Elderflower, and it’s really strong and delicious.

Less successful has been my attempt at Elderflower Champagne. I used the same recipe as I did last year, and bottled it in Grolsch bottles as recommended. But yesterday, a week into the fermentation, three of the bottles exploded! Fortunately, they were in the shed.  I dread to think what the consequences would have been if it had happened in the house with the boys about. Now we have a shed full of what are in essence glass bombs, and we’re not too sure what to do about them.

Anyway, I would recommend that you do not try the above recipe unless you have read the comments first (which I stupidly didn’t). In fact, I would say try a different recipe altogether!

I’d planned to talk about ideas about how to entertain a toddler when you are stuck in the house, as to be honest, this is what I’m struggling with, but this post is getting a bit long so I’ll leave it till next time.

If you have any suggestions about what your little ones love to do then please share them and I’ll try them out this week.

I quite enjoyed sharing what has made me smile with you last week. It made me focus on the good things I’ve got in my life which is hard to do when you are sleep deprived, trying to cope with screaming children and a messy house, two dogs that need walking, chickens than need cleaning out and a garden where the jobs are never ending - phew makes me tired just thinking about it! Anyway, I thought I’d do it again, so here are mine for this week:

1. DW’s face as he enjoys some giant bubbles at his first festival.

2. Pretty peas in the garden.   The flowers range from blue to pink, and the yellow pods are delicious!

3. NW’s first attempt at driving!

3. Elderflower cordial.

4. DW getting into graffiti, and looking good in his Frugi top.

Anyway, thanks again for the colic tips, you’re a lovely bunch of ladies and I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.

I’m off to bed for a precious hours kip now while the coast is clear. Much needed after NW woke every half hour through the night last night

Bye for now!
Cat

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Hello all, and thank you for the great welcome

This week, I’d hope to write about warm, fluffy, lovely things, but unfortunately, one issue has overshadowed everything and left me thinking of little else. It’s turning me into an emotional wreck and the lack of sleep makes my mind feel like a layer of cotton wool separates me from reality: little baby NW’s colic.

Now I can’t pretend to fully understand what colic is, but I know that it is a common complaint. For us it manifests itself at about 5pm every evening and can last all the way through till 3am. Poor little NW becomes rigid with pain and screams and screams until he manages to pass a little wind, has a moments reliif then starts screaming again.

We never experienced this with our eldest, and I can honestly say that to watch him in pain and not be able to comfort him is the worst feeling in the world.

So, over the past week or so we’ve been looking for ways to make little man, for want of a better word, fart!

So far we’ve tried conventional medicines without massive success. One of them is so packed full of sugar that I feel uncomfortable about giving it to him, especially at each feed which is what’s recommended. The other has to be mixed with warm, expressed milk and given before each feed, which just doesn’t sound practical. Can’t see myself getting the boobs out to express if he gets hungry while I’m out for a walk or sat in a cafe!

Someone had suggested fennel tea, and to be honest this was my instinctive first port of call, but as I couldn’t get any in our village I opted for the traditional medicines from the pharmacist first, promising myself I’d go to town some day soon.

Then, two days ago, the penny dropped. I’ve been admiring a beautiful bronze fennel as it settles into my border. Yup, I know you got there quicker than I did (blame it on the sleep deprived baby brain!)

So for the past day or so I’ve been drinking fresh fennel tea with a bit of honey. Is it working? A bit to early to say for sure, but little man does seem seem to be getting wind out a bit easier. Unfortunately, it is also having the desired effect on me; I just hope I have some friends left by the time the colic passes!

One thing that has been a massive help with the colic, and deserves a special shoutout is my my baby carrier. To be honest, its been a godsend! Holding little man close obviously gives him some comfort and leaves me with my hands free to care for my toddler. Not only that, but it seems that a few hours in the carrier from late afternoon to early evening seems to leave him less windy by night. My theory is that as he’s vertical fr the period leading up to an attack, it stops the trapped wind building up, but hey, I’m no scientist!
Anyway, if anybody has any hints or tips on coping with colic I’d be really grateful to hear them. The health visitor says it should pass by 8-12 weeks, but that feels like a really long way away right now! I’ll keep you updated with our progress with the babywearing/fennel tea route anyway.

Before I go, to leave things on a happier note, here are a few pics of things that have made me smile this week.

1. The pretty calendula that is brightening up my back door.

2. DW playing with his new Plan Toys farm house. The first thing he did? Make the farmer and his wife cuddle - aaaawwww!

3. The veggies that combined with eggs from our ex-battery chickens made the first ever meal sourced 100% from our garden - yipee!

4. NW being awake, not screaming, and looking super cute in his weehuggers wrap.

5. Homemade Gooseberry & Elderflower Jam - mmmm!

Bye for now!xxxx