Tuesday 9 September 2014

Slumberdown Sleepwell Review

Slumberdown Sleepwell Range

 

I have recently been testing the new Sleepwell range from Slumberdown, this consisted of two pairs of luxury embossed stripe pillows and a luxury embossed stripe duvet for our double bed.

This new signature range has been launched this month at ASDA stores nationwide.

 

On receiving the products I was very impressed, I am admittedly someone who can be persuaded by packaging, and I must say they are instantly eye catching as they look professional and luxurious!

 

Both the pillows and duvet are filled with silky super soft hollowfibre and concealed in a luxury embossed stripe microfibre cover.

Importantly, all items are non-allergenic, being naturally dust-mite free and can be machine washed and can be dried on a low temperature in the tumble dryer.

 

I personally found that this range have been true to their word, so far they really have provided me with some great nights sleep.

The pillows particularly have been great for me, having just the right level of support, firm but still plenty of plumpness to cuddle to!

The duvet at 10.5 tog is suitable for all year use and absolutely perfect for this time of year, just as it's getting cooler.

I am unfortunately someone who really feels the cold, so up to now I can say I am pleased with the level of warmth this duvet holds in, I certainly cant bring myself to get out of it in the morning, I think the microfibre covers play a big part in this, as it obviously holds the heat a little more but really does make it more comfortable.

 

Slumberdown has a wide variety of quality products, including pillows, duvets and mattress protectors, to suit a variety of sleep needs. For further information on any of their ranges including the new Sleepwell range, take a look at their website www.slumberdown.co.uk

 

As a member of the Slumberdown panel of mums, I received these products to review and provide you with my honest opinion.

 

 

 

Monday 18 August 2014

Chester Zoo

Well, Monday was spent with an unexpected trip to Chester Zoo.

We were not sure were to spend our day. My partner had the day off, so we wanted to have some quality family time with our 2 year old daughter.

I always believe that the unplanned days out, tend to turn out to be our best days and this was no exception.

The weather was not on our this morning, so spent the first couple of hours wondering what exactly we should do.
We are every lucky to live only 30 minutes away from Chester Zoo, so we decided, on impulse, that we should go and take out a membership as our little girl is beginning to take a big interest in animals, so over the future months/years it will come in very handy.

I am very impressed that the membership also gives us access to other zoo's in the UK, as well as additional benefits such as discount at the shops and cafe and members days where we can take up to 12 guests and they only have to pay half of the standard admission fee.

I'm feeling very proud that we have not only got unlimited access to the zoo, but we are also helping a fantastic charity. The zoo does so much for the animals in its care and carries out so much research, I can honestly say I am happy to be helping, even if it is only through membership. I also authorised the zoo to accept giftaid from our membership....even better :-).

There is much work going on at the zoo with a new part opening next Spring. Looks like it will be a great new part, its looking huge already, cant wait to see the finished project.

Our daughter couldnt wait to explore, on arrival the first part of the zoo you come to is the elephant enclosure.....you cant miss them right?!?! Her little face lit up, I dont think she could believe her eyes!!
This amazement continued to each animal/species she came to, it was so lovely to see.
She actually had her first daytime nap in weeks, I was in utter shock at this, haha! My partner and I found ourselves having to walk around and feeling a little lost by the fact we didnt have to run after her from enclosure to enclosure! Though we did enjoy watching the animals just as much as she did.

Chester Zoo is a very clean place, in all honesty I dont recall seeing one piece of rubbish on the floor, one piece of grass or even hedge not maintained, such a lovely place.

Cant wait to go back! :-)

Tuesday 21 January 2014

John Cotton Christmas Bed Bundle

John Cotton is a family-owned manufacturer of a wide range of pillows, duvets and mattress protectors.  Established in 1916, it's brands include the popular names Slumberdown and Snuggledown.

I was extremely pleased to receive this bed bundle for a double bed from John Cotton, free of charge in return for an open and honest review.

Excited to see the quality of this item, I ripped into the packaging to find this very neat and attractive storage bag packed with all the essentials for creating a comfortable bed for any guests you may have. Although, to ensure my review on this product is of my own honest opinion (and as we opted for a quiet Christmas!), we used the bundle on our own bed.

We were amazed such a large amount fitted into such a compact bag, just the right size for storing in an airing cupboard/wardrobe when not in use, dust free and certainly not taking up valuable space.

The double bed bundle I received consists of:

2 Pillows 
1 13.5 Tog Duvet
2 Pillow Protectors
1 Mattress Protector

It took both myself and my partner to remove the bundle from the bag as it was quite well packed!
Once removed everything looked a little flattened with all the smaller items in their individual bags. We previously had a feather duvet which was not only a pain for the feather falling to the bottom, so it was a constant battle with the duvet to get them all back to the top, but it was always an awful job changing the covers, it never wanted to go in without a fight! 
The John Cotton duvet literally took seconds to fit into the cover, much easier and the filling stayed where it should so didn't really need shaking at all.

After seeing how flat everything was coming out of the bag I must say I really wasn't expecting them to plump up as well as they did, but within half an hour the bed looked great. 

The pillow and mattress protectors actually turned out to be extremely useful and were tested to their max, due to our 18 month old daughter being poorly with a bug and spending more time in our bed than her own, the protectors definitely did their job protecting our pillows, we were certainly very thankful for them!

Whilst our daughter did sleep on these pillows we found she was sleeping much better, so we decided to put one of them in her own bed permanently and she is sleeping much better with this - and believe me she has always been an awful sleeper.

The 13.5 tog duvet is great, unlike our feather duvet this one actually holds a lot of heat in, we actually thought we had the heating on one morning.....until we climbed out of bed that was!!

We are both extremely impressed with this bundle, so much that we have decided to stick with this bedding rather than swapping back to our feather duvet and pillows.  It is so much comfier and warm,  we are actually getting a good nights sleep each and every night, which I believe is exactly what the John Cotton group were hoping to achieve.

The bundle is available in single, double and king size and is exclusive to Argos.
For further information on products in the John Cotton range, please check out their website www.johncotton.co.uk


Please note, I received this bundle free of charge in return for an open and honest review.  I hope my review has provided you with a great insight to this fabulous product.

Saturday 9 February 2013

Slept through....really?!

Well it's 3am and here I am....again....waiting for my little princess to wake for a second night feed!
I have been in this routine pretty much since the day she was born, so for 8 months I have pretty much not slept!  But in all honesty it doesn't bother me too much, as nice as it is to get a good sleep, I would do anything for my gorgeous baby girl :)

However, last night she proved to have a surprised planned for me. I was waiting for her to wake last night, the same as I am tonight convinced that she would wake 'any minute now', especially as she had not woke as usual earlier on in the night.
I eventually dozed off, only to then be woken by the familiar cry through the baby monitor. I climbed out of bed, walked to the nursery where I can just about spot two red eyes glaring at me over the top of the cot with the expression of 'what took you so long?'.
I settled down to feed her, only to look at the time.....6.20AM!!
I could hardly believe my eyes! She had slept through the whole night for the very first time!!! I felt so proud of her, I felt like texting anyone who would (and wouldn't) care to hear this news! I didn't of  course as I would probably be inundated this hate messages for waking them all up so early on a Saturday morning!!

Now at 3.30am, I am going to assume that tonight is going to be another good night of sleep for her!
Although she did wake once tonight for a feed, I am happy that just because we have experienced one entire night of sleep, that its not necessarily going to immediately happen each night from now on. But one feed rather than two on the second night is certainly not taking a step backwards. :)


For eight months I have read friends tweets and statuses bragging how they're newborn baby had slept through for the first time and on one occasion I read that a newborn of only 2 days actually slept!
I wondered where I was going wrong! Mine didn't like to sleep.....ever!

I quickly learnt that every baby is in fact different, they all sleep, feed, wean and even play differently, so please if anyone else out there feels like they're not doing it right....you are, don't panic, go with your instincts and you will be fine.


Sorry if this hasn't been the most exciting read for you, but for a first time mum of an 8 month old....it's rather big news!! Lol
Hopefully my posts will become more interesting over time :)

X

Friday 8 February 2013

First EVER Blog!

Well here goes.......

Hello!

My name is Sara and as stated in the title, this is my first EVER blog!!
A little bit daunting, but have been looking to start a blog for some time and I am rather excited about it :)

I invite you to follow me and allow me to tell you about about myself and family, for example, days out or short breaks we may take, as well as various products/services we use, toys my daughter plays with, books we may read an also food and drink (maybe even the odd recipe thrown in now and again).

All reviews I write will be of my own honest opinion and products will have been purchased with our hard earned cash, unless otherwise stated on the post.
If you are a company looking for a review please contact me via loveofmummy@gmail.com I would be happy to work with you.

I hope I provide an interesting read for you all, if you have any feedback whatsoever, please let me know, I would love to know what you think, or even if you have any ideas where I could improve on anything particular.