An Evening at the Park

 

We try to go for walks when Daddy comes home from work and more often than not they end up at the park. This particular evening was a really good one. Calleigh finally went down the big slide and loved it, she was always a bit afraid of it before.
The sky was beautiful with a spectacular full moon and loads of bats flying past our heads on the way home. 

Tommee Tippee 360° Sealer Diaper Disposal System Review

One of the best items I ever brought before Calleigh was here was definitely a diaper disposal system. Back in England we had the Tommee Tippee Sangenic Hygiene Plus and I couldn't fault it, it was perfect and worked amazingly well at keeping the smell out of Calleigh's room. Unfortunately we didn't bring it over to the states with us, we figured we could get one here. We did get one here, we purchased a Diaper Genie Disposal Unit and I must say we were less than impressed. The first one we brought had to be taken back because it was broken. The next one we brought seemed okay and worked well for a couple of days until that too started breaking and we were unable to get the diapers into the pail. Add that along with the awful smell that lingered around Calleigh's room it was by far no comparison to the one we had in England. 

When Tommee Tippee offered me the chance to review their new 360° Sealer Diaper Disposal System I must admit I don't think I've ever been so excited about something that's main job is to hold dirty diapers. 

When I took it out the box the pail was already assembled so there was no need to try and figure out what goes where. All I needed to do was insert the bag refill. 

The instructions were really easy to read and it was suprisingly simple to do. I would say it was so easy, even a baby could do it. 

The best thing about the 360° Sealer Diaper Disposal System is that it seals all around each diaper separately and has a unique and innovative way in which it does so. You need only place the diaper in the top of the pail and simply twist the dial. As the diaper goes into the pail it is wrapped all the way round in antibacterial film to prevent odour seeping out and because you don't need to push the diaper into the pail it is much more hygienic. 

The pail can hold up to 30 diapers and the refill can seal up to 100 so it will last you a long time before you need to replace. 

Emptying the pail is just as easy, you just open the front draw, twist the dial to release some more of the bag and then tear it using the underside of the lid. It's really quick and really simple.

I have been using the Tommee Tippee 360° Sealer for about a week now and I am very impressed. It's quicker, easier, more hygienic and best of all it's really good at locking in those bad odours. Calleigh's room no longer smells like dirty diapers. 

The Tommee Tippee 360° Sealer Diaper Disposal System is available exclusively at Babies R Us, as are the refills. The system retails for $49.99 which is a small price to pay for the superiority of this product over other similar products available. 

*I was sent this product by Tommee Tippee for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own and I have not been compensated in any other way for this post*

Sign Up for the Christmas Cash Giveaway Event hosted by Raising Reagan

It's time to start prepping for the Christmas holiday! That means thinking about all those fantastic presents that Santa is going to bestow upon our little ones. Maybe it means putting together an awesome holiday party. How would you like to make that happen a little easier for one very lucky person?
 Join my Blogger Opportunity!
It's a Christmas CASH Giveaway Event and I would LOVE your help!
 
  The giveaway event will run from Nov 1^st – Nov 22^nd with the winner receiving their cash on Black Friday once entries have been verified so they can start shopping for Christmas!

 I am aiming for a CASH GIVEAWAY of $500 or more {depending on the number of participants.} The giveaway will run similar to my one year blog anniversary giveaway – with co-hosts and sponsors and will be a fantastic event! As you all know my one year blogiversary was a HUGE success and it turned into a ton of new followers to the blog and social media outlets as well as a nice spike in traffic for everyone.
  Here is the link to participate: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_GRR1HnETKjquRqQt-SLFdTvDxHqCyDCuVk3cVKzM5I/viewform
  Sign-ups end Oct 20^th.

Once you sign up, please email if you would like to post the event opportunity on your blog. {Think REFERRALS!!}

When you sign up be sure to mention that you were referred by me :-) 

Playing with Water

We finally got around to getting Calleigh a sand and water table for outside. She loves it! Playing with water is one of her favourite activities at the moment. 

She had so much fun transferring the water from different places using the little train cups. We literally had to drag her inside when it got too cold because she didn't want to stop playing, even though she was soaking wet and turning a little bit blue. 

We will get as much use out of it as we can over the next few days before putting it away until next summer. 

Going Home and a Giveaway!!

As you may or may not know we have booked our trip home for Christmas. I am so excited to go home and spend the holidays with family and friends I am literally counting down the days. 

We will be spending a total of three glorious weeks back in England and most importantly we get to celebrate Christmas Day with our families. 

Because I am so unbelievably happy to be taking a trip home I have decided to host a little giveaway, courtesy of me, for my followers and readers of A Day In The Life Of Calleigh Emma. 

I will be giving away a Girl's London Dress (size 2T).
If you remember I showcased it as Calleigh's Outfit of the Month in June.

The Giveaway is open Worldwide and will run for 4 weeks. To enter please fill in the rafflecopter form below. All entries will be verified and a winner will be chosen and emailed on the 18th October.
Good luck everyone! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Personalised Photo Mug Review

No one loves a good cup of tea like I do and what better way to enjoy it than in a personalised mug made just for me. 

I signed up for Shutterfly when we moved out here as I wanted to get some prints done. Since I have signed up I have received so may freebies through email- this personalised mug being one of them. Yes this was free, I just checked my email one day and there it was. I couldn't pass up on an offer like that. I logged on straight away and entered my code to claim my free mug. 

Designing my perfect mug was easy. You scroll through a picture list of their pre-made designs and choose whichever one takes you fancy. The next step is editing it to make it yours. Uploading photos is easy and then you can add all your photos onto your project and text as well if you want. I added the text "Mummy's Tea". 

Once I had my finished project I clicked order and all I had to pay for was the shipping. About a week later a lovely orange package arrived at my door. Inside was my lovely mug, it was perfect.

They have a sale on Photo Mugs at the moment so you can pick one up for 30% off. 

Goodbye Dummy

When Calleigh was a baby we made the decision to give her a dummy. A lot of people had told us not to do it because it will be difficult to get rid of it later down the line. Of course (being new and first time parents and all) we blissfully ignored the advice and gave her one anyway. She took to it really well and it helped her sleep like a champ (pretty much through the night from 2 months old). 

We figured it couldn't be that hard, I mean its just a dummy right? -Wrong. 

We thought once she was old enough she would pretty much just spit it out and wave goodbye - Wrong again. 

And so here we are, almost two years down the line, in the battle of our lives to try and get her to give up her dummy. 

It started a couple of weeks ago, looking back on photos of Calleigh and realising that in almost every picture she has a dummy hiding her beautiful face. And in the ones that she didn't she was frowning because I had just taken it out to take a quick snap. Not the kind of pictures you want to look back on. 

I noticed that when taking her to daycare not one of the other children had a dummy, most of them didn't need one anymore and the few that did got really upset seeing Calleigh walk in with hers in her mouth while theirs was stashed up on a shelf out of reach. I am also getting a bit worried about the effect it may be having on her teeth. She was a very late starter and still has quite a few teeth yet to make their way through and I don't want them to come in wonky. 

So Daddy and I have decided that it's time we did something about this. It's time to start project Goodbye Dummy. We knew it wasn't going to be easy as she has become very, very attached to her dummy. It is her soother at night, her comforter when she is upset and her best friend in the day. I pretty much think that if her dummy could feed her and change her we would not be needed anymore. 

Having never had a dummy when I was little (apparently I just didn't want one) I don't quite understand how she can be so attached to it, it's just a "thing". But I guess in Calleigh's eyes it is much more than that. 

I started last week, what I would do is sneak up while she was having breakfast and quickly swipe the dummy away. I had to do it sneakily otherwise if she saw me take it she would instantly start crying for it. I found that this way it takes her some time to realise it has gone and by the time that happens I am already prepared with distraction techniques. It might sound a bit mean but this is the only way I could see getting it away from her. 

It has been going really well so far, she can go the whole morning without her dummy and gets it back only when she goes for a nap. It's a bit harder to get it away from her in the afternoon, but we are getting there. 

The next step is to try and get her comfortable with going for a nap without it, at the moment she just wont sleep without it, although doesn't need it when she is asleep. This is going to be much harder and I'm not quite sure how to approach it yet so we will just keep going with dummy free awake time at the moment. I also don't think I'm ready to give up uninterrupted nights sleep so we wont be trying that just yet either.

I guess I'm just still hoping that one day she will just want to chuck it away herself. 

Outfit of the Month: September

Dance

And Pose

Who Me?

Top- Baby Gap

Jeans- Next 

Calleigh decided she was going to do a bit of ballet whilst we were taking our outfit photo's so we have a few good ballet poses here. Unlike last time it was very hard to get her to stand still and smile haha. 

Halloween Devilish Cupcakes

What you will need: 

• 1 box of devil's food cupcake mix 
• Water, Vegetable Oil and Eggs (for the cake mix)
• 1 bag of Dark Chocolate drops/candy melts
• 1 tub of Butter cream Frosting
• Red Food Colouring/Paste

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake cases in a 24 regular size muffin pan cups. 
2. Make and bake the cupcakes as directed on the box. Cool completely. 
3. Meanwhile line a baking tray with parchment paper. Melt the dark chocolate using whichever method you prefer. I did it in the microwave using intervals of 15 seconds until completely melted. Place melted chocolate into a resealable sandwich bag. Cut off a tiny corner of the bag and squeeze the bag to pipe the chocolate into devils' horn and tail shapes on the parchment paper. Refrigerate until set. 
4. At this point you can make your own frosting if you wish, I took the easy route and brought pre-made butter cream frosting. Empty the tub into a bowl and add food colouring. Once mixed pipe or spread mixture onto the cupcakes. 
5. Place the horns and tail into the frosting on each cupcake. 

*Recipe from the Betty Crocker Halloween pops and cupcakes magazine*

A Package From Home

Calleigh used to love the Peppa Pig magazines in England. They always came with lots of colouring activities and stickers as well as an awesome toy. 

They don't have many magazines like that here, so we have just been buying her colouring books and sheet stickers. 

Yesterday Calleigh received a package addressed to her. It was from Mee-Maw and Auntie Lana and as well as a super cute winter coat it had a Peppa Pig Magazine and a Hello Kitty Magazine. 

Calleigh was at school when it arrived so I opened it and lay out her present on the table for when she got home. As soon as it caught her eye she went running over, smiling all the way. 

Straight away she knew what they were and started showing them to Daddy and I. 

It was so cute. 

We love receiving packages from home. It makes us feel more connected to our family. And Calleigh definitely loves the goodies. 

Playskool Wooden Blocks Review

Calleigh has recently reignited her love with building blocks. She liked to play with them when she was little, however was not very good at stacking them. As we only had a small amount of blocks we decided we should buy her some more so she can really enjoy playing with them. 

We decided on Playskool's wooden blocks as they looked really good and were not expensive. 

The great thing we liked about these blocks is that they are not just your normal ABC blocks. Each side has different letter in lower case and uppercase as well as numbers, maths symbols, animals and you can also build a little house with doors, bricks and windows. 

It also came with a mesh bag so you have somewhere to store them when your child is done playing. 

Calleigh really enjoys playing with them, they are a lot easier to stack than her other blocks as they are a bit bigger and more sturdy. This saves us having to deal with a tantrum when her tower collapses. Every time her tower fell over she would walk over and kick mine too so mine fell (shess so mean). It still happens, but a lot less often. 

They are going to be really great when we start learning more. I will be using them as props to help teach her about letters and numbers as well as Math and English. 

*I am aware that I used an I instead of an L at the end of the word but we only had one L and had to improvise*

This Little Piggy

This weekend we took a trip to the Purina Farm's Visitor Centre. It is a working farm and we got to see lot's of animals and also learn how pet food is made. Calleigh, although she loves seeing them, has always been a bit weary of animals and normally doesn't like to touch them. This time she was a bit braver and managed to put her hand near them but still wouldn't really touch them. 

Here are my favourite photo's from our visit. 

Hay There

Trying to feed the Cow

Daddy stroking the Horses

Here Piggy Piggy

Stroking a Sleeping Chicken

Little Piggy Nibbling Calleigh's Toes

Some of the Animals at the Farm

The Most Amazing Cat House Ever

A Dog Jumping Over a Woman