It's been a little longer since I last shared a post than I had hoped. We are beginning to settle in to some kind of a routine in the week and I live in hope that we might start to manage some naps in the Moses basket or cot soon. Suddenly Roo looks rather big in the former - given that she's put on 3lbs and 5ozs since she was born, this probably isn't a surprise. We moved her brother up to the cot at about the weight that she currently is - but he was five weeks older. In terms of routine, we've started Baby Sensory (more on this at a later date), we're going to Rhyme Time and I'm starting to think about mother and baby groups all over again. Which is strange - but a four and a half year gap is unusual, meaning that many of D's friends have siblings that are well beyond the baby stage.
I've been storing up a few small things for a bit and I'm glad to be able to share them with you - albeit actually in November rather than October! Post pregnancy, I'm finding that I'm still looking out for drinks to slake the unending thirst, meaning there is a little bit of a theme to the post.
First up is this really different drink. I don't think I've ever had a rhubarb drink before but really wish I had. If San Pelligrino's Limonata was the drink of choice in pregnancy, this is definitely the drink of choice with a newborn. The sharpness of the rhubarb is well balanced with the sweetness of the apple. It's my current daily treat. It's one of those rare drinks that still tastes quite nice even when it's gone flat. You can find it currently on offer at Ocado at £3.99 for six 330ml cans.
It feels kind of strange to be writing about these, given that they aren't something that I'm really eating (although I've tried one) but I feel compelled anyway. D is a massive fan of oatcakes - I'm sure it's the teeny tiny bit of Scot in him. These little biscuits have a little bit of sweetness for him without driving him crazy - we've found that sugar is a massive trigger for poor behaviour from him. At 40% less sugar than standard children's biscuits these are a good bet. He loves the space theme too - one of his favourite things at the moment is to talk about the milky way and what's further away than the milky way. Cheesily - that's how much he loves us - to the milky way and beyond and back.
The pack also contains a sticker which is a bit of an odd size - a bit too big really - I'm not sure what to do with it if I'm honest.
Astro Bites are available direct from the Nairn's website at £1.59 for five bags or £11.45 for 40.
Amaretto is hands down one of my favourite flavours. For my birthday I got some rather lovely amaretto filled chocolates from a friend who knows me very well. It's a good flavour - nutty and a little sweet. This syrup is a little less thick and sticky than others but I like that. It means that it seems to disperse though the drink a lot better. Café Kiss make a variety of flavours including gingerbread and hazelnut - I think I'll be trying out a bit more of the range. It's currently on offer at £2.25 a bottle which is a really good price for the 250ml bottle. It's also available on Amazon at three bottles for £9.75.
Given the constant controversy/fearmongering associated with artificial sweeteners, it's no surprise that more natural low calorie sweeteners are of appeal. Coca Cola Life is made with Stevia, one of those products that I'd never heard of a year ago and now seems to be everywhere.
Anyway, to the product at hand. It sits right in between standard coke and diet coke/coke zero, offering 27kcal per 100ml. I feel that it tastes like diet coke, not carrying the sticky sweetness of standard coke. What I found interesting is that it seems to go flat far more quickly than the other three in the range.
I find the naming and branding very strange - is it suggesting that it will give you life? Maybe that it's more healthy? Maybe it's actually playing on the aforementioned statements made about aspartame. Who knows but whilst I found it an interesting thing to try, it won't be replacing diet coke as my drink of choice from the range. The flavour is no different for me and I tend to try not to waste calories on drinks if I can help it. I'm also not keen on the product going flat quickly. I like my drinks fizzy. Unless it's that rhubarb drink - then I'm willing to let it slide a bit.
It's currently available on offer at Morrisons and Tesco for 2 1.75l bottles for £2.
On a completely different note, I've finally decided to leave the Apple family and am getting used to my new Samsung S5. I have heard good things about the camera and felt it might be handy to have something better for photography out and about. I have to be honest in that I'm not entirely sold on it yet - I really miss the swiping from side to side to go back and forth on web pages - the Samsung system seems somewhat clunky in comparison. I do, however, like the screenshot gesture and while it is a bit of a gimmick on some level, the fingerprint recognition is quite good too.
My biggest issue with it, however, is that it's been a lot harder to get it to play music in the car. There are so many options for the iPhone that it's frustrating to find so little for Android phones. I have found one that connects to the audio jack but needs another USB cable to charge it at the same time. The Apple option was a lot better - and the FM transmission seems to be less clear - but that might be poor luck. My research continues!
As ever, I'm always keen to hear what new products you've discovered!
Posts
