We are back from our first holiday as a family

If you are a regular reader of Mummy Alarm, you will have noticed that it was a bit quiet on the blog during the last week. The reason for this is that we were on our first holiday as a family. We didn't go anywhere fancy or stayed in a hotel or beach resort but enjoyed a week with my family who live in Germany.

Quite a lot happened during these last days. Amy went on the plane for the first time. We surprised my nan who was in a rehabilitation centre after a hip operation and had never met Amy before. Amy cut two teeth without me even noticing (I know, I'm a bad mummy) and she went to the zoo for the first time. I'm a firm believer in the saying that traveling educates and although Amy is obviously too young to visit museums, go to the theatre or do other educational things like this, I have to say that this holiday was just amazing for her development. She usually is quite shy when meeting people she isn't used to but after this holiday, she has become so much more confident with new people. She has learned to play for herself for a bit longer and she can now produce a truly German sound - my mum and sister can give themselves a pad on the shoulder for that one.

If you want to know what we were up to in more detail, pop over during the next couple of days. There are some lovely pictures and stories waiting for you!

Sleeping sucks...

... at least if you are my 17 week old daughter. Amy is generally an amazing sleeper. She's been sleeping through since she was 3 weeks old and I know how absolutely lucky I am but the last two nights have been a bit of a challenge for me.

Amy has decided that 4.30am is the perfect time to wake up. If she'd only be having a feed that would be fine by me but after having what seems like the drink of the century (yes, it feels that long when all you want to do is go back to dream land) sleeping is the last thing on her mind. She gives me a cheeky grin and starts entertaining herself by loudly talking to the dark. Well, that is for the first two hours. Then she gets tired. But being tired doesn't equal going back to bed if you are a stubborn baby like her - people say, she's got that from me but they must confuse me with someone else. Anyway, sleeping is not on Amy's to do list after two action packed hours in the middle of the night - not even, if she can't keep her eyes open. No, if you see how much Amy fights sleep you might think that sleeping really sucks. Don't ask me who taught her that, it certainly wasn't me. I try rocking her to sleep. I let her Twinkle Twinkle Little Violet play lullabies and environmental sounds to her (normally an instant winner) but the more I try to help her settle the angrier she gets. You can't imagine what angry noises this cute little face can produce and how much strength she brings up when she wants to lift up her body so that she doesn't have to lie down - it surprises me every morning and admittedly, it slightly scares me thinking about how she'll kick off once she's older. In my horror visions, I already see her taking camp on the naughty step. In the nice ones, everything is pink and fluffy and full of butterflies and unicorns - you get the picture? It looks like this and after a 4 hours fight I can see it clearly:

Amy Update Week 1-13: Why I am a jammy farm animal

I know, I know - everyone told me that time flies when you are having a baby, but if I am being honest, I didn't expect it to fly this quickly. Amy is 13 weeks old now and I can't believe how much she has grown since I held her in my arms for the very first time.

When she was born, she was a 8lbs 8oz feather weight and only 50cms long. At 9 weeks (which is the last time we had her weighed and measured), Amy weighed a lovely 11lbs and 4oz and measured 59cm. I can't believe my baby is growing this quickly. I have obviously noticed that she was gaining weight and that she was getting taller but it really hit me, when I noticed that daddy had put her in a 3-6 months sleep suit and she didn't look lost in it. 

Amy has also outgrown her Moses basket. Last Wednesday, she moved into her cot and I can proudly say that she absolutely loves her big girl's bed. I was lucky enough to have her sleeping from 9.30pm to around 8.00am since she was 3 weeks old but since she is having more space in her cot, I am now even getting an hour on top of that. Yep, I know the words that all you unlucky mummies out there will call me now: the word starts with jammy and ends with cow...   

Since about 5 weeks we have been getting lots of smiles from Amy and I think it is just a matter of time until I can tickle her first giggle out of her. She is such a happy girl and must be really upset to actually start crying. Everybody tells us how lucky we are to have such a content baby and believe me, we are. Recently, Amy is trying more and more to laugh out loud but at the moment she can only produce funny noises that make her voice sound really husky. It's just too cute. I think, we are also getting very close to the whole rolling over business. Amy can happily rolls onto her side but there are still a couple of centimeters to go until she either lies on her front or her back. At times, she gets really frustrated about it and she starts grunting (one of the reasons why I call her my little piglet) but most of the time she just grins at me with the proudest smile you could imagine. She loves being cheered and told what a clever little girl she is but hey, don't we all? 

The funniest thing however is nappy changing. Her daddy just has to ask her "Have you made a poo poo" and she breaks out in silent laughter. It's hysterical. She also lifts her legs and her little bum up when she sees that I am unfolding a new nappy - I just hope she'll continue being such a good girl for us. It just makes this whole parenting adventure so much easier...

Mummy Alarm Review & Competition: John Crane's High Tea Shape Matching Set

Some toys are almost too pretty to play with. One of them is John Crane's High Tea Shape Matching Set that we were sent to review.

It consists of a gorgeous wooden two tiered cake stand and 15 different types of beautifully coloured and decorated cakes that look so yummy that little mouths might want to try them. Amy is still a bit young to be able to match the shapes but she loves looking at the beautiful colours and touching the cakes. In fact, when I opened the parcel that the lovely people from John Crane Ltd had send us, I was (for a very short moment, of course) tempted to keep the High Tea Set for myself. Not to play with it obviously but to put it up for decoration. It really is that beautiful!

The small wooden cakes can be matched to their places on the cake stand either by their shape or by number. This does not only allow little ones to develop hand/eye coordination but also to improve their shape recognition and to practice their first numbers. The High Tea Shape Matching Set does also make a great toy for pretend play. I can already see Amy and her cousins and friends having their own little tea parties. I just hope Mummy gets an invitation too.

The High Tea Shape Matching Set is available from all good toy stores including Dillon’s ToyBox and retails at £23.95 - brilliant value for money, if you ask me. It is easy to assemble (all you have to do is screw the tiers on to the stand) and Amy will be able to play with it for years to come. Given the fact that both the cake stand and the cakes are made of wood, I am sure that even a little sister (no, nothing is planned) will be able to play with it in a couple of years. Also, you can combine it with many of the other toys from John Crane Ltd. - I already have my eyes on the Tea Time Set and the Daisy Tabletop Kitchen.

If you want to be one of the first to know when new John Crane Toys are hitting the shelves, why not follow  John Crane on Twitter and 'like' their Facebook page? Want to see what the team is up to behind the scenes? Check out the John Crane Blog. 

 Win 1 High Tea Shape Matching Toy with Mummy Alarm and John Crane Ltd.

How to enter the competition:

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favourite cake is - required

For extra entries:

3. Comment on one of my non-competition posts and let me know which one you commented on

4. Subscribe to Mummy Alarm's RSS Feed

5. Follow @caro_mad on Twitter and tweet "Win a High Tea Shape Matching Toy with @caro_mad and @johncraneblog. Enter here: http://bit.ly/ntMjAI - Pls RT #win #comp"

6. Like Mummy Alarm on Facebook

7. Use the +1 button below and share on Google+

Please, use separate comments for each entry. Failure do to so will result in only one entry per person.

The closing date of the competition is 12/08/2011
The winners will be chosen at random.
The winners' names will be shown on this page.
Competition is open to residents of the UK only.
The prize is non-refundable and cannot be transferred. No cash alternative is available.

ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

Should you force your teenager to eat meat?

On Sunday we were invited for a BBQ with Ben's family. We were sitting in the garden and having fun with the water hose until food was served and drama took its course.

Ben's oldest niece didn't want to eat any of the grilled meat, while her step-dad insisted she had some. With her being almost 13 years old and her step-dad only wanting her to get the nutrients she needs, you can imagine it all ended in a big discussion, tears and a teenager refusing to eat anything at all. 

Well, this whole situation got me thinking about whether as a parent you should force your teenager to eat meat or let them decide themselves, knowing that they might miss out on iron and other nutrients important for their development. I could sympathize with both sides. As a teenager you go through phases of wanting to try different things. I remember that a lot of my friends at school went through a meat-free time. Some because they suddenly didn't like meat anymore, others because they didn't agree with animals getting killed just for us to have something on our plates and some just because they wanted to test themselves. I didn't belong to any of these groups. I have always liked my meat and knew that I couldn't live without certain meats such as chicken or my beloved sausages so I didn't even try it - I hate failing! 

Anyway, one of my friends went vegetarian for a couple of months and got serious problems with her bones due to an insufficiency of a specific nutrient that you can find in meat. She was weak, tired and all the supplements her GP prescribed didn't help. She had to go back to eating meat just to feel healthy again. 

As a parent you have heard about these things and do of course worry that, if your child decides to become vegetarian, their health might suffer. Their body is still developing after all. So what do you do? Would you force your child/teenager to eat meat or would you let them go ahead although you might know that their health could be in danger?

Review: WellStart Child Development Tracker

Product: WellStart Child Development Tracker

Price: £9.98

Buy from: WellStart, Amazon or Play

Suitable for: future parents or parents

Score out of 5: 4 out of 5

Initial Reaction: What do I do first? But don't worry, the software is so easy to use that even technical embryos start exploring instantly.

Pros: lots of easy to understand information that is updated regularly, possibility to upload your own photos and information

Cons: missing pictures of child development in weekly overview

Value for money? Brilliant

We have started using the software a couple of weeks after finding out we are expecting our first baby and I have to say I am glad we've got it installed. The software is basically self-explanatory and whenever we want to read up on the development of our baby girl (and that is a lot), we can simply log on and find all the information we need in one of the many texts provided on the different stages of pregnancy. As daddy-to-be isn't a keen reader, it is brilliant that all the texts are really short and easy to understand, however not lacking any of the information you need to understand what is happening inside your body.

What I really love about the WellStart Child Development Tracker is that all the information provided is by medical experts, so you can be sure you don't trust the “knowledge” of wannabe-experts. Another brilliant feature is the calendar that enables you to keep track of all your appointments and also allows you to update the different stages of pregnancy with your own media.

Altogether, I am really happy we are using the WellStart software because it gives us the safety future parents need to fully enjoy the long 9 months before holding our baby in our arms. The only thing I am missing are pictures that show me how my baby's looks change from week to week but I can check out the software's online service for that, so it really isn't a big deal.

I have tested this product for New Mummy's Tips Parent Panel. If you are interested in giving the software a test run yourself, click here for a free trial.