KidStyleFile

Today’s post written by Angela

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I was surprised by how, from a very early age, my kids wanted to pitch in and ‘hilp’ (help) me.  Folding washing, washing up, housework, cooking, shopping, gardening, working, the lot: there wasn’t (and at age 5 still isn’t) a task that they don’t want to get involved in.

Despite the fact that the help isn’t always that helpful, I am reluctant to deter them: I don’t want to give them the idea that their contributions aren’t valuable or wanted, and am clinging to the notion that this approach may just see them still remaining helpful as they get older (please, please let this turn out to be true!)

Safety is a major issue with the little helpers: their small stature often requires them to be on an elevated surface in order to participate, and common garden chairs and stools have a tendency to be somewhat precarious.

One US Mum who was determined to let her kids safely be involved in day to day activities has come to rescue of us all with The Learning Tower, a cleverly multifunctional piece of furniture that provides a safe platform from which kids can get into the thick of things.

Featuring an anti-topple design, and height adjustable platform, The Learning Tower grows with kids from 18 months through to 6 years of age, and is available in a range of cool colours to suit your decor. You can also purchase add-on kits for The Learning Tower: an Art Easel Kit and a Playhouse Kit, which give The Learning Tower an even greater longevity.

The Learning Tower retails at $275.00, the Art Easel Kit at $140.00 and the Playhouse Kit at $45.95. or you can buy the set of 3 for $445.00 with FREE postage from Rose & Lily – www.roseandlily.com.au. This would make a fantastic Christmas gift (hint hint nannas and poppys out there!)

Rose & Lily charge $9.00 for postage up to $100, $15 postage for orders between $100 and $201, with FREE shipping for orders of $210+ Australia-wide.

Today’s post written by Miki

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Every Australian parent who loves the functionality and stylish good looks of European-designed products must thank their lucky stars that Rose & Lily – www.roseandlily.com.au – is on the scene.

Two working mums, Michele and Jennifer, saw a gap in the market a few years ago, and the result is that now we in Australia can now get our hands on some of the best Euro baby products around! Perfectly placed as they are (Michelle is in Australia and Jennifer’s in Belgium), the magic twosome carefully select and import some seriously cool products and brands.

Take Babymoov as one example. With its French heritage clearly evident in the designs, Babymoov products are designed by mums, for mums. The Bebedelice baby food processor is absolutely ingenious: it defrosts, cooks and blends home-made baby food, warms bottles and jars and even sterilises your babyfeeding paraphernalia!

BabySteps 123 is another brand which offers well thought out accessories to make feeding solids easier. The Multi Slicer is a really nifty way of quickly preparing fruit and vegetables as healthy snacks, and there’s also some useful freezer trays in various sizes and shapes (essential, believe me), and a very nifty hand-blender which takes no electricity or batteries at all!

If you’ve started the solids journey but you’re runninng out of inspiration as to what to feed your baby or toddler, Rose & Lily have Sneakys, eBooks of delicious recipes designed especially for the very young (including the very fussy!) all by nutritionist mum Leanne Cooper.

My Plate Mate is another of those brilliant ideas; the sort where you wonder why nobody had ever thought of it before!  It’s simply a spill guard rim which attaches on to any standard child’s size plate, meaning that they don’t spill food as readily when learning to use cutlery, and the unique shape of the rim even helps to scoop food onto the fork or spoon! My Plate Mate is free of lead, BPA, phthalate, PVC, latex & polycarbonates and it easy to clean and dishwasher safe.

OnTray2Go is another brilliant idea: simply fill the boxes with scrumptious snacks (you should have plenty of them prepared by now!) and clip on to the handle of your supermarket trolley.  So much easier than fighting with a hungry toddler as you trundle around the aisles!

The Mije Crab is a clever bath toy which not only tells you the temperature of the bath water, but also sounds audio and visual alarms if the water is too hot. In the same vein of controlling temperature, the Cold Seat car seat cover is absolutely brilliant for Australian summers: simply put it in the freezer for a while before use, then cover the car seat with it – including buckles where possible – and then refreeze it before the next use.  How brilliant is that?!

For other cool places to sit, here is another option: the beautiful Luna Lullaby Bounce-A-Bye Baby Balls are the only exercise ball you won’t want to hide away when you’re done using it.  With a myriad of uses such as birthing ball, a baby soothing motion seat and a pre- and post-pregnancy fitness ball, not to mention an oversized ball for the kids to chase around the garden on nice days, these will last you for years.

And last but not least, the Learning Tower is one of the best kids products I’ve seen around in a long time. A four-sided platform designed to bring small children up to the level where all the action is happening, you can use the Learning Tower to facilitate your child’s involvement with cooking, washing dishes, sorting laundry, you name it.  You can also get add-on kits to turn your Learning Tower into an art easel or a playhouse – amazing!

Rose & Lily are currently running a great competition over at Facebook. All you have to do is become a fan of Rose & Lily on Rose & Lily Facebook page before June 14 2009, and you’ll go into the draw to win one of 10 Babymoov Shirt Bibs, valued at $19.95 each. Too easy!

Rose & Lily are also a major sponsor of the KidStyleFile Annual Reader Survey: 10 lucky survey respondents will each receive a Babymoov prize pack from Rose & Lily valued at $279.95 each! Click here to start the survey now.

Rose & Lily shipping starts at $8.00 per order, Australia-wide.  Orders over $250.00 are shipped free of charge.

Today I’m heading over to the baby-goods aisle.

Oftentimes I do this after spending a little time with a new little babe

Contemplating the intrinsic perfection, and smelling that sweet milkiness has a profound effect on me. It’s an incredible thing!

Inevitably though, my thoughts turn practical. Looking after kids is the world’s most rewarding job, yes, but if you’re a Mum too, I think you’ll agree that it ain’t always easy.

Getting together a good routine and having a few efficiency-creating tools at our disposal are steps we can take to make the everyday tasks less tedious, leaving more time to have fun with our kids.

Introducing solids is a big landmark in your and your babies life. Making the task of preparing healthy mini-meals easier is the BabyMoov Bébédelice (pronounced Baby-Delish) from France.

The Bébédelice is a 5-in-1 appliance that helps you make fresh, fast and nutritious baby food every day. How does it do this? Get a load of this capability -

• Cooks and steams – Place chopped fruit, vegetables, meat, fish or a combination in the steamer, push the start button and in just 11 minutes, food is steamed to perfection. The gentle steaming function retains the food’s natural vitamins and minerals.
• Blends – It has a built in blender: twist the knob and you’re off and racing! The blender bowl capacity is 500ml, and it comes with a separate lid for use when storing food in the fridge.
• Warms bottles & jars – Safely warms all size baby bottles and jars. It switches itself off when the appropriate temperature is reached.
• Sterilises bottles – Quickly and hygienically sterilises all size & brand baby bottles or jars.
• Defrosts frozen food and breastmilk – Does this safely without the use of microwaves in just 11 minutes.

Although my time making mashes for littlies has past, I really love the idea of the Bébédelice, and would jump to get one if ever the need arose again.

Why?

I love the idea of being able to make fresh meals for my babies everyday (and oh, it is so much cheaper than buying pre-packaged food – the Bébédelice will end up paying for itself!)

Generally I would make a week’s worth and then freeze and microwave as the need arose. I was pretty committed to keeping everything organic for the first 18 months, but I did feel the irony of then freezing and zapping the life out of the gorgeous produce I spent hours making.

With the Bébédelice the cooking is done by steam, so none of the nutrients are lost in the process, and if you need to freeze, the Bébédelice defrosts quickly without the use of microwaves (great for expressed breast-milk too!) The built in blender is another boon: less washing up! And as the Bébédelice operates on preset timers, it is possible to attend to other tasks, rather than watching vigilantly so you don’t miss the mark and overcook the meal.

To boot it is small enough to leave on the bench for every-day use, and all parts are dishwasher safe, so it’s easy to clean too.

The Bébédelice usually sells for $199.00, but Metro Mum currently have it on sale for $179.00 – even better!

Check out Metro Mum’s stock-take sale for incredible discounts on more great Baby Moov products too! (Metro Mum post for $7.95 Australia wide, and only $5.95 if you’re in the Sydney metro area).

BabyMoov products, including the Bébédelice, are distributed in Australia by Rose & Lily – www.roseandlily.com.au.

Rose & Lily carry the full range of Baby Moov products including the Lovenest, a pediatrican designed sleeping innovation which helps resolve positional plagiocephaly, or ‘flat-head syndrome’ in babies 0-4 months, and a high-quality range of eating, bathing, sleeping and traveling accessories and toys.

Check the Rose & Lily website for the complete list of stockists.