Mama Magic 2016

05/09/201604/09/2016 Megan Keith4 Comments

Last weekend (26 – 28 August) was Durban’s turn to host the Mama Magic Baby Expo. While we didn’t do the Barney show when we attended in 2015 (no baby yet), Jason did take Noah to the Barney show this year, and boy did my Noah love it! While father and son were being entertained by Barney, I had the opportunity to browse the stands at my own pace and see all the awesome products on show.

While browsing, I was struck by how different the show was for us this year, compared to last year. Last year, we went to find out more about all the various baby products, toys, furniture etc. However, at that stage, we knew there was a baby on the way, but we had no clue about the age, gender or size of our baby. It made for interesting browsing and shopping! This year, however, we had our baby. He came with us. Only, he’s not a baby anymore. He is now a very active little toddler. It was actually quite refreshing to go to the show with a different perspective, a different need. This year we were looking at toddler toys, jungle gyms, “big boy” beds etc. Everything a little boy either needs or would have fun with.

To make sure we didn’t overspend on all the awesome deals, we went in with a game plan. There were only two brands we had to find, and buy from. Everything else, we would look at, get pamphlets, and consider purchasing at a later stage. It was a helpful game plan. And we stuck to it for the most part!

We definitely wanted to get to the Pure Beginnings stand and make the most of the show specials. It is the only brand of products that has cleared Noah’s exzema and kept it away, as well as kept his severe nappy rashes away. We use it exclusively with Noah…nothing else goes near his soft skin!

With Noah’s health issues and him being at school, we needed to get him onto an excellent vitamin, that would help keep his immune system strong. My sister recommended Zinplex, and we tried it.. Noah loves it! It is sugar free, and cream soda flavoured – a win, win situation! Our paediatrician also confirmed that it is an excellent vitamin for children, as it is one of the very few that is scientifically proven to work. So we give our Noah 10ml a day – 5ml in the morning, and 5ml at night. One of the first stands we saw was the Zinplex stand, and I made sure I capitalized on their show specials too!

Yookidoo (see featured image) make awesome bath toys. Jason came across them online, and we’ve had our eye on a few of their toys for a while. They had a stand, and Noah and Jason loved seeing their demo toys in action! Of course, we walked away with the “Stack n Spray” Tub Fountain, and Noah loves it! He wants to play with it in the bath every night, and knows just how to stack the ships and change the minions!

While browsing, I came across some awesome products, I knew Noah would love. Some of my favourites include Furniture Express, who make amazing cots and beds. We will definitely keep them in mind when the time comes to look for a “big boy” bed for Noah!

Jason and I are both avid readers, and it’s important to us both that Noah develops a love for reading. So when I came across the Disney Book Club stand, I could not walk past without making a small purchase and finding out more information! They were selling “The Lion King” for an insanely reduced price, and when you bought the book, you got an application for your child to join the book club. When they join, they get 2 Disney books delivered to them every month. The first month they join, they also get an awesome Disney backpack. We will definitely be signing Noah up for this!

My child is a climber. He climbs everything. At home he climbs his cot and his feeding chair, pushes buckets and chairs around to climb on so he can reach the counters. Every time I see him on the playground at school, he is maneuvering around the jungle gym like an expert, with no assistance! So when I saw the KidZplay range of jungle gyms, I had to find out more! They have an amazing range of jungle gyms for little ones from 9 months old, right up to 9 years old. And you can either rent them, or buy them. I’d love to invest in one of these for Noah’s climbing habit!

I only recently heard about Pedia Sure, and I was intrigued by their stand at the show. It was interesting to discover they had a recipe book, so I can make meals for Noah and use Pedia Sure Complete to add flavour and nutrients to the meal. It can also be used as a milkshake for Noah to drink. I am looking forward to trying it out with my little fuss-pot! You van find Pedia Sure South Africa on Facebook, here.

These were just a few of my favourite finds from the Mama Magic show this year. Have you attended any shows around the country, this year? What were some of your favourite finds?

*This is not a sponsored post

*All photos are my own

Mama Magic!

10/09/201510/09/2015 Megan Keith1 Comment

The Mama Magic Baby Expo was in Durban from 28 August until 30 August. Jason was really keen to go. I wasn’t so sure though…we had gone once, about 2 years ago, and it was just too much chaos, too many people, too many prams. I just wasn’t up for the big crowd. Then, on the Thursday before, I was given a free ticket unexpectedly, so, much to Jason’s delight, on Friday afternoon after work, off we went to the Durban Exhibition Centre.

We went on the first day, just after lunch, so even though there was a fair amount of people coming and going, it wasn’t too many people…easy to make your way through the expo, at your own pace….bonus!
I’m so glad we went! There was so much to see, find out about and learn. When we left we were shocked to realize we had slent 5 hours walking around. It certainly did not feel like it! 5 hours well spent, if you ask us 😉

There was so much to see and take in. I managed to take a few photos of some of my favourite things I saw.

Fancy Pants cloth nappies and glass bottles

Fancy Pants makes the most amazing cloth nappies and glass baby bottles. It was started by two ladies looking for better, environmentally friendly alternatives for their babies. And like they said, we don’t wear plastic, synthetic underwear, so why should our baby?

The nappies are made from bamboo and are incredibly soft to touch. They can be used from birth to about 4 years old, as they have press buttons for you to adjust the size as baby grows. So clever! There are also so many fun colours and patterns, as well as swimming nappies, and potty training pants – they have thought of everything!

Their glass bottles are also amazing. They aren’t too heavy, and come with a colourful silicone cover, naturally made, which turns white when the contents of the bottle is over 42 degrees Celsius. I was concerned about the glass bottles breaking easily, and harming our baby. But I was assured that they tested the bottles themselves. They had 8 bottles between themselves and in one year only one broke. And when it broke it never shattered, just cracked. With all the harmful contents of plastic, I can definitely get on board with glass bottles! Especially as Fancy Pants also has glass sippy cups for when baby is a toddler.

You can order products online. Alternatively, they do have agents. You can contact them to find an agent close to you.

Hipp Organic is a stand that caught my eye immediately. While my plan is to make my baby’s food, I have a feeling life will still get in the way sometimes, and there will be no time to make baby food. And when that happens, I’d like to have something on hand that will be just as healthy as mom’s food, home made with love.

Enter Hipp Organic! After chatting with the lovely Candice, this is my first choice of a baby food alternative. Reading through some of the information Candice gave me, this is why I like them:

They don’t use any chemically synthesized sprays or fertilizers on their veggies.
Their fruits have a low acidity and are ripened over a long period.
As for their meat, their animals are only fed natural, organic food, and growth promoters and hormones are prohibited.

They also have an amazing range of products. From 6 months you can start feeding your baby their First Tastes range. Flavours include tender carrots and potatoes, sweet squash and chicken and apple and cranberry breakfast. From 7 months you can move up to stage 2. This includes vegetable lasagne, rice pudding with apple and pear and cocoa and vanilla dessert. As a snack, you can feed your baby organic apple rice cakes. Stage 3 (10 months) is when they they include some whole pieces of food, for extra chewing. Your baby can enjoy vegetables with noodles and chicken or pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella. They also have baby rice cereal, banana porridge and creamy oats porridge.

I know that Pick n Pay and Baby City also stock their products. I can’t wait to try their food, when making my own baby food is not possible.

Tantol Medi has the most amazing range of baby products. Their whole range smells amazing. Depending on the product, you will find vitamin E, primrose oil, median, or zinc oxide in the ingredients. They have a full range of baby toiletries. My favourite was the baby bath and massage oil. It can be used as a soap, and the oil moisturizers the baby’s skin, forming a barrier on top of the skin, locking in the moisture.

As their tag line says, “Your Baby deserves to be tantalized”. You can find out more about their amazing range here. I can’t wait to try their products on our baby!

Layette Essentials sell these amazing travel cots. I want one! It is amazing! It folds up into a little bag, so it is compact and can fit in any small space nicely. It’s perfect for when you are traveling, or even for a day at the beach. It comes with a self-inflated mattress and sleeping bag, and has uv Ray protection and plenty of ventilation, so baby can sleep soundly!

You can order them online here – I can’t wait to get my hands on one for our baby!

Nuby tupperwares and baby food containers

I saw these in the Baby City stand. I love how they have the different little pots, and even a little, baby masher, to help mash all the food before putting it in the freezer pots!

It’s no secret I have a love of owls. So when I saw the Pure Beginnings Organic Baby stand, I was immediately intrigued! I’m so glad – they have an amazing range of baby toiletries, all made from organic ingredients. Even their packaging is recyclable – I love it! And Ollie the Owl is on all their packaging. How cute is Ollie the Owl? 😊

If you’d like to have a look at their full range of products, you can click here!

We have been wanting to get something for our baby that we bought. We have been so blessed with everything that has been given to us, we literally haven’t had to buy a thing! But we wanted to. And while I’m sold on the whole cloth nappies thing, Jason is still not so sure. So we invested in this amazing nappy bin, which we also found in the Baby City stand! It is amazing, and we got it at an awesome show price too – bonus! It really is amazing – you put the dirty nappy in the top of the bin, and twist the top, which seals each nappy individually in a scented packet. And then you can break off the sealed nappy, tie a know and start again!

We have seen refills available at both Baby City and Pick n Pay.

At the Just For Baby stand, they had baby toiltries and a nurse who showed you how to massage your baby. The catch was you had to buy 2 packs of toiletries, and then the nurse would show you. Jason was very keen to learn more about massaging baby, so we bought a pink set and a blue set of baby toiletries. The massaging was actually quite interesting. The nurse showed us 2 ways to massage baby’s legs and feet, and how to massage their arms. Now we know just how to keep our baby relaxed and happy!

Layette Essentials, the same people who had the Deryan travel cot, also had the Fresh Squeezed Feeding Line. Basically, once you have cooked baby’s food, and mashed it, you place it in a tube on top of the squeeze station. You press start and the machine squeezes the puréed food into an easy to use pouch. The pouch has a spoon attached to the end of it, so when you are out and about, and baby is hungry, you don’t need to hassle with tupperwares and bottles of food etc. You simply squeeze the purée from the pouch onto the attached spoon and feed baby like that. Quick, easy and so convenient!

You can visit their website to have a look at their amazing products, and place your order.

The Funky Shop, Funky Baby range of shirts!

How cute are these shirts? I had to get a photo of each of these – they seemed so appropriate! You can have a look at their website for more information.

We had such an awesome time at Mama Magic, and can’t wait to go back next year! There was such a large variety of baby related things. So much to see and learn. As new parents to be, we found it so interesting!

*This is not a sponsored post

We’re approved!

11/08/201511/08/2015 Megan Keith1 Comment

Yes, we are! We got the call on 31 July. And since then, there has been a flurry of excitement at home, as we get overrun (in the best possible way) with baby stuff!

While we have officially been approved, we will not meet a baby, they won’t even tell us if there is a possible baby for us, until one more document is sent from Pretoria. We are both learning the ever important lesson of patience! It is one document. It is an important one. It also happens to be the very first form we filled out and sent off. Patience! We keep reminding ourselves that everything happens in His perfect timing. All we can do is keep praying for it to come through.

In the meantime, baby prep is at an all time high! It’s been an excellent distraction, and so much fun unpacking all the amazing things those close to have have given our Little One! The love, excitement and support has been absolutely amazing!

My sister and her beautiful family moved to Durban in the last week of July. And they brought with them a whole lot of baby paraphernalia with their furniture truck! And by a whole lot, I mean it took our little Huyndai Getz and a big Nissan Navara to collect everything, and we still had to leave to little tables until our next visit! Judy and Robert had grandchild number 1 and grandchild number 2, on my side of the family. So they had a lot of baby things. And my sweet mom made sure to keep it all for when any of us needed it. So we got a got, pram, carry cot, car seat, 2 high chairs, a feeding chair, toys, blankets, bowls, to name but a few things!

This is what an excited dad to be looks like!

A bottle sterilizer…now to figure out how to use it!

The bowl has the cutest name! It’s called “Trap-A-Snack” – so clever!

Our Little One’s very own couch for the lounge!

This is the chair from the most amazing high chair that converts into a table and chair when our Little One is bigger!

It took us about a week to get everything sorted. We had to rearrange our home a bit, sort out and throw out, to make space. All worth it, if you ask us! The cot is almost set up…we just need clever Robert to come and work his magic on one side, because we can’t seem to keep it in place! I can’t wait to finally make the cot up with the gorgeous new bedding Jason’s mom and sister-in-law sent us last week.

Nelly and I were equally inquisitive as to what was inside!

What a lucky lLittle One, who has a granny and aunt who spoil them so”

And that was just some of the amazing goodies that arrived in the huge box from Cape Town! They also sent baby grows, a cuddly teddy bear, teething rings, blankets, the cutest nappy bag…and some treats for mom and dad in the form of coffee for dad and and owl scarf for mom! Our family know us well!