Maxi Cosi Noa-First Impressions

Im sorry I deserted you all for a week, I had nothing at all exciting to write about, thats unless you wanted to hear about child three's nappy rash! But Noa has arrived this morning in a rather compact little box, although he should have arrived yesterday (silly courier coming whilst I was out).

Firstly its an easy pram to assemble, it took me longer to get through the sellotape holding the box shut than it did to get it up once I'd got it out. However within three minutes of me having shut the door to the courier I had it out its box, up and child two sat in it. Now I should mention that child two is two and a half and quite tall for his age, he also walks mostly and therefore it'll be child three who does the majority of the pram sitting while I test, but he wanted to get in and I thought it'd do for its first test-will it accomodate a tall toddler? The answer? A resounding yes, he fits quite comfortable with clearance above his head for the hood. I had a little push around the living room and as is the case with most small wheeled strollers, it was a little hard to push over the carpet, so we took a little trip into the kitchen (tiled floor) and of course it became much easier to manouver. The handles are something that may or may not be a problem for me, they are hard and although they have attempted ergonomic-i find them quite uncomfortable. I am used to bar handlebars though so maybe with a bit of use my opinions will change. I will say though, I am 5ft 8 and they are at a comfortable height for me, although this may cause problems for significantly shorter mums than myself.
Out comes child two and in goes child three (15 months old), thumb promptly goes in mouth which can only mean one thing-he thinks its comfy enough to go to sleep in (its nearly nap time and child three is a thumb sucker).

Once child three has gone down for his nap and child two is happily playing with his trains I get down to the business of checking it out closely. Firstly Maxi Cosi get a point for putting a raincover in the box, there are far too many about who think a raincover should be an added extra. The wheels seem to be well made, and because of the shape of the frame hopefully the back wheels won't suffer from premature wear unlike many of the well known brands of umbrella fold strollers. The frame itself is coloured in a gorgeous red, such a nice change from plain silver, it appears that the pushchair companies are starting to realise that we like our prams to be stylish. The seat fabrics are made from a practical canvas material-well who doesn't give their toddler the odd thing to eat whilst out and about? Its also well padded for comfort and Maxi Cosi have thoughtfully added strap pads that don't slip around. There is is a square of black rubber wipe clean situated by the footrest-again very practical and doesnt detract too much from the looks of the pushchair. The hood is made from two materials, the outer a gorgeous soft black one (no idea what it is but its lovely to stroke!) and the inner what feels to be a slightly more wipe clean red (again I'm assuming this is for practicality reasons-little sticky fingers and all that!). The hood itself functions well and moves with ease, and would offer a reasonable amount of shade from the elements. The basket is easy to access but with regards to size and capability I will have to get back to you on that one. Lastly for today-the brakes, they are press on/press off brakes and although a little stiff with "newness" they work reasonably well on my level floored house.

I am planning to take it for a little walk to the shop later, and judging by the look outside I may even get to test the raincover.

Stay tuned in as I am testing it for a whole month (my poor bee plus is going to feel terribly left out for a bit!)

Exciting news!

Well during a rather hectic week which involved a weekend in Devon (yes we have finally purchased a new car-I wont bore you with details), I got the rather exciting news that I have been chosen to be a tester for Pushchair Trader (http://www.pushchairtrader.co.uk/, also on facebook) and I will be testing the new Maxi Cosi Noa (http://www.pushchairtrader.co.uk/en/news/holiday-with-noa-the-new-pushchair-from-maxi-cosi/). Its a fine looking buggy in the pictures, I will be having the buggy for a month and taking it on days out and generally putting it through its paces. The concept is fab, it is essentially a holiday buggy but if its as sturdy as the previous Maxi Cosi I owned (the Mura 4) then it should stand up to the battering of everyday life too.
Watch this space for reviews on the Noa and my conclusion on the buggy as a whole.

The bee plus in the meantime took rather a large amount of off-road battering during our weekend in Devon, it coped but required the swivel wheels being locked off. To be honest its not really built for off-roading and rattled a bit whilst going over the bumps and felt a bit unsteady. Its a good job I'm not really the sort of person who spends alot of time walking anywhere let alone on rough ground. Although it did make me wonder whether I'd be wise to invest in a 3 wheeler for the occasions when I do venture towards the beach. I think my hubby would go mad if he saw this though, do I really need a second pram??

On a final note, thank god for the nice weather, just in time for me to do a whole weekends worth of washing. Although it has to be said I'm not too fond of being back to the grindstone, I have man flu which is making everything feel twice as hard to do. Luckily the sore throat is abating now, it was pretty horrendous though and required plenty of regular doses of ibuprofen!

Its been a mad few days!

As the title goes really, its gone from bad to worse these last few days. The short story is (trust me you dont want the long story) the car is gone, and we are currently on the look out for a replacement. Easier said than done when on a tight budget and my specifics being it has to be diesel and big enough to cart the kids (and the pram) around, its what everyone wants nowadays and so there isnt alot in our price range.

I feel I should spend some time talking about prams, seeing as this is generally what I like most. Well today my bee plus has had a bit of a revamp, I've gone from a multi-colour footmuff, to a rather nice red one. However everyone now says that a bright red footmuff is a bit too much with a bright yellow hood, so I'm getting a red hood to go with the footmuff. I do love the customability (is there such a word?) of the Bugaboo, in less than two minutes you can take one hood off and put a new colour on. And if you venture further into the obsession there are also companies out there that will make you a custom one out of pretty much any fabric you desire (try http://www.snunkie.co.uk/, or http://www.poshbugs.co.uk/). I had a couple of custom hoods and footmuffs from Snunkie last year and they were fab, however this year I'm holding out for Bugaboo's new colours. They have released pictures of 4 luscious new colours and I already have my eye on the apple green and the orange, although it appears I have to wait until the end of April to purchase such yummyness. In the meantime in order to get over the long (!!) wait I'm awaiting an order for a very nice custom liner.
I'm very tired so an abrupt end today (blame the 2.5 year old who thought it was okay to give me his bug).

Cars really can be a pain in the neck!

First an update on my car-hubby got home at 6pm with the token can of diesel for me. So we wedge the kids in front of cbeebies (bad mummy) and trot out to the car. In goes the diesel, in goes the key, hubby turns key, car steadfastly refuses to do anything other than turn over! Hubby keeps going-I can only assume that his theory was that he'd be more stubborn than it and that eventually it would start! Of course as its a car, and therefore an inanimate object, it has no idea of my hubby's theories and still refuses to start. Cue a large amount of head scratching and some choice swear words. We go in (it was freezing out and hubby was none the wiser) and I start the arduous task of filtering through internet forums to find something useful. In the end we decided the best thing to do was to sign up for the AA with homestart and then call them (I thought this was a bit cheeky but apparently it's fine to do this). After a short wait, there is a knock at the door and we bail outside to watch the AA man do his job. He takes a little while so in the meantime I'm sent to the local Chinese for a takeaway (always necessary in an emergency!), I get back and the AA man has gone, I walk in the house with a certain amount of trepidation and ask what the news is. Turns out my crankshaft sensor has given up-this is the second one in three weeks (the first one got broke when the mechanic was changing my clutch). We arent totally sure why this one has gone, although we have a theory which at this point I'll keep to myself. We have ordered a new one on fast track service from our local Citroen dealership (which turned out to be miles cheaper than any local spares shop-shocking!) and will be able to pick up first thing in the morning. Watch this space!
Today my hubby goes off to pick a car up, he takes our middle child with him so its just me and the little one (eldest at school). I choose to use the time wisely and do some housework, I storm along nicely with the odd stop and check facebook break until my phone rings....it's hubby! I get orders to "just go to the local scrapyard to pick a bumper reinforcement bar"-the local scrapyard is 8 miles away and it means waking the baby up, putting his car seat in a different car (as mine obviously still won't start) and driving up there at lunch time which considering the little one has not had his lunch could result in one grumpy baby. Like the good wife that I am I only grumble about this a little bit, not to his face (or down the phone as the case may be) just chuntering as I gather my things together. Off we go down the scrapyard where I stand for 15 mins freezing to death whilst the bloke sorts out the bit I'm after, I pay him, load the bits in the car and then drive home. Hubby has got home by this point so he comes over to the car as I drive down the close, takes one look in the boot and says "thats the reinforcer for the back bumper not the front!" After a short exchange (which involved me saying "I don't really have to go all the way back do I?") I turn the car round and go back to exchange. Three quarters of an hour later I'm back home with the right part this time. The end to this story is that an hour later hubby comes in and says "I've decided not to put the reinforcer on yet, going to do some other bits first"!!!
So to end it all, the only joy I got out of my new pram today was fitting the basket that arrived in the post (I'd forgotten to pick it up when I collected the pram!)

Hello All

I suppose I'd better start with an introduction, seeing as they are usually the best place to start! I'm a 25 year old mummy of three. A daughter who is 6 and two sons 2.5 and 1. I have been very happily married for a couple of years!
I've mainly started this just because today my car is off the road and I've been stuck in all day! It has one of two problems, its either run out of diesel (and decided not to show us on the dashboard) or the diesel pump has gone, I'm hoping very much for the first problem as I've already been told that if its the second then my car is off to the scrapyard in the sky. Hubby is bringing home some diesel on his way home from work so we shall soon know.
The pram mad mummy bit?? I have one weak spot in life and that is a love of nice shiny pretty prams. We are currently on number 17 (a Bugaboo Bee+) which I purchased at the weekend. I have racked up an impressive list of "already had" and yet I'm still on my quest to find the perfect one. The bee+ is shaping up nicely so far, however having only been on one outing there is time for that to change!
The other main feature in my life (other than kids, hubby and prams) is cars. Being married to a self taught mechanic who runs a business repairing damaged repairable cars means that I have to be savvy and know what I'm talking about, especially as he is next to useless on the phone (arent most men??). I can talk about offside, nearside, bottom arms, driveshafts and suchlike with the best of them!
Well thats a little introduction to me and mine! Heres hoping I stay as interesting!

Random fact #1  I can explain AND understand the offside rule in football!!