JulieBhosaleAchive

My boys live outdoors. They live in the ocean, the bush, the trees, even just our little back garden. We have not yet taken them to the snowy mountains but no doubt that will also become part of their playground when they are older. It really saddens me to think however that the great outdoors they love so much could no longer be a safe, clean playground for them due to the waste crisis we are facing and our reliance on single use plastics. The thing is while recycling is important it is not enough to stem our plastic output. Every single bit of plastic ever made still exists - while it might break up it does not completely break down. Plastic-Free July is a initiative was started in 2011 in Western Australia and is now an a fully independent not-for-profit foundation. The challenge of Plastic-Free July is to refuse single use plastic for one month. This includes straws, coffee cup lids, plastic packaging - anything that is intended to only be used once and then discarded. I have no do...

The Fever Smart Temperature Monitor is a revolutionary new product which will be life changing for parents. Having a sick child is an extremely stressful time and this technology is going to significantly help to ease the worry when a child has a fever. I do not think I will ever forget how worrying and exhausting the first year of Arjun (our first son) life was. Right through winter he was very sick and even hospitalised a couple of times - the FeverSmart Temperature Monitor is something that would have been fantastic had it been around then. How Fever Smart Works The ease of the FeverSmart Temperature Monitor, is one of its standout features. You simply place the thermometer under your baby’s arm which sticks with a non-allergenic pad and then pair the monitor to a simple phone app. This literally allows you to safely monitor their baby’s temperature at all times without having to wake the baby! You can see just how easy this really is on our vlog where we demonstrate the new technol...

It is fair to say I am still in the novice category when it comes to school lunches....our eldest son has just started back but as he turned five towards the end of last year he has been going less than two months. I am well aware of the long stretch of school lunches that lies before me. Already I am not a huge fan....I actually believe that we need to bring back in provided lunches at school BUT that is a blog for another time. What I will openly confess is that no my child does not have 'perfect' school lunches. Getting vegetables in to him at a lunch box is pretty difficult so it is far to say I am always on the look out for creative ways in which to do this! I was very excited to come across these Vitality Wraps (and the amazing Kathryn who makes them) at a business networking event! These genuis wraps are made from actual vegetables!!! In fact check out this impressive ingredients list: To have a wraps made from 63% carrots, 25% linseeds and 10% avocado oil with just a da...

Back by popular demand I have one of my popular product review blogs – this time on crackers! Crackers to tend to be quite a stable food purchase for many families. Little ones like them as they are easy finger food and can be transported without a lot of damage. Crackers are traditionally made from flour. Something you may not know is the holes in crackers are called "docking" holes. The holes are placed in the dough to stop overly large air pockets from forming in the cracker while baking. Oatcakes (as they are made majority from oats) do not need to have these holes. I have strictly reviewed pre-packaged crackers/flat breads/oatcakes on the marker rather than homemade recipes. If you can make your own crackers at home they will typically come up more nutritionally sound than something that needs to be preserved and keep stable on a shelf. Personally, this is something I very rarely have time to do unless I am doing a baking session with the boys - which is more for their l...

We are now firmly in the thick of the festive season. This brings along with it a lot of family and social occasions. As many of you know I spend a significant portion of my time presenting and being in front of people. Getting presentable for such engagements is not an easy task when covered in children! This year in particular I have spent a lot of time on the road, little monkeys in tow and very much awake when getting ready in the mornings. I wanted to share with you something that was really invaluable in helping me not only look presentable but feel really good too. Previously, the only make up lessons or guidance I ever had was back in 2006 (yes nearly 10 years ago) at a shop in the mall. The Body Shop from memory. One of those 'come in get your make up done and purchase some products' experience. Yes 10 years ago! It was fair to say my make up collection was a little worse for wear and something that pretty much came at the bottom of the priority list with the arrival o...

Learning to eat is messy business….for those that have not yet starting solids I am sorry but it is coming! Having navigated starting solids now with both of my two boys something that I had not yet found a solution for was a spoon to help  learn that crucial motor skill of hand to mouth action. When I look back on videos (I have a tone on you-tube for your viewing pleasure) with the tradition long spoons there was a lot of flicking action over the head, chair, floor….you get the picture! This year I found the solution I would have loved to have had with them – self feeding spoons from Kizsingo! These are simple but pure genius. These spoons feature a nice short handle for easy griping those wee hands adding stability as well, and the curve allows for a guided motion up to eager mouths. Babies can close their lips easily around the specially designed head of the spoon. It pretty much means babies can grab and go. Oh the concentration! (Note the double spoon approach too!) You will neve...

The rich flavour of tomatoes, high liquid content and soft flesh make them great for turning into a sauce. You would be hard pressed to not find many households with some version of tomato sauce and kids really love it - in fact in terms of per capital consumption it is the leading processed vegetable! For the record too botanically speaking the tomato is termed a fruit due to it plant parts (but it is customarily used as a vegetable). With the increased awareness of the amount of sugar in processed foods however tomato sauce has come into the spotlight. Many of the traditional varieties contain significant amounts of sugar - in some cases it is the first ingredient listed not tomatoes (ekkkk). I have found some supermarket brands contain up to 40% sugar which is unbelievably high and certainly does not help the development of positive food habits especially for our little ones. To give you a little bit more background on how tomato sauce is made - the majority of packaged tomato sauce...

As many of you know I am a number one fan of Nairns Oatcakes . There are not many pre-packaged foods that I give my seal of approval to, however Nairns Oatcakes is one of them. Made with real wholegrain oats and minimal additional ingredients, their oatcakes and oat biscuits provides a easy nutritious snack option – which are also incredibly versatile. Nairns Oatcakes have just launch a new cracked pepper option here in New Zealand and I am very excited about this! These are made with 91% wholegrain oats, are wheat-free, have absolutely no added sugar at all, and very low natural sugar at (0.9g/100). The addition of cracked pepper just adds that little bit of flavour without any additives (or strange numbers!). It is not over powering so that little ones will not eat it...these have been approved by the littlest critics in our household! With our big boy a month away from starting school now, searching for easy healthy lunch box ideas has become my newest mission so these have made a f...

Nourishment for your body is not just with food. Our skin is our largest organ – what we put on this (and our hair) does really matter. Our skin is very permeable so it absorbs a large percentage of what we put on it. For this reason, I have always used ecostore products, especially the baby range with my boys. The ecostore is a New Zealand based company which began here in 1993 and only uses plant and mineral based ingredients in their amazing range of products. I still get nostalgic about their Baby Sleepytime Bath which I used when the boys were small enough to fit in the kitchen sink! We are well and truly beyond the new born stage (for now!) so I was very happy when the new kids range was launched earlier this year…and now they have another new addition to these products! Taming Wild Locks Both our boys have been blessed with beautiful mops of thick hair. Our first son somehow sprouted ringlet curls which I held of cutting these as long as possible (until he was nearly three). Wh...