‘Tis the time of the year that I always start panicking about what I can possibly buy certain members of the family who seem to have everything that they need or want.  I’d say 2012 is the year of the onesie, but I can’t see every member of the family wearing one, if you know what I mean, though the imagery does conjure up something mildly amusing.

If you are in the same predicament, at Christmas or birthday, or even if you want to treat yourself, I have found the perfect present, if that awkward member of the family has a dog that they love.

Pooch pack are a monthly subscription gift pack for dog owners.  For as little as £16.95 a month including postage and packing, the receiver (or retriever, if the dog is of such a breed) will receive a totally smashing box full of stuff you’d never thought of buying for your dog and which certainly isn’t available in any pet shop I’ve ever seen.  Not only that but they also donate to great doggy causes too, so you can be safe in the knowledge the your money helps other dogs as well as bringing enjoyment to the dogs in your circles.

I was sent a little gift of the November box for my best animal friend Shadow and I was delighted with the contents.  Not only did he have a good months supply of tasty and very healthy treats, but he had an amazing cool new treat toy that smells of vanilla (not dog spit, that’s a refreshing change) AND smells nice from his posh shampoo  AND I am now the proud owner of the coolest poo bag holder, the Doggee I have ever owned, the answer to my poo bag prayers (love those bone shaped ones, hate the price of the refills, much prefer to use cheap nappy bags) and that clips nicely to my dog walking belt (an old army belt for treats and a holster for the lobber!).

If you bought just the poo bag holder and the toy separately the total would be not much less than the subscription price for the whole month, so it is great value too, and has certainly introduced me to some fab new brands.

@getpoochpack are on twitter and facebook too. Signing up is really easy and they are lovely people. If anyone’s stuck what to get me now for Christmas or birthday..I’m enthusiastic *wink wink*

Here is my little pooch playing with his new favourite toy:

Inside the treat toy:

Disclaimer: The box was sent for free. I was not obliged to write this post and the opinions expressed are all my own.

 I was asked to review the Paddie Rider – Lambie by www.izziwizzikids.co.uk and the video review can be found here. This is more or less a typed transcript of the review: 

Lambie, or Ewe-an, as I have named him, is a beautiful wooden ride on toy made out of recycled rubberwood with a removable sheepskin seat cover and soft lamb ears. He came partially assembled and at first the assembly looked a bit daunting. Though it was a bit more than a five minute job, once I sat down and read the instructions properly it wasn’t too hard a job. The toy also comes in two other models, a cow (Calfie) and a tiger, and measures in at 48 cm long by 29 wide and 44 high.

It is a great sturdy toy with rubber wheels and a frame that will take a lot of abuse. It is not completely weatherproof, being wood, but it is coated, so the occasional shower or toddler accident won’t ruin it. He has been through puddles and has so far survived. It’s a bit tricky to ride him on grass or heavily gravelled surfaces but my son has still managed, and picks him up if the going gets too tough.

The recommended age range is from 19 months and will last until your child grows out of it – I’ve seen Amazon reviews saying 3 or 4 year olds have played with them but their legs may be too long at some stage. Weight wise, it will take even my weight though. And when your little one has finished with him, lambie is sturdy enough to last another few generations, I’d say.

In the first few days we managed to get paint all over it so I whipped the seat off and tossed it in the wash with my other washing and didn’t notice until I was hanging it on the line that it said to hand wash only. I stretched it back on and it was ok, so it will probably stand a few light machine washes.

The steering was a bit loose when I tightened it so my Dad had to make a few adjustments – I think my hands weren’t quite strong enough. My son hadn’t any experience of steering before and he adapted to it very easily. He really loves it and took to it straight away and to be honest has hardly been off it, to the point where I’ve had to stop him taking it to bed with him! It’s strong, sturdy, beautiful to look at and a great sensory item for your child to touch. It teaches the concept of steering and promotes independence and its friendly animal face will make it feel like a lovely family pet.

The only thing I would alter is that I would put poppers on the seat cover to secure it to the underside of the seat because it does come off really easily. But it does make a really cute/silly lamb hat too!  The seat is now in a drawer because it came off too much.

Disclaimer: The product was sent for free. I was not obliged to write this post and the opinions expressed are all my own.

I saw the article in the Daily Mail recently about women going through the menopause earlier, and the trauma this is causing to those who still want children. I’d like to make a comment as a nutritional therapist, based on the many cases I see in my clinic.

It is true that there are some women who experience early menopause and are through it and out the other side before their peers feel the first faint warming glow of a flush. There are also, however, many women who are told that they are menopausal because their hormone levels are low but who find that this is due to other factors, such as lifestyle issues. Women who have been chronically stressed (e.g. with pressurised jobs, demanding home lives, sleep deprivation, etc.) have often exhausted their adrenal glands, which produce adrenalin, and this impacts on the output of other hormones such as the sex hormones.

An additional issue can be nutritional deficiencies due to poor dietary choices (often inevitable in stressful situations or where stress-related fatigue makes planning a healthy diet seem impossible) or poor absorption – stress shuts down the digestive system, so anxious women very commonly experience this.

So if you’re told you are menopausal rather earlier than you counted on, then don’t accept it as the final word – see a practitioner about sorting out your diet and lifestyle, and not only might your hormones come back on line but your overall health will benefit too. And let’s face it, if you’re going to have children then you need to be as healthy as possible to deal with them!

If you really are menopausal, make sure that you tackle flushes if they are your first sign of hormonal havoc – recent research showed that the earlier flushes started, the longer they tended to last. (Freeman EW et al. Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2011; 117 (5): 1095-1104) Try sage tablets, which has a long history of use for menopausal hot flushes and night sweats.

We are giving away 70 FREE Menopause Packs which include samples and fantastic information on the menopause. To enter just click the Twitter button below and tweet to get your free Menopause Pack.

****UPDATE: NOW GIVING AWAY 100***

This competition was won by Beky Daly – Congratulations!

You’re lucky people, you really are, because I nearly kept this beautiful prize all for myself. When the people at Toyella contacted me, I literally clapped my hands with excitement (quietly, because baby was in bed). I love Toyella, they really are an innovative and an excellent quality brand and I would love to own just about everything that they have on their website.

But it’s you who can be the lucky one, because now the summer is here you will no doubt be wanting to play outside with your kids, and Toyella has given me a wonderful sand play set to give to one lucky person.

But this is no ordinary play set, it is part of Toyellas new Green Toys range and is 100% made from recycled plastic milk bottles! I throw away loads of these things in the recycling box, so I am vey pleased that they are ending up as good, durable playthings.

So, to enter this competition, which will end at midnight on the 5th August 2011, all you have to do is:

1) Visit the Green Toys page and leave a comment below telling me what your next favourite Green Toys product is and leave your email address in the comment so that you can be contacted if you win, and also to say that you agree to receive Toyellas newsletter.

Additional entries (leave a separate comment for each with a method of contacting you):

2) Follow @Toyella on twitter
3) Like Toyella on facebook
4) Like Mummy Lion on facebook

The winner will be picked using randomiser.org.
If we do not receive a reply from the winner within 3 days then the competition will be re-drawn.
The competition is open to anyone but we will only deliver to the UK.

Have you used Arnica gel? I was only familiar with the homoeopathic version of Arnica, pills and creams, but I tried a sample of the gel, which is made from non-homoeopathic Arnica flowers – just straight herbal stuff. It really does the trick – anything that aches or twinges, just shove it on (gently!) and it totally helps, pretty quickly.

I did a bit of digging around and found out that there are lactones in it that are extremely anti-inflammatory. So I gave some to my partner to use after a heavy day out working (he works on planting contracts, which is quite heavy duty on the muscles), and he was thoroughly impressed. He now carries it around in his jeep as well as having it handy at home! It doesn’t seem to stop being effective after a few weeks of using it, as he’s found with other topical painkillers.

Arnica seems to have been a very popular medicinal plant for many centuries, with lots of folk stories attached to it. For example, it used to be hung up on roofs as a protection against lightening! Don’t try this at home – it is not scientifically proven… On the other hand, there seems to be quite a lot of research evidence for Arnica used as a gel.

• A study of patients with osteoarthritis of the fingers found that Arnica gel was as effective as the commonly used synthetic topical painkiller, ibuprofen gel. [1]

• A study in patients suffering from mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the knees found that 3 out of 4 experienced an improvement in their condition after using Arnica gel. [2]

• A study of patients with rheumatic complaints in at least one body site found that average pain measurements decreased by 50% over 3 weeks of using Arnica gel, with 43% being able to reduce other pain medication. [3]

• A preparation of Arnica flowers was found to be more effective in the treatment of muscle ache when applied externally than placebo. [4]

[1] Widrig R et al. Choosing between NSAID and arnica for topical treatment of hand osteoarthritis in a randomised, double-blind study. Rheumatol Int. 2007; 27: 585-591.

[2] Knüsel O et al. Arnica montana gel in osteoarthritis of the knee: an open, multicentre clinical trial. Advances in Therapy. 2002; 19 (5): 209-218.

[3] Knüsel O et al. AtroMed®-Gel bei rheumatischen Beschwerden am Bewegungsapparat. Sonderdruck Aus Ars Medici 13 2006: 1-3.

[4] Barnes J, Anderson LA, Phillipson JD. Arnica. In: Herbal Medicines. 3rd ed. Great Britain: Pharmaceutical Press; 2007: 64-66.

Here’s the exciting bit – AVogel have 50, yes, FIFTY Sports Packs to give away to the first people to tweet this article. Click the button below to be entered into this very generous and exciting draw:

This post was guest written by A Vogel

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED.

Winner: @Littleboo_21

I am *terribly* excited to announce my very first ever blog competition!  And with my love of clothes what could be more appropriate than being able to offer you fashion-loving gorgeous people out there a whole ten quid off a fabulous upcoming online boutique?  The site is easy to search, by item, price or colour and i am already in love with their floral chiffon shorts and cute panda t-shirt, as well as some of their stunning maxi dresses.

"Founded in 2011, SEEN was created through the frustration of lack of
support for  smaller independent UK designers and labels and our aim
is  to introduce  and show case their collections through this website.

With our mix of designer menswear & womenswear from independent
designers our wide range of pieces offer something for everyone and
budget, including everyday wear to couture and celebrity worn."

So, without further ado, I will hereby launch this competition *cracks open bottle of champagne on blog helm*

To enter and stand a chance of winning £10 spend at www.seenboutique.com simply follow me and @seenboutique on twitter and follow this blog on google connect (left).

You also have to tweet the following “I’ve entered to win a £10 voucher for @SeenBoutique in an exclusive competition with @MummyLion #seenmummy http://bit.ly/jkYWnB”

and leave a comment below telling me you have done so.

Winners will be chosen randomly on the 15th July at 23.59pm BST, so good luck!

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions
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