"By Carla" - A baby sleeping bag review and giveaway

"By Carla" Baby Sleeping Bags

With chilly nights drawing in (and a two year old boiler that is making noises it shouldn't do), we need to make sure everyone is snug and warm at night time.  As we know, babies need a little extra care.

Libby and Anna received a lovely surprise from the postman who delivered them a couple of sleeping bags from a company which, despite its youth, is already making a splash in the baby market.

By Carla was launched in 2009 with a vision to bring together the opinions and experiences of real parents with the latest research and advice.  This has developed into a company which provides us with stylish, fashionable products for baby and nursery.

By Carla has introduced to its range a beautifully designed but perfectly practical baby sleeping bag.  The 2.5 tog sleeping bags come with detachable sleeves allowing baby a little extra warmth on those exceptionally cooler nights.  The sleeves on the 0-6 month sized bag have turnover cuffs allowing babies hands to not only stay warm but also prevents young babies from scratching themselves.  I loved the design which, unlike all other sleeping bags my children had owned, had the zip fastening at the bottom of the bag rather than ending under baby's armpit.  The sleeping bag comes quite high up in the body, keeping the chest area warm and covered with the aid of a popper fastening and the bag itself provides little restriction as it is a very generous size, allowing baby room to kick about within it and leaving plenty of room for growth.

The sleeping bags are available in two sizes, 0-6 months and 6-18 months, and two designs which are equally suitable for both boys and girls, and have an RRP of £27.99.  By Carla are very generously giving one away  to one of our lucky readers.

You can choose from Nougat, as modelled here by the adorable Anna...

Anna modelling the sleeping bag in Nougat by "By Carla" 

... or you can choose the Playtime design as modelled by the lovely Libby....

Libby is modelling By Carla's "Playtime" sleeping bag

To be in with a chance of winning do the following:


1. Become a By Carla Facebook Friend and leave a comment saying "I want to win with Larger Family Life at  http://bit.ly/vdvf70 " - Leave a comment below to let me know you have done so. That is one entry.

and/or

2. Follow @ByCarla_UK and @LargerFamily (that's us!) on Twitter and tweet "Enter to win with @ByCarla_UK and @largerfamily at http://bit.ly/vdvf70 ".  Leave a separate comment below to say you have done so with your Twitter name so I can find you.  That gives you another entry.

Bonus entry!:  For an extra chance to win do both the above and leave a third comment to say you have done so.

The giveaway will close on Wednesday, 7th December at midnight GMT. UK entries only please.

Good luck!

(Many thanks to "By Carla" for Libby and Anna's sleeping bags and for providing our giveaway prize).

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Personalised gift ideas and a chance to win!

Every now and then I need to find a gift for a special occasion.  Keepsake boxes for important times are a great idea but the cardboard versions have never appealed to me.  I want something that can be kept forever and withstand the test of time.  I want high quality, well made and unique. 

Freya Design specialises in a wide range of keepsake boxes, from trinket boxes to storage boxes for stylish every day use.  The boxes are made from solid wood sourced only where strict regulations regarding sustainability apply.  The boxes are painted with safe non-toxic paints in a fresh, nordic colour schemes and natural materials are used to create the eye catching 3D designs.

There are boxes to mark any occasion.  I could do with several of these baby keepsake boxes!

There are boxes for remembering a child's First Holy Communion which can be bought for boys or girls...

... and a Wedding memory box for a special couple's wedding day.

Freya Design sent me my very own "Princess and Dragon" jewellery box so I could check out the quality for myself and I have to say I was very impressed. 

The box was sturdy and very well made yet still aesthetically pleasing.  The design was just right, not too busy but still detailed and pretty and the jewellery box provided ample storage with a lovely heart-shaped mirror on the inside of the lid...

Even the lock and key is pretty...

... and they can be personalised at no extra cost...

Freya Design have also generously offered to give a "Princess and Dragon" jewellery box worth £39 away to one of my readers.


To be in with a chance of winning do the following:


1. Become a Freya Design Facebook Friend and leave a comment saying "I want to win with Larger Family Life at http://bit.ly/vExVTB " - Leave a comment below to let me know you have done so. That is one entry.


and/or


2. Follow @FreyaDesign and @LargerFamily (that's us!) on Twitter and tweet "Enter to win with @FreyaDesign and @largerfamily at http://bit.ly/vExVTB ".  Leave a separate comment below to say you have done so with your Twitter name so I can find you.  That gives you another entry.


Bonus entry!:  For an extra chance to win do both the above and leave a third comment to say you have done so.


The giveaway will close on Monday at midnight GMT. UK entries only please.


Good luck!


This competition has closed. The winner is commenter no. 8!  Congratulations, Danielle!  Can you email me at family@largerfamilylife.com with your address details please?



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"Bubble Buster" Review and Giveaway

“Bubble Buster” by Drumond Park Games

My children, like any other children, love to play games.  The problem is that with the ages ranging from 18 down to under 1 there are certain games that some cannot join in with because they are too young.  “Bubble Buster” puts an end to that problem because, even though you might think you have to be a young child to enjoy it, I’ll let you in on a secret... you don’t!  The fun is so infectious that even mum and dad can let their hair down and join in.

“Bubble Buster” is recommended for ages 4 and up and thankfully, Drumond Park Games haven’t put a maximum age limit on it so I will take this as a sign that we can enjoy some quality parent/child time together without any inhibitions.  One or two people can play at a time, each using a two pronged Bubble Buster wand to burst the bubbles coming out of the Bubble Blower.  Every time a player bursts a bubble the wand makes a “ping”, going higher and higher until eventually the winning player reaches the 20 bubble goal where celebrations and cheers are accompanied with the wand’s winning chime!

This game provided so much giggling and laughing that even the spectators had fun, solving the problem of endlessly being asked “Is it my turn yet?”.  Even the baby in his chair loved watching the bubbles floating around in the air.  There wasn’t one member of the family who didn’t enjoy this game.

“Bubble Buster” has an rrp of £17.99 and is available from all good stockists but Drumond Park Games have kindly offered to give one game to two of our readers.

To be in with a chance of winning just leave a comment below.  That is it!

The giveaway will close at midnight on Monday, 12^th September and the winners will be announced soon after. (UK entrants only please).


This giveaway is now closed.  Winners will be announced shortly!

Good luck!

(Drumond Park Games sent us our own Bubble Buster game to review for this post)

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Could it be you?

Thank you to everyone who entered our competitions to win a copy of "Love Another Child" by Chris and Wendy Jeub, and for those who joined in my virtual baby shower to win a copy of our book, "Larger Family Life".

Now, to pick the winners for "Love Another Child" I used the Random Number Generator.  However I had difficulty copying the image showing the winning number so instead I took a photo.

Here is the first winner...

Commenter number 32 aka JennaKeller!

And winner number 2 is...

.... commenter number 10, aka Gen D'Orleans!

Well done to both of you!  You each win a copy of "Love Another Child".

As for the virtual baby shower, choosing a winner was very difficult.  You could not get away from the selection of t-shirts though and even though I am definitely not a fan of shirts with slogans on, I did actually quite like this one.  So Abba12, a copy of our book will be on its way to you!

Can the three winners please email me at family@largerfamilylife.com as soon as you can with your full name and address details?

Thank you to everyone for entering the giveaways.  Don't forget you have one more chance to win a copy of my book here but hurry, it closes on Monday.


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Our book is out now! (& I'm giving one away this week plus an extra chance to win)

After much planning, typing and beavering away, our book is finally completed and making its way into shops all around the world as I write.

We decided to take the questions we've been asked the most as our family has grown, and put them all into one book.  We explain how our convictions regarding family planning changed over the years through our spiritual and personal journeys.  We talk about how a mixture of determination, work and sacrifice has enabled us to carry out our beliefs.  We also share the things we learnt along the way, such as budgeting tips, planning for a large family Christmas, homeschooling and how we prepare to introduce a new member into the family.

This book isn't just for large families but it also appeals to those who are simply curious about them.  We wanted to share our story and our journey of where we came from and how we ended up as we are.  Through our story we hope we can encourage others to accept children into their lives if that is what they feel called to do, while also answering the questions that many people have when they discover that you're not an average sized family!

"Larger Family Life", the book, is being rolled out worldwide over the coming weeks and within the next couple of months will be available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and other online retailers as well as all brick and mortar bookstores for the list price of £10.99.  (If you don't see it in stock at your bookstore or library please do ask them to stock it by quoting the ISBN 978-1-4478-1320-0).

However, it is available now for immediate purchase through Lulu.com, with the Larger Family Life paperback version at a special discounted price of £7.69 or as a download for £4.79.  Larger Family Life is also available on Kindle both at Amazon.co.uk and at Amazon.com.

To celebrate I am going to give a copy of the book, Larger Family Life - Living life the large family way, to one lucky winner.

What I ask is that you write a post on your blog about the book and link back to this post. I'd like to know why you'd like to read it too.  Leave a comment below linking to your post.  That is one entry.

For extra entries you can become a Twitter follower or a Facebook friend (and leave a comment to say you're following or that you already do), plus you can gain an extra entry when you  leave a comment below for every time you tweet about this post or spread the word on Facebook (and linked back to this post).  Leave a link to your Twitter/Facebook mention.  They constitute another separate entry each (one comment to be left below per entry method).

This giveaway will close on Monday, 29th August at 5am, GMT.

Here is an extra chance to win for those of you who just can't wait to read it.

If you are keen to buy the book you can go ahead and buy it and when you've read it, write a review over on Lulu.  Leave a comment below to say you have done so and link to your review.  If you are picked as the winner I will reimburse you the cost of the book.  Because this will take some time for you to purchase and read the book, I'll pick one book reviewer as the winner on Friday, September 9th.

I am aware that some people are having difficulty leaving comments using Blogger.  If you cannot submit your comment please email it to me at family@largerfamilylife.com and I'll comment on your behalf. 



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Win! "Love Another Child" - A review and giveaway

Before you ask, it is not a child that I am giving away but a book.  Well, two books actually.

Too often we hear of the reasons why we shouldn't have children.  There is great discouragement and the reasons are many and varied.  Anything goes, from children being too expensive to being too demanding.  Or that the world doesn't need them.  Or that they'll ruin your figure.  Or that your house isn't big enough, you'll need a new car and  you won't be able to take off on holiday like you can now.

Once a couple has their perfect family of two children, preferably one of each of course, everyone asks if they are done and then the reasons not to have any more are reeled off.  This is how society works now.  This is "normal".

So what happens is that couple who may have been considering another child now think it would be greedy, selfish or downright irresponsible to actually go ahead and do it.  After all, people don't have big families any more - they don't need to, right?!

What if having children was encouraged?  What if somebody has sat down and told you that, actually, it is not only fine to want more children and to have more children but that it is also a good thing.  It kind of undoes what we've been led to believe.

This is exactly what Chris and Wendy Jeub have done in their book, "Love Another Child".  They have taken society's view of children being a hindrance and a disruption to an otherwise perfect life and have blown the reasoning apart, piece by piece.  They explain how children are a blessing, a gift and are precious and how, if you feel led, you too can accept them and offer encouragement and practical advice in a friendly manner.

Contrary to what some may think, couples such as Chris and Wendy and even ourselves do not believe that children are a right that everybody has.  Yes, we encourage you to have them if you want them and can love them but, as Chris and Wendy point out very eloquently, if you have no love in your home or marriage and you cannot love a child.  It's not a matter of simply having another child.  It's all about loving another child.

I can't rate this book highly enough.  I really loved it and found myself nodding along in agreement to so much of it.  If you haven't read it yet, I recommend you do.  If anything it will give you plenty of food for thought.

In addition to "Love Another Child", Chris and Wendy have written several books over the last few years including "Love in the House", "Love in a Diet" and two "Love in the Kitchen" cook books which are jam-packed with recipes and tips for filling yet frugal food.

You can purchase Chris and Wendy Jeub's books through Monument Publishing  or alternatively Amazon sell them too (both dot com and dot uk).  You can also visit them at the Jeub Family website.

However, lucky me has two copies of "Love Another Child" to give away to you thanks to Chris and Wendy (thank you!).  It's open to everyone worldwide and all you have to do is leave a comment saying you want to be entered to win and leave your email address for me to contact you on.

Oh and do feel free to spread the word through Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else you think anyone might be interested linking back to this post.  If you do, leave another comment below with a link to your Tweet or status or blog post for an extra entry.  You can also gain extra entries by becoming a Twitter follower or a Facebook friend.  Leave a comment for each thing you do.  Each one counts as one entry.

I'll be closing the giveaway at 6am GMT next Friday, 26th August and will announce the winners that day.

Good luck!

Edit:  A few people are saying they are having trouble leaving comments.  If you can't leave a comment (I think a lot of problems are in IE) then try a different browser.  If you still can't leave a comment email me your comment to enter or your extra entry methods to family@largerfamilylife.com and I'll put them on manually.  Don't forget to leave me your name and email address in your comment. 


The giveaway is now closed.  Winners will be announced shortly. 

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Win a £50/$50 gift certificate with CSN Stores!

Like to shop? Love to shop? Or just need to shop?

Want to win a £50/$50 gift certificate to shop with? Spend it on anything you like from ceiling lights to cookware.

Click on over to Larger Family Life's Reviews and Giveaways page and I'll tell you how!

The Marmite Winners!

I'm having a nightmare with Random.org in that I just can't work out how to c&p the random number picker box without still being able to type in a different number once it's been pasted. Did you understand that? Didn't make much sense, did it? Well, I know what I mean. And what that means is that you will have to take my word on the winners.

Winner number 1 is.... oh the anticipation!.....

...Number 15! Well done Pam, mom, honey!

Winner number 2 is....

...Number 7!

Pinkveganmiso, I bet you're thrilled?!

Please email me at family [at] larger family life [dot] com with your address so I can send the jar of yummy/yukky goodness out to you!

Don't forget...

... to enter the giveaway here. There are only two days left and it's open worldwide!