Want to know what I thought about the London Eye? You can read my review on Gogobot here.

Gogobot is a newly launched social travel site which offers personalised travel tips and recommendations via your social network. It works like this: you sign up and then add all your Facebook and Twitter pals to join your network, and then you can share and read travel tips from all your friends… which means that you’ll get the kind of advice and reviews you can trust, rather than something written by a stranger far, far away. Not only is it a great way to get travel tips and plan your next journey, it’s also an easy way to keep a log of your travels so you remember where to go the next time you visit. We’ve already signed up and written more than 80 reviews on more than 25 cities!

Check out our profile here. And if you sign up to Gogobot by Friday, October 7th, and start following us, you’ll be entered into a sweepstakes to win £150! Just sign up and start following us (that’s it!)… and you could be the lucky winner!

-Courtney

xxx Esther

We’re starting out with a little over 100 wonderful shops, and we hope that we’ll be adding more gems very regularly. Of course we’ll also keep working on our wonderful blog — you can still expect two inspirational posts a day!

Please wish us luck — and please let us know what you think when you check back in tomorrow. Oh, and DO tell all your friends and family about this — think twitter, facebook, email, write (you know, with a pen), fax, post pigeon… Actually, also tell people you don’t know about it; we’re sure every busy mum is dying to find out! Wouldn’t it be great if we can make this a big success together?

Thanks so much for your support!

xxx C, E & E

We feel that the last year or so, online shopping has become so much better. Payment systems are easy and trustable, shipments (usually) arrive, and the variety of shops is great. And it is just so easy for us, busy mums, to sit down behind our computers after the kids are in bed and to browse our favourite boutiques for some fun (and necessary) shopping!

It can however be a bit tricky to find the best boutiques. Search engines don’t  select quality, just quantity, and sometimes the best boutiques are hidden under pages and pages of, well, less interesting choices. Over the past years we have been working with loads of great boutiques, and we’ve invited them to become a member of our portal. Of course it will be a work in progress — we will be adding new and exciting shops all the time, but we’re starting out with a very handsome selection already. We’re already addicted!

So… stay tuned. We’re finishing everything up in the coming week, and next week on Wednesday… We’ll go shopping together!

Esther, Courtney and Emilie

P.S. Don’t worry — we’ll keep the blog, it won’t change it all!

A friend just passed along this website to me and I am thrilled to see that someone took the time to put this together!  ReCrib is essentially a “Craigslist” for all things child related — a place to buy and sell cribs, baby gear, strollers and all the other wonderful and time-limited things that come along with having children.  It looks like the website is only catering to New York and New Jersey right now but I am sure once it gets rolling it will be everywhere!  The site offers high-end products from the likes of DucDuc, Stokke and Netto all for a fraction of their retail costs.  While I always prefer to donate bygone items to friends or local charities there is something to be said about recouping some cash to purchase the next needed items coming down the pipeline (ie: this crib for this toddler bed).

-Dina

Annabel Karmel has now brought out her first iphone application, full of recipes from 6 months to toddler stage, a meal planner and a shopping list tool. I love the way the shopping list is automatically saved on your phone. I personally have the tendency to write up a list and then promptly forget it at home, so this type of tool is a life saver for me.

My kids have outgrown the toddler stage so sadly the Annabel Karmel app is not so useful for me anymore. I do have the Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson apps which are great for inspiration, mostly when I am in the supermarket and trying to come up with something different than pesto pasta for dinner.

-Emilie

I am not sure if the phenomenon exists in other parts of the world but here in the States,  if you use your credit card, especially on-line, you will 100% start to get random cataloges in the mail.  For years and years I have been meaning to call to unsubscribe from all the junk that fills up our mailbox but it’s just such a headache and I keep thinking that they will go away.  But they don’t. In fact, last week I got a giant magazine filled with ‘Boating and Fishing Supplies’ and I just had to put my foot down.  That’s when my web-savvy husband discovered Cataloge Choice to take care of the issue once and for all.   It’s free, simple to use, and best of all you can always update it when needed.  With a few clicks you can unsubscribe from all the junk and there is a running-log that gives you status updates that your name has been removed from the lists.

(Image found here)

-Dina

-Kaela

I owe my sanity to the wise women of Soho Parenting. It was not so long ago that I basically crawled through the door of their downtown office for some much needed guidance on setting up a new sleep schedule for my 9-month-old twins.  I must admit, the first visit was not easy for me as I have always prided myself on being a mom who relied on her gut instinct to power though the ups and downs and never one to read a parenting book.  After months of sleep-deprivation and general feelings of being overwhelmed however, it was time to reach out to a professional — so glad I did.

Soho Parenting is a wonderful resource for parents as it is wholly dedicated to offering support for all things family/life related.  What I respect about the founders is that they totally “get it”  –  they are all moms themselves and have “been there, done that” and have “heard it and seen it all” and after years of experience they offer sound, and most importantly, reality based advice.   Whether you visit for guidance on child related issues (sleep, feeding, discipline), marital related issues, or one-on-one counselling I can not say enough good things.  They also run “new mothers groups” which meet-up once a week and that my friends swear by.  As you know, becoming a parent is both amazingly wonderful and beyond difficult and I am so thankful for this group of amazing women to help support the ride.

I am curious to know if there are other places like this where you are.  Please let me know!

In addition to their beautiful casts, Image Casting does a really nice job of framing the pieces. Simple but beautiful, with emphasis on the casts. You can pop into their London Bridge studio, or the team will come out to your house if you live within the M25 in London (home visit included in the price). Check their website for more details.

-Courtney

For more information on National Infertility Awareness week please check out the Resolve website for other things that might be going on in your area.

-Dina

The Food Stork is a UK company which delivers fresh and delicious made-from-scratch food directly to the home. The service was originally designed for new mums to help maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet after childbirth… but it’s been 10 months since my baby was born and I still think the Food Stork is quite handy (obviously not for every meal, but it is nice to have some options in the freezer).

All the Food Stork meals are freshly prepared and ready to heat up, or can be stored in the freezer to eat later. They also offer a good selection of kid’s meals, all salt and additive free.  And delicious cakes and biscuits too!

-Courtney

Since moving South I have often heard of the place ‘Cupcake’ (in Putney and Wandsworth) in association with descriptors such as ‘haven’ and ‘God-send’.  And so last week I asked whether it was OK to come and check it out (Cupcake is a members only club and I’m not a member …. yet!).  The minute I walked in I felt a sort of happiness come over me. This didn’t feel loud (from noise or from an interiors-carnage) — no this felt like being in a (stylish) friend’s living room… only a bit bigger and with a bar to order lattes, brownies, babyccinos or something for lunch — perfect!

And that’s not all.  There was also: a Snug — a cosy room with a few more toys and a ball-pool for the kids, a Creche — ofsted registered where members can leave their children for up to 4 hours (of which 2 can be off-site), a Gym and Studio with the typical equipment, a special ‘lounger’ where Mums and (especially) Mums-to-be can lie down for a comfort power-snooze, and lastly (and this is where it gets really good) an array of treatment rooms.

Cupcake was deliberately set up to support women in that most fabulous life transition from ‘lady with only herself to worry about’ to ‘Mum with baby/children to worry about’.  After speaking to Mums they found that they wanted a place where they could: have some me-time, re-tone their bodies after pregnancy, have special ante-natal fitness classes during pregnancy, have bespoke spa-treatments, have a chance to talk about the new challenges in their lives and to learn ways to deal with them, and most importantly meet some like-minded Mums –  all in a welcoming, child-friendly environment (not much hey!).

Amazingly that’s just what Cupcake has achieved.  They offer a wide variety of spa-treatments (and have the largest selection of specialist Pregnancy treatments in London) and have a really broad spectrum of classes, seminars and kids activities.  Whilst there I attended a puppet-show (which my children loved), but I love the sound of ‘Brainstorm in a Teacup’ where women have a chance to discuss business ideas to help each other find answers to any worries or hurdles they have come up against (I do find having children brings out an entrepenerial streak in many women!).  There is also a packed fitness-class schedule and talks which cover typical concerns e.g. “Establishing Good Sleeping Habits” or “Finding the right Childcare”.

What struck me most about Cupcake was how everyone knows each other.  The fact that it is a members club means you get to see the same people there and immediately a community is formed.  All the people working there know everyone (including the children) by name and it therefore feels so much more personal.  I can’t believe that my birthday has just passed otherwise Cupcake membership would definitely be on my wish-list.

For details on membership or the treatments available (which are also open to non-members) you can e-mail Cupcake at: mumcierge@cupcakemum.com.

-Mo

So anyway– Soul Cycle has had a following for quite some time in other areas of the city and I was nervous as hell to go.  I had never done a “spin class” before and I was pretty confident that I was going to die on the bike and make a total scene. As I stood in the lobby waiting for class to start I tried my best to look like a pro but when I saw the sweat drenched people emerge from the prior class I started to panic.

Anyway – long story, longer… I snapped my shoes into the bike, said a prayer, jumped on and just did it.  The teacher was amazing and led the class on what felt like a 45-minute spiritual journey through the mountains.  The music was loud and excellent, the dark room and the vibe made you want to really push yourself.   It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I felt like a new human being when it was over.  I am now hooked and I would highly recommend it to all the sluggish, sleep deprived moms and dads out there.  It’s a boost both physically and mentally.

-Dina

We featured an article on house swapping a couple of years ago in the magazine where I work. It seemed like a great idea. But I always wondered — is it too good to be true?

Well, I believe that you should “give it a go” — as Aussies like to say. So I took the plunge and listed with two sites. Creative Caravan tags itself as “Craiglist for Creatives” — the idea being that you can swap with like-minded people.

The other website is Homelink. I did a bit of research and was attracted to this one because there is strong membership within Australia so if I want to take a trip to Byron Bay or Tasmania then I can swap with people who live there… as well as people in Italy. And within a week of listing I got a message from someone wanting to swap in Martinique!

- Natalie

xxx Esther

-Dina

For my first two babies the test results were excellent.  Of course, we’re still talking percentages, so it doesn’t give any real security, but the chance of something being wrong was so absolutely marginal, there was no need to worry.  For this baby, the results are still very good, but there was a but.  And the but made me worry.

At 15 weeks, I asked for an extensive scan here in Amsterdam, to look for any symptons of a chromosomal disorder, as far as detectable at this stage of the pregnancy.  The doctor found nothing.  She measured the nasal bone, and however on the small side, it was within the normal range.
At 15 weeks you can choose to have amniocentesis.  The chance of miscarrying after an amnio is somewhere between 1 in 100 and 1 in 300.  The chance that my baby has a disorder is 1 in 700, as they told me after the test in the FMC in London.  I’m 36 years old.  I decided not to have an amnio.

Did you have a decision to make?  Did you have an amnio??

xxx Esther

P.S. Picture of my scan in Amsterdam.  Baby is beautiful, isn’t he/she??

Last winter however, I started taking classes at Physique 57 and everything changed.

Physique 57 has a major cult following in New York.  In a nutshell, it’s 57 minutes of upbeat music and fluid, muscle crunching movements that hone in on all the key areas.  Based on the famous Lotte Berk method, P57 classes focus on core strength and flexibility and the classes are taught by adorable professional dancers who really motivate you to keep going even when your insides are screaming.   What I love about it is that it is comprised of short routines –  every five minutes or so you work on a different part of the body.  And before you know it, the class is over — yay!

They have locations in Soho and Midtown and a great deal of the people I see here are working professionals or moms with young kids.  Too often moms run around like crazy and don’t take time for themselves — P57 is a good one hour break to do something to let you regroup and re-energize.  I would definitely try a class if you can, especially if you are not a “gym” person, like me.

-Dina