MUMMY TO THE MAX

For a long while I had a obsession with fizzy drinks however over time I weaned myself off them. Slowly but surely I have gone back to drinking water and juice and have decided against drinking sugary drinks and energy drinks. Since Maxwell has been born he has always enjoyed juice or water and has been stuck in his ways about what he wants to drink however recently he has started wanting to try different drinks. With the holidays and hot summer days around the corner I was excited to try the Infruitation bottles with Maxwell.

Recently we were asked by Infruitation if we would like to try their bottles. For anyone that has not heard of Infruitation, Infruitation bottles are a smart way of staying hydrated. Opting out of buying expensive fruit juices along with expensive flavored bottle water, you are now able to make your own flavored drinks thanks to the Infruitation bottle.

The Infruitation bottle is like a regular flask that your or your child are able to drink out of however there is a little extra. Inside the bottle there is a chamber which is large enough to house fruit, herbs or veggies. When you have added your required ingredient along with water, the ingredient releases its flavour into the water. Depending on what ingredient you use, the flavour can be as strong or as weak as you would like it to be. Because of this, it ensures you have healthy water. You are able to choose what ingredients you want in your drink and no sugars, chemicals or any other nasty ingredients are added into your drinks.

Maxwell and I both decided on having strawberries in our bottles. We cut around 7 strawberries each and added them to the chamber of our bottles. We found that we needed to leave the strawberries for over a hour in the water to start getting a good taste of flavoring in our water. Since trying the strawberries we have since had cucumber, raspberries and blackberries in our bottles however we have found that our favourite ingredient so far is the raspberries.

The bottles are a great size to take to school, have at home or have on days out. The bottles come in a variety of colours which suit everyone's tastes. Maxwell has a red one and I have a yellow bottle however the bottles also come in the colours blue and green.

A few weeks ago I was sent a email asking if Maxwell would like to receive some summer treats from the lovely people at MSC Cruises. With our holiday coming up and me being busy with my blog, I thought it would be a lovely idea to receive a lovely treat from MSC Cruises to keep Maxwell entertained. Living in Southampton we often see the MSC Cruise ships departing from Southampton and this gave me even more reason to look forward to seeing what they were going to send us. I have always been a huge fan of the water, with my parents owning their own yacht as well as my Grandma sailing on the big ships like the QE2, their is nothing more I like to do than watching the ships sail by from our local areas such as Hythe Marina, Lepe Beach and Calshot.


When Maxwell's box arrived of goodies, I was overwhelmed. MSC Cruises had really gone that extra mile and surprised me with all the wonderful things they had sent to us. All the products in the box were sea themed which I thought was a lovely touch. Maxwell was also overjoyed, especially as he managed to spot some pirate goodies. Here is what we were sent:


We were sent some craft goodies including a lovely sea themed sticker book, additional sea themed stickers and some toddler friendly crayons which were perfect for Maxwell's small hands to grip. We ended taking the sticker book and crayons on holiday. They kept Maxwell entertained for hours.

We were sent a Usborne Big Book Of Ships. I adore this book and since having it me and Maxwell have gone through it and I have explained to him what we see on the water when we visit our key sea places. Although he is still a little to young to understand, this book will grow with him. The illustrations are lovely and the text inside the book is simple for him to understand.


Maxwell's favourite item which we were sent in the box was an amazing Jake And The Neverland Pirate Lego Duplo Set. Maxwell is a huge fan of pirates and this set is perfect for Maxwell, it has kept him entertained for hours and I can not see him getting bored of it soon. The set is colourful, easy to build and has lots of little extra bits which make the set detailed.

The last set of goodies Maxwell was sent was a lovely swimming top and a tshirt. With the summer coming up the swimming top is perfect for Maxwell to wear outside in the sun and the tshirt is perfect to keep him cool in the hot sun.


We just wanted to say a huge thank you to MSC Cruises for sending us lovely thoughtful gifts. It was a lovely surprise and one which we very much appreciate. One day we hope to make the dream of sailing on one of your beautiful cruise ships a reality!

Maxwell is at the age now where he loves to explore the world around him. He has got many interests including drawing and crafts. Maxwell has always been the type to scribble on paper but I often worry about him as he grows older. Will he draw up my walls? Will he draw over my stuff? Will he make a mess? Thanks to TOMY this is no longer an issue and my mind can be at rest as they recently sent us some water based art toy products. We were sent 3 products from the Aquadoodle range, Jungle Magic Sounds, Mini Mats, and a Travel Drawing Bag.


TOMY state that Aquadoodle allows no mess drawing by using water to create fun pictures. There are no pencils, no paints and no crayons. The only thing which is used is water and when the water has dried, the water will fade from the pictures and you can start to colour in again as they are completely reusable.

Travel Drawing Bag
TOMY Jungle Magic Sounds Aquadoodle
The TOMY Jungle magic sounds is a large mat which allows your child to draw anything they like on it using a special pen, filled with water. The mat is large so your child can get as creative as they like. What makes the Jungle Magic Sounds Aquadooodle stand out from any other Aquadoodle products is that the pen also makes Jungle sounds and the mat has special spots that activate jungle sounds. If you press one of the sound spots with the Aquadoodle pen this activates a jungle sound. There is a snake sound, jungle drums, a tiger sound and a monkey sound.
Maxwell loved this product and although he isn't very good at drawing yet, he loves to scribble. He loved the animal sounds, especially the monkey and he has spent a lot of time using the mat. One of my main worries about this product was I was scared incase Maxwell managed to loose the pen for the mat.  The pen is battery operated unlike the pens for the travel bag and mini mats, however I have recently found out that additional pens can be purchased and they are not expensive to buy. This has been a huge hit in our household.

1. Maxwell had a lovely day out at the farm
2. Maxwell has a love for music
3. Maxwell enjoys playing with water
4. Maxwell likes to store things
5. Maxwell had a surprise in the post

One of Maxwell's favourite hobbies is to have baths. He loves to play, splash and have fun however recently he had become uninterested in his bath toys and he had started to enjoy his bath's less. This all changed when TOMY sent us over a Surfin Beaver and a Turtle Tots from their Aqua Fun range.

Surfin Beaver is a colourful toy which is aimed at children aged 12 months +. To make him work you wind up the motor on his surfboard which he is laid on and the Surfin Beaver will paddle along the water by flipping his tail in the water. If you press Surfin Beavers tail you are able to hear him singing his favourite surf song.


I found the toy to be a little disappointing as we found that the tail of the Surfin Beaver was not powerful enough to make the Surfin Beaver go forward in the water however Maxwell did have fun pushing him around the bath as well as listing to his catchy surf song. Maxwell found it easy to use the toy and I liked that it has been designed for small hands. If TOMY was able to fix the tiny fault with Surfin Beaver I would rate this toy 10/10 due to that fact that it is a great bath time toy that children are able to have a lot of fun with.


Turtle Tots is a cute toy which is suitable for children aged 12 months +. The toy reminds me of a mummy turtle and her babies. In the box you are able to find parts that make up a large turtle and there are 4 small turtle's which are also included. The small turtles can either stick onto their mummy's turtle shell or they are able to stick onto the bath when they explore away from her.


Turtle Tots is a lot of fun and there are many things you are able to do. You are able to squirt the small turtles and hear your little one streak with laughter as they are hit by water, take the turtles shell off to reveal pouring cups which have small holes in that can act as a shower or you can match the pouring cups up to the shapes under the shell.


Maxwell enjoyed playing with the turtle tots. They have provided him with hours of entertainment and have taught him some skills which he wasn't clear about before. I found that at just £15 turtle tots would be a great toy for any children looking to learn shapes as well as have a lot of fun in the bath.

Maxwell is a huge fan of bath time however before giving him a bath I often worry that the water may be too hot for him. I normally use a duck which tells me if the water is to hot but it gives me a inaccurate reading which is not clear. I was delighted when Brother Max recently sent me a Ray Bath and Room Thermometer to use with Maxwell.


Ray is a practical yet fun character who has been designed not only to use in the bath but also to use in your babies/children's bedroom. In the bath Ray floats around like a toy but also doubles up as a handy gadget to parents by telling them how hot the water is. If Ray reaches over 39 degrees the LCD will blink "HOT".This is when you know you need to add cold water.  In the bedroom Ray can be used as a room thermometer. Ray can help reduce cot death and Ray will advise parents not to let the bedroom get over 19 degrees.


Ray is quite large and features a clear LCD display screen which makes it easy to read. Ray is brightly coloured and is very appealing to children and parents. I found Ray was easy to grip when drenched in water as well as being the perfect size for Maxwell's little hands to play with. From a parents view Ray was reassuring, accurate, safe and reliable.

Brother Max have thought of many things when designing Ray. Ray is a simple product and has been made so he is easy to use. One of my favorite facts is that Ray is battery powered meaning Ray will last years as replacing the battery will be easy.


The Brother Max Ray Room & Bath Thermometer is available in many retailers and at an RRP of £14.99 I think Ray is a bargain.