Sponsored video: a2 Milk – Welcome Back To Milk.

I’ve always loved milk. Since I was a child growing up on a milking farm where we enjoyed fresh milk from the tanking room on a daily basis, I have relished a refreshing drink of milk as part of a healthy balanced diet.

As milk is important to a healthy balanced diet I am delighted that Bug is just like his mummy and loves milk. With Bug, mummy, and daddy too loving milk so much we consume pints of it every day, reaping the refreshing and nutritious benefits of milk.

Unfortunately for some people they cannot reap the benefits of milk as drinking milk causes them digestive issues. Often confused with lactose intolerance some people suffer from milk intolerance where they react badly to the a1 protein which is found in most cows’ milk sold in the UK today. Intolerance to the a1 protein can cause digestive issues such as bloating, indigestion, constipation and pain in the lower abdomen as well as affecting other parts of the body by causing issues such as skin irritations, excess mucus and a feeling of unhappiness.

Sponsored video: Family friendly banking at Barclays put to the test by Mumsnetters.

Bug is my little sidekick as we have fun adventures together and as I go about day-to-day life doing household chores and dealing with family responsibilities. My little sidekick is a very good boy, helping me do household chores and having a lot of patience as we do the family food shop and go to various appointments. Whilst he is very good at helping me and on his best behaviour when we visit shop and go to various appointments one place that he does not have a lot of patience and enthusiasm for is the bank.

To be fair I can completely understand why Bug is not very enthusiastic about visits to the bank as I deal with our family finances, in my opinion most banks tend not to be very family friendly and are not that interesting or fun for children.

As I have had to content with a number of visits to the bank with a child who gets bored and frustrated waiting for me to deal with the family finances I very interested to hear that Barclays aim to make life easier for families with their family friendly products and bank branches that hopefully are more favourable for children as well as being convenient banking.

To celebrate their campaign to make banking more family friendly and put their family friendly products and branches to the test, Barclays invited a group of Mumsnetters and their children to test-drive a Barclays bank.

MTVUK Relentless Ultra presents Soundchain.

MTVUK is launching a new music series that explores the musical inspirations of some of today’s most influential artists. Not only with Soundchain delve into what music icons inspired the incredible artists but it will also feature live and intimate performances from the music acts.

Soundchain is presented by TV presenter and renowned worldwide DJ Zane Lowe who will chats with today’s most important music acts about their passions, musical inspirations and commitment to success. 

The Soundchain line-up for this series features Kasabian, Ed Sheeran, Chase & Status, NAS, Biffy Clyro, Jake Bugg and Queens of The Stone Age.  With an array of seven incredible artists featuring on the show, Soundchain is an unmissable series for fans of music from every genre.

First up to chat with Zane Lowe on Soundchain is the immeasurably talented singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. As well as chatting about his musical roots in an exclusive interview, Ed Sheeran also showcases live performances from his new album ‘x’ (pronounced ‘multiply’).

Pet Facts Video Infographic - Petplan.

As I’ve mentioned previously I love animals and have a fondness for pets, having always had at least one pet since I was about three years old.  Currently we have two dogs, Sassy and Trixie plus two recent new additions to the family in the form of two goldfish who Bug received as a birthday present. 

As well as treating our dogs to lots of love and attention, long walks, nutritious food and yummy treats we also ensure they receive veterinary care to keep them in tip top health and cover them with pet insurance.  When Sassy went on her great escape, disappearing for a number of days before miraculously returning home by her lonesome looking very sorry for herself and bedraggled, it was reassuring to know she was covered by insurance if the worst had happened and she had gotten injured requiring medical help.

Realising the importance of insurance for your beloved pets the UK’s favourite pet insurance provider, Petplan who specialise in pet insurance and passionately focus solely on pets, ensure they help millions of owners get their beloved pets back on their feet after illness and injury thanks to Petplan’s very best pet insurance policies and great customer service.

Drive well and pay less with Bell Insurance.

Having been a driver and a car owner since I passed my driving test over 10 years ago at the tender age of 17 I know full well the cost of running and owning a car, especially the essential cost of car insurance.

Every year when my car insurance is up for renewal I always shop around and compare car insurance to try and get the best deal and hopefully save some money.  When looking at car insurance the companies I favour are the ones that reward loyal customers with savings rather than price hikes.  I also admire and look favourably at car insurance companies that offer cheaper car insurance to careful drivers.

A dream reborn – TSB "Welcome back to local banking".

Over 200 years ago one gentleman, the Reverend Henry Duncan had a dream.  Reverend Henry Duncan’s dream was to help people struggling to overcome poverty.  In 1810 he took the ground-breaking step to create a bank to help hardworking local people, believing that by doing so he could help local people and the communities they lived in to thrive.

Reverend Henry Duncan’s dream became reality and with the people’s interest at the heart of his bank his ideals laid the groundwork for people to thrive and build communities together.  Over the years his dream flourished across Britain with branches of his bank supported communities as 19th century and 20th century industries emerged and then thrived around the branches of TSB banks.

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 camera.

I have a passion for photography and I love taking photographs especially when capturing special moments with Bug.  Sadly my digital camera broke about a month ago, since then I feel lost without my little camera.  As I love taking photographs so much and miss having a digital camera I am saving up to buy a new camera.  Even though saving up for a new camera is slow progress I am researching different cameras for when I have enough pennies to treat myself to a shiny new camera.

I have yearned for a Panasonic Lumix camera for ages; admiring the gorgeous cameras that have fantastic features that would allow me to photograph special moments with Bug and capture our little adventures.   After watching a video for the Lumix TZ40 camera my desire for a Lumix camera is even stronger.  The amusing video is very memorable and I love how they have highlighted the fantastic features of the camera throughout the video……I particularly love the funny beach scene in the video.  

Fingers crossed my camera fund will be big enough soon so that I can get a Lumix TZ40 camera and capture magical moments with a little help from the camera’s fantastic features.  I am sure Lee would also love the Lumix TZ40 camera as he also loves photography and cameras with impressive technology but he best not re-enact the beach scene from the video otherwise we will be having words!  
*  Sponsored video posted on behalf of SpreadItFast * 

Capturing special moments - Panasonic Camcorders and Remote Shooting technology.

Since having Bug my love of photography and videography has become an integral part of my daily life.  I love taking photos and videos of Bug, capturing moments to treasure forever.  As well as capturing moments of daily life I particularly love capturing special moments such as Bug’s firsts and milestone achievements, his birthdays, Christmas and special occasions.

As I love using videos and photos to capture moments of our family life I appreciate new technology that makes capturing moments in our life even easier.  Panasonics new camcorders for 2013 do just that, making it even easier to capture videos thanks to their remote shooting technology and Wi-Fi capability.

The Panasonic UK video “Why camcorders love Wi-Fi – 1. Remote shooting” perfectly highlights the benefit of using their remote shooting technology to capture special moments, showing the technology and camcorder being used to capture a birthday moment for the family to treasure for years to come.

The video has made me love the technology so much I now have a yearning desire to have a new Panasonic camcorder so that I can make use of the remote shooting and capture many moments on video.

Utterly adorable Ibis Snuggling Bunnies.

We have stayed at Ibis Hotels a number of times, especially when visiting Lee’s family in Leeds.  We have always found Ibis to be pleasant and affordable accommodation that is perfect for our family’s needs.  Ibis Hotels are perfect for our budget and we have found their cosy rooms to be ideal for relaxing in and getting a good night’s sleep after a busy day visiting family and having adventures. 

Bug loves staying at Ibis, his first ever experience of staying at a hotel was at an Ibis Hotel.  He loves snuggling to sleep on the comfy mattresses and having a little holiday away from home.  Even though the affordable prices, comfortable rooms and yummy breakfasts are appealing a big bonus for us that has helped keep us returning to stay is the friendly service we have experienced during every stay at Ibis.

As we stay at Ibis often I was excited to here that they are introducing new beds at their hotels.

After seeing Ibis’ new advert ‘Ibis Snuggling Bunnies’ I could not resist sharing such an adorable advert which stars a number of snuggly, fluffy bunnies. 

Watching the video with me, Bug declared that he wanted mummy to get him a bunny and with the stars of the advert being utterly irresistible I am more than a little tempted to get an adorable fluffy bunny for me him.

As Bug has watched the uber-cute bunnies in the video a number of times now (and I can foresee a lot more requests to see the snuggly bunnies) the only problem now is that when we stay at Ibis he will be expecting to have lots of cute bunnies to play with and snuggle to sleep with during our stay.  

*  Sponsored video posted on behalf of Spreaditfast *