Sadly, by some opinions, my iPhone really is my second baby.  It comes with me everywhere I go, I completely adore it and it even has different outfits.

I am the guru among mothers group and lesser tech savvy people, such as my mum, when it comes to getting your smart phone to be a.s.a.p (as smart as possible).

I have apps for EVERYTHING including breastfeeding and even one that logged my contractions during labour at home and emailed them to the hospital at the touch of a button!

So you can see that with this parental attachment to my technology I welcome any device that helps me help myself!

When I go for a walk with the pram it's an extended affair, usually of an hour or so.  While one hand does the steering the other deftly maneuvers the dog who is generally pulling on the lead like a crazed demon.

Like many these days we don't have a home phone so my mobile is my constant companion and when it rings mid-walk, it induces a fit of bag rummaging whilst being licked in the ear by Lulu (that's the dog, not the baby).

Texthook has a great slogan "A dashboard for your mobile life" and this is exactly it's function.  It attaches to most pram or stroller handles including my odd-shaped Stokke ones.  The top slider is adjustable so I would say that most smart phones would fit easily.  It is deep enough to use without removing your phone's cover and rotates 180 degrees to be viewed from any angle.

If you like to get a lot of your phone calling done whilst on the go, either plug in your earphones or connect with a Bluetooth earpiece and get talking!

With your phone so accessible it makes texting, emailing and web browsing very simple and also lessens the amount of times you will say this during the day: "where's my phone?"

I have found it especially valuable on a trip to the shopping centre where your hands are busy with the pram for so long.  Usually my phone would be in my pocket or bag and evidence is mounting that carrying them on your body is no longer wise.

Texthook is light, durable and the quality Velcro makes it quick to attach and remove.  You can even use it on exercise equipment or the shopping trolley.

It also attaches to your bike handles which we tried for the first time on the weekend.  Best surprise of all; whilst riding over the Phillip Island bridge we spotted a dolphin and within seconds I had my phone out of the Texthook and got some great footage of this beautiful creature….instead of cursing and hurling objects out of my bag trying to find my "damn phone"!

Check out the texthook for yourself here….

The TotSeat first struck me as one of those products that sounds like a great idea but you wonder “would I ever really use it ?”….the answer is a loud and definitive YES! What a fantastic, practical and useful invention.  I have a highchair that I love and a portable pod seat for Harvey.  Each set of grandparents also has a highchair and I have still managed to use the TotSeat 5 times in 4 weeks!

No chair has proved too difficult a challenge:

Chair 1: Waiting Room at specialists office:  The carpeted Oncologist’s rooms are  not a welcoming place for ‘Mr Hungry  and Loud.’  I could see the wary glances from the other patients thinking ‘how is she going to do this ?’.  I was a trifle smug when I assembled TotSeat and proceeded to feed the beast with no fuss. Ha!

Chair 2: BBQ around the campfire at night:  Scenario:  Huge bonfire, you’re the only people with a baby, kids running around in the dark with flaming sticks and discarded paper plates offering a buffet of unsuitable leftovers.  Cue: TotSeat.  Harvey had a high backed outdoor chair to himself where he sat happily at our level waving a chicken drumstick around like Bambam whilst his mother appeared cool, calm and collected with her glass of winethankyouverymuch.

Chair 3: A general assortment of friends houses that do not have babies:  It’s a great feeling to be so self-sufficient in someone’s home that isn’t child-friendly.   Not having to shift a single item of furniture to accommodate your crawler or attempt to hold them on your lap whilst feeding must make those couples clucky???

Chair 4: The bar stools in my own house:  I have a fantastic mothers group of five great women that meet weekly at each others homes.  For some reason we decide to always do this at 11am which means five 11 month olds are all wanting to sit in the highchair at once.   TotSeat on my barstools pushed up against the bench…simple.

Chair 5: Pizza Nights of the Round Table:  This is a jazzed up name for sitting around the dining table eating pizza.  Harvey sat in the TotSeat eating everyone’s crusts and got to stay up much later than usual as he was so well behaved.  Babies just love to be doing what your doing and the TotSeat makes them feel equal and included = happier baby.

There is so much more I could write but I have to emphasize that the TotSeat is a must-have item and/or a fantastic gift.  It has easily fitted each different chair that I have tried and comes with a cumberbund for chairs that have a gap at the back.  It’s very light and folds into a small pouch for your handbag/car/pram/pocket/manbag.  Don’t worry about the funky fabric (mine is denim) getting dirty; just throw it into the washing machine.  Using it is simple; adjust the length and then clip at the back. Done.

There really is 101 uses and I also can’t wait to take it on our next holiday.  As parents we can use anything that helps us get out and about easily without having to hold onto a squirming baby during a meal, whilst waiting or if we’re lucky enough to be socializing!  TotSeat is now a handbag staple up there with wallet, wipes and a trusty lipbalm:)

PRE-TUBBY

There are only two other items in my house made of Neoprene and they both belong to my husband: stubbie holders and wetsuits.  Now I can clock up an item of my own with the affectionately named ‘Tubby’ Bath Toy Organiser from Skip Hop.

This marvelous, practical and well thought out piece of household wonder now assists in making my bathroom appear organised to the unsuspecting visitor.

Until two weeks ago our often utilised bath; which is also employed as the shower, laundry tub, hand washing sink, dog bath, sandy beach feet and occasionally candlelit day spa; was a slippery minefield of toys, shampoos and wet bathers.

POST- TUBBY!

With it’s mesh back, (and not the poor quality, orange-bag type mesh that disintegrates) and brightly coloured ‘wetsuit’ front , it allows my son’s bathtime toys to drip dry completely.  Even in my south-facing and mostly un-sunny bathroom with it’s exhaust fan from a Smurf house.

Any article that uses suction cups for adherence instantly arouses my inner skeptic.  Especially as I have been scarred by the NavMan holder and the ever annoying sun-shades for the car windows.  However Tubby has some serious sticking power with 4 stay-put cups on a separate mounting plate and is suitable for tiles or glass.

Being  stretchy it easily contains all Harvey’s toys plus the whisk, pasta spoon, and ice-cream container lost from the kitchen cupboard.  Of course the big test was bathtime and the exciting new object was an instant attraction for a little swimmer who has just mastered the art of pulling himself up on things.  While I nervously watched (for road-testing purposes only!) to see if it would come sliding off the wall with his weight; it stayed put.

I have puzzled over the right way to store and dry his toys that isn’t a mouldy, mesh bag or a giant frog/duck etc that makes my bathroom look like a kids playground (instead of the Chinese laundry that it usually resembles).

The Skip-Hop Tubby ticks all the boxes for style, practicality, safety and design.  It ‘s machine washable and is made of quality materials that won’t degrade.  The posts double as hooks for washcloths or a loofah; which avoids them dripping from the taps and encouraging young ones to reach for them.  Of course the only use my loofah sees is an exfoliation of the inside of Harvey’s mouth!

Now, just to get it to drain the tub and give the glass a quick wipe……

Getting organized for the birth of my son was an incredibly exciting time for me…

I was so diligent in areas such as: folding and sorting little baby clothes; signing up to parenting websites and researching the latest gadgets on offer.

I genuinely was very organized (pat on back) and It’s fair to say I was ready.

Filed away neatly in the bottom draw were a few items that were primed in anticipation for an enthusiastic new mum:

1) Baby’s First Year Book

2) Baby’s Monthly Scrapbook Calendar

3) Baby’s Keepsake Box

4) Baby’s Photo Book

Initially, I flicked through the empty pages of each book, dreaming lovingly about noting each milestone in my baby’s development. Imagining, years later, of combing the well-read pages with my son and reminiscing about each little achievement together (this vision would always take place in front of an open fire, dressed in woolly jumpers and sporting cheesy haircuts).

I should have known in all probability that my intentions would remain just that; intentions.  The downhill slide began with a pregnancy journal that was given to me.  Not one page did I scribe my maternal thoughts onto. In fact, I didn’t even manage to fill in my name or due date!

However despite neglecting my pregnancy memoirs; well, other than excitedly showing my mother-in-law the urine-test stick with the little blue cross (yep) and proudly displaying my ultrasound photo in the cutlery drawer; I truly believed once the baby arrived my inhibited scrapbooker would be released.

So why is it then that the above mentioned objects have become home to exotic dust mites and strange little black crawlies that spring to life once prodded?  Eight months later and my sons ‘grand beginnings’ are reduced to empty yellowing pages in the bottom drawer- The Drawer of Guilt.

Upon asking myself why I have been so undisciplined in filling in these journals? I realized that I had a few good excuses:

-    My own mother was equally as terrible at this very task (though she did manage to cut out the newspaper clippings from the day).

-    I was unable to bend down to The Drawer of Guilt for a while after giving birth.

-    someone lent us the Underbelly series.

-    Obviously I don’t need to record anything because I’ll just remember.

-    And finally three lines is not adequate to “describe your thoughts about the birth”.

I can’t help feeling that the diaries and journals gifted to me are all a little ‘schmaltzy’.  A bit too…un-imaginative and dated.  However despite this deficit in the market, I have not been spurred into a creative design frenzy of modern memoirs, nor have I scoured  the net for a tech savvy online journal (I’m sure they exist).

So, as the pages remain blank and the newborn photos sit unframed, I lament the vision of my son and I reminiscing by an open fire with dodgy hair, and instead welcome the daily milestones and memories that don’t have three lines ascribed to them in a book.

My son’s landmarks are no less meaningful for the fact that they have not made it onto paper or into frames and I will blunder on hoping that my sleep-deprived brain will not send the important things to the Spam folder.

Besides….going to The Drawer of Guilt would mean dusting and that ain’t ‘gonna happen.

If ever I have come close to celebrity status in my life; it’s certainly not at 3am with vomit on my shoulder but striding down the street turning heads with my Stokke Xplory. (I will not kid myself that the heads are turning for me!).  After extensive hands-on research nearly resulting in RSI from dismantling so many strollers in stores and leaving a string of exhausted and bamboozled shop assistants in my wake I decided on the Stokke and have not turned my head at another pram since.

With it’s telescopic height; ever so handy for my 6”3 hubby, Harvey is able to enjoy the changing scenery from his lofty perch and can maintain a stimulating conversation with his driver and passers by!  And I can tell you that we do get noticed.  The whispered comments and more brazen approaches can’t help but leave me feeling a little smug and I’m sure I could have sold one or two on the street with my enthusiasm if I’d had some in the car boot!

 The whole stroller is light and narrow with the mechanisms being very easy to operate and it offers many versatile height/angle settings including front or rear facing.  It’s easy to get a little trigger happy with perfecting the comfort and occasionally I am told off by hubby for back seat driving while he’s at the reins!

 As usual the Scandinavian design gurus have outdone themselves and the Stokke comes with a colour palette worthy of the Parisian catwalk. (We chose the green but it was nearly as big a decision as the baby name).

It is apparent that my favourite things in life are now Baby H, my Stokke Xplory and then perhaps husband just squeezing out chocolate for third position…!  An absolute winner and highly recommended on all levels. Enjoy!

Peta is Mum to Harvey and is from Victoria.  Welcome aboard our Road Test panel Petal! We look forward to reading Peta’s Road Tests and also her Guest Blogs.