My Car Step - An Interview!

A couple of weeks ago, I braved the Cardiff Baby & Toddler Show, with a free ticket.  I tried desperately to convince myself that the free ticket was because I am some kind of Super-Blogger-Hero that they just couldn't possibly hold an event without my glorious presence, but the reality was, I went last year & my name was on a list, with everyone else's names.  I'm not as special as I think I am!  Before I went along, I had a browse at the list of exhibitors, to see whether I'd see any familiar faces, and who else would be there. Among the list was an entry for My Car Step, and I was intrigued.  I decided to myself that this was the one stall I really wanted to see.  Some ideas are so simple, yet so clever, you have to find out more & see it for yourself.

And I did!  I met Sally, the inventor of My Car Step, and I was really impressed by her, and by My Car Step itself.  So much so, that I'd like to introduce her to you.  Sally kindly agreed to answer my questions, and despite me not really rivalling Jeremy Paxman in the interviewing stakes, here's what she had to say...

Sally

How did you come up with the idea for My Car Step?
My little girl Jessica is now 4, but when she was 18 months old she started to get agitated and upset before every car journey.  She wanted to climb into her car seat herself but physically couldn't do it because she wasn't big enough to reach the seat.  So either myself or my husband tried lifting her in, often with her kicking and screaming or crying, out of frustration.  This kept getting worse rather than better and every car journey was very stressful to say the least. 

I started to look on the internet for a solution – some sort of step that Jessica  could use to climb into the car seat herself.  With no luck finding a product, I started using a foot stool.  However it kept getting in the way, taking up space in the footwell – plus of course it wasn't secure, wobbling precariously when Jessica tried to use it.  So I had what only can be described as a 'brain wave'.  

When Jessica first started using the prototype, she got super excited and felt really independent and grown up, plus of course we could all enjoy heading out in the car without anxiety of an impending tantrum.  The problems started again when I had to take MY CAR STEP out of the car (while applying for a patent), Jessica would have a tantrum because she wanted 'MY CAR STEP' back in the car again. 

Initially I was going to use MY CAR STEP just to help me, but then I noticed other people struggling to get their young children into their car seats – from pregnant woman who couldn't lift and twist, to 3 door cars, to grandparents who couldn't lift and twist.  After researching back pain and discovering that most back problems occur from lifting and twisting children, I thought lets see what the general public think about MY CAR STEP, and I was really pleased and pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  

My Car Step, in use

What's been the biggest challenge so far?
Because I have no experience in running a business, the hardest part for me has been trying to get it off the ground. Especially knowing how to approach the right people and how to communicate with them. In my profession as a teaching assistant, I know what I'm talking about, and am confident in speaking about it, but this is completely out of my comfort zone, so it's been finding that confidence to approach people.

And what's been the best thing that's happened in the My Car Step journey?
All the fantastic feedback that I've had from the public has been the best thing so far and makes it all worthwhile. There was one occasion that has stuck in my mind over others though, and that was when I had the safety test results back. Finding out that MY CAR STEP had passed all the relevant testing was a relief and a moment of celebration.

Was this your first "big invention", or are you a really clever person with great ideas springing out all the time?
I'm far from creative and inventive! But because this was causing me a problem I came up with a solution, so this has been my first big invention. But trust me — if I can do it, then so can anybody.

What advice would you give someone else starting out in their own business?
There'll be a lot of struggles, ups and downs, but if you believe in your product and business then stick with it. Don't be afraid to ask people for help, and do your research!

Is there anyone in business you'd love to be seen as "The New ..."?
Honestly as long as people like and enjoy using the product, that is good enough for me. I want to be as successful as I can and grow the business the best way I can. I would love to be the next Mandy Habberman or Cara Sayer (snoozeshade) — to see what these women/mums have done with their product in the space of time that they've achieved it, is honestly remarkable.  

My Car Step

My Car Step is available to buy online through the My Car Step website.

I'd like to say a massive thank you to Sally for agreeing to talk to me, and a big apology for me being so slow to get my act together.  I wish her lots & lots of luck with the business, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Disclosure. I have not received or sought payment or products in return for this post. I simply believe that this is a product and business worth promoting, and I am happy to do so free of charge.

Travelling with a Squeak - Part 2

At the end of part one, we'd survived the journey.  Now for the holiday itself.

We'd booked to go in May to avoid the hottest weather, and to avoid paying school holiday prices (cheap, yep, that's me!).  As it turned out, the weather was hotter than average, just like the preceding couple of weeks had been in the UK, so we were lucky.  Lots of sunshine, lots of factor 50 for Squeaky.

It took her a couple of days to settle, being somewhere different, I guess.  Some days she'd love the water, then others, you'd think she was being tortured, poor mite. But we just took it at her pace, let her decide whether she wanted to play in the water or not.  A set of beach toys helped (and they also helped at bathtime), but if she didn't want to swim, there was no point in forcing the issue and putting her off.

She didn't get the sandcastle building idea, but she's showing great potential as a demolition expert, knocking down our sandcastles, sand cows & sand turtles as fast as we could build them!  Well, it kept us all out of mischief.  The beach in Alcudia is HUGE, something like 8 miles long.  The sea slopes really gently too, making it great for kids.  The resort is established enough & big enough to have plenty of "real" shops, including a stonking great Lidl, and about 5 branches of Eroski (aka Spanish Tesco), selling brands you'd recognise from home.  No need to worry about nappies, wipes, formula, they're all there, so there's more space in the case for clothes!

The other really good choice we made was to go all-inclusive.  In our pre-Squeaky days we'd been on a few AI holidays to the Caribbean, and I was a little wary of AI in Europe, where hotel food isn't usually up to the same standards.  But I couldn't have been more wrong.  The food was fantastic, both for me as a picky foodie, and for Squeaky, who seems to only approve of protein.  There were enough fish fingers, burgers, chicken nuggets & unidentifiable things-in-breadcrumbs to keep her occupied, and more than enough ice-cream to fill any remaining corners.  I would have had a much more restricted diet if we'd been self-catering, as I'd've been picking food for us to share, rather than finding Squeaky-meals and Me-meals separately.

The hotel was wonderful for families, right next to the waterpark, with unlimited free access (SqueakyDaddy's holiday highlight!), the hotel's own kids clubs for 4yrs+, and the Thomas Cook kids clubs, and, wait for it... crèche!  Who thought up this wonderful idea?  We paid for a few sessions in the crèche for Squeaky, just to give us a bit of a break - very handy when you've got the packing to do!  She loved it, loads of attention, loads of toys, and lots of arty crafty activities, with British staff, all qualified (to a better standard than some of the nurseries I've seen round here).  Couldn't have asked for more.

We even managed to stay awake long enough for the evening entertainment some nights, though not many, I must admit.  A couple of glasses of wine & I just want to sleep now.  Squeaky, on the other hand, believed she was the evening entertainment - so long as you're entertained by a small child, some plastic cups, and spinning round on a dancefloor.

Would we go back to Majorca?  Yep.  To Alcudia?  Yep, a great family resort.  To Club Mac?  Definitely.

Travelling with a Squeak - Part 1

So, the holiday went according to plan, as long as our plan involved a lot of walking around trying to encourage Squeaky to have a nap.  Give her her due though, she was really good.

Getting there
We booked our parking & airport hotel for the night before we flew out, even though we were only flying from our local airport, because it was cheaper to stay over than just to pay for parking.  The hotel was, well, functional I guess would be the word, they did provide a cot as requested, but when we phoned to confirm it the morning of arrival we were told "well, we've got 4 cots booked for tonight".  Great, thanks for the enthusiasm.  They also didn't serve breakfast til 8.  Airport hotel?  Hello? Ever heard of morning flights? Check-in times?  *sigh* A quick trip to tesco was called for for an emergency packed breakfast to take with us.  Enough moaning though, we got a decent night's kip & an hour's more sleep than we would have if we'd had to leave from home in the morning. 

The airport was no problem, I even managed to take a sip of formula without gagging (seriously, have you ever tasted the stuff? ewwww) at security. We kept the buggy right up to boarding, which was a big help, if nothing else, it was somewhere to put the handluggage!  I considered taking the baby carrier, but in the end I'm glad I didn't, it would have just been one more thing to try and deal with, and we didn't need it.

Squeaky slept the first hour of the flight, thank deity-of-choice.  And here's where I get amazed.  Had you ever noticed the baby change units in the airplane toilets before? I'd never noticed, but there's a pull-down change table over the toilet seat. GENIUS!  Abso-flamin-lute genius.  We were armed with all sorts of toys, books, and junk food to entertain her Squeakiness, but she was happy as Larry.

The one recommendation I've got for part 1, and completely the best thing I bought - a Tomy Aquadraw travel drawing kit.  Like the bigger Aquadoodle, the only "paint" required is water, so no danger of making a mess.  It's light, portable, pretty much unbreakable (as far as our testing went, anyways), the drawings dry off, so it's reuseable and Squeaky loves it.  Definitely worth the cash. 

Coming soon: the Abroad bit, with pictures!

Cantref Easter Fun

I know Easter was last weekend now, but there's a delay in this house.

Last Monday Squeaky & I took a trip to Cantref Adventure Farm near Brecon.  It was a lovely sunny day, so we decided to have an Eastery Adventure.

The park is fairly easy to find, lots of signs from the main road, the only thing is, it's down narrow country lanes, so you've got to drive carefully and be prepared for oncoming traffic & people walking down the middle of the road.  Once that's negotiated, we were quickly & easily checked in, given a map & schedule of the day's events, and we were free to play.  We'd just missed thefirst lamb-feeding of the day, but the lambs were still in their pens, and very eager to meet people.  They were also quite keen to have a nibble of our Symbio, which Squeaky wasn't happy to share!  (For those of you concerned, she was fine nanoseconds later, when she was handed the Fruit Shoot sneaking in at the bottom of the photo there.  And for those of you concerned about the Fruit Shoot - it was a VERY hot day, I'd rather she drank fruit flavoured water than none at all.)

While we might have missed feeding the (greedy) lambs, we made sure we didn't miss out on the next event, Chinchillas' Bathtime.  We got to stroke a chinchilla, and talk to the very knowledgeable handler, before watching the chinchillas have their dust bath.  Did you know that chinchillas bathe in dust, because their fur is so thick they would be likely to catch pneumonia if they bathed in water?  They did look very nice & clean at the end of their bath, but I think I'll stick to bubbles!

After looking around the pet barn, where the chinchillas were, and petting some lovely rabbits (Vinnie was our favourite), we went outside to explore the rest of the park.  We met more tiny newborn lambs and some alpacas in the big animal barn, we watched some older boys & girls riding ponies, met a couple of crazy rheas, a goat, some big fat piggies, and then went to have a ride on the tractor.  (sorry, no photos from this bit, I forgot)  The tractor driver was really funny, and told us the names of all the animals we saw as we bounced across the fields, and we even saw a sheep that had invaded from the farm next door!  We saw horses, donkeys, water buffalo, lots of sheep and a couple of llamas.

There were lots of things for older boys & girls to do: a dry sledge, a jungle boat adventure, paddle boats, dragon climbing frame, a crazy ball cannon area, and mini tractors to drive, as well as an indoor soft play area, with a special toddler area.  Squeaky practised her new-found stair climbing skills in there, and braved the slide a couple of times before deciding to try and defy gravity climbing up the slide.  Aside from the pony rides, everything is included in the admission price, so it's a good value day out, not one of these where you're forever dipping into your purse for another 50p to go on this coin operated thing, or that ride.

We went back inside to have our lunch, though there were lots of picnic tables outside, and then went and watched Mr Ev's Easter Show. They have lots of different entertainments on through the year in the theatre area, and outside, and we saw Mr Ev's trying to steal the easter eggs, and met his bride-to-be.  Mr Ev's married Chloe the pony the same day a certain other wedding took place last week.  I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I'm assured the bride looked beautiful.  Pig racing is the next big event, and I'd love to see how that goes!

We were exhausted after all that, but just had enough energy to finish off our easter egg hunt and for Squeaky to receive her prize for getting the answers right. If it weren't for having to drive home, I would have joined her in sleeping the whole way back!

We had a lovely day, and would happily recommend Cantref to families all around the area for a fab, fun day out.  We received no payment for this review, and were genuine, paying visitors (I've got a receipt around here somewhere) - we just had such a good day out, we wanted to tell other people about it!

Put On Your Big Girl Shoes

...And take it like a man?

Sorry, bad joke hour, it seems.  We've been out & about today, braving the weather to keep from going crazy.  First stop the library, for a couple of new books each, including a very exciting looking Maisy book for Squeaky.

Then for a coffee & cake in a lovely new cafe, Caramac Coffee, in town.  They've not been open long, and I spotted them at the weekend, shortly after having had a coffee elsewhere.  OMG, cupcakes to die for.  Chocolate cupcake with green frosting & glitter.  I had to share it, because madam was too interested to take no for an answer.  I also persuaded them to sign up for the Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme, so that's another voucher for me!

And then! Big adventure. As she was awake and sociable, we popped into Clarks's to try getting her feet measured again.  Last time she was too small for even their smallest shoes. Now, she's just about into the smallest size.  Only just, but all the same.  And I'd like to see her try to get buckles undone - though I put nothing past her, she can manage every other style I've tried.  They even take a photo when you get your first pair fitted, look!  Isn't that lovely?

This is NOT a sponsored post, just what we've done & where.

Growing Up Fast

We had a real & proper adventure yesterday.  I won some Odeon vouchers on Twitter a while back, and hadn't had chance to use them.  SqueakyDaddy had a rare Wednesday off, and Wednesday is when the Cardiff Bay Odeon has their Newbies screening.  Newbies, for those who don't know, is a parent & baby screening, sponsored by one of the nappy rash cream brands (not mentioning it, I use a different one).  Babies go free, lights are on a little, sound is lower than normal, and no-one minds if your baby starts making a noise.  I guess you could go anytime, but people are liable to moan if your little darling starts creating mid-film, or even worse if you start to feed them mid-film.

So, off we went to Cardiff.  I actually really like that cinema.  Even the cheap seats are huge and comfy, though the ticket prices range from absurd to astronomical, but isn't that the same everywhere these days?  Equipped with our drinks, chocolates, ice cream & tickets, in we went.  I'm not going to review the film for you, I'm not that kind of blogger.  SqueakyDaddy was the only man in there, I think most people see these things as being Mum & Baby, and as it's during the daytime, it's mostly going to be mums on maternity leave, but there was no reason why he couldn't be there, and no-one said anything, he was clearly with us.

Squeaky was kind of bemused by the Big Telly and the sound coming from different places, but she was a little gem.  Relatively settled, a few raspberries and "Babababa" from time to time, but I came equipped with boobs, and ricecakes, and the combination of the two kept her entertained.

It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. I haven't been to the cinema, or probably sat and watched a whole film, since the night before Squeaky was born.  All About Steve was dull enough to send me into labour, and I haven't had chance to go back since.  If your cinema has baby screenings, give them a go, we loved it.

(Odeon have not paid me for, or requested this review.  My free tickets came from an unrelated source.)

Mummies need bathroom breaks too!

Argh! Do you know how difficult it is to use a public toilet with a small baby in tow?  Without a handy daddy, grandparent or friend to take over baby-wrangling duties for a couple of minutes?

Nightmare springs to mind.

So, on that basis, let's give a big hand to the following:

• Mothercare in Cardiff - "normal" cubicles big enough to push a trolley or pushchair in to.
• Charnock Richard services on the M6
• Waitrose in Abergavenny
• Morrisons in Barry, all of which have the sense to put a cubicle in the baby change room (as opposed to putting the baby change in the disabled toilets)

Baby change in the disabled toilets is all well & good, if you can deal with the queue, but a cubicle in a baby change facility means more than one baby can be changed, and Mommy can deal with her own call of nature as well as baby's.

I thank various deities for a cast-iron bladder, and make the most of every opportunity to pee I get now, I never know when the chance will next arise!

Silence is golden

OK, OK. I'm rubbish at finding the time to sit down & write anything. So, a brief overview of the less full-post-on-their-own-worthy things of the last few weeks.

We went to the park, and it was lovely. I got sunburned, Squeakydaddy ran round the lake 3 times for no obvious reason, and Squeaky slept through it all under the cover of her buggy. Parc Bryn Bach is lovely, one of the most well-designed parks I've ever seen, and very very inclusive. The trail around the lake is paved & flat, so cyclists, buggies and wheelchairs can all get round comfortably. They rent out bikes, trikes, tandems, trandems (I may have just invented this word), and various configurations of bikes for people with disabilities, about half the staff in the visitors centre have some degree of learning disability, even the kids play area has a roundabout accessible to wheelchairs. Honestly, the place is lovely. And a changing/feeding/whatever room almost the size of my lounge. And most surprising of all, the place is run by the council! Local Government Win for once!!!

Other places made of baby changing & feeding WIN at the moment are Mothercare, and The Mall in Bristol. Both of which have seen my boobs in the last week or so, as well as Squeaky's bottom.

Speaking (Squeaking?) of Mothercare, I'm so glad I went down there the other day. Before Squeaky was born, we bought an Infantino baby sling 2nd hand from someone. While we've had a little bit of use out of it, it just felt kind of insecure, and I was beginning to think it'd been a waste of money. And now it's on a recall! So I get a better carrier as a replacement, brand new. Hooray.

There may be more posts to come shortly, but we're off on our holidays next week, squeaking our way to north Wales, so you might have to excuse another gap. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

An Outing

Today we went off to Cardiff Bay, so that Squeakydaddy could run the Sport Relief Mile (or three in his case, for some reason or other). I don't mind these kind of things, as long as no-one expects me to run. I wasn't built for running, and I don't really plan to start now, sorry.

Anyways, as usual with any trip out lasting more than a couple of hours, Squeaky needed both changing and feeding. And I was SO impressed. I knew that Cardiff Bay is "officially" breastfeeding friendly but wasn't sure what to expect. I strolled into the Millennium Centre, as being a suitably large & public building, and I didn't really fancy the disabled/baby change portaloo outside. Toilets are toilets, but these were clean and well sized, which is a good start.

After a quick nappy change, I asked the duty manager if there was somewhere I could feed Squeaky. Now, I've said before that I've fed in public in a few places, but I didn't expect to be told that I was welcome to feed anywhere in the building! I was also offered the choice of somewhere a bit more private, and shown to the medical suite, where Squeaky could have her dinner in peace. Much nicer than sitting on a toilet seat somewhere, which has been known.

All in all, ten out of ten for Cardiff Bay!