As you know, we are fans of the Baby Show and in addition to a chance to win tickets to the show, we have a fantastic opportunity from Fisher-Price too!

The Baby Show back this year, offering a shopping haven for new parents and parents-to-be at the NEC Birmingham from 18^th-20^th May 2012. Forget the hassle of the high street, The Baby Show takes out the stress and confusion of shopping for your baby by offering the UK’s biggest baby brands all under one roof, so you can compare and try products before you buy! The UK’s leading parenting experts will also be on hand to offer advice on sleep, breastfeeding and first aid. Don’t miss this brilliant day out! For more information visit www.thebabyshow.co.uk.

If you fancy a little time of baby free shopping so you can really get to grips with the products at the show, go to the Fisher-Price Crèche where trained supervisors will look after your little one – for free! Be sure to visit the main stage too, where you can enter Fisher-Price’s Win All of This competition.

Fisher-Price is offering one lucky person the chance to win the new Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case. Now your techo tot can play with their very own apps on your iPhone or iTouch with this specially designed rubberised case. Simply slot your iPhone behind the safe screen to stop your baby from accessing your files and protect the phone from dribbles and grubby fingers! The durable case comes with chunky handles, perfect for little hands, and when you need your phone back, there are rattles to keep him busy! Suitable from 6 months +.

If your little one is anything like our baby on the Lilypad, they will LOVE this! So enter below for a chane to WIN one of two pairs of Baby Show Tickets and the Apptivity Case!!

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PLANT A JUBILEE TREE FOR A JUBILEE BABY

A chance to dedicate a tree at the Woodland Trust Diamond Jubilee Wood

We received an email today to advise that Emma's Diary and the Woodland Trust have teamed up to offer a very special way to celebrate babies born during the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.

We love this idea and all you need to do is simply visit The Baby Show, Birmingham NEC, Friday 18-Sunday 20^th May, stand C21 where you can order a tree for only £20.00! All you have to do is complete a form and you will receive a certificate pack there and then. See. www.thebabyshow.co.uk for more details.

The Woodland Trust is creating 460 acres of new woodland at its Flagship Diamond Wood site in heart of the National Forest in Leicestershire, and a grove is to be dedicated to little ones born during this very special year.

For years to come families will be able to enjoy the woodland, taking picnics, making dens and offering a wide range of stimulus and activity - sights, sounds, smells and places for hide and seek. 

New Mums and Dads, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles are being given the chance be a part of this and dedicate one or more of the new trees to the new born in their life; a special gift that will grow with the baby - and will overtake it one day!  Every £20 donated will plant a new tree; the baby will receive a certificate with personal words of dedication and details of how to find the wood. The tree will also be included in the Royal Record of tree planting for the Jubilee.  And, if you fancy getting muddy with the family, why not take up our invitation and join us to plant trees on the 460 acre site.  The Emma’s Diary Jubilee Grove will have just 10,000 trees, and with over 600,000 births in England and Wales alone, this will be a very exclusive gift.   

So here's your chance to join in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations by Planting a Tree in the Jubilee Babies grove for all the new babies out there.

Visit: www.emmasdiary.co.uk/jubilee                                                   

You can still win tickets with the Lilypad to the Baby Show, just enter below!!

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We love babies and we love The Baby Show so here is a quick run down of what is on offer.

The Baby Show is back offering a shopping haven for new parents and parents-to-be at the NEC Birmingham from 18^th-20^th May 2012. Forget the hassle of the high street, The Baby Show takes out the stress and confusion of shopping for your baby by housing the UK’s biggest baby brands all under one roof, so you can compare and try products before you buy! With over 250 must-have brands including Fisher-Price, Mamas & Papas, Mothercare, Marks & Spencer, Britax, tommee tippee and new companiesMammae, Poco Nido, Kinderroom and Curaprox,there will be brilliant buys for all!The UK’s leading parenting experts will also be on hand to offer advice on sleep, breastfeeding and first aid.Tickets are available in advance for £12.00 or two for £20.00, to book tickets visit www.thababyshow.co.uk.

The Baby Show in association with Prima Baby and sponsored by Fisher-Price is an exciting event filled with the latest and greatest products in food & feeding, pushchairs, nappies & wipes, toys, clothing, furniture, car seats and carriers, from major brands. Parents who come to The Baby Show will also find substantial offers and savings that cannot be found elsewhere.

Fisher-Price

Fisher-Price will have the best available toys on display, ensuring thatparents and parents-to-be will find something that’s ideal for little ones at every age. 

Prima Baby

Prima Baby at stand N15 are giving visitors a free goody bag when two issues of Prima Baby magazines are purchased for just £2 (RRP £2.80 per magazine).

Face of the Show

The show sees the welcome return of the hugely popular Face of The Baby Show which offers parents the chance to enter their baby in the competition to find the face of The Baby Show and have the chance to be part of the 2013 marketing campaign. Hosted by Bumpkins (formally Sonam studios) each child will be photographed, capturing the very best images to be entered into the competition. What’s more, all parents will be given a free copy of the photograph of their child to take home from the photo experts at Bumpkins.

Me Time

For those looking for a relaxing and tranquil day out knowing your little one is cared for, the Fisher-Price crèche provides the perfect place and the safest hands in which to leave your children, where they can enjoy the latest toys for free and be supervised by fully trained and professional carers. The show is geared to making visitors lives easier and offers a home delivery service as well as the Emma’s Diary FREE shopping drop-off and collect by car service. There’s also the Emma’s Diary Mums meeting point, a fabulous arena to meet other new and expectant mums for a well-earned cuppa! The Pregnacare Juice bar will be serving fresh juices and smoothies across all three days to quench those shopping thirsts and give visitors a chance for a refreshing break. Superdrug are also at The Baby Show, be sure to stop by the Beauty Booth and take advantage of some great show discounts.

Free at the café!

Plum Baby’s under 1’s Cafe, will be serving little ones a sample of free baby food from 9.30am -5.00pm every day, as well as offering exclusive show offers on the Plum range.

The main stage

Not only a shopper’s dream, but The Baby Show is an event filled with expert advice from information including talks on breastfeeding by Clare Byam-Cook, sleep with Jo Tantum and first aid talks from The British Red Cross. 

New Brands

New brands showcasing at the event this time include:-

Partners Labour of Love – A brand new app to assist pregnant women in the build up to birth

My Beauty Bundle – Perfect gift for pregnant women or new mums

BabyDam– Has changed bath time for good

SnuggleBundl – Innovative approach to lifting your baby

Laboraide by Opro – A product to assist in pain-free birth

Baby Mum-Mum – Food snack for babies, big American brand – new to the UK this year

Waterbaby– New bottled water containing Folic Acid for a healthy pregnancy – new to the market this year

The Baby Show at Birmingham NEC takes place between 18^th–20^th May 2012. Tickets are available in advance for just £12 each from www.thebabyshow.co.uk but we have TWO pairs of tickets to give away! Just enter below!

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My daughter and I walked out of school on Friday and without thinking, she slipped her hand into mine and we walked along chatting and laughing. At 6 years old, she is not quite self conscious enough to think its not cool to hold my hand, or kiss me goodbye but I know that time will come, I am just holding on for as long as I can.

It got me wondering about holding hands, when do we stop?

We hold our babies hands and they wrap their tiny hands around our finger, we hold our toddlers tightly when we teach them to cross the road, we walk proudly with our children on the first day of school and never ever want to let them go.

Our children grow up and reach out to hold the hands of their friends and boyfriends ((shudder)) and they dont believe they need to hold ours any longer.  They have their life in the palm of their hands and as they grow up, they want to be set free, not held back. I know this so I am thankful that I still have some one to hold my hand. I am a thirty something woman who still loves the simplicity of holding hands, the innocence and the safety it inspires.

So when are we too old to hold hands? I recently saw an elderly couple walking along the road holding hands and if they are anything to go by, the answer is never.

So I suppose that whilst I may not always be able to hold my daughters' hands forever, I will have to be content with always holding their hearts.