TheWeanMachine

Weaning & Dreaming in Sweden

2010-09-10T03:34:00.000-07:00

We've been "internationalising" again - fresh from the Austin office opening I went on a whistle-stop visit to Sweden's capital to see our Scandinavian distributor, SpaceBabies. The day started at 4:30 am meeting Lynda Harding from Easidream along with Ewan, the sheep. Without any delays we arrived in a very sunny Stockholm.

The SpaceBabies team organised a most chic event within an art gallery - showcasing their product range in funky frames or on beautifully stylish plinths. They had a great turn out of trade customers and members of the press (but no Mikael Blomkvist) making the event, that ran into the evening, a great success.

The champagne was flowing and the nibble were interesting to say the least. I thought after demolishing a fruit platter a sneaky sweet from the colourful candy selection was well deserved (after a 4:30 start a girl needs a shot of sugar!) I went for a black one - expecting blackberry, I got salt! It was the saltiest liquorice sweet in the world. That will teach me.

The comedian of the night was a real success, Lynda and I had no idea what he was saying (it was all in Swedish) but we were more than entertained by the belly laughing from everyone else. laughter really is contagious.

As mentioned previously, we're about to hit trade show season, so there will be more tales from around the world. We will bring news as it happens, there's a new product coming and we'll continue to share the highs and lows of life in Wean World.

Tilly.

2010-08-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

Austin Texas office opens, Tradeshow season starts

We've been busier than ever over the last few weeks - The NCT - the UK's leading parenting charity took a handful of Wean Machines and plenty of fruit to help parents in the NCT tent at the Glastonbury Festival - we've seen the pictures and they look as though everyone had a fantatsic time. Phil is a little jealous that we couldn't make it to see the amazing line-up.

All through the summer we've been meeting parents and babies where ever we can, supporting local groups and of course making fresh healthy baby food wherever we can!

We've been nominated for more awards - we can't tell you about some of them yet, but we can tell you we are Finalists for Consumer Product of the Year at the UK plastics industry awards and in the USA we're up for a SheKnows.com Parenting Award.

As soon as we have more news we'll let you know first here.

September sees the time where tradeshows kick off, and we will be at Kind + Jugend in Cologne from September 16 to the 19th meeting new and existing customers on the Baby Products Association UK pavillion.

For those we don't catch up with in Germany we will be in fabulous Las Vegas in October at the ABC Kids Expo from October 10th to the 13th - come and see us on stand #7214.

We're now serving the USA directly and have established a USA subsidary, based in Austin, Texas - if you have never been to Austin, you must go - it's a fantastic place and will become our hub for serving customers across the Americas.

Foodie Facials

2010-06-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

Festival season is here, and The Wean Machine will be at the NCT tent at Glastonbury, helping parents and carers make tasty fresh food for the children - be sure to pop in and have a squidge.

In between meetings and baby shows we've been experimenting in Wean Towers with fruity based facial treatments, here are a few of our favorites. Oh, and of course we used The Wean Machine to make them...

Strawberries are a natural source of salicylic acid, which is used a lot in anti pimple creams. Simply mash together some fresh strawberries and non flavoured organic yogurt, spread on face and leave for 10-15 minutes.

Avocados and Honey are great on mature wrinkly skin (like Phil's), use a fresh and ripe organic avocado and mash it into a creamy pulp, mix in a little runny honey and leave for ten minutes and rinse with a cool washcloth.

Bananas with honey and a few drops of orange or lemon juice can make for a soothing face mask, choose between a cool wash cloth or a steaming warm flannel to remove.

Our top tip - don't wear your favorite shirt if your seven year old is in charge of spreading, but most importantly have fun! ;-).

2010-04-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe a month has passed since the last blog entry. Easter has been and gone, Ted is back at school after having a land mark experience of falling out of a tree - 15 stitches later he is now the proud owner of a new scar which will stay with him for life - a lesson in physics that clearly proves that a seven year old cannot defy gravity.

Spring has sprung here in the UK and so comes wonderful spring and summer cooking, new seasonal veggies and fabulous produce now readily available. Summer is in the air so into the kitchen I go. Weaning babies during the summer comes with different challenges, out and about or away on holiday, often full of unknowns - The Wean Machine is never more convenient than in the summer months.

Barbeques and sunny alfresco eating can be for all the family, I am working on easy and fun recipes that you can enjoy at home or away, more soon. Simple pasta salads and beautiful fruit can be enjoyed by all. Top tip - remember to season your food after the babies have had theirs.

Welcome!

2010-03-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog entry and I am so pleased to have had one of the best week-ends in a long time. It was the annual 10k Lincoln run - whilst I wasn't running I was truly delighted to be asked by Kim Sutherland from Getmummyfit.com to present the prizes for the Buggy Push.

Getmummyfit.com is a wonderful group of mums that get together with their babies and get fit post partum. Kim Sutherland who is a trained nutritionalist had the idea of combining her classes with the 10k run with a shorter Push for the buggies and babes. This was her first event and had over 65 buggies for the 3.85k course. There was a warm-up work out and they were the first off the blocks.

Here is Kim with some of the mums from the group in the Race Village after the push and below are the winners - clearly Matt, didn't want to stand out too much, though I think the five o'clock shadow may have given him away!

If you want more information on Getmummyfit.com or organising a Buggy Push please let me know and I will put you in touch with Kim.

Welcome to our blog!

2010-03-19T03:46:00.001-07:00