Eat, drink and be married!

Admittedly, I am not much of a backpack person...until motherhood came along and changed the rules of the game. I tried babywearing and carrying his diaper bag and it was definitely one of the most calorie burning activities ever and the arm was definitely very used by the end of day.

Gaston Luga is a Swedish backpack retailer located in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden and armed with a vision for stylish lifestyle backpacks, they are designed for any occasion. Choose from their 3 different collections - the Clässic, Clässy and Pråper.




So we put it to test in our first family vacay, dropped the diaper bag and replaced it with a backpack. Spot the two loves that makes a relaxing holiday? An instagrammable float and a functional backpack!




Pråper: Black was our choice of colour though if it weren't for the fact the Hubba was the one providing muscle power, I'd have chosen the baby pink!

What sells?

It's all in the details. I particular loved the leather detailing of the tassles and that flap - smooshy squishy smooth leather (Ima leather girl at heart and cannot help carressing the leather...if only it were made in full leather!)




Buckles to adjust for different wearers.




These slots are great for inserting pens or even hooking his toys to!




Practical features: The backpack has a minimalistic design yet sports features like hidden pockets for storage of accessible items (super important for valuables). Each backpack is also equipped with an inner compartment which can hold 13-15" laptops with ease which in this case was duly replaced with his diapers, bottled feeds and even a change of clothes!






The hubba wearing it.






It's versatile enough for each of us without looking like a frump mom or dad!



Easy to sling too!


 

I just had to snap so many pictures with the new baby.

What doesn't? 

Personally I found the straps a tad thin for carrying heavier loads. Otherwise, all's fine and dandy with our choice and I'd love if they have bigger size options for these backpacks!




Discount code

Readers of Themarriedchapter get 15% off www.gastonluga.com with the code “chapter15” to get free shipping + 20% off as tax rebate (from non-EU country) + 15% off too with the unique code on the remaining price after tax rebate!!

So for the Pråper: Black retailing at $249 it's slightly under $150 after all the codes! PLUS, it gets sent right to your doorstep within 2-3 days. SOLD!

The Gaston Luga Pråper Backpack was given for review. No monetary compensation has been received. All thoughts and comments are purely our own.

~Sponsored review~

I get very excited checking off new milestones and while the rest say, "first time moms" I tend to agree since it's the first time I'm doing anything baby related anyway!

We are way past the first days of cereal, purees and have progressed to baby led weaning but finding his dinnerware was another adventure of its own. Silicon mats are the way to go for grubby hands and hopefully avoiding the mess of thrown food and spoons and bowls.




We were gifted these by the kind folks of Funky Kids & Mums Shop! Both in such a pretty shade of blue!



Spot the elephant in the jungle...


 

When placed on his stokke tripp trapp's meal tray, unlike what the supplier says the mat actually does not fit snugly on the tray. Personally this works better on the bigger surfaces especially glass. Wooden tables however do not work well with suction mats, regardless of brand.




Spot the edges peeking out? Naughty fingers can of course flip them over very easily but as mentioned, I face the same problem with the other famous silicon baby mat brand too.



I like how deep the compartments are! We filled them with rice and a side of sweet corn that day.


  
The bub taking to baby led weaning quite well and was surprisingly more interested in his corn than trying to flip the tray over. HOORAY! 

It's BPA Free, Phtalate Free, PVC Free and chemical free which makes this uber  baby friendly. Plus, the size makes it easy to bring out for meal times too!  

 

Best of all it fits nicely in our Haenim UV Sterilizer which makes sterilizing and storing it so easy!  

 


This silicon icetray is multi purpose too, it can store nearly anything - solids, liquids and purees.








Used for storing daily portions of his protein intake! None of the hassle of storing in ziplocks just pop these frozen cubes out of the freezer to thaw and steam.


I am loving these hassle free meal time solutions and these have definitely made our lives so much easier.



Link up with Funky Kids and Mums Shop for updates or shop away here!

Both the ice cube tray and mini silicon mat was given for review. No monetary compensation has been received.  All thoughts and comments are purely our own. 

I started out not having a plan, and then it became something more and that's when excitement finally seeped in!

Planning for our own home did not seem so fun, somehow...perhaps cuter things existed for the tiny tyke that made it more fun. I started out with a colour scheme in mind more than a theme - afterall, installing wall paper according to theme is going to be tricky when the tyke grows up and starts attacking the walls with crayons and what nots.

White it would be mainly, lots of sunshine and pops of colour here and there. One thing let to another and here's what we ended up with. 

A4 LightBox
http://www.alittlelovelycompany.nl/en/

At 16 weeks, I made my first purchase for speckie and it wasn't even an insurance policy yet. Frivolous momma had other plans in mind and it included a A4 sized light box. The hubba was clearly very amused but I justified and defended my purchase to no end. Shipping set me back by 20 euros and using master card another 1 euro which still worked out to be cheaper than the Cotton On alternative which coincidentally was already retailing at $80.

No offense to other mummies but I thought having those milestone cards were too cliche.

Cushion and Trolley
IKEA

I caved in to a number of items from IKEA because of the price mainly AND they really did resemble those from the high end shops at sucha fraction of the price! Buying for baby is bank breaking and budgeting is super important - plus we already splurged on the lightbox and the tula....something had to give yes?

Cloud cushion

Trolley

Playmat
Parklon

I was torn between getting a playmat and a rug.

And ultimately, the playmat won for practicality and hygiene reasons - I cannot possibly de-fur a rug per se. Stalking pupsik for a good discount on my Parklon mat was priority and I nailed one with a reasonable discount off, free delivery and a first time purchase discount too - please always look out for additional codes!

Delivery was settled in 2 working days flat, super impressive. While some may say nabbing these at a baby fair could be cheaper, I did my sums and having to drag the fella bag alongside all the other buys is going to be daunting.

The crib
Bon Bebe - Vermont

Stokke was on my dream and lust list for SO LONG. Oval shaped cribs are so uncommon amongst the brands and it can be converted along the way. With so many selling points, I still have to cave into a normal looking crib eventually. Price, does matter unfortunately.

Key things to look out for include casters, colour of wood and sturdiness. I contemplated a play pen and a cot but the flimsiness of the former put me off.

I had my eye on the Bon Bebe Alexia after rave reviews from the gf, and ended up with the Vermont since they ran out of white for Alexia. Sturdy and looks pretty enough for the nursery, one down and so many more to go! 

Blankie turned ornament piece
http://modernburlap.com/

I was sold on their swaddles with biblical verses printed, this would mean so much for us and Speckie whom we owe so much to God for. I thought it would be nice if Speckie grew up with a verse that would be instrumental, subsequently. So it ended up being on the wall like most mommas have done! 

Plus they have a super meaningful charity drive going on - one for a stranger.
http://modernburlap.com/collections/tots-kiddos/products/add-on-to-any-swaddle-to-make-it-one-for-one

Cotton Mobile

Needle and I's works are to die for...but but but I still did not cave into getting one to hang. Somehow plastic ones did not appeal to me as much as the cotton ones and I ended up with a musical toy from disney instead! Cute and squishy too!

You know how an unsatisfied lusting returns and haunts? I ended up with yet another cotton mobile off taobao - just because.

It could be all the fashionista mommy blogs I have been reading that I long decided ahead of time which baby carrier I want. The plan had always been the Tula, until I got introduced to the world of woven carriers. Seems there is a difference between a normal tula, half woven and full woven.

And, the quest for it is even more crazed than the Birkin. Oh well, I suppose the insanity would be far worse if we could order a birkin online.

Turns out, the woven Tula was only retailed online and at specific timings every two weeks. Judging by the success rate after 7-8 tries, I gave myself a good 6 months to score one.

The apprehensive first

I didn't have high hopes scoring one on the first try - I mean heck, IUI didn't even work for us the first try. Surely my chances would be higher than that but how much higher, I really did not know.

7am release saw me setting the alarm at 650am and scrambling before the lappy to camp. I mean seriously I have been there and done that with Hello Kitty merchandise and concert tickets. I just did not know what they really meant by everything goes out of stock in a minute.

So great, I saw the stock took a second to read and tried to cart and bam! Out of stock. ALL GONE IN A MINUTE. WOW. How much stock do they really carry? Do I really need to resort to the black market to score one? Damn. I shall try my luck again two weeks later and hopefully slightly better luck!

The hopeful second


So then this fell on a public holiday, and both the Hubba and I surely thought of sleeping through it - I mean, who can even guarantee we will nail one this round. I think he felt the stress and was tossing the whole night :x And I the light sleeper actually stirred at 6am, a tad too early before the official 7am ungodly hour. Strangely, I even had the luxury to throw in a tiresome dream in between and finally kicked off the covers at 645am when our alarms cooperated and rang.

Two of us on our laptops refreshing the page repeatedly for a good 5 minutes and I even assured the Hubba that "it's ok if we don't nail one." I mean, the higher the expectation the greater the disappointment!

Our tactic was simple, once the page loaded scroll for a full wrap conversion regardless design and try to cart it.

AND IT WORKED!!!!! As if I stumbled upon a secret, this seems to be the only way to nail one according to a number of tula fans - and it did for us.


The aftermath

Now there's the infant insert, customizable drool pads, perhaps a hoodie too for our first Tula. Hopefully the last, Hubba wishes.

The tula blankets look so droolicious too but that ball game is another mind boggling and nerve wrecking affair, I suppose I'd just lay off and settle for Aden+Anais or Modern Burlap that I have got my eyes on. :P

There was a seconds sample sale subsequently and I was hoping to score a discounted baby insert but they were not part of it. Bummer.

The accessories

Turns out, a friend managed to score tula blankets off the EU website on my behalf and there, the first and hopefully the last of its kind. <strike> With 5 Aden+Anais swaddles and a Modern Burlap, the husband finds no reason why I need another blanket to wrap one baby up. </strike> Turns out, I nabbed one too in bouquet stems! :P

Infant insert had me laying off the purchase till late into the pregnancy, I wanted to make sure he needed one given his growth spurts - and finally I caved into a slate coloured one! Sigh, frivolous mom.




Drool pads are costly to purchase in Singapore I have to admit and I turned to overseas options which worked out fine for me even after shipping is factored in. Curved and straight drool pads with button snaps, checked!



I could not resist dolling my Tula up with a customized teddy bear, possibly the only customization I'd do since the rest were too expensive to consider. Hoodies and pull straps all add up to a pretty princely sum, methinks.


After the teddy, came the dragon. GOOD LORD. Just stop me already. The option to customize is way too attractive to pass up...

Now, I need to work on getting more than one tula. OOPS. 

• I am dollars away from opening the gate of additional % rebate from my favourite credit card
• Additional discounts off the deal are given in limited flash sales