The Baby Show at the NEC

Ordinarily I hate commercial shows. Wedding shows  make me shiver as I like to be independent in every sense of the word and am never a sheep follower, even our wedding was fancy dress so I certainly didn't require a wedding show that told me where I could buy dull wedding stuff or favors! What are favors about for crying out loud? People get a free party, enough with feeling you have to repay them for attending the wedding unless the wedding is such a dull occasion you need to provide some token for thanking a person for enduring the day! My wedding was fun with little formality and so I certainly was not about to give out favors. Check out the pictures:

One of my best mates as Banana Man and brother as Spider-Man!

My father and me.

Hubby and Best man.

Husband and I (I was wearing wings)

As a Psychologist and a disabled person I felt weddings were a potential hazard zone for people to judge others on their appearances,or have awkward silences whilst no one knows what to say to others, I took those boundaries down!

The "Baby show" however is a fantastic event for disabled parents to attend, it honestly is worth the journey to either Earls Court or the NEC. A show is on every year and if you are planning pregnancy I urge you to go there, if you are pregnant go there and if you already have the baby then drag baby and husband there. We got to test absolutely every thing out and no one bothered you unless you asked them to. We took apart several car seats having made the mistake of buying a car seat cheaply from Argos and not even trying the fastenings and loading of baby, big mistake! Here at the show we could load Chris in and out, try the straps, try carrying the seat etc. We came away, having tested 5 different seats, with a Maxi Cosi Pebble. This seat is rated highly in the recent "Which" consumer magazine but also rated highly by parents with limited grip, limited hand and arm movement and limited strength. I will be talking more on car seats later as there is more to finding the perfect seat than meets the eye. The show gives a decent discount on goods brought there, so we got £60 off the pebble, can't sniff at that!

There are various clothes stores, green nappy stores,toy stores and even gadget stores for men (baby gadgets but it kept my husband interests for a while). Its a good day out, at the NEC there are loads of disabled parking bays right near the entrance, all stands are laid out with good spaces between them but go early because it gets very crowded and would be difficult for a wheelchair user to get close to anything. There are eating venues there which are all accessible as well as cafes for little ones who are weaning. There are baby changing stations at the pampers area and good height wall mounted ones in the toilets. I don't think I saw one disabled person there, although with some disability of course you can't tell. I hope this blog offers some encouragement that it honestly is worth the struggle.

Baby Show link: http://www.thebabyshow.co.uk/

Have a lovely day to all mummies and daddies, Waybaloo is on soon so best go and get sir up into his Bumbo.

Love Caroline