I'm a full-time mummy

When I received the invitation to review this book, I never expected I would have to print out the book myself before going through them with our kiddos. Often, I get PDF copy of books that I reviewed (sometimes I prefer PDF as it is expensive to mail the paperback version to me in Malaysia) but there are times when I insisted to have the paperback version as well - this would normally be for books that I can use for our kiddos as I want them to flip and work through the book together.

But for this book, it is a first unique experience as the author is hoping to fund the production of the book through Kickstarter project. Since I can't request for a paperback version, I decided to print out the book myself and laminate it using our recently bought laminator machine. Why laminate when we can read it on our iPad or PC? The book is full of beautiful illustrations and I think it has a potential to be reuse again and again in future, hence the decision to print it out myself.

Title: A New Friend for Sally
Author: David Tang, Lora Lee (Illustrator)
Publisher: Tiny Robot Books (Independent book)
Paperback:  20 pages

Description from the product page:
"The tale of a lonely farm girl who really wants a pony, but instead her dad gets her a chicken... an animal it turns out that she's absolutely terrified of! A New Friend for Sally is a heartwarming story about unlikely friendships with the valuable lesson of not judging a book by its cover. This children's book is for kids aged 6-9."

Firstly, the illustration is very very nice. I love the details drawn and reading this book together with our 5 years old boy and 2.5 years old girl is just a wonderful delight! I think the colors would be much more intense if it is printed from a higher spec printer but since I printed it from our home printer, well, that is good enough for us as it is.

As our 5 years started his pre-K this year, I decided to read through word by word on each page (instead of summarizing the story and telling a simpler version based on his understanding which I previously do), stopping from time to time when there are words I think he may not hear before and then explaining to him what the words meant.

I can see our kiddos being very interested in this book, since this is kinda the first time they go through a book with different layout and feel. As I flipped through the laminated pages, I make use of the opportunity to play hide-and-seek with them as well, asking them from time to time to look for certain objects and animals in the pages.

I use the opportunity from this book to teach our kiddos to:

- Not throw tantrum when things doesn't go your way. Just because whatever you wished for doesn't materialise, it doesn't mean the end of the world. We should pick up ourselves and move on and make the best of what we have.

- Be brave and face your fears. Just like Sally, even though she is terrified of her new pet chicken, things worked out in the end and they became the best-est of friends.

- Not judge a book by its cover. We should not be influenced by first impressions or our false sense of security.

In summary, it is a very fun book on friendship with educational values which can be instilled in our children. I can definitely see this book being read over and over and over again. Highly recommended and I hope this book will be marketed soon!!

You can find more info on this book at http://www.tinyrobotbooks.com/.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

(Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial. )

Few months ago, I received an email invitation to review some maternity/nursing clothes. You know, ever since I have children, I have never stop breastfeeding and because of that, most of my clothing are geared towards breastfeeding-friendly, easy and fast access to nurse on the go. Because of that, there are not many selections of nice nursing clothing in my wardrobe. By the way, do note that just because some clothing is deemed to be maternity line, it doesn't mean that you cannot wear it if you are not pregnant. For me, as long as I can wear it in style and yet still be able to nurse our kiddos easily, that is all that matters! Without further ado, check out my review below...

About the company:
"Our clothing has been selected to show off your new curves and allow you to grow in comfort. In fact, our pregnancy clothing is so fashionable that many of your non-pregnant friends will want to get pregnant too. Plus, many of our designs won’t look out of place being worn when you’re no longer pregnant!

Our company is also putting in place measures to be as green as possible. Our personal philosophy is to leave this planet in as beautiful a condition for our children and future generations as it is for us. Our office has solar panels so we generate pretty much all the electricity we use. We offset any business flights we take plus all the carbon generated by our air or sea freight. The plastic bags we use for our clothing and postage are recyclable. In the future we will introduce more clothing made from bamboo which is a more eco-friendly fabric due to its fast-growing properties and unrequired use of pesticides."

I browsed through the website and finally decided on the following:

* Grey/White Polka Dot Maternity Top

This is the first one I tried on. It is a long sleeved top with nursing access via the overlap under the bust. I like the stretchy material and the press button in front enables me to have further access to nurse. The grey white polkadot color is easy to match with my pants and I can easily wear it as a long or short sleeved top. I chose the smallest size (8) available for this design and being an Asian, (we are smaller frame in size) this size fits me nicely.

* Cobalt blue striped maternity dress

This is the second one I tried and one of my fav. Hubby likes this too as the material hugs and accentuates my body figure. I personally like to wear stripes design type of clothing as the horizontal stripes makes me looks less skinny that I am - you know, it gives the illusions that I am fatter hehehe which I do not mind seriously.

I love the cobalt blue grey and black combo on this dress. Nursing access is via the overlap under the bust, easily camouflaged by the dress design. The dress length is just nice for me - knee length and I wear it as it is, never need to wear a leggings or pants underneath. I chose the smallest size (8) available for this dress and being an Asian, (we are smaller frame in size) this size fits me nicely.

* Black/Gold Stripe Maternity Dress

This is the last clothing I tried. I like this dress as well and for its classy and elegant look, I feel it would be great to wear this to a formal function or event.

I love the black and shimmery gold combo on this dress, love the golden sparkled knitted belt which I tied to my sides. Nursing access is via the overlap under the bust, easily camouflaged by the dress design. The dress length is just nice for me and I like the wavy skater style skirt in the bottom. I chose the smallest size (8) available for this dress and being an Asian, (we are smaller frame in size) this size fits me nicely.

You can browse for more designs at http://www.maternitysale.com.au/

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

We are a big fan of Little Critter's apps and I think it is great to be able to review this app as I get to introduce ABCs to our 2.5 years old girl and reinforce this for our 5 years old boy who is already learning this in his preK.

* Title: Little Critter ABCs
* Price: $0.99
* Category: Books
* Released: May 14, 2014
* Version: 2.6
* Size: 94.8 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+ Made for Ages 5 and Under
* Requirements: Requires iOS 6.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Description from the product page:

"Learn your ABCs with Little Critter in this interactive board book app! Explore pictures, learn new vocabulary, and personalize the story with your own narration. From airplane to zebra and everything in between, kids will love the adorable illustrations that connect letters, words, and objects." 

* This app is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the objects in each page on the screen and the words pop out to tell you what it is!

* There are options to go to other letters instead of going through one by one.

* I like that there is an option to use new narrator's voice (aka me!) as I get to add in new things like phonics which was not in this app. This app goes 'A (pronounced as eyyy) instead of pronouncing the phonics way.

* Overall an educational and fun app for the kiddos!

You can purchase the "Little Critter ABCs" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"