I'm a full-time mummy

In my 2 years of parenting life now, I have been privileged to be able to share my experiences and gave my advice to people across the world, the Internet and so on... Friends made on mom blogs, forums, personal blogs, even on Facebook. Topics ranging from pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding (mostly), baby care and so on...

And yet, there are some questions I've heard which I have to, (even today!) say "Sorry, I Haven't A Clue" to that...

So, the following are some of the questions that left me speechless and helpless (for not able to answer them!)...

#1: Any questions with regards to FORMULA MILK

Example: Which type/brand of formula milk is good? Or what formula brand is your boy taking?

Ummmm... sorry, I haven't a clue to that... I'm still breastfeeding my boy at 2 years old now and yes, since we brought our baby boy back to our house from the hospital, we have never needed to buy any formula milk at all. No kidding.

And yes, if you asked me how much I think we save on not needing to purchase any formula milk, I haven't a clue to that too as I have no idea how much a tin of those costs, what are the good brands and how much/frequent usage of the formula is as I breastfeed on demand and never knew how much I fed my boy. So, again, sorry, I haven't a clue to this...

#2: Any questions with regards to WEANING my child in order to try TO CONCEIVE for our next child

Example: How do you wean your child? How early you have to wean your child in order to try for the next one?

Uhhhhhh.. like I said in the earlier question, I am still breastfeeding my 2 year old boy and yes, I am almost 4 months pregnant as of today and I really can't answer this question. Friends and relatives tell me it's not possible to get pregnant while you are still breastfeeding and yet, I prove them wrong. People said we have to wean off our child in order to try to conceive our next child and yet, I am pregnant and STILL breastfeeding now.

#3: Any questions with regards to BREAST PUMP

Example: Which type/brand of breast pump is good?

Since I gave birth to Ben 2 years ago, I only used one battery operated breast pump (Medela brand, picture shown above) which was a hand me down from my 2nd SIL who got it from my 1st SIL. And I used that pump about 3 weeks (was serving my one month notice as I tendered my resignation a day after I returned to work from my maternity leave). I ended up learning to express my breastmilk using my bare hands. Armed with tutorials and guides from the Internet, I learned as much as I could on the techniques to hand express and I finally mastered it after a few attempts and was so glad and satisfied at my accomplishment!

After quitting my job, I direct feed Ben from then on and  resumed the hand express method when it was time for Ben to start solids at 6 months old. I hand expressed some breastmilk for storing after each direct feed so that I could mix the breastmilk with his solids during the initial couple of months of starting on solids.

So, yeah, if you asked me to recommend you a particular type/brand of breast pump, I'll most likely tell you to learn to do it the natural way, which is to hand express.

#4: Any questions with regards to transitioning my child to SLEEPING ON HIS OWN BED

Example: What techniques you used to get your boy to sleep on his own bed?

Since Ben came into our life 2 years ago, he has been sleeping with us on our bed. Granted, there are times when hubby ended up sleeping on the spare bed next to our King sized bed (selfishly hogged by Ben and myself hehehehe...), but still, co-sleeping with us since day 1. So I have no idea on the ideas/techniques to transition my boy to sleeping on his own bed. We do have a playroom for Ben with a spare bed for him (intended to be Ben's room when he is older) but as of now, we are taking it easy and slow and just let things run its course. I remembered I still co-sleep with my parents up until I was 7 years old.

That's about the questions I can think of which I have yet to be able to answer as of today...

What about you? What are the questions you get that you have no clue on how to answer it?

I can't believe my luck when Nicole from Tribute Books replied so swiftly to my email requesting for a book review opportunity with her company and within a few email exchange, she gave me the link to download the softcopy to a children's book by Christy Baldwin (illustrated by Sarah Barnes) called "Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night".

Author: Christy Baldwin
Illustrator: Sarah Barnes
Publisher: Tribute Books
ISBN-13: 9780976507215
Product Dimensions: 5.5" x 8.5"
Paperback: 24 pages

Excerpt from the book description:
"Nine great things happen when the sun sets for the evening. Each page includes a statement about what is happening and then some fun facts and information about that event. Written from a Christian perspective, the story describes how God made things when He created the Earth. While the story was written specifically for ages 3-8, children of all ages will enjoy this book. Even adults can admire the beautiful watercolor artwork done by illustrator, Sarah Barnes."

Christy Baldwin Bio:
"Writing has been a passion of Christy's since she was very young. As a child, she loved to write stories for her grandfather and poems just for fun. She lives in Mason, Ohio with her family and is active in church, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and volunteering with various organizations. Christy has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Cedarville University and a master's degree in Special Education from the University of Scranton. She is a stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with her kids and being involved in their schools. Her other children's titles include Care for Creation and Remembering Wilma".

Firstly, I think the book cover doesn't do it justice. I would have preferred if one of the more breathtaking content pages was used as the cover as seriously, the pictures on each page in the book are a delight to see. I just fell in love with the beautiful illustrations and the accompanying bible verses in the book! And I was feeling a tad sad as I came to the end of the book as I was hoping to see more beautiful pictures and scriptures...

I particularly enjoyed this page:

Beautiful and breathtaking right? You can view the book's video trailer below:

Overall, I give this book an 8 out of 10.

You can get Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night from Amazon website.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a softcopy of the book by the publisher 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"

Phewwww what a day I had yesterday!!!

Just in case you don't know, I have just celebrated my 2nd anniversary of my 29th birthday! Hehehehe.... alright, alright.. I've just turned 31 years old, I get it, I accept it! So anyway, what a great day it was!

To wake up at the sound of heavy rain pouring outside my house (I love, love, love rain!), and then seeing my precious boy still asleep in his toddler dream land and thanking God for a wonderful start for my special day!

And then hubby calling me on my mobile (he was out early to do his banking stuff) asking me what I would like to have for my birthday breakfast and my mind went blank for a moment... I told him I'd pretty much like to have McDonald's breakfast set if I can hehehehe...

And then hubby took over the task of feeding Ben his breakfast, leaving me to enjoy my breakfast slowly while checking my Facebook and being greeted and wished by many many many friends and family members on my happy day!

Not fair! Ben never opened his mouth THIS wide when I feed him!

MIL came over and passed my red packet through Ben...

And after breakfast, we watched Ben's favorite movie at the moment (Disney's Cars) and we stopped halfway and I changed Ben into his swimsuit and let him play in his water pool as we've not been doing that for the past few days. Halfway playing, I heard Ben saying 'cooking' and 'boil boil' and then I realised, oh boy... my precious boy is imagining cooking play now! How cute!

After sometime playing, Ben helped me cleared the toys and drained the water in the pool. Then I bathed him and it's almost 1pm by then. I got ready his lunch and he happily sat on his pink walker (which we bade farewell sometime ago but ended up still using it as his eating chair in our room hahahah)

After a while, it's time for his daytime nap and to my surprise, my precious boy gave me a hug....! Awwww.... sweetness!!

Ben woke up around 5pm and I gave him some snacks for his tea time break. He had 4 small bananas and happily poked the banana slices and fed himself while watching a Doraemon movie.

Then hubby got home from his errands and we got ready to go out for dinner. We already booked a table at this Japanese buffet restaurant, they were having this promo where customers who are having birthday on the day gets to eat for free! Woohooo! We walked around for abit before heading to the restaurant... need to prep up our stomaches for the big feast! Hahahaharr...

There are other dishes which I did not get to take photos of cos' I was away getting my 2nd, 3rd, 4th helpings hehehe... I didn't get to snap photos of hubby's double helpings of lamb shanks, the yummy Miso soup, the delicious Chawan Mushi and the few more scoops of ice creams and some few more pieces of cakes for me hehehehe...

All in all, it was a great day and I truly enjoyed every moment of it! Again, to those wonderful people who take their time to wish me birthday, be it via SMS or Facebook messages, thank you again, and may God bless you & your family! I leave you all with this beautiful phrase to start your day with...

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Read: Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)