I'm a full-time mummy

I have received a number of emails and comments from my followers asking how I get to review products and apps so I decided to list down my tips and post it (maybe weekly?) to share my experience and tips. Feel free to drop me an email or comment if you want to find out more or anything else.

2 weeks back I shared my fifth tips in getting products to review, which is POST YOUR REVIEWS! Here goes my sixth tip:

JOIN SOME BLOGGING COMMUNITY!

Now what you need to do:

• Browse around the Internet.
  
• There are so many blogging groups and networks around, so look out for those and join them.
  
• There are some network community which you can share and send out your pitches for opportunities to review products.
• You can check out on my blog sidebar way at the bottom under 'Cool Apps' section, there are some logos I put up which I am affiliated with. You might want to check them out and joined them! 
  

Even if you don't get to pitch products,

you might end up making new cyber friends.

All these blogging communities are about making connections and sharing and exchanging information and knowledge.

There you go, my 6th blog tips on getting products to review.

Try it yourself and let me know the outcome!

** P.S: Please note that it is always better if your blog has good following and good PR rank as these factors help a lot when you request for a product to review.

Like I mentioned in one of my recent review, I go ga-ga over apps with the word 'collection' or 'big book' in it. When I saw the press release for this app, I immediately requested for it as Ben is a huge fan of the "Five Little Monkeys" stories. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Five Little Monkeys Collection #1
* Price: $11.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Apr 25, 2012
* Current Version: 1.08
* Size: 75.1 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1 or later

Description from the product page:

"Five Little Monkeys Collection #1 features five entertaining adventures of five clumsy but well-intentioned little monkeys who don't always get things exactly right, but always have a good time!

–Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed is a charming bedtime story sure to send children giggling off to bed . . . hopefully without any clever new ideas!
–Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake finds the monkeys cooking up a special surprise in the kitchen. But in the end, they're the ones who get the big surprise!
–Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car proves that with determination, team work, and a little bit of luck, nearly any task is possible!
–Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree teaches the monkeys a lesson in teasing (and hiding) when Mr. Crocodile SNAPS at them with his sharp teeth!
–Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do follows the monkeys as they enthusiastically scrub the house for Grandma Beesie's visit. But amid the excitement, a few things get overlooked! "

We have some of the Five Little Monkeys' story apps on our iPad such as "Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping", "Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do" and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

What's good?

* It 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!

* In "Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake", Ben gets excited when he sees the fire engine rushing over to help. From this story, I explained to Ben to be careful and not play with fire and repeated the function of a fire engine which is to help put out fire. 

* In "Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree", I used the above page to teach Ben on counting (1 to 5) and I kept reminding him that it is dangerous to be climbing up on a tree and playing tricks on the crocodile.

* In "Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car", Ben gets excited seeing the Five Little Monkeys helping to wash and clean up the car as he can relates himself doing this task (he helps out when daddy washes our cars sometimes). I used this opportunity to teach him to be helpful when doing house chores and to be careful as well at the page where the car ended up in the muddy swamp with crocodiles.

What's not so good?

* I like the "Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake" storyline where the Five Little Monkeys are so thoughtful to bake a birthday cake for their mummy's birthday but I don't like the idea of the monkeys shushing to each other to be quiet and then got into mischief. I think Ben got the idea that he needs to shush if he is planning to do something without mummy knowing as hubby and I experienced this few times already. For example, Ben asked to go to the playroom but I was busy tending to Alyson and Ben crept to hubby quietly and said 'Shhh, daddy, let's go playroom'. That's when I realised he learned the shushing motion from this app.

You can purchase the "Five Little Monkeys Collection #1" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor 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"

I blogged about starting Ben back on his potty training in February after months of delaying it (Alyson came along in September and I had to pause Ben's potty training since then) and even listed down some short, medium and long terms goals that I looked forward to accomplishing with Ben.

Then I also blogged about the precious sight I get to see - Ben finally pooping in his potty! (instead of diapers which he always insisted on)

And now, I'm revisiting those goals I set in February and checking off the ones we achieved so far:

Previous and Current Updates:

So there you go, I hope we will be able to achieve the goals above and Ben to be diaper-free soon!