I'm a full-time mummy

A couple of months ago, I reviewed a LEGO PDF book called "Beautiful LEGO". Of course, as a mother of a 4.5 years old boy who is a big fan of Lego stuff, I just can't say no when I see another LEGO book available for review!

Title: LEGO Space: Building the Future
Author: Peter Reid, Tim Goddard
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN-13/-10:  978-1-59327-521-1 / 1-59327-521-8
Paperback:  216 pages

Description from the product page:
"Come explore an incredible LEGO® universe in LEGO Space: Building the Future. Spaceships, orbital outposts, and new worlds come to life in this unique vision of the future, built completely from LEGO bricks. A selection of step-by-step building instructions will have you constructing your own cosmic creations to play with at home. Marvel at interstellar battlecruisers, space pirates, charming robots, and other stunning builds from an amazing future!"

I had initially thought this book was an illustrations of the history of space travel and the marvels of space vehicles and gadgets - redo using Lego bricks. As we flipped further through the book, we realised it is a story of space in future. I am in awe of the number of pages of step by step illustrations on how to build the spaceships, robots, etc shown in the book.

I would however prefer if the book is organised by the story first and the step by step illustrations to build to be located after the story part. That would make it a pleasant experience to read the story fully and then for those who are interested to build the spaceships etc can flip through to the end of the book for guidance.

In summary, it  is a fun Lego book on space adventures and vehicles and all sorts relating to space that is different from the usual Lego books we have! I hope this book is able to inspire our kiddos in creating more awesome space related designs using Lego bricks.

Just in case you want to have a look at some of the creations by our 4.5 years old boy, feel free to hop over and check them out in my FB album.

You can get this book here.

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"

I had previously reviewed some products offered by Lazada Malaysia and they have approached me again recently to review their products again! Woweeee! Of course who will say no to Lazada Malaysia?

About the company:
"Lazada Malaysia is poised to be the single largest online mall that is part of a global cyber chain already established in Europe. We have similar sites in China, India, Singapore and the Philippines with plans to move into other parts of the world. Lazada Malaysia will change the face of shopping by offering a user-friendly, convenient and trusted e-commerce platform. "

I received a voucher code from Lazada Malaysia that I can use to redeem up to the amount stated and I managed to get hold of a total of 4 products for my review which I will break it down into 2 separate posts (the other 2 have been reserved as kiddos' Christmas gifts) for easier reading:

# 1 : Farlin Nose Cleaning Clip

Why a nose cleaning clip you ask? With a newborn baby in our family, I think having this product is essential. Prior to this, I used a similar tweezer-like device which broke off after I accidentally clipped the tip together too hard... So anyway, at first look, the Farlin nose cleaning clip is a simple tweezer-like clip made of plastic with rounded tip and has a transparent cap to protect the tips.

I immediately washed the clip and after drying it, I decided to try it out on our almost 2.5 months old Carolyn as she lies down helplessly on the changing table hehehehe... Despite being used on a 2.5 months old baby, the tip goes into Carolyn's nostrils with ease and I was able to reach her 'treasures' or boogers without her making any fuss.

Although the clip is easy to grasp and does it job properly, I feel that the clip is a bit too weak when I tried to grasp hard to pull out the booger from my girl's nostril. It's as if there's not enough power to the clip. Otherwise, it does a good job in extracting the loose dry booger (but not the sticky harder type)

For more information on this product, go to: http://www.lazada.com.my/farlin-nose-cleaning-clip-146344.html

# 2 : Wisecube Wooden Puzzle Geometry

I have always been on the lookout for educational and fun products for our kiddos, so I am delighted to be able to get this wooden puzzle games for our kiddos.

I was surprised to see there are 3 wooden puzzles in 3 different settings: 1 piece puzzle, 2 pieces puzzle and 3 pieces puzzle. For the price it was being sold, I think it was worth the value!

The puzzle shapes' size is also just right for children's fingers to grasp on to. I am very paranoid with wooden products especially at the thought of splinters and cuts but thankfully, there are no sharp edges at all.

I am a tad unhappy with the 2 slight surface cracks on one of the puzzle boards - refer picture above.

Other than that, what impressed me about this product is that it is made with non-toxic wood and the sizes are suitable enough for children 3 years and above to play.

I actually let our younger 2 years old Alyson had a go with the easiest 1 piece puzzle and she is able to complete the puzzles easily. Probably because she has been exposed to solving such puzzles in our playgroup sessions few months ago. I am hoping she will soon progressed to trying the 2 and 3 pieces puzzles though those are easily completed by our 4.5 years old Benjamin.

I used the product as part of our learning activities to teach our kiddos on shapes naming, matching the shapes and etc.

For more information on this product, go to: http://www.lazada.com.my/wisecube-wooden-puzzle-geometry-abc-457277.html

You can browse for more products at http://www.lazada.com.my/

I just want to share my feedback that the invoice does not reflect the delivery charges correctly when I placed my order for the items that I want to redeem. The voucher code does not cover the delivery charges so I was expecting to pay RM8 for the delivery of the items as stated in the invoice but when the items arrived, I found out I had to pay RM16. That is because the 4 items are separated into 2 dockets, whereby each docket costs RM8. I have already relayed my feedback on this matter to Lazada Malaysia so that other customers won’t get the similar situation in the future.

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a voucher to redeem the products by Lazada Malaysia 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.

Almost to the middle of October this year, I received an email from Miss Karen of Whimsical Articles asking whether I would be interested in reviewing the products in their online store. I was still in the midst of settling down with baby Carolyn (barely half month old then) and hence decided to keep in view for the time being.

A few weeks later, I emailed them again asking whether I can review two of their products which I think our 2 kiddos would be using and enjoying. My review for the 1st product was Melissa & Doug Wooden Bead Set - Sweet Hearts and here is the review for the 2nd product.

Description about the sponsor:
"At Whimsical Articles, we also wanted our children to have fun too! And so we lovingly handpicked every item for the kid’s crafts - to help encourage our little ones to develop creatively and have endless hours of fun! From products that one child can do at home; to the products that can be done as a group and not forgetting crafts which can be made during parties. Your child will have loads of fun! These crafts will help your child to create masterpieces and keep as keepsakes for years to come!"

The reason why I requested to review the The Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics - My First (Team Rescue) is so that I can let both my older 2 kiddos try it out. Our 4.5 years old boy loves vehicles like fire engine and police car while our 2 years old girl is crazy with stickers, so this is a great combo that can serve the purposes of entertaining and educating both our kiddos!

My feedback on the product's packaging: The sticky mosaics are placed on either colored foam layers or the shiny glittery sticky mosaics are stuck on transparent plastic layers. It's hard to believe that there are over 600+ mosaic stickers and gems in this packaging! 

My feedback on the product: The quality of the sticky mosaics is very good and strong, in fact some of them are so strong that I have to help out our kiddos to unstick it from their little fingers. The colors are striking and eye catching and the sticky mosaics are soft and smooth to the touch which is good for little kiddos' fingers.

My feedback on kiddos using the product: The moment I opened the packaging, our 2 kiddos lunged at the contents, trying hard to grab onto them to see what is it all about! I spent a few minutes going through the contents (while trying my best to hold off our 2 anxious kiddos) and then I asked our 4.5 years old which rescue vehicle he would like to choose and we ended up with the police car. I slowly explained to our 4.5 years old boy what we are supposed to achieve in the activity, to stick the appropriate sticky mosaics based on the colors and shapes shown on the rescue vehicle card. 

As I had mentioned earlier, our 2 years old Alyson is crazy with stickers but being a tad young to be doing this activity since she can't quite grasp the concept that she must stick the mosaics according to their colors and shapes, I let her played along by peeling off the sticky mosaics, passing it one by one to her so that she can passed them on to her older brother. I can see Alyson feeling happy and proud for being a part of this activity!

Because of this, I actually get to train our girl to be patient in waiting for me to peel and pass to her the sticky mosaics one by one and she also had to wait again for her brother to slowly stick the mosaics correctly. As for our 4.5 years old boy, I am amazed he is able to sit still and slowly adjust and stick the mosaics correctly.

Summary: Of course at this point in time, it is still too early to expect our girl to be doing this activity like our 4.5 years old boy who is clearly enjoying the activity! On top of that, I am pretty satisfied with this product as it really kept our kiddos occupied and quiet throughout the duration they used to complete the stickers for the police car template.

I definitely see the potential of this product being played again in future though I was a bit worried that the sticky mosaics are not enough thanks to our 2 years old girl peeling off the stickers and sticking them all over the places instead of on the rescue vehicle template! In any case, this definitely could make a great gift option as well :)

You can get this at http://www.whimsicalarticles.com/kids-crafts/the-orb-factory-sticky-mosaics-my-first-team-rescue.html

Whimsical Articles has also offered a special discount for my blog followers. Below are the details of the discount:

Purchase RM180.00 or more and get additional RM15 off on top of the already discounted products.
Customer can use this voucher as many time as possible. Valid from now until 31st December 2013.

Steps to get the discount:
1) Log in / Register as a member at www.whimsicalarticles.com
2) Add in the products to purchase into cart.
3) At Check-out, place in Coupon Code : IFM2013
4) Please check that products total is more than RM180 before code can be used.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by Whimsical Articles 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.