I'm a full-time mummy

Few days ago, I received an email from Nicki Donley with regards to her book and decided to review it after I Googled for more info on her book. Well, how could I say no to a book that  help children understand good moral values and instill proper etiquette in themselves? Below is my review for her "Cool Conduct - 100 Ways To Make A Positive Impression" book:

Title: Cool Conduct - 100 Ways To Make A Positive Impression
Author: Nicki Donley
Publisher:  Halo Publishing International (September 15, 2010)
ISBN-13/-10: 1935268635 / 978-1935268635
Paperback: 32 pages
Dimension: 8.3 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches

Description from the author:
" Cool Conduct is a fun and interactive book for children K-3 that encourages values such as kindness and respect. I believe social and communication skills are 2 of the most important skills parents and caregivers can provide for their child's future success and Cool Conduct does just that. Cool Conduct will help children make the connection that their behavior should make them, and those around them feel good."

* I love the cute illustrations!

* I like that this book addresses the ways to instill good manners and discipline for our children such as Social Etiquette, Respecting Belongings, Safety Skills, Outdoor Etiquette, Verbal/Non Verbal Communication, Electronic Etiquette, Table Manners, Healthy Habits - Image & Clothing, Public Places, School Etiquette and Acts of Kindness.

* Although my toddler is abit young to be reading this book, that is not a hindrance as I can read it out to him and not to mention the illustrations help too! I think that we as adults can also learn from this book as well!

* I am glad to be able to review this book and it will definitely stay in my book library (aka iPad - it goes with me everywhere I am)

Do get a copy yourself, heck, get it as a gift too!

You can get this book from HaloPublishing, Barnes&Noble, Amazon, Ingram Books and Indiebound.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book by the author 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"

Welcome to the I Love Me! Carnival!

This post was written for inclusion in the I Love Me! Carnival hosted by Amy at Anktangle. This carnival is all about love of self, challenging you to lift yourself up, just for being you. Please read to the bottom to find a list of submissions from the other carnival participants.

For those of you who hopped over from the carnival, welcome and greetings from Malaysia, I hope you enjoy reading me bragging about myself (oh please bear with me... it's really rare that I self-complimented myself in public!!).

For my regular readers and visitors, hope you enjoy this post and do check out other participants' posts in this carnival if you're free!

Now what I love about me?

1. I quit my job to be a full-time mummy

Yeah! I kissed my beloved job goodbye back in June 2009 and became a SAHM since then. No regrets now that I look back at it. And I thank God for providing us with what we need since then.

2. I am a low maintenance kinda girl

Yeap again... no make-ups, no perfumes, no branded clothing, shoes, handbags, etc etc. Back when I was still working, I would spend money on books and magazines and the occasional clothing which I can wear both to work and for casual, but that's about it. No unnecessary spending. And now that I'm a SAHM, I get my books for FREE (since I get to review them hehehe...) and if I have to buy them, I use the money I earned from my blog.

3. I exclusively breastfed Benjamin for the first 6 months of his life

And by exclusive breastfed I meant totally on breastmilk and nothing else. No formula at all. With the rare couple of occasions where I was nagged by MIL to give Ben a few sips of water (during one of our very hot season). I am proud to be able to nourish my boy solely on my breastmilk alone!

4. I prepared Ben's solids myself

Other than the first small tin of rice cereal we bought to try out on Ben when he started solids, I prepared his solids myself. Steamed, mashed, minced, sliced all sorts of vegetables and fruits and prepared it for my boy. I wrote a post about Ben's solids and why I DIY his solids and you can read it at my old blog here.

5. I nursed my boy through my pregnancy!

Even though my breastmilk dried up during my 5th month of pregnancy, that doesn't seem to stop Ben from continue suckling from me. And now that my baby Alyson is born, Ben continues on breastfeeding (only prior to his afternoon naptime and bedtime) which makes up my next point which is...

6. I tandem nurse my 2.5 year old boy and baby

It is now almost 2 months that I tandem nursed my boy and my baby. Of course, during the initial few days, I was having emotional battles whenever I nursed Ben but slowly, I worked through this obstacle and am hoping it will completely go away soon.

7. I love my big eyes

Yeap, I admit it. I love them. I love that Ben inherits my big eyes. I hope Alyson does too. It's still too early to tell now. But yeah, my big eyes are one of my body parts which I'm proud of.

So there you go... the above lists are some of the things I can think of now that I love about myself!

Before I have kids, my waistline was the same, all the way since I was 17 years old...

And then I had Ben, and I gotta get a pregnancy jeans... which was fine cos it was extra small...

And then my waistline started expanding...

And few days back, when I had to go to the hospital for my postnatal check-up, I found myself with no pants to wear. The jeans I had in my closet stay stuck around my thighs, refusing to go up any higher... my hips apparently expanded thanks to these 2 fella...

So, during the recent weekend, hubby forced me to go shop for new jeans as I stood there holding my jeans, mourning over not being able to wear them anymore... After checking in and out a few stores, I finally bought 2 pair of jeans, 1 full length the other knee length.

And guess what are my jeans sizes now?

Sigh... what have my kids done to me?!