I'm a full-time mummy

Our 4.5 years old boy is a big fan of Lego stuff, so I just can't say no when I see this book available for review!

Title: Beautiful LEGO
Author: Mike Doyle
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN-13/-10:  978-1-59327-508-2 / 1-59327-508-0
Paperback:  280 pages

Description from the product page:
"Mix hundreds of thousands of LEGO bricks with dozens of artists, and what do you get? Beautiful LEGO, a compendium of LEGO artwork that showcases a stunning array of pieces ranging from incredibly lifelike replicas of everyday objects and famous monuments to imaginative renderings of spaceships, mansions, and mythical creatures. You'll also meet the minds behind the art. Interviews with the artists take you inside the creative process that turns simple, plastic bricks into remarkable LEGO masterpieces."

'Fun, fun, fun!' is all I can think of as I flipped through this book! I got our 4.5 years old to sit with me as we flipped through each pages in the book, and oh wow... I'm so thrilled to see our boy getting more and more excited and anxious to see what's coming up in the next pages and boy oh boy, the pictures of the Lego creations included in this book are just gorgeous and droolworthy! 

Some of the Lego creations are totally awesome and got our boy so inspired and amazed! Pictures below are some of the Lego creations that got our boy's attention:

Lego Ironman! Our boy is a big fan of Ironman and to see it made with Lego, oh wow... our boy was totally blown away!

The castle from Alice in Wonderland story. Our boy has only watched Alice in Wonderland movie once so he does not really relate the castle to the story. He sees it as a castle and just wanted to build a castle!

I also used the opportunity to educate our boy when we come across some of the Lego creations showcasing the olden days gadget like telephone, game console player and etc. Really nice to see all this in Lego creations!

In summary, it  is so much fun to just flip through this amazing book and just be amazed (and drooled over them) on what other people have managed to achieved with tons of LEGO bricks! I hope this book is able to inspire our kiddos in creating more awesome 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"

Over 2 months ago, I was approached by Ciinolin to review one of their muslin swaddles for our coming baby in October. The only swaddles I remembered using were those white colored cotton nappy cloth and I was interested with Ciinolin's products as I was told that we can still use it for our child as they grow along. I wouldn't say no to value products like this! So here goes my review:

Description from the product page:
"Ciinolin (pronounced “See – no – leen”) was founded under the very same belief that “all things grow better with love, care and diligence”. Similar to Aden and Anais it was made using a blend of cotton and bamboo rayon. A set contains 3 different 47″ x 47″ swaddles made from 70% rayon made from natural bamboo fibres and 30% cotton. Comes in a box of 3 swaddles and for every box, Ciinolin intend to donate 6 sets of school stationery to children in Myanmar through B1G1, an NGO registered and regulated in Singapore."

There are currently 2 designs available which are: Cirebon Adventures, a narrative inspired by children’s imagination for exploration and adventure in faraway places and Madura Merrytime, a celebration of the rustic bold colored batik from the Javanese island of Madura.

* PACKAGING: I received the Cirebon Adventures design and love the cute and practical packaging box that comes with it.  

* INSTRUCTIONS & LABELING: There is ample information all over the packaging box which explains why you should swaddle your child, how to swaddle your child, the features of the swaddles, how to care instructions and more. Label instructions are clear and easy to read and follow as well.

* DESIGN: The Cirebon Adventures design are very cute! Love the cute animals going off to a faraway place, on aeroplane, birds and hot air balloons! So carefree and adventurous at the same time!

* FEATURES: The moment I opened up the packaging and touched the swaddles the first time, oh boy... it is sooooooooooo soft to the touch, I just caressed it gently and lovingly.... ahhhh... soft and smooth like a newborn skin, I say! FYI, the swaddles are made from 70% rayon made from natural bamboo fibres and 30% cotton.

Another thing to note is the swaddles are very huge!!! Love the big size!

I immediately got on to soak, rinse and wash the swaddles. It is very fast to dry and requires no ironing at all! I gave one of the swaddles to my sister-in-law who is expecting her 2nd child and due 2-3 weeks after me. The other 2 swaddles go straight into my labor bag!

* USING IT: Ta-daaaa! Pictures below showing you our newborn baby girl being swaddled in Ciinolin while we were in the hospital.

I love seeing her safely and comfortably cocooned in the cute and comfy swaddle! To sum up my review of the Ciinolin muslin swaddles, I am glad to be able to review it and happy to know our baby girl is comfortably swaddled in this oh-so-soft and comfy swaddle! Oh by the way, I also use the swaddles as a blanket sometimes! Definitely a keeper!

You can find out more information at http://www.ciinolin.com/where-to-buy/ and http://www.ciinolin.com/swaddles/

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

This is the story of my 3rd supernatural childbirth... you can read about my 1st supernatural childbirth in my old blog and my 2nd supernatural childbirth as well. Here goes the third one:

30th September 2013 ~ 08.00 am

Started feeling some mild period-like cramps. Entertained thoughts on contractions starting and took my handphone, turned on the contractions counter app and start to note down the time and date... and waited for the next period-like cramp...

30th September 2013 ~ 10.00 am

Time gap between contractions are not regular. Within 9am to 10am, the time gap is every 9 to 11 minutes but after 10am onwards, the time gap goes between 3 to 15 minutes. I know they are actual contractions as the pain does not go away no matter what you do. Just as hubby got ready to go out for his appointment, I told him that I am having contractions but they are not regular. He looked stunned and immediately reschedule his appointments for the day and rushed off to meet a client before coming back to get our kiddos and me, dropped off our kiddos at our SIL's place and then send me to our birth hospital.

30th September 2013 ~ 11.40 am

Dropped off kiddos at SIL place, I cried as I see my 2 kiddos going into SIL's house... SIL said not to worry and don't cry, go have a safe delivery! Hubby and I then went to McDonald's drive-through to get our lunch before we head off to our hospital.

30th September 2013 ~ 12.30 pm

Reached the labor ward, registered myself and was told to lie on one of the monitoring beds, got hooked to some machine to check whether contractions are real or false and also checked for baby's heart rate. Was on the bed for an hour. Finally a doctor came in and checked and I was already 3cm dilated. In the hospital, once you reached 4cm, they will break your water bag to start the labor process. Since I was not 4cm yet, I was advised to admit and rest in my room. Unluckily for me, there are no more private rooms available so I had to end up staying in a 4 bedded room (I'm not really comfortable sharing room with others as I would like to rest in peace and quietness and not hear other mums moan or whine etc) but oh well...

30th September 2013 ~ 4.30 pm

It took such a long time for the hospital staff to admit me to my room! Something wrong with my identification card number. In Malaysia, the last digit indicates whether you are a male or female. Odd number = male, even number = female. Mine ended with a 5, hence the hospital system hangs as it kept reading my details as male and rejecting my admittance. Gaaaaa... when they finally sorted out the issues, I got into my room and rest. A doctor came over and checked and said I'm 5cm already. Contractions are getting more intense and I asked the nurse to find a doctor to check me again. But no one came.

30th September 2013 ~ 05.00 pm

Two more contractions came and I felt like pushing. I told hubby to get the nurse and tell them I need to push NOW. Just a few seconds after hearing hubby telling the nurse at the reception counter, few of the nurses rushed in to my room and pleaded me NOT to push yet. They managed to get the doctor in-charge and asked him to check how dilated I was to be sure as there are not enough labor beds yet in the labor ward. I was quite annoyed at this point as I can see the doctor hesitating and scared to proceed. In the end, the nurses decided to just wheeled me to the labor ward. Once we were in the labor ward, I was told to hold off pushing as doctor is on the way and my hubby too. He had to take the long route as he was not allowed to go through staff paths. A nurse gave me the gas mask (Entonox) to breathe in when my contractions kick in and to be honest, that really helps delay my pushing. I could feel myself getting high as well from the laughing gas!

30th September 2013 ~ 05.50 pm

Saw my gynae coming into my labor room all geared up. Hubby couldn't recognise our gynae at first. I was just waiting for gynae to tell me I can push anytime. I'm really really really trying hard to hold off pushing this time! Gynae and a nurse got me ready, legs bend up, felt gynae breaking my water bag and contractions kick in then, I heard gynae said 'Ok start pushing when you feel your contractions coming!' GREENLIGHT! YES! I pushed the first time and thought I pooped or something but hubby said nothing, go on, pushhhhhhhh!!! I pushed 2nd time and everyone around telling me, one more time, one more time, can see baby's head. I was still high and dizzy with the laughing gas and the nurse took the gas mask away from me.

30th September 2013 ~ 05.55 pm

 Then I pushed the 3rd time and felt baby whooshed out from my vagina - phewwww... always love that sensation as baby glides out and the whole burden is lifted off my body! Baby Carolyn is born at 5.55pm! She came out crying loudly and because of this, our gynae granted my wish to have hubby do the delayed cord clamping. We waited for a few minutes and hubby was then passed a device to clamp the cord and guided by gynae on how to clamp it.

30th September 2013 ~ 09.00 pm

We are still stuck in our labor room for hours! I am not sure what is causing the delay but it is getting irritating that lots of hours were wasted when I could've been happily wheeled back with baby to our room to rest. I had a hot Milo, some crackers and then some chicken rice for dinner in my labor room. By the time we got back to our room, it was already 9.30pm and hubby stayed for a while before he had to rush home to pick up our 2 kiddos from SIL's place.

So, there you go... the long story of my 3rd supernatural childbirth. And why I think this 3rd round is still supernatural?

*  Carolyn  engaged herself and yes, I remembered the pain and discomfort when I have contractions especially when baby is engaged!

* I was able to hold off for a long time from pushing Carolyn until I got wheeled into the labor ward

* I delivered Carolyn naturally

* I don't rely on painkillers other than Enthonox (which was for a couple of seconds only)

* I delivered Carolyn in 3 pushes (first one wasted on screaming and pushing while not having contractions)!

* I lost very little blood this round which was the same case with Ben and Alyson.

* No episiotomy this round! Yeay!

Again, I thank God for His divine intervention and for His blessings on our family.

And yes, we're now a family of 5!

Welcome to the family, Carolyn!