I'm a full-time mummy

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews towards the last quarter of year 2016 to prepare for our coming 4th kiddo who was born in early November 2016 and I am now slowly resuming doing product reviews but prioritizing those that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or educational stuff, family products, something along those genre)

However, as busy as I am with 4 kiddos, home cooking, taking care of hubby's administration site of the business and swamped up with managing my FB page and blog, I just can't say no to reviewing products that either myself and/or my family can use, what more a world-known product which I had reviewed 2 years ago! 

About the product:

"Jordan is an award winning oral care brand since 1927. Having awarded the prestigious global Red Dot Design award, Jordan is one of the oldest oral and dental hygiene brands in the world. It designs and produces toothbrushes for the whole family, giving them clean, healthy and beautiful teeth. The company also offer a high-quality range of products for cleaning between the teeth, from dental floss to different sizes of interdental brushes."

Like my previous review experience with Jordan, they generously sent me a range of oral care products for my family (young and not so young hahaha...) to try.

Our littlest family member has just turned 6 months old a few days ago and has only been sprouting 1 small little dot of tooth on his front gum, I have yet to introduce any oral care products to our baby yet.

So, I will proceed to share my review on the Step 2 range of products, which are meant for kiddos aged between 3 to 5 years old. This round, our 3.5-year-old princess upgraded her toothbrush for Step 1 to Step 2 products and she chose the purple neon blue color toothbrush and proceeded to squeeze on a pea sized toothpaste onto her new colorful toothbrush!

FYI, the Step 2 toothbrush is specially designed to clean milk teeth in children around the ages of 3 to 5 years old. I like that the toothbrush has an ergonomic handle, easy for small hand grip and I personally like the colorful funky colors really! I don't hear any complaints or fuss from our little fussy princess so I guess this is approved! Hahaha!

Next up is the Step 3 range of toothbrushes which our older 2 kiddos are using. FYI, the Step 3 toothbrush is designed to meet the challenging oral needs of 6 to 9-year-old children. The challenge at this age is that, with both milk and permanent teeth, the positioning of the teeth may be uneven. The quality and placement of the bristles and head become even more important - hence you can see there are 2 bristle heads on the toothbrush where the integrated ‘solo brush’ reaches molars and hard-to-reach spaces between the teeth and gums ensuring that no teeth or surfaces need be forgotten.

Our first kiddo is 8 years old now and will still be using the Step 3 toothbrush for this review. He chose the colors he wanted and off he goes to brush his teeth like normal. He still has quite a few milk teeth and already growing some permanent teeth, so I really appreciate that he can still use the Step 3 toothbrush at this stage.

Our 2nd kiddo who will be 6 years old in this coming September has yet to experience any tooth loss but I'm prepping her up to use the Step 3 toothbrush. She was a bit sad to have to stop using her Step 2 toothbrush though. I feel now that she is using the Step 3 toothbrush, her grip is firmer and the way she brushes her teeth is steadier.

Both the Step 2 and Step 3 range of toothbrushes came with the travel cap which I really appreciate a lot! It helps to protect and keep their toothbrushes clean whenever we go for traveling.

Next up, both hubby and myself tried the Slim range of toothbrushes. It has 0.01mm ultra soft bristles which are gentle on your gums and yet, delivers a deep clean for both teeth and gum. I felt like the toothbrush is hugging my gum, cradling it softly and warmly! In fact, it is much better than my previous Target Sensitive range of Jordan toothbrush. I have no issues with the toothbrush, I can actually feel the bristle sinking in deep to clean and yet gently caressing my teeth and gums at the same time. I do feel that the toothbrush handle is a bit slippery sometimes.

This round, we got to try out a new product, which is the Easy Clean Flosser! I tried it on our kiddos and they were amazed to see there are still some remnants that can be flossed out even after they have brushed their teeth! Compared to the traditional string floss, I personally prefer this as I just love the ergonomic handle with soft rubber which allows for better grip especially when small hands are holding it and trying to floss their own teeth themselves. The Easy Clean Flosser comes with 1 handle and 20 fluoride coated thread refills.

Overall feedback, I'm very happy we get to review these products AGAIN!

With a brand name that is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year, Jordan oral care products are definitely worth the long run for our whole family!

The new range is available from all leading retail outlets.

Similarly, you can also read more info from http://www.jordan.no/en

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products 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.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

Do you know that every Malaysians now, regardless how old or how young need to have their own passport? I remembered I had my first passport when I was around pre-teen age and it was tagged onto my late mum's passport. Meaning, if you opened up her passport, you will see her picture and mine in the passport. But gone are those days... now, like I mentioned earlier, everybody needs to have their own passport.

Just in case you are not familiar with the procedures, I'll just copy paste some quick notes and tips for your reference here:

Applying For A Malaysian Passport For Your Baby

• What to bring along: Your child's Original Birth Certificate (and 1 photocopy), Mother/ Father’s Original IC (and 1 photocopy), RM100 (Validity 5 years)

• Tips: There are certain Immigration centres that has special lanes (for pregnant women, old folks, special needs or handicapped individuals as well as women with infants) I personally opt for the Immigration Department of Malaysia @ Sri Hartamas.

Process to apply for your child's new passport:

•  Get ready all the documents, go straight to the Immigration Department and look for the 1 special counter to get your queue number.
  

• The immigration officer will ask you for your documents and he/she will help you slot and arrange your documents and forms accordingly before passing you a queue number ticket.
  

• If possible, get ready your child's height measurement (there are some height chart around the department where you can use to check your child's height)
  

• Once your number is called, you will pass your documents to the officer in-charge (he/she will also ask for your queue number ticket)
  

• Then get ready your child for passport photo taking right at the counter you are in. If your child is not able to sit up, you will need to prop them up so that their picture can be taken. Make sure facial features are easily seen.
  

• Once done, wait for a while for your number to be called again for you to pay for the passport. You will get back your original IC and child's original birth cert after payment is made.
  

• From that point onwards, you will wait approximately 1 hour to get your child's passport. The officer at Kaunter Serahan might ask for your original IC and child's birth cert for reference again.
  

Now, wait wait wait... I'm NOT done yet! Yes, congrats for your child's new passport!

But wait a minute, do you know that you need to update their passport photo around 2 years?? (or earlier or later depending on their facial features changes)? Do you know or not!!!!????!!!

We found out about this when we brought our 4th kiddo to make his new passport and was told about this passport photo replacement for 2 years down the road. Yikes! We totally were not prepared at all for this, so back at home I checked back our older 3 kiddos' passports and sure enough, our girls face changed already! No more the cute chubby cheeks! And soooooo, we had to go to the Immigration Department again few days later (busy busy busy!!!)

Replacement of Malaysian Passport Photo For Your Baby

• What to bring along: Your child's Original Birth Certificate (and 1 photocopy), Mother/ Father’s Original IC (and 1 photocopy), your child's passport.
  

• Tips: There are certain Immigration centres that has special lanes (for pregnant women, old folks, special needs or handicapped individuals as well as women with infants) I personally opt for the Immigration Department of Malaysia @ Sri Hartamas.

Process to replace your child's passport photo:

• Once you have arrived at the Immigration Department, go look for the Passport Photo kiosk. Your child needs to take his/her passport photo at this kiosk. We paid RM17 each for 4 copies of our girls' passport photos. (meaning for each girl we paid RM17)
  

• Get ready all the documents, go straight to the Immigration Department and look for the 1 special counter to get your queue number.
  

• The immigration officer will ask you for your documents and 2 copies of passport photos and he/she will help you slot and arrange your documents and forms accordingly before passing you a queue number ticket and a form to fill up.
  

• If possible, get ready your child's height measurement (there are some height chart around the department where you can use to check your child's height)
  

• Once your number is called, you will pass your documents to the officer in-charge (he/she will also ask for your queue number ticket)
  

• The immigration officer will help fill up some fields in the form and your child will need to have their right thumb print on the form. Father/mother (the person filling up the form) will also need to have their right thumb print stamped next to their signature.
  

• Wait for a while as the officer pass your documents and form for approval and then you will get back your original IC and child's original birth cert after that. There is NO payment required for this at all.
  

• From that point onwards, you will wait approximately half hour to get your child's passport. The officer at Kaunter Serahan might ask for your original IC and child's birth cert for reference again.

This is how your child's passport looks like after completing the photo replacement process. Your child's passport remains the same (as long as still not expired of course), passport number remains unchanged, just that one of the pages in the passport will have a printed page with a copy of your child's latest passport photo glued, stamped and sealed marked on it to show that there is a recent photograph of the passport bearer which is effective from so and so date.

I hope the above info can help you understand the process better and be more well prepared. Honestly, it is hard for me to find any info on this passport photo replacement for children. Which is why I decided to blog this down so that I can remember what to do next time with our 4th kiddo hahahah...

For other info, you may check out http://www.kln.gov.my/web/ita_rome/passport_renewal

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews towards the last quarter of year 2016 to prepare for our coming 4th kiddo who was born in early November 2016 and I am now slowly resuming doing product reviews but prioritizing those that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or educational stuff, family products, something along those genre)

However, as busy as I am with 4 kiddos, home cooking, taking care of hubby's administration site of the business and swamped up with managing my FB page and blog, I just can't say no to reviewing products that either myself and/or my family can use, what more reviewing a well-known stationery products' brand like Faber-Castell, I would be mad to say no, right?!

About the company/products:

"Faber-Castell is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality products for writing, drawing and creative design. Founded as a pencil factory in 1761 in Stein, near Nuremberg, today the firm is one of the oldest industrial companies in the world and remains a family-owned business even after more than eight generations of family ownership. Faber-Castell is represented in over 120 countries, with production sites in nine countries and sales companies in 23 countries. Its product range includes more than 2,000 items divided into the areas of “Playing & Learning”, “Art & Graphic”, “Premium”, “General Writing” and “Marking”.

Faber-Castell is delighted to present its latest innovation in colouring tools with the new Watercolour Soft Pastels. The Watercolour Soft Pastels is able to provide different finishing to the users – they are able to use it as it is which gives a silky smooth and pigmented crayon to an oil pastel finishing or add an additional step by lightly brushing it with water to achieve a watercolour effect. There is no sharpening required on the Watercolour Soft Pastels, making it a very convenient colouring tool for school-going children."

We received a box of Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels with 11 colours which also comes with a paintbrush as well. I breathed a sigh of relief as our older 3 kiddos take turn and not fight over one another to use the Watercolour Soft Pastels. 

To open the Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels packaging box, you just need to flip open the 2 small tabs on the sides like how you do for briefcases. The watercolour soft pastels are securely placed in a structured case that allows easy packing and carrying about without the fear of the pastels falling out.

The Watercolour Soft Pastels' length is just nice and its size is also just right for children's fingers to grasp on to. You just need to gently turn the top cap clockwise to extend the pastels and continue using it. There's no need to sharpen anything!

I made some photocopies of a printable colouring sheet for them to colour in and get themselves busy. I just told them to go crazy in colouring the paper given and they went on their own creative ways to colour their paper. One studiously coloured within the lines, one tried to blend and mix the colours while one tried to use different methods in colouring.

Results of their first colouring using Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels:

First one was by our 8-year-old boy, who studiously coloured within the lines and tried to match as close as possible to the objects' colours.

Second one was by our 5.5-year-old girl, who tried to blend and mix the colours and every now and then announces the new colours she created. "Blue and yellow makes GREEN!", "Blue and red makes PURPLE!!!" Whoaa... learning opportunities everywhere!

Last one was by our 3.5-year-old girl, who tried to use different methods in colouring. After her initial colouring, she excitedly took a brush and dipped it into a container of water that I prepared and happily blend in the colours on her paper. 

There are several techniques that you can try with Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels such as:

• Blending & Watercolour Techniques - where you can easily smudged the colours using fingertips, cotton buds or tissue paper and a touch of water to create a watercolour effect.

• Scratching Technique - where you apply bright vibrant colours as the base and then overlaps it with a darker shade. You can use the tip of a ruler to scratch the dark surface to reveal the colours beneath.

• Water Colour Technique with Mirror Image Effect - where you leave some space where the image is meant to be transferred to and apply the colours on the actual artwork.

  

The Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels is a wonderful product for children and I'm happy that our kiddos have the opportunity to try out this product.  

Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels are available at all major bookstores and stationery shops in Malaysia.

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products 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.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.