Next direct shopping.. Again!

Shopping! Baby Shopping! Again! Can someone please kick my butt and tell me to stop shopping? With the free delivery to Malaysia when you spend RM150 and above, online shopping at NEXT becomes pretty addictive. Thank God Gymboree/Carters/JanieJack do not offer free delivery to Malaysia upon purchase of XXX. Or else.... I don't know what will happen to me. 

The reason why I shop this time is because of the purple sparkling shoes! It's too pretty to say NO, Don't buy! Little A has outgrown most of her shoes and I hardly can find any pretty girly shoes that can match with all her pretty dresses. And when I saw this gorgeous sparkling piece from NEXT, I told Justin please, let me buy it for her. He approved, and oh yes, I'm definitely one happy mom. So, in order to get free delivery, I have to purchase RM150 and above. Ta dahh... here's my loot for the day.

Free delivery by DHL. Super efficient service. I received this parcel in 4 days upon purchased.

Pink Pink Butterfly Dress for baby V. She's gonna wear this for our upcoming trip in Dec. 

*excited mode on*

This is the reason why I made this purchase. Berry Glitter T-bar Pumps! But, so so sad because the size does not suit her. It's a little too small!! Sighh... Gonna keep this pretty piece for baby V. For 4 years! *double sadness*

Textured Ruffle Socks two packs. Bought this to match along with her berry glitter pumps, but now I have to keep this pretty ruffle socks first until I find another piece of gorgeous pumps for her.  

Happy to receive this parcel, but sad that she cannot fit into the pumps.=(

Haakaa Silicone Breast pump Review

Today, I'm going to write a short review about this amazing yet cheap breastpump. It's my personal review, solely on what I think about this pump. If you know marmet technique, this silicone breast pump works just like that. It's suction is strong enough to hold the bottle on your breast. Therefore, you can go hands free! But just be careful not to move too much because the pump will lose its suction and the bottle will drop. {I've tried to use this while cooking, and the bottle doesn't hold. :p}

The best part about this pump is there's no parts to wash. One piece on its own. It's not detachable but you can use a soft sponge and your fingers can reach to the bottom of the bottle. So no worries. Otherwise you can buy a sponge bottle brush to clean. Remember, no scrubbing or rough materials on this silicone pump.

This pump comes in handy especially when your baby only drinks one side and you need to empty the other side. I find this very useful at night, when my baby only drinks one side and I will use this to pump the other side. All these while after direct latching, I keep myself awake as I need to empty the boobs with electric pump. Sometimes I was so tired and sleepy that I just ignore the engorged boob and sleep with it. Until I wake up to a wet shirt. =/ With this pump, I can kill two birds with one stone! Direct latching + pumping at the same time! Awesome!

However, I find that the milk collection bottle is too small. The measurement printed on the bottle is wrong, it says 4oz/90ml maximum but the actual size is 3oz/90ml. They only have one standard size, therefore I always prepare an empty bottle next to me just in case the bottle overflows. Oh yeah, this pump has a wide surface, therefore the milk gets contaminated easily. Do not pump and leave it unattended. Again, I will prepare an empty storage bottle next to me to keep the milk as soon as I've finished the session.

Overall, this pump has been so useful to me. It saves a lot of time! Less parts to wash. Pump the other side while baby is latching on the other side. So convenient. Easy to bring around. I'm loving my Haakaa. It's cheap! I ordered this at 11street for only RM70 plus shipping and I received this the next day itself. The seller is super efficient!

This is the amount that I get after 5 mins! This pump works efficiently to express out the milk. I notice that it won't empty the boob completely, unless I encourage the second let down.

Look at the open-aired wide surface of the flange. Your milk will get contaminated easily. 

Therefore, always prepare an empty bottle when you're pumping so that you can transfer the milk as soon as you're done.

NextDirect.com is awesome!

Shopping online is so addictive! I wish I'm staying in the States now. The baby clothes are so so pretty and cheap! How I wish they offer free shipping like Nextdirect.com. Shipping alone from the States to Msia already cost about RM80-RM150 depends on how heavy is your parcel. Not worth at all. But thank God, I have my bestie who helps me to shop every year from the States and brings back in her luggage! Thank you so much Grace! 

Anyway, I love Nextdirect.com. They offer free shipping all the way from UK to Malaysia if you purchase RM110 and above. This amount is easily achievable and imagine, they send your parcel through DHL that comes with tracking! Furthermore, their hotline number is always active and their customer service is so good and efficient. I called few times to their customer service and when they said they will call you back the next day to check on your payment status, they really did! Shopping at nextdirect.com is really awesome and easy! 

NEXT has been my all time favorite baby clothes. Thank you NEXT for offering free shipping! I hope this free shipping lasts forever .......... And I will be your loyal customer. =D

 Here's my second purchase from nextdirect.com. I ordered this item online on last Friday and received the coming Monday. How awesome is this.

 Couldn't wait for our coming trip in December!! Say hello to snow and winter!! Yippie!!!

 Such a nice jacket! This piece indeed is a love at first sight. The sizes ran out fast and thank God, they restocked again after few days. I have to order a unisex winter jacket so that little brother can wear in future if we ever go to winter wonderland again. Cost saving in mind.

 The inner jacket with some fleece on the neck and bottom to keep your child warm and cosy. 

Look at my little Eskimo! Isn't she cute... I bet she will be cuter if this jacket is in pinky rabbit. :p Again, we have to make a wise selection so that unisex color can be worn by the brother in future and we don't have to spend additional money unnecessary. 

I guess there will be a third purchase from nextdirect.com again since I haven't found any nice jacket for the little boy. Hopefully they have new designs coming out in November. Again, thank you NEXT for the free shipping...

My Online Pharmacy - IHERB

Last week had been a rough ride for the family. First little girl was down with flu but since she's a little bigger, she cooperated well when we asked her to blow her nose/ when we sprayed her nose with Sterimar. No big fuss on the little girl. She coped well with the nasty flu bugs.

On the other hand.... 

We had a tough time settling the baby boy. He had fever.. blocked nose... running nose.. phlegm.. And that was not all, he decided not to eat/drink on the 4th day. I knew something was not right because his fever was ongoing and it spiked up during the midnight. On the 5th day, we decided to bring him to the Pediatrician but the slot was so packed due to Hari Raya and we decided to move on to the Emergency Dept.  

The Medical Officer immediately asked to admit him since his fever did not subside, the intention was to get him done with nebulizer and blood test to check what was the caused. Blood test came out to be not so good, it showed some bacteria infection. And his tonsils were swollen with some white spots. This was bad that he needed antibiotics. Sigh.... we managed to keep jie jie healthy without a single drop of antibiotics up to now, but at 1 year 2 months, baby boy had the first syringe of antibiotics. Sad enough to say .. but no choice, if this medicine will make him well. 

He was admitted for 2 nights and he seemed to be better after all the medications. =( MedicationS and not medication. It is heart breaking to see the amount of medicines given to him. Drops in the throat (to numb the pain so that he can eat), drops in the nose (to dry up the mucous), drops in the eyes (cause his left eye is a little swollen due to infection)... and today, the side effects of antibiotics, he had runny stools (diarrhea) and rashes on his body. 

All these are over! Now is the time to build back his immune system . I purchased probiotics to help him with his digestive system and hopefully it helps to make him stronger. Let's see if probiotics live up to its name. 

And yesterday, I purchased Animal Parade vitamins for Ashlynn. It's so much easier to give her tablets to chew instead of the liquid one. Daniel will consume the liquid form of vitamin C (Childlife brand). Hopefully with all these supplements, they are stronger and not prone to sickness. Praying hard that all these tough rides are over now ...

I purchased these two from Iherb.com. So much cheaper than purchasing it locally. Let's see if probiotics work on my children, if yes I will look for one in Iherb. My ever faithful online pharmacy. My hubby used to say I'm the Doctor. Haha.

If you're first timer shopping in Iherb, good news for you!

Feel free to use my product code (HUZ619) and get discount on first purchase.  You will receive $10 off the first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off orders less than $40.

My favorite gadget for baby food

We went to home expo fair at PWTC few weeks ago and we came across a counter selling this little hand gadget. I'm impressed with the functionality, especially in making dough / blend raw materials into pieces. This hand gadget is particularly useful when I need to chop meat. All I need to do is to dump a half frozen meat into the blender. This blender works great! I saved a lot of time in chopping and chopping and chopping. 

The first day itself, I've tried making dough for my pan mee soup. Super delicious! I don't have to knead with my hands and all I need is to put 6 spoons of water and 3 spoons of flour. Put some salt and oil .. and taaadaaa! The texture is good. Soft and elastic. Perfect!

So last weekend, as I was preparing porridge for the kids, I decided to fry egg with long beans + carrot + onion + garlic. So, I throw everything inside and blend................ If you want the material to be a little coarse, don't blend too long. 3-4 spins will do.

Ashlynn loves fried egg! See ... so easy!

This gadget indeed is so useful. I saved a lot a lot of time preparing the ingredients.. and I can actually kao tim everything in 15 mins . Plus washing.... =D Oh Yeahh.. this gadget is super easy to wash. Only 3 things to wash : Container + cover + blender knife ( I don't know what to call it, :p) So easy .. the most important thing when buying a kitchen gadget is whether it is easy to wash or not, how many things to wash. The lesser the better, the easier to dismantle the better. And this is super simple.

Highly recommended gadget .. buy buy buy! 

And I'm happy with this purchase.

Little Tikes Slide - A happy Purchase

I've been eye-ing this slide for quite some time and I couldn't resist the urge of buying when I saw this at Preloved. We don't really have much time to bring the kids to the playground, and it has been raining almost every evening. So, it's a little impossible to let the kids run freely in the playground. Not to forget, the big irritating mozzies that loves the sweet blood of your sweet child. Forget all those hassles, I decided to get a mini slide for them to play at home. And when I saw someone selling this... I just couldn't be happier. Buy Buy Buy! Of course, I do get the permission from Mr Hubby. The moment he said "OK, buy". I was like.. is that him? Haha. I didn't expect him to agree that soon because this item will occupy space at home. And we already have a lot of things in the living room, so I was just trying my luck if he agrees to purchase this. Voila!! I contacted the seller, we discussed the price, the location and ta dahh... the Little Tikes junior slide is now at our home sweet home. =D

 

And Jie Jie is one happy girl! Mama, One more time.. Mama, One more time. Haha.
Very soon, Di Di will join in the fun and both of them will have a fun time at home, in their mini playground.
Hehe...

Some reviews on this slide:
1) I wish this slide is a little higher and longer.. a little too short and few seconds, jie jie is down on the ground. If it's a little higher then it's perfect.
2) This slide is stable! Not to worry the steps will fall apart or the slide will suddenly get dismantled due to the weight.. no. Don't worry.
3) The purple and pink is so sweet.... *ok, this is out of topic* Haha
4) Very easy to dismantle and fix, but too bad, this slide is not easily fold for storage. They do have any range of Little tikes junior slide that is easy to fold and unfold for storage. You can check it out at Amazon.

Overall, I'm happy with this purchase. There's another brand from China, oh well... I don't really trust China products these days. We purchased one training potty with stairs for Jie Jie but the potty drops easily when jie jie climbs up the stairs. Not safe. Not secure. So, I still prefer children products that has proper quality assurance. For a peace of mind. =)

Favorite Baby Apparels

I'm on top of the moon every time when it comes to shopping for baby apparels. I love shopping. I'm a real shopaholic. And I love to shop for my babies! So, here's a list of my favorite baby apparels.

1) Next
Website : http://www.next.co.uk/

Number ONE in list goes to Baby NEXT! Unfortunately, there's no NEXT in Malaysia. I shopped like crazy when I was in Sweden and Shanghai. Just wondering when and who will attempt to open an outlet in Malaysia. Otherwise, I plan to purchase online at nextdirect.com, they do provide free shipping to Malaysia. I will try one day when my kids outgrow the batch of NEXT clothes I bought. The clothes aren't really cheap, but the quality is good and the design is awesome. It's either too handsome or too pretty. See it to believe it... I love NEXT!

2) Carters/OshKosh
Website : http://www.carters.com/

Secondly, I like Carters/Osh Kosh. Especially the onesies. Those carters Onesies material is so thin that it fits perfectly in our hot and humid weather. I love their dresses too. They have few ranges of dress, from party to home wear. And I like the designs of their tshirts, especially for girls! Awwww.. I wish they do have such cute designs for adults. =/

3) The Children's Place
Website : http://www.childrensplace.com
 

What I like about Children Place is their tights for girls! I hardly buy Children's Place tshirts, but I always buy their tights for my daughter. Good quality and it has few ranges of sizes that fits my daughter well.

4) Crazy8
Website : http://www.crazy8.com/index.jsp

Crazy8!! I definitely went crazy over the sales in this shop. I bought a winter jacket for Ashlynn for only $12.99. How crazy was that. And with that crazy sales, I went and sapu about 3 more jackets for Ashlynn and Daniel. Super kiasu that I just couldn't resist the sales.. Lol. During sales, their tshirts can even go as low as $2.99! I have been telling my friend in US that I really went crazy at Crazy8 and she couldn't agree more. This is her favorite shopping outlet too!

5) Gymboree
Website : http://www.gymboree.com

Gymboree is the last choice for baby apparels because of the price. But during year end sales, I still manage to grab some Gymboree baby wear for both of them. The quality of the clothes are superb, and that explains why they are expensive. You can only buy Gymboree clothes during sales. Other than that, no way. I managed to grab some sweater for $15, $7 for one dress, $8 for long sleeve romper and $4.99 for long sleeve tshirt during sales.

The best time to go crazy for baby clothes are during year end sales in December! That's when I really go crazy shopping for the next size for the kids. I wouldn't want to pay a full price for baby clothes, but I will spot for sales and grab as many different sizes I could to save more! =DD Spend wise I could say.. haha.

Favorite baby care products during winter

The items below are my favorite baby care products during winter in Sweden. These are just so perfect for the baby skin during the harsh cold and dry and chilly winter. It is a must to apply lots and lots and lots of lotion/moisturizer to keep the skin moisture. I always ensure that Ashlynn's skin were well moisturized from time to time that I forgot about myself . Due to that, my hand's skin was too dry and it bled easily. You wouldn't want to see how bad it was.. it looked so much like a bloody skin :p

Most of the products below I purchased from Iherb (www.iherb.com) as it is way cheaper to ship from US than I purchase locally. No doubt, I'm an Iherb lover! =D

 

So here's how I apply all of them at one go!

After bath ...

Body:
Weleda Baby Oil -> Nature's Baby Organics face and body Moisturizer

Face :
Weleda Baby Oil -> Nature's Baby Organics face and body Moisturizer -> Badger suncreen -> Baby Buds Frost Defence

Lips :
Baby Buds Lip Balm

Surprisingly, Baby Buds does not fail me. I just love it. I did apply generously from time to time, every now and then whenever I see dryness and it works great. Throughout the entire 2 weeks winter trip, my daughter's skin were perfect. No sign of dryness at all. And her lips were well moisturized. I'm happy with all these purchase. And I'm pretty sure the little girl is happy winter-ing. =D

If you plan for any winter trip in future for the kids, make sure you pack along these baby care products. Very important and shouldn't be missed. Baby Buds can be purchased from Parkson.
And if you would like to get the rest of the items from Iherb, feel free to use my product code (HUZ619) and get discount on first purchase.  You will receive $10 off the first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off orders less than $40.

I miss Sweden !!If given the chance, I will definitely go back again.. with BOTH kids. =)

Shopping in USA from Malaysia - IHERB *again*

Will I ever get bored of shopping in Iherb? Definitely no. Ever since the baby boy started solid, I've been browsing high and low to search for the suitable organic baby cereals. Unfortunately, most of them that I wanted to buy run out of stock. This time round, I purchased a number of varieties, different brands of organic cereals for the baby. I notice that he's going to be a picky eater (keeping my fingers crossed) and hopefully he loves those cereals that I purchased for him.

I saved a lot by purchasing from Iherb instead of getting them in the local supermarket. And not to forget, some snacks and vitamin C for the big sister.

Honestly, shopping in Iherb is so convenient, and so cheap. Shipping is affordable as well (Approx 5.3kg for $14.48) Opt for DHL instead of the normal international airmail. At least you get a peace of mind and most importantly, it's reliable. If you are able to get a few friends to share the postage with you, then you save more!

If you're first timer shopping in Iherb, good news for you!
Feel free to use my product code (HUZ619) and get discount on first purchase.  You will receive $10 off the first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off orders less than $40.

Snuza Hero

I have never heard of Snuza before..  but I read million of stories about SIDS. The more I read, the more I fear. I do not want anything to happen to my babies, I love them so much. I want to keep my kids close to me forever. Suffering from two miscarriages, you won't know how it felt by losing two babies. When the Dr broke the news, your baby has no heartbeat. I went home and cried. I cried for days. I went on crying for months. And years. At days, I hid in my room and cried. I cried when I walked pass baby's department. My tears rolled down my cheeks when I walked pass pregnant woman, woman with baby in her arms.

The day I stopped crying... was the day I gave birth to a healthy baby girl, my princess.. Ashlynn. Since then, I do all I can to protect my baby. Mr Google is helpful in some ways.. but not helpful in another way. Because.. the more I read, the more paranoid I became.

I literally worry about EVERYTHING.

And lately, the news of baby passing of SIDS went viral. I read of this everywhere in the net. I couldn't hold back my tears when I read this particular phrase from a mommy's blog "I hate it when small casket like this exists". This is life. Full of surprises. A life of roller coaster ride.

I'm determined, that I will do ALL I can to ensure my babies' safety. And that was when I decided to make this purchase. A baby monitor. Snuza Hero. A small little gadget that monitors baby's movement. And with this purchase, my heart is at ease. I'm more relax. A monitor that I can rely on to serve as a "double check".

I have been using this for almost 2 weeks now, and I'm fully satisfied. Don't under estimate this small little gadget. I rely on this so much, especially at night. Very easy to use, only two buttons (on the left and right). It fits perfectly on the diaper without slipping off (make sure the diaper is not loose), I can even use it when my baby is on his tummy. I just need to move the monitor a little to the side of the diaper. And it still works as it should. Only one time of false alarm, when my baby moves too much and I didn't wear his diaper tight enough.

Overall, I'm glad I purchased this. A small price to pay. For an assurance. For a peace of mind.
Here's where I purchased this little gadget, Snuza Hero.
Mymateria House.

(I wish I'm staying in US now)

Friends... if you can allocate some budget, please include this in your baby's shopping list. It's worth every cents you pay. And, if you can spend few hundreds for shopping, you can definitely allocate some for this. =)

Purchase # 6 Iherb

Ok, I admit. Online shopping is pretty addictive! And with the two simple steps : Add to Cart - > Pay.. this is dangerous, because you tend to add everything into the cart. Things that you don't need. Things that you see cheap, but after adding lots of the cheap things into the cart, the bill is no longer cheap.

Well, the main purpose of purchase # 6 is to stock up Vitamin C for Ashlynn. Ever since she started on vitamin C daily, we see some improvement in her immune system. Eg : She caught flu bugs the other day, but she recovered fast, within 4-5 days.

The only Vitamin C that is in liquid form and suitable for toddler is ChildLife brand. You can find this in GNC, quite expensive, about RM60+ per bottle (same size). So, we decided to just purchase in Iherb. Shipping fees for all the items below only cost USD14 (DHL with tracking). After some calculation, it's still cheaper even after converted to ringgit Malaysia. If you don't mind without tracking, then the shipping cost is only USD4. But.... risky!

Oh yeahh.. if you would like to purchase things from Iherb, don't forget to browse through the FREEBIES section and choose any free items that you like! And this time round, I chose a free IHERB COFFEE TRAVEL MUG! It's free! But, while stock lasts. So.. hurry up. Anyway, the freebies item changes from time to time.

If you're first timer shopping in Iherb, good news for you!
Feel free to use my product code (HUZ619) and get discount on first purchase.  You will receive $10 off the first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off orders less than $40.