baby product review - cleanoz

Ayden has been getting flu on and off since he was 3 weeks old. he caught it first from his Dad, and when he was just about to get better, he caught another round from his sister. and then, just as it's about to dry up, i caught the flu bug as well and he's back at it again.

he does not really have runny nose, but it's more like thick mucus stuffing up his breathing. and what do you expect from a baby? he can't possibly blow his nose yet, not till he's two and a half at least, so can you imagine how uncomfortable it is for him to drink and sleep?

from past experience we know that the normal rubber nose bulb suction thing would not work. Masa dengan Arwen dulu, i had 2 of those and they were practically useless. Sampai tahap geram punya pasal i went all old skool on her mucus and sucked them out with my mouth. i saw my Arwah grandma doing that to my then baby cousin and i was totally grossed out by it but hey, when you're a mom .. you just have to suck it in, no pun intended. Arwen has also pretty strange sinus problems and she catches flu really quickly once the bug is around. so we have been  going to Dr. Christopher Lim at Ampang Puteri to suck her mucus out coz he's got this industrial strength electronic nasal vacuum that could probably suck the blackheads on my nose.

we bought Cleanoz before Ayden's birth because i wasnt going to suck nose gunk with my mouth anymore. and i'm glad we bought it early, at least we had it conveniently ready. although i never thought i'd be using it as early as 3 weeks old. Cleanoz is a battery operated nasal aspirator that uses this balloon suction to expel the nose gunk.

it's really easy to use. bunyi masa dia suck je lah agak intimidating, but it's really easy. only requires you to press and release using two fingers, one to hold the pressure hole and the other for the on/off button. just place the nozzle into the nostrils, tak payah dalam-dalam sangat nanti kembang semangkuk pulak hidung baby tu tak comel dah. and then cover the hole and press the button until the nozzle balloons up. it'd automatically stop sucking when it got something. selagi the balloon tak kembang when you press the on/off button, maknanya still ada hingus lagi lah tu. and then take a kleenex, release the hole and button to dump the secretion. i selalu nak cepat, dump kat pipi baby je sementara. kalau pergi doctor pun dorang buat camtu jugak. after that take a tissue and wipe it all off lah.

it's not painful or invasive to baby - or at least i think it's not. well, at first Ayden did not like it very much but after a while he got the idea that what we were doing was actually helping him feel better so he'll sometimes just lay there quietly and enjoy letting his nose being unstuffed.

it has pretty strong suction power once you change the batteries to better ones. (it comes with batteries but you know lah, the cheap, brand ntah apa-apa ones). it comes with 3 disposable nozzles and you can always get the replacement nozzles at any baby stores carrying the product. we got ours from MotherCare. i think you can also find them online. the nozzles are about RM20 for 10. i think the nasal aspirator was about RM120+. it's a good investment, trust me.

i also use it with Sterimar, introduced to us by Ayden's paed at Naluri. it's basically a saline spray to help moisten and soften the mucus / booger for easier suction. it can also be like a nose douche, cleaning and clearing up the nose.  i don't know if you can find this or other brand of nasal saline spray online or at any pharmacies. we've been getting them from the clinic. bila habis je i'd ask the doctor for a canister. so far dah go through 2 canisters. i'm using the one on the far left, the one with the dolphin.

   

the things i love

yeah, maybe i am a copywanker by profession. i only need to write, and by right, i don't even need to bother about font choices or whatever. copywriters usually leave that up to the designer. but thing is, i am a graphic designer at heart. not a good one, but hey, i can still make money out of it - not a total loss of the 4 years in ITM, the sleepless nights, the crying in front of lecturers to pass me for photography, and my mom's money and my dad's traveling to come pick me up and send me randomly to melaka every other weekend/month.

where was i? yeah, font choices. so, being a designer at heart, that indirectly turns me into a typophile by default. i can't even write my shit if my program is not set in a decent font. i can't even read properly if it's not in a decent font. my brother says i have a 'problem' that i sometimes am able to call a typeface just by looking at it. it's not so much a problem. i don't know all the fonts in the world, just my favourites.

sometimes, i'll go to random design or typography sites and if i find something i fancy, i'll fish the internet hi and lo for that particular font. just as i'd do with songs that i hear on random tv shows or whatever. i'm a little OCD that way. and i think it's one of the greatest joys and satisfactions in the world, close next to the euphoria of an orgasm, and the birth of a new baby, and the soft sound of a baby's (about damn time) snore, and the sound of the shutter click on a 5D MarkII, and the smell of a new book, and money, and the epiphany of finding that word you've been trying to find since 9am just before you go to bed, and being able to lie for more than half an hour after a long day's work, and foot massage, and (ok that's a lot of ands and close nexts) .... is finally finding that font that i've been looking for for months.

my obsession is good news for the designers i'm working with too because i'd share my catch with them. and so, now, i'm sharing it with the internet. i don't know why, because i know the people that read this, apart from Zana (who is kinda like me in a way, a writer who is a designer at heart), and my brother and his girlfriend, don't even care about type.

anyway, just sharing my current favorites, just cause it took me ridiculously long hours, countless frustrated moments, and the mad skillz needed of me to harness the power of Google to find them, so .. it feels good to just let out the crazy.

(all these fonts are the result of my recent obsession, except for Avenir. that's been my favorite for a year now and will always be my favorite. oh and caecillia and chunkfive was the outcome from my previous obsession and slab serif fonts like those seems to be the design fad for now)

the things i love

... on a subdued Tuesday lunch hour, whilst everyone is outside, having lunch and i'm staying in because i'm still sick. (also because blowing my nose when other people are eating is just plain unclassy). giving myself a facial steam with Maggi Hot Cup in chicken flavour and listening to the beautiful Lenka blasting rudely from my iMac.

i love simple lunches.

my current earworm :


Lenka - The Show (Official Music Video) - Click here for another funny movie.

the things i love

ini adalah post taksub. HAHA. (gila gelak berlagak).

my husband had a surprise waiting for me at home last friday. he said it's a belated wedding / giving him a baby / 1st year wedding anniversary / my birthday / his birthday / for turning his life upside down / for giving him permission to go out and lepak with friends or cousins or Chevy forum members without question / all rolled into one package gift.

he got us the new 32" sony bravia lcd tv (i don't know which model exactly), that comes with it, a pretty awesome DVD player that plays USB. yay! now i dont have to watch my downloaded movies/tv series on the old laptop anymore.

but that's not the berlagak part yet.

he was trying to figure out how to play using the USB on the DVD player. and he read somewhere in the manual that it has to be a sony thumbdrive. so we went to klcc's sony centre yesterday and got a sony usb. and the sony people also told him that it only reads mpeg1 files. but when we re-read the manual, it actually plays almost every movie file available in this modern world.

so i re-read the manual. you see, i don't usually follow directions, but i have my moments. and within just 5 minutes, i managed to figure out how to play using the usb - .avi formatted files using my 4 gig imation thumb drive. i was really really happy about my ability to read and follow directions successfully, and thus, i did a victory dance in front of my husband. perhaps that was the only time i ever danced in front of my husband. EVER. and it's really unfortunate for him that it had to be my ugly, jiggly ass victory dance.

now i shall invest in or download disney princess movies and cartoons and sesame street for arwen so i can let her watch the tv straight from the security and comfort of her baby cot, while i resume my early morning nap just before i go to work.

ah, technology is bliss.

the things i love

the Baby Bites rice cakes. i can't find a picture or a link to it, but let me just say "Thank God! for you rice cakes!". since arwen's been able to bite and chew stuff now, i simply shove a cracker into her hands and let her get busy eating the rice cake whenever 1. we're changing her or putting her in her clothes after showering (yes, arwen not longer bathes now, she loves the shower). so easy when she's kept preoccupied with something. 2. when we're having meals outside and she's done with eating her own food, i'll let her snack on the rice cake. half of a cracker will do the job. and we can finally eat together as a family. finally.

the things i love

Krispy Kreme!

albeit manis nak mampos, i love it. thanks to ayis who queued up for a whole freaking hour to bring home 2 boxes of confectionery heaven yesterday. i love their glazed donuts, and especially the glazed cake. the family didnt like it so much though, too sweet for their taste. mom even told me to tell ayis not to buy anymore Kremes for home. she prefers J.Co.

i swear, the universe is trying to sabotage my diet. HAHA, dietlah sangat.

thanks babe!

my friend/sister erna came over to the office just now to drop off my Nikon FM10 she borrowed sometime ago. and also to give me an overdue congratulatory gift for a safe delivery. i know, right? overdue is an understatement. Arwen's grown 4 teeth now. but never to late, all gifts are welcome. she gave me a big olive retro-designed flowerdrum bag to put all Arwen's junk in for when i want to go out looking a bit hobo funky.

right now, we're using an old benetton backpack, the kind kids use for school, as her diaper bag. i'm not really into diaper bags. i dont like too many pockets, because i am the 'chuck everything in and rummage with half your head inside the bag when you want something later' kind of mom. i dont like clutter and mess but organisation freaks me out. people like Monk freaks me out.

anyway, Arwen's new diaper bag looks like this :



only bigger and rounder. like a green oversize football. i can't find it on the website, perhaps they've stopped making and selling that version.

the things i love (also known as free endorsement)

i don't normally wear makeup. i don't even know how to. aside from eyeliners and brow pencil, the occasional lipstick and blusher, i don't really colour my face. i think one of the reasons that contributes to my nevermindedness, is the fact that i work in a department that doesn't require me to try to look good. i don't even own any corporate attire. also because i am cheap and i don't like spending money on stuff that i don't really use.

but i do love this product! benetint by benefit. i bought it last year, when i was 3 months pregnant, and i still have half of it left. it's so easy to use and immediately bring some rosy glow to my face. (like it makes any difference if i glow or don't). it's also easy to carry, i just chuck in it my small makeup pouch and it's convinient for touch ups, because i dont even need to have all that blusher brush and things. actually, i dont really need touchups because the tint lasts till i go back home and scrub it off.

plus, i can put it on my lips for instant colour, without the smear. it's not really a practical idea to put on lipstick when you carry a grabby baby around, so i bless the people at benefit for this. my lady boss once asked me in a meeting why my lips were red, like as if i just bled or drank wine or something. i said i put on liptint. and she was like, what's a liptint? i didnt explain because there's no point. she only knows that lipstick only comes in one colour anyway - RED.

the other benefit stuff i'm using is the 'honey.. snap out of it' face scrub. by far the best face scrub i've ever tested. i'm the kind of girl who scrubs her face everyday. i know, a beauty no-no. but no other cleanser suffice in making me feel clean in the face after a long day stuck in an office where people smoke openly. mom bought it for me two months before i got married, and i still have half of it left. it's really long lasting. worth the RM100+ my mom paid for.

the things i love

when IRB owes me money. yay!

hopefully my calculations were correct.

the things i love (also known as free endorsement)

those little battery-operated stroller fans. i love them. except for the LED light display in the middle, gives me, arwen and her daddy headaches. there are 2 airconds in the studio that's currently malfunctioning. happened since after lunch yesterday. so today, i brought the stroller fan, with extra batteries, and clipped it on my station and it automatically becomes the envy of many.

the things i love (also known as free endorsement)

a few months back, (semua cerita lama aku kuarkan, amik kau), way before it went all guerilla on akademi fantasia, i tried this product. because, yes i admit, i am an ad whore. i always fall victim to advertising and anything shiny. and, also because i secretly wanted to look like camelia. she's really pretty in purple.

so i bought a pack, and tried it. maybe it's only placebo, maybe it really worked, i dont know. but i felt great after downing a couple of bottles of it. the first bottle didnt really worked so the next day, i tried another bottle. at that point i would have downed 40 bottles till i get some bowel movement. but on the second day, viola, i shat. and it's the most satisfying, rejuvenating dump i have ever experienced. it was so smooth and easy. and i did feel somewhat radiant after that. and till now i chuckle everytime i see the commercial because i keep picturing in my head camelia taking a satisfying, rejuvenating dump to look so radiant and glowy like that. because she is afterall, the product ambassador.

they sell a pack of six for about RM26 (or something) and i dont really need to take one everyday. a bottle a week works wonders. i have actually stopped taking it for a while but i am planning to start back on it. it tastes a lot like prune juice, to be honest. i know because prune juice and i, we go way back. we're actually friendnemies. like LC and Heidi. i only have her near whenever i need her to help me with something (in my case, my inability to have normal bowel movement because i dont eat my bloody vegetables). and she knows i am only using her for my own benefit. she's very unselfish like that. i like having her around but now, i have found a better friend.

the things i love (also known as free endorsement)

we saw this über-chic baby highchair at mothercare, the curve last sunday and i think i had a mild epilepsy due to uncontainable awestrucked-ness. we were looking for a booster seat (thanks, falie) and we went into mothercare because mom wanted to get her granddaughter a sippy cup (yes, we're trying to coach arwen into drinking from cups so she wont be dependent on bottles way till she's already in school, like a cousin of mine was a long time ago. arwen has already mastered sipping through straws, by the way)

and then we saw this :

super-sexy highchair by bloombaby. and it costs about as much as a brand new high-end dSLR plus a kidney. if i was ridiculously rich and have no idea what to do what all that money, i think i would buy this for the sake of its sheer sexiness.

but i don't so all i can do is just post this and dream on.

the things i love (also known as free endorsement)

thanks to some mommy blogger friends out there, i have decided to try out the EUBOS cream bath oil to help cure arwen's annoying cradle cap. albeit not that bad, it's annoying none the less. we've tried the olive oil / baby oil and brush method to eliminate it, it worked for a while but when the oil dissipates and dry up, her head gets flaky again.

we've been trying EUBOS for a week now, and it works! i mean the cradle cap is not fully gone yet, but it's noticibly lessened and not that flaky. and it smells nice (if used sparingly. i made a mistake of pouring in too much and made the water really murky (because you know how i am with reading directions and instructions) and the smell was really overwhelming up to the point of nauseating - like spraying on a little too much perfume on yourself).

and, i even used it on myself. it was a shame and waste to just pour out her bathwater that is already potent with that wonder cream, so i'd usually take my bath after arwen using her bathwater. also because the bath cream oil is pretty pricy and i am so bloody cheap. i have really dry skin especially on my legs (because i dont drink plenty water or eat my vegetables and i hate lathering lotions and potions), but now i can see subtle improvement.

and, the sweet smell stays on for a long time. i love it because when i'm at work and i take a whiff off my arm, i smell Arwen. carrying her smell with me it like being in love every second. it's wonderful! i'm seeing rainbows and unicorns and babies in tutu skirts! it's wonderful!

zoobies!

i shoulda woulda coulda written this on wednesday, the day after we got the surprise, but i had mraz on my mind. heh.

last tuesday, Papangah had a surprise waiting for Arwen. a zoobie pet. it's the perfect little thing. it's a soft toy, it's a pillow, it's a blanket, it's a companion, it's something that can potentially give arwen separation anxiety if she doesn't have it around when she's bigger. so, considering arwen's fixation on bankies, falie asked me beforehand on which one is better for arwen coz he wanted to order them online. hard choice for me. every one of them are so cute! i wanted (note, i?) the polar. then i wanted the panda. then i wanted the koala because it had a baby with it. then i wanted the hippo. and then the water buffalo. and the the baboon. falie wanted to get arwen the monkey.

finally i told him, get the polar.

but then i remembered i saw somebody selling zoobies in KL. a little kiosk in Great Eastern Mall i recalled. so falie went straight there and found out the kiosk wasnt there anymore. they closed it sebab tak laku. but somehow he managed to find them and got this one waiting on our bed for Arwen when we got home. yang excited of course lah mak Arwen. but i think, she loves it as much as i did.







then my mom came home and i told falie to get the surprise out to show mom. suddenly, falie gave me the surprise of a lifetime. he took out the panda. now arwen's got 2 zoobies!



thanks, Papangah!