When my children were babies, I lived in fear of them getting a cold. Snotty noses meant that middle of the night breastfeeds were miserable, as the poor kid tried to feed without drowning.

Now, there is a product for that! The Snotsucker from NoseFrida. Currently the #4 best selling product on Amazon, it seems like it would be great. My children are too old to test it out on, but I have FIVE of them to give away to you guys.

• It’s smart.
• It’s Swedish.
• It’s maybe a little strange.
• It’s doctor invented & recommended.
• It’s 100% hygienic due to the included filters (4).
• It’s fabulously reviewed (Rachel Ray, Parenting, & more).
• It’s a nasal aspirator that ACTUALLY WORKS!
• It’s NoseFrida.  The Snotsucker.

If you’ve got a baby and you’re worried about the upcoming cold and flu season, you can score yourself one of these to test out, by entering below.

Just tell me in a comment below, what is your best cold remedy?

Also, for more information you can visit Nosefrida’s website – or, if you have questions, Steven from Nosefrida will be watching the comments, ready to answer anything you might like to ask.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

When Isaac was going through his major swallowing issues, I was looking for something, ANYTHING that he would eat. He’d just been discharged from hospital after contracting a bad ‘flu and losing weight, so I was at my wits end.

Enter Smooze Fruit Ices – found in the dessert section of the supermarket (where I was also picking up custard and jelly) I thought they would be interesting to trial.

They were, frankly, delicious.

After we’d eaten two whole boxes of them, I contacted the company to tell them how much I loved it and together, we worked out a way for you, dear Internet, to share in the love.

Smooze is made out fruit puree and coconut milk and each ice-cream is around 60 calories – making them a perfect summer treat.

They’ve been amazing for my morning sickness (which is the reason this giveaway didn’t go live sooner) and the children have been asking me to buy them more.

I’m a fan.

And because I’m a fan, Smooze are offering to give one lucky reader a whole mixed carton of Smooze (6 boxes).

Delicious, right?

All you need to do to enter is tell me who would be eating the Smooze in your house.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Despite the tough discipline, the students at the International School in Moshi are free to run wild. For this motley cohort of ex-pat Europeans, Indian Tanzanians and wealthy Africans, it’s all about getting high, getting drunk and getting laid.

Samantha is tough on the outside, but underneath it all she’s lost. Her parents don’t get on, her teachers hate her and she’s at that age when boys only want one thing. She has lived in Tanzania since she was three. Her father is a mercenary, her mother downs gin and tonics under the midday sun. Ignored and misunderstood, Samantha learns quickly that affection comes at a premium, however hollow the “love” on offer. Before long, her reputation precedes her, losing her friends as quickly as it wins her admirers.

Exile is the first of three powerful and gritty novels about growing up as an ex-pat in Tanzania in the ’80s, where the ordinary teenaged pressures are magnified by post-colonial tensions and the easy availability of drink and drugs.

I started reading Exile on the plane to Melbourne, something I don’t normally do. Usually I’m not prepared to take the risk of being stuck with a book that I’m not that into while being interstate. However, the synopsis had intrigued me and I didn’t have anything else to read that I hadn’t read before.

It was interesting, as it had been translated to English, and so the first few pages were me getting used to the writing style and the slightly choppy nature of the sentences. That said, the shorter sentences really suited the story and I found myself invested in the characters really quickly. Knowing that this book is part of a trilogy I had high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Having to wait until 2012 for book two and 2013 for book three have me ever so slightly annoyed however. I like to read trilogies all at once, because I am terrible at waiting for the next book in a series. Forever impatient, I want to know RIGHT NOW.

Argh.

Samantha is a great character and I really enjoyed reading the book from her perspective. She is beautifully flawed and I found myself invested in her story.

I can’t say much more without giving too much away, but parts of the book are totally unexpected and as the reader, it kept me on my toes. A great book, and I really hope that book #2 continues with the same quality and intensity. Now to chew my fingernails while I wait.

Exile will be published on November 1st 2011. RRP $32.99

Last week I dragged myself out of bed just before the postman got here. The kids had slept in and therefore, so had I.

After I received my post, I sat down bleary eyed in front of the fire to sort it out and was thrilled to find a small parcel from Hollie at ZZ Totz, containing paper puppets for my kids. We unwrapped them and started putting them together.

Unlike other things that we have had to put together that have taken ages, the paper puppets were completed with a little bit of glue and a steady hand in under five minutes. Brilliant.

They’ve been played with steadily ever since.

I think they’re fantastic and so brilliant for children and imaginary play. You can check out the whole range of puppets here, we’ve got Dracula and Frankenstein, and I’m going to look at getting some others to add to the collection.

Nourishment is nurture. That’s what Andie learned from her grandmother and what she’s always believed about cooking. But somehow, since marrying Ross, she’s allowed her love of food to take a back seat and given up her dream of becoming a chef.

Lately she’s been craving more. And when her marriage falls apart, she’s determined to find herself again and take back control of her destiny.

The first step is taking a job in the kitchen of renowned chef Dominic Gerou. The brooding Englishman is more than Andie bargains for, but the new Andie is ready for anything,even a bad-tempered chef who makes it clear he won’t tolerate mistakes.

That is the basic synopsis of Diane Blacklock’s new book The Secret Ingredient.

I read the book in an evening and it was a quick easy read. I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but I felt that the synopsis and blurb weren’t quite adept at summing up the book. It isn’t about cooking so much as it is about Andie (the main character) and the relationship she holds with the people around her. Not that there is a thing wrong with that (and it made the book quite enjoyable actually) I just felt like the blurb was setting readers up for false expectations.

It feels like quite an introspective book and I was a little startled to find that real cooking and the “guts” of the story didn’t actually happen until midway through the book. Not that it is a slow story by any stretch of the imagination, just that there are other things happening within the first half of the book and other threads being tied together.

I like that Andie and her supporting cast of characters are believable and they feel fully fleshed out and the writing of the book in itself is great. I didn’t get bored and put the book down and wander off, I read through steadily and enjoyed it, which when you’re as easily distracted as I am, is a good recommendation.

A little predictable in places, it is the kind of book I would recommend for holiday reading. It’s pleasant and enjoyable and doesn’t require too many brain cells.

The Secret Ingredient is Diane Blacklock’s eighth book and will be released on November 1st. RRP $25

We had A LOT of fun with the crystal garden, watching it grow.

Amy asked a little bit about the crystals, but not as much as I’d hoped she would. It was a good lesson in patience for both children though, even if they did wiggle my tripod every time they went to “check” on the garden.

This does require adult help, especially with adding the liquid. It kept Amy entralled for a few hours while it grew however.

Photos were taken as often as I remembered to snap them.

Thank you to Colorific and their PR team for sending us this!

Amy anxiously awaits the postman every morning, hoping that he will bring us something and that something will be for her. Last week she was lucky enough to receive a wooden jewellery box from Colorific in the post, to make and paint.

I figured we had nothing better to do, so sitting in front of the fire, we opened up the box and started working out how to put it together. We being the royal “we” and actually meaning “me”, sorting out pieces of wood and trying to make sure Isaac didn’t scarper off with anything.

Finally, I had sort of worked out what I was doing and we (I) started putting it together. It was a little tricky and we had some moments where everything collapsed back into its separate components, leaving me covered in glue and anguish, but all in all, it was great fun.

It took about an hour to put together, with drying time included.

And then came the painting.

Oh my god, the painting.

Amy is … literal. Very literal and so we had to decorate the jewellery box to look exactly like the one on the box it came in. No deviations, no arguments. It was interesting, to say the least. I did make her spread the glitter glue out however, rather than painting it around the edges. Baby steps.

But we got there in the end and did it. We only covered a small patch of the carpet in paint (totally an improvement) and Isaac didn’t start screaming until the end. That’s all kinds of bonuses right there.

Not a bad effort though!

I haven’t read a copy of the Guinness World Records since I was in school and we would laze around the library on wet lunches, reading out snippets of records and talking. It’s been quite a few years, in fact.

I’m not sure who was more excited by the book, me, Nathan, or Amy. Nathan because he hadn’t looked through a copy for years (’97 is the last one he remembers reading), Amy because it had PICTURES (and books arriving for Mummy in the mail rarely have pictures) or me, because come on, records are cool.

I am such a geek.

Needless to say, the book has gotten a lot of reading time lately, with Amy extra interested in the animals in the book and why they’re there, Isaac with the cars (CARS, OH MUMMY, CARS!) and Nathan with everything.

It’s been interesting to read through the records with the kids and I suspect this will be one of the books we keep returning to, over and over again.

Especially once Amy learns to read.

This post is sponsored by Kidspot.

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I will admit that while I had heard of CBeebies before, I hadn’t really had much to do with them. We don’t have pay TV and so our TV viewing for the kids is limited to ABC4Kids.

However, when I downloaded the CBeebies On The Go App in the iTunes store, I found that I already knew most of the programs that were showcased throughout the app.

Once I’d downloaded it, I handed my phone over to Amy and suggested that she have a play with it. 2 hours later and she was still laying on the couch, curled up with a blanket and the app. She’s unwell at the moment, which is why she was allowed so much time playing games, but still, two hours of relative silence!

Isaac has had a few turns as well – as much as his sister will allow at least (“But Isaac, it is MY TURN NOW. ARGHHHH!”) and he has had fun scrolling through the video clips and short games.

I haven’t yet had a chance to test the app “on the go” exactly, but honestly, I think it may just be the best thing, next time we’re stuck waiting for doctors, or during the supermarket trips.

The app itself was easy for little fingers to manipulate and organise and I didn’t have to rescue the kids every 2 minutes and “fix” something. Being very kid friendly is being parent friendly also.

All I can say is I would like more little apps like this! And, because I have two children, but only one iPhone, I would love to see the CBeebies app available through the Android market as well please.

CBeebies On The Go App is free! Yay for free kid entertainment!

What apps do your kids love?

I’ve said before that the best bit about working alongside Pan Macmillan is that when I’m reviewing books, I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone and reading from genres that normally aren’t my first choice.

This was the case with Violent Exposure from Katherine Howell.

Murder mysteries aren’t usually my thing. Maybe I read too many cliche mysteries when I was first dabbling in the genre, but I will normally bypass them for something with magic, or YA fiction.

That said, I picked up Violent Exposure, read the first chapter and didn’t stop reading. I wanted to know what happened next, as soon as I could, thank you very much. It was really well written, and not predictable.

Fast paced and exciting, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, considering that mysteries haven’t been my thing for a while. If more murder investigation novels were written like this one, I would be a convert.

“A women has been stabbed to death in her home, her husband missing. A tragic case of domestic homicide is the initial theory.

However, as the investigation progresses, things get more complicated and not all of the evidence adds up. Why is there no record of the husband before he met his wife? Why has a teenager who worked for the pair disappeared too?”

Exciting, fast paced and brilliant. I really enjoyed this.

Violent Exposure is due to be published on the 1.10.11.