Two $50 Safeway GC's [Giveaway]

Giveaway Alert

I have been talking about this giveaway for a while now, and I'm excited to finally get to write about it!  I previously had a giveaway for one $50 Safeway GC.  Today, I get to have a giveaway for TWO $50 Safeway gift cards.

If you live in (beautiful) Hawaii, I hope you checked out Safeway's JustForU Program!  It is a way to load all of your personalized discounts onto your Safeway Club Card online, so you don't have to worry about clipping coupons. Plus, when you sign up, you get a free dozen eggs!  We just went shopping at Safeway today and got lots of cheap items -- they were priced higher in the store but cost less since I loaded the discounts on to my club card before we left home.  I felt so sneaky knowing that I was getting lower prices than many of the people in the store, hehe, but it's their fault for not signing up for JustForU! :-)  If you're interested in signing up, simply visit http://www.safeway.com/Hawaii.

Are you interested in winning one of two $50 Safeway gift cards?

Don't worry; You won't get this drooly gift card :-)

 If you don't have a Safeway near you, these gift cards are also good at Vons, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Pavillions, Carrs/Safeway (except at Tom Thumb in California).

Here's how to enter:

(1) [MANDATORY ENTRY]  Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect by pressing the "Follow" button on the right side of the screen.  Leave a comment saying you're following.  If you are already a follower, just comment that you are.  (For all newbies, I believe you need a google account for this.)  Please make sure your e-mail is included either in your profile or your comment so I can reach you if you win.

--- ALL OTHER CHANCES TO WIN MUST BE DONE AFTER THE MANDATORY ENTRY---

(2) Sign up for JustForU and leave a comment here saying that you did.  (This entry is for Hawaii residents only.)

(3)  Write a blog post about this giveaway and make sure to leave a link on there to this giveaway.  Leave two comments here with a link to your blog.  (2 extra entries)

(4) Vote for BJ on Native 92.5's Cute & Cuddliest Baby of the Week Contest and leave a comment here saying that you did.  (He is under Jacob.jpg in this contest.)  This entry can be done once daily! (Unlimited entries, once a day, until this giveaway ends.)

This giveaway will end on Saturday, September 25, 2010.  The winners will be chosen through random.org, and will be notified via email.  They will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail, and if they do not respond, a new winner will be selected.  Please make sure your e-mail address is either in your profile or in your comment.  Please note that I have the right to delete comments if the mandatory entry is not completed.

Disclosure: I received $200 in gift cards for posting the Safeway banner on my blog.  No other compensation was provided.  However, I am giving away $100 of the $200 as part of a giveaway/promotion.  The opinions expressed on this blog are my own, regardless of the compensation I received.

First TOOTH

August 30, 2010

Dear Mommy,

I am popping my first tooth.

Loooove,
BJ

A Beautiful Day in the Park

HJ, BJ, and I had a picnic at the park yesterday!  It was such a beautiful day to relax and enjoy the beautiful Hawaii sun.  Some days, you just have to do nothing, not worry about work, and spend time with your family.

BJ's Been Making the Darnest Faces....

I have to share with you some of the pictures "Obaachan" aka Grandma has been getting on her camera. BJ has been making the funniest faces lately...

Funny, huh?

BJ is going to be six months soon.  Time really flies.  He ate squash for the first time today, and liked it a lot better than peas and green beans. Doctor H. told us to start with the veggies first so that he'll like it and eat it, and I hope that'll work because I'm hoping BJ will grow up to eat healthily and love vegetables.  We'll see how it goes. He'll probably end up being a steak lover like his daddy, haha.

In other news, I'm so excited!  I got two products in the mail that I am going to be reviewing.  I also finished writing the giveaway but I'm waiting for one thing before I post it.  All three posts coming soon! :-D

Falling Behind?

Egad!  I'm falling behind on my posts; something I said I would never do.... (Who starts a blog posting with the word "Egad" anyway?)  Well, it's getting to be the middle of 1st quarter and I find myself slowly falling behind with grading papers, blogging, and doing my assignments for my professional development credits.  If I had a choice between these three, my first love is blogging, of course.  However, it's not my first income source (yet? in my dreams?).  I HATE that I'm not keeping up with my blog but I have to work. :-/  Of course, I'm taking care of BJ's needs first... I think our family has figured out a balance and a schedule for weekdays:

5:30 am - HJ wakes up
6:00 am - TracePoo (me) wakes up
6:30 am - BJ wakes up and eats
6:45 am - TracePoo kisses BJ/HJ good-bye and goes to work
7:30 am - HJ takes BJ to Aunty K (the baby-sitter)
3:45 pm - 4:35 pm - Either HJ or TracePoo picks up BJ from the sitter, depending on who finishes work earlier
4:40 pm - Play time with BJ
5:30 pm - BJ eats cereal with baby food (Last week: Peas; This week: Green Beans)
5:50 pm - BJ takes a bath
6:00 pm - Play time/Read a book
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm - BJ goes to bed
After BJ goes to bed... Work time for TracePoo

Kind of a hectic schedule but it works.  The only thing that is hard is when I'm tired at 8:30.  Sometimes, I am exhausted and can't get to finish my work, which I hate because I am trying to be more organized this year.  Since this is my fifth year as a teacher, I can't use the excuse that I'm a newbie anymore, haha.  Hmm... technically, I suppose I could use the excuse that I am a new mommy, but I was never the excuse-giving type.    Gah... we'll see if I can do this.

Speaking of falling behind... YES, I do realize I have not posted the giveaway for two $50 gift cards. I PROMISE. Coming soooon!

BJ's New Skill

J found a new skill:  "I love sucking my toe, Mommy!"

Doesn't this look so funny? He's so flexible.  Too bad we don't all stay this way when we get older... Oh wait, I spoke too soon. I just tried reaching my toe and got it. Haha!  [You think I'm joking, don't you?  People who know the real me know that I really did try to reach my toe ;-)]

Welcome to all readers new and old! I'll be having a giveaway for two $50 gift cards soon... Stay tuned! :-)

Religion

HJ and I are so torn about what to do... While we both believe it is important for BJ to go to church, we don't know where.  You see, I was raised going to Sunday School at a buddhist church.  HJ, on the other hand, was raised going to a Christian church every Sunday.  Not to brag, but I believe that HJ and I have grown up to be good citizens of our community (LOL), and I think going to church every Sunday has helped us to become better human beings.  I would like BJ to have a solid level of integrity and values, and this would help give him a solid foundation.

This isn't meant to be a debate about what's better:  Christianity or Buddhism, because I don't believe that this is the place for that, and I am not trying to offend anyone.  I guess I'm just rambling because BJ is getting older and it's getting harder to say, "We'll worry about it later", because later is coming soon.  Since HJ and I started dating and I started thinking about our future together, I always knew this was going to be a problem, and I always had that "We'll worry about it later" mentality.  Now that "later" is here, I STILL don't know what to do. :-/

BJ has 100 Followers and more feeding escapades

Wow, thank you to everyone for following my blog... BJ has 100 followers!!!  I am very excited, and can't wait to share the news with HJ!  [I told HJ I wanted to buy myself a present when I reach 100 followers, but I think I'll save the money towards our future house, whenever that may be. :-)]

So you may have read about our feeding escapades.  This afternoon, I got the WONDERFUL opportunity to change BJ's doodie diaper after his first human food feeding of peas and rice.  Why didn't any of you warn me that BJ's doodie would smell the way it did??? It was the STINKIEST thing I have ever smelled in my life.  I nearly fainted.  Shame on you readers for not warning me!  Seriously.  And now that we'll be introducing more foods into BJ's diet, I imagine it can only get worse.  *Sigh* Who knew I would miss the days of smelling BJ's 'just-born doodies'.

And why do I always end up talking about doodie on this blog? lol...

I was a little embarrassed by the mess I made when feeding BJ today but I'll show it to you.  BJ thinks he's sucking on a bottle when I feed him with a spoon and squirts food all over the place. If any of you out there have any tips for feeding babies without being messy, please share!

Mommy needs to learn how to feed me without being messy!

Eating Peas!

BJ ate peas for the first time today! His first real HUMAN FOOD (aside from rice cereal)!

And he did not like it. He made the most sour face ever and held the peas in his mouth for a long time before he swallowed.

In fact, he disliked it so much that after eating a spoonful of peas, he scarfed down spoonfuls of rice cereal to erase the taste.

But mommy and daddy had lots of fun feeding him and taking pictures.  :-)

BJ's First Day at the Sitter

Because HJ was having a difficult time feeding BJ, he and I were both nervous about today.  Today was the first day we could take BJ to the sitter, "Aunty K".  After interviewing three babysitters, HJ and I found that Aunty K was a nice fit for us and BJ because (1) she lives right around the corner (2) she is state certified with PATCH (3) she is extremely nice, and (4) she seems well organized and flexible.  I'm so happy we found a great sitter, because the concept of dropping off my child with a stranger scares me quite a bit.... but I trust Aunty K and her wonderful ohana (family).  HJ was so nervous that he was up since 5am pacing around the living room until it was time for us to drop BJ off, while BJ and I slept in until 6:15. Haha!  (Side note: I can't imagine what a nervous wreck HJ will be on BJ's first day of kindergarten.)

Anyway, I stayed home today in case Aunty K called to say she couldn't feed him... but I didn't get a call!  When I went to pick up BJ at 4, he was taking a nap on a pillow and looked so peaceful. Aunty K said he ate from the bottle and barely cried.  He even slept without being rocked.  I was amazed and shocked that he was so good, and I hope he is like that all the time.  I was so proud of him.  He was so happy he didn't want to leave:

Mommy, I'm mad at you for taking me away from Aunty K
(Okay... actually, I think he looks mad because I woke him up from his nap.)

And now, I have to stop blogging to go and grade some papers.  I'm finding it more difficult than before to keep up with grading assignments since I can't really start until after BJ is asleep.  Lucky thing tomorrow is ALOHA FRIDAY!  It's Aloha Friday... No work 'til Monday.... Weeeee.  Aloha and welcome to all new followers!  :-)

5 months old?????

Jacob makes 5 months today!  HJ and I were putting together BJ's photo album and we were looking through BJ's pictures from when he was first born.  It's weird.  I thought that BJ didn't change that much from when he was born, but he has actually changed a lot.  I don't even recognize the baby in BJ anymore.  Today's picture day for my blog... look at how he's changed:

BJ's first day on Earth

BJ Month 1

Jacob Month 1

BJ Month 2

BJ Month 3

BJ Month 4

BJ's Babysitter and a 20lb Rice Bag

This coming Thursday will be BJ's first day at the babysitter!  I'm hoping, hoping, hoping pleading with the milk gods that BJ will be able to drink from the bottle.  Otherwise, I honestly won't know what to do.  A book that HJ and I are reading says we were supposed to start feeding BJ the bottle two weeks before I went back to work.  Woops... that didn't happen.  Tomorrow, we're going to try feeding him the bottle the whole day even though I'll be home.  If that doesn't work, UGH, I won't know what our next steps will be because I am seriously running out of ideas.  People on the Full Time Moms forum help keep me sane but nothing is working.

I really hope the sitter ("Aunty K") works out because she is so nice!  Aunty K will be watching BJ from Mondays - Thursdays, and my mom will be watching him on Fridays.  My mom's been having practice watching BJ by herself.  In fact, she helped me by watching him today while I went to set up the computers in my classroom.

Funny, though.  I guess you have to get used to holding a near-20 pound baby.  When I went back to her house to pick up BJ, she kept complaining about how her arms and shoulders hurt.  I guess my arms are just used to BJ's weight since I was able to get accustomed to his weight gradually.  We Hawaii people compare babies to various rice bag sizes.  BJ is almost as heavy as a BIG 20 pound rice bag:

Some of you savvy bloggers may have noticed that this is a picture of a 10 lb rice bag. That was all I could find when doing a google images search. Hahaha.




Aloha for now~

Full Time Moms Message Board [[[REVIEW]]]

It's Friday, August 6, 2010 and I just finished my first week back at work since having BJ.  Phew, I am tired.  Though staying at home with BJ wasn't easy, being at work is pretty difficult too.

• First, I wake up earlier (even earlier than I used to wake up for work) so that I can pack everything in bags and feed BJ before I leave for school.  
• Then, I see 150 students for 6 hours in a classroom where the AC is broken... keep in mind we're in Hawaii and it's the middle of August.  
• After staying after school for at least 2 hours, I go home to take care of BJ, give him a bath, and hang out with the family.  
• By the end of the evening, I am so tired that I end up falling asleep by 9:30. 

 I don't know what I'm going to do once I start assigning homework and have to actually do some grading.  (I'm sure my students would be happier if I just stopped assigning homework all together, though I don't think that would go over well with the principal and parents. Haha.)  I'm sure it'll get easier but it's pretty tough right now.


In other news, you may remember that BJ wasn't eating much.  Things have slightly improved and he actually tries to drink the formula, though he still outright refuses expressed breast milk.  At first, I thought about giving up breast milk all together because he just didn't like the pumped version and I couldn't leave work just to feed him.  However, I'm getting support from some great mothers on a message board website that I discovered recently. 

It's called "Full Time Moms", and it's a great site where you can go to participate in discussions about fertility, pregnancy, children, parenting, current events, and other related topics.  Whether you are trying to conceive or adopt, are pregnant, or a mommy looking for advice, there's all kinds of great information and discussions.  I've been getting great advice from moms about their experiences with breast feeding and frozen milk, and have tried various things to help BJ drink more milk.  Though I haven't quite found the right answer yet, I know I will because of the great support I have from the mommies on this discussion forum.  If you are interested in checking out the forum, go to http://www.fulltimemomsforum.com.  It's absolutely free and there is lots of great information.  I truly recommend it. :-) <3 Aloha for now~

Disclaimer: In exchange for the opportunity to write this post for Full Time Moms, I was provided with an ad space on their site.  However, I was not required to write a positive review.  All of the information above is my own opinion and I was not influenced in any way. 

Back to Work - BJ and Milk

BJ's sad that mommy is working now. :-/  He doesn't eat as much when he is home with his daddy. When BJ was at home with me, he would eat every two hours, but with HJ, he didn't eat between the hours of 7:00 and 1:30. I think he misses me.  A part of me feels like I should be happy that he misses me, but I don't. I rather he not miss me and just eat!  If BJ keeps this up, I think we're going to have to call the doctor and see what we can do.  Tomorrow, HJ is going to try to cover himself with something I've worn while feeding him.  We'll see how it goes.

A Sleeping Baby and 5 Month Milestones

Have you ever watched a sleeping baby?  I think it's one of the most peaceful things:

Sometimes, I feel like I could watch him sleep all day.  Of course, he doesn't sleep all day, but I feel like I could just sit there and stare all day long.  It looks so relaxing.  

BJ makes 5 months in 9 days!  I know this is cliche but he's growing up so fast! Look at some of the milestones he has reached:

Practicing his walking

Swimming in the Pool

Practicing his Dance Moves
(Okay, not really, hehe)

And speaking of milestones, I didn't notice when BJ started opening his hands, but I thought it was amazing when I saw it the other day, so I had to take a picture:

I love watching him grow but I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.  Really cliche again. Oh well.  Have a great work week everyone! (I tear as I say work. Ugh.)