My First Technorati Post!

If you've been following any of the Silicon Valley Moms Blogs (I was a part of the LA Moms Blog), you know SV Moms was recently bought out by Technorati. Now that the bar exam is over, I've managed to get my first post up! Please check it out and leave me your comments. Thanks!

http://technorati.com/women/article/pregnant-mama-with-low-blood-sugar/

LOCAL GIVEAWAY: Smucker's Stars On Ice Friday Feb 18 at HP Pavilion

Congratulations to #2 WINNER chosen by Random.org. Please get back to me within 24 hours with your mailing address. Thanks to everyone who participated!

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H&R love to watch skating, especially the jumps. They don't actually like to do it yet because they still fall down a lot when they try, but they appreciate how cool it looks when professionals do it. So we're all really excited to be going to watch the Smucker’s Stars on Ice 25th Anniversary Tour at the HP Pavillion next Friday night, February 18th at 7:30. The show, headlined by 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist Evan Lysacek and Olympic Silver Medalist Sasha Cohen, promises to bring fans of all ages the ultimate live figure skating experience with a gathering of legends past, present, and future.

I'm so thrilled to be hosting my first giveaway of 2011 for a family 4-pack of tickets so a local Random Mommy reader can bring her family to the show next Friday! Even if you don't win, you can get a discount code for $10 off per ticket (minimum purchase of 4 tickets) from the Smuckers website by entering UPCs from your favorite Smuckers products. For those Random Mommy readers who aren't local to San Jose and can't enter this giveaway (I'm talking about you, my friend who was the star of her synchronized skating team), you can also win some great prizes from Smuckers skating promotions currently on their website:

Skating Party with Evan Lysacek and Sasha Cohen
Now through February 18, 2011, consumers can visit http://www.smuckers.com/ to enter for a chance to win a two-hour private skating party hosted by Evan Lysacek and Sasha Cohen. The grand prize winner will receive a skating party for up to 25 guests at an ice skating rink near the winner’s hometown, including one hour of skating and a one-hour autograph and photo session with the two stars.

Be Evan’s Guest
Additionally, from now through March 13, 2011, consumers can complete the online entry form at http://www.smuckers.com/ for a chance to be Evan Lysacek’s VIP guest at the Smucker’s Stars on Ice performance at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on April 2, 2011.  In addition to travel, accommodations and VIP tickets to the performance, the grand prize winner and a guest will also have dinner with the Olympic gold medalist and receive a backstage tour.

HOW TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY:  Contest period runs from Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 12:01 AM (Pacific) until Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving the name of your favorite figure skater, and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, it counts if you've done any of these so leave a comment for each one)
1) Follow me on Twitter
2) Tweet this contest (http://tinyurl.com/4th8wb3) and leave the tweet url
3) Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect by clicking on the sidebar

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the winner. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and will have 24 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, the prize will go to the next place winner as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for readers local to San Jose who can make the performance at the HP Pavilion on Friday February 18. A huge thank you and much appreciation to my friends at Smucker's Stars on Ice for their generosity! Good luck!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received complimentary tickets to facilitate a future review.

DVD Review: THE GARFIELD SHOW All You Need is Love (And Pasta)

If you're a regular Random Mommy reader you know that H is somewhat of a picky eater. He eats macaroni and cheese at least once a day and very seldom wants to try anything new. It was very interesting that after watching the recently released Vivendi Entertainment DVD The Garfield Show: All You Need is Love (And Pasta) that he was willing to try, you guessed it, LASAGNA. It was amazing because usually when he tastes meat in something he will immediately spit it out. But I think because H was so familiar with lasagna from watching Garfield eat it and love it, it made him more predisposed to giving it a fair shot. I've made lasagna three times in the past month and H has eaten it up every time. As to what H thinks of Garfield, you can see his reaction from his body language here:

I think this would be a great idea as a gift to a child for Valentine's Day rather than the inundation of sugar and empty calories that typically accompanies this day. H recently had to undergo several dental surgeries for 14 cavities (and of course oral sedation isn't covered by insurance) so he knows that candy and chocolate are off limits to him. So this Valentine's Day, he'll be watching The Garfield Show: All You Need is Love (And Pasta) to celebrate the day. The DVD is appropriate since it features six love-themed misadventures of Garfield, Odie, his owner Jon, and other characters from Garfield's neighborhood. Whether he's fostering orphan birds, enduring Jon's quest for the perfect family portrait or putting up a good front for Liz's parents, Garfield really does love his friends, maybe even more than lasagna. Just a warning though, after watching this DVD, you and/or your child may have a craving for Italian food that you just can't ignore!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I did receive a copy of the DVD for review purposes.

Yes I'm Alive

I haven't been posting because I'm currently studying for a big exam at the end of next month. I'm supposed to study for eight hours a day, which is difficult to do when your kids are 2 and 4 and they are not in school full time. Recently I started taking R to a drop-off daycare run by the city. He's been wanting to go to school for a long time so I told him he could go if he could go to the bathroom by himself. Who knew that was a better motivator than M&Ms and Thomas toys! He loves being a big boy and going to school and I get to study for the two hours he's there. So any time I spend apart from taking care of them or studying, I feel guilty so hence no blogging. I disabled Facebook, I listen to lectures while washing dishes or folding laundry, and I've given up on cooking and cleaning.

H&R have been watching a lot of TV and playing a lot of video games. Little do they know that I am going to take our big screen TV over to my in-laws after the exam for an indefinite period. When your child cries and refuses to sleep because he wants to watch TV and even talks in his sleep about watching and wants to go home from the park in order to play video games, you know there is a serious problem. But we all have to do what we have to do to survive, right? I frequently think I'm the worst mom in the world but hopefully I will pass the exam and then get a job that will enable them to get what they want--going to school all day long.

Yes, there is also another reason why I haven't been blogging, but that's a post for another day. Hope your 2011 has started off well! Now back to studying.  

Happy New Year's Eve!

Looking back over this year, I would have to say that my proudest moment was crossing the finish line at the San Jose Half-Marathon. Not because I had run the thirteen miles in any spectacular fashion, but because I was officially part of Team Cure CMD's successful efforts to raise funds for research, final total $175,000+. If you've read my past blog posts about the race (here and here), you know that my friend's daughter Sophie is suffering from Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, a diagnosis that only 500-1000 people have in North America. That means not enough people are suffering from the disease to attract the attention or research dollars of the big drug companies or big government, so parents and doctors have to do a lot on their own to raise awareness and funds. If there is one thing that my little blog has done this year, I hope that it has spread awareness about this rare condition. If you know someone who knows someone that might be able to help either through research grants or ability, I hope you will share this information with them. Also, if you know someone whose child has the same symptoms that Sophie had and doctors can't figure out what is wrong with the child, then you might want to share this with them as well. Sophie went over two years going from doctor to doctor without a diagnosis before her mom finally figured out she might have Ullrich CMD. While the diagnosis was devastating, at least they knew what they were fighting and what they needed to do to prolong her life. Recently NBC Bay Area did a feature on Sophie. Please check it out so the news station will continue to do pieces like this that focus on what people are doing as a community to come together and help one of their own. 

I am so thankful to God that he has blessed me with two healthy boys, a supportive husband, a roof over my head and all other necessities of life. I am also thankful that he gave me the opportunity this year to look beyond myself and my family and be a part of something that could profoundly impact another person's life. I pray that there will be a cure found for Sophie and all the other children soon. Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a wonderful and prosperous New Year! Thanks for being part of my Random Mommy family. Peace.

Merry Christmas!

This is the first year that H&R are aware of Santa. It was great, I loved using the phrases, "Santa sees you," "Be good or you won't get anything from Santa," and "Don't you want Santa to bring you Mario Cart Wii?" I don't know why any parent would not use these motivators for good behavior. I am definitely going to keep it up as long as I can! H's big "gift" was Santa stopping by our old house in SoCal to pick up the Wii game system and the games that I had *forgotten* to pack when we moved. Maybe this can become an annual tradition, where the Wii mysterious disappears in September and Santa has to bring it back for Christmas. R was most happy with his Thomas cards, the pack of Uno cards Stewart picked up at the Mattel store when he still had his 50% discount. Nice. They also enjoyed their new Hexbug battle set that they got from Lily gomo. All in all a very happy Christmas morning. Thank you Aunt Sarah and Auntie Ann for sending presents from afar. Of course, they've completely forgotten about the reason for the day, that it's Jesus' birthday and the Savior of the World came to us today. Hopefully they can remember that as they get older. Merry Christmas everyone and very Happy New Year!

And for all my lawyer friends out there, check out this version of the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on Professor Caron's blog. Enjoy!

GIVEAWAY & Review: Baby Einstein Wild Animal Safari Discovery Kit

NEW WINNER! #1 DID  NOT RESPOND SO THE NEW WINNER AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG IS #11. PLEASE RESPOND TO MY EMAIL WITHIN 72 HOURS! THANKS!
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CONGRATULATIONS TO ENTRY #1 AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG. PLEASE RESPOND TO MY EMAIL WITHIN 72 HOURS. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!
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My boys watch TV. When I was a first-time mom, I was really idealistic and decided that H would not watch much TV before he turned two, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This was easy for me since I went back to work and the job of occupying baby went to H's very capable Columbian manny. I think every working mom of a boy who can find a male nanny should definitely do it because males are just programmed differently. My husband can play cars and trains with the boys for longer than five minutes at a time. I just have zero interest. I mean, how many times can Thomas, James and Percy go around the same track and still be fun? So when I became a stay-at-home mom after the birth of my second son R, I quickly realized that TV was my friend. After playdates, the park, racing cars, and reading books, Mama needs a break!!!!!

Of course, the TV guilt can be greatly relieved if you find educational programs like Disney's Baby Einstein series. A few weeks ago Baby Einstein launched its Baby Einstein Discovery Kits, an innovative new interactive experience to help parents introduce babies to the beautiful music, nature and animals for which the company’s products are known. Each of the first six Discovery Kits features a DVD, a music CD and a picture book or Discovery Cards, each element complementing the others. The new kits give parents another way to interact with their babies by extending the moving picture and music experience of the DVDs to other areas of a baby’s day through the CDs and book or cards which feature the same music and images experienced in the DVD. They were created to grow with babies and are organized in a way that offers three distinct levels of discovery: Experience (Level 1), Explore (Level 2) and Expression (Level 3).





The boys, Stewart and I had the opportunity to review one of the Discovery Kits of Level 2: Explore. The Wild Animal Safari Discovery Kit includes a DVD, Discovery Cards, Music CD and Parents’ Guide. Parents can take their little explorer on an exotic musical expedition to meet wild animals from across the globe. Together, they’ll journey to the jungle, savanna, desert and forest on a wild, wonderful voyage of discovery with Wild Animal Safari. The boys had a great time identifying the scenes on the TV with the cards. R especially loved matching the card to what he saw on the screen. H has been learning about different habitats in school and he was very pleased with himself when he matched each animal with its habitat. I can definitely see myself using this Kit with any other baby that may join our family. When TV is interactive, fun and educational, it can enhance both the life of the baby and the caregiver.

Three additional Discovery Kits will be available in early 2011. The Baby Einstein Discovery Kits have a U.S. suggested retail price of $19.99 and a suggested retail price in Canada of $24.99 CAD. One Random Mommy reader will have the chance to share the Level 2 Wild Animal Safari Discovery Kit with his/her child through the generosity of my friends at Baby Einstein.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  Contest period runs from Monday, December 6, 2010 at 12:01 AM (Pacific) until Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving the name of your favorite children's character (from TV or otherwise), and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, it counts if you've done any of these so leave a comment for each one)
1) Follow me on Twitter
2) Tweet this contest and leave the tweet url
3) Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect by clicking on the sidebar
4) Like Baby Einstein on Facebook

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the winner. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and will have 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will go to the next place winner as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for US Residents only. A huge thank you and much appreciation to my friends at Baby Einstein for their generosity! Good luck!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received product samples to facilitate my review.