February in review & readers spotlight

February was only 29 days, but it still felt like a normal month ;). Naw, it flew by, and mostly because our 18-mo son (J) wasn't sick for half of it. That was January, and we're all glad January is over.

Let's take a walk down short-term memory lane…

JCP and customer loyalty

I know this is almost two months late, but I'd just like to say that JCPenny's January catalog and new look blew me away. The layout was simple and clean -- almost Target-esque, which I guess is no surprise now that I know JCP's CEO worked for Target. Anyways, January's catalog contained items that I actually wouldn't mind checking out in-store. Goodness knows I would have never thought to walk into a JCP before this.

Celebrating 10K pageviews :: $25 The Children's Place Gift Card Giveaway (CLOSED)

Hey all, thanks again for helping us reach 10,000 pageviews! We're really excited to be able celebrate this milestone by giving away a $25 The Children's Place gift card. This is our first giveaway ever, and we're using Raffleopter, so please let us know if you have any questions or the widget isn't working! Raffleopter also provides a demo on how to use the widget.

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is announced on the "continue reading" page and has been contacted by email (pending entry verification). Thanks to everyone who entered and shared this giveaway!

Random photos

Hope you're having a great weekend! Thanks for helping us reach 10,000 pageviews! As promised, a gift card giveaway will be announced very soon! Hope you were able to check out my favorite bloggie friends.

Today was a whirlwind of activities. Our 18-mo son (J) got a haircut, but it wasn't as nice as his first haircut. Granted, today's stylist didn't spend a lot of time on it, probably thinking we wanted J in and out ASAP. Guess we could have told her otherwise and she could have gave him some style, and not just cut his hair. We'd recommend asking for Faye Ji or Wei We Zhang at Beautiful Life Salon. Don't know what it's like at other places, but they were willing to scissor-cut J's hair because he was scared of the buzzer. Is that what it's called?

We then went to the library, had lunch, took a short nap, and I was claustrophobic and perplexed by the level of crazy-kidness in the play area at the mall. Seriously, who gave them all sugar packets before they entered? And why isn't anyone supervising? I body-blocked a kid or two before they landed on J's head. Errggghhh

Anyways, on to the random photos...

A few of my favorite blogs

First off, we're only about 50 pageviews away from 10,000 and a gift card giveaway!!!!!

For the weekend, I'd like to leave you with the blogs that I read and interact with almost daily. It's a long list, so I've tried to make it easier for you skim-readers to find a blog that might interest you. Anyways, that word, interact is key because there plenty of blogs that I only read or post a comment occasionally. But then there are a handful of blogs on which I comment frequently, and they stop on over and comment here or at my photography blog, capturng.com. I hope they don't feel like they have to comment on mine because I comment on theirs because that's not my intent as all! I just feel somehow connected to them…hope that doesn't creep them out! I did try to reach each of them prior to posting this just to make sure though!

(REPOST) Is she talking to the puppy or the baby?

"Poll" for this post has been updated and works

We live in a townhouse and luckily only have one neighbor. They probably hear me raise my voice. I bet they play a game of "Is she talking to the puppy or the baby?" You can play along too! I wish there were some awesome prize I could give you if you get all the answers correctly. BUT if you help us reach 10,000 pageviews, we're that much closer to a gift card giveaway! Share this post via twitter, Facebook, or good ol' fashion word of mouth :). Share buttons are at the bottom of this post.

Is she talking to the puppy or the baby?

We live in a townhouse and luckily only have one neighbor. They probably hear me raise my voice. I bet they play a game of "Is she talking to the puppy or the baby?" You can play along too! I wish there were some awesome prize I could give you if you get all the answers correctly. BUT if you help us reach 10,000 pageviews, we're that much closer to a gift card giveaway! Share this post via twitter, Facebook, or good ol' fashion word of mouth :). Share buttons are at the bottom of this post.

Showing and teaching compassion

I'm a selfish creature by nature. Especially at the end of a long day. Who cares about your problems when my shoes are cutting into the back of my feet, our son (J) didn't want to get in the car seat when I picked him up from daycare, and the dogs won't stop barking as soon as I step in the door?? Just leave me alone!

But that’s not the "me" I want the hubby, J, or the dogs to endure every evening. With a dozen-or-so things all going on at once, I'm learning to take a deep breath, step back, and see life from their point of view, i.e., showing compassion.

Speaking of giveaways

Counting down to our 10,000 pageviews giveaway, I'm posting about two giveaways I entered today and the pretty awesome entry form they both used. I've entered my share of blog giveaways, and most of them allow you multiple entries by posting separate comments saying you did such and such - e.g., like them on FB, like the giveaway sponsor on FB, follow on Twitter, etc. The blogger then uses random number generator or other tool, to randomly select among the comments. I was considering doing the same but then I (easily) entered two giveaways -- you should enter them too because they're great prizes and easy to enter!

Questions on Disqus

Hope you had a great weekend, whether or not it was a 3-day.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in about commenting systems. It seems that bloggers are frustrated with "default" commenting systems. I've made the switch to Disqus, and someone at Disqus actually posted a response to my post! That's more than I can say for the silent Blogger (boo!).

Also, a Google search led me to adding a Facebook comment box on your blog. But I don't particularly like it because I don't want readers to have to sign-in using Facebook to comment.

In case you didn't "Subscribe by email" or "RSS" to the comments, here's what Tyler Hayes from Disqus had to say (emphases added):

Since the topic is fresh, I wanted to pop in and mention that we do offer some more granular notification options though they may not be obvious at first. As you mentioned there is a "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of any Disqus comments area which will allow you to — logged-in to Disqus or not — effectively listen in on the conversation without having to comment.

However, for registered Disqus users, by default any time you comment on a thread you'll receive email notifications of only replies to your comments (and also @mentions of you, e.g., Lisa Ng). This can be changed in the Notifications tab at http://disqus.com to enable notifications for all new comments on threads on which you comment, rather than just replies, too.

If we can ever lend a hand with anything, or if you just have any thoughts or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out to us at http://disqus.com/support.

Commenting systems

I've dedicated the past 2 Fridays to "Reader Appreciation" posts. But I think I'm going to move to once-a-month of such posts. I think it's a great way to sum up the month and appreciate you without overdoing it.

Is that ok? Will you still feel the love? Because I've felt the love this week. It's been the most commented-on week since I started this blog! Thanks, friends!

Hey, we're about 500 pageviews short of 10,000! I am soooo super excited. I have the perfect way to celebrate too -- it involves you and a gift card giveaway...but we'll all have to wait until 10,000 pageviews. Follow along on the right sidebar! We're not cheating because the counter doesn't count my own pageviews ;).

This may be a heavy post for Friday afternoon, but it's been on my mind for a while!

On to my rants on commenting systems…

Puppy love, literally

When we first started thinking about getting a second dog, the hubby and I first considered rescuing a young adult dog. Unfortunately, most people give up older dogs (so sad and age-ist!). Since Coco (our first dog) was only 2, and we really wanted a play companion for her, we kept looking and waiting.

We found Delaware Puppy Rescue, but unfortunately they had restrictions about families adopting a puppy when there's a child less than 7-yrs at home. They had good reason. Both child and puppy are in their early stages of development. Neither is mature enough to understand restraint. Their past experience with young families is that puppies are returned :(.

Going against DPR's valid concern, we got a puppy from a breeder anyways. We named his Jasper. Our son (J) was a little over 1-yr at the time.

Parisian vs. American parenting

I wanted so bad to comment on the Tiger Mom debate of last year but missed the boat! So I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and provide my two cents on the Parisian vs American parenting discussion before it's yesterday's news. I'd love to hear your two cents too!

An American named Pamela Druckerman, living in Paris with her British husband and their kids, wrote a book called Bringing Up Bebe, which describes the differences she's observed between Parisian vs American parenting. I originally came across the WSJ article from Mommy Shorts, and then found posts on BlogHer and A Cup of Jo. Mommy Shorts believes pastries and Nutella are the reasons Parisian kids are better behaved than American kids. Josette over at BlogHer says that actually, all parents are better than you. And finally, A Cup of Jo takes a sincere approach and lists some takeaways from the book excerpt. *Note, the posts by Mommy Shorts and Josette are supposed to be taken with a grain of salt and also preferably with a sense of humor!*

So here's my two-cents.

A V-Day card for you

Happy Valentine's Day! Late last night, I posted about a DIY kids' V-Day t-shirt I made for our son (J). Well, if you didn't like that, how's about a card from J himself?

Valentine's Day craft: DIY kids' t-shirt

Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Well, 30-min from the time this post posts. It's a late night! Half of you are super-excited, half of you would rather stick a fork in your eye, and the other half of you wonders why there is such a dichotomy over this holiday.

We had the tasting menu at Tintos in Philadelphia a few years ago and had so much fun with tapas that we planned a nice V-Day dinner at a highly-rated Mediterranean tapas (or mezze) restaurant found via Yelp -- Cava Mezze around here.

Since they don't take reservations for V-Day, we planned to go tonight, and my sister was going to babysit. As luck would have it, our son (J) came down with a fever last night, and we aren't comfortable about leaving him tonight. That's ok because I just remembered I was going to make cards for J's daycare teachers. Well, even if he hadn't of gotten sick, I at least had one V-Day craft done last night.

J is in the Bees Classroom at daycare, so what better way to celebrate V-Day than to make a t-shirt:

Must.read.magazines

Hope you're having a good weekend!

I really should have added "attack my stack of magazines" to my list of New Year Resolutions because who has actual magazines anymore, right *wink*?

Reader appreciation

Happy Friday, friends! Thanks to all my readers and visitors! I appreciate your time to read and view my blog amidst the sea of parenting blogs out there.

This week's most popular post was A tribute to Dad. Thanks to Lucy's Reality (parenting blog), SoMi Speaks (parenting blog), and Angie from Pandaphilia (personal style blog) for leaving me such lovely comments!!

Thankful Thursday: Time

[source: Richard Wiseman]

Today, I'm thankful for time. I am thankful that time always moves forward. I make mistakes each hour of the day, and I'm thankful that "time" never withholds a new hour to perhaps right the wrongs or at least learn from them.

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A tribute to Dad

Today would have been my dad's 97th birthday, but you wouldn't have been able to tell. It's funny to say this, but he didn't look a day over 60. When you're in your 90s, being 60 is a compliment! Speaking of awesome Asian genes, have you seen Vera Wang lately?

What I remember about my dad was that his mind was sharp. He knew Obama was President, that the capital of Pennsylvania was Harrisburg (though he sometimes pronounced it Hershey Park), and that Ellen DeGeneres was gay. Seriously, the last one, how did he know that? He didn't understand English. Was it in some Chinese show or newspaper? But I digress...

Soon to be invincible again

Here's a test to see if your kids are too sick for school or daycare that I found while searching for this image.

I have a strain of I-live-with-a-two-year-old-it is coined by Mommy Shorts. It's called I-have-an-18-month-old-in-his-first-year-of-daycare-itis because before he started daycare, I never got sick. This is also why I haven't posted anything since Friday.

Reader Appreciation

Taking a cue from Pretty Sparkly Shiny's The Secrets to Successful Blogging (Part I), I am dedicating a post each week to highlight comments and interactions with the readers of this blog. Without you, I'd be talking to myself. Thank you for not allowing that to happen.

Mommy Mysteries 002 - reader submitted

Second in Mommy Mysteries series. This one's submitted by Talking Thirty, a blog about all things meaningful to a girl in her thirties. For the first in the series, click here or here.

Thankful Thursday: Mom, you're awesome

Last night, I couldn't formulate a coherent post about anything "relative" for BlogHer's February NaBloPoMo. Today, I feel much better. Throat still sore, but the rest of me ok.

So here we go -- a post about Mom, which is also be a Thankful Thursday post.

NaBloPoMo: Relative

Happy February! This month's NaBloPoMo theme is Relative. Today's writing prompt is Tell us about your mother. And I've been trying for the last hour and a half to formulate a coherent stream of thought but can't because my throat hurts, I have a headache, and I just want to curl up into a fetal position and sleep until next week. So, Mom, if you're reading this, I promise to embarrass you another day!

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