Friday, February 27, 2009

Like the Sahara...

It's official. I am no longer a breastfeeding mother. I guess you can say it was 'official' a week ago, but I just haven't really had a chance to write in a while! I now have the difficult task of learning 'portion control.' While I was pregnant- I ate. A lot. And while I was breasfeeding- I ate. A lot. Then I was pregnant again- and you guessed it- I ate. A lot. And then I was breasfeeding again, so I ate. More than ever before! I was out eating men who were double my weight. It was embarrassing. For everyone.

And now, I am all done with that pregnancy/breastfeeding business. At least for now. I am trying to remind myself that though I am able to eat a bowl of ice cream before bed every night, it doesn't mean it's good for me. I have started drinking about a million cups of coffee everyday- just cause I can. But again, it's probably not that good for me. Or my teeth. But a little coffee newsflash- did you know that a cup of coffee at Krispy Kreme is $0.25? Everyday. I've been there a time or two...

Anyway, though I hated breastfeeding in the beginning, I was really enjoying it at the end- mostly cause that was my special, quiet, alone time with Topher. I still have special, quiet, alone time with Topher for about five minutes every night while I rock him and pray with him before he goes to bed. But it's not the same thing.

For you ladies out there who are breastfeeding, or about to embark on the amazing journey of breastfeeding- enjoy it while it lasts! Sure it's annoying when you have to find a remote place to feed your baby while everyone hams it up in the living room. Sure it's superannoying not really being able to wear light coloured shirts for fear of having two wet spots appear on your shirt making you look like a dear in the headlights x 2. But holding your baby and feeding him, and being the only one who is able to give her the best available food out there (whilst saving MILLIONS of $$$ on formula) is pretty priceless.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Man vs Baby

yesterday i was home alone with the three babies. we actually had a pretty great time together. chris was working and jeehon went to bible study. before she left, we gave the kids baths, and jeehon put half pieces of corn-on-the-cob onto a chopstick and Sungu and Lily were occupied with their healthy vegetable-lollipops for half an hour! it was pretty great. for everyone.



i was greatly anticipating bedtime. not cause i wanted to get the kids out of my hair, but because we were trying to get Sungu back on to his regular sleeping schedule. with his dad being here for 18 days, Sungu got the royal treatment! which he deserves, and we are all really glad that James and Sungu were able to spend so much time together. but while James was here, we had a 4:3 adult to baby ratio going on. there was a rover available should anyone need any extra help. but now James is gone, and we are back to man on man coverage. occassionally it's a zone defense situation, like tonight, when the babies outnumber the adults.

last night was the first night Sungu went to bed without his dad. so chris was the lucky one to put him to bed. and it took 24 minutes of 'get back in bed', 'stop crying. get back in bed.' chris really held his own. as did Jeehon as she waited patiently downstairs. if there is anything chris is good at, it is wearing people down! in a good way!

so tonight was my turn, and because of chris' hard work last night, i was able to reap the fruit of his labor in a big way! i put topher down first. then lily. with sungu crying just a little bit harder as he was realizing it was almost his turn. then i laid him in his bed, kept the door cracked open, and stared at him for a few minutes. he totally had me fooled cause i left thinking he was asleep. but of course, he was up again. but there was considerably less crying than the night before, and altogether i had to watch him for about ten minutes. once again, the saying 'no pain,no gain' proves to be the mantra for parenting toddlers.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ode To CJW. Part III

On Tuesday morning, Chris, Lily, Topher, Mally and I went for a drive down to Queen Creek to see our friends- the Vogts. The reason we were all going over there was to bring Mally to her new home. For those of you who don't know much about Mally, here are a couple stats about her: she is an English Mastiff. She is going to be 3 years old (human years. I don't at all understand what the heck is up with dog years) in March. She weighs about 130-150 lbs. And she should max out at 180 lbs in a few short years. Though we love her, she is a SWEET dog, we were not the best owners for her. The Vogts actually had an English Masiff that died of old age last year, so they knew exactly what they were getting into, and were excited about it!

It had rained a bit earlier in the morning, but Mally was invited into the house wet paws and all. She followed Chris and Jeff all around the house, and she just looked happy. We all sat in the living room for a bit, and Mally just flopped down and started burrowing her face into the plush carpet. She looked like she was in heaven.

While we were driving home, I had so many thoughts running through my mind. I didn't want to patronize my tough husband with questions about hs feelings. I had already told him before that I was proud of him for having made the hard decision to give away his beloved pup. I wasn't too sure what to say or do. And then Sarah MacLaughlin showed up. "I will remember you" came flooding over the airwaves and Chris said: "This is my song for Mally!" And with that he turned up the volume, and took my hand in his, and we drove on home.

Dear readers- I love my husband. I just love him so much I feel like I am going to bust at the seams. Everyday is so amazing because I get to hang out with him, and watch him be the cutest dad to our babies, be the best uncle to Sungu, be a great brother-in-law to Jeehon, be an awesome friend to his many many friends, and be a hard-working and surprisingly chipper police officer. I don't know how he does it all, but he does, and he really does it all so well! There is so much hilarity, goodness, sweetness and wonderfulness packed into this one man that it had no choice but to spill over into Lily and Topher. I am one blessed woman, and I just want to say it one more time- I love you Chris Watson!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Ode To CJW. Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am paying tribute to the wonderful and crazy man that I am married to for the next few posts. I guess I am copying Ray Branton who wrote a sincere and beautiful post about his wife on their blog (The Brantons). Maybe I am trying to one-up him, especially since he has whooped me twice this year in fantasy basketball. Thanks for nothing Ray! (Are you reading this? Amy, tell your husband I just bad mouthed him on the internet. Thanks.)

Anyhoo, because it is Valentines Day, I thought it would only be appropriate to post an e-mail that Chris sent out to our friends after he proposed to me four years ago while I was living in Korea, and he was finishing up his duty in Iraq. Not only is Chris Watson crafty, and athletic, and easily-confused, he's also a great little writer. Enjoy!

Chris's writing is in black, and I have inserted my own comments in red.

"Hey guys,
The deed has been done. I proposed to Jihae and surprised the crap out of her. It went very well.

The Setup:
I had her (and many others) thinking that I would not be leaving Iraq until the 15th of May, but I actually left on the 1st of May and made the trip to Korea.

The Trip There:
I was somehow able to email her at every stop (which ended up being at least once every 7 or 8 hours...more than I usually email when I am stationary), keeping her even more clueless. I arrived in Korea on the 3rd (Tuesday) and upon arrival, the stewardess came over the loud speaker and said "it's a beautiful day in Seoul, the temperature is 21 degrees (celcius) and the time is currently 3:55...no, 2:55....no, sorry...it's 3:55" (this comes into play later on). So I exited the aircraft and rented a cell phone (which will also come into play later on). I then turned on to stealth mode. Luckily, my extensive training from the Marine Corps paid off and I was able to go undetected to my hotel room.

The first night and the plan:
I spent the night drinking heavily in realization of what was going to take place in the morning. (He has a drinking problem.) Just kidding. (Me too.) I actually stayed in my hotel room and watched movies till 1:30 a.m. Unfortunately, I was supposed to call Jihae in the morning for our weekly call at 5:30, and I was planning to wake up at 4 to have ample time to prepare....that didn't happen. I slept through my alarm and woke up at 8!!! Which happens to be the same time Jihae leaves for work in the morning. I missed my opportunity to go through with my original plan.

Redemption:
After getting up, I took a shower, thinking of the humor in my sleeping in on, what many would say, was one of the most important days of my life. (After 4 years, I still don't see the humour in that) After finishing washing up, I noticed that one of the clocks in my hotel room said it was only 7a.m. I thought back to the confused stewardess and thought it would be worth a try to see if Jihae was still in her apartment. She was....and she was pissed that I forgot to call on the one day that we got to talk the entire week, plus I had been telling her that I had some "pretty important" stuff to talk about. As soon as I called, I told her I had to go and I would call her back in 10 minutes...probably making her more pissed off. (Definitely more pissed off.) I ran out of my hotel room and went for a little "sprint" to her apartment. (I will give props to Chris for this. It was a 15 minute sprint, and a good portion of it was uphill.) I snuck into her apartment (again...the Marine training) and went up to her roof where I called her house phone (no caller ID) and began our "weekly conversation". We talked about the converstaion I had with her father the week prior and some of our future plans. The converstaion with her dad was a really big deal for us, so that was awesome. I then said that I needed to get some stuff off my chest. I told her that there was a lot of deception in relationships and that recently, I had been doing a lot of deceiving in our relationship. I think she thought I was gonna dump her (again)...awesome. (No, not awesome. Not even a little bit.) At the peak of the conversation, I hung up the phone (leaving her more beyond words can describe pissed)...and then knocked on her door. No answer. I then opened the door and entered her apartment. I heard her in her room (probably throwing things from being so angry) (Yup! I threw the phone against the wall!) and then knocked on her bedroom door (Jihae has a roommate and she thought it was her), when she opened the door, Chris Watson was standing there waiting. I popped the question and she just kinda stood there for about five minutes, giving me some interesting looks of surprise. I then explained to her that she needed to answer yes or no, because I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable and vulnerable. (I didn't not answer because I was thinking about my answer. I was just in shock. But I am glad he finally got to feel a little bit uncomfortable and vulnerable for the first time!) She said o.k. and now I am trapped...please help. Just kidding.

Anyways, I am gonna be back in Arizona on Sunday (in time for the second round of the playoffs!) (Oh how things have changed! The Suns will probably not make it to any round of the playoffs this year... Let's get a great draft pick!...) and will start looking for a job and getting settled in for the long run. No date is set, but we will keep you guys all posted. Take care and God bless!!
Chris"

Ode To CJW. Part I

The other day ago, Jeehon's friends came over to take her and James to a movie. We sat around the table eating cheesecake before they left and we just exchanged ridiculous story after ridiculous story from our marriages. Chris and I had the most (as in most ridiculous, and most in number) and I would like to share those stories with you all over the next couple posts so you can appreicate what an insane and amazing man I am married to:

Today is Valentines Day. Not really a big deal in our household. Mostly because I never really get to spend it with my honey bunny. This is our fourth one together as a married couple, and is maybe our sixth (seventh? I can't remember with the breakup and all) one 'together' in our lifetime, but it's only the third one when we've been in the same city, let alone on the same continent.

Two years ago, Chris and his brother Robert thought it would be a great idea to go Javelina hunting together for three days. Of course one of those days happened to be on Valentines day. Those boys are so special. Not only did they vex their wives by ditching them, but they also came home javelina-less (which did not vex their wives at all. Especially me, since had they caught one they would have brought the dead carcass in my Jeep.) But, Chris came through in a huge way cause he sent a dozen red tulips to the office, and took me out for dinner when he got back on the 15th, which was perfect for me since we got to go out and eat and not wait in line for an hour or two.

Today Chris is working, but at least I got to see him this morning and will see him much later tonight. He bought Lily a little Valentine (I took care of the Tophmeister) and Chris bought me a big ol' box of chocolate even though he wasn't "supposed to" (of course he's supposed to!) Oh how I love my dirty-ugly-pig hunting, sweet and thoughtful father-to-my-children husband.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Vegas Babies!

I think I may have a problem. Or maybe my whole family does. I guess we go to Vegas a lot. We were here last year for our family vacation. Then Chris and I came here for our anniversary. And now we are here again. And we are having a great time!



James, Jeehon's husband, got in from Iraq on Saturday. He was supposed to get in on Thursday or Friday, but what can you do? At least it was only one or two days later than anticipated (unlike other army guys who came home anywhere from a week or two later than planned.) We prayed a bunch for that, so Thank You Jesus! Had James come home any later than that, our trip would have been seriously messed up. So James, Jeehon and Sungu drove to Vegas upon James arrival to Phoenix early Saturday evening.



Then Chris and the kids and I left Phoenix after watching a heart-wrenching loss in the Superbowl. We were on the road at 9:30 pm. Yikes. Team work played a giant role in our survival and safe arrival to Las Vegas at 2am. The kids both managed to sleep in that morning, which means I was able to sleep in, which gave me the strength to drive for an hour, and stay awake the other 4 hours while Chris drove. Chris worked at the FBR that day, and was pretty tired, but he insisted on driving because he is better trainined than I am, and he is not an asian woman (apparently we have a rep for being bad drivers), and there were evidently drunks on the road which made Chris' driving training come in handy. Because we left so late, the kids actually slept the ENTIRE way (thank you Jesus again!) Had they been awake, their crying probably would have also kept us awake, but that's not the way you want to stay awake. Lily received an early birthday gift of a portable DVD player, which will play a giant role on our way back home on Sunday.



So, here we are in Vegas- James, Jeehon, Sungu, James' mom, my mom, my dad, Chris, Lily, Topher, me, and our friend Jon (who is one of Chris and James' best friend from their days in Korea.) This was Topher's first time meeting his halabuji (grandfather), which is kinda sad considering he is almost eleven months old. But better late than never! And they have been inseperable since they met. Too cute. We are having fun, eating lots of GREAT food. It's like a dream come true: two true-blue korean women cooking is a great thing. And neither of those korean women are Jeehon or myself!

Stay tuned for more adventures from Vegas-land...