Friday, August 29, 2008

Ode to GGpa

Today is/was Chris' grandfather's birthday. He turned 78. His name is Robert Thorold Watson, he is a retired accountant, though he still does tax returns. Last year he did a bunch of 'elderly folks' tax returns at his church for free cause he wanted to make sure they got their stimulus checks from the goverenment. That's the kind of guy he is- thoughtful and generous. He has four sons, ten grandkids, two step-grandkids, eight grandkids-in-law, and eleven great-grandkids who know him as GGpa. And he loves each and every one of the 33 aforementioned people and dotes on them whenever he gets the chance. But the 34th person he dotes on the most is his lovely wife Jaye, and they make the most wonderfullest couple that ever did live on this side of real life 'Once Upon A Time'. Chris and I were fortunate enough to do our premarital counseling with them which was awesome cause they have been happily married for... a really long time. (Yes, we even talked about ... gulp, sex. But it was biblically based, which took the weirdness factor away. For the most part.) I wanna say they have been married for over fifty years, but I will write a correction to that later if I am wrong.

When Chris and I were dating and we were still in the ever fun and exciting 'getting to know you' stage, I asked him which man in his life he looked up to the most. After some serious deliberation, he said 'my grandpa'. And after finally meeting his grandfather, and then getting to know him, and now getting to be his neighbor (seven minutes away! I love our new house!) I can see why he answered that question the way he did. Thanks for being an awesome man of God, an amazing patriarch for the gigantic Watson clan, and just a great guy to be around. We love you grandpa, and if my kids could speak, they would tell you that they love you GGpa!

Kids Do the Darndest Things

I wrote in my last post that we have been busy and crazy, but that we have also been laughing, but then I didn't have time to expand on that. So here are a couple things that have made us chuckle in the midst of insanity:

-I really can't remember what Jeehon and I were doing, but we left the big kids unattended for a few moments in the living room. Maybe we were breaking down boxes in the garage. I don't know. But there's no need to call CPS folks, at least one of us was always in the house! So I was walking towards the living room and all I could hear was crinkling and crackling. I peeked in and saw Sungu with a box of cookies. He had one of his chubby paws in there but could not get a cookie out to save his life! It was one of those packages where the cookies come in a plastic tray with 4 sleeves of five cookies. Jeehon and I had 'fortunately' eaten all the cookies in the first two sleeves which is why Sungu was having such a hard time getting one out! Lily was behind Sungu looking over his shoulder, egging him on. She had such hope and expectation in her eyes. Poor thing. When I busted the pair, they stopped only for a moment to look at who had caught them, and then they went right back to trying to get their prize until I snatched the cookies and put them in the pantry where they belong.

-Lily's new 'thing to do' is she puts on some shoes (usually not hers), picks up anything resembling a purse, (a bucket serves the same purpose because it has a handle) then she saunters over to the door and waves and says 'bye'. So cute. The other day as she was 'coming home' I handed Jun-Lee over to her and told her that her baby missed her while she was gone. Lily hugged her baby and then dropped her on the floor. (She did NOT learn that from me!) She then lifted up her dress to her chin, picked her baby back up, and started 'breast feeding'.

I do not know why I don't have a video camera running at all times in this house! Wish you coulda been here to see even just one of these episodes.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

M.I.A

we have not had any internet access for a week. again. man, this whole 'getting settled' thing is taking far too long for my liking! earlier this week we had a leaky shower head and toilet (both in the master bathroom. i don't know what chris does when he is in the bathroom...) we've finally got baby gates up on our stairs (as opposed to a bunch of boxes). i am 95% done hanging up my clothes in the closet. the rule of 'if you haven't worn it in a year then throw it out' does not apply to me- having been pregnant for two years straight. so i actually had a lot of fun looking at clothes i haven't worn since 2006. we went on a temporary spending freeze cause we were buying so much random stuff for the house- like baby gates and clothes hangers. that lasted about 24 hours. but we are definitely slowing down on the amount of stuff that we 'need' for the new house now. chris and i are in the midst of trying to stain a ginormous desk. we have one coat of stain on. you're supposed to wait 4-6 hours to put on the second coat. well, it's been about 26 hours now. obviously the makers of the stain we are using do not have one infant and two toddlers! but hopefully that project will be done soon and hopefully it will look good. fingers crossed. my mom is coming into town on saturday and i cannot wait! i haven't seen her since september of last year i think. almost a whole year! one of the kids are awake so i gotta go. just wanted to check in and let you know that we are all alive and well! actually, lily, sungu and jeehon all caught colds. topher and lily have teeth coming in. so there's been lots of cranky crying. BUT there has also been lots of laughs. so yeah, we are doing well.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Neverending To-Do Lists

My mother is the most incredible woman alive. I have no idea how she and all her five children are alive. I think if I had been in her shoes back in the day, I woulda killed someone, or 'accidentally' left a kid or three at a far-off McDonalds or something. She moved from Seoul to Edmonton with three kids under the age of 4. Then she moved from Edmonton to Toronto with five kids under the age of 7. And while in Toronto we moved from Scarborough, to St. Clair and Christie, to another apartment a block away from the first apartment, then to East York, and finally back to Scarborough which is where my parents live now. How did she do it??!?!? Here I am, with two kids, my hubby (my dad was around too, and also bore quite the heavy burden!), and my sister and her son. And I have already sworn off ever moving ever again. There are still boxes here and there. Most unpacked, lots only half unpacked. We are still looking for some key items that I am sure we will find in a year or two. We go to Walmart almost every day cause we keep finding out we NEED just one more thing. Yesterday it was another pack of hangers (I have probably bought seven 10-packs already...) Today it was floor lamps since most of the rooms do not have lights in them.

But seriously- how did my parents do this? There is so little time in the day for everything that needs to get done! Both of my parents worked all the time. Fortunately my mom had a store tht we lived on top of. So we saw her lots. And fortauntely she had Asian kids, so working and helping out the 'family business' from an early age was to be expected :) Jeehon started working the cash register when she was in third grade I think. She was always such a smart little geek. But with all the times we moved- I don't have any memories of packing boxes. Which means my parents did it all when we were asleep (read: when they were supposed to be asleep too.)

I think I will call them to tell them I love them and think they are amazing. Dang it. It's past midnight in Toronto already. Just as well. I have dishes to do, dinner to eat (the kids just went to bed. Jeehon's at Bible Study and Chris is still at work), toys to pick up, lamps to assemble, clothes to hang (I found my old jeans that I have been looking for over the last two months!) and I have some boxes I should unpack. But first thing on my To-Do list tomorrow- call my parents. (And after that maybe I will go to Dunkin Donuts for a free coffee. Has anyone else been enjoying their week of free coffees or is it just me and Jeehon?)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Topher Update

Here's a little update on how my little man is doing and everything you guys have missed cause we have not been connected to the internet in over a week!

-at his last doctor's appointment, these were his stat: 26 inches long which puts him in the 80th percentile fpr his height, 14 lbs 8 oz which puts him in the 35th percentile for his weight (he had pooed the day before. if only they had weighed him on day 10 of not pooing!) and his head circumference was 17 inches, which puts him in the 75th percentile. (not to keep comparing my kids, but lily's giant noggin has always been in the 90th plus!)

-he is finally in his own room! at the other house we didn't ever bother to move him into his own room cause his room would have been lily's room, which means lily would have had to move to a room in the basement for like a month or so, and then move again once we got to this house. so he went into his own room when we got here and it sucked. his first two nights were VERY rough to say the least. one of those nights i woke up about six times. no joke. but he has since had one twelve hour night, one ten hour night, and a few eights. pretty sure he is in the midst of a growth spurt.

-he finally rolled over! for some reason it took him a long time to do... no wait, i know the reason- i never gave him enough time on flat surfaces (the other kids are rowdy and all over the place! didn't want my little guy to get trampled!) anyway, he did it right in front of both Chris and i so we were both very excited that we both witnessed it.

-he got a glycerin suppository shoved up his butt last week. actually, i just barely had to shove it, because once i got it close enough to his tush, he actually seemed to vaccuum it right up. and therein lies the problem- his butt is a vaccuum that sucks stuff up instead of being a gun that shoots stuff out. did it work? yeah- after twelve hours! probably going to have to take him to a specialist.

-he has caught a fever. the olympic fever that is. he watches with his dad every night. he is pretty excited about being american. he is also quite proud of his korean brothers and sisters, though they seem to medal pretty heavily in the 'violent' sports. and as for his canadian counterparts... well, he is waiting for them to medal in two years when they have the winter olympics. (come on Canada! uzbekistan and tajikistan have medals and you don't!)

and that's about it. he is starting to get the hang of eating off the spoon (oatmeal mixed with prune juice. still no action on the bowel front!). he is such a good baby. we love him to pieces. and i really need to go to sleep. bye for now!

Papa the Po-po

For some reason my brothers think they are gangstas. Well, actually they have finally grown up some so now only one of my three brothers still thinks he is a gangster, the other two have come to terms with the fact that they are just regular korean-canadian guys. Anyhoo, they have lots of different words for the police, as all gangsters do. There's 'five- oh', which I totally do not understand, a bunch of others that I am drawing blanks on, but my favorite is 'Po-po'. Why? Cause it sounds more like something that Lily would say than a gangster would. So this post today is devoted to my husband because I FINALLY went on a ride-along with him last week!

Chris has been a cop for about two years now. I have not been able to go on a ride-along with him because I have literally been pregnant the whole time he has been a cop. I almost went with him last year, but I thought I was pregnant. Chris urged me to not take a pregnancy test until I went with him on a ride-along later that week, but like anyone could wait that long to find out if they were pregnant or not. Needless to say, I took one, it was positive, didn't go on the ride-along with Chris, had a baby, etc. etc.

Chris' brother Robert goes on a ride-along with Chris every six months, cause that's how long you have to wait till you are allowed to go on another one. Our good friend Mike has also gone with Chris on one. As Mike aptly put it- 'Chris has a sixth sense for crime.' I know Chris is a great cop, so I was very excited as I drove over to the station to meet him on Friday morning. Just to preface- Mike and Robert went on ride-alongs with Chris when he was working the exciting night shift. He is now on days, which is great for our family, but not so great for excitement filled ride-alongs.


I left all three kids with Jeehon (bless her heart. Where would I be without her?) and I was grinning from ear to ear while I drove to Scottsdale. I had just been with all three kids so much that I really needed a break from them. That sounds terrible I know, but sometimes you just need an opportunity to miss your kids so that you appreciate them more when you see them again. I also needed a break from packing and being in our house full of boxes and crap strewn about. I also just needed to spend some one on one time with my hubby.

So I realized what a seriously terrible person I am because the day was so boring at first and I just wanted something to happen. We went to an accident scene where there was a minor fender bender. Boring! I can't handle the sight of blood or anything, but I wanted something more than a fender bender, which meant I wanted ill to befall someone else for my own personal enjoyment. Ugh. I disgust myself sometimes. I encourage others to go on ride-alongs with any cop friends you may have, lots of time for introspection if they work the day shift. Even more so if it's your husband working the day shift and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you.

We stopped for lunch at Subway. First meal alone together in awhile. Then we drove down this one tiny street that had the biggest, most amazing looking houses I have ever seen. I took a five minute nap while Chris continued to drive around, avoiding danger. He was about to take me back to the station so that I could get back home to the kids when all of a sudden- action! We were right near a motel where there were calls saying that a guy was threatening a woman with a knife. Sweet!

So we went to the call and it was awesome. Chris went over to the guy who was apparently threatening his girlfriend, telling her he was going to cut her. There were already about five other cops on the scene. I stood off to the side with another officer who was questioning this other girl who said she had no idea what was going on. She seemed innocent enough to me, but that's cause I do not have a sixth sense for crime. The officer who was talking to her asked her a bunch of questions and kept asking her if she was a prostitute. Yikes man! That's offensive. Except it didn't seem to offend her. Probably cause she was a prostitute. Dang.

So that was my ride-along experience. It was so great to hang out with Chris for a day and see what he does, even though he tried so hard to protect me from it. I commend all those who work hard to protect our streets, cause they seriously deal with a different breed of people than you and I do at our jobs.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Moving Day!

This is going to be superquick. Today is moving day! It started out kinda rough. Woke up at five to feed Topher. I contemplated getting up and moving things cause not everything was packed. We have so much crap it's incredible! But I went back to bed for an hour and a half. Got up at seven and chaos ensued. Everyone was trying to do a million things at once. Kids were flying all over the place. The highlight was when Sungu stuck his hand in the toilet. Jeehon and I were close enough to see it, but not stop it. He walked out of the bathroom, arm soaked up to his elbow. As we were still inthe midst of 'Eeeww!!'ing it up, he wiped his face with the toilet water hand, and Jeehon and I nearly threw up on ourselves. Sungu had no idea what was going on, he looked happy and refreshed. I guess he just needed a little water on his face.

I had to leave at 7:45 cause the Cox Cable guy was coming at 8am. I got to our new home, the cable guy came, we chatted about internet and cable, and then he realized we didn't have any tvs or computers in the house yet. So he left. BOO! That sucked. Have to reschedule. Note to potential movers- make sure you have your computers and tvs at home before the cable guy comes.

So I went back home. Put more stuff in boxes. Guys started showing up. Chris' Sergeant came, even though he was originally supposed to have some training thing. So great of him to blow that off so that he could help us move in 100 degree plus weather. I love Scottsdale cops! They are so great and helpful. Two other guys from Chris' squad showed up, as well as our buddy David from church. Praise Jesus. So nice to have helpful friends. Justin and Robert are putting in their brotherly duty hours as we speak. I am over at Chris' Aunt Susie's. She watched Topher for a few hours this morning, and is now at a meeting for church. She will be back soon. And she will be watching Topher again. Have I mentioned recently how stinkin incredible Chris' family is?

So I am taking a break from moving. My arm is killing me cause I dusted all the blinds and washed all the baseboards. I. Hate. Baseboards. And dust. But I LOVE my new house! Thank you Jesus for all the amazing blessings! Oh yeah. And they just shut off our water today. It worked for a bit in the morning while I was still cleaning. But once the pizza arrived- I had no water to wash my hands with! Of course. Fortunately we have a ton of bottled water. A waste of good water, but my hands really really needed to be washed. and now tht I think about it I should probably pee and wash my hands like crazy here at Aunt Susie's cause she actually has running water.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Good Advice

It's 7:38 am. I have been up for about an hour already. Topher woke up to be fed at 4:30 and 6:30. We had a little conversation cause I think he thinks that he is still two months old. I had to tell him that 'big boys' sleep until at least five, if not six, or even seven... Just joking. Though I am a touch tired (understatement of the century folks) I am actually kinda happy to have some time to myself in a quiet house.

We are moving in two days. About four days ago Chris and I looked around the house to see what still needed to be done. It was not pretty. The storage room in the basement was filled to the brim with boxes and suitcases of randomness. Some stuff that used to be Chris' rommate's from before I moved in, some stuff that belonged to Jeehon from her first stint of living with us back in '06 (oh how long ago that was! just married, no kids... ) The garage was not any better.
Moving on Tuesday was not looking too good, or even possible.

Chris took yesterday off of work so that we could get a lot of work done around the house. And the ever wonderful Barb Osborne was in town for the weekend looking at houses, and helping us get ready to move. And let me tell you people- we are pretty ready now! Chris' beautiful grandparents came over for lunch cause they wanted to see Barb for the short time that she was out. So they came over, as did Robert, Lindsay, Gabe, and Chris' older brother and his wife. I was pretty adamant (sp? I don't have time to check this right now!) about people NOT coming over for lunch, but Chris absolutely insisted. Oh to be a submissive wife...

But as usual, Chris was right (you have no idea how much that sucks!)to have people over for lunch because after we all ate Subway (provided by the lovely Lindsay and Robert) and yummy desserts (provided by Grandma and Grandpa), we packed and packed and packed and moved stuff to the garage, to Goodwill, etc. Lily napped for a very good chunk of the time. Topher hung out with his aunt Jennifer in the baby center aka the living room, with his cousins Gabe, and Sungu. The house was full of helpful people- it was incredible!!!!!

So now Tuesday is around the corner and we are looking more and more ready to go. It could not have happened without the help of all the Watsons and The Osborne (she seemed to have the strength of two Osbornes combined that day- you were still missed though Jerry!) I do not recommend moving if you have three kids under the age of one and a half (I don't care how many adults there are involved in the rearing of the three- it's not enough!) and I don't recommend moving in the middle of the summer while living in the desert. I am pretty good at dishing out good advice, even though I never follow it myself.

(Thanks again to all who helped- especially mom, grandma, grandpa! You are all so amazing!)