Speaking Katie-Cat

My two year old is learning to speak English; she has heard Korean for her entire life until a year ago and needless to say, she is having a tiny bit of trouble with identifying the words she needs to communicate in our fast-paced life. She knows some sign language, and uses it to talk to us in desperation, but has found that words are much, much quicker if she can get them out. When her speech fully develops, I am so in for it, I have a feeling she'll curse me a blue streak as soon as she can!!

Some of her words that are now easily understood by all of us:

"MOMMY! or MAAAAHHHHHMMMMYY or Mahmeeeee!" all equal Mommy, of course, but each is said with an accent on a different part of the word depending on what she needs. I am loving that it's Mommy now, not Mama which happens to be the Korean word for "eat". Go figure.

"IWAHHHHN" = I want. This phrase is uttered 90 bajillion times a day.

"Chacha" = chocolate. The girl is definitely MY child. "IWAAAHHHNNNN CHAHA!"

"TeeWee" = TV.

"TooTee" = cookie.

"WeeTeeWee" = Wiggles on the TV. She is often in a Wiggles induced trance in the car these days. Gah!

She apparently has her priorities straight. Food and entertainment.

"Poopoo" = I need a diaper change, although it doesn't always mean she has pooped. It just results in faster action from MAAAAHHHMMMYYY.

"Bubba" = either of her brothers.

"Scoome" = excuse me. I love this one because she uses it appropriately!

"I hyper" - just what it sounds like.

"I don care!" = I don't care.

"EEEE" = eat!

Things she will NOT, no matter what, say:

"I'm sorry."  "Please." (she will sign it though)  "Thank you."  "Yes", everything must be answered with a NO!, the louder, the better!

I love baby - speak anyway, but she is really funny and plainly I am so proud!! I especially love that she will rub my cheek and say softly, "Mommy" or when she wakes in the morning and I come in to get her it's a loud "HI MOMMY!". Ah, thankful for small blessings!

Resolutions? MMMMMkay....

What do YOU resolve to do or not do, as the case may be in 2011? Because you care, and are vaguely interested in my ramblings, here are some of my resolutions:

I resolve to eat MORE chocolate - because it makes me happy and well, I deserve to be happy.

I resolve to leave my hair alone or only in the hands of a professional. Um, well, unless I get a hold of the scissors and something needs to be trimmed!

I resolve to be quieter! LOL!!! I don't know why I am making this one, I'm bound to fail, but I will attempt it.

I plan to eat more healthy and earth friendly. And also use earth friendly, organic products for self and home care! I am about 90% there!

I resolve to move to Guam. *snicker*

I resolve to write more interesting blogs. *snicker, again*

I resolve to attempt to meet my resolutions. Maybe I should be making a "life goals" list instead. Ok, I resolve to make a "life goals" list instead! Whew! I did one! Yay, for me! I resolve to praise myself more! Yay, two for me!! Yay, me!! I can see this is getting out of hand!

 I resolve to be more self-controlled.

Tell me YOUR resolutions and I'll resolve to help you meet them! :) Have fun!!

Tiny Talk Tuesday - New Luisms

Hi guys! For funny kid talk, please visit (and then link up your blog) Mary at Tiny Talk Tuesday!

Sweet Lu, or as she likes to be called at the moment, Eloise, and the things she says! Oh, this girl! We never know what will come out of her mouth! Here are a couple of examples from this weekend:

On playing poker, "You can play poker by yourself; you just poke yourself, silly!"

On Polly Pockets, "Katie! Stop touching my Holly Pockets!"

On her new scooter, " I am THE BEST scooter, ever!"

On having a stuffy nose, "Mama, I am the booger Queen!"

On Santa and cookies and milk, "I think he'd rather have toast."

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear friends!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!

See you in 2011!

Love and blessings,

~K

Me and my cookie-man!

Ok, I am a total thief, sue me! Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Hi guys! I totally lifted this from Kero over at Coffee, Pearls and A View, without permission I may add because I'm lame, lazy and LOVED her idea. (I'm sorry, Kero! *sad face*)


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Both - I like to be creative, but don't always have the time.
2. Real tree or artificial?
I'm a total faker. Dumb allergies.
3. When do you put up the tree?
Right after Thanksgiving! 
4. When do you take the tree down?
Right after New Year's Day.
5. Do you like eggnog?
Oh, yes! With a little somethin' somethin', please!
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Um, my Cabbage Patch Dolls, I think.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
Father-in-law.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
Jason Paul - the kid is so easy going! I could seriously paint faces on rocks and wrap them and he'd love it. I don't know how he has made it this long in our family, poor kid.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, three of them. Strangely, Baby Jesus is missing from two of them. My sweet friends just gave us a new one! Baby Jesus is on lock-down.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Mail for me, but I love them no matter what!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A very stinky, ugly Christmas candle - I use it to torture the hub every single year!
12. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Story 
13. When do you start shopping?
I try to shop all year, but usually August or September.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No? I don't think so.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Oh boy! Stuffed shells, pecan pie, homemade caramel and cut-out cookies!
16. Lights on the tree?
All different colors! The more, the merrier!
17. Favorite Christmas song?
**Do I have to pick one? I like 'em all.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Travel. Heeeellllllooooooo, we are military. But this year, we decided to stay here.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
 **Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph. (I can now, thanks again, Kero!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
We are supposed to only open one on Christmas Eve, but I can rarely control myself. I love watching the kids' faces!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Increased insanity and greedy attitudes.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I really like having an eclectic tree! We have all different ornaments from throughout the years. I have started collections for each of the kids so they have some to decorate their trees with later on.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Stuffed Shells - mmmmmmmm
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? No peace and love for answer. Say what you want.
A MacBook Pro!!!

MILSPOUSE Secret Santa - I got my loot!!! :)

This year, I participated in a MILSPOUSE Secret Santa that was put together by Wifey, super milspouse extraordinare! She matched up all the participants and made sure that we had addresses, mail-out dates and even coupon codes! Thank you, Wifey!! *smiles and hearts and all things lovely to you*

Now, you're wondering what my loot is, aren't you? Hey, I have to give props first, people, simmer down!!

So you want to know what I got?

Keep reading.....

A bit more....isn't anticipation awesome?








Here it is:

Winter essentials: Hot chocolate and a cozy scarf!
Awesome!!

A pretty peacock card!!

I received my sweet gift late on Saturday afternoon, after a day of shopping in the cold! Talk about perfect timing!! Thank you, K at The Peacock Tale! I love my gift! And check out how adorable this card is:

MILSPOUSE Friday Fill-In

1. What is the best gift you have ever received or given? from Jessica Lynn Writes
My family. If that's too cheesy for you though, then I pick my new Droid. I am such an addict, if I could, I would marry this phone! *swoon* 

2. Do you celebrate holidays differently when your loved one is deployed/gone or do you keep tradition? from The Albrecht Squad
We are so blessed because although he is TDY a lot, B has never deployed. We usually travel to see family. This year, we are staying home which is bittersweet but fun. We will bake, eat, laze around, some of us will play with our Droid, ahem, play games and just be together!

3. If you celebrate Christmas, do you put an angel, star or something else on the top of your tree?

We have a wonky star, so it works with our wonky tree, but someday I will have a lovely angel. When it's my turn to decorate the tree. When the children leave in 400 years and it's just B and I. 

4. What are your three favorite websites?

Facebook, Twitter and Gmail

5. On your man do you prefer… boxers, briefs or boxer briefs? Or commando? (yeah, I’m starting to get desperate for questions!)?
Boxers!!! I can't even think about tighty whities - ew, and commando - uh, uh, uh.......

Slightly distracted by a Droid....

No, silly, not a robot thingy, although that could be very distracting, I suppose! I got my first smart phone - a Verizon Android 2 Global and ahhh, I'm in love. I got a SCORE deal at Best Buy - $99 and this phone can do anything! Love the apps and if I could only find one that could do the laundry, I'd be in Heaven! I have spent the last two days in some sort of weird other universe that is filled with all kinds of nerdiness, dorkiness and loserdom, but I don't care, it was time well spent. Although, if I ever lose or break it I am gonna be disconnected from the world. And maybe my own brain, too, because I am fully addicted to the point of non-thinking. The kids have been running amok and are so very happy that Mama is in Droid intoxicated state because they have had complete reign around here. Their pleas for candy and junk have been answered with a mumbly, "Uh huh, whatever, just give some to your sister/brother." Teeth have not been brushed, underwear has not been changed and baths have become an "at-will" occurrence. Ok, I am exaggerating - the baby has had at least one bath, I think.....

Anyway, I have emerged from my cyber-coma and realized that I have not posted since Friday, so I thought I'd let you in on some goings-on in the Caffee Crew:

1. Today was a snow day. For less than an inch of snow. Welcome to KY! Yeah, yeah, I grew up in NY and am used to it, but here in the South people freak out! OMG! A blizzard, holy crap, do we have emergency supplies? Is the generator ready? I'm only slightly kidding. I don't know exactly what they think is going to happen, but hey, we all panic about something. I once spent two hours in a bath tub with my kids because there was a tornado threat and apparently I was the only person in IL that took it seriously. And earthquakes would be the undoing of my psyche; something about the freaking ground moving around under me - ack!

2. Kate has learned the word "mine" and uses it liberally. "Mineminemine!" is her latest go to. That and I waaahhhhnnnnn joooo" which means a variety of things but we'll go with I want juice for the sake of brevity.

3. My Jay-baby has this strange rash all over one side of his neck that is not going away. We've been to the doc 3 times since before Thanksgiving and nothing is helping. Poor kid! He is such a trooper though - goes to school and just deals. I feel bad that it's in such a visible location. So tomorrow we are off to get a derm consult.

4. Did I mention that I got a Droid?

5. I am done Christmas shopping and ready to mail packages and start baking. Yay, me!! We have friends coming in for the weekend and I knew I would be totally busy with them - I can't wait til they get here - so I trekked out this weekend and finished. Got some great deals and I am most certain that people will be pleased!

That is about all the excitement I can think of for now and my Droid needs my attention I have some very important stuff to get to....oh, and if you are a Mommy blogger, check this out - Opinion Panel Members Needed. It's a great way to get your blog out there and provide feedback! Adieu!

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

What can I say? I got nuthin'. Not one thing. Are there things I could write about? Yeah, but they are booooring and no one really wants to hear about J's neck rash anyway. I there things I should write about? Probably. But I just don't have the patience today. Sorry, peeps, just keepin' it real. I am in a bloggy funk.

Maybe you should tell ME what I should write about. YOU can be the BOSS of ME today - I'm so in a mood to be told what to do.....take advantage of it, it doesn't happen often! :)

My Little Love, Lu!

Last night, Lu and I had a "girls' club" night - she needed shoes and I needed my hair trimmed, so we ventured over to the PX to knock out 14 birds with 1 stone. We had the best time! We hardly get girls' club time because there are four children and one Mama and so individual attention is a rare commodity around here. You Mama's with more kids must have clones of yourselves because, man, it can be overwhelming! On the ride there, Lu was chattering in her normal way - talking about this and that and singing and telling me stories about asking ALL the kids in her class if they liked blueberries and only one girl said no and so we should get them anyway and put them on a tray and serve them to all the students. When I asked her if that was a true story, she admitted that it wasn't entirely true, but asked me if I thought it was good anyway. Ok! I really love that she just talks to me about everything - I truly cherish these days. I am so not looking forward to the teen years because more than anything I will miss her and our bond as she naturally and normally separates herself from me to become independent.

So before I get all weepy and mushy....

We get there and are waiting for my hair appointment and she is dancing in front of the salon mirrors. Her school Christmas recital had been earlier in the day and she was still all dressed up. She was twirling and hopping and curtsy-ing for the other customers, loving all the attention. Whose kid IS this??? LOL! She is a beautiful child so she is used to getting major attention where ever we go and hams it up for the crowd! I told her that if she behaved well, we could get a treat for dinner instead of eating a real meal and made her promise that if we did that, she would not tell "the boys". So fun! Next, we went to pick out her shoes. She needed dress shoes for school because she was given the "Cool Cat" award for always doing her best and they were having a ceremony to honor the students that received them. She "needed" to be "fancy"! Of course!! So we headed back and she instantly picked out the shiniest, blingy-est, heeled patent leather shoes. I love this child - if it shines or sparkles, she must have it! We tried them on and she did a few hops and taps and leaps to make sure they were "the ones". They were her size and on sale - perfect!

My Lu likes to talk (I know you are thinking, NO WAY!) and on our way out of the store she announced that the shoes were "like, soooo cute" and "the MOST perfect" in her best Valley Girl voice. She had to wear them right away, too, to make sure that they "worked". By the time we got to the food court for our treat, Baskin Robbins was closed. Not to be deterred, we made a plan to head over to the commissary and search for something delicious that we could hide from the boys!

We headed over (I had to go anyway) and she decided on a giant pink bear cookie with sprinkles and a Vitamin water - go figure! The lady behind the counter put the cookie in a white little bag and made a big fuss about how special it was. Lu ate it UP, figuratively and literally! We cruised around and got what we needed and headed home to a house full of crazies! Later as she was getting ready for bed I told her that I had had an awesome time with her and she said, "Me too, Mama. I LOVE my shoes!". Then she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and gave me a super-squeeze. Ahhhh, my melting heart......

New ornament

Christmas Recital

"Princess Noodle"

AboutOne Supports Comeback Mom Returnships

So most of you know how much I adore my job and how lucky I feel to have it as I have written about it before, but I want you all to know how supported I feel by AboutOne as well. Not only do I work with an amazing group of people (seriously, I know this sounds "commercially", but they really are amazing), I get to write about things that are very close to my heart! And, and, I get to be a part of projects that benefit my fellow military spouses like Operation Shower! 

When I was told about the The Comeback Mom Returnships, I was so excited because this is me and it could be YOU, too! I am letting AboutOne describe this because I am just too wordy and me me me-ish and I want you to be able to understand what it is they are offering here, so:

"Like several members of our team, many women put their careers on hold to stay home with the kids. In doing so, they develop new interests and skills. AboutOne values their experiences both inside and outside the workplace, and the skills they develop as a result of becoming moms.

Because we want to make it easier for these women to return to the corporate world, we have created AboutOne’s Comeback Mom Returnship program. Similar to college internships, our Comeback Mom Returnships are for experienced professionals who want to rejoin the workforce. We offer flexible work arrangements on a trial basis to provide these “on-rampers” with the opportunity to refine their skills and demonstrate their capabilities. Upon completion of the returnship, participants are evaluated for permanent employment with AboutOne." (Excerpt taken from the AboutOne website.)

How could I NOT share this with you? If you are even thinking about entering back into the workplace, take advantage of this opportunity - you will not regret it, I promise! The people I work with have a wealth of knowledge from various backgrounds and fields and you WILL learn new things and grow! So do it! Now! :)

So sorry, PRK and chocolates for breakfast.

Gah! I'm sorry that I have not blogged in a few days - I know you are all riveted by my exciting, super, meaningful, life-changing posts, but I have not been able to see. Yes, I said see. Perhaps you'll forgive me someday! On with it! I'll tell you WHY I haven't been able to see:


I had PRK, which is short for photorefractive keratectomy, and is what they did in the olden days before Lasik or to those of us lucky enough to have thin corneas. So thin, in fact, that I could not have Lasik.  And imagine, I have never had anything on my body considered too thin for anything! La! Anyhoo, so I went in and was declared too thin for Lasik and told that my only option was PRK, but the results are the same. Recovery time is a tad longer. (me to myself: "meh, recovery time? What? Ppsshhh! I'll show them!) Note to self: listen to the doctors! Moving right along - after 90000 exams and mapping of thine eyes, I sat in a waiting room for 12 billion hours so that my nerves could get all over-worked and I would not be scared that my eyes were about to be popped completely out of my skull, messed with and then put back in. Nope, not scared at all. Then, after being given a bag-o-drops and fitted with a lovely hair net, I was ordered to lay down, open my eyes wide and not move, which of course, makes me NEED to move. So I followed the directions and the nurse (?) administered numbing drops to my eyes and was telling me how great I was doing at not moving and keeping my hands at my sides and then the doc waltzes in and does some propping of the eyelids, administers more drops and makes me stare at a bright orange light and in about 36 seconds (no, really) I can see! WooHoo! I have worn glasses and/or contacts since I was 8 and this was big time for me!! My eyes had been terrible, a -7.50 to be exact, I could not HEAR without them before PRK! LOL! So I sit up and look around and begin crying that I couldn't believe it, I could see! The nurse (?) smiles politely and pops two protective contacts into my eyes and ushers me towards the door. Clearly, she was not rejoicing with me. Now here is where things get interesting. Apparently, I was so worked up while lying on the table that I forgot to breathe and when I stood and shuffled to the door, my body couldn't handle the over load of relief? sight? and I almost fainted. UGH! The doc pulls me into his office and I am vaguely aware that I am talking, maybe saying that I am ok and I can go and he is all "lay down right here" and "can I get you anything"? I am thoroughly embarrassed and when I feel capable, get up and scurry out. Now I had been given these terminator type glasses to put on and as I was leaving, caught a glimpse of myself and started laughing, which made everyone around me uncomfortable and pray that I would JUST GO! So I did.


Fast forward to Friday and I woke up to a "holy-crap-what-have-I-done-to-my-ever-loving-eyes" kind of pain and a distinct feeling of queasiness. After barfing 14 times, I told the kiddos that they could skip school because "Mama can't see and I have no idea where the front door has gone" and that they could just crawl back into bed and wait for me to regain some level of bodily control. They were so great! They helped all day and were patient and kind to each other. Obviously, I have parented them well. Or they were just terrified of my sightless, zombie-like behavior and worried that I might flip on them and try to eat their brains. Either way, they behaved. Did I mention that Brian was out of town? Oh yes he was, see above for my idea about recovery time. So onward....by Saturday, it became apparent that I could not tolerate the Vicodin, thus the barfing, almost fainting, heart racing horribleness and would just have to suffer without pain meds and in silence. Mmmmhhhmmm, I so did that, too! Brian made his way home as I was feeling better and today I have healed almost completely! Yay! I go at 1:30 to get the contacts removed, so if you think of it, please pray for no drama, fainting, pain or barfing. Also for no uncomfortable laughing episodes. Thank you.


And since I have been so completely out of my mind, I have been allowing myself small treats for comfort and for the last 4 days have been eating Merci chocolates for breakfast. What?? I deserve it! I had my eyes pulled out! Ok, not really, but still. Anyway, if you have never had them, please, please, do so! They are delish! And make for an incredible meal if you have more than one flavor. I like to have a balanced, well-rounded meal, you know. In fact, if you are the first one to comment, I'll send you some. Now that I am feeling better, I have added my usual and much less satisfying bowl of oatmeal back into the mix. Meh.


Here are some things to look forward to this week; the restart of P90X, a bloggy about my awesome job and what going back to work looks like after 12 years at home, and possibly some baking. Christmas is on it's way! Do you have your Elf On The Shelf? Ask me about it....such fun! :)