FOUR

I've been tagged with this questionnaire a couple of times now and it is a pretty fun one... so here goes! I have to admit I do love answering these and also reading the answers friends and family give.

Four random things I love about my husband :
1. He has never raised his voice.
2. He is affectionate and loving.
3. He plans most of our vacations.
4. He takes care of all my electronic "needs".

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Lifeguard/ swim lesson teacher
2. Summer intern at Lockheed
3. Auditor at Deloitte
4. MOM - the most important!

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. The Neverending Story (probably watched at least 24 times with my brother)
2. Tommy Boy (this one thanks to Gene)
3. A Walk to Remember
4. Blackhawk Down

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. The Office
4. John & Katie Plus Eight

Four random places I have been:
1. The entrance of a "secret tunnel" in Hawaii (though I didn't go through it because I was about to throw up by the time we trekked through miles of mud for four hours to get to the entrance...)
2. An airplane named "Duct Tape" which I then jumped out of
3. A very strange nightclub in London, in a building that used to be a chapel
4. The Mavericks locker room at American Airlines Center

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chicken fajitas from Pappasitos
2. Coffee Ice Cream
3. Good fresh guacamole
4. Fancy salads with gorgonzola cheese, apples, nuts, etc.

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Alaska
2. Mt. Kilimanjaro (climb it on an REI adventure trip, followed by African safari)
3. Italy
4. Hike the Kalalau Trail in Kauai (a 3-5 day backpacking trip)

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Cruise to Caribbean with my family
2. Aggieland weekend getaways with my husband (and good football too)
3. Katelynn getting potty trained (not the process, but the result)
4. Taking Katelynn to the pumpkin patch again

Four people I tag:

1. Mom (add it to your one-post blog!)

2. Dad

3. Jen

4. Griff

Going Bonkers!

Today KK and I went to "Going Bonkers" with a few friends. It is a huge indoor playground - YAY for air conditioning! For $3.50 Katelynn had the best time ever in her (nearly) 2 years of life. She was grinning ear to ear as she climbed, slid, bounced, and crawled everywhere. Next time I am taking my camera to capture her glee.

Some of the slides and "trampolines" were actually pretty cool even for adults! Since I had to follow KK around the entire time, I even feel pretty worn out. I'm sure I used some muscles that were long forgotten.

I would be very, very scared to go to this place on a weekend, though!

Grooming of a Future Aggie

As a devoted Aggie parent, I have routinely sung the Texas A&M "Spirit of Aggieland" as a lullaby to KK, class of 2029. (Note: I know many of you non-Aggies are now rolling your eyes... snarky comments will not be allowed to be posted! And do you even know the words to your spirit song?!) Recently she has learned to say "Gig 'Em Aggies" - officially pronounced GimumAggees by KK. She is very proud of her ability to recite this phrase - maybe because of all the praise and excitement it invokes from the parents.

I think that learning the word "Aggie" has further sparked her interest in the song. She routinely demands "Aggie Song" and it is not uncommon for me to sing it 3 times before she goes to sleep!

For anyone curious, here are the lyrics:

Some may boast of prowess bold

Of the school they think so grand

But there is a Spirit can ne'er be told

It's the Spirit of Aggieland

We are the Aggies - the Aggies are we

True to each other as Aggies can be

We've got to fight boys, we've got to fight

We've got to fight for Maroon and White

After they've boosted all the rest

Then they will come and join the best

For we are the Aggies, the Aggies are we

We are from Texas A.M.C.

P.S. I am not sure what it says about me that she knows this song better than "Jesus Loves Me." Hmmm.... something to ponder!

The "Gimmees"

I haven't had time to even think about decorating since the birth of my child. Well, and before that it was my crazy job. I would really love to do a lot of things but there really isn't time or money right now... and I'm not talented enough to do it all on the cheap and pull it off.

Tonight I saw this mirror on the Pottery Barn website and got the "gimmees". (Is this an official term? It's the word we always used growing up when we coveted things and shouldn't.) Too bad it is THREE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS - ridiculous!

A Petty Pet Peeve

I appreciate that the Costco people are kind to children - I really do. But why do they have to make a smiley face on the receipt that I need to keep, and hand said receipt to my child who tears up paper and puts it in her mouth?

If I tell them not to do it, I look like the big ogre mommy. If I let them do it, Katelynn cries when I take it away 3 seconds later.

If this is the biggest of my worries, though, then I am in good shape!

Where Has My Baby Gone?

As part of my return to scrapbooking I have been scanning in professional pictures from ages 3 and 6 months before I paste them down in a book. It has made my wonder where my little baby girl has gone. She is growing up too quickly!

3 months

6 months

Summer Lovin'

It has been a fun summer with my little gal. Couldn't resist posting a few cute pictures captured over the past couple of months.

Summer Cookin'

This has been the summer of chicken kabobs for the Kim family. In particular, we have made Taste of Home's southwestern kabobs many times. It starts with a base of any Italian dressing, then add some serious spices. Chicken tenders make the best kabobs... much better than chicken breasts. Yum yum!

Corn!

I don't know if there is too much better in life than the delirious laughter of your little girl - over nothing! The other day she decided that the word "corn" was very funny. She cracked up laughing every time I said it. Then, I varied the intonation of my voice which got her going even more. The suspense of waiting for mommy to say "corn" in some new and different way was killing her!

It was very reminiscent of the famous YouTube baby.

Little Helper

Like all toddlers, KK loves to do the things that mommy and daddy and other adults know how to do. She will work so hard to get a battery into a clock, or put her shoes and shorts on herself. I have read that giving toddlers their own little "chores" to do is a good idea, but I don't think I have been too great with execution on that one. I tend to just do things myself rather than risk the potential disaster of allowing a 20 month old to do it.

The other day I needed to get all the groceries inside and actually remembered to let her help. I gave Katelynn a small bag to carry inside. She ran inside with the bag, put it up on the high kitchen counter by herself, then ran back to the garage for another bag. The whole time she chanted "Helping... helping.... helping." Then she cried when there were no more bags.

It was pretty cute. And I will try to find more ways to let her be a little helper.

Potty Logic (Or Lack Thereof)

I am getting a glimpse of the frustration of potty training. KK has decided that she is very interested in the potty. But, she obviously doesn't "get" everything about it yet. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that she will announce "pooping", then request to go to the potty with a diaper full of poop.

But I digress. I want her to like the potty so I have to be the little mommy cheerleader. This is what all the books say, yet I frequently find myself wanting to yell....things like:

- Don't touch the pee!

- Don't touch yourself while you pee!

- No more toilet paper! 3 feet is enough!

- Don't remove the potty bucket yourself!

- Don't pee on the floor immediately after getting off the potty!

And the official training has not yet begun. Oh my!

Scary Parent Moments

Last week, I went in Katelynn's room to get her up for the day. When I turned on the light, I saw a large puddle of dried blood in the corner. My heart immediately started to pound as I yanked KK from the crib to check her our. No injuries anywhere...nothing scary inside her diaper. After a thorough inspection, I decided she had been chewing on the crib rail (again) and injured her mouth. There was never so much as a peep from her, though!

I wonder how many people would move forward with becoming parents... if they knew beforehand the sheer terror they would feel anytime they think their child is in the most remote pain or danger? (Not that I would ever change anything... but I just got to thinking about that concept.)

I am often shocked by my instinctive reaction of sheer terror to my daughter's real or imagined ailments!

Return to Scrapbooking!

I have been creating scrapbooks since freshman year of college. Pre-KK, I used to work in long spurts. I would get into a groove and scrapbook six months worth of pictures over the course of a couple of marathon scrapbook weekends.

Enter Katelynn. Many more pictures, much less time. She is nearly two and I had spent the grand total of 4 hours working on my scrapbooks! So, I signed up for a scrapbook marathon at someone else's house. (As all mommies know, the KEY to successful alone time = leave the house). For $35 I got a big table and 3 meals provided - and about 10 hours of uninterrupted time. And KK got a nice day with her daddy.

Sorting, cropping and pasting down all those infant pictures has made me so sentimental. I wish she could turn into a 3 month old baby just for a day so I could remember what it was like to hold my tiny baby girl at 12 pounds! Sniff, sniff.

Since I only made it through approximately month 4, I will have to make time for more of these events in the future. I forgot how much I enjoyed this creative outlet. I like to blog, but I love to scrapbook!

The Saga of Broccoli

When Katelynn was 13 months old, my parents kept her while we were in Hawaii and offered her broccoli with her meal. She did not care for it and had a rather dramatic reaction. She was so distraught and offended by the vegetable that my parents had to put her in the crib to cry it out! Needless to say, my mom swore to never offer broccoli again.

Fast forward a few months. We were eating dinner at our house, and my mom happened to be in attendance. We were eating broccoli with our meal (my mom and I, that is - not Gene of course), and Katelynn was actually showing interest in it. My mom told her that "Elmo eats broccoli." I gave her a tiny piece of mine. To our shock, the broccoli was eaten with no weeping or gnashing of teeth.

Since then, KK has grown to love this green vitamin-packed veggie. Today I watched her eat all her broccoli before anything else. This has taught me that what you read in the parenting books is actually true - just keep offering foods over and over. Eventually, they might actually try it and like it!

Daddy's Hug Tactics

Katelynn is not always the most cuddly kid. She wants to be carried around, but doesn't snuggle or hug too much. She has learned that mommy loves hugs and will say "Hug" in order just to get picked up - tricky girl!

Gene is a very affectionate person who loves to hug. He has been trying to figure out ways to get KK to hug him. Begging and pleading has not worked. Bribery has not worked. But recently he found something that worked.

Gene has many funny t-shirts, but his favorite is his Curious George shirt (pictured to the left). Katelynn pointed at his shirt and said "Monkey." Gene asked her if she wanted to hug the monkey, and she took the bait. She decided it was a pretty neat game, and showered her daddy with repeated hugs -much to his delight.

Now Gene wants more monkey t-shirts!

KK's First Sentence

A few days ago, Katelynn spoke her first sentence! At least, I am counting it as a sentence. She said "KK sit at table." In general, she is getting much better at stating full thoughts - or at least giving me commands.

She has learned to say things like:

"Open door"

"KK outside"

"KK help"

I am hoping that increased speech ability will be inversely proportional to cranky, irritable toddler!

Label Update

As a follow-up to my last post on kid labels, I received mine in the mail a couple of days ago. They are really cute, however I was disappointed to find they are the same material as the others I received as a gift. I guess I pictured "vinyl" as being thicker and stickier, but I guess vinyl has improved in recent years. So, they don't tear and they do hold up great in the dishwasher but are easily peeled off by little two year old hands. If you do plan to order some, I would recommend small or large size - especially if you want to put your name and/or phone number on them.

If your kid isn't prone to peeling them off, they are nice to have around. Or if you can get your kid to listen to you when you tell him or her to stop. But mine doesn't and that is one battle that isn't worth it to me... I'll just return to the inexpensive Sharpie once I run out of these!

Ridiculous

On August 1st, I walked into Garden Ridge to look for a storage container. As I loaded Katelynn into the cart, I glanced to the right...

When what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But an enormous display of ornaments, stockings and reindeer!

AUGUST 1ST?!

And, 105 degrees outside...

Katelynn's Pocket

Katelynn now has her own words for things, and sometimes I have no idea where she picked them up! I have a hunch that some of them came from her Nanna (like "hiney"). I'm sure others come from her time with my friend Dottie, who babysits for her about once a week, or Elmo's World, her beloved TV show. What has been most interesting to me is not so much her ability to learn new words, but the application of those words to new and different situations.

A few days ago we were on the porch playing the hose. Since we were in our backyard I only had her in a swim diaper. She would open the front of it and put the hose down her diaper and exclaim "pocket!" I am sure when she learned the word pocket it was not in relation to squirting water down a swim diaper! It is almost like I can see the little wheels turning in her head. Child development is really amazing.

Finally.... A Movie to SEE

All my movie posts seem to be "Movies to Skip." Chalk it up to my pickiness or just a major slump in Hollywood filmmaking - not sure which.

Finally, Gene and I made it out to see one that I can definitely recommend: Wall-E. It is about a lonely robot who finds his first love. It is so creative and endearing, and has almost no dialogue! I usually never see animated films, especially not on the big screen - but this one was worth it.



Check out these reviews!

Katelynn's Car

Katelynn still loves her Little Tykes car that we got her for Christmas. She drives it around the house and outside. She pushes her friends in it, and lets them push her. But her favorite thing to do is to store beloved objects inside it, re-arrange them, and push it around all full of stuff.

Here is a list of items I have discovered inside her car. This is certainly not all inclusive!

• books galore
• decorative metal vase from my bedroom
• multiple blankets, small and large
• a broken walkie talkie that her Aunt Jen gave her
• a hose from her daddy's camelback hydration system
• stuffed animals
• bracelets from mommy's jewelry box
• fake food from her fake grocery basket

I hope this doesn't mean she is destined to be a bag lady!

Labeling Stuff

It seems moms are always labeling everything for their children, so that items don't get left in the church nursery, at Kids Day Out, at the neighbor's play date, etcetera. A friend gave me some labels with Katelynn's name on them and they have been great - they can even go through the dishwasher. Unfortunately, KK also knows how to peel them off and my supply is dwindling.

So I recently found this very cute website that has vinyl labels that only come off with goo-gone. I ordered this style of label:

Can't wait till they come!