The Incident

So, last weekend we were at our favorite Mexican place, Mi Chulas.  Lately we find ourselves there a lot after Gene's long Saturday morning run.  He is starving hungry and wants lot of carbs.  It is a nice family outing and combination fajitas for two feeds our entire clan - even TyTy now chows down on the beans and rice and indulges in a bit of fajita meat too.  The managers know us as regulars.
I had taken KK to the pool that morning.  As is typical, she did not eat much breakfast before we went.  Then I took her for a slurpee after our pool trip.  Gene was at home recovering from his run and taking care of Tyler.  Then we all got ready and headed out to lunch - by the time we got there it was nearly 1 pm and all Kims were starving, not just the runner.  The restaurant was packed because of tax free shopping weekend.

We were all inhaling the chips and salsa.  Then Katelynn said "Mommy, I feel like I need to cough - but I can't."  Suddenly, vomit was pouring out of her.  I mean POURING out.  To quote my brother's longtime friend Kevin: "It was quite the launch."  At this particular restaurant, they use cloth napkins and keep them stacked in a square bin on the table.  Gene rapidly began unwrapping the napkins and tossing them under Katelynn's faucet mouth.  Every time he would get another napkin down, more would pour out and he would frantically unwrap another.  We went through about 6 nice cloth napkins before it all seemed to be over.  I tried to make a big mountain out of the napkins to hide the situation from our closest table mates.

At this point the manager had taken note and was trying to help.  We were desperately trying to shield all the mess with the napkins so as not to completely offend the entire restaurant.  Luckily it was loud and that seemed to help - if anyone did notice they didn't give it away with a look of disgust - as I surely would have at the sight of another child barfing in a restaurant.  KK's shirt and shorts were covered in it - mostly red/purple from the Slurpee. 

I headed to the one-stall bathroom to clean her up.  (Note to self:  Will carry emergency clothes in the car at ALL times from now on.)  She was grossed out by her barfy shirt and shorts, but all I could do was rinse them out a little and make her put them back on - damp clothing heavily stained with purple puke....lovely.  After a few minutes a woman waiting to pee begain to get impatient and knock rudely on the bathroom door.  Whatdoyouwantmetodolady?!

Finally, I return to the table with a little girl streaked in Slurpee vomit.  Tyler has been screaming his head off at the table the entire time I am gone- HUGE mama's boy. In his fury he knocks over a large glass of tea that had been moved too close to him during the great vomit clean-up. Gene and I are both so frazzled by this point!  I am just trying to get my wits about me, and KK begins begging for steak fajitas.  Try explaining to a starving 4 year old that you really don't want them to eat...

Needless to say I did not enjoy my meal.  I shoved a couple of fajitas down, all the while arguing with Katelynn that she should only eat one tortilla for lunch and wait to see if she was ok.  Turns out she was - but mommy and daddy are scarred for life.  If you ever want to see Gene or me recoil in horror, just mention "The Incident" to us.  No additional description needed.

First Steps, First Birthday

 

Tyler John is one now - how did this happen?!  He is at a very FUN age and it will be a little sad to see the "baby" slowly disappear over the next several months.  Sniff sniff.  But I know with that disappearance will come lots of fun new developments as well.  


TyTy took his first steps on August 13th, a little over a week before his big birthday.  As of today he is still very tentatively making little "bursts" of walking from one piece of furniture to another.  I have tried to capture all this on video with no luck so far.  It's like he knows what I am trying to do and immediately sits down when the iPhone comes out.  He is pretty cute though.  His preferred method to attempt walking is to slowly stand up from a sitting position - with no assistance from any furniture or objects!  Then he looks for me, smiles and claps, then takes off for several steps. Then he sits down before he even has a chance to get wobbly.  


Last weekend we had a very fun family party to celebrate one year of our little guy.  I chose a monkey theme and had a lot of fun with that.  We served a yummy lunch and then had all the usual festivities - smash cake for Tyler, opening presents, etc.  We also adorned him in his formal Korean wear purchased by his Grandma Joy and he didn't seem to mind.  We had four kiddos in attendance - KK, cousin Izzy, and our best friends Bobby and Lindsay.  Since it was just a small number of kids I splurged on the goody bags and everyone got an adorable Ty stuffed monkey, plus some monkey tattoos and candy. Pink for the girls, brown for Bobby.  


KK was a wonderful big sister and helped to open presents, dress TyTy in his outfit, etcetera.  She got enough attention that she didn't seem to mind the fact that it wasn't her party.  I know that my dad was giving her lots of positive reinforcement which helped a ton in this regard - THANKS PopPop!  All in all, it was a wonderful time with family.  We are so very blessed!  

What I'm Learning Lately

Hmmmm, I keep thinking I am going to catch up on my family blog posts - some funny incidents, a great first birthday party, some first steps.... and yet God has been putting other blog-items on my heart.  Lately I have tried to ask daily - "God, what are you trying to teach me today?"  And wow, have I been learning a lot!  


So where to start with this one?  A little history perhaps.  College... Aggieland... what a fun time in my life.  I have so many amazing memories and it was such a great time of being independent but with no real responsibilities yet.  I knew it too - I remember telling myself repeatedly to savor those moments.  During college I also met about 5,000 "friends" and was quite the social butterfly.


Yet one interesting thing about college - a lot of the friendships were so fleeting.  You shared a class with some.  You shared a dorm floor with others.  You attended football games, Bible studies, sat in the dining hall together...  It was a revolving door of fun and people!  This became more apparent to me with the advent of Facebook.  I would get friend requests from Aggie friends and I had to rack my brain to even remember who some of them were.  However, Facebook has also given me the opportunity to get to know some of those casual friends better over the past several years.


There is one such friend - we will call him John here on the blog to protect his privacy.  I have gotten to know more about him through "social networking" via Facebook than I ever did in Aggieland.  So when his dad suddenly got sick a few weeks ago, I felt an unexpected tug at my heart for him - one that had me checking his Facebook page for updates, praying for his family, and even giving regular reports to my husband.  


Last night John lost his dad.  He left a very sweetly worded post on Facebook - about God sometimes choosing to heal our loved ones in heaven instead of here on Earth.  Next thing you know I am crying in my car.   Now, I do not consider myself a naturally compassionate person.  It seems to be an area where God is trying to mold me; to make me better.  I never know when compassion with "strike" - but strike it did today, as I think about my college friend and his family, and their terrible loss.    

Life's Lessons

Tonight I was determined to tackle a big ugly pile of papers in our office. It needs to be organized, sorted, filed, scanned, etcetera - all my specialities!  Then I came across a folder of my memorabilia that my mom saved and passed along to me.  Instead of tackling the task at hand, I found myself reading the poems and stories I wrote in my school days - all the way from elementary to high school.  What happened to that creative girl?!  That creative girl became a bean counter, a mommy who worries too much, an overly analytical woman who has a hard time going with the flow of life - always seeking control in a world where I don't really have it. Now don't get me wrong, I had plenty of self-induced stress in my younger days too.  But there was a creative part of me that seems to become buried more deeply with each passing year of adult life. 

Feeling guilty that I wasn't conquering that to-do list, I decided to read one more "free verse" that I wrote and then close up the file of creativity.  What a choice that final reading was...it begged to be blogged:

The days pass in a blur
And how easily we watch them fly
The work, the stress.
The pain.

And one more sunset gone!
But which will be the last sunset?
The last sunrise?

Which will be the last embrace,
The last smile,
The last time we love?

The miracle of life arrives
And departs freely
Many fools watch the miracle escape
Yet it always lingers
Waiting to be caught.

Drama Camp

Last week Katelynn attended "drama camp" at the Texas Creative Arts Academy here in Coppell.  The theme was "Tangled" from this Winter's big Disney hit about Rapunzel and everyone in class was 4 to 6 years old.  It was an appropriate theme since this movie was also her first to see on the big screen with her PopPop earlier this year. On Friday they put on a mini-performance that was very cute.  KK's primary role was to sing, as part of the ensemble, the song they learned during the week.  There were about 8 different Rapunzels throughout the little performance, all with 1 speaking line apiece.  From conversations with KK, I got the idea that she got to practice speaking lines during the week but froze up every time she was supposed to perform on cue.

I also knew that she didn't have the entire song memorized and it seemed to bother her a lot.  During the performance her eyes were glued on the instructor with a bit of a worried look.  Once her "part" was done she seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching the other kids perform.

Something must have "clicked" over the weekend.  Suddenly she knew the entire song complete with motions and she has been regaling us regularly.  Here are the words - definitely a mouthful to memorize for any kid!

Seven a.m. the usual morning line up
Start on the chores and sweep till the floor's all clean
Polish and wax do laundry and mop and shine up
Sweep again and by then it's like seven 15

And so i'll read a book
Or maybe 2 or 3
I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery
I'll play gutair and knit
And cook and basically
Just wonder when will my life begin