Slept through the night

Both kids slept through the night!! Too bad I didn't go to bed until midnight and so I only got 6 hours of sleep.... :(

Got contacts?

A little before noon I took the 2 kids to Costco. I was nervous about going alone, but Wink was still sleeping (he's been going to bed at 4am-6am). So Cal says he wants his hotdog before shopping. That was fine since I was hungry too. We wait in line for a good 15 minutes for food and then when I am 2nd to the front of the line Lissi swipes at my face (she's in the front carrier) and my contact comes out! Now, there is no way I'm giving up my place in line so I order and then ask the cashier to hold our food so I can go to the bathroom and deal with my contact. We go to the bathroom (5 min. walk with a 2 year old) and I spend 5 mintues trying to "re-hydrate" it with tap water (a big no-no, but I had nothing else in my purse to use). Eventually, it looks like it is hopeless so I call Wink and beg him to find me a Left contact and rush to Costco. I wear -6.5 in my left eye (right is -7.0) so losing this contact is really signficant. So...while we are waiting I try for the contact again. Now it looks hydrated, but it is folded in half and the 2 halves are literally glued together. I try and try and try. Meanwhile, Lissi is not happy about all of this (she's STILL in the front carrier) and crying and arching and wants to get out of there. Cal is trooper and spends pulls up a chair and spends 5 minutes washing his hands (whatever). Eventually, I get the contact to open and put it in my eye..only to have it fall out again! Ug. A few minutes later I get it in, but it is very uncomfortable. But at least I can see. We go back to the food casher (a good 15 mintues later) and get our food and eat. Eventually, Wink comes with my right contacts. Oops. But it is only a minor difference in strength so I put it in and we are able to shop and I can drive home. We make it home at the same time as the SW. There is laundry everywhere and Lissi falls asleep (not awake for her own meeting!). but our SW is very nice so really it was fine.

The moral of this story is...always keep an extra pair of contacts and solution in your purse!

Twas the night before spring

A poem I wrote to commemorate this exciting night...

Twas the night before Spring and all through the air
Were sounds of babies sleeping their faces so fair.
Dad was toiling, our only toilet wasn't working
While mom at the computer sat and was lurking.

While what to my wondering ears did come out
A scream, and a cry, Lissi's shout shout shout!
She was frantic and writhing, mad, more than upset
Mom grabbed dad from work, How could her needs be met?

Dad hugs and milk made her volume level fall

Then dad had weekend, night-time plumbers to call
Our girly girl went back to sleep, for a while at least
The plumber was dreaming of monetary feast.

Hurray! Success! The plumber won the battle!
Alas, Lissi was awake from the strange rattle.

She stayed up for hours, Lissi wanted to play
The night owl played until almost 2 the next day!

Finally, she slept and Cal awoke with the croup?
Bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, avarian flu?
He hacked, wheezed, gagged, chocked and dad started to panic
Dad woke mommy up before he became manic

"Phone the doctor!" She said, "There's always one on-call."
The doctor he paged, but no one called back at all.
Daddy slept between their beds, listened to them sleep
Between wheezing and tossing, he only slept a peep.

At 5 an internal alarm clock was ringing
Both kids awoke, they started coughing and screaming
Lissi was hungry, a bottle she demanded
"Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" Poor sick Cal commanded.

The phone also rang, the doctor was calling back
"Oops! I turned the ringer off, when I hit the sack."
Daddy tried to explain his diagnostic fear
But with kids up yelling, the doctor couldn't hear.

The clatter woke mama up. "It's okay," she said.
With that mommy climbed right into Kyoo-Mi's twin bed.
Dad fed Lissi and mom tossed and she turned
Sleep is impossible with no blankets she learned.

So to mama's big bed, Cal and mommy did go.
Slumber did come for all, but it came on quite slow.
6 am the dang-blasted alarm clock went "BEEP!"
It was accidentally turned on before sleep.

The next thing mommy knew Cal waking her up
"The clock says it's seven! I want my big milk cup!"
"A little more sleep!" She begged and she pleaded.
He was ready for the day, and she was needed.

Thus ends poem of the long, long night before spring
Lets hope the first night of spring, more sleep does it bring!
To all those who of sleep, coughs, and toilets do fear
Happy Sleepies to all! May good rest find you near!

Our plane from home from Korea

Lissi had been doing great. We had a few crying episodes, but mostly happy girl. She's fine on the plane when we were all boarding. Then the fasten the seatbelt light went on and she needed to be in one place. That was it. She had had it. These strangers were NOT going to have her sit still in one place on a strange lap in a confined place full of people. She started to scream. And scream. And scream. Now, mind you after bringing home baby from h*** this was not a surprise to me at all. I was not frantic or terribly upset. That does NOT describe the people around us. They started with the "poor baby" looks. Then "poor parents". Then "poor American parents who don't know how to care for a Korean baby". Then finally, "get me far away from this baby". To "shut the baby up!!!" At least one person requested a new seat. Then soon after take off, she stopped (so we had about 25 minutes screaming total). She sat, played, and slept on our chests.

We had requested a basinet. So they gave us a bulkhead. When we brought Cal home we also requested a basinet and did not get one. We got a bulkhead last time, but moved to an empty row at the suggestion of the flight attendent who said that we would be more comfortable there. Oh, boy, do I wish we could have done that this time. The bulkhead SUCKS. We got a basinet but it was broken so they wouldn't let us use it. So instead we had to have her on our laps (there was an empty seat between us but she wanted nothing to do with sitting on that). We couldn't stretch our legs at all. The movie screen was 18 inches from our faces but up just slightly so I had to strain my eyes to watch it (but how do you not watch when it is so frickin' close). I had a major headache by the end of the 1st bad movie. I had to wear my eye mask the rest of the flight so that I didn't go insane (luckily Lissi was mostly sleeping on one lap or the other so we didn't have to worry too much about her--just our appendages that were falling asleep).

Then there was the family behind us. They were quite interesting. It was 2 grandparents with a 8ish year old boy between them. They only spoke Korean and it was quite obvious that they had never been on a plane before. It started with the Korean flight attendent telling them at least 4 times to put their items under the seat and buckle their seat belts. The last time we were practically speeding down the runway. She was frantic in telling them b/c they just didn;t get it. After we got in the air we were okay for a while. Then the boy started to kick, hit, pull on, etc. the chair in front of him. That was where I was sitting. Hurrah. I moved over (thank the Lord we had the row to ourselves). But as I sit there I start to feel something on my arm. It was the socked toes of the grandmother in back of me. Gross. I kept "bumping" it and eventually it went away. Only to be replaced by a bare foot! Yuck-o!! Then there was peace for a few hours. Then the boy woke up and started talking REALLY loud. It's hard to be loud on an airplane. There is so much ambient noise. But he managed. I have no idea what he was saying, but I would have understood every word if he spoke English. I was so afraid he would wake up Lissi and start the screaming again. Okay... so the end of the trip. The fasten seatbelt sign is on and we are literally 5 minutes from the ground. Even the flight attendents have their seatbelts on. The boy starts yelling something at his grandparents. His grandmother takes him INTO THE AISLE and is covering his ears and talking to him. I think he was having a lot of ear trouble from the air pressure difference. Wink pulled out gum and was trying to tell him (using gestures) that it was gum and he should chew and not swallow it. They had no idea what he was saying, and for some reason no one around us translated. Finally a Korean flight attendant told them to sit down right away and I think she said something about the gum. Then when the flight was over the family jumped out of their seat and literally tried to push others out of the way so they could get down the aisle 1st. They weren't trying to be rude per say, and it wasn't that they hated the flight, they just figured it was okay to push their way to the front.