I'm definitely beginning to notice "pregnancy brain" setting in. For those of you who don't know what "pregnancy brain" is, it's that special time when you have more blood pumping to your belly than your brain, therefore causing forgetfulness, dizzy spells, irritability, trouble focusing on current tasks and inability to complete coherent sentences. "Pregnancy brain" - that's my definition anyway. This could also be that I have a hundred million things going on at once, plus two kids, plus a husband with a crazy work schedule, plus housework, plus new book and movie releases... But I'm blaming it on "pregnancy brain". I know you know what I'm talking about.
In light of this made-up "condition", I'm going to try and focus enough to update you on our goings-on of the past week or so. We have been pretty busy! Also, there are plenty of random thoughts zooming through my head right now that I'm sure a few tangents will get thrown in the mix. Bare with me...
Last Saturday was Gabe's 5th birthday party at the bowling alley on AFB (Air Force Base) Osan. They have a bunch better bowling alley than ours, equipped with a party room, a play area and kid's bowling area. In the kid's bowling area, there are couches and shorter lanes and built in bumpers, very comfy to sit and watch a bunch of kids going crazy. We had a blast! All in all, we had 12 kids, including Gabe, come and join in the festivities. Pizza, soda, cupcakes and rice krispy treats, what's not to love?
Sunday, Zander got his first real hair cut. By that, I mean he got more than a trim. All three boys went to the barber shop and Zander proceeded to scream his head off until one of the "barbers" (I put quotations because all the barbers on base are women and I feel like barber is one of those male-only words) gave him a chocolate sucker. He then sucked and drooled until the hair cut was over.
Tuesday, we took a field trip to Asan World Botanical Gardens with the Humphrey's Playgroup on base. It was fantastic! There are over 1000 different species of plants and flowers in huge greenhouses that you walk through. I can't even describe to you how big it is. From the outside, it just looks like a bunch of greenhouses standing next to each other. When you go in, there are the most amazing displays of plant life. There are parts that look like a jungle where you walk through and you are engulfed with huge banana leaves. Then there are parts where cacti grow to the ceiling and it's hot like a desert. There's a huge water display that has water flowers and huge fish and an aviary where you can feed birds straight from your hand. One thing that I have said from the beginning that I love about Korea, is how cheap it is to go to "attractions". Admission prices for the garden were 5,000W for over 12, 3,500W for 4-12 year olds and free for 3 and under. For the three of us to go, it was 8,500W or roughly $7.75! Also, there were benches and picnic tables so we could bring our lunch with us, saving more money. Most places in the States don't allow outside food or drink so you have to buy lunch there. Almost all the Korean attraction places allow you to bring food/drink with you, even Everland (Korean Disney World) which really surprised me. At the very end there was a gift shop/flower shop where you could buy some of the herbs and flowers that you saw throughout the garden, also very cheap. There were pots of mint and thyme you could buy for 1500W or $1.30, unheard of! Even the toys were reasonably priced, Gabe got a ball (size of a softball) that has a fish and stars and a light that glows when it bounces for 5000W or $4.50. That might sound like a lot for a toy, but I always like to get the boys something at the end because admission is so cheap! Also because we went as a group, they gave us each a baby cactus to take home and plant! No where in America do you get something free just because you came and paid for a ticket. We had a lot of fun and I recommend it, even if it is pretty hard to get to. If anyone is interested, I can email you the copy of directions. I have so many great pictures that I would love to post on here, but it would take too long and I have the majority of them on my facebook page.
And then, Gabe got sick. I don't really know how he got sick, but he did. And badly. He and I were up all Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, he was throwing up and I was rubbing his back. Poor kid. There's nothing worse than seeing your child screaming and crying because they hurt so badly and just want it to stop. Thankfully, Matt was able to take enough time off work Wednesday morning that he brought Gabe into the clinic so Zander and I could get some sleep. Zander doesn't like it when Gabe's sick either, he screams and cries and wants to make sure Gabe's okay. And he screams and cries because I can't hold him. He was up the majority of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning too. The Doctor said there's a stomach bug going around right now and that he should be fine after 48 to 96 hours. Gabe was really tired when he finally got home and slept yesterday from 4pm until 8am this morning. There was a big event for the kid's this morning on base, The Spring Fling, but when Gabe got up he asked if we could just stay home instead. So, I don't think he's quite back to normal yet. I'm sure that once he's rested and his appetite returns, he'll be running around the house.
In better news, I got a super early birthday present! Sunday when we were shopping at Osan's BX and Commissary, I noticed they had a whole display with different types of Keurig brewers (There's a link, in case you don't know what I'm talking about). That seemed to be the go-to gift this Christmas, so many people posted on Facebook about how much they loved their Keurig and while I thought about ordering one both at Christmas and just in general (we need a replacement), I was nervous about ordering and having something of such monetary value shipped to our APO (if you don't know about our experiences with Best Buy, Blu-ray player and Nook, ask me). Our PX only carries the Mini-Brewer, which is good I'm sure, but I'm a bells and whistles kind of girl. I want the different options. The one I was eye balling and trying to justify was the Cuisinart Keurig, it has everything, but it also costs around $200. When I saw Osan's BX had the Special Edition Keurig, I jumped for joy! Although it doesn't have ALL the bells and whistles as the Cuisinart brewer, it's still fancy. We love it! I highly recommend it. Right now, we've only had the samples that came with the machine, but I've been checking out the k-cups on Keurig's website to get ideas of what to order next. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know! All in all, despite the initial cost of the machine, the actual coffee cups you put in the machine are relatively cheap - around $14 for 24 cups. If Matt and I both go to Starbucks, we're looking at around $9 for two Venti lattes. Even if Matt stops at a Shoppette to get a coffee on the way to work, it's still about $2 a trip. Now, I have the machine programmed to be on when he gets home from PT until around 10am and he can make a cup of coffee to bring in to work with him in the morning. With the amount of coffee we both drink, I think it's going to be a good investment. I really hope the movers don't break it, like they did my espresso machine, I'll be very unhappy. Also, in case you didn't know or haven't memorized the website (like myself) you can buy k-cups that have hot chocolate, tea or apple cider! Very exciting! It's the little things that fill my heart with joy!
To sum it up, it's only Thursday but it's been a very busy week for us. I'm hoping once Gabe's kicks this bug, everything will slow down. In a funny story, when I told Gabe that he has a stomach bug, he got very upset. "It must be a bee in my stomach and that's why it hurts so much. It keeps stinging me so that's why I puke!" I thought it was smart and funny and that it deserved to be shared.
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