Our November Nutshell

We had a pretty low-key November this year... I didn't take very many pictures at all!  Shocking, I know, but it was a conscious decision on my part- since we do a lot of the same things over and over, and I don't want to ever be a slave to getting that perfect shot at the expense of just being present with my children, I have been making a point to not always bring my camera.  I mean, I still bring my camera most of the time, but now rather than automatically grabbing my camera I take the time to consider the pros of bringing it vs the pros of leaving it home, trying to leave it home if I don't feel it's entirely necessary... to me documenting my kids' childhood is always entirely necessary, but not as necessary as making the most of every moment.

But I do have some photos from November to share with you!

First, a video of one of the games that entertained the boys on one of our low-key November days... note the volume of toys that were all over  the place!

Second, to further illustrate the low-key-ness of our November, a few shots of my boys chillaxing around the house:

 

 

And from Jack's preschool Thanksgiving celebration... my handsome little pilgrims!

 

On Thanksgiving day the four of us headed over to the nursing home to visit Dave's mom.  The boys are so good when we visit her- they both get excited to see grandma Han!  They especially enjoy "being gentlemen" and helping daddy push her wheelchair.

 

After visiting grandma Han we headed over to my Aunt June's house to celebrate with our extended family.  Sam got a nice nap, both of the boys had a great time pretending to ride my cousin's motorcycles, and we got a nice family picture as well as a nice picture of my parents and their three grandsons!  We had a really nice Thanksgiving :)

 

 

 

Meeting Grandma Han

Grandma Han was so excited to meet little Samuel that she forgot to say hi to me! She came in and gave Jack a kiss, then we had her sit down so that she could hold the baby. She couldn't take her eyes off of our adorable baby boy!

I can totally understand that. I mean, he is pretty stinkin' cute!

Thanksgiving

This was the first year that Dave had Thanksgiving off in a very long time! We've had a lot going on this year, but overall it is still so easy to see how much we are blessed. Having Dave home was just icing on the cake this year, as we have so much to be thankful for! So much, in fact, that I'm not even going to try to list them here ;)

Dave was working the day before, so on his way home that morning he stopped to pick up his mom on the way home and the four of us (well, including Sam, the five of us!) went out for a yummy Thanksgiving breakfast at The Original Pancake House- one of my favorite places! Not very Thanksgiving-y, but I adore breakfast foods, so I was thankful! Jack Jack was thankful, too... he loves his Grandma Han and was very excited that she was with us. And he got to eat pancakes! When we were on our way home, Jack was a little concerned that going home meant that Thanksgiving was over, but we assured him that we still had a lot of fun planned for the day. He asked if Grandma Han could stay and play with him for a little bit, and was very excited when we told him yes! He had a lot of fun with her, and Dave and I were very pleased to see how happy Jack made her.

I was so pleased to get such a nice picture of the two of them both smiling! It's going up in Jack's room (once we get our act together and start putting his Big Boy room together), and she's getting one as part of her Christmas present. Don't tell her!

After Jack and Grandma Han got to play together, we took her home and then headed over to my aunt's house for a Thanksgiving feast! Jack was also very excited about that. He loves to go to Nana's house(he calls her Nana because that's what her grandkids- his cousins- call her), and he was very excited that we were going to get to "eat Thanksgiving"! He was having so much fun, that he cried when it was time to go home! Poor kid!

Yes, I always look this tired. Yes, I am as tired as I look. Yes, I'm pretty blessed to have such a handsome and sexy husband who tells me I look beautiful even though I know otherwise.


Jack's favorite part of Thanksgiving- playing with grandpa!


Jack's other favorite part of Thanksgiving- holding baby Luke!


And just for fun, here is me at 27 weeks pregnant.

I hope your Thanksgiving was a great as ours was!

Watching TV In Our Underwear

In considering a home for Dave's mom, we came up with a picture of the ideal place that we imagined her being happy in. We imagined a place in a house-setting, specifically for Korean American senior citizens, and that she'd be able to go to a Korean church and they'd feed her Korean food. The picture in our heads, though, was more of a "Gee, a place like this would be perfect, but too bad there is nothing like that in reality!" Imagine our shock and delight, then, when a place exactly like we had imagined practically fell into our laps! We were told about a place that was a house, specifically for Korean Seniors, and the owner was a pastor of Korean congregation. They also brought in a Korean chef every day and had Korean food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which I knew MIL would really appreciate!

Things moved rather quickly, and we were able to move her into her new home within a few days of discovering its existence! This place appears to be the answer to our prayers, and we are really praying hard that this will be a great thing for her. After we dropped her off Dave had to go to work to make up for the time he had to take off, and I returned home with Jack. When I finally got a chance to sit down that night (you know, cause I'm the mom of a two-year-old!), I started thinking about MIL and worrying how she was doing. Almost immediately and with perfect timing, my phone rang and it was the owner's wife, calling to tell me that MIL was doing great, and she seemed to be a bit happier already! She also told me that she really felt that they could be a family for her. I really needed to hear that and I thanked her so much for letting me know!

Dave and I are cautiously optimistic about this place. There are still so many concerns and issues that need to be dealt with, so please continue to pray. We don't really have a lot of options, but we are very sure that this is the right decision for now.

It is very nice to have Casa de Chaos back to ourselves again! When we first got home, Jack noticed that Grandma Han wasn't here, and he asked if she was sleeping. Now I hear at least 3 times a day at very random times "Grandma Han has a NEW house!" I haven't yet decided if I'm going to keep referring to my former office/craft room as Grandma Han's room, in case it becomes hers again in the future, or if I'm going to move on and start referring to it as Baby Brother's room in hopes that Jack will say it in front of Dave and negate his "no baby" argument that Jack doesn't even want a sibling. I am, however, trying to convince Dave that we might as well make it a nursery since all the office/craft supplies are moved out!

In the meantime, w are taking advantage of the fact that we can once again relax and lounge around in our PJs and not brush our hair all day...

Or watch TV and play trucks in our underwear!

Another Reason Why Housework Is Overrated

I can't believe it's only been a week since we brought MIL down to LA! It feel like so much longer. I know I keep repeating myself when I say that we've had quite the week, but really, we have! Lots of drama, a broken truck, a lost wedding ring (Dave lost it inside a burning building. We're both bummed, but realize that it could have been worse, and all in all a ring is just a ring. The ring went out in a blaze of glory, though! Literally!), a new inmate for Casa de Chaos (did we pick an appropriate name or our abode, or what???), and an ER visit for Jack.

Yes, I said an ER visit for Jack! Poor Jack Jack! On and off for the past two weeks he had a really low grade fever. It wasn't anything for me to worry about though, and he seemed fine other than feeling slightly warm. On Thursday, my mom and I turned the house upside-down and upset a lot of dust as we got MIL's room ready for her, and, since my kid is a walking talking allergy, that must have tickled his lungs. On Friday morning he woke up sounding hoarse, and then when he woke up from his nap he was burning up with a fever, and sounded terrible!!! Saturday morning he was worse, and when I went to pick him up from my mom's after the wedding, she said that he was even worse after his nap that day so Dave and I took Jack to the ER. We were lucky and only waited 10 minutes in the waiting room and were seen right away (I guess they hear 2 year old with trouble breathing and take it very seriously!). He had a high fever and they diagnosed him with croup right away and gave him an oral steroid. They also started him on albuterol from a nebulizer, and the doctor also decided to order some chest x-rays, just in case. Dave and I weren't sure it was necessary, but when the x-rays came back we were so glad that he had! They were positive for pneumonia! My poor baby! He gave Jack a shot of antibiotics, and 4 hours later we were released with a prescription of amoxicillin once they were able to get his fever down.

Between adjusting to having Grandma Han live with us and being very sick, poor Jack has been having a hard week.

What too much housework can do to you:

PS, if anyone is keeping score, Jack gained another 1.5 lbs, as we found out at the ER. he now weighs 38 lbs.

Change of Plans

As of yesterday, I no longer have an office/craft room (by the way, that was the official title... the "office-slash-craft room".... in case you were wondering). Wait, don't get too excited... it did not cease to be the office/craft room because it's going to be a nursery, we haven't hopped on that train yet no matter how long I've been sitting at the station waiting for my husband to hop on board. The reason that as of yesterday I no longer have an office/craft room, is that as of tomorrow, my mother-in-law (MIL) is coming to stay with us for an undefined period of time. I won't get into all the details because it's a lot and I'd like to respect my MIL's privacy, but as of right now, this is our best option and we have been blessed to be put in a position where we are able to help. And, as her family and as Christians, we are willing to do so. Dave and I are nervous- I really don't know her very much at all but she's always been respectful of me. I am virtually a stranger to her, too, so we'll have to see what our relationship becomes as we get to know each other better. It is going to be a major adjustment for all of us, and one that we never wanted to make, but she needs help right now and this is the best short term solution that we can come up with. Please pray for our family during this transition, and please pray for healing for MIL. Please also pray that it won't be long before we can help her get started again, on her own.

As for Jack, he seems to like MIL well enough. He's only seen her a few times in his 2 years and I doubt he remembers the last time he saw her, but I have always showed him her picture, and he is a smart cookie. He caught on right away that she was his grandma, though at first he was a little confused on how to differentiate between his two grandmas. It quickly became apparent, though, that we'd have to come up with a way to tell them apart during conversations, as Jack came up with his own way of telling them apart:

On Wednesday, the first day that MIL was here, Jack was calling her 'grandma'. Right as I was wondering if I was being silly for worrying that he'd be shy around her, he asked me a question that I misinterpreted to be "Where is 'little' grandma?" Thinking he was referring to MIL, I told him that she was on the couch. As I was rocking him before his nap, however I realized my mistake!

Jack: Where [little] grandma?
Me: Little grandma is on the couch!
Jack: No, where YELLOW grandma?
Me: (thinking, holy crap who has he been listening to that he knows about the concept of skin colors?! and MIL is Korean, but he's never noticed stuff like that before) Yellow grandma?
Jack: Yellow grandma at work!
Me: (still wondering and not quite sure what to say, making note to ask Dr. Google for advice later) Um, okay...
Jack: Yellow grandma at work! Where BLACK grandma?
Me: (huh?) Huh? Black grandma?
Jack: Black grandma on couch!
Me: (recalling a conversation a few days ago between my mom and Jack, regarding hair) Oooooooh!!! You mean yellow and black HAIR colors!!!
Jack:(very likely thinking "Duh mom, what else would I mean?") Yes, it the hair!

So, as the day wore on and Jack started referring to MIL as Black Grandma and my mom as Yellow Grandma, I started to wonder what someone would think hearing him say that and not realizing what he meant. I explained to him that Black Grandma was daddy's mom and Yellow grandma was mommy's mom. Then he started calling them Daddy's Grandma and Mommy's Grandma.
The next day (yesterday) I asked MIL if it would be okay if Jack called her Grandma Han.

Anyway, tomorrow is MIL's actual move-in date. I will be gone all day tomorrow*, and I feel bad about missing her first day in our home. Please please please be praying for our family as we make this transition, and for healing for MIL, as well as for us to have the wisdom and the resources to be able to find a long term solution (us= Dave and I, and Sarah and Joe... Dave's sister and BIL).

*I got a phone call from Pat-The-Photographer today, and he is shooting the Wedding Of The Century Tomorrow. As he is shorthanded (his sidekick- his wife, Tamara- is unable to shoot with him), so he asked me to help! Awesome! Pray for me because I'm nervous, but this will be a great opportunity for me!!! I get to observe the pro in action, and I even get to shoot with HIS camera! Awesome! And he's paying me! My very first paying gig and it's for a huge wedding of a well-known Long Beach family! Have I said "Awesome!" yet?