Starting over

Well after a million emails to Blogger I have yet to get any response or indication that they are working on fixing my old blog. Booooo! I have no idea what happened to the old one. All I know is it says this blog was removed by the blog owner. Um...that would be me and I certainly didn't do it. Oh well. I can only continue to beg them to give it back and in the mean time I will have to post here. So bookmark this one to keep up with us :)

First time parent funny

Ok so we probably should not even admit to any of this, but it is kinda funny! Last night Colin was fussy fussy fussy! He's cutting one of his top front teeth so we thought that could be the problem. Also, he has been eating more solids and hadn't pooped all day either. So we weren't sure if he teeth hurt, his tummy, or a combination of the two...but something was wrong! He ate his 2:30 bottle just fine and then when it was time for squash at 5:30 he ate that too. After squash we gave him a bottle that he tried to suck on for a few minutes and then pushed away. We thought he wasn't hungry and tried giving it to him a couple more times and he'd play with it for a few minutes and then toss it aside.

So 8:30 rolls around and it's time for the bedtime bottle and we reheat the bottle he didn't eat earlier and give it to him. He sucks for a few minutes and tosses it aside crying. So I think ok he won't eat something is wrong. I rub his tummy and give him gas drops. We move his little legs like a bicycle and all he does is get madder and madder. So then I try giving him teething tablets and Tylenol and rocking him. Nothing. Crying crying crying. Ugh my poor baby! So I finally break down and decide if his tooth hurts so bad he can't eat if I can numb it he'll be happier. So I take a q-tip and put a little coconut rum on the tip and rub it around his tooth. He's interested for a minute and then its back to crying. We try the bottle again and nothing. So we rock him to sleep and finally about 9:30 he falls asleep. Whew!

Now I know that having not eaten since 2:30 in the afternoon he is never going to sleep all night and I sleep terribly wondering when he's going to wake up crying and we get to start this all over again. That little angel of mine slept right on through til 8am just like always! We get up and I feed him a bottle and his oatmeal and he inhales it all eating just fine. The 11:30 feeding comes and I fix him a bottle and again he eats just fine. So at 2:30 I get the bottle out of the fridge he had refused the night before heat it up and give it to him. He sucks on it for a few minutes and tosses it aside mad. So I wonder if I got the temperature right since it had come out of the fridge and put it in my mouth to test it. Nothing comes out. Hmmmm. So I try again, nothing comes out. Uh oh... So then I start inspecting the nipple and realize that a piece of the sponge off the tip of the bottle brush is clogging up the nipple hole and nothing can get through! All this time I am thinking Colin is in pain, has a tooth coming in and desperately needs to poop...I'm singing and dancing and even rubbing rum on the kids gums and the damn bottle was clogged! Oye. Lesson learned. CHECK THE BOTTLE NIPPLES if your kid won't eat! LOL.

Seoul/Osan Trip

Seoul Trip

Shelby got off work on Monday morning at 7am and we caught the 8am bus up to Osan to spend his days off up there. We arrived at Osan, got checked in and headed to Chili's for lunch. It was still early so we ran around the shopping area outside the main gate of Osan. I got a new "Coach" purse, a blanket, some luggage tags, and some gifts for other people. We ordered a new Tebow jersey for Colin since he will be outgrowing his current one soon. I stopped to get a manicure while Shelby took Colin out of the stroller to play for a while and give him a break. While we were there I noticed they had the Dr. Fish treatment tank. It is where you put your feet in the fish tank and the fish feast on your dead skin and when you are done your feet are soft and smooth. I thought it sounded kinda cool so while my nails dried I hopped in the fish tank and forked over my 4,000 Won to feed their fish. At first there was another girl with her feet in the tank so all the fish were kind of split between us. When she got out they all swarmed me though and that freaked me out! Too many fish on my feet, they were nibbling in between my toes and up my legs, it creeped me out! I was squirming around trying not to totally freak out feeling like little things were crawling all over me and somehow convinced Shelby this was fun and he needed to try it to. So he climbs in too and then the fish swarmed him, this left less for me which made me much more comfortable.

After the fish treatment and manicure we headed back on base for some dinner and rest. We got up early the next morning and hopped on the subway to take us into Seoul. We went to the Coex Mall, where the Coex Aquarium is located. It was nice to see Seoul again, it is such a HUGE city! The aquarium was good too. Colin had a great time watching all the fish swim around. He also really loved the fun mirrors they had in the kids area. He played with his image in the mirror for several minutes. We decided to take the train back to Osan instead of the subway so that was another first for me. It was pretty nice and a nice way to get around. If that is how I get to travel Europe I can definitely handle that!

The next morning we got up and headed back down to Kunsan so Shelby could make it to work by 3pm. It was a quick little trip but it's always fun to go up there and get out away for a couple days.

Sightseeing Tour

Tour trip

Sunday morning we had to be at the bus at 7:30am to take the tour we had signed up for. Getting anywhere that early with Colin is not easy and since Shelby didn't even get home from work until 7am he wasn't much help either. It was cold and rainy and we weren't sure the trip would even go, but we were happy that it did. It was supposed to be a full bus but a lot of people that signed up must have backed out due to the weather and we ended up with barely a half a bus full of people.

We started off heading down to Byeonsan National Park where we would hike in to see Chickso Waterfall. The park was gorgeous even in the foggy, cold rain. I think the fog and mist actually made it prettier. There was a beautiful lake set in the mountains. I had a great time hiking on the trail since I haven't been in a while. The views were amazing and I got some pictures that look like postcards. The waterfall was very pretty. Colin did great through most of the hike strapped to Shelby in the Jeep harness. Towards the end of the hike on our way back to the bus he'd decided he'd had enough and hollered most of the way back. We didn't mind because we knew he was just being a grump. But try explaining that to the 3,000 Koreans, also part of a sightseeing tour, that we passed on the way back to the bus. With every group that passed we'd get stopped and all the little Korean ladies would smile and make faces at Colin and try to cover him better and touch his face and hands and then look at us and speak. I am not sure what they were saying, though I did recognize the word for cold now that I had heard it a thousand times, but I do know they were probably chastising us both for having a baby out in such dreary cold weather. I personally disagree. He had several layers of clothes and on was perfectly warm and dry. I swear, how do people think little Eskimo babies survive anyway?

After the waterfalls we went to Neso-Sa Temple. It's a Buddhist temple set way in the mountains that happens to be one of the oldest and original temples from back in the old days. Most of the temples and buildings in Korea were destroyed by the wars, so there aren't too many that date back to 1300 such as this one. It was very pretty, but the grounds were gorgeous. There were trees that were starting to flower and bloom and the mountains in the distance were amazing. I got some great pictures there too. We ate lunch at a little market/restaurant area right outside the front of the temple entrance. We weren't sure if there would be a place to buy food (you never know on these sponsored trips) so I had packed my lunch in case. I ate some of my pizza and cookies that I had packed but ate some of Shelby's food that he ordered too. We had a "Korean pancake" and no that is not the official name. It looks like a big giant omelet but instead of having cheese, bacon and veggies in it it is stuffed with green onions, carrots, calamari, octopus and shrimp. It was pretty tasty. We also had some shrimp fried rice, you can never go wrong with that, and some other kimchi kind of stuff that they bring you no matter what you order. I don't touch that stuff, yuck!

The last stop on the tour was Pyonsan Beach. It is a beach on the Yellow Sea (for those that aren't so geography savvy)and is known for it's white sand. The sand didn't look like some of the white sand I was used to in Florida but it was pretty. It was also super super windy and very very cold. We ran off the bus, ran to the beach, took a quick look around and ran back to the bus! I did have to make a pit stop to the bathroom. One place I wished I could have avoided. I have learned something about Korean bathrooms, they are either fabulous or far from it. Most places I have been so far have really REALLY nice bathrooms. I know I commented on this the last time I was here. Even the rest stops on the highways are so clean and they have a fun little potty area with mini sinks and toilets for the kiddies. They have super sonic hand dryers, not those wimpy ones we have in the states. We went to a restaurant that had a bathroom that really belonged in a spa. There were more buttons on the toilet and the seat was heated too! I'd had a little too much to drink that night, hence the need for a trip to the bathroom, and could have spent half the night playing on the toilet, lol. Anyway...at the beach I got to see the other side of the spectrum. I go inside the stall expecting to see a commode and there is nothing but a little porcelain hole in the ground. For a minute I thought I was in the men's room, but unfortunately I was not. Yuck! I hurried up and got the heck out of there!

The beach was the last stop and then we were on our way back to base. Despite the cold and rain it turned out to be a fun day and the scenery was great.

Bike Ride

Bike ride

Today we went on a 20 mile bike ride! I haven't been on a bike in a loooooong time so I was a little nervous about this but it went way better than I expected. My butt didn't approve at all and punished me the next day when ever I tried to sit down. (Good thing we went hiking and sightseeing the next day and I didn't have to do too much sitting!) We went to the bike shop in Gunsan city Friday night to find a baby seat to attach to Shelby's bike so that Colin could ride too. Knowing how much fun he has in the shopping cart I knew the bike seat would be a big hit. Shelby's bike looks pretty funny out in the bike rack with a baby seat on it. I am sure once we are out of here or when he goes to ride it to work one day he's going to get a lot of crap over that one! LOL

We rode out to the beach where there is a big seawall, windmills and an observation tower. Once we left base we headed through several rice paddies and farmland. It was cool to see them up close and watch the people working in the fields. Every so often we'd come to a stream or some water where people would be fishing. Eventually we got to the main roads and rode them for a while. Then just before the beach area we turned off onto a trail to cut to where we were heading. Out there were lots of giant pheasant birds. I was riding along and hit a bump and all of a sudden one flew right in front of me and up and away! Unfortunately I didn't see him sitting right on the side of the road until I scared him and he flew off. It was so cool! I have been on the lookout for pheasants ever since.

We ate lunch on the rocks near the beach and walked around exploring. There is an observation tower up there which we climbed up for a better view. When we were done we rode back a slightly different route than we took to get out there. It was neat to see and we had a good time. Anytime we came to a crosswalk where other Koreans were we had to wait while they oohed and aahed over Colin. They do love babies!

Colin is 7 months!

I can't believe how fast my little guy is growing up. He is so active and playful now. He has the best laugh ever. He gets hysterical over things and squeals now. He's eating all kinds of things now. He has oatmeal in the mornings, some fruit around lunch time and a veggie with dinner. He hates peas, tolerates green beans and sweet potatoes and loves carrots and squash. He likes both fruits we've tried so far, pears and bananas.

He isn't crawling yet but he inches around like a worm and rolls a lot. He sits up well and grabs for everything in sight now. He has two

teeth on the bottom and he is cutting two more on the top. The top front tooth is on it's way in any day now and I think the pointy one next to it is coming in also. He's babbling and saying all kinds of sounds. It's fun to watch him grow but scary at the same time!

Korea Take Two!

Colin and I arrived safe and sound in Korea on March 17th. I was worried about how he would do on the flight being that he's so awake and active now, not at all the snuggly little man I brought here the last time. He did AWESOME! I couldn't have asked for a happier child. We had to drive to Jacksonville, then fly to Atlanta, then had a layover in Atlanta, then made the 15 hour flight to Korea and then once we navigated immigration and customs had a 2 hour bus ride to Osan. It was over 24 hours of travel time and this little angel of mine never cried once! I had two different flight attendents tell me separately that he was the best baby they have had on a flight in a very long time. I can only hope he's as nice to me on the return flight! We'll be spending a month here this time and hope to do some fun stuff around the exercise and Shelby's work schedule.