life with the lieutenant

• Another week! Week one of the Jumpstart is in the books and was quite successful! Between going to the bathroom every 4.5 minutes due to my upped water consumption, searching for produce at the commi that wasn't molded, examining produce at the Korean markets to see if I could read Hangul yet (nope. can't.), and prepping the food I found, it has been a busy week.

Not pictured: strawberries, roasted carrots, roasted peppers. Statistically, it's about time that I chop my finger off with a knife.

•  Molly woke up with some puke in her hair Thursday morning, and I stuck her in the shower with Steve for a quick rinse. While I was stripping her sheets, I pulled back her pillow and found ALL of the vom under there. Nice surprise. We laid around and did mostly nothing since we couldn't go to preschool (*sob*). I consoled myself knowing that come Tuesday morning, I'd get to run errands in peace. (foreshadowing)

Enjoying the royal treatment- dvds of her choosing, free drink refills, complimentary crackers

•  Friday brought with it the announcement that there would be an alert that would eat up the entire weekend. Like watching the Muppet Movie on repeat all day Thursday did not make me crazy enough. Steve got the call Friday night and went in Saturday morning. He came home Sunday night. Insert all the angry words here.

Sam is extra sad when Steve isn't home in the mornings and evenings to play with him (think: crying because *I* have to brush his teeth. The misery!). It is heart-breaking and also affirms our choice to leave the Army.

•  While doing our mandatory 48-hour quarantine, the kids played nicely while I got a lot accomplished around the house. Like laundry! Nothing like a little vomit to light a fire under me to catch up on that. I also was able to sweep and mop the floors. Then I made the kids soup for dinner! So naturally I was practically begging for this to happen.

Not pictured: all of the soup that doused Sam on its way to the floor

• PS. Why is loaner Army kitchen furniture upholstered?? We are gonna owe so much money on these fugly chairs.
• We rounded out the day by watching Sam build the most intricate and unconventional castles ever.

• Saturday, my neighbor and I vowed to live at our favorite kids' cafe as long as possible, bringing along snack lunches and checking our phones to see if our husbands had any idea as to when they'd be home. (*Spoiler! They didn't!*)

• Once we got home, the kids racked out and took crazy-long naps. They woke up at dinnertime and our plans to hit up another kids' cafe were tabled. We played at home (aka destroyed the living room) until bathtime (when everyone wailed because I would be bathing them/brushing their teeth. Children, I assure you the feeling is painfully mutual.).

• Sunday morning, we woke up at 8 and somehow made it out the door by 8:34. We need to leave a little earlier than 8:30 to get there on time, but we somehow managed to hit enough greenlights to only be a few minutes late. Luckily the other 6 people in church didn't seem to notice us sneak in.

• Church ends at 10 and the commi (with all the non-rotted produce!) doesn't open until 11. Luckily our friend (I use that term loosely) and fellow church-goer, the 2-star general, was firing up his helicopter to fly back up to our area! Watching that killed about 20 minutes.

• After reading every book we could find in the car, the commi finally opened and we finished our shopping. We came home to play for a bit before heading back to our kids' cafe for the afternoon energy burn, all the while praying that the alert would end SOON.

Finished them without help! So PROUD!

• Steve came home Sunday evening and everyone rejoiced! Steve and I stayed up until 11 just hanging out together. And then at midnight, I was reminded why we don't stay up past 10. Because that is just plain irresponsible and stupid. Sam started puking at midnight, and continued to puke every 20 minutes until 6am. Since Steve only caught a few hours of sleep the night before (while I slept like a glorious log in bed all by myself.....zzzzzz...... I think that's what heaven must feel like), I took on the task of holding the puke bucket and fetching water and congratulating Sam on what a wonderful puker he was. (He is way better at it than I am!)

•  Luckily the puking ended at 6 and there was only one diarrhea incident. Steve had the day off (!!! biggest shocker ever!!!) and we all spent the entire day on the couch watching movies and resting. It was pretty sweet.

• Since the stomach bug took place yesterday, we are still within the 48-hour quarantine and missing preschool again today. (Why yes, I am dying a bit inside, thanks for asking!) Today I (sloppily) printed off this little incentive sheet for the kids. After I explained it, Sam immediately went to clean up the playroom (glory of glories) so that he could pick out a sticker. We have approximately 8 million stickers, so this feels like a great way to use those up and encourage some good behavior.

• Then Molly caught me painting my nails, so I decided it's probably high time I paint hers. I am not very girly, so painting my own nails feels difficult enough (or even finding the TIME to paint my own nails). She sat so still the entire time and really loved that they were pink. I just went to threaten everyone to lay down for naps again and noticed that she's already peeled off the paint on one finger, so oh well. I tried. Let's see how long the glitter polish lasts on me.

•  Just booked a room in Seoul for this weekend and am looking forward to escaping the confines of this apartment for a bit. Even if that does mean sharing a small hotel room with the kids. Now I'm off to do some research and figure out what we will do while we're there! Happy Tuesday!