Word of Kim

Its been a while.

2007-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged in over a year which may lead to some speculation as to how busy I am and what fantastic adventures I have been on to have such a long absence. Upon reflection I have done the following:

Visited South Africa twice.
Turned 30.
Dyed my hair numerous colors.
Cut my hair.
Lost my mind about half a dozen times.
Told my husband we live in a no cats allowed home.
Got 2 cats.
Attempted to get fit.
Almost relocated to Seattle.
Renovated part of the house and the kitchen.
Decided that this is the year to put myself out there.

So I guess thats the summarized version of what I have been up to. The kids on the other hand have grown and developed into these awesome and extremely entertaining people who have the greatest perception of the world and how it all functions.

I have high hopes for 2007 and hope that its better than 2006 ..... anything can be better than 2006.

Paper Trains.

2006-02-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

My three year old has discovered the world of trains and is all about Thomas the Tank Engine and any other train that may cross his path. Today we built a train that was made from cardboard with all the perforations and instructions etc. It took me about an hour to put it together all the while Ethan sat next to me playing with the discarded pieces of cardboard. When I was finally finished and I showed him my master piece with great pride ... he just kinda gave it a look and carried on playing with the scraps of cardboard. I was kinda let down by his reaction because I really thought he would be super excited and play with it for all of five minutes before destroying it in Ethans typical fashion. Then I realized that he had just wanted to sit next to me and do something / anything together. I love that kids can make you stop and actually appreciate a moment in time for what it is. Its moments like this that I store in heart.

Feeling.

2006-02-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

It seems that the older I get the more uncertain I become about people and my purpose in life.

Just when I feel sure about something and feel almost comfortable inside myself, something always comes along to show me that what I thought is so far from the truth. It hurts more and more ... happiness is fleeting and loneliness seems to be my constant.

Just a little rounder ....

2005-12-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

Today I went to my sons Winter Festival where they sang Christmas songs and generally looked lost and confused except for those 10 students who know exactly whats going on ... my son not included in those 10. It was really sweet and went on for about 30 minutes.

After it had all finished and we were all on our way back to the cars to go home, I met up with a friend of my son's family. Always a treat to see them, we stopped for a chat. Being that they are from Europe and have that European way of telling it as it is. It was mentioned in our conversation twice ,I might add, that I had put on weight ..... ho ho and a Merry Christmas to you.

Naturally on the way home I asked my friend who had come with to watch the festival if she wanted to stop for coffee and twinkies.

Tear drops for loved ones.

2005-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

Andre is one of my husbands closest friends and has been for many years. They met up in university and have remained the greatest of mates since then. Andre has always been able to liven up a party with stories of his day to day life and all the strange and interesting things that just seem to happen to him. He has a great sense of humor and after recounting some of his tales, he can literally have the entire room rolling on the floor laughing.

He has traveled the world and seen and done things that most of us dream about. Again he has had so many interesting adventures, which when he recounts, has everyone captivated and laughing at the same time. He is the "what you see is what you get type of guy" who really cares about those people in his life and those around him.

I have known Andre for about 8 or 9 years now and I have come to view him with such great affinity that I would move heaven and earth for him if I could. He has always had a kind word to say and smile no matter what time of day or night. Since Alex and I moved across to the States he has come to visit us a few times and its always like picking up where we last left off.

Andre, today I found out that your dad passed away, I am so terribly sorry for you and your families loss. I will hold you dear in my thoughts and prayers.

Alex and I love you and our home is always yours.

Barber Shop.

2005-11-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

Ethan is finally growing real hair and its only taken him two and a half years. His fluff has been pretty fashionably styled up till now. So I made my husband take him to his hair dresser for the very first hair cut and all went rather well ... no screaming, tantrums or other such fun things that seem ok in a two year olds world of acceptable behavior.

Now being the ever confident mother I am, I take him off to the barber in town to have his hair cut because he is starting to look like cousin it. We are no sooner inside the door and Ethan wants no part of this idea. I then wrangle him out of his coat and onto the plank of wood put across the arms of the chair. He is now in full swing of a tantrum and I am trying to be very polite to poor old Italian barber who has to try and make my son look like he got a hair cut while sitting still. My forward thinking of placing bribe items in each hand so as to distract from the man wielding scissors is not working and you guessed it, I dont have a back up plan. Its also probably the coldest day we have had this fall and I am sweating and so is the poor old barber. I am holding Ethan down, there is sweat covering my face and Ethan is covered in his hair which has fallen into his packet of chips and it stuck to his lollipop in the other hand ... what a wonderful site to behold.

I have said this before but after that experience I really mean it - if Ethan was my first born child, he would be an only child.

Pre-travel excitement?

2005-11-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready to fly half way around the world for a wedding next week. There have been so many stressful moments in connection with this trip that now that its just a day away, I need a holiday just from planning this holiday!!! There has been the passport issue that finally ended today and YAY I dont have to worry about any family members passports expiring till 2009. Chris has come off his steroids so now I dont have a hyper 5 year old and all I have to deal with is 2 kids with a cold, 1 husband with a cold and a 17 hour 55 minute flight.... things are looking up dont you think!!??

Birth Certificate of the corrupt.

2005-11-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

I am in the midst of trying to renew my 5 year old's passport so we can travel back to South Africa for a family members wedding. An easy enough task for the entire world except if your name is Kim and you live in Sterling Forest. You can be guarantied that a normal everyday task once placed in my hands, can turn into an event.

It seems my sons birth certificate may not be valid due to some corrupt politician in the system at the time of his birth or something along those lines. It seems Hudson County and Bergen County have been having problems so now I have to wait and see if the I can get my sons passport processed. This means that I may have to pull some miracle to get all this sorted out in the next 11 days, ahhh the joys of being me.

And with Thanksgivings giving next week ... who is going to be very interested in sorting out a passport when there is going to be turkey and gravy in abundance.

Thirty.

2005-11-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Recently it was my 30th birthday, which I thought was going to be the worst day of my life. It would be official that I no longer had that connection to my teens and I was now to be considered an adult. I thought about all I have done, and what I have achieved in my 30 years of roaming the planet. I really haven't achieved half of what I thought I would have and this kinda stressed me out. But looking at the places I have been, the things I have experienced and the fact that I am married to my best friend and I have 2 awesome kids who can make me melt by just smiling at me.

This is probably the best gift I could possibly have gotten from life itself. So I guess its not all bad being 30 and since I have already freaked out and bought all the possible wrinkle creams etc. I can now enjoy my thirties.

The horror...

2005-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today my 5 year old was watching tv and a song came on about not being perfect and that this is ok. He turned to me absolutely horror stricken and asked " I am not perfect?"

What I am learning: Lesson 1

2005-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last night was one of those nights that just went on forever. My son is sick and my husband was getting back late from a business trip to Atlanta ..... scene now set.

Ethan wakes up at 9pm with a double nose bleed - I am now terribly impressed with the fact that my two year old is having a double nose bleed. Something I have never managed in all my 29 years. So after panicking, sorting out and then cleaning up my poor blood smeared child I thought I all was good for the night and hopefully I would make it to bed early because I was tired. By 11pm I am having no luck and Ethan and I have watched all the good shows on tv and are going to try go to sleep. HA HA I really am very hopeful. Ethan finally goes to sleep in bed with me and my husband arrives home to find his side of the bed has a sprawled out shrimp on it breathing like a demon from hell is about to break loose through his nose. And a wife who looks like a raccoon did her make-up for her in permanent black marker.

We play musical beds all through the night and by 5am I have changed Ethan pj's again coz he threw up on them ... and my bed ... with feather duvet etc (Note to all those newbie parents - its damn difficult to get the puke smell out of a feather duvet, dry cleaners are your best friends.) my husband has now relocated to the lounge couch, Ethan is back in his bed and I am sleeping on a stripped down bed with non puked part of the duvet covering me because I am too tired to move.

Now this is the part where the title comes into play ..... What I am learning is: that whenever I am really tired one of my kids will be up all night long or get ill. So I really should just resign myself to the fact that sleep is for people with no kids or people with kids who are now at college.

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

2005-10-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

A long time coming but it's here!

The Word of Kim is here to stay so keep checking in as it grows!