Shannon Yee

Little Yee #3 is almost 7 months old and he is crawling, cruising, clapping and generally very busy. I am sort of in shock at the simple passage of time. I am proud of all that my kids do. Well, maybe not all that they do, but at least proud of them most of the time. I am also terrified of the crazy speed at which they are growing and changing. Not that I don’t want them to mature and develop in the amazing ways they were designed for, I do.
BUT, I feel like I’m so busy with just taking care of them at times that I don’t even see the changes. It’s like I’m missing their growing up simply by being too close… I am so grateful to be able to be so close and yet very aware that it is only for a short time (relatively speaking – since yesterday when #2 was waking up #3 and emptying the toilet paper roll AGAIN and eating all my cider mill donuts seemed like a very, very long time!)

Today I am taking two kids to the dr. office for well visits, which I am coming to realize are really vaccination appts. I used to think that people who said that were a bit over-the-top, but after taking three kids in a their regularly scheduled visits, I see that there is really very little point to these visits except giving vaccinations. Sure, they measure the wee ones and ask questions to see that they are developping normally, but I think that if there was really any concern, the parents would bring them in for a check-up.
Well, I am very grateful that my kids are all perfectly normal and very healthy, so we heading out for our vaccination visit despite the fact that they will not get immunizations today as we are all battling a little cold.

This is what I’ve been up to recently…

Me: (opening the door and getting a big whiff of calendula cream) Josiah, where is Thad’s diaper cream?
J: In there. (pointing to the air vent at the bottom of the wall)
Me: Where did you put all the cream? (finding the container, two marker lids, some paper and a few other toys in the vents)
J: On my arm.
Me: Wow. (feeling how smooth and soft his left arm is)

Me: Josiah, do you have to go to the bathroom?
J: No. (doing the pee-pee dance)
Me: Are you sure?
J: I DON”T HAVE TO GO!!!!
Me: Okay.
J: Mommy, I have to go potty! (very desperate)
Me: Then, go to the potty! You know, I just asked you. (I’m now sitting down nursing TJ)
J: Mommy, you come! I can’t do it.
Me: Yes, you can. GO!
J: MOMMY!
Me: Josiah!
J: HELP ME!
Me: You can do it. (I’m walking to the bathroom, watching him dance in front of the toilet). Pull your pants down.
J: I CAN’T. (holding a small key in one hand)
Me: Give me your key, and GO POTTY!
J: NOOOO!
Me: GET ON THE POTTY! (taking his key and pulling down his pants – yes, while still nursing)
J: Don’t yell at me, Mommy.
Me: (shaking my head and feeling very relieved that he went on the potty, but a little guilty for yelling, even though he did most of the yelling…)

Eila: When I grow up and I’m a mommy, you’ll be a grandma and you will be my mommy.
Me: Yup. That’s right.
E: I will drive a motorcycle.
Me: Oh, really. I’d rather you didn’t.
E: But, when I’m grown up I’ll be big and can drive a motorcycle and go really fast.
Me: That’s just what I’d rather you didn’t; I don’t like motorcycles. They scare me; people get hurt really badly on motorcycles.
E: Well, I won’t get hurt. Maybe I won’t drive a motorcycle… Does Trillion drive a motorcycle?
Me: I don’t know. Maybe, but I doubt it.
E: When I grow up and I’m a mommy, I’m going to name my daughter Trillion.

Along with countless amounts of preparing food and cleaning up and also watching Thad creep all around, spitting on everything…
It’s been good.

I kind of feel like I fell off the face of the earth this summer. I didn’t do any of the normal things that I anticipated this summer. We didn’t do a regular zoo trip with my girlfriends or meet-ups at the village with other girlfriends or playdates in the park or music in the park or sprayscape playtimes or backyard BBQs or camping or whatever I had thought we would do this summer. But, just because we didn’t do these things with our friends like expected, I am not at all disappointed with how we spent our time. We had so much fun enjoying time with our family, learning to ride bikes, taking swim lessons, shooting rockets, playing in our backyard, experimenting with different foods (mostly Brian), and just being together.

While the weather wasn’t terribly hot this summer, we were able to spend a LOT of time outside and are currently loving the return to school and the emptiness of our favorite hangouts (zoo, village, parks, etc.) Eila and Josiah are not ready for the end of summer so we will continue with summer fun for as long as possible. We may even do somethings with our friends, but coordinating requires just that little bit of planning and energy that I can’t muster. So, we’ll probably continue to be out in space somewhere.

Every week I make a plan of meals in my head, this week I’m going to write it down…

Breakfast:
Pancakes
Fruit and yogurt smoothies
Oatmeal (with dried apricots or honey)
Toast (honey whole-wheat recipe from Gwen) with peanut/sun butter
Egg, lettuce, tomato sandwich
Zucchini muffins

Lunch:
Rice salad and fruit
PB & J and veggies and fruit
Pizza and fruit
Hummus on crackers and veggies and fruit
Grilled cheese and veggies and fruit
Taco salad (cucumbers and green peppers) and fruit

Snacks:
Toast & cheese
Fruit & yogurt
Veggies & hummus
Nuts
Zucchini muffins

Dinner:
Pizza (homemade) and salad
Lentils and rice (onions & green peppers)
Lasagna (veggie?)
Broccoli, tomato, sausage rotini
Fish, couscous, green beans
Tacos and black beans
Caprese salad and spaghetti

I’ve put a lot of things on hold since the end of my pregnancy, and am still recovering from the aftermath of that pregnancy (another kid!)
Having three kids is a lot harder than two and I’m pretty tired at the end of the day which is when I used to do all the things that needed to be done without my children’s “help”.
One of these days, I might get around to starting and maybe even finishing one or two things on my ever growing list.

So, I put Thaddeus down on my bed for a few minutes to brush my teeth and Josiah was in his room getting dressed. Eila was in the living room singing (very loudly) on the coffee table. Thad, of course, started crying within a few seconds and Josiah responded with “Eila stop singing; Thaddeus doesn’t like it.” Josiah continued yelling at Eila to stop while Thad continued crying and Eila continued singing. It was very loud and a little comical as each child was in a different room making themselves heard throughout the house. Fortunately, it only lasted for a very short while. Now, we’re off to play outside and have a dance party while we play baseball.

“Mommy, come see the funniest thing ever. Hurry!”
I rush outside to see a cherry pits and stems and a plum pit thrown about the deck. This was so not the funniest thing ever, but I did at least produce a mild grin.

I found this site today, but I’m still not interested in family cloth (that’s no toilet paper for those wondering).

On a related note, Krysta sums up my thoughts on how everyone, especially those who claim to believe in God, should be taking care of the earth and their bodies.

I love going on vacation and being on vacation. I realized during this vacation – we just got back from a week in Colorado (Lake Dillon) and it was wonderful! – that it can be a little stressful. I have always thought of vacations as relaxing getaways from the busyness and chaos of everyday life. They are typically filled with time for me to reflect and regroup by myself. That was before I had kids and now vacations are still great escapes from our everyday chaos, but they are a different sort of chaos, not a lot of time to myself or sleeping for that matter. We had a great time visited with our family and hiking, fishing, playing at the park, shopping, etc. Yet, I now almost need a vacation from the vacation. It could be complicated by the fact that my loving husband and two older children all had raging fevers and were miserable our entire day of return travel and the first day back home. Or maybe as I age I take on more of the expectations of others for a great time rather than just selfishly making a good time happen for myself. Or maybe I just don’t remember the hard stuff of vacations when I look back. Who knows? Who cares? Vacations are fun and the stress is totally worth it… I think. Ask me again later when my kids are sleeping and the house is clean.