Shannon Yee

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.

When I signed in at Jungle Java I signed a waiver as Eila’s parent/guardian and didn’t really think much of it. After lots of fun playing and a little eating, I took Josiah to use the toilet and while we were washing our hands one of the other little girls with us came to tell me that Eila needed me. So, we quickly returned to the table where our stuff was and I found Eila sobbing hysterically.
In the few minutes I was gone, she had been dancing and singing near some other girls who apparently didn’t like it and started pushing, punching and scratching her. Another mom saw it and stop it as they were getting ready to kick her. As I write these words I feel so angry and sad and helpless. I want so badly to protect my kids from any kind of harm or evil and I can’t really do that at all.
Eila calmed down (not terribly physically hurt) and the girls apologized; she forgave them and went back to playing. I am still at a loss for how to respond and help Eila respond in the future. But I am very certain that guardian is not the right term for me (today, at least).

I had a lapse of good parenting judgement today. Josiah has suddenly decided that he’d like to wear undies instead of diapers and is doing so. When we were playing outside and he needed to take care of business, I let him just go in the grass rather than taking him inside. Unfortunately, Eila thought that seemed like a great idea and before I knew it she was joining him and then there were two naked kids running around the yard. They quickly got on their bikes and escaped to the front yard streaking down the sidewalk. Our neighbors found them very amusing along with my attempts to corral two very naked kids back home.

This is what Eila yelled to me a few minutes ago as she was watching Care Bears in the basement. I came up to figure out what to make for dinner and didn’t get very far when I heard her crying and hollering for help.

Since this is very uncharacteristic during TV time, I quickly checked on her to see that Professor Coldheart was up to no good and Eila was cowering, but unable to turn her eyes and look away from the screen. “Turn it off!” she demanded desperately so I obliged.

This was the second DVD I put in for her as the Disney Princess Party cartoon was far too frightening and it was just the first song. Needless to say, Eila is a little bit scared of many things right now including but not limited to cartoons (and wind – especially thunderstorms, but who can blame her after we were picnicking with several friends during a storm a few weeks ago where she went completely nuts with fear.)

After about a month of constant help, I ventured into the world with all three kids and it is a lot like adjusting to two kids for me. The hard part is not having a new baby, but the same other kids who have a slightly more tired mom with a little less patience and reasonable, logical thinking. A continuation of pregnancy sort of, except that I’m more comfortable physically and can take the baby out if desired…

Okay, two more things to be thankful for are health and help.

I made a special trip to U of M today with Thaddeus and am so thankful for my good friend, who graciously agreed to take both of the other kids even though J was throwing up last night and not only that, she made us dinner too!

Thad has had a pretty rough go of this cold that he got from Siah and was having some signs of breathing trouble, so we were sent to the ER and after a brief check by several doctors, he was given the all clear with just a stuffy nose.

So, thank God for friends who help and for baby brother’s health.

Today I’ve only had all three kids for a short while and yet still I’m thinking that three is two too many. I’ll keep #3 and lend out the others to any adventurous and brave soul who will take them… ;p

In just three hours, #2 has succeeded in clogging the toilet with an entire roll of toilet paper – unrolled and shoved in, throwing a ball and racket at #3, smothering #3 with a blanket, waking #3 from a sound sleep by screaming as loudly as possible over and over, spitting all over #1 and the table, breaking a doll house and making #1 cry, taking over everything that #1 has and infuriating her. He has also eaten, read books, jumped on the couch and laughed a lot.

Child #1 has screamed and yelled at everyone, smashed her head into the wall, fallen off a chair AND table, tried to twist #2’s arm backwards, and kissed #3 more times than I can count. She has also sang and danced the entire time and changed clothes about six times. She did clean up her room too.

Edit (10 minutes later): The boys are sleeping and the girls are both calm and so glad that those boys are finally sleeping. They needed it!

Being thankful should be so easy. I know all the things I have to be thankful for, and yet I find myself wanting to complain all the time and having a hard time not being cranky all the time. This week I have been especially irritated at everything, pretty much all the time.

I was/am irritated that my B-H contractions turned to real contractions and then no baby. I’m irritated that Eila and Josiah aren’t perfect and that my house is constantly in need of cleaning and we always need to eat. I should be thankful that we have a really nice house and lots of toys and art projects to make messes with and plenty of food to eat. I should also be thankful that baby boy is developing perfectly and that my body is getting ready for labor. I should be thankful, and I’m trying… sort of.

I love Sundays. In our house, we try to keep them as a family day. Church can sometimes be a little busy since Brian and I often have to be there at different times with varying responsibilities, but today we were both just regular church attenders. On Sundays, I especially enjoy Brian helping with dinner and often making it all complete with grocery shopping since we are often out of food at this point. Today was no exception and he took Josiah to the grocery store with him, while Eila finished napping. We had family nap time and then went for a walk around the block enjoying the great outdoors. We all cleaned up together after dinner and then watched the space shuttle launch. And, Brian and I watched the end of High School Musical 3. It was a perfect lazy Sunday.

You probably are already aware that I place a very high value on spiritual things and believe that my God is who He says He is (in the Bible) and can do what He says He can do.

This particular pregnancy has been a little bit more difficult for me than my previous ones, which were fabulous and relatively perfect. I still enjoy pregnancy and have no real complaints. However, when this baby boy was breech I was complaining a lot. Carrying a breech baby was terribly uncomfortable for me physically, plus I was very stressed over the prospect of having major surgery just because he was in the “wrong” position. After he turned and then re-turned to breech position despite my doing all the right exercises, I prayed and knew that God was telling me to just relax and trust Him. I was assured that although I have no real control over this baby now nor will I be able to control everything when he is born, God is able to handle it all and knows exactly what should and will happen. So, I decided to relax and trust God and not do all the crazy exercises and techniques for turning a baby. I did write it on the prayer list for our church and asked a few close friends and family to pray for the baby to turn and me not to freak out no matter what happens.

This was all about 2 weeks ago and the night of our church prayer meeting (last Wednesday), I was again treated to the rather obnoxious full position change of “baby brother.” This time, however, he has stayed put and seems to be settling in nicely. I am much more comfortable and totally at peace knowing that God answered this prayer and that He has it all under control.