and I heard them this morning... Kylee said "Ma Ma", when I was feeding her breakfast...
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And both of my girls are in their beds.. .present enough. The fire is crackling, the tree is still on and I feel cozy. I wish John didn't snore...
We have had an unbelievably blessed year. We have two beautiful Daughters that couldn't be more spoiled. Ithink about the people that are outside in the cold right now, and I wish I could help them all. There is a couple that appear to be in their fifties that I see on my way to work every day. I wonder if they are warm or if they have children that wonder how they are. The man wears a reflective vest, which I presume is to keep them from getting hit while crossing the street. That is all I ever see them doing. This time of year I wish I had enough to give to all of them. All I can do is wish them enough, and pray that God will somehow take care of the rest.
I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas. Kiss your babies if you have them, and say a prayer for the less fortunate. I only hope that one day I can do more...
Love. Good night.
A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's rest-room stall.
By Shannon Popkin
My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker.
He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked. There've been several embarrassing times that I've wished
the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but
never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.
Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the
rest-room. If you'd been one of the ladies in the rest-room that evening, this is what
you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:
"Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the
potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what
are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?"
At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom
when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they
all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.
Cade continued, "Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl,
Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see
doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh .. Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat
is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!"
I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a
screaming newborn when you need her? Good grief. This was really getting
embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting.
Trying to divert him, I said, "Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you
can find some candy. We"ll both have some!"
"No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!" He started to gag at this
point. "Uh oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making
me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!"
As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly flushed
the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: "OK.
There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that
those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone."
"Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies!
Get up! Get up!" He grunted as he tried to pull me off.
Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.
"Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What
were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?"
More laughter.
I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation.
"Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy." He
started pounding on the door. "Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want
to go out!!"
I saw that my "wait 'em out" plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door,
and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall,
all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment,
then I thought, "Where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed
away every bit of my dignity and privacy?"
But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap
between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known
as Mommy to this little fellow.
(Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives with her family in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she no longer uses public restrooms)
Well.. that is sort of the question. Last week, my V.P. and I had a "heated" but controlled discussion about an issue that was facing our team. At one point that day, he had tried to find me and couldn't. The people on our team that I manage know that if I am not at my desk, then I am pumping. I take my laptop with me and answer emails immediately. The V.P. usually knows this, but because he's hyper and a little ADD, it frustrated him that he needed to talk to me and didn't want to knock on the door to interrupt. Emailing would mean sitting down and stopping motion... that's hard to accomplish as hyper as he is. IT is a crazy world. SO, I starting thinking that my pumping was starting to become an "issue". He said not to use work as an excuse at all, BUT it's life... I think every pumping career Mom has to face this relative impasse. If I weren't in Management, I think I would be able to continue at the pumping pace that I am going - no problem. The fact that I am on the Management team requires me to be as accessible as I possibly can at all times. Seems it should work the other way, but it doesn't. Kylee needs to start making the transition to more solids anyway, so I have decided to at least cut my production in half. I'm pretty sad about it, but I am just exhausted every day.
Kayden is starting to become a Mommy's girl, and Kylee is of course very high-maintenance right now, so I need all the energy that I can get. Hopefully, I can replace the milk with solid food for her (at least half of it), and I won't necessarily have to put her on formula. Nothing wrong with formula, but if I don't have to buy anything else, that makes all the difference. I have noticed that my body is trying to lose weight, and I am becoming more run-down. It started doing this at about 8 months with Kayden. The only difference with Kayden was that my production dramatically decreased at 8 months, so it was a little easier to make the argument to myself that it was o.k. This time, I think I just have to realize that I'm not the supermom that I want to be. I would love to have two kiddos under 4, have a full time Management job, pump every three hours, work out every day and keep a pristine house, all while making sure that my third adult "child" is happy, BUT - I'm just not sure I can do it all. I think I'll have more energy if I at least cut my production in half, and I will for sure feel more freedom. The key to all of it is doing it and not getting sick again. Other than that, I think it will be more emotional for me than for her..... ANYWAY
We had the Harms' Christmas this weekend. It's pretty cool that this was my last year as a wanna-be. We had a great time, and the girls played so much. Kylee was an angel and everyone loved her :-) Here are some pictures from the weekend:
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