Family Time

I have three naked 2 year olds who’s nightly ritual is lining up to take a turn to pee pee in the potty. 

Followed by a mad rush to grab at the toilet paper roll and throw pieces of it into the toilet. 

Finally, the incessant flushing flushing flushing of the water,

 until I just can’t take it anymore 

                                                    and I declare: “Enough! No more playing on the potty!” 

 This is my world right now.

 A lot of craziness surrounds the toilet bowl.

 A lot of nakedness. 

A lot of laughter. 

It’s hard for me to take potty training three boys seriously right now. My grandma keeps asking me how "its going"; my answer is always the same,”I’m not training.”

 I think if I just had one child at a time any of the boys could be trained to use the toilet right now with consistent instruction and encouragement. Sometimes when I feel myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated by the incessant flushing of the toilet or the constant bickering on who gets to sit on it next, I just have to step back and see the humor in all of this. 

It is hilarious.

  Although my kids are genuinely sweet children, they are all testing and trying out their boundaries and trying to get a grip on their emotions. 

James has been having some severe emotional outbursts lately... Like really screaming in our face and rageful displays of anger. His angry displays of emotion is intimidating sometimes, and John and I are not sure how to handle it. Even four year old Evie reverts back to tantrum like tirades at times. I feel like John and I are playing referee much of the time, and we are always putting someone in the time out chair. In fact, James knows the drill so well now that he will put himself in time out. 

Times with our family have been really sweet lately. Evie has been asking about the ocean and the beach for months. We told her we’d take her this summer…but the summer passed and just recently she asked when we were going to the beach. So we decided that this weekend was now or never. 

The Oregon Coast is not known for its gorgeous, hot beachy days, (even in the summer)…so in October, you are pretty much guaranteed rain rain and more rain. And sure enough, on Sunday it rained; but we decided to still go Seaside. I’m not sure where Evie’s interest and idea of the beach came from, but she was really fixated on seeing sand crabs. When we arrived at the  cloudy, misty ocean, she looked disappointed. Pointing at the misty rain and people walking around in hooded sweatshirts she declared,  “This is not the beach!” 

The rain let up for about 20 minutes, which allowed us a semi-dry trek on the sand. It was really magical. However, Evie stopped and stared in absolute horror at the remains of sea crabs laying around the beach. The dismembered crab parts really made her nervous, and she suddenly became terrified. She began to scream in absolute terror. I’m not sure if she thought the crabs were suddenly going to come out of hiding and attack her, or if she really just didn’t like seeing miscellaneous crab parts strewn around. Whatever it was, this  really evoked some strong emotions in her and she was terrified of the beach for the remainder of the day.

The boys started out super enthusiastic, running toward the waves; but when the water suddenly started chasing them, they turned around and screamed as they ran back up the beach. Caleb really was the only one who remained excited the entire time. He really enjoyed and found delight in everything, even the rain. 

We ended up taking the kids to the small aquarium on the beach where we could feed charming sea lions small fish and observe many types of fish behind glass. Evie, still reeling from her crab apprehension, did not take interest in anything that lived in the water. 

Our coastal journey finally brought us to an ice cream stop and a carousal ride before finally raiding the local "ma and pa" toy store;  after one final emotional meltdown, we packed up the van and headed back to Tualatin. 

Although simple and quick, these sweet family moments are becoming more frequent and more enjoyable. I keep getting glimpses of what our family could be, of what it will be. 

Only the week before we had our family pictures. These were by far the best session yet and for the first time, John and I actually left feeling like we might have some great pictures!

 Our photographer really captured some beautiful fall photos of the kids playing in the leaves.

I still look at my children and gasp sometimes. Like when they are all sitting on the couch, watching cartoons or running down the beach, I think, “Are those really my children?!” 

It’s still hard for me to believe. 

I feel like more and more lately I’ve been falling in love with each of their little personalities and holding on to what makes them unique. 

For the first time lately, I really more excited about “Us.”