3 kid post partum life is a lot... Are H and I crazy?!

Or is this actually what normal should be, and everybody should have 2 or more kids? 

Or is there no normal anymore?

Or am I delirious from lack of sleep?

Up at 5am, waking every 2 to 3 hours, in addition to brain power needed for negotiating with and entertaining small kids. This has been harder than the steepest mountain I have ever climbed. 

This explains why I am so hungry all the time. On top of breast feeding, there is also the constant herding of the older kids to make sure they are living their best lives. I am so grateful for all the people who make me food to make sure I have enough energy for this lifestyle.

Thinking back to the hospital meals, which were not so great... For those of you staying at Burnaby General Hospital, here is a glimpse of what meals look like.

DAY 1 - Lunch (5/10)

Chicken teriyaki with some type of vegetable soup. Vanilla frozen dessert (can't really call that real ice cream).

The chicken was pretty dry and rubbery. The rice was sort of hard. I couldn't decide whether the chicken or the rice tasted worse.

DAY 1 - Dinner (4/10)

Breaded fish and potatoes. There was also a mandarin orange, not in photo.

Note that they called this breaded fish, not fried or fish n chips. It was a mushy piece of fish with a side of mushy beans, some of which had already turned black. 

DAY 2 - Breakfast (6/10)

French toast with scrambled eggs and cheerios. Coffee.

The best part was the Cheerios. Can't really mess up something that comes prepackaged. All the rest was mush. 

The coffee was strong enough for my lowered tolerance (my caffeine intake was  limited during pregnancy).

DAY 2 - Lunch (6/10)

Mac and cheese with minestrone soup. Broccoli and banana.

Sort of funny how they presented the banana. Did the hospital nutritionist precalculate that half a banana is sufficient potassium intake for the day? 

Mac and cheese was acceptable only when paired with broccoli that added texture. Otherwise, it was just mush.

CONCLUSION

-Hospital food is mushy.

-Consider bringing your own food and snacks. With breastfeeding and recovering post partum, I was already constantly HUNGRY from day 0. The hospital portions were insufficient for me, but you can make your own judgements of portion size based on the photos. 

-5/10

It has been a week since baby number 3 arrived and days are up and down, depending on how the night goes. Life would be boring if it's too predictable! In case I forget how difficult (and beautiful) these days are, I wanted to start documenting again, starting with a 24 hour schedule.

12am - just finished the first night feed 

240am - night feed 2 and diaper change

3am - oldest comes in. Before she went to bed the night before, she had already said she would come in to sleep in my bed. GREAT (*INSERT SARCASM*). She watches while I finish nursing and baby #3 falls back asleep.

4am - middle child is here too now...

410am - I take both S and P back to their shared room. There's no space for 4 of us in a queen size bed!!!!!

Maybe 430am!? - everyone asleep, including me. I'm sitting on the floor, head on S mattress using it as a pillow

5am - i wake up, shivering and shaking like i just had an epidural because i feel so cold. Since Baby 3, my circulation has felt a little more lacking than usual. I tiptoe back to my own bed and curl up under the blankets. 

630am - middle comes in to wake us up. Thank goodness H is here, and he takes P down for breakfast

715am - midwife calls and wakes me up.  That's ok I wanted to chat with them anyways.

730am - get S up and dressed, breakfast and do her hair. Get the little people out the door by 830am with their dad and grandpa so they can go to school.

9 - feed P

910 - diaper change 

930 - diaper change

10 - another feed

1030 - H is back from drop offs and I can nap (thank goodness)

1pm - wake to the sounds of an online parent teacher Zoom call that H is having. Great timing because the baby also wakes up and it's time for another feed

130pm - diaper change

2pm - diaper change

220pm - feed once again, and another big shart

230pm - grandma arrived, so I can eat while the baby plays with her

245pm - feed the baby for the 9000th time, and he falls asleep

3pm - watch TV!!!! I haven't watched TV during the day in SO long. This is one of the perks of maternity leave that I did not previously enjoy when I was doing 2 under 2 without childcare.

430pm - kids come home at the same time midwife arrives for follow up check

5ish - dinner time, midwife confirms all is well health wise.

6ish - bath time, bedtime routine. 

8pm - listen to H struggle with the kids as he puts them to bed. Of course, the baby is nursing again.

9pm - wind down and prepare to not sleep.

11pm - time to feed again.

Oh look, 12am, lets do it again.

The difficult thing about being post partum and somewhat obliged to follow Chinese post partum traditions of my family, is that I am not allowed to go outside or eat cold foods. Luckily, I was prepared for this and crammed as much bubble tea as possible in the days approaching my due date. Here we are, enjoying the Chicha San Chen BOGO deal for their new store opening in Toronto:

While im not usually a fan of taro flavored bbt, the taro balls here were 10/10. Pearls and tea flavor also 10/10. Price was 6/10 because it would be $10 per cup without BOGO!!! But you pay for what you get...

“In Greek mythology, the moon goddess Selene is the personification of the moon. She is said to drive her moon chariot across the sky every night.”

Visited Selene with H for our anniversary dinner last month. What a great little hidden gem, tucked behind all the construction currently causing congesting on Hastings St.

We had their tasting menu, which was $80 per person. Sadly I did not take notes on what each dish was, but they were literally all perfectly delicious. Here’s the scallops with some fresh bread and olives: 

My favourite was the Greek salad with marinated tomatoes. I recently learned that tomato skin easily peels off when tomatoes are immersed in cold water, and then hot water. 

Some seafood, octopus… thing. I can’t remember a thing, I was really tired and pregnant. :) 

Lamb chops. Usually, they have a beef dish, but H does not beef, so they switched it up for us. +10 points for providing accommodating service: 

Dessert was just OK, but I’m getting so picky with food these days. H liked it, especially the complimentary chai ice cream. Happy anniversary to us, as we enter into the 6th year of marriage, and expecting our 3rd child. 

Might be a good name for a 3rd kid.

 

It's the end of summer, officially first day of fall. Seems like a good time to recap what kept us busy this season!

1. Summer camps for the kids, running around doing drop offs and pick ups at Saplings and Pedalheads. Would recommend both, especially the soccer camps at Pedalheads for boys who are obsessed with playing soccer. The instructors are infinitely more patient than H or I could ever be. 

2. Food, including Tochi, a French toast food truck, which we found at PNE!!!!

This is the half order, and we chose the cinnamon & sugar and the matcha. Cinnamon & sugar with the vanilla ice cream was the perfect pair. The matcha flavor was too metallic and had a strange fishy aftertaste. 

3. Blueberry picking at Billz Bees:

Bill doesn't advertise enough, he's a great guy, farming his land, taking care of his animals, and helping people with bee and wasp infestations in his downtime.

4. Kids starting school! So much free time really...

5. Vertigo and nausea. After this experience of not being able to eat for about 2 to 3 days, I have truly realized that theres nothing more important than EATING (and being healthy). Reminder to make time for taking care of yourself, physically and mentally.

Have a good start to Fall 2025 everyone.

We survived the 1st week of school and gradual entry scheduling conflicts! It's all a blur of drop offs, pick ups, setting alarms, dont forget a child, feed everyone, manage all the emotions. 

I need a break from the long weekend and solo parenting during the day while 33 weeks pregnant. Good thing grandparents are around. Good thing H could take a few hours off. Good thing I could take days off to balance the rushing around. 

Slower days are just around the corner. 

KOREA NOODLE HOUSE

This place is good. K good night.

Preoccupied with growing babies and keeping them alive, so haven't had much time for hobbies like this blog... The kids will wake up in the middle of the night, and still get up for the day at 530AM. 

Here's a standard 24 hours in a summer weekday for us:

0530 - 0630 ~ P wakes up, scramble to feed starving toddler and prepare lunchboxes  

0730 ~ S wakes up, continue food prep as my children are ravenous monsters upon waking 

0800 ~ Kids running around while I attempt to clean up and play with them and log in to work 

0830  - 0845 ~ Try to get out of the house to make it on time for summer camp AND get back to                         work on time

0900 - 1200 ~ Type and click like a maniac to get work done  

1200 - 1300 ~ Pick up kids from summer camp and lunch, continue to work through the chaos of kids in the house with grandparents trying to herd the kids out of my room every 5 minutes 

1600 ~ Daddy's home!!!! 

1700 ~ Dinner time

1800 ~ Bath time and TV time

1845 - 1930 ~ H attempts putting P to bed

2030 - 2100 ~ I attempt putting S to bed 

2130 - 2230 ~ Self care time. Every night for dessert, I've been enjoying a large bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with frozen blueberries, sometimes topped with a scoop of ice cream. Frozen blueberries are the key secret ingredient: 

Weekends feel more relaxed, either H or I will take P out for a coffee date. We went to Breka and got a sprinkle donut and chocolate babka (not shown in photo). For a 24 hour cafe, the quality is quite good.  

 

 Other highlights: 

- visited Japan (maybe I'll do a separate series about this if I remember/have time/have energy!!) 

- visited Boston, which is really beautiful in springtime 

- coordinating repairs for my mum's house

- loads of medical appointments for me and the kids

- birthday parties galore on the weekends

- berry picking

- blasting through popular romantasy series, like Fourth Wing and ACOTAR (no judgement 

Did the holiday season completely take up all my energy and focus, so that I forgot to blog about my very normal life? 

Well I'm back again! You could never get rid of my "coffee cup and pastry flat lay with hand" photos.   

I've been holed up at my desk all day, and needed a quick mental health hot chocolate at L'Atelier because it is Hot Chocolate Festival in Vancouver, from now until Feb. 14th. Chocolate and something sweet to celebrate Valentine's Day, in case you didn't notice the trend of this festival always occurring around this time of the year.... 

We wanted to try both of their very delicious and Asian inspired flavors: 

#107 - Miso and lavendar honey hot chocolate, served with matcha roll cake

#108 - Sesame hot chocolate with milk chocolate foam, served with a pressed croissant with passion fruit coating

Dip the pressed croissant into the hot chocolate, no regrets. 

Both were delicious. L'atelier never disappoints.

Will I have time to try more from this hot chocolate festival? Hope so, especially if the snow sticks around and I'm stuck inside with the kids on more snow days.   

 

Also, I do not like to be treated like chopped liver, and I have really tried very hard to set my boundaries with all the people that I must  interact with on the daily. It's difficult with kids, and especially difficult as a remote worker. Hence, I need a mental health hot chocolate.