Having 3 Kids

Witten has been home for over two weeks now, which means reality has set in. I have 3 kids. I've never been someone who was easily overwhelmed, so I've mostly dealt with it okay. My older two kids are both potty trained and can feed and take care of themselves, so its not like I'm caring for 3 babies. I've even taken them to the grocery store by myself numerous times without incident, it wasn't too bad. Witten sleeps the whole time every time, so its just like it was before, only with less space in the cart for other kids to ride.

There are some things about life that are different now. I spend half of the night on the couch, half asleep, because I doze off sitting up. There is more laundry, because boys pee on stuff. His clothes are little though, so they don't take up a ton of space in the washer. I have less patience, mostly because I spend part of my day being a referee to my girls who fight over the dumbest crap possible. That will probably be less of a problem when Alana goes to school next week. I don't think it will solve the problem, but you can't fight with someone who isn't there.

Another major thing I've noticed: it takes way more time to get ready to go somewhere. This is partly because babies take more time, then you have to feed them before you leave otherwise they'll be all mad and crying in the car. But getting myself and 3 kids ready to go seems to take forever. Thank goodness at least one of them is a boy so I don't have to comb anymore hair than I already had to comb. That part alone is really time consuming.

Getting in and out of the car is a little more complicated. When you cram 3 seats into the backseat of a midsize car it gets a little crowded. Especially since the sides of the backseat tilt at a stupid angle which makes the girls' booster seats slant towards the base of the infant seat. So buckling their seatbelts, which was previously a task that at least Alana could do herself, has now become something that I get to do. I have to put the infant seat into the middle of the car, then shove my hand in between the seats to buckle both girls. I think I need to invest in some seatbelt extenders just to make my life a little easier. They're cheaper than a minivan at least.

Overall life is fuller and the days seem both longer and shorter at the same time. I wouldn't trade it for the less complicated life with just one or two kids though, its almost hard to remember when it was just me and Alana. Or when Ava was just born and Alana still napped, so there were times during the day when I actually sat on the couch and watched the TV program of my choice. That's a distant memory for sure. Now my reality is three kids, only one of them naps, one of them wants to eat nothing but chips and Otter Pops all day and the other one is going to kindergarten in 8 days. That's another big change that I'm not ready to deal with. I'm pushing it to the back of my mind right now.