Everything anyone with 3 children has said........ it's true.
Somehow between child #2 and #3 life has become impossible to keep up with. It is funny how where you are at seems so crazy and difficult, then you add another child and you look back and think... 'man that was easy, what was I thinking?'
Ben is a joy and we love him to bits! This is merely a post about how to survive and manage 3 children.
I have been thinking back to when I had just the girls :) More often then not my home was tidy and clean, laundry was caught up, we had time to do activities and outings together and dinners were homemade (and not leftovers) 4 or 5 days out of 7. Occasionally things would get crazy and the scale would tip putting me behind on all the regular upkeep (cleaning, laundry, cooking) but I would be able to catch up.
NOT ANYMORE!!!!!!
How much laundry can one extra baby make????? I used to do laundry every 5 days and be able to finish it all in one day. Now I need to do a load everyday if I want to keep up... really it ends up getting done when someone is desperate for underwear or pj's and the loads stay unfolded and laying on my couch all week. Rarely is there a day when laundry is not on the couch! As for ironing? YA RIGHT!!!! I pretty much haven't ironed clothes since the pre-baby days. Ian is used to wearing wrinkled shirts now :)
Clean house, you ask? Impossible! Again it comes down to desperate need or visitors coming. The bathrooms get cleaned when the toilet bowl starts growing something nasty, the vacuum comes out when I find spiderwebs, and a mop???? What is that? For real... the untidyness of toys and clutter is the least of my worries... now my house is always dirty :/
Cooking?????? Hmmmmm, how many times can I throw chicken fingers and french fries in the oven???? or perogies.... or some other quick breakfast food for dinner. Then there is take out. I probably only cook a nice fresh dinner 2 days a week now, but it sure feels like an accomplishment. The other day I made from scratch honey garlic chicken with a raspberry/cheese/spinach salad and homemade vinegrette. Ian literally asked if I had been replaced by an alien!!!!!! True story. It was oh so yummy though :)
Now we come to the matter of outings and activities for the kids..... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! I'm sorry girls... this is the area that was affected most. I rarely go anywhere with 3 children in tow. The playground yesterday was all I could handle and that was a BIG deal! We don't have play dates, it is rare that we do any sort of craft or messy activity and we don't have adventures! No more swimming, playing with playdoh, shopping, traveling to parks out of walking distance, fun zone or spray park (we do get out and do these things when I have another adult, but not usually on my own). It is tragically devastating... but I just can't handle it..... mostly because there are so many other more important things to do like feeding and clothing my children which is an all day task!
As for my love of crafting and sewing... it has been so far down the list of things to do. I packed up my sewing machine at Christmas and took it with me to Edmonton to work on a project. It was still in that same box until last weekend when I finally got to take it out and make felt crowns with the girls. 8 months of no sewing!!! That is not cool ;)
I hope this post hasn't scared you away from having precious #3 but hopefully made you aware of how truly crazy it will get. Of course as baby gets older things will fall back into place and I will be able to balance that scale again. I already see things starting to catch up a bit, and with school just another week away it will help me to get back on track!
I sure love my kiddos.... they are more important to me than a clean house.... I just really like a clean house :)
and hopefully the girls won't remember this really boring summer where I told them to 'just play with your toys' everyday!
I have heard word from the 4+ Mama's that it doesn't seem to get any worse! So if you can survive #3 with your sanity then you should be able to pop out as many babies as you like with little more disruption :)
