Life with 3 Littles

Since my little baby is now about 2 1/2 months old, I thought I'd discuss how life has changed for us with 3 littles under the age of four. I have definitely not figured it all out yet! It is difficult in many ways but absolutely wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for anything! I have to say that this little poem below perfectly describes the stage of life that I am now in:

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs; dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!"

First of all, I really believe that 3 under 4 is way easier than 2 under 2. My big girls are able to entertain each other so well and they understand when I need to focus on the baby. They are also really big helpers and love to get things that I need and can clean up fairly well on their own. This is a big difference from when I had Karlie and Karis was only 20 months old.

The first month with the new baby was actually fairly easy. My big girls were enamored with Abbi and I had a lot of help from the grandparents and meals from my church family. The second month, however, was much more difficult. The girls began acting out more, obviously because we had slacked off in discipline for the first month and because they got quite spoiled from all the attention of the grandparents. We really had to buckle down and start again from square one. They almost had to completely re-learn obeying "all the way, right away, and with a happy heart." But we worked at it and things are much better now!

Honestly, the relational and emotional aspect of being a mother to three has been fairly easy and such a joy! I love each stage that all my children are in and relish the time we spend together. I'm not one to crave busyness and am quite happy to stay at home and spend time with my girls. So what has been the most difficult or frustrating part about this season? Simply getting things done! Everything seems to take so much longer with three little ones! I have so many fun things I want to do with my girls (art projects, cooking projects, playtime outside, reading, "school time," etc,) not to mention the housework that keeps piling up. And each day, when I look at my "to-do" list, I find that if I am lucky, I have only crossed off one item. Seriously. How is it that I can be at my house all day long and the only visual accomplishment I see is the 3 loads of laundry, cleaned, but still in piles, still waiting for me to find the time and energy to fold and put away? Just getting us dressed and ready for our day seems to take forever now.

So I just wanted to let you know that I don't have it all together. And I think that is ok. I'm still trying to keep an organized home for my family. But even if I fail some days, I try to remind myself that what really matters is my attitude and whether I am consistently portraying the love of Christ to my girls. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a mother to 3! But I have to watch myself and not allow myself to get frustrated with the girls for my lack of ability to get things done. When I finally have the bedroom clean but the girls quickly destroy it again while I am nursing Abbi in the other room, do I fuss at them in exasperation or do I pray for patience and calmly instruct them how to clean it up? When Abbi is *supposed* (as if an infant is *supposed* to be doing anything!) to be napping while I am trying to fix dinner, but wakes up every 5 minutes because she is burping, do I take joy in the chance to snuggle with her for another minute or do I grow frustrated that dinner won't be ready on time? I really do treasure this precious time, but sometimes I have to remind myself to just enjoy it and not get upset that my house is a mess. My girls are such a blessing from the Lord and this season of life will pass all too quickly for me to worry about such things.