life with three

i have been asked a lot lately about how life has changed going from two babes to three babes. if you are a mom with more than three kids, go ahead and stop reading this post (you are super human and you'll only think that i'm whining). but for the rest of you, here are my current observations:

1.) getting three kids to smile for the camera has become nearly impossible. i'm serious, if you see a picture where all three of them are looking at the camera and smiling it is evidence that bribery works. i shudder to think what our next holiday photo might look like because it is a pretty sure bet that when two of them are "on" the other one isn't feeling the photo op vibe. (evidence below... poppy was literally writhing out of her sisters arms in this photo and when she eventually surrendered to their crazy momma snapping pictures, delaney went bongos. ellie was happy to pose provided a chocolate chip cookie was in her near future.)

2.) since arriving in california there has either been a.) a totally full hamper of kids clothing b.) a totally full hamper of parental laundry c.) a laundry basket of clean kids clothing d.) a laundry basket of clean parental laundry e.) an overflowing pile of dry cleaning to be taken in f.) a guest room bed piled with laundry to be folded and an additional basket of laundry to be folded sitting next to the bed or g.) all of the above

i am figuring that at this rate, the baskets will all be empty and put away in 18 years.


3.) our dishwasher is always full. sometimes it's clean, sometimes it's dirty, but it is always FULL.

4.) at almost any given moment you can find someone crying and/or whining at our house. sometimes that someone is me (just kidding).

5.) we are at all moments just a short breath away from an emergency room visit. see exhibit below. momma was attempting to fold the above mentioned laundry. e and d were sweetly playing polly pocket. p was across the room sucking on some appropriate baby rattles and such. after turning my back and folding one single shirt, p had scooted across the floor and was attempting to examine the microscopic polly pocket shoes. i though it was cute (in a "oh no, look at the newest challenge that i now face" kind of way) and grabbed the camera. while taking a quick snap, p bonked herself in the head with polly's cruise ship. awesome. she didn't need a doctor evaluation for ingestion of toxic plastic polly shoe, but she did in fact end up with a bump on the noggin from turbulence on the ocean liner.

oh, and there is one more...

6.) if e grows a single millimeter, i can kiss my girlies matching outfit possibilities goodbye.

and as i've said before, i wouldn't have it any other way. life with three is tiring. i will probably need to hibernate for a long winter's snooze when our p leaves for college and will never be able to successfully hide the circles under my eyes, but these babes are the source of joy that resides in this momma's heart. yes, three are a handful, but i can't think of a better combination to have my hands full of!

off to unload the dishwasher. catch you later. sigh.