Three Kids

I can hardly believe I am a mom of three.

When I think of a mother of three, I think of someone responsible, organized, and hurried.  And  harried.

Is that me?

I can relate to the last two, and honestly ... if I had moved and planned ahead like I do now, I would've had the world at me feet.  Seriously, I could have accomplished anything had I only figured out how to tap into the gusto and determination I've got now.

I guess motherhood just made a real woman out of me.

This new-found determination has made the move to three little darlingsnot nearly as bad as I thought.  My life is crazy for sure, but it's just more of what I already know ... so now it's only a matter of re-figuring my day.  Or just throwing it all out the window and embracing spontaneity.

The kids have been amazing.

Belle wasn't quite sure what she thought of Harrison when she first met him; she got all kinds of shy and wouldn't look look him in the eye.

Poor little conehead.  Only five hours old here.

Mac on the otherhand?  Well he jumped right in; no hesitation here!

Which, come to think of it, is the exact opposite of how they both act in new situations.

Obviously, Harrison isn't just any new situation.

 Mac requests to hold him all day long.  Crying deterred Mac at first; he would run to the opposite room and cover both ears.

But that only lasted a couple days.

Now he is on baby duty while I make dinner ... and has got Harrison completely binky-trained.

Belle still stresses out when he cries.  Even five months later, she covers her ears and hollers, "Mooooom!  Brother needs you!  He is a sad, sad baby!"

The first three months I was expecting to just survive.  And we did ... Harrison has been a dream baby that put up with a lot of unpacking and projects.

But I think I hit a wall once that first three months was over.  I was officially out of the "fourth trimester", and still felt like I just couldn't pull it together.  My house was still a mess.  My yard was yucky.  Harrison still wasn't sleeping through the night, and I, for the life of me, just could not get everybody ready before taking Mac to school.  I could not get life back to normal.

Now Harrison is five months old, and I have decided it's just a simple matter of re-defining normal.

And it is working out great.