My inauguration into having 3 kids was when we left the hospital with my 3rd baby. My husband and I thought it was a sweet idea to have our older 2 kids (ages barely 4 years old and 21 months at the time) accompany us on the journey to bring their new baby brother home from the hospital, so we had Mimi, who they had been staying with, bring them up to the hospital when we were discharged and then all 3 kids would ride home with my husband and I. Our first experience as a family of 5! A lovely idea conceived out of complete naiveté.
The reality . . .
As soon as the nurse got me in that wheelchair with my newborn in my arms and began to wheel me out of the hospital, my 21 month-old began to scream and cry, “MOMMY! MOMMMMMMYYYYYY!”
Mimi could not console her, Nana could not console her, Daddy had gone to bring the car around. So, she ended up riding in the wheelchair with her newborn brother and me. It was the beginning of what would become a recurring theme called, “Not enough Mommy to go around!”
I was keenly aware as I was wheeled out with my tiny baby and my medium baby in my arms and my larger baby walking beside, that we seemed to be attracting attention. Everyone turned and watched, they seemed to smile as if seeing a sweet picture, but really I knew they were thinking, “She is in way over her head!”
That was then and now 20 months later, we’ve got it all figured out, right?
Well, let’s see, just in the last 2 weeks I’ve sent my 3rd child, a 20 month-old off to the church nursery with one pull-up. Not a diaper, mind you, no, I couldn’t find one of those during the car scramble after the realization that we left the diaper bag at home. But a pull-up, somehow left over from potty-training days gone by for my older two kids, I could find. I’m not ashamed to say I called “Not it” on being the one to drop him off with only the pull-up. I instead told my husband if he got any funny looks from the caregivers to just say, “We’re potty-training!” at 20 months!
That was then and now 20 months later, we’ve got it all figured out, right?
Well, let’s see, just in the last 2 weeks I’ve sent my 3rd child, a 20 month-old off to the church nursery with one pull-up. Not a diaper, mind you, no, I couldn’t find one of those during the car scramble after the realization that we left the diaper bag at home. But a pull-up, somehow left over from potty-training days gone by for my older two kids, I could find. I’m not ashamed to say I called “Not it” on being the one to drop him off with only the pull-up. I instead told my husband if he got any funny looks from the caregivers to just say, “We’re potty-training!” at 20 months!
Also in the last 2 weeks, this same 3rd child was discovered to be missing his shoes when we arrived at a mall 25 minutes from our house, a mall we made a trek to so our 5 year-old could go to its Lego Store following a really good report card (not bribery, but a reward). Apparently someone who will remain nameless loaded the toddler into the car without his shoes.
Did we run in and buy him shoes at the mall? No way, he had perfectly good shoes at home! Did we just put him in the stroller and take him in shoeless? Absolutely! Did we at a couple points during the mall trip let him out of the stroller to run around shoeless through the mall? Absolutely! Were we aware of the people watching? Yes, but somehow now it doesn’t really bother us anymore, we just laugh along with them because they are right, we are in over our heads!
This post was originally published on January 29, 2009
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