On Life With Three, Birth Order, and Two Month Stats

Another day in my life as a mother of three under the age of five, and this one began at 7am.

Scratch that. That's really only if you don't count going to bed at 12:30 and waking up at 2am, 4am, and 6am. Through-the-night feedings really aren't so bad when you're nursing and your baby refuses to sleep more than 3 inches away from your beating heart... that is, unless your little guy happens to have an ill-proportioned pot belly above his teeny little legs which results in every diaper known to man leaking out the sides... and at least two outfit changes per night. (Thank goodness for those little "sheet savers" I had stored away and never really saw the use for.)

At this point I should mention that I personally believe that no one in their right mind should willingly get up before 8am. Wouldn't our world be a much happier place if we all woke up at 9? I'm pretty sure wars have been started based on someone not getting enough sleep...

Back to today. My latest two hour stretch of sleep was interrupted by the buzzing of my cell phone's alarm. Still refusing to open my eyes, I reach with one arm to the nightstand to shut it off, my other hand on the back of my sweet little boy who has fallen asleep on my chest. My half-asleep attempt just resulted in my phone falling to the floor, still beeping at me. I groan and roll Baby Tyler onto the bed so I can search for the phone, which has somehow rolled under the bed. Retrieving it, I crawl back under the covers and begin mentally reorganizing my morning so that I can get 20 more minutes of sleep and still make it out of the house on time.

Just as I get Ty soothed back to sleep and start slipping into heavenly slumber, the sound of little footsteps start making their way down the hall. The door bursts open to a grinning little Jadyn in her polka dot "I love Dad" pajamas. She throws her arms up in the air and cheerfully exclaims "Good morning Mommy! It's morning outside!" I can't help but laugh, sleepless and all. She is such a funny little thing. Three seconds later she is standing on the bed rail with her face just a few inches from mine. She shrugs her shoulders and with a sheepish little grin says "I just had a good sleep." Then she reaches over me and before I can stop it, puts her hands on little brother's face, turning him toward her and says "Look Mommy, Baby Tyler's awake!" Well, he is now... sweet girl.

And so our morning routine begins. Breakfast, baths, diaper changes, 2-3 outfits til everyone is happy and clean, detangling the girls' hair and wrangling in the elastics with the least amount of whining, attempting to sneak in a shower while the baby sleeps and crossing my fingers the girls don't wake him up before my hair is dried because otherwise I'll have to let it be curly, "Girls, get your shoes on! No Jadyn, not your rain boots - it's 60 degrees outside. Kaylee, where's your backpack?", oops time to feed the baby again, "Seriously kid, how can one little boy poop so much?" floor is covered with toys again... "Girls get these picked up so we can leave. No, I didn't help you make the mess, Mommy shouldn't have to help you clean it up. Jadyn, why did you take your shoes off? Kaylee where did your backpack go?", time to load everyone in the car, buckle up car seats... let's see... one, two, three - yep you're all here... "Okay whew - here we go!"

After a few morning errands, we run by Kaylee's preschool to drop off plates and napkins, then we are off to her Kindergarten Open House. (When did my baby get so big??) 45 minutes later we're loaded back in the car and on our way back to drop Kaylee off at school. A quick trip for me and the little ones back home so I can feed and change the baby and we are back in the car on our way to the Preschool party. By the time we make it back home, we have loaded and unloaded from the car 7 times and it's only 3pm. Geesh, no wonder I'm so tired! :-)

Ha - despite the craziness, I am loving every minute of it. Our lives have gotten even sweeter since this little boy joined our family and I can't remember what it was like without him. The girls continue to be completely in love with their little brother and can't get enough of him. Kaylee has declared herself a little mother hen and loves to help me with him. The other day I found her in his room taking diapers out of packages and stacking them in neat little piles on his closet shelves. She was so proud of herself. (I decided not to mention to her that two of the packages were newborn size which he has outgrown and I was planning on giving away with baby shower gifts!)

I wasn't quite sure how Jadyn would react to no longer being the baby of the family, but she is happily fulfilling her role as big sister. And I must say, she has the perfect personality for a middle child... so sweet and laid back, and impossibly adorable.

As for our handsome little man, he continues to melt his mama's heart every day. He is such a sweet little baby and is fairly content being toted around town all day to his sisters' activities. Nights are another story (in addition to still waking up every two hours to eat he has a little "cranky time" right around the girls' bedtime every night which just adds to the craziness!) but I have faith that it will pass. Despite being tired, I really don't mind him needing me so much. Time really does seem to pass even more quickly with each child and I know I'll never have these days back!

2 Months Old

11 lbs 3 oz

21 3/4 inches long

(Yes... still a tiny little thing! Josh was all worried when I came home from the dr. and told him our little guy was 25-50% on weight and only 10% for height. Hopefully I've convinced him that 2 months is a little early to count out an NFL career. :-) )

Isn't he already looking so much more like a big boy?

I even finally caught a smile on camera!