Triple Threat?

In just a few short days, I'll officially be at the halfway point in my pregnancy. That means that in just a few short months - less than five, to be exact - I'll officially be a mother of three. Wow.

To be honest, I'm a little freaked out. Completely excited, of course, but apprehensive too. I keep thinking about Cameron's birth, and what an adjustment it was to go from one child to two. That's one of the things that nobody told me beforehand. Sure, I knew what to expect in the delivery room and what would happen to my postpartum body (yuck!), but when it came to the mechanics of suddenly handling double the children, I was pretty much clueless. And I didn't even have much of a problem to speak of - Colin didn't show any signs of jealousy or anything. I can't even imagine what I would have done if he had, say, starting peeing his pants or wanting to be fed from a bottle or something. No, Colin was a real trouper - it was me that had the difficulty.

I have to laugh now because I was so smug when all I had was one child. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that any of you moms-of-one have it easy, because motherhood is always presenting some sort of challenge. But I think back on how much simpler it was when I only had Colin's needs to worry about. There was less laundry. There were fewer toys to pick up at the end of the day. One bath. One mouth to feed. One butt to wipe. One nasty cold or flu virus at a time. I didn't have to worry about evening out the quality time, coordinating naps and bedtimes, working around two schedules as opposed to one. Back then, it wasn't uncommon for me to feel accomplished; with a little work, I could finish a couple of my writing jobs, clean my house, catch up on the laundry, cook a good meal, meet all of Colin's needs, and still have time to read a book before bed. Not to mention get dressed and perhaps even slap on a little makeup.

But now ... "accomplished" seems like a word I used to use (much like "psych!"). From sunup to sundown - or as my girl Betsy would say, "son up to son down" - I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Now that I've got two kids, a picked-up house is a challenge. The laundry is almost always flooding the hamper. My library books lay around largely untouched until I realize they're overdue. And looking cute? Forget about it. I don't have time to do my hair when this is what happens when I turn my back.


(LOL! I don't want to post too many pics of my kids on such a public forum, but damn it, this is just too cute not to share.)

Anyway, my point is, I was totally unprepared for the HUGE adjustment of going from one to two children. I knew it would be different, but I didn't know just how many changes there would be. And now here we are, adding one more to the mix, and I can't help but worry that I'll just totally fall apart. You'll come to my house and the laundry will be piled up and blocking the door, roaches will be feeding off the filth on the kitchen floor, my kids will be coated with some sort of crust, and I'll be wearing a six-day-old outfit with body hair creeping out from beneath the cuffs of my sweatpants.

(Just kidding ... I think.)

Is it just me, though? My mother-in-law raised a gaggle of kids - two of them a mere TEN MONTHS apart in age - and is always so nonchalant about it, like it wasn't that hard. She loves to tell the story about the day the family moved (as in U-Haul, packing boxes, the whole nine) and she had everything unpacked and organized in time to fry up a chicken and bake a cake from scratch for dinner. With, like, 100 kids at her feet. Am I missing some secret trick? If I have trouble keeping up with the responsibilities of two children, how does anyone with more than that do it? How am I going to function with number three?

I've got more to say, but it'll have to wait ... I just heard a shriek of, "Cameron took off his diaper with poop in it!"

*sigh*

Comments

  1. you'll do a great job! maybe the new addition will be a calm baby:) love the pic by the way! definitely a keeper to show his girlfriends when he's older. haha

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  2. I know, LOL ... I told Curtis I can just see it as a "Happy 18th Birthday Cameron" in the local paper. :)

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  3. LOL. Mommy's going to get you out honey, but first let me go get the camera.
    You'll do great. You'll find a way to adapt just like you did before. Just please don't stop shaving lol.

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  4. LOL Jackie! It was actually Curtis that noticed him (we were both present while this was going on, isn't that sad?) - and Cameron was happily splashing and having a good time until Curtis yelled, "HONEY, BRING THE CAMERA!" I guess Cameron thought he was in big trouble, so he started crying.

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  5. That picture is priceless!
    You'll be just fine with three little ones. My grandma raised nine (although that meant two were out of the house by the time number nine came along), and she still managed to get three BIG meals on the table each day, sew, organize, clean, etc. I'm not sure how she did it, but you're an amazing woman and I know you'll do it, too!

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  6. You'll be fine,honey. You'll find a way to manage it all, live with a less-than-perfectly clean house, wrinkled laundry and teddy bear legs. And after the kids are older, you'll look back on it - well, MOST of it - fondly and wish they were all back home again!

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  7. Thanks for your faith in me, ladies. :)

    And Jenn - that's the thing about grandmas. My grandma has always been the same way as yours: industrious, productive, just generally astounding. But whatever gene is responsible for that behavior must have gotten watered down on its way to me!

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  8. I have four kids...it' doesn't get easier. In fact, you wait! Two is a cake walk compared to three...you only have two hands, so you will have a satellite out there that you have no hand to grab! Four is easy after three!!! But, on the positive side, you will get that many more I love you, Mommies and the hugs are wonderful! Have fun!

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  9. Oh yes, a satellite ... great, now my motherly paranoia will increase tenfold!

    You're right though - the high points of motherhood always make up for the lows. :)

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  10. Wow, thank God for Loralynn up there! I was beginning to feel like a sorry excuse for a mental case. Yesterday finally opened my eyes to the truth of having three kids I think. I spent most of the day on the verge of breaking out into hysteric crying. My 6-week-old (who just started crying AGAIN when I put her in her bassinett and started typing) decided that being a totally accomadating baby who sleeps all the time was not how she wants to live her life. She also decided she hates being in her room/my office and hates the sound of typing. I am a medical transcriptionist, which explains my feeling of hysteria while my workload continued to pile up with I couldn't put princess down. This morning I was thinking of all the things I COULD do while holding her, eat, brush teeth, read. Unfortunately, I need to work, do dishes, do laundry and spend time with my other kids. Hmmmmm.....I am POSITIVE it will all work out, and everyone will grow and thrive and be happy, I just don't see how. Right now it is just a pure miracle that I get to type for two minutes! OH YAH!! This is YOUR blog spot!

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  11. Eeek, you guys ... you think there's any way I can rewind back to sometime around Christmas and make my husband put on a condom? ;) LOL I'm just kidding, of course, but I'm beginning to freak out a little.

    I do that now, Jessica ... sometimes I have a huge workload that the kids just will NOT let me concentrate on. And then when they finally do let me concentrate, I'm racked with guilt that I'm not spending time with them.

    I know everything will work out, because women have been raising kids since the beginning of time ... we can do it!

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  12. that pic of Cameron is SO funny!!!! Priceless is right!!! They say the more you have the easier it gets - my mom raised 7 & heck my cousin who is only 31 has 8 kids & somehow she is still sane - seeing them here this week confirms that she gets it from my grandma who raised 6.....kuddos to you & millions out there who have more than 2 kids nowadays!

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  13. Oh man, Rita, I just laughed my ass off. Seriously, you had better be working on your first novel about mommy-dom with kid number three. You are such an incredible writer! Even if you don't have time to shave all that body hair and bake a cake from scratch. You will do great.

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  14. Wow - I don't know what to say except a huge THANK YOU!! :)

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