Way back
in February I wrote this post on Staying Positive as we Prepared for
Baby # 3. I had 5 weeks to go until Alicia was due and I was
pondering what life would hold for our family. Well five months on, I thought I
would give you an update on how we were coping with three children under four.
I
remember saying I hoped Alicia would just fit in with our lives and I couldn't
have been more right given she arrived while we were still at home (if you
missed reading about her bathroom floor birth you
can read about it on this link) and I was allowed to stay at home with my
family after the birth. So life just went on as normal despite a new little
person living in the house.
A few hours after she was born...just getting on
with life
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While
feeding was a little difficult at the start, it improved quickly and she was
feeding and settling well by two weeks. We did have a scary week when she
developed a kidney infection at 14 days old and she spent a week in hospital on
antibiotics. However when she returned home she went back into an fairly good
routine and life returned to normal.
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My poor sick bub
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Has
having three kids tipped me over the edge?? No, I still manage to look after
the kids and myself (and have time for my hobbies and my blog). Is it harder?
Of course! Life is so much busier. I used to have time to get all of my
cleaning jobs done for the week, but now I get the basic stuff done but the
tasks that are non essential (like cleaning the car out or cleaning grubby
marks off the windows) are neglected. Days and weeks just get away from me and
my to do list never has more than a couple of things marked off it per day. Do
I care? Nope, I am loving it. I waste heaps of time just making my baby smile.
It's great.
It helps
that Alicia is a great sleeper both day and night, so tiredness is not really a
problem. I have turned into a bit of a hibernator lately though. In the past I
would take the girls out most days of the week, even if it was just to the
park. Towards the end of my pregnancy I stayed home a lot more, but now I am
home more days than I am out. It is just so cold here in Canberra and it is so
hard dressing all three girls, doing hair, doing teeth, battling to get them
into the car and trying to time all these things (and the outing) to occur
between feeds. Alicia is also a pretty fussy feeder at the moment so I prefer
to be at home to feed. I have just found it is easier to stay at home and to be
honest I am enjoying it.
She is so loved!
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I am also
finding the three kids thing easier than I thought because I really only have
to look after them on my own for three days a week. My hubby is around Saturday
to Monday (Sunday is a work day but since he is the minister of our church we
get to go to work with him). On Thursdays the older two head off to childcare
so I only have Alicia with me.
Another
thing that has made my transition easier is accepting help. I often get people
to hold Alicia while I tend to the girls (once it was a Minister -the political
type who was visiting our local park to talk to mums at a group play session).
If people see me struggling and offer to help I take it. I often wonder if people see me struggling and judge me for having too many kids, but mostly I don't care and just accept any help I can get.
Slightly neglected #3 child falls asleep on the
playmat
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So there
you have it. I am surviving having three kids basically under four or almost under three (my eldest
was three and six weeks when Ali was born). There was really nothing to fear
and we are loving having these three beautiful girls. They are such a blessing
to our life and we couldn't be happier.
