Outnumbered And In The Weeds

Okay, I will admit it. We are totally outnumbered by small creatures in our house. Yes, and in the weeds, as they say in restaurant lingo. Even one of our cats, Stella, feels it, and she's one of the contributors to the madness.

Creature #1, the oldest of the bunch. She feels so crazy, she got herself a new hair do.

It is non-stop here. Right now, we are in the weeds with: sick kids, laundry hampers that magically refill themselves with dirty clothes after they have just been emptied, little plastic water cups that multiply when they get wet, hungry cats, hungry kids, homework, karate lessons, piano lessons, ugh! sick kids again, dirty floors, pee on the floor, puke, cutting little fingernails, eczema, Christmas, a birthday 3 days before Christmas, junk mail piling up, dentist appointments, and the cats' flea meds were supposed to be given last week...All being done on way too little sleep.

It's all pretty trivial, aside from the sick kids. All families are busy with this or that. I don't know how other families with 3, or more, children keep it together. There is always someone who needs us for something. 

I'm not complaining, per se. It's more that I am stating the facts of our life now. Friends who are in a different place in their lives at this time will ask if we want to do this or that. I can't help but feel lame when I decline because I need to put the baby to bed at a specific time each night, since he doesn't take a bottle, and we haven't insisted on him doing so. I know my friends aren't judging me, and they probably understand. 

The truth is, David and I have sort of allowed ourselves to be where we're at, and it's not a bad thing. I know that I will only breastfeed Crosby for about a year, maybe 18 months. In the grand scheme of things, it's not very long. With the first two, before I knew it, they were ready to ween, whether I was or not. So, for now, I don't go to ladies night, unless it ends by 6pm. Or, we put the kids to bed, then we head out for a late night snack (the kids have someone with them). We also made the decision for our 2nd boy to only go to preschool 3 days a week, which allows him to bond with #3, and to try out other activities. We also recently fired our house cleaner, and I am crazy enough to think that we'll be fine without one. It's been okay, but it's definitely contributed to the extra work here. 

But, as I sat down to compose this blog post, with all these thoughts of what to say, the quickly fade when I look through my photos of ones to post. I thought I could find some photos of them doing something ridiculous recently, but the only ridiculous thing about them is how freakin' cute they all are. That picture of Stella, above, was the most crazy I could find. Well, I guess I could have whipped out my camera at the pizza place tonight while Tyler was puking up his who meal and David was trying to catch it into napkins so it wouldn't get all over the floor. That wouldn't have gone over too well with David, though. Or, when Crosby threw up on him a few days ago. Yes, two different kids have puked in the last week. 

I have very little time for myself. What little I have, I fill it with silly games on my iPad, since they can be turned off quickly, or squeeze in some Christmas shopping (almost done!). Some of our standards have been lowered drastically. I like to say that we are on survival mode at this point. I wish I could make a batch of cookies for the teachers at Vincent's school for teacher appreciation, but just thinking about it stresses me out. I'm not even sure if Santa will get homemade cookies this year. We are lucky that most nights I can put out a fresh, home cooked dinner. Um, that's IF I have gone shopping for food.

There is this part of me that says, "Hey, you, get it together! Plenty of people have 3 kids and get way more done than you do. Their kids are top of their class, with tons of extra curricular activities. They travel the world with all their kids in tow. They go to work (outside the home). They bake cookies, make their own baby food (okay, I do that sometimes, too), they are starting their own businesses..." The list goes on. And, then I just tell that little voice in my head to SHUT UP!

I love my kids. I love to love on my kids. I live to love to love on my kids. I feel outnumbered, in the weeds, overwhelmed, crazy, and so so so blessed.