#3 under 5

[mollywog]

October 1st sounded like a good day to release the collection… however I forgot to take into account how hectic weekends are…

[mollywog]

Traveling with children:

[cbishop727]

Wow - Life Got In The Way

Hi to all you beautiful, enlightened, creative beings! Life really took me for a run for quite a bit – I honestly FORGOT all about my blog!!! I am pretty excited to run through everything with you guys. We have another baby, my IVF journey baby. He is 1.5 years old, and my feisty 3-year-old and 6-year-old love him to the core, which melts me every. single. day. We have built and moved into…

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[craniodad]

Just when we think that Spring has finally sprung...

Just when we think that Spring has finally sprung…

Things were looking up.  The sky has been a beautiful shade of blue. The clouds have been white and puffy like marshmallows dancing in the sky. We were able to open the windows and let in some fresh, warm air. Spring had arrived! The birds were chirping, the grass was growing, and all was right with the world.

Then I looked at the ‘spring’ weather today.

First I see that there is rain.  I pay…

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[craniodad]

Fatherhood: to carry on the conversation from the Vlog

Fatherhood: to carry on the conversation from the Vlog

Fatherhood has to be one of the toughest things I have ever embarked upon.  It is also the thing that brings me some of the greatest joy.

Important Note:

IF you have not seen the vlog that this post pertains too, stop what you are doing and go to the link here:

Vlog

And spend less than eight minuets getting to know me a little better. I will be referencing things that I spoke about in this video…

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[bkchapxo-blog]

7 weeks today.

Baby is the size of a blueberry and now has an appendix. Ultrasound next Tuesday, looking forward to realising this isn't a dream.

[actualdisneyprincejongroff]

The girls are upstairs in bed and Finnegan is in his room for time-out because he lied... You know it's been a long day when you're relieved because a time-out gives you five minutes of peace...

[thefernlife]

Three's a crowd

Having three kids is great. Busy, yes; trying, yes; but great all the same. Some days though... some days it's just so bloody hard.

This morning I wanted to go out and pick up a couple of new shower heads that I'd seen advertised. They were from one of those giant super store places, you know, the type of shop that almost takes your breath away when you first walk in because it's just so huge. 

So anyway, I tell Briar and Xanthe that we are going out to the shops, and that if they're good we can have a treat at the cafe and a play on the slide. They are excited by this, and promise that yes, they will be on their best behaviour.

On the drive into town I remind them again about how I plan to reward their good behaviour. I even remind them exactly what I mean by good behaviour. I look at Xanthe in the rear vision mirror and ask her if she understands. Yes, she tells me. Yes, I will be a good girl.

The first part of the trip goes well. Maurice is asleep on my chest in his Mei Tai, Xanthe is sitting in the toddler seat of the shopping trolley, and Briar is holding my hand. I manage to find the shower heads I was looking for, and then I tell the girls they have been good so we can head to the playground now. 

The play area is filled with toddlers, who don't understand that everyone needs to take turns and that they have to get out of the way when someone wants to come down the slide. Briar and Xanthe become frustrated and after only five minutes they tell me they've had enough. Understandable. I tell the girls to put their shoes on, and say that we'll just go and get some lunch instead, but first we have to go and pay for the shower heads.

We get to the checkouts and Maurice starts screaming. Briar is in a bit of a dream, and needs to be asked ten times to move aside so I can get the trolley up to the counter. Xanthe is running free, and starts messing around with a clock they have on display. As I'm trying to pay for my items I am bouncing and shushing the baby, asking the eldest to please get out of the way, and firmly reminding the little tearaway to look with her goddamn eyes instead of her hands. 

I can tell the woman serving me thinks I have too many children. I can feel her judging me. I resist the urge to explain that my children had actually been perfectly behaved up until two minutes ago, and instead pretend like everything is fine. Meanwhile, I am beginning to feel overwhelmingly frazzled.

We get out of the store and the girls want me to pay a dollar for them to go on one of those stupid rides that jiggle a bit while a tuneless melody plays. I tell them no, the baby is crying, we need to get back to the van. I remind them that if they want to go out for lunch they need to listen to me. They ignore me and continue pushing the Go button, in the hopes that the ride will come to life without being fed a shiny gold coin. 

I tell them, fine, see ya later then, I have to get Maurice out of here. They decide to hear me this time, and I spend the next five minutes trying to get them safely back to the vehicle. There are fights over who is holding whose hand. I really, really want to scream.

When I finally get all three kids to the van, Xanthe refuses to hop in her car seat. She sits down beside it and tries to buckle herself in with the regular seat belt instead. I ask her three times to get in her own seat, and when she doesn't I pick her up and put her in it myself. She reacts by screaming and kicking and stretching her body out straight like a surf board so I can't do up the straps. 

ARGH.

Eventually we drive out of the parking lot. Maurice is wailing. I am fuming. Briar is crying because we're no longer going out for lunch. Xanthe clearly doesn't give a shit, and I feel awful because really it's Briar being punished for Xanthe's actions, but I don't know how to make it right. I apologise to Briar, and try to explain that if I take her out for lunch I have to take Xanthe too, and then Xanthe will keep being naughty because she got rewarded for it in the end. Briar continues to cry; big, fat tears streaming down her face. I feel terrible. And stupid. What did I think was going to happen when I chose to take all three children out to the shops?

Back home again I make the girls' lunches, cuddle the baby, pour myself a glass of Coke, and try to calm down. 

As I watch my children eating, chatting and smiling, I start to feel a lot better. We did make it home safely with the items I set out to purchase after all, and they are very sweet children really... Nevertheless I remind myself that I really must re-think the whole "just one more baby" idea.