REALITY

The reality is everyday life with three kids is HARD. I admit it, most days I feel like I'm going crazy. The house is usually a disaster, we've eaten way too much pizza, cereal, and whatever-you-can-find for dinner; I can't seem to get anything accomplished (even just a simple trip to the UPS store to drop off a prepaid package takes me weeks to do), let's just forget about the library fines I've accumulated, and please excuse the ever constant brain fog and exhaustion.

I feel like I haven't sat down and played with Hailey and Keira in months. We've been able to sneak in some book reading here and there, but not nearly as much as we used to. We spend a lot of our time cooped up inside, the girls forced to play on their own. Thank goodness for Legos! Seriously. They have been a life saver. The girls play with them daily. Kyle will come home from work and play alongside them as well. I have come to realize how awesome Legos really are. The play is ever changing and endless. They never tire of Legos.

I do think we may be on the upswing. Kacey is starting to sleep more at night and becoming more consistent in her sleep patterns. The newborn days are so precious, yet so SO hard. How can one little person occupy so much of your time? It is amazing how quickly time flies by, before I know it, it has already been 1 1/2 - 2 hours since she last ate and time to eat again. I find myself thinking all too often, "Seriously... AGAIN?" 

Through it all I am so blessed to have an amazingly understanding husband who ushers me out the door for some ME time as often as he can. (Even though I do typically end up with Kacey tagging along, we're pretty inseperable right now. A baby has got to eat when a baby wants to eat...) He plays with the girls when he gets home and he'll take Kacey for a bit and work his magic to get her to smile and almost laugh. If I need help getting dinner going, he jumps right in and gets things started. The poor guy has been sleeping in the basement almost every night for the past 2 months. He is too light a sleeper, every little noise Kacey makes keeps him up, while I slumber on. He tells me it's OK to go to bed at 9:00 and doesn't complain about what a LAME-O-BORING-SAUCE I have become. I really don't consider myself lucky... I knew what I was getting when I married this man. Best choice ever.

Blessing number two has been having my parents living just 5 minutes away. In the past two months my mom has rescued me more times than I can count. When I couldn't keep my eyes open, she watched Kacey so I could sleep. When I felt bad for neglecting my older girls, she took each of them out separately for their own special Rara time. When we were attacked by a stomach bug she spent everyday that week with us helping me survive. When I need to go to the store she tags along because she remembers how crazy shopping with small children can be. She doesn't complain when I drag her all over town looking for ridiculous items I can't seem to find anywhere. Really, having her so close has been a lifesaver. 

This third child really has thrown me for a loop. We started out good, but then in the past month it has become hard. And I knew that would happen. I knew it would get hard. But this feels so much harder than the other two ever were. I know it'll get easier over time. For now I'm just trying to keep my head above water and figure out how to adjust to having three little ones. Of course there are no regrets. I just am ready to feel normal again. 

(More evidence of my inability to accomplish anything: these pictures were taken the end of July, almost 2 months ago. I am just now finally getting them to the blog. Too bad Kacey already doesn't settle down to sleep like that anymore... Boy has she grown!)