3! What's that like?

Well, a lot like your one, I imagine.

Only...

The victories, they are bigger. Like when they can crawl down the stairs and stand in the door to the garage and wait there to be loaded into the car. And when they can brush their own teeth, well enough to count it as brushing. And when they can hold their own bottle. For that one you do a little dance. Find their thumb, can put their own pacifier back into their mouth, feed themselves yogurt. I think if you have one these thing might be called milestones. But with three they are victories. You might someday look back on the days when you were holding babies and replacing pacis with the tiniest bit of sadness and longing. But in the moment, they are windows to a whole new world of productivity. It means you get an extra 30 minutes 4 times a day to clean the kitchen and fold laundry, or 2 fewer trips down the stairs to get out the door. It means you might actually, on occasion, go out the door.

You don't have time to be upset for your child who just got 3 shots, because you are already preparing the next for their turn and keeping the first from falling out of the pumpkin seat and on to the tiled floor. When you are packing to leave in the time it takes to change 3 diapers, dress 3 bodies, put shoes & socks on 3 kids, track down coats and get ready to head for the door there is 3 times the likelihood that someone will poop. Which means EVERY SINGLE TIME you have to rechange at least 1 child. It is much less frustrating if the pooper is not already strapped into their carseat.

It is planning for everything. How are we going to get them from the car to the door. If at the last minute he can't meet me there do I have the right stroller to get them inside. Will this office fit the triple stroller and if not who will ride and who will be carried or who MIGHT hold my hand while I push. Will they have enough high chairs. Do we have enough diapers. Do I have enough energy. What if I have to pee. Will there be breakables and can I find them first. It is knowing that meltdown's are contagious and you do not have enough arms to calm them all. It is always being outnumbered. It is sticking to the schedule. Period. It means nap times are beyond necessary for your longevity.

You wonder why when they are on the changing table they are a totally different child and realize with the tiniest hint of horror that it is the only time they get your undivided attention. Learning to share is a process that starts before birth. Giving each other a break is taking one child with you to the store to leave only 2 with your husband. It means sitting down to read Goodnight Moon counts as taking a breather and cooking dinner for adults counts as me-time. Eating dinner yourself before 8 is a win and eating dinner as a family is a minor miracle.

It is knowing there is a safest place in the car and only one of them can be placed there, trying not to discuss your fertility health with every stranger you meet, realizing that 3 really isn't all that many because you have friends with 4, 5, and 6 that somehow manage too. It is understanding that they each deserve to be held way more than they are and snuggled far more often than they can be. It is also efficiency and making do and more hugs than I thought I would ever give or receive in this lifetime.

I don't know, what's one like?