“because I function with half my brain tied behind my back as a matter of routine”

Monday  in the early morning  Mystie

One thing this whole blog world is good for is knowing you are not alone in small children craziness — not alone in knowing in your head that this is all a good thing, while yet feeling lost in the dailiness of it all and in the chaos of toddlers. Actually, I have plenty of friends who are in this all with me, but it’s nice to see some put-together thoughts, which we are not always able to both have and articulate with said toddlers running underfoot!

#Amy’s Humble Musings

Life with Three Under Three - Amy Scott, mother of 5 9-to-baby and blog writer with an audience in the hundreds, admits to some of her unorthodox practices that keep her and her household sane. Despite the specificity of the title, it’s really for anyone who has all-preschoolers, no matter the number. The consensus on the comments appears to be that the all-preschooler phase is the hardest; once you get those oldest into elementary school age (even if you homeschool), more children are not more difficult. There are many people saying 2 or 3 4 and under was more difficult than 5 or 6 or more once that oldest was over 6. That’s encouraging.

##Life with Three Under Three #1

I remember that older moms would pat me on the head while chanting in unison, “This too shall pass.” Every time that happened, though, I wanted to stop the chorus and ask, “But what if I’m dead of exhaustion before it passes? And what if my marriage doesn’t make it through to the other side? And what if I ruin the kids in the process?”

##Life with Three Under Three #2

I stopped folding baby clothes after the third baby, because really, the piles never stayed neat. [...] And for my last confession regarding the laundry. The reason we are usually on-time for everything is because… I dress the little ones the night before.

##Life with Three Under Three #3

Since the Bible teaches that all of life is worship (I Cor. 10:31), we ought to live with God’s glory in mind in whatever we do. Work and play; play and work. There are plenty of opportunities to bear one’s cross, but in the instances where we can make some lemonade, we should. Have some fun.

##Life with Three Under Three #4

Cooking duties rest primarily on me, and we are all happy (and alive) with this arrangement. This is how it works in our house, and so you can imagine that it gets sticky when I’m out of commission. People keep wanting to eat whether I’m sick or not.

##Life with Three Under Three #5

It’s maternal instinct to desire and nurture babies. We’re created for it; it’s basic biology. The problem is that our culture suppresses the natural urge and calls it unnatural. This is why I messed with nature, took synthetic hormones, and hung over a toilet for months. If I said, “I’m getting married and hope raise a family soon,” I’d likely be labeled “irresponsible” by my evangelical brethren; for the more fortunate, it’s possible to escape with just being weird.
[...]
After a few babies, reality sets in and the Christian mom begins to think that maybe everyone had a good point. This is really hard. She is knee-deep in Cheerios. The laundry has an unnatural smell to it. She’s knows the theme song to every show in the PBS morning lineup. Her husband gets to talk to people that are taller than his waist during the day and she feels jealous. The kids are crying, but when it’s quiet she is left with the thought, “How does doing THIS glorify God? And how in the world do I do this?!”

##Life with Three Under Three #6

There’s a cartoon by Todd Wilson where the Dad opens the closet door and finds Mom crouched down inside. The dad is asking something like, “So how did it go today?” The caption reads, “A really dumb question.” I love it.

##Series conclusion: It was all a lie

I counted out my children’s ages in months and arrived with the answer above. But it was wrong. My oldest was already three-years-old by the time #3 arrived.

Then, from comments:

Well, Amy, that just makes all of the difference in the world. He was already 3?? Why he was practically driving by then. What do you know about a bunch of little ones? *snicker*

This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 9:50 am and is filed under Mother. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.