Life with kids.

I keep getting asked, "What is it like to have 3 young kids?"  A lot of people assume 1 of 2 things...  They assume that I either walk around like a zombie from no sleep, have spit up on my clothes at all times, spend all day doing chores, my baby screams all day, that I sing the Strawberry Shortcake theme song when I get a chance to shower, and that I am sinking in all of the laundry.  Or, they assume that I do tons of educational activities with my toddlers, we all go to bed early in our coordinating pajamas in a soft bed that smells like fabric softener, we all hold hands and pray at the dinner table as we eat our healthy meal, and that we all "oooo" and "aaaah" over the sweet cooing baby who never makes a peep.  Well, here is a glimpse of reality for anyone who is wondering. 

As for Micah and I...  We both work super hard, but we both find time to relax and get great sleep too.  Micah drives a pretty good distance to work every day.  He likes his job, but he is on his feet constantly and he is pretty tired when he gets home.  I baby-sit full time every other week.  3 nights each week, I also teach lessons for 2 hours in the evenings in my home. My days usually consist of taking care of the kids, doing lots of laundry, dishes, and cleaning.  By Wednesday night each week, I sometimes struggle to keep my eyes open at 8:30 PM.  That being said, we are super blessed with wonderful kids who have quiet times and naps during the day and who all sleep through the night in their own beds.  When the work day is over (at 8 PM for me 3 nights a week, and around 5 for Micah) he and I spend time together.  We typically try to get all 3 kids in bed by 8 or 8:30 and then he and I snuggle in bed.  We talk about our day, we watch TV shows, we clean ourselves up, and then we rest.  Micah is incredible.  He works all day and then comes home and helps with the kids in the evenings and helps with chores around the house.  Today, I did a ton of housework.  I also spent most of the day in pajamas and I am pretty sure I have a bald spot somewhere on my head from when I played "hair fix" with the girls this afternoon and Isla pulled out a chunk of my hair.  Isla put blue nail polish in her hair today and Ike hasn't had a bowel movement in 2 days.  Spit up has become such a regular occurrence that I don't even change my clothes anymore when he spits up on me.  I try to sop up as much as I can with a burp cloth and move on (unless it is so much that it completely soaks me - which happens frequently, although I've gotten really good at dodging most of the projectile episodes.)

So for the list in the first paragraph, I am tired, but I'm not a zombie.  I get plenty of sleep.  I do have spit up on my clothes at all times and I do a LOT of chores.  The baby is really good and the only times he gets fussy are when he is super tired or when he is in his car seat.  Other than that, he's pretty content.  I do sing the Strawberry Shortcake theme in the shower, and I am absolutely drowning in laundry.  I do some educational activities with my kids, but I mostly encourage them to just play with each other.  They watch a very small amount of TV during the day and the rest of their time typically consists of using their imaginations to pretend they are princesses or ponies.  The kids go to bed early, and Micah and I are usually drifting off to sleep around 10ish.  Usually, our beds smell nice and clean because we have to wash our sheets pretty frequently due to milk leaks and Ike's spit up.  Our pajamas usually don't match at all and are mostly just old t-shirts.  We pray at dinner, but 3 nights a week, we all eat dinner at different times and our meals aren't always healthy.  We all "ooo" and "aaaah" over the sweet cooing baby, even if he does make a peep or two.  This is my reality and I totally love it.

My reality....

I love baby-sitting this little guy.  My girls are pretty fond of him too!  Oh, Adia and her poses...

Isla the fairy princess and Adia as Rapunzel.

We've had about a million helicopter seeds blowing around our backyard.  Isla loves to peel the seeds out of them.  This entertains her for 20 minutes, easily.

I remember taking pics of Ike when he was in my belly.  It is such a blessing and a true testament to God's awesome hand to see how this baby who was once in my womb is now a healthy and growing boy in my arms.  God is good.

Ike sleeps through the night!  Yay!  The only tough thing is that since I am nursing, I wake up with so much milk that he can't drink it all, so I have to nurse him on one side and pump on the other.  I can get anywhere from 5 to 7 and a half ounces off of ONE side in about 5 minutes or less.  If I had a superhero name, it would be, "Cow Woman," not to be confused with Cat Woman.

She requests to take silly face pictures all the time now.  I only have like 70 on my phone that look JUST like this.  That's all.

Would you just look at this boy?  Those eyes.  That smile.  That squish.  In LOVE.

My brown eyed, pouty lipped boy absolutely loves to be held and snuggled.  He is wide awake here (he actually prefers his crib when he's sleepy.)  He just loves to be near me and snuggle with me.  Chores have to get done, but I will always ALWAYS pause for this.