I’ve had 5 weeks of experience having three children.  The first two weeks were peppered with lots of help and now life has resumed back to normal for everyone around us, leaving us to find our new groove.

I have found that adjusting to having three kids now has seemed almost effortless.  It all comes totally naturally and I already can’t imagine a life without Grae in it.  However, life outside of my three children seems just out of reach.  I’m not sure when I’ll ever have time again for play dates and work schedules and writing blog posts regularly and returning calls/emails/texts.  In the quiet moments in my day, sometimes I just want them to stay that way.  I don’t want to steal my free seconds from myself hurrying to be busy with something else.  At the same time, I am eager to get back into the swing of things.  I’m feeling good and inspired and alive again after 9 tiring months of pregnancy.  There’s so much I want to do and share and I hope that sometime soon I’ll find the time. 

This week I have gone to Walmart twice with small lists to ease myself back into the real world.  My girls have been so sweet and helpful and patient with me since I’ve had the baby.  Yesterday I surprised them with a girl’s date to the matinee.  I was a little stressed having to manage it all with no help, but I did.  We arrived in time to the movie, I delved out snacks to each of them throughout, and thoroughly enjoyed watching them dance in the aisles to the music in Rio 2.  And as luck would have it, we were the only ones at the 2:00 showing.  The girls being 3 and 5 can’t always communicate how much they’ve liked something, but later in the afternoon while playing house, Harlo was the mom and Stella was the daughter and Harlo surprised Stella with a girl’s date to the pretend movie theater (the closet).  It may seem small, but to me that was a victory.  I hope I always stay the kind of mom they want to pretend to be like.

For now, I’m giving myself a break from diving back into the real world and allowing myself to enjoy and savor this time of transition.  Even if the world says I should be back to normal by now, it doesn’t mean I have to be.