Slowing My Roll

"I really am your gift. I am not just a little person who needs to be "raised" and taught, and taken to activities....I came to the people in my life to bring a message: slow down. Feel. Be. Over and over again. When you do, you will notice immediately, that I am not an obstacle to your work, or inconvenience to your daily life. Instead, you will come to appreciate my honesty, humor, presence and love."-- Bruce Scott


I have seen this quote floating around for some time now but it has never meant so much to me as it has in these last couple of weeks. "Slow down. Feel. Be. Over and over again." Life with three is some serious stuff and it has definitely caused me to slow way down and appreciate and be in tune to each of our little blessings. Since being forced to settle down and settle in with Jude, life is simple and it feels good. Instead of taking things day by day, I now taking things minute by minute,  hour by hour, diaper by diaper, runny nose but, you get it. All revolves around naps, feedings, and his happiness.

My idea of success these past couple of weeks is if we have all bathed and the laundry is done and if I make it out of the house with all three then I feel like superwoman. And I can't even take full credit for this because it is usually my mother, dad, or grandmother who swoops in and helps with the dirty work. But when we are out I now find the my eyes are now like that of a predator, constantly darting to keep track of my three, each movement seen, each always accounted for. No more nice family dinners out. Maybe we will attempt the whole dinner out thing again in a few years.

The luxury of spare time is a thing of the past. I mean, this post has taken me three days to complete, and the majority has been typed one handed. The couple of minutes I have before bed are usually reserved to staring at the wall or some other form of zoning out until little guy wakes again, and all other time is spent strategizing how to sneak in some more sleep. Seems Jude has a bit of a finicky stomach.

Camo! Can't believe I actually went there, but there is something so masculine something so far from the pink princess party I am planning for Nyah's fourth birthday and I love it. Or maybe Indiana is just rubbing off on me, who knows.

And after surviving these first four weeks I can't help but let my mind go there and think of how mothers with more than three do it or ever did it.  Like my grandmother who had six. Six. Seriously, six. I ask her how she did it and I want to know. I want to pull out my note book and take notes. I need all of the tips and pointers I can get because this is no joke.


But as having kids has taught me, "The days are long but the years are short", and before I know it we will be celebrating Jude's first birthday because these moments are precious and are just a small moment in this great life. And there is no place I'd rather be, well, maybe Louisiana.