Life with 3 littles

The house is a wreck. Toys are everywhere, the laundry (clean and dirty) are pilled high and look somewhat like the dirty dishes stacked in the kitchen. Our language session was, well, very child interrupted to put it nicely.The baby is screaming and then proceeds to fill her pants and spit up all over herself and me at the same time. The 2 year old walks past me and I smell a very dirty diaper and it’s days like today that I wonder why we decided to have 3 kids… in 3 years.

And then, as I am changing the very smelly 2 year old, he sees a star and starts singing the sweetest rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle I have ever heard. I scoop him up and hold him for a moment and he starts kissing me over and over. My heart is full. I forget about the laundry. I forget about the craziness that our life brings everyday and I am thankful that we have three little lives that enrich our own everyday.

I was thinking this morning about why on earth I let our house get so out of control and then I remembered. Yesterday, a very sweet and trying 3 year old wanted to sit on my lap anytime I sat down. I decided to sit down a bit more often and soak up every minute of his voluntary snuggles. He wasn’t sick, he wasn’t tired, he just wanted to be with me. I treasured everyone of those moments knowing that soon enough, they will be gone.

Sometimes I think we are crazy. Trying to learn a language, raising 3 kids who are very close in age, not knowing the next time we will see our family, the list could go on and on. But you know what? I LOVE this life. Some days it’s not easy being Brion’s language learning partner. We have different styles of learning and approaching our language sessions. Then you add all those other things I’ve already listed above and BAM, life gets messy. As tough as all this “stuff” is, we always have our Lord and each other. And we have our beautiful children who we absolutely adore. (I mean, come on, have you seen ’em?!)

So, after the diapers were changed, the baby settled and lunch was eaten, I set off to try and tackle at least one project with two of the said children. And ya know what? That sweet little 3 year old helped me sort my laundry and the baby kept us company while we put it all away. Days with babies are tough, but there is ALWAYS joy to be found. I’m glad I found it instead of pouting about all the chores on the to-do list. Find joy today. Pick up that little babe of yours (if you have one) and snuggle ’em like crazy. Soon enough our houses will be immaculate, the dishes much easier to do and all our babes grown and out the door.