The first 3 weeks with 3 boys under 3 1/2!!

Oh man, things have been crazy.  Lets just cover each family member in the past 3 weeks.  This by all means is not a 'oh poor me' post.  I decided to blog on this because I thought it would be interesting to cover for the moms out there.  And quite funny to look back on when things (hopefully!) get easier.

Daddy
Since Luther's birth Joel has gone on one 1 day speaking trip, one 4 day speaking trip and one 2 day speaking trip.  The two latter trips have involved evening flights which are never a good idea.  Thankfully, he has made it home on time to help with the children.  For him that usually means the following -

Waking up at 6am to drive to his speaking engagements, set up for speech, give presentation, talk to people and sign autographs, tear down, drive to airport, then pray for flights to not be delayed while grabbing something to eat.  Arrive home around midnight, wake up at 5am to bring Luther to Mama, 530am change Luther and swaddle, put Luther back to bed, 630am wake up to read Bible and watch boys on monitor so they don't climb out of their bed or hurt themselves, 8am get Joel and Judah up change/take off diapers, feed breakfast, 9am family worship, then begin the day.

Family worship...

Yeah.. he's amazing!

Mommy and Luther (3 weeks)
Luther does extremely well at night when Mommy has a good chance to nurse him well and make sure he's up every 2.5 or 3 hours during the day to nurse.  However, when Mommy is home alone, Luther's schedule and feedings take a back seat to other things;)

Luther usually gets up somewhere between 1:30am and 3am to nurse. Then he will get up again somewhere between 5am and 7:30am to nurse again.  He is really stretching out his time between feeds at night very well for such a young baby.  He went through a growth spurt from 10 days old to a little over 2 weeks old and after that I developed two plugged ducts. ugh!  Luckily (so far) they have not turned into mastitis.  He has a blocked tear duct in his left eye that needs massaged and cleaned daily, but breastmilk has worked well to clear up the infection if he does get green discharge (yes I squirt breastmilk into his eye.. it works!)  He also had a bad bottom rash that was bleeding at one point but has just recently cleared up with an aquaphor/maalox homemade mixture.  Thank goodness! Poor babe.  He is proving to be pretty predictable/moldable (is that a word?) which is nice.  I can usually tell what kind of a night we will have based on how the day went, and that puts me somewhat at ease;)

Judah (19 months)
Judah had roseloa just recently.  3 days of a fever above 103 followed by a rash and some irritability.  Thankfully he didn't cry to loud or too much with it as long as he was held.  Ha! Yes, that was tough.  Since his roseola, Judah has proved to be the lowest maintenance member of the family besides Daddy;)  He repeats almost every word that you ask him to say and absolutely LOVES to play outside.  He is in a very cute stage.

Joel 3 (39 months)
Joel has had some major problems behaviorally that started, you guessed it, about 3 weeks ago!   We prepared Joel very well for the birth of Luther, but I guess it still is a rough transition for him.  Other moms have told me that 3 is a tough time for obedience no matter what, so we are pushing through with prayer and consistent discipline.

The boys playing outside...

On a good note, Joel has been extremely affectionate and into 'helping' with Luther.  He wants to hold him, kiss him and help in any way that he can.  This has been great, but a little hard to control when he's sick.  I can totally sense the difference in how Joel interacts with Luther as a baby vs. Judah as a baby.  Its like he knows that Luther is a real person.  Very cute.

Funny things
Figuring out how to take all 3 into stores without melt-downs is tough.  Joel 3 is old enough to get out and walk beside me responsibly, but with his recent behavior that would be quite a risk as we might spend the entire time in the bathroom doing spankings.  Not a risk I"m willing to take at this point with limited time.  As I researched online to prepare for my trip to target (do they have those massive carts or not?) I find myself reading blogs of mothers of twins.  Quite appropriately, when in Target the other day a lady working at the store asked if Joel and Judah were twins! I thought it quite hilarious at the time, but then realized its perfectly understandable to assume!

And yes, Target does have 'those massive carts'... it came in handy:)

I bought a used joovy big caboose (triple stroller) off craigslist for walks around the neighborhood and zoo trips.  Joel isn't quick enough on his bike, or responsible enough to walk by me and stay off the street just yet.  Plus he would get tired after like 10 mins.  The first walk we took I put the carseat up too high and the whole thing threatened to tip over like a double-decker bus!


After that walk I re-arranged the seating situation... and it worked much better. No tipping ;)



Luther has had more food dropped on him than any other newborn in the family.  Frequently I nurse him on the boppy (positioning him so that I am hands free) while eating lunch or dinner and also reading emails/blogs.  This is, of course, during naptime (1pm) or after 8pm.

Joel has fallen out of the top bunk twice.  Both times, thankfully, he was not majorly injured.  The second time was only about 1.5 weeks ago when Joel's dad was here to help with the kids.  We both ran upstairs (Luther in my arms) to find Joel standing up but crying very loud.  We turned on the light, checked him out and determined he was ok.  I think Joel's dad almost had a heart attack.

Often, when Judah is sick, or we know Joel will have behavior problems, we take Judah down to the basement pack n play for his nap or nighttime.  It's super dark and cool down there and Judah (very high metabolism, always warm and sweaty) loves it!  We have an old video monitor set up down there to keep an eye on him.  Quite frequently, I am taking to bed  watching 3 video monitors at once! Thank goodness for technology.

WE ARE THANKFUL

Yes, this might seem crazy, but we are so incredibly thankful for a 'quiver full' of children.  And 3 is nothing compared to Biblical times!  We thank the good Lord daily for these boys whom we are privileged to train up and disciple.  We take our responsibility as parents to steward their lives very seriously and we are so honored to be blessed in this way.

Praise the Lord!