My boys...my life

Elijah the day he was born.

The "big" boys LOVE Eli, and always want to hold and kiss him.

My best effort at getting all three boys to look at the camera!

Sweet baby just gazing into space.

Hiking on the 4th of July just above Woodland.

My boys are my life. As anyone with kids can attest, your life revolves around taking care of them. This is especially true of a newborn! So now that I have three little boys I feel that my life has become days filled with feeding kids, cleaning up after kids, stopping fights, wiping bums, wiping noses, reading books, singing songs, watching cartoons, disciplining, etc., etc. The amazing thing is that I am totally content with doing this! Elijah has brought a new found love for motherhood for me. I have more work now, but I find more joy in it. I think I was just stuck in a mothering rut before he was born. It helps that he is a good little baby who likes to be held, eat, and sleep. He even sleep really well at night, and in his own little cradle. My other two boys would never sleep in their cradles when they were newborns. This facilitated me sleeping with them on the couch as I held them. Elijah will sleep for 3 hours at a time by himself, thus allowing me a couple of hours of sleep in my own bed! He is on a good little schedule of eating, being awake, and napping...repeating every three hours. I can't believe that it has been almost a month since he was born. It has gone by in a whirlwind. I am still trying to get the three child thing down to a science. My daily goal is to have the three boys and myself fed (breakfast), dressed, teeth brushed, and beds made by noon! Some days we make it, some days we don't. If we have to go anywhere I plan for 2 hours of preparation to get us all ready and feed the baby at least once before we step out of the door. At least I have boys and I don't have to do the hair thing! I feel like I am working so hard just to keep my head above the water, doing the things that HAVE to be done. Minor details like showering (down to every other day), cleaning (done the bathroom only once in the last month!), and clipping my toenails (not since Elijah's birth) go by the wayside. Oh well! I don't know if it is that I already have older children in different stages of their childhood, but I have been savoring Elijah's baby days more than I did the other two. I'm not finding myself longing for him to get older and be able to talk (because then they just sass), walk (because then they just get into everything), eat table food ( ah, the diapers), or anything else that you are eager for your children to do. I am just enjoying my hours of sitting on the couch feeding him, rocking him to sleep, and letting him hold my finger in his tiny little hand. I love my boys, and I love my life.