What you should know about going from 2 kids to 3

So yesterday our youngest turned the big ONE! 

That means we have been parents of Three kids for one whole year!!!

Because clearly I’m now an expert…. I thought I would write down a few things that I have learnt since adding another crazy to our already crazy family.

• You need a bigger car – Unless you want to have three carseats jammed into the back seat with no room to move and never ever have anyone else in the car with you, you are definitely going to need a bigger car.
• More often than not two kids will have to share a room – Most of the people I know (including us) have three bedroom houses that means 1 for the parents, 1 for kid no.1 and 1 for kid no.2. This means that once its time for kid no.3 to get their little butt out of the parents room they need to either go by themselves in a room or move in with kid 1 or kid 2. In our case we put Boston in with Caleb purely because they are both boys and we figured eventually Bailey will need her own girl space so it was just easier to give her it now.
• People don’t want to babysit – Looking after a friend or family members kid or two is all fine and dandy but when theres THREE of them its a whole other ball game. There just isn’t as many volunteers anymore.
• You HAVE to do washing every damn day – I don’t know how its possible but it feels like that extra little human has added an extra 500 loads of washing into my week. Before him I could go two sometimes even three days without doing a load and now if I miss 1 day I spend the next year catching up!
• They can never be bored because someone always wants to play- I always thought that when we went from having two kids to three it would mean fighting over who would play with who but in actual fact, so far its been great. 9 times out of 10 when one kid (usually Bailey-Jane) wants be on their own and the other one (usually Caleb) wants to play. They still have someone else (Boston) to go and play with/ annoy #winning
• Night time is your favourite time – Whether you’re a night owl like me or not, night time is the best time. You will count down the minutes (sometimes seconds) until that last one is in bed and once they are take that time to do what you need to do whether it be, clean the house, fold washing, shower for the first time in 3 days, watch some mind numbing TV, sit and cry or just go to bed yourself. This is your time. Enjoy it fully.

After our daughter was born I was quite content to just have the two children but a few years down the track we decided to have another and man I am so glad we did! Life may be harder and chaotic at times but I love it and couldn’t imagine it any other way 

Loz xx

I need to unplug

I am lucky enough to have three beautiful and healthy children that mean the absolute world to me.

Of those three beautiful children, one child (my eldest child) has some pretty serious anger issues. I don’t even know if anger issues is the correct thing to call it. I’d say its more of a frustration issue that he deals with in insane anger.

He is an extremely clever and quick thinking little kid that loves to play and be a “real boy”. He is always on the go wanting to play ninjas,hammer things together, climb the tallest tree or build race cars with his Lego. He is also the most caring and loving boy I’ve ever met and is always wanting to make you proud of him.

In saying all that if for whatever reason he isn’t allowed to do something he wants to do or he can’t get something right the first or second time he becomes VERY frustrated. If the frustrated isn’t caught at the right time it can escalate into a full-blown rage of yelling, swearing, hitting and kicking furniture and just all round “I hate the world and everyone in it” sayings left right and centre.

This has become EXTREMELY stressful for me and my husband and we have had more than a couple argument’s about how to handle it which have at the moment resulted in the decision to let me handle it for the most part until a successful way to handle it has been found.

ANYWHO……

The reason I am writing this is because, I think it’s my fault.

I think / I know that I spend too much time not spending time with my kids. Yes, I’m with them constantly and yes, I love them and feed them and tend to their every need. But, I don’t spend enough time just being with them.

So. My plan is to stop cleaning/cooking/fluffing around and most of all being on my phone or laptop completely for half an hour-an hour twice a day and just be with the kids. Just doing something, anything with them where I’m not trying to clean or cook at the same time or listening to them while I scroll through emails or Facebook.

I’m excited about this and I honestly think all of my kids (and me) will benefit from it and hopefully my eldest son and I will be able to find some time to bond more and talk about things that might be bothering him which hopefully will result in him feeling more important and loved.

Is anyone else in the same boat with one of their kids? Let me know, I’d love to hear how you are dealing with it.

Loz

xx