So this evening I posted on Facebook this great quote Nate heard (unfortunately don’t know the source) but I think it sums up the transition to a big family:
“Your first child is like fine china, your second is like everyday ware, and your third or more are like paper plates.”
When I was a first-time Mom, I obsessed about everything. From getting a video monitor to be able to watch her all night to bandaiding mosquitos bites. Yep, I was new to the game and wanted to make sure I had everything by the book. Now that I have four, that book has been torn by toddlers, puked on, and used as a coloring book. The rules have changed.
I remember when anytime Reilly would cry I would immediately pick her up and soothe her to sleep. Now my poor twins cry so much they actually give up and fall asleep. No kidding. By the time I got to Makenna who was screaming on her playmate she was fast asleep with the tears still dripping down her cheeks.
Yes, I feel horrible when I see that but there is only one of me and four of them. And I swear they all huddle up and dicuss the exact time they are going to ambush me because it seems that each one of my four kids needs the something at the same time. This is just how it works some days.
My sister-in-law was over this weekend with her boyfriend for a DMB concert in Chicago. They were so nice to let me get in a run and watch the twins before they had to head out. When I walked in I noticed each of them feeding a twin. Giving my thanks (altough they didn’t know I almost Forrest Gumped them and just kept going) I told them to give me one of the girls and I will take her up while I shower and the other one can stay in the swing while they got ready. My sister in laws’ boyfriend said, “But how are you going to feed her and shower?” All I could think of responding was, “That’s kinda how I roll now a days.”
Honestly, to any outsider I am sure my situation looks crazy. It’s not normal by any means and probably appalling to any first time Mother.
Funny, I actually did have a first time mother over to visit, she had twins about 4 months before my girls. She has been the most generous person to us, giving us clothes, cradles, blanket, you name it. We are so grateful. But when she came up to see my girls napping in their crib on their stomachs (oh yes first time mothers I did it) she almost had a heart attack.
You evolve as a Mother though. It is just like everything else in life. Since you were a kid remembering hearing, “You learn from your mistakes” or “That which does not break us, only makes us stronger” I think can apply to be parents as well. You go in one person and come out a totally different one. That’s just being a Mom.
